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Abijah and His Son Asa - The Book of 1 Kings · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Let us pray. And he took away the Sodomites out
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  Speaker 1: of the land and removed all the idols that his
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  Speaker 1: fathers had made. 1 Kings 15.12 Dear Lord, more than ever,
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  Speaker 1: I desire to be a change agent in the world today.
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  Speaker 1: I desire to make a difference wherever I go because
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  Speaker 1: I know that I am a world changer. Whenever I
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  Speaker 1: enter a room or a new place I have not
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  Speaker 1: yet been, Give me the ability to be a physician
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  Speaker 1: to the hearts of others. Give me the right words
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  Speaker 1: to speak at just the right time. If there are
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  Speaker 1: any ungodly idols and limiting beliefs, like a skilled surgeon
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  Speaker 1: with a scalpel, allow me to operate in the areas
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  Speaker 1: of their lives that hinder them, so they are free
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  Speaker 1: to experience the full life you desire to bring to
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  Speaker 1: and through them. Give me the boldness of Asa to
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  Speaker 1: do what's right at the perfect time. Thank you that
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  Speaker 1: through you and your power, I can bring restoration and
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  Speaker 1: reconciliation to a broken world filled with limitless potential. In Jesus' name, amen.
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  Speaker 1: Listening to these daily prayers strengthens your relationship with God.
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  Speaker 1: Continue hearing from the Lord. by listening to today's Bible
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  Speaker 1: in a Year. Brought to you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: Abijah and his son, Aether. In our last story, we
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  Speaker 2: learned about the downward spiral of Judah and Israel, their kings,
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  Speaker 2: Rehoboam and Jeroboam, led their people into an era of
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  Speaker 2: idol worship, war, and cynicism. The past glory of David
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  Speaker 2: and Solomon seemed like a distant memory, and the people
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  Speaker 2: of Israel grew accustomed to sin and shame. In this story,
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  Speaker 2: we witness the next generation of kings rise up. They
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  Speaker 2: too seem to be lost in the unhealthy patterns of
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  Speaker 2: idolatry and sin, just as their fathers. However, small glimpses
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  Speaker 2: of future hope emerge in the midst of suffering. Inspired
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  Speaker 2: by the book of 1 Kings.
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  Speaker 3: Hello, this is Jack Graham with today's episode of the
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year. In our previous time together, we
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  Speaker 3: heard about the descent of Judah and Israel into idolatry
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  Speaker 3: and wickedness and therefore judgment. Under Kings Jeroboam and Rehoboam,
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  Speaker 3: God's people moved further and further away from the commandments
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  Speaker 3: of God, and the two nations suffered greatly because of it.
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  Speaker 3: These days were a far cry from the former glory
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  Speaker 3: of the unified nation of Israel under David and Solomon.
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  Speaker 3: Today we'll learn of the kings that followed Jeroboam and Rehoboam,
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  Speaker 3: and tragically, it will be more and more of the same.
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  Speaker 3: More evil and more judgment. But even in the midst
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  Speaker 3: of such unfaithfulness, we will see how God remains faithful
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  Speaker 3: to the descendants of David, to his spiritual family Israel.
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  Speaker 3: And even in the presence of great suffering, there is
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  Speaker 3: a promise of hope for his people. A king will
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  Speaker 3: rise up in Judah who will have a heart for God.
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  Speaker 3: So let's listen now to today's reading.
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  Speaker 2: The sun set on the painful empire of King Rehoboam.
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  Speaker 2: The tyrant son of Solomon ruled the nation of Judah
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  Speaker 2: with harshness, arrogance, and ignorance. There was a hopelessness that
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  Speaker 2: permeated the streets of Jerusalem. Men who did not die
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  Speaker 2: in battle were destined to die in the hot sun
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  Speaker 2: working for the king. When Rehoboam died, his sin did
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  Speaker 2: not die with him. Out of his line came Abijam,
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  Speaker 2: the next king of Judah. He was harsh like his
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  Speaker 2: father and filled with a pompous spirit. His rule was
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  Speaker 2: marked with war and suffering. He fought against Israel constantly
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  Speaker 2: and only lived to rule three years. Yet even in
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  Speaker 2: the sadness and despair, God continued to allow David's grandchildren
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  Speaker 2: to rule. God had made a promise to David that
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  Speaker 2: his descendants would bring about peace to the world. The
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  Speaker 2: evil of Rehoboam and Abijah was but a small stain
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  Speaker 2: on the vast tapestry of God's story. Redemption would come,
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  Speaker 2: just not yet. When Abijam died, his son Atha became king.
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  Speaker 2: One day, Atha was walking the city streets. As new
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  Speaker 2: king of Judah, he desired to truly know who was ruling.
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  Speaker 2: He watched as shrine prostitutes lured men and women into
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  Speaker 2: their arms. He smelled the incense burning at altars dedicated
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  Speaker 2: to false gods. He heard the screams and cries of
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  Speaker 2: women and children being taken advantage of. Unlike his father
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  Speaker 2: and grandfather before him, Aether looked at these things with
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  Speaker 2: sadness in his soul. Aether was gifted with a righteous heart,
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  Speaker 2: and looked to God as a source of strength and wisdom.
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  Speaker 2: The heart of David was still alive and well in him.
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  Speaker 2: Atha knew he had to take a hard stance against
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  Speaker 2: the evil that gripped Judah's heart. While his father saw
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  Speaker 2: the enemy as Israel, Atha saw the true enemy as idols.
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  Speaker 2: Atha waved a righteous hand through the streets of Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 2: He called for his men to banish the shrine prostitutes
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  Speaker 2: and topple the idols of foreign gods. Atha even banished
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  Speaker 2: his own grandmother, who was responsible for leading hundreds of
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  Speaker 2: people astray with the worship of Asherah. Atha desired for
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  Speaker 2: Judah's heart to be cleansed with the refreshing wave of
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  Speaker 2: God's presence. He knew that this would be no easy task.
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  Speaker 2: He restored riches back into the temple of God. However,
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  Speaker 2: conflict still knocked on Atha's door. The nation of Israel
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  Speaker 2: was still in a season of wickedness. King Basha of
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  Speaker 2: Israel launched attack after attack against Judah. Arrows and steel
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  Speaker 2: penetrated the walls of Jerusalem. Athar remained calm. Before he
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  Speaker 2: launched a counterattack, he took some of the riches from
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  Speaker 2: the temple and put it to good use. He used
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  Speaker 2: it to form an alliance with the nation of Damascus.
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  Speaker 2: Together they formed a treaty and fortified Judah to withstand
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  Speaker 2: the onslaught of Israel. Israel had been building fortification within
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  Speaker 2: the borders of Judah. However, when they heard that Judah
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  Speaker 2: had gained an ally, they abandoned their project and left.
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  Speaker 2: Aether was a thoughtful man and wise beyond his years,
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  Speaker 2: like Solomon. He knew that the people needed to take
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  Speaker 2: care of their land. He believed strongly that if the
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  Speaker 2: people of Judah band together, they would be stronger and closer.
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  Speaker 2: So Aether sent a royal decree throughout the land, having
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  Speaker 2: every citizen clean the wreckage that had been caused by
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  Speaker 2: Israel's armies. Together the people galvanized under the leadership of Aether.
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  Speaker 2: His reign was marked with growth. In many ways, Atha
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  Speaker 2: worked as a physician over the sick hearts of Judah.
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  Speaker 2: He cleansed them of the disease of idolatry. He strengthened
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  Speaker 2: them with the presence of God. When Atha died, his
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  Speaker 2: son Jehoshaphat became king over Judah.
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  Speaker 3: As today's scripture passage begins, Rehoboam's reign has ended, but
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  Speaker 3: his legacy endures through his son Abijam. Where David was
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  Speaker 3: a humble king and quick to repent when he sinned
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  Speaker 3: and a ruler who truly cared for the souls of
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  Speaker 3: his people, Rehoboam had been prideful and cruel. David, the
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  Speaker 3: great king, was a man who had a vision for
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  Speaker 3: God's glory, but Rehoboam had only his own glory in mind,
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  Speaker 3: and so the people had suffered and perished under his
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  Speaker 3: terrible rule. Abisham followed in his father's footsteps. surely having
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  Speaker 3: observed his father. We tend to think of legacies in
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  Speaker 3: a positive light, but the truth is that we all
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  Speaker 3: leave a legacy for our children and for our families,
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  Speaker 3: whether it is good or whether it is bad. And
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  Speaker 3: Abijam was left with a legacy of idolatry, pride, and cruelty.
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  Speaker 3: And so Judah continued to suffer, and the people gave
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  Speaker 3: their hearts to false gods and their own wicked desires.
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  Speaker 3: We have to wonder why God continued to allow these
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  Speaker 3: evil kings to rule his people. But we also remember
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  Speaker 3: from God's word that our Lord had promised David that
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  Speaker 3: one of his descendants would one day bring peace to
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  Speaker 3: the world. And God always keeps his promises. You can
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  Speaker 3: count on the fact that God is always true to
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  Speaker 3: his word. He is faithful. And though the time had
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  Speaker 3: not yet come for the true and one final prince
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  Speaker 3: of peace to enter the scene, the Messiah, God did
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  Speaker 3: allow David's family to remain on the throne, and sometimes
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  Speaker 3: one of those descendants offered just a bit of hope
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  Speaker 3: in an otherwise dark time of history for the people
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  Speaker 3: of God. When Abijan died, he was succeeded by his
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  Speaker 3: son Asa, and this young man was different. Unlike his
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  Speaker 3: father and his grandfather, Asa loved the Lord. It really
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  Speaker 3: is time for some good news in our reading, isn't it?
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  Speaker 3: this man Asa loved the Lord and sought after God.
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  Speaker 3: Asa was likened not to his immediate predecessors, but to
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  Speaker 3: Israel's great king. 1 Kings 15.11 says this, And Asa
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  Speaker 3: did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,
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  Speaker 3: as David his father had done. We should pray that
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  Speaker 3: we would leave a godly legacy with our children and
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  Speaker 3: our children's children. The fact is that all of our titles,
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  Speaker 3: our wealth, our social standing or status, none of those
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  Speaker 3: things matter if we do not do what is right
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  Speaker 3: in the eyes of the Lord. Asa was a godly king.
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  Speaker 3: And he saw the sin in Judah and the suffering
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  Speaker 3: of God's people. He understood that the cause was unfaithfulness
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  Speaker 3: to God's sin against a holy God. So he tore
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  Speaker 3: down the shrines and banished the prostitutes who stood outside
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  Speaker 3: the shrines. But Asa did not just clean up the
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  Speaker 3: streets and remove the idols from the people. He cleaned
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  Speaker 3: his own house. And he banished his own mother because
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  Speaker 3: she was leading people astray and into idol worship. Years later,
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  Speaker 3: our Lord Jesus would say, you must be willing to
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  Speaker 3: leave father and mother, if necessary, to follow me, that
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  Speaker 3: nothing can be above me. Not even the bond of
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  Speaker 3: family can be stronger than our commitment to follow Jesus.
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  Speaker 3: Asa understood this about his relationship with God. He not
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  Speaker 3: only took down the pagan symbols, but he also honored
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  Speaker 3: God by restoring treasures to the temple in Jerusalem. Powerful
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  Speaker 3: changes were being made in Judah. Revival was happening as
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  Speaker 3: people were turning their hearts back to God. But all
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  Speaker 3: was still not well in Judah. From the north, Israel's king, Bahashah,
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  Speaker 3: attacked and began to fortify the city of Ramah within
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  Speaker 3: Judah's borders. Asa remained focused and calm. Rather than rushing
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  Speaker 3: into war and costing many lives in his army, Asa
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  Speaker 3: formed an alliance with Damascus. Together, they fortified Judah for
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  Speaker 3: a potential war, and this alone sent Israel packing, fearful
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  Speaker 3: of a conflict with Judah and its ally. Because Asa
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  Speaker 3: had turned back to God and turned his nation from idolatry,
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  Speaker 3: he was able to unify the people, and God's powerful
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  Speaker 3: presence returned to Judah. Tomorrow, we will meet a man
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  Speaker 3: whose heart was also on fire for God, and he
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  Speaker 3: would become a powerful force in the kingdom. speaking God's
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  Speaker 3: truth to a stubborn and sinful people. Dear God, we
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  Speaker 3: thank you for the story of King Asa. It's such
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  Speaker 3: a positive and hopeful word in the midst of so
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  Speaker 3: much judgment and sin and suffering in Israel. We thank
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  Speaker 3: you that you raised up this godly man to continue
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  Speaker 3: the line of Christ through the Bible. We pray that we,
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  Speaker 3: like Asa, We'll make good decisions in our lives and
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  Speaker 3: always turn our lives and our families towards you. May
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  Speaker 3: our legacy be a legacy of faith and faithfulness to you.
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  Speaker 3: In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to today's
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Pastor Jack Graham of Dallas, Texas.
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  Speaker 3: I would encourage you to download the Pray.com app and
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  Speaker 3: certainly to make Bible study and prayer a priority in
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  Speaker 3: your life. I would encourage you to go to church
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  Speaker 3: and be a part of a Bible-believing, Christ-exalting church. If
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  Speaker 3: you enjoyed this podcast, tell a friend. Let someone else
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  Speaker 3: know because the Word of God changes lives. And if
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  Speaker 3: you want more resources as to how you can know
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  Speaker 3: and love God and follow Him all the days of
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  Speaker 3: your life, be sure to visit jackgram.org as we have
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  Speaker 3: many resources available to you as you journey with the Lord.
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  Speaker 3: God bless you.