So 1 Chronicles chapter 18, today's message is entitled, as you can see from your handout, Christ's Dedicated People. And we're taking the text from 1 Chronicles chapter 18 verse 11 that says, in the English Standard Version, these also King David dedicated to the Lord, together with the silver and gold that he had carried off from all the nations, from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek. This is the word of the Lord to almost certainly add His abundant, gracious, and magnified blessing to the reading of His holy truth, and let us pray. Our most blessed and gracious Father in God, in Jesus' name and for His sake, we thank you, Heavenly Father, for the word that is before us. We're grateful that we have been able to sing praises to you today and to offer up our prayers as well. We thank you, Lord, for the text that is before us and ask you, Father, to minister unto us its truth. that your spirit will have your way with us, and whatever details, Lord, that I may miss, I trust that you will fill them in for your people whom you love, that we may feast at your table that you've set before us from your word. In Jesus' name and for his sake we do pray, amen. Now, as far as for the background of the chapter, we really have to look at where we were last week, 1 Chronicles 17, right? And the word to David from the Lord, as we saw it there, this blessed desire, the first few verses of chapter, or the first verse of chapter 17. I live in a house, I'm in Jerusalem, a house of cedar, and the Lord, Yehovah Elohim, the Lord God dwells in a tent. So he tells Nathan the prophet, Nathan tells him all that's in your heart, your heart's desire, go and do. And then Nathan comes back because the Lord spoke to him. He shall not build a house. He receives a bloody rejection as we've looked at last week in 1 Chronicles chapter 20, two, verse eight. In fact, I'll start at verse seven because he calls his son Solomon just before he dies. We read this last week concerning Jesus, the son of David, the eternal truth behind the prophecy of the Davidic covenant. But in 1 Chronicles 22, in verse seven, David said to Solomon, my son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord, my God. Verse eight, but the word of the Lord came to me saying, you have shed much blood. and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to My name, because you have shed so much blood before Me on the earth." And we know that as we looked at last week, it didn't stop David from gathering the materials, he mentioned that, and that's what we see in chapter 18. God says to him, you're not going to build me a house, but I'll build you a house. I'm the builder of the house, and we saw this in the Davidic covenant last week. And that's the word, to David from the Lord, which moves us into chapter 18. Verses one through 13, we see the warfare of David in the Lord. And in verse one, he defeats and subdues the Philistines. And then in verse two, he defeats Moab and puts a place of servitude unto them. And they give tribute to David. In other words, they're paying taxes unto David. You are our leader now, you're the king, you've defeated us, we're serving you, and we give you tribute. We give you gifts, we'll be taxed by you. And in verses three through 11, we see that David also defeats Zobah and the Damascus king in verses three through 11. And then finally, in verses 12 through 13, he also defeats Edom, which is down south on the, is on the east side of the Jordan River down south, which was the land of Edom. Edom, as you recall, is, of the relative of Israel, Edom was the name of Esau, after he'd sold his birthright for something to eat to his brother Jacob, who was also renamed Israel by Jehovah God. And so this warfare is taking place, and we have that immediately. We see this immediately. In fact, in 1 Chronicles 22, which we read last week, in verse nine of chapter 22, behold, a son shall be born, is what David told Solomon, that the Lord told him. Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies, for his name shall be Solomon, or Shlomo in Hebrew, which means peaceful. And I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. So when David receives this promise, the thing that we should note about that is as soon as he receives the promise, I will build you a house, he goes off to war. His son is going to be raised up. God has given the name of this son from this promise in 1 Chronicles 17, that it's gonna be Solomon. So when Solomon is born, he says, well, I know what name he's going to have. It's gonna be Solomon, Shlomo. And he's gonna be a peaceful man. And God will subdue all of his enemies roundabout. So David says, well, since I can't build a house and I'm a man of blood, I might as well go shed more blood. We saw how much blood he shed. 18,000 were killed over here. 22,000 were killed over here. Lots of blood was shed. A lot of armies were defeated. He's bringing peace to Solomon's land little by little and then gathering wealth for materials for the temple that's going to be built by Solomon. The wealth of David for the Lord in verses seven through 11. Shields of gold in verse seven. Sea of bronze, the bronze that came forth was mentioned in 1 Chronicles 18 as we read. It was going to be used by the priest to make the sea of bronze. That's where all the water would be held so that the priest could wash their feet and their hands when they're serving in the temple. and then silver and gold and bronze from Hamath in verses nine through 11. He's gathering all this, and as we read last week, again, just to fill out 1 Chronicles 17 with the Davidic covenant, 1 Chronicles chapter 22 says, in verse five, David said, Solomon, my son, is young and inexperienced, and the house that is built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all the lands. I will therefore make preparation for it. So David provided materials in great quantity before his death. And here, through those wars, he's providing the materials that Solomon is going to use when Solomon grows up and takes the throne of David at the age of 25, I believe it was. So this is the wealth of David for the Lord in verses seven through 11. And then we see the chapter closed out in verses 14 to 17, the wisdom of David with the Lord. And in verse 14, we see his sovereign administration, that he is king, and that he administers justice. In fact, I'm gonna read verse 14 here. It says, so David reigned over all Israel, and he administered justice and equity to all his people. That's what we see, the sovereign administration. And then a strong army under his cousin Joab. Zariah was one of the daughters of Jesse. And so his cousin Joab, his cousins Joab, Abishai, and Asael were three of his cousins, the sons of Zariah. Asael was killed by this time. He was killed by Abner, the captain of Saul's army. And so, Joab and Abishai were two of the chief captains, and Joab is over all of the army. And so he has a strong army under Joab. Though David goes out, he's a warring king, he goes out to fight, but he shows some wisdom here. He uses one of the toughest guys around, his cousin Joab, and Joab is laid in the army. Then in the second part of verse 15, we see a special historian, Zariah, in the second part of verse 15. Yehoshaphat, excuse me, not Zariah, that's wrong in your notes, because Joab's the son of Zariah, which is Jesse's daughter. Yehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was the recorder. In the Old King James Version, it uses a different English word. What is it used in the King James Version? I didn't write it in my notes. Somebody with the Old King James Version, what is the word that in chapter 18, verse 15, the last part, Yahoshaphat was what? It was a recorder? It says that in the English Standard Version. I thought it was a different name, a different word. Anyway, it says scribe, doesn't it? And one of them is, and then Shavsha in verse 16, it says in the English Standard Version, he was secretary. So you have sanctified priests and secretaries in verse 16 and select officers of David's sons for specific services and other officials in verse 17. Well, we won't dwell on that whole thing until we get back into into it and I'll give you the actual Hebrew renderings of what those people do and how it relates to us. That's the history, that's the background. David received the word and rather than resting on his laurels, he continued to work. Well, God is going to build a house, but I'll get the materials and I'll do what I do. because we have a tendency in our fallenness, in the corruptions of our flesh to say, well, I'm saved, and that's good enough for me. But there is a blessing here in chapter 18 that comes right on the heels of the promise that as we're saved and God is making us sons of David, as it were, sons of Christ, because the son of David is the Lord Jesus Christ, And the Scriptures say that that's what we are. We're types of Christ after the fact. That He's making us to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. We have some things from this chapter, even though verse 11 is the one that I provided in the handout. The whole chapter shows us how we are effectively taking part in the building of Christ's kingdom. Christ will build this church. And this is the first point of the blessings from its gospel application. The gospel word to Christ redeems saints. Matthew 16, verse 18, the Lord tells us through the gospel account, he's talking to Peter. He says, who does then say that I, the son of man am? And Peter's the one that comes up and says, you're the Christ, the son of the living God. "'Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, "'for flesh and blood has not revealed the Son to you, "'but my Father which is in heaven. "'And I shall call you,' he says, "'and I tell you, you are Peter.'" Petras, little stone. In Hebrew, he was called, in John we know his name, and in 1 Corinthians, his name was Cephas, or Chepha in Hebrew, which means little stone. You are Peter, and on this rock, this Petra, On the truth that Peter said, yes. Upon who Christ is, yes, absolutely. He says, upon this rock, not on Peter, not the little Petras, but on Petra, the immovable rock, like a mountain, I will build my church. On the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And as David was a man who shed much blood, as we read in 1 Corinthians, 1 Chronicles chapter 22 verse eight. The soul saved by God's grace in Christ has shed so much blood for our sins, shedding the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ because we nailed our Savior to the cross. Even though we weren't there, our sins put him there. So we're not building the church, we're just being obedient to our Savior. It's his job to build the church. As we've said time and again, as I preach time and again in the last several months, I know that messages over that period of time, Christ is building his church. Sunday school, we noted that in the whole series of the New Testament, the history of the New Testament church. Christ is building his church. But we take part in that. And we can't build it per se. because we shed his blood. 1 John 1 verse 7 says, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. That's the blood that we've shed. Though David actually did shed blood as a man of war, we know that there is a spiritual implication to his warfare, because he wouldn't have won those wars were it not for the Lord God being with him. and strengthening him, and giving him strategy to defeat the enemies of Israel, which shows also the warfare that takes place in us. Also in Matthew 27, verse 25, do you remember that even in their ignorance, that when Pontius Pilate was attempting to cause the Lord Jesus Christ to die, to be released from the crucifixion that the jealous religious Jews and chief priests were. bringing him to that when he wanted for a prisoner to be released, in Matthew 27 verse 25, that all the people answered him when he says, who should I have released? This Jesus who's called to Christ or Barabbas who's a murderer and an insurrectionist? They said, release Barabbas. Well, what shall I do with Jesus? And they said, His blood be on us and on our children. When he washed his hands, he says, I'm guiltless of this man's blood. His blood be upon you. And they said, his blood be upon us and upon our children. So we see that blood applied to our accountability because of our sins. I'm gonna turn to John chapter 14 because we see again with the building of the house, It is the Lord Jesus. This is what He's doing, but we see also what He is doing eternally for a house that is yet to come. This is at the last Passover meal He's having with His disciples in Jerusalem. He's just finished washing the feet of His disciples, and He told them He's going away. He's told them that someone is going to betray Him. And they're sad. And he says in chapter 14, verse one, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. Verse two, in my father's house are many rooms, or in the old King James Version it says, many mansions. If it were not so, would I have told you that I'd go to prepare a place for you? Verse three. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself and where I am, you may be also. Verse four, and you know that the way to where I am going. And verse five, Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? In verse six, Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He tells them of that which is going to take place, that we'll see this house with many mansions, and he's preparing a place. He's preparing that place, and it is true and for real, and we'll see that. But in the meantime, there is a spiritual truth. There is a house that's being built, and that's all the local churches, our church, this church over here with true believers in it, might have a little differences than us, but yeah, that's okay. And the other one over here, down the road, an oil well and so forth, that if they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he's the son of God, that he's fully man and fully God, that we are sinners with no hope of redemption except through him who is the way, the truth, and the life, that that mansion is for them as well, that house with many mansions. But because that's coming, and because we have salvation, it doesn't mean that we rest on our laurels, just as David did not. We can't say, well, I'm saved, Jesus did it all. Nope, nothing left to do now, just wait. No, that's not Christianity. And when the Spirit of God has now made us alive, like David, we go to war. We weren't really the... Though we were taken captive before the Lord had saved us, we were captive to the enemy. As we, Sunday nights, we've been going through the Holy War in a more modern translation, trying to make it appealing to the young people. We see the Holy War and the captivity unto Satan. He wasn't our enemy. He tried to befriend us and kept us captive so that we wouldn't be surrendered unto the Lord Jesus. But now that we are free, now we're his enemies because Satan and his minions, the principalities and powers that are under his domain, that he led fallen angels that led a rebellion, they're enemies of Christ and therefore there are enemies. And this is the gospel warfare of Christ's redeemed saints. I'm turning from John to Ephesians chapter six. I'll wait for it if you wanna turn there. You don't have to, you can read it. Ephesians chapter six, verses 10 through 20, we're gonna take a look at that this warfare, the spiritual warfare is a reality for us. The gospel warfare of Christ's redeemed saints. And simply, it's towards verse 20 that we see the very key of this warfare. But Oswald Chambers said it in this way. You know, some of you know the name of Oswald Chambers. He had a devotional from sermons that he had preached. It was published, it was called My Utmost for His Highest. And Oswald Chambers said this, prayer is not preparation for the battle. Prayer is the battle, end quote. And I trust that you're there. If you're there, say amen if you wanna be. Or if you don't wanna be, say amen. And if you're not, say amen and I'll wait for you. But in verse 10, it says, finally brethren, or excuse me, that's in the old King James Version. I won't cite it from memory. I'll read it from the English Standard Version. "'Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might,' verse 11, "'put on the whole armor of God, "'that you may be able to stand against the schemes,' "'or the wiles of the devil,' verse 12. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Verse 13, therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Verse 14, stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15, and as shoes for your feet. having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace or the preparation of the gospel of peace, if you will, from the old King James Version, which fits plainly with what we're talking about, the preparation for the house as David prepared with gathering materials for the building of the temple, even though he couldn't build it. And verse 16 says, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith. with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Verse 18, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all saints. And also for me, Paul says, that words may be given to me, and opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, verse 20, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. I know that many of you, in fact, probably all of you, but I know many of you pray for me daily, that I could study and that I could pray for you. The privilege to pray for you. But this is the warfare that takes place. We know that another witness that we have in this from the scriptures is 2 Corinthians 10 verses three through five. You don't have to turn there. It says, for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not, the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but of divine power. They're of the spirit. to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. But also in the King James Version, it says, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And I believe both translations are correct because when we Trust in the truth of Christ's obedience, because sometimes you fail, sometimes I fail. We fail because of the corruptions of our flesh, but Jesus never failed. So when I think upon His obedience, who obeyed completely, totally, and perfectly in thought, word, and deed, it strengthens me. There's a miracle that takes place. It strengthens you so that we may be able to obey as well as a sinner saved by grace is able, by God's grace. and it encourages us and empowers us so that we may also pray to be involved in that warfare. Because who here, and don't raise your hand, who here has had time of prayer, whether it was three minutes or five minutes or even a half an hour, and then you went and did something fleshly? You went and watched the television. You went and did this, or you went and did that, or I'm going fishing, and I could tell you I'm guilty of that one. I could have used a few more minutes in prayer. But when I take those thoughts captive to Christ in that spiritual warfare, when I have become, as 1 Thessalonians 5.17 says, pray without ceasing, my lifestyle becomes one of communion with God and I look for every opportunity to pray. Then I can be a king in the kingdom of Christ just as David is, you can as well. because then we see how powerful and effective prayer is, how prevailing prayer is. What kind of prayer is prayer without ceasing? Young people, you may be wondering this. It's thanksgiving. You take a point of prayer and you just thank God. We have this thing that even I told Brother Mike about it, and you might have seen it sometimes on Sunday nights or Wednesday nights, and he'll go, praise God, and I'll say, oh, I will, thank you, Jesus. I did that with a fellow one time who came out to the Philippines and he was always saying, praise God, praise God. And I would say, I will, thank you, Jesus. It was just an opportunity for me to thank Jesus every time he said, praise God. It was an expression that was just a part of his fiber. And it helped me along to say, thank you, Jesus, to be reminded, I will praise him with thanksgiving because of what Christ has done. Then you've heard of, as we read here in Ephesians, petitions and supplications. What's the difference? Because they're both requests. Well, I'm glad you asked, young people. I'm gonna tell you, this is what it is. A petition is a formal request, and a supplication is a humble request. Well, that doesn't help me out. Okay, good. Let me make it a little bit more clear as far as from the scriptures. The formal request would be is that we see a command of God or a promise of God from the scripture, and then we pray that request. We know this is what God wants, and so we make it formally because it's in scripture. We say, Lord, this is what your word says. This is what you want from me. Lord, I ask for this. This is my petition. And this doesn't have to be just for you. It could be on behalf of others. That could be on behalf of others, a formal request for you, a formal request for another brother or sister, a formal request for this church. You want this to be a mighty prevailing church. You want it to be one with an open door like the church in Philadelphia in Revelation. Lord, there is my petition. You want us to be a church that is in love with you like the church of Ephesus has left their first love. We know you want us to be a church that loves you. and loves your word, there's my petition. A supplication is a humble request. Lord, I don't know what your will is in this, but here's my request. Maybe this is what your will is. If your spirit is moving upon me, supplication is a humble request. Lord, fulfill this. Lord, forgive this. Forgiveness, every time you ask forgiveness, as far as for a confessional. That is also a supplication. And there are many things in it. I'm not going to weigh this message down with all the forms of prayer. We'll have a message where we're looking at that a little bit. Then there are confessions. We confess our sins. We confess our failures. We confess our need and our lack. that Christ fulfills it. And so there's so much to pray for. That's why Paul can adamantly say, pray without ceasing, have a lifestyle of prayer because there's always something to pray for. In our lives, there are intercessions. And that's when we do intercede on behalf of others, intercede for the church. Lord, I stand for our pastor because he is but a man. And even the best of men are men at best, and our pastor's not even close. That's John Cardinal up there, Lord. So bless him that your church may be blessed. Praying for others as we pray for those who are sick among us and those who are having difficulties. And when we find ourselves in this warfare, we find the victories that are in Christ and the wealth of Christ comes forth, just as it did for David. I'm turning from Ephesians back to 1 Corinthians 3 9-13, and we see the power of the spiritual warfare going on. Will it be manifested in the temporal life? It could be. Some of these things, many of them are, like our prayers. When we go into warfare with our formal requests or even our supplications, our humble requests, Lord, whereas we prayed for healing for Shiloh and others today, when we pray for those that are sick, for Brother Mike with the COVID, Those are humble supplications. And Lord, will You heal them speedily? Will You minister comfort to them? Well, they might not receive comfort. It might be a thorn in their flesh for a while until that healing fully comes so that they're humbled so that they might pray. And then the wealth comes forth from it as we see the spiritual truth that comes out in 1 Corinthians 3, verse nine, where it says, for we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, God's holding. In other words, like David goes out to war and then he receives these shields of gold and all this booty and spoil of war that he uses for the building of the temple. Likewise, when we pray, it's strengthening our church. And then when we see the results of that, of those who have, as our supplications bring forth, answered prayer, we are being a part of what Christ is doing in building his church. He's doing the work. but we get to be a part of it, and our prayers, and the answers to those prayers are the raw materials of what we have as a church as we go forth. And building for eternity that mansion, or that house of many mansions that the Lord Jesus is building, he's allowing us to take part in that. And that's a wealth and gift all by itself. that you and I get to take part in the kingdom of heaven. And verse 10 says, according to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let one take care how he builds upon it, verse 11, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ, verse 12. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, verse 13 says, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. And verse 14 says, well, I'll stop at verse 13. We join Christ in his work, we do our part like David, gathering the spiritual things secured in the warfare for Christ's building. But verse 12 we see, and I'll read it again now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones or precious gems, wood, hay, straw. Well, wood and hay and straw with a fire coming because our God is a consuming fire, we're told in Deuteronomy and in Hebrews. Well, that stuff is going to be consumed. Only things that will remain will be the gold and silver, those precious metals, refined, and the stones, precious stones. It's by faith or not by faith in which they'll be determined. The wood, hay, and stubble is that which is not by faith. The gold, silver, and precious stones are those things that come forth from faith, from the truth of faith. You see Romans 14, verse 23, the last verse in chapter 14 says, for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Now certainly it was talking about what you eat and how you gather in the first century church But that principle is underlying. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. See, faith, whatever we do, it means nothing unless it springs forth from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trusting in Him. Believing upon Him and what He has done at Calvary's tree. You see, This is how we understand why those that Jesus preached in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter seven, verses 21 to 23, why they're not going to heaven. Remember what it said, that they had no place in heaven and their works were not done through faith in Christ because Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Because they did stuff, but it didn't spring forth from a heart of faith that I trusted in Christ and therefore I do. If it just, well, I gotta do this, and this is what I do. But even the simplest thing, that if it comes forth from faith, that if you've gone fishing, but you did so because I wanna please the Lord in my fishing, and if I didn't catch anything, I might meet people on the beach. And I did, last time I went out fishing, I met people, I didn't catch a king. I went out there specifically to catch a king, but I met some people, I got to witness to them. And some of them I got to meet some people that witnessed to me. Hey, you sinner. Yeah. Let me tell you about Jesus. Well, I'm all about that. Let me hear about Jesus. They gave me the gospel for five and a half minutes. Oh, that's great. Well, the Lord saved me back in 1985, but I can't stop hearing about Jesus, thank you for that. And then we got to talking a little bit, and it was wonderful. Now we had a kinship in heaven, and that's a gem. Divine gold from heaven, silver redemption, and precious gems right there that the Lord laid out for us. They didn't actually call me, hey, you sinner. But I could tell by the first 30 seconds of the conversation, they thought I was an unsaved soul. I guess I looked it. I think I still look it. The people in Matthew 7 had no love for Christ, no trust in Christ, no fear of God and no reverent awe for Christ. Those are the Matthew 7 verses 21-23 people. But we who are people of faith. Jesus said so in John 6 when they said, what must we do to do the works of God? To believe on Him in whom He has sent. Oh, that's how firm we must be on this issue of faith. Number four, the gospel wisdom of Christ's redeemed saints. This last part of this chapter in 1 Chronicles 18. We know this from James 1, verses five through eight. I'm not gonna ask you to turn there. Where it says, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. But let him ask in faith. Let him ask with faith, not doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think he shall receive anything from the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. But remember this, when we seek wisdom, let us ask in faith. And this is the thing about that. The real trick about this is, is that when we're seeking wisdom and we ask in faith, believing that we'll receive wisdom, the wisdom that we get is to trust in Christ by faith. There is the wisdom. And this is what the last portion of chapter 18 is about, in verses 14 to verse 17. It's all about faith. Remember what I said. Whatever we do, it means nothing unless it springs forth from faith. Hebrews 11, six says that without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him or those who seek him. And so in that, when we seek wisdom and we see David as an example, first of all, the sovereign administration, it instills in us trust and assurance, a blessed assurance that only faith, this grace of faith, It's not believing that, well, if I get on the senior van, it'll take me to Fred Meyers. I trust that we'll get there safely. And I have faith in the driver. It's not that kind of faith. It is the supernatural faith that allows us to believe that God became a man and he is the only way to salvation. And he has a name, Yeshua, the Messiah, Jesus, the Christ. a sovereign administration that God is sovereign and that he is sovereign in placing all things within the scriptures to point to Christ and the truth of his gospel. Now, it gives us other information as well so that we might live and lead a life, but live and lead a life for Christ first and foremost. Then there's a strong army under the command of King Jesus, as we read here, where we have Joab. Remember, the warfare that took place was also a spiritual warfare. And though that seemed secondary in those days until Christ came, since Christ came, we know that that's most important. Because no matter what we do, if it's not in faith in Christ, We failed, that stuff will be burned up. Even the best of what we've done, the best of what we do is nothing if it does not have Christ in it. Remember that there's an eternal realm too. And the first thing that I think of concerning this, and this is God bringing his plan together through a strong army under King Jesus. He's called in the New Testament, in James in fact, he says, the Lord of Sabaoth. It's Yehovah Tzva'ot in Hebrew. The Lord of hosts. And He has a host of angels that in the unseen realm, while we're praying and we're wrestling against the principalities and powers and the spiritual wickedness in high places and the rulers of darkness of this present age, there is a warfare that's going on with the two-thirds of the angels that the Lord created that hadn't fallen away. Daniel chapter 10 and verse 13, if you remember that the angel Gabriel had been dispatched three weeks or he had been dispatched immediately when Daniel started praying and it took him three weeks to get there. Daniel had been praying for three weeks. And so he explains in Daniel chapter 10 verse 13, Gabriel explains to Daniel, I was dispatched when you started praying. The Lord answered your prayer. You are a man who loves the Lord and the Lord loves you. And I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but in verse 13 he says, the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, the archangel, came to help me for I was left there with the kings of Persia. Then he tells him of the vision in chapter 10, and then in verse 20 of Daniel, chapter 10, he says, but behold, the prince of Greece will come, excuse me, but now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia. And when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. This is years before Alexander the Great would go and conquer that place. In fact, this is during, as far as the Medo-Persian Empire, Gabriel was fighting with that principality, was over that place. And he says, now when I go out, now that I've delivered this, I gotta wrestle again, not only with the prince of Persia, but the prince of the power of Greece is already here. And that wouldn't come for a couple hundred years, I think 250 years after this vision. So those spiritual things are already going on around us. And so we see the eternal truth of that. But it also applies to the church today, because you and I are part of the Lord's army. By our prayers, those things are taking place, as we see with Daniel's life. But we're told in the New Testament, in 2 Timothy chapter two and verse three, share in suffering or in the old King James Version endure hardness is a good soldier of Jesus Christ or a good soldier of Christ Jesus and remember I already cited Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 through 20 or we read it together and I cited 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 Excuse me, 2 Corinthians 10, verses three through five, that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or fleshly. And we have a special historian. The recorder here in 1 Chronicles 18, spiritually speaking, That is the Holy Spirit, because it uses a, maskir is the Hebrew word, which is translated recorder, and it means one who remembers. It comes from the word zakar. You know, Zachariah, we know that that means that Yah remembers. Zakar means remember. Maskir means one who remembers. In John 14, verse 26, Jesus said, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. And so when we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, He's already given us a recorder. There are things that we think that, remember, Jesus said that when He sent out the disciples, don't think what you're gonna say in that day, because the Holy Spirit will give you what to say. He'll bring into remembrance those things. Sometimes you get all bound up thinking, well, what am I gonna say to this person when I meet them, or that, or whatever, whatever. Well, be filled with the Spirit. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Read His word daily. And then the Lord will bring to remembrance that word that you've read. And remember, young people, I tell you time and again, He's not going to bring the remembrance, something you haven't read. So read your Bible every day, as Sister Vicki encourages you, encourages every Sunday and every Wednesday. Sanctified priests and secretary. Well, we have one sanctified priest in the eternal realm, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's ever lives to make intercession for us according to Hebrews 7 and verse 25. And as far as for a secretary, the eternal account is being held by the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat. And that's what that secretary, the scribe, it comes, it's the Hebrew word sofer, which it's where Joseph gets his name from. Remember that Rachel said that when she gave birth to Joseph, the Lord will add unto me. And that word add means account also, sofer. It's the one who is a scribe. We have a holy scribe in the Holy Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10 says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Well, we just saw that. The gold, silver, and precious stones with fire, will burn up the wood, hay, and the stubble. So all that will remain was that which was done by faith, the wealth that comes forth in believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. But also in the church, it has a reality as well, that through the church today, the Lord is using by His Spirit and building up in the most holy faith of believers because we believe in the priesthood of believers. We are a royal priesthood according to 1 Peter 2 9. and also accountability, that each time I see you, I'm reminded what a blessing it is to be using the gift that the Lord has gifted me with, as menial as it may be, as stammering as it may be, to speak before you. Difficult as it sometimes may be to go through a message and say, Lord, what is for us as a local church? Not for Sterling or Soldatna or Kenai, and I'm sure that they have what they're doing in their community, but what is for us for Nenelchik? And then stripping those things away so that we're left with the gold and silver and precious gems. And so we have one another as sanctified priests, and as a scribe or a secretary, that we are etched in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, so is he etched in our minds, in our hearts. And so those things are recorded for us. As we're brought into remembrance, we're brought into remembrance the word of God. And finally, select officers for service. Last week we mentioned, you know, we're members of a body and we all have different gifts and callings. But we know one thing for sure, as far as where faith stands, that as Jesus Christ is the son of David, the Messiah, that God was working for us as we looked at last week, that we would be sons of David because of the Son of David, the Messiah, the Christ. Romans 8 and verses 28 and 29, that God works all things together for good to them that love God. We know this, and we know that God works all things together for good to them that love God. For those who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he did foreknow, he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So, you wanna make Jesus marvel? I didn't want to make Jesus marvel. You know, in the Bible, there's only two places where it said that Jesus marveled when he walked on his ministry. And I want to close this message now because I've gone, well, way over. But I think this is good stuff. If you want to make Jesus marvel, believe. Young people, I'm especially talking to you. If you want to make Jesus marvel, believe. He's not interested in all the, we prophesied in your name, because it doesn't come forth from faith. But when you believe, you'll make Jesus marvel. Today, there's a quote in your handout. And I'm not asking you to read it now, because you need to, if you're over 50, if you're over 60, if you're up there in age, you may need your reading glasses or a magnifying glass, because I put it in small print. And that wasn't even the whole quote. It's so wonderful. But 152 years ago today, Charles Spurgeon preached a message At the Metropolitan Tabernacle in 1870, on June 12, 1870, he preached a message from Mark 6 and verse 6 that says, and he marveled because of their unbelief. The message was called, A Sad Wonder. That was one place where Jesus marveled. He went to the people whom he came to save, and they wouldn't believe, and he marveled at them, and he preached this whole message. And it's wonderful what he conveys here, what he conveys in the little handout there. And I couldn't even put the whole portion of the quote that I wanted. I had to put those dot, dot, dot, and then cut out a portion just to make it fit and put it in small font. But see that evening on June 12th, 1870, he preached the only other place where it says that Jesus marveled during his earthly ministry. Matthew 8, verse 10, it says, and when Jesus heard this, speaking of the Roman centurion that came to him, it says, when Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, truly I tell you, With no one in Israel have I found such faith. Remember what, in his case, he was a Roman centurion and he gave alms to the synagogue. He loved the people, he loved the Jews, but he had a servant who was a Jew and he was sick and he went to Jesus and he says, can you heal him? And he says, okay, let's go. And he says, you shouldn't come under my roof. I'm a Roman, I'm a pagan, I'm a heathen. You don't need to trouble yourself. But you say the word and he'll be healed. And Jesus said, wow, look at that faith. He marveled. And you wanna marvel the Lord Jesus Christ? You know, some people are, you know, I'll preach this message or I'll go out and I'll evangelize all these folks. Well, you could do that. If you do it with faith, it'll be a wonderful thing. But the smallest thing done in believing on Christ, the enjoying the laugh of a young child, Or a cup of water for someone who's just, I haven't had anything to drink. A morsel for a hungry animal. If it was done in faith and knowing that God created that puppy, God created that child. Christ shed his blood that this one might be saved. When that is the truth that springs forth from you to do whatever it may be, to play a game of checkers or battleship with a young child, and even though you lose miserably, you thank God that he has blessed that individual. and that Jesus died for that person as well, then those things are gold and silver and precious stones in Christ's church. It doesn't have to be big because the smallest thing done for Christ is eternal and monumental. And whatever it happens to be, if it's done for Christ, it is glory for the Heavenly Father. And an eternal joy before all the angels in heaven. Let's pray. Our most blessed and gracious Father in God. In Jesus' name and for his sake, we thank you, Lord, for, well, I thank you, Lord, for putting up with me. I probably should have cut out a whole lot of stuff from this message to shorten it up and all that. But you're working with me at Lump of Coal, and I pray that, Father, you have diamonds here. You have precious gems and gold and silver in this congregation whom you love. minister unto them patience for their pastor, minister unto them, more than that, love for their Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in His name, truly, we pray, amen.