BEYOND BELIEF

February 3 - February 24

BEYOND VICTORY TO VULNERABILITY

February 3 | Bill Clark

David was faced with a decision after being anointed King over Israel and Judah, where was his base to be? Does he play it safe in Hebron, or take he riskier but option and take Jerusalem. Bill Clark opens our Beyond Belief series by exploring this dilemma facing David, and how we face the same dilemma regarding what God has called us to as a church.

MESSAGE NOTES

BEYOND VICTORY TO VULNERABILITY
Beyond Belief | Week 1 | February 3, 2019

2 Samuel 5:1-5 NIV  
All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood. In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’” When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

2 Samuel 5:6-10 NIV  
The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.” They thought, “David cannot get in here.” Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David. On that day David had said, “Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those ‘lame and blind’ who are David’s enemies.” That is why they say, “The ‘blind and lame’ will not enter the palace.” David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the terraces inward. And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.

Micah 6:8 (Paraphrase)  
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justice now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.

BEYOND WORK TO WORSHIP

February 10 | Adam Barnett

When David danced before the Ark in worship to God, he did so not caring about how he looked to those around him. Despite his place as King of Israel and Judah, he knew his role in that moment was simply worshipper. Adam Barnett continues our series by encouraging us to remember that we were made to worship our King.

MESSAGE NOTES

BEYOND WORK TO WORSHIP
Beyond Belief | Week 2 | February 10, 2019

2 Samuel 6:12-16 NIV  
Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

2 Samuel 6:17-19 NIV
They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

2 Samuel 6:20-23 NIV  
When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.” And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death

David moved beyond work…to worship.

1 | Worship is our reckless response to God’s love.

2 | Worship is for an audience of one.

Worship like Jesus is watching you. No one else.

3 | Worship is our all-encompassing identity.

BEYOND MY KINGDOM TO GOD’S KINGDOM

February 17 | Bill Clark

It’s possible for us to seek what we believe advances the Kingdom of God but be at odds with what God wants and has planned for. David learned this with his desire to build the temple that God had planned for Solomon. Bill Clark continues our series by exploring how we are to continually seek God’s vision for us rather than our own.

MESSAGE NOTES

BEYOND MY KINGDOM TO GOD’S KINGDOM
Beyond Belief | Week 3 | February 17, 2019

David was a living contradiction. We all are.

2 Samuel 7:1-16 NIV
After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” 

Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.” 

But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 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. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”

We are pilgrim people.

To be a pilgrim is to realize what we do is not actually about us—it’s for those who don’t know God—and for the generations to come.

For a follower of Jesus, the only right obsession is the Kingdom of God.

BEYOND STRENGTH TO SACRIFICE

February 24 | Bill Clark & Julie Earp

David made a profound choice in 2 Samuel to not make a donated sacrifice, but instead to pay for the sacrifice himself. This idea of sacrificial giving is felt throughout Scripture. Bill Clark is joined by special guest Julie Earp to talk about the challenge to think about whether our giving governs our spending, or the other way around.

MESSAGE NOTES

BEYOND STRENGTH TO SACRIFICE
Beyond Belief | Week 4 | February 24, 2019

2 Corinthians 9:10-15 NIV  

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Colossians 1:15-20 NIV  

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.