Category: 1st and 2nd Chronicles-BibleTrekToday
Trek through 1st and 2nd Chronicles
Honor and discipline of elders!
Scripture reading for July 1st: 1st Kings 9, 2nd Chronicles 8, 1st Timothy 5
1st Timothy 5: 17-19 “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.”
The ‘elders’ in a church family are not necessarily old people. They are those set apart by God for spiritual leadership and specifically preaching and teaching the Word of God. This is a high calling and requires dedication and time spent with the Word of God and our Lord. These who work in this calling should have the double honor of compensation and respect for God’s calling and placing them in leadership as HIs servants. However, when there is flagrant sin in the life of an ‘elder’, the sin must be verified by two or three witnesses and an attempt made to confront and bring repentance. If sin persists, the church must be told and the elder publicly rebuked. God is not partial and neither should His church be.
1st Timothy 5:20 “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.”
Prayer: Father God, Thank You for calling elders to serve the Church, Your Body on earth. May I always honor the leadership You provide in giving respect and in giving to support them. As an elder, may I always be worthy of ‘double honor’ because I live humbly before You and do all things to Your glory, without partiality or prejudging.
1st Kings 9:6-7 “But if you turn aside from following Me, you or your children, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for My Name I will cast out of My sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.”
Practice and persistence!
Scripture reading for June 30th: 2nd Chronicles 5-7, Psalm 121, 1st Timothy 4
1st Timothy 4: 11-16 “Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
Paul loved Timothy as his own son and gave him fatherly advice to help him in life and ministry in the difficult culture of the early church. He told Timothy not to beat around the bush, but to command and teach all of God’s Word as truth. No fear of man or intimidation was to be allowed because of his youth. He was to set a confident example in living, speaking, acting in love and pure living. The Word of God should be read out loud, as this population did not yet have the Scriptures readily available. God’s gifts received by Timothy at ordination should be used as the Holy Spirit directed. Watchfulness was commanded and needed both in Timothy’s own life and in those he served.
Psalm 121:7-8 “The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for this instruction on boldness and practice of Your Word. I want to be a good example of godliness and loving God and my neighbor through the power of the Holy Spirit. My desire is as Yours, I humbly ask for all to be saved and come to a knowledge and practice of the Truth in Jesus Christ! Forgive our sins in our nation and heal our land.
2nd Chronicles 7:13-15 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My Name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now My eyes will b e open and My ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. (The temple)
Pleasing God through prayer!
Scripture reading for June 28th: 1st Kings 7, 2nd Chronicles 4, Psalm 44, 1st Timothy 2
1st Timothy 2: 1-6 “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, Who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is testimony given at the proper time.”
Paul instructed Timothy to teach and urge believers to live a life of prayer and intercession. We are dependent people who have little strength in ourselves. But we have been given the privilege of prayer and the urging of God to ask, seek, and knock on behalf of ourselves, our leaders, and all people. Prayer aligns our hearts with God’s and it is an act of faith that truly pleases God. God desires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth and He also wants us to lead quiet and peaceful lives that reflect His presence with us to a lost and dying world. They are the true treasures God seeks from us and His creation.
Psalm 44:25-26 “For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of Your steadfast love!”
Prayer: Father God, I hear Your call to us to pray and thank You for all people and for those in authority that we might live a quiet and peaceful life and bear witness of Your presence with us. Let me never forget that You want all men and women to be saved and come to the Truth of Jesus Christ. Even in hard times and persecution, I will call upon You for help and power to declare the Truth of the Gospel.
1st Kings 7: 51 “Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.”
Christ’s mission: saving sinners!
Scripture reading for June 27th: 1st Kings 6, 2nd Chronicles 3, 1st Timothy 1
1st Timothy 1:12-16 “I thank Him Who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.”
Paul was ever thankful for the opportunity and strength to serve. Although as a religious person, he had been a blasphemer of Christ and lived in unbelief, God granted him mercy and called him into His service of ministry to Jew and Gentile. As one of the ‘foremost’ sinners, Paul understood Christ’s amazing mercy and salvation by grace through faith. He could effectively use his own testimony of God’s mercy and patience to share with others living in sin. God used him to reach many lost sinners, which was the goal and purpose of Jesus Christ coming into this world and offering His body and blood for our salvation and justification.
1st Timothy 1:17 “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Prayer: Thank You Lord for having patience with me and showing me Your mercy through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I acknowledge Your mission of saving lost sinners and offer myself to be used to reach those who still need salvation. Overflow Your grace in my life along with Christ’s love and faith to reach many lost souls and produce a harvest to Your glory that will build Your House.
1st Kings 6:12-13 “Now the Word of the Lord came to Solomon, “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and obey My rules and keep all My commandments and walk in them, then I will establish My Word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake My people Israel.”
The sin of idleness!
Scripture reading for June 24th: 1st Kings 5, 2nd Chronicles 2, 2nd Thessalonians 3
2nd Thessalonians 3: 6-10 “Now we command you, brothers, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone in not willing to work, let him not eat.”
Paul admonished the believers concerning those in the church who were idle and taking advantage of others generosity. The teaching concerning Christ’s immanent return had caused some to think that there was no need to work but just to wait as Christ was coming soon. But Paul pointed to his own example of working hard to supply his own needs and not be a burden or a hindrance to the Gospel. Each believer has a responsibility to use their gifts and talents to provide for themselves and their families. We are warned not to hang around those who are habitually idle, lest we pick up their bad habits. We are to warn them as brothers, not treat them as enemies.
2nd Thessalonians 3:13-15 “As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for the gift of work that we can do and for the ability to work and bless others and Your kingdom. Our culture has lots of those who are idle and some who major in taking from others. Help me to discern how to warn them if they are brothers or sisters in the Lord. Help me to set a good example for other believers in working and in loving You and others.
2nd Chronicles 2:1-2 “Now Solomon purposed to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, and a royal palace for himself. And Solomon assigned 70,000 men to bear burdens and 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and 3,600 to oversee them.”
Anticipation of the coming glory!
Scripture reading for June 2nd: 1st Kings 3, 2nd Chronicles 1, Psalm 42, Romans 8
Romans 8:18-23 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him Who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from the bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
Paul further explained that through the Holy Spirit, we have adoption into God’s family in token form for now. We are infilled by the Holy Spirit, but live in our bodies of flesh that still suffer pain, loneliness and longing for fullness of God’s promised redemption. We are promised a glorious body, like Jesus’ glorified body when He comes again. In the mean time, creation is under the bondage of sin and decay as well as human beings, saved and unsaved. As believers we groan inwardly too, awaiting Jesus’ return and anticipating with eager longing our full redemption. This is like the bride waiting for the Bridegroom!
Romans 8:23-25 “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
Prayer: Father God, as I get older, I understand the groaning inwardly of my spirit for the fullness of redemption when Christ returns. That is my hope, the “Blessed Hope” of the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ! Thank You for the Holy Spirit, my down-payment of that coming glory Who groans with me, comforts me, and encourages me to be patient and wait and work!
Romans 8:26-27 “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself interceded for us with groaning to deep for words. And He Who searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
Psalm 42:1-2 “As a deer pant for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirst for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”
The war between the flesh and the Spirit!
Scripture reading for June 1st: 1st Kings 2, 1st Chronicles 29, Romans 7
Romans 7:15-20 “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. No if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, within my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells withing me.”
Paul was a strict Jewish Pharisee, living under God’s law. The law was spiritual and Paul was of the flesh before he encountered Jesus Christ. He struggled to understand his own actions for he desperately wanted to obey the law and please God, but found himself instead doing that which the law forbade. He is now a follower of Christ and understands this war. It is his old sin nature that was crucified with Christ that he now must count as dead to sin. He must now count himself alive to God in Christ through identification with Christ’s resurrection. The grace coming through Christ enabled Paul and us to overcome the passions of sinful flesh that once enslaved us. Thanks be to God He has delivered us!
Romans 7:24-25 “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for delivering me from the war between the flesh and the Spirit by filling me with Your Holy Spirit and giving me grace through Jesus Christ my Lord. Through the Spirit I now have ability to live free from the sin nature and be alive to God forever more. I offer myself to be used to share this Good News with all who still battle their sin nature. There is victory through the Lord Jesus!
1st Chronicles 29:19 “Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep Your commandments, Your testimonies, and Your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.”
Count yourself alive to God!
Scripture reading for May 31st: 1st Kings 1, 1st Chronicles 26-28, Romans 6
Romans 6:11-14 “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.”
The Old Testament Law stirred up the passions of the flesh and man’s sin nature rebelled and disobeyed. Jesus Christ fully obeyed the Law and took the penalty of death on our behalf for our law-breaking. Now that we have trusted Christ and come under the new covenant of grace through His shed blood, we count ourselves alive to God and dead to sin and its passions. A dead person cannot be influenced to sin because their passions are also dead. Since we are dead to sin and now are alive eternally in Christ, we also must daily present our bodies to God for Him to use as instruments for righteousness. Sin no longer has dominion over us for we live by God’s grace daily in thanksgiving.
1st Kings 1:5 “Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for the gift of grace and righteousness through Your Son, Jesus Christ. He took my sin and its penalty and I died with Him. I was buried with Him and rose again to the newness of life eternal as He rose from the dead. I present my body to God to be used for His glory and to share His grace to build each person who repents into a habitation of God through His Spirit.
1st Chronicles 28:9-10 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. Be careful now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it.”
Cause for rejoicing!
Scripture reading for May 30th: 1st Chronicles 22-25, Psalm 78, Romans 5
Romans 5: 1-5 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produced endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Paul expounded on the results and effects of our justification by God through faith. There was much cause for believers to rejoice and be filled with joy. They now enjoyed peace with God in that God’s gift of righteousness now took the place of guilt and shame and fear of judgment. Instead of God’s wrath, we now have a hope of beholding the glory of God and eternally reflecting His glory. We can even rejoice in our sufferings which were promised by Jesus for all who believe. These sufferings produce endurance, the ability to wait on God’s help and plan. They also produce character–the image of Jesus in our lives as a result of purification from sins and living in hope of eternal life.
Psalm 78:5-7 “He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; . .”
Prayer: Father God, I rejoice in Your gift of righteousness and the hope of eternal life. Thank You for peace with God and rest from the striving to keep the law. Form Your character in me and give me endurance in suffering. Help me to declare this joy and peace through faith to my children, grandchildren and their children until You come again and inhabit Your royal throne here on earth and forever and ever!
2nd Samuel 22:9-10 “‘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, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for My Name. He shall be My son, and I will be his Father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.'”
Faith counted as righteousness!
Scripture reading for May 27th: 2nd Samuel 24, 1st Chronicles 21, Romans 4
Romans 4:1-5 “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in Him Who justified the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, . .””
Paul was explaining the amazing truth of justification by faith to Gentile believers as well as Jews. Here he showed how God used Abraham’s faith to call him ‘righteous’ before the law or circumcision was given. This man Abraham simply believed God’s promise that he would become the father of many nations, even when his wife Sarah had been barren for many years. Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 90 and beyond the years of childbirth, but by faith they conceived and Sarah had a child as God had promised. This child and his offspring would become a nation, Israel, that would be marked by God’s presence in their midst. However, Abraham’s simple faith made him the ‘father’ of all from every nation who will believe and received the gift of righteousness! Amen!
Romans 4:16-17 “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring–not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”–in the presence of the God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.”
Prayer: Father God, Thank You for giving all who believe in You and Your Son, Jesus Christ, the gift of Your righteousness and the forgiveness of our sins, guilt and shame. I am humbled and grateful to be filled with Your Presence. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and power to declare this “good news” to all people, nations, tribes and tongues that all might enjoy grace and eternal life in Your presence.
2nd Samuel 22:24-25 “But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.”