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The following lessons are part of the series currently being aired on Into His Likeness radio broadcast. To view the lessons on-line, click on the lesson titles.
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| Series: GOD'S LIVING LEGENDS (Part 2) |
| #950-A SAUL: LONG LIVE THE KING!
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| The Israelites wanted a king. It was not what God wanted, but it is what they asked for. They knew the will of God; they just didn't like the will of God. They wanted to be like everyone else and have a king. God gave them Saul. They got their king and lost their power. Are we praying right? Are we praying for the will of God regardless of the cost, and searching for that will as we pray? Or are we asking God for kings when God has clearly told us no? |
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| #950-B SAUL: FIVE EXCUSES GOD DOES NOT NEED
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| Once again we will take a look at the Living Legend of Saul, King of Israel. Perhaps the greatest lesson this legend has to teach us is the importance of facing God and facing sin honestly. Saul wasn't correctable. He had a suitcase full of excuses, just in case he ever got caught red-handed. When God through His Word or God through his people confronts us with an area of our lives that needs attention, or an attitude or an action that needs correcting, what is our first response? |
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| #951-A SAUL: TO OBEY IS BETTER
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| To obey is better than sacrifice. God wants men and women of honesty, integrity and principle. Men and women who will simply take the word for what it is ,is, The Word of God, and refuse to bend it, twist it, avoid it, or ignore it in the name of faith. God is not fooled by our frenzied activity or our empty works. Teaching, serving, working, even witnessing doesn't gloss over what God's looking for-a pure heart. God appreciates our sacrifice of time or energy, but "to obey is better." |
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| #951-B DAVID: A MAN AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART
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| What is it that marks a man apart as a man after God's own heart? David was such a man. In I Samuel we will begin to take a look into the life and heart of David. In this lesson we will look at five important characteristics of the life of David that evidence his heart. We need to begin this series of lessons and pray with David, "Search me O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." |
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| #952-A DAVID: THAT QUALITY CALLED COURAGE
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| The story of David and Goliath exemplifies a most important quality, that of courage. The dictionary defines courage as " the state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger with self possession, confidence, and resolution. Biblically, we see courage with almost the identical meaning except that the strength can only come from one source to be valid. Biblical courage is the result of surrender and sovereignty. Our surrender to God's sovereignty, and our trust in God's strength, not our own. Let's look at how David was courageous in the face of giant circumstances. |
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| #952-B DAVID: AFTER THE TRIUMPH THE TRIALS
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| What happened after David defeated Goliath? Our story takes a familiar twist, for this is more often the case than not in our lives. After the triumph came the trials. That's what happened. God allows us, like David, to taste the sweetness of victory early to prepare us for eternity. He allows some of life's more bitter takes to prepare us for planet earth. God hasn't forsaken us, God is just training us, because He loves us. |
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| #953-A DAVID: SURRENDER TO SOVEREIGNTY
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| The quest for revenge; how sweet it is to so many! But the Word of God indicates there is a better way! It is not natural; therefore, it has to be supernatural. It is that "better" way that we address in this study as we continue our journey through the pages of Scripture seeking to unravel the mystery and validate the history of this living legend we've come to know as "David". |
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| #953-B DAVID: THE LORD ANSWERED HIM NOT
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| Saul was unmindful of pleasing God on a day to day basis. His heart was unrepentant and because of that the Lord answered him not. Saul needed some answers, so Saul turned to other sources for his solutions. He turns to the occult. Our lesson deals with the dangers of a rebellious heart and the extent to which one will go to have his way. He turns to the very thing he knows is wrong. With an unrepentant heart the wrong will seem right and poor choices will be made. |
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| #954-A DAVID: PROMISES, PROMISES, PROMISES
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| Do you want to learn to claim the promises of God? Before you can lay hold of the promises of God, you must learn to bow before the awesomeness of God and worship. Only then, will you see Him as He is. Only when you see Him as He is, will you see yourself as you are, and will you be ready to lay hold of all of the heavenly treasures God has laid at your feet. David found how to possess the promises of God. |
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| #954-B DAVID: STANDING ON THE PROMISES
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| We would all like to claim the promises of God. That's the mind of God where the promises of God are concerned. They are designed to exalt Him, to confirm His word, to bring glory to His name, and to further His purposes. In the process, we will be blessed. The reason for the promises is to exalt his name and make us love him, not to give us what we deserve or need. Find the true meaning of the promises of God. |
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| #955-A DAVID: THE TREASURE IS YOURS!
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| Not all promises are alike. As we claim or lay hold of promises we need to make sure that the promise is for us. As our lesson will show us, thus far, we have learned about four types of promises-consolidated, conditional, unconditional, and limited. Not all promises were designed for everyone. As we look at the promises through the whole of Scripture, we can find the very treasure that God has for us personally. |
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| #955-B DAVID: THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD
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| Our study on promises continues with two additional types of promises. They are restricted promises and reverse promises. A restricted promise depends on another's free will, whereas a reverse promise guarantees us things we do not want that God knows we need. We do need to claim the promises of God, but we need to claim them correctly. Learn to examine the whole counsel of God, for God has not given us license to make the Scripture say what we want. Examine the promises carefully to see which type of promise it is, and whether it is for you. |
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| #956-A DAVID: IT DIDN'T HAVE TO HAPPEN
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| King David broke the heart of God, as he allowed sin to have its way in his heart. He looked at Bathsheba, lingered and then lusted. Sin is a process. It is a progressive pattern where each compromise leads to a greater compromise. The only cure is to stop the process before it reaches the runaway stage. The good news is that God has made a way of escape. The moment we see the progressive consequences of sin beginning, be it anger or bitterness or greed or lust, we need to stop immediately and cry out to God and then do anything it takes to flee from the very appearance of evil. |
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| #956-B DEAR GOD: WHAT HAPPENED TO DAVID?
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| After David's encounter with Bathsheba, David began trying to cover up his sin. There is something about the cover up that is darker than the crime itself. David, instead of confessing his sin before God and man, chose instead to cover up his sin and hide it, but we cannot hide from God. In this lesson, we see the results of unconfessed sin in the death of Uriah, the Hittite. We also see a mighty lesson concerning the progression of sin. |
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| #957-A DAVID: THOU ART THE MAN!
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| God used Nathan in David's life to expose his sin. He uses many means to expose our sins today, but they will be exposed. God does not shove them under a rug. Just as Nathan reminded David of his sin, and David repents before the Lord, so should we see our sins as a sin against the heart of a holy God. However, the consequences must go on. That's part of the plan, but the fellowship, the relationship, the power that has vanished can be restored. We can be God's men or God's women again. |
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| #957-B DAVID: WHITER THAN SNOW
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| David had fallen to a place so low, no doubt, he never dreamed that restoration was possible. Then he looked in the eyes of His God. And once he repented, he saw in those eyes the soft, tender, look of love. He heard from those lips, not the harsh cry of condemnation; but the quiet, sensitive words of One whose love transcends man's understanding of love itself. The words were "I forgive". |
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| #958-A DAVID: OH MY SON, MY SON
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| As we continue in the study of the life of David, we see him begin to pay the consequences of his sins. God had said the sword would never depart from his house, and that what he did secretly, others would do to his own family before the whole world, and that the child born out of this immoral relationship would die. This lesson takes a look at one of those consequences that broke the heart of David, the rebellion of his son Absalom. |
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| #958-B DAVID: WITH PEN IN HAND
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| If we could rewrite history and see things from God's perspective, how would the responses of David, Absalom and Joab be changed. What lessons do we learn from the terrible consequences of David's sin and Absalom's rebellion? All of history is written to teach and remind us of God's principles. Let's take a look at the previous lesson and learn how things could have been made right. Maybe then we can learn from God's living legends how to take the way of escape. |
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| #959-A DAVID: THE HOMECOMING
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| Our study revolves around three little known characters and their responses to the King. Those characters are Shimei, Mephibosheth, and Barzillai. Shimei represents those who have sinned and are at the foot of the cross asking forgiveness. Mephibosheth on the other hand represents those who simply have gotten misled, and missed the heat of the battle. Perhaps you may have given your allegiance to the King years ago, but now you realize that when the King comes, you will have nothing to offer Him. Then there is Barzillai who greeted the king with eager anticipation, because he was ready for the homecoming. Which person are you? |
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| #959-B DAVID: DIVIDED WE FALL
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| Who was in charge? Our story about the life of David evolves into his twilight years as his general goes off to battle, each wanting to outdo the other. As we look at the issue of division of God's family or in God's families, we see very clearly a few basic principles that are engraved in Scripture from beginning to end. We will see that in all relationships division is the tool of Satan. He has one avowed purpose; to destroy the body of Christ. A house divided against itself can do nothing else but fall. |
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| #960-A DAVID: THE GIANTS STILL FALL
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| David, though old in years, still has giants to face. However, the danger David faced and the danger we face is that we believe the devil's lie, that because we are too tired or because we are too weak to face the enemy with the same youthful exuberance we once possessed the giants no longer fall. In our season of self-pity, encouraged by an age that has relegated us to premature senility, we may have overlooked the truth that we never were giant slayers. We simply know a God who only had to speak, and giants fell. |
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| #960-B DAVID: SOME TRUST IN CHARIOTS
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| David decided to take a census of his people. It doesn't sound like a sinful idea, but in the eyes of the Lord it was. David began to delight in his power and in the number of his armies. His trust and his glory began to be moved away from God to the things that God had provided. How often do we as Christians, or we as churches, begin glorying in our ministries? All glory belongs to Jesus. |
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| #961-A DAVID: THE GRANDEUR OF GOD'S PERSPECTIVE
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| As we look at the close of David's life, we see a man who had gained God's perspective. What is it that David learned through his many mistakes as well as victories? How did he become a man after God's own heart? As we listen to the closing prayer of David before he goes to meet the Father, let's see what the one consuming message was that he left to those who followed him. |
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| #961-B DAVID: DAVID FACES THE NATION
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| In this lesson we see David sharing his life through the Psalms. This portrait of David's responses would touch millions upon millions of people for years to come. We do know that as we close the book on this man after God's own heart, that though he was a man who failed God many times; a man who fell into grievous sin; he was as well ,well, a man who, when confronted with his transgressions, seemed to understand genuine repentance. Look to the Psalms to see the heart of our living legend, David. |
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| #962-A SOLOMON: WHAT SHALL I GIVE THEE?
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| Just as God asked Solomon "What shall I give thee", he is also asking the same question of us. We can choose to be responsible for our own lives, and set our priorities and sights on becoming successful, wealthy, or powerful, or we can seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We can choose, like Solomon, to give our lives to having the Mind of Christ. If we could only have one thing and nothing else, would we be willing to forsake all things in order to be able to think God's thoughts, have God's perspective, and respond to life with God's kind of love? That is what Solomon asked for. |
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| #962-B SOLOMON: WISER THAN ALL MEN
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| Solomon ,Solomon, the Living Legend, was demonstrating to us what it was like to live life when the literal, living wisdom of God is actually flowing through us. When God's wisdom is flowing though us, others know that it comes from God. When God's wisdom is flowing through us, it is immeasurable when compared to the world's wisdom. When God's wisdom is flowing through us, there is created a literal pipeline through which that wisdom flows into the lives of others. When God's wisdom is flowing through us, it will be communicated in terms others can understand. That's what the wisdom of Solomon will do. |
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| #963-A SOLOMON: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
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| Everything God ever started, He finished. It is imperative as we journey though life that one of the qualities that we earnestly seek for the Spirit to reproduce in our lives is the quality of completion. As we take a look at Solomon's building of the temple, we see that he did not have an easy task. It took seven long years before he could enjoy even one minute of worship from the labors of his people. He faced all types of obstacles, but Solomon understood that what God begins, God plans to complete. |
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| #963-B SOLOMON: THERE HATH NOT FAILED ONE WORD
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| Few things in life are as important as keeping our word. It is the lens through which the world views our integrity. It is that character quality perhaps more than any other that typifies the nature of God. Once the unbelieving world comes to realize that God's word cannot fail, it is only a matter of time till they begin to listen to what God's word says. That is the subject of our lesson in our journey through the life of Solomon. |
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| #964-A SOLOMON: AS SOLOMON GREW OLD...
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| Solomon didn't set out to defy God, but in the midst of his prosperity, his values changed. In the midst of his success, his confidence shifted, and he took liberties with the Word of God. Tasting no immediate consequences, he quietly began to wrongly assume that either a Holy God had a special set of rules for him, or the Word of God had somehow become null and void. How did Solomon's wrong choices, his gradual drifting away from the basics, cause evil to strike his kingdom? |
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| #964-B IF MY PEOPLE....
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| Solomon's wrong choices and compromises have caused a gradual drifting away from the absolutes of God. God then comes to Solomon with three questions concerning his possible judgement. However, in II Chronicles 7:14, God in His merciful way, provides a way of escape. As we study this verse in depth, we have a beautiful portrait of true revival. God, in this verse, gives us His plan to restore harmony with Him, to have our lives come aglow in Him again, and to restore our testimony to the world. God will again be exalted. It is called revival. |
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