So in a second, I just want to
put up a little story.
It's a long story, and I've tried to
condense it, but I want to see God
quicken our hearts to pray.
Because when you pray, you've done the highest
thing that you can do on the earth.
Singing is one thing, athletics is another thing,
preaching is great too, but when you pray,
when we pray, when we call on God,
that's the highest thing any human can do.
And it's open to all of us, not
just ministers or famous evangelists.
So there's a man in the Bible who's
very interesting, his name is Hezekiah.
And Hezekiah ruled as a king in Jerusalem,
in the southern kingdom of Judah.
Hezekiah's father was a morally corrupt person by
the name of Ahaz.
And this king Ahaz led God's people away
from God and set up idols, and he
followed the practices, the filthy practices of the
idolaters that were around him.
And then Hezekiah comes on the scene, and
this is one of those examples where it's
not, the apple fell very far from the
tree, praise God.
If your parents weren't nice and didn't serve
God, you don't have to be like your
parents or your ancestors.
Hezekiah becomes king, and he's a great king.
He seeks the Lord, he wants to please
God, he cleans up the mess that he
inherits from his father, their idols around the
temple, just, it's a disaster.
And he really gets to seeking the Lord
and wants to please the Lord.
The Bible says, in fact, in 2 Kings,
that there was never a king before, anyone
like him before or after.
He had some unique qualities.
So while he's king, the northern kingdom of
Israel, the cousins, the 10 tribes, they've departed
from God for hundreds of years.
And God has sent prophets, but nobody's listening.
So now God is gonna bring judgment as
He promised on them.
So He sends Sennacherib, the ruler of the
Assyrian Empire, and they move in on Samaria,
the capital of the northern kingdom.
So the southern kingdom is watching this.
Wow, if you serve idols, you don't seek
the Lord, this is what can happen to
you.
Just like the prophet said.
So Assyria comes and they lay waste to
the northern kingdom.
They conquer Samaria, and this, by the way,
is the origin of what we call the
Samaritans in the time of Jesus.
What happens, they take all the Israelites who
live, all the Jews who lived in the
northern kingdom, and they shipped them, after they
conquered them, they shipped them all over the
Assyrian Empire, which was huge, they were the
big guy on the block at that time.
And then they brought some of their people
and mixed them with the few Jews that
were remaining.
And as time went on, they formed their
own religion, part heathen, part Israel, and it
was called the Samaritan religion.
You remember in the time of Jesus, no
one had anything to do with Samaritans.
So they're watching all of this.
Ah, but the plot thickens, because Sennacherib, while
he's in the neighborhood, says I just don't
want the northern kingdom, I'm gonna conquer the
southern kingdom.
So he starts and defeats the cities that
protect Jerusalem, the armed cities of Judah.
I don't know what happened, but Hezekiah must
have lost his nerve, his faith in God,
and what he does is he tries, as
he sees how strong they are, this would
be like Russia or China attacking Poland.
There would be no chance for you, militarily.
What happens is he takes money, and he
says to the head of the Assyrian empire,
the ruler, the king, he says, my bad,
I should have never even stood up to
you.
And he tries to pay them off.
He even takes the gold off the doors
of the temple to try to buy them
off.
But ladies and gentlemen, it's a good reminder
to us, when the devil's after you, you
can never buy him off.
Whatever you think you can give somebody something
to stop the evil, you'll never pay it
off.
It keeps coming, it keeps coming.
So what happens is, even though he pays
them off, the king of Assyria says, no,
no, I'm coming after you.
So he sends some leaders to Jerusalem.
King Hezekiah doesn't receive them, but he sends
out leaders to receive them, and listen what
happens.
The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander,
his chief officer, and his field commander with
a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah
at Jerusalem.
They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at
the aqueduct of the upper pool on the
road to the Washington's field.
They called for the king, and Eliakim, son
of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna, the secretary,
and Joah, son of Asaph, the recorder, went
out to them.
The field commander said to them, tell Hezekiah,
this is what the great king, the king
of Assyria says, on what are you basing
this confidence of yours that you can stand
up to us?
You say you have the counsel and the
might for war, but you speak only empty
words.
On whom are you depending that you rebel
against me?
Look, I know you're depending on Egypt, that
splintered reed of a staff which pierces the
hand of anyone who leans on it, such
as Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who
depend on him.
But the mocking doesn't stop there.
But if you say to me, we're depending
on the Lord, our God, isn't he the
one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed,
saying to Judah and Jerusalem, you must worship
before this altar in Jerusalem?
He doesn't understand what's happening and what Hezekiah
has accomplished.
Come now, make a bargain with my master.
Look at the mocking.
The king of Assyria, I will give you
2,000 horses, if you can put riders
on them.
How can you repulse one officer of the
least of my master's officials, even though you
are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy
this place without a word from the Lord?
The Lord himself told me to march against
this country and destroy it.
Oh, that's the ultimate.
Not only do you have no hope, not
only don't believe the king when he says
trust in the Lord, not only have I
defeated everyone else and the gods they depended
on, but I want to tell you something
more to frighten you.
The Lord himself told me to come and
destroy you.
He lies and says, God is on my
side, not yours.
What a devil, right?
This is the day that we're moving into
spiritually now with Satan in our country.
So there's a lesson here for us.
The Bible says these messengers come back.
They went further, by the way, I left
it out.
It's a little rough reading.
They went on, the officers that King Hezekiah
sent out said, shh, shh, don't talk like
that in front of the people that are
listening on the walls.
And they went, oh, don't talk out?
And they start yelling at all the people.
You're gonna eat your own excrement and drink
your own urine.
That's what we're gonna do to you.
So don't believe this stuff, trust in the
Lord.
Hezekiah tears his clothes when he hears what's
going on, and he sends a message to
Isaiah, and he says, pray.
We're between a rock and a hard place.
I'm so happy that when you're between a
rock and a hard place, there's a God
that we can call on.
Can we say amen to that?
Down through the centuries, what we're doing tonight
is the most sacred fraternity, sorority, that has
ever been known to man.
We're in this great company of people who
say, pass me not, O gentle Savior, hear
my humble cry.
Isaiah sends a word back to him and
says, listen, don't believe these lies.
See, it's not only that he are attacking
and they're mocking, now they're mocking and saying
even God wants you dead.
God is against you.
Not just I'm against you, don't believe in
prayer, don't believe that God's gonna get you
out of it, but I'll add something to
you.
God told me to destroy you.
Boy, you talk about intimidation, right?
Sure enough, God begins to work, and the
king of Assyria hears that there's some trouble
back home, and he thinks I might have
to leave, but he says, no, I'm not
leaving.
Hezekiah will think that God intervened.
So he sends a letter, and he puts
it to some messengers.
He writes a message, a letter, and he
says, bring this to Hezekiah, and here's what
the letter said.
The letter says all that nasty stuff.
Don't believe, don't believe in God, don't believe
anything good is gonna happen because I'm gonna
come and kill you.
Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and
he read it, and then he went to
the temple of the Lord and he spread
it out before the Lord.
Can you see him?
He takes the letter, and he doesn't just
read it, he lays it before God, and
he says, look, God, look at this filthy,
lying enemy that I have, and Hezekiah prayed
to the Lord.
Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the
cherubim, you alone are God over all the
kingdoms of the earth.
You have made heaven and earth.
Give ear, Lord, notice how bold he is.
Give ear, Lord, and hear like God's not
listening.
God, listen up, listen to what I'm saying.
Open your eyes, Lord, and see.
Listen to the words that Sennacherib has sent
to ridicule the living God.
It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings
have laid waste these nations and their lands.
They have thrown their gods into the fire
and destroyed them for they were not gods.
They were only wood and stone fashioned by
human hands.
Now, Lord, our God, deliver us from his
hand so that all the kingdoms of the
earth may know that you alone, our Lord,
are God.
Then Isaiah, son of Amos, sent a message
to Hezekiah.
Just as he prays it, Isaiah gets a
message and says, send it to the king.
This is what the Lord, the God of
Israel, says.
I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib, the
king of Assyria, and when God hears your
prayer, it doesn't matter how big the mountain
is, how big the enemy is, how bad
and big is the king of Assyria.
Come on, let's say amen to that.
Almighty God says, I've heard your prayer.
No, I have heard your prayer.
You prayed with your whole heart.
You cried out to me.
You appealed to me to defend you.
Well, I have now heard your prayer.
And then after Isaiah sends another word of
encouragement to him, along with this message of
the Lord wants you to know he has
heard your prayer, listen how the story ends.
Last few verses.
That night, the angel of the Lord went
out and put to death 185,000 in
the Assyrian camp.
And when the people got up the next
morning, there were all those dead bodies.
So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and
withdrew.
He returned to Nineveh, and he stayed there.
One day while he was worshiping in the
temple of his God, Nisroch, his sons Adremalek
and Cherezer killed him with the sword, and
they escaped to the land of Ararat.
And Esauhardin, his son, succeeded him as king.
Everything God said he would do, he did
because he said, I've heard your prayer, Hezekiah.
I have heard your prayer.
I've heard your prayer.
This church is here because God answers prayer.
I'm here in the ministry because God answers
prayer.
The choir is a blessing to people around
the world, not because of their musical talent
or my wife's gifting, it's because God answers
prayer.
There are people visiting here from other churches
to a Tuesday night prayer meeting, come all
the way from Jamestown, New York, I believe,
and also somewhere in Maryland, because they believe
also that God answers prayer.
You yourself don't even know how much you're
here because someone prayed.
Some prayers you know about, but other prayers
you don't even know about, but God heard
them and brought you here tonight.
Come on, can we say amen to that?
So I love that picture.
I love that picture.
King Hezekiah goes into the temple of God.
No plan B, no counseling is gonna help.
No PowerPoint, no talent, no music, no instruments,
no smoke and whistles.
No.
He lays it before God, says look at
this filthy threat.
Look at this intimidation.
Just like some of you have in your
heads, the devil comes, he lies to us.
He says you're not gonna make it.
Your daughter's never coming back, your son's not
coming back.
That will never work out, it's a pipe
dream.
And don't even bother praying, and don't say
you trust in God because it's not gonna
work.
In fact, on top of that, God ordains
you to fail.
God ordains you to be defeated.
That's how far he'll go in his lies.
But I'm so glad Hezekiah didn't listen to
any of that.
He just brought the thing and laid it
before God.
And he said there it is, God.
I can't overcome him, but you are God.
You're almighty God.
Now listen, God.
Now listen, listen to my prayer, God.
See what's going on here, look at this
stuff.
Look at this stuff that's come against your
servant.
Now God, move so people will know you're
alive.
And you're the true and the living God.
The king was saying I don't want the
glory, I want you to get the glory.
But you gotta stretch out your hand and
deliver me.
And that very night, look what God did.
That's what I wanna do tonight before we
do anything else.
Yes, we got some things facing our church
now.
Things we gotta work through.
They're a blessing from God, but there's like
attacks of the enemy and things.
You know how the devil, he never gives
up.
Devil, devil.
He's the devil, he's Satan.
And we're in a fight.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood.
Listen, Senator Carib, the king of Assyria, is
a piece of cake compared to principalities and
powers.
But Paul says when he says put on
the whole armor of God, he says and
pray at all times with all kinds of
prayer.
One sentence prayers.
Prayers that are nothing more than a tear.
Crying out to God prayers.
Intercession prayers.
Petition prayers.
Pray at all times with all kinds of
prayers.
And pray in the Holy Spirit.
Let the Spirit make you alive in prayer.
And God will hear and he will deliver
you.
Close your eyes with me.
If you're here today and you need to
lay out something before God like King Hezekiah
did.
The mess you're in, the attack that you're
in.
Some besetting sin, some financial dilemma, some family
mess, some broken heart.
Whatever the thing is, you gotta lay it
before God.
And then you gotta call on God.
You can't do some mamsy-pamsy prayer.
You gotta be real about it.
You gotta pray with all of your heart.
You will seek me and you will find
me when you seek for me with all
your heart, the Bible says.
I want those of you that needed to
hear this word tonight.
I don't care if you're visiting or regularly
here or a deacon or a pastor.
You needed to hear this.
Like I needed to hear.
What do you think, I'm preaching to you?
I'm preaching to myself.
That's all I've ever known is, Jim, your
back is against the wall.
Cry out to God, he'll help you again.
He'll do it again.
He will do it again.
He did it for the Brooklyn Tabernacle before.
He will do it again.
There's a time for everything under the sun.
Every eye closed, there's a time for everything
under the sun.
But right now is the time for only
one thing, not Bible study, not prayer and
worship, not fellowship.
We'll do all of that later.
Not even communion.
Now's the time to call on the Lord
for he is rich in mercy to everyone
who calls out to him.
In a day of trouble, call upon me,
God says.
See what I will do.
Don't be depressed, don't be down, look up.
Cry out to me, I want to see
my name glorified.
I've waited till the situation got this bad
for you so that I could show you
how awesome I am.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Excuse the emotion, but I am happy that
God answers prayer.
Are you happy God answers prayer?
If you're here today and say, I needed
to hear that, get up out of your
seat and get up here.
Right at the altar, around the communion table.
Get out of your seat from the balcony
and come down.
No, pastor, that was for me.
Para me, for me.
I'm gonna lay the thing before God.
Come on, come out of your seat.
When you get here to the front, lift
up your hands like you were holding a
letter.
Lift up your hand and just present it
before God.
And lift your voice and begin to pray.
Say, God, look at the mess I'm in.
Look at the situation I'm in.
You helped King Hezekiah, you're gonna help me.
He could pray only in the name of
the God of Israel.
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ,
the son of the living God.
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Look down from heaven and help us, God.
Help us, honor your word, honor your people.
Honor your promise.