May 26, 2025 • 25 mins
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Welcome to the Westside church’s special Monday Morning Coffee podcast with Mark Roberts. Mark is a disciple, a husband, father and grand dad, as well as a certified coffee geek, fan of CS Lewis’ writings and he loves his big red Jeep. He’s also the preacher for Westside church.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
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 alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
(00:24):
applications into our dailylives.
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_00 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee podcast for Monday, May
the 26th.
I'm Mark.
I've got some coffee.
I've got some sermon notes.
I've got stuff about daily Biblereading and...
I have the Westside SummerSchedule because today is
Memorial Day and that's thebeginning of summer.
So let's talk for just a secondor two about all the great
(01:13):
things that are going on atWestside this summer.
On June the 4th, Wednesday, Junethe 4th, we'll begin our summer
series, bringing in guestspeakers each Wednesday night to
talk about the Judges, which isour theme for Vacation Bible
School, which begins Sunday,June the 8th through June the
11th.
And this year is This year,we're going at night.
(01:34):
It will be in the evenings.
That'll give some people anopportunity to be there that
haven't been able to be therebefore.
And adults, we do have somethingfor you.
So, Monday night and Tuesdaynight, we have adult class.
Let's see here, Terry Slack andStephen Baxley will be speaking
for us for the adults atVacation Bible School, June 8th
(01:57):
through the 11th.
So mark that on your calendar.
And of course, don't forgetabout our youth lectures.
Youth lectures is July 18th,19th, and 20th.
Just an incredible weekend.
And it's not just for youngpeople, not just for young
people by any stretch of theimagination.
So all kinds of good things aregoing on.
(02:17):
All kinds of great things arehappening during the summer.
We'll be right back.
(02:47):
I've got coffee.
You need to pour your cup ofcoffee.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday in the 1040, I talkedabout how to forgive someone and
move on.
We're talking about the path offorgiveness, moving from
bitterness to blessing.
And I just want to say here, andI think I'll keep my bonus
(03:10):
remarks here kind of tightbecause I spent so much time
talking about our summerschedule.
I think this is a great place todiagnose your spiritual health.
Are you ready to forgive?
Someone comes to you and says, Idid you wrong.
I'm so sorry about that.
Please forgive me.
Are we ready to be gracious likeGod is gracious and forgive?
(03:31):
And even more, am I ready tomove, take the initiative and
move towards someone to work fortheir repentance so that I can
forgive them?
Sometimes we sit in the readyposition.
But having that awkwardconversation where we say, I
know what happened here.
I know what you did.
(03:51):
That was wrong.
Let me show you what the Biblesays about that.
You can't do that.
You shouldn't have done that.
That was wrong.
You need to repent and turn awayfrom that, and I want to forgive
you for that.
Those are hard conversations tohave, but strong, mature
Christians will have thoseconversations.
Matthew 18, 15 talks about that.
(04:12):
Beyond Matthew 18, 15, we'rejust talking about doing unto
others as we'd have them do untoyou.
Matthew 7 and 12, we're talkingabout that golden rule thing.
If I'm in sin, I want somebodyto come and rescue me and get me
out of sin.
Even if I get defensive and getmy hackles up and I'm all, I
need someone to gently help mesee that I've done wrong so that
(04:34):
I can repent of that, ask Godfor forgiveness, ask them for
forgiveness.
That's what Christians do foreach other.
Can you do that?
Will you do that?
That's a great measure of yourspiritual maturity, of your
spiritual health.
And another great measure is ourinterest in the daily Bible
reading.
Are we in God's Word on aregular basis, maybe even on a
(04:55):
Memorial Day when we're having alot of fun with family and we're
doing a lot of fun things andwe're kind of in a holiday mode?
Are we still doing some dailyBible reading?
I hope that we are becausethat's what we're talking about
next.
Let's get our Bibles and let'sturn to 1 Kings 2.
And let's see what Adonijah isup to today.
(05:29):
Our reading for Monday is 1Kings 2, verses 13 to 27.
And this finishes up the end ofthe Adonijah story because
Adonijah comes in verse 13,tries to use Bathsheba to say, I
would like that concubine,Abishag the Shunammite.
Now, that's the girl that isbrought to David in 1 Kings 1,
(05:50):
verses 1 to 4, when he is oldand he can't keep warm.
And so, kind of awkward, I guesswe don't do much of this today,
do we?
But they don't have an electricblanket, so they put Abishag in
the bed with David.
Verse 4 in chapter 1 is veryclear that he does not have
relationship with her.
And so, Adonijah asks for her,verse 17, And this is a terrible
(06:15):
mistake on the part of Adonijah.
To have the royal harem topossess the concubines of the
king is to make a claim to thethrone.
And we have seen that withAbsalom already.
And in fact, even going beforethat in 2 Samuel 3, Isbosheth
and Abner, they have a fallingout over the harem.
And in 2 Samuel 12, the prophetexplicitly says to David, you
(06:38):
received Saul's harem.
So, This is not a minor slight,nor is it Solomon making a big
deal out of nothing.
And even though some are verycritical of Solomon about how he
takes this request, the bottomline to that is Adonijah knows
what this means, and this iseither an attempt to gain the
(06:58):
throne...
to make another run at thethrone, or it's just very
foolish.
But Solomon says, I know whatyou're doing.
You're trying to get to thethrone.
You're going to make anotherclaim that you should be the
rightful king.
And you hear some of that whenhe says in verse 15, you know,
the kingdom was mine and allIsrael fully expected me to
(07:19):
reign.
And once again, we notice thatAdonijah is aware of God's will,
but he doesn't care for it washis from the Lord.
He says in verse 15, but hewants to be king.
And Solomon knows what he'sabout.
Solomon has been gracious to himbefore.
He's now coloring way outsidethe lines, and he pays for it
(07:40):
with his life.
Please notice verse 24, As theLord lives who has established
me.
Established is the key idea inchapter 2.
It's used in 2.12, 2.24, andthen used again at the end of
the chapter in 2.45 and 2.46.
So part of establishing thethrone...
in Solomon's hands is takingaway rival threats.
(08:04):
Adonijah is a rival threat.
And then we get this marvelousnote about Abiathar.
Solomon believes that Abiatharis supporting Adonijah, and
please notice that Abiathar doesnot object.
He has supported him before inchapter 1 when they made an
attempt to grab the throne andusurp it, and Abiathar now is
(08:24):
told, you need to get out ofhere.
I can't put up with you anymore.
I think you and Adonijah are aVerse 26, Notice verse 27.
fulfilling the word of the Lord.
There are two branches of thepriestly family that are
(08:46):
descending, the Ithamar branchand the Eleazar branch.
The Ithamar branch is Eli'sbranch, and it was prophesied
that that branch would be doneaway.
They would be losing thepriesthood because of Eli's sons
and how he did not restrainthem.
And so here it is.
That comes to pass.
It's been a long time sinceSamuel was a little boy being
(09:08):
raised in the It's been a longtime since then, but the word of
the Lord is fulfilled, verse 27.
And from now on, the house ofZadok will be the high priest
family, the kind of priest thatyou want to have no more, not
(09:29):
going to have any more fromAbiathar and the line of Eli.
Our reading then for Monday, 1Kings chapter 2, verses 13 to
27.
Have a great Memorial Day.
It is Tuesday.
It is Tuesday.
That's kind of a tough day for abunch of us as we get back to
work after a day off.
I hope that your day is goingwell.
(09:51):
It's 1 Kings 2, verses 28-46that we are reading today.
This breaks neatly into twoparts.
In verses 28-35, Solomon dealswith Joab.
In verses 36-46, he deals withShammai.
And the material in verses 36-46may, in fact, be a little bit
out of place, out ofchronological order, I should
(10:12):
say.
And we know that because verse39 says at the end of three
years.
So we'll kind of project forwarda little bit here to get the
story of Shammai finally fullytaken care of.
Let's deal with Joab first.
Verse 28, when the news came toJoab for Joab had supported
Adonijah.
See, there was a conspiracygoing on, wasn't there?
Abiathar, Joab, and Adonijahsupported.
(10:34):
were going to make some sort ofattempt to take the throne by
force.
So Joab flees to the tent of theLord, holds on to the horns of
the altar.
He clearly does not know thelaw.
Exodus chapter 21 and verse 14says you can't take shelter in
the tabernacle if you're amurderer.
There was the right of asylum inthe sanctuary, but that only
applied to those who had beeninvolved in some sort of
(10:56):
accidental death.
Joab is a murderer.
He has murdered lots of people,and there is discussion of that
in verse 32, and it's time forhim to pay for his crime.
So Solomon sends Benaiah down totake care of that, and Benaiah
does take care of that.
Benaiah is the guy who killed alion in a pit on a snowy day,
(11:16):
and so he seems to be a fearsomewarrior, and he is able to take
care of these kinds ofsituations perfectly.
And he does.
Benaiah takes care of Joab.
Joab's career, as you look backon that, what a mixture of good
and bad.
There are times when he's soloyal to David and really helps
David, saves his bacon.
(11:37):
I think particularly with therebellion of Absalom, there's
some things going on there thatJoab really is David's
right-hand man and helps himmanage to ride through that big
mess that Absalom creates.
On the other hand, he has atendency to murder anybody who
gets in his way.
He does not follow orders verywell.
He murdered Absalom, forexample.
And so it's time for him to go,and Solomon takes care of that.
(12:02):
The final loose end then thatSolomon ties up so that his
kingdom would be established.
Look at verse 45 and verse 46.
So the kingdom was established.
It says that twice.
Keeping the main thing, the mainthing here, the main thing is
the kingdom is being establishedin the hands of Solomon.
We need to deal with Shammai.
Shammai is the guy that cursedDavid when Absalom chased him
out of Jerusalem.
(12:23):
And Solomon is very gracious toShammai.
Remember, curses are important.
Curses have power in thisculture and in this time.
He says, listen, I need you tostay put.
You need to keep an eye on you.
And particularly, verse 37, thathouse arrest would show real
wisdom.
It means that he can't go to hiskinsmen in Benjamin.
That's always an issue becauseSaul was from the tribe of
(12:47):
Benjamin.
And there are a couple of placeswhere it just seems like
somebody from Benjamin isjumping up and down and saying,
the house of David reallyshouldn't be the king, shouldn't
be on the throne.
We need a Benjamite.
We need someone from the familyof Saul, maybe.
And so, Shammai, we don't wantyou running over there to
Benjamin and stirring up troubleand leading some kind of
rebellion.
You better just stay put.
(13:08):
And incredibly, after threeyears, verse 39, Shammai seems
to have forgotten the admonitionof the king and says, goes to
Target to run an errand.
What are you doing, Shemite?
What's going on?
Well, they had a great sale downthere.
Well, of course, he's not reallygoing to Target.
He's chasing some slaves.
But the king says, hey, I toldyou this.
You heard the instructions.
(13:29):
You knew the instructions.
Now you're going to have to payfor violating the law, for
violating my instructions.
And as a result of that, He isstruck down.
Benaiah again, verse 46, is theone that does the deed.
And that's the end of Shammai.
So the kingdom was establishedin the hand of Solomon.
I think the most importantquestion to be asking in our
(13:50):
Bible reading this year is whatis God doing?
And what God is doing is he iskeeping his word to Solomon.
David.
He told David Solomon to be onthe throne.
Some people said, nope, I don'tthink so.
I think I'll be on the throne.
They were wrong.
Solomon is on the throne.
Let me give you one more note.
Westsiders, there is not a Zoomcall tonight.
(14:10):
No Zoom call tonight forWestsiders.
I'm out of town.
So we'll have Zoom probably nextweek, I would guess.
Maybe you have to work aroundVBS and some things with some of
that.
But no Zoom call tonight.
And We'll just see everybody onthe podcast in the morning.
See you on Wednesday.
The reading for Tuesday, 1 Kingschapter 2, verses 28 to 46.
(14:32):
Welcome to Wednesday.
Welcome to Wednesday.
Our reading today is 1 Kingschapter 3, verses 1 to 15.
There's a lot to like in ourreading, but there are some
things that are truly troubling.
It begins by telling us in verse1 that Solomon made a marriage
alliance with Pharaoh, king ofEgypt.
I think contextually thisprobably serves to say that that
(14:52):
Solomon is ruling a verypowerful empire.
Archaeology confirms thatEgyptian kings did not like to
do this.
They did not give theirdaughters in alliances.
So clearly, Solomon is the bigdog on the block if that kind of
thing is happening.
So there's a lot to like aboutall of that.
By the way, this is not hisfirst wife by any means.
(15:13):
And Solomon will say some thingsabout, I'm just a little child,
but he is a full-grown adulthere.
He is married and has childrenand all that goes with all of
that.
And of course, what is reallyconcerning as we pay attention
to what God thinks of what'shappening here is that people
are sacrificing in the highplaces.
Solomon is sacrificing in thehigh places.
That seems to be...
(15:33):
people doing the best they cansince there isn't a central
sanctuary.
There's not one establishedplace to do that, but oftentimes
that seems to be done in placesthat used to be centers of idol
worship, and that ends upbecoming idol worship.
Generally speaking, this is nota good idea.
Israel was forbidden tosacrifice in the high places.
(15:54):
Sometimes it seems like that'sokay.
Maybe God is using those.
God will appear to Solomon whileat a high place, but Generally
speaking, high places, not sogreat.
And then even worse, he'smarrying foreign wives.
That is not a good idea becauseit's a violation of the law.
Deuteronomy 17, 17, the king isnot to multiply wives.
(16:15):
They are not to marry Canaanitewomen.
Deuteronomy 7, verse 3.
Everything about that isproblematic.
Everything about that is trulytroubling.
One of the things aboutSolomon's reign, and I'm maybe a
little more aware of this than Iwould be usually, is I've been
preaching through 1 Kings.
In fact, just recently, a coupleweeks ago, preached on 1 Kings
(16:35):
7, so really close to thismaterial, and I just really have
noticed that over and over againas Kings talks about Solomon's
reign, there'll be these littlered flags waving.
And Solomon is doing all thesegreat things, but you know what?
He also did this.
And you're thinking, oh no,where is that going to go?
And of course, it's going to endin no good place for Solomon.
(16:57):
But God does ask Solomon, verse5, what he would desire.
I don't think that's a blankcheck.
I think God is testing Solomonhere.
And Solomon exhibits sometremendous attitudes in prayer.
He is humble, verse 7.
He has a sense ofresponsibility.
He uses the expression, yourpeople, uses that twice, verse 8
and in verse 9.
(17:18):
He has right priorities in verse9, and he trusts in God in verse
9.
This is a very good prayer.
God honors that prayer, verse10, and gives him wisdom.
I want to say a lot about wisdomas we move forward in Kings
here, because wisdom so often isequated with kind of an esoteric
(17:39):
guy sitting on the top of amountain with his legs crossed,
humming to himself.
He's the wise guru, or maybe wethink of it as being sort of
academic.
Wisdom in the Bible is none ofthose things.
Wisdom in the Bible is about howto navigate Well, it is about
how to order life practically.
It is not philosophic.
(18:01):
It is about handling life's upsand downs, problems and
difficulties in a way thathonors God and lives in the best
kind of fashion.
And we're going to see lots ofthat as we move along throughout
1 Kings 3, 4, and 5, where thereare illustrations of Solomon's
practical wisdom.
Our reading today ends...
(18:21):
In verse 15, where Solomon makesa public testimony to the
relationship that he has withGod.
Let me just give you one morenote.
I may share this tonight inBible talk as well.
Please notice here that half ofour reading today causes us to
say, retro, what are you doinghere, Solomon?
And then half of our reading,God is blessing him and it's
very, very good.
And I think what all of thatsays is God uses imperfect
(18:46):
people.
Solomon is not flawless.
God's blessing him and using himanyway.
And that ought to give us greathope because everybody listening
to this podcast and the guymaking this podcast, that's
right, we are all imperfect.
See you tomorrow.
Our reading for Wednesday, 1Kings 3, verses 1-15.
(19:10):
Welcome to Thursday.
Thursday's reading is 1 Kings 3,verses 16-28.
This is a very famous story.
I don't think I need to spend awhole lot of time working with
the story.
It's pretty straightforward.
I think what's important here istwo things.
First of all, what's the storydoing here?
And what can we learn aboutBible times from this story?
(19:31):
And let me just start with whatit's doing here.
The story is here to demonstratethat God kept his word to
Solomon.
He told Solomon, I'm going togive you an understanding heart.
going to give you wisdom.
And then Solomon demonstrateshis wisdom.
Notice verse 28,"...all Israelheard of the judgment that the
king had rendered.
They stood in awe of the king.
They perceived the wisdom ofGod.
The wisdom of God was in him todo justice." The fulfillment of
(19:54):
1 Kings chapter 3 verses 1 to 15is given to us immediately in
the story of 16 to 28.
The other thing that needs to besaid here is this is a good
chance to learn something aboutlife in Bible times.
And I'll just share with you aquote from a scholar about
prostitution.
Ancient prostitutes weregenerally slaves, daughters who
had been sold by their ownparents, or they were poor women
(20:15):
who had never had an opportunityto marry or who had lost their
husbands.
The normal expectation was for awoman to be married and live in
her husband's house and bear hischildren.
Women who had to supportthemselves by yielding to the
lust of strangers and whosechildren were destined to grow
up as illegitimate That's thestory of prostitution in the
(20:36):
Bible.
And anytime you see a widowwoman in the Bible, I'm thinking
about Naomi, for example, youshould immediately be thinking,
Oh, no, she's in so muchtrouble, she may end up having
to turn to prostitution just tolive, just to support herself.
That doesn't make it right.
I'm not justifying prostitutionby any stretch of the
imagination.
No, no, no.
(20:57):
But I am saying this is aterrible situation for a woman
to be in.
And the women who are caught upin these situations, they
weren't happy to be there.
They didn't want to be in thatsituation.
They're just trying to survive.
And the application of that tous today is pretty clear.
The majority of women inprostitution today Exactly the
(21:17):
same thing.
They're runaways.
They're caught up in drug abuse.
They're being trafficked.
They're being used.
They're not happy about it.
And what drives me crazy is thatHollywood keeps churning movies
out where they show prostitutesas if they are just the happiest
people.
They love this sexy lifestylethat they're part of.
It's just so great.
(21:38):
That's such a false, false viewof prostitution, and it's just
an outrageous lie.
It's just an outrageous lie.
When we see women like this inthe Bible, it doesn't make it
right, but it does mean we wantto extend compassion.
We want to extend compassion andfeel compassion for them, and
(21:58):
that may have something to dowith why Solomon takes this case
and hears this case.
He knows these women are livinga life that they don't want to
live.
This is not what they want to beall about.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Our reading for Thursday is 1Kings 3, verses 16 to 28.
Tomorrow, we turn to the Psalms.
(22:20):
Welcome to Friday, welcome toFriday, and today we're reading
the 21st Psalm.
This is an important psalm forus to be reading because last
week we read Psalm 20, and Psalm21 seems to be going with Psalm
20.
Let's work on that a little bit.
First and foremost, what kind ofpsalm is this?
That's answered in verse 1,"...OLord, in your strength the
(22:40):
King..." This is a royal psalm.
It is about the king.
And it does seem to be pairedwith the 20th Psalm because in
chapter...
Psalm 20, verse 4, may he grantyou your heart's desire and
fulfill all your plans.
And then in 21, 2, you havegiven him his heart's desire and
(23:01):
have not withheld the request ofhis lips.
So chapter 20, or Psalm 20, Ishould say, is about going to
battle.
And it does seem in some waysthat Psalm 21 is about victory
in battle.
There's not a reference to aparticular victory.
And verses 8 to 12 are veryfuture focused, very oriented on
what's to come.
But there is some victorylanguage here, I think there is
(23:22):
a tie between these two psalms.
The outline is pretty simple.
God's goodness to the king intimes past, verses 1 to 6.
The king and the Lord in thepresent, verse 7.
And then God's goodness to theking in the future.
And it is a beautiful psalm.
And I think this psalm pushesall of us to think about how
good God is and how much Godblesses us and how God takes
(23:45):
care of us.
This is a psalm that calls forus to be thankful.
Maybe you're not a king.
Maybe I'm not a king, but God inmany ways, verse 2, has given us
our heart's desire.
And you know that that is true.
So this psalm points us to theimportance of thanking God for
the blessings that He gives tous.
And I think maybe the richlanguage of this psalm points to
(24:08):
the fact that God often gives usmore than what we asked for.
Verse 6, you make him mostblessed forever.
You make him glad with the joyof your presence.
You get more from God than youcould have ever possibly
dreamed, that we ever possiblycould deserve.
God is so good.
He is good to the king in Psalm21, and he is good to you and me
(24:30):
as well.
That concludes the podcast forthe week.
I certainly do appreciate youlistening.
Hope you're telling others aboutthe podcast and you left us a
rating and a review.
So until next week when we'llopen our Bibles together again,
I'm Mark Roberts and I want togo to heaven and I want you to
come too.
See you on Monday with a cup ofcoffee.
SPEAKER_01 (24:59):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, 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 Ps,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(25:23):
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Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again, with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
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 alook back at yesterday's sermon
so that we can think through itfurther and better work the
(00:24):
applications into our dailylives.
Mark will then look forward intothis week's Bible reading so
that we can know what to expectand watch for.
And he may have some extra bonusthoughts from time to time.
So grab a cup of coffee as westart the week together on
Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.
SPEAKER_00 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee podcast for Monday, May
the 26th.
I'm Mark.
I've got some coffee.
I've got some sermon notes.
I've got stuff about daily Biblereading and...
I have the Westside SummerSchedule because today is
Memorial Day and that's thebeginning of summer.
So let's talk for just a secondor two about all the great
(01:13):
things that are going on atWestside this summer.
On June the 4th, Wednesday, Junethe 4th, we'll begin our summer
series, bringing in guestspeakers each Wednesday night to
talk about the Judges, which isour theme for Vacation Bible
School, which begins Sunday,June the 8th through June the
11th.
And this year is This year,we're going at night.
(01:34):
It will be in the evenings.
That'll give some people anopportunity to be there that
haven't been able to be therebefore.
And adults, we do have somethingfor you.
So, Monday night and Tuesdaynight, we have adult class.
Let's see here, Terry Slack andStephen Baxley will be speaking
for us for the adults atVacation Bible School, June 8th
(01:57):
through the 11th.
So mark that on your calendar.
And of course, don't forgetabout our youth lectures.
Youth lectures is July 18th,19th, and 20th.
Just an incredible weekend.
And it's not just for youngpeople, not just for young
people by any stretch of theimagination.
So all kinds of good things aregoing on.
(02:17):
All kinds of great things arehappening during the summer.
We'll be right back.
(02:47):
I've got coffee.
You need to pour your cup ofcoffee.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday in the 1040, I talkedabout how to forgive someone and
move on.
We're talking about the path offorgiveness, moving from
bitterness to blessing.
And I just want to say here, andI think I'll keep my bonus
(03:10):
remarks here kind of tightbecause I spent so much time
talking about our summerschedule.
I think this is a great place todiagnose your spiritual health.
Are you ready to forgive?
Someone comes to you and says, Idid you wrong.
I'm so sorry about that.
Please forgive me.
Are we ready to be gracious likeGod is gracious and forgive?
(03:31):
And even more, am I ready tomove, take the initiative and
move towards someone to work fortheir repentance so that I can
forgive them?
Sometimes we sit in the readyposition.
But having that awkwardconversation where we say, I
know what happened here.
I know what you did.
(03:51):
That was wrong.
Let me show you what the Biblesays about that.
You can't do that.
You shouldn't have done that.
That was wrong.
You need to repent and turn awayfrom that, and I want to forgive
you for that.
Those are hard conversations tohave, but strong, mature
Christians will have thoseconversations.
Matthew 18, 15 talks about that.
(04:12):
Beyond Matthew 18, 15, we'rejust talking about doing unto
others as we'd have them do untoyou.
Matthew 7 and 12, we're talkingabout that golden rule thing.
If I'm in sin, I want somebodyto come and rescue me and get me
out of sin.
Even if I get defensive and getmy hackles up and I'm all, I
need someone to gently help mesee that I've done wrong so that
(04:34):
I can repent of that, ask Godfor forgiveness, ask them for
forgiveness.
That's what Christians do foreach other.
Can you do that?
Will you do that?
That's a great measure of yourspiritual maturity, of your
spiritual health.
And another great measure is ourinterest in the daily Bible
reading.
Are we in God's Word on aregular basis, maybe even on a
(04:55):
Memorial Day when we're having alot of fun with family and we're
doing a lot of fun things andwe're kind of in a holiday mode?
Are we still doing some dailyBible reading?
I hope that we are becausethat's what we're talking about
next.
Let's get our Bibles and let'sturn to 1 Kings 2.
And let's see what Adonijah isup to today.
(05:29):
Our reading for Monday is 1Kings 2, verses 13 to 27.
And this finishes up the end ofthe Adonijah story because
Adonijah comes in verse 13,tries to use Bathsheba to say, I
would like that concubine,Abishag the Shunammite.
Now, that's the girl that isbrought to David in 1 Kings 1,
(05:50):
verses 1 to 4, when he is oldand he can't keep warm.
And so, kind of awkward, I guesswe don't do much of this today,
do we?
But they don't have an electricblanket, so they put Abishag in
the bed with David.
Verse 4 in chapter 1 is veryclear that he does not have
relationship with her.
And so, Adonijah asks for her,verse 17, And this is a terrible
(06:15):
mistake on the part of Adonijah.
To have the royal harem topossess the concubines of the
king is to make a claim to thethrone.
And we have seen that withAbsalom already.
And in fact, even going beforethat in 2 Samuel 3, Isbosheth
and Abner, they have a fallingout over the harem.
And in 2 Samuel 12, the prophetexplicitly says to David, you
(06:38):
received Saul's harem.
So, This is not a minor slight,nor is it Solomon making a big
deal out of nothing.
And even though some are verycritical of Solomon about how he
takes this request, the bottomline to that is Adonijah knows
what this means, and this iseither an attempt to gain the
(06:58):
throne...
to make another run at thethrone, or it's just very
foolish.
But Solomon says, I know whatyou're doing.
You're trying to get to thethrone.
You're going to make anotherclaim that you should be the
rightful king.
And you hear some of that whenhe says in verse 15, you know,
the kingdom was mine and allIsrael fully expected me to
(07:19):
reign.
And once again, we notice thatAdonijah is aware of God's will,
but he doesn't care for it washis from the Lord.
He says in verse 15, but hewants to be king.
And Solomon knows what he'sabout.
Solomon has been gracious to himbefore.
He's now coloring way outsidethe lines, and he pays for it
(07:40):
with his life.
Please notice verse 24, As theLord lives who has established
me.
Established is the key idea inchapter 2.
It's used in 2.12, 2.24, andthen used again at the end of
the chapter in 2.45 and 2.46.
So part of establishing thethrone...
in Solomon's hands is takingaway rival threats.
(08:04):
Adonijah is a rival threat.
And then we get this marvelousnote about Abiathar.
Solomon believes that Abiatharis supporting Adonijah, and
please notice that Abiathar doesnot object.
He has supported him before inchapter 1 when they made an
attempt to grab the throne andusurp it, and Abiathar now is
(08:24):
told, you need to get out ofhere.
I can't put up with you anymore.
I think you and Adonijah are aVerse 26, Notice verse 27.
fulfilling the word of the Lord.
There are two branches of thepriestly family that are
(08:46):
descending, the Ithamar branchand the Eleazar branch.
The Ithamar branch is Eli'sbranch, and it was prophesied
that that branch would be doneaway.
They would be losing thepriesthood because of Eli's sons
and how he did not restrainthem.
And so here it is.
That comes to pass.
It's been a long time sinceSamuel was a little boy being
(09:08):
raised in the It's been a longtime since then, but the word of
the Lord is fulfilled, verse 27.
And from now on, the house ofZadok will be the high priest
family, the kind of priest thatyou want to have no more, not
(09:29):
going to have any more fromAbiathar and the line of Eli.
Our reading then for Monday, 1Kings chapter 2, verses 13 to
27.
Have a great Memorial Day.
It is Tuesday.
It is Tuesday.
That's kind of a tough day for abunch of us as we get back to
work after a day off.
I hope that your day is goingwell.
(09:51):
It's 1 Kings 2, verses 28-46that we are reading today.
This breaks neatly into twoparts.
In verses 28-35, Solomon dealswith Joab.
In verses 36-46, he deals withShammai.
And the material in verses 36-46may, in fact, be a little bit
out of place, out ofchronological order, I should
(10:12):
say.
And we know that because verse39 says at the end of three
years.
So we'll kind of project forwarda little bit here to get the
story of Shammai finally fullytaken care of.
Let's deal with Joab first.
Verse 28, when the news came toJoab for Joab had supported
Adonijah.
See, there was a conspiracygoing on, wasn't there?
Abiathar, Joab, and Adonijahsupported.
(10:34):
were going to make some sort ofattempt to take the throne by
force.
So Joab flees to the tent of theLord, holds on to the horns of
the altar.
He clearly does not know thelaw.
Exodus chapter 21 and verse 14says you can't take shelter in
the tabernacle if you're amurderer.
There was the right of asylum inthe sanctuary, but that only
applied to those who had beeninvolved in some sort of
(10:56):
accidental death.
Joab is a murderer.
He has murdered lots of people,and there is discussion of that
in verse 32, and it's time forhim to pay for his crime.
So Solomon sends Benaiah down totake care of that, and Benaiah
does take care of that.
Benaiah is the guy who killed alion in a pit on a snowy day,
(11:16):
and so he seems to be a fearsomewarrior, and he is able to take
care of these kinds ofsituations perfectly.
And he does.
Benaiah takes care of Joab.
Joab's career, as you look backon that, what a mixture of good
and bad.
There are times when he's soloyal to David and really helps
David, saves his bacon.
(11:37):
I think particularly with therebellion of Absalom, there's
some things going on there thatJoab really is David's
right-hand man and helps himmanage to ride through that big
mess that Absalom creates.
On the other hand, he has atendency to murder anybody who
gets in his way.
He does not follow orders verywell.
He murdered Absalom, forexample.
And so it's time for him to go,and Solomon takes care of that.
(12:02):
The final loose end then thatSolomon ties up so that his
kingdom would be established.
Look at verse 45 and verse 46.
So the kingdom was established.
It says that twice.
Keeping the main thing, the mainthing here, the main thing is
the kingdom is being establishedin the hands of Solomon.
We need to deal with Shammai.
Shammai is the guy that cursedDavid when Absalom chased him
out of Jerusalem.
(12:23):
And Solomon is very gracious toShammai.
Remember, curses are important.
Curses have power in thisculture and in this time.
He says, listen, I need you tostay put.
You need to keep an eye on you.
And particularly, verse 37, thathouse arrest would show real
wisdom.
It means that he can't go to hiskinsmen in Benjamin.
That's always an issue becauseSaul was from the tribe of
(12:47):
Benjamin.
And there are a couple of placeswhere it just seems like
somebody from Benjamin isjumping up and down and saying,
the house of David reallyshouldn't be the king, shouldn't
be on the throne.
We need a Benjamite.
We need someone from the familyof Saul, maybe.
And so, Shammai, we don't wantyou running over there to
Benjamin and stirring up troubleand leading some kind of
rebellion.
You better just stay put.
(13:08):
And incredibly, after threeyears, verse 39, Shammai seems
to have forgotten the admonitionof the king and says, goes to
Target to run an errand.
What are you doing, Shemite?
What's going on?
Well, they had a great sale downthere.
Well, of course, he's not reallygoing to Target.
He's chasing some slaves.
But the king says, hey, I toldyou this.
You heard the instructions.
(13:29):
You knew the instructions.
Now you're going to have to payfor violating the law, for
violating my instructions.
And as a result of that, He isstruck down.
Benaiah again, verse 46, is theone that does the deed.
And that's the end of Shammai.
So the kingdom was establishedin the hand of Solomon.
I think the most importantquestion to be asking in our
(13:50):
Bible reading this year is whatis God doing?
And what God is doing is he iskeeping his word to Solomon.
David.
He told David Solomon to be onthe throne.
Some people said, nope, I don'tthink so.
I think I'll be on the throne.
They were wrong.
Solomon is on the throne.
Let me give you one more note.
Westsiders, there is not a Zoomcall tonight.
(14:10):
No Zoom call tonight forWestsiders.
I'm out of town.
So we'll have Zoom probably nextweek, I would guess.
Maybe you have to work aroundVBS and some things with some of
that.
But no Zoom call tonight.
And We'll just see everybody onthe podcast in the morning.
See you on Wednesday.
The reading for Tuesday, 1 Kingschapter 2, verses 28 to 46.
(14:32):
Welcome to Wednesday.
Welcome to Wednesday.
Our reading today is 1 Kingschapter 3, verses 1 to 15.
There's a lot to like in ourreading, but there are some
things that are truly troubling.
It begins by telling us in verse1 that Solomon made a marriage
alliance with Pharaoh, king ofEgypt.
I think contextually thisprobably serves to say that that
(14:52):
Solomon is ruling a verypowerful empire.
Archaeology confirms thatEgyptian kings did not like to
do this.
They did not give theirdaughters in alliances.
So clearly, Solomon is the bigdog on the block if that kind of
thing is happening.
So there's a lot to like aboutall of that.
By the way, this is not hisfirst wife by any means.
(15:13):
And Solomon will say some thingsabout, I'm just a little child,
but he is a full-grown adulthere.
He is married and has childrenand all that goes with all of
that.
And of course, what is reallyconcerning as we pay attention
to what God thinks of what'shappening here is that people
are sacrificing in the highplaces.
Solomon is sacrificing in thehigh places.
That seems to be...
(15:33):
people doing the best they cansince there isn't a central
sanctuary.
There's not one establishedplace to do that, but oftentimes
that seems to be done in placesthat used to be centers of idol
worship, and that ends upbecoming idol worship.
Generally speaking, this is nota good idea.
Israel was forbidden tosacrifice in the high places.
(15:54):
Sometimes it seems like that'sokay.
Maybe God is using those.
God will appear to Solomon whileat a high place, but Generally
speaking, high places, not sogreat.
And then even worse, he'smarrying foreign wives.
That is not a good idea becauseit's a violation of the law.
Deuteronomy 17, 17, the king isnot to multiply wives.
(16:15):
They are not to marry Canaanitewomen.
Deuteronomy 7, verse 3.
Everything about that isproblematic.
Everything about that is trulytroubling.
One of the things aboutSolomon's reign, and I'm maybe a
little more aware of this than Iwould be usually, is I've been
preaching through 1 Kings.
In fact, just recently, a coupleweeks ago, preached on 1 Kings
(16:35):
7, so really close to thismaterial, and I just really have
noticed that over and over againas Kings talks about Solomon's
reign, there'll be these littlered flags waving.
And Solomon is doing all thesegreat things, but you know what?
He also did this.
And you're thinking, oh no,where is that going to go?
And of course, it's going to endin no good place for Solomon.
(16:57):
But God does ask Solomon, verse5, what he would desire.
I don't think that's a blankcheck.
I think God is testing Solomonhere.
And Solomon exhibits sometremendous attitudes in prayer.
He is humble, verse 7.
He has a sense ofresponsibility.
He uses the expression, yourpeople, uses that twice, verse 8
and in verse 9.
(17:18):
He has right priorities in verse9, and he trusts in God in verse
9.
This is a very good prayer.
God honors that prayer, verse10, and gives him wisdom.
I want to say a lot about wisdomas we move forward in Kings
here, because wisdom so often isequated with kind of an esoteric
(17:39):
guy sitting on the top of amountain with his legs crossed,
humming to himself.
He's the wise guru, or maybe wethink of it as being sort of
academic.
Wisdom in the Bible is none ofthose things.
Wisdom in the Bible is about howto navigate Well, it is about
how to order life practically.
It is not philosophic.
(18:01):
It is about handling life's upsand downs, problems and
difficulties in a way thathonors God and lives in the best
kind of fashion.
And we're going to see lots ofthat as we move along throughout
1 Kings 3, 4, and 5, where thereare illustrations of Solomon's
practical wisdom.
Our reading today ends...
(18:21):
In verse 15, where Solomon makesa public testimony to the
relationship that he has withGod.
Let me just give you one morenote.
I may share this tonight inBible talk as well.
Please notice here that half ofour reading today causes us to
say, retro, what are you doinghere, Solomon?
And then half of our reading,God is blessing him and it's
very, very good.
And I think what all of thatsays is God uses imperfect
(18:46):
people.
Solomon is not flawless.
God's blessing him and using himanyway.
And that ought to give us greathope because everybody listening
to this podcast and the guymaking this podcast, that's
right, we are all imperfect.
See you tomorrow.
Our reading for Wednesday, 1Kings 3, verses 1-15.
(19:10):
Welcome to Thursday.
Thursday's reading is 1 Kings 3,verses 16-28.
This is a very famous story.
I don't think I need to spend awhole lot of time working with
the story.
It's pretty straightforward.
I think what's important here istwo things.
First of all, what's the storydoing here?
And what can we learn aboutBible times from this story?
(19:31):
And let me just start with whatit's doing here.
The story is here to demonstratethat God kept his word to
Solomon.
He told Solomon, I'm going togive you an understanding heart.
going to give you wisdom.
And then Solomon demonstrateshis wisdom.
Notice verse 28,"...all Israelheard of the judgment that the
king had rendered.
They stood in awe of the king.
They perceived the wisdom ofGod.
The wisdom of God was in him todo justice." The fulfillment of
(19:54):
1 Kings chapter 3 verses 1 to 15is given to us immediately in
the story of 16 to 28.
The other thing that needs to besaid here is this is a good
chance to learn something aboutlife in Bible times.
And I'll just share with you aquote from a scholar about
prostitution.
Ancient prostitutes weregenerally slaves, daughters who
had been sold by their ownparents, or they were poor women
(20:15):
who had never had an opportunityto marry or who had lost their
husbands.
The normal expectation was for awoman to be married and live in
her husband's house and bear hischildren.
Women who had to supportthemselves by yielding to the
lust of strangers and whosechildren were destined to grow
up as illegitimate That's thestory of prostitution in the
(20:36):
Bible.
And anytime you see a widowwoman in the Bible, I'm thinking
about Naomi, for example, youshould immediately be thinking,
Oh, no, she's in so muchtrouble, she may end up having
to turn to prostitution just tolive, just to support herself.
That doesn't make it right.
I'm not justifying prostitutionby any stretch of the
imagination.
No, no, no.
(20:57):
But I am saying this is aterrible situation for a woman
to be in.
And the women who are caught upin these situations, they
weren't happy to be there.
They didn't want to be in thatsituation.
They're just trying to survive.
And the application of that tous today is pretty clear.
The majority of women inprostitution today Exactly the
(21:17):
same thing.
They're runaways.
They're caught up in drug abuse.
They're being trafficked.
They're being used.
They're not happy about it.
And what drives me crazy is thatHollywood keeps churning movies
out where they show prostitutesas if they are just the happiest
people.
They love this sexy lifestylethat they're part of.
It's just so great.
(21:38):
That's such a false, false viewof prostitution, and it's just
an outrageous lie.
It's just an outrageous lie.
When we see women like this inthe Bible, it doesn't make it
right, but it does mean we wantto extend compassion.
We want to extend compassion andfeel compassion for them, and
(21:58):
that may have something to dowith why Solomon takes this case
and hears this case.
He knows these women are livinga life that they don't want to
live.
This is not what they want to beall about.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Our reading for Thursday is 1Kings 3, verses 16 to 28.
Tomorrow, we turn to the Psalms.
(22:20):
Welcome to Friday, welcome toFriday, and today we're reading
the 21st Psalm.
This is an important psalm forus to be reading because last
week we read Psalm 20, and Psalm21 seems to be going with Psalm
20.
Let's work on that a little bit.
First and foremost, what kind ofpsalm is this?
That's answered in verse 1,"...OLord, in your strength the
(22:40):
King..." This is a royal psalm.
It is about the king.
And it does seem to be pairedwith the 20th Psalm because in
chapter...
Psalm 20, verse 4, may he grantyou your heart's desire and
fulfill all your plans.
And then in 21, 2, you havegiven him his heart's desire and
(23:01):
have not withheld the request ofhis lips.
So chapter 20, or Psalm 20, Ishould say, is about going to
battle.
And it does seem in some waysthat Psalm 21 is about victory
in battle.
There's not a reference to aparticular victory.
And verses 8 to 12 are veryfuture focused, very oriented on
what's to come.
But there is some victorylanguage here, I think there is
(23:22):
a tie between these two psalms.
The outline is pretty simple.
God's goodness to the king intimes past, verses 1 to 6.
The king and the Lord in thepresent, verse 7.
And then God's goodness to theking in the future.
And it is a beautiful psalm.
And I think this psalm pushesall of us to think about how
good God is and how much Godblesses us and how God takes
(23:45):
care of us.
This is a psalm that calls forus to be thankful.
Maybe you're not a king.
Maybe I'm not a king, but God inmany ways, verse 2, has given us
our heart's desire.
And you know that that is true.
So this psalm points us to theimportance of thanking God for
the blessings that He gives tous.
And I think maybe the richlanguage of this psalm points to
(24:08):
the fact that God often gives usmore than what we asked for.
Verse 6, you make him mostblessed forever.
You make him glad with the joyof your presence.
You get more from God than youcould have ever possibly
dreamed, that we ever possiblycould deserve.
God is so good.
He is good to the king in Psalm21, and he is good to you and me
(24:30):
as well.
That concludes the podcast forthe week.
I certainly do appreciate youlistening.
Hope you're telling others aboutthe podcast and you left us a
rating and a review.
So until next week when we'llopen our Bibles together again,
I'm Mark Roberts and I want togo to heaven and I want you to
come too.
See you on Monday with a cup ofcoffee.
SPEAKER_01 (24:59):
Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ
podcast, Monday Morning Coffeewith Mark.
For more information aboutWestside, 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 Ps,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(25:23):
can get free music.
Please share our podcast withothers, and we look forward to
seeing you again, with a cup ofcoffee, of course, on next
Monday.
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