Day 179: Persuasive Preaching

Welcome to Day 179 of the Bible 365 Podcast! I'm so excited you are joining me on this journey through the entire Bible this year. Reminder that each episode in 2026 will have a brand new devotional.

Today we'll be reading through 2 Kings 13-14; Acts 18:23-28, 19:1-12; Psalm 146; and Proverbs 18:2-3. Invite a family member or friend to join you as we grow in our knowledge of God through His Word.

I'm so glad that you are here!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome to day 179 of the Bible 365 podcast. My name is Randy Gudo, and today we're going to be reading through 2 Kings chapters 13 and 14, Acts chapter 18, verses 23 through 28, and chapter 19, verses 1-12, Psalm chapter 146, and Proverbs chapter 18 verses 2 and 3. The translation I'm using throughout this podcast is the Berean Standard Bible, also known as the BSB. Let's read. 2 Kings chapter 13. In the 23rd year of the reign of Joash, son of Ahaziah over Judah, Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria seventeen years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit. He did not turn away from them. So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he delivered them continually into the hands of Haziel, king of Aram, and his son Ben Hadad. Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the Lord, and the Lord listened to him, because he saw the oppression that the king of Aram had inflicted on Israel. So the Lord gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped the power of the Arameans. Then the people of Israel lived in their own homes as they had before. Nevertheless, they did not turn away from the sins that the house of Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit, but they continued to walk in them. The Ashrapol even remained standing in Samaria. Jehoahaz had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing. As for the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, along with all his accomplishments and his might, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehoahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria, and his son Jehoash reigned in his place. In the thirty-seventh year of the reign of Joash over Judah, Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit, but he walked in them. As for the rest of the acts of Jehoash, along with all his accomplishments and his might, including his war against Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehoash rested with his fathers, and Jeroboam succeeded him on the throne. Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. When Elisha had fallen sick with the illness from which he would die, Jehoash, king of Israel, came down to him and wept over him, saying, My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel. Elisha told him, Take a bow and some arrows. So Jehoash took a bow and some arrows. Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, Put your hand on the bow. So the king put his hand on the bow, and Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. Open the east window, said Elisha. So he opened it, and Elisha said, Shoot, so he shot. And Elisha declared, This is the Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram, for you shall strike the Arameans in Aphek until you have put an end to them. Then Elisha said, Take the arrows. So he took them, and Elisha said to the king of Israel, Strike the ground. So he struck the ground three times and stopped. But the man of God was angry with him and said, You should have struck the ground five or six times. Then you would have struck down Aram until you had put an end to it, but now you will strike down Aram only three times. And Elisha died and was buried. Now the Moabite raiders used to come into the land every spring. Once as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders, so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. And as soon as his body touched the bones of Elisha, the man was revived and stood up on his feet. And Haziel, king of Aram, oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. But the Lord was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And to this day the Lord has been unwilling to destroy them or cast them from his presence. When Haziel, king of Aram died, his son Ben Hadad reigned in his place. Then Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, took back from Ben Hadad, son of Haziel, the cities that Haziel had taken in battle from his father Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Ben Hadad three times, and so recovered the cities of Israel. 2 Kings chapter 14. And the second year of the reign of Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz over Israel, Amaziah, son of Joash, became king of Judah. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty nine years. His mother's name was Jehoadon, she was from Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not as his father David had done. He did everything as his father Joash had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away, and the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, Amaziah executed the servants who had murdered his father the king. Yet he did not put the sons of the murderers to death, but acted according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, Fathers must not be put to death for their children, and children must not be put to death for their fathers. Each is to die for his own sin. Amaziah struck down ten thousand Edomites in the valley of Salt. He took Selah in battle, and called it Jochthiel, which is its name to this very day. Then Amaziah sent messengers to the king of Israel, Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu. Come, let us meet face to face, he said. But Jehoash, king of Israel, replied to Amaziah, king of Judah, A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son in marriage. Then a wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle. You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud. Glory in that and stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you? But Amaziah would not listen, so Jehoash, King of Israel, advanced. He and King Amaziah of Judah faced each other at Beth Shemesh in Judah. And Judah was routed before Israel, and every man fled to his home. There at Beth Shemesh, Jehoash, King of Israel, captured Amaziah, King of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah. Then Jehoash went to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim gate to the corner gate, a section of four hundred cubits. He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace, as well as some hostages. Then he returned to Samaria. As for the rest of the acts of Jehoash, along with his accomplishments, his might, and how he waged war against Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jehoash rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and his son Jeroboam reigned in his place. Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. As for the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? And conspirators plotted against Amaziah in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But men were sent after him to Lachish, and they killed him there. They carried him back on horses and buried him in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. Azariah was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after King Amaziah rested with his fathers. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Amaziah, son of Joash over Judah, Jeroboam, son of Jehoash, became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria forty-one years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not turn away from all the sins that Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit. This Jeroboam restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the sea of the Araba, according to the word that the Lord, the God of Israel, had spoken through his servant Jonah, son of Ametai, the prophet from Gath Hephar. For the Lord saw that the affliction of the Israelites, both slave and free, was very bitter. There was no one to help Israel. And since the Lord had said that he would not blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, son of Jehoash. As for the rest of the Acts of Jeroboam, along with all his accomplishments and might, and how he waged war and recovered both Damascus and Hamath for Israel from Judah, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? And Jeroboam rested with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and his son Zechariah reigned in his place. Acts 18, verses 23 through 28. After Paul had spent some time in Enioch, he traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and was fervent in spirit. He spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John, and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. When Apollos resolved to cross over to Achaea, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On his arrival, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. Acts 19, verses 1 through 12. While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the interior and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers? No, they answered. We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. Into what then were you baptized? Paul asked. The baptism of John, they replied. Paul explained, John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all. Then Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that everyone who lived in the province of Asia, Jews and Greeks alike, heard the word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and the diseases and evil spirits left them. Psalm chapter 146. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life. I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man who cannot save. When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground. On that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the maker of heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them. He remains faithful forever. He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord protects foreigners. He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked he frustrates. The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Hallelujah. Proverbs 18, verses 2 and 3. A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in erring his opinions. With a wicked man comes contempt as well, and shame is accompanied by disgrace. Today's devotional is coming from Acts chapter 19, verse 8. It says, Then Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. In the ESV it says, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. What I love about the book of Acts is that they are in action. There's nothing that's passive at all. Here you have Paul, and he is with boldness arguing, reasoning persuasively, working to convince them about the kingdom of God, working to prove that Jesus is the Christ. You know, reasoning involves your intellect, taking scriptures, and it's bringing it into the realm of reality. Hey, this is what the scriptures say. Let me show you, let me prove to you that the kingdom of God is real, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is real, that heaven and hell is real, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. We need more of this today in our churches. We need more of this today amongst believers, because we have a world system and a culture that is arguing persuasively, using reason to persuade generations of people that the kingdom of God is not the kingdom of God, that Jesus is not the way, or He's not the only way. Arguing for Islam, arguing for bankrupt spirituality, we need some strong, bold believers today, and may at least they fill the pulpits and the platforms that our preachers and pastors and prophets and evangelists, teachers would be filled with boldness and a keen intellect, and of course the anointing of the Holy Spirit on their lives, but with a sharp mind, so that they can argue persuasively, reason about the kingdom of God. This is just something that really stood out to me as I was reading today, and I hope that it makes sense, I hope that it inspires and challenges you. Let's pray. Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus, and today I lift up the body of Christ, every church, all across the world, and our prayer is that our preachers and pastors and ministers would speak boldly as they reason and argue persuasively about the kingdom of God. Draw us close by the presence of your Holy Spirit and reveal your Son to us. We ask all these things in the precious name of Jesus. Amen. Well, I sure hope you enjoyed today's devotional. If you're getting something out of the Bible 365 podcast, consider sharing it with your family and with your friends. Please continue to pray for me. I am praying for you. Have a great day, and I'll see you tomorrow with day one eighty.