(Through the Bible) 2 Chronicles 1-9 — Chuck Smith

The Historical Setting of 2 Chronicles

Let's turn to 2 Chronicles, chapter 1. 1 Chronicles brought us up unto the death of David, and 2 Chronicles begins with the reign of Saul, and it covers the remaining history of the kings of Judah. Now, this is the Chronicles of the kings of Judah.

It does not really deal with the kings of Israel, but concentrates upon the southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah. There were perhaps Chronicles of the kings of Israel, those we do not have, but these are the Chronicles of the kings of Judah, and 1 Chronicles occupies itself primarily with the kingdom of David.

For it was under David that the kingdom was brought to the zenith, the apex of its glory and power. And Solomon stepped in, following his father who had laid a beautiful foundation, and enjoyed really the benefits of his father's reign.

Under Solomon, the kingdom began to deteriorate, and just so quickly the kingdom fell apart. At the death of Solomon, when his son Rehoboam took over, the kingdom became divided, and what was once a mighty, powerful kingdom soon became such a weakened state that the glorious treasures that had been amassed by David and by Solomon were soon taken by Shishak, the king of Egypt, and the glory and the power and the wealth of the kingdom were soon destroyed.

Solomon Begins His Reign With God’s Favor

So as we get into the second book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah, Solomon, the son of David, was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and magnified him exceedingly. Solomon began his reign with great power, power that was handed to him really from his father David, but also power from the Lord, because in the beginning Solomon's heart was right before God.

And Solomon gathered the people together at Gibeon, for the tabernacle of the Lord at that time was in Gibeon. Now there were two tabernacles at this time. David had erected a tent in Jerusalem for the Ark of the Covenant when they brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem.

David made a tent for the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem. But the real worship center of the nation was still at Gibeon, where the tabernacle modeled after the tabernacle in the wilderness existed, and the altar where they would go up to sacrifice unto God was at Gibeon.

And so Solomon gathered the people together to the high place that was at Gibeon, for there was the tabernacle of the congregation similar to the one that they had in the wilderness. And the Ark of God, David had brought from Kirgath-Jerim to Jerusalem and had built a tent for that.

And Solomon went up there to this brass altar before the Lord, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and he offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it. Now Solomon was an extravagant fellow.

A thousand burnt offerings. And he was extravagant in all that he did. In that night did God appear unto Solomon and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee. That's almost like some of the plots of the fairy tales that you read, you know, the fairy goddess or the genie or whatever.

Ask whatever you want. I've sometimes wondered myself if God should come to me and say, Ask what you want me to give to you. I've wondered what would I ask God for? What would be my request? And I've often thought, as I mused on this, I think I would turn it right around and say, God, you give me whatever you want to give me.

Because you see, I may be thinking of much less than what God wants to give. He loves me so much that He desires to just give to me. And I might be saying, Lord, I'd like to have a thousand dollars. But He may want to lay a million dollars on me.

And why should I, you know, cut Him short? I think that we fail to realize how much God really loves us. And what God is willing to do for us. For if God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how much more then shall He not freely give us all things?

Look what God has already given for you. Consider it. He spared not His own Son. And if He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for you, how much more will He freely give you all things? Jesus said, henceforth you've asked nothing in My name.

Ask, and in the Greek it's in the intensive, which translated more literally would be, Ask, please ask that you may receive, that your joy may be full. God is wanting to bless you. God is wanting to bless your life.

Because God wants your life to be an instrument through which the world around you might know the joy and the blessing of serving the Lord. And so God desires, God delights in giving good things to His children.

Solomon Asks for Wisdom and Knowledge

Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, You have showed great mercy unto David my father, and you've made me to reign in his place. Now, O Lord God, let Thy promise unto David my father be established, for you have made me the king over a people that are like the dust of the earth as far as number.

Give me now wisdom and knowledge that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can judge this Thy people that is so great? So Solomon's request, wisdom and knowledge, God, that I may know how to go in and out before these people, because the task that has been laid upon me, reigning over Your people, is greater than I can actually handle.

And so, Father, grant me the wisdom and the knowledge, really, to do Your business. Grant me, Lord, that which I need to do the things that You want me to do. What a beautiful request. Now, a little further on, when we get into our reading next week, we're going to find the prophet coming to Asa the king and declaring, For the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the entire earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards him.

Now, here's Solomon expressing a heart that's really sort of completely towards God. Ask whatever you want, Solomon. Lord, I'd like to be famous. Lord, I'd like my footprint in Grumman's Chinese. Lord, I'd like to be rich.

No, Lord, You've placed a big, heavy responsibility upon me. You've made me the king and placed my father over Your people. And God, I need wisdom and I need knowledge and just knowing how to do the work that You want me to do.

And God said to Solomon, Because this was in your heart and you did not ask for riches, wealth or honor or you didn't ask for the life of your enemies, neither did you ask long life for yourself. But you've asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may judge my people over whom I have made you king.

Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto you. And I will give you riches and wealth and honor such as none of the kings have had that have been before you, neither shall there be any after you that will have the like.

Then Solomon came from his journey to the high place that was at Gibeon to Jerusalem. From before the tabernacle of the congregation and he reigned over Israel. And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen and he had 1 ,400 chariots, 12 ,000 horsemen and he placed in the chariot cities the king of Jerusalem.

And the king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones. And cedar trees he made as common as the sycamore trees that grow in the valley abundantly. And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt and linen yarn and the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price and they brought up from Egypt the chariots for 600 shekels of silver, horses for 150.

And so brought they out horses for all of the kings of the Hittites, for the kings of Syria by their means. In other words, they began to be horse traders. They began to sell them to the nations around, the Hittites and the Syrians and so forth.

Trusting God Rather Than Military Strength

Now, it is interesting that Solomon began this horse trading with Egypt, it would appear very early in his career. And in so doing, he was beginning to plant the seeds of destruction and deterioration of his kingdom.

For in Deuteronomy, the Lord gave the law concerning the kings of Israel. And in the 17th chapter, in the 14th verse, the Lord said to Moses, when the people come into the land and they possess it, and they will say, we want a king like the other nations that are about us.

Then God gives the requirements for the one that they should set forth as a king. But in verse 16 he said, but he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to the end, that they should multiply horses.

Now, what does God have against horses? Nothing. He created them. But, in those days, the horse was a definite, decisive kind of weapon in battle. And they began to measure the strength of an army by the number of the horses.

A man on horseback had a definite advantage. And a chariot was a fearsome, awesome weapon of war. Sort of like tanks against infantry today. And so, God did not want them trusting in horses. And in Psalms, it said, a horse is a vain thing, as far as something to trust in.

As it speaks about the contrasting, trusting in the Lord. Now, some men trust in horses and some in chariots, but we will trust in the Lord our God. And so many of the Psalms are addressed to the fact that people were putting trust in horses.

Now, the fact that Solomon began to amass this great number of horses, and for a time, Bible critics sort of assailed the biblical account because of the numbers of horses that Solomon had. And it tells how he built these cities and put stables in these cities and so forth.

And now in the excavations, in many of these cities that Solomon had fortified, they have found actually the horse stables. In the city of Megiddo, at the level of excavation that was at Solomon's time, you can see these stone troughs that they had carved out for the water for the horses and the feeding troughs and all.

They are there today. And in vast numbers. And it all verifies really the biblical account of the vast numbers of horses that Solomon gathered. And the tendency though was then to trust in the fact that you have in your army a certain number of horsemen and all.

So, it's amazing to me that so soon, Solomon would forsake the law of the Lord and would begin to sow the seeds that ultimately were to deteriorate the kingdom. Now, Solomon determined to build a house for the name of the Lord and a house for his kingdom.

Solomon Prepares to Build the Temple

And Solomon told out or counted out 70 ,000 men to bear burdens and 80 ,000 men to cut trees out of the forest. And 30, or rather 3 ,600 men to oversee them. And so, the tremendous number of people that were just involved in the labor to the gathering of the materials for his own palace and for the temple that they were to build.

Solomon sent to Huram, who is also called Hiram, the king of Tyre. And he said, As you dealt with David my father, and you sent him cedars to build his own palace, even I ask you to deal so with me. Behold, I'm going to build a house in the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him the sweet incense, and to place the continual showbread for the burnt offerings morning and evening, and on the Sabbath, and the new moons, and the solemn feast of the Lord our God.

For this is an ordinance forever to Israel. And the house which I build is great, for great is our God above all gods. And who was able to build him a house, seeing the heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, who am I then that I should build him a house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?

In other words, the idea is that I'm not building a house for God to dwell in. The heavens, and heaven of heavens cannot contain God. Thus, I only build a house that we might at this house burn sacrifice before God.

There are often times attempts by men to localize God. They are always wrong. To think of God as being in one place more than in another place. You cannot localize God. The heaven of heavens cannot contain him.

God’s Omnipresence and Human Awareness

David said, whether shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there. If I descend into hell, thou art there. Can't escape from God. Nor can God be localized. And yet, so often, we think of God.

Lord, we're so happy to gather tonight in your presence to worship you. Oh, yes, it's nice to be here in the presence of God this evening. Hey, you were in the presence of God when you were yelling at your wife on the way to church.

You know, it isn't that when we get into this place, we suddenly come into the presence of God. The presence of God is everywhere. You can't escape the presence of God. And it is always wrong when we try to think of God in a localized place.

And yet, it is so often a part of our limited understanding that we always seem to think of God in a locality. I'm gonna go to church so I can be near God tonight. I feel so near to God. When I'm walking through the woods.

I feel so near to God when I am walking across the desert at night. I feel so near to God. Well, it may be that you have a greater awareness of God's presence in certain localities, but that isn't an actuality in truth.

God is with you wherever you are. It isn't that we need to come into the presence of God. It's that we need to become more aware of the presence of God wherever we may be. I think that one of the greatest needs of the Christian experience and in the Christian life is to become more conscious of God's all-pervading presence.

And at the times when you least feel like it, He is there. In the time when you're feeling the rottenness, He is there. In the time you're feeling most desolate, He is there. The most forsaken, He is there.

We need to become aware of His presence. But that's an attitude of my own heart. I can become aware of God's presence no matter where I am if I'll just turn my heart towards the Lord to consciously seek to be aware of His presence with me.

Now, if we could only become more aware of the presence of God, we wouldn't need any preaching on holiness, righteous living or things of this nature because if I was just aware of God's presence for in Him, Paul said, we live and move and have our being when I become aware of that.

Then I want to always live in a way that is pleasing unto Him. Knowing that nothing I do is hidden. Knowing that nothing I do is secret. Knowing that my life is just an open book and that consciousness of God's presence is such an important thing for my own personal life.

So Solomon recognized, Hey, we're not building you a house, God, that you can come and live in this house and we can come and visit you at your house. Who am I to build a house? As he's writing to Hiram asking for these cedars to be sent from Lebanon and all.

He said, I want to build a house that we might offer our sacrifices and all. Not that it's a place for God to dwell, the heavens of heaven can't contain Him, but just a place where we can come and offer our sacrifices before Him.

So he is requesting that a skilled man be sent who can more or less oversee all of the building. A man who is a clever artificer in the carvings and in all of the various types of arts and castings and the whole thing because the temple that he wanted to build unto God was to be a glorious monument unto the Lord.

And so he contracted to give unto the men, the servants that would cut the wood out of the forest and all 20 ,000 measures of beaten wheat, which would be a flour. Now a measure is 10 bushels. So this is the amount of flour, the beaten wheat he was to send unto them.

20 ,000 measures of barley and 20 ,000 baths and a bath is about 8 gallons of wine and 20 ,000 baths of oil. So this was quite a vast annual fee that he was willing to pay for these skilled men. Then Hiram, the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon and he said, because the Lord hath loved his people he hath made you king over them.

Hiram also said blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the king a wise son and endued him with prudence and understanding that he might build a house for the Lord and a house for his kingdom.

Now I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding of Hiram's my father. The son of a woman of the daughter of Dan and his father was a man of Tyre. He's skillful to work in gold and silver and brass and iron and stone and timbers and the purple and the blue and the fine linen crimson.

He can carve out any manner of carving and he can figure out every kind of device and he's just a cunning man. Now therefore the wheat and the barley the oil the wine which my Lord had spoken of let him send it unto his servants.

So the deal was made and we will cut the wood out of Lebanon as much as you shall need and we'll bring it to thee by floats by the sea to Joppa and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem. So they cut these cedars out of Lebanon and they made these great rafts the floats of these cedar logs and they floated them down the Mediterranean Sea to the only port at that time in Israel which was the port of Joppa and then from Joppa they carried them over land to Jerusalem which is a distance of about 30 miles maybe 40 miles so it was quite a task and no wonder they needed 70 ,000 men to help move these logs.

Mount Moriah and God’s Promised Sacrifice

Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah where the Lord appeared unto David his father in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Jebusite and he began to build in the second day the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

He began to build on Mount Moriah where in the world did we hear of Mount Moriah before as we go back to the book of Genesis and God did tempt Abraham and said unto him take now thy son thine only son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice on a mountain that I will show thee.

And Abraham took Isaac and the servants and they saddled the donkeys and they journeyed and after three days Abraham left the servants and the donkeys and he said you wait here I and the lad will go and worship God and we will come again and as Abraham and Isaac were journeying together Isaac said unto Abraham here is the wood here is the fire where is the sacrifice.

And Abraham said God will provide himself a sacrifice. And they journeyed together to Mount Moriah and there Abraham built an altar and he placed Isaac upon it and he raised his knife and God said Abraham stop I see now that you are obedient and will withhold nothing from me.

Behold the ram caught by its horns in the thicket take and offer it. And Abraham took the ram and offered it as a sacrifice unto the Lord and Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide and he prophesied he said in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen the earlier he said the Lord will provide father where is the sacrifice.

The Lord will provide himself a sacrifice. What a prophetic statement God's going to provide himself as the sacrifice. And he called the name of the place Jehovah Jireh. And then referring to the previous prophecy he said in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

So the place of worship and the place of sacrifice for the nation of Israel was moved from Gibeon to Jerusalem and there the temple was built on Mount Moriah the same mount that God showed to Abraham where he offered his son Isaac with the prophecy the Lord will provide himself a sacrifice in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

Now the temple was actually built on the side of Mount Moriah not on the top which is interesting in itself because among all of the pagan religions they always built their altars and their places of worship at the tops of the mountains you go to Athens and at the top of each mountain in Athens there are the ruins of the pagan temples of the past always on the top the Acropolis right at the top of the mountain there in Corinth the top of the mountain above Corinth the temple of Aphrodite and so it is interesting number one that the temple was not built on the top of Mount Moriah but on the side of the mount for Mount Moriah continues up from slopes upwards from the temple site and the top of Mount Moriah is actually Mount Calvary or Golgotha and you can look at the whole topography of that area and you can see how Mount Moriah gently slopes from the temple mount right on up to the top which would be Calvary, Golgotha and the skull is formed there in the cliff because of the quarries where they excavated out that portion of the mount and you look back towards the city of Jerusalem and you can see where they've actually cut away the mount and built the wall of the city right up over the bedrock which continues from there or did continue at the time of Abraham and crested on the top Golgotha the place of the skull where God provided himself a sacrifice and the prophecy of Abraham was fulfilled in the death of Jesus Christ.

So Mount Moriah it is interesting that the Bible locates it for us for all time that we would know so that God can tie together the interesting types and shadows from the Old Testament with their fulfillment in the new.

And thus the place of Isaac's sacrifice was the place where God provided. He began to build the temple there in Mount Moriah there at the threshing floor. Now these are the things that Solomon instructed for the building of the house of God.

The building was to be 90 feet by 30 feet. The very building itself the porch was in the front of it and the length was according to the breadth of the house 30 feet was the height. The height of it was rather 120 and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

So a building this size and now inside is just overlaid completely with pure gold. The greater house he sealed with fir trees and he overlaid those with fine gold and he set thereon palm trees and chains and he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty and the gold was the gold of Parvahim.

He overlaid also the house with the beans and the posts and the walls thereof and the doors thereof with gold and he carved cherubims on the walls and he made the most holy place. The length according to the breadth of the house was 30 feet and the breadth of it 30 feet and he overlaid it with fine gold which came to 600 talents or at the 30 dollar an ounce price about 18 million dollars what it would be today of course with gold at 500 and something an ounce you can figure out yourself.

But this was just for the holy of holies within. So the amount of the value of this whole temple that was built by Solomon is valued at somewhere in the billions of dollars. The estimates of course range now.

The weight of the nails was 50 shekels of gold and he overlaid the upper chambers with gold and the most holy house he made two cherubims and he overlaid them with gold and the wings of the cherubim were 30 feet long.

One wing of the one cherub was 7 and a half cubits reaching to the wall of the house and the other wing was likewise 7 and a half cubits reaching to the wing of the other cherub so that is the total wingspan of the cherubs, the two cherubs were 20 feet.

There was cherubs, their wings would touch in the middle and this remember is all a little model of heaven. The holy of holies is a model of heaven and the throne of God and so the cherubim about the throne of God that John saw in the book of revelation and that Ezekiel saw and he made the veil of blue and purple and crimson and fine linen and he wrought the cherubims, they wove cherubims into this veil of the temple.

And also he made before the house two pillars of 30 and 5 cubits so it would be about 47 and a half 50 feet tall and there was this ornamental work on the top of each of them of 7 and a half feet. And he made chains as in the oracle and he put them on the heads of the pillars and made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains.

And he reared up the pillars before the temple one on the right hand and the other on the left and he called the name on the right hand Jachin and the name on the left Boaz. Moreover he made an altar of brass that was 30 feet long and 30 feet wide and it was 15 feet high.

This brazen altar for the offering of the sacrifices and he made this molten. Or they cast this huge brass bath for the priest to bathe in the sea of 15 feet from brim to brim a rounding compass 7 and a half feet high and it was of course 45 feet around it and under it was the likeness of oxen 12 oxen that they carved of brass and 3 pointing towards the north 3 facing towards the south 3 facing towards the east and 3 facing towards the west all facing outward.

And this big brass pool on top of it. Now the thickness of the brass pool was the thickness of your hand breath if you can picture it and it held about 24 ,000 gallons of water. Now to cast something like this today would be near impossible a brass swimming pool 7 and a half feet deep 15 feet across and the width of it about 6 to 8 inches thick and this was for the priest to bathe in.

And then around the top of it all kinds of fancy work flowers and lilies and so forth carved in it. And then he made 10 other basins so that they could wash the instruments of course with the sacrifices there was a lot of blood and all and thus it was necessary that the priest bathed and get this blood off of them.

And of course the knives and the instruments and all that they used would all be bloody after the offering of these sacrifices. And so 10 of these lavers to wash the various instruments in and the big pool for the priest to wash in.

And then he made the 10 candlesticks of gold and 10 tables that he placed in the temple 5 on the right side 5 on the left and he made 100 basins of gold. And then he made the court of the priest the doors of the court he overlaid them with brass and this big basin was on the right side at the east end.

And Hurom made the pots and the shovels and the basins and Hurom finished the work that he was to make for King Solomon for the house of God that is the 2 pillars and the pommels and the chapters which were on the top of the 2 pillars the 2 wreaths to cover the 2 pommels and the 400 pomegranates and so forth and the bases and the lavers and the oxen.

And Solomon made all of these vessels in great abundance. They cast them actually down in the Jordan River in the clay area down there and then carried them on up to Jerusalem more over the candlesticks and their lamps they made for the holy place out of pure gold and the flowers and the lamps the tongs they made of gold perfect gold the snuffers and the basins the spoons and so all of the instruments for the worship made of pure gold and all of the work that Solomon made for the house of the Lord was finished.

The Ark Enters the Temple

And Solomon brought in all of the things that David his father had dedicated the silver the gold the instruments and he put them among the treasures of the house of God. And then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes the chief fathers to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David which is Zion.

Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which is in the 7th month which would be then the feast of trumpets and the elders of Israel came and the Levites took up the ark and they brought up the ark and the tabernacle of the congregation and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle did the priest and the Levites bring up and king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark sacrificed sheep and oxen which could not be counted because of the number of them the multitude of them.

And the priest brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place into the holy of holies of the house under the wings of the cherubim. The cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark and the cherubim covered the ark with the staves thereof of above and they drew out the staves from the ark and there was nothing in the ark except the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb when the Lord made the covenant with the children of Israel and the covenant of Egypt.

Now originally when Moses set up this little ark of the covenant they put not only the two tables of stone upon which God had inscribed the ten commandments but they also had the rod of Aaron that budded and they also had a jar of manna.

But at this point of course the ark of the covenant was taken to by the Philistines and passed around and so at this point all that was in the ark of the covenant according to the record was just the two tables of stone.

I have often thought how exciting it would be if they could discover again the ark of the covenant some ways this little box made of acacia wood overlaid with gold and if the two tables of stone upon which God inscribed the law were still in them what an archaeological find that would be.

I'm sure that God has kept it lost because what a relic this would become and people would soon be worshipping it and so God I'm sure has deliberately just kept this thing hidden and uncovered by man lest man would make some kind of a idol out of it.

God’s Glory Fills the Temple

Now it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place for all of the priests that were present were sanctified and they were not at that time waiting for their courses and the Levites which were the singers all of them of Asaph and of Haman and Jedithan with their sons and their brothers being arrayed in white linen and having the cymbals and the psalteries and the harps stood at the east end of the altar and with them a hundred and twenty priests who were sounding with trumpets and it came to pass as the trumpeters and the singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and the cymbals and the instruments of music and praised the Lord saying for He is good for His mercy endureth forever that then the house was filled with a cloud even the house of the Lord so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.

What a momentous occasion this must have been. The people of Israel gathered here is this fabulously beautiful temple overlaid with gold it's now complete beautiful work of carvings and all and so they bring the Ark of the Covenant from the tent into the Holy of Holies within this temple and they pull out the staves and they set it in its place between the cherubim and then the priest some of them with the instruments of psalteries others with harps a hundred and twenty of them with trumpets plus David had appointed a couple thousand as singers and they all began to just worship God in the song in the music.

And as it came to this great crescendo as the sound of the trumpets and the voices blended as one voice of praise and thanksgiving unto God the cloud of God's glory that was the sign of God's presence among the children of Israel in the wilderness came down and it filled the temple and the priest because of the glory of God's presence couldn't even stand but just lay there in the glory of God's presence.

Solomon Teaches God’s Faithfulness

What a beautiful sight. Bunch of fanatics then said Solomon the Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. Now Solomon at this point preached a sermon to the people all of Israel. You remember all the chief people had gathered and out in the courtyard he had built this little brass platform seven and a half feet square and it was about four and a half feet high.

And so he stood up on this little platform so that he could address all of the congregation of Israel. And his sermon to them is a sermon on the faithfulness of God. And the very fact that here is the temple it is completed it is built.

It testifies to the faithfulness of God's promise. For it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Jehovah God of Israel. And Jehovah said unto David my father for as much as it was in your heart to build a house for my name you did well in that it was in your heart notwithstanding you shall not build it now this to me is very interesting.

God said David in as much as it was in your heart to do it you did. Well that's fine. That's good. God reckons the things of man's heart. Now it is interesting. A lot of people have a real heart to give to God but they have nothing to give in as much as it is in their heart to give.

God counts that some people have a lot to give to God but they don't give with their hearts. God doesn't count that God is interested in your heart what is in your heart to do for God. Now you may not always be able to accomplish that which is in your heart to do.

But God takes the consideration of the fact that it's in your heart to do it for the Lord. Now within a lot of you it is within your heart to serve God in some capacity. It's in your heart to be in the ministry.

And in as much as it is in your heart to serve the Lord God acknowledges it. That's good. It may be that you will never be actively engaged in a pulpit kind of a ministry. I cannot believe that you'll never be engaged in a ministry.

I believe that all of us have a ministry and some of us have the misfortune of having a pulpit ministry. And I really feel that the rewards for the ministries that are done more or less in a secret or a quiet way are greater than those public kind of ministries where you get so much feedback and all from the actual ministry itself.

It is interesting how so many pray that God will give them sort of a pulpit ministry or a public ministry. And I've prayed for years that God would give me some quiet ministry. For years I've prayed that God would help me and call me just to be a Christian businessman.