Psalm 51:1–19 (NET)
51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your loyal love!
Because of your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! 

• Mercy on me: no claim to this favor from God.
• Loyal love: God’s covenant – we still belong.
• Your great compassion: the character of God.

51:2 Wash away my wrongdoing!
Cleanse me of my sin! 
51:3 For I am aware of my rebellious acts; 
I am forever conscious of my sin.

• Recognition of needing to be cleansed.

51:4 Against you—you above all—I have sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight. 
So you are just when you confront me; 
you are right when you condemn me.

• Sinned against the LORD above all!
• This is true repentance. Repentance should not be driven by loss or consequences.
• If you are all in on something you will desire correction.

 
51:5 Look, I was guilty of sin from birth,
a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.

• David is making a statement about the holiness of God.

 
51:6 Look, you desire integrity in the inner man;
you want me to possess wisdom.

• It is not about “David” but who God wants David to be.

51:7 Sprinkle me with water and I will be pure;
wash me and I will be whiter than snow.

• Hyssop: the applicator or brush. A symbol of purification.

51:8 Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven!
May the bones you crushed rejoice!

• Ultimate joy of being forgiven… the depth of God’s love.

 
51:9 Hide your face from my sins!
Wipe away all my guilt!

• David is aware of the closeness of God.

 
51:10 Create for me a pure heart, O God! 
Renew a resolute spirit within me!

• How does God create? By His word and by His breath.
• Let His word create a pure heart in us.
• Let His Spirit saturate us.

2 Samuel 12 – Discipline by Suffering
Pastor Logan – July 19, 2026
 
2 Samuel 12:13–25 (NET)
12:13 Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven your sin. You are not going to die. 12:14 Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.”
12:15 Then Nathan went to his home. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and the child became very ill. 12:16 Then David prayed to God for the child and fasted. He would even go and spend the night lying on the ground. 12:17 The elders of his house stood over him and tried to lift him from the ground, but he was unwilling, and refused to eat food with them.
12:18 On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was still alive he would not listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!”
12:19 When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he realized that the child was dead. So David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “Yes, he’s dead.” 12:20 So David got up from the ground, bathed, put on oil, and changed his clothes. He went to the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then, when he entered his palace, he requested that food be brought to him, and he ate.
12:21 His servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? While the child was still alive, you fasted and wept. Once the child was dead you got up and ate food!” 12:22 He replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Perhaps the Lord will show pity and the child will live. 12:23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back? I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!’ ”
12:24 So David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had marital relations with her. She gave birth to a son, and David named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved the child 12:25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet that he should be named Jedidiah for the Lord’s sake.

What questions does this passage bring up in you?
Ponder this...

1: The Bible can be difficult.
 
2: We do not always understand WHY.
 
3: Suffering can be an instrument of discipline.

• Why would a good God allow/use suffering as an instrument of discipline?
• Sometimes… Sin requires it.
• Sin is REPULSIVE. It should make us recoil.

 
4: Our battle with sin is incredibly complicated.
 
5: David’s response is special.
 

• First action: Confesses without excuse.
• Second action: Prays and fasts.
• Third action: Worship in grief, not despair.
• Fourth action: He clings to HOPE.
• A potential fifth action… Bethsheba

Contrast 2 Samuel 12 with the Cross

• 2 Samuel is a tragedy. An innocent dies because of someone’s sin.
• On the Cross, God gives of Himself. He rescues.
• Jesus bears the suffering of death so we may have His life. 

 
Homework - Read and reflect on the following passages:
Revelation 3:15-19
Hebrews 12:1-13
Psalm 32
Psalm 51

2 Samuel 12 – Unintended Consequences

2 Samuel 12:1 (NET) 12:1 So the Lord sent Nathan to David…

2 Samuel 12:6 (NET) 12:6 Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!”

• 2 Samuel 12:18 (NET) 12:18 On the seventh day the child died…
• 2 Samuel 13:28–29 (NET) 13:28 Absalom instructed his servants, “Look! When Amnon is drunk and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ kill him then and there. Don’t fear! Is it not I who have given you these instructions? Be strong and courageous!” 13:29 So Absalom’s servants did to Amnon exactly what Absalom had instructed. Then all the king’s sons got up; each one rode away on his mule and fled.
• 2 Samuel 18:15 (NET) 18:15 Then ten soldiers who were Joab’s armor bearers struck Absalom and finished him off.
• 1 Kings 2:24–25 (NET) 2:24 Now, as certainly as the Lord lives (he who made me secure, allowed me to sit on my father David’s throne, and established a dynasty for me as he promised), Adonijah will be executed today!” 2:25 King Solomon then sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he killed Adonijah.

2 Samuel 12:7–8 (NET)
12:7 Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul. 12:8 I gave you your master’s house, and put your master’s wives into your arms. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all that somehow seems insignificant, I would have given you so much more as well!

The ERROR behind the sin: INGRATITUDE

James 1:16–17 (NET)
1:16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. 1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.

2 Samuel 12:9 (NET)
12:9 Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you have taken his wife as your own! You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

The FIRST SIN: DEFIANCE of the Word of God.

The SECOND SIN: ADULTERY and MURDER by David

The THIRD SIN: UNGODLY Instruments

1 Corinthians 6:1–6 (NET) Lawsuits

2 Samuel 12:10 (NET)
12:10 So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’

To despise God’s word is to despise God Himself. 

2 Samuel 12:10–12 (NET)
12:10 So now the sword will never depart from your house. For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!’ 12:11 This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household! Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion. He will have sexual relations with your wives in broad daylight! 12:12 Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.’ ”

The JUDGEMENT: SWORD and DISASTER from your own house.

2 Samuel 16:21–22 (NET)

2 Samuel 12:13 (NET)
12:13 Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!” Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has forgiven your sin. You are not going to die.

Nathan Confronts David
Pastor Logan – June 28, 2026

How would you feel if you were Nathan?
Would you seek confrontation or would you run?
What happened to the prophets when they upset Saul?
How was the last "Old Testament prophet treated?
Why was he treated this way?
What does it tell us about Nathan that he chose to come to David?
What do you think Nathan wants from David?
What gave Nathan the authority to confront David?

2 Samuel 12:1–6 (NET) Nathan the Prophet Confronts David
12:1 So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to David, Nathan said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. 12:2 The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. 12:3 But the poor man had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. It used to eat his food, drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. It was just like a daughter to him.
12:4 “When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler who had come to visit him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and cooked it for the man who had come to visit him.”
12:5 Then David became very angry at this man. He said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 12:6 Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!”

Who sent Nathan?
Why would God have Nathan use a parable?
Why does Nathan share this story?
Who was the rich man?
Who was the poor man?
Who was the lamb?
Why would a lamb be particularly of interest to David?
How long had the poor man and the lamb known each other?
What was the relationship between the poor man and the lamb like? Loving or distant?
Who was the traveler?
Did the traveler say he was coming?
What should the rich man have done when the traveler arrived?
Was David's response justified?
David quotes scripture in his response. Was his response correct?

Matthew 21:33–46 (NET) The Parable of the Tenants
21:33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a pit for its winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went on a journey. 21:34 When the harvest time was near, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his portion of the crop. 21:35 But the tenants seized his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 21:36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them the same way. 21:37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 21:38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and get his inheritance!’ 21:39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 21:40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 21:41 They said to him, “He will utterly destroy those evil men! Then he will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his portion at the harvest.”
21:42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:
‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
21:43 For this reason I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 21:44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.” 21:45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 21:46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, because the crowds regarded him as a prophet.

A hardened heart leads to spiritual blindness. 

2 Samuel 11:22–27 (NET)
11:22 So the messenger departed. When he arrived, he informed David of all the news that Joab had sent with him. 11:23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and attacked us in the field. But we forced them to retreat all the way to the door of the city gate. 11:24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall and some of the king’s soldiers died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.” 11:25 David said to the messenger, “Tell Joab, ‘Don’t let this thing upset you. There is no way to anticipate whom the sword will cut down. Press the battle against the city and conquer it.’ Encourage him with these words.”
11:26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for him. 11:27 When the time of mourning passed, David had her brought to his palace. She became his wife and she bore him a son. But what David had done upset the Lord.

General public perspective:

• A soldier of Israel died in battle.
• Left behind a pregnant widow.
• The King cares so much for his men that he brought this widow into the palace.
• David was most likely praised for this action.

Perfect architecture to this chapter.

Upset – Same word David used to Joab.
Ra’a’ – upset, displeased
Root: Ra – evil, bad, wicked, harmful
Meanings:

• Be displeasing
• Be sad
• Be injurious, evil
• Be evil, wicked (ethically)

Sense of to break or to fracture something.

God’s silence… (no mention of God’s direction up to this point in the chapter)

Just because God is silent, it does not mean that He is not doing something.

• David could have been at war.
• David could have looked away.
• David could have stopped at her name.
• David could have listened to his servants warning.
• David could have sent her home.
• David could have confessed when she became pregnant.
• David could have given up when Uriah didn’t go home the first night.
• David could have given up when Uriah didn’t go home the second night.
• David could have stopped before writing the letter.
• David could have come clean after Uriah’s death.
• David could have repented during the time of mourning.
• David could have repented before Nathan’s arrival.

When God is silent, it does not mean that He does see.
How long has God been patient with you?
Do not mistake God’s silence for blindness.

1 Kings 15:4–5 (NET)
15:4 Nevertheless for David’s sake the Lord his God maintained his dynasty in Jerusalem by giving him a son to succeed him and by protecting Jerusalem. 15:5 He did this because David had done what he approved and had not disregarded any of his commandments his entire lifetime, except for the incident involving Uriah the Hittite.

We cannot treat sin with a bandaid.

2 Samuel 11: David vs Joab - Destructive Relationships
Pastor Logan – June 14, 2026

2 Samuel 11:13–21 (NET)
11:13 Then David summoned him. He ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out to sleep on his bed with the servants of his lord; he did not go down to his own house.
11:14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 11:15 In the letter he wrote: “Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed.” 
11:16 So as Joab kept watch on the city, he stationed Uriah at the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers were. 11:17 When the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, some of David’s soldiers fell in battle. Uriah the Hittite also died. 
11:18 Then Joab sent a full battle report to David. 11:19 He instructed the messenger as follows: “When you finish giving the battle report to the king, 11:20 if the king becomes angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the wall? 11:21 Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw an upper millstone down on him from the wall so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go so close to the wall?’ just say to him, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.’ ”

Eventually sin comes to collect.

1: Relational Manipulation

• We don't confront — we manage the narrative around the person

2: Relational Deflection

• We keep the spotlight on their behavior so no one asks about ours

The goal: to pass the punishment we deserve onto someone else

• Genesis 3:12–13 — Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent. The first human instinct after sin is immediate deflection.
• Genesis 37:19–27 — Joseph's brothers don't kill him directly; they sell him and let circumstances do the work.
• 1 Samuel 18:17, 25 — Saul tries to have David killed by the Philistines rather than directly ("let my hand not be against him").
• Proverbs 28:13 — "The one who covers his transgressions will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will find mercy."
• Proverbs 26:24–26 — "A hateful person disguises himself with his speech, but he harbors deceit within."

He uses Joab, Uriah, and the enemy (ammonite army) to bury his sin.

3: Relational Consequences

Joab:

• Joab was David's nephew (son of Zeruiah, David's sister — 1 Chron. 2:16), making this a blood relationship
• He was David's most loyal general, the instrument of his military success in consolidating the kingdom
• He killed Abner (2 Sam. 3) David publicly distanced himself from the acts while privately benefiting

Joab after Uriah:

• 2 Samuel 18:5, 14 — Joab kills Absalom
• 2 Samuel 19:5–7 — Joab rebukes David publicly and aggressively after Absalom's death. The relational order is completely inverted. David's response is silent compliance.
• 2 Samuel 20:9–10 — Joab murders Amasa. David again does nothing.
• 1 Kings 2:5–6 — David on his deathbed finally names it: "You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me...act according to your wisdom and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace."

Romans 1:29–32 (NET)
1:29 They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 1:31 senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless. 1:32 Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

2 Corinthians 13:11 (NET) Final Exhortations and Greetings
13:11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, set things right, be encouraged, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

God does not break His promises.

John 3:16–17 (NET)
3:16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

2 Samuel 11 – David vs Uriah
Pastor Logan – June 7, 2026

2 Samuel 11:6–13 (NET)
11:6 So David sent a message to Joab that said, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 11:7 When Uriah came to him, David asked about how Joab and the army were doing and how the campaign was going. 11:8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your home and relax.” When Uriah left the palace, the king sent a gift to him. 11:9 But Uriah stayed at the door of the palace with all the servants of his lord. He did not go down to his house.
11:10 So they informed David, “Uriah has not gone down to his house.” So David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey? Why haven’t you gone down to your house?” 11:11 Uriah replied to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah reside in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord’s soldiers are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and have marital relations with my wife? As surely as you are alive, I will not do this thing!” 11:12 So David said to Uriah, “Stay here another day. Tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem both that day and the following one. 11:13 Then David summoned him. He ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out to sleep on his bed with the servants of his lord; he did not go down to his own house.

2 Paths: Confess or Conceal

MYTH: Path of concealment seems to promise less pain.

What would confessing have cost David? (comment your answer/thoughts)

Compare David vs Uriah
David – lack of discipline, self-control, and integrity.
Uriah – honors God and his duty, man of integrity, and fear of the LORD.

1: Uriah valued his godly duty above his own desires. 

• David's schemes fail three times. He summons Uriah home hoping he'll sleep with Bathsheba and cover the adultery.
• Uriah as foil to David. Uriah (a converted Hittite, not even a native Israelite) outshines David morally. He refuses comfort and marital rights because his fellow soldiers are in the field. David stayed home from the war; Uriah won't go home because of it.

2: Uriah's integrity surpassed even his obligations.

• Kings gift – so specific, why?
• Uriah publicly stays loyal and upright; David schemes in secret to cover his wrong.
• Concealment breeds deception.

3: Uriah feared the LORD. 

• Uriah: How can I compromise when I’m supposed to be fighting for our God? Uses David’s own words and dreams…

Proverbs 28:14 (NIV) 
14 Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.

Exodus 18:17–22 (NET)
18:17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good! 18:18 You will surely wear out, both you and these people who are with you, for this is too heavy a burden for you; you are not able to do it by yourself. 18:19 Now listen to me, I will give you advice, and may God be with you: You be a representative for the people to God, and you bring their disputes to God; 18:20 warn them of the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. 18:21 But you choose from the people capable men, God-fearing, men of truth, those who hate bribes, and put them over the people as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 18:22 They will judge the people under normal circumstances, and every difficult case they will bring to you, but every small case they themselves will judge, so that you may make it easier for yourself, and they will bear the burden with you.

Why was Uriah killed? (comment your answer/thoughts)

Following God is costly.

What was Uriah’s reward?

2 Samuel 11:27 (NET)
11:27 When the time of mourning passed, David had her brought to his palace. She became his wife and she bore him a son. But what David had done upset the Lord.

Well done my good and faithful servant.

2 Samuel 11 – Paradox of Following Jesus
Pastor Logan – May 31, 2026

paradox (n.): a statement/situation that seems self-contradictory yet may be true.
 
The Paradox of Strength in Weakness Paul writes that God's power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9), and that when he is weak, then he is strong. The path to true power runs through surrender and dependency, not self-sufficiency.
The First Shall Be Last Jesus repeatedly inverts the world's hierarchy — the greatest must become servant of all (Mark 10:43-44), the exalted will be humbled, and the humble exalted (Luke 14:11). The kingdom operates on upside-down logic.
Losing Your Life to Find It "Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it" (Matt. 16:25). Self-preservation destroys what you're trying to protect; self-surrender is the only real preservation.
The Wisdom of God as Foolishness The cross is "foolishness to those who are perishing" but "the power of God" to those being saved (1 Cor. 1:18). Divine wisdom looks like failure and shame by human standards.
Freedom Through Slavery Paul calls himself a "slave of Christ" (Rom. 1:1) and argues that true freedom — liberation from sin — comes through being bound to God. Augustine captured it: "Our heart is restless until it rests in Thee."
The Eternal Word Becoming Flesh The Incarnation itself is paradoxical — the infinite taking on finitude, the immortal becoming mortal, the omnipresent confined to a body. John 1 holds this tension without resolving it.
Forgiveness and Justice How can God be both perfectly just (requiring that sin be accounted for) and perfectly merciful (forgiving freely)? The cross is the answer — but it remains a paradox that justice and mercy meet at the same point.
The Already / Not Yet Kingdom The Kingdom of God "has come" (Luke 11:20) and yet we still pray "thy Kingdom come." Believers are simultaneously already saved and still being saved (Phil. 2:12-13, Eph. 2:8).

Fact: God is absolutely sovereign.
sovereign (adj.): having supreme power; answerable to no higher authority.
Fact: God chooses who will be saved.
Fact: The sinner is blind and dead, unwilling and unable to repent without God’s intervention.
Fact: The sinner is responsible and that if he parishes he parishes because of his own hard hearted rebellious unbelief.

Bible teaches the sovereignty of God at every point and the responsibility of man at every point. 

Philippians 1:21 (NET)
1:21 For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.
 
Galatians 2:20 (NET)
2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Anything wrong it’s me, anything right it’s Him.

Paradox of Salvation
Sustain your salvation – persevere
Kept by His power till the end.

Why are you a Christian? Because of the Holy Spirit and because of your decision.

Believer is responsible to obey and submit and to love and honor God and when we do that the Holy Spirit moves in us and through us, all for the glory of God.

2 Samuel 11:1–5 (NET) David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba
11:1 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings normally conduct wars, David sent out Joab with his officers and the entire Israelite army. They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. 11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive. 11:3 So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
11:4 David sent some messengers to get her. She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) Then she returned to her home. 11:5 The woman conceived and then sent word to David saying, “I’m pregnant.”

What did David do wrong?

Our responsibility as believers is to discipline ourselves, beat our bodies into submission to Christ, be obedient, honor God, love God, to serve Him, obey Him, to war against the flesh, to walk in the Spirit, and give all the glory to God for every good thing that happens in our lives. 

Philippians 1:21 (NET), Galatians 2:20 (NET)

Gospel is to die to yourself to gain eternal life.

How do we crucify our flesh?

Prayer and fasting: fixate on the source of life.

Practice Watchfulness: Guarding our minds…

Surrender to Jesus: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

David’s Fall Into Sin
Pastor Logan – May 24, 2026
 
2 Samuel 11:1–5 (NET) David Commits Adultery with Bathsheba
11:1 In the spring of the year, at the time when kings normally conduct wars, David sent out Joab with his officers and the entire Israelite army. They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem. 11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. Now this woman was very attractive. 11:3 So David sent someone to inquire about the woman. The messenger said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
11:4 David sent some messengers to get her. She came to him and he had sexual relations with her. (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.) Then she returned to her home. 11:5 The woman conceived and then sent word to David saying, “I’m pregnant.”

Why did this happen?

• Sin does not happen on accident.

5 Failures of David
 
1: Pattern of Unrestrained Passion

• You cannot control lust, greed, pride by starving or feeding it.

 
2: Failure to be diligent in the duty God called him too.
 
3: Failure to conquer idleness.
 
4: Failure to recognize the danger of a prolonged look.
 
5: Failure to listen to God’s warning.

James 1:13–18 (NET)
1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 1:15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. 1:16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. 1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. 1:18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

2 Samuel 10 Part 4 – Kingdom Minded
Pastor Logan – May 17, 2026

RECAP: David showed kindness to Hanun, Hanun humiliated David’s men and has paid 75,000 pounds of silver to hire an army to go and attack David.

Hanun’s sin led to more sin, more foolishness.  

Kingdom Worldview: there is an army oppressing us and moving against us.

Tactics of warfare:

• Blockade – Starve you of God’s presence, comfort, love, life.
• Encirclement – Surround you with doubt, pain, brokenness.
• Isolate – Position you so you feel alone with no hope.
• Infiltrate with spies and propaganda – Lies, lies, lies.
• Ambush – When you’re weak, tired, hurt… Why do bad things just keep happening?
• Psychological warfare – Fear, threats, taunts, belittling.
• War of attrition – I’m just too tired to keep fighting…

Wordly vs Heavenly view:

• Worldy: life is hard, nothing I can do about it, hopeless.
• Heavenly: enemy if moving, I can be a part of pushing back the darkness.

God is inviting you into battle against the darkness. To be in the Kingdom of Light is to be a part of the battle. To be in opposition to the kingdom that has a stranglehold on this world.

You have been equipped through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:10–18)

• Belt of truth – cinches everything together; we fight from what's real.
• Breastplate of righteousness – Christ's righteousness guards the heart.
• Shoes of the gospel of peace – ready footing; we move on good news.
• Shield of faith – extinguishes the enemy's flaming arrows.
• Helmet of salvation – guards the mind; we know who we are and whose we are.
• Sword of the Spirit (the Word of God) – our one offensive weapon.
• Prayer – the air we breathe in battle (Eph. 6:18).

2 Samuel 10:7 (NET)
10:7 When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them.

Sin is persistent. It’s the poison of the enemy.

• Do we choose to fight? There is always a battle going on.
• David sends Joab… Sounds fine but opens the door for what happens in Chapter 11.

2 Samuel 10:8–12 (NET)
10:8 The Ammonites marched out and were deployed for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the men from Aram Zobah, Rehob, Ish-tob, and Maacah were by themselves in the field.
10:9 When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel’s best men and deployed them against the Arameans. 10:10 He put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest of the army and they were deployed against the Ammonites. 10:11 Joab said, “If the Arameans start to overpower me, you come to my rescue. If the Ammonites start to overpower you, I will come to your rescue. 10:12 Be strong! Let’s fight bravely for the sake of our people and the cities of our God! The Lord will do what he decides is best!”

Joab recognized he couldn’t fight alone.

• Recognize the battle
• Remember who you are
  • Brothers – committed to bear one another’s burdens.
  • Courage, strength, and provision is found in each other.
    • You have a responsibility to the church.

Galatians 6:1–2 (NET)
6:1 Brothers and sisters, if a person is discovered in some sin, you who are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of gentleness. Pay close attention to yourselves, so that you are not tempted too. 6:2 Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:26–27 (NET)
12:26 If one member suffers, everyone suffers with it. If a member is honored, all rejoice with it. 12:27 Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it.

Wrong question: What can the church do for me?
Right question: What can I do for the church?

You are not ALONE.
This is a battle for King Jesus’ Kingdom and against the kingdom of darkness.

2 Samuel 10:13–19 (NET)
10:13 So Joab and his men marched out to do battle with the Arameans, and they fled before him. 10:14 When the Ammonites saw the Arameans flee, they fled before his brother Abishai and went into the city. Joab withdrew from fighting the Ammonites and returned to Jerusalem.
10:15 When the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they consolidated their forces. 10:16 Then Hadadezer sent for Arameans from beyond the Euphrates River, and they came to Helam. Shobach, the general in command of Hadadezer’s army, led them.
10:17 When David was informed, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and came to Helam. The Arameans deployed their forces against David and fought with him. 10:18 The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 700 Aramean charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobach, the general in command of the army, who died there. 10:19 When all the kings who were subject to Hadadezer saw they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and became subjects of Israel. The Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites.

Realize what David did… This time he goes to fight. Was there an inner conflict within David?

Sins Ultimate Reward – Death
 
Hanun gathered all these soldiers, spent so much money, and for what? What was he left with?

Romans 6:21–23 (NET)
6:21 So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 6:22 But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. 6:23 For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Samuel 10 Part 3 – Enduring Persecution, Suffering, and Scorn
Pastor Logan – May 10, 2026

2 Samuel 10:4–5 (NET)
10:4 So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved off half of each one’s beard. He cut the lower part of their robes off so that their buttocks were exposed, and then sent them away. 10:5 Messengers told David what had happened, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

2 Thessalonians 1:5–7 (NET) Encouragement in Persecution
1:5 This is evidence of God’s righteous judgment, to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which in fact you are suffering. 1:6 For it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 1:7 and to you who are being afflicted to give rest together with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.
Retribution and relief for the afflicted.

• God will give rest/relief (anesis — a loosening, release from tension) to the suffering Thessalonians
• This relief comes "when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven" — it is eschatological, tied to Christ's return

For those who are being afflicted, we may have to wait… Painful…

2 Samuel 10:6–12 (NET)
10:6 When the Ammonites realized that David was disgusted with them, they sent and hired 20,000 foot soldiers from Aram Beth Rehob and Aram Zobah, in addition to 1,000 men from the king of Maacah and 12,000 men from Ish-tob.
10:7 When David heard the news, he sent Joab and the entire army to meet them. 10:8 The Ammonites marched out and were deployed for battle at the entrance of the city gate, while the men from Aram Zobah, Rehob, Ish-tob, and Maacah were by themselves in the field.
10:9 When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel’s best men and deployed them against the Arameans. 10:10 He put his brother Abishai in charge of the rest of the army and they were deployed against the Ammonites. 10:11 Joab said, “If the Arameans start to overpower me, you come to my rescue. If the Ammonites start to overpower you, I will come to your rescue. 10:12 Be strong! Let’s fight bravely for the sake of our people and the cities of our God! The Lord will do what he decides is best!”

How does David respond?

1 Samuel 25:13 (NET)
25:13 Then David instructed his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So each one strapped on his sword, and David also strapped on his sword. About four hundred men followed David up, while two hundred stayed behind with the equipment.

David has developed in the area of OFFENSE.
 
It’s not that it doesn’t hurt, but we respond in a manner that reflects the beauty of Jesus Christ.

Acts 23:2–4 (NET)
23:2 At that the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. 23:3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit there judging me according to the law, and in violation of the law you order me to be struck?” 23:4 Those standing near him said, “Do you dare insult God’s high priest?”

John 18:22–23 (NET)
18:22 When Jesus had said this, one of the high priest’s officers who stood nearby struck him on the face and said, “Is that the way you answer the high priest?” 18:23 Jesus replied, “If I have said something wrong, confirm what is wrong. But if I spoke correctly, why strike me?”

Baptism Questionnaire from a church in South Asia

• Are you willing to leave home and lose the blessing of your father?
• Are you willing to lose your job?
• Are you willing to go to the village and those who persecute you, forgive them, and share the love of Christ with them?
• Are you willing to give an offering to the LORD?
• Are you willing to be beaten rather than deny your faith?
• Are you willing to go to prison?
• Are you willing to die for Jesus?

Hanun’s Foolishness

• His actions were a stench to David
• Unrepented sin will always lead to greater sin.
• Unrepented sin will always ask of you something you didn’t intend to pay.
  • 75,000 pounds of silver, 1 talent = 75 pounds, paid 1000 talents (about $100m)

Psalm 32:1–5 (NET)
32:1 How blessed is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven,
whose sin is pardoned!
32:2 How blessed is the one whose wrongdoing the Lord does not punish,
in whose spirit there is no deceit.
32:3 When I refused to confess my sin,
my whole body wasted away,
while I groaned in pain all day long.
32:4 For day and night you tormented me;
you tried to destroy me in the intense heat of summer.
(Selah)
32:5 Then I confessed my sin;
I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.
I said, “I will confess my rebellious acts to the Lord.”
And then you forgave my sins.
(Selah)

The Danger of the Fool - Pastor Logan - May 3, 2026
 
2 Samuel 10:1–5 (NET) David and the Ammonites
10:1 Later the king of the Ammonites died and his son Hanun succeeded him. 10:2 David said, “I will express my loyalty to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal to me.” So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father’s death. When David’s servants entered the land of the Ammonites, 10:3 the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!”
10:4 So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved off half of each one’s beard. He cut the lower part of their robes off so that their buttocks were exposed, and then sent them away. 10:5 Messengers told David what had happened, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”
 
1 Kings 12:1–11 (NET) Rehoboam Loses His Kingdom
12:1 Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in Shechem to make Rehoboam king. 12:2  When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since. 12:3 They sent for him, and Jeroboam and the whole Israelite assembly came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 12:4 “Your father made us work too hard. Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” 12:5 He said to them, “Go away for three days, then return to me.” So the people went away.
12:6 King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, “How do you advise me to answer these people?” 12:7 They said to him, “Today if you show a willingness to help these people and grant their request, they will be your servants from this time forward.” 12:8 But Rehoboam rejected their advice and consulted the young advisers who served him, with whom he had grown up. 12:9 He asked them, “How do you advise me to respond to these people who said to me, ‘Lessen the demands your father placed on us’?” 12:10 The young advisers with whom Rehoboam had grown up said to him, “Say this to these people who have said to you, ‘Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden.’ Say this to them: ‘I am a lot harsher than my father! 12:11 My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.’ ”
 
1 Kings 22:1–18 (NET) Ahab Dies in Battle
22:1 There was no war between Syria and Israel for three years. 22:2 In the third year King Jehoshaphat of Judah came down to visit the king of Israel. 22:3 The king of Israel said to his servants, “Surely you recognize that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us, though we are hesitant to reclaim it from the king of Syria.” 22:4 Then he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to attack Ramoth Gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I will support you; my army and horses are at your disposal.” 22:5 Then Jehoshaphat added, “First seek an oracle from the Lord.” 22:6 So the king of Israel assembled about four hundred prophets and asked them, “Should I attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” They said, “Attack! The sovereign one will hand it over to the king.” 22:7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not a prophet of the Lord still here, that we may ask him?” 22:8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can seek the Lord’s will. But I despise him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah. Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say such things.” 22:9 The king of Israel summoned an official and said, “Quickly bring Micaiah son of Imlah.”
22:10 Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their respective thrones, dressed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them. 22:11 Zedekiah son of Kenaanah made iron horns and said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘With these you will gore Syria until they are destroyed.’ ” 22:12 All the prophets were prophesying the same, saying, “Attack Ramoth Gilead! You will succeed; the Lord will hand it over to the king.” 22:13 Now the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the prophets are in complete agreement that the king will succeed. Your words must agree with theirs; you must predict success.” 22:14 But Micaiah said, “As certainly as the Lord lives, I will say what the Lord tells me to say.”
22:15 When he came before the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” He answered him, “Attack! You will succeed; the Lord will hand it over to the king.” 22:16 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you solemnly promise in the name of the Lord to tell me only the truth?” 22:17 Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. Then the Lord said, ‘They have no master. They should go home in peace.’ ” 22:18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster?”
 
Proverbs 13:20 — "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm."
Proverbs 28:26 — "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered."
Proverbs 10:17 — "Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray."
James 1:5 — "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."
James 3:17 — "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere."
Romans 15:14 — "I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another."
Colossians 3:16 — "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom."
1 Corinthians 3:19 — "For the wisdom of this world is folly with God."
Ephesians 4:15 — "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ."

Matthew 15:10–20 (NET) True Defilement
15:10 Then he called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 15:11 What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.” 15:12 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Do you know that when the Pharisees heard this saying they were offended?” 15:13 And he replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. 15:14 Leave them! They are blind guides. If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15:15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 15:16 Jesus said, “Even after all this, are you still so foolish? 15:17 Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? 15:18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a person. 15:19 For out of the heart come evil ideas, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 15:20 These are the things that defile a person; it is not eating with unwashed hands that defiles a person.”
 
1: God’s Word > Anything Else
2: Truth > Support
3: Listening > Hearing
4: Wisdom will cost less in the end
 
The lesson: seek counsel from God-fearing people willing to tell you hard truths, not those who simply validate your desires.

Chuck Swindoll – Story of Mephibosheth – favorite display of God’s grace in the Old Testament. (Great Lives: David)

2 Samuel 9:1 (NET)
David Finds Mephibosheth
9:1  Then David asked, “Is anyone still left from the family of Saul, so that I may extend kindness to him for the sake of Jonathan?”

A picture of Christ: David shows kindness to someone because of his love for Jonathon.

2 Samuel 10:1–5 (NET) 
David and the Ammonites
10:1 Later the king of the Ammonites died and his son Hanun succeeded him. 10:2 David said, “I will express my loyalty to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal to me.” So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father’s death. When David’s servants entered the land of the Ammonites, 10:3 the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, “Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!”
10:4 So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved off half of each one’s beard. He cut the lower part of their robes off so that their buttocks were exposed, and then sent them away. 10:5 Messengers told David what had happened, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

Kindness – connected to one’s desire to implement a covenant with someone or to honor an already established covenant with someone.

• Often a close connection between kindness and covenant
• Could be because David wants to honor covenant David had with Nahash or to build a covenant with Hanun.

David’s kindness is because of Nahash

• Only time we hear about Nahash is 1 Samuel 11 where Nahash is threatening Israel and Saul needs to rescue them.
• Whatever good thing Nahash did, David did not forget.

Spiritual amnesia is the tendency of believers to forget God's past faithfulness, provision, and kindness — even when they have personally experienced or testified to it.

It's not a loss of belief in God, but a practical forgetfulness of what He has specifically done, which then quietly erodes gratitude, trust, and zeal in the present. The danger is that it doesn't feel like forgetting — it just feels like dryness, frustration, fear, or indifference.

Its symptoms can include:

• Serving God out of obligation rather than overflow
• Murmuring or anxiety when facing new trials, despite having been delivered before
• A critical or ungrateful spirit toward the people and communities God used to bless you
• Feeling like you are doing God a favor rather than responding to His grace

The antidote to spiritual amnesia is discipline.

• People will leave the church…many times one bad experience or feeling replaces all the good.
• Same with relationships. Have you ever been burnt out on showing kindness?

2 Samuel 10:2-4
Leviticus 19:27

Biblical principle: practice holy separation through visible identity.

David’s act of kindness was repaid with an attack of humiliation on his men and their God.

Galatians 4:13–16 (NET)
Personal Appeal of Paul
4:13 But you know it was because of a physical illness that I first proclaimed the gospel to you, 4:14 and though my physical condition put you to the test, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as though I were an angel of God, as though I were Christ Jesus himself! 4:15 Where then is your sense of happiness now? For I testify about you that if it were possible, you would have pulled out your eyes and given them to me! 4:16 So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?

How do you think God feels? How is God's kindness repaid?
– He knows the cost to showing kindness.

Romans 2:4 (NET)
2:4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

Don’t run out of KINDNESS.

Ephesians 4:32 (NET)
4:32 Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.

When death entered Hanun’s world, David sent consolation. When death entered our world, the Son of David sent salvation.

2 Samuel Chapter 8


One Thing

Luke 10:41–42 (NET)
10:41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, 10:42 but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her.”

Read 2 Samuel Chapter 8 - What questions does this passage raise?

How do we handle difficult passages of scripture?

1st step - Jesus is the lens through which we read scripture.


John 5:39–40 (NET)
You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

Hebrews 1:1–3 (NET)
 1:1 After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, 1:2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. 1:3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Hebrews 10:1 (NET)
10:1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.

Colossians 2:17 (NET)
2:17 these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ!

John 1:14–18 (NET)
1:14 Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. 1:15 John testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’ ” 1:16 For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another. 1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ. 1:18 No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.


Use the lens – What does Jesus show us that pertains to this OT passage?

Matthew 5:38–48 (NET)
5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 5:39 But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer. But whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well. 5:40 And if someone wants to sue you and to take your tunic, give him your coat also. 5:41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 5:42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not reject the one who wants to borrow from you. 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, 5:45 so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do the same, don’t they? 5:47 And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they? 5:48 So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Luke 23:33–34 (NET)
23:33 So when they came to the place that is called “The Skull,” they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 23:34 But Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Then they threw dice to divide his clothes.

John 18:36 (NET)
18:36 Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”

Luke 19:41–44 (NET)
19:41 Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, 19:42 saying, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 19:43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 19:44 They will demolish you—you and your children within your walls—and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

2nd Step – Use Scripture to Interpret Scripture

Hebrews 13:8 (NET)
 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!


1 John 4:7–9 (NET)
 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. 4:8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 4:9 By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him.

Ephesians 6:12 (NET)
 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.


1 John 1:5 (NET)
1:5 Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

James 1:13–15 (NET)
1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 1:14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 1:15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.

John 10:10 (NET)
10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.


3rd - Consider Culture

-  Ancient Near East. We know that people are influenced by the culture they live in. Often, these beliefs are so core, that we do not even recognize them. The people in the bible and the biblical authors are not exceptions.
-  ANE people believed deities were regional
-  ANE people did not differentiate between the physical and the spiritual.


Isaiah 2:4–5 (NET)
2:4 He will judge disputes between nations;
he will settle cases for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nations will not take up the sword against other nations,
and they will no longer train for war.
2:5 O descendants of Jacob,
come, let us walk in the Lord’s guiding light.


Tertullian, 160-220AD – “Only without a sword can a Christian wage war: the Lord has abolished the sword.”

Clement of Alexandria, 150-214AD – “Above all Christians are not allowed to correct by violence.”

Justin Martyr, 100-165AD – “We ourselves were well conversant with war, murder, and everything evil, but all of us throughout the whole wide earth have traded in our weapons of war. We have exchanged our swords for plowshares, our spears for farm tools… Now we cultivate the fear of God, justice, kindness, faith, and the expectation of the future given us through the Crucified One.”


Only One Thing - Jesus

John 20:1–18 (NET)
^20:1 Now very early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. ^20:2 So she went running to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” ^20:3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out to go to the tomb. ^20:4 The two were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. ^20:5 He bent down and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in. ^20:6 Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, ^20:7 and the face cloth, which had been around Jesus’ head, not lying with the strips of linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself. ^20:8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, came in, and he saw and believed. ^20:9 (For they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.) 
Jesus’ Appearance to Mary Magdalene

^20:10 So the disciples went back to their homes. ^20:11 But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent down and looked into the tomb. ^20:12 And she saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’ body had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet. ^20:13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Mary replied, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!” ^20:14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
 
^20:15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Because she thought he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him.” ^20:16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni” (which means Teacher). ^20:17 Jesus replied, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” ^20:18 Mary Magdalene came and informed the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what Jesus had said to her.

John 14:15–31 (NET)
^14:15 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. ^14:16 Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—^14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you.

^14:18 “I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you. ^14:19 In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. ^14:20 You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. ^14:21 The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

^14:22 “Lord,” Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” ^14:23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. ^14:24 The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

^14:25 “I have spoken these things while staying with you. ^14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.
 
^14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage. ^14:28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. ^14:29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. ^14:30 I will not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me, ^14:31 but I am doing just what the Father commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Get up, let us go from here.”

John 19:16–18 & 28–37 (NET)
^19:16 Then Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. 
 So they took Jesus, 19:17 and carrying his own cross he went out to the place called “The Place of the Skull” (called in Aramaic Golgotha). ^19:18 There they crucified him along with two others, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle.

^19:28 After this Jesus, realizing that by this time everything was completed, said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty!” ^19:29 A jar full of sour wine was there, so they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a branch of hyssop and lifted it to his mouth. ^19:30 When he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is completed!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
 
^19:31 Then, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), the Jewish leaders asked Pilate to have the victims’ legs broken and the bodies taken down. ^19:32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men who had been crucified with Jesus, first the one and then the other. ^19:33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ^19:34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately. ^19:35 And the person who saw it has testified (and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth), so that you also may believe. ^19:36 For these things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled, “Not a bone of his will be broken.” ^19:37 And again another scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”

Verses referenced in this passage:
Psalm 69:21; Psalm 22:15; Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20; Zechariah 12:10

John 13:1–17 (NET)
 ^13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. ^13:2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus. ^13:3 Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ^13:4 he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself. ^13:5 He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself.

 ^13:6 Then he came to Simon Peter. Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” ^13:7 Jesus replied, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but you will understand after these things.” ^13:8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ^13:9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!” ^13:10 Jesus replied, “The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not every one of you.” ^13:11 (For Jesus knew the one who was going to betray him. For this reason he said, “Not every one of you is clean.”)
 
 ^13:12 So when Jesus had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table again and said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? ^13:13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, for that is what I am. ^13:14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. ^13:15 For I have given you an example—you should do just as I have done for you. ^13:16 I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ^13:17 If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

John 17:20–26 (NET)
17:20 “I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, 17:21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. 17:22 The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one—17:23 I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.

 17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 17:25 Righteous Father, even if the world does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent me. 17:26 I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them.”

John 12:44–50 (NET)
 ^12:44 But Jesus shouted out, “The one who believes in me does not believe in me, but in the one who sent me, ^12:45 and the one who sees me sees the one who sent me.
^12:46 I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness. ^12:47 If anyone hears my words and does not obey them, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ^12:48 The one who rejects me and does not accept my words has a judge; the word I have spoken will judge him at the last day. ^12:49 For I have not spoken from my own authority, but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me what I should say and what I should speak. ^12:50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. Thus the things I say, I say just as the Father has told me.”

John 12:12–19 (NET)
12:12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 12:13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. They began to shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!” 12:14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 12:15 “Do not be afraid, people of Zion; look, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt!” 12:16 (His disciples did not understand these things when they first happened, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him and that these things had happened to him.)  12:17 So the crowd who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead were continuing to testify about it. 12:18 Because they had heard that Jesus had performed this miraculous sign, the crowd went out to meet him. 12:19 Thus the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you can do nothing. Look, the world has run off after him!”

Highlight and draw a line to where these other scriptures connect to this passage.

Psalm 118:25-26
Zechariah 9:9
Leviticus 23:40
John 1:49
John 12:23,
John 2:22;
John 7:39,
John 11:38-44,
John 11:47-48

John 12:20–36 (NET)
 ^12:20 Now some Greeks were among those who had gone up to worship at the feast. ^12:21 So these approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” ^12:22 Philip went and told Andrew, and they both went and told Jesus. ^12:23 Jesus replied, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ^12:24 I tell you the solemn truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. ^12:25 The one who loves his life destroys it, and the one who hates his life in this world guards it for eternal life. ^12:26 If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow me, and where I am, my servant will be too. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

 ^12:27 “Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me from this hour’? No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour. ^12:28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ^12:29 The crowd that stood there and heard the voice said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to him. ^12:30 Jesus said, “This voice has not come for my benefit but for yours. ^12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ^12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
^12:33 (Now he said this to indicate clearly what kind of death he was going to die.)
 
 ^12:34 Then the crowd responded, “We have heard from the law that the Christ will remain forever. How can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of  Man?” ^12:35 Jesus replied, “The light is with you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. ^12:36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he went away and hid himself from them.

Has there ever been something about God that you didn’t understand at first that later you came to a fuller or different understanding?

From the way the crowd greeted Jesus, what do you think they were expecting from him?

From what you know of Jesus, what do you expect from him?

Holy Week is special.

This week, we have an opportunity, in the midst of our busy lives, to slow down and consider Jesus.  

Of course, we always have this opportunity, but Holy Week draws our attention to Jesus in a special way. The Holy Spirit is calling us to slow down.

We are hopeful that this blog is a helpful tool. It isn’t a devotional so much as a guide.

Throughout, you will find select passages and you will be encouraged to study them, dig into the word, do some cross-referencing with other scripture passages and reflect on the meaning of the words.
 
We hope that you meet with God in a special way this week.
 
So get out your Bible, a highlighter and a pen and let’s get started!

Pastor Logan – March 22, 2026

2 Samuel 7:18 (NET)  David Offers a Prayer to God
7:18 King David went in, sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you should have brought me to this point? 

He went IN and SAT. He looked into his heart before he opened his mouth.
"Some men know a thousand other people but do not know their own selves. The greatest stranger to them is their own heart." — Spurgeon

2 Samuel 7:19–21 (NET)
7:19 And you didn’t stop there, O Lord God! You have also spoken about the future of your servant’s family. Is this your usual way of dealing with men, O Lord God? 7:20 What more can David say to you? You have given your servant special recognition, O Lord God! 7:21 For the sake of your promise and according to your purpose you have done this great thing in order to reveal it to your servant.
 
David focused on what God gave Him, not what God didn’t.
But didn’t God give David a special promise?!?

How many promises do you know from God’s word that you apply to your life and hold on to today?

• Examples:
• Be with you (Isaiah 43:1-2, Hebrews 13:5–6)
• Provide for you (Matthew 6:25-33)
• He loves you (Romans 8:38-39)
• Deliver you from your fears (Psalm 34:1-7)
• His peace will guard your heart and mind (Phil 4:4-10)
• Rest for your soul (Matthew 11:28-30)
• Living Hope (1 Peter 1:3-5)
• An escape from temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13)
• Strengthen you (Phil 4:10-13)
• A future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11)

2 Samuel 7:22–24 (NET)
7:22 Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you! There is no God besides you! What we have heard is true! 7:23 Who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation on the earth? Their God went to claim a nation for himself and to make a name for himself! You did great and awesome acts for your land, before your people whom you delivered for yourself from the Egyptian empire and its gods. 7:24 You made Israel your very own people for all time. You, O Lord, became their God.
 
2 Samuel 7:25–26 (NET)
7:25 So now, O Lord God, make this promise you have made about your servant and his family a permanent reality. Do as you promised, 7:26 so you may gain lasting fame, as people say, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel!’ The dynasty of your servant David will be established before you, 7:27 for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’ That is why your servant has had the courage to pray this prayer to you. 

"Therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee." — 2 Sam. 7:27 (KJV)

I. How did David come by his prayer?
He found it in his heart — which means he looked for it there.

• Not in a book (liturgy without heart)
• Not in his head (extemporized words without heart)
• Not on his lips (“our lips run much faster than our hearts move”)
• In his heart — because it was renewed, believing, serious, and humble

II. How came this prayer to be in his heart?
The Lord put it there. Every true heart-prayer first came from God.

• By instruction — the Spirit shows us our need, what Christ provides, the blood-besprinkled road
• By inclining us — through sorrow or through joy and gratitude
• By encouragement — the promises of God draws us to Him
• By the sight of the cross — “He who gave Jesus for us will deny us nothing that is for our good”

III. How do we get into such a condition?

• Hearts must first be renewed by grace — “Who can fetch an acceptable prayer out of an unaccepted person?”
• Live near to God — “He that learns how to live near to God will learn how to pray”
• Look into your heart — as David did; think much of your own needs
• Read the Scriptures — “If you let God speak to you, you will be constrained to speak with God”
• Dwell on the promises — a promise is a check; go to heaven’s bank and cash it
• Keep the heart warm — “In a cold, graceless world, keep a warm heart inside”

2 Samuel 7:28–29 (NET)
7:28 Now, O sovereign Lord, you are the true God! May your words prove to be true! You have made this good promise to your servant! 7:29 Now be willing to bless your servant’s dynasty so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O sovereign Lord, have spoken. By your blessing may your servant’s dynasty be blessed on into the future! 

All for God’s glory.

Spurgeon preached this sermon January 16, 1876. Text: 2 Sam. 7:27.

“Be willing, O vessel in the house of the Lord, to be hung up on a nail in the wall, be willing to be laid aside in a corner, if so God would be glorified, for thus was it with David.”