Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Mighty in Prayer Pt.3

Amen. Let's turn to Chronicles; we want to pick up where we left off this morning.

One of the reasons we wanted to go back and look at the life of Hezekiah--we're going to be talking about building our prayer lives in preparation for the war that's at hand, being able to effectively move in the weaponry of God. Paul tells us in Ephesians that we're to put on the whole armor of God, praying. So this armor is prayer armor; it prepares us for battle. But as I was meditating about where we were going to go in this study on prayer and what was ahead--and we were talking about praying [to] the Lord of the harvest and truly believing that God would use us and supernaturally plant seed in the hearts of those that we encounter--we realize that there are going to be many other aspects of this war that's at hand.

When you study the life of Hezekiah, it's a very interesting thing. He faces many of the trials that you and I face in our lives. We find the onslaught of Sennacherib (who's almost like the antichrist, or Satan personified) and the mocking, the threats against the covenant people of God, the imminent destruction of their lives and their way of serving God. We're going to be facing that in the days to come. Hezekiah faced a great personal sickness, and we're going to be talking about the need, really, to see the power of God: signs and wonders, the ability to believe for the healing power that's ours through the redemptive work of Jesus. And we see that in the life of Hezekiah. We see the time of prosperity that he experienced, and as many of us live in that and should the Lord tarry, there's going to be a time here when it's still available to us. How do we live successfully in the midst of our prosperity?

So Hezekiah was going through many of the different things that we're involved in, that we're facing, but the thing that I wanted to do before we looked at the specifics of building our prayer lives and the mechanics of prayer, the specifics of how to wield the Sword of the Spirit in combat, I wanted us to look at the real requisite, what happened in the life of Hezekiah. It's seen in this twenty-ninth chapter of 2 Chronicles, and that's the need for each and every one of us to deal with the pollution in the house of God--our bodies, our lives, are the temple of the Holy Spirit (we are the house of God; God lives in us)--and to deal with the pollutions that find their way into our lives, because remember what the Lord said: "My Father's house shall be called [What?] a house of prayer" (Matthew 21:13). We are the temple of God, and our lives are to be lives of prayer--" . . men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1). So the real requisite of a successful prayer life is a holy temple, one that's undefiled from all of the cares of the world. The ability to see that our lives, this temple of God is to be sanctified and set apart wholly for God--it enables us to pray unselfishly. It keeps us agenda free. It causes us to be able to pray, Not my will but Thy will be done.

So in the life of Hezekiah we're going to see many of these different things. What I like about this twenty-ninth chapter and the way it starts, it says, "Hezekiah began to reign when was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years . . . And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done." You notice he goes back to the ancestry that had established the covenant, not his immediate lineage, not his paternal right, because his father, Ahaz, was one of the most wicked men that ever lived. Isn't it interesting how righteous people can come from the wicked and wicked can come from the righteous? It's a personal decision isn't it? We have different propensities; there is the power of genetics, but it's not as strong as the blood of Jesus. Can you say Praise God for that?

This phrase in verse 3 is so striking to me. It says, "He in the first year of his reign, in the first month . . . " Don't you like that? "He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and repaired them." We see where the priority of this young man was. Now, what is this talking about? We're talking about our bodies being the temple of God; we are a house of prayer. But there had been a polluting, a defiling; the doors had been closed. How would you analyze your prayer life over the last months or year? Has anything entered in and robbed you of your awareness of the presence of God on a daily basis? Do you live constantly in prayer like you've known at different seasons of your life to where every breath is prayer--every thought, every meditation--you're just constantly aware of God's presence? Prayer as we've defined it in the past: practicing the presence of God. Yet there are so many things that can distract us--immoral, amoral.

But one of the first responsibilities we have is this responsibility of communion with God--lives of prayer, vessels that would be in preparation for the glory of God. What was it that this young man was encountering here; what was the environment that was taking place? You remember the wickedness of his father, Ahaz, in the chapter just preceding this. It's interesting to see that the Scripture says in Chapter 28, verse 21, "For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the Lord . . . " This is a very interesting thing; I want you see this. He took a portion, and what he was trying to do here was he was trying to appease the world. He gave up a little bit of God's glory to just try to make some peace with his enemies. [He] compromised just a little bit. We can think about relatives. We can think about the marketplace. We can think about associates that we come in contact with. We can think about people that we have communication with in different forms of recreation or commerce or whatever it might be. But there was pressure that was being constantly put upon Ahaz to deny God.

Now, here's a man who was already steeped in idolatry and wickedness. All of the fertility gods were put into positions of prominence at this particular time. There was no baser form of idolatry than what they were involved in, and the devil still wasn't satisfied, because it's not about Ahaz; it's about bringing a reproach on God. The people were already backslidden; they there steeped in all of this heinous, lascivious lifestyle. But the Scripture says that " . . . Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of the Lord, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it unto the king of Assyria: [thinking that he was going to help him and give him a little bit of strength and protection, but he reneged and] . . . he helped him not." And the distress became greater, the Scripture says: "And in the time of his distress [look at the next phrase] did he trespass [say it with me] yet more . . . " The minute you begin to compromise, there is no end, and now he trespassed "yet more against the Lord . . . "

You see, you're either pursuing and going into the truth and into the light, with our steps illuminated by the Word of God to where there is no occasion of stumbling, or we're in pursuit of darkness. And compromise begets more compromise--he trespassed yet more. "For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus . . . [And then the Scripture says] Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, [These gods have brought great success. On every side I look, and people seem to be making it. They have stuff, and they're enjoying all of the great benefits that are provided in this time of prosperity and ease and comfort. They're partaking of all of the amusements that are available to them.] therefore will I sacrifice to them, [look at verse 23] that they may help me. [I'm going to do it the way the world is doing it. I'm going to rob from God; I'm going to give the glory of God to the world. I'm going to forsake my roots, and these gods will then help me. And I want you to read this next phrase with me.] But they were the [say it] ruin of him, and of all Israel."

You know, it was a sad thing the other night; I was talking to you about visiting this other ministry. Steve came after the service, and he said he had taken note; he said it was an interesting thing to watch. What was sad was so many of these young people--I don't know if you--I was sitting down on the floor, and I saw this young lady that was voted queen. She gave her testimony, and she came walking by with her little gown on and all the things--they were doing their thing. Then afterwards--she gave her Christian testimony, and afterwards, outside, she looked slightly different in her skintight jeans with a boyfriend giving her a massage, with her nose ring and lip ring in. And the sad part is they're not in either kingdom. Now, they are, but in their own minds. How much of the glory of God are you going to take? How much compromise with the world can we involve ourselves in and it not be the ruin of us? Where is the bold testimony? Where is the separate life to where there is no question which kingdom we're serving in, who our gods are?

The gods of Damascus--the fertility gods. So we see, then, that this is what this young man grew up in. This is the environment that he knew. "And Ahaz [verse 24] gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made him altars [to the gods of the world] in every corner of Jerusalem." A compromise, yet more, and then the closing of the doors of the house of God. Where would you say we are--you are? This is always the sequence: a little leaven leavens the whole lump. "You're for Me or you're against Me. You cannot serve God and mammon; you'll love the one and hate the other, despise the one, cling to the other." What an easy place to live when you truly live a life of absolutes. Decisions are easy; you're not in turmoil having to think, Well, how can I get around this and do just enough to keep the rules? But when you're wanting to come to the light as He is in the light and have fellowship with Him and His blood continually cleanses us from all of our sins, as I John says--walk in the light as He is in the light, and you have fellowship with Him--there is no indecision; there is no time of turmoil. Your path has already been determined; your mind is already made up. All I need to hear is that still small voice, "This is the way; walk in it," and my decision has been made for me. I have nothing to say about this. We're not our own; we're bought with a price. Amen? There's no decision-making on your part except one. You make it once for all: Jesus is Lord. That's the last decision you have to make, and after that, all you have to do is obey. Just do what you're told. Life is easy, man, when you're living in this kingdom.

So Hezekiah was raised up in this environment, and his dad shut the doors to the temple, stripped the gold, and took the vessels of worship and offered them up in his pursuit of the world. When Hezekiah became king, there was another spirit in this young man, and in the first year and the first month, the Scripture says, of his reign he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. Aren't you thankful for the young people in our midst that have this kind of hunger for the presence of God? Not a feigned, not a marketed--the testimony stood out to me of one of those young men. I was listening closely to their testimonies. This one young man talked about his conversion, and he talked about the deep conviction that he came to when he was five. You can't have deep anything at five. See, based upon your doctrine, when you come under deep conversion at five, you're raised in a preacher's house like this kid, all you hear and know are these things, and you hear that, and you make a decision for Jesus. It's natural that you would accept Jesus into your life.

I had a little note back on the desk when I got in before service. It's one of those keepers. You keep some things for a little time, [things] that your children give you, or your grandkids, and then you look for a good opportunity when they forgot about it to throw it away. And yet this is one of those true keepers. As I looked at this little note, it had three crosses on it and some of the different things drawn, and it said, "Grandpa, Jesus died on the cross for your sins so that He could be Lord of your life." What an exciting thing to see your children's children catching the message. Amen? But you know, this place that this child is in at nine years old is a good place, and if everything stays constant, then we have no reason to believe, should the Lord tarry, but that this child will be in the same place at nineteen years of age. But that's the age I'm concerned about. Those decisions that are made at seven, eight, nine years old, they're very real, but they're foundational; they need to be built upon.

The testimony of every one of those young people was that they had a conversion at five and then lived lives separate to themselves, and then some type of a crisis, whatever it might be, and "I went to camp [and whatever], and now I've made a commitment to the Lord." What happened between five and seventeen? The consistent separate living, the standards that we've got to be jealous for in the midst of our children--generational obedience, and at the same time believing that each one is going to grow up and make these decisions.

Hezekiah didn't have a lot put into him from his father, but there was an apparent faithfulness on his mother's part. There's a sowing in. Don't minimize the influence, for good or bad, that you're having on your children, and don't fear the environment. It was horrendous! It couldn't have been any worse, and out of the midst of that environment rises a young man, Hezekiah, that has a heart for God! What are you sowing into the youth and the young adults that live in your house, your kingdom that we talked about this morning? A jealousy for the house of God? A fervency that would cause them to be in pursuance of God's righteousness?

There's a lot that happens in these next verses, and let's see if I can condense them a little bit. But there's some good stuff here, and I want to speak towards some of the specifics. Hezekiah has this zeal for the house of God--" . . . My house shall be called the house of prayer . . . " (Matthew 21:13). We've talked about our prayer lives. We've set aside certain days for prayer. I'm sure that you pray other than Tuesdays and Thursdays. I understand that we have childcare for a certain period of time, but we've shared before that when you come to prayer, it's not just putting in thirty minutes. It's hearing from God. It's being refreshed. It's being illuminated. We pray until we have an answer. We pray until we have a heart assurance that we've touched the heart of God, that we know the will of God. You may not see it manifested before you get up and leave this auditorium, but the faith has manifested, the promises have germinated; you see it, and because you see it, you will see it.

This is the faith that we're talking about. This is the prayer life that we need to be in pursuance of. This is the jealousy. You see, the house of God, there's a preparation for this, and that's what it says takes place here next. When he would begin to open the doors of the house of God, it had to be cleansed now. He couldn't go in; the priests had to do it. So he called the priests together, and he told them " . . . sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place" (2 Chronicles 29:5). Now, whose responsibility is that at this point? The priests.

You know, many of us fathers, we know the doctrine and we see ourselves--we know that we are the priests of our households. We are the kings and priests, and we've been given that place of biblical dominion. Well, it's more than a position. The responsibility that comes with that priesthood is making sure that God is being exalted, that the offerings are being offered up. The offerings of your household, beloved, are the lives of everyone that lives there--"Present your bodies living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:1-2). Amen? Are you the example of that? Have you seen to it that this household, this kingdom, has been cleansed that you're the priest, the representative of God, in--a king and a priest; a kingdom and a temple?

We've got many of our young couples right now that are getting ready to have children. Praise God. Should the Lord tarry, that's the will of God; this is God's will for us. Contrary to the yuppie culture, God's will for you is not two Mercedes, seven plasma TVs, vacations, cruises, and all of these things. It's a godly seed. Amen? The Catholics got it right; the Mormons got it right. Who's left? Who's going to be left to carry on this banner? "Well, I'm going to leave my plasma TV. Maybe they can show a video on it and somebody will get saved." A godly seed, the Scripture talks about.

So we see here that there's kingdom, and you're responsible for that household. And when God speaks to us at times like this and we hear these messages, we all step back and we take a survey of our lives, and we say, "Lord, show me if there's something in my life that's lacking. What is it that could be polluting the house of God of which I'm the priest? Am I myself in a position to where I can offer up sacrifices to you? How sanctified is my life? How focused am I on the glory of God?"

So Hezekiah says, "You priests come and sanctify yourselves, and then sanctify the house of the Lord and carry out this filth from the holy place." A number of months ago the Lord really spoke to us about that, in these last couple of years, and many of us were convicted, and a lot of things were touched in our lives. Has some of it come back? Have you given up any ground that you took over these last couple of years as God has been visiting us?

"For our fathers have trespassed . . . " (verse 6). I wouldn't concern--we as a fellowship, we can apply it toward ourselves, and I think we could say, some of our young people could say, "Our fathers have trespassed." There have been times of apathy. Many have placed the burden and the temptation upon the next generation by serving idols and material things and ease. We've talked about that in the past, and I believe God has spoken to us clearly about that, and many have made a lot of changes. But the environment of it in verse 6 says, "For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs. [Verse 7,] Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, [Read verse 7 very clearly. Look at this: Also they have shut up the doors of the porch] and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are [captives of this generation]"--look like, talk like, pursue the other kingdom's way of life.

How separate are we? How jealous are we for God's ways? We've talked about this and been over and over it. Beloved, it's not the visible. We've talked about it concerning clothing; we've talked about it concerning amusements; we've talked about it concerning different aspects of degrees of prosperity, and you can get sidetracked on all of the observable. We're asking about our hearts. We're asking about the motives. It's not what you have; it's why you have it and how you got it that become the real issues. Those become the real questions that need to be addressed. And the compromises that were made to pursue the world's acceptance, fearful of the world's dominion, whatever they were facing, they sought to solve their problems in the arm of the flesh and not at the altar of God.

So in the process, our kids have been taught the doctrine of prayer, but have they experienced the power of prayer? Have they seen you receive by the power of God, the hand of God, or do you talk about the power of prayer and do everything in your own strength? We've given the examples before: do you encourage your children to pray and believe God for whatever it is--all of the great necessities of life (the new car, the Xbox, the six-hundred-dollar tennis shoes)? And they begin to seek God, and it ends up on your credit card. What have we taught this generation about coming into the house and the presence of God and standing in faith and standing in a place where we can boast upon the power of God and the deliverance of our God? See, it's not a question of our doctrine. It's a question of our lifestyle, our motives, our daily living, our source.

What these people were experiencing here was the doors had been closed to the porch, the lamps no longer burned. We taught on these emblems before. I won't go into them in detail right now, but the lamps (the presence of God, the illumination of God), the Word speaking to us--hearts being enlightened, our minds being instructed to where we're not polluted by the world, we're not thinking naturally from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but we're hearing the wisdom of God, that illumination--Jesus, the light of the world; the Word of God, a lamp unto our feet. It wasn't shining. The incense was no longer being offered--the incense of our prayers, holy praise and thanksgiving going forth to God--nobody knew anything about this at this time. The burnt offerings--there was no repentance, there was no remorse, there was no sin offering that was going forth, because everything was tolerated, everything was justifiable. "Everybody's doing it; what's wrong with it?" It's robbing the glory of God; that's what's wrong with it. We're no longer entering into His presence. We're no longer giving attention to the things that are about the eternal but being consumed by the temporal.

So the Scripture goes on, and it says because of those having fallen (the backslidden, the impotent), another generation is being taken captive. But "Now [verse 10, look at this] it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us." "We've been under the judgment of God. My fathers destroyed this nation; these idols are polluting us on every side. I'm going to cut down the groves; I'm going to destroy these idols! We're going to take this trash out of the house of God and cast it into the brook Kidron, and we're going to be a people that are free to worship God. And I make a pledge to that; I make a covenant to that!"

You see, that was done once before. Turn back to the fifteenth chapter and refresh yourself for just a moment here and remember when this covenant was made prior to this in the days of Asa. In Chapter 15 we read about the visitation of God, and the prophet speaks and says in verse 2, " . . . The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you . . . Be ye strong therefore, [verse 7] and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded." Then the Scripture says that there was a "[renewing of] the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord" in verse 8. And then this statement made in verse 12, "And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; [and they made a covenant] That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman."

You know, that's a pretty serious pursuit of God, wouldn't you say? On a scale of one to ten where would you put yourself today (your pursuit, your jealousy)? In the midst of all of the pollution around us in professed Christendom, and even here in our midst, we've made ourselves a people to pursue God. You know, the fact of the matter is if you want to compare ourselves with others, we're doing a pretty decent job. We may not be the best, but we're doing a pretty decent job. But you know we don't compare ourselves by ourselves. Amen? There's only one way that we can judge ourselves, and that's by the standard that Jesus set forth. In Christlikeness where would you put yourself today? As Jesus gave us the example of depending upon the Father, how would you put yourself in your dependence upon the Father? In living for the glory of the Father in comparison to Jesus, where would we put ourselves? In serving where would we put ourselves? In the fruit of His character, His gentleness, His meekness, His uncompromising spirit, His capacity to speak the truth, to walk in the power of God [where would we put ourselves]? Maybe we ought to stop using so much energy patting ourselves on our backs and begin to see we've got some work to do--Amen?--as it pertains to Christlikeness. Oh, now you can go the way of the flesh and get under condemnation and say, Oh, yeah; OK-- We're not talking about doing it in your own strength; we're not talking about condemnation. There is no condemnation to those of us who are in Christ Jesus--Amen?--who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. We're not talking about condemnation; we're talking about a passion to bring more glory to God. Thank God for where we are! If we die, we get to go to heaven, praise God! But there's more to be done. There are greater things that can be done for the glory of God, and this is where Hezekiah is.

He says he makes a covenant, and he says in 2 Chronicles 29, verse 11, "My sons, be not now negligent: [he's talking to the priests] for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense." The priesthood--you're going to see something stated in just a moment that they had to allow the Levites to come in and actually do some of the work of the priests, because the Levites were more zealous for God than the priests. You know, that's one thing about being in the ministry. You can get so caught up in ministry and the working of it and so much of commonness with it that it can be devalued many times. Thank God for a jealousy for the glory of God. Thank God that there's a people that have a heart to pursue and be used. Oh, even among the priests there was that remnant, but many of them were very apathetic in their preparation to serve. Verse 15 says, "And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord. And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord [eight days to clean the inner workings of the house of God] into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron." Eight days, verse 17 says, and then finally in the eighteenth verse they came to Hezekiah and said, "We have cleansed all the house of the Lord . . . "

We're talking about preparing ourselves for prayer: cleansing the temple. As we begin to really pray for souls, for God to deliver the people that we come in contact with, this isn't an easy task that's at hand. We're talking about hand-to-hand combat, daily warfare, intercession. Intercession isn't praying once and thinking it's over. Intercession is a daily wrestling on behalf of these souls that are under the powers of darkness. Satan is not going to let these people go easily. Are you ready to war? Are you ready to pray? Are you ready to pursue God on their behalf? Then we have to see the priority of prayer and a preparation of our lives, the temple. Is there any defilement inside? You know, we talked the other night out of Mark 11. I'm going to tell you what the greatest hindrance to prayer is: it's unforgiveness. You have no power with God if there's unforgiveness in your heart. You need to start there. We're talking about the pollution, and I'm talking about family, friends, people that have said all manner of evil against you, the abuses that you had as a child, the rejections, the fear, whatever it is. "When you stand praying, forgive," the Scripture says (Mark 11:25).

One of my great uncles just passed away; he was one of my grandmother's--I think it would be a great uncle--my grandmother's brothers. I don't want to get sidetracked--these guys were quite a crew, man. This Davis clan, there were thirteen children. Things were different back then. Grandma remembers when some of the younger ones were born. She remembers, I think she was twelve, and one of the siblings was born, and her dad just took the child and said, "Here, this one is yours to take care of." That's how you did it. I mean, thirteen kids, and everybody took care of everybody. There was a closeness, and it's interesting to watch a family die. I'm watching all these people die that I watched as a kid growing up, and they're all dying. These people are all getting old. And so many of them, the tragedy is every one of those kids had a godly mother, and not one of them knows the Lord. Here's Grandma, ninety-seven; her mother knew Jesus. I believe there's a testimony in every family. I can't proof this, but I believe that God in His wisdom and sovereignty somehow--I've looked, and I can find no believers but my Great Grandma Davis; she was a Christian. Her testimony, and the more I speak--because see, nobody wanted to talk about her because she was weird. She wasn't like the rest of us; she didn't guzzle beer and smoke cigarettes and carouse. She was weird; she had a Bible, prayed, and she prayed for her family and prayed for her family and prayed her family, and none of her kids got saved and none of her grandkids got saved. None of them! And none of her great grandchildren got saved until February 5, 1967 [the date Pastor was born again]. And she died two months later, and there was one more left, praise God! And the testimony goes on. Amen?

Don't be weary in well doing. If we can get one. Amen? If you can just get one. If you can just pray and believe; if we can get one. Thank God we're doing better than that in our families now. Thank God for our children that are serving the Lord. Thank God for our grandchildren that are serving the Lord. We're winning this thing. Amen? But this isn't any time to rest. We're at war; there are lives to be saved. What are we doing to prepare ourselves in the house of God? How jealous are we? You as the priest, are you making sure that the lamps are lit? Are you making sure that there's incense going up in your house in worship and praise?

So this is what Hezekiah is doing at this time to see the restoration. And when he received testimony that the house of the Lord had been cleansed it says in verse 20, "Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went to the house of the Lord." I like this. The king, he says it's not just something he's going to do; he got all of the rulers. He got all leadership; he said, "We're going to the house of God," and I'm sure a lot of these guys were going, "Man, the doors just got opened, and we're not used to this; it's not in our schedule. I have an appointment today." Yeah, you think you have an appointment today; we're going to the house of the Lord. Amen? That's a good boss to have.

I was talking to Waleed [a congregant] the other day. I was telling you a little bit about the testimony. Waleed was the one that went to that other business person and said, "What are you doing firing Christians for giving a testimony, and [you're] calling this a ministry?" "Well, it's against our policy to witness." [Waleed] told me that a person came to work for him just the other day and that he was getting ready to hire the person. The person was a believer, and he said, "Well, I want to talk to you about the policy we have of witnessing on the job." He said the person kind of looked at him real strange, and [Waleed] said, "If you don't [witness], you'll get fired." Hallelujah! Little different approach. Amen?

So Hezekiah is that kind of a boss. He's wanting to see the glory of God, and he takes the leaders down there. It says that they brought seven bullocks and seven rams and seven he-goats. Not just the one but seven; seven is the number of perfection. The oxen were for the sin of the people; the he-goats [for] the sin of the leaders. They come down, and they're offering up seven, the number of completion; a people, a nation, wanting to return to God. And the offerings were made, verse 24 says, for reconciliation and for atonement. Then something began to happen, something that's very prominent in every revival in hearts that are being prepared for God, and that's worship. "And all the congregation worshipped [verse 28 says], and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded: and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped. Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph . . . " I like that, "with the words of David, and of Asaph." They were singing the Word of God; they were singing the same psalms that you and I sing a lot. You know, there are some nice songs that are written, and people write some nice choruses, but I want to tell you, those people that have taken the Word of God and put it to music properly, there's nothing better. What an exciting thing to see as they worshipped the Lord with the words of David and Asaph, "And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped."

So we find a people that are preparing themselves for what's at hand. You see, on the horizon is a confrontation with Sennacherib, a time that they've never known. What's on the horizon for Hezekiah personally, the great sickness that we're all aware of, and one of the greatest miracles in all of the Bible that he experiences. And the testimony of it was so far-reaching that the astronomers of Babylon, the ones that were going to take these people ultimately into bondage, came to see what it was that took place. How many of you know astronomers--they were big into astronomy and astrology, but astronomy in Babylon. You know, when the sun goes back ten degrees, that'll get people's attention. What a great testimony!

Where's our testimony of the power of God? The preparation to stand when everyone is absolutely being bulldozed, no one able to stand against that spirit, and you know, you look around today and it's almost like that. You see Christians that seem helpless, and the spirit of this age is just running them down. Thank God that those of us that know the Lord can do exploits in His name. One will put a thousand to flight, and two will put ten thousand. Amen? A thousand will fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand, but it'll not come nigh us, praise God. We resist the enemy and he flees from us. How are you dealing with this spirit of the age? Are you flirting with it, or are you opposing it? Resist the devil and what? He'll flee from you. If you don't resist him, he will devour you. There's no compromise; there's no neutrality. Just live beside the devil. Try not to partake of it that much. Hang out with the people of the devil; just don't partake. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. We've been called to come in and destroy the nations and their gods, and that's how we're going to stand.

And Hezekiah knows that anointing at this time, and he's preparing the people. He's preparing them by opening the doors of the temple and cleansing the temple and establishing again the offerings of God, and the lamps are now illuminated, and the incense is coming forth as a sweet smelling savor to the nostrils of God. It's time to seek the Lord, the Scripture says, and He will rain His righteousness upon us.

We'll end with this for this evening. They offered, verse 35, the burnt offerings. " . . . So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order." What is the house of the Lord? It's to be called a house of what? Prayer. Prayer was set in order. Prayer was given its proper place in their midst. "And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly." That's how God deals; He just comes in and says, "Here's what I want you to do," and you do it, praise God. Are you ready for what the Lord is speaking to you at this moment? There's not time for preparing everybody for acceptance of the changes that may have to take place in your life. You just go and deal with the people straight-up and set things in order, and say, This is how it used to be done, and this is how it's going to be done now. This is what I used to do, and this is what I'm doing now. This was my goal, and this is now my goal. This was my direction, and now this is my direction, that God would be all and all.

Father, we do thank You tonight for Your presence in our lives, and we ask that You would help us in preparation of the temple of God, the filth being removed. Beloved, the filth is not pornography, the filth is not alcohol, the filth is not hedonism--the filth is self. All of that stuff that I mentioned is the fruit of it. So we come to cleanse the house of God; it must be emptied of self. You see, basically every one of us here has the same problem, and it's not the guy seated next to you. It's you. So we experience the daily cross, the perpetual cleansing. We involve ourselves in the mutual goal and pursuit, that He might be all and all.

If the ushers will come at this time, we're going to take a few moments and just worship the Lord in remembrance of His great gift, the table prepared for us. "As often as you do this [He says], do it in remembrance of Me." Chuck, if you and Katie want to come [to minister with music], we just want to sit at His feet and worship Him. He said, "You show your worship and your thanks for what I've done until I come." He said [to] make sure that you don't eat or drink of this unworthily; if you do, you'll eat or drink to yourself damnation. The unworthy partaking is taking of these [communion emblems] into your temple while there's still the filth there. So confess your sin, and He's faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Recognize the body broken for you, the blood shed, and eat and drink to yourself wholeness and strength and peace tonight.

I believe that as we've heard the Word, many of us, as the Word was coming forth, were cleansing the temple of God. I believe that decisions were being made. I believe that illumination was coming of things in our thought processes, in our goals, in our methods, that were not pleasing to Him, and we've purposed to adjust those things. This is a great time to just worship Him in communion. Celebrate the victory that's won! That determination didn't come from you; it came from the Holy Spirit that prompted it. The effectual working of it isn't going to come from your strength; it's going to be the greater one that lives inside of us. I believe that for many of us, even now as we recognize His presence, we'll eat and drink to ourselves healing tonight and strength. "In remembrance of Me."

I didn't see that we had any visitors here, but if we do, we believe in open communion. If you're born again, you know the Lord Jesus as your personal savior, you feel free to worship with us. The rest of you, you know the issues that have to be dealt with. Just make that purpose, confess, offer up to God the sin offering, offer up the worship, and eat and be whole, praise God. Everyone hold the emblems; we'll partake together. Let's sing it. "Take me in . . . "

Thank You, Jesus. Oh, we worship You, Lord, for Your greatness. Oh, Jesus, we thank You for Your goodness. Father, let our worship be accepted. We declare Your righteousness.

As we enter in and God takes the coal from the altar and puts it upon our lips, for we are a people of unclean lips, it's that daily purifying and sanctifying. He puts His Word in our mouth, and we speak praise. We boast in the Lord; we make our boast in His greatness, His majesty. Sennacherib sends his messengers and mocks, "Don't encourage these people in your delusions and your lies." But we can't help but speak the things that we've seen and heard. We declare the majesty of our God! The enemy said, "No one can stand against me. No nation has withstood me and been successful." We don't come against you in our own strength; we come in the name of the Lord our God! Every other nation came against you in their own strength; we have no strength. I have no solutions. I have no answers, but I have a God Who's ever present. He never leaves me nor forsakes me. He never leaves me comfortless. Oh, we thank You, Lord, for the great work that's been done.

Where's He taking us? You know, as someone put here as an overseer, it would be so easy to look at where we are and say, "Praise God! Compared to everything else, look where we are. Look at the commitments of these lives; look at what God has done." That would be so easy, and comparing ourselves by ourselves; we're all in different places, but then something happens. God shows up, and you look at Him and you go, Whoa! We're a people of unclean lips. You get that glimpse, and you go, I want to be like that; that's what I want to be like. I want to know Him more. I want to be changed; I want to be like Him. Oh, I'm more like Him; I was getting closer, and then He showed me more of Himself. So here we go again to the cross, to the illumination of the Word; another layer of flesh comes off, and hopefully, not hopefully, assuredly, Father will be glorified more in our midst. But there is no end; there's no place to rest.

So Father, we ask You for the grace to pursue. We just ask You, Lord, that You would show Yourself mighty in our midst. We never take these emblems in our hands that we don't stand in awe and humbled by Your love, by Your majesty. We hold these emblems, and we become so aware of our sinfulness. But at the same time we hold these emblems and we realize how far that sin has been removed from us and that we are new creations and that old things have passed away, and we're not under the power of the flesh; we're not under the power of genetics, but we're cleansed by the power of Your blood. We have a new heart; we have a new mind, and for that we say Thank You and in that we celebrate the victory won over death, hell, and the grave.

So with thanksgiving and in remembrance of You we celebrate the victory won. Our sins forgiven! Our bodies healed! Our lives empowered with the Spirit of God to be living epistles. For that we say Thank You. Empower us, strengthen our hands, and we'll give You the glory, Father, in Jesus' name, and in celebration of that, we eat and we drink with thanksgiving, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's partake of the bread together. Hallelujah! The body broken for you--healing for your physical man; strength to this outward man. Thank God that He renews us day by day. Thank God that this is our strength, this is our refreshing, this is our healing, praise God! The cup--the new heart, the new mind, the bold access to the throne of God. We run to You, Lord, and we are safe. Thank You. Let's partake of the cup together. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Just stand and worship Him. Just stand and celebrate the victory that's been won in your life, the ability to hand it on to the next generation, praise God. Thank God for the victory that's been won over the powers of death, hell, the grave, praise God. Thank God that the spirit of this age is nothing before us. We resist him and he flees, in the name of Jesus. We are not prey; we are conquers! They're the prey. The gates of hell cannot prevail; we will see captives set free, praise God! Those that have been purchased, added to the Kingdom. Our boast is in You, Lord! Our boast is in You, Lord! Hallelujah! Oh, we worship You, Lord, in spirit. Be exalted, Lord.

Let's sing that chorus together and just celebrate the victory won. Hallelujah! "On bended knee . . . " Oh, Lord, we exalt You. Hallelujah! Hallelujah, Lord! Let our lives be praise and worship. Let our lives be offered up as sweet smelling savor before You, Lord. Not only our words but our lives as we present ourselves living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to You. Be honored in our living; be honored in our words, Lord. Cleanse this temple. Fill us with your Shekinah and let us glorify You, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Before you go, greet somebody next to you. Say, His house is a house of prayer. Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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