Sermon

The Call to Come | 2 Chronicles 30 | Pastor Matt Nettesheim

Chesapeake Baptist Church Sermons

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  1. All right, take your Bible, turn with me to 2

    2 Chronicles 30 chapter mention

  2. Chronicles chapter 30. Thank you, special music.

  3. Thank you, Brother Menka. It's been a good night,

  4. a joyful night, wonderful night. We get to the

  5. Bible, 2 Chronicles chapter number 30. And to

  6. try to get where we're at, we're at King Hezekiah.

  7. And we understand that before King Hezekiah became

  8. king, his dad, King Ahaz, had led the nation

  9. into sin, destruction. He had turned the doors

  10. or closed the doors of the temple. Worship had

  11. stopped. Idols began to be put up all over the

  12. land. And God's people had turned from righteousness

  13. and the God of the Bible to sin. And sin became

  14. prevalent. And imagine all of a sudden King Hezekiah

  15. becomes king. And we learned this in chapter

  16. number 29. He decides to one day to make a change.

  17. We're gonna turn back to God. And imagine he

  18. begins to be convicted. He begins to understand

  19. that I, as God's man, as the king of Israel,

  20. or the king of Judah, it's my job to lead this

  21. nation back to God. And he begins to gather around

  22. a few. Now, we need to open the temple. We need

  23. to bring back the elements or the different things

  24. inside the temple. We need to get ready for worship.

  25. We need to get ready to have the people come

  26. back to God. So they get the busy. They begin

  27. to set up the temple. They begin to get things

  28. ready. The Levites begin to get ready. And all

  29. of a sudden, there's an inner circle getting

  30. ready for, could you say, revival? Now here's

  31. the thing, before I say revival, they're getting

  32. ready for God to do something. They're getting

  33. ready for an impact to be made on the land. They're

  34. getting ready for a sinful people to come back

  35. to God. Now, it's faith. In other words, God

  36. didn't guarantee that people were going to come

  37. back to God, but all of a sudden, Hezekiah believes

  38. that God can. that if we begin to prepare, we

  39. begin to plant, we begin to water, we begin to

  40. sow the seeds of right, we begin to sow the seeds

  41. of the spiritual, there's hope for the people,

  42. not just in the southern kingdom of Judah, but

  43. there's actually hope for the people of the northern

  44. kingdom of Israel. And yet you understand, there

  45. had been a war with the northern kingdom of Israel.

  46. Hundreds of thousand people have died. and they

  47. live in a life of sin. It's normal, but understand

  48. he begins to prepare. Let's get the temple ready

  49. for revival. Let's get the priests ready for

  50. revival. Let's begin to prepare our nation for

  51. revival. And they begin to work behind the scenes

  52. preparing for that revival, okay? So let's do

  53. this. Stand for the reading of God's word. And

  54. we're gonna stand or stand to read verse number

  55. one together. And because at this particular

  56. time, the preparations have been made. The temple

  57. is ready. Overall, it's ready. It's not perfect.

  58. I'm not saying everything's perfect. As you read

  59. this chapter, you're gonna know that everything's

  60. not exactly perfect, but they're going to call

  61. for revival. They're about to go out into the

  62. community and say, now is the time. We need to

  63. have revival today. We need to come to God today.

  64. We need to turn back to God today. And we're

  65. going to read verse one. If you're ready, read

  66. with me. And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and

  67. Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh

  68. that they should come to the house of the Lord

  69. at Jerusalem. to keep the Passover unto the Lord

  70. God of Israel. Now, I'm gonna read it again,

  71. because this is the time, as Ezekiah says, now,

  72. we're gonna write letters. We're going to send

  73. people out to Israel, the northern kingdom, and

  74. Judah, and we're going to call them to come for

  75. revival. We're gonna call them to come to the

  76. house of the Lord. We're gonna call them to come

  77. to have the Passover feast under the Lord God

  78. of Israel. We're going to call them to revival.

  79. Now, this is part of the sermon, and it's the

  80. introduction. But imagine looking out. You've

  81. got to imagine how sinful the kingdom was. Judah

  82. was so far from God. Idolatry and wickedness

  83. and sinfulness was all around them. And the northern

  84. kingdom was even worse. And here, Hezekiah is

  85. saying, We're having a call to revival. We're

  86. going to send out people. We're going to write

  87. letters. And we're going to call them to have

  88. revival. Now, just that point, if we stop the

  89. message right there, I'm thinking, wow, that's

  90. a man of faith. That's a man who is just going

  91. to go out. He's going to plant water. And he's

  92. going to pray behind the scenes, God, please

  93. give an increase. It's a call to revival. a call

  94. for people to come back to God. I can't overemphasize

  95. this as we get into this. This chapter won't

  96. make any sense to you. This is a man of faith.

  97. If I was there, I would maybe be right there

  98. and say, King Hezekiah, don't mean to interrupt,

  99. but if you looked at how bad the people are,

  100. maybe King Hezekiah, we'll just talk to the people

  101. in Southern Kingdom. But I don't think we should

  102. expect anything from the Northern Kingdom of

  103. Israel. I think that maybe that may be dangerous.

  104. Maybe we ought to just focus in on a little bit

  105. of smaller circle here. But has this guy said,

  106. no, no, no, no. We're going to call Israel. And

  107. we're going to call Judah. And we're going to

  108. ask them to come to Jerusalem for the Passover.

  109. It's a call for revival. OK, now you understand

  110. that? Just say amen with me. Okay, let's read

  111. verse number one again, ready? And Hezekiah sent

  112. to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters also

  113. to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come

  114. to the house of the Lord at Isom to keep the

  115. Passover unto the Lord God of Israel. I believe

  116. we should just read it one more time, ready?

  117. And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and

  118. wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh. that

  119. they should come to the house of the Lord at

  120. Jerusalem to keep the Passover under the Lord

  121. God of Israel. Okay. We're gonna get into the

  122. chapter, and as we do, we're gonna pray. I entitled

  123. it The Call to Come. And there's two perspectives

  124. I'd really like you to think about as we look

  125. at this. Let's look at a perspective as a church

  126. reaching out into a sinful world that we live

  127. in with the hope that people will listen to that

  128. call to revival. In other words, part of the

  129. message is we have to have hope for the community

  130. we live in. We have to have hope for the neighbors

  131. around us. We have to have hope for the people

  132. we work with. We have to have hope that God can

  133. still work in the lives, and we have to have

  134. faith, like Hezekiah, to go into the world and

  135. call them to revival. We'd say amen to that.

  136. There's going to be a second application, and

  137. as we go through this chapter, the second application

  138. is God God calls us to have a relationship with

  139. us. God calls us to a revival. God calls us to

  140. come to him. God would call us to go down to

  141. Jerusalem to the Passover. And there's gonna

  142. be certain steps. And through this, I want you

  143. to think about now, how am I doing? How am I

  144. doing with that call to come to him? How am I

  145. doing with my relationship to God? And there's

  146. some principles both ways. that when I looked

  147. at this, I said, not, oh, you, I said, oh, Pastor

  148. Matt Nettesheim, there's some things I need to

  149. work on. Okay, we understand that? Before we

  150. go any further, let's go to the Lord in prayer.

  151. Dear Father in heaven, a longer introduction.

  152. And God, I know, as I get to preach tonight,

  153. I need to decrease and you need to increase,

  154. Lord. And I pray that you help me not to distract.

  155. I pray that you help me with the words that I

  156. say, and I pray that you help me, I pray the

  157. congregation also, to have ears to hear. I pray

  158. that you help us to be able to pay attention

  159. enough where we're able to see both sides. And

  160. I pray that you help us to be willing to make

  161. some changes. Lord, we love you, we need you,

  162. and we need your help in a great way, in Jesus'

  163. name, amen. You may be seated. Look with me at

  164. verse number one again, and Hezekiah sent, sent,

  165. say that word with me, sent to all Israel and

  166. Judah and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh

  167. that they should, that word come, come, a call

  168. to come to the house of the Lord. I think that's

  169. amazing. Hezekiah is like, hey, we can't have

  170. this just for ourselves. I have a chance, a unique

  171. chance in the history of my life. as king, as

  172. a leader, as a person, to lead other peoples,

  173. to the other people, to the great God that I

  174. have. It's not just good for me to live for God,

  175. it's good for everybody to live for God. So I

  176. know it's not the norm in the land that I live

  177. in, the land of Judah. I certainly know the Northern

  178. Kingdom of Israel, it's not the norm. But me,

  179. Hezekiah, the King of Israel, God's been good

  180. to me, and other people desperately need the

  181. great God that I have. And many others say there's

  182. no hope, but with God, all things are possible,

  183. and we're gonna make a call for them to come

  184. to the great God we serve. Now, verse number

  185. five, if you will. So they established a decree,

  186. so they established a decree to make proclamation

  187. throughout all Israel, throughout all what? from

  188. Bereshiba even to Dan. Now stop right there.

  189. This is a minor point, but it's not really that

  190. minor. From Dan to Bereshiba is to the northern

  191. part of the not divided kingdom, but the northern

  192. part of all of Israel is Dan, to the southern

  193. part, which is now Judah, Bereshiba. He's saying

  194. simply, everybody, we're not gonna invite some,

  195. we are going to invite all. Everybody needs revival.

  196. Everybody needs revival. I wanna say it again.

  197. Everybody needs revival. Now, if you go halfway

  198. through verse five, that they should come, they

  199. should come. It's a call to come, a call to come.

  200. He's calling them to come to this revival, to

  201. keep the Passover, to keep the Passover under

  202. the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem. Now, at

  203. the end of verse five, if you missed this, we're

  204. gonna miss a lot of the sermon. For they, For

  205. they had not done it for they had not done it

  206. For they had not done it. What is it? the Passover

  207. What they had not done it. What is it? Okay,

  208. that's and I understand that as I go through

  209. there I've read this chapter over and over and

  210. over and over again that it is the Passover.

  211. Okay, so they have not done it. What is it? the

  212. Passover They had not done it of a long time

  213. in such sort as it was written. As it was written.

  214. All of a sudden Hezekiah had to get a hold of

  215. this book. And all of a sudden he began to read

  216. the book. And they begin to say, man, this is

  217. what God said. This is God's word. And this is

  218. what God desires. And this is what God wants.

  219. And it is not a suggestion. It is written. And

  220. if it is written, it is the way I'm supposed

  221. to live. And I'm going to follow the book. I'm

  222. going to follow the Bible. And I'm not going

  223. to call them to come to a Passover. Well, I know

  224. they haven't done it a long time. But it doesn't

  225. matter if they haven't done it a long time. The

  226. Passover is right. Worshipping God is right.

  227. This revival is right. And it doesn't matter

  228. what has happened in the past. It doesn't matter

  229. what people think now. It doesn't matter what

  230. the culture says now. It doesn't matter what

  231. they say on CNN or Fox News. It matters what

  232. God says. And God said it is written. We're going

  233. to call people to revival. We're going to call

  234. people to the Passover. We're going to call people

  235. from the North in Dan all the way down to Beersheba

  236. where it's a call to revival, a call to revival.

  237. Hey, this book, if you follow it, you read it,

  238. you're going to find very plainly it is written.

  239. It is written. It is written. And what is written

  240. in the Word of God is going to be very much against

  241. what is happening in our culture, in our society,

  242. in our schools, in our families, even in churches.

  243. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. You

  244. know what matters? It is written. And praise

  245. God, one of the things you can look at here is

  246. Hezekiah didn't look at the way things are, he

  247. looked at the way things were written by the

  248. Almighty God. And it's so important, if you wanna

  249. make a difference in your life, you wanna see

  250. God work in your life a great way, forget what

  251. people are doing or saying, look what is written

  252. in the word of God. Okay, we got that, we understand

  253. that, we're still there, and we go a little bit

  254. further and we get to verse number six. So the

  255. posts, it's like postmen, that's like people,

  256. mailmen, went with the letters from the king

  257. and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah.

  258. And according to the commandment of the king,

  259. saying, ye children of Israel, turn again unto

  260. the Lord God of Abraham. Isaac in Israel, and

  261. he will return to the remnant of you. Okay, now

  262. this is what you're going to say as you go. The

  263. posts are gonna go, this is what's written, this

  264. is what you're bringing to the people from Dan

  265. to Bathsheba. You're gonna say, turn again under

  266. the Lord God of Abraham. There's more to it,

  267. verse seven. In the posts, the posts are bringing

  268. these messages, and be not ye like your fathers.

  269. Okay, say that with me if you can. And be not

  270. ye like your fathers. And I don't know if I could,

  271. there I could do it a little bit, there you go.

  272. And be not ye like your fathers. Don't follow

  273. your family that is transgressed against the

  274. Almighty God. Be not like your fathers. You're

  275. gonna follow what is written. What is written.

  276. And this is vitally important, what is written.

  277. And it says like this, and be not ye like your

  278. fathers, and like your brethren, which transgressed.

  279. You know, here's one of the excuses people make

  280. is, well, my family. Okay, well, if your family

  281. transgressed against the Almighty God, I'm gonna

  282. choose God. And that's what he's saying. Or my

  283. friends, my brethren. Well, listen, who are we

  284. following? Our family? Our friends? Or are we

  285. following God? And this is not a new story today.

  286. It's not a new story thousands of years ago.

  287. This happens over and over and over and over

  288. again. And Hezekiah lays it down. He said, doesn't

  289. matter the way it's been. It doesn't matter the

  290. way it is right now. We're going to have a call

  291. to worship right there. And the post we're going

  292. to send out, turn back to God. Don't look to

  293. your fathers. Don't look to the brethren. Look

  294. at verse number eight. Here's what we have a

  295. tendency. Now be ye not what? Have you ever had

  296. a stiff neck? I've gotten one before where, all

  297. of a sudden, my neck doesn't move. And it happened

  298. for weeks. And I remember, hey, Mandy. And then

  299. you're over here. Then I think my kids got on

  300. each side of me. And they'd say, like, Dad, over

  301. here. And you go, what? And then, all of a sudden,

  302. one of the other ones was, but Dad, what? And

  303. I got back exercises. And stiff neck, stiff neck.

  304. Be not stiff necked as your father's word, but

  305. yield, yield. Have a neck that's willing to turn

  306. toward the Lord. Have a willingness to turn back

  307. to God. Now, look at verse number nine. For if

  308. you turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and

  309. your children shall find compassion before them

  310. that lead them captive so that they shall come

  311. again into this land for the Lord your God is

  312. gracious. The Lord your God is gracious and merciful

  313. and will not turn away his face from you. Wow,

  314. it's a call to come. And I put in my notes, wow,

  315. wow. Come back to Lord. Come back to his house.

  316. Come back to worship. Don't be stubborn like

  317. your fathers. Yield yourself to God. Remember

  318. the Lord is gracious and merciful. And as we

  319. go, remember the two sides. First of all, we

  320. have to have the willingness to go out and invite

  321. people to come, okay? We have to not be so, well,

  322. they'll never listen or they'll never answer

  323. that door or they'll never take that gospel track.

  324. Okay, how do you know that? How do you know that?

  325. You know that? No, no, God says to go. God says

  326. to invite. God says to try to make a difference.

  327. God says, don't keep it for yourself. Make a

  328. difference with your neighbor, with your family,

  329. with the people around you. Yeah, there is a

  330. chance that they don't listen. But you don't

  331. know what's going to happen. Which gets to this?

  332. This, verse number 10. And this is the response

  333. of the people, verse number 10. So the post passed

  334. from city to city through the country of Ephraim

  335. and Manasseh, even unto Zebulon. Read the rest

  336. of this verse with me, then to verse 10. But

  337. they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. They

  338. laughed them to scorn. So here the post comes

  339. and imagine they got to Zebulon and Zebulon and

  340. this place right here is your front row right

  341. here, okay? And all of a sudden they said, we

  342. have a message. We're having revival. We want

  343. you to come. Don't hearken to the fathers that

  344. led you away from God. Don't hearken from your

  345. brethren. Come back to God. Come back to God.

  346. Come back. Don't be stiff -necked. Have a tender

  347. heart. Our God is merciful. Our God is gracious.

  348. Okay. Can you just time out? Okay, let me do

  349. this. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

  350. Oh. You don't want to be a part of this, OK?

  351. You don't want to be. You want to be part of

  352. the good guys. OK, here the post scum. We have

  353. a message. King Hezekiah has sent us up here,

  354. Zebulon. He desires you to come back to God.

  355. He desires you to not listen to your stiff -necked

  356. fathers or your brethren. Come back to God. He

  357. is gracious. He is merciful. Come back to God.

  358. That's pitiful, pitiful. Do I have any, can I

  359. have a couple helpers? Come on up here and help.

  360. Gather around. This is the new group of scorners.

  361. These are much better scornful men. Okay, gather

  362. around. This is much better. We have a lot of,

  363. we're leading people to rebellion this evening,

  364. okay? Okay. The posts go out. They get to this

  365. ambulance region right here. Travis, Travis,

  366. Travis, you've got to get up here, please. Please,

  367. gather around Isaac. He needs your help desperately

  368. right there. And Travis, don't let me down. Don't

  369. let me down. Don't let me down. Ha, ha, ha, ha,

  370. ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Okay, now here we go. Okay.

  371. Hezekiah, send me up here. He's calling you to

  372. revival. He's calling you back to God. He's calling

  373. you to the Passover face. Be not rebellious.

  374. Be not stiff -necked. Your God is gracious. Your

  375. God is merciful. Come. That was a wicked bunch

  376. of scorners. You guys did that way too good.

  377. And so put these back up here real quick. OK,

  378. here we go. You guys go get back there. I don't

  379. like that. You're getting too good practiced

  380. up at being ha ha ha ha ha ha. So the response

  381. of the people. Some mocked. Some laughed and

  382. scorned and mocked. We understand that. When

  383. you go, well, there are gonna be times when people

  384. laugh. There's gonna be times when people scorn.

  385. There's gonna be some times when people mock.

  386. I remember a few years ago going over to off

  387. of Camp Estella, Eva Gardens, knocking a door,

  388. and all of a sudden, a man wasn't home and I

  389. placed an invitation to our church on his door

  390. and nobody answered. And I went to the next one

  391. and then I write at the next one, all of a sudden

  392. the man comes out the door and all of a sudden

  393. I say, hello. And he sort of turned away, took

  394. the gospel track right there, walked out to the

  395. front of the street where his trash can was.

  396. He looked at me, he opened it up, he threw it

  397. in the trash and he slammed it like this, didn't

  398. say anything. and just looked at me like that,

  399. walked back into the house. Okay, so I said,

  400. well, you know, what is he doing? He's mocking,

  401. right? Then a couple of minutes later, he came

  402. out, got in his car and drove off. Now I shouldn't

  403. have done it, but I went over to the trash can.

  404. I took it out of the trash can and I went and

  405. put it back on his door. I thought he might be

  406. in a better mood when he gets back. I'm not saying

  407. I suggest that, but, but. He mocked, he scorned.

  408. That's the way some people respond. Now look

  409. at verse number 11. Look at this first word.

  410. Say it with me loud if you will. Nevertheless,

  411. say it with me loud. Nevertheless, divers, that's

  412. various, of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun

  413. humbled themselves. Humbled themselves and came

  414. to Jerusalem. In other words, some are gonna

  415. laugh, some are gonna score, some are gonna mock,

  416. but some will come. Some will come, some will

  417. come, some will come. Now, long sermon, getting

  418. shorter. If we fast forward, look it with me

  419. at verse number 14. This is an important verse

  420. that I don't wanna miss. And they arose. This

  421. is where he came back to Jerusalem. There's a

  422. multitude of people that came to Jerusalem. They

  423. came from all over the place. They've come to

  424. the revival. They're ready for revival. They've

  425. come to revival. They've come to revival. And

  426. they arose. And they arose. And they what? Arose.

  427. And took away the altars that were in Jerusalem.

  428. And all the altars, for incense, took they away

  429. and cast them into the brook. Kidron, okay, what

  430. do you mean there? When they came to Jerusalem,

  431. before they held the Passover or had the revival

  432. or the big church service, you might say, before

  433. they did that, they made a decision. They dealt

  434. with some things that did not belong, okay? What

  435. I mean, we mean that, this is important. They

  436. all of a sudden got back there and they began

  437. to look around, these altars, this incense to

  438. False gods. This doesn't work. Mixing God with

  439. other religions doesn't work. Mixing God with

  440. another way doesn't work. In other words, coming

  441. back to God is not just adding worship to your

  442. schedule. When you come back to God, it's not

  443. just adding worship to your schedule or God to

  444. your schedule. It's removing what has been stealing

  445. your heart. In other way, they did not add God

  446. to their idols, they took away the altars and

  447. came back to God. Okay, I thought this would

  448. be like a mountaintop, but this is really where

  449. I think maybe we have a disconnect sometimes

  450. as Christians. We come to church, but we add

  451. God to the idols of our life and we think that

  452. we're gonna have a revival in our heart and it

  453. doesn't work. Before they worshiped, they removed

  454. in their lives what dishonored God. coming back

  455. to the Lord is not merely adding God to our lives.

  456. It is yielding our lives to Him and removing

  457. in our lives what does not belong and beginning

  458. again to live for Him. This is exceptionally

  459. important and this is a vital part where we can

  460. look at people when they come to church and they

  461. want to add church to their sinful life and think

  462. that it's going to mix and it's going to work

  463. and they're going to shortly find out it does

  464. not work. Our God is a jealous God. Our God is

  465. a holy God. Our God demands and desires us for

  466. to be a holy people, holy and acceptable unto

  467. Him, which is our reasonable service. And this

  468. is very important. When we think about it, we

  469. come to God. we want to do the God thing or the

  470. Passover thing or the worship thing or the Revival

  471. thing and we expect God to humble his way to

  472. my way and we begin to mix right and wrong oil

  473. and water it does not work It does not work search

  474. your heart search your mind search your home

  475. search your phone And say, well, I came to church

  476. on Sunday morning. Great. That's great. God is

  477. good. Passover is great. Revival's wonderful.

  478. But what are you leaving out? What altar are

  479. you keeping? What false god are you bowing down

  480. to the other part of your day? This opens a can

  481. of worms. This opens a big can of worms. In today's

  482. Christianity, We often, man, God is good, and

  483. we mix him with the world. And the world and

  484. God don't mix. Now, I could give you illustration

  485. after illustration of this, and I just don't

  486. think I need to. I would pray and ask you guys,

  487. men and women, boys and girls, teenagers, to

  488. stop and say, is there anything in my heart,

  489. in my mind, my life that is an altar that puts

  490. something in front of God and Just say if I'm

  491. doing that realize you are going to have problems

  492. in your relationship with God And at least pray

  493. say God Open my eyes help me to see clearly help

  494. me to live a life that is holy and Acceptable

  495. into God be not conformed to this world, but

  496. be transformed But the only way you can be transformed

  497. is not conforming and having an altar to a false

  498. God Amen. And some of you, I think, wanted me

  499. to go into some details. How many of you want

  500. me to go into details? How many of you want a

  501. longer sermon tonight? How many of you want a

  502. shorter sermon? That's most of you. I don't blame

  503. you. I don't blame the Eubanks did. That was

  504. quick right there. Thanks, brother Jordan. I

  505. appreciate that. Look with me, if you will, at

  506. verse number 15. Then they killed the Passover.

  507. Then they what? Now, this is interesting. Verse

  508. 17. for there were many in the congregation that

  509. were not what? Okay, verse 18, for a multitude

  510. of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh

  511. and Issachar and Zebulun had not cleansed themselves,

  512. yet did they eat the Passover, otherwise than

  513. it was written. Okay, they're doing some things

  514. not right. But, did you see that? It says that

  515. in verse 18. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying,

  516. Lord, the good Lord, pardon everyone. Verse 19,

  517. that prepareth his heart to seek God. And verse

  518. 20, and the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah and healed

  519. the people. Now, for a lot of you, I want you

  520. to read this. I want you to study this. This

  521. is absolutely amazing. What he's saying, God

  522. doesn't expect perfection. but God wants us to

  523. have a heart for God. There's sometimes people

  524. come to church for the first time. They're not

  525. dressed right, they don't talk right, they don't

  526. think right, but they have a heart. They're seeking

  527. after God, and God looks down and doesn't judge

  528. them for what they're wearing or what they're

  529. saying at that time. He's just thankful that

  530. they're there in the house of God trying to learn.

  531. Do you understand that? And sometimes you and

  532. I, We go to God, and we're trying. Blessed are

  533. the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And

  534. we go to God, and we try to worship God, and

  535. we try to serve God. Now, at the time, we don't

  536. realize that some of the things in our life are

  537. wrong, but then we begin to grow through the

  538. word of God and begin to realize, whoa. Man,

  539. I was far from God. I made bad, but God is a

  540. gracious and merciful God. But the main thing

  541. is let's have a heart for God, a love for God.

  542. Don't expect perfection, it's direction. And

  543. God can take your imperfection with a heart for

  544. God, and you're growing in the right direction.

  545. In other words, somebody comes to our church,

  546. it's a hospital. They come in wounded, they come

  547. in bleeding, they come in away from God. We're

  548. to love them and care for them. They're to have

  549. a tender heart. And then they begin to patch

  550. their life up and begin to make changes. and

  551. it doesn't happen in one Sunday. It doesn't even

  552. happen in 10 years. It's a lifetime of transformation.

  553. It's glorious and wonderful. Oh, that's a good

  554. truth right there. It's good for me. I look back

  555. when I first got saved, wow. Wow. Praise God

  556. for his mercy. But I've grown. I've grown. You've

  557. grown. Think about the people that come into

  558. our church. Let's not be so hard on them. Boy,

  559. let's understand they're coming out and they're

  560. going to learn, they're growing. Let us look

  561. and hope that they have a heart for the Almighty

  562. God, not perfection, but a heart for God. We're

  563. almost there. Look at verse 21. It's hard to

  564. not regroup. They came for revival. Boy, they

  565. had a heart for God. And verse 21, the children

  566. of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept

  567. the feast of unleavened bread seven days with

  568. what? Great gladness. And the Levites and the

  569. priests praised the Lord day by day, singing

  570. with loud instruments unto the Lord. And there

  571. was a Dan Manka there at that time. There had

  572. to have been. There had to have been your great,

  573. great, great, great, great, great, great, great,

  574. great, great, great, great, great, great, great,

  575. great, great, great grandfather that was there

  576. playing that hoolidoc instrument. What is it

  577. called? Hurdy -gurdy instrument right there.

  578. Verse 23, and the whole assembly took counsel

  579. to keep other seven days. They kept the seven

  580. days with gladness. The last word in verse 23,

  581. two words, with gladness. And then you look at

  582. verse 25, the last word of verse 25, rejoiced.

  583. Verse 26, so there was great joy in Jerusalem.

  584. Hey, when you go to revival, you get your heart

  585. right with God, you get rid of the altars right

  586. there, you come, woo! Next thing you know, there

  587. is joy unspeakable and full of glory. Praise

  588. God for the people come through our doors. Praise

  589. God for them have a heart for God. Praise God

  590. for the revival of life. You bring them from

  591. a life of destruction. When we lead people to

  592. Christ, when you go out on a super Saturday of

  593. soul winning, you knock on a door, you get scoffed

  594. and you get a ha ha ha, go ahead. Ha ha ha ha

  595. man and you ignore that you go to somebody else

  596. and all of a sudden they come and they get a

  597. heart for God They get gloriously say you turn

  598. them from a life of destruction to a life of

  599. blessed by God with great joy That's what we

  600. live for That's what we live for By the way,

  601. that's where I'm I'm living That's where I'm

  602. living That's where I'm living That's where you're

  603. living. Because we're gonna get to the last point.

  604. Because it doesn't just stop here, this chapter,

  605. and we can continue on, but go to chapter, next

  606. chapter, chapter 31. This is where it ends. Now,

  607. when all this was, we're gonna stop right there.

  608. When all what was finished? Well, we called them

  609. to revival. Some listened, some didn't. A lot

  610. came. We cleaned up in some areas, altars. All

  611. of a sudden we had the Passover, we had revival.

  612. Gladness, joy, rejoicing, glorious, wonderful.

  613. So when all that was over, when the meeting was

  614. over, when the meeting was over, when the revival

  615. service was over, when the Passover was over,

  616. when the emotional, you ever been in an emotional

  617. revival where people are like, woo, emotional

  618. revival, nothing wrong with emotion, nothing

  619. wrong with emotion. You ever been to a revival

  620. where, man, that was good. Man, God worked on

  621. there's joy. There's fulfillment. It's glorious.

  622. It's wonderful Nothing wrong with an emotional

  623. church tonight to me. This is emotional This

  624. is joyous to have a group of people that love

  625. the Word of God, brother Minka You rejoice my

  626. heart singing amazing grace how sweet the sound

  627. this to me is the cream of the crop I love Sunday

  628. night church. I love to be among the people of

  629. God. There is emotion I'm gonna leave here and

  630. I'm gonna say praise God Almighty but I'm gonna

  631. wake up tomorrow. I'm gonna wake up tomorrow

  632. and look at the verse again. Now, when all this

  633. was finished, all Israel that were present went

  634. out to the cities of Judah and what? And break

  635. the images in pieces and cut down the groves

  636. and threw down the high places. and the altars

  637. out of all Judah and Benjamin and Ephraim also

  638. in Manasseh until they had utterly destroyed

  639. them all. Then all the children of Israel returned,

  640. every man to his possession, into their own cities.

  641. Now, you can elongate on this the simple thing.

  642. Revival was not just for a day, for a week, or

  643. for a month. The revival became a way of life.

  644. A way of life. That coming to God with a joyful

  645. heart, it's not meant to be just for a meeting.

  646. Do you realize some people, they come to church

  647. on Sunday and they actually enjoy church on Sunday.

  648. They do. But then they go back to their normal

  649. way on Monday. And then all of a sudden, after

  650. a little while, they sometimes get to the point,

  651. well, this maybe a quote that I've heard, this

  652. pastor, this ain't. working for me. And they

  653. tried it. They had an emotional experience and

  654. filled with good things. There's nothing wrong

  655. with an emotional experience. Singing with loud

  656. instruments and singing to the Lord, it is emotional.

  657. But we have to learn to live our daily lives,

  658. not by the emotion, but by what's right. We need

  659. to go live Monday with a heart for God, a zeal

  660. for God, a testimony for God. And we need to

  661. make a way of life, a way of life. Revival, a

  662. relationship with God is not for a day. It's

  663. not for a week. It's not for a month. It's just

  664. the way we live. It's just the way we live. It's

  665. just the normal thing for a teenager to do. It's

  666. just the normal thing for a young couple to do.

  667. It's just a normal thing. I'm not going to point

  668. at anybody right now. for a senior saint to do.

  669. You understand that? It's just the way we live.

  670. Boy, that joy, it's good. I wanna share it with

  671. the world, don't you? I just wanna share it with

  672. the world. By the way, you can make a difference

  673. this Saturday. You can make a difference. Well,

  674. that's not for me. What, you mean your God's

  675. not just for you? Your God's just for you? I'm

  676. not trying to be mean, but I'm just saying. when

  677. you don't tell others about Jesus, and you hold

  678. it in for yourself, and you're saying, it's good

  679. for me, but you miss out on helping a lost and

  680. dying world. Well, they won't listen. How do

  681. you know that? Well, it won't work for me. How

  682. do you know that? Can you try? Can you try? This

  683. Saturday, we gotta have more people come out.

  684. At least try. to give the gospel. We're meeting

  685. at 9 .30 for breakfast, 10 o 'clock for going

  686. out. We're gonna fill those buses and try, try,

  687. try and then live. Second Chronicles chapter

    2 Chronicles 30 chapter mention

  688. 30. Dear Father in heaven, we love you. Maybe,

  689. maybe we went a little bit too far. I don't know

  690. Lord. But I pray that you help us to examine

  691. our hearts. I pray that you help us to have hope

  692. for the people around us. Help us to at least

  693. try. Then I pray that you help us examine ourselves.

  694. Will we come? And when we come, how are we coming?

  695. Are we willing to get rid of some of those alters?

  696. How are we with our heart? Do we have a heart

  697. for God? God, I pray that you help us to examine

  698. ourselves. It's not just an emotional meeting.

  699. but it becomes that way of life. I pray that

  700. your decisions right now, young and old, they're

  701. being made, and help us to remember them. Help

  702. us to seal them in a prayer and commitment to

  703. you. In Jesus' name.