Inspire

Guest (Female): Aloha and welcome to the Inspire Church podcast. Whether you're on a walk, driving to work, or just need to hear a fresh word, this is your spot to get inspired, challenged, and equipped to live a faith-filled life. Each episode you'll hear powerful sermons straight from our weekend services that speak into your life, your leadership, and your legacy.

Guest (Male): Before we dive in, do us a favor: hit that subscribe button, leave a review, and share this with someone who needs a word today. And if you want more resources like Pastor Mike's newest book, *Blow Your Mind*, head over to mikekai.tv. All right, let's lean in, open your hearts, and let God speak through this message.

Mike Kai: I want you to open your Bibles to, as I said, Second Kings, chapter 18, and we're going to be in chapters 18 and 19. It's really interesting because I love this passage of scripture because we've been looking at the kind of passages of scripture where your back is against the wall, that when you are faced with insurmountable odds in your life, that God comes through when you put your trust in Him, when you put your faith in Him.

So we're talking about Red Sea experiences, right? We're talking about when God parts Red Seas. He makes a way where there isn't a way. He makes streams in the deserts. He brings pathways through the wilderness, and that's what we've been talking about. And it is an incredible story of how God intervenes on behalf of a king and a people. And the king's name is Hezekiah. Everybody say, Hezekiah. That's a cool name. If you have a son, name him Hezekiah. And as we read about Hezekiah, you'll see why it's such a great name that God uses.

But also what we find in this story is incredible because Hezekiah is caught—we read his account in three different places in the Old Testament. The first one we read about, we're going to read about it in Second Chronicles, chapter 29. You're going to find it also in Second Kings, chapter 18. You're also going to find it in Isaiah chapters 36 and 37. So if it's that important that God would put it in three major areas of scripture, then it would be important for us to understand because you might find yourself in one of these situations in your life.

Now, we have to understand that right at this point where we're reading the scripture, you have a divided kingdom, right? You have the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. This is everything after David and Solomon. After Solomon, everything went downhill from there. So you have ten tribes that retain the North, and then two tribes that remained in the South. The two tribes that remained in the South were Benjamin and Judah, and their national capital—they retained Jerusalem. I want Jerusalem. I don't want Samaria. I'll take Jerusalem. So they had Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is the holy city of God. This is where His presence is.

But also the people of Judah had also turned their back on God. When you look at all of the different kings that led the Northern Kingdom and led the Southern Kingdom, rarely did they follow the Lord. So Josiah, Hezekiah—great Bible names for your sons. Caleb's another one. I'm just throwing it out there. But all these different names are killer because they loved the Lord with all of their heart. They did not compromise. And Hezekiah is one of those guys.

Hezekiah is now leading the Southern Kingdom, but the Northern Kingdom had already turned their back on God a long time ago. We're talking about even before Jezebel and Ahab. So what does God do? God sends the enemy toward them, and at that time, Assyria was the world power before we hear about Babylon. Babylon is not quite yet the world power, but Assyria is. And today modern-day Assyria is, of course, where Syria is, where northern Iraq is today. So this whole territory has been disputed for almost 2,000, 3,000 years. That's a long time.

And it's still there to this day. It is still disputed to this day. But we all know that God gave it to Israel when He said in Genesis chapter 11 and 12, in the Abrahamic Covenant, continuing to confirm it and confirm it. So when we begin to see the Northern Kingdom—ten tribes to the North, two tribes to the South—the enemy begins to come in through the Assyrian kingdom and begins to take out the first kingdom to the North because they're closer to them. God uses the Assyrians, and the Assyrians come in and they deport the people all the way to Assyria. These things were happening back then; they're still happening today.

So in Second Kings chapter 18, we read about Hezekiah, and the Bible says that Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, began to rule over Judah in the third year of Hoshea's reign in Israel. He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years. Wow. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. He did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight, just as his ancestor David had done. This is what he did: he removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and 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.

So Hezekiah, verse 5, trusted in the Lord. Highlight this in your Bible. Hezekiah 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. He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, carefully obeying all the commands the Lord had given Moses. So the Lord was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. Everybody say, everything. Everything he did, he was successful. He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay him tribute. In other words, to give him monthly bully money. He would not give him bully money every month.

Then it says in verse 8, he also conquered the Philistines as far distant as Gaza and its territory, from their smallest outpost to the largest walled city. And during the fourth year of Hezekiah's reign, which was the seventh year of King Hoshea's reign in Israel, King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked the city of Samaria to the North and began a siege against it. Three years later, during the sixth year of King Hezekiah's reign, in the ninth year of King Hoshea's reign in Israel, Samaria fell. That was the Northern Kingdom.

At that time, the King of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria, placed them in colonies in Halah, in the cities of Medes, for they refused to listen to the Lord their God and obey Him. Instead, they violated His covenant, all the laws that Moses, the Lord's servant, had commanded them to obey. So we have this situation where the Lord sends the Assyrian kingdom to go discipline the Northern Kingdom because God uses that. That's what He does; He uses other countries at times to discipline the people that He loves.

But let me tell you a little bit about Hezekiah. In First Chronicles, it tells us that Hezekiah was such a king at the age of 25. In the first 200 days of his reign, number one, he reopens the temple because the temple in Jerusalem had been closed. Because why? Because nobody was worshipping Yahweh. The priesthood had taken secular jobs. The Levites didn't know what to do with themselves. The place was in total disrepair. This was the temple. Now he begins to reopen the temple doors. He cleanses the temple, takes eight days to do it.

Then he goes into the Holy of Holies, takes another eight days to cleanse the Holy of Holies of the temple. Then he brings back the priesthood, then he restarts sacrifices, and then he starts celebrating Passover again because the Southern Kingdom had turned their back on all of that. And no wonder they were under siege themselves. And after he did all of these things, the Lord was so pleased with Hezekiah. Can I tell you that anytime you come back to the Lord, anytime you might have been doing what was wrong and you come back to Him, anytime you have drifted away from God and you begin to come back to Him, He opens the door.

I want you to know that He welcomes you back because He loves us, but He's not above disciplining us because the Bible says that He disciplines those that He loves. But think about this for a moment. God begins to bring in an Assyrian kingdom, the most brutal people at that time. But then it says in verse 13, in the 14th year of King Hezekiah's reign—he's now what, 39 years old—King Sennacherib of Assyria, he takes over. And he came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and he conquered them. So Judah's to the South. So he already passed through Israel because they already own it to a degree.

Now he comes towards Judah. They're getting closer and closer. And then King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have done wrong. I have done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money you demand if you will only withdraw." And the king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than 11 tons of silver and one ton of gold. To gather this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the temple of the Lord and in the palace treasury.

Hezekiah even stripped the gold from the doors of the Lord's temple and from the doorposts he had overlaid with gold, and he gave it all to the Assyrian king. In other words, the Assyrian king is now trying to topple their economy. Then in verse 17, nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his commander-in-chief, his field commander, and his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up position besides the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed.

And they summoned King Hezekiah, but the king sent these officials to meet with them: Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna, the court secretary, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the royal historian. So he doesn't go himself. He sends three of his best guys. And they besieged the whole city of Jerusalem. Can you imagine what that must have looked like? 200,000 maybe warriors that are outside your city walls in Jerusalem, just waiting for the moment for the command to attack.

And the Assyrians, the most evil, wicked people on planet earth at that time, had absolutely surrounded Jerusalem. Some of you might right now, you might be feeling like you are surrounded by the enemy. You might be feeling like you're surrounded by a mountain of debt. You've been surrounded by threats. You've been surrounded by darkness, by anxiety, by depression. But I want you to know that there is a God in heaven that you can turn to that no matter what you're going through, it may look like you're surrounded. Come on, somebody.

You know why? Because I've heard it said before: if you're under attack, you are right on track. If you're under attack, you are right on track. Now, if you're under attack because you were being stupid, then that's your fault. Come on. And you've got to straighten up and you've got to repent. But if you are doing all the right things and you are under attack, then you are right on track. You must be doing something good. You are not lukewarm. Come on, somebody. You are not being spit out. You are firm in your foundation in who God is. And when you are, you are going to be attacked and vilified for that.

And if Hezekiah was, so will we. Come on, somebody. Now, when you begin to look at this, here we begin to see everyone's there. But I want you to read the threats. I want you to listen to the threats. And I want you to look at the threats from the lens of where you are living right now. Then the Assyrian king, verse 19—watch this online. Then the Assyrian king's chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah: "This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?

Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Who are you counting on, and why have you rebelled against me? On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your feet, your weight, and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable. But perhaps you will say to me, 'We are trusting in the Lord our God.' But isn't he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn't Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?"

See now, he's spreading lies, right? Fake news. Here we go. Then verse 23: "I'll tell you what, strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them. With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master's troops, even with the help of Egypt's chariots and charioteers? What's more, do you think we have invaded your land without the Lord's direction? The Lord himself told us to attack this land and destroy it."

Now the enemy's using our own tactics. Now the enemy is beginning to use the word of God, and it's not even the word of God. Then verse 26, then Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Assyrian chief of staff: "Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don't speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear." But Sennacherib's chief of staff replied: "Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear it, for when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you.

They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine." Then the chief of staff stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall. Look at this; the enemy knows your language. Stood on the wall: "Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria. This is what the king says: Don't let Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my power. Don't let him fool you into trusting in the Lord by saying, 'The Lord will surely rescue us. This city will never fall into the hands of the Assyrian king.'

Don't listen to Hezekiah. These are the terms of the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me. Open the gates and come out." And then look at this: "Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well." He is using their own scripture against them. He is using it against them to entice them to open the doors. But do not give in to the enemy. Come on, somebody say amen.

He goes on with his lies and he says: "Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one, a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death. Don't listen to Hezekiah when he tries to mislead you by saying, 'The Lord will rescue us.' Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? What happened to the gods of Hamath or Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?

Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?" Oh, that's fighting words right there. You are blaspheming God right at this moment, and your days are numbered. Then read verse 36. Everybody say 36. But the people were silent and did not utter a word because Hezekiah had commanded them, "Do not answer him."

And then Eliakim, son of Hilkiah, palace administrator, Shebna, the court secretary, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian chief of staff had said. When King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the temple of the Lord. And he sent Eliakim, the palace administrator, Shebna, the court secretary, and the leading priests, all dressed in burlap, to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.

And they told him: "This is what King Hezekiah says: Today is a day of trouble and insults and disgrace. Stick with me now. It is like when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver the baby. But perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian chief of staff sent by the king to defy the living God and will punish him for his words. Oh, pray for those of us who are left." And after King Hezekiah's officials delivered the king's message to Isaiah, the prophet replied: "Say to your master, this is what the Lord says:

Do not be disturbed by his blasphemous speech against me from Assyrian king's messengers. Listen, I myself will move against him and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword." In the meantime, the Assyrian chief of staff left Jerusalem and went to consult with the king of Assyria, who had left Lachish and was attacking Libnah. Soon afterward, King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia was leading an army to fight against him.

Before leaving to meet the attack, listen to this, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message: "This is a message for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don't let your God in whom you trust deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have completely destroyed everyone who stood in their way. Why should you be any different? Have the gods of other nations rescued them?

Such as the nations Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar. My predecessors destroyed them all. What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? Whatever. What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?" And here we are, verse 14. And after Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord's temple, spread it out before the Lord, and Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord:

"O Lord, God of Israel, you who are enthroned between the mighty cherubim, you alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to Sennacherib's words of defiance against the living God." If you are faced—that if God doesn't show up, you definitely are going to lose, I want you to do this. Number one: I want you to lay it all before the Lord.

I want you to lay it before God. I want you to put it all before the Lord. I want you to even bring it to church sometimes and put it right on your chair, or bring it to the altar of God. And I want you to lay it before the Lord, lay it all down. Everybody say, lay it down. Lay it all down before the Lord. Get on your knees in your bedroom, in your church, and say, "Lord, if you don't come through, I don't know what we're going to do, but God, I'm laying it all down before you, Jesus."

When you get on your face before God, when you get a medical report, lay it before the Lord. When you get a lawsuit, lay it before the Lord. When you've got a threat that you're going to lose your job or your position or that contract that you had, I want you to get down on your knees and on your face and I want you to lay it before the Lord. Because sometimes you've got to lay it before God. Somebody say amen. You've got to lay it before God. This is what I would do: I would just trust God and lay it before the Lord. Somebody say amen.

He lays it all before God: all his concerns, all his cares, all his worries. This is big stuff for him. The enemy's on the outside. And the Bible tells us in First Chronicles, when he first heard that the enemy was coming into Judah territory, when he began to take territory, this is what he said. This is what he would go back to his country and say. He would say, "As for Hezekiah the Judean, I shut him up like a caged bird in his royal city of Jerusalem." He talked about it. Let me give it to you again:

"As for the king of Judah, Hezekiah, I besieged and captured 46 of his fortified cities. 46 of his fortified people. I took his plunder: 200,150 people. And as for Hezekiah the Judean, I shut him up like a caged bird in his royal city of Jerusalem." He went back to his own country to brag about this. This is in the archives in Great Britain right now. These are his words. Whenever an Assyrian king would do crazy things to people, on the city wall he would say, "I did this to this many women.

I did this to these many babies. I did these to all these kings." And they would advertise it on the city walls, and this is the way that they operated back then. And so this is his quote right here. But I want you to know that it doesn't matter what his quote is because at the end of the day, God begins to turn the tables in Jesus' name. Come on, somebody say amen. Hezekiah responds to this final threat, and when you are going through a threat, I want you to write this down: Proverbs, chapter 16, verse 3, "Commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed."

James, chapter 4, verses 7 to 8, says, "Humble yourself before God, resist the devil and he will flee from you." He prays out to God. He says, "O Lord God of Israel, you enthroned between the mighty cherubim, you alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen. Listen. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to Sennacherib's words of defiance against the living God." He lays it all before the Lord and he says, "Look at how they are blaspheming you, God.

Look at how they make fun of you, Lord. Look at how they vilify us, O God." And then this is the second thing that you do: when you face a situation like this, you come to Him with your petition and your prayer. Your petition and your prayer. When you petition God, petition is not like a protest. "I'm going to sign a petition. I'm going to sign a petition." No, no, no. To petition God is asking God of something. Usually, this comes in the form of a formal prayer.

You're sounding more eloquent than you've ever been. You're giving Him honor and praise. You're coming before Him and you are offering your petition. This is where you get on your knees and your soul and you're surrendered to the Lord for any of a number of things from wisdom, you need guidance, you need healing, you need providence, you need God's protection. You come to Him with your petition and with your prayer. James, chapter 4, verse 10, I've read it, I'm going to read it again: "Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will lift you up."

And there are going to be times that maybe you're defiant on the inside, but God says, "I want you to humble yourself." There are going to be times that you're a fighter, but God says, "I want you to let go. Let me do the fighting now." I want you to go with verse 17 with me. I'm going to hurry up. Verse 17: He says, "It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations and they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them.

But of course, the Assyrians could destroy them. They were not gods at all, only idols of wood and stone, shaped by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God." Number three: when you're faced in a predicament like this, number three, you've got to invite God's supernatural power into your present reality. God, I need you to move like never before. God, I don't know how you're going to do it, but I know you can do it.

God, I'm not going to tell you exactly how to do it, but I'm going to suggest a few things, but God, at the end of the day, God, it's you. It's all you, God. God, you are the Waymaker. You're going to make a way where there seems to be no way. And when we begin to offer it up to Him, it's because God's about to show off, everybody. God's about to blow everybody else's mind. I want to ask right now: how many of you need to lay it all down before God?

How many of you are in a predicament right now? You're in a position, you are in a place that right now your back is up against the wall and you don't know how you're going to get through it. You don't know how you're going to make it. You've got more month than you have money. Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus, God, and I thank you, Lord. You see every hand that has gone up, Lord. It is characterized by something major that is going on. It could be marriage, God. It could be sons or daughters, God.

It could be parents. It could be medical, Lord. And Father, they need you, Lord. We need you to come through like never before. God, we need you to come through like never before. God, we need you right now to do something powerful. God, we need you to do something, God. Father, right now we ask right now by the power of the Holy Spirit, God, that you would touch every person right here right now. Father, that every person whose hand is being lifted up represents a pain point.

God, it represents something in their heart that says, "Lord, I need you like never before, God. I am desperate for you, Lord. I am desperate for you to come through." I need you to come through now. God, I need you now like never before, Lord God. I lay my life before you, God. I lay it all before you, God. I lay it before you, Lord. I need you now. I need you to touch me right now, God. I need you to touch this situation. I need you to touch this like never before, Lord God.

I need you to come through in the name of Jesus. And Lord God, I don't know what to do, but our eyes are upon you, Lord God. I want to wake up in the morning, God. I want to be able to wake up in the morning and see my enemy defeated. I need to wake up in the morning and see this thing go away. But Lord, I need you to strengthen me like never before, more than anything else, Lord God. That I was built for this battle, Lord God. That I was made for the fire. I was forged for a moment like this, Lord God. So Father, we lift this up to you, God. We bless you. We thank you in Jesus' name, and everybody said, come on, everybody praise the Lord like you received the victory already.

Guest (Female): What a powerful word. Come on, somebody. If that stirred something in you, don't keep it to yourself. Share it, rate it, and let us know how God is speaking to you through these messages. We believe your best days are ahead and we're honored to be part of the journey.

Guest (Male): For sermon notes, leadership tools, coaching resources, and more, visit mikekai.tv. Stay inspired, stay planted, and stay ready because God's not done with you yet. Until next time, God bless you and aloha.