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Speaker 1: I'm John Stangey, and today we're in First Chronicles, chapter seventeen,
Speaker 1: and we'll be reading from the New English translation. When
Speaker 1: David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan
Speaker 1: the Prophet, Look, I am living in a palace made
Speaker 1: from cedar, while the ark of the Lord's covenant is
Speaker 1: under a tent. Nathan said to David, you should do
Speaker 1: whatever you have in mind, for God is with you.
Speaker 1: That night, God told Nathan the Prophet, go tell my
Speaker 1: servant David, this is what the Lord says. You must
Speaker 1: not build me a house in which to live. For
Speaker 1: I have not lived in a house from the time
Speaker 1: I brought Israe up from Egypt to the present day.
Speaker 1: I have lived in a tent that has been in
Speaker 1: various places wherever I moved throughout Israel. I did not
Speaker 1: say to any of the leaders whom I appointed to
Speaker 1: care for my people Israel, why have you not built
Speaker 1: me a house made from cedar. So now say this
Speaker 1: to my servant, David, this is what the Lord who
Speaker 1: commands armies says. I took you from the pasture and
Speaker 1: from your work as a shepherd to make you a
Speaker 1: leader of my people Israel. I was with you wherever
Speaker 1: you went, and I defeated all your enemies before you.
Speaker 1: Now I will make you as famous as the great
Speaker 1: men of the earth. I will establish a place for
Speaker 1: my people Israel and settle them there. They will live
Speaker 1: there and not be disturbed anymore. Violent men will not
Speaker 1: oppress them again, as they did in the beginning and
Speaker 1: during the time when I appointed judges to lead my
Speaker 1: people Israel. I will subdue all your enemies. I declare
Speaker 1: to you that the Lord will build a dynastic house
Speaker 1: for you. When the time comes for you to die,
Speaker 1: I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons,
Speaker 1: to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom. He
Speaker 1: will build me a house, and I will make his
Speaker 1: dynasty permanent. I will become his father, and he will
Speaker 1: become my son. I will never withhold my loyal love
Speaker 1: from him, as I withheld it from the one who
Speaker 1: ruled before you. I will put him in permanent charge
Speaker 1: of my house and my kingdom. His dynasty will be permanent.
Speaker 1: Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him.
Speaker 1: David went in sat before the Lord and said, who
Speaker 1: am i, O Lord God, and what is my family?
Speaker 1: That you should have brought me to this point? And
Speaker 1: you did not stop there? Oh God, God, you have
Speaker 1: also spoken about the future of your servant's family. You
Speaker 1: have revealed to me what men long to know, O
Speaker 1: Lord God, What more can David say to you? You
Speaker 1: have honored your servant. You have given your servant special recognition,
Speaker 1: Oh Lord, for the sake of your servant, and according
Speaker 1: to your will, you have done this great thing in
Speaker 1: order to reveal your greatness. Oh Lord, there is none
Speaker 1: like you. There is no god besides you. What we
Speaker 1: heard is true, and who is like your people? Israel,
Speaker 1: a unique nation in the earth. Their God went to
Speaker 1: claim a nation for himself. You made a name for
Speaker 1: yourself by doing great and awesome deeds. When you drove
Speaker 1: out nations before your people, whom you had delivered from
Speaker 1: the Egyptian Empire and its gods. You made Israel your
Speaker 1: very own nation for all time. You, O Lord, became
Speaker 1: their God. So now, O Lord, may the promise you
Speaker 1: made about your servant and his family become a permanent reality.
Speaker 1: Do as you promised, so it may become a reality,
Speaker 1: and you may gain lasting fame. As people say, the
Speaker 1: Lord who commands armies is the God of Israel. David's
Speaker 1: dynasty will be established before you. For you, my God,
Speaker 1: have revealed to your servant that you will build a
Speaker 1: dynasty for him. That is why your servant has had
Speaker 1: the courage to pray to you. Now, O Lord, you
Speaker 1: are the true God. You have made this good promise
Speaker 1: to your servant. Now you are willing to bless your
Speaker 1: servant's dynasty so that it may stand permanently before you.
Speaker 1: For you, O Lord, have blessed it, and it will
Speaker 1: be blessed from now on into the future. Let's pray. Lord,
Speaker 1: we thank you for your word, and we thank you
Speaker 1: for allowing us to look at this portion of scripture today.
Speaker 1: And Lord, we know that David was overjoyed as he
Speaker 1: contemplated the many blessings that you had promised him, and
Speaker 1: the fact that you had promised that one of his
Speaker 1: own sons was going to rule and reign on his throne,
Speaker 1: and that you would establish the kingdom of that son.
Speaker 1: And Lord, we know from reading the totality of your word,
Speaker 1: that these were references to your son Jesus Christ, who
Speaker 1: physically speaking, was born through David's line when he took
Speaker 1: on flesh, being one hundred percent God and then one
Speaker 1: hundred percent man at the same time. And Lord, you
Speaker 1: pledge that the kingdom of your son Jesus Christ will
Speaker 1: be built and established forever. And we're so grateful that,
Speaker 1: through faith in Christ, we have the privilege to be
Speaker 1: part of that kingdom. Lord. We thank you for your
Speaker 1: love for us. We thank you for your goodness toward us,
Speaker 1: and we pray Lord that today and every day, that
Speaker 1: our hearts would express the same kind of sincere praise
Speaker 1: that David expressed in this passage. We're grateful for all
Speaker 1: these things, Lord, and we thank you for your love
Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Amen.