Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Samuel 21:1

A few years ago the Pew Research Group released the findings of a survey of happiness in America.

The survey found that 43% of Evangelical Christians who attended church weekly claimed to be very happy compared to 36% that attend monthly and 26% who claim not to be religious at all.

When David Came to Nob

Congratulatory remarks:

Congratulations is due in so many different areas.

First of all so amazing to see two congregations to be able to come together…very apostolic for two pastors of two churches be able to come together and work in unity to accomplish more for the Kingdom.

Congratulations on the ability to be in this amazing building in such a tremendous location!

A few years ago the Pew Research Group released the findings of a survey of happiness in America.

The survey found that 43% of Evangelical Christians who attended church weekly claimed to be very happy compared to 36% that attend monthly and 26% who claim not to be religious at all.

I believe that church should be the place that you leave feeling better than you did when you arrived!

When I take my wife and 4 daughters shopping at the mall, I don’t always leave feeling better than I did when I got there!

When I go to the all-you-can-eat restaurant I don’t always leave there feeling better than I did when I arrived!

But the House of the Lord should be a place that we might come in discouraged and down, but we leave encouraged and uplifted.

The subject of our preaching this morning is the Old Testament figure, David!

Today we could focus on so many aspects of the life of David:

David the shepherd

David the giant killer

David the worshipper

David the warrior

David the great King Of Israel

All of those are certainly bold themes in the chronicled life of David!

Yet, if there were a theme and a quality that stood out concerning David, it is unequivocally and undeniably, his love for the dwelling place of the presence of God!

The Bible speaks of the door as a place of opportunity

It is the Laodicean church, who is declared as Lukewarm and blindly unaware of their spiritual lack…yet in vs. 20 Jesus declares to them…behold I stand at the door and Knock!

Without question, David loved the house of God!

There is no controversy in the claim that David loved the assembly of the righteous It is not an exaggeration nor an overstatement to consider that David had an obsession for the house of God and the people of God. it was David that said

​ KJV 1900I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.

In John chapter 10 vs. 9 Jesus declares

It was David that penned the poetic verse:

​ KJV 1900For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand.

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

In and 12 Paul speaks of a door that had been opened to him to preach the Gospel at Troas

In Paul prayed for a door of utterance to be able to speak the mystery of Christ.

Davids love for the house of God was more than just the building…it was the people!!!!

Someone said I love church…i just don’t like the people!

The Old Testament prophet Hosea referred to the valley of Achor as a door of hope

And speaks of the door of faith that had been opened unto the Gentiles

I know that we live in a time where it is en vogue to downplay the importance of buildings and accentuate that we…the people…are the body of Christ.

I have no issue with that theology..as I agree we are the body of Christ.

However, I don’t believe the revelation that we are the body negates the importance of the building that we gather in.

I know that we live in a time where it is en vogue to downplay the importance of buildings and accentuate that we…the people…are the body of Christ.

I have no issue with that theology..as I agree we are the body of Christ.

However, I don’t believe the revelation that we are the body negates the importance of the building that we gather in.

I agree with what Bro.

Tuttle said last month at NAYC when he talked about breaking the ruler…not being able to measure a miracle…He stated that The biggest buildings in our cities should be…and will be Apostolic churches.

This building is more than square footage…more than bricks and concrete…More than just a building positioned at the corner of 8th avenue and 13th street in Marion, Iowa…

This building is a door of opportunity for this community!

It is a God-placed opportunity that has miraculously been placed in the heart of this city!

This building is the Valley of Achor for the lost and dying of this city…it is the door of hope!

Souls that have never heard the message of Jesus Christ preached will hear and see the testimonies of what God is doing and they will be drawn to this building…being offered an opportunity that will forever change their eternity!

Souls that have never heard the message of Jesus Christ preached will hear and see the testimonies of what God is doing and they will be drawn to this building…being offered an opportunity that will forever change their eternity!

I know that we live in a day and time where it is ok to be indifferent about the church...

I don’t know if you are getting the picture yet…but

To overlook its power while underlining its problems

To downplay its divine purpose while upbraiding human flaws

To excuse the positive attribute has done while exaggerating the negative.

But I believe there is someone here tonight that like David would still say…I was glad when they said unto me…let us God to the house of the Lord!

I’d rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of the wicked

And for all of those that love church, but you cant stand the people…make no mistake about it…David’s love for the house of God was more than just a love for a facility…or even the presence of God...

But David declared that I will declare you praise in the congregation of the righteous

it doesn’t take much of a character study on the life of David to understand that he loved the House of the Lord!

He loved the presence of God and the people of God…David loved the church!

David loved the house of God!

David loved the assembly of the righteous!

In 1 Chronicles chapter 29, as David is turning the leadership of the nation of Israel to his son Solomon…David reveals that through the years, he had been setting aside a small nest egg to finance the building of the Temple of the Lord.

If you do the math and combine all of the figures together, the small stash that David had stored away, amounted to roughly 112 tons of gold and the 262 tons of sliver…in addition to the various other precious and costly stones that he had gathered.

I recently read an article where the gift that David gave Solomon to go toward the building of the temple were estimated in todays dollars.

The writer estimated that in todays economy the gift would have been roughly $900 million dollars.

David loved to worship in the congregation of the upright

David didn’t view the House of the Lord with reluctance.

In 1 Chronicles chapter 29, as David is turning the leadership of the nation of Israel to his son Solomon…David reveals that through the years, he had been setting aside a small nest egg to finance the building of the Temple of the Lord.

If you do the math and combine all of the figures together, the small stash that David had stored away, amounted to roughly 112 tons of gold and the 262 tons of sliver…in addition to the iron, brass, onyx and a vast array of other precious and costly stones.

I recently read an article where the gift that David gave Solomon to go toward the building of the temple would worth an estimated $900 million dollars in todays dollars.

David didn’t look at the congregation of the righteous as religious duty!

David didn’t view the House of the Lord as an added obligation.

Somewhere, something had taken place that David didn’t view worship and attendance to the House of God as duty…

David didn’t look at the congregation of the righteous as religious duty!

His assembling with the righteous wasn’t with reluctance

1.

David didn’t store up such a nest egg to help to build the temple because he shook the pope’s hand.

But David had been through some things.

Somewhere, something had taken place that David didn’t worship and attendance to the House of God as duty…but he had found that the church was a Helper of His Joy!

This love and even obsession for the House of God had been developed in Davids life as a result of situations and circumstances that he had been through.

But...Somewhere along the way, David found the assembly of the righteous was a blessing and not a bother

This wasn’t some hand me down love for the church…we don’t find evidence that David’s daddy Jesse had ever danced before the Lord…that David’s siblings ever worshipped in the congregation of the righteous…

He had come to the understanding that the house of God was a delight and not a duty

a.

This love for the Church (if you would)…for the house and the people of God…was the result of realizing that there’s only one place that you can find help when others betray you!

That the opportunity to enter the sanctuary was a benefit and not a detriment.

Here one thing that I am confident in…David’s love for the sanctuary and the assembly of the righteous was not religious tradition:

Davids love for the House of God wasn’t something he inherited…it wasn’t something passed down through the family tree:

we don’t find evidence that David’s daddy Jesse had ever danced before the Lord…that David’s siblings ever worshipped in the congregation of the righteous…

He danced before the Lord before worship was even a thing!

He blessed the Lord in ways that

b.

Only one place that when your world has been turned upside down…if I can just get there, everything is going to be alright.

This love for the Church (if you would)…for the house and the people of God…was the result of having been through some things.

Only one place that when your world has been turned upside down…if I can just get there, everything is going to be alright.

He had encountered some situations that had led him to put pen to paper and declare “I’d rather be a doorkeeper in the House of God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked”

And while there are undoubtedly many occasions and events that shaped this deep love for the presence of God and the assembly of the righteous, one occasion is found in our text reading this morning from 1 Samuel chapter 21.