Isaiah // Today’s Decision, Tomorrow's Joy

In this episode, we look at the life of King Hezekiah in Isaiah 36–39—a story of desperate prayer, miraculous deliverance, and a subtle but costly shift in perspective. When Jerusalem is under attack, Hezekiah turns fully to God and experiences His saving power, reminding us that we are never too far gone for God to hear us. But soon after, Hezekiah begins to rely on political strategy instead of spiritual dependence, choosing short-term security over long-term faithfulness. His story challenges us to examine our own lives: are we seeking God only in moments of crisis, or allowing Him to be our constant source of life? True spiritual growth isn’t built on quick results, but on daily dependence that forms us over time.

Lifegroup Questions:

• In Isaiah 36–37, what stands out to you about the Assyrian threat and the psychological pressure they put on Judah? How does that compare to the kinds of pressures we experience today?
• Hezekiah’s first response to crisis was to seek the Lord through prayer and counsel (Isaiah 37:1–7). What does that reveal about where his hope was placed in that moment?
• Can you share a time when you faced a “hopeless” situation? Where did you instinctively turn for help or stability?
• Ecclesiastes 9:2–3 can sound discouraging at first glance. Why do you think Scripture includes passages that feel so honest—even bleak—about life? How do they prepare us to understand true hope?
• In Isaiah 38, Hezekiah responds to devastating news by turning his face to the wall and praying. What do you notice about his posture and tone? How is that different from complaining or despair?
• The sermon suggests that hope is not a strategy but a person. What does it practically look like to place hope in God rather than in outcomes, resources, or plans?
• In Isaiah 39, Hezekiah shifts from dependence on God to subtle self-reliance and diplomacy. Why do you think it can be easier to trust God in crisis than in comfort?
• The phrase “good is the enemy of great” was applied spiritually. Where might we be tempted to settle for a “good” life instead of pursuing a faithful, kingdom-centered life?
• How can we tell when our hope is slowly shifting from God to “lesser things”? What warning signs should we watch for in our own hearts?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the Refinery Current Sermon Podcast. We're so glad you joined us today. Our prayer is that this message will help you grow in your pursuit to love and follow Jesus in your life. If you'd like to learn more about the refinery, find ways to get connected, share a prayer request, or explore resources to help you grow deeper in your walk with Christ. Visit us online at refineryohio.com. Now let's dive into today's message.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Good morning, y'all. Hey, before I jump into the uh message this morning, I wanted to make you aware next month, uh, we're excited to have date night. There is an information change. It's 6 30 to 8 30, but October 25th, or not October. Wow. April 25th. Um, so Lamoris Crawford and Megan Crawford will be with you with us. Lamoris is a friend of mine. Uh we went to university together and uh he was at school with me and my wife, and uh he's now the chaplain for the Carolina Panthers, and he works with professional athletes and uh in some other spaces as well. But he was with us uh some time back, uh a couple years ago now, and he's been with us on two different occasions so far, and he'll be with us again and he'll speak that Sunday. So excited to have him and Megan just pour it into us. So if you are dating seriously, you're engaged, you're married, and whether your relationship's thriving or you're trying to figure it out or whatever, I just think marriage is a great place to make an investment, and so we love it. It'll be a fun night uh just to be together. So hope you'll join us for that evening. Um last week we began in this series in the Old Testament, it's the book of Isaiah. Isaiah is one of five major prophets. Uh, 39 Old Testament books, 27 New Testament books. Isaiah is one of five major prophets. There's twelve minor prophets. The twelve minor prophets in their entirety are shorter than the book of Isaiah alone. So major minor is just a distinction based upon length of work. And so the concept that we're kind of exploring throughout the book of Isaiah, knowing it's so long, is really just these themes of judgment and hope. Judgment and hope. Judgment and hope that runs throughout the entirety of the book. And it's not so much about pouring through every little single chapter together, but but exploring these ideas of judgment and hope throughout. And so last week the central idea was simply that right judgment from a good God is not the enemy of hope. Rather, it's the foundation of it. Because when we judge something to be wrong, broken, messed up, then we understand what it is and we can change a course. Uh this past week um we uh had an advisory team, which is super pumped. We hired a youth pastor, so he and his wife, uh Drew and Alyssa, they'll be joining us here in a few months, and so we're very excited to have them uh join us. But uh our advisory team was Wednesday night, and so we always gather in here for prayer, like we do for a night of prayer and like we do as a staff on Monday mornings. And often when I pray, like I'll just kick my shoes off and walk back and forth. In fact, if you come to meet me in the office, there's a chance I'll just have my shoes off. Um just hey, kick yours off too, we'll be comfortable together. And uh as I was walking to pray, because I I love to walk and pray, um, I stepped in something wet. And so it's a rare thing that you step in like something wet and you're like, well, that was nice, right? Especially in a worship center. Like I'm just like, I don't think this should be here. So I get down, start filling around, and it is soaking wet. Like somebody took a five-gallon bucket, dumped it, and did it again. And so one of the things we determined was there's a leak in our building. Um, but the good news is it's underground in the concrete, so that way it makes it a lot harder to get to. Um, we found this out by cutting holes in the wall, which is kind of fun. And yeah, we we had a company come out and they said, Yeah, you definitely have a leak. We'll send another company to check. So they send it out, and they're like, Yeah, it's definitely a leak. And so another company will come out to pinpoint exactly where the leak and how much of a pain it is. But if they would have come out and been like, yeah, I don't know what's the problem, uh, how do we fix this thing? But they said, Yeah, here you have it, you clearly have a leak. We're gonna identify exactly where it is, and now we can hope to figure out how to fix it. It's the same thing in our lives. If it if it's like, man, I just feel like I'm always down, or I feel like I'm always defeated, or I feel like I'm always struggling, or things are never going right, and it's like, well, what if I could tell you why that is? Well, then we might have hope to make change in our lives. So Isaiah has this encounter in the throne room of God. We looked at Isaiah 6 together in the year that King Uzziah died. I saw the Lord seated high and lofty on a throne, and there's this vision of angelic creatures with six wings and flying around crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And Isaiah is undone in that moment because he's confronted by his sin. There's this disconnect between who he's supposed to be and how he's living, who his people are called to be and how they've chosen to be. And so, in that space, in that confrontation with the holiness, the perfection of God, his sin stands in stark contrast. But rather than destruction, rather than being overwhelmed, instead, he's cleansed. He's made pure, he's set right, and then he's commissioned to go out. And we need those kind of encounters in our lives as well. We we need to be confronted by a holy God, to recognize, like, man, the way I'm speaking, the way I'm living, the way I'm allocating my time, the way I'm living in relationship isn't right. So then I can make a change so that there can be a hope for something better, a hope for something different. Once we know that which is good, once we know the source of our pain and brokenness in our life, then we can have hope to see change because of God's goodness and his grace. Because God never exposes sin in order just to tear us down or break us apart, but in order to instead build us back up to make us whole and to make us new. So this morning we continue on with this idea, and and hope, hope's important. We know this to be true because when you lose hope, like it's just a defeated thing. If if you've ever faced a challenging medical situation, one of things, like, hey, mindset matters, like how you think about this. Same thing if you've ever coached in a sport, hey, listen, you can do this. Like if you go up to the plate knowing you're gonna strike out, if you go into the presentation having a sense that this is never gonna work, if you're going to sit down with the friend or the the family member over coffee or over a meal, and you just know it's gonna be a train, that loss of hope is a powerful thing. But it's dangerous because where we place our hope really matters, and sometimes we don't place it well. And so sometimes what happens is somebody will place their hope in the market or they'll place their hope in investments, but we know that the market doesn't always hold. The investments can miss. And so if you were an 08 and you're so excited about retirement or some big thing that you've got going in or 20, and then all of a sudden your hope was dashed. Uh, other times, like we'll place our hope in our team. Uh, it can be a distraction, which is true, but also like it can kind of overwhelm us at times. And so you've placed your hope in your team, like this is our year. But if you're a Bengals or a Browns fan, let me just tell you it's not. Browns fans about three, four weeks in. What are you gonna be saying? Next year, next year, right? That's gonna be the year. Bengals fan, we'll make it six to eight weeks. Then next year. People put their hope for good, for an impactful life in their career, and then the industry changes. The company's bought out, there's a reorganization, and you're no longer needed. What happens to your hope? People hope to find that one person that they can spend the rest of their lives with, and man, that that person that just kind of completes them, that that makes it work, that but they can't find them. Couples hope to have a child because they feel like that's just something they've longed for and desired, and the doctor says it's not gonna happen. But what if we it's not gonna happen? What happens to your hope? And in each of those things, they have varying degrees of seriousness, weight, and that's fair. But none of them are sure places for our hope. If your hope is in your investment, it can crater. If your hope is in your job, it can be lost. If your hope is in your health, it can fade. If your hope is in that other person, that's too much pressure on any one person. If your hope is in, hope doesn't work that way. Hope is not just some strategy that we try and implement, like, oh, I'm just gonna hope to get it done. I'm gonna hope to do well. I was talking to some students uh recently, I'm helping out with um youth. Uh that's kind of my old training. I loved it. I was a youth pastor for 10 years, and I've been hanging out with junior high boys in our small groups on Thursday nights. And so um, I was telling them, they were like, hey, any prayer requests, praises, firsthand. Boom. What is it? Math testing, but right? Test is always one of the things. I said, All right, I'm gonna tell you what I tell everybody though. I said, Listen, I will pray that God helps you to recall the things you studied and the way you applied yourself. But if you do not study, I will pray that you fail miserably so that you learn the lesson next time to study. Because hope is not just some, God help me to learn this, help me do well on this book test. Like, and God's like, well, did you read the book? No, then I'm not gonna help you. Hope isn't just some strategy. Hope is well placed in a person to follow. Hope is found in the God of the Bible. So, what is it that you hope for? Personally, uh physically, relationally, socially, uh financially, when it comes to your career? Uh what do you what do you hope comes to pass? What is it that you hope you don't have to endure? What are you just hoping might might be an idea or a possibility? And then how are you investing yourself in those things? Because when we hope for something like we invest in it. What is it that you uh have lost hope in? Anywhere that you've just given up hope? Maybe you lost hope in a relationship changing, or you lost hope in an outcome or a dream that you'd once longed for, or maybe it's you lost hope and you can't even speak it. It's understandable why we'd lose hope at times. Uh Ecclesiastes, one of my favorite books in the entire Bible. Um, it can be a little difficult to process through, but the end of it is worth it. But you've got to read all the other to get there. If we read something like the following, we can see why it might be easy to lose hope. Listen to this Ecclesiastes 9, 2 through 3. It says, All share a common destiny. The righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful, as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. This is the evil, and everything that happens under the sun, the same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil, and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. Isn't that one you just kind of want to put like on a canvas? Wake up every day just reading that. After it's all done, we'll join the dead. It's not exactly an encouraging passage on the surface, is it? What I mean, what hope is there? If we all end up facing the same conclusion, then shouldn't we just enjoy the life we have? Let's eat, let's drink, because tomorrow we die. That's actually a phrase that was used in Isaiah 21. That was something people would say. It's like, listen, if if none of this matters anyway, let's just eat our fill, drink what we want, and see where the chips fall. And then later it was echoed in the New Testament as they quoted back to that. And today we kind of do that same thing. Just got back from the trip. Man, it must have taken a while to say for that. Just put it on the card. Why? Listen, I'm never gonna retire anyway. I'm always gonna be in debt. Might as well have some fun along the way. What do you do for 11 financial advisor? Oh, dear Lord. If we experience pain, what do we do? Just drown it. Numb it. Avoid it. We've seen this in cultures all over the world and throughout time, and it's a poor strategy. Well, I hope things get better. Well, what are you doing to actively see that happen? Nothing. Well, it's not going to get better. It's a poor strategy. Well-placed hope is something better. We're not intended to live defeated lives. We're not intended to be overwhelmed. We're not simply trying to just overcome whatever's in our life. This morning, I want us to look together at several chapters actually from the book of Isaiah. So, Old Testament, Book of Isaiah, you get past like Psalms and Proverbs. If you just kind of flip through, you'll find Psalms, Proverbs, and you get to Isaiah. We'll be in 36, clear through 39, but I'm not going to read it all, obviously. But this larger passage, it really helps to look at more in its entirety, because it's kind of like the idea of I said, hey, tell me about your day. Well, if I only look at a 30-minute window of your day, I might think it was terrible, it was awesome. The context really helps it. Same thing in your life. If I look at two or three years out of your life, sometimes we look at two or three verses of the Bible only, and we need these larger sections to understand what's going on. And so what's happening is King Hezekiah is the one on the throne in much of this, and Isaiah is the prophet in the land. And so he tells a few stories from his life in his book, and you can read it more fully if you want to check it out later. But I want to jump to Isaiah 36 out of the gate. This won't be on the screen. Some will be on the screen, this won't. It says, In the 14th year of King Hezekiah's reign, Senecharib, king of Assyria, attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. Assyria was the power of the day. Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army to Jerusalem. When the commander stopped there, basically kind of surrounding them, there's representation, the ambassadors meet, here's what he says. He says, This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says. Oh, what are you basing this confidence of yours on? You say you have counsel and might for war, but you speak only empty words. In other words, this is the bravado. If you've ever seen like a boxing match or fight thing, you know, when they weigh in before, when they're just like staring each other down, you know, like children, you know, kind of like taunting and stuff like that. That's what's going on. But you only speak empty words. Of who on whom are you depending that you rebel against me? And he he goes on to say, like, you think it's Egypt? They're nothing. We've got them. He says, I'll tell you what, I'll make a bargain with you. I'll give you 2,000 horses. Can you can you provide enough warriors to even fight them? You can't do that. Listen, you stand no chance. And then to go on further, he engages in psychological warfare. So the leader of the army, they're speaking the native language of the people. And so what happened is like as they're negotiating, the leaders there at the table trying to figure out what are the terms of how we're gonna do this thing. They say, Well, listen, speak to us just in this language, not in the language that everybody understands, so we can kind of hey, let's have some tact in how we're doing this. And they're like, No, we're gonna shout it out because they all need to hear too. They're gonna die. And it gets into a pretty graphic depiction of how that plays out. So, what can Hezekiah do? He's in no position to respond. He's in a dire situation. And you and I, we're not gonna be kings and queens of lands unless you have some kind of like uh what was the movie a few years ago where she became a princess of some Genovia? It just came to me. Princess Diaries, a classic film. Probably not gonna happen, but we will face seemingly hopeless situations. You've already been through some in your life. Oh, we'll never get it, we'll never figure this out, and here you are on the other side. We will face seemingly hopeless situations. The diagnosis, the outlook, the forecast, uh, the expected outcome, any of those things, at times they'll seem overwhelming in different areas of our lives, and so what should we do? And so Isaiah 37 tells of Hezekiah's response, and it's a good one. This is actually going to be on the screen. Says this in one and two, and then we'll read six and seven. That they were the verses that applied. The youth are out of the room presently. When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. He sent Eliakim, the palace administrator, Shebna, the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth to the prophets, Isaiah, son of Amos. So essentially they're they're doing this physical representation, like, I mean, this is bad. We're in a spot, tear our clothes, put on sackcloth. And I love his response. And they went into the temple of the Lord. His first response, okay, we just gotta go to God. He doesn't go to the walls to kind of shore up. Is there anything we can do? He doesn't go to the commander of the army to figure out, hey, do we have something we hadn't considered? He doesn't go into the coffers to figure out, hey, could we maybe buy our way out of this thing? He goes to God. Skip down to verse six. He tells them what to say, and the people go to Isaiah and just say, hey, listen, we're cooked. We got no shot, we're done for. That's the direct Hebrew translation. It says something maybe different in your Bible. It says, Isaiah said to tell them, tell your master, this is what the Lord says. Do not be afraid of what you've heard. Man, that one you maybe should put on a canvas. Do not be afraid of what you've heard. Those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen, when he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword. In other words, if I might paraphrase it, I would say it this way. Hezekiah cries out because listen, there is no way in his own power that he can respond to this threat that is at his door. And he is accountable for the entire nation. There is no way he does not have the power, he does not have the strategy, he does not have the alliance, he does not have the resource, he does not have the manpower. There is nothing he can do. He is literally overwhelmed. So Hezekiah seeks out counsel from God through the prophet, and God's message is this don't worry about it, I'll handle it. Don't worry, I'll take care of it. I'll deal with it. I'll deal with this. You see, and God does take care of it. The king of Assyria thought Hezekiah was hopeless. Like he'd taken inventory. Hey, listen, we outmatch him, right? Yeah. We outgun him? Yeah. So everything's in our favor? Yeah. Any anybody could come behind the scenes that we're not aware of? No. What about resources? We'll be fine. We got this thing. Anything we've not accounted for, nothing we've not accounted for. But then there's God. Hezekiah had a relationship with the living God that the king of Assyria simply could not account for. And it's happened throughout history. If we put our hope in our strategies, if we put our hope in our alliances, if we put our hope in our resources, our positions, our relationships, if we put our hope in those things, all of those things can be compromised, all of those things can be overthrown. But God cannot. Too often the power of God has gone unaccounted for. And so God invites us to adopt this kingdom mindset that we might have confidence and hope in the future, regardless of what might come. A kingdom mindset provides hope and confidence even when our circumstances suggest that we should have neither. So the doctor says, hey, there's no hope. You say, okay, well, I'm gonna go ahead and hope anyway. It's like I just told you there's nothing we can do. I know, but I serve the God of the universe. And so maybe he'll be up to something. But if he's not, I still serve the God of the universe. And so I believe this isn't all there is. The company tells you, hey, listen, we're going under, you don't have a job, sorry. Sorry to crash your hopes. It's like, oh, you you didn't crash my hopes. My hopes weren't in the company. I gave my best to the company, don't mean wrong, I wanted to do everything I could, but my hope was never placed here. I always knew companies could crash. There's no company that lasts forever. The person comes along and says, Hey, listen, we got to break up. I'm sorry, I don't want to dash your hopes. Like, oh no, no, no, you're that's okay. Like, I hate to see this in, but my hope was never in you. Like, I appreciated the opportunity that we got to learn and grow, and I thought maybe there could be something, but my hope has always been in God. The bank comes and says, Hey, listen, you're out of money. The map markets crash, whatever it is, it's like, I'm sorry to crash your hopes. It's like, no, you didn't crash my hopes because my hopes weren't in those things. Because I always knew those things could crash. The kingdom mindset provides hope and confidence, even when circumstances suggest that we should have neither. And so, Hezekiah, though, endures more than one hardship in his life, just like you and I endure more than one hardship in our life. And so the next situation unfolds, and it's in chapter 38. And he faces it. Well, flip over a page if you're in your Bible with me. It says, In those days, Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amos, went to him and said, This is what the Lord says, put your house in order. Have you ever asked for a word from the Lord? You ever said, God, I just need to hear from you. I don't care what it is, say something. Don't say that. This is what the Lord says. Put your house in order because you are going to die. Anything else? There is a little bit more. Whew. You will not recover. Like, I mean, I don't know how you close out that prayer time. Amen. All right. Put things together. It's a seemingly hopeless situation. And what compounds it is that God is fully aware because God has pronounced it. Yeah, I'm allowing this to come to pass. What is Hezekiah to do? And again, be careful if you ask to hear from God. Though I still think it's better to hear from him. The text continues on this way in verses 2 through 3. It says, Hezekiah turns his face to the wall and he prays to the Lord. He doesn't complain, he doesn't whine, he's not angry. It doesn't seem at least. Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, and have done what is good in your eyes. And Hezekiah wept bitterly. When I say our hope should be placed in God, it doesn't mean we won't experience grief or hardship. It doesn't mean there's this sense of no concern whatsoever. It's just a recognition that we trust God in the good and the bad. And so Hezekiah weeps bitterly. I love his response. God, just remember me. Like he's grieved that his life is being cut shorter than he'd anticipated. But there's not this hint of anger or complaint. Have you ever um you ever been out at a restaurant or like uh like a store or something like that, and you see a kid just throw a royal fit, right? Um and it's one of those things, depending on how it is, like you feel bad. If if you've never had kids before, you're like, get your kid under control. Then you have kids and you're like, I am sorry. You just apologize to everybody. Because you should. Um but it's one of those things where it's embarrassing. But have you ever been in a situation where maybe you were like, I don't know, your family and like their sibling was having a meltdown, like your sibling's kid was having a meltdown, and you kind of laughed at it with the love of God? You know, because like it's it's almost like, or like your kid, uh, like we had this, I mean, raising our boys, but like, hey, it's bedtime. Oh, you know, and like they throw themselves down as if like you just told them, like, hey, God's commanding your life from you this evening, you know, kind of thing. And it like you can't help but almost kind of laugh because it's just kind of cute. But it's still a bad look. And it doesn't matter what age you are. Hey, the company's closed and you're gonna be out and you throw a royal fit. I can't believe it. How dare what this happened to me? It's not a good look. Doctor gives a bad diagnosis, we throw a frit and throw a tantrum and arch our back, and it's not a good look. We can weep bitterly. God, here's what I've done. And I'm grieved. The text goes on, it says, Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, go and tell Hezekiah, this is what the Lord, the God of your father, David, says. I have heard your prayer and have seen your tears. I will add 15 years to your life. Now there's still gonna be an end point. But God shows up. God recognizes the response of Hezekiah as a positive one, and he chooses to respond with giving him more years. With God, there literally is always hope. You see, so a nation comes against Hezekiah and his people, God says, Listen, I'll handle it. Hezekiah faces certain death through illness that God is allowing to happen, God can handle it. And so a pattern is developing. And so what you would think would unfold then in Hezekiah's life is well, anything hard that comes, anything difficult comes, anything broken, God can handle it. And you and I, like we've been through difficult situations in our lives. If you've been following Jesus for a while, you've seen God can handle it. If you're newer to faith or just exploring faith, I'm gonna tell you, I can tell you from personal example, personal testimony, God can handle it. But I want to look at Isaiah 39, and I'm gonna read the chapter, it's not gonna be on the screen. Uh again, it's in any Bible you have, so you're welcome to uh check it out. It says, At that time, Marduk Baladon, son of Baladon, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah letters and a gift because he had heard of his illness and recovery. Like word like this kind of spreads. Man, Assyrian army's coming against you. God handles it. You're gonna die, God handles it. Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses: the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil, his entire armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. Now, this is not just good hospitality. This is Hezekiah dipping back in to strategy, to partnership, connection, relationship, networking, how to build this thing the right way. He's a king after all. Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, What did those men say and where did they come from? So clearly he had no part in the dialogue or the conversation. The prophet of God in the land, who sought out when the Assyrians are going to take them down, who sought out when it comes down to matters of health and everything else. When an envoy comes, he's not consulted. From a distant land, Hezekiah replied. They came to me from Babylon, a rising power of the day. The prophet asked, What did they see in your palace? They saw everything in my palace, Hezekiah said. I mean, listen, I think they were impressed. There is nothing among my treasures I did not show them. And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord Almighty. The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up to this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your own descendants, your own flesh and blood, who will be born to you, will be taken away. And they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon, in other words, servants or slaves. Now we've seen this pattern before. Things mess up, Hezekiah owns it, God can fix it. Hezekiah's response. Hezekiah replied. For he thought, there will be peace and security in my lifetime, at least. That's messed up. Like who does that? Like Hezekiah, you remember, like, you're distraught. Assyria, they've got you. God handles it. You remember you're distraught when it's like, hey, the end of your life is coming sooner than you expected. God handles it. And now you've just been told that you've messed up big because you're trying to fall back into these old strategies. Your hope is, man, if I can make the right diplomacy, if I can make the right move, if I can do the right things. But Hezekiah's grown complacent. He lacks wisdom in leading well. His attempt to impress his envoy for future trade or partnership or connection, none of this is done with any consultation whatsoever to God. How's work going? Oh, great. I just took on a promotion, got, you know, it's a big move, this, that, and the other. It's like, oh man, that's fantastic. Like, how'd you come to that decision? Well, they offered more money, so of course I'm gonna go. Oh. Did you pray about it? What's to pray about? It's more money. What's your price? I know you're for sale. Well, we're moving the house. Why? Well, we've got enough now. We can do this, that, and the other, and so we're gonna. Oh, what's what's God kind of how's God leading that? I haven't talked to him. Oh we had an opportunity present itself to us, and so we're just gonna step into it. You know, we're just kind of stepping out in faith. Oh, so you've been praying about this. Oh, no, no, no. I'm just asking God to bless it. Hezekiah hopes again in the Trisha Dill Avenues, and you and I can do the same. And the final word spoken is that ruin's gonna come, and Hezekiah expresses no remorse. See, with a kingdom perspective, our self-interest is never our final interest. With a kingdom perspective, it's always about hoping what God would do in and through our lives to the blessing of other people. But Hezekiah's missed that. God has proven himself time and again to Hezekiah, and Hezekiah's hope should be in God, not in a strategy for diplomacy or not in resourcing ourself, but that's not what he does. So often we fall back to just our strategies. I was reminded this week of a quote that can sum up the danger of the good life. Uh, when things are really hard, uh don't me wrong, we we never want life to be hard or difficult, but isn't it true that you've probably learned the most in those spaces? Uh those have stretched you the most, those have grown you the most in the ways that really matter. I mean, think about the relationships that are most precious to you. Did you learn like in just the like butterfly stages and everything, like just happy and agreed on everything, or did you learn through the hard times? This comes from Jim Collins, he's the author of Good to Great, is a business book, but it says this says good is the enemy of great, and that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. Few people attain great lives in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life. And it's not just true in business or organizational life, it's true in just life in general. We're not called to settle. Hope is always forward-facing. Hope is always, God, what do you want to do next? What are you about? How can I be a part of your work? What are you up to? And Hezekiah forgot that. Hezekiah settled and gotten complacent, and he'd remembered all the good things that were nice, and now I gotta begin to. How do I make this thing work? What are you hoping? Where are you settling your hope? Maybe things are really rough right now and it's a little bit easier to cry out to God. Is that where you're at? Maybe things are really good right now, and like the blessings are just like crazy and life is good. Are you still hoping in God or are those things becoming a distraction? Our hope should, or our hope is best anchored in God alone, not in our circumstances, not in our strategy, not in ourself. Our hope is best anchored in God alone. Is God in my hope in all things, from crisis to comfort? Is God the place where I place my hope? Is there anywhere in my life that I'm subtly kind of shifting away from Him as my hope? Well, yeah, Lana, when I was younger, I used to have to do those things. Or yeah, when I was I've been in tougher situations like you're talking about, and yeah, I had to leverage, you know, my faith was super. Is it still? Because if not, listen, you're in danger of becoming like King Hezekiah and becoming complacent and settling for a good life and missing out on the greatness that God has called us to. Maybe though you're like Lana, I don't have to worry about complacency. I'm I'm more in the hopeless state. God can handle it. God can handle it. I'll tell you stories, or others in your life can tell you, God can handle it. Resources will one day be gone. Relationships one day are gone. Weather in Ohio changes every 72 hours. It will one day be gone. Do not place your hope in Sonny and 70. It comes here to die. Hope in God. Would you stand with me? We're gonna close this morning. We had somebody uh reach out and they're like, hey, I would love to be baptized. And uh we plan so many baptisms a year, um, not to lock us into those spaces, but to be intentionally moving toward a direction. Um our mission is to help people love and follow Jesus for life. And baptism is one of the hallmark events in a person's life. We say, man, to publicly declare, man, I want to be buried with Christ and raised to new life in him, this outward sign of an inward grace. And so we're super excited to celebrate with this person next week. But we wanted to make it available too, like if if you if you've been like, hey, I've been interested in baptism, I've thought about baptism, it just never worked, or I don't know. And if you're like, hey, I'd just like to have a conversation, uh both Jay and myself will be up here up front afterwards. You can just come and talk to us and say, hey, I'm I'm kind of curious, or hey, I'd like to, yeah, I've been I've been thinking about it. I love baptism in so many ways, but particularly for our conversation today, that's our hope. That's our hope. God, I was raised to new life in you. You're my hope. In the bad, in the good, everything, you're my hope. And so if you'd be interested in that conversation, just come up and we'll just chat together and uh see about getting you set up next week to be in the water. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. Your love, your grace, your kindness that you afford to us. Would you invite us to put our hope in you? The God who's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Your character doesn't change. We don't have to guess what you're like. You reveal it to us. And so, God, I pray that we choose to be a people of hope. That we would recognize what you've judged to be broken in this world and amiss in this world. And then as we know what's wrong, we can be invited to step into that which is right and invite others to the same. Lord, I pray for this baptism we're celebrating next week. Maybe there's some in the room that saying, Yeah, I need to take that step. And so, Lord, I pray they just have the courage to just step out and say, Hey, I think I need to be in that water. And we'd love to celebrate with them. Lord, help us to go out and choose to be a people of hope, to put our hope in you. When we're in seasons of difficulty, might we be quick to ask others, hey, lift me up in prayer. Could you be a resource? Could you be an encouragement? Could you be a help to me? I'm trusting God in this, but I know I need others. And when we're celebrating kind of on those mountaintop moments, Lord, I pray that we'd be quick to say, God, is this are you in this? Is this what you want? Because God, I'm convinced that sometimes things look like blessings on the front end, but if we've not cleared them with you, it might be a very costly thing to us in the end. So help us to confidently and consistently put our hope in you. It's in the name of Jesus, we always pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

Thank you so much for listening to today's podcast. If you're ready to take a next step in your faith, please reach out to us through our website at refineryohio.com, or you can email us at office at refineryohio.com. We hope you have a blessed day.