Great Things, Lord I Lift Your Name On High, Holy Ground (We Are Standing On Holy Ground), Heart Of Worship, 10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)

What “failure” have you experienced the past week?

24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.”

Showing we love God when things go well is relatively easy. But when we fail, somehow, we find ourselves turning away from Him. Failure is never final. To LOVE GOD EVEN WHEN WE FAIL, let’s look at King David who God declared as “a man after My heart” (Acts 13:22).

1 Chronicles 21:1-2 mentions that Satan moved David to conduct a census in Israel. Satan, a deceiver, and liar –knows our weaknesses. He attacks us with lies and pretentions; we need to be discerning like Jesus who even rebuked Peter with “Get behind Me, Satan”! (Matthew 16:23). We need to know God’s word to guard our thoughts. David did not have that resolve. He commanded Joab to “number the people” – there’s nothing wrong with counting, unless you have wrong motives. David was about to transfer his confidence to his armies, and God warned David through Joab (vv.3-4). Joab, an accountability partner to David, intended to correct and stop David, but he insisted. The numbers seemed good for David (vv.5-6), but God was displeased with his grave mistake (v.7). When we fail like David, what do we do?

REPENT

Repentance (Gk. METANOIA) signifies a change of mind and direction. Not give excuses and blame others, but admit our mistakes. David went to God to admit and repent of what he has done “very foolishly” (1 Chronicles 21:8). David assumed responsibility; he did not blame Joab. When there’s a problem, do we assume responsibility? Repentance involves the 3As – Admit, Assume responsibility, and Accept consequences.

David took responsibility and pleaded to the Lord for the punishment to be upon him and not against the people (1 Chronicles 21:17). Sin always has collateral damages, what we do impacts others. The Bible reminds us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). It becomes our shield from doing foolish things. David was a man of great humility; at a different time, David writes a very personal confession when he was younger (Psalm 51:1-4). He owns the mistake fully and showed real repentance by owning his transgressions and iniquities. Repentance involves being sorry (sorrow), but the sorrow of true repentance leads to salvation, as opposed to those who just feel sorrowful because of embarrassment because of being caught (2 Corinthians 7:9-10). We must choose to repent the right way which leads us to…

OBEY

“The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith. The two are at opposite sides of the same coin.” (A.W Tozer). There are consequences to our sins, even if we gain forgiveness, sins will influence our lives and the people around us. Contrast David with his predecessor, king, Saul, who God removed and replaced with David:

Saul committed a mistake, and Samuel confronted him. Saul set up a monument for himself (1 Samuel 15:12). Saul responds to Samuel (v.13) and declared that he has “carried out the command of the LORD”. God is righteous, and He has every right to destroy those who do not adhere and accept His rules (remember Noah’s Ark, Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of Israel’s enemies). Samuel rebukes Saul for his disobedience (vv. 19-20), but Saul insisted he obeyed, blames the people, and even made a very “spiritual” excuse. Samuel’s memorable reminder to Saul is “to OBEY is better than sacrifice” (vv. 22-23). Samuel equates Saul’s rebellion and insubordination to idolatry and witchcraft– it is detestable to God. This was the reason for Saul’s rejection as king!

Partial and delayed obedience is still disobedience! We must strive to live a life of obedience with a clear conscience before God and men. The reason why many are not making progress is because our disobedience is “interfering” with God’s work in us (Tozer). We need to obey ALL that God asks us to do! The one who loves Jesus is the one who keeps His commandments (John 14:21)! The blessing of intimacy with God is linked to our obedience to God.

WORSHIP

Worship is the proper response to who God is, what He has done, continues to do, and what He will do in the future. A wrong view of God leads to a wrong response to Him. It’s imperative to get to know God more intimately and experience Him. Worship is a response of the heart. The more you know God, the more you will worship Him. David’s exaltation and acknowledgement of God is a high view of God’s greatness, majesty, authority, power, and rulership (1 Chronicles 29:10-13). A wrong view of God will not help you worship. You must grow in your knowledge and intimacy with God. By knowing Him, we begin to know ourselves (vv. 14-16), David acknowledged that everything he had belonged to God. We are all just passing through, and everything we gain comes from God ‘s grace and power – He truly deserves our worship. David generously gave towards building the temple (1 Chronicles 29:2-4). David discovered God’s grace in his mistake (1 Chronicles 21:9-13), he saw God’s merciful judgment. God’s love, mercy, and compassion of God is unfailing (Lamentations 3:22-23)! The angel of the LORD was ready to send pestilence, and made David choose the judgment (1 Chronicles 21:14-22). To solve the problem of sin and pestilence, David was commanded to build an altar to the Lord on a specific place (Ornan the Jebusite’s field). Ornan wanted to give the place for free, but David insisted to buy it ‘because he did not want to offer to God what cost him nothing. This is worship! David built the altar, proceeded with the offering and shedding of blood, the price of forgiveness. That place was where the temple was built by Solomon (2 Chronicles 3:1) – Mt. Moriah. When you surrender everything to God, something disastrous can become a blessing. We surrender all our mistakes to God and allow His redemption to cover it and set us free. He truly deserves all honor, glory, and praise!

How can you recover from sin or failure?

Why is repentance important? What does it mean to repent?

Why is worship important when it comes to recovery from sin/failure?

Pray for people you know who may be experiencing painful consequences of their mistakes, that they may repent and turn to God. Ask the Lord to reveal His grace and mercy to them at this time. Show them compassion in whatever way you can. Share how they can experience forgiveness for their sins through Jesus Christ.

• Worship God for who He is, what He has done, and what He will do in our lives.

• Upright and moral governance of public servants; repentance and salvation for government leaders and citizens for a Christ-centered Philippines.

• God’s help and comfort, salvation for Israel, wisdom for their leaders in government, military and their soldiers as they defend themselves against terrorists’ attacks. PRAISE GOD for the release of hostages so far! Continue to pray for the release of the remaining ones.

• War in Ukraine to end, loss of lives prevented, violence and lawlessness in Haiti to stop.

• That CCF Members would honor and love God and make disciples.

• Elders, pastors, dleaders, and families (holy, humble, harmonious, happy, heart-working).

• Ministries and churches expansion worldwide.

• Worship and Training Center

• Prayer Mountain

• Deeper intimate relationship with God.

• Righteous living.

• Salvation of family and friends.

24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.”