Peter Stoner, in his classic book  Science Speaks , calculated the chance of any man fulfilling these prophecies, even down to the present time, to be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (10 to the 17th power). How can anyone think that Jesus just “happened” to be in the right place at the right time? Clearly, we can’t consider coincidence. Only One Person Has Fulfilled All Old Testament Messianic Prophecy.  Jesus! One reason the Bible’s Old Testament is so important to Christians is that it contains prophecy — over 300 predictions, in fact — that, like the threads of a tapestry, establish the Messianic credentials of  Jesus . Put another way, the Old Testament is like an intricate jigsaw puzzle. The numerous pieces, on their own, are puzzling — until they are assembled enough to fill out the intended picture.  Thus, the New Testament is the decryption key for unlocking Old Testament meaning. Some might say, after reading through a list of Old Testament prophecy, that some were fulfilled in the deaths of  Kennedy ,  Nasser ,  King , and other great figures. One could possibly find a prophecy or two fulfilled in the lives of these notable fellas; but not one of them can be credited with fulfilling all of them.  Only Jesus did so. Just a handful of prophecy that Jesus fulfilled: He was born in Bethlehem, preceded by a messenger (John the Baptist), entered Jerusalem on a donkey, was betrayed by a friend who received thirty pieces of silver, was silent before His accusers, and died in the manner Romans used for criminals (crucifixion), during which they pierced His hands and feet. ~ Jesus Beat the Odds ~ To help us visually comprehend the staggering odds of this probability, Stoner proposed that we take that many silver dollars and lay them across the state of Texas. In doing so, we’d find they would stack up across the state two feet deep. But wait; there’s more! Now mark one of the silver dollars, and stir up the entire mass of coins. Then blindfold an enthusiastic volunteer and tell him that he can travel as far as he likes across Texas, but that he *must* pick out the marked silver dollar. THAT is how difficult it would be for one man to fulfill these prophecies.  Unless, of course, he did so because of divine appointment. Stoner then upped the ante significantly: he looked at the odds of any man fulfilling even just 48 of the 300+ Old Testament prophecies. The odds jumped to 10 to the 157th power! ~ A Few Examples ~ Jewish scholars understood and interpreted their sacred Scriptures as being capable of multilevel meaning; that in a narrative text, a detail or element could appear significant enough for a reader to feel it hint at a larger idea, even as it remained part of its own story. Centuries of biblical interpreters have followed the lead of the authors of New Testament Scripture, who quote elements of Old Testament Scripture to show how it foreshadows Jesus as Messiah. Of course, interpretation using this method must take care to be faithful to the original narrative. Below are three side-by-side examples of how the New Testament builds upon an element (which scholars refer to as a “type”)  in the Old Testament:  Christ Our Passover Lamb Old Testament:  “Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb” ( Exodus 12:21 ). New Testament:  “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” ( 1 Corinthians 5:7 ). The festival of  Passover  celebrates God’s deliverance of the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt. As we know from Bible history, Pharaoh’s continued stubbornness to release the Israelites resulted in the tenth and final plague — the death of every firstborn. The Jews, by smearing the blood of a spotless lamb upon the doorposts of their home, were passed over and didn’t suffer this consequence. The Egyptians, including Pharaoh, lost their firstborns. By accepting Christ —  by applying His blood to the doorposts of our hearts, so to speak  — we escape judgment and eternal separation from God. Scholarly sources tell us unanimously that Jesus was crucified around Passover, which further reinforces His identity as the Passover lamb. The unblemished lambs that the Jews sacrificed were selected five days before they were slaughtered. Similarly, Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem five days before the Passover sacrifices in the temple; He entered Jerusalem on the day of  lamb selection, choosing to become the ultimate Lamb of God. He Was to Enter Jerusalem on a Donkey Old Testament:  “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” ( Zechariah 9:9 ). New Testament:  “And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as He rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As  he was drawing near — already on the way down the Mount of Olives — the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen” ( Luke 19:35-37 ). A “Light” to the Gentiles Old Testament:  “And now the Lord says, He who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him; and that Israel might be gathered to Him — for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength — he says: ‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will might you a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth'” ( Isaiah 49:5-6 ). New Testament:  “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” ( Acts 13:47-48 ). Just this morning I was reading Isaiah 53. The entire chapter talks about Jesus as Christ. Just a few verses (4-6): “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” ~ Three Objections by Skeptics ~ Skeptics object to the claim that numerous passages in the Old Testament foreshadow events in the life of Jesus. They counterclaim that the New Testament writers purposefully shaped their material to match passages in the Old Testament. They also assert that the New Testament writers stretched the meanings of obscure references, and that they took those references out of context, by adopting a word or detail and inserting it into an event in the Gospels. Skeptic Objection #1: The Gospel writers deliberately crafted their biographies of Jesus to make Jesus appear to fulfill the Old Testament Scriptures. We have several reasons to believe the Gospel writers reported Jesus’ life and words accurately — and did so even at the risk of persecution. They did not play to what their audiences likely expected. We have to remember that at the time the Gospels were written, the Christian church was enduring considerable persecution. Many Christians were martyred for their faith in excruciating and inhumane ways, including crucifixion, being burned alive, or being fed to wild animals. The Gospel writers had nothing to gain from inventing yet another new religion — and everything to lose.  Too, they didn’t make Jesus sound high and mighty, but low and humble, as was His purpose in giving up His life.  If the Gospel writers were intent on growing their numbers, they wouldn’t have offered up, as Messiah, a man who, in no way, represented the conquering hero that the Jews were expecting.  Jesus freely allowed Rome to kill him, so that His purpose was fulfilled. Skeptic Objection #2: Old Testament types and foreshadowings are typically stretched and contrived, and therefore offer little evidential support for Jesus being the Messiah. It is certainly true that some Christians have tended to stretch Old Testament typology or suggest hidden symbolism that might not exist. But we have only two options to consider here: The close correspondence between Old Testament texts and New Testament details of Jesus’ life can *only* be explained by 1) purposeful contrivance or 2) divine orchestration. As I hope you can see, a compelling cumulative case for Jesus as the Messiah clearly weights the evidence toward the second option. Skeptic Objection #3: The Gospel writers took Old Testament texts out of context in order to prove that Jesus was the Messiah. Many New Testament writers quoted Old Testament words and set them in a new context, as did both Jews and later Christians who wrote commentaries to interpret Old Testament passages. In the early centuries of the church, different schools of thought arose concerning how this should be handled. The interpreters of the  School of Alexandria , for example, were comfortable taking a word or detail out of its original context in order to illustrate and reinforce a spiritual interpretation. In contrast, the scholars in Antioch emphasized the importance of retaining the meaning of the original historical context, even when reverent contemplation of the text suggested a concept that allowed additional applications. Diodore of Tarsus , who died about AD 390, was a leader in this second school of thinking. The methodology that he described emphasizes a careful study of the original language, in order to understand the historical substance and plain literal sense of the text as the foundation for understanding its deeper meaning.  He sought to carefully guard against overzealous and overreaching applications.  Theologian  Christopher A. Hall  puts it this way: Diodore’s aim was to guard against the creation of meaning “out of thin air.” In the same way,  Augustine of Hippo, in his  On Christian Doctrine  about rules for the interpretation of Scripture, distinguished between details that are simply in the narrative, and details that are in the narrative but also appear to be signs of higher meaning. A basic point to remember: it was  Jesus’ own behavior and statements  that prompted the New Testament writers to recognize His resonance with Old Testament scriptures. Again, going back to the puzzle analogy: the more the puzzle was put together, the more it began to showcase Jesus. ~ Summary of Old Testament Prophecy Fulfilled by Jesus ~ Speaking of puzzle pieces, let’s conclude this blog post with a list of Old Testament prophecy that you can read for yourself. This exercise will be so worth the investment of your time, if you truly want to confirm what Scripture says. To have a Bible that you never open completely defeats the purpose of God giving His Word to us, right? Treat the Bible as your study guide, not a relic so sacred that it can’t be opened — or marked up!  God is surely okay with your highlighting any passages that speak to you, in whatever hue of highlighter you choose! His Nativity and Early Years The fact: Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Jeremiah 31:22 The place: Numbers 24:17, 19; Micah 5:2 Adoration by Magi: Psalm 72:10, 15; Isaiah 60: 3, 6 His Mission and Office Mission: Genesis 12:3; 49:10; Numbers 24:19; Deuteronomy 18:18-19; Psalm 21:1; Isaiah 59:20; Jeremiah 33:16 Prophet like Moses: Deuteronomy 18:15 Conversion of Gentiles: Isaiah 11:10; Deuteronomy 32:43; Psalms 18:49; 19:4; 117:1; Isaiah 42:1; 45:23; 49:6; Hosea 1:10; 2:23; Joel 2:32 Ministry in Galilee: Isaiah 9:1-2 Preaching: Psalms 2:7; 78:2; Isaiah 2:3; 61:1; Micah 4:2 His Passion Rejection by Jews and Gentiles: Psalms 2:1; 22:12; 41:5; 56:5; 69:8; 118:22-23; Isaiah 6:9-10; 8:14; 29:13; 53:1; 65:2 Persecution: Psalms 22:6; 35:7, 12; 56:5; 71:10; 109:2; Isaiah 49:7; 53:3 Triumphal entry: Psalms 8:2; 118:25-26; Zechariah 9:9 Betrayal by friend: Psalms 41:9; 55:13; Zechariah 13:6 False accusation: Psalms 2:1-2; 27:12; 35:11; 109:2 Silence under accusation: Psalm 38:13; Isaiah 53:7 Mocking: Psalms 22:7-8, 16; 109:25 His Resurrection Psalms 2:7; 16:8-10; 30:3; 41:10; 118:17 His Ascension Psalms 16:11; 24:7; 68:18; 110:1; 118:19 His Second Advent Psalm 50:3-6; Isaiah 9:6-7; 66:18; Daniel 7:13-14; Zechariah 12:10; 14:4-8 His Universal, Everlasting Dominion 1 Chronicles 17:11-14; Psalms 2:6-8; 8:6; 45:6; 7; 72:8; 110:1-3; Isaiah 9:7; Daniel 7:14 Did Jesus fulfill Old Testament prophecy? Yes! But  study  to know for yourself. www.josh.org. Compiled by Sheri Bell.

Transcript You can't rush relational intimacy. That doesn't happen in a day. Again, that's, sometimes the eagerness, we're so starved for actual people in our lives, sometimes anybody shows us any attention, and we just come on so strong and lay it on so thick because we're trying to Amazon Prime the relationship decades past where it actually is at in a moment. But when it's just this tiny little thing, you just add a little bit of twigs to it, and a little bit of kindling to it. You can't get to the big logs right away. It'll put the fire out. That little flame it's not enough to take on that big log, so you need friendship kindling, and that takes time. Friendship, friendship's what we're talking about in this series that we're in. Friendship is something that you can experience, but how do you define it? We all know it when we feel it, but how do you define it? Aristotle tried. Aristotle said, when he was asked what is a friend? A friend is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. Interesting. Of course, theologically, highly incorrect, but interesting. But when you do, he's on to something, though, because when you do really encounter friendship in its fullest, purest form, it does feel like that. It feels like there's a soul connection. In fact, that idea is thoroughly scriptural. There's a great little passage, when you want to read about the different relationships in life. Deuteronomy 13 verse 6 is one of the few verses in the Bible that in one fell swoop lets us know about all sorts of the different human relationships that are possible. You know, of course, that there are four different Greek words for love, and we only get the one English word. But all four have different words in the Greek. There's a love for a family, a family love, storge. There's a love for your spouse who you marry romantically intimately. That's eros. Then there's the love, of course, that God loves us with, agape love, sacrificial love, the highest, purest love. This is 1 Corinthians 13 love. And then finally, the least understood because it's the least necessary love is phileo. You couldn't be here if there wasn't some storge. You have family. You, of course, have a need to, if our species is not to end, eros is going to continue to be a thing. So you couldn't be here without eros then, as well. But phileo becomes, then, the least of the least necessary of the loves. We don't at surface see the value of friendship, of phileo. And so we have this love. And, of course, agape love is what makes all the other loves possible. It makes them operate at their highest, purest, sweetest best. But all of those kind of loves are wrapped up in this verse. Notice it. "If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you," telling you to go and worship other gods. And then spoiler alert. Moses says, don't do that. Don't do that. Your attention please. What is Moses saying here? And where is there agape. Agape is the love that would keep you from following any of these other loves into putting something else in God's place. So Moses is saying, even if your storge love, your eros love, even if your phileo love tries to pull you away from agape love being the most important, don't do it. That would be idolatry. So let these other loves be at their best by letting agape love be the most important. Now, that's awesome, and that's great teaching. But what I wanted you to notice is the phrase "your friend who is as your own soul". That's got some Aristotle vibes to it. Some translations, and if you have like the NIV, the New Living, it just says the closest friend. But the one we read is more true to the Hebrew. Because literally, it's, or if your friend who is as your own soul tells you to do it. And I love that little description because it gives us some sense of insight, and you know it when you experience it, into the power of friendship. This is exhibited in David and Jonathan's relationship in 1 Samuel 18. When they met, there was this sense in which "the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul". This is phileo. This is like what is happening here? Are our souls connected? There's some brotherhood bond here, but you're not my family. So why, oh, it's phileo. This is also what we see in Ruth and Naomi's relationship. Ruth, chapter 1 verse 16, when Ruth says to Naomi, who is not her blood family, and there's no connection between them anymore now that Naomi's son, Ruth's husband, is dead. But she says to her, don't you dare urge me to leave you, to turn back from you. Look at it. Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God. They're going to have to find a place to bury me in Israel because I ain't going back to Moab. You're now my people. There's a sense in which there's this ride or die that comes from a friend who is as your own soul. Oh, that was great for David and Jonathan, Levi. That's wonderful for Ruth and Naomi. But what about us today living in 2023. Well, that's what I want to talk to you about. I want to talk to you about friendship in the 21st century because there are some unique challenges that friendship has that is working against it In our day because we are more portable than we've ever been. Throughout most of human history, you ended up dying not far from where you were born. You didn't walk around back in the day being like where are you from? Where are you from? I'm from right over there. That's where I was born. You know me. We've lived next to each other all of our lives. But we're so portable today. And it is more affordable than it's ever been to go live wherever you want to go. I mean, it was so difficult back in the day if you wanted to go to Europe and live abroad. You had to get on a ship, and it would take months. And even if you could afford that, I mean, it was so prohibitive. I mean, during the potato famine, people fleeing Ireland because there was no food. They had to get on these coffin ships that they had to scrape every penny together to even be able to afford. They called them coffin ships because of how many people died on these boats. Just the hope of life in a new world, and it took months this dangerous ocean crossing. Now, it's, I'm not saying it's easy. But if you want to, you can go live somewhere else. You can get a Southwest Airlines ticket. You can take your life into your own hands and go Allegiant if you want to. I mean, see what I'm saying. But there's also Amtrak. And there's also Euro rail. You can get on, I mean, you can live somewhere else. We are more portable. And people are taking advantage of that, travel and the idea of I'm going to start over new someplace. That would have been foreign for most of human history. That works against friendships. It turns out when you live in a camper van and you work remotely, you don't put down great roots, shockingly. When your scenery is constantly changing, we've kind of almost returned to a nomadic kind of way of life, as many people just kind of just breeze in, breeze out. I live here this season. I live there that season. I just, I follow the snow, or I follow the waves, or I just need a Wi-Fi connection in a coffee shop where I can do my work. But then I can live wherever I want to live. That works against friendships. There's lots of connectedness in our day, but perhaps, there are fewer connections than ever before because there's the illusion of friendship, which is sort of like the mirage you see in the desert. Oh, there's water. There's palm trees. Not true. Not true. But we're connected to everybody. And Facebook even introduced this phraseology of friends. Because now I'm connected to you on some level, so surely we must be friends. And this idea this notion of phileo love has sort of been hijacked. Added to that, there's the problem of celebrity in our day because we feel like we're friends with these people. But guess what? Taylor Swift doesn't know who you are. She doesn't. I know you know what she did last week. I know you know what kind of cookies she likes. I know you know the names of her cats. She knows nothing about you. You're not her friend. And Travis Kelce is not coming to the hospital with a casserole if you get hurt. So it's very weird how much we know about these people who don't know us back, who don't know us back. So celebrities kind of introduced this idea, like we're following as though we are friends. And we kind of do feel like we're friends with them. But there's not real friend, it's the illusion of friendship because of how connected we are and how we follow the exploits of other people. Isn't it weird that you might know more about Selena Gomez than you do the very people in your life? You might know more about the random football player you follow, or the greatest hunter whose exploits you follow. But the actual people in your life, you know very little about them. You could tell us less about their last week or month or year than someone who actually is connected to you with flesh and blood. We have entertainment options that can keep us sort of in this medicated coma inside of our homes. And Hulu ran out of stuff to watch. And now, it's telling, I'm just telling, we'll switch over to Max. Oh, there's nothing on Max? Well, guess what? I got Netflix. I got I got backup options, OK? I am never going to actually pay attention to how I really feel when I could just watch things all day. What about when you get hungry? How will you leave this medicated cocoon of media? I'm not going outside. It's too cold. And it really is. It's shockingly, horrifically cold out. I just would like to say I am appalled by how cold it is outside. I'm scarred. I'm angry. I'm sad. And then I get hungry. So I just get, well, I'm going to DoorDash. I'm not going to a restaurant. You going to talk to the DoorDasher. No, I won't. I will only proceed from my lair when I see on my ring camera they are gone. I might wave at them as they drive off, but that is as much social contact as I'm getting today, people. How crazy life is that kind of a life is possible. We're back in the matrix, bro, just eating out of our belly button. Num num goes here. It's like just swimming around with our VR goggles on, giving us the idea of this is real. This is real life. And so for all of these reasons, there are some challenges to love you like I love my own soul. Where you go I go. Where you get buried, by a plot for me next to it kind of friendship that feels like, what the heck happened? Did one soul get put mistakenly into two bodies? Because friendship, we said last week in the first half of this sermon, is in peril. And that's to our detriment because of how powerful friendship is. We spent some of the sermon last week talking about just the power of it. We could say that the Bible warns you, "Woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up". That's an important thought to think about, Ecclesiastes 4:10. Who's there to catch you when you fall? It turns out friendships are more than just the spice of life. It's nice. It's not just this luxury thing. It's actually a necessity. It's something God wants you to experience the fullness of, even spiritually, especially spiritually speaking. And we kind of, again, why is friendship in peril? Even within Christianity, have this mistaken notion that it's just all about me and my own personal walk with God. I don't know about all the church because there's drama, and I've been hurt. And there's messed up people, and they smell bad. But, no, no. No no. Your relationship with God is intended to be experienced communally. Did not Jesus say, "For where twp or three are gathered together in my name", this is Matthew 18:20, "I am there in the midst of them". So there are aspects to your relationship with God you will never be able to experience all by yourself. God sets the solitary into families. He wants there to be the power of fellowship. Koinonia is the word in the Greek. And that's why he experience, that's why he created you with deficiencies, so that the interlocking pieces of other people might bring them together. And Adam wasn't lonely, we said last week, quoting Tim Keller, because he was imperfect. Adam was lonely because he was perfect, perfect, but created to crave something that God had a cure for. God had a cure for the solitude, the relationship piece with other humans. And so for that reason, we can say safely friendship is possible. God wouldn't create you to crave anything that a solution does not exist for it. You're thirsty. There's water. You're hungry. There's food. You're tired. There's beds. You see, you get sexy. There's sex. So everything we have a desire for, there's a righteous fulfillment of that desire. So we are lonely people. And we're seeing in our day the effect of loneliness, which is at epidemic levels because of all the reasons that we mentioned living in this 21st century. So what do we need to do? We need to fight to get to what he created us to crave, and that is friendship, phileo love. Friendship is possible. Possible, though, is not the same as easy. Possible is not the same as easy. This is so important because we're living in a life where everything is easy, really. So many things have gotten easier and easier and easier. Friendship is possible, but it's hard. And because it's hard, many of us walk away from it thinking it must then be impossible, or even worse, that it must be bad. What I'm trying to say is it's possible, but it's going to take work. It's possible, but it's not going to happen easy. I'm reminded of Admiral James Stocksdale, who was taken captive as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War that took place throughout, in the '60s and '70s. And for 7 and 1/2 years he found himself as a captive. And he noticed some things leading his men through this time of captivity. The ones who did not make it out to get back home were the ones who had this naive optimism. It's just, we're going to get home. They would just buoyantly like come into like the, it's OK, guys. We're going to get home. I have a feeling we're going to get home. He said, those ones never made it through this. The ones who kept going, we'll probably be home by Christmas. Hey, everyone think together, Christmas. We're going to be home by Easter. We're going to be home by Easter. Those ones did not do well. He said, those who did well had a realistic appreciation for the difficulty of the task that lay in front of them, but had a never say die belief that no matter what it takes, we're getting out of this. That, it's been said, is the ingredient, the concoction, the tension, the two truths held in tension. This may not be easy. But no matter what, we're going to get through this. I see in that the power that it takes to stay happily married over the course of a lifetime. Now, Levi, are you comparing marriage to being a POW. Hey, it depends on the day, OK? It entirely, sometimes the food's better, but it can be difficult. But what I'm saying is those who go through marriage just with this rosy, we fell in love, and we don't care who knows it. We finish each other's sandwiches, so it's going to be, nothing's more powerful than the flames of our love. Yikes. That's the we're going to get home by Easter. It's not enough to make it through the difficulties. And a marriage has to mature. There has to get to the true levels of it that are possible when you continue to love and serve someone repenting of your sin and continuing to die daily to yourself. And you watch the sort of chemistry and the initial puppy love, which really, the honeymoon phase they say on paper lasts about two years. And the real test is, what do you do when that ends? Do you go off to find someone else to have puppy love for? Because let me just play out your life as it continues, that's going to continue to repeat itself. Or do you let it deepen and stay in those oak barrels and eventually have something to be desired as it ages into something beyond just the chemistry and the initial spark. As it is in marriage, so it is when it comes to friendship. That is to say, it being possible does not make it easy. But that actually should make it more desirable and not less. So what I want to do with you is to ask the question, do you despise the days of small things when it comes to your friendships? Because Zechariah 4:10 says, "Who dares despise the days of small things"? And the answer to that question, every freaking one of us despises the days of small things. I'm going to get healthy. All right. I'm going to get on that elliptical. I despise this. I loathe this. Look down at the thing, and I'm working my little heart out. I'm huffing and puffing like Thomas the little engine that could or whatever. And I'm like, gosh, 74 calories? That's half of a power bar, and I ate two power bars fueling up for the stupid exercise. I'm actually at a deficit because I worked out. Who needs this? McDonalds. You know what I'm saying? We despise the days of small things. And so it is in friendship. OK, I'm going to try. I'm going to put myself out there. It didn't go so good. Ah, screw this. I'll go back to my Netflix, cave back to my DoorDash safety. Who's afraid, we could say, of the days of small talk? The days, you don't get to the deep talk without going through the small talk. But I'm encouraged by the example of Jesus, who it's been said performed a lot of miracles, walking on water, water into wine, feeding 5,000, amazing miracles. But one of the least appreciated miracles is that he had 12 close friends in his 30s. That's a miracle. He's a man with 12 close friends in his early 30s. But how did he get there? Because he got to a really great place. He got to the end where at dinner everyone's swearing they're his ride or die. And you know what? Every single one of the apostles who made it through to the day of Pentecost did give their lives for Jesus, except for the apostle John. So they, how did he end up with such close friends? Well, it was early awkward beginnings. There's so much throughout the, when you're reading the stories of the Gospels. You're like, dude, these guys didn't get along. They didn't understand what was going on. But it began this, I'll die for you, John lying at his bosom, a friend who loved Jesus and Jesus loved him like his own soul. It started with just this small talk. The disciples asked Jesus, where are you staying? He's like, come and see. Like, it was just this early walking by, hey, do you want to come? Come follow me. Leave the tax collectors thing. To Jesus, hey, you want to, to Peter, do you want to be a fisher of men? So it began, it didn't begin where it ended. Do you see that? A lot of us don't ever get in our friendships to where they could be because we're stopped because of where they are right here. But if you just keep with it, if you just stick with it, you can get to where Jesus said at the end of his life, just before he went to the cross. Look at it, John 15:15. No longer do I call you servants. I have called you friends. It took time, but it got there. It got to a great place. So the question then becomes, how do I be a good friend? How do I be a good friend? You have to first of all take the initiative. Take the initiative. Proverbs chapter 18, verse 24 says, "A man who has friends must himself be friendly". And it can get to a place where there's a friend who sticks closer than a brother. That's the end in mind. How does it start? Well, hey, you got to be friendly. I love this because it brings it back down to you having agency. It's easy to walk away and go, no one was friendly there. No one was nice to me there. I left that church. Why? Wasn't a friendly church. Were you friendly? A church is just people, and we're as strong as our weakest link. So if you want to have friends, it's back on you, buster. You have to choose to be friendly. Someone has to take the initiative. You know Gabrielle Reece did in the early 2000 for women's beach volleyball what Shaun White did for men's snowboarding, what Tiger Woods did for golf, what Lance Armstrong, too soon, did for professional cycling. She really brought it to the bleeding edge of popularity. And everyone was kind of following, and it launched this kind of bigger life. I read an interview recently with Gabrielle Reece. She's married to Laird Hamilton, who's a big wave professional surfer and, claim to fame, he's the one who following his celebrity life from a distance, Laird doesn't know who I am, got me into cold plunging and hot sauna. So you're welcome. Anybody who's ever been dragged into my cold plunge, you have Laird Hamilton and Gabrielle Reece to thank for this. But basically, she was asked, what's something that's helped you out in life that maybe other people would need to hear, by Tim Ferriss. And she said, I've just decided to be the one to go first. I've decided to be the one to go first. And he says, what do you mean go first? I love this. She said, I just, I mean by that if I'm checking out at the store, I'll say hello first. If I come across somebody and make eye contact, I'll smile first. She says, I've been experimenting with that in life just a little bit at a time. Not all times, but most times, it ends up in your favor. She then says, I was at the park the other day. My kids were playing. There was these two other women who were a little bit older than me standing there, on surface looks, we had nothing in common. I walked by them, turned around, looked at them and smiled. And she said immediately, a smile of relief came over their faces. The realization is people are ready, but everyone's kind of just waiting for someone to go first because we're being trained in this world to opt out. Nobody's going first anymore. That's what scripture is saying. You want to have friends? Be friendly. Go first. Come on. Let's take that initiative. Let's not wait for someone else to notice us. Let's not wait for someone else. What relief's going to come when you be the kind of a person who walks into a room and just says, hey, there you are. Hey, what's going on. Hey, I see you. You want to have friends, you got to be friendly. So take the initiative. Then, be vulnerable. As friendships progress, what's going to take them to the next level is you having an anti-social media mindset. Because social media is basically all built around this idea of we show the best, hide the rest. Every photo you see on Instagram, just think of the 30 on their camera roll that are going to get deleted because they were not deemed good enough. Oh, no. That's not true. I have my vulnerable posts. We know that because you wrote "vulnerable post colon". And then now comes a carefully calculated algorithm-smashing vulnerability that's all been sanitized. So now, we can't even trust even our vulnerable post moments. Is this real talk? Is this not the truth? So the problem is this is the highlight reel mentality of social media, we then apply it to real life. And you know what happens in real life? The blooper reels of the movie. So you have to embrace that a little bit. You're not going to have great friendships unless you just say, hey, there's going to be some blooper reel moments. Blooper reel moments, I said the wrong thing. Blooper reel moments, I put my foot in my mouth. In those moments, we get red-faced, and we get embarrassed, and it didn't go so good. So we kind of like, again, our tendency is to run away from that. But don't resist that. Embrace the fact that power comes through weakness. That's our kingdom, the kingdom that Jesus inaugurated. 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness". So as friendships progress, and, again, this is not immediate. This is where we're wanting to get to, a place where within those friendships there can be actual vulnerability. Come on, enough with the church talk. How are you doing? So good. Great. Yeah, you're doing great? Great. Everything's great. Yeah because everything's perfect because you have a halo. No man, because God's good all the time, and all the times God's good. Enough with all that. Where's the place where we can actually tell people that we love and are connected to, here's what's really going on. And I'm not going to be afraid that my mess and my weakness is going to repulse you. In fact, there's going to be a lot of sense of I'm not the only one who feels that way. You do as well. Let's talk about it. So we need to be comfortable feeling uncomfortable, to be exposed in that way, not curating what we're willing to show people in community. Number three, look for ways to add value. Look for ways to add value. It's possible, but you're going to have to look for, take good notes in your mind. As you're meeting people, as you're talking to people, think as they're saying things. Who do I know who could help you with the problem that you've just admitted to having? How can you be a connector? Hey, I noticed you mentioned this. I want, I got to introduce you to my friend. He does that, the amazing things that can happen when you're just looking for ways to add value. That's how friendships are formed because your gifts that you have, that you're strong in, aren't going to necessarily be for me and vice versa. So as we have a budding relationship, we need to look for ways to add value. Proverbs 18:16, "A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men". And this is an opportunity you have in the friendship phase to ask the question, what can I do that would actually help you out in some way? And that's kind of intuitive because we get it. It makes sense to me. Someone that I've done something for going to look favorably on me. And that's true. Proverbs 19 says that, "Many entreat the favor of the nobility, and every man is a friend to one who gives gifts". Maybe the harder part then is the reverse of this. How to build a friendship by being willing to be on the receiving end of that? That's the harder one. We're all looking, oh, I've got to introduce you to so-and-so. Let me open that door for you. Is there something I could do for you? Oh, hey. What's this handwritten thank you note and this little gift that showed up after we met? Yeah, well, you mentioned you like this, and just, I know a place that does a great job at doing that. Here's just a little thing. That's a simple, easy, we can all do this. This isn't rocket science. The harder thing, though, is when someone offers, hey, you. I noticed you mentioned you're having a real hard time with your golden retriever. I know of a great invisible fence. And hey, I'd come over, and we could dig that thing, you see what I'm saying? And they say that to you. And you're like, oh, no, no, no, no. You see what I'm saying? All of our pride kicks in. And then you'd see my house, and I won't have time to clean it up. And you're going to actually see what I didn't show you on my vulnerable post on Tuesday because that's when the algorithm said, vulnerable posts do particularly well between 4:00 and 6:00 PM, when all the soccer moms get off of, you see what I'm, like, you're just going to come in, so being on the receiving end of someone helping you out, being willing to receive help from somebody else. And in saying all of these things, there's an icky version and a good version. In all of these things, there's a manipulative version, a smarmy version. There's a hard sell vacation rental on holiday pitch version of all of this that people can smell. But if your motives are pure, and you're seeking to do it to bless, and there's no sense of like quid pro quo and transactional, I did this, and now you kind of owe me. You know, Dwight Schrute and Andy trying to both give each other favors so that they can both, no, you owe me. Now, you owe, Of course, that's not what we're talking about. These are, but these are how friendships get built. We bless each other. We help each other. And then we watch certain things click. We get to see and wait for those moments where you kind of notice like Jonathan and Ruth. Ah, there's some sense of soul connection here, but it's trial and error. So don't be afraid to get into the lab a little bit. Ultra important, read the room. You want to have friends? Read the room. And if you missed me when I said it a moment ago, read the room. Social smarts cannot be overstated. John Rockefeller had this thing that he did. He would take guys golfing. Richest guy in the world at one point, he would take guys golfing. And he just wanted to kind of have friendships. But he had a rule that he didn't tell anybody. It was an unspoken rule. If you brought up work, or if you asked for a job or a favor for so-and-so, or you asked for a loan, or you sort of subtly hinted a little funding for your dream thing, you would never get invited back again. You were just, you were crossed off the list of golf. He was looking for people who could just golf with him and just be in the moment and actually read it, and those were the people that he began to confide in and trust and who knew the moment, that he wasn't there to have a meeting. He wasn't there to do any Shark Tank investment. He was there because he really liked golfing. So we have to get better at reading the room, knowing what people are actually about. This is Proverbs 27:14, "He who blesses his friend with a loud voice rising early in the morning, it will be counted as a curse unto him". And they say the Bible ain't practical. Is this person an early bird or a night owl? And are they caffeinated enough yet? You know what I'm saying? Like, just what's going on here? Ah, this person seems to back away slowly whenever I walk towards them. Maybe I'm doing something that is annoying. So reading the room means not overdoing it, not coming on too strong. Maybe because we're so socially starved for friendships in our celebrity bubble of media and consumption, that when we actually do start to make friends, we overdo it by just wanting to cover 20 years of friendship in like two weeks, leaving someone with just whiplash. Like, whoa, whoa. Slow your roll. We just met, and I gave you, And now you're like, well, here's what we're going to do Tuesday. And then we're going to make snow angels. And then it's just like, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm Homer Simpson backing into the bushes. Do you see me? What's your social security number? It's like, whoa. Are you in my lawn right now looking in through my window? There's stalker behavior. Proverbs 25:17, "Seldom set foot in your neighbor's house, lest he become weary of you and hate you". We don't want to have that impact on people. We want to sort of leave them wanting more. You get invited to someone's house, the art of knowing when the night's over, when the host sort of stands up and says, well, thank you for coming. That's your cue to go. It's like, it's not, like, well, I'd love more coffee if anyone's having any. It's like, it's a Tuesday. They have to work tomorrow. Just mellow, right? This is just so important. I was talking with Lennox this week. We were splitting kindling off of logs for firewood. And he was like, why do we need to do this? We have so many logs. I'm like, you can't shove these big logs into a little fire. It'll smother it. It'll suffocate it. So it takes the little kindling, and a little bit bigger. And then eventually, the flame will be so powerful it can handle that big log. But I think some of us are trying to leap forward two decades out of our camper van friendship that we just formed into this beautiful thing that will be there to stabilize us in the hardest trials of life. But that friendship is weak. You can't handle that kind of flame. And it won't work if you repot the tree and move it to a new nursery every two years. It will not work if you just keep on with this nomadic life, where every time any difficult thing ever shows up, you're on to the next thing because there just, it was dramatic over there. No, you just were adverse to any conflict, any difficulty, and you didn't persist through the hard things to get to what you actually want there to be. So read the room. Give what you want. What do you want? Well, that's what I tried to do. I gave everybody what I wanted. No, no, no. You don't want that. You want people to take the time to figure out your love language and become fluent in your love language. That's what you want. You should ask the question in your friendships, what do they want? And me giving that will actually open up for me, me getting what I want, which is to be noticed and appreciated that I took the time to speak someone else's love language will help open up the case for me to get mine met because it's an upside down kingdom. We don't get by demanding we get by giving. If you just start trying try to take, it will be taken from you. But you give, you lay down, you will often get what you want when you give what they need. So you have to ask the question, what is it that my friends want? What is it that their friendship would have them receiving from me? And how can I be the kind of person who gives what's needed. And this changes from day to day, and it changes from season to season, doesn't it? Proverbs 25:20, "Like one who takes away a garment in cold weather and like vinegar on soda is the one who sings songs to a heavy heart". So just because in one season they loved that song, doesn't mean they're not hurting today where that would be grating to them. So it takes intuition. It takes empathy. It takes work. All of this is not instant turnkey gratification. Most importantly, friendships are possible, but you're going to need to trust the Holy Spirit. This is my favorite because I get to take the pressure off of you, of this misinformed notion that you're to be friends with everybody. Hear me. The Holy Spirit has in mind certain relationships that are to be those love as your own soul kind of friendships. And you need to be listening and paying attention when those nudges happen. And shocking idea, have you prayed, God would you show me what friendships I'm to invest in? Because your soul does not have the capacity to have that kind of intimacy with a large group of people. You see this in the life of Jesus. Jesus had 70 commissioned preachers he would send out, out of a pool, a greater pool of some 500 who believed and followed him. And out of that 70, were shrunk down to those who he could actually know and send out on mission. And out of that, there were 12 that he was close friends with. This is kind of like a Fresh Life group, kind of like a small group or a team approach. There's 12, and we can have vulnerability to a degree. But out of that 12, he was so wise, only three in that group actually got the kind of real soul access to him, Peter, James, and John. I think this is a model for us that it's not unloving to know how to put people in their place. Now, I know we use that in a very pejorative, very negative way. But the Holy Spirit has your similar paradigm, that there are going to be some hopefully, praise God, 12 people that you're really kind of close to. They're your friends. They're your people. And out of that 12, there are going to be three who are your Peter and your James and your John. And the Holy Spirit needs to free you to find those. And that means that other people are not that for you, and that's OK. And that's not bad, and that's not unloving. C.S Lewis said, and I love this, "I have no duty to be anyone's friend, and no man in the world has a duty to be mine". You have to hear from God and know what your duty is to do what he's called you to do. Paul said the same thing, Romans 13:8, "Owe no one anything except to love one another. For he who loves another has already fulfilled the law". So I can love you, but not be friends with you. All right? Nice woman came up to Jennie the other day, goes I feel like we're best friends. Because you've heard all my sermon illustrations and you read my book, we're not friends. But I love you. You're my sister in Christ, and I love you. I do have friends. That's not a bad thing that you're not my friend. And it would be so setting you up for disappointment to think I'm going to be able to act like a friend to you just because God's called me to minister and bring God's word to you. You need friends. And you need to owe it to everybody in the body of Christ to just simply love them. And that means, here's the cool thing, you can be friendly without having that pressure of you're my soul friend. And you need your few friends, and the Holy Spirit will speak to you on that issue. But you don't have, it's a capacity issue, really. You don't have the capacity to be friends with everybody that you're connected to, which is now more than ever a lot of people. OK? All right. So friendships, that's the first half of the sermon, are possible. But buyer beware. They're also painful. They are painful. And so it's not just camper vans and high-speed internet that makes friendships hard. It's that they hurt sometimes. They hurt. And I've narrowed down two reasons why friendship is painful. Thus, why some of us are predisposed to not even open ourselves up to all that difficulty. The two reasons are friendships are painful because they go wrong. Sometimes they go wrong. You thought you knew a guy. You thought you had the right choice. And then they ended up stabbing you in the back. They ended up betraying you. They ended up gossiping about you, and you found out later. This happens to everybody, everybody. One of the books I've been reading this year, really slowly working through, is a biography on Ulysses S. Grant. And I picked him because I know nothing about him. I literally, I was like, I know he smokes a cigar sometimes. I knew about his horse. I knew the baseball card stuff. I was like, I really want to get to know this great leader as best as I can. And so I was reading this book, and so much that he went through that was difficult and hard and challenging. And at the end of the biography, he was, the author says, Ulysses S. Grant was asked at the end of his life in all that you went through and experienced, what was the most painful part of your life? That's a crazy question, considering he was the commanding general during the Civil War. How many people under his command died that he would have to lose? That's painful. His daughter, while he was president of the United States, got married to a Brit. And so Ulysses didn't want it to happen, didn't like the idea. But she fell in love. And, of course, what he feared, he cried all through the ceremony in the White House. This guy wanted her to live in England with her. So the sadness and pain of his daughter moving. Don't you get any ideas, Lesko girls, who are listening in on this sermon. He was sad that it was painful to have his daughter live abroad. And the guy ended up being a bad guy, and betrayed his daughter and was a philanderer all around the world, and the marriage did not go well. So that was painful. Agreed? He had an alcohol problem, Grant did. Turns out, he had a real difficult time with drink. And Abraham Lincoln was asked about it. Why can you trust this guy to run our North through the war, the nation through the war? He's an alcoholic. And he goes, I'll tell you, if I find any other generals that do as well as he do, I will send barrels of alcohol to them, too. Lincoln was like, the positives outweigh the negatives. But it was hard because even when there were seasons of his life when his addiction was in control, under control, then there was rumors about the alcohol. And all his political opponents would just say, oh, the drunk, the drunk. You can't trust the drunk. Is that it painful? That's painful. Oh, how about the fact that he was friends with Lincoln, who was assassinated. Can you see where I'm going? Grant experienced some pain, which is why I was surprised when the question was asked, what was the most painful thing you experienced in your eventful life? And he responded, and I quote, "To be deceived by a friend". To be deceived by a friend. His own secretary in the White House turned out to be a rat. There's this big scandal, ironically, called the Whiskey Ring scandal. Because I don't know how much you know, but, I'll tell you all day about Grant. I love this guy. I have a man crush for days on this guy, love him like my own soul. I'm joking. He, Lincoln paid for the Civil War by putting a huge tax on whiskey. But then after the war the tax had not been removed yet, but it was super susceptible to corruption because people could, for favors, say that the tax due had been paid when it hadn't, but then siphon a lot of money off for doing that favor. And they suspected someone close to Washington, DC was involved at a very high level. And when rumors began to circulate that maybe, just maybe, it was President Grant's secretary, he said no, no. This guy is true blue. He's the real deal. And he was actually taken to trial, and Grant volunteered to give testimony on behalf, And everyone said, you can't do that. President can't go do, and he said, no, I'm doing it for this guy because he's my, I will die for this guy. He's my real deal friend. So he did. The guy got off. And right after the fact found out the guy was completely a snake in the grass and that had been lying and double-dealing the entire way right under President Grant's nose. And that betrayal he counted the most difficult thing he endured in this life. King David agreed. David went through some difficult things, some hard days. And yet, David, in Psalm 55, said, "It is not an enemy who reproaches me. That I could bear. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me. That I could hide, then I could just hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, my companion and my acquaintance. We used to take sweet counsel together, walking to the House of God in the throng". What is he talking about? He's talking about that pain that we all know if we've been betrayed. He had this friend named Ahithophel. And when there was high treason against David by his own son, he said it was actually the sting of Ahithophel's betrayal that hurt even worse than his natural family, storge, turning against him, that it was his brother from a different mother, Ahithophel, who picked Absalom's side in the fallout that stung more than anything. He said, I can handle enemies. I've been having enemies come at me since Goliath. Hello. But to have someone who I thought was one way end up being another way, well, that hurts, doesn't it? It's the "Et tu, Brute," that rings out throughout history, that Jesus himself experienced through the betrayal of Judas and the kiss of deceit, and that Paul, the apostle, who we said last week as he preached, he would tell everybody where he went, about his friends that helped him do what he did, the sting of that. Look at it in 2 Timothy 4. Paul is at the end of his life, and he says, "for Demus has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica". This is hard because Paul is about to have his head cut off. And when you read Colossians, he says, hey, Demus, says hi. Demus says hi. But now he's like, I'm all alone. No one's with me. Why? Because I got forsaken by this Demass, I mispronounced that. My bad. But that's the emotion, isn't it? Demus had said, Paul, I'm with you. I am with you. I am with you. I am with you. But then when Paul got arrested, Demus started to get scared that maybe he would end up in difficulty. So he bolted for Thessalonica, and that's hard. And this is not the first time Paul went through that. Paul was preaching once, and he brought along a young man named John Mark because he was this guy who had all this faith. I want to go with you, Paul. I want to be your friend. And so they go out and do this. And the moment it got difficult on the missionary journey because there's the Pinterest idea of what ministry is like, and then there's the reality. The moment it got difficult, what did John Mark do? He bolted. He bailed. And that's hard to sort out. Now, here's, let's just separate Christianity from cults. In a cult, if someone leaves the cult, no one in the cult still is allowed to have any communication with them. They've become the apostate. They've become the outsider. They're to be rejected. If you see them in the street, you shun them. You unfollow them. That's not how we're supposed to be in the body of Christ, right? Can we be clear? If someone's left Fresh Life, we want you to still have friendship with them. We want you to still love them. That's not the heartbeat at all. That being said, you don't see Paul with Demus like, hey, but next time in Thessalonica let's get a latte. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's a sense in which there's this betrayal now has caused Paul to need to have a boundary, and that's not unloving. And the same thing is true with John Mark. When John Mark bolted from the mission, later on Barnabas tried to bring John Mark up again. Let's maybe give him another shot. And Paul said, over my dead body. And Paul and Barnabas, two good friends, actually ended up with animosity over it. Why am I saying all this? Because I'm trying to say it's confusing. Even under the best of circumstances, there is a messiness to it. But what I would I'd say to you is that you have to continue to let people close, even when you've been hurt, even when it's been hard, even when you've been stung by that kind of pain, that you would not armor up, that you would not keep everybody at arm's length waiting to get wounded, hoping to get hurt, making everybody else in your life guilty for sins that somebody else committed, and to continue to have the sweetness of spirit for people in relationships in your life, even though there are hard things that are going to come. And I do love, by the way, to kind of end Demus's story, that by the end, we don't know about him. But we know about John Mark. By the end of Paul's ministry, he actually says, would you get John Mark and send him to me, for he is useful. So apparently, Paul was able to reassess a boundary that at one season needed to be pretty secure and open it up again to give John Mark himself another chance. But all this is to say that the table stakes for friendship is pain. And that's when they go wrong because they will at times for you and for me. But there's also a second source of pain and that is the pain of friendships going right. The friendship that goes right will cause pain for you as well. Why? Well, because vulnerability hurts. It hurts to let people in. It hurts to be willing for them to see you. It hurts your ego to admit that you need help, and that you need prayer, and that you need someone that can cry with you and sit with you. You also are going to go through the pain of honesty, honesty meaning you hopefully will allow people, the right people, close enough in your life to say what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear. Listen to me. If you only allow people in your life who tell you what you want to hear, you don't have true friends. Joab, 2 Samuel 11, David's off the rails, man. He's having this adulterous affair with Bathsheba. And he's fixing, he's plotting a plan to make it much, much worse. And he talks about it with his friend, Joab. And Joab does everything that David asks him to do. He does nothing to say bro, no. That comes in the next chapter, 2 Samuel 12, when a true friend, when someone who truly cared about David told him something that hurt, something that stung, something that put a mirror up in front of his life about what he was about to do by saying, you've done wrong. You've sinned. And that stung. So if we're going to put the right people in our life, sometimes it's going to be unpleasant. There's going to be difficult conversations. And every single time it happens is an opportunity to leave the relationship because that's hard and go start over new with someone else who's less drama. Or persist through the difficulty and get your relationship to another level. And I think, again, as a microcosm of that friendship, my relationship with Jennie, and then in the 19 years, the difficult nights and the bitter fights and the challenging moments that would for sure have been chance for us to go, well, then, we're incompatible, but to allow instead those differences to propel us to another level. And the same is true in friendship. How do we get to that kind of "love you like I love my soul" friendship. We persist through enough difficulties to level up our friendship enough to where the pain, the sting, and the challenge at times of loving rebuke gets us to where we want to be. We have some serious equity in the friendship account. There's another reason, though, that friends hurt, and it's the fact that when you let someone close enough in to love you, anything they go through deeply affects you. Galatians says, "Carry one another's burdens, and in so doing, fulfill the law of Christ". If I love you like I'm supposed to love you, when the Holy Spirit says to both of us we're to pursue this friendship, there are going to be times when I have to watch you hurt. And what am I going to do? I'm going to let you be helped. How am I going to do that? By hurting with you. Think about Jesus when the woman touched him. Virtue went out of him. He was weaker, so she could get stronger. That's a picture of friendship. And in your pain, I'm going to walk away. There's going to be anguish that I feel because I'm helping you carry your burden. So for all of these reasons and many others, friendships are painful. And I only tell you that so that you have full disclosure. And I want you to buy this thing without some due diligence, without knowing what you're getting into. But with that all said and every bit more, I still say to you with all of my heart, they're worth it. They're worth it. They're worth it. A Harvard study was done. It was begun in 1938, and we're in the height of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, this dark, hard chapter in our history. And some scientists, some sociologists at Harvard University said, we should study what makes people happy. And the best way to do this would be to track people for their entire lives. And then look at what was different about their lives and if there's any commonality in the happiest, healthiest group. Sounds good. The only problem is the researchers will die or retire, and who's going to carry on their work? But they launched this project, the Harvard Study of Adult Development. And they got this group, 724 men, half of them were going to come from Harvard University. That group included John F. Kennedy, by the way. And the other half was going to come from a sampling of the poorest neighborhoods in the inner city district of Boston. And they found the tenements. Now, think about it. In the Great Depression, you have people living in hovels without running water, and they found half of the group from that sampling. So these two, as different as you could possibly be, wealth, privilege, opportunity, Ivy League, all of the things. This group over here, man, very bleak possibility for better lives. And they began tracking them. Well, the original researchers either died or retired, and the baton has successfully changed hands to the current one, who just released a book on this called The Good Life, is the fourth director of the program. And what they do is every two years they call each of these men and have an interview with them about their health, about every single detail of their life, and they compile it all. It's literally in human history the longest study on human thriving that's ever been done. There are still 59 of these men who are alive. They're in their 90s. And what they basically have is an accurate picture and an understanding of what leads to happiness. And what's shocking is that how it has almost nothing to do with the number one, number two, number three things that most people, millennials and Gen Z alike, say that there are goals in their life, which usually are somewhere in this order, money, great job, ability to travel, being famous. These are almost always the top things. And they found that those who lived the longest, are the healthiest, and are the happiest, there's nothing of those things in common with them on this list. They say having a mansion on the beach is not what they have in common, the happy ones. Having a six-figure income, not, even good cholesterol. Shockingly, in your 40s and 50s, good cholesterol is not a predictor of are you going to be thriving and happy and healthy and living a very long life. Access to a country club, not on the list. College education, not even on the list at all. Those who are happy and healthy and thriving have good relationships plain and simple. That is the one proven thing this study has found, having good friendships, having relationships in your family. It's not about more money. It's not about having the prestigious job. It truly simply boils down to friendships. The friendships, they say, seems to delay mental health and physical decline and are better predictors of long and happy lives than any other single thing. So, like I said a moment ago, hard, yes. Messy, for sure. Painful, 100. Worth it. But a word of warning before you go. I don't want you to rush out from this moment now and just be on a mission for friends. Any friends? Any friends? Friends are important. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die... I need a friend. Just be the thirstiest person in the whole world. You know, friends. Because friendship is not meant to be the end. And friendship actually never works when it's about friendship. Friendship must not be about friendship. In fact, God told me to put it to you this way, and then I'll explain. Let me just say it like God told me to tell you. For better or for worse, looking back from the end of your life, it is going to be what you gave your life to more than any other thing that determines the friends that you have. What you give your life to, the agape, that's going to determine the phileos that fall into place as an effect of following whatever or whoever you choose to give your life to. In the book The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis puts it far more eloquently than I could when he said, and I quote, using words you could hardly ever imagine writing today and publishing, if anyone from Thomas Nelson is listening, "That is why those pathetic people", the snowflakes wouldn't like all that, right? "Those pathetic people who simply want friends can never make any. The very condition of having friends is that we should want something else besides friends. There would be nothing for the friendship to be about, and friendship must be about something. Those who have nothing can share nothing. Those who are going nowhere can have no fellow travelers". So if you make having friends the goal, that's where you're going. What other travelers are you going to get? You're not going to get the kind of friends the friends you're looking for are themselves looking for. So let me use the words of Jesus's BFF, Peter, Jesus's bestie, Peter, who when Jesus gave him the chance, hey, man. Do you want to call it quits? Do you want to go away? Do you want to, do you want to bounce? Peter said, man, where else am I going to go? You alone speak the words of eternal life. So our application today isn't, all right, well, I'm going to go make friends. No, the application should be, challenging question, who have you bowed yourself down to? Who have you given your life to? Where are you going that's going to bring a fellow traveler? If you give your life over to the making of money, or to being the highest or whatever, this endeavor that you want to give yourself to, being the best in class at that, you'll get fellow travelers towards that, but they won't be the kind of fellow travelers that you want at the end of your life. But if you bow yourself down to, like Peter said, you alone speak the words of eternal life. And then here's the trick. You get to look to your left and look to your right and see who else is doing that, and that should be the grid and the criteria by which you make, that's how I met Jennie. Jennie and I both gave our lives to Jesus. And we looked to the left and looked to the right. Hey, she's also doing that. Let's do that together. That should be the same grid by which we, and here's the beautiful surprise. You're not going to end up with any friends quite like what you thought on paper you were most compatible with. The algorithm would never serve that up. What in common does Matthew, the tax collector, have with Simon, the zealot? I hate Rome. You work for Rome. We're not friends. Yeah, but we're both following Jesus. So it turns out we have a lot, we are fellow travelers. That's what you want your friendship, now, I'm not saying Jesus was a friend of sinners, love people, keep the light on for people, the hope for restoration. But who actually is going to be those two, three, those Peter, James, and John's that I let access to my soul? You better make sure you're heading in the same direction. And so, Father, we do pray that our response to this message would be to re-up, or to up for the first time, our commitment to you and ask you to add the other things unto us. We're going to keep idolatry from our hearts, even the kind of idolatry that we would turn to to get a friend. Moses said, even if the friend who you love like a soul pulls you away from God, choose God. May every other love in our life look like hate compared to our love for you. And then, God, you will add to our lives the friendship and the family. And where those overlap, we hope it's beautiful, that we can even have the friendship within our families, with other people who have that same spirit and same mind. If some part of this message touched you, and you would say, I needed to hear this today, and I wanted to specifically add perhaps you have a little whiplash from some relational pain that has kept you from letting people in. You've armored up your heart. What I want to say to you is the opposite of letting people in and getting hurt is going to be you don't let people in. And you're not going to find that your heart stays hurt-free. You're going to experience a different kind of hurt, the hurt of loneliness. So if you would say there's been some pain in my heart, and I want God to heal me from that and trust people again, could I just ask you to raise up a hand so I could pray for you. God bless these. It's hard. It hurts, Lord, but I pray for your healing. I pray for your touch. I pray for your spirit. Help us to believe again. Start small, God, but keep diligently at it. And we will look back and see, I'm so grateful I kept investing. I'm so grateful I didn't pull that investment out. Thank you, Jesus. Would you touch these? Thank you for being the perfect friend to us. In Jesus' name. You can put your hands down. I want to now invite those who have never trusted Christ for salvation to that all important decision. Every other thing we're talking about, it's something that we can sort out once we've nailed down our allegiance to Jesus as King. But if you're here today and you don't have that peace, that confidence, that promise that when you die you're going to go to heaven, I invite you to open up your heart to Jesus. And I can tell you on the authority of God's word if you come to him, he will not cast you out. I don't care what you've done, where you've been, how much you've sinned, or how proudly you've adamantly said you would never do this. Jesus will come into your heart today if you invite him in. So with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you would say, I need to surrender my life to Jesus. Maybe you're listening in a correctional facility or some other bleak situation, listening in a hospital, God's word has come to you. The gospel can't be chained. So here now you can respond to the spirit and receive salvation. Every campus, every location, if you're ready to trust Jesus, I'm going to pray. I want you to pray this with me, out loud, after me, believing it in your heart. Church family say it with us: Dear God. I know that I'm a sinner. I can't fix myself, but I believe you can. Please come into my heart. Make me new. I give myself to you.

Are We Obligated To Keep The Sabbath? The writings of the Apostle Paul would seem to be clear that Christians do not need to observe the ceremonial and legal practices of the Mosaic Law. This point is brought out whenever there are debates about certain commands in the law—whether or not they were overturned by Jesus and are no longer applicable to Christians today. Here are three: * Sabbath-Keeping * Circumcision * Tithing All three of these things were not only part of the Mosaic Law, but actually pre-date the law and therefore, it would seem to some that they must be observed in Christian practice today. But is that really the case? First, is circumcision a requirement of the faith? Paul says Jesus is of no value to you if you get circumcised for salvation ( Galatians 5:2 ). As for tithing, this is not repeated as a New Testament command (though giving is). The general practice of tithing we engage in today is one born more out of relationship rather than rule. But only one of these goes back to creation and was established as a standard before sin came into the world: the sabbath. Now, about the sabbath, Paul would seem to say it is not applicable to Christians as he told the Colossians not to let others judge them regarding observing special days ( Colossians 2:16 ). But in this context, Paul seems to be saying that sabbath-keeping is not a part of effecting salvation. The reason why I have brought up these three things relative to sabbath-keeping is that all three are mentioned, commanded, or demonstrated in the scripture before the Mosaic Law was given. Because they precede law, and are not applied as a requirement of law, they can also be dismissed apart from the law, and the New Testament writers would seem to dismiss them as a requirement, with one possible exception: the sabbath. When I refer to sabbath-keeping, I am not referring to the legal practice of the various sabbaths as mentioned in the Mosaic Law, and specifically in Leviticus. If the law does not bind us ceremonially, then the sabbath, as prescribed in the law, does not bind us either since it was a ceremonial part of Judaism. But, since I’m not referring to the sabbath under the law, there is room for devoted observance that does not contradict our faith in Christ or the manner in which we are saved—by grace through faith alone. Paul’s mention of the sabbath in  Colossians 2:16  is in the context of salvation. Sabbath-keeping does not save or condemn anyone. But there is value in sabbath-keeping of another kind that should excite us. It is found in  Genesis 2:3 , “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day he rested from all the work of creation that he had accomplished.” Genesis 2:3  marks the end of the creation account that began in  Genesis 1:1 . By saying that he “sanctified it,” Moses is telling us that the sabbath is something that is before and beyond the law. Consider, it was sanctified before sin entered the world. It is therefore, also, as Genesis 1 repeatedly uses the term, “Good.” It is not a rule for observance under a specified law. It is an entering into God’s rest and enjoyment of his creation. And we should observe it, not as a rule, but as a response to all that God has done for us in Genesis 1 because keeping the sabbath in this sense is directly related to God’s statement in  Genesis 1:26 , “Let us make man in our image.” How is sabbath-keeping related to the, image of God? Just exactly what is the Image of God? Being created in the image of God is not, necessarily, about God’s communicable attributes, though that seems the popular way to define what constitutes the image of God. I do not hold this as my primary understanding of what the image of God is. I believe creation in the image of God is revealed in Genesis 1 in the acts that God performed and that being in the image of God means that we are designed to do those same acts. Let me give you some examples. Immediately after stating that man is created in God’s image, God says to man, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth” ( Genesis 1:28 ). These are things that God commands us to do because he himself does them and did them in  Genesis 1:3-27 . When was God fruitful and multiplied? When he created life on the earth, specifically, human life, which can commune with him. When did he fill the earth, when he filled it with all kinds of plant and animal life. When did God subdue? When he was bringing the unformed mass of the earth under his creative control. When did he rule? When he issued commands to the creatures and man. Do you see what is happening in the text? God created man to do the things that he does and to have the authority he possesses over the domain of creation he has given us. To do the things that God does means to do what God did in Genesis 1, but in a creaturely way. This includes sabbath-keeping as the creation account is finished in  Genesis 2:3 . If God rested, we are to rest also. In this specific text it is not prescriptive, but it is demonstrative. What is sabbath-keeping? It might help if we translate sabbath as what God did on that first sabbath. He rested (שָׁבַת֙). Today, in our culture, we take two sabbath days, Saturday and Sunday. Two days of rest. Who doesn’t want a day of rest? We scream and cry if we don’t get our days off. But sabbath-keeping is a little more than just resting and taking a day off of work. It regards the day as holy and dedicated to God. This is signified by Moses’ usage of the word, “sanctified” in verse 3. This implies worship and a setting aside of the day for holy pursuits. But since when are holy pursuits allotted for a sabbath day only? We don’t follow sabbath days as defined in the Mosaic Law, but we do observe rest and worship because it was demonstrated to us by God and our goal is to become like him in a creaturely way. Some theologians divide up the laws in the Old Testament under three general categories: judicial, ceremonial, and moral. We regard the judicial and ceremonial laws as fulfilled by Jesus and no longer applicable to us today. But the moral law remains applicable because the moral laws were repeated by the New Testament. They were fulfilled by Jesus, as the other laws were, but were also repeated for us to follow as well. The Ten Commandments are the summary of the Old Testament law. They are moral commandments. Sabbath-keeping is listed in the moral commandments. Here’s what this implies: it is moral to rest. It is immoral to refuse rest. Because God set apart the sabbath day (sanctified), biblical rest, therefore, is a holy thing. Unlike God, we need rest. We cannot survive long without rest. We cannot maintain a healthy brain or body without regular rest. Rest is essential to the human experience. God wants us to rest. He wants us to work, but he also wants us to rest. Here’s the truth we should grab hold of: resting is an expression of the image of God in us. It is no more or less true than being fruitful, multiplying, subduing and ruling. We should not forget that it was God who sanctified the sabbath, not the law, or Moses. And while we may have the freedom to change the day we celebrate, the point of having a sabbath rest is still valid as a practice. Jews celebrate it on Saturday. Western Christians celebrate it on Sunday. Arab believers celebrate on Friday. The days may differ, but the need for a day of rest is universal because the sabbath is universal, being sanctified by God at the pinnacle of creation. Are We Obligated To Keep The Sabbath? At the very least, the sabbath is a rest from work to experience rejuvenation. Why would you not want that? Ideally, sabbath is a holy experience when the Christian should pursue Christ even more. As a Christian, why would you not want that? guywithabible.com

This next month we begin an important conversation about our vision for the next mission season of connecting people to Jesus and one another at Southeast Christian Church. Where do we start? With 21 days of praying together. Patterned on Jesus’ prayer in John 17, we will lay a foundation of prayer before forging ahead. We will pray for ourselves, our church body, and our leadership. We will praise God for who He is, thank Jesus for what He has done, and seek guidance from the Holy Spirit as we “listen for the wind.” As you get ready to join us on the journey, on the following page there are three tools we want to use to guide you. Remember, prayer is just talking to God, and He isn’t expecting fancy words or perfection. God wants our real, honest selves to just talk to Him. Our heart as a church is not to presume on the past work for our future work at Southeast. We want to raise the sails and catch the wind of the Holy Spirit as we prepare for the mission ahead! INSTRUCTIONS Here are some action steps that might help you get going each day. Pause & Reflect - Find a way to pause whatever is happening so you can spend the next few minutes focused on the day’s prayer focus. This might mean you change the station or turn off the music. It might mean stepping into a quiet room or going for a walk outside. Whatever it takes for you to pause the busy life around you, go for it. Take a deep breath and pause. Read - Sometimes when we don’t have a clue what to say to God, it helps to have a Scripture to prompt our words. Each day we have provided a verse and a small thought for you to pray. Take a moment to read them, and then put them in your own words when you pray. Speak - Finally, when you’re ready, speak your prayer out loud. There is power when we move beyond the thoughts in our heads and use our mouths for the glory of the Lord. This might be uncomfortable at first, but the more we speak out loud, it just becomes our new norm for prayer. Remember what we said at the start—prayer is just talking to God and He loves to hear His children speak. DAY 1 Day 1 - Prayer Moves the Kingdom Forward Pause & Reflect: The question we want to start with today is: what place does prayer have in your life as you start this journey? Is it a meal-time ritual or does it only happen when you need God most? Wherever you are in your prayer journey, there is an example we can follow the to grow our prayer life. His name is Jesus. He believed prayer moved the Kingdom of God forward, and lived out His prayer life with that urgency. As we go through this journey, we will follow His example as recorded in John 17, which is Jesus’ prayer during His final moments before the cross. For the next 21 days, we want to get bold with our prayers. We want to see God move His Kingdom forward through our church. The hour has come; will you join us in prayer for this journey? Read Hebrews 5:7 “While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God.” (NLT) Speak a prayer that God would transform your prayer life over the next 21 days to look more like Jesus’— with desperation and honesty. DAY 2 Day 2 - God Saved Us! Pause & Reflect: God saw our mess and our problems, and He brought rescue to our lives through Jesus Christ. Then, if that wasn’t enough, Jesus empowers transformation in us by giving us the guidance of the Holy Spirit - God’s very Presence - to live in us. Jesus started His prayer by saying thank you to God, and that is where we want to start today. Read John 17:1 “After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.’” (NLT) Speak a prayer of thanksgiving today to God for sending Jesus to save us, and for allowing the same Spirit who lived in Jesus to live in us every day. DAY 3 Day 3 - Give God Glory with Our Life Pause & Reflect: Jesus lived His life in public and private all for God. The second half of His prayer in John 17:1 got right to the point. After thanking God, He remained on a mission to give God glory. How much of our life right now is dedicated to giving God glory? During this journey through prayer, we can follow the example of Jesus to move more of our lives— public and private—to glorify God. Read John 17:1 “After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.’” (NLT) Speak an honest prayer today that our lives—in public and in private, in work and worship—glorify God, especially as we approach this new season for our church. DAY 4 Day 4 - One Authority Given by One God Pause & Reflect: We live in a time where there are so many views on things eternal. As a church, the only eternal authority we can stand on is one true God. He is the Creator of the universe, the Mighty One, the King of Kings, and the Father. Jesus was the radiance of God’s Glory, the exact representation of His being (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus was sent by the one true God and is empowered by His authority. Our church is led by that authority in Jesus, and our confidence rests in that truth. Read John 17:2-3 “For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” (NLT) Speak a prayer for our church today that we will continue to stay strong the coming year and stand only on the authority of Jesus as given by the one true God. DAY 5 Day 5 - Show Us the Work! Pause and Reflect: Every night when I come home, a simple conversation happens with my kids, “What homework do you have to do?” Maybe yours starts every morning at your job as the work for the day gets laid out. Our “work” happens every day and can come from any direction—a boss, a teacher, or a parent. Have you ever paused to consider what is God’s work for His church? Jesus knew the answer was to get it straight from the authority of God. Have you asked God lately what our work should be about? Our church wants to go after the work God has for us in this next season and will need Him to do it! Read John 17:4 “I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” (NLT) Speak a prayer for our church that just as Jesus Christ finished the work that God gave Him to do, God would show us the work He has for our church and allow us to do it. DAY 6  Day 6 - Shining our Light Pause & Reflect: At home, we have this screensaver for our TV that shows different images from space, and one of them always amazes me. It is a satellite view of the earth at night. On it, you can see thousands of tiny lights that make up the countries on display. It is crazy at that distance all of our different kinds of lights reveal the places we live in. The church was described as a city on a hill with a light that cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14), and when we shine our light we reveal Jesus to a world that needs Him. Jesus prayed to reveal God to those around Him, and we want to do the same. Read John 17:6 “I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word.” (NLT) Speak a prayer for our church that we will be a shining light that reveals God to our city. DAY 7 Day 7 - Put People on Our Path Pause & Reflect: Jesus walked everywhere while He was doing life on earth. Those walks took Him to markets, houses, fishing expeditions, and people. Jesus trusted God to put people on His path and God answered. God put fishermen, tax collectors, women no one else would speak to, lepers, and teachers of the law before Jesus. He met them and everything changed. Have you ever considered God has a desire to put people on our path who need the love of Jesus? What if a bold prayer today led you to look more like Jesus by looking for people on your path? Read John 17:6 “I have revealed you to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word.” (NLT) Speak a prayer for our church that God would put people into our path, stir us up to invest in their lives, and reveal Himself to them, so He can transform their lives with His love. DAY 8 Day 8 - Led by His Word Pause & Reflect: What is leading you right now? Maybe right now Waze, Siri or Google is speaking directions to your next destination. Maybe you’re being led by the words of an instruction manual trying to assemble that baby crib the furniture store employee said would be easy to build. (We know it’s not!) Some of you are being led by words from a friend as you try to cope with whatever trouble has come your way. There are lots of words leading our lives, both in the simple and important parts. For Jesus, there was only one message and one place for His Word—God. We want to be a church that is obedient and led by God’s Word. What role does God’s Word have in leading you today? Read John 17:8 “For I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.” (NLT) Speak a prayer for our church and the church leadership to accept, believe, and be obedient to the Word of God. DAY 9 Day 9 - We Belong to God Pause & Reflect: Who do you belong to? It seems like an odd question to ask, but it might just be one of the most important in this prayer journey. We identify ourselves so many different ways—by family, by jobs, even by our interests. Who you belong to will say a lot about your full identity. Once in a toy store, I made that crucial error every parent dreads: I lost my kid. In a panic, we searched the store until we heard someone say, “Who does she belong to?” That moment led us and our daughter from panic to joy when she knew she belonged to us! Our ultimate identity lies in who we belong to, God. We are His children, and Jesus prayed about this truth. What mindsets need to change today knowing you are a child of God and belong to Him? Read John 17:9 “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you.” (NLT) Speak a prayer today getting personal with God about your belonging to Him. Confess what identities you need to drop so you can be identified as a child of God fully. DAY 10 Day 10 - Protect Us from the Enemy Pause & Reflect: Did you know there is an unseen battle going on right now? A battle that has two clear sides—good versus evil. Jesus spoke a little about this unseen battle when said the thief comes to kill steal and destroy, but He came to give you life to the full (John 10:10). God battles on our behalf with a full legion at His command. Every day we can wage war with God by praying against that enemy and his thievery ways. Take a look around—what is the thief taking that needs to be stopped? What would today look like if you considered your prayer as a battle cry for yourself or others? Our staff fights these battles Sunday to Sunday, and right now you can become their armor bearers by praying for protection from the enemy. Read John 17:11 “Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.” (NLT) Speak a prayer boldly today for God to protect us all—especially the church staff—from the traps of the enemy, by the power of His Son Jesus. DAY 11 Day 11 - Experiencing Full Joy Pause & Reflect: Did you know that Jesus prayed for you to experience full joy today? Joy is so much stronger than a temporal happiness we seek so often. Galatians 5:22 lets us know that unlike happiness, joy comes as fruit or work of the Holy Spirit in us. Joy is a sustained triumph and Godly perspective that is greater than any one high or low we have in life. Jesus had joy and wanted to share that with all who followed Him. Where do you need to experience joy? Do you believe it’s possible even with your current circumstances? Read John 17:13 “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy.” (NLT) Speak a prayer boldly today for God to allow you to experience the full measure of joy Jesus prayed for in John 17. Don’t hold back on any of the challenges or obstacles that seem to crowd out His joy from you. DAY 12 Day 12 - Responding to Hate with Love Pause & Reflect: Hate is a powerful word. I remember using it for the first time as a young boy against my sister saying “I hate you!” It was the first time in our sibling battles that I saw a dramatic change in her against me. I knew the word carried weight. Today, hate has become a mantra for so many in their response to opposing viewpoints, race, or disagreement. Jesus called this out in this prayer to let us know there will be strong opposition: the world will hate us. So what will be our response be when we experience hate? What would it look like to respond out of the love Jesus modeled for us? Read John 17:14 “I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.” (NLT) Speak a prayer for our church family that when the world opposes us or rejects the Gospel message, that we will respond by showing love and kindness. DAY 13 Day 13 - Opposing the Evil One Pause & Reflect: All evil has a leader. Every enemy has a general. Jesus got ultra-specific again about the forces at work against us in His prayer by calling out the “evil one.”.Jesus knew something we didn’t: there is an agenda. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (NLT) Today, would you consider the agenda of the leader of evil? As we enter a new season ready to go after our mission with the full force of the church, our leadership needs your prayers to keep them safe from his tactics and agendas. Read John 17:15 “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.” (NLT) Speak a prayer boldly on behalf of our church’s leadership that God would keep them safe from the evil one’s agenda and tactics. DAY 14 Day 14 - An Eternal Perspective Pause & Reflect: Have you ever been somewhere and thought to yourself, “I don’t belong here.” Once, when going to the parking lot to get in my car, I hopped in what I thought was our vehicle and started unpacking everything. When I went to put my key in the ignition, I realized it wasn’t my van! I didn’t belong there. It is easy to get comfortable in this life at times, thinking this is it for us. It may look like our home, but when we get an eternal perspective, we realize that just like Jesus said, we don’t belong to this world. How can you change your perspective today to be eternal? Read John 17:16 “They do not belong to this world any more than I do.” (NLT) Speak a prayer asking God to remind us that we are not of this world; we have an eternal home in Heaven with Him. DAY 15 Day 15 - Set Apart Pause & Reflect: Sometimes photos just say everything that needs to be said. Such is the case of a photo I ran across that was taken from Fenway Park where the Red Sox play baseball. Fenway has all these green chairs, and then there is this one red chair. This oddly placed chair was set apart so fans would know about the historical moment of Ted Williams hitting one of the longest home runs in the stadium’s history. This picture also serves as a great visual for God’s design on our lives. We were not created to just blend in, but instead to be set apart. Jesus used the word “holy” in His prayer for us, and that word means to be set apart. Where are you blending in instead of allowing God to help you become holy and set apart? Read John 17:17 “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.” (NLT) Speak a prayer for God to make you holy or set apart for His purpose by His truth. DAY 16 Day 16 - Sent on a Mission Pause & Reflect: It is easy to see that we have a ton of people attending services every week, challenging our seating capacity at many of our campuses. This leads to an even larger question that needs to be asked of us as a church: what is our sending capacity? Let that sink in for a moment. How many of our people are leaving Sunday, heading into Monday sent on a mission? Jesus raised the bar on following Him through this prayer by reminding us that just as He was sent on a mission, so are we. What would it look like to see an awakening of sending from our church in this next season of our mission? What if our sending capacity matched our seating capacity? Read John 17:18 “Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.” (NLT) Speak a prayer that we would be more than just passive church members; that we would be sent into the world to show and share the love of Jesus. DAY 17 Day 17 - Covered by Jesus’ Prayers Pause & Reflect: Think about this—you have been covered in prayer by Jesus today. Jesus took time during prayer to think about all of those who one day would find and follow Him. Being supported in prayer by Jesus means our entire walk is held up by His powerful name. This challenges us in the same way to consider the many believers who are waking up today around the world to follow the message of Christ. Take a moment to consider all of the different situations believers might be waking up today. Some are struggling to believe, some are not able to be public with their faith, and others are showing up at a school desiring to be a light to their friends. Will you join the prayer of Jesus today by praying for all of our brothers and sisters who follow Him? Read John 17:20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.” (NLT) Speak a prayer today for all people who follow Jesus, that they will be strengthened in their faith. DAY 18 Day 18 - United as One Leadership Pause & Reflect: Being united as one allows us the ability to move forward effectively. Even in the simple things—like my family trying to choose a place to eat, or coming around a huge group of fans who all support the same team—unity creates something special. When the importance of the work rises, so does the importance of being united as one. Jesus prayed that very prayer so that He and the Father would reflect that ideal. Now, l want you to consider the leadership of our church. God has appointed them to guide us through the Holy Spirit into a new season of ministry and mission. We need them to be one—not just with one another, but with Jesus and the Father—so we can catch the wind of the Holy Spirit. Let’s not forget to pray for our leadership. May they be united as one! Read John 17:21 “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you….” (NLT) Speak a prayer today that God would allow our church leadership to be one, just as Jesus and the Father are one. DAY 19 Day 19 - United as One Church Pause & Reflect: Keeping with our unity thought from yesterday, we want to shift the conversation from leadership to the whole church. Today more than ever, we have to ask the question, what is our church known for in our community? If we were to be gone tomorrow, would we be missed? Jesus described the church as a force of good when He said the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). We also know the church is one body made up of many parts (1 Corinthians 12:12-14). What a unique position the church has today. We can come together with different backgrounds and skills and be people united by Jesus for a greater good. Today, our prayer matters for the whole church—to be united as one, so that our community would know the love of Jesus and have His presence felt. Read John 17:23 “I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” (NLT) Speak a prayer today that God will grant our church complete unity and peace, so that the community we live in will believe in Jesus and know His love. DAY 20 Day 20 - Being in the Presence of the Father Pause & Reflect: There is something powerful about being in the presence of someone we feel is important. Once, I was in line at an airport behind a cast member from Saturday Night Live, and I just geeked out. Something about being around someone semi-famous made it special. Whomever you assign importance to in life, from a father to a famous person, being in their presence is an experience that leaves us different. As people who follow Jesus, we can be in the presence of someone of great importance daily: God the Father. Jesus made that possible through the cross, and now what was only possible for a few is available for the many. Being with the Father doesn’t require our perfection, just our presence. It is there we can find comfort, security, identity, and so much more. Will you take the time to sit in His presence today? Read John 17:24 “Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!” (NLT) Speak a prayer today that the Father will let us see His glory and let us feel His presence! DAY 21 Day 21 - Radical Revealers of His Love Pause & Reflect: The journey of our church has been happening for more than 60 years. God has used us to impact the city of Louisville, surrounding areas, and the world with the love of Jesus. We have been a church that partners with the local school and the local food pantry. We have been a church that has planted churches all over the country and around the world. We have been a church that sends people on a mission to support God’s movement in other countries. We have responded to hurricane-torn areas with sacrificial gifts and sacrificial time. As we get ready for the next 60 years, we want to be the same church that radically reveals God’s love for people locally and beyond. On this last day, will you pray as Jesus prayed that we will continue to radically reveal God’s love? Read John 17:26 “I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.” (NLT) Speak a prayer today that we would be a church comprised of radical revealers of God’s love all around us for the next 60 years, leaving an impact that could only be possible through the Holy Spirit.

I was asked a few days ago three questions related to our finances and needed perspective during these challenging times with the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis. Honestly, our needs as Christ followers right now are the same as they are in times of ease, plenty, and comfort. But suffering and difficulty can make our calling and purpose much clearer. Puritan Thomas Watson said, “God takes away the world, that the heart may cleave more to Him in sincerity.” Let’s not waste this difficult season, but instead use it to study and learn and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior (2 Peter 3:18). The grace that saves us is also the grace that sanctifies and empowers us. God’s power isn’t needed just by unbelievers to be converted. It’s needed by believers to be obedient and joyful. This is the grace Jesus offers you today, and every day, as you seek to follow Him faithfully. What do we need to know? We need to know who our God is and that He has many attributes, and not just love. (I highly recommend J. I. Packer’s book Knowing God, as well as Wayne Grudem’s large Systematic Theology and also his abridged Bible Doctrine.) We need to know all that’s true about Him, including His sovereignty, justice, love, grace, wrath, happiness, mercy, patience, unchangeableness (immutability), and His providential workings to bring about His eternal plan. A central part of that plan is using adversity to topple our idols, including the idols of health and wealth, and to make us more Christlike, and thereby more faithful representatives of the Jesus we proclaim. This will result in people being drawn toward faith in Him. “WE KNOW that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). “Now this is eternal life: THAT THEY KNOW YOU, the only true God, AND JESUS CHRIST, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). We need to know that the people of God will truly live happily ever after with Jesus and each other on the New Earth, a redeemed world that is our true country and our eternal home. This is not wishful thinking, but the blood-bought promise of the risen King Jesus. Meanwhile we are pilgrims, strangers, and aliens in this fallen world, and we should never expect anything in it to meet our deepest needs, which can only be met in Him (Hebrews 11:13-17). What do we need to be? We need to be disciples who bear Christ’s likeness, including integrity, trust, and faithfulness to God. We need to be trusting children who believe the promises of God, not the promises of American pop culture and celebrities and financial cheerleaders, including Christian ones, who are convinced America’s long-term prosperity is a given, somehow guaranteed. (Where do you find that in the Bible?) We need to be people who realize our dependence on our Savior and King, and that apart from Him all we do amounts to nothing: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). We need to be Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), meaning that we accurately and unapologetically represent who He is, what He believes, and what He says is true. Our job isn’t to be His make-up artists, speech writers, or PR staff who go before Him, but His servants who follow behind Him and faithfully convey His true agenda, whether or not others like it or we’re comfortable doing it. We need to be children who understand “God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness” and “no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:10-11). Richard Sibbes said, “When we grow careless of keeping our souls, God recovers our taste of good things by sharp crosses.” So we should be people who see that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17). What do we need to do? We need to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. We need to love our neighbors as ourselves, caring not only about our children but all children. We need to ask God for wisdom and seek to act wisely (James 1:5) but also lovingly, which sometimes means taking great personal risks for the good of others who need our help. “What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). We need to understand that some things are far worse than death, and failing to walk with Him and obey Him and be willing to die for Him are among them. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24). We need to store up our treasures in Heaven, not on Earth, knowing that they are never safe when stored up on earth, but only when placed in the hands of our God in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-21; 1 Timothy 6:17-19). We need to happily serve Him in a spirit of continuous prayer, overflowing with joy and gratitude: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We need to adopt an eternal perspective, and “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). Knowing our Lord went to Hell for us on the cross so we could live with Him forever in Heaven, even in hard times we should fix our eyes on Him and “sing” and “shout for joy” and “be happy and rejoice with all our hearts” (Zephaniah 3:14, NCV).

Dear Roger, What are the key truths that guide your life? What words define you as a husband, Christian and pastor? Love, Rachel Dear Rachel, These are the words that have guided my spiritual life, ministry and family. They are my life-messages. I would write them on my tombstone. Love,  Roger Spirituality Everyone is just as spiritual as he/she wants to be. God never reveals the deep things of the spirit to the Christian who just stops by for a little chat. The greatest tragedy in the Christian church is the Christian who refuses to grow up. My life's prayer: “Dear Lord, please make me a spiritual father/mother at any price.” God uses everything that happens in our lives for the good purpose of molding us to look like Jesus. Family You can never get back the time that you miss with your kids. You are most blessed if you and your spouse are intimate friends. Set your spouse free to be the person God wants her/him to be.  The greatest hindrance to intimacy in marriage is the failure to leave mom and dad. Protect your children by letting them know that relevant expectations come from  you , and not from the church members. Take time to savor the little victories. Don’t ask for a pint’s worth of forgiveness if you’ve inflicted a gallon’s worth of hurt. Church Ministry If you have a vision to help hurting people, you will always have a ministry. Be kind to everyone you meet, because everyone you meet is fighting a battle. When you see hurt, comfort it. A shepherd’s best work is done on the backside of the mountain when no one is looking. There are three levels of friends: acquaintances, close friends, and intimate friends. You need some of each. Always be preparing the next generation of leaders to step in and take over. There are two kinds of church members: the pillars who give 80% of the money, support and time, and the caterpillars who crawl in and out around the pillars. Life is tough: huddle up. Historically, the first generation fights the battles; the second generation enjoys the spoils; and the third generation gives it all back. Win at parish poker by knowing how many chips (depth of relationships) you have and the cost of using them (for the difficult times, for change)! Preaching The worst sin a preacher can commit is to be boring. Put the cookies on the lower shelf where everyone can reach them. Never be longer than five minutes away from a good story or illustration. Take courses or classes in public speaking in order to become a master communicator, if necessary. Preaching the  Bible  paragraph by paragraph is the most effective way to teach Christians to grow and lay the groundwork for spiritual maturity. Study the Bible by using the  accuracy  principle, the  background  principle, and the  common sense  principle. Ask permission if you use your spouse or kids in a sermon illustration. Pay them money if need be. Be certain that you pray; gather your notes and check your fly before you step up to preach! Church Finances It is a sin for pastor to tip-toe around the issues of materialism, money and stewardship. Don’t be shy about raising money. Pastors who raise money have the resources to help fulfill their dreams for the kingdom. Sometimes, the most important job that the pastor has is to raise money. Be sure you take care of home base. If you lose home base you have essentially lost the church. Have a team of expert leaders in place to ensure that church funds are handled honestly and effectively. My Dad’s Words of Wisdom He who whispers down the well about the goods he has to sell will not have as many dollars as he who climbs a tree and hollers. Don’t sell your peanuts at the end of the parade. The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price has been forgotten. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. My life verse "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Dear Roger, Why hasn’t Jesus come back yet? I see so much sorrow and suffering in our world. I see so many people rejecting Him. And when I compare that with all the Scriptures where Jesus promises to return, I just don’t understand why He is waiting so long. Can you help me? Sincerely, Tiffany Dear Tiffany, From the very beginning, Jesus knew that He would fulfill the calling God had given Him to die in our place, paying the price for our sins. He also knew that He would return; His “Second Coming,” to reign over a new heaven and a new earth. The apostle John wrote about that moment in Revelation 20: I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. … His name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. … on His robe and on His thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords. However, Jesus never told us exactly when He would come. Jesus knew what would happen, but even He didn’t know when. In Matthew 24:36, He proclaimed, “ About that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the father .” But over and over again, He reassured us that He would come; “You will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). We can count on His promise … however, we won’t know the exact time either. He commands us to “K eep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42). So, we can be certain that Jesus will return. But what’s taking him so long? Let me give you some reasons why Jesus has not come back yet. FIRST, JESUS IS POSTPONING HIS SECOND COMING TO GIVE AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE A CHANCE TO REPENT AND TURN TO HIM.   “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” ( 2 Peter 3:8–9 ) There is a precedent for this kind of delay. God doesn’t want to send anyone to hell. He is a God of love. In fact, God gave Noah 120 years to build the ark, hoping against hope that many might repent and clean up their lives. It is sad to say, but during these times of postponement very few change their minds and repent. For example, the apostle John revealed what will happen in the future in Revelation 9:20-21: The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murderers or of their sorceries or their immoralities or their thefts. SECOND, JESUS IS POSTPONING HIS SECOND COMING UNTIL THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH CHRISTIANS LEFT TO HOLD BACK THE EVIL IN THE WORLD. Speaking to his followers, Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste, it is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.” ( Matthew 5:13 ) Jesus is using an analogy here. Unfortunately, good salt would become diluted and lose its usefulness as it mixed with dirt in the unsanitary conditions of the first-century world. There would come a time when so much dirt mixed with the salt that the mixture would no longer be good for anything. When the number of well-salted Christians declines to the point where the world is no longer impacted by their presence, Jesus says, “Throw it out!” Jesus will then return. THIRD, JESUS IS POSTPONING HIS RETURN UNTIL WHOEVER OR WHATEVER IS HOLDING BACK THE “MAN OF LAWLESSNESS” RELEASES HIM. “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) “And now you know what is holding him back, so that the man of lawlessness may be revealed at the proper time.” (2 Thessalonians 2:6) In 2 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul is teaching about the Antichrist, using the term “man of lawlessness.” Note that his writings match John’s vision of the Antichrist in Revelation. The “man of lawlessness” will come, he will be a portent of the end, he will precede Jesus’ Second Coming … but we do not know who or what is holding back the unveiling of the man of lawlessness. Whatever it is, Jesus will not come back until the man of lawlessness is unmasked. Many surmise that what holds the man of lawlessness back is the Holy Spirit. If that is the case, as soon as the Holy Spirit allows the Antichrist to act, Jesus will return. FOURTH, JESUS IS NOT YET BACK BECAUSE HE MUST FIRST FULFILL ALL OF HIS PROPHESIED RESPONSIBILITIES DETAILED FROM REVELATION 1:1 UP TO AND INCLUDING REVELATION 20:11. The Second Coming will occur at the end of the seven-year Great Tribulation. The seals have been opened, the trumpets have been blown, and the bowls of wrath have been poured out. Now, occurs the battle of Armageddon. The apostle John, watching from his God-given vantage point, declared, “ And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, ‘Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.’ And the earth was reaped ” ( Revelation 14:15 -16). At the Second Coming, hostile nations will gather at Armageddon to war against each other ( Zechariah 14:2 ). Christ then returns and stands on the Mount of Olives. These enemy nations will recognize King Jesus as their real adversary. They join forces … and they don’t have a chance. Jesus is now free to commence his post-Second Coming responsibilities, from the judgment of Satan and his armies to the day when the old earth passes away and the new heaven and earth come to be (read Revelation chapters 20 and 21). By the way, the prophet Zechariah prophesied that at the Second Coming, Jesus will return with nail prints in his hands, feet, and side. The Jews will weep as they look upon the one whom they pierced and realize that they had crucified their Messiah. “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication, so that, when they look on him they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child.” (Zechariah 12:10) Tiffany, you asked the question, “Why hasn’t Jesus come back yet?” Now, we know why. By the way, THE RAPTURE IS NOT THE SECOND COMING. It’s all right to pray for the rapture to occur, when Jesus will come in the air and “we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Those who have chosen to follow Christ at that time—dead or alive—will be taken up into heaven. But Jesus will NOT come back to earth at that time. In conclusion, we would do well to emulate the words of Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer while we wait: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Let’s join Jesus to pray for God’s Kingdom to come on earth! I hope this helps. Love, Roger

Refusing to be offended – Matthew 15:21-28 Once I went on a mission trip to Pakistan, and when we arrived our missionary host sat us down for a quick cultural orientation. Ironically, most of his instructions were aimed at me, the woman in the group. I was asked to dress in the traditional Pakistani clothes which was fine with me. The kameez is a long tunic top and the shalwar is the draw-string baggy trousers worn underneath the kameez. At least I didn’t have to wear a burka. The next instructions the missionary gave me were surprising though, “When we are out in public never speak to or smile at a man, or you will be considered a prostitute. When we are with Christians that will be different because they will know you are an American and don’t know better.” As I listened to his words I felt like someone had asked me stop breathing. I learned on this trip that intentionally or not, I smile a lot. Many cultural restrictions are placed on women in this part of the world. Some men in the middle-east won’t even speak to the women in their families while they are out in public. Another cultural-norm that spills into today’s biblical story is how middle easterners value community over individual rights. Remember Jesus has a community of people who are literally following him around. So, when Jesus encounters this woman he is not just concerned with her needs he is also concerned about his disciples’ spiritual development. Why is it important to consider middle-eastern culture when reading the scriptures? The stories in the Bible are embedded with cultural significance. If we only read a passage with our western lenses we will miss many nuisances. If we don’t know the cultural-norms we also, could be offended by Jesus initial treatment of this woman in this story. Look at Matthew 15:21-28 and let’s begin exploring. 21 When Jesus left there, he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.” 23 Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.” 24 He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!” 26 He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed. CSB Why do you think that Jesus went to this region in modern day Lebanon? At this time large crowds seem to follow him wherever he goes. Traveling outside of Israel might have been an attempt to get some rest, and be anonymous. But, this desperate woman recognizes Jesus and she starts calling out for his help. It seems her initial recognition annoys the disciples because Jesus’ attitude toward her mirrors those thoughts. Remember, it is culturally unacceptable to talk to a woman in public and if you are Jewish you certainly don’t talk to a Canaanite woman in public. Why would Jesus give a voice to his disciples’ prejudices? Have you ever had an ugly thought and you didn’t realize how awful it sounded until it was voiced out loud? To cultivate a heart that avoids offense, we must let Jesus expose our prejudices. In the disciples’ eyes this woman had two strikes against her, her race and her gender. The disciples knew Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, and at this point in their history they couldn’t imagine Jesus would care about this woman. They wanted a military leader who would overthrow Rome’s occupation of Israel. So consequently, they expected him to have no empathy for this Gentile or her dire needs. But, what did God want? What did God always want? If we go back to the Abrahamic covenant given to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 there are two promises given to Abraham and his descendants. The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. CSB The first promise was the Jews would be blessed by God and the second promise was that Abraham and his descendants would become a blessing to all peoples of the world. Which part of this covenant did the Jews like? Which part do we like? Everyone likes the part where we are promised to be blessed by God, but not everyone is ready to embrace becoming a blessing to others. It was God’s intention from the very start that the Jews would become a missionary people. We learn from Genesis 12 that our God has always had a missionary heart. So, Jesus’ actions are exposing the ugly prejudices his disciples held against the Gentiles and women by voicing their concerns. But, what was Jesus communicating to this woman by his delayed response to her? Jesus was actually complimenting this woman by testing her faith. To cultivate a heart that avoids offense, we must let Jesus test our faith. The mother in this story is relentless in her persistence. First, Jesus ignores her and then when he starts giving her reasons why he won’t help her, she won’t give up. Interestingly, Jesus is taking one set of circumstances and using it differently in different hearts. To the disciples he was exposing their prejudice, but to this desperate mother he is testing her faith. Jesus refers to her as a dog and amazingly she refuses to be offended by his words because there was something she wanted more. She wanted her daughter delivered from this tormenting demon. She probably knew the Jews often referred to the Gentiles as dogs in a derogatory way. Dogs at this time were not valued pets. People often had large guard dogs to protect their property, but the idea of a small lap dog was unusual. Her humility before Jesus is impressive. I don’t believe for one minute that Jesus saw her as a dog, this would be inconsistent with the missionary heart of God, but I do believe the disciples saw her as a dog and that attitude had to change. She exercises her deep faith when she asks him, “Just give me a crumb of your power.” She knew Jesus had the power to heal her daughter and she knew it wouldn’t take much of his power. Her exceptional faith was richly rewarded, her daughter was healed and she got everything she wants. To cultivate a heart that avoids offense, we must let Jesus expose our prejudice, and we must let Jesus test our faith. This woman refused to be offended by Jesus. Sometimes that is what faith looks like, refusing to be offended by what God is doing or what he is allowing. Jesus was going to let this woman, her daughter and his disciples see his healing power, but not before confronting some issues in their lives. Listen to these words about John the Baptist in Luke 7:20-23. 20 When the men reached him, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’” 21 At that time Jesus healed many people of diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and he granted sight to many blind people. 22 He replied to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news, 23 and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.” CSB Jesus said, “Blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.” How can we protect ourselves from being offended by God?

Introduction Believers should seek to get spiritual clarity through prayer as they listen for God to speak to them. Because of spiritual warfare, we should prioritize our need to hear God’s voice. In doing this, we can receive spiritual guidance and clarity regarding His direction for our lives. It can be easy for an individual to be stuck or static because of the difficulty we often face as we fight spiritual battles and face the opposition of the enemy. God wants to guide us through His Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. We are spiritual creatures; however, we operate in the natural realm. We have limited information without the impact of God’s view and His thoughts about the earthly decisions we must make. We have to stay in communication with God because it’s possible His specific instructions to us may change from situation to situation. His Word doesn’t change, but the application of His Word in our lives in various seasons very well could change. Ongoing communication with God over time, and throughout different seasons, is important. How God worked in our lives yesterday may not be the same as how He wants to work in our lives today. In order to hear God’s voice, there is a requirement: we have to have open lines of communication. Prayer is the point of contact between the physical and the spiritual, and it helps us to seek fulfillment of our requests within the will of God. Our diligence in prayer results in the opportunity to receive anointed and divinely inspired illumination. Our goal in prayer is to align our desires to God’s will. In giving God our attention, He can speak to our minds and hearts, giving us direction for our unique circumstances. When we position ourselves through prayer to hear God’s voice, He gives us spiritual direction in our thinking, spiritual power in our obedience, and spiritual victory in our battles. Getting Started 1. Many people talk about hearing from God, but mean different things in terms of how they hear from God. Whether you think you hear from God or not, what do you think it looks like to hear from God? How do you think someone knows when they have heard from God? 2. Even among believers, people who want to hear from God say they struggle to do so. Why do you this is? Let’s Get Personal 1. Have you experienced receiving God’s guidance as you’ve prayed? Share that experience with your group. 2. Is prayer a priority in your life? What does prioritized prayer look like in practical terms as you incorporate it in your life? 3. Many people feel stuck in their lives because of the battle that they are facing or the crisis in front of them is bigger than what they feel they can handle. Have you ever felt this way? If prayer is an option, have you used this tool for fighting spiritual battles? Why or why not? Take the Next Step 1. Ongoing communication with God requires intentionality. We lead busy lives with interruption and distraction. What distraction can you move to hear God’s voice more clearly? 2. How will your prayer life change in light of this message? How did the message convict you and how will you incorporate a new priority of prayer in your life? 3. Want to go deeper? Take a look at the following passages: 2 Kings 6:14-17; Psalm 34:4-7; John 14:26; 16:13; Acts 13:22; 1 Corinthians 2:9-16; 1 John 2:20 Renew Your Mind “I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.” Psalm 34:4

GOD'S PROTECTION! Because of man’s sin and the subsequent curse that poisoned the perfection of God’s creation, the world is often a dangerous place. People suffer every day from  natural disasters , crime, car accidents, poor health, and more. It’s natural to seek protection from the pain and sorrow of life.  Does the Bible promise us the protection of God when we become part of His eternal family? It is important to understand that there is God’s physical protection and spiritual protection. Spiritual protection, meaning, regardless of our future sins or the schemes of Satan, we will never lose the salvation God has granted  ( 2 Timothy 1:12 ).  There is nothing that can ever separate us from God’s love  ( Romans 8:38–39 ) . In addition, we are given freedom from the dominion of sin—we are no longer slaves to sinful thoughts, desires, and actions, but are born into a new life of holiness  ( Romans 6:22 ).  Throughout our lives, God will continue to “guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus”  ( Philippians 4:7 ),  providing the strength, peace, and perseverance we need to make it through any test or trial. His Spirit grows in us fruit that will strengthen our Christian walk  ( Galatians 5:22–23 ),  and He provides us with powerful tools with which we can fend off the enemy’s spiritual attacks  ( Ephesians 6:10–17 ). But there is absolutely nothing wrong with asking for and believing for  physical protection  from God. But always keeping in mind, but not letting it affect our faith, that sometimes things happen to true believers. Every day one of the things I always pray for is for God’s protection. I say, "Lord I ask for your protection over my family, friends, and for believers." The other day I just narrowly missed being hit by a car flying across all lanes of the highway I was driving on. God's protection? I'm believing it was! Does God promise to protect us all the time?  Sometimes God allows things to happen that we don’t understand. I would like to also remind you that most of the time God protects us without us even knowing, without you even seeing it coming. For example, you choose not to take your usual route to go to work one day and when you finally get to work you find out that there was a huge 10 car accident, which could have been you. God sees what we don’t see.  What father doesn’t protect their child even when their child doesn’t know any better? God protects us when we try to do our own thing. God can see what we can’t see. Picture a baby on a bed who is constantly trying to jump off. The baby can’t see, but his father can see. He can hurt himself if he falls off, so his father grabs him and blocks him from falling off. Sometimes we get disappointed when things don’t go our way and wonder,  " God why don’t you open this door ?"  Why didn’t that relationship last? Why did this happen to me? God sees what we can’t see, and He is going to protect us whether we like it or not. If only you knew. Sometimes we ask for things that would end up harming us if God answered our way. God is faithful! We must trust that He knows what He is doing. God protects you daily and you don’t even know it… Psalm 121:7-8…  The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. Psalm 34:20…  For the LORD protects the bones of the righteous; not one of them is broken! Psalm 121:3…  He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Why should we fear when the Lord is for us? Psalm 3:5…   I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the LORD was watching over me. Psalm 27:1…  By David. The LORD delivers and vindicates me! I fear no one! The LORD protects my life! I am afraid of no one! Deuteronomy 31:6…   Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Here are a few more Scripture verses for you to use in your prayer time. Declare them over your life! Isaiah 54:17  …  No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” Psalm 91:1-16 …  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, ... Psalm 46:1 …  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Deuteronomy 31:6 …  Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:3 …  But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. Isaiah 41:10 …  Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Psalm 138:7 …  Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. Proverbs 18:10 …  The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. Psalm 32:7 …  You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Psalm 5:11 …  But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. 2 Samuel 22:3-4 …  My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. Psalm 121:7-8 …  The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. My prayer is that the above has helped you in knowing and experiencing His Divine Protection.

"This past Sunday you may have heard me make a possible puzzling statement… “Pure rationalism will lead to irrationalism.” What does that mean? Let me explain.  Man’s reason and senses enable him to navigate the physical world around him.  Such is the common grace bestowed by a reasonable God who gives man the ability to navigate the habitat of his world. Birds have feathers Fish have fins Moles have claws. Man has senses and reason. But man must navigate a higher realm. a more important realm an invisible realm a realm beyond the senses a spiritual realm the “upper story.” That realm is the realm of God. Because the questions that demand answers are: Metaphysics: What is behind and above the physical? Epistemology: How can we know for certain in areas we can’t evaluate? Ethics: What is right and wrong and how do we know? All life depends upon the answers to these 3 questions.  The answer is self-evident. “Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse.” (Rom. 1:20) God is the answer for our  metaphysics .  He who is eternal and personal makes a reasonable universe with answers for existence and order and especially for man in the image of God.  Thus, the universe is not eternal and not God, and yet, through God, it has eternal meaning and glory. Man is also not God, but has an eternal glory which comes from being in the image of God. God is our answer for knowing, or  epistemology .  God makes man with senses and reason to navigate the physical sensory world that we inhabit;  we can know  about the physical world with relative certainty and  we can know  of the divine world through God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible. And God is our answer for  ethics  – right and wrong.  His law, revealed in His word, the expression of His holy nature, is our immutable standard for right and wrong. Thus our faith is not based upon finite man and his finite reasoning but upon the infinite person and word of God. We have metaphysical meaning and dignity. We have a foundation of final inerrant truth. We have a standard outside of man for what is right. Christianity is not only  internally  consistent but it is  externally  livable – except that you must bow to a Supreme Being, which man is loathe to do. But when you eliminate the infinite personal God who is Trinity and who has revealed Himself …you now must substitute man’s reason who is not infinite, and man without God is just part of nature…and nature is not personal. Thus we have gone from “the Lord is my shepherd” – Christianity To “I am my shepherd” – humanism To “everything is my shepherd” – pantheism To today “nothing is my shepherd” – insanity And that is where we are: “The only thing wrong is saying there is right.”  And that has made us insane. The absence of God has brought us to rationalism that has made us irrational simply because “ye shall have no other gods before me.” Thus, our world – western civilization – is slowly going mad.  Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Communism, and polytheism have driven great parts of our world to irrationality.  And now secularism – life without God – is slowly driving us mad. o   “What gender would you like to be?” o   “Right and wrong on moral issues is hate speech.” o   “God is not allowed to be spoken of in civic gatherings” o   “The normal historic family is not to be seen as such.” o   “No Merry Christmas.” o   “No Christmas carols.” o   “One is not a human in the womb.” “Where there is no prophetic revelation the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law.” (Pro. 29:18) www.dentonbible.org . Tommy's notes."

Introduction Few people in history had as much to lose as Job had. He was enormously successful, vastly wealthy, blessed with a large family and he was known for his integrity and righteousness. The devil questioned Job's motives for worshiping God, claiming that Job's worship was based solely on his extraordinary blessings. So God allowed the devil to attack areas of Job's life. Even after the devil stole his children, possessions and health, Job held fast to his faith in God. In the end, Job's restoration came when he developed a deeper relationship with God, when he listened to God's Word more carefully, and when he ministered to God's people by praying for his friends. Job's story reveals key principles about God, the devil and suffering. God uses suffering caused by Satan to give believers a deeper experience and a closer relationship with Him. God can use anything, including Satan, to bring about that closeness. The devil, however, does not have free reign to do whatever he wishes. He is hedged in by God and can only do what God allows. The suffering that we encounter will cause us to trust God's sovereignty and His timing. As Job discovered, we must hold onto the truth of God's goodness while we wrestle through the suffering. The chief lesson we can learn from suffering is this: "I know that You can do all things and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2). God's will cannot be overturned. When we are going through suffering, we need to seek to understand God more, trust Him more and listen to His Word more carefully. We shouldn't allow anything to shake our faith in God's goodness. Finally, we need to minister to others and pray for them because God can work through us powerfully in those times, even when we are hurting and in need of prayer ourselves. God's ultimate purpose will be realized in us as we grow deeper in our relationship with Him. Then we can look forward to the blessing of restoration. Getting Started 1. What things would you try to save if you had to evacuate your home and only had a few minutes to pack a bag? 2. How do people react when they lose everything? What emotions do they show and what things do they say? Let's Get Personal 1. Have there been times when the devil has attacked your life? What did you learn about God through those times? 2. How has this message changed your perspective of suffering? 3. How have you experienced God's restoration? Take the Next Step 1. In what areas of your life do you need to surrender to God's sovereignty and His timing? 2. How will you approach suffering differently in light of this message? 3. What are ways you can minister to others who are suffering? 4. Want to go deeper? Take time to look at the following passages: Job 1:6-12; Job 38:1-41; Job 34; Job 42:1-7; James 5:7-11; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; 2 Corinthians 4:7-12; James 1:1-12; Isaiah 40:18-31. Renew Your Mind "Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not reach out and put your hand on him.' So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord."