Be As Wholehearted 1 Kings 15 9 24

Be As Wholehearted! 1 Kings 15: 9 -24; 2 Chronicles 14 Lessons from the Kings: a 1 Kings 15: 9 -24; 2 Chronicles 14 -6

Asa: Be Wholehearted! What is the #1 commodity you can trade or give in the world? Loyalty Can you really say you love someone unless you are loyal to them? Can you trust someone unless there is established loyalty?

Asa: Be Wholehearted! Loyalty Jesus commanded it … “You are My friends if you do what I command you. ” –Jn. 15: 14

Asa: Be Wholehearted! Loyalty Jesus commanded it … The Father demanded it…

Asa: Be Wholehearted! 4“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. ”

Asa: Be Wholehearted! Loyalty Jesus commanded it … The Father demanded it… The Spirit breathes it…

Asa: Be Wholehearted! “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ” –Jn. 16: 13

Asa: Be Wholehearted! “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. ” -2 Tim. 3: 1617 -

Asa: Be Wholehearted! God Loyalty Jesus commanded it … is The Father demanded it… The Spirit breathes it… “if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. ” -2 Timothy 2: 13

Asa: Be Wholehearted! What is a man without loyalty? Ungodly…a lack of life “He who pursues righteousness and loyalty Finds life, righteousness and honor. ” -Pro. 21: 21 -

Asa: Be Wholehearted! 1 The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. 2 So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Asa and all Judah and Benjamin, hear me. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you abandon Him, He will abandon you.

Asa: Be Wholehearted! 3 For many years Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without instruction, 4 but when they turned to the LORD God of Israel in their distress and sought Him, He was found by them. 5 In those times there was no peace for those who went about their daily activities because the

Asa: Be Wholehearted! 6 Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every possible distress. 7 But as for you, be strong; don’t be discouraged, for your work has a reward. ” 8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of � Azariah son of�Oded the prophet, he took courage…

Asa: Be Wholehearted! …and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He renovated the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD’s � temple�.

Asa: Be Wholehearted! 9 Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, as well as those from � the tribes of�Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had settled among them, for they had defected to him from Israel in great numbers when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him.

Asa: Be Wholehearted! 10 They were gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. 11 At that time they sacrificed to the LORD 700 cattle and 7, 000 sheep from all the plunder they had brought. 12 Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their ancestors with all their mind all their heart.

Asa: Be Wholehearted! 13 Whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel would be put to death, young or old, man or woman. 14 They took an oath to the LORD in a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with rams’ horns. 15 All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with all their mind. They had sought Him with all their heart,

Asa: Be Wholehearted! …and He was found by them. So the LORD gave them rest on every side. 16 King Asa also removed Maacah, his grandmother, from being queen mother because she had made an obscene image of Asherah. Asa chopped down her obscene image, then crushed it and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

Asa: Be Wholehearted! 17 The high places were not taken away from Israel; nevertheless, Asa was wholehearted his entire life. 18 He brought his father’s consecrated gifts and his own consecrated gifts into God’s temple: silver, gold, and utensils. 19 There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

Asa: Be Wholehearted! What led to the end of King Asa’s reign?

Asa: Be Wholehearted! 1. King Asa failed to inquire/pray of the LORD’s will. ØKing Baasha of Israel went to war against Judah (2 Chr. 16: 1 -6) ØKing Asa sent silver and gold from the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and royal palace to King Ben-hadad of Aram, to encourage him to break his treaty with King Bashaan and attack Israel.

Asa: Be Wholehearted! 2. King Asa failed to seek of the LORD’s will. ØUnlike he did previously (2 Kgs 14: 11): Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “LORD, there is no one besides You to help the mighty and those without strength. Help us, LORD our God, for we depend on You, and in Your name we have come against this large army. Yahweh, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal hinder You. ”

Asa: Be Wholehearted! 3. King Asa failed to depend on the LORD. ØHanani the Seer rebuked King Asa with the word of the Lord saying, “Because you depended on the king of Aram and have not depended on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand…you have been foolish in this matter, for from now on,

Asa: Be Wholehearted! Lesson #1: A lack of dependence upon the LORD is foolishness and will lead to war. ØDo I want war with God? In my: Finances, Work, Nation, Future, Church, Government, Culture, Society, Family, Marriage, Children? Am I depending upon the Lord?

Asa: Be Wholehearted! Lesson #2: Man would rather depend on man (or himself). Why? 1. We have a broken tendency to turn away from God (Gen. 1; Romans 1: 21; 3: 23) 2. We think & believe we are god (Genesis 1) 3. We suppress truth by our unrighteousness (Rom. 1: 18) 4. We think and believe God is not worthwhile to know & understand (Romans 1: 28)

Asa: Be Wholehearted! “For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. ” -Romans 1: 21 - “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” –Romans 3: 23

Asa: Be Wholehearted! “ 18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to

Asa: Be Wholehearted! “And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. ” Rom. 1: 28 -

Asa: Be Wholehearted! “For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were

Asa: Be Wholehearted! Lesson #4: A man crack even if devoted unto God. Asa had a scepter of unchallenged power and he became corrupted. ØThe strongest principled leader will eventually break under pressure and enticement. ØWholehearted means undivided, complete, whole

Asa: Be Wholehearted! “nevertheless, Asa was wholehearted his entire life. ” -2 Chr. 15: 17 The LORD is strong for those who undivided in their hearts toward Him. “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars. ” -2 Chr. 16: 9

Asa: Be Wholehearted! Lesson #5: God brings war into our lives when we fail to depend upon Him. ØDepend means to lean, to rely, to support oneself Who or what do I lean on for support in my life? ØKing Asa brought war into his life because he choose the wrong

Asa: Be Wholehearted! “ 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ” -Proverbs 3: 5 -6 -

Asa: Be Wholehearted! When you destroy the altars in your life, do so wholeheartedly, completely, depending upon God to lead you and guide you, making you strong along the way.