Website Control Panel

Account

Log in to your account:

 

Create New Account
Forgot Your Password?

Who's online

There are currently 0 users and 4 guests online.

Translation

Translate the text on this website by clicking the flag or selecting the appropriate language in the dropdown box. Your preferences will be remembered next time you visit the site. Services provided by Google Translate. Accuracy of the translation is not guaranteed - use at your own risk! Select a flag:
To English To French To Spanish To Italian To German To Chinese To Japanese To Korean
Or choose a language:

Articles

On this page you'll find articles written by Josh Hawkins. Some of these articles were formed from random thoughts on various blog entries into coherent thoughts. I hope you enjoy them!

To view all of the articles available, click here.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on my website is preferred.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:
By Joshua Hawkins. © Joshua Hawkins. Website: joshuahawkins.com

Most recent article

In the last post in this short series, I spoke about knowing the details of the story of the cross of Jesus, and how the first barrier in growing in intimacy with Him related to the cross is simply our ignorance. Most Christians know the details of their favorite movie more than they know the details of Christ’s most precious memories as He walked the earth. This very fact is provoking if we truly believe that Christ is our life, our all, and our exceedingly great reward.

Beyond knowledge, however, stands a greater obstacle in our pursuit of intimacy with the Lord around the subject of the cross. Distance plagues us daily. Even when we know the details, the story still can feel two thousand years and six thousand miles away. We probably have often come to the cross in study or in prayer with the gnawing sense that we should be feeling so much within our hearts, yet finding very little movement on the inside.

The solution, I believe, is prayerful, Christ-centered meditation. I’m not talking about some mystic, new age practice. I’m simply talking about conversing with Jesus in prayerful dialog through the narrative of His story. I’ve personally found that as I do this, I move from feeling like a detached observer to feeling like a participant in the story.

In my last post, I expressed some of my personal lament for my unfamiliarity with the most memorable events to the Lord Jesus as He walked the earth. The most precious moments that come to His mind often are probably those of His arrest, trial, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. Many Christians can recount the details of their favorite movie with more precision than they can the most precious memories of the Lord. If you’re as pained as I am by that fact, you may be asking “well, how do I change that?” I want to take just a couple of more posts on this topic to address the obstacles to enjoying true intimacy and fellowship with Jesus at the Cross.

The first barrier we come up against in truly growing in friendship with Jesus related to the Cross is simply unfamiliarity and ignorance. For most of us, we have only a very superficial knowledge of the events of those three days. We can talk about the general themes and broad strokes of the Passion narrative, but the details of the story elude us simply because of a lack of diligence in study. The solution is as simple as the reason we are foggy on the details; we must devour every detail of the story, the setting, the culture, and the context until His Cross moves from a hazy progression of events in our minds to a clear, flowing, coherent story. We must know the people, places, and sequence in both the simplicity of the structure and in the depth of the details.

A few days ago on one of our sets at IHOP-KC, our worship team sang through the drama of the cross of Christ. Beginning at Jesus’ anointing at Bethany, proceeding to the garden of Gethsemane, the beating by the Romans, the march to the cross, and finally ending with an empty tomb, we developed each scene musically and vocally for the two hours of our set.

As we were singing and playing through the story of our Lord’s passion, it struck me how ignorant I was regarding many of the details, sequence, and order of the events of those few days. If Christ is truly my life, my hope, my treasure, and my reward, I had to ask a hard question - why do I not cherish and intimately know the details of some of the most precious moments of my Lord during His life on the earth?

Within our lives, the events that bring us into deep mourning or great joy are often the most significant. They shape our personalities, form our decisions and attitudes, and stand as signposts in our story. These are the moments we replay in our minds, hearts, and conversations with those closest to us.

It’s been very interesting to watch how the media has been covering every single aspect of the world’s troubled economy recently. I’ve read articles on how it compares to the times of the Great Depression in the US in the early 20th century. I’ve also read practical articles on how to live off of $10 per day, and some humorous ones including how to make a prom suit out of duct tape.

It does not take any prophetic anointing to discern that that these times are putting a “strain” on the western consumer lifestyle. But it does take a heart that is “watching” (Mark 13; 1 Thess. 5) to see that it’s the Lord’s doing to shake us from our lethargy and to prepare us for Christ’s return. John Piper recently articulated this very well in several points that I’ll just summarize here, and then just point you to the actual sermon for you to read:

The letters to the seven churches are perhaps some of the most “forgotten” passages in the entire book of Revelation.

In a day when even unbelievers are becoming more and more interested in what the Bible has to say about the future, discussion between various camps in studying the book of Revelation always tends to revolve around passages like Revelation 20 (the 1000-year reign of Jesus), Revelation 4:1 (“come up here”), Revelation 6:1 (the first seal), or Revelation 12 (the symbolism of the woman and the dragon). These passages and others are rightfully discussed and debated more than these letters to the seven churches, simply because of the various systems of eschatological thought that have developed in the last 2000 years since the book’s writing in 96AD.

In the limelight of these passages lies Revelation 2-3. Despite their lack of emphasis across the body of Christ today, there is much in the New Testament surrounding the issues Jesus raised in Revelation 2 and 3 – from fervency and wholeheartedness, reigning with Christ, and the first commandment to the toleration of immorality and a dull spirit.



To view all articles written by Josh, click here.

From twitter

Beholding God's glory is done by encountering Jesus Christ in His story. (2 Cor. 4:6; 1 Cor. 2:2) Posted 1 day 3 hours ago

The lives of the apostles and early church were so focused around Jesus' cross that they were not only willing but EAGER to embrace theirs. Posted 1 day 10 hours ago

The mysterious dimension of the Christian life is that in order to live eternally, one must die daily. (Matt. 16:24; 1 Cor. 15:31) #cross Posted 1 day 14 hours ago

Email updates list

Sign up for brief updates, important prayer requests, website updates, and other news from Josh!