Introduction

Hello everyone, let us look at 2 Samuel chapter 7. This chapter is extremely interesting and good. I wish the grace of God promised could be fulfilled on all our brothers and sisters. This grace is so great. Is this something that people often encounter? Can a person encounter grace once in his lifetime? Let us count them. What have we encountered in our lives? I look at people very negatively because many of the people I met were unlucky people.

Everyone needs to know, what David encountered in this chapter is something not everyone often encounters? This was also David’s feeling! Why do people not encounter this often? The reason is that people do not care much about God’s things. God expressed a great regret here! It would be good if people cared about the things of God, and that would be something that people will often come across.

God expresses a great regret

But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying:
“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ’ (2 Samuel 7 :4-7 NIV)

God never said that he was waiting for a person, but suddenly one day a person came out and said, “God, I will build you a temple. In the days of David, David said: O’ God! I will build you a house of cedar.” God was very moved. The regret that had been in his heart for so many years was finally expressed by David. Why did God not tell the Judges? If God told the Judges, it would be meaningless. The past years, the group of judges treated God liked a rag. When people encounter trouble, they will call God for help. God raised up a judge to help them and Israelites began to live a peaceful life. Then they put God aside and went back doing their own business.

God was full of regrets and grievances since after Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. How could God ask those Judges to build Him a temple of Cedar? God did not say it, but he had a wish in his heart that he hopes someone would rise up and said, “God, I will build you a glorious church. God, I will build a glorious temple.” In the end result, no one had mentioned it. It sounded like God was complaining but fact it was God expressing a great regret within Him.

In the past few years, how many people had said, “God, I want to build a glorious church for you?” God would be shedding tears when he talked about it as no one had said that. Some people said that I wanted to build a cathedral in our city. Other might say, I want to build a cathedral as a venue for wedding or other ceremonies. There was a pastor who built a cathedral, had a debt of 320 million dollars and later he ran away. Many people just like this pastor did not do what God wanted.

I had seen the history of Christianity, and I can feel and understand God’s regrets. Over the years from the apostles to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, how many people are willing to build a glorious church for God? Almost none. I am so grateful to God. “O’ God, I am so blessed to be able to build the glorious church of God. God said;

Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” (2 Samuel 7:7 NIV)

Although this is God’s will, if you do not say it, God would not say it either. As a result, David summarized God's will and was able to understand the regret in God's heart. God was pleased when he saw David and asked Nathan to send a message to David. How did this come about?

After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”

David really cared about God’s things so I hope that brothers and sisters will follow David’s footstep. We must regard God’s will as our own not living in a small villa or a well decorated house without caring about God’s will. The reason why the temple of God is desolate is not because of the small number of people, but the people in the church only care about their own affairs making use of the place to sell insurance and other products. I have never met someone who is willing to build God’s glorious church.

David was able to know God’s will

If you ask me, was David doing it for his own selfish gain? I would say No. David could deeply feel the regret in God, and he deeply care about God’s will. During the years of Saul, Samuel, and Eli, the Ark of God was robbed by the Philistines. Later, the Philistines brought the Ark back, and it was placed in the house of Abinadab. It has been there for at least forty or fifty years. Saul had not become king at that time, and Samuel should have been in power for twenty years after the Eli. However, Samuel had no control over the Ark of the Covenant, and neither did Saul. The Ark of the Covenant had always been in the house of Abinadab.

Later, Saul reigned for forty years, and then David reigned in Hebron for another seven and a half years. Later, the other tribes all submitted to David. It was only at this time that David took the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David. It is difficult for us to understand that neither Samuel nor Saul cared about it, but as soon as David settled down, his first thought was to transport the ark of God to the city of David. Later, God gave him peace and was not disturbed by the enemies around him. Why? It was because the Ark of the Covenant had not been brought back yet. David had God in his heart, so it did not take long for David to think of building a temple for Jehovah. God was so pleased that he sent Nathan to tell David:

“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.
“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you. (2 Samuel 7:8-11 NIV)

Brothers and sisters, if you can really enter into God’s will, the above the words are for you. Why could David understand God’s will? This was because David had a very important concept inside him. David knew everything he possessed were all from God, not because he had a good fortune, but he knew everything he had come from God. Do you know God’s will? When I completed finish reading the bible, immediately, I knew God’s will. God’s will is for us to build his glorious church as church is Jesus Christ ‘s body and the bride of Jesus Christ. In the future, the church will become one with Jesus Christ, the bride is not referring to you but referring to the church.

Building a glorious church is the main topic of the entire Bible. Building the glorious church and building the body of Jesus Christ is the intention of God expressed in the Bible. I was thinking, “O’ God, I want to build a glorious church for you. I need your presence and I need your glory to fill us. In fact, in the Bible mentioned a lot about it. Can you let go of everything in this world? If you cannot let go, you cannot be used by God.

I am extremely blessed, my blessings are so great that it happens once in every five hundred years. This is not something that ordinary people can encounter and not something people often encounter. How many Christians in this world have such a blessing and building the glorious church of God together with us? Not many, probably we can count with our fingers.

When I passed on the concept of building the glorious church of God. During the difficult time of building the church, some brothers and sister were with me but when God wanted to demonstrate his glory among us, they left. How devastating! I really feel very sorry for them. I have to say they lost their blessings and I have to say they do not have the destiny. Therefore, we must always in God’s shoes knowing his heart and this is what I pour my heart to God.

Thinking about it, God’s regret was passed down from generation to generation, from Moses to David, for about five or six hundred years. David lived around 1,000 BC, which was about 3,000 years ago. Moses was about 3,500 years ago. From Moses to David, so many years have passed, but no one has been able to enter into God’s will. There is only one who comes out every five hundred years! We need to know that God has been looking for a useful vessel for many years in order to build a glorious church. I am so lucky! Sometimes my tears flowing out of my eyes when I talk about it.

Building a temple of God is a blessing not always we can encounter

The reason is simple. How much gold is required to build God’s temple? In order to build the temple of God, David accumulated two hundred tons of gold to build the temple of God. If you want to build the temple of God, you must have strength. It is not just building a few pillars and building a shack. That is not a temple. Why did these people do not have the intention to build God’s temple? They counted their money and realized they did not have the money. They felt building a church money was needed. Do you really need money? What was required is the determination within the person. Do you know how much it cost shepherding God’s flock? There is a big price to pay. It is not a joke when building God’s glorious church. They did the math and pondered since we did not have the money , let us wait till our financially gets better before we build the God’s glorious church.

Why does it only come out once every five hundred years? From Moses to David , no judges stood up bad said, “We will build a house for God.” All because what they saw in their eyes were money. At that time, was David rich? David was not rich, but he wanted to build the glorious temple of God. What is needed to build a temple is not money, but God. With God, money is no longer an issue. Our church is about to enter a new level. At this level, even the treasures of the sea will be brought in, because what we want to build is the temple of the glory of God, and the glory of God will be filled among us!

Later, the reason why David had more than two hundred tons of gold was because he had the intention to build a temple for God from the beginning and saved it bit by bit. From the one kilogram that he managed to save at the beginning, gradually saved one ton, ten tons, one hundred tons, and finally more than two hundred tons. This was not a blessing that people often acquired. You need to have David’s character. What was more if God allowed you to have this position. If you are not David or Saul in the country of Israel, but a small farmer in a village planting an acre of vegetable land, being extremely poor, having insufficient food or drink and yet you say you want to build a temple. You would be considered to be suffering from a mental illness? Neither you have capital nor charisma, and God will not let you do this.

Building a temple for God is not a blessing that people often have, but God will definitely remember that we have such an intention. Anyone who is determined to build God’s glorious church, God will give you these blessings promised to David. Never make a deal with God! We did not build the temple just for this blessing, or to get more than two hundred tons of gold. If what you want is those two hundred tons of gold, that is not God’s will. Why is this blessing good? Let us talk about blessing one.

Blessing 1: Rest from all his enemies around him

After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him. (2 Samuel 7: 1 NIV)

Did David have the intention to build a temple first, or did David have peace around him first and not be disturbed by enemies? He had the intention to build the temple first, but it was only at this time that he expressed to Nathan:

he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” (2 Samuel 7: 2 NIV)

David had always had this idea in his mind, and he felt that it was time for him to build a temple for God. In fact, God had already given him the blessing that he would have rest from all his enemies around him. If a country is often disturbed by people around it, for example, when the Japanese troops came, this troop and that troop became the three big mountains pressing on the Chinese people, that was very unfortunate. The reason was simple, there was no luck. If you lose money as soon as you do business, you will be unlucky all the time, and you will be an unlucky person. The reason was very simple, you simply do not have God’s will in your heart. If you have God’s will, even if you have not said it out loud yet, I want to build a glorious church for God, God will protect you because you have such a heart inside you. When David wanted to build a temple for God, but before the temple was built, he just said a word to Nathan, and God said:

I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. (2 Samuel 7: 9 NIV)

At that time, no one could beat David . God was with him, no one could defeat God. If you went against David, God would cut you off. Therefore, building a temple for God is not a blessing that people often encounter. God said to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse.” Could any enemy stand before Abraham? No, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph were all blessed by God. Now David was also not disturbed by his enemies. Even if the enemy tried to cause trouble, they would definitely be defeated in front of David. All because God will cut off all David’s enemies. What a wonderful thing!

Blessing 2 : Make your name great

Let us think about people around David, aimed to cause him a lot of trouble but David defeated them and trampled them on the ground. The surrounding countries thought David was awesome. Why was David so awesome? God of David was powerful. As a result, God made David's name great. In other words, every country and person around him knew that behind David there was a God who created the universe, and that David’s name was tied to God’s name. If your name can be tied to God's name, God will make your name great.

If you do market research, you will understand a famous brand is related to the branding of the name. If you made a bag and made a profit a hundred dollars. Someone else make a bag and make a profit of two thousand dollars. If you made a made a bag and sold it for two thousand dollars. Someone else made a bag and sold it for twenty thousand. How could you sell your bag? The profits of famous brands are very high. God made David's name great, and David became the most famous local brand. In this case, would David be short of money? Absolutely not. Later David owned more than two hundred tons of gold, how? David did not know why someone gave gold to him. Anyway, that person wanted to gain some of David's popularity. David was a very powerful man. His enemies were defeated as soon as they came, and his rivals were defeated by him as soon as they competed. Could David become very rich? Definitely! Judging from historical records, David empire was the most powerful empire in Israel.

Why do brothers and sisters said that they have no money all the time? Your name is too small, you have no name, and your name is nowhere to be found. You have to manage your brand and that is the logic, do not do it blindly. If you are building God’s glorious church, how could you experience these unfortunate events? Why did I not see David go through those terrible things? From Abraham to David, God will make their names great. If you are pursuing God's will, God will make your name great. No matter what you do, your opponent becomes God's opponent.

The most fearful thing is that you are God’s opponent. If you keep doing and doing, and in the end, you became the person, God wants to deal with you. Why do people become unlucky? The reason is because God is dealing with you though you might have done a pretty good job. God asked the unlucky devil to meddle with all the things you were doing. In the end, all your investments were all in vain due to what you were pursuing is not to make God’s name great but to make your own name great. If a person pursues the great name of God, builds the glorious church of God and God will make his name great. It is not a transaction with God. In fact, David had God in his heart and God made his name great.

Blessing 3: Establish your Kingdom

Did God establish David’s kingdom? It was established. Then someone asked, “What happened when David was usurped by his son?” After the usurpation was completed, It was taken back again. Even in history, there were not many things like this had occurred. If others take away your things and God takes them back to you, this is how you can establish your kingdom. Brothers and sisters, you need to know that God wants to establish your kingdom.

What man lacks is the blessing that God wants to establish his kingdom. People always wanted to protect their own kingdom, which made them anxious and nervous. Although he was a king, he felt like a prisoner. Why? He imprisoned himself in jail and it was very miserable. God would not only establish the kingdom of David, but also establish the kingdom of his descendants. How wonderful was this! Brothers and sisters must begin to understand that when you received a promise from God, you will no longer have that kind of insecurity within you. If you always want to keep your position and establish your kingdom, you will become Saul.

If you build a glorious church, God will protect you and you do not have to do it yourself. God will make your name great, so that your enemies will not disturb you, and your kingdom will be established. Do you think this will be encountered by many people? It is not common at all. But we have all encountered it and should we not we be quietly laughing about it? Brothers and sisters, if we work together to build the church, we will have all these blessings.

In the past, you were in debts, and you are not in debt now and never again, then you owe me a favor. The reason is all due to God has mercy on me, chose me, and allowed me to lead everyone building God’s glorious church. How blessed you are! Some brothers and sisters did not have this faith in the beginning, but they kept listening to my sermons. After listening, they said,“I also want this blessing, and we will build the church together.” As a result, many brothers and sisters began to turn around from a very passive financial situation. What a blessing! It is a pity that some people are not smart enough and miss this blessing. They have experienced God's great grace among us, but they do not know that this is something that people do not encounter often.

Once I ministered a cancer patient together with his aunt. Although the child passed away, his aunt saw our shepherding service and joined us. Unfortunately, she left us after that. I do not know the reason why she left, maybe she was afraid that all the money she dedicated to God would be taken away by us. People with such thoughts are deeply cursed and definitely be disturbed by the enemy in the future. God surely will make such person’s name small, and his position will never be strong. If a person wants to be blessed, he must rely on God. If he does not rely on God, he cannot go on.

Blessing 4: Build your family

Everyone must understand that David’s family situation was not good. Which family should be built for a family? In fact, it is a spiritual family. Let us look at a verse from the bible which we have read some time ago;

“Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,”says the Lord. (Isiah 54:1 NIV)

This is called a spiritual family. In fact, David’s family is very strong. Anyone who follows David’s example in building God’s glorious church and has the same ambition as David is David’s family. This is a spiritual family. If you read God’s words carefully, you will find that there are words such as forever and eternity. What David built was not an earthly home, but an eternal home. What is a forever home? The eternal home is the body of Jesus Christ. Please do not the make a mistake in this, it is neither your home nor my home.

If we are building the glorious church of God while carrying the entanglements of the world, we will not be able to build it. Some people want to have a child to support themselves when they are growing old but find that the child is not good enough. They think about having another child, but it still did not work because it is not a permanent family, but a family in this life. What we want to build is an eternal family! All those who have the same goal as David are David’s family. The house that God promised to David were referring to all those who later build the body of Jesus Christ. God will establish this house forever, and it was not referring to David’s house on earth.

Someone who is born of the body is the flesh and which someone is born of the spirit is spiritual. It did not refer to those born of David's flesh, but to those born of the spirit. Therefore, David had many spiritual children. This can be clearly explained if anyone who imitates David in building a spiritual home is building God’s glorious church are the family of David. God will surely strengthen our kingdom, strengthen our families, and will also build a spiritual home for us. How wonderful it would be if you and I had a spiritual home!

David’s reaction

After David received this blessing, his reaction was particularly interesting.

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:
“Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human! (2 Samuel 7:18-19 NIV)

David said, I just wanted to build a house for the Lord God, but you had blessed me to this extent? David was very emotional. Unlike some of us who use the grace of Jesus Christ as a rag. Those of us who received God’s grace not because you are good enough, but because you are rotten. David had this heart, so when he received the grace, he sighed, What is my family?” This seems small in your eyes. Is this something that happens to people all the time? David was so excited that he did not know how to express it.

“What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign Lord. For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.

“How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, Lord, have become their God.

“And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, so that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, ‘The Lord Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant David will be established in your sight. (2 Samuel 7:20-26 NIV)

Did everyone see it? Brothers and sisters do not think that I am in charge of the church. In fact, God is in charge. I might make mistakes, but God will not make mistakes. Many people want to say, “Who can check and balance the rights of pastors?” Then you might as well check and balance God’s rights. You are relatively capable, so try checking and balancing God’s rights. That is not the case. We all need to know that may we Honor God’s name and may the Lord of armies be the God who governs Israel. May we all say these, and this is only the way can establish the church of God.

Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. 2 Samuel 7:27 NIV

When we read this verse, what was your reaction inside? The blessing we have received far exceeded what David received at that time, because our Lord Jesus Christ has been resurrected from the dead and ascended to heaven. God wants to demonstrate His presence and His grace in His church, and His blessings are bestowed upon us, but not all of these blessings have been fulfilled. In fact, there are still many that have not been fulfilled yet.

Let us amplify the name of God and say before God, “The Lord of Almighty, our God, is the God who establishes the church. The church was established by His hands. We only have a duty to obey His words as we have the ambition to build a glorious church. God’s promises to us are also manifested among us and he has given us many graces. We must pursue extra diligently, strive to reach perfection, and build the glorious church of God.

Some time ago I said that everyone should begin to experience greater prosperity because God wants to do greater things among us. I am not uttering nonsense as it is God’s will. God’s heart is satisfied because of our small group of people. God will also give us great grace. The blessing we receive is not something that people often encounter. Over the past few years, I am so grateful for the path we had walked through.

I have the ambition to build the glorious church of God. Maybe someone will ask me, “How did you come up with the idea of doing this?” I do not know, but that is what I thought, when I was a child, my mother said to me, “My child, you are blessed.” Now that I thought about it, we are really blessed. This blessing is not something that people often encounter. God has created and chosen us in eternity so that we can become vessels that manifest His glory. What a blessing this is! I encourage all of you not to let God feel sorry for you again! Let God’s words inspire us. We are all a group of people who pursue God’s will. What a wonderful choice to satisfy God’s will. May God bless everyone!