Amanda and I and our two girls, Sari and Macie, are going to Hungary to visit for a couple of weeks at the end of April and the beginning of May.
I have been involved with a youth ministry movement in the country of Hungary with our high school students and the partnership is continuing and thriving. In fact, this summer, we are taking two teams of high school students to Hungary. It is amazing what is happening!
My longtime friend, Rob Trenckmann, and his wife, asked us (my family) to consider joining the team in Hungary.
New adventures always intrigue me, but what my wife thinks and how the Lord is leading us collectively as a family is really important to me. We have been thinking, praying and pondering this idea since last summer, and while we don’t necessarily think this is how God is leading right now, we do sense that we are supposed to visit and check it out. The flights were more affordable than we thought they would be so we decided to bring our kids along. They will be an important factor for consideration in any decision we make.
So that’s the plan. We will spend half the time on our trip at a conference with the missions organization that Rob is a part of, Josiah Venture, and the other half of the time in Hungary visiting and exploring and talking and praying.
We’ve told our small group and our close friends what we are doing as well as the staff of our church. It’s not a secret and as people learn of our trip I share the same thing with them. I’m always asking them to pray for discernment as we seek the Lord.
Something that has been helpful over the years as I have got offers to consider other jobs in ministry is that I always engage and consider them. I usually call the contact person and discuss things with them, but every single time I have either talked them out of wanting me or not thought it was a good fit. So it’s easy for me to tell people that whenever a new opportunity presents itself I always consider it and seek the Lord’s wisdom.
So far in the last 14 years, the Lord has seen fit to keep us in Hayward. It’s no different with this trip in the consideration part. What is different this time is we are actually going to visit the ministry. So it is a little more serious at this point. But Amanda and I are just honest with people about where we are in the process so they can come along the journey with us regardless of the outcome.
At the very least, our family will enjoy a fun adventure to Europe together and get to see some close friends of ours who are part of a movement to transform society with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Got this from some Barna research on youth ministry:
“Millennials are leaving the church. Nearly six in ten (59%) young people who grow up in Christian churches end up walking away, and the unchurched segment among Millennials has increased in the last decade from 44% to 52%, mirroring a larger cultural trend away from churchgoing in America. When asked what has helped their faith grow, ‘church’ does not make even the top 10 factors.”
This is just hard data. It is objective reality. Among millennials, they are leaving the church in greater numbers. The question this data prompts is: WHY?
Here’s Barna’s take on a sort of beginning cultural interpretation:
“Young Americans are attempting to learn faithfulness in a rapidly changing post-Christian culture where they are rethinking the institutions—like church—that arbitrate life. The ubiquity and onslaught of information and competing worldviews, as well as a greater resistance to the gospel among their peers make it harder for young people to find meaning in a complex culture.”
So it’s not that millennials are just merely checking out of church… it means (at least a little) that they aren’t finding much coherent meaning in church about to “arbitrate life” in a “complex culture.”
Welcome to my world as a youth pastor! There are lots of challenges in engaging with students with this complex backdrop!
Last night (at Youth group) among the high school students, I’m starting to see some realization about how Jesus might be offering a coherent solution to this world’s problems. If we repent of our own way of making the world work, then we actually start to believe that Jesus’ way of arbitrating the complexities of this world actually do bring about meaning that makes sense and actually might work (Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7). I could see it in their eyes last night as we talked about racism, greed, generosity, peace, etc. Whew, it was cool!
It is tough, however, to wade through the complexity and the loud noises of our culture to try to give Jesus a hearing in a way that honors what Jesus is actually saying. I’m seeing glimmers, though… and that should give us hope (at least it does for me) that the millennial generations core values aren’t evil, wrong, or misguided, it’s just that their culture has gotten so loud and muddy and filled with so much information that they are often frozen and throw their hands up in exasperation. Religion seems to offer no help, so why bother. All it is is music and lectures. I’m not hearing about the complexity I have to balance when talking with my friends. I think I’ll try something else.
I’m hopeful though… I’m not giving up… I’m seeing glimmers of understanding as we walk through Jesus’ teaching on the good life of his kingdom!!
A couple of weeks ago, our High School Youth group spent a Wednesday evening looking at what Jesus meant when he said:
“You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13).
We thought through the different uses for salt and tried to discern what Jesus might have meant when he used “salt” to refer to those who repent for the kingdom of heaven is near (Matthew 4:17). We came up with 3 uses (and actually a possible fourth):
Preserving
Seasoning
Cleansing
Melting snow
During our small group time, the first question was:
Do you know any Christians? If you do, what is unique about them? What makes a Christian stand out?
In my small group (guys), of the eight questions provided, we spent the majority of our time on this first set. Here were their responses:
put God first
higher standard in life
high moral system
selfless
positive
not afraid to stand out
thermostat (set the temperature versus just succumb to the temperature around you)
fullness
satisfied
no worries
peace
not saddled by things
happy when suffering
honest
speak openly
slow to anger
integrity
not strapped by judgment
sincere love
genuine love
don’t follow others
transcend disagreements
love your enemy
Quite a list, eh?!
Toward the end of creating this list, one of the guys made a comment: “This is a description of the PERFECT Christian. No one is this perfect.”
It was a such a beautiful moment where instead of me as the leader/teacher describing a vision of what a member of the kingdom of God looks like, the students did it. They merely looked at people they looked up to and the character they exhibited and described what they saw.
And in the process of capturing that vision, one of them (probably all of them) was overwhelmed by that vision. The really neat part is that our invitation into the kingdom of the heavens Jesus is proclaiming in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7) isn’t something we have to strive for. Instead, Jesus simply tells his audience: “Repent.” In other words, turn from your way of building your own personal kingdom and pick up Jesus’ vision of what true humanity looks like. Let go, surrender, repent.
The focus of teaching and application @hwcyouth High School is centered around the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ emphasis on repenting for the kingdom of heaven is near (Matthew 4:17).
How do I help teenagers to understand what Jesus means when he talks about the “kingdom of heaven”?
How do I delineate between human kingdoms/economies/governments/systems and God’s kingdom?
What are some questions that can get at our human systems which will illuminate its values and aims?
What if I told the story (genesis) of this miraculously saved Jewish boy who turns into someone John the Baptist baptizes, is tempted in the wilderness, begins to preach (kingdom of God), calls disciples (talmideen), heals sick people?
What if the sermon on the mount (Matt. 5-7) isn’t a long, boring sermon, but a collection of Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God?
Set the stage. Repent and believe, an alternative way to live… the way God intended. Dallas Willard comments on Jesus’ sermon: “This Jesus’ answer to the question: ‘What is the good life?'”
What kind of illustration can we start with to share this alternative way to live in God’s kingdom from the heavens in a concrete way? How to illustrate “repent and believe” as letting go of my personal way of living (repentance) and picking up (believing) Jesus’ way of life?
Language (Ephesians 4:29).
Introduction
Show this video on the power of the tongue found at: Sermon Spice.
Ask these questions one at a time and write responses on the whiteboard:
How do people use words to hurt other people?
How do people use words to help other people?
Overview of Teaching @hwcyouth High School (2016-2017)
This year at Youth group we are going to delve into the real:
anger
perfection
judgment
sex
lust
heaven
hell
promises
revenge
loving the people you hate
trying to impress people
forgiveness
what do you really value? what’s most important to you?
who is your master?
the golden rule
turning the other cheek
generosity
praying
fasting
does God know you?
the Bible, what does it really mean?
This place, this time, and this group of people has the potential to be amazing!
Here are 9 reasons to be @hwcyouth High School:
Here are 7 reasons not to be @hwcyouth High School:
Teaching
As I said earlier we are going to delve into the real. We are going to honestly look at our natural, human world and its values and we are going to honestly look at and try to figure out the supernatural, divine world and its values and how they might intersect.
{create two columns on the whiteboard: one column labled “Earth: Natural, Human World” and the second column labled: “Heaven: Supernatural, Divine World”}
If you were to guess, what would be the values (or what’s important) to each of these worlds?
Let’s create an initial list. Take time to allow the students to answer. Our list ended up like this:
Natural, Human World
It’s interesting because on this list all we have to do is think about ourselves and other humans and we can be pretty accurate.
If someone comes up and punches me, what am I probably going to do back? Yeah… natural response!
Supernatural, Divine World
On this side, we can only imagine, or have experienced it, or it needs to have been revealed to us. Ha! That’s where the Bible comes in!!
Similar scenario to the one above: someone punching you. What is the “heaven” response? Turn the other cheek. Why would you do that?! You would be considered weak and stupid if you did that!
Let’s start at the beginning…
If you believe the Bible, how did the natural, human world get here? God. And it was made to be amazing. It was the perfect mix of natural and supernatural, human and divine. There was no line between the columns. But humans messed it up: sin. Instead of wiping us out and starting over, God decided to work to redeem/fix his broken, self-centered creation. God decided to create a special group of people that would be set apart from the rest of the world to show what God was really like (heaven). This special group of people, Israel, had one fatal flaw: sin (self-centeredness). No matter how hard God tried, their sinfulness (natural, human world stuff) ruled their hearts. So God decided to send a special representative from heaven as a human (incarnation) to earth to display/model a life that looks like God designed humans to look like all along. In order to take care of that fatal flaw (sin), this special representative paid the ultimate sacrifice and let his creation (humans) kill him. Because he was perfect, his sacrifice paid the penalty for humanity’s rebellion: sin. By following in this special representative’s death and coming back to life (resurrection), we can actually live the kind of life God intended for humans when he first designed us.
If that’s true, then the best way to live life in this natural, human world is to follow in the special representative’s shoes. It doesn’t mean we physically die, but it means to die to what we want in the natural, human world. This is called repentance. Repent of our own human way of doing things and believe in this special representative of God’s way.
Repent
surrender
give
lose your life
180-degrees
Believe
faith
receive
find your life
trust
Next week we will continue to flesh this out, but let’s take a look at a practical example of the natural, human world (earth) and the supernatural, divine world (heaven), and what repent and believe looks like. Are you ready?
Application
There’s no easy way to start this so here goes:
Let’s make a list of the cuss words. Let’s use letters to start this off. Please don’t say them. We’ll all know what they are.
Tell the story of learning to cuss in grade 6 and propagating it all throughout high school and into the workplace.
Read Ephesians 4:29
Now that doesn’t sound like fun! That’s so restricting!! Church is all about rules!!!
Why would the kingdom of heaven, Jesus, be asking his people to “not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth” (Eph. 4:29)?
Watch this video (caution: preview and discern appropriateness prior to watching with students):
{consult this post, What Makes Language Bad?, for more processing of this video and its contents}
Three categories of “bad” language
Condemning, judgmental, ungodly words
Sexually graphic, sexually explicit
Impolite to say in any given culture
There is a difference between vocabulary and intention. Paul Tripp:
Natural, Human World
Just words. Can say whatever you want. Self-centered.
Supernatural, Divine World
Not just words. Purpose of words is to build others up. Others-centered.
Let’s get real concrete with this application and synthesize it with repent and believe:
For the 2016-2017 school year, the high school students who participate in Youth group each Wednesday night are going to engage with Jesus’ words in Matthew 5-7 often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount.
We’ve spent the past 2 years going through discipleship, spiritual stages of growth, being able to both understand and articulate the Gospel, and create an environment for our friends to reconnect with God through Youth Alpha. It’s been a great 2 years!
This year, I sensed that for all the “over-arching” stuff I love to talk about, we needed to get really practical on what kind of world Jesus was actually calling people to live in.
What does God really want this world to look like?
And if I really understand what that world is, do I want to be a part of it?
Do I want to actually repent of the world I can create for myself and believe in the kind of world God wants for me?
There is no better concentration of teachings on the good life than the sermon on the mount. So that is what the plan is for this school year!
I order to prepare for this, I took the ESV version of Matthew 5-7 and had it printed up (minus section headings) by splitting up each sections into what I thought Jesus might be focusing on as he walks through his teaching on the good life. I placed this text on the wall in my office:
I went through the text and split them up into categories as well as spent some time highlighting, underlining, and circling repeated words and phrases throughout the sermon. I’m also adding creative elements and ideas to the wall as I come across them in my research and study.
My wall is going to look like an amalgamation by the end of the school year!
I’m looking forward to what God is going to teach us about his good world through the words of his son, Jesus Christ!
source Creation Swap (origination for series graphic)
Esther is a story about a girl. Another book of the Bible is Ruth, which is also a story about a woman who did amazing things that have inspired folks for thousands of years.
Background of Esther
Cyrus was the first king of the Persian Empire. He captured Babylon in 539 BC. King Cyrus was the one who let the Israelites go back to the land of Jerusalem.
By 486 BC, Cyrus’ grandson was now king of the Persian Empire: Ahasuerus (or Xerxes 1, was his Greek name).
Xerxes had some bad habits:
He had a terrible temper.
He sometimes took bad advice.
The Story of Esther
Xerxes was having a big party with his friends. He asked his beautiful wife to come out and show everyone how beautiful she was. She refused. “No,” Queen Vashti said. Because of Xerxes temper and bad advice from those around him, he kicked the queen out of the palace. No more queen. Xerxes’ friends told him to search for a more beautiful wife. So a search was made for the most beautiful woman in all of Persia. One of the women that was found was Esther.
Very important to the story is the fact that Esther was a Jew.
What is a Jew?
Esther is the first book in the Bible where God’s people are called Jews. After King Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was split in two with Israel (10 tribes) in the north and Judah (2 tribes) in the south.
During the exile, people in Babylon started calling the people from Judah, Jews, because they were from Judah.
So people from Judah were called Jews, and people from the northern tribe of Israel, whose capital was Samaria would later become known as Samaritans.
The Story of Esther (cont.)
So Esther was a Jew. She had no Mom or Dad so she was being raised by her cousin, Mordecai (who was also a Jew). Esther was brought before King Xerxes as he was searching for a beautiful new queen, and out of all the women in Persia, he picked Esther!
Things were great until Xerxes made a man named Haman his right-hand man. Haman was not a good man. He wanted everyone to bow to him, but Mordecai, who worked in the palace, would not bow before Haman. This made Haman angry… so angry in fact that he wanted to kill Mordecai. Haman went before King Xerxes to ask for permission to kill Mordecai. But Haman didn’t stop at Mordecai. Because Mordecai was a Jew and because Haman didn’t like the Jews, Haman asked Xerxes if he could kill all the Jews.
Why did Haman want to kill all the Jews?
Haman was an Agagite, a descendant of King Agag. Agag was killed by Israel’s first king, Saul. Haman might have been trying to get even for what some of the Israelites (Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin which was one of the two tribes of Judah… the Jews) did to his ancestors. Thus Haman advised Xerxes to kill them all.
The Story of Esther (cont.)
Xerxes took Haman’s bad advice and told Haman he could have all the Jews killed. Haman cast dice to see what day the Jews should be killed.
If Haman killed all the Jews, then that means the Messiah would never be born! It would be the end of God’s rescue plan! (Ian)
Mordecai heard about this plan to kill all the Jews and he and Esther had to figure out a way to stop it. Mordecai asked Esther to go see the king (her husband) to try and stop this. But seeing the king wasn’t simple. King Xerxes had rules. One of the rules was that no one could go talk to the king unless they were invited. The penalty for going to the king uninvited was death. Haman didn’t know Esther was a Jew. Neither did her husband the king. If Esther never said anything, she could just live in safety in the palace and probably be fine. Esther was in a quandary: either risk being killed by Haman’s evil plot to kill all the Jews, or risk being killed by Xerxes for seeing him uninvited.
What did Esther do?
She went to see the king. Everyone waited to see what Xerxes would do. If Xerxes extended to royal scepter then she would be spared. If not, she would be killed. As it turns out, Xerxes extended the scepter and Esther was spared.
He asked her what she wanted. Esther invited him and Haman to a banquet. At that banquet, she invited them to another banquet. Haman loved all the attention, but grew more and more angry with Mordecai and loathed all the Jews.
At the second banquet, Xerxes asked Esther what she wanted. Esther said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let my life be spared and the lives of my people.” Xerxes asked her what she meant… who was going to kill my queen?
“Haman,” she said. “I am a Jew and Haman tricked you into killing all of my people!”
Xerxes flew into a rage. His servants told him that Haman had built a gallows to hang Mordecai on. The king said whatever Haman was going to do to Mordecai, do that to Haman instead.
And through the courage of a girl named Esther, God had saved his people once again. (Chester Wigget)
Last week we learned that the Bible is true and trustworthy. Also, the empires, Assyria and Babylon, had taken over Israel and Judah, respectively.
Ezra and Nehemiah
The prophet Jeremiah (25:11) announced that the Israelites would be in exile for 70 years.
A new king named Cyrus came to power. Cyrus was the first Persian king because the Persian Empire conquered the Babylonian Empire. This is the third empire.
The Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us that Cyrus actually read Isaiah’s prophecy (44:24 – 45:13) and was so amazed he was referred to in it that he did was the prophet predicted (Antiquity of the Jews, Book XI, ch. 1).
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are about the Jews going back to the land of Israel because Cyrus let’s them return to rebuild.
Ezra
Cyrus tells some people they can go back and rebuild the Temple in 538 BC.
Led by a man named, Sheshbazzar, it took three years to plan and then actually arrive in Jerusalem which would have been around 535 BC. It took a lot of work to rebuild the Temple. The Jews were focused on rebuilding the Temple and it took 20 years to complete it.
Why did it take so long to rebuild the Temple?
It took so long because their neighbors were trying to stop them from rebuilding. Why? When Israel was divided into two nations (Israel in the north, Samaria, and Judah in the south, Jerusalem) these two countries often fought against each others. After the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom (Israel) with the capital city of Samaria, they placed (settled) new people in that land. This happened after 722 BC. By the time of the Persians in 538 BC, the land of Samaria was in charge of all the land that used to be the whole kingdom of Israel (including Jerusalem). The people in charge of that land under the Persians didn’t want Jerusalem to be rebuilt because they didn’t want that city and that land to get strong again (and eventually take back the land again). So the people in charge did whatever they could to slow down the rebuilding of the Temple. Men named, Joshua and Zerubbabel, led the work on rebuilding the Temple.
The first six chapters in Ezra are about the trip back to Jerusalem and about the work rebuilding the Temple while neighbors try to stop them. The Jews eventually have to go to the king of Persia to get help. This king is not Cyrus anymore because he had died. This was two kings later… King Darius. Darius reviewed Cyrus’ proclamation and gave the Jews the green light to continue rebuilding.
In 516 BC, the Temple was rebuilt. It took almost 20 years to rebuild the Temple!
Who is Ezra?
Ezra was a priest still living in Babylon. He was an expert in teaching God’s law. Jump ahead 60 years, Artaxerxes, the Persian king, sent Ezra to Jerusalem to teach the people there God’s law.
Why did King Artaxerxes do that?
The Persians believed in many gods and a favor for one god might pay off in the long run. After all, a peaceful, non-revolting group of kingdoms was good for the stability of the empire.
When Ezra came to Jerusalem, 80 years after Cyrus said the Israelites (Jews) could return to their land, he didn’t like what he saw.
Do you remember what caused King Solomon’s downfall? He collected many wives from other lands that worshiped other gods. This led Solomon and the people of Israel (God’s people), to worship idols. When Ezra went to Jerusalem he saw that the Israelites had married women from the land all around them and they worshiped other gods. Ezra freaked out! He tore his clothes and ripped out his hair.
Ezra called out to God and confessed sin… this led to the people calling out to God and confessing their sin… which all led to repentance: changing your ways, turning from what you’re doing wrong. The women that worshiped other gods were sent back to their families and Israel tried to get back on track.
Nehemiah
The story of Nehemiah picks up where the book of Ezra leaves off. If Ezra is about rebuilding the Temple, then the book of Nehemiah is about the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls.
Strong walls keep a city safe. (Brother Louie)
There was an Israelite named Nehemiah who was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. Because a cupbearer was a trusted person who guarded the life of the king, they were often some of the king’s closest friends. Nehemiah heard a report about the condition of the Jerusalem and its walls. It had been 90 years since the return to Jerusalem and the city was unprotected.
Nehemiah went to King Artaxerxes and asked if he could go to Jerusalem to help rebuild the walls and he even asked for the supplies to do it! Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah everything he asked for. So Nehemiah went to Jerusalem to help rebuild its walls.
What about those pesky neighbors that gave the Israelites all that trouble when they were rebuilding the Temple?
The neighbors, the Ammonites, sent threatening letters to Nehemiah to try to stop the work. Then they got soldiers to try to force Nehemiah and the Jews from completing the walls. Nehemiah heard about the soldiers and stationed his own soldiers to protect them… even some of the workers kept their swords on them to protect them all the time. Trumpets were sounded to signal if any enemies were approaching the workers. Nehemiah prayed for God’s protection. Before the neighbors could do anything to actually stop them, the walls were done.
Did it take 20 years (like the Temple) to rebuild the walls?
No. It only took 52 days! Because Nehemiah was such a good leader and because the Israelites worked so hard, it only took 52 days. Jerusalem was safe once again. Nehemiah became the governor and Ezra was the priest.
The first half of Nehemiah talks about the rebuilding of the wall, while the second half calls all the people to get together so Ezra could read to them the law of Moses, which tells the story of their ancestors and the rescue from Egypt and the law on Mt. Sinai and the whole reason for their existence in the first place: to be a blessing to the whole world.
What do we learn from these two books: Ezra and Nehemiah?
God is true to his promises
God can use anyone to make his rescue plan happen (even powerful rulers who don’t follow him)
When I left college as a 25-year old, one of my life goals was to tackle our culture’s Bible illiteracy problem. It’s not my job to help the whole world be biblically literate, but wherever God was going to send me, I was surely going to make that a center-piece of what I did week-in and week-out; whether that was as a full-time pastor in a local church or as a Sunday school teacher while I drove for Coca-cola.
It’s fun to think back on earlier times in our lives, isn’t it? I remember being a sponge for the kind of teaching I got in my under-graduate degree. I’m indebted to Mark Jalovick and the thirst for learning the Scriptures. I got to sit under men and women at Multnomah University (where I went to college) and learn about the different parts of the Bible and theology. It was great.
Then I got to come and be a full-time pastor at a church working with children and middle school students. For the last 13 years I have got to teach these students about the God revealed in Jesus through the Scriptures. What a blast!
I’m pretty passionate about helping people understand God, through His Word, better.
There was a Multnomah student a year or two before me named Tim Mackie. He ended up going on to seminary right after college and then on to do a PhD at the University of Wisconsin. Tim and a friend of his, Jonathan Collins, started a non-profit group centered around making creative videos teaching through the Bible. It’s called The Bible Project.
Torah Series
They are cranking out videos left and right these days. They started with the Torah series where they went through the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. You can view those by clicking here.
Read Scripture
They are working through a whole “Read Scripture” series which takes someone through the Bible in a year. They are making explanation videos of each book of the Bible… kind of a visual, artistic walk-through of how the book is put together and what it means. They aren’t done yet… probably only about halfway through, but you can watch what they have so far by clicking here. Along with the “Read Scripture” series they provide the finished “picture” chart of the book of the Bible for free for anyone to print out.
Theme Videos
They are also doing theme videos to explain, by placing the theme in the overall arc of the biblical story, different concepts that the Bible brings forth. You can watch these by clicking here.
If you go to their website @ jointhebibleproject.com you can view all their videos and study guides and posters and other stuff. You can also contribute if you so desire. Tim, Jon and the team are giving these videos away for free and so to do that they have to have an army of supporters who help make these happen.
Anyway, The Bible Project is an incredible resource to help both yourself and others to engage more deeply with the Scriptures.
Have fun learning more about the God revealed in Jesus through the Scriptures!!
There are two sections in the Bible: Old Testament and New Testament. We are currently in the Old Testament, which itself is divided into sections. So far we are gone through the Pentateuch (or the Torah), which are the first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Historical books are the next section of the Old Testament that we are currently working through. This section covers a 1,000 years of Israel’s history. The next few weeks we will be covering the last three books of the historical section: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.
Empires
The backdrop of the stories found in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires.
What is an empire?
An empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled by a monarch. (Pastor Paul)
In other words, an empire is a bunch of people and a bunch of countries all ruled by one king. For example, Rome was an empire. It was called the Roman Empire.
How did God use these empires?
The Assyrian Empire was the world’s first true empire. If you’ll remember, it was the Assyrians that God used to overthrow the northern tribe of Israel in 722 BC. The capital of the Assyrian Empire was Nineveh.
Down the road from Nineveh was a city called Babylon. They were also trying to build an empire. In 612 BC, the Babylonians and another group called the Medes, conquered Nineveh. In 608 BC the Assyrian Empire was done. And the new Babylonians had the biggest empire. It was the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, that God used to conquer the southern kingdom of Judah in 586 BC.
There are different spellings of the Babylonian king:
Daniel spelled it: Nebuchadnezzar
Jeremiah spelled it: Nebuchadrezzar
Did the Bible get it wrong? And if it got it wrong, how can we trust the Bible to be true if it isn’t true all the time?
What do we mean when we say the Bible is true and trustworthy?
The Bible is true and trustworthy in all that it teaches; not misspellings or numbers changed or rounded up or typos. There are no mistakes in what the Bible teaches. (Sunday School Lady)
Using rounded numbers was common in the ancient world. How to spell Nebuchadnezzar’s name isn’t something the Bible is trying to teach. There are no mistakes in what the Bible teaches.
So, do we know which spelling is right? There was no way to know until scholars were able to read Babylonian writing called “cuneiform.” The Cuneiform revealed the name was spelled: Nabu-Kudurri-Usur. So Jeremiah’s spelling of Nebuchadrezzar (with using 2 “r’s) would be more accurate than Daniel’s rendering.
But we still trust the Bible because it is not teaching us spelling!
What were God’s prophets (those who deliver God’s messages to the kings to return to God) doing during all this time?
They kept delivering messages to the kings to return to God or there would be trouble. The LORD used Elijah to show that He was the one true God (see Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal story). The LORD used Elisha almost like a king because he led God’s people in doing miracles and fighting battles, etc.
1 and 2 Chronicles
The 13th and 14th book of the Bible are 1st and 2nd Chronicles (respectively). The accounts these books contain happen alongside the stories of 1st and 2nd Kings, but are only focused on Judah’s kings (because they were the ones carrying on the Davidic covenant).
1 Chronicles chronicles Adam and goes through the life of King David.
2 Chronicles chronicles King Solomon and goes through all of Judah’s kings to the exile.
Watch the Fabulous Bentley Brothers sing about 2 Chronicles:
The Exile of Israel and Judah
There were no more kings after the list of 39 because time had run out. Israel had been warned time and time again to turn back to the LORD. Moses told the people back after the exodus that God wanted to bless Israel so she could be a blessing to the world if they obeyed and were true to Him. If they weren’t true to the LORD their enemies would carry them away from the promised land. King Solomon, when the Temple was being dedicated, reminded the people that if they didn’t stay true to God, enemies would carry them away.
They haven’t been true to God at all! (Ian)
While the two nations of Israel had been ignoring God, two great enemies had been growing in the east: Assyria and Babylon.
Israel’s Exile
God is true to His word. For 200 years He waited for the northern tribe to turn back to Him. Now he was done waiting. In 722 BC…
…the Assyrians swept into Israel (the northern 10 tribes) and destroyed it., The last king of Israel, Hoshea, and many of the people in the north were dragged off in chains to Assyria. The northern kingdom of Israel no longer existed.
Judah’s Exile
What about the southern kingdom of Judah? God gave them more time because they had more kings who obeyed and did right in the sight of the LORD. For every king that followed God, there were two that didn’t (versus in the north there was only one good king among all of them!). Additionally, the Davidic covenant is in effect in the kingdom of Judah.
If God’s chosen people ignored Him, if they worshiped other gods and God did nothing about it, the world wouldn’t learn to respect God’s holiness. (Pastor Paul)
In 586 BC, 140 years after the northern kingdom’s exile…
…King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians attacked and captured Jerusalem. The last true king of Judah, Jehoiachin, and many of the people of Judah and Benjamin were dragged off to Babylon in chains.
Jerusalem was burned, walls pulled down, and the Temple (the one King Solomon built) destroyed.
Is this the end of God’s rescue plan?
No descendant of David was on the throne of Israel. There was no throne in Israel. There was no Israel. In the midst of all this judgment, God used one of His prophets to deliver an important message. His name was Isaiah and he lived from about 740 to 680 BC. God had Isaiah warn the north and the south about the terrible things that were going to happen… about the end of Israel.
The amazing message from Isaiah was about a coming Messiah, or anointed one. Anointing was a sign of someone becoming a king of God’s people. Isaiah said there was another anointed one (messiah) coming, another king from the line of David… a king that will rule forever.
Isaiah 7:14
Immanuel means: God with us.
A girl will have a baby who will be king over God’s people and will be “God with us.”
In the middle of a seemingly hopeless situation, God sends Isaiah to speak about a blessing coming for the whole world… from the family of David… a child is on its way… the hope of Israel, the hope of the world.
Amazing! The hope of the world isn’t an army, it’s a baby! (Buck Denver)
How long are they stuck in Assyria and Babylon?
Do they ever get to go back to the land of Israel?
it’s why the world is so full of fighting, death, disease…
it’s why we hurt each other and why the whole world is broken.
Sin started with Adam and Eve disobeying God, but it has spread to every one of us. We have all been captured by sin. But God wanted to save us from sin and death. God has a rescue plan.
God started with a man named Abraham and his family grew into an entire nation, called Israel. Through Israel God’s going to bless the entire world and save us from sin. A descendant of David (the Davidic Covenant) would rule forever in justice and holiness.
When Israel follows God, He protects them to show the world His power. When Israel ignores God by worshiping false gods instead of the real God, bad stuff happens.
Israel ended up getting split into two different kingdoms after King Solomon:
Israel, in the north – 10 tribes
Judah, in the south – 2 tribes
The Kings
Since a king was king for life, the only way to get a new king was for the old king to die (either naturally or because someone killed them). God wanted one godly king to lead to the next godly king, but sin has a way of messing a good story (and God’s desire for humanity).
In the northern kingdom, Israel
To pick up where we left off from last week, Jezebel was so mad at Elijah that he went and hid from her. Her husband, King Ahab died and two of Jezebel’s servants threw her out of a two-story window to her death.
King Jeroboam reigned for 22 years and he was evil.
King Nadab reigned for 2 years and he was evil.
King Baasha reigned for 24 years and he was evil.
King Elah reigned for 2 years and he was evil.
King Zimri reigned for 7 days and he was evil.
King Omri reigned for 12 years and he was evil.
King Ahab reigned for 22 years and he was evil.
King Ahaziah reigned for 2 years and he was evil.
King Jehoram reigned for ?? years and he was evil.
King Jehu reigned for 28 years and he was good and evil.
King Jehoahaz reigned for 17 years and he was evil.
King Jehoash reigned for 16 years and he was evil.
King Jereboam 2 reigned for 41 years and he was evil.
King Zechariah reigned for 6 months and he was evil.
King Shallum reigned for 1 month and he was ??.
King Menaham reigned for 10 years and he was evil.
King Pekahiah reigned for 2 years and he was evil.
King Pekah reigned for 20 years and he was evil.
King Hoshea reigned for 9 years and he was evil.
Kings of Israel
1 of 19
In the southern kingdom, Judah
After King Solomon:
King Rehoboam reigned for 17 years and he was evil.
King Abijam reigned for 3 years and he was evil.
King Asa reigned for 41 years and he was good.
King Jehoshaphat reigned for 35 years and he was good.
King Jehoram reigned for 8 years and he was evil.
King Ahaziah reigned for 1 year and he was evil.
King Joash reigned for ?? years and he was evil.
King Amaziah reigned for 29 years and he was good.
King Azariah reigned for 52 years and he was good.
King Jotham reigned for 16 years and he was good.
King Ahaz reigned for 16 years and he was evil.
King Hezekiah reigned for 29 years and he was good.
King Manassah reigned for 55 years and he was evil.
King Amon reigned for 2 years and he was evil.
King Josiah reigned for 31 years and he was good.
King Jehoahaz reigned for 3 months and he was evil.
King Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years and he was evil.
King Jehoiachin reigned for 3 months and he was evil.
Governor Zedekiah governed for 11 years and he was evil.
I had been looking at a daily devotional resource from a Christian leader who I respected and appreciated the fruit of the Gospel in my life. The reason I was agonizing over the decision was because the devotional cost $1.99 per month. I thought, “Surely there are plenty of blogs and articles online for free that I could read each day. Surely I don’t need to spend $2 a month on an email devotional.” Hey, $2 is $2!
But on December, 10, 2015, I decided to subscribe and pay the $1.99 per month.
In the last 4 months of getting this devotional, I have read EVERY single ONE… multiple times. I find myself quoting them to others. I think about them during the day. I journal about them. This man interprets Scripture and helps apply them to life in this post-Christian world. Most devotional resources I had been exposed to were more sentimental in nature. There is nothing wrong with that, but I wanted something more. I wanted to be challenged, not just encouraged. It’s a daily devotional that challenges my intellect and I have really appreciated something doing that in my life.
This email gets delivered to my inbox sometime in the middle of the night, every day. It’s one of three emails I get when I wake up every morning (the other two are my web server clearing its cache and giving me a complicated log of who tried to hack the server the previous day!).
Here is the devotional I got on April 8, 2016:
The Pitfalls of Popularity
Yesterday morning I received an email from Tesla Motors about the launch of their new model. The email said, “In the first 24 hours Model 3 received over 180,000 reservations, setting the record for the highest single-day sales of any product of any kind ever in world history.” The email reminded me how much our culture values sensationalism.
Despite their overuse, advertisers know that superlatives sell. Every business wants its product to be the “most prescribed,” “most trusted,” “most watched,” or “best selling.” These phrases all communicate the same thing to the buyer: surely millions of people can’t be wrong. This message comforts the consumer because we feel part of the crowd when we purchase a popular product. It feeds into our broken, insecure human nature that longs for acceptability. As a result, in a consumer culture a product’s perceived value is directly proportional to the number of people it impacts. Popularity not only equals success, it also equals legitimacy.
This is why Jesus’ dismissal of popularity in the Sermon on the Mount can confuse and even offend us. He warned that the popular path with the wide gate leads only to destruction, “and those who enter it are many.” Instead, he calls his followers to the unpopular, narrow way that is difficult and traveled by few. Clearly Jesus is unschooled in successful marketing techniques. Perhaps because he was more focused on faithfulness than effectiveness.
Those of us formed by a consumer culture and shaped by a tradition of Christianity that strives for popularity and broad acceptance need to wrestle with Jesus’ words. In our desire to make Jesus appealing, are we tempted to abandon the narrow path? Are we presenting to people the God who really is, or merely the god they want? And in your own Christian life, are you following leaders or ideas merely because they are popular, or are you discerning their conformity to Jesus and his way? Beware the pitfalls of popularity.
One other resource that is connected with Skye Jethani is the Phil Vischer Podcast.
Here is a description of the podcast:
Join VeggieTales and What’s in the Bible? creator Phil Vischer and co-host Skye Jethani (author, senior editor Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal) for a fast-paced and often funny conversation about pop culture, media, theology and the fun, fun, fun of living a thoughtful Christian life in an increasingly post-Christian culture.
I have benefited greatly from listening to this podcast. Even my daughter Sari will say, “Can we listen to the Phil Vischer Podcast? They’re funny!” They are not only funny, but they are incredible thoughtful and insightful.
What these two resources help with is resourcing leaders who need to understand the current culture we live in as well as an intellectual engagement with faith (which is often thought of as an unintellectual endeavor).
