Sermon Tone Analysis

DAY 2: GROUP DEVOTION

TITLE: BUILDING YOUR LIFE AND LEGACY

Text:

(ESV)

“And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.”

Question: How are you building your life and legacy?

(Preference, Parents, People, Profession)

Transition: Asa reigned over Judah for 41 years (911 to 870bc).

He built his life and legacy on God (God’s will, God’s way, and God’s word).

BUILDING YOUR LIFE AND LEGACY SHOULD HAVE ONE SIGHT: GOD’S WILL

A.

- “And Asa did what was GOOD AND RIGHT IN THE EYES OF THE LORD HIS GOD.”

- “And Asa did what was GOOD AND RIGHT IN THE EYES OF THE LORD HIS GOD.”

B.

- In those days there was no king in Israel.

Everyone DID WHAT WAS RIGHT IN HIS OWN EYES.

C.

; -

-

12 There is a way that seems right to a man,

but its END IS THE WAY TO DEATH/DESTRUCTION.

25 There is a way that seems right to a man,

but ITS END IS THE WAY TO DEATH/DESTRUCTION.

It was said of him that he did “what was good and right in the sight of the Lord his God.”

The interesting thing about this statement is that last phrase: “… in the sight of the Lord.”

Most of the kings of Israel and Judah followed the pattern of the nation during the dismal period OF THE JUDGES when “there was no king in Israel and every man did what was right in his own eyes.”

They invented their own standards of goodness and rightness, adapted to their own convenience, desires, and ambitions.

But Asa was concerned about what was right in the sight of the Lord.

Application:

(Differences of DOING things in the eyes of the Lord and DOING things in our own eyes)

“Doing things in the sight of the Lord are always GOOD and RIGHT”.

God is the only source and standard of good and right.

BUILDING YOUR LIFE AND LEGACY SHOULD OVERCOME SORROUNDINGS: GOD’S WAY

A.

,

2 Chronicles 10:13-15

Rehoboam stands as a beacon of warning to all who would lead.

His foolishness in not listening to the people God had called him to serve, kept him from being the king he should have been.

In fact, one could rightly say that his biggest mistake was his inability to listen.

Not only did he fail to listen to the concerns of the people, but as verse 13 states, “Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the elders.”

Instead, he listened to his peers, a group of “yes men” who undoubtedly told him what he wanted to hear.

As a result, instead of relaxing the heavy rule of his father, he made it worse and lost most of his kingdom, though he did reign seventeen years over Judah.

B.

,

Asa’s father, Abijah.

Abijah only reigned for three years, and it would seem that the main thing he accomplished was bringing Asa into the world.

Sadly, in his reign, Abijah walked “… in the sins of his father which he had committed before him.”

We know from other passages and from the problems Asa had to deal with in verse 12, that these included male cult prostitutes (homosexual) and the making of idols.

Sins are always a reflection of the heart, and in verse 3 we see that the root problem with Abijah is that, like Rehoboam, his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God.

C.

Next we want to look at Maacah.

Whether she was Asa’s mother or grandmother is uncertain, but most likely she was the wife of Rehoboam and daughter of Absalom who led a revolt against his father, David.

Who she was is less important than what she did and how Asa dealt with her.

Whether she was mother or grandmother, she served for some time as “queen mother” and no doubt had a hand in the rearing of Asa.

Maacah, the wicked queen mother, made (the Hebrew word means “to construct, or build”) a horrid image (the Hebrew word means “a terror, a hideous idol, a monster, a horrid thing”) as an Asherah.

Clearly she was no follower of Jehovah.

There were no Bible stories told when Asa sat on his grandmother’s knee.

Whatever their relationship, we know that Asa went against the Oriental culture of the day in banishing her from her position and destroying her work.

, “Asa did good and right in the sight of the Lord his God.”

This statement stands in stark contrast to the family in which he grew up.

His father, Abijah, and his grandfather, Rehoboam, were sinful men who led Judah away from the Lord.

The queen mother (it is uncertain, but apparently she was his grandmother) was a shame to him and the nation, setting up a horrid image as an Asherah, a Canaanite goddess.

YET ASA REIGNED FOR FORTY-ONE YEARS AS ONE OF JUDAH’S MOST GODLY KINGS.

Asa had spent a lot of time seeking God and His will.

We wrongly believe the worldly philosophies of our day which teach us a man’s character is determined by his environment, It’s not true with King Asa

Application:

Break- (the vicious cycle)

Begin- (victory in Christ)

BUILDING YOUR LIFE AND LEGACY SHOULD OBSERVE THE SCRIPTURES: GOD’S WORD

A.

4 and commanded Judah TO SEEK THE LORD, the God of their fathers, and TO KEEP THE LAW AND THE COMMANDMENT.

B.

8 As soon as ASA HEARD THESE WORDS, the prophecy of Azariah the son of Oded, he took courage and put away the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities that he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord.

Application:

Knowing and keeping God’s Word (His words will not pass away- ) …

- Give glory ( “the Lord has great delight in obeying his voice”)

- Give guidance ( “light & lamp”)

- Give gain ( “prosperous & good success”; “blessed in his doing”)

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1.

As you look at your own walk with God, identify how your environment affects you today.

If they lead you to walk away from Him, what will be your decision to overcome them?

2. Write down the things the Lord seems to be touching in your heart—perhaps He is convicting you of areas where your life is not completely His.

Or maybe He is identifying things in your life where you are building your life and legacy apart from Him and His words.

Whatever comes to mind, write it down as a confession to Him.

3. How do you begin building your life and legacy that is rooted and founded by the word of God?