December 9, 2018 - ADVENT 02 - Where You Can Find God - 2 Samuel 7:1-16

December 9, 2018 The smaller groups in our church community are inside our homes where we go deeper, build friendships, and walk out the Christian life with each other. HOME CHURCH/SMALL GROUP/CLASS GUIDE + “Breaking the Ice” question (group facilitator) + CHECK-INS: Introduce yourself if new/new people in group, check-in with each other. What’s been happening in your week(s) since we last met? + CARE: Needs in the group; name these needs and have sentence prayers (just short sentences/open ended, not long-winded) at end of the gathering time + COMPASSION: What compassion work is the group planning? Are you inviting your neighbors to join in? + GROUP ANNOUNCEMENTS (church-wide and group-only) + DIG IN: Any reflections, discernments, disagreements from last week’s teaching (or since you last met)? Look at the Bible passage(s) again and read some of them out loud in the group (and other verses that may have been mentioned). What jumps out at you? Discuss some of the questions as a group. + End and Homework: Final questions, prayer huddles for personal requests. Consider breaking into small groups (huddles) of 2-4, by gender, if large enough. DISCUSSION questions: 1. What are the advantages of owning or renting a home? What do you think of retirees who sell a home and go completely mobile in an RV for a few years? 2. How do you discern making a decision about a major material purchase or action in your life? (“major” defined any way you like). 3. Do Christians today get wrapped up in confusing meeting houses and the actual “house of God”? What could this look like? 4. Nathan operates out of a Proverbs 3:6 mindset at first but then changes directions after an impression from God. What do you think about his default and then change? What does reveal about His relationship with God? 5. How do you know if an idea is good or not? (repeated) 6. Talk about this quote: “Whereas a “contract” is a deal between parties, a “covenant” is a commitment that involves the parties themselves. Contracts involve exchanging money, work, or possessions, while covenants involve a commitment of our life. While covenants are rooted in people trusting one another, contracts are only necessary when people don’t trust one another. So too, while contracts are about what different parties get from one another, covenants are about what different parties pledge to give of themselves toward one another. Buying a car or house involves a contract: getting married involves a covenant.” Do you see church as a contract or a covenant? Why? 7. God promises to build an eternal house for David. We are an extension of it when we follow Jesus, the New Testament says we are “adopted in,” “born again,” “married into,” this house. How does this change our view of our “kith and kin,” our families of origin? 8. Other thoughts on 2 Sam 7.1-17 and actions to take, behaviours or attitudes to change? Prayer Requests: AN ADVENT HOUSING CRISIS – 2 Samuel 7:1-16 OPENING: The Sioux Falls Monster House Jesus is God’s living house and we are living stones in his house making an impact that goes on forever. There is something about a place... 3 Nathan replied to the king, “You should go and do whatever you have in mind, for the Lord is with you.” + How do we know an idea is from God or not? + Proverbs 3.6 “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” 4 That night the Lord’s message came to Nathan, + Word of the Lord + The response is quite elaborate and clear about three things: 1. David is projecting David’s desire for a Temple and not the Lord’s desire. God calls him on it. 2. David needs reminding of God’s work in His life. David did not call the Lord, the Lord called him. 3. God will build a house of people through David’s descendants. One will get to build a temple, but this is minor compared to the house God will build through people. + Covenant vs Contract (Boyd) 5 “Go, tell my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord has said: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent. 7 Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say to any of their leaders whom I appointed to care for my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’ We are not told here why David was not allowed to do this, 1 Chronicles 22:8 explains it was because of his warfare and bloodshed. Nathan’s words are a lesson for later generations. “The time came when the people of Judah became arrogantly confident that the presence of a permanent temple in their city guaranteed them God’s permanent protection (Jeremiah 7:4), and they were to learn how wrong they were...” 8 “So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said: I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd to make you leader of my people Israel. 9 I was with you wherever you went, and I defeated all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth. 10 I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle them there; they will live there and not be disturbed any more. Violent men will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning 11 and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. Instead, I will give you relief from all your enemies. The Lord declares to you that he himself will build a dynastic house for you. 12 When the time comes for you to die, I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He will build a house for my name, and I will make his dynasty permanent. 14 I will become his father and he will become my son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings. 15 But my loyal love will not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will stand before me permanently; your dynasty will be permanent.’” 17 Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him. TWO GREAT PROMISES TO ANCIENT ISRAEL: + Exodus 19:3-6 Sinaitic Covenant - God will be their God and will look after them +Davidic Covenant 2 Samuel 7 - God’s promise to provide leadership they needed. Even after the fall in 587 BC, the prophets still looked for this promise in the future. + From the start, the New Testament emphasizes that Jesus was “the son of David” TAKE OUTS: + Buildings can be good or stand in the way of our hearing God. This is a meeting house, if it does not function that way, it has become an idol. + Our hope is misplaced when it is in material symbols of power + There is only one way to truly make your name great, that is to make Jesus’ name great. He lasts through all generations, all cultures, and all time. + Are you part of the House of David? You can be, starting today.