God wouldn’t hold it against me if I don’t believe in him?, would he? Given the complexities of our world, how could he? Is unbelief a sin? Surely not! Culturally, we don’t take unbelief very seriously. We tend to think of unbelief as a neutral characteristic, if not even something that might show a particular strength of character. We might consider someone who doesn’t believe as being sharp minded, thoughtful, or not gullible. Many Christians even diminish the nature of unbelief. I recently read a book by a popular pastor who claimed that Jesus didn’t call his followers to believe, but rather to love. Jesus calls us to love, but he also calls us to believe. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus’ ministry begins with his proclamation, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15). Belief and unbelief are not neutral for Jesus. Jesus calls us to belief and frequently rebukes unbelief. Jesus frequently rebukes unbelief: “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”[i] “[Y]ou have seen me and yet do not believe.”[ii] “[A]nd he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart…”[iii] “If I tell you, you will not believe.”[iv] “And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.”[v] “And he marveled because of their unbelief.”[vi] “[W]hoever does not believe will be condemned.”[vii] Overhearing this, a contemporary Westerner might respond, “Whoa, Jesus. Chill. Don’t you realize you shouldn’t judge?” Jesus hasn’t forgotten himself here or wrongly lost his temper. Why is Jesus so harsh against unbelief? Jesus is harsh against unbelief because the stakes are so high. It is only through belief that we can experience the transforming power of new birth in our lives and God’s rescue. Through the door of belief in Jesus Christ is salvation, adoption, and life together with God. Through the door of unbelief is standing in front of the Judge with no Advocate, spiritual death, and eternal separation from God. The stakes couldn’t be higher. We must weigh our unbelief because eternity is at stake. Just as it wouldn’t be loving to casually let your toddler play with a running chainsaw, it wouldn’t be loving for Jesus to downplay the gravity of unbelief. The consequences of flippancy are serious. Jesus is harsh against unbelief because the sin of unbelief is serious. I love talking with those who identify as agnostics or atheists. It isn’t unusual for skeptics to level harsh criticism against Christianity: “Christians are hypocrites and Christianity has been used throughout history to oppress people.” “The Bible is full of historic errors and unreliable.” “The church is a greedy institution and has been the greatest source of evil the world has seen.” If you sympathize with these opinions , are you willing to listen to the other side and consider its veracity? The attacks might be weaker than they first appear (Rebecca McLaughlin’s Confronting Christianity is a good place to start examining these pressing issues). Many use these opinions not as the origin of serious investigation, but as a smokescreen to avoid discovering the truth. Why is that? Because unbelief stems not from mere intellectual doubt, but rather from a hardness of heart and self-protection. Rick Warren once said, “behind every sin is a lie of unbelieving.”[viii] In Hebrews 3:12, the author jarringly says, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart…” Unbelief doesn’t stem from a neutral heart, but an evil heart. Unbelief is a serious sin because it reveals an evil heart. 2. Jesus is harsh against unbelief because he doesn’t confuse it with doubt. For most of us unbelief and doubt are synonymous. But Jesus distinguished the two. He responds to the sincere doubt of Thomas with great patience. David had seasons where he was wracked by doubt. Peter doubted Christ, then denied Christ once, twice, thrice and yet was still restored. Jude concludes his brief letter with a prayer for God’s mercy, not judgment, on those who doubt.[ix] Doubt may sprout from the soil of faith. This is not unbelief. This form of doubt can in fact, be healthy in stretching one’s faith and relationship with God. Unbelief is a serious sin, friends. Perhaps the most serious sin for the consequence is eternal. Therefore, we ought not take it lightly, either in ourselves or in others. www.thebeehive.live [i] John 3:12 [ii] John 6:36 [iii] Mark 16:14 [iv] Luke 16:67 [v] Matthew 13:58 [vi] Mark 6:6 [vii] Mark 16:16 [viii] Quoted in Preaching with Power, edited by Michael Duduit, 213. [ix] Jude 1:22

Under God’s direction, angels serve us on Earth (Hebrews 1:14). Michael the archangel serves under God, and the other angels, in various positions, serve under Michael (Daniel 10:13; Revelation 12:7). In Heaven, human beings will govern angels (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). It’s a bit difficult to know the role angels will have on the New Earth. I assume they will be visible, though even that’s not certain. Presumably, their role as servants of those who will inherit salvation (though on the New Earth that will already have happened) would continue in keeping with God’s purpose for them.  I see the present Heaven as primarily the home of angels from the time they were created, and the temporary home of human believers between their deaths and resurrections. In contrast, the future Heaven on the New Earth will be primarily the home of humans. Perhaps it will become just as much the home of angels, though their intrinsic nature as spirit beings and not physical makes it an interesting concept. Humans were made from the Earth and for life on the Earth, which is different than angels. (However, we know that angels can exist in a physical world because they exist in this one, not just in Heaven. In fact, angels sometimes, perhaps often, take on human form, as Hebrews 13:2 makes clear.) The marriage of the God of Heaven with the people of Earth will also bring the marriage of Heaven and Earth. There will not be two universes—one the primary home of God and angels, the other the primary home of humanity. Nothing will separate us from God, and nothing will separate Earth and Heaven. Once God and mankind dwell together, there will be no difference between Heaven and Earth. Earth will become Heaven—and it will truly be Heaven on Earth. The New Earth will be God’s locus, His dwelling place. This is why I do not hesitate to call the New Earth “Heaven,” for where God makes His home is Heaven. The purpose of God will at last be achieved: “To bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Ephesians1:10). Not only will God come to dwell with us on Earth, but He will also bring with Him the New Jerusalem, an entire city of people, structures, streets, walls, rivers, and trees that is now in the present, intermediate Heaven. If you’ve ever seen a house being relocated, you appreciate what a massive undertaking it is. God will relocate an entire city—Heaven’s capital city, the New Jerusalem—from Heaven to Earth. It’s a vast complex containing, perhaps, hundreds of millions of residences. He will bring with it Heaven’s human inhabitants and angels as well. I think the angels’ roles on the New Earth, where there is no danger, shift from protection to guidance. The fact that they have served us on Earth will make meeting them in Heaven particularly fascinating. They may have been with us from childhood, protecting us, standing by us, doing whatever they could on our behalf (Matthew 18:10). They may have witnessed virtually every moment of our lives. Besides God Himself, no one could know us better. I envision us getting to know angels, including the ones who were directly engaged in our lives and perhaps did battle with demons on our behalf, as depicted in Daniel. Perhaps they will be our assistants and guides and explain some of what they observed happen to us on the old earth. Maybe they will fill us in on “the rest of the story.”  They might have inside information even though they too will be newcomers to the New Earth. Certainly, they will have ancient knowledge of the person of God and His ways, not yet known to us. The angels will be able to recount the creation of the original universe (Job 38:1-7). What will it be like not only to have them show us around the intermediate Heaven but also to walk and talk with them on the New Earth? What stories will they tell us, including what really happened that day at the lake fifty years ago when we almost drowned, or that time thirty-five years ago when we avoided a fatal car crash? They’ve guarded us, gone to fierce battle for us, served as God’s agents in answer to prayers. How great it will be to get to know these brilliant ancient creatures who’ve lived with God from their creation! We’ll consult them as well as advise them, realizing they too can learn from us, God’s image-bearers. Will an angel who guarded us be placed under our management? “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). Perhaps we’ll be welcomed into the homes not only of people but also of angels, who will reciprocate the hospitality we showed them on the old Earth. epm.org

Dr. David Ferguson, respected author and conference leader, has much to say about loving people. This list should go on your refrigerator! Acceptance (Romans 15:7): Openly receive your child just as he/she is. Love them unconditionally. Admonition (Romans 15:14): Give constructive guidance in what to avoid. Warn and instruct about harmful situations or influences. Affection (Romans 16:16): Communicate care and closeness through physical touch and affirming words. Appreciation/Praise (1 Corinthians 11:12): Express words and feelings of personal gratefulness for your child and for what they do. Approval (Romans 14:18): Commend and speak well of your child. Attention (1 Corinthians 12:25): Enter into your child’s world. Comfort (1 Thessalonians 4:18): Come alongside your child with words, feeling and touch. Console with tenderness. Compassion (Hebrews 10:34): Suffer through your child’s hurts and burdens with them. Empathize. Confession (James 5:16): Admit and/or confess when you are wrong or have hurt your child. Ask for their forgiveness. Deference (Ephesians 5:21): Yield or postpone your own needs for the benefit of your child. Devotion (Romans 12:10): Dedicate yourself to your child. Give them committed care. Discipline (Proverbs 23:13): Correct when boundaries are crossed and limits exceeded. Edification, Build up (Romans 14:19): Positively promote your child’s growth and development. Encouragement (Hebrews 10:24): Motivate your child. Positively persuade him/her toward attainable goals. Forgiveness (Ephesians 4:32): Cancel out and release wrongs committed and give unconditional love. Harmony (1 Peter 3:8): Create an atmosphere of secure love, unity and peace. Hospitality (1 Peter 4:9): Receive others with an open, welcoming heart. Intimacy (1 John 1:7): Be vulnerable. Know your child deeply and let him/her know you. Share your lives together. Kindness (Ephesians 4:32): Serve tenderly and sensitively. Love (John 13:34): Lay down your life unselfishly for your child just as Jesus did for you. Prayer (James 5:16): Daily pray for your child’s spiritual, mental, physical and emotional well being. Respect (Romans 12:10): Value and regard highly; convey great worth to your child. Security (Mark 9:50): Assure your child of your protection and care. Keep him/her from danger. Serve (Galatians 5:13): Gladly and unselfishly meet your child’s needs. Support (Galatians 6:2): Come alongside your child and help them. Sympathy (1 Peter 3:8): Identify with your child emotionally when they are hurting. Teaching (Colossians 3:16): Give your child constructive, positive instruction on how to live. Tolerance (Ephesians 4:2): Patiently endure the humanness of your child. Training (Luke 6:40): Prepare your child to face life’s issues. Understanding: (Romans 12:16) Seek to know your child, to hear what they’re saying and discern why they are responding in a certain way. Top Ten Intimacy Needs What Love Looks Like            What Aloneness Looks Like Acceptance                            Rejection Affection                               Abuse Appreciation                          Criticism Approval                               Condemnation Attention                               Overlooked Encouragement                      Discouragement Comfort                                 Hurt Respect                                 Ridicule Security                                 Abandoned Support                                 Neglect Stories www.greatcommandment.net.

The competition for your devotion is fierce. We just arrived in India: it’s my second time visiting this beautiful nation. One of the first thing that strikes you as a Westerner is just how different religious devotion manifests itself in this country. In this Hindu nation, the competition for devotion is manifested in the temples—some lavish, some simple—erected to the 33 million Hindu gods. The gods scuttle for devotion based on geographic region, power, and personality. If Hinduism is foreign to you, you might roll your eyes at the idea of 33 million gods clamoring for your devotion. It might as foolish as believing that leprechauns are at the end of a rainbow or that there are unicorns sipping water in faraway forests. American Gods And yet, is our context any different? There are no fewer gods fighting for our hearts in America than there are in India. Many Christians would be on guard in a Hindu context. You might even feel a measure of oppression passing in front of a Hindu temple. Perhaps it would make you pause and pray. And yet, the gods of the Western world barely register in our daily lives. What gods am I speaking of? The gods of self, pride, respect, lust, comfort, distraction, law, religion, bitterness, fear, and anxiety fight for our hearts. The demigods of money, vocation, social media, job titles, cable, internet, sexuality, cell phones, productivity, health, pornography, education, body-image, cars, spouses, children, friends, sports, and on and on can do the bidding of gods. 33 million doesn’t seem like such an overwhelming number all of a sudden. It ought to give us pause. If we were walking the streets of Chennai passing temple after temple, we would be on high alert spiritually. And yet, as Westerners, the gods of Hinduism pose a miniscule threat compared to the Western gods that litter our lives. Gods and the Commandments When God pronounces the Ten Commandments, he begins with a declaration of who he is: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” And then, he launches in, with the first of the Ten Commandments dedicated to admonishing his people to flee from idolatry, “You shall have no other gods before me.” The very first commandment demands we expunge other gods from our lives. This isn’t a relic from an age-gone-by, it is a statement about the tendency of the human heart, a tendency to seek out other gods. We are those who, on our own, do have other gods before the one true God. And we must fight to rid our hearts of our attachment to these false gods. And then, believe it or not, with only nine commandments left, God devotes yet another commandment to idolatry. He says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:4-5a). Gods Put to Death In Colossians 3, Paul declares with the incredible truth that we “have been raised with Christ (!)” Wow. That means “your life is hidden with Christ in God.” What security we have! And yet, following on the heels of this, Paul admonishes us to “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). In other words, we have the resources of our new raised identity in Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit within us to work against the temptations of this world, and yet, we must not sit idly back and expect the idols of this world to be expunged from us. We need to be active, putting to death the gods (idols) of this world. What are the gods in your life that you’ve become so accustomed to that you casually register their existence like an anonymous passerby on the street? Or, worse yet, we consider them our friends: they are part of the fabric of our lives and parting with them seems inconceivable. What are the gods that already have a grip of your devotion? Where, if a loved one were to prod, would you be most defensive? What do you lean to as an emotional prop? What have you stopped fighting against because you’ve failed too many times? My prayer is that God would give me fresh eyes in my life to see the gods straining for my devotion that, through his strength, I might put them to death. May we fight for the purity of our devotion as hard as the enemy strains to garner it. Thebeehive.live

God makes it clear that we cannot have the glory without the groan. The hardships are worth the wait when we are secure in Christ. The indwelling Holy Spirit is our internal guarantee that all will come out well. THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY, or, ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN (?) Romans 8:17-30 1710 “Do dogs go to Heaven?” Ricky: “All dogs go to heaven but cats go to Hell.” That is not right. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat Most people either dog lovers or cat lovers: Hands of all you dog lovers. Some of you enjoyed that: Shame on you. Hands of cat lovers: I apologize. I owned a cat once. Got a cute little kitten for the girls. Lost tabby. Jogging next morning near my house and came upon a stopped car and a lady had just run over a cat and was dragging it to the side of the road. “Lady, you just ran over my cat!” She was mortified. I told her not to worry about it. It was just a cat. I borrowed a cat once. Julie opened the closet door and a mouse ran across the clothes hanger. Borrowed Julia from Ellen George to catch our mice. I didn’t use to like dogs—or cats! See people travel with dogs. Thought they were crazy! Asked to do a funeral for a dog. I was incredulous! It was just a dog. Got Becky. Surely Leave on trip. Surely waits at the door for two days until we return. Goody and the cross between a pit bull and a piranha. Goody ran up and bit the mongrel in the leg. Big dog just looked and said, “I can’t believe you just did that to me.” We quickly separated the two. Return and Goody won’t leave my side for days. Can’t keep him out of my lap! When Becky died, I did her funeral. I love those dogs: Surely, Goodness, and Mercy to come in a year or two. But, do dogs really go to Heaven? If there is any passage that teaches it, this is it! :ROMANS 8:19-21: The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed…. in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. There is a lot of suffering and pain, devolution and decay, injustice and war in our world. Not hopeless. The good news, everything is moving toward a great day of restoration. In Christ, the Groaning will one day replaced with the Glory. WE ARE GROANING (Romans 8:17-18, 23). Early parts of Romans 8 find our security in Christ. Comes to Romans 8:16 – sons of God. READ ROMANS 8:16 – We belong to God, and since sons – we’re heirs! READ ROMANS 8:17a – Praise the Lord. Then Paul suddenly says… READ ROMANS 8:17b – “If indeed we suffer with Him…” “If” is first class conditional sentence – translate “since” – it’s a sure thing. During World War II when bombs were falling on London and when so much of the world was in turmoil, H.G. Wells looked around himself in despair and said, [Write on slide] “Either God has the power and does not care, or God cares and does not have the power.” Never seen carnage of war. Tread softly here. There is a third option. [Write on slide] God has the power and He does care. The world is broken—and God is working out an eternal plan to fix it. Genesis: sin entered the world and corrupted it. Revelation: God will redeem it all back. ROMANS 8:18: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Write glory and groan over the verse.) And God makes it clear that the Glory will far outweigh the Groan. But we still have suffering. Bobby Dean: college roommate: Both planned to preach. He is pastoring in Dallas. *Adopted child – problem disease. *Pregnant, child early, intestines into lungs – shunting blood. *Adopted child – world of horrible disease – dwarfs, mental problems, fatal. Great testimony – God’s in total control; trust Him implicitly! Those of you who have suffered greatly know the truth of the intimacy of fellowship with Jesus in times of suffering and pain. There is nothing like the comfort and care and closeness with Jesus when you’re in pain. And there’s nothing like suffering to make us more like Jesus. But, we wish the world were not so Fallen and Broken. We long for God to restore it all. ROMANS 8:23: Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Makes it very personal. Right now we are groaning – “even we ourselves” – not just for the creation. Even we ourselves who have first-fruits of the spirit – even we are groaning. We all have troubles – We groan inwardly, we wait. WE ARE GLORYING (Romans 8:18)! READ ROMANS 8:18: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Mom is suffering: thyroid cancer; esophagus closing up. Hard to swallow. Has to soak food in water to swallow it: “After all these years of serving Him, how could he let this happen to me?” How do you answer that? “Well, Mom, it is a fallen world”—that doesn’t seem to help much. “The answer is in the glory!” Hang on mom—the glory is coming. It will be here soon. Smiled’ “that helps.” WHAT IS THE GLORY? Mention several dimensions: 1. Christ Likeness READ 1 John 3:2-3: Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Can’t imagine what this will be like. “Calculating God” Science Fiction to demonstrate that an Intelligent Designer is behind the complex plans for creation. Alien arrives in Toronto, Canada to meet with a paleontologist. Interested in the 5 cataclysmic destructions of life on earth. Visited four planets in other solar systems to discover that the same sort of cataclysisms occurred on the other planets at exactly the same time in the universe. Interested to know if earth was the fifth. God is speaking. Three of the planets had no life on them at all now. Discovered atom fission and blew themselves up. Julie was drinking this all in. Then I described the alien. Eight legs like an octopus—mouth on two legs alternating words. Slit in chest where food went in. Julie: “That is enough. That can’t be!” Couldn’t comprehend alien creatures l like that. Who can conceive what it will be like to be like Jesus?!!! That’s enough for me! Be like Christ! That’s enough – That kind of glory can never be compared with any kind of suffering. No More—No more pain, no more sorrow, no more death READ REVELATION 21:3-4: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.… 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, 3. Golden Crowns The Victors Crown: perseverance (2 Timothy 2:5; Revelation 3:11) The Crown of Glory: pastors (1 Peter 5:4) The Soul Winners Crown: evangelism (Philippians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:19) The Crown of Righteousness: those who love His appearing (2 Timothy 4:8) The Crown of Life: martyrs crown (Revelation 2:10; James 1:12) 4. Overcomer Rewards Revelation 2:7: To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Revelation 2:11: He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. Revelation 2:17: To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. Revelation 2:26-28: To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations … just as I have received authority from my Father. 28 I will also give him the morning star. Revelation 3:5: He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. Revelation 3:12: Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God Revelation 3:21: To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. Glory not revealed to us. It’s to be revealed in us. Glory is not some spectator sport whereby we sit in cosmic grandstands and watch some beautiful performance – we will be on the stage. We will be part of it! It’s glory which will be revealed in us! UNTIL THEN SLIDE: NATURE IS GROANING (Romans 8:19-22). Visionary poetry. READ ROMANS 8:19: The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. READ ROMANS 8:20: For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. You mean the world and dirt and trees and animals are waiting for us to be liberated? Absolutely. “Waits in eager expectation” = stands on stretched tip-toe to see what’s going to happen. In other words, the whole world suffers from the curse of Adam. World never sinned. No tree ever sinned. It’s not their fault that they groan and travail. God didn’t ask trees to vote on whether they wanted to groan or not. “All in favor of having a time of corruption say ‘Aye’!” No! Earth was created beautiful beyond measure. When man sinned, world was cursed. We’re in a groaning creation – distress of nations – impossibility of agreement – different languages – political conflict – cry of pain from the slaughter of dumb animals- trees combat disease and insects – flowers struggle to exist among weeds – hospitals filled to house sick and dying- our creation is groaning. BLACKBOARD: World War three begin in Lebanon? No. Perhaps: probably not. Explain 2nd coming scenario. Armies from North and south (before 7 years) Security from Western coalition of nations—peace for 3½ years. Instability caused by reversal of policy by Western coalition against Israel: Public opinion will change. Israel will enter another holocaust. Nuke here? Land impure for 7 years. Invasion of armies of the East into Middle East leads to the Battle of Armegeddon. One day, when Christ is revealed it will be reversed. Hospitals closed – “Christ will come with healing in his wings.” Ravenous nature of wild animals will be changed as lion lays down with lamb. Trees no longer stricken. Game of politics will be over because of one world ruler – Jesus Christ. Peace on Earth – wars cease – swords to plowshares – all men will be neighbors – whole groaning creation will be flipped in reverse and world is waiting for that to happen! The Holy Spirit is groaning (Romans 8:23, 26-27). READ ROMANS 8:26-27: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. How often in our earthly groaning we do not know how to pray. Feelings are so deep and intense we are unable to express them in words. So deep is the pain. All goes inside. Try to express feelings but my vocabulary fails me. Holy Spirit goes deep within my spirit and communicates those feelings to God as prayers. The Spirit puts our feelings into a form which God the Father understands. Jessie’s birth: Appealed to the Spirit. I just couldn’t handle the overwhelming emotions. Pain knocked upon my door And said that she had come to stay Though I would not welcome her And bade her go away – she entered in. And like my own shade She followed after me; From her stabbing, stinging word, Not a moment was I free. And then one day another Knocked most gently at my door. I said, “No, Pain is here. There’s not room for more.” Then I heard His tender voice, “It is I, be not afraid.” And from the day He entered in, what a difference He has made. For many of us it is time to stop waiting for people to ask us about our groanings. ASK ME ABOUT THE GLORY. READ ROMANS 8:22: We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. I suppose there is not a man here this morning that can understand what the pains of childbirth are like, even though you go through that natural childbirth procedure with your wives. You can stand there and look sympathetic, hold her hand, and smile and wink and sing and do all kinds of things; but there’s nothing that really helps. When we had our children the doctor wanted to know if I wife would have anesthetic. I said, “I don’t know if she would or not, but frankly I would love one.” But you go through the labor and pain and screaming and crying because you want the baby. Only insensitive men take pictures of their wives in labor. I’ve never seen a picture of a wife in labor. “Look, this is my wife. She was in labor.” There are bumper stickers that say “Ask me about my grandbaby.” If you do they have thick folders of pictures of little treasure that they open up on you, and they go on forever. There’s never a bumper sticker that says, “Ask me about my daughter’s labor.” Who wants to remember the groaning? You want to remember the glory, don’t you? I think that the perfect sign to hang on the hospital door of a Christian is one that says, Ask me about the glory.” Hey, Christians, we focus all the time on the labor. We walk around as though we’re going to be spending eternity in labor. And God says, “Look, that’s when the glory happens.” Jan Yancey’s groan and glory. ROMANS 8:18: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Who is your favorite celebrity? Your favorite political pundit? Your favorite politician? Why are you drawn to these individuals? Maybe it is their personality. Perhaps it is because you respect their convictions. Possibly, it is because of their unique style.   Taylor Swift might be the most beloved celebrity in the world.[i] Many have commented that one of the reasons that Swift has cultivated such a devoted following is her accessibility and down-to-earth qualities, from what she wears to the love stories she writes about in her music.   Whoever your favorite celebrity is, my hunch is that their relatability attracts you. We are a culture that privileges and craves the authentic, the transparent, the vulnerable. We want the real deal. There is value in authenticity. When it came out that, despite his public pro-Trump image, in private conversations Tucker Carlson confessed that he “hated” Donald Trump, his popularity plummeted, and Fox pulled him off the air. Civil rights advocate Rachel Dolezal’s credibility was shot when a reporter broke the news that she lied about being black.   The problem with authenticity is that the tail has begun to wag the dog. For many, the question is no longer whether an individual is faithfully living out their ethical rhetoric—who is to say whose ethics are right, after all—but merely whether their actions match their words. In other words, it doesn’t matter how deplorable your life is; as long as your words and deeds align, you are praised as authentic.   Carl Trueman, in his important book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, bemoans this reality:   Politicians speaking with profanity is now considered evidence of integrity, a performance of authenticity, and openness about sexual preferences (at least those lionized by the Sittlichkeit of our culture) is an electoral asset. The days when the ideal politician was someone of reserve and outward discipline—when, for example, the mere existence of the phase ‘expletive deleted’ in transcripts of confidential discussions provoked public dismay—are long gone. Life in the world of the expressive individual now involves the public performance of what were once considered the more shameful elements of public character. (Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, p. 380).   Our contemporary desire for authenticity is more about our craving for what is titillating than about an ethical evaluation of the individual. This turn isn’t surprising, when you think about it. Two cultural tides have collided to create this tidal wave.   The first tide is the gutting of a Judeo-Christian ethic for a self-focused ethic of pragmatism that privileges an individual’s self-determination. Culturally, we are given free rein to create whatever ethic suits us best and makes us feel the most free. This is most clearly demonstrated in our contemporary sexual ethic, which grants the individual complete autonomy over their sexuality, with the only boundary being that of consent.   The second tide is not unrelated: the shift away from a culture that prioritized the collective to the individual. The most important form of expression, then, is no longer communal, but of the self. Autonomous expression—free from constraints and true first and foremost to oneself—is the paragon of virtue in the contemporary world. To be true is not to be true to an objective standard, but to be true to oneself.   The danger of elevating this kind of authenticity is best seen in those we disagree with. The celebrity who rubs you the wrong way or the politician who maddens you is likely beloved because others perceive them as authentic. Instead of fighting the battles over individuals, let’s pull back and consider the war. We have lost our way as a culture, devaluing objective morality and the corporate in favor of self-crafted ethics and the individual.   There is a way back—perhaps not for our culture, but for the church. To create communities that offer an alternative to our warped culture, we must not contravene the rules by which the culture asks us to play its game. We must put authenticity in its place. It is a good servant, but a terrible master.   Paul tells Timothy and Titus to seek out leaders whose lives are authentic expressions of the gospel (1 Tim. 3:1-7, Tit. 1:5-9). Authenticity matters if it is tethered to a biblical ethic. If it is an end of itself, it is worthless.   Paul urges Christians to speak the “truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). We cannot bend the truth, in fact, we have to be those seeking out an opportunity to clearly declare the gospel (Col. 4:3-4). Authenticity (being true to oneself) is different than being truthful. Authenticity only gets us half of the way to truthfulness. We need our lives to be based on the reality of Christ to be wholly truthful. And we must speak graciously, having the truth “seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:5). Vulgar authenticity is neither truthful nor loving.   So seek out authentic heroes. But make sure their authenticity is anchored in the gospel of Jesus Christ, not the gospel of self.   [i] It’s hard to say, but British GQ called Taylor Swift the most popular celebrity in the world in 2023 and in 2024 The Longfellow Lead declared her the most loved celebrity in the world.    You May Also Appreciate: Fishbowl Living

Jesus healed in many ways, but in the case of the leper, Jesus reached out and touched him. The very essence of Christianity is to touch the untouchable, love the unlovable and forgive the unforgivable. TOUCHING THE UNTOUCHABLES THE LEPER Mark 1:40-45 S-1700 ●SLIDE: Mark 1:40: A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” ●SLIDE: Mark 1:41: Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” ●SLIDE: Mark 1:42: Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. ●SLIDE: Luke 5:12: While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” The reputation of the healing Jesus Christ filtered down through grapevine to the huts and hovels where huddled the lepers of His day. The news of Jesus sparked hope in the heart of one poor leper-filled wretch. So, he broke through all the rules and regulations and thrust his tainted and unwelcome presence into the shrinking crowd. There he was – horrible white face, tightened, glistening skin, frowsy rag over his mouth and the hunted look of a wild beast in his eyes. Crowd shrinks back, crying, “Leper, Leper, Get back, Leper!” Soon, on his knees: With the piteous, raspy cry of a leper ready to die. “If you will, you can make me clean.” I read these three short verses and my heart yearns to get a handle on what really happened that day. Tragedy to joy—rejection to acceptance—isolation to inclusion—uncertainly to certainty—fear to security—death to life—hateful religious leaders to the compassionate Christ. ●SLIDE: HOW BAD IS LEPROSY—REALLY? Dr. Luke records that he was “full of leprosy”. Advanced case. Leprosy was living death. No other disease reduced a human being for no many years to so hideous a wreck.” Three kinds of leprosy: ·SLIDE #: 1. Nodular leprosy Pain in joints and discolored patches. Pink, then brown modules. Skin becomes thick. Nodules collect in folds of the skin. Appearance so changes that a man can come to look like a lion or satyr. Nodules ulcerate with foul discharge – eyebrows and hair fall out – wheezing, rasping voice. Hands and feet always ulcerate. Body becomes mass of ulcerated sores. Eyelids rot off—can’t close eyes. Lasts approximately nine years. Ends in mental decay, coma, and ultimate death. ·SLIDE #: 2. Anesthetic leprosy Nerve trunks affected – loss of sensation (no pain where pain should be), muscles gone, tendons contract until hands become like claws – chronic ulceration of hands and feet. Fingers and toes drop off – twenty to thirty years – progressive death of body. ·SLIDE #11: 3. Mixture of both (most common) How bad is leprosy? Leprosy is really bad. ●SLIDE: What is it like to be full of leprosy? Initial shock: life as he knows it has come to an end. “You have cancer.” felt burning flush of fear on your cheeks—everything changed. Fear of the future: You don’t have a future—no one ever gets out of leprosy alive. ●SLIDE: He lost: friends Lost job and means of support (forever dependent on relatives to bring food and care packages. Lost dreams of future (Bronwyn lost dreams) Lost marriage Lost children Lost aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents Lost his religion: Could not go to church in this condition Lost his feelings—gone numb—only pain As terrible as leprosy was in itself, it had serious social implications—These people were alone. Rabbi: “I throw stones at lepers to keep them away.” “I refuse to even buy an egg in the street through which a leper has passed by.” Yell, “Unclean, unclean!” Imagine the horror of a life—ostracized; no love, no friends, no value and no way out until he met Jesus. Jesus loved him. He was healed and he was so excited that he ran to tell everyone what had happened! ●SLIDE: Who are the lepers of today? There are still many lepers in the world. Leprosy flourishes in India, in China, in Malaysia, and worst of all, in Africa. Leprosy eradicated in America. Last Leprosarium, in Louisiana closed three years ago. Let’s go a little deeper—more reflective answer.. Cafeteria girl: “Take a moment to say a kind word to her. She is the kind of person most people pass by.” Could you imagine a girl like that would have some hurts in her life. Lepers can be any one who is feeling rejected, isolated, lonely, Numb: hurt so much you stopped hurting. Some have people all around you and you are still isolated. Some are quite cynical because of all the times you’ve reached out and were rejected. Who are the lepers of today: Homeless; jobless; Divorced; Aids; Cancer victims; Abused children; Battered wives; Mentally ill. We are all lepers at one time or another—some more than others. ●SLIDE: Most lepers in Jesus’ day were known by their skin sores, and swellings and raspy voices. ●SLIDE: Most lepers like that today aren’t like that at all—but look behind the façade, they are all there. Joyce Landorf: Balcony People. ●SLIDE: For many of us our pain is our leprosy. ●SLIDE: WHAT MADE JESUS’ RESPONSE SO RADICALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERs? Religious leaders: Throw stones! Unclean! “Stay away from church, you will contaminate us.” “Get back to where you belong!” ●SLIDE: Mark 1:41: Filled with compassion, I wish we had an English equivalent of “compassion.” ●SLIDE: Σπλαγχνισθεις (SPLAGCHNISTHEIS)describes an intense internal, emotional response, like “all His insides gushed forth with feeling.” Sound it out carefully. Organs move around inside. Little animals within. Put your hand on where you have a you stomach ache.—not intestines. Pain of upset stomach moved down into intestines. Stomach didn’t drop. Like Montezuma’s revenge: Zelmon? “Heart is in my throat.” Breath in and air mixes with blood in the heart and speak and same air comes out. Since speaking and thinking are so closely associated, they thought that the heart was the “brain“ of the body. Out of the heart the mouth speaks.” Greeks believed that the movement of the dark purple spleen impaired with running. Olympic athletes were encouraged to get spleen removed to run faster. Of course there is no evidence of a spleenless athlete ever winning. They all died of infection. You should hear the remedies they recommended for when a woman’s uterus moved up to her esogaphus—that is a real kick—but that will have to wait for another time. “Moved with compassion” is a feeling word. It goes to the very depths of our being—comes forth in a practical manifestation. ●SLIDE: STORY: MacDonald’s: homeless man sitting in parking lot leaning against building, blankets, backpack. Big ugly ulcer on his heal. “May I buy you breakfast?” Gave him as twenty. “Do you know how hard it is to get a drink of clean water in this town? No, I never thought about it. Tried to get on my way as he droned on and on. Decided to listen. “He’s crazy. No wonder he is here.” Later looked up to see him quite coherently ordering breakfast. He is not crazy. He is lonely. He wanted a companion. He wanted to know someone cared. Compassion only occurs when the emotional stir inside produces some outward manifestation of care and concern. I had compassion. I was not filled with compassion. Probably taken him home. If all we do is have the feeling then we might as well put our hands on our intestines and call it our stomachs—it is misguided and worthless. Compassion motivates us to action. It is easy in our culture to lose the feeling of compassion. You can snuff it out if you want to. But, you really don’t want to. ●SLIDE: I was hungry and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger. (Thank you.) I was imprisoned and you crept off quietly to you chapel to pray for my release. I was naked and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance (What good did that do?) I was sick and I heard you thank God for your health. (But, I needed you.) I was homeless and you preached to me of the shelter of the love of God. (I wish you had taken me home.) I was lonely and you left me alone to go pray for me. (Why didn’t you stay?) You seem so holy, so close to God; but, I’m still hungry, lonely, cold and in pain. ·SLIDE #: The very essence of Christianity is to touch the untouchable, love the unlovable and forgive the unforgivable. ·SLIDE #: Mark 1:41: Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Jesus used a variety of healing tools: sometimes He made clay from dirt to place on eyelids, to many He spoke and cure was perfected. But to this leper, He reached out and touched him. Oh, that touch spoke volumes! It is safe to say that no man had touched this leper in years. There are lepers around us who haven’t been touched in years. My impression is that down through the years the Christian church has not been very good at touching lepers. We have hurt way too many lepers. Discover Magazine: Soft tissue found in dinosaur bone shocks Paleontology. ●SLIDE: Mary Schweitzer: evangelical Christian who entered the field of paleontology to study the greatness of God in creation found t-rex bones in Montana. 65 million-year-old bones contained soft tissue—impossible in fossilized bones. Look at sheath of one femur and said, “This is a female and she was pregnant.” Like birds grow calcium sheath to provide extra calcium for making the shell, this dinosaur had the soft tissue sheath surrounding the bone. Impossible! Put her at the center of a fire storm. Scientific community fighting to challenge the data—change all the rules of fossils and opens the door for unbelievable discoveries. Many excited castigating her. That is the history of the scientific community when someone challenges the status quo. Other side of the fire storm has come from Christian creationists who declare that this is proof for a young earth—all created less than 10,000 years ago. Discover is a humanistic magazine. Sad to tell you the next part. Some Christian creationists are pressuring her to come clean and to join their side against the scientific community to hold them accountable for misleading the people. She has received scores of letters and emails—some of them threatening and menacing. The religious attacks wound her more than the scientific ones. ●SLIDE: “It rips my heart out. These people are claiming to represent the Christ I love. They are not doing a very good job. No wonder so many of my colleagues are atheists.” She told one Christian antagonist, ●SLIDE: “You know, if the only picture of Christ I had was your attitude toward me, I’d run.” What she needs is compassion and support. What she has become is an object of tug-of-war. She is more emotionally isolated than ever before. ●SLIDE: The world longs for us to be more real than right. ●SLIDE: Too many of us Christians long to be more right than real. Sorry for you who have been hurt by misguided Christians. Sorry for you who have been hurt by the church. Felt scorned and ostracized by the very people who were supposed to love you! We will try to do better. ●SLIDE: Many go to Maui ●SLIDE: very few get to Molokai –the leper colony island. Early in the nineteenth century Joseph Damien went to the South Sea Islands and worked there until he was thirty-three. Then one day he heard about the leper island of Molokai and that there the lepers were abandoned to their terrible fate without comfort and without help. So Joseph Damien went. For sixteen years he lived among them. He built them a church; he built them better houses; he built them a better water supply; he loved them, cared for them, and when they died, he buried them. Then one day he spilled some boiling water on his foot and felt no pain. Damien realized that he had contracted leprosy. From that day forward, he ceased referring to the lepers as “My brothers.” Now he said, “My fellow lepers.” He was perfectly contented. He said that even if he could be cured by leaving the island he would never leave his lepers. So he worked on with death slowly eating away at his body, but with his soul unconquered. At last the end drew near. Two priests and sisters of charity knelt beside him. “When you are in heaven, Father,” said one of the priests, “will you, like Elijah, leave me your mantle?” Joseph Damien smiled. “What would you do with my mantle? He said. “It is full of leprosy.” And so in 1889 the man who loved the lepers died. Damien was like Jesus Christ. He cared for the men for whom no one else cared. The leper saw in Jesus one who wanted him when everyone else would have run away with loathing. ●SLIDE: When Jesus touched the leper, his touch, rather than contaminating Jesus, cured the leper. ●SLIDE: HOW CAN WE GET HEALED FROM OUR LEPROSY? Leprosy is a picture of sin. ●SLIDE: Come to Jesus—he is willing—He became a leper for us. Introduce SKETCH and SONG AND DANCE. Imagine with me a woman ostracized from society, filled with guilt and shame. She has internal scars, lived a life of accusations, name calling, prejudices and rejections. The kind of love she needed was not the kind of love she received. She was treated as an object of no real value, received no love, had no friends and saw no way out until she met Jesus. Then Jesus accepted her, looked beyond her externals, was filled with compassion for her, forgave her—then reached out and touched her.

Dear Roger and Brie, How many times should I pray for someone to be healed? Especially when I see that healing just isn’t happening? I have friends who ask me to pray again and again for their healing. Or my church asks us to pray for somebody who is sick, and we pray again and again while nothing happens. Sometimes I feel like we just aren’t paying attention to God’s will. Should we ever stop praying for someone’s healing? Sincerely, Annabeth Dear Annabeth, Oh, my, we both know exactly where you’re coming from. As a chronic illness warrior (Brie), I’ve had to deal with the reality that God has shown me this is His will for my life. I’ve learned to pray for His strength to handle suffering rather than for healing. I don’t believe that this decision shows a lack of faith; in fact, I think that it has required more faith than anything else in my life. I’ll share more about this in a minute. As a pastor, Dad had fifty years of experience with praying for healing—and dealing with it when God didn’t choose to heal someone. We often talked about how difficult it was to know when to keep pounding on the doors of heaven for healing and when to accept God’s will. Let me begin by sharing one of his experiences in his own words: “Julie and I were in Turkey when I was invited to a healing service for an American missionary serving in the Middle East. For over ten years, he’d asked people to pray for his healing. He was at his wits’ end. As we prayed, it became increasingly obvious to me that he was struggling with brain chemistry imbalances. When the prayer time ended, I gently told him that it was time to stop praying for healing: ‘If God hasn’t healed you after ten years of praying, then another year will probably not do it either. It seems to me that God’s answer to you is, “No. Stop asking Me. My grace is sufficient for you. I fully intend to pour the power of Christ into your life so that you may live victoriously with the sickness.’” We’ve heard and prayed perhaps several thousand prayers for God’s hand to touch people with complete healing … and we’ve been privileged to witness some great healings. We’ll never forget how God brought life back to Ralph, healed the perpetual radiation pain and burns for Vi, and the bright light that overshadowed Tina and healed her in such a way that her upcoming cancer surgery was simply canceled. However, your prayers and results much like ours have been. While some are healed, most are not. Many received medical attention that alleviated their problems. Others died from their sicknesses. Still others continued to suffer long-term. From Scripture, we can glean several truths. First, it is not always God’s will to heal. Second, His will is always designed for the sake of our eternal good and His glory. Finally, He will give us strength in the midst of suffering. When It’s Not God’s Will to Heal Did you know that Scripture does not include Paul praying for others’ healing? There are none—except for the three times He prayed for God to remove the debilitating thorn in his flesh (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-8). Instead, Paul’s recorded prayers reveal his deep concern for the maturing of the internal-eternal-human spirit. He never prayed for anyone’s body to get well, but he never stopped praying for the development of the inner person. He tells the Ephesian church, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (Ephesians 3:14 NLT). We might do well to follow Paul’s example when he prayed for God to remove the “thorn” from his flesh. Three times was enough: I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NLT) “Thorn” is the Greek word describing a “tent stake” that is driven into the ground. The Babylonians used the word to describe the sharpened trees used for impaling people. “Torment” is a Greek boxing term meaning, “to beat, to strike with the fist.” Paul had a stake impaled in his body tormenting him to keep him humble; he knew that God chose not to heal Him according to His good purpose. Theologians have made four primary guesses as to the nature of Paul’s thorn: First, he was ugly—probably a result of his five beatings with rods, three whippings, and one stoning (see 2 Corinthians 10:10). Second, he was often incapacitated with malaria contracted in the marshy areas of the southern coastline of Turkey. Third, he struggled with epilepsy, which was considered in the ancient world to be caused by demons (see Galatians 4:3-14). Finally, and most probable of all, he had some sort of debilitating eye trouble. Think about the blind scales falling off of his eyes at his bright-light conversion in the desert and the comment about his eyes he made to the Galatians (see Galatians 4:15; 6:11; and Acts 23). Consider following Paul’s example. If we are not healed after three prayers, we might assume that God has other things in mind. When God Allows Sickness for His Purposes Too often, we are obsessed with removing pain and problems. God, on the other hand, is obsessed with sensitizing our inner spirits. God will sacrifice the body every time if that is what it takes to mature the eternal! We can pray seven times to be healed of cancer; nevertheless, we will eventually succumb to death whether it’s from cancer or something else. Life is a terminal disease. Praying for healing is not eternally effective. There are no biblical verses which describe angels rejoicing when bodies are healed! On the other hand, the angels rejoice when a lost sheep enters into eternal life. Many Christians beg for God to change their situations and heal their bodies while not having the slightest idea of God’s eternal intentions. We must pray to see things from His perspective and interpret the circumstances surrounding our souls and bodies in light of how our requests affect our inner spirits. To one degree or other, we are all like Paul in our weaknesses. Pray three times for healing. If He answers, “Yes,” then rejoice and go on with life. Otherwise, look for a reason why Jesus is saying, “No.” If no healing occurs, consider that God wants us to live with it and find grace and strength accordingly. Of course there is more to this story. Just because Paul and God handled his thorn in one way does not mean that He will always handle our troubles likewise. Our Suffering Has a Purpose The apostle James tells us to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face troubles,” (James 1:2). Have you ever thought about how backwards that is? The dictionary defines “joy” as “the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying.” So, let’s paraphrase that verse together: “Take great delight in suffering.” Personally (this is Brie again), I struggle with a serious chronic illness that causes constant pain. I endure fourteen-hour infusions every other week of a medication that gives me several days of incapacitating migraines. I also have to deal with constant infections and medications that cause major side effects. I’m here to tell you that taking delight in suffering is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do…and I have to make that deliberate choice every single day. But here’s the good news: I don’t have to face it alone! When I ask, God continually reminds me that He is with me. He has a very specific eternal purpose for my suffering; look at James 1 again: “Consider it true joy when you face troubles.” Why? “Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance … “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” James 1:3-4). In other words, when we choose to trust God in response to suffering and allow Him to do His work through it, we grow up spiritually. Ultimately, we become more like Jesus. That’s what I want, more than anything else. I want my response to suffering to bring Him glory. I want enduring the pain with a joy-filled attitude and a genuine smile to point people to Jesus. Our pain has a purpose. When Healing Is in God’s Plan I don’t want you to come away from this thinking that God won’t heal. Many times, He does! And it’s also always for our good and for His eternal purposes. One of the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray (see Luke 11:1-13). Jesus shared the Lord’s Prayer and then told a parable about a man who received a visitor late at night. It was customary to feed a guest upon arrival. Unfortunately, the man with the guest had no food. This was a big deal in their culture. So, he went to his neighbor and asked for some bread. His neighbor was bedded down for the night and refused to get up. The man seeking bread begged and pleaded but his neighbor refused and refused. Finally, to get rid of him the neighbor got out of bed and gave him some bread. Then, Jesus said, “Though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless persistence he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.” I love those words; “shameless persistence.” How often do we pray that way? Then, Jesus followed up the parable with these encouraging words, “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you.” Some translate the three Greek verbs in the imperfect tense as “keep on asking; keep on seeking, and keep on knocking.” However, I think that in this context, translating the imperfect here as ongoing action misses the point of Jesus’ parable. The implication is that we have to keeping praying and pleading with God and if we are persistent enough, He will give us what we ask, seek and knock for. I don’t think that this is what He meant. He continued on to say that if sinful earthly dads know how to give gifts to their children, then how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. Matthew 7:9-10 records Jesus’ follow up like this: Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! When we put the entire passage in context, we see that Jesus is doing everything possible to communicate that God is not at all like the sleeping neighbor who had to be pestered and pestered until he finally gave the man what he wanted in order to get rid of him. Our God is a Father who delights to give good gifts to His children. We don’t ever need to beg, plead and cajole. All we have to do is ask, because He can hardly wait to give good things to us. Let me close with a story from Roger that illustrates God’s incredible healing as a gift from His Father heart to one of His children: “When I was thirteen, the Dallas doctors told us that I had a hole in my heart and needed surgery to close it. I knew how to pray. In my young mind, praying for God’s healing work was as easy as asking mom for breakfast! Without a doubt, many other were praying for me, too. Two weeks before the surgery, I dreamed that God answered the prayers and healed me. It never dawned on me to ask the doctors to recheck. I told mom about the dream, and she said, “Oh, well, that is interesting.” Several days later the heart surgeon sat on my bed in the I.C.U. “I hate to tell you;” he said, “but we made a terrible mistake. There is nothing wrong with your heart. I held your heart right in my hand, I slit it open to find the hole and there was none. I put it back in and sewed you up. You have a perfect heart.” God was delighted to give me what I’d asked for. I imagine that He was just waiting for the moment when I first asked Him to do His healing work. Unfortunately, I failed to check on His answer, even when He sent me a dream. I’ve tried to listen to Him more closely ever since.” How many times you pray for healing or the removal of difficulties is between you and God. We’re not about to try to limit the times you want to pray for something. What I hope is that you will see that God is not lingering or waiting until you have begged enough before granting your desire. If the answer is to be “Yes,” then He never hesitates. He passes it on as soon as possible. What I do hope is that when God says, “NO,” you will stop praying and begin focusing both on how God is using your trial to mature your inner spirit and on how He intends to use this trouble to bring Him glory. Now, back to our missionary friend in the Middle East. Roger shared, After the prayer meeting, he and I discussed the genetic implications of his disorder. We shook his family tree and all sorts of ancestors with the same malady fell out. I encouraged him; “There is medical treatment which can give you great relief. Go see a doctor.” The next morning, the missionary approached me as I was eating breakfast and said, “Thanks, I needed those insights about Paul and his thorn. I’d forgotten that His grace is sufficient.” Well Annabeth, I hope this gives you some insight into how and when and how much to pray for healing. Love, Roger and Brie

Happy 2025 to you! I hope you have had a blessed Advent season and are preparing for the year ahead.   I enjoy this time of year. New Year’s resolutions are right up my alley. I love the challenge of improving spiritually, emotionally, and physically. In James Clear’s Atomic Habits, Clear popularized the idea of habit stacking: linking a new habit you want to form with a habit you already faithfully perform.   In past years, I’ve added the habits of reading through the Bible in a year, memorizing scripture, working out, and other disciplines. This year I will try something different: I’m resolving to do less.   In The Common Rule, Justin Whitmel Earley explains that there are two types of disciplines: those that embrace God and our neighbor, and those that resist the world for the sake of God and our neighbor. I tend to thrive on the embrace disciplines (such as reading scripture, prayer, study, corporate worship, and gatherings). I’ve struggled with the disciplines of resistance (such as silence and solitude). Earley urges us that while we might think that limits constrain freedom, “the right limits create freedom.”   Our world of ever-present input befits my personality well. And many forms of input are beneficial for my soul. The world and my personality drag me away from silence and listening. But I know that I need to learn to listen. What good is my relationship with God if it is primarily a monologue from me to God? How can I grow in repentance if I do not provide space for the Holy Spirit to convict me?   And so this year, I am resolving to do less. I will try to watch fewer shows, spend less time on social media, and even read fewer books. Instead, I want to create more time in silence and solitude, resisting my flesh and the world and pressing into the heart of God.   Like my other habits, I know this habit of resistance won’t happen on a wish and a prayer. I need to build these spaces into my schedule and create rhythms that sustain the new habits.   Would you like to join me?