“The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem.”
~ 2 Chronicles 35:18
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you think of yourselves as being good kids or bad kids? Do you want to do good things or bad things? Do you do the same day good things and bad things? What is something good and something bad that you have done today? What happens when you do a good thing and when you do a bad thing? Why do you do a good thing one moment and a bad thing the next moment? Why do you think that guys and gals who regularly read the Bible, regularly talk with God and regularly get together with other Christ-followers will still do bad things? When your grandmaa and grandpaa joined OC International’s Equipo SEPAL’s field missionary team in Guatemala, your grandpaa’s hope was to be able to implement a contextualized Bible education program in different communities in Guatemala’s rural areas that could be utilized in other emergent countries. Your grandpaa had been the guy behind the implementation of a rural resident Bible training program in Bolivia. Your grandpaa had come to the conclusion that it would be better to enable guys and gals where they lived to be Christ-follower leaders in their communities and churches instead of having them travel to another community to be enabled. A year or so before your grandpaa arrived in Guatemala, God spoke to a Guatemalan – Hector Pivaral, about the felt need to enable guys and gals who lived in communities in Guatemala’s rural areas to be Christ-follower leaders in their communities and churches.
When your grandpaa explained to Hector the concepts of the rural resident leadership training program that he had been behind initiating in Bolivia, Hector grasped the concepts and . . . your grandpaa and Hector – using the concepts that were used in the rural resident Bible training program in Bolivia, created a prototype Bible education program that can be contextualized to be used in any rural area in any emergent country on planet Earth. This Bible education program was given the name of Programa de Educación Biblica or PEB. Your grandpaa and Hector implemented the first two PEBs in a lowland region of Guatemala known as the Ixcan. Because it was a long, rough drive to get into the Ixcan, your grandpaa and Hector used an aviation program – MAF, to fly PEB teachers to where each PEB was located. The first PEB was in a community called Xalbal while the second PEB was in a community called Nueva Esperanza. It takes about two hours by vehicle to get from Xalbal to Nueva Esperanza. One of the best students in the Xalbal PEB was a young guy by the name of Fidel. Fidel’s dad was a Christ-follower leader in the Christ-follower community that is in Xalbal. Fidel was a serious young guy who did not miss a single PEB module of the forty two week PEB classes that were taught in Xalbal. Fidel and his wife have two little kids. One of the best students in the Nueva Esperanza PEB was a young guy by the name of Proselito. Before Proselito was a student in the Nueva Esperanza PEB, Proselito did not have any responsibilities in the Christ-follower community that is in Nueva Esperanza. Proselito has a really good voice, was at ease being the guy up front and was a natural at leading meetings, preaching and teaching. Proselito and his wife have three kids. A number of months after the Xalbal PEB ended, Fidel became a ‘coyote’. A ‘coyote’ is a guy who helps guys and gals to illegally cross a border – such as the border between Guatemala and Mexico, so that this guy or gal will sooner or later be able to illegally enter into the United States. When the Nueva Esperanza PEB ended, Proselito was asked by the leaders of the Nueva Esperanza Christ-follower community to be the Nueva Esperanza Christ-follower community’s up front leader. Proselito about six months later had become a drunk and was no longer living in the Nueva Esperanza community.
The chronicler – in 2 Chronicles 35, writes about a king. Josiah was for 31 years the king over the guys, gals and kids who were living in Judah’s land area. After Josiah had been for 18 years the king over the guys, gals and kids who were living in Judah’s land area, a copy of the law of Moses was discovered in the temple of God that was located in Jerusalem. Jeremiah at this time was in Judah’s land area God’s designated prophet. Your grandpaa is convinced that Jeremiah was the guy who was behind having the law of Moses read. After the law of Moses had been read, Josiah wanted to do what the law of Moses said regarding celebrating a Passover feast before God in Jerusalem. Josiah from his own flocks and herds gave to the Levite priests 30,000 sheep and goats and 3000 cattle to be offered as sacrifices to God in the temple of God. The chronicler wrote in verse 18, “The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem.” About 13 year later – after Josiah had gotten God’s specially chosen guys and gals into worshipping God again in the beautiful, ornate temple that Solomon had built, Josiah decided to fight an Egyptian king. The Egyptian king – Neco, told Josiah that he did not want Josiah to fight him as he did not have a case against Josiah. Neco at this time was encamped at the Euphrates River – in Carchemish. Even after Neco told Josiah that it was God’s will that Josiah was not to fight him, Josiah did not listen to Neco. Josiah thought that nothing would happen to him if he wore a disguise but . . . Josiah got himself killed by Nico’s archers. It was a sad day after Josiah was killed but . . . Josiah had pulled a Fidel and a Proselito when he stopped listening to God’s voice and began to listen to his own voice telling him to do what he felt like doing. Listening to God’s voice will lead you to do good things while not listening to God’s voice will lead you to do bad things. You need to learn to listen to God’s voice or . . .
2 Chronicles 35 (261)