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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] All right, thanks for coming to the winning pool. We hope you get started this evening. We're going to turn it over to song number 409. The play is on. That's song number 409. ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Let's see if anybody else is on. ["Pomp and Circumstance"] The flag is on. The strongest sound is ringing And the prize we've won Is turned up for a year. The Lord of all walls Is marching on to victory The triumph of Yet Christ will serve him. The fight is on. All Christians will turn Their face to face It's turned away. The thunder gleaming And all the streaming The right and wrong It is today. The fight is on. What we are fearing Is counting in his life All fast. With God before us His reign o'er us We'll sing the fainter song at last. The fight is on. The battle's so great We'll change what all God needs And victory we'll sure hope upon. The error God has given you And in his reign Forever and in time. The fight is on. All Christians will turn Their face to face It's turned away. The fight we're claiming And all the streaming The right and wrong It is today. The fight is on. What we are fearing Is counting in his life All fast. With God before us His reign o'er us We'll sing the fainter song at last. The fight we're claiming And all the streaming The right and wrong The battle's so great We'll change what all God needs And victory we'll sure hope upon. The error God has given you And victory we'll sure hope upon. The fight we're claiming And all the streaming The right and wrong It is today. The fight is on. What we are fearing Is counting in his life All fast. With God before us His reign o'er us We'll sing the fainter song at last. All right, we're going to have a word of prayer. Good morning and thank you. For the folks that have come out tonight. We want to thank you for your Bible and preaching out there. Thank you for being with us. The world's spirit has been here. We're going to help us honor you. And all that we say and thank you this evening. It would be better if we had an outcast in Christ. Thank you. We've scored Psalm 187. You need the words. Jesus loves me. Psalm 187. I do need the words. Just so you know. I'm ashamed of that. Psalm 187. Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. We've got the church-wide soloing listed below that. Don't forget there's still the Tuesday time if you can make it. That's still the time that's available. And also if there's any other times outside of that that you'd like to get together and go soloing, just let me know. I can always make that happen. And we've got the salvation and baptisms listed below that. Go back and go ahead and count up the salvation going back to Monday or Tuesday, Wednesday. Was there anything for the group today? Where's our guy? Was there anything for the group? No, you were there. Zero, okay. And then we've got a couple notes. If you need it there regarding the church, please be sure to turn off your cell phones if you haven't already done so. And Happy Mother's Day just last Sunday. And also this Saturday is the annual Mother-Daughter Tea Party in honor of Mother's Day. So that's gonna be this Saturday, May 14th. And ladies, if you haven't signed up yet, please do so and take the sign-up sheet home tonight and order everything accordingly. So make sure you've signed up if you haven't already. And also don't forget the small town soloing in Sierra Vista that's gonna be taking place here near the end of the month on Saturday, May 21st. I'll have an itinerary out for that. But that is a day trip that we're gonna do. We'll take care of all your expenses, the gas if you need it. We can't cram you in the van. We'll feed ya and we'll take you out soloing out in Sierra Vista. But I'm out all day, so we'll start knocking those doors too. Don't forget on the back that we go weekly by their memory passage. So we've got until Sunday to get that finished, those of you that are memorizing it. Make a conference announcement below that. Again, I will be running a shuttle on the Wednesdays from Tucson, so if there's a Wednesday and there's a particular creature that falls on a Wednesday that you wanna go see or if you wanna do them all, it's gonna be on a first come, first serve basis. I'll have the sign up sheets out probably the week prior for people to be able to sign up. But that will be going on probably around five so you can kinda get an idea if you wanna make these work. If there's a Sunday that you wanna go up there, by all means, do that. But that's obviously, I'm gonna be here. So you're gonna have to get up there on your own. But it'd be worth a trip to go out and see some of these other creatures as well. And then also, not including the bulletin, where is Karen? Where's my daughter, Karen? Where is she? Karen! Come here. Okay, it's Karen. Come here, Karen. We're all waiting on you. Is she hiding? Karen Elizabeth. Come here now, this is your father speaking. Come on, nope, nope, come here, just come right here. We're all gonna wait. Did she go in the bathroom? Oh, she thinks she's gonna get away. It's her 11th birthday, she does not wanna be sung to. I'm so mean. Yeah, well we got cupcakes and ice cream to make up for how mean I am. We'll get her afterwards. We're gonna sing to you. She's, I'm gonna have to check her. She's getting older, she's getting more clever. She's thinking now, how can I avoid this embarrassing situation? Oh, suddenly I have to go to the restroom. All right, she can play that game. So, but it's a happy birthday to her. But we'll sing when she's done, when she gets back out. We'll sing later, all right? But we'll sing our next song before we get into preaching tonight. Let's go over to song number 328, I Want That Mountain. That's song number 328. That's song number 328. ["I Want That Mountain"] I saw a night of ruthless bliss upon the mountain's eye. He passed the word and quiet faith in me. The longer and the older his lost face, the more I cried, I want that mountain if he wants to be. I want that mountain, I want that mountain. Where the mountain running, far and the graceful west would grow, I want that mountain, I want that mountain. The mountain that my Lord has within me. The air flows so dry, he lets me distance, and I wouldn't know if it was for the one who set me free. I don't come from out the wilderness, I'll witness now I know. I want that mountain if he wants to be. I want that mountain, I want that mountain. I want that mountain, where the melting honey flow, where the graceful west would grow, I want that mountain, I want that mountain. The mountain that my Lord has within me. One thing that's shining from the rest of me will drop the light. Let's bow and host the ones who make me free. I'll fly from out the wilderness, and trust the homeless light. I want that mountain if he wants to be. I want that mountain, I want that mountain. Where the graceful west would grow, I want that mountain, I want that mountain. The mountain that my Lord has within me. Let every giant do the stress, let nothing make him stay. Get ready now to make him for you see. I come from out the wilderness, I know I'm going to win. I want that mountain if he wants to be. I want that mountain, I want that mountain. Where the graceful west would grow, I want that mountain, I want that mountain. The mountain that my Lord has within me. All right, this time we're going to pass the offering plate. As it goes around, follow Brother Gabriel as he reads from 1 Kings, chapter 15. That's 1 Kings, chapter 15. 1 Kings, chapter 15. Verse 1, the Bible reads, On the eighteenth year, King Jeroboam was the son of Nebah after he advised him of Judah. Three years later, he and Jerusalem, his mother, and his man, the daughter of Ishmael, when he walked in on the sins of the small group that she had done before him, his heart was not perfect for the Lord his God, as I heard of David's father. Nevertheless, for David's sake, the Lord God gave him a lamp to Jerusalem, set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem, because David established what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned out his side to remain female and compatible all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah and Hittite. And there was war between Jeroboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life, for the rest of the acts of Elijah and all that he did were not written in the book of the chronicles of the hymns of Judah. And there was war between the Bible and Jeroboam, and the Bible was stuffed with his fathers, and the burial of the city of David, and Esa, the son, reigned his step. And in the twentieth year, Jeroboam, king of Israel, reigned Esa of Judah. In forty-one years, when he came to Jerusalem, his mother's name was Manacah, the daughter of Eishon. And Esa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had the days of his fathers. And he took away the Sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. And also Manacah's mother, he and her, he was moved from being queen because she had made an idol for the world. And Esa destroyed her idol and burnt it by the birth of Caesar. But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless, Esa taught his purpose of the Lord and he brought in the prince, his father identically, and I think it was himself, and he came into the house of the Lord, silver and gold and vessels. And there was war between Esa and Beishech, king of Israel of all their days. And Beishech, king of Israel, went up into Judah and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come into Esa, king of Judah. And Esa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasure of the king's house and delivered them into the hand of his servants. So then Hadad, son of Tachariah, the son of Haman, king of Syria, that law of the past was saying, there is a need between me and me and between my father and my father, who is old and has sent him to be a president of silver and gold, come, great that I leave with Beishech, king of Israel, that he may depart from it. So then Hadad hearkened to king Esa and sent a captain with a host, which he had against the city of Israel, and sowed Eijar on the dam, and able Bethneac, and all Sinnerah, with all the land in that tower. The last of Beishech or her thereof, they left off the building of Reimah to blow up Israel. Then king Esa made a proclamation for all of Judah and that was exempted. They took away the stones of Reimah and the timber thereof, for which Beishech had built it. And king Esa built them, he loved Benjamin and Esa. The rest of the polyacts of Esa and all his might and all that he did and the cities which he built. Are they not written in the book of the prodigies of the king of Judah? Nevertheless, since Hadad was old age, and Esa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his father in the city of David, Egypt, tossing away his son Reimah instead. And Hadad, the son of Jeroboam, began to reign over Israel in the second year of Egypt to Judah and reigned over Israel two years. And he did evil on the side of the Lord and walked in all the ways, walked in the way of his father in the city of what he made Israel to sin. And Beishech, the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Beishech smote him at Dibetan, which belonged the Philistines. And Hadad and all Israel played seeds of Yimithal. Even in the third year of Esa, he and Judah began to enslave him, and raided instead. And it came to pass, when it rained, that he spoiled the house of Jeroboam. He left the house of Jeroboam, and he left Reida until he had destroyed it, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake and served to hide from the shadow. But because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned, and which he made Israel to sin, his provocation was to provoke the Lord God for the rest of the acts he made down and all they did. But then I read in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, and there was war between Esa and Abishah, the king of Israel, on the days. In the third year of Esa, Judah began Abishah, the son of Ahijah, to reign over all Israel and Tizre for twenty-four years, and he did evil inside of Israel, and walked from the way of Jeroboam to his sin, which he made Israel to sin. Father Peter, would you pray for us? The Lord, thank you for your grace and mercy. Thank you for your precious word. We pray that you be with our Lord, that you be with Job's spirit, and that you preach for us in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. So we're still in chapter 15 there, obviously, tonight. There's a couple things going on in chapter 15, and we're really just going to look at King Esa. You remember last week you looked at his father, Abijah, and some of the things that were good about him and some of the things that were bad. But one of the things I would point out about Abijah is how short his reign was. If you notice there, it says in chapter 15, verse 1, now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, so that's a point of reference for Abijah's reign. It says that in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat reigned Abijah over Judah, and then if you jump down to verse 9, it says in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, reigned Esa, which was his son, over Judah. So you see that Abijah had a very short reign. And Esa's is of course much longer. If you look there in verse 10, it says, in forty and one years reigned he, Esa, in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom. You can see that there's a huge discrepancy between the length of these two men's reigns, and really the difference was that you had one that did right and one that although did do some things right and there was some good things, on the whole, his heart was not perfect and there was a lot of things that he didn't do. And we talked about that last week, but I really want to focus on Esa and the reason why I believe he had such a much longer reign is because of the fact that he did do right. It said in verse 11, Esa did that which is right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father. So he's saying, look, even as David was a man after mine own heart, and he was a man that did what was right in the sight of the Lord, so did Esa. Now let me make this clear is that Esa is not perfect. This is an important lesson that we have to understand. There's a theme throughout Scripture because of the fact that you're dealing with man, because you're dealing with humankind, you're dealing with human nature. So we keep seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly of these different characters. We're seeing how flawed they are. We're seeing the good things that they did. We're also seeing a lot of the shortcomings that they had. What we learned throughout is that they're not flawless people. They are flawed people. It says there in verse 12, He took away the Sodomites out of the land. That's a good thing, right? He removed all the idols that his father had made. And also Maacah, his mother, even her, he removed her from being queen because she had made an idol in a grove. And Esa destroyed her idol and burned it by the brook Cai-dron. But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless, Esa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days. So he did a lot of good things, and the things that he did were really good, but it does say there the high places were not removed. So they were still worshiping in these high places, these other places where other worship was taking place. He didn't get everything done that he should have done. But it does say that his heart was perfect with the Lord all his days. And what we can learn from this is that he did right, but that does not mean that he was perfect. And we really can't expect anything else from any one of us either. We can't expect people to be perfect in every way, that they're just never going to make mistakes, that they're going to be just do everything right all of the time. Look, there's going to be some things that we miss. There's going to be some things that we are going to leave undone in life. There are going to be some things that are going to be, you know, like a black eye to us. They're going to be a black spot. They're going to be something that we missed, okay? And this is an important lesson to learn, that nobody's you know, not in the sense that the Bible is using the word perfect. His heart was perfect, but he wasn't perfect in the sense that he doesn't mean that he was sinless, okay? Because we see that. Now if you would, go to Romans chapter 7, Romans chapter 7. And really, the reason I'm bringing this up is because of the fact that when we understand this, this just should, you know, remind us of the goodness of God, of how God truly is good, and how good he really is. Because the fact that we see somebody like an Asa, who has this great long reign, who does a lot of good things, you know, he still isn't, you know, doesn't do everything he should have done. And in fact, you'll see later that his son you know, finishes up some of the things that that, you know, he failed to do. I don't want to get ahead of myself. But what this reminds us of is that, you know, God understands us about us. God understands that we are flawed people, that we're sinners, and he still extends us mercy, okay? Now if you look there in Romans chapter 7, look at verse 13. He says, well let's just jump in 14. He said, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, so we'll understand. Now listen to what Paul's saying. He says, look, I am carnal. He doesn't say, I was carnal. He didn't say, I was carnal, then I got saved, and then I was just, you know, I never made another mistake. I always had the right attitude. I never got into sin. I never slipped up. I did everything I was supposed to do for the Lord. No, that's not what he said. He's saying, look, I am carnal, sold under sin. This is the apostle Paul speaking. For that which I, and this is that tongue twister, right, that famous passage, for that which I do I allow not for what I would that I do not. But what I hate that I do. He's explaining, look, the things I don't want to do, those are the things that I do do. The things that I do want to do, those things I don't do. He said there in verse 16, if then I do that which I would not, I consent that the law, unto the law, that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And again, present tense. It's sin that is dwelling in me. I got saved, and now sin no longer dwells in me. He's making the case here that we are still carnal. We still have this flesh. We still have an old man. We still have a struggle that we have to fight every day. And people are going to lose battles along the way. He says in verse 18, for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And guess what? That's true. There is nothing good in our flesh, but you still have the flesh to deal with every single day. I look in the mirror and I don't say, oh, there's my glorified body. No, that's in heaven. I look in the mirror and say, that's far from glorified. It's still the old man. It's still that same carcass that I had when I got saved. It's the spirit that's been made new. He says I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, but for it dwelleth present with me. But how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not that I do, now if I do that I would not. It is no more I that do it, but it's sin that dwelleth present tense in me. He said I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. So what he's saying here is look, no one's going to be perfect. We still have this flesh to deal with. That's why we still read about people like Asa who despite all the good things that they do still end up missing some things and really if you're paying attention to the chapter he's not consistent all the way through. He starts out really well but at the end he has this complete lapse in faith and we'll get to all that if we have time. So he wasn't flawless. If you would go over to Psalms 103, but this should remind us that this isn't this doesn't take God by surprise and really what this shows us is the mercy of God that God understands that we are still sinful beings. That we that you know that's why it's so foolish when people say things like I'm going to get to heaven by being good. Or you've got to repent of your sins to get saved or something like that. God commended his love in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. He commended his love while we were yet sinners. He didn't wait for us to clean up our life. He didn't wait for us to repent. Now look should we clean up our life and repent and do that? Of course. But you know what some people don't do that. You know a lot of people they know what they should do. They know the good that they should do but they don't do it. They know the evil that they shouldn't do but that's what they do. Because they still have this war in their members. They still have this sin that still dwells in us. That hasn't gone away. And again it should remind us that this doesn't take God by surprise. If we were just going to hold everybody to the standard of perfection then no one would make it. And God in his wisdom and in his mercy takes it easy on us doesn't he? I mean think about all the things God can come down on us over every day. You know hopefully there's less and less as we mature in the faith. Hopefully there's less and less that we would upset God. Hopefully it'd be nice to just get to the end of the day and just say well I pleased my father today. That I at least was pleasing to God today. Hopefully that becomes more that's a more consistent thing in our Christian lives but if we're being honest you know there's probably been a time in our lives even after we got saved where you know if God was just going to come down on us he could have. And look God does come down on us. He chaseneth every son and he receiveth. But not to the degree to which he could often. And that's not an excuse to sin willfully. Right? I mean if we if we want to just use the grace of God as a cloak for our sin then yeah expect the hammer of God. Expect him to come down on you. And come down on you. But the Bible says in Lamentations you went to Psalm 103 it says it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Because his compassion fails not. You know if we've managed to you know live the Christian life for any length of time we're going to be able to look back and say the only reason I made it this far is because of God's compassion. Not because I'm just this amazing Christian. Not just because you know and obviously we should be better Christians than we were yesterday. But the best among us would look back and say look it's it's of his mercy that I have been consumed. It's his compassion that haven't failed. I've failed in my Christian life. I've let God down. I've made mistakes. But his compassion has not failed. They're new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. You know I've been found unfaithful. You know there's been times in my life where I say well it wasn't faithful to God today. We might even go through whole seasons in our life. We would be just you know described as unfaithful. But you know he remains faithful. That's why anybody makes it through. Because of God's mercies, compassion. Look at Psalm 103. It says in verse 13 like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. I mean what is pity? I mean you look at you look at someone you show pity on them you're acknowledging the fact that they're what they're pitiful. Really. You're looking at you're taking pity on them and saying well you know let me show some mercy because obviously there's something about them that they just can't help it or something. I mean that's what it is to take to pity something. It's not that they're not deserving of punishment. It's not that they're not deserving of the consequences. It's just that I'm not going to give it to them. Because you know what? They're weak. They're frail. Like a father pitieth his children and that's the illustration. I mean I believe fathers should discipline their children that they should have a hard line. That they should be that they should you know draw have rules and standards that are met. But there's also a time and place to show pity isn't there and mercy. You know like David said of God thy gentleness hath made me great. Look you know I believe in disciplining our children. I believe that's what the Bible says through and through. I mean it's a biblical doctrine that we need to put into practice. But there's also a time where it's just to show pity and just say well you know I'm going to take it easy. I'm going to let you slide on this one. You know I can tell you feel bad enough about it already. You know sometimes the kids they'll get used to that voice. You know when dad says my name in a certain way I know what's coming. And look if you're a dad and you have no idea what I'm talking about you know what you need to go read Proverbs. You need to come see me after the service and let's have a talk about disciplining your children. Okay but here's the thing. Parents, fathers, mothers that do put that into practice they have children go oh I know what that tone means. They don't want to hug. They're not calling me because they're going to shower me with affection. It's because I'm going to go in there and I'm going to get what I deserve. You know and sometimes you know we as parents when that kid comes in the tears are already coming and they're already sorry. We might show a little pity. We might back off a little bit. We might let him pass. Now that shouldn't be consistent. Right we should be consistent in the discipline but you know what that's what God does to us a lot of times. You know we might and I don't know that this is going to happen but it certainly you know could. We could get to heaven and God could just sit down and I don't think he will do this because I don't believe we're going to be showing our sins in heaven. But what if he did and he's like I pitied you here and I pitied you here and I pitied you here and I pitied you here and I showed you mercy here and I had compassion here. You were unfaithful here. I was faithful here and just our whole lives, Christian lives can be that way. So we should never get this idea that everyone needs to be perfect. Everyone's going to be flawless. People are never going to make mistakes because they are. And that's what we've been seeing. You read your Bible it's just over and over and over again. And what it sure remind us of is the fact that God is good. That God is merciful. That even someone like Asa he would say his heart was perfect. Despite the fact that he didn't take care of the high places. You know his heart was perfect like David his father. That's what it should remind us of. So obviously people are flawed. That's why we read about it so often in the scripture. Asa at the end I mean he was going so well and it's just like he kind of blew it at the end. And that's been another theme that's been coming up. That's something I feel like a broken record and keep saying. It's not how you start it's how you finish. It's how you finish that counts. Okay. But the good things about Asa if you want to go back there go back to 1 Kings. Actually go over to 2 Chronicles 14 it's parallel passage. Because again remember 1 Kings is just that chapter 15 is kind of just a quick synopsis of several of these Kings reign particularly Asa. His reign gets more detailed over several chapters in 2 Chronicles. You see that through chapters 14 through 16 it really deals with his reign in detail. And it kind of fills in between the lines of 1 Kings 15. And one of the things that it points out is the fact that Asa is somebody who stepped out in faith. Asa is somebody that again like his father that was really the only good thing we could say about him was that he was somebody who was willing to put himself out there. If you remember that's what I preached last week that Abijah at least was willing to put himself out there and rely on the Lord. And you see Asa doing the same thing. He did right of his own accord. He did that voluntarily. We'll see where God steps in and starts to bless him but it's after Asa steps out in faith and does what's right of his own accord. Of his own will. Not because God came and said hey if you do right I'll bless you. He already knew to do right. And when he stepped out by faith and did right and did what was right by his own accord that's when we see God show up and then he takes it to the next level and that's when Asa begins to really clean house. If you see there in 2 Chronicles chapter 14 it says in verse 1, So Abijah slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead in the days in his days was the land quiet ten years. So he starts out he gets this peace at the beginning. And rather than just sitting back on his laurels and just saying oh everything's going to be fine he takes this time to do what's right and to prepare himself for you know for the long haul. And it says there and Asa did that which is good and right in the eyes of the Lord is God for he took away the altars of the strange gods in the high places and break down the images and cut down the groves. He commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers and to do the law and the commandment. And he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images and the kingdom was quiet before him and he built fence cities in Judah for the land had rest and he had no war in those years because the Lord had given him rest. Therefore he said unto Judah let us build these cities and make about them walls and towers and gates and bars where the land is yet before us because we have sought the Lord our God we have sought him and he has given us rest in every side so they builded and prospered. So he has this ten years of prosperity but you know he doesn't just waste that just you know living the king's life you know just you know just living it up. He's preparing himself right. He's directing the people towards God. He's you know building up his defenses. He's getting his army together. And here's the thing you know when we have seasons of peace that's the time to really prepare. You know because the test is coming. You know that's something I think about with our church often. You know that's why you know I don't we're not going through any persecution but that's why I bring it up because it's going to happen. It will it's just a matter of time. You know I don't know that people think about that as much as you know the preacher does. They don't think about you know that's one of the pressures of the ministry is just like when's it going to happen? What's around the corner? What should I expect next? You know who's going to be an infiltrator? You know what strange doctrine is somebody going to try to bring in? What battle is our church going to have to fight? You know and the people sometimes they can kind of just think that oh it's just going to be like this all the time. I'm telling you it's not. But when it's good when the battle isn't there that's the time to prepare. That's the time to hunker down and dig in and get your defenses built. You know get into the word of God. Understand doctrine. Read it. You know you don't want to have to fight those you know learn all that stuff when in the midst of the battle. You know they don't it's like any other army they don't they don't say you know you'll figure out how to fire this gun when you when the enemy's in front of you. You know they send them through a boot camp. You know on domestic soil where everything's safe where they don't have anything to worry about. Where they're surrounded and protected and the enemy can't harm them. That's where they train and learn and prepare to go out and fight the battle. You know it's the same way with us that's what we ought to be doing in our Christian lives. Is when we have that rest on every side when the battle isn't coming you should be getting prepared. And that's something that Asa did. Rather than just saying well hey it's it's peace and safety. I'm just going to live it up. You know I'm just not going to read my Bible I'm not going to pray. I'm not going to learn doctrine. You know I'll make it to church when I can when it's convenient for me. You know I'll pay attention if it's something that interests me when I'm actually there. You know that you know that's the time to start taking the notes to read the Bible learn the doctrine. So that when the battle does come and look it's coming. It will come. It's guaranteed. All they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If it doesn't come to us as a church it will come to you as an individual. You can mark that down. If you're actually trying to live for God it's going to come. You know so this is the time to prepare because that's what Asa did. I mean that's why he was blessed and that's why he passed the test. Because he was eventually tested. If you look there in verse 8 he says Asa had an army of men that bear targets and spears out of Judah 300,000. And out of Benjamin that bears shields drew bros 200 and four score thousand. Excuse me. All these were mighty men of valor. Now notice the numbers here. Do the math. So he gets this army of men he's got them, they've got spear, they've got shields there's no mention of any chariots right? They've got 200, they've got basically about 580,000 people. 500, so they've got just over half a million people. That's what his army consists of. You know and his father was in a similar situation where he was outnumbered. Remember when we read about that last week? His father was outnumbered by the enemy. Well the same thing happens to him. So Asa at least had enough sense to think okay things are good now but if there's anything I've learned from the previous generation is that the battle always comes. Now it might not be the same enemy every time but there's always a battle. And look we're not the first group of Christians that have had to fight a battle for the Lord. You know it's just that our battle isn't their battle. You know the battles they had to fight back then were unique to their times. You know we take for granted baptism. You know that tank up here. We can just have it out open publicly. We can just dunk people without you know fear of reprisal. But there was a you know people had to bleed and die for us to be able to do that. That was a battle they fought you know many years ago. But you know what they didn't have to fight the battles that we had to fight now. And we've got to battle on our hands. We've got to fight and really there's probably more of them. You know there's a battle for the word of God. You know is the King James Bible to preserve the word of God or isn't it? There's an attack on that that has to constantly be defended. I mean we can just go down the list. I mean there's just so many battles that have to be fought today. So the question is are we preparing for the battle? Are we equipped to fight? And look it can be almost overwhelming sometimes. We can think that we're not going to win. We're on the losing side. You know but that's not the attitude that Asa had. Because we see that Asa here he has 580,000 men. Look you've got over half a million guys on your side. You might start you know you'll probably be feeling your Wheaties. Right? You'll probably be thinking alright I got this. But look at the tests that shows up. And then there came out against them Zira the Ethiopian when a thousand, excuse me with a host of a thousand, thousand and three hundred chariots. So a thousand, thousand. You know how many that is? I don't know. It's a million people. It's twice the forces practically that he has. He's got a million people and you know and three hundred chariots on top of that. So he's basically you know not quite but he's got Asa outnumbered two to one. And he's got chariots. You know chariots back then were a big deal. I mean that really gave you an advantage. If you had a Calvary that was always an advantage over footmen. And that's what they've got. And they've got them outnumbered and outgunned. You know and Asa doesn't just lift up the flag and say okay you win. Let me just wave the white flag. He says no you know what? We've been through this before. My dad went through a similar situation. The generation that went before us, they had to fight battles. There shouldn't come as any surprise. I've got confidence because I've taken these last ten years where we had peace and I've prepared. And the people that are with me are mighty men of value. They are prepared people. You know and that's when I think about the battles that we're going to have to go through as a church, I hope that I can say the same thing when we go through our battle. That you know these three, four, five years, whatever it's going to be before you know they try to kick us out of this building before the protesters show up on the sidewalk, before my face is all over the news somewhere for something I said out of the word of God, for something I preached. I hope I can say you know what? I've got some people that are mighty men and women of valor with me. That aren't just going to turn tail and run. And say hey it's been fun. It was really nice when you know we had peace on every side. But I didn't sign up for this. Oh yes you did. Yes you did. You got, you got what was that term I heard the other day? You got volunteered right? When you got saved you got volunteered. Jesus said you're in the army now. I didn't volunteer for that. Yeah too bad you're in. It's a draft. It's a spiritual draft. You've been conscripted in the Lord's army. You know so take the time that we have now to prepare for the battle that is going to come one day. You know be like an Asa. And obviously again we're not going to stand in our own strength. You know we're preparing to fight a spiritual battle. Asa prepared to fight a physical battle. We don't fight physical battles today. But we do fight a spiritual battle. That's why he says in verse 11 And Asa cried unto the Lord his God and said Lord it is nothing with thee to help whether there be many or with them that have no power. I love that attitude. He's not even he's not even worried. I mean listen to what he's saying. He's like it's nothing for you to help. You can help with you can win by few or with them that have no power. He's saying basically look we don't even need we don't even need this army. You could defeat these people. And then he cries out help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord thou art our God and let not man prevail now notice against who? Against thee. You know you'll you'll want to fight that battle you want to get into that battle and fight this battle when you understand that who it is you're fighting for. You know we're not fighting for our own glory. You know I'm not trying to just make a name for myself out there or something. Like let's drag our church through a battle just so I can be some kind of a big shot. That's not what we're trying to do. You know there's easier ways to gain popularity. You know we could just compromise the word of God and we could we could you know just build a big church that way and I could feel like a big shot that way. No we want to fight this battle for the Lord's glory. Because it's a battle that needs to be fought because somebody has to stand in the gap and fight. You know because we're wrestling against you know not against flesh and blood but what against principalities and powers against the rulers of darkness. You know we're fighting a spiritual battle and there's not you know not everybody's equipped to fight that. Not everybody can go fight that battle but you know we fortunately can. You know and if we don't fight it who's going to fight this battle? Who's going to stand up for the King James Bible? Who's going to stand up and say you know marriage is between a man and a woman? Who's going to stand up and say that you know it's sodomy and it's abomination before God? Who's going to stand for all these things that the word of God teaches that so many people just don't want to just touch? And look I just named like a super you know controversial subject. But you know there's so many other ones that are such so far less controversial that even those aren't being fought for anymore. Who's going to stand you know and preach against fornication and drunkenness and divorce and adultery? Who's going to preach these battles? People don't even want to touch that today. You know I could preach those things all day long that's not going to draw a crowd out there in the sidewalk. Bunch of pink-haired freaks out there waving their signs. They're not going to come out you know but even those battles aren't even being fought today in Baptist churches. So who's going to fight them? The problem is people don't want to fight them because you know it's a fight. Fighting's ugly. Fighting's nasty and you have to be prepared if you want to win. You know so Asa at least you know he's stepping out in faith. He's trusting in the Lord. He's spent his time wisely preparing to fight the battle so when the battle came and even though it looked like he was outnumbered and outmanned he was able to say well God can defeat these guys. And he at least had a generation previous you know prior to him that he could look to and say oh they've been through this before. You know and that's what we should look to as well. We should look at you know our brethren which are persecuted you know elsewhere and say oh they fought that battle. We could fight too. They came out on the other side. I mean we could you know we know people that have gone through these battles. And you know they're sitting pretty today. They came out I'm not going to say they didn't get some scars. I'm not saying they didn't have struggles that it wasn't that it was easy. But you know what they came out victorious on the other side. And they will continue. You know I'm running out of time already but we could go read Romans 8. You know God before us who can be against us? He that you know gave us his own son shall he not also give us all things. I know I'm paraphrasing. You know life nor death tribulation persecution none of these things shall separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. What's the worst that they're going to do? Ah you got to find a new building. That's inconvenient but we'll find one. I came to that. I mean what's the worst they're going to do? Send me an email. I can't even get a paper cut from an email. Because it's not paper. It's digital. And these idiots it's just like all you have to read is that subject line and just as soon as you hear you know you're this you're a pastor it's just like archive. I don't even have to read it. You know I can I can look at the Google voicemail and see all the expletives in the text and just I don't even have to listen to it. But you know what there's that's I mean that's nothing. It's cakewalk that battle. But you know what there's a lot of people out there that they they just oh man somebody called the church and left a dirty voicemail. They called me a mean name. They said bad things about the pastor. Well let's not preach that. That's weak. It's weak. Why don't you just stand aside then and let somebody else fight the battle. You know like the old saying either you know lead follow or get out of the way. But the point is this you know someone's got to fight that battle. And someone's got to be willing to take it on the chin and go through whatever. You know all the things I just described you know aren't exactly the worst persecutions a person can go through. You know tell it to men like you know Tyndale who were burned at the stake for translating you know the Bible. You know tell it to people who literally lost their lives people that were literally tortured in some of the most excruciating ways imaginable for the word of God. We're not even close to that. You think a bunch of sodomites frighten me? And their dweeb boyfriends sympathizers? They're weaklings. You know why would I be afraid? And look even if they did you know kill the body what are they going to do to my soul? Nothing. They can't touch me. If it came to that you know where they took my own life if they killed me if they killed you it's like oh well I guess I'll have to go to heaven then. I guess I get to go to glory early I'll see you guys there. You know that they're threatening me with heaven. Ooh. And obviously I'd prefer not to die I'd like to get to you know die in a good old age you know peacefully you know eating something I like or something I don't know I'd like to choke on a steak I don't know. I don't know. But if it came to that you know we should be willing to fight that battle. But here's the thing you're not going to fight that battle if you're not preparing when it's easy. When the worst thing that we have to worry about is a voicemail or an email or even some freaks out on the sidewalk like come on. We're in the land of peace and plenty but you know what don't rest on your laurels. Get prepared. Now go over to 2 Chronicles chapter 15. So Asa you see is somebody you know who didn't really finish that well but really I want to just look at the beginning of his reign. You know he was somebody that stepped out in faith that prepared and was blessed of God. But notice that happened after he takes the stand. After he prepares gathers his army fights and relies on the Lord and calls upon the Lord the Lord is God. After that that's when we see him really begin to clean house. Because that's the type of people that God is going to use to do greater things for God. You know the people that can at least step out and of their own accord, their own volition, their own will do what's necessary to fight the battles for God. God is interested I believe in dragging us kicking and screaming through the Christian life. And let me just tell you as somebody who's pastoring here I'm not interested in that either. Look some people are going to have to be drug kicking and screaming through the Christian life. That's just part of the ministry. But you know what? Let that not be said of you. Don't be one of these people that just constantly has to be just drug through the Christian life. And people have to learn things and they have to grow and they have to understand and they have to gain knowledge but it's like once you know what to do do it. Do it. Once you've been told here's the solution to your problem do it. You know just like an obedient children. Like that's what we're supposed to be. We're supposed to be as obedient children not fashioning ourselves to our former lusts. You know we're supposed to change. We're supposed to be renewed by the transforming of our mind. You know we should learn what it is we're supposed to do and then do it. I mean how many of us like to deal with children like that if we have children? I just told you how to do this. I just showed you how to do that. I showed you again and again and again. I just told you what to do. Why aren't you doing it? It's frustrating. You know God could feel the same way about us. I mean I've said it over and over in the word. You know I had the preacher get up there and preach it over and over again. Do it. Don't be somebody that's drug kicking and screaming through the Christian life. Be like an Asa. Somebody took the time of peace that he had and prepared himself. You know did what was necessary to fight the battle. And then God says, okay now we're ready to do something. Now you are trusting in me. Now you are preparing yourself. Now let's do something. You know something that's been on my mind a lot is when is this church going to grow? And I've just determined it's going to grow when God sees fit. And the only thing that I can control about that is me. You know if I prove myself faithful in that which is another man's then I'll be given that which is my own. You know if I'm somebody who labors in the word of doctrine then I'll be worthy of a growing church. You know so that's the only thing I can control. That's what I focus on is just preparing. And then God will say, okay you've prepared. You've done the work. Now let's take this thing to the next level. You know and you can join me on that journey. You know you can take this time when we're small and growing to say hey I'm going to be that you know that that core member. You know I'm going to be one of those people that was there early in the early days of Faithful Work Tucson. You know eventually when we're independent we'll have a difference. You know I was there when it was Faithful Work Tucson. I was there when it was over on First Avenue crammed into that little building and I had to watch Deacon on a screen even though he was just on the other side of the wall. And he struggled to get behind the pulpit because it was too close to the wall. Not because of anything that was going on with me. Although it was a little too close to Smokey Mose. Maybe that was part of the problem. You know you could say that you know if you prepare now. But look you know the battle is going to come. So let's be prepared. Let's be like an ASA. You know of our own volition of our own accord of our own will. Let's start preparing now. So we can be that person later. I can say okay now now let's run 100. Now let's run 200. Now let's have soul waiting times. You know every day of the week. Now let's see thousands saved every year. Now let's see dozens of baptisms every year. Now let's see you know the channel whatever news you know let's see the protests. Now let's get into the exciting things. That only happens you know like an ASA in the early on. Notice there and I have you go to chapter 15. You know he fights this battle. You know and he wins verse 12 and you know he smote the Ethiopians before ASA. And you know you can read that yourself. They spoil them. I mean they chase them off. They're outnumbered two to one and they just wreck them destroy them. And then they go and take all their cattle and everything else. And then after ASA has prepared himself and stepped out in faith and relied on the Lord as God. Then God shows up and says now we're ready to take it to the next level. Now ASA is ready to really clean house. Says in verse 15 in the spirit God came upon Azariah the son of Oded and he went out to meet ASA and said to him here ye meet ASA and all Judah and Benjamin the Lord is with you. You know and that should be evident because of what just happened. While he be with him. With you while you're with him. Why is it that God was with them? Because they were with him. And if you seek him he will be found of you. But if you forsake him he will also forsake you. Now for a long season Israel have been without the true God and without a teaching priest and without the law but when they and they're troubled like I was saying earlier that it's of God's compassion, his tender mercies, his faithfulness that they aren't just completely destroyed. Because they forsook him but you know what he was still there to be found. He was still faithful. And in those times there is no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries and nation was destroyed of nation and city of city for God had vexed them with all adversity excuse me adversity and notice what he says in verse 7 be strong therefore and let not your hands be weak for your work shall be rewarded. That's the message that came to man is look don't be weak be strong and work for your work your labor will be rewarded. And that's something that we should be encouraged by. That's what encouraged Asa. Asa was the preaching of God's word. And that's why my job is to do is to encourage people through the preaching of God's word. To reprove rebuke and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. And to encourage people to do what? To not be weak but to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might to strengthen their hands and to do the work of God. I mean that's what this is a preacher right being sent to Asa. After Asa has stepped out in faith and has you know prepared himself and is ready. The preacher sent to him and what's the message? Oh you passed the test and now it's just smooth sailing. Now it's time to get to work. Stay strong. Don't be weak. Strengthen your hands and do the work that God has given us to to do. You know and this should be an encouragement to us. You know that we have a work to do that we need to rely on God to be strong right. Because those in verse 8 it says that when Asa heard these words when he heard the preaching of God's word the prophecy of Oded the prophet he took courage. This is he hears this and he's just like this is when he goes to the next level. You know and that's what's going to get you to the next level. You know is your attitude towards the preaching of the word of God. You know if you actually you know put it into practice or you don't. If when you're told what to do by the preacher you know when he gets up and preaches God's word and you hear it you know you're whether or not you get to the next level it's all based on your attitude about that. About the preaching of God's word and that's what you see here. When Asa heard these words what were the words? Be strong let not your hands be weak for your work shall be rewarded. Oh more work more battles more strength is necessary and who you call weak. What do you mean I got things I got to work on Oded who do you think you are? What do you mean there's a possibility we could fail that if we forsake God who forsake me didn't you just see what I just did? I just chased off a million people Oded who do you think you are? You know that that would have been the wrong attitude towards the preaching of the word of God. You know the preacher is there to remind you that it's just more work. I mean he probably would have heard after that battle he just runs off a million people and he's got all this he's like hey you did good why don't you take it easy for a while? How about another ten years of peace? No it's hey now it's time to get to work. I'm glad you fought that battle here's your next one. You know you got to have the right attitude towards the preaching of the word of God. He said when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet he took courage he said I can do this and he put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin that's you know we just you know excuse me 1 Kings 15 you just one verse to the next you just read that you don't read all these details it just goes you know verse 14 verse 15 and then he's old he's diseased in his feet this is where all the nitty gritty is all the detail this is where you learn about what it took for Asa to be the man of God that he was to win the battle to have the testimony that he had he had to step out in faith he had to prepare he had to be willing to fight he had to rely on the Lord as God and when the preaching the word of God came he had to have the right attitude towards it you know and take it to that's what got him to the next level and caused him to do what put away the abominable idols out of all 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 and he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them of Ephraim and Manasseh and out of Simeon for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance I mean so Israel they're coming to him out of Israel this is how great a revival is taking place because remember it's two kingdoms now you got Judah and Benjamin and some of the Levites and then you have all the other tribes that make up Israel they're hearing what's taking place and they're falling unto him you know and I believe that's what will probably eventually happen with this church you know if we have if we do what Asa did if we prepare you know we prepare for the battles and then you know we apply the preaching of the word of God to our lives you know God will begin to bless it and we stay committed to the work and doing the work people will take notice that there's something going on here and they'll say I want to be a part of that you know whether they fall unto us from other states or they're locals here people will hear about it and say I want to be a part of what's going on in that church but that's not going to happen overnight folks you know it's a slow burn and we got to grind to get there and you know and it's not just going to happen to a group of people who you know have a poor attitude towards the word of God and who have no interest in preparing to do the work of God I mean why would God give us greater works to do if we're not prepared to do them I mean that's illogical you know but if we take the time to prepare to strengthen ourselves you know then we can take on these bigger enemies and people will be excited about what's taking place and more people I believe will be gathered unto us it says in verse 10 so they gather themselves at Jerusalem the third month of the 15th year and of course you know they have this great feast and it says in verse 12 they entered a covenant to seek the Lord their God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their souls so there's this huge revival that's taking place but when did that happen? after the battle was fought after the preacher came and said keep doing right keep doing what you're supposed to do that's when these things happen see we want this all to happen at the beginning it would have been a lot easier for Asa if this all took place at the beginning why could we just have this great revival and everybody shows up and then it would have been that would have been pretty encouraging don't you think? but you know he had to go through that testing to be shown that he was worthy of such a great revival of being able to do such a great work and once he went through that that's when we get the stuff that we like out of the story and I all know what you want me to preach about those sodomites getting taken out of the land it's a faithful word come on let's talk about the sodomites look pride month is coming we'll get there I like to just let all of my hate build up I just let it all seethe until that month and then it just comes out in a fury but we'll touch on it tonight so they gather together they entered in a covenant to seek the Lord their God their fathers after they do all this work but notice verse 13 it says they made this covenant with their heart and with their soul that whosoever would not seek the Lord their God of Israel should be put to death I mean this is how serious they were because they recognized look not seeking God when we get into idolatry when we do all these wicked things it just brings bondage it brings corruption it brings death it brings suffering I mean you might read that and be tempted to say oh man what a bunch of radicals but look they they're coming out of knowing you know the results knowing the consequences of not seeking the Lord their God with all their heart soul mind and strength like they were told to do from the beginning they're saying look we already know what it's like to be backslidden we already know what it's like to not be right with God we already know what it's like to be oppressed of the enemy we already know what it's like to be have a land that's filled with idolatry and sodomites and every abominable work that there is we already know what that's like and we don't want to go back we've had enough of that so here's the deal if you get in or get out basically is what they're saying we're here to serve God we're here to follow the Lord and if you don't like it leave or be put to death I mean that's why they're saying this I mean we might read that and just say well that seems a little extreme but you've got to understand what these people went through and what they've come through and they know what it means to not seek the Lord they understand the consequences you know better than people today better than we do today in this country we don't seem to have figured this out well I can't understand why the world isn't the way it is it's because you don't seek God it's because you don't have the Lord God he's not in our homes he's not in our schools he's not in our public spaces he's not and he's not in our hearts and he's not in our minds and you know what it's no wonder we're just being overrun just like them with the idolatry and the abomination and the sodomites just like them and look I'm not saying this is what we need to do that we need to have a call to you know anybody that's not for us to be put to death because you know what we'd be putting a lot of people to death it's just not practical it's not going to happen this is a nationwide revival that's happening on mass okay and the people are glad to go along with it because notice it says there it says verse 13 that whosoever would not seek the Lord their God Israel should be put to death whether small or great whether man or woman it doesn't matter who you are now this goes I believe this is what it's referring to in 1 Kings chapter 15 when he says when he put the sodomites out of the land because think about it who's not going to seek the Lord under these circumstances I mean if you're them back then and you're just you know the average Joe and you've you know dealt with everything that's gone along with not seeking the Lord you see this great revival take place people are you know coming out of Israel I mean it's just we read it there's this feast there's this covenant I mean it's just huge revival you're going to go along with that you're going to say yeah I'm going to follow the Lord this is great you're going to be excited but who's not going to be pleased about that it's the sodomites that's the only group of people that aren't going to it's the reprobates that are not going to want to go along with it that's why they're saying whoever should not seek the Lord God of Israel shall be put to death and that's why I believe that that's what it means by they were put out of the land back in 1 Kings chapter 15 is that they were put to death they didn't just buy an island and ship them all there and say you just stay there you know they put them out of the land meaning the land of the living okay so I don't know about that yeah but you know go read Romans 1 in the New Testament that they would do such things are worthy of death I mean that's the law if a man lay with mankind as he lived with womankind you know his blood shall be upon him he's worthy of death and that you know those are the only people that are not going to make this covenant those are the only people you know because the Bible says they don't even want to retain God in their knowledge you know reprobates have always been the same they've always been the same God hating freaks that they've always been so when they're having revival when they're getting right with God as a nation you know who it is that isn't going along it's the Sodomites that what got put out of the land and boy we'd like to see that you know some of us you know those of us that aren't just brainwashed by the media and has just been completely brainwashed by institutions of learning that haven't just been completely you know haven't just swallowed the lie hook line and seeker that haven't been deceived you know by the Sodomite deception which is a great documentary by the way look it up tells you the truth you know but that's a very small minority today isn't it I'm not I'm not holding my breath for anything like this to ever happen because we're so far from it because look at everything that had to come before that you know you actually had to have people that wanted to seek the Lord their God of their own will that actually said hey let's prepare to fight God's battles and then God shows up and when the preacher came they said yeah we'll do it they had the right attitude and that's the type of people that are going to be willing to go this far with things to see things all the way through that's never going to happen until Christ comes you know then there's no need for revival in the millennium because it's peace or else it's God's way or then that's it there's no other option it's ruling with a rod of iron you know so what we should get out of this is that you know when we're reading this is that serving the Lord you know leads to rejoicing because look what took place in Asa's life what we've been reading about tonight in Asa's life battles having to deal with sin having to put in the hard work of actually being right with God because that doesn't just happen automatically remember we read it in Romans that you know we still have our members that are warring with us every day so this is why a lot of people they don't go along with it they just you know Christians say I'm not going to live the Christian life I'm not going to make the effort to you know do what's necessary you know do what's required of me because it's just too much work and look the Christian life is work it's work every single day it's work when you do feel like it it's work when you don't feel like it it's discipline it's work to stand against the wiles of the devil to crucify the flesh to bring your body under subjection that is work every single day to read your Bible is work that's why so few people are doing it because it's work and if we're easy everyone would do it look I love the Bible I love every page of it you know what some pages are work to read and not to just gloss over with my eyeballs but to actually comprehend what the Bible's saying here it's work you know what it's worth it because it leads to rejoicing look everything that Asa went through was worth it because if you look at verse 15 right and all Judah rejoiced at the oath they said hey we're going to follow God through your heart soul mind and strength and whoever's not for that is going to be put to death and of course all the Sodomites were like we don't want to do that it's like okay we got rid of them they're put out of the land but you know for the rest of us and it wasn't a bunch of people going well I guess if we have to we'll serve God oh if I have to read my Bible I guess I will oh if I have to pray and be heard by the God of heaven I guess I'll just make myself do it because after all I don't want to be put to death no they did it and you know what it led to rejoicing and they sware into the Lord with a loud voice it says in verse 14 and was shouting and it wasn't like why it wasn't that kind of shouting it was like yeah that's the kind of shouting they were excited you know like people go crazy at some sporting event when somebody scores a touchdown or sinks a three pointer and everyone loses their minds you know they were getting excited about God imagine that you know they got the trumpets you know they struck up the band da da da da da you know they do it at the games like this is what he's talking about it wasn't them all going oh man I guess we have to and all Judah rejoiced it said in verse 15 at the oath not at oh God's on our side again oh it's great to have God on our side again they rejoiced at the oath they rejoiced at the fact that they were in a nation that they were amongst people that loved God and wanted to fight his battles and wanted to you know live their lives according to the word of God that's what they rejoiced at that they were going to seek the Lord their God this is great you know and that ought to be our attitude when it comes to the people of God and look I know sometimes coming to church it can be tough and I know that because I've been doing it for a long time and when you get out of work and the traffic's heavy and you're tired and you just want to eat dinner and go home or you know it's Sunday night and there's something else going on you know it can be tough to drag yourself there but you know what we should always come through those doors rejoicing that we're amongst God's people we should be glad to be here we should be glad at the preaching of the word of God this is the kind of attitude that you have to have if you're actually going to do something for God in your life because if you're just going to drag yourself through the Christian life you're going to quit look it's just a matter of time you're just dragging yourself through who wants to just drag themselves through life? nobody and if it's going to come down to me just going along with the flow and just getting back in the flesh and not having to drag myself through the Christian life that's what people are going to do and that's what people do all the time so you know we need to check our attitude when it comes to the things of God and the Christian life and I understand that sometimes you know it is work to just do what we have to do but we need to be reminded that you know at the end of all this laboring and all of this work and all of the preaching and all of the battles and all of the preparing and all of that effort that goes in to preparing your heart to seek the Lord your God you know what it leads to is rejoicing it leads to a full heart it leads to joy in life that's what serving the Lord comes to and I don't have time to go there I got to close but the Bible says in Proverbs 29 when the righteous are in authority the people rejoice but when the wicked beareth rule the people mourn and that righteousness exalted the nation but sin is our approach to any people and we could apply that on a national scale but you know we could also apply that on a personal level in our own personal lives when the righteous are in authority people rejoice when mom and dad are right with God people rejoice it's a happy home it's not always the easiest thing to do there's ups and downs there's a lot of struggle there's a lot of work that goes into that but people rejoice so those are the good things to do we could have just read 1 Kings 15 and gotten it over with last week just make some quick points but when you start to really dig in to what these characters went into their lives you get a lot more lessons out of it there's a lot of squeeze here in 5th 2nd Chronicles there's whole chapters dedicated to this guy Asa and what is it that we're seeing in 5th 2nd Chronicles before we just write Asa off based on how he ends his life and just say oh well he ended poorly he kind of backslid there at the very end of his life there was a lot of great things that he did early on he turned an entire nation back to God even so much so that those in Israel were coming out unto him and you want to talk about idolatry they're way off they're way off they're way off off the rails up there they're falling on this great revival takes place people are rejoicing at the oath of the commandment of God but that all came after what after the preaching after the preacher was sent and told them to prepare themselves and to do the work and to strengthen their hands and not be weak after the battles which came after what preparing themselves for the battle ahead that's what we need to do in the Christian life that's what we need to do that's what we need to do as individuals that's what this church needs to do because I know we're coming up on four years but look four years is a drop in the bucket you know four years we're still just getting off the blocks folks and I'm fine with that I mean we've got to start somewhere but look if we're going to be the people that do something here we have to be like Asa and prepare ourselves early before the battle comes then the great works come then the great works come and we'll be rejoicing all the way through all the way through because no matter what stage we're in as a church we're still with God's people we're still with people I trust that love the Lord that are happy at the oath that are happy at the preaching of the word of God that are happy to hear what the Bible says that are happy to do it so there's rejoicing all the way through it but look the great works that we want to do there's going to be a battle and there has to be a time of preparation as a church that's on a personal level we each have to do that for ourselves and then we can have the victories then we can have the great rejoicing let's go ahead and pray dear Lord again thank you for your mercy thank you for your compassion thank you for your the fact that you pity us Lord as a father does his children Lord I pray you'd help us to Lord just take advantage of the great opportunity that we've been given as individuals to live for you everyday of our life and Lord as a church Lord in the years to come as we remain faithful to you and to your word as we are willing to take the stands that need to be taken and to fight the battles that need to be fought Lord not only will we be able to see great victories and have the excitement Lord but also Lord to people that rejoice because we know that you are pleased with us Lord that we are already on the winning side Father I pray you'd help us to acknowledge that Lord that we would be a grateful people and that we would desire to serve you all the days of our life we ask in Christ's name Amen. Alright we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go we are going to sing song number 41 sweep by and by song number 41 sweep by and by song number 41 sweep by and by song number 41 sweep by and by song number 41 There's a land that is fairer than death There's a land that is fairer than death In thy faith we can see thee fall For the Father leads over the world to prepare us a dwelling place there. In a sweet lie and lie, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In a sweet lie and lie, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. We shall sing on that beautiful shore. From the loneliest songs of the past, in thy spirit shall sorrow flow. Now in thy sight will the blessing of Christ, in thy sweet lie and lie, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the sweet lie and lie, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. To our bountiful Father above, we will offer our tribute of praise, for the glorious victory's won, and the blessings that follow our days. In the sweet lie and lie, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the sweet lie and lie, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. All right, thanks for coming everybody. Please do join us for cupcakes and ice cream in honor of a certain young girl's 11th birthday. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.