Reflection on 2 Chronicles 21

[Narrator] Church institutions cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God-built family-centered ministry. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness for family tent ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] We thank our God again for another time in his presence, another time again to look at the Scriptures together. We were able to come to the end of our topic on the matter that we reflected on for about two weeks, which was Insight into God’s Mercies: the nature of God’s mercies, understanding of the mercy, the dynamics of that mercy. And we thank God that reflecting on Scriptures last week on the matter was indeed edifying and instructive, and I pray that more and more the Lord will keep making us to know him better and better in the name of Jesus Christ. Let's take this song together as we begin today’s discipleship class. [background music] I will live for Jesus day after day. I will live for Jesus day after day. The Holy Spirit I will obey. I will live for Jesus day after day. Day after day, I will live for Jesus. Oh, day after day, I will live for Jesus. Let come what may. The Holy Spirit I will obey. I will live for Jesus day after day. Almighty God, to you be glory. To you be honor. To you be praise. We appreciate you for your mercies. We appreciate you for your love. We appreciate you for your goodness towards us. Lord, our Father, we thank you for this opportunity again to gather this Monday, to look into Scriptures, to fellowship together, to learn at your feet. Everlasting Father, we pray. The Scripture says Paul plants, Apollos waters, but it is God that gives increase. Lord, give increase again to our gathering this evening in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, we commit ourselves into your hand, we who are here physically, our brethren joining us on Telegram, our brethren who are joining us on Mixlr. Lord, we pray that you will meet with each and every one of us in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our God, our eyes are on you. Let nothing prevail against your purposes for our lives in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So today, we want to reflect on 2nd Chronicles chapter 21. Our topic today is: A Reflection on 2nd Chronicles chapter 21. 2nd Chronicles chapter 21 is actually a story about the king who succeeded King Jehoshaphat. We have been talking about King Jehoshaphat, King Jehoshaphat, King Jehoshaphat when we were looking at Insight into God’s Mercies, particularly when we were looking at critical points of prayer. We saw that Jehoshaphat at a point while he foolishly disguised himself as Ahab and went into the battle at Ramoth Gilead, would have been killed, but at that critical point, the Bible says he cried unto the Lord and the Lord delivered him. Now, 2nd Chronicles chapter 21 is actually about Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat who succeeded him. How he became king, what he did when he became king, and how he died. And what happened at his death. These are the things we want to consider this evening. 2nd Chronicles chapter 21 is not too long a chapter. The whole of that chapter has just 20 verses. And in 20 verses, everything about Jehoram was summarized. It is this summary that we want to look at and learn from today. So let's go to the book of 2nd Chronicles chapter 21. Let's see. We'll first read the whole story. I believe that in reading the whole story, it will give you an impression of some of the things we might be looking into. 2nd Chronicles chapter 21 from verse 1 to 20. I’m reading the New King James Version translation. > And Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Jehoram his son reigned in his place. > > He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azaryahu, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. Their father gave them great gifts of silver and gold and precious things, with fortified cities in Judah; but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn. > > Now when Jehoram was established over the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and killed all his brothers with the sword, and also others of the princes of Israel. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. Yet the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever. > > In his days Edom revolted against Judah’s authority, and made a king over themselves. So Jehoram went out with his officers, and all his chariots with him. And he rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots. Thus Edom has been in revolt against Judah’s authority to this day. At that time Libnah revolted against his authority, because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers. Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit harlotry, and led Judah astray. > > And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, > > "Thus says the Lord God of your father David: > > Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father’s household, who were better than yourself, behold, the Lord will strike your people with a serious affliction—your children, your wives, and all your possessions; and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day." > > Moreover the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians. And they came up into Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king’s house, and also his sons and his wives, so that there was not a son left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons. > > After all this the Lord struck him in his intestines with an incurable disease. Then it happened in the course of time, after the end of two years, that his intestines came out because of his sickness; so he died in severe pain. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning for his fathers. > > He was thirty-two years old when he became king. He reigned in Jerusalem eight years; and, to no one’s sorrow, departed. However they buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings. That's the story of Jehoram. And we are looking at this story as a lesson to learn from. We want to take the lessons from this one after the other. There are so many lessons from this reading, but as the Lord will help us, we will see which of them the Lord will be wanting us to emphasize. I trust God that that which we will emphasize will be that which is also in the heart of God for us to emphasize in the name of Jesus. Now, we are seeing that Jehoshaphat actually had seven sons. We don’t know how many daughters. And of course, when he was to die, the Scripture says that Jehoram reigned in his place. And the brothers of Jehoram were mentioned, six of them. Now, we were told that however, their father gave all of them gifts of silver, of gold and precious stones. He even gave these his brothers cities. However, as far as the matter of the kingdom was concerned, he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, and the reason was obvious. The obvious reason was that Jehoram was the firstborn. The point is that Israel practices the principle of what we call primogeniture. I think contemporary people in Nigeria that practice that should be the Edo people in Edo State. The Edos also practice this principles. The implication of this principle is that whosoever is the firstborn will inherit everything about the father, then he now decides what he wants to give to his brothers and to other members of the family. In other words, the firstborn actually steps into the shoes of the father as the owner of the whole estate. So any other person doesn't own anything. He gives them based on his decision. He actually steps into the shoes of the father; he owns everything. It was this matter that was between Ishmael and Isaac when Sarah said the bondservant will not have a share with Isaac. And the thing was grievous to Abraham because in the first place, the firstborn owns everything. And since Ishmael came first before Isaac, that was why it was grievous to Abraham because he felt, "No, what is going on here? This is the principle that we are supposed to practice." Of course, we know the end of that story at that point. Now, the Bible made us to see that it was based on this principle that the father decided that what is right, what is ordinarily correct, is that the firstborn should possess everything, should be the owner of the kingdom. But because he doesn't want the other brothers to be empty-handed, so he gave them cities, but of course the kingdom belonged to the firstborn based on the principle of primogeniture. Now, so the only reason why Jehoram became king was that there was a tradition, there was a principle, and Jehoshaphat followed that principle. However, what we read in verse 4 was that now, when Jehoram was established over the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and killed all his brothers with the sword, and also other princes of Israel. This young man at 32, even though he had been given the kingdom, he is the king. He was now concerned about his brothers that ordinarily he now see them as a threat. He was looking at his brothers as a threat. Of course, ordinarily what happens will be that by the time he dies, his own son is to be king. So for whatever reason for which he felt that his brothers should not live, please we are not talking of people that are not his blood brother. We are talking about people that were his blood brother. What he deemed fit, what he deemed right, was to destroy them. Now, what I want you to see, and what I want to read something here, which is very vital. Leadership among God’s people is not about who ordinarily fits or who is entitled, but who is purposed. The mistake of Jehoshaphat was that he followed the tradition. He followed the tradition of leadership. You will notice that David did not make this mistake. David did not say Solomon came last and then give the kingdom to those who are older than Solomon. David prayed to God, got the mind of God on who should be king after his. There is a principle, but men who walk with God many times know the right thing to do. What I’m trying to make you see is that I want you to know that when it comes to the things of God, leadership is never about who ordinarily fits. "Who has been in the church for the past 35 years should lead, not the person who just came in 5 years ago." Leadership when it comes to the people of God is not about ordinarily who is entitled. It's entitlement. "After all, he has been the deputy or assistant pastor. So once the pastor is no more, the assistant should step into it." That may not be the way of God. For God, it may be the chief usher that should step into the shoes of the pastor. This issue about leadership, Abraham just mentioned, almost made the same mistake, but thank God for Sarah. Thank God for Sarah. I want to show you something about making—if Abraham had made the mistake of taking his line in Ishmael. Look at something that the Bible says about Ishmael before he was born. In Genesis 16:11, it says: > And the Angel said, "You are now pregnant, [that was spoken to Hagar], you are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael, for God has heard about your misery. This son of yours will be a wild one, free and untamed as a wild donkey. He will be against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Yet, he will live at odds with the rest of his brothers." What do you think would have happened if Ishmael had been given the line? What do you think would have happened? I hope you remember that when they were talking about Isaac, Esau took wives from Ishmael, from the daughters of Ishmael. And you need to bear in mind that somewhere somehow, even at the point of burial, reference was made again to Ishmael because he was a prince who will not destroy everybody. It would have been the other way around. Abraham would have been looking back like Jehoshaphat and would be saying, "Had I known?" Jehoshaphat was a successful king. Jehoshaphat served the Lord, feared the Lord. Jehoshaphat led Israel, in fact, he raised teachers in different cities to teach the people of Israel. That is something I want to read to you. I want to make you see how this young man did not only destroy his brothers, but shattered and squandered his spiritual legacy of his father. Look at 2nd Chronicles chapter 20. Look at what Jehoshaphat did. Look at what happened with Jehoshaphat. I’m trying to leave some out and take some, but let's take 20. Let me take it from—so we can see some of the things that this man did. Now, the Bible says in 20, that was the battle between Jehoshaphat and a host that gathered against him. Towards the end of chapter 20, the Bible says that verse 31: > So Jehoshaphat was king over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. And he walked in the ways of his father Asa and did not turn from it, doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. Now move to chapter 19. I’m trying to make you see some things about this man Jehoshaphat. I read when God was angry with Jehoshaphat because he went to make alliance with the king of Israel by marriage. Now, but look at what the Bible says about him from chapter 19:3: > Nevertheless good things are found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and have prepared your heart to seek the Lord. So Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the mountains of Ephraim and brought them back to the Lord, the God of their father. I’m showing you a discipler. Then he set judges in the land, throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city. And he said to the judges: > Take heed to what you are doing, for you do not judge for men but for the Lord, who is with you in judgment. Now therefore, let the fear of the Lord be with you. Take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, no partiality, no taking of bribe. Moreover, in Jerusalem, for the judgment of the Lord and for controversies, Jehoshaphat appointed the sons of the Levites and the priests, and some of the chief fathers of Israel when they returned to Jerusalem. And he commanded them, saying: > Thus you shall act in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and be loyal and be loyal in your heart. > > Whatever case comes to you from your brethren who dwell in the cities, whether of bloodshed or of offenses against the law or commandment, against the statutes or ordinances, you shall warn them, lest they trespass against the Lord and wrath come upon you and your brethren. Do this, and you will not be guilty. I’m showing you the life of Jehoshaphat. Now, compare it to somebody who did not only destroy his brothers, but shattered and squandered his spiritual legacy of his father. Now, Jehoram was thirty-two years old, chapter 21:5, when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the ways of the king of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done. For he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife. I’m coming to that later. Sometimes the mistake in the fathers become error in their children. The first error was the error of picking a wrong person. The second error was the error of aligning himself with Israel by marriage. Now, this person was to scatter all his legacy, had the daughter of Ahab as wife, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. The Bible say, yet the Lord would not destroy the house of David because of the covenant that He had made with David. Now, I want to go to what this young man did, verse 11: > Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit harlotry, and led Judah astray. So everywhere the father went to bring back the people to the Lord, what did this man, what did he do? He took time to return them back to the devil. Why? Because of a father, a leader, who wanted to appoint leader and was preoccupied with tradition, was preoccupied with protocol. "In our church, this is how it must be done. In our assembly, if the person doesn't have PhD in theology, we don’t need the person who just came in five years ago." If the person is not 55 years old, we cannot take 35 years old. Many of these traditions we set to pick leaders. We need to be careful. We need to be watchful. We need to be sober when it comes to leadership among God’s people. Leadership among God’s people is better done when we are sensitive to the Lord. It's better done when we allow the Lord to lead us. It's better done when we allow the Lord to lead the way, when it comes to picking people in any position, when it comes to giving people power, when it comes to putting people in office. Choir leader, choir director, youth leader, youth leader. When it comes among the people of God, it is about the man that God purposed. Solomon was the man that God purposed. Isaac, though the second born, was the man that God purposed. Look at something that the Bible says about the other brothers. Look at what the Bible says about the other brothers. When I read that place, I said, "Kai, what a great mistake on the part of Jehoshaphat." Look at verse 12: > And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, "Thus says the Lord God of your father David: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father’s household, who were better than yourself." The brothers would have been better. The brothers would have been better. Brethren, the brothers would have been better. They would have done better. Let us be watchful, let us be careful. It's a great lesson for us. It's a great lesson for us about leadership. It's a great lesson for us about putting people in position. It's a great lesson for us in relation to people. It's a great lesson for us particularly among the people of God. Particularly among the people of God. Let us be watchful, let us be prayerful, let us be sober. Just one, Jehoshaphat made two terrible mistakes. This is the most costly, and the second one is like unto it, when Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and the second like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself." His two mistakes, they were related. They were related. The first one is in not going beyond the firstborn. The reason why I said that he could have gone beyond it is that in the same Israel, the principle have not been practiced by some kings. David didn't practice the principle. So if he had been sensitive because he had a walk with God, that's the point I’m making. He was a man who walked with God till his death. He said, "There is something good about him. He prepared his heart to seek the Lord." So he was somebody who walked with God till his death. So he should have—and that's why I personally believe that when you are leaving office, you should know who should succeed you. Everywhere I have led as a leader, I knew who was to succeed me. And everyone who—by the time elections, several things were done, it came eventually to those people. It is very important that when it comes to succession, particularly for leadership, those who occupied a particular office, who have worked with God, who have done it correctly, who have done it well, should be sensitive to who take over from them. I have seen these things scatter work, the work of God. I have seen it destroy the work, even in contemporary times, these biblical examples. Because men were not sensitive. They follow some traditions. They follow some things. They follow; they don’t follow God. Let's be watchful, let's be careful. It's very important. The next thing that we’re reflecting on within this chapter is the second error that was in Jehoshaphat. Those of you who follow the teaching when we were looking at critical points of prayer, you must have known the error I’m talking about, the second error of Jehoshaphat. And you know three different times the Lord warned him. And how he did not take heed to these things, honestly, I don’t understand. But the lesson for us is this: as believers, let us be sensitive, let us mind our mind. Let us mind. Jehoshaphat did well, but he was not, particularly when God was pointing to something. The first was this mistake that came up again in the life of Jehoram. We just said it just now. We saw something about him. He said Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem. He walked in the ways of the king of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done. The Bible say "for he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife and he did evil in the sight of Ahab." Now, when you come to what Elijah said, look at what Elijah said in the verse 12. "And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, 'Thus says the Lord God of your father: because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father or the way of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the ways of the king of Israel and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab.'" So it's not just the harlotry of who was the first king that led them into this idolatry, you remember, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. The sin of Jehoram was not according to the error of Jeroboam. You know Jeroboam, some king they will say "according to Jeroboam." Jeroboam was the one that made the golden calf like that of Israel, like that of Egypt, and tell them "this is your God that led you." He make consultation, they told them that today they made a golden calf, so he made golden calves. That was the sin of Jeroboam which he made Israel to sin, and so they followed. But when it came to the time of Ahab, there was a change in the dynamics of idolatry. Ahab added something else. Ahab added Baal worship. Ahab added the worship of Asherah. He added this to the whole thing that has to do with the golden calf. So he now set another precedent that Israel is to follow. Now, you notice that the Bible says that Jehoram did according to Ahab. Why? The father was a close friend of Ahab. You might be thinking some of the things you do that God is correcting you about and you don’t take it to can be a generational problem in your children. You remember in that our discussion about critical times of prayer, how God delivered him when he cried and God caused those army to turn away from him. Before they went, Micaiah prophesied that Ahab is going to die. Jehoshaphat was listening. Yet, he disguised himself, put on the clothes of Ahab, and Ahab put on the cloth of Jehoshaphat. God had mercy on him. When he returned from that battle, you remember that God sent a prophet to rebuke him. God rebuked Jehoshaphat. He sent a prophet to rebuke him immediately Jehoshaphat was returning from that battle that he went with Ahab. And when he returned, that is chapter 19:1: > Then Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned safely [God had mercy on him, he came back home safely, he didn't die in that place] to his house in Jerusalem. And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to the king Jehoshaphat, "Should you help the wicked and love those who the Lord hate? Therefore the wrath of God is upon you." Should Jehoshaphat still continue with this kind of alliance? Such that Jehoshaphat, despite that thing that was said, Jehoshaphat did not particularly listen. Look at what I want to show you about Jehoshaphat in chapter 20, after God gave Jehoshaphat victory, 20:35: > After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel [that's the son of Ahab again] who acted very wickedly. Are you seeing this king? Look at what happened. > And he allied himself with him to make ship to go to Tarshish. He allied himself by marriage, God rebuked him. Now, he allied himself in business with the son of the same king who are doing wickedly. What I’m trying to say, look, the Scripture says, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked." You know what that is trying to make you understand? If you are godly, be careful not to walk in the counsel of the wicked. There are godly people who walk in ungodly counsel. Jehoshaphat was a godly man, but he was walking in ungodly counsel. The Bible says happy, enviable, blessed, fortunate is that man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. There are several godly people who are not careful about their lives, who take ungodly counsel because it may produce quick results, it may give them some better way. It looks fast, it looks okay. That is what everybody is doing. Let me just do it too. After all, it does not matter. After all, that was how it has been done in the office, that is how the former HO did it, that is how the former governor did it, that was how the former president did it. In different way, that is how students normally doing it now, we students we know how to do it. Be careful. Be careful not to walk in ungodly counsel for any I don’t know what gain this man—the Bible says he allied himself by marriage to Ahab. Now, that alignment by marriage is what we are now seeing by the time he died. That daughter of Ahab that he gave to his son, that he took for his son, are you seeing it? It looks like we have done marriage. It look like we are prosperous, we are successful. Be careful how you manage success. Success not properly managed is detrimental to success. Be careful how you manage success. The Bible say God gave him rest. He became successful, and so out of that success, he allied himself with Ahab. That alignment that came out of being prosperous, he felt that, "No, the boy should not marry from among the small small boys in Judah. Let him take her!" When they say he took the wife of a king. That sound wow. We will throw the big party. Be careful how you manage success. That party they threw that looks like, "Hey, they’ve enjoyed prosperity," became their undoing. Every discipleship work that man did all his life was scattered within eight years that this boy reigned. Within eight years. Do you know how many years that Jehoshaphat reigned? Please, I want you to see it. Let the Bible speak for itself. Look at how many years Jehoshaphat reigned for you to compare it with what this young man squandered in eight years. Discipleship work, evangelism work, pastoral work, revival work, restoration work, building, molding, establishing, done in twenty-five years, was shattered in eight years. Why? Because when there was prosperity, he served the Lord. The Lord gave him rest. It was inside that rest that he began to eye that, "My son must marry a princess. He cannot marry the kunkun people." You see some rich family. "How can you our daughter just marry this brother that his salary is just ten thousand naira? A teacher in nursery school, nursery and primary school. He's not your equal. Please look for a better person." We have this kind of mentality in different people. "How can you, the daughter of a senator, go and marry the son of ordinary headmaster? Are you not thinking? You want to disgrace me? You did not see the son of a governor? You didn't see the son of a president? You must be stupid. Look for a better suitor. Nonsense!" Those are the kind of spirits that we are talking about. Those are the kind of things godly men walking in ungodly counsel. And you may be having some of us who are general overseers, some of us who are leaders, who are great men in our sight before God. When our children begin to point to some people, you say "Ah, which family background?" You learn that the father is a retired teacher, the mother was a petty trader. All they could build was just one house on a quarter plot of land that they managed to buy. And you are looking at how you will take your son to go and do marriage in the house of such a man and you say, "My son, please change that one, change that one. Look for a better sister in the fellowship, look for a better sister." These are the kind of mentality that we are talking about. Error in parents that become the root of the destruction of their children. Error in parents. A lesson for us all. A lesson in leadership, a lesson in parenting. A reflection on the life of Jehoshaphat. A reflection on this man and his son, Jehoram. Brethren, let us be watchful. Let us be careful. And lastly, what happened? The Bible says in verse 12 of chapter 21 that God sent Elijah with a very hard message. A letter came to him from Elijah and the letter said that "you led them into harlotry," that's in verse 13. "You killed your brothers, those of your father’s household who were better than yourself. Behold, the Lord will strike your people with a serious affliction—your children, your wife, and all your possessions. And you too will become very sick with a disease of your intestines until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness day by day." Moreover, the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians. And they came into Jerusalem, they came into Judah, they invaded it, and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king’s house, and also his sons and his wife, so that there was not a son left to him. Let me tell you, whatsoever a man sow, he is going to reap. Be careful what you are doing to people. Be careful how you are establishing yourself. He wanted to make himself very powerful. His so-called perceived enemies, he slaughtered all of them. Many of our leaders are doing that today. You want to run for a particular position, somebody is also running it with you, you look for a way to exterminate him. If you don’t do character assassination, you do physical assassination because you want to become leader. We might be doing that inside our fellowships too. You are eyeing a particular parish or a particular position, and then you feel that "this person is a perceived person." You look for a way to destroy his character among the brethren so that possibly he will not get there. Let us be careful about our so-called perceived people that will hinder us from getting what we want to get, and then we begin to look for how to cause them, how to reduce them, how to remove them. "He who lives by the sword," hear the word of our Lord Jesus Christ, "shall die by the sword." He who lives by the sword shall die by that same sword. Be careful! Be careful the seed that you are sowing. You are going to reap the harvest. It's just a matter of time. The Bible say seedtime and harvest time, they will not cease as far as the earth remains. That thing is not only about tithe and offering, not only about when you want to give money in church. It's true. But listen, it is true about anything that you are doing, whether it is money, whether it is action, whether it is wickedness, whether it is evil. Anything that you are doing, when you are doing it, it is seedtime. Seedtime and harvest time. God said, "As far as the earth will remain." In time. Seedtime and harvest time they will never cease. Be careful the seed, because there is an harvest time, there is a harvest time that is coming. The harvest time is coming. They took away all the sons except the last born, and don't forget why they left the last born. They left the last born not because of him. There would have been no seed, so that the throne would have gone to somebody else. But the reason why there was just one, the Bible told us the reason. The Bible says however, God will not totally destroy Judah because of the promise. Look at it in verse 7: > Yet the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever. That was why God left one. That was why one was left. It was that one that now came to succeed him. If you go to chapter 22:1, it says: > Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his place. So it was if not for David, I don’t know what legacy you are laying for your family. Can God because of you have mercy on your generations? Or anytime God remember you, God will want to wipe out your generation? Seedtime and harvest time, they don’t cease. They don’t cease. Look at that 21 as we try to round up this evening. 2nd Chronicles chapter 21. It says, I read, except his youngest son, 18: > After all this the Lord struck him in his intestines with an incurable disease. If God give you disease that cannot be cured, who want to cure it? Blessed are you if God is not the one monitoring your affliction. Because if God's the one monitoring your affliction, nobody can deliver you from the hand of God. God began to monitor his affliction. May it not be that afflictions in our lives are things that God is monitoring. May it be that affliction came as an attack, and God is rising for our defense. But if affliction comes as a result of God wanting to monitor that you harvest what you sowed or she sowed at a particular time, until you will die, nobody can bring you out. No prayer. Brethren will intervene, they will do, they will—that is why it is not all prayer that God will answer. Orders of some kind of affliction depending on how the affliction came. I’m saying that to explain the sovereignty of God in different situations and that sometimes we may not be able to explain so many things about God until we all meet at his feet and begin to tell us why he did some things he did. He might have done some for good like that of Job, and he might have done some for punishment. We don’t know which. You are not God. So don’t speak with finality about anybody, except you are sure that God is giving you a word. You saw Elijah. He said, "Thus says the Lord." He was not speaking. He was speaking what God told him. Let us be careful. Let us be watchful. Now look at what happens. It says it happened in the course of time after the end of two years, just according to the word of Elijah, that his intestines came out because of his sickness so that he died in severe pain. Because you can imagine killing your brothers with sword. You know what that means? You just took—what happened to their wives and their children? You are watching, you can imagine the wives and children watching their elder brother killing his younger brothers. Is that not horror? Can it not make those people go mad? Not in the time of war, not that war came and they were killing people. But that the person who became king came and said, "Heh, where is this?" and he's killing him, killing them like that, one after the other, using the army to kill them. By the sword! And his people made—look at what the Bible says—and his people made no burning for him like the burning for his fathers. So even the nation knows that something went wrong. They knew that something went wrong, that this man should not have been king. It was a bad mistake by Jehoshaphat. That young man was not purposed to be a king. Even though he was the firstborn, he was not purposed to be a king. Let us pray this evening. I want you to talk to the Lord. Lesson in leadership, lesson about parenting, lesson about how we manage success. Lesson about being godly and walking in ungodly counsel. Lesson about the seed we sow because we will surely reap it. Lesson about being careful about our utterances. Don’t speak with finality about people because of your sentiment towards them. Don’t be sentimental. "Heh, God has punished him." Don’t be sentimental. Be careful about what you say about people. So many lessons to learn. Watch it! How do you bring people into power? Lessons for our life this evening. So many lessons to pick in this place. But three major lessons for us. Lesson about leadership. Lesson about error in parents that could become a casualty for their children. And then lesson about: be careful what you sow because God has said seedtime and harvest time they will not cease as far as the earth remain. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We worship and exalt in Jesus' name. Thank you for your word has spoken to us. Lord, we hear us only, but we will be doers of this word in the name of Jesus. Help us to guide our heart. Help us, O Lord, to not be casual in anything about our lives. Help us to know that we are owned by you. Help us to take recourse, to always return, to seek direction, guidance in every decision we make in the name of Jesus. So that we will not miss our steps in the name of Jesus. We also stand against every form of allegiance, every form of passion, every form of wishes that is contrary to you. Every desires. Lord, take them out of our ways and our heart, cause us to see the perils, cause us to see in all our path and decision. Please, shine your light that we may be able to know indeed what is before us, what we want to do, what we ought to do in the name of Jesus. As you have helped our fathers, those that have walked with you, that took decisions. They walk as if they were not men, but the difference is that they walked with you. They were indeed not men because they were being carried by the Spirit of God. Lord, we are in a better dispensation. We have the Spirit of God within us. Help us, O Lord, to use to know who we are and walk in this truth. Walk closely with the Holy Spirit so that we will not miss you in any way in the name of Jesus. We pray for your son that Lord, as virtue has gone out of him, you will replenish. You will restore. You will renew his strength. More of you, O Lord, in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Faithful God. We pray for answers to our prayer. As we go, O Lord, let your presence go with us. Guard our hearts yet the more. Help us, O Lord, that this word will continue—we will continue meditating and walking in them until they become life, they become us in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's say the grace together. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forevermore. Amen. Surely, God's goodness and mercies shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. Amen. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! [Narrator] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in reaching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development and mission here. Our regular activities are: Discipleship Class every Monday 5:00 PM; Adolescent and Singles Club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Marriage Forum second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; family life seminars, regular school outreaches and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location Life Camp by the first bridge Ilere community opposite Very Choice filling station along Igede road, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles Family Tent at yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.