Israel's December: Hoshea, Exile, Samaria Resettled

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 17:1-41
November 24, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. The beginning of the end

• Picture an imaginary future for the United States

• Israel’s situation in today’s text

2. Israel’s final days and ultimate collapse

• Too little, too late

• Hoshea’s folly

• Assyria’s vengeance

3. Why God let this happen

4. What counterfeit religion looks like

• Counterfeit religion often begins with ingratitude toward the one true God

• Counterfeit religion focuses on what is aesthetically pleasing

• Counterfeit religion invents itself; biblical faith receives what is revealed

• Counterfeit religion is after results; biblical worship is after God

• Counterfeit religion rots a person’s soul

• Counterfeit religion ruins not just ourselves, but also our descendants

• Counterfeit religion leads to judgment

5. How counterfeit religion is guarded against

6. The weeping Judge

Anarchy in the Northern Kingdom: Zechariah-Pekah

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 15:8-31
November 10, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. The sad political story

• Two weeks ago — 41 years of prosperity

• Today — 21 years of anarchy

2. The bloody succession of kings

• Zechariah (6 months)

• Shallum (1 month)

• Menahem (10 years)

• Pekahiah (2 years)

3. Pekah’s reign and fall

• The darkening night

• The prophesied Light

4. What sin destroyed this nation?

• The sin that stands out

• Jesus on personal responsibility*

*As you study the Bible, remember that Scripture interprets Scripture

October in Israel: Jeroboam II and the Writing Prophets

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 14:23-29
October 27, 2024

2 Kings 14:23-29: In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.

The LORD had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them. And since the LORD had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash. As for the other events of Jeroboam’s reign, all he did, and his military achievements, including how he recovered for Israel both Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Yaudi, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel? Jeroboam rested with his fathers, the kings of Israel. And Zechariah his son succeeded him as king.

Sermon Outline

1. Review and introduction

• Israel splits in two

• The southern kingdom

• The northern kingdom

2. Opening description of Jeroboam II

3. Point 1: It’s God’s nature to bless undeserving people

• How God blessed Jeroboam II

• Why God blessed Jeroboam II

4. God’s blessing does not necessarily mean God’s approval

• Examples from the minor prophets

• Applications

5. God’s judgments in one time/place are always to show mercy in another time/place

• Examples

• Where is this in today’s passage?

The Reigns of Jehoahaz and Jehoash

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 13:1-25
September 29, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. Jehoahaz

• “He did evil in the eyes of the LORD...”

• Result of this evil

• “Then Jehoahaz sought the LORD’s favor”

• How God did it

• Israel’s response

2. Jehoash

• Different king, same summary

• A significant episode

• A dead man lives again

3. Conclusion

Jehu Destroys Ahab's Family and Baal Worship

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 10:1-36
September 22, 2024

Sermon Outline

Destroying Ahab’s house

• Jehu’s challenge

• Heads roll in Samaria

• Jehu seeks support of citizens and soldiers in Jezreel

• Jehu slaughters Ahab’s house in Jezreel

2. Meeting relatives of Judah’s recently departed king

• Remember Ahaziah?

• The deadly meeting on the road to Samaria

3. Meeting a most unusual man

• Jehonadab the Recabite

• Jehonadab joins Jehu

• The principle of this part of the passage

4. Killing Baal worship

• A compulsory command

• Death and destruction

5. What are we to think of this chapter?

• Christian, don’t be naive about politics

• God uses scary unbelievers to achieve his holy purposes

• God often rewards unbelievers (in this life) for the good they do

• It won’t do to abandon the sins we don’t like, but cling to the sins we do like

Jehu Kills Ahaziah, Joram, and Jezebel

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 9:1-37
September 8, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. Previously on The Northern Kingdom...

• Elijah flees

• Jehovah replies

• God’s plan to topple Baal in Israel

2. Jehu anointed as king

• Elisha sends a young prophet on a mission

• Reaction of Jehu’s lieutenants

3. Jehu kills two Baal-worshiping kings

• Killing Joram of Israel

• Killing Ahaziah of Judah

4. Killing Jezebel

• Jezebel prepares to die in style

• Jehu has Jezebel thrown out the window

• Jehu feasts while Jezebel is feasted on

5. Lessons

• Rebellion against God is fanned into flame by those we associate with

• Rebels vs. God are gradually storing up wrath for themselves

• God avenges his suffering people

• Is God’s wrath so gory and terrible?

Joram's Last Chance for Grace Meeting the Shunammite's Son

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 8:1-6
September 1, 2024

2 Kings 8:1-6: Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.” The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.” Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land.

Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” The king asked the woman about it, and she told him.

Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.”

Sermon Outline

1. Background to today’s text (2 Kings 4 for reference)

2. King Joram had already seen God’s divine kindness through Elisha

• Aramean ambushes foiled

• Aramean army delivered into Joram’s hands

• Northern kingdom’s capital relieved of starvation

3. King Joram asks to hear more about Elisha’s great works

• The widow in debt

• Death in the stew

• Feeding one hundred

• A borrowed ax

• The Shunammite woman’s son

4. Lessons

• See how God cares for His own people

• See how important our response to accounts of God’s mercies are

Background for next week’s sermon

• 2 Kings 8:7-14, NIV: Hazael Murders Ben-Hadad

• 2 Kings 8:25-29, NIV: Ahaziah King of Judah

Elisha's Fiery Horses and Chariots

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 6:8-23
August 11, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. Intro: Secrets are sometimes hard to keep.

• Aramean king’s secrets are being leaked.

• The new prophet on the block

2. The Aramean king sends an army to capture Elisha.

3. God is with His people, even when they cannot see it.

• First of three prayers

• Picture the fiery beings.

• Think of their number.

• Think what the actual miracle was.

4. How God protected Elisha and his servant

• Who made the first move?

• Second of three prayers

• Last of three prayers

5. God protects His people so that unbelievers may find that same protection in him.

• How Israel treated the captured Arameans

• What do we learn about God from this?

6. Lessons

Elijah, Elisha, and Chariots of Fire

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Kings 2:1-12
August 4, 2024

2 Kings 2:1-12: Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”

Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.

Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

Sermon Outline

1. Vexation at Elijah’s departure

• Anxiety at coming change

• The prophets go to Bethel

• The prophets go to Jericho

2. The prophets go to the Jordan

• Elijah’s last miracle

• Elijah asks his protege what he can do for him

• God takes Elijah away in style

• Elisha’s reaction

3. God reveals Elijah’s successor

• Elisha mourns, then gets to work

• Elisha is recognized as Elijah’s successor

4. Three short episodes to start Elisha’s ministry

• Episode 1: Ordinary ministry with Jericho’s prophets

• Episode 2: Ministry of God’s grace at Jericho

• Episode 3: Ministry of God’s judgment at Bethel

Ahaziah's Deathbed and Jehovah’s Stubborn Holiness

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 22:51-53 & 2 Kings 1:18
July 28, 2024

1 Kings 22:51-53: Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, because he walked in the ways of his father and mother and in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He served and worshiped Baal and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done.

2 Kings 1:18: As for all the other events of Ahaziah’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

Sermon Outline

1. Ahaziah’s disappointments

• Disappointments over money

• Disappointments over his country

• Disappointments over physical trauma

• Disappointments from a shortened life span

2. In his disappointments, Ahaziah sought relief in idols

• The Lord of the Flies

• The insanity of idolatry

• How people “consult idols” today

3. God refused to tolerate Ahaziah’s idols

• Elijah intercepts, Ahaziah responds

• The ethics of the fire from heaven

• Ahaziah’s final attempt to arrest Elijah

4. God gives grace to the humble

• Humility grows from proper fear

• The Lamb of God bore God’s wrath for those who would believe

The Death of Ahab

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 22:1-40
July 21, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. A meeting between Ahab and Jehoshaphat

• The significance of Gilead

• Ahab proposes to retake Ramoth Gilead

• Jehoshaphat’s request

2. Pressure on Micaiah

• The pressure in general

• One pressure in particular

3. Micaiah speaks the truth

• Micaiah’s sarcastic sycophantic answer

• Micaiah’s serious, truthful answer

• Micaiah recounts his vision

4. Micaiah is punished for speaking the truth

• Zedekiah slaps Micaiah

• Ahab incarcerates Micaiah

5. Ahab dies in battle

• The battle proper

• God’s sovereignty in the battle

• Ahab’s burial

• A summary of Ahab’s life

6. A final word

Naboth's Vineyard

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 21:1-29
July 14, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. The exchange between Ahab and Naboth

• Ahab’s offer

• Naboth’s refusal

2. Back at the palace

• Ahab sulks in his room

• Jezebel promises a solution

3. Jezebel’s murderous scheme

• The letters

• Who was blasphemed: Jehovah or Baal?

• The trial and the verdict

• Ahab takes possession

4. The exchange between Elijah and Ahab

• Elijah confronts Ahab in the vineyard

• Jehovah’s verdict on Ahab and Jezebel

5. God’s amazing grace

• Ahab’s change

6. Lessons

• Naboth is a picture of the lot of God’s people

• Such injustice is often inflicted by the government

• God’s servants must be prepared to pay a price for standing for justice

• God will intervene to bring justice to His wronged people

• God delights to exercise mercy while imposing his justice

Ahab Versus Ben-Hadad

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 20:1-43
July 7, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. The thread

• Ben Hadad’s invasion

• Israel’s desperate condition

• Ben Hadad’s intimidating demands

2. The first battle

• An unnamed prophet advises Ahab

• An Israelite victory stuns Ben Hadad

3. The second battle

• Both sides regroup

• Arameans march to Aphek the following year

• Why does Ahab pardon Ben Hadad?

4. A prophet condemns Ahab

• The story

• What was Ahab’s sin?

5. Getting clear about God

• Getting clear about God’s grace

• Getting clear about God’s power

• Getting clear about God’s judgment

Recruiting Elisha

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 19:19-21
June 23, 2024

1 Kings 19:19-21: So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother good-by,” he said, “and then I will come with you.”

“Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?”

So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.

Sermon Outline

1. Elijah goes to Abel Meholah

• The journey

• The destination

• The family of farmers

2. Elijah recruits Elisha

• A hard-working heir

• A silent summons

3. Elisha’s response

• He chases after Elijah

• He asks to kiss his parents goodbye

• He breaks all ties with the past

4. What the day’s events meant for the people affected

• Elijah

• Elisha’s parents

• Elisha himself

Elijah Restored on Mount Horeb

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 19:9-18
June 16, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. The Story

• The place

• God and Elijah address one another

• Three dramatic elements

• The voice in a low whisper

2. God’s twice-asked question

• Some suggest God’s question is a rebuke

• A better suggestion is God’s question is an invitation

3. The meaning of it all

• The meaning of the earthquake, wind, fire, and low whisper

• God encourages Elijah with a promise

Elijah, Depressed in the Desert

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 19:1-18
June 2, 2024

1 Kings 19:1-18: Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into a cave and spent the night.

Sermon Outline

1. Immediately after Carmel

• What Ahab said

• How Jezebel reacted

• What Elijah did

2. Elijah’s flight to the desert

• Leaves servant in Beersheba

• Weeps in a wadi

• Sleeps in the shade

3. Commentators’ criticism of Elijah’s despondency

4. How we should see Elijah under the broom tree

• What the text implies about Elijah’s heart

• What the text shows about God’s heart

5. What should we make of all this?

• God is tender toward discouraged servants

• God’s tenderness ultimately comes through Jesus

Rain, Grace, and Second Chances

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 18:41-46
May 26, 2024

1 Kings 18:41-46: And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

“Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”

So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

Sermon Outline

1. Ahab and Elijah

2. The text’s first great lessons come by watching Elijah pray

• Prayer in public must be fueled by prayer in private

• Prayer must follow (not just precede) our spiritual accomplishments

• Prayer should major on God’s agenda, not ours

• Prayer should be in earnest

3. The text’s final great lesson comes by watching Elijah run

• Ahab’s ill-desert

• God’s grace

Jehovah Versus Baal on Mount Carmel

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 18:1-40
May 19, 2024

Sermon Outline

1. Elijah and Obediah

• Severe famine

• Obediah’s fear and courage

2. Elijah and Ahab

• Ahab blames Elijah

• Elijah issues a challenge

• Why does Ahab agree?

3. The setting and the stakes

• The beautiful setting

• The wavering people

• Application

4. The prophets of Baal call on their god

• Their first attempt

• Their second attempt

5. Elijah calls on his God

• He slowly rebuilds Jehovah’s fallen altar

• He prays to the real God

• God answers with fire

6. Elijah slays the false prophets

Elijah Raises the Widow's Son

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 17:17-24
May 12, 2024

Sermon Outline

Part 1: The ways of God are mysterious

1 Kings 17:17-18: Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

• Things got worse, not better, for the widow

• Things got worse, not better, for Elijah

• An infinite God can be baffling to finite creatures

Part 2: If God is going to use you, it will cost you

1 Kings 17:19-21: “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

• Believers move toward others

• Elijah got involved with his body

• Elijah got involved with his prayers

• Ministry to others is being a bridge between God and them

Part 3: The result

1 Kings 17:22-24: The LORD heard Elijah’ cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look your son is alive!” Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.”

• The God who gives life to the dead

• We gain faith, and grasp truth, in stages

• Does this mean we can expect healing?

• Doubting Thomas

Elijah, the Ravens, and the Widow

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 1 Kings 17:2-24
April 28, 2024

Sermon Outline

Elijah at the Kerith Ravine

• God tells Elijah to hide

• Hide for Elijah’s safety

• Hide for discipline on King Ahab and Israel

• God’s provision for Elijah

2. Elijah at Zarephath

• The place

• The widow

3. Lessons

• God has His own where we least expect them

• God’s promises can be trusted