Hezekiah - Live Beyond Your Life

So if you're a paper Bible person, we're going to be spending most of our time in 2 Kings chapter 20, but know that we'll have them on the screens, on the mobile app if you want to as well.

2 Kings 20 · chapter mention

But let's just jump into it.

2 Kings chapter 20.

2 Kings 20 · chapter mention

In those days, Hezekiah, the king we'll be talking about today, became sick and was at the point of death.

And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amaz, came to him and said, Thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die.

You shall not recover.

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness, and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.

And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Here's the thing.

Hezekiah wasn't wrong in asking for more life.

Hezekiah wasn't wrong.

If you read in 2 Kings 19 and 2 Kings 18, you'll see Hezekiah's life was a life of faithfulness.

Hezekiah obeyed the Lord and he faced the oncoming Assyrian army like invaders, like a really challenging stuff.

It was not an easy reign for Hezekiah, but all through it, he showed his obedience, he showed his faithfulness, he grieved at what was happening to their nation.

He turned to God to rely on him for help.

If anyone was able to ask for more life, it would be Hezekiah.

It completely makes sense.

He did well.

In some ways, like Hezekiah is kind of like David, a man after God's own heart, a king honoring God during his reign, but as the end approaches, he can't face it.

And we don't know why he can't face it.

Maybe he's afraid.

Maybe he's got more stuff to do, some unfinished business, but he asks for more life.

And maybe it's because of his faithfulness, or maybe it's just because God is generous and loves him so much.

God actually grants that request.

This is what happens next.

Second Kings 20, verse 4.

2 Kings 20:4

And before Isaiah had gone out into the middle of the court, the word of the Lord came to him.

Turn back and say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, thus says the Lord, the God of your of David, your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears.

Behold, I will heal you.

On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add fifteen years to your life, and I'll deliver you out of this city, out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.

And Isaiah said, Bring a cake of figs, and let them and let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, or will do the things that he has promised?

Shall the shadow go forward ten steps or back ten steps?

And Hezekiah answered, It's an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps.

Rather, let the shadow go back ten steps.

And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Okay, this is an amazing story because it really does show God's his faithfulness to the people that he loves.

It shows his generosity.

This is something completely unnecessary, over the top.

Hezekiah gets 15 more years to do the victory lap.

He's done God right, and he gets 15 more years to invest in the next generation.

He gets 15 more years to say what he didn't get to say in that time beforehand.

He gets 15 more years to finish strong.

He had a life well lived, and now again, this is the victory lap.

But unfortunately, it doesn't go that way.

It's actually in those 15 years that we see a darkness in the heart of Hezekiah.

And as we discussed the rest of Hezekiah's story, I just want you guys to hold into in your mind the image of that king at the end of his life weeping bitterly for things to go differently.

Because we'll come back to that.

But like I said, Hezekiah doesn't do so hot.

Things go a little bit sour, and so it's actually kind of tragic that he gets these 15 years.

2 Kings 20.

Forgive me on the pronunciation of these words.

At that time, Meredak Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

That's so nice of the king of Babylon.

He heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

And if you're not familiar with the Bible, uh, Babylon is like the representation of pure evil.

It is like known, like every time Babylon's showing up, this is like against God, this is absolutely evil.

And so God's people are being visited by someone who just represents pure evil.

This is like if you were the president and you were visited by Kim Jong-un, and he's like, hey, I just want to, I heard heard you were down.

Here's a gift.

It's like, what would you do?

It's like maybe you'd accept the gate.

You want to be like diplomatic, but you're probably gonna keep them at an arm's length.

Um, you're not gonna, you know, give them a tour of the Pentagon, you're not gonna, you know, share the nuclear codes.

Here's where we keep all of our secret information.

Ah, Area 51, the elevator just keeps going down.

No, you're not gonna do any of that.

But what does Hezekiah do?

Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house: the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory.

This is where we keep the missiles.

All that he found in his storehouses.

There was nothing in his house or in all the realm that Hezekiah didn't show the king of Babylon.

What?

Then, as Isaiah said, Isaiah is a prophet, and if you don't know, prophets just speak the words that God shared them because otherwise that person might not be able to hear it.

Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and said to him, What did these men say?

And from where did they come to you?

And Hezekiah said, They've come from a far country, from Babylon.

You know?

And he said, What have they seen in your house?

And Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that's in my house.

There's nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord.

Behold, the days are coming when all that's in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon.

Nothing shall be left, says the Lord.

And some of your sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Like the utter destruction.

The utter destruction.

And Hezekiah, the king of God's people, says the most puzzling statement I've I mean, it's heartbreaking.

Hezekiah said to Isaiah, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.

For he thought, why not?

If there will be peace and security in my days.

Heartbreaking.

Intense.

It's really intense.

Then the the chapter rounds out.

The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah, you know, the other stuff he did, but let's focus on that.

All his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, aren't they written in the book of Chronicles and the kings of Judah?

And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh, his son, reigned in his place.

God extended the life of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah let his guard down.

I don't know if it's pride, I don't know if it's insecurity, I don't know why Hezekiah was like, Yes, Babylon, come see, take, take a good case the joint before you come and invade us.

I don't know why he he did that, but for some reason he did.

Maybe he was trying to impress Hezekiah, who had lived such a faithful and God-honoring life, had kind of fumbled in the last moments.

He forsakes the next generation for his own selfishness.

His own children, I mean, think about that.

His own children are gonna be taken, abused, captured, abused, and all he has is a shrug.

Because he's like, I'll be fine.

That's their problem, that's not mine, even though I caused it.

It's absolutely tragic because Isaiah's words come true.

Babylon captures Israel, and Israel experiences what they've experienced before, the utter devastation and destruction of their culture.

And if you want to like really dive into the dark stuff and feel it like they felt it, I don't know if I'd recommend it, but you can read the book of Lamentations to feel what it's like to witness something like that.

It's just poems of lament, of crying out to God saying, why did this happen?

And we can kind of point here and say that, well, this is why it's happened.

But how does Hezekiah feel?

He feels fine about it.

He'll be gone before the next generation comes, and he refuses to take responsibility for that next generation.

Hezekiah refused to like have vision beyond his years.

He refused to live beyond his life.

And that's the takeaway for this morning is one, don't be like Hezekiah, but it's live beyond your life.

Hezekiah is another one of these messy kings in this series we're calling Messy Majesty, where we're just discussing the history of Israel as it's led by kings.

And God did not want kings to lead his people, but they asked for it.

God granted it, and we just see each moment kind of get worse.

There's some good ones, some kind of skate by, some are absolutely evil, kind of like we talked about Ahab last week.

But Hezekiah refused to live beyond his life.

And today I hope that all of us would walk out of here considering the next generation, preying on what it looks like to be part of that next generation, and what it looks like to finish well.

Because we all have people in our life that lived beyond their life, that lived beyond their years.

Whether they've passed and they still have an impact on you, or maybe they're still around, but you don't necessarily have a close relationship with them, but they instilled something in you that's kind of unshakable and core to who you are, because they saw you when you were younger, and younger could be, you know, a kid, a teenager, even in your 20s or 30s.

Like someone older looked at you, took time out of their own life, sacrificed it instead instead of living life like, what can I get out of this?

They saw what they could give and they spoke into it when you needed it most.

We all have people in our life that have done that.

I'm sure there's like dozens of very awesome people just like popping to your mind right now.

As I was considering people in my life that lived beyond their life, that that lived beyond their years and saw me and invested in me when I needed it most, the first person that came to mind was, and I'm not trying to like suck up to the boss, but the first person was Justin, yes.

So Justin, uh, I've been here since fifth grade, and uh Justin was my youth pastor uh growing up, and Justin saw in me something that I couldn't see.

Which is ironic, um, because if you know, Justin is out today because as he was uh clearing trees in his yard, a branch actually came back and like swiped him in the face and scratched his cornea.

Yeah.

So, that's why I'm here, but be praying for Justin.

Um he's doing much better today than he was yesterday, happened just a couple days ago.

And so he called me yesterday morning and was like, hey, I can't open my eye.

Will you be able to speak?

And I was like, Yes, let's let's make it happen.

And so Justin, ironically, saw something in me that I couldn't see before his eye was injured.

Um he really did.

He had he had vision.

Um, not that like Justin had a wonderful plan for my life, but Justin was able to see me and say, hey Madison, I see this in you.

Here's what Justin saw.

And he'd joke about it all the time.

He'd be like, You're gonna be a leader one day.

And I just took I took it as a joke until he'd pull me aside and say, Hey, look at this.

And growing up in youth group, he'd help me see that, you know, what I saw as an opportunity to be the center of attention, I saw as an opportunity to uh make cute girls laugh at my hilarious comedy.

What I saw as an opportunity to everybody look at me, Jesus, or Jesus, no, goodness.

Justin, uh people call him Jason, but they don't often call him Jesus.

Justin was able to see in me, hey, you have influence over your friends.

When I walk in a room, people look at me.

And it's usually because I'm saying something ridiculous or inappropriate or something, but he helped me reframe that and say, like, hey, when you look, look at what's happening right now.

Those guys, they're all following you.

I was like, okay.

Justin was able to see uh the youth group, um, where I saw it as a fun place to hang out and like play video games because there's video games.

Justin was able to pull me aside and say, hey, this is what's happening today.

Look, that kid's struggling.

Could you go sit with them?

Or he was able to see that people were giving their life to Jesus in in like the most real and meaningful ways, and people were making progress, and I was like, this is just a fun place to hang out.

Justin was able to help me see what I couldn't see.

And because he was willing to live beyond his life and actually invest in me, I was able to grow so much quicker than I would have grown on myself, on my own.

And you can ask Justin, like, it wasn't like night and day, like his investment immediately yielded fruit.

I wasn't like always taking the high road, being like, well, I'll be the volunteer today as a 13-year-old.

No, I was still a goofy kid, but but he really helped me see things differently.

Another person that jumped to my mind as I was considering, you know, who has impacted my life, who's really invested in me, um, was Dr.

King.

Not the Dr.

King you're thinking of.

Like this was just a college professor, he taught me English.

And Dr.

King was great, he was so generous, he shared so much of himself in the stories he would share and his vulnerabilities, so I really looked up to him.

And I invited him to my wedding, which is kind of an awkward thing to do when you don't have you have like kind of that professional relationship, but he was not able to make it to my wedding, which is understandable.

Instead, in the mail, he sent me a big, like thick manila envelope.

I was like, there's the cash.

I'm ready for this.

You know, you see a manila envelope that's got got some weight to it, it might be something.

It was not cash.

Um, and honestly, it was it was a lot better than that because Dr.

King invited me into a tradition that I would not have otherwise been a part of.

Dr.

King helped me see that the generations before me had a story to tell, and I could be part of that story and pass it along.

And he really encouraged me to pass this along.

And inside that manila envelope were poems, and they were love poems, which some of you are like rolling your eyes, roll your eyes.

Poetry is awesome, it's it's great.

A lot of the Bible's poetry, so you can't really roll your eyes at that.

No, but they were love poems collected and some written by Dr.

King's mentor.

And when Dr.

King got married, his mentor shared that collection with him.

And then when I got married, Dr.

King shared that collection with me.

And I'll tell you what it did.

It genuinely, like, as a young person, it like completely reframed how I see my relationships.

Because you imagine things as just kind of happening, but I was like, okay, so I'm part of this tradition now, and it made me wonder, who will I give this to?

And honestly, high schoolers, I did think of some of you.

Some of you.

I was like, is that person, and you were like fourth or fifth graders at the time.

And I was like, I wonder if that's the person I'll give it to.

I don't think it's gonna be y'all, but um, it's gonna be it might be one of you.

Um but you can't ask for it.

If you ask for it, I'll be mad.

All right, it's gotta be my choice.

But it made me wonder what kind of relationships I would have in the future, and it tied me to something that had been going on long before me.

It was it was so cool because Dr.

King lived beyond his life.

The last person, I'll, and then I'll be done with story time.

The last person that really had an impact on me was Mr.

Durham, which Mr.

Durham, like some of you guys work with Mr.

Durham, so shout out Mr.

Durham.

Um but Mr.

Durham helped me realize that I actually get to write my own story.

Mr.

Durham was my Bible teacher.

I went to a Christian school for uh junior and senior year, and um he had like just this group of guys that he was investing in, and I was sitting around with him, and he brought up the idea of getting engaged and how important it is when you get engaged, because when you get engaged, um years later, people will ask you two questions it's how you met and and how you got engaged, and maybe they'll ask about the wedding, but if you've been to two weddings, you've kind of been to them all.

And so he'll ask, sorry, um they'll ask you about your engagement story, and so um he said, don't miss your opportunity to write the story that people that you'll be telling for the rest of your life.

And I was like, wow, that's that's profound.

And it changed the way I thought about my engagement, which I put a lot of thought into because of that, but it also changed the way I thought about a lot of things.

To say, like, the decisions I make now are the things that I will be telling people about later.

The way I handle this situation now is the story I get to tell about it years from now.

And unless I want to be dishonest, I want to maybe have some agency over those stories.

It was like my life was after that conversation, my life was like a blank page in front of me, and Mr.

Durham just handed me the pen.

That's all he did.

And I was like, so grateful and so thankful for that.

And that's like advice that I share with the guys now.

It's like, hey, usually the guy asks the lady, so make it count.

You got one chance to do that, make it count.

Because Mr.

Durham, Dr.

King, Justin, all of these people lived beyond their years, lived beyond their life.

And I'm really encouraged, and I'm sure everyone has their own examples, but like what I see in those people is a little bit of like a microcosm of my faith.

Like, because they instilled that in me, I'm actually able to share Jesus in a better way.

I'm able to share truth, for example.

Justin helped me see what I couldn't see.

As I have conversations with the next generation, I can help them come along and see what they don't see, the truth of Jesus.

I can invite them to be part of a tradition that's much older, much, much, much older than themselves by inviting them into the church.

I'm able to give them some agency and give them some decisions, knowing that the Holy Spirit will guide them along the way.

It's not about me forcing it, it's about, hey, trust the Spirit because He's gonna guide you.

Those have become a little bit of a microcosm of my faith, and I'm really encouraged by that.

But what it really shows me is that living beyond your life gives you kind of two things purpose and pressure.

We'll do purpose first.

Purpose.

Living beyond your life gives you purpose.

And here's what I mean: when you are invested in the next person, if you are invested in the people around you, whether it's community, workplace, family, friends, all of that, the issues of life, the normal wear and tear on being a human, start to get a little bit smaller because you're so you're so invested in in their well-being.

You're invested in making sure that they're doing all right, that the the little things don't seem to bother you as much because you get to see the growth in them or the support that you can give.

The the most poignant example, I think, is children.

I have two children.

I don't know why I said it like that, but uh, you know why I said it like that.

Um, if you have kids, I have two children, and raising kids is like the absolute hardest thing I've ever done.

It's it's so challenging.

I have a three-year-old and a one and a half year old, and I love them a ton, but they drive me up a wall.

Like it is so, so challenging.

I've seen like my darkest moments as a human being.

Not just like, here's like, oh, this has like been a rough year or anything.

It's like, no, this is like the worst thing I've ever done.

Like this, I've never been this mad.

Like I'm thinking of stories.

That I'm not gonna share.

Raising kids is really hard.

And it might be a cliche at this point, or maybe maybe it's not, but like parents in the room, y'all are the one that has the most influence over your kids.

You do.

And it's not your job to force your kids to become a certain way, although you might have to enforce some things.

But it's your job to guide them into a relationship with Jesus so that they might choose that path when they're that when you're not there.

Your kids, my kids, are gonna face problems that don't exist yet.

Like seriously, things that we could not even think of, things that are shocking.

And I and I honestly I get to see a little bit of an insight into that as the youth pastor here.

Some sometimes uh a student, you guys will say something to me, and I'm like, I'm like just nodding along and listening, but in my brain I'm going like, how is that possible?

Like, what is going on?

It's mostly their their the language.

It's very sus, it's very sussy.

No cap.

On my mom for real.

I'm just trying to make them cringe.

No, but they say some things that are pretty interesting.

Um, but it's because they're facing problems that we didn't have to face growing up.

Like none of us grew up with a supercomputer in our pocket.

None of us grew up in the political climate that we're growing up in right now.

None of us grew up with the the issues that um, and I don't even want to get to the level of darkness to even think about it.

So they've got a different way of approaching things that might not make sense to us.

But here's what scripture says about raising kids.

Proverbs 22, train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he's old, he won't depart from it.

Hezekiah will hear that and kind of go like, yeah.

That's their problem, so I don't know how to solve it.

But Jesus follower, someone who says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, like what we do as parents is give them the tools to face the problem that we couldn't face.

To say, I know you're gonna face something, and I know that uh you need to be strong to face it.

And I know that true strength doesn't come from me um teaching you how to swim, it doesn't come from me making sure you pass your driver's test with a score that's appropriate for me.

It doesn't mean any of that.

It means giving them Jesus and saying, hey, the Holy Spirit will strengthen you, the Holy Spirit will empower you.

When you don't know what to say, when things don't make sense, you have a direct line to God that you can pray and you can cry out, and even when you don't have the words to say, He will pray on your behalf.

That's how you're gonna face the problems that the next generation.

It's Jesus.

And so don't give up on your kids.

Don't give up on your kids no matter how difficult they are.

Seriously.

I mean, I've been here for years and I've been in this role for years, and um students that we were like, I don't know what's gonna happen.

Like, it it took a couple years, but they figured it out.

And they're and they're huge parts of the group now.

And guys, when you still struggle, there's room for that.

There's room to not have it all figured out, there's room to be a goofy goober, there's room to cringe at your youth pastor, but it's okay, like, but be here because we're gonna help you walk through that.

We say every week in the youth group, like being a teenager is tough.

And guys, like middle school, imagine how much you changed sixth grade to eighth grade, and imagine how much responsibility you got added to your plate in ninth grade to twelfth grade.

Like, and if you look at sixth grade to twelfth grade, that's like a different human has emerged.

And so they have all that change happening, they have all those responsibilities added, but they're not necessarily given more help.

And so our vision as a church with those kids, students, teenagers, is to come alongside them and to help them.

And again, we only help them by pointing to Jesus.

We don't have it all figured out, I surely do not have it all figured out, but I know Jesus does, and if we rely on him, he'll kind of take care of the rest.

So if you have a student who's not in youth group, um have them join because we'd love to have them.

So, gives you purpose, kids is a way that happens, but I'm not saying like, hey, go have kids so that you can have purpose in your life, because there's there's plenty of other ways to have purpose in your life, and if you want to save a lot of headache, you don't have kids.

Um I know I sound so mean.

I'm so sorry.

It's your community too.

And I'm questioning whether I should share this story.

Justin asked me yesterday, okay?

I was like, what's the story I need to share?

And this is it.

Okay.

So I work with teenagers.

I love teenagers.

I see the joy and the hope and the the I see the the curiosity, I see their compassion.

I love teenagers.

Yeah, we can clap for teenagers.

We're not gonna be here unless they grow up and are cool, all right?

But if I see you guys in public, my instant reaction, like I'll be hanging out in downtown Woodstock, and there's like a lot of teenagers hanging out in downtown Woodstock because it's like, you know, it's a cool place to hang out.

My instantaneous reaction is to first roll my eyes, I'm like, ugh, gaggle of teenagers.

And I'm like, wait, my job is with teenagers.

And then my second reaction is, how can I mess with these teenagers?

Seriously.

And so I'm sitting in downtown Woodstock, eating some kill lens with my wife on a bench.

And a girl walks by with her family.

And my first impulse, guys, I could be so compassionate.

I could be like, oh, do you remember what it's like to be a teenager?

And there's like all these other cool teenagers hanging out with groups of teenagers, and you're the one hanging out with like your parents, and they're kind of dragging you along.

Do you guys remember what that felt like to be dragged along with your parents?

It's hor it's horrible.

And you're dressed like real cool and real cute, and you're like, I hope people notice me, but they don't because you're with your parents and you can't talk to them, even if you know them, you kind of be like, hey, and oh, sorry, you gotta go to Home Depot next.

Um, but good to see you.

And so I see this girl walk by, and my I said to Hannah, my wife, I leaned over and I whispered in her ear, I was like, I could destroy this girl.

I could just melt, I could melt her.

And I was like, all I'd have to say is, could you believe ever wearing an orange shirt in public, like really loud?

And I was like, and I know it would just like I would like see her melt into the ground.

That's all I'd have to say.

I don't know if she's wearing an orange shirt, but you you get my point.

That was my first instinct.

Here's here's what I'm asking.

Don't let your first instinct be my first instinct.

Because sure it's fun to goof on teenagers, but we all share workplaces with people who are younger than us.

And it's really easy to instantly roll your eyes and to dismiss them and to write them off.

To say that next generation, they are XYZ nickname that we're gonna give that generation and they stink.

It's really it's really easy to do that.

And some of us because I mean, and it's because they don't have the the expertise, they don't have the experience, they don't have any of that, and so it's so frustrating to work with them, but some of us might even work for someone who's younger than us.

And that can be that can be really challenging.

And because they don't have that same expertise or experience or or wisdom that you have, to look at them and say, to just write them off completely and maybe even grow resentful of them.

But what would our community be like if instead of having like the Hezekiah mindset and saying, like, that next generation, like, I'm just gonna write them off?

What would it be like if everyone in our community could come around each other and all the young people in our community knew that there were there were older, wiser people that they trusted that would listen to them, that would see what they're going through, that would hear them out, that would actually grow from that relationship?

What if every young person in our community had that?

And it and it only happens by by y'all in your workplaces, at Target, at um wherever you go, to say, actually, my mindset is gonna be is gonna be peace rather than resentment.

It's gonna be um generous rather than selfish.

What kind of community would we live in?

What kind of purpose does that give you?

I mean, think of the most meaningful relationship, those people that I talked about earlier, that someone that's really invested in you.

Think of what would you you would be like if you if that didn't happen.

If that wasn't there, if that person wasn't there.

Each of us can play that role with the next generation, even as young as the junior high that's in here, your younger siblings, the the kids that look up to you from the younger grade, like what would it look like if they saw an older kid investing in that younger generation?

This is what Romans 12 says.

Love must be sincere.

Hate what's evil, cling to what is good, be devoted to one another in love, honor one another above yourselves, never lacking in zeal, but keeping your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Share with the Lord's people who are in need.

Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you, bless, and do not curse.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn, live in harmony with one another.

Don't be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.

Don't be conceited.

Do not repay evil for evil, be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.

If it's possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

I need to hear that because my first instinct is to roll my eyes and to devise evil schemes.

But to live at peace, to not be prideful about my position and my experience, to see them as someone who might need help, to even when they are against me, to be for them.

What would the next generation look like?

What would the next 10 years look like if we all had that mindset from Romans 12?

Hezekiah says, not my problem.

Jesus followers says, How can I help?

How can I listen?

How can I walk alongside you?

To that purpose, even if you don't have kids, there are kids that look to you.

And we have a really easy way to make that happen.

Third piece on purpose.

Church family.

Our church family.

Our church family is like a super easy opportunity into investing in the next generation.

And here's why.

Because our vision, Jesus' mission, coming alongside Jesus and what he's doing in the world, it's not just like bigger than us.

Like there are things that are like bigger than us that we get to be a part of that when we're gone, it's like, eh, it's kind of done.

Maybe we build a big company, maybe we are a really successful and talented musician or artist or a work person, and we are able to stamp our seal of approval.

Our legacy is awesome, but when we're gone, it's not much other than that.

It's just a legacy.

The mission of Jesus is beyond us.

The mission of Jesus is way beyond us.

Jesus, after uh he raises from the dead and uh before he ascends to heaven, he says this Jesus came to said to them, Matthew 28, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age.

All nations, to the end of the age.

This is stuff that cannot be done like in our lifetime.

It's not going to be done by us individually.

It can only happen together, as the church, as the bride of Christ.

And so we're looking for ways to make that happen.

A lot of you serve, a lot of you invest.

But even if it's I'm not even like saying like here's an opportunity to serve.

I'm saying, as you're part of this church, know the people around you, know the people you sit next to, ask them their name.

It can be so awkward to ask somebody their name.

You're like, I've sat next to you for three years.

You've always been one row ahead of me.

I know what the back of your head looks like.

Like, I exactly.

But that relationship with that person might be what you need to get to the next step, to grow.

You might be that mentor that they need, and they might be that mentor that you need.

And so as a church, we're always looking for different ways to do that.

Um, I think there's like a picture of generations, is something that we are doing soon.

Again, I don't have all the details.

Justin called me kind of last minute.

Um, but he gave me the the sketch of what generations is gonna be, and it's basically a whole new approach for families here at his hands.

So be excited if you're if you're in a family, all of you are.

Um be excited because it's gonna be really great.

Um but I think something cooler than that is this slideshow that we have of every single uh kid that's been under 18 that's been baptized.

And so if you could play that slideshow, guys, in the back.

Let's see.

We've got pictures of kids.

Bueller.

Did they already play it?

There you go.

So these are all the kids that have been baptized just this year.

This is um what you guys have been investing in.

It's what by bringing your kids to the church they've been a part of.

It's the life change that we see in our families every single week.

Um, and I'll say this too.

It's unusual to be part of a church where as many people are getting baptized as there is.

And to look at these, I think it's 52 kids have been baptized just this year.

And how great is it to say, as a church, every time we're cheering and clapping, we're not just excited that they've made that decision, although we are, but what we're saying is like we will come alongside you.

This doesn't even include baby dedications, but we're also saying we will come alongside you as a family.

As a church, you get the opportunity to invest in the next generation, to forsake the thought process of Hezekiah and say yes to Jesus.

And guys, I'll I'll say, just by me being here, I had people like uh Justin, I had people like uh Ben Densmore usually sit over there, Chris Harris, Marlin.

Like, as a young person, to have y'all in my life, it guys, thank you for being part of my life and spending that time with me.

Seriously.

And it meant it meant so much to me, and it still does.

And so be part of the church, participate, come to things like Canvas, uh, join a team, all of that, but know that that purpose can be found even just within the body.

Okay, I know that sounds like a lot.

It's like invest in the next generation, it all relies on you.

Don't mess it up, don't be like Hezekiah, you got 15 extra years, like, don't do it.

I know that the pressure is mounting, so I want to address the pressure.

So we've got the purpose, and now we might feel the pressure where it's like, man, I've kind of messed up with my kids.

And yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

But the pressure is not on you.

We should all leave this earth with some unfinished business.

We should.

If we're serving a God that's beyond us, if we are serving a mission that's beyond us, we will leave this earth with unfinished business.

So, guys, it's okay to have unfinished business.

You might think of relationships right now where you're like, I need to say that thing I need to say, and you missed the chance to.

That's okay.

You might have unfinished business.

Uh, it's not too late.

You can go tell them today, unless it is too late.

And maybe you you're you're beating yourself up about it.

But know that God will take care of things in his time.

But we all have unfinished business, and it's okay to have unfinished business, but I want to like put a little wrinkle in that, a little caveat.

Caveat being this if you have unfinished reconciliation or unfinished forgiveness, like a lack of forgiveness in your heart towards somebody, or maybe um they've tried to seek forgiveness from you and you haven't given that to them, I would address that as soon as possible.

And as simple as possible as doing it in your own heart first.

Because this is what Jesus says about um reconciliation, Matthew 5.

If you're offering a gift at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the altar and go.

First be reconciled to your brother, then come offer your gift.

If we have unfinished business when it comes to forgiveness or reconciliation, go address that as robustly as you can.

And there will be healing and there will be, it might be really challenging, but to say to that person, to look them in the eyes and say, like, hey, I did you wrong here.

You didn't even know about it, but I did.

And I'm sorry.

Or to say, like, hey, you've hurt me, can we talk about it?

The Lord will work that and and and trust, trust him in that.

I know that's really challenging.

But otherwise, when it comes to your goals, when it comes to the vision for your life, when it comes to the big things that you want to do or the impact you want to have, it's okay to have unfinished business.

Many, many people in the Bible had unfinished business.

Because God's vision for your life is probably even bigger than you can ever even accomplish in your own life.

Many of the people in the Bible, like Abel, Abraham, like all these people through the Old Testament, didn't necessarily get to see the promises fulfilled, but they were living beyond their life and saw it coming from a distance.

That's what Hebrews 11 says.

It says, All these people still died believing what God had promised them.

They didn't receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it.

They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on the earth.

Obviously, people who say such things are looking forward to a country that they can call their own.

If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.

But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland.

That's why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

When you live beyond your years, it takes off the pressure because it's not about accomplishing the goal, it's about planting seeds that you will never see blossom.

I mean, what's the quote?

It's like the biggest act of faith is to plant a tree that you'll never sit in the shade of.

It's like when you invest in that next generation, you are investing in something that you will never see the fruit of.

I will never see the entirety or the fullness of what my kids do in this world, the impact that that they have.

And it's honestly it's not my job to is to invest in them as faithfully as I can, to be obedient to Jesus and say, hey, I'm not gonna write you off.

I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna escape by, I'm not gonna live for my comfort.

I'm not gonna just ask, what can I get out of this?

I'm not gonna just enjoy the extra 15 years that I've been given.

I'm going to say, what can I give?

What can I accomplish in this time?

What's my role here?

And we'll be as faithful to God as possible for that.

But many years later, there's another king entering the kind of the last stages of his life.

And if you guys have held on to that image of Hezekiah weeping bitterly, asking for things to go another way, we can we can bring that back because this king is asking for things to go another way.

And he's weeping.

Matthew 26.

My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

He doesn't want to face it, but he says, Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

Jesus, at the end of his life, looking for another way.

Maybe it's doesn't want to face the pain, maybe he wants more time.

But instead of getting that and skating along and having a great extra 15 years, what Jesus does is he goes to the cross obedient, fully.

Obedient to the Father.

And the messy majesty we see in Jesus isn't Jesus messing everything up, it's us messing him up.

The crown that he gets at the beginning of his reign is the crown he gets at the end of his life.

It's what tears his flesh, it's what draws the blood.

It's Jesus, King Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, who stepped in the mess for us.

He didn't say, I want this to be comfortable.

He didn't say, I need this to be, you know, can we get some more time here?

He stepped into the mess and gave everything for us.

So now that there is no other name above Jesus of any name, there is no king greater than Jesus, and all we have to do, we can say, don't be like Isaiah, but we could actually say is be like Jesus.

Follow that king, kneel to that king, because he's a king who serves, he's a king who invests, and he's a king that saw well beyond his life.

And Jesus actually lived beyond his life.

He really did.

He's raised from the dead, sitting at the right hand of God, next to him in the heavenly throne room, so that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Yeah, it's cool.

Jesus didn't think about himself.

Even before he faced all of that, he prayed about us in John 17.

He said, Make them holy by your truth.

Teach them your word, which is truth.

Just as you sent me into the world, I'm sending them into the world and to downtown Woodstock and to Target and to everywhere.

I give them, I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so that they can be made holy by your truth.

I'm praying not only for these disciples in this room, but also for all who ever believe in me through their message.

I pray that they all will be one, just as you and I are as and I are one, as you are in me, Father, and I am in you, and they may be in us, so that the world will believe you sent me.

Guys, don't miss the opportunity to invest in the next generation.

Live beyond your life.

See those those youngsters, whether it's you work for them, work with them, are around them here, or are around them in your home.

See them like God sees them.

As worthy of sacrificing yourself for.

To say, what can I give instead of what can I get?

And guys, I think the next few years would be amazing if we all just lived beyond our life.

And what's really cool is we have some people who are about to just go all in with Jesus, who are about to get baptized, and we're gonna celebrate them.

But like I said earlier, it's not just about celebrating the moment, and it is, but it's about saying, like, we commit to you.

We we we believe that God has more for you.

We've experienced it.

And these guys getting in the tank soon, they're not like youngsters.

But here's the deal like, this is their birthday.

Spiritually, this is the start of something new.

And some of you younger, some of you older, have been walking with the Lord so much longer.

So to come around them would be really special.

So let's pray and then let's celebrate them, getting baptized.

Uh Lord, thank you for this morning and thank you for what you've provided here at His hands, what you've done in my life, um, but ultimately what you've done for us through your sacrifice on the cross.

You made us right.

Uh, you figured things out when we couldn't figure them out.

And so, Lord, we just we trust you, and I pray that you'd give us patience as we deal with the young people in our life.

I pray that you would give us insight.

I pray that we would be receptive to uh people that want to speak into our life, that we wouldn't have a heart that's that's hard against against wisdom.

And so, Lord, um, as we consider your goodness and your holiness and who you are as a king, I just pray that people would would kneel to you for the first time.

That they would understand that as much as we've seen bad examples of kings, and and we've got plenty of them, that you are good, that you are perfect, and that you've given everything for us.

So, Lord, we love you, we trust you, and we trust you with these few who are about to give their whole life to you.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.