A New Beginning for God’s Glory | 2 Chronicles 29

Good good All right, take your bibles turn with

me to the book of second Chronicles chapter 29

2 Chronicles 29 · chapter mention

Wow, it's good to be in the house of the Lord

and it truly is I don't believe church grows

old I love the fellowship the singing And I am

just thankful that we have a church that sees

the importance of gathering together in the name

of the Lord and rejoicing that I need that. I

believe we need that. And I believe it honors

the Lord in a great way. This message tonight,

I've been preparing for a while. It's a message

about Hezekiah. And you're gonna see in a moment

as we delve into this that the nation of Judah.

had a new beginning, you might say, a new chance.

There's a new king coming to the throne named

Hezekiah, and you know, a new beginning, a new

beginning. And you think about it, a start of

something, and it's an opportunity, it's a chance.

And I'm gonna give a quick illustration before

we get started. And I'm gonna give not a spiritual

illustration, but an illustration of my life.

I was, you know, younger, I was 2000, probably

six or seven. And I was driving through Portsmouth

and Victory Crossing. There used to be a thrift

store there called Village Thrift. And close

to Village Thrift, there was a laundromat. And

I owned a couple of laundromats already. And

I looked over that laundromat, and that laundromat

was closed down. And I'd looked in the windows

and there were three Wasco mat washers right

there, practically brand new. And for me, for

you, it wouldn't mean anything but Wasco mat

washers right there. They're the cream of the

crop. And I said, wow, what in the world? This

thing has died. This laundromat's gone. It's

like no longer in existence. I wonder who owns

this. I wonder if I could buy it. And I did some

research. I found a phone number, found the lady

who owned it. And she just couldn't make the

business work. And I said, well, will you sell

this? And we came to an agreement. I bought that

laundromat for $20 ,000. And man, I was excited.

Now, you may not have been excited, but I was

so excited. I went in there. I opened up all

the quarter little things open there. I found

like 50 cents. That was exciting for me. I began

to go in there and I painted the whole place.

I put a logo on the front there of the thing,

the coin wash right there. And I got things going.

And I remember the first day, it's open for the

first day. I remember walking through there and

I think I got $7 .50 for the day. Now, for you,

not exciting. But me, it was a new beginning.

I saw potential. I saw hope. And I remember I

put out signs, the coin wash. I put them out

on the streets. I began to beg people to come

to this laundromat. I began to ask people to

come to this laundromat. And they started slowly

coming in. Now, my wife and I, we went over there

one time, and there was a terrible, terrible

stench throughout the laundromat. I mean, it

smelled extremely bad. And I went in there. And

I said, there's gotta be something that died

in here. I'd put out some poison, rat poison

a little bit. So you start looking around, and

behind the laundromats, there's these little

things, and there's a group of Spanish -speaking

people. Where's brother Stephen Stapleton of

Spanish -speaking people? Miss Dennis, you remember

this? You're with me. And I'm picking up the

back of these. I crawl on the top of these laundromats.

I pick them up. and there's nothing, and I kept

going, and I remember right beside the Wasco

mats, behind the washing machines, I all of a

sudden peeked in there, and I about had a heart

attack. There was a rat this big, and he was

smiling at me, and I jumped and fell off of there.

And Brother Steve, those Spanish people, they

began to laugh at me. And then one of the guys

comes over. He says, you know, in Spanish, what

he meant is, can I help you? And my wife then

gave me a look like, you're not going to take

care of this. And I said, no, I'm going to let

this guy take care of it. He pulled out this

dead rat right there. And we got rid of the stench.

And that laundromat became useful, successful.

It became a vibrant laundromat. And it was a

joy. to see something go from desolate, really

destroyed, and all of a sudden see it come to

life and become a profitable business. For me,

it was exciting. What's even more exciting...

is spiritually seeing something that is dead

come back to life. God takes something that has

really gone by the wayside, maybe with sin, and

we're gonna see a story of sin tonight, but you

have a new beginning, a new chance. And really,

as we go through this, what are you gonna do

with your new beginning? What are you gonna do

with your chance to make something of this? And

a lot of times people quit, but listen, we have

a great God. that is cheering us on. We're running

a race and God desires families, homes, individuals,

churches to do something with their lives. So

let's stand for the reading of God's word. We're

gonna start in verse number one. We're gonna

just start by reading verses one and two of chapter

29. Second Chronicles chapter 29, verse number

2 Chronicles 29 · chapter mention

one, ready? Hezekiah began to reign when he was

five and 20 years old. and he reigned nine and

20 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name

was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. And he

did that which was right in the sight of the

Lord according to all that David, his father,

had said. Wow, and he did that. You gotta see

that. Read that with me. And he did that which

was right in the sight of the Lord. Just read

that statement again. And he did that which was

right in the sight of the Lord. Now that's the

story. He had a chance and we're gonna look a

little bit more into it. Ahaz, Wicked King, second

chance he was given went farther into sin. But

all of a sudden Hezekiah, his son, in a difficult

situation when sin abounded, he was given an

opportunity, he did right. And he had that new

beginning and he used it for the glory of God.

Before we go any further, let's pray. Dear Father

in heaven, it's exciting. It's exciting for me

personally. because I've been given many chances,

new beginnings in my life. And Lord, I can look

back at times that I failed you, but I can look

back at times when I did right. And I pray that

you help us all to look at the beginnings, the

new beginnings that we have, the opportunities

we have before us. And do right, do right. And

I pray that you help us to maybe even realize

sometimes when we go into difficult situations,

Lord, unfair situations, Lord, that we still

have a chance. And really with you on our side,

God, we're in the majority. We love you, we need

you, and we pray that you bless in a great way.

In Jesus' name, amen. Oh, if you go back to chapter

number 28, this. New beginning sermon actually

starts in chapter number 28 with a difficult,

difficult situation. And look with me at verse

number 22. We're gonna learn about King Ahaz.

Who, King who? Ahaz, King Ahaz. In verse 22,

and in the time of his distress, King Ahaz, he

did trespass yet more against the Lord. And look

at that, look at that phrase. This is that King

Ahaz, say that with me. This is that King Ahaz.

Now really, the story here is realizing that

there are people in life who waste their life.

There are people who spend their lives going

against the great God that we have. There are

Christians who waste their salvation and live

a life of sin and wickedness. They shouldn't

do that, but it happens. There's King Ahazes

who waste their opportunity. This is that King

Ahaz. Look at verse number 23. For he sacrificed

under the gods of Damascus. What is that? That's

sin. What is that? That's wickedness. We would

agree with that, say amen. And verse 24, and

Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house

of God, took something that's sacred, something

that is meant to be used for the honor and glory

of God, and says, and cut in pieces the vessels

of the house of God. What do you do? And shut

up the doors of the house of the Lord. Well,

you look at that, if this was 2024 or 2026 and

King Ahaz was alive right now, he would try to

close the doors of the churches. And that's not

right, amen. What he did is he closed the doors

of the house of the Lord, and he did something

that was wicked and vile. Look at verse 25, the

way it's worded. It says, in every several city

of Judah, he made high places to burn incense

unto other gods and provoked to anger the Lord

God. of his fathers. Now I wanna park there for

a moment. King Ahaz in his life, he provoked,

he provoked. What does the word provoke mean?

It means to stir up anger by repeated disobedience.

It means that you're stubborn. It means that

you're rebellious. It means that you're just,

you're poking the bear, poking the bear. You

know provoking, right? I remember my son Joseph

is somewhere around here. And Joseph, he's probably

hiding out in the hallway. No, there you are,

Joseph. You were hiding out early in the service

this morning. I started calling you out, and

you started coming in. I was thankful for that.

But my son Joseph, we were going through a, it

was a place that had fish tanks, and I can't

exactly remember where it was, but it had these

big fish. I mean, these big fish, and these tanks

were about this high off the ground. and you

could stick your finger in there if you wanted

to. And I said, Joseph, why don't you just stick

your finger in there and pretend it's a little,

you know, wormy right there. You know, and sort

of stick your finger in there, provoke that fish

a little bit, see what happens. And he's like,

he's a good son, he obeyed his daddy. But he

stuck his little finger in there and that fish

with jaws like this came up and these gnarly

teeth right there went rump on his finger. and

he yanked out his finger and the fish came half

the way out, and he's bleeding all over the place.

You shouldn't have done that. You're provoking

that fish. Okay? Don't provoke a fish. But in

serious, now don't provoke God. Don't poke at

God. You know, my son Joshua and Daniel, you're

in Yellowstone National Park this last year.

There's Joshua right there, and Daniel, and we

went into the northern part of Yellowstone, and

there's signs, don't mess with a buffalo. How

many of you'd agree, don't mess with a buffalo?

I mean, it's not wise to mess with a buffalo.

And you may mess with a buffalo and get away

with it, but you provoke them enough, you're

gonna be in big trouble. So we're there and we

went to this place where there was a petrified

tree. Mandy and me are up there and Joshua Daniel

says, can we go look at that buffalo down there?

We said, sure, go look at the buffalo. But we

got up to the petrified tree. Mandy and I are

looking out over the hill and they get closer

and they get closer and they get closer. And

I'm like, no, no. Now, you got away with it maybe.

Maybe you got away with it. You did get away

with it. He didn't attack you. You guys ran up

on that hill, but it was close. It was close.

You almost died right there. But listen, to provoke,

to poke at God, to be filled with rebellion and

being stubborn against God and repeatedly disobeying

God, closing the house of God, the doors of the

house of God, and you all of a sudden, this is

that King Nehaz. It was terrible for the nation.

The nation plunged into sin. Sin became the basic

law of the land. The house of God is closed down.

Righteousness was pushed down and sin was exalted

and King Ahaz died in his rebellion. He died

in his wickedness. He died leading that nation

to a slippery slope into sin. So that's when

we get to the new beginning. In chapter number

29, we get there to chapter number 29, we get

to a new beginning. and praise God for a new

beginning. He's 25 years old when he began to

reign, verse number one. He began to reign when

he was five and 20 years old. He was 25 years

old when he began to reign. Now I want to park

here for a moment. Just imagine your dad being

King A .S. Imagine being born into a sinful family.

Imagine being born in a family that didn't go

to church on Sundays or didn't respect God. In

your living room, you watched filthy things and

you had spent your life polluting your heart,

your mind with sin, with the gods of Damascus,

with idols in high places. That's your life.

That's what you grew up with. And that's a terrible

situation. By the way, part of the message, and

this isn't for everybody, but somebody who grew

up in sin and grew up in wickedness and grew

up with a vile family that didn't go to church,

there's hope for you. There's hope for you. Boy,

you're not shackled with the sin of your father's

past or your family's past right there. You have

a great God that loves you, that cares for you,

that offers you hope in the precious blood of

Jesus Christ and gives you a reason to live.

And it's important for you to not make excuses

and say, well, that's just the way my family's

been and that's just the way I'm gonna be. No,

that's a lie of the devil. Boy, you have a new

beginning. There's hope for you. And for old

Hezekiah right there, he's five and 25 years

old, and he began to reign. And the Bible says

he did that, which was right in the sight of

the Lord. Now, I'm not going to say everything

was easy. It's not. Brother John Reynolds was

telling me about a church, a church in Indiana.

And the pastor previous there had messed up.

And it was a very large church, a church that

was running over 500 people. This is last year.

So he went up there to be the interim pastor.

And the interim pastor, he got there to a church

that was angry, a church that was upset, a church

that was hurt, and it was a church that was divided

into different factions, you might say. And I

said, well, what did you do, Pastor Reynolds?

He said, well, I told them. I said, we need to

stop as a church fighting and we need to as a

church look to the great God that we have. In

a long story short, the Lord used Pastor Reynolds

to gear this or lead the church back to the great

God they had. They had a new beginning. and they

got a new pastor, and just a month ago they had

record attendance at their church with people

saved and people baptized, and I said, praise

God, they did not need to stay in the past of

what happened. Boy, they can move on to the future

with a new beginning, which leads to this. Look

at verse number three. Look at verse number three.

He, in the 30th year of his reign, you gotta

see this, not in the 30th, in the first year

of his reign, in the, The first month, the first

year, the first month. Now, this is important

for you to understand. He didn't wait. He didn't

wait. Boy, you got busy in the first year, in

the first month. Well, I'm gonna sow my wild

oats and when I get to be 30, I'm gonna serve

the Lord. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. In the

first year, in the first month, get busy now

for the Lord. Says he this he said he opened

the doors of the house the Lord. He opened the

doors Remember in the last chapter the doors

are closed He became king and he says no No,

this is not right. It's not right In the first

year, the first month, we're gonna make a change

here. We're gonna get on the revival road. We're

gonna serve the Lord. We're gonna open the doors

to the church. I don't care what people think.

I don't care what we've done in the past. We're

gonna get right with the Lord, not later, but

right now. It's important. This is a very important

truth because often you and I were sensitive

to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit begins

to work in our heart. We go to church, we read

the Bible, we hear a message and God begins to

prick your heart. He begins to tell you, now

is what I want you to do. Here's what I want

you to do. And all of a sudden, you know what?

It's not a mystery. It's not hidden. It's right

there. God is telling you to do something, make

a decision for Him. And all of a sudden, if you're

not careful, you'll say, well, I'll do that later.

I'll do that later. No, now. Get busy now. Be

sensitive to the Holy Spirit now. Get busy serving

the Lord now. Young and old, it doesn't matter

where you're at in life. Boy, we're privileged,

we're blessed to have the Holy Spirit of God

dwelling inside of, we're sealed with that Holy

Spirit problem. We ought to be sensitive to that

Holy Spirit. Be not drunk with wine, wear in

his excess, but be filled with the Spirit. And

it's important, the first month, the first year,

now, not later. Now look at verse number four.

Look at verse number four. Because as we go through

the closed doors, bad situation, he has a new

beginning, he begins to, well, look at the way

this is worded. And he brought in, you see verse

four? He brought in the priests and the who?

And gathered them together into the East Street.

Okay. is significant because all of a sudden,

first month, the first year right there, gotta

do a new beginning. I've got a chance, Lord.

I've got a chance. It doesn't matter my past.

It doesn't matter the way things are right here.

I've got a chance to make a decision. And he

begins to bring in the leadership. The priests

and the Levites are the leaders. They're the

leaders of the land spiritually speaking. Do

you understand? And he begins to lay down these

Levites and these priests, they are living in

a land of sin. They're almost in the land of

Ahaz. The doors of the temple are closed. They're

hiding. They're really pressed down. They are

discouraged. They're like having a church where

you have the doors open, but you got three people

there. Now, praise God for three people, but

I'm just saying, it's not a very encouraging

thing. And so all of a sudden he gets the leadership

together, the priests and the Levites, verse

five, and said unto them, hear me, ye Levites,

sanctify now. Who? Okay, now that's important.

Sanctify now, not later, but now sanctify now

yourselves. You priests, you Levites, we're not

gonna make a change in the nation that we're

living in. We're not gonna help people spiritually

unless we're helped ourselves. We gotta look

inwardly, we gotta check out ourselves. Are we

right with God? And Hezekiah, it's not a joke,

he approached him, I am demanding you, I'm not

suggesting, but in our nation, in our land right

here, in this beginning, I am demanding that

you, as a priest, as a Levi that you make sure

that you set apart yourself. You make sure that

you're holy, acceptable unto God. You're living

in such a way that honors the Lord. You have

a life that pleases the Lord. You're not gonna

be helped. The average, ordinary children of

Israel, the person living here in Judah, unless

you are right yourself. There's a lot here, a

lot. But listen, listen all. Wow, and there's

so much, there's so much. I'll give you a quick

story. I'm looking for my good buddy, old pal,

Matt Contrell. He's hiding in the sound booth.

He's gotten backslidden since he started coming

to church here. Trouble back there. Your dad

visited our church last week. And on Saturday,

I got to spend some time with your dad. He talked

about a difficult period of time in his life

spiritually. and he had spiritually gotten away

from the Lord in a great way. The Lord led him

to live close to Jacksonville. He's got a girlfriend,

and all of a sudden the Lord begins to prick

his heart. You haven't been in church in a while,

Brother Control, he's a Christian. So he goes

to church, and at the church, it's a Wednesday

night meeting, and there's just about six people

there, and they say, well, we're not really gonna

have a service tonight. We're just going to break

up in groups, the men with men and the ladies

with lady, and we're just going to pray. He said,

OK. So he took his girlfriend, and he went and

he began to pray. And all of a sudden, he began

to pour out his heart to God. He began to weep.

He began to cry. He began to say, God, I'm sorry.

And he told me. He said he began to confess his

sins. He began to think about how good God has

been to him and how much he's displeased God.

And he said, God, Give me another chance. By

the way, the two got married. And it's very interesting,

Brother Matt, but he said he went to church.

Now, he said, you know, God, I displease God.

I'd really put God on the shelf. But all of a

sudden, I'm going to church now. God will probably

never use me again. But I'm going to be faithful

to church. Then all of a sudden, the pastor came

up to him one day. And your dad told me this.

He said, hey, Brother Cantrell, could you do

me a favor? Think about this. He said, yeah.

He said, you know, we have that church sign in

the front of the church right there. He said,

would you mind, would you mind, please, maybe

once a month thinking about putting a message

on that front sign and changing it out? Would

you be willing to pray about that and do that?

And when he's telling me this, he almost has

tears in his eyes. And he says, all of a sudden

at that point, God said, that he could use me

again. God would allow me, me, the opportunity

to put a sermon once a week on a sign to tell

the world about Jesus and the humility that your

dad had. Your dad just said, God would allow

me, me, me, and he took time and prayed and studied

and worked and was faithful, putting that little

message on that sign. And after he became faithful

to that, all of a sudden he's faithful and he's

taking it seriously. He's humble, humility. All

of a sudden there was one class in there that

had some problems where the class went down to

about six people in his adult class. And the

pastor came up to him and said, hey, would you

consider maybe going and teaching this class?

He said, you would let me and my wife take over

this class and teach this class? There's only

six people. Well, no, no, no, no, no. They're

not six people. You're gonna allow me, and he

told me the story, you're gonna allow me to teach

this Sunday school class? Your dad said that.

And all of a sudden he said, he began to work.

He began to visit. He began to care for these

people, call on these people. He began to devote

his life, not just a Sunday, but he began to

devote his life to reaching out to people, inviting

people, caring for people, telling people about

Jesus. And that class all of a sudden went from

six people, to 10 people, to 20 people, to 30

people. And he said, we organized little getaways,

we did this, and we invited people, and we did

luncheons, and we did this, and it went to 50

people, and then 70 people, and then 80 people.

Did the class average 92 people? Wow. That's

amazing. But what's the point right there? He

said right here, it starts with me making sure

I'm right with God. And listen, for us, if we

want God to work in our lives, as a Sunday school

teacher, in the choir, in the special music,

in the nursing, whatever ministry that we're

involved in, the Spanish ministry, we gotta sanctify

ourselves, look inwardly, am I right with God?

Well, you look like it, but I don't know, I'm

not God, how do I know? But God knows. How are

you gonna help those people in your class, that

children's class, if you don't have a heart for

God and you're not right with God, you're not

sanctified with God? Well, believe in the leadership

requirements. It's not about leadership requirements.

It's about a relationship with the King of Kings

and Lord of Lords. Thou shalt love the Lord thy

God with all thine heart and an attitude is not

gonna help you. An attitude is what A has had.

The idea is we have to have humility, a heart

for God, leadership requirements, all of that.

That's so minute and so small, none of that matters.

It matters. But it shouldn't matter because you

have an opportunity to serve the King of Kings

and Lord of Lords. Well, I have a problem with

that. Well, have a problem with that and don't

be a Sunday school teacher then. I'm just saying

you're looking at it wrong. It's a privilege

to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

It's not a right. I'm just saying it's not a

right. And when we have an attitude, God all

of a sudden says, okay, go ahead, have an attitude,

but you're not gonna help anybody spiritually

with an attitude. And that's the idea. Hezekiah

confronts it and says, Levites, sanctify now

yourselves. And then he says, and sanctify the

house of the Lord. your fathers and carry forth

the filthiness out of the holy place. That can

preach right there if you're not careful. That's

amazing. Get rid of the filthiness in your life.

And perhaps not the sermon, but it could be the

sermon. A lot of times we as God's people allow

not only filthiness in our own lives, but we

allow filthiness inside the house of the Lord,

the church. And oh boy, look at verse number

10. Now it is in mine heart. to make a covenant

with the Lord God of Israel that his fierce wrath

may turn away from us. And look at this plead.

He's talking to those Levites and the priests.

My sons, verse 11, my sons, be not now negligent.

Okay, what is he saying? Don't be careless about

your responsibilities. Don't be failing to do

what should be done for the Lord. Let's just

do right. Let's just do right. We have to face

the problem, we have to face the leadership,

we don't hide from the problems, and all of a

sudden we make a decision to do right by the

Lord. That is Christianity 101. Not rocket science.

Right? Amen? Okay, good, good, good, good, good,

good. We go to verse number 12. Okay, verse number

12. This really is interesting. This is so interesting.

Remember where we're at. Closed doors, Ahaz,

wickedness, a new beginning for Hezekiah. He

faced the problem, the leadership. He faced the

Levites right there. He didn't hide from the

problem. Now the Levites had to respond. Verse

12, then the Levites arose and the next few verses

are filled with names. Okay, I'm gonna just start

with a couple. Mayhath, the son of Amasai. and

Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites,

and God wanted us to know these names. These

names meant something to the Lord. Your name,

my name, they mean something to the Lord. The

Lord God Almighty knows your name, cares about

you as an individual. And that's so important.

Sometimes we get lost in the masses and we forget

that God cares about you, the individual, whether

you're a young child, eight, nine years of age,

whether you're a teenage lady or a teenage young

man, whether you're a single person and nobody

knows, well, God knows you, God cares about you.

And when you make a decision to do right by the

Lord, hey, God cares, God sees, and God writes

down your name knowing that. Look at verse number,

if you will, 15. And they gathered their brethren

and sanctified themselves. What did they do?

They sanctified themselves and came according

to the commandment of the king by the words of

the Lord to cleanse the house of the Lord. The

leaders responded rightly. Oh, you know, sometimes

a parent, you'll approach your child with correction.

By the way, a parent for whom the Lord loveth,

he correcteth, amen. even as a father, his son,

in whom he delighted. and you'll go to your son

or your daughter, and in a way, you're begging

and you're pleading because you know they're

right there, that you have an answer, you're

trying to help them, and there's an answer right

there. You're gonna show them the right path

to go on, but you can't force them to make that

decision. And you're almost, in a way, you feel

responsible for it, and you're responsible to

tell them the truth, to lead them to right right

there, just like Hezekiah was leading the priests

and the Levites to truth right there, but the

response was up to the individual. And parents,

listen, you cannot, you cannot control the response

of your teenager. You're gonna beg and plead,

but you're gonna demand it. You're gonna show

them what they're to do. And in the end, if they

respond wrong, they have to answer to the Almighty

God. But praise God, the Levites and the priests,

they gathered and sanctified themselves. Look

at verse 20. Then Hezekiah, the king rose early.

You see verse 20? He rose what? Okay, remember,

first year, first month, he ain't playing around.

He rose early and gathered the rulers of the

city and went up to the house of the Lord and

they brought seven bullocks and seven rams and

seven lambs and seven hegoats for sin offering

for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for

Judah and he commanded the priests and the sons

of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the Lord.

What is he doing? He's restoring biblical worship.

Look at verse number 28. And all the congregation,

all the congregation. Look at those three words

with me. All the congregation. Okay, get this.

Not even right now. All the congregation. Not

some of you. In here it's an example of this.

All the congregation. Not half of us here tonight,

but all the congregation. Say it with me. All

the congregation. All the, say it loud. All the

congregation, not some, but all. That's a problem.

Some people think they're too good to be a part

of the congregation of the house of God. Well,

that's good for you. But I don't have to do that.

OK, go ahead, have your attitude. Go ahead. That's

really helping the cause. Why have my rights?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're still not helping.

You have your rights. You can do whatever you

cotton picking please want to do. I may not be

saying that nice, but I'm thinking your attitude

is really helping the cause of Christ. And that's

the point right there. Hezekiah is demanding

all the congregation, all of, to do what? What

did they do? And all the congregation worshiped,

and the singers sang, and the trumpeteers sounded,

and all this continued. until the burnt offering

was finished. They all got busy in biblical worship.

Hey, you know what? One of the things we read

about, especially in the book of 1 Corinthians,

is a church divided, a church that has chaos,

you might say. And all of a sudden, Paul, inspired

by God, brings them together and says basically,

you read chapter one, two, three, it talks about

them. Was Christ divided? Was Paul crucified

for you? And he talks about a church in unity,

a unity around getting the gospel to a lost and

dying world, unity around all of a sudden a church

preaching the word of God. It's an amazing, amazing

truth right there. a united church, this revival

that we long for, this revival that we want,

this new beginning where we want God's blessing,

it is available, but there certainly is a path

to revival. And inside of a church, boy, it's

all of us working together in worship, in singing,

in trumpeteering, and continuing with the burn

-off as we're about to finish. Now, here's the

very end of the sermon because, wow, verse 36.

Hezekiah, what? And, what? Hezekiah rejoiced

and all the people. You know, we like the results

of a revival. I do, and you get done with the

like revival, souls being saved, a church together,

and they're in unity, and there's happiness,

there's joy. Woo! Woo! And it's good, like, I

wanna say it's good. It doesn't get any better

than being in the blessing of the Lord. It just

doesn't. But remember where it started. It started

with King Ahaz and the sin. It started there.

But it then started with a new beginning. Hezekiah

is saying, listen. I've got a chance. I'm the

king, and I don't want our nation to live this

way. I'm gonna take a stand. If nobody stands

with me, I'm gonna take a stand. We're gonna

open those doors. We're gonna have sanctified,

set -apart leadership. We're gonna open the house

of the Lord. We're gonna open doors right there,

and we're gonna beg God in humility to work together

to have the blessing of God. And it says this,

and Hezekiah rejoiced in all the people that

God had prepared the people for the thing that

was done. Suddenly. You look back at it, and

you can see in that first year, in the first

month, shortly afterwards, Hezekiah got done.

And next thing you know, the nation, the nation

that was oppressed by the devil, you might say,

and really smitten by God at that time, that

you read it, that's what it's talking about right

there, all of a sudden came alive in revival,

and it happened suddenly. God turned a bad situation

over that turned the leaf over right there and

turned it into a Roaring success. You might say

a filled with rejoice and it happened like that

Revival in your life can happen quickly Revival

in your family's life can happen quickly. I mean

it can happen suddenly quickly Yeah, you can

happen but but boys sanctified leadership Taking

that new beginning and being serious about the

things of God. Boy, restoring biblical worship

in your home, in your heart, in your mind, absolutely.

And right there, boy, bringing the congregation

together in unity right there. Oh, revival begins

when God's people quit neglecting God and start

seeking him again. It's a challenge to you. It's

a challenge to me to reopen those spiritual doors

of neglect that have been closed. And it's a

call for you and it's a call for me to examine

our hearts and examine our minds. Am I living

with rejoicing in the revival God has brought

to my heart or am I living weighed down by the

sin and misery? That's a terrible place to be.

Have a new beginning tonight. Go to God tonight.

Be humble tonight. Ask God for a new chance tonight.

and then begin to make changes tonight, and you'll

look back suddenly, you'll see God working in

a great way. Dear Father in heaven, we love you.

It's a truth I needed. Believe it's a truth our

church needs. Certainly families need. And at

revival, it's possible. Even in the bleakest,

most difficult, And Lord, if it's just for one

person tonight, it's worth it. One family, it's

worth it. But I pray that you help all of us,

every one of us as a congregation, examine our

hearts and our minds, help us to kick out the

pride, come humbly before you, and work in a

great way tonight. We need you, Lord, and ask

you to bless in a great way. the invitation in

Jesus' name, amen. Stand with me if you will.

Piano and organ are gonna play. Pray that you

do business with God.