{"id":3148,"date":"2019-05-16T20:00:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T03:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=3148"},"modified":"2019-05-12T16:34:04","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T23:34:04","slug":"2kings_11_1-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2kings_11_1-21\/","title":{"rendered":"You Have a Destiny"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Kings 11:1-21 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
\nHi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 11:1-21.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

2 Kings 11:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family.
\n2\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed.
\n3\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-21:\u00a0 After talking about the kingdom of Israel and how Jehu became its king in 2 Kings 9 and 10, the author of 2 Kings turns our attention once again to the kingdom of Judah.\u00a0 Judah’s King Ahaziah was killed by Jehu of Israel, but instead of Ahaziah’s brother or son taking over Ahaziah’s throne in Judah, Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah seizes power for herself.<\/p>\n

Why would Athaliah the queen mother do such a thing?\u00a0 Here it helps to understand Athaliah’s family tree.\u00a0 Athaliah was the daughter of Israel’s King Ahab and Jezebel.\u00a0 Remember them?\u00a0 Ahab and Jezebel were not only responsible for the spread of Baal worship throughout Israel;\u00a0they were also responsible for the ruthless murders of hundreds of the Lord’s prophets in Israel.\u00a0 Apparently Athaliah has inherited her parents’ ruthless and idol-worshiping ways.\u00a0 When Athaliah married King Jehoram, she moved from the kingdom of Israel to the kingdom of Judah and became the queen of Judah.\u00a0 There Athaliah led King Jehoram and their son Ahaziah to walk to become idol worshipers as well (see 2 Kings\u00a08:18, 26-27).\u00a0 After her son King Ahaziah is killed by Jehu, Athaliah\u00a0becomes hell bent on murdering every male descendant of King David who may have a claim to the throne.<\/p>\n

Athaliah almost succeeds in wiping out the entire house of David, with one exception:\u00a0 Joash, the son of Ahaziah and a woman called Zibiah, is hidden by his sister and his nurse when he is just a baby.\u00a0 He is taken to the temple of the Lord where for 6 years he is raised under the watchful, God-fearing eye of Jehoiada the priest.\u00a0 (Amazing!\u00a0 A boy who would have surely been raised to be an idol worshiper of Baal is rescued and raised to worship the Lord in God’s temple.)<\/p>\n

For six years Joash remains hidden from Athaliah’s sight.\u00a0 Guards are constantly watching out for his safety.\u00a0 When Joash is seven years old, Jehoiada the priest and others in Israel proclaim Joash as the new and rightful ruler of Judah.\u00a0 When Athaliah hears that Joash has been announced as king, she cries “Treason!” but is seized and put to death.\u00a0 The temple of Baal in Judah is also destroyed.\u00a0 Joash takes the throne with rejoicing from the people of Judah.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from all this?\u00a0 There are 3 lessons I believe the Holy Spirit taught me through this passage:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0The importance of destiny.<\/strong>\u00a0 Joash was the only descendant of King David who was spared.\u00a0 God had a destiny for Joash to fulfill.\u00a0 Similarly, the reason why you are here, the reason why you are reading this GAME sharing, and the reason why God has brought you to this moment is because God has a destiny for you that only you can fulfill.\u00a0 Like Joash, your life is not an accident.\u00a0 You were made for a great purpose and for God’s glory.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0The importance of parenting.<\/strong>\u00a0 Here we can see how important parenting is.\u00a0 Ahab and Jezebel were ruthless rulers and staunch idol worshipers, and that’s what their daughter Athaliah became as well.\u00a0 Joash likely would have become an idol worshiper like his father Ahaziah, but by God’s grace, Joash is rescued from an idol-worshiping environment and is raised by Jehoiada the priest in God’s temple.\u00a0 The God-fearing and honourable Jehoiada becomes like a father to Joash, who in turn becomes one of the most God-fearing and honourable kings in Judah’s history.<\/p>\n

Parents, we must understand that no one is affected more by our character, our spirituality, our emotional intelligence and our conduct than our kids.\u00a0 For good or for bad, chances are high that our kids will learn to live like we do, to value what we value, to treat God the way we treat God, and to treat people the way we treat people.\u00a0 If we want to our kids to grow up with great, godly character, we must model it for them first.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0The importance of sending your kids to church.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Imagine where Joash would have been if the church (in particular, Jehoiada the priest and the servants at the temple) had never taken him in.\u00a0 He would been killed, or if his father Ahaziah had survived, he would have become a lost idol worshiper, having access to great wealth but living in a family that was spiritually bankrupt.\u00a0 Instead, Joash grew up in the Lord’s temple, listening every day to God’s Word, living in God’s presence, being raised, disciplined and mentored by godly leaders like Jehoiada.\u00a0 As a result Joash’s life was protected, redeemed, saved and equipped for greatness.\u00a0 I absolutely believe that, other than a home with God-loving parents, there is no better place for children and young people to grow up than in a great church where they can learn to do life with God-loving spiritual parents, leaders and peers.\u00a0 It is there where they can be safe, saved and set up for success.\u00a0 I don’t know where I would be today had it not been for the church where I grew up.\u00a0 So parents, make it a point to bring your kids to church regularly, that they may learn to live in God’s presence and become the people they were made to be.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that You chose me and saved me for a specific destiny.\u00a0 Thank You for placing people in my life who have been there to watch out for me, protect me, raise me, discipline me and encourage me.\u00a0 Thank You for Your church which is the best place for a young person to be.\u00a0 Together with my church, may we become everything You made us to be.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 11:1-21.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

2 Kings 11:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family.\u00a0
\n2\u00a0\u00a0But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the royal princes, who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed.\u00a0
\n3\u00a0\u00a0He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0for six years while Athaliah ruled the land.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-21:\u00a0 After talking about the kingdom of Israel and how Jehu became its king in 2 Kings 9 and 10, the author of 2 Kings turns our attention once again to the kingdom of Judah.\u00a0 Judah’s King Ahaziah was killed by Jehu of Israel, but instead of Ahaziah’s brother or son taking over Ahaziah’s throne in Judah, Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah seizes power for herself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3150,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3148\/revisions\/3150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}