In this sermon, Julie Graham emphasizes the importance of being faithful and honest with money in order to receive God's blessings. She uses the example of King Hezekiah, who had to repeatedly pay off his debts to the King of Assyria. Graham also warns against compromising purity before marriage and urges women to be cautious of men who invade their personal space. She highlights the consequences of not diligently obeying God's voice, as seen in the destruction of nations by the King of Assyria. The sermon concludes with a reminder to be completely surrendered to God and to strive for perfection as our Heavenly Father is perfect.

In 2nd Kings 19, we were reading about Hezekiah in the past, that's 18, 2nd Kings 18 and we'll start at verse 14. Let us pray. We thank you Lord for this opportunity to meet together again. We thank you for being kept by you all these days. We thank you for your working. We thank you Lord for the arrival of your servants from Korea. And we ask you to be with them. Help them Lord in the great work which they are in. And we thank you for what you have performed there. We ask you to continue to work in a marvellous way. And also Lord in our midst as well. Be gracious to us. You know each and everyone's need. Lord help us with that which we need. Amen. The second chapter of chapter 18, the story of Hezekiah. The second book of Kings. But instead I'm just going to highlight certain verses here and there. Let's start with verse 11. Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria and put them in Hala and by the harbour. The harbour of Hala. The harbour of Hala. The harbour of Gaza and in the cities of the Medes. Because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded. And they would neither hear nor do them. For they would not hear the word of the Almighty. The king of Assyria arrived with a huge army in Israel. He arrived with more than 200,000 soldiers. And he thoroughly destroyed all the towns of Israel. Now Hezekiah was king of Judah. Judah was just a little nation. And this pagan king of Assyria came and utterly destroyed and looted the towns of Israel. It was terrible there. And he captured the Israelites and took them into captivity. To other places as we've read in Hala and Habor and the river of Gaza in the cities of the Medes. What he did was awful. But it says clearly that all this came upon them because they had not diligently obeyed the voice of their Lord. They believed but they believed in a half fashion, just not completely. They were sins in their lives though they were religious and went to the church with their sins. And because they were not entirely, completely devoted to the Lord their God, God said, I will hand you over to your enemies. Satan has no power over the children of God. But if you have sin in your life, Satan obtains power over you. Do I need to repeat that so that you understand it properly? Satan has no power over the child of God. For Jesus in us is greater than he that is in the world. He conquered sin, he conquered death, he conquered the devil, he conquered the powers of darkness. So if you have Jesus, Satan has no power over you. But why does Satan rule in so many lives? They are not completely in the Lord, devoted to him. They condone sin. And through that they give Satan power over them. A certain person from South America, So if that is from the eastern side of America, walked right across, he crossed right over to the opposite western coast. America is very big. That is the USA, where Bush is the president. South Africa, you need to increase it by 8 times in order to fit into the USA. Now this man decided he is not going to go by car, by bicycle, but he will walk on foot. From the eastern coast right to the western coast of the USA. And he succeeded. It took a long time. And he tells of how he met with many different experiences on the way. In winter. It was freezing cold as it snowed in those areas and he trudged along in the snow. And then there was a biting wind where the cold seemed to cut into him. He walked trudging along as if he was in a swamp in this deep snow. In summer, it was very hot in the desert. And the sand was hot. It burned. But he says in all these trials there wasn't a thing that was as dangerous to him as a certain thing. One thing. Almost incapacitated him that he wanted to give up his journey. He says it wasn't the heat of the summer in the desert or the cold and the driving snow. But he said what caused him the greatest difficulty was when he had grains of sand in his shoe. In his shoe. He said just the sand. He said even the smallest grains and the fewest grains of sand in his shoes would cause him such distress that he almost gave up his journey. He said rather the heat, rather the snow than these grains of sand which were so distressing in his shoes. Are there any grains of sand in your shoes? I'm not speaking about... I'm not speaking about these physical shoes but the shoes of your life, of your heart. If you are sitting with things which are sinful. Maybe a grudge. Maybe stubbornness. Maybe lack of forgiveness. Self-seeking. That was the most difficult thing. Some sin, as small as it may be, even though it may appear to be so minor, so little. But remember that man who almost failed in his journey from the east to the west coast just because of the grains of sand in his shoes. It's not small if it stops your journey. These grains, though they are ever so small, may become like sand in your eyes. Even evil thoughts and evil eye, you will not complete your journey. You will be eaten by the vultures. You will be eaten by the vultures. They will come down on you. You will be eaten by the vultures. Hezekiah, as he saw Israel being taken and Samaria, he must have been desperate and cried to the Lord and called upon God to help him that he would be completely surrendered to the Lord. it may be just gossip perhaps you gossip using the names of other people and say let's keep quiet let's not tell the preacher and then you're gonna win and King Sennacherib came and wrecked utter havoc upon these nations of the Lord and destroyed them God didn't lift a finger to assist them for they had not heeded his voice la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la ever so small in your life, which you have not dealt with, have not destroyed, that will become the source of your destruction. In verse 13 and 14, And in the 14th year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lashish, saying, I have done wrong. Turn away from me. Whatever you impose on me, I will pay. And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. Here we find the king of Judah apologizing to the king of Assyria. For when the king of Assyria had made all of Israel captive, he then returned in order to destroy Judah. This, it was said, occurred 701 BC. And they came in destroying the cities of Judah. Hezekiah wondered, how is it that Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, has authority over us? And then he realized that they had sinned. And he sent message to the king of Assyria saying, forgive us, we have sinned. And he said, O king, please return to your homeland and allow me then to pay our debt. Now, what had actually happened? This king, before he died, this old king, had conquered Israel. Judah feared that she too would be conquered. Judah then pleaded saying, please, O king of Assyria, do not destroy us. And we are prepared, O king of Assyria, to pay a levy, a tax, every year. And so the king did it. And when the king died, and then another king came to be king of Assyria, Hezekiah said, let's go and plead our case with the new king. Maybe he'll be more sympathetic regarding this old case of ours. And so they stopped paying their dues. They left it for the first year, and the second, and the third. But then the king of Assyria remembered that Judah had a debt to pay, and they hadn't been paying their levies. And so he decided that he would go up to Jerusalem and utterly rout it, and make all the citizens there to be his slaves. When Hezekiah then saw the enemy upon them, he remembered their debt. And he said, O king, we have done wrong in not paying our yearly interest. We have not given it to you as we had agreed to. Say, give your price, and we will pay. And then the king said, we want 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold, which was a huge amount. Hezekiah said, we are determined to pay the full amount. Do you hear, brethren? Are there those in debt among us? Are there those of you who have forgotten your debt or the interest? And you just keep quiet about it. You don't say a thing. You just clam up and pretend it's not there. But you have sinned. You are guilty of debt. Brethren, Jesus said, no one can serve God and money. And He said, if you are not faithful in money, the Father in heaven will not entrust His Holy Spirit to you. If you are not faithful in mammon, God in heaven will not give you the blessings of the Spirit. If you want the fullness of the Spirit, be diligent in your financial matters. Go through it. Carefully check. Haven't you perhaps just conveniently forgotten about some debt, and you just keep quiet about it? You will end up in spiritual and physical poverty, and won't be blessed. And the enemy will obtain authority over you. Let's learn. Jesus did say that if you remember that you have a debt, go and put it right. Go and sort out the matter with the person to whom you are indebted. Otherwise, he will have you in prison until the last farthing is paid. Don't use as an excuse, well, I'm poor, I don't have the money, and I'm hungry. No, go and discuss the matter. Go and at least say, I have a debt that I owe. I want to talk to you about it. This is what I owe you. In the early years of Billy Graham's ministry, he got together his team, and they examined together the successes and failures of the men of God before them. What were the stumbling blocks? What were the things that caused them to fail? And as they examined the lives of men of God before them, they discovered the first point of stumbling is women. Where Christians destroy themselves through sexual promiscuity, not living a pure life. Secondly, money. People wanting money. By hook or by crook, they want money. And they will purposely go and visit wealthy people in the hope that they'd catch the hint and give them some money. And so he, Billy Graham, and his team wrote a list of the stumbling blocks to men of God before them, and putting first, one, women, secondly, finance, going through the list, three, four, and they said, let's not make the same mistakes. And so they agreed. Billy Graham said to his co-workers, we who are the team members, none of us will travel in a car with a woman who is not the wife or the daughter alone. We will not travel alone with another woman. And so I have the utmost respect for Billy Graham, for that which he did, I honor him. And you preach the gospel, or even if you don't preach the gospel, make sure you don't stumble in this area. Even when it came to sleeping in hotels, they were meticulous with their arrangements. He wouldn't just sleep alone in a hotel room. He would make sure that there was the first line of defense. If somebody would come knocking to the door, there would be a co-worker there to make sure that they were there. He would have another man there. I honor them for that. And if you don't take meticulous measures in being victorious, you will be destroyed by your promiscuity. South Africa is already being destroyed. Many have died. Many will soon die, and more will die because of sexual looseness. You say, oh no, we're not under the law. We are free. You are free because you're a sinner. You're evil. If you're good, then you welcome the law, because that's the life you live. If you don't want the law, it's just because you are lawless. Lawless. And I add, godless. If you don't want the law, it's just because you are lawless. Lawless. And I add, godless. Now if you have gone wrong in the past, from now on, walk straight. Stop living a life of filth. You all know him. Moody. Moody. He was a big fellow. Moody, a smoker came to him. Said, Mr. Moody, is it wrong? Is it a sin if I smoke? Moody looked at him. He says, no. Carry on. He says, how can you say just carry on? He says, yes, the Bible says you should carry on. He says, where does that say in the Bible? He says, the Bible says, let the filthy be filthy still. So continue with your filth and your smoking. Continue with your immorality and your flirtatiousness. Continue in your flirtatiousness. Continue in your little cliques discussing the opposite sex. You're just giving food to the vultures and they will feed on you. You know that vultures don't have feathers on their necks. Why? For when vultures feed on a carcass of a person or an animal, they put the head in. They put the head in. And they eat the soft parts first. They go for the intestines. They eat the soft parts and they are featherless on their necks. Continue with your sexual looseness. The vultures are right there waiting. It's a shame. It's a disgrace if you, if I continue preaching the gospel with others, together with those who are sexually promiscuous. And you need to confess those sins. Remembering that confession and then returning to the sin is being dog-like. It's like a dog going back to its vomit. And a pig going back to its filth. Billy Graham is now old. But there is no stench that follows him. And secondly, they said, regarding money, be straight and honest. That you may have God's blessing. For if you are not faithful in money, I tell you, you will not be blessed. You will die badly. And we too, if we have grains of sand in our shoes, let's take them out before the sun sets. Don't let the sun set on the sand still being in your shoes. God said to Moses, take off your shoes, for this is holy ground. There might be something that is defiling, something that makes you dirty on the shoes. Take them off. Now Hezekiah realized... Hezekiah then searched to find the silver and the gold. And they had to break down doors for his father, who had been a bad man. They had locked up the temple. They then unlocked the places and got out the gold. And Hezekiah paid. He sent the silver and the gold. He realized that if we are to have victory over our enemies, we are to be without guilt, without debt. But let me tell you, even though he paid that debt, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, did not let him go. He had to repeatedly pay again and again. You girl, you may have your boyfriend and you might decide to get married. And you've heard and you know that you need to be pure before marriage and stand in purity at the marriage altar. And that your veil should indeed symbolize your virginity. And you tell that to the young man and he might say, but no, look, we're in love. Aren't we going to get married anyway? We're certain to get married. What's wrong with doing it? And so little by little, a touch here and there, a brush here and there. Incrementally, He invades your life. You women, be careful of men who brush you and touch you as they talk to you. For finally, He no longer just touches you, but He holds you. Then He kisses you. And then you fall into sin, sleeping with each other. We had our Korean friends yesterday and I told them about the frog. About the frog that if it jumps into water of a different temperature, it just dies. But if you put a flame under the pot with the frog inside it and you slowly warm up the water, increase the temperature very slowly. If the frog had to just, if it jumps into the warm water, it would die. If it's at that degree. But if you put the flame underneath, you can increase the temperature with the frog remaining alive, way past that temperature. And the frog is still alive. If a boy had to come and try and rape you, you would scream if you're not an immoral girl. The Bible says if she does not scream, then she ought to also be put to death. You're only excused if you scream in resistance. You're only excused if you scream in resistance. But Satan warms up the pot slowly. The man brushes, touches, kisses, and then eventually fall into sin, and even worse than that of the pagans. For the children of Christians can do that which even the pagans don't do. That's why I'm telling you, if you're a woman, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a woman, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're a man, if you're And then, because you sleep around, you fall pregnant. Might be after six months, you give birth. like one girl who it happened like that after six months she had a child and she blamed me when I said that there was something wrong she said oh you of little faith don't you believe that God can work powerfully and make that happen to a girl I said leave me alone with my little faith but I don't believe you don't you believe that God can form and make a child create a child in six months it's got to be nine months with you have you got such little faith what he goes you go to call of working on a I'll call a good team can I not darling gunning a young as he's too big pal it's strange that the Christians who are not on the right road they've got great faiths they happy all the time in the meantime they miserable you see manga so good tea about that one lava about St. Helene a do this I oh but no good color or cool good basing it by a chabula got to a but Danielle by Abana in Abana in jabu I'm trying to get a gum about to be shell on the coolness is calling who would give a shot they don't not often that you find that a fair at school and a fair at school turns out into a marriage got on them Sega who could have a be love at heart they are a shoddy but I live so bizarre there are the rare cases where two or three might sleep together before marriage and then they get married let me tell you go when you married that has been of yours will insult you because of what you've done and you'll never let you go you'll keep on reminding you of it and you'll fall into sin with girls much younger than even your own daughters with a clear one what's called God who's on a red white look I'm super I'm super I'm Landela John and John has a kaya failed and then yet to pay and pay his debt again and again scenario scenario scenario kid would not let him off the hook he kept on reminding him of his debt then in verse 29 a basic a guru a verse got 29 in course Susanna herepy yeah kulu Maya Timon in Akashi song or has a key go go back I go by no man to go no pool is something some king of Assyria said do not let his akai deceive you for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand from that's from God from his hand yes 40 or has a nor let King Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord saying this the Lord will surely deliver us this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria do not listen to his akai for that says the king of Assyria make peace with me by a present and come out to me and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one of you from his own fig tree and every one of you drink the waters of his own system when the king of Assyria realized that hezekiah was not making his own people to be serious captives he then confronted the people directly he went to them one by one to the people on the ground and he began to seduce them and to promise them liberty and that if they listen to him they'll be truly freed don't listen to hezekiah what he says more to me that evil man you get those even amongst the and some are so stupid and so foolish that they follow those blind leaders and that's only possible because they themselves are blind Muslim la la la who has a gear la la la mena ungui la la la mena guava mena angus in the lane back on a lava bazal on a by a by is important guava balan dela is important my J singer Peterson year pointing look cleaner as a corner my number point got this cuts happy though there are other points I come now to the final one they came to hezekiah and they told him all the blasphemous things spoken about him he tore his clothing threw himself in humility upon the ashes and cried out before the Lord and God heard his cry and sent us I am saying I have heard your cry hezekiah from heaven have I heard and as I have said to him don't pay attention and do not fear the talking of the king of Assyria or his blasphemous talk do not fear it and notice it for by the power of my spirit will I conquer your enemy at night the angel of the Lord came he came and he utterly destroyed and killed a hundred and eighty thousand of the enemy little number maybe twenty thousand were left and they ran like rabbits angel of the Lord came and he slew one hundred and eighty thousand in the night and so when the Assyrians woke up they found that they were surrounded by corpses here corpses there some of them already swollen and bloated God fought on behalf of God's people God is still able to defend his people he can defend me let our enemies blaspheme and curse let them say what they will but there is a God in heaven who hears God says do not avenge yourselves for there is the revenge in one night the angel of the Lord struck them dead the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament means Christ Jesus Christ himself he destroyed and killed a hundred and eighty thousand the king of Assyria fled to Nineveh and at night two of his own sons came and assassinated him two of his own sin sons I tell you if you don't make business with God and get it right standing with God he'll get hold of you he used his own two sons that murdered him what your end will be I don't know you hadn't got to do with the head of sting you've got to a holy God and get right with him and the things that are wrong in your life you put right you confess them expose them bring them to light bury them you'll be buried with them my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my amen