The Lost Bible - Pastor Raymond Woodward

[Music] he was born in tumultuous times when the entire world seemed to have turned upside down for the last 60 years the kingdom of Judah has decayed and degenerated into something that is now barely recognizable the holy temple once built by Solomon has been desecrated by the most unimaginable idols the true worship of the one true God has been all but erased on a national scale and it has been replaced with the debauchery of sensual pagan rituals for six decades the people of the kingdom of Judah have been steadily backsliding moving further and further from a god they used to know and used to serve good is now considered to be evil and evil is now propagated as though it were good light is now considered to be darkness and darkness is now preached as though it were light sweet is now considered to be bitter and bitter is promoted as though it were sweet but that stern warning from the prophet Isaiah that was given to Judah 60 years earlier and that word from God has been discarded and disregarded so long that now it seems to be only the ranting and raving of an overzealous lunatic a crazy old preacher old-fashioned out-of-date and irrelevant no one remembers anymore that it was that old prophet Isaiah who literally saved the kingdom of Judah from captivity with that fanatical preaching no one stops to consider that if Judah hadn't repented in the days of King Hezekiah they would have met the same fate as their northern neighbor the Kingdom of Israel the Empire of Assyria had swept in to decimate the north and take all of its citizens into a captivity from which they never ever returned but when that same powerful ancient Empire tried to besiege the city of Jerusalem and conquer the much smaller kingdom of Judah they were unsuccessful because after all back in those days Judah was still listening to an old fashioned preacher named Isaiah but by the time this boy was born the prophet Isaiah has been dead for decades his prophetic voice has long been silenced and Judah has suffered the disastrous consequences the temple is in disrepair and it's filled with disgraceful idolatry and God's own people now burn incense to the heathen pagan idol Bale within its gates hillsides all around the country of Judah are dotted with altars to pagan gods like asteroth and Chima and milcom and at these altars sex and sin mingle in a grotesquely perverted form of worship worst of all in the Valley of Hinnom just south of Jerusalem the people of Judah God's own people they now sacrifice their own children by burning them alive on the altars of Molech and as those little babies rise and wail and scream in pain the priests of Molech simply beat a drum louder and sing at the top of their voices to drown out the cries of those dying babies by the time this boy is born very little remains of judas spiritual heritage yes wickedness and paganism are all around them and all the nations that surround them but far worse than that idolatry is now firmly in trend right in their own nation and that idolatry cripples their daily lives it mocks at them from their own temple and it has absolutely devoured the faith that they once held dear all Judah has left is the empty shell of powerless religious rituals they go through the motions of worship but they know that there must be there has to be and there used to be something more I preached to somebody today I don't know who you are or where you live but I preached to somebody because I felt your spirit if it were when I was preparing for this message and you're listening to me right now and you know that there's got to be there has to be there must be something more than the way you're living and for somebody that's listening to my voice right now and watching this webcast you know that there used to be something more in your life and God right now in this time when you feel so strange because we're so isolated one from another that's not really what's making you uncomfortable what's making you uncomfortable as you've come face-to-face with the emptiness that is in your heart and in your spirit because you used to drown it with work and busyness and going here and there and you couldn't sit still for an hour you had to go to the mall you had to go to a restaurant you had to go for a drive because there's an emptiness in your spirit and in your heart and God has arranged this time in your life and in our lives to come face to face with what could be there what should be there and for some of you what used to be there and though right now Judah is bound by the chains of their own sin and shame there's still something within them because God put it in every human heart there's something within them that longs and cries and hopes and dares to believe just a sliver of faith there's got to be something more there's got to be freedom and you're feeling that in your life right now and then this boy is born like his nation he has no spiritual heritage no pedigree of righteousness no pattern of godliness his grandfather Manasseh was one of the most wicked kings Judah had ever seen his grandfather was the one who set up these vile altars and these vulgar images that still pollute the holy temple it was his grandfather Manasseh he was the one who debased the people and degraded the country by setting up sex shrines all over the place where the most depraved rituals still take place it was his own grandfather he was the one who practiced witchcraft and fortune-telling in seances and he opened up the nation of Judah to demonic satanic influence he was the one this boy's grandfather was the one who sacrificed some of his own sons by burning them on the altars of Molech he did things that were far worse than all the heathen pagan nations ever thought of doing and so it was Manasseh this boy's grandfather he was the one who made God so very very angry with Judah Manasseh did turn to God momentarily toward the end of his life but by then the damage was done and it was too far gone his son Amnon became king in his place and immediately returned to the evil ways of his father more vile altars more vulgar images more evil more wickedness more sin more shame it finally got so bad in the kingdom of Judah that Amin's own servants revolted and assassinated him in his own palace and the boy undoubtedly saw it all a little boy he saw the broken-down temple he saw the idols and the sex shrines and the lustful orgies he was no doubt present when some of his own baby brothers were burned alive on the altars of Molech by his own dad and he no doubt witnessed the brutal murder of his own father because it was that murder that brought him to the throne second chronicles chapter 34 and verse 1 the boy Josiah was 8 years old when he began to reign and he reigned in Jerusalem 31 years thankfully praise God for it Josiah's history did not determine Josiah's destiny just because his father messed up did not mean that josiah had to stay messed up just because his family was dysfunctional doesn't mean that josiah had to stay dysfunctional just because he had no righteousness in his past that didn't mean he couldn't have righteousness in his future so instead of following the crowd josiah decided to shatter the mould and follow the lord he had never met his godly great-grandfather King Hezekiah but now this young boy decided that if he had anything at all to do with it things were going to change in the nation of Judah he had only heard about his ancestor way back the wonderful King David the man after God's own heart but right now this young boy Josiah he decided that he too was going to do what was right and godly and righteous and holy in the sight of the Lord verse 2 says and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and he walked in the ways of David his ancestor and he declined neither to the right hand or to the left you couldn't dissuade him from the choice he had made don't ever try to tell this pastor that young people cannot impact their world for God they can and they do when they decide to follow the Lord with their whole heart Josiah was only 16 when he began to earnestly seek after God and he was only 20 years old when he began the most ambitious restoration project that Judah and Jerusalem had ever seen verse 3 says for in the eighth year of his reign he's now 16 while he was yet young he began to seek after the God of David his father and in the 12th year he's now 20 years old he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from all those high places and the groves and the carved images and the molten images the idols they had to be torn down first wooden images stone images bronze images all images Josiah cut them down broke them down melted them down and ground them to dust because Josiah knew that as long as the people had these images in their towns and in their homes the spirit behind those idols would continue to control their hearts idolatry had been so pervasive in Judah that it took him six years to purge the lands and the homes of the people and then when he was 26 Josiah started on the place that it where it mattered the most he began to cleanse and repair and restore the temple of the Lord over the last couple of weeks three weeks I've been reading the accounts of the kings and kings and chronicles in the Old Testament and it struck me so powerfully as I was reading the accounts of Josiah's reign in both kings and chronicles it struck me it just stopped me how sinful and how evil Judah had become only an act of radical repentance could ever hope to save them it's difficult to imagine this is what stopped me and stunned me as I read the Word of God can you imagine that the people of the one through God the people who'd been given the Ten Commandments the people who'd seen miracles the people that God had led through the wilderness and then led them into a promised land which he gave them and help them conquer can you imagine a people like that that they would allow pagan filthy sensual idols to be set up right in God's temple and we look back and we shudder with horror and we say how sinful how evil how stupid how short-sighted but then as I considered that these verses came to my mind first Corinthians three know ye not that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you If any man defile the temple of God him shall God destroy for the temple of God is holy but wait a minute which temple you are you're the temple of God and then there's this passage in Chapter six what know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God and you are not your own for you are bought with a price and because God paid everything to save you therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit because they're both God's they belong to Jesus you didn't pay for your salvation he did you are the temple of the Holy Ghost you cannot afford in this endtime last days generation to allow idols to be set up in your heart because you are the temple of the Holy Ghost we can't imagine that Judah would have loud idols to be set up in their temple and we look at we say how sinful and how evil and how short-sighted but I have to ask you because you know that you've come face to face with yourself during this time when you've had extra time to think extra time to just be with you and be with your thoughts you know what idols have you allowed to be set up in your heart you see an idol is anything that takes your focus off of God and puts it on something else when anything other than God comes first in your heart and in your life that is an idol even if it's good it's still an idol and I have to tell you today I feel compelled and pushed by the Holy Ghost to tell you today that you're no different than Judah with all of their pagan idols in their temple because you know that some of your thoughts and actions attitudes and meditations they're sinful and evil and short-sighted now it's pretty difficult to imagine that Judah would allow idols to be set up in their temple but it's even more difficult for me to fathom that Judah the people of the one true God would have sacrificed their own children in the fires that burned on the altar of Molech and we shudder in horror and we say what is wrong with you people how sinful how evil how short-sighted you burn your own children in the fires on the pagan altar to Molech but then you can disagree you can shut me down if you want but then I couldn't help but think of all the parents who live only for the moment only for money only for possessions and positions and popularity and perks and pleasures and they are raising their precious children the greatest gift that God could ever give to us outside of the Holy Ghost they are raising their precious children with the very same mindset you talk about a viral pandemic the virus we should fear is the virus of idolatry that can so subtly worm its way into our hearts and infect us and infect the next generation these parents today some of them go to churches they would never comprehend or even be able to fathom placing their precious children in the fires of Molech but by their own actions and attitudes they are in danger of doing something far far worse something that is eternally fatal because the fires of Molech cannot compare to the fires of hell I mentioned him earlier in this service when we were going to prayer my friend brother Kenneth carpenter the esteemed superintendent of the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ he preached a message just a few months ago I think it was in November last year in a very stirring sermon about Hell very few preachers talk about Hell anymore it's an uncomfortable subject even for apostolic preachers and if most preachers ever do feel that they must mention hell they feel compelled to dismiss it with a smirk or a stupid joke but brothers and sisters in the family of God everyone that's listening please hear this preacher hell is no joke the fires of hell are real and the fires of hell are eternal we look back with horror and disdain and we can't even comprehend how a rational human being a loving parent could take a precious baby and sacrifice it in the flames on a pagan altar to a pagan idol how sinful how evil but can I say to you how sinful and how evil it would be to provide everything for your family everything they need everything they want and provided all for them in this life but never provide the most important thing of all in that powerful message I want to leave you with a couple of minutes from my friend brother Kenneth carpenter he said in his message a statement that just rocked my world and I hope it rocks your world his statement was there's something better than heaven and there is something worse than hell he said what could be better than heaven would be as you are walking up to the throne you made it to heaven you made it there and you're walking up to the throne and all of a sudden you hear mama mama and for the entire family to come around the throne of God I can think of nothing better I can think of anything that would top heaven than the me around the throne of God and to have my shoulder held the throne of God can we say that paid off didn't it paid off didn't it and no they were making fun of us I know we were getting ridiculed I can think of nothing worse than hell [Music] my HMO oh my goodness that rocked me that statement there is something better than heaven it's having your family there with you and there's something worse than hell and that would be having your family there with you I know you'll hear more joyful messages today as you surf the internet and you watch different church services I know you'll hear more positive messages perhaps you'll consider them more uplifting messages but you will not hear a more important message than this one it is so critical for you to make sure that you do everything you can to ensure that your children make heaven their home only an act of radical repentance can ever save you and your family from the idols that you've allowed in your heart or in your home if you're a parent you bear the ultimate responsibility and the primary responsibility for getting your children your young to heaven it should challenge you to know that their eternity depends on you Josiah was so determined that Judah would never again sacrifice their innocent little children in the fires of Molech that he ordered the Valley of Hinnom where that Idol stood he ordered it to be defiled by making it the city's garbage dump and it was still Jerusalem's garbage dump in the time of Jesus when the Son of God walked their streets by then that defiled Valley was called Ghana the Valley of Hinnom it was an awful place fires burned constantly in the city garbage dumped to consume all the trash that was dumped there maggots crawled constantly through the filth and at night it was horrifying wild dogs from the desert howled and gnashed their teeth as they fought over the garbage every single night if the wind ever shifted and blew from that direction the stench in ancient Jerusalem was nearly unbearable and Jesus looked at that valley and said hell is a place where the worm would not die and the fire would not be quenched he said there would be weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth in effect Jesus was saying you want to know what hell looks like and sounds like it looks like and sounds like Gehenna just look over there where the fires never stop burning that's why Jesus talked about Hell more than any other preacher in the Bible that's why Jesus said this to us if your eye or your hand or your foot if anything in your life offends you if it causes you to stumble if it causes you to lose your relationship with God if it causes you to grow cold spiritually pluck it out it would be better to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire yeah Jesus said that and he said in hell their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched so I didn't come here to try to terrify anybody or scare anybody and to serve in God because that doesn't last very long but I did come here with a mandate like the mandate of young King Josiah we've got to get his determination in our spirit whatever it costs whatever price I have to pay whatever it takes my family is not going to spend eternity in hell my kids are not going to spend eternity in hell my loved ones are not going to spend eternity in hell and I end here as the music team prepares to come back and help me it was while they were cleaning and repairing and restoring the temple trying to get rid of all these filthy pagan idols and altars it was while they were cleaning the ancient temple that an amazing discovery was made by an old priest named Hill Chaya in 2nd Kings chapter 22 we read about it and he'll kya the high priest said unto shape and the scribe I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord and he'll kaya brought that scroll that Bible if you will he brought that lost book that lost scroll he brought it and he gave it to shape an and shape and read it and when he read it he rushed to young King Josiah and in verse 10 it says in shape and the scribe he showed the king and he said he'll kya the priest delivered unto me this book and shape and read it before the king and it came to pass when young King Josiah just heard the words of the book of the law that had been lost he rent his clothes a sign of sincere repentance the reason so much sin had been allowed to occur in Judah is that the book of the law had been buried under the debris in the house of the Lord it took that old priests Hill Chaya with permission from his king to go in and start cleaning up the temple and when he did he found that precious treasure it had been years since they'd read these scriptures in Judah no wonder they were worshipping idols no wonder they were acting like the pagan nations around them no wonder they were powerless against the forces of the evil one and I came with a word for somebody today when you lose your Bible when it falls into disuse in your life when you stop reading it and you stop studying those words and you stop crying over that precious book and praying over that precious book and talking to God about what he's saying to you from that precious book you never know what's going to accumulate in your temple trash and debris and junk idols and altars to other things but I've got a good word for somebody today somebody that this time of social isolation has knocked you back some of you it's almost knocked you down you're bewildered your fighting forces that you just drown out you were already losing some battles but you just kept busy enough so you never had to think about it you were already allowing idols and altars to be built in your life that had nothing to do with your relationship with God other priorities other relationships other hobbies and habits they'd already infiltrated because you had a lost Bible it had been a long time it has been a long time since you've allowed the Word of God to wash over you you feel it right now please don't deny it please don't just tune me out or shut me down came with a word from God for somebody today your Bibles lost Oh once in a while you pray and you give God your laundry list of everything that you want him to do for you and you're so disappointed when you don't think he answered the way he should have or that you wanted him to but you're praying a list without a relationship prayers about what you want when prayer should be about who you want but I've got good news for you when you lose your Bible you never know what will accumulate in your temple but when you find your Bible again you never know how God is gonna bless you and lead you and speak to you and draw you close to himself once more oh I came with a word for a backslider today and you might not even be from our church family but you're watching today you're watching right now and you know that I'm talking to you and you remember how it used to be and you don't think it can ever be that way anymore because your temple has been so polluted your mind has been so overwhelmed you've got habits and hang-ups and hurts you've got all kinds of junk that's working against you but let me tell you something if you could find your way clear to find that old Bible that might have a layer of dust on it and if you'll get your head and your heart back into your Bible there is no telling what God can speak to you or do through you oh my goodness I feel the conviction of this Holy Ghost but I also feel the enabling power of the Holy Ghost for somebody today out of all the things you're doing during this time of social distancing and self-quarantine I hope you are reestablishing your relationship with the Word of God it's all too easy to let this Bible get lost under a pile of debris in your house it's way too easy and then sinful things start to accumulate in your temple but not Josiah the minute Josiah found that old Bible that all scroll he started to read it and the minute he started to read it he started to repent and when he repented the nation repented and started to recover and when the nation repented and started to recover the nation experienced revival all the days of Josiah but it all started when he recovered that lost Bible the Bible says about itself thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and I love that scripture and we preach that Scripture and that's a beautiful scripture but the Bible is more than just a flashlight to just kind of guide you a little bit when you want it to the Bible does more than instruct us the Bible will also convict us the Prophet Jeremiah he said is not my word like as a fire sayeth the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces I apologize if you think I'm abrasive today I apologize if you think I'm confrontational today but I am both because I'm trying to reach for you and you've been lulled to sleep by the easy believe ISM that kind of floats around like a viral pandemic in Christendom today but what God would like to do is break up the fallow ground that is your heart he'd like to start cleansing the idols and the altars that you've allowed in your temple not because he wants to hurt you not because he wants to take something from you but when this Bible gets found God can give things to you he can give victory to you he can give deliverance to you he can give salvation to you he can give answers to you he can give direction to you it all starts when you find your Bible the Word of God demolishes the idols that are in our lives and that doesn't bind us that sets us free my last Scripture and I'll close for the word of God this word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword listen closely piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul your mind and spirit the eternal part of you it can divide between the joints and marrow and it's a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart the Word of God is so sharp and powerful that it can divide between soul and spirit and you felt that today you felt the Word of God getting in between your mind and your heart because your mind has been so conditioned by all the things of the world pleasure and position and all kinds of activity in your career and you're just busy busy busy but God has shut you down during this time so he could reach for you and while I've been preaching today you felt something that you haven't felt for a while there's been a dividing between your thinking process and that empty spot in you that's crying out for something better something greater in something eternal that's what's going on in your heart right now and God is arranged for you to be watching this service and sticking with us till this moment in this service so he can call you back to his word so he can call you back to that old dusty Bible that's been so neglected because when you get your heart in the Bible the Bible gets into your heart I want to pray right now I'm so grateful that you've watched today I'm so grateful that you've heard me out but I have a word for you go find that lost Bible open it up you don't have to read pages and pages and chapters and chapters go to the Psalms go to one of the Gospels just open it up just read a couple of verses and say Jesus speak to me from your word let the word become fresh and new and powerful in your life today it'll change your future it'll change your family and it'll change your eternity let me pray with you before we go or Jesus I thank you for your presence that we felt so powerfully here in this building and I thank you because I know that your conviction and your challenge has been transmitted through the internet to individuals and families and homes today I know it and God I pray for my wonderful brothers and sisters and all of our friends that are watching that they would not quickly nor easily shake off this word and go on about with their day and things they consider less difficult and more pleasant but God let there be a conviction that pulls at us and pulls us back to old Bibles that have been lost for a long time God you want to raise up a godly man to lead his home Jesus you want to raise up a godly mom to raise up her kids Jesus you want to raise up some godly young people that are fortified by your word to stand in this evil day just like Josiah did so God I'm praying that you would challenge us all and change us all by the power of the Holy Ghost I speak it in the name of Jesus if you need help if you need to talk to somebody you can contact us through our website through email through the social media feed you might be watching on and we will do our best to help you but the greatest thing you can do for yourself is get yourself into the Word of God and let the word of God get into you thank you Jesus thank you for watching today I bless your name i bless your name

Channel: Capital Community Church

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Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, preaching, sermons, sermon, raymond, woodward, jack, leaman, matthew, bible, study, biblical teaching, the, lost, the lost bible

Id: dhkXEBfo_qw

Length: 40min 28sec (2428 seconds)

Published: Sun May 03 2020