2 Samuel 21:15-22: Nephilim, Rephaim, Anakites and the Seed of the Woman
INTRODUCTION: As soon as you do any investigation on the internet about the bible and giants, you immediately run into the cliqued garbage about overcoming your giants. In the text we have before us in 2 Samuel 21:15-22 we have a record of four giants being defeated, and in the case of the first giant of David growing weary and needing Abishai to help him. If giants are the big problems we face in life then the lesson is that sometimes our giants come back to haunt us, and we should not allow ourselves to grow weary. That sort...
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2 Samuel 16:15-17:29: The Fall of Ahithophel
Introduction: God fulfils His promises; or God works all things together for good, these are phrases we often hear but don’t always have an accurate picture about how God works it all out. The fall of Ahithophel in 2 Samuel 16:15-17:29 is a great portion of Scripture which demonstrates in great detail how it happens. Contrary to the Christian movies and their soft edges the way things actually pan out in reality while under God’s control have a very different feel to them. We will see that God does bring His purposes to pass, but it isn’t pretty and...
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2 Samuel 3:6-4:12: Power struggle
Outline Abner Joab David Introduction The change of governments and especially civil war is a hard time for any government. The corruption, the ambitions of men, the manipulations, blackmail, negotiations, the deceit, the murder and all this mixed with civil war. This is what we find in our portion. Yet the will of God triumphs, the promises of God come to pass. Why do we have the details in the 7 ½ year period before David becomes king recorded? To show that God’s promises will triumph; but not without a lot of interference and trouble along the way. One...
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1 Samuel 23: The Poor Man’s Provisions
Outline Prayer People Providence Introduction James gives the following advice to the people of God when they are undergoing trials, ‘Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation.’ James is trying to help the man who has nothing or has had everything taken from him realise the riches that he does in fact have. We know that David has lost much; he has even described himself as the poor man, Ps. 34:6. David is still in dire straits, experiencing harassment and losses. This chapter notes for us however, the many blessings that David receives despite his poverty and trials....
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1 Samuel 18-19: The Rise and Fall of Israel’s Monarch
Outline David’s 9 lives Saul’s envy God’s protection Introduction The next two chapters read like an action sequence from a movie. We have the star and the villain, both are contending for the throne of Israel, one is rising one is falling. As we watch this unfolding drama, there is a ubiquitous and unseen character who is in every seen, God. He is sovereignly overruling, and providentially protecting the King whose line will one day birth the Messiah of the world. This little contest is a microcosm of the timeless battle between the seed of the serpent and the...
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Romans 11:33: Unsearchable Judgements; Inscrutable Ways
Outline Unsearchable and Inscrutable Judgements and Ways Introduction When you tell a stubborn child, ‘You won’t be able to do this.’ It makes them more determined to do it. When you tell them, ‘You won’t be able to understand this,’ you get the same result. When you say to a stubborn sinner, ‘You are forbidden from doing that.’ They go ahead a do it, curiosity, stubbornness, rebellion all woven together, it is a familiar sight. When it comes to the knowledge of God, we are the same way. We will not be told that there are limits to our...
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Romans 11:33: The Deep Riches and Wisdom of God
Outline Riches Wisdom Introduction ‘Sound Biblical exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but...
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1 Samuel 9: The Providence of God
Outline A handsome man A sovereign God Introduction Living by sight and not by faith is the perennial challenge for the Christian. We often live as if God as revealed in the Scriptures is not real. Living by sight will look different depending on when and where you live. If you are a tribal person living in animistic Africa before the age of modern science and medicine, living by sight means looks like forsaking trusting in God for health and fertility and turning to the witch doctor and your ancestors for blessing. You interpret the world not through the...
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Romans 11:7-10: Sovereign Hardening
Outline An explanation of the hardening A description of the hardened Introduction No sober-minded Christian would deny that God is sovereign. Every Christian would affirm that God is sovereign, all powerful and actively in control in the world today. But there are three areas where there are differences of opinion between believers. Christians differ over what extent God controls nature; the extent of God’s control over evil, and the extent of God’s control in salvation and damnation. The verses we are presently studying are driving us into the heart of the differences about who is in control when it...
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Judges 6:33-7:25: God’s strength through weakness
Outline God uses reticent doubters God uses tiny armies Introduction Paul was troubled by a thorn in the flesh, a deliberate, providential, God permitted thorn which forced Paul to depend upon God more closely and kept him from pride (2 Cor. 12:1-8). Paul prayed three times that the thorn might be removed, but instead of the modern expectation that God works for our comfort and happiness, God said this, 2 Cor. 12:9. ‘But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly...
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