<inaudible>. Good afternoon. Welcome to the Collierville church Christ Sunday afternoon service. It’s good to see each and every one of you and it’s great to see our visitors here in SAFT noon. Thank you for coming this afternoon to worship God, uh, our sick list. Uh, Rudel Wilson, please keep him your thoughts and prayers. Dorothy is able to make it out this afternoon to join us. So that is great to see. Dorothy, Betty Lou Hanks is a recovering from her carpal tunnel surgery and like I said this morning,
her and lucky are still working to find a neurologist to see if they can’t get some further testing and further insight into what’s still causing her continued problems with their carpal tunnel that she’s having. Joan Springer is home from the hospital, but she has to go for a daily infusion every day at around 11 o’clock. So that’s why Marie was not here this morning and I do not see Marie here yet this afternoon, but we might see him yet afternoon. But please keep Joan and your thoughts and prayers. Marvin man,
Beverly’s father. His health is kind of up and down depending on what they have done for them and what they do for them. So please continue to pray for him. He is scheduled for another treatment for his cancer on the 23rd so please continue to pray for him. Beverly herself. She’s still working with her heart rate and her blood pressure issues. She has some good days and some bad days. So please continue to pray for Beverly. Uh, remember to keep the entire case and family in your thoughts and prayers as they uh,
continue to work through the loss of their sister Julia on other uh, announcements here at the cares will not meet tomorrow night. The area wide Bible bowl for next Saturday as of everything we know right now is still on the schedule and if that changes we will let everyone know as soon as possible. But right now that is next Saturday at 4:00 PM. And if we have that, we need as many of the people here that we can possibly get to come out and support the kids in that endeavor. On that area wide Bible ball,
a ladies Bible class will be suspended until further notice than that’s due to the Corona virus and the concerns there with the people that do attend that because there’s susceptible at their age for being a more likely candidate for the Corona virus. So the decision has been made to suspend it ladies Bible class until further notice and then the men. As soon as second service is over today we will meet to discuss the Corona virus and our services and gathering schedule for here for the Collierville church of Christ and the decision that we make this afternoon that will be put out to everybody as soon as possible.
So a song’s service this afternoon, song leader B, Eric Richardson, opening prayer will be Joe caisson sermon is Aaron coats, art and closing prayer is Tommy Lasser. Thank you<inaudible>. Good afternoon number 291 please use your book. 291, two nine one a great position. Yeah.<inaudible> Oh, man. A voice. Uh, jeez. Uh,<inaudible> song.<inaudible> song. Jeez. Jeez. Uh,<inaudible> hi. Nappie leave Angie’s us<inaudible> I love, uh, name. Uh, jeez.
Uh,<inaudible><inaudible> jeez. Uh, jeez. Uh, Hey.<inaudible> uh, geez. Who else sing, uh, around the throne of his name? A name? Uh, jeez. Uh,<inaudible> uh, jeez. Uh, jeez. Uh, number 666, 666. Ah,<inaudible> and it’s, uh, to me, but I LA<inaudible><inaudible><inaudible> man.<inaudible><inaudible> near bus.<inaudible> said Coreg mean, uh, to, so my, the, or, uh, grey.
Steve. Uh huh<inaudible>.<inaudible> God with us that fast. So, and my well, uh, Stan, it’s, I mean<inaudible><inaudible> yeah. Uh huh<inaudible>.<inaudible> near bus.<inaudible><inaudible> uh, Oh, the up. Yeah.<inaudible> that’d be for a throne. Uh, uh, when I need you in prayer and with the, Oh my God.<inaudible><inaudible> sure.
I mean,<inaudible> near bus.<inaudible><inaudible> uh, Jerome, uh, uh, near blast.<inaudible><inaudible> uh,<inaudible> uh,
I can, uh, no to like Ross, uh, naira hoes. I see. Okay.<inaudible> IRS<inaudible><inaudible> you were all mean<inaudible><inaudible> yeah.
Uh huh. Jerome<inaudible> newer blast to the opera.<inaudible> uh, right. Dear God, our father in heaven,
we truly are thankful for the privilege that we have to come together this afternoon. We’re thankful, dear father,
that you loved us so much that your son came and died on the cross of Calvary. We’re so grateful for that sacrifice that was made and we pray father,
that would not take that lightly in our lives, that we strive to do our very best to serve and glorify you.
That we might bring honor and glory to your name. Father, we’re mindful of those that are not part of the kingdom of heaven.
We pray father that as we as good stewards of the church and those that are striving to reach out to the lost in this area,
that we are conscious of those that are not members of the body of Christ that we’re willing to give of ourselves and the abilities that we have to share the gospel with them in this area.
We’re thankful father for the Bible and for your word that it can direct our steps and we pray father,
that we look to them daily, that we are are drawn closer to you and closer to one another.
Dear God with our mind for those that are having problems with various illnesses and we pray that you be with Holly and the children as they travel back to check on her mother.
We pray father that the doctors and nurses might be able to attend to her and try to relieve her of her health issue.
We pray father, that you be with uh, Beverly’s they add and the ones that are tending to him pray you’ll be with lucky and Betty Lou especially be with Betty Lee.
She continues to have problems with her hands. We pray that they might do something that might relieve her of that pain.
How so? Be with Joan as she’s having these infusions each day that they might help relieve her of the problems with the pneumonia that it might not return.
Again, we pray father that you bless them and watch over them. We pray father that you always help us each day to remember one another and we’re so grateful and thankful for the church here and for the members of her that that love and care about each other so much and we pray that we not ever take that lightly,
that we’d be grateful for it and continue to do that. Be that blessing to one another here. Father,
we are mindful of those that are teaching and preaching your word and other lands, the DePalma’s and Rushmore’s.
We pray that you be with them and bless them and keep them safe and watch over them. Help us to be an encouragement to them and try to help them in whatever way we can bother.
We’re mindful of our widows and probably that we might always be attentive to their needs. Where mindful father Potter children’s home and the orphans there help us always to reach out to them and help encourage them.
And those that are shut ins. Father, help us not forget about them, but encourage them as we have the opportunity.
Father, be with us this afternoon as we look to another portion of your word that we might have attentive hearts and minds to listen to those things that are presented to us,
that we let them become a part of our lives and want to be a better person. We pray that we will always remain faithful to you.
That when this life is over with me, I might have that home in heaven. And Jesus, we pray.
Amen.<inaudible> we’re 639, six, three, nine. Rescue the perishing care for that. Uh,
he snatched<inaudible> from sin and a gray<inaudible> Jesus says mercy for jeez.<inaudible><inaudible> with Amgen. Me,
he will<inaudible> jeez. Smells<inaudible> nah, and a human. Uh,<inaudible><inaudible> to<inaudible>. Uh,<inaudible> jeez us his mercy for,
jeez. If I ask you the parish, she knit amens and Sheree<inaudible>, bro. Uh, Matt to the narrow way.
Hey, shot Lee went to the<inaudible>, uh,<inaudible> for that. Jeez. Serious mercy for jeez.<inaudible> our invitation song be number 904 nine zero four.
Okay, good afternoon. Take your Bibles if you will, and open them to the book of second Chronicles.
Second Chronicles rolling to begin around chapter 11 and our study this this afternoon, wanting to take the moment,
take a moment in our study this afternoon to consider the life of rehabilitation. Now someone might say, well,
Erin, Erin, uh, we, we just studied Ray bone this morning. Why, why do we need to study him again?
Well, the answer is because the majority of the acts of Rehoboam, the majority of the life of Rehoboam,
uh, are not in our study on Sunday morning because they’re not in the book of Kings. And,
uh, our study and the material that we’re going through, we’ll focus on the book of Kings, but the remainder of the actual,
you’ll read this in chapter 12. The remainder of the acts of Rehoboam were recorded in the book of Chronicles and wanting to notice some interesting tidbits here because there are some details in the recording in Chronicles that actually shed light on a number of very specific things throughout the rest of the old Testament history as well as some important lessons to be learned and gleaned from this passage.
So we’re going to begin in second Chronicles chapter 11 and notice the reign of Rehoboam. Now in chapter 10,
you have the revolt of Jeroboam. We’ve discussed that to some detail or to some small detail. We’ll discuss it more at another time.
But in chapter 11, we read now when Rhea Bolton came to Jerusalem, he assembled, uh, from the house of Judah and Benjamin,
180,000 chosen men who were warriors to fight against Israel that he might the kingdom to reimburse them. We read this morning in class that Rehoboam gathered this army together and as will also be recorded here,
they will receive word from the man of God to disperse. But notice something significant here. Rehoboam gathers these men together,
not just to go to war, but he gathers them together to restore the kingdom. He, in his mind,
will accomplish by power and by might what he could not accomplish through force of will. And so Rehoboam will bring together this army.
He will bring together these hundred and 80,000 men to go to battle against their brethren, okay. And unfortunately,
so many times even in the world today, we have brothers fighting against brothers. We have men fighting with one another and doing damage to one another who are supposed to be brethren.
And sadly, even within the body of Christ, we have those who fight and do devour one another.
And yet they claim to be brethren. We read in verse two, but the word of the Lord came to shimmy I the son,
the man of God saying, speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, King of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah.
And Benjamin saying, thus says the Lord, you shall not go up or fight against your brethren. Let every man returned to his house for this thing is from me.
Therefore they obeyed the words of the Lord and turned back from attacking Jeroboam. God sends word to Rehoboam.
God sends word to the army. You’re not to go to battle. He sends word by this prophet,
by this man of God as he is described here to go into tell them you will not go to battle against your brethren.
Yeah, but notice here that the reason why they would not go to battle, the reason why they were not to take this action was not because there was not a legal right.
It was not because the authority of the King wasn’t sufficient over the army. It was not because they wouldn’t have won.
It was because God had done this thing. There’s a principle laid in this passage that what God does,
man has no business on doing. God said, this is buying judgment. God said, this is my action and you have no business doing anything that opposes my action.
Now had the nation wanted to restore itself, they had the opportunity. Had the nation wanted to fix the problem and bring the entirety of the nation back together.
They could have done it, but not this way. Yeah. They couldn’t by force of mite, they couldn’t,
by power of military. They could not through their own volition bring about a restoration without God. But there’s an interesting point here in this perspective of God having done this and separated this nation,
and that is that the nation will never be restored until, yeah, the nation will never be restored until the end of the Babylonian captivity.
Now, some would suggest that the only ones who ever came back from captivity after the days of the Babylonian captivity were those from the tribe of Judah.
But the reality is that’s not the case. What you might remember is that in the, uh, 700 BC,
uh, century, the Assyrian army came in and defeated the Northern 10 tribes of Israel. They didn’t kill everybody that was there.
What they did and what the Assyrians would do is they would come in and they would conquer people and then they would disperse them far and wide and they would remove them from their land and then they’d take other peoples and place them in that land.
The idea being that if a people was not in their home land, if a people was removed from their Homeland,
their motivation to fight against the Assyrians and to war against them would be diminished because they wouldn’t be at home.
They wouldn’t be protecting their home, they wouldn’t have the motivation of freedom in their own home. And so a Syria would come and they would destroy and kill many of those in the Northern kingdom.
But some number of those people were scattered throughout the Assyrian nation. Well, after the Assyrian empire had come to power and come to glory and then began to diminish,
the Babylonians began to rise. No. And in the 600 BC point in time, the Babylonians grew to power and they came against the and they overtook the entire Assyrian empire.
And when you begin to read and you begin to delve more deeply into the return from captivity, what you will find is there is a good indication that there were those from every tribe of Israel that would ultimately make it back to Israel.
And they would again, now they be known as Jews. From that point forward, they would be known as those who had part in Judah.
But from that point forward, there would have been a restoration of the nation of Israel from that moment forward,
there weren’t two kingdoms. There was one. And what is it that was corrected? What is it that changed during that Babylonian captivity and after the Assyrian defeat of the Northern kingdom?
What changed in the nation to bring about restoration? After all of these hundreds of years, idolatry was gone.
Babylonian captivity and the Assyrian captivity removed idolatry from the Israelite culture and it removed them from worshiping idols. Now,
were they sinless? No. Were they perfect? No. Did they have many, many other problems?
Deal to deal with? Yes. Read the minor prophets for that. But the reality is, God said you will not be one nation until the primary issue in your nation is restored.
And that was idolatry. But go on in verse five. So Rhea boned Welton Jerusalem and built cities for defense in Judah.
What? He’s building cities for defense. But why would he be building cities for defense in Judah? Warned their already defensive cities.
Didn’t David build defensive cities? Well, he did, but he didn’t build any of them on the border between Israel and Judah.
These new defensive cities are to defend against their brethren in Israel. So he begins to build defensive cities.
He built Bethlehem ITAM to Koa, Beth Xer, Zaka, Adullam, GAF, Marsha Ziff, Zuora at,
uh, age, Alon and Hebrew, which are in Judah and Benjamin fortified cities. And he fortified the strongholds and put captains in them and stores of food or oil and wine.
And in every city he put shields and Spears. And he made them very strong having Judah and Benjamin on every,
on his side. So he’s got Judah, he’s got Benjamin, and he begins to strengthen his nation.
It’s now much smaller. It’s a smaller population. It’s a smaller army. He no longer has Eve freedom in the North to be able to help protect him from what comes from the North.
And so now he begins to fortify himself and he puts defenses in the city who puts Spears and shields in the cities and from all their territories.
The priests and the Levis who were in all Israel took their stand with him. An interesting detail that is recorded alone here is that the Levi needs in all Israel speaking concerning the Northern tribes.
When Jeroboam departs from the law, when Jeroboam departs from worshiping according to God’s commandments, when Jeroboam sets up the idols in Dan and bear Shiva,
and when Jeroboam replaces the priesthood of Aaron with anyone in the Northern kingdom of Israel who wants to be a priest,
the Levi rights stand with Rehoboam. You might remember that the Levi’s did not have a single land section.
That was their inheritance. The Levi’s had cities within all the different Israelite tribes and so these Levi’s are scattered throughout the entire nation and they’re standing with Rehoboam.
Beginning of verse 14 we read for the Levis, left their common lands in their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem for Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priest to the Lord.
Now let’s not get the egg and the chicken in the wrong order. The, the Levis didn’t leave leaving Jeroboam,
defying new priests. Jeroboam bone rejected them as priests and replaced them and then they departed. So the Levis left.
They went down to Jerusalem and Judea and or Judah, and they departed from their cities. They, as it were,
walked out on Israel to stand with Rehoboam and to stand with the Lord because of the departures of Jeroboam.
Then verse 15 he appointed for himself priests for the high places, for the demons and the calf idols which he had made.
Jeroboam will continue his progression into idolatry. He will continue down this path, not only with the golden calves,
but also with demon worship. And the Levis left those from all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek the law.
The Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers. So the Levi’s,
it’s that left. There’s an indication that not all, not a hundred percent of the population, but what category of them,
what group of Levi’s left the Northern 10 tribes and came down to the Southern two tribes? And the answer is those who set their face to seek the Lord,
those who were still faithful in their heart to seeking the Lord departed from their brethren. They departed from the Northern 10 tribes because the Northern 10 tribes departed from the Lord.
Now is there a lesson here for us? I think there is. There are those who face difficulties at times there are Christians who face difficulties because at times they find themselves in a congregation that is departing from the truth.
They find themselves in a predicament where they’re facing a congregation and they’re part of a congregation that is the partying from God and beginning to teach error.
And it is often the question in the discussion of when is enough enough, when is it that a person should leave in some maybe might have the mindset,
well you should just stay there. You should just stay in fight. You should be a voice for good.
And to a degree that’s true, but there’s a line. That line is not always clearly defined, but there’s a line where someone has to say,
you’ve departed and I can’t go with you. And so the Levi’s make that declaration as it were. They say,
you’ve departed from the Lord, you’re sacrificing to these idols, you’re doing these things and we can not abide by this.
Yes, and so they move from their homes and their inheritance and their location and they leave because serving the Lord was more important than their inheritance.
There’s a lesson that we need to learn about being willing to sacrifice for faithfulness to the Lord, so they strengthened the the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years because they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.
As the influx of Levis comes down into the Southern tribes. Now bear in mind, Solomon wasn’t always faithful to the Lord Solomon and build the temples in Jerusalem.
Solomon had set up the high places. Rehoboam hasn’t removed them. Rehoboam hasn’t taken these temples to these idols out.
Rehoboam has continued in the practices of his father, but for three years, the influence of these Levi’s is so strong.
How many of them are there? We’re not told, but it’s the, and almost the entire tribe.
There were already some that were in Judah. The Levites that were there already were, were there, but almost the re,
the entirety of the tribe comes down and their influence changes the direction of Judah. For three years, for three years,
Judah returns to faithfulness for three years. Judah is made strong for three years. They shift the balance of power toward serving the Lord,
but the wickedness that was a part of Rehoboam was strong enough that he eventually won out. Then Rehoboam took for himself as wife.
May her laugh, the daughter of moth, the son of David, and of Abba hail, the daughter of Aliah,
the son of Jesse, and she bore him children jus sham, Mariah and Zima or Zhihan. After he took her,
after her, he took make-a, the granddaughter of Absalom, and she bore him Abijah, uh, Thai,
Zaza and Shalimar. Now Rehoboam loved makeup, the granddaughter of Absalom more than all his wives and his concubines four,
he took 18 wives and 60 concubines and the God, 28 sons and 60 daughters. One of the problems you have with Rehoboam is the same problem Solomon had.
And the same problem David had. He didn’t follow the law. He did not return to the law and the commandments of Moses to observe that the Kings had been commanded not to multiply unto themselves wives.
And so he as well will continue in this sin of his fathers. But notice in chapter 12 it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself,
that he first took the law of the Lord and all Israel along with him. This influx of the Levi’s strengthened Rehoboam for three years.
It brought strength to the nation for three years and they were serving the Lord for three years. But when he became strong,
when everything was going well, when he realized that that he was going to be fine and the nation was going to continue,
even though the Northern 10 tribes had left, he forced hook the Lord with 1200, uh sorry in,
in verse two. And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that shack King of Egypt came up against Jerusalem because he had transgressed against the Lord.
In Solomon’s day, Solomon is going to find out, God tells Jeroboam, I’m taking the Northern 10 tribes away from you because you have departed from me and instead of correcting his situation,
Solomon seeks to kill Jeroboam. Now his son is on the throne and the 10 tribes are taken away and for a little bit of time he follows the Lord and the nation follows the Lord,
but now he’s departing from the Lord. He’s for sagging Lord and God is going to send a nation against him.
God is going to send the Egyptians up to bring judgment on Rehoboam and on the nation of Israel because all Israel along with him for Sug the Lord.
Then notice in verse three with 12,000 chariots or shooting be 1200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen and people without number who came with him out of Egypt,
the lube them and the<inaudible> and the Ethiopians. He took the fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem.
Then shimmy IAH, the prophet came to Rhea balm and the leaders of Judah who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of shack and said to them,
thus says the Lord, you have forsaken me and therefore I also have left you in the hand of shack.
So the leaders of Israel and the King humbled themselves and they said, the Lord is righteous. God sends his prophet to them.
He sends his profit to them because they’re all huddled in Jerusalem. These were probably leaders that normally would have been throughout the land,
but Egypt’s been coming in 40 cities have already fallen and Egypt is still coming in. They’re huddled inside the walls of Jerusalem and the prophet of God comes to them and says,
this is the Lord. This is the doing of God because you have departed from me. I am bringing shisha back against you,
but it’s an interesting statement that we read there. He says there in verse five you have forsaken me.
Therefore, I have also left you<inaudible> over in second Timothy chapter two Paul writes to the young preacher Timothy,
and he says to him in second Timothy chapter two around verse 13<inaudible> actually let’s go back to verse 10 verse 10 therefore,
I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
This is a faithful saying for if we died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure,
we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we are faithless,
he remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. Remind them of these things. Paul tells Timothy, you remind the church these things are true.
He says, remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord, not to strive about words to no profit to the ruin of the hearers.
Timothy, you remind your brethren, you remind your congregation, the Lord will be faithful if you’re faithless.
Now, someone might look at that and say, Oh, that’s great. The Lord’s going to be on my side.
Doesn’t matter what I do. No, no, no, no. That’s not what Paul means. Yeah.
Paul means the exact opposite. The Lord will be faithful to his word if you are faithless to him,
okay? And you go back into the old Testament and you go back into those principles of what a person sows,
that will he also reap. You go into those laws and those statements and those testimonies in those blessings and cursings that God gave Israel where God said,
if you depart from me, this is what’s going to happen to you. And what Paul is telling Timothy is the Lord’s faithful to his word.
If you depart from him, judgment will come. And so when God sends his prophet to Rehoboam and to the leaders in Judah,
he sends it to them and says, I’m taking my hands off. I’m leaving you alone. Wishes.
Shack. I’m not going to protect you this time. I’m not going to defend the city. I’m not going to fight your battles for you because I made you a promise when you were faithful me,
I go out and fight before you. When you are faithful to me, I would destroy your enemies for you,
but now you get to stand on your own. Good luck. As it were, have fun. Shear shack was,
or they were no competition for shisha ex army and they knew it, which is why 40 cities had already fallen,
and so God says, you’re on your own, and they declare in verse six the Lord is righteous.
Now they’re not saying with this phrase, the Lord is Holy. It’s not what righteous means. Here,
the idea of righteous is the Lord has judged and his declaration is justified. The Lord is justified and right in this judgment.
In other words, they’re acknowledging, yes, we have departed and forsaken the Lord. Now when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves,
the word of the Lord came to shimmy. I saying they have humbled themselves, therefore I will not destroy them,
but I will grant them some deliverance. Emphasis on some. He says, I will grant them some deliverance.
My rash shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of shack. Nevertheless, they will be his servants.
Sorry about that. I have a tickle in my throat. Nevertheless, they will be his servants that they may distinguish my service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations.
God says, I’m going to let them be brought into subjugation. I’m going to let my people be brought into tribute.
I’m going to allow shisha to dominate over them so that they learn that they can either choose between serving me or they can learn what it’s like to serve other nations.
They can find out what it’s like to be under the thumb of a King, like shake shack or they can serve me and they’re going to learn by experience.
So shisha King of Egypt came up against her Islam and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the King’s house.
So he took everything. He also carried away the gold shield, which Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard who guarded the doorway to the King’s house.
And whenever the King entered the house of the Lord, the guards would go and bring them out. Then he would take,
then they would take them back into the guard. When he humbled himself, verse 12 the wrath of the Lord turned from him so as not to destroy him completely and the things also went well in Judah.
Shisha comes in and God as shish act by all indications is around the city, maybe in, in siege around Jerusalem.
God sends the prophet in and says, you’re going to be destroyed. I’m not going to defend against you.
They humble themselves. They admit we forsaken the Lord. They repent of their wrongdoing, but God says,
you’re still going to experience the pain of being under the thumb of shack, and so she, Shaq is not kept from entering Jerusalem.
He comes in, he comes into the city because he goes into the house of the Lord and he removes all the gold.
He removes all the shields that Solomon made. He removes all the gold out of the house of the King,
but he doesn’t completely annihilate the nation. Step back and think about what we studied. Concerning the abundance of gold and silver in the nation of Israel in the time of Solomon and then one fail swoop,
it’s all gone. It’s all gone. There was so much gold that they had that they had beaten it into shields,
that they kept in the temple and it’s all gone. Oh, by the way, is there any irony that can be found in the fact that when Israel left Egypt,
they took all of Egypt’s treasures with them and now when they depart from the Lord, Egypt just came and got them all back.<inaudible> God says,
you’ll find out what the difference is between being faithful to me and serving yourself. Then King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and rained.
Now Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became King and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem. Just the thought there.
How long did Solomon reign? 40 years. And Rehoboam was alive for all of it. He was 41 when he came to the throne.
He witnessed the time when his father was faithful and he witnessed the time when he wasn’t. But notice what else we read.
He became, uh, he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there.
His mother’s name was Naima and AMA Natus. And he did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.
Here’s the conclusion. The con the Chronicles writer gives us, here’s what he says was the problem with Rehoboam before Rehoboam came to the throne is when the problem started.
Rio Boehm didn’t go bad, and when he got to the throne, Rehoboam became evil because he neglected to prepare himself to serve God.
Now, it doesn’t say that he neglected to learn how to lead the nation. It doesn’t say that he neglected to study,
uh, what his father wrote about how to make decisions or wisdom or understanding, but he pro did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.
There’s an accusation here against Solomon. There’s an accusation against every parent who prepares their child for an occupation and a job and a career,
and not to seek the Lord. We need to be those who are diligent to teach our children to seek God.
The acts of Rehoboam, verse 15 first and last, are they not written in the book of shimmy?
I the prophet and of this year concerning genealogies, and there were Wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.
So Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David than Abijah. His son reigned in his place.
The Chronicles of the life of Rehoboam tell a telling tale about a nation that just wouldn’t stay faithful and Israel would begin their journey into the depths of sin in the rain of Rehoboam by departing from the Lord.
It would be staved off for a time because of God’s judgment, but there’s that one last lesson. It is with judgment that God quite often restores the hearts of men.
We need to not be afraid of pain. We need to not be afraid of God’s judgment at times coming upon maybe even our own nation because the reality is when times are hard,
when judgment comes, when persecution is on top of us, it is then there is an option tunity to change the hearts and minds of men.
God does it time and time and time again with Israel in the old Testament, and it is ultimately when the nation is demolished as a nation,
that out of that is rebirthed a remnant faithful to the Lord. We need to learn the lessons of the old Testament and we need to make sure that we always remain faithful to the Lord.
If you’re here this afternoon and you’re a member of the body of Christ and you’ve departed from God like Judah did,
God will accept your repentance as well, but not as long as you’re insisting on being in charge. God made it clear to Judah,
you are not in charge. I am, and if you think that you’re in charge, I’ll put someone else in charge to show you you’re not in charge.
God said, I’m in control and you need to be faithful to me. We are those who need to be faithful to him.
Even today, if you’re a member of the body of Christ and you’ve departed from the truth, why not come home?
Why not repent of that sin? Repent, humble yourself before the Lord and pray for his forgiveness because he will forgive.
He’ll forgive a person, he’ll forgive a family. He’ll forgive a congregation and he’ll forgive a nation, but not if they don’t humble themselves before him.
If you’re outside the body of Christ, you can enter into the body of Christ by hearing the word of God and believing that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
By confessing the name of Christ and being immersed in water for the remission of your sins. You can do that today if you have need of the invitation,
the invitation of God is open. He wants you to be faithful to him. Will you do that today?
If you have needed the invitation, why not come as we stand and as we sing?<inaudible> Oh,
are you a, yeah. Uh, and uh, so cleansing<inaudible> Oh yeah.<inaudible> they wide ass.
No. Oh, are you a stint?<inaudible> thank Aaron for that lesson. Is there anyone here that needs partake of the Lord’s supper?
Okay, let’s please be seated. Yeah, let us pray. Father in heaven at this time, as we take our minds back to the scene of the cross where Christ shed his blood for our sins and gave his body for us,
for us, and instead of us being there, we pray that we think about what he did, that sacrifice.
And as we partake of this fruit, this loaf which represents his body, that those things will be on our mind as you said,
we pray. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your love. We thank you for Christ’s love and his willingness to to go to the cross instead of us and for us.
And we pray that you be with the ones we’re taking this fruit vine, which represents his blood. We’ll think about what it means to them and what Christ went,
went through and did somebody pray? Man, let us pray. Father in heaven. We thank you so much for your blessings.
We know that everything we have is from you, and we know that with of being in you and being a,
being a Christian, that you have blessed us and you continue to bless us. Each day. We pray that we give back a portion we received with a cheerful,
cheerful heart. And at the money we use to spread your word throughout this community and throughout the world.
In Jesus name, we pray. Thank everyone for making their way out today to worship God. And we encourage everyone to come back to see on Wednesday,
seven o’clock, a member of the men need to get together afterwards. So please stick around for that for short.
If there’s nothing else, let us stand for closing. Song number 650 number 650 Oh con’s ringing. You know,<inaudible> saying,
uh,<inaudible> uh, though.<inaudible><inaudible> yeah.<inaudible><inaudible> Oh, let us not grow weary in though a bla sin.
Uh huh. Uh,<inaudible><inaudible> uh, sin, uh,<inaudible> God bless.<inaudible> uh,<inaudible> gospel.
Let him for ever God our father in heaven. We come to you this time, thanking you for another opportunity to assemble here and sing songs of praise instead of another portion of your word.
And God, we ask you to help each and every one of us be diligent in our faith, to you and our service to you as we proceed amongst our everyday lives here on earth.
And God, we are so thankful that you sent your son Jesus, to live amongst us and teach us and provide us with your word.
So we would have a true life to live by and faithful service to you. We ask God that as we prepare to do part here in Garth,
separate ways that you stay with each and every one of us, those that are traveling, we ask that you be with them and uh,
provide them secure to their destination and returned to here so that they can assemble with us again to worship you.
We know that we occasionally fall short and we ask when we do fall short, that you help us see our airways and forgive us of our sins.
We pray all this through you son Jesus’ name. Amen.