Yes Men

Hearing what God has to say sometimes is tough to swallow. Being in full-time ministry over the last 4 years, I have learned that it is easy to fall into the temptation of surrounding ourselves with people who say what we want to hear rather than the truth.

Reading through 2 Chronicles this week I was reminded of how important it is to listen to God's direction when facing a decision.

2 Chronicles 18 tells the story of how Ahab listened to what he wanted to hear rather than the truth. Ahab was the king of Israel and he desired to fight against Ramoth-gilead. He asked the King of Judah, Jehoshaphat, to have Judah fight alongside Israel. Prior to making a decision about fighting against Ramoth-gilead, Jehoshaphat asks Ahab to seek out the word of the Lord.

Ahab calls in his prophets and they all say that it is good to fight against Ramoth-gilead. Yet Jehoshaphat isn't satisfied with this answer. He asks Ahab if there is another prophet. Ahab explains that there is another prophet. This prophet named Micaiah hears from God and speaks His truth. Yet Ahab hates Micaiah because Micaiah always speaks evil of Ahab and never good.

Micaiah is called in and Ahab asks him to speak. Micaiah explains that God will put a spirit of deception upon Ahab's prophets. The Lord has proclaimed disaster against Ahab.

As a result of the truth, Micaiah is put into prison by Ahab until after the battle. If Ahab returns, then Micaiah has not heard from the Lord. If Ahab does not return then Micaiah has correctly heard from the Lord.

Ultimately Ahab dies in battle and Micaiah's prophecy from the Lord is fulfilled.

Yet look at what happens. Micaiah is placed into prison for doing what is right. He speaks the truth and gets in trouble. Ahab surrounded himself with people who told him what he wanted to hear rather than what he needed to hear. He put "yes men" around him so he would be comfortable. As a result, he paid the price with his life.

It is important to not only receive the truth in love from others but it is also important to speak it out as well. In order to keep on going in the direction that is set out by the Lord, we must continually seek out what He has to say and then obey his direction. This task is not always easy but it is how we position ourselves to hear from God and act upon his commands.

Back in the day

I was playing my xbox 360 this week and I started to think back about what my favorite games were growing up. I've been working on a list and I think I may have narrowed down my top five choices.

1. Street Fighter II: Champion Edition (Arcade or Genesis)

This game was by far the game I played most as a kid. As the first version of SFII to allow the player to play as the Grand Masters, this game captivated me. I loved the depth and the technique involved with all of the moves. The competitive aspect of the game along with the incredible gameplay kept me playing for years. Even now, when I see an old arcade unit with SFII, I will drop everything to put in a quarter and relive some great memories.

2. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)

While Sonic the Hedgehog was a great game, it's sequel blew the original out of the water. The graphics, the music, the level design, and of course, Tails, made this game so much better than it's predecessor. I can still remember the first time I saw Sonic transform into Super Sonic and what a thrill it was to be invincible. A tremendous game.

3. WCW vs. NWO Revenge (N64)

Growing up in the mid to late 90's meant that I was into professional wrestling. The monday night wars between the WWF and WCW was a common discussion amongst my friends and me. While I was a much bigger WWF fan, I was usually disappointed in the games that were made using the WWF License. WCW vs. NWO Revenge's gameplay and depth made it a realistic and fun game. The 40 man battle royal was amazing and the customization of the wrestlers was a fun addition. My friends and I would stay up late and play this game into the wee hours of the morning. Plus, this was the only game at the time where I could pick up a stop sign and hit my best friend with it.

4. Warcraft II (PC)

I was 12 years old when I finally got my own computer in my room. It was my parent's old one. A really old one. It had the old turbo button on it to boost it's processing speed from 33 Mhz to 66 Mhz. While it was old, it was good enough to play Warcraft II. I stumbled upon this game and never looked back. I would sit at my desk for hours and hours and build up my armies. I also loved building my own maps. My particular favorites were my invasion maps. I would do a "Normandy" invasion map where boats would carry my army across the sea to land on a beach and invade. Just writing about it now makes me want to go load it on my old laptop and play again (yes, I still own the discs to the game).

5. Rush 2049 (Dreamcast)

Here is a game that I remember fondly from high school. Although racing was the primary aspect of the rush series, Rush 2049 changed that with the addition of the Stunt mode and Battle mode. My best friend and I would play the stunt mode for hours trying to get the coins that were hidden in the levels. Those coins would be used to unlock new cars and levels. To this day, my buddies and I still talk about how much fun Rush 2049 was (and still is).

Mind you, as I think of other games I used to play, this list may change. But overall these are the games that I have very fond memories of. Many hours have been logged playing these games and it's always fun to revisit them every once in a while.