OT DAY 501 - Did Evil in The Eyes of God, Chained Reaction (Please click here for English podcast)

Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3.   Open your heart to praise the Lord

      You prepare a table before me
          in the presence of my enemies;
          you anoint my head with oil;
          my cup overflows.

       Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

          all the days of my life,
          and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
          forever.

                                     Psalm 23:5-6

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html)

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (1 Kings 15:25-16:34)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1 Kings 15&version=ESV

25 Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. 26 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.

27 Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon. 28 So Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place. 29 And as soon as he was king, he killed all the house of Jeroboam. He left to the house of Jeroboam not one that breathed, until he had destroyed it, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite. 30 It was for the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned and that he made Israel to sin, and because of the anger to which he provoked the Lord, the God of Israel.

33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years. 34 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.

23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for twelve years; six years he reigned in Tirzah. 24 He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, and he fortified the hill and called the name of the city that he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.

25 Omri did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did more evil than all who were before him. 26 For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols. 

29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. 31 And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. 32 He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34 In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

                                         1 Kings 15:25-30, 33-34; 16:23-26, 29-34

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

    My Listening

          We can see a chained reaction of many kings of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord. The situation was worse and worse, more and more evil. At the end of chapter 16, Hiel offered his two sons to sacrifice to Baal hoping for his own success in building up the city of Jericho. How terrible it is and how terrible it is that what Joshua prophesied in Joshua 6:26 happened.  

    Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 

     (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) : 

       As far as 1 Kings is concerned, the key question continues to be how faithful the kings are to Yahweh. By implication, the apostate origins and foundation of Ephraim's existence mean it is no coincidence that its history is so chaotic…

           The eight of Omri's son Ahab will be the background for the rest of 1 Kings. His representing a new low in the story of Ephraim is implicit in the note about Hiel, which implies that he sacrificed his sons as a kind of enacted prayer for the success of his building venture. 

         

John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Kings for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.75-76.

          To follow yesterday's message, we have exactly the same message but more intensified.  Jesus reminds me the same golden verse as he reminded us yesterday:  
           Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
        who walks in his ways!        Psalm 128:1

Dear Lord Jesus,

Open our eyes to see the difference between those who do evil in your eyes and those who do good in your eyes so that we belong to those who fear you and walk in your ways.  In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.

Reflect on these questions:

     1. What have you learned from the different results of all those kings? 

2. Do you think you would be caught up in this wicked chained reaction? 

    3. What have you got from Jesus today?

10,000 Reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

四十天的"破. 立"靈修:

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    Last week Michelle and I was in Toronto to do ministry for Toronto Emmanuel Church and Vintage Garden. Please see these wonderful pictures of the Sunday service of TEC and our new sales centre of Vintage Garden for the Second Phase: