Skip to content KingMaker: How to be a Positive Influence Jun 13 · 38 min ...more
KingMaker: How to be a Positive Influence
June 13, 2024 · 38 min
Pastor Caton calls on the congregation to make positive decisions following King Asa's example and strive to leave a lasting impact, encouraging them to seek God and obey His commands.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton June 13, 2024 · 38 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
Pastor Caton calls on the congregation to make positive decisions following King Asa's example and strive to leave a lasting impact, encouraging them to seek God and obey His commands. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor Caton calls on the congregation to make positive decisions following King Asa's example and strive to leave a lasting impact, encouraging them to seek God and obey His commands.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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101K followers
John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
101K followers
Kingmakers and Kingbreakers 0:00 So I had this idea that I wanted to go through first and second Kings and first and second Chronicles and pull out some kings. Not everybody preaches about Saul and David and Solomon. Pull out some kings that0:12 maybe people had not heard of. And then at the same time take some topics that these kings, some were good and some were bad, and really give you a history of Israel and the0:23 divided kingdom, and and so I came up with this idea and so you go to the creative team and you say alright, I'm thinking about something like kingmaker. That there are certain things that we can do and kings can do that0:35 really become kingmakers. But we're also gonna see the bad in some of these kings because there are some decisions these kings made that were king breakers. And if you look in the northern kingdom literally0:47 they were kingdom breakers. And so we go to the creative team and anytime we go in the creative team, it's it's anything you want to do, throw it on the board, give us an idea, and some of these ideas are good.0:59 And if you've ever been in a creative meeting, you ever had anybody throw out an idea and you go, that's dumb. You just didn't say it out loud, but you said, we're not gonna do that. But, Greg was inspired1:11 by the idea of kingmaker. Greg was so fired up, came up with this entire idea, and this thought, and Yeah, I can tell you about it, but I really think it'd be better if you1:23 just would see it. Greg has been acting so weird since Jean Marc told him about the summer series. I don't think you should do this. Oh, no. She's gonna love1:35 it. He's here. What up, Pete? For your consideration, he's the all time great, the kingmaker. A man, Dennis, on the key.1:47 Playing coach. You got it. And he needs no introduction, my partner. Sometimes it's really hard to hear from you. You said you support me. King Makeup.2:01 King Makeup. How do you like them crowns? I'm so sorry. You had to see it. Lay us on the track. Are we gonna be on the album? We2:13 talked about this. Oh, that's cold. You're a heartbreaker, Nada kingmaker. Dennis, you can stay. Remember when I said I would do2:25 anything for you? This was anything. Whatever it takes. Alright.2:37 Now he just said, that's not my idea. Yeah, it was. It was all Greg. Man, it's so good to be in God's house. And really, we have been, in, sort of last week this series. And it's a series, and we're gonna take some of2:49 the kings, today we're going to look at 2 of them Jeroboam and Asa. You may or may not know much about them. And, as we go through this whole series every week we're going to give you 2 kings. 1 that did really really2:59 well according to God's command, and 1 that did really really poorly. And last week we talked about as a king, some of the kings fought their battles well. They fought them rightly with God's3:11 help and in God's way. Then Graham said, hey, there's other kings that they did not fight well. Today, I want to talk to you about leaving a lasting legacy. How to be3:23 a positive influence. I'm not going to give you 2 kings. 1 king did not leave a good legacy and it was a negative legacy, but it still lasted. But the other 1 we're gonna see3:35 had a positive impact, not just in his days, but in days to come. Look at what Solomon said in Proverbs 14 verse 3, talking about your house, there are things that you can do that will build your house,3:47 there are things that you can do that will tear it down. Here's the house, he says the house or the family of the wicked will ultimately be destroyed, but the tent of the righteous or the upright will flourish. I love3:59 this idea, it even starts in there, hey, some people might be in a house, I mean they've got it together, but if they make bad decisions they're gonna be beyond the tent below. But then he says, you might be in a tent.4:10 You don't have anything near what someone in the house has, but if you make good decisions you will flourish. Now that's at the family and the house and the home level, but he also talks in that same chapter about the4:21 national level. Here's what it says, Proverbs 14 verse 34. Righteousness exalts a nation. Think about our nation right now. But sin condemns4:34 any people. Man, when you look around at our nation, we need to be reminded of that. Righteousness will exalt a nation, but sin will condemn anybody. Doesn't4:46 matter what our legacy as a country has been like, if we don't make good choices, and this isn't election season, if we don't make right choices, sin will condemn any people. When we look through first and second Kings4:58 and first and second Chronicles, there's a pattern in Israel that we will also understand that it is a pattern that if we follow in the wrong way, it will ultimately apply to our nation. However, if we follow the5:09 patterns in the right way, it will also positively affect our nation. Here's what we're gonna see about these kings. When kings make policies, they don't just affect the people at the5:21 top, They affect everybody all the way down. Do we understand that? And that's what we see in first and second Kings. We're gonna see a king make a good decision, everybody gets blessed. King make a bad decision,5:32 everybody gets cursed. And so as we think about decisions that kings and even our political leaders today, we need to understand that they affect us from top to bottom. Either for blessings or5:44 for curses, for good or for bad. Well, let me introduce you first of all to the good king and we're actually gonna talk about him second, but I wanted to lead with him. He he's a guy named Asa. How many of you heard of5:56 Asa? In second chronicles chapter 14 verse 2, this is a good king. He says, Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. So we're gonna6:08 flesh out in a few minutes, really some of the good things that he did, and hopefully you will take these things that this king did to honor God and receive blessings on his kingdom, the southern kingdom, we'll talk6:19 about that here in a second. But we need to understand, man, those blessings are available to us today. Because of what king Asa did, he literally set6:30 the southern kingdom, Judah, on a pattern of faithfulness for a long long time. Now listen, don't think that Asa had it all handed to him in a positive way. Certainly it was Saul, then it was6:42 David. David was a man after God's own heart. Then David turned it over to Solomon. You can go read about Solomon in his old years, his older years. He intermarried, he built high places, he really began to,6:54 allow their wives and the other people that his concubines to determine his worship, and he really began to lead the people astray. Then his son Rehoboam, he led them further astray, built more high places, and then even7:06 Asa's father who followed, Rehoboam, even Asa's father did worse. So maybe there's someone sitting here today saying, I wish I had a life legacy of7:18 godliness. When we get to king Asa, he didn't. In 1 generation, he turned it around. He pointed back towards what David had called them to be and7:29 who David had called them to be. That's in the southern kingdom. But but in the northern kingdom, the very first king they had was a guy named Jeroboam. And and I want you to know when we talk about Jeroboam today, it is7:41 doubly sad. And, it's doubly sad for a reason because Jeroboam, although the king was kingdom was divided, was promised everything David would get. I'll show you here in a7:53 second. So here's what had happened is Solomon began to lead the children of Israel astray to not worship the 1 true God, but to worship other Gods. Then, Solomon's son followed, then Asa's father8:05 followed, and over and over again. And so God says, you know what? I've had enough. I promised you my blessings. I promised I would exalt you. I promised you a lot of good things, but you had to8:17 follow my commandments and obey me and worship me and me alone. And the children of Israel had stopped doing that. So Jeroboam had served under Solomon years ago, ultimately went off into exile. He is8:28 making his way back, and God has decided he is going to split the kingdom up. And so, God sends a prophet to Jeroboam. And Jeroboam's walking down the road, it seems that the prophet just walked up to him, he immediately8:40 recognized him as a prophet of God, who was in a brand new coat. And, the prophet said, the word of the Lord comes to you through me. And, he took off his coat, and he tore his8:52 coat into 12 pieces. Remember the 12 tribes of Israel. And he gave Jeroboam 10 of the pieces. And he says, these are going to go to9:04 you, you are going to be the king over the northern kingdom because Judah and the south has rebelled against me. And then the prophet goes on and says, you know9:15 what? But you still need to worship in Jerusalem and you still need to do what David did, and if you do that God will bless you. Let's just read it. First Kings chapter 11 verse 38,9:27 so here's what has happened, if you go read the whole context in chapter 11, the prophets already come up up to him. The prophet said I've got a word of the Lord for you. The prophet has already torn up his coat, given9:37 him 10 pieces, leaving the other, the smaller tribes, for the south down in Jerusalem. And here's what the prophet says, this is why it's so doubly sad, that Jeroboam literally9:49 walked away from the blessings he could have had. Verse 38, he says, if you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience, everybody say obedience. Obedience.10:01 To me, And, this is God speaking to him through the prophet, to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and my commands as David my servant did.10:12 Notice the prophet and God, they didn't talk about Solomon, didn't talk about Solomon's son, didn't talk about Ace's father. He says, go do what David did, worship the way David did, obey like David did. He goes, if you10:23 would do what my servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the 1 I built for David, and I will give10:35 Israel to you. So let me just show you an image of of this divided kingdom. And you can see that the 10 tribes go up north, then you have the10:47 south is Judah, and so Jeroboam has now been elected the king up in the north. Alright. We're gonna talk about Asa down in the south here in a second. So, God basically promised Jeroboam11:00 that I will bless you, I will build your kingdom, all you have to do is follow me, obey me, love me, be passionate for me, and I will11:12 give you and the northern kingdom, those 10 tribes, everything that I had given David. Now imagine that. So blessed, so11:23 honored, that you would think Jeroboam's immediately gonna go down and he's gonna make the right decisions. Can you imagine that rolling into your friends saying, hey, listen, we are about to get everything God gave11:33 David. Let's be men after God's heart, Let's be people after God's heart. Let's serve God. Let's love God. Well, is that the way it turned out? Well, let's just begin to read his influence. He dies,11:46 first Kings chapter 15 verse 34, this is the third king in the northern kingdom. Says he did, a guy named Baasha, he says he did evil in the eyes of the Lord following the ways of Jeroboam,11:59 and committing the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. That's influence, it's just negative. Doesn't stop there. Go to the next king, King Zimri. What does it say?12:11 It says because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and following the ways of Jeroboam, and committing the same sin that Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. Then jump down to12:23 the next king, first Kings chapter 16 verse 26, King Omri. He followed completely the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Naboth, committing the same sin. Alright? You say, pastor, there seems to be a12:35 theme here. They committed the same sins that Jeroboam did. What were Jeroboam's sins? That's what we're gonna talk about here in a second. I'm gonna show them to you, but notice the influence. Jump down to the next12:46 king, king Jehoahas. Second kings chapter 13 verse 2. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord by obeying, by following the sins that Jeroboam son of Naboth did, causing Israel to commit. Now12:58 notice, there's a correlation between when the man up top makes poor policy decisions. It literally causes the nation to sin. There is a direct correlation here, that13:10 the people are led astray. If that were not enough, let's go to the next 1. Second second Kings chapter 15 verse 24. By the way, this is a guy named, King Pekahiah. I don't13:22 know exact that's exactly how you pronounce it in Hebrew, but it's it's a it's a fun 1 to say. We are 16 kings later and a hundred and13:34 80 years after Jeroboam. This has been no short period, but you want to talk about influence? It can be positive or negative. Listen to what it says 1613:45 kings later, and and and a hundred and 80 years later, it says, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nabok, which caused Israel to commit13:57 sin. Now, that's a lasting legacy, folks. Jeroboam has a lasting legacy. Jeroboam was an influential14:09 person. Jeroboam's story and the whole northern kingdom story is doubly sad because God promised them all the blessings God14:21 was gonna give to David. And so we need to be reminded, good decisions that we make today, righteous decisions will build our house, sinful winds will14:33 destroy our house. Righteous decisions will build our country, bad decisions will destroy our country. Man, righteousness exalts a nation,14:45 sin ultimately destroys it. Alright, so then that leads us to the question, if if the sins of Jeroboam were so big and so influential that through 16 kings and a hundred and 80 years, he made some decisions14:57 as the first king of the north. What were those decisions? Because we don't want to repeat them. Here's number 1, he changed the place of worship. He he changed the place15:09 of worship from Jerusalem. Let's pick it up reading first Kings chapter 12 verse 25. Says, then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim where he lived. Remember, we're up at up in the north where he15:20 lived. His palace was there. From there he went out and built up Peniel. Look at this verse 26. Jeroboam thought to himself. Now that's the first problem. How many of you know the heart is deceitful? He15:32 began to think to himself. Now remember what he was promised by the prophet through God? That if you follow me and trust me, I will build your kingdom, give you a kingdom, give you a great nation, give you a people,15:44 if you just will obey me and follow my decrees. But Jeroboam thought to himself, the kingdom will now likely revert back to the house of David. If if, notice that word, if these people go up15:56 and offer sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to who? To the Lord Rehoboam, that's Solomon's son, the king of Judah. Now, let me just tell you what, God had just taken half of the16:08 kingdom 10 10 tribes away from Rehoboam and given them to Jeroboam. And Jeroboam's still afraid of this, give them back to Rehoboam the king of Judah in the south, that's what he said. They will kill me and return16:20 to them. So here's what he did. We'll put that image back up. As you put that image back up, it's not just the northern kingdom in Israel, the southern kingdom which is called Judah. But now notice what you have16:32 all the way up at the top, Jeroboam built a place of worship in a place called Dan. And then just above Jerusalem at the dividing line notice there's a place called Bethel.16:45 He he built those 2 places. Why? Because he didn't want the children of Israel to cross into Judah, worship at the temple where they were supposed to worship, so instead he16:57 changed their place of worship. Boy, isn't that what we see a lot today? People talk about well I can worship anywhere. Well, if you look in the old testament, people were supposed to go to the temple to worship. That's17:07 where they had the sacrifices, that's where they worship. They went to synagogues in the new testament, it becomes what is called the church. Child of God, we can worship God anywhere, but there is something about17:18 God's call to a people to come together and corporately study his word and praise their God. And so Jeroboam says, first thing I'm gonna do is is I don't want them going to Jerusalem anymore.17:31 And, and I'm gonna change the place they worship. I don't want them, because if they cross into Jerusalem, they might say, you know what? We're just gonna go back to Rehoboam. We're just gonna go back to the way it was.17:41 Here's the second thing he did. Not only did he change the place of worship, he exchanged the 1 true God for other Gods. You say, where do you see this? Just just pick it up.17:52 Verse verse 28 says, after seeking advice, so now we've already seen that he thought to himself. Now he's talking to others. After seeking advice, the king made 218:04 golden calves. Does this sound familiar to anybody? Remember when the children of Israel were leaving the promised land and and Moses went up on the mountain to get the commandments and Moses was gone18:16 for a long long time, the people became impatient, and so they said we need you to build us an idol, build us a God. And they've been traveling through, they've been down in they'd been down in Egypt for a long time as18:27 slaves, and Egypt had all of these idols and all of these gods. And so so they said, well we want you to build us an idol so we can worship, so we can be strong. And so what happens, Aaron the priest makes a mistake. Do18:38 you remember the mistake? He says bring me all your silver and your gold and all the good stuff. And sad thing is, it even says it in the text. Says, so all the men took all the gold and silver from their house and18:49 their wives earrings and jewelry brought them to Aaron. And, they fashioned this golden calf in Exodus chapter 32. And, in this golden calf, then all of a sudden19:01 Moses is up on the mountain, he begins to hear it, he comes down, he gets angry and he challenges Aaron. He goes, Aaron, you're supposed to lead these priests, how and why in the world would you do this? Remember19:13 Aaron's excuse? Go read it. He says, well really Moses, I didn't have anything to do with this. He says, the people asked for something. I told them them to bring me,19:25 their gold and their silver, and all I did, I just threw it in the fire, and poof, out came this idol. Imagine Moses looking at him going, really? You're gonna you're19:37 gonna stick with that story? Right? Remember, literally thousands of people died because of that disobedience and here 1 of the first things Jeroboam does is, alright, that works so well, let me make 219:49 golden calves. I mean this guy doesn't get it. Not only has he changed the place that the people worship, but he also exchanged the real God for other God's golden calves. He said to the people, back to the passage,20:01 it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. 1 he set up, and remember that first place Bethel, just north of Jerusalem. And the other he set20:13 up in Dan, all the way in the top of the north. And this thing became a sin, the people who came to worship the 1 at Bethel and went down to Dan to worship the other 1 there, Jeroboam built shrines. So, it20:25 wasn't just a golden calf, he built shrines on high places and appointed, listen to this, his own priest and all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. So you notice in the20:36 pattern, I'm not going to begin to I'm not going to worship where God tells me to worship, I'm going to worship where I want to worship. Now, I'm not going to worship the God the Bible tells me to worship, don't make any20:46 images, but I'm going to start making these images and I'm going to devote some high places so people will go and feel good about themselves. And there is this drift that has taken place. Look at the third thing it says20:57 he does. He chose his own priest, instead of the real preachers of God's word. See God's word was real clear. The priests were to be in the line of21:09 Aaron and Levites. Those were your priests. But Jerimmon looked at those guys and said nah, they're probably sold out to the temple in Jerusalem. So here's what I'll do, I will just replace21:21 God's men, God's Levites, God's priest with my preachers. Hey, anybody see that happening today? People want to gather for themselves people21:33 who are their priest, Who are their preachers? Who won't preach all of God's Word? Who will compromise with sin? Who will talk21:45 about their Gods instead of the 1 true God? Folks, don't think that we are that far away from what was taking place in the Northern Kingdom, because man, he absolutely21:57 changed the place of worship. That's why I want to encourage you, mom and dad, you're online, we love being online. I mean, get your family into God's house. Be surrounded with God's people. Man, when you worship don't22:08 let it be a golden calf, let it be the 1 true God. And if the preacher stands up and he preaches about sin and it lights you up, my encouragement just confess. Ask22:20 forgiveness. Don't say we're gonna go somewhere else. Don't say we're gonna, I'm gonna go find another preacher who won't be as hard on sin. Let me tell you what, in the Bible where sin is very clear, here at Cottonwood22:32 Creek, we are going to be very clear. Right? And we're gonna love, we're gonna love, we're gonna have compassion. You say pastor, why would we do that?22:44 Can I just open my heart for you? Because I want you to be blessed, not cursed. I want your families to love God and be blessed by God. I can't22:56 compromise, because if I do, my legacy will be 1 of letting you down. Of cowling down the political pressure or23:07 popularity. Because there's some things in God's word, and we're gonna be talking about them. I'm sure as election season comes more and more will come up. There are gonna be some things that when when we say, they're23:17 not very popular. Do we understand that? Here's the next thing he did, not only did he choose his own pre he chose man's wisdom over God's wisdom. I've already pointed it out to you.23:29 What did he say? It said that Jeroboam thought to himself. Jeremiah said, the heart is deceitfully wicked. And what did he think to himself? He said,23:41 man, what if these people go down to the south, and all of a sudden they change their allegiance, and they go back after Rehoboam and and Judah, and then they want to kill me.23:53 How many of you know your mind can play tricks on you? How many of you know you can lie to yourself? How many of you know Satan loves to deceive his people? That's exactly what happened.24:05 You know what Jeroboam should have said when he thought to himself? Is I need to think to someone else. How about what the prophet said? How about what God promised? And so child of God, when your mind24:17 begins to wobble and waver in its faith, I want to encourage you to do that thing. Stop thinking to yourself, go back and say what did the prophets say? What did the preacher say? What does God's word24:29 say? What is God's promise for you? Because if we start thinking in such a way that I won't be popular, I won't be like, his fear was they were going to return their allegiance to a24:40 guy that God had rejected. How silly was that? God looked at Jeroboam and said you're the new man. When he thought to himself he should have said, no no no no, they're not going to do that. Why?24:52 Because the prophet tore the coat, the robe, gave me 10 and said, listen I will give you everything. God says he will give you everything that he gave David, and bless you25:04 in such a powerful and real way. But instead, he thought to himself, and we have a generation of people, sadly, who are deceiving themselves. And that's exactly what25:15 Satan wants. He wants you to think about what is someone saying on social media? Or how many likes do they have compared to me? Or what are they saying is okay? Or how are they deconstructing their faith in such a way25:27 that sounds good? And guess what, we begin to think to ourselves. And instead of thinking to ourselves or thinking about what someone says that we don't even know, we need to think about what God says, and what the25:39 pastor says, and what the student minister says, and what God's people say. What we sing about when we come together on a Sunday morning. Man, that needs to be our ultimate call. But his lack of wisdom didn't stop25:50 there. Says not only did he think to himself, it says he sought advice. Who did he sought seek advice from? Those who were his closest confidants. And they they came up with26:02 this grand idea. You know what? Why don't we build 2 golden calves? Let me tell you what, students, if you're surrounding yourself with friends and26:14 say let's go build 2 golden calves and get better friends, right? Alright? But I want you to know that's not just for them, it's for you. It's for me. Man, if people are around us saying man, the answer to26:26 your to your doubt or your or your difficulty or your struggle is to double down on the golden calves, you need to say I'm out. I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna choose God's wisdom over man's wisdom. Alright. So those are26:38 the 4 things that Jeroboam did to make sure that he would have a lasting legacy in the wrong direction. 16 kings, legacy in the wrong direction, 16 kings, a hundred and 80 years later, they are still following and26:50 living out the sins of Jeroboam. You say pastor, you said you're going to talk about something good. This little guy named Asa. Everybody say Asa. Asa. Asa, he he didn't have it27:02 going. Remember what had just happened in Asa's day? God had taken 10 tribes away, given them to the north, promised blessings on the north. Asa shows27:13 up, Solomon has started sinning, he had built high places. Rehoboam had just continued and doubled down on high places and worshiping the wrong gods. Then even Asa's father, go read it. He's got very short, about27:25 about about a verse and about all it did was say, Asa's father did evil in the sight of the Lord. So maybe there's some folks that are in here that you're thinking, man, when you think about my line and my lineage and my27:36 heritage, my family, and you say, God can God do something through me when you look at my history? Absolutely, Ace is your man. Because literally, he starts making decisions.27:49 He could have been discouraged. He could have said, Galilee if I just had those other 10 tribes. If I just had the water from the Sea of Galilee or the Jordan River.28:01 But instead he says, hey, if God has given me Jerusalem, let's go Jerusalem. Let me celebrate that. Don't let me whine about what I don't have.28:13 Let me celebrate what I do have and begin to make some positive decisions. Alright. What was his positive influence? Here's here's this decision he made. First, Asa restored right worship.28:25 First thing he did is he said listen, we're gonna start making some decisions around here. We're gonna make worship a priority, and it's gonna be on the right place done with the right way worshiping the right God. You28:36 say where you see this, look at it first Kings chapter 15 verse 11. Says Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as his father David had done. So guess what? I love in this little phrase,28:48 they're they're ignoring the sins of his father, they're ignoring the sins of Solomon, they're going all the way and and and Rehoboam, they're going all the way back to David. He says he did what David did and had done28:57 in in the father's eyes. Look at verse 12. He expelled the Mel shrine shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all of the idols his ancestors made. So the first29:09 thing he did is he looked around, he goes, when it comes to worship, we're gonna clean up this mess. We're gonna get rid of all the male prostitutes, female prostitutes. We're gonna get them out. That's that's pagan29:19 worship. That's not God's worship. Purity is about God's worship, man, immorality is about pagan worship. He said we're gonna get that out. And he says, oh by the way, all those idols we've been making over the years,29:29 we're gonna get rid of those too. We're not worshiping idols. Guess what? That's 1 of the big commandments, do not make an image of the Lord your God. Man, he said get rid of all the idols because people will start29:39 worshiping the idols over the 1 true God. And so that's where it started. He said, man, we're gonna get rid of all of this, we're gonna straighten things up. Man, Solomon started the decline years ago in his later days29:50 after intermarrying with all these wives, 700 wives, 300 concubines. I mean, just amazing feat first of all, but I don't even know how to say that. But30:03 but what had happened is when he would marry, intermarry with another wife from a different place, she would say, well I need a place to worship and he'd build her a high place. He'd marry someone else, say, I need a30:13 high place. I need a high So he put all these high places. So this guy that started off with so much wisdom at the beginning of his life because he has he had moved into immorality started compromising30:25 1 time after another time after another time. And so, Asa shows up and says, we're gonna fix that junk. We're we're gonna get rid of all these prostitutes around worship. We're we're gonna30:37 stop worshiping these idols. So number 1, he restored right worship. Dad, you need to restore right worship in your house. You need to make worship a priority. Here's number 2, Asa made hard and30:49 unpopular decisions. Even when it comes to family. I'm not gonna be up here and I'm not gonna tell you, hey by the way making all these decisions is gonna be easy. If you are in a path31:01 and you're heading down the wrong direction to get back on the right path, you're gonna have to make some hard decisions. Does that make sense? Look look at 1 of, just 1 of Asa's hard decision. Look at first Kings31:11 chapter 15 verse 13. Says Asa even deposed his grandmother. Can you imagine that family meeting? Hey, everybody31:23 come together, just gonna be some changes around the house. Grandma's, she's out.31:35 She she she's out. And and and people are like, grandma? Nanny? Mama? He goes, yeah, she's out. She she's no more she's no longer involved in any of the31:47 decisions that we're gonna make in this house. No longer gonna be a part of any worship. You say, why would he kick his own grandmother out? Oh, well, first of all, that would have been a fun family meeting. But notice31:57 what it says. Deposed his grandmother, Micah from her position as the queen mother, that queen grandmother, because she had made repulsive image for worship of the Asherah.32:08 Asa cut it down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. So, here's the deal, she had actually made idols and poles to worship another god and led32:20 other people away. So, Asa rolled in and says, listen, we're gonna restore right worship. We're gonna get rid of all this junk. And by the way, grandma, you're gone. That's not an easy decision but he makes it. Here's32:30 number 3, you ready? Asa committed his heart fully to God. By the way, this requires a decisive decision. And, I want also want you to know, here's what I truly32:42 believe. Had Jeroboam made these same decisions, God would restore the blessings to his life and his kingdom. And he would have been blessed like David. So maybe there's someone here,32:54 I don't want this to be a place in a space of guilt and condemnation. I want it to be an invitation. That if you have made some of the decisions that are leading you and your family and those to follow down the wrong33:05 path, let's make some hard decision. Let's restore right worship. Alright? Let's do what God has called us to do. But here's the next thing, his heart was fully committed to God. Look at verse 14. Although he did not33:17 remove all the high places, guess who did? His son. Jehoshaphat came in and finished the job. See there were so many high places33:29 all over Israel that Asa couldn't get to them. But he got rid of the prostitutes, and he got rid of the idols, but I love it. His son Jehoshaphat comes in and says,33:41 yeah, let me just go ahead and remove those high places. Why? Because he knew as long as those high places were still there, Josiah did, there was always gonna be someone that would wanna go up there, put an idol and be33:52 reminded of their old style of worship. But instead, here here's what it says, although he did not remove all the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed, that's a choice, that's a decision, to the Lord34:04 all the days of his life. Everybody say all the days of his life. Not just for the next 4 days, not just for the next week, next month, next year, next decade, all the days of his34:16 life he said, man I'm all in on God. Child of God, my invitation to you. You want to see your home blessed, your family blessed, your nation blessed? Be an all in type person. Be an all in type person.34:28 And that'll allow God to pour his blessings out upon you. Here's the fourth thing, notice, Asa gave his best to God. Asa gave his best to God. If you go back and look under after Solomon died and his34:40 son Rehoboam took over, that many of the valuables in the temple were taken away. And they they they kind of emptied it out. The cupboards were bare in the temple.34:52 And so Asa, once he restored right worship, he cleaned it up, he kicked grandma out, he did his heart was committed, Lord. Then he would say, you know what? A lot of the gold and a lot of the silver and a lot of the35:04 things that we use to worship with is no longer in the temple. And so what did Asa do? He didn't say someone should do that. He goes, I'm gonna give my own stuff to replenish the temple. Look at it, notice what it says.35:17 It says he, verse 15. He, Asa, brought into the temple of the Lord the silver and gold and the articles he and his father had dedicated. I35:28 love this. Asa gave his best to God from his own reserve. See a lot of times what do we do with God? Well if there are any leftovers, I'll35:40 give some to God. Asa said, no no no, I'm bringing my best. Sometimes we don't just give leftovers, we give the leftovers after the leftovers are left over. And we just bring God a penance.35:53 Man, you want to see God bless you and your family? Man, do what Asa did. Bring your best to God and his work and his mission. You saw earlier, another church partnership that we're having. Man, we're gonna do36:05 it over and over again, but part of that is God's people bringing their very best to God's house. Here's number 5, and this is where we finish. Then Asa commanded the people, you've seen36:17 how I act? And he goes, you're gonna do the exact same thing. I love it. He lays down the mantle. He says second Chronicles chapter 14 verse 4, he said to Judah, seek the Lord, the God36:29 of their ancestors, and obey his laws and commands. I love it. Asa stood before his people and said, this is not just36:41 a me thing, this is a we thing. So I want to close by saying that. What I just talked about, wanting to leave a lasting legacy of a church that36:52 is blessed, filled with families that are blessed, that are filled with students that are blessed, that are filled with children that are blessed, that is filled with a church that blesses other churches. This is not37:03 just a me thing. This is a we thing. So the question is, are you in? Are you in? My prayers, you are. Let's37:14 pray. God, thank you so much for giving us both sides in God's story in your book. Jeroboam, who had been blessed, everything David had been offered,37:27 had been offered to David. But he turned his back, chose his own ways over your way, and his influence was negative for centuries to follow.37:39 God, I thank you for this guy named Asa, who who didn't have a good legacy, but made positive decisions. God, let us be a37:51 people that choose righteousness, that exalts a house over sins that destroy it. Let us be a people that38:03 choose righteousness that will exalt a nation, because we know sins will destroy it. God, let this be a we thing, and not just a me38:15 thing. In Jesus name we pray. Amen and amen.In this video 0:00 Kingmakers and KingbreakersComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
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