John 5:46-47 ~ Jesus and Moses, and the JEDP people

Isn't God's creation beautiful! This picture was taken recently at Camp Harvest in Newego Michigan.  You know creation points towards God (Romans 1:20).
I've been reading recently the blog of a dear friend of mine, Kristen Wisen ("Nike Musings" Click here and start reading).  Her recent posts have been on the subject of creation and taking God's Word literally in Genesis 1 and 2.  
If any of you know me outside of this blog, on a scale of 1-10 on my passion for this subject what would I be? Uh, correct: 1 million. I am very passionate about the subject of creation because I believe that God's Word is true and I believe that he wrote it in a way that is accessible for all people.  I don't believe that you have to have a formal educational degree to fully understand the main theme of the Bible. I don't believe that stories in the Bible, unless otherwise stated in the passage (i.e. parables, some prophecies etc.), are to be taken metaphorically or allegorically.
In the case of Genesis 1 and 2, there is no scriptural reference anywhere that is to persuade us to take those metaphorically or allegorically.  I believe that what is in the Bible is what God was intending people to understand about Him. I don't believe that God excluded things from the Bible that we "need" to know or fully understand (i.e. what did God do before the creation of the universe?; explanation of why he predestines some and not others; How he has just always been and was never created or will ever die. etc.) With all that said, Genesis 1 and 2 are to be taken literally and at face value, with no tricks up God's sleeves, and with no hidden textual translation ambiguity. It points towards a young earth literal view of creation.

All that to give a foundation for what I want to bring up to support my friend Kristen in her blogging on the literal truth of God's word.
Ever since the theory (and it is a theory only) of evolution started seeping into the church world, theologians have been trying to find more and more ways to fit the Bible into the mold of what this theory says so that, with good intention, the Bible is able to be current and congruent with modern scientific findings. I truly believe that these theologians and people who are "theistic evolutionists" have good intentions for believing what they do. They are trying to make the Bible relevant to a people who are being swayed by science.
The unfortunate side effect to this compromise actually the opposite of their good intention; it is the crumbling of Biblical accessibility. So when you fit the bible into the scientific mold of evolutionary history, then it is relevant as long as you say that Genesis 1 and 2 were simply just "poetry" with the one important theme of "well, it doesn't matter how God created, as long as you believe that HE did it." 
That belief snowballs into, "well if Genesis 1 and 2 which don't look like any other clear poetry in the bible, are indeed poetry and not meant to be taken literally, how many other places in the bible is this true?"
That belief snowballs into, "man, this is confusing, I better just leave the study of the bible to the people who have degrees to study it and navigate through all of the poetry/non-poetry vs. literal vs. metaphorical texts." 
The ultimate point to all of this snowballing is people being swayed away from reading and diving into God's word because they apparently aren't "smart" or "educated" enough to do so. So instead of reading it, they need to listen to sermons by the preachers who are claiming and preaching the compromise of Biblical history with Evolutionary science.
People, even though there were good intentions behind this equation, it is pushing people away from Christ.  It cheapens the bible from being the Word of God meant to draw people into saving faith in Jesus Christ to being a book by human writers that contains good wisdom for how we should live our lives.

One such compromise that I want to speak on is the JEDP theory of the authorship of the Pentateuch. This theory, to be brief, states that no one man (Moses) wrote the Pentateuch because it would be impossible for one man to have had the knowledge or the insight to write accurately what happened before he was alive and even a little bit after he was alive. So instead there were many different writers over MANY MANY years (fitting into evolutionary old earth theory) that wrote different sections of scripture that were pieced together.  The earliest section of scripture was by authors who referred to God as "Jehovah" and the second earliest section of scripture by those who referred to God as "Elohim" and then there were authors responsible for deuteronomical texts of God's law, and then finally those authors responsible for "priestly" writings about the temple and sacrifices etc.  Long story short, this theory is purposed to try to fit the bible into a worldly, perhaps modern scientific, lens. 
I was taught this theory as fact when I was at a Christian school at the collegiate level. I sat in the classroom and something just didn't sit right in my soul about it. I was like, "what about Moses! I thought he was the writer for the Pentateuch? Why is my professor making this too complicated?" If Moses didn't write it, then who did, and how do we know if we have all of the writers inputs! Could there be some sections of the priestly texts that we don't have and we have been worshiping all wrong this whole time!!?? AHH... I just didn't like the thought of taking the writer title away from Moses. I believe this was the Holy Spirit in me saying, "you now understand what is blinding people in this world and turning them away from the Gospel, you need to stand up for the truth!" Weird huh? Sometimes it's little, but when the Lord stirs your soul to stand for the truth, your fear of Him grows and you understand the truth more and more (Prov 1:7).

Why is it not a good thing on the textual level to compromise with modern, perhaps scientific, findings or perceptions? It's because it cheapens and complicates something that is meant to be accessible to all, not just those who have degrees.
The JEDP theory, something that some bigwig theologian spent many years on, is refuted in 2 VERSES in the New Testament, and that's just two of many many verses. Not only is it refuted, these two verses challenge the reader to believe FULLY in the truth of God's word, not just believing in what modern science can fit into it's scheme.

John 5:46-47  is Jesus talking to a Jewish audience. The context of this passage is in verse 18 "This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God."  Verses 46-47 conclude the whole chapter with this powerful and challenging statement from our Lord:

"If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.  But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"  (ESV)

In these two verses you have Jesus, God himself, saying that Moses wrote the Pentateuch (also there are other passages where Jesus quotes Moses from each of the 5 books a couple being Mark 7:10, Mark 10:5, Mark 12:26, Luke 5:14, Luke 24:27, John 7:19, John 7:22, John 7:23... and there are more).
On top of that Jesus challenges the reader that if they don't believe in what Moses wrote, how could they believe in His words? That's a slap in the face of the JEDP people.  That's a slap in the face to those who say that Genesis 1 and 2 aren't meant to be taken literally. That's a slap in the face of a theistic evolutionist who says, "I don't believe that God created the earth the way it says in those two chapters, but only believe that He 'created' and by the way, created with this major leading theory developed by esteemed scientists who unfortunately happen to be Atheist, but praise the Lord we can redeem their findings eh!?"
Listen, God wrote a book, and he meant for people to read it and understand it. He didn't write it overly complicated. He wrote it so that everyone in EVERY VERSE can be drawn to Himself through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the hero of the Bible.

If we compromise God's word with modern evolutionary science or any other worldly schism, we cheapen the bible into a book of wisdom with a nice story about Jesus somewhere toward the end of it. Let's stand for the truth and reveal to people the fact that this amazing Word of God is accessible to even them!

One last thought.  Why did Jesus have to die for the penalty of our sin IF there was death (survival of the fittest) before Adam and Eve in the evolutionary compromise of Genesis 1 and 2?  I may just write a whole other post about this. In the meantime check out Kristen Wisen's blog on some other incredible and great insights of the TRUTH of God's word being Literal and relevant even if it doesn't correlate with evolutionary science. After all, we look at the world with a biblical lens, we SHOULD NOT look at the bible with a scientific/worldly lens. Just like everything in our journey here on this earth, we double check things according to God's word, not the other way around. Stick to that biblical model and start to see how Christ's Sacrifice for you becomes SOOOOOO REAL that nothing else really matters.

Question: How should we give?

Answer: Cheerfully! (2 Cor 9:7)

You remember these? I grew up in a church that had these round brass collection plates with the little fuzzy padded bottom to them so that the coins wouldn't clang as they were passed. I don't remember many people overly enjoying the offertory time of the church service. If anything, the offertory special music was placed there so that there would be something enjoyable for the people as they gave their money to the church.  It wasn't until I started attending Harvest Bible Chapel when I learned and saw the importance of the offertory being a joyful and cheerful time.
It was one of my first Sunday's as a visitor at Harvest when the pastor stood up in the front and said, "Harvest, it's time to give our offering!" and then people actually cheered and clapped! My first thought was, "these people are kinda weird..." but then, being the good Bible student I was, I corrected that thought with this thought, "well that's cute..." But now, 3 years later from that particular instance, I've come to the realization that our giving should ALWAYS be cheerful and never out of grumbling. Our gifts to the Lord and His house is vitally important. 10%? sure, why not %20?  In whatever amount, our giving should be with a joyful and cheerful spirit. Why? Because God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7).  That whole section of scripture (2 Cor 9:6-15) gives great insight into God's blessing of the cheerful giver.  Vs 6, "whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."
Now, let me stop there before you think I'm going to become Joel Olsteen. This passage is not purposed to tell the believer that if they give as much money as they can to a ministry, that they'll become richer exponentially to the ratio of their giving. "Reaping bountifully" may be a financial bounty, but don't be sad if it is a spiritual bounty, or a relational bounty. We should not expect that our giving to the Lord should only be blessed by his giving to us more money. Our giving to the Lord should NEVER feed our fleshly desire for wealth. Our giving to the Lord should ALWAYS motivate our reliance upon our Lord and faith that he provides for our NEEDS, and not necessarily our wants.

Let's finish this particular passage before moving onto another passage. Vs 7-15:
"Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things and all times, you may abound in every good work.  As it is written,
"He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.  By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon You.  Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"

Most, if not all of this passage speaks for itself, not needing much additional commentary about why we give cheerfully. But the most important thing that I want to hammer even more in this passage is the last sentence.  We give cheerfully because we are so thankful for the amazing and undeserved gift that God is given us! "his inexpressible gift" is Jesus Christ. That gift, there is nothing that we could do, say or give that would come close to "paying back" if you will. But it is our pleasure and honor to be able to give whatever we can joyfully so as to honor the Lord for his gift of salvation to us!

I want to close by bringing you to 1 Chronicles 29:9, "Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord.  David the king also rejoiced greatly."  This was their response after giving A TON of wealth to the house of the Lord, being the temple that Solomon would be building soon after David's death. I mean TONS! If we were to give in the amount that the people of Israel gave during that particular time, it would be easily into the billions of dollars equivalence.  They gave "freely."  They didn't grumble, they didn't hesitate, they gave and it was genuine because they knew the Lord delivers. Take some time to read 1Chronicles 28-29 and see the example of cheerfulness that we should have in giving back to the Lord.

In all things, we need to recognize that nothing is really ours.  God has blessed us with everything. It is only when you realize this, that you can start to let go of your hard grip on your wealth or weekly paycheck and open your palms in worship by trusting the Lord in His provision. God LOVES the cheerful giver. Don't hesitate to give back willingly and with a whole heart, and see how the Lord will bless you!

"If I'm too young for marriage is it wrong to date?"

It is amazing to me to see how many high school relationships there are in the Christian realm. I have to preface everything I'm about to say with, I had high school relationships, I thought I was in love, I suffered the heart break, and I broke a few hearts. I'm not trying to blast those who are in a high school relationship. BUT I am going to challenge them with this video.

If I were to go back in time, I would have never dated in high school. Why? Because as a high school student, I know, as I'm sure many high school students know, that I was not ready or mature enough to be married. It wasn't until my senior year of college 4.5 years after high school that I actually felt like I would be able to get married. Why is that? Because the Lord worked on me, chiseling away sin, breaking down my pride, and building my fear of Him before He brought my AMAZING wife into my life.

Is it just coincidence that after some huge milestones of spiritual maturity throughout my college career, the Lord puts a girl in my life who the only thought I really had about her was, "Lord, I don't deserve this! You're being to generous. She is amazing!"

I don't believe in coincidence. I do believe in God's ordinance of marriage being an amazing blessing when you submit to His plan and timing of it.

I love how Pastor Mark answered the question "If I'm too young for marriage, is it wrong to date?"
The popular worldly and even "the Christian worldly" belief regarding this question is... "NOOOO!! you should date around to see what kind of personalities you are compatible and not compatible with!"
I am so glad that without a flinch, or even a remote pause Mark said, "YES!"
It's towards the end of this video. It is something that as a future parent someday I really want to stand by. Why? Because it just makes sense and protects my son or daughter from being someone's "personality experiment" or play the "how close can we get to the physical affection restriction line" game with.

I'll let the video and Pastor Mark speak for himself, but I wish more high school students would understand this. "If I'm too young to marry, then I'm too young to date" Why? because the purpose of dating is marriage.

Focus on growing your fear of the Lord and pursing His heart so that you can benefit from Romans 8:28 and God's promise to work all things together for good, even in the area of your future wife or husband. I'm glad I realized this so that I never had to "settle" or feel like I needed to "find miss perfect" myself.

"True Love"... the sermon

This last weekend was my first wedding that I was the pastor for. If that's not super cool, the fact that it was my brother's wedding made it SOOOO COOL for me! My brother Drew was married this last Saturday to his lovely bride Sarah. I had mentioned to some of you that I'd post my sermon here on my blog. It is short, simple, and to the point. As you'll see, I really wanted to make sure that I didn't waste my platform that I had. Some of my extended family was at this wedding that needed to hear the Gospel. I pray that God would have spoken to them through me this last Saturday May 15, 2010. Let me know what you think!

"Experiencing and Exhibiting 'True Love'" (1Cor 13:1-7; Gal 5:22-25)

Love is an interesting thing. It has become to our world a word that is thrown around in almost every circumstance. “Oh, I love those shoes!” or “I’m in love with this pizza right now.” People even have the idea and notion that love is something that is made, that is given away, that is taken, that even has it’s own language. “oh… that’s not my love language, I’m a ‘words of affirmation’ person…” Love is apparently the answer to everything. Why do you think the world has so many different views about what love is? Does the world really know what love is?
It really does not, because by definition, being “of the world” is contrary to being “of Christ”

1Cor 13:1-7 says
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Now, I’m a simple brain. I love it when something is spelled out very clearly and without any margin of potential error. It is very clear in this passage that if I don’t have love, I am what? NOTHING! I don’t want to be nothing! If God’s word refers to something as being “nothing,” um.. it’s not a good thing. I don’t want to be in that category. Unfortunately most of the world is in that category because of not knowing the true source of the Love that is being spoken of in this passage.
True love is only found in Jesus Christ! You cannot truly love someone without being in Christ. Why do I say that? Because of the description of love in this passage:

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Let me draw a connection here to Galatians 5 where God’s word tells us to Walk by the Spirit. Walking by the Spirit exhibits the fruits of the spirit which are, Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. The only way anyone can walk by the Spirit is by embracing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior because it is Christ IN US that allows us the ability to love. Why? Because Christ is the truest example of love.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 13:34-35 says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another, By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
How can someone truly love if they have not experienced what true love REALLY is!!!? Jesus Christ is True Love. Jesus Christ Only is the source of Love in anyone’s life. Everything else is vanity.
Drew and Sarah know this well. They know this personally. They have recognized their sin and a need for a savior found ONLY in Jesus Christ. It is because of this that their marriage can succeed in the truest form of love: being a reflection of Christ’s sacrificial love for them.
Family and friends, Do YOU know this? Have YOU recognized and accepted the fact that only Christ can save you from your sin and allow you the privilege to love like he has loved us?
See in comparing Galatians 5 and 1 Cor 13, we see that the fruits of the Spirit are exemplified in Love! Love IS patient. Love is Kind! Through Christ, Drew, you are able to love Sarah by walking in the spirit. Through Christ Sarah, you are able to truly love Drew by walking in the spirit!
There is one application point for you Drew and Sarah. I can’t stand here today and tell you, “because of years of experience this is how your marriage can be successful…” and then list a bunch of gobbly goop that makes everyone feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I haven’t even been married for a year yet! But what I can tell you is what the Bible, the trusted and holy Word of God, says as the best pointer to your marriage.
Drew, walk by the Spirit so that you can truly love Sarah, Being patient, being kind, being humble, being faithful, being able to forgive because Christ has forgiven you, being able to endure because Christ will NEVER leave you. Drew, pursue the Heart of God, get into His word daily and grow your relationship with Christ so that you will be able to adequately reflect Him as true love in your relationship with Sarah.
Sarah, walk by the Spirit, so that you can truly love Drew, Being patient, being kind, being humble, being faithful, being able to forgive because Christ has forgiven you, being able to endure because Christ will NEVER leave you. Sarah, pursue the Heart of God, get into His word daily and grow your relationship with Christ so that you will be able to adequately reflect Him as true love in your relationship with Drew.
In this, God is glorified in your marriage and you WILL succeed.

In Lieu of Planting a Church... Form over Function? NO!

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

In case you haven't heard, yes, I am planting a church with an all-star team of people.  We are planting a Harvest Bible Chapel in Spring Lake MI.  That is my home town and I'm pumped to be going out from the main campuses of Harvest Bible Chapel Chicagoland to bring this amazing ministry to an area near and dear to my heart.
The video above makes me think.  First glance, this thing is FUNNY!! I was laughing most of the way through.  Unfortunately, it is sad as well. Sometimes the best humor is in irony.  A Church structured around Form over Function, like this video describes, is seeking man's approval, not God's. That's a strong statement, but true to the core.  I hope never to be a church that elevates the Form of our ultimate Function.

Chris, what is this "Function over Form" thing that your driving the nail to? This is a Harvest Bible Chapel Biblical Philosophy of worship that I have learned and now stand for.  There are many different forms of worship: open mic scripture reading, singing, painting, dancing, special video, special music, soloist, string section, choir, baptism, greetings, lighting effects, etc.  FUNCTION is the middle of a 3 part rubric of service planning. There are five biblical functions of worship: Testimony (Ps 71:15), Prayer (Phil 4:6), Meditation (Psalm 119:27), Scripture (2 Tim 3:16), and Prophecy (Forth-tell, not foretell)(1Cor 14:26). All of these functions are under a 3 part Foundation.  The Foundation of worship is this: God talks/communicates to us (Matt 17:5), We talk/communicate to God (Jer 33:3), and We talk/communicate God to others (Eph 5:19).

We start at the foundation of Worship in service planning and work our way through the Functions that stand on the foundation to THEN the forms which exercise the functions. If we work this model backwards, we will be a church that will end up like the above video.
If we laughed at the above, we need to be mindful of the ultimate issue of why we laughed.  In planting this church with my all-star team, we could totally miss the mark and purpose if we don't work off our foundation! So it is my personal and God-given mission in this church plant to assure that we are Function over Form because our Function is based on the foundation of God's grace in communicating to us, allowing us to communicate with him, and sharing with others about God.

It may have been worded confusingly? I hope you are able to understand the simplicity of this truth. God is good, and when we submit to His authority and biblical foundation of how to worship, we can't go to far astray from giving Him Glory.
The only "problem" with this biblical model is the fact that we are human, and we will make mistakes. I'm so thankful that I serve a Forgiving God through Jesus Christ!

Enjoy!

I'm on God's Team... Faith

There's a lot to learn from a guy like David in the Bible.  A lot of "do em's" as well as a list of "don't do em's" One thing I really appreciate and learn from David is his consistent inquiring of the Lord. If there is one thing he got totally right, it was "what does God want me to do?' 
Take 1 Chronicles 14 for example. David became king and the Philistines didn't like it. They came up against David, and in knowing about this he went out and prepared for battle, BUT... before he engaged in battle vs 10 "David inquired of God, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?"
Just two chapters earlier we learned about the amazing "mighty men" that God gave to David, and the capability that David had in man power to make any threat look small. It is interesting that when the guy is dealt pocket Aces with his army, he chooses to ask what to do before going "all in." One word: Humility.  A great leader always is humble. The Bible says that the Lord gives grace to the humble but resists the proud (James 4:6). Even though David by all earthly standards was set and ready to go to kick some Philistine butt, he took the time to say, "wait a min, I want the Lord's approval first..."
The Lord responds favorably and says that he will deliver them into David's hands. Notice who the glory goes to: vs 11 "And David said, "God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like a bursting flood..." "
David's amazing army didn't fight these battles. Yes, maybe in the flesh they did, but the battle is always the Lord's. David recognized this, and it was always to his favor when he did.
So that battle is won right? So the Philistines come up AGAIN and raid against David! Sorry to say, that if I were David I'd probably think, "Ditto, here comes round two, say goodbye to the Philistines!" David could have just assumed that the first "blessing" of the Lord would have applied to this battle, BUT.  David inquires of the Lord AGAIN to make sure! Humility. And a good thing that he did.  The Lord had a different answer for him this time. vs 14-15 "You shall not go up after them; go around and come against them opposite the balsam trees.  And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops ot the balsam trees, then go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.""
When I read passages like this I try to imagine them as if I were in the situation and how the Lord would speak in modern terms that I'd understand the best.  Not that this passage is unclear at all in its original form, but this is how I'd imagine the Lord saying this: "Ok David, here's what we're going to do, I got a perfect plan for this, that will wipe them out for good. You go around the back, and when you hear my army above your heads, then go and enjoy the show... they won't stand a chance." 

When you are in good communication with the Lord, inquiring of Him in all circumstances, running everything by Him, you become a team. In other words, you're on God's team then and by the way, he doesn't lose. David knew this. It takes humility to know this. It takes FAITH to know this.


Wait, David was in the Old Testament, he didn't have a faith in Jesus, how can this be!?
Would you be surprised to find out that Jesus was around in the Old Testament?  He was! He is! He is to come! I remember this understanding being a shocker for me when I was in Bible School.  If you would have asked me, "how is an old testament person saved?" I would have been like... "uhh... hmm... well.. I never thought of that... the sacrifices maybe?" It was amazing when through my thick scull the truth of Christ being eternal hit my brain. People in the Old Testament were saved by Grace through Faith in Christ, just like people post-Christ on earth. Christ may not have been on earth yet at that point, but John 1:1, In the beginning was the  Word and the Was God and the Word was with God.  The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us! David, as well as other OT hero's of faith in Hebrews 11, had FAITH because they believed the Word of God (Christ) and it was counted to them as Righteousness. Read Ps 119 as David's "faith" in God's word!  When you combine Humility and Faith you really are saying, "I Believe in the Word of God and I'm going to allow Him to make the calls."

Are you sitting there thinking, "I need to be on God's team... cause I just can't take the battle I'm in right now..." Go back to the root of the issue.  Are you relying solely on Christ as your savior? Christ saved you from death, but guess what, he can also can help you fight day to day trials. Does it mean you will eventually not have trials? NO!! It means, when trials come for no apparent reason other than the devil hating the team that you're on, Christ is there to fight the battle for you, with you! Start inquiring more of the Lord just like David! Start listening for the guidance of the team captain (it's easy, read the Bible!! ;-)) Show the enemy that you are on the winning team that has never ONCE failed.  When we, together, make it very aware in our lives that we know who is boss, the Lord's name is raised and our problems and trails turn into things that the Lord is like, "hey, don't worry bout it.  Go over there, wait till you hear my army come in and clean house, then come out and fight a battle that is already won!"
Praise the Lord Jesus Christ for allowing us to be on His team!

Josiah's "Spring Cleaning"

The last few weeks for me seem more of a blur now. I had multiple events that I was planning for and executing as well as Good Friday and Easter Services. It just seemed like the there was always something that needed to be done and prepared for.
I'm so thankful for the Lord's help in keeping my priorities straight. Despite the busyness of the last few weeks, I've cherished more than ever my relationship with my wife during that time. Knowing that a busy day at work ends with a quiet night with her and my puppy leads to one word: blessing. Also knowing that busyness without God's Word turns God's Word into a business. I knew that even though I was busy, I NEVER wanted to let that take over my time with God. This blog is an example of the grace that God gave me to spend time with him A LOT in the last few weeks.
Unfortunately one (actually two) place that took a beating the last few weeks was my office desk at both church campuses where I'm at. After this past weekend, having a huge event/retreat that I organized, I walked into my office today and looked at my desk and was like, "oh my socks, that is a mess." So, I IMMEDIATELY spent the first 15 minutes of my day today cleaning my desk of the rubbish all over it.
The story of Josiah, a man among boys, though he was only 8 years old when he began his reign, is a good reminder of what to do when your life needs a "spring cleaning."
In 2 Kings, chapters 22 and 23, we don't know exactly why Josiah decides to repair the temple of the Lord, but he does. Perhaps it was starting to look a little like my desk did today? Anyways something amazing happened during the cleaning and repairing of the temple: The book of the law was found.
It is almost humorous how this was presented to Josiah. This guy Hilkiah, the high priest, told the secretary that he found the book of the law and to bring it to the king. So the secretary brings it to the king, seemingly unaffected by hearing that it was the "book of the law" and simply tells the king, "uh yea, we got all the money out of the temple like you said, and by the way, Hilkiah told me to show you this book..."
Josiah's reign was directly after Manesseh, who the Lord compared WORSE than all of the Ammorites combined (21:11), followed by Amon, who is said to have "abandoned the Lord" (21:21). My guess is Josiah, who by God's grace decided to follow the footsteps of David and not his direct predecessors, felt like something just seemed messy about the kingdom that he was now entrusted as King. The fact that the book of the Law was "found" gives insight to even the fact that the priests of the Lord's temple had not been using it. This would make sense given the fact that the Lord's temple had been filled with Ashera Poles and other idols by Josiah's predecessors.
So Josiah has this book read to him and it doesn't take long for him to realize how deep in trouble he was in:

"When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shapan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, "Go, inquire of the Lord for me , and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us." 2Kings 22:11-13

Josiah, by all rights and standards could have used the excuse of ignorance to the Lord and say, "I had no idea! Why should I get punished for what my fathers did?" No, but instead he IMMEDIATELY was like, "where's the abort button, we got to see if there's time left to fix this!! Go! Call on the Lord for mercy on all of us!!"

The rest of the story is fantastic! The Lord replies back to Josiah basically saying, "yea, you're in trouble, there is consequence for all of the sin going on around here, but because you acted on it, you won't experience any of the consequence, it will happen after you have lived your years."

Josiah then started his spring cleaning in all of Chapter 25. He got rid of ALL of the things of the idols, even the horses that were apparently dedicated to the sun. He basically ordered, "anything that has anything to do, even remotely, with the idols of my predecessors, get rid of! not tomorrow, not in a few minutes, NOW!"
The culmination of Josiah's life and work is 25:25
"Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him."

So, great story eh? Here's the deal. Some of us, myself included, need to "find" God's word and realize that there is a great deal of clean up that might need to happen in our lives. What we need to do when God's word pierces to the division of our soul and spirit, discerning the thoughts and intentions of our hearts (Heb 4:12), we need to take Josiah's example and not wait a single second, Call upon the Lord and repent, and CLEAN UP!
Josiah didn't dally around, once he found out it was sinful, he was like, "OUT, EVERYTHING NOW!" Even if it was expensive, even if it will cost me something, even if somehow my flesh still wants it, it needs to be eradicated IMMEDIATELY! When you are faced with the wrath of God, and your conscience is tugging at your heart strings about something, FIX IT NOW or you will continue to be influenced by it.
The largest application to this is in the field of addictions. When something is sinful and has mastered your flesh, the only true way to cut to the issue, whether it is a sexual addiction, a substance addiction, or a food addiction, is to take DRASTIC measures to clean house.
If it is porn, pull the plug on your computer. OR, Get a program (THAT YOU DON'T HAVE THE ADMINISTRATOR PASSWORD FOR) that monitors and prevents websites that are not God honoring, and automatically is accounted to a brother in the Lord.
If it is a substance, Check yourself into a God honoring substance abuse center and take a drastic measure and be ready for it to be difficult Better to be painful for a season than for eternity. Sin should not rule your life, and it takes drastic measures to allow yourself to put the Lord FULLY in control of your situation.
IN BOTH CASES... start NOW filling your life with God's word in the time that you would have filled it with Satan's filth! Build your fear of the Lord to beat your specific persistent sin problem.

Josiah had a great fear of the Lord. Prov 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." His response was very wise because it was motivated by his fear of God. Honor God, remembering that Christ has delivered you from your sin, and respond drastically and immediately when God's word is "found" in your life!

Amazing Faith because of Amazing Grace.

The Story of Zac Smith from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

I pray that God continues to grow my faith so much that if this were to happen to me, that I'd respond the same.

To those who may not know Jesus Christ, only a relationship with Him can give the power of the Holy Spirit in one's life to be able to go through a trial like this guy and respond the way he does. I mean, what worldly gain does he achieve by having this mindset? NONE. Lance Armstrong prided himself in not allowing himself to believe that the cancer got him, so he fought it and would claim his defeat of cancer was his own doing. The world looks at Lance Armstrong and says, "There's a man... he beat cancer..." Well, ultimately, I seek to care less and less about the approval of our world knowing that worldly approval will be about as useless as a PC in a Mac store in eternity with Christ.
This man, recognizing not to seek his own glory but that of Jesus, truly does consider it all joy when he met this trial. Why? Because only Christ can give someone true peace and comfort in a time like this. And he is glorified greatly when someone can go through cancer and say, "whether life or death, God is Good and I am His..."

I don't know this man from Adam, but I'm proud to be on the same team.