Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / 1 Kings 13 (Part 2) Bible Study (The Prophet's Disobedience) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

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1 Kings 13 (Part 2) Bible Study (The Prophet's Disobedience) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  You know, I was sitting out in the parking lot, not outside,
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  but in my car. Came a little bit early.
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  And I was. Sitting there, I don't know if
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  it was the instrumental I was listening to the worship
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  instrumental or what, but in that moment I just was
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  transported back to 2020, no, 2012 and it was January.
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  I don't remember the exact date, but it was the time where I got
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  saved and it was so real and I just reflected on the moments
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  leading up to it right before the service.
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  But in particular, I remember the day after I got saved.
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  I know everybody's testimony is different and I'm fully aware
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  that not everybody can remember the moment they got saved.
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  I can't even tell you the day exactly.
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  I just remember it was a long weekend.
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  It was in the month of January, and it was a few days leading up
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  to that where the Lord's presence was so real and his
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  gospel was coming alive in my heart.
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  And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking about the next morning.
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  It was a winter morning. That was my basement apartment,
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  and I remember the feeling of waking up and getting out of my
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  bed. And the only word that can
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  describe it is this freedom. Freedom.
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  And I was impressed to share this part.
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  I usually don't do this, you know this if you come every
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  week, but maybe somebody needs to hear this.
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  I was shackled in sin. I was deep in bondage.
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  And the only way I can describe what it's like to come into
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  contact with this gospel and for it to be received by faith is I
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  felt those chains fall off saying what do you mean That
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  sounds so poetic? And that sounds so ethereal.
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  What do you mean you were free? I didn't want to sin anymore.
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  That's what I mean by being free.
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  It's like there's a new appetite.
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  And the thing that you once were so allured by and enticed by and
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  drawn to now became repulsive. It had a stink to it and you
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  wanted to remove it from your life.
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  And you not just wanted to remove it, but you felt this
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  incredible empowerment to do it. And the feeling I had that next
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  day after a night of weeping and surrendering was I wanted my
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  life to be as clean as possible from anything that would offend
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  the God that saved me the night before.
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  It wasn't out of drudgery. It wasn't out of wanting to
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  please him so that he can accept me.
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  It was because now I belong to him.
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  And I just began this personal campaign of looking at things
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  that I know I shouldn't be doing.
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  Nobody had to tell me anybody, anything about anybody or
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  anything that I was doing. I just began to clean my
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  computer, clean my phone, clean my relationships, clean up my
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  priorities. I want to tell you something.
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  If you're a person who claims to be a Christian but you don't
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  know what I'm talking about, don't cheapen the experience
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  that God wants you to have. He wants to save you.
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  And when he saves you, you'll know it.
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  You'll know it. And if you haven't experienced
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  that freedom, tonight can be the night.
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  This is a Bible study. I know we're going to be in the
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  Old Testament, but maybe tonight the Lord wants to save you and
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  that you would leave here with that sensation of this burden
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  rolling off your back and you see the world differently.
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  Differently. Can I tell you how differently I
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  saw the world? Everything was different.
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  Snow look different. My material possessions look
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  different. My studies look different, my
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  dreams look different, Everything looked different and
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  there was such a hunger to be where God was to be in the place
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  of God. Nobody again had to tell me
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  anything. I remember one, one day, after a
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  few weeks into my salvation, it was AI mean Toronto winters are
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  like Chicago winters and they weren't like what has been the
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  past few years. Like real brutal blizzards would
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  come and I remember there would be just services in the middle
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  of the week. And I didn't have a car.
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  I I I didn't like taking public transport much.
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  So I remember making hot chocolate and putting it into
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  one of those plastic bottles of water.
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  I drank the water and I'm like, maybe this will keep my hands
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  warm and I would sit for. I know it's safe to do it with a
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  plastic bottle water, but I did it anyway.
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  And I just put my jacket on, put pajamas underneath my underneath
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  my jeans. And I just walked to church
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  underneath underpasses and all these different things just to
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  get to the place where I knew God would meet with his people.
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  If you're not safe tonight, why? Why?
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  What are you holding on to? What sin are you so enjoying
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  that you're willing to deny Christ for?
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  So I want to tell you tonight that the Lord Jesus wants to
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  save you, and we're going to get into our Bible study.
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  Don't worry, this isn't going to turn into an evangelistic
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  meeting. But we have to be sensitive to
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  promptings, do we not? So if you don't know Christ at
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  any point in this meeting, you can talk to him and say, Lord, I
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  want to give my life to you. I believe you died on the cross
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  for my sins. I believe that I'm a Sinner.
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  I believe that you will one day come and return.
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  And I want to make sure that I'm in right standing with you.
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  And I believe with all my heart that if I confess my sins, if I
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  confess that your Lord, if I confess and believe in my heart
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  that God raised the Son of God from the dead, that my verdict
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  will be sealed, I will be a child of God, and I will have
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  redemption forever. You can do that anytime in this
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  meeting. And I believe with all my heart
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  that if you do it from a place of true repentance, you'll leave
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  here a different person. First Kings, Chapter 13.
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  And please meet me in verse 11. We have some visitors today.
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  We're so glad that you can join us, and I pray and hope that
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  though we are in the middle of a Bible study in the Old Testament
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  that you'll be able to follow with us at this particular.
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  Moment. But I want to open up this study
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  by asking a few questions. Is it possible for a true man of
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  God, a true man of God, in a moment of weakness, in a moment
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  of unpreparedness, to be deceived?
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  Is it possible for a true man of God to come to a point where he
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  makes such a significant failure to commit such a serious sin,
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  though his life has been generally marked by
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  faithfulness? Is it possible for a true man of
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  God to come to a place where he has so?
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  Grieved God that he would be cut off from this life as a result
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  of an act of divine discipline. And what the study will tell us
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  and teach us tonight is that the answer to those uncomfortable
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  questions is yes, it is possible for a true man of God who once
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  inspired us to disappoint us. And that might be strange coming
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  to this chapter to complete it, because last week we were
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  refreshed by witnessing a man of God from Judah, who traveled to
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  the northern Kingdom to confront King Jeroboam, who led the
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  people of Israel into severe and gross idolatry and with great
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  boldness rebuked him with a word from the Lord.
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  And this man's obedience was not just recognized by his singular
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  prophetic protest. This man's obedience was even
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  demonstrated in that he sought to obey God in every single way
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  that God revealed to him. So let us be reminded of how the
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  scene of our last study delightfully concluded.
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  So you're there in First Kings 13.
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  I told you to meet me in verse 11, but scroll back there to
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  verse 9 and read with me. We see here in First Kings 13,
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  verse 9, the man saying to Jeroboam.
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  For so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying,
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  you shall neither eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the
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  way that you came. So he went another way and did
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  not return by the way that he came to Bethel.
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  Oh, how I wish that this is where this man's testimony
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  ended. Wouldn't have been wonderful
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  that in the blackness of apostasy, this man who just came
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  like a firework on the scene would have entered into Bethel
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  obedient and would have exited and left Bethel in obedience.
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  But unfortunately, this is not where the curtain falls, because
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  the Spirit of God sees it necessary that we follow this
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  man of God from Judah, who now leaves from the northern part of
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  Israel and heads back home to see what happens on his way.
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  Because something happens on the way with this man of God, and it
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  is a massive mistake. It is a huge blunder, one that
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  will actually cost his life. So let's read the first several
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  verses of First Kings 1311 down to verse 17.
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  Now an old prophet lived in Bethel, and his sons came and
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  told them all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel.
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  They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to
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  the king. And their father said to them,
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  which way did he go? And his son showed him the way
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  that the man of God who came from Judah had gone.
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  And he said to his sons, saddle the donkey for me.
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  So they saddle the donkey for him, and he mounted it.
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  And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under
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  an oak. And he said to him, Are you the
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  man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am.
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  Then he said to him, come home with me and eat bread.
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  And he said, I may not return with you, or go in with you,
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  neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this
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  place. For it was said to me by the
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  word of the Lord, you shall neither eat bread nor drink
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  water there, nor return by the way that you came.
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  The Spirit of God introduces us to a new character in this
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  story, and we don't know his name, We don't know much about
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  him. All we are told in the
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  introduction of this character, that is that he was an old
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  prophet and the information surrounding him, the activity
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  connected to him gladly gives us enough information to indicate
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  his character to indicate the soundness of his spirituality.
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  So there are a few things to consider just from verse 11 that
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  will give us hints to what kind of prophet we are dealing with
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  here. Is he a safe prophet?
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  Is he a legitimate prophet? Is he a prophet who is walking
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  with the Lord? Is he a false prophet?
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  Let's consider a few things first.
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  We are told that he were lived in what Bethel, now an old
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  prophet lived in Bethel. Why is that noteworthy?
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  Any idea what is a prophet of God doing living in Bethel?
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  We learned something a couple of weeks ago, did we not?
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  There was this great exodus that took place from the northern
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  parts of Israel down to where who went down to Judah after
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  Jeroboam implemented his own religion, the Levites #1.
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  The true priesthood of God made their way down trickle down to
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  the South, and not just the Levites, but all whose hearts
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  sought. The Lord also packed their bags
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  and move their families down to where God was truly honored and
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  worshipped. What's the natural question
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  then? What is this prophet doing in
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  Bethel? Why is he here?
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  Why did he not migrate? Why did he not move?
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  Why is he and his family still in the same neighborhood where
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  idolatry is practiced and imposed?
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  Maybe he just got comfortable. Worse than being comfortable.
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  Maybe he became compliant. Here's the second thing about
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  this man. It's not with the man directly
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  by his sons. It was the sons of this prophet
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  who approached their father and gave them the update of what
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  took place between this man from Judah and the King.
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  How do they know what happened between the man of Judah and the
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  King? Any idea?
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  They witnessed it, meaning they were present when that face off
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  took place. Now that is true.
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  But where were they exactly? What was the occasion?
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  Yes, scroll back to verse one at first.
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  Kings 13 and behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the
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  word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the
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  altar to make offerings. This man from Judah didn't enter
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  into his palace, didn't enter into his headquarters.
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  He entered and interrupted a religious ceremony where
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  Jeroboam, as king, was also functioning as a priest.
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  And evidently he was not alone. Remember when he lifted up that
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  Bony finger and tried to get this man arrested?
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  He said seize him while he was telling other people to do it.
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  Obviously. And more than that, based on
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  what we see here in verse 11, the sons of this old prophet
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  were also in attendance. In attendance.
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  We're at a worship service for false deities.
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  Were they mere observers? Or worse, were they actually
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  participants? Here's an old prophet who knows
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  that his children are with Jeroboam, with a false
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  priesthood, a false God, a false altar.
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  What's going on here? Last observation, where did this
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  man of God come from when he came to give the pronouncement
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  of judgment to Jeroboam and his dynasty?
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  He came from where? Judah?
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  Why did God have to call a man from Judah to rebuke King
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  Jeroboam when there was a prophet in Bethel?
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  Is that a good question? Why didn't God call the man who
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  was just down the street to go and rebuke the king?
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  Why did he have to fetch for somebody miles and miles away to
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  do the job? Maybe this old prophet wasn't in
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  the right spiritual place to do anything about it.
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  So already just in verse 11 we have these concerns, warranted
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  concerns, flags about the legitimacy of this man.
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  Not that he would be a false prophet necessarily, but a
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  compromise one. And as we continue to read,
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  we'll discover something about him.
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  We see here that the kids come, the sons come, and their father
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  in verse 12 said to them, which way did he go?
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  And his son showed him the way that the man of God who came
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  from Judah had gone. And he said to his son, saddle
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  the donkey for me. So they saddle the donkey for
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  him, and he mounted it. And we read earlier that when he
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  finds the man of God, he attempts to persuade him to do
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  what? Come to my house for dinner?
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  Is this man curious? Is this man stirred and he wants
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  to know something more about this prophet, this man of God
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  who came from the South? What's his motive here and being
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  so ambitious to fetch for this man of God?
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  Well, we can speculate and we can debate what it was.
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  But I have a hunch, based on what we see in the text, that
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  he's not up to any good. Why go back to verse 11?
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  Now an old prophet lived in Bethel and his sons came and
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  told them listen to this, read your Bible slowly and told them
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  all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel.
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  They also told their father the words that he had spoken to the
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  king. So they recorded everything that
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  he had done, the miracles that took place, and everything that
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  this man from Judah had said, which includes what what we open
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  this Bible study with in verse 9.
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  This man of God made known I cannot eat or drink anything at
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  all in this place. So if it says here that the the
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  son said all the words that the man of Judah said, it includes
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  that the prohibition to remain in that area to eat or drink.
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  So the father, the old prophet, learned this, and yet still he
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  sought the man to invite him to do just that.
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  Why would you extend an invitation to something that has
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  been divinely decreed to not take place?
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  This man, obviously. Has a disregard for the word of
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  the Lord. This man obviously does not care
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  about this man's integrity in his own obedience.
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  And so we read. On and what do we see Verse 14.
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  And he went. After the man of God and found
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  him sitting under an oak. And he said to.
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  Him. Are you the man of God who came
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  from Judah? And he said I am.
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  So. He catches up to this man.
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  And no. Wonder because when they now
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  come into contact, the man from Judah is doing what?
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  Is he walking urgently back home?
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  He's sitting underneath an oak tree.
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  Was he? Fatigued Was he fatigued from a
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  day of fasting? From day of not drinking any
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  water perhaps. But I'm.
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  More persuaded that he is delaying unnecessarily his.
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  Journey. I mean, think about.
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  It God didn't tell this man from Judah you can't eat or drink
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  anything today. Is that what the Lord said?
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  No, He says you can't eat or drink anything at all.
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  What in this place? It's the geographical location.
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  Look, if I was told. By the Lord, you can't eat or
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  drink as long as you're in Norridge.
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  Guess what I want to get out of? Norwich as soon as possible.
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  Because I hadn't had breakfast, I had it on lunch and I'm not
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  willing to miss dinner. I'm getting out of Norwich.
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  I'm going to have to where I am at and I want to enjoy a nice,
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  warm, hot meal. What are you doing, man of
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  Judah? By sitting.
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  Underneath an oak. And the lesson here is very
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  important. It teaches us here of the
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  dangers that we open ourselves up to when we linger in a place
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  that we are not supposed to be lingering at.
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  Because you know what's so? Fascinating.
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  While this man is traversing back to his hometown, we read
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  that this father, this old prophet is told about this man
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  and he is preparing something. He has a scheme.
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  He has a plan that this man of God does not see coming.
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  And that's a picture. About how temptation works.
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  This is supposed to equip you and I about how to do spiritual
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  warfare. In the first 10 verses of this
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  chapter, this man of Judah, this man of God, overcame temptation.
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  Jeroboam told them. Hey listen, why don't you come
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  over to my place, I'll refresh you and I'll each actually
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  reward you. And he says no way, man.
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  God told me to go back, not the way I came in, and to not eat
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  anything while I'm in this place that is overcoming seduction.
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  And we applaud. Him for that, and we rejoice in
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  that. But do you?
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  Realize that just because you and I have overcome the
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  temptations of yesterday, it doesn't mean that there will be
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  no new temptations today or tomorrow.
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  In fact, even with a particular sin that you saw victory in, be
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  prepared. Be on guard that similar sins
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  are ready to surprise you with an invitation to indulge in it
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  once again. So we see.
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  That this man here overcame temptation, but new temptations
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  are preparing to pursue him while he's on the path of
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  obedience. Be mindful of that.
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  What you conquered yesterday does not mean.
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  That that will be. Automatic victory for today or
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  tomorrow. Watch and pray, lest you fall
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  into temptation. I can't rely on the strength
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  that I got from the Lord last week.
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  I need fresh. Strength today.
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  And this man. Unfortunately, is going to find
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  himself in a dangerous, vulnerable position, and partly
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  because he parked himself along the path.
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  And I wonder. If he could have dodged this old
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  man all together, if he had just made his way back home with
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  urgency. Beware of your environment.
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  Beware of entertaining and delaying the crowd.
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  Or the circumstances that you're in that are making provision for
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  the flesh, whether. You realize it or not?
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  I'm reminded of another man in the Old Testament who found
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  himself slipping into an area, slipping into a way of life,
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  without even realizing how one step very early on, would lead
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  to the next step and the next leap.
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  Into a. Very compromise and dangerous
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  place, one that would actually cost him his whole life and even
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  the life of his wife. His name is Lot.
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  Lot is not an unsaved man. If you just had the Genesis
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  account, you would conclude Lot ain't saved.
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  But then you come. To Peter's epistles.
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  And we're told about Lot 3 times that he was a righteous man.
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  Oh, come on, I was Lot a righteous man.
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  Well, he's a picture of a worldly Christian.
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  Do you know? How lot became worldly?
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  It was in steps. It was by.
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  Him choosing to linger somewhere to entertain something and that
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  leading him to accept something else and then to linger and and
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  stay there and that opening up another thing in another level
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  and it's so seamless, it's so unsuspecting and.
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  I want to show it to. You, with your own eyes and your
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  Bibles, go to Genesis 13. Come with me.
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  Come with me. To Genesis. 13 This Is Where It
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  All began for Lot. Lot.
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  And his uncle Abraham had a problem because both of them
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  were prospering and it didn't seem like there was enough
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  property to take care of their flock and their servants were
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  fighting. And so they had to make a
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  decision to split ways, and Lot had the choice.
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  And he gladly chose a location according to Genesis 13 verse
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  11. So lot.
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  Chose for himself all the Jordan Valley and Lot journeyed.
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  E Thus they separated from each other.
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  Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among
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  the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.
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  And here. Is why this is concerning.
• 23:53
  Verse 13. Now the men of Sodom were wicked
• 23:57
  great sinners against the Lord. So here's the first step for
• 24:00
  Lot. He split ways with his uncle,
• 24:03
  and he makes his way to the Jordan Valley because it looks
• 24:06
  so luscious and it looks so prosperous.
• 24:09
  And to to the human eye it seemed like this was the way to
• 24:13
  go. And so he sets up his tent not
• 24:16
  in Sodom, but as far as Sodom. He was just outside the city of
• 24:21
  Sodom. He was with these other people
• 24:22
  in these other cities in the valley.
• 24:24
  So far safe. Be careful.
• 24:28
  Where that you pitch your tent. Be careful where you comfortably
• 24:32
  place your life, your schedule, your fellowship, your thoughts,
• 24:37
  your entertainment, what you allow here and here.
• 24:39
  Be careful where you comfortably park that because notice what
• 24:43
  happens in the next chapter. In Genesis. 14 A war breaks up
• 24:47
  between these Pagan kings, and Sodom gets caught up.
• 24:52
  In the losing. Side and notice what happens in
• 24:54
  Genesis 1412. They also took Lot, the son of
• 24:59
  Abraham's brother, who was dwelling in Sodom.
• 25:05
  And his. Possessions and.
• 25:06
  Went their. Way well, in Chapter 13, he
• 25:09
  wasn't in Sodom. He went as far as Sodom, but he
• 25:11
  was in the valley. He was in the cities just
• 25:13
  outside of the city of Sodom. And then you read chapter 14 and
• 25:16
  you learn that Lot is kidnapped. Why?
• 25:19
  Because he's now living in the city of Sodom.
• 25:24
  And you learn. Later on that, he went from
• 25:25
  having a tent outside the city to having a house in the city.
• 25:29
  Hold on, it doesn't even end there though.
• 25:31
  Go to Genesis 19. And see.
• 25:35
  Where Lot ends up before judgment comes against Sodom.
• 25:42
  Genesis 19 One the two angels came to Sodom in the evening and
• 25:46
  Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.
• 25:52
  When lot? Saw them.
• 25:52
  He rose to meet them, and bowed himself with his face to the
• 25:55
  earth. A gate.
• 25:57
  In ancient times was a place where civil matters were dealt
• 26:01
  with, where councils and judicial decisions were made.
• 26:06
  You know what it. Means for Lot to be standing at
• 26:08
  the gate, he. Became.
• 26:10
  A leader in the city of Sodom. He became a.
• 26:14
  Judge in the city of Sodom, what do you have in common with the
• 26:18
  people of Sodom? Righteous lot for them to elect
• 26:21
  you as one of their leaders. Where did this all?
• 26:25
  Start for lot making a choice to dwell just outside of the city
• 26:29
  of Sodom and then the. Next.
• 26:30
  Chapter He finds himself dwelling in Sodom.
• 26:33
  And not only. That he's kidnapped.
• 26:35
  He's ransacked. He loses his possess
• 26:37
  possessions. Uncle 8 now comes in and rescues
• 26:40
  him and he goes back to Sodom and not only does he go back, he
• 26:45
  becomes a leader in it. It's always in small steps.
• 26:51
  It's it. Just happens without you even
• 26:53
  realizing it, where you find yourself being translated into a
• 26:57
  way of life, decisions, patterns of thinking.
• 27:01
  That you never thought was. Possible, and I'll tell you how
• 27:04
  it happens. Trace back to where it began.
• 27:08
  Where did you linger? Where you were not supposed to
• 27:11
  linger, Who were you with that you were not supposed to be with
• 27:15
  what? Were you doing?
• 27:16
  That you know you were not supposed to be doing.
• 27:19
  Here you find. This man of God from Judah,
• 27:21
  sitting underneath an oak. I argue that he was supposed to
• 27:25
  make his way back as soon as he could.
• 27:28
  And so we come back. To our main texts and 1st kings.
• 27:31
  Verse 13. Excuse Me, Chapter 13, verse 15.
• 27:37
  Then he said. To him come home with me and eat
• 27:39
  bread. This is so.
• 27:42
  Amazing. Verse 16.
• 27:44
  And he said, I may not return with you, or go in with you.
• 27:46
  Neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this
• 27:49
  place. For it was said to me by the
• 27:51
  word of the Lord, you shall neither eat bread nor drink
• 27:53
  water there, nor return by the way that you came.
• 27:56
  This is almost word for word what this man have got from
• 27:58
  Judah said to King Jeroboam. And so look, he does delay,
• 28:03
  right? But he's able to, in his initial
• 28:06
  answer, have resolve and actually reject this offer as
• 28:11
  well. And what's so?
• 28:13
  Impressive about this is that the invitation from this old
• 28:16
  prophet is less appealing than what King Jeroboam offered.
• 28:19
  Remember King Jeroboam said come home with me that you may be
• 28:22
  refreshed and I will give you a reward.
• 28:25
  This old prophet doesn't promise him any reward.
• 28:28
  Look what he says back in verse 15.
• 28:29
  Then he said to him, come home with me and eat bread.
• 28:32
  That's less. Enticing in my opinion.
• 28:34
  Hey, if I had a choice between King Jeroboam's offer and this
• 28:37
  man's offer, I'm going to go with King Jeroboam's.
• 28:38
  At least there's a reward in this thing.
• 28:40
  Just come home and eat bread with me so he's able to resist
• 28:45
  here. But notice there's no reward
• 28:49
  mentioned. But what this old prophet did
• 28:52
  have was a persistence and a packaging that this man of God
• 28:57
  was not prepared for. Satan is very clever.
• 29:02
  In finding. Out what you were able to
• 29:04
  resist, and then to repackage that sin so that it seems less
• 29:08
  harmful and more acceptable. He's doing it in many ways.
• 29:14
  One of the most common ways I love to remind people of is how
• 29:17
  we're living in a day where the vocabulary for sin has
• 29:20
  drastically changed, has drastically changed.
• 29:25
  And I believe. Even that alone is a strategy
• 29:28
  for us to not feel the sting of sin.
• 29:32
  God gave us. A book.
• 29:33
  Words are important to God. And so we're.
• 29:36
  Living in a culture now where we're trying to cloud and cause
• 29:40
  things to seem more innocent and more friendly and more honorable
• 29:46
  so that we do not see how filthy it really is.
• 29:49
  We do not. See how great of an offense it
• 29:52
  really is? And what we're about to read
• 29:54
  here. Is that the same sin is offered
• 29:56
  to this man of God, but now it is encased differently to disarm
• 30:03
  this man of. God from Judah and there are
• 30:07
  three. Things that stand out from this
• 30:08
  man's successful seduction, that are crucial to highlight and be
• 30:12
  aware for ourselves. Notice how we didn't read this
• 30:14
  yet? How things are going to take an
• 30:16
  ugly turn. Verse 18 And he said to.
• 30:21
  Him. I also am a prophet, as you are,
• 30:28
  and an Angel. Spoke to me by the word of the
• 30:30
  Lord saying Bring him back with you.
• 30:33
  Into your house that he may eat bread and drink water, but he
• 30:37
  lied to him, but he lied to him. There are three.
• 30:41
  Things that stand out here. That genuine men and women of
• 30:45
  God have to be so careful of. The first.
• 30:49
  Thing that we observe is that this man seeks to identify
• 30:53
  common ground. With this man of God from Judah.
• 30:57
  Notice that he says I too am a prophet.
• 30:59
  Did he stop there? I too am a prophet like you.
• 31:06
  Hey, we're from the same camp. Hey, we serve in the same kind
• 31:10
  of ministry. You can broaden.
• 31:13
  That though it's not implied in the text, but you can broaden
• 31:15
  the application. We have the same convictions.
• 31:17
  We have the same statement of faith.
• 31:19
  We're from the same denomination.
• 31:22
  We grew up in the. Same church perhaps?
• 31:26
  You know when it comes. To Jeroboam, offering this
• 31:28
  temptation, it was very easy for the man of Judah to reject it.
• 31:31
  But when it came from a fellow prophet, there was a greater
• 31:33
  appeal. I too am a.
• 31:35
  Prophet like you. You know, I've noticed.
• 31:38
  Something about believers over the years who have turned their
• 31:41
  back on the Lord who have gone to who.
• 31:44
  Have gone off. The rails in their faithfulness
• 31:46
  the Lord and have. Dove.
• 31:48
  Into worldliness in serious. Serious.
• 31:52
  Ways. Ways that scar them for life.
• 31:56
  Your experience might be different from mine, but let me
• 31:58
  tell you from my observation that most Christians don't
• 32:01
  backslide because of worldly people persuading, though it
• 32:05
  happens. In my.
• 32:07
  Experience. I've seen most Christians
• 32:08
  backslide through other compromising Christians.
• 32:13
  I to him A. Prophet like you.
• 32:17
  It seems. Safer when there's somebody who
• 32:18
  claims the name of Christ, inviting you to sin with them,
• 32:23
  for them alongside them. And so right here.
• 32:27
  Already, this man seems to be more comfortable with the idea
• 32:30
  of this invitation because he seems like he's on the same
• 32:34
  team. Be.
• 32:36
  Careful of people within the Church, within Christendom, who.
• 32:41
  Attempt. To pull you away from God, I
• 32:43
  don't care how long you've known them for.
• 32:46
  I don't care how. Well, their lives seem to be
• 32:49
  going. You know what's more?
• 32:51
  Important than your friendships. You know what's more important
• 32:52
  even than your family? God.
• 32:55
  And his word, you know when you said?
• 32:58
  Yes to Jesus Christ. You know what?
• 32:59
  You said yes to. I'm going to follow you no
• 33:01
  matter what and. Lord, you're more.
• 33:03
  Important to me than my brother, my sister, my mother, my father,
• 33:05
  anything else. That doesn't mean you neglect
• 33:06
  your family. That doesn't mean that you
• 33:08
  become a Christian jerk That. Doesn't mean become rude and
• 33:11
  insensitive. Self-righteous and hypocritical?
• 33:14
  No. That means that.
• 33:16
  When it comes to a decision between following the Lord or
• 33:18
  following those who are closest to you, the Lord wins your
• 33:21
  devotion every time. I too.
• 33:24
  Am a prophet like you. This man perks up.
• 33:30
  I wonder if he stood up from sitting underneath that oak.
• 33:33
  And his antennas. Now are up.
• 33:36
  Secondly, the older prophet not only says and finds common
• 33:39
  ground, he leverages his position to make himself more
• 33:44
  trustworthy. He didn't say I'm.
• 33:48
  A worshipper like you, he. Didn't say I.
• 33:51
  Follow true living God like you, he says.
• 33:52
  I too am a prophet. Like you, how often do people?
• 34:00
  Abuse their titles, their authority, their platforms to
• 34:05
  take advantage of others far too common.
• 34:08
  Far. Too.
• 34:08
  Common and not only does a position, even a spiritual
• 34:12
  position, have a potency to intoxicate the one who possesses
• 34:16
  it, but has an ability to overwhelm others who are around
• 34:22
  it. And those.
• 34:25
  Who have public gifts and those who have leadership positions
• 34:29
  and those who have authority have to be especially careful
• 34:33
  and have to really fear the Lord.
• 34:35
  Because. By virtue of that position, you
• 34:38
  win the respect and trust of those.
• 34:41
  Who are? Benefiting from your service.
• 34:44
  That. Authority comes with so much
• 34:46
  responsibility, and sometimes that authority can can be as
• 34:50
  simple as being older. This man was an older prophet,
• 34:53
  more experienced supposedly, and so also be careful of those who
• 34:59
  may have titles, who may have pedigrees, who may have.
• 35:02
  Names with letters beside it who may have.
• 35:05
  Great views on YouTube and may have great followings.
• 35:09
  And they seem to. Impress you or win your trust,
• 35:11
  and you respect them so much if you're not careful to always
• 35:16
  keep Christ before you, no matter what a man or a woman of
• 35:19
  God has done for you. You are in.
• 35:21
  Danger of falling into deception.
• 35:25
  Christ. Matters more than any leader in
• 35:27
  the church. Christ matters.
• 35:29
  More than any person in your life that's spoken into your
• 35:32
  life. Men of God.
• 35:34
  Older men of God. Older women of God are prone to
• 35:37
  mess up and fail. Be very careful to not put your
• 35:40
  trust in man. And be wary that there are some.
• 35:47
  People who are older, older in the faith, older in years that
• 35:51
  have no problem praying on younger believers who are more
• 35:53
  naive. And willing to believe.
• 35:56
  Those who have. More experience.
• 35:59
  Trust the word of God. The third thing.
• 36:03
  That this old prophet does to win this younger prophets trust
• 36:06
  is to justify his request by an ecstatic experience.
• 36:10
  So not only does. He say I also am a prophet, as
• 36:12
  you are, he goes on to say, and an Angel spoke to me by the word
• 36:17
  of the Lord. Saying.
• 36:19
  Bring him back with you into your house.
• 36:22
  That he may eat bread and drink water.
• 36:24
  This is new. Jeroboam didn't have the
• 36:26
  audacity to do that. He was an idolatry.
• 36:29
  But this man attempts to put authority behind his message by
• 36:36
  claiming a supernatural divine approval with it.
• 36:41
  I have met poor souls, lovely Christians, genuine hearted,
• 36:47
  innocent believers who have received direction in life from
• 36:53
  those. Who have come?
• 36:55
  With the claim of a personalized revelation on their behalf.
• 37:00
  And that. Guidance, unfortunately, has
• 37:02
  caused more confusion than anything.
• 37:06
  And these. People who are recipients of
• 37:08
  such messages are so thrown into a loop that they live many years
• 37:12
  crippled in fear, thinking if I don't obey what this person told
• 37:17
  me, not what God told me, not what the word of God told me,
• 37:19
  what this person told me on behalf of God, then maybe I will
• 37:22
  disobey God. You and I should.
• 37:26
  Always be open, always, to receiving exhortation, counsel,
• 37:30
  instruction from those who use the Word of God to speak into
• 37:33
  our lives. But you and I should.
• 37:35
  Be very cautious from those who feel comfortable giving you
• 37:39
  personalized direction in your life from the place of
• 37:42
  personalized experience on your behalf.
• 37:48
  There are. People who are tormented because
• 37:52
  of this kind of ministry genuinely terrified that if they
• 37:56
  don't do what's been told to them, they are going to be in
• 37:59
  greater danger. The Bible is your authority.
• 38:04
  The Word of God. Is your authority.
• 38:05
  You know, all it takes is for all it takes is from any.
• 38:09
  Most people, not anybody, but most people in this day of age,
• 38:12
  to have somebody who has a charismatic gift and ability to
• 38:15
  communicate with these elaborate stories of what God has done in
• 38:18
  him and through him, and they're hooked.
• 38:21
  And even if such a person, I know this sounds outlanded, but
• 38:24
  it's true. Even if that person begins to
• 38:25
  have some connection to the word of God.
• 38:27
  But now introduce strange teachings or call people do the
• 38:31
  things that the Bible doesn't call them to do.
• 38:33
  Or lace things with the gospel that the gospel is not, people
• 38:36
  will give in to it. All it takes.
• 38:40
  Is for people to hear somebody having experience going here,
• 38:43
  experiencing that miracles flowing through them, and that's
• 38:46
  all it takes for people to give their hearts and their wallets
• 38:49
  and their wills to such ministers and ministries, an
• 38:53
  Angel told me. Oh, is that all it takes?
• 38:55
  An Angel told me. You know what, John?
• 38:57
  Told believers in First John 41. It's a very common passage.
• 39:00
  He says Beloved do not believe every spirit.
• 39:03
  Why would he say that? Maybe because Christians are
• 39:06
  prone to believe things they shouldn't.
• 39:09
  Beloved do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to
• 39:13
  see whether they are from God. So I'm not called to listen to
• 39:18
  this. I know me shocking.
• 39:18
  I'm not called to just gobble up anything that comes my way
• 39:22
  because the name of Jesus has slapped on it.
• 39:26
  I'm not even. Called to believe everything
• 39:27
  that comes my way just because verses are quoted.
• 39:30
  Satan quoted verses to Jesus. He came to Jesus as isn't it
• 39:34
  written and he quotes scripture. You know what?
• 39:37
  Jesus has to deflect it and overcome it.
• 39:39
  It is also written. You know what that?
• 39:41
  Tells me Satan will quote verses out of context, and if you do
• 39:45
  not know the Bible in its context, you're also prone to
• 39:48
  deception. The way to defeat Satan is not
• 39:51
  just know what is written, but what is all written.
• 39:55
  So when Satan? Says it is written.
• 39:56
  You can say yeah, but you took that out of contest because look
• 39:58
  what it says. Here it is also written.
• 40:01
  And so. People have to understand here,
• 40:04
  according to first John four one that we have every right.
• 40:07
  It is our duty to test. To be careful.
• 40:11
  To be calculated not to be cynical, Not to.
• 40:14
  Be ugly. But to be cautious, why John for
• 40:20
  many that word? Sprung up to me today.
• 40:23
  Not some many false prophets have gone out into the world.
• 40:27
  Many. Can I tell you what?
• 40:29
  You can learn based out of First Kings 13 and many other
• 40:31
  examples. There are people within our
• 40:35
  camps. There are people who will
• 40:38
  leverage their position, their authority, their gifting, their
• 40:41
  status. There are people who will appeal
• 40:44
  to supernatural revelatory experiences.
• 40:47
  Listen to this to intentionally lie to you.
• 40:52
  Intentionally lied to you. Some are so.
• 40:56
  Convinced of themselves that they, they themselves are
• 41:00
  deceived about what they believe.
• 41:01
  But there are others who will intentionally manipulate you.
• 41:05
  You know, there's much debate about why this man of God went
• 41:07
  out of his way to invoke the name of the Lord and lie to this
• 41:10
  man of God about what happened to him so they can have him over
• 41:13
  to his house. I mean, why go to that great
• 41:16
  lengths to actually blasphemy God to have dinner with this
• 41:19
  man? We're.
• 41:20
  Not told. But you know what that tells me?
• 41:22
  That there are some people in this life who are so wanting
• 41:25
  something from you that they're willing to lie to you to have
• 41:28
  it. I I get it this sounds.
• 41:31
  Scary you. You have no right to be scared
• 41:33
  because you have he who is greater in you.
• 41:36
  Than he was in the world. I'm not trying to.
• 41:38
  Scare you? I'm trying to prepare you.
• 41:39
  That's why the stories in the Bible.
• 41:42
  Know the. Word be prayerful.
• 41:44
  Don't be gullible. And you'll be more.
• 41:47
  Than safe, you'll be prosperous spiritually.
• 41:50
  So, John? Says test.
• 41:52
  Now why would I need to test something unless it's
• 41:54
  immediately recognizable and obviously false?
• 41:57
  Obviously I'm called to test something because it seems
• 42:00
  right. And there are.
• 42:01
  Ministers and there are messages that seem convincing and of
• 42:05
  Christ, when in fact they're not.
• 42:07
  And all it takes is a little bit of probing, an investigation for
• 42:09
  it to fall apart and realize it's a facade.
• 42:14
  But it requires. Tests.
• 42:15
  Well, how do you test things? You.
• 42:16
  Have to 1st. Determine in your Christian walk
• 42:18
  that the word of God is my supreme authority.
• 42:21
  The word of. God is my supreme authority.
• 42:23
  It's not an authority with other authorities.
• 42:25
  It's an authority even more than miracles.
• 42:29
  You're going to have. Masses deceived in the last
• 42:31
  days. You know why?
• 42:33
  Because the false Antichrist will perform miracles.
• 42:37
  That's all it's going to take for people to give their
• 42:40
  devotion to Him more than miracles.
• 42:43
  More than. History more than church.
• 42:46
  History more than anything you have to determine to be shielded
• 42:50
  from any kind of deception. This word is my determiner of
• 42:55
  truth. All this man had to do was an
• 42:59
  Angel. Told you that.
• 43:00
  But I got this from the word of the Lord.
• 43:03
  So we have a problem here. But he didn't.
• 43:07
  You know what's so sad? Tell me about.
• 43:11
  The king that this man confronted, what was his name?
• 43:15
  Jeroboam. Who was the king from the South
• 43:18
  sounds like Jeroboam Rehoboam. What was the downfall of
• 43:24
  Rehoboam? Ultimately?
• 43:26
  He took counsel from the wrong people.
• 43:28
  What was the downfall? Of Jeroboam.
• 43:30
  Same thing. When he was scared about the
• 43:33
  allegiance of the northern tribes going back to the
• 43:35
  southern Kingdom, he came up with this false religion.
• 43:37
  But he didn't come up come up with it on his own, it says.
• 43:39
  He took counsel. Rehoboam.
• 43:42
  To counsel, it led to his downfall, Jeroboam.
• 43:44
  To counsel, it led to his downfall, this man.
• 43:46
  To counsel and he's following in their steps.
• 43:50
  If you haven't learned yet from Rehoboam, if you haven't learned
• 43:53
  yet from Jeroboam, please, please.
• 43:55
  Learn from this man. Now be careful.
• 43:58
  Of the voices that are speaking into your life.
• 44:01
  You have 3. People in a row.
• 44:04
  Who messed? Up because of that one failure,
• 44:08
  taking in things that did not come from the Lord.
• 44:13
  Let's read on. Shall we?
• 44:16
  Verse 20. Verse 19 tells us that he went
• 44:19
  back with him, ate bread in his house and drank water.
• 44:21
  Now just imagine the site. Here you have this man of God
• 44:23
  from Judah sitting at the table with this old prophet.
• 44:27
  Having dinner together and this. Nice quiet evening.
• 44:31
  All of a sudden now is interrupted by what we read in
• 44:34
  verse 20. And as they.
• 44:36
  Sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who
• 44:39
  had brought him back, and he cried to the man of God, who
• 44:42
  came from Judah. Thus says the Lord, because you
• 44:46
  have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and you have not kept the
• 44:49
  command that the Lord your God commanded you, but have come
• 44:52
  back and have eaten bread and drunk water.
• 44:54
  In the place of which he said to you, Eat no bread and drink no
• 44:57
  water, Your body shall not come to the tomb of your Father's.
• 45:02
  That's. Shocking.
• 45:04
  And I. Wonder if this man had a heart
• 45:06
  sinking experience in that moment while bread was still
• 45:09
  between his teeth. Can you imagine that?
• 45:13
  Here you are thinking all is well.
• 45:15
  Oh, thankful that this. Angel came to this old prophet
• 45:17
  and tell me you know what? I changed my mind.
• 45:19
  Come on over for dinner. You can eat in this place.
• 45:22
  And then this man. Of God drops his fork, looks up,
• 45:26
  and it says he cried. I mean, I would have.
• 45:27
  That's startling. And he gets a.
• 45:29
  True Word from the Lord. You've disobeyed.
• 45:33
  God. How do we explain this?
• 45:36
  How do we have this old prophet who is so compromised being a
• 45:39
  mouthpiece for for God? It's very easy.
• 45:43
  God can speak through whom He wills when He wills to perform
• 45:46
  His will. You have.
• 45:49
  Balaam, where God took the curses out of Balaam's heart and
• 45:53
  transformed them through his lips to be blessings over
• 45:55
  Israel. You had Balaam who was rebuked
• 45:57
  when God spoke through his donkey.
• 45:59
  And you have this man whom God use as a.
• 46:02
  Mouthpiece to get the attention of his servant from Judah and
• 46:06
  the judgment. Is very clear, is it not?
• 46:09
  You're a dead man, and you will not.
• 46:11
  Receive the honor of being buried with your father's.
• 46:16
  You look at that and you. Think to yourself.
• 46:17
  This seems a little severe, seems a little bit intense, and
• 46:23
  maybe this judgment might tempt you and I to think and to
• 46:26
  reconsider. The validity of this man from
• 46:29
  Judah's faith and his walk with the Lord.
• 46:32
  How can God call for the cessation of this man's life if
• 46:36
  he was truly a child of God? But let me remind.
• 46:40
  You that both in the New and in the Old Testament, God though
• 46:45
  sealing your faith through the blood of his Son.
• 46:47
  Jesus Christ will in his love and his wisdom implement
• 46:51
  discipline even to the degree of taking someone home early.
• 46:57
  And there are a few examples of this and one comes to mind.
• 47:00
  The one that comes to mind is in First Corinthians 11 verse 30,
• 47:03
  where Paul gives instructions about the Lord's table and the
• 47:06
  Corinthians. Were really, really, really
• 47:08
  messing up how they approach the Lord's Table and Paul.
• 47:11
  Gave commentary to why some of the believers in the church were
• 47:15
  experiencing certain things, and this is what he says in First
• 47:17
  Corinthians 11 verse 30. That is why many of you are
• 47:21
  weak. And ill and some have died.
• 47:27
  Some have. He's.
• 47:28
  Not talking about the world, He's talking about people in the
• 47:31
  church. And here we read of different
• 47:35
  levels of discipline. You have some who are weak, you
• 47:37
  have some who are ill, and you have some who have even reached
• 47:39
  the point where. They went home.
• 47:43
  Earlier than planned and hoped. But you know.
• 47:47
  This may seem. Startling to us Paul, it's so
• 47:50
  amazing in the same passage just two verses later.
• 47:52
  Assures the believer, though. Though you may.
• 47:55
  Experience the heavy hand of the Lord because of your persistent
• 47:59
  disobedience and unrepentance. That doesn't mean.
• 48:02
  That you lose your salvation. Look at verse 32, First
• 48:05
  Corinthians 11. But when we are judged by the
• 48:08
  Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along
• 48:12
  with the world. Isn't that wonderful?
• 48:16
  Even in a text like this that seems so severe and so final and
• 48:19
  seems to to spell out the displeasure of the Lord, we're
• 48:23
  confident realizing that even if a believer experiences some
• 48:27
  unusual activity in his life, moments and events in his life
• 48:34
  as a result of God as a Father moving in to correct them.
• 48:38
  That doesn't. Change their standing before the
• 48:40
  Lord because. Of the blood of Jesus Christ,
• 48:42
  that's how. Secure we are.
• 48:47
  Why would God do this, though? It still begs the question, why
• 48:50
  would the Lord ever see it necessary to even bring one of
• 48:56
  His children into glory before their time?
• 48:59
  At least they're hoped and designed time.
• 49:02
  We will never know the full reasons behind his decrees, but
• 49:05
  it could be that in some cases one has so tarnished their
• 49:07
  testimony. Listen very carefully to this.
• 49:09
  It could be that one has so tarnished their testimony.
• 49:13
  That the best? Thing to do after that.
• 49:16
  Is to say, OK, I have to take you your your testimony here,
• 49:22
  the saltiness is so drained, it's so gone that the best thing
• 49:26
  to do out of this place is to say son, daughter, you're coming
• 49:28
  home with me. And it also could be that
• 49:33
  through. This.
• 49:34
  Fatherly chastisement for disobedience.
• 49:36
  There would also be the sanctifying effect that would
• 49:39
  take place in those who are still alive.
• 49:44
  And that's exactly what we see in this story.
• 49:46
  You might be wondering why did this man of God?
• 49:50
  Have to die and notice we didn't get a date of when it was going
• 49:54
  to happen, but it happens the same day.
• 49:57
  Verse 23 And after he had eaten bread and drunk, he saddled the
• 50:01
  donkey for the prophet whom he had brought back and.
• 50:05
  As he. Went away, A lion met him on the
• 50:07
  road and killed him. And his body.
• 50:10
  Was thrown in the road. And the donkey stood beside it.
• 50:14
  The lion also stood beside the body.
• 50:20
  And So what this man didn't realize was this dinner that he
• 50:23
  wasn't supposed to have was in fact, his last dinner.
• 50:27
  He has. A vehicle to be able to head
• 50:29
  back and on his way back a lion appears out of.
• 50:33
  Nowhere slays the man kills him. But then we're.
• 50:38
  Told that he was thrown into the road and the donkey stood beside
• 50:42
  it and the lion also stood beside it.
• 50:44
  OK, let's pause here and let's collect everything that we
• 50:47
  learned from last week to this week to make sense of this
• 50:49
  moment, right? This man, when he comes from
• 50:52
  Judah, approaches King Jeroboam. He denounces him, tells him that
• 50:56
  the altar is going to be desecrated.
• 50:57
  Your dynasty is done. He signs off by saying I cannot
• 51:01
  eat or drink in this place. God told me not to, and he makes
• 51:05
  his way back. On that journey.
• 51:08
  This old prophet comes, invites him to eat and drink.
• 51:11
  He disobeyed. And word.
• 51:13
  Gets around very quickly as we're about to find out.
• 51:19
  How the man? Had lived.
• 51:21
  Even if he didn't. Live.
• 51:24
  Had king. Jeroboam and the people in that
• 51:26
  moment heard that the man of God who rebuked them and told them
• 51:29
  that he himself, as an example of obedience, would not disobey
• 51:31
  the Lord. Would that have?
• 51:33
  Hurt his message to Jeroboam. Would have hurt.
• 51:38
  His testimony. If after telling him what God
• 51:41
  told him to do, you do the exact opposite, it wouldn't have
• 51:43
  helped the message. It could have possibly discredit
• 51:46
  it all together. And that's what this.
• 51:49
  Man did he now tarnished his testimony and his message, And
• 51:54
  now the Lord in his wisdom has to find a new way to send a.
• 51:58
  Message to Jeroboam in what way? By killing his unfaithful
• 52:02
  servant, saying Why? To communicate.
• 52:08
  That at this critical point in Israel's history that there is
• 52:11
  no one who is above the word of God to communicate to King
• 52:16
  Jeroboam that disobedience will be met with judgment.
• 52:20
  So imagine if this news, which it does, reaches Jeroboam.
• 52:25
  How would that translate? This is how it translate
• 52:28
  Jeroboam if I'm willing to do this with my own prophet.
• 52:33
  What do you think? I'm willing to do with you for
• 52:36
  rebelling against me. That's what's that's what's
• 52:40
  being projected here through this tragedy.
• 52:44
  And if you think that's. A stretch.
• 52:45
  Look at the end of this chapter and notice what happens in verse
• 52:48
  33. After.
• 52:51
  This thing after all that we're about to read here, this thing
• 52:54
  including the lion killing the man of God.
• 52:56
  After this thing, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but
• 53:00
  made priests for the high places again from all among all the
• 53:03
  people. Any who would he ordained to be
• 53:05
  priests of of the high places. So after this thing took place,
• 53:09
  you would hope that something would happen to Jeroboam's
• 53:13
  heart. I mean, we see.
• 53:15
  God here swiftly disciplining his his own servant.
• 53:18
  But we also see the incredible patience of God, do we not?
• 53:22
  Jeroboam. Comes and rebukes him, gives him
• 53:24
  a denouncement, gives him a prophecy.
• 53:26
  The altar breaks open. The ashes spill out.
• 53:28
  He stretches out his hand. It freezes.
• 53:30
  He prays. The hand comes back.
• 53:33
  And even. After the man of God is slayed.
• 53:37
  He still. Wasn't getting it.
• 53:39
  No matter. What God tried to do to get this
• 53:41
  man to repent his heart only got harder and harder and harder.
• 53:47
  And the Lord. Even did this in a in a way in
• 53:50
  which it would be undeniable that it was an act of God.
• 53:52
  How is it normal for a lion to slay a man and to just sit
• 53:56
  there? Is it normal for a donkey to sit
• 54:01
  beside a lion? No.
• 54:04
  Naturally speaking, you would think that the lion would devour
• 54:07
  the man, devour the donkey, or the donkey would get away from
• 54:09
  there as soon as possible. But the sight that was seen by
• 54:12
  the travelers who made their way through this road was that there
• 54:15
  was a slain man, a lion standing there, a donkey standing there.
• 54:20
  This is weird. There's something here that's
• 54:23
  deep. This is not a freak accident.
• 54:26
  This is not some. Unfortunate attack.
• 54:27
  This is divinely orchestrated. Go back to verse 25 to see
• 54:30
  exactly what I'm saying and behold.
• 54:33
  In other words, pay attention. Look at this and behold, men
• 54:36
  passed by and saw the body thrown in the road, and the lion
• 54:41
  standing by the body. And they came and told it in the
• 54:44
  city where the old prophet lived.
• 54:46
  It became headline news. And so, Jeroboam.
• 54:50
  Was not the only one who heard about this.
• 54:52
  Now the old prophet learns about it.
• 54:54
  And this is where. Things get really interesting.
• 54:56
  We're almost done. Look at verse 26.
• 55:00
  And when the Prophet. Who had brought him back from
• 55:02
  the way heard of it? He said It is the man of God who
• 55:05
  disobeyed the word of the Lord. Therefore the Lord has given him
• 55:09
  to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the
• 55:12
  word that the Lord spoke to him. And he said to.
• 55:16
  His sons saddle the donkey for me and they.
• 55:19
  Saddled it, and he went and found his body thrown in the
• 55:22
  road, and the donkey and the lion standing beside the body.
• 55:26
  The lion had not eaten the body or torn the donkey.
• 55:30
  And how many times? We have to hear about this lion
• 55:32
  and donkey. So the man hears the news.
• 55:36
  He gets in his own car. Makes his way to the place, and
• 55:39
  sure enough, there is the slain man, and there's the lion, and
• 55:43
  there's the donkey. And the Holy Spirit highlights
• 55:46
  specifically the lion, the last part of.
• 55:48
  Verse 20. The lion had not eaten the body
• 55:51
  or torn the donkey. You know what that's
• 55:53
  emphasizing. Self-control.
• 55:58
  This lion had self-control. It it was.
• 56:02
  Not natural, obviously. It was empowered by God.
• 56:06
  And I think. That the reason why this is
• 56:08
  brought to our attention is to highlight just how dark it was
• 56:12
  in the days of Israel at this time.
• 56:16
  You couldn't find evidence. Of obedience with the kings,
• 56:18
  whether from the South or from the North.
• 56:20
  And now we just learned you couldn't even find obedience
• 56:23
  with a prophet. But you know where you find
• 56:25
  obedience an. Animal not with the.
• 56:29
  Kings. Not with the prophets.
• 56:31
  A beast. You have a beast that's
• 56:34
  submitting to the will of God. And it's almost like this
• 56:37
  strange sights, right? This rebuke almost looks
• 56:40
  contrast. Can't find it in.
• 56:43
  The people of God, But you can find it here.
• 56:45
  With this animal, you're supposed.
• 56:48
  To feel grieved as you read that.
• 56:52
  Here's this. Lion who's not willing to have a
• 56:53
  meal for himself. In the same context of a man of
• 56:57
  God who was told not to eat a meal, and he did anyway.
• 57:04
  Verse 20. 9 And the prophet took up the body of the man of God,
• 57:09
  and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to the city, to
• 57:12
  mourn and to bury him. And he laid the body in his own
• 57:15
  grave. And they mourned over him,
• 57:17
  saying, Alas, my brother. And after he had buried him, he
• 57:21
  said to his sons, When I die, bury me in the grave in which
• 57:25
  the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones.
• 57:30
  For the saying. That he called out by the word
• 57:31
  of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the
• 57:34
  houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaritan,
• 57:36
  shall surely come to pass. I'm confused by this guy.
• 57:42
  Are you not sitting in my desk? Like, who is this person?
• 57:47
  In one. Reading, you see him comfortably
• 57:49
  blaspheming God, lying on behalf of God, dishonouring and
• 57:53
  disregarding the word of God. And in the next.
• 57:56
  Reading, you find this man. Revering.
• 58:00
  The Word of God, acknowledging the word of the Lord even being
• 58:02
  broken over the loss of this man of God.
• 58:05
  How do you make? Sense of this?
• 58:08
  Well, some would be. Satisfied to say that this is
• 58:10
  just the perfect picture of those who have confusing
• 58:13
  convictions and conducts. One day they seem right with the
• 58:16
  Lord, the next day you don't know if they're a Christian.
• 58:18
  Another day, they seem kind of Christian.
• 58:22
  Or or. Or what just happened with this
• 58:29
  man awakened this old prophet, his conscience came alive again.
• 58:35
  And now he. Himself is disturbed about
• 58:39
  himself saying really perhaps. Notice again his request in
• 58:46
  verse 31. When I die, he says, bury me in
• 58:49
  the grave in which the man of God is buried.
• 58:51
  That's. That's.
• 58:53
  Strange for somebody you just met.
• 58:57
  Being buried. In an honorable place, in the
• 58:59
  place of your father's was. Was something.
• 59:01
  Sought after by the patriarchs, even they wanted to make sure
• 59:04
  that they were buried with their fathers.
• 59:05
  And yet this man felt this incredible need to be buried
• 59:08
  with this unnamed man of God from Judah and noticed his
• 59:12
  language very carefully. He says.
• 59:14
  Lay my bones beside his bones. You know why that's significant?
• 59:23
  Go back to verse two of First Kings 13.
• 59:25
  And remember what the man of God said to Jeroboam.
• 59:29
  Look at the last. Part of verse 2.
• 59:33
  He says. Josiah by name, and he shall
• 59:35
  sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make
• 59:39
  offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.
• 59:46
  So one of the. Greatest acts of desecration
• 59:48
  would be that the bones of these false priests and messengers
• 59:51
  would be placed on these false altars and disrespected by being
• 59:56
  burned on the altars. And I'm.
• 1:00:00
  Persuaded that this man of God in knowing that prophecy and.
• 1:00:04
  Even. Knowing in the compromise
• 1:00:05
  condition that he was in living in Bethel, having his kids,
• 1:00:08
  going to false worship services, lying on behalf of the name of
• 1:00:11
  God. Did not.
• 1:00:13
  Want the same fate as these false priests?
• 1:00:17
  He did not. Want his bones to be burned on
• 1:00:19
  these altars. He wanted to, as we just read,
• 1:00:22
  perhaps died the death of the righteous.
• 1:00:27
  I don't want to end the way I've been.
• 1:00:30
  I want to change. And more than.
• 1:00:35
  That he publicly acknowledges the prophecy that the man of God
• 1:00:39
  made about Jeroboam. And we saw how the reaction of
• 1:00:42
  Jeroboam shows that to make such a declaration with to put
• 1:00:46
  yourself in danger. Notice when he says in verse 32
• 1:00:49
  for the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord
• 1:00:52
  against the altar in Bethel and against all the House of the
• 1:00:54
  high places that are in the cities of Samaritan shall surely
• 1:00:57
  come to pass. It's going to happen.
• 1:00:59
  I believe that prophecy. Perhaps this?
• 1:01:04
  Man now is willing to acknowledge the truth and to
• 1:01:09
  not. Just keep it here.
• 1:01:10
  But to say it, it's going to happen, I'm not afraid to say
• 1:01:13
  it's going to happen. And when it does.
• 1:01:15
  Happen. Listen, I want to be buried with
• 1:01:18
  that man. I don't want to be buried with
• 1:01:20
  these other people that are going to be judged when Josiah
• 1:01:22
  comes on the scene. And perhaps.
• 1:01:27
  The greatest piece of evidence that this man's conscience was
• 1:01:30
  awakened for the good is when Josiah actually does come on the
• 1:01:34
  scene. And Josiah.
• 1:01:36
  Does fulfill this prophecy where he takes the bones of these
• 1:01:39
  false priests and burns them? But notice something in our last
• 1:01:42
  text for tonight and 2nd Kings 23.
• 1:01:45
  So you're in First Kings go to the Neighboring book and 2nd
• 1:01:48
  Kings 23. We're near. 300 years after this
• 1:01:54
  prophecy was declared, Josiah appears.
• 1:01:57
  And he brings. Judgment as it was foretold.
• 1:02:01
  But in second. Kings 2317 we read then, he
• 1:02:04
  said. What is that monument?
• 1:02:05
  That I see. And the men of the.
• 1:02:08
  City told them it is the tomb of the man of God who came from
• 1:02:10
  Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the
• 1:02:14
  altar at Bethel. And he said.
• 1:02:16
  Let him be Let no man move his bones, so they let his bones
• 1:02:20
  alone with the bones of the Prophet who came out of Samaria.
• 1:02:28
  Don't touch. The man of God's bones from
• 1:02:29
  Judah and don't touch the prophet that was buried with
• 1:02:32
  him. If this.
• 1:02:34
  Indeed is true. Then even.
• 1:02:37
  With us going deeper and deeper Into Darkness, not only are
• 1:02:42
  kings disobeying you have prophets and the.
• 1:02:45
  The ray of. Light in this whole story is a
• 1:02:46
  lion. Not eating the guy and not
• 1:02:49
  killing the donkey. You have fresh air blow into
• 1:02:55
  your reading through this old prophet, perhaps showing some
• 1:03:00
  sign, some little sign of repentance, realizing that God's
• 1:03:06
  Word is true. I told you a couple weeks ago
• 1:03:12
  that these passages were going to be a challenge and there's
• 1:03:16
  going to be more ahead. But here's what.
• 1:03:20
  You and I are going to end this Bible study by doing asking.
• 1:03:23
  The Lord. To give us.
• 1:03:28
  The grace and the strength, so that we can worship and live for
• 1:03:32
  him. And not give that joy and honor
• 1:03:35
  to mere creation. That we would.
• 1:03:40
  Be able to. Worship him and not give that
• 1:03:42
  duty to rocks. And we would go and do what he
• 1:03:46
  calls us to do when he tells us to do it and be a shining light
• 1:03:54
  in The Dark World. So with all that was said, very
• 1:03:58
  heavy Bible study, but so good for us, let's thank the Lord
• 1:04:03
  together. Lord, we thank you from our
• 1:04:06
  hearts that you have given us everything we need to not only
• 1:04:10
  be fruitful, but, according to first Peter, be so equipped and
• 1:04:16
  furnished. And.
• 1:04:18
  Invested. Invested.
• 1:04:21
  In the disciplines and the truths of your word, where Peter
• 1:04:24
  says that we may never fall. And Lord even.
• 1:04:28
  If we do fall, John tells us that we have an advocate, one
• 1:04:32
  who is our propitiation, who will freely and gladly forgive
• 1:04:38
  us of our sins when we confess them.
• 1:04:42
  Lord, if we have failed you consciously, Lord, we ask that
• 1:04:48
  you would forgive us. Lord, we pray.
• 1:04:52
  That you would cleanse us. And make us strong again so that
• 1:04:56
  we can serve you. And, Lord, for the journey
• 1:05:00
  ahead, though we might have overcome temptation in the past,
• 1:05:06
  your word says, Let he who stands take heed lest he falls.
• 1:05:11
  We do not. Presume, nor do we boast in our
• 1:05:14
  strength. We through these.
• 1:05:16
  Bible studies are constantly reminded that we need your daily
• 1:05:18
  strength, your daily wisdom, your daily grace.
• 1:05:23
  Thank you That we. Never have to fear losing our
• 1:05:25
  salvation, but oh Lord, we're beyond that.
• 1:05:28
  We don't want to. Miss out on being used by you in
• 1:05:30
  this life. We don't want to.
• 1:05:33
  Miss out having a testimony before a Pagan world?
• 1:05:37
  Pagan rulers, compromised prophets.
• 1:05:42
  We want to be. Strong in our testimony.
• 1:05:45
  So, Lord. We pray that we would not be
• 1:05:47
  lingering where we're not supposed to be lingering.
• 1:05:48
  Show us the places and the things that we went entertaining
• 1:05:52
  that are hurting us and draining our life from us instead of
• 1:05:55
  giving us the strength and the grace to be exactly we've called
• 1:05:59
  us to be. Help us, Lord, Guide us, Lord,
• 1:06:02
  We thank you for this Bible. Say we thank you for how rich it
• 1:06:05
  is. We thank you.
• 1:06:06
  That in your love you warned. That's why you've given us this
• 1:06:09
  history of what happened with your people in the past.
• 1:06:13
  We embrace it. We we hold it tight to our
• 1:06:15
  bosoms, and we ask that Lord it would become real in our lives.
• 1:06:19
  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
• 1:06:22
  Amen, brothers, sisters. To stand and worship the Lord
• 1:06:24
  and say thank you, Lord, for this word.
• 1:06:26
  Thank you, Lord, for how rich your word is.
• 1:06:38
  Let's give him glory tonight, Amen, and love him and adore him
• 1:06:43
  that we are. Secure in his hand, Not only
• 1:06:45
  secure in his hand. You know you have many.
• 1:06:48
  People who are also fearful in another way.
• 1:06:52
  What if I miss? Out on God's plan for my life.
• 1:06:56
  What if I'm not? Holy enough.
• 1:06:58
  What if I'm not? Strong enough?
• 1:06:59
  What if I'm not knowledgeable enough?
• 1:07:01
  What if I'm not? Pure enough.
• 1:07:05
  Do you realize? That in having those concerns.
• 1:07:09
  You are in the. Greatest place that you can be
• 1:07:11
  in in your spirituality. Do you know who?
• 1:07:13
  Doesn't care about those things. People who don't want to be used
• 1:07:17
  by God, people that want to be used by God think that way and
• 1:07:21
  pray that way. And they say, Lord, I am far
• 1:07:25
  from perfect. I'm not worthy.
• 1:07:27
  And Lord. If there's any healthy fear that
• 1:07:30
  I want in my life, it's to veer off from your will for my life.
• 1:07:33
  When you have that holy concern, you are dead center in the will
• 1:07:39
  of God. So don't be.
• 1:07:42
  Afraid. God wants to use you more than
• 1:07:45
  you want to be used? Don't be concerned.
• 1:07:47
  God has the resources to make you who you need to be.
• 1:07:51
  He will not let. Go of you.
• 1:07:52
  He will not let go of you. Let's sing, shall we?