A CHURCH THAT PURSUES GOD
Text: 2 Chronicles 15:1-15
1 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
5 And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.
6 And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.
7 Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.
8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord.
9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
11 And they offered unto the Lord the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
13 That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
14 And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.
1 Chr 22:19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God;
Deu 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
1. Expel Idolatry (v. 8)
Idolatry is putting or placing someone or something at a higher
We cannot pursue God when we are in fact pursuing and finding fulfillment and substitute satisfaction in something or someone other than God.
For Judah to pursue God, the idolatry had to be expelled from the land.
- As Christians, does this not make sense to us? Yes. It makes perfect sense.
- The problem with many Christians today is we don’t recognize idolatry the way God does. We see idols externally, but we’re often blinded to the idolatry that is in the heart.
2. Renew The Altar Of The Lord (vv. 8-11)
Asa restored the place of sacrifice and worship. He renewed the altar and the corporate worship of God restored.
If we’re going to experience intimacy and closeness with God in our personal lives, then we must renew and/or find our place at the altar, not the brazen altar, but the altar of the person of Jesus. (cf. Heb. 13:10)
Worship is at the heart of
3. Seek The Lord (vv. 12, 15)
- Seeking God is not a physical journey. It is a spiritual journey.
Although there are physical places where we can meet with God (e.g. church service, family altar, etc.), it is not the physical location that allows us contact with God or to find God. It is the revelation of Himself to us that allows us to find Him.
How do we seek God?
Asa and the people sought after God with all their heart, soul, and desire. Each of these speaks of the soul - heart, mind, will.
vs. 15 - The people “sought Him with their whole desire; and He was found of them.”