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Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in. Verse 14 says, and Hezekiah. Hezekiah was the 13th king of Judah and the son of the 12th king of Judah, King Ahaz. And King Ahaz was a wicked king. He shut the doors of the temple and he encouraged folks to worship their idols on every high mountain. But this is an important point I want to make to you. The sins of our parents can be a blessing in disguise since their mistakes are proven and already made. All we need to do is remember what they did and do the opposite. Your origin story doesn't have to be the end of your story. Despite the home you came from or despite the home that Hezekiah came from. Hezekiah, this young man did more to bring back the true worship of God than all the kings before the Bible says and after him. Do not let your past dictate your future. We begin here. And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read it. This king had just witnessed the destruction of the northern kingdom, the kingdom of Israel. And it happened primarily because of their idolatry. Now, at this point in history, over 100,000 of the same Assyrian soldiers were just two or three days away. They were marching toward Judah and Jerusalem. And their message was simply this. The same thing we did to the north, we're going to do to you. This was a scary moment. This wasn't a movie. This wasn't, you know, a poem or a book. When wars were fought, families were divided, people died and people suffered. And war is a horrible thing. But what's important here is, even though we're facing sometimes some major issues and circumstances, never underestimate your opponents. But never neither overestimate them. You will never defeat an opponent if they already have an outpost in your mind. So Hezekiah, again, he defeated the northern kingdom. The kingdom of Israel had been divided into two kingdoms, Judah and Israel. And he's thinking in his mind, well, you know what? They captured the north. Why wouldn't they also capture us? But watch what Hezekiah did. And Hezekiah fell apart. And Hezekiah said, I'm never going back to church anymore because God has not protected us the way I thought he would. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord. Where do you go? Where do you turn when overwhelming situations and circumstances present themselves? And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and watch what he did. And he spread the message before the Lord. That would be like you coming to church with the overdue water bill, the notice from the bank that you're a couple months behind, and you put it in your Bible and then you put it under your arm and you take it to church here. And he spread it before the Lord. The first thing he did was not call his military advisors. He didn't call Big Mama, he didn't call Uncle John. He knew where his help came from, so he spread it before the Lord. But then watch this. Then Hezekiah prayed. He didn't just put on a show before people. The Bible says he prayed before the Lord. If I could only teach you one thing beyond God's word, it would be how to pray. If I could only learn one thing beyond the word of God, it would be how to pray. Everything I have done of value in my life has been the result of prayer. Also, most of the mistakes I made in my life have been a lack of prayer troubles just a couple days ahead or away. Hezekiah goes before the Lord, and this is what he says. O Lord, God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim. Now, actually, this was a poetic statement because many of us don't know unless you remember the old maps. Judah was geographically squeezed between the Assyrians and the powerful Egyptians. The Assyrians and the Egyptians were the superpower of their age. So Hezekiah rightly appealed to the ultimate power that was positioned between the two cherubim on the mercy seat. Hurt and harm was moving in their direction, but he still had faith in the power of his God. Don't tell me how big your problem is. Tell God how. Or tell your problem how big your God is. He said, O Lord, God of Israel, the God of my fathers, for me, the God of my kinfolk. When my people were in slavery, they couldn't read, but they learned how to pray. There's one thing I can learn beyond the word of God, it would be how to pray. O Lord God of Israel, we come from a people. Whether you came over in ships because of the potato famine in Ireland, whether you came here because of religious persecution from other parts of Europe, we come from a people who had to learn how to pray. Today we know how to Google. But ChatGPT has no soul. Somebody's pulling something out of me a little bit that wasn't in my notes. O Lord, God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim. You are God. You alone. Of all the Kingdoms of the earth. Now pay attention to what he's doing. Instead of magnifying the threat, he magnified the power of his God. Come on. Here. Here's what I learned. If I can't magnify God, it's probably because I'm magnifying myself. The days I can't worship are because I have me on my mind. He said, God, you have made heaven and earth. I don't worship a provincial God. I don't just worship a God that can only show up in church. I worship a God that can meet me in the street, that can help me on my job, deal with me in the courtroom, in the sick room, or wherever room I might find myself. God, you have made heaven and earth. And if God created everything that had the potential to become a problem, he can also nullify anything that has become a problem. He said, lord, incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. It wasn't that God didn't think Hezekiah didn't know what was already going on. He just understood that God does little in the lives of his people apart from believing prayer. This may surprise you, but I'm convinced that God does not require great faith. He just wants us to have less doubt. Watch Jesus say this in different words. If you have faith, real faith as a mustard seed. A mustard seed was the smallest garden seed that they had for their gardens at this time in history, in that part of the world. If you have faith as a tiny mustard seed, you will say to your or this mountain, move from here to there, and guess what? It will move and nothing will be impossible for you. You don't really need big faith, but a little faith in a big go. So he said, God and clear in your ear, open your eyes and hear the words of Sennacherib, King of the Assyrians, which he has sent to mock and reproach and make fun of the living God. You see, in his letter, Sennacherib boasted that no God, no God could save Judah or Jerusalem from his hand. But how many of you know pride goes before destruction and the Holy Spirit before a fall? Somebody said, if you let your head get too big, it'll break your neck. And this is what the king of Assyria was about to find out. Verse 19. Now, therefore, O Lord our God, I pray. How many times have you seen this word pray? Salt makes us thirsty, right? My prayer is that this message salts you, makes you thirsty for a spirit of supplication that you're not so quick to get on the Internet to argue. You're quick, though, to get down on your knees and pray and call on that name above every name that can be named. Lord, I pray, save us from this wicked king's hand that all the kingdoms of the earth watch the motivation. He said, save us, but watch the reason why, so that all the kings of the earth may know that you are the Lord God and you alone. Here is a major key to successful prayer. If you can pray your prayer like Jesus taught us to pray our Father, which be in heaven, hallowed be your name. Lord, this is not just about my name, not just about my reputation, it's not just about what I want. But hallowed be who, your name and the king's commitment to use the answer to this prayer. Prayer for God's glory was part of the reason it was answered. And when you have a genuine commitment, Lord, if you come through with this job, if you come through with this need, if you come through with this relationship situation, and Lord, in this relationship, I'm going to dedicate it to your glory. I'm going to speak your peace. I'm going to do it according to your word. If you pray that way, you are on holy ground. Now, I want you to notice how he didn't pray. He didn't say, lord, pay my rent so I can continue to be laid up with this joker every Friday night under the roof that you paying for. Just look straight ahead. Nobody will know it's you. Oh, Lord, give me that 5,000 square foot home. But I'm going to continue to roll my eyes every time bishop teases to support the church. If you can't give it back to the Lord, it's not safe for your soul to have it in the first place. I got some men in the room that stood up. I feel like I got some back in the room. Thank you, brothers. Thank you, brothers. Thank you. Then Isaiah, the son of Amaz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, so what's happening is, as soon as Hezekiah dedicated the answer to his prayer to the Lord's glory, the prophet Isaiah got a word from the Lord. And Isaiah said, thus says the Lord God of Israel, watch this. Because you what prayed we have not, because we ask not. And then sometimes we have not because we pray amiss, meaning we don't pray with the right motives. But if we learn to pray according to God's promises, with the right motivations, prayer will no longer be a burden, but a relief. It'll be a joy to bring our burdens to the Lord. Because you have prayed. Watch how many times Scripture mentions the fact Hezekiah prayed. Because you prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and I have what heard. We're not going to cover this today. But because this king prayed, God sent an angel that in one night destroyed 185,000 of the world's most well trained soldiers and army of that time. Here's the question, is anything too hard for your God? The great preacher Charles Spurgeon said this. He said, groanings that cannot be uttered are prayers that cannot be refused. People may oppose us, people may reject us, but they are defenseless against heartfelt prayer. 2nd Kings 21 now that you have a little background, we can get to our focus and I'm going to be out of your way. In those days, while the nation was under dire threat again, you know, if 180,000 soldiers were killed and they still had some left, you're talking about at least 200,000 soldiers just a two or three day march away from Jerusalem. In those days, Hezekiah the king was sick. This is difficult. Hezekiah was a good king. Hezekiah was just trying to do the right thing. But in Hezekiah's life at this moment, and some of you probably had moments like this, if it's not one thing, it's another. I mean, he was the first good king in a hundred years. Hezekiah had reopened the temple. He forbid idol worship on all the various high hills and mountains against his father's wishes. He also smashed the sacred stones that his father built up for the people. Nonetheless, this good king, this good man, Hezekiah, was sick and near death. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. And there's some things in this life we're not going to fully understand till we get to glory. But what I've learned is instead of running from God, you know, like, lord, I did the right thing, you know, family got mad at me. I still, you know, I did what was right before your word and I tried to do right before your people and God. Now I'm sick and the army's just a couple days away. God stuff keeps going wrong, you know, and I'm done with this. That's not what happens here. Hezekiah was sick and near death. But it's in our most perplexing moments that our prayers matter the most. And Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz, this is Isaiah that wrote the book of Isaiah, went to him and said to him, thus says the Lord. I mean, he was literally speaking for God set your house in order. Basically, he was saying, write your will and settle the affairs of family and kingdom. This is important. If you don't have a written plan for your estate, people you don't know in the government will make a plan for you. How well is the government doing with their stuff? Watch this next verse. For you shall die. But God says this backwards and forwards. Watch what he's about to do. Because the most emphatic way to say something, it's kind of a Hebraism, was to say something, either repeat it a couple times or say it backwards and forward. He said, you shall die, in case you didn't get it the first time, and not live. There was no stronger way for God to say what he just said to Hezekiah than the way he just said it. And he was saying, hezekiah, your goose is cooked. Hezekiah, the jig is up. Bring it up to more current vernacular. Hezekiah, up a creek without a paddle. But watch what Hezekiah did. Most of us be like, lord, I did all this stuff for you. Church every Sunday, faithful living, right? And now I'm sick in body. And now they're going to come and attack and take my throne, take my wives and children. And he had wives plural. But you got wives singular. Make sure you don't. Somebody in here. I just knew I needed to say that. But watch what Hezekiah did. Watch what Hezekiah watch. Then he turned from the Lord, said, I'll never work, no. Then he turned his face to toward the wall. Most of us would have turned from God. Instead, Hezekiah turned away from everything that could distract him. He turned off Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox News, or whatever it is you watch. He turned it all off to seek his God with his whole heart. Jeremiah said, you will seek and you will find me when you seek me with your whole heart. Now here's my problem. I get busy and I'll seek God from the heart, but not always my whole heart. And some issues will not be resolved unless you go after it with your whole heart. And in those moments, man, I got to pull aside. I'm not taking phone calls. You hear what I'm saying? I'm not. I'm not listening to other people's stuff. It's just me and the Lord talking through and me getting in position. You hear what I'm saying? To connect with my father on a level that's needed. Eleanor Roosevelt said, she said this like a tea bag. We don't know how strong our faith is until it's in hot water. He turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. How many times have these verses mentioned prayer? And the way he prayed was so important that the Bible went on and wrote them down. He prayed to the Lord. What? Saying, now, I'm not a military man and I'm careful talking about military stuff because, you know, it's funny how people don't know nothing, always talking about stuff they don't know about. But my father was a soldier in the military. One of the first things you learn is your rifle. You learn how to use your rifle. You learn how to put it together, take it apart with a blindfold on. And before he was able. This is during the Korean War, but before he was able to. To leave boot camp, he had to take his rifle into a gas house and. Gas. Yeah, gas chamber. Sorry. See, the military correct me here. Thank you. And with that gas in his face, take his weapon apart and put it together. Why? Because if you haven't practiced with your weapon under pressure, you're not going to be able to use your weapon. If you only pray when you're in trouble, you're already in trouble. Learn to use your weapon on sunny days. Learn how to use the weapon of prayer. When your child's in third and fourth grade and you can still tell that child what to do, Use prayer on the little things. Talk to God about the headache. So if the doctor ever comes talking about cancer, been there, done that. Know how to use my word, God's word, on this situation. And he prayed to the Lord, saying, remember now, O Lord, I pray how I walk before you in truth and with a loyal heart and have done what is right and good in your sight. You see, during the Old Covenant, all you could depend on was your own righteousness. You could not depend on Christ's righteousness as we can today. Here's the lesson. If God could reverse this impossible situation based on an imperfect king's righteousness, how much more? Those of us who go to God robed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I don't go to God in my own name, but in the name of Jesus. You hear what I'm saying? So Hezekiah is in prayer, but the Bible says he wept bitterly. Sometimes all you can do is cry. Without emotions, we're simply robots. So Hezekiah feels the weight of this thing. He's. He recognized what's going on. And he cries out to God and he weeps from a deep place. Then the Bible Goes on. It says, and it happened before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him saying, return, tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Thus says the Lord God. Before the prophet could reach the door, God told him to turn around. What might God turn around in your life if you would cry out to God, be found on your knees, turn your face to the wall. Here's what I've learned. When life gets too hard to stand, kneel. Thus says the Lord God. Isaiah is speaking, the God of David, your father. I've heard your prayer and seen your tears. This is an important point. Notice God didn't say, I have seen your problems. We think if God loved us, he would act just because of the trouble we're in. You're like, lord, if you really love me, you know, the situation wouldn't be two or three days out on my way. It wouldn't be certain death. And if you really, really love me. But we have to renew our minds. God's about to tell us why. He's about to do the thing he's about to do. God says through the prophet Isaiah, I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. Satan only tries to limit our praying because he knows our prayers limit him. Because he prayed. Dealt with the uncomfortable moments of silence. Some of us can't stand silence because we hear the unresolved issues in our hearts and minds. So we got to turn something else on to distract us. But when you go to the doctor, one of the first things they ask you if you're in pain is, where does it hurt? And if you can't feel the hurt, you can't describe the pain to Jehovah Rophe, the Lord God, that he was our great physician. So sometimes you have to get quiet enough to hear the pain in your life for memories and stuff to start to surface. So you can say, God, it hurt right here. It hurt right down there. And God, can you fix it? I've heard your prayer and I've seen. Sometimes you gotta cry. Sometimes prayer involves more than just a formula. But after he prayed and cried, God said, I put all those tears in a little vial. What you feel matters to me. What you believe matters to me. You put your trust in me and not in chariots and horses. You called on me before you called on your generals. That matters to me. He said, surely, Amen. Amen. Surely I will hear you now. Didn't the prophet say that he would die? Don't tell me what God can't turn around. Then the writer is getting prophetic. He said, on the third day, if you learn to pray, resurrection is on the way. On the third day, watch this. You shall go up to the house of the Lord. Notice God healed him so he could continue to go up to the house of the Lord and worship. If God heals you, the least you can do is livestream. I will tell you though, there's something about being in the house. And I know some of you, other states, other parts of the world, and some of you, you know, you're sick, shut in that type of thing. But there's nothing like be in the presence of God's people as we worship God and call on that name. There's nothing like that dynamic where you can grab hands with somebody, somebody pray for you, and all the rest. And then God. Verse 6, he said, and he didn't even ask for this. And I will add to your days 15 years. All of this happened because of prayer. If we say yes to God, he will add his yes to our yes. Then Isaiah said, and by the way, he's speaking for the Lord. Take a lump of figs. This lump of figs was medication in this period. God has no problem with doctors practicing medicine as long as you remember who the real healer is. So they took the medicine, laid it on the boil, and he recovered. And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, what is a sign that the Lord will heal me and that I should go up to the house of the Lord. But by the way, again, he wanted to get healed, not so he can go back to craziness and nonsense. He wanted to be healed so he can worship. Now imagine if your prayer was not Lord, you know, give me back my body so I can do everything, you know, this way and the other with it. But Lord, give me back my body so I can use my body for your glory. You hear what I'm saying? So he said, here, what is the sign that you will hear me and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord. On the what? Third, he asked for a sign because he had probably taken medication in the past and it didn't work. Sometimes the only thing you could do is stay at what God says until he shows up. Then Isaiah said, this is the sign to you, and this is why we're here today. These next two verses, this is a sign to you from the Lord that the Lord will do which he hath spoken. So here's the question. Pick shall the Shadow Go forward 10 degrees or go backwards 10 degrees? He was referring to the Ancient sundial today. He would have said, do you want the hands of the clock to go backwards or forwards? Hezekiah was not a foolish man. He was like, listen, if it goes forward, I could just think something weird happened. But the hands of the clock don't go backwards. So Hezekiah answered, it's an easy thing for the shadow to go down 10 degrees, but let the shadow go backwards 10 degrees. What I need you to see, Andre, is that God was willing to reverse time for Hezekiah. And if you trust him, God can even reverse the hands of time for you. He can turn back the clock. You'd be like, how did this. How am I another chance? How God can turn back the very hands of time if you turn your face to the wall and trust him. God specializes in fixing things, especially when they're too late. In fact, God was looking over the earth. It's like, you know what? I gotta create this new line that's gonna become Israel, through whom the Messiah's gonna come and all the rest. I found a perfect couple in Mesopotamia, Ur, the Chaldees. They can't have a baby. She's barren and they're old. So what I'm going to do so they don't get any glory, they're perfect for this situation. They're already in their 70s. I'm going to wait until they get around hundred. Where the miracle is not just her having a baby, but them doing what it takes to have the baby in the first place. And through his seed, I will bless all the nations of the earth. You see, we think it's too late, but that's when God whispers, I still have a plan. So you have Hezekiah praying, but now you have the prophet or the pastor also praying. And we need the prayer of agreement. We need people praying with us and for us. So Isaiah the prophet cried out to the Lord, and when he did, he brought the shadow 10 degrees backwards. My message to you is, you think it's too late. But God is saying, if you trust me, if you just turn away from all this other stuff, I know what the world says, but what does God say? If you just turn your face to the wall, away from all the opinions and voices, I will show you my power and my excellence. God specializes in turning impossible situations around. So if you're in an impossible situation, God's about to sign is John Hancock. He's about to put his signature on it by giving you a miracle that only he can get the glory for. Don't get mad at God for the situation you're in, he's setting you up for his glory. Give God a hallelujah and a hand clap if you believe, if you believe. If you believe in a God that can raise the dead, that can heal the sick, give hope to the lost. That's why we need God. I mean, we don't need God to tie our shoes. We need God for miracles and impossible things. Stop believing so small. Stop asking for such tiny things. Hezekiah says a small thing for, for, for. For the, the shadow to go forward, make it go backwards. Ask God for something impossible, something worthy of asking God. Don't insult him with little tiny requests like he, a little old God. He's a big God, wants to do big things in your life. If you turn your face to the wall, I'm not thinking about them. I'm not looking at them. Talk to the hand. Lord, My prayer today is, you've been salted. Don't you dare leave here and say, well, he preached good. No, live it. Take that issue to God. Call on that name. Watch God do it. He'll do it if you trust him. Thank you for joining us. Until next time, remember, you have what it takes in Christ to live big. We also invite you to partner with Derek Greer Ministries in bringing the life changing and impactful teachings of God's Word to the world. 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