aug 3-9 manasseh

Our LessonOur Lesson

This week’s lesson is taken from

Max Lucado’sDevotional Bible

Raising ChildrenRaising Children

Situation: Because God loved Hezekiah, he healed him.

Hezekiah prayed, God healed, and the king lived. His son,

Manasseh, became the next king and led Israel into sin.


Observation: What a contrast! Hezekiah obeyed God and did

what was right. His son Manasseh, however, made

idolatry and defection from God a mark of his reign; and Hezekiah's

grandson Amon followed in Manasseh's wicked footsteps.


Inspiration: As a general rule, parents who follow

biblical principles in bringing up their children will see a

positive effect on the character of their children.


From a purely statistical point of view, children who grow up in

Christ-honoring homes are more likely to remain faithful to Christ in adulthood than kids

growing up in homes where the parents dishonor the Lord.


The truism of Proverbs 22:6 does apply. We're certainly not to think that God's sovereignty in salvation means the way we raise our kids

is immaterial. God often uses faithful parents as instruments in

the salvation of children.


Ultimately, however, your children's salvation is a matter

to be settled between them and God. Nothing you can do will

guarantee your kids' salvation.


To that end you should be praying to God and instructing your child—using all available means to impress the truths of the gospel perpetually on the

child's heart.


But ultimately a grown child's spiritual fitness

alone is not necessarily a reliable gauge of the parents' success.


Having said that, I want to stress that sometimes—I

should say often—parents are partly to

blame for their way-ward children's rebellion.


And it has been my observation over the years that parents are

generally more to blame for wayward kids than society, or

peers, or any of the other influences parents tend to

blame.


I occasionally encounter parents who have violated nearly every

biblical principle of parenting, who nonetheless come to the pastor seeking some kind of absolution from the responsibility for their

children's defiance.


They want verbal assurance that they are in no way to

blame; someone else is. Yet God Himself has given the

responsibility for raising children to parents.


Not to schoolteachers, peers, childcare workers, or other people outside the family—and therefore

it is wrong for parents to attempt to unload that responsibility or shift the blame when things go wrong.

(From Successful Christian Parenting by John MacArthur)


Application: If you are a parent, how would you evaluate your parenting skills? Study God's

rules of parenting. Take responsibility for raising your

children to honor and love God.

Raising ChildrenRaising ChildrenExploration: Raising Children

Deuteronomy 4:9 NET Again, however, pay very careful attention, lest you

forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of

your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren.


Proverbs 22:6 NET Train a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old he will not turn

from it.Ephesians 6:1 NET Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this

is right.

Raising ChildrenRaising Children2 "Honor your father and mother,"

which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely, 3

"that it may go well with you and that you will live a long time on the earth." 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but raise them up in

the discipline and instruction of the Lord.


Adam & Eve’s son Cain was the first murderer.

Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu did something so bad A fire flashed from the LORD and

burned them, and they died in the presence of the LORD.


Priest and Judge Eli’s sons are evil and The Lord causes them

to die.Samuel’s sons were evil also.

The people did not want Samuel’s sons to take his place

in leading them.


King David, a man after God’s own heart, had sons that did evil.

In our reading this week we found out King Hezekiah’s son

Manasseh led Judah to commit terrible sins against The Lord. In his case Proverbs 22:6 rings true.

The Lord Will Accept The Lord Will Accept RepentanceRepentance

Situation: Hezekiahs son Manasseh succeeded him. Manasseh worshiped false gods as his ancestors had done. But God caused him

to turn from his sin.


Observation: It was out of his great need that

Manasseh turned to God. The Lord hears our

prayers and shows great mercy.


Inspiration: You know the story of Peter, the first sailor. Let me tell you about the second,

whose name was John.


He had served on the seas since he was eleven years old, His

father, an English shipmaster in the Mediterranean, took him

aboard and trained him well for a life in the Royal Navy.


Yet what John gained in experience, he lacked in discipline. He mocked authority. Ran with the

wrong crowd. Indulged in the sinful ways of a sailor.


Although his training would have qualified him to serve as an officer, his behavior caused him to

be flogged and demoted.


In his early twenties, he made his way to Africa, where he became intrigued with the lucrative slave

trade.At age twenty-one, he made his living on the Greyhound, a slave ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean.


John ridiculed the moral and poked fun at the religious. He even made jokes about

a book that would eventually help reshape his life: The Imitation of Christ.


In fact, he was degrading that book a few hours before his ship sailed

into an angry storm.That night the waves pummeled the

Greyhound, spinning the ship one minute on the top of a wave.

Plunging her the next into a watery valley.


John awakened to find his cabin filled with water. A side of the Greyhound

had collapsed. Ordinarily such damage would have sent a ship to the

bottom in a matter of minutes. The Greyhound, however, was carrying buoyant cargo and remained afloat.


John worked at the pumps all night. For nine hours, he

and the other sailors struggled to keep the ship from sinking, But he knew that it was a losing cause.


Finally, when his hopes were more battered than the vessel,

he threw himself on the saltwater-soaked deck and

pleaded, "If this will not do, then Lord have mercy on us all.”


John didn't deserve mercy, but he received it. The Greyhound and

her crew survived. John never forgot God's mercy

shown on that tempestuous day in the roaring Atlantic. He returned to

England where he became a ' prolific composer.


Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me!I once was lost,

but now am found,was blind, but now I see.


T’was grace that taught my heart to fear, and

grace my fears relievedHow precious did that

grace appear, the hour I first believed


Thro’ many dangers, toils, and snares, I have

already come‘Tis grace hath brought

me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home


When we’ve been there ten thousand years,

bright shining as the sunWe’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than

when we first begun.


This slave-trader-turned-songwriter was John Newton.

Along with his hymn writing, he also became a powerful pulpiteer. For nearly fifty years, he filled pulpits and churches with the story of the Savior who meets you and me in the storm. (From In the Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado)


Application: Take the troubles you face today—disease,

alcohol, kids in trouble, cash flow—and wrap them in a

prayer: "Lord, have mercy, and teach me to see your way

through the storm."


Exploration: God Hears UsPsalms 18:6 NET In my distress I

called to the Lord; I cried out to my God. From his

heavenly temple he heard my voice; he listened to my

cry for help.


Isaiah 41:10 NET Don’t be afraid, for I am with you! Don't be

frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you — yes, I help you — yes, I uphold you with

my saving right hand!


Hebrews 13:6 NET So we can say with confidence,

"The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?"


King Manasseh was so terrible he covered the city in blood. He

also erected idols for the people to worship. This cuts to

the heart of the greatest command. Love the Lord your God with everything you have.


2 Kings 21:16 NET Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with

their blood from end to end, in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the

LORD.


2 Chronicles 33:11 NET So the LORD brought against them the

commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They seized

Manasseh, put hooks in his nose, bound him with bronze chains,

and carried him away to Babylon.


12 In his pain Manasseh asked the LORD his God for mercy and truly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. 13 When he prayed

to the LORD, the LORD responded to him and answered

favorably his cry for mercy.


The LORD brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then

Manasseh realized that the LORD is the true God.

The Bible says Manasseh spent time undoing all the bad he had done such as tearing down the idols he had put up to worship.


Acts 17:30 NET Therefore, although God has

overlooked such times of ignorance, he now

commands all people everywhere to repent,


Are we in need of repentance, turning back to God in some area of our lives? God wants us to Repent and confess

our sins to Him.


1 John 1:9 NET But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins

and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.


If The Lord can forgive such a sinful man as King Manasseh

He will surely forgive each of us if we truly humble ourselves

and confess our sins to Him in Repentance.

aug 3-9 manasseh

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