One Year Bible, June 28

2 KINGS 13:1 - 14:29                                                                                                    
IDOLATORS:  Israel is being slowly destroyed because of idolatry.  IDOLATRY: Anything that substitutes for God in our quest to fill the abysmal hungers in our heart. Idolatry is man-centered religion - departing from God-centeredness.  Whenever we act independently from God, we immediately identify with the heathen world around us.  Idolatry is hypocrisy and doublemindedness.  Idolatry is when we believe any kind of man-centered ideas, opinions, actions, beliefs, systems, anything at all that does not have the ability to satisfy us, in substitution for Truth.  When we do that, we are vulnerable to destruction by Satan and the world-spirit.

ELISHA:   Now over 90 years old, and 63-66 years since his call to ministry.  Joash, King of Israel, came to see him on his deathbed, not out of love for Elisha, but out of fear for himself and his kingdom.

"THE ARROW OF THE LORD'S DELIVERANCE":   With Elisha's death, Joash fears that his "link" with Jehovah will be gone.   Israel's future will be shaky at best without Elisha's intercession.   And so, Elisha tries to demonstrate to him that this is wrong thinking.  After firing an arrow to symbolize Israel's victory over Syria, Elisha expected Joash to "get it", and really trample the ground with arrows to signify a slaughter!  With this chapter, we come to an end of an era—the times of Elijah and Elisha. The time for Israel to repent is running out.

BUT THERE IS MORE......   After Elisha died and was entombed, there was another funeral nearby, that got interrupted by marauding Moabites.   So the family tossed the body into Elisha's tomb, which was apparently easily accessible.   When the dead body landed on Elisha's bones, the man came to life!  This miracle was designed to give Joash courage and hope, so that he would engage Syria in battle, and experience the victories that God had promised. If Elisha’s bones still had power in the tomb, then surely his words were also to be trusted.   And so the chapter ends, "Three times did Joash beat him, and recovered the cities of Israel."

AMAZIAH, KING OF JUDAH (the good guys):   This king had a good beginning. Prideful because of his successes (14:10), he decided to take on the King of Israel, Jehoash.   Jehoash defeated him and pillaged the Temple and the Palace.  This was Amaziah's punishment for defeating Edom and then bringing their gods back to Jerusalem and setting them up to worship!   Fifteen years later, there was a conspiracy that murdered Amaziah and buried him in Mt. Zion.

JEROBOAM II, KING OF ISRAEL:  Ruled 41 years, the longest and most prosperous reign of any Northern Kings.   He did more of the same as his fathers: "the evil" (idolatry). God is setting us up to see the justice of what He did to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and even to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

RESPONSE:   God HATES idolatry!  Yet, for some reason, these kings thought that they could get away with it.   In fact, they had come to believe that by "covering all their bases", they would prosper.   So, they thought that the more gods they collected, the better off they were. And so, we try that too.   We have hobbies, more electronics, more children, more boyfriends, more money, another house, a bigger car --- whatever makes us "happy" and "complete".  But these things don't work!   Being TOLERANT of other "religions" doesn't work either. Fortunately, as we grow and mature as believers, God strips away our other dependencies.   We have to teach our hearts that God is enough.   If we have nothing but God, He is still enough. We must constantly be on guard against ever thinking that we need God AND......, whatever it may be.   If we would worship and give thanks until we are satisfied, we would find that He really and truly is sufficient and does satisfy the hungers of the heart.

ACTS 18:23 - 19:12                                                                                                      
Paul is learning how the Kingdom of God gets extended:

PHILIPPI: Acts 16:12-40: The importance and POWER of prayer and worship.

THESSALONICA & BEREA: Acts 17:1-14: The importance and POWER of the Word.

ATHENS: Acts 17:15-45: Man's problem is MORAL, not intellectual; so intellectual arguments fail to convince.

CORINTH: Acts 18:1-17: The importance of the of strength and authority of the Gospel.

EPHESUS: Acts 18:18-28: While in Corinth, Paul met Priscilla and Aquila. When he left Ephesus, he left them there as intercessors, along with Apollos who joins them later. After returning and reporting to his "sending church" in Antioch, Paul returned to EPHESUS.

EPHESUS: Acts 19:1-20:1: The importance of the POWER and authority of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  The believers in Ephesus had been baptized in repentance of John, but not in the POWER of the Holy Spirit. First they were instructed to believe on Jesus, then they were baptized in the Name of Jesus, THEN, with hands laid on them, they were filled with Holy Spirit and spoke with tongues.  Paul taught there at least two years (v.10). EPHESUS was the center of Diana worship and so was held by strong and entrenched demonic powers. (Incidentally Diana was a mother-goddess.) V. 37 says that Paul and his group were "nor yet blasphemers of your goddess." WHICH IS PROOF THAT PAUL DID NOT "COME AGAINST RULING SPIRITS" in Ephesus, but PREACHED THE GOSPEL in the power and authority of the Holy Spirit.

RESPONSE:   Going by the response of the people in Ephesus, it becomes obvious that the Presence of the Lord had infiltrated and influenced their systems. It says that the "word of God prevailed".  Why did the Ephesians wait two years to say anything?  Obviously because of the power and authority of prayer, worship, the Word, the Gospel and the Holy Spirit!

PSALM 146:1-10                                                                                                           
Psalm 146-150 are "HALLELUJAH!" Psalms, each beginning and ending with "praise ye the Lord" or "hallelujah".   They were sung at the dedication of the post-exilic Temple and were Psalms sung by Haggai and Zechariah.  This is a personal Psalm revealing our lifelong confidence in God.  As long as I live, I will praise God!  He shall reign forever!  But God turns the world of the wicked upside-down.

PROVERBS 18:2-3                                                                                                                
A fool doesn't seek knowledge because he thinks that he already possesses all he needs to know.   And so, he is talkative, showing off his "true greatness" - which is actually just foolishness because it's based on a contempt for true knowledge (which begins and ends with God).  When the wicked comes among wise men, he comes not to learn but to speak contempt on every persons and everything, especially on the godly.  He has no respect for true knowledge either.

RESPONSE:   Trust in humans is, at best, temporal because they die just like everything else on the earth. If you want Someone you can trust beyond the grave, it must be God - Who made heaven and earth and sea, and reigns forever. We shouldn't even trust our politicians or leaders to deliver us or rescue us. They are only human and their deliverance won't be lasting. Only God is worth praise FOREVER - and FOR AS LONG AS WE LIVE. He will never disappoint.