Our resolve (to decide firmly on a course of action) during this time of Lent is to transfer our direction back onto the word of God and away from the world’s way of doing things in the church. One of the world’s ways of doing things is to follow the Fortune 500 business model. I am not going to go into this, but a business plan modelled after a successful company is not the plan laid out in the New Testament for the church. Jesus summed up everything when he said, 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. This takes total commitment to Jesus Christ. You cannot be lukewarm or cold to do this you must be on fire for Him. This means you will follow his word passionately. Leonard Ravenhill said, “We have adopted the convenient theory that the Bible is a book to be explained, but first it's a book to be believed (and then obeyed).” Believing and obeying is to love the Lord God with all our heart soul and mind.
To look at this further lets go back to the charge from David to Solomon. It really is self-explanatory. 1 Kings 2:1 “When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son. 2 “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, 3 and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go 4 and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.” 1 Chronicles 28:8 “So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever. 9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 20 David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.” We must get back to following the word of God and not man’s ideas about the word of God. There are too many man-made doctrines and theories that only confuse the matter. It really is amazing at how many doctrines are distorted views of scripture. Some doctrines even require us to delete some scriptures to make the work.
To keep this charge we must return to the word of God once again. For example, when they found the word of God in King Josiah’s time, they repented and inquired of the Lord as to what they must do. 2 Chronicles 34:21 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.” They then responded with action. 2 Chronicles 34:29 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 30 He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. 31 The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book. 32 Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors.” Like Josiah Hezekiah took action. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. 3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side 5 and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. 6 Our parents were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the Lord’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. 8 Therefore, the anger of the Lord has fallen on Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of dread and horror and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes. 9 This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity. 10 Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us.”
Will we be faithful and turn back to the Lord with a willing mind? If we have not followed the whole counsel of the word of God, we have turned away from Him. This is why we are told to turn from our wicked ways and humble ourselves. Will we seek him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? Will we listen to His directives as to what the church should look like? Are we willing to remove the defilement from the church? Will we once again follow the word of the Lord? Just like Solomon asked we must ask God for great discernment so that we can do all that we are required. Once we know then ask for the boldness to keep the charge. Acts 4:29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” Lord send your Holy Spirit upon us once again.
