Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Reflection: There is a wonderful juxtaposition in today’s readings. In 1 Chronicles we see the end of King David’s reign as the greatest king Israel had ever known. At the end of his reign he is able to build the magnificent temple and then pass the torch of leadership to his son, Solomon. And he gives this charge to his son, “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.” Notice it says “ if you seek him, he will be found by you.” Though the temple is the physical residence of where God dwells among the chosen people, there is a sense that the relationship God has with His people is spelled out in the covenant. As the people sought out God and lived according to the commands he gave them, they would be found by Him. Notice

Reflection: Chuck Colson, former Nixon aide, wrote a great book called “Kingdoms in Conflict” . In it he describes how God’s kingdom, which is always expanding even in ways we don’t even see, will always be in conflict with the kingdom of this world. We see this in the Old Testament as the Jews under King David’s leadership grow exponentially (we see in today’s OT passage just how large it has grown!) and then eventually conquer the Promised Land under God’s hand and David’s leadership. But over time the kings of Israel and Judah become more like the kings of the world and rely on other gods and slowly the kingdom is decimated. In the New Testament, we see the growth of the kingdom in the light of the Roman rule under Caesar. As the kingdom multiplies through spiritually potency of the early apostles Peter and Paul, we see the kingdom of the world begins to persecute the Christian movement as it is a threat to their power. But we see that greater is He that is in you than he th

Reflection: There is an interesting play on words, as Paul and Silas have their salvific encounter with the Philippian jailer. An earthquake hits the jail and in a panic the jailer realizes these men are from God. He utters the famous words, “What must I do to be saved?” Interestingly the word for salvation in the Greek “sozo”, means to be kept safe, or saved from destruction or peril. It is also the same word for “deliverance”, or “physical healing”. The jailer was uttering a word with double meaning. He was afraid for his physical life, but also seeking spiritual salvation. And Paul gives him the Good News of healing and deliverance through Jesus. In Acts 4 it says something similar, “There is salvation in no other name, but the name of Jesus.” The jailer was afraid for his physical life, but also whether he realized it or not, something bigger was at stake, his eternal salvation. We often see when people are in danger they cry out to God. Sometimes God uses circumstan

Reflection: In the financial world one of the principles of economics is called a “leading indicator” . A leading indicator is a sign of future economic prosperity. For instance, when the unemployment rate goes up it is a sign that our economy may be headed for a downturn. Hopefully our current leading indicators are signs that our economy is headed in the right direction. One of the leading indicators of a movement of God is prayer . When Paul and Silas wanted to go to the place where God was moving, they went to the place of prayer. On this particular day when they went to the place of prayer there was a woman who had a spirit of divination and was making a good bit of money by predicting things. When she saw Paul she realized his authority and started annoying him and causing a commotion in the marketplace. When Paul discerned her spirit was not of the Lord, he rebuked it in Jesus’ authority and the spirit left her. When her owners discovered it they were mad they lost t

Reflection: In the business world there are many models for running a business, from a sole proprietorship to a corporation. Within those models, there are various ways to make decisions. Anywhere from a Board of Directors, which gives a lot of input and discernment in the decision making process, to a company where the CEO has a lot of power and authority in making the ultimate decisions. Some choose to stay as privately owned business, so there is less scrutiny in their decision making process. In the readings today, we see some of the various ways the people of God made decisions and God’s role in that. In the Old Testament, as King David prepared for the temple being built by his son, Solomon, we see the order of the priesthood through the line of Aaron and Moses. Aaron, the Levite, and his sons were in charge of ministering as priests in the temple. Since there were so many duties and there needed to be an ordering of the administration of the duties. Lots were cast to d

Reflections: One the questions that is good to reflect on is, “What kind of legacy will I leave?” We often hear of legacy planning in terms of will and estate planning and how our material possessions will be passed on. While this is important and one should always keep their financial house order in this life and not leave your successors in debt, there is another legacy we will pass on to our children. It is the legacy of faith. We know faith is a gift, and if we have received it the only question is: what will we do this gift while we live on this earth? How will we pass it on, especially in our family? Today, we see a great passing on of the “faith baton” from David to Solomon. David had fought many battles and shed blood in conquering the nations for Israel to obtain the Promised Land. So God tells David he will not build the temple, but his son Solomon will. So David commissions his son Solomon today with these words: “Now, my son, the Lord be with you, and may y

Reflection: We often think of the devil’s work as inciting all kinds of horrendous behavior like lying, stealing, adultery, murder, and indeed his hand is in those evils. But we often don’t see the more subtle ways our enemy seeks to obstruct God’s work. We know King David is one of the best kings that Israel had ever seen. He was a man after God’s own heart, and was set aside for leadership for this attribute. But we also see a couple of chinks in David’s armor, like any human leader has. First, we saw him commit adultery with Bathsheba later on in his tenure, which cost him dearly. Today, we see a different kind of mistake that would be easy to miss. Importantly here in the Old Testament we see it says, “Satan rose up and incited David to take a census of Israel.” At first glance this would seem like standard operating procedure for the King to know how many were among the fighting ranks. So what’s the problem? The problem was God told them not to do it but to rely on Hi

Reflection: There is a great song from the 70’s by one of the early Christian rock bands Petra called, the “Battle Belongs to the Lord.” In both the Old and New Testament, we see different types of battles. In Chronicles 19 and 20, we see David fighting against the Ammonites, Arameans (Syrians), and Philistines. God’s plan was to give the Israelites the Promised Land, from which would be born the Promised One, but there were battles to be fought. When David inquired of the Lord and moved out when God said to, he had much success. Joab expresses to David this sentiment when he says, “ Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight.” And sure enough they h,ave victory and are one step closer to the Promised Land. In Acts, we see Paul and Barnabbas in a different kind of battle as they preach the Good News and start reaching Gentiles. They are moving into enemy territory, and similarly as they fast and p

Reflection: “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?” Such are the cries of the psalmist’s heart today. Anybody who has been a Christian for any length of time will know that often God’s timing is much different than ours. We live in a world of instant gratification and “what have you done for me lately.” With the rise of the internet and technology, we are used to getting results in nanoseconds. And yet, we know God doesn’t always work that way. We see David’s struggle in Psalm 13, as he waited to have victory over his enemies. Then, in 1 Chronicles 17, we see that even though David had defeated all his enemies through God’s intervention, he still had to wait to see God’s house built. Today God tells David that he will not get to see the temple built but his son, Solomon, will build it for God. And today God makes a “huge” promise to David t

“Help Lord!” Reflection: “Help Lord, for no one is faithful anymore, those who are faithful have vanished from the human race”, says King David to the Lord. Have you ever felt that way before? People let us down, institutions let us down, even those in our family let us down. It can all be very discouraging. It can lead to a cynicism and a pessimism that can control us powerfully. It can lead to a distrusting heart. In the midst of this of verse from the day is from 1 Thessalonians 5:24 which says, “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.” When we get discouraged from the mission God has put us on, we can remember that the good work God started in you, He will be faithful to complete. We see this in Barnabas and Paul, in the Acts reading today, as they preach the Word in the synagogue with such passion that the next day the whole city comes out to hear them. But the leaders are so self-centered and filled with pride that they try to contradict what Paul

Reflection: In King David, we see the rare combination of a triumphant warrior, and a man who was not too ashamed to dance and celebrate in worship of God, as the Ark entered the City of Jerusalem. His dancing was so celebrative that Saul’s daughter Michal despised him for it. It might have been because David succeeded her father, or she was just plain jealous of David’s uninhibited worship. Of course, David had plenty of reasons to celebrate. He had just defeated the Philistines soundly at God’s command. Notice that before David did anything He inquired of the Lord. Even to the point of in the second attack, God gave David strategic instructions on how to carry out the attack. He told them to not go directly at them, but circle around them and attack them in front of the poplar trees. David’s worship and zeal came out of celebration for who God was, and all that He had done. David experienced God’s power by listening and obeying God’s voice. There was a joy from seeing Go