2 CHRONICLES 6:12-8:10
ROMANS 7:14-8:8
PSALM 18:1-15
PROVERBS 19:24-25
2 CHRONICLES 6:12-8:10
Then Solomon stood with his hands spread out before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire community of Israel. 13 He had made a bronze platform 7 feet long, 7 feet wide, and 4 feet high and had placed it at the center of the Temple's outer courtyard. He stood on the platform before the entire assembly, and then he knelt down and lifted his hands toward heaven. 14 He prayed, " O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven and earth. You keep your promises and show unfailing love to all who obey you and are eager to do your will. 15 You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and today you have fulfilled it with your own hands. 16 And now, O LORD, God of Israel, carry out your further promise to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, ` If your descendants guard their behavior and obey my law as you have done, they will always reign over Israel.' 17 Now, O LORD, God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David. 18 " But will God really live on earth among people? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built! 19 Listen to my prayer and my request, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you. 20 May you watch over this Temple both day and night, this place where you have said you would put your name. May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. 21 May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive. 22 " If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of the altar at this Temple, 23 then hear from heaven and judge between your servants--the accuser and the accused. Punish the guilty party, and acquit the one who is innocent. 24 " If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn to you and call on your name and pray to you here in this Temple, 25 then hear from heaven and forgive their sins and return them to this land you gave their ancestors. 26 " If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this Temple and confess your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them, 27 then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to do what is right, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession. 28 " If there is a famine in the land, or plagues, or crop disease, or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people's enemies are in the land besieging their towns--whatever the trouble is--29 and if your people offer a prayer concerning their troubles or sorrow, raising their hands toward this Temple, 30 then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people whatever they deserve, for you alone know the human heart. 31 Then they will fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors. 32 " And when foreigners hear of you and your mighty miracles, and they come from distant lands to worship your great name and to pray toward this Temple, 33 then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. Then all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built bears your name. 34 " If your people go out at your command to fight their enemies, and if they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and toward this Temple that I have built for your name, 35 then hear their prayers from heaven and uphold their cause. 36 " If they sin against you--and who has never sinned?--you may become angry with them and let their enemies conquer them and take them captive to a foreign land far or near. 37 But in that land of exile, they may turn to you again in repentance and pray, ` We have sinned, done evil, and acted wickedly.' 38 Then if they turn to you with their whole heart and soul and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors, toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name, 39 then hear their prayers from heaven where you live. Uphold their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 " O my God, be attentive to all the prayers made to you in this place. 41 And now, O LORD God, arise and enter this resting place of yours, where your magnificent Ark has been placed. May your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may your saints rejoice in your goodness. 42 O LORD God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember your unfailing love for your servant David."7:1 WHEN Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple. 2 The priests could not even enter the Temple of the LORD because the glorious presence of the LORD filled it. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious presence of the LORD filling the Temple, they fell face down on the ground and worshiped and praised the LORD, saying, " He is so good!
His faithful love endures forever!"
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to the LORD. 5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. And so the king and all the people dedicated the Temple of God. 6 The priests took their assigned positions, and so did the Levites who were singing, " His faithful love endures forever!" They accompanied the singing with music from the instruments King David had made for praising the LORD. On the other side of the Levites, the priests blew the trumpets, while all Israel stood. 7 Solomon then dedicated the central area of the courtyard in front of the LORD's Temple so they could present burnt offerings and the fat from peace offerings there. He did this because the bronze altar he had built could not handle all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrificial fat. 8 For the next seven days they celebrated the Festival of Shelters with huge crowds gathered from all the tribes of Israel. They came from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north, to the brook of Egypt in the south. 9 On the eighth day they had a closing ceremony, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the Festival of Shelters for seven days. 10 Then at the end of the celebration, Solomon sent the people home. They were all joyful and happy because the LORD had been so good to David and Solomon and to his people Israel. 11 So Solomon finished building the Temple of the LORD, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do. 12 Then one night the LORD appeared to Solomon and said, " I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices. 13 At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or I might command locusts to devour your crops, or I might send plagues among you. 14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land. 15 I will listen to every prayer made in this place, 16 for I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be my home forever. My eyes and my heart will always be here. 17 " As for you, if you follow me as your father, David, did and obey all my commands, laws, and regulations, 18 then I will not let anyone take away your throne. This is the same promise I gave your father, David, when I said, ` You will never fail to have a successor who rules over Israel.' 19 " But if you abandon me and disobey the laws and commands I have given you, and if you go and worship other gods, 20 then I will uproot the people of Israel from this land of mine that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have set apart to honor my name. I will make it a spectacle of contempt among the nations. 21 And though this Temple is impressive now, it will become an appalling sight to all who pass by. They will ask, ` Why has the LORD done such terrible things to his land and to his Temple?' 22 And the answer will be, ` Because his people abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead. That is why he brought all these disasters upon them.' "8:1 IT was now twenty years since Solomon had become king, and the great building projects of the LORD's Temple and his own royal palace were completed. 2 Solomon now turned his attention to rebuilding the towns that King Hiram had given him, and he settled Israelites in them. 3 It was at this time, too, that Solomon fought against the city of Hamath-zobah and conquered it. 4 He rebuilt Tadmor in the desert and built towns in the region of Hamath as supply centers. 5 He fortified the cities of Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, rebuilding their walls and installing barred gates. 6 He also rebuilt Baalath and other supply centers at this time and constructed cities where his chariots and horses could be kept. He built to his heart's content in Jerusalem and Lebanon and throughout the entire realm. 7 There were still some people living in the land who were not Israelites, including Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 8 These were descendants of the nations that Israel had not completely destroyed. So Solomon conscripted them for his labor force, and they serve in the labor force to this day. 9 But Solomon did not conscript any of the Israelites for forced labor. Instead, he assigned them to serve as fighting men, officers in his army, commanders of his chariots, and charioteers. 10 King Solomon also appointed 250 of them to supervise the various projects.
ROMANS 7:14-8:8
The law is good, then. The trouble is not with the law but with me [Paul], because I am sold into slavery, with sin as my master. 15 I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. 16 I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 But I can't help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things. 18 I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can't make myself do right. I want to, but I can't. 19 When I want to do good, I don't. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. 20 But if I am doing what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it. 21 It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God's law with all my heart. 23 But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.8:1 SO now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 For the power* of the life-giving Spirit has freed you* through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death. 3 The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace. 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. 8 That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
PSALM 18:1-15
For the choir director: A psalm of David, the servant of the LORD. He sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul.
1 I love you, LORD; you are my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold.
3 I will call on the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
for he saves me from my enemies.
4 The ropes of death surrounded me;
the floods of destruction swept over me.
5 The grave wrapped its ropes around me;
death itself stared me in the face.
6 But in my distress I cried out to the LORD;
yes, I prayed to my God for help.
He heard me from his sanctuary;
my cry reached his ears.
7 Then the earth quaked and trembled;
the foundations of the mountains shook;
they quaked because of his anger.
8 Smoke poured from his nostrils;
fierce flames leaped from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He opened the heavens and came down;
dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.
10 Mounted on a mighty angel, he flew,
soaring on the wings of the wind.
11 He shrouded himself in darkness,
veiling his approach with dense rain clouds.
12 The brilliance of his presence broke through the clouds,
raining down hail and burning coals.
13 The LORD thundered from heaven;
the Most High gave a mighty shout.
14 He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies;
his lightning flashed, and they were greatly confused.
15 Then at your command, O LORD,
at the blast of your breath,
the bottom of the sea could be seen,
and the foundations of the earth were laid bare.
PROVERBS 19:24-25
Some people are so lazy that they won't even lift a finger to feed themselves. If you punish a mocker, the simpleminded will learn a lesson; if you reprove the wise, they will be all the wiser.
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