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Rehoboam The Reckless Phony │ Msg 1014 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Several weeks ago, the Magazine section of the Sunday Paper
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Speaker 1: had an article on the Universal Studio. Maybe you read
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Speaker 1: all or part of it. It covered not only that studio,
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Speaker 1: but several in Hollywood that are familiar scenes to us
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Speaker 1: on the television sets, and some of the movies are
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Speaker 1: made there. What was of interest to me was that
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Speaker 1: they showed two sides of the same scene. One was
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Speaker 1: the camera side, and everything from landscape to home to
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Speaker 1: living room, even to the campfire looked genuinely realistic. And
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Speaker 1: then the other scene was behind the scene where there
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Speaker 1: is no camera, where no one on the set, no
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Speaker 1: one other than those on the set, ever see, and
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Speaker 1: behind the scenes these beautiful, lovely buildings and living rooms
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Speaker 1: and even the nice cozy campfire. Behind the scenes, it's
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Speaker 1: all plastic, metal, wood. It's a mask held together in
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Speaker 1: the flimsy materials that are temporary, put together in a
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Speaker 1: moment's notice, as it were. And yet the camera makes
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Speaker 1: it look like the place has been there for years.
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Speaker 1: Even the phony ivy that grows up the side of
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Speaker 1: the house, or the lighting and the dramatic arts that
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Speaker 1: make the sound come to life, even that campfire is phony.
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Speaker 1: Takes all the fun out of the programs when you
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Speaker 1: see something like that, because you see that it's put
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Speaker 1: together with nothing but a sham for the public, and
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Speaker 1: then torn down for another set to be built for
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Speaker 1: the next day. As I read that over, and as
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Speaker 1: I repaired the message on Rio Boem from the Old Testament,
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Speaker 1: I was reminded of a similarity in that life, not
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Speaker 1: only in the life of Rio Boam, but many a
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Speaker 1: person today who has two sides. Mark Twain has said,
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Speaker 1: we're all like the moon, we have a dark side
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Speaker 1: we don't want anybody to see. Rial Boem was like that.
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Speaker 1: He had a dark side that only God the Holy
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Speaker 1: Spirit really saw and was pleased to portray for us
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Speaker 1: in the ancient Book of First Kings and the Book
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Speaker 1: of Second Chronicles. So I direct your attention to the unfamiliar,
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Speaker 1: dusty portion of the eleventh chapter of the Book of
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Speaker 1: First Kings, as we began a study on the life
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Speaker 1: of a man who was a phony. On the surface,
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Speaker 1: he looked genuine, but we're going to see four specific
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Speaker 1: areas of his life that were as phony as the
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Speaker 1: props for a television performance. First King's eleven is not
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Speaker 1: the story of Rio Boem it's the story of his
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Speaker 1: father's fall. His father's name is familiar to all of us.
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Speaker 1: His name was Solomon. He was the richest king who
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Speaker 1: ever lived. Time doesn't permit me to parade before you
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Speaker 1: the lavishness of his kingdom, but it has been estimated
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Speaker 1: that it was into the millions of dollars on a
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Speaker 1: monthly basis. His import and export alone brought somewhere around
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Speaker 1: ten million dollars a year. Now, Solomon was a rich man,
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Speaker 1: but he shipped the faith toward the end of his life.
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Speaker 1: This passage tells us he began to live as an unbeliever. Now,
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Speaker 1: King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter
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Speaker 1: of Pharaoh Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonium, and Hittite women verse three.
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Speaker 1: And he had seven hundred wives princesses and three hundred concubines.
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Speaker 1: And his wives turned his heart away. Archaeologists have uncovered
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Speaker 1: excavation areas where in the Valley of Henham, for example,
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Speaker 1: there had been erected edifices to the temples and to
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Speaker 1: the gods of these foreign women. Now we read in
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Speaker 1: verse four it came about when Solomon was old his
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Speaker 1: wives turned his heart away. After other gods, and his
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Speaker 1: heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord God, as
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Speaker 1: the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon
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Speaker 1: went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom,
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Speaker 1: the detestable idol of the Ammonites. And Solomon did what
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Speaker 1: was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did
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Speaker 1: not follow the Lord fully as David his father had done.
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Speaker 1: Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable
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Speaker 1: idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem,
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Speaker 1: and for Molech, the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon.
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Speaker 1: Now I want you to notice two things. I want
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Speaker 1: you to notice one category of wives, and I want
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Speaker 1: you to notice one category of false deity. First of all,
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Speaker 1: when you notice in verse one the Ammonite wives, and
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Speaker 1: will you notice down in verse five the detestable idol
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Speaker 1: of the Ammonites Milcom, and verse seven the detestable idol
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Speaker 1: of the sons of Ammone Molek. It's believed by many
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Speaker 1: that Milcom and Molek were either the same idol viewed
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Speaker 1: from a different perspective, or they twin idols of the
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Speaker 1: same false religion. But notice both of them belonged to
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Speaker 1: the Ammonite people. Now here is Solomon a man of God.
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Speaker 1: But because of his inner marriages, he has what we
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Speaker 1: would call back slidden. He has begun not only to
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Speaker 1: marry wives, but he has begun to worship those gods
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Speaker 1: his wives brought to him and to his nation. As
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Speaker 1: a result of this, the nation became splintered. For over
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Speaker 1: a century, it had been strong undivided. A graph of
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Speaker 1: the nation would be a continued incline in strength. First
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Speaker 1: there was Saul, and then there was David, and finally
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Speaker 1: there was Solomon. Until the nation was under its own
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Speaker 1: flag and was well respected by people in its day.
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Speaker 1: But Israel under Solomon became heavily taxed because of his
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Speaker 1: spiritual compromise. There were those who left him, who deserted.
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Speaker 1: One man's name was Jeroboam. Now don't confuse him with
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Speaker 1: the man were studying Rioboam, but just remember Jeroboam. For this.
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Speaker 1: Jeroboam disagreed with the policy that Solomon had developed, so
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Speaker 1: he went to Egypt to live there. For Solomon sought
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Speaker 1: his life. He looked upon Jeroboam as one who would
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Speaker 1: overthrow his kingdom. Now turn the page and look at
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Speaker 1: the last verse of this chapter. Solomon slept with his
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Speaker 1: fathers and was buried in the city of his father David,
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Speaker 1: and his son Rioboam reigned in his place. The Bible
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Speaker 1: tells us in the fourteenth chapter of this same book
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Speaker 1: that he was forty one years old when he took
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Speaker 1: the father's rio Boam was a forty one year old
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Speaker 1: man at the time Solomon died. For forty one years,
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Speaker 1: rio Boam had been living in the palace of the King.
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Speaker 1: We will see his genealogy in just a moment, but
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Speaker 1: I want you to understand that his training has not
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Speaker 1: been godly. He has been influenced by a godless mother.
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Speaker 1: Her name will come across the passage in a moment.
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Speaker 1: He has learned what it is to live a sham
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Speaker 1: for the public, all the while nurturing behind the scenes,
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Speaker 1: away from the camera, a phony, failing, dark, ungodly life.
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Speaker 1: Now verse one. Then ria Boram went to Shechem, for
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Speaker 1: all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
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Speaker 1: It came about when Jeroboam, there's the fellow who went
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Speaker 1: to Egypt disagreeing with Solomon's policy. When Jeroboam, the son
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Speaker 1: of Nebo heard of it skipped the parenthesis verse three,
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Speaker 1: that Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and
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Speaker 1: spoke to Rioboam. I don't misunderstand here. Jeroboam, who has departed,
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Speaker 1: comes back down to the city of Shechhim and he
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Speaker 1: visits with the king elect, this forty one year old
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Speaker 1: son of Solomon, and he talks with him about the
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Speaker 1: concerns he has had in days past over the lifestyle
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Speaker 1: Solomon had developed. And Riaboam puts on a good front
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Speaker 1: verse four, your father made our yoke card. Therefore, lighten
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Speaker 1: the hard surface of your father and his heavy yoke
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Speaker 1: which he put on us, and we will serve you.
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Speaker 1: Then he said to them, depart for three days, then
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Speaker 1: return to me. So the people departed. Now notice he
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Speaker 1: goes through the emotion of seeking quote counsel, and King
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Speaker 1: rio Boam consulted with the elders who served his father
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Speaker 1: Solomon while he was still alive, saying, how do you
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Speaker 1: counsel me to answer this people? And then they spoke
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Speaker 1: to him saying, if you will be a servant to
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Speaker 1: this people today, you will serve them if you will
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Speaker 1: grant them their petition, that is, relieve the taxes. If
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Speaker 1: you will encourage them, that is, if you will speak
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Speaker 1: good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.
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Speaker 1: He goes to the chamber that his father Solomon had developed,
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Speaker 1: and he sits down in front of those wrinkled bearded men,
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Speaker 1: men of age, who had mellowed and been tempered through
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Speaker 1: the years, who had seen the nation collapse, And he says, men,
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Speaker 1: what should I do? And they respond in the words
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Speaker 1: we've just read Verse eight. He forsook the counsel of
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Speaker 1: the elders which they had given him. He consulted with
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Speaker 1: the young men who grew up with him and served him.
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Speaker 1: He went to his peers next. So he said to them,
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Speaker 1: what council do you give that we may answer this
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Speaker 1: people who have spoken to me saying, lighten the yoke
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Speaker 1: which your father put on us. And the young men
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Speaker 1: who grew up with him spoke to him, saying, thus
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Speaker 1: you shall say to this people who spoke to you.
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Speaker 1: Your father made our yoke heavy. Now you make it
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Speaker 1: lighter for us. But you speak to them verse eleven.
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Speaker 1: Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I
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Speaker 1: will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips,
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Speaker 1: but I will discipline you with scorpions. A scorpion was
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Speaker 1: a lash that had a single handle but nine to
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Speaker 1: twelve leather straps in which were embedded pieces of bone
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Speaker 1: or metal. The whip was the handle with one leather strap.
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Speaker 1: The scorpion was a multi strapped beating alash or rod.
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Speaker 1: You tell them you're going to discipline them with scorpions now,
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Speaker 1: verse twelve. Three days have passed, Jeroboam comes back for
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Speaker 1: his answer. Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehabom
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Speaker 1: on the third day, as the king had directed. Verse thirteen.
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Speaker 1: The king answered the people harshly, for he forsook the
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Speaker 1: advice of the elders which they had given him, and
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Speaker 1: he spoke to them according to the advice of the
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Speaker 1: young men. And we have just read of that. Take
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Speaker 1: the time right now to leave first Kings and turn
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Speaker 1: to Second Chronicles. Look at chapter ten of Second Chronicles,
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Speaker 1: which is a parallel passage here. I think the true
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Speaker 1: colors of rial Boem are set forth Second Chronicles ten,
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Speaker 1: verse fifteen. Will you notice the very first words of
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Speaker 1: the fifteenth verse, Second Chronicles ten. So the king that's
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Speaker 1: rial Boem did not listen to the people. Those are
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Speaker 1: the real colors of rial Boem. They came and they said, listen,
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Speaker 1: we will serve you if your leadership will be tolerant, encouraging,
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Speaker 1: understanding will follow your leadership. He didn't listen to the people. Oh,
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Speaker 1: he went through the motions of seeking the council of
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Speaker 1: elders and then younger. But down inside his heart he
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Speaker 1: had no plans to give ear to the needs of
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Speaker 1: the people. Before the camera he looks solid gold, But
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Speaker 1: behind the scenes it was a phony counseling session. Verse sixteen.
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Speaker 1: When all Israel saw that the king did not listen
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Speaker 1: to them, the people answered the king, what portion do
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Speaker 1: we have in David? We have no inheritance in the
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Speaker 1: son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, o Israel,
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Speaker 1: Now look after your own house David. So all Israel
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Speaker 1: departed to their tents. Now at the period at the
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Speaker 1: end of verse sixteen, a drastic civil war breaks out. Suddenly,
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Speaker 1: a nation that has been unified for over a century
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Speaker 1: begins to experience the terrible plight of a civil war. Now,
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Speaker 1: this is where we become confused in the reading of
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Speaker 1: the Bible. In Kings and chronicles. Carefully at this juncture, Jeroboam,
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Speaker 1: with ten of the twelve tribes, moves north. He establishes
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Speaker 1: his own kingdom, and with the ten tribes surrounding him,
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Speaker 1: he establishes what is called the Kingdom of Israel or Ephrium.
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Speaker 1: In the Book of Kings and Chronicles, the two books
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Speaker 1: of each, you will run across the name Israel and Ephrium.
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Speaker 1: When you do, remember that's the northern kingdom. Riaboam state
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Speaker 1: in the south, and the two remaining tribes were Benjamin
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Speaker 1: and Judah, and he surrounded himself with them. His capital
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Speaker 1: was in Jerusalem. Jeroboam's capital was in Samaria. So there
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Speaker 1: were two distinct nations right now they split. Reaboam is
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Speaker 1: in the south, Jeroboam is in the north. And the
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Speaker 1: passage tells us in verse nineteen, so Israel has been
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Speaker 1: in rebellion against the House of David. That's Judah to
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Speaker 1: this day. At the time I'm writing this chronicle, at
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Speaker 1: the time I'm putting it together, understand, we are undergoing
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Speaker 1: civil war because real poem, in his phony counseling experience,
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Speaker 1: refused to listen to the people. But it doesn't stop there.
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Speaker 1: He's still playing games with this phony front. Look at
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Speaker 1: verse one. Now, when Rio Boam had come to Jerusalem,
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Speaker 1: he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin. Remember those
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Speaker 1: are the two tribes. He put together an army one
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Speaker 1: hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors to
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Speaker 1: fight against Israel, to restore the kingdom to Ria Boam.
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Speaker 1: Now you understand what that means. He made plans to
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Speaker 1: fight against Israel, that is the northern kingdom. He in
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Speaker 1: the south was planning an assault upon Samaria and the
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Speaker 1: kingdom to the north. But verse two, that's always an
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Speaker 1: ominous word in the scriptures. But the word of the
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Speaker 1: Lord came to Simiayah, the man of God, and he
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Speaker 1: said this, speak to Ria Buem, the son of Solomon,
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Speaker 1: the king of Judah, and all the Israelites in Judah
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Speaker 1: and Benjamin, saying, thus says the Lord, you shall not
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Speaker 1: go up or fight against your relatives. Return every man
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Speaker 1: to his house. For this thing is from me. That's
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Speaker 1: not hard to understand. God said, don't fight, don't plan
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Speaker 1: this assault, do train your soldiers back home. This is
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Speaker 1: precisely what I predicted. What happened. The sword has come
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Speaker 1: as I told David it would. It would never depart
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Speaker 1: from his house, and I told Solomon it would split.
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Speaker 1: This is exactly as I planned it. Go home, don't
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Speaker 1: fight now. On the surface, it looked like they obeyed.
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Speaker 1: So they listened to the words of the Lord and
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Speaker 1: returned from going against Jeroboam. But notice Ria Boam behind
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Speaker 1: the scenes, away from the camera. Verse five. He lived
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Speaker 1: in Jerusalem, and he built cities for defense in Judah.
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Speaker 1: Did he go home and relax and trust God? Not
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Speaker 1: on your life. He instantly made plans for war, And
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Speaker 1: if I count correctly, there are fifteen cities three, six, nine, twelve,
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Speaker 1: fifteen cities which he fortified in Judah and Benjamin, Verses
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Speaker 1: six through ten. So he strengthened the forces. He put
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Speaker 1: officers in them, and stores of food and oil and wine.
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Speaker 1: And he put shields and spears in every city and
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Speaker 1: strengthened them greatly. So he held Judah and Benjamin, We're
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Speaker 1: not going to leave this country in the hand of God.
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Speaker 1: It's going to be in my hand. He appeared to
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Speaker 1: be cooperative on the surface, but that was a cover up.
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Speaker 1: Behind the scenes, he amassed great plans for defense. He
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Speaker 1: put it into operation by turning these normally peaceful cities
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Speaker 1: into the fortified cities of the land World War Two.
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Speaker 1: I was too young to fight in the service. I
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Speaker 1: was raised down in Houston, near Galveston, and I recall
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Speaker 1: when they began to fortify the island of Galveston. Maybe
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Speaker 1: you were in the States during the time of the
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Speaker 1: Second World War and you remember fortifications that began to
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Speaker 1: move in. It's an uncomfortable feeling. I don't know if
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Speaker 1: you felt it, but I was, as a lad uncomfortable insecure,
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Speaker 1: seeing these huge concrete bunkers being poured and built and established.
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Speaker 1: And before long the beaches of Galveston were off limits,
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Speaker 1: and by and by sections of the island were removed
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Speaker 1: from the public, and it became evident that if this
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Speaker 1: war continues, there may very well be an assault right
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Speaker 1: into the Gulf of Mexico. It was an uncomfortable feeling
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Speaker 1: as we prepared our defenses. I think perhaps this might
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Speaker 1: have been the feeling of the people of the Jews.
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Speaker 1: God said go home. Ria Boham didn't go home. On
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Speaker 1: the surface, it looked like he listened to God, but
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Speaker 1: behind the scenes, he was taking things in his own hands.
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Speaker 1: And that's the second thing we noticed about Rio Boham.
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Speaker 1: On the surface, it looked genuine, but behind the camera
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Speaker 1: where no one else could see, that is not in
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Speaker 1: the sense that Rio Boham saw it. He was making
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Speaker 1: his own plans. Now, beginning at verse eighteen of this
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Speaker 1: scene chapter, we have sort of a domestic insight into
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Speaker 1: this reckless man. You'll notice that we just read he
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Speaker 1: has put spears and shields and oil and abundance of food.
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Speaker 1: It was sort of an i reckless, extravagant display of power.
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Speaker 1: Was Rio Boam's lifestyle. Now look at verse eighteen. Rio
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Speaker 1: Boham took as a wife Mahelath, the daughter of Jeremo,
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Speaker 1: the son of David, and Abahil, the daughter of Eliab,
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Speaker 1: the son of Jesse, and she bore sons to him,
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Speaker 1: and I can't pronounce her name verse twenty and after
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Speaker 1: he took Mayaka, the daughter of Absalom, and she bore him.
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Speaker 1: There they are verse twenty one. Ria Boam loved Mayaca,
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Speaker 1: the daughter of Absalom, more than all his other wives
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Speaker 1: and concubines. He had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines.
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Speaker 1: He had fathered twenty eight sons and sixty daughters. And
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Speaker 1: you got your hands full when you've got a house
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Speaker 1: like that? Who does it sound like? Sure? He learned
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Speaker 1: it from his dad. All the way through these biographical
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Speaker 1: sketches in the Old Testament, you're going to see that
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Speaker 1: over and over and over again. Like produces like. Unfaithfulness
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Speaker 1: produces unfaithfulness. A wandering eye produces children with wandering eyes.
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Speaker 1: I know that God is able to restore the years
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Speaker 1: the locusts have eaten. But it's a shame that the
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Speaker 1: locusts have to eat any years. But they do. And
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Speaker 1: here's a man, just like his dead, who turns his
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Speaker 1: life into an extravaganza display of sensuality. Not satisfied with
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Speaker 1: one wife, he appoints a number of them as concubines,
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Speaker 1: and then he fathers sons and daughters he could never
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Speaker 1: even begin to train. Verse twenty two. He appointed Abija,
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Speaker 1: the son of Mehica's head and leader among his brothers.
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Speaker 1: He intended to make him king. He has plans. He's
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Speaker 1: setting out an arrangement here. He acted wisely, distributed some
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Speaker 1: of his sons through all the territories of Judah and Benjamin,
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Speaker 1: to all the fortified cities. He gave them food and abundance,
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Speaker 1: and he sought many wives for them good night. He's
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Speaker 1: not satisfied to have a number for himself. He's out
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Speaker 1: getting wives for his kids. Look at the recklessness an
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Speaker 1: extravaganza of Ria Boem's display of strength and power. Now
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Speaker 1: back to one King's fourteen and you'll see the real
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Speaker 1: real Boem. He stands up now, First Kings fourteen, verse
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Speaker 1: twenty one. He appeared to seek council, but he didn't.
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Speaker 1: He never listened. He appeared to rest in the Lord,
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Speaker 1: but he didn't. He established defense in the cities. Now
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Speaker 1: First Kings fourteen twenty one. Look at the third phase
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Speaker 1: of this phony hypocrite. Now Reoboam, the son of Solomon,
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Speaker 1: reigned in Judah. Real Boam was forty one years old
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Speaker 1: when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem.
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Speaker 1: Notice the city which the Lord had chosen from all
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Speaker 1: the tribes of Israel to put his name there, And
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Speaker 1: his mother's name was Neaemah Ammonitis. The close arrangement of
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Speaker 1: sentences attracts my attention. He lived in a city that
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Speaker 1: was the city of peace, Jerus Shalom, the city of Peace.
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Speaker 1: It was a city where God wanted his name Jehovah.
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Speaker 1: But whose name was prominent. His mother's name. Look at
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Speaker 1: the last verse of this chapter. Rio Boem slept with
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Speaker 1: his father's was buried with his fathers in the city
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Speaker 1: of David, and his mother's name was Naemah the Ammonitis.
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Speaker 1: You've already told us that I know, but I want
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Speaker 1: to repeat it so you won't miss the thrust of it.
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Speaker 1: Very unusual for a genealogy to be given at the
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Speaker 1: beginning and ending of the rain. Not in Rea Boeam's case.
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Speaker 1: Why because he lived in a city he wanted to
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Speaker 1: look like the city of Jehovah, but underneath it was
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Speaker 1: the city of Naomah the Ammonitis. Now I ask you,
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Speaker 1: at the beginning of the sermon to remember two things.
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Speaker 1: From first Kings eleven, I ask you to remember, first
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Speaker 1: of all, the Ammonites, And second, I ask you to
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Speaker 1: remember the false god of Molek and Milcom. The name
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Speaker 1: Naoma means sweetness, pleasantness. Does that tell you anything? I
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Speaker 1: have a feeling that her name describes her character. On
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Speaker 1: the surface, she appeared to be sweet and pleasant. But
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Speaker 1: this passage says in verse twenty one, as does verse
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Speaker 1: thirty one, that she was the ammonitis. Isn't it unusual
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Speaker 1: that she wouldn't be called Naema and Ammonitis. Every word
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Speaker 1: in the original text of scripture is important even to these.
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Speaker 1: She was a prominent Ammonite woman. Since he's forty one
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Speaker 1: years old when he becomes king, and since Solomon reigned
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Speaker 1: only forty years, he was born to Solomon before Solomon
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Speaker 1: ever became the king, and he was reared in the
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Speaker 1: home of the Ammonite, the Ammonitis, a year before the
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Speaker 1: kingdom began, and all through it. So for forty one
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Speaker 1: years he has been nurtured at the feet of Naemah,
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Speaker 1: the Ammonitis, the worshiper of a false god. What was
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Speaker 1: Milcom and what was Molech? Well, let me say this.
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Speaker 1: The Ammonites themselves were descendants of Lot's youngest daughter. Lot
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Speaker 1: lived with his daughter's where in Sodom and all the
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Speaker 1: sensual cults of illicit sex have their roots and Canaan
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Speaker 1: before Israel invaded. No matter how far back you may trace,
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Speaker 1: you will wind up in those terrible annals of history
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Speaker 1: of those culps. You will find them all rooting back
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Speaker 1: at Sodom and similar cities. This Ammonite woman had her
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Speaker 1: roots in Sodom, and so the god Milkom and Molech
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Speaker 1: the same. These were the gods that demanded the lives
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Speaker 1: of children. Events were dropped or forced into the fire
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Speaker 1: that burned upon Milcom and Molik. One archaeologist writes this
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Speaker 1: Mullik was a detestable Semitic deity, honored by the sacrifice
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Speaker 1: of children, in which they were forced to pass through
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Speaker 1: or into fire. Palestinian excavations have uncovered evidences of infant
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Speaker 1: skeletons in burial places around these heathen shrines. Ammonites revered
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Speaker 1: Molik as a protecting father. No form of ancient idolatry
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Speaker 1: was more abhorrent than Molek worship, and Nayemah reared her
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Speaker 1: son in it, and Solomon enhanced it. He even built
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Speaker 1: temples in honor of Molk. It doesn't fit a mixed audience,
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Speaker 1: especially one with little one, so I'll pass quickly over
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Speaker 1: what we read in twenty two through twenty four. Judah
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Speaker 1: did evil in the sight of the Lord. They provoked
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Speaker 1: him to jealousy more than all their fathers. They built
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Speaker 1: for themselves high places and sacred pillars, sacred, in quotes Ascherim,
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Speaker 1: on every hill beneath every luxuriant tree. You can read
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Speaker 1: verse twenty four for yourself. There were even houses built
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Speaker 1: to hold those godless men who engaged in that practice.
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Speaker 1: On the camera side, it looked solid gold, but behind
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Speaker 1: the scenes it was a godless mishmash of sensuality and
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Speaker 1: the worship of Molech. Now, I think it takes the
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Speaker 1: cake one more time for us to go back to
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Speaker 1: Second Chronicles, chapter twelve. Real Boem looked so genuine, but
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Speaker 1: he had of veneer of sweetness and pleasantness like Naema,
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Speaker 1: with wickedness underneath. Second Chronicles twelve two. Well, let's take one.
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Speaker 1: It took place when the kingdom of rio Boa was
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Speaker 1: established and strong, that he and all Israel with him forsook.
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Speaker 1: The law of the Lord never fails. Came about in
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Speaker 1: King Rioboem's fifth year. Now he reigned seventeen, but he
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Speaker 1: had only been reigning five years that because they had
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Speaker 1: been unfaithful to the Lord, that Sheshak, king of Egypt,
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Speaker 1: came up against Jerusalem and noticed what happened with twelve
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Speaker 1: hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and the people who came
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Speaker 1: with him from Egypt were without the lou beam, the
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Speaker 1: Sukim and the Ethiopians, and he captured the fortified cities
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Speaker 1: of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. Now notice
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Speaker 1: what he does verse nine. So Shishak, king of Egypt,
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Speaker 1: came up against Jerusalem and took the treasures from the
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Speaker 1: House of the Lord and the treasures of the king's palace.
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Speaker 1: He took everything. He even took the golden shields which
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Speaker 1: Solomon had made. I wish we had time to read
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Speaker 1: about him. Part of the development of the Lebanon Palace,
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Speaker 1: where the shields were kept, was the making of five
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Speaker 1: hundred golden shields. One person has analyzed their worth and
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Speaker 1: has come up with the fact that two hundred of
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Speaker 1: them were worth seventy six hundred dollars each. Three hundred
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Speaker 1: of them were worth half that. I figured it up
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Speaker 1: and discovered that it was over two and a half
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Speaker 1: million dollars tucked away in five hundred golden shields, and
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Speaker 1: they were kept in the palace solid gold, for the
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Speaker 1: public to see on display as the splendor of God
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Speaker 1: was revealed in the Temple of Solomon. It's one of
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Speaker 1: the things the Queen of Sheba saw, and she says
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Speaker 1: the half wasn't told me, Solomon, of all that's in
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Speaker 1: your kingdom. Well, the king of Egypt had heard that,
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Speaker 1: and he just took them with him when he left.
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Speaker 1: Look at what real Borm does. It's just like him.
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Speaker 1: Look at this phony. Then King Rio Bam made shieals
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Speaker 1: of bronze in their place, not gold. It doesn't have
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Speaker 1: any gold. Gold is gone. He's bankrupted. But he makes
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Speaker 1: shields of bronze in their place. Does he put them
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Speaker 1: on public display? Not on your life. Somebody will discover
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Speaker 1: they're not gold. He commits them to the care of
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Speaker 1: the commanders of the runners. Literally, it says he committed
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Speaker 1: them to the hands of the runners who guarded the
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Speaker 1: door of the king's house. Don't let the public see
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Speaker 1: that they're not gold. Keep them hidden. Did he ever
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Speaker 1: bring them out? You bet? Verse eleven happened as often
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Speaker 1: as the king entered the house of the lord. Isn't
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Speaker 1: that just like him? When he came to worship, the
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Speaker 1: guards came and carried them and then brought them back
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Speaker 1: into the guard's room, kept them away. Isn't that something?
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Speaker 1: Golden shields worth over two and a half million dollars
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Speaker 1: sucked away by the King of Egypt, and Rio Boem
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Speaker 1: goes to work behind the scenes, and he provides a
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Speaker 1: cheap substitute and imitation afront for the camera to see.
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Speaker 1: But he carefully hides them in secret so nobody will
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Speaker 1: know that they're worth less. Bronze four areas of hypocrisy
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Speaker 1: in the life of rio Boa. He said he sought counsel,
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Speaker 1: but he never really listened to the people. He said
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Speaker 1: he would not fight, but all the while Israel was resting,
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Speaker 1: he was defending and preparing that city. Are those cities
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Speaker 1: for battle? He lived in a city that was to
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Speaker 1: have the name of Jehovah, but it really had the
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Speaker 1: name of his mother, Naamah, a godless milcom worshiper. And
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Speaker 1: here a little sidelight the bronze. The making of the
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Speaker 1: bronze shields tells us that he was all the while
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Speaker 1: lacking in integrity and solid gold character. You know, it's
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Speaker 1: a shame. But even though verse sixteen says Rio Boem
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Speaker 1: slept with his fathers and was buried, and Abaija became
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Speaker 1: king in his place, it's a shame. We couldn't say
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Speaker 1: all the phonies died then, but they didn't. There are
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Speaker 1: phonies today just like then. Without trying to be too
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Speaker 1: severe in this ending, I want to say, it's very,
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Speaker 1: very probable there are phonies here tonight. Sitting in some
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Speaker 1: of the pews are individuals who want to look the part,
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Speaker 1: but you know, down inside you're not. I was commenting
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Speaker 1: recently with an individual in our church about a relative.
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Speaker 1: We were discussing the spiritual needs. She says, Oh, you
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Speaker 1: only know him on Sunday. You should see him at home.
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Speaker 1: How many tonight fall in the camp of Ria bol
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Speaker 1: It isn't the mask for the camera that God honors
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Speaker 1: and that God will judge. It's what's really there. It
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Speaker 1: isn't the shining bronze that we replace those golden shields
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Speaker 1: with that impresses God. It's the genuine item. How many
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Speaker 1: of us are willing to say that actually we have
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Speaker 1: a son facade. It comes out beautifully when we're before
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Speaker 1: the public behind the scenes. If anyone could see how
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Speaker 1: I really felt about those personal areas of my life,
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Speaker 1: how embarrassing it would be. Anyone could see that some
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Speaker 1: of our youth can play the part, look just like
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Speaker 1: solid gold. But in the quietness and the secrecy of
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Speaker 1: your life, behind the scenes, where nobody looks there's garbage.
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Speaker 1: It's quite possible. At that fits sum here tonight someone
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Speaker 1: has said, true character is what we are when nobody's
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Speaker 1: looking in the secret chambers of the heart. How many
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Speaker 1: have learned the language of the Christian so that when
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Speaker 1: necessary you can bring it out like realable and paraded.
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Speaker 1: Those bronze shields looks if you get a quick glance,
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Speaker 1: looks just like gold. But tuck it away so nobody
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Speaker 1: will ever probe. So we'll keep our distance, stay distant
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Speaker 1: that somebody discovers it's really not the real thing. You see,
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Speaker 1: how relevant that life is. I close with the reading
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Speaker 1: of a very unusual passage of scripture, Ezekiel thirty three.
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Speaker 1: The last four verses turn finally to that please, Ezekiel
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Speaker 1: thirty three, verse thirty. It's really worth your turning look
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Speaker 1: at thirty three thirty Now in Ezekiel. But as for you,
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Speaker 1: son of man, you're fellow citizens who talk about you
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Speaker 1: by the walls and in the doorways of the houses,
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Speaker 1: speak to one another, each to his brother saying, come
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Speaker 1: now and hear what the message is which comes forth
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Speaker 1: from the Lord. And they come to you, Ezekiel. As
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Speaker 1: people come and they sit before you as my people.
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Speaker 1: That's an important as. But they do the lustful desires
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Speaker 1: expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain.
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Speaker 1: And behold, you are to them like a sensual song
40:51
Speaker 1: by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well
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Speaker 1: on an instrument. Or they hear your words, but they
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Speaker 1: do not practice them. So when it comes to pass,
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Speaker 1: as surely it will, then they will know that a
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Speaker 1: prophet has been in their midst. Eloquent words. They'll come,
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Speaker 1: they'll go, they'll live as they please. But when you
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Speaker 1: are phased out, they'll realize a prophet has been in
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Speaker 1: their midst. I think some decisions need to be made tonight,
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Speaker 1: I honestly do. I think some that are a little
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Speaker 1: bit older in the Lord feel like, oh, what's the use, preacher.
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Speaker 1: I've heard messages like this. I've been convicted over the
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Speaker 1: bronze in my soul and the gold on my face.
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Speaker 1: I'm aware of the thin venel of my character. But
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Speaker 1: what do I do? Friend? You will never change without
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Speaker 1: making a decision, drive a stake in a point of time,
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Speaker 1: namely this evening before God. You don't have to share
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Speaker 1: it with another soul. Maybe those closest to you, But
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Speaker 1: you don't need to tell another person. You need to
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Speaker 1: make it right before God. You need to repent, turn around,
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Speaker 1: ask God to rip off the veneer, to tear away
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Speaker 1: the mask that looks so na amish, so pleasant and sweet,
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Speaker 1: and to give you character. To begin in the quietness
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Speaker 1: of your living room and bedroom. And then to begin
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Speaker 1: in the way you take the pencil and figure your
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Speaker 1: income tax. To begin with the details of how you
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Speaker 1: fill out that expense account. To take over such personal
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Speaker 1: things as to whether you keep your own eyes on
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Speaker 1: your own paper when you take an exam, To deal
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Speaker 1: with those dark areas in your date life that right
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Speaker 1: now you know are questionable, to touch base with you,
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Speaker 1: and areas that are obviously spiritual compromises, so that a person,
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Speaker 1: when he walks up and pulls open the file drawer
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Speaker 1: of your life, finds gold nothing else. Let's pow our
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Speaker 1: heads together. Please, I plead with you tonight to put
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Speaker 1: the decision off no longer. And I speak to one
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Speaker 1: who wants to look like a Christian. But isn't you
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Speaker 1: trust Jesus Christ. Tonight you just delay no longer. You
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Speaker 1: refuse to let the devil give you this bit. No
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Speaker 1: one else will know because you have no guarantee. What
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Speaker 1: is your life? It's a vapor, It could be gone tomorrow.
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Speaker 1: Then whose will all these things be? You that have
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Speaker 1: cultivated the habit of cheating, whether as a teenager or adult,
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Speaker 1: You that look like a success on the surface, but
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Speaker 1: down underneath your phony. Tonight's the night. Now is the time.
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Speaker 2: A Lord, You've told us that if we cover our sins,
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Speaker 2: we will not prosper, but if we confess and forsake them,
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Speaker 2: you will have mercy. As we understand this Lord, that
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Speaker 2: if there's no forsaking, then there cannot be mercy. So
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Speaker 2: the confession alone does fall on deaf ears if there
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Speaker 2: isn't the accompanying plan to forsake, burn the filthy books
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Speaker 2: that occupy our eyes, to remove forever by your power,
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Speaker 2: the desire that leads me to cheat and destroy, and
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Speaker 2: to hurt, and to bring ruin to relationships, those things
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Speaker 2: that fracture a home because they are so illicit. At
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Speaker 2: this moment, our Father, it is my desire as a
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Speaker 2: pastor and shepherd, that there be pruning, so that our
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Speaker 2: lives match what our lips say, and that our lips
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Speaker 2: convey what our hearts truly reveal be to us our father,
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Speaker 2: not only father, but mother and brother and friend and reprover,
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Speaker 2: so that your word will not return void. And thank
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Speaker 2: you in advance for those who, because of the message
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Speaker 2: today have come to know your son as Savior, the
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Speaker 2: Lord Jesus, who still changes lives. I pray in his great.
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Speaker 1: Name, Amen.
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Speaker 3: The preceding message Ray Hoboam. The Reckless Phony was copyrighted
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Speaker 3: in nineteen seventy three, nineteen eighty two, nineteen eighty six,
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Speaker 3: nineteen ninety one, two thousand and four, two thousand and six,
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Speaker 3: twenty twelve, and twenty twenty four, and the sound recording
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Speaker 3: was copyrighted in twenty twenty four by Charles R. Swindahl, Incorporated.
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Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide. The duplication of copyrighted material
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Speaker 3: for commercial use is strictly prohibited.