I would like you to meet my friend. His name is Jesus.

I’m convinced that once you meet the real Him you won’t just like Him, you’ll fall in love with Him.

If you missed part one of this series I suggest you go read it first. This is gonna be so much fun.

Every time I talk to Jesus I walk away knowing something new about Him and something new about me. When I was talking to Him the other day about what He wanted me to write about first, He went straight for a part of Him that He knows I’ve struggled with. The first characteristic I want to introduce you to is one that I thought I knew…but apparently I didn’t believe it. You ready?

Jesus is smart.

Shocker, right? Before you blow this off take a minute and ask yourself, “do I really believe that Jesus is smart?”

If we really want Jesus to lead and guide every area of our life we have to believe that He is actually smarter than we are. Jesus is an expert at everything. Whatever you do for a living, Jesus could do it better. However you raise your family, Jesus could do it better. However you live your life, Jesus could do it better. Why? Because Jesus is smart.

“Jesus is Lord” can mean little in practice for anyone who has to hesitate to say “Jesus is smart.” – Dallas Willard

Think about it. When Jesus healed someone in the gospels somehow He knew exactly which cells to change, which blood vessels to pump, which bones to move, and He was able to that just my speaking. He is the smartest man to ever live.

I’ve honestly never heard a sermon about the intellect of Christ. We don’t associate Jesus and intelligence and I think that is because we honestly think that we are smarter. If we truly relied on Jesus to teach us how to live our lives wouldn’t things go much better? We could probably be healthier, richer, kinder, and just generally full of life.

To the extent that you believe Jesus is smart is the extent that you will let Him lead your life.

Go read the gospels and simply look at the intelligence of Jesus. It really is overwhelming when you think about it. And the coolest thing is…He want’s to use His expertise in everything to lead you into fullness of joy.

Let Jesus be smart today. You might just learn something.

I have a friend I would like you meet.

You’ve probably heard of Him. In fact, I’m sure you’ve studied Him.

He is the single most influential figure in all of history. He has a way of stirring up controversy.

Every time I bring up His name I get a different response. Some love Him, others hate Him.

Although I’m not sure that those who say they hate Him actually hate HIM. They hate the way we’ve represented Him.

This friend of mine happens to be smart. REALLY smart.

This friend of mine also happens to be rich. REALLY rich.

Actually, this friend of mine is a King. His kingdom is the biggest most glorious thing I have ever seen – and I’ve only seen parts.

Every time I talk to this friend I don’t just find out things about Him, but I find out things about me.

Standing in this friends presence causes me to experience more emotions than I thought I had.

My friends voice is sweet and tender, but it’s also bold and direct.

My friend is always in a good mood, UNLESS one of His friends is hurting. He hates that.

This friend of mine loves in a way I didn’t know was possible. It’s almost violent love – and I like it.

This friend of mine is named Jesus. I would like you meet Him.

Over the next few blogs I want to take some time and introduce us all to the person of Jesus. I thought I knew who He was – and I kind of did – but I’m learning that I’ve only scratched the surface of knowing this glorious king. I don’t just want to know Him, but I want to be just like Him. However, being like Him requires knowing Him to the best of my ability. I intend to discover everything I possible can know about Him and I want to invite you on this jounrey with me. Maybe you’ve rejected the things of God your whole life…I ask you to look at Jesus with me and than make a decision. I think you’ll like my friend. Maybe you’ve studied ABOUT Him for a long time. I’m so glad you’ve done that, but I’d like for you to meet Him personally now.

Are you ready to take this journey with me? At times it might seem like I’m getting really basic, and you’re right. In order to get deep we have to start out shallow…and even that might drowned us.

So like I said, I have a friend I would like you to meet. If you want to get to know Him just say this:

“Jesus, I want to know the real You. Can you come show me who you really are?”

The things He is going to show you just might surprise you…

He healed me, he restored me, and he started to show me my destiny.

Two years ago from today this was happening. I had flown into Dallas, Texas for the very first time to learn what “freedom ministry” at Gateway Church was all about. Kairos was a three day event designed to create an environment for you to draw deeper into God more than ever before, experience healing, and break strongholds – I was skeptical.

Little did I know that that trip would change my life. Not change my life like every thing you do in church promises to change your life. It changed my life in a literal way that forced me to not only reexamine what I believed, but reexamine the plans I had for my life. During those three days I fell in love with a community called Gateway…I saw what I wanted to be doing and I told myself that I would be back.

It’s exactly two years from that time. Today I am living in Dallas, Texas and I am serving at the very event that changed my life. Two years ago from today I experienced healing, restoration, and saw my destiny. Today I’m helping others do the same.

God is so big and my sight is so small.

Don’t miss out on what God is doing in your life RIGHT NOW. Chances are He is probably getting you ready for something a few years down the road. At least that was my experience…

I was asking God what He wanted my prayer to be in 2012. Even more than what He wanted MY prayer to be, I wanted to know what HE wants to happen this year. His answer took me my surprise.

Jesus: “I want to be big.”

This surprised me because I thought Jesus was big. You know, I thought that came with the whole ‘God’ thing. I started thinking of all the amazing things I got to see last year. I saw breakthroughs in finances, I saw cancer leave twice, I saw carpel tunnel disappear before my eyes, I saw my understanding of His word grow faster than ever before. What did He mean by wanting to be big?

Jesus: “If you’re happy with that than you have experienced more than most of my children see in a lifetime. I want to take you past the elementary things of my kingdom though. I want to show you the world though my eyes. I want to train, disciple, and teach you. This can only happen if you let me be big. Let me be really big.”

Oh…that’s what He meant.

So, my prayer in 2012 is for Jesus to be big.
I want Jesus to be big in my finances.
I want Jesus to be big in my body.
I want Jesus to be big in my thoughts.
I want Jesus to be big in my dreams.
I want Jesus to be big in my words.
I want Jesus to be big in my heart.
I want Jesus to be big in my understanding.
I want Jesus to be big in my family.
I want Jesus to be big in my church.
I want Jesus to be big in my friends.
I want Jesus to be big in every room I walk into.
I want Jesus to be big in my life.

Be big, King Jesus. Be really big in 2012.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” – 1 Corinthians 2:9

One last time before I move to Dallas, I was asked to teach at Riverside Church. God very clearly showed me what He wanted to talk about and I had so much fun doing it. Much of this message was inspired from Pastor Robert Morris. Take a listen…I’d love to know what you think!

tres·pass noun
“a wrongful entry upon the lands of another”. ” an encroachment or intrusion.”

Walking down my street I felt led to walk down to the pond. I never go down to the pond, but for some reason I felt like God wanted to show me something.

About 50 yards in front of my house you will find a beautiful pond. It’s deep and surrounded by trees; you would never even know it was there. As I approached the pond I came across a sign I have never seen in front of it. The sign had two words: No Trespassing.  The more I thought about the pond the more I realized why the owners would place a no trespassing sign in front of it. The pond is 60 ft deep, so it is perfect for swimming. There are no houses directly around it and so it makes for an incredibly peaceful getaway. The pond has some of the best fishing you will ever find. There are SO many fish that when people fish there they are almost overwhelmed by how much they catch. It doesn’t matter what season it is, the trees around the pond are magnificent and simply take your breath away. It really is a little piece of heaven on earth.

My conversation with God went as follows:
God: Why is there a no trespassing sign?
Me: If everyone knew about how amazing this place was they would come all the time. It wouldn’t be a secret anymore.
God: Why are you allowed to come down here?
Me: We own land here. The owners have given us permission to come and use it whenever we want.
God: (with laughter in His voice) Exactly, son. Exactly.

We have placed a no trespassing sign in front of God’s kingdom. It has been considered a foreign land that is only available for the elite and if you dare to seek it above all else you are considered a fringe charismatic.

We have placed a no trespassing sign in front of The Bible. Certain parts have been reserved for only the scholars to understand and if you dare to understand and seek out the truth behind the words you are considered a heretic.

We have placed a no trespassing sign in front of the church. We had set boundaries to what, where, and how far the church can effect culture and if a body of believes dares to intrude on the society it lives the people are called dangerous.

I have bad news for those who keep putting ‘no trespassing’ signs up – the cross crushed your sign.

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17. Translation: Start thinking differently, reach out your hand and grab on to everything I died for you to attain.

The sign in front of the kingdom is crushed – reach out and grab it.
The sign in front of the Bible is crushed – seek to understand it and use it like weapon.
The sign in front of the Church is crushed – the gates of hell won’t prevail against you. Stand up and love.

The cross eliminated the no trespassing sign and you have permission from the owner. Go and enjoy the pond.

Howdy ya’ll!

Why the southern accent, you ask? Well, you will find out shortly.

I have to first apologize for my lack of blogs this summer. I set out to write a lot this summer and I ended up barley writing anything. My casual summer of relaxing turned into an intense three months of studying, traveling, drumming, preaching, teaching, and filling out a crap ton of paperwork. I could go into details of all of those things – but you probably don’t care – so I just want to take a minute and let you all know of a pretty major change happening in my life very shortly.

When I graduated high school and started college I very clearly heard God tell me that after two years of schooling He was going to make a change. I didn’t have any idea of what that would be or what that would look like. However, looking back over the past two years now I can clearly see God setting my path straight. I’ve spent the past two years studying marketing at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. I’ve LOVED the things I have learned, but God has now made it clear that He has something different in mind for my next two years of schooling.

Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, has become a place I’ve fallen in love with over the past couple of years. Through a strange turn of events I’ve become connected, and created friendships with multiple people from Gateway. Gateway is a very large, spirit-filled, charasmatic body of believers actively pursing God and His kingdom. In January Gateway will be starting a fully accredited university in affiliation with Kings University out of Los Angeles. This month I started taking online classes through Kings and in January I will be moving down to Dallas! At the end of the program I will earn a Bachelor in Theological Studies. The coolest part of the program is that I will be doing an internship with  the staff of over 350 people.

“WHAT! YOU’RE MOVING TO DALLAS?!?!”

Yes.

Am I excited? Yes. Am I nervous? Yes. Am I ready? Kind of. And I freaking out? Yes.

Growing up in Three Rivers, Michigan has been amazing and Three Rivers will always be my home. Riverside Church will always be my home church and I have been absolutely honored to work, serve, and worship with the amazing people in this community. My whole family is here and obviously I love them all more than they know. I will be sure to come visit often

Ultimately, this is happening because I feel I’ve heard God say to do this. That’s why I have peace. I still have no clue where I will live, how I will make money, and all of those little details. However, God has ALWAYS been faithful to me, and I have no reason to question His faithfulness now.

In closing, I’m asking for your prayers. Pray that God will provide and cover all the details involved in moving. Pray that God will keep my heart at peace as I go through all this change. Lastly, please pray that over the next few years God will shape and mold me into a true disciple of His son Jesus.

I love you all, more than you know.

Striving daily to become more like my King,
Josiah

P.S Hopefully I’ll be writing lots more so you can follow my journey here

On Sunday, July 24th I had the honor of speaking at Riverside Church. I had an absolute blast doing it and I was humbled by the opportunity and response. I have to give special thanks to Pastor Craig Groeschel and Pastor Francis Chan for their influence on this topic. You can watch the message below. Let me know what you think!

“You’ve got to be kidding me”

That’s about all I could say when I heard the words “not guilty” come out of the courtroom. Casey Anthony was facing the possibility of the death penalty – and she walks away with a few misdemeanors.

I, along with most of the country, have been following this story from the beginning. Much emotion and energy has been poured into this and I think everyone has an opinion.

I personally think that Casey Anthony murdered her own daughter in a disgusting and despicable way. I think that Casey Anthony is a pathetic individual who cares nothing about anyone outside of her own interests. I think that Casey Anthony deserves to rot in hell and suffer for all of eternity…

But so do I – and so do you.

I’ve never killed anybody, but I have gossiped. I’ve lied. I’ve been impatient. I’ve thought terrible thoughts. Biblically speaking, there is literally no difference between my gossip problem and Casey murdering her daughter. NONE. Compared to a holy and blameless God I fall JUST as short at Casey Anthony. The church is very good with sin categorization.

We, as Americans, love to see justice served. I would challenge you to place yourself in front of the throne of heaven next to Casey and see if God judges you any less than He would judge her.

But Jesus…

Jesus and His cross changed EVERYTHING. There was no way I could enter the presence of God…until I was justified through His death on a cross.  If I’ve learned anything through this case it is that there truly is no hope in simple human effort – Jesus and His cross truly is our only hope.

Casey may not have killed her daughter – I pray she didn’t. I don’t know. All I know is that I fall just as short as her…before the God of the universe I fall so short, and so do you. But by the grace of God I can now stand before Him as holy and blameless.

To the church of Jesus Christ:

Look at Casey with the same eyes Jesus looked at you.  Pray for her with the same intensity God pursed you. And for the love of all, let’s at least try to act like we believe Mathew 7.

Things like this aren’t supposed to happen.

A 14-year-old boy isn’t supposed to drown in a homemade pond.
A parent isn’t supposed to bury their child.
8^th graders aren’t supposed to go to their classmate’s funeral.

None of this is supposed to happen…but it did.

On June 6^th Adam Jacob Learn, a 14-year-old heading into 9^th grade, drowned in a pond in his own backyard. He was an only child and he had parents that were willing to give him the world.

If you aren’t from the area and familiar with the story you can read about it here.  The story of Adam will be a story that will stick the community of Three Rivers, Michigan forever.  I got the text Monday night while sitting in Orlando, Florida.  It honestly took me a minute to remember that name, but as soon as I did the emotions began to swell. I may have not have been great friends with Adam, but my brother Timmy was one of his best friends. Memories of riding bikes with an adventurous kid that used to come over and play at our house started to come back.  Just another one of Timmy’s crazy friends…and now he is gone.

I hadn’t shown much emotion about the tragedy all week. I flew back into Michigan Friday morning and drove with my Mom straight to the 2^nd of three viewings for Adam.  Walking in the viewing room I saw a sight that will stick with me for the rest of my life.  A mother lying over an open coffin petting her sons face while her husband hugs her balling his eyes out while simply yelling one word – ‘why?’

Why?

It’s easy to teach, preach, and write about the answer to the ‘why’ question when you aren’t part of the specific story.  To quote scripture and pray for families who are struggling through a rough time is not hard when you don’t know the individual who was lost.  However, when you have a personal connection, EVERYTHING changes. Truths that you have believed come into question. Theology that you thought was solid begins to shake.  The way you’ve interpreted scripture looks blurry. The way you pray even begins to change.

Standing in line at the visitation and witnessing this spine-chilling scene brought me to tears. I didn’t even know what to think.  So I had a conversation with God and asked Him the question that I heard the father screaming.

Why?

God: Josiah, who am I?
Me: You’re God.

God: Josiah, who am I?
Me: I just told you, you’re God.

God: Josiah, who am I?
Me: What’s you’re point? (I tend be speak pretty honestly with Him)

God: Josiah, what do you see when you see Vicky and Monty crying over their son?
Me: Love

God: Exactly. Love is who I am. Love is what I know. Love is what I give. Trust me…in the end, Love wins.

This past week has been one of the most tragic weeks in the history of Three Rivers. A family lost their only son. A class lost a friend. A city lost a citizen. The earth lost a life.

However…heaven gained a soul. What was rightfully Gods is now wholly His. Adam has now walked though the gates of Love and stood face to face with His creator. For Adam, Love won.

God has a big chest. He can handle our questions, our anger, our bitterness, and our emotions. At the end of the day my prayer is this:

God, may we see Love in the face of tragedy. Not Love as an emotion, but Love as a person. Jesus, show yourself so that at the end of the day when we run out of tears we can hear you say, “I love you.”

R.I.P Adam.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4 (ESV)