If My People

If My People

Community Service- 2023

CCCAG 8-20-23

Scripture- 2 Chron 7:13-14

Good morning! It’s great to be back here speaking to all of you, and love it that we have a moment every year where we can come together and celebrate our savior together.

Today I want to talk to you about a scripture that is referenced a lot when we talk about national days of prayer, and renewal of spiritual vitality in our nation.

If you brought your bible with you this morning, that scripture is in 2 Chronicles, chapter 7 if you want to turn there.

One quick point about this particular scripture-

When we interpret the bible, it’s important that we view these scriptures within their historical context-

In this case, God is speaking to Solomon about the nation of Israel. Therefore, it would be a mistake to directly take them and directly apply them to modern America.

So, before we read today’s verse, let me put it in it’s proper context.

King Solomon had just dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem to God. Prior to this, God was worshipped in a very fancy tent that could be moved around, but now Solomon had built this huge temple where people could come to worship God.

During this time, God appears to Solomon one night and has a talk with this young king.

When you read the entire conversation- it’s very fatherly. The whole conversation sounds like a loving father speaking to his son.

What God tells Solomon is that sometimes HE will have to bring discipline to the Hebrew nation when it starts to wander too far from HIM.

Good father’s bring disciple to their children. Quick example-

When I was a little boy, my father would take me to Montgomery Wards- was a department store in Kenosha, like Sears.

As a small child, I was a wanderer- if you didn’t tie me down, I was gone. I’d see something shiny, and away I’d go, much to the annoyance of my father.

That day, I saw something really cool over in the entertainment section- a big screen TV showing cartoons and wanted to go look at it. My dad started talking to the salespeople in home and garden, so I took my chance and I was gone toward the electronics section. I went over and checked out what I wanted to look at and turned around and went back to where my dad was…

But he wasn’t there.

So I went over to the tools section to look for him

But he wasn’t there.

Now I’m getting a little worried. I have no idea how to get home. Kenosha had about 80,000 people at that time, and was a good size city, and I knew how to back and forth to school, and that was it.

I was getting pretty scared when a store employee found me, trying to think about how I was going to find my dad or get home, when my dad appeared from behind a shelf- he had been hiding himself from me to teach me a lesson, and then took me to the car to continue the lesson with some backside reinforcement.

I tell you this story, because this is exactly how God is setting up this principle that we are going to read this morning-

Father God is saying, “Children, occasionally you are going to need some reminders of who I am, and who you are.

Those times may not be pleasant, but they are for your own good, and you need to trust me that I have your best in mind when I am forced to discipline you.”

In this case, God talks about drought, locusts destroying crops, or a sickness that causes widespread panic and death.

But, being a good Father, God gives us the way to come back to him when we chose to wander away.

That’s what I want to focus on this morning- this is God speaking-

2 Chron 7:13-14

13 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Prayer

Today’s message is titled “IF” My people. It shows us a promise of God that I think many of us need to hear this morning.

There are many kinds of promises in the bible. Some are God making promises to individuals regardless of what they do.

Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant is a good example.

Other promises are like this one- “If you do this, then I will do that”