Moving The Arm of God | Pastor Daniel Gouveia

[Music] um [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] it's like i sort of don't want to come up and disturb the music but at some point in time i need to now let me take this off yeah yay okay okay yes i enjoy the music and i enjoy playing with the music as well hope everybody else enjoys it one way or the other um welcome to fresno central seventh adventist church is anyone out there amen okay um we have uh several prayer requests and the first one i have on the list is says dr samuels has been diagnosed with cancer so he's asking that we pray for healing in accordance with god's will and for the wisdom to make correct decisions and guidance to the doctors as they provide care um let's be uh let's see here it looks like xena volkov had surgery november 11 and 12. she may be home today that's what i hear uh also for christianisa for the healing of her lungs also with john edwardson's son pray for him he had a massive heart attack so pray for him and the family uh be with i'm sorry john edwardson's son the son the son yeah the sun i said it let maybe it blurred okay yeah the sun uh also pray for patricia rael um after passing of her husband so her and their family i'll talk a little bit more um about that later um uh each of our brothers and sisters that are in the retirement homes as they are quarantined also if any of them are listening i just want to encourage them and anyone else that is not here in the church i want to encourage you during this time when we can't meet as god really wants us to that to take advantage of it any time you can mrs white said there's going to come a time when it's going to be very hard to reach other people so just ask god to continue to work with you speak through you whether you're in the nursing home or whether you're you know you're staying at home you can still share with those you come in contact with another thing people that can't come here could do is not only pray for the church pray for the other members and if you can call them or contact them with you know your phone however you can encourage each other um because we're told to encourage each other as the day approaches and the day i believe is approaching fast okay so so yeah pray for each of our brothers and sisters in the retirement homes my mom is in one my sister you know she lives in the same town she can't see her and hug her she can talk to her on the phone or facetime with her but yeah so pray for them although it snowed on our mountains the fire is not out as we thought according to this so continue to pray that god will help put the fires out uh the memorial service for pat real will be held this sabbath at 2 pm mass and social distancing will be required and then next is for our praises one of those words that some of y'all can tell say better than i can esther okay yes very good uh let's hear we'll be coming home from the hospital today according to this so praise god um for pastor james rafferty and his wife we'll be arriving in fresno this next week tuesday pastor rafferty will be working with secrets and sealed let's make sure they receive a warm welcome even though it's cold outside okay and i don't know if anyone has volunteered to help them if they have much that they have to unload or anything was that taken care of do you know if pastor boer was taken care of okay that's good okay and thank you to all the those who donated for our sisters and brothers who lost all their belongings in the mountain fire it is a good start for them as they rebuild yeah okay and there here's a request for help darlena franquito is in need of help anyone who has extra freezer space call her there's a number here so i'm going to say it 559 287 8590 she she has turkeys that need to be frozen and she doesn't have adequate freezer space nor this is church so if anyone can help even if you can just hold one uh the turkeys for her um if you can hold more even better it's called darlena if you have any type of work around the house or yard that you need help with please let pam know uh yeah mandala we have members who are in need of work thank you and the pathfinders and adventurers will meet this sunday at the pathfinder building on faa east campus from 2 30 to 4 30. can you help us question mark please contact pam right away uh kids are welcome to join okay so that's all the announcements i have here yeah let's see here i'm presuming i'm supposed to have a prayer um for everyone that can kneel let us know for prayer dear father in heaven we thank you for your great love for each one of us we thank you that you care for everyone and you care for our families be with those who are mourning for the loss of relatives be with those that are in need of healing be with those that uh need work um help us um that that need the help help us be willing to ask for help to for whatever need they have and just be with the church not only here but worldwide and in our our conference as well you know that this um covet 19 situation hinders us from being able to do the work as we used to be able to do but let us not let it block us from reaching those who we come in contact with help us help us figure out ways that we can continue to minister even under those current regulations and that i personally believe and i know others believe that our time is short we should not fear but we should seek you with all our heart mind and soul and draw closer to you as your day approaches and even though physically we may not be able to pull together but um however we can press together you told us to do it and you told us also to not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as some do so help us be sure whether it's coming to church or by joining via the media help us do what we can and to share with others within our church those who can't come to church and and also be with our children those of our children who have gone astray help them to see through all of this that you are coming soon and help them to reach out if they need help most of all to you first and to others as we may be able to help them by word or deed you have said i will contend with those that contend with thee and i will save thy children they still have a choice but we know that the prayer of faith can help more than if we do not pray so help us to uh to do that and we thank you for your great love for each one of us be with the pastor as he presents your words of truth anoint his [Music] lips with the cold coal from the altar on high and help him to speak your word with boldness so we may hear and do the things that are told of us to do through your word and help us all to be ready to go home with you when you come in the clouds of glory and let none of us be missing we pray these things in your holy wonderful name amen [Music] [Music] [Music] we are going to have the children's story now and i hear that dr tree will be giving the children story good morning and happy sabbath how are you guys doing today glad to be back i'm glad to see everyone here in church again amen let's have a word of prayer before we start dear jesus thank you for loving us so much thank you for bringing us back here to church please help me today please be with me as i tell the children story in your first name we pray amen all right welcome hello children how many children do we have in here can i see your hands all the little children hands okay all the big kids are raising their hands too all right well today i want to talk to you guys about uh four letter words hope h-o-p-e what is hope anyone know out there all the kids just the kids what is hope some kids might say hope is like um i hope that it was my birthday every day how's that sound sound good you get to have present every day right no how about i hope that i could open a christmas present every week one christmas present every week how does that sound trying to look at all the kids are you guys still with me well there is a better hope there is a hope that i'm going to talk to you guys about today so i'm going to tell you guys a short story in the bible and i'm gonna see if you guys can guess who i'm talking about there is a man an old man god call out to him at 75 years old right this man and his wife they were very faithful to god especially the man this old man he was very faithful but he wanted he and his wife wanted a son and at their old age you know they really wanted a son but they didn't you know they doubted god they even laughed at him you know god promised them they said one day we i will give you a son and at a hundred years old god fulfill his promise who's this man anyone go ahead and vet abraham and sarah good job thank you well i want to tell you guys about the hope that as parents before you guys came out to the world so when i had my first child just like abraham and sarah i was hoping to see my child for the very first time as parents you know we always want to see you know does my child have hair is he or she gonna have double eyelids um you know and and we love them but ultimately you know we hope that when our child comes out everything goes smoothly and that the child is healthy and that when you guys grow up yes you guys out there grow up to be good people to be one that love jesus and follow god and everywhere that you go so that's what we hope for as parents um so but you know there's one thing that that you know that i learned is that good things come for for for those that wait you know if abraham only waited you know he wouldn't make so many mistakes so as parents you know we wait nine months you know for our kids to come out we were like you know what is our child looks like in the tummy we're checking in every month you know is it a pea size is it a watermelon is it lemon and then you know when when my first child came out i think that thing you know she started coming out at 4 00 a.m and again i had to wait i thought it was just you know in three hours later and you know holding the bait in my arm no 24 hours later the baby finally come i was exhausted but you know it's worth it you know it's worth it every moment worth it but there is another hope that's even better than that one and it's a hope that everyone here in this room that is looking forward to can anybody out there little ones tell me what that hope is there's a better vote i don't see any hands anyone hope that somebody's coming soon who's that leia i see you jesus coming soon that's right that is a better hope that everyone here and most of everyone out there is waiting for it is when jesus comes back and we can see him in the sky and we can fly with with him to heaven so yesterday you know while i was trying to prepare for this i asked my kids i you know just surprise question out of nowhere you know i asked my four year old i said what do you hope for she's like huh why is daddy asking me this question and you know in her head and then she's like i hope that i can get a bear with white fur i was like huh no no leela i'm asking you like what do you hope for and she's like well i hope for a dress i'm like i'm trying to re-guide her i said okay well you know what is it that you hope for you know when jesus comes back and she told me she said i hope that i can fly there to see jesus and kaitlyn says you know she's like well i hope i can fly in heaven i want to be flying in heaven i want to be able to ride the giraffe i want to be able to you know ride the lions you know those are things that hit my heart you know anytime when i talk to my kids it always brings me back home um and you know i asked my wife i said you know if my son my son is two-year-old and he doesn't say much so i asked my wife i said you know what do you think nathaniel would hope for and she tells me she's like well if he could say something he would say that in heaven he hopes that there's only fruits and no vegetables because he hates his vegetables but yes but there's there's hope so so the question i have for you kids right now is what should we do while we wait for jesus to come back for this great hope that we're all expecting what should we do anyone be busy be sharing the gospel what else what else i want to hear from the little ones how about we be like abraham be faithful right develop our faith grow our faith stronger and stronger every day like abraham right how about we honor our mother and father because they love us so much before we came into this world right say that again teach others about jesus that's right teach other about jesus coming back again right about how god is gonna take away all this badness right no more virus no more sickness no more white hair everything will be better right everything will be made perfect again right how about that okay i think that's it and i want to end with a word of prayer dear jesus thank you so much for your promise thank you for giving this hope hope we keep us hope strong in our heart help us to be faithful to love our parents and to hope that we see you one day again in your precious name we pray amen the storm can shake my inmost calm while do that rock i'm clinging since christ is lord of heaven and earth how can i keep from sinking that is a refrain from a hymn written by robert lowry in 1869 and why do i mention it because singing is my favorite thing to do in church and yet uh we can't sing but if you want to follow along with the song we're going to sing it's number 86 in your hymnals i always do that when i hear a song i know i look it up in the index open up and i like to follow along and this is a song that has been called repeatedly america's number one hymn a swedish melody from a german from a russian hymn which came from germany which was translated and put together by stuart hein while he was still alive in our hymnal it is how great thou art [Music] so [Music] [Music] oh [Music] i see the stars [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] thee how great through the words [Music] [Music] and hear [Music] this is [Music] thee my our savior [Music] think that god is my burden gladly he bled to take away my sake then sings my soul my savior [Music] thee [Music] art how great thou art when christ shall come which shout out [Music] my heart then i shall [Music] my god how great thou art [Music] my savior how great thou art [Music] how great [Music] um amen that was beautiful you guys have to sing again amen thank you john thank you cosman thank you chad praise the lord our god is a great god amen it's nice to see you all a lot of people here today i'm sure we're not we're we are not more than a hundred in the sanctuary okay and if we are my math is not very good so i won't tell anyone but no i do believe we're a hundred in the sanctuary we have also the fellowship hall for over overflow thank you very much to each and every one of you i've heard someone say this week that he had visited several churches and our church is actually an example because everybody's in compliance you're coming with your masks i saw even dr tree today he told the children's story with a mask so can't get any more it can't get better than that right he was really we're doing everything we can i saw you guys singing you know uh apart so we're doing our best but the bible does say that we are to worship god right so we are coming to worship him in the best way that we can with all our hearts and as this country is going through great a great turmoil right i was seeing this week in the news that a big typhoon hit the philippines and it's about to hit vietnam and i was thinking there's a political typhoon hitting the nation the united states and you know there's a lot of people afraid actually i've seen people crying and really in distress with all that is kept happening with the election and all that but i believe that if you put your trust in jesus christ if you put your trust in the bible you of course pray for the political leaders of the nation but your faith is in the president of the universe amen you trust god above everything and everybody and you are not afraid because you know that yes things will get even more crazy in this country and in this world but you know in whom you have believed you know that he created the heavens and the earth you know that he gave his son to die for you on that cross you know that jesus is interceding for you and you know that he is coming back to take you home amen so because of that you do not need to be afraid you can be at peace let us pray father in heaven we thank you so much that you are a god of love and a god of power you have shown your power in the creation of this world and more than anything you have shown your great power and the plan of salvation you have shown that your love is stronger than the hatred of satan and you have shown that you have a plan to save each and every human being that wants to accept your grace father we are here because we want to open our hearts to you we pray that the holy spirit may speak to us today not only to us here in the sanctuary present but also those who may be in the fellowship hall in the overflow and also in a very special way those who are at home those who are watching online bless them and help them to know that they are also your church as they gather around a screen to hear your words to sing together with us to praise your name help them to know that you are there gathering with them may you be worshiped today we pray in the name of jesus amen the title for my sermon today is moving the arm of god moving the arm of god and i would like to start with the words that we find in mark chapter 11 verses 22 through 24. mark chapter 11 verse 22-24 this is an answer that jesus gave when very close to the end of his mission on earth he was about to give his life for us and he cursed a fig tree now this is was something very strange jesus was not was not one to go around cursing nature okay he created nature he created trees but that fig tree had a lot of leaves but no fruit had a lot of appearance but actually no essence so jesus cursed the fig tree and the next day the disciples got close to jesus and said jesus lord look the fig tree that you cursed has withered away it's all dried up from the roots so jesus answered and said to them this is mark 11 verses 22 through 24 have faith in whom have faith in god for assuredly i say to you whoever says to this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done he will have whatever he says therefore i say to you whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them and you will have them as we approach the end times as we approach the day of the coming of jesus you and i need to have a faith that moves mountains amen you and i need to have a faith that actually moves the arm of god that can move mountains amen ellen white wrote this and you can find these words in um the compilation entitled prayer page 61 and at the end of the sermon i'll actually share the context for this quote okay but she says this and this is i think this is a sentence that many of you know and that we should re uh we should have that sentence in our minds and in our hearts every day by your fervent prayers of faith jesus said whatever you ask you know in prayer you believe it and you'll have it if you ask according to the will of god if you ask for the glory of god for the salvation of souls believe it and you will have it by your fervent prayers of faith wrote allen white you can move the arm that moves the world don't you love this expression this sentence by your fervent prayers of faith you can move the arm that moves the world you know i've heard many times and i agree with that that prayer is not to change god but prayer is to change us right that's why we are supposed to pray lord let it be done according to your will it is true prayer does not change god prayer changes us but do you really think that god would call us to pray over and over and over in the bible if prayer was not important and if god had not decided that he would give in answer to prayer things that he would not give if we would not pray are we supposed to pray yes or no and do you think that when we pray in the merits through the merits of christ in the name of christ do you think that god will work that the arm of god will work for the blessing of his people yes or no oh i believe he will every time in the story of christianity in the story of the reformation in the story of the seventh-day adventist church just study it every time that there's a great revival every time that things happen in the work of god the god calls his people to pray and pray like never before so he can act like never before there's a man in the bible that i greatly appreciate his story just a minute not a not an angel okay no more than human being we have that very clearly in the bible but he was a man of faith a man of prayer and a man that through his prayers he was able to move the arm of god by your fervent prayers of faith you can move the arm that moves the world you can find the story of this man he was a king in judah in second kings 18-20 i'm just going to give you all the bible references where you can find the story of this man and i'm going to invite you to read it at home i cannot read everything today okay second kings 18-20 second chronicles 29 through 32 and remember that if you want to study the story of the kings of judah yes you go to the book first and second of kings but especially to chronicles okay chronicles that's where you find the the longest account of the story of this man second chronicles 29-32 and isaiah chapters 36 through 39. now this man although he was a king of judah he was a king in jerusalem at a time when kings had largely greatly departed from faithfulness to the true god this man was an exception i'm gonna read to you first of all about his father okay i'm gonna read open with me to ii chronicles chapter 28 verses one through four second chronicles chapters 28 verses one through four look at what it says about ahaz ahaz was the father of this king okay and look at what it says in second chronicles 28 one through four ahaz was 20 years old when he became king and he reigned 16 years in jerusalem and he did not do what was right in the sight of the lord as his father david had done for he walked in the ways of the kings of israel and made molded images for the baals he burnt incense in the valley of the son of anon and burned his children in the fire according to the abominations of the nations whom the lord had cast out before the children of israel and he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places on the hills and other and under every green tree now the the parents grandparents great-grandparents of this king like his father ahaz had done evil in the sight of the lord had worshiped pagan gods had been men that were immoral and they were actually promoting immorality because that's how they would worship these false deities they were actually burning their kids in the fire now let's read about the son of the king that we're going to talk about today okay very quickly let's read uh ii chronicles 33 1-9 second chronicles second chronicles 33 1-9 look at what it says how do you pronounce this name in english okay all right you know in portuguese is very close menace okay manasseh manasseh was 12 years old when he became king and he reigned 55 years in jerusalem but he did evil in the sight of the lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the lord had cast out before the children of israel for he rebuilt the high places which whom hezekiah his father had broken down he raised the altars for the baals and made wooden images and he worshipped all the hosts of heaven and serve them he also built altars in the house of the lord of which the lord had said in jerusalem shall my name be forever and he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the lord and he also caused his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of enoch he practiced soothing used witchcraft and sorcery and consulted mediums in spiritus he did much evil in the sight of the lord to provoke him to anger well you can you can continue at home okay but look at this this man hezekiah had people in his family including his father his all the all the kings that were before him they were not able to break with that great current of idolatry okay his son actually also became an idolater somebody that was practicing occultism who was even burning his kids in the fire there was this great current of evil in israel in the in the ten tribes of the north and also even in judah judah was a little bit better but at a certain point this current of idolatry was so big so strong it was almost impossible to resist some some of us sometimes are tempted to think that because my parents did it this way because my grandparents did it this way because my father had this habit because there was this straight of personality throughout all my throughout all the generations that were before me sometimes we are tempted to think that that's how we're going to be and it's impossible to change that is against the gospel those thoughts are diabolical thoughts satan wants you to think that way satan wants you to think that you are a slave of your tendencies of your genetics of your environment of your family dear friend whoever you are no matter what is your past no matter what you have done no matter what your parents have done no matter what your children are doing believe me you can be different by the grace of jesus christ god loves you he gave his son for you and if you allow jesus to live in your heart whatever is the wrong tendency whatever is the wrong culture in your environment in your country in your family you can break the mold amen hezekiah broke the mold hezekiah became the exception look at what we read in second kings actually i'd like to read the account in second kings when it talks about hezekiah when it introduces hezekiah look at what it says second kings chapter 18. verses 1 and onward second kings chapter 18. there's so much about hezekiah to talk about that i'm not going to be able to cover it all today please read it at home his story is amazing second kings chapter 18 now it came to pass in the third year of hoshea the son of allah king of israel that hezekiah the son of ahaz king of judah began to reign he was 25 years old when he became king and he reigned 29 years in jerusalem his mother's name was abi the daughter of zechariah and he did what was right in the sight of the lord according to all that his father david had done he removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars cut down the wooden image and broken pieces the bronze serpent that moses had made for until those days the children of israel burned incense to it and called it nehushtan remember the bronze serpent that god had told moses to [Music] make in the wilderness and the people were supposed to look at that bronze serpent and live when they were bitten by serpents but it was not that the bronze serpent had any miraculous power in itself the people of god even today we are tempted to look at the instruments that god uses to bless his people and we are tempted to worship those instruments instead of worshiping the god that is using those instruments even pastors right we have to be very careful friends we cannot worship the instruments we have to worship god amen he trusted in the lord god of israel so that after him none like him among all the kings of judah nor who were before him if you read the story of the kings who were before him none had the courage even the best kings of judah they did not have the courage to do what he did for he held fast to the lord he did not depart from following him but kept his commandments which the lord had commanded moses the lord was with him he prospered wherever he went and he rebelled against the king of assyria and did not serve him he subdued the philistines as far as gaza and its territory from watchtower to fortified city but let us jump now again to second chronicles and we will see how ii chronicles presents hezekiah now ii kings basically tells us that he was doing a great work in delivering his nation or his kingdom of idolatry okay he broke down the the wooden images he took out the high places but there's something that he did that would allow him to have this work of reformation okay and the first thing that he did look at ii chronicles chapter 29 again verses 1 and 2 says that he did what was right in the sight of the lord but look at what he did verse 3 and onward in the first year of his reign he was still young 25 years old but he knew what he had to do if he wanted the nation or his kingdom to come back to god in the first year of his reign in the first month he opened the doors of the house of the lord and repair them then he brought in the priests and the levites and gathered them in the east square and said to them hear me levites now sanctify yourselves sanctify the house of the lord your fa god of your fathers and carry out the rubbish from the holy place his father had closed the temple for years it was closed abandoned he wanted to open the house of god he wanted the spiritual leadership of judah the spiritual leadership of jerusalem the levites the priests to come and do their appointed work look at verse 10 now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the lord god of israel that his fierce wrath may turn away from us my sons do not be negligent now for the lord has chosen you to stand before him to serve him that you should minister to him and burn incense you read you continue reading the chapter he calls on the spiritual leadership first he calls on on them to have a holy zeal for the temple of the lord and to restore true worship dear friends as we want our church to be revived and reformed amen we want a revival and reformation don't we as we want that we need to call upon our leadership first you need to call upon me first your church members you need to call upon your pastor first i need to be an example we need to counter we need to call upon the leadership elders it falls upon pastor and elders first deacons church officials members of the board come back to faithfulness to the lord come back to worshipping god with all your heart come back to opening not only the doors of the temple we have just gone through a wonderful process of renovation of the sanctuary is it beautiful or what we have wooden platform i love it i love wooden platforms actually better than carpet i'm sorry i really love it it really brings the the music of the orchestra is amazing i love to hear this orchestra play when people sing here just the sound is just better we have the stone behind us right we have new lighting we have a ton of different color combinations that we can do in this stage it's beautiful but there's one thing that we cannot pay any human being to do and that is spiritual renewal we renew the sanctuary praise god i have to say i'm really happy two years ago when i came into the church i really said this church needs a refresher and praise the lord we have it but now i'm praying for something else i am praying for spiritual renewal for spiritual revival starts with the leadership pray for me when you pray for the church pray that god may give you a pastor that is really a man according to god's heart i need to be faithful to god if i want to expect my church to be faithful to god pray for your elders friends it is impossible just look at any church that is successful it is impossible to have a church being successful because of one man it is impossible it takes a team a committed team elders and pastor deacons church officials church leadership together united instead of criticizing one another i know it never happens at fresno central right never instead of criticizing one another instead of just pointing the finger to what the other church official is doing that should not be doing or maybe is not doing what you should be doing instead of that how about we pray for one another and we call upon god to bless our leadership to give us godly leadership amen so that we can move forward he calls upon the leadership and then he calls upon the people look at verse 31 second chronicles chapter 29 verse 2 31 they restore the temple they started performing sacrifices again in the temple it was the way that as you know for the old testament believers it was the way that the believers had to look at their coming messiah it was the way that they had to believe in the forgiveness of god was to perform animal sacrifices as they had been prescribed by god and then hezekiah verse 31 answered and said now that you have consecrated yourselves to the lord come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings he had already started sacrificing now he was calling upon the people and thank offerings into the house of the lord so the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings and the people really responded to the point that you read verse 35 and 36 also the burnt offerings were in abundance with the fat of the peace offerings and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering so the service of the house of the lord was set in order then hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that god had prepared the people since the events took place so suddenly see it was not to glorify hezekiah that god worked in a powerful way hezekiah actually knew and the people knew when they saw things happening so fast and the people coming and responding and bringing offerings and you will see not only offerings and tidings actually we'll get that in a minute he they saw this was god's working this is god's doing you and i cannot revive the church of god we can cry out to him and he can revive his church amen are we going to cry out to him are we going to fall on our knees and cry out lord revive fresno central seventh-day adventist church yes we do want the the seventh-day adventist church to be revived everywhere right we want to see that across our nation we want to see that across the world we want the tree angels messages to be preached everywhere amen we want jesus to come but you and i are not responsible for what is happening at the clovis church you and i are not responsible for what is happening in portugal right now i was when i was there okay in my little churches some were not so little now we are responsible god has asked us to serve here this is your church and right now while god wants me here it is my church are we going to pray fervently are we going to come together and pray fervently that god may revive and restore fresno central seventh-day adventist church yes or no i'm calling upon you you have masks but you can speak are you going to pray for your church yes or no are you going to ask god to perform a miracle here in this church so that many can hear the words of truth so that people can come enter through those doors and we actually have a heart to receive them to love them to pray for them to give them bible studies and not only bible studies but we can show them in our lifestyle and in our love what it means to be a bible believer a true follower of jesus christ are we going to pray that the lord may bless us so that our church may become a blessing for many near and far yes or no well it isn't amazing how god worked they did something that they hadn't done in many years that they were supposed to do every every single year you know what they did they celebrated passover but hezekiah was bold hezekiah was bold he did not only call judah to celebrate the passover you know he was king in jerusalem over the kingdom of judah and they had the tribe of benjamin too and there were 10 tribes in the north there was the kingdom of israel they had fallen into idolatry first with the sins of jeroboam well not only him but anyways and the truth is that hezekiah was bold he did not only call on judah he called upon all israel yes not everybody attended but he called upon all israel look at chapter 30 second chronicles chapter 30 verse 1 and hezekiah sent to all israel and judah and also wrote letters to ephraim and manasseh that they should come to the house of the lord at jerusalem to keep the passover to the lord god of israel look at verse 5. so they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all israel from beersheba to dan that they should come to keep the passover to the lord god of israel at jerusalem since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner then the runners went throughout all israel and judah with the letters from the king and his leaders and spoke according to the command of the king children of israel return to the lord god of abraham isaac in israel then he will return to the remnants of you who have escaped from the from the hand of the kings of assyria as you know during his time the people of israel those 10 tribes were actually taken many were taken into captivity to assyria but there was people that were still in the land and hezekiah was calling upon the people come come back to god return to the lord come and keep the passover as we are instructed look at verse 10. so the runners passed from city to city throughout the country of ephraim and menace as far as evelyn but they laughed at them and mocked them every time that a leader or a group of leadership or a team in the seventh-day adventist church comes and calls the people to revival and reformation when when people come and say hey let's have moments of prayer let's ask god for the holy spirit let's ask god for revival let's start claiming the promises of the word of god let us come back to just you know asking each other for forgiveness let's confess our sins every time we do that there's always people that are going to laugh at you and they're gonna say there they come again thinking that they're gonna change the whole world how can we expect the outpouring of the holy spirit how can we expect the outpouring of the latter rain should we not pray should we not confess our sins should we not come together to cry out to god for his power should we not there are people laughing and mocking nevertheless verse 11 some from asher manasseh and zebulun humbled themselves and came to jerusalem also the hand of god was on judah to give them singleness of heart oh lord hear our prayer today singleness of heart they were of one heart singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders at the word of the lord amen they had a wonderful passover the bible tells us that they did it for a week it was so good as they were not only performing the rituals but actually actually the leaders were teaching the people the words of god and they loved it so much that they decided to do it for another week 14 days of blessing 14 15 days of blessing and when they had a revival look at what happened afterwards chapter 31 verse 1 now when all this was finished all israel who were present went out to the cities of judah and broke the sacred pillars and pieces cut down the wooden images and threw down the high places in the altars from all judah benjamin ephraim and menasa until they had utterly destroy them all then all the children of israel returned to their own cities every man to his possession they came to jerusalem they attended the call to pray to sacrifice to look at the cross the way that they could back then to look at the love of god and the the sacrifice that god would perform for them they came to hear the words of god and as they were spiritually empowered by the blood of the lamb they went out for a work of reformation revival and reformation are linked but are different a revival is to bring back the life of god to the church it is something that only god can do but we can ask and we should ask that god brings life back to the church to preach without the holy spirit even you know pastors can preach well i like to preach you know we can have energy talent we can speak english my english is kind of broken but we can have all of that but without the holy spirit is void of meaning and it's void of power has no power to change what can change the hearts of the hearers is the power of the holy spirit we cry out for revival and god gives life to the church okay there's new life in the church the songs become different it's not only that they are in tune it's that we are singing not only with our voices but with our heart i had friends from moldova in my first church back in portugal really tiny church to to church district i had friends from moldova they would come and every time that they would sing special song they had just immigrated from moldova and every time they would say it was a family had two daughters young daughters every time they would sing i would be so blessed and one day i asked him why is it that when you sing you always have your eyes closed is that is it so that your voice could be in tune and i don't think you should always sing with your eyes closed okay i'm not saying that i just asked him because they always sing so well i was so blessed but every time i looked at him they have their eyes closed and i'm like why do you sing with your eyes closed and one of the girls told me because when i'm singing i'm really not singing for the people to hear i'm singing to god see our songs will be different when we sing not only to be in tune not only so that we have a beautiful song service or congregational singing at the church but that we're singing to god we are worshiping god you know it changes things when we come to church do we really have an encounter with the living god it changes things there's new life and when there's new life reformation follows there's changes that happen we stop doing the things that hurt god because we know i know i have things in my life that are not well there's things that i'm doing i should not be doing there's things i'm not doing for months i've been praying lord i need to start doing this or doing this this way we and that change comes after a revival after we look at that cross after we look at that bloodshed for us after we understand that love after we study the word reformation a change starts to happen it started to happen started happening in judah and even in israel and people started bringing back their tithings look at verse 4 moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in jerusalem to contribute support for the priests and the levites that they might devote themselves to the law of the lord as soon as the commandment was circulated the children of israel brought in abundance the first fruits of grain and wine oil and honey and all of the produce of the field and they brought in abundantly the tide of everything now the abundance was so great that if you read the next few verses they had to put it in heaps they had to put it in big heaps because because people were bringing so much you know i can call for people to be faithful in their tithes and offerings all that i want but if god does not work in the heart of his people all my my requests are vade it's when you have an encounter with a living god when you understand that everything you have including you belongs to the lord that's when you understand that you are supposed to use all of your money not only your tithings and offerings all of your money you are supposed to use it in a way that glorifies god amen and you understand that yes the the least you can do is to bring your tithes and your offerings but even the rest you want to use it to glorify god to support his work and to make his kingdom known in the world now i have to say i thank god because many many members of this church are being faithful in their tithes and offerings even during a time when many cannot come to church there's people sending in their tithes and offerings every week i go to the post office i i bring all the envelopes i see there's many people i want to praise god for this god is working in the heart of his people there are many people that continue to understand even if i am not present in person at church i am still to be faithful to god in my tithes and offerings and they are sending in their tithes and offerings praise the lord evidence that the holy spirit is working i'm not there in their home i'm not knocking at their door they're doing it because they love jesus christ when you are revived reformation follows and one of the greatest evidences that a person that a man and woman is really faithful to god and his spirituality as well is when he opens his or her wallet it is very easy to love god out of our mouths and lips it is very easy to come to church and smile to everybody but when it touches our wallet that's when we see if we truly love the work of god or not anyways as hezekiah was at his prime as god was blessing hezekiah as god gave to hezekiah what many kings before him could not have could not enjoy because they did not ask and because they did not want to be faithful to the true god as are you as he was at his prime god brings two great trials apparently if you read the bible as it is there's a lot of commentaries but if you read the bible as it is apparently god brings two great trials in the same year in the same year hezekiah started reigning when he was 25 he reigned 29 years in jerusalem invaded judah at the 14th year of king hezekiah and we are we read when he was attacked in his health that also god gave him 15 more years of life right so if you subtract 15 from 29 i'm not good with math but you tell me if you take away 15 from 29 what does that give you 15 last 29 last 15 14 right so in the same year same time they had this great huge conflict probably first in his health you just read alan white's commentary in the book uh prophets and kings she puts the disease of hezekiah before the attack of senate but i actually believe it because we have evidence in the text so he is attacking his health as he has a a huge nation a great nation attacking his kingdom you know sometimes things come upon our lives completely unexpected but they come like a big a big trial in our health big trial in our family big trial in our finances in our profession and our work sometimes it comes when we are already dealing with something else right he was already dealing with a big threat military threat a big disease comes or a big disease comes when he he's already you know dealing with so much in hezekiah both for his sickness and for the great military challenge he chooses to put his trust in the lord you let's read first about the military challenge if you go to second kings second kings chapter 18 verse 17 and onward now to give you a little bit of context senate invaded some of the cities of judah and hezekiah had been fortifying himself against assyria but when senate came actually the book of second kings tells us they actually tried to do it in a peaceful way he paid the king of assyria so that he would depart but he wouldn't depart and he send the his his messengers look at verse 17 the king of assyria sent tartan probably the commander-in-chief the raf sarees which was probably the chief officer i'm just guessing here okay and the rafchake probably the chief of staff or governor from lakish with a great army against jerusalem to king hezekiah and they went up and came to jerusalem when they had come up they went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool which was on the highway to the fuller's field and when they had called to the king to the king eliakim the son of ilkaya was over the household shabna described in joa the son of asaph the recorder came out to them then the raphsake said to them say now to hezekiah thus says the great king the king of assyria what confidence is this in which you trust now the king hezekiah had told the people trust god we've got this god is going to deliver us he just read second chronicles it's there he had encouraged the people but he was like what confidence is this in which you trust you speak of having plans and power for war but they are mere words in whom do you trust that you rebel against me now look you are trusting in the staff of this broken reed egypt on which if a man leans it will go into his hand and pierce it so is pharaoh king of egypt to all who trusted him many of the kings of judah and israel when they when they would see big strong enemies coming they would ask for help in other nations egypt it was one of them and the truth is that when we are faced with great great trial who should be the first one that our thoughts go to now sometimes let me i'm going to open my heart here okay when i have a great problem i of course by my principle is i kneel down and i pray but sometimes when when i get a a hard phone call sometimes i go to my wife say honey i just got this phone out what should i do right and hey i trust her she's a godly woman i love her i trust her she's a godly woman she normally gives me godly advice you always give me godly advice okay but what is your first resource when sickness knocks on your door when fine when your bank account is not as you thought it was when your boss gives you a hard time what is your first resource to whom do you turn hezekiah turned to god and his enemies knew that look at what look at what they're saying verse 22 but if you say to me we trust in the lord our god is it not he whose high places in whose altars hezekiah has taken away and said to judah in jerusalem you shall worship before this altar in jerusalem look at verse 25 have i now come up without the lord against this place to destroy it the lord said to me go up against this land and destroy it you know friends one of the greatest deceptions of satan is to try to make you and i believe that god is doing what satan is doing he wants you to think that the things that are happening in your life are a work of god and many times they are work of satan please be very careful never to ascribe to god what satan is doing satan has the ministry of sickness and death satan has the ministry of bringing discouragement satan has the ministry of bringing darkness and clouds over your head jesus wants to inspire hope jesus wants to give you the victory and jesus has the power to give you the victory amen you have to come to him cry out to him put your trust in him i hezekiah could go to many people he sends messengers to isaiah the prophet of god and he prays to god he prays he fasts he tore his clothes in a sign that he is seeking the lord he was still tempted senate sends a letter again with threats but look at second kings chapter 19 verse 14 hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it with all those threats the king was saying look at all these kingdoms their gods could not save them why do you think your god is going to save you hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it and hezekiah went up to the house of the lord and spread it before the lord he brought his problems to god and then hezekiah prayed before the lord and said o lord god of israel the one who dwells between the cherubim you are god you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth you have made heaven and earth incline your ear o lord and hear open your eyes o lord and see and hear the words of senate which he has sent to reproach the living god truly lord the kings of assyria have laid waste the nations in their lands and have cast their gods into the fire for they were not gods for the work but the work of man's hands wood and stone therefore they destroy them now therefore o lord our god i pray save us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the lord you alone by your fervent prayers of faith you can what move the arm that moves the world verse 20 then isaiah the son of amos sent to hezekiah saying thus says the lord god of israel because you have prayed to me against king of assyria i have heard i love these words because you have prayed i have heard by your fervent prayers of faith you can move the arm that moves the world as other people are trusting other gods as other people are turning to their great bank accounts as other people are looking at their homes and at their cars as other people are looking at their friends as other people are looking at material possessions and human resources as other people are looking at what satan is giving them you look at god you look at the one that created the heavens and the earth you look at the one who gave his son for you you look at that cross and you know that he has he has got your back you pray and by your fervent prayers of faith you can move the arm that moves if he moves the world he can even move the nation what do you say amen i'll i'll read the context of that quote at the end and you know the story you know that god sent one angel and in one night a hundred and eighty-five thousand syrian soldiers perished one angel satan can have 185 000 traps he can have 185 000 soldiers he can have one 185 000 problems that he's throwing at your life right now god needs only one angel to take care of all of that amen and in one one night god took care of it actually ii chronicles tells us that every strong man every great man of valor every big soul every great soldier every leader in the army of assyria perished that night senate saw himself alone without the support of his great men probably probably that shaqe that was boasting in the presence of the people of judah in the front of the the wall probably perished at night because he was one of the leaders he perished because god you know for us when it when the problems come for us they seem like insurmountable but for god he just needs one angel one order one word and it's all taken care of but now the bible talks to us about what happened in the life of hezekiah during his sickness and for that we'll go to isaiah actually i like to read it in isaiah and isaiah was not happy of course with the fact that hezekiah was not thankful now you remember the story hezekiah had something that was really bad had a sickness there was a tumor something like that and hezekiah got the message from isaiah isaiah 38 verse 1 in those days hezekiah was sick and near death great men of god become sick many times is it true great women of god become sick many times doesn't mean you're not a person of faith doesn't mean god does not love you doesn't mean god has abandoned you actually god sent a message of mercy to hezekiah prepare yourself you're going to die set your house in order for you shall die and not live you know there's a lot of people who make no preparation for the future they say jesus is about to come i don't need to take care of my retirement funds jesus is going to come let me tell you one thing okay if jesus comes and you never use the money that you have set aside for your retirement you are not going to be thinking about that money when you are going up in the sea of glass i i can't guarantee it okay you're not going to be worried about that money isn't it's not going to mean anything to you but if you have to retire and you have no money to retire that's a problem so think about your future and think about not only your future but the future of your family a lot of people think and work in and act and sometimes i'm one of them like if if i would die what would happen to my family you know what would happen to my family if i would die would would they be in a good situation and and god sends this very blunt very strong message hezekiah set your house in order because you will die and not live that's it that's what's going to happen we need to be careful friends we should have a will written right we we do not believe that we are immortal yet right jesus is going to come we have eternal life by his grace but something can happen here and now right so let us prepare for that let us be prepared anyways hezekiah turned his face toward the wall pray to the lord this man is not going to call on the doctors like other kings and then in his nation did he is just going to turn his face to the wall he's going to pray lord pray to the lord said remember now oh lord i pray how i have walked before you in truth with a loyal heart and have done what is good in your sight and hezekiah wept bitterly and as a isaiah wasn't the court turned back it says well god heard you is going to give 15 years of life extra has isaiah asked what is the sign that i'll have another 15 years to live and then i will go to the house of the lord at the third day to worship and isaiah says well god is giving you a choice you want the shadow to go forward 10 degrees or backward 10 degrees in the in the sundial and he's like to go forward is easy it's going forward anyways right so let it go backward 10 degrees do you see what god did in response to hezekiah's prayer in isaiah's prayer because it says that isaiah cried out to the lord and the prayer of two human beings in a small little country in the middle of nowhere if you look at the world makes god the arm of god stop the world and make the world go in a different direction have you ever thought about that that by your fervent prayers of faith you can move the arm that moves the world and and hezekiah you know we normally say oh he was unthankful actually he was thankful if you read the story in isaiah chapter 38 he writes this beautiful poem he thanks god and verse 17 says indeed it was for my own peace that i had great bitterness yes satan allows it's god allow sorry god allows satan to touch you sometimes okay this will happen in the world you'll have tribulation god will allow satan to touch you sometimes to touch your family to touch your work to touch your finances to touch your health it's going to happen but if god allows it's going to turn out for your own good indeed it was for my own peace that i was at great bitterness but you have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption for you have cast all my sins behind your back amen what a wonderful wonderful word that hezekiah was thankful to god unfortunately some ambassadors came from babylon and he forgot about god man we know that and isaiah visited him and said what did they see in your house and hezekiah said well i show them everything all my treasures there's nothing of my treasures that i did not show to them when they came to visit me they were greeting me and congratulating me for my for the fact that i was healed and i show them all my treasures and you know you can read it at home that isaiah rebuked hezekiah in the name of the lord and said you know all of this one day will be actually carried to babylon you should have given glory to god you had a wonderful opportunity if people come and say wow what an amazing thing that happened to you you know praise god had that opportunity he did not use it but now one thing that we normally don't say when we talk about hezekiah's story is the way that ii chronicles actually interprets what happened to him okay let's go there this is our last text for the day second chronicles chapter 32 verse 24 says in those days exactly around the time of saint akarib's attack probably a little bit before hezekiah was sick and near death and he prayed to the lord and he spoke to him and gave him a sign the second chronicles chapter 32 verse 24 now verse 25 but hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him for his heart was lifted up therefore wrath was looming over him and over jude and jerusalem then hezekiah humbled himself he repented amen now the the account in isaiah and in kings kind of ends with a sad note hezekiah saying oh in my days it will be peace and truth kind of a little bit of selfishness there but actually ii chronicles tells us that he repented hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his of his heart he and the inhabitants of jerusalem so that the wrath of the lord did not come upon them in the days of hezekiah is going to say that he had great riches and look at verse 31 here's the interpretation of what what happened to hezekiah ii chronicles chapter 32 verse 31 however regarding the ambassadors of the princes of babylon whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land god withdrew from him in order to test him that he might know all that was in his heart friends we have a loving god we have a loving father who is reigning who is king of kings lord of lords he is up in his throne he does whatever he pleases and we cannot doubt that god is with us that he will bless us that he was he will guide us through all the craziness in our own personal lives in our church in our country and in the world we can never doubt we have to trust him but know this god loves you so much that if he has to remove his protection for a little bit for you to understand how miserable you are without him he will do that he will not abandon you but he will withdraw his protection for a little bit so you will know what's in your heart god protected hezekiah of pride that would have cost him his salvation and god allowed a big big trial to come right before sennacherib's attack and he humbled himself he repented and he was ready for the great trial that he had to face with the assyrian army today you may be going through a great trial or for those of you who are more sensitive to the state of the nation you may be thinking ah my nation is under a great attack from satan and i don't know what to do some people are happy with the result of the election some people are sad and you know i don't care which side you're on because if you are doing the will of my father in heaven you are my brother and my sister and my mother amen so no matter what political color you have this is what i know this is where we should be united okay look at what ellen white wrote this was april 23rd uh 1889 it came out in the review in herald was an article wrote with the title the duty of the present hour this is what we should be doing in the present hour this is what they should be doing back then and i believe we should be doing the same thing look at what what she wrote the present hour involving our dearest interests is an hour of momentous importance our rights as individuals and churches are brought into question and the agitation on the enforcement of sunday observance you know it was a big issue and i believe it's going to be a big issue okay there are some people don't think that anymore i still believe that it's going to be a big issue okay conflicting opinions are this are disturbing the minds of the religious world and the people are at variance in regard to what should be done in the matter events of a startling character are fast thickening and the anxious inquiry is already arising what shall be the end those who keep the law of god know look upon their children with undefinable feelings of hope and fear wondering what part they will act in the great conflict that is just before them the anxious mother questions what shall what's what stand will they take will my children be faithful to the lord in the great last crisis or not what can i do to prepare them to act well their part so that they will be the recipients of eternal glory look at this great responsibilities rest upon you you're maybe not the king of judah or of israel you're maybe not even the pastor or the elder but look at what she is writing and to whom she's writing great responsibilities rest upon you mothers and why is he saying this look at this although you may not stand in national councils or cast your vote women were not allowed to vote at this time in the united states you may do a great work for god and your country oh she was saying even if you feel your voice is not heard even if you feel that your vote does not count or even if you if you can't vote i cannot vote in this country i'm not a citizen okay you can do a great work for god in your country you may educate your children you may aid them to develop characters that will not be swayed or influenced to do evil but will sway and influence others to do right by your fervent prayers of faith you can move the arm that moves the world you can teach your children to pray effectually as they kneel by your side you may not be in the white house you may not be in any important house but you can be in the temple of the lord in the most holy place by faith you can kneel down knowing that your prayers reach the throne of heaven by grace you are accepted you can change the course of the of the of the history of this world by your fervent prayers of faith let us pray today that the lord may take our own lives our families our church our country into his hands that he may guide things for the glory of his name so that we can preach what we need to preach and so that we can see whom we want to see coming in the clouds of heaven jesus christ our lord and savior amen let us pray father in heaven we thank you and we praise you for the great privilege of prayer we are told that through prayer we are to expect revival reformation and the outpouring of the latter reign of the holy spirit we want to be that people you want this house to be a house of prayer and we want to be men and women children young people elderly that love you and that pray without ceasing crying out so that your name may be glorified in our lives father i know you have a plan for fresno central seventh-day adventist church i know you want to use this church to reach many and we pray that you may make of us everything you want us to be that you may also continue to allow us to go through trial that you may take away pride and selfishness from our hearts that we may turn to you as we are afflicted as we go through tribulation and that we may trust that god will use his powerful arm for our salvation we pray these things in the name of jesus amen god bless you happy sabbath [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] um [Music] well everybody's gone [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: Fresno Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

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Length: 117min 33sec (7053 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 15 2020