Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Hello, Stacey. Midweek.
[00:00:07] Good evening. It's good to see all of your faces.
[00:00:11] I feel like God blessed me special today with my favorite weather ever. The fact that I get to wear a sweatshirt and jeans today is like, the best thing in the world. So before I get right into it, let me say a prayer, invite God into the conversation.
[00:00:28] Dear God, thank you for this word tonight, Lord. Thank you for Josiah. Thank you for his life. Thank you that we get to learn from what he did and how he changed the generations after him. Lord, I pray that we can have a faith like Josiah's and learn from him tonight. I love you. I trust you. I thank you. And it's your son's name. We pray. Amen.
[00:00:53] Okay, so I thought that I would reintroduce myself tonight. It's like my once a year appearance here on stage.
[00:01:02] I normally get asked by Sarah, which is like, my mom. I never know. Like, do I say mom? Do I say Sarah? I don't. It's just Sarah, comma, my mom, she asks me to preach, and I normally wrestle with God for about six or seven months.
[00:01:23] I was told not to make that joke, but, like, I couldn't help it.
[00:01:27] So normally I wrestle with God for a little bit and then eventually I say yes and I do it. And so I'm up here tonight.
[00:01:33] But for those of you that know me, my name is Taylor Chaney. As, like my mom said, emphasis on the Chaney part, because I recently got married.
[00:01:44] Yes, yes. Very fun.
[00:01:48] So last summer, I got married to my wonderful husband, Anthony.
[00:01:53] It was an awesome day. It was everything that my heart desires. And so I feel really lucky.
[00:02:00] It's been the best part of my year. So I got married. And another thing about me is that I actually work here on staff. So I work here with our nursery through fifth grade. I'm our nursery through fifth grade coordinator. So I love it. It's my favorite thing ever. It is like the biggest blessing and answer to prayer that I could ever even tell you. It has been such an honor. And honestly, getting to do what I do, I just feel so grateful. Like, I just feel so much gratitude. I am so grateful for a God who accomplishes all that he wants for my life.
[00:02:45] I'm so grateful for a God who can accomplish so much more, so much better and bigger than I can ever even imagine.
[00:02:53] Amen.
[00:02:55] He's a good, good God. And so right now we're in this sermon series.
[00:02:59] It is called the Time is Now. And so if you missed it, last week we jumped into 2 Chronicles 34. And we've been learning about the life of Josiah. And so Josiah, he became king at 8 years old.
[00:03:16] And by age 16, he started to radically pursue God. He became on, like, this hunt for God and a background of him, king after king. Before him, they were serving other gods. They were worshiping other idols. And the faith has just been lost.
[00:03:37] So the faith was lost. And so Josiah comes in and he starts tearing down all the idols in the land. Okay? He literally, in the Bible, it says he purged, tore down, cut to pieces, smashed, broke, scattered, burned, and crushed every single idol in the land of Judah and Israel.
[00:03:59] So he rids the land of idolatry.
[00:04:02] And Sarah, last week, my mom, she talked about getting rid of the things in our life that are distracting for us, things that are pulling us away from God and starting to raise our spiritual standards. And what that looks like is not setting a standard from ourselves, but a standard that's set by God. And when he sets the tone for our life, something powerful happens, you see, because he wants to give us victory, he wants to give us joy, and he wants to give us everything good and wonderful for our lives.
[00:04:45] And so we saw Josiah destroying the idols throughout the land. And now we continue to pick up in 2 Chronicles 34, and Josiah is sending people to go out and clean, slash, repair the temple of God which had been neglected. And so Josiah, he sends out this high priest named hilkiah.
[00:05:07] And in Second Chronicles 34, verses 14 and 15, it says this.
[00:05:14] While they were bringing out the money collected at the Lord's temple, Hilkiah the priest, found the book of the law that was written by Moses, Hilkiah said to Shaphan, the court secretary, I have found the book of the law in the Lord's temple. Then Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan.
[00:05:33] So Hilkiah discovers the word of the Lord.
[00:05:40] What he would have discovered, many scholars believe to be Deuteronomy. And in this specific book, Moses, it's talking about where Moses speaks about the consequences of going astray from the word, the law.
[00:05:56] And the thing was, is that this word, it was neglected for years.
[00:06:03] Generation after generation, this word of God was lost.
[00:06:09] It was lost on them.
[00:06:11] And see, the significance of that book was lost.
[00:06:20] And I think something that I think about now is like the privilege that we have. The fact that we get to hold this book like this is a privilege of getting to hold this book in our hands, getting to use it right? But not even that. Like, we get to have it on our phone.
[00:06:39] We get to have it all the time, no matter what. It's in our pocket, it's ready to go, right? Like in times of worry, we get to repeat, we get to go to the Bible. In times of gratitude, we get to just speak scripture whenever we want.
[00:06:59] But I wonder if, like generations before Josiah, I wonder if the significance of the Word has been lost on us.
[00:07:15] Although we have the privilege of holding this book, I wonder if its significance has been lost on our watch.
[00:07:28] Maybe this significance of this book, it doesn't have the worth that it should in our life.
[00:07:36] Maybe for some of us, it gets part of our life.
[00:07:40] Maybe for some of us, it gets our Sunday morning, we come to church, we get to listen to the doc's message. And so we get out our Bible, we highlight the verse, right? We're paying attention.
[00:07:53] But then that post church nap is calling that post church comfy clothes, right? You go home, you get your comfy clothes on. I always take a post church nap. I need it.
[00:08:04] But then what happens is you forget about it, right?
[00:08:07] Some of us, we don't go back, we don't read the chapter again, we don't read the book, we don't study and go further. We don't let it change us.
[00:08:21] And I think that for some of us, it's even different.
[00:08:29] Maybe for some of us it gets like our Instagram bio.
[00:08:34] Maybe for some of us, we have a verse in our bio and it's like everyone can see that that's who we are, but we're not actually changed. We're not actually living a different life because of it.
[00:08:46] Maybe we have like this one verse mantra, and so we remember this Bible verse and that's like the only thing we really know. And that's good. Like memorize scripture, that's great. But like, maybe that's for some of us, like, the only thing, Maybe for some of us, the only time we read is when we post it on our story.
[00:09:11] Maybe for some of us, we only go to that Bible study, so it gives us a certain look.
[00:09:17] Maybe for some of us, we talk about it on Facebook and we talk about what we're learning, but we don't live it out.
[00:09:28] I think sometimes we don't let it get time in our busy schedule.
[00:09:35] This one, this one is. This one's it for me.
[00:09:39] See, I get this because sometimes, you know, for me, those of you that know me, I'm a planner. I got a schedule in my room, I got a whole month. I got it on my phone, I got on my computer. And sometimes I'll look at that calendar. And I'm like, dang, I think if I put one more thing in there, I actually will explode. Like, I think that could happen.
[00:09:59] And so it doesn't get our time.
[00:10:03] It's not significant enough to replace our me time, right? Our sit on the couch and binge watch our show. Our lay in the bed and rot on our phone for a little bit, right? Doom scroll. It doesn't get our time. And so the significance of the word it's been lost on us.
[00:10:28] Maybe for some of us, we read a little bit.
[00:10:33] Maybe for some of us, we read enough to feel better.
[00:10:38] We read enough to feel better when we're anxious to feel better when we're angry.
[00:10:44] It's good when you're feeling those ways. I want you to go to the Word. I want you to go to God. But sometimes we read enough to feel better and not enough to change, not enough to live it out, not enough to be different than we were before.
[00:11:03] We read enough to feel better when we're anxious, but not enough to actually do the things to change, to eradicate the anxiety in our life, right?
[00:11:12] Stop the drinking, stop the smoking, stop talking bad about people, right? Stop procrastinating the things that bubble up that anxious feeling in our life.
[00:11:23] We read enough to feel better when we're angry, but never enough to make the changes to stop being so angry, right?
[00:11:33] Start your day with Jesus instead of letting him get the leftovers after you've already snapped at people, after you already said things you regret.
[00:11:44] Change some of the habits in your life to actually be available to give people the best of you.
[00:11:53] Craig Groeschel, a pastor from Life Church, he calls this Christian ish.
[00:11:59] It's wearing the label of Christianity without truly following Jesus word, really giving your all to him.
[00:12:08] So you read enough to feel better, but not enough to change.
[00:12:13] Feeling edgy tonight? I needed this Word, y'. All. Like, I studied this because I needed this word. I want to learn from Josiah.
[00:12:22] I want to learn from what he did. Because when he hears the Word of God, it changes everything.
[00:12:29] It changes everything.
[00:12:34] And when Josiah heard the word of the Lord after they found says in verse 19, he tore his clothes in despair.
[00:12:45] So at this time, tearing your clothes, it was like this physical representation of your grief, like your spiritual.
[00:12:55] You're just distraught.
[00:12:58] And so Josiah, he's deeply grieved because he realizes how far away they are from God, how far they've gotten generation after generation from the Word.
[00:13:12] And I think the same God that found Josiah in a Time the land was lost is the same God that may be tugging at your heart tonight, reminding you, maybe the Word has been a little lost.
[00:13:33] It's lost some significance in your life.
[00:13:37] Maybe what once was so important has become stagnant.
[00:13:42] Maybe what once was so full and lively and full of fresh fruit is now feeling barren, dry.
[00:13:52] He wants you to find the Word again and do something about it.
[00:13:59] Maybe some of you, you haven't really given the Word, like, a shot. You haven't really given this book a shot, Jesus, a shot. And so maybe some of you, like, got a Bible, but you don't really open it.
[00:14:11] And for you guys, like I say, open it, try it, create some time, wake up earlier, give it a shot like, it is the best thing I have ever done in my life.
[00:14:25] You see, Josiah, he finds the Word.
[00:14:29] He recognizes that they've been doing it wrong, and he repents.
[00:14:36] And I learned something new recently about. In the New Testament, the Greek word for repentance means metanoia.
[00:14:45] This is basically just meaning, like, the changing of the mind. And so I learned this, and I just thought this was a cool way to think about this word. I think that it can help us think about it in a helpful way.
[00:14:59] It's changing your mind. It's changing of the mind. And I think the thing with change is for some of us, change feels really hard.
[00:15:07] And by some of us, I mean change is really hard.
[00:15:12] I have a hard time with change. I think it really comes from my control issues. If you've heard me preach before, you know, I talk about control a lot, but change is hard for me. And it's funny, because sometimes I have a hard time changing in, like, the smallest of ways.
[00:15:32] And for instance, I really like to drive with directions. Okay, I'm a Google Maps girl. Anyone like Maps? People like, you use your Maps. Yeah, Google Maps is way better than Apple Maps. And I'll die on that hill. It's way better.
[00:15:50] It's so much better.
[00:15:53] I. I'm a Google Maps girl, okay? So I like to. I like to go when I get in the car, I kind of do the same thing. Like, no matter where I'm going, I mean, if it's in a city that I kind of know, but I'm not really sure about where it is, Like, I'm gonna use my maps, okay? I always do it. It makes me feel better, makes me feel like I have in control. I know what's going on.
[00:16:14] But the thing is, sometimes when I'm driving, the rare occasion that I'm Driving, me and my husband Anthony, and I'm the driver, I like to use maps.
[00:16:28] Anthony likes to tell me where to go.
[00:16:31] Anthony likes to be like, okay, you're going to go through this stoplight, and then stop at the stop sign and then you turn right.
[00:16:38] And so he likes to, like, tell me where to go.
[00:16:43] This is really hard for me.
[00:16:45] It's really hard for me to do that. But the thing is, is that every time, almost without fail, he always gets us where we need to go. He always somehow knows the quickest way and he gets us there safely.
[00:17:05] And I just have to trust him rather than feeling, like, torn up about the change that's happening, right?
[00:17:12] And I think repentance, sometimes it takes a trust like this.
[00:17:17] It takes humility.
[00:17:20] And Josiah, you see, he was changing an entire nation's future.
[00:17:26] He was deciding to turn away from what generations have been doing before and start turning to God, finding the Word and start turning to him and what he wants.
[00:17:39] He saw how far they were, and he just.
[00:17:43] I could just imagine him, like, sitting before the Father and being like, I'm sorry for how far we've gotten.
[00:17:50] I want something different for my life. I want something different for these people's lives. I'm sorry for how far we've gotten.
[00:18:01] And I think we've all been there before.
[00:18:05] I think we've been there. Like, I'm sorry, God, I lost my temper again.
[00:18:12] I'm sorry, God, I said I was gonna be different, and I didn't keep my promise.
[00:18:18] I'm sorry, God, that I said that I wanted to stop doing this thing, and I didn't stop doing it. I don't wanna be like this anymore.
[00:18:29] I think it's easy for us to say sorry to God, to feel bad for what we did, but the question is, do we actually change from it? Are we actually turning away from it?
[00:18:48] Do we actually turn away from whatever it is and start turning towards God?
[00:18:55] Or do we keep plowing forward in the wrong direction, finding ourselves in this I'm sorry loop?
[00:19:04] You see, I do this with Anthony sometimes.
[00:19:08] I'm guilty of this.
[00:19:11] There's times in my life where my stress level feels really high. I feel really pulled in different directions. And so my stress level is, like, shooting up.
[00:19:20] But instead of turning away from the stress, turning to God, going on a walk, working out things that feel like healthy releases for my stress, I get snappy.
[00:19:35] I get angry, Right?
[00:19:41] Are we going to just say sorry, or do we actually want to change where we're going, the direction we're Going, do we actually want to turn to God and do something about it?
[00:19:57] We know that feeling.
[00:20:01] And tonight I want to remind you that the life of Josiah shows that when you get this feeling, when you feel like, the weight and you meet God and you decide, like, I just. I want to turn away from this and I want to start turning towards you.
[00:20:27] We have a God who hears you.
[00:20:30] We have a God who welcomes you with open arms.
[00:20:35] In Revelation 3, verses 19 through 20, Jesus says, Be earnest and repent. Here I am. I stand at the door and knock.
[00:20:47] See, there's a God in heaven who hears you. He is waiting for you. He is ready for you. He is always there.
[00:21:00] And God hears Josiah and he answers him.
[00:21:06] Josiah sends Hilkiah to go to a woman named Huldah who is a prophet. And he's going to her to try to learn from what is going on, from this. This. This law of the Lord. Like, what is this book about?
[00:21:23] And he goes to this woman, her name's Holda, and she's a prophet. And I just gotta throw this in here like a side note for my ladies. Holdah was the one that he.
[00:21:35] Okay, who taught them the Word and what was going on. And just quick side note, for my women in this room, you were meant to be women of the Word. You were meant to know it, care for it, love it, pass it on and teach it, just like Huldah. And so Huldah says this in response to them after they come and they meet Huldah. Huldah says in verse 26 and 27, she says, 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 have just heard.
[00:22:17] You were sorry and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his word against the city and its people.
[00:22:25] You humbled yourself and tore your clothing in despair and wept before in repentance. And I have heard you, says the Lord.
[00:22:35] We have a God who hears us.
[00:22:39] And he responds. And after this verse, he goes on to say, like, I will not send the promised disaster until after your death.
[00:22:48] And so not only does he hear us, but he responds to us.
[00:22:55] He is not a distant God.
[00:22:58] He is not a God that's so far removed that he can't show forgiveness or show mercy. He is a close and personal God.
[00:23:11] I want us to know the significance of the scripture and let it change us. And my prayer is that we rediscover the Word in our life.
[00:23:27] John Tyson, a pastor in New York says it like this. He says there's not a Bible for Christians that are on fire for God and a Bible for Christians that are lukewarm.
[00:23:38] He says it's the same book.
[00:23:41] It is the same book that brought a nation out of idolatry. It is the same book that brought people out of addiction and anxiety. It is the same book that has brought families into restoration and the same book that gives a hope to a generation.
[00:23:58] It is more about our response in our heart, what we are going to do with this book and how we are going to let it change us.
[00:24:12] And Josiah, he responds to it with his whole heart.
[00:24:16] And God hears him and answers him.
[00:24:22] Josiah was a king at 8 years old.
[00:24:26] And at 16, he radically pursues God.
[00:24:29] And at 20, he decides to do something about the idols in the land and he smashes them down.
[00:24:38] And at 26, he recovers the word of God and he responds. And he turns away from what they were doing in the past. And he turns to God and brings change to generations after him.
[00:24:54] And friends, I was looking at the life of Josiah and it just reminded me to take a moment and look back in my own life, to look back and see how God has changed me, how he's worked through me.
[00:25:12] And at 11 years old, I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior here in this kids ministry.
[00:25:20] And I had a woman named Cindy. She prayed this prayer of salvation over my life. And I knew that I wanted Jesus to be in my heart forever.
[00:25:31] And the thing is, the day that I got baptized didn't like change my entire life. And then I was just like on fire for God. 24, 7. Right. I still was a teenager and so I had Jesus in my heart. But I found a lot of my worth in relationships. I found a lot of my worth in my grades and how I was performing.
[00:25:57] And at 16, I had gotten out of a relationship that I put a lot of my worth into.
[00:26:03] And people in my life, they just poured scripture over me.
[00:26:09] They called something better out of me.
[00:26:13] And at 16, I started to understand my worth is in Christ and who he calls me to be.
[00:26:22] And at 17, I was my junior year of high school and I had played soccer my entire life. And so I was dedicated to this sport. I put my all into this sport.
[00:26:36] And I started to feel something stir up inside of me.
[00:26:42] And I started to feel like I was putting my purpose in the wrong thing.
[00:26:49] And the more that I was here, the more I wanted to be here in this church, the more I wanted to serve here and be with the people here. And so I made this decision that at the time was so hard. I was like, your senior year of high school, you, like, get recognized, right? Like, it's like senior night. And so it felt like this status that I was giving up, and it felt hard, but God was changing my heart.
[00:27:15] And so I quit my sport, and I started to pursue more time in ministry and help out where I can.
[00:27:23] And then at 19, I had consistently, like, really gave my all to ministry, and I started helping with our high school program.
[00:27:34] And I was. It was hard.
[00:27:37] I remember at the time, because I started to feel like this sense of, like, burnout, right?
[00:27:44] I started to feel like this is kind of hard, and I feel like I have to do this. And I started to feel this feeling. And I remember reading in Isaiah, and I remember reading this passage, and it says, here I am, Lord, send me.
[00:28:03] And I remember something changing in my heart.
[00:28:07] And I remember thinking, if he's gonna send someone, I want it to be me.
[00:28:12] If he's got a job for someone, I want to be his girl. I want to be all in with him. I want to say yes to him. And so I prayed this prayer, and I was just, here I am, Lord. Send me. I feel like I'm on the sidelines, and I want to be the first one you put in, right?
[00:28:30] And so it was that summer I had accepted an internship here, and I got to work with our middle school and high school.
[00:28:39] And then at 22 years later, I went through some of the hardest years of my life.
[00:28:47] I was really struggling with grief. I was struggling with anxiety. I was struggling with, like, this fear and this lack of confidence. And I started to feel like, man, the days are hard.
[00:29:03] I don't know how I can get through the day. And I felt low.
[00:29:10] And I remember my mom talking to me, and she was like, we gotta do something.
[00:29:16] You got a God that loves you. You have a God that is here for you. And so it's time to start making some changes.
[00:29:25] I remember getting so disciplined in the word, like, I do not want to go through the day without him.
[00:29:33] I can't.
[00:29:36] And so I started getting disciplined with God. And I started thinking to myself, I don't want to go through a day without you, a second without you. I don't want anything in my life to be separate from you.
[00:29:53] And so at 22, I just started to pursue God with my whole heart and make the changes and start reading his Word every morning before I got up and started my day and just pursuing him with my Whole heart and just asking him, where do you want me to be?
[00:30:12] I want to be where you want me to be. That's what I want.
[00:30:17] And then accepted a position here at the church, which was just the most beautiful answer to prayer that I could talk about.
[00:30:27] You see, I've been changed by the word of God.
[00:30:32] It has changed my life.
[00:30:35] It has made my life so much better, so much more beautiful and amazing than I could ever even imagine.
[00:30:44] And I don't want its significance to be lost on me, on my watch, on my generation.
[00:30:52] I want to read it and be humbled. I want to read it and be like God. I'm your girl, heart and soul. Whatever you want, I'm your girl. I'm your person.
[00:31:05] And I'm not changed because I made the right decisions or that I have a perfect past.
[00:31:13] I'm changed because Jesus Christ died on the cross for me.
[00:31:19] I'm changed because the blood of Jesus changed me.
[00:31:25] What he did on the cross, it changed me so that I might have new life.
[00:31:33] And the same is true for you.
[00:31:36] Jesus Christ died on the cross for you so that you may have new life, that you are forgiven and you are saved.
[00:31:45] You have a Father in heaven who loves you, who sees you, who hears you and cares for you, a Father in heaven who calls you to a higher standard, a Father in heaven who trusts you with this.
[00:32:04] I don't want its significance to be lost on me on my watch.
[00:32:11] And Josiah, he rediscovered the word of God, and it changed everything.
[00:32:19] And I believe that change is possible for you, too.
[00:32:24] Let's pray.
[00:32:27] Dear God, thank you for your word, Lord. Thank you that you have called us to read your word, to believe it, to know you, to love you, Lord. I pray that as we walk through this week, through these next couple weeks, I pray that we would be changed from your word. I pray that we would love you in a new and beautiful way. I pray that we would know your sacrifice for us. I pray that we would trust who you are and see how you worked in the life of Josiah. And that we would not let the Word be lost on us, that it would change us and call us to you, Lord, and call us to something better.
[00:33:16] I love you. I trust you. I thank you. And it's your son's name we pray. Amen.
