Mar 6
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 29:1-21 "Giving Back to God"This chapter is all about an incredible offering to God for the building of the Temple. David first gave from his own treasures to the work and then his officials gave and it was an incredible offering. What a sight! What an expression of love to God. They all gave to God and David's response was perfect. He basically states, "We are just giving what You, God, has already given us!" Awesome! A while ago, I heard a song that hit me called "Breathing the Breath" by Matt R… Read more »
Feb 27
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 25 - "Worship and Prophesy???"I find it interesting that in verse 1 of 1 Chronicles 25 the specific Levites/Priests who were to worship with music before the Lord at the Temple were said to be "set apart...for the ministry of prophesying". What does this mean? And how does a musician or worship leader function as a prophet? Most people think of "prophesy" as simply fortune telling and the picture that comes to mind is of some kook with a funny hat on and a glass ball. The truth is, prophesy is also if n… Read more »
Feb 24
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 22:5-10 - "Is that Really What God Said?"I find it interesting how different David's version of God's message to him is here in these verses compared to those back in 1 Chron. 17. When we hear the first report of this message from God to David, it says nothing about Solomon being the son that God would raised up to build His temple. In fact, if we take this version in chapter 22 to be what God really said then we could conclude that God is a liar because of verse 10b, "And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over… Read more »
Feb 17
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 21:1 - "God's Use of Satan in Justice"Here in this passage we see that it says, "Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census." BUT in 2 Sam. 24:1 it reads, "Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, 'Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.'" The obvious question is, "How can one passage say one thing and the other passage seem to say the exact opposite." The easy thing to do here is to quickly jump to the obvious conclu… Read more »
Feb 12
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 17:11-13 "I will establish his throne forever"I just love this promise from God. First, He is making a promise to David, His chosen king for Israel in that moment, that one of his own sons will succeed him. But second, God is also making a promise about His son, that Jesus would one day come and God declares, "I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him..." The other portion that really gets me is how God is communicating to David that Solomon is the one who will build the Temple, but real… Read more »
Feb 10
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 16:30-33 - "Tremble before him, all the earth!"What an ironic statement. Basically, let all the earth tremble before God even though everyone knows it can't be moved. In other words, we humans know that the earth can't really be moved by our own will, but God can. So much so, that just His presence is enough to shake the earth and to bring forth praise from every part of it. The very earth itself will speak to us and say, "The Lord reigns!" The skies will rejoice and the oceans with vibrate and sing out while the fields e… Read more »
Feb 6
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 16:27-29 "Ascribe to the Lord: GLORY!"This verse declares that there are 4 things that are in the presence of God: majesty, splender, joy and strength. And the best part is that we are called to come into his presence before Him to "ascribe" to the Lord glory: to make God shine. So, what does that look like? We are commanded here 3 times to "ascribe" glory to him. To "glory" in Him simply means to make Him "shine". Once again, how do we do that? I think there are many ways from singing, to s… Read more »
Feb 4
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 16:25-26 "He is to be Feared Above all Gods"All idols in the Old Testament were location specific, but not so with the God of the Bible. He is greater. This verse declares that He is the God of the heavens. He made them! While all the other so called gods belong to some land specific location, our God reigns over the very thing that is over the land: the sky, the heavens. He is over it all! And that is why He is God. There is nothing higher than He is. Take a few minutes and ponder just how great He is! Read more »
Feb 3
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 16:23 - "Sing to the Lord""Sing to the Lord, all the earth"! Just reading those words makes me excited. Just to think of the whole world singing praises to God would be incredible. He is so awesome! This Sunday as I lead worship, people responded like I had never heard them respond before. It was an incredible moment for me as a worship leader but even more so I was excited for them. At one point I heard a shout of praise and it just filled up my heart. This may not seem like a big deal but I was so excited th… Read more »
Jan 23
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 16:10 - "Glory in his holy name"Stop for a moment and listen. What do you hear? Right now as I sit in my office I think it is quiet, but when I really listen I hear the hum of the fan in my computer, I hear the giggling of children from our church daycare downstairs, I hear other co-workers fumbling around in their offices and our lead pastor talking in the hall about the printer there to our accountant. Okay, so it isn't really that quiet. But how often do we quiet ourselves to "glory in his holy name"?… Read more »
Jan 16
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 16:14 - His Judgments are in All the EarthAll the nations around Israel in the days of Chronicles had their own gods. The people in that day were a lot like us in that they were "inclusive" in their religious beliefs. In that day, different god's ruled over different cities and nations. And that was just the way it was. The reason was because no expected that their god's rule and reign to go beyond their city or nation. They knew that their god's dominion was just over their city or nation but when they tra… Read more »
Jan 9
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chronicles 16:22 - "God Protects His Annointed ones"God is so good! He protects his "anointed ones", his "called-out" ones, his "chosen" ones. I love this Psalm! God calls us out of this world, out of the darkness of our sin and away from our evil desires. He calls us out to receive His son and receive forgiveness and a new life. And when we receive Christ into our hearts we truly become his "called-out" ones, his "anointed ones" and he declares in this verse to the kings of the nations: &q… Read more »
Jan 2
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Chron. 13 and 15 - Seek God's WayWhen we do something in the name of the Lord or for Him we need to make sure we seek Him in how to do it. There was a prescribed way in which God wanted them to carry the ark where His presence was and it needed to be to be treated as holy. How do we treat the things of God as Holy? Read more »
Sep 12
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pastorhal added a text contribution 1 Kings 14:13 - How God Sees Children1 Kings 14:13 - How God Sees Children I love this verse because it shows how God sees small children. They are innocent in His eyes. Even more so, He is "pleased" with them. It should be our prayer to become as "little children": Innocent, pure of heart, wildly trusting, and completely dependent upon God. We should surrender ourselves like this to Him daily. Read more »
Feb 25
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pastorhal added a text contribution Mark 9:24 "Unbeleif: Do I Look Fat In These Jeans?"I love the man's response. I like to think Jesus smiled when he heard the man's response. It is almost comical. "Uh, sure I believe...so, I haven't been to church in a while it's okay....just uh, help my unbelief." It reminds me of when women ask their husbands if they look fat in a pair of jeans (by the way, why do we call it a pair of jeans...shouldn't it just be jeans). Anyway, what is a guy to say to that, "Sure, you look good, but you could look bett… Read more »