Sermon series branding!

I have always wanted to be artistically talented... but then again so has everyone else!

Drawing is really hard, painting is messy and I simply don't understand how people sculpt from one piece of wood/stone/ice and create something that actually resembles something! So I thought I would take the easy way out and do it electronically.

I was inspired by a blog I read where the person was discussing 'branding' of sermon series, that is, creating a graphic that goes with your church's current sermon series that you can post on your web page and use to invite people etc, to make it look cooler essentially.

So I thought this was a way that I could be artistic and not need to draw, be able to paint, know how to sculpt or have any artistic gifts! Perfect!

These are the ones that I have come up with:

If you know what castle I used for the Sermon on the Mount one you will get a prize!!

Micaiah.

Micaiah is an extremely interesting fellow.

Sadly we know very little about him, he is only mentioned in 1 Kings 22 where he plays the central part of a quirky story.

The Kingdom of Israel has split into two kingdoms: Judah and Israel, and these two kingdoms decide to go to war together against Aram. Jehoshaphat king of Judah was way keen but the king of Israel, Ahab, had his reservations, he wanted to double check with God via the nations prophets.

So they get four hundred prophets together and ask them, and simply wanting to please the two kings by telling them what they want to hear the prophets all say "go"!

Jehoshaphat isn't convinced and asks if there is anyone who is a true prophet of the LORD! Ahab of Israel knows one... here is where Micaiah comes in

"The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, There is still one man through whom we can enquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah."

So Micaiah enters the scene. Before coming to the kings he is warned by a messenger to say what the kings want to hear, to which he replies, "as surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what the LORD tells me"

So the kings ask him to prophesy about whether they should go to war; standing in front of them Micaiah mocks them by repeating word for word what the other prophets had said, "Attack and be victorious, for the LORD will give it into the king's hand."

Ahab gets that this is not genuine and rebukes Micaiah, "how many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?" So Micaiah tells Ahab the truth: "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, 'These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.'"

on hearing this Ahab turns to Jehoshaphat and says, "Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?"

Ahab then did what kings always do to unpopular prophets, he threw him in prison and went out to fight Aram anyway! Yet before he did this, Micaiah called out, "if you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me. Mark my words, all you people!"

We never hear of Micaiah again, perhaps he perished in prison, we don't know. However we do knos what happened to Ahab, he is killed in the battle and the people of Israel are scattered just as Micaiah prophesies!

The point is obvious: God, the true God speaks truth, truth that people hate to hear and usually ignore! Yet wisdom and life come from hearing the hard words of God and following them!

There are many people like Micaiah, people who aren't liked because they speak the truth, people who are placed in prison because they speak the truth, people who are waiting to be vindicated by the future as the truth becomes a clear undisputed reality.