The King Who Rediscovered the Word - Chronicles Of The Kings (Week 6)

What happens when God's people lose sight of His Word? And what can happen when they rediscover it?

In Week 6 of Chronicles of the Kings, we look at the life of Josiah, a king whose heart was transformed when God's Word was rediscovered. Watch as Pastor Ben Chapman takes us through Josiah, The King Who Rediscovered the Word and discover how God's Word still has the power to transform lives today.

Transcript

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If I could have a youth ministry like that, it's a root for me. I would feel very good every day. Oh, man, what a great time. It's awesome being in the house of God. It's awesome being here at Mid-Cities. Like Pastor Dana said, I grew up here. Middle school, high school, college, janitor, youth ministry, college ministry, campus minister, and then later you just got tired of me, so you sent me away to plant a church. You know, I I'm just so grateful for Mid-Cities Church. I say all that because there's a decade and a half here learning to love Jesus, learning to love the people of Jesus, learning to love this house, learning to disciple and just have a heart for God. And I'm indebted to this church. You have blessed us in every way. We left 2014 to plant a church in San Antonio where we didn't know very many people. And uh it was hard to leave a spiritual family that you love to go do what you feel like God's called you to do. How many know that's true? But we knew that this is what Jesus had for us, and you prayed for us, you blessed us. I'm getting emotional, and you sent us financially. And 12 years later, people are being reached in San Antonio. Uh, 30 people came to know Jesus last year at Luminous Church. That's because of you, so that's awesome. The lost are being found, and that's why we send churches, it's why we strengthen to services and say we're gonna send leaders because God has called us to go and not just to stay. And I'm thankful that the for the people who've stayed to root us and to anchor us by the power of the Holy Spirit, to root us here, to keep praying and keep raising up leaders and keep sending, and and I'm so indebted to you. So thank you. And maybe you came new, you're new here this morning. I just want to let you know that you being here this morning, you're a part of that, and we invite you along into the journey. This is a beautiful journey of the gospel moving forward and what he wants to do. I want to show a picture of my family real quickly. I know Pastor Daniel introduced them, but this is my lovely family. Uh, that's uh Brandy and then Benson and Brielle, uh 13 and 10 years old. Uh Brielle does not know much about Midland because she was born in San Antonio, but uh but so grateful for our family, grateful for what the Lord's doing. And uh they got to be a part of kids camp and youth camp. And and I'm thankful that our spiritual family of churches, that you as mid-cities run an amazing camp and you invite churches like myself and other churches in our region to be a part of it so that kids can experience Jesus, students can experience Jesus. If you have your Bibles turned to 2 Kings, 2 Kings, and we will be 2 Kings chapter 22. And if you would, and you're if you're able, would you stand with me to read God's word this morning? As we stand, we stand that the word of God would be the authority over our life. Says this in verse 1. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jed Jedidah, Jedidah I've I've been working on that all week. I'm thinking Jedediah, but it's Jedidah. Everybody say Jedidah, the daughter of Adiah in Baskath. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David, his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left. In the eighth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azilah, son of Meshalem, the secretary of the house of the Lord, saying, Go up to Hilkiah, the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people, and let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house, that is the carpenters and to the builders and to the masons, and let them use it for buying timber and quarried stone to repair the house. But no accounting shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly. And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king and reported to the king, Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord. Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book, and Shaphan read it before the king. When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes, and the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Akbor, the son of Mekiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asiah the king's servant, saying, Go inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us. Let's pray. Father, we love you. Oh Jesus, you are invited into this place. Holy Spirit, we welcome you. That you would speak to our mind and speak to our heart, Lord, and that which needs to be revealed would be revealed today. Lord, I just pray that you would teach us that you would motivate us and help us do the next right thing. In Jesus' name. Amen. Give your neighbor a high five, and then you may have a seat. They teed me up this morning because all the other kings are very challenging because they didn't do what was right in the sight of the Lord. But here we have Josiah. And just what an incredible king and what he has done. And here in this moment, he's been living, and at eight years old, he receives the crown to rule the land. And in this moment of eight years old to 16, in this time, he began to hear about King David and the way that he loved the Lord, and he began to see, and there was a discrepancy between his land and his nation, and how King David ruled and how God wanted it to be. I wish and I hope and I pray that it becomes different. And he sought the Lord, and in his seeking, he began to see that which was going on around him. And I just want to encourage you, church, as you seek the Lord, all of a sudden you are more aware of culture, and you understand culture creep when you begin to move into a place of syncretism where you look more like the culture than you do like Jesus. This can happen so well, and in this moment, he's looking around, he's starting to try to make things right, he's trying to empower the right people, and he looks at the house of God, and it's falling apart. It's easy to let something fall apart. It doesn't take long for something to degrade. 57 years, the house of the Lord has been falling apart. It's much like this church, Woodward Presbyterian Church, that was built in 1911 in Detroit. Filled with 2,000 people, much like Mid-Cities, people going and loving Jesus, students coming to know Jesus, and a vibrant youth ministry, the disciples and church plants happening out of it. But that's the church today. Broken windows, neglected paints, and actually the newer pictures show no pews. It continually becomes less and less. Josiah reminds us, just like we're reminded of this picture, that that which the Lord is doing, if it's neglected, not just this house, but our lives, it begins to disintegrate. And we look up one day and we wonder what happened. How did this happen? It's because sometimes we forget to do the next right thing. To do the next right thing is a way of decision making, making decisions, to make the next right decision. You've heard the cliche, like we're all one decision away from being a fool. We're all one decision away from doing something, really, something that we would regret. And no matter how long you've been walking with the Lord, whether you grew up in church or you just came to church for the first time, we're just one decision away. You know that's true, don't you? We find that if we make this decision, that our life will be changed and neglect will begin to happen because sometimes one foolish decision leads to another foolish decision and leads to another bad choice. But I want to encourage us this morning, because I'm optimistic. So although we're one decision away from being full, we're also one decision away from a Josiah story. From a story where the Lord would reach us in our youth at eight, sixteen years old, and that he would transform us and we would start getting a heart for his kingdom, for what he wants to do through our life and how he wants to change that which is around us. We're just one decision away from that. And that's our prayer this morning, and that's my prayer for us is that we would lean into that in an incredible way. You know, as we're thinking about making these decisions and making these choices, Josiah was a byproduct or a product of a prophecy. And maybe you've been following along with the reading, but in 1 Kings chapter 13, 290 years before Josiah, there was a prophecy that Josiah would come, that he would love the Lord, and he would start cleaning the temple and renewing and revival would break out. I want to tell you this morning that there are prophetic words over everybody in the church this morning. That God will not leave you where he found you, that he will not forsake you, but he's gonna keep going on and keep rooting you on, and he who started a good work in you will see it through to completion. That's prophetic word to you, that those who had a fire in them at youth camp when God started moving and breaking off walls, that the Lord is not done with you, that he's gonna see you through. This is prophetically spoken over your life. That you will not remain the same, and no matter what mistakes you've made, and all the moments and mess ups and things that we regret, I want to tell you that the Lord sees you and he's not done with you. His loving kindness is towards you, he's calling you to himself. This is what he loves to do, this is what he wants to do in our lives, and this is Josiah, a moment, a man who received a prophecy and he just did the next right thing. To do the next right thing is sometimes not so huge, it's so so massive. Sometimes it's small. Everybody say small. That's a technique I learned from Pastor Daniel. You say a word and then you repeat it, and then you don't fall asleep. It's awesome. Everybody say small. To do the next right thing is is the small things. To start small. We have a young man who uh the Bible says a boy in the Chronicles version, a boy 16 years old, gets on fire for God and starts moving. And what does he do? He he starts rebuilding the house. He starts cleaning the carpets and painting the walls, and he starts doing just the next right thing for his life. Equivalent to us for us in our life. It's it's starting to read your Bible, starting to pray, starting to go to church, and all you went to church on 4th of July. Give yourself a hand. Like that was the next right thing. Just show up to church. I just gotta go to the house and go to the temple. To do the next right thing is to do the small things, and in the small things, you find Jesus. It's through the small little steps and the small little devotions that you start seeing God for who he is, he starts showing up in a great way for my life. This happened to me. I was in college, awkward and insecure. I didn't know really how to go about it, but I started falling in love with the Lord. I started coming to youth group on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings, and then I found a man named Pastor Daniel Stevens. And I said, Hey, would can we meet up and would you disciple me? We met at 6 a.m. every week at Starbucks, and he taught me how to pray and how to read. And we went through the purple book and we talked about life and we meditated and we fasted and we learned about Jesus. And what I found is not just a friend and not just a meetup, but I found Jesus. I found him in a fresh way, a new way. You see, when you do the next small thing, all of a sudden you find the word of God who is alive and active. You find the word that became flesh, you find Jesus. Everybody say, do the next right thing. Tell your neighbor, do the next right thing. The next right thing, it changes you, and it changes others. It changes who you are, how you live, how you act, how you become, but then it changes others as well. You see, for Josiah, when he started serving the Lord, loving the Lord, his life was being changed, his affections started to change. And I want to tell you, Josiah was unlikely for his life to serve the Lord, wasn't it? Do you remember his grandfather Manasseh? The most wicked of kings, idolatry, everything around him, it was not quite a good example. And then you look at Josiah's father. Why did he become king at eight? Because his dad was killed because he was so wicked. He didn't quite have it teed up for his life, did he? And if you and I were honest this morning, sometimes we don't either. Sometimes we don't have the best example, sometimes we didn't come from the best family, have the best mother and father, and didn't have the right examples, but to do the next right thing, it's never too late, and it doesn't matter where you come from. Can I get an amen? It's never too late. Back row in the sanctuary, it's never too late for Jesus to do a work in your life. Somebody who neglected you, somebody who was harsh with you and abused you, and maybe there was a cycle of being an alcoholic, and there was a cycle of abuse and a cycle of addiction. It's never too late to do the next right thing. Your life can change, and Josiah's story reminds us that it's never too late. You see, it changes us and renews us and helps us. See, the next right thing is what we're called to do and what we're supposed to step in. What was the next right thing for Josiah? Not just to leave the book on the bookshelf collecting dust, but actually get the book down. And there have been times in my life, and I'm sure there's been times in your life, where the Bible was collecting dust. It was collecting dust because the truth is life gets busy. All of a sudden you get married and your devotional time changes. You have kids and they're waking you up and you're sleep deprived, and you don't know when you're gonna talk to Jesus, when you're gonna read that Bible, and you are called to that. The oil field picks up and you realize, man, if oil's this price, we gotta go. And so you start going and you stay as busy as possible. The challenge with that, and students, the challenge with your life is life's about to get busier. Friends are calling. Some of it's good things. Hey, let's go, let's go eat after service, and then let's go swimming, and then let's hang out all night, and then let's go to bed late. And then you sleep in. And you had a pattern of devotion for five days, and then it was interrupted, and it stays on the shelf. I'll read tomorrow. Jesus, I promise I'll pray tomorrow. I just gotta do a couple of things. Lord, it's okay if I miss one Sunday, uh one engage the spirit. It's okay, I'll go the next one. There's always a next one. Doing the next right thing is saying, No, I'm taking this word, I'm taking off the shelf, and I'm not gonna let my life get crowded out. You see, for Josiah, life started getting busy. New people started coming to the nation, culture started shifting. The people before Josiah, they they started saying, you know what? Hey, they they don't believe in our God, but we still want them to come in our house to worship. So let's just let's put an asheropole in there. Let's let's give them something to worship, something to be excited about. Hey, hey, you you know what? Um I I know they don't quite believe like I believe, but I'm just gonna be with them all the time anyway, because I want them to feel loved. I want them to be a part, and and you find this moment where all of a sudden your first love becomes your second. And that which is important is now of second importance. Third, fourth. This is what Josiah's story reminds us of. That we take the word and it would not collect dust on our bookshelf, but we would get in our word. And we would do the next right thing. We would get into a small group that we would go to youth camp and become a counselor. Give it up for the counselors. Come on, somebody. To do the next right thing is to start, and maybe it's just to come every Sunday. Maybe it's to to serve, maybe it's to give of yourself to do the next thing is not hard. Everybody say it's not hard. Sometimes it's just priorities. To do the next right thing. What we learn from Josiah's story, and actually, what we learned from Jesus and what we learn in the Bible is that we have to get rid of anything in our heart that's competing with Jesus. If there's anything that's taking precedence, that's taking our attention, that's taking our devotion, that's taking us away from Jesus, we have to put it in the right place. We have to repent of it and turn away from it. Pastor, you saying quit my job? No, just don't work 80 hours. Practical example, and some of you will like this, and some of you will not. I I used to have these things called CDs. Anyone have? CDs in here, raise your hand. Okay, let's look around. That's the old people. We have these CDs, and and man, I in high school and in college, I would listen to different CDs, and and I had all sorts of CDs. I had I had, you know, my DC talk and my newsboys, but I had a different collection, you know, and in that collection was a lot of music that affected my devotion. It just moved me away. This may not be for you. See, I'm not appropriating my conviction to your conviction, but for me, this started happening. And the more that I met Jesus at Starbucks and the next morning and the next morning and the next morning, the more that God was revealing his truth to me, I realized that these CDs are giving me a double-minded mentality. It's giving me back from all that I think God wants to do through my life. And I took those CDs, that ashra pole, and I did what Josiah did. You see, Josiah took the ashra pole, this wooden pole that I carved images that people would worship and pray to. He took it outside and he beat it. And I'm telling you, he didn't just beat this thing, he beat it so much that it turned to powder, dust. I would be tired after that. I said, anybody else want to turn? But he kept beating it and beating it till it turns to dust. Just like why? If some people worship that, just give it to them. Let them have it. Here, you go on your merry way. And that was my conviction. You see, when I was listening to this music, I said, you know what? I could sell these at CD Exchange and make some money. I'm poor college students. Or I could throw these in the trash so that nobody else could listen to this music, so that it wouldn't affect anybody else's life. And that's exactly what I did. I threw all those CDs away. It's not because I'm awesome, it's because I had conviction. You I want to tell you this morning is that we need a conviction in our life. That whatever God calls good, we want, but whatever he calls evil, we're gonna stay away from. We need a conviction in our life because you don't have CDs, you have a phone, and everything's accessible. And if I throw it away, how's my mom gonna call me? We need to delete TikTok sometimes. Sometimes we need to delete the gram. Sometimes we need to delete things. I see moms just scrolling, ignoring their kid. Oh, I hope they love Jesus. I'm not here to tell you what your thing is. What creeped into if we are the temple of God and God lives inside of us? And we want to live pure and holy out of his grace and righteousness who has already redeemed us and saved us. And now we're living from salvation to be more like him? Is there anything that's robbing me of my first love? Mid-Cities. What's your next right thing? What step are you supposed to take? What are you supposed to do? How do you step into that? Josiah goes on, and we don't have time to read it this morning, but in 2 Kings 23, he institutes the Passover. Real quickly, the Passover was this moment where we had this the people of God, the chosen people, Moses was leading them out into the promised land, and there was a plague coming that was going to take the firstborn. And the people of God heard the instructions that if there was a sacrifice of a life of an animal, and that blood was put on your posts, that the angel of death would pass you on by. A sacrifice for your life so that you could keep on living. This is a beautiful picture, but you see, when I realize for my life, when I get this drift, and when I get things built up, it's because I quit remembering what Jesus has done for me. And for 57 years, and actually even before that, the people forgot what God did for them. So they thought they knew how to live and how to do and how to become. Death. To do the next right thing, we're reminded that it takes Jesus. It's gonna take him living the life that we should have lived. It's gonna take him giving his life as a ransom for the ultimate Passover and the ultimate lamb to cover our sin. It's gonna take his death and his burial, but it's also gonna take his resurrection, proving that there is life if we believe in him. See, the difference between Josiah and I is just and us is Josiah sought the Lord. And he lived for the Lord, but the judgment was still coming. The judgment was taken back for a time, but the judgment was still coming, and for us this morning, no matter how good we are, no matter how many CDs we throw away, no matter all those things, and deleting the TikTok, the judgment is coming, and the only way that we receive salvation is when he becomes the judgment for us. Romans 5. Romans 5, verse 8, verse 9 and 10. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, but more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by death of his son. Much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Josiah could repair the temple, but Jesus, he repairs sinners. Josiah could remove idols, but Jesus removes our sin as far as the east is from the west. And Josiah delayed judgment, but Jesus took the judgment upon himself, so that in him we may have life and overcome all that's against us. Amen. Come on, somebody. Enter into my kingdom. Don't we long for that? If you would bow your head and close your eyes this morning. What is the competing devotion? And I just want you to just spend just a moment. Holy Spirit. And just ask them, Holy Spirit. Is there anything in me that's keeping me from you? I know I'm eternally sealed, but I mean from a relationship with you. Is there anything competing for my first love? And if he's revealing anything to you this morning, simply confess it. Repent of it, turn away from it, and say, Jesus has choose you and not this. And start cleaning the house. If it's something that you're tangibly doing, make a note right now. I need to get rid of this this week. And be courageous enough. As Pastor Daniel said, I choose this day to get rid of it and choose Jesus. Holy Spirit, thank you for ministering to us this morning. Thank you for your love and grace. We love you so much. In the mighty name of Jesus. And everybody said Amen.