Summit Life with J.D. Greear

In this message, Pastor J.D. Greear focuses on a chapter that, frankly, many of us might find confusing—if not downright offensive. By walking through David’s mysterious census and the massive punishment that follows, Pastor J.D. deals with one of the biggest obstacles many people have to trusting in God: Deep down, we don’t think he’s really a good person. If God seems, to you, less loving and forgiving and more vindictive and cruel, this obscure story might just show you what God is actually up to in the world.

It’s no wonder David closes the psalm of his life glorifying God’s power in redemption, because there is nothing quite as amazing as God taking a life ruined by sin, like David’s, and making it new. In this message, Pastor J.D. continues to look at David’s life song and shares the three things God’s salvation gives us. Because of the gospel, we can say with David, “God is my hope, my Savior, and my restoration.”

A person’s last words can often be very telling. In this week’s message, Pastor J.D. gives us a glimpse into a song that David wrote during an earlier time in his life, which serves as a summary of both his life and his ministry. From these “last words” of David, we can learn important truths about God—truths that sustained David,and that can sustain us through even the darkest of times.

In the tragic story of David and his son Absalom, we’re left to wonder what might have happened if David had used his power to protect and heal instead of allowing his power to keep him detached in his palace. Pastor J.D. explains in this message why humanity is stuck in a perpetual cycle of brokenness and violence and how Jesus broke the cycle so we could experience healing and his grace.

As we near the end of 2 Samuel, this week’s message from Pastor J.D. is one that examines the often far-reaching consequences of sin. These consequences played out not only in David’s life, but in the lives of many in his family. For those who have experienced the tragic results of sin, either your own or that of others, things may seem hopeless—but there is healing to be found in the true King who redeems and restores.

After David’s sin against Bathsheba and Uriah, he walked through a process of restoration that models for us how to repent and take responsibility for our sin. In this message, Pastor J.D. shows us how our repentance points others to Jesus. Because Christ didn’t just die but also resurrected, God can take the dead remains of our sin and bring them back to life.

What does true repentance look like? This week, Pastor J.D. helps us unpack 2 Samuel 12, in which David is confronted regarding his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah. Following the prophet Nathan’s rebuke of him, David pens Psalm 51. It is in this psalm that we observe the components of true confession and repentance, which lead ultimately—and joyfully—to restoration.

David was Israel’s long-awaited and hoped-for king, and he’d started out so well by defeating Goliath and writing beautiful psalms about God. But his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah made Israel ask, if even King David, the man after God’s own heart, failed them, what hope was there? Pastor J.D. shares in this message why we, like Israel, needed a King far greater than David and how that King, Jesus, helps us overcome sin.

Pastor J.D. helps us process a very difficult passage in 2 Samuel, and a turning point in the life of David—the story of David and Bathsheba. Could this be the same David who was called “a man after God’s own heart”? Though David was indeed forgiven, his sin would affect everyone around him. While this story holds a powerful warning for us today, what it ultimately reveals is a deep longing for another King, a better King — Jesus.

When David understood that he had been the recipient of extravagant grace, he felt compelled to find someone to whom he could show that kind of grace. In this message, Pastor J.D. helps us understand that, before we can become generous like David toward Mephibosheth, we must first recognize the generosity of Christ toward us and how the gospel transforms the way we see others.