Sowing Seeds for Future Generations

Well, good afternoon, everyone. Happy Sabbath day to everybody. Certainly appreciate the special music from all three ensembles. Thank you very much for your time rehearsing and making it a special Sabbath day for us. And I enjoyed the four short-term Annette messages as well. So, very nice. Great to see some up-and-coming leadership here in the congregation in that regard. So, very, very nice, guys. And bring your greetings from Cincinnati, from the Cubics, from the Mayas, and others that you may know from the area down there. And it looks like half of the Young Adult congregation came up as well from Cincinnati. Well, three or four, anyway. So, good to see you all here. And thank you for your hospitality. Thank you, Svelso. Welcome as we came in and had a really good morning service as well out east. So, appreciate the Shribers hospitality and having us over. And glad to be part of this youth Sabbath, this youth weekend, to help me get a feel for things here. How many people are under 12 years old? 12 or under? 12 or under? Okay, we've got a handful, yeah. How many? 13 to 19. 13 to 19. Alright, and then let's say 20 to 30. Very good. And how many? Over 90. Oh, now we won't do that. There is one. Hand goes up. Very good. Well, today's youth day here at Ironwood Springs, and I have a message that I believe will be helpful to all of us, young and old alike. But in particular to the younger, maybe young adult and teenage group, and maybe even for those under 12. We'll see. We all have a family tree, and there are various tools you can use online and books you can create to get your family tree going and connect all the relatives and cousins and aunts and go back in time to your family tree. And it's interesting to get out the old photo albums and reminisce about times gone by and look at snapshots of our families and our relatives. Terry and I remember waking up sometimes on Sabbath morning and seeing our youngest, Mark, with the VHS player going and playing the old family movies. We've got a closet full of videos of the boys growing up. And so they're excited to go back and see what they look like 20 years ago. But here's a twist on the family tree idea. Let me introduce you to a German farmer. His name is Hans. Hans can tell you about family trees because he makes his living from them. He inherited a German forest that has been in his family for 400 years. The trees he harvests were planted 180 years ago by his great grandfather. And the trees that Hans now plants won't be ready for market until his great-grandchildren are born. And he's part of a chain. And he says, every generation must make a choice. They can either pillage or plant. He says they can rake the landscape and get rich, or they can care for the landscape, harvest only what is theirs, and leave an investment for their children.

Hans harvests seeds sown by men he never knew. And Hans sows seeds to be harvested by descendants he'll never see. He's part of a chain that is dependent upon the past and responsible for the future. All of us here, every last one of us, are children at one time or another. We're children of the past and we're parents of the future. Some are parents now, but the younger ones are parents yet to be. As teenagers, we dream of the day when we too will be married and have children, because we're heirs and we're benefactors.

How does this relate to us and our part in preparing for the future of God's forest? God's family, God's family tree, God's church. The answer in part is that we here are recipients of the work done before us in showing us the way, preaching the gospel, creating congregations.

But we'll also be the teachers and leaders of those who will follow us. So we have to ask, what kind of forest are we planting for future generations of the church? So, to continue the analogy, we are born into a forest, into a church that we didn't seed or sow. That's in many ways, both physically and spiritually. And this leads us to ask, what seeds are we sowing for the future? Do the young adults among us and do you teenagers realize how blessed we are to know God? God the Father, who's been revealed to us through Jesus Christ, to understand His plan of salvation for all of mankind, and to be actually sitting here today in a Sabbath service and understand these things.

Because our friends from work, our friends from school are not here today. One day they will be given understanding. We know that. As we study the Holy Days, we understand God's time map, His timeline for everybody. But at present, this is Satan's world, and the time is not yet for all. God is calling some first fruits first. As we grow up in God's church, we need to make sure we're providing a solid foundation for the crop that is to be harvested in the future. Maybe for people we will never even see, generations from now.

Today's sermon topic covers something for all of us to learn from. And hopefully is of special interest to the younger ones, the teens, the fast-growing teenagers, maybe even those a little younger than that. We're going to learn about sowing seeds for the future and see some very interesting passages in our Bibles that I know you'll find fascinating. And so I encourage you all to follow along as we go through the Scriptures and turn to them and take a look. We're going to be looking at the example of a young man who became a king of a nation while not even yet a teenager.

So let's look at sowing seeds for the future. Let's see how healthy our forests can be for future generations, especially those generations that will inherit the kingdom of God. Because you are sowing seeds for future generations that only you can dream about. You can only dream about. I've divided this up into about four sections to kind of give some organization to the message. And the first point I've called, Making Good from a Dysfunctional Family.

Making good from a dysfunctional family. Because there is a famous story of a man who must have had doubtful thoughts about his past. His heritage, his ancestry was tragic. His grandfather was a murderer and a mystic who sacrificed his own children in ritual abuse. His dad was a man who ravaged churches, houses of worship, and made a mockery of those who were true believers. And his dad was then killed at the age of 24 by his own friends. The men around were typical of their era.

They lived in a time when prostitutes pervade their wares in houses of worship. Wizards treated disease with chants. People worshipped stars and followed horoscopes. And more thought went into superstition and voodoo than into the education of the children. It almost sounds like some places around us today, doesn't it? But this story is set back during a dark time in which to be born. What would you do if your grandfather followed black magic? Your father was a scoundrel and your nation was corrupt. Would you follow suit?

Would you be just like your ancestors? Well, some assume the hero in our story would. And I wonder if you know who I'm talking about just yet. Some branded him a juvenile delinquent before he was born. A chip off the old block. Off the old rotten block. And you can almost hear the people moan as he passes by, saying he's going to be just like his dad. But here, in his lesson for us today, they were wrong.

He wasn't just like his dad or his grandfather. He reversed the trend. He defied the odds of the nation. He stood like a dam against the trends of his day and rerouted the future of his nation. His achievements were so remarkable that we still tell his story 2,600 years later.

Do you know who our hero was? Because this is the story of a real hero. This is not Arnold Schwarzenegger or Mark Wahlberg. Although I do like a few of their movies. This is not Aaron Rodgers. Did I get it right? See if I'm up this way somewhere? This is not Aaron Rodgers or Katy Perry. This is the story of someone to really look up to.

This is the story of King Josiah.

The world has seen wiser kings. The world has seen wealthier kings. The world has even seen more powerful kings. But history has never seen a more courageous king than young Josiah.

Josiah was born some 600 years before Jesus.

He inherited, as I've alluded to, a fragile throne and a tarnished crown. The temple of God was in disarray. The law of God was lost. And the people worshipped whatever God they wanted.

But by the end of Josiah's 31-year reign, the temple had been rebuilt, the idols destroyed, and the law of God was once again elevated to a place of prominence and power. Now, one of the most amazing points here is that, now get this, he was only eight years old when he inherited the throne. And there are some young fellows here that, you know, under 12, probably got some eight-year-olds here as well. So I guess the pre-teens can listen up, too, to this youth sermon.

Let's turn to 2 Kings chapter 21. 2 Kings 21. Let's start with Josiah's grandfather, who was King Manasseh.

And King Manasseh was not remembered in a favorable manner. 2 Kings 21 verse 11. Let's turn over there for a moment. 2 Kings 21, 11.

And here we read about Manasseh, Josiah's grandfather. Because Manasseh, King of Judah, has done these abominations, and it says in parentheses, he has acted more wickedly than all the Amorites. They were pagans, right? He is more wicked than the Amorites who were before him. And then he has also made Judah sin with idols.

Verse 12. Therefore, says the Lord God of Israel, behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears will tingle. It would be almost unbelievable to hear what will happen to the nation because of this. And then verse 16. Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord. And according to 2 Chronicles chapter 33 verse 5, Manasseh practiced soothsaying and augury and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with wizards.

Prophetic voices were raised in warning.

And in 2 Kings 21 verse 13, we see where they cried that, The Lord will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

Manasseh's evil deeds are well documented in these passages from Kings, and like I said even in the book of Chronicles.

He totally rejected his Creator, even to the point of practicing child sacrifice and setting up an idol right in the house of God. And Manasseh's shedding of innocent blood refers not only to human sacrifice, but probably to the martyrdom of God's prophets that are here listed in the Bible. Many of God's holy prophets may have been martyred by Manasseh. Josephus, the famous Jewish historian from Jesus' time, Josephus in his book Antiquities of the Jews, Book 10, page 37, says, he affirms that Manasseh not only slew all the righteous men of Judah, but especially the prophets he slew daily until Jerusalem was overflowing with blood. Josephus says, uniform Jewish and Christian tradition holds that Manasseh was the one who had Isaiah sawn in two. The expositor's Bible commentary on their footnote for 2 Kings 21 says, if true, this further illustrates Manasseh's moral depravity, as Isaiah had been such a trusted friend and spiritual advisor to Manasseh's father, Hezekiah. So Manasseh was truly an evil king. He repented very late in his life and tried to take back what he'd done, but the nation was never the same again. Manasseh had wielded a lot of power in Judah, and though his father Hezekiah had been a righteous king, the people of Judah were easily led astray. Even after Manasseh repented and tried to restore right religion in Judah, the people remained essentially evil and were ultimately to suffer the same fate as Manasseh. Okay, so then there's Manasseh's son, King Ammon. So this is now Josiah's dad.

2 Kings 21 verse 18. 2 Kings 21, 18. So Manasseh rested with his fathers. He died and was buried in the garden of his own house in the garden of Azar. Then his son Ammon reigned in his place. Okay, let's hear about Ammon, Josiah's dad. Ammon was 22 years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. I wonder why it was only two years. His mother's name was Meshulimath, the daughter of Haroz of Jotba. Verse 20, And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. Verse 21, So he walked in all the ways that his father had walked, and he served the idols that his father had served, and worshipped them. He forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the LORD. Then the servants of Ammon, his own servants, conspired against him, and killed the king in his own house. So he only lasted two years on the throne. But the people of the land then executed all those who had conspired against the king. Then the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place. Talk about a dysfunctional royal family, a sinful royal family.

And as we read here in verses 23 and 24, the citizens had had enough. And they formed a gang, a posse, and they killed the assassins that had killed the king. And then eight-year-old Josiah ascended the throne. And so this brings us to the end of point one, making good out of a dysfunctional family. So we have to ask ourselves, what would we do in that situation? Would we too be a chip-off-the-old block?

The second section I've titled, Setting the Right Example, Restoring God's Ways. Setting the Right Example, Restoring God's Ways. Josiah lived from around 640 BC to about 609 BC.

So the northern nation of Israel had already been taken captive by the Assyrians. And it wasn't going to be too long before Judah was to be taken captive by the Babylonians. So Josiah is just a couple of kings before Judah disappeared and was taken captive in Babylon. Second Kings 22 now, verse 1. Second Kings 22 and verse 1. Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jadai'da, the daughter of Adiah of Bozkath, and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. And walked in all the ways of his father, King David. That's going back quite a few generations, by the way. He did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

So it sounds like Josiah is breaking the mold here. We know from reading the books of Kings and Chronicles and the prophecies of the time, that the people remained hostile to God and wanted the pagan ways to continue. They didn't want to do what Josiah was doing to change them out of their paganism. Maybe they thought they could continue their pagan practices by appointing a boy as the king, an eight-year-old. Surely, let us do whatever we want to. But they were soon to learn that the young Josiah was not like his father, and he was not like his grandfather.

So Josiah became king of the nation at the age of eight. So we know there's quite a few here that are maybe eight, nine, ten years old. And you'd have to ask yourself, would you be ready to take on the leadership of the United States of America, and lead the nation in God's truth as an eight-year-old, and establish a God-fearing society? If you were put in charge, would you do that? Think about it. Think about the determination of Josiah.

Josiah obviously didn't get off to a good start in life. His father, Amon, was only around 16 when Josiah was born, and he was set in evil doing. It's likely that Josiah was raised by his mother, that is, by his mother, Jadaira, and possibly his grandmother, Adaira. By the age of 16, Josiah truly sought God. And four years later, when he was 20, in an enthusiastic surge of youthful vigor, he showed that he wasn't about to be controlled by a pagan populace, and he took dramatic steps to purge the nation of its evil religion. So, Josiah flipped through his family scrapbook. He went through the old family videos until he found an ancestor worthy of emulation. It sure wasn't his dad, and it sure wasn't his grandfather.

So he skipped his dad's life, went back a few more pages, skipped his grandpa's life. He leapfrogged back in time until he found King David and resolved, as we read here in verse 2, 2 Kings 22, I'm going to be like him.

He said, I'm going to be like my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, King David.

And when Josiah chose David as his mentor, and of course King David had chosen God, good things began to happen. Josiah had the people tear down the altars for Baal. Josiah cut down the incense altars that were for pagan deities.

And let's look over in 2 Chronicles chapter 34. You can find Chronicles right after the Kings. It's the Chronicles of the Kings. 2 Chronicles chapter 34. It's kind of a parallel account, kind of a reiteration and a few more details of what was going on during the time of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 2 Chronicles 34 verse 3. Talking of Josiah, it says, For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, so Josiah would have been 16 at this point, he began to seek the God of his father, David. And in the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images and the molded images. It's almost hard to believe the condition that the nation of Judah had come into. All the high places around the country had idols and false worship centers put up on them for worshipping Baal and Ashtoreth and all these pagan gods. Verse 4. So what did Josiah have them do? 2 Chronicles 34 verse 4. They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense-holders which were above them he cut down, and the wooden images, the carved images, the molded images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

He also burned the bones of the pagan priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. Verse 6. And so he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali and all around with axes. They hacked down these pagan worship centers. And when he had broken down verse 7, the altars and the wooden images had been beaten, the carved images into powder, and cut down all the incense-holders throughout all the land of Israel. He then returned to Jerusalem. So it was a whirlwind tour. This is not what you would call a public relations tour, either. He wasn't out to score votes at this point. He wasn't riding the presidential campaign bus, trying to score any points.

But then again, Josiah was not out to make friends. He was out to make a statement. And so, teens, you're never too young to set the correct example to do what is right.

Even as early as eight years old, and then as a sixteen-year-old, Josiah showed you can begin to break the cycle of sin. So just imagine the situation he was in. What we see Josiah doing in this accurate historical account could be likened, as I said, to you as a young president in America. Maybe the first woman president in America tearing down all of the false places of worship and instituting, let's say, a Sabbath rest each week for the entire nation. You would decree there would be no more going to church on Sunday. You would say no more idols in the churches. No more crosses on the windows. You would be encouraging society to keep the Sabbath day holy. As president, you would change our financial system to include tithing, to provide for the poor, and to do God's work. You would turn people to Jesus Christ and show how the annual holy days are to be observed. Not Christmas in Easter. See, back in Josiah's time, they had all kinds of pagan holidays that they were keeping. He wiped all that out.

And Josiah wasn't finished. Four years later, at the age of 26, he turned his attention to the temple. It was in a shambles, in disrepair, dusty. The people had allowed it to fall into disrepair. But Josiah was determined. Something had happened that fueled his passion to restore the temple. He received that baton, the torture being passed to him, and he was going to run with it. And as young people today, we can do likewise. We can make a commitment to do what we know is right. Or what we've been taught is right. To build up the temple of God in our own lives, as His chosen people. We can make plans, have goals now, to be part of the kingdom of God.

Look at 2 Chronicles 34 and verse 8. Because early in his reign, he had resolved to serve the God of his ancestor, David. We mentioned that. But now we see that he chose to serve the God of someone else. Let's see who that is. 2 Chronicles 34 verse 8. In the 18th year of his reign, Josiah would have been 26 now, when he had purged the land in the temple, he sent Shaphan, the son of Eliah, Messiah, the governor of the city, and Joah, the son of Joah, as the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord, His God. Some translations put it more directly, to repair the temple of the Lord, the God of Josiah. God was now His God. He wasn't just the God of King David. Now he said, no, this is my God too. David's faith was now Josiah's faith. He had found the God of David and made him his own. So today, this is not just a church of our parents. We have to make it our church. The Sabbath is not just our parents' Sabbath. Eating pork is not just our parents' idea. The church of God should be our church, and we should be vested in it. That's why it's so great to see the young fellows up here today. These should be our beliefs. God should be our God, no matter how young or old we are. We too must set the right example and restore God's ways. So that's the second section, the second point.

The third point I jotted down was, Godly integrity can save a nation. Godly integrity can save a nation. As the temple was being rebuilt, one of the workers happened upon a scroll. And on the scroll were the words of God given to Moses a thousand years earlier. Almost a thousand years earlier. And it would have been seen to them as an ancient manuscript.

Imagine if we'd found something a thousand years old today. And so what we find is that the temple had become in such disarray, and with so much dust and debris from disuse and abandon, that even the words of God, the scrolls of the ancient writings, were just buried in a corner somewhere. No one was even using them. Justiah is regarded as one of the outstanding kings of Judah, and his reign as the last interlude of greatness before the end of the whole kingdom. And in the course of the work to restore the temple, the book of the law got found.

This was probably a scroll containing an early version of the book of Deuteronomy, is what most people think. Someone found a scroll with a version of the book of Deuteronomy on it. And it's like everybody had forgotten about it. This was like an archaeological find of some kind. It was a thousand years old almost. So Shaphan brought the book to the king and read it out to him. Josiah was so overcome with emotion and deeply disturbed to find how far religious life in the kingdom had strayed from the precepts in the sacred work that he was devastated. When Josiah heard those words read from the scroll, he was shocked. He wept that his people had drifted so far from God and that God's word was not part of their lives at all. And he became deeply worried by this.

And he thought, what is to become of our nation if we have neglected this very law? Forgotten about it. It seems like Josiah didn't even really know it existed until someone found it in the corner of the temple. The words of Moses, the law of God. So he sent word to a prophetess and asked her, what's going to happen now? Because in the book of Deuteronomy, remember there are blessings and cursings? And if you don't follow God, there's certain judgment upon your nation. So Josiah hears that and is like, oh no, now what? Look at 2 Chronicles 34, verse 23 now. 2 Chronicles 34, verse 23.

So he went to the prophetess and he sent envoys to go to the prophetess and said, what's going to happen? And she answered them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, tell the man who sent you to me, Thus says the Lord, behold, unfortunately I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah. Because, verse 25, they forsaken me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore my wrath will be poured out on this place and not be quenched.

And that's what happened to Judah when the Babylonians invaded not too long after, and the kingdom of Judah was no more. But notice verse 26, But as for the king of Judah, as for Josiah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, in this manner you shall speak to him. So she said, go back and tell him this, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, concerning the words which you have heard, because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before me, and you tore your clothes and wept before me. I also have heard you, says the LORD. Verse 28, Surely I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace. And your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place and its inhabitants. So they brought word back to the king. She told Josiah that since he had repented when he heard these words, his nation would be spared the anger of God for a generation. That was in verse 27 there. Incredible. An entire generation received grace, received a pardon, had peace in the land because of the integrity of one man. King Josiah. And so the punishment of Judah was postponed.

A righteous leader, a God-fearing president, a God-fearing prime minister, can change the course of a nation.

The discovery of the ancient law, the book of Deuteronomy, gave impetus to purge pagan practices and objects. It was more sweeping even than that of the young king's great-grandfather, Hezekiah, who did a similar thing. The altars, the vessels, and the images in the temple dedicated for Baal, for Asheroth, and for all the host of heaven were burnt in the Kidron Valley. They went up in flames. Turn to 2 Kings 23. Go back to 2 Kings 23. Let's notice a couple more highlights.

2 Kings 23.

Adolitris priests at local shrines in the country were deposed. The building in the temple compound used by male prostitutes was destroyed.

Pagan high places were defiled by scattering human bones on them, as we read earlier. Notice verse 10, 2 Kings 23. The spot called Topith in the Valley of Hinnom was also defiled, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech any longer. And you've heard of the terrible pagan practices of worshipping Molech, right? The child's sacrifice. So you see here in verse 10, child sacrifice was going on, and Josiah put an end to it. Do we sacrifice our young children today? Think about it. We do by the millions in what we call clinics.

Notice verse 5. Josiah eliminated from the temple every evidence of Assyrian worship of the celestial bodies, the sun, the moon, and the constellations, or the pagan star worship. It also included burning the figures of horses and chariots that had been erected during previous kingly reigns at the entrance to the temple in honor of the Assyrian sun god. So the temple of god had horses and chariots put up on the front that were actually to honor the Assyrian sun god on God's temple. And the climax of the religious revival was a great passover feast in Jerusalem. To which the whole country was invited, as well as the Israelite population left in Samaria. In verse 22 we read about this. Take in verse 23, verse 22. The ceremonies were carried out strictly according to the book of the covenant that they found in the temple. Thousands of animals were offered as sacrifices. And it says in verse 22, for no such passover had been kept since the days of the judges, going back before there were any kings in Israel. Josiah showed his love for his people by his generosity, providing animals for the sacrifices and offerings from his own herds and flocks. It was a magnificent passover celebration. Now here's an interesting side note for you to consider. It seems that Josiah may have had a positive influence on other biblical prophets of his day.

It's amazing what a difference a good leader can make. And it's in the story of Daniel. Because not long after this, remember the Babylonians took the Jews captive, and Daniel was among the captives. Here's a note from the complete Who's Who in the Bible by Paul Gardner in his section about Daniel. Gardner says, since Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Judah took place in 605 BC, and Daniel was at that point placed in the category of young men to be educated, that's in Daniel chapter 1, he would probably have been 15 to 20 years old. So when Daniel was taking captive to Babylon with Shadrach, Michigan, Abednego and all those guys, Daniel would have been 15 to 20 years old. That would make, as Gardner points out, that would make his date of birth around 625 BC during the middle of the reign of Josiah. So Daniel was probably born during the time when Josiah was his king, and Daniel was a righteous young man. So you see the kind of influence that the king had on the people.

Indeed, Josiah may have been a great influence even on the young Daniel. In fact, Daniel 1 verse 3 says, I'll read it to you, that those who were carried to Babylon to be educated included some of the nobles, even royalty.

Josephus, in Antiquities of the Jews book 10, chapter 10, says that Daniel and his three famous friends were all members of the royal family. So Josiah may have had a direct influence on Daniel. Daniel may have even been brought up in the palace.

So this is even more reason to suspect Josiah's influence, and perhaps the influence of Josiah's friend. There was a famous prophet who was one of Josiah's best friends, and that was the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah actually tells a very sad story in the book of Lamentations.

But despite the incredible reforms under Josiah, the changes for the people were only superficial, and God knew it would not be long before they were openly rebelling against him again.

They had shown their true colors under the wicked reigns of Manasseh and Ammon, and inside they really were no different. So God pronounced calamity upon Judah. But remember that He had promised before that this calamity would not come for a generation. It would not come until Josiah had died. And then eventually, Josiah's untimely death came in a battle, thirteen years after his great Passover celebration.

Consider what a righteous ruler Josiah was, and yet God allowed him to be killed at the age of thirty-nine.

There's an encouraging passage I read to you from Isaiah 57, verse 1. If you want to make a note of it. God said, the righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart. Most of all men are taken away, while no one considers that the righteous are taken away from evil. He shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. So this untimely death of Josiah at age thirty-nine actually meant that he didn't have to watch and see what was going to happen to his nation. God let him be taken away from seeing that evil. Josiah would then be, shall we say, a much better place. Perhaps this, more than anything, is why Josiah died when he did. It was time for Judah to be punished. And people like Daniel then were taken captive by the Babylonians. Josiah had to be taken out of the way first. The prophet Jeremiah led the nation in a lament over losing the most righteous King Judah ever had. 2 Chronicles 35.25 says, he was the most righteous King Judah ever had.

Look at 2 Kings 23 verse 25. We're still in 2 Kings. 2 Kings 23 verse 25. Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his might. According to all the law of Moses, nor after him did any arise like him. And as I said, Jeremiah read a very sad commentary on the nation after Josiah died. So a righteous King can save a nation, can make a difference. And then our fourth point, the last one. Young people must make a courageous decision, just like Josiah did. Young people must make a courageous decision. And for any of us, when we hear the truth, no matter what age we are, we must make a courageous decision. We, like Josiah, have to make a choice. We have to think, am I going to plant seeds that will bear a healthy spiritual crop in the future of God's kingdom, or not? The New York Times had an interesting article a while ago titled, The Perils of Info-Democracy. It was called, The Perils of Info-Democracy. It needs a startling quote from the article. Increasingly, leadership, this is in the US, is perceived as calculating the direction in which the electorate is moving, and then rushing to the head of the crowd. Is that what we do with the truth? Do we find out what everybody else likes, and then do it to be popular? Like a politician trying to get elected by the crowd, even if the crowd doesn't hold the values he does?

When you now, a young person, grow old, will you have chosen the way of God, or will you have regrets? Will you be saying, if only I'd done this, or if only I'd been born somewhere else, or if only I'd been treated fairly, if only I'd had kinder parents, more money, greater opportunities, then I would have followed God, or if I'd have been potty trained sooner, spanked a lot less, or taught to eat without slurping, then I would have done it. And, you know, people have used those words. Maybe you have every right to use them. Perhaps, like Josiah, some of us here may have been hearing the ten count before we even got into the ring. However, many of us here today are blessed, unlike Josiah, to have grown up in the church with good parents, good grandparents.

Let's now look at something we could all appreciate in John chapter 3 verse 6. Let's go to the New Testament, John 3 verse 6. So we're going to put down the family scrapbook, so to say, and pick up the New Testament here, as we look at sowing seeds for the future. And let's see how healthy our forests can be for future generations. Look at John 3 verse 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do you know what that means? To put Jesus' words in more modern terms, human life comes from human parents, but spiritual life comes from the Spirit of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Your parents may have given you your genes, G-E-N-E-S, but God gives you the opportunity for eternal life. Your parents may be responsible for your body, but God can work with your conscience and your human spirit. You may get your looks from your mother, but you get your eternity from your father, your eternal father. So there's the physical side of our life, and there's the spiritual side of our life, and only God can give us the spiritual side. God is able to give you what your family can't, and that's eternity.

How many people are trying to preserve life, to live forever? Have their heads frozen when they die in cryogenics, hoping one day they can be brought out of the ice and put on a robot body or something and keep living? People are just always trying to live forever. Well, guess what? You can!

If you follow the book.

So how does all this relate to you, me, and the Church and the Kingdom of God? It's actually quite simple. If we follow God's lead and repent and are baptized when we're old enough and are converted, then we have the promise of eternal life. We will be born of the Spirit, not just of the flesh. And you and I will be teachers and leaders in a new world to come. And so teens and preteens and young adults can begin making decisions now that will result in you all having a part in this, the opportunity to live forever. And it will be an amazing time.

I'm just going to skip forward a little bit and wrap this up for you.

If you commit to God now and remain faithful to Him, Yours will be one of the voices providing guidance and direction to human beings in the world tomorrow. An amazing time to come after Jesus Christ returns. Jesus Christ will reign in righteousness from Jerusalem. And that's kind of a unique teaching of the Church, that Jesus Christ will return to this earth and actually set up a real government and a real kingdom. And replace all the other governments of the world. And it says He will rule with His princes. And the princes are you and me. Those give an opportunity to serve in the palace or in the kingdom with Him.

For all of us here today and during His focus on the youth, now is the time to do the right thing. Now is the time to be a Josiah. Now is the time to prepare for the future. Now is the time to sow seeds of the kingdom of God in your life.

If you want to turn with me to one final passage, let's do that. Isaiah 55 verse 6. Let's read Isaiah 55 verse 6 as we conclude. Verse 6 of Isaiah 55 says, And for all of us here today, God is very near. When we meet like this for Sabbath services, God's Holy Spirit is present. Seek the Lord while He may be found, while you have the opportunity. Don't walk out the door and go the other way.

Seek Him while He may be found, and that's what Josiah did. He didn't imitate His father and grandfather. He imitated a godly way of life, and He turned the nation around. And so to conclude, God can provide us the seeds for the future, so that we too can make a difference. God can provide a healthy foundation, a healthy forest that can be rich and be harvested for eternity. God will not leave you adrift in a sea of hopelessness, because just like Josiah, you can respond to God. You can control the way you respond to Him. You have a voice in your destiny. You have a say in your life. You don't have to do what everybody else is doing out there. You have a say in your life. You have a choice in the path you take. And so I say, choose well, and someday, generations from now, your grandchildren and great-grandchildren will thank you for the seeds you sowed that gave them direction toward eternal life too.