II CHRONICLES

It has been a while since I have written.  I have been in Hammond, IN at Pastor's School, with Dr. Jack Schaap.  What a wonderful week it was.  When I go back East, I am getting up two hours earlier than normal and then early to make the activities, so I start dragging without some rest.  It is not a restful week, but a spiritually active week.  Preaching and teaching and Christian fellowship all week long.  What a blessing!  I'm in II Chronicles and here are some thoughts: 1) THEN HEAR.... & THEN WILL I HEAR....   In II Chron. 6, Solomon asks God to hear from Heaven when His people stray and then call upon His name again.  He describes seven different scenarios where they could possibly stray from the LORD and if they will return to the LORD and humble themselves then Solomon asks God to "Then hear thou from the heavens..."  (seven times in chapter 6)  In Chapter seven, God says once that if they depart, but will humble themselves and seek His face, "Then will I hear from heaven..."  (II Chron. 7:14, also called the recipe for revival!)  Solomon bargains with God and God accepts his offer. 2) GOLD- Almost everything in the temple was overlaid with gold!  Chapter three describes the temple and how everything was either overlaid with gold or made of solid gold.  In chapter 9:13, we see that Solomon had brought to him 666 talents of gold per year.  Now a talent is 160 pounds, so you can see that this is a lot of gold for such a precious metal.  In fact in chapter 9:20 it says:  "none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon."  In other words, silver just wasn't that important when there was so much gold!  Read chapter three slowly and realize how wonderful this temple really was.  I was 30 x 90 feet with the holy of holies being 30x30 and two angels were in the holies with a wing span of 15 feet each and their wings met in the middle of the room and underneath is where the ark of the covenant was set.  The entrance of the temple had a tall tower that was 30x30 and 180 feet tall, and.... it too was overlaid with gold!!  What a sight it must have been.  All over there was detail seen and carved all over the gold. 3) BE STRONG- II Chron 25: 8 says to be "strong for the battle"  A prophet was telling this to Amaziah the king of Judah.  He had hired Israel to fight with him, and God said through the prophet that you don't need Israel, for "God hath power to help, and to cast down."  Now he  had already paid them and the question comes up, "But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?"  Then God answers: "The LORD is able to give thee much more than this."  What are your losses today??  The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.... just be strong for the battle today!! May God bless you and enjoy Sunday tomorrow!  Good to be home!  Pastor Mike Mutchler