BIBLE READING FOR SUNDAY 7/13/14 ~ RELOADED PLUS TEACHINGS FROM JOYCE MEYER

BIBLE READING FOR SUNDAY 7/13/14

260 LIVE ~ RELOADED ~ 

 2 Kings 17- 19

Joyce Meyer -- Do not Offend Yourself (Part 1)

 2 Kings 17

AHAZ REIGNS IN JUDAH

¹ Hoshea son of Elah began to rule over Israel in the twelfth year of King Ahaz’s reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria nine years. ² He did what was evil in the Lord ’s sight, but not to the same extent as the kings of Israel

who ruled before him. ³ King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked King Hoshea, so Hoshea was forced to pay heavy tribute to Assyria. ⁴ But Hoshea stopped paying the annual tribute and conspired against the king of Assyria by asking King So of Egypt 1to help him shake free of Assyria’s power. When the king of Assyria discovered this treachery, he seized Hoshea and put him in prison. ⁵Then the king of Assyria invaded the entire land, and for three years he besieged the city of Samaria.
THE FALL OF ISRAEL

⁶ Finally, in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign, Samaria fell, and the people of Israel were exiled to Assyria. They were settled in colonies in Halah, along the banks of the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

EXILE BECAUSE OF IDOLATRY

⁷ This disaster came upon the people of Israel because they worshiped other gods. They sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them safely out of Egypt and had rescued them from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. ⁸ They had followed the practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of them, as well as the practices the kings of Israel had introduced. ⁹ The people of Israel had also secretly done many things that were not pleasing to the Lord their God. They built pagan shrines for themselves in all their towns, from the smallest outpost to the largest walled city. ¹⁰They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles at the top of every hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ They offered sacrifices on all the hilltops, just like the nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of them. So the people of Israel had done many evil things, arousing the Lord ’s anger. ¹² Yes, they worshiped idols, 2 despite the Lord ’s specific and repeated warnings. ¹³ Again and again the Lord had sent his prophets and seers to warn both Israel and Judah: “Turn from all your evil ways. Obey my commands and decrees - the entire law that I commanded your ancestors to obey, and that I gave you through my servants the prophets.” 

¹⁴ But the Israelites would not listen. They were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves. They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the Lord ’s command not to imitate them. ¹⁶ They rejected all the commands of the Lord their God and made two calves from metal. They set up an Asherah pole and worshiped Baal and all the forces of heaven. ¹⁷ They even sacrificed their own sons and daughters in the fire. 3 They consulted fortune-tellers and practiced sorcery and sold themselves to evil, arousing the Lord ’s anger. ¹⁸ Because the Lord was very angry with Israel, he swept them away from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained in the land.

¹⁹ But even the people of Judah refused to obey the commands of the Lord their God, for they followed the evil practices that Israel had introduced. ²⁰ The Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel. He punished them by handing them over to their attackers until he had banished Israel from his presence.

²¹ For when the Lord 4 tore Israel away from the kingdom of David, they chose Jeroboam son of Nebat as their king. But Jeroboam drew Israel away from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin. ²² And the people of Israel persisted in all the evil ways of Jeroboam. They did not turn from these sins ²³ until the Lord finally swept them away from his presence, just as all his prophets had warned. So Israel was exiled from their land to Assyria, where they remain to this day.

ASSYRIA RESETTLES SAMARIA

²⁴ The king of Assyria transported groups of people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and resettled them in the towns of Samaria, replacing the people of Israel. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its towns. ²⁵ But since these foreign settlers did not worship the Lord when they first arrived, the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶ So a message was sent to the king of Assyria: “The people you have sent to live in the towns of Samaria do not know the religious customs of the God of the land. He has sent lions among them to destroy them because they have not worshiped him correctly.” ²⁷ The king of Assyria then commanded, “Send one of the exiled priests back to Samaria. Let him live there and teach the new residents the religious customs of the God of the land.” ²⁸ So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria returned to Bethel and taught the new residents how to worship the Lord .

²⁹ But these various groups of foreigners also continued to worship their own gods. In town after town where they lived, they placed their idols at the pagan shrines that the people of Samaria had built. ³⁰Those from Babylon worshiped idols of their god Succoth-benoth. Those from Cuthah worshiped their god Nergal. And those from Hamath worshiped Ashima. ³¹ The Avvites worshiped their gods Nibhaz and Tartak. And the people from Sepharvaim even burned their own children as sacrifices to their gods Adrammelech and Anammelech. ³² These new residents worshiped the Lord , but they also appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests to offer sacrifices at their places of worship. ³³ And though they worshiped the Lord , they continued to follow their own gods according to the religious customs of the nations from which they came.

³⁴ And this is still going on today. They continue to follow their former practices instead of truly worshiping the Lord and obeying the decrees, regulations, instructions, and commands he gave the descendants of Jacob, whose name he changed to Israel. ³⁵ For the Lord had made a covenant with the descendants of Jacob and commanded them: “Do not worship any other gods or bow before them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them. ³⁶ But worship only the Lord , who brought you out of Egypt with great strength and a powerful arm. Bow down to him alone, and offer sacrifices only to him. ³⁷ Be careful at all times to obey the decrees, regulations, instructions, and commands that he wrote for you. You must not worship other gods. ³⁸ Do not forget the covenant I made with you, and do not worship other gods. ³⁹ You must worship only the Lord your God. He is the one who will rescue you from all your enemies.”⁴⁰ But the people would not listen and continued to follow their former practices.

⁴¹ So while these new residents worshiped the Lord , they also worshiped their idols. And to this day their descendants do the same.

2 Kings 18

HEZEKIAH REIGNS IN JUDAH

¹ Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel. ² He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, 5 the daughter of Zechariah. ³ He did what was pleasing in the Lord ’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done. ⁴ He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan. 6 ⁵ Hezekiah trusted in the Lord , the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. ⁶ He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord had given Moses. ⁷ So the Lord was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay him tribute. ⁸ He also conquered the Philistines as far distant as Gaza and its territory, from their smallest outpost to their largest walled city.

⁹ During the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked the city of Samaria and began a siege against it. ¹⁰ Three years later, during the sixth year of King Hezekiah’s reign and the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel, Samaria fell. ¹¹ At that time the king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and placed them in colonies in Halah, along the banks of the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ¹² For they refused to listen to the Lord their God and obey him. Instead, they violated his covenant - all the laws that Moses the Lord ’s servant had commanded them to obey.

SENNACHERIB ATTACKS JUDAH

¹³ In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, 7 King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them. ¹⁴ King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money you demand if you will only withdraw.” The king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold. 8 ¹⁵ To gather this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the Temple of the Lord and in the palace treasury. ¹⁶Hezekiah even stripped the gold from the doors of the Lord ’s Temple and from the doorposts he had overlaid with gold, and he gave it all to the Assyrian king. ¹⁷ Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his commander in chief, his field commander, and his chief of staff 9from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed. 10 ¹⁸ They summoned King Hezekiah, but the king sent these officials to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian.

¹⁹ Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah:
“This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident? ²⁰ Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me? ²¹ On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable! ²²“But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!’ But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem? ²³ “I’ll tell you what! Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them! ²⁴ With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers? ²⁵ What’s more, do you think we have invaded your land without the Lord ’s direction? The Lord himself told us, ‘Attack this land and destroy it!’”

²⁶ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff, “Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don’t speak in Hebrew, 11 for the people on the wall will hear.” ²⁷ But Sennacherib’s chief of staff replied, “Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine.” 

²⁸ Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, “Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! ²⁹This is what the king says: Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my power. ³⁰ Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king!’ ³¹ “Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me - open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well. ³² Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one - a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death! “Don’t listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ ³³ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? ³⁴ What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? ³⁵ What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?”

³⁶ But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, “Do not answer him.” ³⁷ Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said. 

2 Kings 19

ISAIAH REASSURES HEZEKIAH

¹ When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the Temple of the Lord . ² And he sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in burlap, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³ They told him, “This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble, insults, and disgrace. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby. ⁴ But perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff, 12sent by the king to defy the living God, and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left!” ⁵ After King Hezekiah’s officials delivered the king’s message to Isaiah, ⁶ the prophet replied, “Say to your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. ⁷ Listen! I myself will move against him, 13 and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.’”

SENNACHERIB DEFIES THE LORD

⁸ Meanwhile, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah. ⁹ Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia 14 was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message: ¹⁰ “This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. ¹¹ You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different? ¹² Have the gods of other nations rescued them - such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? My predecessors destroyed them all! ¹³ What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?”

HEZEKIAH'S PRAYER

¹⁴ After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord ’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord . ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord : “O  Lord , God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. ¹⁶ Bend down, O  Lord , and listen! Open your eyes, O  Lord , and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God. ¹⁷ “It is true, Lord , that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. ¹⁸ And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all - only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. ¹⁹ Now, O  Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O  Lord , are God.”

ISAIAH PROPHESIES SENNACHERIB'S FALL

²⁰ Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer about King Sennacherib of Assyria.

²¹ And the Lord has spoken this word against him: “The virgin daughter of Zion
despises you and laughs at you.
The daughter of Jerusalem
shakes her head in derision as you flee. 

²² “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?
Against whom did you raise your voice?
At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?
It was the Holy One of Israel! ²³ By your messengers you have defied the Lord.
You have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have conquered the highest mountains -
yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars
and its finest cypress trees.
I have reached its farthest corners
and explored its deepest forests. ²⁴ I have dug wells in many foreign lands
and refreshed myself with their water.
With the sole of my foot
I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’ 

²⁵ “But have you not heard?
I decided this long ago.
Long ago I planned it,
and now I am making it happen.
I planned for you to crush fortified cities
into heaps of rubble. ²⁶ That is why their people have so little power
and are so frightened and confused.
They are as weak as grass,
as easily trampled as tender green shoots.
They are like grass sprouting on a housetop,
scorched before it can grow lush and tall. 

²⁷ “But I know you well -
where you stay
and when you come and go.
I know the way you have raged against me. ²⁸ And because of your raging against me
and your arrogance, which I have heard for myself,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
I will make you return
by the same road on which you came.” 

²⁹ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is the proof that what I say is true:
“This year you will eat only what grows up by itself,
and next year you will eat what springs up from that.
But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them;
you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit. ³⁰ And you who are left in Judah,
who have escaped the ravages of the siege,
will put roots down in your own soil
and will grow up and flourish. ³¹ For a remnant of my people will spread out from Jerusalem,
a group of survivors from Mount Zion.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies 15
will make this happen! 

³² “And this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:
“His armies will not enter Jerusalem.
They will not even shoot an arrow at it.
They will not march outside its gates with their shields
nor build banks of earth against its walls. ³³ The king will return to his own country
by the same road on which he came.
He will not enter this city,
says the Lord . ³⁴ For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David,
I will defend this city and protect it.” 

³⁵ That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians 16woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. ³⁶ Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there. ³⁷ One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons 17 Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria. 

If you just started reading the Bible and have not yet asked Jesus into your heart to become your Lord and Savior, all you have to do is:

A - ADMIT YOU ARE A SINNER

Roman 3:23 

For everyone has
sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.        

Acts 3:19 
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

B - BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS GOD'S SON AND ACCEPT GOD'S GIFT OF FORGIVENESS FROM SIN

Acts 16:31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household"

Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life, No one comes to the Father except through me."


Ephesians 2:8-9 ....8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

C - CONFESS YOUR FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR AND LORD

Roman 10:9-10, 13  

9 If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart the God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

If you are ready to ask Jesus into your heart to be your Lord and Savior, you can pray a simple prayer like this to God.

Dear God, 

I know I have sinned and my sin separates me from You. I am sorry for my sin. I believe Jesus died on the cross for me so my sin can be forgiven. I believe Jesus rose from the dead and is alive. God please forgive me. I ask Jesus to come into my life and be my Savior and Lord. I will obey You and live for You the rest of my life, Thank You in Jesus' name I Pray.
Amen

GOD BLESS OUR NATION

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