Now to have its melody, as angels with the white-rope throne join in the sweet retention song.
Oh, Puela land, sweet Puela land, as on my highest mountain stand,
I look away across the sea, where mansions are prepared for me.
Red, Puela, shining, glory, shore, I have my home forevermore.
Okay, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Just a few announcements here before we
sing our next song, which will be 248, Now I Belong to Jesus, if you want to get that ready
in your songbooks. If you did not get a bulletin this morning, you can raise your hand and one of
the editors can get one for you. Some important information on there. Our Sunday morning service
is at 10 30 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. and then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock
and we are currently going through the book of Malachi. You see the fall program scheduled there.
Today we had our birthday breakfast for everyone whose birthdays in October and then we're also
having sports night after church at Eucalyptus Park. Dinner will be provided. Chicken, raising
chicken that is, or raising chicken, raising canes, which is chicken, right, will be provided
tonight. So hope to see you there. It's gonna be great. And then on the 10th, we have caramel apple
sundae for all those who come. That will be served after Sunday morning church.
On the 17th is apple cider fellowship. I'm hoping the weather gets a little cooler
by then, you know what I mean? Cause it's kind of weird when it's really blazing hot and we're
drinking like hot apple cider or something. I feel like the fall kind of fooled us because
earlier, I don't know if it was this week or last week, it was cooling down. You know, you have to
wear a sweater, but now it's like hot again. So anyways, we'll see what we do there. Apple
cider fellowship. We'll just have apple cold apple juice on that day if it's hot or something.
And then on the 24th is the state contest. We'll get you the rules on that next week.
The 29th is the teen bowling activity with pastor. Of course, parents are welcome to come. We want
you to come. And so hope to see you there. 31st is the birthday breakfast along with
the teen activity, two cold stones with pastor after Sunday night church. And then the seventh
is the pie baking contest, 23rd finishing up with the annual Thanksgiving banquet.
You see the point system there. If you attend all three services, you get a thousand points,
go so many once a week, thousand points, bring a first or second time visitor, 2000 points. And
you basically, if you do all that for these weeks right here, you, uh, and you earn 14,000 points,
you'll get yourself a free, uh, King James hoodie. And then for those who get the most points,
first prize is a paid admissions trip. Second price, $50 gift card, third price, $35 gift card.
Looking forward to seeing who's going to win for the fall program. As I mentioned,
tonight is sports night after church Sunday, October 10th is Lorena's baby shower.
If you have any questions about that, you can see my wife for more details.
Alex and Tamara's wedding is on Saturday, October 16th at Verity Baptist church.
And then the ladies prayer meeting is coming up on Friday, October 29th. I do want to mention
congratulations to Nicole and Chris Carey on the birth of Nathaniel John Carey. Amen. Uh,
he was born on the 29th at 1142, seven pounds, eight ounces and 20 inches. Mrs. Mejia will be
coordinating meals. Please make sure you see her to be a blessing to the Carey family during this
time. I'm sure they will greatly appreciate it. And then some other announcements on here that
are not, that's not on the bulletin. Christmas program practices will begin October 17th.
I'm excited about this. Last year was awesome. Do you guys remember the program from last year?
It was great, beautiful music. The kids did a great job with the singing
and everything. And so, uh, we're going to do something a little different this year,
but it's going to be great. It's going to be awesome. By the way,
the orchestra is still going to play. And if they didn't know that, they know that now. All right.
Uh, but, uh, it's going to be great. And obviously we have more space here. And so
looking forward to that, but the practices begin on October 17th. If you have any questions about
that, you can see my wife and then we need help with the Thanksgiving dinner.
If you'd like to sign up to get involved, see the signup sheet at the usher station.
Is it back there? Yes, it is. Okay, great. And so, um, please help out with that.
We'd appreciate it. Make sure you sign up, uh, so we can get in contact with you regarding that.
And that's pretty much it. This time is going to take some soul winning numbers from this past
week, from Monday to Thursday, any salvations from Monday to Thursday? One. Anybody else?
How about Friday and Saturday, Friday and Saturday salvations? One. Six. Okay. Anybody
else? How about for this afternoon? Salvations for this afternoon for the Morris team? Three.
For the Marcus team? Two. For the Marks team? One. I'm sorry? Okay. That's the one you're counting.
Okay, great. So he got saved and he got baptized today. That's your friend, right? Awesome. That's
great. Uh, so Markelle's friend got saved today. Amen. And then he got baptized thereafter.
Yes. One. And then two. And I think there's another one. There's one more. Her name is,
um, it was Chris's friend, Carol. I think her name, Carla. Carla's her name. She got saved today
after the service as well. So you can count that one. All right. Anybody else?
Okay. Keep up the great work on soul winning. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. 248.
Now I belong to Jesus. Song number 248 in your songbook.
Song number 248. All together on that first verse.
Evoking sever. He gave his life to my soul. Now I belong to him.
Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me.
Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.
Once I was lost in sin's degradation. Jesus came down to bring me salvation.
Lifted me up from sorrow and shame. Now I belong to him.
Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone,
but for eternity. Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me.
Freed me from sin that long had enslaved me. His precious blood he gave to redeem.
Now I belong to him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me.
Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.
Amen. Wonderful singing at this time. The ushers will come forth to collect the offering
and you can turn your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter number 15.
Thank you.
Good evening. Tonight we're in 1 Kings chapter 15,
and the Bible reads, Now in the 18th year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat
reigned Abisham over Judah. Three years reigned he in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Maacah,
the daughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins of his father which he had done before
him, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as the heart of David his father.
Nevertheless, for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem to set up his
son after him and to establish Jerusalem, because David did that which was right in the eyes of the
Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life,
save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all
the days of his life. Now the rest of the acts of Abisham and all he did, are they not written
in the books of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abisham and
Jeroboam, and Abisham slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David,
and Asa his son reigned in his stead. And in the 20th year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa
over Judah, and 41 years reigned he in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Maacah the son of
Abishalom. And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord as did David his father,
and he took away the Sodomites out of the land and removed all the idols that his father had made.
And also Maacah his mother, even her he removed from being queen because she had made an idol in
a grove, and Asa destroyed her idol and burnt it by the brook Kedron. But the high places were not
removed nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days, and he brought in the things
which his father had dedicated, and the things which himself had dedicated into the house of
the Lord silver and gold and vessels. And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all
their days, and Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah that he might not
suffer any to go out or to come in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa took all the silver and the gold
that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house,
and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And king Asa sent them to Benedad the son of
Tambur-riman the son of Hezion king of Syria that dwelt at Damascus saying there is a league between
me and thee and between thy father and thy father behold I have sent unto thee a present of silver
and gold come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel that he made apart for me. So
Benedad hearkened unto king Asa and sent the captains of the host which he had against the
cities of Israel and Smote-e-John and Dad and Abel-Bev-ma-akah and all Sinneroth and all the land of
Naphtali. And it came to pass when Baasha heard thereof that he left off building of Ramah and
dwelt in Terzah. Then king Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah none was exempted and they
took away the stones of Ramah and the timber thereof wherewith Baasha was had builded and king Asa
built them which with Geba Benjamin and Mitzvah. The rest of all the acts of Asa and all his might
and all that he did and the cities which he built are they not written in the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was deceased at his feet
and Asa slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father
and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead and Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel
in the second year of Asa king of Judah and reigned over Israel two years and he did evil
in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of his way of his father and in his sin wherewith
he made Israel to sin and Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him and
Baasha smote him at Gibethon which belonged to the Philistines for Nadab and all Israel laid siege
to Gibethon. Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him and reign in his stead
and it came to pass when he reigned that he smote all the house of Jeroboam he left not to
Jeroboam any that breathed until he had destroyed him according unto the saying of the Lord which he
spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned in which
he had made Israel to sin by his provocation wherewith he provoked the Lord God of Israel to
anger. Now the rest of the acts of Nadab and all that he did are they not written in the book of
the chronicles of the kings of Israel and there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all
their days in the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all
Israel and Terjah 20 and four years and he did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the
way of Jeroboam and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. Let's pray. Dear Lord God heavenly
father thank you for this day Lord and we just pray that you fill pastor with your Holy Spirit
and that you bless this service and plus the fellowship to follow and we pray this all in
Jesus name amen. Amen we're in first kings chapter 15 and look down at your Bibles in
verse number eight it says and Abijam slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of
David and Asa his son reigned in his stead and in the 20th year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned
Asa over Judah and 41 years reigned he in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Maacah
the daughter of Abishalem and Asa did that which is right in the eyes of the Lord as did David
his father and the title of sermon this evening is character analysis of king Asa character analysis
of king Asa it's always good to go to the old testament and kind of analyze the lives of the
kings of the old testament because of the fact that first and foremost we see sometimes what a
king or a leader of a nation how they should behave and then other times we see how they
should not behave right the things the wicked things that they do and how God is displeased
with those leaders etc but even aside from that a lot of what we see with these kings in the Bible
we can apply to ourselves as individual Christians you know because the reality is this is that
you know regardless if you hold some sort of you know grand position in some nation as a president
as a governor as a mayor or you're just a regular layman in church God is still concerned with your
behavior he's still concerned with your attitude he's still concerned with how you conduct yourself
and the decisions that you make regardless of what position you hold in this world and so we
can look at the lives of these kings in the Bible and make a lot of application to ourselves we can
see some of the mistakes they made and what we have to avoid and their successes their prosperings
and how we can basically receive the same result and so tonight I want to go over king Asa which is
a pretty famous king in the Bible but before I get into that let me just explain briefly
where we're at right here when it comes to the kings you hear being mentioned Judah you hear
being mentioned Israel of course you think of Judah as part of Israel but this is referring
to a divided kingdom you see uh years ago prior to all of this taking place you had a united kingdom
under Saul and then under David and then under Solomon even up to Rehoboam and pretty much these
four kings ruled over the united kingdom of Israel however when Rehoboam took over
the kingdom split okay so you had 10 kingdoms going to the north which is Israel and then two
kingdoms really going or two tribes excuse me 10 tribes going to the north two tribes going to the
south and those southern tribes are known as the southern kingdom also known as Judah and Benjamin
but primarily Judah okay of course you had some remnants of the northern kingdom following them
but for the most part it was Judah and Benjamin those are the tribes that existed in the southern
kingdom and really when you look at these two kingdoms the northern and southern kingdom
you know the northern kingdom Israel was pretty much had a bad reputation okay pretty much all
the kings were bad in the northern kingdom now you had some bad kings in the south but you know
you had some good ones as well and so um that's what we're looking at so what you see there of
course is the 10 tribes to the north two remain in the south Asa falls under that southern kingdom
and in fact he's actually the third king of that divided kingdom okay because you have Saul you
have David you have uh Solomon you have Rehoboam and then after Rehoboam you have Abijam and after
Abijam comes Asa now tonight I really want to just go over some of the things that happen in
Asa's life that we can learn from some things that are that are exciting to look at and then
some things that are just like it's just reality okay you know we would like to read a story where
it's just like he starts well he's doing well and he ends well right but you know what the reality
is this is that not every Christian actually you know finishes their life well and this is a great
example to us that even though a person starts off well they have good momentum they have great
intentions they love the Lord if they're not careful they can end off in tragedy okay and
so that's really what happened to Asa but we're going to look at his strengths in the beginning
of his ministry should I say the beginning of his of his ruling over the southern kingdom and what
are some things that we can learn from him now first and foremost let me just say this Asa teaches
us that you can still serve God zealously in spite of your past because of the fact that go
to second chronicles chapter 12 now why did I say that when it comes to Asa by the way my voice
cracks I'm sorry I've been talking all day and then fellowshiping my voice I have a tendency to
lose my voice um when you look at Asa you see that the previous kings to him you know didn't
really have a good reputation and in fact the Bible tells us that they did evil on the side
of the Lord there's some sort of blemish within the reputation of the previous kings his
grandfather and his father and in fact look at second chronicles chapter 12 and verse number one
it says and it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened
himself he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel with him the Bible says now look God's
favorite was on Rehoboam I mean he had the authority he had the kingdom and even Jeroboam
who ended up being really bad came to him and said look we'll serve you we want to be under you
as long as you treat us better than what your father Solomon how your father Solomon treated us
and then you know he goes to his he goes to the ancients of the land they're like do it yeah be
kind to them serve them they'll serve you it's going to be great then he goes to his contemporaries
his high school buddies okay he's like what do you dudes think I should do and they're like man
you make sure you whip them with scorpions and just like treat them like trash and I'm telling
you you'll be able to rule that place well well he decides to go with their advice rather than
the advice of the ancients and of course the kingdom is split because of this now this isn't
the sermon but that's a really good point is it not you know when it comes to getting wisdom and
don't get it from your contemporaries right I'm not saying you can't get any kind of wisdom from
your contemporaries people who are your age or maybe a little below you or a little higher than
you as far as age is concerned but you know what the vast majority of the council you get should
be from people who have been around the block longer than you have okay who have lived life
longer than you have who have who are established they're married they have children they're
spiritually mature they've read the bible over and over again they are people who are spiritually
mature that's the council that you should be listening to okay don't don't don't be like
don't be like Rehoboam who goes to his contemporaries to figure out what to do when
their contemporaries have lived as long as you have they haven't been faced with the same
decisions that necessarily you have or if they have they haven't succeeded in that area go to
people who have succeeded in that area go to people who have experienced that who have failed
who have experienced that who have succeeded who can teach you something well they didn't do he
didn't do that okay so the kingdom splits of course god kind of doesn't necessarily overlook
it but he obviously understands that there's flaws here he establishes his kingdom he strengthens
himself and instead of continuously following the lord what does he do he forsakes the law of god
okay he stops following god's commandments and look what it says in verse at the latter end of
verse one he forsook the law of the lord and look what it says and all israel with him
what does that tell us it tells us this when you decide to forsake the law of god
you're going to take someone with you now unfortunately with this guy because he's a king
he's a sovereign he affects the entire nation but we can apply this to a much smaller scale
for example a family hey dad you know if you decide to forsake the law of god you're going
to take your family with you you know or you say well i don't have a family yeah but you may have
a scope of influence in the church and the day you decide to forsake the law of the lord to get
away from god you will take someone with you we see that with ray obon he forsakes god's law
he just completely negates the commandments of god and israel follows suit they end up following his
example it says in verse number two and it came to pass that in the fifth year of king ray obon
shisha king of egypt came up against jerusalem because they had transgressed against the lord
with 1200 chariots and three score thousand horsemen and the people were without number that
came with him out of egypt the lubims and the sukkims and the ethiopians so part of the punishment
of forsaking the law of god is that basically god would allow a foreign nation to come and war with
them not give them peace just kind of make their life miserable you understand go to verse 13 if
you would verse 13 so king ray obon strengthened himself in jerusalem and reigned for arabom was
one and 40 years old when he began to reign and 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 and his mother's
name was namah and abonitos and he did what evil why because he prepared not his heart to seek the
lord so ray obon took this position but he never took it with the attitude of you know i need to
prepare my heart to seek god i need god's favor i need a wise and understanding heart to know how
to judge the people and lead the people the lesson that we can learn here is the fact that
you know prior to being given a position of leadership or a position at your job or in church
or whatever it may be you better make sure you're preparing your heart to seek the lord first
you better make sure that whatever endeavor you seek to accomplish in your personal life
you are preparing your heart to seek the law of god you understand so that your heart can be in
the right place if you want to remain blessed of god you've got to make sure you have the right
heart you understand and when you have the right heart regardless of how a circumstance or
situation turns out god sees the heart and he can bless you according to the integrity of your heart
okay but we see here that that's not what he did so him not preparing to seek the lord with all his
heart is the equivalent to him forsaking the law of god you know what that tells me is the christian
life is yeah it's an emotional thing but it's always attached to god's law you understand so
you know if you want to have the right motives the right attitude the right emotions it always
has to stem from god's word delighting in god's word go to second chronicles chapter 14 second
chronicles chapter 14 so asa's grandfather messed up why he forsook the law of the lord
he didn't prepare his heart to seek the lord and unfortunately for all of eternity we're going to
have a bible that says that he did evil on the side of the lord why because he chose not to put
god's word first it wasn't preeminent in his life he led carnally in other words okay look at
second chronicles 14 and verse 1 it says so abijah slept with his fathers and they buried him in the
city of david and asa his son reigned into stead in his days the land was quiet 10 years and asa
did that which is good and right in the eyes of the lord his god so what do we see now well
ray of boam stops raining his son abijah takes over and he basically falls in the footsteps of
his dad so both abijah and ray of boam are not good leaders they have a bad reputation
you know uh the lord is basically rebuking them and showing that they have flaws and so you would
think well if granddaddy's bad and daddy's bad well apparently ace is probably gonna be bad too
but look what it says in verse 2 and asa did that which is good and right in the eyes of the lord
he broke that chain he broke that stigma he broke that generational curse of forsaking the law
in spite of whatever past you have you can still serve god you know it doesn't matter how wicked
or bad your parents were or if there are backslitting christians or you know they did
x y and z or your mama fed you with a slingshot or whatever and your daddy didn't love you and
he left you when you were little or whatever whatever traumatic thing that may have happened
in your life you know it really doesn't matter if you're serving god you know well you don't know
you know my dad you don't know my father yeah but if you're saved you have a heavenly father
right and here's the thing folks we all walked according to the course of this world according
to the principle of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience
okay at one time we're all children of disobedience but now we're children of god
amen and as children of god we have the potential to serve god at whatever potential that we have i
mean our greatest potential so we can't blame the past we can't blame people in our life
for oh man i'm just i just got so many setbacks and i just got so many flaws and i was just handed
a bad hand or whatever in life and you know i just can't really serve god as much as i would
like to you can serve god as much as you would allow yourself to serve god okay don't blame your
dad don't blame your mom don't blame your aunt don't blame your circumstances because if you're
saved you have the word of god you have the holy spirit of god dwelling within you there's no
restraint to you the only restraint that's on you is the one that you give yourself the excuses that
you make why you can't serve god oh but you don't know my dad my dad was like an alcoholic or
something you know okay well just make sure you're not an alcoholic oh you don't know my parents
they were like druggies okay well just make sure you stay away from drugs well my parents there
you know my dad was like a fornicator he's an adulterer okay just just make sure you don't do
that then just be like asa who just does right what in the eyes of the lord you understand don't
be the person to say you know asa could have been like well my grandfather at boom is going down
this road abhijan is going down this road so i guess this is the road for me it's predestined
folks we're not calvin is here that's right right we don't believe in this predestination of well
if god set this kind of life before me this is what i got to fulfill i got to fulfill prophecy
here and be a bad person and be a failure the rest of my life wrong wrong i like the fact that asa
did that which is good and right in the eyes of the lord in spite of his people the people who
came before him in spite of what stigma his family may have had he stepped out and said well i'm going
to be different right okay you know maybe you know my dad was a deadbeat maybe he didn't have a job
but i'm going to be a hard worker you know maybe my family was unfaithful but i'm going to be a
loyal faithful person maybe my family you know they were just lukewarm christians well i'm going
to be on fire for the lord okay because you have that choice right you know the the failures of
your family or of your past doesn't have to be imposed upon your character today okay
he says in verse number three he did that which is good and right in the eyes of the lord now
this means that he prepared his heart to seek the lord right so when god looked at him it
wasn't like oh yeah he just has a good heart he didn't look at him and just say well it looks
like he just has a he he just loves me right it was based upon an action why because look what
it says in verse three four he took away the altars of the strange gods and the high places
and break down the images and cut down the groves so why did god say hey he's doing that which is
right and good in my sight because he was just destroying idols he's like i love god so much i
just hate every other false god and i'm gonna show you how much i hate these false gods i'm just
gonna break every single one that i come across break all the altars and the high places and the
images i'm gonna cut down the groves look at verse four and commanded judith to seek the lord god of
their fathers hey you should be reading the bible too that's what he's telling you to say hey
everyone obey god's commandments in my kingdom all right you know have you read have you read
deuteronomy yet make sure you read that okay everyone obey the commandments of god i mean
this is zeal okay he says commanded judith to seek the lord god of their fathers and to do the
law and the commandment this is an awesome king right here this king i wish we had a king i wish
we had a president like this who can articulate ideas and and and be you know a just strong leader
here you know imposing the right type of laws amen
he says in verse five also he took away out of all the cities of juda the high places and the images
and the kingdom was quiet before him so you know he's putting in all this work destroying all these
idols and god's like okay i'm gonna give you peace i'm gonna give you peace because you actually hate
idolatry you hate false gods you're obeying my commandments therefore i'm going to give you
quietness therewith okay and look folks the equivalent to this in our tip in our day would
be the fact that we have the peace of god the past with understanding you know obviously we
might not live in a quiet city or in a quiet state or in a quiet country but we can definitely have
the peace of god the past with understanding okay the bible the bible says uh his uh perfect peace
great peace have they which love thy law nothing shall offend them i think i have another verse
here great peace have they whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth indeed someone help
me with that what verse there you go thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed
on thee because he trusteth indeed so even though we might not have quietness in our city because of
all the democrats or all the liberals and all the nonsense is going about you know if your mind is
stayed on the lord you can have peace you know you don't have to freak out every time they impose
some new garbage out there with the vaccine you can disagree with it you can hate it but it's
like you know i got perfect peace though okay he says in verse six and he built fences fenced
cities in juda for the land had rest and he had no war in those years because the lord had given
him rest go to second chronicles chapter 15 you're in chapter 14 go to 15 so what's the
first thing that we can learn from asa what we can learn this is that he wasn't a man of excuses
he's like well i grew up in a ghetto neighborhood okay well just don't be ghetto then
well i grew up in a violent place okay well didn't learn not to be violent
next question you know i grew up with heroin addicts okay then stay away from needles
you know it's just it's pretty simple when you're living the christian life
all you have to do is obey god's commandments and not try to use your past as a means as to why
oh i'm just struggling in this area well you know then get away from people that are causing you to
struggle get away from the environment that's causing you to be tempted and do that which is
right in the eyes of the lord look at second chronicles 15 and verse number one why was he
able to serve god in spite of his past look at verse one it says in the spirit of god
came upon ezeriah the son of odin and he went out to meet asa and said unto them hear ye me asa and
all judah and benjamin the lord is with you while ye be with him and if you seek him he will be
found of you and if you forsake him he will forsake you now let me say this asa is not
being blessed of god just because he's just predestined to be blessed of god it's not like
well i've chosen asa to just be an awesome person that's who he's going to be no the same rules that
apply to asa are the same rules that apply to us and what the prophet is telling him is this
if you seek the lord he's going to be found of you but if you forsake him then he's going to forsake
you and folks we're talking about someone in the bible we're talking about someone that
something that took place 3 000 years ago but the same rule applies today if you want god's favor
on your life in spite of your past you just make sure you are seeking the lord regardless of who
you are regardless of how short you are how tall you are how big you are how uh you know
untalented you are how many gifts you have or how many gifts you don't have regardless of your skin
color regardless of whatever as long as you seek the lord he will be made found of you so what does
this tell us of asa he made himself he sought the lord and the lord made himself found okay
he says in verse 3 now for a long season israel had been without the true god and without a
teaching priest and without law but when they in their trouble did turn into the lord god of israel
and sought him he was found of him go back to first kings chapter 15 if you would first kings
chapter 15 so you say well yeah but i got a pretty bad past though like you know and my family still
kind of around me well just seek the lord seek the lord while he may be found make sure you're
reading god's word taking advantage of the grace of god that's available to you so you can do that
which is right in the eyes of the lord don't be a don't have a victim mentality it's the worst
mentality that there is out there this victim mentality that says well i can't do anything so
i need hand me now hand me outs i need someone to just hand me out money and feel sorry for me and
give me pity forget all that nonsense forget all that nonsense of whatever stereotypes people may
have of you just do what you're supposed to do seek the lord and god shall prosper you okay
look at first kings 15 verse 11 and asa did that which is right in the eyes of the lord as did
david his father now in second chronicles we see that part of that was what tearing down the groves
and the images and the idols but i want you to notice verse 11 says that he did that which is
right in the eyes of the lord did he say right and wrong did he say right except for this part
that i'm about to show you he said no he did that which is right in the eyes of the lord
what was that verse 12 and he took away the sodomites out of the land
amen and removed all the idols that his fathers had made oh yeah but you know i don't know if that
was right i don't think that's politically well god never told him to do that which is politically
correct that's right so when asa read leviticus 2013 he's like oh man all right we got a campaign
all these queers we've got to remove them out of the land you got to take them out
where are we going to take them i don't care amen just get them out of here and when he did it
god looked at that and said that man is doing that which is right in my eyes
he didn't say hey aren't you why aren't you loving why don't you tell them about the true god of
israel why don't you win them over we should have we should start a ministry for them
i mean do we have an example of anybody witnessing to a sodomite in the bible
the only time uh you know they're they're witnessing to a sodomites when they're burying
witness against them and stoning them with stones and so asa which was a righteous king he did that
which is right in the eyes of the lord because he took the sodomites out of the land he basically
evicted them from the land amen and look this isn't like you know we move from one city to
another or something you know it's not like they move the sodomites from one city to another
what this is exile yeah yeah this is like you guys can have that desert right over there where
there's no water or plant life or anything like i mean exile was a thing back in the day even
the united states exile was a thing where they were literally exile you know people as a
punishment you know during the winter and they just die in the forest because they have nowhere
else to live they have nothing they just kind of kick them out of the city out of the land
and this is what that's talking about
oh man he's not being gracious well the lord says that he did that which is right
so who i mean you don't argue with me argue with god god said that this was right so you know what
i see here i see a little extremism i see a little extremism today you know the way people
would say you guys are just extremists well actually extremist to you is what you're
literally the norm to god
the extreme thing is that there's not more people like us preaching this
that's extreme like you guys are pretty extreme there's not enough people here you understand
preaching against this he took away the sodomites out of the land remove all the idols
go to uh you're still in first kings look at verse 11 oh we are in verse 11
verse 13 so we see asa he's a great guy he's teaching us that we can serve god in spite of
our past okay in spite of whatever you know roadblocks are in our way as long as he sought
the lord by the way as long as you seek the lord god removes those roadblocks you understand he
just kind of removes whatever is impeding you from serving god and if you are impeded from
serving god it's not by the roadblocks it's by your excuses that's what it is so he removed that
he's like i don't care if i'm the great-grandson of of ray of balm and the son of abhijam i'm still
going to serve god i'm going to remove and look ray of balm forsook the law of the lord
and what was the result of it sodomites in the land idols in the land so it shows you that you
know when god says he forsook the law of the lord he's kind of being gracious by not going
into detail the result of it but he's basically showing us there's sodomites in the lamp they're
allowed to like live in the lamp okay so asa came and and did pest control and removed everyone
but what's another thing that the dog catcher
what's another reason or what's something else that we can learn from asa well another thing is
that he wasn't a respecter of people okay look at verse 13 and also maeka his mother
which is actually his grandmother even her he removed from being queen because she had made
an idol in a grove and asa destroyed her idol and burned it by the brook kidron but the high places
were not removed nevertheless asa's heart was perfect with the lord all his days now this is
pretty cool okay you know it's not like his his granny it's like well i'm gonna serve god granny
i guess you can have that virgin mary in my house or something like that he's like this is wicked
i'm taking your favorite idol of virgin mary and we're burning it and by the way since you're
serving a false god that may no longer be a queen he demoted her not you know it's like it's not
like well you know she's my grandma i gotta take it easy with her you know she she's part of my
kingdom we should grandfather him into the kingdom you know she just let her serve those
false gods no he's no respecter of people now let me just make this disclaimer okay if you
live with your parents and they're idol worshipers you have no right to go and just like take all
their stuff and burn them especially if you don't even pay rent at your house or something okay
um and if you do i'm not mad at you you know what i mean i don't approve i like the story
i just don't approve but you know once it's done it's done obviously i'll shake your hand
i'll pat you on the back and say you know awesome i'll just say you shouldn't have done that awesome
though but that's what he did he was not a respecter of people go to matthew chapter 10
if you would matthew chapter 10 hold your place there in first kings so he was not a respecter
of people and what this teaches us is that you know loyalty towards the lord should be 100
loyalty loyalty towards the lord should be 100 none wavering not seeking to you know uh well
i'm respectable towards or i'm loyal towards the lord until it comes to my really close family
there's a guy knocking on the window don't worry guys it's all right look over here look over here
we have men in the church that will take care of it he's not a threat
mori's freaking out now
so he wasn't a respecter of people and you know what we as christians need to have the same
attitude and for some people this is difficult because relationships are really important to us
especially if it's someone we grew up with someone who we know someone who lives with us but the
reality is this is that we should follow the lord more than anybody else and love the lord more than
anyone else obey the lord more than anyone else look at matthew 1034 think not that i'm come to
send peace on earth you know send that as a greeting card for christmas amen
because you know people talk about like peace and peace but they're talking about like a different
peace they're talking about a peace that is absent of the lord you understand he says think not that
i am come to send peace on earth i came not to send peace but a sword now folks what does a sword
do it divides you know oh we shouldn't have division well jesus is looking to cause division
he's like i'm here to bring a sword to divide you look what it says in verse 35 for i'm come to set
a man at variance against his father man and daughter against her mother and daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law and a man's foes shall be they of his own household isn't this true even
today where we could potentially have our friends and family as foes relax everyone everyone relax
hey this is a male run church there's men in this church ladies relax it's okay even if there's a
ruckus out there they're not going to get very far they won't get through these doors you're you're
safe you're safe here okay fear not okay more just destroyed them i'm just kidding just relax
just hey enjoy the preaching amen okay he says a man's foe shall be shall they excuse me shall be
they of his own household look what he says in verse 37 he that loveth father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me now this doesn't contradict honor thy father and mother
right he's saying honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with promise
but he says here you just better not love father and mother more than me that means
jesus has to be more important to us than anybody else amen than even our children that's right
he says he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he
that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me now when he says loveth father or
mother loveth son or daughter it's also referring to like their commandments right you know if
you're if your parents are telling you to drink alcohol right and you do it was my dad it's my
mom you know well apparently you don't love the lord more than you love your parents because
god tells you not to do that that's right you understand if you have parents that are opening
the door for you to commit some sort of sin and they're giving you the option to do it or not to
do it and you do it because they want you to do it then obviously you love father and mother more
than the lord right because jesus says not to do it right so this is the extreme aspect of this
commandment he's just saying look i should be number one in your life that's right in fact the
old testament says this you know what one of the names of god is jealous capital j that's right
he didn't say i'm jealous as in like you know that's how he feels he says my name is jealous
just to show you the severity of his jealousy towards us that we we need to make sure we follow
him we love him we obey his commandments doesn't matter what your traditions say
doesn't matter what your mom says or your dad says if they contradict god's word
we need to go with what god says no matter what and asa is a great example of that or you know
what did he say
give me a second here
you have a question
yeah because we're having church right now so you're distracting the people
but there's no piano playing right now there's no piano playing right now
well this church is for religious people so if you don't want to be here
well it is so that's where you guys go wrong okay then go somewhere else then
i'll just stand right here this is actually public property dude no actually this is private
property this is actually private property you want to fuck with me like seriously this is
private property so you can't be here you want me to call the cops i could just call the cops
and have them take you away no they'll just take you away no they won't i haven't i'm
not breaking the law okay stay right there then that's fine just don't come here
or else what yeah so i thought well you know what you we have kids here that you are distracting
and they're looking at you through the mirror knocking at them looking at them and you know
what i can call the police and say he's disturbing our kids inside the church and he's scaring our
kids scaring them yeah you guys are all fucked up yeah see ya
all right back to our regular schedule program
was my mic on that whole time
the youtuber
hey folks let me just say this this is the house of god okay and look i'm not for this well we
should just should have welcomed him first of all he has alcohol in his breath he's knocking on the
window distracting our service we have children in our service okay so i'm not going to be tolerant
towards that and he's saying f off and all these things oh okay that we should just bring them
inside the house of god no the house of god is for believers folks not to say we don't have
unsaved people to come visit us we get them saved and that's it but when some belligerent drunk
fool out there is disturbing our service as we're trying to teach the word of god then we need to
just tell him to leave i mean was that rude was that mean brother albert was that mean was that
was that kind of rude huh what do you think i think i think you know i could have been a lot
meaner he apparently likes your piano playing eric and i told him i was like but he's not
playing the piano right now this is not a concert recital here
verse 37 so asa was cool that's because he kicked his his grandmother off the throne at his queen
because of the fact that she was worshiping false gods and we'll say this you know if your parents
are living with you if you have family that are living with you and you know they're under your
roof you're paying the rent you're the boss you're the the man of the house and they're
practicing those things you have every right to say either the idols go or you go
because we're not accepting of that here this is this is a house that serves the lord you know
we have jesus christ as our god we do not serve these false gods or whatever it may be and then
you know they make the decision then and there why because at the end of the day we can't be respecter
of people okay he says in verse 38 and he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is
not worthy of me he that find findeth his life shall lose it and he that loseth his life for my
sake shall find it go to mark chapter three if you would mark chapter number three
and then we'll go back to second chronicles chapter 15
wasting my time
lost my train of thought and everything actually just go back just go to second chronicles 15
because i need a hasten i got a couple i got a lot more points so what's another thing about king
asa that we can learn from well here's one thing that i really admire and love about king asa
okay and as i was reading this i thought to myself man what an awesome king what a just awesome
believer not even just a king but what an awesome believer number three is this is that he inspired
others to serve god you see it's one thing to actually serve god yourself right i mean that's
great to following the lord and making sure that you're obeying god's commands it's another thing
to do it in such a way that you actually provoke others to serve god as well look at second
chronicles 15 and verse 7 of course the man of god is preaching and he says in verse 7 be strong
therefore and let not your hands be weak for your work shall be rewarded and when asa heard these
words and the prophecy of oded the prophet he took courage and put away the abominable idols
out of the land of judah and benjamin and out of the cities which he had taken from mount ephraim
and renewed the altar of the lord that was before the porch of the lord by the way obviously he
loves preaching because the man of god is preaching he's giving it to him and he's just like amen i'm
gonna change a bunch of stuff i'm gonna get rid of idols we're gonna rebuild the house of god
i'm gonna take courage he's just going all in verse 9 and he gathered all of judah and benjamin
and the strangers listen what it says here and the strangers with them out of ephraim and menasseh
and out of simian for they fell to him out of israel in abundance when they saw that the lord
his god was with him so remember this is the southern kingdom known as judah and benjamin
they're kind of at odds with israel israel it's its own thing there's 10 tribes over there
they have another king but his zeal for god was so visible it was it was so
great that even the people from the northern kingdom were like well we're gonna go over here
because this guy's serving god god's with this person he's making all these he's reforming the
land he's making all these changes he's obeying god's commandments i mean there's no satellites
down there he took them all out he's like they're gone and it i was like something's going on over
there so even people the strangers that were scattered in those 10 tribes they're like we're
moving we're going down to judah because apparently god is with king asa so even though these are
separate kingdoms the people of the northern kingdom were so inspired by asa's example that
they followed him why because he's some great person no because they understood that the lord
was with him and this is what's important folks you know we want to be great in the eyes of the
lord but we want people to follow us because they know that the lord is with us not because
we're talented not because we're wonderful not because we're super godly or whatever may be
it's because they know that god is with us and they want to be with the men they want to be with
the church they want to be with the christians that god's hand is upon okay he says so they
gather themselves together at jerusalem in the third month in the 15th year of the reign of asa
they offered into the lord the same time of the spoil which they had brought seven hundred oxen
and seven thousand sheep and they entered into a covenant to seek the lord god of their fathers
with all their heart and with all their soul that whosoever would not seek the lord of the god of
israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman whoa i mean this is
a pretty extreme laws here he's like look i'm just gonna be honest with you you guys don't
serve god i'm gonna kill you he's like you're being put to death he it means like serving god
is so important to him then like if you don't worship him then you just are put to death now
obviously this is a little too extreme because obviously worshiping god should be out of one's
own volition right and you know sometimes people who get a little extreme they have a tendency to
go a little extreme okay it's just like all right simmer down there young man you know where it's
just like extremism okay it's good to be zealous it's good to be as zealously
affected in a good thing that's what the bible says right all right but we need to
make sure that we have a zeal that is according to knowledge right so the reason he was great
here is because of the fact that he inspired others okay and you know what this reminds me
of our church okay because our church has attracted a lot of people as you can see you know
people out there you know
but people who didn't like us initially as a church who then were inspired to either start
listening to the sermons or come soul winning with us or be church members i mean that says something
okay and here's the thing a lot of people just don't like me they just didn't really like me
they're just like you know who's this guy and you know and and they point out all my flaws and and
here's the thing this is what i told you lisa's the other day we're trying to figure out this
math equation right it was like some simple math equation and i don't know if it was like a monday
morning our brains weren't just like we're not up to it i was like pull out your calculator
just do it on the calculator and he's trying to do it and he can't do it i'm like man god's
gonna get all the glory from this from this church here it's obviously not us man god's
getting all the glory here you know and i was joking about but i am serious about that because
of the fact that when people listen to this type of preaching or the way we operate our church or
the administration we have they criticize it you know they think well that's that this is not the
way you grow a church this is not the way you win souls this is not the way blah blah blah blah blah
so that when we do win people to christ when we do preach sermons and people are being reached
and people are being influenced then the people who hate us will say well then it has to be god
then because it's not bruce well it has to be god because it's not that church well it has to
be god and you know what they're right they are right and if you're offended at that then you've
you're you're too filled with yourself too full of yourself like no it's i've got something to
do with it like i'm talented man what do you mean i'm a gift to this church
no the attitude should be you know what i'll use whatever i can for the lord but recognize that
god will bless me in spite of that god will allow us to reach people in spite of me understand asa
was not perfect he was not sinless we see that he had a perfect heart meaning complete but he was not
sinless he was just a man who loved the lord he followed the law of god and for that reason he
inspired many okay the bible says in Philippians you don't have to turn there go to second
chronicles 14 Philippians 1 12 says but i would you should understand brother that the things which
happen unto me have fallen out rather into the furtherance of the gospel so that my bonds in
christ are manifest in all the palace and in all the places and many of the brethren in the lord
waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear you know i've been
doing this podcast on instagram you know doing the the olive crown podcast and there's some faces that
are popping up on there people from the past that i've known and at first you just see like you know
the face pop up they don't say anything they're like oh so-and-so's listening you know that's
cool and then the next week is just like hey pastor mahia oh hey and the next week they start
asking questions and the next week's like yeah it's on again well little by little and this person
obviously you know they didn't really agree with me in the beginning but the more they listen the
more they hear the truth the more they're inspired by what's going on okay and i think it's great
and look i i don't think every person who likes my preaching has to come to our church
there's probably people who live literally in anahim who don't come to our church but listen
online and i'm fine with that because it takes a lot to come to our church this is a public
service announcement okay it takes a lot to come to our church but at least i know when they come
they saw that public service announcement they know where they're going into you understand
where do i have you turn second chronicles 14 uh let me skip a point here let me get into this one
right here this is really the the last great thing that asa did and that was that he really depended
on the lord okay let me say this if you want to go anywhere in the christian life you have to depend
on god right like your dependency has to be strictly on the lord okay look at verse 9 it
says and there came out against them zarath the ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand
and three hundred chariots and came unto marisha then asa went out against him and they set the
battle in array in the valley of uh zavatha at maresha and asa cried unto the lord his god
and said lord it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power
help us oh lord our god for we rest on thee and in thy name we go against this multitude
oh lord thou art our god let no man prevail against me no prevail against thee what does
it show ace are really dependent on the lord this is a very humbling thing to do here if you think
about it because he's the king he's the leader he's got to put forth courage and boldness and
strength before his people but what does he do instead lord help me i need you like i can't win
this battle without you i'm a king in juda it's a great nation but if you don't help us we can't
do it you can save by many or by few we need you and you know let no man prevail against thee so
what is he saying if they prevail against me so be it but don't let them prevail against thee
i mean this man's heart is in the right place
and let me say this we all need to remain in this place the danger is that the more
success you have in the christian life or just in life in general the less dependent you become
upon the lord and the more trust you begin to put upon yourself your character your talent your gift
what you can do your smarts your wisdom your strength that's a big temptation
because you know what the christian life does it makes you better it makes you smarter
it makes you stronger it gives you more character it gives you more wisdom it gives you more
discipline how many would say i was just an undisciplined person before the christian life
right here it's true some of you are like you know maybe you might have grown up at a home
where it was just strictly disciplined but not for a lot of people how many would say but i
became disciplined after the christian life some of you are like nope
you know how many would say you know my character improved after i got saved
my character improved after i started reading the word of god after i heard preaching i mean
god has greatly improved my life not just spiritually but just all around i became a
better employee a better son a better daughter i mean the quality of life has just improved
exceedingly in my life and it does that's what the christian life does to you that's what a christ
that's what christianity does to a nation where christianity goes the quality of life improves
greatly no matter what nation what household it just gets better and better god improves you just
as a person you become smarter you become more wise you become a man of character you become
another man that's what happens the danger with that is that you start thinking that that's all you
but really it's christ and us the hope of glory and the danger is like well you know you put in
all this work and you got so talented you're so gifted and you're a great speaker and you're so
good at so many years so good at this that you start depending on yourself and less on the lord
our attitude should be 10 years from now 20 years from now i still need god amen i still need the
lord and whenever we're faced with the battle that we go before the lord and say lord i need you if i
you're not with me i can't win this battle let them not prevail against the lord
it's a wonderful humble attitude that he had verse 12 says so the lord smote the etheopians
before asa before juda and the etheopians fled why because asa was just great no because they
had a great god and asa had a humble heart to go before his god and ask for help
go to chapter 16 second chronicle 16
now unfortunately that's basically where it ends for asa as far as his good report is concerned
we could just end it there but let's just we're a church that believes in reality okay and we
have to talk about everything and unfortunately asa you know asa started off well he was a great
man but in his latter years he just went downhill okay and here's what here's the ironic thing
is that point five was that he relied on the lord point six is point six is that he started relying
on the arm of his flesh in the latter years and this is a danger that i actually see even today
where men of god in their younger years you know are serving god they're fervent they preach hard
but then they reach 60 50 60 70 and they just kind of put it on cruise control they stopped
fighting the lord's battles and i remember i've had conversations about this with my pastor friends
and we just kind of scratch our heads wondering like why did they get out of the fight why is it
that they kind of simmer down in their latter years and it's not everyone because there's
plenty of preachers out there who have not done that i mean jack hyles i always bring him up but
he's one of them he fought till the very end i mean he was firing till the very end he preached
hard till the very end there's plenty of people who did that to the very end but unfortunately
there's far more they kind of simmer down and they just kind of they just kind of tolerate and
become very complacent apathetic towards the things of god look at second chronicle 16 verse
number one it says in the sixth and 30th year of the reign of asa beisha king of israel came up
against judah and built raima to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to asa king
of judah so what do we see here beisha another war is happening by the way the christian life
is full of wars we'll have wars in the beginning we'll have wars in the middle and we'll have wars
at the very end as well and here's one of the wars that came during the latter end of asa's
reign and beisha is basically besieging the city not allowing anybody to go in or come out so they
can't receive food or water then asa sought the lord nope did he cry out to god he said lord help
me again no asa brought out silver and gold out of out of the treasures of the house of the lord
and of the king's house and sent to ben hadad king of syria that dwelt the damascus saying
there is a league between me and thee as there was between my father and my father behold i have sent
these silver and gold go break thy league with beisha king of israel that he may depart from me
so what does he do he uses the blessing of the lord all the silver and gold and instead of
depending on the lord he depended upon his resources and said he didn't seek the lord he
went to he went to the king of syria and said can you just like disassociate yourself from him
and then i'll pay you you associate with me therefore he'll depart from me because he
knows you're with me i mean this is him relying on the arm of the flesh he says in verse 4 and
ben hadad harken unto the king asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of israel
and they smote aijun and dan a bim el abo ma'am and all the store cities of neftali and it came
to pass when beisha heard it that he left off building of raima and he let the work cease then
asa the king took all judah and they carried away the stones of raima and the timber thereof where
with beisha was building and he built there with giba and mispa and at that time hanayni the seer
came to asa king of judah and said to them because that was relied on the king of syria
and not relied on the lord thy god therefore as the host of the king of syria escaped out of thine
hand were not the ethiopians and the lubims a huge host with very many chariots and horsemen
yet because thou didst rely on the lord he delivered them into thine hand for the eyes of
the lord listen to this for the eyes of the lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth
to show himself strong and the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him here in
thou is done foolishly therefore from henceforth thou shall have wars what is he saying he's saying
look of course hanayni is just kind of like a party pooper right he's like oh great this this
thing is done or whatever this this this this this war is over whatever right the the danger is gone
and then hanayni comes and says i got something to tell you remember we used to rely on god for this
now you're relying on a king of some earthly king to like deliver you from this and he reminds him
he says look the eyes of the lord run to and fro you know to show himself strong on the behalf
of him whose heart is perfect with him and by the way folks this is the same for us
if you want god to show himself strong on your behalf
have a complete perfect heart with him doesn't mean be perfect as in sinless doesn't mean don't
have mistakes or flaws you do your best you give god your all you love the lord your god with all
your heart soul mind and strength and god will show himself strong on your behalf he'll make up
your deficit you give it your all and you're like man i'm still lacking i'm wanting i have a
deficit and god says well i'll make up that deficit he'll show himself strong on your behalf
but unfortunately he didn't do that verse 10 of chapter 16 verse 10 here's the last couple things
so this is this basically started him on a downward spiral he just stopped depending on god
he stopped relying on the lord and when someone stops relying on the lord they end up forsaking
the law of god and you know what's the next thing that really goes they start hating the man of god
look what it says in verse 10 then asa was wrought with the seer and put him in a prison house for he
was in a rage with him because of this thing and asa oppressed some of the people the same time
so i mean did the prophet say anything unbiblical
i mean was he just like not preaching the word of god no he told them the truth and what asa
do i can't stand this guy put him in prison you know put him in prison and then he's oppressing
the people well folks when people start forsaking the lord one of the first things that really
happens is they start hating the preacher they start being contentious towards the preacher
just kind of a contrarian against the preacher not necessarily because of the preacher but because
of what the preacher's preaching whereas at one time they love the truth they wanted their faces
ripped right they want to be rebuked and reproved but now it's just like we hate this guy have i
become your enemy because i tell you the truth look at verse 11 here's the last point he became
diseased in his feet he got like a really bad case of athlete's foot
and it was actually worse than athlete's foot
gout probably yeah i mean we don't necessarily know what that means but it was a special disease
obviously because it ended up taking his life he says in verse 11 to behold the acts of asa first
and last low they are written in the book of the kings of juda and israel and asa in the 30 and
ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet until his disease was exceeding great
look what it says here yet in his disease he sought not the lord but the physicians
so prior to this he just relied on the king of syria right he relied on the king of syria he
relied on his resources and that carried him way all the way through to the very end because he's
still relying on physicians now this isn't saying physicians are bad we're not uh amish people or
like the kid is like at a fever of 106 or so you know some crazy or like oh no medicine no nothing
you know don't do any of that you know just just the lord will heal him no god gives us physicians
folks in fact the bible talks about the gifts of healing i don't think that's referring to
some charismatic who's able to like slap your forehead and knock the fever off of you i think
that's referring to a person who has knowledge of healing like like a doctor a physician
who understands the science is like a dr rita you understand you know you talk to dr rita it's just
like she'll she'll spit some knowledge to you like like five paragraphs filled it's just like
i caught like the first couple words you said you know like so what vitamins am i supposed to take
you know like but you know i believe she has the gift of healing because she she understands the
anatomy of the body that which helps improve you that that which will help you to recover from
sickness i believe that's what that's referring to so i don't think physicians are bad they're good
the bad thing about this is that he sought the physicians rather than going to the lord
and a good practical way to explain this is like you know if you're sick you know
to the point where you feel like you're going to die you know one of the first things you should do
is pray
lord help me to recover from this i need you and it doesn't matter what physicians do to me
obviously if i don't have your favor or your protection you know i'm not going to live and
at that point then you go to the emergency room and then you know go to that the science that
god has provided you understand but the problem the issue here was the fact that he no longer
depended upon the lord and i i personally think that god allowed the disease in his feet
so that asa could seek the lord just remember this folks when a trial comes in your life
when a hardship comes in your life you have to understand sometimes it's god allowing it
to provoke you to seek him out so when you have a financial woe in your life if you're having
some sort of difficulty in your life instead of saying well i'm smart enough i can figure this
out on my own i can make it happen i'm this i'm that maybe the trial is there to cause you to get
on your knees and pray and ask god to help you sorry because you know god can change everything
with one swipe with one day he can change it all and sometimes trials that are there to help us
to understand and see that we need the lord okay but he didn't do that and what happened verse 13
and asa slept with his fathers and died in the one and 40th year of his reign by the way it's
pretty interesting you said what's the new testament application of that disease in his
feet well the bible says how beautiful are the feet of then the priest of glad tidings
you know you know he had some manicured feet spiritually you know he probably had some clean
feet not clean feet literally but i'm saying spiritually at one point asa was bringing the
word of god to other people i mean he was reaching people from the northern kingdom
but then when he stopped relying on the lord he became diseased in his feet they were no longer
beautiful they're filled with corns and and bunions and i don't know uh you know
what ugly feet have i don't know because i don't have ugly feet you know hangnails and you know
infection or whatever why because he wasn't seeking to promote the word of god anymore
he wasn't relying upon the lord anymore so what's the lesson that we can learn from king asa what's
the character analysis that we can make of him you know he's just like you and i and if we're
not careful we could go down that road we can start off great like pastor i started off great
i love the lord i'm zealous for the things of god you know i i'm praying i'm reading my bible i'm
in church i'm doing everything that i can make sure you stay on that path though make sure you
continuously rely on the lord for his protection his provision you know his prospering because
it can change at the end right you know don't put it on cruise control
don't put it you know on on on a lax christian life don't become lukewarm examine yourselves
to make sure you stay in this thing for the long haul that you remain zealous in the long haul
amen let's pray father we thank you so much for your word thank you for the example of king asa
pray that god you'd be with us lord and help us to follow his good example and avoid the bad
decisions that he made in jesus name amen amen please turn your song books to song number 355
song number 355 what a friend we have in jesus song number 355 all together on that first verse
what a friend we have in jesus all our sins and griefs to bear
what a privilege to carry everything to god in prayer
oh what peace we often forfeit oh what needless pain we bear
all because we do not carry everything to god in prayer
have we trials and temptations is there trouble anywhere
we should never be discouraged take it to the lord in prayer
can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share
jesus knows our every weakness take it to the lord in prayer
oh are we weak and heavy laden
come bird with a load of care precious savior still our refuge take it to the lord in prayer
do thy friends despise forsake thee take it to the lord in prayer
in his arms he'll take and shield thee thou will find us all is there
amen wonderful singing you are dismissed