(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, so I'm sure you noticed we're not in 2 Kings tonight. So what we're going to do is we're going to change directions a little bit. So if you notice, the title of the series is Getting to Know Your Old Testament Better. And so the reason why I picked 1 Kings chapter 12 is because that highlights a very pivotal point in Israel's history. And to be honest with you, I'm shocked at how little Christians know about our own history in the Bible, about the different kings and prophets and so forth. And so what we're going to do is we're going to start to go through the time periods that the kings reign. You know, because I mean, let's face it, when you read through 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles, I mean, by the time you get done with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, you know, and you get into the major prophets, a lot of times you've already forgotten what's going on, you know, during the Kings and Chronicles, you know, because it flip flops around and stuff. And so what we're going to do is we're just going to basically take a chronological look at the different kings every Wednesday night. And then once we get to the point, like say, like with Hezekiah, right, who was the major prophet in his day, Isaiah, then we'll overview the book of Isaiah and so forth. That way, as you read throughout your New Testament, when you get to Amos and you get to Jonah and you get to Joel, you're not like, wow, okay, who was the king again? What was it like during that time? What's going on? You know, God's people, the Bible says are destroyed for lack of knowledge, you know, and we ought to know these things very well. And so hopefully you don't find it boring. You know, it is Bible study, so we are going to flip through a lot of different verses tonight. So we're going to start off there in first Kings chapter 12. We're going to start off talking about Rehoboam, who he was, who was the prophet during his day. So basically Rehoboam, he was Solomon's son. And after him was a guy called Abijah or Abijam or in the New Testament, he's known as Abiah. And then meanwhile, while those guys are reigning, Jeroboam is reigning in Israel, right? So we're going to go through the two kings of Judah first, and then just keep in your minds that while I'm going through this, Jeroboam is also reigning in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. We just read first Kings 12, which basically highlighted what happened, what were the events that led to Israel becoming divided. You saw that Rehoboam, though he was raised by the wisest man who ever lived, he rejected counsel right off the bat. I mean, think about that. That doesn't say a lot about the guy's character. So as I said, Rehoboam, he was King Solomon's son. He took over after Solomon and he reigned 17 years. So Rehoboam did not reign as long as Jeroboam reigned in Israel. And so where did he reign? He reigned in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. And the prophet during Rehoboam's day was a prophet named Shemaiah. So you're there in first Kings chapter 12, look down to verse number 21, it says, when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin and 104 score thousand chosen men, which were warriors to fight against the house of Israel to bring the kingdom of again, again, to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon in verse 22 says, but the word of the Lord came on to Shemaiah, the man of God saying, so I'm going to read the next two verses. I want you guys to turn to second Chronicles chapter 11, second Chronicles chapter 11. So Rehoboam right off the bat, he's angry. He's lost the kingdom. Doesn't understand that it's actually God's will that this stuff happened. If you remember the prophet, a Hijjah went up to Jeroboam while Solomon was still reigning and said, Hey, you're going to take 10 tribes of Israel. I'm going to take Israel away from King Solomon because of his love for many strange women. Remember they drove Solomon's heart away from God. And so, you know, we need to understand that as we read this. And when, when the prophet of Hijjah was telling this to Jeroboam, if you remember, he also said, Hey, look, if you follow God's statutes, if you follow his commandments, things will go well for you. Right. And I know we just read the first Kings 12 and you saw the Jeroboam, you know, basically just sets up his own religion and we're going to get into that in great detail, but it didn't have to be that way. Jeroboam could have had a righteous run. He could have done things the right way, but pride got to him or whatever got to him and he didn't want to, you know, he didn't want to play ball. He didn't want to go down that road. And so it winds up leading to the entire destruction of his own family and his family line. And then, you know, we're going to finish the sermon tonight talking about his sins because as you read through Kings and Chronicles, you're going to often see this phrase, the sins of Jeroboam. And so it's important that we understand what those are and why that's so important. So you're there in second Chronicles 11, I'm just going to finish reading these next few verses out of first Kings 12. So remember in first Kings 12, 22 says, but the word of God came unto Shemaiah, the man of God saying, speak it to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin and to the remnant of the people saying, thus saith the Lord, you shall not go up nor fight against your brethren, the children of Israel. Return every man to his house for this thing is from me. They hearken therefore to the word of the Lord and returned to depart according to the word of the Lord. So sometimes during Rehoboam's reign, the children of Israel, listen to God, they have a little bit of success. Other times they depart. For the most part, if you read different charts and stuff like that about the kings of Judah, they'll still classify Rehoboam as doing evil. I'm not saying he wasn't saved. Obviously he was raised knowing God and stuff like that. He was just disobedient and he's angry here. He wants the kingdom back and he's like, Hey, I'm ready to fight. You know, and he inquire of God, the prophet comes to him and says, Hey, you're not going to fight your brother. This thing is from the Lord. You have to deal with it. Just run your kingdom. But later on, you're going to read that Rehoboam actually does have war with Jeroboam the rest of the days of his life. So if you're there in second Chronicles chapter 11, look down at verse number 13 because what we're going to read here is that Jeroboam has caused a new religion to spring up in Israel and that drives the Levites in to Judah because remember he instituted his own religious system with his own expectations, with his own laws, his own standards. And so now the Levites are like, well, our job is to minister into the things of God. We're supposed to study the law. We're supposed to be diligent under these things and we can't do that here. So now the only option that they have is to go to Jerusalem. So look down at verse number 13 it says, and the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts for the Levites left their suburbs and their possession and came to Judah and Jerusalem for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest's office on to the Lord. And so we're going to talk a little bit more in detail later about the Levites and stuff, but you can already see Jeroboam's attitude, right? He doesn't want people that are fundamental in his kingdom. He doesn't want people that want to do things the right way for God in his kingdom. And so he drives them out. And you know what? There's a lot of churches today that do the same thing. You go to a Nazarene church, you go to a Southern Baptist church right now with your fundamental views, they will drive you away because they have the spirit of Jeroboam in their churches. It's all over the country. It's all over the world. Look down here at verse number 15. It says, and he ordained him priests for the high places and for the devils and for the calves, which he had made. And a lot of times these guys that go around saying, well, you don't have to be ordained to become a pastor or a deacon or anything like that. I'll often take them to this verse here and I'll say, Hey, look, even Jeroboam, as wicked as he was, he had enough common sense to ordain his priests for the devils. I mean, think about that's a pretty big slap in the face to a guy like Tyler Doka over there in New York, right? You know, that's not qualified. Now he didn't ordain himself, but he's not qualified. You know, he was sent out by somebody who didn't care, who had the spirit of Jeroboam, who didn't care that if he had enough kids, the guy was a novice. And now look at the guy, he's teaching people that they can be saved and then somehow backslide enough to lose their salvation and go to hell for a thousand years. You know, that's the result that you get from not following God's commandments. That's the result that you get from following the spirit of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. Look at verse 16, I'm sorry, look at verse 17 and says, so they strengthened the kingdom of Judah and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon strong three years for three years, they walked in the way of David and Solomon. So like I said before, he has a little bit of strength here. All right. The Bible is like, Hey, they strengthened themselves for three years and in three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon. And then you can, as you read throughout the rest of Kings, the rest of Chronicles, you'll just notice that it's just, just up and down, kind of like the book of Judges, you know, they do a little bit of right and then they do a whole lot of wrong. And so we're going to move on here. That's kind of sums up Rehoboam. Now after Rehoboam, I already mentioned his name, his name is Abijah or Abijam or Abiah in the new Testament. So go to first Kings chapter 15 and do me a favor and just keep your spot there in Chronicles because we are going to flip back and forth between the books today. We're also going to be in Hebrews a little bit as well. Just a, just a quick heads up there. So right off the bat, as the kingdoms divided, remember the first King of the divided Kingdom is Rehoboam. After him reigns Abijah and meanwhile, don't forget this, Jeroboam is reigning, right? So Abijah, he reigns in Judah and like I said, he's got three names as you read throughout the Bible. He's called Abijah or Abiah. It just depends on what timeframe people are referring to him as. He was a another King of Judah and while he's reigning, Shemaiah is still a prophet and Jeroboam is still reigning over Israel. So first Kings chapter 15, look at verse number one, it says, now in the 18th year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat reigned Abijah over Judah. Three years reigned he in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Micaiah, the daughter of Abishalem. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as the heart of David, his father. Verse four says, nevertheless, for David's sake, did the Lord, his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem to set up his son after him to establish Jerusalem. So I wouldn't just buy that statement there. I wouldn't go around saying that this guy wasn't saved. He's just in disobedience. He's just not fully in it for God. Look at verse number five. It says because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. So he grew up with his father constantly at war with Jeroboam. So this guy's got a definite anger issue or a definite dislike for Jeroboam and we're going to see that here. Now go back to 2 Chronicles, but this time go to 2 Chronicles chapter 13. And I like that statement that the Holy Ghost gives us here in the Bible about David. It says that he walked after God with a perfect heart and it just says saving in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. And we all know the story about how David committed sin with Bathsheba. And God says, hey, you know, aside from that, he did that which was right. So guess what? When you read about David in the Old Testament and you read him cutting people in half and just going completely crazy after the enemy, God didn't hold that to his charge, you know, because there's a lot of liberals out there today that don't understand these stories. They don't know the Bible and they will tell you that he was in disobedience while doing those things. And you as a believer, you've got to know that that's just simply not true. You have got to know your Bible. You've got to read this all the days of your life. Look, if you're coming to church just three times a week and that's the only Bible you get, you are behind and you are setting yourself up for great failure. So let's continue to read here in 2 Chronicles about Abijah. So look down at chapter number 13 verse number one says, now in the 18th year of King Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah and just, I'm just going to throw this out here real quick. Jeroboam reigned about 22 years in Israel. Okay. So Rehoboam reigned 17 years Abijah, he's just got a short little three year run. So it says now in the 18th year of King Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother, his mother's name was also, or also was Micaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah and there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam and Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, even 400,000 chosen men. Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with 800,000 chosen men being mighty men of valor. So right off the bat, who's got more people? It's Jeroboam, right? And it doesn't always seem to work out that way. Anytime you want to go to battle, it always seems like the enemy has more people. But what we have to understand is that that's how God operates. See God says that he makes himself strong when we are in situations of weakness. And so that's exactly what you see going on here. It's typical protocol. You know, God's going to use his power. God's going to rescue the children of Judah from Jeroboam. Look at verse four. It says, and Abijah stood up on Mount Zamarium, which is in Mount Ephraim and said, hear me thou Jeroboam in all Israel. This is interesting here, right? This really pours out Abijah's heart towards Jeroboam. Look at verse five. It says, ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of Saul? Yet Jeroboam, the son of Nebath, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, is risen up and hath rebelled against his Lord. And there gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted and could not withstand them. So Rehoboam was young when he was given this great position of power after Solomon left, you know, left the rain after he died. And so that's part of the problem too. You know, remember Rehoboam, he listened to the counsel of his young friends. He should have listened to the counsel of the old men that were with his fathers, but he didn't do that. Instead, you know, he was tenderhearted. He couldn't withstand them. And if you remember, the Bible also says about Jeroboam that he was a very industrious person. He got a lot of work done. And so that's how he met Solomon. Solomon observed him and he said, hey, here's a guy who's mighty. Here's a guy who's strong, who gets it done. I'm going to take him from my kingdom, from my economy. And so Solomon originally hired Jeroboam to do a lot of work and to be a servant for him. And so Jeroboam, when he challenged Rehoboam, when Rehoboam was younger, was much stronger, much mightier than him. And so Abijah, you know, he hasn't forgot about that. You know, that's something that was known in the kingdom during that time. And he's like, hey, look, you know, you took advantage of my dad and now it's time to pay. Look at verse number eight. It says, and now you think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David and you be a great multitude and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have you not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites and have made you priest after the manners of the nations of other lands so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. And we're going to come back and we're going to talk about that, how Jeroboam made the lowest of the people of the land priests and look at verse 10, it says, but as for us, the Lord is our God and we have not forsaken him and the priest which minister unto the Lord are the sons of Aaron and the Levites wait upon their business. So Abijah, even though he's not fully on board with God, you know, his heart didn't walk after the statutes of God like David did. You know, he still knows the law. He still understands the statutes here and he's basically telling Jeroboam, Hey, we're on God's side. We have the Levites, you know, we haven't made our own religion. You know, we're not doing everything, everything right. But nonetheless, we are, uh, you know, the sons of David and he's just basically throwing that out there saying, Hey, you know, we're going to win because of that. And so look at verse 11 it says, and they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening, burnt sacrifices and sweet incense. The showbread also set the in order upon the pure table and the candlestick of gold with lamps thereof to burn every evening. For we keep the charge of the Lord our God, but ye have forsaken him and behold, God himself is with us for our captain and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. Oh, children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers for you shall not prosper. And verse 13 says, but Jeroboam caused an ambush meant to come about behind them. So they were before Judah and the ambush meant was behind them. And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind and they cried unto the Lord and the priest sounded with the trumpets. So again, you know, oftentimes when you go to battle, you know, you'll, you'll have this moment of glory. Hey, God's on our side here. You know, I go to church three times a week. I read my Bible. I pray. And then God puts you in a real thick battle just to test you and see if your money's going to be put where your mouth is. You know, do you, did you really mean what you said here? And so now Abijah, he's got to really face the facts here. You know, he's in trouble. He's getting attacked from the front. He's getting attacked from the back. He's outnumbered. And now is the time, you know, to, to prove whether or not he actually has the faith that he just claimed that he had. So look at verse number 15 says, then the men of Judah gave a shout and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass that God smoked Jeroboam in all Israel before Abijah and Judah and the children of Israel fled before Judah and God delivered them in to their hand and Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter. Now pay attention to this. Remember he was outnumbered greatly. It says, so there fell down slain of Israel, 500,000 men. Now that's a lot of people. That's more people that are, that are in Boise city limits. I mean, I can't remember what the population is of treasure valley, but I don't think it's much more than 500,000. You know, I mean, I'm sure with everybody moving here, it's going to quickly exceed that. But nonetheless, could you imagine everybody in treasure valley basically being slaughtered or killed? I mean that, that should put into perspective, I mean the magnitude of the battle that was fought here, you know, because you know, Jeroboam wanted to do things his way, right? He wanted to institute his own religion. He wanted to institute his own military. He wanted to trust in his golden calves and his men, his mighty men of valor, you know, and here Abijah, he does a great act of faith. He really does put his money where his mouth is and God honored that. God rescued that. And again, I always say this, but it's so true. You know, we need to forget the things that are behind. So Abijah, he knew when he was saying that stuff that he had to follow God just like David did. You know, he hadn't walked after all the statutes with his whole heart, but nonetheless, God overlooked that and said, Hey, you know, right now in this moment of time, you're on board. You know, you're doing the right thing and I'm going to bless you for it. And he did. God showed himself mighty amongst the children of Judah. And think about this too. A lot of people in Israel heard about this. A lot of people in Israel probably said, wow, you know what? Maybe we ought to leave Jeroboam system and go back to Judah and serve God there the way that he wants us to. So look at verse number 18, it says, thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time and the children of Judah prevailed because they had relied upon the Lord God of their fathers. And that's applicable to us today. Look, if you want to be victorious, you got to learn to rely on the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to rely on God. You need to learn to come to him, to give everything to him in prayer and he will deliver you. You know, you may be going through these hard times and all of us do, you know, you may be in a financial crisis or you might be in an emotional, just a trap and you just don't know how to get out. You know what I'm telling you over and over again, in every one of these stories in the Bible, it seems like they get into the situation, they trust God and he always comes through. That's why these things are in the Bible to give us hope, to give us encouragement, to let us know, Hey, God hasn't forgotten about you, even though to you, sometimes it seems that way. Guess what? It's not that way. God is always going to come through. Now look at verse number 19. It says, in Abijah pursued after Jeroboam and took cities from him, Bethel with the towns thereof and Jeshanna with the towns thereof and Ephraim with the towns thereof. In verse 20 he says, neither did Jeroboam recover strength again, the days of Abijah and the Lord struck him and he died. And so you get to kind of see how he dies there. You know, he died full of pride. He died with a, without repenting, without ever coming to Christ, without coming to God. Um, you know, he, he never really inquired of God with a humble heart. He does. We're going to read about it momentarily. He does go to God about a situation with his child, but he's not humble about it. He just wants things his way and the prophet basically tells him, Hey, you know what? Your child's going to die because there's something good in him, not you. So, so far, what have we covered? We've talked real quickly about Rehoboam. He was the first King in the divided Kingdom. He was the King over Judah. After him, his son reign who was Abijah, also known as Abijam or Abaiah. And meanwhile is Jeroboam. He's reigning in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Now what next week we're going to talk about Asa and there's four Kings that reign in Israel while Asa reigns. So that's why I'm trying to keep this, you know, in perspective here like this. So, uh, turn back to, uh, first Kings, go to first Kings chapter 14. We're going to take a look now at Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. I've already talked quite a bit about him, you know, and that's for good reason. The Bible talks a lot about Jeroboam, especially in the, you know, in the Kings and Chronicles, always mentioning, you know, his sins, his grievous sins, the things that he did, and you know, God, God's angry about it and he, and he should be, you know, we should all be angry about that. This guy, he had an opportunity to do great works for God. I mean the prophet got in his face and said, Hey, if you do this, this is what's going to happen. He completely disregards God's laws, completely throws away what the prophet says. And you know what? That's why the nation of Israel went into captivity before Judah did and it didn't have to be that way. So Jeroboam, what he's famous for, as you already know, is setting up his two golden calves. He set one up in Dan, one up in Bethel. We read about that in first Kings 12. He did that because he kind of had the spirit of Sodom's attitude. Just give me the persons, right? He was afraid of losing all the people. So he's, you know, he comes up with this great idea and actually the Bible says he sought counsel for that. So it's important to understand that too. He wasn't, you know, Rehoboam wasn't the only one that fall or fell prey to faulty counsel. Jeroboam did as well. So if you're there in first Kings 14, look at verse number six. Now the prophet during Jeroboam's reign in Israel was a Hijjah and there was a prophet that came out of Judah after Jeroboam took over Israel and he prophesied against Jeroboam's altar and the sins that he was doing. And then there was another person that we don't have time to get into. It's just called a certain prophet. But the main prophet by name that applies to Jeroboam is a Hijjah. So if you're there in first Kings 14, look down at verse number six. It says, and it was so when a Hijjah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the door that he said, come in thou wife of Jeroboam, why faintest thou thyself to be another for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. And I mentioned this earlier, Jeroboam, his, his child is sick and he's like, oh yeah, that's right. The guy who told me I was going to reign over Israel, you know, and be blessed by God. That's right. We'll go to him for help only it's too late because he's already forsaken God's lies. He's already forsaken God's ways. And so he's like, he realizes that and he tells his wife, hey, disguise yourself, right? Cause that'll fool God's prophet. Just disguise yourself. Go down there and ask what's going to happen. Try to get a blessing. And so that's where we're picking up in the story. So look at verse number seven, it says, go tell Jeroboam, thus saith Lord God of Israel for as much as I exalted thee from among the people and made thee prince over my people Israel and rent the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it thee yet thou hast not been as my servant David who kept my commandments and who followed me with all his heart to do that only which was right in mine eyes, but has done evil above all that were before thee. For thou has gone and made the other gods in molten images to provoke me to anger and had and has cast me behind thy back therefore. So now he's saying for that reason, because you did these things, he says, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall and him that is shut up and left in Israel and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam as a man taketh away dung till it be all gone. And as we go throughout the kings of Israel, we're going to read how exactly that happens. It won't be tonight though. Look at verse number 11. It says he that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the area for the Lord hath spoken it. You know, if I heard something like that, I'm sure if most people in here heard something like that, that would really change your attitude. I mean, that's why I'm thinking like Jeroboam. I mean, there's definitely something wrong upstairs with this guy because he does wind up getting this message and he's like, ah, whatever. Let's keep reading. You're looking for a swell. It says, arise thou, rise thou therefore get thee to thine own house and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die and all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. And if you're wondering why God says that about the child, it's because the child is innocent. Babies go to heaven. Don't let people say, well, they didn't get baptized, so they go to hell, right? That's what the Catholic church will teach you. And guess what? That's false doctrine. That's not true at all here. God's like, Hey, there's some good thing in this child because he doesn't know the law, right? So he's not a sinner. He had, he doesn't have to get saved. So God's saying, Hey, he's the only person in your house is going to go to the grave in peace. Verse 14 more over the Lord shall raise him up a King over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day. But what even now? So he's like, but what even now? So even right now I'm going to cause trouble to come upon your house, Jeroboam. That's what God's basically saying to him. So go back to first Kings chapter 12 and we're going to basically just take a look at the sins of Jeroboam. You know, the Bible says there's nothing new under the sun and it's so true. Everything that we're going to read that Jeroboam does, you can find being done right now in 2019 in Boise, in any state, any, any place that you go to. I mean the spirit of Jeroboam, like I said earlier, is alive and well. And so let's take a look at these golden calves here. So you're back in first Kings 12 look at verse number 25 first Kings 1225 it says, then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim and dwelt therein and went out from thence and built Penuel. And you know, I was just thinking about this. We just got, you know, through most of the book of Judges and we're not done yet, but I've explained before about the town of Shechem. If you remember Jacob's daughter Dinah was defiled in Shechem, right? So it's kind of like, why are you so focused on building up this city Shechem? And then it says in built Penuel. Do you remember where Penuel was? Well if you remember the story about Gideon that we studied not too long ago, you remember that Gideon needed help because his men were faint. Remember the 300 that followed him that were valiant, they, they were thirsty and he goes through Penuel and he's like, Hey, look, you guys got something to eat, you got something to drink. Can you just help us out a little bit? And the men were like, well, you haven't won any victories yet. So no, come back after the battles won and remember what Gideon told the men of Penuel. He said, I'm going to come back and I'm going to beat down your tower and I'm going to teach you a lesson, you know? So that's the history behind Penuel. But here we see Jeroboam building it up. So what this guy does is he does everything, the exact opposite of what God wants. It's like almost like he's going through history here and just basically trying to bring up the past. You know, you ever work with somebody that wants to bring up all your past mistakes? Well, I remember when you're a new and you did this, you know, and they just won't let it go. That's kind of the impression that I get here of Jeroboam. That's probably how it was. Just bitter, just angry, just not wanting anything to do with God in his statutes. Now look at verse number 26, it says in Jeroboam said in his heart, now shall the kingdom return to the house of David. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah and they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. And so there's a little bit of paranoia with this guy as well. He's like, Hey, not only are they going to turn back to Rehoboam, but they might even kill me. And you know, we don't know whether or not that's true. That's just how he felt. You know, he's simply just reasoning in his mind. He doesn't want to lose control. And so he's going to come up with this plan. Now look at verse 28. It says, whereupon the king took counsel, right? That's another place that he went wrong. He got the wrong counsel and you know, we as Christians, we need to make sure that we're not getting counsel from the world. If you, if somebody wants to counsel, you need to make sure that you know this book well enough or somebody who knows this book well enough that you trust, that's godly that can help you out, help you verify that what that person is telling you is true because you know what? Obviously these people weren't it for Jeroboam. They obviously made, made him do some bad choices. Now look what they said, what it says here, it says whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said unto them, it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem, behold thy gods of Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. This is so funny because obviously you know the story in Exodus where the children of Israel, you know, they give all their gold and their earrings up and they make them a calf and Moses is like, Aaron, what, what is, what are you doing here? And he's like, Oh, Aaron's like, Oh, I just threw in all this gold and out came these calves. He's like, no, you know, but there's something that there's, there's some kind of a connection between the, uh, the children of Israel and golden calves. So you know, don't go to golden calf Bible college. That'd be the first thing that I would, I would basically recommend here. But nonetheless, you know, he's like, well, these guys that he counsels with, they're like, Hey, back in the day, you know, it's been, it's been a few thousand years now, you know, they fell for these golden calves. So why don't we just make two of them this time, put one here, one in Bethel, and then, you know, they'll fall for it. And you know what? They, they gave the wrong counsel, but they were right. You know, and that goes to show you, there are wicked people out there that will give you counsel that'll work, but it doesn't mean you should always harken to it or listen to it. Verse 29 it says, and he set the one in Bethel and the other put he and Dan and this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan verse 31, it says, and he made an house of high places and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. And if you study this out, it doesn't mean that these people were necessarily like dirt bags or like, Oh, the low lifes, things like that. Basically God had, we're going to talk about it here momentarily, but God had ordained the Levites, a position member. They didn't have an inheritance. Like I said, we're going to take a look at that. And so it's basically just saying, Hey, they're these people, these lowest of the people, they're just not as high in society as that there. They don't have that responsibility basically is what he's saying. So he, he made anybody who wanted the office of a Bishop or the office of a priest, a priest is basically what it's saying. Verse 32 in Jeroboam ordained a feast in the 18th month on the 15th day of the month, like into the feast that is in Judah and he offered upon the altar. So did he and Bethel sacrificing into the calves that he had made any placed in Bethel, the priests of the high places, which he had made converse 30, 33, it says, so we offered upon the altar, which he had made in Bethel, the 15th day of the 18th month, even in the month, which he had devised of his own heart and ordained a feast into the children of Israel. And he offered upon the altar and burnt incense. Now go to a one more chapter over. Go to first Kings 13, 33, anytime you get run into a religious system and they've got a lot of altars, okay, gold, a flashy things. You might be dealing with a spirit of Jeroboam. You might be dealing with something that is not fundamental. I just want to throw that out there. So we're going to just pick this up here real quick in verse 33. It says after this thing, so after the prophet Ahijah tells Jeroboam's wife, Hey, your kid's going to die because there's something good in him. There's nothing good in you. It says after this thing, it says Jeroboam returned, not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people, priests of the high places, whosoever would he consecrated him and he became one of the priests of the high places and this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the face of the earth. So look at verse 33 again, we're just going to break this down. It says after this thing, Jeroboam returned, not from his evil. So he's had prophets prophesy against him, right? I mean, think about that. He's had, he, um, one prophet came to him and basically cried against his altar and said, Hey, you know, there's going to be a king that raises up after you, who's going to dig up your, these false prophets bones and they're going to burn them on this altar and then it's going to get destroyed. And Jeroboam, what he does is he stretches forth his hand towards his prophet and his hand becomes lepers. It becomes, um, it becomes dried up and shrunken and God, and he says, pray to God that he'll restore my hand. Right? He doesn't care about his heart. He doesn't care about the things of God. Like I keep saying. And then the prophet prays and he acquires of God and God restores his hand. So God's been patient with him. God's been giving him opportunity after opportunity. And then another prophet comes in and prophesies against him. And then finally Ahijah is like, Hey, look, your kid's going to die because you did this. And it says again, right? Again, no change. Discipline chasing doesn't work on Jeroboam. It doesn't work against him at all. So it says after this thing, Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people, priests of the high places. And then notice this, it says, whosoever would, you know, it's kind of like the Methodist church today, right? Whosoever would wants to be a prophet. They can be a prophet. It doesn't matter what your gender is. You know, the Bible has specific requirements on who can be a pastor, who can be a deacon. And guess what? Unfortunately, it's not a woman. It doesn't mean that a woman couldn't do a great job. Look, there's a lot of smart ladies out there, but the fact of the matter is that God has his requirements and he wants them followed for his reasons. He's ordained a perfect system. He's ordained a perfect law and he wants us to follow it. But you know what? We've got the spirit of Jeroboam out there today. Then these people don't want to harken. They don't want to listen. They want it their way. Look, you can go to these churches, right? It doesn't matter if you've read the Bible at all. It doesn't even matter if you believe in the Bible. They will ordain who so ever will. And that's how it was in Jeroboam's day. That's how it is in our day. So it says again, right? That's the first thing I want you to take from that verse. The second thing is that he ordained the lowest of the people, priests who so ever would. And it says he consecrated them. He gave them the job. He separates them. He makes them holy according to his expectations, not God's. And it says he made them priests over the high places. Now leave your place there and go to Numbers chapter 18, Numbers chapter 18. So it says he makes the lowest of the people, priests, okay? In order for us to understand how devastating, how, um, how bad this is, we need to understand what the Bible says about the Levitical priesthood. So while you're turning to Numbers 18, I'm going to read for you Hebrews chapter five verse one. And this is a great verse to explain what a priest is. It says for every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. That's a good definition of a priest in the Bible. And that's a new Testament verse. The writer of Hebrews is basically trying to explain that and you know, and then he goes on from there to talk about how Christ is now our high priest. But it says for every high priest is taken from among men in ordained pertaining to the things of God, not the golden calves, not to human achievement, not to mankind. You understand what I'm saying here? A priest is ordained to God up in heaven. That is his business because the Bible says that God is their inheritance. So if you're there in Numbers chapter 18, the first thing I want you to notice is that the Levites have no inheritance. So we need to just take a look at what the Levites are about, what the requirements are and such, and then you'll understand the magnitude of the sins of Jeroboam. Okay, so number one, the Levites have no inheritance. Look down to verse number 20. So numbers 18, 20 it says, and the Lord spake unto Aaron, thou shall have no inheritance in their land. Neither shalt thou have any part among them. I am thy part and I an inheritance among the children of Israel. And now behold, I have given the children of Levi all the 10th and Israel for an inheritance for their service, which they serve even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. So God's explaining how the Levites are to live, right? They weren't given land. Remember all the 12 tribes of Israel, they were given a portion of land in the promise, in the promised land. You know, once, once you, you get to Joshua, you read about that. And so God's like, Hey, the Levites, they don't have that. They're going to do all my service. They're going to take care of the tabernacle. They're going to take care of my things. And God's like, Hey, they're going to live off of your tithes off of your 10th. So they didn't have fields. They couldn't grow crops. They couldn't, you know, take care of animals and things like that. So they were to be, uh, to, to rely on the people, the other tribes in Israel. And so the first thing you have to understand is that they have no inheritance, quite the opposite already from what we see with Jeroboam. Now, number two, the Levites do the service of the tabernacle. It doesn't mean that every Levi becomes a priest, but every priest has to be a Levi. Look at verse 22, it says, neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation lest they bear sin and die. So not whosoever would could just go up to the tabernacle and be like, I'm going to make a sacrifice. I'm going to, I'm going to go ahead and do this offering because the Bible is saying right here that God would kill them. He ordained the Levites to do this service. Now look at verse 23, but the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that among the children of Israel, they have no inheritance. So two attributes right off the bat, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 17. So right off the bat, what do we learn? We learned that the Levites, they have no inheritance and number two, the Levites do the service of the tabernacle. Not just anybody. It was ordained by God that the sons of Aaron would have this office, that they would have this ministry that would be their thing and God has spent chapter after chapter after chapter in the Bible explaining how things were supposed to be done and by the time you get to Jeroboam, he throws all of that stuff out the window, doesn't care about it. He goes completely the opposite direction. So number three, if you're there in Deuteronomy 17 is the Levites executed judgment in hard matters. It wasn't just the judges of the land that executed judgment. It was the Levites as well. Look at verse eight, it says, if there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment between blood and blood and between plea and plea and between stroke and stroke being matters of controversy within thy gates, then thou shall arise and get thee up into the place with the Lord thy God shall choose and thou shall come unto the priests, the Levites and unto the judge that shall be in those days and inquire and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment. So when you take the lowest of the land, do you really think they're going to have judgment? Do you really think they're going to have knowledge? Have they studied God's law? And the answer is no. The Levites were supposed to be diligently studied up in the things of God. It was commanded them that they would do that so that they could judge the hard matters, right? That's the whole point. So Jeroboam's got this system, right? The spirit of Jeroboam, he ordains whosoever would. They don't know God's laws, especially as time goes on, right? They basically bury the Bible. They don't have any regard for it. And so you get, you know, five or six Kings deep in Israel and nobody knows the law, right? Nobody can judge hard, hard matters. And so what do they do? They keep going a whoring after strange gods because they don't know any better and they can't judge the hard matters. I mean, think about it. I mean, their influence is completely lost. That's why God had to send Jonah to the Ninevites because the Ninevites, they couldn't look to the Israelites as an example, could they? No, they couldn't. They had no authority. They had no knowledge. And here we just read, it says, and thou shall come unto the priest of Levites and unto the judge that shall be in those days and inquire and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment. So it was the job of a Levite to be studied up enough in God's law that they would be able to settle the hard cases, right? He's like, Hey, look, you don't need to be going around suing each other. Just go see the Levite and the priest. You know, they're going to be trained up in the law. They're going to be studied up in the law and they're going to be able to give you the right answer, to give you the help that you need. And obviously Jeroboam ordaining the lowest of the people, that wisdom and that knowledge is completely gone away from the land. And you know what? That's what we have today in modern Christianity. It's the same thing, right? You can't go into a Southern Baptist church today and really get fed. You know what? It's not going to happen. You can go down to NNU. You can go down. I mean, they'll kick you out for preaching the gospel. I mean, it did it to us a few weeks ago. I mean, you can't go down to this, what's that one in Kuna called? The Bible Baptist. There was a college, a Bible college in Kuna. I drove by it the other day. I can't remember what it's called. Anchor Baptist. Yeah. Anchor Baptist. Look, you're not going to go to Anchor Baptist Bible college and pay your thousands of dollars per semester and get wisdom and judgment because they have the spirit of Jeroboam. They don't believe that these words are preserved. They don't believe that God is able and willing to preserve his word throughout all generations. You see the Christianity thing that have the spirit of Jeroboam. What they're doing is they're looking for the next manuscript to be dug up from the earth. The next smart man, the next scholar to basically say, Hey, this is okay now, right? What's the difference between that and being a Mormon. There's no difference. There's no difference at all. They all have the spirit of Jeroboam. They're weak, they're pathetic, they're losers. They're not fundamental. And they're a sick joke, just like Jeroboam was. So turn to Deuteronomy chapter 33. So we just learned that the Levites were supposed to be trained diligently in law so that they could answer hard matters amongst the people of Israel. They had a specific purpose, they had a specific office, and that doesn't mean that the common citizen wasn't supposed to study as well. That's not true. They were supposed to be studied up into God's law as well, but especially the Levites, they were supposed to teach, they were supposed to preach. Look at that. If you're there in Deuteronomy 33, look at verse number eight, it says, and of Levi, he said, let thy Thumamim and thy Urim be with thy Holy One whom thou didst prove at Masa and with whom thou did strive at the waters of Meribah. Verse 39, I'm sorry, verse nine. It says, who said unto his father and unto his mother, I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brethren nor knew his own children for they have observed thy word and kept thy covenant. And then verse 10, it says, they shall teach Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy law. They shall put incense before thee and whole burnt sacrifice upon the altar. And so again, that just reaffirms what we already read in Deuteronomy chapter 17 about how they were supposed to be studied up in the law. They were the ones that were supposed to burn the incense a certain way and do the sacrifices and things like that in that nature. Now look back again at verse number eight, Deuteronomy 33 verse eight, it says, and of Levi, he said, right? So the tribe of Levi, the Levi, it says, and of Levi, he said, let thy Thumamim and thy Urim be with thy Holy One whom thou didst prove at Masa and with whom thou did strive at the waters of Meribah. Now, if you're not familiar with the Thumamim and the Urim, you'll see those two words appear together a lot throughout the Old Testament. In first Samuel chapter 28, if you remember, the Bible says about Saul, that God did not answer him by dreams. He didn't answer him by Urim. So the Urim and the Thumam, these were stones that were in the Ephod of the Levitical priest's garment and somehow we don't know exactly how this worked, but somehow God used that and spoke wisdom. He spoke words and that was a, that was a great responsibility given to the Levites, right? So whoever would, not to, to Jeroboam's false priests. Now stay there, actually, actually go to, go to the book of Hebrews real quick. Go to Hebrews, go to Hebrews chapter one, Hebrews chapter one, and we'll take a look at this together because we're going to, we're going to look at another verse here in Hebrews. And if you also remember, you'll often see a times where David said, you know, he wanted to inquire of God in a matter and he would say, hey, bring the Ephod or bring the Levite that has the Urim and the Thumam in it so that he could get knowledge so that he could get communication with God. Now this basically is a diverse manner that God used in times past to talk to the Levites and basically give messages to the children of Israel. So if you're there in Hebrews, look at verse number one, it says, God who at sun-dry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. Now that verse right there, notice that phrase, it says, God who at sun-dry times, so this would be a sun-dry time that we read here in Deuteronomy and in the Kings, it says, and in diverse manners spake. So the Urim and the Thumamim would fall into that category of a diverse manner, right? God often used dreams, he used prophets, he used the Urim and the Thumamim. It's just the way it is. You know, the Bible says that there's things that we've just, you know, we don't understand anymore that they've been lost. We don't need to know how exactly that this thing worked. I mean, like, like did it light up and talk like a speaker? I mean, we don't know. And the reason why is because of verse number two here in Hebrews, hath in these last days, right? So God is talking about hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the world. So the Bible is saying, Hey, in times past he used the Urim, in times past he used dreams, in times past he used prophets. But in this day and age, he has spoken to us by his son, which is this book. We talked about this on Sunday. This is the engrafted word. This is the living word. This isn't just some book, right? Don't get afraid when you hear that this is a copy, right? It's actually engrafted, meaning when you copy God's word, it lives on, it gets grafted together, it becomes alive. And that's why it's so important for us to read and understand and hear God's word preached because it becomes alive in your heart, in your soul, in your mind, and it will change how you act, how you think and what you do. And that's why you see a Jeroboam and that whole nation just go astray is because they no longer wanted to have God's word in their life. But it says that God has spoken to us today in 2019 by this book. And that's why I'm here telling you today that the spirit of Jeroboam is alive and well and very well in America today because most people, they don't believe the Bible. They don't. They just pay lip service to it. That's all they do. You know, I can't tell you how many times I talk to Christians week after week after week, you know, and they're just, it's the same story. Well, you know, there's so many different versions because we don't have the original manuscripts. That is false doctrine. The original manuscripts are in heaven. The very first words that were written down, I mean, they were a direct engrafting, a direct copy from the settled word, which is in heaven. So if you want to go see the original manuscripts, you're going to have to go upstairs. You're going to have to die and you're going to have to go see God. Then maybe you'll get to see the original manuscripts, but I just wanted to show you that there. The Levites, they had a great responsibility. God wasn't just going to speak to anybody with the Urim and the Thummim, right? And Jeroboam, you know, he should have known that he should have harkened to that. So you can lose your place there and go, I'm sorry, no, go to Hebrews chapter nine, sorry, Hebrews chapter nine, Hebrews chapter nine. Another thing about the Levites is that, um, the high priest obviously being a Levite was the only one that was allowed to enter in to the most holy place. Uh, and you can read that here. If you're there in Hebrews nine, look at verse number seven, it says, but into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people. And again, you know, he just reaffirming how things were back in the day when the Levites were in charge. Now, keep that in mind as you read through the Bible and you, and you, you hear about people in these Kings walking after the sins of Jeroboam. Well, his sins included the fact that he made the lowest of the people priests and, and, and prophets over his high places. Um, listen to that. You don't have to turn there. I'm just going to read for you the standards here. Actually you know what? I lied. Uh, Leviticus chapter 21 and this will be the third to last place I have you turn Leviticus chapter 21. So if you ever want to learn or study up the actual requirements and stuff about Levi, this is, this is a good chapter here. Leviticus chapter 21. Look at verse number one, it says, and the Lord said unto Moses, speaking to the priests, the sons of Aaron and saying to them, there shall none be defiled for the dead among his people, but for his kin that is near unto him, that is for his mother and for his father and for his son and for his daughter and for his brother and for a sister of virgin that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband for her. May he be defiled. And verse four, it says, but he shall not defile himself being a chief man among his people to profane himself. So you see how it's talking about him being a chief man, the exact opposite of being the lowest of the people. And then verse five, it says, they shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard nor make any cuttings in their flesh. They shall be holy unto their God and not profane the name of their God for the offerings the Lord made by fire and the bread of their God, they do offer, therefore they shall be holy. And it goes on here. Just more requirements, right? Verse seven says they shall not take a wife that is a whore or profane. Nor shall they take a woman, um, put away from her husband for he is holy unto his God. Thou shall sanctify him. Therefore, uh, for he offereth the bread of thy God. He shall be holy unto thee for I, the Lord, which sanctify you am holy. And so you can go on and just read all these different standards that they had to live up to. If you wanted to be a Levitical priest, go to Leviticus chapter 21 and that will give you a great perspective of what they were to do, what they were not to do. Now by Jeroboam saying, Hey, I'm going to make the lowest of the people priests. It bypasses all of this. Like we already said, and that's a very bad thing, but you know what? That's exactly what we have Christians today doing. We have these cafeteria Christians out there saying, well, we don't need this verse. We don't need that verse. We'll take a little bit of Matthew. We'll take some of John three 16 and then we're going to go over here and take some of this and we'll just make our own golden calves. We'll put one over here. We'll put one over there. And you know what? The majority of the people, they always seem to fall for it, right? They always fall for it. Israel had more people than the kingdom of Judah. It seems like, um, real quick here, turn to first Timothy chapter one, first Timothy chapter one. And so what you'll read throughout the Bible, there were requirements to be a Levitical priest. I said this before, not all Levites were priests, but all Levites were able to, uh, to, to take that office. They were able to do work in the tabernacle and so forth. And we saw the requirements and like I already said, you know, we have requirements today to become a, if you want to become a pastor or you want to become a deacon, you know, God has a certain standard set forth, uh, in his word that we need to abide by, you know, and it's for, it's for a reason. Like I already said, I mean, think about Tyler Baker, right? And his oneness, a modalist garbage doctrine. What happened when he got kicked out of faithful word, he went, he went somewhere else to think to his dad's church and they said, whosoever will, no problem. You want to be, you want to be ordained. I'll ordain you. You know what I mean? That's wrong. Why is somebody who doesn't believe in first John five seven being ordained to be a pastor? That's insane. That's absurd. That's not right. But you know what? That's the spirit of Jeroboam. That's what we're dealing with today. That's what we have to fight when we're out there. Soul winning. That's what you have to fight amongst your family. That's in a church that's governed by the spirit of Jeroboam. So first Timothy chapter one, look at verse number nine. It says who has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose in grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. So God has given us this wisdom, you know, his grace. It was set up ever since before the world even began. But you know what? The spirit of Jeroboam says, no, what can we dig up next? What can we, what can we dig up next? We'll go build Shechem. We'll try to dig up some manuscripts over there. We'll go to Penuel that Gideon beat down and we'll try to dig up some stuff over there. And it's the same thing that we have today. It's the same exact mentality, the same exact doctrine. You know, it's complete garbage. Go over to a Titus chapter one, Titus chapter one. You know, kind of like the Levites, right? The requirements that we read in chapter 21. Well, here's some requirements right here in Leviticus chapter one about being a pastor, being a deacon. Look down at verse number five, Titus chapter one, verse five. It says, it says for this cause left I thee and create that thou should set in order the things that are wanting in ordained elders in every city as I had appointed thee. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly. It says for a Bishop, which is an overseer, right? Uh, so for a Bishop must be blameless as, as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre. And then it says, buddy, lover of hospitality, lover of good men, sober, just Holy temperate, holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers look, that's the same requirement that God had for the Levites so that they could judge the hard matters of their day. It's really very similar if you think about it. So sometime when you, when you, when you get a chance, read through Leviticus chapter 21 and just think, and then read through Titus chapter one, you're going to see a lot of similarities and wish we had more time, but we don't have much more time to get into it. So the point of the matter is, is the spirit of Jeroboam is alive and well today. It's the same thing, right? We've got these pastors and these preachers and these scholars that don't care at all about Titus chapter one. They have no regards for that. All they can think about is their own golden calf, right? They may not have a physical golden calf set up around here, but you know what? They have something that will capture your attention that is not God. It's the same exact thing. Like the Bible says, there is nothing new under the sun. And this is so true. It is just so true. Uh, jump down to verse number 14 of Titus chapter one, it says, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth unto the pure, all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled says they profess that they know God, but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work, reprobate. And it just seems like that fits Jeroboam so well. You know, he, he heard the word of God. He was prophesied against. God took his child from him and he just wouldn't get it. He just would not let it settle in his heart and in his mind that God is the Lord, that he should get rid of his system, uh, of golden calf worship, you know, and he just, it says again and again, he made of the lowest people of the land and again and again and again, and then finally that thing destroys him. But what you need to understand as we study this out is you're going to see that phrase, the sins of Jeroboam. That's what it's talking about, right? And hopefully, uh, this, this, um, puts a little bit of a perspective into it, uh, the, the, the magnitude about how God's like, Hey, look, man, I've got a whole books. I've got chapter after chapter of standards of expectations that I want the Levi's to follow that I want the children of Israel to follow, and he says, no, I don't want anything to do with it. If you can remember one thing from today, just remember the main ingredient of the spirit of Jeroboam is disobedience. And none of us in here are above disobedience. I've seen it happen to our sort, right? Oh, I'm right on the, I'm right on the rapture timing. I'm right on the sodomites. I'm right on this. And then five months later, they're out of church, they're back in the bars, they're back in the clubs, whatever, what have you. It's because of disobedience. That's what it is. Some golden calf somewhere caught their attention and sucked them in, you know, and that's what we learned happens to Jeroboam during his rule, he dies. And then we're going to take a look next week at four Kings of Israel and one King of Judah. So it'll be a little bit different, but just a quick recap. So today we talked about Rehoboam. We talked about a son, Abijah, and then while those two had their reigns, right, it was Jeroboam reigning for 22 years in Israel. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you for this word. I thank you for all these people that came here today, Lord. I just pray you bless our fellowship and please bless our soul winning again this week, Lord in Jesus name. I pray. Amen.