It has been two nights into the 21st Anaheim Harvest Crusade and this has been the 3rd consecutive year that the Jr. High Ministry has been able to help with greeting. This weekend we have given out over 70,000 Harvest Newsletters and have been able to share the fruit in the almost 7,000 decisions to follow Christ. We got one more night to go, and we are excited to see what God will do. We hope to see you at Angel’s stadium tonight at 6:00pm.

This is a reminder that there will be no Friday Night service as we will be participating in the Anaheim Crusade. I look forward to seeing what God will do this weekend and hopefully seeing you there.

For more info on the Anaheim Harvest Crusade, please click: Here

Zephaniah 1

We enter into a new book, Zephaniah. He was a prophet in Judah during the reign of Josiah who was king at the time. Josiah was a king who called the nation into a national reform. He started at the age of 8 and we see in 2 Kings 22: 1-2 a brief description of him. It says, “Josiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the ways of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.” In the reign of king Josiah, they also find a book of the law (some think this was Deuteronomy) which was neglected and the whole nation changed to follow after the Lord once he was are of it.

In this particular chapter Zephaniah proclaims judgment to Judah as they were not walking in the ways of the Lord. We also see Zephaniah talk about the “Day of the Lord” which is a theme in many of these minor prophets that we have been looking at. The Day of the Lord is the day of judgment on the wicked and the blessing on the righteous. This prophecy was not only for what will happen to Judah as a nation but also the future when the Lord returns (Revelation 20:11-15).

Be Silent

As we see in verse 7, the call was for the people to be silent before God. Imagine if you were being talked to by your parents and you kept on interrupting them. They then would ask for you to stop because you are being rude by interrupting them. It is the same for this verse. You are to be silent and listen before God out of respect and even fear. Sometimes we think we know what is best and can’t be still before the Lord and listen. Sometimes we surround ourselves with noise because we do not want to face the reality of our sin. But when one is silent before God, we have to realize we are before a Holy and Awesome God. Psalm 37:7 says, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.”

We can learn a lot from just being silent before the Lord. I recommend doing your devotions and Bible reading where you won’t have any distractions, that even means turning off your cell phones, music, and shutting the door.

Second, I recommend asking the Lord to reveal areas where you need correction. That is why we see in this verse the being silent was before the judgment of what will happen. They needed to listen so they could be aware and possible change. Being silent shows respect and the chance for God to reveal himself to you through his word and through prayer. We live in a day and age where I think it is harder and harder to have quiet time. We have distractions all about us, the pressure of technology, media, and social life can easily take our attention.

Third, guard this time. If you do not take this time as a precious gift and privilege you will not guard it like you should and it will easily get taken from you by some other need.

Fourth, keep record of what you are learning through your quiet time. I know writing isn’t the most popular thing to do but writing down what you are learning is one of the best ways to regurgitate what you learned later.

This event is only for those currently enrolled in a CRUX: Growth Group!

PDF Download:  CRUX:Growth Overnighter flyer

The test of a real Christian is when they are going through hard and difficult times. It is easy to have faith when life is good but the test comes when those trials and storms of life come rushing in. The book of Habakkuk was written when it would seem dark for the nation of Judah. Despite Habakkuk’s complaints to God we some insight on a prophet being changed to wait and to trust in the Lord. In chapter 1 we see Habakkuk questioning God’s justice or his timing with distributing justice. In chapter 2, we see God’s answer to the prophets complaints.

The righteous shall live by faith was what God said in verse 4 of ch. 2. This is a phrase that we may see in the New Testament as this is the believer in the time of crisis.  We see this phrase mentioned twice by Paul in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11 and once by the author of Hebrews 10:38. In these three verses the phrase is referred to clinging to God’s grace as our salvation through Jesus Christ.

This year has been a trying year for my family but no matter how hard it has been we know that God is faithful and his grace can sustain us. We will read tomorrow in just how Habakkuk was transformed with his faith in the Lord. As the psalms shares so much of God’s faithfulness and what Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.” May we know that we are righteous because of Christ and we live by having faith in God’s Great Grace!

Saturday, August 14 from 10:00am-2:00pm we will be helping out the community. We have an opportunity to serve by passing out backpacks and school supplies at Fairmont Park. If you would like to serve the community and help talk to Pastor Jon after any of the services or call the church at (951) 687-6902 and ask for the Jr. High Ministry.