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#27: You Can Win the Stats but Lose the Game (Ministry Lessons from King Uzziah)
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Episode Overview
In this episode of NextGen Matters, Rich Brown explores the life of King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26) and challenges ministry leaders with one sobering truth: it's possible to have an impressive ministry résumé and still fail to finish well.
This episode weaves together sports drama, biblical reflection, and a heartfelt challenge for ministry leaders: it’s not how you start the game — it’s how you finish. From Mariano Rivera’s legendary closing ability to the New York Knicks’ historic NBA Finals comeback, Rich draws a vivid parallel to the life of King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26. King Uzziah enjoyed decades of remarkable leadership, military victories, economic prosperity, and spiritual influence before pride ultimately destroyed his legacy.
This episode is a call for Next Gen leaders to pursue humility, accountability, and lifelong dependence on God so they can finish their ministry faithfully. Side Note from Rich Brown: Right after this was recorded, I saw this on X, "Sean Sweeney, San Antonio’s former top assistant coach and now head coach of the Orlando Magic, offered his take on why his squad is just the runner-up. "They told me if the games were like 46 minutes or whatever, we would’ve won 4-1.'” I am not quite sure how to respond. 😂 Finish strong, bro, and you win.
Resources Mentioned
Next Gen Matters: https://www.nextgenmatters.com/
Email for Rich Brown (NGM): rich@nextgenmatters.com
Subscribe for NGM Thursday Tools email
Watch this episode on YouTube
The Bible (Scripture references in the order of their mention): 2 Chronicles 26; 1 Corinthians 10:11; 2 Kings 15; Amos 5; Hosea 12; Isaiah 6:1; James 4:6; 2 Timothy 4:7; 2 Timothy 4:6–8
Timestamps
00:00 Welcome to NextGen Matters
00:15 Baseball closers and finishing the game
03:00 NBA Finals illustration
07:00 Meet King Uzziah
08:10 Why Old Testament examples still matter
10:00 Background on Uzziah
16:20 Becoming king at sixteen
19:00 Military victories and national growth
21:25 Building a flourishing kingdom
24:00 Economic prosperity
26:00 Uzziah's early spiritual life
27:00 Pride changes everything
29:15 God's judgment
30:00 Isolation and final years
32:10 Legacy of King Uzziah
33:15 Leadership lessons for today
35:10 How to finish strong
36:20 Final encouragement
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Episode 27
00:00:01
NextGen Matters
Hey, welcome to the Next Gen Matters Podcast. Rich Brown here. We're on episode 27. Today we are talking about, you can win the stats, but lose the game.
Lessons from King Uzziah's Life
00:00:11
NextGen Matters
Ministry lessons from King Uzziah.
Role of Closers in Baseball
00:00:14
NextGen Matters
Yeah, so as you think about baseball, because it is July when I'm recording this, and think about baseball a lot. I mean, I spent my game since I was a kid. So speaking about me being a kid in the nineteen seventy s That's the first time you really began to hear the term the closer.
00:00:33
NextGen Matters
That was really a 70s thing that came into the major leagues, which is the idea of a relief pitcher coming in who was dominant at the end of the game. And one of the most dominant, if not the most dominant, relief pitcher of the 1970s was, see if you know this,
00:00:51
NextGen Matters
His name was Rich Gossage, Goose Gossage. Yep, pay played for the Yankees, helped them win the chip back in 77 and 78. They swept, that I didn't sweep, but they beat the Dodgers two seasons in a row, which probably will never happen again, the rate they're doing now and the rate that the Dodgers are doing now. But that was a long time ago.
00:01:10
NextGen Matters
And then you had the 1980s, who were the best relief pitchers, the dominant ones, the closers. Mid-80s would be a guy named Bruce Suter, pitched the Cubs and then later on with the Cardinals.
00:01:22
NextGen Matters
And then by the late 80s, there was a pitcher who was a starting pitcher, Cubs and the Red Sox, moved to Oakland. They moved him into the bullpen. His manager, Tony La Russa, dropped him in the pen.
00:01:35
NextGen Matters
And he became the most dominant closer of that era. And up to that point was the most dominant closer that the major leagues had ever seen. Basically, when Dennis Eckersley came in, the A's were going to win the game.
Parallels: Mariano Rivera & King Uzziah
00:01:49
NextGen Matters
Then the mid-90s came in and a young man from Panama... was drafted by the New York Yankees as a teenager, went through the system as a starting pitcher.
00:01:59
NextGen Matters
They, like so many starting pitchers, got dropped into the bullpen. And in 1996, Mariano Rivera began his career with the New York Yankees. He was not the closer that year, but he would pitch the seventh and eighth innings, and a guy named John Wetland came in and would pitch the ninth.
00:02:17
NextGen Matters
Basically put, this was what the Yankees had going for him in the 1996 season. Teams knew they were playing them. If you weren't winning by the end of the sixth inning, you were going to lose. If you were already losing by the end of the sixth inning, you would lose because Mariano came down, shut it down the seventh and eighth, and then this guy named John Wetland came in and shut it down from there.
00:02:36
NextGen Matters
They let Wetland walk, became a free agent, went out to Texas. Well, before that, but but after that, I mean, Mariano became the closer for the Yankees. And from the 19...
00:02:48
NextGen Matters
90s, well into the 20 teens, he was the most dominant closer, not in all of baseball for the era, but in all of baseball period. That was the idea of a dominant closer.
00:03:00
NextGen Matters
Now, many of you may not be into baseball, and I apologize for that. No, I never apologize for that. But I love baseball. It's been very, very good for me. It's an old SNL skit, never mind.
00:03:12
NextGen Matters
But I want talk to you about finishing. It's not just how you start the game, it's how you finish. You know, we just saw this. If you're watching on YouTube, you see I got my Knicks hat on. That's for a reason. Because I'm not only thinking about in major leagues at the idea of a closer, but I'm also thinking of what just took place from the time of this recording was a month ago this week when the New York Knicks finished off the San Antonio Spurs. So if you go back in time here, we had the most...
00:03:38
NextGen Matters
Crazy postseason for the Knicks that that in most recent years we've never seen. They literally dominated through the Eastern Conference into the finals. They only lost two games in the opening round. They swept the next round. They swept the Eastern Conference finals against the Cavs. They faced the mighty and tough San Diego, San Diego, San Antonio Spurs.
00:04:00
NextGen Matters
And here's what goes down. If you followed the NBA finals, you understand this. But if you don't, please listen. It will totally make sense. And yes, this is all about the Bible, okay? it's not just a sports podcast. But it does start with this, and here it is.
00:04:14
NextGen Matters
San Diego Spurs led in all five of those games. And new York won four games to one. So they won the the chip in five games. But San Antonio led for 72% of the entire total game time Of all those games put together, San Antonio led for 72% of all those games.
00:04:39
NextGen Matters
They won the first half of, I think it was every game they were winning. They were blowing out the Knicks in the first quarter of every game. It's not about the stats, and it's not as much how you start, it's how you finish.
00:04:54
NextGen Matters
So now, again, being a New Yorker, The idea that we as a Yankee, yeah the Yankee fan base has not really seen a dominant closer in baseball since Mariano.
00:05:04
NextGen Matters
New York's still crying out for, can we get at least a 70-some percent or 80-some percent version of what we had in Mariano? So now the joke kind of became Jalen Brunson from the Knicks became the next New York closer.
00:05:18
NextGen Matters
Because something about JB, he would get down to those last few minutes and you just knew the 6'1", guard maybe went wet, you know, The small guard in the current NBA, just the way it's played out, he's considered a small guard, yet he would close out the game by dropping all kinds of points and playing good defense.
00:05:38
NextGen Matters
Now, Game 4 is what I want to... Focus in on. Game four, the Spurs versus the Knicks, was considered the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history.
00:05:49
NextGen Matters
The Knicks were down at one point by 29 points in the third quarter before making that historic run. So my question is, like where were you when OG Ananobi made that game-winning put-back shot? i mean i Dude, I'm in my house. I'm screaming in euphoria. Yes, I'm texting my son Ryan. he's in He's in his place you know five miles away. and we're both, yeah, yeah, I'm texting a buddy mine up but back up in Jersey.
00:06:15
NextGen Matters
He's been a Knicks fan all his life. And I mean, they haven't the championships since I was like 10. And now don't even remember that because I was in bed when it happened. I woke up the next day and I heard from, i was at my buddy's house. My buddy's dad says, hey, the Knicks beat the Lakers. It's all done. They they won the championship. I'm like, oh, cool.
00:06:32
NextGen Matters
So that's all I knew. went through years and years of disappointment. so I'm so jacked that they won. Here's where I'm going with this. I've been a very patient New York Knicks fan my entire life. Okay. A very patient fan, a very brokenhearted fan.
00:06:48
NextGen Matters
But that dream did come true. And I honestly thought I may never see that when they actually would win the championship, but they finished strong. And right now they're the NBA champions.
King Uzziah's Successes & Failures
00:06:59
NextGen Matters
Well, during that same week of the NBA Finals, that week in my time in the Word, in my chronological journey, I was going through 2 Chronicles, not Corinthians, 2 Chronicles, chapter 26, reading the storyline of a king, his name is Uzziah.
00:07:16
NextGen Matters
And King Uzziah, this story that I read saddened me. It really did. I went back and I read it a few times through. It greatly reminded me that I want to finish strong for and with Jesus.
00:07:30
NextGen Matters
We're gonna take this episode, we're gonna walk through the storyline of King Uzziah, and it absolutely relates to us in 21st century Next Gen Ministries.
00:07:42
NextGen Matters
So take a moment with me, let's reflect on the life of King Uzziah and see what we can learn from him. But before we do, if you have not yet subscribed to this, whether you're watching on YouTube, listening on Apple or or Spotify, make sure you subscribe and and also get our Next Gen Matters email. Love to get that touch with you every week on Thursday for our Thursday tools, as well as get these these podcasts out to you guys in timely fashion.
00:08:08
NextGen Matters
Now, back to Uzziah. Every generation needs models. We need role models. We need examples of who we can imitate and what we can imitate from their life. Not only the good, but what also to avoid, you know, the bad.
00:08:22
NextGen Matters
And reminded of this in Paul's epistle to the Corinthians, when he says in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11, He says, now these things happened to them. and he's He's referring to the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, those rebellious descendants of Jacob, children of Israel. He says, now these things happened to them as an example.
00:08:44
NextGen Matters
but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come. So in other words, just because a storyline is from the Old Testament, let's not negate that. Let's not let that go. Let's not think, oh, that's Old Testament. We're New Testament people. No, we are people of the word of God. There's a harmony. There's a beautiful harmony and synergy of the Old and New Testament is one storyline, one narrative of the creation, fall, restoration, a redemption and restoration of King Jesus.
00:09:13
NextGen Matters
And in the middle of that Old Testament scenario, we have the story of King Uzziah. And yes, we can learn a ton of what was good in his life and then what went bad.
00:09:26
NextGen Matters
So let's go. Let's go. Let's take a flyover into the life of king uzziah and learn lessons from him as you minister to students that we do influence so now some of these lessons i'm going to walk through are like i said are good and the bad but let me step back and do a little introduction to who is this dude or who is this guy king uzziah he's actually the ninth descendant down ninth generation ninth descended down from king david all right Now, we see this story take place in 2 Chronicles 26. It's also in 2 Kings as or as second kings i mean as well.
00:10:05
NextGen Matters
all right So King Uzziah, also known by his personal name, Azariah, he is one of the most fascinating yet paradoxical figures we see in the Old Testament.
00:10:16
NextGen Matters
His story is a blend of early faithfulness, military brilliance, economic innovation, And he even brought political stability in a very unstable time there in Judah.
00:10:30
NextGen Matters
And finally, because of his tragic pride, that an ultimately led to his divine his divine judgment. Now, his reign stretches for 52 years, which is one of the longest reigns in Judah's entire history.
00:10:46
NextGen Matters
It was marked by prosperity and quote in the scripture, it says, he was second only to Jehoshaphat since the time of Solomon. So Jehoshaphat Lasted a long time as far as being king.
00:10:58
NextGen Matters
Yeah, unfortunately, despite his achievements, Uzziah's legacy is overshadowed by the dramatic moment when he attempted to seize priestly authority, which was an act of rebellion against the Levitical law, an act that resulted in leprosy, isolation, and a painful end to an otherwise extraordinary life.
00:11:25
NextGen Matters
We all know people that we have respected in ministry, who started well, who actually did in their ministry careers very well with the Lord. God used them mightily. And for some reason, they didn't finish well.
00:11:41
NextGen Matters
And in most cases, It is the mistake made by King Uzziah. Now, we typically think it was more of failure, some kind of sexual sin or financial, you know, sin embezzling, whatever.
00:11:54
NextGen Matters
No, his wasn't of sexual nature and it wasn't of financial, let's say, you know, taking, putting his hand in the pot where he doesn't belong. No, it wasn't anything to do with finances or sex.
00:12:07
NextGen Matters
It had to do with his pride, his pride. And just like the original sin in heaven itself, pride is
Cautionary Tale: Finishing Strong
00:12:17
NextGen Matters
what gets us.
00:12:19
NextGen Matters
So now I'm gonna drop some numbers here. We're gonna go through, first of all, his childhood, his ascension, military campaigns, his economic reforms, his spiritual formation, his downfall, and his lasting legacy.
00:12:32
NextGen Matters
But here's some of the, I'm a history nerd, so here we go. He's born in 808 BC. So Uzziah is born 800 years 808
00:12:42
NextGen Matters
When he's 16, 2 Chronicles explains, he's 16 when he becomes king. However, he does not take sole kingship, if you will, at that age. He actually becomes a co-regent, a co-heir with his father at that time, King Amaziah, who had his own issue. See, his daddy, King Amaziah,
00:13:05
NextGen Matters
similar to this man, he starts out well and he kind of like, I don't know why, he just kind drifts. So you have... Amaziah, his the respect factor, the legacy he's leaving you know his' leading, he's leading with his people, they like they're not into him anymore. They actually take, it says the people then, didn't elect, it wasn't a democracy, but the people then pulled up King Uzziah as a teenager to make him king, again, co-regent with his father. So at 16, he begins a 24-year co-regent with his dad.
00:13:39
NextGen Matters
When his dad dies, Uzziah is the age of 40, and that's 792 is when he starts, and then 768 BC is when he becomes the sole reigning king, if you will. So for the next 17 to 18 years, he is completely on his own as king.
00:13:57
NextGen Matters
In 751 BC, he is struck with leprosy. He's about the age of 57. He then reigns about 10 to 12 more years, as he's now co-reigning with his son, who is really now the power to the throne.
00:14:11
NextGen Matters
And then Uzziah dies in the year 740. So that's kind of the the chronron chronological breakdown of his life. But here's the background of the early life history of him. His royal lineage, yes, House of David, I've already said it.
00:14:23
NextGen Matters
His daddy, King Amaziah, and his mama's name is Jekeliah. She says in 2 Chronicles, she was from Jerusalem, which means she probably has some noble blood, if you will, in her as well. Because being that her mother's name is preserved in scripture, suggesting that she would have been a woman of significance and influence.
00:14:42
NextGen Matters
We can also see where his mom probably had a deep, deep influence on his life, just like generations earlier, Solomon's mom Bathsheba had a tremendous impact on his life.
00:14:53
NextGen Matters
So we have a couple of things to pull out here in the background early life of King Uzziah. We see a nation in transition. See, before Uzziah's reign, Judah had endured the assassination assassination of his grandfather, Joash, who also started great and then got proud,
00:15:10
NextGen Matters
He got whacked. He got taken out. He was assassinated. Then his own dad's reign, that was being very unstable. There was tremendous military losses to the northern kingdom, which was their brothers, the 10 tribes, Israel, were we're knocking Judah off a lot, taking a lot of their property away.
00:15:30
NextGen Matters
And then also we had this internal political tension. Yes, like I've already been saying, that the people surrounding Amaziah the king at that time just weren't fans of him.
00:15:40
NextGen Matters
That's why they propped up his son and they let them co-reign. So you have this co-regency going on there. Like I said, for 24 years, he was a co-regent with his pops. During that time, though, there's some really cool things that takes place.
00:15:53
NextGen Matters
He was being, at an early age, exposed to how to lead and lead well. Governance, right? He also receives military training. We also see his administrative abilities really grow. He becomes very experienced administratively, and that comes into play later on.
00:16:10
NextGen Matters
And we also see that gradual transition into leadership. Secondary, i want to point out is his ascension to the throne at 16. Like I said, he wasn't just the only king. He co-reigned with his his father until he was 40.
00:16:25
NextGen Matters
When he gets into that place at 16, yes, there's a weakened military. The borders are vulnerable to the to the land of Judah. Jerusalem's walls, the capital city, had been broken by Israel. That's how far they penetrated into the land of Judah,
00:16:41
NextGen Matters
actually to the city walls of drew of Jerusalem. We're breaking it down. We're smashing it down. And the people were very discouraged. So this is what he walks into at 16. You know, we think today, 16-year-old sophomore, they're getting their driver's license, right? They drive a chariot with his license. I have no idea. That was a joke. But, you know, so here's the deal. He's 16, right?
00:17:01
NextGen Matters
But the scriptures say this in 2 Kings chapter 15, 3. which is the parallel to then 2 Chronicles 26. It says this phrase, get this, Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
00:17:17
NextGen Matters
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. His early reign was marked by humility and dependence on God. We also see him being mentored by a man of God whose name is Zachariah. There's different Zachariahs throughout the Bible, right? This Zachariah kind of an anomaly. We don't hear much about him other than this this passage. But he was a man that God put in the life of this young king. You know, unfortunately, his father probably wasn't leading him well.
00:17:50
NextGen Matters
Spiritually, but thankfully, Zechariah was there in his place. And i love this line 2 Chronicles 26 and verse 5. It says, this prophet instructed Uzziah in the fear of the Lord.
00:18:05
NextGen Matters
Now, not to not to take this out of context, but I think there's a principle here that speaks into my life and your life, especially those of us who serve in NextGen Ministries. While we all know that parents are seriously the primary you know resource, spiritual resource, we also are aware enough that every child, every student does not have a godly parent.
00:18:25
NextGen Matters
And that's where we can really stand in the gap not to become their parent, just like Zachariah wasn't his dad. He was a man of God. But being a man of God, he was training this young man in the ways of God. I'm going to say that phrase again.
00:18:40
NextGen Matters
He instructed him in the fear of God. this This prophetic mentorship, if you will, it's very cool. It's very parallel to like Samuel's influence over King David when King David was young, or even Jehoiada's influence on Joash, his grandfather.
00:18:57
NextGen Matters
We then also see number three. There's 10 points i want to pull out of his life. Number three is the military expansion and national security that was going on. Uzziah quickly proved himself to be a gifted military strategist.
00:19:09
NextGen Matters
He had these multiple military campaigns and they reshaped Judah's geopolitical landscape. He had victories over the Philistines. I mean, did that that back and forth between philist Philistia and and Israel goes back.
00:19:22
NextGen Matters
millennia before this, it goes back into the book of Judges, right? You have Uzziah here now breaking down the walls of Gath. So instead of people coming to break down the walls of Jerusalem, he's going to them. He breakdowns the walls of Gath, Jebna, and Ashtar. These are major cities within the Philistia nation.
00:19:42
NextGen Matters
They also then build cities in Philistine territories. He's building military outposts, if you will, and inhabiting those with people. So those actions that he does reverses decades of Philistine aggression.
00:19:54
NextGen Matters
It also then secures Judah's western border and expands Judah's influence toward the Mediterranean Sea, which out of that comes again trade and commerce.
00:20:05
NextGen Matters
Now, also having campaigns against the Arabs and the Menuhites. So Uzziah then defeats these Arabs around the area and living in the Gerbeil area. And also the Menuhites, which is a nomadic people groups down south of them. So that then shores up their southern border.
00:20:22
NextGen Matters
Okay. So he is really becoming a military genius and putting this, use the phrase, boots on the ground and reestablishing their own territory, which had been taken from them.
00:20:34
NextGen Matters
He then actually begins to take tribute tribute from the Ammonites. So now he's even getting, let's say, tax money you know from the Ammonites. But the big thing, I think, is he's developed peace with Israel. Again, they're brothers, the 10 northern tribes, who they've been in battle with for for for not just decades, but for now centuries. That's been going on since the kingdom split post-Solomon. But during Uzziah's reign, Israel was ruled by Jeroboam II.
00:21:02
NextGen Matters
whose kingdom was also prospering. But these two nations created a peace treaty and they lived in peace for quite a long time. So that constant friction and constant truly military battling against one another calmed down for at least that period of time.
00:21:21
NextGen Matters
of those 10 areas of his life number four fortification and infrastructure projects dude is all about building stuff okay he wasn't just a warrior king he was a builder he was an engineer he was an agricultural innovator he fortifies jerusalem i love this he strengthens the capital city by building towers at the corner gate at the valley gate and at the angle in other words he's building like big towers And out of that, he creates defensive strongholds. They're also watch posts.
00:21:51
NextGen Matters
Come on, we've all seen like, you know, medieval castles and movies based on that, right? You got that idea? So he's creating defensive strongholds, watch posts from these towers and strategic military positioning. We see this in chapter 26 verse Out of that comes innovative military technology. I mean, he steps the game up. He actually equips his army with all kinds of shields and spears and helmets and coats of mail and bones and even stones for slinging. You may think, well, Rich, duh, that goes way back centuries earlier.
00:22:22
NextGen Matters
But a lot of that was taken over the years by different nations who came in and plundered them. He's basically rebuilding the military. All right. So he's rebuilding the the military and the infrastructure of the military.
00:22:34
NextGen Matters
He then, I think this is wild. He then develops machines, says in the scripture, by skillful men, verses 14 to 15. likely early forms of catapults and arrow-launching devices. So he's got this massive artillery coming into play, coming off these those those military towers, all right? So he's and he's installing these towers in the corners of Jerusalem and creating these military, you know, he's launching these catapults, he's launching weapons, you know rocks, whatever, toward those enemies who would besiege them.
00:23:08
NextGen Matters
This makes Uzziah one of the earliest biblical figures associated with military engineering. He reorganizes and strengthens the army. It says here in the scripture, 2,600 clan leaders. So basically think of like a flow chart, right? Out of those 2,600 clan leaders, he has over 300,000 trained soldiers.
00:23:28
NextGen Matters
I mean, it's more than our our U.S. military now. right This is one of the most large it was one of the largest and most organized forces Judah has ever fielded. Again, verses 11 to 13 say this.
00:23:40
NextGen Matters
We then see the next point, number five, agriculture and economic development. It says in scripture, he loved the soil. It's not just like me working outside. and It's so cool. It's just for some reason, if you're not a nerd into this, and I am, just something about working with your hands or working in the soil. It's like, you Just, it's just, to me, it's, it's awesome. I just love digging and planting and seeing things grow and, you know, like that. But his is more than just, oh, I love playing in the sandbox. It's more than just that.
00:24:08
NextGen Matters
He actually began to see things from an agrarian mindset and he has agricultural expansion. He also builds towers in the wilderness. So he's creating also many cisterns. He's creating, you you to horticulture to go out and even to the desert area.
00:24:25
NextGen Matters
Through that, he's supporting farmers. He's supporting vine dresses. So you have now, you have grapes, you have different types of produce, you have farmers being successful and not living in this desert area anymore. He's also managing large herds.
00:24:39
NextGen Matters
I mean, these effects increases food production, which then strengthens the jew the Jewish economy and improves the stability to those living in rural areas.
00:24:52
NextGen Matters
He also controls trade routes. So the military victories gives him access to land trades to Egypt and sea trades because he's now off the coast, going it routes into what's called Elath. So this expands Judah's economic reach.
00:25:09
NextGen Matters
You also have this economic prosperity and yet comes social tension. Because with the prosperity, wealth begins to concentrat concentrate among the elites.
00:25:19
NextGen Matters
And then corruption follows among the officials and the merchants and the judges. And then out of that, the oppression of the poor. Sound familiar, right? You have prophet the prophets Amos and Hosea.
00:25:31
NextGen Matters
They are... contemporaries of this timeline. So if you ever see Amos 5 and Hosea 12 are both speaking into the corruption that begins to take place during this reign.
00:25:43
NextGen Matters
Because when people get a lot of wealth, they get a lot of power, and they become arrogant. Right. Then you see a number six of the 10 areas I'm looking at his life. You see spiritual, his spiritual life in his early faithfulness. I've already mentioned he was mentored by this godly man, Zachariah.
00:26:00
NextGen Matters
He's walking in the ways of the Lord. His early reign was marked by obedience. He's following in the example of his father, Amaziah, the good part of Amaziah, not the end. He also begins to seek God through Zachariah's guidance, and he upholds the worship of Yahweh.
00:26:17
NextGen Matters
He's really cleaning things up to make sure people are pointing themselves back to Jehovah God. However, like so many of Judah's kings, this phrase is used. However, the high places were not removed.
00:26:31
NextGen Matters
That means the places where people offered sacrifices to other gods were not destroyed. And that was violation of Levitical law. You're to have no other places of worship to other gods.
00:26:45
NextGen Matters
Where people were offering god you know sacrifices to the gods. And keep in mind, for sometimes that was even not just animal, but human sacrifices. So he didn't get away he didn't he didn't like he didn't get rid of all of it, but he cleaned up a lot of it.
00:26:59
NextGen Matters
okay But then comes number seven, a turning point, where this sense of success turns to pride and presumptiveness. Here's the rise of his pride. This is what chapter 26 and verse 16 says about him. It says, as Uzziah's fame grew, please hear this, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.
00:27:21
NextGen Matters
His success became a spiritual snare. I'm going say it again. His success became a spiritual snare. His pride rises.
00:27:33
NextGen Matters
Then we see this forbidden act. And here where it just shifts rapidly. It says in the passage of Scripture, Uzziah then enters the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar.
00:27:46
NextGen Matters
That's a no-no. That was only reserved exclusively for the priests, the Levitical priests, descendants of Aaron. What's his tribe? His home team is Judah, right?
00:27:59
NextGen Matters
Because he's a son of David. He is not a descendant of Aaron. He has no business. He has no right going into the temple of the Lord, especially taking the incense to go burn incense on the altar.
00:28:15
NextGen Matters
This wasn't a small mistake. It was a violation of God's sacred law. It was rejection of God's boundaries. And he even attempted then to merge kingship with priesthood.
00:28:28
NextGen Matters
He didn't stay in his lane. Okay. So this priestly confrontation takes place. Not only Azariah, the high priest, confronts him, but Azariah is surrounded with 80 courageous priests who confront the king, meaning they could be They could be taken out right then by, you know, treason, by going against what the king says. But their allegiance was to King Jehovah, not just King Uzziah, right? So they warned Uzziah, don't be doing this, bro. Do not be doing this. They warned him. He's done wrong. They urged him to leave the sanctuary immediately because they defended the holiness of God's house.
00:29:07
NextGen Matters
His response was Uzziah gets angry. While Uzziah rages against the priests, immediately it says in scripture in verse 19, when he got angry at them, leprosy broke out on his forehead.
00:29:20
NextGen Matters
I find that interesting. It wasn't just you his arms or his thighs, they were placed on his body, you know covered with robes. It was his forehead. Everyone could see that he had leprosy, which was a visible sign of divine judgment.
00:29:35
NextGen Matters
The priests immediately rush him out. And Uzziah realizes what just went down. He himself hurries off the leave, realizing the Lord had struck him with this leprosy. And then number eight, what we see in his life is isolation and then a co-regent ruling with his own son, Jotham.
00:29:54
NextGen Matters
He's now living as a leper. He has to live in a separate house. He is excluded now from the temple. He's excluded from public life. He's excluded from his own palace. His condition makes him unceremonially clean and now socially isolated.
00:30:11
NextGen Matters
And then his son Jotham begins to reign. So while they're air quotes, co-regents, in reality, Jotham is running the show now. Dad is kind of a has-been. Jotham then takes over all the responsibilities of governing the people. Uzziah remains king in title, but not in function.
00:30:29
NextGen Matters
And then the length of his illness, it's about 10 to 12 years, chronologists would would estimate. He's going about 10 to 12 years with this leprosy before he actually passes away. The ninth area of his life, and this gets sad, it is his death and burial.
00:30:46
NextGen Matters
The year of his death, well, like I said earlier, it would have been, you know, close to about 740 BC. But what takes place here is that he's buried, and the only thing his epitaph reads, he is a leper.
00:31:03
NextGen Matters
He is a leper. By the way, we know when he dies, because most people who don't know anything about Uzziah, maybe you only know one fact about him. It's Isaiah 6.1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I also saw the Lord.
00:31:16
NextGen Matters
So Isaiah was also a contemporary of his, right? We also see this as his death as the end of Judah's golden age. But back to his burial. Archaeologists have found this there in in Jerusalem area. says he was buried in the burial field that belonged to the king, but he was not buried in the royal tombs themselves, likely due to his leprosy. Even even in his death and his burial, because of leprosy, he was not allowed to have his bones, if you will, be put in the same plot, in the same area of the royal tombs of the previous kings.
00:31:50
NextGen Matters
And his epitaph, like I said, only reads, he is a leper. That's how he's known. not Not as a successful king he did all these amazing things for his nation. He's known as a leper.
00:32:03
NextGen Matters
The last of the 10 areas that we see is the legacy and historical significance. It's kind of mixed bag. It's a mixed legacy. Uzziah's life is a study of contrast. We see faithfulness.
00:32:15
NextGen Matters
We see prosperity. We see strength. Yet we then see pride. And now that pride, we then see downfall. You see, his story illustrates the biblical theme.
00:32:26
NextGen Matters
Success without humility leads to destruction. Success without humility leads to destruction. It's in the Proverbs, it's in James, where we are told over and again throughout the scriptures, pride will lead to destruction.
00:32:42
NextGen Matters
God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So under Uzziah, again, we see Judah reaching these new heights of military success. We see Jerusalem being fortified. Agriculture is flourishing. Trade expands. The economic economy prospers.
00:33:00
NextGen Matters
And then he decides to do things his way. And out of that, comes his downfall. What is the takeaway from this dude's life?
00:33:11
NextGen Matters
Here's a simple takeaway. The life of King Uzziah teaches that spiritual success is sustained only by humility, accountability, and dependence on God.
00:33:23
NextGen Matters
His rise shows what God can do through a leader who seeks him. His false shows what happens when a leader begins to believe his own press. you know, there's so many lessons that we can learn from him.
00:33:37
NextGen Matters
So many lessons that we need to take away from him. And very simple, it's kind of like, i don't want to Uzziah, okay? I don't want have great stats in my life and then lose the game in the fourth quarter.
00:33:50
NextGen Matters
also known as the San Antonio Spurs. I don't, i don't if you're a Spurs fan, you know I'm with you. No, actually, I'm not with you, but I feel bad for you. But I'm just saying, I don't want to lose in the fourth period.
00:34:00
NextGen Matters
i don't want to lose in a football game you know on a field goal. When we're up by two, we lose by one. i don't want to lose the game. Spiritually speaking, I want to finish strong. You with me on that? Don't you want to finish strong?
00:34:12
NextGen Matters
Again, we think of so many ministry leaders we've seen just fall or just kind of go, eh, And meh. And we're like, where'd their fire go? Where'd their passion go?
00:34:24
NextGen Matters
Who really were they on the inside? Because what's on the inside will eventually come out. Come on, right? So what we see here is simple. We've talked about the great baseball closers, you know, those these guys that come in the eighth or ninth inning and finish the games. We talked about that that amazing game four in the championship series with the Knicks and the Spurs, the great comeback.
00:34:47
NextGen Matters
More than that, because that that's fleeting, that's gone. More than that. I want to be like Uzziah in the sense of, I want to start strong and kind of like flying altitude, you know, like cruising altitude in a plane. I want to be going well.
00:35:02
NextGen Matters
but I also to make sure i land well. I don't want to be Uzziah in that way. Folks, let's be honest. What gets most of us in ministry is not the sexual sense, although I heard about more again this last week.
00:35:17
NextGen Matters
But that's not what usually gets us. What usually gets us is arrogance and pride. We'll begin to kind of thump the chest and look at ourselves and think how big of a ministry we have or how many things are going well. And we can unfortunately begin to let go of, this is all of grace. This is all of grace and the grace only from God.
00:35:37
NextGen Matters
God has blessed us. May I finish strong. May you finish strong. May we be able to say, like the Apostle Paul, that we have finished the race. We have kept the faith.
00:35:48
NextGen Matters
And we want to finish strong. So I encourage you with this to learn from King Uzziah. You know, the man was a great starter, but was he a great finisher? No.
00:35:59
NextGen Matters
So I want you to think about that. Hey, put some comments in here or just reach out to me and tell me what you thought about this, this kind of walk through King Uzziah. Again, I want you remember what you finish what you I mean, once you start, finish well and finish faithful.
00:36:15
NextGen Matters
Just like Paul says in 2 Timothy six or four chapter four, verses six through eight, be that model of endurance, being faithful, finishing the race with joy. Let's be leaders who finish
Conclusion: Motivational Message
00:36:26
NextGen Matters
strong. Let's be disciples who stay strong.
00:36:29
NextGen Matters
Let's be men and women who are champions for the cause of Jesus Christ. And remember what you do matters because the gospel matters. Because Jesus matters.
00:36:41
NextGen Matters
And what we do for him and only for him is what will truly last. Have a great week and we'll see you next time on the Next Gen Matters podcast.