Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Truth Network Podcast. This is David praying. In verse 19, David gives this prayer, and this is what I would like to offer as an encouragement to our fathers here this morning. I have often listened to individuals, gotten a hold of books, found any kind of CD listening that I could get my hands on as far as preaching goes or instruction goes. On parenting, on how to be a parent, how to raise your children and all these things, but I have really looked for material and have searched through. Many of you know, as I have dealt with some things in the book of Job in the first two chapters, how Job prayed for his children.

But I've always looked for things. How do I pray for my children? If you're a father or a grandfather here today, you certainly have the same burden that I have. How do I pray for my kids? I don't want to be general. I don't want to say, well God, just bless my kids.

I want to be specific. What is it that I ask for? What is it that would be the right way to pray for my children?

Because that's a very, very important thing. I am here at a pulpit today because I had a mom and dad that prayed for me. So how do we pray? Verse 19, I'd like for us to look at this today as a father's prayer. And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies and thy statutes and to do all these things and to build the palace for the which I have made provision. David prayed for his son and he asked God for some specific things.

And this has helped me because I have already changed as really as early as this week as I dug into it and kind of realized some of these principles I have begun to pray these things for my three sons already. Let's pray. Lord, I love you.

Lord, I pray that you would help us. May our fathers today feel honored as they should be. Thank you for the privilege of being a father.

And Lord, I pray that you would bless. It's a responsibility. There are burdens that fathers carry that are unique to the father role.

Lord, there's unique things that a mother carries and a grandparents carry. But Lord, fathers have often a misunderstood responsibility that can consume our life. And Lord, as we look for a way to voice what we feel about our children to you, God. I pray this will help us to be more specific in how we pray for our children and our grandchildren. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. First, David here in this chapter, obviously David wished and desired to build the temple for God. But God had told David, David, you can't build the temple.

Your hands are full of blood. You're a man of war. And David had murder on his record. And God said, my house is to be a house of peace and I can't let you do it, but your son Solomon will. So David works hard in these chapters in 1 Chronicles to gather the materials to help his son as well as he can to still continue to do things for God. And in this last chapter, chapter 29, David here spends time telling God, okay, I've got all these things and as everything was done and the people were there and they were of a willing heart to obviously begin to build this temple, David prays for his son. Notice, number one, that David as he prays to God, he asks that God first would give his son Solomon a right heart. Look at verse 19. Give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart. You know, the Bible says David was a man after God's own heart.

And yet at times, David had allowed a dishonest, deceptive heart to creep in. The Bible says keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. In other words, the Bible says this, that it doesn't just take diligence in a few areas to keep your heart right.

It takes all diligence. Keep thy heart with all diligence. You and I have to be diligent in every area to keep our heart right and David knew it. David had experienced his heart being right at a time and had allowed sin to creep in. David had a deceptive heart that crept in as he murdered the husband of a woman that he had had an affair with.

David's dishonest, deceptive heart had taken over and he began to try to cover his tracks and all the things that come along with that. So as David comes to God and realizes that I've made some mistakes and while God's forgiven me, I still can't build the temple. And I want you and I to understand that there are things we do in our life and God is faithful to forgive. And if you come to Him, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But there still might be some things that we can't do because of decisions we've made. David says, God, would you give my son of all things, help his heart to be right. David had experienced it and David wanted more than anything for his son Solomon to have the right kind of heart. You see, David had already lost a son named Absalom because Absalom had allowed a bitter heart to creep in.

And Absalom was killed because of his heart. David had already lost a son because of it and he says, God, please of all things give my son a right heart. May I encourage you as parents here this morning as you pray for your children. May I say it's not wrong to pray that they'll be successful and pray that they'll make a lot of money and pray that maybe that they'll accomplish a lot of things. That's fine, but may I say that you begin first and asking God that you would give them a right heart.

Because only the right heart will maintain their life. David said, God, please give them the right kind of heart. Notice secondly, David says this in verse 19, he says, give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart. Notice secondly, to keep thy commandments. David said, God, first would you give my son a right heart and second, would you give him the right convictions. God, would you help him in his life, may it be important to him to know and follow your commandments.

Isn't it, I look at that phrase, to keep God's commandments. Now listen to me, David had experienced being king. He had experienced the pressure of trying to please a kingdom. David had already been through trying to please this group of people and that group of people and this part of the kingdom and that part of the kingdom and if you're not careful, you can begin to care more about people's criticism than you do about God's commandments. He had experienced this pressure and may I say that his prayer was God.

Help my son to have the right kind of convictions. Help him to keep your commandments. You say, preacher, why was he praying this?

Well, it had already happened to David. May I say this, the Bible doesn't say that David said, God, I pray that you would help my son to keep your suggestions. He said, God, I pray you'd help my son to keep your what? Commandments.

May I say that this Bible is full of commandments, not suggestions. David had experienced this. David had gotten to the point that he cared more what people thought and covering up his own reputation and covering up his own sin and David had been through that and David had gotten to the point that he cared more what people said than what God had commanded and as David began to pass over the reigns and turn over the kingdom to Solomon, he says, God, please help him to have the right kind of heart and help him to have the right convictions.

You say, preacher, why is this so important? Well, he had lost Absalom because of a bad heart, but David had also lost another son named Amnon because Amnon had listened to the influence of his cousin Jonadab and ended up raping his own sister instead of following the commandments of God. Now David had lost an Absalom and David had lost an Amnon and as he prays to God on behalf of his son Solomon, he says, God, give him a right heart. Help him not to make the mistakes of my Absalom and God, give him the right convictions.

Help him to keep his life right and not make the same mistakes as my son Amnon. Notice the third thing in verse 19 as David prays for his child. He says, God, give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart to keep thy commandments.

Notice what else he tells him to keep. He says, God, would you help him to keep thy testimonies? David says, God, would you give my son the right kind of heart?

Would you give him the right convictions? God, would you help him to have the right kind of testimony? David had enjoyed from a teenager a good testimony. You see, when David was just a teenager, he walked right in and defeated a giant named Goliath that nobody else in the Israel army and the army of Israel, nobody else would even fight him.

And David, as a young man that just brought some food to his brothers that were soldiers, he walked right out with just a slingshot and slew a giant. What a reputation. I mean, he had a reputation from the start. In fact, his reputation created a song among the people of Israel that Saul had slain his thousands, but David had slain his tens of thousands.

Oh, he had a reputation. Oh, he had a great testimony. But David had allowed a corrupt heart and lowered convictions.

He had allowed it to ruin him. And David's right testimony became a wrong testimony. Even God in this chapter said, David, you can't build this temple because of the choices you've made. You have ruined your testimony.

You have damaged it. And David, you can't be the leader that builds this temple because you have blood on your hands. So David, when he prays to God, says, God, I've experienced what it feels like to have ruined my reputation, to have this junk associated with my name. God, would you please give my son the right kind of testimony. I don't know about you, but as a dad, I've done everything I can do, and I have worked with my son's mother to prepare and do everything we can do to point them in the right direction and to give them the chance at a good testimony. But I cannot make their decisions for them. And as a parent, all I can do is get down at night and say, God, don't let my sons do something. That'll hurt their testimony. Yes, kids are going to make mistakes, and yeah, we've all blown it at times, and we know that, but you all know what I'm talking about.

Because some of those things are hard to rebound from. David, even at this point in his life, was still reaping what he had sowed. And he said, God, give my son a good testimony.

Listen to me. As David saw his son becoming king, with all the pressures and temptations that surely would come, David said, God, I don't know if he's going to have the ability to handle the pressure and the temptation and all the things that are going to be thrown at him because he's king. David had felt it. David had been through it. David had blown it.

David had ruined it. David had dropped the ball, and he had lowered his convictions, and he had allowed his heart not to be right. And he says, God, in the middle of this, as all this comes into Solomon's life, would you please allow him to keep a good testimony? You know, you can only really probably be a good king if you have a good testimony.

Number four. I want you to look at verse 19. David asked God for something else for his child. Give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes. What's interesting, David says, God, I would really like it if you would give my son, allow him to have a right heart, right convictions, a right testimony.

But fourth, he says, God, help him to have the right principles. What are the statutes of God? What's interesting, this word statutes, and by the way, throughout the Bible, the word statute, there's different Hebrew and Greek words used for that.

But this particular use of statutes, it's literally the word mandate. It means God in his word has given principles for us to govern our life by. And David said, God, I pray that you would allow my son to keep your statutes.

You say, preacher, what do you mean? Well, let me read you a couple of verses. Psalm 119, verse 5, oh, that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes, then shall I not be ashamed. David knew that if my son will keep your statutes, God, it'll keep him from shame. What's interesting, verse 8, the Bible says, the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. My son, if he keeps your statutes, his heart will stay right, and he'll have the joy of the Lord. And by the way, as a Christian, may I say this, when you and I begin to veer away from the statutes of God, our joy leaves. You ever met anybody more miserable than a Christian out of fellowship with God?

He's the most miserable person in the world. Psalm 119, verse 16 says, I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word. So David's saying, God, if he gets in your word, help him to listen and keep your statutes. Verse 7 of 119, it is good for me, David said, that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. David said, it's good I've had to go through this suffering just to bring me back to where I should have been.

May I make the suggestion? It's a lot easier just to stay there than for God to have to afflict you to get you back. David didn't want Solomon to have to go through that. He said, God, just help him to keep him from the start. Give him the right principles that govern his life, that literally control his decisions. God, please do that for my son.

Number 5, I want you to see this. Look at verse 19, we're almost done this morning. Solomon says, give unto my son a perfect heart to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes. Listen to what he says, and to do all these things, all what things? The things that David had just listed to God that he had brought all the materials he had gathered. Notice the end, to build the palace for the which I have made provision.

Notice that. He says last, God, please, would you give my son the right priorities? In other words, God, I know it's your plan for him to build the temple. That is your priority. That's your plan for his life. And God, I pray that he will always remember and never veer from your plan for his life. May I say as a parent, may you and I begin to pray that God would give our children the right priorities. What do you mean right priorities, preacher? I mean keeping God first. I mean remembering God has something for me to do and I need to do it. It's okay to enjoy life.

It's okay to enjoy things. It's okay to enjoy family and all these things, but you and I need to remember, and somehow we've got to ingrain in our children, and we've got to pray every night that God somehow would make his will most important in their life. I'm afraid that we are raising a majority of a generation of young people that have no concept of the importance of God's will.

All they see is what makes me successful, what makes money, what this, what that, and their whole concept is that, and yet somewhere not even in the mix is what does God want me to do? Now kids will want to do a lot of things. Imagine if every one of you got to do everything you ever wanted to do. I mean I wanted to be a lot of things. I wanted to be a professional golfer. I wanted to be a professional football player. What in the world, Rita? That was like, that's a stretch.

Sumo wrestler maybe, not football player. This church makes me feel so loved and appreciated. I've had my sons, I've had my sons at times come up and say, you know what, I want to be a professional basketball player. I've had my sons say, I want to play for the Tar Heels one day.

And I'll be like, I do too, just so I can get seats to a Tar Heel Duke game. It's the only way you can afford it is if your kids plays apparently, I don't know. My kids say a lot of things at times, I want to do this, I want to do that.

You know what, I've never said, no you can't do that. I've always said, well if that's what God wants, then you do it. Because somehow our kids have to come up knowing the only way that they will ever truly have contentment and happiness in their life, and I mean true contentment, is to figure out what God wants you to do and do it. David said, God I know you want Solomon to build this temple. When he becomes king, he's going to have a whole lot of things come at him. And God, he's going to need the right kind of heart.

Or he'll ruin it from the start. And God, you're going to have to give him the right kind of testimony so that he can have the respect of the people. And God, you've got to give him the right kind of principles so that it'll govern him to make the right kind of decisions and you've got to help him to stay wise and stay in your word and all these things. But then he says, God give him the right priorities because he has to remember of utmost everything that comes at you in life. And a lot of things are going to try to take his time.

But God, help him to have the right priorities to do what you've called him to do. You see, David had slipped on a few areas. He lost one son because his son got a bitter heart. He lost another son because he disobeyed God's word and listened to the wrong influence. David had ruined his own testimony because of his sin with Bathsheba and people knew some of the ways he had tried to cover his tracts and all those things. And then, by the way, when it comes to right principles, David had decided against God's command to number the people and 70,000 of his own people were killed in three days because of God's judgment.

So David now had this on him. He said, God, please give my son the right priorities to build the palace, to do what you've called him to do. He is saying this, God, don't let my son be so taken with privilege that he forgets his purpose. And you and I live in a day where we're so used to the blessings of America that we are so busy enjoying the privileges that we've overlooked our own purpose. Let me, if I can, concise this.

If you're like me, I like, okay, well, how can I wrap all this in a little bubble? Well, I've given you the things I believe that we need to pray for our children for, the right this, the right heart, the right principle, the right. But David, in essence, asked God this for his son, and this will be on the screen. He said, number one, God, I want you to help my son to be right, to have the right kind of heart.

Your heart's who you are. He said, I want him to be right. Second, I want him to live right. I want him to keep your commandments. Third, I want him to think right. Help him to have your statutes and help him to have the right principles. And number four, he says, God, I want him to finish right.

Help him to do what you've called him to do. Now, let me say this, and I'll let you go this morning. If you'll notice, in verse 19, the first thing Solomon says as he's talking to God, he says, and give unto.

Did you get that? Solomon says, God, if he is gonna have any of these things, I can't give them to him. You're gonna have to. Dad's the best we can do, and as hard as we try to be an example, I'm here to tell you, you can't put that into your kids' lives. God has to.

You say, well, I've been the right kind. That's great if you have, but we're all trying to, but you and I still need to get down on our knees at night and beg God to put these things into the lives of our children. It's got to come from him. He didn't say, God, help me to give, David. He said, God, you give him a perfect heart. May I say this also as I look at this that David was saying this. David was saying, God, my son has to be right before he can do right. You and I are trying sometimes to raise a generation of young people that we are sending our children out to do right before we have made sure that they are right. We want them to have the right performance, but they don't have the right heart. Dear friend, that's why hopefully at this church, hey, we want to do things God's way, and listen, I'm 100% for that, but this church is not a list of dos and don'ts and rules for people to follow because anybody can do that. My wish for this church is that our hearts will be right.

If the heart's right, you don't even need a list. Now, I want you to see this. These are freebies, and I'll let you go. Our time's gone. Look at the last phrase in verse 19. Love it, love it, love it.

I'm the only one, but I love it. David said, God, help my son to build the palace. Notice this last thing. For the witch, I have made provision.

Excuse me, I'm getting emotional. David said, God, I believe it's your will for my son to build that palace, and I can't because of some mistakes I've made, so God, I've worked hard to gather every material he's going to need, to gather every piece of wood, to gather all this stuff, although I can't. I want my son to, and although I've blown it, I don't want him to blow it, and although I've messed up, I don't want him to, so I've worked hard to provide everything he needs to do your will.

Isn't that great? We see David praying and providing. That means you and I gotta work hard today to give our kids the tools they need to do God's will, but then we gotta get down on our knees after they go to bed, and we gotta say, God, you're gonna have to do this.

I wanna do everything I can do to provide and gather everything that they're gonna need. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kirtland Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kirtlandbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you. ...