****NOTE Please read the scripture from the Bible first for this is God's word****

2 Kings Chapter 12 & Chapter 13

Todays message is concerning our servitude to God and savior Jesus Christ. We can use the analogy of a marathon. When you run a race you start our with a steady strong pace, however in the last 75 - 100 yards of the race you dig deep with in and find the energy to sprint to the end until you cross the finish line. We, ourselves need to do that, in a sense our life is like a race, we need to finish our lives strong with faith and desire to please God.

As we read about Jehoash or "Joash", same person, King of Judah, we come to see this King grow from a 7 year old child that had been hidden by a priest named Jehoiada. Joash was hidden from his grandmother Athaliah daughter of Ahab King of Israel who was a murderous woman seeking to kill all those in the house of David. Joash, King at 7 years of age, had a mentor named Jehoiada who was a Godly man. Though, "Ba'al worship" had been destroyed, people still worshiped false idols and burned incense. As Joash grew older, he wanted to rebuild the temple in which was destroyed because "Ba'al worship" was performed there, which was a form a worshiping false gods/idols. Joash wanted the priests to collect money and repair the temple to use to worship God. However 23 years had passed and yet the temple remained the same. Jehoida and the other priests were instructed not to accept money for the repair of the temple, but Jehoida took a chest and bored a hole in it. People then dropped their money in there as they came to worship God, the money was given to the people that repaired and worked on the house of God, the money did bypass the priests. This was motivation to most people, they built the house of God to worship Him.

Please read 2 Chronicles 24:15 - 22.

Jehoida then became old and died. He was well respected for he had done good to God and in the house of David. They buried him with the Kings of David. The princes of Judah then came and "kissed up to the King", making the King feel that he was powerful, they in turn, manipulated the King to turn from the Lord God, to worshiping false gods/idols. The spirit of God then came upon Zechariah who was the son of Jehoida the priest and mentor of Joash. Zechariah then stood and exclaimed to the people, "Why do you disobey the commandments of God? Has he not brought you blessings and prosper? Since you have forsaken the Lord he has also forsaken you!" The people then stoned Zecharaih to death at King Joash's command. Joash didn't remember the kindness that Jehoida had given him, Jehoida not only saved his life from his evil Grandmother who wanted to kill him, but was his Godly mentor and "father".

"I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." The Apostle Paul wrote those words as he faced impending martyrdom. Will you be able to say that one day in glory that you finished the race of life well? We should all desire it!

1. Understand the characteristics of a blessed servant who FAILS to finish well.



• Initial Blessing. (Joash had an initial blessing from God, using Jehoida to save him from his murderous Grandmother. We all receive blessings from God, sometimes the blessings don't come in the format we would like them to, but we need to accept and be thankful for everyone of God's Blessings)



• Early Service for God. (Joash wanted to serve God by rebuilding the temple for worship.)



• Critical event. (The most critical event in Joash's life was the death of his father and mentor Jehoida. Jehoida was a servant of God and provided guidance to Joash. Once Jehoida died, Joash was manipulated and esteemed by his people to serve false idols/gods. Joash was weak, didn't have faith in God, his faith was possibly placed in Jehoida rather than God, or maybe he trusted more in the faith of Jehoida, either way his faith to God was weak and was completely diminished upon temptation. In my life I can think of a couple of "critical events" that I can share with you, one was when my son Razi was born, as you all know he was born with a cleft palate and disorder call Pierre Robin Syndrome, he had problems breathing and couldn't drink from a bottle, we had to feed him through a tube. The other critical event was when I lost my job in 2004.)



• Final failure. Joash was so weak that God was forsaken and Joash failed to observe all the blessings that God had given to him in his life. Joash had little faith and was tempted to worship false idols, in turn Joash was also forsaken by God. If you read on in 2 Chronicles 24:23 - 24 you will find that God carried out judgment on Joash, in fact it was a small army from Syria that came to battle at Judah, Judah had a large army but was defeated by the power of God. Joash was executed. I had failure in my life when Razi was born, I completely turned from God, was angry and thought that I was being punished.



2. Understand the characteristics of a faithful servant who remains faithful to the end.



• Initial blessing. (Elisha was a faithful servant and prophet of God.)



• Early service for God. (Elisha served God as he served Elijah, who was also a faithful servant and prophet of God.)



• Critical event. (Read 2 Kings 2:9 - 13. Elisha's critical event was when Elijah died. Before Elijah was taken up in a whirl wind into Heaven, Elisha asked Elijah for a double portion of his spirit. Elisha lead the remaining prophets and servants of God. Although Elisha's mentor was gone his faith remained even stronger. When I lost my job, I had a heart of black, and was far from God, but I remember one day, I gave in, I spoke with God and told him, "Okay God, I know you are there, what am I to do, please show me". I was then blessed with a job, and in fact the job that God guided me to brought me closer to God and I also came to know Jesus Christ as my personal savior.)



• Final prosper. (Elisha finally died, but he died giving prophesies of God in his death bed. In fact God used Elisha even after he was dead to perform a miracle. 2 Kings 13:20 - 21. There was a soldier that had died, and his fellow soldiers were going to bury him in the same tomb that Elisha was buried. When the dead soldiers body touched the bones of Elisha, he came back to life. We must finish our race of life strong, we may come across bumps in our road, but we always need to turn to God, for he knows more than you and I can comprehend and knows our needs. Trust Him!)