A Sermon Series on the Book of 2 Kings- Ch. 12

Friends: I will be doing a series of three sermons on the book of 2 Kings in April for my friends at Cedarcroft Bible Chapel in South Plainfield, NJ. So I want to go chapter by chapter through this Old Testament book. With you! I’ll put the chapter in the post and give a few comments of my own under the text.  Comments always welcome! Let’s dive in!

My notes:

Here we are in 2 Kings 12. In chapter 12 we read about Joash becoming king and reigning forty years. He did what was right before the Lord, but did not remove the high places.

He had the priests collect all the money given as offerings to repair the temple damage, but repairs had not been made by the 23rd year of his reign. The money collected was used to pay the workers who repaired the temple, the ones who “acted with complete honesty” (v. 15).

Hazael king of Aram attacked Gath, then turned to attack Jerusalem. Joash gave all the sacred objects of the temple to Hazael who then withdrew from Jerusalem (v. 18).

Joash gets assassinated — and the assassins are named. Amaziah his son succeeds him.

 

A Time for Truth!

Judi tried to sell her old car. She was having a lot of problems selling it because the car had 250,000 miles. One day, she told her problem to a friend she worked with at a salon. Her friend told her, “There is a possibility to make the car easier to sell, but it’s not legal.”

“That doesn’t matter,” replied Judi, “as long as I can sell the car.”

“Okay,” said Judi’s friend. “Here is the address of a friend of mine. He owns a car repair shop. Tell him I sent you and he will turn the counter in your car back to 50,000 miles. Then it should not be a problem to sell your car anymore.”

The following weekend, Judi made the trip to the mechanic. Two weeks later the friend asked Judi, “Did you sell your car?”

“No,” replied Judi, “why should I? It only has 50,000 miles on it!”

 

Self-Commendation (A Study of 2 Corinthians 6:3-10) Part 4 (Conclusion)

Friends: If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know that my friend Frank (in New Jersey) and I have been doing an email Bible study for over a year. We read the same chapter every day for a week — and then send a brief email of encouragement to each other. We’ve completed most of the epistles of the New Testament — and it’s been a great discipline for both of us.

Let us continue our study of several verses in chapter six:

Self-Commendation (A Study of 2 Corinthians 6:3-10): Part 4

II. The Specifics of Self-Commendation (vv. 4-10)

We’ve thought about Paul’s list of the 28 items he gives showing how his behavior and mindset in ministry commend him. We’ve seen some of his difficult circumstances in which he served. We then noticed the positive qualities which marked Paul’s work. Let’s notice the last section of those items:

These nine couplets show the ministry contrasts which Paul experienced. He does not sugar-coat the challenges he faced, but pairs them with the positive aspects of serving Christ. If we only had his list of the positive parts of ministry, they would be: glory, good report, genuine, known, living on, not killed, always rejoicing, making many rich, possessing everything! But we don’t get to choose only the positive. Paul’s ministry — and ours — includes very negative items: dishonor, bad reports, charges of being an imposter, regarded as unknown, dying, beaten, sorrowful, poor, and having nothing. It should come as no surprise when ministers drop out and become insurance salesmen.

Today’s Challenge: Paul commends himself, but does so with complete honesty. If you are in professional ministry, do you have someone with whom you can share your deepest struggles? If not, pray that God would give you such a person!

 

 

The Application of Scripture — Sometimes It IS about the Nail!

 

Time for a Great Commercial: Honesty?

Honesty?  Really?  Do we actually long for that kind of honesty?  “Wouldn’t it be great if everyone said what they meant?”

Your comments?

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord (Psalm 42)

Psalm 42

For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.

¹ As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
³ My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

⁶ My soul is downcast within me;
    therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
    the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

⁸ By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me—
    a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I say to God my Rock,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?”
¹⁰ My bones suffer mortal agony
    as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”

¹¹ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord (Psalm 25)

Psalm 25

Of David.

¹ In you, Lord my God,
    I put my trust.

² I trust in you;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    nor let my enemies triumph over me.
³ No one who hopes in you
    will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
    who are treacherous without cause.

⁴ Show me your ways, Lord,
    teach me your paths.
⁵ Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior,
    and my hope is in you all day long.
⁶ Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
    for they are from of old.
⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth
    and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
    for you, Lord, are good.

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord;
    therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
⁹ He guides the humble in what is right
    and teaches them his way.
¹⁰ All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
    toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
¹¹ For the sake of your name, Lord,
    forgive my iniquity, though it is great.

¹² Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?
    He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.^[b]
13 They will spend their days in prosperity,
    and their descendants will inherit the land.
¹⁴ The Lord confides in those who fear him;
    he makes his covenant known to them.
¹⁵ My eyes are ever on the Lord,
    for only he will release my feet from the snare.

¹⁶ Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    for I am lonely and afflicted.
¹⁷ Relieve the troubles of my heart
    and free me from my anguish.
¹⁸ Look on my affliction and my distress
    and take away all my sins.
¹⁹ See how numerous are my enemies
    and how fiercely they hate me!

²⁰ Guard my life and rescue me;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    for I take refuge in you.
²¹ May integrity and uprightness protect me,
    because my hope, Lord,^[c] is in you.

²² Deliver Israel, O God,
    from all their troubles!

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord (Psalm 15)

Psalm 15

A psalm of David.

¹ Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?
    Who may live on your holy mountain?

² The one whose walk is blameless,
    who does what is righteous,
    who speaks the truth from their heart;
³ whose tongue utters no slander,
    who does no wrong to a neighbor,
    and casts no slur on others;
⁴ who despises a vile person
    but honors those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts,
    and does not change their mind;
⁵ who lends money to the poor without interest;
    who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Whoever does these things
    will never be shaken.

 

Psalms of the Salter: Some Thoughts on Really Living for the Lord (Psalm 13)

Psalm 13

For the director of music. A psalm of David.

¹ How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?

³ Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
⁴ and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.

 

The Joy of Unit-Reading #20 (the Minor Prophet Habakkuk)

We continue in our journey of reading 65 (of the 66) of the books of the Bible in one sitting.  This is called unit-reading and today we are looking at the minor prophet Habakkuk.

I am impressed with the honesty of Habakkuk, accusing the Lord of not listening.

But my prayer is what closes this short book:

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,  yet I will rejoice in the Lord,  I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

How about you?  Do you value the gifts more than the Giver?