Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches special Monday Morning Coffee podcast on this podcast, our preacher Mark Roberts will help you get your week started right. With look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through it further and better work the applications into our daily lives . Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And, he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee podcast for Monday, March the 24th. I'm Mark and I've got some notes from yesterday's very challenging sermon holding a cup of coffee in my favorite Yellowstone mug's. Got a big grizzly bear on it and it kind of looks like that grizzly bear went to town on my NCAA March Madness bracket. There is red everywhere, just like every year. Oh, well there's always next year. Maybe I will someday be able to beat Dina . In the meantime, we can think about the sermon from Sunday and then we can talk about our daily Bible reading as we get deeper into the reign of King David in Second Samuel, the third chapter. That's where our reading starts on Monday. But first, like I said, it's sermon, no time. What'd you think of the sermon yesterday? Let's talk about the questions Jesus asked Yesterday was preaching theme Sunday as I worked on the series, the questions Jesus asked, this was question number 10. That's where it placed in the voting that there'll be 12 of these. Of course, this was the 10th question from John chapter 11 verses 25 and 26 with Martha's powerful response. In verse 27, Jesus asked , do you believe this? And that question is based on his statements about being the resurrection in the life and that if you believe in him, you will never die. This was not an easy sermon by any stretch of the imagination. To put together Jesus's statements there in verses 25 and 26 twist and intertwine together and trying to untangle them and explain exactly what Jesus means by each of those lines was not easy at all. I did not want Jesus simply to be repeating what Martha had just said about there'll be a future resurrection. That's clearly not what Jesus is doing there, but what is he doing there? I hope the sermon did untangle some of that for you and I hope that it was helpful to you. Now, let me give you a note about the term resurrection that's in the text here. The term for resurrection. There is a term that literally means to stand up. By the way, sometimes people say, you know , I want a literal translation. How foolish would it be to translate John 11 with stand up ? That's not what Jesus means there, but that's the literal meaning. We have words very similar to that. For example, we say we lost someone and everyone understands that's a euphemism for death. It doesn't literally mean that they got lost. Well, let's go looking for them. No, we know exactly where they are. We lost them. That means they're in the cemetery. So the word anastasis is the word for resurrection here stands up and it does have the sense of getting up after one falls down. It's used a couple of places in the New Testament like that, but that's an unusual term for John. And what Jesus does here is go far beyond the common Jewish belief in future resurrection to assert that the power of resurrection exists in his very person. It is through Jesus, his victory over death, that we will stand up yet again. The future resurrection will be ours because of Jesus. We will all in fact rise again and it's Jesus that makes it happen. The crucial issue and the question that Jesus is really asking there in John 1125 and 26 is not just do you believe in a future resurrection? Do you not just believe one day we will all stand up? What Jesus asks is, do you believe in me and that I am the one who will make that happen? Hope that's helpful to you. Let's think about our daily Bible reading. The reading for Monday is second Samuel chapter three verses 26 to 39, 26 through the end of the chapter. And I'm so glad to finally get to do this reading because we're all up in the air with Abner and these negotiations and is David gonna be the king over the united country and how's it all gonna work? And then Joab throws a big monkey wrench in the whole thing. Joab in our reading today, deceive and murders Abner. And a couple things to notice here. I really think this section is about Joab and sets up so much that goes on with Joab throughout the rest of David's life. Sometimes I think Joab is a really good guy. He's so intensely loyal to David, but sometimes he is wearing the villain hat, and I think today it's the villain hat all over everywhere. Notice in verses 26 and 27 that he is able to send messengers without David even knowing what's going on. That is how powerful he is in David's, what would you say? Administration. His cabinet. David isn't really got a whole lot of official kind of palace royal thing going on yet, but David has some important people around him and Joab is easily the most important if you'll look carefully, then it says in the text that he struck him in the stomach verse 27. And that is exactly, that's exactly the same term that's used when Abner kills Jo's brother, Assael ashe's running after him. This was last week's tweet reading. And Abner apparently just comes to a very abrupt stop and maybe pushes his spear backwards and Abner kills Assael . Assael runs up onto that spear, strikes him in the stomach. And so Joe ab , this is nothing but a revenge killing. This is , there's nothing legitimate about this Asa hell was killed in battle. This is just plain murder. And David knows, but David can't do a lot about it. He does pronounce a very strong curse. Verse 29 includes an expression about the one who holds the spindle. And that may mean someone who is acting like a woman or it may imply some kind of disability that would re require uh, some sort of occupation where you can sit down not being able to be active and be out farming for example, or maybe being a blacksmith, something like that. And then the whole point from 31 to 39 is that David didn't do it . David makes it clear that he did not do this, but it is also clear that David is afraid of Joab and he cannot control him. Verses 38 and 39, these men, these sons of Zaa are more severe than I think about the kind of man that David is. What a warrior he is. He is a warrior chief and now he's a warrior king. Think about the kind of people that surround David and David looks over at Joab and says, I just can't handle this guy. This guy is out of control. He does stuff I do not sanction or condone and I really cannot do a whole lot about it. That's a tough reading, but it does set up where Joab will function in David's life from here on in maybe it says to watch out for the Joab in this world, people who stop at nothing to get their way and especially people who carry a grudge for year after year after year. But when we get to the end of this, we'll see that David has cleared his name and he can move forward and we'll get some of that in Tomorrow's reading, the reading for Monday. Second Samuel chapter three verses 26 to 39 . Welcome to Tuesday. It is Tuesday and our reading today is Second Samuel chapter four. Don't let that make you nervous. It sounds like a lot. Oh boy. We're reading a whole chapter. We're reading 12 verses. This chapter is about the assassination of ish mocha and it serves to help in a number of key ways. First and foremost, it helps us understand some things about why the kingdom doesn't unite sooner than it does. And that's because these knuckleheads show up and they murder ish boche that's gonna cause all kinds of ramifications and problems. So let's talk about a couple of key notes about the passage and about our text today. Verse one says that ish Moche , excuse me, verse one, let get some coffee here. Verse one says, at is Boche , his courage failed. The literal wording in the text is both of his hands sink down. That's a pretty colorful phrase, isn't it ? Tells you everything you need to know about what's going on. Abner was the real power behind the throne. No, Abner is, Boche knows he has no chance at all. And then we get a note about Mephibosheth verse four. I think that's important because later on we're gonna meet Mephibosheth again. But right here, what's it doing in this context? It just shows he has no chance to claim the throne. He was five when his father died. David ruled seven years, so he's probably about 12. He is too young to be a factor. He cannot be in play here. And on top of that, he is crippled. So he has no interest in, no one has any interest in making him the king. So now the question is, if we don't have someone from the house of Saul, who can we get? Maybe we should go with the house of David. David has no rivals at this point. Then Buche gets murdered and verse six has a number of different translational issues, a number of problems. Read it in a couple of different texts and you'll see pretty quickly that the translators are not sure exactly what to do with the Hebrew. That'll be a lot of fun to work with tonight in in Zoom I'm sure. And then these guys show up and they act like David is gonna be really excited that they have killed ish Boha . Did they not get the memo outta chapter one? These guys have not done their daily Bible reading, have they? And what this then reads like is exactly like chapter one. If you're getting a big whiff of deja vu, it's you should, because this is what the Amite said, Hey, I killed Saul. I know I'm gonna get a reward. And David says, Nope, that does not work for me. And these guys show up and say, we know we're gonna get a reward because we killed ish Boche . And David says, Nope, that is not working for me. David has no use for lawlessness. God is his deliverer. And so the two men are punished by death and by mutilation and public exposure and that is a warning to everybody else. You wanna talk about getting the memo? We're getting the memo. Now, don't kill people and think David will look upon that as if you did him some kind of wonderful service. More discussion of this tonight for West Siders in our zoom call and we'll have a chance to pray. We'll work through this and we'll talk a little bit, maybe more about verse six and what's going on there, but this will help us see the folly of pragmatism. Oh, it works. So we're just gonna do it because it helps us get where we know . No , no , you need to do what's right. Alright , that's Bible reading for Tuesday. Tuesday's. Bible reading is two Samuel chapter four. It is Wednesday. Welcome to Wednesday and our reading for today is two Samuel chapter five. I'm so glad you're listening to the podcast today because this is very important for you to know. This chapter is not in order chronologically, that always throws Western readers off because we write history in linear fashion. What happened first? Born, went to school, went to college, got married, had kids. It's always, we do everything in sequential order. The Hebrew writing of history is not like that many times it's topical. We're going to put together several events that illustrate a significant point or that make a point and I think that's what's going on in chapter five. By the way, if you're wondering, mark, how do you know this is out of order chronologically? We'll just drop down in your reading and take a look at the list of children born verse 14. Those children in verse 14, they are Bathsheba's children, Bathsheba, who does not show up for six more chapters and the Philistines, as we read in our reading today, drive David out of the stronghold. Well , hey, I thought he captured Jerusalem. Why don't you just stay put there? This is not in order chronologically, and that's okay. It's going to make the point that the writer of Samuel wants us to understand. That begins in verses one to five with David being anointed king and that probably is in order. That's the next thing that happens after the terrible assassination of Osh . The elders come and they make an argument. Hey, you're family, you are a leader. It's God's will. We need to do this. And maybe it's a good place to be reminded. It's been a long time. It's been a long time since Samuel showed up unexpectedly and anointed David's David as king, but God's word does come to pass. Then David conquers Jerusalem verses six to 12. And like I said, this is probably out of order chronologically and there's a number of textual difficulties here. Lots of uncertainty about exactly how David took this going up the water shaft, what exactly that is and how that works. The Hebrew there is uncertain then this business with the lame and the blind. That's very uncertain. The ESB has smoothed that out considerably. But it may be that what happens is the Jebusite are saying we're so strong, even if we were blind in lame, we could ward you off. And then David is responding by characterizing his enemies as being so weak. You are, yeah, you're the blind in the lame. You can't stop me. But there's a lot of question about all that I wouldn't get lost in the details of that. Then David's family is given to us in verses 13 to 16. And if you are thinking this is a violation of Deuteronomy 17, you are precisely in exactly right. Some have tried to say that having a bunch of concubines is okay because Deuteronomy 17, just forbids wise , this is craziness. Do not try to justify biblical heroes doing the wrong thing that'll end you up in a bad place. David is doing the wrong thing here. He's a great man. He's seeking after God's heart. I know that you know that, but he's not perfect and we're not going to cover up his mistakes. Finally, verses 17 to 25, deal with a couple of battles with the Philistines. And the key here is that David keeps inquiring of the Lord. Verse 19, and then he gives credit to God for the victory. Verse 20, guess what? Verse 23, David inquires of the Lord. And then verse 25, David does as the Lord had commanded him. I think we need to contrast this and I think that's what's going on here in Samuel. I think there's a contrast here to the way King Saul reigned. I think the whole chapter's setting that up, king Saul was for Saul. David is God's man consulting God. God answers him unlike King Saul. And then David responds to the direction of God unlike King Saul. This is about how David is different than King Saul. That's what two Samuel chapter five is all about. That's what we need to get out of this chapter. That's why the chronology doesn't matter. The topic is David, A Man after God's own heart. See tomorrow we'll continue in . Second Samuel, the reading for Wednesday is Second Samuel chapter five. Welcome to Thursday, Thursday's. Reading is Second Samuel chapter six. And this is not going to be your favorite chapter. It is not my favorite chapter. There is a lot going on in this chapter. Most of the action is pretty straightforward. What I wanna deal with here in the podcast is why Za was killed for Touching the Arc. And what is Michael talking about when she says to David, you were dancing naked? Oh my, that's naked. N-E-K-K-I-D it . Did David do that? Why did Za die? Let's talk about it. First and foremost, the ark is being brought into Jerusalem verse two. And if you're not familiar with this text, go ahead and read the text. But you will see that as of reaches out and touches the ark when the oxen stumble verses six and seven and when he touches the Ark of the Covenant, he dies. That really bothers people. What's the deal with that? It's not that hard to figure out. The arc is extraordinarily special. It is a unique piece of furniture. There is literally nothing like it before and nothing like it afterwards. It is verse two, God's throne to bring up from there. Verse two, the Ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherub in one place, the Ark of the Covenant, you have God's rulership and reign as king, as well as the place where we are reconciled to a holy God. On the day of atonement, the high priest went into the most holy place and sprinkled blood on the arc of the covenant. On top of that God's revelation to man, the 10 commandments are contained inside the Ark of the Covenant. There is nothing that any human being has ever made that is as special as this box. It is way more than a box. It's God's throne. And so the ark was always to be carried. And we are dealing with some of this in our numbers class on Sunday morning. The Coates did, the carrying numbers, chapter four tells us, and no one was ever to touch it. Ever, ever, ever, ever. More evers right there. And in the middle of all of this, you just have to note that after reading about David inquiring of God twice in a battle situation in chapter five yesterday, there's no inquiring of God today. And there's the mistake. The arc is being transported incorrectly. It is not being treated as special in this day and age. Regular stuff got put on a cart. Important things are not carried on carts. Think about the pictures you've seen of kings being carried in a sedan chair for servants, maybe big husky guys who've got those poles and they're carrying the king. What if somebody, when the king wanted to go somewhere said, Hey King, just we just throw you in the back of this cart that that would be such an insult. This is an insult to God. People don't ride on carts, stuff rides on carts. David ought to know better. He should have consulted the Lord. And so oza is struck dead . What happened there? One scholar said that the arc may have functioned as a huge laden jar , L-U-Y-D-E-N laden jar , that produced enough static electricity that while bumping along the rocky road, it electrocuted oza when he touched it. And I love that because it is so stupid. It does not say that he was electrocuted because it was a static gatherer of gathered electro . That's foolishness. God killed him as a sign to everyone that they were doing it wrong. They were treating God irreverently. And David absolutely gets the message He is afraid. And there is a, an emphasis there on the fear that goes with reverence. They did not reverence the Lord. And in fact, this is a great thing to mark in the margin. One Chronicles 1527 tells us that they went on, I'm sorry, one Chronicles 15, 12 to verses 15 tells us that when they finally figured this thing out and got it right, they did what God told them to do according to the order. So this was out of order, it was unauthorized, and as a result, terrible things happened. Now what about Michael? Michael disdains, David terribly. She sees him dancing. Verse 14 before the ark of the Lord. And she says, verse 20, you have honored yourself today uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants, female servants as one of the vulgar fellows uncovers himself. So what's going on with that? Did David dance naked before the ark? Is that really oh my. What happens here wearing a linen and eod ? Verse 14. Well, what you're getting is Michael has gone back to acting like her dad, Saul. And notice verse 16, she's not said to be the wife of David. She's said to be the daughter of Saul. Hmm . I wonder what the point of this is. She's acting like Saul, very sarcastic and she's very unhappy that David would take off the royal robes and behave like a peasant. That is the spirit of Saul King. Saul always saw himself as above everybody else. Nobody tells me what to do. I am the king. David takes off the royal robes, says I'm just a worshiper of God. And he's dancing before the ark in a linen ephi . That's a very simple garment. The kind of garment may a priest would wear. David divest himself of all of the accoutrements of royalty. And she hates that you're the king. You need to act like the king. We're better than everybody else. How dare you act this kind of way. And as a result of that, David says, I don't want anything more to do with you . And that may mean verse 23, that God struck her childless. Or it may mean that David and her did not carry on as a husband and wife anymore because he was angry with her and the way she had treated him. But this chapter is kind of fraught with some difficulties, most of which I think smooth out when you get some context. I want to say emphatically, there is nothing in the text that indicates David was completely naked. She can say that, but that doesn't mean it was true. I think she's just exaggerating this in her anger. And there is no chance that David would dance completely naked in E-K-K-I-D naked, as they say in East Texas and the Mark Robert International East Texas version. David's not doing that. David's not doing that. Don't let Michael daughter of Saul change your view of David. This is a glorious moment for David after a terrible moment when David failed to console . God, this is a great moment for David. He says, I'm just a worshiper of the Lord. Can you imagine if the King of England came and wanted to visit services at West Side or maybe the President of the United States? And everywhere these kinds of dignitaries go, there's a retinue of people in front of them and you roll out the red carpet and trumpet sound and all uh uh, band plays hail to the chief. What ? What if this extraordinary extraordinarily important person, this VIP said, no, no, no, no , no. We'll have none of that today. I just, I just want to come in. Um , I'm gonna come in a little bit after services start , I'm gonna sit on the back row. I don't want anybody to notice me. I'm not gonna bring all my security agents and all my retinue of people. I'm just gonna come in. I just need to worship God. Can I worship God with y'all today? And the king doesn't wear royal robes and all that goes with all of that. That would be a mark of humility. And that's what David is showing us today. He's a man after God's own heart and he knows how to be humble. Too bad Michael doesn't seem to understand that. See , tomorrow will be in the Psalms. Our reading for Thursday, two Samuel six. Welcome to Friday. Welcome to Friday. Today is Psalms day and we are in Psalm 15. I love Psalm 15. I'm reading the Psalm today on Facebook and I'm gonna talk about how this is the answer to Proverbs 31. Sometimes we're looking for something for men. And Psalm 15 talks about the man that God accepts. Yes, by man here men , it means everybody, but somehow just reads a little bit better leads . For me, it reads a little bit different when I think about this being specifically addressed towards men . And so the psalm is a wisdom psalm. It's a psalm that is teaching us something breaks down very easily. There's the question verse one, then there's the answer verses two through the beginning of verse five. And at the very end of the psalm, there is a promise. So what's the question? Verse one. The question is, God, who will you accept? Who can dwell on your Holy hill? Who will you accept? That's a great question to ask. Have you ever asked that, does God accept me? Does God accept me? And the answer is the man. Verse two, whose character is true? Verse three, who restrains his words? Verse four, who has clear cut allegiances? And then verse four and into verse five, has dealings that are beyond honorable. When you act that way in verse five, you get the promise of God. You live like this, you can't be shaken. What does that mean? Several Psalms talk about the righteous being shaken about life hurting, about there being persecution and adversity. David says, when you live like this, you're connected to the Lord. Verse one, the person who lives verses two to five remains in fellowship with God despite what's going on around him. That's the blessing of Psalm 15. Yes, it's certainly is something for everyone. Don't turn this off if you are a lady , uh, everybody needs to read Psalm 15. Everybody needs to make application of Psalm 15. But again, gentlemen , it just hits home, doesn't it? It just hits home. Am I this man wanna be a person seeking after God's own heart? Psalm 15 is the blueprint. It's the pattern, it's the map to get there. Thank you for reading Psalm 15 with me today. And with that, we close the podcast for the week. Hope you enjoyed the podcast and hope it's benefiting you and you're telling other people about it. Don't forget, of course, to leave a rating or review. So until next week when we'll open our Bibles together. Again, I'm Mark Roberts and I wanna go to heaven and I want you to come to I'll see you on Monday with a cup of coffee.

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