Yahweh's Hunt

Songs

ALL in ALL

BLOOD WILL NEVER LOSE ITS POWER

AGNUS DEI?

------------------------------------------

Announcements:

Bingo night this Wednesday

Congregation meeting moved…??

------------------------------------------

Welcome & Prayer

TURN to 2 CHRONICLES… CH. 16…

!! Open in Prayer !!

------------------------------------------

Introduction:

Opener: Where do you go when you need help?

Focus: PROBABLY DEPENDS on the ISSUE

MEDICAL—DOCTOR

FIX-IT PROJECT—YOUTUBE

ADVICE—FRIEND/ PARENT

ANYTHING ELSE— PHONE ASSISTANT (A.I.)

Teaser: BUT MAYBE—THERE SHOULD BE a STEP WE TAKE…BEFORE WE RUSH to EVERY NATURAL OPTION THERE IS…

----------------------

Focus: Today—we’ll see a king of Judah— whose HEART was NEARLY PERFECT—but one thing was lacking…

Read 2 Chr. Ch. 16…v.1-14

------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------

Passage Reading:

2 Chronicles 16 (ESV)

1 In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might permit no one to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

2 Then Asa took silver and gold from the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who lived in Damascus, saying,

3 “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. Behold, I am sending to you silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, that he may withdraw from me.”

4 And Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel, and they conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the store cities of Naphtali.

5 And when Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah and let his work cease.

6 Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber, with which Baasha had been building, and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.

7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.

8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand.

9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”

10 Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in the stocks in prison, for he was in a rage with him because of this. And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some of the people at the same time.

11 The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but sought help from physicians.

13 And Asa slept with his fathers, dying in the forty-first year of his reign.

14 They buried him in the tomb that he had cut for himself in the city of David. They laid him on a bier that had been filled with various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumer’s art, and they made a very great fire in his honor.

Church… this is God’s Word for us, this morning.

------------------------------------------

Background Context

Divided Kingdom— Israel & Judah

“ASA” = 3rd king of Judah

--------------------

Background: Asa—

OVERALL — VERY RIGHTEOUS KING…

SERVED GOD W/ “WHOLE HEART” (2X)

UNDIVIDED/WHOLE— MEANING HE HAD NO OTHER gods...

(( WHAT MADE RIGHTEOUS KINGS RIGHTEOUS ))

REMOVED FATHER’S IDOLS

REMOVED MOM from POSITION of INFLUENCE

BURNED ASHERAH POLE

------------------

Focus: A REIGN—STARTED OFF GOOD…

************

Transition: ONE SHORTCOMING in ASA’S LIFE—WE’LL SEE in TODAY’S TEXT…

------------------------------------------

Exhortation:

(v1) Setting: ASA HAD PROBLEM on HIS HANDS

BAASHA KING of ISRAEL (NORTH) FIGHTING on BORDER

Tension: PROBLEM on HORIZON—WHAT DO YOU DO??

---------------

Formerly: ASA SOUGHT YAHWEH…

CH. 14—GOD BROUGHT HIM PEACE & REST

FIGHT on HORIZON W/ “ZERAH”

2 Chronicles 14:11–12 (ESV)

11 And Asa cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.”

12 So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

---------------

ASA CRIED to the LORD— TEXT ANSWER: (V12) YAHWEH DEFEATED the ETHIOPIANS…

---------------

(V2-4) Problem: TODAY’S TEXT—ASA GOES ELSWHERE

BEN-HADAD (KING of SYRIA)

PAYS SYRIAN KING

SYRIA ATTACKS ISRAEL’S NORTHERN BORDER

ASA LEFT ALONE.

---------------

Greater Problem: PROPHET’S CONFRONTATION

2 Chronicles 16:7 (ESV)

7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Syria, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped you.

BOTH ISRAEL & SYRIA WOULD’VE BEEN THEIRS!!

=> REMEMBER—THERE’S NOTHING TOO HARD for the LIVING GOD…

2 Chronicles 16:8 (ESV)

8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand.

=> GOD DELIVERED in the PAST....

---------------

POWERFUL CONCLUSION:

2 Chronicles 16:9 (ESV)

9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”

Irony: “WHOLLY TRUE” HEART & “BLAMELESS” HEART = SAME HEBREW WORD!

UNDIVIDED—NO OTHER gods

NOT COMPLETE— DIDN’T SEE GOD as SUFFICIENT

YAHWEH ON HUNT— HEART,, “FULLY COMMITTED—HEART THAT is COMPLETELY HIS”

---------------

GOOD NEWS:

EYES of the LORD—RUN TO & FRO— CONSTANTLY—READY to HELP the HELPLESS WHO LEAN on HIM…

=> CONSIDER THAT the INESCAPABLE GOD WANTS to BE YOUR HELP! WOW!!

Story: TIME I WASN’T THERE to HELP??

HE JUST DOESN’T WANT to BE WAY DOWN the LIST…

GOD SHOULD BE our FIRST STOP—NOT our LAST RESORT…

---------------

GOD’S EVER-PRESENTNESS WASN’T GOOD NEWS for ONE WHO IGNORED HIM…

BAD NEWS for ASA as HE REJECTED the LORD— AND AGAIN LATER HE DIDN’T SEEK the LORD WHEN HE HAD a DISEASE…

HE DIDN’T SEE the SUFFICIENCY of GOD to MEET HIS NEEDS…

************

Transition: EVERY KING of the DIVIDED KINGDOM REMINDS US THAT the PEOPLE of GOD NEEDED a BETTER KING—ONLY PROVIDED in JESUS CHRIST…

------------------------------------------

NEED for a BETTER KING, fulfilled in Jesus:

JESUS = THE ONE WHOSE HEART WAS BLAMELESS & TRUE

THE ONE WHO FULLY OBEYED

THE ONE WHO NEVER FAILED

=> THROUGH HIM—THOSE W/ IMPERFECT HEARTS = ACCEPTED…

CHRIST MAKES UP the DIFFERENCE…

THROUGH HIM WE HAVE UNPRECEDENTED ACCESS to the FATHER

Future Hope: WHILE PRESENTLY REIGNING on a HEAVENLY THRONE—

— ONE DAY HE WILL RETURN & in that DAY WE CAN HOPE...

************

Transition: HOW DO WE LIVE in the PRESENT?

WE TAKE OUR NEEDS to the LORD

------------------------------------------

Application

Passage Idea: THE LORD is EAGER to HELP the HELPLESS WHO LEAN on HIM.

---------------

Encourage: NOTHING OUTSIDE HIS SPHERE of EXPERTISE—HE’S GOD!

PASSAGE CONDEMNED ASA:

HUMAN HELP in WAR

NO BETTER MILITARY COMMANDER—THAN LORD of HOSTS

MEDICINAL HELP in DISEASE

NO BETTER DR — THAN LORD WHO HEALS…

=> NOT BECAUSE HUMANS or DOCTORS ARE BAD—BUT BECAUSE HE DIDN’T TAKE HIS PROBLEMS to the LORD…

---------------

Wonderful Hope:

1 Peter 5:6–7 (ESV)

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

------------------------------------------

Conclusion:

There is no problem... that God cannot solve.

There is no disease... He cannot cure.

There is no trouble... He cannot figure out.

There is no question... He cannot answer.

There is nothing impossible for the One

who both created

and likewise presently sustains

all things.

Takeaway: This same God cares for you.

He is on the HUNT for THOSE W/ HEARTS… TURNED TOWARDS HIM

He is SEARCHING to SUPPORT & STRENGTHEN THOSE in NEED…

----

Closing: Will we go to Him as our refuge in our time of need?

!! Close in Prayer !!

Closing Song??