STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY WHEN IS IT A SACRIFICE?

2 SAMUEL 24:18-25 The Lord not only stayed the plague, but through Gad He also instructed David to build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite (1 Chron. 21:18). The Lord was very specific about this and left no alternative in the matter. Why...

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STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY A MISPLACED CONFIDENCE

2 SAMUEL 24:1-14; 1 CHRONICLES 21:1 This last attack of Satan upon David took place about 38 years after David had ascended the throne and about two years before his death. Satan was successful for a brief time in enticing David into sin, which should remind us all that we...

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STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY GOD’S PURPOSE IN CHASTISING

HEBREWS 12:1-13 God’s purpose in chastening us is so that we might learn not to sin. We cannot expect forgiveness and then be turned loose to go on living in the sin that brought God’s displeasure. God fixed a gulf between sin and righteousness.This must be maintained.Absolutely no compromise is...

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STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY SOWING AND REAPING

2 SAMUEL 12:1-10 David’s harshness and lack of pity were due to his being out of touch with God. No wonder he failed to remember the judgment prescribed by the Law. At this point the Holy Spirit gave Nathan boldness to say to David, “Thou art the man” (2 Sam....

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STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY THE UNCHANGING FLESH NATURE

2 SAMUEL 11:6-15 David’s scheme was to bring Uriah home on a military furlough, hoping that he would be considered the father of Bathsheba’s child. Uriah was much more righteous than David in this. He would not permit himself to relax until the war was over. David then resorted to...

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STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY FACING SIN

2 SAMUEL 11:1-5 We have seen before that God does not gloss over the sins of His children. David, though a man after God’s own heart, was not sinlessly perfect. We come now to the darkest hour in this great man’s life. It seems that the higher the peak of...

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STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY WHEN GOD SAYS NO

2 SAMUEL 7:1-13 Nathan commended David for his desire to build a temple and then went to his own house. That night God spoke to the prophet, and as an obedient servant, Nathan brought the word to David. The message was no. God was not going to allow David to...

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STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY THE KING GIVES VICTORY

2 SAMUEL 5:1-10 So impregnable did the Jebusites think their fortress to be that they jeered at David and his men, saying that the blind and the lame could hold it against David’s army. “Nevertheless,” we are told, “David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city...

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STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY “NOW THEN DO IT”

2 SAMUEL 3:1,7-18 David’s waiting on the Lord indeed paid off. At the end of seven and a half years, God began to arrange events so that David was finally crowned king of all Israel. Abner, who was general of the armies of Israel, had put Ishbosheth on the throne...

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STRENGTH FOR THE JOURNEY WAITING FOR GOD’S

2 SAMUEL 2:1-11 Second Samuel 2 opens with these words: “And it came to pass after this, that David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go...

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