Creating Space for God's Presence in Our Lives

**Bible Study Discussion Guide: Making a Place for God**

**Bible Reading:**
- 2 Chronicles 34:1-7
- Zephaniah 1:12
- James 1:21

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**Observation Questions:**

1. What actions did King Josiah take to remove spiritual clutter from the land, and how did these actions demonstrate his commitment to God? [06:06]

2. How does the sermon describe spiritual apathy, and what are some signs of it in our lives? [09:30]

3. What was the significance of finding the Book of the Law during Josiah's reign, and how did he respond to it? [16:50]

4. According to the sermon, what are "high places," and why is it important to deal with them? [23:57]

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**Interpretation Questions:**

1. In what ways does the story of King Josiah challenge us to examine the spiritual "clutter" in our own lives? How can we identify what needs to be removed? [06:06]

2. The sermon mentions spiritual apathy as a hindrance to our relationship with God. How can we recognize and combat this apathy in our daily lives? [11:52]

3. How does Josiah's humility in receiving God's word serve as a model for us? What does it mean to approach God's word with humility? [18:16]

4. Why does the sermon emphasize the need to confront and remove "high places" in our lives? What might these high places look like today? [25:17]

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**Application Questions:**

1. Reflect on your current spiritual practices. Are there areas where you feel stagnant or complacent? What steps can you take to become more spiritually engaged? [09:30]

2. Consider the "high places" in your life—areas of compromise or undealt with issues. What practical steps can you take this week to address and remove them? [25:17]

3. How can you incorporate intentional prayer and fasting into your routine to create a sanctuary for God in your life? What might you need to lay aside to prioritize this? [03:31]

4. In what ways can you invite the Holy Spirit to reveal hidden areas in your life that need transformation? How will you respond to these revelations? [28:49]

5. Josiah responded to God's word with humility and repentance. How can you cultivate a humble heart that is open to God's correction and guidance? [18:16]

6. Identify a specific area of spiritual pride in your life. How can you work towards humility in this area, and what support might you need from your community? [15:13]

7. The sermon encourages us to be spiritually disturbed by the environment around us. What specific actions can you take to be more aware and responsive to the spiritual needs in your community? [11:52]

Day 1: Creating a Spiritual Sanctuary
In our journey to make a place for God, we begin with the intentional practice of prayer and fasting. This spiritual discipline is not merely about abstaining from food or reciting words; it is about aligning our hearts with God's desires and inviting His presence into our lives. By prioritizing His will over our own, we create a spiritual sanctuary where God can dwell. This process requires dedication and a sincere desire to seek God's face, allowing Him to transform our hearts and minds. As we engage in these practices, we open ourselves to the profound peace and guidance that comes from being in communion with God. [03:31]

"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." (James 4:8, ESV)

Reflection: What specific steps can you take today to create a spiritual sanctuary in your life through prayer and fasting?


Day 2: Overcoming Spiritual Apathy
Spiritual apathy is a subtle yet powerful force that can hinder our relationship with God. It manifests as stagnancy and complacency, preventing us from experiencing the fullness of God's presence. We are called to be spiritually disturbed, to seek holiness, and to be agitated by the spiritual environment around us. This requires a willingness to be shaken and emptied of self-interest, allowing God to fill us with His presence. By actively pursuing a vibrant spiritual life, we can overcome apathy and draw closer to God. [09:30]

"Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." (Ephesians 5:14, ESV)

Reflection: Identify one area of your life where you feel spiritually apathetic. What practical steps can you take to awaken your spiritual fervor in this area?


Day 3: Embracing Humility
Humility is essential in receiving God's word and allowing it to transform us. The story of King Josiah serves as a powerful example of this truth. Despite his young age, Josiah demonstrated humility by accepting the word of God and repenting for the sins of his people. His actions remind us of the importance of approaching God with humble hearts, inviting Him to search and know us, and to remove any hidden idols or high places in our lives. By embracing humility, we open ourselves to the transformative power of God's word. [18:16]

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 14:11, ESV)

Reflection: In what ways can you practice humility today to allow God's word to transform your life?


Day 4: Confronting Compromise
High places in our lives represent areas of compromise and undealt with issues that can lead to spiritual destruction. We are urged to invite the Holy Spirit to reveal these areas and to take decisive action to remove them. By confronting these high places, we allow God to fill us with His peace and presence. This process requires courage and a willingness to let go of anything that hinders our relationship with God. As we deal with these compromises, we create space for God's glory to dwell in our lives. [25:17]

"Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God." (Hebrews 6:1, ESV)

Reflection: What is one high place in your life that you need to confront and remove? How can you invite the Holy Spirit to help you in this process?


Day 5: Inviting the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is our guide in identifying and dealing with the high places in our lives. By inviting Him in, we allow God to heal and restore us, creating a space for His glory to dwell. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live a life that is pleasing to God, guiding us in truth and righteousness. As we invite the Holy Spirit into our lives, we experience the fullness of God's presence and the transformative power of His love. This invitation is a daily practice, requiring us to be open and receptive to the Spirit's leading. [28:49]

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." (John 14:26, ESV)

Reflection: How can you intentionally invite the Holy Spirit into your life today to guide and transform you?

"It is a wonderful morning in the house of God. I do not take for granted at all that we make those times for the Holy Spirit in worship. And like Pastor Dave just had the keys playing out, I just got the overwhelming sense as I was preparing this word. And then we have a little room in the back that we get to sit in and just kind of chill as speakers before we come out here. I just got on my knees and I thought, man, God, you want to be here. You want to dwell here. It's not that we're begging him or like, can you please want your heart to be turned towards us? He wants to turn his heart towards us. He wants to turn his face towards us. And that's why we're in this series, Making a Place." [00:00:24] (37 seconds)


"It all started with making a place for the Lord. And when you make a place for him, he is faithful and he shows up. And I challenge you today, if you have not yet laid something aside, if you have not yet laid down your desires and your self-interest to say, God, whatever you want from my life, do it. I challenge you to do that." [00:03:31] (22 seconds)


"Stagnant in the English, you know it, it means to be complacent, to just be kind of sedentary, to not be moving forward or going back, just setting. And we think, well, at least I'm not going backwards. But the Lord says, no, if you're stagnant, that's also not good. So in English, it means complacent. And in Hebrew, it means settled on their lees." [00:10:33] (24 seconds)


"Lees is the sediment on the bottom of the sea. And in Hebrew, it means settled on the bottom of the wine barrel. So settled on their lees is hardened or crusted. An image from the crust formed at the bottom of wines long left undisturbed. Here's a quote. The effect of wealthy undisturbed ease on the ungodly is hardening. They become stupidly secure. Whoa. Undisturbed." [00:10:57] (34 seconds)


"Josiah received the word with humility. It says, in the 18th year of Josiah's reign, to purify the land and the temple, he sent Japheth, son of Azaliah, and Messiah, the ruler of the city, with Joah, son of Joah, the recorder, to repair the temple of the Lord his God. So he's purging the land, and now he's moving on to restoring the temple back to how it should be. There should have been yearly, monthly upkeep of the temple, but they've neglected it. They've acquired so many idols. The temple, the place of worship to God, has been neglected." [00:15:16] (35 seconds)


"Josiah is confronted with the words of the law and he responds in humility and repentance. And he responds with a heart that says, this isn't just for everyone else. This is for me. Spiritual pride is being confronted with the word and saying, that's not for me. That's for that guy right there. Or I've heard this a million times, so it's not for me." [00:18:55] (25 seconds)


"humility is saying, Lord, this is for me. I receive the word. I've been coming to this house for year after year after year, but every Sunday I receive the word. I receive the word. And you say, Lord, no, search me and know me and examine me. And that's what David said. He said, Lord, search me, know me, search my heart. And it says David was a king after God's own heart. Why? Because God cannot resist a humble spirit." [00:19:25] (27 seconds)


"God specifically says you need to demolish them. Grind them to powder so that your generations after you have no evidence that they even existed. Oh, he hated the high places. What were the high places? The high places were areas of worship around the temple to other gods. So they had their worship to God going on here in church on Sunday. And then over here under this tree was the worship of provision." [00:23:12] (26 seconds)


"These are the high places, the things that we need to deal with. And here's my advice. When the Holy Spirit reveals what those things are in your life, deal with them. Crush them to powder. Let generations after you know that they never even existed because you have burned the bones on top of them. You did a little dance and you said, they're not here anymore. There's no more. The high place is because they're gone. I dealt with it." [00:25:17] (26 seconds)

Thank you. Good morning, everyone.

And while you're standing, let's welcome all our campuses: Napa, East Bay, Roseville. Give it up for them, Prison Church Network. Everyone watching online, welcome to church. We're so glad you're with us this morning. You guys can be seated.

It is a wonderful morning in the house of God. I do not take for granted at all that we make those times for the Holy Spirit in worship. And like Pastor Dave just had the keys playing out, I just got the overwhelming sense as I was preparing this word.

And then we have a little room in the back that we get to sit in and just kind of chill as speakers before we come out here. I just got on my knees and I thought, man, God, you want to be here. You want to dwell here. It's not that we're begging him or like, can you please want your heart to be turned towards us? He wants to turn his heart towards us. He wants to turn his face towards us.

And that's why we're in this series, Making a Place. And we pursue the Lord through the month of January with prayer and fasting because he wants to dwell with his people. But he doesn't say, oh, I'm going to dwell with you guys. I'll find a seat in the back. Just do it. Do as you wish and I'll find a spot. No, it says in Exodus that he says, make me a sanctuary exactly according to the pattern I show you. God has a preference. He has a way that he wants to, and we help usher him in when we make a place for him.

During this fast for years and years and years, our church has done this in the month of January. And it was in 2010 of this very fast that Rich and I were fasting and praying about each other and whether or not we wanted to date, but we didn't know we liked the other person. So we were secretly fasting about each other. You guys, I know we're precious. I know.

And spoiler alert, we're celebrating 13 years this month. We're going on our anniversary trip after services today. So this is going to be a quick message. I'm going to be talking real fast because I got places to be.

Now we fasted for each other in January 2010. And then in January 2012, we got married. And then in January 2014, we had our first child, Jane Harris. And then in January 2015, I'm not joking, all of this took place during the fast. We said we're going to name it January instead of January after Jane.

January 2015, we received her life-changing, life-altering diagnosis of lifelong special needs. It was very devastating for our family. Last year, January 2024, we found out that Jane was really, really ill. And we were preparing our hearts to say goodbye to her. We didn't know if God wanted to take her home.

Spoiler alert, yesterday, January 11th, 2025, during the church fast, she turned 11 years old yesterday. She had her 11th birthday. We're so grateful. I got to just kneel down at her little chair in her wheelchair after her sisters went to bed. And I said, Jane, you made it to 11. It was hard making it to 11, but you're an overcomer, girl. I'm so proud of you. And she just like, hmm, like smiles a little bit. She knows what's up.

But we have seen the faithfulness of God in our life again and again, year after year. And let me tell you, it all started with a fast. It all started with making a place for the Lord. And when you make a place for him, he is faithful and he shows up.

And I challenge you today, if you have not yet laid something aside, if you have not yet laid down your desires and your self-interest to say, God, whatever you want from my life, do it. I challenge you to do that. Because even if our daughter had not survived, I would still be standing up here declaring to you the goodness of our God because we have seen it year after year, month after month.

And this is not just luck. This is because Rich and I have constantly said we will make a place for God in the first month of the year. And whenever he wants, we will push back the plate. Amen.

Anybody pushing back the plate right now? We will push back the plate. We will push back entertainment. Why? Because we want the glory of God. And God says, make me a place according to the pattern I will show you. Not just I'll show up whenever, do your thing, it's not a big deal. He says, no, make me a spot. Lay down your self-interest. Lay down your desires. Pursue me and I will be faithful to show up in your life.

So that's what we're talking about this morning, making a place. But I want to talk to you about making a place through the removal of some things. We're going to talk about decluttering this morning in January. We're going to go Marie Kondo for Jesus.

She was not the first one to come up with this. King Josiah has a pretty poignant story of decluttering in order to make room for God's presence in his life and in the land of Jerusalem. So we're going to look at his story. It's in 2 Chronicles 34.

First, let me tell you a little bit about King Josiah. He comes from a long line of evil kings. The kings before him had acquired and hoarded so many idols and altars to other gods, not the God. They had the worship of the God going on in the temple, but on the peripheral, there were all these gods and idols being made by them and being set up by them. So much so that they began to just crowd the land with these altars and these pagan ideologies that they couldn't even hear the voice of God anymore.

There were even altars being set up in the temple of the house of the Lord. So you would look in the back corner and there'd be someone like, oh, we worship God over here, but we can worship fertility over here. It was chaos. So it was hoarded with things that were crowding where God could not inhabit his people anymore.

And then comes King Josiah. King Josiah, 2 Chronicles 34, Josiah was eight years old when he became king. What the heck? I have an eight-year-old and she just got some Heelys yesterday and that's where we're at, you know? So he was eight and he was king and he reigned in Jerusalem 31 years. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed the ways of his father, David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.

In the eighth year of his reign, he was 16. While he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father, David. I just want to speak to the young people in the room, the teenagers in the room. God, I believe, is stirring a hunger inside of you and you're becoming agitated with the things around you. And some people are saying, oh, you have anxiety. You have depression. I believe you are agitated at the spiritual environment around you and God is drawing you.

So I encourage you during this fast, press into the more of God. If you're like, what does that mean? Go ask Pastor Maddie, go ask Nico and say, what do she said more? What do I do? They're going to tell you what to do. Get on your knees. Seek God. Don't go on TikTok. Don't go on Instagram. It doesn't have the answers. God is stirring the hearts of our young people, specifically the teenagers. He's agitating you. He's saying you want holiness. You want holiness is what you want. And so you're uncomfortable in your environment.

And that wasn't on the notes, but I just needed to say that. So he was 16 and he began to seek the God of his father, David. And in his 12th year, he's 20 years old, he begins to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, which are just another form of an idol, and idols.

20 years old, he begins to purge and make a place for God again. I believe in examining his actions, we can see things that we can remove in order to make a place for God. The first thing that I see through his story is if we want to make a place for God, we need to remove spiritual apathy. Remove spiritual apathy.

These are the action points of King Josiah. It says he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left. He began to seek the God of his father David. In his 12th year, he began to purge. I love a good purging declutter session. Oh my gosh, when my kids go to bed, I'm like, good night. Throwing things in the garbage. It's like, don't tell them that. They don't watch these yet, which is so I'm safe.

He began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles, and idols. These he broke to pieces. He burned the bones of the priests on their altars. He tore down the altars and the Asherah poles and crushed the idols to powder and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout Israel. This man was zealous for decluttering for Jesus. He is going after it.

And we think this is awesome. This 20-year-old guy is being stirred by the heart of the Lord. And he says, everything that my father's allowed to accumulate spiritually, I am getting rid of it. I am taking a stand. I am drawing a line in the sand and I am crushing these things to pieces.

But this is so significant when we understand the culture in which Josiah was doing these things. He was not necessarily rallied by the people going, yeah, we're for this. No, no, no. We have a picture of the culture in which Josiah was operating because we know in Zephaniah 1, they are prophesying about the exact time and the exact people that Josiah is living in.

And this is what it says in Zephaniah 1. The prophet Zephaniah is speaking for the Lord and it says this, it will come about at that time, the Lord says, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps and I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit. Interesting. It does not say I will punish the men who are sinful in spirit. I will punish the men who are evil in spirit. It says, I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, the Lord will not do good or evil.

So Josiah was zealously removing everything. He was not doing good or evil. He was not doing good or evil. He was not doing good in a culture of stagnancy. Stagnant in the English, you know it, it means to be complacent, to just be kind of sedentary, to not be moving forward or going back, just setting.

And we think, well, at least I'm not going backwards. But the Lord says, no, if you're stagnant, that's also not good. So in English, it means complacent. And in Hebrew, it means settled on their lees. Lees is the sediment on the bottom of the sea. And in Hebrew, it means settled on the bottom of the wine barrel. So settled on their lees is hardened or crusted. An image from the crust formed at the bottom of wines long left undisturbed.

Here's a quote. The effect of wealthy undisturbed ease on the ungodly is hardening. They become stupidly secure. Whoa. Undisturbed. And we think, at least I'm not sinning, or at least I'm not like that guy. But I have a question. Have you been disturbed by anything spiritually lately, or are you undisturbed? Eh, God will or he won't. I don't know. I'm undisturbed.

Let's not get riled up about expanding the kingdom. I'm just going to settle here. What this means for us is beware of a spirit that says, eh, meh. Are you going to fast? Eh, maybe this year, maybe not. I don't know. Are you going to pursue God, or are you going to at least like lay down entertainment? Eh, maybe on the weekends we'll lay down, or maybe we'll pick it up on the week. I don't know. Meh. You know, I've been praying a long time. He will or he won't. We don't really know, but you know.

Do we need to give more than 10%? I don't know. He will or he won't. Church, we're talking to someone this morning. The undisturbed culture of Americans. How do you get the sediment, the crustiness at the bottom of the wine barrel moving again? You shake it up. You disturb it. You pour it out. You empty it of itself, and you allow it to be refilled again so that it's flowing in and out, in and out.

And don't become a crusty Christian. We're going to make bumper stickers. Crusty Christian. Hashtag crusty Christian. Kay Napa, no crusty Christians in Napa. Don't be a crusty Christian. If even as I'm talking, you think, I don't really care about what she's saying. Here's my challenge to you.

During this time of pursuit, when the rest of us are fasting and pushing back the plate, pushing back entertainment, reading our Bibles, and seeking the Lord, I just want you to do one thing. Pray one prayer for me. God, disturb me. If the spiritual climate around you does not disturb you, you need to begin praying, God, disturb me. Shake me up. Let it overflow out of me.

If you've never emptied yourself through giving or fasting or prayer or serving the house of God, I challenge you to empty yourself. Why? Because then you won't be crusty anymore. When you empty yourself, the crust leaves and you're flowing.

And have any of you ever had fresh wine? You can say you have. It's okay. We're all saved in this place. Man, what a difference. I've had wine. I'm not going to lie to you, I would love some like fresh juice from the valley, right? And like, wow, like what vintage is it? And I'm not really a drinker to be totally honest with you, but all I know is I don't want chunks of crust in my wine. I want wine that's fresh, that's overflowing, but it doesn't come from sitting sedentary and stagnant.

And well, will God will or God won't? No, no. I want to say, God, disturb me. Help me weep at the altar again. Let me run down to the front and worship with the leadership college students. Let it be that I am bothered by the things of the spirit, that when I'm watching something on TV, I shouldn't, it actually aggravates me. Let me actually believe in faith for more, even if it might cause disappointment in the future.

Let me be disturbed by the faith that I have. Let me be disturbed by the climate around me. Why? Because I want God's presence to come. I want him to flow through me. I want him, I want to be a vessel for the glory of God, goodness, for his peace in our lives. But we have to reject the spiritual apathy.

So Josiah is coming against the crusty Christians. And he's like, no, no, no, no. We are going to do something. We are going to crush these things. We're going to break them down. We're going to grind them to powder.

The second thing he does is we have to remove pride. Josiah received the word with humility. It says, in the 18th year of Josiah's reign, to purify the land and the temple, he sent Japheth, son of Azaliah, and Messiah, the ruler of the city, with Joah, son of Joah, the recorder, to repair the temple of the Lord his God.

So he's purging the land, and now he's moving on to restoring the temple back to how it should be. There should have been yearly, monthly upkeep of the temple, but they've neglected it. They've acquired so many idols. The temple, the place of worship to God, has been neglected. So he says, it's time to focus on the temple.

So they go to repair the temple of the Lord. While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the temple of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord that had been given through Moses. You guys, it was so bad that they lost the Bible in church.

Hilkiah the hero goes in and finds the flippin' Bible in church. That's how bad, can you imagine how embarrassing, where they're like, um, I found something. What'd you find? The Bible. They've been doing church this whole time without the word of God. They've just been worshiping, worshiping some other things, worshiping, worshiping some other things. They didn't even need the word. That's how stagnant they were.

So undisturbed. They didn't have the word of God. And we know that it was missing for 60 years. Hey, if you haven't read your Bible in a while, that's okay. They didn't have it for 60 years. So you guys, I'm sure, are doing better than that. If you're not, it's okay. You can repent today.

They found the book of the law of the Lord that had been given through Moses. Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, I have found the book of the law in the temple of the Lord. For 60 years, it had not been read. They had not heard the reading of the word for a whole generation.

Josiah was only in his late 20s by this time. So he had never heard the words of the law read to him. All the purging, all the cleansing, all the shaking up was just because of the unction of the Holy Spirit in his life.

So many of you in this room, you're like, I think that might be me. You're here and you've never even read the Bible. I'm here to tell you that's the Spirit of God who's been inviting you and unctioning you and saying, hey, you should get to church today. And you're like, I don't know how I got here. I do. The Holy Spirit helped you. He helped you rub the boogers out of your eyes and put the pants on. And that was the Holy Spirit. And you're like, I don't belong here. But you do. The Holy Spirit brought you to this place.

And the Holy Spirit was searching Josiah's heart and pushing him towards greater things. And then it allowed him to make room for the book of the law to reveal itself. And the word of God is revealing itself to Josiah. After 60 years, the words of the law are being read.

It says, and Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his robes. He gave these orders to Hilkiah, Acheam, son of Shaphan, Abdon, son of Micah, Shaphan, the secretary, and Isaiah, the king's attendant. Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord's anger that has poured out on us because those who have gone to the Lord have gone before us, have not kept the word of the Lord. They have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.

Josiah is confronted with the words of the law and he responds in humility and repentance. And he responds with a heart that says, this isn't just for everyone else. This is for me.

Spiritual pride is being confronted with the word and saying, that's not for me. That's for that guy right there. Or I've heard this a million times, so it's not for me. Humility is saying, Lord, this is for me. I receive the word. I've been coming to this house for year after year after year, but every Sunday I receive the word. I receive the word.

And you say, Lord, no, search me and know me and examine me. And that's what David said. He said, Lord, search me, know me, search my heart. And it says David was a king after God's own heart. Why? Because God cannot resist a humble spirit.

And if we want to make a place for God, we need to have humble spirits. Why? Because God can't resist that. So I can't even imagine. I know what it looks like at the father's house when 30% of us are coming in humility. But what if 100% participation said, I will not have a spirit of pride, but we come and everyone said, Lord, search me and know me.

Oh, could the Lord resist that? I don't think he could resist that. I think he would come. We think we've seen it. We've seen nothing yet. Can you imagine how he would come in the way of his glory if all of his sons and daughters said, Lord, this is for me. I repent at your word. I have grief over your word.

Now, Lord, this wasn't just because of my forefathers. This is something that I need to examine. I need to search out. And as I was studying this, I kept thinking of the verse in Ezekiel. It's something to the effect of there's the element of God. There's the element of God. There's the element of God. There's the element elders or prophets, and they're in the secret hidden rooms, basically worshiping their idols in the dark.

And they're the elders in the secret rooms, worshiping their idols in the dark, which tells me that it doesn't matter how long you've been in church. There's always something that you can ask the Lord to confront you on. Well, I've been here 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. I don't care. Lord, search me and know me. Search me and know me. Humble hearts is what the Lord cannot resist.

We have to do away with spiritual pride. We have to remove spiritual pride. One says, so get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

Second Chronicles, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. Do you want God to hear you from heaven? He says, if you humble yourself, I will hear from heaven. We have to humble ourselves because we're making a place for God to come.

And the last thing is this. We have to remove the high places. We have to remove the high places. Josiah removed the undealt with places. In 2 Kings, we read, even the altar at Bethel, the high place made by the Lord, by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin, even that altar and high place, he demolished. He burned the high place and ground it to powder and burned the Asherah pole also.

Josiah is doing the most. He's not just getting rid of things and putting them in a closet. He's crushing them down to powder. It says, just as he had done at Bethel, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord's anger.

Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the towns of Samaria and that had aroused the Lord's anger. Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Yikes. Dang. He is going after it. There is a real vehement hatred towards the high places that he's carrying.

But it's very interesting because when he has read the book of the law, we believe it was Deuteronomy that he read, the words written by Moses, where God says, destroy the high places. God specifically says you need to demolish them. Grind them to powder so that your generations after you have no evidence that they even existed.

Oh, he hated the high places. What were the high places? The high places were areas of worship around the temple to other gods. So they had their worship to God going on here in church on Sunday. And then over here under this tree was the worship of provision. Like, oh, on Monday I just got a little worship for God of provision.

And then, oh, under this valley, the worship of femininity and fertility. Oh, I'm just going to worship over here. And then over here was the worship of self. And over here, agriculture and all these little high places all over.

I worship God on Sunday, but I have the little lust. I worship God on Sunday, but I have the little anger or little entertainment or the little dirty joke problem. Or the little what? These are the high places. These are the high places. And there were high places everywhere.

And God says, I hate the high places. So Josiah is destroying them. But so many kings before Josiah, quote for quote, king so-and-so did right in the eyes of the Lord, but they did not destroy the high places. Next story. King so-and-so, they did right in the eyes of the Lord, but they didn't destroy the high places. Another king. King over and over. King so-and-so. King so-and-so.

He, man, did he do right in the eyes of the Lord. Church every Sunday, worshiping in the temple, but he did not destroy the high places. Why was this significant? Why did God hate the high places? God hated the high places and said, take care of them because they represented doors to compromise.

They represented a door that led to a trajectory of destruction. They represented the undealt with things. Guys, a cute high place is not a cute high place. It has the ability to destroy your life. And the Holy Spirit is the only one who can reveal to you what those things are. But maybe you have some godly friends and counselors in your life too that would say, hey bro, that's a high place.

If you ever find yourself using language like, oh, maybe I'll deal with it at the next life change or, oh, it's okay. It's just, you might have a high place. If you ever find yourself saying like, well, it's just once a week. It's not often you might have a high place. These are the high places, the things that we need to deal with.

And here's my advice. When the Holy Spirit reveals what those things are in your life, deal with them. Crush them to powder. Let generations after you know that they never even existed because you have burned the bones on top of them. You did a little dance and you said, they're not here anymore. There's no more. The high place is because they're gone. I dealt with it.

Rich and I once, a couple of years ago in our, we moved into our home. It was built in the nineties. We moved in a little over two years ago. Soon after we moved in, we saw a crack like in the ceiling of our vaulted ceiling in the bedroom. Vaulted ceiling. So quite literally a high place. It was like high up there. It was a joke. Thank you. Sometimes I have to tell you that it was joking.

So crack in the ceiling and we're like, oh. It's just a little drywall shifting. And I know all the dads in the room were like, no, sweetheart, that wasn't drywall shifting. You listen to the end of the story. I mean, I understand what happened.

Okay. So Rich patches it and he does so good. He do so good, babe. He did so good patching that high place. Patches the high place. And we're like, it looks good. We can't see the crack anymore. So it's dealt with, right? No, no, no. What happened, guys? You all know how this story plays out.

This winter, I'm really good at finding the things that are wrong in our house and Rich loves it. I have a king sense to just walk in a room and go, that's wrong, that's wrong, can you fix that? That I've never noticed that, that's right. He's like, love this, love this.

So I walk in our bedroom. I didn't even notice anything. Something in me, the Holy Spirit says, look up. I look to the high place, it's leaking. The high place that has been patched is leaking. Here's a spiritual tip though. My husband did such a great job patching that in the natural. Here's a spiritual tip: you don't patch a high place, you deal with a high place.

You got a little lust thing going on back here, you don't put a band-aid on that, it's gonna come after you. You got a little greed, you got a little gossip, oh no, no, you don't patch a high place, it's gonna come after you. You deal with the high places.

So in the winter, I saw moisture and I was like, we got a problem in the high place. So Rich calls the roofing company and it's the classic, the guy comes out with a clipboard and he goes outside and looks from the outside the house and looks and goes, oh yeah, okay, yeah, I don't know, so we'll have to give you a quote, I'll email it to you, then there might be a couple weeks and then I'll send someone out and see what we're dealing with.

And I'm like, sir, there is moisture coming from my indoors in my house, I'm gonna need you to deal with this so that this cannot be right. There has to be a guy, everyone's got it, I got a guy. Right? Right now you're like, I got a guy or maybe you are that guy, we need your number after if you are that guy.

There's got to be a guy. So we do as you do and text my dad and my brother and I say, hey, so who's your guy? Oh, and guess what? They had a guy. So we got a guy. Everyone's got a guy. So I'm just going to say, I got a guy.

That's his name. I got a guy comes to the house. He rings the doorbell. I say, hey. And he says, so what's going on? I said, we got a leak in the corner of the house, vaulted ceiling. He's like, okay, I'll go check it out. That's all he says. Shuts the door.

And I'm like, is he coming in the house? Is he going around the back? Is he in my bedroom right now? I don't, I, all I hear is this boom, boom, boom, boom. I got a guy's on the roof. He's throwing back tiles. And I'm like, I got a guy's on the roof.

And Rich, we're in the kitchen. We're like, is that him? He didn't tell us he was going up there, but he's on the roof and he's throwing back tiles. And the next thing he sends Rich and I a screenshot. He took a picture and he's like, found it. Found the crack.

Yeah. You got a leak right there. No, no extra damage done. I'm going to fix this and be 400 bucks. I'll fix it in two days. Boom. Done. Third of the price that the original guy quoted us, by the way, I got a guy.

You don't have to, you don't have to, you don't have to, you don't have to, you don't have time with high places to deal with the, how long is this going to take? And should I, and I don't know. And maybe, and no, no, you have to deal with the high places.

And if you don't know how to deal with the high places, I got a guy and he's the Holy Spirit and he will search out the hidden areas of your heart. The word says that the Holy Spirit searches all things. He knows the hidden parts of God. He knows the hidden parts of man.

And if you're saying, I know I'm struggling, Pastor Hillary, but how am I supposed to fix this? I got a guy. It's the Holy Spirit. His name is Jesus. And he will find it not to shame you, but he will say, hey, I found it. You couldn't find it on your own.

And guess what? It's not going to cost much because I already paid for it all. I've already covered it with my blood. You don't have to worry. You don't have to be shamed. You don't have to deal with that anymore. That thing that has been bothering you, your lineage, and it's right above your head.

And as you go to sleep last night and you're like, it's leaking. I see it. It's following me. It's right there. The Holy Spirit wants to deal with it. He wants to cover it, but he says, invite me in. Let me in. This is the holy habitation of the Lord.

When we make a space, when we let him deal with the broken and the cracked areas, he says, now I can come in in the fullness of my glory. I will come in. I will patch. I will heal and I will restore your brokenness so I can fill you with my peace, so I can fill you with my presence, so I can fill you with my glory.

But you have to ask him, Holy Spirit, reveal to me the areas that are keeping you outside of my life. Heal the high places, deal with them, burn them, destroy them, grind them to powder. I don't want to deal with them anymore. I want you to come in in the fullness of who you are.

This is God's response to Josiah. In 2 Chronicles 34, he says, because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, kings.

We get entrance right into the throne room of grace. He says, you humbled yourself, you repented, and so I've heard you. Now I will gather you to your ancestors and you will be buried in peace. The Lord wants to bring you peace, but we have to get rid of apathy and we have to get rid of pride.

We have to take care of the undealt with things. And he says, I will come in and I will meet with you. I will speak with you and I will bring you peace. Campuses, you can take it from here.

In this room, I just want to quickly give us a time to respond to what the Lord is doing this morning. If you could close your eyes with me. Not going to make anyone raise their hand, but I do believe that there's many of you and God's revealing those secret places.

And I want you to know he's not revealing those things to shame you or to condemn you or to say, see, you're dirty. You don't belong. No, he's coming in his grace and his goodness this morning and say, you've been wondering where I am. I'm ready to come into your life. I'm revealing this thing to you so that you can deal with it.

So right now, if God's just illuminating something to you, you can begin to respond in your own way, just under your breath or even a hand on your heart. Say, God, I want to deal with the high places. I want to deal with those things.

In a minute, we'll have the altars open. You can come agree in prayer with someone up here. We have small groups you can join. You cannot deal with the high places alone. You need the Holy Spirit. You need someone who knows that I got a guy.

You need the community that says, let us help you discover this. Let us help you. Let us help you. Let us help you. Let us help you. Let us help you cover this. Let us help you deal with this.

So while the Holy Spirit's revealing that, you just respond and you let him know, I want to deal with this. And then you take action at the end of this service and you find community to help you out.

And if you're perhaps just saying, yes, I want Jesus to come into my life. I want his peace in my life. I've never known what it's like for God to hear my prayers. I've never known what it's like to feel God's peace.

And maybe for the first, second, third time, you're saying, I need Jesus in my life. I want to invite him into my life that I've been stirred. I made it to church today and I want to say yes to Jesus. I want him. I want to make a place for him.

That's you. And you want to say yes to following Jesus this morning. Would you lift your hand to me? And I'm just going to agree in prayer. I see you up there all the way up in the risers. Yeah. A lot of people up in the risers. I see you. I see you down here. All hands all across the room.

Would you guys just as a church, let's agree in prayer together. And can you repeat after me this prayer, especially if you're raising your hand, just let these words sink into your heart and communicate this directly to Jesus.

As you repeat this prayer, God, I know I can't. Amen. If you raised your hand for the first time, grab one of these on your way out. This'll take it to our connect area. They'll let you know your next steps on how to follow God and be a part of this church.

Here for the rest of you, stand to your feet, stand your feet. I'm just going to pray a prayer over us really quickly as we dismiss, and we're going to open the altars. But if you guys can just lift your hands to the Lord right now. I'm just going to pray a prayer of declaration.

God, we declare as your church that we will make room in Jesus' name. Show us the areas in our lives that are holding us back from you. Let us be a people that make room for the glory of God this week. As your people continue to fast and pray and pursue, I pray you would fill them with your presence. They would feel you, your peace, and you would bless them with every need in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. All right. You guys are dismissed. Thank you so much. Altars prayer. Come on up. These are open. If you need prayer, see you at midday pursuit.