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all right chapter number 22 as I've mentioned previous weeks I'm excited to get into the the stories of Josiah I'm glad there's not only just one chapter where we're going over the works of Josiah actually next week I'm even more excited for than this week because we really get into a lot more than meat of what he does but let's let's start off here verse number one the Bible says 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 Adiah of Boscath 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 now just a recap if you weren't here last week or if you don't remember Josiah is the son of Manasseh Manasseh was a really wicked King and he was a son of Hezekiah Hezekiah was another great King so actually no I get let me correct myself Josiah is not the son of Manasseh Josiah is Manasseh's grandson the the son of Manasseh is only reigned for like two years and he was and he was murdered Ammon that's right Ammon came after Manasseh and then Josiah but Ammon Ammon gets like almost no mention in the Bible so he's he's just there he was wicked like Manasseh was we remember Manasseh repented and got right with God at the end of his life after he'd done all the wickedness and filled the land with blood and everything else he finally repented his son didn't his son was was brought up in the wicked ways he was wicked but now we have a young Josiah and remember he's not the only King to have started very young in life being a king he started when he was eight years old because his father only reigned for two years and was killed so so of course he's going to be a lot younger and he also had a significant reign I mean 31 years is a pretty long time to reign as a king so he was eight years old he did that which was right he's a really godly righteous man and and I want you to keep your place here and turn if you would to 2nd Chronicles 34 because we're gonna get a little bit extra information and just some of the things where his heart was and some of the things he did prior to turning 18 because the next verse in verse 3 of 2nd Kings it tells us it now we turned 18 in the 18th year of King Josiah so like we're there's a lot more that happens up until this point in 2nd Chronicles 34 so we're gonna read 2nd Chronicles 34 just to get that little bit of extra information about King Josiah's life we're gonna start reading in verse number one 2nd Chronicles 34 Josiah was eight years old we began to reign and he reigned in Jerusalem one in 30 years and he did that which was right in the sight of Lord and walked in the ways of David his father and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left just like we just read verse number three for in the eighth year of his reign so while he was yet young now this is important just a real quick note I even have this in my notes but he started to reign when he was eight years old and in the eighth year of his reign puts him at 16 right so the Bible says while he was yet young so he still being 16 is still considered young even in Bible tell you a lot of people want to tell you oh well in those days you know a 16 year old was like a grown man it's like no it's you know he still was yet young and that's what the Bible says here we could get that pretty easily but um though and it's not like I've heard that a whole lot but I but I you know people always want to tell you different things about the way things were back then when they have no idea the way things were but we know that God's Word is true and if the Bible saying while he was yet young 16 year olds young sorry 16 year olds but you're still young you may think you know everything right now but you don't but anyways so we're gonna see we're gonna see a little bit of heart even while he was yet young though we're gonna see here in verse 3 he began to seek after the God of David his father so this is when he's searching for God and this is when he really is is kind of coming to his own senses on on what he believes right because his father and his grandfather were both wicked now his grandfather repented late in life so we don't know maybe is maybe Manasseh had an influence as he was only eight years old on his early years don't know don't know have a way of knowing that after you know after he repented while he was growing up real young but he didn't seek the God of Manasseh either he seeked the God of David his father is what the Bible says here and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places in the groves and the carved images and the molten images so after four after four years of you know he started the search figure out you know I was trying to seek out God get to know God a little bit more you know the God of David his father the real God the Lord and after learning whatever he could have in four years he decided you know what he's a king 20 years old I'm gonna make a stand and it says that's when he started to purge Jude and Jude because remember I mean Manasseh brought in all kinds of garbage I mean he polluted the house of the Lord he brought in all these altars he brought in all these false gods you're worshiping the host of heaven and all kinds of garbage just just all the stuff that has Akai eliminated Manasseh just brought it all back and then some and just just totally brought in a lot so now we have Josiah going back and clearing house again and saying let's let's purge let's get rid of this stuff we don't need this stuff so it says here you know the high places the groves the carved images the molten image all the idolatry that was in the land he's getting rid of that verse 4 and they break down the altars of Balaam in his presence so I mean he he's sincere Josiah is a sincere guy he's not just like you know he's not just like your average politician he decided for himself that he's gonna believe on the Lord he decided to get things done and he's saying you know what I want you tearing this stuff down and they did it in his presence he was right there when they took everything down he made sure it got done says in the images that were on high above them he cut down and the groves and the carved images and the molten images he break in pieces and made dust of them and strewed upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them so the graves of the bail worshippers you know the priests or whatever he desecrated their graves by burning down all these ashes you know burning down all their altars and in images and he's saying we're gonna throw these ashes on their graves you know that they can deal with this they can be cursed for for worshipping all these false gods and being Satan worshippers and that's what he did and this is this is a great stand that he took even as a young man as a young king as a young ruler coming after wicked people he raised in a wicked household and what I like to see about this is that you know we saw the failure of Hezekiah with his raising of Manasseh his inability to raise up a godly son even though he himself did many godly things many godly works was well you know did a lot of work himself his inability to raise a son so you could grow up in a good household you could have a good dad you could have a good mom but you still have to decide for yourself what do you believe and ultimately God holds you responsible for your own actions anyways but on the flip side you can grow up in a wicked household and still turn out to be really good and on fire for God too you know don't think that oh well just because I grew up in this situation all is lost I mean we were you may not have as good of a start that's for sure but Josiah didn't come from the greatest home his dad was wicked his grandfather was wicked for almost all of his life not the best place to grow up and and he grew up with all this bale and worship and these altars and everything else but he still got right with God and and and made a strong move I mean we were talking to people just on Sunday that were came out of the fundamental Mormon group from that what's his name Jeff's the the the fundamental guy that's in prison now Warren Jeff's they were they were in that cult they grew up in that as kids and like you know I hopefully they weren't abused but I know there's a lot of child abuse and all kinds of other garbage going on there but that's not a good upbringing but you know what guys still have a chance those guys can be like a Josiah even though they might have had really bad upbringings they can still turn things around himself why because they have a choice to make Josiah had a choice to make he sought out the God of David his father not the God of Ammon his father he sought out the true God and anybody that seeks out the true God can can do great things can be a Josiah but you have to then decide to actually do something with it you know a lot of people get saved a lot of people believe but not many people then turn that belief in action actually start doing the works and it's you know that's where we want to be but let's let's keep reading a little bit more about Josiah and what he did verse number five and he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem again he dug up the bones of the of the priests the Baal worshiping priests not the priests of the Lord Baal worshiping priests and he burned them on their Baal worshiping altars and that's how he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem verse number six and so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon even unto Naphtali with their Maddox roundabout and when he had broken down the altars and groves and had beaten the graven images into powder and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel he returned to Jerusalem now in the 18th year of his reign when he had purged the land so now he's 26 he started doing this up when he was 20 so now we're jumping forward to when he's 26 years old the 18th year of his reign when he had purged the land and the house he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah and Maasai the governor of the city and Joe the son of Jehovah has the recorder to repair the house of the Lord is God let's go back to 2nd Kings 22 we're gonna this is basically where we're picking up the story now we didn't get all those other details of them cleansing Judah in Jerusalem and all the things with the altar and stuff but it's important I think that we bring that up since we're going over Josiah's life in this chapter and we see that he started even from a young man you know 16 years old is when he decided to kind of start seeking after God and that's that's when you know came into his mind and he started searching by the time he was 20 I mean after only four years of you know obviously seeking and finding whatever he needed to find he's like you know what this is you know God's a true Lord and and we're gonna we're gonna clean up clean up ship here and that's exactly what he did so let's continue in 2nd Kings 22 verse number 3 the Bible says and it came to pass in the 18th year of King Josiah that 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 sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people and let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work that have the oversight of the house of the Lord and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the Lord to repair the breaches of the house and the carpenters and builders and masons and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house now this isn't the first time this has happened if it sounds familiar to you it's because it is this has already happened once before where the king has to step in and be like hey guys let's repair the house of God like what are you doing you know the priests and the Levites like you know and you remember last time they the the priests took the money and they still didn't do anything with it and the Kings like all right we're gonna put these lock boxes up here you're not taking the money we're gonna put it all in there and then whatever money goes in there you know cuz they were supposed to do the work and they just didn't do it they were collecting their paycheck and not doing the work so now they still have the system to say okay well hey let's get that silver let's get that money that's come in and let's repair the house let's let's fix this place up and basically this is where Josiah is there's a lot of knowledge he doesn't have yet he decided to seek after God and he's doing the best that he can and he's getting rid of the the false gods of the land and he's doing a good job with that and and now he decides hey this this place is kind of beat up let's let's fix this place back up again let's let's get our building project with our thermometer on the wall let's raise the funds and get this get this building going and that's that's what he did here he repaired the breeches you know he's saying deliver get the money to the people I need to do the work and let's get this place fixed up verse number eight and he'll kind of high preset under shape and describe I found the book of the law in the house of the Lord and he'll Kaya gave the book to Shay fan and he read it so this is something that I mean this is always really interesting this is stuck out my mind since probably the first time I read it how they're like you know the the house of Lords kind of in disarray it's falling apart and he's like you know what we need to fix this place up go in there you know get everything fixed get the carpenters you know get some wood get the stone hewn stone everything needs to fix it and as they're working they're fixing like hey you know what's what's this here hey look at we found the law of the Lord we thought yeah we found we found the Bible like what have they been doing this whole time where's that thing been yeah there's a lot of Christians that probably feel the same way when they walk across our bookshelf or they're moving and they're packing things up and they're like oh hey look it's my Bible and you know what that's a shame it's a shame because you don't know you don't know anything about God if you're not reading your Bible you don't know what you're supposed to be doing up to this point Josiah was all about the building fund and you know doing his best to serve God but without the Word of God now think about how hard that would be if you just if you had a desire you actually had the right God you knew enough to know who God was he knew enough about the Lord but you're trying to serve him now and you're trying to get things done right and you don't even have the Bible and you know what there's a lot of churches out there they're doing the same thing they they're either using a perversion of God's Word or they're doing the let's pick out one verse from Psalms or Proverbs or whatever and then just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk about everything else but God's Word and this is how they have all these activities they have all these programs they got everything going on and you find none of it in Scripture and almost nothing they do is found in Scripture because they're not going out and preaching the gospel most of them aren't even singing the the the the hymns and the spiritual songs you know they're they're just singing rock songs with Jesus words put to it why because they're not looking to the law of the Lord they don't have it I mean it good luck finding it they did they probably don't even have the physical book as they're using their their their big screen up on the wall or whatever where no one even has to bring in their book bring in their Bible to check these things and make sure they're so oh no just just follow it here look at verse number nine and Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought the king word again and said thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work that have the oversight of the house of the Lord and Shaphan the scribe showed the king saying okay the priest had delivered me a book and Shaphan read it before the king and it came to pass when the king had heard the words of the book of the law that he rent his clothes so they finally bring the king word again remember the king ordered everything to be fixed you know do this the last thing you expected was for this to happen so they bring them like hey we found a book hey we found the law of the Lord so they read it to him then they go through the law of Moses they were you know they read the Bible to him of the Bible that they had up to that point and he hears it and it bothers him he's upset he's so upset he tears his clothing and that's something that people did when they were grieving when they were sad or when they you know they would throw dust or they wear sackcloth right they'd rent their clothes they'd be upset and that's how they humbled themselves right so the king's probably wearing some fancy clothes because he's a king and he tears it right he ruins it and he's humbling himself before God and what separates Josiah from most other people saved and unsaved alike I mean even you know even unfortunately even a lot of saved people is that when he heard the Word of God he didn't scoff at the Word of God he didn't make fun of it he didn't try to he didn't try to explain it away and say why they really were good and and he was still real righteous and everything was going to be okay somehow and try to twist what God's Word said and and make up some excuse for what the law says that's not what he did that's what a lot of people want to do when they hear God's Word especially when they're guilty of something that's not what he did he realized he said we've been wrong we have wrong about this if the fathers have been really bad and really wrong he didn't see with hot we read what Manasseh did and it's like how could they have fallen so far so fast and have done all this wickedness and passing children through the fire and filling the land with innocent blood and to Josiah he didn't even realize how bad it was and that's the problem when you don't read your Bible when you're not getting in this book when you're not getting God's perspective on things as the world goes to hell you don't think things are really that bad you may realize something's wrong you might realize you know what that's not right no we're not gonna worship these false gods we're gonna worship this God but you but you still don't quite realize how bad it really is until you get in this book until you get into God's Word in Josiah heard it he humbled himself he's like wow we're in big trouble humbly accepting God's Word when you hear what it actually says and that's what we need to be able to do as Christians it don't matter what it is and it might sting when you when you hear some some places read that that's not the way that you thought I mean one of the big things today is just I mean even with dealing with people you know what that with the sodomites with the homosexuals there's so many people have this soft spot because they've been brainwashed by the world and they're not reading their Bibles they're not reading Genesis they're not reading the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah they're not reading the stories in Judges 19 they're not reading what they do and who and and and how they are they're not reading Jude they're not reading 2nd Peter chapter 2 they're not reading all these various books of the Bible Romans 1 that talks so strongly and how vile and wicked and disgusting the stuff is and because now they know people and we're gonna see next week and I'm gonna I'm not gonna get into this too much we will see what what Josiah does in response to this and he gets the sodomites out of the land it's a righteous thing to do I don't want to get too far because I'm waiting till next week to preach on that sir I'm gonna hit that hard why because it needs to be hit hard because people don't have the attitude that Josiah had and they hear the hard preaching and it turns them away and it rubs them the wrong way you know what God's Word says what it says and I'm not gonna make excuse or apology for it when the Bible says thou shalt beat thy son with the rod thou shalt beat him there's no explaining that away it says what it says you either accept it or you don't maybe you haven't been doing things right why don't you humble yourself and say well that's what the Bible says you're having a turn there Proverbs 23 real quick because I don't want to misquote it I've got it memorized but I don't want to misquote it let me introduce you to the Bible we'll dust it off in case you haven't been reading it enough here you know and it's in the Old Testament which makes it probably even worse right the page is all brand-new hard to hard to get them unstuck together because you got that brand new book you've never gone to the Old Testament before Proverbs 23 verse 13 withhold not correction from the child for if thou beatest him with the rod he shall not die thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell the Bible says what it says it's there and it's up to us just to accept it say wow I I don't like when kids get spanked with the rod I don't I don't like that I don't I don't necessarily like it either but you know what I'm gonna do what the Bible says and it says and and you know what I believe the Bible when it says if you if you beat your child with the rod you're gonna deliver their soul from hell I believe that do I have to understand exactly all the in and outs of how that's going to play out in their life and in the future I don't I don't have to understand it but if the Bible says that I believe it and it's not that difficult to understand it's not that difficult to understand that you need to give children correction and punishment when they break your Commandments when they break your laws there is a consequence that's not just being a little bit bored and sitting in a corner because God doesn't put people in purgatory or in timeout when they break his laws God's punishment is hell and that hurts and it stings and it burns and when you spank your child on the rear end when you beat him with the rod like in that manner they're gonna feel the stinging and the burning it's gonna be a really small taste but you know what it's it's enough it's enough for them to realize when I do wrong when I break the rules when I'm wrong there's gonna be a punishment and it's not gonna feel good and it's not something I could just daydream about and just play in my head or whatever because I'm facing a corner it's real and from a young age and you start to get that through your head you it's not that hard to grasp hey hell's a real place this is the reality that I know hell is real you want to know how they're gonna do you have to spank your child for them to be saved and go to heaven well you're gonna deliver their soul from hell I mean it's not part that's not the plan of salvation you obviously have to put their faith in Jesus Christ to be saved but there's there goes a long way to getting him to that point that's why it says it's not that difficult to understand but when people want to just change what the Bible literally says into it meaning well it's just talking about discipline in any form it's just saying you have to to teach them right from wrong it's not what it's saying it says thou shalt beat him with the rod that's what it says and anyone that wants to say it says otherwise it's a liar let's just believe the book for what it says like Josiah did he heard it and he was like oh man we screwed up God's right we're wrong let's get right with God what could we even do about this and see when he heard and think about it when he heard he already knew he didn't need anyone else to tell him he didn't have to go to so he seeks out counsel he seeks a prophet because he wants to hear from the Lord not because he needs more understanding of well what was the culture really like when Moses was around he didn't need someone to try to tell him why they were actually okay and God's law didn't really apply to them that's not what he was seeking he could understand that for himself because it's pretty straightforward we could understand that for ourselves too you don't need some teacher or some theologian to tell you what the what the law really means God wrote it pretty simple so that we could all understand it so you could pick up the book and read it and understand yep that's a sin yep that's wrong yep this is what I'm supposed to be doing not that hard but when Josiah seeks counsel he's seeking counsel because he wants to know how bad is it really is or anything that we can do you know what can we do God we're sorry we want to get right with you you know have mercy on it this is this is what he's seeking he already knows it's wrong he already knows everybody's screwed up big time so now he's just trying to get a little bit more word from the Lord and say God we're sorry about this we didn't know or what you know whatever what can we do to get this right that's what he was seeking he was seeking the the what now it's clear that it was wrong he's trying to make amends and see what can we do about this that's why he seeks out to get more information and seeks out a prophet and honestly you know hopefully that's that's what I helped to do here at church you should know for yourself right from wrong you should know what a sin is and what is not in general I mean you could you could read the Bible for yourself I might help make some extra applications of God's Word to things that go on in our lives or might try to to give a little bit of wisdom and knowledge on how to deal with things at maybe after the fact or before the fact try to prevent things but you could read this book and know right from wrong you don't need me to tell you that look at verse number 12 and the king commanded Hilkiah the priest and Ahicham the son of Shaphan and Akbar the son of Micaiah and Shaphan the scribe and Azahiah a servant of the Kings saying go ye and choir of the Lord for me it means question you know go seek out God get counsel from God 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 he's treating this serious and I know that there's wrath from God yeah he's not questioning that is God angry about this stuff yes it's obvious because he said not to do any of these things that have been done of course God's angry but now he's just seeking the council say hey what can we do verse number 15 before I've excuse me 14 so he'll kind of the priests and high-coming Akbar and Shaphan and Azahiah went on to hold of the prophetess the wife of Shalom the son of Tikvah the son of Har has keeper of the wardrobe now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college and they communed with her now I'm going to take a pause here just real briefly and I want to explain something about just college in general this is one of two places the word college is found in the Bible the only other place that it's even referenced is in the parallel passage in second Chronicles where it's telling the same exact story so it's not a different reference technically you know it's still the the same story and it's just referring to this woman this prophetess that lived at the college the reason why I'm even bringing this up is because these days what churches have done is is taking an institution from the world and brought it into the church and they're using this model to to train pastors and and they brought in something that's extra biblical something that the world came up with the public education system and University is not something that's found in Scripture now don't get me wrong I'm all for education in learning and knowing and wisdom I mean the Bible says wisdom is a principal thing therefore get wisdom with all that wisdom get understanding right I mean we yeah we need knowledge we need what we need wisdom we know I'm all for that let's learn as much as we possibly can but I'm not going to go to a godless institution to get my source of knowledge I'm not going to go and and and or model myself after a godless institution in order to bring that in to the church and use that model for our teaching training see people come in from time to time and say oh so where did you go to school and what they mean is where did I go to to seminary or what type of you know school that I go to to get my pastor you know my doctorate degree or pastorate or whatever that they give out and and because so many places now so many churches and so many denominations Christians whatever you want to call it have followed the model of secondary education where you go to Bible College is what they call it and you study for four years or however long however long their their program lasts and you get these titles and they're the same titles as the world doctor master bachelor's right I mean you get these things that's what the world uses it's like Roman it's like from from from the Greeks or the Romans that that that system of just of getting these titles and things attached to your name it's not from God it's not of the Bible that's why that's why I don't believe in going to Bible College at all I don't believe in setting up an institution where all these people that want to pastor churches can all get indoctrinated in one place from a group of different teachers or professors or whatever you know and master Bible says not to be called master because one is your master even Christ not to be called father not to be called rabbi and not to be called master and you think that that's godly to go and get a master's degree so you could be master of theology or the study of God or master of divinity of the divine and that's not prideful are you really a master of these things but in their zeal to be like the world this is what people expect now what Bible College did you go you know I didn't go to Bible College and I have no problem with that I'm actually glad I didn't go to Bible College what we see from Scripture is there is no institution that set up we see the institution of the church we see an institution of the family and we see an institution of government set up in God's Word that's the institutions that we see and nothing else when the Bible gives children to people he gives them unto you to raise and to teach and to train and to talk to him day and night when you go by the way and when you lay down and when you rise up and everything else that's your job as parents that's under the family institution and things that that when churches beget Church guess what that happens within the church institution and he's given some evangelists and pastors and teachers and apostles for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry he didn't say and professors and masters of divinity and Bible colleges and you're not going to see that anywhere you know who he used to do his work fishermen shepherds people plowing with an ox did regular laborers that's who he used think about Elijah was Elijah to his plowing with the ox right when Elijah came by and called him to do the work of the Lord did he send him off to some school so no he learned from Elijah he was a servant to Elijah until it was time for him to step up and do the job that is the Apostles they were fishermen they were out working and Jesus called them and what they do did he send them off to the to the Pharisees and to the to the to the synagogue to go get studied up and to learn and to learn letters and to learn all this stuff and then they could teach people no they just spent time with Jesus and Jesus taught him and that's why the Bible says that that they marveled when they took note that he had been with Jesus because they were like these people don't know letters but how are they speaking so boldly how is it that they're able to teach all these great truths and doctrines of why because they were with Jesus and that's what you need to do if you want to be a teacher of God's Word you have to know God's Word you don't have to know all the culture and all the history and everything outside of the Bible in order to be a pastor in order to teach other people the Bible what you're gonna get when you get that is the world's wisdom the world's philosophy and how do you even know if any of that stuff is even right they're gonna try to tell you that two thousand years ago men wore dresses and that and and that was the culture and that was acceptable and that's fine you know what maybe men did wear dresses but you know what it still wasn't right Jesus didn't wear a dress but this is the type of teaching you get and it's like well where's that in the Bible nowhere there's one other place where the Bible references school and that's found in the book of Acts chapter 19 and we'll see if this is just think yourself this is a positive or negative reference to just the word school college is mentioned twice we already saw one here and nothing good or bad just said it just that's just where she dwelled where hold of the prophetess lived at the college not saying we should do it just that's it excuse me school is in Acts 19 9 but when divers were hardened and believed not but spake evil of that way before the multitude he departed from them and separated the disciples disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus so the disciples are arguing they're disputing in this school so the disciples are right they've got the truth they've got the word of God it doesn't sound like this Tyrannus school the Tyrannus school wrecks not having the right doctrine or the truth or anything why because they're disputing they're arguing doesn't sound like the place I want to be so nowhere in Scripture are you gonna find anything else that says you know school or college now people will make references to the school of the prophets all the school of the prophets and people bring this up and in other Baptist churches and other churches will say but there was a school of the prophets what about that well when they reference a school of the prophets if they use that phrase that is not coming from the King James Bible first of all they're already in error just using some false version of the Bible because that because you could find that phrase in a modern perversion but you're not going to find it in the KJV and what that what they translate as the school of the prophets is they're referring to the sons of the prophets now do you remember because we're in the book of second Kings we saw some of the sons of the prophets so when Elisha was walking with Elijah and Elijah was about to be taking up taken up to heaven by a whirlwind as they were going the sons of the prophets were talking to Elijah saying don't you know that your masters gonna be taken away from you this day and he's like I know it I know it you know like hold your peace and and as they're going around the sons of the prophets were kind of standing afar off and they're watching everything happening from a distance as Elisha is right there with Elijah Elijah gets taken up Elijah comes back he parts the sea you know the the Jordan River you go he crosses over and then you know the sons of the prophets are there and they see all this stuff whatever and then in second Kings six we saw the story about the sons of the prophets where they were dwelling with Elisha they were living with him and that's when the with the story of the the axe head coming off you know and they're they're chopping the trees and he's like oh master is borrowed you know and he made it to swim the the axe head and he's able to grab it whatever in second Kings six verse one and it just to show you this reference because this is going to be the the most evidence anyone is going to be able to show you to try to justify Bible College because it's not found in Scripture anywhere second Kings six one says and the sons of the prophets said unto Elijah behold now the place where we dwell with thee is too straight for us or too narrow there's a lot of them right and they were getting too big for the place they're living in verse two let us go we pray thee unto Jordan and take thence every man a beam and let us make us a place there where we may dwell and he answered go ye and one said be content I pray thee and go with thy servants and he answered I will go so there's he's saying they come to him and saying hey this place isn't big enough for all of us let's go somewhere else and we could all live over there and he's like go ahead just go you go and do that he didn't even want to do that he's not running some school when he's telling them well as they're growing hey we got even more people here let's all go live somewhere else now and he's like go ahead I don't even care and they had to beg him just to come with them does that sound like Elijah's running a school of the prophets I don't know what kind of school that is where he's telling just to go off on their own and think about this even if even if they wanted to learn from Elijah so much that they lived with them there's nothing wrong with that and I don't have a problem with that that they're trying to get knowledge from them because he's a great teacher he's got he's got the Spirit of the Lord he's a great man of God yeah you should be learning from somebody like that but he's not setting up an institution he's not creating some college or some school and draw and sending letters out to all the local congregation saying send your children here to learn from Elisha he's not doing that if anything these people just came to him and we're burdening him because he's just like you guys go ahead and do that I'm just gonna stay right here and they had to talk him into coming we never see anyone commanding or even suggesting suggesting that this is the way that things ought to be done that we need to build some school and that's how we're gonna teach and train all these people to then go out and just start churches all over the world no it comes from within it comes from locally now of course a pastor needs to meet qualifications in order to hold the office of a bishop and it can't be a novice like I said before I'm all for education but the education literally is God's Word how well do you know the Bible how well do you know scripture there's so many people that get their degrees and start pastoring churches and they've only read their Bible maybe a few times but they have their their letters after their name they have their accolades they have their certificate that says that they graduated Bible College and that makes them ready for the job maybe off of the world standard you know what and that's the world standard too I can't tell you how many people and you know it was interesting the day I understood this and it was probably when I was in my early 20s and I started to realize when I started to see and hear about what certain people had done that I knew in high school and what jobs they had gotten out you know after college or whatever and some people just aren't that bright and that's fine and you know what I mean some people are just in many ways could be smarter than others and that's fine God's gifted people different with different abilities and different skills and in different things but when I started to learn of people who become doctors physicians and I'm like I know that person they're not that smart but they were able to get a degree they're able to get a job they're able to do the work but I'll tell you what that's not the person I want to go to when I'm having trouble and it just shows you know what a degree doesn't mean that much it really doesn't I mean people want to make it sound like it's this great thing and oh man if you don't go to college and you're not you're gonna be a loser you're never gonna succeed in life but we saw last week on Sunday that's not what success is anyways let's worry about the success in God's eyes and doing what's right and you know there's a lot of people and you could list famous people in this world that had this world success in this world's financial success and everything that the world looks to that never even finished like eighth grade or high school let alone college and that were extremely successful businessmen people extremely successful don't buy into that live you need college and you know what especially Bible college I have no part of it we don't believe that here and you know what of all of the men of God that were called by him I mentioned fishermen you know the disciples all the other people there is one person who had accolades turn if you went to Philippians chapter 3 there's one person that had accolades that had some kind of title and position that he held because of all his schooling and because all his training and because of everything that he got as a Pharisee he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees the Apostle Paul and let's see how much value the Apostle Paul put in all of his teaching and training and the you know learning from the rabbis and learning from the scribes and doing everything that he did in the institution of the Pharisees which I believe would equate to Bible college of today Philippians 3 verse number 4 though I might also have confidence in the flesh if any other man think it that he had to wear up he might trust in the flesh I more and and look he's speaking foolishly because he's just talking about hey if you're gonna brag in your in in the flesh right and in things that you've attained in your flesh not spiritual things just totally in your flesh he's saying you know what I could brag even more when it comes to that stuff first number five circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal you know you want to talk about zeal persecuting the church I went after him I actually did it I didn't just preach against him I went after him touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless course in their long you lower the bar when you're trying to live by the law and think that you're you're you know you're doing just fine seven but what things were gained to me those I counted loss for Christ he's saying actually what seemed to be better for me and it was gain and people are looking at Paul and saying oh wow Paul's really excelling look at how zealous he is look at how smart he is look at all you know look at all this of you he's he is he's a pedigreed Hebrew he was circumcised on the eighth day all these checklists he says that was lost for Christ that was actually hindering and worse for the cause of Christ verse number eight yay doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ so I count it like dung that stuff is is worse than nothing it's it's excrement it's done it's to be cast out you said it means nothing this is why we don't believe in sending people to Bible college and this is why I didn't attend a Bible college because I don't have to I mean the Bible says that we have a more sure word of prophecy we saw about even the disciples Peter and James and John when they saw Jesus Christ transfigured they saw him he said we saw him in the mount with our own eyes but we have a more sure word of prophecy in God's Word in the by more sure than even what they saw with their eyes this is more sure we have the mind of Christ in God's Word let's study that if you want to be an expert in anything be an expert in the mind of Christ and you can't fail and go wrong if you are expert in this you don't need to know anything and you know what foolishly for a little while when I was when I was getting ready to be sent out I was thinking man I don't know enough and I I knew other people had known all these different facts all these other things I'm like I don't know that stuff you don't need to know that stuff they might be some cool little trivia information or something that might people might hear no that's pretty cool but you know what's really going to help people the most is what this book says this is what matters more than anything and you know what you learn those things it's fine like I'm not I'm not against just learning things in general even just things of the world so to speak you know things that just information that's true that maybe it comes from outside of Scripture but you don't need a degree in that stuff to teach people the Bible you just need to know the Bible to teach people the Bible so let's go back to 2nd Kings I have one more main point in this chapter right okay so in verse 14 that's where he he sent his people to go inquire of the Lord they went to hold of the prophetess who dwelt at the college and since that words only mentioned like two times about why I wanted to cover that tonight verse 15 and she said unto them thus saith the Lord God of Israel tell the man that sent you to me thus saith the Lord behold I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof even all the words of the book which the king of Judah at the red so saying yep what you read it's true this is God's response right yep I'm the judgments coming right you read it and it's gonna happen verse number 17 because they have forsaken me and have burned incense on other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place and shall not be quenched but to the king of Judah which sent you to inquire of the Lord thus shall you say to him thus saith the Lord God of Israel as touching the words which thou hast heard because thine heart was tender and look this is what God wants because that heart was tender had I was humbled thyself before the Lord when thou heardest that I spake against this place and against the inhabitants thereof that they should become a desolation and a curse and as rent thy clothes and wept before me I also have heard thee saith the Lord behold therefore I will gather thee unto thy fathers and thou shalt be gathered into the thy grave in peace in thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place and they brought the king word again now our response to God's Word is important and look we need to understand God's a God of judgment God's a judge and he's not backing off of what he said the consequences are when you break his law so this is what's going to happen but whatever situation you may find yourself in doesn't mean you just throw up your hands and just say well I've already screwed up I've already done this I'm just gonna give up now Josiah could have read all this up and been like well we're screwed I'm done with this you know forget it you might we might as well just just eat drink and be married because tomorrow we die he could have had that attitude but he didn't he decided you know what no we're still gonna do what's right and you know what his attitude was you know who knows what Hezekiah would have done we saw what he already did when when judgment was pronounced against well well it's good it's not gonna happen in my days Josiah could have been like sweet it's not gonna happen in my days and then just stop serving God but that's not what he did at all we're gonna read that in the next chapter he continues to serve the Lord with with with zeal with fervor even knowing that the judgment come you know he still does the right thing even if you have done something that you know you know God's merciful but he's still gonna come down for whatever you still do what's right he's still because you know what God still can be merciful but even it even if you think that all is law you know it just do what's right because that God wants to see that tender heart and you never know what God will end up doing the judgment was still coming but he spared Josiah Josiah didn't have to go through that because of his own actions because he decided to seek the Lord out to do to receive God's Word and act on it and to humble himself when he heard it when he found out that they were wrong he did all the right things one last point because we're talking about hold of the prophetess here I'm just gonna briefly mention I preach on this before but just there's nothing wrong inherently with a prophetess the word prophetess is used in a couple of different ways in the Bible just you know positive and negative okay now a prophetess she she this woman had the Word of the Lord when they inquired God used her right and God uses women God doesn't only use men to preach his word but when I say that to preach his word there's a time in a place for everything she was dwelling in the college she wasn't at the temple preaching sermons to everybody congregating together she had the Word of the Lord and she prophesied the Word of the Lord and praise God that's good we have other examples of prophetesses Miriam was called a prophetess the sister of Aaron she's called in the Bible as a prophetess so was Deborah and judges she was a prophetess and there's there are both good women they're both serving God they're both doing what's right on their end right now in judges Deborah was put in a situation because the man Barak didn't what didn't wasn't doing the job that God appointed him to do and she was kind of having to act as he should have been acting but that wasn't her fault right she was still so being a prophetess and there's even in a in Luke when Jesus was gonna be born the Bible talks about that the woman remember there was a man and a woman that that both were allowed to see geo the man was like he was real old and when he saw baby Jesus in the temple how he was he was basically saying how you know okay my eyes have seen I salvation and now he's ready to die because because God's kept him alive just for that for the honor of being able to see him and then it says and there was one Anna a prophetess the daughter of Phineu of the tribe of Acer she was of a great age and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity and she was also used so it's it calls her a prophetess you know it's a great title there's nothing wrong with that even in the book of Acts it says that in 21 X 21 8 and the next day we that were of Paul's company departed and came unto Caesarea and we entered in the house of Philip the evangelist which is one of the seven and abode with him and the same man had four daughters virgins which did prophesy and again another good thing and prophesy means they're preaching they're preaching God's Word but what they're not doing is leading a church they're not bishops they're not pastors they're not elders in within the church we should be prophesying all over the place men and women alike prophets prophetesses but not within the church 1st Timothy chapter 2 explains very very clearly how the church is to be run 1st Timothy 2 9 in like manner also that women adorned themselves in modest apparel with shame facedness and sobriety now with broidered hair or gold or pearl or costly ray but which becometh women professing Godliness with good works let the woman learn in silence with all subjection but I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence for Adam was first formed then Eve and Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression and also in 1st Corinthians 14 verse 34 the Bible reads let your women keep silence in the churches for it is not permitted unto them to speak but they are commanded to be under obedience as also set the law and if they will learn anything let them ask their husbands at home for it is a shame for women to speak in the church is a shame for women to speak anywhere no but is it a shame for women to speak in the church yes again what is the Bible just clearly saying let's receive what God's Word says and not make up excuses for not try to twist it not try to explain it away well if you knew Greek it really means this no it really means what it says it's not difficult to understand my little children could understand what this verse means they don't need any added instruction the problem is with you being able to accept it that's the problem and now I don't mean you specifically verse 36 what came the Word out of God from came the Word of God out from you or came it unto you only if any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord it's not just Paul's opinion when he says that the women are to keep silence in a church we want women to be prophetesses in their proper proper role we want women to go out and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and they could prophesy all day long but when you come into the church it's time to be silent it's time to be in subjection and it's and it's a shame to speak in a church that's what scripture says there's no contradiction let's just make sure we do things God's way people want to take the examples of Miriam and Deborah and CC that's why we could have women preachers referring to like behind the pulpit in a church it's like no no it's not just because they're a prophetess doesn't mean that they're gonna they're they're teaching to a congregation they have the Word of the Lord and they should amen praise God let's borrow eyes have a word of prayer dear Lord we thank you so much for your words I thank you for the clear instruction that you give us Lord help us not to have hard hearts and stiff necks to not be able to receive your word or claim that they're difficult to understand when they're not God you gave it to us so simply help us just to be able to accept your words help us have a heart like Josiah had that that can recognize just right from wrong and if we're wrong on things Lord help us to get right with you and God we ask for your mercy upon us because I know we're not perfect but but Lord we're we're striving to know more about you we have the heart of Josiah I believe here we want to do what's right we want to build the house of God we want to do what we can possibly do but Lord we need to do it with knowledge we need to do it with the proper instruction and that's where we really need you to step in and provide that knowledge and instruction for us God help me as a pastor to to teach these things and to everybody else here and I pray an extra that you would help me to understand even more in Jesus name we pray amen