Read to prACTice

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* Do not be complacent...   I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 23   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (after ordering that the Lord's money is to be used for the ministries and that the Lord's book is to be read and followed, king Josiah did the following...) 3  And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the  Lord , to walk after the  Lord , and to keep His commandments, His provisions, and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul... III. Reflection *  Questions :  What would surprise one the most when reading the Scripture verse above? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for showing me that what I should be most surprised about from Your word above is that the man making the covenant to walk after You and keep Your commandments was already walking after You and keeping Your commandments. He had alrea...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* God's money not used, God's Word not done... Watch out! I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 22   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (king Josiah ordered that the Lord's money be used and that the Lord's Word be done...) 5  Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the  Lord , and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the  Lord  to repair the damages of the house,   6  to the carpenters and the builders and the masons and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house... 13  “Go, inquire of the  Lord  for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the  Lord  that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” II...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* Darker than darkness...   I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 21   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  11  “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols;   12  therefore thus says the  Lord , the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity on Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. III. Reflection *  Questions :  What would cause one to be surprised the most when reading the above two scripture verses? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for pointing out to me that the most surprising thing was that Your elect people could, and, in fact, they did, do things more wickedly than the Amorites ( v11 ). And as a consequence, the punishment for them...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* from Haves to Have-nots, just because... I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 20   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (Having been healed graciously and miraculously, king Hezekiah received an official visit from Babylon...) 13  Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them...  16  Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the  Lord .   17  ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the  Lord... III. Reflection *  Questions :  What did king Hezekiah and his nation los...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* Love whom the Lord loves... I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 19   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (to the threatening Assyrian army that sieged the city of Jerusalem to capture it, the Lord God declared...) 34  ‘ For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and  for My servant David’s sake.’” III. Reflection *  Questions :  How much did God love the city of Jerusalem? How much did David love this city? IV. Application   Dear Lord God: I thank You for showing me clearly that You loved the city of Jerusalem a great deal to the point that You would defend it. And,  vigorously, You did to glorify Your name among the Assyrian army. I thank You, Lord Jesus, for taking me to this point to remind me of Your love for Jerusalem--the people in it--to the point that You would die to protect them ( Luke 13:34 ). And, sacrificially, You did. O Lord! ...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* The starting point is not the process... I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 18   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (About king Hezekiah, there was none like him before or after...) 3  He did right in the sight of the  Lord...  4  He removed the high places and broke down the  sacred  pillars and cut down the  Asherah. He also broke in pieces  the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it...  5  He trusted in the  Lord , the God of Israel...  6 ...  he clung to the  Lord ; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments...  13  Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them... III. Reflection *  Questions :  Why did bad things happen to ...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* Man made gods... I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 17   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (even when people were taught how to fear the Lord...) 29  But every nation still made gods of its own and put them  in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.   III. Reflection *  Questions :  What makes the above verse very illogical?  IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for showing me the part that makes no sense in the history of mankind, and that is man making gods. Yet, people are very proud of their making to the point of worshipping them sacredly. I thank You, Lord Jesus, for taking me to this point to remind me that You are the God who made rather than being made ( Col 1:16 ). O Lord! Today, please help me live in a manner of true worship--Your creation being submitted to, and d...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* Forsake God for someone's sake. Don't! I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 16   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (King Ahaz removed a lot of properties from the house of the Lord...) 17  And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal.   18  And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the  Lord , because of the king of Assyria. III. Reflection *  Questions :  Why did king Ahaz do such a strange thing--disassembling special features from the house of the Lord? IV. Application Dear Lord God: May I be careful today not to please anyone, even the king, by changing the house of the Lord, which affects our way of honoring You--spir...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* Faithful to the faithless...   I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 15   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  12  This is  the word of the  Lord  which He spoke to Jehu, saying, “Your sons to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.” And so it was. III. Reflection *  Questions :  And so it was despite what? IV. Application Dear Lord God, I thank You for showing me that although Jehu wasn't faithful to You later in his life, and even though You knew this ahead of time, You still made a promise to Jehu, and so it was: You permitted his descendants to remain on the throne of Israel until the fourth generation. I thank You, Lord Jesus, for taking me to this point to remind me of the faithfulness of God--innumerable generations have passed since Your first promise of the Savior to humanity ( Gen 3:15 ), at the designated time, the Savior Jesus ...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************* I am responsible for my own sin, but...   I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 14   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  (when king Amaziah had firmly established his power, he began to avenge the death of his father king Joash, by killing those who slayed his father...) 6  But the sons of the  slayers he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the Law of Moses, as the  Lord  commanded, saying, “ The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons be put to death for the fathers; but  each shall be put to death for his own sin.” III. Reflection *  Questions :  In what way is today's Scripture similar to " each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge"? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for Your ruling that the father's sin shall no longer be paid for by the children. I thank You that ...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************** Did the man of God become sick and die?  I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 13   first . 14  When Elisha  became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him and wept over  him and said, “ My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” II. One thing the Bible teaches:  III. Reflection *  Questions :  What would surprise us more in hearing: (1) Elisha became sick and died, or (2) king Joash called him my father, my father, or (3) Elisha was compared to the chariots of Israel? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for letting me see that Elisha, a man of miracles and mighty deeds, was a regular man in the end. He got sick, and he died. I thank You for letting me know clearly that a man of God is still a man indeed. I thank You for reminding me that I should not associate  sickness and death with sinf...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************** Things left undone, there will be a re-run!... I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 12   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  2  Joash did what was right in the eyes of the  Lord  all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him.   3  The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. III. Reflection *  Questions :  What was the commonality among highly achieved kings who were credited for national revival, bringing the Lord's people and country back on track? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for showing me the commonality among those praise-worthy kings of Israel, and that is they all were the however-kings —they did well, but the Bible says, "however" . They always left something undone in their effort to bring true revival to God's people. That resulted in the downfall of God's p...

To read this in Vietnamese, please click  here . ******************** Grand sin of grandma... I. Click here to READ   2 Kings 11   first . II. One thing the Bible teaches:  1  When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal offspring.   2  But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and placed him and his nurse in the bedroom. So they hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death. III. Reflection *  Questions :  What was grand in Grandma Athaliah? IV. Application Dear Lord God: I thank You for showing me that what was grand in Grandma Athaliah was the grand desire for power and the throne. So grand that it blinded her to have seen nothing wrong, even with the killing of all of her bloodline's loved ones. I thank You, Lord Jesus, for taking me to this point to r...