Youth Camp Message #4 (Brazen Sheilds)
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Text: 1 Kings 14:25-28
Illustration: The gold rush of 1849 spurred some 24000 people to migrate to California. Within the 6 years of mining that is attributed to that period, some 14 billion dollars worth of gold in 2006 economic standards was extracted from the area. People were happening upon economic freedom through natural resources. Then the resources were depleted and time went on.
Then came the cruel joke. A mineral called pyrite was discovered, which is of no value by economic standards. Yet, many people wasted time and effort in its pursuit.
There are young people today that are spending a life time pursuing fools Gold.
Solomon started off well. Smart man, and under him the nation prospered financially. Having said that, doing well financially often leads us away from God, and causes us to forget that He is the reason for living. But for a time, Solomon was a good king. And he loved all things beautiful. He spent 7 years building the Temple of God, and another 13 years building his palace.
Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold, Beside that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffick of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country. And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target. And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
So, Solomon made 200 large shields, about 7½ pounds of gold in each, and 300 small shields, each about 3¾ pounds of pure gold. That is a LOT of gold.
It's been estimated that the shields would total over $45 million. And that's just the price of the gold, let alone paying the craftsmen to create such masterpieces. Close to $45 million in armour for the Israelite army, just for when they were standing guard in the palace.
The most expensive lambo is 5million dollars. You could buy 5 lamborghinis with the price of these shields.
When Solomon died, the nation had a civil war, with the northern tribes called Israel taking a fellow named Jeroboam as king, and the southern tribes (called Judah) taking Solomon's son Rehoboam as king.
Rehoboam was a wicked king. Rehoboam was the “my son” mentioned in the Book of Proverbs. Sadly, he didn't care to follow the instructions found in side and he became a fool.
• He allowed idol worship in the land,
• He set up Temple prostitution,
• He walked away from God as the Ruler
King Shishak of Egypt decided to invade the land of Israel and Judah, part of God allowing sin to take its toll. Let me read to you from
And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.
All those shields, $45 million worth, now gone. But Rehoboam, wanting to keep up appearances, decided to have new shields made. Except now, he couldn't afford gold, as his father had. He had the new shields made of bronze.
The total value of the shields went from costing $45 million to just over $6500. We can almost picture King Rehoboam walking through the hall of these shields in his palace, assuring himself that there really wasn't much of a difference between gold shields and bronze shields. Despite his attempts at self-assurance, this was really a sad attempt to simply keep up former appearances.
The Golden Shields are Designed to…
• Intimidate the wicked they weren't built to fit in… They were always meant to be different than the world around them.
• Glorify God who blesses. the Israelites were meant to be blessed by God, and it would show the world how good God is.
• Represent the greatness of the Kingdom Those shields weren't about Solomon they were about the greatness of the Kingdom of God.
The Brass Shields were Designed to… • Be a Counterfeit They aren't what they seem. They are fake they know they're fake. They don't have the same material they don't have composition. There wasn't even a close comparison.
• Be a Poor Copy This was an issue of settling. After being emptied of their treasure house They were out of money. They had no more of the blessings of God to build with.
• Look Good from a Distance You can't get too close to the brass. Up on the Wall they shine in the sun. When they are being held on a high day by the guards in the sun they sure are shiny. But the closer you get the uglier they seem.
The World gets young people to settle for less than Gold by. 1. Giving up their Distinction… Young person this is the entire attack of the world. They want you to forfeit your distinction. They want you to give up what is different about you.
You are Holy You are clean from sin You are pure You are a Child of God.
The world wants you to abandon all of this for a substitute of your own making.
“You want to have sex before marriage sure trade in your purity.” “You want to listen to our music great trade in your mind of Christ.” “You want to look at Pornography absolutely give up that pesky prayer life.” “You want the thrill of a party sure but you'll have to give us a little of God's perfect plan in exchange.”
Illustration: The hunter and the bear…
The world is after what makes you great.
2. Give up their Leadership… Why didn't Rehoboam run to God the moment he saw the Egyptians coming? I hope that is what I would do. But you see Rehoboam had it all figured out.
Consider this for a moment. Egypt served a bunch of false God's they worshiped lost of different rocks.
Rehoboam worshiped a Rock. One rock is not a lot different than a bunch of rocks. So he and Pharaoh had the same influences in their lives. False ones. Sadly, Rehoboam had access to the Holy God of Israel. If he had only turned to him.
You know that the world doesn't mind if you
• Follow your conscience. • Follow your gut. • Follow your feelings. • Follow your emotions. • Follow your friends.
They're cool with that. Just so long as you don't follow the Bible. They want you dependent on the same leadership they are following.
3. Give up their Treasure…
You know that the people of Israel began as Slaves in the land of Egypt. When Moses finished with the false Idols of Egypt the people of Egypt gave them gold rings bracelets, necklaces, they gave them silver and jewels. They were giving them a wealth of precious metals.
• Now Egypt was walking out of Israel with a Treasure. The world wants to leave you with nothing.
• They will take your time so that you have none to serve God.
• They will take your energy so that you get comfortable sitting in church.
• They will take your money so that you have to watch the offering plate slip by.
You see what the world really wants to take from you is your relationship with God.
So you see the sad, sad tale of Rehoboam's gold shields? Is that how he got here was that he traded something of far greater value. Their God…
They abandoned their God because they no longer wanted to follow him Obediently. Rehoboam's problems began when he turned down the commands of God.
There are many teens that are content being the fake copy of a Christian.
Disobedience will always leave you with a Cut rate life.
• A Cheap Joy
• A Cheap Love
• A Cheap Peace
• A Cheap Goodness