Everyone should have a family. At least, we have a family in Christ. Actually, God’s church is a family. One thing the speaker wants us to know: God’s family will not fail just like God’s church will be glorious.

If you believe the word of God, and that the True Jesus Church is the one true church and the bride of Christ, believe God will up-bring our family and church’s faith. It is God’s will. It’s not only God’s desire, it’s God’s predetermined plan.

In Singapore’s society, life is not easy. It is messy and chaotic. With the addition of technology, and the pressures of time and work, it’s not easy to keep our faith upright, prosperous and striving. But gosh, we must put aside these multitudes of reasons that pull us down.

A question to consider: what do you believe in?

The speaker believes he really wants for not only him, nor just his family members, for more people to go into the Kingdom of God. He believes Jesus has saved him and his family. Even though they haven’t been perfected, Jesus has saved them. He believes Jesus will not save them halfway. He started His will of salvation on them and will finish it.

So today when we face the challenges of our faith, let us not look at the outer appearance/the obvious obstacles to our faith. We need to look into the Scriptures. We need to believe the word of God is prophetic. That is our strength. That is our treasure. That is God’s gift to us. So instead of focusing on the things that we can see, we must focus on the word of God. The word of God will never change and it will be fulfilled just like in the past.

Rom 15:4 (read)
The speaker believes most if not all of us need to rep reinstate our minds to the scriptures. Some people read the Scriptures as a source of comfort or inspiration. Meaning when you have a certain feeling, you read a certain scripture for comfort. “God is good. God is kind. God will work like that.” But wouldn’t it be a pity if we only looked to the word of God to help us in this life only? We need to understand our life is in God’s hands. That sounds very cliche. But actually when we say our lives are in God’s hands, it’s saying we’re in God’s salvation plan. Our life is not just work/school > home > work/school > church > home. It’s not just like that. God has given us a purpose. So we need to lift our eyes to heaven to see the spiritual purpose God has given us. We’ll find all our worldly burdens will slip away and become more manageable.

We’ll be able to see the little things that have become mountains, and bring them down to the little things again, and do what God wants us to do.

When most of us become parents, we realise it’s difficult to bring our children up alongside handling our job and other commitments. If we talk about leading our family to God, some may say they don’t have time. Some may say they’ve tried but people don’t cooperate. Then they back off and not want to do it.

But the thing is this, consider this question: do you believe God has given you your husband/wife for a deeper higher purpose? Do you think your children gave your children just for your enjoyment or for a higher purpose? Do you believe God placed you into this family for a higher purpose?

We must realise our life is no ordinary life even though we live ordinary lives. Our life is written in the scriptures.

Rom 16:26 (read)
The scriptures are prophetic. The Bible is translated into so many languages and passed to so many people. But it is for us, we in the True Jesus Church, to understand the significance of the holy word of Jesus. Wouldn’t it be a pity if we lived a life of shortness without joining in the mission God has placed in our lives?

One thing that strengthens the speaker’s faith is this: when we come to the True Jesus Church and listen to the word of God, and the word of God touches us, we know it’s not that word of men but God speaking in our spiritual lives.

So today when we are in the church, we are actually experiencing God every single week. We give our heart to God because god knows all things. He knows we’re weak. He knows our past weaknesses. He knows our burdens. He knows we need Him. So God is here to guide us.

So since we’re experiencing God and listening to His word, shouldn’t we have the inclination to go to the scriptures to see the bigger picture?

Today when we read the scriptures, we read many stories right?

One day, the speaker had a change of mindset. He asked himself, “Do I believe the God I believe in is the same God of Elijah? Or do I just believe in the story of Elijah?” He concluded he did believe in the same God of Elijah. He realised the word of God speaks to anyone throughout the centuries.

Therefore this sermon will examine the story of Hezekiah. When Hezekiah was king, he was to lead a faith team to lead the people back to God. This team can represent our church or our family. Sometimes when we turn to the Bible, we say: oh those days are different from today. Of course they have good faith then. Today, times have changed.
If we have such a thinking, that means we don’t truly believe in the scriptures. But when we hear the word of God and our hearts are touched, it’s God basically saying to us: my word is true. It’s true in the past, true in the present, true in the future. Whatever I did in the time of Hezekiah, I will also do for you.

Let us remind ourselves what happened in the time of Hezekiah.
2 Chron 29:1-2
Relatively speaking, Hezekiah was a young man. Yet, he had a different mindset. His heart was for God. He did what was right in the sight of God. He didn’t just learn the word of God, nor just believe the word of God, he wanted to make sure that his/God’s nation/people turned back to God. He wanted God’s people to be blessed and forgiven by God. When he had a central thought in his mind, nothing else was impossible. Hezekiah can be said to have a faith like Abraham’s. Abraham and Sarah were very old. It was impossible for them to have children. But Abraham didn’t concern himself with the obvious facts. He was only concerned with God’s promise to him. Abraham loved God’s promise. He wanted God’s promise. He wanted to experience God’s promise. He wanted for himself, his children, his descendants to experience God’s promise. He focused on God’s promise.

We may say, “For Hezekiah to be strong in faith, he must’ve had a really good upbringing.”
But who was Hezekiah’s father? Ahaz. He didn’t leave Hezekiah ANY good example. What can we learn from here? Hezekiah didn’t give himself any good excuse. Instead he gave himself every reason to do what was good for God’s people, and what was right. Hezekiah didn’t let the past influence his future. Hezekiah let God’s word influence.

We may say, “But I’m not a king.” Are you not? We are kings in Christ!
Rev 1:6
Today we have been made kings and priests to God. We have put on Christ. We are sons of God. By the blood of Jesus we have overcome this world. So spiritually we are like Hezekiah. The question is: do you believe what Hezekiah believed? If you believe, God will lead us to do what Hezekiah did.

We may say, “How do we know all these things would happen?”
Did God show us a vision, miracle or sign? None. We are just like Hezekiah. According to the Bible, it doesn’t seem like Hezekiah was showed any sign. We have what he had. He had the word of God, we too have the word of God. He was stirred up by the word of God. If we are stirred up by the word of God, that is the starting point where God works in our lives.

Phil 2:13 (read)
Today when we have been awakened that God is in our life; that God is strnegthonh us and saying to us that He has a mission for us and our families; “I’m going to turn your family/brothers and sisters in church back to Me”. If we believe, God will work.

But when does God start to work? We think that we have to do a lot of activities. But according to Phil 2:13, if we have the heart to turn ourselves and our family back to the Lord, God will start to work. Just having the heart is the beginning of God’s work in us. Think about it. According to Romans, it tells us nothing inside of us is good. We as human beings are carnal, not spiritually. We don’t think of heavenly things; things that belong to God. There’s no cell in our body that’s pointing us to God and His will. But when the word of God is quickening in our hearts, we’re affected by what we hear. There’s a zeal that begins to rest in our hearts. Is it just emotion? Or is it God knocking on the door of our hearts? Since we know it’s God knocking on the door of your heart, if we answer that call, and following through with action, that is you being included in God’s faith team.

Back to 2 Chron:
Hezekiah was amongst a group of people who weren’t godly. When he knew what was right, then he knew what was wrong. Hezekiah wasn’t a person who just stood there and sat on his hands. He stood up for what was right. Today if we love God and we love His church, we need to ask this question: why do I have the feeling something is not right?

Have you ever had that feeling? In your family, you know something is not spiritually quite right. Have you ever had this feeling in church: something’s not quite right as a church. Something’s missing.

If we have this alertness, if it suddenly dawns upon you, as you begin to question: why is my family not as willing to draw close to God? Why are our hearts not as fervent as before?

If we have this feeling, it’s a good starting point. Because that’s what Hezekiah has. As he grew up, he began to think: something’s not right.
So when we read the Scriptures and surveyed his surroundings, he realised something was wrong. So when his time came, he needed to make a difference, follow God’S calling and turn GodS people back. Don’t underestimate what God puts in our hearts. When that voice says: get your family to pray more.
Persist to set up the family altar. Continue to encourage your coworkers.
When you have that voice in your inner ear, when you have that inner conscience, who is working? Who’s trying to move us? No one is speaking to you but that voice is already there, encouraging and reminding. You can’t ignore it anymore, because now you understand it’s God calling us.

2 Chron 29:3-11
Understand that Hezekiah didn’t do everything on his own, he needed a team. He approached the Levites. What did he say to them? Read v5-11
Hezekiah speaks the truth to the Levite’s. He tells them about the past, and reminds them about what’s happening spiritually in the present. That means God’s people is experiencing the wrath of God. Did God send fire on them? No. God didn’t send physical fire. But there was a sign that God’s wrath was upon them in v9. The people of God were weak. They were suffering by the sword and captivity. What can this represent? Spiritually if our family has no freedom to exercise our love for God and His church; we seem locked in and imprisoned by our lives; we are limited and self centred; when someone says to us to serve and sacrifice for God, pray for the sick and those who are weak, visit the lost sheep, what kind of reaction will we give? We will find we reply, “You can do it. I’ll support you mentally.” That’s not quite right. If one in the family is zealous and the rest aren’t, that’s not quite right. Thank God. Hezekiah spoke the truth and the Levites agreed with him. Don’t forget: Hezekiah spoke of the Levites themselves as well (v11). They were negligent of their duty. So when the Levites heard this, they would’ve been a bit red in the face.

We don’t like to feel shame, do we? We don’t want to feel guilty. But why is it when the word of God is spoken, we feel shame and guilt? Because it’s the truth. Why does God speak the truth into our hearts? Because He wants us to turn to Him and be used by Him.

Eze 43:10-12
The temple’s restoration is prophesied. God told Ezekiel to describe the temple to the Israelites. The effect of speaking about the temple was shame being brought onto the people. Why? Because the people of God in the time of Ezekiel witnessed the destruction of the temple. Why did God want prophet Ezekiel to describe the holy temple? So that the people would be reminded of what they had lost, and why they had lost the temple - because of their sins.

Why did God want prophet Ezekiel to describe the temple so that the people would be ashamed? Honestly, it’s not very encouraging, humanly speaking. If you want to encourage someone, we wouldn’t remind them of their shameful past. But God’s way and our way are different. When God wants to forgive and use His people, He reminds them of their past. Because God doesn’t just want to forgive and for them to face their past, He wants them to accept their past and look to Him. When people look to God, God will use them.

There’s a transition from v11 to v12. These people are ashamed of what they had done. If they’re ashamed, why should they receive more knowledge of the temple? In v11, it’s so they would keep its whole design and ordinances. From here we can understand that God gives us the holy word to let us know where we still fall short, but it’s the path for us to be restored.

The Levites in the time of Hezekiah humbled themselves. To join God’s faith team, they accepted their past and accepted God’s restoration.

They were ready for the new times.