The Blessing of God — Jim Cymbala

The Blessing of God and the Story of Amaziah

I want you to listen real close, because this could be an absolute life changer for you. It comes from the Word of God. Of course, all preaching must be founded in the Word of God. What I'm about to talk to you about is really important.

How many want the blessing of God not only on your life, but to remain on your life? Just lift your hand, all right? How many believe there's such an invisible thing called the blessing of God, right?

All right. The king we're gonna talk about was a king named Amaziah, who was the king of the southern kingdom called Judah, reigning in Jerusalem. Those were the good guys, in terms of the division of the 12 tribes of Israel.

The northern kingdom, which was called Israel, was bad from the get-go. They made up their own religion, had idolatry mixed into it, never had one decent king, while in the southern kingdom, there were some good kings, godly kings, and some bad kings, too.

Listen about Amaziah as he takes over the throne at the age of, I think, 25. Let's look. Amaziah was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 29, so that means he died at 54. His mother's name was Jehoadam.

She was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly. One translation has, he did it reluctantly. He wasn't totally all out to do God's will. Let's read. Amaziah called the people of Judah together because they were gonna go to war against the Edomites, and he assigned them, according to their families, to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin.

Those are the two tribes that he was reigning over. He then mustered those 20 years old or more and found that there were 300 ,000 men, 300 ,000. Everybody say 300 ,000. 300 ,000. Foot for military service, able to handle the spear and the shield.

He also hired 100 ,000 fighting men from Israel for 100 talents of silver. One translation has two tons of silver. But a man of God came to him and said, your majesty, these troops from Israel, the northern kingdom that was idolatrous, they must not march with you, for the Lord is not with Israel, not with any of the people of Ephraim, another name for Israel.

Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow. Amaziah asked the man of God, but what about the 100 talents I paid for these Israelite troops?

They're ready to go to battle. He just laid out two tons of silver. The man of God replied, the Lord can give you much more than that. So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home.

They were furious with Judah, with the king, and left for home in a great rage. Later on, after a great victory over the Edomites, when Amaziah returned from slaughtering, you know what, the Bible has to be so accurate because who could make this stuff up?

It tells the truth about these kings and about the foibles and frailties they had. He brought back, after slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir, which was the Edomites.

He just beat them up, and now he gets their gods, and he set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them, and burned sacrifices to them. The anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him who said, why do you consult this people's gods, which could not save their own people from your hand?

And while he was still speaking, this is where it gets serious, the king said to him, have we appointed you an advisor to the king? Stop, why be struck down, why get killed? So the prophet stopped but said, I know that God is determined to destroy you because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.

And then it goes on to tell us that, you know how he got further in trouble? He went to war later on because of this victory, he got all puffed up, and he went to war against Israel, and the wicked king of Israel, the northern kingdom, said to him, you just challenged me that we should go to war with each other.

Why do that? You're just gonna get hurt. But he wouldn't listen. God was speaking through his enemy, he still wouldn't listen. And he not only got defeated, that king of the northern kingdom came to Jerusalem and stripped the temple of all the silver and gold.

And later on, Amaziah died a ignoble death. What are the lessons for us here? We live a long, long, long way, centuries and centuries, away from King Amaziah. We're not kings, we're not going to war, we're not fighting, but what's the truth?

And there's a New Testament passage or two I'll reflect upon with you. So here's this king, and he has good math skills. He's gonna go battle against the Edomites. He's got 300 ,000 troops of his own.

So he says, well, wait a minute. What's better, 300 ,000 or 400 ,000? I'm gonna hire 100 ,000 mercenaries from the northern kingdom. Big deal, they're idolaters, and they turn their back on God. But 400 is more than 300 ,000, and might makes right, and if you wanna win, you go in fully prepared.

Wrong. He hires these guys, they're about to go to battle, these mercenaries with him, and a man of God. What courage that man of God had. Imagine the kind of courage you have to have to be a real man or woman of God.

Imagine how few of them there would be, maybe in the earth today, when most preaching is to tell people what they wanna hear, rather than what we need to hear. How many wanna hear what we need to hear today?

But in a lot of places, they draw attendance, it's pastor as life coach, just tell people kind of platitudes, never confront them with anything that they might have to change in their lives. Very disturbing trend.

This man of God, though, he had the chutzpah to walk up to the king and go, you better not go to battle with these 100 ,000. Well, why not? Because God is not with them. God is with you. You don't need them.

In fact, if you fight with them, you'll lose. That's how much God is against those people. You see, the blessing of God is not on everybody. The anger of God is on certain people, the Bible tells us. Turn their back, hate God, fight against God.

It's in our culture, forces that are just mock Jesus, mock God, mock everything about God. But he says, wait a minute, I'm going to battle, I need troops, who cares where they come from? He said, God cares where they come from.

Don't make an alliance with these people or you're going to lose. Even if you fight courageously and even though God is with you, you will lose. Is that not a staggering thought? By having more, you'll have less.

Less is more and more is less. Get rid of them. And the king says, I'll get rid of them. Then what am I going to do with the, I paid for them. Two tons of silver. How about the two tons of silver I'm out?

He said, God can give you much more. Lose the money. Write it off. Boys, God's ways are not our ways. Write it off. He can give you much more. He sends them away and they get madder than a hornet and they leave and they're fighting and they're furious and they're mad.

Who is this king to send us home? Hey, but you got paid. I don't care, we wanted to fight. And they go home and they're angry and they messed up some of the towns they went through. What's that lesson for us today?

Christian Alliances and the Warning of Scripture

The Bible says in the New Testament that it's very, very vital who we run with. Who's your posse? Who you form alliances with. Look, we gotta work in secular companies. We gotta ride on subways that the conductor might be the most ungodly person in the world.

We're in this world, we can't avoid all of that. But when it comes to making alliances and having close relationships and forming our little posses that we have, you gotta be very careful. Look what the New Testament says in 2 Corinthians.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers, for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common or what fellowship can light have with darkness? Who you marry, who you hang with, who you go into business with, who you form close relationships with, it matters to God.

And it'll matter to you because look at this other passage in 1 Corinthians. Do not be misled. Bad company corrupts good character. It doesn't say you'll always win them. They could win you. How many times have I seen that?

Careless alliances, friendships, hanging out, spending a lot of time and an inordinate amount of time with people who are godless, don't wanna hear about God, but there's something charismatic about them and then you know people hang out with them.

Sometimes it can even be family. You gotta draw the line even with family sometimes. Your family can eat you up for lunch. Listen, you always respect and you love your family, but some family influence us are evil.

And here's what God told the king through a prophet. What a brave prophet. What kind of courage did these people come and have? Get rid of 100 ,000 people that you hired and forget the money, write it off.

What kind of courage is that? So the Bible tells us that sometimes you can lose the blessing of God by getting connected with people and influences in our culture or groups of people and form alliances and you can actually lose the blessing of God because they start to corrupt our devotion to Christ.

We start to copy them. Oh, Pastor Simba, that's that old-fashioned stuff that you're peculiar people that we're supposed to copy. Yeah, yeah, that's old-fashioned, but it happens to be in the Bible and God hasn't changed.

How many say amen to that? Remember, the things of God don't change. Ministers change, culture changes, God's word never changes. I don't know why this is on my heart so heavy, but if you're here, what are your relationships that possibly could be causing you to lose out with God?

How many heartbreaks do I have to get through of girls and guys, but many times it's women who are lonely and wanna get married and they take up with some guy. He's no more a Christian than this microphone.

I know, but I'm lonely. You're gonna be more than lonely when he gets done with you. Don't be unequally yoked. This almost sounds, because of the trend today in Christianity, this almost sounds like a dinosaur religion like does it matter?

Yeah, you go to those clubs, you run with those people, you will not influence them, they will influence you and you'll lose out on the blessing of God. Oh, I know, but all things are lawful. Come on, it's a new day.

No, it's not a new day with God. Nothing changes with God. We need wisdom for the application of this, but how many people have overlooked God's word and just said, yeah, but he'd be fine, yeah. How many believe with all your heart God knows what's best for our lives?

Lift your hand up high. God knows what's best. He was trying to help this man to have a victory which the king got. He got the victory by losing troops. Sometimes you go ahead by losing and let's say here's another truth.

Trusting God With Money and Loss

He said, yeah, but how about the money I spent? Two tons of silver, that's no small change. And you know what the prophet said? Write it off, lose it. Better to have God's blessing and lose two tons of silver than hold on to the two tons of silver and hire the people.

Say amen to that. Let's say amen to that. Write it off. You know, believers aren't supposed to sue each other in the Bible. You know that, right? I've been sued a couple times by unbelievers representing here at the church.

And can I tell you what? The person had me in a stranglehold, was really acting nasty. The people in the office and legal team, they all knew about that. But you know what? God worked it out that while I took one for the team and he cursed at me and hung up a couple times on me.

In the end, God made him responsible for one of the biggest blessings ever to come to our church. Because when you follow God and you don't fight back and you say, you know what? Keep the money. Listen, I'd rather have the blessing of God than two tons of silver.

How many say amen to that? Rather have the blessing of God. Everybody nitpicking over every little dollar, every little dime, and you lose the blessing of God. Why not be liberal and just trust God? It drove me crazy the other day.

I was in a diner and people were sitting next to me and there were three of them and all they had was coffee and a little something and whatever. And you think it was a prime rib at Peter Luger's. No, it was just a little thing.

And the bill came and they went, so separate checks or all one check? Oh, we'll take one check. Okay, so what do you owe, Bob? Let's see, you owe $3 .18. No, I think you're 4 .22. You owe $4 .22. No, don't say that.

I think it's 4 .22. Don't say only four, it's 4 .22. You owe the extra 22. Just pay the bill. Just pay the bill. Bless somebody and say, God, you're gonna take care of me. Come on, let's say amen to that.

To avoid fighting, to avoid losing the blessing of God. How many people have lost the blessing of God over filthy money? They get bad in their spirit because someone took advantage of them. Hey, listen, I've been taken advantage of, but God will have the last word.

How many believe that? God will always have the last word for us. Lose it, write it off. I've had people tell me over the years, you know that person, you're an easy mark, that person, they took advantage of you.

Yeah, I knew it. They could've, and they maybe did in some cases. But guess what? You can't take the blessing of God from someone. Wouldn't you rather, wait, what's all the clapping about this morning?

Wouldn't you rather have the blessing of God and just have a free spirit and not be fussing and fighting and eh, and you know what? Man, all of that stuff, and you lose the joy, you lose your peace, you have nothing, but you got your extra $90 or $900, and what's it worth?

Accepting Opposition While Obeying God

Also notice that to keep the blessing of God, you not only sometimes have to cut back and lose some people and write off some money, but you also get people mad at you. When they left because he obeyed God, they were mad.

Just because people are upset with you doesn't mean you did something wrong. In fact, some people should be upset with us if we're doing what God wants us to do. Remember, Jesus died on a cross. People nailed him up there, and he was the perfect son of God.

So if you think you and I are gonna walk through life and have everyone like us, what a fantasy that is. And some of us who are more sensitive of nature, we're always watching how are people reacting.

They might not like that. Hey, listen, it is what it is. Let's obey the Lord and keep a good spirit and say, God, I want your blessing on my life. I want the blessing of God on this church. I want the blessing of God on the choir.

I want the blessing of God on Pastor Burgos and Millie. I want the blessing of God on Pastor Todd and his wife and family as they move out into other ministry. I just want the blessing of God on it because when the blessing of God is on it, doors open.

Provisions come. Miracles happen. Prayers are answered. But listen, when the blessing of God is not there, the skies are like brass. So Amaziah was told, you want the blessing of God? Then lose that. Lose those people, lose the money, and don't matter that they're yelling at you and they're mad at you.

What we sometimes compromise, our principles, just have people like us and accept us. Who cares if they like us or not like us? Listen, can you be greater than Jesus? No student is greater than their teacher.

If they hated him, what do you think, they're gonna applaud us? But again, the Bible is so honest. This guy Amaziah, he was like a bipolar or something. He goes and fights the Edomites and he beats the daylight out of them.

And while he's there and he's conquered them, he sees these beautiful idols that they worship, really cool looking. They were praying to those idols before they went into battle. And he whooped them because God was with him.

But isn't this something about us? He got fascinated by those idols. No, I want those idols to come back with me to Jerusalem. And he brought them back and he set them up and he got rid of the worship of God and started to worship the idols of the people he had just defeated.

Does that make any sense? But it's in the Bible for a reason. So a prophet comes to him and says, yo, king, the prophet was from Brooklyn, I know, you noticed that. Yo, king, you, what is it with you?

What is it with you? You're worshiping the idols of a people that you just beat? The idols didn't help them, now why are you worshiping them? And then Amaziah, unfortunately, showed these true colors that ended up disgracing him in the Bible.

He said, stop, shut up. Who made you in charge of me? Why do you want to get killed? If you keep talking, I'll kill you here on the spot. And the prophet said, enough, I won't say anything more. But now I know you're doomed because you won't listen.

Before you listened, you got rid of the 100 ,000. You wrote off the money. You didn't care that they were mad at you. But what's got in your head that you can't listen? Listen, brothers and sisters, no matter what mistakes we make, if God speaks to us and we listen, he can rectify it, amen?

That's why the Bible says, give me a hearing heart. What might God be saying to you? And notice how it can come. It can come through a prophet, come through a preacher, come through a verse that you read.

It can come through a song. It can come through someone playing the keyboard and the Holy Spirit speak to you. It can come through the words of a song that you remember from your childhood. It can come from your mother.

It can come through your father. It can come through your child. I one time had a five-year-old daughter sitting on my lap while I was driving home. Had a lot on my mind when we started here at the church and I was racing back to New Jersey where I lived then and driving like a madman, not thinking about anything, things on my mind.

And she was laying dead asleep on my lap while I was driving. And my oldest girl then, only had to be five years old, and she was laying there and I didn't realize how heavy I was pressing the gas and I'm just flying.

But you know, you get things in your mind and you're not watching and all of that. And suddenly, as God is my witness, she lifted her head up, didn't look at me, but just lifted her head up and looked out the side window and she said, Daddy, you're going too fast.

We're gonna get hurt. And then went right back down. And it was as much God's voice as a voice coming from a cloud. God can speak any way to us because he loves us. And when we go off on something, wrong alliances, wrong situations, wrong environments that we shouldn't be in, God's not gonna see us get hurt.

He's gonna try to interject. He's gonna send somebody to help us. Haven't you ever had God speak to you? How many have ever had the Lord speak to you in your life, right? And it can be the most subtle thing.

You know, people are talking nonsense and about other people who aren't present and the Lord whispered to you, don't join in that conversation. Come on, do I get an amen? Do not open your mouth. But it's something about our tongues and our mouth, right?

Little sucker just opens up by itself and starts talking. What might God be saying to you today so that you can enjoy his blessing? He loves us so much. He loves us so much. He was fighting for Amaziah, but what could he do?

All he can do is send people to speak into his life. I want the blessing of God on all of you. I love you. You know, I really love you. I don't talk like this often. Let me just say this. I really love you.

You could say to me, how could you love us? You don't know all of us, but you have your own personality. Sorry for visitors that are here for the first time. I'm just talking now. I love you too, but not as much as I love other people here.

I love you. My wife and I, we love you. I have great esteem for you. How I talk about you behind your back, if you knew, it's always in the highest terms. I want the blessing of God for all of you. Some of you have it hard.

Single moms here fighting for your kids. Pressures in life. There's an old saying, you're only as happy as your saddest child. So if you have children and they're not doing good, that's a battle. I've been there.

But I love you and I want more than anything else in the world. I consider myself working with these pastors and these deacons. I consider myself the most blessed pastor in the world. I do. That's the truth before God.

I never go any place where I'm jealous of anyone. Never, never happened. Never got close to it. Like I look at someone and go, wow, what a situation they have. It's like, keep whatever you have. God bless you.

I want the blessing of God on you. I can't define that. I can't show it to you. But how many agree with me? There's such a thing of having God's blessing resting on your life and it affects your children.

Marriage, Spiritual Influence, and God's Blessing

Can I say one other thing? If you get saved and you're married and your husband's an unbeliever, your children are blessed and you're blessed even though you're married to an unbeliever because you got converted.

Now, don't look for trouble now and be looking for an unbeliever. That the Bible says, don't be unequally yoked. But I want to just bring that out. If you're here today and your husband is treating you mean or your wife, but you're serving the Lord, that spouse cannot take the blessing of God off your life.

I don't care how mean they are. I don't care what they say or do. They can't take the blessing of God off your life and your children. Father, would you help us today? We want your blessing. Amaziah had your blessing for a while.

Then somehow it went to his head. He went crazy. Save us from unholy alliances. Save us from the negative power of bad associations. Save us just like you had men of God that went to Amaziah. Satan has men and women of Satan who goes not to bless, but to steal and kill and destroy.

Help us not to hate anyone and be rude to anybody, but help us to discern that not everybody is good for our lives. Keep us in the workplace. Keep us in the subway system. Watch over us. God, bless your people.

Bless this congregation and the people that are visiting. Let them leave with the blessing of God on them. We thank you that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Help us to have the faith to even lose stuff and have people turn on us, but we just keep our eyes on you and say, no, that can happen, let it go. I want the blessing of God. I'm not gonna lose the blessing of God over some money or some people getting mad at me that I tried to make a treaty with.

However this is to apply, God, you know how it is in my heart. You know how I've wrestled with this for days. Let this be applied by the Holy Spirit to save anybody here in this building for some trap of the enemy.

We praise you today. We love you. If you're here today and God's been talking to your heart through this unusual message about King Amaziah, just talk to God right now and say, God, I'm hearing you. You're talking to me through Pastor Simbala through that passage.

Now, Lord, let your face shine upon us. Grant us your peace and let the blessing of God flow down on us like rain today and every day as we trust in you. Bless the congregation. Bless everyone here. Make them a blessing today.

We ask all of this in Jesus' name. And the church said. Amen. Everybody stand and hug somebody. Come on, hug somebody.