NOTES: Divine Reset, Part 3
Sermon: Divine Reset 3: Re-Formed Bones
Date: Sunday January 28, 2024
Text: 2 Kings 23:15-20
2 Kings 23:15–20 (ESV)
15 Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah. 16 And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the Lord that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things. 17 Then he said, “What is that monument that I see?” And the men of the city told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.” 18 And he said, “Let him be; let no man move his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. 19 And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the Lord to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel. 20 And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
Let’s Connect:
Your favorite old and odd sayings?
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Phil. 3:13-14
Divine Reset: As we set our hearts in pursuit of the upward call of God: Eradicate, what doesn’t belong, Restore, right and true worship, and Re-Form the past into the present.
Romans 8:28 (ESV)
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Text Explained:
Josiah’s story:
An empty house is a good start, but it remains vulnerable until it’s restored to it’s purpose and function. (Luke 11)
Josiah’s graveyard event- Reforming the bones! (Vs. 16-18):
Paul teaches the principle of reforming the past into the present.
Philippians 3:13–16 (ESV) 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
Hold true: the act of coming into alignment and agreement; getting in step with…
”If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.“
Galatians 5:25 ESV
Re-Forming the Past:
God and His Word, as revealed in Scripture, is wholly true and immutable.
God’s Spirit agrees with Scripture and reveals truth to our “upward call.”
Let’s Relate:
What of your past is God re-forming into your present?
What does this look like for SWC?
Our Challenge:
Together, let’s be activated as Re-Formed “bones” to make Jesus known to our neighbors.
The Word of God to Israel and Ezekiel’s Prayer:
Ezekiel 37:5–9 (ESV) 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”