Fasting (4)

1 Kings 22:5-18

Today we sang a hymn condfessing that we will be soldiers of the cross no matter what others say and that we will do the work of Christ.
What is the work of Christ?
Doing work at church or at your business does not make it the work of Christ or not but it is the attitude of one that has Christ in His heart and does everything to give Christ the glory.
My work is to be the work of Christ.
A parent is to do their work as Christ and children are to be children as of Christ.
Before you go out and try to do work, you must know how to be responsible in your home.
A bucket that leaks at home leaks outside the home.
You must learn to be and do your work wherever you are but it starts at home with you.
Today in 1 Kings we see the story of the Jehosaphat.
Every journey starts with one step.
In order to accumulate great welath you must start saving every penny.
All your dreams will never come true without work.
Do we not all have dreams?
Who are the ones who achieve them?
It is the one who is willing to sacrifice pleasure to do what it takes to achieve their dream.
Look back at your life and see why you are where you are.
You will see that you have made many mistakes and did not change your behavior.
When you pray it is not "Lord please give me so that I can" that is an excuse.
You must go and do because you have already been given.
It is you who did not do because you did not want to do whatever it is that was put before you.
I must confess that it is my fault that I am in the situation in my life because I put myself here.
But who likes to confess this?
Are your thoughts the same as God's thoughts?
If it were how fantastic would it be.
Then eveyrthing would come to pass because God's will would happen.
Then what is different in your thoughts compared to God's thougths?
When we make something, we always need materials.
God does not. He creates out of nothing.
This is basic.
Also, there are rules that govern our lives. Like mathematics, common sense, and rules of nature.
There is no rules that govern God's thoughts.
Noah was told to build a boat on a mountain. That does not make sense to us, but God knew what He was doing.
Why would he make Noah build it on the mountain?
Is it possible that God forsaw that the flood would be so great and powerful, that the waves would be too much even for the ark to bear, thhat all the living people and animals in the boat would not be able to sustain the power of the water as it rose to the top?
God operates outside of our understanding.
Even if we do not understand we are to obey because He is God.
We don't know why He would tell Abraham to sacrifice His son, but after we see the grace and love of God.
Is it the only time, how about when David was tending sheep, but he is called and anointed king of Israel. Do we understand these things?
When I want to make a change in my life, I cannot wait for things to happen, rather I must put my life on the line and do everything in my power to change it. Thought alone is not enough. There must be action.
Not only in my life but especially in my walk with God.
In our lives we refuse to listen to the things that show us our sin in our lives, but rather we lie to ourselves and tell ourselves the things that make us feel good.
In today's passage Micaiah prophesied the same as the other 400 prophets. Was this prophesy right ot wrong?
Micaiah always prophesied what was right, but then why did Jehosaphat question him and tell him to tell the truth?
In our lives, when peolpe pray for us and we dislike it, we too instead of looking at oursleves we point a finger at those who prayer and call them false.
If we look at the passage again, we see that Jehosaphat already knew what the outcome was going to be.
So what did Jehosaphat do, he did what he wanted even though God said no. So he change his clothes thinking that he could fool God and was struck by an arrow and died. You cannot fool God. You cannot do what you want and think that you will get away with it.
In chapter 21 Ahab was told that he would die, but unlike Jehosaphat, he humbled himself before God and God spared him.
Who are you lie?
Are you like Jehosaphat who tries to fool God, or like Ahab who will humble himsefl before God?
I must decide how I will live my life. Will I decide to live according to what I want to do, and suffer God's wrath and be struck by the arrow when I am unaware?
We all have the ability to see how someone is doing, what kind of week they have had, if they are suffering or glad. But our weakness is that we don't know how to look at oursleves. We can't see the sin in our lives but we sit in the seat of judgement and persecute and judge others and we make excuses for why we don't try to imporve our lives.
If this is the life you are living then you will live like Ahab.
If I do not want to do 100 percent of what God says, then it is better that I dont' do any of it. If I did 99% but failed with 1% then it is because that 1% weighs more than the 99. It is something that I refuse to give up or do because I am not completely following God.
God told Abraham to give up his son. He had hundreds of slaves and animals.
Which would be easier to give up. All the slaves and snimals or his only son?
His son is the 1%.
If you are told to build a boat on the mountain but do not, then you are in rebellion to God.
If you are called by God, then what is it that you have to do?
It is to obey.
Obedience does not come from doing what you want, but doing what you are told to do.
But instead of obeying, we ask God for blessings. Instead of humbling oursleves to God and His will to be blessed, we put an ulitmatum to god and tell Him that we will follow if He gives us what we desire.
99% of people think about the future.
1% do something to make that future happen.
Why do you follow God?
Is it for your gain?
Yes, that is fine too, but what is it that you truly want?
Is it not to succeed in the Lord?
We told that only one percent will go to heaven, is this any suprise if only 1% of the world is capable of being successful?
I pray that all of you will be successful in living the life that gives glory to God.