May 24
1 Kings 8:54-66; 2 Chronicles 7:1-10; 1 Kings 9:1-9; 2 Chronicles 7:11-22; 1 Kings 9:10-14
In our new worship music there is a lot of “I”. When it comes to ministries, praying for others, evangelizing, there are also way too many “I’s”. When it comes to life I and we are really nothing. Our struggle is when we think we are something more. Don’t misunderstand, we are all special and loved by our Creator. But what makes us special is Him through us, our realization that we are empty vessels, filled and used by Him, not due to any inherent gifts we might think we possess. So when we bless others, God blesses others through us. When we sin or hurt others, we are primarily hurting God. He is the relationship above all other relationships.
David has amassed huge amounts of building materials to build the temple. The temple was then built under the direction of King Solomon. But we read in 2 Chronicles 6:15, “You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.” Solomon viewed it correctly. The temple was built by the hand of God. When David sinned against Bathsheeba (adultery) and Uriah (murder), read his words in Psalm 51:3-4, “For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight-“. Whether it be sinning and needing forgiveness, protection from enemies, fighting battles, Solomon outlines one scenario after another telling all that listened that it is God and not them which is what they needed. The Lord gave the remedy should we find our nation, or even ourselves not where want to be with God in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” David reveals why he is called a man after God’s own heart in Psalm 18:1-2, “I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
The truth is many of us in Christ know who He is and know who we are, but we fall out of step. Paul said in Romans 7:15, “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.” That flesh of ours likes to rear its ugly head and often this is when we act in the flesh rather than the Spirit. When we start feeling down, seeing how we fail daily, remember Paul’s words in 7:24-8:1, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Our hope and our strength rests in Him and Him alone.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: