PREPARING FOR REVIVAL
2 Kings 22:1-2 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem.
And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
Josiah was raised in an ungodly home. His evil, idolatrous father King Amon was assassinated when he was 8 years old, so he inherited the throne and became King. He was raised by Hilkiah the High Priest until he was ready to be king.
The spiritual and moral conditions of Judah continued to decline. Northern Israel had already been carried into captivity by the Assyrians, and God had plainly told Judah that the same would happen to them if they didn’t repent. Yet the Kings and the people of Judah ignored God’s warnings and went on living like the people of Noah’s day.
At age 26 King Josiah ordered that money to be collected
for the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. During the remodeling project, Hilkiah the High Priest found a copy of the first 5 books of the Bible and immediately sent it to
King Josiah. The first 5 books of the Bible known as the Pentateuch or “the Book of the Law” was in essence the Jewish Bible of the time. So for the first time in his life,
this Godly King heard the Word of God read to him.
2 Kings 22:11-13 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. 12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest,
and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying, 13 Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.
What was his response? He tore his robes, humbled himself and wept in the presence of the Lord.
He then sent his officials to find a prophet to inquire of the Lord, as to what to do. His officials were able to locate a prophetess named Huldah. Her message from the Lord confirmed that God was indeed going to bring disaster on the land and people, but He would give King Josiah peace during his reign because he had a responsive heart
when he heard the Word of the Lord read to him.
2 Kings 23:1-3 And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2 And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD.
3 And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes
with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.
And all the people stood to the covenant.
Revival came and people recommitted their hearts
and lives to God. This is what we need today.
After this renewal, King Josiah set about ripping down pagan altars, burning occultic shrines, and killing the occultic priests. He removed the vile articles made for Baal and Asherah worship. He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes. King Josiah cleaned house.
The last thing he did was to re-institute the observance of the Passover. Not only had the Bible been neglected, but they even neglected to observe Passover. 2 Kings 23:22 says,
“Not since the days of the judges who led Israel,
nor throughout the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, has any such Passover been observed.” It had been 750 years since the Jews had celebrated the Passover.
Josiah was a godly king. “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did – with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.”
Through the acts of one righteous man a nation was saved from destruction, at the hands of a fierce and angry God.
Listen, if one righteous man can bring revival to a whole nation, imagine what a whole church full of Spirit filled believers can do to their city, state, nation and the world.
So, what can we learn about revival from King Josiah’s life?
There are 6 principles of revival here: Preparing for Revival.
1. The conditions for revival must be present.
2. We must rediscover the Word of God.
3. We must fall under conviction for our sin.
4. We must seek after God.
5. We must repent of our sin.
6. We must rediscover our spiritual heritage.
1. The conditions for a revival must be present.
Jewish society had sunk to the lowest levels of moral depravity and God was ready to destroy them all.
Look around, our society today looks the same.
This year in the United States approximately 2.2 million people will die. Research says that more than 1 million of these people are unsaved. Only 35% of the US adult population have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That means that two-thirds of the adult population are headed for hell. Yet, 9 out of 10 Americans,
88%, consider themselves to be Christians.
In America, half of all adults who attend church are “not” born again Christians. These are people who attend church regularly, yet do not know Jesus as their personal savior.
Most Christians behave no differently from non-Christians in America. Barna research group found that there are no statistically significant differences between the two.
61% of Americans say there is no such thing as the
Holy Spirit or Satan or Hell, this includes Christians.
Only one out of four adults and even fewer teenagers, believe that there is such a thing as absolute moral truth. The Bible is relegated to nothing more than a book of “helpful suggestions”. Without absolute moral truth, there can be no right and wrong. Without right and wrong, there is no such thing as sin. Without sin, there can be no such thing as judgment and no such thing as condemnation or conviction. If there is no conviction, there is no need for a Savior.
America is in spiritual darkness and it’s time for revival.
2. We must rediscover the Word of God. The Jewish people of King Josiah’s day not only, didn’t read the Bible,
they had lost it. Most everyone here knows exactly where their Bible is, and if you don’t, you’re in trouble with God.
Christians spend more time watching television in one night than he or she spends reading the Bible in an entire month.
Listen, spiritual decline occurs when God’s Word is denied or neglected; revival occurs when His Word is heard, understood and applied. The Bible and spiritual vitality are inseparable. You must read your Bible !!!!!!!
I want to make something perfectly clear, as your Pastor,
I will move you out of your “comfort zone”. Soldiers of the Cross can’t afford to get too comfortable, otherwise the enemy will catch us off guard and we’ll be hurt. So,
when you feel me pushing you outside your comfort zone,
don’t get mad, just rejoice, because you’re growing.
Hebrews 4:12-13, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”
3. We must fall under conviction for our sin. What did Josiah do after the Bible was read to him? (He tore his robes, humbled himself and wept). This was an act of true confession of sin. Josiah wept over his wicked soul, and the souls of his people, even though the Bible calls him good.
Each one of us INDIVIDUALLY must become broken and totally dependent on God’s mercy if we want to see a great revival sweep over us. We must get to the place where we have a broken and contrite heart, for God delights in you when you allow the Holy Spirit to do the work of conviction of sin in your heart. We must Repent for Revival.
Every revival throughout history has started with one
or a few individuals confessing their sins before the Lord and seeking his forgiveness. Then came revival.
4. We must seek after God. Once King Josiah confessed his sin and the sin of his people, he immediately sent his men to find a prophet to see what to do next. They found the prophetess Huldah who prophesied that judgment was coming, but, because of King Josiah’s repentance,
God promised to delay His judgement.
We need to get hungry for God. We need to be desperate for the things of God. We need to fall on our faces before God.
We need to rediscover the prophetic ministry which has been absent from many of our churches for so long.
Listen, God is here right now, the Holy Spirit is hovering over us right now, ready to meet us, ready to pour Himself into our lives, ready to move in a powerful revival.
Isa. 55:6 “seek the Lord while He may be found,
call upon Him while he is near.”
5. We must repent of our sin. But we can’t repent and hold on to it at the same time. It doesn’t work that way. We have to be serious about repentance. Repentance means taking action to turn away from your sin. It is making a 180 degree turn away from sin. This is serious, we must repent, now.
When King Josiah realized how serious the sins of his people were he immediately began to do something about it. He called everyone together in Jerusalem, read the Word to them and then had an altar call. He recommitted his life to God through promising to uphold the covenant and laws
of the Lord, and the people did the same.
It would be good for us to say with Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Let’s say it together as a group “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
As part of the repentance, King Josiah tore down the pagan altars, killed the leaders of the occult. This is why I preach so hard against Halloween, Horoscopes and Horror Movies.
We have to examine our hearts and lives to see if there is any hidden sin there. We must ask the Holy Spirit to identify our sins to us – so we can confess, repent and be clean from sin.
Like King Josiah, we may need to “clean house”. We may need to physically throw away some “stuff” that causes us
to sin. What have you got in your house that needs to go?
6. We must rediscover our spiritual heritage. For King Josiah and the Jewish people it was the re-institution of the Passover. The Passover reminded them that God delivered them out of Bondage from Egypt. The Passover points to Jesus as the savior of the world. He is our Passover Lamb, whose blood has been painted on the door-posts of our hearts. Because of his blood we are free from the bondage
of sin and death and have life everlasting with Jesus.
It was during the celebration of the Passover meal that Jesus gave the disciples instructions to celebrate communion.
At the time of King Josiah, the Passover had been neglected for 750 years. In the same way, the doctrines of the church fall into neglect, when they are not practiced.
1 Corinthians 12:7-11 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
If we neglect our Pentecostal heritage, we will fail to pass it on to the next generation. Let’s continue to maintain the blessings of Pentecost here at Bethel Church.
Alright, what have we learned about Revival:
1. The conditions for a revival must be present.
2. We must rediscover the Word of God.
3. We must fall under conviction for our sin.
4. We must seek after God.
5. We must repent of our sin.
6. We must rediscover our spiritual heritage.
Joel 2:12-13 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 And rend your heart,
and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
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