March, 15 2026
Assigned Scripture
2 Samuel 24:18-25
18 That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
19 So David went up to do what the Lord had commanded him. 20 When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he came and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. 21 “Why have you come, my lord the king?” Araunah asked.
David replied, “I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the Lordthere, so that he will stop the plague.”
22 “Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar. 23 I will give it all to you, Your Majesty, and may the Lord your God accept your sacrifice.”
24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver[a] for the threshing floor and the oxen.
25 David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the Lord answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.
1 John 2:1-2
My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
Group Response
David built an altar to the Lord there… (and) the Lord answered prayer on behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.’” When we intercede at an altar, things become possible that were not possible before.
Discussion Questions
1. When you of the altar as a place to intercede, how does that change the way you pray there?
2. When you hear that “the fate of any community (ie family, team, office, etc) is disproportionate to the person in charge” what does that do to the way you view authority? Does it worry you? Inspire you? Surprise you? Convict you? And why?
3. Name three people you influence & feel responsible for. What are they wrestling with? What do they need or fear? What do they hope for or long for that they can’t put words to? What might happen if you interceded for them at your altar? What would you want to see happen?
4. When you think of the cross as altar where someone interceded for the fate of the world (1 John 2:1-2), what does that do to your understanding of salvation?