#403 The Jesus Trip, It’s Time to Transition

#403 The Jesus Trip, It’s Time to Transition
By: Zach Sloane

(See download links at the bottom of the page for the Sermon Notes, PowerPoint Slides & Group Discussion Questions)

Recap: David was a man after God’s own heart. He knew he was loved by God and lived with an outrageous revelation of the goodness and love of God that saw him able to experience God in ways that were way outside of his time.

David had great victories and many failures, as well as betrayals. Jesus also experienced betrayal.

The pain of that betrayal is forever etched in the words of communion that he gave Paul “on the night he was betrayed…” An eternal memorial that the table of the Lord is not just for our spiritual sins and wounds, not just for our body, but for our hearts. He is the God who binds up the brokenhearted.

Intro: Focus of this sermon is on the end of David’s life when he transitions to Solomon: IT’S TIME TO TRANSITION.

The type of transition I am talking about is not one person to another, or one life situation to another but this: “tran·si·tion – the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.”

Context: On the Jesus Trip, we are at the point in the life of David where he is old, and he’s getting ready to die, but, with all the stuff that he has done, he has yet to be able to do the one big thing that I think was on his heart to do, build a house for God.

This was his passion, this is what made the guy tick… the house of God.

Psalms 27:4
“The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.”

Set up a tent: just a tent and the Ark, a place where anyone could just come and freely have access to the presence and glory of God. But…I think he wanted this to happen in a better, more glorious and more accessible place than a small tent.

2 Samuel 7:2 (NLT)
the king summoned Nathan the prophet. “Look,” David said, “I am living in a beautiful cedar palace, but the Ark of God is out there in a tent!”

So he calls Nathan the prophet who first says do it, only for God to intervene and say “no!”

The Lord tells David no, you won’t be the one to build my house, instead “one of your descendants, your own offspring… he will build my house.” 2 Samuel 7: 12-13.

In other words, “No David, I love your dream and I honour it, it will come to pass, but first we need to transition some things before this can happen.”

In times of transition… the word you heard in the past is no longer the word you need. There is a new word, there is a new relationship and orientation to the word of God that comes to you in times of transition. The Jesus Trip!

Harsh on God’s part? Why did the dream have to transition to another?

1 Chronicles 22:6-8 (NLT)
My son, I wanted to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God,” David told him. 8 “But the Lord said to me, ‘You have killed many men in the battles you have fought. And since you have shed so much blood in my sight, you will not be the one to build a Temple to honor my name.

It was because of his bloodshed. David’s life was violent.

2 Samuel 8:1-2, 3,5,9,13
“David defeated and subdued the Philistines… David also conquered the land of Moab. He made the people lie down on the ground in a row, and he measured them off in groups with a length of rope. He measured off two groups to be executed for everyone group to be spared… When Arameans from Damascus arrived to help King Hadadezer, David killed 22,000 of them…David had destroyed the entire army of Hadadezer…So David became even more famous when he returned from destroying 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

Key to the whole transition: David’s rule was characterized by violent struggle to attain God’ promises and defeat his enemies. Once this has been accomplished once and for all, it requires a transition to a new way of operating. It had to be by a man of peace.

And why? Because peace is what happens when you accept that the war is over, the struggle has ended, victory is secured. You don’t need to fight and struggle and strive and work and battle. You need a new tool set, a new way of operating- this is what the Bible calls “wisdom.”

1 Chronicles 22:9a (NLT)
But you will have a son who will be a man of peace.

That’s the transition! From struggle and violent effort to,peace and wisdom!

See Jesus the warrior like David:

Defeats devil:

Colossians 2:15
In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

He battled and won against temptation:

Hebrews 4:15 (NLT)
This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testing’s we do, yet he did not sin.

He beat the power of death, fear, and the devil…

Hebrews 2:14- 15
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.

Victory over sin, death, the Law and the devil….

1 Corinthians 15:55-57(NLT)
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

David was a man of bloodshed

1 Chronicles 28:3 New International Version (NIV)
But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’

So Jesus like David, was a man of war and a man of bloodshed. But through his blood shed, the shedding of his own blood, he acquired for us eternal blessings, not a physical kingdom like David did.

Hebrews 9:12 (NKJV)
Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

So because of all of this… because the battle has been won, the victory has been completed, the land has been taken… there is a transition. The work of God is no longer to struggle and fight and wrestle to win battles against the devil, death, the sickness and sin.

Life is now about entering into his rest, his peace, and wisely administrating what he already has given us.

David amassed a great fortune, all the supplies in material and in man power for Solomon.

1 Chronicles 29:2-3
Now for the house of my God I have prepared with all my might…because I have set my affection on the house of my God, I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, my own special treasure of gold and silver:

The man of bloodshed gave the man of peace all that he had and needed.

2 Peter 1:3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

What does this mean?

We need to make the transition from warfare and struggle to peace.

Matthew 11:12
And from the days of John the Baptist until nowthe kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

The kingdom suffers violence, it is not acquired and manifested through that. It is through faith in God that it comes, and it’s through wisdom that the children or fruit of that kingdom is manifested.

We have peace with God, and are at peace towards him, not a struggle or war to get his blessings and kingdom.

Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

We have peace with others:

Ephesians 2:14-18
For Christ himself has brought peace to us…He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups…Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near.

Ed Stetzer in an interview with Carrie Nieuwhof:
”you can’t war at a people and reach a people at the same time.”

Eph. 6:12 – For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of [c]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

We need to manifest the wisdom of God.
1 Kings 4:29
God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sands of the seashore…

Solomon’s reign was characterized by the wise administration of the kingdom and resources that the man of blood had provided him with.

That’s what the world is looking for and this was always God’s plan…

Eph. 3:10-11
God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.

How to transition? Where and how?

For David and Solomon it was at the place of David’s; death… this transition happens through death… and for us its by seeing and embracing the death of Jesus, the cross.

When you see what he has done, when you make that the vision of your life, see the cross, get the cross, the place of death was the place of transition.

FOR US ITS A TRANSITION OF FAITH AND THE RENEWAL OF THE MIND AS WE SEE THE CROSS OF CHRIST FOR ALL IT HAS ACCOMPLISHED.

God blessings and partnership to him was based on God’s grace, not Solomon’s performance.

2 Samuel 7:12-16
“…If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod, like any father would do. 15 But my favor will not be taken from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from your sight. 16 Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’”

It’s time to transition out of a life characterized by our own violent struggle to manifest the dreams and goals God has put on our hearts, to acquire God’s blessings, trying to defeat enemies he has already done away with.

Its time to be established in peace with God and others and shift our attention to manifesting the wisdom of God with what he has already given us.

James 1:5-7 – If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach…

James 3:17-18
“But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving,gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others…”

The Jesus Trip, Its Time to Transition, Sermon notes to print, PDF

The Jesus Trip, Its Time to Transition, PowerPoint Slides, PDF

The Jesus Trip, It’s Time To Transition, Group Discussion Questions – Week #5, to print, PDF