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Sunday 12/08/2019 message: "little KING, BIG Prince"

Little Kings, Big Princes

You need no experience or qualifications to be used of God, you only need but to be obedient to His leading and call. The leading of the Holy Spirit is your qualifier, He is your door opener, He is your badge of authority, He is the beginning and end of your journey.

Joash was not an experienced, King, he was only 7 years old, he was there because of the obedience of those who hid him, and he was blessed as far as his ability to be led.

The voices of this world have hidden away true kings and queens, but the time for them to be revealed and exposed by the Holy Spirit, so God’s people will no longer be filled with fear, they will no longer be hidden, but will stand tall with their crowns.  For all of Creation is eagerly waiting their revealing to the world.

2 Chronicles 22 (ESV)

And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Aha-ziah, his youngest son, king in his place, for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. 2 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Om-ri. 3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly. 4 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done. For after the death of his father they were his counselors, to his undoing. 5 He even followed their counsel and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to make war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead. And the Syrians wounded Joram, 6 and he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that he had received at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was wounded.

7 But it was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah should come about through his going to visit Joram. For when he came there, he went out with Jehoram to meet Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab. 8 And when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he met the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's brothers, who attended Ahaziah, and he killed them. 9 He searched for Ahaziah, and he was captured while hiding in Samaria, and he was brought to Jehu and put to death.

• You may kill the little prices and offspring, but you will also have to deal with the strong man

• The strong man is always seeking to kill the king

10 Now when A-thal-iah (afflicted of Yahweh, God is exalted) the mother of A-haziah (Seize the vision of the Lord) saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family of the house of Judah. 11 But Je-hosha-beath ("the LORD is an oath"), the daughter of the king, took Joash (fire of YAHWEH) the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king's sons who were about to be put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram (Jehovah is exalted) and wife of Je-ho-iada (Yahweh ALWAYS knows) the priest, because she was a sister of A-haz-iah, hid him from A-thal-iah, so that she did not put him to death. 12 And he remained with them six years, hidden in the house of God, while Athaliah reigned over the land.  (The Strong man of the story)

2 Chronicles 23 (ESV)

But in the seventh year Je-hoia-da took courage and entered into a covenant with the commanders of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, Ishmael the son of Je-ho-hanan, Azariah the son of Obed, Maaseiah the son of A-da-iah, and E-lish-aphat the son of Zichri. 2 And they went about through Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers' houses of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. 3 And all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And Jehoiada said to them, “Behold, the king's son! Let him reign, as the Lord spoke concerning the sons of David.

SKIP to 12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went into the house of the Lord to the people. 13 And when she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments leading in the celebration.

Pillars:  The temple has two pillars

Ja-chin – He Shall Establish

Boaz – In It Is Strength

It was the center point of worship, God’s very dwelling place, from this point or position all of Israel would either be blessed or cursed.  The pillars represented God and by standing by them meant you were making a public statement that you and all that stood with you would be committing their lives to the Word of God and to not fulfil there vow would be to encourage the wrath of God.

Three things we can learn by what the King was doing:

1. The nature of his commitment and repentance that was so total that it turned the wrath of God away from him and his people.

2. He places himself in a position that left no room for backing down.He stood before people great and small, he refused to be a hidden King any longer.

3. The King went against the current trend of the culture and he would be built up a strong pillar, that he would take the path not easily traveled.

And Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!” 14 Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains who were set over the army, saying to them, “Bring her out between the ranks, and anyone who follows her is to be put to death with the sword.” For the priest said, “Do not put her to death in the house of the Lord.” 15 So they laid hands on her, and she went into the entrance of the horse gate of the king's house, and they put her to death there.

The temple was built, and many gates are described in Nehemiah 3

Sheep Gate, Fish Gate, Old Gate, Valley Gate, Dung Gate, Fountain Gate, Water Gate, Horse Gate, East Gate, Inspection Gate

• At the Water Gate, we worship God and at the Horse Gate, we serve humanity.

Jehoiada's Reforms the city and reestablishes true worship

SKIP to 21 So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword.

2 Chronicles 24 (ESV)

Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zi-biah of Beersheba. 2 And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3 Jehoiada got for him two wives, and he had sons and daughters.

He settles in and gets too comfortable with life and routine

4 After this Joash decided to restore the house of the Lord. 5 And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you act quickly.” But the Levites did not act quickly. (23 years later) 6 So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the congregation of Israel for the tent of testimony?”

• This shows that Joash had become complacent

• But 23 years later he gets some fire back in him and through wisdom collects the money needed.

SKIP to 17 Now after the death of Jehoiada the princes of Judah came and paid homage to the king. Then the king listened to them. 18 And they abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. 19 Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord. These testified against them, but they would not pay attention.

20 Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah ("The Lord has remembered.") the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’” 21 But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord.

• In the same way the King was established publicly, he then kills the word of the Lord publicly in the court of the house of God publicly.

• He was no longer standing by the pillars upright, but publicly sinning for all the see because he listened to the Princes of the world.

22 Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!”

Joash was later Assassinated by the Syrians who only had but a small army compared to Joash’s army, but God allowed it.

Conclusion:

• What counsel are you listening to?

• Are they Kings and Queens or are they princes and princesses?

Being led is not easy, bearing your cross daily is not easy, obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit as caused John the Baptist to loose his head, it caused Joseph to be thrown into slavery and jail, it caused John to be boiled with oil, it caused most of the disciples to be martyred, they did not take up their cross daily because it was easy, they did it because they were obedient to the call and held by a Love that the world does not comprehend or understand. 

It is this kind of obedience that has brought salvation to the world and has seen many saved, delivered and set free from the darkness that has so ensnared them.

In being Led by God, the middle of the journey is always the hardest, and it gets harder all the way to the end until the fullness of God’s plan is revealed.

He does not take the feelings and emotions of the opposite way from us, if He did, it would be much easier, He allows those feelings and emotions to challenge us to press into what He has said and promised, it stretches us to become more trusting and a better version of ourselves. 

No wine ever comes into being without crushing, no perfume is ever created without the crushing, the version that god created you to be will not come without the crushing.

Every word spoken by the enemy, no matter how true it may seem, no matter how sweet, no matter how much your flesh desires to hear it, it a strategic move to keep you from being man or Woman God created you to be.  It is the little whispers that come in the dark that will slower steer off course.