Hear The Warning

Hear the warning

2 Kings 1:1-18

Good Morning

This week we remember 911- 19 years ago- Where does time go?

A time that this country was rocked and surprised by evil and terror and for a moment brought to its knees.

Shock and awe made room for a time of unity and a time to reflect back on our relationship with the God of the Bible.

As a country and as citizens of a free nation, we began seeking Him for answers.

We sang God bless America in the halls of congress and no one was objecting.

We were in our churches and we were on our knees asking God to intervene in a time of unrest.

Hear the warning from the Lord this morning- We need to go back to our roots and ask God to forgive us and revive us and to lead and direct us.

Prayer- This week has been a reminder of how much we need you and how much we depend on your goodness and mercy to see us through. We open our hearts and our lives to you and ask that you would change the heart of America to again be seeking you and obeying your principals set out in your word for us. In Jesus name. Amen.

Introduction-

Please turn to 2 Kings Chapter 1

I would like to ask you a question-

If I told you to not touch the kitchen stove because it is hot and you saw the red glow of the burner-would you touch it? Of course not because you saw that it was hot.

What if I told you to not touch the burner that it was hot and you could not see the glow of the burner- would you not touch it or would you have to touch it to see just how hot it is?

How many would get burnt because they did not take the warning that was given because they had to check it out themselves?

Most of us at some point in our lives would have to touch the burner-

It is like seeing a wet paint sign- you have to see if it is wet.

This country is going through a warning phase with God and we are testing Him to see how hot the burner is and if we will touch it or take the warning.

Today like never before we are rising a group of people called “The Nones”-

They are people with no affiliation to the subject of faith.

They would check the box “None”

They are not associated with any religious organization.

The Nones

For a group of people who proudly claim no affiliation to God, why do they have so much opinion when it comes to God?

Why are the Atheist so concerned of a God they don’t believe in?

When you were young, you may have touched the hot burners, because you did not know any better, but as you get older, you should be smart enough to learn from other people’s mistakes and not make them yourself.

It is better and wiser and quicker if we learn from someone else’s mistakes than go through it ourselves.

I have made my share of mistakes- In fact, I am close to being an expert at making mistakes. Anyone else need to wear that label today?

Mistakes take many forms- bad information, poor choices, bad judgment.

Mistakes are not necessarily sin, but they can become sin if we allow them to snowball in a domino effect and take us deeper and deeper away from God and the values we hold too.

Let me set up the text this morning-

Remember the nation of Israel is divided and had two kings.

One kingdom Israel and one kingdom Judah. They should have had one king for the nation of Israel but they were divided and had two.

Ahaziah was king in the kingdom of Israel- he is the son of King Ahab who was killed in battle and was an evil king.

Ahaziah was just like his dad and took the nation away from God.

He introduced idolatry by making golden calves and He led the nation to worshiped Baal and Asherah and it provoked the Lord to anger. (important/ see in a minute)

His father an evil king and his mother was Jezebel. Tell you anything?

“You shall have no other gods before me” Exodus 20:3

In this day and age if someone would stand out on the corner and proclaim the word of God with consequences and doom, they would be met with opposition and the press would be telling everyone how politically incorrect they were.

How that person… is in-tolerate and is only speaking what the Lord thinks!

You better know that if the Lord is the same yesterday, today, forever, that there is still a select group of believers called to deliver the hard messages for society to hear.