Sermon for 7/4/21 - 13 Minutes - Freedom By Keeping God First!
Notes
Transcript
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
This morning I'll be reading 2 Samuel chapter 5 verses 1 through 5 then skipping down to verses 9 and 10.
And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
In the verses that we will look at this morning,,, David will finally begin his reign as king of Israel. After many years of testing and hard times.
2 Samuel 5:1–5, 9-10 (HCSB)
1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood. 2 Even while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led us out to battle and brought us back. The Lord also said to you, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel and be ruler over Israel.’ ” 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. King David made a covenant with them at Hebron in the Lord’s presence, and they anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was 30 years old when he began his reign; he reigned 40 years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned 33 years over all Israel and Judah.
2 Samuel 5:9–10 (HCSB)
9 David took up residence in the stronghold, which he named the city of David. He built it up all the way around from the supporting terraces inward. 10 David became more and more powerful, and the Lord God of Hosts was with him.
God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.
Let us pray:
Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.
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Today we celebrate the freedom that we have as American’s,,, and this is usually a day where we tend to forget our differences,,, come together as a nation,,, and we all share them together.
But,,, in the last few years,,, this country is continuing on a downward spiral that is leaving the people,,, and the most important part,,, God,,, “who gives us all freedom”,,, behind!
I will admit that we don’t live in a perfect country,,, and we have work that needs to be done,,, but it’s the best that I know of,,, and I’m proud to call this home.
I also know that we are continuing to let some people be elected that don’t share our views of this country,,, and while I’m sure that this problem doesn’t come from our part of the country,,, we must speak out and let our voices be heard so that others will hear and hopefully,,, understand the damage that we are doing to ourselves,,, or,,, allowing this to occur,,, not actually doing it ourselves.
But,,, hopefully we can enjoy this day that has been set aside to celebrate this country that we call home,,, and we can continue to remember to pray for our leaders as we go forward,,, even while we may not agree with their way of governing.
Because I’m proud to be an American,,, and I’m proud of the freedoms that we all share.
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As I said earlier,,, we are leaving God behind,,, and I wanted us to look at the beginning reign of David after he is anointed as leader of Israel.
Any time that you look at David during the early years of his life,,, and most of the times even during his reign as king of Israel,,, David kept God first in his life.
And by keeping God first in his life,,, that gave David the freedom that allowed him to have his relationship with God,,, that helped him through so much.
That was what made him so successful,,, he relied on God’s power instead of his own.
Even when he sinned,,, he admitted his failures,,, asked forgiveness,,, accepted the punishment,,, and went back to following God the way that he should.
So let’s look at these verses this morning and see how they can help us in our walk with God this week.
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Verse 1 says: 1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own flesh and blood.
The people have decided that they are still in need of a king,,, even after the way that Saul ran the kingdom.
Of course David had already been anointed by Samuel many years earlier as God’s choice to replace Saul as king,,, and earlier as the leader of Judah.
So a delegation from all the tribes have come to David,,, and it’s now time for David to begin his reign as king,,, and bring them all together again.
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Verse 2 says: 2 Even while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led us out to battle and brought us back. The Lord also said to you, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel and be ruler over Israel.’ ”
The delegates are reminding David of all that he has already done for them and of the promise from God,,, that he will be the king after Saul.
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Verse 3 says: 3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. King David made a covenant with them at Hebron in the Lord’s presence, and they anointed David king over Israel.
This is the third time that David has been anointed as king,,, and where the promise from God that he would replace Saul is finally complete.
So many time,,, we will pray about something,,, and we expect immediate results.
We need to remember that David trusted God to work things out,,, in His time,,, not David's time!
David was chosen by God as the next king of Israel,,, but he waited for many years,,, went through many trials and hard times,,, before this ever came about.
How many of us,,, would have given up,,, instead of continuing to trust God like David did,,, through everything that happened to him,,, as he waited all those years,,, to be able to accept this job that God has prepared him for.
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Verses 4 and 5 say: 4 David was 30 years old when he began his reign; he reigned 40 years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned 33 years over all Israel and Judah.
David began his reign when he was 30 years old,,, this is the same age that priest began to serve.
This was the age when someone was considered mature enough to handle this job.
And we know from the decisions that David made that he was ready to handle this job as well.
We have the decision that he made to relocate the capitol by taking the city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites as an example even though it is skipped over in the reading for this morning.
It is told in verses 6-8 in this chapter and also in 1 Chronicles chapter 11.
And it was a successful military accomplishment and helped strengthen his ability to govern from a neutral city,,, since this city wasn’t connected to either the northern kingdom or the southern kingdom.
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Verse 9 says: 9 David took up residence in the stronghold, which he named the city of David. He built it up all the way around from the supporting terraces inward.
David made the city even more formidable,,, and all of the things that he did,,, made his position as king of Israel clear to all,,, that he was a leader to be reckoned with.
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Verse 10 says: 10 David became more and more powerful, and the Lord God of Hosts was with him.
Everything that David has done has helped him become more and more powerful,,, and,,, they showed that God was with him in everything that he was doing.
And he was able to accomplish these things,,, because he made sure that God came first,,, in his life.
By doing so,,, God helped him to accomplish great things.
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As I told you at the beginning,,, by keeping God first in his life,,, that gave David the freedom that allowed him to have his relationship with God,,, that helped him through so much.
That was what made him so successful,,, he relied on God’s power instead of his own.
We have an even better opportunity today than David did for a personal relationship with God because of the sacrifice of Jesus.
But,,, we can use these verses to help guide us in our walk with God,,, because even though David made many mistakes,,, he always changed when he needed to and God blessed him for it.
So as we celebrate today,,, the freedoms that we have in this country,,, remember that because of the sacrifice of Jesus,,, we have the greatest freedom of all,,, and that’s freedom from sin’s hold on us,,, and,,, the freedom that we have to come to God with any problem that we have,,, without relying on anyone to help us,,, and that freedom was made possible,,, by the saving grace,,, of our Lord,,, and Savior,,, Jesus Christ!
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Hymn: 337 - Oakdale
Hymn: 337 - Seminary
Benediction
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