A Revival of Joyful Worship
Notes
Transcript
2Chron 29: 1-36
1 Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2 He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.
3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.
4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the square on the east.
5 Then he said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place.
6 “For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have turned their backs.
7 “They have also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.
8 “Therefore the wrath of the Lord was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes.
9 “For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
10 “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His burning anger may turn away from us.
11 “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”
12 Then the Levites arose: Mahath, the son of Amasai and Joel the son of Azariah, from the sons of the Kohathites; and from the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and from the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah and Eden the son of Joah;
13 and from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; and from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;
14 and from the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
15 They assembled their brothers, consecrated themselves, and went in to cleanse the house of the Lord, according to the commandment of the king by the words of the Lord.
16 So the priests went in to the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and every unclean thing which they found in the temple of the Lord they brought out to the court of the house of the Lord. Then the Levites received it to carry out to the Kidron valley.
17 Now they began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they entered the porch of the Lord. Then they consecrated the house of the Lord in eight days, and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.
18 Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the whole house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all of its utensils, and the table of showbread with all of its utensils.
19 “Moreover, all the utensils which King Ahaz had discarded during his reign in his unfaithfulness, we have prepared and consecrated; and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.”
20 Then King Hezekiah arose early and assembled the princes of the city and went up to the house of the Lord.
21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. And he ordered the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.
22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They also slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar; they slaughtered the lambs also and sprinkled the blood on the altar.
23 Then they brought the male goats of the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them.
24 The priests slaughtered them and purged the altar with their blood to atone for all Israel, for the king ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.
25 He then stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with harps and with lyres, according to the command of David and of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the command was from the Lord through His prophets.
26 The Levites stood with the musical instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
27 Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord also began with the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel.
28 While the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29 Now at the completion of the burnt offerings, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped.
30 Moreover, King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped.
31 Then Hezekiah said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.” And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all those who were willing brought burnt offerings.
32 The number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.
33 The consecrated things were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep.
34 But the priests were too few, so that they were unable to skin all the burnt offerings; therefore their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was completed and until the other priests had consecrated themselves. For the Levites were more conscientious to consecrate themselves than the priests.
35 There were also many burnt offerings with the fat of the peace offerings and with the libations for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was established again.
36 Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly.
Thank you Mollie for reading Gods word this morning. Please join me as we open with prayer.
Thank you Luke and the church for giving me this opportunity.
Both from the North
Story of Matt Reddmans song heart of worship in the late 90’s
The song dates back to the late 1990s, born from a period of apathy within Matt’s home church in England. Despite the country’s overall contribution to the current worship revival, Redman’s congregation was struggling to find meaning in its musical outpouring at the time.
“There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing, “He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and they gathered together with just their voices. His point was that we’d lost their way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.”
Reminding his church family to be producers in worship, not just consumers.“
Matt says it initially led to some embarrassing silence, but eventually people broke into a cappella songs and heartfelt prayers, encountering God in a fresh way.
“Before long, they reintroduced the musicians and sound system, as we’d gained a new perspective that worship is all about Jesus, and He commands a response in the depths of our souls no matter what the circumstance and setting. ‘The Heart of Worship’ simply describes what occurred.”
When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come / Longing just to bring something that’s of worth that will bless your heart… / I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about You, Jesus
Can I ask a question...When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?”
Often times we think of worship as the music we sing, but I want to remind you that music is just a small part of worship. Its actually praise that is a response and result of worship.
The most important thing in worship is to be reminded of the promises of scripture and have Gods beauty revealed to us.
In worship our biggest time spent is on scripture.
We often need To recenter ourselves on scripture.
As we look at 2 Chron 29 this morning I want to show how we can have a revival of joyful worship.
2 Chron 29:1
1 Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old; and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
Hold your place and turn back to 2 Chron 28:1
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do right in the sight of the Lord as David his father had done.
If someone was writing your story right now what would they write about you?
Before we get too far, I want to set the scene of Hezekiah's reign.
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah was an evil man. Set dead against God. Set up idols to foreign gods. he wanted everyone to worship any other god than the God of Israel. He would shut the doors to the temple. Lead the entire nation to darkness.
Hezekiah would have never heard his father say...
He was introduced to idolatry at an early age
seen his brothers sacrificed in a fire.
Things in judah/ Jerusalem was rough. Northern kingdom attacks Judah…Nation of Assyria was threatening Judah. Assyria attacks northern kingdom. Hezekiah sees that the Kingdom is in jeopardy.
I think about this and it reminds me that we cant let what has happened in our past to set the tone for our future. No matter how bad things are in this world, that doesn't determine what God can do! He can do anything with anybody!
As we work thought the text this morning, its my hope that we all might realize that those that truly worship the lord will continually rejoice as we experience personal revival .
3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.
4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the square on the east.
5 Then he said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place.
6 “For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have turned their backs.
7 “They have also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.
8 “Therefore the wrath of the Lord was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes.
9 “For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
10 “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His burning anger may turn away from us.
11 “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”
The first thing Hezekiah done was opened the doors to the temple.
Tell story of Desert Diamond.
I had other options. The people of Judah didn’t.
Hezekiah in vs 5 says to consecrate yourselves and consecrate the house of the Lord.
What he is telling them is to get right and get gods house right. We have to get right if we expect to be used by God to do right.
Heb 10:10
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
There is that sanctification where Jesus Christ Died in our place and Jesus makes it possible for use to be righteous he has redeemed unto himself a kingdom of priest and that includes you and me. Jesus has done that though his body and blood.
2 Cor 7:1
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
What Paul is saying to the Corinthians is this…yes God has set you apart but you also have a responsibility to set yourself apart. God pulls you out he takes us from the kingdom darkness…transfers us to the kingdom of his dear son and yes god is working in us…but what Paul says is work out your own salvation…meaning what God is doing in you, you have a responsibility to submit and obey to what God is doing. You and I have got to be part of the work that God has going on.
Would you be willing this morning to submit to the lord and say lord I want to be clean and righteous as you want me to be . Let me be used for your purpose.
In vs 6 you see Hezekiah call out their sinfulness.
2 chron 29: 6-9
6 “For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have turned their backs.
7 “They have also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.
8 “Therefore the wrath of the Lord was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes.
9 “For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.
Gods judgement is upon the land because of what has happened in the Kingdom of Judah.
Church this shows that we cant live independent of God and expect Gods blessings . We have to get right!
He says that they have turned their backs on God. Folks if you aren’t doing what God wants you to do, you have turned your back on him. That’s a hard truth.
I’m busy…I’ve got a lot going on…I’ve got my own agenda....that's the same thing as turning your back on God.
vs 10 he makes a covenant with the Lord.
2 Chron 29:10
10 “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His burning anger may turn away from us.
Vs 11 We are Chosen
2 Chron 29:11
11 “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”
What he is saying is look guys you are the answer. If they weren't going to get right, the people weren't going to get right.
You have also been chosen and called by God. We are called to Glorify God in everything we do. God saved you so you could point Glory back to Him. I am here on this earth to glorify God and point people to Christ. We are here to Enhance the glory of God.
They had closed doors and have broken fellowship with God.
1 John 1: 1-4
1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life—
2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—
3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
Relationship with God is based on him
Fellowship is based on you and your response for what he has done.
They had broken fellowship.
Why not let God do what he wants in your life.
Can I tell you this morning, that you are as right and close to god that you want him to be.
Have you fellowship-ed with God this week. Its not just a sunday thing, its an everyday thing!
2 Chron 29: 15-19
15 They assembled their brothers, consecrated themselves, and went in to cleanse the house of the Lord, according to the commandment of the king by the words of the Lord.
16 So the priests went in to the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and every unclean thing which they found in the temple of the Lord they brought out to the court of the house of the Lord. Then the Levites received it to carry out to the Kidron valley.
17 Now they began the consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they entered the porch of the Lord. Then they consecrated the house of the Lord in eight days, and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.
18 Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the whole house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all of its utensils, and the table of showbread with all of its utensils.
19 “Moreover, all the utensils which King Ahaz had discarded during his reign in his unfaithfulness, we have prepared and consecrated; and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.”
16 Days to Clean the Temple
Even in the holiest place they have allowed junk in.
God wants us to have clean hearts
What Kind of Junk have you allowed in that is keeping you from serving and worshipping God.
When we dig deep into our hearts what do we see.
You may say Blake I have a past…but can I tell you that in Christ you don’t!!
Get the Junk out and prepare yourself to be used by God.
20 Then King Hezekiah arose early and assembled the princes of the city and went up to the house of the Lord.
21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. And he ordered the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.
22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They also slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar; they slaughtered the lambs also and sprinkled the blood on the altar.
23 Then they brought the male goats of the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them.
24 The priests slaughtered them and purged the altar with their blood to atone for all Israel, for the king ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.
2 Chron 29: 20-24
20 Then King Hezekiah arose early and assembled the princes of the city and went up to the house of the Lord.
21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. And he ordered the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.
22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They also slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar; they slaughtered the lambs also and sprinkled the blood on the altar.
23 Then they brought the male goats of the sin offering before the king and the assembly, and they laid their hands on them.
24 The priests slaughtered them and purged the altar with their blood to atone for all Israel, for the king ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for all Israel.
What you see here is them dealing with their sin.
Look at the result of it.
2Chron 29: 25-30
25 He then stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with harps and with lyres, according to the command of David and of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the command was from the Lord through His prophets.
26 The Levites stood with the musical instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
27 Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord also began with the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel.
28 While the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29 Now at the completion of the burnt offerings, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped.
30 Moreover, King Hezekiah and the officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with joy, and bowed down and worshiped.
They Worshiped with Joy.
Praise vs Worship
Praise is singing songs of celebration or singing songs for the glory of God.
Hebrew word Worship…bowing down before a master
All praise ought to be worship
but We worship by praying, serving in the local church, reading Gods word, sharing the Gospel etc…we are bowing before God and submitting to what Hes called me to do.
The believer that truly wants to worship the lord ought to live a life of submission... we set out to serve our king however he calls us to serve him.
The worshipful christian is willing to submit and obey.
they responded with joyful worship
2 Chron 29: 31-36
31 Then Hezekiah said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.” And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all those who were willing brought burnt offerings.
32 The number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord.
33 The consecrated things were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep.
34 But the priests were too few, so that they were unable to skin all the burnt offerings; therefore their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was completed and until the other priests had consecrated themselves. For the Levites were more conscientious to consecrate themselves than the priests.
35 There were also many burnt offerings with the fat of the peace offerings and with the libations for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was established again.
36 Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly.
What you see here is the people of Judah turning back to God. All because of 1 Mans heart. Each sacrifice that you see here was an act of worship. They were taking from their personal profit and they were presenting it to the Lord with thankful and willing hearts.
Each sacrifice was prophetically pointing to the promised messiah the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!
vs 36 It says that they rejoiced!! I bet they raised their hands crying out to god, falling on their knees, crying…its the completion of their joy
I think of how excited we get when our favourite team scores the winning run to win the game and how we rejoice.
But friends When we know that the one we follow has won the victory and defeated the heavens we have reason to lift our hands and shout and rejoice in that way.
He loves when we worship him. He loves when we sing praises and worship him.
But Paul reminds us in Romans
Rom 12:1
1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Even more than singing and lifting our hands in worship, He loves when we live our whole lives for him. That’s Worship.
From all of this we can see how the obedience of one godly king brought religious revival to he entire kingdom of Judah.
We see in 2 Chron that Hezekiah does just that and we see the revival of Joyful worship!
Time of response.
Worship is a Rhythm of revelation and response
We read all of this and it begs us to ask a few questions.
Am I experiencing personal revival that occurs in the hearts of those who truly worship the lord.
Am I waking up everyday with a revival happening in my heart as I’m excited just to see what God’s plan is for the day.
Am I am dedicated disciple who loves to serve my savior
Do I love to sing the praises of the lord together with my fellow Christians. I promise you this morning around the throne of heaven ...
do I have a fire in my heart that is causing other Christians to get excited about God?
Listen…if these things aren't true of you…if you cant answer yes to these questions…then is it possible that the high places in your heart are harboring idols
Listen it might be time for you to reopen or repair the doors to your temple
Ill remind you that there's no longer a temple there in Jersualem…the temple is now you christian. The christian as become the temple of God …we are the temple of the holy spirit as god takes up residence within us.
And its sad to say that there are many Christians who have turned their back on the temple so to speak. And there are times when we allow the temple to be filled with idols and junk as we turn our backs and worship the creature rather than the creator.
Church is not attractive…we look other places.
There is nothing out there…turn to God.
experience the personal revival and let God move.
Follow in the footsteps of king Hezekiah.
Where is your heart this morning.
When the world is falling apart where is your heart.
Maybe your here and you've never accepted Christ, our perfect sacrifice. Luke will be down here.
What ever God is calling you to this morning respond in obedience and allow him to move.
