SPEAKER_00: Morning, church.
SPEAKER_00: Or wait, afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: Ah, tough.
SPEAKER_00: You said it, you got it right.
SPEAKER_00: I should have gotten it right.
SPEAKER_00: Um, hey, I am so excited to be with you today.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and we are gonna be diving in to continuing in our series, Chronicles of the Kings, and we're gonna be in 2 Kings 18.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and turn to 2 Kings uh chapter 18.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible, feel free to grab one of the ones.
SPEAKER_00: They're free in the back of the pews, um, or it'll be on the screen here in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: And uh just a heads up before we dive in.
SPEAKER_00: Um, one, we're gonna be reading a lot of scripture today.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't foresee anyone going home and being like, man, we read way too much of the Bible today.
SPEAKER_00: That was way too much Bible in church.
SPEAKER_00: I don't foresee that happening, so I think you guys are uh gonna enjoy as we did read a lot of scripture today.
SPEAKER_00: Um, second thing, as the video was talking about, we're excited about this fall season, um, all the big things happening, 181 Espanol, getting in their newly reconstructed sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then uh with North Midland campus, they're gearing up to launch in the fall, so we're excited about new service times, 9:30 and 11.
SPEAKER_00: Um, so you probably got one of these cards as you came in.
SPEAKER_00: If not, grab one before you go.
SPEAKER_00: Um and what we would love for you to do, you if you're a digital person, you can scan the QR code and do that.
SPEAKER_00: Or if you uh want to you know grab a pen and write it out.
SPEAKER_00: We just would love to know what uh service, 9.30 or 11, you and your family are planning to attend.
SPEAKER_00: That'll really help us out with planning and getting ready for that.
SPEAKER_00: Um and there's also that opportunity the video talked about to attend one, serve one.
SPEAKER_00: This might be the time to jump in, and this is how we love people is through serving.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and there's opportunities and options on there.
SPEAKER_00: So you can grab that, you can uh drop it with our ushers or greeters, new here, anyone who's on our team, feel free to drop it with them before you head out today.
SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Kings chapter 18.
SPEAKER_00: If you would stand for the reading of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna be in 2 Kings 18, starting in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: In the third year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
SPEAKER_00: He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: His nether his mother's name was Abhi, the daughter of Zechariah, and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
SPEAKER_00: He removed the high places, he broke the pillars and cut down the asherah, and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made.
SPEAKER_00: For until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it.
SPEAKER_00: It was called Nahushton.
SPEAKER_00: He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him, for he held fast to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses, and the Lord was with him.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever he went out, he prospered, he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and would not serve him.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord, and all God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Does God want to deliver you?
SPEAKER_00: Does he want to deliver you?
SPEAKER_00: Does he want to rescue you?
SPEAKER_00: Does he want to save you?
SPEAKER_00: If we're, you know, deep down in our hearts, we know that the answer should be an emphatic yes, of course he wants to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Of course God wants to deliver us.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes, if we're honest, there's moments and and and times and seasons where the answer is something more like I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure because, man, my problems are really, really big.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure because my situation is really complex.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure because my circumstances, I just don't see how God could come through.
SPEAKER_00: I just don't see how God can fix this.
SPEAKER_00: And the king that we're reading about today, King Hezekiah, he was actually a really good king.
SPEAKER_00: He was a good king because he uh unified the kingdom of Judah, he expanded the kingdom, the southern kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: He just what we just read is he destroyed a whole bunch of idols that the people were worshiping instead of God, and he was devoted to God.
SPEAKER_00: He was a really good king, and he also dealt with some really big problems.
SPEAKER_00: And when these problems came knocking at the door, Hezekiah didn't try to figure it all out himself.
SPEAKER_00: When these problems came knocking at the door, Hezekiah actually prayed.
SPEAKER_00: And what we're gonna see is prayers of Hezekiah today.
SPEAKER_00: When big problems come knocking at his door, he responds in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And the first thing that we see is actually the first problem that comes knocking at the door is actually death.
SPEAKER_00: Death comes knocking at Hezekiah's door, and death comes in the form of the uh Assyrian military empire.
SPEAKER_00: Assyria was a nation to the north of Israel, and they uh they had a king, and Hezekiah actually had a pretty good relationship with this king, but now they have a new king, and this guy's name is Sennacherib, and this guy has aspirations to conquer the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: And so he starts and he starts conquering and he's taking out nations left and right, and he has his eyes set on the southern kingdom of Judah, where Hezekiah is king, and he comes with all of his military might.
SPEAKER_00: Historians say that it's one of the most violent empires that that world history has ever seen.
SPEAKER_00: And they come knocking at the door and they send letters to Hezekiah and with a message saying, Hey, you better surrender or else.
SPEAKER_00: And so Hezekiah has death knocking at the door.
SPEAKER_00: So what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: It says in verse 14 of chapter 19 that Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it.
SPEAKER_00: And what did Hezekiah do?
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder where do you go when crisis comes?
SPEAKER_00: What do you run to when things get crazy?
SPEAKER_00: What do you go to for safety?
SPEAKER_00: What do you go to to figure things out?
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah?
SPEAKER_00: He ran to church.
SPEAKER_00: He ran to the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Because there's this temptation that when things are really bad, when things are crazy, when we when our when our lives kind of start getting all out of whack, and when big problems come knocking at the door, there's a temptation to actually, okay, I can't go to church because I gotta figure all this out myself.
SPEAKER_00: I can't go to church because I gotta, I gotta make sure to clean up all my mess before I show up to the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah had a really big problem knocking at his door, but he didn't uh say, okay, I'm gonna figure it all out myself.
SPEAKER_00: No, he went running to the house of the Lord and just laid out his problem right before God.
SPEAKER_00: And then he prayed.
SPEAKER_00: And it says Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, you made heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_00: Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear.
SPEAKER_00: Open your eyes, O Lord, and see and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone, therefore they were destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: And what we see in this prayer is actually really similar.
SPEAKER_00: If you were here a couple weeks ago, Pastor Daniel preached a message on Jehoshaphat, King Jehoshaphat, and uh he had this great model of prayer, and there are really lots of similarities between Hezekiah's prayer and Jehoshaphat's prayer, and Pastor Daniel's model, we can see it even here, where it's this model of prayer in crisis, where we start by acknowledging the reality of what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: We come to God, not with any pretension, but just God, this is really what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: And we come and we ask God to give us his perspective on what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: God, give us your perspective on reality.
SPEAKER_00: And from that place, then we posture ourselves in humility before God.
SPEAKER_00: And from that humility is the fertile soil where faith grows and we can respond in faith and ask God to come through, ask God to deliver us, ask God to make a way.
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what Hezekiah does in verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: He says, So now, O Lord our God, save us please from his hand.
SPEAKER_00: That all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder when you pray, are your prayers God-centered like Hezekiah's?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you find yourself sometimes praying self-centered prayers?
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah could have just said, God save me, please.
SPEAKER_00: Because I need saving.
SPEAKER_00: But what he does instead, he says, God save us, please, because Assyria is taking out all these other gods, and they're trying to say that they're better than all these other gods, and their God is better than their gods.
SPEAKER_00: And if they come and take you out, then people aren't going to know that you're the one true God.
SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna honor you rightly as they should.
SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna glorify you as the one true living God.
SPEAKER_00: God, save us, please, so that your glory, your name can be made much of so people can know who you are.
SPEAKER_00: God-centered prayers.
SPEAKER_00: And not just that, but also focused on others.
SPEAKER_00: God, it's not it's not just obviously it's first about God, but Hezekiah's concern is also for all the kingdoms who think that actually a serious God is number one.
SPEAKER_00: And Hezekiah, no, you're the one true living God.
SPEAKER_00: And I want I want to pray, yes, you deliver me, God, but God, please do it for your name, for your glory, and for the sake of all these other people.
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah, when death came knocking at the door, Hezekiah depended on God and he prayed for deliverance from death because God, Hezekiah believed something that you and I need to believe deep down in our hearts and in our minds, and it's something that Hezekiah trusted.
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah trusted that God desires to deliver the dependent.
SPEAKER_00: God desires to deliver the dependent.
SPEAKER_00: And when death came knocking at the door by external forces, Hezekiah prayed because he believed that God desired to deliver him.
SPEAKER_00: To deliver the dependent.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, I really want to move forward, I really want things to work out, I really want uh the God to come through in this situation, but man, it just seems like I can't control what other people are gonna do.
SPEAKER_00: Or you wanna you wanna do a good job, you want to get good grades at school.
SPEAKER_00: And man, you have all this other stuff that you also have to do, and it seems like all this other stuff doesn't leave you enough time to be able to do the thing that you really want to do, which is to just do a good job and to accomplish the thing that you want to set out to accomplish, and all these external forces, when the external forces come, can we believe that God desires to deliver the dependent?
SPEAKER_00: When death came knocking at the door, Hezekiah prayed.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the only time the problems came knocking, because then problems would start coming again, and it wasn't death per se, even though it was death that he was facing, it was actually disease, death by disease that started to come knocking at the door.
SPEAKER_00: And Hezekiah, with uh when death came knocking at the door with the Assyrian army, God came through in a big way, and he confused them and he sent them on their way, and they barely had to do anything.
SPEAKER_00: God came through, and so now Hezekiah comes to another moment where now disease is knocking at the door, and instead of external forces coming against him, now it's internal forces that are knocking at Hezekiah's door.
SPEAKER_00: And we read about this story in chapter 20, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: It says, In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death.
SPEAKER_00: And Isaiah the prophet, same Isaiah of the book of Isaiah, the son of Amos, came to him and said to him, Thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die.
SPEAKER_00: You shall not recover.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah here prophesies something bad is gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: A prophecy of doom.
SPEAKER_00: What does Hezekiah do?
SPEAKER_00: He turns his face to the wall and pray, and he prayed to the Lord, saying, Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight, oh God.
SPEAKER_00: And he's the way that he's praying, he can't even bring himself to ask for healing explicitly.
SPEAKER_00: It just says that Hezekiah wept bitterly.
SPEAKER_00: When disease comes knocking at the door, when internal forces start knocking at the door, how do you pray?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you just try to you know get the get the request out and okay, let me let me go try to fix it all?
SPEAKER_00: Or do you say, God, please remember me?
SPEAKER_00: You're so big and I'm so small.
SPEAKER_00: But God, please remember me.
SPEAKER_00: And do you pray in such a way with such an honesty before God?
SPEAKER_00: It's like I can't even get the words, I have to ask him to heal me.
SPEAKER_00: And tears start to flow.
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah wept bitterly before the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: What happens?
SPEAKER_00: It says, and before Isaiah the prophet had gone out of the middle court, before he even left the palace complex, the word of the Lord came to him.
SPEAKER_00: Turn back and say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father, I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we need to know today is that if you've prayed a prayer to God and you wondered if he was listening, or you shed tears when you were by yourself, or in that moment with a friend, or with your spouse, and you guys were just crying because of the situation, wondering, does God see us, does God hear us?
SPEAKER_00: The truth is God hears every prayer and he sees every tear.
SPEAKER_00: He saw Hezekiah's tears, and he says, Behold, I will I will heal you.
SPEAKER_00: On the third day, you shall go up to the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: After the miracle comes through, where are you gonna run to?
SPEAKER_00: Because there is that temptation, right?
SPEAKER_00: There's that temptation when things are going bad to oh, I gotta go, I gotta fix it all up, I gotta clean it all up before I go to the house of the Lord, before I go to church.
SPEAKER_00: And we we know that Hezekiah, he didn't believe that he responded and he went straight running to the house of the Lord, but there's also the temptation when things are going well, when God comes through, there's the temptation to say, okay, things are good now.
SPEAKER_00: I got all I can I'm healed, I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: Like, let's go.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go do this thing, let's go.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna use some of that time.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this Sunday we're not gonna go to church because we got this opportunity, so let's go do that.
SPEAKER_00: After the miracle comes through, where are you gonna run to?
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah, God wanted to make sure that Hezekiah ran to the house of the Lord again, and Hezekiah prayed when internal forces were coming against him.
SPEAKER_00: He believed that God desires to deliver the dependent.
SPEAKER_00: And God, it it's it's like parenting, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's like parenting, and in parenting, there's you know that kind of uh you know sentiment, um, which there's some good in this sentiment, um, but there's there's also something missing.
SPEAKER_00: There's a sentiment so often in parenting where it's like we want to raise kids who are going to be independent.
SPEAKER_00: We want to raise kids that are independent of us, like they can go and exist on their own without our help.
SPEAKER_00: Like they can go actually like live a life and be successful.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and there's something there that's that there's a good in that sentiment, but I don't think that God wanted to deliver Hezekiah, or God delivered Hezekiah from when death came knocking at the door or when disease came knocking at the door.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think that he wanted to deliver him so that Hezekiah could then go and do his own thing and say, See you later, God.
SPEAKER_00: And in parenting, it's I want to we want to raise kids, and we and they come out, they come out just super dependent.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're babies, they're like, You gotta do everything for me.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't, but I don't want to raise them to go be independent.
SPEAKER_00: I want them to be able to do things on their own for sure.
SPEAKER_00: They need to be able to, you know, do stuff.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to take their dependence on me and my wife when they're young, and over the course of 18 years, help them to transfer that dependence from us to God so that they can be adults, they're not independent adults, but adults who are dependent on God.
SPEAKER_00: And from that place, uh doing all the things that they're called to do, from a place of believing and trusting that God desires to deliver the dependent, not just from external forces, but also from internal forces, just like Hezekiah.
SPEAKER_00: And so I wonder what are the internal forces that you're dealing with today?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it is sickness, maybe it is disease.
SPEAKER_00: You've got a diagnosis that you didn't see coming, or that was hard, and you're wondering, how what are we gonna do about this?
SPEAKER_00: Does God want to heal me?
SPEAKER_00: Can God heal still?
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're not wondering that you're like, I know God can heal, but and maybe he wants me to walk through this and to trust in him, but how am I supposed to do that with peace?
SPEAKER_00: I know the Bible says that there's like this peace that goes beyond all understanding that's supposed to guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus, but man, I'm not feeling that right now.
SPEAKER_00: These internal forces that come against us, and maybe it's not like a sickness or disease, maybe it's your thoughts.
SPEAKER_00: There's all these thoughts that are just playing over and over in your head, and you can't feel like you don't have a moment to just like be quiet and still because these thoughts keep coming, and these thoughts you're wondering, are these lies or is this truth?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not even sure.
SPEAKER_00: And then as you're dealing with that, all these emotions start to come up, and you start to feel like, man, what am I gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: How do I deal with all of these internal forces?
SPEAKER_00: As we deal, as these internal forces come knocking at the door, we believe that God desires to deliver the dependent.
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah believed that.
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah believed that when death came knocking at the door, Hezekiah believed that when disease came knocking at the door, and then the next thing that comes knocking at the door is a little different.
SPEAKER_00: The next thing that comes knocking at the door are deals.
SPEAKER_00: Deals start coming knocking at the door.
SPEAKER_00: Because what happens in uh later in verse 20 is that there's another kingdom, another kingdom who's actually to the northeast, and there uh also will soon have aspirations of their own to conquer the whole world is the kingdom of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: And Babylon, you know, they're kind of gearing up for that, and so they hear, man, Hezekiah, his God just saved him literally from death's doorstep.
SPEAKER_00: That's incredible.
SPEAKER_00: We need to go down there and send our envoys, which is what they do, and let's go strike up an alliance with this guy.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're gonna conquer a bunch of kingdoms, we need his God to be on our side.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's go strike up an alliance with this guy, make sure he's loyal to us, and then all of our world conquering is gonna work out.
SPEAKER_00: And so then they ask Hezekiah the age old question deal or no deal?
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah could have said.
SPEAKER_00: Hey Babylon, look, been here and I've done that.
SPEAKER_00: With Assyria, I had a good relationship with one king, and then the next king came, and all of a sudden he's trying to conquer our kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And look, I've played that whole trying to, you know, be cool with other kingdoms that want to conquer the world thing, and it doesn't work out.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna say no deal.
SPEAKER_00: But what I am gonna tell you is that yeah, you've heard that God delivered me, but let me tell you that it's because of who our God is, and he's not your God, he's not the uh the all these other gods, all these other idols that the nations are worshiping, he's the one true living God.
SPEAKER_00: And in uh book of Exodus, in the scroll of Exodus would have been in the scroll of Exodus, chapter 34, it says that God is full of steadfast love and mercy, and he's gracious, and he wants to forgive the sins of people who come to him.
SPEAKER_00: So let me tell you about that God, and uh as a response, because we trust in that God, man, I destroyed all the idols of the people.
SPEAKER_00: I made sure every single idol in the whole kingdom was destroyed, all these man-made things people were trusting.
SPEAKER_00: We got rid of all of that, and we're worshiping the one true living God alone now, and so if you want that, then I can show you the way.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Hezekiah could have done.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, what Hezekiah does is he proceeds to show off.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Hey man, come look at all this stuff that I have because God delivered us from uh the Assyrians, and so man, we didn't lose one thing, we didn't lose any people, like it was great.
SPEAKER_00: And so, look at all this stuff that I have.
SPEAKER_00: Isn't it neat?
SPEAKER_00: Or look at my army, man.
SPEAKER_00: My army is really big.
SPEAKER_00: Look at that.
SPEAKER_00: We have a strong army, we're like a little nation compared to you guys, but our army is just as strong.
SPEAKER_00: Check out this military might, check out this wealth.
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah starts to show off.
SPEAKER_00: And then what happens next is Isaiah the prophet comes to King Hezekiah.
SPEAKER_00: He's like asked him, Hey, what are these men, where are these men from?
SPEAKER_00: What do they say to you?
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Oh, they're from Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, they were just wondering about all the cool stuff that God's been doing.
SPEAKER_00: And uh he said, Well, what have you done with them?
SPEAKER_00: And Hezekiah said, I've actually shown them all my stuff, showed off all this cool stuff that God's done and that he's given us, and then this really big army that we have.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and maybe they'll be impressed.
SPEAKER_00: Then verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah said to Isaiah has said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing shall be left, says the Lord, and some of your own sons, your descendants, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if you have some descendants who need God to come through for them.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if you have some, maybe some physical descendants, some kids or grandkids that you're like, I need God to come through for them and to deliver them.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have people who you hope to be spiritual descendants, people at your job, co-workers, friends, teammates, classmates, that you hope that they'll come to know God and that be a part of the family of God and the generations of the church, and you really hope, man, that they would come to know God.
SPEAKER_00: And Hezekiah, he's been here before, right?
SPEAKER_00: He death came knocking at the door, and what did he do?
SPEAKER_00: He prayed.
SPEAKER_00: He believed that God desires to deliver the dependent, and then disease came knocking at the door, not just external forces, but internal forces.
SPEAKER_00: And what did Hezekiah do?
SPEAKER_00: He prayed and believed that God desires to deliver the dependent, and so what is this moment?
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah again, he's prophesying, but it's not that Hezekiah's life is on the line.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's that his descendants' lives are on the line, and his sons and their sons and the future generations that their lives are on the line.
SPEAKER_00: And Hezekiah's already been here before because when he was here, he got a prophecy of doom.
SPEAKER_00: What did he do?
SPEAKER_00: He prayed, and God had mercy on him and grace, showed grace to him.
SPEAKER_00: And so now he's got another prophecy of doom.
SPEAKER_00: What should Hezekiah do?
SPEAKER_00: This is really an invitation to pray again, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: It's an invitation, Hezekiah.
SPEAKER_00: You've been here before.
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you pray again?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you believe that God not only desires to deliver the dependent, but God also desires to deliver their descendants?
SPEAKER_00: Hezekiah, why don't you pray again?
SPEAKER_00: What does Hezekiah do, verse 19?
SPEAKER_00: And then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.
SPEAKER_00: Works for me.
SPEAKER_00: For he thought, why not?
SPEAKER_00: If there will be peace and security in my days.
SPEAKER_00: Different reasons it could be.
SPEAKER_00: There's a potential that here that he says, look, there's you're you're saying things are gonna be bad.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but man, if peace and security in my days, that's pretty good.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's the potential loss.
SPEAKER_00: There's different there there could be any number of reasons, but for whatever reason, Hezekiah prayed two great prayers, but he stopped short of praying three great prayers.
SPEAKER_00: He's still a really good king.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible attests to that.
SPEAKER_00: But we're left wondering, what if Hezekiah had prayed three great prayers?
SPEAKER_00: What could that have done?
SPEAKER_00: Not just for him, but for the generations to come.
SPEAKER_00: What could that have done for his descendants?
SPEAKER_00: Because we've we a few weeks ago, uh Pastor Andrew preached on his son Manasseh, who's one of the worst kings.
SPEAKER_00: And then within generations, exile came.
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, there's been there's been prophecies of uh exile is coming.
SPEAKER_00: There's there seems to be no way around it, but man, what if Hezekiah had prayed?
SPEAKER_00: How could that have changed those generations that came after him?
SPEAKER_00: And we don't see someone interceding in prayer three times again for the rest of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Interceding in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not until we get to the gospel according to Matthew.
SPEAKER_00: In chapter 26, in verse 36, where it's the story of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_00: And it starts saying, Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, Sit here while I go over there and pray.
SPEAKER_00: Why is Jesus praying?
SPEAKER_00: It's because, like Hezekiah, death is knocking at the door, but not just any death.
SPEAKER_00: He was about to be betrayed by one of his own who had been with him for years, one of his own disciples.
SPEAKER_00: He was about to be betrayed into the hands of the Pharisees and the religious leaders, and he was about to be beaten and mocked, and he was about to endure death on a cross, even as we sang about on during the third song, and that death on the cross wasn't just a brutal death, it was a death where he was dying as a sacrifice for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: For Peter tells us that he carried all the sin of the world in his body as he hung there on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: He's on moments from the from the first domino falling and all these events happening.
SPEAKER_00: And what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus prays.
SPEAKER_00: And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
SPEAKER_00: And then he said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.
SPEAKER_00: Remain here and watch with me.
SPEAKER_00: And going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
SPEAKER_00: And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, So could you not watch with me one hour?
SPEAKER_00: Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation.
SPEAKER_00: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
SPEAKER_00: Again for the second time he went away and prayed, My father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.
SPEAKER_00: And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
SPEAKER_00: So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
SPEAKER_00: And Luke tells us what he said in this moment 22-42, where it says, saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.
SPEAKER_00: And there appeared to him an angel from heaven strengthening him, and yet being in agony, he prayed more earnestly.
SPEAKER_00: And his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground, foreshadowing the blood that he was about to shed on the cross both for you and for me.
SPEAKER_00: Why would Jesus endure the cross knowing what it would cost him?
SPEAKER_00: Why would he pray three times knowing it would cost him a brutal death with the sins of the world on him?
SPEAKER_00: The author of Hebrews tells us that it's actually Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him.
SPEAKER_00: And what was that joy?
SPEAKER_00: Not only would he be resurrected to new life through death, but that he would, another place in Hebrews says, bring many sons, many descendants to the glory of being born again to new life.
SPEAKER_00: And most of us are here today because at some point we were independent of God.
SPEAKER_00: We were going our own way and we were doing our own thing, and we were in charge of our own lives, and we didn't really want to have a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00: We were rebelling against God and it was hurting people along the way, but we were gonna accomplish what we wanted to accomplish, and that was one track to eternity without God in hell.
SPEAKER_00: But then God interrupted our lives and he sent most likely somebody with a message, the good news of the gospel that Jesus died, not just Jesus died, and that's cool in general, but that Jesus died for your sins.
SPEAKER_00: And we heard that message, and we heard that we can receive forgiveness from sins and be reconciled to God and then be able to love God and to love people.
SPEAKER_00: And we heard that message, and in that moment we decided to respond in faith.
SPEAKER_00: And we prayed a prayer, and in that prayer we became repentant and dependent on God.
SPEAKER_00: And he brought us from death to life, and we were lost, and now we're found, all because in that moment we essentially believed and trusted that God desires to deliver the dependent and their descendants.
SPEAKER_00: And so I just wonder if today we will continue to believe that when we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Will we continue to pray like Hezekiah and believe that when death comes knocking at the door, that God desires to deliver the dependent?
SPEAKER_00: When when disease comes knocking at the door, will we continue to pray believing that God desires to deliver the dependent?
SPEAKER_00: And when it seems like death's knocking at the door of our kids' lives and our grandkids' lives, and our friends' lives and our co-workers' lives, and all the people who we know God loves and He wants to bring them to new life too, will when death comes knocking at their door, will we pray believing that God desires to deliver the dependent and their descendants?
SPEAKER_00: And what we're going to do today is we're going to respond to God's word.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to do it the way that Hezekiah did it, and we're going to do it the way that Jesus did it.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to come to the Lord in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to do here in a moment is our worship team is going to come and they're going to lead us in a song of worship.
SPEAKER_00: But we're also going to respond in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And in a moment, we're going to stand.
SPEAKER_00: Our ministry team is going to be here at the front, and they would love to pray with you today.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're here today and you're saying, Man, I do have some of those external forces coming against me, coming against my business, coming against my family, coming against me.
SPEAKER_00: And I, what do I do?
SPEAKER_00: Well, you can come to the house of the Lord, which you've already done.
SPEAKER_00: Good job.
SPEAKER_00: And now you can come and spread it out.
SPEAKER_00: Spread out the bad news like Hezekiah did before God in prayer, and ask God to come through and believe that God desires to deliver the dependent.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have internal forces that are just working against you.
SPEAKER_00: You have some kind of sickness that you want to believe God to bring healing.
SPEAKER_00: You want to believe God to give you peace as you go through it.
SPEAKER_00: You have thoughts and emotions that are just difficult to deal with.
SPEAKER_00: And you're wondering, what should I do?
SPEAKER_00: You can come like Hezekiah, tears and all, and lay it all out before God and believe that God desires to deliver the dependent.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's not you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're not dealing with any of that today, but many of us know somebody.
SPEAKER_00: We know a kid, we know a grandkid, we know a friend, we know a coworker, we know a teammate, we know someone at school, someone at our job.
SPEAKER_00: Man, we know they need God to come through for them.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray like Jesus prayed?
SPEAKER_00: And say, God, would you come through?
SPEAKER_00: We know I know that I believe that you desire to deliver the dependent, but I also know you desire to save the lost.
SPEAKER_00: I know you also desire to come through for the next generation.
SPEAKER_00: I know you desire to come through for those, all those people at work and all those people at school.
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm coming to you in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Even if it means that I'm gonna have to keep praying for those people, even if it means that I might need to start loving those people and serving those people as Jesus has loved and served me, I'm willing to come and to pray today in the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And so, what I want to invite everyone to do right now is to stand to your feet as our ministry team makes the way to the front.
SPEAKER_00: You can stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_00: And as you stand today, we're about to go into another song of worship.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna pray here in a moment, and even as I pray, and even as we're in worship, if that's you today, you have the external forces, internal forces, or you know someone who you need God to come through for them, come and pray and believe that God desires to deliver the dependent and their descendants.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, God, we're so grateful for your grace and mercy, for your presence that's here today in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: God, we're so grateful.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we're so grateful for your will.
SPEAKER_00: Your will that sent Jesus to come and to live the life we should have lived, and to die the death we should have died on that cross, so we could have new life, so we could be forgiven, so we could have direct access in a line of communication in prayer to you, so that we could experience the reality of what Hebrews talks about, where it says to come boldly before the throne of grace to receive help in time of need.
SPEAKER_00: God, we're so grateful that we get to do that today.
SPEAKER_00: And so would you meet us in prayer today?
SPEAKER_00: Would you continue to do a mighty work in our hearts and minds?
SPEAKER_00: And we believe that as we pray, you're doing a work wherever all those descendants are today.
SPEAKER_00: God, we trust you.
SPEAKER_00: We ask that you would help us as we continue to worship you.
SPEAKER_00: I pray this all in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone say, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's worship.