2 Kings 22

[0:00] Take your Bibles, go into 2 Kings chapter 22. 2 Kings chapter 22. We will look at the 22nd chapter in its entirety this evening. 2 Kings chapter 22.

[0:14] We'll be looking at an individual that was mentioned in Matthew this morning, that was mentioned in the genealogy of Christ, which we've looked at a number of them.

[0:24] We're looking at Josiah, who becomes the father of Jeconiah. Now, we can discuss this here. In Jewish reckonings of genealogies, for instance, Josiah is not the father of Jeconiah first generation.

[0:45] Josiah is more like the grandfather or the great-grandfather of Jeconiah. Okay, so understand there is selectivity put into the names of the genealogies of the Jewish people, and sometimes it is to fit their purpose, to get 14 to count the number 14.

[1:05] Matthew put those names and put those 14s, and he also counted Jeconiah twice, which rather than discouraging us from its authenticity, really should cause us to step up and say, of all the names he could have picked, why did he pick these names?

[1:20] Right? Because that's even what we see happening in Genesis chapter 5. I know that's this morning's message, but again, we dive into it a little bit further.

[1:31] When you read Genesis chapter 5, you read that this son was born, and he had other sons and daughters, and then he died, this child was born, he had other sons and daughters, and he died, this child was born, he had other sons and daughters, and he died.

[1:42] And we don't have a full record of genealogies. We have those names that are recorded for us in Scripture so that we can just continue. Again, the focus of Scripture is not man.

[1:55] The focus of Scripture is the glory of God. So we are looking at God's interactions with man. So I say that because on the heels of reading the genealogy of Christ, as we just continue to make in the next few weeks, we continue to make our way through 2 Kings, because it will take us several weeks, because we're not meeting this Wednesday, not meeting next Wednesday, because of New Year's.

[2:19] But over the next few weeks when we see this, you'll say, well, Josiah is not the father, per se, of Jeconiah. In Kings, it would be Jehoiachin, because there's Jeconiah, Jehoiachin, and Koniah all the same person.

[2:33] But he is more grandfather, and that is absolutely true. But just like David is called the father of so many, and some of them are descendants on down the line, rather than fathers, per se.

[2:48] Anyway, complete side note. I can do it on Sunday night, because we have the opportunity, right? So complete side note is just looking at it. So let's look at 2 Kings chapter 22.

[3:00] Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidiah, the daughter of Adiah of Bosca.

[3:11] He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father. Here's a prime example of that, of his father, David. Nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left.

[3:22] Now in the 18th year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshulam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying, Go up to Hilkiah, the high priest, that he may count the money brought into the house of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people.

[3:42] Let them deliver it 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 in the house of the Lord to repair the damages of the house, to the carpenters and the builders and the masons, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house.

[3:58] Only no accounting shall be made with them for the money delivered into their hands, for they deal faithfully. Then Hilkiah, the high priest, said to Shaphan, the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.

[4:11] And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, who read it. Shaphan, the scribe, came to the king and brought back word to the king, said, 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.

[4:26] Moreover, Shaphan, the scribe, told the king, saying, Hilkiah, the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king.

[4:38] When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded Hilkiah, the priest, Ahiakim, the son of Shaphan, Achbor, the son of Micaiah, Shaphan, the scribe, and Esaiah, the king's servant, saying, Go inquire of the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found.

[4:59] For great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us. So Hilkiah, the priest, Ahiakim, Achbor, Shaphan, and Esaiah, went to Hodah, the prophetess, the wife of Shalom, the son of Tikva, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe.

[5:21] Now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter, and they spoke to her. And she said to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, tell the man who sent you to me, thus says the Lord, Behold, I bring evil on this place.

[5:33] And on its inhabitants, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read, because they have forsaken me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands.

[5:45] Therefore my wrath burns against this place, and it shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, regarding the words which you have heard, because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse.

[6:09] And you have torn your clothes and wept before me. I truly have heard you, declares the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place.

[6:24] So they brought back word to the king. 2 Kings chapter 22. I want you to see here a time of great discovery. A time of great discovery.

[6:35] Namely, the discovery of the book of the law. We don't really understand, no one really knows, just how the book of the law, or the scroll more than likely of the Torah, the first, the Pentateuch, and the writings that accompanied the Pentateuch, and it was according to the book of the law.

[6:54] We don't really know how it was lost, but here we have the discovery of it. There are some hypotheses as to how that book was lost. Many believe that it was probably hidden, and it was hidden during the days which preceded the king Josiah because his father and his grandfather, who were not really that good, well, actually, they were not good at all, and they had reintroduced idolatrous worship, and they had went into this time of worshiping Baal, and they had let the temple go into disrepair.

[7:25] Many people believe that Manasseh ordered the destruction of all of the copies and scrolls of the book of the law, and this one was probably hidden. It is also, really, the opinion of many that this was the scroll that was near the Ark of the Covenant in the inner portion of the temple, and since the temple was in disrepair because it had been forsaken, the true worship of the Lord God had been forsaken for a number of years during those repairs.

[7:53] Now, all of a sudden, we have this great discovery of the book of the law. Again, it is just a testimony how God preserves his word throughout history.

[8:04] I was reading just this past week again, and I do it quite often from time to time. It is good to always go back and just look at the faithfulness of God and the preservation of his word and how we can be confident and when we open up Scripture that this is the word of God, we have the assurance that we can say beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is what God has said.

[8:28] Understanding that what we are reading is the full canon of Scripture, just really reading of how we got the canon of Scripture, where it was officially recognized shortly before.

[8:40] The canon of Scripture, by the way, is closed to just, I don't know why I do this to you on Sunday night, but I think it's good to do. Many people dispute when was the canon or the canon would be the full complete Scripture.

[8:52] When were the 66 books compiled? Some say, well, it wasn't officially recognized until the mid-300s. Some say it was in the 400s, but the canon of Scripture closed when John wrote the book of Revelation, which would be somewhere around 100, right?

[9:06] And even the early church fathers, that is, those that preceded the conclusion of the book of Revelation and those who were the recipients of the book of Revelation, think 130 A.D., somewhere around, those early church fathers were already referring to the fullness of Scripture and naming all 66 books as a complete version of Scripture.

[9:28] So very early on, they were already there. But again, we can see all the discussions and everything else, but there's so much testimony is the way God preserves His Word, that we can have just this confidence that when we come to it, that what we're reading is actually what the Lord God said.

[9:46] Now, we have just manuscript evidence after manuscript evidence and all these different things, but in this time, the days of Josiah, there was the, really the scrolls were very limited.

[10:01] And for one to be found, what an amazing discovery it was. Something that had been forgotten about, something that had been neglected, something that possibly had attempted to be destroyed, and here is the book of the law.

[10:18] You need to know that Josiah is the last, quote unquote, good king of Judah before the Babylonian captivity. He's the last of the kings in which we will read that he did what was right in the sight of the Lord.

[10:29] Every king following him does not do that. Those kings following him do what is wicked in the sight of the Lord, and we are rapidly going to the Babylonian captivity. Remember, the Babylonian captivity or the being led away into captivity to Babylon has already been set.

[10:44] It is something that is already there. We've already reached that kind of tipping point, and we're already rapidly on our way. But here, the grace of God is displayed because here's King Josiah. He is one who does what is right.

[10:57] But why during this time, would the book of the law be found? Why the discovery then? There are some things, I think, or attributes that we can find that kind of make it a fit time for its discovery.

[11:10] Again, if God ordains and orchestrates every event of man, what is unique about these days? Why is this the period in which God wants to reveal and highlight? I think about the Dead Sea Scrolls, right, in the 1940s.

[11:25] All of a sudden, this great discovery of all the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Qamran region of lower Israel where there's a shepherd boy who's walking around and throws a rock into a cave and hears an odd sound.

[11:38] It's because there are scrolls in these clay jars, and that just completely changes what we have as testimonial evidence of Scripture. It is astounding when we can just see how God chooses epics to say, here it is.

[11:53] Here's the Word of God. And so we look at this time and say, what is going on? There's four things I want you to see tonight. We'll make our way through quickly. Number one, we see that first there is a heart that is prepared for this discovery.

[12:07] There is a heart that is prepared. Now, when we're reading 2 Kings, again, we want to read it in connection to the parallel passages we find in 2 Chronicles. We don't want to go there so much so tonight because eventually we will make our way there and we'll preach the same sermon.

[12:22] But we understand it here. In 2 Kings, it says, Josiah was eight years old when he became king. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord. As his father David did, he did not turn to the right nor to the left.

[12:33] So that is, he didn't just have a good start. He ended well as well. There are some kings who have a good start and in the end, pride or, you know, when they become strong or they do all these things, their ending is not that good.

[12:46] Josiah is not that. He consistently follows the Lord. So when he is eight years old, he becomes king. Our next account in 2 Kings is in his 18th year.

[12:58] So therefore, during his 18th year of his reign, he will be 26, right? So we skip a number of years. We go from 8 to 26 and we see during the 26th year of his life, the 18th year of his reign, the book is found.

[13:13] But there's a lot that takes place in the meantime. And so to get that, we would have to go to 2 Chronicles. I'm not going to ask you to turn there. But if you were to read the parallel account found in Chronicles, where the chronicler tells us what goes on.

[13:27] When he is eight years old, he becomes king. In the eighth year of his reign, at the age of 16, it says that he sets his heart to know the Lord God. That's astounding because his father, not David, but his father, his biological father, was not a man who knew God nor wanted to know God.

[13:45] But in the eighth year of his reign, he set his heart to know the Lord God. So he made a determined time and a determined effort at the age of 16 that I will know the Lord.

[13:56] In the twelfth year of his reign, when he is now 20 years old, he begins to cleanse. So in the eighth year of his reign, he sets his heart to know the Lord his God.

[14:08] Four years later, after really just being really young in the faith, in the fourth year of his faith, quote unquote, what we would call it, in the twelfth year of his reign, he begins to cleanse the land of Judah.

[14:20] It is Josiah who is the fulfillment of the very early prophecy to Jeroboam. I know you've probably already forgot about the prophecy of Jeroboam. Jeroboam is the one that, when the kingdom is divided, Jeroboam is the one who builds the altars and the golden calves up to the north, right?

[14:37] And you remember that prophet who comes to Jeroboam and says that one will arise who will burn the ashes of the men who offer sacrifices to the false idols. That man is Josiah.

[14:49] And that's in the twelfth year of his reign. In the twelfth year of his reign, not only does he cleanse the land of Judah, he cleanses all the land of Israel. He goes into Samaria. He goes into the upper, the northern kingdom that's not there anymore because he knows, right?

[15:05] He's seeking the Lord. This is the people of the Lord God. And he destroys the altars. He burns the bones of those. He digs up those false prophets and those false teachers and those who offered sacrifices.

[15:20] And he burns the bones, thus fulfilling the prophecy that was spoken so many years ago when Rehoboam and Jeroboam split the kingdom. And he is really out to cleanse the land.

[15:32] He restores the offerings being brought into the temple because here we have that they empty the treasury box. Well, that had been done away with. So he restores that. He is in the process of restoring the temple.

[15:45] And are we any wonder that in the 18th year of his reign, they found a book? Because now for 10 years, he has set his heart to know the Lord his God. What does the word of God tell him?

[15:56] If you seek me, you will find me. Right? So for 10 years, he had set his heart to know the Lord his God without a single copy of scripture.

[16:06] 10 years later, there's a book that is found. That's pretty amazing. That's pretty amazing.

[16:17] He was walking in the light of the revelation, which he had. Not knowing, not being one who had the example of a godly home or could go home and open up the Bible and see what it says.

[16:30] He is just going upon the testimony of history and the testimony of what others had said. And he knew this worship of all these false gods were wrong and he had set his heart.

[16:41] So what we find is that it is a heart prepared. You know, Christ said that having eyes, they will not see and having ears, they will not hear. When he referred to his teaching, we also understand that it is the spirit that gives revelation to the word of God.

[16:58] My own personal testimony is that when I was young in age and even young in our marriage, I read scripture, never really understood scripture, but it wasn't until I set my heart to know the Lord that all of a sudden scripture began to speak to me.

[17:13] Because having eyes, we will not see and having ears, we will not hear. We will not be able to understand because the understanding of scripture is not by might nor by intelligence, but by the spirit of the Lord.

[17:25] So we find here that the first key and I tell him the individual, there are people who come and say, well, I've been reading Bible and I don't understand it. I said, well, try not to understand scripture. Try to know the Lord, your God, get your heart right with the Lord and let him speak scripture into your heart because this is a spiritual book that must be received by a spiritually empowered individual.

[17:49] So we understand that. This is not a book of intelligence, rather it is a book of revelation. It is intelligent, yes, but we don't gain our knowledge of it by becoming smarter.

[18:03] We gain knowledge of it by preparing the heart. So it's a heart prepared. Well, this heart prepared led to something else and the heart prepared led to the second thing and that is an empowered people. One thing that we have noticed and many of you know this because it happens in the workplace, it happens in society, but it also, it happens in the church and it happens even among the leaders of people.

[18:22] When an individual's heart is right, the people around them are empowered to fulfill their mission and their calling. When you walk into a church and everything flows, I'll just pick on pastors for one moment.

[18:37] Everything has to flow through that one person and that one person has to do everything else. It is not a control issue, it's a heart issue in the pastor because they're afraid that may be easily replaced.

[18:49] I know that because I know that feeling of insecurity. So in order to guard their position, quote unquote, they do it all. I did that.

[19:00] But when the heart has been softened and the heart understands and is prepared, then he begins to empower the other people around him to do what God is calling them to do.

[19:13] In workplaces, you know that, right? Your greatest supervisors are the ones who are most confident in their own position. They just are. And they understand their position and their heart is settled so they can empower and equip others to do the work without any feeling of discouragement, without any feeling of all that are going to be easily replaced or anything of that nature.

[19:36] We know that. And when we see King Josiah, what we see is all of a sudden he calls Shaphan the scribe and tells Shaphan the scribe to go to Hilkiah and he tells Shaphan the scribe and Hilkiah the priest to empty the treasury and to give it to those doing the work.

[19:48] Now that should catch your attention because this is not the first good king that emptied the treasury and gave it to the workers. The difference is that the last time this was done it was the king himself who counted out the money.

[20:01] And that king did not end well. Right? He had a good beginning. But at the end of his life where the priest who had raised him from the age of seven died and at the end of his life pride crept in.

[20:13] Why? Because everything was flowing through him. But now here all of a sudden Josiah is entrusting Shaphan the scribe and Hilkiah the priest count the money give it to the workers.

[20:25] Right? His hand isn't on it at all. You say well that's a very small matter. It is. It's a very small matter but it's a very important matter because stay with me in the train of this. And not only did they give it to the workers but he says only do not cause the workers to give an account.

[20:38] Do you notice this? He has no reckoning and no accounting for the workers. So for those buying the timber those buying the stones those doing the work on the temple he says they don't have to give me receipts.

[20:49] Now I'm not saying that Miss Lynn I understand the church we need to have receipts. I gave her receipts tonight. But he says give no accounting. Why? For they deal faithfully. So now all of a sudden we are entrusting the scribe and the priest and the workers to deal faithfully.

[21:07] He's not looking over their shoulder. He's not looking over his own shoulder. Why? Because his heart has been prepared and he has sought the Lord. And for 10 years he has led the nation in a renewal.

[21:19] And for 10 years prior to this they have sought the Lord. And for 10 years they have cleansed the immorality and the idolatry out of the nation. So now the people are free to operate within the realms of God's calling.

[21:35] And this is important. And the reason this is important is because when Shaphan goes to Hilkiah and Shaphan and Hilkiah empty the treasury and give it to the workers Hilkiah says hey while we're working we found a book.

[21:49] And they found a book. And Shaphan takes the book and Shaphan what does it say first? He read the book. Now again details matter.

[22:02] He read the book. But just in case you wonder if the people were empowered when Shaphan goes back to King Josiah he says everything you've asked us to do we've done it.

[22:13] We've given it to the workers. They've done this. And then what does it say? And we found a book. And notice what it says. And then Shaphan read it in the presence of the king.

[22:25] Now the reason I highlight the fact that he read it first is he knew what he was about to read to the king wasn't good news. Here's one of the here's one of the litmus tests if you're really empowering the people around you.

[22:42] Are they free to come tell you things that aren't good? He's the king of the land and a scribe is about to read to him something that's going to break his heart.

[22:56] Right? He tears his clothes. He cries out. Shaphan doesn't hesitate to read what he had already read it. He knew what he was about to read was going to not be good news.

[23:11] Some people believe that he had read from the book of Deuteronomy which said what the Lord God had said if you do not walk faithfully all these things are going to happen to you. That's probably where he was at. Right? Because when you unroll the scroll that would have been one of the first things he had came to.

[23:23] The last of the Pentateuch right? Is the book of Deuteronomy and all of a sudden it doesn't take very far. Wait a minute everything gets saying we shouldn't do we have done and it is saying that we're going to be handed over we're going to be led away into captivity we're going to do all these things right?

[23:35] And so this is probably where Shaphan is getting ready to read to the king and he tells him we did all that and then we found this book now let me read you this book. That is astounding. What if Shaphan was not empowered to do that?

[23:51] The king would have never heard. The king immediately prior to Josiah had made it his ambition to destroy these books and you need to know this in just a minute but you'll figure out why.

[24:07] The prophets who prophesied during the days of Josiah one of them ought to be very easily identifiable actually two of them are really easily identifiable because if you go to the book of Jeremiah Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 2 it says during the days of Josiah right?

[24:20] So Jeremiah prophesied during the days of Josiah all the way up until the deportation into Babylon. Habakkuk is another one who prophesied during the days of Josiah you remember Habakkuk though the cupboard be bare though the fields be empty yet I will praise you right?

[24:35] So Habakkuk is the prophesying during the days of Josiah and many people believe that Zephaniah so you have Habakkuk Zephaniah and Zechariah Malachi at the end of your Old Testament but Habakkuk and many people believe Zephaniah as well but definitely Jeremiah and Habakkuk were prophesying at that time now I say that because Jeremiah also wrote a book and he gave it to Barak who took it to the king what did the king do to it?

[25:02] He threw it into the fire and burned it right? So then Jeremiah had to rewrite the book again he wrote the scroll again so kings were known not to be very receptive of bad news but yet Josiah was and Shaphan was very comfortable reading the bad news to him this is the only way we get this great discovery the heart was prepared and the people are empowered and they're empowered to be able to tell him even what he may not want to hear but what we need to hear one of the greatest testimonies of any church and this church has this testimony from the very beginning ever since it's eight years about to complete eight years of pastoral ministry here one of the greatest testimonies this church has given is I have always been free to preach the word of God and have no nothing pushing back nobody's ever said oh you can't preach that or teach that so it is just being able to bring the word and let the word speak and so what has happened here is Josiah has taken that place

[26:12] Shaphan has given the freedom to bring the word to him without any fear of judgment a heart prepared and empowered people number three a humble position a humble position now Josiah is king of the land for ten years he has set his heart to know the Lord God he has just now received word from God but what does it say that when the king heard these words of the book of the law he tore his clothes other kings have torn their clothes and shown a little bit of sign of remorse but Josiah is a genuine display of humbleness when the king heard these words his heart was broken his life was reflective of it we see that in just a minute where he declares that he is humbled we also see his humility because the king commanded Hilkiah the priest Ahakam the son of Shaphan Achbor the son of Micaiah and Shaphan the scribe and Esiah the king's servant saying go inquire of the

[27:12] Lord right he wants to know this is what God says somebody go get word for us and again we don't really see this coming it catches us a little bit off guard especially when we know the prophetic history of that time Jeremiah is prophesying during those days but they don't go to Jeremiah Habakkuk is prophesying during that time but nobody goes to Habakkuk Zephaniah may have been prophesying during that time but nobody goes to Zephaniah they go to Huldah the prophetess this is the only mentioning of Huldah the prophetess in all of scripture we know nothing about her prior to this we know nothing about her after this but during this really critical time the king receives a prophecy from a lady whose husband is the keeper of the wardrobe in the second quarter of

[28:17] Jerusalem second quarter would be it was the new part of the city it's not the old part it's not the city of David it's the expanded when the city was expanded that would be the second quarter the wardrobe probably the priestly garments now this is not a lady who has the prophetic ministry ongoing prophetic ministry of others Jeremiah we meet prophetesses in scripture but we meet them and normally it is a one time event where there is a prophecy declared from this prophetess it's not one who is living out in the ministry ministerial ongoing role as Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel those roles but we do see here all of a sudden the humility of the king because the king accepts this prophecy Jeremiah would have been our most likely candidate if we're going to find out what God has to say and again we don't know why they don't seek counsel from Jeremiah we don't know why they don't approach probably if we're just looking into it geographically speaking

[29:20] Holder was a lot more accessible than anyone else Jeremiah did circuit ministry and he was not always right there around it was probably such a time in which they said we need to know a word and someone says here's someone who can deliver a word for us and so they go to hold of the prophetess and the king of the land receives the prophecy through the mouth of a woman what humility and again he empowers he doesn't tell them where to go find the word he just empowers them to go seek counting it there's nothing of that nature it is just the humility to accept it and even in her word of prophetic fulfillment she says because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself so we understand this your heart was tender and you humbled yourself which leads us to the fourth and final thing times of great discovery come with a heart that is prepared empowered people a humble position and they result in an assuring promise there is an assuring promise the promise of security that is given to the king was a direct result of the king's heart and position so the prepared heart which takes on a position of humility will receive promises of assurance from the word of

[30:51] God it was the word of God that moved the king to be broken and it is the word from God through the prophetess Huldah that will assure the king of his ongoing security what he reads or has read to him from the word ensures that they will be led away into captivity it is not a matter of discussion because the reality is it is right there in black and white in the word of God that everything that they have done up we'll be led away into captivity he says we've done what is wicked we've done what is wrong we need to know how long we have but it is the same word from God that gives the king assurance it flows through the prophetess Huldah but it is the word of God the word which broke him is the word which assures him and the prophecy comes back says but to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord thus shall you say to him regarding the words which you have heard because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the

[32:00] Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against this inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse and you have torn your clothes and wept before me I truly have heard you the first assurance that we have from the Lord is that he heard the cry of Josiah he says I've heard you and I have heard you he says therefore behold I will gather you to your fathers and you will be gathered to your grave in peace and your eyes will not see the evil which I will bring on this place now you need to know when we read the remainder of Josiah's story he dies in battle he didn't die in peace no he died maybe in the midst of a physical conflict but he died with a heart of peace why because he never deviated nor to the right nor to the left and he didn't see the destruction which very rapidly comes upon the land after his death he dies with a heart full of peace maybe at war with man but at his life is a result of the discovery that happened during the 18th year of his reign it will lead to other things we'll see as we continue on in the 23rd chapter

[33:22] Josiah's reforms and everything that he brings to the land of Judah but what we see is that one pivotal year when the word of God was discovered and the word of God spoken to the heart of Josiah broke him so that he could be in this position of receiving the promise of assurance that came from him but it was a heart prepared to people empowered in a humble position that led to this assuring promise too many people want to come to the word of God and say I need it now and I want it here but sometimes it's a matter of preparing the heart and bending the knee where God to speak into every situation we just need God to speak and then we realize that he is speaking into our every situation I often repeat the words of A.W.

[34:16] Tozer and it is a reality in my own sermon preparation and I've said it before I would be almost embarrassed if many of you saw how I prepared for sermons A.W.

[34:26] Tozer said that I believe the man of God ought to meditate on the word of God twice as long as he reads the word of God so that is we ought to meditate on it twice as long as we read it most of our time we're trying to read it to get something from it rather than reading it and allowing it to do something to us so most of my sermon preparation is saying Lord get my heart right get my knees right and now speak to me it is the heart prepared it is the empowered people and it is the humble position that brings the assuring promises to the people of God and during their times of great discovery 2nd Kings chapter 22 let's pray and then we'll be dismissed we thank you for every opportunity which we have to open it up realizing that that is a time of great discovery you're speaking to us through your word we pray that our hearts would be prepared to hear it that our lives would be responsive to it that even as you speak through and to the people around us that we would receive it for your glory thank you for the way your word continues to speak today thank you that we don't have to wait for it to be found but we have to pick it up and let it find us father we ask that you be glorified in the days ahead what a grand season you've put us in a season of celebrating the coming of

[36:12] Emmanuel a season where the word became flesh and dwelt among! Let's take moments to praise and to worship and adore you for we know that that coming brought with it the great assurances of promise may you be glorified and honored even as we leave here tonight in all that we do in the minutes hours and days ahead and we ask it all in Christ's name amen thank you guys really appreciate you thank us Thank you.

[37:51] Thank you.