WEBVTT 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:07.120 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.240 My name's Clayton. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:10.400 I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:18.079 And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:20.719 I hope that you enjoy today's message. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:26.000 All right, well, welcome to MetaCurch. 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:27.679 It's so good to see all of you here. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:31.359 I do want to wish all of the fathers a very happy Father's Day. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:33.280 If you're new with us, my name's Clayton. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:35.759 I'm the lead pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:39.840 We are in week three of our prioritize series. 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:44.799 We're a gathering of people who meet together and we move together. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:53.359 We move together because we start with a core assumption here that God created you on purpose and he created you with purpose. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:01:01.039 Discovering that purpose and living it out is what brings us to the potential that God has given us in life. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:14.480 And we actually happen to believe that your potential, actually living out the life God created you for has unimaginable success and even more importantly, unimaginable significance. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:21.519 We're also convinced that that can only happen when we learn to properly prioritize our lives. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:24.560 When we get our priorities straight, three things happen. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:34.560 We maximize that God-given purpose, we minimize the distractions that hold us back, and we multiply our impact during our time on earth. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:43.680 This is what the Bible calls a fruitful life, a life that brings more life to the people, places, and things all around us. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:48.079 A fruitful life is the life that we all want to live. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:51.519 Over the first two weeks of this series, you might have missed them. 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:54.239 You can catch up online at metachurch.tv. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:57.599 We talked about the problems of priorities. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:07.359 We took a look back into our past and saw these prior ties that act as anchors, holding us back from the future that we could be moving towards. 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:16.000 Today we're turning a corner, and over the next three works, we're gonna begin to build a framework for the prioritization of our lives. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:19.680 We're gonna start today with a message called First Principles. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:20.800 First Principles. 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:22.319 Would you pray with me? 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:24.639 Father, we love you and we thank you. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:26.240 We thank you for loving us. 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:32.800 God, we thank you for who you are, our creator, our sustainer. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:42.159 We thank you that you are above and beyond it all, that you are bigger than big, and at the same time you came down to us, you are closer than close. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:53.520 And God, we are very different, unique people from different backgrounds, all different places in our spiritual journey, but we're all here seeking you and asking you to speak to us today. 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:54.159 We love you. 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:56.159 And we pray these things in Jesus' name. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.479 And everybody said, Amen. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:00.400 First, principles. 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:03.120 How do we know what we know? 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:05.039 That's a very loaded question. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:06.719 Like, how do we actually know? 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:11.360 How do we become convinced of the things that we assume we know? 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:14.159 And there are a lot of things we could talk about. 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:20.240 But at the core of what we actually know in the world is first principles. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:25.840 A first principle is a foundational proposition or assumption that stands alone. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:29.919 We're gonna try to describe first principles before we dive into talking about it. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:39.439 All the way back to the fourth century, Aristotle, the great philosopher, was pushing forward the idea of first principle thinking. 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:46.319 A first principle is the foundational principle behind your priorities. 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:55.199 It is what happens when you boil down any decision, action, or reaction to its most base assumptions. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:59.840 Socrates, another great philosopher, came up with a method. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:08.639 It's called the Socratic method to get to first principles, to actually do the hard work of discovering what the first principles in your life really are. 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:14.000 And so we're talking about ancient philosophers, and it probably feels like we're about to have a pop quiz, and it feels very highbrow. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:17.279 But I promise you, this is something everyone can understand. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:21.040 Every four-year-old is an expert at the Socratic method. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:24.399 They're an expert at finding first principles. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:31.199 Really, at the end of it all, what it takes is continuing to ask why, why, why. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:36.240 Ask all of your whys until you no longer have an answer. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:41.839 The last answer you can muster will be somewhere near a first principle. 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:44.319 Everyone with a four-year-old has experienced this. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:49.680 It's interesting what happens when our babies begin to grow up because at some point they say their first word. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:51.680 And it's kind of like a miracle, you know? 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:55.279 And then they can string together a sentence, and pretty soon they can talk to you. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:56.879 And it's beautiful, you know? 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:07.199 There's like this little thing that kind of looks like you, and it can talk to you, and it can now tell you how much it loves you, and when it needs something, it can actually voice it instead of just crying and screaming. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:11.360 It's like amazing when our kids start to talk. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:13.519 Until it isn't, you know? 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:19.199 And like somewhere along the way, usually four or five years old, kids begin to try to map out the world. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:24.160 They want to understand who they are and where they are and what the heck is going on. 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:28.079 And the way that they do this is by asking why. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:37.680 If you're on a four-hour car ride with a four or five-year-old, they will ask you four million why questions they're trying to get all the way down to the root. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:39.439 It can be absolutely exhausting. 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:45.519 Like when you tell your four or five-year-old it's time to go to bed, and what they're probably gonna ask is, why? 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:50.240 It's a good question, and you know, if you're a parent, you'll probably say, Well, because I said so. 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:51.839 And they'll say, Well, why? 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:54.000 And it's like, well, crap, now I gotta come up with an answer. 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:54.879 It's like, I don't know. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:56.639 Uh, because the sun went down. 00:05:56.800 --> 00:05:59.040 The sun went down and it's bedtime now. 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:00.639 Well, why did the sun go down? 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:05.519 It's like, well, because the earth is like spinning or whatever. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:06.160 I don't know. 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:13.519 The sun is down now, and it's like they are infatuated with taking things down to the base principle. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:17.600 They're like, the earth is spinning? 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:18.800 Why? 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:20.879 You know, I don't know, I don't know. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:23.120 They will just take you further and further and further down. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:29.920 They're trying to find the very bottom principle that guides who we are and what we do in life. 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:37.439 To understand first principles, it might be helpful to think of the difference between someone who is an actual chef and someone who cooks. 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:42.079 If you cook, you get a recipe that was already made for you and you just kind of follow it. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:44.879 That's like third or fourth principle thinking. 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:49.040 But a chef knows the first principles of food. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:52.560 They know exactly where the spices come from. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:58.480 They know which ones are acidic and how they will mesh with the actual dish to enhance the flavor. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:04.399 They know the exact temperature that the pan has to be and the exact kind of oil that has to go inside of it. 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:12.800 If you ask them why they are cooking the way they are cooking, they can answer it all the way down to the first principle of food. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:19.040 The reality is most people aren't moving off of first principles. 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:31.600 We're not doing the hard work of asking ourselves why we do the things we do, why we hold the world views that we hold, why we make the decisions we make, and why we're setting the priorities that were set. 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:37.360 We're not moving off of first principles, we're moving off of first perceptions. 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:46.879 Your perception of the world is when you make your decisions and set your priorities by saying things like, you know, I just kind of go with my gut. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:49.199 I just, I follow my intuition. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:52.240 You know, I really, I really trust my instincts. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:08:09.920 It's how you, as an individual, are perceiving the world, and the majority of the time, the majority of people are simply moving and making decisions, building their life, not on the hard work of understanding why they do the things they do, but trusting that they do the right things. 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:12.319 And this can be a really dangerous way to live. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:17.439 One of the things it does is it allows us to rationalize almost anything that we want to rationalize. 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:20.160 All we have to do is put together like a pretty good analogy. 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:22.319 It's like, you know, I mean, I'm not that bad. 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:23.920 I'm at least better than this person. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:27.199 I don't work as hard as I could, but I work harder than they do. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:38.799 We're able to take our own pieces of our past, our own prior ties, and leverage them to rationalize and make okay behaviors that simply aren't okay. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:43.759 It's like, well, I know I don't treat my wife very well, but I mean, you know how I was raised, right? 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:45.600 We can rationalize. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:48.639 It's how we perceive the world, so surely it must be right. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:55.360 We move off of first perceptions oftentimes by leveraging authority from different sources in the world. 00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:02.159 I think our culture could heal significantly just by people not believing every single thing that they read online. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:11.360 People are making entire life decisions and building entire worldviews off of somebody they don't even know's tweets. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:16.320 We just accept it at face value and move forward. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:22.480 Moving off of our perception of the world is inherently a very arrogant way to navigate life. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:44.559 It is assuming that you have all of the right answers and that your instincts, your intuitions, your ideas and thoughts, without ever vetting them, without ever challenging them, without ever asking why, why, why, and digging layers and layers deeper and deeper to understand the first principles we move off of first perception. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:47.200 And when we live that way, we're gambling. 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:50.080 We're gambling with the most important aspects of life. 00:09:50.159 --> 00:10:00.480 We're gambling with our marriages, with our parenting, with our careers, with our finances, with our habits, with who we are and who we are becoming. 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:11.759 Elon Musk, people have a lot of um different opinions about him, but one of the things that is for sure is he has radically changed complete sectors of the marketplace. 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:15.679 He completely changed banking, being on the forefront of creating PayPal. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:19.679 He's in the process of revolutionizing the car industry with his company Tesla. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:25.600 He has completely changed space exploration and space flight with his company SpaceX. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:33.120 Say whatever you want about Elon Musk, but this is a guy who at some level knows how to properly prioritize some things. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:34.399 He said this. 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:40.559 I think people's thinking process is too bound by convention or analogy to prior experiences. 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:46.559 It's rare that people try to think of something on a first principles basis. 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:52.799 They'll usually say, We do that because it's always been done that way before. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:11:01.440 How much of your life are you moving off of your first perceptions, your first ideas, following your own instincts or intuitions? 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:07.519 How many patterns are you continuing to repeat because that's just the way you've always done things? 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:09.120 And is it working? 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:14.480 Are you actually fulfilled in life at the deepest part of who you are? 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:18.399 Are you satisfied with who you are and who you are becoming? 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:24.480 Are you successful and far more important than that, do you feel like your life is significant? 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:35.519 Are you living a life that maximizes your purpose, minimizes distractions, and multiplies your impact to make your time on earth matter? 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:39.039 First principle thinking is key to this. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:51.440 And here at MetaChurch, as people who are a part of the movement of Jesus and because of that are attempting to follow after him, it's important we begin to build our framework for prioritization. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:56.000 And today we're gonna start by finding our own first principles. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:11:58.960 We're gonna discover two parts of first principles. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:01.840 The first we're gonna discover in the Old Testament of the Bible. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:07.600 Our Old Testament is actually the Jewish scriptures, and there's several books of history in the Jewish scriptures. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:10.320 Some of those are first kings and second kings. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:13.600 They tell the story of the kingdom of Israel. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:20.240 Now, Israel in the Old Testament, they're God's chosen people, and so you would think that all of the kings were righteous before God. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:28.399 They followed in the lineage of the first or of the second king, King David, who was a man after God's own heart, and you would be completely mistaken. 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:32.799 It didn't take long for evil kings to ascend the throne. 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:34.720 The first was named Manasseh. 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:38.080 He led Israel for 55 years. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:42.559 He introduced idolatry, cultural temple prostitution. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:48.080 He desecrated the temple of God and filled it with idols of false gods. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:51.679 He led Israel completely off course. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:54.159 After he died, his son Amon took over. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:58.639 And he was possibly even more evil than his father Manasseh. 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:04.879 He was so evil that he wasn't king long before his officials conspired against him and had him murdered. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:08.639 Now, when Amon died, the kingdom was left to his son Josiah. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:14.240 And when Josiah became king of Israel, he was eight years old. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.759 So young, so incredibly young. 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:21.519 Our youngest daughter, Kimberly, she just turned nine years old. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:23.679 Like a month ago, she was eight years old. 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:25.440 Like, forget running a country. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:28.240 We don't trust her to run her own bathwater yet, you know? 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:30.879 Like, she doesn't get to hold the sharp knives at dinner. 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:34.799 Josiah's eight, and he is in charge of everything. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:42.320 And every time I've preached about this, I've highlighted just how crazy it would be to put a child in charge of a kingdom. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:46.320 But in this series, we're looking at things through the lens of prioritization. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:58.960 And in the last two weeks, we've been talking about our prior ties, the painful moments from our past that we tie ourselves to that become anchors in our past, holding us back from our future. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:04.080 And through that lens, Josiah's youth was an incredible advantage. 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:13.440 At that place and at that time, thousands of years ago, the way households worked is young children were raised by their mother. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:19.519 Specifically, young men like Josiah would be raised with their mom until they went through puberty. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:25.759 And after puberty, they would go join their dad in the workforce and become an apprentice in his trade. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:38.080 Because of this, Josiah has been raised by his mother, a woman who we happen to know is a godly woman who's from the lineage of some of the greatest men of God in scripture. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:47.200 Because of his youth, Josiah has had very little proximity to his father, the evil king Amon. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:51.679 He's been sheltered and his worldview has not been contorted. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:58.559 And this isn't really a Father's Day sermon, but it is worth noting that Manasseh was an evil king and evil kings produce evil kings. 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:05.440 And so Amon was an evil king, and the greatest gift that Josiah had was that he didn't have proximity to his father. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:16.720 It is imperative that there are men who are willing to step up and be godly examples to our children and our young men who are growing up in society. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:23.840 It is imperative that we show up, that we have proximity to our kids, and allow our kids to have proximity to us. 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:35.360 It is imperative that our kids see us pursuing the purpose that God has placed on our life, treating women with respect and lifting up those who are marginalized in our society. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:39.759 It is imperative because evil kings raise evil kings. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:46.960 And it's Father's Day, but as you guys know, I married an amazing, amazing single mother. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:16:00.080 And some of you aren't gonna get any love today, but I'm gonna show some love and make some noise for the single moms because they saved Josiah's life, the nation of Israel all together, and there are single moms wearing lots of hats, doing lots of work to try to fill in the gaps for our children. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:02.320 So y'all make some noise for single moms. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:10.559 Josiah was eight years old. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:11.279 Let's see how he did. 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:19.039 2 Kings 22, it says, Josiah was eight when he became king, and he reigned 31 years, and his mother's name was Jeddah. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:26.240 In verse 2, he did what was right in the Lord's sight, and he walked in the ways of his ancestor David. 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:30.240 He did not turn to the right or to the left. 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:32.240 And it's incredible. 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:41.600 It's incredible to break free of generations of tradition, generations of worldview, generations of action and activity. 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:46.159 Josiah comes in at eight years old and he gets it right. 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:49.919 He's a great king, and he's a good man. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:16:53.039 But things are still not going well in Israel. 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:58.879 And all of the problems instituted by his father and by his grandfather still remain. 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:01.759 The nation is still worshiping false idols. 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:09.519 The nation is still partaking in cultural pagan prostitution as a part of pagan worship services. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:13.200 The Lord's temple is still filled with idols. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:15.440 There are still all kinds of problems. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:18.880 And what has happened is Josiah is a great man. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:22.960 But Josiah does not have a great plan. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:25.920 However, that all began to change one day. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:34.960 Verse 3 it says, In the 18th year of King Josiah, the king sent the court secretary, Shaphan, son of Azalea, son of Meshulim, to the Lord's temple. 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:41.599 And the high priest Hilkiah told the court secretary, I have found the book of the law in the Lord's temple. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:45.119 And he gave the book to Shaphan, who read it. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:47.759 Now, this is a huge deal. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:51.519 And this is the part of the story where we learn an incredible truth. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:18:05.279 That the scriptures, the book of the law, which is the first five of the Jewish scriptures, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, that scripture had been lost in the temple for generations. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:15.039 For close to a hundred years now, it was crammed into the far back corner of the temple, covered up with the idols of false gods. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:25.440 For generations, Israel had not had the scriptures to inform them of how God wanted them to live their life. 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:31.839 Now, at this point, Josiah has been ruling and reigning for 18 years, and he's a good guy. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:32.880 People like him. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:36.960 He's certainly more popular than his dad, even more popular than his grandfather. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:39.519 He's a great guy, and everybody knows it. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:42.240 He's got the right spirit to sit on the throne. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:47.359 He has the right spirit, but he's missing the scriptures. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:52.160 And 18 years is a long time to be the absolute ruler of a nation. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:56.640 After 18 years of ruling, you kind of have your ways set. 00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:58.960 You kind of know how you do things. 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:01.920 You don't want to cause too much disruption, you know? 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:03.519 Just smooth sailing. 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:05.119 That's what you want as king. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:12.799 And 18 years later, the scripture is found. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:24.079 And what it does is it holds up a mirror to all of the ways that Israel is in opposition to God's plan and God's purpose for their life. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:26.480 Josiah has a real decision. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:27.519 He is king. 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:30.640 Nobody tells the king what they do or do not do. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:39.839 The king submits to no one, and now he must decide whether or not, after 18 years of doing it his way, whether he will submit to doing it God's way. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:41.759 And so how did Josiah react? 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:47.279 In verse 10, it says the court secretary told the king, the priest has given me a book. 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:50.000 And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:20:00.400 And when the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes, and this was a traditional sign of deep, serious grieving. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:07.039 What his reaction tells us is that Josiah took the words of scripture incredibly serious. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:17.440 He realized instantly all of the ways that they were living and standing in opposition to God's commands for the nation. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:30.799 He realized that although he had great intentions, and although he was the highest authority in the land, he was failing to submit to the highest authority, the authority of God. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:39.440 Josiah was a great guy, but what he didn't have was scripture as a part of his first principle. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:50.319 He didn't have a way objectively to plan and prioritize the needs and the decisions, the laws and the governance of the nation. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:55.279 This tells us that scripture is a part of our first principle. 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:57.039 He wasn't moving off first principle. 00:20:57.119 --> 00:20:59.839 He was moving off of his first perception. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:01.920 He was following his intuition. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:06.559 He was going with his gut, following his instincts, and he wasn't doing bad. 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:10.880 But he was incapable of leading the nation where they needed to go. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:15.920 Because he did not have the written words of God. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:18.240 And so here's what Josiah did. 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:29.839 In 2 Kings 23, it says the king went to the Lord's temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets, all the people from the youngest to the oldest. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:35.680 And he read in front of them all all the words of the book. 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:38.480 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. 00:21:38.559 --> 00:21:40.079 Y'all think I preach a long time. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:41.119 Deuteronomy. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:42.640 This took some time. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:45.759 He read all the words of the book that had been found in the Lord's temple. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:59.599 And next, the king stood by the pillar and he made a covenant in the Lord's presence to follow the Lord, to keep his commands, his decrees, and his statutes with all his heart and soul, in order to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in the book and all the people. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.519 People agreed. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:04.079 Now you know this. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:07.119 Talk is very cheap. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:13.759 It's one thing to do the hard work of discovering a first principle, and it is hard work. 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:17.359 And maybe you don't socialize well at work. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:25.359 And so if you move off first perception, you're probably gonna assume something like, well, everyone here is an idiot anyway, and I don't really want to be friends with them anyway, and I can be miserable at work. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:28.079 It's just a job, and then I'll go home and hang out with my real friends, you know? 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:30.240 Maybe that's your first instinct. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:32.079 But what's actually under there? 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:33.759 Because you might ask, why? 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:36.000 That's a good way to head towards a first principle. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:37.839 Like, why don't I socialize well at work? 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:40.319 It's like, well, every time people come in the room, I get on my phone. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:41.519 Well, ask why. 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:42.799 And then be brutally honest. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:44.400 Like, well, why do I get on my phone? 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:45.920 It's like, well, because I'm really uncomfortable. 00:22:46.079 --> 00:22:46.960 Well, ask why. 00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:48.319 Why am I really uncomfortable? 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:52.319 And if you're really honest, you might discover something like, well, I just really don't trust any of these people. 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:53.920 And you know what you have to do next? 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:55.279 Ask why. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:57.839 Why don't I trust any of these people? 00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:00.720 None of them have done anything to break my trust. 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:01.440 What are you doing? 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:02.880 You're going deeper and deeper. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:11.200 You're heading towards a first principle where you're gonna discover something about yourself that is guiding your priorities without your permission. 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:13.920 So find it. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:14.720 Find it. 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:15.359 Dig. 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:20.880 The scripture is a part of our first principle as believers. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:24.480 It is the highest authority. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:41.599 And we have to decide, like Josiah, are we going to continue moving off the way we think life should work, making decisions the way we think we should make decisions, or will we be willing to submit to the highest authority, to the words of God? 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:47.279 Scripture is the first part of our first principle, but there is more. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:55.359 You see, over time, the scripture that was discovered by Josiah became highly treasured in Israel. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:57.200 It was a huge part of their culture. 00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:59.039 They were a people of the word. 00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:03.200 When you were very young, your first schooling would be memorization. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:17.440 Everyone who was literate could both read scripture and write scripture, and everyone who was illiterate, a big part of the population, would memorize it word for word to pass down the oral tradition of scripture down the generations. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:18.880 It was huge. 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:27.839 They handled scripture, they read it, they memorized it, they wrote it all over their homes, they went to synagogue and temple, and they dove into it. 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:31.839 They had the scriptures, but they had lost something along the way. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:37.359 They had lost the spirit that Josiah had handled that scripture with. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:42.720 So we have the written word of God, and in us we have the living word of God. 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:53.039 And when they come together, they create the filter for our first principles so we can prioritize properly and live the life we were created to live. 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:55.440 You see, we see two sides of the problem. 00:27:55.599 --> 00:27:57.680 Josiah had the spirit. 00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:03.839 He sought to walk with God, to listen to the Lord, to learn from role models like King David. 00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:06.319 He was raised by a wise and godly mother. 00:28:06.640 --> 00:28:12.559 He had the spirit, and yet there was prostitution and worship of idols. 00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:19.759 They were on a path to live exactly like the neighboring nations, many of whom would sacrifice their own children. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:26.960 Evil ran rampant, even though they had a king with the right heart and the right spirit. 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:29.119 He was missing the scriptures. 00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:34.000 He was missing the objective foundation of how God calls us to live life. 00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:39.039 The Pharisees, the religious leaders in Jesus' time had the exact opposite problem. 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:41.119 They had the scripture for days. 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:43.119 They knew it backwards and forwards. 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:47.119 They had the scripture, but they did not have the spirit. 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:53.279 And we can fall into this trap today, and there are many Christians who are living like Josiah. 00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:54.960 Man, you've got a good heart. 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:59.440 You love people, you love God, you're all about this movement. 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:05.599 You want to pursue your purpose, but you invest no time into the written word of God. 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:12.559 This incredible tool that God is desperate to speak into your life through those words. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:16.720 It is the foundation, it is objective. 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:20.160 It is something strong that you can build your life on. 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:25.519 And when you remove it, you build your life on a foundation of sand. 00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:34.000 We all have parts of our life, and we always will, we're broken people, that don't line up to how God is asking us to live. 00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:46.079 And it is through the scriptures that just like Josiah, we're given the opportunity to submit, not to our own perception, not to our own authority, but to the highest authority. 00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:59.839 And maybe you grew up in a church where there were a lot of Pharisees, and they could quote the verses backwards and forwards, and they could sing all the harmonies to the hymns, and they knew all the unwritten rules of religion. 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:04.319 They had the scriptures, but they did not have the spirit. 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:14.799 And so they used the scripture as a weapon to bludgeon and defeat anybody who didn't look like, sound like, and vote like them. 00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:24.319 When we have the spirit, but not the scriptures, you can be a great person, but you don't have the plan. 00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:34.480 When you have the scripture, but you don't have the spirit, you have the information, but you will lack the wisdom to actually apply it into your life. 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:36.319 And so what do we do? 00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:39.519 We bring these two things together. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:53.839 And the spirit in us, the living word of God, will illuminate the scriptures in front of us, the written word of God, and God will begin to speak into your life in ways you've never experienced before. 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:56.640 You will not have to live based on your own perception. 00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:00.079 You will not have to follow your own broken instincts. 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:08.880 We will begin to walk by faith, not leaning on our own understanding, but following the Spirit of God. 00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:10.079 What do we do? 00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:12.079 We search the scriptures. 00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:20.400 And this is hard because several times a year we really implore you to read the Bible. 00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:23.599 And statistically, most Christians are not. 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:25.279 And it's not like it's hard anymore. 00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:29.039 It's on your phone, you push a button, it'll read to you. 00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:32.240 The confusing books, chapters, verses. 00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:35.359 No one's like forcing you to read those. 00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:40.240 Read the ones you understand, seek the Spirit, be still, be silent, let him speak to you. 00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:42.720 And we have a lot of excuses. 00:31:42.799 --> 00:31:43.519 We're too busy. 00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:48.000 Or maybe we don't really believe in it, or we don't understand the power of it, or we don't feel very good at it. 00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:52.160 And there is life. 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:55.359 The word of God is living and it is active. 00:31:55.519 --> 00:32:01.279 It's desperate to speak to you, to encourage you, to correct you, and it doesn't always feel good to be corrected. 00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:04.079 Well we learned last week. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:13.359 The only thing more painful than the process of getting your priorities right is to get to the end of your life and realize that you've wasted it. 00:32:14.319 --> 00:32:17.599 Can we submit to a higher authority? 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:31.200 Are we seeking the Spirit of God, not just taking his word and using it as a weapon against those we disagree with, but understanding it and applying it in wisdom and grace and in truth? 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:35.119 We search the scriptures and we seek the spirit. 00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:41.279 And if we can do those, we'll have the beginning of a powerful framework to properly prioritize our lives. 00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:42.720 Will you pray with me? 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:46.160 Father, we love you and we thank you, God. 00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:47.440 We thank you for your word. 00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:58.640 We thank you for the written word of God, the inspired words that have changed our world thousands of times over, that are changing lives even today. 00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:02.160 I pray we would take advantage of such a great gift. 00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:07.599 We thank you for your spirit, God, the living word of God inside every believer. 00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:18.480 God, you do not force us to comply or force us to listen, but we do trust that you are speaking to us if we will just seek you and listen. 00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:20.559 And I pray you would help us do that very thing. 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:21.279 We love you. 00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:22.960 We pray it all in Jesus' name. 00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:23.839 Amen. 00:33:27.119 --> 00:33:29.920 Thanks so much for listening to the message today. 00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:35.279 If this was helpful to you and you want to help us get the word out, you can subscribe to this podcast. 00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:38.400 You can rate and review or share it with your friends. 00:33:38.640 --> 00:33:45.359 If you want to get connected further with what MetaCurch is doing, you can go online to metachurch.tv. 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:47.759 There you can learn how to take next steps. 00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:51.680 You can learn where our different venues are at if you ever wanted to visit. 00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:55.680 And you can also give financially to help push this movement forward. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:59.440 Man, I love you guys, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.