INTRO: 1. Spiritually times had never been darker for Judah, their sins where unspeakable.
a. Priests of Levi were now serving idols
b. Sexual perversions were conducted in the temple in name of worship.
c. Alters and idols sat on their roofs to offer sacrifices to the stars
d. Infants where placed into the red hot bronze hands of the idol Molech.
2. But a young man at the age of 16 would turn the tide of an entire nation because he determined that he’d live deliberately.
a. The Word of God doesn’t encourage us to be casual in our walk, but to live in a thoughtful and purposeful manner.
b. Like Josiah’s time, our society glorifies a shallow passive life where people merely respond to the circumstances that come their way.
c. But we’ve been designed to live a life that makes a difference, a deliberate life.
3. What does it mean to live deliberately?
a. Live in a premeditated manner –
1) American’s don’t want to think.
2) If we consider our lives, we’d live differently. (consider our walk)
3) No difference between man that can’ read and those who choose not to do so.
4) The enemy is winning by simply dumbing down the church.
b. Live in a purposeful manner – reason for what we do.
1) Life is accidental for far too many.
ILL. Billboard sign says “I like living, because it gives me something to do.”
2) Many live life without a clue.
c. Live in a proactive manner – not waiting for things to happen, making them happen.
1) Three types of people in the world.
a) Those who make things happen
b) Those who watch things happen.
c) Those who wonder what happened.
d. Live in a public manner – Our faith is not a private matter.
1) Enemy has put a gag order on the church, convincing us the philosophy of the world.
4. People who are not deliberate, assume too much
1) Assume that there’s nothing I can do about this old world.
2) Assume that what life has dealt them is all there is.
3) Assume that things will always be the way it is right now.
5. Deliberate Living creates an appetite for more of God.
a. See that as Josiah began to deliberately pursue God, his anointing and desire multiplied.
b. Just get deliberate about God in one area of your life and it will quickly spread throughout the entirety of your life and spill over onto others.
6. Time to stop saying “I know I need to do such and such” and start doing it!!
a. Josiah knew what needed to be done and he did it.
I. HE DELIBERATELY DEALT WITH HIS LEGACY
a. Dealt with the legacy he’d received from his forefathers and he dealt with the legacy he’d leave his children.
b. Judgement and righteousness must begin at home. It’s time to get deliberate about our families and their future.
c. People who are not deliberate, commit the sin of omission – things we neglect to do.
ILL. Promise keepers is probably the most successful men’s movement in the history of this country. It’s founder, Bill McCartney for many years was a successful football coach, it ruled his life. He thought his legacy would be being a great coach. One day at home he realized that while everything was fine on the field it wasn’t fine at home. He was neglecting his wife & children. It hit him that he was leaving a ‘legacy of neglect.’
A. JOSIAH OUTRIGHT REJECTED AN UNGODLY LEGACY
1. His grandfather was Manasseh, reigned for 52 years and was called the most wicked of all of Judah’s kings.
2. His father Amon reigned for just two years and carried out his father’s ways until he was murdered.
3. He wouldn’t let his family history be an excuse.
4. He wouldn’t let family tragedy be an excuse – murder of his father.
5. He wouldn’t waste his time looking for someone or something to blame.
6. Many struggle all their lives with the baggage of their childhood or the scars of an unrighteous family life, but by the liberating power of God it can stop here.
7. Josiah chose a better example to live by… David.
B. JOSIAH EMBRACED HIS GOD-GIVEN IDENTITY
1. He determined that he wasn’t who his circumstances made him, but who God made him.
2. For 300 years God had been waiting for Josiah
3. A prophet had predicted a Godly King even called him by name.
1 Kin. 13:1,2 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.
4. If you only knew what God had planned for you – you'd live deliberately.
5. You’re here right on time!
6. No other time in history that you’d be more effect than now.
C. JOSIAH GAVE HIS FAMILY A NEW LEGACY
1. You don’t have to pass down an ungodly legacy to your children, let God give you a new legacy: a legacy of Godliness and Power.
2. Your legacy isn’t so much what you say about God as it is what you do for God.
3. If you want a better world and life for your family… it’s time to get deliberate at home.
4. Today establish patterns of righteousness in the hearts of your children.
II. HE DELIBERATELY DEALT WITH SIN
a. There are things in our life, we cannot play with – they must be destroyed.
b. Josiah knew that God had made him king for a reason – to deal with the impurities and sin that had taken hold of Judah.
c. We need a demolition anointing. A seriousness about sin.
d. Don’t give up on this world, roll up your sleeves. Take a stand for righteousness.
A. JOSIAH PERMANENTLY DEALT WITH SIN
1. Knew enough about their idol worship to defile their sites… making it a place where they couldn’t rebuild their idols.
2. Ground the idols into powder.
3. While other kings had partially destroyed some groves and confronted a few of the idols, not so with Josiah – wouldn’t rest until Judah was 100% purged of idolatry.
4. Until we get this serious about sin in our lives, we’ll never make a difference in our world.
5. You may not be a king in one sense, but God has given you a realm of responsibility.
B. JOSIAH POSITIVELY DEALT WITH SIN
1. Josiah understood that dealing with sin wasn’t just destroying but building.
2. Josiah set out to restore the Temple of the Lord to it’s rightful place in the life of God’s people.
3. You can’t deal with impurities in your life without God having first place in your life.
4. Sanctification isn’t just about separation, it’s about consecration.
5. We can do damage to the kingdom of darkness, by building up the kingdom of God.
6. Church, worship, and a active relationship with Jesus must have a prominent place in our lives.
C. JOSIAH CORPORATELY DEALT WITH SIN
1. Called a “solemn assembly” bringing the congregation together.
2. One man can accomplish great things for God, but the entire congregation can accomplish so much more.
3. He encouraged the people to stand and enter into covenant with God themselves.
4. It was a public commitment to living deliberately for God.
5. I’m here this morning calling out for the church to arise and live deliberately against the tide of evil that is in our land.
6. We can make a difference, together as God’s people.
III. HE DELIBERATELY HEARD FROM GOD
a. What made Josiah so different. At age of 16 he began to seek God.
b. Didn’t just go to church. Sure didn’t go because his parents made him. He sought God.
c. Judah was religious, but Josiah knew God.
d. Question today must be: What does God have to say?
e. Do we really want to hear what God has to say today?
A. JOSIAH HEARD GOD THROUGH THE WRITTEN WORD
1. When we commit our selves to living deliberately for God, the Word will come alive to us.
2. He literally rediscovered the Word hidden in the temple.
3. He deliberately responded to God’s word – repented and tore his cloths
4. 3 choices concerning the word:
a. Remain ignorant of it
b. Learn it but not be moved by it
c. Learn it and let it move adn change you – a deliberate act
5. Time to bring it back to it’s proper place of authority
6. Time to bring it back to it’s proper place of power
ILL. Indian in church one Sunday morning. The sermon that morning lacked real spiritual food but the preacher did a lot of shouting and pulpit pounding to make up for his lack of preparation. When asked how he like the message the Indian said. “High wind. Big thunder. No rain.”
7. We need the refreshing rain of his Word again.
8. Required 12 hours for the Law to be read in their hearing.
B. JOSIAH HEARD GOD THROUGH THE PROPHETS
1. Sought out the prophetess Huldah to hear from God.
2. Huldah wasn’t afraid to give the Word of the Lord, and Josiah wasn’t afraid to hear it.
3. Huldah brought both bad news and good news to Josiah.
4. Judah would indeed pay for their rebellion and idolatry but God would postpone judgment for the duration of Josiah’s life.
5. We need to seek God until we hear from God for ourselves.
IV. HE DELIBERATELY STIRRED REVIVAL
a. Although he knew that judgment was merely postponed, he determined that this time could be a time of revival.
b. He stirred revival when it seemed that revival was impossible, in an evil time.
c. He stirred revival with the time he had been given.
d. God is looking for those who don’t just talk about revival, but pursues it and stirs it.
A. STIR IT PERSONALLY
1. When he heard the Word of God read, he ripped his royal garments and repented.
2. He was willing to let revival ignite in his heart first.
3. Until the church – not so much the world – gets ready to repent then we’ll know revival.
4. No time to wait for an evangelist, revival can start now!
B. STIR IT TO FLAME
1. This was the last revival of Judah before taken off into exile
2. Who knows, this may be America’s last chance for revival.
3. I want to be on the team of deliberate believers that reject the evil in the world we’ve adopted and determine to have a true revival.
