WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.560 Well, it's great to be with you today. 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:14.000 I was arrived yesterday and was here for a seminar that we did yesterday morning, and then last night I had uh the privilege of going to Mount Washington. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:19.280 It was kind of late, but we had a wonderful view over the city, so it was terrific to see this. 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:27.760 Well, when Kurt asked me to come out and to preach, um I was thinking this could be tough. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:35.280 I'm of course from Australia, but I live in New England, north of Boston, teach at Gordon Comwell. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:40.719 Um, my two sons and my husband are New England Patriot fans. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:43.359 I know this could be tough. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:50.479 However, I do want to mention that my sister-in-law and brother-in-law both went to Penn State. 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:55.920 Now that some of you are thinking it's good, and some not so good. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:01.600 Um, my brother-in-law played football at Penn State. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:07.280 But I have more. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:02.000 And I'm like, no, no, not Narnia Chronicles, this is Bible Chronicles. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:11.039 So it's and the passage that I'm gonna read in a moment also has some names like Zebulon, Iskar, um, Manasseh. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.039 And it's sort of like, okay, what's going on? 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:42.080 So as we get started, as I read it, um, I want to set the context because the story takes place with King Hezekiah, and the passage I'm gonna read is King Hezekiah sends an invitation to these northern tribes, and that's when you read these names that you may not be familiar with, but I'm gonna explain why they're important in just a moment. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:52.719 But the other thing I want us to be thinking of as we read and hear this passage is you may be familiar with the passage in 2 Chronicles 7 14. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:03:06.639 If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, pray, and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear, forgive, and heal the land. 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:09.599 I think Cory Joby's got a wonderful song on heal the land. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:11.599 So you may be familiar with that. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:25.680 And the story that we're gonna be looking at today is actually a commentary on that verse, all the language appearing in that verse, everything occurs in this chapter. 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:29.520 It's the only chapter in the Bible that they all appear together, and it's a commentary. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:34.479 It's gonna help us explain how to live out 2 Chronicles 7:14. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:36.319 So that's where we're headed. 00:03:36.879 --> 00:03:44.719 Uh, 2 Chronicles chapter 30, verses 1 to 3, and I'm reading from the New American version. 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:59.199 Now Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:17.279 For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had decided to celebrate the Passover in the second month, since they could not celebrate it at that time, because the priests had not been consecrated in sufficient numbers, nor had the people been gathered to Jerusalem. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:26.240 Now reading verses 10 to 12, and I would encourage you to read the whole chapter at home, but I thought I wouldn't read out that would use up all my time this morning. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:28.319 Verses 10 to 12. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:40.079 So the couriers passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulon, but they laughed them to scorn, and they mocked them. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:49.360 Nevertheless, some men of Asheah, Manasseh, and Zebulon humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 00:04:49.839 --> 00:05:00.399 The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of God. 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:04.079 Now verses 18 to 20. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:16.240 For a multitude of people, even many from Ephraim and Manasseh, from Iscar and Zebulon, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than prescribed. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:32.399 For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, May the good Lord pardon everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:39.199 So the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people. 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:56.879 And I also work on with him on this casket empty project, which is a Bible project, how to understand the Bible. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:58.720 He's written the New Testament. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:10.240 And about two years ago, he was teaching in a in Beirut in Lebanon, and he met a pastor there of a church who ministers to refugees. 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:14.639 And this pastor told him a story about a man named Yasir. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:22.079 Now, Yasir grew up in the Sudan, and he was grew up in a um a devout Muslim family. 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:32.560 And when he was at school, there was another kid in the class whose name was Zachariah, and he was a Christian. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:38.560 And Yasir tells the story how he absolutely hated Christians. 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:41.920 And he said, we saw them as the infidels. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:50.079 So one day he and a few of his friends dragged Zachariah out into the field and they beat him up. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:56.959 They broke, they damaged his eye, and they broke his arm and in a leg, and they left him for dead. 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:00.879 Well, God took hold of Yasir's family. 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:07.920 His uncle became a Christian first through some amazing circumstances, and then Yasir did, and his family disowned him. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:17.040 He ended up doing study, and then he finally became a pastor to refugees in Germany. 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:21.920 Not only did he become a pastor, but he also was a speaker at conferences. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:40.560 So 25 years after that time when he was in school, he's speaking at a conference and he sees someone in the early few front rows, and the person is weeping as he's sharing his testimony. 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:46.959 And after he finished, he said he went up to the person and he said, I noticed that you are weeping. 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:48.240 Why were you weeping? 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:59.439 And as Yasir looked at the person, his eye was blind, and his body was clearly disfigured. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:11.040 And the man said to him, I am Zechariah, you beat and left the dead twenty-five years ago. 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:21.759 And then Zechariah said, I have been praying that you would become a Christian these twenty-five years. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:34.639 And not only that, but then he opened up and took out his Bible, and Yasir saw that his name was in the front page of the Bible because he had been praying for him. 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:47.200 And Yassiah thought to himself, what kind of religion is this that an enemy like this can love someone? 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:56.480 And the passage that we're looking at today is actually about former enemies being reconciled. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:02.879 Now we're not living in a context where we have that Christian Muslim kind of hatred for each other. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:18.080 And nor are we living at the time of King Hezekiah when there was hostility between tribes, but we are living in a context where there is a high, increasing sense of anger and bitterness toward people. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:31.519 Think of who you vote for, whether you're a Trump or a Biden supporter, whether you support Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, or Blue Lives Matter. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:43.679 Whether you agree with wearing masks or not wearing masks, whether you agree with vaccinations or not vaccinations. 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:47.679 I mean, we're becoming increasingly tribal. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:10:03.919 Ben Sass, who is a senator of Nebraska, and he spoke at a Gordon Conwell commencement a couple of years ago, has written a book called Them, Why We Hate Each Other and How to Heal. 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:21.120 And he said it really struck him a couple of years before writing the book because he was at a marathon, and he was, he and a few others had set up this little tent giving water to runners, because his daughter was a runner as they ran through. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:27.440 And he said, a group of protesters set up exactly opposite them on the other side of the road. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:37.279 And then what happened was when the runners were coming by and they started handing out water, the protesters would start shouting, poison, poison, don't drink any of it. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:41.039 And some of the runners were kind of like, uh, no thanks. 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:47.120 And he says, you know, when that happened, I realized there's something deeply wrong with our country. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:51.120 And you may have felt that as well. 00:10:51.279 --> 00:11:01.360 And I want us to think through the story of Hezekiah because they were facing a different kind of hostility, but God has a better way forward for us. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:11.360 First of all, just as we look at the context, let me tell you a couple of things about setting the scene. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:21.679 So King Hezekiah is an 8th century king in the 8th century BC, and there had been 200 years of divided kingdom. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:25.039 For those who are at the seminar, remember the northern and the southern kingdom. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:27.200 There'd been 200 years of division. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:34.799 Ten tribes had moved to the north, and there were two tribes in the south, Judah and Benjamin, and Jerusalem was the capital. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:43.840 And there'd been several wars that had taken place, and there were deeply held animosities. 00:11:43.919 --> 00:11:46.480 There were different political systems because you had kings. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:51.840 Remember all that those who were there, 20 kings in the north, 20 in the there's different kings, political system. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:55.600 They had set up idols in the north at Dan and Bethel. 00:11:55.759 --> 00:11:59.840 And so they were in conflict with each other. 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:17.759 But what Hezekiah does is he's going to send an invitation to the Passover celebration, the Passover that celebrates their redemption from each, and he sends letters to the northern tribes. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:21.840 And if I could have the map up, I just want to highlight where we are. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:31.039 If you'll see that Judah is in the south, and it's in the blue, and that includes Simeon, and you'll also see Jerusalem is in the south. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:37.200 And I'm just going to give you a couple of the verses so you get a sense of what we have in verse one. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:41.759 It says he invited Ephraim and Manasseh and Judah. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:45.519 So you can see Ephraim, Manasseh, and then further up north. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:52.000 In verse five, it says that the letters went from Beersheba to Dan. 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:58.559 And you'll notice Beersheba is way in the south, and then Dan is way in the north. 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:06.960 Verse 11, it talks about people from Ashe, Manasseh, and Zebulon coming to the south. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:13.840 And then in verse 18 it says, Ephraim, Manasseh, Iskar, and Zebulon. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:21.440 In other words, just while the map's still here, he is moving across tribes. 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:35.679 All of those northern tribes, they had been enemies, but his invitation is extending across the tribes. 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:37.440 Thank you. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:39.519 I don't need the map any longer. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:47.519 And as we start to think about, we're not the tribes of Zebulon or Judah or Manasseh, but we have our own tribes. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:57.279 And this story is about extending an invitation of reconciliation beyond our own tribes, so to speak. 00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:00.480 Well, this was this was even more profound. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:07.200 Not only does he send the invitation to invite them to come to the Passover, but there'd been some recent history. 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:23.759 In fact, Hezekiah's, during Hezekiah's father Ahaz, the northerners had actually come to the southern kingdom and they had killed thousands of people and they had taken their women and their children as hostage. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:34.720 Last weekend I watched the September 11th, it was the 20-year anniversary, and I watched 60 Minutes. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:44.320 I don't know if others saw the 60 Minutes, but it was quite a moving many interviews with people and especially the firemen. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:55.759 My husband and I felt it was very moving just because our son is training to be a fireman, and we just thought, oh, you know, what a wonderful group of people and their service and also the lives that were lost. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:02.159 And I also noticed that 20 years later, how raw those emotions were. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:14.639 And the question is, why does he do this? 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:31.840 And I want to remind us this morning and suggest that in Chronicles and throughout the scripture, there is a greater reality than personal animosities or tribal animosities. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:38.240 And the greater reality is God has created one people of God. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:48.960 And Chronicles, he wants to emphasize this because the opening genealogies, and I know you probably haven't read them recently. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:50.320 I love genealogies. 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.240 My work has been in Genesis. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:56.399 All I want to make is this one comment there in Chronicles. 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:01.200 It starts with nine chapters of genealogies, and everyone flips over. 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:09.200 The point I want to make is that all the tribes are represented in the opening genealogies. 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:16.559 And what is going on is the book is emphasizing it, it starts back with Adam, and it says, We are one people of God. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:27.679 And it's a driving theme, and the chronicle is going to use this language of all Israel, referring to the whole people of God. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:38.000 And when we think of ourselves, I want to remind us that we are one people of God in Christ. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:53.279 And what that means is our tribal particularities need to take a second place and a third place and a fourth place because the goal is that we are one people. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:57.759 Well, how does this happen in this story? 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:06.000 They get invited, first of all, notice to the Passover celebration. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:12.319 And the Passover, they're coming from the north. 00:17:12.480 --> 00:17:14.960 The Passover, how do you celebrate the Passover? 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:17.920 Or you have meals together. 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:19.279 Where do you have meals? 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:22.240 You have lamb, you have the unleavened bread. 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:24.160 Where do you have those meals? 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:27.519 Oh, in homes. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:43.039 You know that feeling when you've been in conflict with someone and you kind of don't want to see them, or you don't want to see them if you're coming in church and you happen to see them on the other side, you don't want to see them, or you've been that feel they're coming into their homes. 00:17:44.480 --> 00:18:08.960 When I was growing up, um, I grew up in a my parents were divorced and single mom, and I have a sister who's two years older, and when we got into you know some sibling rivalry of something or some conflict, what my mum would do is say to us, uh, go to your room, and she didn't mean go to your rooms, she meant go to your room. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:15.119 One room, both of you together, and you stay in the room and you sort it out, and you come out when you've sorted it out. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:25.920 And we'd both sit there in the room, we'd like look at you, you know, be sitting and like, you know, waiting who is gonna say something first, and we'd dig our heels, and we knew that we had to stay there till it was resolved. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:30.880 So eventually we're like, well, I, you know, I thought you said this, and you know, we'd start to get it resolved. 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:36.960 The Passover, they're in their meals, having meals together. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:45.440 You see, the story of the Bible is not only about conflict, and there's a whole series of conflicts. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:48.720 And in fact, that's what's going on in our culture now. 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:50.799 There are a series of conflicts. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:52.319 That's the human story. 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:57.279 My work is in the book of Genesis, and the conflict, where does it start? 00:18:57.599 --> 00:18:59.440 Genesis chapter 4. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:07.359 And it's all over the book of Genesis, the opening book to tell about the human story. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:11.680 And Jacob and Esau, there's rivalry between those. 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:21.039 There's Joseph and his brothers, and so the conflict that we are seeing in the culture now is part of what it means, the human story, it's the result of sin. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:27.599 But there's another reality that happens in the book of Genesis and it's reconciliation. 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:38.400 And Genesis, you have the story of both Jacob and Esau, the rivalry, but then you also have them being reconciled. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:45.200 And in fact, this story in Genesis, when they are reconciled, the brothers are weeping. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:56.480 The story of Joseph, if you've read that recently at the end, it's quite amazing because when Joseph finally sees his brothers, he just completely loses it. 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:27.440 And he even sends his officials to go out, and they says they heard him weeping, so and he weeps on their shoulder, but there's reconciliation, and that's also the human story, and I want to encourage us today that as we look at the story of Hezekiah, that reconciliation begins with an invitation. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:33.920 Who do you need to invite to a meal today? 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:42.960 Perhaps some of you need to respond to an invitation. 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:52.640 Who do you need to send an email to, make a phone call, someone that you're estranged with or you're in conflict with? 00:20:53.440 --> 00:21:10.400 When I was in my uh twenties, I still remember the time that um my I'd been kind of struggled with my dad because my parents had been divorced and he'd end up moving into state, and I'd felt isolated and kind of left on my own. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:34.559 I'd become a Christian in my late um teens, and I took the step toward reconciliation, and I can still remember now I was in a coffee shop in a mall, and I can still remember sitting in the booth and just weeping as I moved toward reconciliation. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:43.039 And we've had a wonderful relationship these 20, 30 years of being reconciled over a period of time. 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:53.200 What this story tells us is that Hezekiah sends out the invitation to the northern tribes. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:57.839 Some of them reject the invitation, and that's what happens in our own lives as well. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.759 You can't make someone be reconciled. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:02.720 But you can offer the invitation. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:14.400 But there are others, it says in verse 11, nevertheless, some men of Ashiah, Manasseh and Zebulon, humbled themselves and they came to Jerusalem. 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:18.559 And this is one of the key concepts in the book of Chronicles. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:30.160 If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, humble themselves is not being a humble person, it is submitting to the will and purpose of God. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:40.880 And that these northern tribes who humble themselves are submitting to the call to be reconciled. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:46.400 And it also means being vulnerable. 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:53.440 So it doesn't feel very good when we have to humble ourselves. 00:22:54.480 --> 00:23:00.480 They also, it says, they yield to the Lord, and it's literally to give their hand. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.079 But I want you to notice something else that happens. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:10.880 In verse 12, it says, the hand of God was on Judah to give them one heart. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:16.880 And I find this so interesting because what you have is the invitation goes to the north. 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:19.519 Some of them humble themselves, they come to Jerusalem. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:26.400 But how do you think the people of Jerusalem felt when they saw these northerners who had killed some of their people in the past? 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:42.000 This is a supernatural reconciliation because it says the hand, in the way it's written in the Hebrew, it's emphatic, the hand of God was on Judah. 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:52.240 God was doing it to give them one heart to do and to be obedient to the command of the king, which was according to the word of God. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:52.880 You see that? 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:58.799 So they're stepping out in faith, they're being willing to offer the invitation, they're being willing to be vulnerable. 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:03.359 But now, when the people are actually turning up in their home, God, you got to do it. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:04.880 And God does it. 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:16.640 Last fall, I was doing, we were doing a Bible study in our women's ministry on Chronicles, cultivating godliness. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:23.279 And there was a lady in um who was part of the study, and she came up to be church one day, and she was just bawling. 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:25.119 And I said, You know, what's wrong? 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:40.079 And she said, you know, we've been reading about being reconciled, and you don't know about this, but I've been in conflict with someone in my church, this other lady, for months and months, and it's got so bad that I've been thinking of leaving the church. 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:44.400 And she said, God's been stirring my heart. 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:50.720 And she said, the two of us talked before church today, and we have become reconciled. 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:58.000 The work of God, you can't do it on your own, the word of God and the work of God in their life. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:01.440 Well, I want to see a couple of other things that happen. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:03.440 So they come into Jerusalem. 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:14.160 We have them having the Passover meal, but before they have the Passover, they are meant to be purified, but they haven't been purified yet, and there's no time according to the custom to do it. 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:19.839 So what we find in verse 18 is it says, Hezekiah prayed for them. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:25.359 May the good Lord pardon everyone whose heart is to seek God. 00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:33.920 Hezekiah now takes the initiative to pray for one of his enemies. 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:38.079 Exactly what Jesus is gonna call us to do. 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:46.160 Again, this is an um, this is has to be a God thing. 00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:52.000 You see, because we're not gonna learn how to do this by looking at social media. 00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:57.599 You may have seen the Wall Street article about this, is its title. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:03.920 Facebook tried to make its platform a healthier place, it got angrier instead. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:10.960 And this article talks about what Facebook's done and its algorithm, it is playing on our anger. 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:15.920 They're making money off our anger. 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:27.119 What they found is that if you liked something according to their algorithm, you get one point, but if you put an angry button, you get five points. 00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:28.720 It's worth more to them. 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:35.759 And they found if people get angry, they're gonna stay online, and it is good for Facebook business. 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:39.519 So politicians are working this out, and other companies. 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:41.119 We're being had. 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:36.079 She ended up being with the Lord this past summer. 00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:44.880 But lovely, committed, godly woman who's prayed for her kids all her life, even just before she died. 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:54.240 But what was so interesting is that a number of the sisters and were coming up to help and be with their mum, and they were kind of taking shifts. 00:27:54.319 --> 00:27:59.440 And my husband and I also were going up there, and we had an opportunity to talk with some of the siblings. 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:05.359 Well, his sister became a Christian about five years ago, or maybe it was a few years more than that. 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:07.440 And we'd never really sat and asked her. 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:11.599 We'd seen a difference in her character, but we'd never really asked her what happened. 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:16.319 And what she said was, she said, we said, How did that happen? 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:18.559 And she said, Well, let me tell you. 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:26.799 I was in the courtroom getting a divorce from my husband, which we knew about that. 00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:28.640 She hadn't been to church. 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:35.519 I was in the courtroom getting a divorce, and she said, I was just filled with anger and rage. 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:41.680 And I didn't want to get a divorce, and I was just angry. 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:49.839 And she said, all of a sudden, this love and forgiveness just kind of went through me. 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:56.400 And she said, I realized I could forgive him. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:08.079 Well, she drives after the divorce and drives out, and she says to herself, I need to find out what just happened to me. 00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:10.160 I need to get to church. 00:29:10.480 --> 00:29:12.000 And that's exactly what happened. 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:18.400 And her life has been changed, but the anger has changed to forgiveness. 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:24.240 This is God's work, and it's a supernatural work that He does. 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:28.799 And we have a story to tell the culture around us. 00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:39.279 The outcome of this story in verse 20, it says, So the Lord heard Hezekiah and he healed the people. 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:49.680 I want you to notice in this verse that 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14, and this is the commentary on it, it says that we pray that God would heal the land. 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:55.279 And I want you to know this morning that the land is healed by people being healed. 00:29:56.240 --> 00:29:59.839 It's not an abstract prayer, it's a concrete prayer. 00:29:59.920 --> 00:30:09.359 And this is the hard work of reconciliation and prayer, and it comes and people are healed through prayer. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:17.279 I don't know if you've ever read the book called Out of a Far Country, but it's by Christopher Jarn. 00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:20.319 And Christopher Jarn grew up in Chicago. 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:25.599 His father was a dentist, and so he went to dental school in Atlanta. 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:32.079 But while he was at dental school, he kind of got involved with the wrong group. 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:49.200 He ended up going to parties, he ended up going to gay clubs, he moved into a whole gay lifestyle, lots of different sexual partners, and not only that, he got into drugs and actually became a very successful drug dealer. 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:56.400 Finally, getting arrested and going to prison for six years. 00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:05.519 Well, while he was going through all this, his mother, who had been an atheist, and the father had been atheist, became a Christian. 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:08.720 And so did her father uh husband at some point. 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:10.000 She became a Christian. 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:11.359 And you know what she started to do? 00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:13.440 She started to learn about prayer. 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:16.079 And she started praying for her son. 00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:18.960 And if you read the book, there are some photographs in it. 00:31:19.119 --> 00:31:23.680 She used a bathroom that no one used as her prayer closet. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:37.119 And she has pictures of signs up and sticky notes and these things in the bathroom of praying for her son, praying for his healing. 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:42.240 So while he's in prison, this is the supernatural work of God. 00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:48.559 While he's in prison, he's in a prison in high security in Atlanta. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:54.559 At the lowest point in his life, he's in the prison room. 00:31:54.720 --> 00:31:58.480 And he said he's got a closet sitting there, this old kind of closet. 00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:03.519 He's got a toilet that's kind of attached to the floor, and then he's got a bed. 00:32:05.200 --> 00:32:16.960 And he looks on the wall and he sees some scratch graffiti, and the graffiti says, If you're bored, read Jeremiah 29, 11, for I have plans for you for good. 00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:22.880 And he keeps reading it and he goes, Maybe God's got a plan for my restoration. 00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:33.519 And then he's looking in his cupboard, this old closet, and he said there were paper things in there, and there's some old kind of trash. 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:40.319 And he puts his hand in the cupboard and he feels a book, and it's a Bible. 00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:43.440 And he starts to read it. 00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:48.799 And he comes to the Lord while he's in prison. 00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:53.279 He ends up doing Bible studies. 00:32:56.319 --> 00:33:03.599 Six years later, when he finally gets out of prison, his mother and parents bring him back to Chicago. 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:08.559 He gets back and he sees outside the house a yellow ribbon. 00:33:09.119 --> 00:33:15.519 And he knew the story about the song Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree. 00:33:16.160 --> 00:33:27.279 And this story is about this prisoner, and he told his sweetheart, If you still want me back, tie a yellow ribbon round the tree. 00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:32.799 And when I come on the bus, and he told the bus driver, if there's a yellow ribbon, stop. 00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:34.880 If there's no yellow ribbon, just drive by. 00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:39.440 Well, Christopher gets home and he sees a yellow ribbon. 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:51.200 And then when he gets near the front door, he hears the music tie a yellow ribbon playing on a CD player. 00:33:52.960 --> 00:34:05.839 And then he walks inside the house, and there are about a hundred yellow ribbons with prayers that people have prayed for him for his healing. 00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:10.800 People from his church praying for him. 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:17.039 And Christopher ended up going to a Bible college, Moody Bible College. 00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:20.079 He's now a professor at the at Moody. 00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:26.719 And he speaks all around the country calling prodigals to come back to the Lord. 00:34:28.239 --> 00:34:30.559 That's the supernatural work of God. 00:34:32.159 --> 00:34:35.920 What do we want in our own lives, and in our own family? 00:34:36.239 --> 00:34:46.960 God encourages us to pray, to seek his face, and he promises to hear, to forgive, and to heal. 00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:53.760 And I don't know about you, but in the context in which we're living, I want to be a person all about reconciliation. 00:34:53.920 --> 00:35:03.039 And this church, Orchard Hill, you could be a you're a light to a place that is angry, that needs to find another way. 00:35:03.599 --> 00:35:05.039 Let us pray. 00:35:05.679 --> 00:35:16.559 Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are the supernatural God who works miracles in our lives one person at a time. 00:35:17.519 --> 00:35:23.840 Father, we thank you that you're a God who hears and answers prayer, you forgive and you heal. 00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:39.519 And Father, I pray this morning that if there's someone here that doesn't yet know your forgiveness, Lord, I pray that you would reveal yourself to that person or those people right now. 00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:50.719 And Lord, for those who are struggling with anger toward, it might be within their own family, a sibling or a friend or someone at the church or even a spouse. 00:35:51.280 --> 00:36:06.960 Lord, would you do your good work in our lives that we would come together as a place of worship here of a restored and a united people of God. 00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:11.679 We thank you, God, for what you'll do in the days ahead. 00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:15.360 And we pray this in Jesus' name and for his glory. 00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:16.320 Amen. 00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:19.039 Blessing God.