And then we'll dismiss the children to go with Mrs. Shore to the creche. And so you guys can head that way. And the rest of us, please, take our Bibles and open up to 2 Chronicles chapter 29. And we'll be in our text that we already read this morning, verses 1 through 11, and what God did here in the ministry of King Hezekiah. Back when God called us to a second ministry, we'd been in a ministry in New York City for a year and a half, and it was obvious that there were reasons why it was time, though we had just been there a very short time, to seek another ministry. Katie was expecting a baby. She was a teacher of the primary school. all those different age groups. She was the sole teacher for them. She was expecting Kaylee. We didn't know who that was at that point, but we knew that it'd be impossible for her to teach, but that they'd have to hire another teacher. The church was kind of struggling financially. They would keep our salary the same for my wife and I, and we just knew it was impossible for the church to do that. So we were really praying and asking God where God would have us to go. I went to see a church plant in Pittsburgh area in Pennsylvania, and I thought, this is what God has for us. I told the teens, I said, I believe God's gonna move us before this baby comes. We're praying God will move us before the baby comes. We've packed up the house in preparation to be ready to move. It's just a month before the baby is due, and so we go to see this church plant, and it seems great. I'm not gonna tell the whole story, But it looked like it was it until the very last few minutes that were there as I preached the message and found out that this church doctrinally that wanted to get a start was not where I was and it wouldn't work. And it was heartbreaking. You know, here we are just a month out and we asked our pastor in New York City, we said, Pastor, do you mind if we just swing up through Michigan on our way back, just take a a little bit of time off, we just need a break, we've been so busy. And so he said, that's fine. So we went up there, we're driving through what's called the Blue Water area, kind of, in Michigan, getting close to the Blue Water Bridge that goes into Canada, and we're driving back that way, going to go past Niagara Falls and stuff, up through upstate New York and then down to New York City. It was beautiful, the area was beautiful, and we commented on it, like, man, this would be a nice area to live in. Well, we got back to New York City, and I got a phone call from Pastor Clark in Michigan, right from that area that we'd driven through, and said, wow, this is a beautiful area, just 15 minutes from that bridge that goes into Canada, and he said, I'd like to consider you guys an assistant pastor. I said, well, if you think this is a real possibility, I'd like to come right away and see, because we're praying that we can move before the baby comes. I think I'm pretty sure I shared that with him. So anyway, I fly out there. I'm there a Sunday through a Thursday. And Thursday morning, God had me in this passage. And at the end of this passage, in chapter 29, It says in verse 36, Hezekiah rejoiced in all the people that God had prepared the people for the thing was done suddenly. And God used that verse, among other things, in my heart to say this is what God wants us to do. I flew back to New York City. Friday night was my last youth activity. Sunday was our farewell Sunday. Monday we loaded the truck. Tuesday, and Pastor Clark flew in, and Pastor Barker in New York City collected in, brought him to the house. Pastor Clark, who was in Michigan, he drove the truck, I drove the car. We drove halfway that night, which was Tuesday. Rested away the next day, Wednesday. Got to church, had a Wednesday night service. We had our first Sunday there in Michigan. And that night, my wife went into labor. She was in labor all Monday, which was Labor Day in the States. And Tuesday morning, three o'clock, Kayla was born. but the thing was done quickly because it was of the Lord. You know, that's a great statement. And as we're praying for revival, sometimes we're asking God, God, would you work? God, would you do this? Revival has two aspects. Revival has a thou must do aspect and a God thou must do aspect. You know, it's incumbent upon us as a people to say, God, I want to participate in this, so God, whatever you show me in my heart or life that is needing to change, God, I'll change that. And on the other hand, we're asking God to do something supernatural. You see that in the story. There's no way they could have done what they did in eight days. Eight days. Without God being behind it and overseeing it. But at the same time, you'll see a lot of things that they did so that God would work. In eight days, we've got Holiday Bible Club. In a month, we've got revival meetings with Evangelist John Van Gelder. We wanna see God do some great things. And so, let's be as practical this morning as what Hezekiah was, as they just had to get in the house of God and do some things, get it ready so that they could properly worship God. Tonight's gonna be part two, okay? More specifics about their worship of God. And so we'll continue this tonight with King Hezekiah. But let's pray and ask God to work as we study His word. Father, we're asking that the Spirit of God would speak to our hearts this morning, I thank you. for this message about King Hezekiah and the people of Judah that obeyed God and honored God. And Father, there are things in their life they had to change so they could get back into the place of the blessing of God. But they did it. And Father, tonight we'll see that the worship was restored, good worship of God. And so I just pray that the Holy Spirit of God would give me wisdom as I preach. Guide us during this time. Lord, you've been so good to us already today. I pray for your divine enablement. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen. Okay, so how to prepare, in this case the temple, but in our case the church, for meeting with God. What must we do to get ready to see God work? And the first thing is open the doors of the temple, or open the doors of the church, all right? Open the doors of the temple. In our case, the temple would be inside of us, our heart, okay? Verse 3 and 4 says, he in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors. I like that. He's only 25 years old, but he becomes king. He had a wicked father, King Ahaz. King Ahaz did some things, we'll look at one in just a second, that was totally against God. He didn't have a good father. He didn't have a godly father. He had a disobedient, reprobate king father that God despised because he was so wicked. But King Hezekiah, and if you went to Mensacab this past year, you heard some great messages on King Hezekiah. And what is so remarkable is that though his dad was so wicked, yet by the grace of God, King Hezekiah comes in. And King Hezekiah is a godly, God-fearing man. And so immediately, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. And he brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together into the east street. So quickly, he's become king, and he doesn't hesitate at all, he just jumps in and goes, guys, we've got to open the temple back up. We've got to get that worship for God re-established. 2 Chronicles 28, turn back there and see what King Hezekiah's father did, King Ahaz. It says, And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord. And he made him altars, idolatrous altars, in every corner of Jerusalem, and in every settled city of Judah. He made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers." So King Ahaz had come in. He closed the door so much so that the doors are rotting, apparently. King Hezekiah comes, he has to open the doors, but he also has to repair the doors, fix the doors. You know, the church at Laodicea had closed doors. And I want us to stop and think how the doors were closed in the Laodicean church. Revelation 3, verse 14 says, And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things, saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou art cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. As God looked at this church, this church was carnal. This church was neither completely rebellious against God, apostate, nor were they anything for God. They were just lukewarm and God goes, I would rather have you cold. I'd rather have you at one extreme or the other, but you're nothing. And how they were nothing was this, verse 17, because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and of need of nothing. And because thou knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Spiritually, they were lacking in every regard. But as they looked at themselves, if they had a spiritual mirror to examine themselves in, they looked at it and said, I'm fine. And God goes, you don't even understand. Spiritually, you're poor, you're blind, you're naked, you're lacking everything. But you think you have so much, you have so little, the door's closed. The door's closed. Verse 18, I counsel thee to buy me gold, chard, and fire, that thou mayest be rich. and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. And note thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me. And it could be like this. Revival would be like this. God's standing at the door and knocking and saying, look, you've got great needs. And we could say today, well, you know, it's a day where God's not working. Just the way it is, it's carnal, and our world is so tough, and there's just no way. Or we could get on our knees and say, God, it's gonna take you to work. God's gonna take your input, your impact. You know, this morning, as you think about it, are your doors closed to God? Do you just feel fine? I guess Christianity is fine. Listen, Christianity is not knowledge. Christianity is not growing up in a Christian home. It's not being a good Christian because I'm at church. Christianity is a hard relationship with God. You know, is the door closed to your heart this morning? You think you got everything? You think you don't have need of anything? Can you hear the knock of the Lord? I saw at camp, and this might come out somewhere else in my message today, but I saw a camp in Germany. Little cotton-like seeds, you know what I'm talking about? And it was very still there. It was hot and still. And those seeds were just kind of barely moving, you know, slowly back and forth. And I thought, you know, it just takes a little wind and that thing changes directions. How much wind of God's Spirit does it take to change your direction? How loud does God have to knock at your heart's door saying, look, there's something that you need, I wanna give you. Are the doors open? You know, Hezekiah right away, he's seeking to get the people back with God and so he's saying, man, open those doors. Open those doors. David said it this way. Psalm 63 verse one and two. He said, O God, my God, early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in the dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory. so I have seen thee in the sanctuary. In Matthew 5, Jesus described it as, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. It's draw night of God, and he will draw night to you. This morning, as you think about it, do you have a desire to draw close to God? Are the doors open? Are they open? Secondly, sanctify yourself. Sanctification, biblically, is to set apart. It's the idea of holiness, personal holiness, that there is a difference between us and the world. And so, Hezekiah said unto them, in verse five, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify not yourselves. Get clean. Sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers. Get it clean. Carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place, for our fathers have trespassed and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him. and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs. They've been allowing things into the temple that God said were not to be in the temple and defiled the temple. They had allowed things into their life that had defiled them. And Hezekiah said, we want God to work. And so examine yourself, examine the temple and get those things out of the temple that defiled the temple. Because of those things, verse eight, wherefore, The wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem. He hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as you see with your eyes. For lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword. Our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity. Last two words. For this. You know, as a people of Judah, you see in the chapter before, because of King Ahaz's wickedness, the enemy had invaded. There was a battle. They were destroyed by Israel, by the way. because they had disobeyed God. Listen, we can look at our families and say, why isn't it going well? Why isn't it going well in my life? Why is it such a struggle? But we might have to stop and say, you know what? Is it God's judgment against us because we haven't gotten to the point of sanctifying God's temple and obeying God? That's what he said. He said the problems are there because of the fact that we are not a sanctified people. And so what are they gonna have to deal with? They're gonna have to deal with sins of commission. Okay, sins of commission. We talked about this recently, I think on a Sunday night. A sin of commission is a trespass. It's when God says, don't do that, okay? But we do that. And so it says here in our text, our fathers have trespassed. They disobeyed God. They went into forbidden areas where God said not to go. In particular, they went into idolatry. And the wickedness of that idolatry. The word of God has many commands in it. Not to steal. Not to dishonor your mom and dad. Not to covet your neighbors anything. But when we violate that, we step in disobedience across that line that God says is sin, we have broken God's law by sin of commission. And so it would be us today looking at our lives and saying, God, where have I violated your word by sin of commission? What am I doing that is in disobedience to God? What am I doing that breaks God's laws? We've talked about so often in our holiday Bible clubs that that is trespass. Listen, God's law didn't disappear the day I got saved. I just have the grace of God and the spirit of God to help me keep it. But that law is still there. And it would be a good thing for us today to to take our entertainment before God, to take our music before God, to take our dress before God, to take our relationships before God, to take everything that we do before God and say, God, have I violated your law? They had to stop and think about it. There is a... There has to be in our hearts, as believers, a point of stopping and saying, I'm not a perfect person. God, am I in ignorance or willfully violating something in your word? Have I hearted my heart? Have I calloused my conscience? Where it just doesn't bother me, but God, it bothers you. And to say, by the grace of God, hey, if we want God's blessing, that means to go, listen, is it worth it? Let me just put it this way. Is it worth it? So many ways it'd be worth it. It's worth it for the Lord Jesus Christ who died for us. It's worth it for all the people that by God's grace could get saved if we're what we ought to be for God, salt and light. So many ways sin hinders. If God sees everything, Proverbs 15 verse 3, the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. God knew exactly what was wrong with the temple. God knew exactly where the filth was in the temple. And as the men of God sought God and said, God, give us grace to get this place clean. In eight days, they had taken all the defilement out of that place. You know, that'd be a good thing. I said this morning, don't let sin that you look at and say, well, I can never get victory. Don't let that be in your life. What do you make excuse for? What do you say? Well, that's just the way it is. Listen, it's not the way it should be. And ask God, God, by your grace, help me to live holy here. God, help me to set that sin aside. Deal with sins of commission. Secondly, deal with sins of omission. It says, and have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs. See, a sin of omission is not doing what I should do. Sin of commission, doing what I shouldn't do. Sin of omission is the fact that those temple doors have been shut. It was that they weren't going into that place offering sacrifices like God desired them to do. There were things that God said to do and they weren't doing it. And that sin of omission is as bad as a sin of commission, right? Isn't it just as bad to not do what God wants me to do as to do what God does not want me to do? See, both are bad, both are sin, both break God's law. James 4, 17, therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. When I know today that God wants me to do something and I refuse to do it now from authority, I'm thinking particularly about the case of baptism. If an authority to me says I can't be baptized, then I know I should be. I've got to wait until God works in the heart of my authority, especially as a child of a parent. But listen, when you get saved, God wants you to be baptized. And if you're not baptized, you're in disobedience to God. God commands you to be baptized to identify with the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, His burial, His resurrection. God says, if you're ashamed of me in this generation, I'm gonna be ashamed of you when I come in my glory, Jesus said. Okay? So I need to say, God, God, forgive me for my stupid, if I can just speak frankly, my stupid pride that's keeping me from obeying you and identifying with you. That is a sin of omission. God, forgive me. And Father, by your grace, I'm gonna obey you in baptism. Okay, when I get saved, what else does God want me to do? Save to tell, right? Going into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. Is that our responsibility? Or is that the pastor's responsibility? It's our responsibility. Do you know what? Let me just tell you, it is your responsibility to verbally give the gospel to somebody. Be ready always to give an answer to any man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. You ought to desire in your heart to do that, but can I tell you also, if you're not evangelizing, you're in disobedience to God. You've forgotten the whole reason why Christ came. See, our average church, I would guess, this is just a guess, okay, I might be completely wrong, but I would say the average church, I would say maybe, and I'm hopeful, 20% of people verbally witness and share the gospel. Is that okay? You don't pray for revival, God send revival. I was at a great meeting and a preacher was preaching and it was a revival conference and John McGillivran was there, but he wasn't preaching. But he'll tell you, one of the most powerful prayer meetings that we've ever been in, it was 600 people that were there, the presence of God was felt. But do you know that that preacher said this, if you've got tracks in your pocket right now, stand up. You might go, what's that about? The point was, if your gospel gun isn't loaded, Right? If your gospel gun's not loaded, how are you ready? And now we could verbally witness, and I'll tell you this, there's times I forget tracts, but God gave me an opportunity yesterday without a tract to witness to something. And I don't say, I'm not saying I always do that, but with the clerk, I gave her a gospel witness before I left. Verbally. So we can pray to God and say, oh God, send a revival. Listen, are we sinning in areas of omission, not doing what God wants us to do? Listen, when I got saved, and I'm a part of God's family, does God want me to tithe? You have robbed God. It's what the Word of God says. You have robbed God. Wherein have we robbed thee? In Tithes and Offerings, Malachi 3.8. How does the church go on? It goes on through the giving of God's people. Listen, I'll just make it very practical this morning. By the way, Tithe, Biblically, is 10%. It's what it was in the Old Testament. And people say, well, see, we're not under the law. Listen, under grace we give more. Under grace we give more and say, God, what can I give? Give and it shall be given unto you. Listen, if your finances are in a wreck, in a mess, it's because probably you're not giving. Because that's a biblical principle. That's, I mean, throughout the Word of God, that's what the Word of God teaches. You know, Jesus didn't look at the woman giving her two mites, you know, there, and he said, this woman gave all that she had. Did he say, and that was wrong? No. Because that woman gave, I believe, and said this, Lord, I don't have anything left, you're gonna have to meet my needs. And God did. Why? Because God's faithful. How could Jesus compliment a woman that gave everything that he had, knowing that she's gonna go starve, God, you know, her bills aren't gonna be paid, she's gonna be put in jail? No. Listen, are you, omitting, tithing. See, I believe this, we can pray all we want. God, establish our church. God, make our church a great church for you. If we're not giving, it's not going to happen. It's not. Oh, pastor, you're just trying to get money. I'm not trying to get money. I know biblically, if our church is not giving, it's not the kind of church that God wants it to be. It's not going to be blessed as God wants it to be blessed. It's never going to do what God wants it to do, because if people won't give financially, they'll not give themselves. It's impossible. It's not going to happen. If I am unjust, the Bible says, in that which is least, how am I going to be just in that which is most? If I'm not honoring God with the simplicity of giving of my tithes and offering to God, how can I honor God by giving Him my life? It's not going to happen. It's not. Why? Because a sin of omission is keeping me from being what God desires me to be. So could be either today. You might look at your life and say, it's a sin of commission. Because I'm doing this, I know it's wrong. Not because it's just my touchy-feely conscience. By the way, God has given us a conscience, but we can sin against our conscience so it doesn't bother us. And you might say, it doesn't bother me. Listen, it doesn't matter if it doesn't bother you. Sin is based on what we know, get it? And so I look at it and say, God, forgive me for sins of commission. What I have done that violates your law. God, forgive me for sins of omission. What I have not done. that violates your law. Those two things. And what is that? Sanctification. It's cleansing the temple. See, again, can I honestly pray and say, God bless our holiday Bible club, make it what God you desire it to be, and God looks at me and goes, hey, if only your vessel and honor sanctified me from the master's use, I could do that, but I can't because of your disobedience. And so for us, it's so important, we desire a revival. God, make me what you desire me to be. that relight the fire of worship. Verse 7. Verse 7. Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, they put out the lamps, have not burned incense, nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. In the Old Testament, people are being sacrificed, they would burn that sacrifice. They burned that incense. The Bible speaks about that as being a sweet savor to God because they were doing that in obedience to God. That was worship. It was giving God what He is worth. Listen, if prayer was worship, and it is, how much worship have you given to God this past week? How much time have you spent on your knees seeking the face of God and lighting that fire and letting that fire go up to God and glorifying God. Even you young people, can I challenge you with this, all you kids, listen to Pastor Ben, have a real walk with God. Don't just know about God, know God personally. The way you know God is through prayer. You know him through your word, the word of God, but as far as relationship and experience with God, one of the sweetest ways you'll ever know God is through prayer. Spending time with God, fellowshipping with God, sharing your heart with God, and it's a precious, precious time. Psalm 141-2 says, let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the lifting up my hands as an evening sacrifice. Revelation 8-4, and the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angels' hands. I mean, that is speaking about that, listen, if you got on your knees this past week in sincerity and honesty, and by the way, sanctification, because if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. You will have no prayer life if you have harbored sin in your life, right? But that being not the case, I get on my knees before God. The Bible tells me that that is sweet incense to God. Worship. Has that been going up before God this past week? John Hyde, a creature, was a real prayer warrior. And about him, they say, with periods of outright persecution by natives and few, if any, conversions, Hyde began leading his fellow missionaries in the intercession for India. So deep was his call to prayer that by 1899, he began spending entire nights facedown before God. In a letter to his college, he wrote, have felt led to pray for others this winter as never before. I never before knew what it was to work all day and then pray all night before God for another. In college, I wrote parties at home. I used to keep such hours for myself, for pleasure, and can I not do as much for God and souls? In 1904, Indian Christians and Western missionaries gathered for the first of an annual series of conventions at Sialkot in what is today Pakistan. To support this time of spiritual renewal, John Hyde and his friends formed the Punjab Prayer Union, setting aside half an hour each day to pray for revival. The results of their prayers were plain to see at the Sialkot convention as special anointing fell upon those gathered. Year by year, the prayer union fasted and prayed and at each convention a growing urgency for evangelism in the intercession filled each attendee. Prayer. See, I mentioned already this morning the fact that we're going to have prayer before each day of All Day Bible Club. On Sunday mornings at 9.40 we have prayer before a Sunday service. When we have evangelistic meetings, we have prayer before that time. Why? Because that is the time to bear our heart before God. Listen, it's a great time to get our heart right with God, but it's also a great time to say, God would you work. See if you could say this morning, well, God's not sending the Bible. How much time have you spent in prayer this past week? Listen, God bless this food, God bless this really short five minute, hey, I'm gonna have my five minute prayer time. Is that really what it's about? You got God in heaven with all his resources, all his ability, everything that he possesses. And I mean, he is willing to give him out to anybody that come before him and access that blessing. And he stands willing. And us as believers, we're here and we're going, why doesn't God meet my needs? And all we got to do is go to God in sincerity, get on a face before God and say, God, we need the blessing. You know, the Psalm 119 we just looked at, it is time for thee, O Lord, to work. But I wonder what God thinks about our prayerlessness. See, as they began to get back with God, they began to get that worship reestablished. They lit the fire again. Listen, you might have had a better prayer life in the past, and you're relying on that and saying, well, my prayer life used to be good. I used to see God work. Or maybe you've never had a great prayer life. But even meeting other people, you can look at your life and say, God, I want to make a difference. I want to pray. Remember to relight the fire of worship. And then remember your covenant with God. Verse 10. Now it's in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. See, God's judging a covenant. Abraham said it has the highest heart to go to God and say, God, okay, we have messed up, but Lord, I want to reestablish a covenant relationship with you. I want an agreement with you. I want to have that agreement so that it's a legally binding position between you and us and we're reestablished within that covenant. See, God is a covenant-making God. 272 times that covenant idea is in the Word of God. 272 times that idea of making an agreement in that guarantee that God desires to give. But they have broken God's covenant. Jeremiah 11 verse 10, they are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers which refused to hear my words. They went after other gods to serve them. the house of Israel, the house of Judah, have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. And yet God is willing to reestablish, Jeremiah 1.31, it says, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah. And you know, that's the gospel and the voice, the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did. Hebrews 12.4 says to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and the blood of the sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel. God's a covenant-making God. God has made a covenant of grace with us as his people. We are a child of God. But are we right within that covenant that God's given? And if not, it'd be a great time, it might be a good time for us to say, God, I've been living in disobedience to the covenant. But reestablish that covenant with God. Then remember the call of God. Remember the call of God. My sons, Be not now negligent, for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister unto Him, and burn incense. And verse 12, then the Levites arose. Do you know what Hezekiah did with those men? He said, look, be serious about this, but understand the privilege that God has given to you, that He has chosen you to stand before Him, and to serve Him, and that you should minister unto Him. John, are you thankful this morning for the position that God has given to you? We understand this morning that it's a great privilege to be identified with Jesus Christ. You understand this morning that in this area of 7,000 people in Lone Head, that the vast majority, if they died, will spend eternity in the lake of fire. They are not a child of God, but that you are if you're saved. And so King Hezekiah stands before him and says, I just want to remind you of what God has given to you. Be not now negligent, the Lord has chosen you to stand before him. It's good for us maybe today to think back, how did God save me? How did the Spirit of God speak to my heart to bring me to saving faith? How did God call me? How did God give me? How did God put me where He is? You know, it's a good thing for us to think back and remember, look, God has called you. God wants you to serve Him. So remember the call of God. And then, this morning, lastly, work to prepare for worship. So everything's been instructed, but now, application time. And so bring others with you. It says, verse 15, and they gathered their brethren. As the Spirit of God stirs up your heart, there ought to be an encouragement to others and say, come on, let's get serious about serving God. Proverbs 27, 17 says, iron sharpeneth iron. So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. If we'll get revived in our heart, get the idols out of our life and make sure that we're sanctified and prayerful and in a close covenant relationship with God, remembering the privilege that God has called us, that will naturally cause us to reach out and say, come on, let's do this. Bring others with you. Set yourself apart. It says, they sanctified themselves and they came according to the commandment of the king by the words of the Lord to cleanse the house of the Lord. Okay, Hezekiah had said, sanctify yourselves. But if that was all that the people got as a message, Hezekiah wants us to sanctify ourselves, and they didn't apply the message, what's the point? This morning, again, as the Spirit of God speaks to your heart, church and Christianity become vain very quickly if it's not applied. If we're just hearers of the word, not doers. But if we're somebody that'll say, you know what, that spoke to my heart. God spoke to me about something specific in my life that is a sin of commission or a sin of omission. By the grace of God, I want that to change. And so I'm gonna ask God, God, help that to change. That's the application of truth and that's what's gonna make a difference. Set yourself apart and then burn your bridges, verse 16. It says that the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord and the Levites took it to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron. So they go into the temple, they take that idolatrous junk and they take it out to the brook and they destroy it. There's no going back. Burn your bridges. It's like an army chasing another army and to cut off their own retreat as they cross the bridge, as they chase the army, they burn the bridge so they can't go back. It's sad. Listen, if you've got sin in your life that is a habit, that is a battle for you, cut yourself off from it. Ask God, God, I want to get rid of this, I want victory over this, but this is where it happens, this is what it is, and so I'm going to get rid of the avenue of escape to that. And ask God to help you with that. Burn your bridges, cast out the wickedness so that you can't Go back. In verse 17, Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify. And on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the Lord. So they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days. And in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end. Eight days. And worship was re-established in Judah. This morning, we may be so close to revival. It could come very quickly, but it's not going to come apart from us looking at our life and saying, God, what needs to change so that revival can come? You look at this revival in Judah, it's very practical. It's the people saying, we're going to make decisions about this and do something so that we can honor God. Let me ask you this morning, are the doors to the temple open? Do you understand that you got a need? I mean, are you just here thinking, oh, this is fine, Christianity, it's fine, there's no problem. We don't really need an outpouring of God's Spirit. We don't need revival. We're okay. We'll just continue. Just come to church, go to church, leave, go home. Everything's fine. Or do we understand today, no, let's open the doors back up. Let's get on our knees before God and say, God, we need you to work. We need you to work. Are you cleansing the temple? Is sin just part of life? I mean, that's just where we are. Even the Bible says, after all day, your feet get dirty. Or is it that you go to God and say, Christ, I need the cleansing again. Wash me from my iniquity, make my heart pure so I can serve you. Are you dealing with sins of omission and commission? How's your prayer life? Have you lit the fire of worship? Are you keeping your covenant with God? Do you value your priesthood, the call of God, the fact that he's put you as a believer in your local church, that God has a desire to use you? Are you working at worship and honoring God? Verse 36, that verse again. Why did it get done in eight days? Because God did it. We wanted to work, but we gotta do our part. And so if I got grace, may we do that for His glory. Let's pray. Father, take a word and put it deep into our hearts, I pray. Father, stir us up. There's not one of us that of ourselves has any ability to serve God. Father, I don't think any one of us would say we're everything that God you desire us to be. Father, free Baptist Church needs to keep in its heart and mind to understand we gotta keep the door open to the Lord Jesus Christ knocking and giving us all those good things that he desires to give. Father, we need to be prayerful people. We need to be sanctified people. We need to be passionate about the worship of God. And I just, I pray that you take the truth that we looked at this morning. And Father, that you examine our hearts. And so this morning, Father, I think what we'll do, rather have an invitation to Him, what I think would be good for us just now, to go before you in prayer. And Father, to ask you, is there a way that we're dishonoring you? Is there a way that you desire to work and we're not letting you? Certainly, I pray, Father, if somebody's sin is hurting the church, I pray God deal with it. Father, Achan's sin hurt the whole camp of Israel. Father, I pray against that, but I pray, Spirit of God, they repent, I pray they find the mercy of God, the forgiveness of God, and do it right. But Father, I ask this now, as we spend a few moments in prayer, that God, we do business with you. that would ask you for revival, but ask as well that we could participate in it by doing the things that we considered even this morning. Father, it's an Old Testament truth about worshiping God in the temple, but we are the temple. I mentioned that in passing, but what know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have with God. You're not your own. But if we think today, well, I can do that because it's my life. No, it's not. Savior, you paid way too much for it to be our life if we're saved. And I pray this spirit of God gives grace to acknowledge that, understand that. And Father, I pray change us. I pray as a pastor, make me the man of God you want me to be. Lord, help me be the preacher, teacher you want me to be. Help me be the dad you want me to be. Help me be the servant you want me to be. But I pray that for all our people. Lord, that we examine our heart before you and say, God, surely there's things in my life that need to change. It might be somebody who's not tithing. Lord, they're not giving to God as you desire them to be given. Lord, they can't be blessed until they do financially. They're certainly not going to be blessed until they do. They're going to be hurting financially until they obey God and honor God in that. But worse than that, they're disobeying you. And finally, how can you bless us as a church? How can we establish a church if our people don't learn to give, and obey, and give in? And that's going to be something we're going to often consider. Because it has to be part of our heart before God to say, God, I want to give. I want to invest in the Lord's work. And given it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, shall then be given to you. And Lord, we know that the biblical principles about giving are so strong in the Word of God. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches. and glory by Christ Jesus. But Father, not to those that are unfaithful in their giving. And Lord, it might be that we're not evangelistic, like we should. Lord, if in this past year we've never once shared the Gospels, then we're sinning against you. We're hiding the light. Father, we have not obeyed the command to lead into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. And Father, we ought to verbally be giving the Gospel. How can we be a church that's a vital church and our members don't even care to tell others about Christ? Lord, it's impossible. Lord, how can we be your servants if we are sinning in sins of uncommissioning? We've hardened our heart and disobeyed God. Father, certainly, if we're not praying, why would you work? Why would you give us good things? And we haven't even asked. We're complaining about what we don't have, but not going to the God who stands willing to give. And so, it's our prayer at this point for revival. It's our prayer that, working our heart, as we worked in King Hezekiah's heart and life in his ministry, soul work in our church. And thank you for your time together with us this morning. Thank you for joining us. Bless them now as they go their way. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.