P.O. Box 53055    
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CONNIE: Hello, I'm Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: And I'm Lonnie Melashenko.

CONNIE: Lonnie, have you ever traced your genealogy back to find out about your roots?

LONNIE: Well Jeannie's always been interested in family trees, but not particularly, except my grandmother always thought that Melashenko went back to some Persian royalty somewhere. I don't know, most of them are actually drunks in the local town saloon unfortunately, but what about the Vandeman name, isn't that kind of very British?

CONNIE: Well, it's Dutch/English, the Van part would be the Dutch part, but my dad's mother was English Nina Royce, and she actually traced her roots back to the House of Spencer.

LONNIE: Oh, how interesting.

CONNIE: Yeah, so we've always been sort of proud of that, and had the family crest framed and everything, and you know we think we're related to Lady Diana Spencer and all that.

LONNIE: How about that. I always used to tease George that part of Australia was Van-demons land down there in Tasmania.

CONNIE: Oh, really! I didn't know that. Well you know, wouldn't it be great though Lonnie, if you could find out for sure that you were actually part of a royal line.

LONNIE: Wow! That would be something. Maybe you are.

CONNIE: Well, I don't know.

LONNIE: What if you could find out you were heir to some big, huge, large estate up there, Connie, somewhere.

CONNIE: I'd like to know that, Lonnie.

LONNIE: Well, Connie, that's really the type of thing the Bible book we're looking at today is all about. 1 Chronicles spends many of its chapters simply recording the genealogical record of the Hebrew people. The records there were kind of like what you'd find at a county courthouse--proving who had right to what land.

CONNIE: The book also deals quite a bit with the life of King David, doesn't it?

LONNIE: Yes, it does, and to cover that aspect of the book we've invited an old friend of mine, and your dad, Dr. William Loveless, to share with us. Many of our listeners may have heard him preach his famous series of sermons on the life of David at some time, and Ken Wade spoke with him recently about the lessons that are to be found in that part of 1 Chronicles.

KEN: Welcome, Dr. William Loveless, to our program today. We're talking about one of the most fascinating characters in the Bible, aren't we?

DR. LOVELESS: I think, Ken, that he is the most fascinating, possibly with the exception of Jesus. There's more written about him, and more written by him than any other character in scripture.

KEN: Now that is astounding to me, to hear you say that there is more written about King David, and by King David then any other character in scripture.

DR. LOVELESS: Yeah, he's big time when you look at the Bible, there's no question that David stands out as an immense, kind of bigger- than- life character.

KEN: An extremely creative person?

DR. LOVELESS: Oh boy! He was a musician, he was a writer, he was a warrior. I mean the guy was a genius, and he was nasty tough, Ken. I mean, you don't tear bears apart with your bare hands, and kill lions with your bare hands as a teenager. And hit them with the artillery of the day, namely the slingshot. You know that's something else. I think a lot of people, we have the Little Boy Named David, we sing in Sunday school and Sabbath school, but hey, the little boy named David was very tough from day one. He grew up by himself in a dysfunctional family with a lot of brothers that made fun of him and kept him, well he didn't even show up when they were looking for the family, they didn't even call him in.

KEN: Yeah, he was out tending the sheep, just leave him out there, he's probably not very important. Do you think he was kind of the bad kid of the family?

DR. LOVELESS: I think he was a nasty little guy, I really have to tell you that. Any teenager that will take a sword and cut a head off.

KEN: Now wait a minute Bill. We're talking about the man… doesn't it say somewhere he was a man after God's own heart?

DR. LOVELESS: He was! That's the genius of David. You know, how can you say this about a guy that was murdering people, men, women, and children you know. And yet he was a man after God's own heart.

KEN: And he gets that much time in the Bible, because, well, he wrote the Psalms. I mean obviously if you write the longest book of the Bible, then you've got a good start on it.

DR. LOVELESS: Ken if you read the Psalms carefully, and I have many times, what jumps out at you is David's willingness to take council, to listen to reproof.

KEN: Uh-huh.

DR. LOVELESS: I think the genius of God saying, "Hey, you're a man after my own heart." God didn't approve of what David did, much of what David did, nobody approves of.

KEN: Now, let's talk about what David did. David of course comes in on the scene, at the end of the reign of Saul. Things are pretty tense. When Saul dies, the Philistines basically move in and take over all the agricultural territory, don't they?

DR. LOVELESS: Oh yeah! Well they were always around. Hey, even when Saul was king, there was danger, danger, danger on the highway. You couldn't travel any place at night or daytime, much of the timed, for fear of being robbed. It was a dangerous time.

KEN: Yeah, and the Israelite people needed someone to come along and be a champion for them, didn't they?

DR. LOVELESS: Oh yeah, they did. They needed someone to take charge. Somebody that would cover the land with peace and with justice and with law, and David did all of that in his lifetime. And the record of course says over and over again, in the springtime, David and his men went to war. He was a man of war.

KEN: That was the job. Do you picture this as being a little bit like living in east LA or something like that?

DR. LOVELESS: The Promised Land was a tough neighborhood, it really was.

KEN: Yeah, and the Israelites had gone down in defeat a lot of times. They had lost territory, and so when someone comes along who can solve that problem for you, he certainly is a hero.

DR. LOVELESS: He is a hero, and David was by any assessment older or knew a hero, no question about it. But now when he finished his temple, his palace I mean, he wanted to build a temple for God, but God said, "Sorry David, your reputation is the bad reputation for my reputation."

KEN: Wow, you're saying something very powerful there, Bill. You're saying that David then, even though he's listed as a man after God's own heart, even though he's the sweet Psalmist of Israel, he wrote the 23rd Psalm that we love to quote, you're saying that David was not good enough.

DR. LOVELESS: His reputation as said directly by God, "Your reputation is a man of war, and you cannot build my temple because if you are allowed to build my temple, David, the nations of the world will misunderstand My nature. I am not a God of war. So someone else, your son Solomon, is going to be allowed to build the temple." Even though he was a man after God's own heart, and the beautiful lesson from David's life, Ken, is if God can love and save David, there's none of us that have gone too far that He can't love and save too.

KEN: Wow. Now you're preaching.

DR. LOVELESS: Well, that's right.

KEN: That is tremendous, because when you think of that tremendously violent life of David, when you come down to the end, what's his son's name?

DR. LOVELESS: Well, he had several sons, but the one that we're interested in is Solomon.

KEN: And what does that mean?

DR. LOVELESS: Solomon means a wise man, a wise king, and he was.

KEN: It comes from that same root of Shalom, doesn't it?

DR. LOVELESS: Yes, right.

KEN: Shalomo, peace.

DR. LOVELESS: A man of peace.

KEN: And so when God says, "You can build your house David, but when it comes time to build my house, who's going to do that?

DR. LOVELESS: The man of peace.

KEN: The man of peace, because God want to make peace with all of us. Wow! That's a tremendous lesson. I just thank you so much for sharing with us.

DR. LOVELESS: A delight always, to talk and think about David.

KEN: Thanks again.

CONNIE: David was one of Israel's two greatest kings. He was the one who did the hard work of consolidating the country, establishing borders, subduing enemies, so that the kingdom could prosper as it did under his son Solomon.
He established a kingdom and built himself a magnificent house that symbolized the way that God had blessed him.
And the really good news is that all of us can be a part of God's kingdom, but we don't have to build our own palace--as Joe Pearles reminds us in the song "In My Father's House."

"In My Father's House", Joe Pearles, from Joe Pearles CD

CONNIE: That was Joe Pearles singing "In My Father's House," taken from a recent CD called simply "Joe Pearles." Information about his music is, as always, available on our website at VOP.COM.

LONNIE: That website is an important extension of our ministry. What you hear on the radio is only one little slice of what Voice of Prophecy is all about. Through the Internet we make our programs available all over the world on a 24-hour 7-day-a-week basis.

CONNIE: If you have an Internet connection, you can easily log on and listen to past broadcasts, explore our upcoming topics, and access our online Discover Bible Lessons.

LONNIE: The Discover Bible School is one of our most important ministries. It's used by thousands as an introduction to understanding the Bible's great themes, and also for more in-depth study.
Kurt Johnson is our Bible School director--a busy man, often on the road, conducting training seminars, prayer workshops, and other outreaches, but we've caught up with him today and he's joining us in the studio. Kurt, how are things going at the Bible School?

KURT: Excellent Lonnie! Our Bible School staff, we praise God daily for the lives that are being changed from the study of God's word.

LONNIE: That's beautiful. It's been going on for almost 60 years now.

KURT: That's right, and we recently, Lonnie, received this letter from Florida. The student states, "I wish everyone in the world could get there hands on the Discover Bible Guides. They have touched me, and I have turned back to Christ. Praise the Lord, He never left me. I can't wait for His return."

LONNIE: That's precious.

KURT: And this one from Maine, "Your Discover Bible Guides have helped me so much. I'm twenty years old and a recovering alcoholic. I started using anything and everything when I was thirteen years old. I had no guidance from my parents, I was free to do what I pleased. And I've been living on the streets if you can imagine that, but last year I graduated from high school. Thank you for Discover." You know Lonnie, there's no greater experience than the one found, sitting at the feet of Jesus, open Bible in hand and learning from the Word of God.

LONNIE: That's what it's all about isn't it?

CONNIE: It's great to know that the Bible School is going strong and many people are getting a blessing from it.

LONNIE: Now friend, if you'd like to try out the Discover Bible lessons, you can do it right on our web page at VOP.COM, or you can receive the lessons in the mail just by calling 1-800-872-0055 and requesting the Discover Bible Lessons.

CONNIE: And now it's time for Lonnie's message for today, "The Kingdom of God."

The Kingdom of God

How do you get to be a part of the kingdom of God? And how is it decided whether you will have an important part--as a ruler--or just a mediocre role as a servant or craftsman/craftswoman? How can you find out if you have a legal claim to property in the kingdom?

Those were important questions, even in New Testament times. Maybe you remember the story of the time Jesus was walking down the road and noticed that His disciples were hanging back, discussing something secretly among themselves. Jesus later revealed to them that they hadn't pulled any wool over his eyes by their attempt at secrecy. He knew what they were arguing about: Who would be first in the kingdom. Who would get to sit closest to the throne. Who would have the most power.

And Jesus had to take some time out with His associates to straighten out their thinking a bit. He called them aside and gave them a little lecture:

"You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all" (Mark 10:42-44, NKJ).

The kingdom of God, as Jesus would establish it, would be far different from any earthly kingdom. It would be a kingdom that everyone could be a part of, if they were willing to be a servant to those in need.

And there was one more qualification for being a part of His kingdom. I'll share that with you in just a moment, but first, something else.

Today we're looking at the book of 1 Chronicles. I have to admit it's one of the more difficult books in the Bible to read. In fact, I know of Bible reading plans that don't even include certain chapters in the book--they just let the readers skip right past them. I guess the authors of the plan figure no one would gain a blessing from reading those chapters anyhow.

So, what's in those chapters? Let me read you just a few verses from chapter 2--the list of the descendants of Caleb. Stay tuned, this will take just a moment, and I'll confess that it probably won't be too interesting. But we'll learn something from it. Here it is, 1 Chronicles 2:42-49:

The descendants of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were Mesha, his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph, and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron.
The sons of Hebron were Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema.

Shema begot Raham the father of Jorkoam, and Rekem begot Shammai.
And the son of Shammai was Maon, and Maon was the father of Beth Zur.

Ephah, Caleb's concubine, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez; and Haran begot Gazez.

And the sons of Jahdai were Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.

Maachah, Caleb's concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah.

She also bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbenah and the father of Gibea. And the daughter of Caleb was Achsah. (NKJV)

Did you get all that? Don't worry, you won't be tested over it. But I did read those eight verses to make a point. While much of 1 Chronicles may not be very interesting to us today, it served an important purpose in its time. It was the genealogical record of the Israelite nation.

It doesn't tug any chords in our hearts because all the people mentioned have been dead and gone for 2500 years or more. Few, if any, of us could trace our genealogy back to those names. But what if one of your relatives were mentioned there--and you could trace your roots back to Caleb, the famous cohort of Joshua?

If these verses were a record of your personal family, for a dozen or so generations back, you might be interested--don't you think? Especially if, by tracing your roots, you could prove that you were part of a royal line. Or perhaps that you were deserving of citizenship in the nation you wanted to emigrate to, or that you had a birthright to a choice piece of property.

And that is the point of the genealogical records preserved in 1 Chronicles.

They had great significance to the Hebrew people who returned to their country after their exile in Babylon.

If you could find one of your ancestors listed in that record book, you would know where your roots were, and you could claim the right to settle on the land that your great-great-grandfather owned before the war.

But I'm here to tell you that today those records are obsolete. Worthless. Now, please hear me out on this. I don't want you to think that I'm saying a part of the Bible is outdated and no longer useful. There is still a lesson here for us. But the records themselves are totally passé. And that's according to Jesus Himself.

Those genealogical records were valuable for one purpose only: They were intended to prove a person's right, by blood inheritance, to citizenship in God's kingdom.

But I'm here to tell you that today citizenship in God's kingdom is based on something very different than blood lineage. Listen to this, from the Gospel of John:

But as many as received Him [that is--Jesus], to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12, 13, NKJ).

What does it take to become a part of the kingdom of God today? Is it blood lineage? Will it help if your mother or grandmother were important leaders in their local church? Will that automatically give you an important place in the kingdom?

John 1:12-13 reveals that genealogy doesn't matter. Having the blood of royalty pumping through your heart won't even help. What matters is what's going on inside your heart. Have you accepted Jesus--do you believe in His name (which means salvation)? Have you been born again by receiving God's

Holy Spirit into your heart to live and rule there?

That's the beauty of the gospel. It tells you and me, no matter where we come from--no matter what our ancestry, no matter what our history, that we can be a part of the kingdom--sons and daughters of God!

First Chronicles served an important purpose in its day--to reveal who could be a part of an earthly kingdom. Its stories of King David and other men of faith still ring true to us, as examples to look up to.

But perhaps the book's greatest message is this: When we see its place in the Bible as a whole, it reminds us that that you and I--whether your name is Melashenko, or Smith, or Schwartz, or Diaz--whatever your origin, your name can be written into the records of those who have right to a piece of property in the heavenly kingdom.

You can be adopted into the royal line. Revelation 1:6 reveals that Jesus "has made us kings and priests to His God and Father," and goes on to proclaim "to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

Will you join me in saying a hearty AMEN! to that?

Will you join me in laying claim to your part in the kingdom? Will you join me in accepting Jesus--again today and every day--as your Savior and Lord?

Let's do that right now, as we close.

Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for the invitation to be a part of your heavenly kingdom. We thank you for the birthright you offer us through your son Jesus. And we claim that promised place right now, through faith in Jesus. Amen.