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CHURCH IMPROVEMENT : BUILDING A CHURCH THAT HONORS GOD AND LOVES PEOPLE THROUGH STEWARDSHIP1 Chronicles 29:1-22 INTRODUCTION We are continuing this morning in our church improvement series where we are examining the type of church that we want to be together. Each January we take time to review why our church exists and what we want to characterize our lives individually and corporately. Today, we will be examining stewardship. Part of my interest in this core value lies in the fact that I have been the recepient of preaching and teaching on this issue and I have seen the value of that instruction in my life. As we have discussed this issue as a church in the past, I have had others tell me that they have been helped in their Christian walk as they have listened to, talked about and thought through the many scriptures dealing with God’s concern over how we handle what we possess. It is my hope that by considering God’s word together we might be challenged and encouraged in this area of our lives. The other part of my desire to preach on this topic is driven by the reality of my own life. Although I have learned much over the years about God’s view of money and possessions and have seen growth in my own life, I am in a constant battle over whether I will trust and obey God or money. The bible is full of challenging and radical statements that set my heart in sharp relief as compared to the kind of man that I should be. Jesus says, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the rich man who trusts in his riches saying “And [the rich man] will say to [his] soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:15-21) Jesus also says, “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” (Luke 6:24) Paul writing in 1 Timothy 6 says, “But those who desire to get rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” Preparing for and delivering this sermon is good for my soul because I need to examine my own heart. Am I a like the fool who lays up treasure on earth, trusting in its ability to provide for me? Do I desire to get rich and put myself in danger of wandering away from the faith? Do I give out of my abundance such that I never have to truly examine whether I really believe my claim that my giving is an expression of my dependence on God and not on money? We need to hear God’s voice. We should want to be rich toward God instead of finding that we have had our reward here in this life and all that is left for us is judgment. Satan and this world seek to lead us away from God and our sin nature is all too willing to follow. Satan wants us to be inward focused and not use the gifts given to us by God to help the body of Christ mature. It is my hope that as we look at 1 Chronicles 29 that the Holy Spirit will work in our hearts so that we might see the greatness of Christ and trust in Him more fully, and as a result, we might use all that we possess for the honor of God and the joy of His people. Prayer 1 Chronicles 29 records one of the key events at the end of King David’s life as he hands over the rule of the nation of Israel to his son Solomon. The broader context of this passage is that the nation of Israel is experiencing tremendous peace and prosperity. The nation is at peace internally and its historical enemies have been subdued. As you may recall, God, speaking to the nation of Israel through His servant Moses a few hunderd years before this time, promised to bring His people into a land of abundance and peace, a land flowing with “milk and honey” (Ex. 3:17). In spite of the repeated failures of the people of Israel to worship and follow the Lord, God has brought about some of what He had promised so long ago. As we read through 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles, we find that God has established a king over Israel whom God describes as “a man after my own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14 ). The Lord ushers in a period of great prosperity and peace, although not altogether without trouble. It is during this time that David seeks to build a temple for his God. In chapters 22 through 26 of 1 Chronicles, we read about David’s preparations for this temple so that his son Solomon can complete its construction. David prepares the descendants of Levi for service in the temple (1 Chr. 23-26), directs the appointment of skilled men for labor (1 Chr. 22:2, 15-16), provides a vast quantity of gold, silver, bronze, iron, gems and cedar (>$100 billion at today’s prices!) (1 Chr. 22:3-5, 14) and commands his leaders to assist Solomon in the construction of the temple by instructing them to “set [their] mind and heart to seek the Lord your God.” (1 Chr. 22:19) In the beginning of chapter 29, David calls upon the leaders of Israel to participate in this preparation by giving freely for the construction of the temple from their own personal wealth as David has. The amount of wealth given by David and the leaders is staggering. The measures given to us in the text are in “talents”. One talent is equal 75 pounds. Between David and his leaders, 600,000 pounds of gold and one and quarter million pounds of silver are given. At the current spot market price for gold and silver, this contribution from their personal wealth would be valued at over $8.5 Billion. [Note: When I preached this sermon, I forgot to convert pounds to ounces.] In response to their free and wholehearted giving, the people and the king rejoice and David offers the prayer found in verses 10 through 19. This prayer gives us a view into what motivates David and his leaders in the joyful and generous giving of this much wealth. As David prays, he expresses five ways that God is working to create a people who are joyful and generous in their giving. God seeks to create a joyously generous people by … revealing to us who He is. (v. 10, 11 & 13) David and his leaders are glad to give generously toward the building of the temple because, first, they know the God who is there. David does not thank the people for their generosity nor does he offer a generic “thank you” with no definitive receipent. David does not pray to any of the tribal dieties of the surrounding peoples. Rather, David’s prayer is both God directed and God centered. David and his people obey the first commandment and have no other gods before the LORD. They are glad to give to the construction of the temple so that they might worship this God who deserves to be worshipped. David has first-hand experience of all the attributes of God that he makes reference to in verses 10, 11 and 13. Note the descriptions that David uses for his God: His name is LORD; His title is God; He exists forever; He possesses greatness, power, glory, victory, majesty and all things in heaven and earth; He rules a kingdom; He is exalted as head above all; and He has a glorious name. David knows God as great, powerful, glorious, victorious and majestic because of all that David has seen of God during his lifetime. God has protected David from Saul who sought to kill him. God raised him up as king over Israel . God has granted him victory over his enemies. In addition, David knows much about God through the Scriptures. For example, David knows the name of this God from the writings of Moses. The use of the word “LORD” in capital letters in your Old Testament english translation means that the author or speaker is referring to the proper name of God. David is calling God by His revealed name. This is the name connected with God’s name “I AM” spoken to Moses by God at the “burning” bush on Mount Horeb , as recorded in Exodus 3. David knows that the God to whom He is praying is the One who is the only eternally self-existent Being. God’s name points to the essence of His being as the source and measure of all things. He is not part of creation nor was He ever created. He has always existed and thus has no beginning and no end. He is dependent on no one and no thing. He is the God who has created and continues to sustain everything we see in this universe, and more that we don’t, by the word of His command. He spoke into the darkness and created the light by a word. By His wisdom, He created all the heavenly bodies and set them in their courses. He laid the foundations of the earth while “the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” (Job 38:7) He is all-knowing, everywhere imminent and all-powerful. He possesses every measure of rule, authority and dominion. He is over every nation, every leader and every people and His kingdom is the only kingdom that ultimately matters. God’s works are wonderous and call forth praise to the Creator who is infinitely more magnificient and greater than everything that has been created. But note what Job says regarding what we know of God, “these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him!” [Job 26:14] The beauty, creativity, artistry, complexity, enormity and majesty of all creation is but a small part of “the outskirts of his ways” and “a whisper” of who He is! All of creation reflects the glory of God but it is a dim reflection of His full glory. And now One has come to dwell among us who possesses all the glory of God and reveals God the Father to us. In Jesus, the glory of God is on display for all of us to see. As the author of Hebrews says, Jesus “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” (Hebrews 1:3) Jesus reflects the glory of God in a way that creation cannot. The apostle Paul tells us that we behold the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4). If we could see God with a right heart as He really is, He would evoke awe and worship within us. Let me try to weakly illustrate this sense of awe and worship. When I was a teenager, I was walking through the Orlando airport terminal with my mother when I saw a man walking towards us who immediately evoked an awe-struck feeling within my heart. Although I kept walking and the man passed by me, I was literally speechless in amazement. The man was Lyle Alzado. Now I was never a Los Angeles Raiders fan but I remember watching him play football as I grew up. He was a fierce competitor and had a commanding presence on defense. Although I only saw him on TV, I got some sense of his inherent greatest as a football player as I watched his devastating plays on the field. Lyle Alzado never did anything for me and all he did was walk past me that day, but I can still remember the sense of awe within me because of who he was. How much more so should I feel that way about God. We must diligently seek to know the God who exists. If we are to know the God who exists, we must come to Jesus who reveals the Father to us. As we come to Jesus in the Scriptures, we should pray that God might permit us to see Jesus in His glory, the glory of God in Christ crucified, risen and seated at the right hand of God. If we are going to win the war against love of money, possessions and self, and be willing to give freely, we need to have our view of God enlarged. For this to happen, we need to daily read the bible while praying that God would do what He has promised to do. Jesus has promised that the Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus to us, for the Holy Spirit will take what is Christ’s and declare it to us who believe (John 16:14). So let us fight this war we are in by asking God to reveal Himself to us in Christ that we might become joyously generous people. God seeks to create a joyously generous people by …
… promising us forgiveness of sins. (v. 10, 13, 15, 18 & 20) David and his leaders are glad to give generously toward the building of the temple because, second, they have received incredible promises from God in spite of who they are. As David prays, we find that their delight in giving is related to their understanding of the many promises of this holy God to His unholy people. David makes reference to God as “the God of Israel our father”, “our God”, “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel , our fathers” and “your God” and we are told that the people blessed “the God of their fathers” in verse 20. These references are significant because they tie together the free giving of the people’s possessions to the promises of the awesome, infinite God that He will be their God and they will be His people. (Gen. 17:7-8) These promises are magnificent because David and his leaders know who God is and who they are. They know that their sin, their mortality and their weakness is the very antithesis of who God is (1 Chr. 29:15). They are descendants of Adam and Eve, our first parents, who sinned against God in the garden. They are descendants of the Israelites who perished in the wilderness due to their unbelief. This is David whose disobedience resulted in the death of 70,000 people! David and his leaders are not unaware of who they are before this almighty, holy and infinite God. Therefore, God’s promise that they are a people for God’s own possession evokes worship and giving within them. The fact that God has brought about even a partial fulfillment of all that He has promised is evidence of pure grace and David and his leaders rejoice. David and his leaders know that they are finite, mortal, sinful human beings who deserve condemnation but have received, instead, mercy and grace. They agree with the Psalmist who says: “You have set our iniquities before you; our secret sins in the light of your presence. … The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” (Ps. 90) In addition to all the other promises that God has given His people, God has made a specific, spectacular promise to David. 1 Chronicles 17 (and 2 Sam. 7) records David’s intention to build a glorious house for God. However, God tells David that He doesn’t need David to build Him a house. Rather, God will be build David a house and will give to David a descendant who will build a house for God’s name and God will establishe his throne forever. What makes this promise so astonishing is not just that David has been chosen by God for this blessing, but that, not long after this promise is made, David sins against God and commits adultery and murder. From his interaction with Nathan the prophet and from Psalm 51, it is clear that David knows that God should condemn him but he calls on God’s unfailing love for His unfaithful people according to His promises that he would not be rejected. David also understands the two-fold nature of the promises of God. He knows that his son Solomon, whom he is charging to build the temple, is but a type of the Son who would come and that the temple, which he has prepared for Solomon to build, will be but “a copy and shadow” of that temple which the greater Son of David would build for the name of God. David knows Jacob’s promise to Judah, whom David is descended from: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” (Gen 49:10) This descendant whom God had promised to Judah and to David is Jesus of whom God has said “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” (Heb. 1:5) and of the Son He says, “Your thone, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.” (Heb. 1:8) David rejoices because he knows that God’s promise that he would have a son who would build God a house is not limited to a wood building for the worship of God with a divider between God and His people due to their sinfulness. Rather, David has joy knowing that a greater fulfillment of the promise will occur where our sins, though as scarlet, shall be as white as the snow. (Is. 1:18) By Christ’s work, all of God’s people are now the temple of God because His Holy Spirit dwells in every believer (1 Cor. 6:19 -20). And God’s people, the church, are being built up together into a temple for God’s presence. As Paul says, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” [Eph. 2:19-22] Just like David, these promises should astound us. All who believe on Christ are no longer under condemnation for their sins. Rather, the love of God rests upon us and there is no one and no thing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We need to read, know, memorize and believe what God tells us about ourselves and what God promises to us in Christ. God’s intention is that we know who we are so that His promises of forgiveness of our sins by the work of Christ would become a delight to us. Out of our delight in being promised the forgiveness of so much, we will be free in sharing our lives and our possessions with others so that they too might hear of and believe God’s great promises. Therefore, let us give ourselves to knowing all of the promises of God and pray that God would create joy within us over His promises. God seeks to create a joyously generous people by …
… providing us with all we possess. (v. 12, 14 & 16) David and his leaders are glad to give generously toward the building of the temple because, third, they know that everything they possess is not their own.David and his leaders know that the wealth and power of their nation has come about because of God’s work through their fighting, ruling and even resting (Ps. 21). David knows that God choose him to be king over Israel and anointed him with His Holy Spirit to serve in that office, just as God had done for Saul before him. David doesn’t think much of himself even though he has seen victory over a lion, a bear, a giant and his people’s enemies. Rather, he knows that God is the one who has delivered him from all his enemies (Ps. 23:5) and David is humbled by God’s favor toward him. (2 Sam. 7:18) David knows that his security is found in the Lord Himself and not in anything in this world (Ps. 27:1). Since David and his leaders know the truth about themselves and what they possess, they are not deluded into thinking that their efforts established their position in the kingdom, created their wealth or achieved the skills and knowledge that they wield. These men know their Old Testament and so they know that Abraham’s, Isaac’s, Jacob’s, Joseph’s and the Israelite’s increase in material wealth and position of honor all came about because of God’s hand moving on their behalf. David is very clear that all the wealth that they are giving for the construction of the temple is actually God’s and that they only returning that wealth to its rightful owner. What David is saying in these verses is repeated through the bible. Job says, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away, blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21 ) Daniel proclaims, “[God] removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” (Dan. 2:21) Paul says that “[God] himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:25 ) God has not only given us physical life, knowledge and possessions. In addition, by the work of His Son, Jesus, we also have been given gifts by the Holy Spirit for use in our life together as a church family that we might demonstrate the glory of God as we serve one another. Paul tells us, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Cor. 12:4-7). How God has gifted the body of Christ is described in a few different passages. For example, there are gifts of teaching, administration, giving, compassion, service, exhortation, prophecy, tongues, intrepretation of tongues and others. ( Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:8-10) The life of the Lord Jesus Christ has resulted in us receiving gifts that we might use them in the service of others. When I look at my own life, I can see how my understanding of my skills, knowledge, wealth and even my existence affects everything about me. When I was in college, I regularly worked myself into a corner thinking that everything I was learning depended upon me. There were times when I could study my head off and still be confused by what I was trying to learn. I don’t remember how or when a change occurred but I do remember distinctly that somewhere along the way I learned that I was not in control of even my knowledge, God is. In learning this, I found I still had to expend effort to gain knowledge but it caused me to see why I grow in knowledge. During times of self-reliance, God, in His mercy, would bring me to my senses and I would confess my prideful attitude and express my dependence upon Him. I know it may sound odd to someone who has not experienced this but I often found God bringing to my mind the things I couldn’t remember even with all my trying and other times I just had a sense of peace knowing that God is giver of all things. God teaching me that my life, my work and all that I own belongs to Him. To this day, I still need to stop at work and just turn my attention to Him and confess my sinful belief that I can do everything on my own. If we don’t believe that everything we possess, whether material or immaterial, has come from God’s hand and belongs to God, then we will hold on to it with a tight fist and act as if we are the sole reason for and sole determiner of what should be done with it. God has given us wealth, wisdom, knowledge, gifts and everything else so that we might use them in the service of His kingdom. We should take to heart God’s warning and promise that “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (2 Cor. 9:6) As Christians, we are called to use our treasure here to store up treasure in heaven. Jesus warns us that our hearts will be where our treasure is. (Matt. 6:21) We should daily check our hearts to see if we are trusting in our wealth, position or abilities. And we should ask God to open our eyes to opportunities to share with others what God has given to us. Since God wants us to be a people who gladly serve others by the giving of what we possess, He freely gives to us everything that we have. We need to see ourselves as stewards of God entrusted possessions and seek to imitate God’s heart by being joyfully generous in our giving of what we possess. God seeks to create a joyously generous people by …
… convincing us that He is our greatest treasure. (v. 16 & 17) David and his leaders are glad to give generously toward the building of the temple because, fourth, they know that God’s promise that they can enter into His presence for worship is of greater worth than anything they possess. David knows who God is, he believes what God has promised and he believes that his greatest joy is found in God Himself. David says in Psalm 63, “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” He is saying that it is better to be loved by God than to be physically alive here on earth and that these thoughts bring forth worship within him. David is taken up with love for God because He believes that possessing God is better than possessing anything else. When the nation of Israel was about to enter into the promised land, God explained that when they entered the land, the land would not be divided for the descendants of Levi as it would be for the other tribes. The Levites, whom God had designated to serve in the tabernacle, would receive no inheritance or possession in the land but, instead, would receive God as their inheritance and possession. (Num. 18:20, Deut. 18:2, Ezek. 44:28) David is not a descedant of Levi so he cannot serve in the worship of God, being near to the presence of God. But David clearly believes that being near the presence of God is a great treasure, saying in Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.” God’s promise of a relationship where He will be their God and they will be His people causes David and his leaders to rejoice and long for a greater expression of their worship of God. Therefore, they generously give for the construction of the temple. David wants to construct a temple so that the nation of Israel might enter into the worship of God as He has prescribed. It is clear from Solomon’s statements that they are not building a temple because they think it will contain God because they know that heaven and the highest heavens cannot contain Him. (2 Chr. 2:6) Although they take care and expend tremendous effort to make this physical structure beautiful and dazzling inside and out, the main purpose of the construction of the temple is to have a place to worship God. (2 Chr. 2:4-5) David and his leaders know that to have God dwelling in their midst, albeit separated from them by the outer room and the veil in the temple, is more desirable than even their wealth. God had promised to no other nation on the face of the earth that He would dwell among them as their God. Therefore, David gladly gives of his nation’s wealth (1 Chr. 22) and his personal wealth for the construction of this temple. It is interesting to note that David will not see the completion of this temple. God has explicitly told David that Solomon will build the temple on Mount Moriah . But David gladly gives abundantly for the construction of the temple as he moves towards death so that the name of God would be honored among his people, even after he is gone. David is going to depart this life to be in the Lord’s presence but he maintains a desire to build the temple so that others will learn of and worship the one true God who exists. And David waits expectantly for the complete fulfillment of God’s promise to him that God would establish one of his descendants forever who would build a permanent dwelling place for God to be worshipped in. Jesus, too, believed what God had promised and believed that what God had promised was best. David’s greater Son, Jesus, sacrificed much to build a permanent temple for God’s holy name. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, emptied Himself and took on human flesh. He suffered all the indignities of life in this fallen world. He was rejected by His own. He was accused of being the devil. He was ill-treated, tortured, mocked and crucified. He suffered His Father’s condemnation for our sins. Jesus gave up more than gold, silver, iron and bronze to build a temple for God to dwell in. Jesus considered the glory of God’s name to be of greater worth than all that He gave up. This temple, the church, displays the glory of God’s name and is the place where the worship of God now takes place. Jesus counted it all joy to build this temple to honor God’s name through His sacrifice. I know it is not the same degree of sacrifice or joy but parents do similar things for the good of their children. I work with an individual from another country who was sent to the United States as little child to live with relatives while the parents remained behind. The parents were convinced that this course of action held out the greatest promise for their little child and so they made this difficult decision. It is astonishing to me that a parent could love their child so much that they would willing suffer so great a loss for someone else’s gain (they considered gain for themselves too). The parents made this choice because they believed that not having the joy of their child growing up with them was nothing compared to the value of the opportunities this land presented for their child. Knowing that we are obtaining something of greater value leads us to suffer loss with joy. What this means for us is that we need to examine how we feel about what God has promised to us. We can easily move through this life knowing that God exists and even say that we believe God’s promises. But the question is, do we believe that what God has promised is better than all the other promises held out to us by the pleasures of this world. If we do not believe that what God has promised is the best thing we could receive, then we will worship someone or something else no matter what we claim to the contrary. We are being constantly tempted, whether rich or poor, to believe that what we possess is a great treasure that will bring us happiness. We should ask God to help us by making us more like Paul when he said that he “count[s] everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Phil. 3:7-8) We need to value knowing Christ and view our possessions as tools given to us by God for the building up of His temple, his church. Let us encourage one another to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, believing that what He has promised to us in Christ is greater than any treasure we might find here. God will answer our prayer since He is seeking to create a people who are joyously generous with all they possess by helping us to believe that seeking and finding Him is our greatest treasure. God seeks to create a joyously generous people by …
… giving us hearts that delight to follow Him. (v. 18-20) David and his leaders are glad to give generously toward the building of the temple because, lastly, their hearts are delighted to obey God. David knows that the free and glad giving of his leaders has come from a heart that is directed towards God. This type of heart is delightful to God Himself. When God was going to take the kingship away from Saul and give it to David, God said He was looking for a man after God’s own heart. (1 Sam. 13:14) And prior to that God had commanded Saul saying, “Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart.” (1 Sam. 12:24) God repeatedly says in the bible that glad obedience is better than animal sacrifices. In Deutronomy 11, God speaking through Moses says to the people of Israel , “You shall therefore love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules and his commandments always” and “serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” David knows that at Mount Sinai , within days of having promised to always obey God, the Israelites disobeyed God by rejecting Him and serving a golden calf and the many pleasures of sin. And David is no different than any other Israelite in that He himself has disobeyed God. David knows that the hearts of his people, including himself, are not naturally inclined to love God and follow Him. Therefore, David knows that what he sees in his heart and the hearts of his leaders at this time could only have been brought about by God. Only God can produce a heart of obedience from right affections. In knowing the wickedness of his own heart, David knows that their only hope is that God would do what they cannot do for themselves. Therefore, David prays that God would make a permanent change in the hearts of his people that they might always be directed towards God. We can know that what David is praying for here is in accord with what God intends to accomplish because God has told us that He would establish a new covenant with His people not like the one He made at Mount Sinai . (Jer. 31:31-32) God has promised that He would forgive the sin of His people and give His people a new heart with His law written upon it. (Jer 31:33-34) In addition, God has promised that He would place His own Spirit within His people so that they might be faithful to do all that He has commanded of them. (Ezek. 36:27) So, David prays for God to bring about the new covenant for his people. When Jesus comes, He is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David and God’s answer to David’s prayer. Jesus is building a permanent dwelling for God by sprinkling the hearts of God’s people to make them clean, giving His people a new heart that delights in God and sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in each believer. The kingdom of Christ has come and it rules in the hearts of God’s people and the final fulfillment of what God has promised will come when Christ returns for his church. Therefore, we should pray that God would increase the fulfillment of His promise in our lives by causing us to love and obey Him in greater and deeper ways. We should also pray that God would do this work in our brothers and sisters in this church as well. And we should pray that God would apply the work of Christ to more people that we live among in Rock County. As our hearts increase in willingness to follow God, we will be more willing to give generously of ourselves, our gifts and our possessions as God reveals opportunities to do so. So let us pray for one another, as David prays for his people, that God might keep our hearts inclined to follow Him and direct our hearts towards Him always so that we might obey Him in everything, becoming as joyfully generous as David and his leaders were. God seeks to create a joyously generous people by …
© Copyright 2008 Dave Cullum
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