Reading With the People of God #10 Kingdomنموونە

Focus of the month: (Kingdom)

7 Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel, 8 and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. 9 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall waste them no more, as formerly, 10 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house. 11 When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, 14 but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.’ ”.

- 1 Chronicles 17:7-14

Sin Follows Sin

All of our troubles in life stem from a wrong relationship with God. This may be our relationship with God or because someone else has a wrong relationship with Him. This wrong relationship is sin. The good news is that God made a way through the sacrifice of Jesus and the belief that He is God who atoned for our sins (Romans 3:23, Romans 5:8, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9-10). He provided a process for us to walk through the challenges of this life. When we are seeking that right relationship with Him, we can have confidence in His strength to get us through. For believers, this life is not final, and the challenges we face are not without hope because we have an eternal future with the Lord.

In our past readings, we see that David had times of deep and right relationship with God. However, what has not been present in the story of David is passing on that important relationship to His children. We will read of the tragedy of how they took matters into their own hands without one mention of following God. I cannot think of anything more heartbreaking than to know that my family does not walk with the Lord because I did not share with them. Even though God created us and chose us to be in a relationship with Him from the beginning, Romans 5 reminds us that we are called “enemies” until we are reconciled to Him.

My prayer and the prayer of Cornerstone Community Church of Chowchilla is that we make Christ known because Jesus Changes Everything.

Ask yourself three questions for this reading today:

1. “How can I make my relationship right with the Lord and live in His strength?”
2. “How can I share with others the hope, peace, and perseverance that Jesus makes in this life and eternity in the next?”
3. “With whom can I share this great news?”

* primer contributed by Gaylyn Mott, Teacher, Musician, Yarn Artist, member of Cornerstone Community Church