1 Kings 22:51-52

Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, because he followed the ways of his father and mother and of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin.

From Background Notes [BN] for February 9^th & 10^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Scholars have long noted the pattern of events in the book in terms of several cycles with distinct phases:

1) Settlement
2) Disobedience
3) Oppression
4) Deliverance

There are seven such cycles. Israel does not fade all at once, instead they gradually allow faithfulness to erode until disaster strikes in the form of a foreign nation’s conquest. Only when the people cry out to God does He respond with a Strong Man/Woman who leads the people to victory over their oppressors and returns life to a qualified normalcy again.  [BN, 3]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am