Grace always runs downhill. Let's talk about it on this edition of key life. You are now listening to key life where the Bible becomes relevant to your daily life. I'm my Kellogg and here is our teacher, Steve Brown. Thanks Mike. If you have your Bible open into first and second chronicles, I just sort of mentioned it yesterday. I ended up first and second kings as we go through the Old Testament looking at major themes and some particular texts so that the Old Testament will become user friendly for you as you read it for yourself. This is helpful for me too. We're going to stay with it. We may take a break occasionally. We're going to come back to it. Yesterday at the end of the broadcast and I was running out of time I just lifted up a couple of things and I pointed out that first and second chronicles as with kings and some other books in the Old Testament are all one book and I also pointed out I don't know if this has any practical application whatsoever. That the reason it's two books in our translations and one book in the Hebrew Bible is for no greater a reason no more profound reason that Greek takes up a lot more room than Hebrew does. We saw that the interesting thing about chronicles is perspective. It covers exactly the same period that we've just been going through the last two, three, four weeks in first and second kings but a difference in perspective. Now let me tell you some other things about first and second chronicles where we get into it. These books were probably written about 400 BC. The books were obviously written after the fall of Jerusalem and the books of Chronicles or if you're Jewish the book of Chronicles has or have depending on where you're coming from. Very strong connection with and in some cases exact repetition of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Now tradition I said that Ezra had a significant part in the writing of these two books and I accept that tradition for reasons that you're not even interested in and I'm not even going to go into. I believe that Ezra man from a high priestly family was the editor of the material in these books and that in the writing he grew from a whole lot of sources. I also believe that there were perhaps some later additions to the book overseen by the Holy Spirit by God himself as late as 332 BC because there's a mention just in passing. Let me say this of a priest living during that time. Let me give you a relatively simple outline. You don't have to take notes on this. But in first chronicles they're genealogies for the first nine chapters. It will drive you nuts but there's good stuff there. And then there's souls in takes place in the 10th chapter and the 11th chapter you read about David's kingdom through the 21st chapter. And then in starting in 22 the 22nd chapter through the 29th chapter the end of the book is David's ritual, the temple ritual. And then in 2nd chronicles we see Solomon's reign that starts in the 1st chapter goes through the 9th chapter. Then they divide up the kingdom in the 10th chapter in chapters 11 through 36 is the history of the kingdom of Judah as they're in exile. And then there's the captivity and the epilogue that you'll find in 36 chapter. Now let me make a couple of side observations and we'll get into the actual text in these two books probably tomorrow. I want you to know if you will the difference between kings and chronicles. That difference lies in one fact and it is this. Kings looks at history from the perspective of a proud people. Chronicles looks at that same history from the perspective of a conquered people. Jerusalem and I think maybe I've mentioned this before or Judah was destroyed in 587 BC. In 582 all the big guys were for the 3rd time the leaders the thinkers of the important people were deported. Ezra and Nehemi and chronicles were written. During that time and then when the persons came along they kind of became God's help mates and help tell God's people. Now that is a very simplistic view of the history of these books. But the interesting thing about as we get into 1st and 2nd chronicles is that it's written in a pastoral way. It's written to encourage and to lift up and to help. You know something God always lets grace run downhill rosemary miller taught me that and that is such an important lesson. Are you down and depressed and hurt feel guilty and lonely? That's bad. No that's good. That's when God comes. When you're arrogant and you're prideful and you're doing your own thing and you feel pretty good about yourself. And think your God's gift to the kingdom. Watch out. Because grace only runs downhill. You think about that. I mean well obviously until now always I'll have more to say on that tomorrow. But I just wanted to kind of introduce that to you and we'll talk more about that and get into 1st chronicles tomorrow on key life. Today is my practice on Wednesday. Take some time to answer some questions. You've got to write your questions out. Send them to key life post office box 5,000 Madeleine Florida 32794 or to key life Canada post office box 32150 Cambridge Ontario in 3H 5 in 3 or you can email them to Steve at key life dot org with your regular mailing address if you want a response. You always get a response and we get thousands of questions. You always get a response from me or a staff member around the broadcast or in the magazine because we take you and your questions seriously. Don't use the one 800 number for questions. You can make a contribution. You can order materials free. Become a part of key life. Get Easter meditations free. Become a part of the tape ministry. All of that. But you got to write your questions out and we love to get your questions. Listen to a couple of housekeeping things. Our Lake Barkley Fellowship is this coming Friday in Kentucky and I don't know whether we have any openings left. You might want to call 1-800 key life if you can get there. It's a great time and see if there any openings left. Just call 1-800 key life and hit a zero. Also, we have a website key life dot org and you ought to check it out. A lot of really good stuff there. You can hear today and go hear a scene running with what I said or check out the previous 30 broadcast. There are think spots, devotional stuff, a lot of stuff to help you out on that website. And then if you're listening from jail or prison, if you'll let me know by writing the address I gave or the phoning number that I gave and you'll give us an address or if you know somebody in jail or prison, we'll set up the Crossroads Bible Institute study program for you and that's absolutely free. We'll send you an application and then we'll make sure we get off in its dynamite. You'll grow in grace with that. All right enough, let's get to these questions. I've been writing my prayers out in a notebook. Is there anything in the Bible that tells me that this is right or wrong? No. The person from Tennessee, whoever you are and my staff people don't tell me who they are, they just say the state or whether it's an email. I know what you're talking about. You are just like me. You really want to make sure you're doing it right. That's called perfectionism. It'll lead you alive. God says you want to write it out. Write it out. You don't want to write it out. Don't write it out. And I've confused this perfectionist because we want to know the rules. We want you to give us the 10th. We want you to listen. It's wonderful. I generally write my prayers. You know why? Because I have a tendency to wander and want to go someplace else. And I found that when I wrote my letters to my friends that I was pretty focused. And I kept my mind on it until I finished the letter. And so now I write God letters. Not always do that. There's a lot more to it than that. But that's pretty much what I do. And God said it was okay. So it's okay for you too. But friend and Timothy, you and I suffer from the same malady and we need grace. Big guy. This is from Florida. This is the question is how does God speak to us? He's always speaking to us. I mean everywhere. You know that story about the little boy who went to his parents and said, where you find God and the parents said, I'm busy. Go ask your grandfather. Where's God and the grandfather is in everywhere. He's everywhere. I look because he takes the time to look. If you want to hear God, you'll communicate. He'll do it in your circumstances. He'll do it primarily in God's word. And that's why it's important. You study the scriptures. He'll do it in your friends. They'll be sometime you'll be listening to a sermon and you'll go, whoa. That's he's he's been reading my diary. That's God speaking. I remember one time when Jennifer is now grown and she has her own children, our daughter. My grandchildren are a lot better than yours, but I won't show you the pictures of my grandchildren. If you promise not to show me the pictures of your grandchildren. At any rate, Jennifer was one time. I used to date my daughters once a month and we were going to dinner and she said, daddy, you're always saying she's a little girl. She said, you're always saying that God speaks to you. And I don't hear him. How do I hear him? And for once and trust me, I did a lot and said a lot of things that were dumb. But on this occasion it was quite wise. She had told me about a little girl that was new in her class. And she said, daddy, I feel so sorry for her, I'm going to be your friend. And so I said to her, I said, well, honey, do you remember that little girl you told me about? And she said, yeah. And I said, you remember how you said you're going to be your friend and how you, because you, because she was so lonely. And she said, yeah. I said, I told you to do that. And there was his real silence. And she said, oh, that's him. That's God speaks. God's not in the business of just being quiet. So say, Lord, I want to be open the way you lead me and he will. I want to study the word and hear your voice. I want to worship and know you. And God speaks to us at places like that. Not with you revelation. I don't believe he does that. And I think the word is the measurement of all revelation. And I have to say that before you write a letter. This is from New York. I always remember the Holy Spirit being referred to as the Holy Ghost. Why do we rarely hear that terminology anymore? Because the English language changes. It really does. If you get an old dictionary and you look at it and you get a new dictionary and look at it, you're going to find different new words, new meanings, new connotations to words. And that happens with this too. There's no difference between... Now there are some groups, religious groups, but they're wrong, I think. There's some religious groups who teach that there's a difference between the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit. There isn't. It's just that Holy Spirit is more the common usage today and the Holy Ghost isn't. I know you wanted to know that. I've got to go guys. Before I go, whenever you write a call, give us the call letters of this great station. And oh yes, key life is a production of key life network.