Hello, and welcome to the Westside Church's special Monday Morning Coffee podcast. On this podcast, our preacher, Mark Roberts, will help you get your week started right with a 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, July the 21st, the day after Youth Lectures weekend. What a weekend. I know you got your backpack loaded up. Just an incredible opportunity. So thankful to the elders. They care so much about our young people, and this youth lecture event makes such a big difference every single year. Just love it. Just love it. Just love it. I'll give you an additional note from my sermon yesterday here in a moment, but I hope you've got some coffee. I feel very blessed today. I'm drinking some amazing coffee sent by a friend of the podcast, and I'm drinking it out of a mug given to me. It says Foolish Things Coffee Company in Tulsa. Now, I have not been there, but that's a great name for a coffee shop. Foolish Things Coffee Company. I am sure that I would fit right in, hopefully not in the biblical sense of being foolish. But whatever you've got, whether that's Dr. Pepper or whether you're drinking antifreeze like my wife who loves Mountain Dew, yes, that's basically antifreeze, or whether you're drinking Diet Coke or Coke Zero, whatever it is, whatever it is, pour it. Pour it. Let's get ready. Let's get set. Let's go. Yesterday I did talk about repentance, and I got to talk about that from a unique angle. I talked about repentance like it's an apparatus, like it's a machine that you can run. It's a repenter, and you need to run your repenter. Get your repenter out of your backpack and turn it on. And I think that kind of gave it a unique feel, and I hope it connected well with you, and I hope it connected with the young people. Here's my extra thought for you. Not a whole lot today. I know everybody's a little worn down after just a huge weekend. So much good things, so many good things going on. Just wonderful. Coffee and conversation Saturday night, just incredible. Really thought our speakers did a great job. So let me just give you this extra thought. From Jeremiah 3, verses 12 and 13. Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord. I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord." Keep your repenter in good working order by always focusing on how good God is and how much He wants you to use it and come back to Him. Remember, when you use your repenter, God runs to meet you. Let's think about our daily Bible reading. Welcome to Monday. Welcome to Monday, and our reading today is 1 Kings 20, verses 1-25. I've had a little audio issues here. I changed to a different microphone, and that microphone is not behaving very well, so I switched back to the old microphone. Let's try it again. I hope you will not hear some of the modulation there, the getting quiet all of a sudden, and I'm not sure what's going on with all of that. It's a Monday. It's the day after youth lectures. Maybe the microphone is tired, too. I don't know, but we're looking at 1 Kings 20 And this really is going to. this is just going to say so much about the patience of God. In 1 Kings 18, God has shown clearly who is God. There is no doubt about that, and yet Ahab shows no desire to return to him and to do what's right. It's just incredible. It's just incredible. And the emphasis here really is on King Ahab. It shifts away from Elijah for a period of time, and the other big part of this is the rise of Syrian power. Not Assyria, A-S-S-Y-R-I-A-N, the Assyrians. They're yet to come. Right now, it's just the Syrians, capital S-Y-R-I-A-N, and that'll be Ben-Hadad and his son, Ben-Hadad II. There's a lot of Ben-Hadads. I'm not going down that rabbit hole, but there's a bunch of Syrian activity in this, and they intend to make, Ben-Hadad intends to make Ahab into king 33. Notice verse 1. There are 32 kings that he has turned into vassals, and he says to Ahab, you're next, and Ahab says, I am next. There isn't anything I can do about it. I have to submit to you. But then Ben-Hadad pushes a little bit and says, I want to just stomp around your house and send my servants to ransack your place and take anything that we want. And King Ahab says, that's too far. That's just too far. I'll go to war with you. So Ben-Hadad says, that's not a And divide up all the spoil. Some people have to take a handful of dirt, and there won't even be enough dirt to go around because we're going to level the place and take everything. And I do like Ahab here, verse 11. Come on and try, big boy. Just come on and try. Don't count your chickens before they hatch. And into that scene then comes a prophet of God, verse 13. please observe the emphasis, you shall know that I am the Lord. That's straight up out of 1 Kings 18. God is trying to teach these people who is God, and this is God's patience at a high level. This is the love of God for Israel as he tries to turn their hearts back to him. He grants Ahab the victory. The prophet says, you need to start this battle. That catches the Syrians completely unprepared. There's a panic. There's a rout. They completely destroy the Syrians. And then the prophet comes and says for 22, they'll be back. They'll be back. So once again, God is being gracious to him. Just so impressive here how much God does for Israel at a time when Israel is very far away from the Lord. But the Syrians say, we're coming back. We are coming back and we have a new plan. We're going to fight in the plain since their God is the God of the hills, verse 23. And then we're replacing kings with able military leaders. And we end on a cliffhanger. The Syrians are coming. What will happen tomorrow? We'll see what God does about the Syrian return. A reading for Monday, 1 Kings chapter 1, verses 1 to 25. Welcome to Tuesday. Welcome to Tuesday. I need to tell folks at Westside there will not be a Zoom study tonight. Dean and I are making our way to Conway where I will be speaking on their youth lectures, their youth weekend. I am looking forward to that particularly because that means I get to see my granddaughters Addison, Kate, and Jane. That'll be really, really fun. And bonus, I get to be around Sarah's Scotty dogs. You know how I feel about Scotty dogs, Cooper and Wrigley. I'm coming and I'll be giving you a walkies every night. But before we do that, we need to think a little bit about 1 Kings chapter 20. The reading for Tuesday is 1 Kings 26 to 43, and this is, once again, God's incredible love and patience. God makes sure that Ahab knows what is happening, verse 28, and there is that emphasis, you shall know that I am the Lord. And incredibly, even though there are many, many, many more Syrians, once again, Israel wins a great victory, but instead of taking advantage of that victory Ahab, in verse 32, is flattered that a powerful adversary seeks peace from him, and he just gives in. He just gives in. And I think the note here that ought to be particularly sounded is that Ahab, one scholar wrote, is treating these victories as if they are his own achievement. There's no consulting the prophet of God. Should I let these guys go? Should I make a treaty? He thinks, I'm the big man. I've accomplished all of this. So, verse 34, he made a covenant with him and he let him go. And that results then in a prophetic rebuke. And we really are seeing here the office of prophet and the office of king. There's so much opposition, so much tension between these two, and so the prophet says, verse 35, to his fellow, hey, I need you to hit me, and the implication here is that this is the command of God, and the prophet refuses to do that, which results in him being killed by a lion, which reminds us of the story of the young prophet in chapter 13, and then another prophet does wound him, and that's important. He needs the wound for a disguise, and he tells the king a little parable, tells the king a little story, getting a little Nathan David he Hey, I had a prisoner. Prisoner got away. What do you think about that? And Ahab says, oh, that's terrible. You set the punishment out of your own mouth. You need to be punished. And then the prophet says to Ahab as he takes the bandage away from his eyes, verse 41, now verse 42, you have set the punishment. You have failed God. You are going to come under the judgment of God. But as one writer said, verse 43, Ahab is not truly penitent. He is seeking to undo, nor is he seeking to undo what he has done amiss. He's just enraged at the prophet and exasperated against God. The word of God had stirred him but not tamed him. However, this was not the failure of the word of God. It's the failure of King Ahab. How true that is. And chapter 21 will show us just how evil and wicked this man truly can be. Our reading for Tuesday, 1 Kings chapter 20, verses 26 to 43. No Zoom call tonight. I'll see everybody on the podcast tomorrow. It is Wednesday. It's hump day. It is Wednesday, and today Devin Harbour will be with us to continue our summer series on the book of Judges. Here's Devin to tell you a little bit more about what he'll be speaking on tonight and update us a little bit on some of the things happening in his life. Here's Devin.

Hello. My name is Devin Harbour. My family and I were with you last year for your summer series, and we enjoyed our time there discussing the parables. Much has changed since then. In the spring, my family and I moved back to our home state of Oklahoma, to the Oklahoma City area, to work with the Mustang Church of Christ. We have also welcomed another daughter, our third child, keeping us a household of all girls. We have been greatly blessed. This year, we will discuss Abimelech from Judges 9. This is a marvelously odd chapter, which only makes this all the more intriguing. There are good things to consider and great ways to apply as we strive to be faithful to the King today. So, we look forward to studying this good text with you on Wednesday, July 23rd.

Thank you, Devin. Before Devin speaks for us tonight, we need to get our daily Bible reading done, and that is 1 Kings chapter 21. The reading for Wednesday is 1 Kings chapter 21. This is a brutally difficult chapter. Maybe a little light at the end of the tunnel here, but There's just not much to like when Ahab unlawfully seizes Naboth's field. One scholar noted,"...it is well known from both the biblical text and archaeological excavations at Samaria, Megiddo, and Hazor, that Ahab was a great builder. Among his many holdings was a palace at Jezreel that seems to have been a favorite retreat for the king and his family. Ahab and Jezebel were in residence there at the time of the contest on Mount Carmel, and it was there that Joram, Ahab's son, returned to recuperate after being wounded at Ramoth Gilead. Also, Jezebel apparently preferred Jezreel as her residence after the death of So this is all about building. It's all about construction projects, and Ahab wants more land. But Naboth knows, verse 3, that to sell the field is a violation of the law of God because it's in his family, and he can't sell it outside of the family. We then get a passage that says an awful lot about Jezebel and how Phoenicians view the royal king and the throne and his word, because she says, verse 7, don't you now govern Israel? Arise, eat bread, let your heart be cheerful. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. Now, the Septuagint translation, which is relying on some different manuscripts that would have been accessible during the time between the Testaments. That's the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Septuagint says, if you don't have enough courage to act, I will procure thee the vineyard of Naboth. And the New Jerusalem Bible, following some of that tradition, says, some king of Israel you are. Get up, eat, and take heart. I myself shall get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So, You see that she feels like the king can do anything that he wants to do. His word is law. You want it. You take it. There's no sense of being under the authority of God, and Ahab has completely lost his way here. Then there is this terrible plot. Verses 9 and 10, there's the proclaiming of a fast, which might indicate that the city had committed some sort of great sin, and so we need to find the perpetrator. We need to find the sinner. And two worthless men, worthless here Some translations have scoundrel. It's literally sons of Belial. And by the time of the New Testament, Belial... refers to Satan. So these are real wicked men, and they falsely charge Naboth, and Naboth is murdered. And evidently, verse 15, the practice is that when somebody is executed, the state takes possession of their property. And of course, verse 17, Elijah shows up. Elijah seems to have a knack for always showing up at exactly the wrong time in Ahab's life, and he shows up and pronounces strong condemnation and judgment, which we will read about and we will see come to pass. And shockingly, verse 27, Ahab repents. Ahab repents. Didn't see that coming. Didn't have that on my bingo card today. Ahab is such a completely worthless and evil person. I did not expect that he would respond to the Word of God. But God says to Elijah, verse 28 and verse 29, Ahab has humbled himself, and so I will not bring the disaster in his days. So if you're questioning whether this is sincere repentance, God viewed it as sincere repentance, and of course the Lord would know. Now, it won't last long, but for a moment or two, Ahab runs his repenter. Our reading then for Wednesday, 1 Kings chapter 21. It is Thursday. It's Thursday, and today we're reading 1 Kings 22, verses 1 to 28. This is a highly entertaining reading. The story here, I'm not sure you can stop at verse 28. It is very good stuff. For three years, verse 1, Syria and Israel continued without war. So the time frame here is about 853 or 852 BC, about 853 years before the birth of Christ. And Syria and Israel actually during that time had entered into an alliance to to try to repel the rising power of the Assyrians, but the alliance fell apart, and so there was war, and the next thing you know, Jehoshaphat shows up. Now, The writer of Kings has not talked about Jehoshaphat. We've not met him before. But Jehoshaphat is actually Ahab's brother-in-law because his son Jehoram had married Ahab's daughter Athaliah. And one scholar had noted about this that Jehoshaphat scores high in piety but low in sense. He had concluded a stupid marriage alliance with Ahab. Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram was wed to Ahab's daughter Athaliah. 2 Kings 8.18, 2 Chronicles 18 and verse 1. And that's exactly right. Jehoshaphat does not need to be tying himself up to the house of Ahab. And you get the sense here that Jehoshaphat knows some things about the Lord because he says, verse 5, inquire first for the word of the Lord. And word of the Lord, once again, is the overriding emphasis. What's God say? The word of the Lord. Of course, maybe we ought to say something here. Jehoshaphat, you should have inquired before you pledged yourself in an alliance to Ahab. What's this? I'm in with you. Oh, let's see what God thinks of about it. No, no, no, no. The order has been reversed there. Ask God first. And so a bunch of prophets show up, and it is clear to Jehoshaphat these guys are useless. They're just saying whatever the king wants to hear. So he says, I need a real prophet, and Micaiah is brought in. In verses 13 to 28, Micaiah comes and promises Ahab absolute defeat. He begins by parroting, and you don't get You don't get tone of voice here, but I think verse 15 is very, very sarcastic. Go up and triumph. Oh, it's like all these guys say, oh yeah, come on, king. Just, oh yeah, big win coming for you boys. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I just know you're going to triumph. Everybody in the room can tell Micaiah is not giving them what God really says. So Micaiah traces out a throne scene. This is maybe to balance the throne scene of Ahab and Josaphat. They are counseling together. There's another throne scene, and Micaiah pulls the curtain back and lets them see what's really going on. Zedekiah, the false prophet, is furious at this, and Micaiah says, verse 25, the day is going to come when he'll understand that the prophecy of that he offered was utterly false because he'll be hiding from his enemies in the inner room. And then I love this verse 28. Micaiah said, if you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. He is willing to take the test of a true prophet. And that's where the reading stops for Thursday. The reading for Thursday is 1 Kings 22 verses 1 to 28. We'll resume this story on Monday, but tomorrow we are in the Psalms. See you on Friday. It's Friday. It is Friday, and today our reading is Psalm 31. Psalm 31, where David is concerned once again about the terrible things that people are saying behind his back. This is a lament. It is a cry for help from God, and it does contain a lot of language that is repeated in other psalms. In some ways, it's kind of like some of our praying that uses stock phrases like, guard, guide, and direct us until we meet again. Now, that doesn't mean the psalmist is insincere, but it does mean that he's drawing on some common expressions of faith and trust. Now, the structure here is pretty unusual and difficult to outline. I've said before, psalms don't always outline neatly and cleanly. When David is writing a psalm, he's not thinking Roman 1, Roman 2, Roman 3, and how will this lay on PowerPoint slides. The psalm does seem to repeat itself. There's a cycle here from anguish to assurance, and I'll try to work with some of that as we work down through this psalm. So it begins with a prayer for God's help, verses 1 to 5, and that rock and fortress terminology in verse 2, that's all about great confidence and God is solid and I can trust in God. And then verse 5, into your hands I commit my spirit. Recognize that? Of course you do. That's Jesus. Jesus used that on the cross, and that gives us some insight into how Jesus felt as he was dying on the cross. Please realize Jesus doesn't use the second line in verse 5 because he does not need redemption. Then there is an expression of trust. I cried for help. Now verses 6, 7, and 8, God, I trust in you, not in idols. Then there is the prayer for the favor of the Lord, verses 9 to It seems in verse 19 that enemies have renewed their attack, and some of that confidence has dissolved into tears. And don't get lost here. Lots of poetry doesn't necessarily have to mean you're dying or near death. It just means I'm very, very distressed here. And then, verses 14 to 18, there is, once again, a statement of trust. Statement of trust. God, you can do this. Jeremiah will use this expression, fear on every side, quite a bit. And we're coming to Jeremiah in our Bible reading in the time of Jeremiah, and there will be fear on every side. And he likes that kind of expression. But the psalmist commits himself, verse 15, to the care of the Lord. Then the psalm ends in verses 19 to 24 with a song of thanksgiving. God, you are abundant in your goodness for all the good things that you've stored up for those who fear you, verse 19. You work for those who take refuge in you in the sight of the children of mankind. God is good and kind. We don't always understand, and the psalmist didn't always understand, how God is working and what God is doing, but he is there, and he is active on our behalf. So maybe as you look at Psalm 31, you have to ask yourself, what will I do when I'm being attacked? People are gossiping behind my back at work, or somebody posted something unfair about me on social media. What we need to do is not seek personal vengeance. We turn that over to the Lord. And we need to trust the Lord to deal with those adversaries and those enemies. And by that, I'm talking about the people that we can't work it out with. We can't go to and talk to and try to come to some reconciliation and repentance and forgiveness. What do we do with the evil people who just hate on us and do bad things? We turn it over to the Lord. Now, that's easy to say on a podcast. That's a lot harder to do. But I think it's easier to do if we read this psalm, if we pray this prayer, if we give it to the Lord like David did in Psalm 31. That's the podcast then for the week. I certainly do appreciate you listening to the podcast. Hope you're having a great day. great Friday. Tell others about the podcast and please leave a rating or review because that helps people find the podcast. I appreciate all of our listeners and the kind things that you say about how this helps you to continue the spiritual momentum of Sunday and how it helps you with your daily Bible reading. Have a great Friday. I'm Mark Roberts and I want to go to heaven and I want you to come too. I'll see you on Monday with... A cup of coffee.

Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ podcast, Monday Morning Coffee with Mark. For more information about Westside, you can connect with us through our website, justchristians.com and our Facebook page. Our music is from upbeat.io. That's upbeat with two P's, U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others, and we look forward to seeing you again, with a cup of coffee, of course, on next Monday.