Lord show us ...your mind today.We are not perfect but your will in us...is perfect.In Jesus Name.I am glad to bring you this sermon from 2Ch 24:8 -11.The young king of Judah was inspired to repair the house of God.And as we know, money is required to perform this task.I have been improving my understanding of monetary issues of late.And one thing I have found fascinating is the principle that underlays everything to do with money.Trust.Right from the time of the kings of Judah and Isreal, a medium of exchange has been in existence.And throughout that period till the days of Jesus Christ on earth-money was central to every day thinking.In this passage it kind of holds a central theme.But it does not feel quite mysterious.I mean, today,the mere mention of money raises some emotions of awe.And,to be honest with you...I have never quite understood that reaction.Why does money solicit this kind of reaction?Some say without money you cannot do anything-that is why!Yeah,but,without energy you cannot do anything either?You don’t hear or see people worshipping energy?Do you..?In fact, many spend their energy getting money.And when they get the money, they have no energy to spend it.It makes you wonder”which one is more important”?The King wanted to repair the temple but the government had no money.The previous government(Queen)had emptied the treasury.Sound familiar?We tend to think that the affairs and conditions we see today, are new and original issues.There is nothing new under the sun,Solomon wrote.There is one who has seen it all.Are we ready to take lessons from HIM?The king told the Levites to make a chest and put it outside the house of the lord.And then made a proclamation that the people bring their contributions to the house.And note that this was started during the time of Moses.What was this instruction?It was the formation of the early forms of an economy.Today,we think of money as being outside the realm of God.The two do not go together.God help us.What?I do not know how to explain how ridiculous the idea sounds to me.What if God decreed that your breath was separate from you.And to earn your breath, you had to truly serve Him, first?How many of us would be alive today?None.What is my point?Everything belongs to God-the man, and the money made by man.You do realise that money was not created by the devil?Let us continue...So,the children of Judah brought their contributions.And they rejoiced while they did it!Why would they rejoice?Because at the time, money had not grown into this monster idea of power and mystery.It was simply a means of exchange.It was a storage of value.It was a means of account.It did not have the social value interpretation it has today.But this did not start today!During the Roman times, wealthy people had incredible influence.The people of Judah rejoiced because they knew they were obeying their God.They also knew the importance of having a house of God.In addition they all knew that their contributions made society effective for everyone.Trust.Money was not the beginning or last of things!Do you know what was...?Ultimately God.But people knew that their collective trust in each other preserved their collective lives.God showed them how to survive, and they obeyed HIS instructions.It is why they were rejoicing.They knew they were going to survive.And more importantly, survive the way God wanted them to survive.Is there a better way to survive?Of course not..But the problem today,is that we don’t think there is a definite way to survive designed by God.A holy way!We think that God has left us to our own devices.Interesting that He did not leave breathing to our self determination.If God left breathing to enterprise and industry-a lot of us would still be slaves.The passage says that there was abundance of money by the time they had finished.How do you think the people got what they contributed?By working hard?Yes!And now the king (and Moses)decided to take it off their hands?How manipulative?No?Everything belongs to God.Say that in your mind and spirit,now.HE knows best how you can use it,today.Say that in your mind and spirit,now.Lord teach us how to use money.Teach us to understand that Money and God are not separate entities.Just like man and God are not separate entities.Lord teach us how to view the universe the way that you created it.Teach us to use it,the way that you designed us to use it.Teach us how to be fulfilled in life.And teach us to understand that everything lives and has its being in you,in Jesus Christ name,Amen.Thank you for partaking in this sermon.Until next time, remain blessed.

Thank you lord.. for this wonderful opportunity to speak or write to your people.Someone is going to read this,,,and gain strength ,grace and wisdom to continue living a godly and spiritual life.In JESUS name we pray!Thank you JESUS.Now,we want to look at the death of Athaliah. We would not go into the back history of the Kings of Judah.We would start at the reign of her son,Ahaziah.King Ahaziah gained access to the throne because Arabians had killed his elder brothers.2 chronicles 1.He was 42yrs when he became King.So this made Athaliah the queen mother.I think that is what they call them.She had influence over Ahaziah reign because the bible says that he did wickedly in the eyes of the lord.He followed the example of Ahab.And it also adds that his mother had given him advice.I can imagine that he was not expecting to be king.So,I presume he would have hardly, trained himself for the job.And some of us can relate to his predicament.Sometimes,life thrusts us with situations that we did not quite anticipate or prepare to experience.But that is exactly what the christain journey is all about.Faith.Are you prepared?With what are you preparing yourself with...?It is not a secret that life is very unpredictable. Ahaziah was not prepared for the biggest role of his life.And it cost him.In a natural way,we have got to sympathise with him?Dont we..?He was not next in line.He was either going to have to kill his brothers to be king or be satisfied with being prince till he dies ?And,I think he knew,he did not have that streak in him.I would not have been surprised if he was satisfied with being, third or fourth in line.But fate had other ideas.I know many of you have no idea what fate has in store for you.I do not know what fate has in store for me,either.I did not know I would not be married with kids at the age of 49.But,it has happened.The uncertainty of life keeps a lot of people stressed.King Ahaziah made a choice when the unexpected happened.What did he do?He did what a lot of us would have done.In fact,some of you would still argue that it is the right course of action, even after reading this sermon.The bible says Ahaziah took advice!He took advice from his mother.Wow!What a moron?Aha!It does not sound appropriate to say that about someone taking advice from their mother(or even father)The commandments tell us to honour our mothers and fathers.So,why would you question their intentions for you?In this particular case Athaliah was wicked in her ways.And she advices Ahaziah to follow suit.It did not go well for him.In fact,it did not go well for her,either.It is why I started with the death of Athaliah.Let us look at what happened to her.She advices her son to follow the wicked ways.It gets her son killed.So,she snatches the throne for herself by killing all the surviving heirs except one.2chronicles 22:10-12.I find myself asking whether she killed any of her grandchildren?Who were the heirs?It could not be anyone that she was not related to..right?But,she mercilessly massacred them.And she did this to get the throne that had become vacant as a result of her son’s death.She reigned a while in her wicked ways.But,her time was already destined to come.Where do we place our trust because of the uncertain nature of life?You would be stressed.It is a certain outcome for all of us.But,what do you strengthen yourself with...Advice from a friend?Do you look for the answer from social media?Or do you go to family?All of these are not wrong in themselves.But,you have got to know that your first point of request is God.Do you have a personal relationship with HIM?Because it would be much more difficult to ask and trust HIM,if you do not have a connection.I do not know what tommorrow holds.But I am confident that I can rely upon his advice.I am confident that I should not fret about my future because it is in GOD’s hands!And the other important thing,is that we have got to ask ourselves,”what do you understand as the future”?It is not a trick question.Unfortunately for many of us,the future is defined as the “time we would get what we want or deserve”.It is not what the future means...Queen Athaliah was thinking along those lines,when she killed her relatives.She was hoping to get”what she wanted”when her son became king.But fate took that out of her hand.What are you thinking right now,that you deserve?I command you in the name of JESUS to change your way of thinking!Start thinking that your future is...whatever GOD says it is,now.I know,I know it may not make sense to some of you.There is a prayer that I learned recently.Hopefully this would give you an idea of the crux of living.It goes like this:LORD give me time to learn and be good at SOMETHING.And give me time,to ENJOY being good at that SOMETHING.There is no...definition of what that something is,or should be.why?I cannot even make a good judgement on it,myself(if I was given the sole choice)So,why mess up my life.Instead,I give it up to HIM-And trust he has brilliant things in store.When you make a judgement of what you would enjoy-you make a big mistake.Athaliah thought she knew exactly what was good for her.But,she was wrong.She chased and chased,till she found herself crying treason!treason!And life was taken away from her,with a bitter after taste.Do not be like her.Put all your worries in God’s hands.And praise HIM for each second of your breath.In Jesus name,we pray!Thank you lord for delivering something for your children.I trust that you produce something new every single time.You are worthy,Lord,Thank you again!People ..this is it for now-Live righteously ,it is possible.It starts with giving up defining what that means...!Tell HIM to show you HIS pleasure.And you would automatically want to fulfil it,and enjoy it.Be blessed!

Blessed day everyone!Today I am going to bring to you the word of God,in written form.Let us pray.Thank you lord for this opportunity to share your message with your people.Fill me with the wisdom and grace to deliver what you have for them.In Jesus Name,we pray!Amen and Amen!Today we are going to look at the second book of chronicles chapter 18.If you look at the image,you would see that I have marked some passages.We are going to talk about them.Please be receptive to what God wants you to hear.Recently,I was privileged to hear a sermon that talked about the various ways that we hear from God.And,it opened my understanding to how many ways God still speaks to us.Whether you are a child of God,serving Him faithfully or not.He still uses anyone and anything to do his will.When Samuel was still young in the custody of Eli,God reached out to him,and spoke to him.He did this because he had a plan.God has a plan for you!It may sound strange and difficult to believe but He has a plan for you.Well,some would say,7 billion people on earth,and he needs me?Come off it.Some may say,7 billion people on earth;how can he know me?I LAUGH!He knows you!He even knows the number of hair strands on your head.Well,some may say,that is just some line in the scriptures;is it possible?And I LAUGH again.There would come a time when a computer would process more information than that,if it is not already happening!And you question God that created the mind that created a computer?You come off it.
In verse one,it says Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance:and by marriage he allied himself with Ahab.Ahab was king of Israel,while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah.In this passage,Ahab invited Jehoshaphat to his place.After King Rehoboam the son of king Solomon lost the mantle to rule the whole of God’s people,the children of God were living and serving under two kings.There were times when they were not cordial with each other but this was not one of those periods.Ahab wanted to go to war against Ramoth Gilead,and he needed some assistance.It does not say why he wanted to go to war against them here.So,as it was the custom in those times,Ahab had a lavish feast(I believe to soften him up)And Jehoshaphat was willing to go to war with him.But he requested something that I found funny.In verse 4,it says Also Jehoshaphat said to the king of Isreal”Please inquire for the word of the Lord today” I say funny because,Jeroboam the son of Nebat who tore part of the kingdom of Isreal away from the then king of Isreal Rehoboam(the son of king Solomon)was not a God fearing king.But after successive kings after him,the king of Judah started to serve and worship the living God.So,two kings serving the same God but formerly were of one kingdom?And God allowed them to be divided,in some sense?Why?My answer is that God has a plan-respect it!Jehoshaphat’s father king Asa was faithful so it was not a stretch to see Jehoshaphat following suit.It is important to raise your children in the way of the lord!So,Ahab assembles his prophets for them to prophesy about the war.He had 400 prophets!I mean that was a lot!God only needs one prophet to do what he needs.But,he can still work with many sometimes.Like during the time Elijah thought he was the only prophet left-and God reminded him that He had reserved seven thousand in Isreal,all whose knees have not bowed to Baal(1kings 19:18)So,he can reserve more than one messenger.But hear me,He only needs one.And when someone is sending you that message-please heed to it.So the prophets arrive and give King Ahab approval to go to war.But a second strange thing happens-King Jehoshaphat asked for more confirmation.Why would 400 prophets in unison not be enough?Perhaps this was God’s intervention.But it also shows you that democracy is not God’s preferred government style.In verse 8 it says But Jehoshaphat said,Is there not still a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquiry of “Him?”And the prophet Micaiah the son of Imla was brought to him.But the messenger who was sent to bring him gave him a heads up.Listen he said”All the other 400 prophets have given King Ahab a green light to go to war-do not go there and mess things up for them and yourself.Do you know about those friends and colleagues that give you advice when you are having some troubles?In good faith,they tell you to stay out of trouble-it would be best for everyone.Well,God does not do necessarily “best for everyone”And you may ask why?Well,not everyone obeys God’s commandments or voice.So to rectify it,some would have to be realigned.And that means things not going their way!Anyway,Micaiah gets in front of the two kings and says exactly what the other 400 said to the kings.Now,I am wondering whether he heeded warnings of the messenger in fear or he was testing them.When you serve the lord,you will still have fear or doubts challenging you.If you did not have them,then it would not be attributed to you as faith.Learn not to capitulate.Seek God as many times as you need to confirm HIS will,and stick with it.It is not easy but His grace is always sufficient.So king Ahab senses that Micaiah is not forthright with his prophesy-so he reprimands him.Micaiah on a second thought decides to tell the true prophesy that the war was a bad idea.So,let us get this right!400 said go…!1 said don’t go!Please tell me if you were king Ahab what you would do?Come on!It is obvious.You would call the one prophet a lunatic-A man of God gone rogue.But the funny thing is that Micaiah’s prophesies had followed the same pattern in the past!This is why in verse 7 it says “So the king of Isreal said to Jehoshaphat there is still one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord but I hate him because he never prophesies good concerning me but always evil.”How often do we drop friends that do not say nice things about us.I know!We want support.We want encouragement.We want positivity.But all those things can still be in a critism.We just don’t want to be criticised.Do we?And we lose good and balanced judgement because of it.Why would the king not want to hear all opinions?I would tell you why…It is because I don’t believe he really believed the prophesies.At least not in the way,that he was supposed to believe them.You see,in those days(even now)there are two ways you can approach a prophesy from a man of God.It is like the chicken and egg parody.Which comes first,right?When a man of God says something about the future.It could mean two things-The man of God has said it of his own initiative,and God has confirmed it.It is like when you pray for something,and God answers your prayers.Again,I use Elijah as an example:he called on fire from heaven.It was not God that told him to do that exactly.It was God confirming that Elijah was his true prophet.The other interpretation or understanding is that God directly gives a word to his prophet-And tells him to convey the message.So,I believe king Ahab got mixed up with the first interpretation.He must have said to himself-if these are God’s prophets too,then surely God can confirm their prophesy.But he failed to understand that God is not sleeping somewhere.And then wakes up when “we”ask Him to do something for us.God is a hands on God.Everything is according to His plan.So we need to ask “what is He saying”?And not “what do we want Him to do for us”?It is this kind of confusion that makes us question and question,till we question God out of existence!He is God,and He has set up things the way that He has set things up.Seek His counsel.Seek His advice.Seek His plan.To cut short the sermon-king Ahab ignores Micaiah’s prophesy and goes to war.To my surprise king Jehoshaphat goes with him too.This is one of my points:When God is involved directly with a situation,things do not look abnormal.It just looks like every day stuff!What we did yesterday,we are doing today.And we would do tommorrow.But in the midst of it,God is doing an Almighty thing!Say Amen!Listen,King Ahab was fearful enough of Micaiah’s prophesy that he went in disguise to prevent what was said about his not returning from the war,from happening.But did it help him?No.He was killed.And king Jehoshaphat barely survived himself.Do not go along with what you think is wrong,simply because others would laugh at you.Seek the face of God for everything you need to do-Have a great time,till I am prompted to serve another sermon.God bless!