JOSIAH: THE NO LIMIT LIFE pt. 1
A man who truly wanted God to have ALL OF HIS LIFE!
2 Chronicles 34:1 - 3
1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
v. 3 MSG “When he had been king for eight years—he was still only a teenager—he began to seek the God of David his ancestor.
1. WE ARE ALL
Every leader is a seeker…
Continual pursuit for More.
SEEKING
WE ARE NOT CALLED TO BE FAMOUS | WE ARE CALLED TO BE FAITHFUL!
SEEKERS ARE NOT STRIVING TO BE CELEBRITIES | STRIVING TO BE SERVANTS!
SEEKING
Rich is a moving target!
How much do you need to be happy? A little bit more…
Luke 12:15
15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
WE NEED TO SEEK WHAT IS ETERNAL!
SEEKING
People pleasing. We need preachers and pastors and leaders to fall out of love with the pulpit and the limellght and back in love with Jesus.
- you obsess about what other people think.
- you are overly sensitive to criticism.
- you have a hard time telling people “no”.
Proverbs 29:25
25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.
Becoming obsessed with what people think about you is the fastest way to forget about what God thinks about you.
SEEKING
getting a comfortable life is eliminating our need for the Holy Spirit.
If your life is entirely comfortable, then you have no need for the comforter.
You should be CHALLENGED in your giving, CHALLENGED in your faith.
- That obstacle is an opportunity for God to show off
- The set back is going to become a divine set up
- Your misery is going to become your ministry
- Your battle will be productive to produce a depth of character
Luke 6:38
38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.
2 Chronicles 34:4 - 7 (MSG)
Four years later, the twelfth year of his reign, he set out to CLEANSE the neighborhood of sex-and-religion shrines, and GET RID OF the sacred Asherah groves and the god and goddess figurines, whether carved or cast, from Judah. He WRECKED the Baal shrines, tore down the altars connected with them, and scattered the debris and ashes over the graves of those who had worshiped at them. He BURNED the bones of the priests on the same altars they had used when alive. He SCRUBBED the place clean, Judah and Jerusalem, clean inside and out. The cleanup campaign ranged outward to the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and the surrounding neighborhoods—as far north as Naphtali. Throughout Israel he DEMOLISHED the altars and Asherah groves, PULVERIZED the god and goddess figures, CHOPPED UP the neighborhood shrines into firewood. With Israel once more intact, he returned to Jerusalem.
2. LEADERS
WE NEED TO DESIGN OUR LIFE WITH THE MINDSET THAT WE ARE SEEKING GOD WITH ALL OF OUR LIVES!
John 6:68
68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
A MATURE BELIEVER SAYS THERE IS NO LONGER AN OPTION FOR ME!
James 1:22
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Josiah became a “doer” of the Word.
He BURNED the bones of the priests on the same altars they had used when alive.
If you commit to SEEKING GOD - you will figure out how to do whatever God asked you to do.
3. BURN WHAT IS
Josiah didn’t just burn what was visible, he burned what was buried.
HE BURNED THE hidden stuff… he brought it out…
The things in your life that separate you from God that must be removed.
Matthew 5:29 - 30
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Seeking GOD is saying - SHOW ME THE HIDDEN THINGS, HELP ME TO BURN IT!
- My buried pride.
- My buried lusts.
- My buried gluttony.
- My buried unforgiveness.
WILL YOU ALLOW JESUS TO UNBURY BONES YOU HAVE KEPT HIDDEN SO YOU CAN BURN THEM AND MOVE FORWARD?
4. DO NOT GIVE THE DEVIL A
- “and do not give the devil a foothold.” ~Ephesians 4.27
- We determine whether or not the devil gets a foothold on our lives.
Whatever starts as a foothold will inevitably become a stronghold.
- If the devil can get his foot in the door with a small issue in your life, he will get his hands into your life and make it a stronghold.
- The bigger the stronghold, the more ruthless you have to get with it. And Josiah stepped up and demolished every one.
2 Corinthians 10:3 - 6
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
HOW DO WE DESTROY THESE STRONGHOLDS THE ENEMY HAS TRIED TO HOLD ONTO?
A stronghold is really a habitual process built into your thought life.
It is believing and repeating the same processes and beliefs and actions and the inability to get out of them….
SO HOW DO WE GET OUT???
BURN IT DOWN…
CASTING DOWN IMAGINATIONS -
imaginations = things that are not yet in physical world.
NONE OF IT BECOMES REAL UNTIL YOU AGREE WITH THE IMAGINARY CONCEPT.
There Is A Fight For Your Imagination.
Don’t give the devil access to your imagination.
CASTING DOWN THINGS THAT SAY THEY ARE GREATER THAN GOD
Allowing things TO OCCUPY GOD STATUS is to live in constant Anxiety.
TAKING EVERY THOUGHT INTO CAPTIVITY
CATCH YOUR THOUGHTS
Does the Word say this? Does God agree with this?
If not… doesn’t matter if I feel it, I won’t release it and I won’t think it.QUICK TO PRAYER TO GET HIS PERSPECTIVE
REPEAT THE WORD TO DISSOLVE IT
REALIZE MY DISOBEDIENCE WAS BECAUSE I BELIEVED A LIE!
SO I DO NOT ALLOW THE LIAR ANY PART OF MY LIFE.
I AM IN VENGENCE AGAINST THE ENEMY WHO PULLED ME IN.