Sermon Title .

Making A Difference Part 3

Sermon Text.. 2 Kings 23:4-25
Invocation Scripture. . 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
Main Idea: King Josiah made a difference because he
was willing for God to begin working in
him!
Objective :

Making A Difference Begins with Me P3

2 Kings 23:1-25

Point I :

The Covenant. . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Kings 23:1-3

Point II:

The Cleansing .. . . . . . . . . . 2 Kings 23:4-21

Point II : The Commemoration. . . . 2 Kings 23:22-25

Making A Difference Begins with Me P3

2 Kings 23:1-25
We come back to the life of King Josiah to complete this
series. At the very young age of 8 Josiah was made king
after the death of his father, Amon. At the age of 26
during the renovation of the temple a book of the Law was
found. After the priest read the book to him, he was
appalled and tore his clothes as a sign of repentance.
We began our at this point and considered FIRST
THE COVENANT.... We saw the King call all the leaders
and priests together. He wanted them to hear and
understand what he had heard and understood from the
Book of the Law of God! As they walked through the
city from the Palace to the temple the people gathered and
went along. King Josiah then personally read the Word of
God from the book of the Law to them. They all stood
and listened. (Amazing that they would stand in the heat
of the day for hours and listen) He then stood at the Pillar
of the temple, a symbol of stability and permanence and
made a covenant with God to obey the words of the Book
of Gods Law. So we saw the King made a Covenant as
a result of the Word of God and the scripture says that all
the people joined in too! This Covenant lead to our
Second point and the message we considered last Sunday,
THE CLEANSING. We saw that the King began there
at the temple to cleanse it and to restor the True Worship
of the one TRUE living God! King Josiah was serious
about Gods Word and serious about the Covenant he
made, it was not just lip service, but life service!!
Transformational!! He literally put feet to his faith! We
looked at that powerful verse James 1:22 as a NT

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correlary to this act on the part of King Josiah. We read..

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not
merely hearers who delude themselves.
As we read this long section of scripture and began to see
all the pagan gods, practices and rituals that had been
brought into the Temple, I hope that you were appalled!!
Even more as we considered the truth of what is going on
in our nation today, where even Sodomites are honored
and even made Priests... We recognize that we have slid
down that slippery slope of compromise and rejection of
God!!
I then turned the table on us to consider the truth
that we are individually a temple of God... I reminded us
of what Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 6:19 where we read
do you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God,
and that you are not your own?
I asked the question of us concerning how much of
the world and of paganism, that God has delivered us
from through faith in Christ, have we allowed back into
our lives? Or perhaps... have never allowed the Holy
Spirit to eradicate! For you see beloved... If I am living in
the world and of the world, when I come to church on
Sunday I am bringing that worldliness, that ungodliness
into the very house of God!
O beloved... I can not stress with too much emphasis
the critical importance of allowing God through the
indwelling power of the Holy Spirit and the Truth of His
Holy Word to clean us up, to clean us out, that we might

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be fit vessels for His use!!

I asked the VERY SERIOUS questions
How do we honor and respect and Revere God in our
In our Worship...
In our Praying...
In our Bible Reading?...
In our Witnessing.... For that matter....
In our daily Living?....
I called us last week to consider the truth that there
is no room in our life for things that arent of God! They
will only weigh us down, trip us up, pull us into problem,
divert our energy, sap our strength, and reduce us to
ruin!
We must eliminate the ungodly influences in our
lives if we are to Make a Real Difference for God in
this World! It was indeed much to think about beloved...
And so we come today to our third and final point...
The Celebration... the Commemoration of the Passover.
So turn back with me to 2 Kings 23: 21-25. As you turn
there you may want to make a note that the details of this
passover celebration are recorded in 2 Chronicles 35:1-19.
Jot that down and read it sometime this afternoon.
< < < Read: 2 Kings 23:21-25 > > >
Point III: The Celebration. . . . . . . . 2 Kings 23:21-25
The command: 2 King 23:21
Notice first beloved, that we have here again a
1) Command of the King. As Americans, we dont like
anyone to command us.. To tell us what to do... in fact, if
the truth be known, its not just Americans... it is the

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Human race.... We are a rebellious people!

Not that I think that this command was in any way a
harsh thing, in fact, the King here has a very tender heart
toward the people and for their needs... If you take the
time to read the account of this event in 2 Chronicles that I
mentioned earlier, you will see that the King actually
contributed an incredible amount to the celebration of this
Passover in order that everone would have provision. We
read in 2Ch 35:7
Josiah contributed to the lay people, to all who were
present, flocks of lambs and young goats, all for the
Passover offerings, numbering 30,000 plus 3,000
bulls; these were from the king's possessions.
We read a little further down in this passage that the King
made sure all the lay people had provisions.
2Ch 35:13 So they roasted the Passover animals on
the fire according to the ordinance, and they boiled
the holy things in pots, in kettles, in pans, and
carried them speedily to all the lay people.
I also found it incredibly interesting that this King was
aware of and atuned to the plight of those who were
working the 2nd and 3rd shifts.. For we also read in
2Ch 35:15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were
also at their stations according to the command of
David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer;
and the gatekeepers at each gate did not have to
depart from their service, because the Levites their
brethren prepared for them.
Listen friends... Being commanded is not a bad thing
when the commands are right and just!

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Consider the truth that from childhood with our

families we are commanded by parents, in school we are
commanded by teachers and principles, God has instituted
government to enforce His laws and so that command us,
and when we enter the working world, our bosses,
managers and supervisors command us.
We often need in our lives strong individuals to
call on us to do the right things!! To lead us to do the
right things! And yes... when necessary even to
COMMAND us to do the right things!! There is
nothing wrong with that at all! It helps to set the course
and direction of our lives and gives us the foundations
upon which we can learn to make good and right
decisions!!
Whats bad is when we get convinced that we can
do our own thing, when we come to believe that we can
pursue our own interest to the exclusion of all else! When
we cast off RIGHT authority and refuse to obey what we
know, literally from centuries of human experience is
good and right and true!!
In many ways I believe this is what we have come to
in our world today. We think we that can reject what is
good and right and true! We have removed the standard
that provides the moral and ethical values that shaped our
nation and our culture. Seeding these falacys assures that
each successive generation will become more deluded and
more confused, more wicked than the previous!
What may be even worse is when we put leaders
into place that actually command us to do evil! This is
exactly what Josiahs Grandfather and Father had done to

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Judah..
Is that not what we face in America today?? Is that
not why Lt. Cmdr. Wes Modder was almost kicked out of
the Navy, a Chaplain who stood on Clear Biblical
Principles against the Homosexual community that is
embraced and loved by the media... Is that not why Kim
Davis is in jail right now, with no bail?
Because we have elected leaders who are
commanding us to do what is evil? What is directly
and I might add, BLATANTLY against Gods Holy
Word?
So what is the source for RIGHT commands?
Where do we turn for CORRECT direction and guidance
for our lives and even more for our Celebrations....
Look back at your text at the end of vs 21
2Ki 23:21 ..."Celebrate the Passover to the LORD
your God as it is written in this book of the
covenant."
King Josiah goes right back to the Word of God! That IS
THE SOURCE!!! It was Gods Word that cleared the fog
of his fathers and grandfathers teaching... The Word of
God, that renewed his mind so that he could see with
clarity the folly of the nation and the coming judgement of
God for sin!!!
Listen to me and hear me well this morning, it is
ONLY the Holy Word of God that can Clear the Fog,
Renew the Mind, Transform the Heart and Redirect
the Attitudes and Actions of mankind!!
That is the place we should always go beloved to
know what we should do and how we should do it!!

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That is the source that is dependable and reliable!!

It is the source that gives guidance and direction // the
source that is fulfilling, that is satisfying, that leaves us
full and content, at rest and at peace.... Any other source,
any other answer does not satisfy, does not fulfill, does
not provide reliable guidance and direction!!
Listen friends making a difference in our World
means returning to the TRUE WORSHIP of the ONE
True and Living God! Making a Difference means
Celebrating God in accordance with His guidance and
direction... He is to be the center and focus of our life
and our FAITH!!
We must understand that the God of the Bible is a
God of order, of purpose... A God of Command! He has
prescribed for us how we are to worship Him and we must
conform to His calling and His command, His will and
His ways!!
I grieve when I consider what goes on in some
churches today... I cringe when I hear some so called
ministers take up the Politically Correct line that would
accept and even bring into the church the wickedness and
ungodliness of our world.... It is so hard to believe that in
just my short life time, we have moved from a point where
God and the Bible and the 10 Commandments were
welcomed in our schools and public venues to where we
are today that they are rejected... Where now our faith
supposedly has no business in the public realm, and
worse, where we can now be jailed for standing on our
faith!
I get sick to my stomach when I hear people stand

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against prayer in our schools, chanting the liberal line

whose prayer are we going to pray. There is no
question what kind of prayer we will pray! The kind of
prayer that was accepted in our nation from 1607 to 1963!
What kind of prayers? Prayers to the God of the Bible!
Prayers in the name of the blessed Holy Son of the God of
the Bible, Jesus Christ!! Thats what Kind of Prayers!!!
And hear me... Prayers to the ONLY Faith that
allows all others to practice something else or even
nothing at all!
See if you can get that freedom, that liberty from
Islam? From Hindu?... I read even this week that
Hindus in India were threatening to cut Christians into
pieces if they continue to practice Christianity and speak
in the name of Jesus. A pastor and his family were forced
to go through a ritual of accepting Hinduism and
renouncing Christianity or being killed.
In fact... I am wondering why there isnt a ground
swell of Christians jumping in their church vans and
church buses, headed up to Rowan County Kentucky to
protest the outrageous actions of this judge against Kim
Davis... // But perhaps... perhaps that is a scathing
indictment of just how far away WE RELALLY ARE
from the one True Living God... // a WITNESS of just
how divorced the church has become from the Word
of God and His Commands, His Holiness... a
TESTIMONY of just how FEW REAL Christians
there may actually be in America today. (Pause)
HELLO... Did you hear that?... (Pause)
Do the words of Jesus Christ ring in your ears from Matt 7

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Mat 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate; for

the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to
destruction, and there are many who enter through
it. (14) "For the gate is small and the way is
narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find
it.
LISTEN TO ME... LISTEN....
||: There is never a time when it is WRONG to
stand for God! :||
I feel like we are living once again in the days of Acts...
When Peter and the Apostles were ordered not to speak in
the name of Jesus, they had to make a choice... Obey God
or Obey Man?.... That is the choice we now face!
If these Activist, Liberal Federal Judges are allowed to
continue to make law by fiat... Religious Freedom is gone
in America!!
Protestant chaplains are commanded by superiors
not to pray in the name of their God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, yet Muslims can pray in the name of Allah....
- School students are told they cant say a blessing in the
cafeteria or wear Christian T-Shirts to school lest they
offend someone...
- Teachers are told to take Bibles off their desk in offices
across America.
When we remove prayer and Bible reading from every
venue of our culture and the 10 commandments from our
schools... thats how Kim Davis can go to jail for
standing against Sodomy... And by the way, she was
actually upholding the Law in her state. We must

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remember that the Supreme Court of the United States can

not make a law. There is no Law in America Granting
Same Sex Marriage!!! The Congress has never made such
a law. All they did was rule a State Law unconstitutional,
which by the way, was a miscarriage of justice!! But the
media and the liberal elite have convinced us that it is now
law... ITS NOT!! The Supreme court can only determine
if it THINKS a law that Congress makes or the laws that
individual states make are Constitutional.
But we are so gullible, we are so bullied and
gullable to a wicked and depraved media and news service
that we act as if the Supreme Court has made a law that
these people can marry! NOT SO... CONGRESS is the
only branch of the Government given the authority by the
Constitution to make law... The Executive branch is
tasked with executing the laws that Congress makes and
the Courts are there to make sure the laws that are made
square with the Constitution. But we dont understand
that today, because we are not teaching our children
HOW to think in our public schools... We are
indoctrinating them, brain washing them, teaching
them WHAT to think!!
The two are as different as night and day. Teaching
you HOW to think, so that you can reason and understand,
go to various sources and determine what is Good and
Right and True, verses indoctrinating you about WHAT to
think , so that you do what you are told and follow the
prevailing cultural standard... Those two are very
different. The first provides freedom and liberty, the 2nd
promotes oppression and slavery.

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We are truly living in a time where we, as Christians

are finding ourselves faced with what Peter and the
Apostles faced. They were told not to speak or teach in
Jesus name and their response... Turn to Acts 5:29.... It is
a verse we would do well to memorize and take to heart!!
Act 5:29 But Peter and the apostles answered, "We
must obey God rather than men.
Listen friends King Josiah called the people to celebrate
the TRUE Worship of God, and as the Chronicles
passages tell us, he was careful to make sure that the
celebration followed the ceremonial guidelines that God
had set forth! You will also see from the Chronicles
account that he made sure everyone could participate.
As a result... EVERYONE from the highest to the
lowest, from the richest to the poorest was blessed, was
satisfied and was engaged.
You want a cause to live for? You want a noble
calling upon which to focus your life, then embrace
Biblical Christianity and begin your journey to reach
others with the message of the Gospel. It will change
their lives and it just may change this nation once
again!!
But look out... there are a growing number of
SUPPOSED professing Christians who have bought into
the lie and the world is going to choose to believe them,
so we WILL face persecution, misunderstanding and even
HOSTILITY as we continue to strive to live for Jesus and
for True Biblical Christianity!

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Listen friends. Josiah sought with great passion

and fervor to re-institute the true worship of God
within His nation! We must begin in our own lives, in
our families, to re-institute the TRUE worship of God!
We must begin in our CHURCHES to re-institute the
true Worship of God! To cast out anything and
everything that is not prescribed and modeled for us in
the NT church!
Listen to me... If we dont recapture our nation,
its social structures, government policy and schools,
America IS Doomed!
Let me just read some profound comments from The
Interpreters Bible Commentary Vol 3, page 316. a book
whose copyright is 1954.
We would do well to apply ourselves to a similar
task, to the rebuilding of religion into the structure of our
society. We have been building every-thing else, bridges,
dams, and highways; we have built temples of finance and
industry. But we have neglected the house of God, which
has fallen into disrepair. Our civilization from top to
bottom has become largely secular. The root trouble with
modern society is that religion has been left out of it. We
have left religion out of our business, out of our
education, out of our politics. We have not been building
religion into the lives of our people or into the life a the
nation. The time has come to rebuild the house of God.
And this involves fresh loyalty to the church in which
religion is always incorporated. For at no time and
nowhere has religion existed without incorporating itself
in institutional forms. Without a visible church, religion

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would doubtless remain as a source of private inspiration,

but it would not be a continuing and constructive force.
Without the church, the Christian religion can achieve
nothing as a social dynamic. The church needs to be
rebuilt in the loyalties and affections of men if religion is
to prosper in the land....
The rediscovery of the Bible has often marked an
epoch in the life of nations and of individuals. For
centuries it was a lost book. It existed only in MSS, or,
after the advent of printing, only in scarce volumes out of
the reach of the common people. Its rediscovery in the
days of Wycliffe and Luther meant the dawn of a new era
in the religious and moral life of Europe and laid the
foundation of our modern democracy. As in the life of
nations, so in the lives of men. A man has been brought up
on the Bible, instructed in it, but in later years be forgets
it. He is worshiping gods other than the God of the Bible:
material interests, wealth and pleasure, ambition and
success. And then some day, wearied and disillusioned, he
chances on the Bible, buried under an accumulation of
secular books and papers. He opens it and begins to read.
And then like Josiah, he rends his clothes. The message of
psalmist and prophet speaks home to his soul. And the
rediscovery of his Bible means a new chapter in that
man's life. Or the edifice of a man's life may have
collapsed. It lies in ruins all about him. And there among
the debris lies the Bible. He stumbles upon it and picks it
up. And no matter how modern or how self-sufficient he
may be, the Bible at a time of failure, or bereavement,
brings to him what he can find nowhere else. He

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discovers in it what no other book however enlightening,

can give him. For the lonely, suffering, sinning soul
there is no substitute for the Bible. When it comes to
restoring the soul, the law of the Lord is perfect. The
rediscovery of the Bible has meant a turning point in
many a mans history.
You see friends. The only thing that can make
an eternal difference is the LIVING WORD of God,
the Holy Bible! For those of us who meet on Wednesday
night, we understand this with Stark Clarity as we have
just studied in 2 Timothy that the Word of God is actually
ALIVE because it is God Breathed!! And when God
Breathes into something... It comes to life!!!
(And by the way... If you are missing Wednesday
night, you are missing a powerful time!)
It is by the Word of God and the Power of the
Holy Spirit of God confirming that Word in the heart
of the convicted sinner that the ultimate difference is
made!
It has to begin in the heart, mind and soul of man!
Listen friends... Listen... It must begin with me!
Making A Difference Begins with me!!
How I understand God, Christ and the Bible will
determine whether that difference is Good and Godly or
Wicked and Evil...
May I ask...
Have you discovered the Word of God?
Has it drawn you into covenant relationship,
in other words have you made a profession of
faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

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If so... the Proof is in the cleansing of your life...

Can the world see God working in you, convicting you,
cleaning you? Or do you still look just like the world?
Just like the person you were BEFORE Christ
SUPPOSEDLY came into your life??? Does the Word of
God dwell within you richly as Paul exhorts in
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within
you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one
another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
True faith brings cleansing, and life transformation...
false faith brings superficial commitment, nominal
allegiance and no REAL transformation!
And has the passionate desire to CELEBRATE the
forgiveness and deliverance that God has given you from
Sin through Faith in Jesus Christ? For this is TRULY
what the Passover and Israels deliverance from Bondage
to Egypt represents....
Do you so Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness that
you can stand to miss a Sunday morning service or a
Wednesday night Bible study...?
Think about it my friends...
You see...
Making a Difference DOES begin with me...
But the REAL question is...
What kind of a difference will you make?
Let us pray!