How Good Kings Fail

Man, ain't man, ain't man. Aren't you glad people know how to usher you into the presence of the Lord? Hey man, hey man, I'm going to go to the word of the Lord. I want to just say thank you for that because what I have to preach today is going to be a little bit difficult and you make my job easier. Thank you very much. Now I'm going to, I have an imposition. If you make your way back to your seats as you're doing, I have an imposition and I hope I don't make like the first couple of rows are so mad at me. But if you're a senior, I would like for you to come up and trade seats with one of these front row people. I am so sorry for this. You just have to, brother Marshall, I don't mean senior citizen, so we're okay.

I'm just kidding, Ram. Good to see you, sir. If you're a senior, thank you so much underclassmen for helping me today. Beautiful thing about preaching at IBC is these lights are in your eyes so I can't even see you so I can say whatever I want. None of you even have to worry about your response. That's terrible. Is my wife here somewhere? She said she may stop by. Okay, I was just going to tell her I love her. I want to go quickly to the word of the Lord. Psalm, chapter 86 verse 11. And thank you seniors for accommodating me. I know I put you on the spot. But I feel like I want to preach primary. I'm going to preach to everybody in this room. But I want to direct my thoughts more in your direction as seniors. I'm going to talk a little bit today, but I am going to try to motivate.

So I'm going to be preaching today. I'm going to be a little slower. But I want to preach on how good kings fail. How good kings fail. Psalm, chapter 86 verse 11. The Psalmist writes in this beautiful prayer. Teach me thy way, O Lord. And I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart. God grab the reins of every aspect of my motivations and my ambitions and all of my internal workings. Grab all of that. Unite my heart to fear thy name. Amen. We've been praying. Can we just let me pray one more time? Bow your heads with me. Lord, we love you. You see this tremendous group of ministry that you've called, Lord. You've entrusted us to speak to. We pray, Lord, that you would anoint our lips. That you would quicken the word to the heart. That you could somehow reach inside of us and do the deep work of your spirit,

Lord, through your servant today. We need you, Lord. Bless and guide and direct, Lord, so that we can be effective for the kingdom. We ask all these things and these favors in Jesus' name. God bless you. You may be seated. Thank you, sir. How do good kings fail? I'm going to walk a little bit through the former prophets. Some of you are in that class right now and as I was studying this sermon, I spend, I frequent Brother Rodenbush of these books in the Bible because it is a beautiful thing that the Lord says the law, the prophets and the writings testify of me. And if you're in former prophets, what you understand? Oh, my, we've got men standing up on the back wall. There's an empty seat next to you. Raise your hand. All right, gentlemen, you can find a seat. I am so sorry.

Forgive me for that. Keep them up so they can see where to go. I appreciate you all very much. Crowd and chapel. That's a good thing. But the law, Jesus says in Luke 24, the law, the prophets and the writings testify of me. And of course, what that means is that you find in God's revelation in these books how to walk as a good king, how to walk as a good minister, how to be as it were an effective person for the ministry and a person that God can use and God can work through. How many of you want that in your life? And you're going to walk out of these buildings, seniors, and just we're already almost halfway through this semester. So you have like a little over a semester and a half to kind of get every bit of the last things you need to get

to make sure that you walk out of here and you do the will of the Lord. So God records in this Bible and I read Kings and Chronicles candidly because Brother Turner, it beats me up. It pushes me and it presses me and it grabs me by my heart in these narratives and shows me ways that I need to course correct so that I can do the will of God. I want to do the will of God. I don't want to fail. I want to be effective. I want to live my life in such a way that it brings glory to God. So I could talk about all the bad kings today, but we're not going to do that. We're going to, we could talk about Judah and or Israel rather the 10 tribes, 200 years, 19 kings and not one good king that followed the Lord.

We could go into Judah. They lasted a little longer because of their leadership followed the Lord and they existed as a community. Now hear that today because they had godly leadership. They lasted longer. 350 years, 20 kings and of those 20 kings, there were only eight good kings. And what I want to do today is I want to look at how good kings fail. I don't want to talk about Ahab and I don't want to talk about all of the Vanessa. I don't want to go into the bad kings. What I want to do today is talk to all of you good kings. You're here doing the will of God and you're here sacrificing and I want you to tuck away some things in your heart and I want you as best as you can. Do not get out of shovel today. I don't want you to say this is for my neighbor

and take what's in front of you and shovel it off on someone else. What I want you to do is get a rake and say, okay, God, I'm raking in all of your revelation to me because I want to do heart surgery. I want to keep some things in mind so I don't fail. Now, why is this in the Bible? Because we're going to see that the Lord can evaluate a life in 12 words. And it's listed in the Scripture this way and recorded and God includes these eight good kings and shows their tendencies. Why? It's in Revelation so that I don't follow their example so that I can already see the tendency in my own heart and guard against it. And it's in the Scripture because every one of us are going to be tempted this way because we're good kings. Let me walk into the first one.

You can find his life in 2 Chronicles chapters 14 through 16 verse kings chapter 15 verses 8 through 24. Asa, what was Asa's big issue? Now, if you'll allow me to say it this way, he changed his trust over time. 2 Chronicles chapter 14 verse 2, the Bible says, And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. That's 15 words and that's how God sums up a life. Either you did what was right and good in the eyes of the Lord or you did not and God can evaluate your life that quickly. What's fascinating is he starts raining in 910 to about 869 BC about 41 years and you can divide his reign into four time periods. The first one is what we could call the 10 quiet years where God brings peace and he establishes his reign.

You see, Asa had a family history. His father was wicked. His grandfather introduced idolatry into the southern kingdom in a horrible, horrible way. His great-grandpaul Solomon began to marry, multiply wives and bring in foreign worship. So he's got a family history, but he decided to do that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord. I just want to tell you today, I don't care what your family history is. I don't care how you were raised. I don't care about the mistakes of other people in your family history. You can choose to do that which is good and right in the eyes of the Lord. Then God began to bring in victory. What's interesting about Asa's, he stopped homosexuality that was being practiced. But the Marshall, they had been practiced so much that there was a prostitute, a homosexual prostitute kind of den attached to the temple.

And Asa said, no more. I don't care what my daddy did. I don't care what my great-granddaddy did. I don't care what my granddaddy did. You know what we're going to do? We're going to clean some house and this young man began as a young leader stopping idolatry and he walked in and even his grandma, grandma had an asteroth pole and forgive me, but those types of poles were carved into all sorts of sexual imagery and he not only goes down and cuts down the idol, he burns it right in front of grandma. Hi, grandma. Some of you are going to have to choose to do what's right even in the face of people that are around you that are close to you. But it's interesting, the Bible says God begins to bring victory in that last five years and God brings this beautiful restoration

for 21 years and then the last five years God brings calamity. The Bible says he didn't remove the high places. That means he was 80% faithful. You know what it means when you're 80% faithful? You're unfaithful. He gets into conflict with the northern 10 tribes and Israel's coming down to fight with Judah and the fascinating thing is he turns to Syria rather than God. The Bible says the second chronicles chapter 16 verse 7 and at that time Hananiah the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said unto him because thou hast relied on the king of Syria and not relied on the Lord thy God therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. So what he says is I'm going to make war. I want you to come down and make war on them in the north

because they're coming down the south and they're building these fortified cities and if I can talk you into getting in a league with me Syria at the end of the day you attack them they'll have to pull all of their troops and all of their resources up north and you're ready and they will have to fight you and they won't fight me. The Bible says and the prophet says to him why has thou not relied on the Lord? He says for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein look God is looking for someone to work through God is looking for someone to bless God is looking for someone to anoint and you've changed your trust instead of leaning on me you're starting to lean on other things now.

The Bible says here and now it's done foolishly what's fascinating is early in this rain Asa had an Ethiopian army come in that was over a million soldiers and he cried out to the Lord and Brother Bryant the Lord defeated a million man army and now over time now because you got some winds under your belt you ready you cried out and God defeated when you were small but now you've taken the blessings of God Asa and you're using them against him and taking the talent and the ability and the giftings and the kingdom and all the blessings of administration and now I'm leaning on what I can do politically because now I'm savvy instead of trusting in you. I remember Ron Mullins saying to a group of young people when I was here at Bible College he said if you write the check you have to continue to write the check

if you manipulate now you hear me today if you manipulate yourself into a position you got to stay in that position through manipulation but if you understand that promotion doesn't come from the east or the west it comes from the Lord and if the Lord will let you hear me seniors if the Lord will establish me if the Lord will give me a venue I don't have to fight for it I don't have to manipulate for it I don't have to change my trust and start counting on people rather than God and it will be up to the Lord to keep me there the prophet comes to him and begins to warn him of his dangerous spiritual state and here's the problem he refused to listen the Bible says in 2 Chronicles 16 verse 10 then Asa was wrothed with the seer get mad at the spiritual authority

get mad at the preacher and put him in a prison house he was in a rage with him because of this thing and the Bible says in Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time because being arbitrary in one area of your life begins to spill in every area of your life when flesh begins to rule you in one area of your life it's not long before it's ruling every aspect of your ministry and every aspect of your now you hear me today you got to save yourself why is this in the Bible because God is saying I want you to check yourself I got a good king here that's done and he's marred his testimony because he fell away at the end of his life unbelief quit trusting in the Lord and start trusting in what I can manipulate and finally in chapter 16

you can see that he gets a disease and ends up dying can I ask you today have you ever thought about what unbelief has cost you has it made me step into areas and that fruit of being that fruit of unbelief begins to manifest instead of trusting in God trusting in man and rejecting rebuke and imprisoning the prophet and the worst thing of all you ready that little agenda that he had worked Uncle Bill it worked because you ready now the pressure is off and he thinks God has endorsed him the worst thing that can do is for you to get into certain types of manipulation and then that worked for you because then all of a sudden you think you're okay listen don't mar your witness look I'm reaching for a good king today I'm looking for a good king I'm not talking about an evil king

I'm talking about somebody that's good that wants to do the will of God you gotta guard your heart and not change your trust over time no longer teachable pride but pride continues and destruction is coming and like Brother Mullins said resist the urge to manipulate because manipulation leads to carnality and control rather and control leads to carnality so what does that look like am I ignoring prayerful direction or godly correction because of what I can do see Asa can do it now he no longer needs the Lord and when I no longer rely on him self rules my ambition see here's the key to understanding Asa self deception this temptation for self deception because sometimes we esteem ourselves just the spiritual as we were another stage in our life in this life when sometimes you ready there are some things that come with that first stage

a dependency on God and prayer you ready and am I still a spiritual today as when I was a young man when I was little in my own eyes you ready now that I know how to preach now that I know how to do some things I know how to lead am I still leaning on God like that 15 year old boy that stood up for the first time shaking in his shoes saying God I can't get in this pulpit without you I refuse to change my trust overtime the second good king Jehoshaphat the Bible says that the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the first ways of his father David and sought not unto Balaam but sought to the Lord God of his father and walked in his commandments and not after the doings of Israel I'm going to separate myself from those people that are not doing

right and the Bible says now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance and then in 2 Chronicles 18 verse 1 after this success he joined affinity with Ahab what's Jehoshaphat's issue wicked alliances I'm thank you for singing wherever you are worship team because I don't think I can preach this without moving God wicked alliances what does that mean it means that other people are going to recognize God's favor and God's anointing and God's touch on your life and they're going to use and manipulate you because they want them see I wish I could tell you that success in the kingdom of God will only bring the right kind of attention but it will absolutely bring the wrong kind of attention too and it takes character in those moments to resist why so I don't spoil what God is doing in my life compromise number one

you can look at it and look at it in verse king 16 he gets in a marriage alliance with evil leadership Ahab ever heard of Ahab and Jezebel you ready what in the world is a good godly king like Jehoshaphat doing marrying off his daughter to one of that relationship maybe he thought it was a wise move he could unite the northern and southern kingdom and maybe there would be less friction because there's already been battles between the two groups now and it's politically advantageous I can get ahead and Israel it's financially expedient it's going to open markets and trade and all sorts of things you ready but it's going to end up in disaster because bringing Athaliah into the royal family almost snuffs out the debitic learn because she's going to grab ahold of that control and try to kill every son of David

you listen to me wicked alliances will always cost you they will not benefit you they will cost you what does that look like compromise number two second chronicles chapter 18 verse 2 and after the certain years everybody say after you know you start getting some successes now your reputation has grown you got giftings and all of a sudden bishop they want to trade in mentors I want to give up good godly mentors and I'm going to connect myself with somebody else who will be more advantageous and I promise you that coming down the pike in the future as you get more and more successes you're going to have to choose I'm going to stay with godly leaderships who got me here instead of let somebody else come in and manipulate me there it's coming how many of you want to be a good king then it's coming

so what does that look like after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria and Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance and for the people that he had with them and you ready and it's beautiful it's a party but the whole banquet is a setup to manipulate him and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramath Gilead why because one compromise always leads to another it's not going to stop with one thing and the whole banquet is there and the Bible says in Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Ahab said, king of Israel rather said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah will thou go up with me to Ramath Gilead and he answered here you ready Jehoshaphat I am as thou art and my people as thy people Jehoshaphat you're lying you are not like them you ready your people

are not like them do not join yourself to people that are not consecrated to the will of God and the direction of God it can look advantageous but you hear this preacher today you're a good king and you're about to wreck your legacy because all of a sudden now you want to join yourself to something and you've opened yourself up to manipulation through flattery lies so what does that look like he gets there and he realizes that he's in trouble and he's in this pressure moment and it's public and seeking to mitigate the issue Jehoshaphat says hey maybe we should pray and ask the Lord about this I'm going to tell you when you look at Chronicles 18 verses 4 through 8 that's a weakness in Jehoshaphat why because you should have prayed before you ever went to the meeting you should have prayed and said God

do I even need to go to that meeting there's one true prophet 400 false prophets and it's never in numbers compromise leads to acquiescence okay even though the prophet of the Lord came and gave me direction I'm going to ride over that I'm going to get in battle in the battle anyway and that compromise that first compromise leads to acquiescence acquiescence leads you open to manipulation and you're ready you will end up in battles God will not let you win why because God now you hear me today God cannot afford for you to be hooked up hooked up with some evil alliance and then communicate to all of the people of God that I will bless the wicked so you put God in a compromising position because now he can no longer bless you because who you're attached to and God will not miscommunicate to his people

so you know what you have to do you have to say no to ungodly relationships and influence you ready and that means there are some people and it's in the heart of every one of us to look for affirmation but you can become susceptible to public manipulation I know people there are leaders that are pillars in the pulpit they're strong in the pulpit but they're weak face to face and people know if I can get him by himself if I can get her by herself then I can manipulate him and I can get him on my side if I can just get a meeting you gotta be as strong in the pulpit and you gotta be strong out of the pulpit and you gotta slam the door on some relationships that are trying to compromise you so he blatantly disregards God and Ahab is killed

and only by the grace of God does Jehoshaphat even survive and God's not going to let him get it confused he sends a prophet in Chronicles 19 verses 1 through 3 he says should us now help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord what is he saying the prophet's saying don't align yourself with the wicked because God doesn't need to help and again I'm not going to leave you to doubt this at all Jehoshaphat that this is a weakness I'm going to underline the weakness in your life because that's a danger to my purposes in you because some people brother Devin want the benefits of what you have but they don't want the relationship with God so they will use you can I just give you a little counsel don't let others add their agenda to God's work in your life do you have a difficulty

saying no do you have a difficulty even saying no to wicked people then slam some door shut and say I refuse to be drawn into your wicked plans compromise number three it gets into an economic trade alliance with Israel we don't have time to deal with it in detail but God says I'm not even going to bless your finances I'm going to let every one of those ships you send out be shipwrecked because you're going to learn no wicked alliance is going to prosper as children turn out badly the messianic line is almost destroyed needless wars are fought ships are destroyed and as witness and as legacy is tarnished and why say this because you can go from understanding to excusing to joining and here's the beauty today I'm going to say something theologically profound God allows you turns that means if you see in your life right now

in your heart and inclination that's open towards this God knows how to protect us from our inherent weaknesses and I'm reaching for somebody today I want you to understand that if you have a temptation to just say yes to people and go along with people go ahead good king go ahead good lady and you face that thing down and say I refuse to let what God is doing in my life be marred and wrecked by evil alliances fourth king you guys aren't wearing the aisles joe ash there's two periods in joe ash's life second chronicles chapter 24 verse 2 captures at first and joe ash did that which was right in the side of the lord what a beautiful statement and then there's a qualifier I hope the lord doesn't have to qualify his statements about me he did that which was right in the side of the lord's all

the days of jehoedah the priest he had a godly influence the line was almost destroyed and jehoedah brings a man and makes him king and god preserves the line and they're having a mightary bible but then there's period number 2 the man he became after his influence was gone now after the death of jehoedah came the princes of Judah and made obeisance to the king they're waiting bishop in the ranks they're waiting for jehoedah to die they're waiting for that godly influence to be gone and then they rush in and they're ready to bring idolatry back into Israel and then the bible says then the king then then after the godly influence is gone they're waiting 130 years for jehoedah to die now I just think it's beautiful brother sleeper that god gives some people longevity because the devil's waiting in the wings manipulators are waiting in the wings

and god just keeps blessing some people with strength and longevity and strength and longevity you ready and they're having to wait 130 years but then the bible says then the king hearkened unto them when the influence is gone we're going to find out who he is and as soon as the godly influence in your life is gone you ready just be prepared to be tested for the patrick when you're outside of ibc you're no longer in north caroline and maybe you're older and you got some good things in your life and all of those pillars all of those filters all of those stays are gone now we're going to find out who you are and at that moment you need to mark it down to yourself when that influence is gone the enemy is going to tempt me bible says i gotta raise a voice

bible says in the spirit of god came upon zachariah the son of jahua to the priest god's going to have a voice in every generation he says he stood above the people and said unto them let's say at the lord why transgress she the commandments of the lord that you cannot prosper you cannot prosper why are you transgressing and cannot prosper because you have forsaken the lord he hath also forsaken you what was the problem with joesh he became like who he was last didn't have his own faith his own identity he just was a chameleon in whichever group he was circling i'll pray with the spiritual people but when the spiritual people are gone i'll be just as carnal as anybody else now i'm just going to tell you that that's part of the fall and it's in scripture because that tendency, that temptation

is in every one of us to accommodate the groups that we're in and you won't be blamed for what you inherited or what you are in adam but the chameleon needs to recognize the danger and repent and become a new man in christ jesus he became evil in his old age because he lost his guiding influence the fourth king amaziah what was amaziah's problem he had a period number one where he followed god but look at what the scripture says 2nd chronicles chapter 25 verse 2 he did that which was right in the side of the lord but not with a perfect what does that mean? i'm going to follow god but i'm not going to follow him perfectly and the problem with that is a divided heart must eventually have to choose am i going to land with god or am i going to land with my own self will

and with people and god wants victory and god wants to bless but again here's the temptation i want to align with the ungodly and god says i cannot allow that to happen and bless it bible says there came a man of god to him saying ok let not the army of israel because i know you got this fight and you want to go up and let not the army of israel go up with thee for the lord is not with israel with all of the children nobody in the ten tribes are going up but if thou will go do it be strong for the battle if you want to align yourself with them and you're not going to be perfect in heart i got it you go ahead and you be strong god shall make thee fall before thy enemy for god had the power

to help and to cast down bible says that he repents and he says but i've given away so much money i've got a lot of money invested in this deal now i'm going to lose the money and the prophet says to him better to lose the money than to lose the battle better for you to take a hit and repentance and get back on track you ready then you ultimately destroy what god is trying to do in your life and in your ministry so what does he say and then he corrects and he does it but again his heart is divided and you can see that he's the dangers of success that's period number two he goes out and he fights brother henison the edomites and he wins and the bible says he carries the idols of the edomites back into israel why would you bring

the idols of a defeated foe back into your camp they can't even defend the people that you beat we carry methodologies always back into our own places uncritically bible says are you ready the prophet confronts him but amaziah is no longer teachable and he rejects the prophet of the lord's rebuke and his heart is hard and that proud heart hard-hearted person is death to the words of god and the protection of god and the provision of god and the blessing of god and then all of a sudden because he's succeeding and he's got all these wins under his belt he decides I'm gonna go up and I'm gonna conquer Israel and I'm gonna unite the kingdom and he begins to meddle out of pride you know what one of the hardest things to deal with in life is success because if you don't say god did all of that

you're setting yourself up to start taking your own ego and your own abilities and your own gifting so seriously that you don't need the direction of the lord and which things to address the bible says in Proverbs 16 verse 18 pride goeth before destruction and a haughtiest spirit before a fall I remember my pastor has helped me he's course corrected me he's got in my heart and he's united he's been the voice of god and he's reached in brother christian and grabbed the hold of things and pulled it back in line and he we were talking over IBC before one of the night classes and we were talking about three or four big issues brother marshal in the movement things we were concerned with problems issues and and I'm already in my mind I'm thinking well I can write an article I got that little 450 word

article I can do something in perspective I got you know that's not gonna do much probably not even many people read that they read brother mooney and don't even read me but I begin brother I can address this I I think we could do this I could create some lessons we got a podcast at young adults that brother brzezinski's doing we can use this platform I'm already brother hinderson I'm formulating in my mind the ways that I can address these big issues in the movement and then brother mooney just grabbed my heart and he just cut on me a little bit he said brother killman I'm troubled but god hasn't given me a way forward yet you cannot fight battles in your flesh you cannot fight right battles in your flesh you're ready your zeal has to be directed by the Lord don't meddle out of pride

zaya that's another issue he did that which was right in the side of the Lord according to all his father in Messiah did and he saw God in the days of Zachariah who you ready in the days of Zachariah who had understanding in the visions of God and as long as he saw the Lord sleeper what a statement what a revelation of the nature of human beings what a revelation for me to grab a hold of the reins of my heart and as long as he sought the Lord God made him to prosper first section in his reign the blessings by seeking the Lord and we see his godly character and the blessings flow everywhere militarily and economically in terms of respect among the nations and building programs and technology and agriculture all of that is so blessed by God that the Bible says that the influence of Judah

begins to rise and then it gives us in verse 16 but when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction why because he transgressed against the Lord as God and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of God I want to go in and I want to do the priest job see this is the danger of Uzziah are you ready the pride of presumption which is more dangerous to you affliction of prosperity manifestation of pride lives out in sin because he was responding now hear me today he was responding wrongly to the Lord's blessing don't take the blessings and the provision the successes of God and then after you've won for the great battles allow pride to think that you've done it and now you deserve stuff and you can do whatever you want Bible says 80

priests valiant men I love that scripture valiant men went after him and they're and they're standing in the way of him operating in this presumptuous pride and I'm gonna tell you God has a strong cure for presumptuous pride God smites him with leprosy there's two tests the test of obscurity where we make wrong moves based on wrong motives but then there's the test of prominence where we stop submitting to authority and our gifts become reckless what are you doing there's going to come a king that's going to unite the office the priest and king and here you are out of presumption and pride thinking that you can unite that office that's only going to be united in Jesus you're ready and you're messing with stuff you don't even understand because of pride and he's communicating brother Brian I can approach God anyway I want God has to step in and cure

him of his pride he can't even be corrected by godly council 80 preachers in his face even by the word of God and the bible says then Uzziah was wrought and he had a censor in his hand to burn incense and while he was wrought with the priest now you get mad at every voice that tries to pull in the reins of your heart the leprosy even arose upon the forehead before the priest of the house of the lord the great legacy of a king is marred out of pride I don't know about you but I want to finish well I just don't want to start good I want to finish you I remember it means accountability it means being able to be corrected it means allowing rebuke to walk into your life why because you need rebuke to save you from disaster it means

being open to godly authority coming in and saying what are your modus behind this get yourself in control I know you're the king I know you're in a position of authority but you're about to wreck this thing you see that's what the prophet is trying to say I remember brother mooney walking into my office bishop and he said brother killman I've let my schedule get away from me just don't fire me I was like what in the world are you talking about he said well look I know I'm the president of the college and you can't fire me but I'm also a teacher in your department and if I'm not doing the job in that class that I need to do you can take that class away and give it to someone else why my pastor was teaching me that just because you become the king you are not without

accountability you're not without the ability to be course corrected you're not without the ability to be saved there were seven bible says of this particular king how be it the high places were not removed that's the one negative in this in the kind of corner but there's an interesting passage the bible says he did that which is right in the side of the lord according to all that his father ousa did or zaya did rather and how be it he entered not in the temple of the lord he didn't blow it that way he didn't get lifted up and the bible says in the people did yet correctly this is the only king of the eight kings that there's no exception in his life that says he didn't follow the lord does anybody know his name my god your bible college students all you seniors have been here

almost four years surely you know the name of this king brothers and your preacher brother holy your preacher man of god surely surely one of you three know the name what a brandon what's the name of the king of the eight that there's no negative statement said in terms of his qualification his name is jotham and we don't hear about him why because the people did yet correctly he wanted brother henry said he wanted to be a good king but he was leading in a time where the people did not want to join revival and we don't hear of any great real revival changes because even as a leader you can want to do everything right and the people's heart not be towards god I want to help somebody today that means there may be people that are not interested I was just a young boy

young preacher kid preacher about 17 preach oh that's terrible some of you are young forgive me for that but I was green at least you're bible college hallelujah I would have blessed those churches a lot more if I would have here and then wouldn't preach brother marshal thank god for gracious churches I remember I had a friend we were preaching we were preaching a revival and that's like not cheating revival that's like for Monday to Sunday we were preaching and I remember I went in bishop and I'm praying because that church was wonderful I love the people and it needed revival and I'm praying and and I'm saying okay god help me to preach what I need to do I'm consecrating I'm doing everything that I should do Monday comes along no move Tuesday come along no move Wednesday a little bit of a movie yes let it crest right brother

marshal come on let it break out let him reach and and it just and it dies it falls flat Thursday comes along nothing dead as a hammer Friday finally Saturday morning I looked at my my good friend at the time that I was preaching with I said Adam you got to drop me off at the church and leave me alone I need to pray I went into that I went into that church and I began to pray and I said lord you got to help me because this church needs revival and something's wrong it's not happening in the spirit there's no freedom when I preach and you ready you know what the lord did he lifted the burden of revival revival off my shoulders and said to me the people are not interested the Bible says in 2nd Chronicles 27 verse 6 so Jotham became mighty because he

prepared his ways before the Lord his God I want to encourage you that you can have it even if they don't want it and most most people don't know him but heaven knows him and they may never know your name at some conference somewhere but you're ready if you're doing the will of God if you're a good king you can be a good king even if nobody in the group that you're trying to lead is interested in revival you hear me young preacher you hear me young minister you just stay the course and let heaven record your name in the book I'm working towards a close two kings Hezekiah what was his issue pride of heart Bible says he did that which was right on the side of the Lord according to all of David his father did is fascinating his first official act was not to deal with this

massive threat that was coming in it wasn't to shore up the army it wasn't to deal with these big political issues and the fact that they had to prepare for war wasn't all of that the first thing he did was restore worship in God's temple he opened the doors that his father Ahaz had shut the Passover was restored in 2 Chronicles chapter 30 and it's probably there's a good argument that that's probably the first Passover in 200 years he organized the priests and the Levites with financial support because the temple has fallen in disrepair because no one is being funded to take care of it he destroys idolatry second period he gets deliverance from the enemy the Assyrians come in and to fight against them and they can't defeat them they just can't defeat them and you know the story he lays out that complaint before the Lord and

they're trying to intimidate him because the enemy's tactic is fear his weapon is fear because the enemy isn't going away in any generation and you ready what you have to say to yourself like Hezekiah got right to attack me it's to attack him to touch me it's to touch him because I'm a representative of the king but what that means is Satan doesn't fear your worship Satan doesn't fear your giftings Satan fears your obedience that's why he tries to intimidate you into disobedience with fear then period number three after this tremendous battle and a miraculous demonstration where angels come down and slay this mighty host the superpower of the ancient Nereces is running in fear and then you get this chink in the armor second chronicles 32 verse 25 and 26 but Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him he didn't render back

to God pay God back with what he should have God has blessed him now he's going to use that blessing against God I'm gonna say it one more time he's blessed you with talent I love your dad your dad is a good man I know he's spoken challenges to you you're anointed of God you're used to God but there are people that will take anointing and giftings and they will render back to God what's due they will use his giftings against him Bible said for his heart was lifted up therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judean Jerusalem not withstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah what was that what was that lifted up pride you can you can

speculate but the Bible gives it to you in verse 31 see that's why you got to read and you got to pay attention because that tendency is in every one of us he says brother Marshall how being in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon who stand on him to inquire the wonder that was done in the land God left him to try him God left this temptation you're ready to expose something in the Bible says that he might know all that was in his heart God listen all due respect to the key in KJV it's wrong there that's not God that's not a capital H God already knew what was in his heart God was going to put him in a position to show him what was in his heart what are you saying that flattery I've shown the Babylonians everything and Isaiah

confronts him and says listen it's not wise to bring your enemy in and show him everything you got and when you see the wonder of the kingdom then you're going to take the credit for yourself and any glory that we take is always robbed from God we start saying things like we own this and we need recognition and instead of saying I owe all of this to the grace of God his heart was lifted up and the test of self-knowledge is this who will you give credit to remarkable King a tremendous history and he fell prey to it why record it because every one of us can fall prey to it as well the last king if they'll come and help me on the music my wife is here she'll tell you that's a false close thank you sir Josiah and he did that which was right in the

side of the Lord and walked in the ways of David his father and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left and in the 8th year that's 16 years old how many of you are older than 16 it's all of you I love this young man when he was 16 years old while the Bible says in the 8th year of his reign while he was yet young he began to seek after the God of David his father and in the 12th year he's 18 years old how many of you are older than 18 or older he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the groves and the carved images and the molten images and early he decided I am not going to be like what I was raised with you ready and he instituted all these reform he finds the law

he seeks God to see if there's any hope and the Lord sends a lady prophet a lady preacher and says because you've sought me I'm going to give you peace in your time peace in your day because you have sought me you've reformed and you've humbled yourself all of these judgments are sure but they're not going to come in your lifetime I'm going to bless Israel in all the days you live he reads the law before all the people he destroys idolatry he destroys the dens of ill repute and the sodomites again by the temple are removed he even fulfills the prophecy of the Lord that was spoke by the man of God against Jeroboam and he removes paganism and witchcraft and burns the bones and he reigns 31 years and then God allows him to be killed at the age of 39 2nd Chronicles chapter 35 verses

20 through 22 after all this when Josiah had prepared the temple Niko king of Egypt came up to fight against Carcamesh by Euphrates and Josiah went out against them it's the pagan king it's king of Egypt must be the will of the Lord but he sin and massacred him saying what have I to do with thee thou king of Judah I come not against thee this day but against the house wherewith I have made war for God commanded me to make haste forbear thee from meddling with God who is with me and he destroy they not nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him but disguised himself that he might fight with him and hearkened not unto the words of Niko from the mouth of God and came to fight in the valley of Medieval and God allowed him to die so he got two kings that got

themselves in trouble through meddling Amaziah meddled out of pride I'm going to assume the role of the priest and walking out of pride Josiah meddled out of zeal and here's the problem with Josiah like people they have a weakness Oswald Chambers probably said it best an unguarded strength is a double weakness why? because misdirected zeal caused as much trouble as you ready a zeal that was private I don't know about you but I've caught myself in many of these kings where I've had to face these issues and the tendency to be drawn into things that are not are come I remember my pastor walked in to me one time and he was talking to me after a rather strong altercation I was operating and trying to do what I thought was right and he walked up to me bishop and he said Brother Kilman if someone is going to

hang themselves let them you know what he was saying don't you ready because if you meddle too much you're going to give that person the ability to look like a victim and you're going to let them off the hook and people are going to sympathize with something wrong you need to let them clearly demonstrate that they are so what I'm saying today brother ogle god has had to clean up my mess on top of dealing with the situation because I brought gasoline instead of water I've been another liability be a liability to the work of god so I have a question for you when you're dealing with issues see is it any of my business you ready has god directed me into this fight doesn't have anything to do with me because prayer must direct my zeal and you need to fear using zeal outside

of the direction of the lord you hear me today good king you need to fear using your zeal outside of the prayer the prayerful direction of the lord and god has made you this way and it's a gift to the kingdom when it's directed right Proverbs 26 17 say he that passeth by and meddle with strife belonging not to him is like one that takeeth a dog by the ears you're going to admit bible says in 2nd chronicles chapter 35 verse 25 and Jeremiah that wonderful man that prophet of the lord lamented for Josiah have you read the book of Jeremiah have you read limitations they're going into captivity uncle bill they're going into captivity and see here's the promise of god to Josiah you have peace in Israel as long as you're alive and he cut short his reign of safety Jeremiah lamented for Josiah

all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah and their lamentations to this day why sing about it because I don't want any of you good kings making the mistake that that wonderful king that good king that was one of the best kings probably only 2nd to David or Hezekiah you ready you ready to cut his reign short so I want you to sing about it I want you to pull it up in front of you why because again you get 18 bad kings in a row in Israel but the 8 kings that did good I don't want you to make the same mistakes stay with me today I know this is a hard message Proverbs chapter 27 verse 5 and 6 you've heard me quote it many times in class let me say it today because I'm after you seniors on the front row

I want you other students probably some of this you'll have to tuck in the back somewhere and pull it out of your satchel pull it out of your backpack later as you go down the road of ministry but I'm after you today I want you to say Lord speak to me from this book use these examples Lord put them in the scripture so you wouldn't fail so that you can learn how not to fail from good kings who did I want to have Lord take the reins of my heart and if I see myself in any king or the killmen have you seen yourself in any king most of them many times in my life and it's there to keep me course corrected it's there to keep me in the boundaries of blessing it's there to give my life impact it's there so his reputation

is not damaged and my legacy is not tarnished and I can finish well because open rebuke is better than secret love and faithful are the wounds of a friend I'm not trying to hurt you today but the kisses of the enemy are deceitful I'm not trying to just kiss you and bless you I want you to correct issues in your heart I'm not trying to deceive you I'm not your enemy I'm not going to tell you you're okay if you see yourself in one of these kings what you need to do is say thank you lord grab the reins of my heart this is what I'm saying seniors you need to say to yourself often Jeremiah 10 23 oh lord I know that the way of a man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps bow your head with me

these warnings are in scripture because there's parallels between this scripture it indicates what true humanity is and what every one of us wrestle with and the temptations that you're going to face in ministry as you succeed as a good king but our faithfulness in these things makes it possible for God to give our life impact you ready number one so we learn lessons of what not to do number two so we're spared the pain of disobedience number three so we don't shame the name of the lord and number four these passages protect us so here's what I'm asking seniors I want you to lead I want you to say God if there is an area in my heart where I have to make a U-turn lord thank you for warning me so my life doesn't end down that way come on is it friendships

is it wicked alliances is it undirected zeal you have a zeal for the lord I'm glad you do I'm glad you love the truth but do you use this book as a sword and just hack people to pieces or do you really want people to be saved and say lord direct every stroke of my is it pride you lift it up in yourself and now you know some things and now you don't have to worry about it you can do whatever you want and you're not accountable or can you be the next paul mooney and say I don't care if I'm the president of the school I want to be protected if that man of God can say that you need to learn to say that right now so I'm asking you come up and do a little soul searching you don't know your heart

that's why God gave you this book so that in your devotion and as you pray and as the preacher begins to preach you can say lord I see myself there I see that tendency in myself and he goes I know son I know daughter that's why I'm exposing it so I can protect you and you can be a good king and not mar your testimony what I want to do is breathe come on in the quiet of your own heart before the lord help me lord help me lord I want to be the right one that's it