1 Kings 14: 21

1 Kings 14:21 says, And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.  Rehoboam ruled over Judah in Jerusalem, God's chosen city, for seventeen years.  He was born while David was still alive and grew up under the wisdom of Solomon, but he still failed to follow God.  Matthew Henry says that the fact that his mother was an Ammonite and that Solomon began to worship false gods at last seemed to have influenced Rehoboam more than God's truth had.  We cannot allow false ideas to enter our lives as Christians.  Verse twenty-two adds, And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.  Like the people of Israel, the rest of God's chosen people under Jeroboam, the people of Israel angered Him by doing evil in His sight.  Just because we call ourselves a Christian nation does not mean that we can do things that are against His will without provoking His anger.  They were even worse than their fathers in sinning.  Sin does seem to get worse the longer it is allowed to go on.  Verse twenty-three continues, For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.  They built places of worship to false gods in the high places.  They had God's temple, that was built by Solomon, the most magnificent temple ever built, but they weren't satisfied to worship there.  No matter how beautiful our houses of worship may be today, if we aren't there simply to worship God in them, then we are not going to be satisfied.  Veres twenty-four concludes, And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.  They were also influenced by the practices of the Sodomites living in the land, even though God had destroyed Sodom because of their sinful actions.  The people of Judah had become totally corrupt in their relationship of God.  We should never allow corrupt practices or teachings into the church today.  Verse twenty-five states, And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem:  In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, Shishak the king of Egypt went to war with Judah.  They no longer had God's protective hand on them, and neither will we today if we turn away from God.  Verse twenty-six adds, And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.  Shishak took away all the golden vessels that Solomon had made, both from the temple and from the king's house.  When we as followers of Christ stray away from Him, He will remove His protective had from us and we may lose everything of value in our life.  Verse twenty-seven continues, And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king's house.  Rehoboam didn't repent and ask God to help him reclaim all he lost but built inferior substitutes to replace them.  We should never be satisfied with anything less than a real relationship with God.  Verse twenty-eight says, And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.  The guards had been given these brass shields brought them whenever Rehoboam went into the temple.  We should never rely on substitutes for what God has blessed us with and view them as being just as good.  Verse twenty-nine adds, Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?  We are told that the rest of what Rehoboam did was written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah, though it is posed as a question.  What we need to know is that anything done for God will be kept track of by Him and if no one else knows about it, that is okay.  Of course, He also knows the bad things we do, but as Christians, they will be covered by the blood of Christ.  Verse thirty continues, And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.  Rehoboam and Jeroboam were at war for all their lives after they split God's kingdom.  We cannot afford to split the church today and be at war with other Christians.  Verse thirty-one concludes, And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.  After Rehoboam died, his son Abijam ruled in his place.  We can be certain that church leaders are going to die today and need to be replaced, and we need to pray that they will be replaced by people devoted to doing God's will.