Maranatha Grace Church

Brothers and Sisters,

³³ Those who were musicians, heads of Levite families, stayed in the rooms of the temple and were exempt from other duties because they were responsible for the work day and night. (1 Chronicles 9) 

What was the work the musicians appointed to perform day and night? Their work was continuous praise of the Lord in the temple. Some people wrongly think that praising God depends on their mood; it all depends on their feeling.  But, a very important and necessary task cannot be left to feeling alone, there needs to be a sense of duty, otherwise the task could be neglected in difficult time. David said, "I will bless the Lord at all times;: his praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Psalm 34:1). Since there is unceasing praise in heaven (Revelation 4:8), it is necessary to have continuous praise on earth as well. 

Please read 1 Chronicles 8 - 10. And Listen. 

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Most people get discouraged when they reach the genealogies. However, genealogies are very important in the study of the word of God, they are proof of the faithfulness of God. God's blessings are generational blessings.

Please read 1 Chronicles 5 - 7. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

In the middle of the endless genealogies of 1 Chronicles  we read the following, "⁹ Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” ¹⁰ Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request." ( 1 Chronicles 4)

for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:13)

Please read 1 Chronicles 1 - 4. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Please read 2 Kings 22 - 25. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Bothers and Sisters,

The resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday allows  us to overcome the fear of death, the fear that had kept mankind in bondage for thousands of years.  Because Jesus lives, we will also live. 

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

¹⁷ “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. ¹⁸ They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. ¹⁹ Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.” (2 Kings 19)

Please read 2 Kings 19 - 21. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

God is merciful, loving and just. He provided humanity an expiatory victim in the person of his son Jesus. People should repent of their evil ways and turn to God. When they turn to God they find salvation,  without God they encounter destruction. God will always forgive those who turn to him. Let's fill our hearts with the desire to see our loved ones come to repentance and to a saving relationship with Jesus.

¹² They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.”¹³ The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”

¹⁴ But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.” ( 2 Kings 17)

Please read 2 Kings 16 - 18. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Please read 2 Kings 13 - 15. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters.

Please read 2 Kings 10 - 12. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

When a situation seems impossible from a human perspective, for God it is very simple. Many people are experiencing financial difficulties due to mass layoffs. Do not despair, God can change your situation in a moment. 

Elisha replied, “Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”

² The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?”

“You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!” (2 Kings 7)

Please read 2 Kings 7 - 9. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

¹³ Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. ( 2 Kings 5)

Do you think Naaman had faith? Yes, he had faith, but not necessarily in the way that most modern Christians think of faith. Naaman had obedience, in that was all he needed.

Please read 2 Kings 3 - 6. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Do you have a spiritual mentor? 

⁶ Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.”  And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them walked on.

⁷ Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. ⁸ Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

⁹ When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”

“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied (1 Kings 2)

Please read 1 Kings 21 - 2 Kings 2. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Can you hear God's voice? Sometimes we cannot hear God's voice because we are looking for it in a great demonstration of power instead of a gentle whisper. God is still speaking in today. 

¹¹ The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  (1 Kings 15 - 20)

Please read 1 Kings 15 - 20. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

The story of the man of God and the false prophet found in 1 Kings 13 is one of the most incomprehensible stories of the Bible. But, at least we learn a very important lesson from that story, "prophecies must be tested" (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21). We cannot accept blindly a prophet's words because he/she says, "the Lord told me".

¹⁸ The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.) ¹⁹ So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house. (1 Kings 13)

Please read 1 Kings 12 - 14. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

God is a promise keeping God, he is faithful. He was faithful to David, so he will be to you. 

 ⁹ The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. ¹⁰ Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command. ¹¹ So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. ¹² Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.” (1 Kings 11)

Please read 1 Kings 9 - 11. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Please read 1 Kings 6 -  8. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you