Imagine you’re driving along & you see a caution sign for sharp S curves coming up. How many of those signs would you need to see before you reduced your speed? I can remember taking my family to go see the Creation Museum & the life-size replica of Noah’s Ark back in 2021. Our Airbnb was just over a mountain from the Creation Museum. When we would drive that mountain, we would be coming down the mountain & they had such a sharp S curve, it was essentially a 90-degree turn. I remember the first time I approached it, I saw a sign about 1/4 mile away, & I let my foot off of the pedal a little. As I got closer, the signs got more & more dramatic & ominous. I am a well-accomplished driver, so I figured that was just for new drivers & sissies…. I must say, I hit that curve the first time going WAY too fast. I remember thinking, “They didn’t put enough signs to describe the urgency of that turn!” Not only was it a sharp turn, but it was going up/down a mountain. There was a guardrail, but at the speed some go, that is just a formality…..

How many times do we ignore signs from God? I want to take us to 1 Samuel 9-10 today. At this time in Israel’s history, they have decided they NEED a King. Why do they need a king? Simply, because all the other nations have a King…. Well, what a great reason! If only there were a commandment by God telling us not to covet… oh wait, there is. However, God grants them this request. However, before He gives them a King, He tells His prophet Samuel to go & warn them of all the things that accompany having a King. Samuel doesn’t hold back & lays out how terrible it will be with a King. They STILL want a King. That goes to show a great deal about the nation’s depravity.

So God tells Samuel to be on the lookout for a Benjamite who will see him & he will be their first King. That is where 1 Samuel 9 picks up. Here we read that Saul, a Benjamite, is sent out with a servant to find some lost donkeys for his father. The servant tells Saul that he knows of a seer(or prophet) in that area whom they could go see & maybe he could tell them where to find the donkeys. So Saul obliges & they go knocking at the door of Samuel. Samuel learns Saul is a Benjamite, so he invites him in for the night & puts him up as his guest. When they leave in the morning, Samuel sends the servant on ahead so He can be alone with Saul.

He then anoints Saul as the chosen King. Let’s pause there….. Saul left his father the day before to find some donkeys. Scripture doesn’t say whether or not he packed an overnight bag, so we don’t know how long he was planning to be gone. He ends up at the house of a prophet, who invites him in for the night (while also assuring him the donkeys are found & no longer an issue). Then Saul is told that He is to be the first king of Israel. I am sure he is a little uneasy, thinking this prophet may be a crazy man, or a false prophet at least. However, before Samuel sends Saul away, he gives Saul 3 very specific signs that He is, in fact, the first King of Israel.

Sign #1 – Samuel tells Saul that on his journey home, he will come across 2 men by Rachel’s tomb (a landmark of the matriarch Rachel, one of Jacob’s four wives, & his favorite) & those two men will tell Saul that the donkeys are found, they are now home, however Saul’s father is worried about Saul as he is still not back. It is for sure unsettling when the donkeys, which were the missing items, return home before Saul, the seeker of those donkeys, returns home. If that one sign isn’t enough for Saul, Samuel gives him a 2nd sign.

Sign #2 – Samuel tells Saul that when he comes to the Oak of Tabor, Saul will come across 3 men. One man will be carrying 3 goats (at one time?! what would that look like), one man will be carrying 3 loaves of bread, & the last man will be carrying a wineskin. In a little “side sign”, Samuel tells Saul that the men will greet Saul & offer him 2 loaves of bread. He even tells Saul to accept the gift, which I have always felt is an odd detail for Samuel to tell him. One footnote in my Bible talks about him receiving the bread as an indication of his Kingship. I am sure it is a cultural thing that is lost on us, the 2026 Christian. Regardless, the fact that Samuel calls out not only how many men he is to meet & where he is to meet them, but he also calls out the exact items they will be carrying, & where they are headed (Bethel). He even says they will give him a gift, what the gift is, & to accept it. VERY specific details. Samuel is proving he is not some crazy or false prophet.

Sign #3 – Samuel tells Saul that upon arriving at Gibeath-elohim, Saul will meet a group of prophets prophesying & playing music. He promises Saul that the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you & he will be transformed & changed into a new man because of this. While this may be the easiest sign to summarize, it is by far the most powerful sign. The reality is that as believers, we should be changed when we accept Christ. Truthfully, changed isn’t the right word; we should be made new, 100% transformed. Dead to our sins, alive to Christ! This is what Samuel tells Saul will happen for the 3rd sign!

All 3 of these signs are proven correct EXACTLY as Samuel told Saul they would. Remember, the purpose of these signs is to show Saul that God has chosen Saul to be the 1st King of the nation of Israel. I would hope that after the whole donkey ordeal, the promise of these 3 signs & the verifying of them, if it were me, I would have enough faith to trust God that he had chosen me! But will Saul? Will this all be enough for Saul? Will he confidently step into the throne as the rightful chosen one that the Lord has chosen? We can find that answer in 1 Samuel 10:17-27. Here, we read that Samuel comes to Mizpah to announce to Israel who their 1st King will be. He comes & calls the entire nation together, then he casts lots to see which tribe the King will come from. Then he calls all Benjamites forward & casts lots again to see from which clan within the tribe of Benjamin the King will come from. He then calls all the Matrites forward to cast lots and see from which house the King will come. He then announces the first King. You can imagine the anticipation & tension in the air at that moment. He then loudly proclaims, “YOUR 1ST KING WILL BE SAUL, SON OF KISH FROM THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN!” What happens next?
Crickets….. No Saul…. I am sure they are all looking around, watching, waiting for him to come forward. Yet, still no Saul. So where is he?! Did he not get the memo about this meeting? Is he again out looking for donkeys? In chapter 10, verse 22 tells us that Saul could be found hidden among the baggage! Actually, verse 22 tells us that the Lord tells them to go find him hiding among the baggage. This removes any kind of doubt that he was just helping put bags away & got distracted. God tells us that he was hiding. Why?!?!? Why would he hide? God had chosen him as King, & Samuel had given him all these signs proving he was chosen by God to be King.

Let me wrap this up. I believe Saul was hiding because he was afraid. Why should he be afraid? God had clearly called him to this new role. I totally understand feeling unprepared or not feeling qualified, but when God has called us to something, we should be able to boldly approach the task, not because of us, but because of God. When God has called us to something, we can know that He will be with us. Saul had no reason to fear; he only needed to trust in God.

As I close, I need to issue a disclaimer. Please don’t mishear me. If you read this story & your takeaway is that you can do anything, if you just have enough faith, you have read it wrong. Sadly, there are many people in our world today who are adamant that they can do anything, simply because of their faith, & through that they are working outside the will of God. I believe scripture is very clear that we can do it IF God has called us to it AND it is part of His will. Which, truthfully, if He has called us to it, it is part of His will, right? So maybe you have been called to something that you don’t feel worthy or strong enough to do. The reality is, you’re not, God is! So trust in Him! Lean on Him! If God will lead you to it, God will lead you through it. It is by His power we can do these things, so boldly come to them in the faith that God will take care of you. Saul starts as a good King, despite this hiccup in his coronation, but it goes downhill fast! Why? Because he does things his way, instead of being obedient to God. Pursue Him, honor Him, glorify Him, in ALL you do! Be blessed!

This past week, it has been impressed upon me how many generations in the Bible don’t do as well as those who went before them. The Old Testament is full of sons who fell away from the Lord after having loving, faithful parents. As a parent myself, this has been a heavy weight on me. I want my two sons to have a relationship with the Lord. I want them to grow up to know that while their earthly father loves them immensely, their Heavenly Father loves them so much more & so He loves them perfectly! He has a plan for their lives & His plan is perfect. I want them to call upon the name of the Lord!

Here are a few examples of Father/Son teams that don’t work out too well. Let’s start with Aaron & his sons. We read of them in Leviticus. Now, I know for us all, Leviticus is a HARD read. I have talked to a lot of different people over the years, and NEVER has anyone come to me & said their favorite bible story or verse comes from Leviticus. I actually just had a conversation with a fellow brother in Christ this week, where he asked me how I would expositionally preach through the book of Leviticus. I told him it would take a very faithful Pastor, & a very patient congregation! I then told him, I prayed God didn’t call me to that. I am obviously joking (to some level), but Leviticus is a HARD read. Anyways, it is in Leviticus 10 that we read about the fate of Aaron’s sons. Aaron’s sons tried to worship God their way, instead of His & because of that, they were struck down. Aaron, who certainly had his flaws, was chosen by God as the first High Priest over the nation of Israel. Sadly, his sons made their own decisions & it cost them their lives.

Jump ahead to Judges, we read of Gideon. Gideon was a great man of God & a great judge for the people of Israel. The people of Israel actually wanted Gideon to be their King, but Gideon had the wisdom to decline that role, stating that it was God who would choose their leader, not him. However, later in life, he clearly went astray. While scripture is not abundantly clear on ALL he did to go astray, we read he made an ephod & the nation of Israel worshipped the ephod, instead of worshipping God. He also had 70 sons, so it’s safe to say he had multiple spouses; that’s not God’s design. He then had his son Abimilech, whose name meant, “My father is King”. Abimilech took over & he was arguably one of the most evil judges…… (Let’s not gloss over the fact that while Gideon didn’t want to be King, he allowed his son to be named, “My father is King”….)

We jump further ahead to 1 Samuel. A story we all know so well. We read of Samuel being raised in the temple by Eli. God comes to Samuel at night with a message. What is that message? Eli’s sons are worthless, & they will not be taking over, & they will be killed. Samuel then has to relay that message to his mentor Eli. Samuel was a young boy at this time, & the Lord tasked him with giving a HARD message. Just a chapter or two later, we read that Samuel’s sons are also worthless & that is when the nation of Israel demands a King. Samuel, instead of allowing his own sons to take his place as a prophet, is instructed by God to go & choose a King.

There are 3 simple examples that jumped to my mind this morning. I know there are many, many more. Now, let me issue a disclaimer: there are examples going the opposite way as well. For example, in 2 Kings 22, King Josiah, the youngest King in Judah’s history, becomes King at 8 years old. We then read of him realizing the nation has drifted away from the Lord & Josiah turns the nation around (to some level). We also know that Josiah’s father & grandfather were WICKED kings! His father, King Amon, did plenty of evil things & was assassinated by his own servants. King Manasseh, Josiah’s grandfather, was Judah’s most wicked King. He built altars to false gods, he promoted child sacrifice & had no problem with witchcraft, using mediums. So I know that there are examples in scripture where the son did better than the father, but they are few & far between.

So, where does this all leave us? How can I raise my children to love the Lord, pursue a relationship with Him & teach them how to live as a non-compromising Christian in a very compromising world? To discover this answer, I jumped into scripture, poring over scriptures & I found we needed to look no further than Timothy. While we are told very little about Timothy’s Father, we know he was Greek (Acts 16:1). We can look deeper in scripture & learn a lot more about Timothy. I found 4 points that I have put below to help me raise Christian kids in a non-Christian world. I pray they will help you as they have me. Here are 4 ways we can raise kids who love God in a secular world:

1. Start early – make scripture something that is part of their foundation. Not an add-on later in life. 2 Timothy 3:15 tells us that from childhood Timothy had been acquainted with the sacred writings that made him wise for salvation through faith. What does this mean? It means his family, specifically his mother Eunice & grandmother Lois, had taught him God’s Word from a very young age. Teaching your child the things of the Lord before the world has a chance to disciple them is HUGE. We all know that teaching an old dog new tricks is near impossible, but it is possible. The sooner you start, the easier it will be for everyone involved. (**If you have an older child & haven’t done this, don’t get discouraged. There is no better time than the current time, so start today! Don’t ever rule God out of the equation!)

2. Model a sincere, lived-out faith – In 2 Timothy 1:5, Paul references the sincere faith he saw in Timothy’s mother Eunice & grandmother Lois. Timothy didn’t just hear the word as referenced in chapter 3; he saw it lived out daily. We all know that our actions speak louder than words, so this shouldn’t surprise us, but sometimes we want our kids to be raised “right” without holding ourselves to the same standard. If you spend more than 20 minutes with kids, you know they can spot hypocrisy quickly. My wife & I always refer to our sons as sponges. They absorb EVERYTHING. They hear what we say, even when they’re in the other room, & they see what we do. If our actions don’t match our words, they know it & will put less trust in our words, because they are turned off by the hypocrisy. Which aren’t we all turned off by hypocrisy? This doesn’t mean be perfect, but admit your wrongdoings & apologize when you need to. Living out a sincere faith is the best thing you can do to be honest with your kids.

3. Prioritize spiritual influence over cultural influence. Timothy grew up in a mixed culture. It was most likely pagan, but we can’t say with 100% certainty. However, we can say that his mother’s discipleship outweighed the surrounding culture. This is a HARD one to live out. I can remember when I was a kid, there was nothing to do on Sundays except go to church, because everything was closed. Boy, has that changed now! Sports programs don’t even try to acknowledge church schedules. I can remember when I was in my pre-teen years, I signed up to play in an indoor soccer league. My family was surprised to learn the games were on Sundays at 1:00. Well, church let out at 12:00 (if the preacher wasn’t too long-winded) & our church was 45 minutes away from the soccer field. Every Sunday was a mad dash to run out the door during the closing prayer, hop in the van, grab McDonald’s drive-thru for lunch & change in the back of the van to be at the indoor arena by 12:45…. After about 3 games, my dad informed me I could finish the season, but we wouldn’t be doing this again, as long as the games were on Sundays. I was fine with it then, truthfully, & I totally get it now as a parent & pastor. This one is hard, & your kids will not like it, but don’t put your children’s athletic schedule before their spiritual schedule. There is a minimal chance they will go pro in the sport they play, but there is a 100% guarantee they will stand before the Father someday & have to account for their actions. Train them up right, I beg of you….. (This now stretches past sports to all kinds of activities/hobbies, so protect your children’s time. Let them be kids!)

4. Teach them to continue, not just know. 2 Timothy 3:14, Paul tells Timothy to continue in what he has learned. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Continue to learn more about Jesus, more about scripture, more about the love God has for you. You won’t know everything, no matter how hard you try. Spend time in God’s Word. Nobody regrets spending too much time with God. Don’t make it legalistic. It is a relationship, not a religion, but spend time with Him, first & foremost.

I pray these 4 things bless you & help you as you raise your children. We all have different thoughts, plans & dreams for our kids, but I know we all want God’s best for them. How can they know what God’s plan is for their life if they don’t even know God? Pursue Him, honor Him, glorify Him, in ALL you do! Be blessed!

Have you ever heard the phrase we have two ears & one mouth, so we can hear twice as much as we talk? I don’t know who came up with that phrase, but they clearly had never met me! I seem to talk twice as much as I listen, & I have 17 years of hearing tests from working in a loud factory to prove I have excellent hearing! Sometimes I need to stop talking & listen more. I try to do this especially with my wife & children. More than once I will interject my two cents, before realizing that I am hijacking the conversation. I then will zip my lips & try to let the conversation return to normal. Sometimes I need repitition in my life. I know I need to hear things WAY more than once.

This week, I was doing some prepping for teaching Bible next week & I came across a verse that was full of hard to read names & it made me question why God would include these foreign names & places in His word. (He obviously didn’t consult me when writing scripture, & we are all better for it, trust me!) However, I came across a few names that I swear I have heard before. Let’s see if you have heard of them either: King Sihon & King Og. Alright, have you heard of them? If not, don’t feel bad, I knew I had heard those names before, but couldn’t exactly place where.
 
Following some well placed study notes, it brought me to Numbers chapter 21. Where we read one of the most famous stories out of the book of Numbers. The story of the Bronze snake in verses 4-9. However, King Sihon & King Og weren’t in that story at all…. They actually don’t appear until after that story. You can read them on your own if you want, but I’ll quickly summarize below.

King Sihon’s story is found in Numbers 21:21-30. Israel is in the midst of their 40 year wandering & they ask King Sihon, King of the Amorites, to allow safe passage through their land. They promise to be on their best behavior while in his territory, stay on the main road, & not help themselves to any vineyards, fields or even water. Instead of simply saying no, Sihon says no with an iron fist! He gathered his troops & rode out to battle against the Israelites were he was quickly defeated (all glory goes to God)! They even wrote a quick song about this battle you can read in Numbers 21:27-30. Not sure anyone has put music to those words yet….
 
We then read of King Og’s story immediately after in Numbers 21:31-35. Israel is now living in the land of the Amorites. They weren’t planning on living there, they were just going to pass through, but after Sihon wanted to fight them, they defeated him & took over his land (for now). Og & his soldiers ride out to fight the Israelites & God promises the same victory He gave them over Sihon before the battle even starts! Scripture says in verse 31 the battle was so fierce, no survivors of Bashan (Og’s land) were left & the Israelites now inhabitated that land as well.

Now that I knew the summary of who Sihon & Og, I must have been all clear on why I knew their names, right? Wrong! I felt like this was a far off distant story I had heard from the perspective of someone’s Brothers’, Aunts’, Cousins’, Grandma…. I was actually even more confused then I was before I started this study. So I dug deeper. It was then that I realized why I knew their names without ever knowing their story. You see, the victories over King Sihon & King Og are mentioned in the Bible 17 times! 17 times God reminds the readers that He defeated these nations for His chosen people. Why would God remind us the reader, & more importantly, the Israelites through those words that were spoken to them, 17 times of their defeat?

I believe this was because the Israelites needed to be reminded of the faithfulness of God. The vast majority of those 17 references are a historical narrative reminding both the audience then & the audience now of their defeat. The Israelites needed to be reminded that God had taken care of them in the past & He was taking care of them in the current. God knew exactly where they were & where they needed to go & He was always at work to make that happen. You see, God is the same yesterday, today & forever, so we can see that in our lives as well! God knows where we are at, He hasn’t misplaced us or forgotten us. Sometimes things aren’t progressing in our timeframe, not because God is incapable, but because we are not ready for the next step!

The tragedy is that after all the Israelites had seen of God’s provision, His intervention, & numerous victories, when faced with big challenges, they almost always lost heart & rebelled against God. This past week I was talking with someone about this very topic. I mentioned to them that everytime I study the Israelites’ journey from Egypt to the Promised Land I shake my hand in frustration at how stupid they were & how they JUST. DIDN’T. GET. IT! However, in the next breath, I shared that I can only imagine the angels are sitting up there & say to God, “Your servant Evan, he just keeps making the same mistake, expecting different results – how stupid he is, He JUST.DOESN”T. GET.IT!” Sadly, they would be right, at times. We do the same thing don’t we? We tell God we’re going to give it our all, & we may do that for a day or three. We read a little bit of scripture, or spend an extra 30 seconds in prayer. But then we throw in the towel blaming God for not working in our timetable. One of the many things God has taught me is His timing is not my timing. God is a God of the process, & that’s for us, not because He needs to do it that way.

A friend of mine, who is now in glory used to remind me of this truth, “I’d rather do things God’s way, than make myself King.” There are very few of us, myself included, who have that humility. I will tell you all that I ALWAYS have an opinion, & I am usually convinced my opinion is the correct perpsective/answer to the problem. (Sadly, sometimes before even hearing the whole thing (here is where the talking twice as much as I listen comes in)) I had a friend in ministry one time come in & sit next to me during a meeting. Before the meeting started, he wrote at the top of the paper, “Better to stay silent & make people think I’m a fool, than open my mouth & prove them right!” I laughed right out loud in looking over at his paper. However, there is some truth there.
 
This week, slow down, listen to that still small voice. Spend some time with God each day. Read His Word, spend time in prayer, listen to worship music, write things down, however you connect with the Father. I sure hope when I stand before the Lord, He won’t tell me that He had to remind me of something 17 times like He did with King Sihon & King Og. In all honesty, it wouldn’t shock me to learn He reminded me of it 71 times! Thank you Lord for your faithulness! Thank you Lord that Your faithfulness is so apparent, even when I am faithless! Turn to Him, first & foremost, in all things! Read His Word! It is cliche, but it is the user manual we need to get through life. Pursue Him, honor Him, glorify Him, in ALL you do! Be blessed!

Tomorrow – I am not sure there is another word in the English language that carries as much power & hope as tomorrow. We convince ourselves that tomorrow we will start going to the gym. Or we will start eating healthier tomorrow. Tomorrow we will finally get that project cleaned in a less-than-occupied space in our house that we started 6 weeks ago. Tomorrow, we will address that personal conflict that’s been secretly eating away at us. Tomorrow we will do a better job of getting more sleep & binge-watching less…. Tomorrow we will do our devotionals, or get right with God. There are never enough hours in today, & tomorrow is already jam-packed with empty promises before we even get out of bed.
 
When it comes to God, we always convince ourselves that because He is constant, never changing, He is fine to wait another day, or wait another week. However, *this* thing that we have decided to put before Him, that is temporary, and we must do it immediately. *This* could be attending a sporting event, spending time with someone, getting more sleep, purging all the spare toys in your children’s playroom, picking up some much-needed OT, etc. Now, before I go on, please hear me out. I am not coming at this from a legalistic approach of YOU MUST BE IN CHURCH EVERY WEEK, OR YOU’RE A HORRIBLE CHRISTIAN. That is NOT what I am saying. That is legalism & religion, & I have seen it drive a lot of people away from God. However, always putting God on the back burner, promising to “call Him” tomorrow, is equally wrong.

The harsh reality is, we are not in control of tomorrow because we have no guarantee of it. Proverbs 27:1 tells us, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” I am fully confident that both Heaven & Hell are full of people who had big plans for tomorrow. They had big plans of doing something different, starting tomorrow, but God had other plans. So how do we approach this? What do we do to make sure we are living in each day, not filling the next day with empty promises & also make sure to approach God in a relationship, not with religion?

The answer to that is found in scripture. One of my favorite New Testament books is the book of James. In James chapter 4, He says these words in verses 13-15, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’

This passage very humbly reminds us of the fragility of life. We have no guarantee of tomorrow & we need to be reminded that EVERYTHING we do is to be part of God’s will for us. When is the last time you asked God for His will in your life? My wife & I have always said that we are called to ministry, wherever that is. God hasn’t called us to Hawaii, so that’s why we are still in Western New York. We always try to do things that are part of God’s will for us & our family. Even when they are unpleasant things….. God may call me to do something WAY out of my comfort zone, or something incredibly humbling, & I need to submit to that authority, just as when I submit to His authority when it is something I want.
So where am I going with all this? This weekend is the second most attended Sunday in the American church. Many people will visit a church service that they haven’t been to in a long time. That is great, I am beyond grateful for your willingness to go & celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here’s my challenge: go this week, & the following week, & the following week, etc. While you are going, study God’s Word. Find people in your church who will help you grow in Christ. They will walk with you on the mountain, & through the valley. Don’t wait for a new season in life to get right with God. If you constantly put Him on the back burner, one day it will be too late. Heaven & Hell are very real places, & I wouldn’t wish Hell on anyone, yes, even you New England Patriots fans……. Get right with God TODAY, don’t let tomorrow be just another excuse. I am a MAJOR procrastinator, so this message is for me as well! Happy Resurrection Day to you all! Pursue Him, honor Him, glorify Him, in ALL you do! Be blessed!

One of the youngest kings the Israelites ever had was a boy named Josiah. 2 Kings 22 tells us that he became king at 8 years old. Josiah came from a line of bad Kings. Josiah’s father was named Amon & he was a wicked King, who only ruled for 2 years. His father, Josiah’s grandfather, Manasseh, was one of the most wicked kings they had. Not only did he reinstate Baal worship, but he also allowed child sacrifice, which God’s Word clearly speaks against. Then we see Josiah, who comes along & becomes king at the young age of 8. I have a 9-year-old son, & while he is one of the wisest 9-year-olds I know, he is not fit to be king.

Scripture jumps ahead to when Josiah is 26, & he is having them clear out the rubble that was the temple so they can rebuild it. While they are unburying all the remains of the temple, they found the lost book of the law. Most scholars agree that this would be the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is full of laws for God’s chosen people to live by. Not only does the book lay out how they were to live their lives, it also lays out what would happen if they disobeyed God. The high priest, Hilkiah, has the book of the law given to Josiah’s secretary, so he can tell Josiah what they’ve found & read it to him, if King Josiah desires.
 
Josiah has his secretary read him the book of the law, & Josiah is so upset with what he hears. 2 Kings tells us that upon hearing the words from the book of the law, King Josiah tears his clothes in sorrow & sends his religious leaders to petition the Lord to stay His hand on their behalf. Scripture tells us that King Josiah will be spared from all the evil God was going to send upon them because of his reaction. Why was his reaction so severe? King Josiah was so upset that they had been led astray by his ancestors. He didn’t know what the book said, because they had lost it in the ruins of the temple. He then learned how publicly they were sinning against the Lord. It grieved his heart over their sin.

Does your sin grieve your heart? Do you read God’s Word so you can make sure you are aligning yourself with God’s Word? How well do you know God’s Word? I have found that the more I read God’s Word, the clearer it gets. There are over 63,000 cross-references in scripture, where scripture speaks to itself. That is why the more we study it, the clearer it gets. While we don’t live under the laws that Josiah found in Deuteronomy, we do see that the Bible is our manual for life. The book is full of instructions on how to live a Godly life. What keeps you from scripture? Is it the daunting task of 66 individual books? Is it the fact that it’s a book, & it can’t be watched through social media? Or is it the fact that there isn’t just enough time in the day? Truthfully, that is probably where we find most of ourselves, in the “no time” category.

I want to challenge you to ask yourself, how much time a week do you spend engaged in social media? Let’s just say you spend 2 hours a day on your cell phone. Whether it be social media, emails, news, or gaming apps, do you spend 2 hours a day on your phone? (If you don’t know, if you’re an iPhone user, you can look at your screen time through the settings app that calls out this information.) If you spend 2 hours a day, that’s 14 hours a week. That is then 728 hours a year you spend on your cell phone. That is just over 30 days straight that you spend on your cell phone. The sad reality is that our teens, on average, spend 3-4 hours a day on their smartphones. That would mean, for our young people, they are spending 2 months every year doing nothing but doomscrolling, as they call it.  That’s a scary statistic, but it definitely sheds some light on the next generation. Imagine if we spent that time reading our Bibles, praising God, in prayer, etc, instead of on our smartphones… If you took 30 minutes of that time and spent it reading your Bible, you would be able to read the Bible every year. Imagine how much different our world would be if we spent that time with God.
 
The reality is, our cell phones are studying us now to keep us engaged. The algorithms that social media have are working hard to focus the content they show you strictly based on what you want, so you don’t even realize you’re spending 20 minutes every time you pick up your phone. Our phones, which were meant to show us things, are now studying us. When you react to a video with an emotion-based reaction, it tells the algorithm that detail, so it knows if you liked it or disliked it, to tailor your future videos to that one.

There is even a whole thing where the reels we watch work like a slot machine. They will put some reels that interest you, but you don’t love, back to back, & then put in a reel they know you’ll love to hook you back in. They are studying the science to see if it releases the dopamine hit that your brain desires to keep coming back for more. Here we are thinking we’re spending 5 minutes (which is really 25 minutes) to decompress, or do something mindless for a few minutes, but in reality, we are being studied to be sucked into our phones for hours on end.

Don’t mishear me, cell phones are not inherently evil; there are good things we can use them for. However, there are equally bad things that we can get pulled into if we don’t realize it. I have all kinds of apps on my cell phone that help me in my faith or encourage me. I have a few Bible Study apps that I use, as well as an app called “The Unreached Of The Day” that posts all about a different people group each day. I can then read about them & pray for them to know the gospel. However, the cons easily outweigh the pros, especially for the younger generation, where they don’t have any checks in place for what they are looking at.
 
We need to be in the Bible for ourselves. We need to know God’s Word like the back of our hands. The reality is, there is an enemy out there who is seeking to kill, devour & destroy. If he can use people in places of leadership & trust to preach the wrong gospel, he gladly would. I have heard a few sermons in my day that are not at all biblical, but they have just enough scripture/truth to them that easily allows it to go over the head of those not pressing in. I am not saying that the pastor was a man of satan, but the gospel he preached was not the gospel of the Bible either. We HAVE to read the Word with a pen & notebook in hand, studying it to see what God has for us.

In closing, the Bible is an algorithm in & of itself. However, the Bible doesn’t change to fit us; it changes us to align with it. Hebrews 4:12 tells us the Word of God is living & active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul & spirit, discerning the thoughts & intentions of the heart. I want to challenge you to spend 20 minutes every day reading your Bible. Do that for a month & re-evaluate. I have never met anyone who wished they spent less time reading God’s Word! Pursue Him, honor Him, glorify Him, in ALL you do! Be blessed!

If you were to ever look at a chart of the most sold books in any given timeline, month, quarter, year, decade, etc, you would be surprised to learn that the list you are looking at is actually lying to you…. You see, that list, no matter who it is published through almost always leaves off the actual best selling book…This book has been the best selling book since it’s inception..… The great record keepers at the Guinness World Records report that there has been 6,000,000,000 (That’s billion, if you’re too lazy to count the zeroes) of these books sold since they started keeping track of this stat in 1995. So for 30 years, that would mean that 38 copies of this book has sold every minute! That also means that if you read this article in the next 5 minutes, another 190 copies of this book will be sold! What book you might ask? The Bible!

The complete Bible (all 66 books) has been translated into over 700 languages, whereas the New Testament alone has been translated into an additional 1,500 languages. On top of that, there are portions of the Bible that have been additionally translated into another 3,500 languages. That is a lot of translating! We read these numbers & think, “How great that this is happening, & it’s so wonderful that the Bible is getting to the unreached parts of the world”! That is only the half of it though! I’m excited to tell you that Bible sales in the US are at an all time high! Bible sales in the U.S. have almost DOUBLED since 2019… In 2019, 9.7 million Bibles were sold within the U.S.. Just last year, 2025, the Bible sales were at a record 18 million Bibles sold in the United States. If that were to keep up, that would mean in 30 years, over 540,000,000 Bibles would be sold in the U.S. alone! I heard this stat in a sermon this week & I was so encouraged to hear of so many Bibles being bought by people who want to hear from God.

As encouraging as that statistic is, while Bible sales have doubled since 2019, church growth & attendance has not doubled. Why is that? Why are we selling so many Bibles, but not seeing all those Bible buyers in church? I know what you’re thinking, that some of this is because of those quirky Bible collectors, & those who have multiple Bibles. (I am guilty of being one of those people). As a Bible teacher, I love to find different versions/ways to read God’s Word. On the shelf in my school classroom I have close to 2 dozen different Bibles (with more at home as well….) So I do know that many people will have different translations/versions in their house, which is good! But you can’t tell me all that growth is strictly from Bible collectors…
 
I want to take us to Matthew chapter 7 today. Matthew 7 is right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. The greatest sermon, by the greatest preacher who ever lived, Jesus. Matthew chapters 6-8 is all dedicated to the words of Christ from his wonderful sermon. I want us to look at Matthew 7:24-27 today. I have put those verses below so you don’t have to leave this screen (you’re welcome)…  “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 5:24-27 ESV)

We read this passage from Christ & there are a few takeaways here for us. The first thing for us to see here is that both the foolish man & the wise man heard the same words. Jesus doesn’t say that only the wise hear the words, nor does He say that the foolish are incapable of hearing His words. He says that EVERYONE hears His words…. However there is a difference between the foolish man & the wise man. What is that difference? The difference is that the wise man takes action! The wise man DOES the words of Christ! The foolish man heard the SAME words as the wise man, but there’s no action in them! You just read for yourself just a moment ago what will happen if we are foolish. The house will fall, & fall greatly!

Lately there have been some rapid coastal erosion & powerful surging storms happening on the coast of North Carolina. The results have been that the ocean can swallow up these beautiful homes right on the coastline. You can look up videos on social media of these big houses falling off their stilts and being swept away into the ocean. (Warning, it is an addicting black hole of the internet that I myself fell down a few nights ago….) When I saw those videos I couldn’t help but think of Matthew 7. Now please don’t mishear me, I am not calling North Carolinians fools… I personally, am not a beach person, but I get why some people want a home right on the beach. However, the reality is that sand is not the foundation you want to build your house on, right? I can only imagine when Jesus issued this warning some 2,000 years ago, they thought he was crazy for saying this, but here we’re watching His words come into fruition!

Going back to the text, we see that there is a huge difference between information & implementation. It is all well & good to be well educated & know things, but it is pointless if we don’t do something with that information. We need to use that information ESPECIALLY when we are talking about biblical knowledge & wisdom. James 1:22 tells us, “But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” We are commanded to be doers of the Word, not to just sit & listen. In all reality, we can’t be a doer, unless we have been a hearer (& a reader) & we know what the Bible says. We need to make sure that we are in God’s Word for ourselves first & foremost before we can be active.

When you go to church, how are you viewing that time with the Lord? Do you see yourself as part of the audience? If so, I want to tell you friend, that you have the wrong view of church. We are not called to sit & watch, we are called to do & interact! We are not going there to be entertained, we are going there to get spiritually fed. With that, we are to get the “milk”, when we are baby christians, but as mature christians, it’s time for the “meat & potatoes”! That is where you are actively studying God’s Word, pen in hand! Remember, you are not going to a church, but rather as a body of believers, you ARE the church! I will close with this quick story. This past Sunday I finished leading worship in my local church & went to make sure the livestream was on in our nursery for any young parents/families in there with children. I came back in to sit with my family & as I walked through the sanctuary, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many brothers & sisters were reading the Bible with their pen in hand, studying God’s Word as they listened to the sermon! It was so exciting to see so many people sitting & soaking in the Word as the preaching was happening. God desires to be with each one of us, & His Word is alive & active & He speaks to us when we read it. So if you have a Bible close by, dust it off & open it each & every day. The enemy wants to fight against that & he will send EVERY.DISTRACTION.AVAILABLE… Don’t let him win! Remember, you don’t fight FOR victory, you fight FROM victory. God has already won the war, we are just in the battle! Pursue Him, honor Him, glorify Him, in ALL you do! Be blessed!