Sermons

This passage deals with the life and tragic death of Josiah, regarded as the most faithful king in the history of Judah. Josiah came to the throne at a young age, repaired the temple, tore down the idols and brought about a remarkable spiritual reform that turned the whole nation back to God. God promised that if he completed this reform he would not see disaster and would die in peace. Yet, despite a warning from the king of Egypt, he went out to war, was struck by an arrow and was killed.

The sermon points out that Josiah's death should be understood within God's mysterious providence rather than as the result of a mistake seen from the viewpoint of retribution. The 'knowing' of God that the Bible speaks of is not mere information but a deep personal relationship and union. God's providence therefore works in ways people cannot understand and goes beyond our expectations and common sense. Josiah's death looks like a tragedy on the surface, but God rescued him from the disaster of the coming judgment and led him into 'shalom', a state of complete rest.

The sermon urges believers, when they face the hardships of life and situations they cannot understand, to trust the God who rules over the situation rather than the results they can see. It stresses that God knows our weakness and our groaning and is the one who takes responsibility for us to the end. Through this sermon the reader is led to think about what the difficulties in their own life mean within God's love and providence, and how to look at their situation from a transcendent point of view.

Today's passage deals with the spiritual attitude and way of life the apostle Paul requires of church leaders. Paul defines office in the church not as mere honour or rank but as a mission entrusted by God, and he describes the spiritual clothing that officers must put on. This means becoming like Christ in character, with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, rather than relying on education or ability.

The sermon stresses that the church is not simply an administrative organization but a community that shares one destiny, and it says that bearing with one another, forgiving each other and adding love is the bond that ties the community together. It also points out that officers should not try to build the church by their own ideas, but should be people in whom the word of Christ dwells richly, keeping watch in the Word and in prayer. Without such faithfulness and character, however great one's ability, the church cannot be built up; it makes clear that what God looks for is not impressive achievements but faithfulness to the end.

As we think deeply about the mission and character officers must carry and the nature of the relationships a community builds together, it asks whether we can truly remain faithful by looking to God's faithfulness rather than to our own shortcomings.

This passage tells how Josiah, king of the southern kingdom of Judah, read the Book of the Law that had been found by chance while the temple was being repaired, and tore his heart and wept before God. Josiah grew up surrounded by widespread idolatry and spiritual corruption, yet he remembered God's grace and lived humbly before the Word. He shows that true restoration begins with rediscovering the Word that had been lost, and emphasizes that the Word must stand at the center of life, not outward religious routine.

The sermon points to how Josiah responded when he heard the Word: without excuses or rationalizing, he confessed his sin and wept. God's word can make us uncomfortable by exposing our sin and hypocrisy, but that is evidence of a living spirit responding. Josiah did not despair at the word of judgment but sought God's will, and he received God's heart through Huldah, an ordinary prophetess. Even in the midst of judgment on all of Judah, God did not turn away from Josiah's broken spirit and contrite heart.

We must admit that we are not perfect people but sinners, and come to the grace of the cross. What is the secret to becoming that one person who humbles themselves and tears their heart before God's word, and so brings life to their family and church?

Today's passage says that just as life grows in nature, our faith too must mature more and more in God. The apostle Peter lays out a journey of becoming like Christ by adding to faith, one after another, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Even though we are not perfect from the start, God builds us up again through our failures and makes us grow.

Growth in faith is not a special ability or a miracle, but concrete attitudes toward life that show at home and at work. In particular, the first thing to build on faith is not mere good manners but ‘moral excellence’, a good way of living before God. As the vessel that holds faith, it must show itself in honesty and consideration in small everyday moments, and it is a process of encouraging and holding one another up and growing together in the community.

Peter completes the fruit of faith with love, stressing that Jesus' heart for embracing people matters more than great knowledge or ability. God is shaping us not into people the world thinks impressive, but into people who reveal his good character. Through this time today, can we entrust ourselves to him so that the fruit of love grows in our serving of one another and our fellowship?

This passage tells of Manasseh, king of the southern kingdom of Judah, who over a long reign of 55 years made the nation stable and prosperous, yet whom God judged a ‘very wicked king’. By staying loyal to the great power of Assyria he brought political stability and material abundance, and the people probably regarded him as a fine king. But under his rule idolatry and sin spread, until the people no longer listened to God's word at all.

The world values success, influence, and stability, but God looks only at whether we obey. Today we are living in the last days, when deception is rampant because of advances in technology, fake news, and cult leaders. The world brainwashes people into believing they can live well without God, and leads each person to live by their own standards. In such surroundings, what matters most is that believers are not dazzled by the world's prosperity but keep a faith that obeys God's word.

When Manasseh humbly repented in a hopeless situation, God forgave and restored him. This shows that God's concern is not judgment but salvation. What Jesus looks for in the last days is not success or many accomplishments, but people who have kept the faith to the end. We must not let our hearts be carried off in a confused world, but be faithful to death and become people who obey God.

This passage covers the scene in which Hezekiah, after experiencing the remarkable grace of being healed of a fatal illness and having his life extended by fifteen years, receives envoys from Babylon. While enjoying the great blessing and peace God had given him, he shows the envoys, at their request, all the treasures and wealth in his palace, holding nothing back. On the surface this looks like a gracious welcome, but in reality it was an act that put human calculation ahead of God.

The sermon points out that this was the beginning of Hezekiah's pride. He had shown an attitude of testing God by demanding visible signs and sure proof, and once he had received great grace, he cared more about showing off his wealth and power than about giving thanks. God allowed this situation in order to test what was in his heart, and Hezekiah fell into the temptation of holding on to what can be seen rather than to God's unseen work. As a result, even after hearing the prophecy of judgment, he complacently assumed that there would be peace in his own lifetime, and did not repent.

Though his life had been extended, Hezekiah ended it leaving evil fruit behind. The sermon stresses that long life in itself is not a blessing; the true blessing is a life lived with God and full of faith. Through Hezekiah's failure we come to see that in the place of blessing we must not grow proud, but must rely on God alone to the end. The sermon challenges us to treat this very moment as the last chance God has given us, and to reflect on what fruit we are leaving behind.

This passage deals with the life-or-death crisis King Hezekiah faced when Jerusalem was besieged by the vast Assyrian army. At first, rather than relying on God, Hezekiah surrendered by human means and paid an enormous tribute, but this only brought greater threats and confusion. His faith, which had sunk into the false logic and fear that Satan uses, turned back to God only after his human efforts had collapsed.

The sermon stresses that when believers suffer, they must not blame God or cling to the world's methods. When Hezekiah prayed, seeking God's glory and sovereignty before his own safety, God answered his prayer by wiping out the enemy army in a single night. This shows that prayer is not a power that solves problems but a channel that connects us, so that God's zeal can flow. God keeps his children not by human effort but by grace, and faithfully fulfills his word to the end.

The sermon asks what believers are holding on to right now. It leads us to consider whether we are still gripping human methods, which are like a cut power line, or whether we are coming to the place of prayer that connects us to God's power.

Today's passage deals with the scene of Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a young donkey. The crowds at the time welcomed him eagerly, wanting a king who would solve their practical problems, but Jesus declares the way of glory, in which the nations are saved through his death. This shows that it was not simply a festival but the starting point of Jesus' journey to the cross to atone for the sins of humanity.

Jesus says that a grain of wheat must fall into the earth and die in order to bear much fruit, revealing that the kingdom of God works on the principle that only by dying do we live. This means that we must turn down the path of comfort and consolation that we want, and walk with Jesus the path of self-denial and the cross that he walked. Such a life begins not with some grand resolution, but with small training in which our first reaction when we face a problem changes from complaining to calling on God.

Before Jesus' call, we must not answer with our lips alone but answer with our lives and resolve to walk that path. Can our desire to walk with Jesus toward the kingdom of God, where only by dying do we live, lead us onto the path of true discipleship?

This passage deals with the historical event of the northern kingdom of Israel's destruction at the hands of Assyria. Though it was a nation God himself had established, the people, through spiritual corruption and idolatry, chose to depend on worldly power in spite of God's warnings. In particular, the political blunders of Hoshea, the last king, and the worship of the golden calves are read not as a simple diplomatic failure but as the result of an unbelief that betrayed God and loved the world.

The sermon stresses that God's deep providence lies behind this destruction. It shows that judgment brought on by human misjudgment and sin does not mean God has given up; rather, God loved them to the end and left open a way of restoration. Even in an age when the Jews' rejection of the Samaritans was intense, Jesus did not turn away from them but brought them the gospel of salvation, and this proves that God never stopped loving all peoples.

How can we believe that God does not abandon us even in times of suffering and judgment? We also need to reflect deeply on whether we are living without a heart that loves and fears God at the center, leaning instead toward formal religious acts or the logic of the world.

Today's passage tells the story of Ahaz, who left God, relied on idols and worldly power, and is recorded as an evil king. He practiced the worship of Molech, sacrificing his children in pursuit of his own prosperity, and in a crisis he asked Assyria for help instead of seeking God. Even though he had already been promised God's protection through the prophet, he avoided crying out to God on the excuse that he would not test God, and bowed to worldly power.

The sermon points out that Ahaz's actions looked like devotion on the outside but in reality came from thoroughgoing self-centeredness and self-love. By instinct, people easily fall into the logic of giving up what is most precious in order to protect themselves, but God asks of us a love that denies self and entrusts itself wholly to him. Ahaz's refusal to ask for a sign was not humility but a disobedience that did not trust God, and it is no different from the attitude of believers today who avoid prayer or do not want to know God's will.

Worldly power is only temporary, and when God's people stand firm, no oppression lasts forever. The sermon asks by what name believers want to be called before God. What are we holding on to, so that we can stand as the people God wants, wise in that which is good, but innocent in that which is evil?

Through the lives of Jotham, king of the southern kingdom of Judah, and Timothy, the disciple of the apostle Paul, this passage sheds light on the value of faithfulness, not of the conspicuous hero but of those who quietly endured their times. In a dark time, when the people were still corrupt and the northern kingdom of Israel was in extreme turmoil, Jotham did what was right before God and held the line of faith, without dramatic reforms or miracles. His life is counted as precious as those of the great figures who opened new eras, and he served as a buffer that held back a collapsing age and passed the thread of faith on to the next generation.

Comparing Jotham's faith with Timothy's life, the sermon conveys how important it is to stay faithful to the end without losing one's direction toward Christ, even if one's life looks plain and ordinary rather than brilliant. The world shines its spotlight only on the winner or the hero, but God uses not only people who change their times but also people who hold them up. Believers' lives do not lose their meaning because they have no visible achievements or go unrecognized where they are; God remembers faith that has quietly endured, and treasures it and uses it as a channel for the next generation.

Even in the dark currents of the last days, what we must do is not blame the times and despair, but stand honestly before God wherever each of us is placed. The sermon asks how believers, even if they never become brilliant heroes, should quietly finish the race of faith and carry out the mission of handing the faith down to the next generation.

This passage covers the successful early years of the reign of Uzziah, king of the southern kingdom of Judah, when he sought and relied on God and led the nation to strength and prosperity, and how later, as he grew powerful, his heart became proud, he sinned against God, and he rushed toward ruin. Under the influence of his mother and his spiritual mentor Zechariah, he did what was right before God and received marvelous help, but his attitude degenerated into exalting himself, and he did not acknowledge his abilities and position as grace from God.

Through the incident in which Uzziah, as king, tried to burn incense himself, a task only priests could perform, and was struck with the curse of leprosy, the sermon points out that pride was the root reason he could no longer enjoy grace. It warns that treating the grace God has given in answer to prayer as a right we are owed, or being so absorbed in worldly success and comfort that we forget God, leads in the end to spiritual ruin. It also stresses that having many visible worldly possessions does not make a successful life, and that we can enjoy grace to the end only when we keep a humble heart that is thankful for it.

The sermon asks whether believers are now enjoying with thankfulness the grace they have received from God and using it as an instrument for God's kingdom, or treating it as a blessing they deserve and simply consuming it.