After Josaih had cleansed the countryside of the foreign gods, he turned toward Jerusalem to worship and serve the Lord. He also found that after years of neglect the house of the Lord, the temple, had fallen into a state of disrepair. He decided to begin to repair the broken down house of the Lord. Let's turn toward ourselves inside of the church to discover what needs repaired in our house. Many things have been neglected so long that now we are used to them. We don't see the need to repair. Our motto becomes, "if its not broken then don’t fix it." So, things remain unrepaired.

Scripture Text: 2Chr 34:8 (KJS) Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the LORD his God. 9 And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest, they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah and Benjamin; and they returned to Jerusalem. 10 And they put [it] in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the LORD, and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the LORD, to repair and amend the house: 11 Even to the artificers and builders gave they [it], to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. 12 And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them [were] Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set [it] forward; and [other of] the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick. 13 Also [they were] over the bearers of burdens, and [were] overseers of all that wrought the work in any manner of service: and of the Levites [there were] scribes, and officers, and porters. 14 And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD [given] by Moses. 15 And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. 16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do [it]. 17 And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen. 18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. 19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes. 20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king's, saying, 21 Go, enquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great [is] the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.

1. Repair the house of the Lord. What do we need to fix within the house of the Lord? There is an old song that says to give of your best to the master. As we look around at the house of the Lord and the record of our service to him, can we say that we have given of our best to the master? The physical place of the house of the Lord needs to be the best we can make it. This shows that we love the Lord and are willing to give of our best to him. But also the spiritual house of the Lord needs to be the best it can be. We need to build the relationships within the house. The corner stone is Christ and the building is the people who make up that family. We need to not neglect our relationship with God, our relationship with the people of the family, and the relationship that we should have with those outside of the house in the community. The repair work takes lots of time and talents shared with one another. Patient practice that doesn't easily quit. Faithfulness to the house of the Lord is vital to the success of repairing the house.
2. Repay the Debt we owe. We owe the Lord more than we could ever repay. So, we say why give to Him, and we don't give him anything. But we give to him because we love him and want to serve him. Through the joyful response for what the Lord has done for us we give of our money to him. He gave of his all to us. So now we give to him for the work of the Lord. The money was given to God's work within the temple. If we treasure the Lord then we will give to him of our money. Build up for yourselves treasures in heaven that never faileth.

Luke 12:33 (KJS) Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 35 Let your loins be girded about, and [your] lights burning;

3. Rediscover the Book of the Lord. Look what they had found in the house of the Lord. There they discovered the word of the Lord. To clean up the house spiritually we need to read the directions. Many times we like the learn as you go plan, but we can't know the way without reading the map. The laws that Jesus gave are the laws of love. Love the Lord first and foremost in our lives and love our neighbor as ourselves. It is time to knock off the dust on the Bible and see what the Lord has to say about our relationships that are conditional. If we can't forgive others then it says that we can't be forgiven. If we can't love people who we can see how can we love God who we can't see. What does the book have to say? Have we loved? Have we forgiven? Have we accepted others? Have we been the people of God or the people of just another secular organization?
4. Repent before the Lord Continually. As we come before the Lord then we realize our need of repentance. Turn from our way to go in the ways of the Lord. Then we can join the Lord in his direction for our lives, for our church, and for our community. Renew our vows to the Lord and our relationship with the creator of the universe. Bow before the Lord your God. Will you realize that you need to repent?