Familiar Temptations

Last week, we talked about why the source of our direction needs to be Yahweh, the God of the BIBLE! GOD helps us build the true foundation. He is our trusted source and He wants to lead us but we have humbly accept that we have limiations.

So why do we have limitations? Some people will say we are limited because of sin.

Others will say becauase we did not we create ourselves! THE ANSWER IS YES Accrdoing to Genesis1:27-28

We are created in the image of God , and we were created to be ambassodors, we were to represent His kingdom on earth.

But we were given a choice: 1) We could choose to Follow God; to live with Him and trust His plans for us.

OR* 2) We could choose to be autonomous, free from God to live entirely for yourself. We chose the latter option. Which means there is a constant battle between choosing to live for God or living for our agendas. Everyone of us in this room and for those of you watching online has a specific temptation, that we feed into.

The temptation to sin. The inner desire to choose your way over God’s standard. The natural inclination to serve our agenda

What makes me feel good?

What makes me happy?

What gives me pleasure?

What feeds my ego?

When we give into the desire to live for ourselves, we like to think that once we get a little taste, our problems will go away. Yet in reality, we are never really satisfied, because we learn to constantly want what others have. And it fills our hearts with selfish ambition, thus creating selfish agendas to do whatever is required to get what we want.

So Today, let’s look at a person who choose his agenda and rejected God!

Life Church family and friends ,

Let us go into the Bible, and flip to the book of 1 Kings chapter 12, starting at verse 25 We are in the middle of a conflict that will lead to the fall of the kingdom of Israel. Kingdoms have kings, so last week we learned how that after King Solomon had died, his son Rehoboam became king.

Rehoboam failed to lead God’s people. So one nation became two. Some people stayed with Rehoboam, and the others chose this man, called Jeroboam to be their king! Sorry to spoil it for you, Jeroboam is about fail too Let us read why this happens. 1 Kings, chapter 12 starting at verse 25. If you are reading the Bible in our pews, the page number is 192. If you do not have a book you can read what is on the screen, We will read the first four verses....

1 Kings 12:25–29 (CSB)

Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built Penuel. Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom might now return to the house of David. If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and go back to the king of Judah.” So the king sought advice.

Then he made two golden calves, and he said to the people, “Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” He set up one in Bethel, and put the other in Dan.

V.25- The story starts off in familiar place! Shechem. Why is that important? ((Show MAP)) *Because last week, we talked about King Rehoboam being annouced king over Israel in Shechem! Like I mentioned earlier, Rehoboam failed to lead God’s people! Since he failed, the nation of Isreal started to divide.

A little Bible History for you, there were 12 tribes in Israel. 10 of the 12, left Rehoboam to be with King Jeroboam in the North, Kingdom of Israel. The 2 remaining tribes stayed with Rehoboam in the South, Kingdom of Judah! ((Now Stay with me!!)) ((Don’t Miss This)) King Jeroboam copies what Rehoboam did! He goes to Shechem and is made king! Then he starts to rebuild Shechem to be his own captial city!

From my perspective, it looks like he is doing a good job! He is making these small cities better, they are becoming bigger, which means there is more room for people to move and live there. In Jeroboam’s day, if you are living in the city there is more protection for you than to be living out in the country. It looks like he is doing a good job serving God’s people. UNTIL WE READ V.26-27 The sentence starts with JEROBORAM SAID TO HIMSELF…

“Have you ever heard anyone talking to themselves?” My wife, Kia and I have a two month old.

This past week he received his two month shots, and yes he cried all the way home. His mom cried but I did not it, I had to keep my composure. But once we got home, he was sound asleep. Kia and I were in the kitchen, I thought I heard him crying so I ran back upstairs, and he was asleep. I went to the living room and sat on the couch, and I heard it again. I asked Kia if she had heard any crying, and she said no. But she knew

I thought I was going crazy, but apparently phantom crying is

King Jeroboam was more concerned with how he looked in front of people rather than serving God!

A) Once northern kingdom was established, King Jeroboam feared that, if the people traveled to the temple in Jerusalem to worship, they would return to Rehoboam.

In order to get a better understanding of who Jeroboam is…

We have to jump to his backstory: Which is found in the chapter before this one, starting at Ch. 11: 26!

According to God’s word Before Jeroboam became king, he was strong and capable man. He worked for Rehoboam’s father King Solomon, and Solomon gave him a position to be a manager over people, Jeroboam’s job was to make sure that the people were working for the king.

Until One day, GOD sent a prophet to speak to Jeroboam

.The LORD gave Jeroboam a prophecy and a promise!! Here is the prophecy: GOD told him that the kingdom of Israel would spilt, 10 tribes will go to you, and 2 will not and become the kingdom of Judah! Here is the promise: Let me read to you,starting at verse 37

1 Kings 11:37–38 (CSB)

I will appoint you, and you will reign as king over all you want, and you will be king over Israel.

“ ‘After that, if you obey all I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight in order to keep my statutes and my commands as my servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give you Israel.

((DID YOU CATCH IT))

GOD said you will be king and I will be with you Jeroboam! I will build you a dynansty like David!

To understand the magnitude of this promise, we must hear what God promised David.

“Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16).

“For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel” (Jeremiah 33:17).

So God had given David an everlasting kingdom, there will always be a king that would rule forever!

God is extending the same offer to Jeroboam: GOD said he will make him a king, but Jeroboam has to obey GOD. Jeroboam’s boss Solomon had the kingdom taken away from him because his heart turned away from the LORD. Solomon had GOD ON HIS SIDE but chose to reject God’s commands. History repeats itself

Jeroboam HAD GOD on his side, God told Jeroboam to trust His character, His Word, His plans!

Church family let me ask you this: Do you know that God fights for you, and that He knows what is best for you?!

Even if you are do not believe there is a GOD, how do you explain the oxygen you breathe, the carbon dioxide that comes out of you that goes to the trees! How can you explain being able to wake up in the morning, not knowing that your body could have shut down at anytime. ALL IT TAKES IS ONE MOMENT, ONE MISTAKE AT THE STOPLIGHT, ONE BAD FALL, NONE OF US ARE GURANTEED TO BE HERE TOMORROW, but GOD KEEPS YOU, HE KNOWS WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU! HE FIGHTS FOR YOU even if you do not believe that He does!!

Jeroboam should have all the confidence in the world!! Because God made him king, no one else did, GOD made a promise, and kept His word ! So why did Jeroboam fear? He chose to listen to his feelings and he ignored God.

Instead of remembering God’s promise, he fed his own insecurity! Fearing that he would lose the kingdom, he choose to worry about something that was not even happening.

IN V.28 & 29

Jeroboam seeks advice, but what does he do? Builds two temples. One in the northern part of his kingdom and one in the southern part!

Temples in the OLD TESTAMENT are places where people gathered to worship. Why did he build them? HIS ANSWER IS... “Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” He hid his personal agenda under the facade of religion. He used the excuse that Jerusalem was too far, so he offered the people convenience. Instead of traveling to Jerusalem, they can stay close to home and worship images that portray God but are not Him!

Whatever advice Jeroboam received, clearly his friends did not learn alot from history class: In the past God promised to free Israel from slavery, so He brought them out the land of Egypt. God made the Egyptians give up their gold and silver to the Israelites. Once they were out of Egypt, the people decided to use the material that God gave them ,to create something that they thought was God! ECCLESIASTES 1:9 “there is nothing new under the sun.”

Jeroboam makes the same mistake: These golden calves are counterfeit solutions to Jeroboam’s problem.

His arrogrance, stubborness kept him from seeing the big picture. God gave His promise to encourage Him, to remind him that he was not alone.

We need to be reminded of that today.

Here it is… We need to know that our

Insecurities rob us from God’s security.

To be insecure means to lack confidence or trust in something or someone. Jeroboam seemed to forget, that is was God who gave him the kingdom, not people. He did nothing to earn God’s blessing, so instead of choosing to trust God, he fed into his insecurities. When Jeroboam doubted himself, he should have went to God and remember the promise that was to given to him. Then that should have filled the king’s mind and heart with peace from God, and confidence to walk with God.

If we are honest about ourselves, we tend to fill our minds with the things of this world. We like to be blessed by God, but submitting our lives to Him is a whole different story. His gifts do not replace his presence. God being there for us should give us confidence to live for Him, and to delight in obeying Him.

What are some things in your life that cause you to be insecure? For Jeroboam it was trying to please the people around Him, rather than finding confidence in God’s promise.

Maybe you start to feeling insecure about yourself when you compare your life to others around you.

Maybe you start to lack faith in God when it comes thinking about the future?

Or maybe you are dealing with the guilt and shame of your past?

Remember the story about the cup that I gave to my wife, she was not upset about the cup. She was reminding me of the promise that I made to her. My job is to help her, to show her that I am committed to raising our child. Now for any young parents or guys in the audience, take notes learn from my mistake. How would we feel if God never kept His promise ? If He never kept His word!? He would not be much help, because then He could not be trusted!! The problem has never been about God, it has always been about us! We ask God to do one thing and then when He does it, we want to see if He will do more. God can be trusted !! But we got to start listening to what God tells us to do, if not then we are treating God like a genie in a bottle rather than respecting His power and authority.

Jeroboam did not set apart time to get know the GOD of the universe! He was so fixated on the praise of people that he rejected God’s protection. It is not wrong to feel worry and doubt but we should make it a habit of giving into it, for when we do we have allowed our insecurities to rob us from the security God has for us.

We got some more to read and it gets worse so buckle up

Let’s pick up in VERSE 30!

1 Kings 12:30–31 (CSB)

This led to sin; the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan.

Jeroboam also made shrines on the high places and made priests from the ranks of the people who were not Levites.

What happens when we reject God’s promise? Rather than listening to God, Jeroboam acted on his own agenda, and this led the people in His kingdom to sin. Remember He built two temples. One in the North at the city of DAN and the other in the South at the city of BETHEL.

Jeroboam gave his followers a choice! They could go to the Northern or Southern temple...

What he did next is shocking!! V.31- He made shrines on the high places and made priests from the ranks of the people who were not Levites.

He made more places of worship than the main temples at Bethel and Dan. These high places were even more convenient for the people. He also picked random people in the kingdom, that would follow him, and he made them priests. (MHMM) - What is a priest? The priest was to be a mediator between God and the people. Like a manager that relies information from coroporate to its employees. Everybody can’t handle being a manager that’s alot of pressure. That did not matter to Jeroboam because he was trying to find people who would make him look good. So the question now, is where are all the real priests?

2 Chronicles 11:13-17

2 Chronicles 11:13–17 (CSB)

The priests and Levites from all their regions throughout Israel took their stand with Rehoboam, for the Levites left their pasturelands and their possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons refused to let them serve as priests of the Lord. Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places, the goat-demons, and the golden calves he had made. Those from every tribe of Israel who had determined in their hearts to seek the Lord their God followed the Levites to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

So Jeroboam took God’s blessing, but he rejected God’s commands, and Godly leaders. Did you hear what the priests did once Jeroboam told them no? They left their homes and all they owned to live for GOD and to lead others to God They were not going to let envoironment that they lived in, start to effect their hearts. In other words, before corruption got to them, they got out (dodge) of town. Did you catch who left with them? V. 16- READ AGIAN The 10 tribes who were in Jeroboam’s kingdom, heard that the priests were leaving and they said we out too… SEE YA JEROBOAM wouldn’t want be ya... True worship is supposed to cost us something. These people saw the desparate need for GOD so went to the only place they knew. Jerusalem was the epicenter of pursuing GOD. Because God had called Jerusalem, HIS CITY. People from all over Israel traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate GOD’S victories, to PRAISE GOD for all He had done for his people, to bring gifts to GOD, the people believed GOD HIMSELF was there... So when they had seen & heard what Jeroboam was doing they knew that it was better to be God’s presence than to dwell in darkness.

Be willing to fight the sin in your lives God’s standards are not suggestions.

Do you have chores around the house? If you answered yes then you are listening good job. Chores helps keep me humble. because they remind that there is always something to do. You need a system, a schedule in place in order to get them done. What happens if you don’t? The list starts to pile up, then your house is does not look very inviting . Next thing you know you are saying to yourself, “How did the house get like this?”

Isn’t that what sin looks like in our lives? We think everything is under control, next an old sin comes up in your , and left you’re sitting there thinking to yourself, I thought I was over this. in the New Testament , Jesus defeats sin, the power it has over us. Yet we are called to fight against it

1 Peter 2:9–10 CSB

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

If you have surrended your life to Jesus, if he is your LORD AND SAVIOR, then you are need to know this… He set you apart to live for Him, you are not a perfect people.

let me say it a different way: the church is not perfect, and nowhere near it but we are a people who are called to be determined to celebrate GOD’S victories, to bring gifts to GOD so that we can honor Him, and to PRAISE GOD for all He has done. So why wouldn’t we fight the sin, we should be willing to cut off anything that could get in the way of He wants to do in our lives and for the church. In our story today, Jeroboam saw the priests and some of the people leave his kingdom but his heart was hardened towards his sin.

Let’s read what does next.

1 Kings 12:32-33 Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival in Judah. He offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had made. He also stationed the priests in Bethel for the high places he had made. He offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. He chose this month on his own. He made a festival for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.

What do we need to see here?

God gave Jerboam the privilege to be king!

He built cities

He built temples

shrines & altars

These final verses sum up what Jeroboam was really after. He made people people from all over the country

Throughout our story today, King Jeroboam was always reacting to what he felt would win the hearts of the people. from a business pov , jeroboam was really smart. he gave his people the convenience and license to go to any high place in the land but he did not stop there. So he divised a plan in his heart, because he was not satisfied, we learn here that Jeroboam constantly wanted what the opposing kingdom had .

IN V. 32, we read that on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, Jeroboam comes up with the grand idea of creating a festival, he decides to throw a huge party for his people, why? Because the on the fifteeth day of the eighth month, you know what happened every year the Kingdom of Judah held their annual festival. However, Unlike Jeroboam , the KINGDOM of JUDAH had a reason for it! This event was called the Festival of Shelters it was a celebration of God’s Provision and and Protection for the nation of Israel. ((DON’T MISS THIS)) The Kingdom of Judah celebrated God for His faithfulness despite their failures. Jeroboam failed to see that God was the reason why they celebrated. Instead he chose to build altars for the golden calves and he decided to grant himself the title of priest b/c he wanted to make himself look great among the people and to get the reputation of a religious man.

As I was reading and preparing for the sermon, one of the commentaries jumped out at me. It said, “that Jeroboam became an example of a political leader who shapes religion for his own purpose. The issue of true religion was unimportant to Jeroboam; he was interested in useful religion.” That leads into the last thing we need to see today.

Counterfeit Conclusions cannot replace God’s Solution.

You heard Counterfeit and your mind went to money. So let’s see if you spot the real one. All U.S. bills have tiny red and blue fibers embedded in the paper. Counterfeiters sometimes try to reproduce these by printing or drawing these fibers onto the paper, but close inspection reveals, however, that on the counterfeit note you will see that they are printed on, rather than being part of the paper itself.

God’s standards, His ways cannot be replaced. His standard, his gifts are good, but when we twist and perverse the things of God that is when its become wicked. How do we know that? Look at the gift of techonology… It was supposed to be good , everyone could recieve information at by their fingertips But it has been abused and twisted for greed and power.

Much of the world today is alot like Jeroboam. Creating a religion created according to taste.

In my generation, I hear my alot of my peers saying things such as:

“You are the master of your own destiny”

“Life is life, you only live once do whatever feels right to you.”

“I believe in God but I don’t go to church”

“I’m spritual not religious, I just go where the universe leads me”

You cannot judge me, Only GOD can judge me Are you sure you want God to do that? It baffles me to but it also humbles me.

Because I may not have been saying things like that, but when I look back on my life I am so glad God’s solution was better than anything I could do.

When I knew no better, I would justify my sin, I would use the influence God had given for my own selfish gain. And yes I would go to church to justify my sin, my body was there in house of God but my heart was not.

I used this analogy before but my walk with God was like a salad bar at a restuarant I would pick and chose what I wanted to hear from God and avoid the rest of His word. Today, we focused on Jeroboam. He heard God’s promise yet he chose to ignore God’s grace by choosing to feed his fear. Because of that, his insecurities flared up and he became power hungry, but the priests who were in his kingdom saw that and they chose to worship rather than to let sin corrupt them. I understand that my counterfeit conclusions are no match God’s answer, we find that answer in..

Jesus he is the provision that God offered up for us. He is to be exalted in every high place in our lives. In every circumstance, wherever we go may Christ be glorfied. Because

Hebrews 4:15 CSB

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus is our high priest who faced every temptation but he did not sin. He is able to sympathize with our weakness. He knows what you are going through, what you need and promises to walk with you

1 Timothy 2:5–6

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.

Jesus gave himself as a ranson for many, meaning he came to trade places with you. He died the death what deserved, and in return He gave us His life that He deserved. His testimony is true, because I am a living example of GOD’S GRACE. My counterfeit conclusions could not save me but God came to my rescue. That I am forever grateful for. (ASK BAND TO COME HERE) Here is my final question for you? What decisions have you made up to this point in life, AND Can you say that you find joy hope and satistication in your foundation?

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