Welcome

1. Adult II Couples Class Welcome discoverjoy.com

2. What is your father’s name and how old was he when you were born? Adult II Couples Class Question of the day discoverjoy.com

3. Prayer Requests -Construction -VBS -Walgenbach’s traveling -Tony: Cancer treatments -Cathy Laster: Cancer treatments -The Savages -Brittany’s mission trip to Russia

4. Church Stuff Class Events Church Events • Benevolence Fund • R.E.A.P. (A-Team) • Monthly Fellowships • June (Farrars) • July (Woffords) • August?? • Dinner Out Friday (NA) • 5th Sunday Breakfast (29 July) • Quarterly Service Project • Ends-of-the-earth project update • Country Haven Chapel Judea project (see next slide) • Phase Three Construction • Kid’s Kamp (11–14 June) • Qtrly Business Mtg (13 June) • Ladies’ Prayer Breakfast (23 June) • Hawaiian Shirt Sunday (1 July) • Party in the Park (4 July) • Special Prayer Service (18 July) • Vacation Bible School (9-13 July)

5. Country Haven Hispanic Chapel (NWA need) Judea Project

6. Country Haven Hispanic Chapel needs list • Wipe pews/pulpit furniture with Murphy’s Oil Soap • Shake out pew cushions • Wipe down wood paneling • Replace toilet flush kit • Install toilet paper holder and paper towel dispenser • Finish crown molding in restroom • Cut/trim grass • Repair light fixture in closet • Blinds for window • Replace A/C unit • 2 medium size trash containers • Clean glass door • 1 floor fan (20” or better) • Small desk for laptop and media display • Repair closet door • Paint wood paneling in sanctuary (bone) • Spanish Bibles (OT and NT) • Planned July 14th cookout to draw attention community Judea Project

7. What is your father’s name and how old was he when you were born? Adult II Couples Class Question of the day discoverjoy.com

8. Chronological Bible Discipleship Iva May and Dr. Stan May week twenty-four 1Kings/2 Chronicles

9. Review Creation: God reveals His goodness through creation and His mercy in response to sin. Patriarchs: God reveals His response to the faithful-ness of men (Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph). Exodus: God liberates Israel, and leads them to the Promised Land and shapes them into a nation holy to Himself. Conquest: Joshua, relying on God’s presence and power, leads Israel to possess and settle the Promised Land. Judges: Every man does what is right in his own eyes, and Israel falls into a cycle of disobedience, judgment, oppression and deliverance (the sin cycle). Kingdom: Israel asks for a king and God raises up a succes-sion of kings who rule over a united Israel, beginning with Saul and ending with Solomon.

10. Divided Kingdom Era

11. Context • In his later years, Solomon marries many foreign women • They turn his heart away from God • God appears to him and informs him that the kingdom will be torn away from his son • God raises up an adversary against Solomon; his servant Jeroboam • Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, succeeds him as king • Rehoboam, favoring the foolish counsel of his peers, acts out of arrogant pride, inciting a rebellion • Jeroboam leads ten tribes of Israel to follow him and establish their own nation

12. Overview • Jeroboam’s leadership becomes the metric by which all his successors are measured • “He did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he made Israel sin.“ (1 Kings 15:26,34) • Jeroboam establishes a new syncretistic religion (one which blends God-established practices with those of pagan religions) • The ongoing practice of this new religion invites God’s judgment • Eventual captivity by the Assyrians

13. Key Truth • People will embrace leaders who give permission to follow the dictates of their own heart, despising the ways of God. • BEWARE OF SUCH LEADERS!

14. Divided Kingdom Era 1 Kings 12 A Kingdom Divided, Israel God Defines His Worship Jeroboam Redefines Worship God Rebukes Jeroboam

15. God Defines His Worship Deuteronomy 12:1-14

16. God Defines His Worship • God Prepares Israel to Enter the Promised Land • Gives them specific guidelines regarding worship • Sets aside the Levites as priests to minister to the people and present the sacrifices

17. God Defines His Worship • His Commands are Specific and Clear, Applying to the Places and Prescribed Methods of Worship in the Kingdom Era • Regarding places of worship (5) • God emphasizes a specific place of worship six times in these 14 verses • Regarding prescriptions of worship (8) • God’s word clearly establishes a divine standard of worship

18. Jeroboam Redefines Worship 1 Kings 12:25-33

19. Jeroboam Redefines Worship • Jeroboam’s Motive for Redefining Worship • Fear of losing the allegiance of the people(27a) • Fear of being killed by a people who would see him as a traitor(27b) • Fear of losing his throne to another king(27c) • Jeroboam’s Method of Redefining Worship • Since the people might balk at an entirely pagan religion, he offers a blended religion (syncretism) • Syncretism – the merging of two or more religious belief systems to form a new system

20. Jeroboam Redefines Worship • Jeroboam uses a Predictable Pattern which Char-acterizes all Syncretistic Religions • Redefines the Holy One – two calves of gold become the pedestal on which Israel props up their worship • Promoted another path that leads to God (Universalism) • Syncretism is a religion of “tolerance” • Redefines the Holy Place – other places of worship are construct-ed in the north (Dan) and south (Bethel) • Offers a more convenient worship than Jerusalem • Syncretism is a religion of “convenience”

21. Jeroboam Redefines Worship • Jeroboam uses a Predictable Pattern which Char-acterizes all Syncretistic Religions • Redefines the holy servants – opens up the office of the priest-hood to anyone who desires to serve in this capacity • Diminishes the requirements of the priesthood and standards of holiness • Syncretism is a religion without “conviction” • Redefines the holy days – gives Israel's holy days new meaning • Assigns dates and purposes of his own choosing for celebration and wor-ship (different from those prescribed in the law) • Syncretism is a religion of the human imagination • Redefines the holy offerings– offers sacrifices and burns incense in the same manner as Jerusalem’s temple • Jeroboam personally inaugurated this new form of worship • Syncretism is a religion of casual indifference

22. God Rebukes Jeroboam 1 Kings 13:1-3

23. God Rebukes Jeroboam • Jeroboam had Conveniently Omitted any Reference to, or Reading from the Book of the Law in any of his Pre-scribed Worship • Tolerance (everyone doing what is right in their own eyes) becomes the National Religion of the Northern Kingdom of Israel • God Sends an Unnamed Prophet to Rebuke Jeroboam • Prophesies that Josiah (Judah’s future king) would burn the bodies of the priests on his altar • Jeroboam’s altar would be destroyed

24. Conclusions • All worship forms are not acceptable worship to God. • When Bible literacy grows dim in the hearts of lead-ers, they develop false practices and justify their new ways by making them sound acceptably religious. • Syncretistic religion appeals to those who desire ritual without responsibility, religion without moral-ity, and form without power or the presence of God. • All cults and liberal religions redefine key biblical/religious terms so as to twist them to serve their own goals and ends.

25. Discussion What does God’s clear and specific commands to Israel about worship say about God’s expectations of how His people are to approach Him in worship? Jeroboam syncretized the belief systems of Israel’s pagan neighbors with the God-given belief system of the Mosaic Law. What components make-up modern syncretism? What are some red flags in Jeroboam’s new religious practices that indicate its unacceptability to God? Uses images to represent God Sets up an un-ordained location for worship Its goal was to control the people; channel their loyalty to a man, not God Avoids referring holy scripture for its source of truth Can the modern Christian church be culturally relevant while still clinging to Biblical truth?

26. Bible TRIViA QUIZ The Book 1 Kings(1pt) • How was the man of God who prophesied against Jeroboam killed? • “It came about after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk….when he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown on the road...” (1 Kings 13:23-24) • What famous wife did Ahab marry while he was king of Israel, and what country did she come from? • “Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel...it came about…that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him.’”(1 Kings 16:29-31) • How many prophets did Obadiah, Ahab’s chief of the palace, hide to protect them from Jezebel? • “…for when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.” (1 Kings 18:3-4))

27. BONUS ROUND Bonus Question (2pts) • Why did Asa, king of Judah, remove his grandmother Maacah from the throne? • “Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father. He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother, because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah.” (1Kings 15:11-13) • What curse, invoked by Joshua, did Hiel of Bethel suffer after rebuilding the founda-tions and the gates of Jericho? • “In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.” (1 Kgs 12:25)

28. 1 Kings 12 2 Chronicles 17-20 A Kingdom Divided, Judah Adult II Couples Class Next week….. discoverjoy.com