Welcome to the final week of our summer message series, "David for King." Looking at the end of David's life in the scriptures, we see the last conversation King David had with his son Solomon.
The bible says, "When the time of David's death drew near, David gave these instructions to Solomon, his son. 'I am going to die. Be strong and be a man! Keep the mandate of the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and keeping his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees as they are written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do and wherever you turn.’" David is telling his son, "Solomon, I want you to follow the Lord with your life. That the Lord may fulfill the promise he spoke concerning me.”
Of what promise is David speaking? God promised David, "I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth."
God is also reminding David of a past promise, the promise God made to Abraham, God had told Abraham, "I will make for you a great name. Through your name, Abraham, I will bring blessing to all the people of the earth."
And God did exactly that. He took Abraham and grew his family to a tribe, then from a tribe to the nation of Israel, and from that nation to the kingdom, which becomes David's kingdom. God is saying, "David, I'm faithful to my promises. I am a God of my word. I will raise up your son Solomon and continue your dynasty through him. Solomon will build a great temple, and I will establish, your dynasty forever David
Now recall that all of these stories come from the Old Testament part of the bible which all takes place before Jesus was born.
And that's why it's so significant that the very first words of our New Testament are: “The genealogy of Jesus Christ, who is the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
Those words show God is faithful to His promises. The promises that God made to Abraham that God would bring blessing to all the people of the earth, is fulfilled in Jesus. The promises that he made to David, that he will establish a kingdom that will reign forever through his lineage is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. God is faithful to his promises.
It's also incredibly significant that when John the Baptist announces the coming of Jesus, he says, "The kingdom of God is at hand."
He announces to everyone that the Kingdom of God is here, what God promised David, a kingdom that would reign forever. It is here, and it is the Kingdom of God.
You might be wondering "That's great, but what does that have to do with me today?" Let’s explore that. Somebody asked Jesus, "Where is this kingdom? And what does this kingdom look like? Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is within you. The Kingdom of God is in your hearts.
I come not to bring a physical kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom." That’s what Jesus said. And I say to you today, the Kingdom of God is within you. The Kingdom of God is in your hearts, because we are living in the age of the Kingdom of God as members of the church, as believers in Jesus Christ, as the body of Christ, we have the Kingdom of God within us.
The Kingdom is meant to be a blessing to all peoples of the earth. God is doing something great. He's bringing about His kingdom through you.
God could have brought about his kingdom any He wanted, He's God, He's all powerful. He chose to do it through somebody like David. As flawed and as broken as David was, He chose to do a great thing to bring Jesus Christ from David's ancestral line to establish God’s kingdom.
God continues to work to bring about His kingdom and He's still choosing to do it in the same way, through you and through me, through broken and flawed individuals. God is bringing about the Kingdom of God through His church, and who wouldn't want to be a part of a kingdom movement like that? That's what people do here each and every weekend in ministry.
As flawed and as broken as David was, he was one thing, he was willing. God needs willing people, not perfect people. Everybody that you see, the men and women who are serving around you, they don't say that they're perfect, but one thing they are, is willing. God is looking for willing people to partner with, to use, to bring blessing to the ends of the earth, because that is His plan, and His purpose, and His promise. And God always delivers on His promises.
God is alive, and he's still bringing about His kingdom. I encourage you to do something to be aa active part of the Kingdom of God, to serve. That's what the growth of the kingdom is. It happens through your service to others.
What would it look like for all of us here today to be a part of God’s kingdom movement?
For example, can you serve in our youth ministry? Serving our youth is a great opportunity to help build the kingdom.
Our Youth Ministry at Saint Mary is definitely growing! Under the umbrella of Youth Ministry, we offer Middle School and High School programs. Adults are needed to help serve. You can serve in our Youth Meal Ministry to feed our teenagers, You can serve to prepare our young people for the Sacrament of Confirmation. Our Youth Ministry can use adults of all types to serve, like young military men or women, young adults or any adult who has a love to share our Catholic faith with our young people.
These are just a few opportunities for you to help build God’s kingdom right here and now. We want to make this as easy as possible for you. In each of your pews there is a Card for Youth Ministry.
Please complete a card if you are interested in serving our youth. Drop it off with our youth director, Michael, outside the front doors after Mass. Michael will then contact you and invite you to a meeting to explain further all that is involved. So if you fill out a card today that does not necessarily mean that you are 100% committed. It means you are asking to be invited to our youth ministry volunteer interest meeting.
Here is a question for you. If you just started viewing your life as an opportunity to be a blessing to the world, what would that do to your church, your neighborhood, your community? If you started viewing your life as an opportunity to be a blessing to our youth what would that look like? Neither you nor I know exactly what that would look like, but God does, and I think you should find out.
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