Yesterday morning I heard a great sermon about the “Foolishness of David” from 2 Samuel 24: 1-17. Any sermon that involves the life, times, decisions, failure and success of King David always hits a chord with me. I really believe that the scripture in Acts 13: 22-23 exists so that we all know to take note of Davids life. For it was in this scripture that David was described as “A man after Gods own heart”. Isn’t that the target for each of us? Wouldn’t we want the same said of our lives when all is said and done?
Knowing how God felt about David gives me pause to really examine and follow close his life, his success, his failure, his heart. Yesterday’s sermon on the foolish decision that David made in 2 Samuel was a great reminder about our sin nature when it comes to presumption, unbelief and pride. Below are some of the notes that I scribbled down:
– The foolish decision David made in 2 Samuel 24 was the counting of people. How often do we ask Pastors of churches “so how many people are attending now?”. Why does it really matter?
– “We’re not perfect, but we should be grieved over what grieves the heart of God”
– “The thing that David took pride in, God took away” (70,000 people died)
– “What are you putting your trust in? Who are you putting your trust in?”
-“Even in judgement, God was merciful”
– “Age alone is no guarantee of freedom from temptation to sin”
– “You’re never too old, too powerful or too important to listen to the advice of others”
– “Sin, no matter how respectable pays a terrible wage”
– “We should never offer God that which costs us nothing”
Your turn: What did you jot down yesterday during the sermon at your church?
Ours was on forgiveness. And though I’m sure I don’t take the copious notes you do, this is some of what I jotted down on the topic:
3 ways to tell you’ve truly forgiven someone:
– You can think about them and it doesn’t hurt anymore.
– You are able to pray His blessing upon them.
– You begin to see their hurt instead of your own.
There are 3 wills at work in our lives:
– God’s Will
– Satan’s Will
– Free Will
Must forgive:
– Others
– Ourselves
– God
Let God off the hook for the things others do with their own free will.
Forgiveness doesn’t change the past… it changes the future.
Getting even with those who have hurt you does simply that; it makes you EVEN with them. Be the bigger person and do the opposite – forgive and it sets you apart from them but more importantly, it sets YOU free. (Rom. 12:17)
Nothing as deep and profound as yours on the life of David, but good reminders just the same! 🙂
OH! I love this idea! I cannot wait to get home and get my notes to share!!! I totally agree about paying attention to the life of David. I definitely want it to be said that I was a woman after God’s own heart! What a great idea, Aaron! And btw, Jessica, what a powerful sermon on forgiveness!
I think it would be a great idea to do every Sunday too! I know I have been blessed by what both you and Jessica shared. We are doing a series on the Psalms currently. This week was on Psalm 92. I will do my best to list out the notes in a clear manner. So here we go:
* When Psalmist repeat themselves in a Psalm they are meditating or lingering on the thought instead of rushing along to the next stanza or idea
* The highest thing we can ever aspire to is to know and be known by God, intimately and personally
* The Psalmist gives us a view into how we should relate to God – by beginning and ending our day focusing on God’s faithfulness and steadfast love
* We spend way too much time listening to ourselves and too little time preaching to ourselves (taking our thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ)
* Instead of listening to ourselves, we should spend more time preaching the gospel to ourselves…reminding ourselves of about what God has done for me…be intentional about preaching to ourselves
* What is it we are putting our hope in? What is it we are spending our time on? When the Psalmist calls God the Most High God, he is calling us out of our idolatry and our worship of lesser things and reminding us that our time, energy and worship belongs to the Most High
* When we place too much value in our circumstances, we will either be in delight or despair. Placing our hope in God is the only thing that will truly satisfy.
* If you will put your hope in God instead of your circumstances and preach the gospel to yourself every morning regardless of your circumstances, then God will plant you in His own house and you will flourish. Then even in old age we can be full of life and power.
I am loving reading through the Psalms. I started a couple of months ago and have read one a day. I am on Psalm 81 today. It has been amazing going through them. Some are a little heavy, but there are so many rich gems throughout them. It thrilled me when our church started this series. We had one last week that was incredible. I might double dip and share that one with you on this week’s comments too!
Hey, Aaron. Was going to ask you a quick question, but you disappeared off facebook!!
I had decided to give wordpress a try, but still have a few things I can’t seem to figure out: how to get a picture on the upper right of the sidebar like your little baseball guy? How to use the music bar feature? And how to get photo links like your SLOB award on the sidebar?
If you get a second, I’d appreciate it!
Other than those things, I do like the look better…
Thanks!
~Jessica