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🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵The danger of Bethlehem cradles a king🎵 🎵In the light of that star🎵 🎵Lie the ages in pearl🎵 🎵And that song from afar🎵 🎵Has swept over the world🎵 🎵Every hearth is a flame in the beautiful sea🎵 🎵In the homes of the nations that Jesus is king🎵 🎵We rejoice in the light🎵 🎵And we echo the song🎵 🎵That comes down through the night🎵 🎵From the heavenly throng🎵 🎵And we shout to the lovely evangel they bring🎵 🎵And we greet in his cradle🎵 🎵Our Savior and King🎵 Amen. Brother Remy, do you want to open us with a word of prayer? Amen. Page 271, O Come All Ye Faithful. Page 271, O Come All Ye Faithful. 🎵On the first🎵 Page 271, On the First. 🎵O come all ye faithful🎵 🎵Joyful and triumphant🎵 🎵O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem🎵 Come and behold Him, born the King of Angels. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. Christ the Lord, sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation, O sing all ye bright hosts of heaven above. Glory to God, all glory in the highest. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. Christ the Lord. On the last. Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning. Jesus, to Thee be all glory given. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. Christ the Lord. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Shirk Foundation Baptist Church. Hope everybody had a merry Christmas. Let's go through the bulletin real quick. Does anybody need a bulletin? Just lift up your hand. Anybody? Going once, going twice. All right. On the front cover, we have our verse of the week. It says, For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Luke chapter 2, 11. Of course, one of the most famous verses in all the Bible. And again, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and you got everything that you asked for. And as long as it was something good. All right. And that you celebrated the Savior and He was part of your Christmas celebration. Anyway, on the inside, we have our service times, 10.30 a.m. for Sunday morning service, Sunday evening service, 3.30 p.m. Thursday Bible study, 6.30 p.m. You're at that one right now in case you didn't realize that. And we are in 1 Chronicles chapter 17 tonight. Our praise report, you can see the salvations, baptisms, attendance totals. Those attendance totals are from the week before last. And let's see. We are done with all the Christmas choir stuff and we had a great day on Sunday. And we had, well, I just wanted to say thank you to everybody that brought stuff and everybody that helped with potluck. And the kids did a wonderful job singing. I thought it was their best one yet. And it was very cute. And it was also, they just sang out and did a really good job. So good job, kids. And let's see, coming up this Sunday, don't forget men's preaching night. So the evening service will be all men's preaching. So who's preaching? All right. One, two, three, four, five. All right. Is that a maybe? Is that a... Okay. All right. You're doing that? The Tim Walts? Tim has to do the Tim Walts. You can't do the Tim Walts. I'm just kidding. All right. So cool. We have enough people, it looks like, signed up and probably some more that might not be here right now. And we got a few families out sick, so make sure you pray for them. And let's see. Let's see. The 31st, we're going to have our New Year's Eve. So Thursday, next Thursday is canceled. So if you normally come on a Thursday night, we're going to just move that Thursday night service to Tuesday night, and we're going to bring in the New Year with singing and preaching service at our normal time at 6.30 p.m. We're also going to have games, and we're going to have food. So if you want to bring some kind of food, some kind of snack item, some kind of dessert, why don't you go ahead and make a sign up and, I don't know, maybe we could do some pizza or something. We'll figure it out. But let's see. Just plan on bringing something if you want. If you don't, you can still come to church, obviously. It's not a forced knife to your throat thing. But other than that, we're also going to pray in the New Year. So that's what's important. I'll preach a sermon at 6.30 p.m. So anyway, January 1st is the start of the New Testament challenge. I'll have sheets for everybody on Sunday. And also you can, Miss Molly made a calendar. Also there's a checklist where you can do the whole Bible in one year, and it's the New Testament twice. So if you'd like that, a copy of that, then I can make sure to get that to you. But I will have the New Testament ones out for everybody also. On the 29th. So we can start our New Year off right with the New Testament challenge. That's reading the Bible, or not the whole Bible, but the New Testament in 30 days. And there's a few cheat days in there in case you accidentally miss a couple days. I think there's like three cheat days in there or something like that. So if you get behind, you can just get back on the horse and keep riding, maybe catch up and try to get it done. Let's see, February 1st through 2nd is the SFBC Indy first one-year anniversary. And there will be a soul winning on Saturday, a lunch provided afterward at probably Chipotle. The bowling alley has been rented out for three hours from 2 to 5, and there will be preaching services on Sunday. I'll be preaching both the services there. And February 15th through 18th is the King James Conference. It's off in the distance, but as you know, with an action-packed church like ours, things come really quickly on the calendar. I can't believe it's already the New Year. So anyway, our guest preacher is going to be Pastor Shelley, Pastor Mahia, Pastor Anderson, and I'll be preaching on Sunday evening. So let's see. And if you're listening online, please try to RSVP and just let us know that you're coming so we kind of have an idea. And if you want to make sure you get a reasonably priced hotel room, then you might want to just reserve your hotel room now so that you can have that reasonably. Don't wait until the last minute and think you're going to get a cheap hotel room here because in the nice months here, the hotel room prices go up pretty drastically. So you don't want to be trying to spend $250 a day for a hotel at the conference because that's probably what they'll be. Somewhere around there. So somebody want to say something? No? Okay. I thought I heard some chirping over there. All right. Other than that, let's see. That's all we have for announcements. Go ahead and sing another song and we'll receive the offering. All right. Page 279 in your blue hymn books, Away in a Manger, page 279. Away in a Manger. Allowed on the first. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed. The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head. The stars in the sky looked down where he lay. The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes. But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes. I love thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky. And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh. Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay. Close by me forever and love me I pray. Bless all the dear children in thy tender care. And take us to heaven to live with thee there. Amen. Great singing everyone. At this time we'll receive our offering. And Brother Ramone, can you bless the offering for us? Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much Lord for just another opportunity to gather in your house. We pray you bless everything we do here today. Bless all those that couldn't make it here. And also bless this offering. We bless and hope to give them together. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Turn to First Chronicles chapter 17 in your Bible. First Chronicles chapter 17. Follow along as we read the entire chapter. First Chronicles chapter 17. The Bible reads, Now it came to pass as David sat in his house that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remaineth under curtains. Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart, for God is with thee. And it came to pass the same night that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell David my servant, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in. For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day, but have gone from tent to tent and from one tabernacle to another. Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars? Now therefore, thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheep-coat, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel. And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth. Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place and shall be moved no more, neither shalt the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning. And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore, I tell thee, that the Lord will build thee an house, and it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired, that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me an house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. And I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee, but I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forevermore. According to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. And David the king came and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God, for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God. What can David speak more to thee for the honor of thy servant, for thou knowest thy servant? O Lord, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness in making known all these great things? O Lord, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt? For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people forever, and thou, Lord, became as their God. Therefore now, Lord, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, be established forever, and do as thou hast said. Let it even be established that thy name may be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel, and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee. For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house, therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee. And now, Lord, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant. Now therefore, let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee forever. For thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever. Brother Alex, can you pray for the service? We ask that you preach those wondrous things out of your word, and give us ears to hear, and write those words in our hearts, and send us to work. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. We are in 1 Chronicles 17, and if I was going to title this sermon, it would be The Lord's Covenant with David. And before we move into chapter 17, I just wanted to kind of make sure that I cemented my final point from last week about David's transitioning the ark to the city of David and why that was permitted. So I kind of felt like I rushed through the end there because it just was a long sermon, so I felt like I had to hurry. And so I want to make sure I covered that completely because it does kind of fit with this sermon as well. So that transitioning was taking place. Remember, they were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, and God told them to build a tabernacle that was patterned after the one that was in heaven. But now David is in his stronghold in Zion, and they're in Jerusalem, and he's trying to make it where the Ark of the Covenant is in a place where they can hold worship in a place where it's easier for things to be done. But remember, the high place at Gibeon is where they're doing the sacrifices, so things are kind of divided up. The Philistines had taken the ark and got the emerods. The people were getting the emerods and being cursed by mice and all kinds of plagues. And so really, God's tabernacle hasn't really been in a centralized location this whole time. And they weren't supposed to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, if you remember that. They were supposed to go take the promised land immediately, but the spies that went in, 10 were bad, 2 were good. And so things really didn't work out as the plan was supposed to go. So King David, of course, is a man after God's own heart, and he actually thinks about God and wants to please him, even down to feeling bad about himself in this chapter, dwelling in a nice house and God's presence dwelling in a tabernacle or a tent that he had made for him. It's not even the tabernacle that God said to put the ark into, it's just one that he made himself. That's a nice one, but the difference between, I mean, if we had to live in tents for the rest of our lives, we would understand that that would not be the most comfortable situation to be in. Because especially living here in the Pacific Northwest, in the summertime it wouldn't be so bad, but in the wintertime, nights like last night where the wind was just howling and everything, it just wouldn't be a fun existence. So let's look back at 1 Chronicles 16, verse 39, I just wanted to kind of review a couple of things before we move on to the chapter. So 1 Chronicles 16, 39 says, And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priest, before the tabernacle of the Lord, in the high place that was at Gibeon, to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord upon the altar of the burnt offering continually morning and evening, and to do according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which he commanded Israel. So the law of the Lord is what tells them that they have to continuously do this burnt offering. And there's no exception to this rule, but it's being done in Gibeon, and again, the Ark is in the city of David, it's not even in Jerusalem. It's not at the place where it's going to be once the temple is built. So why is David allowed to move the Ark to Jerusalem in the first place? Well, shouldn't it be at the tabernacle too? Well yes, technically it should be, because that's where the Ark of the Covenant is supposed to be, in the Holy of Holies, in the tabernacle, right? But let's go ahead and go to Psalm chapter 78, and I want to go through this passage again really quickly, but not so quickly that, you know, you don't get it. So, basically, the Old Testament was only supposed to be a temporary testament. It was never going to be forever. I know that dispensationalists will say, well, the New Testament was plan B, or whatever. That the Gentiles were never really supposed to be in on it, but because of this and that and the other thing, whatever. No, the New Testament was always supposed to be the thing. The law, the Old Testament law was only put in place because of transgressions. God had to put some rules in place and to let people understand that what they're doing is a sinful thing, so that they would, the law would be a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ, and that they would understand how sinful they really are. So, Psalm chapter 78 verse 58 says, And they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. When God heard this, he was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel. In other words, what's another word for abhorred? Hated, right? They made him sick. And so, he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh. So, he's talking about, Shiloh was a place where they had the tabernacle at one point. But it says he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh. He said, you're not going to have it here anymore. The tent, so a tabernacle is a tent, right? It's identifying and defining what a tabernacle is. The tent which he placed among men. So, did I read that right? Yes. Okay. And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hands. Of course, again, that's talking about the ark into the hands of the Philistines. And, let's see. Let's skip down to verse 65. It says, Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and he like a mighty man, that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts, again, the emerods there, and he put them to a perpetual reproach. Moreover, he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim. So, like, I just, I want to explain this verse, too, because wouldn't it make sense, I've said this before, wouldn't it make sense that Joseph, being the best of the children of Jacob, would be the one that you would pick to be in the line of the Messiah, who you'd bring the Messiah from? Because he was the best of all Jacob's children. But, that's not how God does things. He picks who he wants to pick because he understands, and he looks through time and sees who the right people to pick are. And, yes, Joseph was the best of all the children. There's no doubt about that. And he blessed the tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh, you know, with lots of children, but in the end, Ephraim and Manasseh were not really great tribes. They were kind of chickens, actually. Ephraim was always the greatest of all the tribes, but a lot of times they chickened out when they should have been fighting. So, anyway, it says he refused them, but chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion, which he loved. So, where's Mount Zion? Well, it's where Judah inherits. And so, that's the place he chose. He chose that specific place. So, why is God allowing David to move this? Why is he allowing him to move the Ark of the Covenant there? Because eventually, that's where he's choosing. But, David doesn't necessarily know that, but that's the way it is. And it says, and he built his sanctuary like the high palaces, like the earth which he hath established forever. He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds, from following the ewes, great with young. He brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. Jacob and Israel are the same people. The same people were also of Israel, if we have believed on Christ. So, he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands. So, and again, David represents Jesus Christ in the Bible. He is, Jesus is called the son of David. So, if you want to look at an Old Testament picture of Christ, you're looking at King David. And David was, you know, obviously loves God a lot. He makes a lot of mistakes in the Bible, but he's still considered a man after God's own heart. He writes all these psalms. And in the beginning of chapter 17, you see him feeling bad that he's in this nice house, built out of wood, built out of cedar, and he's like, God's down there in that tent. His presence in the Ark of the Covenant, remember I showed last week how the Ark of the Covenant, it says, or it was in Joshua, where the Ark of the Covenant is also said to be the presence of the Lord, is the Lord, and he also shows it three times. One as the Ark of the Covenant, one as the Lord, one as the Ark of the Covenant. One as the Ark of the Covenant. So the presence of the Lord is in the Ark of the Covenant, and so David feels bad about this. He's like, why am I sitting here in a nice place and God is in this, sitting under this tent? So God essentially has given King David a license to lead the kingdom and his people into the zenith, or, you know, what is a zenith? Well, it's a time where something is the most powerful and most successful that it's ever gonna be. So Israel's time, the nation of Israel, the physical nation of Israel, the greatest time that it ever had was under King David and when he handed it to Solomon, and Solomon built the temple, and they were the richest and most prosperous they ever were, and there was peace throughout the land, everybody was subject unto Israel because of the groundwork that David laid. And was Solomon a greater king than David? I don't think he was, but most people, they would look at the success of Israel during Solomon's reign and say, that's the zenith of Israel, right? The greatest time of Israel. But there's a reason why that time was great because David laid up all that stuff. David's heart was to build the temple, but David was a bloody man. David went to many wars. Solomon wasn't a bloody man. So God would not allow David to build the temple. He's gonna let Solomon do it. So Solomon had a time of reign, a piece of reign, excuse me, a peaceful reign, and prosperity and wisdom like no one's ever seen on the earth. So, yeah, so God has allowed David, though, to lay all this stuff up and he's blessing his future generations not because of Solomon, because of David. And so this also pictures that transition period in the New Testament, though, I believe, where men are still dying, because we're still dying, right? Our bodies are still dying even now. We're in the New Testament. We're deep into it. And we're still separated from God at this point. We can't see God face to face unless we go to heaven and we still can't see the Father face to face until deeper into the Bible at the very end of the Bible. But eventually, we will be in tabernacles because God compares our bodies to tabernacles, doesn't it? Because tabernacles wear out. Tabernacles, you have to end up retiring tents after a while. If you just leave a tent up and you don't do any maintenance or patch any holes or anything like that, they'll just get beat up by the weather and they'll wither away and die. And that's what happens to us. We get beat up. Eventually, we all are going to die in this room unless Jesus comes back first, as far as we're gonna die physically. In the New Testament, this is still a thing. But think about it. David is trying to transition God being in this tent to this temple. He wants to build a temple where God's not gonna be moving around all the time. He's gonna be in a nice place, like David is, but even better, and that's his vision. He doesn't want God to be having to just move around all over the place, being in a tent that's not worthy of him and all kinds of things like that. But in the New Testament, we are gonna get to a point where we have a tabernacle that can't die. And we're going to be with our king, we're gonna be able to see our king, and we're gonna be in a kingdom that's never gonna perish. That's never gonna fade away. And our king will never die, and neither will we, which is gonna be pretty cool. But right now we're divided, but eventually that is going to change. Look at 1 Chronicles 16, 43. It says, And all the people departed, every man to his house, and David returned to bless his house. So this is the verse I didn't get to. So this is two times in a row where David makes sure to go home and bless his house. Now the first time his wife was nagging at him or whatever and then they got in a big fight and he didn't have any children because of that with her and it really caused a major rift. But see, David does have a heart for his own house. He has major responsibilities as the king. He is a spiritual leader, but he's also the political leader of Israel. And so David finds it though, he finds it important to bless his own household. And there's that term, you've probably heard this term, heavy lies the crown. And I think it's from a Shakespeare play or something, but heavy lies the crown. Leadership is a great burden and responsibility and especially for this guy who's, you know, he's not just a regular king. He's the king of the only God in the whole universe and if he messes up and he does stuff wrong, he's gonna be held accountable. And we see through the Bible that a lot of times he's not really the one that's held accountable. The people suffer because of his bad leadership. So he's got a lot weighing on him, but even so, he still makes sure to go and bless his home. So being responsible for your house is a tremendous pressure for a man also. As a Christian man especially, because there's a lot of responsibility that's put upon our shoulders. It is harder to be a Christian man than it is to be just a man that's not saved. Because most households now have, both the man and the woman are working outside the home. There's a lot less pressure financially for an unsaved household than there is for a saved household. Because the Bible says that the man is supposed to go out and work and earn the money and also leave the house spiritually and be the one that's leading the wife, leading the children, making sure everything is, all the responsibility pretty much falls upon the husband when it comes to those things. And if the home is failing, everything is put on the man's shoulders pretty much. Obviously, wives have responsibilities too. So it's not like everything is the man's fault, but it kind of does all get put on our shoulders. So ultimately, they're not gonna say, well, it's your wife's fault that everything happened. They're always gonna say, it's your fault, buddy. That's how it usually ends up working out. Because God is the one that put us as men. People are like, well, men get all the, do all the cool stuff in church and whatever. It's like, well, yeah, but men also have a lot of the punishment and the ridicule and all the other stuff that goes along with being a failure if you're not doing a good job. So it is a lot of hardship on a man in the Christian life also. Of course, ladies have a lot of hard work and responsibility. I'm not taking anything away from that. I don't want to lay up or be up all night with babies puking on me all night. That's not in my realm of my sphere of things that I enjoy. I don't think ladies enjoy it either, but they're just more suited for it. They can do it and still stay up all day somehow. I just don't understand how they do it. But anyway, I'm not taking away anything from ladies. They are great. You can do things. We get sick, and we're just crippled and in bed. They're sick, and they're just still cooking, still doing laundry. I'm just like, how is this happening? When I had the same cold, I was down for like a week. But anyway, so, you know, but men, you are the king of your own castle. I mean, you might not be King David, but you're still the king of your own castle, right? We're priests and kings unto our God, and don't forget to bless your own house, I guess is the lesson here. David, all the responsibility he had, he still came home and blessed his own house. When you walk home through that door, forget all the garbage at your work, forget all the stuff that's bogging you down in life, go home and put on a good face for your family, and make sure you play with your kids, and love your wife, and bless your home. But you know what's not a blessing? When you come home and you're just a grump, and you just don't want to have any, you just want to retreat and not have anything to do with your family, that's not being a blessing. You bring that attitude home with you at the end of the day, and it's gonna rub off on everybody else in the family. I know that sometimes it's hard not to bring stress home with you, but one thing that annoyed me about working out in the workforce is when people would bring their crap to work with them. Some people just can't help but do that, but it always annoyed me when people would be in a bad mood at work. Obviously, if your whole life is crashing down, I understand that, but if you've just gotten some tiff, just set that stuff to the side and get your job done. You can just have fun at work, and then when you go home, you can be upset again. Unless you're getting a divorce or some major catastrophe's happened, you shouldn't bring your problems to work with you. It's unprofessional, and it's kind of childish, actually. No one wants to work with some grump all day, or just get saved. Nobody wants to work with a grump. Anyway, let's go ahead and dive into chapter 17. David, of course, does put God first, and we always men should. Obviously, bless your home. God's first. Family is second, obviously, but don't use, I was just doing this because God's first, and then you never spend time with your family. Of course, you have to make time for your family and just have a balance in your life. Anyway, number one tonight. David puts God first in his heart. Look at verse number one. It says, Now it came to pass as David sat in his house that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remaineth under curtains. Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart, for God is with thee. Again, David here is thinking about himself being in this nice permanent structure and God's presence, the ark, being under a tent. The thing is is that God is with him. That's what he's told. Remember, Nathan is the prophet that he inquires of the Lord by, but it's obviously somebody he spends a lot of time with and he's very close with. He's also the guy that tells him, Thou art the man, when he's screwing up, but he's also telling him, Hey, when you have some great thought in your mind to do something, he's like, Everything that's in your heart, do it. If we're on the Lord's side, then the Lord is gonna be on our side. If we're doing that which is right, then God is gonna be pleased with us and things can go wrong in your life even if you're right with God. I'm not saying that that's not possible, but if you're saved and you are living your life right for the most part and then you're going to the Lord when you're screwing up, God is pleased with you. You are on the Lord's side. The Lord is on your side and he's gonna be pleased with us if we are living our life according to the way David seems to be living his life. Let's look at just a couple verses here on this. Psalm 118 verse six. I'm gonna read Malachi 3.16. Malachi 3.16 says, Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. And David here in this chapter, he's thinking about God. It's not like he's just sitting back and getting a pedicure and not caring about anything else that's going on. He loves God and his thought is like, hey, why am I sitting here in this great nice house and God's in a tent? He's thinking about God's name. He loves God and he's wanting to do something right for him. And so when we're like that, God apparently has a book of remembrance and it's written before him, those that feared the Lord and thought about his name. And was David thinking about his name? He was. So David's written in that book. Are you written in that book, though? Do you think about God's name? Do you think about God on a daily basis? We should get in the habit of thinking about God the first thing when we wake up, that we think about him through the day and we think about him before we go to bed at night. Because you don't know if you're even gonna wake up. You might wake up in heaven and you're like, man, I forgot to think about you this morning. Last night he was like, that's why I brought you back up here. No, I'm just kidding. But I mean, if the last thing we did was sin, that'd be pretty bad, right? I mean, I'm sure it happens, right? I'm sure that the last thing that some people do is sin. I mean, I would hope that that's not the last thing I do. I really don't want that to be the case, but I'm sure it happens. You're at Psalm 118, verse six, it says, the Lord is on my side. That's a pretty confident thing to say, isn't it? The Lord is on my side, he's confident. Well, didn't Nathan said, Nathan said the same thing, basically, right? The Lord is on my side, I will not fear what man, what can man do unto me? What can man do unto me? See, if God's on your side, why would you fear what man can do to you? You shouldn't, because when we fear the Lord, he's gonna be pleased with us, and you're like, fear? Why would you fear the Lord? What kind of God is that that you have to fear him? Well, you know, I mean, a healthy fear of the God of the universe is a pretty healthy fear to have, because he, you know, the power of your life is in his hands, you know, and you don't wanna, you know, upset him to the point where he wants to, you know, do harm to you. It's like, well, why would you feel that way? Well, are you fearful when your dad is upset with you? Children? If your dad's, like, got that look in his eyes and you know that you're gonna get a spanking, I'm looking at you over here, kids. There's some other kids in here. Are you fearful when your dad is, you know, about to spank you? You should be. So the fear, like, I know that there was just times that I could just give my kids a look if we're out in public, and they knew that if they don't cool their jets, that the spanking was coming at home regardless. And they would just be like, hm? Yeah, but hey, you're like, well, that's abusive. Okay, whatever. That's why my kids got compliments at restaurants because my kids weren't running all over the place and causing havoc, because they just sat there. I've had people pay for my meals before because my kids were behaving, and my kids were good, they just, you know, everybody's kids are different, I get that. But, you know, it's good for your children to have a healthy fear of you in that way. It's not like I tied them up to racks when I got home and pulled the cat o'nine tails out or something. They just got normal spankings, but they just had a healthy fear, and they wanted to please me, so there's nothing wrong with that. So anyway, so when we please the Lord, then he's gonna be on our side. That's basically what I'm trying to say, and we should want our ways to please him. So, number two tonight, is there a tabernacle in heaven, or is it a temple? I was studying this, and I was just like, this is kind of confusing a little bit, but let's go through this together. Look at 1 Chronicles 17, verse one. 1 Chronicles 17, verse one again. It says, Now it came to pass as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remaineth under curtains. So, of course we know that, you know, that's not the tabernacle that he's under, but he was supposed to be under the tabernacle. So, but what does the Bible say about that tabernacle on earth and about the one in heaven? And this can be kind of confusing because when I started looking at it, I was a little bit confused, I have to admit. Let's just look at what the Bible says about it, okay? Look at Exodus chapter 25, verse number eight. Exodus 25, verse number eight. Some of you, maybe your mind is going to verses that you can think of. Where is it? Is God in the temple? Or is he in a tabernacle and then you think like, well, what was the pattern that Moses was showed? Was it a tabernacle or was it a temple that he was supposed to build? He was building a tabernacle, right? Look at Exodus 25, verse eight, it says, and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. What was the purpose of it? So he could dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of what? The tabernacle. What's a tabernacle again? It's a tent. And the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall you make it. So Moses was shown a pattern of things that were in heaven, is that right? Okay, skip down to verse 40. It says, and look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount. So they were at this mount and sometimes I think, well, why did he take him to that mount? What did that mountain have to do with anything? But if you think about it, when it talks about Satan being in the sides of the north and the mountain of the Lord, if you've ever saw those terms, the things that are in heaven are pictured in the things on earth. Now, look at Hebrews chapter eight, verse five. Hebrews chapter eight, verse five, and you're like, well, why are you asking this question? Because I'm just interested in it, that's why. And if I'm interested in it, then I'm gonna try to see if you're interested in it, or at least if you're not, I don't care. I'm interested in it, and I'm gonna teach this to you anyway. So anyway, Hebrews eight, five, it says, who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle. For see, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount. So the New Testament tells us what? That he was supposed to make the tabernacle and to make the things according to the pattern that was showed him, right? Just like Exodus 25 says. Now, here's where the curve ball comes in. Turn to Psalm chapter 11. Now, Psalm chapter, the Psalms were written in the Old Testament, weren't they? And we know Psalm chapter 11 because we sing it in our church sometimes, right? So, Psalm chapter 11 says this in verse four. It says, the Lord is in his what? Holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. So, is the Lord in a tabernacle, a tent, or is he in his holy temple? It says his throne is in heaven, his eye is behold, his eye let's try the children of men. So, is that kind of confusing to you a little bit? Let's look at some other verses, though. Now, I just want you to think about this. I didn't put this in my verses that I put in my sermon, but I thought about this. What was Jesus accused of? Saying that he would, that if you destroyed the temple that he would build it up in what? Three days. But what was he talking about? He was talking about the temple of his body. So, the tabernacle of our body is also the temple of our body, isn't it? So, look at Revelation chapter 11, verse 19. Revelation chapter 11, verse 19, it says, and the temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament and there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail. So, it's called the temple of God in the New Testament also, isn't it, in Revelation chapter 11. Doesn't say the tabernacle, does it? Which is interesting. Now, I'll turn to Revelation chapter 15, verse five. Revelation chapter 15, verse five. Look, I'm trying to figure this out myself, all right? So, it's not like I, it was kind of a little bit confusing to me. So, look at Revelation chapter 15, verse five. Revelation 15, verse five. It says, and after I looked and behold the temple of the tabernacle. That kind of helps you out a little bit, doesn't it? The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. So, the temple of the tabernacle, it sounds like it's the same thing, isn't it? The temple of the tabernacle in heaven was opened. And the seven angels came out of the temple having the seven plagues clothed in pure and white linen and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God who lived forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no man was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. So, I mean, I guess, so if Jesus said, destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up, and our body is also considered a tabernacle and a temple, so a temple and a tabernacle can be the same thing. It doesn't necessarily need to be something that's made out of stone. But to me it seems like one kind of pictures something that's permanent and one is something that's not. But the one in heaven seems to be something that seems like it is permanent but it also appears to be something that's not at the same time. Because the temple in Jerusalem was supposed to be something that was supposed to stay permanently there, right? It's kind of hard to move something that's built out of stone that weighs all these tons and all this. You can't just move that around. It wasn't meant to be moved around anymore. It was meant to stay in one spot on Mount Moriah where it was built. Okay? So, let's see. Let's move to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21 verse 1. Revelation chapter 21 verse 1. I guess this can be called the doctrine of the temple, I guess. But Revelation chapter 21 verse 1, the Bible says, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea and I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem. So this isn't the same Jerusalem. Things are being done new. I don't think that the earth is actually gonna be passed away like it's gonna cease to exist and he's gonna make a whole brand new one. It's just he's gonna recreate or redo the earth in some way. Not recreate, but the earth is supposed to, the Bible says multiple times that the earth lasts forever so he's gonna do something new to it is what my belief is on that. But anyway, it says the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. So this Jerusalem is not the same Jerusalem as the one that's on earth, obviously. It's the new Jerusalem. Abraham was looking for when he was in the Promised Land. It says prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. So that tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God. So he's no longer gonna dwell in the same place he did. Now it's coming, this new Jerusalem is coming from God out of heaven as a bride prepared for her husband and that tabernacle, that city's gonna come down and come to earth is what it's saying. And God is no longer gonna live in heaven separate from men. He's gonna be with us, right? Isn't that what it says? All right? Verse four. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more pain, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away. So things are gonna completely change for us when all this happens, which is a blessing, right? Verse 10. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Now look at verse 22. It says, and I saw no temple therein. So what happened to the temple? It's gone. There is no temple. So that temple is going to cease to exist. So I guess my thought on it, and maybe I'm wrong about this, but my thought on it is maybe it's a tabernacle and a temple that's permanently there for all this time, but maybe it's a tabernacle because at some point it's gonna go away too. Isn't that what it says right there? Verse 22. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. So at some point, there is gonna be no temple. There is gonna be no tabernacle. It's just gonna be God and the Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty, the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ are going to be the temple. Of what? The New Jerusalem. There's not gonna be any special holy spot, necessarily, except for where their thrones are. Because it says in chapter 22, verse 3, it says, And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. So the throne of God and the Lamb shall be there, so the thrones aren't going away. They're still the king, right? But the temple's gone, isn't it? Interesting, right? So I don't know, that's just kind of my theory about why it's a tabernacle in heaven, like why it would be a tent. Because all we know is what the Bible says. So you can argue with me all you want about my theory about it, but I'm just showing you what the Bible says, right? What was Moses supposed to build? The tabernacle, right? And then we've seen verses where it says the temple and the tabernacle combined. And then, so, and we know that Jesus, when he said tear down this temple, and I'll rebuild it in three days, what's he talking about? The temple of his body. So did he have a body that could die at that point? Yes. So he's saying that, so what's interesting though about that, just thinking about it right now, is that at that time it was a tabernacle, like one that could be temporary, but when he raises it up, it's a temple. It's not gonna be able to be destroyed at all. It's gonna be permanent. So it kinda seems like you have the tabernacle that represents a temporary structure, but the temple represents something that lasts forever. But even the temple itself that's in heaven is not gonna be a permanent thing, but the temple is a permanent thing in that it is the Lord Jesus Christ, and God Almighty. Isn't that what the Bible says? Well, that's what the Bible says then, right? Am I wrong? The Bible's right. That's what's the most important thing. So the answer to the question seems to be kind of both. In heaven, it's the tabernacle, and it's the temple at the same time. But again, the tabernacle being mobile, it's not mobile in heaven. So it's in one place. It's been in that same place the whole time. But here on earth, it's changed and gone to different places, and then, of course, it's put in Jerusalem in that specific spot. So at least that's how I'm reading it. So look at verse three. It says, and it came to pass that same night that the word of God came to Nathan. So he's already told David, do what's in your heart. He knew that that was right. And then God came to Nathan that night, the word of God, and says, go tell David, my servant, thus saith the Lord, thou shalt not build me in house to dwell in. So nice idea, David, but you're not gonna be the one that builds it. For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day, but have gone from tent to tent from one tabernacle to another. So, and basically, he kinda does that with us, too. We're born on this earth. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit comes when we get saved, and then when we die, obviously the Holy Spirit can be everywhere at once. God doesn't have to live in a temple either, does he? He's omnipresent. He can be everywhere at once. He can be in a temple, just like Jesus could be, you know, in heaven at the same time as he's, you know, in hell for three days or three nights. We can't understand all that, like, because it's just mind-numbing to us. It's mind-boggling to us. But anyway, let's move on here. But ultimately, one day, we will have that permanent structure, because in John 14, it says, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would've told you. So, a mansion's more of a permanent structure, isn't it? And so those permanent structures are not gonna go away. They're not gonna be able to wear away and grow old, because we'll have permanent bodies that will never die, that will never get hurt, never get dandruff, never get BO. You're never gonna snap your toenail off, stubbing it on something, and hopefully never have to get a haircut ever again. It'll just be the same length all times. That's just what I'm hoping. Anyway, my receding hairline will be back to perfect and nice and whatever. Anyway, verse six. Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, this is God speaking, whom I commanded to feed My people, saying, Why have you not built Me an house of cedars? So he's never said this to any other people before. Now thereof, thus shalt thou say unto My servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheep-coat, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over My people Israel, and I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth. Now, what does he mean by this? Well, David's name was very famous in the earth. We might think, well, this has all just happened in this little tiny place, and nobody knows who David is, but I would say this that probably everybody in the world knows who David is. When David slew Goliath, that changed things, and everybody probably knew who David was at that point because everybody knew who Solomon was. People came from far and wide to visit Solomon, and David had a lot of friends. It talks about in further chapters on how David had friends, and when they would die, the son took over, and then they shaved the beards and cut their clothes halfway down or whatever. They weren't friends with David, but David had friends before when he was alive that respected him and liked him, and his name was Famous. I guarantee that most people today in the world, if you said, who was David, they would know exactly who you were talking about. They might not know all the details, but one detail I'm pretty sure that they would know. Who is David, and what is he famous for? They'd say, David killed Goliath. Maybe in India or something, or China they might not know, but even there, I'm sure that people would still know who David was. So, very famous, and that's what he's saying here, is that I've made the name like the name of great men that are in the earth. So, famous people, he's still known to this day. Verse nine, and I will ordain a place for my people Israel and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place and shall be moved no more. He's of course talking about Jerusalem. He's talking about what David is doing here. Neither shall the children of wickedness waste them anymore, as at the beginning. So, number three tonight, David, the Davidic covenant is Christ. So, a lot of people will not get, they can't get past the surface level on prophecies like this, but verse number 10 says, and since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, so that was the original plan, judges were supposed to rule over, not kings, moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore, I tell thee that the Lord will build thee in house. So, David's like, I wanna build you a house, Lord. He's like, you're not gonna build me a house. But he says, the Lord will build thee in house. I'm gonna build you a house. You wanna build me a house? But guess what, you're not building me a house, I'm building you a house. He's like, nope, that's not how it's gonna work out. Because God's the Lord. He's gonna tell David how things are gonna go. And he's not gonna let David build it. And this is because David thought to do something good. So, because David wants to honor God, God is gonna do something honorable for David. And God honors David's line and builds him a house that is the greatest of all houses in the whole Bible. So, last week we talked about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, how God's line, the seed of the Messiah, when it said seed, not seeds, that that prophecy to Abraham was about Christ. That's what it says in the book of Galatians. It wasn't seeds as of many, but seed singular as of one. And that seed is Christ. And anybody that believes in Christ is the seed, or is a child of Abraham by faith. That promise was made to Abraham before the law, and that seed is talking about Christ. So, the seed is mentioned again here in verse 11. Look at verse 11, it says, and it shall come to pass when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed. So, it's saying the same word, right? Is that talking about his son Solomon? I mean, surface level, yes. But, in reality, this is not talking about Solomon, this is not the full fulfillment, it's not talking about Solomon. After thee, which shall be of thy sons, and I will establish his kingdom. Now, it says, he shall build me an house, and I will establish his throne forever. So, it kind of seems like it's talking about Solomon, because Solomon does build a house for him, doesn't he? But it says, I will establish his throne forever. Did Solomon's throne get established forever? No. Solomon screwed up and turned away from the Lord and married all those strange wives. So, sure, Solomon's being spoken of at a surface level, it is a fulfillment of that, he does fulfill that to a certain extent, but it's Christ is the ultimate primary fulfillment of this prophecy, as it is when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are given similar promises here. Look at verse 13, I will be his father, and he shall be my son, which, that's a pretty cool verse right there, because you see God talking about how, because if he's talking about Christ, he's like, I will be his father and he shall be my son. That's like kind of a hidden gem right there for talking about the father and the son in the Old Testament. And it says, I will not take my mercy away from him as I took it from him that was before thee. So, and I would say that this is also talking about Solomon, though, because obviously Solomon, he's talking about Saul, Saul did have his mercy taken away from him, but it also is talking about the Old Testament and the New Testament. So, and Jesus Christ will not, there's no mercy to take from him because he's perfect, he's sinless, so there's no reason to take mercy away from him that he doesn't need to have mercy because he's not a sinner, but Solomon was. But Solomon was, so I mean obviously there's some peppered in stuff about Solomon in here, but it says, but I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forevermore. So this is obviously not talking about Solomon, this is talking about Christ because his throne, even Daniel the prophet says this, so the throne of Christ is going to last forevermore. So this is, and when Solomon screwed up, the other tribes were taken and broken off and given to Jeroboam, and Solomon really screwed up everything, basically. It says, and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord. He's the first king that it says that about. Do I think Solomon was saved? Yes. But he did do evil in the sight of the Lord and God rent the kingdom from him. So I mean that doesn't make sense if he took the kingdom away from him and gave it to Jeroboam. And it says, let's see, verse 15, according to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. And it's interesting because David is a prophet also, and so sometimes you'll see Nathan the prophet or Gad the prophet speaking directly from God to David, and then sometimes David, David's words are shown in like, Romans four, yeah, Romans four, five. David speaking of the blessedness. It's like, sometimes I just wonder like, why didn't God just directly speak to David, but maybe it was so other people would know that, hey, this is a prophet speaking to the king and the king's not speaking and saying, hey, God gave me all these prophecies so I could just tell everybody, because I guess I could see that people would think, well, is David really getting these prophecies or is he just making all this stuff? Because it could kind of look bad if David's the prophet and the king at the same time. So I mean, it makes sense. But there are things that are obviously David prophesying and put in the New Testament and put into Psalms that are definitely prophetic things that he said. So number four is the last point here, verse 16. So David's prayer to the Lord shows his heart for God. Look at verse 16, it says, And David came, the king came and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is mine house that thou hast brought me hitherto? So the first thing I want you to notice is David's not prideful. He's very humble. And I'm sure this is something that God really likes about David, is that he does come from a lesser house. He was of the least of the flock. He was the least son. He was the youngest son of Jesse. And he was very lowly looked upon by his brothers and even by his dad, seemingly. But he was taken from the sheepfold. And then God's the one that elevated him. Why? Because he was humble, not prideful. So it says in verse 17, And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God, for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come. So it's interesting that he says this here, too, because it's kind of proving he understood the prophecy was not just his immediate son. Because people would say that, but he says, spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come. He's like, David understands that it's generations and way further down the line that he's talking about. It says, And it has regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God. Verse 18, What can David speak more to thee for the honor of thy servant, for thou knowest thy servant? Verse 19, O Lord, for thy servant's sake and according to thine own heart hast thou done all this greatness in making known all these great things. Here he is giving honor to God. We should also recognize the greatness that God does in our life. And sometimes it might not seem to be the biggest deal in the world to some people, but to us, it is a great thing. And let's not forget that God does great things in our lives, too. Because it might not be us crossing the Jordan in the time of harvest. It might not be the parting of the Red Sea that happened. Maybe it was just that your car started when you thought it wasn't going to or something. It could be something as simple as that. It could be just the smallest of things, but God does great things for us all the time. And he brings us through hard times. And he answers our prayers according to his wisdom and knowledge. So verse 20, it says, O Lord, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee according to all that we have heard with our ears. Of course, he's also giving honor to God and saying there's nobody like him. There's nobody even comparable to him. There's all these fights in sports about who's the greatest basketball player of all time? It's always like Jordan. And people are always trying to say LeBron is better than Jordan. You're smoking crack if you think that that's true. And nobody in this room might even care about that argument. If you've never saw Jordan play, then you'd say that. But you might have seen a couple highlights. Like, LeBron, he's got the most scoring points. Yeah, he's played for like 20 years or something. He's played since he was 18. He's built like a linebacker, yeah. But when's the last time you saw him hit some game-winning shot to win the finals? Uh, never. He loses almost every finals he's in. He's horrible. I mean, I'm sure, yeah, he's a great player. But is he better than Jordan? Did Jordan ever lose a finals? Let me see. No. And I didn't even like Jordan. He destroyed the Portland Trail Blazers, my favorite team, really bad in the finals. But you gotta give credit where credit's due. He's the greatest. But all I'm saying is that, you know, people fight about all these things that are really pretty meaningless. Who's the best quarterback? Tom Brady, come on. All the people are like, boo. Yeah, he's a pretty boy and he's married to a witch. But those powers gave him, you know, the ability to win a bunch of Super Bowls or whatever. Joe Montana was great, I give you that, but he didn't win six Super Bowls or whatever. Anyway, but they're not even close to comparable to how great God is. I mean, there's nobody that even comes close to God in any way, shape, or form. And David is like, hey, nobody is like thee. There's none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee. He's just flat out saying there's just not even any God beside thee. There's a lot of people that believe in multiplicity of gods and they'll like rank God, you know, the God of the Bible somewhere in their ranking of gods, but it's not that he's just ranked in some, all these different gods. He's the only God that there is. And David's acknowledging that. Verse 21, and what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people? Why does God love us? I mean, we're not the nation of Israel, but we're the people of God which makes us the Israel of God in the New Testament. We are Israel by faith, and yeah, I know the dispensationalists don't like that. They wanna rank us in some other category or whatever. We're the Gentiles, we're still down here. Even though they're not saved or whatever. But the Jews are still better than us even though we're saved somehow. They're the best dentists, they're the best this and that. But whatever, it's weird. But I'm just telling you this, that I just don't understand why God loves us. Why God wants to have a tabernacle with us someday. Why he's just gonna get rid of his holy temple and come down and have this city called New Jerusalem that he, why did he redeem us? To be his people. Why? I don't understand it, but he does. And I think that's pretty cool. And David recognizes it. He said God went to redeem his own people. To make thee a name of greatness and terribleness by driving out nations from before the people, thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Israel. For thy people Israel, didst thou make thine own people forever. That's eternal security right there. And thou, Lord, becamest their God. Therefore now, Lord, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established forever and do as thou hast said. Let it be established that thy name may be magnified forever, saying the Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel. He's not just the God of Israel, he's just not somebody that, you know, he's God because he says so, he is. But he's a God to Israel. He's not just our God because he has to be, he's a God to us. That means it's personal, right? It's a personal thing. And let the house of David thy servant be established before thee. For thou, oh my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house, therefore thy servant hath found it in his heart to pray before thee. And now, Lord, thou art God and has promised this goodness unto thy servant. Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant that it may be before thee forever. For thou blessest, oh Lord, and it shall be blessed forever. When God blesses something, it's blessed. And so if you're blessed today, then, you know, it's great that you're saved and it's a great thing to have God be our God, amen? I mean we could be a lot worse off like a lot of people are today in this world. All these people around that we knock their doors and they're lost is a goose in a snowstorm even though we've come to them with the message of the gospel. But they just, for whatever reason, they just don't want it. But we have it. And we're blessed beyond all recognition and we should count ourself as very fortunate. Count ourself as blessed, right? We're fortunate and we might not have all the money in the world, we might not have all the flashiest stuff, but you know what? One day we're gonna live in a place that has gates of pearl and streets of gold and the apostles' names are gonna be on all the, we're gonna live in a place that's the most beautiful place in the world and you're not gonna see like burnout, homeless people laying all over the roads. This is gonna be a clean city. It's gonna be a great city where no dogs are allowed. I was reading these chapters like studying the stuff about the temple. I was like, it said no dogs. I was like, yes. No purple-haired weirdos, yes. Thank you, Lord. It's gonna be great. And you're gonna have to put up with me for all eternity. You might not have to hear me preach, but you're gonna have to at least put up with me. So, last thing here though is, it says, let's see, in that last verse it says, now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant that it may be before thee forever. So what's David's last thing that he wants? It's like the first, it's like the last thing that he said in the last chapter. He went home to bless his house. And what's he end with? What's the prayer he ends with after giving God all this glory? Is that he wants his future generations to be blessed. And how's that gonna happen? Well, that they get saved. You know, and the Bible says in Proverbs 13, 22, it says a good man leaveth an inheritance that is children's children. And of course, monetarily you can say that, yeah, it'd be good to leave a little bit of money for my kids, but the government, you know, takes like what, half of that now? Well, you know what's better than leaving them a stack of cash or some house that the government's gonna take half of and make you sell it and your siblings are gonna fight over it anyway and you're gonna get nothing really? The best thing you can do is make sure that your future generations are saved. And ask God to make sure that somebody takes forth the message that you've, that your house is built up and blessed by God and that your children all get saved and that your grandchildren all get saved and so on and so forth. Because look, isn't that what he's saying? Isn't that what the blessing of God was? That his seed was gonna, you know, of his sons, his seed was gonna be Christ? But like he had a lot of kings that were in his line and a lot of those kings were saved and I'm sure a lot of those sons were saved. So God did answer this prayer, didn't he? Maybe not all of them were saved, but a lot of them were. And, you know, we should bless, I talked about blessing our house earlier. Not only should we bless our house, but we should think about the future generations that are in our families. A lot of us want to have our loved ones saved and maybe they won't get saved in this generation, but maybe the future generations that we have going forward. Let's not forget to pray for them too because I want my grandchildren all to be saved and I want their children to be saved and their children's children and I wanna leave a godly inheritance to my children's children. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this great chapter in the Bible. Lord, I pray that you'd help us to think about all the blessings that we've received this year. And, Lord, many of us have had maybe some tough times this year also, but, Lord, help us to think on the positive things and the things that we can look forward to in the new year. And I pray that you just help us to, Lord, maybe get some besetting sins out of our lives and, Lord, that we think about maybe just doing better and greater works this next year and not focusing on negative things, but focusing on the positive things that we can do going forward. And, Lord, that our church would do greater works next year than we did this year. And, Lord, we thank you for our health and our blessings and our children and I pray that you'd help us to remember to pray for the next generation and the generations of our families and I pray that you just, Lord, all those that are sick and weren't able to be here tonight, I pray you bless them and help them to feel better and that they come back to church and we'd all thank you for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Go tell it on the mountain Over the hills and everywhere Go tell it on the mountain That Jesus Christ is born While shepherds kept their watching For silent flocks by night Behold throughout the heavens There shone a holy light Go tell it on the mountain Over the hills and everywhere Go tell it on the mountain That Jesus Christ is born The shepherds feared and trembled When low above the earth Rang out the angel's chorus That hailed the Savior's birth Go tell it on the mountain Over the hills and everywhere Go tell it on the mountain That Jesus Christ is born Down in a lowly manger The humble Christ was born And God sent us salvation That blessed Christmas morn Go tell it on the mountain Over the hills and everywhere Go tell it on the mountain That Jesus Christ is born Man, hope you all had a good Christmas. I sure did. It was good seeing you. Great seeing you this evening. And hope you are safe going home this evening. Brother Sean, you want to end us with a word of prayer?