Jan 31
Matt Chandler encourages us to get our eyes off ourselves and onto the Lord. Instead of living lives of self-sufficiency, we should remind ourselves of how God chose us out of His grace and kindness. He teaches that it isn’t about us—it’s about glorifying the one who deserves all the glory. Jesus.
Scripture References
33.Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and11:33 Or riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!34.“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”11:34 Isaiah 40:1335.“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”11:35 Job 41:1136.For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
10.for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.
14.To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.
18.Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19.For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”3:19 Job 5:13; 20.and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”3:20 Psalm 94:11 21.So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22.whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas3:22 That is, Peter or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23.and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
2.“Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?3.Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.4.“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
14.Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
20.But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9
1.The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.2.He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,3.he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
9.But for the sake of my name, I brought them out of Egypt. I did it to keep my name from being profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they lived and in whose sight I had revealed myself to the Israelites.
8.Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
to make his mighty power known.
4.And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.
Samuel’s Farewell Speech
1.Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. 2.Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. 3.Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right.”
4.“You have not cheated or oppressed us,” they replied. “You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”
5.Samuel said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.”
“He is witness,” they said.
6.Then Samuel said to the people, “It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up out of Egypt. 7.Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your ancestors.
8.“After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help, and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
9.“But they forgot the Lord their God; so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. 10.They cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned; we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you.’ 11.Then the Lord sent Jerub-Baal,12:11 Also called Gideon Barak,12:11 Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac; Hebrew Bedan Jephthah and Samuel,12:11 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac Samson and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around you, so that you lived in safety.
12.“But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’—even though the Lord your God was your king. 13.Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for; see, the Lord has set a king over you. 14.If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good! 15.But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.
16.“Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! 17.Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain. And you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.”
18.Then Samuel called on the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel.
19.The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”
20.“Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. 21.Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. 22.For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. 23.As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. 24.But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. 25.Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will perish.”
The Ark Brought to the Temple
1.Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. 2.All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.
3.When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, 4.and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, 5.and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.
6.The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7.The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles. 8.These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. 9.There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
10.When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. 11.And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.
12.Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 13.I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”
14.While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. 15.Then he said:
“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said, 16.‘Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.’
17.“My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 18.But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. 19.Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood—he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’
20.“The Lord has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the Lord promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. 21.I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication
22.Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven 23.and said:
“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. 24.You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.
25.“Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.’ 26.And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.
27.“But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 28.Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. 29.May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 30.Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.
31.“When anyone wrongs their neighbor and is required to take an oath and they come and swear the oath before your altar in this temple, 32.then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing down on their heads what they have done, and vindicating the innocent by treating them in accordance with their innocence.
33.“When your people Israel have been defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and when they turn back to you and give praise to your name, praying and making supplication to you in this temple, 34.then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.
35.“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, 36.then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance.
37.“When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, 38.and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands toward this temple— 39.then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), 40.so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.
41.“As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name— 42.for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this temple, 43.then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.
44.“When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, 45.then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.
46.“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near; 47.and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; 48.and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; 49.then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. 50.And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy; 51.for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.
52.“May your eyes be open to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you. 53.For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign Lord, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”
54.When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. 55.He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:
56.“Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. 57.May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us. 58.May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. 59.And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, 60.so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other. 61.And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”
The Dedication of the Temple
62.Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. 63.Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the temple of the Lord.
64.On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar that stood before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.
65.So Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him—a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt. They celebrated it before the Lord our God for seven days and seven days more, fourteen days in all. 66.On the following day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and then went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.
9.I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth.
9.For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath;
for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you,
so as not to destroy you completely.
1.“And now, you priests, this warning is for you.
3.Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4.For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5.he1:4,5 Or sight in love. 5 He predestined us for adoption to sonship1:5 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a legal term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture. through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6.to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
33.Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
Matt Chandler
Senior pastor of Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, and the executive director of the board of the Acts 29 Network