How Do You Choose the Right Path? - Steve Henry

1 (2s): Psalm 1 45 says that he is trustworthy and he has faith. He said this morning, we worship you this morning, father, we praise you. 1 (4m 25s): We lift your name. Hi, this place 2 (4m 45s): Bad. And you see oh God you make 0 (9m 51s): You 2 (9m 51s): Make Hi. I'm move. 2 (11m 53s): You make giants. You use songs of praise to shake. I will speak. I will preach them by 3 (12m 53s): Love you so much. You're so faithful. You're so faithful. What a great song to sing on grand opening Sunday, Lord, that we can declare your faithfulness to us as a church and us individually. Lord, you are so faithful and Lord, even in the hard times and the good times that you're faithful, no matter what's going on around us. Jesus, you're so good. We love you so much, Lord, we just give this whole Sunday to you. We celebrate you today. It's all about you, Lord. It's not about this building, but it's about what you want to do with it. It's a tool for your kingdom and for your glory and for your good and for our good as well. 3 (13m 33s): Jesus. And so we love you. We praise you in Jesus name. Amen. All right. You can be seated. Welcome. It's grand opening. Let's give the Lord a round of applause. Yeah. My name is Curtis, and I'm glad to be doing announcements with you guys today. But before that I'm going to invite all of the high schoolers who are going away to camp up to the stage. Come on up, come on up. Let's go. You're going to camp. Come up here. We're going to pray for him. 3 (14m 13s): It's going to be really good. So I just encourage you to extend a hand. You can come up here, come right up here, right up in the front. Yep. File in. Yeah, we can skip this way. If you guys would, we got to have the people online. They got to see you too. Your beautiful faces. All right. Yeah. So if you could extend a hand to that would be great. And Lord Jesus, we just thank you so much for, for all of these students. We thank you for what you want to do while they're away at camp and Lord, no matter what their motivation is, if it's a girl or a boy or one that they don't know, Jesus, we know that you want to get ahold of their hearts. 3 (15m 1s): And so Lord, I just pray that you administered at each individual who's on this stage, Lord. We just want to come into alignment with what you have for their lives. We love them so much. We've, we're so grateful that you've entrusted them to this church. And we just want to lift them up to you, just be with them. Holy spirit, guide them and minister to them as they go in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you guys. Yeah, you guys can go now if you want. Thanks. All right. Awesome. 3 (15m 42s): Well, we've got a couple of announcements going on. If you haven't heard, we have a barbecue and a celebration happening after this service. So at 1230, meet us over at the west campus on our patio on the west campus is not as far as it sounds. It's like one minute walk. So don't be afraid. You can do it. If you need a map to get there, it's at the info center. So check that out. Also, we've got some men's events coming up and want to make you aware of that because a lot of times men don't want to get connected into community. So if you don't want to get connected into community commit right now to going and plug in, because it'll be a great decision for you. 3 (16m 25s): Okay? So we've got two things we've got M six tomorrow night at six o'clock, which is always awesome. They got food. They've got a testimony worship. It's a really great time. And then also on the 23rd, we've got a men's breakfast. So that's here at harvest. It's going to be amazing again. There's going to be great food and testimony. Really good. So come to that. If you're a man, if you're a woman, there'll be other things. Sorry. This is going to be something else. Okay. All right. Yeah. So that's all I got for you. If you're new here, we have restrooms in the back behind this wall and we've got coffee and tea out on the courtyard area. So that's all I got for ya. We've got an amazing legacy video to kind of recap the history of harvest as we're celebrating this big milestone. 3 (17m 11s): So direct your attention to the screen 7 (17m 29s): Started making plans and we didn't have any money. We didn't have any equipment. We didn't have any backing. We just had a few families for the 12 people and, and seven of those people were kids. So we had, you know, it was 12 of us, you know, which is good number. And so we just started making plans and thinking about where we could meet and that sort of thing. And we in landed, we ended up thinking about Lopez high school. It's just down the road from our house and we contacted them and they gave us permission to start meeting there. And so we just kind of picked a date and we didn't like have a lot of big vision or anything for what we were doing. In fact, I remember, I don't know, month or two into it. 7 (18m 13s): A family came by to visit the church on a Sunday morning and they wanted to take us out to lunch. And so we went to lunch and they said, you know, what's your vision for harvest church? And we're like, I don't know. We just want to have church. And we just want to teach the Bible. And we just want to, you know, love people. We don't have much of a vision other than that right now. And you know, things have developed of course over the years, but that was kind of the, you know, the, the very rough kind of beginning. 8 (18m 40s): We really had a heart for a specific type of church culture that was very inclusive. That felt like home for people that felt like a place that they could plug in and be involved and feel a part of the family. And that was something that was really important to us. And so we just felt like maybe other people will enjoy that too. So let's just start moving in the direction of starting a church and see what God does with that. And, you know, if it fails, it fails, then no harm, no foul, you know, we tried and, you know, maybe if we create a culture that we enjoy, that we feel passionate about, maybe other people will enjoy that too. And so that's kind of, you know, maybe the, the roots behind it is that we kind of always had sort of a passion and it was just normal to be involved in the life of a church of our church, whatever church we're involved in 7 (19m 31s): And kind of our belief is that, and it's scriptural that God gives his people gifts to be used. And so we just felt like that's what we were trying to do. Just use our gifts and talents that God had given to us. And, you know, just to bring glory to him and, and invite others to do the same thing so that they could find fulfillments in life and joy in life and, and fulfill God's plan and purpose for their lives. So we wanted to do create something that allowed people to just be free and who they were as Jesus and point people to Jesus and serve Jesus and kind of along the way, you know, thinking back to that original conversation with that couple, that we're, we're, we're curious about who we are and what we're all about. 7 (20m 21s): And we didn't really have a lot of words to describe that. And, but over time we identify some core values that, you know, we're called to love all people. I think that's obvious in scripture, old and new Testament, we're just, God is a God of love and we're called to love all people were committed to that. The Lordship of Jesus Christ, You know, without Jesus, as we've kind of talked about without Jesus kind of guiding and directing everything, we, we don't have a story, you know, and without Jesus, we don't have new life and the purpose that we have, you know, so we're committed to not just Jesus, but the Lordship, the leadership of Jesus Christ. 7 (21m 12s): I, when we need him, want him and depend on him to lead and guided direct, direct to what we're doing. So we're confident in the word of God, that's another core value. So that's what we teach just every week. We just, and throughout mid we Bible studies and youth and young adults and college and home groups. I mean, our goal is just to teach the Bible men's groups, women's groups, you know, and we're, we're confident that God's word is meant to guide us and direct us and give us wisdom and speak to us about the plans and purposes of God. And so we're, we're confident in the word of God, call to love people, committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and we're called to serve. 7 (22m 3s): We're called to serve people. And so we've, we've done that. I think that's what we strive to do and try to do is serve the community by opening our doors and inviting people in serving people in the community, but also serving people within the church. You know, we're, we're called to serve people. That's Jesus said, Hey, I didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. And so we just trying to do what Jesus modeled for us and instructed us to do. We're just, we're we're we want to serve people 8 (22m 39s): Part of how we've attempted to love and serve our community is through a lot of outreach over the years, we've kind of always felt like it's intimidating for people to walk into this four walls of a church building, but if we can get out and love on people and be a blessing in our community, that that really speaks volumes to people and helps kind of make it less intimidating to enter into the walls of the church. 7 (23m 2s): Sort of, it's mostly about just being faithful in the season, faithful in the moment. And, and, and we've had to learn how to do that 8 (23m 11s): Really at the core of it, you know, it's like the disciples said, like, where else would we go? You know? I mean, what else is there? You know, it's to be a part of furthering the kingdom, helping people along in their walk with Christ. There's nothing else like it. 7 (23m 59s): Let's pray. Thank you. Thank you so much, Lord. We are humbled by what has happened over these years, these 19 years, we're grateful for your constant goodness toward us, the favor that we've received and the provision Lord, there's just been amazing. Goodness, Lord. And we're so, so thankful for your amazing goodness. It we've experienced it every day through the challenging days and through the glorious days, your goodness has been consistent. And so we praise you for that Lord, as we have the celebration service today, thank you for the opportunity to gather in this new space. 7 (24m 40s): He's just part of our story. Like so many other spaces leading up to this. So this is just part of the story. So we praise you, Lord, we thank you for who you are. We bless you Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Well welcome. Hey, it is a family Sunday, although it's not typically a family Sunday on this day in the month, but because it's family sending cause of the celebration, I've got some jokes. Jokes are always part of family Sunday. So this is when I heard, I already paid five bucks for this one today. Cause I just got it. But so the rule is that if you're a kid, no adults qualify, but if you're a kid and you give me a joke that I use and I'll give you five bucks. So that's the deal. So I think I still owe a little girl five bucks anyway. 7 (25m 22s): So, so the joke that I heard this morning was what do you say to a gorilla with headphones on anything you want? He can't hear you just heard that this morning. I got an, I've got another one. What's the joke. I'm trying to remember it now here. What, how did the cell phone proposed to his girlfriend? He gave her a ring. You gave her a ring. All right. Enough of that, as you can see from the video, a lot has changed over the years. We all looked just a little bit younger back in the day. And, but it's fun to kind of look back a couple decades and just kind of see what God has been up to and just to appreciate who he is. 7 (26m 8s): And I'm now going back really 20 years ago, when we first had the idea to plant a church, people asked us, you know, why in the world do you want to plant a church? And you know, we've got plenty of great churches here on the central coast. I said, I know there's amazing churches here on the central coast. And others said, you know, I'm not sure that you actually will. You know, that you've got what it takes to be a senior pastor. I said, I know you're probably right about that. And others said you don't have any resource or backing any people, any facility, any kind of church stuff that you need. I said, I know I totally get all of that, but we just got to have this sense that this is what God is up to you. So if we kind of made a list of all the pros and cons, we probably never would have planted a church. 7 (26m 53s): We never would have done anything. We'd just gone off doing what we think we should have done. I don't know what we did none, but, but when I think about pros and cons, I kind of have a different kind of perspective, a different kind of filter. I think about pros and cons differently because over 45 years ago, my mother-in-law Margaret Miller. She was dating a guy by the name of Marvin Miller. So Margaret was dating Marvin and they were just in this dating relationship. And one night Margaret was coming home through Guadalupe and she got run off the road by a drunk driver and, and she became a quadriplegic. 7 (27m 34s): So she's in traction at cottage hospital down in Santa Barbara and she's in a striker bed. She's got bolts into her head to keep her head from moving. And she's her life is forever and tragically changed as a result of this gnarly accident. And so Marvin Margaret, again, just dating at the time, they decided to make a list of pros and cons. Do we move forward with this relationship or not? They made a list of pros and cons and their cons weigh out, listed the pros. And so they said, you know, we're just, it's not possible for us to move forward. 7 (28m 15s): Like this it's just impossible. So Marv went home and he was at home one night and he felt like the Lord speak, spoke to him and said, Hey, you need to go and be by her side. And so he went to the hospital and knelt down by her bed or she's face down. So she had a mirror I believe. And so that's how she could see who was in the room. And so she said, he said, you know, I don't know how, I don't know what the future looks like for us, but I, I know that I'm supposed to be by your side. And every day for the last 45 years, Marv has been by her side, serving her and faithfully loving her. 7 (28m 57s): And they've just served and loved each other for decades and been an amazing example to my wife and our kids and our grandkids. And so when I think about pros and cons, I've got a totally different filter because I think most things in life that seem impossible, you can make a list and talk yourself out of it like right now, but if God's in it and if God's spoken and I've got us leading, then all of a sudden you've got the courage to do things that don't make a lot of sense. That seem, it seems like a bad idea unless God, unless God is in it, it's a bad idea. 7 (29m 37s): So when we took a made a list, you know, or heard all the reasons why we shouldn't plant a church, we didn't, you know, we said, you know what? All of that is true. It's, they're all true. But that doesn't mean that God's not calling us to do it. And so we just decided to do it. And so in March of 2003, we planted harvest church again with three families, five adults and seven kids. And we just started having church. We just set a date on the calendar and I was, I had never been a senior pastor before, never preached weekly at, at a church service. I'd done other ministry, but I'd never done that type of ministry. 7 (30m 18s): Like full-time lead pastor type stuff. And so I, I didn't, you know, we, we just had, we really had no idea what we were doing. He never planted a church, never any, all of the above. We had never done it before. So it was just this big kind of step of faith. I, I talked to another guy in the area who was getting ready to plant a church around the same time. And he's like, man, I got a hundred sermons in the can. Like he had like a hundred sermons ready to go. And I heard that. I'm like, dude, I don't even know what I'm going to say. Our first Sunday, when we gather, I have no idea. He had all this backing, all of this money. He was being planted by this church planting network. And so they had resource out the, out the ears and they were just going for it. 7 (31m 1s): I'm like, holy cow, Lord, what are we doing? We've got none of the above. But we just, by, by God's grace just decided to just take it a day at a time and do what we felt like God was calling us to do. So in 2003, we started meeting at Lopez high school. Two years later, we had this amazing conversation with Amanda Lambert. Who's sitting here on the front row with us. We had been praying that God would give us an opportunity to move from the Mesa. I don't know if you know where Lopez high school is, but it's up on the Mason. And so if people showed up, we were always surprised. We're like, how did you know that we were meeting here? You know, cause we had the sign up for like two hours on Sunday morning and you know, it was just a miracle if anybody showed up. 7 (31m 44s): And so we knew that we wanted to be in the village of a Ray granny where we could have a bigger impact. And, and so we just began to pray and just ask the Lord. And I was driving through the village and I see this big four foot by eight foot sign out on the lawn of 1 24 west branch up the road here about a minute. And I just pulled over and went in to talk with Amanda. I don't know. I can't remember if Clem was there, but you were there for sure. And clam probably. And I said, Hey, I'm Steve. I pastor this really small church, you know, and we, we have this desire to move into the village of a rear grand day. And we noticed that you've got this church that's for lease. Would you be interested in leasing it to us again? 7 (32m 25s): And she'd been using it as her decorate her, her, her store or storefront for her decorating business or interior design business. And there's the word interior design. And, and, but she was, you know, ready to kind of scale back a little bit and moved back to the back of the property a little bit. And so I said, you know, we just started that conversation. And, and just really just in that moment on kind of a handshake, we decided to move forward. And, and so we started the renovation and come and Amanda helped us with renovation. We had to put in fire sprinklers and all kinds of stuff. Anyway, we, we, we just moved in, in 2003 and during the time that renovation, we were actually meeting outside on the lawn behind the parsonage was just up the driveway at the west campus. 7 (33m 8s): And so, you know, we, we grew from like 60 people to 180 people while they're meeting outside on the lawn and we we'd be outside and be cold and drizzly. And we'd like, why are people coming to our church? We've got we're meeting on the lawn and it's cold and wet. And all these people kept coming up the driveway. I say, who are these people? But God just kept bringing people. And, and it was just this sweet, sweet thing. So 2005, we started meeting here, there, and then we purchased one 20 heart lane, which is the house next door that our friend neighbor Mark Miller had for years and years. And so we just kept having church and slowly but surely we take over more and more of that space. 7 (33m 49s): There's a bunch of buildings behind the chapel, the sanctuary and little by little, we just kind of take, you know, started taking them over. And then in 2015, 2017, we bought it from the Lamberts. And so the circumstances worked out. We bought the house at one 20 Hart lane in 2015, we bought the church property in 2017. And then, and then we just have been having church. And as we've needed to, we've just been praying that God would give us some more space we've we just needed some more space. And so we looked around and we actually had looked at this space like 10 years ago, John Hayashi is the owner of this property. And 10 years ago, I called John and said, Hey, would you be interested in leasing us your space or selling us your space? 7 (34m 33s): And he said, absolutely not. He was like, he didn't want a church here. He didn't want, I don't know what was going on in John's life, but he was not interested in leasing it to our shirts. But fast forward, 10 years, I called him up and said, Hey, John, where, you know, the place is empty again, can we lease your space? He's like, Hey, I'll meet you down there in 15 minutes and we'll talk and really on a handshake, he opened the doors for us to, you know, to, to, to get this place. And so, you know, it was just over a year ago, it was March last year, we made the decision to move in here and took 59 weeks or so to get it renovated, you know, everything around, it had to be changed. And so here we are, and we're just, we're just excited about what God is doing and what he's up to. 7 (35m 17s): And so we just wanted to celebrate in kind of a special way today and just invite people to be a part of what we're doing. There's, there's a lot to celebrate and we're so thankful for what God is doing. So again, we, we planted not because we had a plan, not because we knew what we were doing, but because God had called us to do something. And so I just want to encourage you in your life. Maybe God is calling you to do something. We challenge people all the time to listen to what the God the Lord is saying. And then step into those supernatural plans that God has for you. And just maybe just, maybe God will do something wonderful in your life. 7 (36m 1s): It's a day at a time adventure. So I shared this last week, but recently we were having a lot of like church challenges. I don't know if you've ever experienced church, challenging circumstance. Have you ever been in church where you had like challenging circumstances? Just me. Okay, good. Just me. So I'm not walking, I'm a hundred prayer walk and I'm like, Lord, what's going on? There's some hard stuff going on. And I felt like Lauren said, do three things. Number one, keep your eyes on me. Okay. I can do that. I can just cause you know, the temptation is to see everything that's going sideways in your life and get your eyes and focus your attention on that. So I knew that I needed to get my attention back on the Lord. And then the Lord said, don't be fearful. You know, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of sound mind. 7 (36m 41s): So the temptation to say, watch everything be fearful about what might happen and then just kind of freak ourselves out. But God said, no, just keep your eyes on me. Don't be fearful. And they just take it a day at a time. The Bible says, don't worry about tomorrow. Today's worries are an F for the day. So those three things that's been kind of our, our focus, although I just kind of felt like the Lord reminded me recently, but that's really been our focus for these last 1920 years is that we would just keep our eyes on Jesus, not allow ourselves to get fearful, but just take it, take things a day at a time and watch what he will do. And that's been kind of our story and, and that's kind of continues to be our story and it will always be our story. 7 (37m 25s): Recently this last week I had a chance to speak at our youth group midweek Wednesday nights at six 30, our junior high and high school are actually our club five, six gathers as well, but it was just junior high and high school this week. And Jeremy, our youth and family, pastor got sick. And so we talked and you know, we talked about canceling it, canceling the meeting mid-week I said, no. I said, how about if I speak? I I'd love to speak to the young people. So I volunteered to speak. And I, I love young people because in when, when we were, when I was in that season of life, so many amazing things happen to me. Number one, I got saved, gave my life to Jesus. I felt a call to ministry. When I was in high school, a lot of transformational stuff. 7 (38m 8s): I met my wife during our high school years and 32 years, we're still going and still going strong. And so a lot of amazing things happened for me when I was in high school. So any opportunity that I have to speak to our young people, I do it. And I it's so, so fun to watch what God is doing with our young people. So I spoke to them and I challenged them with choosing the right path. And the title of the message Wednesday night was how do you choose? How do you choose the right path? I want to share with you kind of what I share with them. I'll fill it in a little bit more and give you some more information. I've already done that, but I want to talk to you about choosing the right path. 7 (38m 51s): It's, it's a challenge for young people, but it's also a challenge for people of any age throughout the seasons of life. We're always wrestling with what is the right direction? What is the right path for my life? How do I move forward? And so we're going to look at a king Josiah in second Kings chapter 22. And we're going to look at the scope of his life because we get kind of to jump into his life at age eight. And then we get to see his life lived out as one of the Kings of Judah. So Josiah was one in a long line of Kings in his family. 7 (39m 32s): And that's an interesting place to be your granddad, great granddad, your granddad, your dad were Kings. You know, you're going to be king. And then your generations that follow will be Kings. And so we're gonna learn something about Josiah, his heritage and why he chose what he chose. So Josiah, his great grandfather was king has a Kiah and he was a godly man. You, you, as you read through the Kings about the Kings of Judah and Israel, it'll mention a king. It will say this king did what was pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, or it'll say this king did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. 7 (40m 15s): Every king had a choice. Every person has a choice. How will we live our lives? Well, Joseph is great. Grandfather king has a. Kyle was a godly man. It says in second Kings 18 three, he did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight, just as his ancestor king David had done. So just as king David was a man after God's own heart has a Kaia was also a man after God's own heart. Josiah's grandfather was king Manasseh, but he did not follow the footsteps of his father. Instead, second Kings 21 2 says he did what was evil in the Lord's sight. 7 (40m 55s): Following the detestable practices of the pagan nations that the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israel. So as the people of Israel were heading into the promised land, God drove out all the pagans in the land, but when the people settled, some of the Kings misled, the people doing some of the very things that they drove out, the former inhabitants for, they drove out the previous inhabitants of the land of Canaan because of their wickedness. Now the Kings of Judah are leading the people to do the same thing. Josiah, his father king Ammon in his brief two year reign as king second Kings 21, 23 22 says this. 7 (41m 37s): He did what was evil in the Lord's sight, just as his father Manasseh had done. He followed the example of his father worshiping the same idols. His father had worshiped. He abandoned the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and he refused to follow the Lord's way. So Josiah's dad and granddad did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Let's take a look at what Josiah will do. Second Kings 22 verse one says this Josiah was eight years old. When he became king, he imagined being king at eight year olds. We have any eight year olds in the room. Eight year olds. Yeah, we got an eight year old. Imagine you're ruling everything like you're in charge like your parents, your grandparents, all your siblings, all your friends, they get to do what you tell them to do. 7 (42m 25s): So that's a big responsibility, right? As an eight year old w the kingdom is mine, right? But Josiah, he was a tender little eight year old, just say I was eight years old when he became king. And he reigned in Jerusalem 31 years, his mother was jetted up the daughter of a Daya from Bose cough. And verse two tells us he did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight. He did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight and follow the example of his ancestor. David. He did not turn away from doing what was right. So how do you choose the right path? Number one from Josiah is example. You must decide, you must decide, will I serve God or the world? 7 (43m 8s): So we're not sure why Josiah chose the path that he chose, but maybe just, maybe he watched his dad and he watched his granddad lead and lead the nation into sin and destruction. Maybe, maybe just, he watched that example. And maybe he heard stories about king David and other righteous Kings, who, who led the people to honor the Lord. They pleased the Lord with their lives. And so somewhere along the line, he was persuaded that it's better to please the Lord with my life. And so at eight years old, he made the decision to honor the Lord with his life. 7 (43m 52s): So I did that at about 17 years old. I gave my life to Jesus when I was in junior high school, but kind of waffled in my faith. I was trying to decide, am I really going to serve God? Or am I going to serve the world? Am I going to go headlong into serving Jesus? Or I'm going to go headlong into the world? I can't do both. I got to decide, right? So at 17 years of age, I decided to give my life to Jesus. I had seen enough of the world and enough of the church, then enough of godliness and ungodliness that I decided at 17 years old to give my life to Jesus. We, we actually have to make that decision. And apparently you're never too young to make that decision. 7 (44m 33s): And the truth is you'll make that decision. And if your decision is to serve, Jesus, you'll need to continue to make that decision all of the days of your life. Like you're going to come up against difficult challenges, temptations hard things in life. And it's in those moments that you're going to have to decide. I'm continuing to put my trust in Jesus. Like I'm going to keep my eyes on Jesus. I'm not going to be fearful. I'm going to take this a day at a time. I'm not going to worry about tomorrow. I'm just going to be faithful today. We have to decide, and really in decision is a decision not to serve Jesus. 7 (45m 14s): We, a decision to serve. Jesus requires that you be intentional and that you're serious about that commitment to follow Jesus and be a follower of the Lord. Jesus Christ. When Jesus called his disciples, he, he called them into something. He said, he said, come and follow me. And I will make you fishers of men. God's calling us to follow him. And so whatever challenged Josiah to make that decision, he decided against, against his suppose, the world, the flesh and the devil, the same foes that we face today, the world, the flesh and the devil that is trying to draw us away. 7 (45m 55s): He, he refused his foes and it appears from his life that we read about in this chapter that he continued to choose to follow God. And to please the Lord with his life. It says in verse three, second, Kings 22 in the 18th year of his reign. So now we're in 18 years, king Josiah, son of Azalea and grand set of the court secretary to the temple of the Lord. And he told him, go to Hilkiah the high priest and have him count the money. The gatekeepers have collected from the people of temp at the Lord's temple in trust this money to the man assigned to supervise the restoration of the Lord's temple. 7 (46m 40s): Then they can use it to pay workers, to repair the temple. So if you look back at the previous generations, his dad and his granddad, Josiah is a parent dad and granddad. They would probably have taken that money and used it for selfish gain for whatever they chose to use it for. Because after all, they were setting up idols within the temple of God, they would set up Asher, a pole Astro was a female goddess. She was worshiped. She was a fertility God. And so the people would worship her to maybe in hopes that they would become pregnant, that they would be able to have children. 7 (47m 24s): And so they would worship Asherah, but also bale and tradition says that Asher was actually, Asher was the mother of bail and bail was at fertility God, but they would worship him in hopes that their crops would be fertile and that they would have great crops. And so we're told in, I think in second Kings chapter 18, that that the people of God were not to have any type of idols in their lives. So it's interesting that the Kings struggled and the people of God struggled, mostly with idolatry, they struggle with idolatry. God spoke to them specifically about his plans for their lives in this area, so that they would be strong and resist, but instead over and over again, they fell into this trap of idolatry. 7 (48m 12s): And so we see a change in Josiah, his heart in previous kingdoms, his dad and his granddad, they would desecrate, they desecrated the temple and set up idol worship within the temple. But Josiah's heart is to restore the temple. And so he's saying, Hey, give these these resources that have been collected to the craftsmen so that they might honor the Lord by restoring the temple. So Josiah made a decision and his decision is being reflected in his life. In verse six says they will need to hire carpenters, builders, and masons also have them buy the timber and the finished stone needed to repair the temple, but don't require the construction supervisors to keep a count of the money they they received for. 7 (49m 1s): They are, they are honest and trustworthy men. So Josiah had godly, honest, trustworthy people around him, people that he could give work to do. And he trusted them to do the kind of work that would honor the Lord. Now, how do you choose the right path from Josiah is example number one, you must decide, well, I serve God or the world, and we're all faced with that decision now. And throughout the course of our life, Josiah shows to honor the Lord with his life, but also number two, your life must reflect your decision. This is how you make right choices. You decide that my life will reflect my decision to make God priority. 7 (49m 46s): And so now we look at Josiah's life and instead of desecrating the temple setting up idols within the temple of God, he is restoring the temple. He's using resources and dispatching men to restore the temple, honoring the Lord with his decisions. Your life must reflect your decision. This is how you will find the right path in life. You'll discover God's law in verse eight, it says Hilkiah. The high priest said to Schaefer and the court secretary, I have found a book of the law in the Lord's temple. Then Hilkiah gave the scroll to shaven and he read it. So imagine the temples in this order, it's it's in disrepair, but when they go into restore it, they find this law, they find this scroll the word of the Lord. 7 (50m 36s): So shape and went to the king and reported your officials have turned over the money, collected the temple of the Lord to the workers and supervisors at the temple. Shaven also told the king he'll Kaia. The priest has given me a scroll. I'm gonna read it to the king. And when the king heard what was written in the book of the law, he tore his clothes in despair. So our seeing Josiah respond to the word of the Lord. His life is reflecting his decision. He's hearing a word from the Lord and he's in despair. Let's find out why he's in despair. Then he gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, ah, cam son of son of McCaya chef and the court secretary. 7 (51m 23s): And Asya the King's personal advisory said go to the temple and speak to the Lord for me and for the people. And for all Judah inquire about the words written in this scroll that have been found for the Lourdes. Great anger is burning against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll. We have not been doing everything it says we must do. So he's hearing the word of the Lord and he's realizing we're not doing everything it says we must do. So Josiah is all in. He's made his decision. My life will be pleasing to the Lord. And I'm going to make sure that the actions of my life reflect that and reinforce that reality that I am a follower of God in my life will reflect that. 7 (52m 10s): So he's realizing that they're not doing everything right. He says they must do first 14. So Hilkiah, the priest went to the new quarter of Jerusalem to consult with the prophet holdup. She was the wife of Shalom son of Tikvah. Son of has the keeper of the temple wardrobe. She said to them, the Lord, the God of Israel has spoken, go back and tell the man who sent you. This is what the Lord says. I'm going to bring disaster on this city. And its people, all the words written in the scroll that the king of Judah has read will come true for. 7 (52m 51s): My people have abandoned me and offered sacrifices to pagan gods. And I am angry with them. For everything they have done. My anger will burn against this place and it will not be quench. But he said go to the king. She said, go to the king of Judah who sent you to seek the Lord and tell him, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says concerning the message. You've just heard. You were sorry, and humbled yourself before the Lord. When you heard what I said against the city and its people. So God is recognizing the contrition and the humility of his servant and Josiah that'll keep happening by the way. 7 (53m 44s): So God is wrecking. That's the good news of the gospel is that we need a savior. We need Jesus, the Lord to forgive us of our sins. And so when we recognize our need for God, and we are sorry for our sins, not just sorry that we got caught or sorry, because we've got to deal with the consequences, but sorry, like Josiah ripped his clothes because he was in anguish about the disobedience that his people were involved with. Even though they didn't realize that he rent his clothes because he knew he knew there was work to do. You were sorry, and humbled yourself before the Lord. When you heard what I said against the city and its people that the land would be cursed and become desolate. 7 (54m 29s): You tore your clothing in despair and webs before me in repentance, I have indeed heard, you says the Lord. So maybe you're here today. And you're like, man, I feel like I keep confessing the same thing over and over again. Listen, if you've confessed your sins, the Bible says that God is faithful. And just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So maybe you did something yesterday or last week or last year or 50 years ago, but you're still carrying that baggage. God's grace is sufficient. If you will confess your sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, why? Because DOD sees the contrition, the brokenness, the humility of his people. 7 (55m 11s): And he responds. I have indeed heard you says the Lord, so I will not send the promise disaster until after you have died and been buried in peace, you will not see the disaster. I'm going to bring on this city. So they took her message back to the king. So how do you choose the right path? Number one, you must decide. We got to decide, are we going to serve God or we're going to serve the world? And then you must, your life must reflect your decision. And the truth is that if you've really made a decision to serve Jesus, it's a life transformational decision. And so your life will begin to reflect that decision. 7 (55m 52s): The fruit of that decision will produce good fruit in your life. But at times you just have to decide, I'm going to make sure my life reflects my decision. And then you must say contracts and humble. You got to say contract. So the word contract just means, I'm sorry. It goes hand-in-hand with a broken this brokenness. And contrition is what God requires of his people. When we're made aware of our shortcomings and our sins. We just simply say, Lord, I'm so sorry. Not because I got caught now because of the consequences, because I sinned against you. And as we stay humble and contract, God will be able to direct us and guide us and lead us. 7 (56m 38s): I tell you there's been a, 1,001 questions that we haven't had answers to over the course of the planting and this life of this church. And we've made mistakes and we've done things that we wish we hadn't done. But at the end of the day, we've tried to stay just humble about it. Say Lord, that we don't have any idea what we're doing, but we're asking for your help. And Lord forgive that misstep. We didn't realize what we were doing and, and we just watch God lead us and guide us and direct us. It'll be true for every one of our lives as we just stay broken and contract before Lord and stay super humble that this is the, the design of God in the old and the new Testament. 7 (57m 19s): We say, God, blessing, contrition and humility and the old and the new Testament it's God's plan for our lives. So as you're trying to figure out the right path, maybe you've got a decision in front of you. Take it a day at a time. First of all, keep your eyes on God, keep your eyes on God. Not the circumstances. Don't allow yourself to get fearful and then just take it a day at a time and then make a decision. I am choosing to honor the Lord. I want, I don't know about you, but when I stand before the Lord, I want to hear him say, well done, good and faithful servant. I want to have people writing about us as a church that their lives pleased the Lord. 7 (57m 59s): So choose today, make that your choice today to make God your priority and then make sure your, your life aligns with that. And then just stay contract and humble and watch what the Lord will do to direct your path. And so with that, let's just go and stand up and we're gonna invite the worship team. And at the very end, we've got one more video to show you, but let's pray and get ready to sing a couple more songs. And then we'll wrap up the service here shortly Lord. Thank you for who you are. Gotcha. Thank you. That when we're curious about the path to take you, show us you, you make it clear to us and you're faithful to do so, Lord. So thank you, Lord. I pray for anybody. Who's got decisions as in front of them today, Lord, I pray that you give them wisdom. 7 (58m 43s): Lord, I pray. If there's anybody here that needs to say yes to you to make that decision to follow you. I pray that they would do that today as well. So if you're here today, you want to make a decision to follow Jesus. You simply acknowledge your need for him. There's no formula or, or word that you can say. You just have to with humility and contrition, just make yourself available to the Lord. Say, God, I confess my sins. Thank you for your grace. I want to stay humble, Lord. I want to choose you. And I want my life to align with that decision. And I want to, I just to follow you all the days of my life, making sure that I always stay contract and humble as you do that, as you sincerely make that your aim and your commitment, God will meet you. 7 (59m 32s): He'll hear you. And he'll respond to you. If you made that decision today and you give your life to Jesus at the information booth after service, you can grab their Bibles and things like that. We'd like to give to you. And so Lord, thank you for this day. As we worship be glorified. We thank you for your grace in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. 2 (1h 3m 7s): Are you ready to go out some songs of praise We worship the God who was we picked God, we were this giant in the house. 2 (1h 7m 35s): We seem to the God who saves. We seem to and the house there's joy in the house. 2 (1h 8m 35s): We shout out house. 2 (1h 9m 28s): The house of the Lord. Shout out. Y'all pray this joy in the house of the Lord. God, we won't be quiet. We shout out in the house 0 (1h 9m 53s): In 2 (1h 9m 53s): The house. We won't be quiet. Please shout out your in the house. We won't be quiet. We shot it out of your 7 (1h 10m 42s): One last time Glenn, have a seats and then we're going to watch a quick video. But as you have a seat, when everybody's seated, everybody's seated. All right. Now, if you were involved in this project on any level, if you prayed for this project, this renovation of this building, go and stand up. If you prayed at all, go ahead and stand up. There we go. There we go. If you gave financially this project, go ahead and stand up. Now, stay standing, stay standing. Everybody stay standing. If you helped on a cleanup day, if you showed up for a cleanup part of the day, you go out and stand up. If you are a contractor on this project, go ahead and stand up. 7 (1h 11m 25s): If you work in the village for the city of Rio Grande day and you help get this project pushed through, then go ahead and stand up. Cool. Well thank you so much. We're actually going to watch a quick video and it'll just kind of show kind of what happened. That'll lead of credits. Everybody who participated. So good job guys. Watch your video and then we'll come right back. 7 (1h 13m 4s): Lauren. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. For all that you accomplished in the last 59 weeks of getting this building ready to go. We are so thankful for all of the amazing people that participated people who prayed and gave and worked and, and, and worked tirelessly to get this project across the finish line. So we thank you, Lord, pray, blessing upon each person. Lord, pray, blessing upon the city of Rio Grande day. They've worked so well with us. We're so thankful Lord bless them. We pray Jesus and Lord, as we get ready to go have some lunch and celebrate with some food, we praise you. Bless the food to our bodies. 7 (1h 13m 46s): Thank you for the opportunity to celebrate with food. We love you. Thank you for this day presence. You continues to minister to us throughout the balance of this day until we meet again in Jesus name. Amen. Hey man.