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The Faithful Josiah Became a King at 8 years old

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[II Kings 23:25]

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did--with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.

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As promised with David, God let the descendants of David rule Israel. However, among the people who became the king after David, there were not many who were fitted to the heart of God like King David.

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Among them, King Manasseh and his son Ammon were known for worshiping idols. Ammon became the king at the age of 20 and he worshipped the idols that were served by his father Manasseh. God was not happy with that King Ammon.

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Two years after becoming the king, King Ammon got killed by his servants in the palace. After King Ammon died, Josiah was appointed as the king. At that time, Josiah was only a kid who was just 8 years old.

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Josiah, who became the king, had a very different look on faith than the past kings. He worked hard to follow in King David’s footsteps. Then, as time passed King Josiah became 26 years old.

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King Josiah, who became a young man, made his heart to do things that God was happy with. During his time, many parts of the temple of God were destroyed and the temple looked really terrible. Josiah ordered to repair the temple of God.

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The temple of God got repaired according to the order of King Josiah. The high priest Hilkiah, who was fixing the temple, found a very amazing thing in that place. That was the Book of Law, where the words of God were written.

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The high priest Hilkiah handed over that Book of Law to Shaphan, the secretary of the king. Shaphan read the Book of Law that the high priest Hilkiah gave him and was very surprised.

In that book, God’s words of blessings and curses were written in it.

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Shaphan brought that book to King Josiah. “While fixing the temple as you have ordered, the high priest Hilkiah found this book and gave it to me.” Then, Shaphan started to read the Book of Law of God in that place with a loud voice.

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King Josiah listened to the words of the Book of Law that Shaphan read. Then, he beat his chest and tore his clothes. He knelt down in front of the living God and cried out. It was so painful to hear all of what his father, grandfather and the Israelites have done that God hated.

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God received this heart of Josiah, repenting upon the words of God. Then, He promised to Josiah. “You have shown a responsive and humble heart in front of me when you heard my words about this place and the people of this place. That they will be cursed and be destroyed. You were so sad that you tore your clothes and grieved in front of me. I heard your prayers. So, you will die peacefully that you will be buried in the grave of your forefathers. You will not see all of the kinds of disasters that I will bring to this place.”

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Josiah, who received grace from God, gathered all the people and read God’s Book of Law in front of them. Then, the king and all of the people made a covenant in front of God that they will live according to the words that were recorded in that Book of Law.

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Josiah did not stop there. He destroyed and burned the idols of Baal, Asherah and all of the other kinds of idols in that land. Then, he casted away all of the priests that served those idols. Josiah wiped out the things that God hated from that land.

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Furthermore, Josiah ordered all the people by saying: “Keep the Passover for the LORD as it is written in the Book of Law.” The Passover was a feast day that commemorated the salvation that the Israelites got in Egypt through the help of God. God told them to keep this no matter what.

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The Bible wrote about Josiah like this. 『Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him. He served the LORD with all his heart, sincerity and strength. Then, kept all the teachings of Moses.』

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Even though Josiah became the king at a very young age of 8; he correctly knew the will of God in appointing him as the king. He knew what would make God happy and he put that into action. God protected this Josiah for 31 years. We should correctly know the will of God and work hard to become people of faith who do things that God is happy with.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM.
Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)