Join us for this week’s sermon podcast! Together, we will traverse the historic paths of Uzziah's reign, uncovering the layers of a king's journey from righteousness to ruin. His tale is a cautionary one, where the triumphs and pitfalls of leadership serve as a mirror to our own lives, reminding us of the fragile balance between pride and humility.
Our Speaker, Dr. Rex Horne begins by painting a vivid picture of Uzziah's early reign, describing the king's remarkable successes in war, fame, and prosperity. With engaging storytelling, we learn about Uzziah's devotion to seeking the Lord and the positive impact on his kingdom.
We then turn to the downfall of King Uzziah from a position of success and humility to pride and disobedience. Initially blessed and helped by God, Uzziah's strength and success led to pride. The turning point is highlighted when he decides to burn incense in the temple, a role reserved for priests. The priest Azariah, accompanied by 80 others, confronts Uzziah, stating that he has trespassed against God and will receive no honor.
Uzziah’s story emphasizes the importance of humility and obedience, even for powerful leaders, and highlights the significance of those who, though unnamed and not worldly successful, have power with God. We are left with a powerful call to introspection, urging us to consider our journey, learn from Uzziah's experiences, and embrace the opportunity for spiritual growth
Tune in to this thought-provoking episode filled with compelling narratives, insightful reflections, and impactful messages. Discover the relevance of Uzziah's story in your life, and embark on a journey of self-discovery and spiritual renewal.
Join us for this week’s sermon podcast! Together, we will traverse the historic paths of Uzziah's reign, uncovering the layers of a king's journey from righteousness to ruin. His tale is a cautionary one, where the triumphs and pitfalls of leadership serve as a mirror to our own lives, reminding us of the fragile balance between pride and humility.
Our Speaker, Dr. Rex Horne begins by painting a vivid picture of Uzziah's early reign, describing the king's remarkable successes in war, fame, and prosperity. With engaging storytelling, we learn about Uzziah's devotion to seeking the Lord and the positive impact on his kingdom.
We then turn to the downfall of King Uzziah from a position of success and humility to pride and disobedience. Initially blessed and helped by God, Uzziah's strength and success led to pride. The turning point is highlighted when he decides to burn incense in the temple, a role reserved for priests. The priest Azariah, accompanied by 80 others, confronts Uzziah, stating that he has trespassed against God and will receive no honor.
Uzziah’s story emphasizes the importance of humility and obedience, even for powerful leaders, and highlights the significance of those who, though unnamed and not worldly successful, have power with God. We are left with a powerful call to introspection, urging us to consider our journey, learn from Uzziah's experiences, and embrace the opportunity for spiritual growth
Tune in to this thought-provoking episode filled with compelling narratives, insightful reflections, and impactful messages. Discover the relevance of Uzziah's story in your life, and embark on a journey of self-discovery and spiritual renewal.
Hi and welcome to the FBC Eldorado Sermon Podcast. We hope God will use this week's message to both inspire and challenge you as you seek to walk closer with the Lord. Now join me as we listen into this week's sermon.
Speaker 2:Well, good morning. First, I have this church of Eldorado. Have I told you more than two dozen times how much I enjoy coming to Eldorado and coming to this church, the big town, from guys coming from Washtall County to the big town back in the day, and it's great being here with you. I can tell you certain things. I know. I know that the next pastor of this church is going to be blessed. I hope you know what a good church that you are and the singing and the fellowship and the spirit in this church is so good and you're just waiting for that time now when the Lord makes his will known and you're going to do great things. Eldorado is one of the places right now, honestly in our state, that we see the Lord moving in different churches and in the area, and so glad and so pleased about that. I want to say to you you're in for a treat. Young people man, tell everybody, ryan Scatling is an all-star. I mean, this guy is good. He is the BCM guy leader at the University of Arkansas. He is a gifted man. He has a heart for the church and for young people and you don't want to miss it and you want to get as many folks in the area here to hear him and to be a part of that. Marcus Brown starts with you next week. I understand there's nobody at the State Convention that I work with more closely than Marcus. In fact, where my office is, his is the next one over and so we're together all the time talking about things that matter and sometimes things that don't matter at all, but we enjoy being together and he's a good preacher and a good man and so good for you. So all I can say is God bless you and it's so good, becky, and I look forward to being here with you.
Speaker 2:I want to invite you to take your Bibles and turn in the Old Testament to a passage you may have never heard a sermon from before, and in fact, when I look back through years of preaching, I don't know that this is not the first time I've prepared a sermon from this passage as well. It's found in 2 Chronicles, chapter 26. As you're turning there, you know in the Old Testament when you find lists of kings, those who reign, you'll have certain information about them. So-and-so was the son of maybe gives the father's name, gives the mother's name. At times, if they're following their father, which was often the case, it would list their father and that he ruled and reigned, and then the son's name. Most think when I'm reading through, that didn't work that way, for Jonathan after Saul did it, and what a great man of great character and integrity. Jonathan, the son of Saul, was much more than his father, who protected the second king David from his father who wanted to kill him. But that's a whole other sermon. But I think about those when I go through the list. What we find in the list is something like this Most times many, it will say so-and-so lived and ruled in Judah or Jerusalem so many years and he did that which was what Evil in the sight of the Lord.
Speaker 2:Most of the times that's the way it is. He did that which was evil. Every now and then you'll read some who said he reigned a certain length of time and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. The guy we're looking at today did both For years. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but he didn't end well and he's remembered for how he ended and I don't think he had to end that way. I think he just got into a pattern that caused him to end in a way that he's remembered not as a good king that did good, I think, probably for most of his reign, but for how his life and how his reign ended.
Speaker 2:So the first thing I want to do is talk to you about Uzziah. Uzziah is the one that in Isaiah, chapter 6, that he said, as I said, in the year that King Uzziah died. Well, this is that Uzziah, and you remember that Isaiah spoke of it and he was moved in his heart about it and he talked about. You know, I'm a man of unclean lips and I live in the midst of people of unclean lips and I had often read that passage and thought, well, he was lamenting because a good king had died, but in reality, he may have been lamenting because a good king had become a bad king and he thought where are we going to go? Where are we going to turn?
Speaker 2:We need to be careful as Christians, as citizens, that we don't make such big statements, as it's never been this bad. We hadn't lived all the time. It was bad back then it was bad. It was bad in the world. When Jesus came into the world it was bad, and the truth of the matter is American citizen, union County, el Dorado citizen, arkansas citizen. We've got it really good. We are blessed, above all people, we're blessed.
Speaker 2:So here we are, uzziah, I want you to notice with me, beginning in verse one, the people took Uzziah, who was 16 years old. Now look with me at verse three. Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king and he reigned 52 years, started at 16 and for the next 52 years he was king. That's a long time, isn't it? Long time? Now the Bible goes on to tell us about him in verse four. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father, amaziah, had done. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, god made him prosper. Some of you who use NIV translation it has it made him successful or gave him success. So here's a fellow who had a wonderful start. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. He reigned 52 years. He had one, a priest who led him, who taught him Zechariah, who had understood visions.
Speaker 2:The words that Hebrews sometimes can have a double meaning, or it may be slightly this way or the other. It also carries the idea of fear or reverence. So Zechariah taught him how to reverence the Word, the direction, the unction, the insight that comes from God. He taught him how to fear, how to be reverent, how to listen to God, how to look to his Word. And twice in that verse it says as long as he sought the Lord. Sought is a great word, it means to seek refuge. So, above everything, zachariah had taught Uzziah when challenges come, when problems come, when the need for answers come, run to the Lord, seek the Lord, seek Him out and listen to Him and fear Him and reverence Him. And as long as he did that, god made him prosper. God gave him success.
Speaker 2:And the writer does not stop with that. He begins to give us examples and signs of his success, beginning in verse 6, he went out and he made war against the Philistines. He broke down their walls, he built cities around their key cities, like Ashtad. God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians who lived there and against the Mennonites and the Ammonites who had brought trouble to him. See that in verse 6 to 8. So how do we know he was successful? He was successful in war. God gave him victory in battles.
Speaker 2:Not only that, we see that his fame had spread. In verse 8, the middle part, his fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he became exceedingly strong, very successful, prosper greatly. We're going to see how he prospered in just a moment. So, as long as he sought refuge in the Lord, god made him successful. God made him to prosper and it was seen on the battlefield. He vanquished the enemies of Israel. It is seen in that his name became famous. He was known by everybody, everybody. You know he probably liked that. You know as a young man, particularly here. I am still young when all this started happening and everybody knows me, even to the gates of Egypt. They know who I, uzziah, am Successful in war. His fame had spread. Not only that, but continue to look with me. He was safe.
Speaker 2:Verse 9, uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, the valley gate and the corner buttress of the wall. He fortified them. He built towers in the desert. He was safe, he was famous. He was successful in war. And verse 10 goes on to talk about he dug many wells. To this day, to this day, the biggest need, and that which is fought over so often is water. Water in the Middle East, water in Israel. Water was always important and he dug many wells. He had water and he had a lot of cattle, and the Bible goes on to say he had vine dressers.
Speaker 2:Man, this guy, young, successful, prosperous, vanquished the foes in battle. His name spread everywhere. He lived in safety, he was secure, he had the military, he had the wealth from being a cattleman with vineyards and a large supply of water. What a blessing that that was. There's an interesting little phrase there, toward the end of verse 10, that I like. Look at it. The last phrase, for he loved the soil. He loved the soil. He could have been a good Arkansan.
Speaker 2:We like the land, don't we? In South Arkansas we even like pine trees. Other folks don't like them because of what it does in their yards, right, and we're not crazy about that, but we love the soil. In this season of our life and ministry, we travel a lot around Arkansas, and Arkansas is a very diverse state, isn't it? From the Delta, the East, to the mountains and hills in the West and Northwest, the lakes and streams we find throughout the state, up in North Arkansas and in God's country in South Arkansas, where the people are as good as the land. This man loved the soil. There's something good about a guy, a lady, that just loves the land.
Speaker 2:Becky's dad was remarkable fella. I mean, we would go with him. He lived to be almost 100 years old. We'd take him out to eat a bite or something and, man, he'd be looking at the sky, talking about the clouds. We'd pass over the Arkansas River on a bridge and he'd say imagine how they built this thing, the ingenuity, the engineering that took to build this. He'd look at the water, everything he just soaked it in. He loved the land, he loved the sky. He loved nature. Listen, the Bible tells us in Romans that one of the testimonies of God to the lost person's conscience is creation. Very nature itself speaks of God and gives praise to God. He loved the soil.
Speaker 2:And as all of this happened to the king, he began obviously not to seek refuge from the Lord. He began to think not about the providence and the power of God. He began to think you know, I'm pretty successful, I've gotten pretty good at this. I know how to fight, I know how to raise cattle, I know how to build towers, I know how to make people cower, because I'm famous and he began to think I've earned this and I've gotten it because I'm smart and I'm crafty and because I know how to do things. I know people. All of that was taking place.
Speaker 2:I've told you before, because I tell every preach, I work it into sermon. Almost every time I preach I want the great African American preacher, ev Hill, who's been in heaven a long time. He spent most of his ministry in Southern California. He said never forget this that everything you have above nothing, god gave it to you. Everything you have above nothing. You can start with nothing and say that's what I've earned, that's what I got, and everything on top of that, god gave it to you, he enabled you to make it, he gave you strength, he gave you the ability to breathe, the ability to think. All of that that came from God, that didn't come from you. You can't extend your life one moment, but God does it. He's created you in a marvelous way. Nothing you had to do with it. So here he goes. You can begin to see.
Speaker 2:Well, I'd like to say that we're going to see the progression in Uzziah's life. We've already seen that. We're going to see the digression now where he begins to think it's on me, I did it and you know, really, I've kind of come into a position now that I can do whatever I want, wherever I want to and however I want to do it, and let's see how that plays out. God had given him success, but now he begins to lean on his perceived strength, and verse 15 talks about the devices he made and the skillful men and those who could shoot arrows and use large stones. Look at the middle part, a little past the middle part, of verse 15 of 2 Chronicles 26. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was look at this marvelously helped till he became strong. He was blessed. He was helped until he became strong, until he became successful, until he became prosperous Verse 16,.
Speaker 2:But when he was strong, powerful, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord, his God. When he was strong, when he was powerful, his heart was lifted up. What do we call that? We call it pride, pride. The Bible says the wicked man does not seek him. Thomas said in his pride, the wicked man will not seek God. We know the Bible teaches us that pride comes before the fall and that humility comes before honor. I mean when he was 16 years old even though it's 16, you're bulletproof if you think you are At 16, as things began to go good, you could see how he began to think man this is quite a deal I've got but probably when he was listening to Zachariah and learning how to understand God there, probably I say no doubt there was a humility in his life.
Speaker 2:Man, I don't know how to do all these things, I don't know how to rule all these people. I don't know how to make all these decisions. There was a humility there and he sought God. He sought refuge from God. He went before the presence of God, but when he became powerful, he transgressed, he sinned against God, and the example is given of what caused all of this to change everything about Uzziah, even to the point of how he's remembered to this very day when we read the Scripture, verse 16, the middle part. He transgressed against the Lord, his God, by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. He moved from success to self-interest to sin Success, self-interest, sin. He even came to the point of saying and you know it's very strict in the Old Testament how you behaved in the temple and who did what I mean? That's all you know. So much of the Old Testament. You can read.
Speaker 2:It looked like this the priest did this, the things of worship were made out of this and you only did it this way and that way and all the rest it was prescribed. But here this king decided you know, I'm the king and I'm famous and I'm strong and I'm successful and I'm wealthy and people are afraid of me and I've been doing it a long time. I can even go into the temple. I can be my own priest who says I can't do that. If I want to march in there and burn incense unto the Lord, I'll just do that. And that's what he decided to do. But what we see here is in verse 17,.
Speaker 2:So, as a riah, the priest went in after him and with him were 80 priests of the Lord, valiant men, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him it is not for you, uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priest, the Son of Air and those who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed, you've sinned against God. You shall have no honor from the Lord. God Boy, I tell you that, priest, there was a brave man, wasn't he, as a riah was a brave man. He spoke, as we say today, truth to power. He understood the power that this guy had, but he also understood that he answered to a power greater than the King's power, to God, almighty God. And he knew that God had consecrated him and others to do this ministry unto the Lord and for the people. And 80 guys followed in with him, nameless.
Speaker 2:We don't know who they were, but what it reminds us is this there are always wonderful, good, unnamed people who may not be famous, who may not be successful by the world standards, who may not have all the things that this King had, but who have a relationship with God and they have more power because they have power with God, than the King or the President or anybody else. And that's what we see played out here. He marches in behind the King and says you can't do this. You've not been consecrated to do this. Get out of this sanctuary. Get out of this sanctuary, for you have sinned against God, the trespassed. It's used a couple of times in the passage already that I've read you have trespassed against God and you will have what? No honor, no honor from the Lord At the end. You're not going to hear. It's not going to be written of you and you did what was right in the sight of the Lord for 52 years. You're not going to have that written about you. That's not what's going to be said.
Speaker 2:Well, what would you expect this King to do? What I wish he had done before we read it. I wish he would have just stopped in his tracks and just said you're right, just own it. It's so hard for us to own it, isn't it? Most of us in South Arkansas with parents that we had. If we were blessed with good Christian parents and grew up in the church, you know we were taught, were we not? Just tell the truth. You get more trouble if you lie. That's what my dad would tell me. I don't know. It's pretty hard to tell the truth. I think we got punished pretty good for telling the truth. So I guess I can't imagine what it might have been like if we'd have lied on top of that. I guess it would have been worse. But just own it.
Speaker 2:If the King had just owned it and said you're right and said to them would you pray for me? Would you ask God? Would you join me in asking God to forgive me of what I've done. I'm wrong, this is not my place, this is not my position. I think if he had done that I believe that if he'd done that everything would have changed. What said of him in the next verses would have changed. Everybody falls. Everybody sins. That's all of us. All of us sin, fall short, all of us. There's only two kinds of folks in the world they're sinners and they're saved sinners. But we're still sinners. We still have that nature within us. Own it, confess it, and God, the Father, forgives and lifts us back up and causes us to move on. So that's what I would have hoped would have happened, but it didn't happen. Let's see what happened.
Speaker 2:Verse 19, uzziah became furious. Enraged is the idea. He was just enraged with what this priest and these guys had done. And it tells us about him now that Uzziah was furious and raised. He had a censor in his hand to burn incense. A censor you can almost see, can't you, the incense, the smoke coming out of it. If a guy is holding a censor in his hand and he's enraged at those who came out, what do you think he's thinking about doing with that censor? Going after the priest first, and then the guys after him. Who do they think they are talking to the king like this? Can't you almost see him begin to move that thing around, just like he's going to go?
Speaker 2:And when that took place, when it seemed like it was going to be a slaughter in the temple, god steps in. Never forget God is in control. You may not think he is, you may not think he could get darker, but he can. But he can also get a lot better. And God steps in.
Speaker 2:So as he was doing this in verse 19, and while he was angry with the priest, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priest, in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar, and as a riot, the chief priest and all the priests looked at him and there on his forehead, he was leprous, so they thrust him out of the place. Indeed, like, indeed, just simply said. Not only did they thrust him out, but he himself was ready to run out of the temple, but he himself hurried to get out because the Lord had struck him. Can you imagine as a riot sees this coming at him and all of a sudden he sees a change in the countenance of Uzziah and it's obvious to him and to those 80 valiant men that leprosy. God had struck the king with leprosy and somehow, maybe, it spread to his hands. The king himself realized that he had leprosy and the priest thrust him out. But they didn't have to. He himself ran out of that place because he was a leper. This guy who became king is 16, who was successful, he in war, famous, safe water. All that he had now was boiled down to one thing he didn't have anything except what Leprosy. That's what he had leprosy. Like that, everything changed. Like that, it all changed.
Speaker 2:Verse 21, uzziah was a leper. Until the day of his death he dwelled in an isolated house. Because he was a leper, he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Then Jotham, his son, was over the king's house judging the people of the land, everything, nothing. This disgraced, feared, dishonored that's who he is now. He can't go to the house of the Lord, he can't go to his own house, he can't be around his family. The one who could beckon anybody to come and appear before hundreds and thousands of people and to be applauded and to be looked upon in a great way, with great respect, now is a leper for the rest of his life. What was he doing that was so antagonistic toward God and that God was so enraged by it? Well, to put it in today's parlance, jotham was living by his truth.
Speaker 2:You ever heard that, well, this is my truth? Does your gag reflex kind of come about when people say that, well, this is my truth? You listen, your truth, my truth is not worth anything. Only thing worth anything is God's truth. In fact, the Bible says that our heart is deceitful above anything else and wicked. That's what Jeremiah said. So my truth is wicked. You know why? Because my truth always excuses my sin and it exalts me over other people and even as a person of faith, it makes me comfortable in my carnality. That's my truth. Is that your truth? I mean, if we're appealing to my truth rather than God's truth, isn't that a reason why? Because our truth just feels better to us than God's truth?
Speaker 2:I don't think God cared too much for Uzziah's truth or his stance or his pride. That he could do whatever he wanted, wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, wasn't true, was it? It was not true of the king, it's not true of you and of me. And so that's what happened to him the dishonor, the change that took place within his life. Now, friends, we see this all around. We see it in every facet of life. It's easy to point out those who are famous and say you know man, that man, that woman, that person, whether it's in the community, whether it's in the country, whether it's in the world. But let's never forget that God's recording the story. It's not up to us. What we might write or say about ourselves or others is really not what matters. It's what God has to say. And too bad for old Uzziah. What God had to say about him is recorded in the Word of God, the Bible. That will last as long as there is time. So anytime somebody reads about this 16-year-old who ruled for 52 years, they keep reading the story. They get to the end of the chapter. Uzziah was struck by God with leprosy. He was distanced from God and from family. He was dishonored by God and he died as a leper verse 23. So Uzziah rested with his fathers and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings. For they said, what did they say he was a king for 52 years. No, they said he is a leper. Wow, how did he start? 16 and famous. How did he end this? Honored, distant, broken, a leper and watch recorded about him? He's a leper, he's a leper.
Speaker 2:I Read a lot of news, lot of things from the different places, and one thing that's kind of caught my attention through the years is In the New York Times there's about four obituaries a day that are kind of written almost like a short biography, and I found them fascinating. Most of the time I don't know who they're writing about. It may be a famous violinist from where are? Somebody who's a physicist or somebody who made this discovery or that, or an athlete would recognize A politician, a public servant. They entertain all and on it goes, business people. But I read it because it's interesting and of course they've got a staff. So obviously they've kind of been preparing that biography through the person's life and then when it comes to their passing they finish it out and Read about them.
Speaker 2:And I thought about that. I thought about you know who did they interview? Maybe some of their colleagues, some of their business associates, some of their family, to come up with a story. And I thought about A guy who was my Hero as far as baseball goes when I was a kid Mickey Mantle. Mickey Mantle died over in Dallas, number seven switch hitter, great baseball player, and grew up in Oklahoma, went to the major leagues as a young, young guy and, by his own admission, wasted a lot of his life and had a lot of bad addictions, a lot of moral problems. So now and then when we're in Dallas where our son lives I hadn't done it in a long time, been years, we've done it two or three times it's when I could drag Becky from North Park Mall To go right across the road nothing to think of this To Hillcrest Spartan cemetery. I mean, that's quite a switch in it. She much prefers North Park Mall that the Hillcrest Spartan cemetery.
Speaker 2:But what when you drive in on one of those entry roads of dr Truett, the guy that we named our son after, who was pastor in Texas for a long, long time? Dr Truett's Monuments right there. So I wanted to see kind of where that was. I know he's not there, but just see where the monument is. So one that was out there and I thought you know, dr Chris will, I think, was also buried out here. So I asked the guy he was out there that worked there, and I said Dr Chris will died not long ago when I went it's been years now but when I was there and he said yeah, he said Let me show you where he is. And he was placed in a mausoleum and he said While you're in there, you might go around the corner. You might recognize some names that that you might. You might know, and of course, in that cemetery there's a lot of senators and business people and men and women that were not only famous in Dallas coach Landry's been buried there and on and on Senator Tower others. So I rounded the corner and I looked Mickey Mantle First thought was Mickey didn't have any money to buy this spot.
Speaker 2:And then I read what was placed on his where he's interred, and I immediately thought and Mickey Mantle didn't write this, I Was using this the other day somewhere and I was talking about Mickey Mantle and I said and you know, and I talked about this and in our day and time you got to be so careful because no sooner had I gotten through preaching that a guy came up with an iPad and showed me exactly what was on that place. That, mickey, I mean word for word and I thought, oh my gosh, I hope and you know I don't want to ruin a good story with facts, you know. But so so I wondered, I wondered what what I said he said. But he pointed to the last line. He said you were exactly right. So I don't remember all of it, but let me just get to the point that my friend confirmed is exactly right Said something like this a Wonderful husband, a Loving father, mickey Mantle, in his own words, has said I was a miserable husband and a terrible father.
Speaker 2:His son some of them died early, addictions like her father had had. The woman he lived with for the last 18, 20 years of his life was not his wife and he said I, you know I failed my family. He became a Christian toward the end of his life. Good news Bobby Richardson played second base for the New York Yankees from South Carolina. He and Mickey were teammates. Bobby Richardson Went to see Mickey and Mickey said I've committed my life to the Lord. Didn't have much to offer, just a diseased, old former athlete who had messed up his life, and he knew it. But he asked for the grace and mercy of God. And God loves people like Mickey Mantle and and God loves people like you and me, and it's never too late To ask God for his mercy and grace, because God wants that for you and he wants fellowship with you, not just in the years of this life, but forever. Mickey didn't walk with the Lord here very long, but he's gonna walk with him the rest of the way, forever.
Speaker 2:What I'm saying to your friend is what's gonna be said about you? You might say, well, I don't care, I get that. What's God gonna say about you? How's God gonna remember your time here? You might say, well, I'm not a leper. Thank God we don't deal with that so much here. But you see where I'm going. Well, I failed in this and I failed in that and I've been miserable about this or that.
Speaker 2:What I'm saying to you today is it's never too late to change the last verse. If you, ziya, had turned to God, that would have been recorded and we'd remembered him yet as the guy who messed up. But at the end he came back to God and God received him and now he's remembered as a king who reigned for 52 years and some of it wasn't good Then. He kind of made some big mistakes along the way, but basically and as God looks at the whole of it he did right in the sight of God because he came back to God. It ended well. It ended well.
Speaker 2:So I want to encourage you today to remember that the blessings that you get are simply that, blessings given to you by God that you do not deserve, you have not earned. But God loves you and if you failed miserably and your sight or in the sight of others is never too late, to just own it, confess it to God, and God will restore you and bless you and use you. That's full of stories like that in the Bible. Even David could give a testimony, simon Peter could give a testimony, the Apostle Paul can give a testimony. You can give a testimony, I can give a testimony of the grace and the power and the mercy of God. So let's be successful in the eyes of God and never forget our service to him. Would you bow with me, please? We're going to sing an invitation to him. When we do, there will be those here at the front to receive you If you would come to unite with this good church to profess your faith in Jesus, whatever you might be led to do.
Speaker 2:I want to ask you to stand as we pray and, after I pray, whether you're in the balcony, the main floor. As the Lord leads you to make that commitment to him, would you step out and come? It will do you good, but listen, it will strengthen the church and the work of the church at this time in El Dorado. So you just come and do that which the Lord leads you to do. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for the truth of it and thank you for that. All stories can end positively if our trust and faith remains steadfast in you. So, lord, today, help us to square accounts with you and we just want to say we love you and we thank you for this day. Bless those who would come, uniting with the church, professing faith in Christ, whatever you'd lead them to do in this moment. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You come, brian Stanz, here waiting to receive you, which he comes. The Lord leads you.