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Welcome to 10 Minute Bible Talks. Where we connect

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the Bible to your life. In the time it

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takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Are

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you familiar with the term doom scrolling?

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Doom scrolling is scrolling through the news

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on your phone on the lookout

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for sad or negative stories.

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Some people doom scroll with a hope that

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if they know all the bad things out

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there, then somehow that will enable them to

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prevent those bad things from happening to them.

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Sometimes people doom scroll for so

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long that they actually have physical

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symptoms that arise. Things

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like their heart begins to race, their mind

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begins to spin, they can even have panic

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attacks because of doom scrolling. I

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think we'd agree that whether or

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not we classify ourselves as doom

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scrollers, we do come across a

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lot of negative sad stories that can

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steal our hope and leave us

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discouraged. Is there any reason

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to have hope when the world is full of doom?

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Things like war and political crisis,

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poverty, homelessness, drug use, anxiety, depression,

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overdoses, sexual immorality. I

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bet in your own life you know

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people who have addictions, who are on

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the brink of divorce, who are single

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parents and are struggling, who have bad

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health or broken relationships. I

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mean maybe some of those things even describe your

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life. In the middle of

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all that, it's easy to give up hope.

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It's easy to live in discouragement. When

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I'm asked what makes me hopeful, I

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return to one thing. Every

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single time, I return to the resurrection of

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Jesus. Jesus rose from the

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dead. When it looked the bleakest,

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when his followers had scattered and he'd

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been crucified, at that point

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God was at work. So

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I tell people all the time, since

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Jesus rose from the dead, I can't

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lose hope. Christians can't lose

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hope. We are people of hope. If

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you've been following along on our trip through First 2

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Chronicles, you might be discouraged. These

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books record a lot of bad kings who

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do evil in the eyes of God. Sure,

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there are some good ones, but the bad ones

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have them outnumbered. In the northern

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kingdom, there are no good kings. Some

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are worse than others, but the Bible never says

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that any of the northern kings did right in

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the eyes of the Lord. By

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the time we get to the end

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of 2 Chronicles, God has brought judgment

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on those northern tribes by sending Assyria

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the world's superpower to defeat them and

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take them into captivity. Meanwhile

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in the southern kingdom, things aren't

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a lot better. 2

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Chronicles 28 ends on a very bad note. King

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Ahaz has destroyed the instruments used in the

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temple worship. He has closed the temple doors.

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He has ended all worship in the temple

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so that there are no more offerings of

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worship to God. At the

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end of 2 Chronicles 28, things look

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pretty bleak. When Ahaz

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dies, Hezekiah comes to the throne

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and everything needs a reboot. It's

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interesting that chapter 29 starts

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on a hopeful note. When

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Ahaz dies, Hezekiah comes to the throne

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and to be honest, the whole thing needs a

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reboot. 2 Chronicles 29

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starts on a hopeful note. It

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says Hezekiah was 25 years old

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when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem

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29 years. He

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did what was right in the eyes of

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the Lord, just as his father David had

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done. The name

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Hezekiah means may Yahweh

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establish and then he

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is positively compared to David. So

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in all the mess and all the brokenness, what we

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find is that God was at work. God

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had not given up on His people. Hezekiah

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starts with restoring the temple worship

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but then his reforms move out

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from the temple into the city

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and eventually into the nations. In

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chapter 29, Hezekiah purifies the temple.

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Then in chapter 30, he leaves the people

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in the celebration of the Passover. And

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then in chapter 31 he collects offering from

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the people and then in chapter 32 The

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whole world notices that under

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Hezekiah's leadership God delivers the

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southern kingdom from the Assyrian

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army But it all

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starts with getting things right between

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the people and God Hezekiah

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reopens the temple and gives people access to

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the king of heaven If

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we really want to fix what's wrong in

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our life the place to start is our

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relationship with God See our

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main problem is not a budget issue

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an income issue Our main problem

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is not a health issue or a job issue

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or a people issue We

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can try to fix those things and

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fixing them might provide temporary relief But

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our main problem is always between

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us and God The

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author of Chronicles isn't afraid to make

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a direct link between the people's rebellion

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against God and the hardship they find

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themselves in Here's chapter 29 verse

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8 Therefore the

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anger of the Lord has fallen on Judah

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and Jerusalem He has made them an object

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of dread and horror and scorn as you

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can see with your own eyes This

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is why our fathers have fallen by the

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sword and why our sons and daughters and

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our wives are in captivity Hezekiah

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calls all the people to

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repent Maybe it feels

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weird to be in a difficult financial situation

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or have a difficult health situation or be

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in a difficult marriage and say Okay, I

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want to hear about all the problems that

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you're experiencing in those areas of your life

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But is there anything you need to repent

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of? Let's start by getting

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things right with God I

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think that's what this passage is teaching

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us now It doesn't mean

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that every time we experience hardship It's

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because we've disobeyed God, you know Like

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our car won't start and that's because

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we just sinned against God in some

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way Not at all the book of

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Job is proof that those who faithfully

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follow God still suffer in this world

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We're going to look at Job on

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TMBT later this year. But

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Chronicles tells us that sometimes there

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is a spiritual cause behind the

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events in our life. Hezekiah

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sends a letter to the nation

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calling them to repentance. I

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could summarize his letter but it's just too

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darn good. So I just want to read

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it. Now while I'm reading it I just

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want you to think what does God want

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to say to me through this letter that

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was probably written about 2,700 years

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ago. We pick it up

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in chapter 30 verse 6. At

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the king's command, couriers went throughout Israel

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and Judah with letters from the king

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and from his officials which read, people

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of Israel return to the Lord.

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That's repentance by the way. Repentance

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is turning away from sin and back

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to the Lord. Okay back to the

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letter. People of Israel return to the

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Lord the God of Abraham, Isaac, and

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Israel. That he may return to you

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who are left who have escaped from

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the hand of the king of Assyria.

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Do not be like your parents and your

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fellow Israelites who were unfaithful to the Lord,

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the God of their ancestors, so that he

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made them an object of horror as you

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see. Do not be

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stiff-necked as your ancestors were. Submit

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to the Lord. Come to his sanctuary

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which he has consecrated forever. Serve

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the Lord your God so that his fierce

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anger will turn away from you. If

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you return to the Lord then your fellow

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Israelites and your children will be shown compassion

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by their captors and will return to this

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land for the Lord your God is gracious

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and compassionate. He will not turn his face

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from you if you return to him. So

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what's the message of this letter? Repent of

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your sins. Submit to God

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and you'll experience his grace. Some

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of the people heed Hezekiah's call and

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they come to the temple and they

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participate in this repentance service and other

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people who are called to repent don't.

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It's not unlike Jesus's parable the wedding

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feast. When some get

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the invitation they mock Jesus.

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They ignore the invitation, and

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some humble themselves and accept it. Well,

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things are going well under King Hezekiah's

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leadership until they aren't. Isn't

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that how your life is? Just when you

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think you're making progress in your relationship with God,

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you're faced with a test. Israel

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and Hezekiah's test comes in

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the form of King Shannacharib

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of Assyria. Remember, Assyria

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is the world's superpower, and King

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Shannacharib leads his armies all the

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way down to the walls of

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Jerusalem. We read in chapter 32

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that Hezekiah calls his war council

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together, and they did some things to

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help them in the battle. First,

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they cut off the water supply so the

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Assyrian army couldn't get any water. Then

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they repaired breaches in the wall. But

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their main military strategy against the Assyrians

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was to trust God. I'm

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serious. Worship and prayer

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were the tactics of warfare. King

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Hezekiah gathers the people together, and he says

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this in chapter 32, verse 7, Be

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strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or

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discouraged because of the king of Assyria and

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the vast army with him. For

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there is a greater power with us than

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with him. With him

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is only the arm of flesh, but with us

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is the Lord our God to help us in

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the fight our battles. And

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the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the

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king of Judah said. See,

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Hezekiah says that the Assyrians might

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have a strong army, but we

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have a strong God. The

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Assyrian king said that God wouldn't

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save them because he couldn't save

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them. Here's the

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message that the Assyrian king sent

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to the Israelites. Do

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not let Hezekiah deceive you and mislead you

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like this. Do not believe him. For

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no God of any nation or kingdom has

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been able to deliver his people from my

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hand or the hand of my predecessors. How

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much less will your God deliver you

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from my hand? So now

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we have a battle between the Assyrian army

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and all of its power and all of

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its might and God,

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Yahweh, the God of Israel.

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King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah they

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cry out to God. And here

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is what happens. Chapter 32

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verse 21. The Lord

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sent an angel who annihilated all the

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fighting men and the commanders and officers

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in the camp of the Assyrian king.

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So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace.

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And when he went into the temple of his God,

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some of his sons, his own flesh and blood cut

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him down with a sword. So

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the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people of

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Jerusalem from the hand of Shannach, the king

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of Assyria, and from the hand of all the others.

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He took care of them on every side. Many

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brought offerings to Jerusalem for the Lord

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and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of

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Judah. From then on he was

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highly regarded by all the nations. It's

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clear that God has won this battle

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for Israel and it's God who gets

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the glory. Now King Hezekiah

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goes on to have ups and downs in his

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faith just like all of us do. Hezekiah

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is not the hero of this story.

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That role belongs to God. God

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raised Hezekiah up. God brought the

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people to repentance. God is the one

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who defeated the Assyrians. There's so

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many takeaways for our life. Maybe

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there's some sin that you're convicted that

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you need to repent of to turn

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from your sin and turn back to

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God. Or maybe

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you're asking yourself, what's my real

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problem? Right? Like maybe

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I need to stop rearranging the circumstances of

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my life and get my heart right with

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God. But let's

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end where we started and that's with

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hope. The world is a mess. Your

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life might be a mess, but God is

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still at work. Do

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not lose hope. Jesus

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is alive. He is on the throne

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of heaven. And I promise you that

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in the end, He wins. Amen.

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Notes: