My Sermon Notes – 4-22-12 Sunday Night – Bro Gary

• In choir, we learned and sang a new song:

By His Grace I am Redeemed

By His Blood I am made clean

And I now can see Him face to face

By His pow’r I have been raised

Hidden now in Christ by faith

I will praise the glory of His grace

By His Grace I am Redeemed

By His Blood I am made clean

And I now can know you face to face

By Your pow’r I have been raised

Hidden now in You by faith

I will praise the glory of Your Grace

• 2 Chronicles 14:1-15 “Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. ²  And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. ³ He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim ⁴ and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. ⁵ He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. ⁶ He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the Lord gave him peace. ⁷ And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered. ⁸ And Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor. ⁹ Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. ¹⁰ And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.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. ¹³ Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah carried away very much spoil. ¹⁴ And they attacked all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. ¹⁵ And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.”

• We need to pray for godly leadership
• It is crucial for churches, for homes, for countries etc to have a strong leader – especially leadership according to God’s standards
• We need to thank God for good leadership

• 2 Chronicles 14:2 “And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.”
• We ought to rise to be leaders like that!!
  • Romans 12:21 “Be not overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”
  • Our goal in leadership should be to do GOOD and RIGHT in the eyes of God, in order to glorify Him
  • We need to say:
  • I will CHOOSE to glorify God by making wise decisions for Him
  • I will CHOOSE to die to self
  • I will CHOOSE to make decisions based on what He deems as Right, not based on what is convenient or what I would prefer
    • RIGHT = righteous
    • God honors righteousness
    • Sin is a reproach to any people
    • Character is doing right in any situation
    • RIGHT BASED ON GOD’S STANDARDS!!!
    • NOT RIGHT BASED ON OUR STANDARDS!!!
      • In England, abortion is legal up until birth
      • Yale ethics director and professor are pushing for abortion up until age 5. Both people are right in their own eyes. Both are murderers in God’s eyes
      • Shadrak, Meshak and Obendigo chose to do right in God’s eyes even though they were alone and sentenced to die

1)    We need to do GOOD in the eyes of God

2)    We need to do RIGHT in the eyes of God

3)    King Asa took away all the things keeping Isreal from being blessed by God. He destroyed idols. God IS TO BE OUR #1!!

• We have to get rid of whatever in our life that is an idol
• Is it an idol? Just ask “If I lost this person/thing/dream, will I consider life not worth living?” If the answer is yes – then it is an idol!
• If we are to be right with God we have to burn and tear down our idols
• Idol of Pride says “I always have to be right”
• Idol of Self Seeking Nature says “What I want is more important”
• Parent who have children playing a ball game on Sundays – this is teaching your kids that their game is more important than God. Watch your priorities!
• People are quick to rationalize when we are so willing to substitute Gods rightful place
• Why are we where we are in life? Is it because we have set up idols?
• Is there anything in your life that is more important than your relationship with God? NO!!!
• When you stand up before God at judgment you will realize that there isn’t anything more important!
• Hebrews 10:31 “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
• People will often make THINGS or PEOPLE their idols
• God may destroy your idols in order to draw you closer to Him
• 2 Chronicles 14:4 – Asa “commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment”
• Asa commanded Judah to seek God, to live for Him
• They did and they prospered
  • When you decide to do this, your faith will be challenged
  • As soon as Asa got all this together, a million man army came up against Him
  • The enemy doesn’t like it when you are obeying God
  • Asa had an army of 583 men and he was up against 1 million. He felt overwhelmed.
  • Challenges are a part of life
    • God is a majority
    • It is a matter of US getting on God’s side
    • You can face anything if you are on the Lord’s side
    • The faith Asa displayed:
    • Vs 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.”
      • Paraphrase: Lord it is nothing for you to bring help. Our eyes are not on you if you bring us help or not. Lord help us! Lord you are God! Our eyes are on You! You are God! I am only man.
        • WHEN WE ARE OVERWHELMED, WE LOOSE PERSPECTIVE
        • In prayer, Asa worked it out. He got his perspective right
        • Asa gave his problem over to the Lord
        • Worry is wrong because it is a waste of time and because it is not trusting God
        • It focuses on the problem and not the solution
        • Action we must take = Let God be on control!
          • Worry assures responsibility when we should let God be in charge
          • It is not your responsibility
            • WORRY PARALYZES US WITH FEAR
            • WORRY SAPS OUR JOY
            • The Joy of the Lord is your strength
            • The worry drains you of your energy
            • When you are emotionally drained, you are tired
            • Worry side tracks you from the Will of God
            • When you are side tracked, you will make wrong decisions
              • 2 Chronicles 20:15 “And he said, ‘Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehosophat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.”
              • Asa experienced a great victory!
              • 2 Chronicles 14:12 “So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.”
                • God showed up because Asa obeyed
                • Faith focused on God = God did great things
                • The enemy was defeated and Isreal was blessed with the spoils
                • Go not only over comes the enemy but He blesses abundantly
                • God says “the battle is mine, the victory can be yours, trust me.”