Voice of the Nazarene 7-23-23

I'm coming to you from North Central Ohio, we share with you the voice of the Nazarene, a week by week venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We joined our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle, and the voice of the Nazarene.

We've been talking about David being the shepherd boy, and becoming the king bit of series.

And I thought maybe perhaps we'd end last week and thought, how can I really end without gently taking you by the hand and walking you back through the Sands of Time? Past the ancient civilizations in our cake ruins into an old historic castle. A man lays dying it doesn't matter whether it's a modern day hospital or back before the doctors, men die. And you pick up the account in First Kings chapter two, verse one, now the days of David drew nigh, that he should die. And he charged Solomon his son saying, I go the way of all the earth, you're going that way. My dad talked about wanting to go to heaven through a hole in the sky, but I had to put my dad in a hole in the ground. I cannot promise you that Christ will come in my lifetime. I don't know you don't either. But if not, we're all going the way of all of the earth. And he said, Be strong son. Show yourself a man and keep the charge of the Lord thy God. To walk in his ways to keep his statutes, and his commandments and his judgments and his testimonies. It's a time of passing away. And as the king is dying, he's saying I'm going the way of all of the earth.

The ticking clock has finally quit. The sands have all run through the hourglass. Final page is being torn out of the calendar. However long the day of life there comes a moment when the evening closes in the sunrises but the shadows fall on life. Man's days are short, full of trouble.

Begins with the womb but it's going to end with a tomb. And that monument is finally erected or the creaking sound of a door on a mousoleum. The date of death is engraved and etched in stone. From dust, thou cometh stand to dust thou shalt return.

Long, long ago in the book of Joshua chapter 23 in verse 14.

Joshua 23 · chapter mention

The same words were said, I go the way of all of the earth. Be thou strong and courageous.

Everyone dies they died last year they're dying this year.

They'll die next year. And here's a dying King saying the Solomon his son the new king, that Kings die. Jesus didn't void the way of all the earth but he also tread that thing called death. Spread eagle on a cross the Bible said that he gave up the ghost and his head fell on a pulseless bosom. He trod that path. The Antediluvians thought they'd never die. They lived to be about 1000 years of age. Lamech make live 777 years but it said then he died. Seth of 912 years and he died. Adam lived 930 years and then he died. Noah lived 950 years and it said and he died. Jared lived 962 years.

Methuselah 969 years. I think Adam thought I'll not die after all. Surely the curse didn't mean me but he died and all of his descendants would die. Long after the flood Moses, there in the desert said man's day, threescore and 10 years. 70 years after that its borrowed time. Jesus only let me use them to brighten my life.

Your day on Earth won't be forever. I got a call during the district assembly yesterday. And I couldn't take the call. And when they broke for lunch, I got in my car and started up the road and I returned the call to my sister in law. If you throw up a picture, I'd appreciate it.

She said, Ray, I've got bad news your brother died last night.

Death comes to all of us.

The king died. There comes that time that we pass away and the time to pass the torch. David made a lot of mistakes. He blew it in a lot of ways. He messed up.

He came up short. He failed. But David made a great comeback. And David influenced his family by his relationship with God. They saw their daddy repent. They saw Him inquire of the Lord to try to find directions. What an example. They heard his testimonies of what God had done for him. And they watched him praise and magnify God. They saw his heart for God. They read his Psalms, they saw him take responsibility for his own actions. And David cast the vision for his family. One of those visions was to build God a house build him a temple. That they'd have a way on Earth that they could meet with their God, everybody ought to have a house for God. A place where you can worship. And not only did he talk about that place, but he gave to the vision financially.

Not everybody does that. I would say to you as a pastor, and I've said this before, why we believe in a 10th of our income going to God and I tried to set that example. I believe that all of us ought to leave at least about a 10th of what we've accumulated in life, to the ministry and to the church, somewhere in our will. David paved the way for the Messiah Jesus came of the direct lineage of David. He provided sacred writings for the Old Testament. I believe that he provided a living example of how a merciful God can take an imperfect people and forgive them if they will come clean. He showed us what a man after God’s own heart looks like and what he acts like. He left a value system for his family to follow.

A lot of things in David’s life.

He experienced the take down of a giant. He knew what it meant to be anointed to be the king.

He understood what it meant to have his brothers mock him. Also the jealousy of King Saul. In life the failing of adultery. He knew what it meant to have the undermining of one of his sons.

He experienced the death of some of his own children during his lifetime. And when I look at David's life, I realize that God, first of all will take you, a nobody, to make you into somebody. That he wants to make us somebody to use to defeat a few giants in this world. He wants to use you to affect a nation by your leadership. I believe he wants you to know that you may have a time that maybe in life, you will become a fugitive but that He will be with you. And even as fugitive, that you need to keep your integrity and be kind and show mercy and forgiveness. It may be that God would allow you like David to have some discontented people to surround you. And may you have the influence to impact them to become men and women, for God. And when you find any leadership in life, that you will guard your own heart and be careful to keep your heart right and not allow pride or idleness to bring you down. And David finished strong. And we can too.

And what I'm trying to say to you in a poor way is to get ready to die. You need to die, Well. Now he never saw the temple built himself. For 40 years he ruled and he took the kingship at age 30 ruled for 40 years died at 70 years of age but he gathered material. He never got the house built. Kind of reminds me of Moses, leaving the children of Israel for 40 years toward the promised land and right up to the brink of the water and he can see into the land but God never allowed him to enter. Some things had happened in his life. But God cared enough about Moses that he took out a golden shovel and dug a grave for him and buried him somewhere out in the valley of Moab. Neither man nor devils have ever been able to find the body of the great Moses. Bible said that the devil contended for his body. But Michael the Archangel withstood him. Moses, Deuteronomy 31 verse six: passes the torch on to Joshua, and said Be strong and courageous and of good courage and get the people into the Promised Land. Now as I read through the life of David, I wondered if he had any regrets. It seems as though to me that he had some unfinished business to contend with on his deathbed. I found that the older you get, and the longer you live, that sometimes there's regrets that you deal with in later years, things that you wish you had handled, things that you wished you did a little differently. Things that you wish that you could redo. Now David is passing the torch on to his son, Solomon. And here's what he says. He said, first of all, be thou strong. Verse Two out of 2930 people mentioned in the Bible, one of these is Solomon said to be the wisest king that ever lived. And David is passing on to his son Solomon advice. And he said, Be strong.

You don't want that means. It means take responsibility. Have you ever had your family, your children, you tried to say to them, you need to take some responsibility for your choices.

And for your decisions in life be responsible. He said also keep the charge of the Lord in verse three, and then he mentions about handling your enemies. This is one of the most important things I think that you can conceive in your thinking handle well, your enemies, most of us have a few 100. And in verse five, he mentioned Joab. He's on his deathbed, but he's concerned about the future of his son and this guy named Joab. And he reminded Solomon how Joab had deceived Abner. I don't know if you know the story. Abner was an older leader and the younger brother of Joab sought the life of Abner. And he was young and strong and fast and fleet footed and he was out running the old soldier and about to catch up with him and Abner called over his shoulder. I don't want to kill you. I don't want to take your life quit, but he wouldn't stop. And instead of taking his spear and turning around and driving it into Abner, he drove it into the ground. And the young man was running so fast he ran on to the back of the spear and died. Joab hated Abner for this accidental death and Abner had fled to a city of refuge as as long as he stayed on the inside for seven years, till the year of Jubilee came, nobody could touch him. But Joab came and called to him and said, We're buddies, and we need to talk and got him to step outside and then took a dagger and drove it into Abner and killed him.

And David when he found out said, Abner died, as a fool dieth. He didn’t have to leave that safety zone. You got deceived by Joab he's a deceiver. Joab had also killed Amasa, who David had replaced his general instead of Joab.

When Absalom, the son of David, began to try to steal the kingdom from his father and a war developed. David had said as they went out to battle deal gently with my son Absalom. He loved that boy that hated his dad. And Joab chasing this young man, Absalom and his mule went under a low branches of a tree and the tree branches caught him and there he dangled helplessly and Joab circled him on his horse and took out some darts and threw them and killed Absalom. And evidently, Joab was someone Solomon needed to deal with quickly.

Some folk need to be cut off from your life. There are some relationships that need to be severed. People will ruin your name. There are people who don't need to be in your life people that want to ride your coattails. I could go on and on but I'll let it ride. Verse eight mentioned Shammah and when David was running for his life, barefoot trying to escape, he came to the crossing of a brook Shammah saw him and begin to curse him and picked up stones and threw them at him. His armor bearer, Should I kill him David?

David said, No. Maybe God said curse David today. I don't know why, but let it go. And what I'm simply saying, I believe he was telling Solomon, put that kind of a man on a short leash, you need to keep them in view. In view, you need to watch your enemies. Verse 13, mentions Adonijah, the half brother of Solomon. And following David death, he tried to get a following behind him to steal the kingdom. He even went to Solomon's mother and tried to get sympathy and ask her to influence Solomon to allow him to marry one of David's concubines, and Solomon realized it was a political move to steal the kingdom. Then in verse seven, David says, show kindness to the sons of Barzillai, who showed mercy to David. There are people who are kind to your family. You need to recognize kindness. People who were good to your family, like your brother, your sisters, your mom or your dad, and he's saying be kind to them deal loyally. He said, Let them eat at your table. And he said, When I was fleeing from your brother, Absalom, they were kind to me, Solomon. He said, there are some people out there that you don't know who they are. You don't have the least idea who, that they even exist. And he said there are people that I didn't treat very well. And I'm dying now. And they were good to me.

And they helped me and they put up with me when I was rotten to them. They held my hand when I was down they stayed right at my side when even my own flesh and blood were disloyal. And Solomon I never really thanked them. I didn't know how, I couldn't get it said, I couldn't get it out.

Don't ignore them. Be kind to them, include them. High school teacher in the final week of school, told the class that you need to understand something, some of you're going off to college. You're young. You've got your future ahead you've got on your mind just a good time.

Some of you are going off to jobs. It's the final week, a couple of days, there'll be the prom and you'll graduate. And I'd like to challenge all of you students, sit down and take a moment to write a letter to your mother and your father. And thank them for the years of sacrifice. The time they shared advice, the money they spent on you, what it took to get you to this point, write a letter of thank you and one young man sit down, and he wrote a letter to his folks. And he said to them in that letter, what he was unable to say to them in person, how much he appreciated their sacrifice and their hard work.

His parents were quite shy, and they never said much of anything. But he handed them the letter, and they glanced at it and instead of going down through it in front of him, they leaned it up on the mirror on their dresser and he went off to prom. Nothing was ever said about that letter again. He thought about it, wondered why they didn't say anything. But he knew they were introverts. They died 30 years later, he was going through things trying to get everything in order and get rid of what didn't need to be around. And in a drawer he found carefully folded that letter. It looked like a certificate of deposit to them. Like a deed for the house and they cherished that letter, and although they had been unable to say thank you, in their hearts for 30 some years they'd stored that letter and read it on occasion. And here's Solomon. He said, Son, be kind to those. Then David reminds his son that he'll need understanding. Boy, don't we need understanding? And so Solomon prays for two things. He prays first of all for wisdom.

He said in verse seven, I'm but a little child, God, I don't know how to go out or to come in verse nine. Give there for thy servants and understanding heart that I'm a discern, between good and bad. And God, were so pleased with that prayer for wisdom. That he even tells you and I that any man like wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth liberally. God was so pleased that he gave him riches also.

And He gave him longevity of life. Solomon composed around 3000 Proverbs. Out of the 3000 only 800 got into that book that is called the Book of Proverbs.

And I just stop for a moment and remind you that a proverb is a proverb is it's a wisdom, thought. It's not a promise, it's a proverb. A promise is a promise, a parable is a parable.

But a proverb, is a proverb, and don't ever make a proverb, a promise, because it's not a promise. It's a proverb, it's a note of wisdom. And he had sat down and researched and come up with all these special little wisdom thoughts. Song of Solomon was probably written in his early years, the Proverbs in the mid activities of life, the Ecclesiastes, in the latter years. And then David reminds his son that he needed to build a temple. And so Solomon asks for a second thing for worship, wisdom, and worship, how to worship. And he writes here in

1, it came to pass when Solomon finished building, the house of the Lord and the king's house, and all Solomon's desires, which he wanted to do, that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time as he appeared to him. And the Lord said to him, I've heard your prayer and your supplication that you've made before me. I've consecrated this house, which you built to put my name there forever, my eyes, my heart, will be there perpetually. Now, if you walk before me as your father David walked in integrity of heart, and in uprightness to do according to all that I've commanded you, and you keep my statutes and my judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever. As I promised David your father saying you shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel. Now the Temple of Solomon was arranged for by David but built by Solomon. 90 feet long 30 feet wide, three stories high. Estimated about 23 tons of gold involved in the building from Solomon's gold mines. Tremendous labor force was involved a workforce of 30,000 employed to cut down the timbers from the cedars of Lebanon. Some 80,000 cutters of stone from the quarries of Jerusalem. 70,000 ordinary workmen and it was completed in seven years, but it wasn't in

1 says, And it came to pass when the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the Holy of Holies. A cloud filled the room to hide God's presence. And God made a promise that they would come and pray they would hear from heaven. God would heal their land. And I believe God will keep that same promise. I believe the hope for America is when the people of God come to his house and pray and seek His face and humble themselves. I believe restoration can come. I don't think it's gonna come to the White House. You may not like me for that. But I think it's going to be the church house, God's house, and people calling on God. Unfortunately, Solomon didn't keep all the commandments of God as his father had. And at his death, the kingdom was divided. Fact of the matter, later Israel was conquered and went into exile for 400 years.

What are the lessons, Pastor, that you would learn from David and Solomon? I think there's many can I just mention four in closing? Number one, a good beginning doesn't always guarantee a good end. But I believe it helps. And lesson two, God looks for things and sees things that we cannot see in the heart of a person. God looks at the heart.

And lesson three, no matter how far we fall, God is willing to reach just that far down to forgive. If we truly mean it.

And lesson four, being a person after God's own heart doesn't mean that that person was perfect. It just meant that they loved God, and tried somehow to remain faithful through the years. He said, I go the way of all of the earth. And it's quiet in that room. The Angel of Death is gathered. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. And they gathered in that room to take David home.

For he had made out a will on that 23rd Psalm. He said, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. If you haven't made that will out you need to make it forever. In God's great Heaven.

We thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC's Pastor Ray LaSalle. For more information regarding BNC, visit bucyrusnazarene.org.