Where do you call home?

Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” Matt. 22:37-38

It is strange isn’t it…

Isn’t it strange how a 20 dollar bill seems like such a large amount when you donate it to church, but such a small amount when you go shopping?

Isn’t strange how 2 hours seem so long when you’re at church, and how short they seem when you’re watching a good movie.

Isn’t strange that you can’t find a word to say when you’re praying but… you have no trouble thinking what to talk about with friends?

Isn’t it strange how difficult and boring it is to read one chapter of the Bible but How easy it is to read 100 pages of a popular novel?

Isn’t it strange how everyone wants front-row-tickets to concerts or games but they do what ever is possible to sit in the last row in Church?

Isn’t it strange how we need to know about an event for Church 2-3 weeks before the day so we can include it in our agenda, but we can adjust it for other events in the last minute?

Isn’t it strange how difficult it is to learn a fact about God to share it with others; but how easy it is to learn, understand, extend and repeat gossip?

Isn’t it strange how we believe everything that magazines and newspapers say but… we question the words in the Bible?

Isn’t strange how everyone wants a place in heaven but… they don’t want to believe, do or say anything to go there?

Isn’t it strange that God has a great plan for our life filled with his protection but we would rather do it our way

who are we going to follow…God…or…our self?

I Kings Chapter 13

1, 2 Kings (3) An Unnamed Prophet Denounces Jeroboam (13:1–34)

1 Kings 13 continues the book’s emphases on proper worship, the prophetic word, and the slow demise of the covenant people

The Home of the Demonic (vs. 7) (vss. 1-10)

1, 2 Kings (3) An Unnamed Prophet Denounces Jeroboam (13:1–34)

So far the prophet has been obedient. He has heard God’s word, opposed the king, and rebuffed Jeroboam’s not-so-subtle bribe. Therefore he embodies the ideal of a prophet who stands for truth against those who pervert it

Where the world wants you to be

Romans 1:32 NASB95

and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

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There are no men who are in such danger as the men who think they are not in any danger! There are none so likely to sin as those who say they cannot sin!

Startling!, Volume 49, Sermon #2828 - 2 Kings 8:12, 13

Charles Spurgeon

There is a Spiritual Battle

Ephesians 6:12 NASB95

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 NASB95

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

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We must get rid of the notion that we are only wrestling against ‘flesh and blood’ on earth. Our wrestling is essentially in the spiritual realm, the realm of the heavenlies. It is simply another way of emphasising … that we must always think of the enemy who is fighting against us as one who is not only personal, with his personal agents, but also as one who lives in the realm of the spirit.

The Christian Warfare, 64

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)

1, 2 Kings (3) An Unnamed Prophet Denounces Jeroboam (13:1–34)

13:33–34 Not even a string of miracles deters Jeroboam from his path to idolatry.38 He still sanctions high places, non-Levitical priests, and non-Mosaic-inspired sacrifices.

The Home of the Deceived (vs. 15) (vss. 11-20)

1, 2 Kings (3) An Unnamed Prophet Denounces Jeroboam (13:1–34)

It is as if the old prophet has been on a quest to find a real word from God or as if he set out to be the personal tester of the man of God. Whatever his motives, and it is impossible to know them for sure,37 the old man is a mixture of curiosity, dishonesty, accuracy, and conviction

Where you may think you should be

2 Timothy 4:3 NASB95

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

Galatians 1:8 NASB95

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

Proverbs 19:5 NASB95

A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will not escape.

1 Timothy 4:1–2 NASB95

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

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1, 2 Kings (3) An Unnamed Prophet Denounces Jeroboam (13:1–34)

The true prophet preaches fidelity to God’s word based on God’s merciful character. False prophets claim new, contradictory revelation and may even claim angelic guidance for doing so.

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A third kind of hypocrite deceives himself into thinking he is acting for the best interests of God and man and also deceives onlookers.

D. A. Carson

The Home of the Devoted (vss. 9-10; 16-17)

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A man with the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue; he is devoted to God Himself.

Oswald Chambers (Lecturer and Missionary)

Where God has called you to be

1 Corinthians 15:58 NASB95

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

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1, 2 Kings (3) An Unnamed Prophet Denounces Jeroboam (13:1–34)

God’s word must be obeyed, whether or not it is attended by miracles

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1, 2 Kings (3) An Unnamed Prophet Denounces Jeroboam (13:1–34)

It is the Lord’s instructions themselves that matter most. All else may be important yet remains peripheral to the main issue—God’s word.