Show Notes
October 19, 2025
Paster Christopher Chelpka
"Abner's revolt" II Samel 2:8-32
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Would bless us. Now, as we hear the reading and preaching of your word.
[00:00:06] We ask that you would illumine our hearts. That we might understand, that we might believe, that we might obey and submit our whole lives to you.
[00:00:16] And Lord, there is so much obstinacy in us.
[00:00:22] So much that would distract from the things that we ought to do. Distract us from the things that we ought to do. Tempt us away from the things that we ought to do.
[00:00:33] Even giving our hearts to you in love and joy.
[00:00:40] It surprises us sometimes to find so much difficulty inside.
[00:00:47] Yet, Lord, we know that you are bigger than our hearts, you are stronger than our flesh. And that you will win the day not only in the grandest ways. I'm coming to judge the living and the dead.
[00:01:03] But Lord, in the smallest little moments of our lives, you are present.
[00:01:09] You do not forsake us.
[00:01:11] You know our souls and our bodies better than any doctor. Better than any, any one of us.
[00:01:23] And so, Lord, we submit ourselves now to you as we come to hear your word. We ask that you would open our ears, that you would help us to see with the eyes of faith, that you would strengthen our wills and our desire for you.
[00:01:39] We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:44] Let's remain standing and turn our attention to 2nd Samuel, chapter 2, beginning at verse 8, then through the end of the chapter.
[00:02:13] So I have a challenge for you this morning. And the challenge is to keep track of all the names, right?
[00:02:21] It's not just a big list, right? That's not what I'm asking you to do. You'll see there are various people, some we heard about a long time ago, some who are new and you'll want to try as best you can. It's okay if you don't are not able to do it all. But as best you can, try to keep track of who's who and who's doing what. All right.
[00:02:42] All right. Let's give our attention to God's word.
[00:02:46] But Abner, the son of ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ishbosheth, son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim.
[00:02:55] And he made him king over Gilead and the Asherites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. Ish Boset, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel. And he reigned two years.
[00:03:11] But the house of Judah followed David.
[00:03:13] And the time that David was king over Hebron, over in Hebron, over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
[00:03:22] Abner, the son of ner, and the servants of Ishbosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
[00:03:30] And Joab the son of Zeruiah and the servants of David went out to meet them at the pool of Gibeon.
[00:03:37] And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool and the other on the other side of the pool. And Abner said to Joab, let the young men arise and compete before us. Joab said, let them arise.
[00:03:49] Then they arose and passed over by number 12 for Benjamin and Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and 12 of the servants of David.
[00:03:58] And each caught the opponent by the head and thrust his sword in his opponent's side.
[00:04:05] So they fell down together.
[00:04:06] Therefore that place was called Helkath Hazurim, which is at Gibeon.
[00:04:13] And the battle was very furious that day. And Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.
[00:04:20] And the three sons of Zeruiah were there. Joab, Abishai, and Asahel.
[00:04:26] Now Asahel was swift of foot as a wild gazelle, and Asahel pursued Abner. And as he went, he turned neither to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. Then Abner looked behind him and said, is it you, Asahel?
[00:04:41] And he answered, it is I. Abner said to him, turn aside to your right hand or to your left and seize one of the young men and take his spoil.
[00:04:50] But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.
[00:04:54] Nabner again said to Asahel, turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground?
[00:04:59] How then should I lift up my face to your brother Joab?
[00:05:03] But he refused to turn aside.
[00:05:05] Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the butt of his spear, so that the spear came out at his back.
[00:05:11] And he fell there and died where he was. And all who came to the place where Asahel fell and died stood still.
[00:05:20] But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner.
[00:05:23] And as the sun was going down, they came to the hill of Ammah, which lies before Gia on the way to the wilderness of Gibeon.
[00:05:31] And the people of Benjamin gathered themselves together behind Abner and became one group and took their stand on the top of a hill.
[00:05:39] And Abner called to Joab, shall the sword devour forever?
[00:05:44] Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers?
[00:05:52] And Joab said, as God lives. If you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning.
[00:05:59] So Joab blew the trumpet and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore. And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Mahanaim.
[00:06:15] Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner.
[00:06:17] And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing From David's servants 19 men besides Ahasahel.
[00:06:24] But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men. And they took up Ahasahel and buried him in the tomb of his father, which was at Bethlehem. And Joab and his men marched all night, and they broke, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.
[00:06:42] You may be seated.
[00:07:02] So, a somewhat complicated story, but only because there are a lot of names which you might be unfamiliar with, right?
[00:07:12] If you were Joab, you would not be confused about the names of your brothers, Abishai and Asahel. They would be obvious, they would be clear.
[00:07:23] And when you heard that Asahel had died, you would pursue, or perhaps you would pursue like Joab did with Abishai. Abner.
[00:07:33] The actions of these men and the others here in this chapter remind us, even in the confusion of it all and all the battles and all the dialogue and everything that's happening, they remind us that as David enters into his kingdom, not everything is instantly at peace.
[00:07:52] There is something more to be gained by the Lord through his anointed One. And ultimately, that thing that the Lord establishes won't be through David.
[00:08:05] It's going to be through David's son, a great, great, great grandson named Jesus.
[00:08:11] Jesus, our Lord and Savior, who God established as his anointed one as the king, the final king over his people and over all the world.
[00:08:22] And so what we have here is a reminder of the differences between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of or the kingdoms of men.
[00:08:32] The things that happen when we rebel against the Lord and his Anointed one, whether we're formally a part of that kingdom or not.
[00:08:43] Here we have to. The outlines of the story are simply this.
[00:08:49] David has.
[00:08:50] Saul has died, but his army is still there. And Abner, the commander of Saul's army, decides to do something wrong instead of submitting himself to David as the new king, whom he knows is God's chosen anointed king over the people. What does Abner decide to do? Abner decides to rebel and establish a son of Saul on the throne, the son Ish Bosheth, we're told right away that this only lasts two years.
[00:09:25] And we see Abner's success is very minimal. It's going to be frustrated. Ultimately, it's going to come to an end. But that rebellion comes with a lot of sacrifices.
[00:09:36] There's a lot of things that happen. Abner wants to preserve this kingdom, wants to preserve perhaps his authority, his strength. But he ends up, even here in this chapter, losing 360 of his men.
[00:09:55] And then you have Joab kind of a parallel to Abner, but on the other side, Joab is one of David's generals, a great general of David's army.
[00:10:07] And he.
[00:10:10] He gets caught up in the midst of this and all. And we, as we see throughout the story, things foreshadowed here.
[00:10:17] Joab does not always have his heart set on honoring the Lord, on honoring the Lord's anointed, but on vengeance, on fixing things by his own strength, by his own will.
[00:10:33] And these are all very fascinating and complicated people.
[00:10:38] And as you have opportunity to think about them as we continue through two Samuel, some longer than others, some more than others, learn to pay attention to these details. Learn to pay attention to who these people are, what their personalities are like, what their actions are like, what their heart is like, and how they relate poorly, positively to David and ultimately to God and what he's doing.
[00:11:06] What happens here again, I said I'd outline this. Let me get back to that. What happens here is, is Abner decides to set up his own kingdom with Ish Bosheth as king.
[00:11:18] And then there's this battle. It's a little bit mysterious what's going on here, but it begins as a contest.
[00:11:25] Joab and Abner meet, and they decide to have this contest of men.
[00:11:31] Now, was this contest initially a sporting kind of thing that kind of got out of control, or was this a contest in which the winner would give allegiance to the other side? At least to me, it's not perfectly clear.
[00:11:48] But what does happen is something really tragic. So Joab sends 12, Abner sends 12, and these men, sort of simultaneously, almost of equal strength, grab each other and stab each other, and then they all die.
[00:12:06] This is not how, you know, brotherly love and the oil that flows down on Aaron's beard, all these pictures of health and vitality. This is not what this is supposed to look like.
[00:12:20] If this was a sport, where's the restraint?
[00:12:25] If this is sport, where is the love for competition and growing together and battling out in fair play? If this is a contest pledging allegiance and loyalty, what is Joab doing there? And we could ask all kinds of other questions, but ultimately what happens is this, this event, this contest ends up in this battle.
[00:12:52] Verse 17 tells us the battle was very fierce, and Abner and the men of Israel were beaten before the servants of David.
[00:13:00] This happens many times going on from here.
[00:13:06] Well, what happens next?
[00:13:08] Well, instead of letting them flee, they decide. Asahel in particular decides to pursue Abner. And he's fast, really fast, like a wild gazelle, swift as foot. And he doesn't seem to have any armor with him, perhaps to make him faster.
[00:13:26] And he's going and he's going. And Abner is staying ahead of him, but he also is trying to avoid a fight.
[00:13:35] Abner says he tells him, hey, if you want some spoil, you want to kill someone, go ahead, but don't fight me, because I'll kill you.
[00:13:47] Asahel doesn't turn aside. He keeps following him. He keeps following him.
[00:13:52] And then he does. He strikes him and he kills him. It's so gruesome. The gruesomeness of it is, is marked not only by the way in which he was died, but then by the reaction of people that find him. In verse 24, all that came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died stood still.
[00:14:13] They just looked at him and saw.
[00:14:19] Then at this point, the two brothers, Joab and Abishai, pursue Abner. And they're getting close, and they're getting close. Abner reaches a point where he reaches these men. He gears up to fight, right? He turns around almost, and then all these men of Benjamin are there. They're on this hill. Joab, presumably at the bottom of the hill, is about ready to attack. And Abner calls at verse 26 and says. It says, shall the sword devour forever?
[00:14:50] That's a good question.
[00:14:52] It's a good question for that moment, for the coming moments, and really for all of human history.
[00:14:58] Shall the sword devour forever? Shall bitterness and wrath and malice and anger continue forever?
[00:15:05] Now, perhaps Abner should recognize that part of this is caused because of his own rebellion, right?
[00:15:12] His own rebellion against Joab, against David. He says, shall the sword devour? Do you not know that the end will be bitter?
[00:15:23] Perhaps he has in mind the time when the people of Benjamin, back in Judges, were almost all destroyed.
[00:15:31] Joab listens to him, says, as God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men kind of puts it on someone else. A little blame shifting there. Surely the men would have not given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning Job blows a trumpet, a retreat or withdrawal, and all the Men stopped and pursued Israel no more.
[00:15:54] But they're divided so good, right? It's a mixed bag. It's good that the kingdom of and God's people will go on to live another day. That they're not all going to destroy each other as all this thing started, a kind of warning of what was to come.
[00:16:13] But on the other hand, they're leaving separate places. They're establishing. Abner is establishing a separate kingdom. There's been bloodshed. 360 of Abner's men and 19 men besides Asahel of David's great warriors, men of strength and valor, dead.
[00:16:37] And it's going to get worse.
[00:16:44] Sometimes people talk about the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Man. These two kingdoms opposed against each other. And there's a lot of truth in that.
[00:16:55] The way in which mankind in his flesh and the world and the devil, as we talked about earlier, a fight and rail against the kingdom of God. There's a kind of unity of opposition against God in. In that way.
[00:17:10] But I wonder if the kingdom of Men might be better called the kingdoms of Men.
[00:17:16] Because the kingdom of man is not necessarily this unified fighting force against the Lord God. It's a million billion micro kingdoms, not only against God, but against. Against each other.
[00:17:30] Fighting, constantly angry, battling.
[00:17:34] Even in our own hearts, even in our own hearts we have different competing things. Ambition, passion, pleasure, loyalty, fairness. All these kinds of things which say if you achieve me or if you go after me with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind and all of your strength, you'll be happy, you'll be at peace.
[00:18:00] Even within ourselves, we have different idols raging, waging war and raging in us.
[00:18:08] And of course that happens externally and corporately.
[00:18:12] But the kingdoms of men and the idols of our heart do not lead to happiness. They lead to what we see here.
[00:18:18] Rebellion against the Lord. Rebellion against the Lord's anointed do not lead to peace and happiness.
[00:18:25] It leads to bloodshed, terror and brothers fighting brothers.
[00:18:32] Families and communities are constantly torn apart by struggles and pride, traditions and loyalties.
[00:18:42] Our own inner souls are constantly at battle and the various things in our hearts. We have cycles all the time of shame and regret, conflict.
[00:18:56] There's only one answer to this. And it's not by fighting harder for this or for that kingdom. The one and only answer is submission and allegiance and faith to Jesus Christ, the anointed king.
[00:19:14] The anointed king.
[00:19:19] We need to remember, as we are often prone to forget, that even though Jesus faced constant difficulty in this world, was opposed by all sorts of powers and authorities, both spiritual and material, God still established him as king.
[00:19:41] Jesus is the anointed king. Jesus is the one who came.
[00:19:46] Yes, he was rejected by his own people, but what happened?
[00:19:51] He rose victorious.
[00:19:53] He rose as conqueror. He rose as victor. And he led.
[00:19:59] He led a great victory for us all. The scriptures say that in Christ you are more than a conqueror.
[00:20:09] I'm not really sure how you can be more than a conqueror, but I. I love it to be so strong and so powerful. Maybe it is to be a conqueror who is not only conquered, but is established.
[00:20:23] A conqueror who is not only conquered but still has his body intact.
[00:20:28] A conqueror who is conquered and receives all kinds of blessings and honor.
[00:20:34] We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus.
[00:20:38] Conquerors over what?
[00:20:40] Conquerors over the very things that would threaten to pull us apart and do pull us apart from each other and ultimately from God.
[00:20:51] Conquerors over sin.
[00:20:54] Sin which makes us guilty. Sin which separates us from God. The sin which makes us ashamed and makes us want to hide and makes us sad and. And makes us desperate. Jesus is a conqueror over that.
[00:21:08] He's conqueror over Satan himself.
[00:21:12] Binding and even causing Satan to be his own tool.
[00:21:17] Jesus is powerful over the evil one of this world and will not be conquered by him and is not threatened by him. And one day will throw him and all who belong to him in an eternal fire forever.
[00:21:31] Jesus is conqueror. He's conqueror over the world, over the kingdoms of this world, the powers of this world that would constantly threaten to undo us and undo him. But you know what happens.
[00:21:42] These threats, though they feel big to us, they do not feel big to him.
[00:21:50] Psalm 2, which speaks of this, talks about the kingdoms of this world and the powers of this world plotting together secret places, backroom deals, whispering. How will we break apart the bonds between the Lord and His anointed?
[00:22:06] Meaning both God and His chosen king and all those who are anointed under that chosen king, right? So this refers both to you and to Christ, to you who are in Christ and to your Savior, to the body and to the head. They plot and they wonder how we break apart the bonds between the Lord and His Anointed One. And they make their plans and they devise their options. And you know what the Lord does?
[00:22:33] He laughs.
[00:22:35] He's not afraid. He's not worrying. He's not scrambling. He doesn't need a quick emergency plan.
[00:22:41] He just laughs.
[00:22:44] He holds them in derision before he smashes them in pieces, like taking a rod of iron and smashing a piece of clay. A clay pot or something like that.
[00:22:59] You can imagine the sound. You can imagine the strike. If you've ever dropped a dish in your kitchen and seen it shatter, right immediately break.
[00:23:09] This is what happens. Except it's no accident. It's the Lord's promised judgment against those who would seek to destroy Him.
[00:23:22] Resistance to God is futile.
[00:23:26] It's futile. And we see that most clearly when our Lord and Savior, who is crucified, put to death, crown of thorns nails through his hands and his feet stabbed in the side.
[00:23:42] All of these things buried in a tomb, Raised from the dead.
[00:23:48] Raised from the dead, visits many people, and then many people see him rise from the dead, ascend into heaven, where he then pours out his spirit on his disciples and through people throughout the world, making them braver than you can imagine, willing to suffer all kinds of things for the sake of knowing him, the ruler of all things.
[00:24:16] Rebellion against God is futile because He's God and we are but man.
[00:24:24] But the great news that we have is that God does not just come to us in judgment. He comes to us in grace.
[00:24:32] He comes to us in Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead, but has been given to us that we might live in him.
[00:24:41] Listen to Philippians 2, 9, 11, which summarizes some of these things, some of what God has done.
[00:24:48] Actually, I'll start at verse five.
[00:24:51] And Paul writes to the Philippians, have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not, excuse me, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself, God humbled himself, right, by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Let me pause there, right? So where men like you and me get afraid and get tempted in moments of fear to leave the Lord, to not do the right thing because it's so hard, or there's some good that's being promised to us when we are tempted to leave the Lord and His way. Jesus never did perfectly.
[00:25:52] Every moment, every time, he was obedient. And he is so obedient that he even went to death on a cross. He was willing to suffer and to die for the sake of obeying the Lord.
[00:26:07] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him every name, the name that is above every name, right? This is kingly language, verse 10. So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[00:26:31] This is who Jesus is.
[00:26:34] And it's so important to be reminded of this. When we are tempted by the flesh, when we are tempted by the world to go astray, we see in a micro way David's success here in Psalm 2. I want you to see now how this is fulfilled in Christ in. In a much grander way.
[00:26:56] And Jesus success promises not that less of his people will die, but that none of his people will die when they are raised from the dead unto eternal life.
[00:27:11] If you belong to Jesus Christ, this is your future.
[00:27:16] You are more than a conqueror. This is your life. And so do not be persuaded, do not be persuaded by the powers of this world or the evils in your heart that God is weak, that God doesn't know that God doesn't pay attention.
[00:27:37] He does, and he is winning.
[00:27:42] God will not just ignore all the rebellion against him. He will destroy it.
[00:27:50] And that leads us to a second really important point, one that I mentioned earlier, but I want to highlight just a little bit further, and that's that these rival thrones against the Lord, they ultimately destroy what they promise to protect.
[00:28:09] The rival thrones against God destroy what they promise to protect.
[00:28:20] Abner, maybe it's loyalty that he seeks to Saul's house, but Saul's house is being destroyed.
[00:28:31] Ultimately, he will lose these things.
[00:28:35] All kinds of unnecessary bloodshed are happening. If Abner is wanting peace and security, that's not happening. If Abner is wanting his own way in his own kingdom, that's not happening. This is a constant theme.
[00:28:49] Joab's vengeance here costs him his brother. It hardens his heart and will create all kinds of turmoil going forward.
[00:28:58] And this is true of every alternative to Christ's rule.
[00:29:02] Every alternative to Christ's rule will promise you one thing, but it will ultimately lead to inner conflict and outer conflict as well.
[00:29:14] Listen to example, to Romans 1:28 32.
[00:29:20] And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God.
[00:29:24] Right, there's that rebellion again. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God then gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
[00:29:36] They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless heartless, ruthless, though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die. They not only do them, but they give approval to those who practice them.
[00:30:12] Rival thrones, rival thrones to God's throne.
[00:30:17] They don't bring peace and prosperity and hope and connection and identity and all these things that we want security. They don't bring that.
[00:30:28] They bring envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, and on and on and on.
[00:30:36] It's clear from this chapter, it's clear from our newspapers or our feeds, whatever we do nowadays.
[00:30:45] It's clear, isn't it?
[00:30:47] Our world is our world that chooses not to submit to Christ, doesn't get what it wants. It's a. It's a lie, It's a false promise. You really, really, really need to understand this. They mock God and all the things that he offers. They say we can establish it on our own. They refuse to acknowledge God even though they know that he is righteous and his decree is righteous.
[00:31:15] And this is where it ends.
[00:31:18] It's so important to be clear about in this, in your minds, because if you think, well, it's not that bad, or I don't think it'll go that far, I'm trying to persuade you that it does.
[00:31:34] And it is. And ultimately it ends in judgment. The reason it's not ending in judgment right now or hasn't happened already, because the Lord is magnificently gracious with us, is because the Lord is giving you and me and the whole world time to. To repent, time to acknowledge, time to believe, time to leave this awful slavery and ignorance and foolishness that we are under, and come to Jesus, to kiss the Son, to love the Son, and to find all the lasting peace we need in him.
[00:32:16] So that leads us, in conclusion, to Abner's question, shall the sword devour forever?
[00:32:27] Will this futility and warmongering and bloodshed and heartache continue forever?
[00:32:38] And the answer is no, it won't.
[00:32:44] And it's not because that day Joab decided to turn back.
[00:32:50] It's a little part of the story, but ultimately it's because God sent the eternally begotten Son into the world to become a man, to become the King of men, to fix all of these problems, to forgive our sin, to sanctify us, to glorify us, and one day rule over a kingdom of peace forever.
[00:33:27] An amazing, beautiful kingdom that we should reflect on and think about and hope in and enjoy even now, as citizens of that kingdom, participating in it, sharing in it as we forgive others and love others.
[00:33:44] The sword will not devour forever because of the cross, because God ends it and will bring that to culmination when Jesus comes again.
[00:34:01] This is so important because only God can provide this path to reconciliation, right? We are the. This is not a negotiation, right, with the Lord. We are the offenders. We are the ones who have sinned. We are the ones who have beheld. We are the ones who are filled with wickedness, right? And so when the Lord.
[00:34:24] When the Lord promises a path for forgiveness, promises a path for reconciliation, we ought to take it.
[00:34:32] And the amazing way in which he's done that is he hasn't said, all right, here's a hundred things you need to do before you die, and you better hurry because you don't know when you're gonna die.
[00:34:42] He doesn't say that.
[00:34:44] He doesn't say, here's a bunch of experiences you need to have before you die, and you better do it because you don't know when you're gonna die.
[00:34:53] He doesn't even say, here's a bunch of things you need to know or whatever. The list can go on and on and on. Instead, he says, here is my son who has humbled himself, taking on your form, becoming like you, to be your representative king, and he gives you this kingdom freely.
[00:35:16] Put your faith in him, and I will forgive all of your sins. I'll erase all of your debts. I will cancel them, and I promise to make you secure and victorious forever.
[00:35:30] That's why we call it Amazing Grace.
[00:35:32] We don't deserve this.
[00:35:34] This is not our great honor that we have deserved. We don't submit to the Lord, our finished project, our finished checklist. We receive from the Lord innumerable blessings because of his grace.
[00:35:48] Only God can provide a path of reconciliation, and God has done that.
[00:35:54] The Father has sent His Son to remove our shame and to clothe us in glory forever and establish a kingdom that is not marked by bloodshed and fighting all the time.
[00:36:07] So the sword will not devour forever for all those who embrace the cross.
[00:36:16] So when you feel the forces internally of turmoil and chaos and you don't know where to turn and you don't know what your heart's doing, and you're just kind of a wreck when you read the news and you're overwhelmed by the things that are going on, you can barely keep track of the names and places of things going on today.
[00:36:39] When you hear and see and feel the endless division and prolonged suffering and unfulfilled promises of this world, when you see all the ways in which you yourself have unfulfilled promises and things you still want to do.
[00:36:52] Let each and every one of these things be a reminder to you to relax and put your faith in Jesus Christ.
[00:37:04] Rest in him, because he is the anointed conquering king.
[00:37:11] And be in him. You can submit yourselves, your lives, your heart, everything to Him.
[00:37:18] And so I invite you to look into the areas of your life where the kingdoms of this world are creeping in.
[00:37:26] Look into the areas of your life where you see yourself not wanting to submit to the Lord and his will and give yourself to Christ.
[00:37:36] Forgive me, O Lord, of my sin.
[00:37:39] Forgive me of the ways in which I am drawn to be tempted away from you.
[00:37:44] Guide me in paths of righteousness, for I know that you are my king and you will hold me in your hand forever.
[00:37:53] That's our prayer.
[00:37:56] Let's pray it now. Let's pray.
[00:37:59] Our Heavenly Father, we pray to you and ask for the forgiveness of our sins. Forgive the enmity, the strife, the striving. Forgive us for the lack of faith. Forgive us for all the anger and the maliciousness and the hatred and the evil words.
[00:38:15] Forgive us for contemptuous hearts and jealousy and fighting.
[00:38:19] Forgive us for being enticed by the promises of pleasure and security and hope that this world offers to us.
[00:38:33] Lord, we ask that you would give us a singular vision of you.
[00:38:37] We ask that you would help our hearts to find satisfaction only in you.
[00:38:44] Help us to pursue you and a zealous life with you by knowing with certainty that you are our king and that Jesus has come into this world to accomplish that which we could not do, to forgive that which we could not atone for, to perfect us in ways that would be impossible for us.
[00:39:13] We come to you seeking your forgiveness because you offer it to us.
[00:39:17] And we come in confidence because of our confidence in the King and Lord, where we are weak, we ask that you would help us to be strong.
[00:39:28] Where we are floundering, we ask that you would give us discernment and wisdom and your grace.
[00:39:37] We ask, Lord, that you would provide this not only for us who now know you, but for the many who do not yet know you. We ask that you would help them to that you would open their eyes, that they might not rebel against you, that they would not rebel against your king and your kingdom, that they might not persecute your citizens, but gladly join them so that all together we might sing around your throne how grateful we are, Lord, that you are our King.
[00:40:16] We rest in your promises through Jesus.
[00:40:20] It's in his name we pray. Amen.
[00:40:29] Let's Stand and sing in response.
