God is Crazy About You

Introduction

To a follower of Jesus, the Bible… God’s Word... is our food.

It’s God MAIN way of speaking to us. What is between these covers brings life to our spirits.

We can’t live without it.

Who has a Bible with them this morning?

What’s your preference?

Hard Back?

Paper Back?

Leather Bound?

Synthetic Binding?

Maybe the Bible you brought this morning isn’t a “printed on paper” Bible. Maybe yours is digital:

You Version.

NET App.

Olive Tree Bible.

Bible Gateway.

and scores more.

Is your Bible:

Straight text?

limited notation?

themed bible?

Large scale study Bible?

What translation do you like?

King James

New American Standard

New International Version

The Passion Translation (yes… that’s a thing)

I couldn’t find a consistent number, but there are definitely over 3,000 different translations of the Bible out there.

Don’t have time to read? You can have your Bible App read the Bible to you as you get ready.

You get it. The Bible is out there. You have access to God’s Word in a multitude of ways...

But... What if you didn’t?

What if you decided that with all your digital versions, you didn’t need a paper copy anymore?

You give all your paper bibles to send to people without bibles.

Then… later on… you begin to think that you REALLY only use the 1 Bible App, and your phone’s memory is getting kinda’ full, so you delete all but your favorite Bible app.

Then… Slowly... You find yourself neglecting reading God’s Word.

From every day... To several times a week... To once a week... To once a month...

All of a sudden you can’t remember the last time you read:

Psalm 23:1–3 (ESV)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul...

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

You decide to open that Bible App... but you find that the file has been corrupted.

How can this be?

Oh, yeah. When you fell for that scam with the Nigerian prince who wanted to send you $500 Million, you let some nasty computer virus in.

[fade out screen]

No problem, right? You just delete the corrupted app, and reinstall a fresh copy.

Then… you discover… that you can’t seem to find the app for your Bible on your App store.

ANY Bible app... That’s odd.

No sweat. Just jump onto Amazon and get one there. You can buy a spaceship from Amazon.

Weird. no paper bibles. no digital bibles What is going on here?

You decide to run to Borders Book Store. Yeah. Right. They went out of business.

Barnes and Nobles it is. No Bibles here either. You CLEARLY remember them having a Bible section.

Okay. You decide. “I’m going to the church, I know they will have Bibles there.

You find that they seem to have… misplaced all their Bibles.

You discover that everyone else has been doing, what YOU have been doing...

Neglecting God’s Word.

Years pass.

You find yourself having trouble remembering EXACTLY how those Bible verses that you memorized go.

Without the Bible to anchor them. the pastor’s teachings have veered off course from God’s Word to their own opinions.

(That happens in too many churches as it is.)

What a horrible state of affairs!

Because even people who never opened Bibles had their lives influenced by people who did.

This very situation was the condition of the kingdom of Judah,when King Josiah took the throne.

Of course, in King Josiah’s day getting a copy of God’s Word wasn’t as easy as it is today.

Every copy was painstakingly copied by hand, and was therefore extremely expensive.

For most people, IF you could read, copies of scripture we simply far to rare and expensive to own a copy.

Josiah became king of Judah at the age of 8. Do you know many children who would be qualified to rule a country at 8 yrs. old.

But Josiah sought to do what God would want him to do.

That was no easy task, because a majority of the Jewish people were steeped in idol worship.

Most people had no REAL idea of what the God of Israel is like.

… A lot like today.

But King Josiah wasn’t alone in his efforts to bring his nation back to God.

There were priests who served God, but many of THEM had never seen a copy of God’s law.

As a result, many of the priests were doing things that God had forbidden.

There were prophets that God sent to direct the people back to Himself. Three of them have books in the Bible

Nahum

Jeremiah

Zephaniah

It’s Zephaniah that I want to zero in on.

Zephaniah was probably King Josiah’s 3rd cousin (once removed), and his ministry pretty much lines up with Josiah’s reign.

The book of Zephaniah explains to the Kingdom of Judah, and to the nations around them that there will be consequences for their actions.

They are cruel and unjust. The Jewish people aren’t even recognizable to God as His chosen people.

However, God never leaves us in despair.

Punishment and Gloom are not His primary motivations.

God is love

God is forgiveness

God is mercy

God is hope

And God always wants to bring us to Himself.

After the warning of the corrections that will be coming...

Towards the end of the book God Zephaniah gives a description of God that encourages the people to trust that God is for them.

Zephaniah 3:17 ESV

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

The Lord your God YHWH ELOHIM

YHWH ELOHIM

YHWH (Yahweh) I am that I am. “The Eternally Self-Existant One”

Elohim Elohim is plural. (You can argue that the plurality speaks to us about the trinity)

It is used to refer to “a god”

The word elohim is a “place of residence” term. Our home is the world of embodiment; elohim by nature inhabit the spiritual world.

Michael S. Heiser

Mark Rutland often refers to God as: “The Divine Other.”

or as a proper name for “the God”

Elohim is God’s name as Creator.

J. Vernon McGee

Put them together and you have a high regal form of address for God

All along, in the first chapter, he was called Elohim—a God of power; but now Jehovah Elohim—a God of power and perfection, a finishing God.

Matthew Henry

Picture addressing King Charles of the United Kingdom

Now, smack dab in the middle of this honorific address is the word “your”

The Lord YOUR God

We get to attach a possessive to the Most High:

The Lord MY God

We have a connection to Him. We are in a “group” with Him.

is in your midst

Whatever may be going wrong in your life, you may rest assured of one thing:

Jesus is there!

Matthew 28:20 (ESV)

…and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

In the midst of all the turmoil on earth, there is One walking through the storm. His name is Jesus. He is Christ the Lord. We ought never be frightened—even for a moment—because Jesus is the sovereign Lord.

A. W. Tozer

Zephaniah tells this bunch of idolotrous backsliders that:

“their God is with them.

a Mighty One who will save

The Jewish people in the time of Josiah and Zephaniah aren’t exactly being saints.

(Remember they are being warned about coming judgement)

But God knows they will return to Him and promises that He will come in like:

Army Green Berets

Navy Seals

Marine Raiders

all squished into 1 super-muscled, highly skilled rescue being

Picture your favorite action movie hero hero. Whether it’s: John McClane or John Rambo

We love a good hero who can come in and clean house.

And certain actors pull it off.

Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible Liam Neeson in Taken

That’s the picture we’re supposed to get here.

Jesus out performs the greatest hero that Hollywood can dream up.

He died for us, but ever since the hour of resurrection, He has been the mighty Jesus, the mighty Christ, the mighty Lord!

Power does not lie with a babe in the manger.

Power does not lie with a man nailed and helpless on a cross.

Power lies with the man on that cross who gave His life, who went into the grave and who arose and came out on the third day, then to ascend to the right hand of the Father. That is where power lies.3

A. W. Tozer

God cares for you and your problems, just as much as he cared for the people of Israel.

Psalm 34:19 (ESV)

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

He will rejoice over you with gladness

You make God smile.

“Oh but Pastor, you don’t know how much I messed up today.”

More than the Israelites? Were you worshipping idols, before you came to church?

Don’t get me wrong. God isn’t pleased with sin. Remember in this passage we’re studying today, the good things come AFTER they get the corrective measures they need.

But God’s love is UNAFFECTED by your behavior.

There isn’t one thing you’ve done He didn’t already die for.

Romans 8:38–39 ESV

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You matter to God.

He will quiet you by His love.

Yes. Absolutely. I want the miracles. I want the IMMEDIATE answers to my prayers.

But sometimes they don’t come WHEN we want.

Or, HOW we want.

And when they don’t, We can go to that place... that place in the spirit where we sense His love.

and His love is enough to ease the pain.

His love quiets us.

Philippians 4:7 ESV

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The peace that passes understanding comes with trouble that passes comprehension

He will exult over you with loud singing

{explain “exult”}

God is PUMPED about you today! He is so excited that He can’t sit still Maybe clapping Maybe a little arm action Maybe a little pentecostal 2 step

One thing we know for sure...

He is singing… LOUDLY

What are you doing for Him?

When I was in Bible College I attended a local Assembly of God church.

The leader of this church was one Pastor Mason. (Good Pastor. Preached the Word of God with anointing.) The thing was Pastor Mason was… like my family… loud.

That was fine when he was preaching.

But during worship you could hear him singing ABOVE the Worship Leader, the worship team, AND the choir behind them.

His voice wasn’t bad. Just… Loud.

I know that I… also am loud.

I can’t tell you how many times, I’m worshipping down here and I realize that I am loud.

I go to myself:

Don’t be Pastor Mason Don’t be Pastor Mason

But you know what? God naw! Go ahead. Sing loud.

There is a song that the youth sing, and I have to say;

I REALLY like it. I want to quote some of the lyrics.

Excuse me for a minute But I've got a song to sing It might not be on key But it's from my heart

… And no one else can tell it What the Lord has done for me This might take all day So I better start right now

… And it might get loud It might get loud Heaven's comin' down, down, down And it might get loud It might get loud Heaven's comin' down, down, down And it might get loud

… Oh, I don't got a halo No, I'm not a perfect man I'm just glad to be a child of God

… 'Cause when I think of where I coulda been Shoulda been, woulda been if He hadn't stepped in Oh, I got a praise on the inside that can't be denied And I gotta get it out right now

… And it might get loud (when the saints start praising) It might get loud (when the chains start breaking) Heaven's comin' down, down, down And it might get loud (when the saints start praising) It might get loud (when the chains start breaking) Heaven's comin' down, down, down It might get loud

Conclusion:

The books of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles tell us the story of Josiah and the lost “book of the Law”

As Josiah moved into adulthood he began a campaign of eliminating the idol worship in Israel.

While that endeavor was winding down Josiah turned his attention to the temple.

A series of bad kings had left the temple is dilapidated and ransacked state of affairs.

The King orders that monies that had been collected be used to renovate the temple.

As those repairs were happening the high priests discovers the missing “Book of the Law.”

The scripture is brought to the King’s palace and read to him.

When Josiah hears how horribly short they have come from obeying God’s commands, he is grief-stricken.

He torn his royal robes.

In Bible days to tear your clothes was a sign of great sorrow and repentance.

He redoubles his efforts to bring down the idol worship.

But it wasn’t just the matter “stop doing the bad things.

God wanted them to start doing the right things.

The prophet Micah sums-up the “right things” category

Micah 6:8 (MSG)

But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women.

It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.

in simpler words:

Do justly

Love mercy

Walk humbly with your God

When we do this God comes rushing in with true Zephaniah 3:17 style.

Zephaniah 3:17 ESV

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.