وأقولوا في القرآن ما جاءت به آياته فهو الكاريم المنزال وأقولوا قال الله جل جلاله والمصطف الهدي ولا أتأوّاله الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على عبد الله ورسوله نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته كل مرحب من الله عز وجل فقط نسأل الله عز وجل لأخبره بشكل جيد للمسنجر محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم لأخباره وأخباره نحن نتحدث عن تأكيدنا الإسلامية ونحن as we mentioned in the previous episodes it's not so much necessarily about you being the one to as a parent to necessarily do all of that education but at least that you understand how to educate your children Islamically and I really want to sort of emphasise what we had mentioned at the end of the previous episode regarding the fact that every parent ideally would go through a text on how to seek knowledge a fundamental text on how to seek knowledge and alhamdulillah with regard to المدرسة العمرية we'll do our best to put some links with this video to other videos from the teachers at المدرسة العمرية that relate to how to seek knowledge in a more detailed way because ultimately yes how to seek knowledge that's from the view of the student but as a parent it also tells you what your children should be doing to seek knowledge so you can apply it as a parent as well and of course we said every parent should be aiming to be an example for their children so you gain the best of both worlds in that way we're continuing on with just a summary of this a kind of a a synopsis or a brief overview of some of the most important points that you're going to need in order to teach your children Islamically and what we're going to start with now is the principle that knowledge is done in steps and in stages in steps and in stages with تدرج and we can take this from an ayah in صورة الفرقاني which Allah has said وقال الذين كفروا لولا نزل عليه القرآن جملة واحدة كذلك لنثبت به فؤادك ورتلناه ترتيلة الله عز وجل said that the disbelievers say would it not be that if the Qur'an why was the Qur'an not sent down in one go why was the Qur'an not just given to the prophets or something like that one go from the you know straight from the heavens تزق القرآن صورة الفاتحة صورة الناس جملة واحدة why not like that الله said in this way we made your heart firm and we can take from this a principle that the best way to be firm in knowledge is to take it step by step and to take it with تدرج in steps and in stages peace by peace step by step and sometimes one of the mistakes that a lot of parents make in this regard is that and we all make it to be honest I make it all the time you know Subhan Allah in the sense that what we tend to do is we tend to crave to do everything at once we want everything in one go and we say that today I'm going to finish this book from beginning to end and today I'm going to memorize this many hadith and today I'm going to do this and that and we have that same mentality of wanting everything جملة واحدة wanting everything to come in in the instant instead of saying let me just take a small amount every day let me take a small amount every week let me just continue and be regular in that as long as you're on the right path and by the right path I don't mean that you're on the right path in terms of your belief or your Islam I mean that you're on the right path for knowledge you're actually taking the knowledge in the right way then Insha'Allah even if you're taking baby steps those baby steps have an advantage which is that as long as you are actually learning the right way you're on the right path for knowledge in terms of you are actually approaching it the right way studying the right things using the right methodology then if you are taking baby steps those baby steps are advantageous because they allow your knowledge to be more firm and that's why Allahيس و جل gave the Qur'an to the Prophet ﷺ over 23 years كذلكة لينو ثبت بيهي فوعدك so that your heart would become firm on it you would take it step by step page by page آية by آية that is going to make someone far more firmly grounded than taking something in one goal now that doesn't mean and someone shouldn't understand from that that we don't push our children to memorize the whole Qur'an and we say no no you should you know memorize the Qur'an over this length if it's easy for the child to memorize the Qur'an when they're little amazing but the knowledge from that is going to come to them piece by piece in terms of the the rulings the understanding the تفصير the تدبور the reflection and pondering that's going to come you know day by day and piece by piece it's not going to come in one goal so there's nothing wrong with the child pushing them at an early age to memorize as we mentioned in the previous episode because this is the time they have the time and the ability to do that so there's nothing wrong with pushing the children to memorize at that age but in terms of the understanding that's going to be piece by piece and stage by stage and even if you can't take if جملة وحدة you can't memorize what you memorize in one goal you lose it in one goal wherever you memorize in one goal you lose in one goal that's the that's how it works whatever you memorize in small amounts and stages generally it stays with you and that's an important lesson as it relates to and again we really need to have a whole discussion which is outside of the topic of this short course which is to have a whole discussion on how to do how to memorize and in شاء الله again if we have resources باية and مدرسة العمالية شاء الله we'll post those and link those along with the video in شاء الله so this آيان سورة الفرقان tells us about the need for us to learn things stage by stage and we have another evidence for this or another thing that I would like to bring you it's actually a story from the seerah of الإمام صفيان الثوري رحمه الله تعالى he was one of the great Imam of Islam one of the great scholars of حريث one of the figures that stands out in Islamic history الإمام صفيان الثوري رحمه الله تعالى and this relates to the mother of صفيان الثوري she said يا بني all my son all my small son إذا كتبت عشرات أحديث أو عشرات أحرف she said if you write down 10 حديث she sent him off to study حديث she said if you write down 10 حديث or 10 letters فانظر هل تغرافي نفسك زيادة في مشكة وحلمك ووقارك she said do you see that you look at yourself write 10 حديث when you've written 10 حديث look at yourself and ask yourself am I becoming am I do I see in myself that I'm getting an increase in terms of my patience in terms of my progress in terms of my my manners and my behavior and the fear that I have of Allah she said فإن لم ترى ذلك فعلم أنه يضررك ولا ينفعك she said if you don't see this change in yourself then know that it is harming you it's not benefiting you and سبحان الله that is really an amazing amazing lesson there are so many lessons within this but two things I wanted to highlight number one that تدرج learn 10 حديث then write 10 more and some of the wordings it mentions that she sent him to write 10 حديث and she said that if you see this change in yourself then write 10 more and if you still see it write 10 more and if you still see it write 10 more like that and the other thing is that what is the غاية what's the goal is the goal knowledge for knowledge sake that's سبحان الله you feel that's what it's become in this time that we live in it's become ألها كم التكاثر you've been your hearts have become preoccupied with numbers just getting knowledge for the sake of knowledge degrees for the sake of degrees and masters and PhDs and whatever and just gathering together things for the sake of التكاثر just to say that you have the numbers or you have the paper trail or you have the qualifications or the person collects إجازات and says I have so many إجازات in this and that but سبحان الله that's not what matters what matters is what you act upon if that doctorate made you fear Allah more then go and get another one and another one and another one if that إجازة made your prayer better go and get another one and another one if that knowledge that you took from that sheikh made you closer to Allah سبحانه وتعالى then go and seek more but ultimately know this that if you're not seeing those changes in yourself know that this is harming you it's not benefiting you because knowledge is either a حجة for you or against you it's either an evidence for you or against you either it will witness on your behalf or it will witness against you so you have to look at your children and this is again really important that we're not seeing to our children or I'm seeing he's not changing so tell him to stop doing تَلَبُرَة because that's just going to help the sheikh I'm against your child and it's not going to help you or your child did anything but you're constantly telling your child like the mother of سفيانة ثوري emphasizing to them that if you're learning this knowledge and it's not changing you it's not making a difference in you then something is wrong the answer to that is not to stop seeking knowledge but the answer to that is to go back to your near correct yourself and to turn to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and to renew your near of course if the knowledge is voluntary yes it could be a case that a person says this knowledge didn't benefit me it's harming me because it's not changing me I'm not improving so you know I'm going to go to a different aspect of that knowledge go to a different area a different field but if we're talking about the knowledge that is obligatory upon every Muslim you don't have an option to leave it but if you don't see yourself making changes if you don't see yourself getting closer to Allah then you have to ask yourself why am I getting this knowledge for ألها كلمة كهثر just so I can become busy and become preoccupied with numbers I memorize more and I've learned more and I've sat more and I've studied more but ultimately what does that mean if it doesn't make you actually change and in this we're going to quote an ayah and the ayah is in Surat Al-Zumar الله عز وجل said أما هو قانة أنا الليل ساجدا وقائمة يحذر الآخرة ويرجو رحمة ربه قل هل يستوي الذين يعلمون والذين لا يعلمون الله عز وجل he told us as for the one who is standing obediently all throughout the night that person is standing all throughout the night in obedience to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and that person is hoping for what is with Allah عز وجل fearing the hereafter and hoping for the mercy of their Lord the person who is in that situation من هو قانة وانا الليل standing in obedience that night ساجدا وقائمة in a state of prostrating and standing up in the qiyam in the prostration and that person is fearing the hereafter and hoping for the mercy of their Lord and then Allah said قل هل يستوي الذين يعلمون والذين لا يعلمون say are those who know equal to those who don't know فايل what's the evidence here the evidence here or the واجد دلالة the reason the reason why we brought this here this ayah here is Allah described knowledge in terms of what the knowledge knowing versus not knowing in terms of what in terms of action knowledge means you stand at night in prayer knowledge means you fear the hereafter what will happen knowledge means that you hope in the mercy of your Lord knowledge means that you submit to Allah that's the difference between اللذين يعلمون والذين لا يعلمون as for the one who just gathers إجازات or gathers qualifications or just gathers knowledge for knowledge sake this person is not described with knowledge aslan this person is not described with knowledge لا يقال it's not said about that person that they have knowledge you don't say to that person that that person has knowledge knowledge is only to the extent that you act upon it and that's a lesson we have to drill into our children look at what she said the mother of Sufiana Thori رحمة الله تعالى and what we make you know perhaps she received all of the benefits and all of the ajr from the huge efforts that her son did perhaps that's the case perhaps she received all of the benefits from that because she sent out her son and she said to him go and write ten hadith some narration she said to him go and write ten letters and if you see that this has changed you you change the way you behave the way you are the manners the way you fear Allah you see a change in yourself then this is for you you know go write ten more and if not then know that this knowledge is harming you but it's not actually benefiting you and that's an excellent lesson we can still in our children you go to the school you learn to ayel you learn to hadith what has this hadith done for you what has changed for you what's different for you what have you learned what are you doing today that you didn't do yesterday and yes yet if we see that our children are not changing it's not stop going to school stop learning stop going you know stop memorizing but it's a case that we tell them and we continue to emphasise to them that the only benefit in knowledge is that what you act upon an implement and now we're going to come to the last point that I'm going to discuss with you but it's going to be a little bit of a long one so it's going to take a little bit of time to go through and that is that your children they need a roadmap they need a roadmap sometimes we call it a manhajiya a curriculum they need a roadmap if you were to leave anyone and say go and become a scholar go and become a scholar والله you'll see the person will not سبحان الله إلا من رحم الله except that when Allah has mercy on that person will not even be able to reach outside of their home for the confusion they will be in you'll see them going backwards and forwards and inside and outside you know like حيران they have no understand like lost because if you don't have a roadmap of how to achieve something then how do you ever hope to achieve it and that's why some of the some of the scholars of the past they said that it's not a lack of intelligence that is the reason and paraphrasing it's not a lack of intelligence that's the reason why most people don't achieve knowledge or don't get the knowledge they want they don't become what they want to become it's not a lack of intelligence but it is not knowing the way to learn and I also can relate to this when I when I first started studying and when I went to Islamic University of Medina I remember Allah like I remember and the university was so helpful providing all those resources but still even though the university was there providing those resources I still felt lost I still felt like huge amounts of my efforts were being wasted like the person who is running and like on a treadmill you know you're running and running and running but you're not moving anywhere you never went anywhere like I had that feeling many times and then I came across some of the books in which the scholar spoke about seeking knowledge and how to seek knowledge and Subhan Allah I realized from those books and I appreciated that the problem was actually that I didn't have a roadmap not a real roadmap I mean no doubt the university provided amazing resources in terms of study materials teachers but I didn't have a roadmap for where I wanted to go and the purpose of that roadmap is not that I've reached the end of it Subhan Allah I haven't even reached the beginning you know the the very first stage of it but ultimately if you have a roadmap you can see what's ahead of you you can see what I need to do what do I extra do I need to learn which books am I going to study otherwise wallah you can go into a library put your child in a library and just say become a scholar how do they know out of the thousands of books maybe hundreds of thousands of books in that library which one is going to make them a scholar which one is going to make them a serious student of knowledge which one is going to progress them and which one is going to set them back which one of them is going to be a waste of time and which one of them is going to be a benefit how would they know that if they don't have a roadmap on where to go you can't memorize everything right your hifth has a limit even the one who is you know احفظ منظيره they have better memorization than others you can't memorize everything so that means that you need to now have a roadmap of what to memorize and what to understand so ultimately all the things we mentioned in the last few episodes regarding your children it all comes down to this giving them a roadmap for seeking knowledge and like we said at the end of the day whether where you reach on that road that's in the hands of Allah you work hard put your trust in Allah turn to Allah ask Allah at the end of the day we can't promise anyone where anyone person will reach on that road but at least if you have a roadmap the thing that will it won't be the fact that you got lost was the reason why you didn't win the race or why you didn't achieve what you wanted to achieve which is the case for so many people and subhan Allah they have the strength to get to their destination they have the intellect to get to their destination they have the abilities to get to their destination but because they didn't know the right way to go the example is like two people in a race one person was fast and strong the other one wasn't quite so fast or quite so strong but the one who was fast and strong didn't know the way to go so they ran all the way a long way around and they ended up not getting to where they wanted to go and perhaps they wouldn't even get beyond the start line because they didn't have a roadmap so this being a short episode not being a long episode and this is not a course subhan Allah this course has has grown to become more than I thought it would be وَلِلَّا الْحَمْتَ but because this is not the course to talk about the details of this and the individual points on this and this is something that we would in شاء الله تعالى direct people towards the other content that we have with regard to المدرسة العمارية but what can we give the parents as an overview of this roadmap how can we in a few minutes give the parents an overview of this roadmap so اززبيدي رحم الله تعالى in his الفيا he has a couple of lines of poetry in which he basically gives you the roadmap immaculately very beautifully in just a couple of lines so to be honest if you memorize them it will be good for you because we said about حفظ and and فهم memorization and understanding he said فما حاول غاية في الف سنة شخص فخذ من كل فن أحسنة بحفظ متن جامع للراجح تأخذه على مفيد ناصح he said فما حاول غاية في الف سنة شخص he said that a person will not be able to reach the end the غاية of knowledge in a thousand years if I said to you to read every book that the scholars of Islam have written and memorize every statement that the scholars of Islam have made and memorize all of the حديث that have come to us and the explanation of those حديث and the تفاسير that have come to us and the explanation of them in a thousand years you would not reach a destination you wouldn't be able to achieve it in a thousand years let alone between 60 and 70 years which is the average age of the Ummah of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and if you say that a person starts at you know 10 years old or 7 years old or 5 years old سبحان الله maybe a person only has 60 years of learning and in a thousand years they couldn't reach it so what should you do فأخذ من كل الفن أحسنة so from every single branch of knowledge take the best of it so first of all what we want to take here is that زبيد رحم الله تعالى he divides knowledge into فنون he divides Islamic knowledge into branches and that is how Islamic knowledge is Islamic knowledge is not one big topic Islam it's lots of little branches and that's the first thing you need to do to become a Talib علم is to appreciate that Islamic knowledge is not one topic in a very basic level we do things like Islamic studies and we teach our children Islamic studies which kind of gives you the impression that all of Islam is one topic but that's not actually what it is it is actually many different فنون many different sciences so let's look at just some of the sciences the Quran is a science and even the Quran can be broken down into sub sciences as it relates to علوم القرآن like المتفسير the knowledge of تفسير what is commonly today called علوم القرآن the knowledge about the Quran you know in terms of how it was preserved written the different styles of recitation and so on if we look at just for example I'm just picking I'm not going comprehensively if we look at for example حديث then you have a حديث relating to فضائل relating to virtues the virtues of doing good deeds you have a حديث relating to أحكام you have the جوامع the big books of حديث the كتب الستة for example and then you have also a حديث that or you have the science of حديث and the supporting sciences that relate to مصطلح الحديث things like the science of what makes a حديث صحي and what makes a حديث طعيف and what makes a حديث حسن and so on all of these are can be divided into some kind of sub sciences likewise even the Arabic language can be subdivided we talk about النحر الصرف البلاغة and so on all the different sciences of Arabic and there are other ways the purpose here is not to to list all of the different sciences فق also can be divided up you have فق in terms of the the مدهب studying a مدهب with a curriculum in order and then you have the سول the principles the قواعد فقهية the principles of فق you have the fundamental science of فق that kind of underpins the science of فق you have alongside that مقاسد الشريعة you have the purposes behind Islamic legislation so the point is that Islam is not one topic it's not just one thing Islam it can be broken down and different scholars break it down in slightly different ways but ultimately generally speaking it's broken down into a series of of subjects of فنون in each one of those فنون each one of those subjects each one of those sciences we want our children to take the best of it to take فخود من كل فنن أحسن take from every science the best of it and what we mean by the best of it and hear the poet continues by explaining that but what we mean by the best of it is that you're going to have to be selective I can't read every single thing that has been written on تفصير تفصير is just one science from the many sciences that make up Islam I can't read everything so I'm going to have to be selective to choose the best things that I need to read might not just be one thing might not just be one thing but at least I have my focus and my energy is on certain core materials and I think that there's a couple of things I would like to highlight here that parents might do or might fall into mistakes in number one is only giving attention to one فن and not the others one science and not the others so what we see is for example only giving attention to for example the Quran in terms of هفت but not giving attention to تفصير not giving attention to the other aspects of ألوم القرآن not giving attention to حديث not giving attention to فق or only giving attention to فق and not giving attention to حديث and so on you have to have all of the sciences at a basic level and that doesn't mean that you have to be an expert in all of them at least not in the beginning but in the beginning you have to have a general understanding of all of them not that you just have an understanding of one or two if you want to go further down the road if you don't just want to stand at the minimum amount of knowledge if you don't just want your children to get just the bare minimum then your child needs to go beyond that they need to have a basic understanding of all of these different فنون all of these different sciences and ultimately the material in every science in itself would take a thousand years to finish so how can you do it you need the best of the material you need the books that gather the most benefits and the most important points and the ones that you would say these are your core and that's why one of the benefits that we saw from some of the students of knowledge is that what they do is that these core books that they have the core books they have the most important books they have all the benefits they find in the other books they read they bring them and they put them onto they write them and they transcribe them onto that those core books that they have for example it might be in it might be something related to a particular explanation it might be an explanation of a particular book it might be the explanation of كتابة توحيد all of the benefits that person reads about about the worship of Allah and the توحيد of Allah in his worship they go back to that explanation of كتابة توحيد and they write it on the margins there so they bring their knowledge to a core subset of material and that is essential if you want your child to be really really proficient in knowledge and ultimately I feel that again my own personal experience and I'm happy to share that with you in terms of if you see where you know your brothers fell short then you know إن شاء الله تعالى you guys won't fall into that same mistake is that so much of time is wasted in material that isn't from the core material and ultimately what you realise is that for all those dreams of reading you know thousands of books but ultimately if you don't have that core material locked down and you don't really understand that core material in a very detailed way and you're not proficient in it all that extra reading it doesn't actually benefit you in the way that you would hope it would whereas the extra reading benefits the one who has that core material because everything is in reference to that core material so you have to select certain books certain texts certain things to memorise certain explanations and put your energy and your emphasis and your effort into them and then branch out into the complicated things and the difficult areas and the complicated massage and the research but until you've got that core locked down and you really understand the core of that knowledge all of that extra stuff it's not going to benefit until you have that core that core means in every single science of Islam you have the best of it the most important of it the best of it فاخذ من كل فنن أحسنة بحفظ المتن جامع للراجح you memorise a text and that text is جامع للراجح so memorising a text here the poet he is indicating that to achieve this you can't just read just reading is not enough I read this book I read this explanation you have to choose certain things to memorise but you have to be picky فاخذ من كل فنن أحسنة take the best of every science you have to be picky now you can't just memorise everything because most of us don't have the ability to just memorise everything like that instead what we have to do is be selective about what we memorise so سبحان الله again I see that a lot of the times you see the students of knowledge starting off memorising lots and lots of things and maybe even some of their teachers are encouraging them to memorise and memorise and they run out of steam and they end up memorising lots of things in one fen in one science but maybe not necessarily the best of it so again focusing on having a small text or a medium-sized text in every science that you memorised it and you understand it and if you want to go to the maximum level in that and you memorise something like an الفية in every science then this would be really for someone someone would really have gathered a great deal of knowledge through that through memorising for example a thousand lines in every science that would be among the the upper sort of towards the upper limits that a person memorises like a thousand lines in every science for example and of course there will be people who do more than that don't get me wrong that you have at least one small and maybe one medium-sized text memorised in every science this will give you the foundation to be able to succeed but this text that you choose there are so many options which one do we choose it has to be جامع للراجح it has to gather together has to be جامع للراجح and الراجح means the correct it can mean the correct opinion or the preferred opinion now what we take from this one of the benefits we take from this بحفظ المتن in جامع للراجح is that we should stick to the books and the texts that are well accepted that are comprehensive and they have wide acceptance it shouldn't be the case that we encourage our children to memorise things that are rare and not heard of rather we should memorise that those texts that have wide acceptance so for example there are many many books on the أحديث of أحكاء many books but you rarely can find a book that has the acceptance of بلوخ المرام for example that it's just so widely accepted around the world so many explanations so many people teaching it so many people memorising it so many explanations of it so this would be a good candidate of what we would call a metin which is جامع للراجح a text which gathers together conditions of acceptance in other words it's widely accepted and sometimes سبحان الله we even encourage the memorisation of a text where there might be a better text but because the first one that we're recommending to people this text is considered to be the standard the de facto standard that everybody goes upon there might be better books we'll give an example in أصول الفق الورقات الورقات which is a fundamental basic level text in أصول الفق there are better texts in أصول الفق than الورقات there are better texts and I'm talking about even at a basic level there are better things that have been written in a better way but none of them have the acceptance of الورقات that wide acceptance that they've been accepted and taught and explained by so many people all over the world there are better texts that have wide acceptance that the children can really tie themselves to that text and even though that text might not be perfect in the sense that it has some faults and issues and maybe it doesn't cover everything but it's got the acceptance to find all the explanations and teachers and so on but this text that the child takes who should they take it from تأخذوه على مفيد ناسي take it from the one who is going to benefit you and the one who is now a sincere advisor to you and this brings us to the last part that when it comes to this core material it's vital that your children take this core material from a qualified teacher a teacher who is sincere wanting benefit for them and a teacher who is مفيد who is qualified to benefit them and Alhamdulillah again come back to the role of المدرسة العمارية and the hope that المدرسة العمارية can fill that stepping stone and have a place on that road for those students إن شاء الله تعالى to be able to bring this knowledge to them in the English language to summarize it for them and present it to them for people who English is their first language and to build them up to the level that they can go and benefit from the scholars having that fundamental base there for themselves and then go in and benefit from those scholars and gaining that knowledge from its people and again here we're not saying that you don't study advanced things from the scholars of course we study all of our things we take from our مشا이خ from our scholars but ultimately the core material this is where you really need it you need to have taken that core material from your teacher and then from then on you go on and you continue to go back to your teacher and learn and you also do your own research and reading and so on but that core material it comes from a qualified teacher that's what's really really important so this really just summarized for you the if you like the overview as a parent of what your child needs to do an overview and I would strongly strongly encourage you once again that if you haven't signed up and registered to المدرسة العمارية please do so because إن شاء الله تعالى the project is there's a lot of things coming up in the future إن شاء الله تعالى there are so many things coming up in the future to help and facilitate this for you but إن شاء الله I hope I've given you an understanding an idea a roadmap of how your child is going to go about it you're going to break Islam down into sciences and as a parent you might say well I don't know تفسير I don't know حديث I don't know مصطلح I don't know أسول الفق no problem but you've got that written down now okay where's my child learning تفسير where's my child learning حديث where's my child learning مصطلح الحديث what's my roadmap so in reality it's not one roadmap it's like a roadmap in every individual science until they have the core material when they think the essentials of the Arabic language then you take that child and you can put them with the scholars and the people of knowledge and that child will flourish and grow إن شاء الله now this brings me just to my very last point which I think is very important and I know we kind of run out of time in terms of the episode but I believe this is really important and that is the role of the Arabic language ultimately if our children were to speak Arabic fluently from a very young age we would not need or we would not have as much difficulty of this trying to find a means to get this knowledge to them because the Arabic language is ultimately what opens up for you the opportunity to seek knowledge and I don't mean just a basic understanding just being able to speak it like in the street or being able to go to the supermarket but really detailed in depth knowledge of classical Arabic this is one half of the road to being a scholar so ultimately as a parent also we have to have a program for our children to learn Arabic we have to have a way for our children to learn Arabic and there are many again many different options there are classes, there are different books but once again we would advise just stay in touch with Al-Madrassa we've got a lot of things prepared in that regard إن شاء الله تعالى and that's something personally I've been I'm really passionate about that I really believe that one of the greatest gifts we can give to our children is to give them the gift of Arabic language and if we give them the gift of Arabic language and those basic fundamental knowledge in each science then إن شاء الله تعالى there's no limit to what our children can achieve إن شاء الله تعالى that's what Allah made easy for me to mention and Allah knows best والصلاة والسلام على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعي السلام عليكم if you're enjoying these videos and you'd like to keep up to date with all of the courses we're going to be running make sure you head over to amauathome.com


Hi there, my name is Jean-Clape en I'm a surgeon at the Acute Care Surgery Unit in the famous Khrotskyr Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. This is going to be an exciting course and the conditions that we see most commonly in the unit. In the very next video we're going to do a few house keeping rules, but I really hope that you enjoy the series.


We are now producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year, half which is for single use only. In light of this, Dublin City University has announced the first phase of a new sustainability drive that will see DCU become plastic-free by 2020. So the Students' Union running a sustainability or an awareness-raising week for sustainability, DCU goes green with just hugely important to raise that emphasis in the student body as to what should be going on and what they are doing because there's an awful lot of them making serious contributions to sustainability efforts. And so it's just raising that within the entire population of the student body and encouraging them to go right, this is the right thing to be doing and we can all move together down the right road. Recently DCU students voted 94% in favour for a ban of single use plastic, which kickstarted the initiative. Due to the overwhelming support, DCU have decided to go green. We spoke to Chloe from the Sustainable Living Society and heard about the plans for sustainability week here on campus. We did the DCU Go Green Week, so it's in collaboration with the SU, it's with the actual university as well, and it's basically just to raise more awareness on sustainable issues and then to provide solutions for it. So the main ethos of our whole society is to put a more positive message out there and instead of just saying, you know, this is bad or whatever, we want to provide students with the solutions. DCU has identified a range of single use disposable plastic items to be eliminated due to their impact on the environment. Implementation began this week as part of DCU's Green Campus Week with plastic cups and glasses being withdrawn from all campuses with immediate effect. Rachel Hayden, DCU TV News.


Alpha-fold 2 has originally been developed to provide highly accurate predictions of protein monomer structures. Here, the authors present a simple adaptation of Alpha-fold 2 that enables structural modeling of peptid protein complexes, and explore the underlying mechanisms and limitations of this approach. This article was authored by Tomat Saban, Julia K. Varga, Oliovrom, and others.


Aloha, and welcome to the Hawaii Smooth Jazz Connection, and I am your host, Gwen Harris. My guest today, John Kalevis, is one of Hawaii's premier bassists, who is also known as an educator and composer. John graduated from Punahou School, where he played in the school orchestra, jazz band, and Hawaiian ensemble. My guest became a professional musician in 1979, the year he graduated from high school. In relocating to New York City, John performed in musical theater. Musical theater shows on tour and on Broadway. He also studied bass with Homer Mench at the Juilliard School of Music. In 1997, he successfully auditioned with the Hawaii Symphony, in which he has performed to present. In 2001, John formed the critically acclaimed Honolulu Jazz Quartet, which he recorded three albums and currently performs on Hawaii. In his jazz career, John has also had the privilege of performing with jazz giants, including Herb Ellis, Defile Marcellus, George Benson, Nestor Torres, Eric Maranthal, Don Cruisin, Conran Hurray, Larry Correll, and many others. Please, let's welcome our guest, Mr. John Kalevis. Welcome, John. Thank you, Gwen. Thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it. You know, I've seen you around town. Like I spoke earlier, I met you last year at the Nahuca Awards. Right. We were sitting at the same table with Kiyahi, so that was my first meeting you. Yeah. And then, of course, you know how Facebook is now. I do the friend request, so I became friends on Facebook, but I'm just so thankful that you are here today. You come from a musical family.  How was it growing up in a musical family? Well, my mother was constantly playing music, playing her piano. She was teaching. People would come over to the house for lessons, although she did teach at Punahou and other places. And so that was my influence as far as hearing music a lot. She and my father actually divorced when I was quite young, so I didn't really know him that well. But I always heard my mother practicing, and then I kind of had an ear for music, so I would go to the piano and start playing some of the things that she was doing by ear, and that was a lot of fun. Now, what age did you start playing music? Say that again. What age did you start playing music? Who knows? It was very young. Very young? Yeah, because we always had music in the house with the piano. And then my mother, I don't know, maybe I was seven, six or seven years old, she bought me different instruments because she knew I loved music, so she started with the harmonica. Oh, wow. I'll play around with that. And she got me some conga drums, some bongos, guitar, and it was later that I got into the bass. Nice. Now, you graduated from Punahou in 1979, and you became a professional musician shortly after graduating. So what was your first gig or your first job, as they say? Yeah, well, while I was in high school, I used to play jazz with the Choy brothers, David and Junior Choy. That was in high school, and we would do a lot of weddings really for fun. But my first professional gig was in 79, I believe, was at the Diamond Head Theater. Back then, it was called the Honolulu Community Theater, and that was a show called Pippin, and the conductor was Donald Yap, who was a friend of my mother's. In fact, she got me to audition for Donald. So that was my first professional show that I played at the theater. It was a lot of fun, and I've been close friends with Donald even up to now. Really? Nice. Now, at 21, you moved to New York City, so that must have been an eye-opener moving from Hawaii to New York City. But you moved to New York City, where you played on and off Broadway, playing the Pirates of Penzance, Tap Dance Kid, and Big River. You worked with many great artists and actors, such as Miles Davis, Gregory Hines, Maurice Hines. So tell us about working on Broadway, and then tell us also about Mr. Working with the Great, or meeting the Great Miles Davis. Yeah. Well, the story is kind of interesting, because I moved to New York City in the fall of 1982, and I had actually played the show Annie, the show Annie, before I moved to New York. And the conductor, his name was Milton Green. He was an old timer from Broadway, and he was on tour with the show, and when they came to Hawaii, they used me to play on the bass. And so he told me, I told him I was going to move to New York, so he said, oh, I know all the Broadway show contractors, just tell them that you know me and that I recommend you. I said, oh, wow, thank you. That would be great. So that's what I did. So the first week I was in New York, I joined the local 802 in New York City, and they gave me the list of the contractors. I called each of them, and I said that I know Milton Green, and then one of them called me back. It was Earl Schindel, was his name.  I said, yeah, we did a show together. He said, yeah, we go way back, because Milton had conducted my Fither on the Roof, the original, the original Fither on the Roof. So Earl Schindel said, and then he said, he said, well, can you play? So I'm like, what do I say to that? I said, yeah, I can play. This is on the phone. I can play. No, can you play? What am I supposed to say? I'm from Hawaii, but you know, he's just got to do it. So I said, yes, I can play. He said, OK, well, yeah, I have a show going on, Parts of Penzance on tour. And he said, but you're new in town, so you have to audition for the for the show with the conductor. So I said, OK. So I did, he gave me the music. He said, do you play guitar? I said, no. He said, will you learn to play guitar? I said, why? He said, because there's one song you have to play guitar. I said, OK. So he took me to Manny's music on 48th Street. We bought a guitar. He gave me I got one lesson from this guy named Mike Gary and find guitars, told me how to play the song. And then we went on tour and I was playing upright bass, electric and guitar on the show. Wow, so you played all those instruments in the show. Yeah, it was fun. Now, we talked earlier about Miles Davis and you told me that Miles Davis made the comment, bass sounds great. What was that? What was that? What was that circumstance? How did that come about? Yeah, I never actually got to play with him, but I was doing the workshop for the show Tap Dance Kid. And the workshop is supposed to get investors, you know, to invest in the show. And that was a great show. I had Alfonso Ribeiro, Hinton Battle. But anyway, we did a workshop and Miles was there with Cicely Tyson and the drummer was the famous Grady Tate, great drummer. And so, you know, we're playing and I look out in the audience and I said, man, that guy looks a lot like Miles Davis. So during the break, Miles actually came up to Grady, Grady Tate. And I was standing there, standing next to Grady and Grady Tate says, hey, Miles, you looking good, man. And Miles said, I feel good. And then he introduced me. He said, oh, this is John Calibis, our bassist. And I got to shake his hand and he said, bass sounds good. And it sounds just like him. That was 1983. I could have retired then. You were on Cloud Nine with that, weren't you? Yeah, I was. It was such a privilege to meet him. So you're in Broadway. I should say you're in New York and you're there for how many years? I lived there for eight years.  Yeah. Now you're back in Hawaii and I see I see you around town. You've played with the symphony and you play with the symphony, I should say. But this Honolulu jazz quartet, you're the founder of that. What made you want to start this group up, the Honolulu jazz quartet? Well, my mother was a force of nature. She passed away in 2008. But back then she, you know, there wasn't a whole lot of gigs going on in town at that time. There wasn't a whole lot of things happening.  Yeah, maybe, I don't know. She said, no, no, form your own group. So I happened to so I started to think about it. Yeah. And so I met Dan Del Nego, our pianist. He was in town with Miss Saigon, the show. And I actually got called to do do something because their bass player decided to take off. And so I did I did an event with those musicians. So I met Dan. And then so I like Dan's playing. So I got him actually on a couple other gigs while he was in town. And then I also met drummer Richie Pratt, who has spent a lot of time in New York. He was an offensive lineman with the Giants. Oh, wow. And a great jazz drummer. I actually saw him play with Gregory Hines on Broadway when I first moved to New York. Anyway, so I met Richie. And then I said, yeah, let's get a quartet together. And then I'm trying to think, well, who would be the horn player? Well, I thought different guys. And I said, well, you know, I've known Tim Tsukiyama because we played together in high school for the state select jazz orchestra with Gabe Baltazar was a leader of it. So I met Tim and I said, yeah, I like Tim's playing. So we formed the quartet. And we got the name because Richie Pratt used to play for the New York jazz quartet. So I said, hey, how about the Honolulu jazz quartet? That's a good name. That's how we got the name. Nice. Now, how many CDs do you have? Do you have out? Well, we only have three. Yeah, Sounds of the City was our first one, Tenacity. And then we did a third one, which was a live CD that we did in Seattle. Oh. So everyone, this is Tenacity. Which number is this one? That's the second one. This is the second one. OK. So this is the second CD by the Honolulu jazz quartet. He so graciously brought me one, because I'm definitely going to put it in my car when I leave here. You teach a workshop during the summer. I read your bio. I read it very carefully, because I wanted to get to know you. And this question is going to lead into a few other questions that I get into. But you teach a workshop during the summer at Punahou School that attracts students from around the world. Tell us about this workshop. Yeah, it was actually a few years ago that I did the workshop. And there were students that came from, I think it was Japan and some other places. And we had a nice, I wanted to teach a jazz ensemble group, teach them a little bit about improvisation. And that's what I love. I love jazz. And so we were able to do that with the group. And some great things came out of it. Actually, Grant Parvalio, who's a fine pianist. Yes, yes. I see him at jazz mines. And I see him around as well. He was in the class. And Ryan, who teaches at Moanalua Middle School, Ryan Howe. So it was for some fruit. It was nice. But yeah, teaching is a good thing. Well, we have to go on a quick break. And when we come back, Mr. Calabas is going to play for us. So don't go anywhere. We will be right back. Hey, loha. My name is Andrew Lening. I'm the host of Security Matters Hawaii, airing every Wednesday here on Think Tech Hawaii, live from the studios. I'll bring you guests. I'll bring you information about the things in security that matter to keeping you safe, your co-workers safe, your family safe, to keep our community safe. We want to teach you about those things in our industry that may be a little outside of your experience. So please join me, because Security Matters. Aloha. Hi, Mabuhay. My name is Amy Ortega Anderson, inviting you to join us every Tuesday here on Pinoy Power Hawaii. With Think Tech Hawaii, we come to your home at 12 noon every Tuesday. We invite you to listen, watch for our mission of empowerment. We aim to enrich, enlighten, educate, entertain, and we hope to empower. Again, maraming, salamat po, Mabuhay, and aloha. And welcome back to the Hawaii Smooth Jazz Connection. We are here today with Mr. John Calivas. And we talked in the first half of the show, but the beginning of the second half of the show, we have a treat. He is going to be playing for us. So John, I give it to you. A club, I was just bouncing away like I'm in a club. That was awesome, John. Thank you, thank you. As soon as we get you back hooked up here, I want to find out where we'll be playing. Where is the quartet going to be playing? Where can we see you around town? Well, we have this coming Saturday, which is May 10. We're going to be at a nice jazz club called Medici's. OK. And that's in Manoa. Yeah, the Manoa Marketplace. And we're going to debut some new arrangements. Oh, nice. We're really looking forward to it. It's a totally new thing for us. We all wrote some great arrangements. And then so far, it looks like we're booked at the Blue Note on June 21. So we look forward to the Blue Note on the program. And then we also have one coming up at the Manoa Valley Theater. See, they're celebrating their 50th anniversary of the theater. Oh, are they? Yeah. And so they asked several different people over the months to play. And they asked my group as well. And so I need to just check the date real quick. Awesome. Yeah, but that's going to be in August. So you're going to be at Medici's, the theater, the Manoa Theater, and Blue Note. Yeah, August 6 is the Manoa Valley Theater. August 6 at Manoa Valley Theater. OK, then you're going to be at Blue Note and Medici's. OK, so my viewers, we have to check out Mr. Calivis at these places. We're going to get back to the interview because I have a few more questions for you. But before I ask you these questions right here, because I tend to veer off a little bit, but I have to ask you this. You went to Punahou. Now, you should already know the question I was asking. You went to Punahou because I'm pretty sure everybody wants to know. You graduated in 1979 from Punahou. Did you know our former president, President Barack Obama? Barry? You mean Barry Obama? Barry? Oh, is that what you called him, Barry? Yeah, he was Barry to us. Yeah, well, actually I knew him from about the fifth grade when he first came. And so, yeah, we're kind of buddies back in those days. And yeah. Well, next time he comes, you need to look him up. Well, we'll see. He's got his regular guys he hangs out with. You have to be a part of those regular guys. We've got to give him the blue note. How about that? OK. Get you playing that blue note. We'll get him a blue note. Now, let me ask you. I have a few more questions to ask you here. And this one I ask all of my guests just because I grew up playing music in the schools. And right now, they're gradually slowly taking the arts out of the schools. So you teach and affiliate it with a number of schools here on Island, Punahoe, Moanalua Middle, and High School, and Iolani School. With some schools slowly taking music and the arts out of the schools, how can we keep music alive and in our schools today for our children? What do you think can be done? That's a good question. It's so important to have music. And I know some schools that don't have a music program, per se, but they do try to do certain things in the school, like ukulele, for instance, and teaching some different instruments. But I don't know. I don't know what the answer is to that, but I think it's very, very important for music to be in the schools, education at all levels. Elementary, middle, and high school. It's just such an important thing. And occasionally, we get to play, demonstrate. I know we did that at Kamehameha a couple of years ago where my quartet actually played with some of the students there. And they have different ones that do go to the schools. But they really should have, like Moanalua Public School, that has a really fine orchestra program in the middle school as well as a high school. So that's a great model for the public schools. And it's just such an important cultural thing. And it's just so important. That's one thing that I'm working to do, trying to figure it out, is how we can get it back in the schools. Because I know growing up, if I didn't have music, I did other things, sports and everything else. But music was my love. Was my love. Is there anyone that you would like to collaborate with? Are there any artists that you would like to collaborate with? You mean here or worldwide? I want to know here. OK, I'll tell you what.  You tell me. You tell me. Oh, boy. It's really, there's so many. Because in all genres of music, there's ways to collaborate. And here, I play sometimes with Teresa Bright, actually, weekly. And she's been talking to me about doing something with our quartet. That would be fun. We actually recorded a tune that Keola Bhima wrote, called Real Old Style. And to collaborate with him would be great. Do something there. There's this, it's just endless. I mean, looking at the great musicians, Chick Korea. Chick Korea. And he was here. He was here about a couple of months ago, like last year, a couple of months ago. But he was here. Did you meet him? I didn't actually meet him, but I did come to the show. Because I know the bassist Eddie Gomez is one of my heroes. OK. But I did get to talk to Eddie. Let me, can he play with us one time, Eddie? See, you never know. You never know. Are there any new projects for the Honolulu Jazz Quartet? You know, right now, we've kind of going through, I don't want to say revival, but it's like, I got new life in myself. Because after when my mother passed away back in 2008, she was the one that inspired me to have the group. And I just didn't really write anything after she passed away. I just kind of, you know. But I got, I visited my brother, Nick, in San Francisco just about six months ago with my son, Kainalu. And I got to hear, well, when I was there, I was looking at what's in town. Because San Francisco has some great jazz. And my friend, Robin Eubanks, who's an incredible trombone player, we played on Broadway together. He plays with the SF Jazz Collective, the Francisco Jazz Collective. And they were playing.   But of course, he grew up hearing jazz. But we went to the show and both of us were just blown away. And what was so interesting about the group is like a 10-piece group, I believe. But their arrangements are so interesting, so different from what I've heard. They'll just do a song and they'll just make it so interesting with the tempos and the keys. And they keep changing keys. And they keep doing it. And I really was inspired by that. And at that time, they did their own music. And they were also featuring the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim. But totally different, it's not like what you hear. But you hear the melody. So that just inspired me finally after over 10 years of not doing anything new stuff. It really inspired me to talk to my group. And so I talked to Dan, Tim, and Noel. And I said, what do you think of this? I had them listen, watch YouTube of SF Jazz Collective. And they said, yeah, this is cool. So I said, yeah, why don't we all do some arrangements? And so we used Gershwin as a feature. But we did some arrangements of our own things, too, and standards. And that's what we're going to feature at Medici's next week Saturday. Oh, OK. I will be there. Great. I will be there looking forward to hearing the group. And I'm glad you took that trip to enlighten you, to wake you up, to get back into doing something. Yeah, it was so inspiring. I haven't been inspired like that in a long time. Nice. And I said, yeah. And Bobby Hutcherson, the great vibe player who passed away not long ago, he said, you don't have to play standards the way they've always been played. He said, you've known them for many years, and you've changed. So why can't you play it a different way? How you feel. Yeah, because I've pretty much been a traditionalist. And yeah, I like to play, so what, how it's always been played, you know, but it doesn't have to be played. You can make new arrangements. You can make your new arrangement and make it your own. That's right. Make it your own. Yeah. Well, John, I thank you so much for joining us here at the Hawaii Smooth Jazz Connection. It's been my pleasure, because this is my first time actually sitting down talking to you. So this was a treat for me. And to learn about the Honolulu Jazz Quartet, that's another treat. So again, thank you so much for joining us. Everyone, Medici's, Manoa Theater, and Blue Note Hawaii, check out John Calivas and the Honolulu Jazz Quartet. Thank you. Thank you, Gwen. It's been a privilege. Thank you for asking me to be here. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you, everyone, for joining us here on the show. We will be back next week when we will have Mr. Deschan and Higa next week. And you might have a surprise guest. Until next week, Aloha and God bless.


2 Samuel chapter 7 We'll begin here by looking at verses 1 through 3 2 Samuel chapter 7 beginning at verse 1 Now it came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around That the king said to Nathan the prophet see now I dwell in a house of cedar But the Ark of God dwells inside tent curtains then Nathan said to the king go Do all that is in your heart for the Lord is with you David is a great man the Lord speaking of David in 1st Samuel 13 verse 14 spoke of him that he was a man after God's own heart and we see that in the life of David But I don't think we see anything that clearly indicates the depth of his greatness as Clearly as what we see in chapters 6 and 7 and 7 of 2nd Samuel in chapter 6 We have David taking the Ark of the Covenant and bringing it to the city of Jerusalem which Demonstrates to us his great love for God and his desire to worship him and we watch him as he worships before the Lord with all Of his strength in chapter 7 we see him as he's reposing in his luxurious Palace in his castle that he has if you will in this this custom home a home that he refers to as being a House of cedar when he says he's living in a house of cedar. That's another way of saying I live in a custom home I live in a luxurious home. I'm in a situation where I'm at ease and content God has given me rest from all of my enemies and and and this man who is living in this beautiful paneled home in this Custom home begins to think it's just not right It's not right that I should live in a custom home Well the Ark of God is behind tent curtains and so what we have an opportunity is seeing the heart of David And and something of his greatness you see he's succeeded in uniting the kingdom And he's now there in this state of contentment for him life is good. He has wives He has children he has the love of his people and he's got fellowship with God According to chapter 5 here in 2nd Samuel verse 10 David went on and became great The Lord of hosts was with him and so David is living a life that is at ease and at peace and it's blessed by God He had taken Jerusalem from the Jebusites He had a home built for him by Hyrum who is the king of Tyre and of as I mentioned It would have been beautiful and luxurious. It was proper for a king but in his heart and David knows that his blessings have come from God and So as he's there and just resting in contentment He's aware that God is the one who blesses like it says in Psalm 68 verse 19 Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits the God of our salvation And that's how David saw his relationship with God that God daily blesses him loads him down With blessings because God is indeed his God the God of salvation He knew what James later would say to us in chapter 1 verse 17 How every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above from the father of lights with whom there is no Variableness neither shadow nor turning he knew that God is the one who gives us the blessings and David just extolled God for that He was grateful to God and so he's been living in this lap of luxury and he's now content David for some time had had lived the life of a fugitive. He had been hunted by King Saul But it's all done now. He's at rest and he's in a state of ease He's he's saddled and he's in comfort and he's in peace He's safe from his enemies and as he's there he begins to think about it And so it says in verse 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet see now I dwell in a house of cedar the Ark of God dwells inside tent curtains And so he begins to think about the blessings of God and He's beginning to think how that he had built a tabernacle there a place for the Ark of the Covenant But the fact is the Ark is there in a tent and I'm living in a custom home And so he begins to speak to somebody who we're being introduced to here now in verse 2 a man by the name of Nathan the prophet He's just brought into the scene. This is his confidant. This was his friend This was a spiritual advisor and this is somebody you'll see in the life of David often after this But he's described to us simply as being Nathan the prophet and as he's speaking to him He's simply saying this he's saying I'm living in a permanent dwelling place the Ark sent a tent and this is not just not Right something has to be done about this and something should be done immediately Now this concern is the key to the greatness of David the king of Israel David cared about the things of God his devotion to God his love for God his Relationship with God was of such force and such nature. It was such a deep passion That even as he's resting there. He begins to think why is it that I'm in this beautiful home that took some time to build And all this time the Ark of the Covenant the Ark of God has been there with the tent in a tent. It's just not right That again is the key to his greatness because he wants to do good for the Lord So he speaks to Nathan And he says to him what's on his heart Well, notice Nathan's response in verse 3 Nathan says to the king go Do all that's in your heart for the Lord is with you undoubtedly this is something God would be pleased with David I don't even have to give this a moment's thought you need to do what the Lord seems to have placed on your heart You need to go and you need to build him a temple. The Lord is with you is what Nathan says Well, the fact is The Lord was not intending to use David to build him a temple and the reason is later on Revealed to David if you take notes it's found in first Chronicles in chapter 22 verses 8 through 10 and in that passage David makes it very clear that the Lord had said to him that I am not to build a Temple for him because David says God spoke to me and said because you have been a man of war and you have blood on your hands and So I don't want you a warrior to be building me a temple What I'm going to do is I'm going to use a son that I'm going to give to you and his name is Solomon and Solomon is going to be the one who will build a house for my name David It's good that you desire to do that, but I have no plans for you to do that I actually have plans in the future for a temple, but that plan does not include you constructing it You were a warrior you have bloody hands, and I'm not going to allow you to do that And so what we find here is Nathan saying to him go and do all that is in your heart The Lord is with you But in reality this isn't something that the Lord is moving Nathan to say because notice verse 4 It happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan saying go and tell my servant David Thus says the Lord would you build a house for me to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt even to this day But have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle Wherever I have moved about with all the children of Israel Have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel saying Why have you not built me a house of cedar? What this reveals to us very briefly is that Nathan though He was a prophet didn't always speak for God because God here has to redirect him a moment before as we read in Verse 3 it had said go and do all that's in your heart the Lord is with you But now God redirects him you see in his normal dealings with David He was undoubtedly wise and thoughtful he was highly respected, but not everything he told David was inspired by God And this is one of those examples when he approved David's idea. He was moved by his own feelings He gave his own advice he didn't give advice from the Lord And so now God gives clear direction a distinct message and he says and I want you to take this to David And this is what he says verse 5 he says go and tell my servant David thus says the Lord Would you build a house for me to dwell in he says I've got something for you to do I want you to go and I want you to speak to David and this is what I have to say Now briefly I want to point something out to you I want you to notice here in verse 5 now David is referred to I want you to see this with me because I'm going to give you a real brief Insight into something here notice how he says Tell my servant David thus says the Lord would you build a house for me to dwell in notice how God refers to David God does not say go and speak to the leader He doesn't say that he doesn't say go and speak to the one who might have set up as king He doesn't say go tell King David notice what he calls him. He calls him my servant Now you might want to note that because in scripture very often when God is intending to Put a person in a place of what would be called greatness. This is how he refers to them He speaks to those whom he's using in great ways in this way It's like when he said my servant Abraham or he speaks of my servant Moses my servant Job my servant Isaiah My servant Jacob God when he's speaking concerning greatness in his kingdom as a tendency of saying if you're going to be great You're going to be a servant When Jesus was speaking about it one time is found in Mark chapter 9 verse 35 When Jesus was speaking to his 12 when we speak into the apostles He said to them if anyone desires to be first he shall be last of all and servant of all Another occasion in Matthew chapter 20 verse 28. He said the Son of man didn't come to be served But to serve and to give his life a ransom For many we have it backwards We have it backwards Sometimes we think that that person of high position that person of high prestige within the body of Christ the pastor even We sometimes look at them as being special or different or unique in reality They're supposed to be the servant. I'm supposed to be the servant of this fellowship not not the taskmaster not not the king over people but a servant and Unfortunately today, I think that we've gotten that backwards and a lot of times people treat the chief servant as if he is More like dignity and and all in the Lord says no, that's not what you're to do I want you to go and speak and I want you to speak to my servant and I want you to tell him something And here's what I want you to say ask him. Would you build a house for me to dwell in? Now he reminds him in the history of Israel. I've never asked for one. I've never dwelt in a house from the time That I began working with you up to this day. I've never asked. I've never required a permanent dwelling place I've preferred to move around Notice verse 7. I've preferred the tent. I Haven't commanded you to build me a house. Have I ever asked for a house? No, I haven't so verse 8 now Therefore thus shall you say to my servant David? Thus says the Lord of hosts I Took you from the sheepfold from following the sheep to be ruler over my people over Israel and I've been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you and Have made you a great name like the name of the great men who are on the earth Let me rehearse my relationship with you David. I Want you to remember something as I speak to you? I Want you to remember that you at one time were just a young shepherd boy? I want you to remember that I removed you from being a shepherd and I brought you to the place that I could make you king and I made you king over my sheep over in the nation of Israel David like Moses who learned the secret of leadership At the backside of a desert caring for the flock of his father-in-law Jethro How that Moses when he was 40 years of age how it came into his mind that God was going to use him to deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage and How that he went that day and he saw that Egyptian taskmaster Mistreating one of your one of Moses's Hebrew brethren and how the Bible says that Moses looked to the left and looked to the right and Properly slew this this taskmaster and buried his body in the sand One of the things by the way when you read the story of Moses and how he did that you fail to realize something Sometimes just by reading that you fail to realize that the taskmasters of Egypt were vicious men Were greatly feared who would beat them and mistreat them and and and the slaves are of great Fear towards this man because he had so much power and very often was so brutal And when you read that story how it points out that Moses looked to the left and they looked to the right Moses in other words didn't think a thing about him. He wasn't afraid of this guy at all He just looked to see as anybody watching So Moses we know was trained in all of the knowledge of the Egyptians We see that in Acts chapter 7 but a lot of times people don't realize that Moses being being set up in other words being Prepared to possibly become Pharaoh would have gone through all of the schools that Egypt had to offer all the schools Which included military school which included military training Which means that Moses was a martial artist and therefore when he saw this this guy doing what he was doing It didn't even cross his mind that he should be afraid of him He looked at him and looked at the left. He looked to the right.  Wait a minute. There was nobody there except for somebody who's being mistreated and a taskmaster Who do you think it was that was being mistreated who is now turning on Moses? It was the one that he had delivered just the day before and as he sees this take place He says to Moses he says to him. What are you gonna do?  He was out there for 40 years And while he was in the wilderness for 40 years. He was caring for his father's Flock his sheep and as he did so within the first 40 years of his life He thought himself to be something but the next 40 years of his life He discovered that he's nothing and God took that something taught him that he's nothing So that when he was 80 he became God's man to be the deliverer of the children of Israel and even as Moses when he was out that wilderness Discovered that he was to be one who cares for a sheep Ultimately, he didn't realize he'd have two million of them in a wilderness that he was gonna care for God used that in his life to train him in leadership principles in the same way God took David gave him small things to do He was faithful to the Lord and he says I took you from the sheepfold and I made you a shepherd over my people That's what I did and God is saying I used your early training to teach you certain things about caring for others That's why David could write Psalm 23 with this strong passion. The Lord is my shepherd He understood that he understood what it meant to be a shepherd And he understood what it meant that the Lord was his shepherd and and and and we can look at Jesus and John Chapter chapter 10 verse 11 where Jesus said I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep And so David I have raised you up You were a young shepherd, but I have made you a shepherd over my own sheep and notice in verse 9 How he says and I've been with you wherever you've gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you and have Made you a great name like the name of the great man who are on the earth and God continues speaking to him and says now listen I've been with you all the way. Listen when you fought Goliath Who was with you? Who was your shield? Who was your strength? It was me when you were eluding Saul Who is it that kept you protected? It was me when you fought the Philistines I gave you victory even when you took Jerusalem from the Jebusites. I was the one who gave you victory I have been with you every step of the way and the victories I have given you resulted in something it results in fame it results in a great name and People hear about you throughout the land David was aware of this because in Psalm 18 verses 37 through 39 He says I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them neither did I turn back till they were destroyed I have wounded them so that they could not rise they have fallen under my feet For you have armed me with strength for the battle you have subdued under me those who rose up against me I had victory you gave it to me and that's what God is saying God is making it very clear. I have been with you verse 10 moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no More nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore as previously since the time That I commanded judges to be over my people Israel and have caused you to rest from all your enemies also the Lord tells you That he will make you a house. I Will appoint a place for my people Israel You will possess the land that has been given to you They have a history of being exiled. That's true But God's promise to the nation of Israel remains intact in Ezekiel as we're studying Ezekiel in Wednesday nights in chapter 37 It says at verse 25 they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant where your fathers Dwelled they shall dwell there they their children their children's children forever my servant David shall be their Prince Forever Amos 9 verse 15.  I'm going to build you something You wanted to give to me. I've got something better for you When Paul was writing in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 He said God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask her think The God who is blessing David is the same God who wants to bless us and God was saying to him. I'm going to do a work.  He shall be my son if he commits iniquity I will chase in him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men But my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul whom I removed from before you and Your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you your throne shall be established forever According to all these words and according to all this vision So Nathan spoke to David and so God gives him a promise now the promise has what you call a dual application one It applies to David's lineage of kings that will be his offspring from Solomon his son forward so that means verses 14 and 15 would pertain to those that are being referred to that would speak of God Disciplining David's seed when it's necessary Notice how it says in verse 14. I'll be his father. He'll be my son if he commits iniquity I will chase in him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men But my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul whom I removed whom I removed from before you So one application would obviously be the future for David the dynasty that he has he'll have sons that God chastens But there's a second application because when you look at verses 12 and 13 and verse 16. This is what is called messianic prophecies This is speaking concerning a greater son that David's going to have one as we know as Jesus the Messiah Jesus Christ And that's what he's speaking about Because the second application is is David's greater son the Messiah Jesus's human lineage is derived from King David. That's why he's called the son of David When you open open up the gospel of Matthew in chapter 1 and you begin to read the very first verse It says the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David Later in Matthew in chapter 22 verse 42 Jesus asked a question He said what do you think about the Christ the Messiah whose son is he? They said to him the son of David and so this is in reference to Jesus Christ It's a future reference to the Messiah who will be from David's lineage from the tribe of Judah Now notice in verse 16 when it says your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you your throne Shall be established forever When you look at that and cross reference that with Luke chapter 1 in the New Testament verses 31 through 33 You see how this is fulfilled in Jesus because to Mary it was said you will conceive in your womb bring forth the son Shall call his name Jesus. He will be great will be called the son of the highest the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom of his kingdom there will be no end So you have a twofold application one is the lineage that is descending from David from Solomon on Secondly the messianic prophecy related to his greater son Jesus the Messiah who fulfills that literally Now according to verse 17 all these words and according to all his vision Nathan spoke to David so we went and faithfully delivered what the Lord had given to him Now as he does this I want you to see David's response David prays verse 18 Then king David went in and sat before the Lord And he said Who am I?  Oh lord god You have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come Is this the manner of man?  Oh lord god. There's none like you nor is there any god besides you According to all that we have heard with our ears And who is like your people like israel the one nation on the earth whom god went to redeem for himself as a people To make for himself a name And to do for yourself great and awesome deeds for your land Before your people whom you redeemed for yourself from egypt the nations and their gods For you have made your people israel your very own people forever And you lord have become their god Now oh lord god the word which you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house establish it forever And do as you have said Let your name be magnified forever saying the lord of host is the god over israel Let the house of your servant david be established before you For you oh lord of host god of israel have revealed this to your servant Saying i will build you a house Therefore your servant has founded in his heart to pray this prayer to you And now oh lord god you are god your words are true and you have promised this goodness to your servant Now therefore let it please you to bless the house of your servant That it may continue before you forever for you oh lord god have spoken it And with your blessing let the house of your servant be blessed forever What a refreshing prayer and notice how it begins I want to point something out to you very briefly notice verse 18 where david simply begins his prayer by saying Who am i oh lord god Who am i What a great question to ask Who am i We live in an age when that kind of question might not be asked by the typical person Because There's not an awful lot of humility in the heart of the average person so They would say instead of who am i they'd say well, why not? bottom line is david had humility How do you receive humility? How do you grow in humility? How do you grow in the grace of humility? Sometimes people want to have humility and so they do all kinds of strange things. They dress funny. They eat weird foods They go and live in sparse climates or whatever they think that that's going to teach them humility But does it really teach them humility the easiest way? For a person to gain humility is to simply gain perspective And the way way you gain perspective is simply through contrast and the way you gain Perspective through contrast is simply spending time with god when you begin to see god for who he is and you begin to see yourself For who you are by contrast the result is going to be humility Many years ago My mom had a mirror That was used At that time for putting on makeup women would use it for makeup Today men do too, but then back in 1964 It was a makeup mirror and I liked that mirror because it was portable like But it had a light on it and you could actually push the buttons and it could be like Inside light it could be daylight. It could be night light. It had different settings and and I can remember it about the age of 14 I would use it when I would comb my hair and everything and and I can remember that that I could put the settings on whatever I liked and And when I put it on in the nighttime lighting, I looked good. I looked good in the dark But man when I put it onto daylight I I saw every blemish that every 14 year old has I saw that and I go Oh man, you look bad in the light. So it's better to keep in the dark and in a lot of ways That's how people are to this day morally They don't like walking in the light because the light shows them their error. It shows them their imperfection It it shows up what you are So people don't come to light Jesus says because they love the darkness They enjoy the darkness because their deeds are dark. They like to live in the light They in the darkness rather they stay in the darkness because they're more comfortable and they have all their friends Who are there with them in the darkness? Well, if you live in the darkness you you are basically blind I mean not that long ago a fish was drawn up from this very deep river and And the fish didn't have any eyes because the fish didn't need eyes because it's always in the darkness And therefore doesn't need eyes to see things in light. It doesn't have the sense of sight And there are people today with without god the lord is not in their life and therefore they walk around like that fish They're blind. They cannot see so they feel that they're fine in the dark Everybody's beautiful in the dark It's when you come out into the light that your imperfections are shown and I can remember that when I was a kid I would look at myself at my mom's light and and if it was a nighttime light I looked fine when I put it under full daylight Then I would see my imperfections and nobody really likes to see their imperfections But if you want to have humility what you do is you dwell in the light of god You spend time with the lord the closer you get to him the more of your own imperfection you see And the more of your own imperfection you see the more humbled you are which causes you to cast yourself on him and to say Oh lord, who am I? And god look at how you have blessed me. I don't deserve these blessings You know again a lot of americans think we deserve a lot more than we have We should have more everybody's owed certain things of course people think that way But then there are others who say, you know, I'm just grateful for what I do have I'm grateful for what god has given to me a roof over my head and food on my table and a car to drive A woman who loves me Neighbors who are kind We begin to count our blessings you begin to understand that we we don't run around saying well We deserve more we realize that what we have is a blessing from the hand of god and we're grateful for it David was Who am I? Oh lord god I was just a shepherd Who am I?  You see david saw himself in contrast To the goodness of god and the greatness of god In psalm eight verses three and four you can almost picture david as a young boy out there in the middle of a Of a meadow with all those sheep and it's beautiful night there in israel as he's looking up at these Countless stars because when you've been out in israel and you've been out in an area where there's no light It's just wilderness. It's just dark. The stars pop. They're just so beautiful. They just stand out and And david was there as a as a young one and and he writes in psalm eight Verses three and four when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars Which you have set in place What is man that you are mindful of him the son of man That you care for him You know when he was looking at these things he didn't look up and say oh How wonderful I am He looked and said how wonderful you are how great and majestic and powerful You are god. What is man that you would even consider him? What is man that you want to bless him? What is man that you take care of him? And so he begins with humility if you want to have humility draw close to the lord Spend time in his word spend time in prayer Have godly friends who are influences for good in your life Learn to share your faith with other people and and to see god show up in those moments when you're when you're sharing about him And and you'll grow and you'll grow day by day And so david saying who am I lord? What is my house that you have brought me this far and yet he goes on in verse 19 This this was a small thing in your side. Oh lord god You have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come Is this the manner of man?  He's saying in comparison to what you've promised me Is this a manner of man? Well, of course not you bless me beyond anything a man could do It's not what men would do for other men They cannot bless as you have blessed me and I am overwhelmed by this verse 20 And now what more can david say to you? For you lord god Know your servant What can I say, you know my heart god knows your heart there are some Who will take that phrase and extend it as permission to continue sinning And so they'll say well, you shouldn't come down on me because god knows my heart Well, yes, Jeremiah says it god knows your heart. It's desperately wicked God knows my heart. That's true. Of course. He does. He knows all things about me but at the same time When you have a heart after the lord No, you're not perfect in this phase of the earth. No in your lifetime.   God is gracious. He forgives me I remember counseling a woman many years ago Who said to me God has a perfect will and god has a permissive will God's permissive will Was that I should have married my husband who was seated across from her when she was saying this His perfect will is for me to divorce my husband and marry his best friend What she did She divorced her husband And married his best friend Because she said god's perfect will was for me to be with his best friend and I was out of the will of god when I married this man here And uh, you couldn't reason with her You you couldn't say this is a perversion of the grace of god and the leading of the spirit. You couldn't Give her scripture. She didn't you know want to hear it She just went out and did what she wanted to do. There are people like that all the time God knows me. He knows my heart. He knows the weakness of my flesh. He knows that I can't keep away from those women He just knows it's in me When all the bells and and whistles are going off. There's nothing I can do I have to go through with what I was desiring to do god gives me grace And they do that they say that they argue that That's not what i'm talking about what i'm saying that david was saying here is god, you know me You know my heart. You know my desire remember in first samuel 13 14 david is a man after god's heart god You know me. You know everything about me even in my failures. You still know that my heart is yours I want to serve you. I have a desire. I love you. I have a passion for you That's why in psalm 139.   I am leisurely laying in my palace thinking about your ark They're in a tent. You know i wanted to build you a temple But you gave me a dynasty Notice what alcy says here verse 21 for your word's sake and according to your own heart You have done all these great things to make your servant know them Lord You have made the promise And i will take you At your word for your word's sake i will take you at your word therefore you are great.  I've been redeemed from from drug abuse I've been redeemed from from a violent temper. I've been there are so many people in this church You if they had a moment to give their testimony could stand up and say god's blood Jesus christ poured his blood out for me and he changed my life as a result of that Jesus spoke concerning the fact that when somebody commits sin jesus said that man is a slave to sin But he said the one who knows the sun will be made free and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free And he who is free in the sun is free completely is free indeed And that's what happens when you commit your heart to christ and you begin to pursue him.   He made them a nation a nation that will continue perpetually And now Oh lord god The word which you've spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house establish it forever And do as you have said let your name be magnified forever saying the lord of hosts is the god over israel Let the house of your servant david be established before you notice verse 28 And now oh lord god you are god your words are true. You've promised this goodness to your servant Your words are true Do you believe them or do you not? If you believe god's word, you can be free You can be free I was just talking i've i've i've i've had this conversation several times this week with people several times Do you believe Or do you not in between services just today speaking to a young lady about this and i said you've have two options Be free Or be in prison Those are your options. Which do you want? What do you want? You can be free You can take god's word and trust him You can believe You know the bible tells us in numbers 23 19 god is not a man That he should lie nor a son of man that he should repent Has he said and will he not do Has he spoken will he not make it good God doesn't make false promises And god promised me That if i came to jesus he would not cast me out He promised me that the blood of jesus christ his son cleanses me from all sin He promised me that if i came to him i would be a new creature old things would be passed away all things would become new He promised me that he would never leave me nor forsake me He promised me that i would receive power after that the holy spirit had come upon me And i would be a witness to him in jerusalem judia samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth He said to me that my name is now written in the lambs book of life Jesus christ said to me i have gone to prepare a place for you if i go and prepare a place for you I will come again receive you unto myself that where i am there you may be also i have many Exceedingly precious promises from god and i want to embrace them And i want to hold fast to them and i want to trust him and i want to live by those things So i have options Is god's word true or is it not? He says to me if you confess your sin i am faithful and just to forgive you your sin and to cleanse you from all Unrighteousness all unrighteousness not just some of it Not just the unrighteousness that i was carrying up to the moment that i confessed him all Unrighteousness past present and yes even future God can take care of those things And so i take him at his word Problem is is i don't always act in faith upon those things that i truly should believe I'm a confessing christian sometimes and a practical atheist in my behavior I act as if god really doesn't exist When in reality here i am sane, but i know he does There are many like that But david said no You are god and your words are true and you have promised this goodness to your servant And i'm holding you to your promise Listen parents or grandparents now If you promise your five-year-old Something for their birthday That they really want Do they let you forget Or are they anything like i used to be and perhaps you used to be you said You said Where is it you said? Well, yeah, i i know i say no you said where is it? And they go through all the little presence and they say where is it? Where's what you said? You know what my my kids were that way it's funny They didn't remember me saying clean the room, but they did remember me saying i'd give them something They did You know what children have a tendency of remembering promises, especially if it touches their heart and it's something they want What is it that we're supposed to be if it's not children?  What does that mean it's many things including the fact that a child doesn't forget a promise and trust the one who made it And when jesus christ said you can have life When jesus christ said you need to be born again to enter into the kingdom of god and if you are Born again, you will enter his kingdom. That's a promise and you can hold fast to it You can hold fast to it. You can bank on it. It's a hundred percent sure david held fast to the promise Now he wanted to build the lord of house In the book of acts god asked the question. What kind of house are you going to build me seeing that? I made all things I mean come on When you come and you try and build me something you think is good enough for me. There's nothing good enough for me I just was pleased to dwell there. I chose to dwell there but no No, what's interesting is that god gave him By the spirit the plans you see it in first chronicles in chapters 28 and 29 Gave him by the spirit the plans and david also put forth the money And the money that david put forth with some of the leadership amounted to over 140 billion dollars to build this temple 140 billion dollars to build the temple And he gave it freely because he wanted the lord to have a house An interesting thing about david god said to david you cannot build it But that doesn't mean that david didn't leave something so that the house could be built He gave his son solemn in the plans and he said god gave me these and i'm giving them to you You make sure you do this the right way son david's legacy lived on through his son Because he put away the money and he had the plans from the spirit and he gave it to his son Now as i said a moment ago God doesn't dwell in a temple made with human hands So god decided to build his own temple And that's what you are and that's what i am when we receive christ because paul says no you not That your body is the temple of the spirit of god And so god doesn't dwell on structures like this god dwells in people like us We have him within us because we gave our hearts to christ and said god be merciful to us we're sinners Enter into my life forgive me and i became a temple of the living god And god's word he's true His promises are sure And he lives within us if we've received him Even now