Hello, and welcome to this
message from Pastor Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque. As these teachings
are shared worldwide, our prayer is that
God uses them to bring more people into His family. If this message encourages
you, we'd like to know. Email us at
mystory@calveryabq.org. And if you'd like to support
this ministry financially, you can give online securely
at calvaryabq.org/give. It's bad enough when one person
has their own crash and burn. But it's infinitely worse when
that person takes everyone else down with them. As we continue our
series, Crash & Burn, we learn how Jeroboam
plunged the nation of Israel into division,
idolatry, and judgment. Now please turn in your
Bible to First Kings Chapter 12 as Skip begins the
message, Taking Down a Nation. Would you turn in
your Bibles, please, to First Kings Chapter
12 in your Old Testament. First Kings-- find that
book, First Kings Chapter 12. A few years ago, I was doing a
series on the 10 Commandments. And it was the second
week where I was speaking on the Second Commandment. And you know that
commandment, it says, you will not have
any graven images. You will not fashion for
yourself any graven images. And it was interesting, because
that was my birthday week. And a friend of mine
sent me a present. And I opened it up
and it was essentially a graven image of myself. It's a bobble head Skip, look. [LAUGHTER] On a motorcycle even. So I just found it strange
that the very week I'm speaking about idolatry
and graven images I get this in the mail. You don't have to worry,
no one worships it. Trust me. When it comes to the Bible, you
know that God takes idolatry very seriously. In fact, God predicted,
if you turn from me, I am the Lord, your God. You will have no
other gods besides me. If you turn from me to
other gods, to idols, it will bring the nation down. He predicted that would happen. A few years ago, for the last
15 years up until this year, one of the most popular
shows on television was called American Idol. And it's produced
some heavy hitters like Kelly Clarkson
and Carrie Underwood. But I read an article about
American Idol that was called, "It Doesn't Always Pay to Win." And the article,
essentially, was saying, it's not always the first place,
but it's often second, third, and fourth runners up that go
on to have successful careers. In fact, some serious stars like
Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott never even made it past the
audition on American Idol, but went on to see
some great fame. Well, it certainly doesn't
pay to win the idol contest in Israel, because Israel's God
always had a problem with it. From beginning to the
end of the scripture, we find that in
the Old Testament, the word idol, idols,
idolatry appears 111 times. But the one who won the
contest, the idol contest, was a King by the
name of Jeroboam. And Jeroboam is the one we're
going to read about today. Of Jeroboam, it is said 20
times that he made Israel sin. He brought the nation down. He caused the nation to sin. In fact, a couple of chapters
after this, in First Kings 14, God says, you have done
more evil than all those who were before you. How would you like
that on your tombstone? You have done more evil than
all those who were before you. That is said of Jeroboam. So let's begin in Chapter 12,
for our purpose today, Verse 25. We read then,
"Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim. And he dwelt there. Also, he went out from
there and built Penuai. And Jeroboam said in his
heart, 'Now the Kingdom may return to the
House of David. If these people go
to offer sacrifice in the House of the
Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people
will turn back to their Lord Rehoboam the King of Judah. And they will kill me and
go back to Rehoboam King of Judah.' Therefore, the
King asked advice. He made two calves of gold,
and said to the people, 'It is too much for
you to go to Jerusalem. Here are your Gods, O, Israel. What's brought you up
from the land of Egypt?' And he set up one in Bethel,
and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin,
for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. He made shrines on
the high places. He made priests from
every class of people who were not of the Sons of Levi. Jeroboam ordained to
feast on the 15th day of the eighth month, like
the feast that was in Judah. And he offered
sacrifices on the altar, so he did at Bethel, sacrificing
to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel, he installed
the priests of the high places, which he had made. So he made offerings
on the altar, which he had made at
Bethel on the 15th day of the eighth month
and the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast
for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the
altar, and burned incense." Now who is this guy, Jeroboam? Jeroboam is the son of a
man by the name of Nebat. That's why when you read
of him, it's almost always Jeroboam, the Son of Nebat. He was from a little town in
the central part of the land in the tribe of Manasseh. He worked for King Solomon. And King Solomon saw him as a
young, capable, industrious man with a lot of energy. So Solomon gave him a
raise, and placed him in charge of his labor
force, or at least part of his labor force. Later on, Jeroboam gets
involved in politics. And at first, it's that
he wants social reform and economic reform. But the reform turns
to a rebellion, as we have just read. Now it's going to be
helpful for me to tell you how Israel has worked
up till this point. There have been three
kings so far there. Has been King Saul,
followed by King David, followed by his
son, King Solomon. Those first three
kings, for 120 years, the established a
united monarchy. There was no division. There was no civil war. It was the united monarchy for
120 years until Solomon died. When Solomon died,
his son Rehoboam-- now I know this gets confusing
because you got Jeroboam. You got Rehoboam. And you think, are they related? Are they the Boam brothers? You've got Jerry Boam
and you've got Ray Boam. But no, they're different
families all together. Rehoboam is the son of Solomon. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat,
a whole different family. So when Solomon dies,
Rehoboam, his son, is in charge of the Kingdom. He's young. He's inexperienced. And the people come to
him, and they say, look, as the new King, we request
that you would ease up on the tax burden a little bit. Your dad has been
very oppressive to us. We'll serve you if you do that. Well, at that point, he decides
to consult his ambassador. So he goes to an older group of
men, people who knew the ropes. They were wiser. And the older group of men
said, we agree with the people. We think you should ease
up on the tax burden, not be so oppressive. The people will be loyal to you. After that, he goes to his
contemporaries-- young men, young bucks, lot of
energy, not so much wisdom. And they give him
the opposite counsel. They say, no, in fact,
put your foot down. Show them who's boss. And don't ease up the burden. So it's Inauguration Day. The first State of
the Union Message that the new King, King
Rehoboam, gives-- part of it is mentioned in First
Kings 12, Verse 14. This is what he says, "My
father made your yoke heavy. I'll make it even heavier. My father scourged
you with whips. I will scourge you
with scorpions." Well, the minute he
said that, there's a turning point, a turning
point in Israel's history, a civil war, a split
in the Kingdom ensues. And 10 of the 12 tribes
go north under Jeroboam, and two of the tribes, Judah
and Benjamin, under Rehoboam. It is a civil war. And they really don't
recover from it. The Northern Kingdom,
under Jeroboam, as you have just read,
gets involved in idolatry for the next-- get
this-- 200 years, until they are taken captive
in 722 BC by the Assyrians. That's Jeroboam. The question is, why? What causes Jeroboam,
this Israelite, this one of the tribes
of God's people, what causes him to get
involved in idolatry, this great, heinous sin? It's because he
made four mistakes. And I want you to see them. First mistake he made is
he feared losing power. Look at Verse 26, "Jeroboam
said in his heart, 'Now the Kingdom may return
to the House of David. If these people go
to offer sacrifices in the House of the
Lord to Jerusalem, then the heart of this
people will turn back to their Lord Rehoboam,
the King of Judah. And they will kill me
and go back to Rehoboam, the King of Judah.'" This guy has a lust for
power, and it's always seen as a weakness, never a
strength-- a lust for power. Walter Youngquist noted that
of all the human attributes responsible for more misery,
death, hopelessness, war, and starvation than
anything else in the world, one is the lust
for personal power. And Jeroboam is an
insecure leader. He goes into panic mode. Oh, no, when they're
down in Jerusalem worshipping at the
temple, their hearts are going to be drawn back
to Rehoboam in the Southern Kingdom and I'm going
to lose my Kingdom. Whenever you're afraid
of losing power, you have forgotten
that it was God who gave it to you to begin with. And he has forgotten that. Power comes from the Lord. Your sphere of power, your
sphere of impact and influence, is all given to you by God. Romans 13, Verse 1, "There is
no authority except from God." Psalm 62:11, "Power
belongs to God." Remember that dream
that Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon,
had when Daniel came into interpretive form,
that wild image that he saw? Daniel said, when he
interpreted that dream, he said, "God changes the
times and the seasons. He removes and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the
wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding." And because that's true,
you know what that means? It means you never really had
any power to begin with, none. The power you have
is delegated power. The authority you have
is assigned authority. And it's been delegated
and assigned by God. But power intoxicates
men and women. When somebody is drunk with
alcohol, he can recover. When somebody is drunk on
power, they seldom recover. It grips a person until
death, fear of losing power. Now associated with that
fear of losing power is the fear of losing
control, the power to control situations. According to Psychology Today,
the fear of losing control is one of the most prevalent
fears that people have. This is the fear, that
if you don't manage to control the outcome
of future events, something terrible will happen. And this article said,
the key to overcoming this is to let go of the
demand for certainty. Easier said than done--
the demand for certainty. Our culture even
has a designation of controlling people. What do we call them? Control freaks. Says, she's a control freak. He's a control freak. Have you seen that commercial,
National Car Rental commercial, where the guy's walking
through the airport with this cup of coffee, very
staid and very controlled. And he's walking through,
and he says to the camera, I've been called
a control freak. But I like to think of myself
more of as a controlled enthusiast. Jeroboam was a
control enthusiast. He liked to control situations. Here's the problem. There are so many things
that are out of your control. You might like to control
them, but you cannot. They're out of your control. There are some things
you can't control. There are some things
you can control. For example, you cannot control
the length of your life. But you can control
the depth of your life. You cannot control the weather,
but you can control the moral and spiritual atmosphere that
you allow yourself to have around you. You cannot control
another person's fault. You can control your reaction
in response to those faults. So here's the deal. Here's the best deal. You control the outlook and
let God control the outcome. How's that for a deal? Isn't that a good one? [APPLAUSE] You control your outlook. Lord, if this comes
or doesn't come, if this happens
or doesn't happen, I'm just going to
control my outlook. You control the outcome. But this King, he
feared losing power. That was his first mistake. Here's the second mistake. He failed trusting God. Go back to Verse 25, "Then
Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim. And he lived there. Also, he went out from
there and he built Penuai." Now most people read
this verse, skip over it. It looks insignificant. I suggest it's very
insightful, not insignificant. Jeroboam's first move as
the new King of the North is to fortify the cities
that control the caravan routes north and south. Why? According to CF Kyle,
Old Testament scholar, he said, it's to defend his
sovereignty over the North against hostile attacks. You say, what's wrong with that? That's what kings do. That's normal, kingly
procedure, have strong defenses. I would agree with you,
except what this really means for this
King, for Jeroboam, is that he has
failed to trust God. Why do I say that? Because God made this King
a very specific promise, which we haven't read yet. Before the event of him becoming
the King of the North, the 10 northern tribes, God personally
gives a message to him with a promise in it. And I want you to see it. Go back one chapter, Chapter 11. Look at Verse 35. This is God speaking to
Jeroboam by some means. God says to him, "But I
will take the Kingdom out of his son's hands-- that's
Rehoboam, son of Solomon-- and give it to you, 10 tribes." So God says, I'm going to give
it to you as my gift to you. "And to his son, I
will give one tribe." That's Judah-- later
on, becomes two tribes. "That my servant,
David, may always have a lamp before
me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen
for myself to put my name there. And so I will take you. And you shall reign over
all your heart desires. You shall be King over Israel. Then it shall be--
now watch this-- if you heed all that I command
you-- if you listen and you do what I say-- if
you walk in my ways, do what is right in my sight. Keep my statutes
and my commandments, as my servant David did. Then I will be with you and
build for you an enduring house as I built for David. And I will give Israel to you." How's that for a promise? How's that for a blank check? Hey, I'm God. And I'm giving you
a kingdom free. Here's the check. Go cash it. You know, it's funny. If you were to come
up to me and ask me to write you a check for
a million dollars, I'd do it. Your problem would be
when you go to the bank. I'd be happy to
write you a check. If you want one afterwards,
I'll write you a check. But you go to the bank, they're
going to laugh at that, and go, pft, there's nothing
to back it up. Insufficient funds, that's what
it'll read on the computer. Now I know people
who could write you a check for a
million dollars, and they have the money
and more in the bank. God gives to Jeroboam a
promise of an enduring kingdom. What was his failure? He didn't take it to the bank. He didn't cash the check. He didn't trust the
promise that God gave him. You can always tell
how mature or immature a Christian is by how they
treat the promises of God. Ask a person, what do
you do with God's promise in the Bible? And if their best answer is,
I underline it in yellow, you know you've got a problem. If their answer is, I
take them to the bank, then you know you've
got something. A fearful, nervous believer
filled with anxiety speaks volumes. They don't believe
the promises of God. A person who is calm, and
confident, that person also speaks volumes. I'm taking God's
promise to the bank. Psalm 20, David writes,
"Some trust in chariots, and some in horses,
but we will trust in the name of the
Lord, our God." Jeremiah 17, Verse 5, "Cursed
is the man who trusts in man and makes the flesh his
strength, whose heart departs from the Lord." Jeroboam's heart
departed from the Lord. And it is shown by his failure
to trust God's promise, which begs the question, if he failed
to trust God's promise, what did he trust in? That takes us to
his third mistake. He feared losing power. He failed trusting God. His third mistake, he
followed his own heart. Look at Verse 26, "Then
Jeroboam said-- what? In his? You've got your
Bible open, right? He said, "in his heart. Jeroboam said in his heart." Stop right there. Here's a guy mulling it
over in his own heart, in his own mind, thinking
about what he wants to do. It's all inward. So he said in his heart. Then go down to Verse
28, "Therefore the King asked advice." Before he made the two
calves, he's asking people. So he takes it out of his
head, out of the little heart. He's kind of
thinking what to do. Now he takes it and he asks
advice, not of the best people, because he makes
two golden calves. So he takes it out to them. Go down to Verse 33,
"So he made offerings on the altar, which
he had made at Bethel. On the 15th day of
the eighth month, in the month which
he had-- watch this-- devised in
his own heart." Listen, Jeroboam was doing
whatever felt good to him instead of what God
said was good for him. You see the difference? How many times have
you heard people say, well, you got to
follow your heart. You just got to do whatever
is in your heart to do. Can I just say,
that's bad advice. It's always bad advice. Why is it bad advice? Jeremiah 17:9
declares, "The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked who can know it." Doing what is in people's heart
has caused all of the problems in this world. Everybody feels
something different, does something different. There's clashes, and
wars, and, I want this, and the other person wants that. It just means a person
does what he wants to do. The human heart needs to be
steered by the divine will. My heart needs His head,
His headship, His direction. One of our favorite
verses of scripture, you probably memorize it
within the first month that you are a
believer, Proverbs Chapter 3, "Trust in the
Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your
own understanding. In all your ways
acknowledge Him. And He will direct your paths." Well, this is especially
true in the area of worship. Because effectively, Jeroboam
changed the whole system of worship for the
nation of Israel. And one of the most
insidious ideas in the world is that we can worship
God as we see fit. Because the only
worship God accepts is the worship that God directs. God has told us who he is. And God has told us how
he is to be responded to. And God has told us how
he is to be worshipped. That's why he said, "I
am the Lord, your God. No other Gods before me. No images, et cetera." He spelled it all out. The worship that God accepts is
the worship that God directs. So he made three
mistakes so far. He feared losing power. He failed trusting God. He followed his own heart. And he did a fourth, which
always must follow third. If you're already
doing the third, you're going to do the
fourth, and that is, he forsook God's word. That is, God laid out
how to be responded to, and he forsook it. He goes from divine revelation
to human imagination. He makes it all up. Notice, he changes
the object of worship. Verse 28, "Therefore
the King asked advice. Made two calves of gold,
and said to the people, 'it's too much for you
to go to Jerusalem.' Here are your Gods, O,
Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt." Does that sound familiar? Have you heard that before? You know what that
sounds like to me? Exodus 32, guy by
the name of Aaron. When Moses was up on Mount Sinai
getting the 10 Commandments and he comes down,
there's this golden calf. And Aaron said, "This is the
God, O, Israel that delivered you out of the land of Egypt." Same thing, does the same thing. He moves from worshipping
the invisible God, changes the object of
worship to two golden calves, one in the middle
of the country, and one in the north
of the country. Now here is always the
problem with making an image of any kind in worship of God. There is no image
that could ever be made that truly reflects the
personality and glory of God. Can't do it. Can't be done. As soon as you cast
some image to remind you of some capability,
or some attribute of God, it only shows you that
one, not the others. So why a calf? Why this? Well, in Egypt they had
worshiped Apis the bull, the calf God, which was
a symbol of strength. So when they did that in
Exodus, and they did it again, the idea of a calf is
that when you look at it, it would remind you of
splendor and strength. You say, well, what's
wrong with that? If when I look at
an image and I'm reminded of God's strength,
what's wrong with that? Here's what's wrong with it. It tells you nothing of God's
love, God's forgiveness, God's forbearance, God's acceptance. All the other moral attributes
are hidden by an image. So an image of any--
there's no artist alive that can capture God. So God just says, don't do it. Isaiah 40, "To whom
will you liken God?" It's a good question. What are you going
to like him to? "Or what likeness will
you compare to him?" Answer, none. So he changes the
object of worship. Notice also he changes
the place of worship. Verse 29, "He sets one up
in Bethel and one in Dan." So the middle of the
country way up north. Instead of going to
Jerusalem, the temple, there's two new worship places. Why does he do it? It's convenient, that's all. It's just easier. It's just easier. You don't have to make a
pilgrimage to Jerusalem. You can stay home right here,
which is interesting, you know. Instead of asking, is it right? He asked, is it easy? I'll do what's easy
instead of what's right. Well, Bethel is one
place I do understand, because Bethel had already a
rich spiritual history to it. Bethel was the place you will
remember when Jacob was running from his house, and
he laid down at night, and he slept, and he saw
this dream, this vision, of a ladder going up to
heaven, the angels of God coming down, and going back up. And he was so overtaken
by it, the next day, he names the place Bethel, which
means that the House of God. It's a great experience. So Jeroboam thinks,
instead of going to the house of God
down in Jerusalem, we have the house of God here. This is the original
Beth-el House of God. We have our own heritage. So it changes the object
and the place of worship. Notice also he changes
the means of worship. Verse 31, "He made shrines
on the high places, and he made priests from
every class of people who are not of the sons of Levi." Well, that's for saying
God's word, right? Because God's word said,
there's only one tribe where the priest come from,
and that's the tribe of Levi. But he goes, why? Why can't anybody be a priest? Why do you have to belong
to the tribe of Levi? Why can't anyone who feels led
to be a priest be a priest? Now the day he said,
anybody can be a priest, you got to know that he
made a lot of people happy, who were going, yeah, why should
the Levites have all the fun? Why did they get to hang out in
the tabernacle in the temple? Whenever you lower the standard
for those who lead worship, for those who do
ministry, for those who serve the Lord in any
capacity, when you lower the standard, you will have
all the unqualified ones pouring in. He changes the means of worship. And finally, he changes
the time of worship. Did you notice, Verse
32, "He ordained a feast-- watch this-- on the
15th day of the eighth month, like the feast
that was in Judah. And he offered
sacrifices on the altar, so he did a Bethel sacrificing
to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel, he
installed a priest of the high places
which he had made. So he made offerings
on the altar, which he had made at
Bethel on the 15th day of the eighth month
in the month which he devised in his own heart." Why did he do this? Well, he's competing with
the feast down south. The Feast of Tabernacles took
place exactly one month prior, the seventh month. So he goes, well, I'll
do the eighth month. Why? I feel led. It's in my heart. It's in my heart to do it. Now on the surface,
we go, what's wrong? One month is the same
as another month. Which is true, unless God
said, I want that month. So if God says, I want you
to get together in October, and you go, no, I'll
do it in November, you've just
disobeyed God, right? So if God says, meet every week
on the first day of the week to worship me, and you go,
no, Christmas and Easter is good enough, you've
just disobeyed God. He changed the times of worship. The only worship God accepts
is the worship God directs. Do you recall that Jesus
Christ said, God, the Father, is actually looking for a
certain kind of worshipper? Remember? He says, the Father is
seeking those who worship him in spirit and in truth. So he wants spirited
worshippers who put truth and the intensity
of their own spirit into it-- that's what it
means-- but also in truth. And the way we know truth is
by the revealed word of God. Jeroboam forsook the word of
God and followed his own heart. And one always
requires the other. There's a phrase in the Bible. If you read the Bible
at all very much, you've seen this phrase
about 80 times all together. It's the phrase,
"It is written." It's one of Jesus'
favorite phrases. When somebody comes to him,
or the devil attacks him with a temptation, he'll
say, "It is written. It is written-- 80
times, it is written." Now I can only think that when
God repeats something 80 times, it's pretty important to him. And why is that one
so important to him? He must believe that
what is written, what he has superintended
and preserved in this Book, that we ought to take
our cues from that for everything in life. And always loved Billy
Graham, as you know. I came to faith by
watching Billy Graham. One of Billy Graham's
most famous phrases in all of his sermons
is, the Bible says. He said that a lot. All of his great messages
and the Bible says, boom. And the Bible says--
and he'll quote it. And that's because there
was a time in his life where he struggled with
what the Bible says. And he was a young
man wondering, should I believe it all? Is it all God's
truth and God's word? And when he finally came through
that wrestling match, and said, I'm going to declare your word
as being truth, that's when he saw thousands of lives changed. Jeroboam made these
four mistakes. And it led the
nation to idolatry. Let me ask you a question. Do you think idolatry is just
an Old Testament problem? Certainly not. As I mentioned,
First John Chapter 5, last verse of that book,
John, in the New Testament, says, "Little children,
keep yourselves from idols." So the First Commandment,
"I am the Lord, your God. You will have no other Gods
besides me or before me." And John, "Little children,
keep yourselves from idols." Shows that it's a problem
in every generation. Well, what is it exactly? What does idolatry mean? That you have Skip bobble
head, is that idolatry? No, I don't think so. Idolatry means you place
something in the place of God. That's what it means. That's the easiest
way to think of it. Idolatry is letting
anyone or anything occupy the supreme
rightful place that only God should occupy as
the one in charge of your life. By the way, that can be inward,
doesn't have to be outward. You can want something. You may not have,
but you want it. You want a person,
you want an object. Listen to Paul in Colossians
Chapter 3, Verse 5. He said, "Put to
death your members which are on the Earth like
fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire-- listen
to this-- and covetousness, which is idolatry. Covetousness,
which is idolatry." If you want a person or a
thing more than you want God-- it could be a girlfriend. It could be a boyfriend. It could be the
approval of people. It could be a hobby. It could be a number of things. That can be idolatry. Always starts inwardly, but
it always grows outwardly. So I wanted to close
with two things. I want to ask you a
personal question. I want you to ask
yourself this question. Then I'm going to ask you
to make a personal choice-- personal question,
personal choice. Here's the personal question. What do you think
about in quiet moments? Mull that around. What do you think
about in quiet moments? What is your mind
naturally, when left alone, gravitate to
when you're all alone? Because your mind is
a lot like a compass. You can take a compass, and
jostle it around, and move it around, but when you
set it down on a desk, and you leave it to
settle, that needle always points true north,
one direction. And your mind can be occupied
by a number of things during the day, like
mine is, but when left to settle, what
direction does it point to? Because the Bible
says, in Proverbs 23, "As a man thinks in
his heart, so is he." That's who you are. What do you think
about in quiet moments? That's the personal question. Now for a personal choice. Jesus said, "No one
can serve two masters. He'll love one, and hate
the other, hold to one, and repudiate the other." No man can serve two masters. Which one will it be,
God, or something else? Joshua said to the
people, "Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me in my house,
we will serve the Lord." Some of you are thirsty. And I don't just
mean physical thirst, like, hurry up,
finish the sermon so I can get a drink of water. That may be true as well. But I'm talking about that
inward, nagging, unfulfilled vacuum that nothing or
no one, up to this point, has ever been able to
satisfy and quench. Some of you are thirsty. There is nothing or no
one who will satisfy you like the love of God, the
sweet love of the living God. Are there any rivals
in your heart? That's an idol. Is there a rival in your heart? That's why you're restless. Augustine said, "We
are restless, Lord, until we find our rest in Thee." If there's a rival
in your heart, that's what's causing
the restlessness. We opened up speaking
about American Idol. I suppose if there were
ever on American idol, the quintessential American
idol would be none other than Elvis Presley. I even had one person for a
service say, Amen, to that. I was like, OK, we
have an Elvis fan. Yeah, I'm Elvis. I'm the king. But do you know that Elvis
was interviewed by a reporter six weeks before he died? And the reporter said, Elvis,
when you began your career, you said there was three
things that you wanted in life. Number one, you
wanted to be rich. Then you said you
wanted to be famous. Then you said you wanted to be
happy, rich, famous, and happy. Elvis, are you happy? I know you're rich and
famous, are you happy? Without any hesitation he
said, no, I'm intensely lonely. The great Elvis Presley,
the American idol, intensely lonely, not happy. In fact, those who knew
him and were close to him would often say,
that's the attribute that stuck out the most. He seemed so lonely. Are there rivals in your heart? Anyone competing
for the love of God? Then choose this day
whom you will serve. Because no one can
serve two masters. Our Father, as we bring this
short little series to a close, we have considered those who
crashed and who have burned. They're living
examples to us, people who have really lived on
this Earth, of mistakes made, choices made. And we learn from
those mistakes. We learn, by looking at
those who have fallen, we learn how to fly. We have seen different reasons
for the crash and burn, but here we've discovered a man
who not only did so, but caused a nation to do so, brought
down a nation because of it. And we think of those
who have brought down corporations, or
families, or marriages by making mistakes. And we think, when it
really comes down to it, it's because there
is a rival that occupies the throne of the
heart that must be pushed off. And you must be allowed
to be who you are. The incomparable living
God, living in us, calling the shots,
where we don't follow the dictates
of our own heart, but we follow the
dictates of Your word perfectly preserved,
totally inerrant, absolutely authoritative
for human life. Every word of God is pure. And we want to live by
what the Bible says, by what You have said. I just pray for those
who have gathered who are thirsty deep
inside their soul, and they want that to end. That's the best news. It can end. And it can end in this life. It can end by a
choice that we make to let You be You in our lives,
the Lord, the Master, The King. We think of the promise
you gave Jeroboam. Jeroboam, if you only heed
me, if you only listen to me, I'll do this for you. And we think of the promise
made to us, "If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink." I pray that some would. As our eyes are closed, and
we're thinking about us, we're thinking about
what we have heard. We're evaluating who we
are, where we're going. My prayer is that
you will consider the repeated offers
made in scripture to you and I from the Divine to the
human condition, the promise to change, the promise to have
new light, new life, new hope, forgiveness of sin. And I pray that you
would choose, this day, Christ as savior and Lord. Some of you, for the very first
time, you have come to church. You've been religious. You have a spiritual
side to you. But you've never said personally
yes to Jesus Christ as Master, and Savior, and
Lord of your life. Others of you maybe
remember something that happened in your past, at
an event, a concert, a crusade, a church service, where
you felt something, and you maybe even
did something. But today, right
now, as it stands, you're not following Christ. So you need to come back to Him. So whether it's
for the first time, or you need to come back
home to him, if you're willing to receive him, and
commit your life to Him, I'd love the opportunity
to pray for you. But I need to know
who I'm praying for. So as our heads are bowed,
I'd like you to just raise your hand up
in the air if you're willing to give
your life to Christ, and end the fight with God, and
the thirst that's in your soul. Raise it up, so I can see. God bless you and you. Right up here toward the front
in the middle to my left. Just raise that hand up. Right there, in the middle. A couple of you right
here on the right. Anyone else? Raise your hand up, please. Right there, awesome. Awesome. Anyone else? Right there, yes, thank you. Thank you. God bless you in the back. I see your hand. And over here to my left. If you're in the family room,
I can see through the glass. Just raise your hand up. Say yes to Him. Awesome. Even in the balcony,
just raise that hand up. Sat yes to Him. Father, we thank you for all
these hands that have gone up. Thank you for these
lives that You have touched by the
revelation of your word and the power of
the Holy Spirit. Only You can do that. Only You can do that. These hands going up
it is a work of God, because it's a
decision that is being made to say yes to the
Lord of this universe and the King of hearts. I pray for each one. I pray, Lord, that you would
just give them that settled, peaceful feeling
that this is right, and this begins a whole new
journey in their future. I pray you would
change their lives. I pray you would
fill them with hope. Our prayer for them, Lord,
is they would grow in grace, grow in knowledge of you,
that their view of God would be ever-expanding. They would become calm and
confident believers, those who trust in Your promises. Strengthen their lives. Strengthen their
families in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you please stand? We're going to sing
our final song. And as we do, I'm going
to ask those of you who raised your hands to
find the nearest aisle and come walk up to the front
and stand up here where I'm going to lead you in a prayer. Jesus called people publicly. And you're going to find a great
show of support when you say, yes, and you come,
and you stand up here. I want to lead you in that
prayer to receive Christ. And I'm going to ask
you to do it publicly like Jesus called people. And you're going to find,
again, a lot of support, a round of applause,
as you say yes to Him. We're going to cheer you on. [APPLAUSE] [SINGING] I've decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. Don't turn back. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. [APPLAUSE] I'm so glad that
you're coming forward. And I would just hope that it
wouldn't end with just a raised hand, and then you're out the
door, but that you would come. You'd kind of step out of the
shadows and into the light and, say, this is the day I
gave my life to Jesus Christ. Some of you might be kind of
waiting around thinking, well, how do I know this real? I've seen this stuff before. I'll tell you one
thing, you'll never know if it's real by
just doing nothing. Take Jesus at his word. See if he's not the Lord,
and the King, of the world, and the King of the universe. And see if he can't change
your heart, your life. Try him. Test and see. Give your life to Christ. I've seen so many people
kind of wondering about it. And then they've had their lives
dramatically changed by God. Be one of those people. So as we sing this through one
more time, God is calling you. Respond to it. This is a holy moment. You respond to it. You say yes. You come out from
where you're standing, and you join those
who are up here. [SINGING] I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. Those of you who have
walked forward, I am so glad to see each
and every one of you guys. This is better, right? No we're just way up here. So I'm going to lead
you in a prayer. And I'm going to ask you to say
this prayer out loud after me from your heart. And you say this
to the Lord, OK. Let's pray. Say, Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I trust him with my life. I believe Jesus died
on a cross, that he shed his blood for my sin,
and that he rose again from the dead. I believe he is alive today. I turn from my sin. I repent of it. I turn to Jesus as my
Lord and my Master. It's in his name I pray. Amen. [APPLAUSE] Amen and congratulations. Jeroboam took steps that led
him down a destructive path. But we can learn
from his mistakes. Did this message
strengthen your own resolve to diligently follow Christ? We want to know. Email mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder, you can
give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/give. Thank you for joining us
for this teaching from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque.
