Becoming A People after God’s Own Heart

Recap of last week:

• Becoming a people after God’s Own Heart
• Prophetic/Biblical Storyline - Jeremiah 3:15

•  Jeremiah 3:15-17 - 15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. ...17 “At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne [dwelling place] of the LORD and all the nations shall be gathered to it to the name [Presence] of the LORD,....

• David the witness/archetype - Isaiah 55:3-4

• Isaiah 55:3-4 -  Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people.

• God is seeking men and women after His own Heart - 1 Samuel 13:14

• 1 Samuel 13:14 - But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

• God’s desire to have a dwelling place - Deuteronomy 12-18

• Deuteronomy 12:5 - “But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.
• Malachi 1:11 - For from the rising of the sun [east], even to its going down[west], My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense [prayer] shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering [worship]; for My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the Lord of hosts.

• Psalm 132 - Pursuit, Dwelling and Blessing of the Lord

• 13 For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: 14 “This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it

Week 2 - Historical Backdrop to David Life’s and leadership Part 1 - [Parallel to now and the necessity to prioritising Him and His House]

1. God’s desire and plan to have dwelling places throughout the earth and the enemies plan resist this:

• Malachi 1:11 - For from the rising of the sun [east], even to its going down[west], My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense [prayer] shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering [worship]; for My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the Lord of hosts.
• The enemy tries to do the same thing:

• Habakkuk 1:6 - For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.

• Chaldeans: As it were demons; (root = to lay waste; to destroy). Astrologer. Wanderers. - Exhaustive Dictionary of Bible Names

• Matthew 12:43 - 43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it returns, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation. - NRSV
• Psalms 83:2-4, 12 -  2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” 12 Who said, “Let us take for ourselves the pastures of God [houses of God - KJV] for a possession.”

• Summary: God is going to have dwelling places, houses of worship and prayer in every place, every city throughout the world. The enemy is seeking to stop, resist and take these dwelling places for himself to try and stop the plan of God.

• We know God wins but we are the ones that get to partner/co-labour with God to do this

2. Historical backdrop: Joshua and Judges: The cities of the Levites         and the incomplete conquest.

Joshua 21:1-35 1 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. 2 And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their common-lands for our livestock.” 3 So the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance, at the commandment of the Lord, these cities and their common-lands:

8 And the children of Israel gave these cities with their common-lands [pasturelands - ESV] by lot to the Levites, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.

21 For they gave them Shechem with its common-land in the mountains of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the slayer), Gezer with its common-land,

Judges 1:29 - 29Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; so the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

23 … tribe of Dan… 24 Aijalon with its common-land, and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: four cities;

Judges 1:34-35 34 … the children of Dan …35and the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim;

25 and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with its common-land and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: two cities

Judges 1:27-28 - 27 However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, … for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. 28 And it came to pass, Israel … did not completely drive them out.

30 the tribe of Asher … 31 Helkath with its common-land, and Rehob with its common-land: four cities;

Judges 1: 31-32 - Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob. 32 So the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

34 … tribe of Zebulun…35 Dimnah with its common-land, and Nahalal with its common-land: four cities

Judges 1:30 - Nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites dwelt among them…

1 Chronicles 11:4-9 - 4 And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. 5 But the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You shall not come in here!” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David). 6 Now David said, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain.” And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up

first, and became chief. 7 Then David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it the City of David. 8 And he built the city around it, from the Millo to the surrounding area. Joab repaired the rest of the city. 9 So David went on and became great, and the Lord of hosts was with him.

Judges 1:21  - 21 But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; so the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

• The Levitical cities were not taken - five Levitical cities here not taken and one city which became the eternal dwelling place of God. When the priesthood, the worship of God is not prioritised the whole nation fails

• The enemy seeks to destroy the priesthood, the righteous worship. The Enemy is seeking to dwell among them to cause compromise among the people of God and the little bit of compromise will change the spiritual dynamics of a whole nation!
• The opening chapter of the book reveals the incomplete conquest. What follows is an R18+ storyline of spiritual compromise, spiritual decline, moral decline, moral depravity and ultimately the rejection of God as King and following His rule:
• A generation arose who did not know God nor His works:

• Judges 2:10 - When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.

• The last verse of Judges is this:

• Judges 21:25 - In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

• Beloved we are seeing this today throughout the earth. Even among believers we see people saying deciding on what is the ways of God outside of the Word of God

3. What does this mean practically for us?

• Judges reveals to us when the people of God reject prioritising the worship of God, the priesthood of God, and the house of God that the following happens:

• Spiritual decline
• Moral decline
• No King - They don’t see God as King - stop following His Leadership
• Do what is right in your own eyes

• Neglecting personal priesthood (your own ministry to the Lord)
• Neglecting the spiritual priesthood (corporate ministry to the Lord and receiving the ministry from those God has anointed to lead)
• Neglecting the house of God

• Spiritually (personal priority)
• Physically (personal sacrifice and effort)

• Finances (tithing and offering)
• Time/effort

• Beloved there is a mutual blessing when we are all co-operating in this: there is dynamic humility and dynamic unity

• Philippians 2:3 - Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. - ESV
• Psalms 133 - Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord has commanded the blessing - life forevermore.

• Divine order causes spiritual and physical blessing.

Where does the heart of David fit in - the man after God’s own heart?

• David's highest priority in life was the opposite to the times of Judges. David prioritised setting God up as the true King of Israel by:

• Prioritising having the ark of the covenant (the Presence of the Lord) as the centre of his Kingdom

• This was building a dwelling place for the Lord

• Psalms 132

• Having continual worship and prayer

• Prioritised the house of God

• Personal
• Psalms 69:9 - For zeal for Your house has consumed me…

• Prioritised the Priests and the Levities

• When David was setting up the tabernacle of David he had 24,000 Levites employed to “look after the work of the house of the Lord” and 4000 “praised the Lord with musical instruments” - 1 Chronicles 23:4-5

• God promised David that He would building him a house

• 2 Samuel 7:11 … Also the Lord tells you that He will make you a house.
• Jesus confirms this in Matthew:

• Matthew 6:33 - But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you also.

• We become men and women after God’s own heart when we prioritise a dwelling place for the Lord - the very thing the enemy comes to compromise.

• We see the results of compromise in Judges
• But beloved we see the results of spiritual hunger of through David’s
• Seeking God, His Presence and His Kingdom was a pillar of David life.

• David - a man after God’s own heart had core values that distinguished him as a man after God’s own heart:

• Zeal

• Psalms 69:9 - For zeal for Your house has consumed me…
• Jesus when He cleansed the temple He had righteous, holy zeal and this verse is ascribed to Jesus

• John 2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

• Generosity

• David gave over $100 billion (at modern prices) to God’s house. One talent is 75 lbs. or 1200 ounces (16 oz/pound). One talent of gold at $850/ounce would be worth about one million dollars. Thus, 100,000 talents of gold at that price would be worth about $100 billion. One talent of silver at $12/ounce would be worth about $15,000, so 1,000,000 talents at that price would be worth about $15 billion. The total of the gold and silver would be well over $100 billion. - Information resourced from Mike Bickle

Bible Study Discussion/Meditation:

• Thinking over this week’s message and these notes what the Holy Spirit is saying to you? What do you think the Holy Spirit is stirring in your heart through these Scriptures? What touched your heart? What challenges you? What stirs you and motivates you?
• Share with your communion group what you believe the Lord is stirring/moving/challenging your heart in these areas.
• Below there are questions that you can go through if you have time in the Communion group, or you can look at them later.

• Thinking over God's desire for dwelling places throughout the earth and the enemies plan to resist: Discuss together what happens in Joshua 21 and Judges 1.

• How does the enemy work to stop and resist God?
• Why were the Levitical cities important?
• How does this relate to us today?

• Thinking over how this relates to us today and what does this mean practically for us?

• Why is worship and the priesthood so important?
• Have you been neglecting your personal priesthood, spiritual priesthood or the house of God? What areas?

• Is the Holy Spirit showing you an area you need to repent and change your way in?

• Thinking over David - a man after His own heart:

• What are characteristics, core values, pursuit of David revealed here?
• What is God growing in you now? How do you think you can grow more to be that man or woman? (is there changes in your priorities that need to happen? Is there someone who can keep you accountable to do that?

• What Scripture/s encouraged/stirred your heart the most? What do you think God is saying to you in them?

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