Asa: How to Succeed

1. Measuring Success

Personal

“And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.” (2 Chronicles 14:2, ESV)

Spiritual

“He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him.” (2 Chronicles 14:3–5, ESV)

Economic

“He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the LORD gave him peace.” (2 Chronicles 14:6, ESV)

“He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the LORD gave him peace.” (2 Chronicles 14:6, ESV) 

Generational

“In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah, and he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.” (1 Kings 15:9–10, ESV)

“The LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, and not according to the practices of Israel.” (2 Chronicles 17:3–4, ESV)

2. Steps To Success

Seek The Lord

“Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.” (2 Chronicles 14:1–2, ESV)

Remove Impediments for Others

“He put away the male cult prostitutes out of the land and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.” (1 Kings 15:12, ESV)

Do The Hard Thing

“He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron.” (1 Kings 15:13, ESV)

Trust God For the Big Thing

“Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.”” (2 Chronicles 14:9–11, ESV)

“So the LORD defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.” (2 Chronicles 14:12, ESV)

3. Staying Successful

Continue to Trust God

“Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.”” (2 Chronicles 16:8–9, ESV)

Stay Open to Reproof

“In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians.” (2 Chronicles 16:12, ESV)

Questions:

Rate your success measurements on a scale of 1-10.

• Which needs the greatest improvement?

• Where are you doing well?

• How would you measure improvement in your least successful area of measure?

The sermon outlines four steps to success.

• What steps have you taken to be successful?

• What step have you had trouble implementing?

• How would you begin putting that step into practice?