SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_02: God's editing process is really interesting.
SPEAKER_02: God's not interested in all the things that you've compromised.
SPEAKER_02: What he's interested in is the man or the woman that you're becoming.
SPEAKER_02: And there's always a second chance.
SPEAKER_02: And there's always a third chance.
SPEAKER_02: And there's always a fourth chance.
SPEAKER_02: Don't give up.
SPEAKER_02: Don't quit.
SPEAKER_02: Quitting is highly overrated.
SPEAKER_02: Quitters are depressed.
SPEAKER_02: Quitters who have one foot in God and one foot in the world are straddling that.
SPEAKER_02: And all that does is either make you really, really flexible or makes it very painful.
SPEAKER_00: At The Road, our mission is to empower people to change the world.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, 2 Kings 18, 2 Kings 18.
SPEAKER_02: Last week I talked from 2 Chronicles 7.14, and I called it Ominous Times and the Power of Prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Ominous Times and the Power of Prayer.
SPEAKER_02: If there was ever a message we need to hear right now at the road in our city, in our nation, in Washington, D.C., in Denver, Colorado, in City Council, ominous times, the power of prayer that we are entering into some times coming up, men and women, that are very, very troubling.
SPEAKER_02: Very troubling.
SPEAKER_02: And I believe we've got about a couple months of reprieve.
SPEAKER_02: Mark my word that July and August, it'll be kind of quiet.
SPEAKER_02: But come September, it's going to be worse than before.
SPEAKER_02: There's going to be riots, there's going to be movement of the enemy.
SPEAKER_02: Demonic spirits are rising in the land.
SPEAKER_02: And if the church doesn't wake up and smell the coffee, we'll be swept away.
SPEAKER_02: And this church is not going to be swept away because we believe in God.
SPEAKER_02: And we're going to be a part until our dying days to bring the power of the gospel to this city for you to be revived and your family to be revived and you not to walk in fear, but walk in the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And you can.
SPEAKER_02: But we need men of God, we need women of God.
SPEAKER_02: We need children of God.
SPEAKER_02: We need young people of God.
SPEAKER_02: And it just seemed appropriate, after talking about 2 Chronicles 7.14, to take us to an example of 2 Chronicles 7.14, one of the best in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: So look at 2 Kings 18.
SPEAKER_02: It's the story of Hezekiah.
SPEAKER_02: And it's really about the prayer of a righteous leader.
SPEAKER_02: What a righteous man of God or a righteous woman of God can do to change ominous circumstances and make them your slave.
SPEAKER_02: Turning something that was meant for evil to destroy your family, to destroy your life, or to destroy a nation, and you actually turn it on its head and you turn out what the enemy meant for evil, and God turns it to good.
SPEAKER_02: I do.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that we've allowed the enemy so much room to maneuver in our culture because of a weak and anemic church.
SPEAKER_02: You know, and God wants to do something now, and he's looking for churches.
SPEAKER_02: His eyes look to and fro, 2 Chronicles 16, for those who he can completely support.
SPEAKER_02: And so be the church.
SPEAKER_02: You guys, we don't need to just go to church.
SPEAKER_02: We need to be the church.
SPEAKER_02: And so we're gonna look at a man here in the Bible that was the church in a mighty way.
SPEAKER_02: So 2 Kings 18, let me give you the background.
SPEAKER_02: The background is that, you know, David was king, and then Solomon was king, and then after Solomon's reign, there was all kinds of rebellion, there was a civil war, and then you have now two divided kingdom, and you have Israel's the northern part, and Judah is the southern part, and one king after another is bad, he's evil, and he's compromised, especially in Israel.
SPEAKER_02: All the kings in Israel were bad.
SPEAKER_02: And now in Judah, which is the southern part, which includes Jerusalem, if you look at your map, you know, you'll see Jerusalem there.
SPEAKER_02: Um, this guy named Hezekiah comes to power.
SPEAKER_02: And as he does, we're gonna un, the story's gonna unfold of one problem after another.
SPEAKER_02: And we got a lot to cover, so I may skip some parts and move around, but I'm gonna take you through 2 Kings 18 and 19.
SPEAKER_02: Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshiach, the son of Elah, king of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: So that's the northern province, that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
SPEAKER_02: He was 25 years old when he became king.
SPEAKER_02: And he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_02: His mother's name, and this is really important, to me it's very important, his mother's name was Abbi, Abijah.
SPEAKER_02: You may have Abijah in your eye.
SPEAKER_02: Abbi, the daughter of Zechariah.
SPEAKER_02: Now that's not the prophet of Zechariah in Haggai that came later, but he is a prophetically gifted man who saw visions of God.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_02: And this part, you ought to underline this, you ought to, I always box mine in.
SPEAKER_02: I put little boxes around key verses.
SPEAKER_02: And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father, now listen, his father David had done.
SPEAKER_02: So he is, Hezekiah, listen, you guys, Hezekiah is of the ancestry or the genealogy of Jesus, which means his great, great, great, great, great-grandfather was David.
SPEAKER_02: So he's of that line.
SPEAKER_02: Ahaz's father, Ahaz was one of the evilest kings in in Judah.
SPEAKER_02: The guy just, he, he, he uh, he raised up high places and set up idols.
SPEAKER_02: It's even believed through some cryptic passages that he initiated child sacrifices at that time.
SPEAKER_02: So really evil guy.
SPEAKER_02: But his mom, when you read this story, I think you'll agree with me.
SPEAKER_02: His mom is Abby.
SPEAKER_02: And Abi is the daughter of Zachariah.
SPEAKER_02: And here's what I believe.
SPEAKER_02: I believe there's no way that this could occur under Ahaz.
SPEAKER_02: Ahaz, the failure that he was as a leader, the failure that he was in everything he touched, and the idolatry in which he lived in, that Hezekiah could come forth from him, except, in my opinion, through Abby.
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
SPEAKER_02: What God can do through a praying woman.
SPEAKER_02: What God can do through a woman who, even if her husband's not walking with God, who comes in and disciples those kids.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to say to all you women here, you know, you you disciple your kids.
SPEAKER_02: Now, men, you should be discipling your kids too.
SPEAKER_02: And that's and it's it's best when it's a team, but sometimes it's not.
SPEAKER_02: And in the case of, look what God's gonna do.
SPEAKER_02: This guy's 25 years old, so that means he's grown up watching his father initiate idolatry, to initiate worship to idols, the asherah, the the poles, the Canaanite poles that were erected, and you're gonna read about it in just a second.
SPEAKER_02: How would you like to be a son who comes up, you're 25 years old, and you've got enough courage to tear down everything that your dad did that was evil?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, this is a bad dude.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he's a good dude.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he's a bad dude.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, this guy's bold.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you in this room raise your hand if you're 25 years old or younger?
SPEAKER_02: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_02: All right, stand up.
SPEAKER_02: That's the future of America.
SPEAKER_02: That's the future of the church right there.
SPEAKER_02: So, Father God, listen, don't stand.
SPEAKER_02: Father God, I bless these young people right here to have the spirit of Hezekiah on them.
SPEAKER_02: That they would not limit what you can do and not let their age get in the way with even now, even now, using them as mighty leaders.
SPEAKER_02: Whether they're a woman, a man, whether they feel like that they're mentally challenged or spiritually challenged, or they've got parents that don't even walk with God.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I just bless them.
SPEAKER_02: I bless them with the anointing of Hezekiah in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: All right, bless you guys.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 4.
SPEAKER_02: He removed the high places.
SPEAKER_02: So this is what Hezekiah does.
SPEAKER_02: He's 25 years old, man, and this is what he does.
SPEAKER_02: He removes the high places.
SPEAKER_02: That's his dad set those up.
SPEAKER_02: He broke the sacred pillars, his dad set that up.
SPEAKER_02: He cut down the wooden image, his dad set that up.
SPEAKER_02: He broke it in pieces.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he's making a huge statement here.
SPEAKER_02: He's not only pulling down the ashra poles, he's shredding them.
SPEAKER_02: He's got them in an ancient tree shredder.
SPEAKER_02: You know, he's just shredding these babies.
SPEAKER_02: He's making his point known.
SPEAKER_02: The bronze serpent that Moses had made.
SPEAKER_02: Remember when he brought the bronze serpent with the with the snake on it, and everybody looked at it, was healed, and it was a picture of the cross and everything?
SPEAKER_02: Well, now they're worshiping the bronze serpent.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, that's the symbol, that's the uh medical symbol on all your doctor stuff.
SPEAKER_02: That that serpent comes that you see on the medical symbol, comes from Moses.
SPEAKER_02: For until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it and called it Nahushaton.
SPEAKER_02: He trusted in the Lord of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him.
SPEAKER_02: For he held fast to the Lord, he did not depart from following him, but he kept his commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.
SPEAKER_02: So this is this is amazing.
SPEAKER_02: I I give the credit to his mother that Abi had raised him this way, and this kid is bold.
SPEAKER_02: And let me just say that, you know, um, what you're about to read is really, really ominous.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, this is this is more, this is really ominous what you're gonna read next about what's about to happen.
SPEAKER_02: And um, and you can't be a leader.
SPEAKER_02: You can't be a man or a woman who can handle the the works of demons and powers around you if you haven't first become a worshiper.
SPEAKER_02: You have to, you have to build now the foundations.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm just telling you, church, that over this time where we've got to reprieve for a couple months, you're gonna really be freaking out with fear in the fall if you haven't strengthened your heart here in the summer.
SPEAKER_02: And so God does that in our lives.
SPEAKER_02: He he gives us peacetime, he takes us through peacetime to strengthen ourselves because when wartime comes, it's too late.
SPEAKER_02: So this man had become a mighty man of God, and he goes after it because he's about to get some major, major stress.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord was with him, he prospered wherever he went, and he even rebelled against the king of Syria and did not serve him.
SPEAKER_02: He subdued the Philistines as far as Gaza and his territory from watchtower to fortified city.
SPEAKER_02: Many women, when you trust God, God prospers you.
SPEAKER_02: He does.
SPEAKER_02: He prospers you mentally, he prospers you spiritually many times, and I think most of the time he actually prospers you materially because you you get a man or a woman that that's prospering spiritually, mentally, emotionally, they usually prosper on the outside too, because they're just creative, they're thoughtful, they're they're walking in the things of the Lord, you know?
SPEAKER_02: And so he prospers.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what I like about this he actually declares war on Assyria.
SPEAKER_02: And you're gonna go, what?
SPEAKER_02: I mean, what's that mean?
SPEAKER_02: Well, you when you see the rest, you go, this guy's got some, he's 25 years old, man, and this guy is bold, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Because Assyria is one of the world powers of that time.
SPEAKER_02: And I think it's ticking them off.
SPEAKER_02: So look at verse 9.
SPEAKER_02: Now it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshiach.
SPEAKER_02: So now he's he's what?
SPEAKER_02: He's 29.
SPEAKER_02: The son of Elah, king of Israel, and Shalmezer, king of Assyria.
SPEAKER_02: So that so king, this king, uh Shalmazzar, king of Assyria, comes up against Samaria, which is north of Jerusalem, and he besieges it.
SPEAKER_02: At the end of three years, so that would make it seven years, seven years that uh Hezekiah has been king.
SPEAKER_02: Some believe he was actually a co-regent with his dad for a little while.
SPEAKER_02: They took it in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshiach, king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
SPEAKER_02: Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and he put them in Halah by the Haber, the river of Gozon, in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant and all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded.
SPEAKER_02: And they would neither hear nor do them.
SPEAKER_02: And in the 14th year of King Hezekiah Sennachreb, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified, says a new king of Assyria.
SPEAKER_02: You note that cities of Judah, and he took them.
SPEAKER_02: Now this is where Hezekiah follows the ways of his father and he compromises.
SPEAKER_02: Then Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of Assyria at Lakish, saying, I've done wrong.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, turn away from me, O mighty king.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever you impose on me, I will pay.
SPEAKER_02: And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah.
SPEAKER_02: Underline that.
SPEAKER_02: Circle it, check it, put a star on it.
SPEAKER_02: The king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah.
SPEAKER_02: Listen, guys, you feed the dragon, you feed the dragon, he always wants more.
SPEAKER_02: If you feed the dragon, he always wants more.
SPEAKER_02: You cannot get involved in pornography without wanting more.
SPEAKER_02: You cannot get involved in drinking a lot without wanting a whole lot more.
SPEAKER_02: You can't get involved in smoking a little pot and it just stays a little bit of pot.
SPEAKER_02: You can't do a little bit of drugs or a little bit of illicit sex.
SPEAKER_02: You'll always want more.
SPEAKER_02: And that's why child pornography, that's why child trafficking is growing in this country, it's because mainly because of demons working through pornography, because you always want more.
SPEAKER_02: You want more, you want more.
SPEAKER_02: And he and Satan's always assessing us.
SPEAKER_02: He's going, okay, I got them now.
SPEAKER_02: I got them now.
SPEAKER_02: They'll give in here, and I'm gonna get some more.
SPEAKER_02: And it might take a few months, it might take a few years, but they're coming for more.
SPEAKER_02: The dragons always wanting more.
SPEAKER_02: So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and the treasuries of the king's house.
SPEAKER_02: He's compromising.
SPEAKER_02: At that time, Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the pillars which Hezekiah, king of Judah, overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.
SPEAKER_02: That's pretty bad.
SPEAKER_02: He's giving the gold and silver from the temple.
SPEAKER_02: He's compromising.
SPEAKER_02: Well, here's the good news.
SPEAKER_02: The good news, listen to this, the good news is verse 3.
SPEAKER_02: Go back to verse 3.
SPEAKER_02: He did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David had done.
SPEAKER_02: God's editing process is really interesting.
SPEAKER_02: God's not interested in all the things that you've compromised.
SPEAKER_02: What he's interested in is the man or the woman that you're becoming.
SPEAKER_02: And there's always a second chance, and there's always a third chance, and there's always a fourth chance.
SPEAKER_02: Don't give up.
SPEAKER_02: Don't quit.
SPEAKER_02: Quitting is highly overrated.
SPEAKER_02: Quitters are depressed.
SPEAKER_02: Quitters who have one foot in God and one foot in the world are straddling that, and all that does is either make you really, really flexible, or makes it very painful.
SPEAKER_02: And I know some flexible people out there.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, they can they can man, they can play both sides, but when you get down with them and you really start finding out who they are, they're getting eaten up inside.
SPEAKER_02: Better to be hot or cold than to be compromised.
SPEAKER_02: So I think Hezekiah learns from this because it's about to get worse.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 17.
SPEAKER_02: And the king of Assyria sent the tartan, the Rabserus, by the way, the Tartan would be like the commander-in-chief, the Rabserus, if that's how you say it.
SPEAKER_02: My Bible says like a chief officer and the Rabshaka, probably something like a chief of staff or a governor from Lakish with a great army.
SPEAKER_02: So that's I said, you feed the dragon a little bit, he's coming for more.
SPEAKER_02: So now they're coming with this huge army.
SPEAKER_02: They've already taken, remember, they've already taken all of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Now they're moving down the coastline and they're moving in on Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_02: And they went up and they came to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_02: And when they had come up, they went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, which was on the highway to the Fuller's field.
SPEAKER_02: You that are going with me to Israel in February, we're going to go to this place.
SPEAKER_02: I'll show it to you.
SPEAKER_02: I'll show you also the tunnel that Hezekiah built there.
SPEAKER_02: We might even be able to go through it.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, since we changed our Israel trip from June because of COVID to next year, we've got seven spots open.
SPEAKER_02: So there are seven spots left in that, and it's$500 less than it was.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 18.
SPEAKER_02: And when they had called to the king, Eliakim, the son of Hekiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them.
SPEAKER_02: And then the Rabshaka said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, thus says the great king, the king of Assyria.
SPEAKER_02: And watch how he's gonna mock Hezekiah.
SPEAKER_02: What confidence is this in which you trust?
SPEAKER_02: You speak of having plans and power for war, but they're just mere words.
SPEAKER_02: And in whom do you trust that you rebel against me?
SPEAKER_02: Now look, you're trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which it if a man leans against it, it will go into his hand and pierce it.
SPEAKER_02: So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.
SPEAKER_02: But if you say to me, We trust in the Lord our God, is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
SPEAKER_02: What does this sound like to you?
SPEAKER_02: To me, this sounds like Goliath in the valley of Elah with the armies of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Just taunting, intimidations, the key, mockery, same thing that Goliath did.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 23.
SPEAKER_02: Now therefore I urge you, give a pledge to my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you're able on your part, to even put riders on them.
SPEAKER_02: So now he's trying to bribe them.
SPEAKER_02: How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master's servants and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
SPEAKER_02: Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it?
SPEAKER_02: The Lord said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.
SPEAKER_02: So he even gives a false prophecy.
SPEAKER_02: He says that God's telling him to come do this.
SPEAKER_02: Then Eliakim, the son of Hekiah, Shebna, Joah said to the Rabshaka, Hey, um, could you maybe speak in Aramaic?
SPEAKER_02: We understand Aramaic.
SPEAKER_02: Don't speak in Hebrew.
SPEAKER_02: We don't want all the watchmen on the walls to hear what you're saying.
SPEAKER_02: And what they're saying is, it might it might get them scared.
SPEAKER_02: They might get kind of frightened by that.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, it's okay if you say it on CNN.
SPEAKER_02: Only certain people watch that show anyway.
SPEAKER_02: Just don't write about it in the New York Times, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You know?
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: So, so so he's working with media now, too, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So this is what Rabshaka says.
SPEAKER_02: But the Rabshaka said to them, Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words and not to the men who sit on the wall who will eat and drink their own waste with you?
SPEAKER_02: Then the Rabshaka stood and he called out with a loud voice, you know, this is his Twitter account, in Hebrew, and said, Hear the word of the great king of Assyria.
SPEAKER_02: Thus says the king, do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand, nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us from this city.
SPEAKER_02: Shall not be it shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
SPEAKER_02: Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, make peace with me by a present.
SPEAKER_02: Come out to me.
SPEAKER_02: Every one of you, eat from his own vine, and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern.
SPEAKER_02: So he's trying to bribe him.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Look, I'll let you live.
SPEAKER_02: You can get off the hook.
SPEAKER_02: We won't do to you what we did to Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Until I come and take away you to A land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey, that you may live and not die.
SPEAKER_02: But do not listen to Hezekiah lest he persuade you, saying, The Lord will deliver us.
SPEAKER_02: Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
SPEAKER_02: So where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?
SPEAKER_02: Where are the gods of that name?
SPEAKER_02: And these other names.
SPEAKER_02: Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
SPEAKER_02: Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand?
SPEAKER_02: That the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand.
SPEAKER_02: And this says the people held their peace.
SPEAKER_02: Alright.
SPEAKER_02: Write down in your Bibles, wherever you're taking notes, write down 1 Samuel 15, 23.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Samuel 15, 23.
SPEAKER_02: It's written in my Bible right next to verse 31.
SPEAKER_02: 1 Samuel 15, 23.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what it says: Rebellion is of the sin of witchcraft.
SPEAKER_02: Rebellion is of the sin of witchcraft.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, rebellion against God's anointed leadership is sorcery.
SPEAKER_02: It's witchcraft.
SPEAKER_02: It's demonic.
SPEAKER_02: And what he's trying to do, in this way, Satan works, Satan comes, and some of you have been seen this in churches where people start to come against the pastor, or you've seen in organizations where people start to come and they know more than the leader.
SPEAKER_02: God set up that leader to be the leader, and they start to rebel against leadership, and it's demonic, folks.
SPEAKER_02: It always disunifies.
SPEAKER_02: The enemy is always working to disunify your marriage, disunify your relationships with your kids and your family, disunify churches, disunify government, rip, steal, kill, and destroy.
SPEAKER_02: And communism has always worked that way.
SPEAKER_02: Marxism, socialism, and communism has always worked that way.
SPEAKER_02: Communism can't create anything.
SPEAKER_02: All it can do is destroy stuff.
SPEAKER_02: And what it's done in places like Cuba and in Russia and in China and in Vietnam and all these places around the world is it comes in and it takes a system, usually some form of a democratic system, not always, well, it's never perfect, but they come in and they rip it apart.
SPEAKER_02: They destroy it.
SPEAKER_02: That's what's happening in our country.
SPEAKER_02: There's a work of the enemy working through these systems, these ideologies to steal, kill, and destroy.
SPEAKER_02: And God will do that in your own family.
SPEAKER_02: And so you got to battle that by being subservient to Jesus and also be submitted to leadership.
SPEAKER_02: And so what he's trying to do is he's trying to get everybody to rebel.
SPEAKER_02: It always works best.
SPEAKER_02: How many have read the book, The Art of War?
SPEAKER_02: You should pick that up somehow.
SPEAKER_02: Read The Art of War.
SPEAKER_02: Great little thin book you can get on Amazon called The Art of War.
SPEAKER_02: But one thing he says in that book, written by a Chinese general, former leader, he says, you know, the best way to conquer an enemy is to create rebellion and disunity in that group that you're trying to defeat.
SPEAKER_02: Any way you can whisper, say things against people, and things like that.
SPEAKER_02: And if any of you have been a part of that in a church, then repent.
SPEAKER_02: You need to repent.
SPEAKER_02: It's not good.
SPEAKER_02: Because you'll do it again if you're not careful.
SPEAKER_02: So what's happening here is that he's trying through the media of speaking this out and creating discouragement, fear in the hearts of the people, so they'll rebel against Hezekiah.
SPEAKER_02: What's so great about verse 36 is they hold their peace, they don't say anything, they stay unified.
SPEAKER_02: Now here's where it gets, this is where it gets exciting.
SPEAKER_02: Chapter 19, you know, man, this is really a discouraging message so far.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, it's supposed to be, all right?
SPEAKER_02: All right, so now ominous times.
SPEAKER_02: So you've heard about ominous times.
SPEAKER_02: Well, now we're gonna see what happens with a young man, he's probably in his early 30s now, who's gonna lead his nation out of the most distressing situation that Judah has ever been under.
SPEAKER_02: Chapter 19.
SPEAKER_02: And so it was when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, he covered himself with sackcloth, and he went up to the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: So here's the thing, men and women.
SPEAKER_02: Ominous times and the power of prayer, first point, you've got to humble yourself.
SPEAKER_02: You've got to humble yourself.
SPEAKER_02: And I shared this on Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_02: I think I even shared it last week.
SPEAKER_02: To me, humility, humility is inconvenience.
SPEAKER_02: Humility is always inconvenient.
SPEAKER_02: Pride's never inconvenient, but in but humility's inconvenient.
SPEAKER_02: So when we come on Wednesday night, and so many of you came, this room was almost completely full of people praying on Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_02: It was inconvenient to come.
SPEAKER_02: I'm getting up at 5 a.m.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not getting up at 4 a.m.
SPEAKER_02: I'm coming here at 5 a.m.
SPEAKER_02: to fast and pray for 10 days.
SPEAKER_02: That's inconvenient.
SPEAKER_02: I'm having ribs this afternoon.
SPEAKER_02: My last big meal.
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm running a marathon with Jesus, right?
SPEAKER_02: How many anybody here run marathons?
SPEAKER_02: There's a marathon or there's another one.
SPEAKER_02: Anybody else?
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: All right.
SPEAKER_02: I've never run a marathon, but I really respect you guys.
SPEAKER_02: I really do.
SPEAKER_02: Uh but my understanding is you you kind of, there's certain foods you eat, right?
SPEAKER_02: And you kind of get yourself ready, right?
SPEAKER_02: And uh swimmers do the same thing and everything.
SPEAKER_02: Um gymnasts don't do anything.
SPEAKER_02: We just jump up on the bar and act like monkeys.
SPEAKER_02: But but um the marathoners they do, you know, and I'm getting ready to go into a 10-day marathon, right, spiritually, so I'm getting myself ready with ribs tonight.
SPEAKER_02: But but here's the thing you see, Hezekiah's ready.
SPEAKER_02: He's already a worshiper.
SPEAKER_02: He's been discipled, I think, by his mom.
SPEAKER_02: He's already there.
SPEAKER_02: He's ready for this.
SPEAKER_02: And men and women, you gotta get ready.
SPEAKER_02: Because things are gonna get really scary out there, and God wants to build in you courage now, so you're ready when the battle comes your way.
SPEAKER_02: So he humbles himself.
SPEAKER_02: Then he rallies his team around him and they humble themselves.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 2.
SPEAKER_02: Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered, they got covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos.
SPEAKER_02: So they all humble themselves.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Thus says Hezekiah, this day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy.
SPEAKER_02: For the children have come to birth, but there's no strength to bring them forth.
SPEAKER_02: He's completely surrendering, church.
SPEAKER_02: He's completely surrendering to God before the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_02: Excuse me, verse 4.
SPEAKER_02: And it may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshaka, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to reproach the living God and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, he sends this out lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.
SPEAKER_02: So, first of all, he humbles himself, 2 Chronicles 7.14.
SPEAKER_02: Then he prays, 2 Chronicles 7.14.
SPEAKER_02: Humbling himself, praying, seeking God's face, turning from wicked ways, he will hear from heaven.
SPEAKER_02: He promises to heal our land.
SPEAKER_02: Guess what?
SPEAKER_02: Congress in Washington is not going to humble themselves and seek God's face.
SPEAKER_02: Our governor is not going to humble himself and seek God's face.
SPEAKER_02: Our mayor's not going to humble himself and seek God's face.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm not saying certain members wouldn't, but I'm saying as an institution they won't.
SPEAKER_02: It's the church that does that.
SPEAKER_02: If my people who are called by my name, it's the church that does that.
SPEAKER_02: That's our responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: This is our watch.
SPEAKER_02: This is our time.
SPEAKER_02: We are Hezekiah.
SPEAKER_02: And if we will, he promises to move.
SPEAKER_02: And look what he does.
SPEAKER_02: It's getting, it's gonna, it's gonna be cool, but it's gonna get worse.
SPEAKER_02: But it's gonna get worse before it gets better.
SPEAKER_02: Verse um verse 5.
SPEAKER_02: So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
SPEAKER_02: Isaiah said to him, Thus you say to your master, thus says the Lord, do not be afraid of the words which we have heard, which were the servants of the king of Assyria, but blaspheme me.
SPEAKER_02: Surely I will send a spirit upon him, he shall hear a rumor, return to his own land, I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own hand.
SPEAKER_02: So basically what happens is just what Isaiah says there's a rumor, something happens, Rabshaka takes off.
SPEAKER_02: Exactly what Isaiah said.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you need a prophetic voice.
SPEAKER_02: And by the way, there's a lot of prophetic voices right now, you know, on YouTube and the internet and stuff.
SPEAKER_02: Some of them are from God and some of them are not.
SPEAKER_02: You gotta have discernment and wisdom about those.
SPEAKER_02: But Isaiah comes, and on Wednesday we had Lou Ingel, and he shared a prophetic word to us.
SPEAKER_02: And it was a powerful word about our church and how God wants to use this city in a mighty and powerful way.
SPEAKER_02: It was powerful.
SPEAKER_02: So prophetic voices give us courage.
SPEAKER_02: So this is exactly what happens in verse 8.
SPEAKER_02: The Rabshaka returns, he leaves.
SPEAKER_02: But now it's about to get worse.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 9.
SPEAKER_02: The king heard concerning Terekah, king of Ethiopia.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not going to talk about that here.
SPEAKER_02: Look, he has come out to make war with you.
SPEAKER_02: So again he sent messengers to Hezekiah saying, Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying, Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of King Assyria.
SPEAKER_02: Look, look, you've heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other lands by utterly destroying them, because now he has circled Jerusalem, you shall be delivered.
SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness, have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozon and Haran and Rezeth and the people of Eden who were in Telasar.
SPEAKER_02: Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Serevim, Hena, and Eva?
SPEAKER_02: So he's saying, Look, man, they're all gone.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna take you.
SPEAKER_02: You have nothing to stand on.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 14.
SPEAKER_02: Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers.
SPEAKER_02: He read it, and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: He spread the letter before the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, you are God.
SPEAKER_02: You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, humble yourself.
SPEAKER_02: Number two, pray.
SPEAKER_02: Number three, call out for the greatness and power of God.
SPEAKER_02: The greatness and power of God.
SPEAKER_02: Now write this down, folks.
SPEAKER_02: A physical act often establishes God's authority.
SPEAKER_02: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_02: A physical act often establishes God's authority.
SPEAKER_02: So if we were living in that time, Hezekiah would come into this room, he'd lay the letter from Sinecrib right there before the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And he'd say, God, you're great, you're awesome, you're powerful, you've done great things in the past, and you can do great things now.
SPEAKER_02: Look what he's having to say.
SPEAKER_02: Look what he's saying right now.
SPEAKER_02: He's being utterly honest before the Lord, okay?
SPEAKER_02: And so that's what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_02: And ask you to join me on Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_02: I want you to get a piece of paper, and between now and Wednesday night, I want you to write down what are the five to ten things that you want to believe God for.
SPEAKER_02: What are the five to ten things you want to believe God to do in a mighty and powerful way?
SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna come in here in that prayer meeting and we're gonna lay them out here on the ground.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna lay down on the ground and we're gonna cry out to God.
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna cry out to God.
SPEAKER_02: And God's gonna show up in your life if you're here.
SPEAKER_02: And if you come, it's a physical act showing spiritual authority.
SPEAKER_02: You're saying, I don't know the answer to this.
SPEAKER_02: I can't do this.
SPEAKER_02: I gotta have God's gotta do this in my life.
SPEAKER_02: It's laying it before Him.
SPEAKER_02: And I've got some things that I'm working on that I shared with you earlier at my 5 a.m.
SPEAKER_02: time, and I'm gonna light these candles in here.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I'm gonna take that to the Lord every day.
SPEAKER_02: There's something about that physical act.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 16.
SPEAKER_02: Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear.
SPEAKER_02: Open your eyes, O Lord, and see.
SPEAKER_02: Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear.
SPEAKER_02: Open your eyes, O Lord, and see.
SPEAKER_02: Hear the words of Senacrib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
SPEAKER_02: Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, he's right.
SPEAKER_02: They have done this, and they've cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone.
SPEAKER_02: So, number four, he's totally honest before the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: He's saying, Look, this is this is powerful.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you felt, with what you've seen happening in America over the last four or five months, helpless?
SPEAKER_02: Man, I sometimes just wish I could be a mayor.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I wish I could be a mayor of a city.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, would we make some people upset?
SPEAKER_02: Oh boy.
SPEAKER_02: Wish I could be a governor.
SPEAKER_02: But I'm not.
SPEAKER_02: I got a better job.
SPEAKER_02: I get to be a pastor of a fired-up church.
SPEAKER_02: We're more powerful than any mayor.
SPEAKER_02: We're more powerful than any city council.
SPEAKER_02: We're more powerful than any governor.
SPEAKER_02: We can change the course of this city, which can change the course of a nation if we'll pray.
SPEAKER_02: If we don't pray on our watch, we get what we get.
SPEAKER_02: So he's utterly honest before the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And look at verse 19.
SPEAKER_02: Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord God, you alone.
SPEAKER_02: He wants God's glory.
SPEAKER_02: And may it be said, when all the armies are surrounding you and me, that God moved in a mighty way because he cried out.
SPEAKER_02: We cried out for him to move.
SPEAKER_02: We asked him to move, and he did move.
SPEAKER_02: And God gets all the glory.
SPEAKER_02: Because look at verse 20.
SPEAKER_02: And then Isaiah, the son of Amos, sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the Lord God of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Underline this, circle this, whatever, highlight it.
SPEAKER_02: Because you prayed.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody say that.
SPEAKER_02: Because you prayed.
SPEAKER_02: Say it again.
SPEAKER_02: Because you prayed.
SPEAKER_02: To me, I have heard.
SPEAKER_02: Because you prayed.
SPEAKER_02: Now jump over to verse 30 and 31.
SPEAKER_02: And the remnant who have escaped of the household of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward, for out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant.
SPEAKER_02: And those who escape from Mount Zion, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
SPEAKER_02: I really believe God's not done with America yet.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that.
SPEAKER_02: And I believe the zeal of the Lord is still on this country.
SPEAKER_02: And the zeal of the Lord is on this city.
SPEAKER_02: And the zeal of the Lord is on the church.
SPEAKER_02: And he's just looking for other people with zeal.
SPEAKER_02: He's looking for zealous people that his zeal can flow through.
SPEAKER_02: Look at, um, I wrote it in my Bible, look at not now, but look at it later.
SPEAKER_02: Zechariah 1, 14 through 17.
SPEAKER_02: And then look what happens, men and women, verse 35.
SPEAKER_02: And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000.
SPEAKER_02: And secular history even tells us that this happened.
SPEAKER_02: And when people arose early in the morning, there were corpses everywhere.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody dead, all dead.
SPEAKER_02: All dead.
SPEAKER_02: I like to say we drive past the cemetery with my kids.
SPEAKER_02: How many people are dead in that cemetery?
SPEAKER_02: All of them.
SPEAKER_02: They're all dead.
SPEAKER_02: So Sennacrib, king of Assyria, departed and went away, returned home.
SPEAKER_02: So he thought he'd that's pretty bad.
SPEAKER_02: He thought, man, everybody's dead.
SPEAKER_02: Run away, run away.
SPEAKER_02: And so he runs away, and it's not over yet.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 37, and it came to pass as he was worshiping in the temple of Nishrach, his God, that his sons, that guy, whatever his name is, Adramelech, and Sharazer struck him down with the sword.
SPEAKER_01: Zeal of the Lord, church.
SPEAKER_01: Zeal of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be zealous for the Lord this week.
SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have been blessed by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.