Finishing Well

Title: Finishing Well!

Text: II Chron 25-26

Pray!!!

(Playing the role of citizen under Uzziah’s leadership)

Introduction:

It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, Congratulations." I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus. On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trap, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. You don’t forget a mistake like that; you just learnfrom it and become determined that you will never do that again. I haven’t in the 30 years since.

- This is the direction we are going in this morning. I want to show that it’s not always how we start in life that’s important, but it’s how we finish.

- We are going to discover some life lessons that we can learn from two kings, who both started out great but ended with tragedy. They fell into a trap that we all fall into from time to time.

- The trap that this particular sale man uses on people when selling his items, he would say: "Let me show you something several of your neighbors said you couldn’t afford."

- It’s the mentality of overconfidence, pride and presumption.

- I want to play the role of a citizen in the time of the two kings, and attempt to show you what he saw from these two kings of Judah.

Playing The Role Of The Citizen: (Narrative Sermon)

- Amaziah was King of Judah and I can remember when he took power 29 years ago. He was just 25 years old and full of energy.

- He was an okay King, doing right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.

- Meaning he began well but later fell into idolatry (vs 14) He did not determine to follow God with all his heart.

- There is some important lessons to be learned, but I will discuss this later.

- Amaziah was a man that started well as a King and man of God, but then become unpopular with his own people, meaning me, and was forced into exile.

- He went to a place called Lachish but was not even safe there, for a band of assassins found him, killed him, and brought his body back for burial. Not a great finish to anyone’s life.

- Uzziah was now my King, and I thought for a king he looked a bite young, but the people elevated him to kingship when he was only 16 years old.

- Uzziah was a good king, but not an outstanding one.

- There was no revival during his reign but he was a good king. (II Chron 26:4-5)

- Uzziah reigned for a long period of time, 52 years in all.

Uzziah’s Successes:

- Now I knew that God was with our young king because God rewarded his godliness with success in serval areas.

- Areas that included great military adventures.

- He destroyed the Philistine towns of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod and rebuilt others in the region.

- He was a good looking man, one who feared the Lord (vs 1-5)

- It seemed that God blessed everything that he touched and it was apparent that God was with Him and helping him in a great way. (Vs 6-7)

- I wasn’t complaining because if God was helping our king, the blessings usually had a way of falling on the people, people like me and my family

- I guess you could say, I was excited as to the direction we were going.

- He became a forceful figure and was very logical in his building techniques.

- He created great designs for our city and was instrumental in developing our weapons to help protect us.

- He was a strong, creative, forceful warrior and we all loved his accomplishments. (Vs 8-15)

Uzziah’s Downfall:

- Things were going not to bad, people kept to themselves and were doing there own thing.

- I would like to say things were going great, but there was no real presence of the Lord. I knew the Lord was with our king, but it just seemed something was missing.

- People were not totally devoted to God, there was still evil going on, and the king seemed to be unconcerned about there Spiritual destiny.

- It seemed he was more focused on building a name for himself then pleasing God.