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We have traced the events which have led up to a climactic point for Emperor Ahasuerus, Queen Esther, Mordecai, and Haman to the point where the Emperor's eyes had at last been opened. He could now clearly see the true nature of Haman, and the deception which he sought to perpetrate. The king knew that his enemy was the person he once thought to be his closest friend.
Of course, Ahasuerus struggled mightily with what he should do, but he eventually decided to treat Haman exactly as he deserved to be treated. He decided to hang Haman upon the very stake that Haman had erected for Mordecai earlier.
Recognizing the true nature of Haman was the first step of the Emperor in freeing his Empire from the very thing that threatened its ultimate destruction. As Pastor will point out this morning, this has always been the first step in achieving victory our Haman; our fleshly natures. It begins at the moment we stop justifying and excusing our faults and failures; the moment we stop shutting my eyes to these faults and failures; the moment we stop passing our faults and failures off as being something else, and resolve to hang them on the tree where God put all of our sins, past, present, and future when Jesus Christ died.
That is the beginning of living in victory in all our lives. This will be our Pastor’s theme for today. We will examine Esther 8, where we will trace the steps that follow any decision we make to crucify our flesh. The sermon will open by reviewing the transfer of power when Haman was crucified, and the new authority structure that would be put in place.Support the show
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We humans frequently manifest a strange urge for timelessness; we possess an instinctive need to be remembered after we are gone. The idea that we will be forgotten is a pain we can hardly sustain.
Yet, in all of human history there has been only one truly timeless, eternal event; it was the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus Christ marks the hinge moment in human history and it passes judgment on every human life.
This event not only occurred in time and space some nineteen hundred years ago, but it is something which also takes place every day in each and every Christian's life. In fact, it must take place on a daily basis in every Christian's life, perhaps many times a day.
This timeless event becomes part of our experience when we reenact it in our own lives. This is why the cross of Jesus Christ, with all its possibilities of salvation and deliverance, can be an utterly useless thing if it finds no translation into our own personal experiences. When we believe and act (that is what belief is, acting on the principles set forth in that cross), then it comes to be true in our life experiences.
This is what we have in Esther 7. This material provides a picture of the only way Christians can find real victory over the subtle, crafty, self-loving, self-pleasing, self-pitying, self-defending, self-asserting urges that arise within us.
This daily manifestation is what is portrayed for us in this seventh chapter of Esther, as our Pastor continues his present series. The sermon is entitled Haman’s Last Supper.Support the show
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The book of Esther is known as one of two books in the Bible that does not contain the name of God. It seems strange that a biblical book should never mention God; so what is the book about? Well as we have seen, it is really a story of palace intrigue in the ancient empire of Persia, an historical incident taken out of the very distant past. But we should not look for direct teaching from this book, but indirect teaching.
The fact is this: the material in this book is true, yet allegorical in nature. God is everywhere in this book, but not directly. In other words, the book is parabolic, an allegory about your life and mine. In each of our lives the story of Esther is being acted out. This is what makes it so fascinating, so interesting.
As our Pastor has attempted to demonstrate, this story is the revelation of the terrible possibility of our being Christians and yet wasting our lives. It is the story of an empire which was almost wrecked by pride without realizing the true cause. It is the story of the danger implicit in intending to do right, and of desiring to do right, and of believing we are doing right, but ending up realizing that we have been terribly and tragically wrong. As Pastor continues this series of sermons, he will help us recognize the various characters depicted in Esther in our own lives.Support the show
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The story of Esther is a story of the Emperor of ancient Persia, who married a beautiful Jewish girl named Esther who had been raised by her cousin, Mordecai. The latter two persons were captives, taken from the city of Jerusalem and brought over into the kingdom of Persia.
In the court of this Emperor was a very slimy character named Haman who became the Prime Minister of the kingdom. As time passed, antagonism had developed between Haman and Mordecai. Haman, wanting to rid the empire of Mordecai, created a fiendish plan to destroy all the Jews in the kingdom. What he did not know was this: Esther, the queen, was a Jewess.
Mordecai became aware of the plot and prevailed upon Queen Esther to brave the disfavor of the king by going to him without invitation, to plead the cause of her people.
The whole story becomes of fascinating interest and meaning to us when we discover that this is not merely a story of the ancient past, but is also a divinely inspired, magnificently accurate portrayal of what is going on in each of our lives at this very moment.
Each of us is a king over a kingdom; the kingdom is each of our lives. The spirit persons of each of us who have been born again have been made alive in Jesus Christ. This is the queen that has come into your life.
Mordecai, in this story, is a figure of the Holy Spirit moving to preserve the fruit of the Spirit in our kingdom. And slyly at work in us is Haman -- that which the Bible calls the flesh, the SARX, tricking us into believing that the only way we will ever get what we want is by choosing our own way and ignoring the life of Jesus Christ within us. This will be our Pastor’s sermon for today.Support the show
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At his current place in the=is series of sermons from the story of Esther, our pastor has now introduced to us an Emperor called Ahasuerus. He was the grandfather of Cyrus the Great. This Emperor had married a young Jewish girl named Esther, a captive taken from the city of Jerusalem, years earlier. Her cousin Mordechai later became a judge in the city of Susa the capital city of the Persian Empire.
In the court of the king was an oily character whose name was Haman who managed to pull the wool over the King’s eyes and deceived him into signing a decree to destroy all the Jews in his kingdom. The Jewish people are called “the people of Mordechai.”
We should be aware that the book of Esther is true history. It can be confirmed by the Jewish celebration called “the Feast of Purim, named for the casting of the PUR, which our Pastor described last week. It was cast before Haman to fix the day upon which the Jews would be exterminated. This feast is still celebrated today some twenty-five hundred years after these events.
However, the startling thing we learn is this: the events in Esther also a glimpse into our own hearts. Each of us has a king dwelling in the capital city, the capital city being our bodies, and reigning over an Empire which touches everyone we know. If we are a believing Christians, at the moment we were born again we gained a queen---a spirit made alive in Jesus Christ to serve as a place of communion between the Holy Spirit who dwells in your hearts, and ourselves.
As pastor will demonstrate this morning, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is symbolized in the story in the person of Mordechai.Support the show
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In this series of sermons, our Pastor has introduced us to four characters that play a role in the book of Esther. The first was Emperor Ahasuerus of Persia. He was a young man of about eighteen years of age when the events recorded in the book of Esther begin.
The second was the Queen of Persia, a woman named Vashti. The Emperor deposed her and for the next three years he lived without a queen. But, when the Emperor was twenty-one, he married our third character, a young Jewess by the name of Esther. The fourth character, the one we introduce today, her cousin, Mordecai, was a judge in the city of Susa, the capital of Persia.
In the course of his duties, Mordecai uncovered a plot against the king's life. The culprit is the fifth character in our drama, a villain named Haman. He represents our spiritual enemy Satan, as we shall see.
This is more than a story from the long forgotten past! It is the story of each of our lives. The Emperor represents each one of us. Like him, each of us have great influence in the empires we rule, our lives. We are the emperors of our kingdoms, which means we, too, have found a new queen. This happened when our spirit person was made alive in Jesus Christ.
We now have the influence of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly Mordecai, working in us. But today, Pastor will point to the fact that like Haman, our spiritual enemy, Satan, has launched a plot against each of our lives. You will see today how the story of Esther retraces our spiritual journeys.Support the show
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Last week, our Pastor began a new series of sermons taken from the book of Esther. In his introductory sermon, he introduced us to three persons, the first being the emperor of Persia, AHASUERUS. Our Pastor suggested that this man represents each one of us. He also introduced two women, a pair of queens, named VASHTI and Esther. Pastor suggested that VASHTI represents our spirit person when it is dormant; dead in trespass and in sin. AHASUERUS and VASHTI had no relationship; they were dead to one another.
This lack of relationship left the Emperor empty and alone. But the day would come when he would meet a Jewish girl named Esther. Last week, Pastor also suggested that Esther represented our regenerated spirit persons. The meaning of this will be seen in the sermon for this morning as he introduces us to this young Jewish girl.
Pastor will also introduce us to a fourth person. He, too, will have a crucial role to play. His name is Mordechai and he is the cousin of Esther. He is described as being the son of Jair, of the Hebrew tribe of Benjamin. Finis Dake, in his famous Dake’s Study Bible, interprets Esther 2:5–6 as follows:"Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah.”
This means that Mordecai himself was exiled by Nebuchadnezzar meaning that he was quite aged. We do know this; according to Esther 2:7, he adopted the young girl Esther when she was orphaned at a young age, and brought up as if she were his own daughter. It is on this young girl, Esther, and this elderly man, Mordechai, that Pastor will focus on in this message.
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We are beginning the book of Esther, which may be the most neglected book in the entire Bible. You see, very few people have ever attempted a sermon series on it or even a few single sermons from this book because the truth is very few people even read this book as devotional material.
Perhaps this is because this book is different than anything found in the New Testament. In fact, it’s much different from what is found in the remainder of the Old Testament. That’s why people tend to be a bit mystified by it. Then there’s the fact that it’s about a woman, which is very rare in biblical record. The truth is that there are only three books in the entire Bible about women and all of them are similar to Esther. The other two books are of course Ruth and the Song of Solomon. All three books are indeed delightful, but each of them are a little difficult to understand, which is why our pastor will delve beneath the surface of Esther and discover what is hidden there for us. In the way of introduction this much can be said for the book of Esther. It is a story of two angles: one of human love and the other of palace intrigue. As this series begins our pastor hopes we will all be fascinated until we finally arrive at the conclusion of this awesome story, but nevertheless, in the end, we will probably wonder why this book is even included in the Bible.
It does not mention the name of God, not once. There is no reference to worship or faith. There is no prophecy concerning Christ. There is no mention of heaven or hell. But, beneath the surface is in fact, some life changing input. And yet, it is an amazing revelation of how God works through natural means to achieve his purposes. Our pastor will begin this new series with a rather secular title.
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In the last episode we were in 2 Samuel 20, now we are in 2 Samuel 21 and something interesting happens. We get a rather large time flashback. In fact the events we discuss in this episode may have occurred more than 30 years before chapter 20. There are many reasons why this may have happened and why the ancient historians wrote it this way. One might be that we have had quite enough of David and all of his weaknesses. Another reason may be that given all of Davids’ different flaws, it now could be time to see a few things that he got right, and why he is referred to as a man after God’s own heart.
David was a compassionate man, he was a loving man, and in this teaching we will see that in his handling of a certain ethnic group associated with the Nation of israel. We must be aware that although certain old testament events do not specifically apply to all aspects of Chirstian life, not matter what community we are in or wherever we are we must always be kind and compassionate to all those who are in need. We see that in David’s handling of this situation discussed in this teaching of this specific ethnic group that he comes in contact with.
As a king, even against his own personal prejudices, David had to ensure full justice to all of his subjects. Above all, promises made to minorities had to be kept, especially when those promises concerned the rights of some of those that we might call second class citizens, even if some first class citizens had to suffer for it.
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At the end of the last episode we saw that the war was over and Absolom was dead. Remember that before the battle, David was willing and wanting to risk his life and lead his troops into battle. He wanted to do this for two reasons, first off, it was what kings did, lead their troops into battle. And secondly, he hoped that if he could enter the battle it would help save his son Absolom’s life. David’s warriors though, especially his commander in chief Joab thought differently. Joab was convinced that David must stay alive for his kingdom to continue. If he entered the battle and a stray arrow accidentally pierced him he would be dead and Absolom’s forces would most assuradly take over and they would crown Absolom as king. Joab knew that David’s life was essential to the cause to keeping his kingdom alive so he knew he could not enter the battle he had to say out but Joab also believed that it was crucial that Absolom be killed. There could not be two kings of Isreal, the rebellion had gone too deep. Absolum must die and David must be kept safe. Politically it was too late for reconciliation between father and son, Absolom had to die.
The truth is this. During this entire affair wtih David he had not acted as a King, he acted as a doating father. This is kind of ridiculous when you look at his reactions. He did not treat Absolom’s rebellion as a rebellion at all. He treated it like a small minor domestic affair that could be settled with a nice group hug between the patries involved. He failed to see Absolom’s as a traitor, a rebel who has caused tons of a pain, hurt and suffering to David, his family and the entire nation at large. And that is to say nothing for the 20 thousand men who had just died in a fierce battle in the Woods of Effram.
The death of Absolom was good news to the Nation of Isreal, it was good news for David the King, but it was the worst kind of news for David the Father. We remember David’s statement from last episode where he said, “Would I had died instead of you Absolom my son, my son.” These were the words of a bereaved and tormented father. The loss of another son, his third son, deeply hurt David and gave him intense sorrow. Yet he was the king, he could not forget his duty, his responsibility to his people, there had been a huge loss, a huge battle, a rebellion, an insurrection in his own kingdom. It was time for reconciliation, it was time to bring the kingdom back together, it was time to be king, to step up and be the king that all his valiant warriors who had just died had fought for, to be that king. Much had to be done and a lot of bitterness had to be taken care of.
Joab, who had personally killed Absolom, was frustrated with the way David was acting, he did not like it, and in fact he calls out David to his face. This will be the topic of Pastor Harris’s message.
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David as we find him this episode is nearing the Jordan River, nearing the east of Jerricho. Absalom, his son, has taken Jerusalem and has begun to occupy the famed cedar palace. Phase one of Absalom’s grand scheme is complete and he is about to enact phase two. He turns to his advisors, one is David’s former chief advisor Ahitophel. He tells Absalom the plan, David is not going to cross the Jordan at night, he is going to be too weary and wont want to do it at dark. Let me take 12,000 men and go all night. We’ll reach them tomorrow morning and he will be weakened and he will take them all down. You cut the head off the snake and the whole snake dies. We will take down David and the whole movement and rebellion against Absalom’s rule will be over. Ahitophel knew this was the way to go, he knew how resilient David could be, he knew that if you let David live on there could be serious problems for Absalom’s newest regime.
However, Absalom admired another leader, so he turned to him to seek his advice as well. He advised Absalom to stay back, be patient and wait. He was doing this because he was a mole, a spy. He knew the best thing on David’s side was time, so he encouraged Ahitophel as such. He succeeded and Absalom decided to side with the other advisor.
Ahitophel, seeing the Absalom siding with this new advice, he knew that he had made a terrible mistake. He knew the time to act was now, he thought Absalom was a man of action. He thought that Absoalom was a man of plan and he knew what he was about and knew what he was doing and was ready to take the kingdom. Clearly Ahitophel, the political superior, saw that Absalom had misstepped in not going and taking David and killing him. He knew that his cause was doomed and that he had sided with the wrong side. So he returned to Hebron and hanged himself.
With the extra time that David now had, he used it very well. He began to rally and train his army while Absalom was staying back. He would rally the troops, and get them ready to go and ready to fight until he would fight Absalom’s army in open combat.
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Last episode Pastor Harris taught about Absalom, the son of David and his planned assault on the city of Jerusalem. He planned to surround the city, take it, and kill his father David and ascend to the throne of Jerusalem. David had two options therefore, he could stay and let Absalom’s army lay siege and try and fight them off and this would most likely meet the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, David’s beloved city, or he could flee and go to a place that Absalom might have difficulty trying to reach him. It broke David’s heart, but with limited choices, David chose the second option, which we learned in the last episode. Fleeing his beloved city, and betrayed by members of his family, including one of his best friends his best counselor, and it broke David’s heart and was a very humbling moment in his life.
But at this moment, God chose to act and he sent a gentile, who was a friend and swore fealty. He swore to go with David till death, he told David that he believed in him and he was his friend. That kind of love and friendship at David’s worst time strengthen him on his journey ahead and he began to have hope. With that David left the city and climbed the Mount of Olives to his ultimate destination. Somewhere along his ascent David looked back at the city and he wept.
About this time he was approached by Ziba servant of Saul, who brought him donkey's laden with supplies for his journey. With this David made his way across the Jordan River valley. We saw here that all the things that David had been through had began to soften his heart and gave him a new level of tenderness and gentleness and love for the Lord and from these we see some of David’s most Amazing Psalms, and one of these was glorious 63rd Psalm. That is where we finished in the last episode and this week a test is coming. Somewhere on the far side of the Mount of Olives a man came running toward David. His name was Shimie and he would test David to the core, and that is what Pastor Harris will talk about in this episode.
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Welcome to the Relational Grace Podcast where we share the teachings of Pastor Nick Harris who taught us that Christianity is not a religion; it’s a relationship. I’m your host Jamie Russell, Pastor Harris’s son.
Last episode Pastor Harris talked about Absalom, Son of David, as he made his plans for a coup d'etat against his very own father. He left Jerusalem making his home in Hebron, which was the first capital city of David. Apparently David found nothing curious about this, he had no suspicion as to Absalom's move. He was totally unaware when the coup erupted. This seems really odd, as it takes a great deal of time organizing a revolt, in fact, Absolom may have spent as much as four years time planning it and yet David had not the smallest inkling of an idea that he was planning it.
Absalom was extremely shrewd in his dealing with the revolt. Somehow Absalom had begun to win all the hearts of the people of Israel. He had somehow made them think that a man who had just taken revenge on his brother and had killed him was a man devoted to justice. He seemed to convince people that words were more profitable than actions. He was even able to lure 200 of Jerusalem's best citizens to Hebron to join him.
Therefore cunning and deceit seemed to be some of his best qualities. He used them many times in his dealings leading up to the revolt and during the revolt. He used them to induce the majority of the men of Israel to turn against his very own father, their great King David. Even David’s own tribe of Judah was ready to abandon David and follow Absalom. This man was capable of much. For this reason and many others, he proves though that he was not fit to be king of God’s chosen Nation. But his father does not come out of the story looking that great either. In fact, he gets had by his own son who was able to pull the rug right out from under him without even seeing it. He didn't smell the revolt for the four long years that his son was in Hebron. So David does not look that great either, in fact he looks quite complacent. For this reason it looks like he was out of touch; it left room for Absolom to come in and steal their hearts.
A big lesson learned here is this: It is essential for good leaders to remain in touch with the people of their nation.
All this said, neither David nor his son were the most ideal leaders. But at least David was a man after God’s own heart and he showed this when Jerusalem was about to be laid under siege he fled and protected it. And Absalom, as Pastor Harris will demonstrate, cared nothing for people, he did not care how many people died as long as he remained in power.
So let’s jump into the seventeenth episode of The Saga of David series, titled, “David’s Sons Revolt”.
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Remember back to the last episode, David was confronted by Nathan about his sin with Bathsheba and Nathan had some stunning words to say on God‘s behalf to David. We can only think that these works played on David’s mind again and again. David and Bathseba had eaten bread in secret, but Nathan on behalf of God knew the truth and he had these things to say to David, he said,
“I anointed you King over Israel and delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah and if that had been too little, I would’ve given you much more, why have you despised the commandments of the Lord to do evil in his sight. You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, you have taken his wife to be your wife and you have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and taken the wife of the Hittite to be your wife. Behold, I will raise adversity against you from your own house, and I will take your wives before you eyes and give them to your neighbor and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of his son. For you did it secretly but I will do this thing before all of Israel and before the son.
However, there were many years and this prophecy did not come to pass, in fact David ruled righteously and successfully and his kingdom grew and became quite strong. However, this did not shield David from what was coming. He would face the greatest challenge of his entire life in the fulfillment of this coming prophecy because it would come from someone inside his own family. It would feature lust, it would feature incestuous relationships, it would feature a vengeance killing and I coupe de ta. In addition to all this David would lose his closest friend and advisor.
The lesson to be learned is this. Bread eaten in secret can be sweet, sin may bring pleasure in the short term. But it also can be very costly. David would learn this first hand in the fulfillment of this prophecy. Like many people, the great King found that it was fun to dance but not often fun to pay the band. Pastor Harris will discuss these issues in this episode.
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Last episode we discussed King David committing adultery with the wife of one of his main commanders in his army Uriah the Hittite. To make matters worse she became pregnant and David attempted to cover this up. However David’s plans of a cover up failed. David then attempted another scheme, and this one was of murder. In an ironic turn of events, Uriah would end up carrying his own death warrant to Joab, a type and shadow of Christ carrying our sin as Uriah carried David’s sin with him, Christ carried a death warrant in his hand in complete faithfulness and righteousness to his king he carried our sins. Except of course, Christ was not ignorant to what he carried and to what he was about to suffer. In the end, the scheme was successful, Uriah did as he was told and he was killed. This story is humbling, David was a man after God’s own heart, yet he was able to sin greatly.
As David had success in his scheme, he appeared to be grief stricken. He really did not care and in secret was patting himself on the back thinking that he had missed a close call. Bathsheba as well, took her period of grieving, once that was completed to make everything look right, David took her as his wife, they were married, and all seemed well. The scheme went perfect but that was not so, vengeance is the Lords.
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In this teaching Pastor Harris will deal with the topic of midlife crisis. He covers this through discussing three weaknesses of David Ben Jesse. In the first place, David could never control his desire for women. Secondly, David’s allowed himself to have too much idle time on his hands. And thirdly, David began to delegate his divinely oriented responsibilities to others that he should have been doing himself. Let’s listen along to Pastor Harrs as he walks us through these things that would sadly lead to King David's own demise.
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Once the issues surrounding building the temple in Jerusalem and who would build it were resolved, David decided to deal decisively with the Philistines. Bringing the war into the Philistine homeland for the first time and after several battles were fought the Philistines would never be a factor again. Israel would now control the major trade route of the ancient world, the Via Maris.
The only real enemies David now had were three fold. The Aramian Kingdom, the Mobia Kingdom and the Edimi Kingdom (due to transcription challenges, these may not be spelled correctly). David knew that he had to subdue these Kingdoms in order to control another trade route known as the King’s Highway which connected the Red Sea with Damascus. His kingdom badly needed the income that was paid by the owners of caravans that traveled the trade route. Once this route had been secured it would be of great wealth to David.
At this time in Israel's history another important person appears that would be destined to play a vital role in Israel's future, and that would be true for many generations to come. The name of this man was Zadduc. He became the high priest of Israel at this point in time and from his loins would be the High Priest of Israel for the next thousand years to come. When the trade routes had been secured the peace came to Israel and David had time to sit down and look back over the past and he had found that he had some unfinished business, some important business.
One of his obligations was to his blood brother Jonathan. A part of his obligation was this, any of the children born of Jonathan were now his children and the way in which David chose to take care of this child will be the subject of this message.
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In this teaching we will learn more about Saul and David. Saul had two daughters, Miram and Michael (we call her Michael instead of MiChal). At the time, Israel had a problem with the philistines. They did not like Isreal or the Jewish people. One day the army of the Philistines were camped on one hill and the Isrealites were camped on the other. It was a standoff. The Philistines had a clever little plan, they ha a giant of a man, eight or nine feet tall. He was more than likely twice the size of any man at the time.
The Philistines had a big idea to go down to the middle of the valley and they told the Isrealites to send their best guy to fight their best guy. This fight will determine who should win. We know that the young David shows up to deliver food to his brothers who were in the army. David is appoled at this vile person who is down in the valley making fun of his people. The Israelites said it was the philistine giant. Saul, the King of Isreal, had promised the hand of his daughter in mariage to anyone that would go down and beat the giant Philistine.
Saul was sure that someone was going to go down there and fight the giant philistine because his daughters were beautiful. No one showed up to take on this challenge until David showed up. But David wasnt fighting for the girls hand in marriage, he was fighting for his God. Well we know what has happened. David was indeed victorious, and now he had earned the right to marry Miram the oldest of the two daughters.
One day Saul hears the common people singing the praises of this young man that had defeated the giant. He was extremely jealous, he thought, “am I going to have a son-in-law that people are going to sing praises about?” So Saul promises his older daughter to another. This would leave Michael available for David. This was OK with David because he preferred Michael. Saul thought he knew his daughter better than David. This will be where Pastor Harris’s teaching picks up today.
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In this episode Pastor Harris reminds us about the prophesies of Nathan and provides a lot of back knowledge leading into this topic. More specifically Pastor Harris reminds us that God sent the prophet Nathan to David with certain instructions and a grave warning. That warning was this, just because a temple to God stood in their midst, it did not mean that his presence would always dwell in that temple. Pastor Harris will explain more about this warning in this teaching.
NOTE: To save any confusion, please note that Pastor Harris does indeed tell the story of the tapestries he saw in the vatican. He told this same story in episode #114 which is also the first episode of the Saga of David series.
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Last episode we discussed David’s plan for spiritual renewal for the nation of Israel. It was a fairly simple plan. He was going to introduce a worship revolution. It was going to be something the Hebrew religion and the world at large had never seen. The plan really focused on the Ark of the Covenant that he considered to be Israel’s greatest treasure. It needed to be transported to Mount Zion, which was formally Mount Moriah, and placed in a tent that would come to be known as the Tabernacle of David.
Here the Ark of the Covenant could be seen by anyone who would like to. The flaps of the tabernacle would be open and people could see the Ark there. On top of bringing the Ark to the top of Mount Zion, David had gone about a massive allocation of resources, people and time to create a 24 hour praise and worship experience. He had done this by appointing three men, Asath, Heman, and Ethan to lead a group of 24 thousand men in three different groups of eight thousand each for 24 hour worship. This continued for 40 years, 40 years of 24 hour perpetual worship with 24 thousand men.
But first, the big problem with this plan was that the worshippers were ready, the tent was ready, the mount was ready… but they didn't have the Ark. The Ark was eight miles west of Jerusalem where it had been for the past 60 years in the house of Abenidad, in the village of Penrith Jerun, and to actually get the Ark from point A to point B was far more complicated than you may have first thought, and that is the topic of Pastor Harris’s message in this episode.
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