200524 Easter 7 Drive in Service Audio 200524 Easter 7 Order of Service Sermon manuscript: The people of Israel were specifically chosen by God to be his own. They were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were led out of Egypt by God’s powerful hand. They cleansed the polluted land of Canaan, putting its idolatrous inhabitants to death, in order that they may live there eating milk and honey. Everyone had his own vine and his own fig tree. But what was more important than any earthly treasures (which were never as great could be found in other lands) was the fact that they knew the Lord God. They had the Word of God that went all the way back to creation. They were given judges and prophets and kings to make known the will of God so that they would fear, love, and trust in him, calling upon him in every trouble, praying, praising, and giving thanks.There was no other nation like Israel on the earth. No other nation named their children with such faithful and pious names. Samuel, Daniel, Michael, Ezekiel—the “el” at the end of these names is Hebrew for “God.” They all say something about God. The same is true for those names that have a “Jah” or “Yah” in them. That’s another way to say God’s name. John, Jonathan, Joshua, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hezekiah, Zechariah—all these names are saying something about the Lord. They are saying that he is gracious or that he remembers, and so on.And so there was a tremendous relationship in Israel. God loved this people. This people loved God. It did not last, though. God did not change, but this people did. Their love grew cold for God. Their love for other things grew hot. And so they somewhat left behind the Lord God for other gods. They did not leave the Lord God behind entirely. In fact, they continued to name their kids with these very pious names. But they came to believe that the way you get ahead in life is by copying what the more powerful people around you do. And that is just what they did. The began to believe that the ways of the Canaanites or the Egyptians or the Phoenicians or the Assyrians were better than the life that God had given to them. They had milk and honey, but now they wanted gold and a life of convenience and leisure.God, again, for his part, continued to be faithful. The prophets he sent to his people were no joke. They denounced and warned and threatened so that the people didn’t take God’s grace for granted. Those who heard and were frightened, they also comforted: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” God was patient and sent prophets for centuries—amazing, wonderful men like Elijah and Isaiah, but the people resented having their sins pointed out to them. They wanted to do what they wanted to do, and they weren’t going to let some preacher get in the way of their plans. If those prophets stuck to their posts and stuck to their guns, then they would have to be forcibly removed.  And so it came to pass that God’s people ended up killing God’s prophets.What can God do with a people who will no longer listen to the ones whom he sends to preach his Word? God, in his anger, took up blunter instruments and punished his people with them. Whenever trouble befalls us we do well to ignore what the world and our own flesh say about it. The world and our flesh are comforted with the thought that it is just happenstance and fate that brings tragedy, not the heavy hand of the Lord. But we do well to fear God when we are judged by him, so that we repent and do not plunge headlong into eternal disaster. When God finally smashed the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel with blood and violence and pandemics and the death of loved ones, I guarantee you (knowing human nature) that most of them said that this was just a stretch of bad luck, but don’t worry, the sun will come out tomorrow. Therefore, God did not relent and spare them. He pushed harder, but they would not repent. Finally, they were scattered to the w