Reclaiming The Kingdom
2 Kings 18:1-7
Intro: "Granny" Parker always had trouble with that rooster! Granny was in her mid-70’s. She’d lived all her life on just two farms -- her father’s, and the one she and her husband worked. She had given the two acres our church was built upon. She was a Godly woman who can "pray heaven down."
. Like anyone, Granny has had her share of sorrows and pain. If you "set a spell" on the front porch she will talk with you all day about life, financial "doings" and the like. In all, her life has been ordinary and wonderful, hard work and family. She felt that she had had a good life, that is Until that rooster came! She had been known to say that that rooster was as mean as Satan himself.
. It seems that this bird had decided that Granny didn’t belong in the yard with all "his" hens. Whenever she ventured too close to the hen house, he’d come flying at her with spurs thrashing and slashing. He got her a few times. one Wednesday night in particular, Granny had just come into the church for Prayer Meeting. She was bleeding from her leg and arm. Everybody was asking what had happened. "Blame rooster done it again!" Had that bird been a human, he would’ve been arrested for disturbing the peace on Parker Road for all the ruckus he had done that day.
. But, he was a rooster, so one afternoon, Granny ventured out the back door toward the hen house, calling, "Here chick-chick. Here, chick." The hens knew what that meant, and they all came on the dead run for chow. That old rooster came too. He was bent on protecting his territory, but he made a slight miscalculation. You see, over seventy years of handling problems, weather, crop failures, depression and stubborn barnyard animals, made Granny a formidable foe with a hoe. She watched out of the corner of her eye as that whirling-dervish of a rooster came squawking and flapping his wings, brandishing those spurs like Freddie Krueger.
. At the last second, Granny "Make-My-Day" Parker side-stepped the leaping rooster and swung the hoe like a Ninja sword. R.I.P., bird! The rooster was enjoyed by all the next Sunday at the dinner on the grounds.
. Granny’s territory, her kingdom per se had been overtaken and she needed to take it back.
. As I have watched the election process over the last few weeks, I have been struck by some of the phrases.
. Some slogans that the candidates are using
. Mitt Romney: Believe In America
. John Huntsman: Country First
. Newt Gingrich: Restore America
. Rick Santorum: Fighting To Make America, America again
. Ron Paul: I really couldn’t find one that made any sense to me.
. All of these men are calling for a renewal of our country.
. A change in direction, a repentance if you will.
. I agree that we as a nation and as a people need a new direction but I don’t believe that they really have the answers.
. What our nation, Our people, we as individuals need is a reclaiming of what made our nation so prosperous and blessed.
. We need Hope and Change alright.
. We need the hope that is only found in trusting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and the change that is brought about by living Godly lives.
. As I was studying this week I read in 2Kings the story of King Hezekiah and how he led the country of Judah into a revival that blessed and prospered them.
. Basically it was the story of God using Hezekiah to Reclaim The Kingdom.
. If these men running for office and if we as Christians and citizens of this country want to know how to reclaim our country and our communities, all we need to do is look in God’s word and follow the example of Hezekiah.
. 2 Kings 18:1-7;” 1Hezekiah son of Ahaz began to rule over Judah in the third year of King Hoshea’s reign in Israel.2He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.3He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done.4He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.
5Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time.6He remained faithful to the LORD in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the LORD had given Moses.7So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did…”
. During the past few months we have been studying the old testament on Wednesday nights and we have seen that Israel and Judah had a history of bad kings then good kings.
. Hezekiah was following a wicked king named Ahaz who was so wicked that he had even sacrificed one of his own sons to the gods of the pagan nations that God had driven out of the land.
. One of the commentaries that I read about Ahaz stated that he was one of the most wicked kings to rule Judah.
. To put it mildly, the country was in a mess.
.Sound familiar
. Ahaz died and his son Hezekiah was made king. God used him to Reclaim The Kingdom for himself.
. First we see Obedience
. We see that in verse 3 here; 3He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done.
. The first thing that Hezekiah did was to immediately start being obedient to God. All that he did was pleasing to God.
. You know that’s all god asks from us in order for him to bless us as a nation as a church and as an individual Christian.
. Now I’m not talking about God lavishing monetary blessings on us, although He could, I’m talking about spiritual blessings and the joy and fellowship that people of God share when God’s hand is on them.
. God had taken His hand off the land of Judah under Ahaz and Hezekiah knew that for God to bless them or place His hand of blessing and protection upon them he had to be obiedient to God.
. God wants us to be obedient to His commands.
. You see Ahaz had led the people into idol worship and had even rearranged the temple of God to accommodate some of the paraphernalia needed for this idol worship.
. God had given His people clear direction on how to live and worship Him and they were in disobedience to him.
. Hezekiah said no, as long as I am king, as long as I am your leader, we are going to be obedient to God.
. He led them into repentance and the following of God’s commands
. Folks if we are to reclaim our Nation, we must be obedient to the commands of Jesus.
. We have talked many times about these commands.
. Love God, Love your neighbor.
. I would like to share a story of someone who exemplifies these two commandments.
. I would like to about a woman known as Corrie ten Boom. During the second world war Corrie and her family (her father, and brothers and sisters) were heavily involved in the Dutch Underground hiding refugees in what later became well known as ‘the hiding place’. They rescued many Jews from certain death at the hands of the German SS.
. However, one day an informant gave them away and on 28th February 1944 the entire Boom family were arrested and sent to Scheveningen prison where her father died just 10 days after his arrest. They were then sent on to Vught Political Concentration . Camp and then finally in September 1944 to the notorious Ravensbrook Concentration Camp in Germany where Corrie’s sister Betsie died. Before she died she told Corrie, "There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still." Corrie was released on Christmas Day of December 1944. In the movie The Hiding Place, Ten Boom narrates the section on her release from camp, saying that she later learned that her release had been a clerical error. The women prisoners her age in the camp were killed the week following her release. She said, "God does not have problems. Only plans."
After the war Corrie made a name for herself as an author and an international speaker appearing in over 60 countries with her message about the Christian Gospel and specifically the message of forgiveness. In her book Tramp for the Lord (1974), she tells the story of how, after she had been teaching in a church in Germany in 1947 (just 3 years after her release), after the service she was approached by one of the cruelest former Ravensbrück camp guards. She writes:
It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, a former S.S. man who had stood
guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first
of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie’s pain-blanched face. He came up
to me as the church was emptying, smiling. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.” He said. “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people about the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I prayed, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness. As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.
And she goes on to write, ‘For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I have never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.’
. Her love for God and for her fellow man allowed her to be obedient to the command of Jesus to love our neighbor.
. Folks we must be obedient to the commands of our Savior Jesus Christ if we are to reclaim our communities and country.
. Love God, love each other.
Transition: Not only was Hezekiah obedient to the commands of God. He was also Active in this reclaiming of the Kingdom.
. We see this activity in verse 4; 4He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it. The bronze serpent was called Nehushtan.
. Hezekiah’s faith was active, not passive.
. He realized that his obedience also required action.
. His faith required him to be active for God.
. He removed the pagan shrines, cut down Asherah poles. These were a sacred tree or pole honoring the pagan mother goddess Asherah.
. In 2 Chronicles 29: 3-5 we see this action by Hezekiah;
. In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the LORD and repaired them.4He summoned the priests and Levites to meet him at the courtyard east of the Temple.5He said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary.
. Listen to what the first sentence in verse 12 says; “12Then these Levites got right to work:”
. Hezekiah said that things need to change and it needs to start in the Church. In the temple.
. He called those who were responsible for the church or temple and said look here guys , we have got to start being obedient to God if we are to reclaim the Kingdom.
. Immediately they got to work.
. If you remember lasts weeks sermon, we are now Levites. W are now the workers that God has set aside to work for Him.
. Folks, we got to get to work.
. If we intend to reclaim our communities and our nation it must start with obedience to God and it will require action on our part.
. We can’t set on our laurels and expect others to do it.
. We must be active in our faith in order to bring about change in our communities and our nation.
. You can’t depend on a politician to reclaim the Kingdom for God.
. We must do this.
. We must be Obedient to God’s commands, be Active in what God calls us to do and finally we must Trust in God just as Hezekiah did.
. Look at verses 5,6,7 again;
. 5Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time.6He remained faithful to the LORD in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the LORD had given Moses.7So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did…”
. He reclaimed the Kingdom by trusting in God, remaining faithful.
. Folks when we trust God and are faithful to Him, He will strengthen us and give us success in reclaiming the kingdom for him.
. As I close, I want to share a story about trust with you.
. There was a man who got lost in the desert. After wandering around for a long time his throat became very dry, about that time he saw a little shack in the distance.
He made his way over to the shack and found a water pump with a small jug of water and a note.
The note read: "pour all the water into the top of the pump to prime it, if you do this you will get all the water you need". Now the man had a choice to make, if he trusted the note and poured the water in and it worked he would have all the water he needed. If it didn’t work he would still be thirsty and he might die. Or he could choose to drink the water in the jug and get immediate satisfaction, but it might not be enough and he still might die. After thinking about it the man decided to risk it. He poured the entire jug into the pump and began to work the handle, at first nothing happened and he got a little scared but he kept going and water started coming out. So much water came out he drank all he wanted, took a shower, and filled all the containers he could find.
. God says trust me. Believe what I tell you.
. Just like the man here in the desert, who trusted what others had told him, we must also trust in what God has told us.
. God has told us in His word that if we are obedient, active and trusting of Him then he will bless our efforts in Reclaiming the Kingdom for Him.
.Invitation
. *** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources:
The Holy Bible, NLT
Russell Brownworth, Signal 22 For Joy, sermon central
