October 6, 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_00 (00:05):
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 througheach other and better work the
applications into our dailylife.
(00:27):
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_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee Podcast for Monday,
October the 6th.
I'm Mark.
I've got my Bible open to 1Chronicles.
I'm holding a great cup ofcoffee.
This is, oh, this is a reallygood cup of coffee.
This is some Guatemalan coffeethat uh roasted up recently and
made a pour over with this.
And it's oh, it's justmarvelous.
(01:14):
And I am ready to talk with youabout daily Bible reading, ready
to talk to you more aboutyesterday's sermon.
I hope that sermon wascomforting and reassuring and
helpful to you.
Let's see if we can connect upthat a little bit.
Let's work on all that together.
Get ready for daily Biblereading.
Get ready for the week.
Let's put it all together.
Pour that cup of coffee, let'sgrow together.
(01:34):
Yesterday's sermon in the 1040was entitled When It's Time to
Go Home.
And this was all about seniorsaints as they think a lot about
what it will mean to die.
What is going to happen when Ipass away?
Let me just give you an extrathought here.
If you didn't listen to thatsermon, if you weren't with us
yesterday, we'd really encourageyou to listen to that.
(01:55):
I would encourage you to sharethat with those, particularly
with some silver in their hair.
Young people don't think a lotabout death.
They probably need to think alot more about death.
The book of Ecclesiastes comesto mind here, but that really
comes front of mind as we getcloser to the finish line.
Talked a little bit about thatyesterday.
Let me just add something here.
(02:16):
I think one of the greatestgifts that you can give yourself
and your loved ones is to makepeace while you still can.
Don't wait for the perfect time,the perfect mood till you have
all the perfect words.
If there is an old grudge, ifthere is an old hurt that's
never been acknowledged, if youhaven't said I love you and
you've been meaning to do so, doit.
(02:38):
Do it now.
Do it today.
Do it this morning.
Write that letter, send thatemail, send that text, make that
call, pray that prayer.
Jesus actually tells us we haveto do that if there's been some
kind of sort of sin, some sortof hurtfulness.
Matthew chapter 5, verses 23 and24 cover that, but let me just
(03:00):
add, sometimes, sometimesdespite your best effort, peace
isn't going to come.
The other person may refuse totalk or refuse to forgive or
refuse to meet with you.
In those moments, you can stilldo what God calls you to do,
which is to refuse bitternessand just give that over to the
Lord.
Romans chapter 12 and verse 8says, if it is possible, as far
(03:23):
as it depends upon you, live atpeace with everyone.
We're only responsible for theas far as it depends upon you
part.
So today, before the end oftoday, and before you reach your
end, you do your part as far asit depends on you.
Do the work of making peace.
And if peace is refused, leaveit with God and walk forward in
(03:46):
complete freedom.
That's a gift to your spirit,and it's a testimony of your
faith to those who love you.
And who knows?
You may make peace in anunexpected way, and that will be
a complete joy as well.
Hope that helps you.
Hope that helps you as we moveforward into the week.
Let's think now about dailyBible reading, and we are
(04:09):
starting.
I said I had my Bible open toChronicles, but we're starting
in Ezekiel.
Let's talk about daily Biblereading.
(04:41):
And the prophet here, it'simportant to remember that
Ezekiel is in Babylon, he is inthe Babylonian captivity with
the people, and he is speakingto people who have just had
every hope and dream that theyever had blasted off the earth.
In previous messages, Ezekielhas said they lost their land
due to their own sins, and inthis chapter, he lays blame
squarely on their bad leadersand their bad leadership.
(05:03):
But more than just doom, Ezekielnow begins to talk about coming
days, coming days when God willbless his people, when they will
return to their homeland, andespecially they will have better
leadership.
I think it's helpful here in thefirst ten verses to read that,
even though that's not ontoday's reading, and just think
about what good leadership issupposed to look like.
(05:24):
Sometimes leadership today isconfused for getting all the
privileges.
Everybody has to do what I say.
It's kind of like being the kingor the dictator.
You clap, and people bring youyour slippers in the morning
newspaper.
Nobody reads the newspaperanymore, never mind.
They bring you your slippers andyour coffee, preferably a
Guatemalan coffee.
Then in verses 11 to 24, Godbegins to talk about the coming
(05:49):
true shepherd.
And he says, I will search formy sheep and I will seek them
out, verse 11.
And he describes all these greatthings that this shepherd will
do.
Who is this shepherd?
Notice verse 15, I myself willbe the shepherd of my sheep.
I myself will make them liedown, declares the Lord.
When sheep lie down, that's asign that they are contented,
(06:12):
that they are safe, that theyare well fed.
Otherwise, they will not liedown.
And there is a little bit of afigure change here in verse 17,
because the false shepherds thathave been addressed in verses 1
to 10, they actually are part ofGod's flock.
They are part of the Jews whoare in captivity in Babylon.
(06:32):
So now we go sheep to sheepinstead of sheep to shepherd.
These were not only badshepherds.
Ezekiel says, or actually Godsays through Ezekiel, you are
mean sheep.
You're not nice sheep.
And so there is an emphasisthere on God's effort, God
doing.
I will rescue my flock, verse22.
In fact, if you underline allthe I, I will feed, and I will
(06:54):
do, and I will bring, and I willgather.
If you underline all of that,you'll see quickly, this is
about what God is doing.
And he will do that, verse 23,through this Davidic figure, my
servant David.
He will be their shepherd.
Now clearly that can't be David,because, because, because
(07:15):
exactly, he's dead.
David is dead.
So just as in Malachi, there's afigurative application of
Elijah.
Elijah's long gone, Malachi 4-5talks about the coming Elijah.
This can't be David.
No, who is this?
This is Jesus.
This is the Messiah.
This is Jesus, the one trueshepherd.
(07:38):
And of course, in John chapter10, Jesus will say, I am the
good shepherd.
What would Jewish hearers thinkabout that?
What would they hear when Jesussaid that kind of thing?
Then verses 25 to 31, there'sdiscussion of the pasture that
the sheep will return to.
And this may be, this may bekind of a double fulfillment
(08:00):
sort of thing.
This may have some emphasis onthe return from captivity, but
looking forward to the blessingsof the Messiah.
Notice verses 23 and 24.
That speaks of David beingfulfilled by Christ.
So now, verse 25, I'll make thema covenant of peace and banish
the wild beasts from the land.
Well, hey, verse 23 and 24, thatisn't literal.
(08:22):
That's not really David.
David isn't coming back from thedead.
So verse 25 doesn't have to beliteral.
Maybe in some ways it looks inboth directions.
You'll go home and I will blessyou there, but the Messiah will
come.
He will bring real blessings,permanent blessings.
Ezekiel 34, verses 11 to 31 isour reading for Monday.
(08:44):
It is Tuesday.
It is Tuesday.
And today's reading is 1Chronicles 17, 1 to 15.
Sort of jumped the gun yesterdaywhen I said, hey, let's go to 1
Chronicles 17.
I was just excited about talkingabout it, especially because I
spent a lot of time preppingthat and looking at that in
comparison with 2 Samuel 7.
(09:04):
This is the covenant with Davidin 2 Samuel 7.
And I'm glad that we'rerereading this because it's the
basis of so much that goes on,both in the New Testament, but
especially in the prophets, somuch of Israel and Judah's
problems and difficulties, asprophets speak doom and
judgment, so many times at theend of that, they'll come back
(09:27):
around and say, better thingsare coming.
We saw some of that yesterday inEzekiel.
There will be the one shepherd,the one shepherd, David, but of
course it's not David, it's theMessiah.
And that is all based on thecovenant of 2 Samuel chapter 7,
which is repeated here in 1Chronicles chapter 17.
And please remember, repetitionmeans it's important.
(09:51):
Repetition signals importance inthe Bible.
And there's a couple ofdifferences, very slight
differences in Chronicles andSamuel's account.
Just a little bit differentwording here and there.
Sometimes when I'm preaching,for example, if I jump into the
middle of a text and it says hesaid, sometimes I'll substitute
the word Jesus there to makesure that everybody as we're
(10:12):
reading along knows who the heis.
It's not a change, I'm notchanging the meaning.
It's not like I said Abrahamsaid.
No, Jesus said this.
I'm just subbing Jesus' name forthe pronoun.
And there's a little tweakinghere and there.
But I think mostly what you gethere is this emphasis on the
Davidic covenant being sospecial and powerful.
(10:33):
There really is more of that inChronicles than there is in
Kings.
And you see some of that here in1 Chronicles 17, where the
emphasis is more on Solomon,much more on Solomon, that he
will carry forward this promiseand this covenant.
So for example, there is nomention, as there is in 2 Samuel
(10:56):
7, of when he sins and commitsiniquity, I wow, that's hard to
say.
Coffee's the answer to that.
When he sins or commitsiniquity, then I will chasten
him with a rod of iron.
That is omitted in Chronicles.
The chronicler doesn't want totalk about maybe Solomon messing
up.
That's not good.
(11:16):
Chronicles is probably writtenafter the return from Babylonian
captivity, and it is talkingabout how to keep that from
happening again, how to be backwith God.
We don't want to talk aboutiniquity.
And maybe the most significantdifference here in verse 14, I
have, I will confirm him in theChronicles account.
(11:37):
That's not what it says in theSamuel account.
That is not part of that.
And then it says, My kingdom, Iwill confirm him in my house and
my kingdom.
Not his kingdom, my kingdom.
In Chronicles, the kingdom ofGod and the kingdom of David are
the same.
They are one and the same.
(11:57):
What a powerful observation.
What an important point thatreally is.
Let me give you a couple ofother notes here about the text.
This really emphasizes thatDavid was a nobody.
I took you when you were just ashepherd.
You were out in the pasture,verse 7.
You weren't a descendant ofSaul.
You weren't even the firstbornin your family.
(12:17):
God says, I took you, and Idon't need a temple.
I've moved around for all ofthis time.
David offers here, that's thecontext of what we're dealing
with.
I'm assuming you'll pick that upfrom reading that.
David says, I'm going to buildyou a house.
God says, Nope, don't need ahouse.
I've never asked for a house.
But David has so impressed Godwith his heart that God says, I
(12:40):
will build you a royal dynasty,a lasting house, a house of
David that will rule forever.
Verse 14, your kingdom, now it'smy kingdom, God says, will be
established forever.
His throne shall be establishedforever.
This is the promise that theMessiah will come from the house
(13:01):
of David, that the Messiah willrule on the throne of David.
And as we push into the NewTestament, that will be the
dominant image that we arelooking for and reading about
over and over again.
Our reading for Tuesday, 1Chronicles 17, 1 to 15.
I should add for Westsiders, theelders meet tonight, so there
(13:22):
will not be a Zoom call.
Now, sometimes that changes.
The elders end up moving theirmeeting time or something breaks
differently.
Pay attention to the Facebookpage, Westside Family.
If we end up deciding to have aZoom call, if we can do that,
it'll be posted there.
But at this time, probably not.
Probably no Zoom call tonight.
I'll see everybody on thepodcast tomorrow.
Like I said, the reading forTuesday, 1 Chronicles 17, 1 to
(13:45):
15.
It's Wednesday.
Get on that camel.
It is Wednesday.
And our reading today is 1Chronicles 17, verses 16 to 27.
This breaks down into threepieces where first David humbles
himself before the Lord, 1Chronicles 17, verses 16 to 19.
And then secondly, he exaltsGod, who's graciously chosen
(14:06):
Israel as his people, verses 20,21, and 22.
And then he asks God to fulfillhis promises by blessing his
house forever, verses 23 throughthe end of the chapter.
I think what we're looking athere as being significant and
what this is all about is thatthis really talks about God
seeking a people for himself.
(14:26):
When God makes those promises toAbraham in Genesis chapter 12,
he promises that Abraham'sdescendants would be his people
and he would be their God.
Genesis chapter 17, verses 7 to8.
How many times have we read inthe book of Exodus, I will be
your God, I will take you as mypeople?
God's always saying that throughMoses.
And now we just get thatcontinued relationship.
(14:49):
These are the people of God.
God is dwelling with them, wantsthem to be his people.
All of this just says God wantsto be in relationship.
This is a relationship text.
And I guess if you're lookingfor application here, which we
should always be looking forapplication, the emphasis in our
Bible reading this year is to bea person after God's own heart,
like David was.
(15:10):
Then what you get a good look athere is what you do when God
says no.
Because David says, I'm buildingyou a house, God.
And Nathan even signs off onthat.
And then God says, No, no, don'tdo that.
You can't do that, don't dothat.
Solomon will do that.
How will David react to that?
You can see David kind of alittle red face, the prophet
(15:33):
comes into the courtroom andinto the throne room and says,
uh, reverse course, one ain't180 degrees.
We're not doing that.
You can't do that.
That's a little embarrassing.
Um, this would make me look goodin front of everybody.
Pagan kings build temples.
What do you mean I'm notbuilding this temple?
But David doesn't act that way.
What David does is emphasizeGod's power and might and
(15:56):
sovereignty, that God is great,and he humbly submits to God's
will, and he praises God forGod's will and what God wants to
do.
This is what a person who'sseeking God's heart will do when
God says no to his prayers.
He submits to the will of God.
(16:19):
The reading then for Wednesday,1 Chronicles 17, verses 16 to
27.
Welcome to Thursday.
Welcome to Thursday, and todaywe read the twelfth chapter of
Zechariah.
Zechariah is in the minorprophets.
It is not one of those books ofthe Bible that we're reading in
all of the time.
I don't expect.
Maybe you just jump intoZechariah all the time and just
(16:41):
read a couple of passages overthere just as your hobby, but it
is a difficult book in manyways.
And chapter 12 is no exceptionto that.
There are two pieces to this,two scenes.
There is this siege ofJerusalem, and then the Messiah
returns to defeat the enemies ofIsrael.
Of course, the question comes,what exactly is that pointing
(17:03):
to?
When exactly is that going tohappen?
What's exactly Zechariah talkingabout?
What exactly is happening here?
And it does seem like this istalking about some spiritual
battles, much more than aphysical sort of battle.
There is a huge emphasis on theexpression on that day, which
appears 16 times in thisparticular text.
(17:26):
And it seems like, and I thinkI'll quote from Brother Homer
Haley here, that this chapter isabout the holy and
indestructible character of thenew spiritual body, talking, of
course, about the church.
So there is a siege againstJerusalem.
All the heathen powers, verse 3,gather against Jerusalem.
Maybe that's spiritualJerusalem, the church, but God
(17:49):
fights for his people.
I will strike every horse withpanic, verse 4, on that day.
And so God intervenes here.
There's divine deliverance inverses 4 to 9.
And it seems like verse 9,especially, on that day I'll
seek to destroy all the nationsthat come against Jerusalem.
This seems like persecution,those that would dare to raise
their hand against the people ofGod.
(18:10):
Then in verse 10, and of courseyou've noticed here House of
David several times already, inverse 10, there is a movement
away from physical deliveranceto spiritual deliverance,
mourning and weeping.
The Spirit moves to effectconviction by having Israel look
upon the Messiah, and they willlook on him whom they have
pierced, verse 10.
(18:30):
They shall mourn for him as onemourns for an only child.
That is directly quoted andapplied to Jesus in John 19, 37.
So there's a lot of, I don'tknow, and I'm unsure what about
this and what about that.
There's not any question aboutverse 10, because that's used by
the Gospel of John, used by Johnthe Apostle, to say that's
pointing to Jesus.
(18:51):
And there is a mention then inverse 11 about mourning as at
the plain of Meghetto, andthat's probably a reference to
the mourning for Josiah.
King Josiah, as we read, waskilled in battle on the plain of
Meghetto.
He's trying to cut the Egyptiansoff and keep them from going to
the big battle between theAssyrians and the Babylonians,
and he dies there.
(19:11):
And then verse 12, there'smourning, and this seems to be
like the morning of the Day ofAtonement.
Everybody mourns individually.
The Day of Atonement was a dayfor reflecting upon your sins.
And so there's mourning for sin.
Is that what we're looking at?
Especially as you roll intochapter 13, which continues
saying, on that day, verse 1,chapter 13, verse 1, there shall
(19:34):
be a fountain open for the houseof David and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem to cleanse them fromsin and uncleanness.
There's new covenant terminologyall through chapter 13 about the
forgiveness of sin.
And I think that's probably whatsets chapter 12 as being not
about a physical deliverance, aphysical battle, really coming
against the physical city ofJerusalem, but talking more
(19:56):
about God's spiritual enemieswho attack the new Jerusalem,
who attack the church.
Maybe that's the best place toseat Zechariah the 12th chapter.
Hope that helps you.
It is not an easy chapter by anymeans.
Our reading for Thursday,Zechariah chapter 12.
It's Friday.
It is Friday.
(20:17):
And today we're reading in thePsalm.
Psalm chapter 11, the 11thPsalm, is our reading for today.
This is a beautiful Psalm ofTrust.
It has some lament feel to it insome ways.
I think there are three parts toit.
There's the attitude of faith inverses 1, maybe the first part,
1A, I would say.
Then there's a tax on faithversus 1B down to 3.
(20:40):
And then there's adequacythrough faith, verses 4 to 7.
And what you get here is a lotof emphasis on the leaders.
People are looking to leaders.
People are looking at theleaders.
If the leaders run away, theneverybody just panics.
So David is asking, how can Iflee like a bird to the
mountain?
(21:00):
Oh, that will destroyeverything.
In fact, the foundations inverse 3, that could be the
principles of decency and orderin society.
When those are lost, then ofcourse society descends into
chaos and anarchy.
See today's news stories.
But this may just be the leadersof the people.
If the leaders are destroyed,then everybody suffers.
Everybody's going to fall apart.
(21:21):
All kinds of bad things willhappen in society when the
leaders don't lead.
And we certainly have seen thatin our reading in Kings this
year.
But I love then the big shift inverse 4.
One scholar said, the feverishscenes of verses 1, 2, and 3 are
dwarfed by the Lord, whose namehere is emphatic and reiterated.
(21:42):
God is sovereign.
God is still on the throne.
God will judge the wicked andthe righteous.
That is what the psalmist says.
That's what David is pushing.
And that does remind me of thatexcellent question I had about
imprecations and imprecatorypsalms.
That's such a good question.
So glad to get to treat that inQ ⁇ A morning.
If you didn't, if you weren'tthere for QA, you need to go
(22:03):
back and listen to that part ofthat sermon at least, because we
will encounter sections inPsalms where the psalmist is
saying, Go get them, God, crushthem, smash them, get after
them.
And that can be a littletroubling sometimes, but this is
what it verse 5 exactly frameswhat we're talking about.
God hates the wicked and the onewho loves violence.
Let him rain coals on thewicked.
(22:25):
When you live in a world wherethere's not clear understanding
of eternity and judgment andhell, and that God will see to
it that the wicked suffereternally away from him and away
from the glory of his presence.
If you don't know all of thatbecause you haven't read the New
Testament, because the NewTestament hasn't been written
yet, then your natural instinctis to ask for judgment now.
(22:50):
People in the Old Testamentworld lived in a now time frame.
If we serve the Lord, it willrain.
If we don't, it won't.
If we serve the Lord, we'resafe.
If we don't, Babylonian invadersshow up and burn everything
down.
And so David, probably writinghere during the time that Saul
is chasing him around in thewilderness, he is praying for
immediate relief fromwickedness.
(23:12):
That's what verses five and sixare all about.
Don't forget verse seven.
When God brings judgment, God'snot wrong to do that.
The Lord is righteous.
And I love that last bit.
The upright shall behold hisface.
This is a psalm of confidence,but it's not a psalm of
self-confidence.
It's a psalm of confidence inthe Lord.
(23:33):
Our reading for Friday, Psalm11.
That concludes the podcast forthe week.
You know what I will say next?
You need to leave a rating and areview, you need to share it
with other people, all of thatstuff.
Times 10.
How about that?
Certainly do appreciate youlistening to the podcast.
I love doing it, and not justbecause I get to drink great
coffee while I'm doing it.
(23:54):
I love getting to talk with youabout the Word of God, maybe
expand on some ideas Tuesday ora Thursday.
We're not going to haveopportunity to think about that
a whole lot more.
Mondays reading that kind ofthing.
I love doing the podcast, andI'm so appreciative of those of
you who listen and who have sentme a note or said something to
me about how much it means toyou.
(24:15):
It's just amazing what we canuse technology for in the Lord's
service.
I'm Mark Roberts, and I want togo to heaven.
I want you to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (24:34):
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 PB E A T, where creators can get
(24:59):
free music.
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 througheach other and better work the
applications into our dailylife.
(00:27):
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_01 (00:52):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome to the Monday MorningCoffee Podcast for Monday,
October the 6th.
I'm Mark.
I've got my Bible open to 1Chronicles.
I'm holding a great cup ofcoffee.
This is, oh, this is a reallygood cup of coffee.
This is some Guatemalan coffeethat uh roasted up recently and
made a pour over with this.
And it's oh, it's justmarvelous.
(01:14):
And I am ready to talk with youabout daily Bible reading, ready
to talk to you more aboutyesterday's sermon.
I hope that sermon wascomforting and reassuring and
helpful to you.
Let's see if we can connect upthat a little bit.
Let's work on all that together.
Get ready for daily Biblereading.
Get ready for the week.
Let's put it all together.
Pour that cup of coffee, let'sgrow together.
(01:34):
Yesterday's sermon in the 1040was entitled When It's Time to
Go Home.
And this was all about seniorsaints as they think a lot about
what it will mean to die.
What is going to happen when Ipass away?
Let me just give you an extrathought here.
If you didn't listen to thatsermon, if you weren't with us
yesterday, we'd really encourageyou to listen to that.
(01:55):
I would encourage you to sharethat with those, particularly
with some silver in their hair.
Young people don't think a lotabout death.
They probably need to think alot more about death.
The book of Ecclesiastes comesto mind here, but that really
comes front of mind as we getcloser to the finish line.
Talked a little bit about thatyesterday.
Let me just add something here.
(02:16):
I think one of the greatestgifts that you can give yourself
and your loved ones is to makepeace while you still can.
Don't wait for the perfect time,the perfect mood till you have
all the perfect words.
If there is an old grudge, ifthere is an old hurt that's
never been acknowledged, if youhaven't said I love you and
you've been meaning to do so, doit.
(02:38):
Do it now.
Do it today.
Do it this morning.
Write that letter, send thatemail, send that text, make that
call, pray that prayer.
Jesus actually tells us we haveto do that if there's been some
kind of sort of sin, some sortof hurtfulness.
Matthew chapter 5, verses 23 and24 cover that, but let me just
(03:00):
add, sometimes, sometimesdespite your best effort, peace
isn't going to come.
The other person may refuse totalk or refuse to forgive or
refuse to meet with you.
In those moments, you can stilldo what God calls you to do,
which is to refuse bitternessand just give that over to the
Lord.
Romans chapter 12 and verse 8says, if it is possible, as far
(03:23):
as it depends upon you, live atpeace with everyone.
We're only responsible for theas far as it depends upon you
part.
So today, before the end oftoday, and before you reach your
end, you do your part as far asit depends on you.
Do the work of making peace.
And if peace is refused, leaveit with God and walk forward in
(03:46):
complete freedom.
That's a gift to your spirit,and it's a testimony of your
faith to those who love you.
And who knows?
You may make peace in anunexpected way, and that will be
a complete joy as well.
Hope that helps you.
Hope that helps you as we moveforward into the week.
Let's think now about dailyBible reading, and we are
(04:09):
starting.
I said I had my Bible open toChronicles, but we're starting
in Ezekiel.
Let's talk about daily Biblereading.
(04:41):
And the prophet here, it'simportant to remember that
Ezekiel is in Babylon, he is inthe Babylonian captivity with
the people, and he is speakingto people who have just had
every hope and dream that theyever had blasted off the earth.
In previous messages, Ezekielhas said they lost their land
due to their own sins, and inthis chapter, he lays blame
squarely on their bad leadersand their bad leadership.
(05:03):
But more than just doom, Ezekielnow begins to talk about coming
days, coming days when God willbless his people, when they will
return to their homeland, andespecially they will have better
leadership.
I think it's helpful here in thefirst ten verses to read that,
even though that's not ontoday's reading, and just think
about what good leadership issupposed to look like.
(05:24):
Sometimes leadership today isconfused for getting all the
privileges.
Everybody has to do what I say.
It's kind of like being the kingor the dictator.
You clap, and people bring youyour slippers in the morning
newspaper.
Nobody reads the newspaperanymore, never mind.
They bring you your slippers andyour coffee, preferably a
Guatemalan coffee.
Then in verses 11 to 24, Godbegins to talk about the coming
(05:49):
true shepherd.
And he says, I will search formy sheep and I will seek them
out, verse 11.
And he describes all these greatthings that this shepherd will
do.
Who is this shepherd?
Notice verse 15, I myself willbe the shepherd of my sheep.
I myself will make them liedown, declares the Lord.
When sheep lie down, that's asign that they are contented,
(06:12):
that they are safe, that theyare well fed.
Otherwise, they will not liedown.
And there is a little bit of afigure change here in verse 17,
because the false shepherds thathave been addressed in verses 1
to 10, they actually are part ofGod's flock.
They are part of the Jews whoare in captivity in Babylon.
(06:32):
So now we go sheep to sheepinstead of sheep to shepherd.
These were not only badshepherds.
Ezekiel says, or actually Godsays through Ezekiel, you are
mean sheep.
You're not nice sheep.
And so there is an emphasisthere on God's effort, God
doing.
I will rescue my flock, verse22.
In fact, if you underline allthe I, I will feed, and I will
(06:54):
do, and I will bring, and I willgather.
If you underline all of that,you'll see quickly, this is
about what God is doing.
And he will do that, verse 23,through this Davidic figure, my
servant David.
He will be their shepherd.
Now clearly that can't be David,because, because, because
(07:15):
exactly, he's dead.
David is dead.
So just as in Malachi, there's afigurative application of
Elijah.
Elijah's long gone, Malachi 4-5talks about the coming Elijah.
This can't be David.
No, who is this?
This is Jesus.
This is the Messiah.
This is Jesus, the one trueshepherd.
(07:38):
And of course, in John chapter10, Jesus will say, I am the
good shepherd.
What would Jewish hearers thinkabout that?
What would they hear when Jesussaid that kind of thing?
Then verses 25 to 31, there'sdiscussion of the pasture that
the sheep will return to.
And this may be, this may bekind of a double fulfillment
(08:00):
sort of thing.
This may have some emphasis onthe return from captivity, but
looking forward to the blessingsof the Messiah.
Notice verses 23 and 24.
That speaks of David beingfulfilled by Christ.
So now, verse 25, I'll make thema covenant of peace and banish
the wild beasts from the land.
Well, hey, verse 23 and 24, thatisn't literal.
(08:22):
That's not really David.
David isn't coming back from thedead.
So verse 25 doesn't have to beliteral.
Maybe in some ways it looks inboth directions.
You'll go home and I will blessyou there, but the Messiah will
come.
He will bring real blessings,permanent blessings.
Ezekiel 34, verses 11 to 31 isour reading for Monday.
(08:44):
It is Tuesday.
It is Tuesday.
And today's reading is 1Chronicles 17, 1 to 15.
Sort of jumped the gun yesterdaywhen I said, hey, let's go to 1
Chronicles 17.
I was just excited about talkingabout it, especially because I
spent a lot of time preppingthat and looking at that in
comparison with 2 Samuel 7.
(09:04):
This is the covenant with Davidin 2 Samuel 7.
And I'm glad that we'rerereading this because it's the
basis of so much that goes on,both in the New Testament, but
especially in the prophets, somuch of Israel and Judah's
problems and difficulties, asprophets speak doom and
judgment, so many times at theend of that, they'll come back
(09:27):
around and say, better thingsare coming.
We saw some of that yesterday inEzekiel.
There will be the one shepherd,the one shepherd, David, but of
course it's not David, it's theMessiah.
And that is all based on thecovenant of 2 Samuel chapter 7,
which is repeated here in 1Chronicles chapter 17.
And please remember, repetitionmeans it's important.
(09:51):
Repetition signals importance inthe Bible.
And there's a couple ofdifferences, very slight
differences in Chronicles andSamuel's account.
Just a little bit differentwording here and there.
Sometimes when I'm preaching,for example, if I jump into the
middle of a text and it says hesaid, sometimes I'll substitute
the word Jesus there to makesure that everybody as we're
(10:12):
reading along knows who the heis.
It's not a change, I'm notchanging the meaning.
It's not like I said Abrahamsaid.
No, Jesus said this.
I'm just subbing Jesus' name forthe pronoun.
And there's a little tweakinghere and there.
But I think mostly what you gethere is this emphasis on the
Davidic covenant being sospecial and powerful.
(10:33):
There really is more of that inChronicles than there is in
Kings.
And you see some of that here in1 Chronicles 17, where the
emphasis is more on Solomon,much more on Solomon, that he
will carry forward this promiseand this covenant.
So for example, there is nomention, as there is in 2 Samuel
(10:56):
7, of when he sins and commitsiniquity, I wow, that's hard to
say.
Coffee's the answer to that.
When he sins or commitsiniquity, then I will chasten
him with a rod of iron.
That is omitted in Chronicles.
The chronicler doesn't want totalk about maybe Solomon messing
up.
That's not good.
(11:16):
Chronicles is probably writtenafter the return from Babylonian
captivity, and it is talkingabout how to keep that from
happening again, how to be backwith God.
We don't want to talk aboutiniquity.
And maybe the most significantdifference here in verse 14, I
have, I will confirm him in theChronicles account.
(11:37):
That's not what it says in theSamuel account.
That is not part of that.
And then it says, My kingdom, Iwill confirm him in my house and
my kingdom.
Not his kingdom, my kingdom.
In Chronicles, the kingdom ofGod and the kingdom of David are
the same.
They are one and the same.
(11:57):
What a powerful observation.
What an important point thatreally is.
Let me give you a couple ofother notes here about the text.
This really emphasizes thatDavid was a nobody.
I took you when you were just ashepherd.
You were out in the pasture,verse 7.
You weren't a descendant ofSaul.
You weren't even the firstbornin your family.
(12:17):
God says, I took you, and Idon't need a temple.
I've moved around for all ofthis time.
David offers here, that's thecontext of what we're dealing
with.
I'm assuming you'll pick that upfrom reading that.
David says, I'm going to buildyou a house.
God says, Nope, don't need ahouse.
I've never asked for a house.
But David has so impressed Godwith his heart that God says, I
(12:40):
will build you a royal dynasty,a lasting house, a house of
David that will rule forever.
Verse 14, your kingdom, now it'smy kingdom, God says, will be
established forever.
His throne shall be establishedforever.
This is the promise that theMessiah will come from the house
(13:01):
of David, that the Messiah willrule on the throne of David.
And as we push into the NewTestament, that will be the
dominant image that we arelooking for and reading about
over and over again.
Our reading for Tuesday, 1Chronicles 17, 1 to 15.
I should add for Westsiders, theelders meet tonight, so there
(13:22):
will not be a Zoom call.
Now, sometimes that changes.
The elders end up moving theirmeeting time or something breaks
differently.
Pay attention to the Facebookpage, Westside Family.
If we end up deciding to have aZoom call, if we can do that,
it'll be posted there.
But at this time, probably not.
Probably no Zoom call tonight.
I'll see everybody on thepodcast tomorrow.
Like I said, the reading forTuesday, 1 Chronicles 17, 1 to
(13:45):
15.
It's Wednesday.
Get on that camel.
It is Wednesday.
And our reading today is 1Chronicles 17, verses 16 to 27.
This breaks down into threepieces where first David humbles
himself before the Lord, 1Chronicles 17, verses 16 to 19.
And then secondly, he exaltsGod, who's graciously chosen
(14:06):
Israel as his people, verses 20,21, and 22.
And then he asks God to fulfillhis promises by blessing his
house forever, verses 23 throughthe end of the chapter.
I think what we're looking athere as being significant and
what this is all about is thatthis really talks about God
seeking a people for himself.
(14:26):
When God makes those promises toAbraham in Genesis chapter 12,
he promises that Abraham'sdescendants would be his people
and he would be their God.
Genesis chapter 17, verses 7 to8.
How many times have we read inthe book of Exodus, I will be
your God, I will take you as mypeople?
God's always saying that throughMoses.
And now we just get thatcontinued relationship.
(14:49):
These are the people of God.
God is dwelling with them, wantsthem to be his people.
All of this just says God wantsto be in relationship.
This is a relationship text.
And I guess if you're lookingfor application here, which we
should always be looking forapplication, the emphasis in our
Bible reading this year is to bea person after God's own heart,
like David was.
(15:10):
Then what you get a good look athere is what you do when God
says no.
Because David says, I'm buildingyou a house, God.
And Nathan even signs off onthat.
And then God says, No, no, don'tdo that.
You can't do that, don't dothat.
Solomon will do that.
How will David react to that?
You can see David kind of alittle red face, the prophet
(15:33):
comes into the courtroom andinto the throne room and says,
uh, reverse course, one ain't180 degrees.
We're not doing that.
You can't do that.
That's a little embarrassing.
Um, this would make me look goodin front of everybody.
Pagan kings build temples.
What do you mean I'm notbuilding this temple?
But David doesn't act that way.
What David does is emphasizeGod's power and might and
(15:56):
sovereignty, that God is great,and he humbly submits to God's
will, and he praises God forGod's will and what God wants to
do.
This is what a person who'sseeking God's heart will do when
God says no to his prayers.
He submits to the will of God.
(16:19):
The reading then for Wednesday,1 Chronicles 17, verses 16 to
27.
Welcome to Thursday.
Welcome to Thursday, and todaywe read the twelfth chapter of
Zechariah.
Zechariah is in the minorprophets.
It is not one of those books ofthe Bible that we're reading in
all of the time.
I don't expect.
Maybe you just jump intoZechariah all the time and just
(16:41):
read a couple of passages overthere just as your hobby, but it
is a difficult book in manyways.
And chapter 12 is no exceptionto that.
There are two pieces to this,two scenes.
There is this siege ofJerusalem, and then the Messiah
returns to defeat the enemies ofIsrael.
Of course, the question comes,what exactly is that pointing
(17:03):
to?
When exactly is that going tohappen?
What's exactly Zechariah talkingabout?
What exactly is happening here?
And it does seem like this istalking about some spiritual
battles, much more than aphysical sort of battle.
There is a huge emphasis on theexpression on that day, which
appears 16 times in thisparticular text.
(17:26):
And it seems like, and I thinkI'll quote from Brother Homer
Haley here, that this chapter isabout the holy and
indestructible character of thenew spiritual body, talking, of
course, about the church.
So there is a siege againstJerusalem.
All the heathen powers, verse 3,gather against Jerusalem.
Maybe that's spiritualJerusalem, the church, but God
(17:49):
fights for his people.
I will strike every horse withpanic, verse 4, on that day.
And so God intervenes here.
There's divine deliverance inverses 4 to 9.
And it seems like verse 9,especially, on that day I'll
seek to destroy all the nationsthat come against Jerusalem.
This seems like persecution,those that would dare to raise
their hand against the people ofGod.
(18:10):
Then in verse 10, and of courseyou've noticed here House of
David several times already, inverse 10, there is a movement
away from physical deliveranceto spiritual deliverance,
mourning and weeping.
The Spirit moves to effectconviction by having Israel look
upon the Messiah, and they willlook on him whom they have
pierced, verse 10.
(18:30):
They shall mourn for him as onemourns for an only child.
That is directly quoted andapplied to Jesus in John 19, 37.
So there's a lot of, I don'tknow, and I'm unsure what about
this and what about that.
There's not any question aboutverse 10, because that's used by
the Gospel of John, used by Johnthe Apostle, to say that's
pointing to Jesus.
(18:51):
And there is a mention then inverse 11 about mourning as at
the plain of Meghetto, andthat's probably a reference to
the mourning for Josiah.
King Josiah, as we read, waskilled in battle on the plain of
Meghetto.
He's trying to cut the Egyptiansoff and keep them from going to
the big battle between theAssyrians and the Babylonians,
and he dies there.
(19:11):
And then verse 12, there'smourning, and this seems to be
like the morning of the Day ofAtonement.
Everybody mourns individually.
The Day of Atonement was a dayfor reflecting upon your sins.
And so there's mourning for sin.
Is that what we're looking at?
Especially as you roll intochapter 13, which continues
saying, on that day, verse 1,chapter 13, verse 1, there shall
(19:34):
be a fountain open for the houseof David and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem to cleanse them fromsin and uncleanness.
There's new covenant terminologyall through chapter 13 about the
forgiveness of sin.
And I think that's probably whatsets chapter 12 as being not
about a physical deliverance, aphysical battle, really coming
against the physical city ofJerusalem, but talking more
(19:56):
about God's spiritual enemieswho attack the new Jerusalem,
who attack the church.
Maybe that's the best place toseat Zechariah the 12th chapter.
Hope that helps you.
It is not an easy chapter by anymeans.
Our reading for Thursday,Zechariah chapter 12.
It's Friday.
It is Friday.
(20:17):
And today we're reading in thePsalm.
Psalm chapter 11, the 11thPsalm, is our reading for today.
This is a beautiful Psalm ofTrust.
It has some lament feel to it insome ways.
I think there are three parts toit.
There's the attitude of faith inverses 1, maybe the first part,
1A, I would say.
Then there's a tax on faithversus 1B down to 3.
(20:40):
And then there's adequacythrough faith, verses 4 to 7.
And what you get here is a lotof emphasis on the leaders.
People are looking to leaders.
People are looking at theleaders.
If the leaders run away, theneverybody just panics.
So David is asking, how can Iflee like a bird to the
mountain?
(21:00):
Oh, that will destroyeverything.
In fact, the foundations inverse 3, that could be the
principles of decency and orderin society.
When those are lost, then ofcourse society descends into
chaos and anarchy.
See today's news stories.
But this may just be the leadersof the people.
If the leaders are destroyed,then everybody suffers.
Everybody's going to fall apart.
(21:21):
All kinds of bad things willhappen in society when the
leaders don't lead.
And we certainly have seen thatin our reading in Kings this
year.
But I love then the big shift inverse 4.
One scholar said, the feverishscenes of verses 1, 2, and 3 are
dwarfed by the Lord, whose namehere is emphatic and reiterated.
(21:42):
God is sovereign.
God is still on the throne.
God will judge the wicked andthe righteous.
That is what the psalmist says.
That's what David is pushing.
And that does remind me of thatexcellent question I had about
imprecations and imprecatorypsalms.
That's such a good question.
So glad to get to treat that inQ ⁇ A morning.
If you didn't, if you weren'tthere for QA, you need to go
(22:03):
back and listen to that part ofthat sermon at least, because we
will encounter sections inPsalms where the psalmist is
saying, Go get them, God, crushthem, smash them, get after
them.
And that can be a littletroubling sometimes, but this is
what it verse 5 exactly frameswhat we're talking about.
God hates the wicked and the onewho loves violence.
Let him rain coals on thewicked.
(22:25):
When you live in a world wherethere's not clear understanding
of eternity and judgment andhell, and that God will see to
it that the wicked suffereternally away from him and away
from the glory of his presence.
If you don't know all of thatbecause you haven't read the New
Testament, because the NewTestament hasn't been written
yet, then your natural instinctis to ask for judgment now.
(22:50):
People in the Old Testamentworld lived in a now time frame.
If we serve the Lord, it willrain.
If we don't, it won't.
If we serve the Lord, we'resafe.
If we don't, Babylonian invadersshow up and burn everything
down.
And so David, probably writinghere during the time that Saul
is chasing him around in thewilderness, he is praying for
immediate relief fromwickedness.
(23:12):
That's what verses five and sixare all about.
Don't forget verse seven.
When God brings judgment, God'snot wrong to do that.
The Lord is righteous.
And I love that last bit.
The upright shall behold hisface.
This is a psalm of confidence,but it's not a psalm of
self-confidence.
It's a psalm of confidence inthe Lord.
(23:33):
Our reading for Friday, Psalm11.
That concludes the podcast forthe week.
You know what I will say next?
You need to leave a rating and areview, you need to share it
with other people, all of thatstuff.
Times 10.
How about that?
Certainly do appreciate youlistening to the podcast.
I love doing it, and not justbecause I get to drink great
coffee while I'm doing it.
(23:54):
I love getting to talk with youabout the Word of God, maybe
expand on some ideas Tuesday ora Thursday.
We're not going to haveopportunity to think about that
a whole lot more.
Mondays reading that kind ofthing.
I love doing the podcast, andI'm so appreciative of those of
you who listen and who have sentme a note or said something to
me about how much it means toyou.
(24:15):
It's just amazing what we canuse technology for in the Lord's
service.
I'm Mark Roberts, and I want togo to heaven.
I want you to come too.
I'll see you on Monday with acup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00 (24:34):
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 PB E A T, where creators can get
(24:59):
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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