From: July 16, 2025
“Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.” (1 Chronicles 22:9 ESV).
When King David desired to build a house for the Lord, God responded with a greater plan. David would not build the temple, but his son—“a man of rest”—would. God promised to give David a son named Solomon (from shalom, meaning peace), and that peace would mark his reign. Unlike David, whose life was marked by warfare, Solomon would reign in rest, enabling him to build the temple. This was no mere coincidence; God’s purposes for worship and dwelling among His people would be established in an environment of peace. The physical rest Solomon enjoyed foreshadowed a greater spiritual rest that only Christ could provide. As the book of Hebrews teaches, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God (Heb. 4:9), and Jesus is the one who leads us into it.
We often long for rest—relief from stress, conflict, or busyness. Yet true rest isn’t found in merely changing circumstances. It’s found in a Person. Solomon’s peaceful reign gave Israel a foretaste of the kind of peace that only Jesus, the greater Son of David, could bring. He is the Prince of Peace, and through His finished work on the cross, we are invited into God’s Sabbath rest. Placing our faith in Christ, we experience freedom from striving to earn God’s favor, peace with God through forgiveness, and the quiet confidence of Christ’s abiding presence. Let us trust in Christ, not just for future rest in heaven, but for soul-rest now. For Jesus invites us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for the promise of rest. We see how You fulfilled Your word to David by giving Solomon peace and how this points forward to the even greater rest found in Jesus. Help us to stop striving and start trusting. Let us live in the peace that only Christ can give, and worship You in the quiet confidence of Your grace. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: July 16, 2024
“And so the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the things for its service” (1 Chronicles 23:26 ESV).
David made preparations for the Temple to be built in Jerusalem. He gathered the materials for the building and gave his son, Solomon specific plans for its construction. He also instructed the Levites on how to transition from their former ministry of carrying and setting up the portable Tabernacle to their new roles, serving at the permanent Temple in Jerusalem.
This was an important part of David’s preparation for the ministry of the new Temple. For what is a new and beautiful church building without the necessary ministers to serve in it? Yet, I wonder how moving from portable to permanent affected the faith of Israel? Did they become lax, thinking they had finally arrived?
Our church was portable for 19 years, meeting at homes, schools, and other church and civic buildings that we rented. We were known as the “roadie church” because we could set up sound equipment, staging, seats, and nursery and children’s equipment in any space within an hour or so. We could have “church” anywhere. And we did!
The transition from portable church to a permanent location took place thirteen years ago. Our attendance immediately doubled and we are still growing. Yet, there is a culture from our portable days that we have tried our best to retain. For we still want to be the church on the move, joining Jesus on the mission field in our city, region, and world.
We don’t want to let having a permanent home make us lazy about going out to make disciples. We want to be pioneers, not settlers. We have not arrived. Having a building is not the goal. We are a people on mission. The church is not a place it’s a people! And its mission is not to building buildings, but to make disciples of all nations.
PRAYER: Dear Father, don’t let us lose our missionary zeal for reaching our city. Let the Spirit burn bright within us, so that we have a white-hot passion for witnessing. Thank you for giving us a permanent home, but don’t let us think of a place as the church. We are the church and Your Son is the Head. Send us out with power. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: July 16, 2023
“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are” (Romans 3:22 NLT).
We are all sinners. We are not able to keep the law of God. It is holy and perfect. Yet, God made a way for us through Jesus, who fulfilled the law and paid sin’s penalty in our place. When we place our faith in Christ, we are made right with God. God counts us as righteous.
A great exchange took place at the cross. Jesus took our sin, our death and our separation from God upon Himself. He did this that we might place our faith in Him and receive His righteousness, His eternal life and His Sonship.
To “place our faith in Christ” means to fully put our trust in Him as the only One who is able to make us right with God.
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for giving us Jesus. We have placed our faith in Him as Lord and Savior. Through Jesus we have found peace with You. Now help us to share this Good News with others that they might place their faith in Jesus too. In His name we pray, amen.
From: July 16, 2022
SIN IS MISSING THE MARK AND ALL HAVE MISSED IT
All humanity has missed the mark of God’s righteousness. Therefore, all humanity falls short of being able to get right with God by our own effort. For even our best efforts are as “filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6) before the Lord. The word “sin” seems to have originated as an archery term, meaning to “miss the mark,” or to have missed the bulls eye. So, we have all missed the bulls eye of God’s glorious standard of righteousness.
For this reason, God provided One who fulfilled His glorious standard of righteousness to pay for our sin. He took our sin, separation and death and offers His righteousness, Sonship, and eternal life. His name is Jesus and He alone has hit the mark, so that by faith in Him we might be saved from our sin and made right with the Father.
The idea of sin is not popular today. In this age of relativism, we have become like those in the time of the Judges when “all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25). We have become like the people whom the prophet Isaiah warned, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isa. 5:20). For our generation has denied its sinfulness by calling it good. They have become like the people of the last days of whom the apostle Paul wrote, they “did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (1 Thess. 2:12).
Yet there is good and evil and sin is still sin. And those who admit their sin and trust in Christ as the payment for their sins, will be made right with God. As Paul wrote, “People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood” (Rom. 3:25).
PRAYER: Dear Father, we have confessed our sin to You and believed in Jesus for our salvation. We have been made right with You by faith in Christ. We praise You for this! And we ask that You convict the world of sin by Your Spirit that they might turn to You and believe. In Jesus’ name, amen.
From: July 16, 2016
What is “propitiation?” In the original Greek, the word is ἱλαστήριον, hilastérion. It is a sin offering put forth to satisfy and appease the wrath of God towards sin. It may also refer to the mercy seat, which was the covering of the ark, upon which the blood of the lamb was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement. Propitiation involves two parts: 1) It satisfies the offended party’s need for judgment, and 2) It reconciles the offender to the offended party. Since the “wages of sin is death” (Rom. 3:23), the only acceptable justice is death. Yet God, the offended party, put forth His own propitiation for us in the offering of the blood of Christ Jesus, satisfying both His holiness and His love. At the cross we see both the terrible ugliness of our sin and the awesome love of God intermingled. For God’s great love and holiness are there displayed. Those who have “received by faith” this propitiation are now completely forgiven of their sins and fully reconciled to God.