Today we will be taking a look at 25 chapters that are both exciting and complex.

The 25 chapters:
1 Kings 15 - 22
2 Kings 1 - 11
2 Chronicles 17 - 22
A period of approximately 33 years.

As our study begins we see Ahab (874-853 BC) - is the ruler of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and Jehoshaphat (870-848 BC) - is ruler of Judah, the Southern Kingdom.

There's good news and bad news from this period of 33 years… There was an alliance made between Israel and Judah. Bad news: 2 Chronicles 18:1 tells us, "Now Jehoshaphat (Judah) had great wealth and honor, and he allied himself with Ahab (Israel) by marriage." As we dig into this we see Ahab (Israel's worst King) was married to Jezebel, they had a daughter named Athaliah.

We also see that Jehoshaphat had a son named Jehoram. Athaliah and Jehoram marry. This is the alliance between Israel and Judah, but the marriage brought great tragedy. Ahab invites Jehoshaphat to Samaria in Israel. Ahab tells him he wants land back that had taken from him and he wants Jehoshaphat to help him fight to get it back. Ahab has 400 false prophets that say he should attack Judah because he will be victorious. Jehoshaphat listens but requests a 2nd opinion. That 2nd opinion comes from a prophecy of Micaiah son of Imlah a prophet of the Living God. Micaiah tells them, "I saw all Israel was scattered on the hillside because the shepherd was gone." And what happens is that he is thrown in jail. Judah and Israel go to battle and attack Remoth Gilead and the bettle ends in great defeat for Israel and Judah. King Ahab is killed and one of his sons takes over his throne. About 5 years later we read in 2 Chronicles 21:1 that Jehoshaphat dies and his son Jehoram succeeds him as king of Judah. Additionally, in 2 Chronicles 21:4-5 we see Jehoram puts all his brothers to death in order to protect his throne.

And now we see Elijah stepping in with a letter to King Jehoram. 2 Chronicles 21:12-13 we see Elijah tell Jehoram that he has not followed the way of his father and grandfather in following God and instead follows the worship and practices of idolatry of the Northern Kingdom. Jehoram has turned away from the God of David. Vs 13-14 he holds Jehoram accountable for killing his brothers, and tells him that he will become sick and die of disease. This is a warning to the way Jehoram is headed and it's God's call to stop and to come back to Him. But Jehoram continues to do what he had always done. So he dies and his son, Ahaziah, becomes King of Judah.

Reminder: Athaliah is King Ahab and Jezebel's daughter. Ahab and his wife led Israel away from God. Their daughter Athaliah is married to Jehoram (King of Judah) and when Jehoram dies their son Ahaziah becomes King of Judah. The spiritual pollution of Israel has not only come down to Judah, it has taken the throne. The line of Ahab is on the throne in both Israel and in Judah. In Israel Ahaziah's uncle, Joram, is King.

There is a second Battle of Remoth Gilead at this time. Ahaziah (King of Judah) and his uncle Joram (King of Israel) decide to do the battle again, expecting to win this time.

Joram, King of Israel is severely injured in the battle, Ahaziah, King of Judah, goes to check on his uncle.

2 Kings 9:1-3 Elisha has a man go to Remoth Gilead and anoint Jehu as King over Israel. The result is found in 2 Kings 9:22-23, Jehu confronts the Joram King of Israel and Ahaziah King of Judah at the bedside of Joram, Ahaziah's uncle, where he and Ahaziah are talking. Jehu says there can be no peace as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of Ahaziah;s mother Jezabel abounds. Joram flees and Jehu pulls out his bow and arrow and hits Joram in the back killing him. Jehu then chases Ahaziah wounding him. Ahaziah dies, too, and now both the King of Israel and the King of Judah are dead.

I Kings 11:1 tells us that when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah saw he son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family of Judah. She desired to eliminate the whole line of David through which the Messiah was to come.

2 Kings 11:2 but the Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed. And as a result a godly king will ultimately come to the throne against the desire of Ahaziah.

Join us next week as our story continues!

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Today we continue our study of Elijah's ministry.

Elijah's Ministry

⁃ Prediction and Provision - no rain or dew
⁃ Contest at Mount Carmel the time of drought ends in a contest
⁃ Encounter at Mount Horeb
⁃ Word at Naboth's Vineyard
⁃ Elijah taken to heaven

We pick up the story from last week, at the contest at Mount Carmel where we learn that Jezebel has promised to kill Elijah. After the threat, Elijah, fearful for his life, travels forty days to Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai). Pastor shares several possibilities for the location of this mount leaning towards today's Jabal al Maqla.

Elijah makes it to Mt. Horeb and he is discouraged and fearful and exhausted and we read of his depression in 1 Kings 19:9-10. He ends this verse saying, "I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too." God's response is, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by."

Divine Encounter

⁃ Wind comes - but the Lord was not in the wind
⁃ Earthquake comes - but the Lord was not in the earthquake
⁃ Fire comes - but the Lord was not in the fire
⁃ Gentle whisper comes - the Lord speaks of Elijah's assignment. Elijah thinks of himself as a failure and wants to give up, but God tells him He has more for him to do, that he is not to give up.

Mission: Anointing

⁃ Elijah is told to anoint Hazael as king over Aram
⁃ He is told to anoint Jehu over Israel
⁃ He is told to anoint Elisha as his successor

Then God assures Elijah that he is not alone and tells him that there are 7,000 in Israel who have not bowed down to Baal.

Elijah obeys God's commands and leaves Mt. Horeb and he comes to Elisha working in the field and Elijah anoints him. Elijah now has a partner for the rest of his ministry time on earth. This may have been as long as 10 years together.

God gives Elijah a word of judgement to give to King Ahab. Ahab's response was to tear his clothes, put on sackcloth and fast. And because Ahab humbled himself in repentance, God withheld the judgement saying, "I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son" God relents, because He is gracious and He desires all people come to Him. God responds when we repent.

At the end of Elijah's ministry Elijah is one of two people mentioned in the Bible who were taken alive to heaven. We read in 2 Kings 2:11-12 "As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, 'My father, My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!' And Elisha saw Elijah no more."

Elijah's Legacy

⁃ Malachi's prophecy (Malachi 4:5-6)
⁃ Gabriel and Zechariah (Luke 1:17)
⁃ Elijah who was to come (Matthew 11;13-14)
⁃ Transfiguration of Jess (Matthew 17:2-3)
⁃ Prayer life of Elijah (James 5:17-18)

A big takeaway from Elijah's story is that we are to follow God no matter what comes our way, no matter what may be happening in our lives or in the world around us because God is faithful and He knows how to defend and take care His own.

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This question is often asked this way:
⁃ Is the Holy Spirit an impersonal force?
⁃ What does the Bible say about this?
⁃ What does the Holy Spirit do?
⁃ Why are some afraid of the Holy Spirit?

Let us consider:
Is the Holy Spirit a "Force" or a "Person"

Marks of Personality:
⁃ Intellect
⁃ Emotion
⁃ Will
Are these evident in the Holy Spirit? Let's look in the Bible and see what we find, as there is so much confusion about the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit
⁃ Speaks - Acts 13:20 (….the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
⁃ Forbids certain things - Acts 16:6-7 (….having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching….but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to."
⁃ Guides - gives direction - John 16:13 Jesus says, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth…."
⁃ Teaches - John 14:26 Jesus says, "but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my team, will teach you all things…."
⁃ Helps - John 14:16-17 Jesus says, "And I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of truth….."
⁃ Predicts - insight and prophetic revelation - Acts 21:11 "Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.'" And this is something that did happen to Paul.
⁃ Can Be Lied to - Acts 5:3-4 The story of Ananias and Sepphira selling property. Peter says, "Ananias how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit ….. You have not lied just to human beings but to God."
⁃ Can be Grieved - disappointed by our behavior or when we do not listen to God - Ephesians 4:30 "And do not grieve the Holt Spirit of God…"
⁃ Intercedes for us - he prays - Romans 8:27 "And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God."
⁃ Testifies - bears witness to Jesus and makes Jesus known - John 15:26 Jesus says, "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about the Me." The Holy Spirit testifies to who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. The Holy Spirit testifies to each one of us that Jesus is our only Hope, and our Messiah.

Back to the question of why be afraid of the Holy Spirit?
Father - Son - Spirit = three in One.
The Holy Spirit is real and is part of the essence of the One True Living God. And Holy Spirit desires to move in power in our lives and desires that we experience a real and personal relationship with Him. It is only in the Living God that we have life forever.

Pastor closes with: The Father gives the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him. That's a promise for each one of us.(Luke 11:13 "…how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!")

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Why did Jesus refer to Himself so often (81 times in the Gospels) as "The Son of Man?" The answer lies in a dream God sent to Daniel almost six centuries earlier!

Pastor opens today's class with the words from Psalm 135:15-18 "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them." We will see the truth of these words in today's study.

Elijah' Days: Most of this prophet's ministry was during the height of King Ahab in the north in Israel and King Jehoshaphat in the south in Judah. His name, Elijah, is even prophetic. In Hebrew it literally means, my God is Jehovah.

⁃ A time of great apostasy - under Ahab and Jezebel there was an attempt to get rid of any semblance of worship of the Living God and to supplant God with the worship of Baal.
⁃ A prophet of great faith (Elijah)
⁃ A man of insignificance (very little is know about him, was he even an Israelite?)
⁃ A time of great danger for believers. Ahab and Jezebel sought to destroy God's prophets.
⁃ A ministry of great impact

Elijah's ministry is recorded in
1 Kings 17-19, 21
2 Kings 1-2
2 Chronicles 21

Elijah's Ministry:
⁃ Prediction and Provision (1 Kings 17) Elijah speaks that there will not be rain or dew for the next few years. This is a direct attack on King Ahab's gods. And the drought begins. Elijah goes into hiding. There are some great stories of God's miraculous provision for Elijah during the famine.
⁃ Contest at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18-19) God tells Elijah 3 years after the drought started that he was to go to Ahab and tell him that God would send rain. Elijah confronts Ahab about abandoning God and says for Ahab and his people and 850 prophets of Baal to meet him, a prophet of God, at Mt. Carmel and offers them the choice to follow God or Baal. Elijah is severely outnumbered against 850 false prophets, but the contest begins.
⁃ The Contest - those prophets worshiping Baal were told to pray to Baal for Baal to bring fire onto their altar, but it never comes. Elijah then builds his altar of 12 stones (1 for each tribe of Israel), slaughters the bull and then covers the altar in water and at 3pm he prays to God and the fire of the Lord falls on Elijah's altar. When the people see this they fall and cry out, "The Lord, He is God, the Lord, He is God!" They destroy the false prophets, and the rains start falling.
⁃ The Aftermath - Elijah runs to Jezreel (the summer palace) where Jezebel threatens him saying she is going to ensure he is killed. Elijah becomes fearful and runs for his life. He hides in the wilderness and becomes very discouraged and depressed. He tells God that he's had enough, and to take his life. Then an angel of the Lord comes and tells him to head to Mt. Sinai where the Lord will appear to him.

Join us next week as we continue our study of Elijah!

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Pastor opens with Psalm 33:12 "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance."

Our class starts and ends with the story of the kings of Judah. But in between Asa's 40 year reign as a king of Judah and his son, Jehoshaphat's 22 year reign, we see the turmoil and chaos that is transpiring in Israel the northern kingdom.

Major events of Asa's Reign:
⁃ Zera the Cushite attacks (2 Chr. 14:8-15)
⁃ Azariah and Covenant Renewal (2 Chr. 15:1-19)
⁃ Treaty with Ben-Hadad of Aram (2 Chr. 16:1-6)
⁃ Hanani the Seer rebukes Asa (2 Chr. 16:7-10)

In 1 Kings 15:16-17 we read about the tension between Baasha, King of Israel and Asa, King of Judah, and how there was war between Asa and Baasha. Baasha fortifies Ramah on the main road to Jerusalem close to the border between to Israel and Judah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering Judah's territory.

Asa retaliates but instead of calling on God as he has in the past, he calls on a foreign power and gives temple adornments, silver and gold to the King of Aram and asks him to attack Baasha. Ben-Hadad of Aram does attack Israel, the northern kingdom and wins.

Hanani, a prophet comes to Asa following his treaty with Aram and says, "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war." Asa was so angry at the prophet that he put him in prison.

Asa was a good king and had sought to follow the Lord when he first ruled, but in the later years of his reign he did not call on the Lord, instead he relies on himself and others and not God.

The scriptures say, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Asa started out that way, but he did not finish that way. A lesson for us today.

Meanwhile, up north… (in Israel) we read in 1 Kings 15-16. 910-870 BC during the 40 year reign of Asa in Judah, this is how it was going in Israel.

Jeroboam's son Nadab is on the throne and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord following the ways of his father Jeroboam. Nadab rules for only 2 years. Baasha kills Nadab and rules Israel for 24 years. Baasha battles Israel because of King Asa of Judah's request. Baasha defeats Israel and kills off all of Jeroboam's family, ending the rule of Jeroboam's family and fulfilling the prophetic word given to Jeroboam. Ahijah's prophetic word had said that Jeroboam was to follow God, and if he did his family would continue to reign but if he did not it would end.

We begin to see that when a nation abandons God it invites disaster. The kingdom of Israel is in chaos. We can see it in the list of rulers of Israel over the next years:
Nadab - 2 years (son of Jeroboam)
Baasha - 24 years (kills Nadab and Jeroboam's family)
Elah - 2 years (son of Baasha killed by Zimri)
Zimri - 7 days (killed by Baasha's family)
Omri - 12 years (build new capital: Samaria)
Ahab - 22 years (Omri's son - he was the worst king of all. Marries Jezebel and establishes Baal worship) 1 Kings 16-22.

God's anger is aroused with this succession of evil kings of Israel….

…But in the southern kingdom of Judah, Jehoshaphat is king. 1 chronicles 17 870-848 BC - he was a man who sought the Lord his God. Jehoshaphat was the son of Asa. The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed the ways of David instead of the practices that we see goin on in Israel.

Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor. He removed asheriah poles, he sent teachers out to the people of Judah to teach them about the law in the Torah and revival breaks out.

Join us next week as we meet Elijah!

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This class will focus on Rehoboam the king of Judah, the southern kingdom, and his son Abijah as found in 1 Kings 14-15 and 2 Chronicles 11-13. They reigned 931-910 BC.

In 2 Chronicles 12:1-5 we read that 5 years into Rehoboam's reign that he and his kingdom have abandoned the law of the Lord. Rehoboam rules from Jerusalem and is attacked by the king of Egypt who has a huge army and captures the cities along the way to Jerusalem. Then the prophet Shemaiah comes and tells Rehoboam, "This is what the Lord says, 'You have abandoned me; therefore I now abandon you to Shishak (Egyptian king).'"

In verse 6 we read that after hearing the prophets words, Rehoboam humbled himself and his people humbled themselves and they understand that the Lord is just. Their humility is an example for us today. We too must be humble before God.

Verse 7, we see that when they humbled themselves the mercy of God was displayed as He says that He will not destroy them but will give them deliverance and will not pour out His wrath on Jerusalem through the Egyptian king, Shishak. But that there would still be a consequence to having abandoned God's law.

Rehoboam reigned 17 years and what we learn is: There is nothing more important than knowing the living God and walking with Him.

Rehoboam's son Abijah succeeds him as king and reigns 3 years. The war between Jeroboam (Northern kingdom) and Rehoboam continues while Abijah is king as well. In 2 Chronicle 13:3 we see Abijah battling with 400,000 and that Jeroboam had a troop total of 800,000.

Abijah announces to Jeroboam and his men, "God is with us; he is our leader. The priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. People of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed." Abijah recognizes it's important to follow God and at the sound of Judah's priests' trumpets the men of Judah raised the battle cry and God gave them victory over Jeroboam and his men.

Though Abijah and his men were outnumbered 2 to 1, we read in verse 18 that the people of Judah were victorious because they relied on the Lord.

This is a truth not just for back then, but it is a truth for us today. This story is a reminder to rely on the Lord no matter how bleak the outlook appears, no matter how difficult things look, we can rely on the Lord!

Abijah's son, Asa, succeeded Abijah. Asa does rule for 40 years, ruling Judah from 910-870 BC. His story is found in 1 Kings 15 and 2 Chronicles 14-16.

In 2 Chronicles 14:2 we read that Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord. Asa was the 1st of 8 "good" kings of Judah. Judah had 19 kings, 8 were "good."
Israel also had 19 kings - none of them are described as "good".

While Asa ruled, he removed the foreign altars, cut down the Asherah poles and commanded Judah to seek the Lord and to obey the Lord's laws and commands. The kingdom was at peace under him. He got rid of the false worship, wanting His "people to worship God alone."

Near the end of Asa's reign they are under several major attacks. Asa calls on the Lord to help them and outnumbered they win because they relied on the Lord.

Azariah, the prophet, then speaks to Asa, 2 Chronicles 15:1-2, and tells Asa that the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And revival brakes out across Judah. They turned their hearts back to God.

May we too seek the Lord, humble ourselves and turn our hearts to Him, for in God alone is Salvation, in God alone is strength and in God alone is victory!

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