The Indecisive King: Jehoshaphat

All right, good morning, everybody.

It's go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Second Chronicles,

Second Chronicles 17. It's sad that I actually like

brother Craig just mentioned and I agree with him about what

pastor just read that if it was a Muslim couple it'd be a total

different story. But since it's Christianity,

they'll fight it. Which just proves to you that

Christianity is the correct one and the devil's doing everything

you can to fight against it, but not going to fight against those

that are fine with what Satan pushes forward.

Anyways. So we are back in the kings,

talking about the different kings that ruled Israel,

especially Judah down in the southern tribes.

Last, we didn't have Sunday school last week, so the week

before. Does anybody remember the king

We studied Good. I'm glad everybody remembers

this was good memorable Sunday school.

ASA ASA. And who was Asa's father?

Wow, man, crickets. I need to put sound effects up

here. Asa's father was Rehoboam.

Good, good. All right, We're we're we're

getting involved here. All right, wake up.

It's Sunday morning. We'll get there.

But ASA was a good or bad king in the middle.

Started well, had a bad part, went back to God, had a bad

ending. So his son is Jehoshaphat.

And we see that here in verse 1 of chapter 17.

And we're going to be looking at the indecisive king of

Jehoshaphat. And we see Jehoshaphat is Asa's

son. He's the 4th king of Judah after

the split in the divided Kingdom and he reigns there for 35

years, which gives you a good indication that he did well and

he actually did. He was for the most part a

spiritual man, a godly man that actually followed after Christ,

after God's orders and laws. Look there in verse 1 of chapter

17 and Jehoshaphat, which these names we're going to get down to

verse 7 and we're going to skip a lot of that because I can't

read half of those names, which is amazing how you know, we have

Josh and and Daniel and and Brian and and we have these

names back then they were Jehoshaphat, ASA Rehoboam.

I'm glad we don't keep those names.

But anyways, verse 1 And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in

his stead and strengthened himself against Israel, and he

placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, and set

garrisons in the land of Judah, in in the cities of Ephraim,

which ASA his father had taken. And the Lord was with

Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father

David, and sought not unto Balaam, but sought to the Lord

God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after

the doings of Israel. Therefore the Lord stablished

the Kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat

presence, and he had riches and honor in abundance.

Jehoshaphat was focused in realizing, all right, Dad did it

this way, dad, dad started well and, and, and follow what God

commanded. And then he went and because he

got comfortable, didn't need God because he was powerful, he

started going into his own way of, of reigning as the king.

And Jehoshaphat looked and watched that through his father.

When was the Kingdom prosperous? When were we safe?

When did we have peace? It was when ASA followed after

God, when ASA turned and went against God, and when, when the

prophet came and told ASA, you're doing wrong and ASA got

mad and bitter and threw him in prison.

You watched. I, I believe Jehoshaphat watched

the nation go downhill and he knew I'm going to be king one

day. I, I'm next in line.

So I'm watching what my dad does, watching what works and

what doesn't work. And as a wise man, he watches

and sees when he follows after God, the nation prospers and

it's safe. And Jehoshaphat purposed in his

heart. We're going to follow what God

wants us to do because I want the outcome.

Look there in verse 5. Therefore, that word means all

of what has happened in verse one through 4.

This is what it's there for. The Lord established the Kingdom

in His hand and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presence

and he had riches and honor and abundance because he followed

after God so he knew what to do in in the first.

What's interesting is Jehoshaphat has four chapters to

to him his work verse chapter 17, chapter 18, chapter 19 and

chapter 20 talk about all the things that Jehoshaphat did,

which is interesting because his father really only has 1

chapter. It's two chapters, but it's only

sections of the chapter. And you can see if you look at

on a timeline and you look at at the kings, especially of Judah,

how long was their reign? And you can watch, OK, were they

a good king? Well, I can tell you if they're

a good king, they were a longer range.

I think God kept and preserved Jehoshaphat's workings and

doings for four chapters to show us stuff to, to glean off of

things. And he was a, for the most part,

a spiritual man at a spiritual leader.

However, as we'll see, Jehoshaphat was a man who was

influenced easily. And it made him turn this way in

that way. And, and it reminds us that we

have to guard ourself against influences in our lives.

You have to be careful. Even the King had to be careful

who he had as a friend and and it's going to direct your path

based off of your compromises. And that's what we're going to

look at this morning, the indecisive King.

Let's pray and get into the lesson.

Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for your word and the

privilege it is to have it, to be able to read it and to be

able to study it. And God, I just pray that you

help us to do that, to not take it for granted and, and to just

bring it on Sunday and, and never see it during the week.

God, I pray that you, you give us a hunger for your word to be

able to learn and to be able to change our lives based off of

what your word says and the examples that you've preserved

for eternity for us to know and learn from.

God, I pray that you help us as we look at King Jehoshaphat this

morning. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

So the first thing I want to look at is that he was focused

verse verse 1. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned

in his stead and strengthened himself against Israel.

And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah and set

garrisons in the land of Judah and in all the cities and in the

cities of Ephraim, which ASA his father had taken.

Now, if you remember, ASA ended his life, his, his reign

fighting against Israel, the northern tribe.

And so the first thing that Joe Hassafat says is I'm, I'm

putting up a wall. I'm fortifying this position

against, even though they're my brothers, even though they're,

they're from the same nation of Israel, they're split.

And God does not want me just to be open for them.

He fortifies. He, he realizes that the

Northern Kingdom is not a good influence on him.

He watched that with his dad. And so he fortifies.

Just like we as Christians have to fortify ourselves.

Just like if Ephesians 6, what is all that about?

Ephesians 6 verse 10 dealing with the armor of God, Why do we

Ephesians 6:10

have armor? It's to fortify ourselves.

It's to protect yourself. Be ready for the enemy to attack

you. Don't wear armor just because

you're around. Only friends I don't wear.

I don't put armor on if I'm in the company of people that I

know I'm safe with. You put armor on because you're

in a battle, because you know there's an enemy.

And ASA was fighting against Israel.

And so when Jehoshaphat comes in, he goes, I'm going to

fortify my first borders in between me and Israel.

And that's the first thing he focuses on.

The next thing he focuses on there, look at verse 3.

And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in

the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto

Balaam. He separated himself.

Balaam was a very large up and coming religion, it was already

established, but it was something that was creeping in

around him and around all the other nations.

But he wanted to separate himself, just like a Christian.

Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 617.

Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate.

Jehoshaphat knew if he was going to do what God wanted.

Yes, we've got to put on the armor, we've got to fortify

ourselves against the enemy. But I'm going to be different

than everybody else. I'm going to do what God wants.

I'm going to separate myself from the other, even though

they're my brothers up in Israel, even though we're from

the same nationality. I want to do what God wants me

to do, and I'm going to fortify and separate myself.

Look there, verse 7. Also in the third year of his

reign, he sent to his Princess, even to Beth Ben Hale, and to

Obadiah, and to Zechariah, and to Nathaniel and to Makaya, to

teach in the cities of Judah. And then verse 8 we have a bunch

of names that I'm not going to try, and verse 9 any.

Then they taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the

Lord with them and went about throughout all the cities of

Judah and taught the people. Jehoshaphat knew that if I'm

going to, yes, protect my walls, protect my borders, but if I

don't protect the people inside my borders, it means nothing to

have a wall. If I don't educate them on God's

will, they'll follow me because I'm the king.

And if I do what's right and follow what God wants me to do,

that's great. I will lead this nation, but

it's a lot easier to lead a nation that's also following.

Just like a pastor in a church, the pastor can be in charge and

doing what God wants, but if everybody in all of us in the

congregation don't follow after what Christ wants us to do, it's

just going to be fighting the whole time.

So Jehoshaphat knows this, and he wants his people to have the

same heart that he has towards God.

So he sends the priests and the Levites there, verse 8, and with

them he sent Levites to all the people, all the cities of Judah,

to read and teach the people about what God wants them to do,

what God wants them to be. And we have to be careful as

Christians that we teach the next generation.

We can't just think we're good. I'm going to have my kids here

in church. They'll get everything they need

in church. No, when you go home, you should

also be teaching your kids. They should be able to watch

what you do, be able to watch the way you talk, the way you

act, the way you read your own Bible.

That is how you teach your children.

That's the only way you're going to bring them up to be able to

fight. If, if you OK battle, if I'm a

if I'm a general in a battle and I want my kids to fight as well.

If they come and watch me do my planning with with all the other

generals and the commanders and they watch me do the planning

and then I send them home and they never see the battle.

They never see or get trained in the art of the sword.

They never trained to be able to defend themselves when they turn

18. And I say here, put a put some

armor on. What are they going to do?

Are they going to be any use? No, they're, they're going to be

like David. I I can't, I can't work in this.

I'm not I'm not I'm not trained in the armor.

And Jehoshaphat knew that and had to change his people.

The next thing we see he's focused on is what he does.

OK Verse 10 And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kings of

kingdoms of the land that were round about Judah, so that they

made no war against Jehoshaphat. There there's a cause and

effect. Jehoshaphat follows God, has his

nation following God, and God blesses him because of it.

There in verse 10, he gives them peace.

Verse 11 he gives them praise, power, and verse 12 and

prosperity there in verse 13. And he had much business in the

cities of Judah. And the men of war, mighty men

of valor were in Jerusalem and the NUM.

And these are the numbers of them according to the House of

their fathers. He blesses Jehoshaphat in the

nation because they followed after God, just like Jehoshaphat

watched his father when they, when he followed God.

God blessed and and we have to understand if you, if you want

God's blessing, you have to obey what the book says.

You don't get God's blessing just because you're a part of

the family or just because you're saved.

But but we do everything else in Christianity when we sometimes

come to church, sometimes we read our Bible, sometimes we

pray. That's a wishy washy Christian

and God says I'd rather you be hot or cold, but since you're

lukewarm, I want to spew you out of my mouth.

I'm not going to bless you because one day you're for me.

The next day you're against me. There's there's a focus that

Jehoshaphat does right from the start.

And if we could finish at chapter 17 with Jehoshaphat,

he's got a stamp of approval and God did great with that king.

But the sad thing is we have chapter 18, chapter 18 verse #1

Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor and abundance.

And here's the key part and joined affinity with Ahab, which

is the king of Israel. There's there's a change that

takes place and and I've said it so many times that once these

kings get protection, have peace, prosperity and power,

they start to feel like that's me.

I'm doing well. I don't need to rely on God

anymore. I'm going to join affinity with

Ahab, which by the way, verse one of of chapter 17, he

strengthened himself against Israel.

He he, he went from joining against Israel and, and going

from against to affinity, from foe to friend.

Something happened and and I think it's the same thing that

happens with most of the kings of they get pride, they get

comfortable, they start leaving and letting their walls go down.

We're not going to fight as much against this.

Yes, you, you shouldn't do that. But as long as you're happy and

you don't hurt anybody else, that's fine.

You know, it's, it's if, if that's what you want to do, go

right ahead. I'm not going to do it, but but

you go ahead and do that. And we see that so much in

Christianity Today, especially here in America.

You know, I, I don't agree with with homosexuality, but I mean,

if you want to do it, then it's your own life.

No, the Bible says that it's an abomination amongst many other

things, pride and everything else, but it's a sin.

There's no, there's no you do what you want to do.

That's not how the Bible works. The Bible is not ever in the

show me the verse that says do whatever you want to do and see

how that goes. It's not in there.

God doesn't say do whatever you would like to do.

I just gave you some guidelines. I mean, if you want to do them,

go ahead. If you don't, then that's OK.

No, God says I'm a jealous God. He wants you to follow what he

says to do. But sadly, we see Jehoshaphat

joining affinity with Ahab. And what is Ahab?

Is he great, nice, wonderful, godly king?

No, he's a wicked king, totally against what God wants to do,

and we see the king fall because of his compromise.

I think it had to deal with his prosperity.

That says they're now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor

and abundance. I'm safe.

I got enough money in the bank, I'm good.

I don't need to totally rely on God.

Look at all the money I got. My bank account is full.

Then pride, honor in abundance. You did you see?

Did you see? The Philistines even gave me a

present. Did you see that they gave me?

Gold says there in verse of chapter 17, yes, chapter 17,

verse 11. Also some of the Philistines

brought Jehoshaphat presents and tribute.

Silver and the Arabians brought him flocks, 7700 Rams and 7700

key goats. He had a lot of stuff and it was

all from all these other deep nations giving him things and

and so his price starts to go up.

Look at me, did you give me anything?

How good is your gift to me? It's my Kingdom.

What does the Bible say in Proverbs 16?

Pride goeth before a fall. And the sad thing, that's what

we see happen when he gets to chapter 18 and Ahab comes to him

and says, please, I need a fight in Ramoth Gilead, come with me

and fight. And for some reason.

Jehoshaphat says sure, I'll come and fight with you and we'll

fight the enemy together and and we'll win.

And it cost him personally a lot.

It almost costs him his life. Verse, chapter 18.

Verse where we at? Come on.

We'll start in 28. So the king of Israel and

Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Roth Ramoth Gilead,

and the king of Israel sent to Jehoshaphat, which is very, I

find this very interesting that Ahab would say this, but I will

disguise myself and go into the battle.

But put thou on thy robes, put your target on your back.

I'm going to hide in the in the shadows because I want them

shooting after you, not me. So the king of it and

Jehoshaphat the king of Israel disguised themselves and they

went out to battle and verse down to verse 31.

And it came to pass when the captains of the chariot, Saul,

Jehoshaphat, that they said it is the king of Israel.

Therefore they compassed about him to fight.

But Jehoshaphat carrot cried out and the Lord helped him and God

moved them to depart from him. He almost loses his life because

of this, but God moved them and depart and they departed out of

him. Not only did he almost lose his

life, he does something that we don't find out until chapter 21.

Turn to chapter 21. In this treaty between this

affinity between Ahab and and Jehoshaphat, what what did they

used to do back in in King's times to to have a you join the

families. Thank you.

And we find out that his son marries Ahab's daughter.

Well now we're not just on paper treated.

We're in blood treated and we see there.

Well, hold on I'll get I'll get to that but we it cost him not

just his life almost and not just his family, but it causes

the nation in the future to take a big turn because of his

compromise that the the spirituality of Israel or Judah

is because of this affinity with Ahab in this marriage between

his son and Athaliah, which is a Ahab's daughter.

OK go to chapter 22, chapter 22, verse 10.

But when Athaliah the mother of Isaiah saw that her son was dead

talking about so, so Jehoshaphat's son is dead and

gone, So Athaliah is ruling. She arose and destroyed all the

seed royal of the House of Judah.

Who's in that line of Judah? Who will be in that line of

Judah? Christ Satan's attacking that

line that God told him back in the garden that they'll be

coming from. My seed will come and bruise thy

head and crush thy head and bruise.

You'll bruise his heel and I'll crush your head from that seed.

And we see Satan trying to destroy that seed.

And it's all because Jehoshaphat said, let's, let's get an

alliance, Ahab, let's, let's get together your choices.

And we've said it so many times, don't just affect you, they

affect much more outside of your realm, but for many generations.

So be careful what your compromise leads to because

it'll ultimately affect others and cause spiritual decline in

others. Ephesians 511 says have no

fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.

Don't just avoid it. Don't just, yeah, I'm with it

now. I'm not agreeing with it.

It says have no fellowship, don't even go anywhere around

it. But luckily we have chapter 19

and Jehoshaphat when he returns. So chapter 18 finishes by King

Ahab dying on the battlefield. But then we chapter chapter 19

starts and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah returned to his house

in peace to Jerusalem. So he's done with the battle and

he gets back to Jerusalem and verse 2 happens and the and Jehu

the son of Hanani, which do we remember who that prophet was?

He's been around. He came to his dad ASA.

And what did ASA do to the prophet?

Throw him in prison. Oh boy, here comes Jehu.

I know your dad threw my dad in prison the last time we spoke.

I got something for you too. God told me to say.

Should I say it? Jehu doesn't back down.

He doesn't care. He he tells the king what God

told him to say. Then Jehu, the son of Aunt Han,

and I the seer, went out to meet him, and said to King

Jehoshaphat, Should us thou help the ungodly and love them that

hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee

from before the Lord. Nevertheless thou are good

things found in thee. There are good things found in

thee in that thou has taken away the grows out of the land, and

has prepared thine heart to seek God.

Jehu came in and he has a a reprimand, but it's seasoned

with sincerity. You did wrong, King, you, you

failed here. But I know where your heart is

and God knows where your heart is.

And Jehoshaphat has two options just like his dad did.

I can either get bitter against this Jehu and throw him in

prison just like dad did with his his dad, or I can get better

and Jehoshaphat thankfully chooses to be humbled by this

and chooses to to take it and to change his life and the way he's

going. And because of that, Jehoshaphat

gets restored in fellowship with God and we see verse we're in

chapter 19. Look at verse 4.

And Jehoshaphat dwelt that Jerusalem, and he went out again

through the and he went out again through the people from

Beersheba to Mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the Lord

God of their fathers. And he said, judges in the land,

throughout all the fence cities of Judo, city by city.

And he said to the judges, Take heed what you do for ye, judge

not for man, but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment.

He reorients his life, but he reorients his nation's life and

their eyes back on who's in charge.

He restores himself to be the king, but under God.

And, and he was resolute there in verse 5, we talked about he

sets up judges, but he reminds them, you're not judging to

impress me or to impress other men.

You're judging. And the person that is the final

judge is God. Don't forget he's the one that's

watching your your judgments on, on what comes out of it.

But not only did he tell that to the to the judges, the character

of their work had to be changed as well.

Verse 6 and said under the judges, take heed what you do

for you judge not for man, but for the Lord.

Their character had to be changed to make sure they

understood who they were doing their job for.

Their character was changed, but also their conviction was

changed. Verse 7.

Wherefore now let them, let the fear of the Lord be upon you.

They had to understand we're doing this because of our honor

and our our attitude towards God.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of what wisdom

Jehoshaphat had to get them to understand.

God was in charge and you're not answering to me, the king.

You're answering just like I am to the Lord.

The other thing we see there in verse 11.

And behold, Amara the chief priest is over you all in

matters of the Lord. And Zebediah, the son of

Ishmael, the ruler of the House of Judah for all the kings

matters also the Levites shall be officers before you deal

courageously and the Lord shall be the Lord shall be with the

good. He had to understand and show

these people. Remember when we would follow

after God, what was the what was the end result?

Prosperity, peace, good was given to us.

And he says the Lord shall be with the good.

You have to choose yourself, but if you want to have the the

blessings and the the the good, the the having God with you on

your side, you have to do righteously the last thing.

I'll tell you what we changed this time.

This feel like time flies now. The last thing we see is he's a

faithful king. Look at chapter 20, right when

after he gets right with God, it almost seems that God wants to

throw a little test here. And we see that in our Christian

lives when, when we finally humble ourselves and get right

with God and, and say, I'm going to do right and I'm going to

pray more. I'm going to start reading my

Bible every day. That first morning, oh man, I

didn't wake up to my alarm. There's going to be a test and

we see here in verse one and it came to pass after this also the

children of Moab and the children of Ammon and with them

other beside the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

God says all right, you won't you you're you want to get back

on good ground with me and you're going on the right path

and and you're trying to get your country and yourself

pleasing me. Let's see how long and how deep

that root is. Let's give you a little bit of a

challenge and we see there in verse 3 and Jehoshaphat feared

and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaim a fast throughout

all Judah. He goes with the right source

this time enemies at the gate. Obviously it says he's scared to

death there. He's and verse 4 and Judah

gathered themselves together and at to ask help of the Lord even

out of all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord and

let's go down to verse 6 Jehoshaphat.

This is his prayer, and said, O God, O Lord God of our fathers,

art not thou God in heaven, and rulest not thou over all the

kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand?

Is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand

thee? Art not thou art God, who didst

drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people

Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend

forever? And they dwell there dwelt, and

they dwelt therein, and have but built thee a sanctuary therein

for thy name, saying, If when evil cometh upon us, as the

sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this

house, and in thy presence, for thy name is in the house, and

cry unto thee in our affliction, then wilt thou hear and help

now. And now behold, the children of

Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, for whom thou would it's not let

Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they

turned from them and destroyed them.

Not behold, I say, how they reward us to come to cast us out

of thy possession which thou has given us to inherit.

God. Jehoshaphat remind in his prayer

to God, he, he, he lifts his name up first.

You're the God of heaven, You're the one in charge.

You're the one that owns everything, controls everything,

controls even the kingdoms of the heathens and and you've set

aside, he reminds God, you said you promised us this land.

You gave us the promised land for it a full forever and you

said this was going to be ours. You promised it.

It says there to the seed of Abraham, my friend forever.

And he reminds God, Hey, not because does God forget?

Oh, that's right, I did. I did do that a lot of years

ago. I didn't, I say, I guess I did

say that to Abraham. No, he's reminding God.

This is what you've promised us. You've promised to keep us in

this lane. You've promised to give this

land to us. And not only did you promise it,

when we came in here, you told us, don't destroy these people.

Don't invade these people. And we obeyed.

We did what you wanted us to do. But now they're coming to fight

us, and they're a lot greater. Verse 12 O our God, wilt thou

not judge them? For we have no might against

this great company that cometh against us.

Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee.

Jehoshaphat understood it. It's not me.

If you look at verse chapter 17, it lists some mighty men of

valor and the thousands upon thousands of men that were in

his company of armies. But Jehoshaphat reminds God,

reminds himself and reminds his nation, it's not us.

We're not going to be the one that gets this job done and we

can't get it done without God on our side.

But he reminds God of God's promises when we pray.

Do you tell God about the things that you've read in his word?

Do you remind God about the promises that he gave you?

I all throughout the Bible, the prayers that are saved for us

for eternity always show God. Remember this.

God, remember when you said this and you promised this?

I think God wants us to be able to give him his promises back to

him. Not to say shove it in his face

kind of thing, but God, do you remember when you said that

you'll never leave me nor forsake me?

God, I'm going through something right now.

Got David said that he's been young and old and he's not seen

the the righteous begging for bread.

God, I don't know when the next meal.

I don't have enough money If I give this to you for an

offering. I don't have enough money to

feed my family, but I'm going to trust in the promise that you

gave me. God wants you in your prayer to

not just remind him, but it's something that tells him.

You read my word. You know what my word says

because you've listened to it and you've read it.

If you never read the Bible, how are you going to tell God?

Hey, remember that promise? Jehoshaphat knows that.

And because of that, Jehoshaphat gets the, the, the word and the

plan from God about this battle. Don't worry, I got it.

You're not even going to fight. I'll take care of all of this.

Because he trusted in the Lord. And it's so great to finally

have a king that actually ends correctly.

But the sad thing is he doesn't. And we did.

We've run out of time. But sadly he because of that

time where he was in affinity with Ahab and his son and

daughter at the end of chapter 20, we read there and no, I'm

out of it. I want to read this chapter 20,

verse 30, 35 and this. And after this, did Jehoshaphat,

king of Judah, join himself with a Haziah, king of Israel, who

did very wickedly Jehoshaphat. Didn't you learn the first time

that you joined with them that it didn't end well?

Something happens to where he has to be called upon for that

treaty that he signed way back with Ahab.

And because of that, he, it costs him all of his riches.

It costs him his reputation because now we don't have a king

that we can go. Thank you God, for, for, for

putting him back on the throne and for getting him back in line

and and working and doing what you want us to do.

But he failed in the end. You ran well, but you didn't

finish right. Who hath hindered you?

The Bible says it's great to run well, but if we don't finish

right, what's the point of everything else?

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you God

for for your word for giving us the example of of in general, in

a general thing of if we do what you want, if we obey you, we can

know that you're going to be with us.

As Samuel said, to obey is better than sacrifice.

God, I just pray that we we focus on doing what you want us

to do and and to do it until the last day that you come back or

you take us home, that you find us faithful in fighting against

Satan and against this world, but fighting for you.

I pray that you help us in the next session.

God, I pray that you fill pastor with your spirit, be with our

hearts that we they be open and and ready for your word.

In Jesus name I pray. Amen.