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00:00 Our prayers have not only power to bind demons, but they also have power to release angels.
00:08 And this is why the adversary fights our quality prayer so much.
00:15 The two men prayed, and the Lord responded by sending an angel.
00:20 Imagine if mom and dad would pray about what that little boy and that little girl were
00:25 doing.
00:26 Imagine the things that God might do in your family.
00:28 One angel defeated 185,000 soldiers all because two men prayed.
00:39 Imagine if mom and dad would pray.
00:41 Imagine if brother and sister would pray.
00:44 Imagine if churches would come together and pray.
00:48 Imagine what God might release in the land.
00:51 Some highlights in the life of Hezekiah, who was Judah's 13th king, and he began his reign
01:09 when he was only 25 years of age.
01:16 And he was one of the few kings that the Bible says he did right in the eyes of the Lord.
01:25 But what we're going to discover today is that in every bad person there is a little
01:30 good.
01:32 And unless you're Jesus, in every good person there's a little bit of bad.
01:40 After Hezekiah's deeds, exploits of great faithfulness, three chapters were spent cataloging
01:52 all that Hezekiah accomplished.
01:56 He reopened the temple doors which were shut by his father, who happened to be the previous
02:00 king.
02:01 And by the way, you can break the cycle.
02:02 You can break the cycle.
02:09 We can either learn from our parents' mistakes or repeat them and use them as our excuses.
02:17 But Hezekiah chose the former, but I want to remind you it's your choice.
02:25 After these deeds of faithfulness, Hezekiah started off strong.
02:32 He not only reopened the temple, he restored the Levitical priesthood that had not been
02:37 functioning for years.
02:40 He reinstated Passover, destroyed idols, and wiped out pagan altars and pagan temples throughout
02:46 the land.
02:47 And his deeds caused revival and prosperity to break out, and everything Hezekiah touched,
02:55 God blessed.
02:57 But then dark winds and dark clouds swept across the horizon.
03:04 After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came and entered Judah.
03:12 Now Judah was geographically squeezed between the two superpowers of its time, Egypt and
03:20 Assyria.
03:22 So Israel faced trouble on every side.
03:28 And then it goes on, the stronger of the two kings, which happened to be the Assyrian king,
03:33 encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself.
03:40 Again, Assyria here is the strongest and greatest, most disciplined military force of its time.
03:48 And you know, when you read the Bible, you'll see that all of the kings of the northern
03:53 kingdom, which was called Israel at that time, the Bible said they did evil in the sight
03:58 of the Lord.
03:59 Well, they were all evil kings, and because of that, we're going to discover Israel went
04:03 into captivity before Babylon.
04:06 However, in Judah, many of the kings did right in the eyes of the Lord.
04:13 So if you stay true to God, what happens to everyone else doesn't have to happen to you.
04:18 So yeah, so Israel is captured by the Assyrians, and Sennacherib was like, surely tiny Judah
04:28 will also fall.
04:30 But my Bible says 1,000 may fall at my left hand, 10,000 at my right, but it shall not
04:36 come near me.
04:40 When God is with you, it doesn't matter the size of the army that's against you.
04:52 Verse 20, "Now because of this, 185,000 Assyrian soldiers approached the city.
05:03 And King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed."
05:10 You know, I have found that my greatest battles are always won on my knees.
05:18 You know, fellow pastors sometimes ask me to show them how I do some of the things that
05:23 I do, but sometimes their question just betrays the fact they missed the point, unless I first
05:30 show them how to pray the way I pray.
05:32 Pay attention to what I'm saying.
05:35 The devil knows that he can't stop right prayers, so he does everything in his power to distract
05:42 us from praying.
05:45 You see, the devil is not threatened by us doing good as long as we do it in our own
05:50 strength.
05:53 So the people of God, the two men of God here, began to pray.
05:57 And the Bible says it wasn't, you know, a formulaic prayer.
06:01 I listened to Chaplain Black.
06:03 It wasn't a chaplain's prayer.
06:07 They cried out to God, snot running out their nose, tears down their eyes, their hands lifted
06:15 to heaven, crying out to God.
06:20 And here we have the king and the chief administrator, the man of God, all of them or both of them
06:27 in harmony.
06:29 Imagine what God might do if corporate leaders and business leaders linked hearts with God-fearing
06:35 pastors across the nation.
06:37 Imagine what might happen.
06:39 So, they cried out to heaven, and then it says, "Then," which is a conjunction that
06:49 connects what's about to happen with what just happened.
06:54 So because of their prayers, "Then the Lord sent an angel."
07:01 The prayer of these two men changed everything.
07:06 Corporate prayers have not only power to bind demons, but they also have power to release
07:14 angels.
07:17 And this is why the adversary fights our quality prayer so much.
07:26 The two men prayed, and the Lord responded by sending an angel.
07:32 Imagine if mom and dad would pray about what that little boy and that little girl were
07:36 doing.
07:37 Imagine the things that God might do in your family.
07:42 Imagine if the different departments of the ministry would stop fighting each other.
07:45 I'm not saying they do it in here, but just imagine if they would, and come into agreement
07:49 and say, "You know what?
07:50 I'm not going to criticize.
07:51 Me and you, we're going to go into that prayer room, and we're going to pray until God answers."
07:59 And the Lord sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, every single one, every
08:05 leader and captain of the camp of the king of Syria.
08:10 So we see here that one angel defeated 185,000 soldiers all because two men prayed.
08:21 Oh, what peace we often forfeit.
08:26 Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
08:34 Imagine if mom and dad would pray.
08:37 Imagine if brother and sister would pray.
08:40 Imagine if churches would come together and pray.
08:44 Imagine what God might release in the land.
08:52 So Sennacherib returned shamefaced to his own land.
08:58 And I skipped some verses, but verse 14, this king began to mock God, and he even sent letters.
09:07 But as the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people from my hand,
09:13 so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver his people from my hand.
09:17 But how many know our God's not like every other God?
09:23 It said, "Among the gods there is none like you, for you are great and you do wondrous
09:29 things.
09:30 You alone are God."
09:34 And when he had gone into the temple of his God that he thought was more powerful than
09:38 the God of Israel, he went into a place where he thought he was safe, but God selected that
09:44 place just to show him who was the Lord.
09:48 It says, "Some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there."
09:53 And here's the big point from this verse.
09:57 You can play with God if you want to.
10:01 But the roosters always come home to roost.
10:05 Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of the king of
10:10 Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.
10:17 And because of God's hand on the people, many brought gifts to the Lord at Jerusalem.
10:24 And what this verse is saying is because of what God was doing, the surrounding nations
10:30 began to worship God.
10:33 And all worship is is just giving God the best because he's given us his best.
10:39 Well they began to worship God, but also sent presents to Hezekiah, king of Judah, so that
10:46 he was exalted in the sight of all nations thereafter.
10:51 This is important.
10:54 Few things test a person's character like celebrity.
11:02 It's so easy to start thinking you are where you are because of you, and not the one who
11:12 brought you.
11:14 You know, people criticize me for this, but this is why every Sunday I hide myself behind
11:22 every single line of the Scripture.
11:26 So that after you're blessed, you know where the blessing really came from.
11:37 One more thing about Hezekiah, and we'll get to our focus.
11:41 In those days, despite his great obedience, prosperity, and victories, Hezekiah was sick
11:51 and near death.
11:54 Stuff happens even to the best of us, but when it happens, you've got to do as Hezekiah
12:01 is about to do.
12:03 Don't pull away from the one that can help.
12:05 Draw closer.
12:07 And the Bible goes on and says, "Well, Hezekiah began to complain."
12:11 Why do good things happen?
12:13 Bad things happen to good people.
12:14 It's not fair.
12:16 No, he prayed to the Lord.
12:22 He who kneels the most stands the best.
12:30 And God spoke to him and gave him a sign.
12:34 We want the sign, but you've got to invest the prayer.
12:40 So after he prayed, God spoke to him and gave him a sign.
12:43 We all know the story.
12:45 God made the shadow of the sundial go back 10 degrees.
12:50 But watch the next verse.
12:52 But after that, Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him.
13:02 How quickly Hezekiah forgot.
13:06 As people began to celebrate him, he stepped into blessing.
13:14 He began to slowly drift.
13:17 When my kids were little, they loved going to the beach.
13:24 And while they were in diapers, we taught them how to swim.
13:29 But as they would play in the waves, the undertow would drag them constantly either to the other
13:38 side of the beach or deeper into the water without them noticing.
13:44 Every five or 10 minutes or so, I had to look up from my book or whatever conversation I
13:49 was having to make sure the little guys were okay.
13:55 And likewise, the waves of living and life, the undertow of disappointments and just stuff
14:04 that happens can pull you into a very serious spiritual situation without you noticing unless
14:16 you regularly refocus your eyes on the Father.
14:28 For his heart was good man, but his heart was lifted up.
14:38 He started depending on himself, his fame, accolades, accomplishments, what he did yesterday
14:52 more than on his God.
14:54 His heart was lifted up.
14:59 At one point, Hezekiah was the first to be brave.
15:03 He was the first to serve, the first to sacrifice, the first to give.
15:09 But then over time, God began to lose the new car smell.
15:17 He got busy in the ocean of life and stopped looking to the Father on the distant shore.
15:28 You see, most of us never intentionally leave our faith.
15:36 It's just a slow drift.
15:41 Now you're ready for our focus, Isaiah 39 and 1.
15:46 At that time, Merodot, Baladin, the son of Baladin, the king of Babylon, sent letters
15:52 in a present to Hezekiah.
15:56 By the way, Babylon was not in ascendancy yet.
16:00 Babylon was an enemy of the Assyrians, and later the Babylonians would defeat them.
16:06 It's a whole complicated thing.
16:09 So the Babylonians are looking for allies, and everyone across the Middle East had heard
16:18 about Hezekiah's miraculous recovery and healing.
16:23 And in this moment, you know, the Babylonians who often represent the world, they came to
16:29 Judah because they were curious about Hezekiah's God.
16:35 And they began to encourage, to send gifts of encouragement to Hezekiah.
16:39 But what you're going to see in a couple moments is, you know, he spent more time talking about
16:45 his treasure than his God.
16:47 But let's keep going.
16:49 When Hezekiah was pleased with them, if he would have just prayed about this, if Hezekiah
16:57 would have just asked the Lord about this instead of just asking himself about this.
17:06 And when they came, he was like, "Finally I'm getting some recognition.
17:12 Finally people are honoring me for all of the accomplishments, all the things that I've
17:17 done for God."
17:19 And when he came, you know, he fell over himself trying to impress the Babylonians with his
17:26 power and his kingdom.
17:30 And he showed them the house of his treasures.
17:33 Here's what I know.
17:34 You don't have to show everybody everything.
17:39 You don't have to tell everybody everything.
17:42 Typically, confidence is silence and insecurity is loud.
17:58 He showed them the silver, the gold, the spices and precious ointment and all his armory,
18:05 all that was found among his treasures.
18:10 Instead of teaching them about God, he just showed them his stuff.
18:17 The man who had the faith to stare down 185,000 Assyrian soldiers melted like wax under flattery.
18:33 I find the ultimate test of spirituality is not just how well you take criticism, but
18:39 how well you take praise.
18:43 It says there was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not
18:50 show them.
18:51 You see, it's natural for humans to want to be appreciated.
18:59 It's natural, and typically there's nothing wrong with it, but Jesus speaks to this point,
19:05 and He says sometimes it's best for the left hand not to know what the right hand is doing.
19:15 Sometimes if God knows, it's enough.
19:20 Then Isaiah the prophet went to the king Hezekiah, and we need men like this who will still speak
19:27 the truth in love.
19:30 We need folks that hear God and can communicate what God's saying even though you don't necessarily
19:38 applaud them when they leave the room.
19:41 And they said to him, "What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?"
19:49 So Hezekiah said, "Well, they came from a far country, from Babylon."
19:57 And then he asked a question, "What have they seen in your house?"
20:04 Hezekiah, "Did you cast your pearls before swine?"
20:12 Hezekiah, "Everything doesn't have to be on Facebook and Instagram."
20:17 Hezekiah, "Some things are intended to be just between you and me."
20:31 So Hezekiah answered honestly.
20:34 He said, "Yes, instead of praying, I post it."
20:40 How many of you, instead of praying, you post?
20:46 And they have seen all that's in my house.
20:50 There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.
20:54 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the Lord of hosts.
21:01 Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your fathers
21:09 have accumulated over the centuries until this day shall be carried to Babylon."
21:18 Those very people you wanted to impress, those people you got so busy with and cared so much
21:26 about them seeing your glory versus you seeking the glory of God, they're going to end up
21:34 doing what only people do.
21:37 And if you want a trustworthy place to invest your time, it's God.
21:43 But instead, he went on parade and started showing things he shouldn't show.
21:49 And this is in my head and I'm trying to formulate it in my mind.
21:52 My mind, before it comes out my mouth, I'm just going to say it before I think.
21:58 Ladies, be careful about going around telling every woman about how great your husband is.
22:11 Because like the Babylonians, they may come back.
22:19 Everything's not everybody's business.
22:28 I'm stuck there.
22:37 Lord help me, please.
22:43 All right.
22:48 There was a turtle.
22:53 This turtle wanted to get to Florida, okay?
22:56 And these two birds came up with this ingenious idea and they put—actually, forgive me.
23:02 See, I'm messing up the story.
23:04 The turtle came up with this ingenious idea and talked the birds into it.
23:08 And he said, "Well, I need to get to Florida, but what I want you to do is put a stick between
23:14 your two beaks.
23:15 And you know how slow I am.
23:18 By the time I get there, you know, whatever I'm trying to get there for will be over.
23:22 So I want you to put the stick between your two beaks, and what I'm going to do—I can't
23:30 fly—is I'm going to bite the stick and hold on."
23:36 And the birds, you know, started flapping and they started flying.
23:42 It was amazing.
23:44 The turtle was moving as fast as the birds could take him down to Florida.
23:50 And someone on the ground looked up and said, "What an ingenious idea.
23:55 Who thought of transportation like this?
24:00 I mean, who came up with such a great idea?"
24:04 And the turtle shouted, "Me!"
24:18 I had a hard time telling the story, but you know, our desire to receive praise can be
24:26 an undoing.
24:29 Our desire to want to take the credit can harm us.
24:36 Verse six, "Nothing shall be left," says the Lord.
24:44 Hezekiah started off so well.
24:48 He never rejected the Lord.
24:51 He just drifted.
24:54 He stopped checking in on shore, making sure he was aligned with the Father.
25:03 And we can—the reason this message is coming out is because I believe we as a community,
25:12 and the community is only blessed as God does it in our lives individually.
25:17 We're about to step into a level of blessing that we have never experienced.
25:24 I believe that God is opening a door no man could open,
25:35 and shutting doors no man can shut.
25:41 And the greatest temptations often come in our success.
25:50 You see, when David was seeking the Lord before he became king, miracles, signs, and wonders.
26:02 God protected him and kept him.
26:04 But then when the season came around when kings were supposed to go off to war, he got
26:10 lazy.
26:12 He got comfortable.
26:15 He didn't go.
26:17 And because he didn't go, he was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.
26:22 He couldn't sleep at night, so he got up on the roof and started trying to fill his head
26:28 with things to do and sights to see.
26:30 And behold, Bathsheba was bathing.
26:36 How did that happen?
26:39 In his success.
26:42 That didn't happen when he was struggling.
26:46 It happened when he got bored.
26:48 It happened when everything was going in his favor.
26:54 I'm going to—I'm almost there.
26:56 I'm going to stop in just a second.
26:58 But sailors say that the most dangerous time at sea are times when the seas are calm, because
27:08 storms at sea are sudden.
27:11 And when seas are calm, you're not holding on to anything.
27:16 So when that wave comes out of nowhere, you're knocked off the boat.
27:20 You're knocked out of place.
27:22 But in the storm, you know to hold on.
27:26 And what God is saying to—He's about to promote you.
27:29 He's about to bless you.
27:31 He's about to show you favor.
27:37 But don't forget to hold on.
27:40 You are still in this world, not of this world.
27:44 You are a pilgrim and a sojourner.
27:47 Don't hold anything in this life tighter than you hold on to God.
27:57 So many people I've watched, you know, they were believing for a job and they were in
28:02 church every Sunday.
28:04 But then they got the job.
28:05 And then all of a sudden they're too busy, too tired to worship with the family when
28:11 Sunday came around.
28:14 Or then they started that business, and God helped them start that business, but then
28:20 they bought a boat.
28:21 And then they had no time for nothing else, because they're busy with the boat.
28:28 Folks have—God has fixed the marriage.
28:31 I mean did the impossible.
28:33 But now, you know, everything's about your vacations together and what you eat together,
28:38 and somehow God just slips into the background.
28:41 And it's not that we reject the Lord, it's just that we tend to drift.
28:51 Hebrews 2 and 1.
28:54 So eyes have not seen, ears have not heard what God has prepared for those who love Him.
29:03 We are about to step into something where the harvester's about to overcome the man
29:12 with the seed.
29:15 Uncommon blessings and favor.
29:19 It's God that lifts up.
29:22 But you need to realize that that lifting can be a dangerous time if you don't pay attention.
29:32 It's not us, it's our God.
29:35 You use that as a platform to talk about Jesus.
29:45 So the New Testament says it this way, and I'm done.
29:49 It says, "Therefore we must give the more earnest heed."
29:55 It says "must."
29:58 He's saying we must pay attention to the things that we've heard.
30:02 Pay attention please to what I'm saying to you today.
30:06 Watch the reason why.
30:08 Lest we drift.
30:13 In life if we don't keep looking to the shore, if we don't keep looking to the Father, we
30:20 are going to drift.
30:24 And Zechariah is a picture of a man that loved God but eventually held on to God with limp
30:32 fingers.
30:35 As we step into this season of blessing, this season of protection, and many of you promises
30:43 that God had made to you years ago are going to start to come to pass.
30:48 But God's word to us is maintain your grip on what matters the most.
30:54 Let me say it again, never hold on to anything tighter than you hold on to God.
31:09 This just sounds like pastor talk, but church, get in God's word every day.
31:17 Every day.
31:18 I don't care if it's just a verse.
31:21 Every day.
31:23 You eat daily, and we don't live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out
31:26 of my mouth.
31:27 If you eat daily, you need to get in that word daily.
31:31 I have a friend of mine who says he made a commitment that he would not eat a meal, his
31:35 first meal of the day, until he got into the word.
31:38 Imagine how much weight many of us would lose.
31:40 Either that or you get into the word.
31:48 But take time each day—I don't care if you've got to put a little app in your phone, don't
31:53 make it complicated.
31:55 Get into the word each day and take time to pray.
31:59 Otherwise, you will drift.
32:02 You'll find yourself, you know, playing, messing around with stuff hundreds of feet away from
32:07 the Father that can save you, bless you, and help you.
32:11 Not only farther away and down the shore, but also going deeper and deeper and deeper
32:16 into situations over your head if you keep your eyes off the Father.
32:23 Therefore, we must, we must give more earnest heed to the things we've heard.
32:32 These are not just sermons to be preached.
32:35 These are principles we must live lest we drift.
32:42 And when the pain gets deeper, we tend to hold on tighter.
32:49 But as we move into seasons of blessings, our mentality has to shift.
32:58 Don't forget to pray today, because God didn't forget to wake you up this morning.
33:06 Yeah, when you step into this blessing, you need to remember where your strength comes
33:16 from.
33:17 You need to remember what side of the bread you got the butter.
33:20 You need to remember that it's God that gave you power to obtain wealth.
33:25 That's the Deuteronomy.
33:27 That it's God that lifted you.
33:29 You know where you are.
33:30 He lifted you up into that place.
33:34 He gave you the talent.
33:35 He gave you the skill.
33:36 He gave you the ability to do what you're doing, and you need to remember Him.
33:41 Keep Him in the forefront of your mind.
33:43 I mean, tattoo it on your hand.
33:45 You know, the Jews, they put these little boxes on their head to keep the Word of God
33:50 in front of them.
33:52 Church, I'm almost afraid for you, and I don't know how to say this, and maybe even me too,
34:00 unless we lose sight of the God that brought us out of Egypt, that parted the Red Sea,
34:08 that made us walk through on dry land.
34:10 And then if that wasn't enough, He brought them to the Jordan and did it again, and they
34:16 stepped into the promised land.
34:20 Many of you are about to step into the promised season of your life.
34:30 But if you know the Bible, you know that right before they went into the Jordan, and God
34:37 parted it, that Joshua required all the men to be circumcised.
34:49 He wanted to remind them of their covenant with God.
34:54 What God wants us to do in our heart, He wants circumcised hearts.
34:57 Where it's like, "Lord, you know, we're moving into this land of promise, and all this abundance,
35:04 and all this blessing, everything I've been believing for is about to happen.
35:09 God, I make a commitment deep down in my soul.
35:12 I make a commitment in my heart.
35:14 God, I'm going to put you first.
35:15 I'm going to keep—seek first the King, all these other—I'm going to keep the main thing,
35:19 God.
35:20 I will not forget you.
35:26 I will hold on to you.
35:31 And if we could just—I don't know how to say it.
35:35 I wish I could sing it or something it to you to get it to you.
35:44 But blessing can be scary.
35:49 And when it's tough, you've got to call on God.
35:52 But when you can pay your bills, you're no longer praying about your bills.
35:57 When your house is right, you're no longer praying about your husband, your wife.
36:02 And there's so much opportunity to begin the—Hezekiah was a good man, great reforms, but he began
36:13 to drift.
36:14 And my prayer today is that you anchor your soul.
36:19 You say, "Lord, every day I'm going to get into this Word.
36:23 God, I'm going to talk to you even if I don't think I have anything to talk about, God.
36:29 I'm going to seek you first."
36:32 And with that commitment, you will be safe in this next season.
36:38 Give God a hallelujah and a hand clap.
36:41 Thank you.
36:42 Thank you so much for visiting our YouTube channel.
36:52 My hope is that you found something in today's message that has blessed you.
36:56 If you've been touched, if you've been inspired by what you've heard and you want to help
37:00 us reach others, I encourage you to like this video, subscribe, comment, and share this
37:05 message with someone else.
37:07 If you would like to support this ministry financially, you can click the link below
37:11 to help us spread this life-changing message of Jesus Christ around the globe.
37:15 I hope to see you back here again.
37:17 God bless you.
37:18 [music]
37:25 [music]