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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Chapter a Day Audio Bible. I'm
Speaker 1: John Stangey, and today we're in First Chronicles, chapter twenty nine,
Speaker 1: and we'll be reading from the contemporary English version. David
Speaker 1: told the crowd God chose my son Solomon to build
Speaker 1: the temple. But Solomon is young and has no experience.
Speaker 1: This is not just any building. This is the temple
Speaker 1: for the Lord God. That is why I have done
Speaker 1: my best to get everything Solomon will need to build it. Gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, onyx,
Speaker 1: turquoise colored gems, all kinds of precious stones and marble.
Speaker 1: Besides doing all that, I have promised to give part
Speaker 1: of my own gold and since as a way of
Speaker 1: showing my love for God's Temple, almost one hundred twenty
Speaker 1: tons of my finest gold and over two hundred fifty
Speaker 1: tons of my silver will be used to decorate its
Speaker 1: walls and to make the gold and silver objects. Now,
Speaker 1: who else will show their dedication to the Lord by
Speaker 1: giving gifts for building his temple. After David finished speaking,
Speaker 1: the family leaders the tribal leaders, the army commanders, and
Speaker 1: the government officials voluntarily gave gifts for the temple. These
Speaker 1: gifts included almost two hundred tons of gold, three hundred
Speaker 1: eighty tons of silver, almost seven hundred tons of bronze,
Speaker 1: and three thousand, seven hundred fifty tons of iron. Everyone
Speaker 1: who owned precious stones also donated them to the temple treasury,
Speaker 1: where Jaheel from the Levite clan of Gershan guarded them.
Speaker 1: David and the people were very happy that so much
Speaker 1: had been given to the Lord, and they all celebrated
Speaker 1: then in front of everyone, David saying praises to the Lord.
Speaker 1: I praise you forever. Lord, you are the God, are
Speaker 1: ancestor Jacob worshiped. Your power is great, and your glory
Speaker 1: is seen everywhere in heaven and on earth. You are
Speaker 1: king of the entire world, and you rule with strength
Speaker 1: and power. You make people rich and powerful and famous.
Speaker 1: We thank you, our God, and praise you. But why
Speaker 1: should we be happy that we have given you these gifts.
Speaker 1: They belong to you, and we have only given back
Speaker 1: what is already yours. We are only foreigners living here
Speaker 1: on earth for a while, just as our ancestors were,
Speaker 1: and we will soon be gone, like a shadow that
Speaker 1: suddenly disappears. Our Lord God, we have brought all these
Speaker 1: things for building a temple to honor you. They belong
Speaker 1: to you, and you gave them to us. But we
Speaker 1: are happy because everyone has voluntarily given you these things.
Speaker 1: You know what is in everyone's heart, and you are pleased.
Speaker 1: When people are honest, always make us eager to give,
Speaker 1: and help us be faithful to you, just as our
Speaker 1: ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob faithfully worshiped you, and give
Speaker 1: Solomon the desire to completely obey your laws and teachings,
Speaker 1: and the desire to build the temple for which I
Speaker 1: have provided these gifts. David then said to the people,
Speaker 1: now it's your turn to praise the Lord, the god
Speaker 1: your ancestors worshiped. So everyone praised the Lord, and they
Speaker 1: bowed down to honor him and David their king. The
Speaker 1: next day, the Israelites slaughtered a thousand bulls, a thousand rams,
Speaker 1: and a thousand lambs, and they offered them as sacrifices
Speaker 1: to please the Lord, along with offerings of wine. The
Speaker 1: people were very happy, and they ate and drank there
Speaker 1: at the Lord's altar. That same day, Solomon was crowned king.
Speaker 1: The people celebrated and poured olive oil on Solomon's head
Speaker 1: to show that he would be their next king. They
Speaker 1: also poured oil on Zadok's head to show that he
Speaker 1: was their priest. So Solomon became king after David his father.
Speaker 1: Solomon was successful and everyone in Israel obeyed him. Every
Speaker 1: official and every soldier, as well as all of David's
Speaker 1: other sons, were loyal to him. The Lord made Solomon
Speaker 1: a great king, and the whole nation was amazed at
Speaker 1: how famous he was. In fact, no other king of
Speaker 1: Israel was as great as Solomon. David, the son of Jesse,
Speaker 1: was king of Israel for forty years. He ruled from
Speaker 1: Hebron for seven years and from Jerusalem for thirty three years.
Speaker 1: David was rich and respected and lived to be an
Speaker 1: old man. Then he died and his son Solomon became king.
Speaker 1: Everything David did while he was king is included in
Speaker 1: the history written by the prophets Samuel, Nathan and God.
Speaker 1: They wrote about his powerful rule and about the things
Speaker 1: that happened not only to him, but also to Israel
Speaker 1: and the other nations. Let's pray, Lord, we thank you
Speaker 1: for your word and for giving us the privilege to
Speaker 1: be able to look at this portion of scripture today.
Speaker 1: And as we look at this portion of your word today,
Speaker 1: we see David being eager to generously give that which
Speaker 1: you had entrusted to him so that it could be
Speaker 1: used in building the temple under Solomon's reign. And Lord,
Speaker 1: we see that David's example inspired the people of Israel
Speaker 1: to be generous and to give over to you things
Speaker 1: that you had blessed them with, so that those gifts
Speaker 1: could be used in the building of your temple. And Lord,
Speaker 1: we could see that David was desirous of worshiping you,
Speaker 1: and he was encouraging to the other people of Israel
Speaker 1: that they would also become worshipers of You, who were
Speaker 1: fully devoted to you and who looked at the things
Speaker 1: that you had entrusted to them as simply stewardships and
Speaker 1: not really things that actually belong to us. And Lord,
Speaker 1: we pray that that would be our mindset as well, Lord,
Speaker 1: as men and women who have come to know you
Speaker 1: through faith in your son Jesus Christ, the Ultimate King
Speaker 1: of Israel. We pray Lord, that we would be people
Speaker 1: who look at everything that you've entrusted to us, whether
Speaker 1: it be financial resources, or whether it be time, or
Speaker 1: whether it be a talent or a spiritual gift, And
Speaker 1: that we would look at these things as stewardships, as
Speaker 1: things loan to us for a brief period of time.
Speaker 1: Our lives are but shadows, and that we would use
Speaker 1: these things to worship you and to bring glory to
Speaker 1: your name, never marrying our hearts to the things that
Speaker 1: you entrust to us, but always recognizing that anything that
Speaker 1: we have is a gift from you that you call
Speaker 1: us to use for your glory. So Lord, we pray
Speaker 1: that that would be our mindset and perspective today and
Speaker 1: every day that we live. We thank you for your goodness,
Speaker 1: We thank you for your grace, and we thank you
Speaker 1: for your love. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen,