Scripture: 2 Samuel 13-19.

Father Wounds - are wounds brought into our lives through family members. Deep wounds with lasting consequences.

Father's wounds - are wounds to parents by their children. It is grieving because their children turned their backs on the things they were taught from the time they were little.

Both are deep and painful wounds.

How to deal with the pain and how to go beyond it.

Our study covers:
Amnon rapes Tamar (2 Sam 13)
Absalom hates Amnon (2 Sam 13)
Absalom murders Amnon (2 Sam 13)
Absalom flees to thalami (2 Sam 13)
Absalom conspires against David (2 Sam 15)
Absalom revolts against David (2 Sam 15-17)
Joab executes Absalom (2 Sam 18)

In our study we see that wounds eliminate the spiritual strength of King David. We also see wounds that bring about rebellion and hatred, anger and murder. We see wounds experienced by a father who feels he has failed his son.

A tragic horrible story. Yet God desires to speak to us through it. This story is in the Bible for a reason and purpose. The purpose is not just to inform but to transform. God desires to bring healing, hope and strength and to reverse the painful trajectory of what we have experienced.

Divine Prescriptions

⁃ Sow and Reap - Galatians 6:7-8 Consequences of our behavior can be negative or positive. "Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Also, as seen in David's story, God forgives, but the consequences of sin are still there.
⁃ Nurture or Anger - Ephesians 6:4 encourages fathers to teach their children to live uprightly and faithfully before God and for fathers to model an upright life to their children.
⁃ Truth and Love - Ephesians 4:15 We are to speak truth to our kids but speak that with love.
⁃ Forgive and Release - Whether we have father wounds or father's wounds we are to forgive and letting go. Colossians 3:13 We are to forgive as the Lord forgives us - even those who have disappointed us, hurt us deeply, and in that forgiveness and releasing there is healing and there is hope.
⁃ Father and Son - 1 John 2:1-2 Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sin and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. God loves us and His love goes beyond the love of any father. Our Heavenly Father offers each of us healing, hope and life-transforming power.

If you have been the victim of a father wound or if you are experiencing a father's wounds, you need to know there is a Father who loves you more than you could imagine. Who understands the wounds because those wounds were placed in the very body of His Son and He offers to us forgiveness, eternal life, and the ability to start all over.

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Did Jesus exist?
Is Jesus a myth?
Is there any evidence that Jesus actually lived?
Is there any evidence outside the Bible?

The answer is absolutely, there's a great deal of evidence. Many are unaware of some of the very profound and powerful evidences for the existences of Jesus.

Today we will take a look at the evidence for Jesus' existence, coming at it from three different vantage points:

Ancient Hostile Witnesses: (Pastor goes into detail regarding each of the following hostile testifiers to Jesus and His followers)
• Tacitus - Annals XV, 44 (ca 55-120A.D)
• Suetonius - Claudius, 25 and Nero, 18 (ca 117-138 A.D.)
• Pliny the Younger - Letter to Roman Emperor Trajan (ca 112 A.D.)
• Sanhedrin 43a (part of the Talmud)
• Josephus - "Testimonium Flavianum" Antiquities, 18:3 (ca 37-97 A.D.)

Earliest Witnesses
• Doctor Luke and John Mark
• Jesus' best friend, John
• Saul of Tarsus (Apostle Paul)

Accepted historical Facts: Acknowledged by Scholars, Liberals, Conservatives, Christians, Jews and Agnostics:
• Jesus died by Roman Crucifixion
• His tomb was discovered to be empty
• His disciples said they saw the risen Jesus
• His disciples lives were radically changed
• Resurrection proclaimed early in Jerusalem
• James and Paul became believers

Pastor concludes the teaching time telling us that God changed his heart and the direction of his career.

Then Pastor changes the question to "Does Jesus really exist?" and continues with the following: "If Jesus is alive, if He has risen from the grave, that changes everything. It means that God has broken into our world. It means that there is life and forgiveness in Him, and that apart from Him, you have nothing. Today's question is not simply a question about the historical past, this is a question about eternal destiny!"

Jesus is alive! And we pray that He will be, if He's not already, the Lord of your life!

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Scripture: 1 Kings 3:1, 1 Kings 3:4ff, 1 Kings 3:16ff, 1 Kings 6, 1 Kings 8, 2 Chronicles 5-7, 2 Chronicles 3:1, Genesis 22, 1 Kings 9, 2 Chronicles 7:14, 1 Kings 9:4-5

This study helps us dig deeper into Solomon: Wise Leader
⁃ Pharaoh's Daughter - 1 Kings 3:1 - Solomon secures a peace treaty with Egypt and a strategic marriage to one of the Pharaoh's daughter's.
⁃ Sacrifices at Gibeon - 1 Kings 3:4ff - shortly after taking the throne we see Him following his father David's advice. We see Solomon going to Gibeon to offer sacrifices to God and commits his life to God. The Lord appears to Solomon in a dream saying "ask for whatever you want." Solomon replies in humility, and asks to be given a discerning heart to distinguish between right and wrong so that he can govern the nation justly and well. He sought God's wisdom and guidance so that he could bless and nurture the children of Israel. The Lord was pleased with Solomon's reply and gave him what he asked for, plus God told him He would give him even more than what he had asked for: wealth and honor.
⁃ 2 Prostitutes - 1 Kings 3:16ff - Two prostitutes come to Solomon. Both have birthed boys but one had rolled over on her son and the child died. But they each claimed the living son as their own. Solomon says, "bring me a sword and cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other." But at that point the real mother says, "oh please don't do that." And the other woman says, "yes, do it." Solomon then gives the living child to the one who had asked for the child to be spared because she was the real mother. King Solomon was admired greatly by his people for his wisdom from God in administering justice. He is recognized as very wise.

Solomon: Builder
⁃ Temple Construction - 1 Kings 6 - in the 4th year of his reign Solomon begins building the Temple of the Lord. ca. 966 BC. It will take 7 years to build this incredible temple. Temple was only for priests, but people would gather in the courtyards around the temple. The temple has 3 sections: The Porch, The Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. The interior was covered in gold. The Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Holy of Holies where the High Priest went once per year on the Day of Atonement - Yom Kippur. A place of shed blood pointing to the One who is the Lamb of God/The Mercy Seat/The Messiah/Jesus our Savior. In 2 Chronicles 3:1 we read that the Temple was build on Mount Moriah. The place of the story where Abraham had taken his only son Isaac. Pastor shares prophetic likeness to Jesus in this story of Genesis 22. (This will also be the location of the Second Temple).
⁃ Temple Dedication - 1 Kings 8 & 2 Chronicles 5-7. When the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the Holy of Holies, the glory of the Lord filled the temple! Solomon shares a sermonette and a powerful prayer. Solomon's heart is to win people to the Living God - that they walk in faith and obedience to God. And when he finished praying a fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnet offering and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The people began shouting praises and thanks to God. And a multiple sacrifices were given to God.
⁃ God appears to Solomon a second time - 1 Kings 9 & 2 Chronicles 7:14 - God speaks to Solomon and tells him that He wants to bring blessing saying, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
This too is our prayer - it is a prayer for us still today - a prayer for our nations, that we would seek God, turn from our wickedness, because He will hear from heaven and heal our land.

God closes His time with Solomon with these words: (1 Kings 9:4-5) "As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness….and do all I command …. I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David…".

God calls Solomon to Himself and God calls each one of us to Himself!

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Scripture: 2 Samuel 11-12, 1 Corinthians 10:12, Psalm 51, Matthew 21:9.

This message deals with the difficult topic of moral collapse, specifically in David's life. Painful as it is, it can teach us much about the importance of walking faithfully before the Lord and resisting temptation.

David fell into temptation after seeing Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam (a trusted soldier) and the wife of Uriah (one of David's elite soldiers). David had her brought to the palace and he slept with her resulting in her pregnancy.

Instead of coming clean, David goes deeper into a dark place with more plans. After trying multiple times to cover his actions, David arranges for Uriah's death and has him killed.

2 Samuel 11:27 tells us that what David had done displeased the Lord. What does the Lord do? 2 Samuel 12:1, God sends Nathan to David. Nathan, in great wisdom, tells David a story and when David hears the story he was incensed saying that the man must die. At this point, Nathan looks at David and confronts him eye to eye, and says, "YOU are the man!"

David is confronted with the horror of what he has done. He had committed a huge moral failure, but David was also a man who understood the heart of God. His response to Nathan is, "I have sinned against the Lord."

Here's what we can learn from David.

LESSONS
⁃ Awareness - recognizing that we are all vulnerable and we are all sinners. Be aware of the temptations.
⁃ Consequences - come when we go against God's purpose and plan in our lives. Consequences can be horrific. There are consequence to disobedience.
⁃ Repentance - after his sin was exposed David freely admitted he had sinned, he did not try to make excuses, he repented. Repentance brings about a change of direction, a turning away. David understood he had fallen. We all sin, but God calls His people to repentance, to not only admit our sin, but to turn away from it and begin anew all over again.
⁃ Forgiveness - The Lord takes away our sin through the death of His Son and we see how good and gracious God really is. He loves us and offered up His own son for us all. **Pastor shares divinely given wisdom around the loss of David's son, be sure to listen to this message so you don't miss out on some profound revelation.**
⁃ Restoration - comes from our Father who restores us to relationship with Him through His Son. God restores to us the joy of our salvation and sustains us with the Holy Spirit.

David is described as a man after God's own heart, yet he made some horrible decisions in his life. David's story compels us to take seriously the danger of going against God's plan and purposes for our lives. But this story also shows us the grace and mercy of God. These truths powerfully impact and transform us all.

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Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/david-and-gods-heart

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Scripture: 2 Samuel 5, Ephesians 2:14, 16, Luke 21:24, Revelation 21:1-2.

Why is Jerusalem important not only to the Jewish people, but to Christian people? Let's see what we will discover in today's study of 2 Samuel 5.

King Saul has died and civil war has broken out in Israel. David is the reigning King of Judea but the Israelites in the northern kingdom are at war amongst each other and realize David is their only hope for unity and for bringing the kingdom back together. A delegation comes to David saying that it is clear the Lord has anointed him as His king and that it is now time for all Israel to come together and acknowledge his kingship. And that is precisely what happened. But what follows is incredibly significant, not just for David's lifetime, but your ours as well.

After being anointed and accepted as king of all Israel, David proceeds to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites who lived there. But the question is why Jerusalem for his city and not a different city? Herschel Shanks puts it this way, "In non-Israelite hands, Jerusalem separated Israel's territory in two." David taking Jerusalem would mean unity of the country because of Jerusalem's location. It's also an easily defended city as it is on top of a hill with valleys on all sides except the north which was highly fortified. The Jebusites claimed that there was no way for David to defeat them and take the city.

David realized there was a way in. It was through the water shaft. Pastor shares the history and archeology of this water shaft and the location of Jerusalem bringing fascinating evidence and clarity to this story of David conquering the Jebusites.

Pastor shares the discovery by Charles Warren in the late 1800's and also more on the archeological work that has been done recently in which we have learned there is an ancient shaft and a spring in the southern end of the City of David, when Jerusalem was located more on the eastern side of Old Jerusalem. The Gihon Spring lies in the Kidron Valley and the spring has a tunnel area and it is this tunnel area that ends inside the walls of Jerusalem that the Jebusite never dreamed would be what was used to enter the city and defeat them.

David then takes up residence and calls it the City of David and in verse 9 we read that David became more and more powerful because the Lord God Almighty was with him. And that is when Jerusalem became part of the heart of the ancient Jewish people, but also where it becomes an incredibly important part of the entire Bible story about God's deliverance of not only Israel but of all nations through "David's greater son", the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor digs deep into what we see about Jerusalem and why it has such significance not only in David's day but in our day:
Jerusalem

• Peace - called a City of Peace but has much blood shed over it, the greatest blood being that which was shed by the Messiah, Jesus, for all people, the Prince of Peace.
• Proof - the ancient City of David is one of the largest archeological sites in the world. Solomon's Wall and David's palace have been recent discoveries along with others like the Pool of Siloam and the road to Temple Mount that show the stones are crying out that these things really happened!
• Prophecy - Luke 21:24 of Jesus predicting how Jerusalem would be destroyed and trampled on by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles are fulfilled. This was reality in the 70 AD when Romans leveled Jerusalem and then in 1967 for the first time in almost 2000 Jerusalem was no longer trodden down by Gentiles. It was occupied by the Israelis. This is prophetic fulfillment.
• Perfection - the Book of Revelations ends by talking about the Holy City, a New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. A city where God will reign and live with His people.

Jerusalem is an historic city, but it is also at the heart of the message of the Gospel of Jesus, and it is at the very heart of the character of God where we will all be gathered together in the the New Jerusalem, the City of Our God!

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Scripture: 1 Samuel 27:1-7, 1 Samuel 30 1-6, Psalm 23.

This teaching dives into Psalm 23, a Psalm written by David, and the evidence we see in his life of the heart of God. We will see insights into David's faith that will provide incredible encouragement to our faith lives as well.

Have you ever been in a situation where everything seemed hopeless? Or have you ever come to a point where you feel that you're all alone? No one to turn to, no one to help you? There is much to learn from David's life that reveals where genuine strength comes from.

David again is in need of escaping Saul and returns to the Philistine territory. The king of Gath, Achish, gives David the town of Ziklag, along the southern portion of the Philistine Empire along the coast of the Mediterranean.

About a year and four months into living in Ziklag, David returns from a meeting with Achish, to find his town of Ziklag destroyed by fire and his and his men's wives, sons and daughters taken captive. They were devastated and their grief was so great they wept until they had no strength left to weep.

David faces a Life-Threatening Situation:
⁃ His men blame him for their loss and talk of stoning him; but David finds strength in the Lord his God.
⁃ David is abandoned, his men have turned on him, everything appears to be collapsing around him. He found strength in the Lord.
⁃ How did David find strength when there was no one else to turn to? David found strength because he knew the One we can always turn to.

We move into studying Psalm 23, written by David. Pastor shares a personal testimony of finding strength in this psalm during a difficult time in his life.

PSALM 23 - David knew the Messiah was coming, the One in whom we find strength!

Verse 1 - God is the ultimate shepherd, the Good Shepherd, the One who can always be relied upon and in this psalm, David realizes he is not alone. And the Shepherd provides us with anything and everything we need (John 10:11).

Verse 2 - David understood that sheep need a shepherd to guide and lead them (John 7:37).

Verse 3 - Our Shepherd gives us hope, a future, assurance and righteousness (received by God's grace). We receive strength to face difficulty, to leave the past behind, walk in a way that gives glory to God (John 14:27).

Verse 4 - Even in the darkest day, we do not need to be afraid. We are to rely on our Shepherd who guides and protects us (John 14:6).

Verse 5 - David knew that even in the face of the most persistent and evil enemies, God provides and God strengthens and restores us and gives us all that is needed (John 6:35).

Verse 6 - David understood that life is short, and he knew that eternity is forever. He knew that what God promises His own, is that we will be raised on the last day and will live forever with Him. Our troubles are momentary and God IS faithful, He will deliver His own, and He will restore His people and that day is coming when evil will be defeated and righteousness will reign forever (John 11:25).

We can rely on our Good shepherd with absolute confidence. David understood that, David found his strength in the Lord, his God, in the One who will fulfill everything He has promised in our lives.

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Scripture: 1 Samuel 25.

Pastor's teaching is on "Anger" today and a particular incident in David's life before he became king. David and his men were in a desert area and nearby a man named Nabal from Maon is at his property in Carmel for shearing his 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats.

David, having at one time protected Nabal's shepherds and flocks, sends 10 of his men to Nabal to greet Nabal speaking good health to him, his household and to all that was Nabal's. They recounted when David and his men protected Nabal's shepherds and flocks and then ask for Nabal's favor in sharing with them whatever Nabal thought was fair or appropriate.

David's words were gracious, but Nabal a surly, mean man responds saying, "Who's this David? Why should I take my bread and water and meat and give any to his men who come from who knows where?"

David's men report this rejection back to David who responds in anger with, "Strap on your swords." He and 400 of his men head back Nabal.

David has revenge in mind but then Abigail, Nabal's wife, hears how Nabal responded to David and she comes up with a plan to stop David's intended revenge. Abigail's chooses to act and her response is not only dramatic it is instructional.

Abigail's Response
⁃ Clear thinking
⁃ Decisive action
⁃ Calculated risk

Abigail packs bread, wine, meat, grain, raisin cakes, figs and loads it on donkeys and goes where David and his men were without telling her husband Nabal.

She comes to an angry David and his men on their way to find Nabal. Abigail falls at David's feet. David has 400 men with him, his temper is on edge, and now this lady comes to him. Abigail asks David not to pay any attention to what Nabal had said. And she says, "let this gift your servant has brought to my Lord, be given to the men who follow you." Then she asks for forgiveness and goes on to talk about all the Lord must have in store for David, that he is a man who has not sought revenge, but rather did things God's way. She proceeds with a curse for all who pursue David and a blessing of security in the Living Lord God for David. She ends with a request for David to remember her when the Lord fulfills His promises to him. She says he would not want to have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed and then she closes with a request for him to remember her.

Abigail's response was issued with grace and spirit-guided wisdom with an emphasis on the things of God and it changes David's heart in an instant. He responds, "Praise be to God who has sent you to meet me. May you be blessed for keeping me from bloodshed and from avenging myself." David is convicted.

David is a man who has God's heart, and even when he has gone astray, he is willing to take correction.

Dealing with Anger
⁃ Recognize the danger
⁃ Practice self-control
⁃ Deal with the cause
⁃ Respond graciously

Only the Lord God can give us the strength and resources to truly control our anger.

Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE.

Check out this video series from our website: https://www.awakeusnow.com/david-and-gods-heart

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