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1 Kings 14 (Part 2) Bible Study (Rehoboam Reigns in Judah) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Please meet me in First Kings 14, beginning in verse 21 as we
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  complete this chapter together tonight and again.
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  Trust that the Lord has much to say to us in this very sobering
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  chapter, and what we're going to see in these final 10 verses
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  here is really a deep dive into the eulogy of King Rehoboam.
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  Last week you and I explored the concluding comments about the
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  life and the reign of King Jeroboam.
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  But for the rest of this chapter, the Holy Spirit is
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  going to turn our attention to review an honest review of the
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  rule and the leadership of the King of Judah.
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  And as we look at these 10 verses, I'm sure you're going to
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  be convinced that us not making this chapter, this one chapter,
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  into one session, was the right decision.
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  Because you're going to realize, I hope, that there are deep
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  insights that we could have easily glossed over if we for
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  the sake of saying we completed one chapter in one night.
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  That's not our goal, to to see how much we can cover in the
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  shortest amount of time. And there are so many things
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  here that are worthy of our meditation, which we will do
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  together. And with that being said, I
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  believe what will help us make the most out of this study is by
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  having one hand here in First Kings 14 and having another hand
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  in the book of Second Chronicles.
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  And so I'm going to even tell you from now, open up Second
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  Chronicles and place your finger there between Chapter 11 and
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  Chapter 12. Because what the Author of Kings
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  summarizes here, the Chronicler actually opens up in greater
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  detail. And so the book of Chronicles,
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  Second Chronicles specifically, is going to fill in some gaps
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  here and even give us insights that we would not have gleaned
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  from just this chapter on its own.
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  And if we're prepared to do that, go back and forth.
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  We will be rewarded without a doubt.
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  Lord, we pause to pray to say thank you for your word.
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  Thank you that we don't have portions of it.
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  Thank you that we don't just have snippets of it.
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  We have the whole counsel of God at our disposal.
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  We do not take that lightly. We rejoice at your Word, and we
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  pray, Lord, for anyone here who has lost that sense of joy over
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  your Word, that you would rekindle it, that you would
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  bring it back to life, That Lord, there will be this
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  insatiable thirst and hunger for the truth of God's Word.
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  And so we pray that there would be a supernatural transaction
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  and experience as we come to the Supernatural book that you have
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  deposited in our lives. We love your word.
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  We love the God of this word, and may that love only intensify
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  as we continue through this evening.
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  In your word, in Jesus name we pray.
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  Amen. Verse 21.
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  A first kings 14. Now Rehoboam, the son of Solomon
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  reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when
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  he began to reign, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem,
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  the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of
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  Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Nama the
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  Ammonite, and Judah did what was evil in the side of the Lord,
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  and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that
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  they committed more than all that their fathers had done For
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  they also built for themselves high places and pillars and
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  ashram on every high hill and under every green tree.
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  And they're also male cult prostitutes in the land.
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  They did according to all the abominations of the nations that
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  the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
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  We'll pause here now and make a few points.
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  Interestingly, here in this general biography of Rehoboam we
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  have the name of his mother, and that might be something that we
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  just skip over as unimportant. But what's even more interesting
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  is we didn't read it. But if you look down at verse
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  31, the final verse of this chapter, you'll notice something
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  again. And Rehoboam slept with his
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  father's and was buried with his father's in the city of David.
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  His mother's name was Nama the Ammonite, and Abidjan his son
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  reign in his place. So twice at the beginning of
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  this biography, at the end of this eulogy, his mother is
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  mentioned. For what reason are we supposed
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  to learn about her? I believe the reason because we
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  see her sandwiching these other truths are really highlighting
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  the apostasy and the idolatry and the rebellion of this king.
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  We are to be impressed by this insight.
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  Surely this man's mother played a huge role in influencing
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  Rehoboam and his disobedience because not only are we given
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  her name, we are given her origins.
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  She was an Ammonite. Now here's my question.
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  What is a descendant of David, who's from the tribe of Judah,
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  doing having a mother who is from the people of Amon?
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  How is that working? How does that happen?
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  And it's no mystery because you've been here week after week
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  after week that David's son, Rehoboam's father Solomon, loved
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  many foreign wives, and he just had a collection of them from
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  different places, neighboring nations, and they all had one
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  thing in common. They worshiped false gods and
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  they did not honor the true God. And what we see here is that
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  Solomon not just had this problem at the latter portion of
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  his life when he accumulated hundreds and hundreds of these
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  women, but this was a struggle that he had even from the near
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  beginning of his rule and his reign.
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  How do we know that? How long did Solomon reign as
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  king? 40 years.
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  How old was rehab Boehm when he started to be king?
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  We read 41. So he had NAMA as a wife even
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  before he started his reign or right at the beginning of it.
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  So this is, this was in seed form even from there at the
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  beginning of his leadership over this people.
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  And we can talk more about that. But we've heard over and over
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  how these things that start in seed form become oak trees and
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  deeply rooted in US and become much more difficult to overcome
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  when we don't deal with, see the sin of the seed of a sin early
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  on. But there's something else here
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  to mention that we can land in many places.
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  But here's a meditation for us. We cannot underestimate the
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  strong influence that a parent has over their child, whether
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  that be a father or in this case a mother.
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  It is more profound and far reaching than you might think,
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  Solomon. Was he a busy man, or was he a
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  man who had time for his children?
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  Never mind his children, how did he have time for his wives with
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  all the building projects and all the things that he was
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  associated with and had his hands in?
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  It's very difficult to imagine that Solomon took the time to
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  disciple his son Rahel Bomb. But you know who was there?
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  Nah. You know who was there?
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  Consulting him, counseling him, interpreting the world for him,
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  speaking to his life, whispering into his ear.
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  This woman. This woman who was from a people
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  group that were birthed out of an incestuous relationship.
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  You remember how this people group came about, right?
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  Lot? And one of his daughters will
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  actually both of his daughters. The daughters intoxicated their
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  father. They slept with his father and
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  out came this people group and the Moabites.
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  So you have a very shady history.
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  And not only that, the emanates here grew to hate the people of
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  God and the God of Israel. And this is the kind of woman
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  that you have here, raising up a king over the people of Israel,
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  namely Jude and Benjamin. And what's even more striking is
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  how God gave a specific law to the people of Israel, how they
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  should relate to this people group.
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  So look at Deuteronomy 23 and look here in verse three and
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  four. In Deuteronomy 23 and 3:00 and
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  4:00 it says no Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly
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  of the Lord even to the 10th generation.
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  None of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever.
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  Why verse 4? Because they did not meet you
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  with bread and with water on the way when you came out of Egypt,
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  and because they hired against you Balaam, the son of Bior from
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  Pithor of Mesopotamia to curse you.
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  So you read this and you may feel this is a little bit
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  discriminatory. This seems to be very
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  challenging in my view of how God is wanting all people to
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  come to know Him, even in the Old Covenant.
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  Yes, but what we see here as a law is a code is supposed to
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  cause you to trust in the goodness of God and the all
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  knowing power of God that he understands why he made such a
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  law given to his people concerning another people group.
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  And no matter how challenging this might have been in your
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  study of Deuteronomy, I find it quite funny that when you come
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  to your study of first kings, you learn of the catastrophes,
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  national catastrophes that came about from 1 Ammonite woman.
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  One Ammonite woman who is joined to the royal seed and had
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  influence over a leader who ultimately had influence over
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  the people of God. Altogether one God knows what
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  he's talking about. Trust his word, trust his
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  standards, trust his commands. And you see this and you think
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  to yourself, what a disaster. And what a sobering reminder,
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  especially young men, single young men, that whenever you are
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  considering, and as you're considering a candidate for a
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  wife, I want you to be able to remember that that's not just
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  going to be your wife, your partner, your companion.
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  That's also going to be potentially the mother of your
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  children. And here's what you have to ask
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  yourself as you, you, you logically step away from your
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  emotions and think critically and biblically.
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  Are the qualities that I see in this woman are the convictions?
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  Are are Are the consistent expressions of her character
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  something that I want to see replicated in my offspring?
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  That's something that you ladies can ask about other men as well.
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  Nobody, nobody is perfect. But there are patterns and there
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  are ways of thinking and there are evident marks of what this
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  person really is about. That should not be a mystery to
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  you. And some might be hearing this
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  and think, well, I'm not single anymore.
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  I'm not a young man anymore. I made my choice already, and
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  I'm afraid I made the wrong one. I'm afraid that I did not honor
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  God's standard, His word about what to find in a partner in
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  marriage. Am I doomed?
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  No, you're not doomed. There is hope for you.
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  And there are two things to remember if you're in that
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  place. One don't make the same mistake
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  Solomon made in allowing himself to be led by the persuasions or
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  the convictions, or the lack of conviction from an unbelieving,
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  unequally yoked spouse because of First Corinthians. 7.
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  We are reassured and we are comforted by the reality that
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  even 1 unbelieving person, namely a spouse who lives in a
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  household with another unbelieving spouse and with
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  children who are susceptible to that same kind of unbelief, you,
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  because of your walk with the Lord, have a power to purify
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  that atmosphere and even win them over to Christ just by you
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  being in close, close proximity. That's why Paul begs such people
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  don't leave, don't abandoned them because your presence there
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  sanctifies them. That's something encouraging for
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  you and I to consider. The second thing to bring hope
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  into your life is that regardless of the unbelieving
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  partner, especially when there are kids in the mixed, no
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  influence, even if it's from a mother, even if it's from a
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  father, is automatically guaranteed.
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  It's not automatically guaranteed because I'm thinking
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  of another king that we're going to study eventually, who had a
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  very similar mother as Rahel. Boom.
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  But he responded to that upbringing differently.
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  He responded to her influence differently.
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  I'm thinking of a king who was one of Israel's greatest
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  reformers, King ASA. Now you're in Second.
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  I told you, tuck your hand in Second Chronicles, right?
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  So if you're there, go to Second Chronicles 15 and look at verse
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  16. This is one point of a series of
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  points of the extent of Asa's reform in the nation.
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  And we even read this. Even Marca, his mother, King
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  ASA, removed from being Queen Mother because she had made a
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  detestable image for Ashraf. ASA cut down her image, crushed
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  it, and burned it at the Brook Kidron.
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  What a different outcome, huh? Here's my question.
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  What motivated ASA to do this? Yes, we can talk about both the
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  positive and the negative influences impact that a father,
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  a mother can have over their children, But I don't see that
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  here. I don't see it being absolutely
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  certain in this case. And I believe the same chapter
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  gives us the answer because there was somebody else who
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  played a role in his life to encourage him in this radical
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  decision. So you're there for 16.
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  Look at verse one of Second Chronicles 15.
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  The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of O dead, and
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  he went out to meet ASA and said to him, Hear me, ASA and all
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  Judah and Benjamin, the Lord is with you while you are with him.
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  If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake
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  him, he will forsake you. It was a prophet, a man of God
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  with the true word of God on his lips that entered into the life
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  of this king and spoke the truth enough for him to say, I'm not
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  going to go down this predictable path that others
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  might have because of the lack of influence that I should have.
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  You know what you take out of this?
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  That there's something more powerful than the deceptions or
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  the weaknesses of a parent, and that is the truth of God's word.
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  And as long as truth is transmitted in some way, then
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  there is always hope for a life to take a different course than
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  that which might have been paved by misguided father or a mother.
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  That's how powerful the truth is.
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  That's how powerful a youth ministry can be for young people
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  who come from broken homes. All it takes is for truth to be
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  heard and understood enough for them to say I'm not going to
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  head down this path that has been set for me because of a
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  lack of example, because of what I've seen and heard my whole
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  life thinking this is how my worldview should be that can be
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  broken in one moment of the truth being declared over that
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  person. And so if you're in that person
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  saying, yeah, I'm with somebody that's not really working with
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  me and wanting to see God glorified and my children
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  sanctified, you do you in living wholeheartedly for God and trust
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  that that has the ability to rescue anyone and you do your
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  part also. And being able to 1 exemplify
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  truth and to convey it, because the truth can set anyone free
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  from any kind of shackle from any kind of closed environment
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  to light. It can all change like it did
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  for this man. He had a mother and mothers are
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  powerful, are they not? He had a mother who worship
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  false gods and all took was a man of God to step in the scene
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  saying obey God. And we'll we'll learn later on
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  that chapter that he was encouraged and he brought
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  revival. That wasn't the case for
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  Rehoboam, unfortunately. So let's come back to our main
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  tax. We're still in verse 21.
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  Now. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon,
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  reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when
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  he began to reign, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem.
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  The city of the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel
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  to put his name there. He was king for 17 years, and
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  left to this text alone, you'd be under the impression that all
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  17 years were wasted by unfaithfulness.
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  All 17 years were just thrown into the trash because of a man
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  who was confused and compromised.
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  And that's something that you might be left with if we don't
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  honor the consistent, regular reading of God's Word.
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  Because if you were to say I'm going to read my Bible, as I
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  believe you should, from cover to cover, then you would read
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  this in First Kings 14. But then you would journey
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  through Second Chronicles and you would discover something
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  that sheds light on this, that it wasn't all 17 years of
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  apostasy. So Second Chronicles and we come
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  here verse 14 of Chapter 11. Now we read the section in a
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  recent study, but we didn't continue on as we are about to.
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  So in Second Chronicles 1114, notice what we read here by the
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  Spirit. For the Levites left their
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  common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem
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  because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as
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  priests of the Lord. Remember that right?
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  Remember when Jeroboam became king and he he started a false
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  religion and because of that the Levites left.
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  They migrated. S not just the Levites.
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  Verse 15 And he appointed his own priest for the high places
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  and for the goat idols, for the calves that he had made.
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  And those who had set their hearts to seek the Lord God of
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  Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to
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  Jerusalem to sacrifice the Lord, the God of their fathers.
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  That's where we stopped last time.
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  But notice what's this said here in verse 17.
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  They strengthened the Kingdom of Judah, and for three years they
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  made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, secure.
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  For they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon.
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  Wow, So 17 years according to First Kings 14 He reigned.
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  But the first three years were secured and fruitful and
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  pleasing to the Lord to an extent.
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  The added strength that we're read about here is not stemmed
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  from a growing number of people that came to the southern part
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  of Israel. It's speaking about the
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  empowerment that came to the Southern Kingdom through the
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  piety of the people. It was their fervor, it was
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  their devotion, it was their sacrificial spirit that brought
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  a strengthening to the Kingdom of the South.
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  And when you think about how this godly caliber and quality,
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  this influx, contributed to the Southern Kingdom strength and
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  makes you think about something concerning you and I, something
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  that we often don't think about. Because here's what we see.
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  The nation's spiritual growth and security did not come
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  exclusively from leaders. It came primarily from the
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  common people, all whose hearts were set on seeking the Lord.
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  It was the general population of common families and fathers and
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  wives. And they made something of a
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  contribution because of their consecration to the Lord.
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  And if it's true that a nation was strengthened in that way at
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  this time in history? Is there any less true today in
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  our context? Look, leadership in the local
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  church is extremely important. The strength of that leadership,
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  the seriousness of that leadership, the devotion of that
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  leadership. Yes, it's all, it's all true,
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  It's all needed. But the maximum potential of the
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  testimony and the glory and the beauty of the local church
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  cannot be known if the people who come to that church apart
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  from the leadership, treat the services and ministries as pep
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  rallies. It's not going to happen.
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  It's not going to happen where you're going to have a handful
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  of people who are in leadership pulling the load while everybody
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  else just watches and applauds and talks about how grateful
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  they are because of how godly their leadership is.
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  Very limiting. Here's how you're supposed to be
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  encouraged that you play no small part as you participate
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  and make your presence known in a body of people who believe in
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  Jesus Christ. In the same way that these
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  people, whose hearts were right with God, nourish and flourish
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  the people that they join themselves to.
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  You can as well. Yes, you stay at home, Mom.
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  Yes, you construction worker. Yes, you engineer.
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  Yes, you, full time student. Your walk with the Lord can have
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  greater blessing. It can be monumental to wherever
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  God in His Providence places you, and it could be equally
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  detrimental. It could be detrimental to the
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  testimony, to the witness, to the potential of a place that
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  wants to glorify God. Here you have just a people,
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  nameless, who come to the people of the South and join themselves
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  to a questionable leadership, and that's the kindest way of
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  saying it. And yet something happened to
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  them. Do not underestimate your
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  membership. Do not underestimate your
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  gifting. Do not underestimate what your
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  white hot love for Christ can do to another people around you as
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  they stay around you long enough.
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  I'm reminded of one of the laws in Exodus when when it came to
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  one of the the furnishings in the Tabernacle, the lamp, the
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  people were to bring their own oil.
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  It was not the priest who were to fetch out in the vineyards
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  for for olives, to crush him and make oil, for the lamp to be
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  burning continually. He says that the people were
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  supposed to bring their own oil. That speaks about the communal
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  effort, not just leadership, but the church as a whole, members
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  of the same body working together to say we're going to
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  sharpen each other and we're going to look brighter and more
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  polished so that people can see Christ in the face of this
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  people group. That's what I see here at that.
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  That's not meant to convict you more than it is to encourage
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  you. You can do something to the
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  overall testimony and experience of this place and whatever place
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  you represent. I think about what just happened
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  recently when we had our recent members meeting concerning our
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  need to transition and the faith of the people and the excitement
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  of the people and the ideas of the people, the people is really
• 23:04
  was really the catalyst for everything.
• 23:06
  And we have no problem admitting that.
• 23:09
  We're excited to know that that there are people here who sit
• 23:13
  here who observe and listen, yes, but also participate,
• 23:16
  saying that they believe in what God is doing here and they want
• 23:19
  to move forward and see God do more.
• 23:22
  We rejoice and give God glory for that.
• 23:24
  And that's what you see here. The people came to the Kingdom
• 23:26
  of the South, the King of the Judah, and they brought
• 23:29
  something with them. Now you might be wondering why
• 23:31
  only for three years? And that's a good question.
• 23:33
  Why not for all those 17 years? Well, the answer is in Second
• 23:36
  Chronicles 12. Look at verse one.
• 23:42
  When the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong,
• 23:50
  he abandoned the law of the Lord.
• 23:53
  Now look at this and all Israel with him.
• 23:59
  He abandoned the law of the Lord and all Israel with him.
• 24:01
  Here's the idea. It's not that power and
• 24:04
  prosperity led to his downfall, is that the enjoyment of these
• 24:08
  blessings led to his demise. Because he failed to attribute,
• 24:13
  pay attention. Now he failed to attribute and
• 24:16
  maintain the spiritual obedience that brought forth these
• 24:21
  blessings to begin with, let me make it more plain.
• 24:25
  What Rahobaum did here is what many people do in life in their
• 24:28
  spiritual journey. He began to abandon his
• 24:33
  neediness of God, his observance of God, his worship of God, when
• 24:37
  all was well. When he became strong, he became
• 24:43
  weak, and this time the people who once inspired him now
• 24:49
  followed him. Did you read that he abandoned
• 24:51
  the law of the Lord and all Israel with them?
• 24:54
  What a sad thing. What a sad reversal.
• 24:57
  The same people who came and strengthened the Kingdom are now
• 25:01
  the people who are being weakened by a weak leadership.
• 25:03
  And what do we to make of this? It's very simple.
• 25:06
  It shows just how dangerous it is for anyone, anyone, whether
• 25:10
  you're a leader or not a leader for anyone to cruise through a
• 25:13
  season of life where there is little to no turbulence.
• 25:19
  You got the job that you wanted. You got the girl that you
• 25:21
  wanted. You got the guy that you wanted.
• 25:24
  You got the house that you wanted.
• 25:25
  Your body is healthy. The bank account is good.
• 25:31
  You have a good group of friends, and you do things
• 25:33
  almost every weekend. You have a nice church that
• 25:36
  makes you feel good every week, and you're not guarding your
• 25:39
  heart. You're not vigilant over how
• 25:42
  quickly you can wander. If anyone thinks he stands, let
• 25:45
  him take heed, lest he falls. And that's what this man did.
• 25:51
  Can I? Can I tell you what the true
• 25:53
  test of genuine devotion is? Talking about?
• 25:57
  Devotion to the Lord. It's not when you come close to
• 26:00
  the Lord, when your world is falling apart.
• 26:03
  It's not when you come close to the Lord when your world is
• 26:06
  falling apart. It's choosing to stay close to
• 26:10
  the Lord as time goes on without troubles or trials.
• 26:15
  That's a true test of devotion. When you can worship with equal
• 26:20
  strength, if not greater strength.
• 26:21
  When you still come to the prayer meetings, not because you
• 26:24
  need something, just because you know you need to be sustained by
• 26:26
  Him in the good times and the bad.
• 26:29
  When you serve, whether you feel like it or not, when everything
• 26:33
  is going well and the sun is shining and the clouds are
• 26:35
  cleared and you still have this fervency in your bones, that's
• 26:40
  true devotion. And these people became strong
• 26:46
  economically, politically, and that was a result of God's
• 26:50
  blessing in their lives for their obedience.
• 26:52
  There was a direct correlation there, but when everything was
• 26:55
  going well, everything was not really well.
• 26:59
  It was the beginning of a decline, and that's what we read
• 27:04
  right in the 25th verse. The 22nd verse actually
• 27:10
  highlights it and Judah verse Kings 14 did what was evil in
• 27:15
  the sight of the Lord and they provoked him to jealousy with
• 27:18
  their sins that they committed. Now look at this.
• 27:21
  More than all that their fathers had done, they they've reached
• 27:26
  the place of sinfulness and disobedience that has not been
• 27:30
  known yet. They they broke a new record, so
• 27:33
  to speak. But then when we come back to
• 27:38
  verse 25, we haven't read this yet, so let's read it.
• 27:45
  In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, King of
• 27:49
  Egypt, came up against Jerusalem.
• 27:52
  He took away the treasures of the House of the Lord and the
• 27:54
  treasures of the King's house. He took away everything.
• 27:58
  He also took away all the Shields of gold that Solomon had
• 28:01
  made. And King Rehoboam made it in
• 28:03
  their place, Shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands
• 28:06
  of the officers of the guard who kept the door of the King's
• 28:10
  house. So for the first three years
• 28:13
  Rehoboam and the Kingdom of Judah were faithful.
• 28:17
  They were strong. And after those three years they
• 28:23
  abandoned the Lord And at the 5th year.
• 28:25
  So we can say that a little over a year, close to two years even,
• 28:30
  they were walking in these abominable practices.
• 28:34
  Male cult, prostitutes, false worship, just things that you
• 28:37
  can't even think about and imagine we're going on before
• 28:41
  now. The king of Egypt invades and
• 28:43
  surrounds Jerusalem. This is not accidental.
• 28:46
  This is not merely A surprising military stunt.
• 28:50
  It's not again until you go to Second Chronicles where you
• 28:53
  realize that God's Hand is behind this invasion, because in
• 28:57
  Second Chronicles 12/2 and you don't have to go there unless
• 28:59
  you want to. We're told that because they had
• 29:02
  been unfaithful to the Lord Shishak, the king of Egypt came
• 29:07
  up against Jerusalem. So what do we see here in verse
• 29:10
  25 of First Kings 14? God's discipline on full
• 29:13
  display? You walked away from me.
• 29:17
  You chose to liberate yourself from my Lordship.
• 29:20
  Then let me bring another king into your life and let's see how
• 29:22
  you like it. So the king of Egypt comes and
• 29:26
  he surrounds the people. And surprisingly, out of all the
• 29:30
  things that he could have done, the thing that is highlighted is
• 29:32
  that he goes into one of the edifices and he removes the
• 29:36
  Shields of gold that we studied about how Solomon made and he
• 29:40
  put on display. And King Rib home in in response
• 29:44
  to that makes the Shields of brass and he replaces the
• 29:47
  Shields of gold with that. What are we to make of this?
• 29:52
  Very simple. We heard about this many weeks
• 29:54
  ago, but we need to hear it again sometimes.
• 29:57
  This is a principle, an illustration of what sin does in
• 29:59
  your life. Sin always impoverishes you.
• 30:02
  Sin always steals from you. Sin always weakens you.
• 30:07
  And that's what we see here. We see a diminishing beauty and
• 30:13
  majesty and glory taking place in the Kingdom of Judah.
• 30:17
  What was once gold is now bronze brass.
• 30:21
  It's diluting sin diminishes your quality of life.
• 30:25
  It strips you of the spiritual treasures that the Lord longs to
• 30:28
  furnish you with and fill your life with always.
• 30:32
  And you know what Rehoboam does here?
• 30:34
  What Rehoboam does does here is what people do when they walk
• 30:37
  away from God and want to try to sustain themselves as much as
• 30:42
  possible without wanting to admit or maybe because they
• 30:45
  haven't felt convicted about their abandonment of the Lord
• 30:48
  just yet. You try to fill the void that
• 30:51
  sin creates in your life with cheap substitutes.
• 30:56
  That's what always happens. Can I tell you something?
• 31:00
  I have never in my whole walk with the Lord.
• 31:02
  Never. Never.
• 31:03
  Never. Never.
• 31:04
  And I've seen, unfortunately, too many people who have walked
• 31:09
  away from the Lord or people who have become lukewarm toward the
• 31:13
  Lord. I've never seen anybody do that.
• 31:15
  And them ending up better off than they were when they were
• 31:19
  walking closely with the Lord. Never.
• 31:21
  Not once. I've never looked at anybody who
• 31:23
  walked away from the church, walked away from the truth, or
• 31:26
  walked away from a true total devotion to the Lord and said to
• 31:29
  myself, they look like they're doing better than ever.
• 31:33
  Have you? If you have, please tell me.
• 31:36
  Let's pull up their social media.
• 31:37
  I want to see it for myself because I've never.
• 31:42
  And that's the case here, because part of Solomon's
• 31:45
  prosperity where silver became like like common stone, was
• 31:49
  because God promised him that he would make him wealthy.
• 31:53
  Obviously he went overboard with that because he acquired too
• 31:55
  much, but a part of it shows that the gold signified his
• 31:59
  favor, his blessing, and that gold now is reduced to brass for
• 32:04
  one reason, turning your back on the Lord.
• 32:10
  And as heartbreaking as this scene might be, when you know
• 32:13
  the full story, you realize that it's not just divine display
• 32:16
  that's on display here, Divine disciplines on display here.
• 32:19
  You actually see mercy and motion.
• 32:24
  You read First Kings 14 and then you skip over to the New
• 32:27
  Testament because you don't want to continue in the Old
• 32:29
  Testament. And you would miss this again
• 32:31
  from Second Chronicles because Second Chronicles highlights
• 32:35
  what really is going on here. So go there with me.
• 32:38
  And Second Chronicles 12, I know your arm might be tired.
• 32:47
  Second Chronicles 12. Look at verse 5.
• 32:53
  Then Shamaya the prophet came to Rehoboam and to the Princess of
• 32:57
  Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak.
• 33:01
  We heard of him in First Kings 1425.
• 33:04
  So this prophet comes and he interrupts this council meeting
• 33:08
  and said to them. Thus says the Lord, You
• 33:12
  abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of
• 33:18
  Sheshak. Look at verse six.
• 33:21
  Then the Princess of Israel and the King humbled themselves and
• 33:26
  said the Lord is righteous. This text excited me so much I
• 33:31
  had to gather myself. And I had to tell myself, Don't
• 33:35
  get overly excited when you share that truth because you
• 33:38
  want to clearly present at least two important points from this
• 33:41
  text. So I'm doing that now.
• 33:43
  Give me a second first thing to draw from this.
• 33:46
  You ready? There's two things I want you to
• 33:48
  see from this. Here's the first thing, because
• 33:49
  we didn't see this in first case 14.
• 33:51
  We're seeing it here in this parallel count.
• 33:53
  Here's the first thing. It's never too late to call
• 33:57
  anyone to repent. It's never too late to call
• 34:02
  anyone to repentance because Shamaya the prophet comes on the
• 34:07
  scene when Shishak and his armies were just underneath the
• 34:13
  nose, the noses of this leadership, They were right at
• 34:17
  the front door. And this man of art comes with a
• 34:20
  true word from the Lord and he gives the biblical and
• 34:22
  theological explanation for what may seem just as a political
• 34:27
  move from Egypt. Hey, add this to your meeting.
• 34:31
  The reason why this is happening is because you abandoned God, so
• 34:34
  God abandoned you. This is confrontation.
• 34:37
  This is truth colliding with a stubborn people, a callous
• 34:41
  people. And maybe you need to revisit
• 34:43
  First Kings 1422 to 24 to realize just how hopeless this
• 34:48
  nation has become. Male cult prostitutes.
• 34:52
  You know what that means? I don't want to be too gravity
• 34:54
  here, but you had men, you had sodomites, you had homosexual
• 34:57
  behavior happening in these false places of worship as an
• 35:01
  expression to these deities of fertility to answer their cry,
• 35:05
  That's disgusting, That's depraved, That's horrible.
• 35:12
  And we we read it that they had done more than all their other
• 35:15
  fathers had done. So at this point in Israel's
• 35:18
  history, this is the worst that it ever was.
• 35:23
  And yet still a man of God comes on the scene and preaches A
• 35:26
  brief message to them, and it was enough to melt their hearts.
• 35:30
  You know, I thought about that when I was reflecting on these
• 35:33
  truths about our own generation in this nation.
• 35:37
  The suicide rate, the depression, the confusion, the
• 35:39
  entertainment, the things that people are allowing and paying
• 35:43
  money for. The anger.
• 35:46
  All these different vices that are just piling up, making us
• 35:49
  feel as we stand the shadow of this filth.
• 35:52
  Is there even a point that we just celebrate people barely
• 35:57
  making it to church and our minds don't even go beyond, hey,
• 36:01
  it, it's possible for this gospel to still save people.
• 36:05
  This gospel can still save people in America.
• 36:08
  It can save, yes, this new generation that doesn't know
• 36:12
  they're left from the right, It still can save.
• 36:14
  We're still, the church is still here for a reason.
• 36:18
  The Holy Spirit is still in us, working through us for a reason.
• 36:22
  We're not a bunker that's just hiding from the world, hoping
• 36:25
  not to be contaminated until Christ comes back.
• 36:28
  We're on the offensive. And so I see from this that no
• 36:32
  matter how twisted, darkened, confused and insensitive
• 36:38
  anybody, maybe a leadership, a political leadership, maybe it's
• 36:42
  never too late, nor should we give up calling them to the
• 36:45
  truth. But here's the second point.
• 36:48
  Not just that it's never too late for us to call people to
• 36:51
  the truth, but it's never too late to repent either.
• 36:56
  What do we see in verse six? Then the Princess of Israel and
• 36:59
  the King humbled themselves and said the Lord is righteous all
• 37:06
  to be there in that meeting room to see Shema.
• 37:08
  I wonder if he kicked the door down.
• 37:10
  I wonder if he just surprised them.
• 37:13
  Hey, Princess of Israel and real bomb, you've been in God.
• 37:19
  So this is the outcome of it. What did it look like for them?
• 37:22
  I wonder if there was a pause. I wonder if they held their
• 37:25
  breath. I wonder who was the first one
• 37:27
  to break the silence of conviction.
• 37:31
  And they collectively said the Lord is righteous.
• 37:34
  You know what that means? God is right in disciplining us
• 37:37
  in this way because we are wrong.
• 37:39
  That's repentance. That's brokenness.
• 37:42
  That's contrition. And here's the point that moves
• 37:47
  me. It's verse seven.
• 37:48
  Look at this. When the Lord saw that they
• 37:52
  humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shamaya.
• 37:57
  They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I
• 38:00
  will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall
• 38:03
  not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.
• 38:08
  When did Lord make the decision to diminish the severity of His
• 38:13
  judgment? When the Lord saw that they
• 38:18
  humble themselves. The very moment that they humble
• 38:21
  themselves was the very moment. Not a second later, God's mercy
• 38:25
  was activated. Not a blink later, not a breath
• 38:29
  later, the very moment they humble themselves, God sent a
• 38:34
  word from heaven to the same prophet, He says.
• 38:36
  Did you just see what happened? And He changed the verdict on
• 38:41
  the spot. We're told that he he would not
• 38:46
  destroy them by the hand of Sheshak.
• 38:50
  Now here's what you and I should glory in.
• 38:53
  If God's mercy can be awakened so speedily, so swiftly under an
• 39:00
  inferior covenant, how much more is it excited when you and I
• 39:05
  embrace His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?
• 39:09
  Is he slower to receive you the moment upon your confession and
• 39:13
  belief in your heart that he is Lord and that God raised him
• 39:16
  from the dead? No, in so many ways and in
• 39:21
  numerous ways and verses. Rather, are we comforted to know
• 39:27
  that when we confess our sin with a repentant faith, in that
• 39:32
  very moment we are justified and we are secured.
• 39:37
  Not momentarily, not until you prove yourself, but forever.
• 39:42
  Forever. I'm saved.
• 39:47
  I'm saved because of my faith in Christ.
• 39:51
  I'm delivered. My verdict has been changed for
• 39:55
  eternity, and that's important, the sufficiency of what Christ
• 39:59
  has done. Because you will never know true
• 40:02
  joy that the joy that God wants you to know in your salvation
• 40:05
  unless you believe in the permanency of your redemption.
• 40:10
  Yes, He's a gracious God in the Old covenant.
• 40:12
  He's a gracious God in the New covenant and giving us His son
• 40:17
  and all how He is ready to forgive us.
• 40:19
  When you are ready to humble yourself and erase all that sin
• 40:25
  and cleanse your record completely, completely, like
• 40:29
  blank blank, I have a couple of illustrations that would give up
• 40:36
  my own life, of how I was relieved when something was not
• 40:38
  given to me, when I deserved it. But I'll spare you those
• 40:41
  illustrations. Instead, I want you to see
• 40:44
  something interesting in verse eight.
• 40:45
  You're still in Second Chronicles 12, are you not?
• 40:51
  Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him that they may
• 40:58
  know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the
• 41:03
  countries. So yes, I'm not going to allow
• 41:07
  the King of Egypt to completely swallow up Jerusalem.
• 41:12
  Yet, because of Judah's historic inconsistencies and because the
• 41:17
  Lord is a good father, he's going to allow the King of Egypt
• 41:20
  to have some mastery over the people of Judah.
• 41:25
  I'm going to let the king of Egypt have some kind of control
• 41:28
  over you for a season. I'm going to let you be under
• 41:33
  his leadership. Why?
• 41:35
  So they can compare. Did you read it?
• 41:38
  That they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms
• 41:42
  of the countries? OK, so if they thought that
• 41:46
  living under my rule was so limiting, so joyless, so void of
• 41:49
  meeting and satisfaction, then they have to learn the hard way.
• 41:53
  And here's the hard way. They're going to have to
• 41:56
  experientially know what it means to have a different Lord
• 42:00
  on their lives. You know, unfortunately, there
• 42:05
  are many people who have seen so much, who have heard so much.
• 42:10
  I mean, the unparalleled testimonies that the people of
• 42:13
  Israel have experienced, the the manifestations and the miracles.
• 42:16
  Paul even speaks about how privileged they were as a people
• 42:18
  group. And with all of that, all of the
• 42:22
  witnessing and all of the experiences, they were still
• 42:26
  tempted to run after other lovers.
• 42:31
  And so there's some people even today that no matter how, no
• 42:33
  matter how eloquent this is, no matter how profound, no matter
• 42:36
  how much the grace of God is being pounded into your
• 42:39
  unbelieving heart, your skeptical heart, though you may
• 42:43
  believe it here, there are some people who are not convinced and
• 42:47
  won't be convinced until they look for other saviors and
• 42:52
  realize they can't be saved. And I'm not talking about other
• 42:57
  gods. I'm talking about things that
• 42:59
  try to save you from loneliness. Things that try to save you from
• 43:02
  a life that is void of pleasure. Things that promise you
• 43:05
  something in this life that you're so longing for.
• 43:08
  And there are some people, you know them and I know them, that
• 43:11
  will not bend the knee completely and guaranteed until
• 43:16
  they discover and get bruised by other idols.
• 43:20
  That was true for real, Bomb. OK, you're obviously not
• 43:24
  convinced because it doesn't take you much long for you to
• 43:26
  turn your back on me. So here's another king.
• 43:29
  See how you like it. See how you like it.
• 43:33
  That was true for Aeroboam's day.
• 43:34
  And listen, that was true in Hosea's day.
• 43:38
  It turned there with me. Hosea, I want you to see this
• 43:40
  verse. Hosea.
• 43:46
  Chapter 2, verse 7. What a.
• 43:53
  This is a heartbreaking book. Prophet Hosea And early in this
• 43:58
  book we get a verse that explains exactly what I'm trying
• 44:03
  to explain to you. Hosea 27 She, being Israel,
• 44:07
  shall pursue her lovers, but not overtake them.
• 44:10
  She shall seek them but shall not find them.
• 44:14
  Then she shall say, I will go and return to my first husband,
• 44:21
  for it was better for me then than now.
• 44:25
  You see what God is saying? Yeah, you know, go do your thing
• 44:32
  and run after these things and you're going to realize that
• 44:34
  what you're looking for you'll never find.
• 44:36
  And only then will you pause and ponder and think to yourself, I
• 44:40
  think it's time to go back to Jesus, because it was far better
• 44:44
  for me then than it is now. That's the prodigal son.
• 44:49
  That's not just the product of son.
• 44:50
  That's the worship leader Asaph from Psalm 73 in the last verse,
• 44:53
  after he struggled whether or not it was worth it to be
• 44:55
  righteous because the payoff didn't seem right.
• 44:59
  In this life at least, you see all the wicked enjoying having
• 45:02
  families and vacations in good health and dying in peace.
• 45:05
  Is it really worth what's in it for me to follow the Lord and
• 45:10
  you begin to think and feel? I mean, look, if you think that
• 45:12
  this is not true, Asaph was a worship leader in the temple.
• 45:16
  This worship leader who led people to sing the praises of
• 45:18
  God felt this way. He felt tempted to think maybe
• 45:22
  me being sold out for the Lord is not really worth it.
• 45:26
  And then he comes to the House of God and he's reminded of
• 45:29
  these eternal truths. And the last verse of Psalm 73,
• 45:33
  verse 28 says this. As for me, it is good to be near
• 45:38
  God. Can I ask you a question on this
• 45:40
  Friday night? I love seeing you every single
• 45:43
  week, but it's amazing what can happen from last Friday to this
• 45:45
  Friday. So let me ask us as a brother
• 45:47
  who cares for you, and I hope you feel the love throbbing in
• 45:50
  my heart for you. Are you near God tonight?
• 45:54
  I'm asking if you believe God. I'm asking if you are near God.
• 46:00
  How do I know if I'm near God? You know, you know not to give
• 46:04
  you a theological masterpiece to figure that out.
• 46:07
  You know where your affections are.
• 46:09
  You know where your meditations are.
• 46:13
  You know when you voluntarily worship the Lord, when nobody's
• 46:15
  around, you know what it's like to be near God.
• 46:17
  So here's my question. Are you near God, Near Him?
• 46:21
  Are you walking closely with him, in fellowship, in love, or
• 46:24
  do you feel yourself getting further and further away from
• 46:27
  him? If you are, let this Bible study
• 46:30
  remind you that the best place to be is not just around people
• 46:33
  who are near God, but you being near God, not having pastors who
• 46:37
  are near God, you being near God.
• 46:42
  It's good for me to be near God and no matter where I am in this
• 46:45
  world, put me in a palace. Put me on an island with all
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  access to all foods and services, there is nothing that
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  can compare to the satisfaction of being near God.
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  Stuff me in an igloo if I'm near God, I'm the happiest.
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  Put me anywhere else where any amount of money can buy
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  anything. I don't care if as long as I'm
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  far from him I'm miserable. But As for me it is good to be
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  near God. Let's conclude this Bible study
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  with the last couple verses of First Kings 14.
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  You're saying? Remind me why you brought me to
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  Second Chronicles 12 with Sheeshak Sheeshak robbing the
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  people of the gold Shields, Was God limiting his destructive
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  power? In other words, when you read
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  First Kings 14 and compared to Second Chronicles 12, what
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  you're seeing is it could have been a lot worse if Rehoboam did
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  not repent, but because Rehoboam repented, then God only allowed
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  him to take some things. It makes you wonder, what if
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  Jeroboam had repented at any point?
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  What could he have been spared from?
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  What could he even rescued from? But he never repented like this
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  man did? Now we come to the concluding
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  remarks of Rehoboam's life before the rest of our study.
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  In this book we will evaluate different kings succeeding kings
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  of both the Northern and the Southern kingdoms.
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  Look at verse 29. Now the rest of the acts of
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  Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the book
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  of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
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  And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam
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  continually, and Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried
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  with his fathers in the city of David.
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  His mother's name was Nama the Ammonite and I be John.
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  His son reigned in his place. Here's the final testimony of
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  the first King of the Northern tribes and the third King of the
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  Southern Tribes. It's verse 30.
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  And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam
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  continually. What a regretful thing to be put
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  on your obituary. The last thing that you read
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  about these two men is that they were at war with each other
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  always. And the keyword here is
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  continually. And what's fascinating here is
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  that these two men who should have been working together, who
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  should have united the Kingdom, divided the Kingdom.
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  And they were not one in faith. They were not one in mind.
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  They were not one in purpose. They were not one in love.
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  What should have been one thing became two things and not just
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  two things. What should have been a family
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  became a civil war. Do you think that's just true
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  for Israel, or can it happen in the Church of Jesus Christ?
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  Is it possible for people's experience of the church and
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  Christian relationships to just be war continually?
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  Yeah, unfortunately. And perhaps we don't know just
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  how damaging persistent strife and discord can have on the
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  people of God. But Paul tells us at least one
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  one way it is so harmful. And this is our final verses in
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  the New Testament. Before we close, look what he
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  says in Galatians 5 and I'll I'll pause and wait here.
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  I won't say anything till you get there in Galatians 513.
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  Let this discourage you from justifying unnecessary discord
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  or fighting in the family of God.
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  And listen as you're turning there.
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  Know this. Within a community, there will
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  be moments of disagreement and conflict that that's that's a
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  given. That's true of your natural
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  family, and that's true in your spiritual family.
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  But every single problem, every single issue should be resolved
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  with the truth and with humility and love.
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  And again, as I said earlier, the problem with these two is
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  that it was continual. It just marked the relationship.
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  And here's what Paul speaks about concerning Christian
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  community and the dangers of this kind of attitude.
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  For you were called to freedom, brothers only.
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  Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but
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  through love. Serve one another through love,
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  Sir. Not just serve one another
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  through love. Get the love thing right first,
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  Get that impartation of God's love 1st and watch serving one
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  another come naturally as an outcome through love.
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  Serve one another for the whole law is fulfilled.
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  In one word. You shall love your neighbor as
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  yourself and he gives the alternative.
• 51:30
  In this next verse, what happens within a community of believers
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  when they are not lovingly serving one another?
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  When they don't see it to be a happy thing to invest in your
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  happiness as I would want to have my happiness invested in
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  here. Here's the potential verse 15.
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  But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are
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  not consumed by one another. That's the alternative.
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  Suck the love out of this place. Have a bunch of people who are
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  not regulated by a Holy Spirit driven service to one another.
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  And you know what? You open that place up to
• 52:15
  animalistic kind of contention. Have you ever, have you ever
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  heard the term he he's like an animal.
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  He acts like an animal. She acts like an animal.
• 52:24
  That's what Paul is getting at. He's using very graphic imagery
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  where you put two beasts in a place and they're ferociously
• 52:30
  unconcerned about the other and they're willing to devour.
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  Look at the language, bite and devour.
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  What does it mean for Christians to bite and devour?
• 52:41
  I'm sure it means many things, but I know it includes mainly
• 52:43
  the mouth. When you bite something and
• 52:45
  devour it requires this. And he goes, You Christians, you
• 52:49
  be careful, because here's the thing.
• 52:52
  Christians can reach a place of Holy Spirit inspired love that
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  these meetings and these relationships can be a piece of
• 52:59
  heaven on earth. We can reach such heights by the
• 53:02
  grace of the Holy Spirit. And yet we can be so
• 53:05
  disconnected to the heart of God that we can reach lows where
• 53:11
  Christians who should reflect Christ, are actually acting like
• 53:13
  dogs do not bite or devour one another.
• 53:21
  And he says watch out. And he's saying like be careful.
• 53:23
  Meaning it's it's possible for Christians to act this way, so
• 53:26
  don't be surprised if you've seen it.
• 53:28
  Don't be surprised if you have a history of church hurt.
• 53:30
  It's possible, apparently, but notice the extent of the
• 53:33
  warning. But if you bite and devour one
• 53:35
  another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
• 53:41
  In other words, when this aggression and when this
• 53:46
  division is is so prevalent and unresolved, it can lead to a
• 53:52
  point where there is a consuming you know what that word consumed
• 53:56
  is? It's the same word used in Luke
• 53:59
  954 when James and John, the sons of Thunder, asked Jesus
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  because they were rejected by that village in Samaria.
• 54:05
  And they said, Lord, shall we call down fire from heaven and
• 54:08
  let them be consumed, Let them be consumed.
• 54:14
  What does that mean to be consumed?
• 54:15
  When fire consumes something, it it becomes nothing, it's turned
• 54:21
  to ash. And here's what one person said,
• 54:26
  and here's how he put it, That ongoing strife within a
• 54:29
  Christian community can have the potential of bringing that
• 54:34
  community to extinction, consuming one another.
• 54:40
  We're in essence, everything becomes non existent.
• 54:44
  It's gone, it disappears. You're saying?
• 54:46
  What does that mean? I don't know.
• 54:48
  Have you ever seen churches no longer become churches because
• 54:51
  of biting and devouring? That's at least one way that can
• 54:56
  manifest consuming and biting each other's flesh with your
• 55:01
  mouth to the point where what once was alive is now no more.
• 55:07
  And that can happen to our testimony before the world.
• 55:09
  That can happen to the fruitfulness within this place.
• 55:13
  The ministries that God breathed on at one point and used so many
• 55:16
  things can become extinct. When you have a party against
• 55:21
  another party in one place, void of love, void of being
• 55:25
  stimulated to serve one another and left to the flesh, it can be
• 55:31
  avoided. We can be saved from such a
• 55:34
  thing. So maybe said of this ministry
• 55:38
  and the ministry that you're a part of in the relationships
• 55:40
  that you have in Christ. Not that you go to war
• 55:44
  continually, but that with those people, you go to war with the
• 55:50
  enemy. You go to war against unbelief.
• 55:53
  You go to war against sin. You go to war against
• 55:56
  selfishness. You go to war against pettiness.
• 56:00
  You go to war against your personal preference being the
• 56:02
  priority of the church that you're a part of.
• 56:04
  You go to war with those things. There are too many people
• 56:08
  professing Christ going to war with the church instead of with
• 56:11
  the church against darkness and evil.
• 56:15
  I don't get it. So many people are so invested
• 56:17
  and so caught up and church drama and problems, and I think
• 56:22
  to myself, if you just use that energy for what really matters,
• 56:27
  you are at war. Just turn the gun away from your
• 56:30
  your fellow soldier and turn it and face it towards the one who
• 56:32
  is actually causing you to do this.
• 56:36
  So what a testimony here and there was war between Rehoboam
• 56:40
  and Jeroboam continually may not be so of us.
• 56:44
  Instead, may it be said, according to Galatians, that
• 56:48
  there is a loving service toward one another continually only by
• 56:53
  the grace of God, only by the help of the Holy Spirit, only
• 56:56
  when the fear of the Lord reigns in our hearts.
• 56:58
  And So what a way to end this as we close as a church to say,
• 57:00
  Lord. We're going to ask you now that
• 57:02
  as we've read this and studied this together, that the opposite
• 57:05
  testimony would be true of us. Lord, give us greater love so
• 57:10
  that we can serve each other with greater strength.
• 57:12
  Let's pray and do that together, shall we?
• 57:24
  Lord, you are holy. Your word is incredible.
• 57:33
  We're humbled by how loud it is, how accurate it is, how
• 57:39
  surgically precise it is, how applicable it is, and All in
• 57:44
  all, how life giving it is. We thank you, Lord, that we are
• 57:50
  recipients of the truth, that you've made our hearts ready and
• 57:56
  hungry for such things. We thank you, Lord, that you
• 58:00
  have indeed fed our fire for fellowship with you and
• 58:04
  fellowship with one another the way you designed it.
• 58:08
  Or there's a reason why you mentioned that these two were at
• 58:11
  war with one another continually.
• 58:14
  It's to remind us what is possible in the negative for the
• 58:17
  people of God who have the word of God, who have seen the
• 58:19
  miracles of God, who have the warnings of God.
• 58:23
  Lord, may our hearts remain soft and learn from the mistakes of
• 58:26
  the past. May we instead walk and run in
• 58:30
  the opposite direction. Lord, we don't want to ever
• 58:34
  entertain or explore the depths of darkness or the flesh that we
• 58:40
  can attain. Instead, we want to soar high.
• 58:43
  Lord, bring us higher here at NBC.
• 58:46
  Higher in love, higher in honor, higher in holiness.
• 58:51
  And for every other church represented here, the same, oh
• 58:53
  God. And for those who are
• 58:54
  discouraged, maybe, of the the ministry that they are a part
• 58:56
  of, to know that their saltiness and their light in that place
• 59:01
  can have the potential power to influence others, well, there's
• 59:06
  so many things we heard. We will not rehearse him in this
• 59:08
  prayer time. All we want to do is ask that
• 59:10
  whatever we need to hear for our lives, that you would, you would
• 59:13
  make it so obvious and that we would be soft enough, even like
• 59:17
  Rehoboam and those leaders, to admit that we're wrong and that
• 59:20
  you're right. And to trust that in that
• 59:22
  admission you see from heaven and you're willing to do
• 59:25
  something about our future right there and then right there.
• 59:29
  And then, though we believe that as we're humbling ourselves
• 59:31
  before you and as we confess or as we rejoice, you hear us, You
• 59:35
  hear us. So even Lord, if there's anyone
• 59:39
  here who is not near you, as the Psalmist said he was, we pray
• 59:43
  that Lord, in our admission of that we would feel closer to you
• 59:47
  than ever. Because you promise when we draw
• 59:48
  near to you, you draw near to us.
• 59:50
  That's your promise. So even in this time let this
• 59:53
  not just be a a mindless sign off of this Bible study.
• 59:57
  May this be a time where we draw close to you.
• 59:59
  We're in our faith and in our in our thoughts and our words.
• 1:00:02
  We we take a step forward and we say, God keep me close to you.
• 1:00:05
  Please bind my wandering heart to thee and so Lord tonight as
• 1:00:11
  one body, as one church, as one Kingdom.
• 1:00:15
  We say thank you. May the glue of this community
• 1:00:19
  be love. May the truth always reign over
• 1:00:22
  our ideas or opinions. May you dominate every aspect of
• 1:00:26
  who we are. For your glory.
• 1:00:28
  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
• 1:00:30
  Amen. Amen.
• 1:00:34
  Let's stay in church, worship the Lord.
• 1:00:38
  Thank him, honor him. Spill your heart to him.
• 1:00:43
  He hears us tonight.