Overcoming your raising.

• II Kings 21:1-6, 9, 16 – The evil of Manasseh.
• Manasseh ➡ Amon ➡ Josiah
• II Kings 21:19-22 – The evil rule of Amon.
• Maybe you had a lot of bad examples growing up. Whatever your childhood was like, God calls you to holy living.
• Ephesians 3:16-19
• II Chronicles 28:3 – Hezekiah’s father Ahaz sacrificed some of Hezekiah’s brothers to idols!
• I can overcome and make the right choices today!
• II Kings 19:14; 20:2-3 – Hezekiah prayed when he was in distress. He had a Father in heaven who loved him!

You might as well start right now!

• II Chronicles 34:1-4, 8
• John 12:42
• Acts 24:25
• If there’s something that needs improving in your life, what are you waiting for?

Dust off the book.

• II Chronicles 34:8-11, 14-21, 29-31
• II Chronicles 34:27-28 – God showed mercy on Josiah because of his humble heart.
• Galatians 5:19

Be nice to someone undeserving

• Why is this a challenge?
  • We don’t want to be taken advantage of or hurt.
  • Can’t get over past events
  • Think about how we’ve been hurt before
  • See them hurting someone else
  • See someone we love being hurt by them
  • Someone we love being used in a way to hurt us
  • Rationalize that we can just be indifferent
  • They may justify our kindness as approval for their actions
• How do we overcome this?
• Examples
  • Saul appointed king (I Samuel 10:27), David overthrown by Absalom (II Samuel 19:22)
    • Chosen leaders by God. Men stood against them.
    • They were humble and didn’t strike them down.
  • Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he married a Cushite woman (Numbers 12)
    • Numbers 12:3
• Romans 12:9-19

Let someone else decide

• Submitting to someone, putting others first, being at peace with all men
• What are some other ways we can view this as being Christ like?
• What about when our decision is the best decision?
  • Colossians 1:17
• Extremely challenging because it requires us to fully put our trust in others.
  • Ephesians 5:21; I Corinthians 13:5; Romans 12:18
• What problems can result in the local church when we don’t humble ourselves in this?
• Outside of the church?
• Mark 10:42-45

Refuse to complain

• Everyone has a voice. We have an American right to that voice. We can use that voice to complain.
  • Put our complaints in perspective first.
• Complaint = offended
  • James 1:2-3

Psalms 8:1

• “O LORD, our Lord” – The word LORD is used in place of God’s actual name, Yahweh (YHWH). Jews traditionally avoided saying the name YHWH, substituting the word “Adonai” (Lord) instead.
• Exodus 6:2-3
• Isaiah 42:5, 8

Psalms 8:2

• Matthew 21:9, 14, 16 – Even the children could see that there was something special about Jesus!

Psalms 8:3

• Psalm 19
• Just looking up at the stars shows the power of God!

Psalms 8:4

• Isaiah 40:22-28 – God has absolute power!

Psalms 8:5-8

• Genesis 1:26-27
• Hebrews 2:5-9 – This may be referring to Adam’s curse in Genesis 3. It is also referring to Jesus.
• I Corinthians 15:23

Psalms 8:9

• The psalm ends in the same way it began.

• Romans 12:11 – Serving God is an active lifestyle.
• Romans 12:13 – Hospitality in those days was more the idea of having someone in your home that needed a place to stay.
• Romans 12:14 – We should continue to speak well of people who are persecuting us and remember them in prayer to God. God requires us to love even our enemies.
• Romans 12:15 – We share in both rejoicing and weeping because we love each other. Jealousy could make it easier to weep when others suffer, so we must be careful.
• Romans 12:16 – We are all children of God. We should not see ourselves as being above others.
• Romans 12:17 – It can take a lot of control to not repay evil for evil. If you don’t stop the cycle, evil just continues.
• Romans 12:18 – Strife should not start with us.
• Romans 12:19 – We must leave it to God to punish in the perfect way.
• Romans 12:20 – See Proverbs 25:21. Treating your enemy well could be like throwing cold water in his face – an embarrassment and a wake-up call.
• Romans 12:21 – This is a good summary of the preceding verses.
• Romans 13:1 – In what sense does God establish governments? See John 19:10-11. God clearly doesn’t approve of every leader just because they hold a leadership position. God approves of governments existing in a general sense.
• Romans 13:2 – Resisting authority = resisting God. See Titus 3:1; I Peter 2:13-17. It is okay to resist government when it contradicts God. See Acts 4:18; 5:8, 42.
• Romans 13:3-4 – God authorizes capital punishment for governments – they “do not bear the sword in vain.” The New Covenant does not have the idea of the “avenger of blood.” Now the civil government has that role. See Genesis 9:6.
• Romans 13:5-7 – There are two reasons to be in subjection to the government – fear of punishment and our own conscience. We are commanded to pay taxes regardless of how the government is using them. The Roman government used tax money to persecute Christians, yet Christians were still instructed to pay the taxes.