How do we build a life that outlives us? This weekend Pastor Steve continued our series 23 AND ME with a message titled BUILDING ON BROKENNESS.
2 Samuel 24:2
King David said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and register the people, that I may know the number of the people.”
This great man of God, whose entire life has depended on the mercies and intervention of God, is now taking matters in his own hand.
1) Pride makes an enemy of God, humility makes him a friend.
We never graduate from trusting God. Every sin can be traced back to a failure of trust.
2) Conviction is a gift from God.
When God confronts us, it is to push us toward repentance and healing. If this voice of conviction is silenced in your life, you are in a dangerous place.
3) To get back on the right path, conscience, and counsel work together.
Sin is a rejection of the wisdom of God. Conscience starts the process of repentance, but wise counsel keeps you from repeating a cycle of sin and regret.
“The early Christians rejoiced when they were deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.”
- Martin Luther King Jr, Letter from the Birmingham Jail
Yesterday’s repentance sets the stage for tomorrow’s transformation.
4) When you repent, you are defined by your rising, not your falling.
Repentance is a sifting of the priorities and loves in our lives. It’s not just saying sorry for this sin or that sin, it is a renewal of a trust orientation toward God.
Proverbs 24:16
For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again,
but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.
A generation after David’s sin, Israel’s Temple is built in the place of David’s repentance. The exact location where David repented becomes a house of prayer for all nations!
