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Experience the life-changing messages from the Church of God’s annual Winterfest youth gathering. These are the sermons, moments, and voices that have shaped generations of young believers — now available anytime, anywhere.
We're gonna go to the scripture and I'm gonna read one passage of scripture
I know that you just sat down, but if you'll just please stand for the reading of God's Word
I'm gonna read one passage of scripture today and it comes from 2 Kings 23
2 Kings 23 in verse 25 and
The Bible says now before him there was no King like him
who turned to the Lord with all his heart,
with all of his soul, and with all of his might,
according to all the law of Moses, nor after him,
did anyone arise like him.
Let's pray, Father, thank you for your word.
Once again, I pray that it challenge and it changes us.
God, let it come with clarity.
And I pray that the word that you deposit in this place
will come not with enticing words of man's wisdom once again,
but with power and with demonstration
in the name of Jesus and everybody shout it.
You may be seated.
I wanna speak to you for the next few moments
of message titled, Be the Answer.
Everybody shout, Be the Answer.
I heard a preacher once say,
where there is a problem, God raises up a person.
When there is a problem, God always raises up a person.
And throughout scripture, this principle proves true again and again.
Because when the earth was full of wickedness and God was going to destroy the earth with a flood,
he raised up a guy by the name of Noah.
When Israel was in Egyptian bondage, God raised up a guy by the name of Moses.
When there was a giant who taunted the armies of Israel,
he raised up a little shepherd boy by the name of David.
When Israel needed leadership and prophetic direction during the time of judges, he raised
up a woman by the name of Deborah.
And when the Jewish people, they faced destruction in Persia, he raised up this young girl by
the name of Esther.
And when sin entered the world, he raised up a savior who was supernaturally born of
a woman who lived a sinless
a horrible death. They put
hands in his feet. They put
his head. They took a spear
in his side and on the cross
for six hours and died but
that the story did not end
place him in a bar tomb. But
he rose with all power in
that hell and the grave when
is up a person. So in our main text we look at King Josiah, a man whom God
brought, renewal during one of the darkest seasons in Judah's history. The
spiritual darkness that Judah faced did not happen overnight, but it was a result
of years of rebellion under previous leadership.
And if you read in the previous chapters leading up to this moment,
you will see the legacy that Josiah inherited.
His grandfather Manasseh, everybody shout Manasseh,
reigned in Judah for 55 years.
And according to the scripture, he rebuilt high places.
He erected altars to Baal.
He made a surer images.
He even placed adulterous altars in the Lord's temple.
He practiced sorcery.
The scripture said he led Judah astray.
And then you have Manasseh, but you have Josiah's father,
which is Ammon.
Everybody say Ammon.
And Ammon, he followed in the same sinful ways of his father.
He continued in adultery.
He refused to humble himself before the Lord.
And after reigning only two years,
he was assassinated by his servants.
And by the time that Josiah came to reign,
Judah was far away from God.
They were corrupted in their worship.
They were confused about their identity.
And they were spiritually collapsing from within,
but in the middle of all of the moral chaos,
God raised up an eight year old boy
who would grow into a man after his own heart
who would not bow to idols,
but he would bow to God who did not ignore the word,
but he rediscovered the word.
He did not perpetuate the problem,
but Josiah became the person to fix it.
When there is a problem, God raises a person.
And this brings me to my first point
never turns a blinded eye. The Bible says in 2 Kings 22, 1 through 2, the Bible says
Josiah was eight years old when he became king and he reigned for 31 years
in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Judea. Y'all gotta forgive me because I'm a
little hood, a little country in this Hebrew so it don't always mix together.
And then the daughter of Adiah, of Bocchos. And he did what was right in the sight
of the Lord and walked in all of his ways of his father David. And he did not
turn aside to the right hand or to the left hand. Now I want you to imagine the
world that this eight-year-old king stepped into. As I told you earlier, Judah,
They turned away from God.
They neglected the temple.
There was no reverence for the presence of the Lord.
They were worshiping idols and vice versa gods.
They had abandoned the word of the Lord
and they looked like a hopeless case.
But here's what I love about God.
You're gonna catch it this morning.
When there is a problem, he raises up a person.
And from the outside, the task, it looked too big
for someone who was young and seemingly inexperienced.
But while others saw a child, God saw a king.
While others saw a broken nation, God saw a reformer.
While others saw destruction, God saw destiny.
See, God specializes in finding people
in places that no one else is looking.
He saw David as a shepherd boy overlooked by his father.
He saw Gideon who was hiding in fear,
but he called him a mighty man of valor.
He saw Esther who was in a foreign land,
and he saw her as a queen who would save her people.
He saw Peter who was a messed up fisherman
with a hot temper, and he became a pillar of the church.
He saw Mary, a teenage girl who was born in a town
from the town that nobody really revered,
and she carried the savior of the world.
And he saw Josiah, everybody say Josiah.
I wanna tell somebody in this room that God sees you.
I want you to look at your neighbor
and tell your neighbor, neighbor, God sees you.
But here's what I love about God.
He not only sees who you are, but he sees where you are.
Because he sees your struggle.
He also sees your faithfulness.
He sees what everybody else overlooks.
He also see the tears that you cried
when you felt invisible.
And the scripture says in Exodus three and seven,
God told Moses, I have surely seen the oppression
of my people and I have heard their cry.
I've seen and I heard.
See before God acts, God sees.
He saw the chains on the Israelites before Moses ever stood before Pharaoh.
He saw their pain and their frustration before he ever parted the Red Sea.
God never turns a blinded eye.
He saw Judah in rebellion, but he also saw Josiah.
Somebody say Josiah.
I want to tell you this morning in a world that is lost in a culture that is compromised
in a place where you have some believers who are carrying a form of godliness but denying
power therein I want to tell you that God sees a generation who longs to see
his kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Somebody say
God sees you. God sees you. Now we move to point number two. God not only sees but
God chooses, He chooses a person.
As I mentioned time and time again
throughout this scripture, and see, I'm almost done.
Can you believe that?
It's a miracle.
Judah was in bad shape.
They were morally confused.
They were spiritually compromised.
They were far from God.
But when it came time to address the problem,
Notice what God did.
He did not choose who others would have considered qualified.
He did not choose a prophet this time.
He did not choose someone from the priesthood this time.
He didn't even choose someone with experience,
but he chose this eight year old boy.
and you need to understand this once again,
that Josiah did not grow up in a godly environment.
His grandfather was wicked, his father was wicked,
and he had not been handed a spiritual legacy.
He actually inherited a mess.
He inherited a nation that was far from God,
yet Josiah's family history
did not determine his spiritual future.
And I came to tell somebody in this room
that where you come from does not disqualify you,
where God is taking you. Your last name doesn't limit you. Your family history doesn't cancel.
Your destiny. I'm here to tell you.
It doesn't matter who you come from or where you come from.
Josiah was a young man without the flagship ass.
He had no spiritual blueprint.
As a matter of fact, they said that he was from David.
Now this is what I want you to realize about that.
From Josiah to David was 300 years.
They couldn't even point to his direct family line.
Because it wasn't the best.
I want to tell somebody in this room,
this last service of Winterfest, regardless
of where you come from.
Regardless of your DNA, God has a destiny for you
that can shake this world upside down.
If you believe it, give him praise in this house.
(congregation applauding)
Listen, it doesn't matter where you come from.
It doesn't matter if you come from a long line
of church of God preachers.
I said it doesn't matter if you come from a long line of church of God preachers.
God has a destiny and a future for you.
Let me share something with you.
See I didn't come from a long line of preachers.
In fact, Bishop Max asked me a question and I laughed on the inside.
He asked me about rap.
Did I listen to rap?
And I thought, man, now as close as we are,
Brother Matt's don't realize where I come from.
But here's what I wanna tell you.
My father was the biggest drug dealer in Central Florida.
One of them.
My mother sold drugs.
I was born out of wedlock.
I have 12 siblings, including me,
and almost 50 nieces and nephews from my family.
I was born, I was raised in church,
but I was also raised in an environment
where they were using drugs.
Sexual promiscuity was everywhere.
Everything was at my disposal.
I would go to church, and I would come home to parties.
As a matter of fact, my house was the party house.
My house was known, everybody came to get drunk
and get high and participate in all kind of things.
I could come home from church praising God
and get a contact walking by a door.
That's the kind of environment that I lived in.
But in the midst of all of that,
(congregation applauding)
because at eight years old, I gave my heart to Jesus.
And I'm here to tell you I'm almost fixing to turn 39.
I gave my heart to Jesus at eight years old.
And I'm standing before you to tell you
I've never been strung out on drugs.
I've never been strung out on alcohol.
No matter what my family was raised in,
no matter what my father did, no matter what my mother did.
I'm here telling you right now,
if God can do it for me, he can most certainly do it for you.
It doesn't matter where you come from,
God's favor is on your life!
[Applause]
My God, I got to rush through this.
It doesn't matter where you come from.
Josiah, he was just, he was young.
He was too inexperienced.
And it seemed too insignificant to make a difference.
But God saw purpose on the inside of him.
It says this in 1 Samuel 16, it says,
"For God, for the Lord does not see as man sees,
for man looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart."
People may look at your background and count you out,
but God will look at your background,
call you out and call you up.
(congregation applauding)
So Josiah, this young man born in this unlikely family,
God used to turn a nation.
But here's what I love about this whole story.
As Josiah saw what was going on
He was in his
And the last point, God began to work in the nation of Judah.
And the Bible says, now the king sent them to gather
all the elders of Judah in Jerusalem to him.
The king went up to the house of the Lord
with all the men of Judah.
And with him, the inhabitants of Judah,
the priests and the prophets and all the people,
both small and great.
And he read in their hearing all the words of the book
the covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord. Then the king stood by
a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and keep the
commandments and his testimonies and his statutes and with all of his heart and
with all of his soul to perform the words of this covenant that were written
in this book and all the people took a stand for the covenant. So Josiah heard
it. He encountered God in such a way that it shook him and because it shook him it
shook a nation. And this is what I want to leave you with today. As you have heard
I've heard some powerful preaching since Friday night,
all the way up to now.
Some of you have responded to the altar.
God has saved you, He has freed you, He has filled you.
But you have to do something with it.
It can't be just an emotion that just keeps you
from winter fest to winter fest,
from youth camp to youth camp,
but it has to be something that'll draw you
to your knees to repent
to leave the same way that you came. You know what Josiah did after he heard the
word of the Lord the Bible says he torn down idols. That means he got rid of
everything that wasn't like God. Can I tell you listen to me young people you
cannot experience revival while still coddling sin. I know this isn't popular
But you cannot experience revival while still coddling sin. You have to get rid
of it. Josiah knew that if Judah was going to turn, we have to tear down the
idols. And I'm here to challenge you this morning. Tear down the idols. Tear down
lust. Tear down pornography. Tear down premarital sex. Tear it down. You have to
tear it down and kill it and run away from it.
Let me tell you something, holiness is not an archaic
doctrine of the church, but holiness is still right.
The Holy Ghost won't just make you speak in tongues, but he'll
make you live right as well.
Are you all hearing what I'm saying?
Listen, if you're going to change,
see your family changed,
if you're gonna see your school change,
you have to kill sin.
I'm reminded of Joseph.
Everybody remember Joseph in the Bible?
Joseph who was betrayed by his brothers,
he was thrown into the pit,
then he went to Potiphar's house,
and then something happened at Potiphar's house.
The Bible says the Lord was with Joseph.
Everything he did, it prospered.
And then one day, when nobody was in the house,
but Joseph and Potiphar's wife,
the Bible says that Potiphar's wife cast her eyes at Joseph.
Now that means that she saw Joseph and said,
ooh, Jojo, boy you look good.
got a washboard abs, and old Pop Pop's wife
couldn't control herself.
So Joseph got close enough to where she reached out
and grabbed him.
Now y'all gonna have to figure out what she was trying
to do on the way back home.
But you know what Joseph did?
Joseph could have fell, he could have entertained it,
but the Bible says that Joseph ran from it.
And he said, "How can I do this great wickedness
sin against God cannot tell your holiness will always call sin by its
right name it's not time to make an excuse for sin it's not time to handle
sin but it's time to come out from among them and be ye separate and be
transformed by the renewing of your mind
we need a revival of holiness
(congregation applauding)
We wanna see revival, we have to be holy.
If we wanna walk in power, we have to be holy.
Now the band can come, I'm gonna close with this.
I told you that my family was,
I didn't come from a likely family.
But here's the end of the story.
I witnessed my mother give her heart to Jesus,
be filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
with the evidence of speaking in other tongues
and called into the ministry.
I was the one who baptized her in water.
(congregation applauding)
And now I serve as her pastor.
Can I tell you another story?
My son died five months ago,
and I told my wife that when he died,
I said, "I'm gonna preach his funeral.
I'm gonna be the one to do it.
And everybody was thinking,
well, you don't have to be a hero, Javarsh.
You don't have nothing to prove.
But they didn't realize, well, when he died,
we had so many emotions 'cause it was unexpected.
Then I was reminded,
when I was coming home after my baby boy died,
just a few months ago,
there was a young lady who served at our church,
Powerful worship leader, no health problems,
end up dropping dead of a heart attack.
And I preached her funeral.
And never said, "Javaris, why are you gonna do this?"
And this was my reply.
I said that if I can preach the gospel of Jesus Christ
and bring healing to their family,
then I can preach the gospel of Jesus Christ
and then to bring healing to me and my family.
(congregation applauding)
So in that funeral, man, God began to move,
people flew from everywhere,
including all the way from New York.
And as I gave the altar call,
I said, "If anybody wanna give their heart to Jesus,
"I want you to slip your hand up at the count of three."
I counted the three, one, two, three.
I just so happened to glance and look at the first row
in my father's hand, went up and bowed his knee to Jesus.
(congregation applauding)
Not only that, my oldest brother who was far from God,
wanted nothing to do with God,
was in all kind of mysticism and witchcraft.
Didn't he was dabbling and all kind of stuff,
didn't want nothing to do with God.
I'm
I'm going to leave with power.
I'm going to leave with
authority and I want to see my
family say I'm going to see my
school break open every Bible.
I want to see God do the
miraculous all around me. Why?
Because God is choosing a
person in this hour to bring
rep.
Listen, the Lord spoke to me so
I actually plan to preach something else.
See, often times we're waiting and praying for somebody else
to possibly save our family,
but perhaps God wants to use you.
You are the answer.
Listen, I'm so thankful what's happening
at Southeastern University.
God has poured out his spirit on that college campus.
I'm so thankful of everything that's happened
in times past, but I come to Northeast Winterfest
to say it doesn't have to be on a college campus.
It can be in the middle school.
It can be in the high school.
Come on, it can be in your church.
He's not waiting for somebody else to come.
He's waiting on you to send up with power and opponents
and get some audacity.
Come on, somebody.
the Lord
to talk to the ones. You're in church Friday night. Everybody bum rush the
altar. You set back. I'm not ready yet. Saturday morning my God pastor came in
preached a powerful word. People flooded the altars before she even gave it but
gave it but you said last night pastor Ellie he was talking about living in
overflow but you said I'm here for you I'm here for you I'm here for you to
let you know you don't have to leave the same way that you came I understand that
life has been hard and maybe some unfortunate things have happened to you
and I want to tell you don't blame God for people's dumb decisions but there's
a God who loves you so much he's able to reach you right where you are to change
who you are don't run away from him but run to him this morning I don't want
anybody to leave this place, not knowing Jesus.
So if you're in this room and you have not made a decision
to follow Jesus or you have made a decision
to follow Jesus and you've walked away from him,
I'm here for you too.
So with every head bow, every eye closed,
there's no form of manipulation.
I'm not gonna say anything to manipulate you
to come to this altar.
I don't care if it's one, I don't care if it's two,
I'm here for you. This is not about a response thing. This is about somebody encountering Jesus that their lives will be radically changed forever.
So if you're in this room and you say, "You know what you've asked?"
I have not completely surrendered to Jesus. As a matter of fact, my heart is not even aligned with Him.
I've sat back or I went down out of routine and format and I did not really make a life change
but I want to I want to leave this place saved I want to leave this place delivered
I want to leave this place set free I want to leave this place called
so if you're in this room and you know that things are not right with the Lord I'm gonna
count the three. There's nothing spiritual about counting the three. I want you to lift your hands.
If you want to come, you can come. You don't have to wait. You don't have to wait.
I'm here for you. You don't have to wait. As a matter of fact, don't even bow your head and
close your eyes. If you need to make things right, you know who you are. Come in this moment right now.
The altars are open. And as they're coming. I need somebody to make some noise in this room.
Come on I need somebody to make some noise in this room. Come on I need somebody to make some
noise in this room. They're crossing out of depth and walking into life. Come on.
Come on somebody in this room oughta be shotted!
Somebody in there, somebody be shouting.
I need y'all to hear me.
I need you to listen in to me,
because this moment is so important.
It's so important.
I said I don't mean anything by what I'm about to say, but I need you to hear me.
Salvation through Jesus Christ does not come from repeating a prayer after a preacher.
It's good.
I'm not knocking that.
I do it, but salvation through Jesus Christ doesn't come through just repeating a prayer.
you know
will not
hell because they have not been transformed.
I happen to say I want to be transformed. How many of you say I want to be
transformed? Watch something that's about to happen
in the next few moments. I want you to lift your hands as high as you can get
them. For those of you in this altar come on lift your hands and I want you to
close your eyes because I want you to focus in on anything else
and this is what I want you to repeat after me.
I want you to say this but not just say it.
I want you to mean it.
I want you to shout it.
Are you ready?
Something's about to happen in here.
I want you to shout, are you ready?
I want you to say this God.
Oh, no, no, no.
I need you to say it like you believe it say God.
I believe.
One more time, say God, I believe.
I'm going
believe, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe. Come on.
It's just you and him. It's just you and him. I believe. I
believe. I believe, I believe. CSU said those words. It's already
off of you. Depression broke off of you. Fear broke off of you. Addiction broke
off of you. You didn't even realize it all of a sudden you just felt lighter
because when you made a confession Jesus came in and everything else that wasn't
like him it drove out. Somebody shout I believe. Come on talk to him. I need you
to have a real encounter with Jesus right now. You talk to him. No hate on me. You talk to him.
I surrender.
I surrender. I surrender. I
the answer. That's
going to be the answer. I'm not going from winter fest to winter fest to event to event.
I'm leaving here with an encounter not just for a moment of feel good but I'm
leaving with the moment that marked my life for eternity. I want to be the answer.
Here's what we're gonna do. I don't know how this is gonna happen. We'll figure it out.
If you say I want to be the answer and I want to leave marked, I want you to make your way
to this altar as close as you can.
I want to leave marked.
I'm coming.
I'm going to be the answer.
I'm leaving this place changed.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
See, I believe there's some
people in this room. Listen,
this is the evidence. You see
pastor Saturday morning who
attended winter fast and now
preaching it. You're looking at
another one who attended winter
fast and now now preaching it.
I believe that there's some
people in here that's gonna
stand stand on this platform and
say, you know what? I attended
because God is raising up a Josiah generation that's not going to bow to the idols of their
father but they're going to say the buck stops with me.
Now, they're going to go into worship.
every youth leader as you can if you could just move through and just lay hands.
I believe that God is about to mark some lives.
That's going to change the trajectory of lives that are present in this building right now.
So would you lift your hands high toward heaven as they begin to worship. I want you to pray this
simple prayer. Come on say God mark me. Come on say God mark me. Come on say God mark me.
Go say God mark me.
Mark me, Tawello, change.
God mark me.