GOD UNBOXED Part 2: Hezekiah

Sermon notes from Bill Hybels - Willowcreek.org

Open the eyes of our Heart, Lord, so we will see God for who He really are..

He started with
Deuteronomy 29:29: The Secret Things belong to the Lord our God, But the things revealed belong to us and our children forever..

Mysteries of God are going to remain as a secret. Psalm 145:3 - Great is the Lord and greatly to be praise -- His greatness is unsearchable.

He spoke abou tthe sotry of a great and faithful king Hezekiah, 25 yr old son of Ahaz, who has reigned Judah for 29 years. His father, Ahaz, claim to fame was to forbid anyone to worship the true God and set up every critical position outside Jerusalem to worship false gods.. When Ahaz died, Hezekiah rebuild the temple of the God of Israel, Moses and David...

1 Chronicles 29: 2-3 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. 3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them


Hezekiah would like all the people to know that he's parting way from his father. Upgrading and reopening the Temple of the Lord and started a huge worship gathering for all his people to worship the true GOD. 2 Chronicles 29: 28-30 The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed. When the offerings were finished, the

king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped.

30 King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed their heads and worshiped.

King Hezekiah knelt down and praise with his people in that TEmple... Your examples matters more than anything than words.. Is powerul and everytime you make a GREAT STAND it (not just appropriate stand) registers profoundly in the people lives.. you're gonna sow seeds in their minds...

1 Chronicles 30: 20-21 This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. 21 In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands,

he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly.

And so he prospered. ---- 2 successful secret to great things on this world.

1 Kings 18: 7 And the Lord was with him; and he was succesful in whatever he undertook..

Question: Does God always prosper those who seek to honor him fully all the time? in any situation?

in the scripture it says:

Job 36: 11. If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment

Proverbs 10:22 the blessings of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it..

So many names and people are witnessed to the Love and grace of our God. However you see the people in faith like Daniel, Apostle Paul, John the Baptist.. why did God allow them to get hurt and pass through the pain if God says he would make you prosper if you follow him? Why did God allow certain things to happen if you are faithful to God? Is there any predictability at all to who God is going to let prosper and who doesnt? Who he blesses and who doesnt?

God at this point could not be pinned down because of this issue. God comes out of the box.

Look at the life of King Hezekiah who came into a conclusion: that honoring GOD was the way he wanted in honoring God; it right thing to do; it was the best way to live his life. He didnt orient his life that way in order to OBLIGATE GOD to only prosper him or bless him the way he wanted it, He let the prospering decision totally in God's hands..

Bill suggest: We get up in the morning to make a FRESH COMMITMENT EVERY MORNING IN honor Him in everything.. every thought every word every deed.. and just let GOD be GOD.. and let Him sort your life out..

Don Cousin: Honor God everyday in your life and God will honor you in lifetime.. and let the rest up to GOD..

Then Hezekiah had a challenged in his life when a certain Assyrian ruler has mocked his reign, challenged Hezekiah to destroy their own godsand tried to sent out a massive military assylum to Hezekiah's kingdom to kill him and his people.. Hezekiah, as a true young leader, who looks after the well-being of his people was pressured and scared for his people upon receiving the Letter of the Ruler that threatened his kingdom.. Finally realized to forward and surrender his feelings to GOD and SPREAD OUT THE LETTER RECEIVED fr his enemy TO GOD..

1King 19: 14-19 Hezekiah’s Prayer
Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it.

Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD.

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. 16 Give ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. “It is true, LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but 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, LORD, are God.”

REFLECTION: What do you usually SPREAD OUT TO GOD on your prayers? What are you spreading out before GOD? GOD iS OMNIPOTENT.. and he can fly out whatever box you have him.. and Hezekiah prayed for this not to become a greater King or to lead His troops to victory on his name.. Hezekiah prayed so that GOD will be made known for his greatness in all the Kingdoms of the Earth.. WHAT SO-THAT DO YOU PRAY TO GOD? HAVE YOU BEEN ANALYZING YOUR PRAYERS TO GOD?

God answers Hezekiah's prayer that is ridicule and absurd.. Through Isaiah, God appeared to him to send out the message to Hezekiah.. to just relax, sow some seed and relax as God will fight the battle of Hezekiah.. Then

1 KIngs 19: 35 That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

God answers our prayers in a mysterious way.. God expects us to fight our own battle with his help.. but why is it that at some times, that God fights our battle for us? In our lives, where GOD left me with no other choices than to sacrifice, again with His help, to achieve something important. God needed me to fight that battle for me to grow a love in me and perservance and courage.. But there are times too that God is going to send you to battle and say, fight.. fight some more.. fight harder and God is with you.. its not gonna come easy for you but im with you.. until at times you'll be exhausted..

but GOD has important reasons to let us go into the battle for HIM.. GOD provides soemthing that we dont deserve.. straight from the victory circle.. then we will be surprised to see that we dont deserve that victory..

WHY GOD let us fight our own battle with his help? and at times, GOD will fight directly to our battle?

Bill hybels jokes -- I dont have a clue..
Psalm 145: His greatness is unsearchable..
Deuteronomy 29:29: The secret things belongs to God..

Let GOD be GOD.. Unboxed Him.. Either way to battle, ask and spread out your battle to GOD.. with God's help on your battle, GOD will reveal himself to you as you trust him in whatever battle you are into..

2 Kings 20:1 Hezekiah’s Illness
1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,

3 “Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: 5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. 6

I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

God has found favor in Hezekiah's prayer and he extended 15 more years of his life and said that God will defend his city for GOD'S SAKE AND THE SAKE OF MY SERVANT, DAVID.. God has found favor in Hezekiah but also it also favored God because He would like Hezekiah to continue to work for God's glory..

However Hezekiah did not let God's favour imprisoned him from pride and did not rest on his laurels from God.. He has secured God's favour for Him so he has made God's glory greater by creating a POOL OR TUNNEL in his city so that waters from city will distributed properly. He ordered the people to chisel 1750 foot and nowadays, it has been a tourist destination in Israel where the tunnel is and brings legacy to the works of Hezekiah. But during this works and achievement, Hezekiah has offered this achievement for God's glory..

2 Kings 20: 20 As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 21 Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.

Almost all the reign of Hezekiah's work has been forgotten but only Hezekiah's tunnel has been secured SO THAT God's hand will be shown on it...

Reflection: What is our legacy? What is our Tunnel? what are the people will talk about after 25 years in your life that outlives you but only for the glory of God..?

Pour yourself in God's word.. Envision life with spirituality.. Instill Christianity to each and everyone in front of You.. and SPREAD IT OUT TO GOD WHO WILL HELP YOU AND GUIDE YOU TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.. It takes humility to understand and believe that God can do this through you.. We usually put it on our own strength and carry it on our own power and mind, so we thought it is ours who made it happen.. but laugh.. God enables you through His Spirit within you to make it happen..

What are you gonna leave as a legacy of your own life to glorify the Lord? God will advice you and lead you into this.. so THAT it blesses a greater part of the world..

LORD, if you pursue me, i will be among those people that will make sure that your works and glory shall be made known..

to GOD be all the glory..