Wednesday Night Services

Our perspective of God determines our relationship with God.

Why does the Bible tell me to test the spirits? What am I supposed to test for and how do i conduct a test of something I hear in the spirit? If the Bible tells us to do this, it also must teach us how.

King Josiah leads Israel back into true worship, purges the land of idols, and then dies prematurely in a battle with Egypt at only 39 years of age. Why did he die early? Did God look to get him out of the way so he could execute the judgement on Israel that He promised would not happen until after Josiah dies? How do we keep ourselves from coming to wrong and harmful conclusions when something in the Bible or even our own lives happens?

Amon was an evil king like his father, but he didn't get the opportunity to indulge in all the sin he wanted and then repent when he was older like his father. Josiah takes the throne after Amon is assassinated and turns to the Lord. Along the way he makes a frightening discovery!

What things we CAN mix with our faith that are helpful?

What things do people mix with their faith that they should NOT!

How does any person or group of people who went through such a life altering revival like the one under King Hezekiah, go from serving God with a whole heart to serving idols? And not just any, but even those that require burning your own infant children on an alter of fire! The answers can help us understand our world better with the violence in religions and their attraction to people.

Hezekiah started off his reign with one of the greatest revivals in Judah's history. People not only turned back to God, but they turned against the idols that had infected the land, and they did it willingly... not forced. So how does a king like that go from great revivalist to having God turn against him in around 10-12 years? Find out what took him down, what he did to make a comeback, and how you can spot the same thing in your life (as well as repair the damage if it has already affected you.) We are in 2 Kings 20 and we will see that Hezekiah did not just defeat this once in his life and was done with it, but he yielded to it again. Many Christians are also affected by this condition, and its casualty count continues to rise! The tough part is that it is a condition that once we are infected, we seldom are aware of it's work. We'll give you some of the symptoms to help you discover its presence in this episode of the study in 2 Kings.

Last time we looked at all the reforms Hezekiah put in to change the heart of the people to serve God with a willing heart. After that, the people went out and cut down the idols and hish places and worshipped God. 1 Coronicles 32:1 reads "After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah..." Why is Israel over run by the enemy after turning back to the Lord? How the people handle this tells us much about how we should face our own battles which don't seem to be going very well, even after we have been faithful to God. The way most people handle these situations is the reason they lose. Judah and Hezekiah are great examples for us to follow.

Hezekiah's reforming of the nation of Judah out of their idolitry and renewed into worhip of Jehovah is unlike other reforms we have seen in the nation of Israel. The account of this in the book of kings doesn't record how this reform happened, but Chronicles does, so we will turn there to see what made this unique and set the stage for what is to come.

The Bible tells us that king Hoshea (the last king of the northern tribes) was evil, but not as bad as those who came before him. Why does the nation fall under him instead of one of the more evil kings before him? Why do the northern tribes become dispersed by the Assyrians and "lost" instead of preserved like their brethren in Judah were? They all did evil and worship idols with horrible sacrifices, so why is their identity as Israelites not preserved? We take on these and other questions from this chapter.

Good leaders do not always attract and create good followers, and bad leaders can have followers who are good or even great. The question is not always are you a great leader, for until you learn to be a good or even a great follower you don't have what it takes to be a great leader.

The final kings of the northern tribes of Israel. Makes you wonder ... why does anyone want to be king so badly over such a mess of a nation!

King Uzziah of Judah was called a good king and had many great accomplishments and inovative ideas during his reign. A favorite of the prophet Jeremiah, but his reign came to a bad end as he became puffed up in pride. How does a good person turn bad? For most it is a loss of good influences and their replacement with bad. It doesn't happen overnight, but it is amazing how often it happens. We look at the life of Uzziah to see how we can prevent it from happening to us.

Jeroboam II is one the most successful of the kings in the northern tribes and yet he is called evil. Why does he come to a place of such success? There is not a whole lot of detail about his time as king in 2 Kings, but as we look to the minor prophets we get a lot more information.

How does a God fearing king go from serving the true God, to worshiping false Gods, and turning away from the Lord? The same way people do today. Learn what you need to know so it never happens to you!

How often has the enemy of our faith told you that God will not show up for you? He tries to dicourage us from even asking God anything telling us all the reasons God is upset with us, mad, etc. Yet here in this account of the kings of the Northern tribes of Israel we have God answering prayers and showing up for two kings who are described as "evil" in the Word of God. If God would show up for them, how much more would he show up for you!

How do you root out sins that have plagued a nation for decades? There are times we have elected strong Christian presidents, governors, and other leaders who promise to change policies that have been wrong from a legal or Biblical view, yet once they are in office nothing changes. We see a similar situation in the norther tribes of Israel and once again not only does a God fearing king fail to bring about any change, but he also becomes corrupted by the very thing he was supposed to change. Why does this happen so often in both the past and present? Is a lack of judgement a sign from God that He is okay with it? What can we do about it if our leaders won't change it? Well, come out tonight as we take this issue on and see what we can learn from God's Word about sins that have become embedded in a nation and it's people.

Becasue of a huge mistake Jehoshaphat made in marrying his son Jehoram into the house of Ahab. Jehoram's wife Athaliah, would try to wipe out the Davidic line just as God said He would do to the house of Ahab. Athaliah usurps the throne, kills off those who would stand in her way, and rules for about 6 years. But God had a plan to stop this attack on the house of David.

Why does God keep picking failures? How many kings did God pick who turned out to be bad kings, kings who lead the people in idolitry and other sins, and kings who did not follow God with all their heart? God has picked other people for ministry who also failed, such as pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, apostles, and even people in other minstries like worship and others. If God knows the future, why not just pick people who will stay true to the truth? There is an answer to this question and here with Jehu we look for it.