Southwest Ohio Reformed Presbyterian

1. Poor prophet's wives & God's mercy (vs 1-7) a. Decrepit estates b. God's dynamism2. Elisha's motel turns into a family miracle (vs 8-37) a. A simple Shunamite's piety & love b. The love of God, doubly conceived c. Elisha prefigures Christ & his love for us

A. Exuberant Worship (Psa. 96:1-3B. Exclusive Worship (Psa. 96:4-6)C. Expressive Worship (Psa. 96:7-10)D. Ecstatic Worship (Psa. 96:11-13)

1. A story of a confusing alliance2. A story of a confusing blessing3. A story of Jehoshaphat's good testimony in the confusion4. A story of Elisha's pure witness to Jehoram amidst confusion5. How this illustrates being in the world but not of it

1. To get humanity's attention2. To point to Christ Jesus, our heavenly transport3. To display his bald sovereign power in the sinful world4. To show He had everything in control5. To encourage us, His people, to hope in Him

1. Elect prayer and not losing heart. Vs. 12. Secular judges and pathetic widows. Vs. 2-33. A secular judge compared to the holy God. Vs. 6-74. Election, faith and the Son of God. Vs. 8b5. Do we believe this, or not?

1. 1 & 2 Kings details God's contest between good & evil2. Ahaziah's dubious fall3. Angels & prophets & God4. The power contest begins5. God's power brings Ahaziah's captain to his knees6. God's Word reaches Ahaziah & he's slain

1. 1 Kings 16:34 historical reference to Jericho2. Joshua 6:26's unexplained prophecy regarding Jericho3. Joshua 1-6 and the symbolic role of Jericho4. Ahab's corrupt madness in ruining Israel5. Hiel of Bethel & his sons collision with Jehovah6. Application: the KOG, people today & Jesus/Jericho

1. Ahab's ancestors & antecedents2. His degrees of evil3. Jeroboam's line hardened & apostatized through Ahab

1. Crisis/coincidence of text & time (22:39-51)2. Crisis/coincidence of two kids and two theological systems3. Crisis/coincidence of two consequences: clarity or obscurity

1. Confronted in the midst of his evil (21:17ff)2. Confronted by God's clear condemnation (21:19)3. Confronted by a most authoritative emissary (21:20)4. Confronted by unqualified condemnation (21:21, 25)5. Yet wins respite by his sincere repentance (21:29)

1. God detains a story where none of the parties are elect2. Yet God uses both Ben Hadad and Ahab for His purposes3. God gives Ben Hadad over to creed, then 'blesses' Ahab temporarily - despite their common wickedness4. In the midst of this confusion, God speaks His Word 'clearly' to witness to Ahab - who He will not save5. God commands us to walk faithfully before Him, despite our lack of clear knowledge of His elaborate will

1. Rebuilding the ruined altar (18:30)2. Counter-intuitive measures/effective sacrifice (18:32)3. Prayer for divine display of clarity/identity (18:36)4. The altar consumed (18:38)5. Prophetic application: Baal prophets slaughtered (18:40)6. Window into the wrath poured out on Calvary

1. An old prophet abiding in a wicked culture2. The old prophet's infidelity3. Confusing an old prophet with the Word of God4. The old prophet's repentance & Jeroboam's ruin5. Comparison to Rome's errors & Jesus' temptation

1. God's Word is always sovereign and powerful2. Such power is always available, but not usually displayed3. The wicked are effectively ignorant of this power4.God sometimes delights in tying His power to His Word so that mankind will be better forewarned about it

1. Chaos has ambition (11:26)2. Chaos has worldly gifts (11:28)3. Chaos lacks discernment/discretion (11:38)4. So it is with all humanistic/autonomous men5. Solo (11:9ff)

1. Foreign/alien women (11:1)2. Intermarriage, infidelity, interdependency3. Love after a fashion (11:2)4. Solomon apostatized (11:4, 5, 6, 7, 8)5. Solomon confronted (11:9ff)