1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,960 Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,040 The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:13,040 Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:17,280 or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,760 us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,080 message from God's Word will be a blessing to you. 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:26,520 It's a pleasure to be with you here today. 8 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,160 And pastor asked us to introduce ourselves. 9 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,240 So my name is Estevan Lopez. I come from Argentina. 10 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,160 That's my country of origin. And right now I'm in living in 11 00:00:35,160 --> 00:00:38,480 Oklahoma City. I'm attending Southwest Baptist 12 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:41,640 Church and I'm going to Harlan Baptist Bible College. 13 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,440 And as a student there, I want to say I appreciate, we 14 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,440 appreciate your guys's support of the school and making it 15 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:52,240 easier for us to go. That's a real blessing, and it's 16 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:54,920 a real blessing to be there learning to serve the Lord. 17 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,600 So let's get right to the passage. 18 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:00,000 Tonight. We're going to be in Second 19 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:08,640 Chronicles 34, chapter 34, and I'll check that time to make 20 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:12,680 sure I don't go over. If not, a pastor said he'll pull 21 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:14,720 me down. So I'll try to not let that 22 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:18,840 happen. So let's read Second Chronicles 23 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,680 chapter 34. We'll read the first 2 verses, 24 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:23,560 and then we'll talk a little bit more about the rest of the 25 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,200 chapter. The Word of God says Josiah was 26 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,120 8 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in 27 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:34,040 Jerusalem 1 and 30 years. And he did that which was right 28 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,800 in the side of the Lord and walked in the ways of David, his 29 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:42,480 father, and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left. 30 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:44,320 Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this 31 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:46,240 opportunity. Thank you for your word. 32 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:50,440 You know Lord, that there's nothing I can do to transmit 33 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:54,000 your word in a in a good way if you're not in it. 34 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,880 And I know that it's your spirit that has the power to to speak 35 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,520 to us and to convict us. So please Lord, do your work and 36 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:06,240 let it all be from your power. Nothing of me Lord, just help us 37 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:10,120 and let us be a blessing for everybody in Jesus name, Amen. 38 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:16,360 Josiah here we learned that he's 8 years old and there's there's 39 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,200 a cycle that's starting in the Kingdom of Judah where he's 40 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:23,600 reigning. There have been a lot of kings 41 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:25,440 before him. There will be a lot of kings 42 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:28,040 after him. And there was always a cycle 43 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:32,640 almost of sin, sin, sin, and then repentance coming back to 44 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:34,920 God and God forgiving the people. 45 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:39,280 And then another king, a bad king comes up and sin, sin, sin. 46 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,680 And this cycle is repeated over and over again. 47 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:47,440 And there are cycles in our life that we all know about, right? 48 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,480 Just the starting of this year, probably a lot of people started 49 00:02:51,640 --> 00:02:54,480 a gym membership on the 1st of January probably. 50 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,960 And around the 8th or 9th, probably all those memberships 51 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,000 will be cancelled. And then in the next year, 52 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,240 January 1st, again, the same guys and the guys at the gym 53 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:06,800 will be like, oh, there he goes. It comes again for his annual 54 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,080 gym membership that he's going to cancel later, right? 55 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:12,440 And then as college students, we have probably some cycles where 56 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:14,840 we get an assignment at the beginning of the semester and 57 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:16,920 we're like, oh, that assignment is at this date. 58 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:21,960 So OK, I'll study for it all through the month so I can get 59 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:23,280 it on time and have a good grade. 60 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:26,880 But we forecasted it until the last night, and we study until 61 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:31,240 the dawn, and then sometimes it goes wrong, sometimes it goes 62 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:31,800 good. I don't know. 63 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,160 But that's usually a cycle. It shouldn't be, but it is. 64 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,600 So this is a cycle that's starting to be in Judah because 65 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,080 the grandfather of Josiah was Manasseh. 66 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:46,120 Manasseh was probably the worst king of Judah, and he rang for 67 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,040 50 years and it says that he filled Judah with blood from end 68 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,200 to end. And then after that Manasseh 69 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,760 dies and Ammon his son comes and he rings for two years. 70 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,880 But the short time did not stop him from being one of the worst 71 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,240 kings as well. And he says he did just as bad 72 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,640 as his father did. But then there comes Josiah, and 73 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:11,760 Josiah has an opportunity to follow the cycle that has 74 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:14,920 started, or he has the opportunity to break away from 75 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:19,519 it and start something new. He has an opportunity to break 76 00:04:19,519 --> 00:04:21,839 away from the cycle that his grandfather and his father 77 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:24,040 started. So the title for this short 78 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:27,080 message that I want to share with you is breaking the cycle, 79 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,480 breaking away from the sync cycle that's coming behind us. 80 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,920 And I told you that I come from Southwest Baptist Church and 81 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,640 Pastor Jason Gaddis is there. So I'm going to be do my attempt 82 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,240 at doing a title. And he always does a subtitle 83 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,360 and I in no way can compare myself to him. 84 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:51,760 But here's my attempt at it. Taking the right steps to avoid 85 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:55,360 walking the wrong paths. Taking the right steps to avoid 86 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,120 walking the wrong paths. And we'll see four things that 87 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,720 Josiah did to avoid being in a bad cycle that his grandfather 88 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:07,960 and his father had begun. It says that in verse #2 Josiah 89 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:10,600 didn't have the law, and he didn't have a good example in 90 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,880 his father, in his grandfather. The nation of Judah itself was 91 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:17,040 in sin. He had no good example to grab 92 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,480 on to. But in verse #2 it says he 93 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:23,120 walked in the ways of David, his father. 94 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,720 So he looked for a mentor. He looked for a person that he 95 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:30,200 could look up to, a person that he could follow after his 96 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,360 footsteps and followed in his ways. 97 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:34,680 And we know that David was a great example that he could 98 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:36,840 follow. And that's that's what Josiah 99 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:38,960 did. He said that he did, which was 100 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,560 that which was right. He walked in the ways of David, 101 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,720 his father, and declined neither to the right nor to the left. 102 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:47,600 So he made a decision. He chose a mentor. 103 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,680 He followed those good footsteps and he didn't deviate from it. 104 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,760 That was his first good step. He chose a good example, even if 105 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,120 he didn't have one really close to him. 106 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:03,200 Second verse #3 It also says that in the eighth year of his 107 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:06,640 reign, when he was 16 years old, he began to seek after the God 108 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,040 of David, his father. Again, seeking David as his 109 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:14,120 mentor and it says that he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem 110 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,560 from the high places and the girls and the card images and 111 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:19,120 the molten images. He began to take away all the 112 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,520 idols of Judah. So that was a second step that 113 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:27,040 Josiah took that brought him out of that cycle of taking away 114 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,440 away all the idolatry that his father and his grandfather had 115 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:35,960 promoted. 3rd chapter chapter 34 verse 27. 116 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,960 Sorry if I'm going a little fast that when I get to the end of 117 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:43,320 this, it says that his heart was tender to the law of God. 118 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:47,320 He started reconstructing the temple and because of this, the 119 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,280 book of the law was found and they brought it to him. 120 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:53,400 It was read. And it says that Josiah, instead 121 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:56,560 of saying like when they read the book that there was a 122 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:00,240 judgement coming that there was sin in Judah and that they were 123 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:02,800 going to be destroyed and they were going to be judged instead 124 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:05,440 of him being but God, I'm doing everything right. 125 00:07:05,840 --> 00:07:08,720 I've taken out the idolatry. I'm following David in the 126 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:13,440 footsteps of his footsteps. Why is this going to happen? 127 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:16,680 None of that. Josiah just says the Bible says 128 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:21,960 that he his heart was tender and he did humble himself before God 129 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,880 when he heard the words against Judah in verse 27. 130 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:32,120 So the third step was his heart being tender toward the Word of 131 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:36,680 God. And then the 4th is in verse 31. 132 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:41,480 It says that he stood in his place and made a covenant before 133 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,280 the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and 134 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,520 his testimonies. And the verse goes on. 135 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:52,840 So the 4th good step that Josiah did took was he had a personal 136 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,960 relationship now with God. Now he did not only depend on 137 00:07:55,960 --> 00:08:00,360 David and his footsteps and his example, but now he had a direct 138 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:04,040 relationship with God where he decided I'm going to make a 139 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:05,680 covenant with God. I'm going to keep his 140 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,480 commandments, his testimonies, and I'm going to be faithful to 141 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,560 him no matter, no matter what David did, no matter what else 142 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:13,480 everybody else does. I'm going to make a covenant, 143 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:18,800 covenant with him result of him having a tender heart toward the 144 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,520 word of God. So how does this apply to us? 145 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:26,640 How can we look at Josiah and, and be like, OK, this can be a 146 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:29,680 help to me in my life. Well, I don't, I don't know 147 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:33,559 everybody in here. Probably these guys are the ones 148 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,840 that I know best, unfortunately. And the rest, I don't know your 149 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:40,039 situation. I don't know, maybe you have 150 00:08:40,039 --> 00:08:42,320 parents that haven't been a good example to you. 151 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,400 Maybe you have siblings that you looked up to that they haven't 152 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:49,760 been a good example either they would have left you astray if 153 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,600 you had gone after them. Maybe you have people that were 154 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:55,680 in leadership or you looked up to and that you like that you 155 00:08:55,680 --> 00:08:58,400 love and they have let you down. Maybe you have people that are 156 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:02,080 trying to right now lead you away from the the word of God, 157 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:04,880 from from a good path and you have a choice. 158 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:08,720 You have a choice whether to follow the cycle that your 159 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:13,600 grandparents, parents, siblings, friends, this world has set. 160 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:19,800 Or you can like Josiah, like he did at a young age, decide to 161 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:24,440 walk in the ways of God, decide to do the right thing and decide 162 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:28,120 to maintain it and not deviate to left or to right. 163 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:36,560 And first, first of all, you have to make a decision to walk 164 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:40,280 with God. Walk with God doesn't happen by 165 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:42,360 accident. A walk of God does not just 166 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:46,120 suddenly appear in your life. And oh, I'm just, I'm a St. now, 167 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,720 I'm holy, I do all things right. No, and we'll never get to do 168 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:52,600 everything, but we have to start by making a decision to follow 169 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,720 God and to break away from the cycle of sin. 170 00:09:56,400 --> 00:10:01,320 Second, it's hard at the beginning when one is saved 171 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,360 recently. We need someone to help us. 172 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:08,440 We need someone to stand close to us and encourage us and to 173 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,840 show us the way. So find someone that you know 174 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:15,600 God, that loves God and that is godly, has a good testimony and 175 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:20,720 follow them and ask them for help and read with them and pray 176 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:22,400 with them so that they can lead you. 177 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,480 Like David LED Josiah, even he was, David was dead. 178 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:29,560 David was gone a long time ago, but he followed just I followed 179 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:31,800 his example. And you can do the same with a 180 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:35,440 mentor that God, that loves God and that can lead you in the 181 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:38,040 right way. Third, be sensitive to the Word 182 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:40,920 of God. And the word of God was found 183 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,400 when what was being done, the temple was being rebuilt. 184 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:48,600 So we find the instruction from the word of God right here in 185 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:52,440 the Church of God. So come to the Church of God, be 186 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:54,160 sensitive to the word when it's preached. 187 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,560 Have a personal relationship with God. 188 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:01,720 Just after your mentor has taught you and helped you, now 189 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,520 it's time for your relationship to be with God, independent of 190 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:10,640 everybody else. And last of all, you may say, 191 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:14,400 maybe I'm too old to break away from this cycle. 192 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:16,120 Maybe I've done bad decisions in my life. 193 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:19,240 Maybe I failed God. Maybe I followed in this cycle 194 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:20,960 of sin instead of breaking away from it. 195 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:23,160 Well, let me give you a little bit of hope. 196 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:27,000 Manasseh, the grandfather of Josiah, at the end of the days 197 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:32,360 of his life, it says that he's, he prayed unto God and humbled 198 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:36,240 himself in the last days. And God forgave and gave grace 199 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:39,640 and Manasseh changed his life around, took out the idols of 200 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:42,320 Judah. And we don't know, I can't say 201 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:46,720 exactly for sure, but looking at the years, Josiah probably saw 202 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:49,880 Manasseh, Manasseh repent and go back to God. 203 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:54,040 Maybe that was even a reason why he followed God in his 204 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:56,920 footsteps. So you are not too old, you're 205 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,280 it's not too late to go back to God. 206 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:02,520 And if, if you say maybe I'm too young to make a difference, 207 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:05,200 well, just I was 8 years old. He was 16 years old when he 208 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:09,360 began to clean Judah. So there's no excuses to not 209 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:10,960 follow God. Even if you don't have good 210 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:15,320 examples, good cycle, you can start a new cycle of godliness 211 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:19,600 right now, today, if you choose to follow the Lord and His Word. 212 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:25,680 So first of all, my name is Ezra Barbosa. 213 00:12:25,680 --> 00:12:29,680 I am from Texas, not as extravagant as Argentina right 214 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:33,520 here, but I come from a church, a Hispanic church called Iglesia 215 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:35,800 Bautista Biblica Fundamental, Katy, TX. 216 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:38,760 It's around 45 minutes around the center of Houston. 217 00:12:39,400 --> 00:12:44,080 And well, if my English is somewhat choppy right now, it's 218 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:47,880 because I usually preach in Spanish, not in English. 219 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,840 This is the first time for me, I'm going to Hartley Baptist 220 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,480 Bible College. I am a music minister major, so 221 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:59,320 this is also pretty new. But all right, we're going to be 222 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:02,440 in First Kings chapter 12. We're going to be reading 2 223 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:08,160 verses, verse 3 and 4. And it says that they sent and 224 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:12,520 called him, and Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came 225 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:17,600 and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, Thy Father made our yo grievous. 226 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:21,600 Now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy Father 227 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:25,120 and his heavy yoke which he put upon us lighter, and we will 228 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:27,000 serve thee. All right, we're going to pray. 229 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:29,760 Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the day you have given us. 230 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:31,920 Thank you for letting us be able to come to your house and just 231 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,360 be able to hear your word and just apply it to our lives. 232 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:39,560 God, I ask that you use me as a vessel, just that I can portray 233 00:13:39,560 --> 00:13:42,160 whatever it is you have for your people. 234 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:44,640 I ask that they understand the words that come out of my mouth. 235 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:50,120 In Jesus name I pray, Amen. All right, so real bomb, second 236 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:54,920 king, do we all know him as the king that separated both the 237 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:59,000 nation of Israel into Judah and Israel, something that shouldn't 238 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,240 have happened because they should have been united for one, 239 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:07,560 but especially not because of who was his predecessor Solomon, 240 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:15,640 the wisest man after Jesus. Now here the people of the 241 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:20,480 nation are saying rear bone. Your father worked us to the 242 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:24,320 bone, your father put taxes upon us, your father made it hard to 243 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:28,840 live. Basically all we ask of you is 244 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:32,480 that you make it lighter and we promise if you do, we will serve 245 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:34,600 thee. Kind of a no brainer right 246 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:37,720 there. If he wanted the nation to be by 247 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,960 his side. Hey, just lower the taxes a 248 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:44,920 little bit more you know? Amen. 249 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:49,560 Lessen their load on work or stuff like that. 250 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:55,960 Real Boehm on the other hand, he says, OK, give me 3 days, come 251 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:57,480 back to me and I'll give you all an answer. 252 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:00,760 So he goes, those three days are happening. 253 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:06,680 And he finds consultants first from the ones who were with his 254 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:08,800 father, the advisors of his father. 255 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:12,600 Now the advisors of Solomon, they must have seen many things. 256 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,640 They must have seen how Solomon dealt with people, dealt with 257 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:17,720 money, dealt with all sorts of things. 258 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:20,280 So they knew a thing or two, let's say. 259 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:25,160 And he says, what should I do? What should I do with this that 260 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:27,240 the king, the Kingdom has asked of me? 261 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:30,600 They just, like, listen to them. It's not a bad request. 262 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:33,160 Yeah. Your father was hard on them. 263 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:36,160 They are worked. They're tired, They're hungry, 264 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,960 you know, lessen their load and you gain something out of it. 265 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:41,920 I mean, like, there's no, it's a win win. 266 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,000 He's like, all right. He takes it into advice, into 267 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:49,880 consideration. But what he does do, does next 268 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:56,120 is he asked a group of men who he grew up with, you know, close 269 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:59,720 friends, friends that will tell you what you want to hear, 270 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:03,520 probably at the wrong time, or just someone that like, hey, you 271 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:04,720 know what? You can do whatever you want. 272 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:10,160 He asked them, what should I do? And they're like, put a heavier 273 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:12,160 load. Show them that you're tough. 274 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:14,720 Show them that you're not messing around, that you're 275 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:19,920 going to be a strong king that fed his ego a little bit, I say. 276 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:25,120 So three days passed, the Kingdom comes back, and he says, 277 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,200 you know what? I'm going to make it heavier for 278 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,960 y'all. Instead of being whipped with 279 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:35,080 whips and everything, I'm gonna have scorpions on you, That's 280 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,600 what he says. And after that, the nation 281 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,600 splits. That shouldn't have happened. 282 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:48,920 Now many of us, I haven't even given out a title. 283 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:52,560 I am sorry. So the title is When Pride 284 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:58,080 Divided Kingdom and in honor of Jason Gaddis, I also did a 285 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,480 subtitle which says which voice are you listening to? 286 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:05,520 So we already know which voice real bomb listen to. 287 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:08,800 He listened to the wrong one. And because of that, the nation 288 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:14,280 of Israel split, something that if he was humbler, hum, if he 289 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:18,720 was humble and just did what the nation asked, could have made 290 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,640 them a lot stronger. Instead, because of his pride, 291 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:26,920 they got weak, they went astray, they split. 292 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:34,640 Now he was a leader. We have many leaders here, a 293 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:38,880 pastor, maybe a parent, maybe even someone that a little kid 294 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:44,040 looks up to, a boss. Maybe we have people who look up 295 00:17:44,040 --> 00:17:46,480 to us. I know back in my home church I 296 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:49,320 have 3 kids that they have met called the Tonios. 297 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:53,560 They look up to me. I have to set an example. 298 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:57,920 I have to lead them in the correct way that they won't 299 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:02,280 fail. Rear Bohm had that same exact 300 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:05,360 duty, but what he did was feed into his pride. 301 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,320 What he did was wrong. What he did was just what he 302 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:14,400 wanted, not what the benefit was for everybody else. 303 00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:21,000 Now we as leaders, we're going to have tests that come up into 304 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,240 our lives. It may be difficult times, maybe 305 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:28,280 something that happens, a random problem that you blindsided you 306 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:29,680 and you had no idea that was coming. 307 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:35,760 How are you going to respond? Are you going to be defensive 308 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:39,840 and argue back? Are you going to go seek 309 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,880 council? And if so, which council Now 310 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:49,440 Rear Bohm had all the opportunity to do that. 311 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:55,360 He had the council of the wisest king on earth and yet he ignored 312 00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:59,200 them. He had people who knew things. 313 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:03,880 He had people who saw things. And if I could just say we have 314 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:07,960 a Bible that tells us what we should do, what we shouldn't do. 315 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,240 We have a path right here that we can listen to. 316 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:15,080 Not only that, we have prayer with God. 317 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:19,440 We have preachings every week. We have a pastor, y'all have a 318 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:21,560 pastor that teaches y'all preaches to you. 319 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:26,840 I'm sure he gives excellent counsel not because of him but 320 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:34,720 because of who he asked for. Now you may go to your friends 321 00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:36,040 and be like, hey, what should I do? 322 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:40,120 And don't fit into your ego. Be careful with that. 323 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:49,680 Now Estuan was saying steps that we should take to be like King 324 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:52,840 Jeho Josiah. Right now. 325 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:54,800 I'm going to give y'all things what y'all should do that 326 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,800 Rehoboam should've so we don't turn out like him. 327 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,960 Four things. Number one, seek God first. 328 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:07,880 Every bomb, just imagine at that time where God was actually 329 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,000 speaking to people, every bomb actually went to God and say, 330 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,680 Hey God, what should I do? This is your, this is your 331 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,320 Kingdom. Like I am just governing it. 332 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:20,600 My place is replaceable, You can change me whenever you want. 333 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:24,320 What should I do? Don't you think God would have 334 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,760 told him what to do? Don't you think if you go ask 335 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:31,560 God right now we should do with this situation or that he won't 336 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:37,960 tell you or he won't show you #2 value wise counsel. 337 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,320 As I said, we have counsel all around us. 338 00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:47,560 If it's in the Bible with God, our pastors, our friends who are 339 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:51,840 spiritual and well LED. I ask for dumb counsel all the 340 00:20:51,840 --> 00:21:00,920 time and they give me man, but I can ask Pastor Gaddis, my father 341 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:06,040 who's a pastor, Brother Andrew, Albert, and even them because I 342 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:09,240 know their heart is in the correct place and they give me 343 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,000 good counsel. I'm not going to go ask friends 344 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,920 that I had in high school who are now drinking or now in bad 345 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,680 things or now doing things that I shouldn't even be doing. 346 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:19,880 Hey, what should I do with this? No value. 347 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:24,600 The wise counter you have. When I was a kid, my dad, he 348 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:28,040 would always Take Me Out to not dinner, to breakfast with him. 349 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:33,640 And he would go with the men of the church, all white hair, just 350 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:36,520 old. And every single time, right 351 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:40,600 before, right before we go into that diner or Denny's where we 352 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,720 usually went, he would tell me to listen to what they had to 353 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:45,840 say. Those white hairs aren't there 354 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:53,120 for just show. That's experience right there #3 355 00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:58,360 reject pride quickly. Instead of proving to yourself 356 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:02,040 and to others, humble yourself, your servant. 357 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:06,720 If Jesus, who being, let's say, at the top of the food chain, 358 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:13,200 came down to earth and washed the feet of the disciples, how 359 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:15,920 much humbler do we have to be as Christians? 360 00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:23,120 Think about that. And the last point, be 361 00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:26,640 teachable. You do not know everything. 362 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,480 We have someone who does. We can ask them. 363 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,040 We can ask him. We can read his word. 364 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,680 But you don't know everything. You can learn for sure. 365 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:43,000 Yeah, It's no harm in learning. But once you start rejecting 366 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,600 like, oh, no, I don't need that. I don't need this. 367 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:47,520 I know what you're talking about. 368 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:50,040 I know what I have to do. You're going to fall. 369 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,640 You're going to do something that was wrong. 370 00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:58,920 I've been there. Be teachable. 371 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,400 The quicker we realize that we don't know everything, the 372 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,960 better we can use and better we serve others. 373 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:08,560 We're just servants. You have to go through this 374 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:14,800 world, teach people when the Christ and we don't know what 375 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,280 they're going through. Sure, learn a little. 376 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:25,080 Listen, the only thing if y'all didn't pay attention to the 377 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:27,680 whole measure, the only thing I want y'all to hear and think 378 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,200 about for the OR that stays in your mind. 379 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:36,360 Be teachable. We're not God, obviously. 380 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,240 We don't even try to be like and we know what's something we 381 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:46,040 can't reach. But learn, learn how to do this. 382 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:52,560 Seek wise counsel. Seek God first and trust me, I'm 383 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:55,800 sure He's going to give you the answer so just put your feet in 384 00:23:55,800 --> 00:24:00,200 Him, seek Him and try to be better. 385 00:24:05,750 --> 00:24:07,590 Well, good evening, brothers and sisters. 386 00:24:07,750 --> 00:24:12,590 What a blessing to be here. My name is Isaac Alvarez. 387 00:24:12,750 --> 00:24:14,510 I'm from Harlem. Well, I'm from Mexico. 388 00:24:14,510 --> 00:24:16,830 My home is in Mexico. My home church is in Mexico. 389 00:24:17,190 --> 00:24:19,710 My dad is pastoring there for the last couple of years. 390 00:24:19,990 --> 00:24:24,240 And I met, I was going to say Chucky, but I met Charles like 391 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:26,960 almost two years ago in Harlan. And it's been a blessing and 392 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,080 it's been a blessing and it's a blessing to be here tonight. 393 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:31,320 Now let's go to our Bibles. We don't have much time, so 394 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,280 let's go to our Bibles. Book of Psalms, the Book of 395 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:38,440 Psalms, chapter 48. And we're only going to read one 396 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:43,280 verse tonight, Psalm 48, verse 14. 397 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:49,040 The Bible says for this God is our God forever and ever. 398 00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:52,320 He will be our guide even unto death. 399 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:55,920 Let's pray real quick. Heavenly Father, thank you for 400 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:57,080 this day. Thank you for your many 401 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:00,120 blessings. Lord, I need your help. 402 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:03,920 Please use me. Speak to us tonight, be with us, 403 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:10,040 give us a good time and just use me as I praise what you put, 404 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,240 what you have put in my heart. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. 405 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,400 You know, the whole Bible is very important, but there are 406 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,720 sometimes when you read your Bible and you read a verse and 407 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,920 it's like, man, what a verse, you know, like wow, You're like 408 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,720 wow. And when I was reading this 409 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,000 verse last year, that's what happened to me. 410 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,640 I was like, wow, what a verse, you know, let me read it one 411 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:35,960 more time. For for this God is our God 412 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:39,480 forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto 413 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,720 death. This is a sum that the sons of 414 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,440 Korah wrote many years ago. They were the people in charge 415 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,960 of the adoration, the music in the example, the the praise to 416 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,800 God. And they are writing here some a 417 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:55,800 chapter, you know, just to praise God, to glorify God for 418 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:57,840 the for his greatness, for his wonders. 419 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:00,680 And so this is the last verse of the chapter. 420 00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,240 And they're saying for this God is our God, you know? 421 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:08,800 What I'm going to say. Next is honestly something that 422 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:12,720 we all know, but sometimes we need to be reminded of who our 423 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:16,080 God, who our God is. They were writing this for this 424 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:17,360 guy. Obviously they were talking 425 00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:21,080 about the God of Israel, right? The God of Israel, the God who 426 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,600 created everything, the God who we can see in Genesis, who 427 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,720 created everything, who in chapter 12 of Genesis called 428 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:32,160 Abraham and made a covenant with him, the God of Abraham, Isaac 429 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:36,400 and Jacob, the God who later became the God of Israel. 430 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:41,680 And that God, they're saying for this God is our God, you know, 431 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:45,120 and, and obviously we know that hundreds of years after this, 432 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,920 after they wrote this, that he came as a baby to die and to 433 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:53,120 save us for the for this God is our God. 434 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:55,800 Like I said before, sometimes we just need to, we just need to be 435 00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:01,400 reminded of who our God is. Because honestly, people today, 436 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:04,880 and I'm going to give the title now before I forget, if you, if 437 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:07,200 you see me looking at my phone, I'm don't worry, I'm not 438 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,440 watching a movie. I'm just, I'm just looking at my 439 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:12,280 notes, OK, I'm just looking at my notes. 440 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:17,760 And the title is very simple. The hope we have in him, the 441 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:20,720 hope we have in him. You know, people today, they 442 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,240 live without hope. People today they just live for 443 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:26,000 this life. They just live for, for their, 444 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:30,720 for their jobs, for money, for, I don't know, whatever things 445 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,640 are, they live for this life. And when this life is over, it's 446 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:36,680 over. But we as Christians, we know 447 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:38,400 that we have hope, that we have hope. 448 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,800 And it's not because of us, but it's because of him. 449 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:44,720 That's right. And so they start by saying this 450 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:46,720 first for this God, for this God is our God. 451 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:52,240 And we need to remember who our God is because you know, this 452 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:57,280 word is full of false religions, full of false gods. 453 00:27:57,360 --> 00:28:01,960 People is just going behind before these gods that are not 454 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:04,560 even real. But we have the the real and the 455 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:08,600 truly God of Israel, the guy who created everything, who created 456 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,920 us and who saved us. And we have a real God and we 457 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:16,000 can we can trust him and we must be thankful and we must remember 458 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,520 this everyday and have this in mind because we have a real God 459 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:24,680 who is aware of us. He knows us and and then it says 460 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,280 forever the for these gods are God forever and ever. 461 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:29,920 You know, we have an eternal God. 462 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,760 We have a God that has been there since before creation. 463 00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:36,120 We don't know all the details we can. 464 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:41,040 We don't really can't comprehend it all these because our minds 465 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,800 are so limited, but we know that he's been there since ever and 466 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:48,400 he'll be there forever and we have an eternal God. 467 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:57,040 You know that once he, once he's your God, I want to say this, 468 00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,160 he'll be your God forever. Now, how can he become our God? 469 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:03,240 Well, we know that through salvation we can accept him in 470 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,320 our heart, in our lives, and he becomes our God, our God. 471 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:10,040 And once he's your God, honestly, he will be your God 472 00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:11,880 forever because he's an eternal God. 473 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,080 That's the idea of salvation. Salvation. 474 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,560 We don't do salvation. Salvation is forever. 475 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:19,640 And we know that we have a God that he'll that that is going to 476 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:24,360 be our God forever. And I love the last. 477 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:27,920 Phrase of the verse He will be our guide even unto death. 478 00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,960 We know that when the Bible talks about something that is 479 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:33,760 eternal, something that is forever, he's not talking just 480 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,280 about this life. We know that when the Bible 481 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:41,200 talks about something that is eternal, he's talking even, you 482 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,360 know, when it comes to what happens after this life, because 483 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:46,520 we know that one day we're we are going to die. 484 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:50,720 We all are going to physically die, but our souls are going to 485 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:54,560 go to 1 of to one or two places. And if you're saved by the grace 486 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:56,560 of God, we know that we're going to heaven. 487 00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:59,920 And so he. Will lead us you. 488 00:29:59,920 --> 00:30:03,280 Know this last, this last phrase, He will be our guide 489 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:05,800 even unto death. It makes me think it makes me 490 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:09,880 think we live in a world that is like full of confusion. 491 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:14,840 You know, people is just trying to to to find what to do, trying 492 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:19,200 to find the guide, trying to find a religion, a church, some 493 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:22,600 religious leader that can guide them and they're trying to find 494 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:27,960 something to follow. But we know that we have the 495 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:33,440 real God and what I hope is or issue be for us to know that God 496 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:35,760 is our guide and he promised here. 497 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:40,400 We know that here are the sons of chorus speaking, but we know 498 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,040 that. We know for His word. 499 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:49,360 That he promised us to be our God in our in our guide in our 500 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:51,960 lives. So this is not just an issue 501 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:55,320 about this life, but this is even about after this life 502 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:58,880 because we know that the death is not the end. 503 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:03,560 We know that after this life he will even continue being our 504 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:05,400 God. And this is something to be 505 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:07,640 thankful for. This is something that we are, 506 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,640 that we need to remember everything, something that we 507 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:15,400 really are not to forget never, because this is a blessing. 508 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:17,240 And this as Christians, this is our hope. 509 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,200 You know, like I said before, people today is without hope. 510 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:23,920 They live without hope. And we have this hope. 511 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:26,520 We are nothing. We don't really deserve this. 512 00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:29,520 We don't really. We are just simple human beings, 513 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:32,960 simple human beings. But we have a great God that, 514 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:36,920 that is eternal and that, and that is going to be our God 515 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,360 forever. And just real quick, I think 516 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:45,000 there are two things that we should do after, after, you 517 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:49,040 know, after reading this verse #1 we must be, like I said 518 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:53,760 before, we must be thankful. We must be thankful because we 519 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:55,360 don't, we don't really deserve this. 520 00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,480 We don't really deserve God. What we deserve, the Bible says, 521 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:01,160 is we just deserve to die because of our sins. 522 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,880 We deserve hell. But God is so merciful, He saved 523 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,760 us and he became our God. So we must be thankful. 524 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:13,360 We must be thankful and, and we must be thankful for his 525 00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:17,440 direction, for his guidance in our lives, even for the whole 526 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:22,600 eternity, right? And #2 I think we must share 527 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:26,880 this beautiful message with other people because it's like 528 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,880 if someone was, it's like a person that is sick and he's 529 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:33,280 trying to find the, the, the medicine, the cure. 530 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:36,040 And we have the cure. We have the medicine that that 531 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:39,680 is God himself. And we, we can't be the selfish 532 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:41,600 that we won't share this with other people. 533 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:44,240 We have the real God. And people, like I said before, 534 00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:48,680 are trying to find their, their, their guidance, their God in 535 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,960 false religions, in the other churches, maybe, I don't know, 536 00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:56,960 but they're whatever they can. Anything can be an idol, an idol 537 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:00,800 and they're trying to find other God in those things. 538 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:04,000 But we have, we either have the real God that truly God, we must 539 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:07,600 share this, this beautiful message with other people. 540 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:11,000 We, we must share this hope with other people because this is 541 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,720 something that we are, this is what we are supposed to do. 542 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:17,000 That's why that's why God saved us to share this with other 543 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,360 people and and to bring people to to him. 544 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:22,560 Amen. So I know it's something very 545 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:25,640 simple, but I do want to remind you and I just want to make like 546 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:28,080 a reminder for you. Just Remember, Remember who your 547 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,960 God is and you know, if you're not safe, well, make sure that 548 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:34,920 you're safe because this life is, this life is going to end 549 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:36,960 one day. We don't know when, but he wants 550 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,120 to be your guide. And if he's your guide, well, be 551 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,520 thankful and share it with other people. 552 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:48,760 Amen. All righty well. 553 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,160 Man, I'm glad we're not competing here. 554 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:53,840 Amen. Yeah, these guys. 555 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:55,520 Are good. Well, my name is Charles. 556 00:33:56,200 --> 00:34:00,000 Do I say it faster? All right, also, Chuck, you guys 557 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,600 know me by, but I'm thankful to be here all the time. 558 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,600 It's such a blessing. It's so sorry about yes, Sir, 559 00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:07,640 and so such a blessing to be here. 560 00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:11,040 But I want to take your Bibles and let's open up to the 561 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:13,679 beginning Genesis. We're going to be in Genesis 562 00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:19,159 chapter 12 Justice chapter 12. I've restarted my Bible reading 563 00:34:19,159 --> 00:34:23,520 since it's a new year and I was in the book of Mark, but I 564 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:26,920 wanted to wanted to jump back from the beginning. 565 00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:28,520 And so I'm thankful for God's Word. 566 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:31,159 It changes lives and it's changed all of our lives. 567 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:33,520 And so I'm very thankful for that. 568 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:39,880 So Genesis 12, just before Genesis 12 arrives, we see Tara, 569 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:45,239 Abraham's father, is taking Abram, excuse me, Abram, Sarah 570 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:49,360 and Lot, and to this land of earth from this land of Ur, and 571 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:51,520 he's taking them into the land of Canaan. 572 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:56,639 And so we jump into verse, or excuse me, verse 1, chapter 12. 573 00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:01,320 And the Bible says, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee 574 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:05,400 out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's 575 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:07,640 house into a land, that I will show thee. 576 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:11,560 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, 577 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,800 and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. 578 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:18,280 And I'll bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth 579 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:20,760 thee. And in thee shall all families 580 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:24,360 of the earth be blessed. So a great promise that the Lord 581 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:28,040 is making to Abram right here, and continues on. 582 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:32,360 And verse 4 says, So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken 583 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:37,080 unto him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was 70 and five years 584 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:39,480 old when he departed out of Heron. 585 00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:43,640 And Abram took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and 586 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:46,760 all their substance that they had gathered, and all the souls 587 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:52,640 that they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into 588 00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,200 the land of Canaan. And into the land of Canaan they 589 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,440 came. And Abram passed through the 590 00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:01,120 land into the place of Shicam, and to the plate the plain of 591 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,040 Moray. And the Canaanite was then in 592 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:06,400 the land. And the Lord appeared unto 593 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:07,440 Abram. Now catch this. 594 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:11,960 The Lord appeared unto Abram and said Unto thy seed, will I give 595 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:18,160 this land, and there build it. He an altar unto the Lord, who 596 00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:22,280 appeared unto him in verse 8. And he removed from thence unto 597 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,360 a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, 598 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:29,320 having Bethel on the West. And I've been trying to 599 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:34,400 pronounce this high or hey, I on the east. 600 00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:37,320 And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and he called 601 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:40,120 upon the name of the Lord. Let's pray and we'll get into 602 00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:42,800 the message. Father in heaven, thank you so 603 00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:46,800 much for this opportunity. I also thank pastor for this 604 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:50,160 opportunity as well. Lord, and I just want to preach 605 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:52,760 your word. God helping me to be sound. 606 00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:57,240 Lord, give us the words to speak tonight, Lord, as you've already 607 00:36:57,240 --> 00:37:02,000 done, Lord, so help us, Lord, as we've heard so many messages, 608 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:05,560 Lord Josiah, and so many messages about you, Lord, 609 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,280 knowing who you are and that you're our God forever as well. 610 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:11,240 And so, Lord, I just pray that you be with us, help us. 611 00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:14,840 And Lord, let us be an encouragement to these folks 612 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:22,560 today, in Jesus name, Amen. I've been starting to try to. 613 00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:26,080 Preach with my iPad. I think I'm going to go back to 614 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:29,080 handwriting because it's kind of kind of weird. 615 00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:31,880 But like I said, I'm thankful to be here. 616 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:34,480 And you know, Harlan's been a great encouragement. 617 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:37,640 So we want to, we've been trying to preach expository. 618 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:40,560 So really, really nailing the text here. 619 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:43,080 And so I want to do that. We only got a short amount of 620 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:47,480 time, so let's do that tonight. And so here, as I mentioned in 621 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:53,280 verse 31, Tara took Abram his son and as well as Sarai and 622 00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:59,560 Abram's wife and law as well. And they were from the land of 623 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:02,360 ER and now they're moving into the land of Canaan. 624 00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:05,800 And so we have this transition. So they got this journey, but 625 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:09,720 Tara eventually dies. He was 205 years old when he had 626 00:38:09,720 --> 00:38:12,560 passed away. And so now the Lord has made 627 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:16,720 mention to Abram that he is going to to bless him. 628 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:18,920 He is going to make him a great nation. 629 00:38:19,720 --> 00:38:22,880 He's going to, he's going to, he's making promises to Abram 630 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:26,040 here. And and Abram, what it says in 631 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:30,120 verse 4 is that he departed and listened to the Lord because God 632 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,560 had told him to leave everything that he had leave his land and 633 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:36,160 depart. And so that's what Abram does 634 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:38,640 and the Lord had spoken unto him. 635 00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:43,000 But if you jump down to verse 7, this is just a fascinating verse 636 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,880 that I found interesting and the devotional time. 637 00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:49,160 And it says, And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, 638 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:51,560 Unto thy seed, will I give this land? 639 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:55,600 And there buildeth he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto 640 00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:58,880 him. So we see that this altar was 641 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:01,480 Abram being. Abram was building. 642 00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:04,880 And so this altar was very significant. 643 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:10,480 It was a place of stones. He had unhewn stones on top of 644 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,880 each other, and he made that his altar. 645 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:15,920 Now the altar, it was very purposeful. 646 00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:19,520 It was very meaningful. It was a place of acknowledging 647 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:23,000 who God was. It was a place of submission, 648 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:26,080 devotion. It was a place of crying out to 649 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:29,160 the Lord, if you will. He was crying out to the Lord. 650 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:32,240 And so we see that in verse 7. But it's fascinating because he 651 00:39:32,240 --> 00:39:35,560 didn't just build an altar, He built it unto the Lord. 652 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:39,720 OK, so now let's let's get this straight, that the altar needs 653 00:39:39,720 --> 00:39:43,560 to be unto the Lord. And so I love what my brother 654 00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:45,360 Isaac said. You know, there's a lot of false 655 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:48,760 gods out there, there's a lot of religions and a lot of things 656 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,600 straying us. But our altar needs to be built 657 00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:56,000 unto the Lord. And so and so we see that not to 658 00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:00,560 false gods, not to people. I love this because it talks 659 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:04,560 about God's promises. And so he builds it because God 660 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:08,240 has been so good to him, because God has given him all the 661 00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:10,080 substance that he's gathered now. 662 00:40:10,240 --> 00:40:12,000 And so all these things that Abram has. 663 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:15,760 And look at how much you have blessed me, Lord, with all the 664 00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:19,120 promises yet. And yeah, I'm going to build an 665 00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:21,800 altar for you. And then if you jump down to 666 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:26,040 verse 8 it says and he removed from thence. 667 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:28,280 Onto a mountain on the east of Bethel. 668 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:32,120 So he's moving here and pitches having Bethel on the West. 669 00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:37,040 So Bethel is down here, and we have Heyai on the top. 670 00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:40,520 And so he's in between. And so he sees on the east. 671 00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:43,840 And there he builded an altar. OK, so he built an altar into 672 00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:46,800 the Lord, and he's building an altar into the Lord. 673 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:50,320 But notice this. And he called upon the name of 674 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,680 the Lord. So at first, he builded. 675 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:57,080 The altar because God had appeared unto him. 676 00:40:57,440 --> 00:41:00,040 But now notice how how the wording has changed here, how 677 00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,720 he's building an altar, but he's calling upon the Lord. 678 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:08,320 And so not only was there a physical work being done, but 679 00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:10,800 there was a spiritual work. The physical work was that he 680 00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:14,000 was building this altar. He was serving the Lord, He was 681 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:17,640 working for the Lord. He was heavy in heavy labor for 682 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:21,360 the Lord building this altar. But notice the spiritual side of 683 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:27,000 things that he called upon the Lord as as work being done for 684 00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:29,560 him. So physically Abram built an 685 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:32,920 altar using his hands, hard labor, manual service the Lord, 686 00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,200 and effort to do what pleases the Lord. 687 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:38,800 And spiritually we see that Abram used this altar he built 688 00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:40,680 to call upon the name of his God. 689 00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:44,640 This was a spiritual sacrifice with which God is well pleased, 690 00:41:45,080 --> 00:41:48,000 built an altar for himself to meet God. 691 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:52,840 I love this altar. I love I love when pastor comes 692 00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:56,920 and he says at the end where he says, come, come to the altar, 693 00:41:56,920 --> 00:42:01,040 right, That invitation come, come, meet God and go speak to 694 00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:02,480 him. Go commune with him. 695 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:05,520 I think, I think as Christians we can take that for granted and 696 00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:07,760 I'm just going to raise my hand and I take it for granted at 697 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:10,920 times, I think I think the altar is a place of significance. 698 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:14,040 I think there's, I think there's great power when you come down 699 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:17,480 and kneel at the altar and meet God right where you are, right 700 00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:19,520 where you needed, where where you need to be. 701 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:21,920 And I think there's just great power in that. 702 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,400 And I think we can make our altars, our chairs. 703 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:27,560 I think we can make our altars maybe kneeling down at the 704 00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:30,920 bedside or, or I think you can make your altar wherever you 705 00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:33,680 want to make your altar. And so we see that Abram built 706 00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:37,920 his his altar unto the Lord and he goes again in verse 8 and he 707 00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:41,760 builds an altar until the Lord and we see that that physical 708 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:44,200 side where he's building it, but also calling it to the Lord 709 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:47,120 spiritually. And so and then we drop down to 710 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:52,320 chapter 13. If you would turn there with me, 711 00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:54,880 we're just going to read a little bit more. 712 00:42:55,240 --> 00:42:58,400 And I think this is where I want to, I want to park because I 713 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:02,520 think this is very, very helpful for us and. 714 00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:06,560 It says in chapter 13. Verse 1 And Abram went up out of 715 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:11,280 Egypt, he and his wife in all that he had, and Lot with him 716 00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:14,240 into the South. And Abram was very rich in 717 00:43:14,240 --> 00:43:19,000 cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from 718 00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,560 the South, even to Bethel, until the place where his tent had 719 00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:26,560 been at the beginning between Bethel and Hei to the place of 720 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:28,520 the altar which he had made there. 721 00:43:28,520 --> 00:43:32,280 At the first there Abram called on the name of the Lord. 722 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:37,200 And we'll read verse 5 as well. And Lot also, which went with 723 00:43:37,240 --> 00:43:39,720 Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. 724 00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:44,760 Now I noticed this is pretty fascinating that Abram went out 725 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:50,520 of Egypt here himself and his wife, and he also had Lot with 726 00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:54,840 them and he was bringing them to this place where he had already 727 00:43:54,840 --> 00:44:00,000 made his altar. And so it's fascinating because 728 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:05,080 he brought him, he he. So Abram had brought Sarai, his 729 00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:11,800 wife, and Lot as well to the altar, but the Bible never says 730 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:16,040 that they went to the altar and. We've got to read the context. 731 00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:19,880 Here because it's fascinating, because he brought them to the 732 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:24,040 place, but they never went with them, never went to the altar 733 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:26,120 with them. When you build your altar, be 734 00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:31,160 sure to bring people with you. And so we see that Abram is 735 00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:35,160 bringing Abram, is bringing Sarai and Lot with them. 736 00:44:36,040 --> 00:44:40,280 But the text never mentions that Sarai and Lot partook and going 737 00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:43,600 to the altar, but it does say that he brought them along. 738 00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:47,040 And I think it's fascinating because sometimes we bring 739 00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:50,920 people to church, sometimes we tell people about the gospel, 740 00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:54,440 Sometimes we try to just be encouragement while we're on 741 00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:57,320 this journey where we're trying to just do so much, trying to 742 00:44:57,320 --> 00:45:01,080 serve the Lord in so many ways and a different avenues and such 743 00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:02,720 as that. But there's people that just 744 00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:06,440 don't want to go. There's people that don't want 745 00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:08,960 to go to the altar with you, maybe to pray. 746 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:12,120 There's people that maybe you invite to church and they don't 747 00:45:12,120 --> 00:45:14,400 come right? And it can be discouraging, but 748 00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,160 notice how Abram went to the altar. 749 00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:21,440 Abram still, Abram still chose to go to the altar that he built 750 00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:25,280 so he can commune with God, so he can devote himself, submit 751 00:45:25,280 --> 00:45:29,520 himself, just spend time with God and just draw close to God. 752 00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:33,120 And it's fascinating because anything, anything that Abram 753 00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:36,960 did, I mean, God, God blessed him in so many ways, all the 754 00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:41,080 promises he made. And yet Abram still chose to go 755 00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:43,840 to God, right? Regardless of what the people's 756 00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,200 response was, he still chose to go with God. 757 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:53,160 And I think, as you know, we wrap up here, I just believe 758 00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:58,240 that, you know, we need to make this altar a place that we go to 759 00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:03,360 that it's not just here, you know, like Abram made a stack of 760 00:46:03,360 --> 00:46:06,600 stones. This is, you know, you could say 761 00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:08,440 it looks like a step, but it's an altar. 762 00:46:08,960 --> 00:46:10,840 It's an altar. It's a place where we can meet 763 00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:13,200 with God and we can come and we can commune with them. 764 00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:18,280 You know, if it's at your house or wherever at your seat, we can 765 00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:22,640 make this place an altar. And so let's be encouraged today 766 00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:25,160 because there's a lot of churches out there that don't 767 00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:27,800 have altars. There's a lot of churches that 768 00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:32,600 have almost abused God's grace and have made light shows and 769 00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:35,640 made sound speakers up here and all this. 770 00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:39,560 I mean, so many. It's so unbiblical. 771 00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:43,760 But yet Abram made an altar and he used it. 772 00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:47,520 And I think as Christians, as believers, we ought to use the 773 00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:52,320 altar and so be encouraged today to just pray to God and commune 774 00:46:52,320 --> 00:46:54,560 to him because there's purpose to the altar. 775 00:46:55,800 --> 00:46:57,840 Thank you for listening to the sermon from the. 776 00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:01,320 Pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church If this message was a blessing 777 00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:04,800 to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us 778 00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:09,400 know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org. 779 00:47:09,680 --> 00:47:14,240 Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton, 780 00:47:14,240 --> 00:47:17,040 MA. May the Lord bless you as you 781 00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:18,240 grow in His Word.