Thursday

27-June

2 Chron 13-15; Ps 79; 2 Cor 1

2 Chronicles 13: Why did Abijah criticize Jeroboam?  What happened at the battle between Jeroboam and Abijah?

2 Chronicles 14: How did Asa show his obedience to God?

2 Chronicles 15:  What motivated Asa to seek the Lord? What did Asa do to honor God?

2 Corinthians 1: what does comfort produce in the life of the believer? Why were Paul and the other disciples under great pressure in Asia?

Journal Prompt: Jeroboam had created a tailor-made religion loosely based on the laws of God.  Last week Bob preached on the fundamentals of the Christian faith – our cornerstone beliefs.  Write about how people (including ourselves) tend to create their own tailor-made religion. 

Answers:

2 Chronicles 13: Abijah was giving a speech to Jeroboam about Israel abandoning the Lord – worshiping golden calves and creating their own priestly system.  Jeroboam created the golden calves and instituted worship in Dan and Bethel so ‘his’ people would not have to go to Jerusalem to worship God. 

Abijah and Jeroboam were on facing mountaintops. when Jeroboam sent men to ambush His troops from the rear.  Then Abijah called out to the Lord, the priests blew the trumpets and they sounded the battle cry. The Lord heard Abijah and gave him the victory over Jeroboam who had twice as many troops as Abijah.  400,000 of 800,000 soldiers from Israel were killed

2 Chronicles 14: Asa removed all foreign worship sites, he commanded the people of Judah to worship and obey God.  He relied on the Lord when facing the Cushites in battle and the Lord delivered the enemy into His hand.

2 Chronicles 15: The spirit of the Lord came upon Azariah who prophesied to Asa that if he sought the Lord, the Lord would be with him and reward him for his work.  This motivated Asa to rid the land of idols (but he did not tear down the high places). He convened all the people of Judah and Benjamin and they consecrated themselves unto the Lord.  He even removed his grandmother Maacah (Maacah was apparently the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah (2 Chronicles 13:2) and Tamar (2 Samuel 14:27), hence the granddaughter of Absalom, David’s rebellious son.” (Patterson and Austel

2 Corinthians 1: Comfort produces patient endurance for the same sufferings Paul and the other church leaders face.  Paul and the disciples were under great pressure in Asia so that they would not rely on their own abilities but rely on God to save them.