Seize the Moment – Day 860

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25
Jul '22

Seize the Moment – Day 860

Posted on Jul 25, 2022 by Jerry Ingalls in General |

25
Jul '22

The Danger of Division!

2 Kings 15

 

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, July 25.

 

History teaches us that one of the clearest signs of a nation on the way to destruction is internal division. As Jesus taught us in Matthew 12:25, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand.” When people see one another as the enemy, whether in a marriage, a church, or in a nation, the stage has been set for evil to get a foothold to divide and conquer. There is a grave danger in division! In 2 Kings 15:19-20, events have escalated toward the destruction of the northern ten tribes of Israel at the hands of the Assyrian Empire:

 

Pul, king of Assyria, came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver so that his hand might be with him to strengthen the kingdom under his rule. Then Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even from all the mighty men of wealth, from each man fifty shekels of silver to pay the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned and did not remain there in the land.

 

The Assyrian Empire gained a foothold in Israel. What lead up to this was decades of political instability and social unrest. Over a twenty-five-year span, there were six kings in Israel, many of which were murdered by the person who took over the throne. Evil was looking for an opportunity and it was the wickedness of the kings that allowed Israel to be easy pickings to the Assyrian Empire. Heartbreakingly in 734 BC, during the reign of the last king of Israel, 2 Kings 15:29 records the first deportation of the Israelites,
 
“In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria.”

 

Seize the moment and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-40), remembering that there is only one enemy and it’s not your neighbor; it’s Satan who seeks to divide and conquer through our divisions.

God bless you!
 
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YOUTUBE:

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