A Home to Come Back To Part 2
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Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel.
And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin:
For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.
Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab.
And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.
Introduction.
Introduction.
(Last week) Nice and Happy home
Why would Ahaziah choose to go to a different God than the God of Israel for healing?
Elijah is in the land, Ahab and Jezebel have died, fulfilling prophecy, and yet Ahaziah doesn’t go to the Message for healing, he turns to the god Baal-zebub. Bro. Branham gives us an insight:
Now, we find out that this Ahaziah was the son of Ahab and Jezebel, he had come out of a cursed family. And when you take a family that’s raising their children in the wrong atmosphere, you can’t hardly expect anything else. 62-0622E - Why?
The atmosphere of your home is the conditions you create by your words and actions.
It’s a strange thing that a man that’s supposed to be an Israelite would consult such as that, instead of going back to the very God that brought them over into that land and give it to them. Because he was trying to follow the trend of the day, and after his father and mother. 62-0622E - Why?
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 1
Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron The name Baal-zebub literally means “lord of flies.”
This had tragic consequences for His life.
But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?
Now therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.
What kind of atmosphere was in Ahaziah’s home?
1. His home life was the result of a mixed marriage between a heathen and a backslidden Israelite.
And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
Ahab was a borderline believer.
Ahaziah was the son of Ahab, had been brought up in the kind of a home that was a lukewarm home. It wasn’t altogether Christian. His mother was a heathen. And his father had married out of fellowship, married a woman that was not a believer.
And that always makes a bad home for any kid to be raised in, that when unbelief and faith tries to mix together.
And, now, if the father would have been a real strong man in his faith, the child might have had a better opportunity, but he didn’t. He didn’t have. He knew that there was God. He knew that there was a Jehovah.
And then he…his mother’s gods, and so forth. He was all confused. Then after the death of his father, this boy in this condition, kind of a mixed up, one way and another.
And if that ain’t a picture of the lands today! One in the family is this a way, and one another, and one going this way and one going that way. No wonder we are producing so much juvenile delinquency, and all other kinds of stuff, under the name of Christianity. It’s because there is no unity. There is no real call out, and stand for God. 63-0626 - Why?
And Ahab was a borderline believer, just a fellow that believed enough to make him miserable. Did you ever see people like that? Well, they have conception that they would like to go to church, and do right; they feel like it’d make them a better social person in their social lives.
And maybe for the sake of their children, they think they ought to, maybe, belong to church. If that isn’t the most miserable person I know of. I tell you; that the best of cut loose all shore lines and launch out into the deep, or don’t go at all.
Just simply stay home, or either go all the way for Christ. God wants somebody who will really go all the way, give all you got, soul, body, and spirit to the service of the Lord.
Now, this borderline believer, as I called him a few moments ago, oh, he kindy had a mental conception of his theology, that he thought, “Well, there is a God, but maybe Baalim is god too, and the others is so forth.” And his wife kindy got him mixed up in that.
You know, boys, I’m telling you tonight, and you young ladies, be careful who you marry; you’ll have a broken home the first thing you know. And it’s not good to—sinners and Christians to marry together. Don’t be unequally yoked together, ’cause that’s what got Ahab. 55-0228 - Separation From Unbelief
(In the Message we seem to be obsessed with how courtship and dating should be, but Bro. Branham is more focused on who, not how.)
A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: But she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.
Ahab’s lack of conviction made him blame the prophet Elijah for all his problems.
And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim.
The problem is not the Doctor or Medicine it’s that you have never taken it.
So is it today, men and women will set in the church, in the church pew, and hear the unadulterated Gospel, and the power of the Holy Ghost, and see the manifestations and the demonstrations of His Spirit, of a living, resurrected Christ, and die in sin, setting in the church pew.
Not because there’s no balm, not because there’s no physician, but it’s because the people are too stubborn to take the medicine, trying to find the least way of resistance, going the way of the world, perishing in the gainsaying of Korah. 62-0622E - Why?
Many folks blame the Message, but they never listened to it or lived it.
2. His Father was not the one who set the Atmosphere for the Home.
There’s a reason God’s order is set up the way it is.
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword.
Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to morrow about this time.
Don’t look to the culture for gender roles in the family, look to the Word.
Thyatira means “dominating female”. (This was the Catholic Church)
They suffered “That woman Jezebel”
Now a woman is not meant to have an iron disposition. CAB 06 - Thyatirean
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
This includes Social Media.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Paul takes it back to God’s design. She was created to be a help-meet.
You can’t feel sorry for Ahab. He wanted to be told what to do, or he wouldn’t have married her. This is who he was.
3. His Home was full of Self Pity and Jealousy.
Naboth’s Vineyard
And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?
And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard.
And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.
She falsely accused Naboth and had him killed. Ahab paid dearly for that vineyard. Be careful what you covet.
Ahaziah was raised in that gloomy, covetous, jealous atmosphere, and he went after other gods.
No wonder Ahaziah sought another god. He had no home to go back to.
Not all homes are ran scripturally. Sometimes another individual can step in and provide the kind of atmosphere a child needs. (Grandmother, Aunt)
Ahab and Jezebel have two sons that became kings, Ahaziah and Joram, and a daughter who becomes a queen. The details are confusing so we’ll hit the high points.
There’s a king in Judah named Jehoram, who marries Ahab’s daughter.
And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.
He dies, his son becomes king, (also named Ahaziah) and he dies.
And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal.
But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.
And he was with her hid in the house of the Lord six years. And Athaliah did reign over the land.
After the overthrow of Athaliah Joash reigns. What kind of king will he be?
And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
Being raised in the House of the Lord made all the difference.
The prodigal son was raised the same way.
This young son’s feeling the same way, he said, “Mother, I don’t want no more to do with this family. All you do is go to church. That’s all I hear.” 50-0827A - Prodigal
Going to church created a memory for him to go back to.
One of the very best things you can do for your children is attend church faithfully. You want to destroy your children spiritually? Take them out of church.
We believe that every Christian ought to have a home church that they go to. Every Christian ought to meet somewhere with believers. And wherever you meet, that’s the church. 64-0321E - The Voice Of The Sign
Not just any church.
“Just because a church is large doesn’t mean it’s healthy. It could be swollen.” – Charles Spurgeon
Now, you must pray over the church that you are fellowshipping in. Remember, churches carry a spirit.
But, you go into a church, and if you’ll watch the behavior of that church, you just watch the pastor awhile, and you’ll usually find that the church acts like the pastor.
Sometimes, I wonder if we just don’t get one another’s spirit in the stead of the Holy Spirit. You get to a place where a pastor is real radical and carrying on, you’ll find out the congregation is the same way.
I’ll bring you to a church where I see the pastor stand, jerk their heads back and forth. You watch the congregation, they do the same thing. You take a pastor, just gulp down anything, usually the church will do the same thing.
So, if I was choosing a church, I’d choose a genuine, fundamental, Full Gospel, Bible church, if I was choosing one to put my family in. 65-0429E - The Choosing Of A Bride
When you find that church, go.
“Do not go where it is all fine music, grand talk and beautiful architecture. Go where the gospel is preached. And go often.” – Charles Spurgeon
So is it. I’ve watched many times, the wolf after the deer. And if he can catch a little deer out to itself, that’s the one they work on. There’s a lesson. If he can catch a deer away from the herd, then that’s what the devil wants to do.
So to you, young ladies, he wants you to go out with a boy that’s not a Christian. To you, young men, he wants you to go out with some little painted Jezebel that’s not a Christian. That’s where he wants to break you up. That’s where he wants to sock his teeth into you.
And this little deer will get out to itself, away from the herd. That’s the one the wolf works on. And to you, old man or woman, when you separate yourself from believers…People say, “I can stay at home, be just as good a Christian as I can at church.” You can’t.
The Bible said, “Not forsake our assemble ourselves together, and that much more as we see the time coming.”
If you’re a Christian, you long to go where other Christians are, and fellowship with other Christians. So you cannot stay away from church and live the same life. You can’t do it, because it’s like, “I’m hungry, but I’ll never go to a table. I just…I’ll never eat. I just—I ain’t going to do it.” See? You’ve got to go and feed on the Word of God, and fellowship one with another.
(Some people say that’s changed. We can watch online, listen to tapes, etc.)
We need one another more now than we ever did need each other, is now. When you get yourself singled out from the rest of them making yourself just a little different, you don’t want to associate with them because they believe this, and don’t want to associate with that, you’re getting on dangerous ground, right then, keeping away from church.
Find the one of your choice, and remain there, and be a Christian brother to all of them. That’s the way to be a real Christian. Then we’ve got fellowship, protection; people love you and pray for you. That’s the success of my meetings, is because real godly people pray for me. 60-0304 - Thirsting For Life
(If you pray and decide to go somewhere else, God Bless You. Just watch your motives, make sure they are right, or the devil will use that separation to destroy you.)
If you don’t eat, the reason why you don’t eat doesn’t matter, you’re still going to lose weight. It doesn’t matter why you don’t come to church regularly, you will still backslide.
I know that each one of you, if you feel like I do, I am so hungry to see the Spirit of God moving, I just can’t hardly stand it.
Some experiences I’ve just had up in the mountain, just to feel that once again, that Something that when I was first saved was so glorious to my heart! And we can come into a place, we can sit and we see it among us, that we are drying.
As we sit here in the desert, I get among my brethren, they talk with me and I talk with them; always, in a little way of watching, feeling out there with the Spirit, as it was, to see just the condition of that brother, to see what’s wrong.
I begin to feel us all reclining, getting away from the Spirit. It’s become too natural a thing to us. We must worship in the Spirit, where the Spirit of God…Not only our Message should be the flame of the hour, it should be the flame in our hearts.
It’s got to be in our hearts, or we can’t rightly present It to the people. The Spirit has to pack the Message, Itself. And I’m trusting and believing in every one of you, to be a real Christian.
Our young people just ride around, from place to place, from show to show, and drifting further and further away from God. Right. Now, that’s the truth.
I see it in my children, and I see myself getting to a place where not…You, you’ve got to assemble ourselves together, to worship God; the Bible said so, “When we see this day approaching, that much more come together.”
If there is only two people here, you be one of them. Now that’s…And if we come together and worship together, then we just, something another about it, Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there I am in their midst.” 65-1121 - What House Will You Build Me?
Raise your children in a Bible believing church, and they will have a home to go back to. Let them be raised by pagans, and they will seek after other gods.
Bro. Darrell Ward said “I knew it was the presence of God because I had felt it when I was a child in church.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
Ahaziah was raised in a Palace, and followed Baal-zebub. Joash was raised in the house of God, and followed Jehovah.
Ahab really wasn’t such a bad guy, he just couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted to do.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.