The Importance of Instructions
This week, Pastor Gene takes us through the account of David starting to set up his kingdom. We also see how important following instructions can be.
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good morning good morning good morning if you're new here among us my name is gene i serve here at c3 church as your lead pastor and i have a story for you what a surprise there once was a colonel in the army stationed just behind the front lines in the headquarters it was his job to get the information from the generals make sense of it in charge of the staff his officers all those other people really the brains just behind the front lines but it was said of him that he was mean and sometimes he did some really strange things you see his secretary would come in every morning and offer him a cup of coffee he would very sharply dismiss her no get back to work no explanation he barely left the headquarters unless it was really dark in the morning or dark at night and if he did leave he'd put on this old rag of an overcoat and even though there was nothing wrong with him he'd grab a pair of crutches and just hobble around outside and he was out there no one would salute him so his staff thought nobody respects this colonel he's no good when the courier came in to get the battle plans and all the stuff to bring it to his officers on the front line he often had questions inquisitive fellow he would dismiss him too shut up get out of here and get to the front line get the reports out there one day his staff found out that he'd been promoted brigadier general that's a one-star general pretty good how did that happen nobody likes him well they were glad to see him gone his replacement came in new guy a little bit younger maybe a little arrogant he sat down at the desk and he noticed on the desk was like a composition notebook remember those the black and white ones i'm probably dating myself now it said instructions on it well i don't need those open up the bottom drawer throw them in there close the drawer secretary comes in want a cup of coffee sir oh yes i'd love to be served a cup of coffee so she goes an hour goes by gets curious what happened to her so he heads out to the mess hall to find out what's going on on his way out you notice nobody is saluting him so he gets mad he reprimands some of the soldiers hey stand at attention when you see me salute me i'm an officer just then crack bullet whizzes right past his arm right through his uniform he ducks for cover runs in the headquarters you okay sir no blood lucked out just went through his uniform secretary comes in shortly thereafter with a cold cup of coffee now and some of the reports that he has to analyze so he's a little bit distracted because he almost got killed he does his best to finish the reports courier comes in starts asking questions well he's happy to share with him all that he knows because he knows a lot sends him out to the front lines then he gets to thinking you know what maybe i'll head out there on the front lines hear the press is out there today i'll get my picture taken i'll show everybody i'm not like my predecessor i'm a guy who leads from the front so he heads out on the way there he stops at the aid station about halfway there that's where the nurses are taking care of those who are wounded he notices it's totally full what's going on where's the press they took off it's going south this place has never been so full so he heads to the front line checks with his officers what's going on chaos we're losing the battle didn't you get my battle plans they came a little late and so chaos ensued and then when i did read them i really couldn't make heads or tails of it you know all due respect sir you sound like you're distracted just then sound of a mortar coming in landed right in front of them kills the colonel and his officers well they managed to hold their ground and do okay a new colonel comes in sits down at the desk of the headquarters his first day he's a little more inquisitive he looks around the desk he opens up the bottom drawer pulls out the instructions might want to read these he opens them up been here a while i'm experienced you could take it or leave it this advice first things first your secretary she's going to come in and offer you a cup of coffee truth be told she doesn't care about you or the coffee she just wants to go to the to the mess hall to flirt with one of the cooks she likes there she's going to get you the reports late that's going to be a problem wouldn't leave the headquarters but if you do put on that overcoat i left for you and grab the crutches you see there's a sniper out there and he's not going to take a shot revealing his position at a wounded private but he finds out you're an officer he'll take the shot so whatever you do don't let anybody salute you then the courier is going to come in he's going to ask a lot of questions truth about him he's a gossip he's also a flirt he's going to flirt with the nurses at the aid station then the reports are going to come in late chaos will ensue and whatever you do don't be a show-off and talk to the press at the front lines they'll get you killed there's only one of you and thousands of them you see it doesn't matter what people think of you a leader's job is to keep the men alive and i'll thank you for it later that is if you're around to thank you see there is something to be said for following very specific instructions even if they seem strange today we find ourselves in the rest of the story where we'll see that god is very specific in his instructions and sometimes they seem strange we're continuing in the rest of the story we arrive in 2nd samuel 5 and 6 and first chronicles 11 through 16. so if you know the old testament well you know what's happening here they're running parallel these accounts if you don't you're probably confused so i'll help you most christians know the new testament a little bit better and you might know that there's four gospel accounts biographies of the life and ministry of jesus christ matthew mark luke and john and some of them are very similar almost exact in certain areas and then they get different here in there why different perspectives there's no contradictions just told from different angles that's all so that's what's happening here in the old testament in first chronicles it's gonna pick up right here and it's gonna move through through first kings second kings as well into second chronicles all running parallel but they have different perspectives some talk about things that the other accounts don't so we're going to hop from 2nd samuel where we were into first chronicles because it's a more robust account and i'm just going to overview some things because we run into some stuff that gets a little bit long for a sunday morning unless you want to stay here a while we can do that so where we left off david king david is securing a divided kingdom after the death of israel's first king saul and then his son ishbo fun names to say so we find ourselves in 1st chronicles 11 starting at verse 1. then all israel gathered before david at hebron and told him we are your own flesh and blood in the past even when saul was king you were the one who really led the forces of israel and the lord your god told you you will be the shepherd of my people israel you will be the leader of my people israel so here at hebron or there at hebron david made a covenant before the lord with all the elders of israel and they anointed him king of israel just as the lord had promised through samuel so david is now going to establish his capital city jerusalem it's not going to be called that right away it's jboos and so here's where we're going to hop back to second samuel a little bit because different things are set so you've got to put it all together both things are said it's just the author points out one and then the other second samuel five tells us that there's kind of like this taunt in exchange the people of jabu's it's like a fortress and they're very confident in there so they're like even the lime and blaine blind blind and lame could keep you out and that was a tongue twister there i'll try saying it again too in first chronicles david says whoever's the first to get in there and kill one of those jebusites i'll make him my commander so remember joab can't already the commander but he's the first one to do it makes him the commander he says go in through a water tunnel that's how they get in there so joab he is david's sister's son zeruaya they build up the city of david makes it his home and he becomes king so if you're confused city of david zion jerusalem pretty much synonymous now we get some info in first chronicles that isn't in second samuel five through six i'll summarize for you david's mighty warriors this can get really confusing because you gotta hop all the way over to second samuel 23 to get this information so i'm trying to put it all in order kind of chronologically for you so he has his top guys joshuabean he's the leader it says that he kills 300 men or in one of the other accounts 800 men in one battle laser second guy and if we have over the second samuel 23 shama so they're the head guys then we get a list of these 30 mighty warriors and just before we do we get some exploits in there there's a story about the philistines taking over in bethlehem and david remarks he's from there oh how i love some of that water in bethlehem from the well by the gate so the three mighty men they kind of scout it out they go behind philistine lines they get in the water they bring back the water what does he do he pours it out this water is as precious as the blood of the men who brought it to me so he pours it out like an offering to the lord now you have the 30 mighty men and if we turn the page we continue to first chronicles 12. it now recalls things that happened at ziklag so it's not always chronological it'll think backwards and all these men are joining him we now find out they're defecting to david during the time of saul people from the tribe benjamin they can sling a stone with their left hand as good as their right should remind you of judges chapter 20 if you've been with us this whole time then it lists people who joined him while he was at hebron so it's going through chronologically there's a huge celebration and again they confirmed david as king over israel this happens a lot he gets confirmed quite a bit so now they're ready to move the ark to jerusalem where was the ark it's at curious jeerum so do you remember they lost to the philistines the philistines stole the ark caused them trouble they send the ark back but some unfortunate fellows look into it that beth shemesh it kills them and they tell the people from curious jeerum take the ark we don't want it it stays there for 20 years david says it's been neglected during the time of saul so they're going to bring it back we turn the page first chronicles 13 1. david consulted with all his officials including the generals and captains of his army then he addressed the entire assembly of israel as follows if you approve and if it is the will of the lord our god let us send messages to all the israelites throughout the land including the priests and levites in their towns and pasture lands let us invite them to come join us it is time to bring back the ark of god for we neglected it during the reign of saul the whole assembly agreed to this for the people could see it was the right thing to do so david summoned all israel from shihor brook of egypt in the south all the way to lebo heymus on the north to join in bringing the ark of god from curious jiram so now they retrieve it from abinadab's house there and they do some things that should seem similar they put it on a cart like the philistines did aza and ohio these two guys are leading it they're doing all right dancing and celebrating around the ark until deoxen stumbles azza reaches out to grab the car it touches the cart god strikes him dead we'll get to why in a little bit david's angry he names the place bursts out at aza pires if you remember the name piraz if you're paying attention in genesis where that comes from remember judah and tamar zara sticks his hand out they tie the scarlet threat around it he pulls it back and then pires bursts out it means burst out it's an important name it'll come up again so here's what happened first chronicles 13 12 david was now afraid of god and he asked how can i ever bring the ark of god back into my care so david did not move the ark into the city of david instead he took it to the house of obed edom and gath the ark of god remained there in obed edom's house for three months and the lord blessed the household of obedient everything he owned when we turn the page chapter 14 we see a communication between david and hiram of tyre this will come up again we talk about the cedars of lebanon solomon will communicate with him later david's son apparently if you want good cedarwood that's where you get it from david builds his palace marries more wives it gives a list of his children his sons born in jerusalem and then there's a different placement of the philistine defeat in second samuel five that happened a little bit earlier they hear that david is named king so they gather together all their forces what's important about this account is david consults with the lord should i go out to fight them yes so he has success burns all their idols they come back david again should i go out and fight them yes and he gives them a signal and a sign very specific instructions don't go straight on circle around the battle plan to the poplar trees and when you hear sound like feet marching on the tops of the trees then attack he follows the instructions god gives him the victory now if we turn the page second samuel 6 will tell us that david finds out that the household of obed edom is blessed so he takes this as confirmation go back to first chronicles 15 starting one david now built several buildings buildings for himself in the city of david he also prepared a place for the ark of god and set up and a special tent for it then he commanded no one except the levites may carry the ark of god the lord has chosen them to carry the ark of the lord and serve him forever now they want to give it another try but this time they do it right if he had followed the instructions the first time numbers four he would have known that the levites were the only ones who were supposed to carry it so now they do it gives us a list of all the people that he chooses they purify themselves they prepare themselves for this very important thing following the instructions we get a whole list along with musicians everything first chronicles 15 25 then david and the elders of israel and the generals of the army went to the house of obed edom to bring the ark of the lord's covenant up to jerusalem with great celebration and because god was clearly helping the levites as they carried the ark of the lord's covenant they sacrificed seven bowls and seven rams david was dressed in a robe of fine linen as were all the levites who carried the ark and also the singers in canaania the choir leader david was also wearing a priestly garment so all israel brought up the ark of the lord's covenant with shouts of joy the blowing of ram's horns and trumpets and the crashing of symbols loud playing on harps and liars so this should remind you remember the fall of jericho and joshua six very similar type of procession something else you might remember michael saul's daughter david's first wife she was detained if you remember with ishbo sheth his son stayed there married another guy even though they weren't divorced named pelty remember he was kind of pitiful palty walking behind abner tells him stop crying go home well she seems like she has an attitude problem because here's what happens first chronicles 15 29 but as the ark of the lord's covenant entered the city of david michael the daughter of saul looked down from her window when she saw king david skipping about and laughing with joy she was filled with contempt for him maybe she's jealous you see david seemed a little crazy to her skipping around but he's worshiping the lord it mustn't criticize people in their worship sometimes it looks crazy to us but she criticizes it but there's something else he's also a good godly leader for all his faults david does a few things right he usually honors his commitments and oaths we know he's a great warrior a great general people really respect him a great king but there's something more important than that the biggest one david is a prayer warrior david gives us about half of the psalms he's a prayer warrior he usually almost always consults with god before he does anything like the philistines he made no assumptions should i go out and fight them yes go out and fight them he's already been given permission they come back and he asks again most of us would assume of course well he already gave we do this right he already gave me permission so i just assume that it's okay no he asks he almost always consults with the lord except that first time moving the ark if you notice he asked the congregation not the lord or the levites the first time oh you guys want to do this oh by the way we'll send messengers and invite those levites a little backwards he puts it on a cart that's how the philistines sent it out that cart was chopped up and used for firewood shouldn't have done that he should have consulted with numbers four the king was supplied with the book of the law he's supposed to read it a lot says that in deuteronomy guess he didn't do that the levites should have been carrying it and now azza pays the price with his life later in first chronicles before they move it the second time we get that big list of the levites then first chronicles 15 12. he said to them you are the leaders of the levite families you must purify yourselves and all your fellow levites so you can bring the ark of the lord the god of israel to the place i prepared for it because you levites did not carry the ark the first time the anger of the lord our god burst out against us we failed to ask god how to move it properly instructions gets it right the second time because he listens to god he follows the instructions you see a good leader consults with the lord a good leader listens to the lord you do that before you do anything doesn't matter how it looks to other people leaders must be in the word and in prayer if someone isn't listening to the lord we shouldn't be listening to them but if they are if they're clearly washed in the word if they're clearly following the instructions then people should be careful before criticizing especially if they're not in the word so when leaders are in the word even if what they're doing looks a little bit strange to us we shouldn't make assumptions like we talked about last week or criticizing because we probably don't or maybe can't have full knowledge a godly leader is equipped with information that we might not understand it may seem crazy we don't always have the information that we do we see that michael pays the price for criticizing there's something we find in second samuel that isn't in first chronicles get a little bit more of the story second samuel 6 16 but as the ark of the lord entered the city of david michael the daughter of saul looked down from her window when she saw king david leaving and dancing before the lord she was filled with contempt for him that part's about the same she has an attitude problem but we see in second samuel she pays the price for it second samuel 6 20. when david returned home to bless his own family michael the daughter of saul came out to meet him she said in disgust how distinguished the king of israel looked today shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do david retorted to michael i was dancing before the lord who chose me above your father and all his family he appointed me as leader of israel the people of the lord so i celebrate before the lord yes and i'm willing to look even more foolish than this even to be humiliated in my own eyes but those servant girls you mentioned indeed will think i am distinguished so michael the daughter of saul remained childless throughout her entire life she has an attitude problem and she pays the price for it we shouldn't have an attitude problem but we can't ask why that's okay to do we see it in the psalms psalm 42 9 oh god my rock i cry why have you forgotten me why must i wander around in grief oppressed by my enemies we can do so asking god asking leadership questions it's okay as long as we do so respectfully and as long as we understand that we might not get an answer just as a godly leader might not be able to share why confidentiality timing do you know that a good leader tests his flock sometimes it's a test sometimes people fail the test you see my coaches want you to exercise your faith it's a good thing because god desires true faith and sometimes god chooses not to share you see if we're truly walking in faith we should need to know everything should we isn't that the point of faith when you think about it proverbs 20 24 the lord directs our steps so why try to understand everything along the way if the lord is directing our steps if we have faith so being a good soldier for christ means having faith and faith means following instructions even if we don't know why the instructions might not make sense to you you might not understand why but perhaps they will make sense later and here's the other side of the why psalm 42 11 why am i so discouraged why is my heart so sad i will put my hope in god oh praise him again my savior and my god we must trust the lord now i get it we struggle we want to know the wise we're curious aren't we why we must have faith but why why is this happening why is that happening so in a small way in the church little things why is that being done this way or why is this being done that way encouraging everybody to turn it around a little bit at work maybe you're in charge of certain things and someone could very easily look at your job into what you're doing and start criticizing ever have that happen they don't have anything to do with your job they know nothing about what you do but they got a lot to say about it right a lot do we do this do we watch the news i was watching a general talking on the news and explaining some things it was so funny because the person interviewing was not really interviewing him he was arguing with him like do you really want him to answer your questions or do you just want to start a fight i think they just want to start a fight this guy's a general in the army and then you get all these people commenting on it right if you go online there's like even more like 17 year old kids commenting do you really think you know what a general in the army knows really they're behaving like it there's a lot of arrogance out there well but think about how that feels when someone does that in your job something that you went to school for you studied really hard to get a degree and people just come in they just start telling you how to do your job so it's like this in church and even more magnified so much more greatly with god if we shouldn't assume those things we should never assume we know everything that god does or expect him to be able to explain why i get it especially now on a global level why i've asked the question don't worry it's okay the psalmist did it why god why is all this going on this mess doesn't seem like a mess yes it's a mess out there a total mess and so we ask why why is this happening in the world but don't feel bad if you've asked that question because the disciples did too you see jesus was crucified died buried rose from the dead and appeared to people including his disciples acts 1 6. so when the apostles were with jesus they kept asking him lord has the time come for you to free israel and restore our kingdom he replied the father alone has the authority to set those dates and times and they are not for you to know look what jesus says they're not for you to know interesting i've said this before i'll remind you again it's really important there's one thing that all end times profits have in common outside the bible the bible reliable what does the bible say it's not for you to know what do all these end times prophets with youtube channels say i know really one thing they all have in common they're all wrong it's disobedient to what jesus said they're false prophets they're liars you jesus says you can't know disciples have been told this already mark 13 matthew 24 the angels don't know the son doesn't know jesus only the father knows when all this is going to happen don't listen to the false prophets if jesus doesn't know we can't know these people lack faith that's what jesus requires faith we must have faith and be faithful faithful also means following instructions jesus continues acts 1 8 but you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere in jerusalem throughout judea and samaria and to the ends of the earth while we're waiting patiently in faith we must faithfully be following instructions this means proclaiming the glory of the lord being witnesses to jesus witnesses to the word not the world that's what we should be out there talking about whatever i don't put my hope in government i don't put my hope in a president or a king no the one true king that's where all my hope is that's it this world's always been a mess since adam and eve since the fall it's never been right read your old testament again it's pretty bad it's getting so bad pastor gene so people tell me i'm like you have not read your bible what are we going to do i get that a lot you have not read your bible what is the lord going to do that's the correct question what is the lord going to do well tells us he's coming back he's going to straighten it out all of our hope all of our trust all of our faith needs to be put in him not any worldly establishment acts 1 9. after saying this he was taken up into a cloud the ascension while they were watching and they could no longer see him as he strained to see him rising into heaven two white robe men suddenly stood among them men of galilee they said why are you standing here you're staring into heaven jesus has been taken from you into heaven but someday someday he'll return from heaven in the same way you saw him go indeed if we go to the only reliable prophecy that we have about the end times it tells us some important things that we should keep our hope in while all this stuff is going on around us and it is this that jesus will come back eyes flames of fire and them sword coming out of his mouth the judgment sword he is going to straighten it all out he's going to do the judgment he is going to win the battle this whole earth will be wiped away i think christians forget that it's all going to be wiped away gone but for us if you are in jesus if he is your king you're going to get a new heavens a new earth a new jerusalem you're not even going to need the sun that's gone too god will be enough he'll be our eternal light this is what we're waiting for then it says this the disciple jesus loves observes this revelation 21 3 then i heard a shout from the throne saying look god's home is now among his people he will live with them and they will be his people god himself will be with them he will wipe every tear from their eyes there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain all these things are gone forever we must put our trust in god's word put our hope in god's word our faith in god's word and patiently wait because in his promises we find peace after the ark arrived at jerusalem david gives asaph he's a guy you're going to hear about if you read a lot of the psalms he's a psalmist too but he gives them a special song praise to sing it's another example of scripture is running parallel we see pieces of this i'm not going to do the whole thing in psalm 105 106 96 but today as we close let's give god the glory let's praise him with this psalm first chronicles 16 23 let the whole earth sing to the lord each day proclaim the good news that he saves publish his glorious deeds among the nations and on the internet tell everyone about the amazing things he does great is the lord he is most worthy of praise he is to be feared above all gods the gods of the other nations are mere idols but the lord made the heavens honor and majesty surround him strength and joy fill his dwelling o nations of the world recognize the lord recognize that the lord is glorious and strong give to the lord the glory he deserves bring your offerings and come into his presence worship the lord in all his holy splendor let all the earth tremble before him the world stands firm and cannot be shaken let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice tell the nation the lord reigns let the sea and everything in it shout his praise let the fields and their crops burst out with joy let the trees of the forest sing for joy before the lord for he is coming to judge the earth give thanks to the lord for he is good his faithful love endures forever cry out save us oh god of our salvation gather and rescue us from among the nations we can thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you praise the lord the god of israel who lives from everlasting to everlasting and all the people said amen amen so you