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Week Fourteen – June 26-July 2, 2016

June 19, 2016 By Leave a Comment

1 Chronicles – The Temple – A Sacred Place for a Sacred People

  • What building in Hoover best represents our city? In Alabama, for our state? In the U.S., for our nation?
  • What’s the most impressive building you’ve ever seen or been in? What stood out about it?
  • What do these buildings symbolize or represent for people?
  • Why are big buildings, monuments, museums, cemeteries or statues important to people?

Listen.

When David first took the throne as king, he realized that he was now living in a fine cedar-walled palace while the place to worship God was still in a tent – as it had been going all the way back to Moses’ years of wandering in the wilderness. God told him that one of his achievements would be to build a permanent place of worship, a temple in Jerusalem. But then David screwed everything up by the terrible decisions he made and there was so much bloodshed involved in regaining and then keeping the throne, that as much as God loved David, he would not let a man with that much blood on his hands be responsible for creating such a sacred space. God’s instrument for this building project would become David’s son Solomon.

David said to Solomon, “My son, I had planned to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood in my sight on the earth. See, a son shall be born to you; he shall be a man of peace. I will give him peace from all his enemies on every side; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He shall be a son to me, and I will be a father to him, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’ Now, my son, the Lord be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the Lord your God, as he has spoken concerning you. Only, may the Lord grant you discretion and understanding, so that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed.  – 1 Chronicles 22: 7-13

So many times it seems like violence was what God wanted to pursue in the Old Testament. What we see here is that violence or war was actually not what God had intended for his people to get what they wanted. In fact, as much as David wanted to pursue God and build him a temple, the fact that he was such a violent man excluded him from being able to build the temple that he had always dreamed of worshiping in. That project would be Solomon’s charge to complete. And God again tries to explain to Solomon through David that Israel will not be protected through armies or even God’s Temple or the Ark of the Covenant being stored there. Israel’s true protection will be through following God’s commands.

  • If every church in our community was razed to the ground and no one was allowed to build a new one, where would you go to connect with God?
  • How would you connect with other Christians?
  • What parts of our Christian community would be the hardest to replicate without a building?
  • What parts would be the easiest?

Remember

Violence cannot achieve the will of God. Neither can buildings.

There is a lot of violence in the Old Testament. But our God is not a God of violence. God of is a God of peace. Violence, anytime it happens, is a result of something counter to the will of God. Many Christians see a connection to Jesus here. For centuries after the construction of the Temple, different Jewish military leaders tried to take it back by force from invaders and reestablish a Jewish kingdom. But Jesus told his followers that their very bodies would now serve as God’s Temple and that the Kingdom of God would never be achieved by violence and for that very reason it could never be defeated by threats like the Roman empire.

Pray

Pray for people around the world who are not able to worship God in the open because of persecution and violence. Pray for people who have had their churches destroyed and their lives threatened because of their faith. Pray for their safety and pray for God to change the hearts of their persecutors.

More

Check out this Minecraft recreation of the Temple in the time of Solomon.

Filed Under: Blog, Summer 2016 Devos, Youth Ministry Blog Tagged With: , , ,

Sermon – August 9, 2015

August 9, 2015 By Leave a Comment

BPUMC_Podcast_Logo“Deception Destroys“, by Rev. Tom Duley

If you’re looking for a good story to read while you’re at the beach or on vacation this summer you might want to look at 2nd Samuel 13-18. It has everything a good beach read should have: incest, jealousy, murder and rebellion as well as Kings, Princes and Princesses. The story revolves around the shenanigans of King David’s royal family. All the elements of a great story are there. The story is worth reading because it’s a cautionary tale about the absolutely destructive nature of self-deception. Unfortunately, like most cautionary tales involving the human tendency to self-deception it has a sad and tragic ending. Perhaps the best part is that you already own the book. It’s right there in your Bible.

This morning we’ll think about the destructive nature of self-deception on personal character, relationships, and politics. But we will go beyond that to think about how we can guard against self-deception and the havoc it wreaks in our lives and human existence in general. We may never be able to rid ourselves completely of the curse of self-deception but we can be aware of our tendency to deceive ourselves and we can look to Jesus to help us move beyond it.

—Tom Duley

The Word

2 Samuel 18: 5-9, 15, 31-33

The king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders concerning Absalom.

So the army went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. The men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the slaughter there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. The battle spread over the face of all the country; and the forest claimed more victims that day than the sword.

Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.

And ten young men, Joab’s armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him, and killed him.

Then the Cushite came; and the Cushite said, “Good tidings for my lord the king! For the Lord has vindicated you this day, delivering you from the power of all who rose up against you.” The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” The Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up to do you harm, be like that young man.”

The king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

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