If my People

2 Chronicles

2 chronicles 7:14 “14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Introduction: Grace and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I trust and pray that you will remain encouraged in the Lord by the power of His might.

We are living in trouble Times. Gun violence struck Lynchburg's young population again Monday night when a young boy was shot and killed.

The Lynchburg Police Department said just before midnight on May 1 they responded to reports of shots fired on Floyd Street.

When they arrived deputies found a boy who had been shot and killed. According to the family, the boy, now identified as Kingston Campbell, is 6 years old.

One of the other victims was 12-year-old Malayshia Solomon, who was shot and killed inside her own home on Monroe Street in February.

A month later, 16-year-old Terrion Marshall was shot and killed on 16th Street.

As I approached the text for today I wanted to be very very careful due to the weight and gravity of our circumstances that we find ourselves in today.

The first approach that I considered was what you call topical teaching, topical teaching is when you think of an idea or thought that God places in your heart and you go to the scripture to try a text to match or explain your subject.

Now when it comes to topical teaching we must be careful because what we normally do is eisegesis of the text instead of exegete the text. All eisegesis means is reading what I see into the text and reading into the text your own beliefs, instead of pulling from the text what the Holy Spirit has deposited into the text.

As quiet as it is kept you can make if you know what you are doing you can make the bible say what you want it to say!

It was said that I pastor at the request of a concerned wife confronted the drunken husband about his drinking problem, the husband arrogantly told the pastor that what he was doing was in the bible.

1 Timothy 5:23 (NKJV)

23 No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.

Matthew 26:27 (KJV 1900)

27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

All I am saying is that many times when we approach the text we don’t come empty handed; we bring baggage to the text. We come to the text with our own preconceived ideas. Things that we have picked up from other folk, stuff we heard from songs, things that we got from unbiblical literature sometimes we bring all of that baggage to the text.

So then we have to be careful with topical teaching.

Then there is textual teaching. Textual teaching is when you teach what you see in the text right before you. But even in textual teaching you still must be very careful because you can still error. There are a total of 783,137 wordsin our English bible; but the original text was written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic languages that were translated into our King James and modern languages.

In the Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic languages there are 12,000 different words in the bible! But in our English translation there are only 6,000 different words which mean that when that bible was translated from the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic languages the translators had to duplicate some words to put 12,000 into 6,000.

This means that you will see some words that are spelled the same way but have different meanings!

Matthew 28:18 (KJV 1900)

18 And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

The Greek word is exousia which means authority…

Acts 1:8 (KJV 1900)

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Here the Greek word is dunamis from which we get our word dynamite it means potential for functioning, might and or strength.

Ephesians 6:10 (KJV 1900)

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Here the Greek word is Kratous which is demonstrated power, spelled the same way but has a different meaning.

These are some of the areas that you have to be careful with in textual teaching!

Then there is what is called expository teaching that deals with interpretation which means you find out what the bible is saying.

Then you deal with investigation you find out what it means, and then you deal with applicationwhich means you find out how you fit into the text.

Because whenever you read the bible it is like standing in front of a mirror, now when you stand in front of a mirror you don’t see your neighbor; you see the person standing in front of the mirror!

And because of that every word is important, every comma is important, every question mark is important, every semi colon is important. For instance whenever you see a comma it means rest.

2 Corinthians 4:8 (KJV 1900)

8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

Which suggest when God allows trouble to come He will let you rest before more trouble can come.

The text says we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; whenever you see a semi colon a semi colon is used in place of a period which means an even longer period of rest.

Which suggest that God is monitoring you in the midst of your troubles, and He knows when and how to give you a break so that you won’t break in the middle of your season of trouble. That’s why…

1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV 1900)

13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Now whenever you see a question mark only you can answer that.

Psalm 116:12 (KJV 1900)

12 What shall I render unto the Lord For all his benefits toward me?

Now cant nobody answer that but you, because don’t nobody know what God as done for you, but you!

Scholars say that with you study the bible you seek the verbs in the text because the verb is where the action is.

Genesis 3:6 (KJV 1900)

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

In this passage there are four verbs in this text.

And when the woman saw… that’s verb number one.

That the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took, verb number 2 she did eat… that’s verb number three

And she gave…that’s verb number four

A look became a lust, a desire became a decision a choice became a chain, a sinner became a seducer. That’s why verbs are so important.

Scholars also say that you should always seek out the subject of the text because when you seek out the subject of the text you will find out what the writer had in mind when he wrote the text.

And whenever you find a sentence with no subject you become the subject!

Ephesians 5:18 (KJV 1900)

18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

And since there is not subject in there who should be filled? You should be filled!

But we should also watch the conjunctions in the text. The conjunctions in the text are like the cement in a brick wall, when we see the brick wall we notice the bricks, but we pay no attention to the cement that’s in-between. But it is the cement in-between the bricks that keeps the wall in order! It is the conjunctions in the text that keeps the sentence flowing and in order.

You see there are different kinds of conjunctions; there is what is called a contrast conjunction. Which means the sentence is going on way and you come to the contrast conjunction it will send you another way. For instance…

Romans 6:23 (NKJV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The but in this passage sends you another way.

Jonah 1:1–4 (NKJV)

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.

You see that when your but is heading in one direction; God will send another but to send you another way!

Andis a conjunction but it is a connecting conjunction, it connects what is just happen to what is about to happen.

John 14:16 (NKJV)

16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—

Now all three of the God Heads are in John 14:16

And I, that’s the son…

Will pray the Father, that’s the Father…

He will give you another Helper, that’s the Holy Ghost…

It is the son who prays, it is the Father to whom he prays and the Holy Ghost for whom He prays. What He is saying is that if you love me you can have all three.

But there is a connection conjunction there; and what this connection conjunction is doing is connecting the promise with the principle. Most of us want to lay claim to the promises of God, while violating the principles!

If you don’t apply the principles of God you won’t experience the promises of God. The principle is in verse 15…

John 14:15 (NKJV)

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Now if you abide by 15 then 16 is a sure win.

If is a conjunction but it is a conditioning conjunction; which means it is based upon how you respond…

John 14:14 (NKJV)

14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

I like this passage because is suggest that God handles prayer differently from anything else! Sometimes when God get ready to bless us he sends others to do it for us.

When He got ready to birth Israel He sent Abraham, when He got ready to lead Israel He sent Moses, when He got ready to march Israel He sent Joshua, when He needed a champion for Israel He sent Sampson, when He wanted wisdom for Israel He sent Solomon, when He wanted a singer for Israel He sent David, when He wanted patience He sent Job, when He wanted vision He sent Isaiah, when He wanted a weeper He sent Jeremiah, when He wanted a prayer He sent John, but this passaged says that when He gets ready to answer our prayers he don’t send nobody, He shows up himself!

So then we see the conditioning conjunction right at the beginning of 2 Chronicles 7:14

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV) connecting the promise with the principle

14if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The backstory… NEVER, from the foundation of the world, was there so magnificent a structure as Solomon’s Temple, or so imposing a scene as that which took place at the dedication of it———The prayer which Solomon offered on that occasion was no less remarkable: it was cast in the spirit of humility and fervor and propriety, nothing could exceed it the permanent house for God to live in!

The location of the temple had significance as well. Moses says of it, “It is a land which the Lord thy God careth for; the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.”

But this house was his more peculiar residence: “his name was put there.”

He was invited by Solomon to come and take possession of it: “Arise, O Lord, into thy resting-place, thou, and the ark of thy strength!”

And, in answer to his request, he came down visibly and took possession of it: “Now, when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.”

Glory that filled the house!

In the temple were displayed, under types and shadows, all the wonders of redeeming love. The sacrifices that were offered, the consuming of them upon the altar, the carrying of their blood within the vail to sprinkle the mercy-seat of the Most High, the offering of incense also before the mercy-seat, all prefigured the atoning sacrifice, and the prevailing intercession of the Lord Jesus, through which every sinner in the universe may find acceptance with God.[1]

2 Chronicles 7:12–15 (NKJV)

12Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.

13When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people,

14if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

15Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.

the Plan!

judges 7:15-19 “15 And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” 16 Then he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet into every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and torches inside the pitchers. 17 And he said to them, “Look at me and do likewise; watch, and when I come to the edge of the camp you shall do as I do: 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets on every side of the whole camp, and say, ‘The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!’ ” 19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands.”