How to doom a kingdom, part I (We serve a powerful God)

One of the passages I read today is one of the most interesting ones in the Bible, in my opinion. This is because it gives a tiny little bit of insight into the doings of our God, in a similar fashion to the books of Job or Revelation. I am always fascinated when I can see a little of God’s glory and supremacy like that!

The text is in 1 Kings 22:1-40. A few quick words on the setting: Jehoshaphat reigns in Judah. One of the better kings in history, he lives for the Lord (He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. v. 43a). He also married family of Ahab, who reigned over Israel.This is one of the most evil kings in the history of God’s people. He pretty much always did the opposite of what God had ordained. (There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited.He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel. Chapter 21:25f)

The first part of this text can teach us a few very important things that apply in manhood, leadership, worship, life, and everything else important.

The weight of the world – Leave everything behind!

Again, this is based on Paul Washers sermon on biblical manhood.

If you look at the fake fantasy of the world, or you won’t be satisfied by the beauty of God’s creation! Nor will you be happy with your wife… You get to the point where you are so bombarded by fiction that the real thing won’t bring you any joy! The false prophet isn’t only mormon or jehovas witness, it’s wall street and marketing!

“In our own home, we don’t have cable, we don’t have anything! We can selectively watch things.”  Spongebob would have been considered grotesque, viral, disgusting a few years ago – now, it’s for children. Same thing here. In my home, we have an LCD screen, and we watch stuff from a Raspberry Pi , or a laptop. No ads, no movies we don’t wanna see, no waste of time. You can watch so many things that you lose discernment for what is good and you become animalistic.

Even good things can be bad. Don’t let good movies replace the time you spend reading to your children! When books will replace multimedia in the home, you will see a transformation in your home! Not just christian books, any good books! Nothing can replace the social interaction of a father reading to his sons. This will build relationship, and the sons will learn a lot more from it than just the content of the book!
You see, Christianity goes really, really deep. It’s not about going to church on Sundays and not doing a few things, it changes everything! You don’t have to become a road scholar to change this, it’s simple things like reading with your children! Or else, the media will get you!

Avoid people who do not fear the Lord. Do not hang around with people who do not resemble the scripture. Do you hate the works of the world? Flee them! They shall not cling to you!

 2 Timothy 2:16-21

Even ungodly speech will affect us to the point where it will lead us into ungodliness! “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.” (2 Timothy 2:19)
You want to be used of the Lord? Take inventory of your life. Separate yourself from the wicked things. Like and athlete, follow Hebrews 12:1-2. Leave anything that is wicked and wrong behind. If you really want to reach your goal, it has to be your only goal! Everything you do will have to bring you closer to your goal. If it doesn’t, stop it!

Do not learn a new truth in one evening and impose it upon your home. That’s legalistic and may turn into a dictatorship.

1. Test the truth in the scripture.
2. Study to find out what you can apply.
3. Apply it in your life.
4. Talk it over with your family.

Most of the things called “christian” in America today are not christian. Are you ready to set yourself apart, and be used of the Lord?

What now? – Steps to godly manhood

Here we go with the next part of the sermon!I’m going to look at what we can do to become godly men.

First of all, men must dominate themselves through scripture and the holy spirit.
We must avoid evil influences. Avoid the media and godless conversations like the plague. Like God told Cain, sin waits around the corner like a wild beast. You ought to fear. There is a certain thing about fear that’s very healthy: realising that you are not superman and that if you fall over, you leave a wife, and children, and a church.
If you are single and wanna live your life, go ahead. But if you are a man and have a woman, fear about the destruction of your soul, her soul, and the souls of your children.

Set yourself apart from the world!

Avoid evil influences. As Romans 12:2 says, we should not conform to this world. No unequal yokes. This doesn’t only apply to courting and marriage, but also to the way we spend our time, and who we spend it with. If you have ungodly friends, or spend time on television and multimedia, you will be influenced by that!

Flee lust.
2 Timothy 2:22
We need to reject the lust within, and actively! pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace.

We fight the devil, but we flee youthful lust. Something in our flesh is worse than the devil himself! Do not put yourself in a situation where you are to be tested.
Most teenagers have already had romantic sexual experiences.
Do not be alone with a person of the opposite sex that you are attracted to. And do not put your children into that situation. Where did you learn that it’s time to date with 16? From the world! If you put two people of the opposite sex together, they will fall. This is one of the reasons why I decided to follow the principles of courtship. You can find that post in November 2012.
“My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.” The church is destroyed because we don’t turn to the scriptures for matters of family. We conform to the world in every possible way because we think that we need to be like them to be relevant, to “be a light” as they say. But this is completely unbiblical! You see:
“that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” (Philippians 2:15.16)
We are a light in the world when we are not conformed to it, but separated! Do you want to be preached the bible, or live a pagan life with a few christian elements?

Train your children so that the only suitor they will accept is a godly one.
Do not be involved with other men who do not care about the things of God – I don’t care how much you read the bible, you will be influenced. Protect the eyes!

Psalm 101:3 & Job 31:1

In our perverse culture, even the women are now attracted to the opposite sex through the eyes. Like the psalmist, we should protect our eyes, and therefore our minds! Our Prayer should be Psalm 19:14 – “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

Let us not stain ourselves with one drop of unclean things! This holds for any form of entertainment (movies etc.) and friendships!
If a movie has only one dirty scene, don’t watch it!

If we really want to be godly men, we should “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Romans 13:14) Do we really fight to achieve this?

Upcoming series: Paul Washer on biblical manhood

I’m currently going through a short series by Paul Washer on biblical manhood.
It’s very dense, so I’ll write posts on multiple topics that I’ll take from the series.