July 21, 2025 • 24 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, July
the 21st, the day after YouthLectures weekend.
What a weekend.
I know you got your backpackloaded up.
Just an incredible opportunity.
So thankful to the elders.
They care so much about ouryoung people, and this youth
lecture event makes such a bigdifference every single year.
(01:15):
Just love it.
Just love it.
Just love it.
I'll give you an additional notefrom my sermon yesterday here in
a moment, but I hope you've gotsome coffee.
I feel very blessed today.
I'm drinking some amazing coffeesent by a friend of the podcast,
and I'm drinking it out of a muggiven to me.
It says Foolish Things CoffeeCompany in Tulsa.
Now, I have not been there, butthat's a great name for a coffee
shop.
Foolish Things Coffee Company.
(01:36):
I am sure that I would fit rightin, hopefully not in the
biblical sense of being foolish.
But whatever you've got, whetherthat's Dr.
Pepper or whether you'redrinking antifreeze like my wife
who loves Mountain Dew, yes,that's basically antifreeze, or
whether you're drinking DietCoke or Coke Zero, whatever it
is, whatever it is, pour it.
(01:56):
Pour it.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday I did talk aboutrepentance, and I got to talk
about that from a unique angle.
I talked about repentance likeit's an apparatus, like it's a
machine that you can run.
It's a repenter, and you need torun your repenter.
(02:18):
Get your repenter out of yourbackpack and turn it on.
And I think that kind of gave ita unique feel, and I hope it
connected well with you, and Ihope it connected with the young
people.
Here's my extra thought for you.
Not a whole lot today.
I know everybody's a little worndown after just a huge weekend.
So much good things, so manygood things going on.
(02:38):
Just wonderful.
Coffee and conversation Saturdaynight, just incredible.
Really thought our speakers dida great job.
So let me just give you thisextra thought.
From Jeremiah 3, verses 12 and13.
Go and proclaim these wordstoward the north and say,
Return, faithless Israel,declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,for I am merciful, declares the
(03:01):
Lord.
I will not be angry forever.
Only acknowledge your guilt thatyou rebelled against the Lord
your God and scattered yourfavors among foreigners under
every green tree and that youhave not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord." Keep yourrepenter in good working order
(03:21):
by always focusing on how goodGod is and how much He wants you
to use it and come back to Him.
Remember, when you use yourrepenter, God runs to meet you.
(03:41):
Let's think about our dailyBible reading.
(04:03):
Welcome to Monday.
Welcome to Monday, and ourreading today is 1 Kings 20,
verses 1-25.
I've had a little audio issueshere.
I changed to a differentmicrophone, and that microphone
is not behaving very well, so Iswitched back to the old
microphone.
Let's try it again.
I hope you will not hear some ofthe modulation there, the
getting quiet all of a sudden,and I'm not sure what's going on
(04:24):
with all of that.
It's a Monday.
It's the day after youthlectures.
Maybe the microphone is tired,too.
I don't know, but we're lookingat 1 Kings 20 And this really is
going to.
this is just going to say somuch about the patience of God.
In 1 Kings 18, God has shownclearly who is God.
There is no doubt about that,and yet Ahab shows no desire to
(04:45):
return to him and to do what'sright.
It's just incredible.
It's just incredible.
And the emphasis here really ison King Ahab.
It shifts away from Elijah for aperiod of time, and the other
big part of this is the rise ofSyrian power.
Not Assyria, A-S-S-Y-R-I-A-N,the Assyrians.
They're yet to come.
(05:05):
Right now, it's just theSyrians, capital S-Y-R-I-A-N,
and that'll be Ben-Hadad and hisson, Ben-Hadad II.
There's a lot of Ben-Hadads.
I'm not going down that rabbithole, but there's a bunch of
Syrian activity in this, andthey intend to make, Ben-Hadad
intends to make Ahab into king33.
Notice verse 1.
(05:26):
There are 32 kings that he hasturned into vassals, and he says
to Ahab, you're next, and Ahabsays, I am next.
There isn't anything I can doabout it.
I have to submit to you.
But then Ben-Hadad pushes alittle bit and says, I want to
just stomp around your house andsend my servants to ransack your
place and take anything that wewant.
(05:46):
And King Ahab says, that's toofar.
That's just too far.
I'll go to war with you.
So Ben-Hadad says, that's not aAnd divide up all the spoil.
Some people have to take ahandful of dirt, and there won't
even be enough dirt to go aroundbecause we're going to level the
place and take everything.
And I do like Ahab here, verse11.
(06:07):
Come on and try, big boy.
Just come on and try.
Don't count your chickens beforethey hatch.
And into that scene then comes aprophet of God, verse 13.
please observe the emphasis, youshall know that I am the Lord.
That's straight up out of 1Kings 18.
God is trying to teach thesepeople who is God, and this is
(06:28):
God's patience at a high level.
This is the love of God forIsrael as he tries to turn their
hearts back to him.
He grants Ahab the victory.
The prophet says, you need tostart this battle.
That catches the Syrianscompletely unprepared.
There's a panic.
There's a rout.
They completely destroy theSyrians.
(06:49):
And then the prophet comes andsays for 22, they'll be back.
They'll be back.
So once again, God is beinggracious to him.
Just so impressive here how muchGod does for Israel at a time
when Israel is very far awayfrom the Lord.
But the Syrians say, we'recoming back.
(07:11):
We are coming back and we have anew plan.
We're going to fight in theplain since their God is the God
of the hills, verse 23.
And then we're replacing kingswith able military leaders.
And we end on a cliffhanger.
The Syrians are coming.
What will happen tomorrow?
We'll see what God does aboutthe Syrian return.
(07:33):
A reading for Monday, 1 Kingschapter 1, verses 1 to 25.
Welcome to Tuesday.
Welcome to Tuesday.
I need to tell folks at Westsidethere will not be a Zoom study
tonight.
Dean and I are making our way toConway where I will be speaking
on their youth lectures, theiryouth weekend.
I am looking forward to thatparticularly because that means
(07:53):
I get to see my granddaughtersAddison, Kate, and Jane.
That'll be really, really fun.
And bonus, I get to be aroundSarah's Scotty dogs.
You know how I feel about Scottydogs, Cooper and Wrigley.
I'm coming and I'll be givingyou a walkies every night.
But before we do that, we needto think a little bit about 1
Kings chapter 20.
The reading for Tuesday is 1Kings 26 to 43, and this is,
(08:17):
once again, God's incrediblelove and patience.
God makes sure that Ahab knowswhat is happening, verse 28, and
there is that emphasis, youshall know that I am the Lord.
And incredibly, even thoughthere are many, many, many more
Syrians, once again, Israel winsa great victory, but instead of
taking advantage of that victoryAhab, in verse 32, is flattered
(08:40):
that a powerful adversary seekspeace from him, and he just
gives in.
He just gives in.
And I think the note here thatought to be particularly sounded
is that Ahab, one scholar wrote,is treating these victories as
if they are his own achievement.
There's no consulting theprophet of God.
Should I let these guys go?
(09:00):
Should I make a treaty?
He thinks, I'm the big man.
I've accomplished all of this.
So, verse 34, he made a covenantwith him and he let him go.
And that results then in aprophetic rebuke.
And we really are seeing herethe office of prophet and the
office of king.
There's so much opposition, somuch tension between these two,
(09:21):
and so the prophet says, verse35, to his fellow, hey, I need
you to hit me, and theimplication here is that this is
the command of God, and theprophet refuses to do that,
which results in him beingkilled by a lion, which reminds
us of the story of the youngprophet in chapter 13, and then
another prophet does wound him,and that's important.
He needs the wound for adisguise, and he tells the king
(09:42):
a little parable, tells the kinga little story, getting a little
Nathan David he Hey, I had aprisoner.
Prisoner got away.
What do you think about that?
And Ahab says, oh, that'sterrible.
You set the punishment out ofyour own mouth.
You need to be punished.
And then the prophet says toAhab as he takes the bandage
away from his eyes, verse 41,now verse 42, you have set the
punishment.
(10:03):
You have failed God.
You are going to come under thejudgment of God.
But as one writer said, verse43, Ahab is not truly penitent.
He is seeking to undo, nor is heseeking to undo what he has done
amiss.
He's just enraged at the prophetand exasperated against God.
The word of God had stirred himbut not tamed him.
However, this was not thefailure of the word of God.
(10:25):
It's the failure of King Ahab.
How true that is.
And chapter 21 will show us justhow evil and wicked this man
truly can be.
Our reading for Tuesday, 1 Kingschapter 20, verses 26 to 43.
No Zoom call tonight.
I'll see everybody on thepodcast tomorrow.
It is Wednesday.
It's hump day.
It is Wednesday, and today DevinHarbour will be with us to
(10:49):
continue our summer series onthe book of Judges.
Here's Devin to tell you alittle bit more about what he'll
be speaking on tonight andupdate us a little bit on some
of the things happening in hislife.
Here's Devin.
SPEAKER_02 (11:03):
Hello.
My name is Devin Harbour.
My family and I were with youlast year for your summer
series, and we enjoyed our timethere discussing the parables.
Much has changed since then.
In the spring, my family and Imoved back to our home state of
Oklahoma, to the Oklahoma Cityarea, to work with the Mustang
Church of Christ.
(11:24):
We have also welcomed anotherdaughter, our third child,
keeping us a household of allgirls.
We have been greatly blessed.
This year, we will discussAbimelech from Judges 9.
This is a marvelously oddchapter, which only makes this
all the more intriguing.
There are good things toconsider and great ways to apply
(11:45):
as we strive to be faithful tothe King today.
So, we look forward to studyingthis good text with you on
Wednesday, July 23rd.
SPEAKER_00 (11:56):
Thank you, Devin.
Before Devin speaks for ustonight, we need to get our
daily Bible reading done, andthat is 1 Kings chapter 21.
The reading for Wednesday is 1Kings chapter 21.
This is a brutally difficultchapter.
Maybe a little light at the endof the tunnel here, but There's
just not much to like when Ahabunlawfully seizes Naboth's
field.
(12:17):
One scholar noted,"...it is wellknown from both the biblical
text and archaeologicalexcavations at Samaria, Megiddo,
and Hazor, that Ahab was a greatbuilder.
Among his many holdings was apalace at Jezreel that seems to
have been a favorite retreat forthe king and his family.
Ahab and Jezebel were inresidence there at the time of
the contest on Mount Carmel, andit was there that Joram, Ahab's
(12:39):
son, returned to recuperateafter being wounded at Ramoth
Gilead.
Also, Jezebel apparentlypreferred Jezreel as her
residence after the death of Sothis is all about building.
It's all about constructionprojects, and Ahab wants more
land.
But Naboth knows, verse 3, thatto sell the field is a violation
of the law of God because it'sin his family, and he can't sell
(13:02):
it outside of the family.
We then get a passage that saysan awful lot about Jezebel and
how Phoenicians view the royalking and the throne and his
word, because she says, verse 7,don't you now govern Israel?
Arise, eat bread, let your heartbe cheerful.
I will give you the vineyard ofNaboth the Jezreelite.
(13:23):
Now, the Septuagint translation,which is relying on some
different manuscripts that wouldhave been accessible during the
time between the Testaments.
That's the Greek translation ofthe Old Testament.
The Septuagint says, if youdon't have enough courage to
act, I will procure thee thevineyard of Naboth.
And the New Jerusalem Bible,following some of that
tradition, says, some king ofIsrael you are.
(13:45):
Get up, eat, and take heart.
I myself shall get you thevineyard of Naboth the
Jezreelite.
So, You see that she feels likethe king can do anything that he
wants to do.
His word is law.
You want it.
You take it.
There's no sense of being underthe authority of God, and Ahab
has completely lost his wayhere.
(14:05):
Then there is this terribleplot.
Verses 9 and 10, there's theproclaiming of a fast, which
might indicate that the city hadcommitted some sort of great
sin, and so we need to find theperpetrator.
We need to find the sinner.
And two worthless men, worthlesshere Some translations have
scoundrel.
It's literally sons of Belial.
And by the time of the NewTestament, Belial...
(14:28):
refers to Satan.
So these are real wicked men,and they falsely charge Naboth,
and Naboth is murdered.
And evidently, verse 15, thepractice is that when somebody
is executed, the state takespossession of their property.
And of course, verse 17, Elijahshows up.
(14:49):
Elijah seems to have a knack foralways showing up at exactly the
wrong time in Ahab's life, andhe shows up and pronounces
strong condemnation andjudgment, which we will read
about and we will see come topass.
And shockingly, verse 27, Ahabrepents.
Ahab repents.
Didn't see that coming.
(15:10):
Didn't have that on my bingocard today.
Ahab is such a completelyworthless and evil person.
I did not expect that he wouldrespond to the Word of God.
But God says to Elijah, verse 28and verse 29, Ahab has humbled
himself, and so I will not bringthe disaster in his days.
So if you're questioning whetherthis is sincere repentance, God
(15:32):
viewed it as sincere repentance,and of course the Lord would
know.
Now, it won't last long, but fora moment or two, Ahab runs his
repenter.
Our reading then for Wednesday,1 Kings chapter 21.
It is Thursday.
It's Thursday, and today we'rereading 1 Kings 22, verses 1 to
28.
(15:53):
This is a highly entertainingreading.
The story here, I'm not sure youcan stop at verse 28.
It is very good stuff.
For three years, verse 1, Syriaand Israel continued without
war.
So the time frame here is about853 or 852 BC, about 853 years
before the birth of Christ.
(16:13):
And Syria and Israel actuallyduring that time had entered
into an alliance to to try torepel the rising power of the
Assyrians, but the alliance fellapart, and so there was war, and
the next thing you know,Jehoshaphat shows up.
Now, The writer of Kings has nottalked about Jehoshaphat.
We've not met him before.
But Jehoshaphat is actuallyAhab's brother-in-law because
(16:35):
his son Jehoram had marriedAhab's daughter Athaliah.
And one scholar had noted aboutthis that Jehoshaphat scores
high in piety but low in sense.
He had concluded a stupidmarriage alliance with Ahab.
Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram waswed to Ahab's daughter Athaliah.
2 Kings 8.18, 2 Chronicles 18and verse 1.
(16:57):
And that's exactly right.
Jehoshaphat does not need to betying himself up to the house of
Ahab.
And you get the sense here thatJehoshaphat knows some things
about the Lord because he says,verse 5, inquire first for the
word of the Lord.
And word of the Lord, onceagain, is the overriding
emphasis.
What's God say?
The word of the Lord.
Of course, maybe we ought to saysomething here.
(17:21):
Jehoshaphat, you should haveinquired before you pledged
yourself in an alliance to Ahab.
What's this?
I'm in with you.
Oh, let's see what God thinks ofabout it.
No, no, no, no.
The order has been reversedthere.
Ask God first.
And so a bunch of prophets showup, and it is clear to
Jehoshaphat these guys areuseless.
They're just saying whatever theking wants to hear.
(17:41):
So he says, I need a realprophet, and Micaiah is brought
in.
In verses 13 to 28, Micaiahcomes and promises Ahab absolute
defeat.
He begins by parroting, and youdon't get You don't get tone of
voice here, but I think verse 15is very, very sarcastic.
(18:02):
Go up and triumph.
Oh, it's like all these guyssay, oh yeah, come on, king.
Just, oh yeah, big win comingfor you boys.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
I just know you're going totriumph.
Everybody in the room can tellMicaiah is not giving them what
God really says.
So Micaiah traces out a thronescene.
(18:25):
This is maybe to balance thethrone scene of Ahab and
Josaphat.
They are counseling together.
There's another throne scene,and Micaiah pulls the curtain
back and lets them see what'sreally going on.
Zedekiah, the false prophet, isfurious at this, and Micaiah
says, verse 25, the day is goingto come when he'll understand
(18:45):
that the prophecy of that heoffered was utterly false
because he'll be hiding from hisenemies in the inner room.
And then I love this verse 28.
Micaiah said, if you return inpeace, the Lord has not spoken
by me.
He is willing to take the testof a true prophet.
And that's where the readingstops for Thursday.
The reading for Thursday is 1Kings 22 verses 1 to 28.
(19:09):
We'll resume this story onMonday, but tomorrow we are in
the Psalms.
See you on Friday.
It's Friday.
It is Friday, and today ourreading is Psalm 31.
Psalm 31, where David isconcerned once again about the
terrible things that people aresaying behind his back.
This is a lament.
(19:29):
It is a cry for help from God,and it does contain a lot of
language that is repeated inother psalms.
In some ways, it's kind of likesome of our praying that uses
stock phrases like, guard,guide, and direct us until we
meet again.
Now, that doesn't mean thepsalmist is insincere, but it
does mean that he's drawing onsome common expressions of faith
(19:50):
and trust.
Now, the structure here ispretty unusual and difficult to
outline.
I've said before, psalms don'talways outline neatly and
cleanly.
When David is writing a psalm,he's not thinking Roman 1, Roman
2, Roman 3, and how will thislay on PowerPoint slides.
The psalm does seem to repeatitself.
There's a cycle here fromanguish to assurance, and I'll
(20:11):
try to work with some of that aswe work down through this psalm.
So it begins with a prayer forGod's help, verses 1 to 5, and
that rock and fortressterminology in verse 2, that's
all about great confidence andGod is solid and I can trust in
God.
And then verse 5, into yourhands I commit my spirit.
Recognize that?
Of course you do.
That's Jesus.
(20:31):
Jesus used that on the cross,and that gives us some insight
into how Jesus felt as he wasdying on the cross.
Please realize Jesus doesn't usethe second line in verse 5
because he does not needredemption.
Then there is an expression oftrust.
I cried for help.
Now verses 6, 7, and 8, God, Itrust in you, not in idols.
(20:52):
Then there is the prayer for thefavor of the Lord, verses 9 to
It seems in verse 19 thatenemies have renewed their
attack, and some of thatconfidence has dissolved into
tears.
And don't get lost here.
Lots of poetry doesn'tnecessarily have to mean you're
dying or near death.
It just means I'm very, verydistressed here.
And then, verses 14 to 18, thereis, once again, a statement of
(21:16):
trust.
Statement of trust.
God, you can do this.
Jeremiah will use thisexpression, fear on every side,
quite a bit.
And we're coming to Jeremiah inour Bible reading in the time of
Jeremiah, and there will be fearon every side.
And he likes that kind ofexpression.
But the psalmist commitshimself, verse 15, to the care
of the Lord.
Then the psalm ends in verses 19to 24 with a song of
(21:38):
thanksgiving.
God, you are abundant in yourgoodness for all the good things
that you've stored up for thosewho fear you, verse 19.
You work for those who takerefuge in you in the sight of
the children of mankind.
God is good and kind.
We don't always understand, andthe psalmist didn't always
understand, how God is workingand what God is doing, but he is
there, and he is active on ourbehalf.
(22:01):
So maybe as you look at Psalm31, you have to ask yourself,
what will I do when I'm beingattacked?
People are gossiping behind myback at work, or somebody posted
something unfair about me onsocial media.
What we need to do is not seekpersonal vengeance.
We turn that over to the Lord.
And we need to trust the Lord todeal with those adversaries and
those enemies.
And by that, I'm talking aboutthe people that we can't work it
(22:25):
out with.
We can't go to and talk to andtry to come to some
reconciliation and repentanceand forgiveness.
What do we do with the evilpeople who just hate on us and
do bad things?
We turn it over to the Lord.
Now, that's easy to say on apodcast.
That's a lot harder to do.
But I think it's easier to do ifwe read this psalm, if we pray
this prayer, if we give it tothe Lord like David did in Psalm
(22:48):
31.
That's the podcast then for theweek.
I certainly do appreciate youlistening to the podcast.
Hope you're having a great day.
great Friday.
Tell others about the podcastand please leave a rating or
review because that helps peoplefind the podcast.
I appreciate all of ourlisteners and the kind things
(23:08):
that you say about how thishelps you to continue the
spiritual momentum of Sunday andhow it helps you with your daily
Bible reading.
Have a great Friday.
I'm Mark Roberts and I want togo to heaven and I want you to
come too.
I'll see you on Monday with...
A cup of coffee.
SPEAKER_01 (23:34):
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 P's,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(23:58):
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.
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, July
the 21st, the day after YouthLectures weekend.
What a weekend.
I know you got your backpackloaded up.
Just an incredible opportunity.
So thankful to the elders.
They care so much about ouryoung people, and this youth
lecture event makes such a bigdifference every single year.
(01:15):
Just love it.
Just love it.
Just love it.
I'll give you an additional notefrom my sermon yesterday here in
a moment, but I hope you've gotsome coffee.
I feel very blessed today.
I'm drinking some amazing coffeesent by a friend of the podcast,
and I'm drinking it out of a muggiven to me.
It says Foolish Things CoffeeCompany in Tulsa.
Now, I have not been there, butthat's a great name for a coffee
shop.
Foolish Things Coffee Company.
(01:36):
I am sure that I would fit rightin, hopefully not in the
biblical sense of being foolish.
But whatever you've got, whetherthat's Dr.
Pepper or whether you'redrinking antifreeze like my wife
who loves Mountain Dew, yes,that's basically antifreeze, or
whether you're drinking DietCoke or Coke Zero, whatever it
is, whatever it is, pour it.
(01:56):
Pour it.
Let's get ready.
Let's get set.
Let's go.
Yesterday I did talk aboutrepentance, and I got to talk
about that from a unique angle.
I talked about repentance likeit's an apparatus, like it's a
machine that you can run.
It's a repenter, and you need torun your repenter.
(02:18):
Get your repenter out of yourbackpack and turn it on.
And I think that kind of gave ita unique feel, and I hope it
connected well with you, and Ihope it connected with the young
people.
Here's my extra thought for you.
Not a whole lot today.
I know everybody's a little worndown after just a huge weekend.
So much good things, so manygood things going on.
(02:38):
Just wonderful.
Coffee and conversation Saturdaynight, just incredible.
Really thought our speakers dida great job.
So let me just give you thisextra thought.
From Jeremiah 3, verses 12 and13.
Go and proclaim these wordstoward the north and say,
Return, faithless Israel,declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,for I am merciful, declares the
(03:01):
Lord.
I will not be angry forever.
Only acknowledge your guilt thatyou rebelled against the Lord
your God and scattered yourfavors among foreigners under
every green tree and that youhave not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord." Keep yourrepenter in good working order
(03:21):
by always focusing on how goodGod is and how much He wants you
to use it and come back to Him.
Remember, when you use yourrepenter, God runs to meet you.
(03:41):
Let's think about our dailyBible reading.
(04:03):
Welcome to Monday.
Welcome to Monday, and ourreading today is 1 Kings 20,
verses 1-25.
I've had a little audio issueshere.
I changed to a differentmicrophone, and that microphone
is not behaving very well, so Iswitched back to the old
microphone.
Let's try it again.
I hope you will not hear some ofthe modulation there, the
getting quiet all of a sudden,and I'm not sure what's going on
(04:24):
with all of that.
It's a Monday.
It's the day after youthlectures.
Maybe the microphone is tired,too.
I don't know, but we're lookingat 1 Kings 20 And this really is
going to.
this is just going to say somuch about the patience of God.
In 1 Kings 18, God has shownclearly who is God.
There is no doubt about that,and yet Ahab shows no desire to
(04:45):
return to him and to do what'sright.
It's just incredible.
It's just incredible.
And the emphasis here really ison King Ahab.
It shifts away from Elijah for aperiod of time, and the other
big part of this is the rise ofSyrian power.
Not Assyria, A-S-S-Y-R-I-A-N,the Assyrians.
They're yet to come.
(05:05):
Right now, it's just theSyrians, capital S-Y-R-I-A-N,
and that'll be Ben-Hadad and hisson, Ben-Hadad II.
There's a lot of Ben-Hadads.
I'm not going down that rabbithole, but there's a bunch of
Syrian activity in this, andthey intend to make, Ben-Hadad
intends to make Ahab into king33.
Notice verse 1.
(05:26):
There are 32 kings that he hasturned into vassals, and he says
to Ahab, you're next, and Ahabsays, I am next.
There isn't anything I can doabout it.
I have to submit to you.
But then Ben-Hadad pushes alittle bit and says, I want to
just stomp around your house andsend my servants to ransack your
place and take anything that wewant.
(05:46):
And King Ahab says, that's toofar.
That's just too far.
I'll go to war with you.
So Ben-Hadad says, that's not aAnd divide up all the spoil.
Some people have to take ahandful of dirt, and there won't
even be enough dirt to go aroundbecause we're going to level the
place and take everything.
And I do like Ahab here, verse11.
(06:07):
Come on and try, big boy.
Just come on and try.
Don't count your chickens beforethey hatch.
And into that scene then comes aprophet of God, verse 13.
please observe the emphasis, youshall know that I am the Lord.
That's straight up out of 1Kings 18.
God is trying to teach thesepeople who is God, and this is
(06:28):
God's patience at a high level.
This is the love of God forIsrael as he tries to turn their
hearts back to him.
He grants Ahab the victory.
The prophet says, you need tostart this battle.
That catches the Syrianscompletely unprepared.
There's a panic.
There's a rout.
They completely destroy theSyrians.
(06:49):
And then the prophet comes andsays for 22, they'll be back.
They'll be back.
So once again, God is beinggracious to him.
Just so impressive here how muchGod does for Israel at a time
when Israel is very far awayfrom the Lord.
But the Syrians say, we'recoming back.
(07:11):
We are coming back and we have anew plan.
We're going to fight in theplain since their God is the God
of the hills, verse 23.
And then we're replacing kingswith able military leaders.
And we end on a cliffhanger.
The Syrians are coming.
What will happen tomorrow?
We'll see what God does aboutthe Syrian return.
(07:33):
A reading for Monday, 1 Kingschapter 1, verses 1 to 25.
Welcome to Tuesday.
Welcome to Tuesday.
I need to tell folks at Westsidethere will not be a Zoom study
tonight.
Dean and I are making our way toConway where I will be speaking
on their youth lectures, theiryouth weekend.
I am looking forward to thatparticularly because that means
(07:53):
I get to see my granddaughtersAddison, Kate, and Jane.
That'll be really, really fun.
And bonus, I get to be aroundSarah's Scotty dogs.
You know how I feel about Scottydogs, Cooper and Wrigley.
I'm coming and I'll be givingyou a walkies every night.
But before we do that, we needto think a little bit about 1
Kings chapter 20.
The reading for Tuesday is 1Kings 26 to 43, and this is,
(08:17):
once again, God's incrediblelove and patience.
God makes sure that Ahab knowswhat is happening, verse 28, and
there is that emphasis, youshall know that I am the Lord.
And incredibly, even thoughthere are many, many, many more
Syrians, once again, Israel winsa great victory, but instead of
taking advantage of that victoryAhab, in verse 32, is flattered
(08:40):
that a powerful adversary seekspeace from him, and he just
gives in.
He just gives in.
And I think the note here thatought to be particularly sounded
is that Ahab, one scholar wrote,is treating these victories as
if they are his own achievement.
There's no consulting theprophet of God.
Should I let these guys go?
(09:00):
Should I make a treaty?
He thinks, I'm the big man.
I've accomplished all of this.
So, verse 34, he made a covenantwith him and he let him go.
And that results then in aprophetic rebuke.
And we really are seeing herethe office of prophet and the
office of king.
There's so much opposition, somuch tension between these two,
(09:21):
and so the prophet says, verse35, to his fellow, hey, I need
you to hit me, and theimplication here is that this is
the command of God, and theprophet refuses to do that,
which results in him beingkilled by a lion, which reminds
us of the story of the youngprophet in chapter 13, and then
another prophet does wound him,and that's important.
He needs the wound for adisguise, and he tells the king
(09:42):
a little parable, tells the kinga little story, getting a little
Nathan David he Hey, I had aprisoner.
Prisoner got away.
What do you think about that?
And Ahab says, oh, that'sterrible.
You set the punishment out ofyour own mouth.
You need to be punished.
And then the prophet says toAhab as he takes the bandage
away from his eyes, verse 41,now verse 42, you have set the
punishment.
(10:03):
You have failed God.
You are going to come under thejudgment of God.
But as one writer said, verse43, Ahab is not truly penitent.
He is seeking to undo, nor is heseeking to undo what he has done
amiss.
He's just enraged at the prophetand exasperated against God.
The word of God had stirred himbut not tamed him.
However, this was not thefailure of the word of God.
(10:25):
It's the failure of King Ahab.
How true that is.
And chapter 21 will show us justhow evil and wicked this man
truly can be.
Our reading for Tuesday, 1 Kingschapter 20, verses 26 to 43.
No Zoom call tonight.
I'll see everybody on thepodcast tomorrow.
It is Wednesday.
It's hump day.
It is Wednesday, and today DevinHarbour will be with us to
(10:49):
continue our summer series onthe book of Judges.
Here's Devin to tell you alittle bit more about what he'll
be speaking on tonight andupdate us a little bit on some
of the things happening in hislife.
Here's Devin.
SPEAKER_02 (11:03):
Hello.
My name is Devin Harbour.
My family and I were with youlast year for your summer
series, and we enjoyed our timethere discussing the parables.
Much has changed since then.
In the spring, my family and Imoved back to our home state of
Oklahoma, to the Oklahoma Cityarea, to work with the Mustang
Church of Christ.
(11:24):
We have also welcomed anotherdaughter, our third child,
keeping us a household of allgirls.
We have been greatly blessed.
This year, we will discussAbimelech from Judges 9.
This is a marvelously oddchapter, which only makes this
all the more intriguing.
There are good things toconsider and great ways to apply
(11:45):
as we strive to be faithful tothe King today.
So, we look forward to studyingthis good text with you on
Wednesday, July 23rd.
SPEAKER_00 (11:56):
Thank you, Devin.
Before Devin speaks for ustonight, we need to get our
daily Bible reading done, andthat is 1 Kings chapter 21.
The reading for Wednesday is 1Kings chapter 21.
This is a brutally difficultchapter.
Maybe a little light at the endof the tunnel here, but There's
just not much to like when Ahabunlawfully seizes Naboth's
field.
(12:17):
One scholar noted,"...it is wellknown from both the biblical
text and archaeologicalexcavations at Samaria, Megiddo,
and Hazor, that Ahab was a greatbuilder.
Among his many holdings was apalace at Jezreel that seems to
have been a favorite retreat forthe king and his family.
Ahab and Jezebel were inresidence there at the time of
the contest on Mount Carmel, andit was there that Joram, Ahab's
(12:39):
son, returned to recuperateafter being wounded at Ramoth
Gilead.
Also, Jezebel apparentlypreferred Jezreel as her
residence after the death of Sothis is all about building.
It's all about constructionprojects, and Ahab wants more
land.
But Naboth knows, verse 3, thatto sell the field is a violation
of the law of God because it'sin his family, and he can't sell
(13:02):
it outside of the family.
We then get a passage that saysan awful lot about Jezebel and
how Phoenicians view the royalking and the throne and his
word, because she says, verse 7,don't you now govern Israel?
Arise, eat bread, let your heartbe cheerful.
I will give you the vineyard ofNaboth the Jezreelite.
(13:23):
Now, the Septuagint translation,which is relying on some
different manuscripts that wouldhave been accessible during the
time between the Testaments.
That's the Greek translation ofthe Old Testament.
The Septuagint says, if youdon't have enough courage to
act, I will procure thee thevineyard of Naboth.
And the New Jerusalem Bible,following some of that
tradition, says, some king ofIsrael you are.
(13:45):
Get up, eat, and take heart.
I myself shall get you thevineyard of Naboth the
Jezreelite.
So, You see that she feels likethe king can do anything that he
wants to do.
His word is law.
You want it.
You take it.
There's no sense of being underthe authority of God, and Ahab
has completely lost his wayhere.
(14:05):
Then there is this terribleplot.
Verses 9 and 10, there's theproclaiming of a fast, which
might indicate that the city hadcommitted some sort of great
sin, and so we need to find theperpetrator.
We need to find the sinner.
And two worthless men, worthlesshere Some translations have
scoundrel.
It's literally sons of Belial.
And by the time of the NewTestament, Belial...
(14:28):
refers to Satan.
So these are real wicked men,and they falsely charge Naboth,
and Naboth is murdered.
And evidently, verse 15, thepractice is that when somebody
is executed, the state takespossession of their property.
And of course, verse 17, Elijahshows up.
(14:49):
Elijah seems to have a knack foralways showing up at exactly the
wrong time in Ahab's life, andhe shows up and pronounces
strong condemnation andjudgment, which we will read
about and we will see come topass.
And shockingly, verse 27, Ahabrepents.
Ahab repents.
Didn't see that coming.
(15:10):
Didn't have that on my bingocard today.
Ahab is such a completelyworthless and evil person.
I did not expect that he wouldrespond to the Word of God.
But God says to Elijah, verse 28and verse 29, Ahab has humbled
himself, and so I will not bringthe disaster in his days.
So if you're questioning whetherthis is sincere repentance, God
(15:32):
viewed it as sincere repentance,and of course the Lord would
know.
Now, it won't last long, but fora moment or two, Ahab runs his
repenter.
Our reading then for Wednesday,1 Kings chapter 21.
It is Thursday.
It's Thursday, and today we'rereading 1 Kings 22, verses 1 to
28.
(15:53):
This is a highly entertainingreading.
The story here, I'm not sure youcan stop at verse 28.
It is very good stuff.
For three years, verse 1, Syriaand Israel continued without
war.
So the time frame here is about853 or 852 BC, about 853 years
before the birth of Christ.
(16:13):
And Syria and Israel actuallyduring that time had entered
into an alliance to to try torepel the rising power of the
Assyrians, but the alliance fellapart, and so there was war, and
the next thing you know,Jehoshaphat shows up.
Now, The writer of Kings has nottalked about Jehoshaphat.
We've not met him before.
But Jehoshaphat is actuallyAhab's brother-in-law because
(16:35):
his son Jehoram had marriedAhab's daughter Athaliah.
And one scholar had noted aboutthis that Jehoshaphat scores
high in piety but low in sense.
He had concluded a stupidmarriage alliance with Ahab.
Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram waswed to Ahab's daughter Athaliah.
2 Kings 8.18, 2 Chronicles 18and verse 1.
(16:57):
And that's exactly right.
Jehoshaphat does not need to betying himself up to the house of
Ahab.
And you get the sense here thatJehoshaphat knows some things
about the Lord because he says,verse 5, inquire first for the
word of the Lord.
And word of the Lord, onceagain, is the overriding
emphasis.
What's God say?
The word of the Lord.
Of course, maybe we ought to saysomething here.
(17:21):
Jehoshaphat, you should haveinquired before you pledged
yourself in an alliance to Ahab.
What's this?
I'm in with you.
Oh, let's see what God thinks ofabout it.
No, no, no, no.
The order has been reversedthere.
Ask God first.
And so a bunch of prophets showup, and it is clear to
Jehoshaphat these guys areuseless.
They're just saying whatever theking wants to hear.
(17:41):
So he says, I need a realprophet, and Micaiah is brought
in.
In verses 13 to 28, Micaiahcomes and promises Ahab absolute
defeat.
He begins by parroting, and youdon't get You don't get tone of
voice here, but I think verse 15is very, very sarcastic.
(18:02):
Go up and triumph.
Oh, it's like all these guyssay, oh yeah, come on, king.
Just, oh yeah, big win comingfor you boys.
Uh-huh.
Uh-huh.
I just know you're going totriumph.
Everybody in the room can tellMicaiah is not giving them what
God really says.
So Micaiah traces out a thronescene.
(18:25):
This is maybe to balance thethrone scene of Ahab and
Josaphat.
They are counseling together.
There's another throne scene,and Micaiah pulls the curtain
back and lets them see what'sreally going on.
Zedekiah, the false prophet, isfurious at this, and Micaiah
says, verse 25, the day is goingto come when he'll understand
(18:45):
that the prophecy of that heoffered was utterly false
because he'll be hiding from hisenemies in the inner room.
And then I love this verse 28.
Micaiah said, if you return inpeace, the Lord has not spoken
by me.
He is willing to take the testof a true prophet.
And that's where the readingstops for Thursday.
The reading for Thursday is 1Kings 22 verses 1 to 28.
(19:09):
We'll resume this story onMonday, but tomorrow we are in
the Psalms.
See you on Friday.
It's Friday.
It is Friday, and today ourreading is Psalm 31.
Psalm 31, where David isconcerned once again about the
terrible things that people aresaying behind his back.
This is a lament.
(19:29):
It is a cry for help from God,and it does contain a lot of
language that is repeated inother psalms.
In some ways, it's kind of likesome of our praying that uses
stock phrases like, guard,guide, and direct us until we
meet again.
Now, that doesn't mean thepsalmist is insincere, but it
does mean that he's drawing onsome common expressions of faith
(19:50):
and trust.
Now, the structure here ispretty unusual and difficult to
outline.
I've said before, psalms don'talways outline neatly and
cleanly.
When David is writing a psalm,he's not thinking Roman 1, Roman
2, Roman 3, and how will thislay on PowerPoint slides.
The psalm does seem to repeatitself.
There's a cycle here fromanguish to assurance, and I'll
(20:11):
try to work with some of that aswe work down through this psalm.
So it begins with a prayer forGod's help, verses 1 to 5, and
that rock and fortressterminology in verse 2, that's
all about great confidence andGod is solid and I can trust in
God.
And then verse 5, into yourhands I commit my spirit.
Recognize that?
Of course you do.
That's Jesus.
(20:31):
Jesus used that on the cross,and that gives us some insight
into how Jesus felt as he wasdying on the cross.
Please realize Jesus doesn't usethe second line in verse 5
because he does not needredemption.
Then there is an expression oftrust.
I cried for help.
Now verses 6, 7, and 8, God, Itrust in you, not in idols.
(20:52):
Then there is the prayer for thefavor of the Lord, verses 9 to
It seems in verse 19 thatenemies have renewed their
attack, and some of thatconfidence has dissolved into
tears.
And don't get lost here.
Lots of poetry doesn'tnecessarily have to mean you're
dying or near death.
It just means I'm very, verydistressed here.
And then, verses 14 to 18, thereis, once again, a statement of
(21:16):
trust.
Statement of trust.
God, you can do this.
Jeremiah will use thisexpression, fear on every side,
quite a bit.
And we're coming to Jeremiah inour Bible reading in the time of
Jeremiah, and there will be fearon every side.
And he likes that kind ofexpression.
But the psalmist commitshimself, verse 15, to the care
of the Lord.
Then the psalm ends in verses 19to 24 with a song of
(21:38):
thanksgiving.
God, you are abundant in yourgoodness for all the good things
that you've stored up for thosewho fear you, verse 19.
You work for those who takerefuge in you in the sight of
the children of mankind.
God is good and kind.
We don't always understand, andthe psalmist didn't always
understand, how God is workingand what God is doing, but he is
there, and he is active on ourbehalf.
(22:01):
So maybe as you look at Psalm31, you have to ask yourself,
what will I do when I'm beingattacked?
People are gossiping behind myback at work, or somebody posted
something unfair about me onsocial media.
What we need to do is not seekpersonal vengeance.
We turn that over to the Lord.
And we need to trust the Lord todeal with those adversaries and
those enemies.
And by that, I'm talking aboutthe people that we can't work it
(22:25):
out with.
We can't go to and talk to andtry to come to some
reconciliation and repentanceand forgiveness.
What do we do with the evilpeople who just hate on us and
do bad things?
We turn it over to the Lord.
Now, that's easy to say on apodcast.
That's a lot harder to do.
But I think it's easier to do ifwe read this psalm, if we pray
this prayer, if we give it tothe Lord like David did in Psalm
(22:48):
31.
That's the podcast then for theweek.
I certainly do appreciate youlistening to the podcast.
Hope you're having a great day.
great Friday.
Tell others about the podcastand please leave a rating or
review because that helps peoplefind the podcast.
I appreciate all of ourlisteners and the kind things
(23:08):
that you say about how thishelps you to continue the
spiritual momentum of Sunday andhow it helps you with your daily
Bible reading.
Have a great Friday.
I'm Mark Roberts and I want togo to heaven and I want you to
come too.
I'll see you on Monday with...
A cup of coffee.
SPEAKER_01 (23:34):
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 P's,U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators
(23:58):
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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