June 23-27
[M] 1 Kings 6; 2 Chron 3; 1 Timothy 1
[T] 1 Kings 7; 2 Chr 4; Ps 44; 1 Tim 2
[W] 1 Kings 8; Psalm 30; 1 Tim 3
[T] 2 Chr 5-7; Psalm 121; 1 Tim 4
[F] 1 Kings 9; 2 Chr 8; 1 Tim 5
Dwell Plan Day 126-130 | CSB | Digital PDF | Printable PDF
Notes from Jon & Chris
Monday
1 Kings 6:7 | This little detail is consistent with God’s commands about His worship: when you made an altar, for example, it was to be constructed of stones that had not been chiseled or hammered. The rocks had to be untouched in that way. In this instance they’re doing logistics, so that all of the stone and wood is crafted, cut, and worked offsite. Then it was carried to the temple mount and assembled. In even these details is the stamp of God’s character and salvation. It’s all His work, not ours. We are God’s workmanship, which means He is the one who creates faith and obedience too. He is all of our rescue, and it’s proved and illustrated right down to the building blocks of God’s house. This is where our hope is for the church today, when it’s built on this principle of grace. This is what we are as living stones, created by and for God’s worship. Praise Him!
1 Timothy 1:2 | We just celebrated Father’s Day, a time to honor the dads God has given us. But in Christ, we’ve also been given a spiritual family that’s even more lasting. In 1 Timothy 1:2, Paul calls Timothy his true child in the faith, showing how the gospel creates eternal bonds. Jesus said, “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matt. 12:50). Let’s thank God for both our earthly and spiritual families—and remember that our church family is one we’ll have forever.
1 Timothy 1:15 | Paul calls this a saying that we can trust and should accept: Jesus came to save sinners, of which I am the worst. What does saying mean? It’s something that folks were speaking out loud, whether in personal worship or prayer; it’s an ancient form of a meme. But that implies that a kind of liturgy had already been used in the church. What is a liturgy? It’s the stuff we say to each other in worship when it’s in a preconstructed form. That’s what a saying is.
Apart from making an argument for liturgical practice, what is Paul’s point? This is the sort of thing you should be saying and believing about yourself. This is what should be in your personal conversations with God as well. It runs against our entire modern society and everything we’ve been told about self image and confidence. Joy and victory in the Christian life all begin in this humility and recognition. It’s so important that Paul, as a leader writing to another leader he’s mentoring, puts it right up front in the beginning of his letter. It’s more important than instruction and directions on how to lead the church or organize it. Paul is modeling how he wants Timothy to lead.
1 Timothy 1:17 | In this chapter, Paul is writing theology, and suddenly he bursts into doxology. His heart overflows with praise: To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. That’s what the gospel does—it doesn’t just inform the mind, it ignites the heart.
Tuesday
1 Kings 7:1 | Hebrew storytelling is masterful. It gives you all of the facts you need to begin to ask the right questions. One of the goals of the writer of Kings is to reveal how fallen and rotten the kingdom always was. Solomon’s days are peaceful and full of bounty, the kind of times that people call “the good old days.” But the author wants to break up the dreamy misconceptions of nostalgia, because it’s just plain wrong. Solomon is a cautionary tale. What does it mean for the wisest man who ever lived to become such a fool? What hope is there for any of us? Solomon deeply gives into his wives at the end of his life, so much so that he even worships their false gods. It’s shocking, but should it be? This chapter is early on in Solomon’s reign, before he became so compromised. What details does our historian include in this chapter that should alarm us? Solomon’s own house and the house for his Egyptian princess wife are done years before the temple. That isn’t sinful in and of itself, but it does raise a question, especially when we see Solomon’s later idolatry. What were his priorities? Finishing his wife’s house first makes a lot of sense to husbands—she had her expectations as a princess and Solomon must have felt that pressure. But even as we talk about this, Solomon has already swallowed the poison pill: he’s marrying outside of God’s kingdom in direct disobedience to the law of God. The seeds of Israel’s destruction are all there, just waiting to germinate. And that doesn’t take too long.
2 Chronicles 4:7 | In the temple, the golden lampstands were a sign that God’s truth and light were present with His people. We see them again in Revelation 2–3, where those lampstands now represent the churches, meant to shine His light into a dark world. Jesus calls us the light of the world, not because we glow on our own, but because we’re connected to Him, the true and ultimate Light. I love the imagery of light. Jesus is the light of the world. We reflect that light into the darkness. And when we see the New Heavens and New Earth, we find out that there is no need for a sun (don’t take that as a scientific statement) because the Light has won the battle against darkness.
1 Timothy 2:15 | This is just a weird verse. Or it sure seems weird to us. For a moment, if you’re not rooted in all of what Paul teaches, you might imagine he’s mapping out a works salvation! But that would be so contrary to all of his and the Bible’s teaching that it’s outlandish. First, earning any salvation or love from God is impossible. It’s absurd, and Paul goes to great lengths to prove that in his letters. Second, what are men supposed to do? Or is there a unique salvation for girls? What about women who can’t have kids or choose not to? All of those questions reveal what nonsense such a reading creates. So what does this chldbearing comment refer to? The promise in Genesis 3:15! God tells our enemy that there’s a kid coming from the woman, a seed that would conquer Satan. This is the promise given to Adam and Eve that God would send Jesus. And so, all women and men will be saved through chilbearing in that sense! This is the way Paul thinks, processes, and communicates: in theological ideas and images.
Wednesday
1 Kings 8:27 | Solomon prays with awe, knowing that no building—not even a magnificent temple—can contain the infinite God. “Heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you,” he says, humbly recognizing God’s omnipresence. The temple was a symbol of God’s nearness, not a limit on His presence. We worship a God who is far greater than any space, yet draws near to dwell with His people.
1 Kings 8:59 | As Solomon dedicates the temple, he again and again calls the people, calls God, and even calls the building to be witnesses. This idea of being a witness is more than casual: it’s contractual. They aren’t just witnesses of a big new beautiful temple being built, spectators eating popcorn and gawking at all the gold and grandeur. Not at all. They are being called as witnesses in the courtroom of God’s judgments and mercies. This a DTR (defining the relationship) moment; it puts obligations on everyone in the relationship, both us and God.
Then Solomon says to God, let all of these words be like a string around Your finger, to remind You of these commitments. Wow. It reminds me of the little conversation bubbles in comic books. Solomon is asking that all of these words would stay in front of God forever. What a picture of grace and what a prophetic image of Jesus, who is even now, interceding for us. What a promise for our conversations with God, that our desires, needs, requests, and cries are forever cherished by Him, remaining always in front of Him.
1 Kings 8:60 | Here, Solomon reveals the true purpose of the temple: that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. This magnificent temple wasn’t meant to be a hideout for Israel, but a light to the nations. God’s heart has always been for the world to know Him through His people. The temple was a signpost pointing outward—to God’s glory and His global mission.
Psalm 30:5 | Life in a broken world brings sorrow, but for those in Christ, suffering is never the end of the story. We endure the long night with hope, knowing that joy is promised and certain. One day, morning will dawn forever—the eternal Sabbath rest of heaven. In Christ, our tears have an expiration date.
1 Timothy 3:1-7 | This is the list that Paul gives us in what we should look for as the people of God in our Pastors. This is what Chris and I (Jon) are trying to live up to. Anyway, you should bookmark these verses so you can throw them in my face later on :)
Thursday
2 Chronicles 7:1-2 | When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, His presence was marked by fire that did not consume (Exodus 3:2)—holy, mysterious, and powerful. That same fire later descended on Mount Sinai in thunder and flame, revealing God’s glory and holiness to the people (Exodus 19:18). In the wilderness, fire guided Israel by night, a visible sign that God was with them (Exodus 13:21). Fire represented both God’s nearness and His unapproachable holiness.
Here, when Solomon finishes praying, fire comes down from heaven and consumes the offering, and the glory of the Lord fills the temple. The priests cannot even enter, because God’s presence is too overwhelming. This fire is a sign that God has chosen to dwell among His people. But this temple was just a shadow pointing forward.
At Pentecost, the fire falls again—but now in a new way. Tongues of fire rest on each believer (Acts 2:3), not to consume, but to fill. The Spirit of God no longer dwells in a building, but in His people. Everywhere we go, we carry the presence of God with us. In Christ, we are the new temple—living stones, filled with the Spirit, shining with holy fire.
2 Chronicles 7:15-16 | Our Muslim friends pray five times a day, and each time they’re careful to figure out which direction is east. They are to pray with their bodies turned toward Mecca. This is where that idea came from. (Islam claims the Old and New Testaments as a part of their Scriptures and they inform parts of Islamic teaching and practice.) But this wasn’t about a location at all. As we learn from Christ, the temple was a picture of His own body and ministry. It was a metaphor for explaining and expecting Jesus, pointing to God’s purpose to live with us and rescue us. So this statement by God to Solomon in this chapter is fulfilled right now, as you’re sitting there reading this. Romans 8 tells us that Christ is interceding for us now at the throne of God. He always is. So, if the Temple is a picture of Jesus, what’s the punchline and purpose of these promises in these verse? It isn’t about prayer geography! No, we discover this promise is fulfilled in Jesus. Our Father’s eyes and heart are always on Jesus, not on a building. So claim these promises like you were told to, because every promise in the Bible is a loud YES in Jesus. Praise Him with highest praise!
Friday
1 Kings 9:10-14 | Hiram was an amazing asset to Solomon. A friend of David, the king of Tyre was eager to help Solomon build the temple, providing craftsmen and materials needed for this massive project. He even initiated contact with Solomon out of his love for David. After the building project was completed, Solomon then gave a gift of some land to Hiram, 20 cities in Galilee. So Hiram went to go look at his gift and he didn’t like it. Galilee was a poor area, and Hiram felt insulted by the gift. It seems out of character for Solomon to do this, but maybe we’re also seeing Solomon as he got older. We know his heart strayed from God later in life, and this is over 20 years of building projects later. Either way, it’s a gift of junk. Whether this is our God’s sense of irony or His revealing to us the very humility of His kingdom, Galilee had such a bad rap that when folks heard where Jesus was from, they were shocked. There’s something here in this little exchange that shouts the glory of God. Hiram is a gentile, and the gift of God’s kingdom in Jesus is salvation to the gentiles. Here we see those Holy Spirit echoes in the Scripture where our Father’s kingdom is revealed. It’s always been the same King and it’s always been the same kingdom. Solomon’s temple is not where God will come in flesh. It will be out in the sticks, in the dump of run down and despised Galilee. Praise Him.
1 Timothy 5:24 | There’s only two kinds of people in the world: those whose sins are obvious and those whose sins are not. Either way, all folks are sinners. This is an interpretive grid for everyone we know and a valuable one. We all know those people who seem to wear their sins on their sleeves. Perhaps they’re temperamental and have problems with emotional control. Maybe they drink too much a little too easily and wind up saying and doing things we’re all embarrassed about. It’s easy to take shots at folks like that. Loudmouths are annoying. Braggarts are irritating, But this verse cuts through all that. The only thing separating the loudmouth and boastful person from the restrained and mild mannered person is this: one person’s sins are just more visible.
Learn the lesson: we judge from outward appearances, but God judges the heart. Good people only seem good. Obviously messed up people can’t hide their mess. One feels justified, and the other feels like a failure. But if we’re seeing clearly with Biblical and spiritual eyes, we see something very different. We see two desperate sinners who deserve judgement; we see a level playing field. That’s something for everyone to see, both about themselves and others. It sets the obvious sinner free from condemnation and it sets the hidden sinner free from self righteousness. This is the work of the good news of Jesus Christ. Praise Him!