Our harried, hurried lives prevent us from knowing God, enjoying life and loving others well. We must learn to slow our pace to experience genuine joy. ulie breast feeding Bronwyn during State Denominational meeting: Back and forth between songs and feeding. Once got in such a hurry that she didn’t get her bra closed all the way. As Julie told me later: “It was quite an open meeting.” We are all plagued by hurry. Hurry is not fun. Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is one thing hurried people don’t have. Have you ever played the microwave game? I play it every morning. Oatmeal—two minutes to put in toast, get out knife and spoon, butter and jelly—thank God Julie has already made the bacon. Spread butter and jelly on bread, lay on the bacon and take a bite before the 2 minute bell goes off. I fill the coffee cup and put it in the microwave and have 20 seconds to get the oatmeal and orange juice on the table and return for the coffee before the bell goes off. Why didn’t I bring the jelly and bacon sandwich the table? I was in a hurry, I ate it while I was waiting on the coffee. Have you ever stood there and counted down the seconds before the microwave finishes? Hurry, 5-4-3-2-Oh, that’s enough!” You know your life is too hurried when you find yourself standing in front of a microwave oven, impatiently tapping his foot and muttering, “Come on, already, come on, hurry up, I don’t have all minute!” This morning I want to talk with you about the spiritual practices of Slowing and Solitude. Let me recommend to you John Ortberg’s book, The Life You Always Wanted. Glenn, Jack and I have utilized it as the theological underpinnings for this series. Many of his insights have enhanced our own understanding of how the nineteen or so spiritual disciplines work for our personal benefits in better enjoying life more than ever. Let me tell you what I am going to tell you this morning. SLIDE #: THE PROBLEM: We Are A People Plagued By Hurry Sickness. Hurry Ruins Living, Loving, Spiritual Life And Joy. SLIDE #: THE PRESCRIPTION: The Spiritual Practices Of Slowing And Solitude Are The Antidote To Hurry Sickness. SLIDE #: THE RESULT: We Have A Chance To Enter Into The Joy Of The Kingdom Of God On Earth. Let’s delve a little deeper. SLIDE #: THE PROBLEM: We Are A People Plagued By Hurry Sickness. Hurry Ruins Living, Loving, Spiritual Life And Joy. Jesus was aware of this kind of problem in his day. SLIDE #: Mark 6:30-31: The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” They were so busy that they didn’t even have time to eat. That could be the motto for people today. Some people imagine this to be a good thing that perhaps God will reward one day: “What a life you had! You were even too busy to eat. Well done!” John Ortberg: Here are some SYMPTOMS that we are suffering hurry sickness. SLIDE #: Constantly Speeding Up Daily Activities At a stoplight, if there are two lanes and each contains one car, we will find ourselves guessing – based on the year, make, and model of each car – which one will pull away the fastest. At a grocery store, if we have a choice between two check-out lines, we find ourselves counting how many people are in each line, multiplying this number by the number of items per cart. And only then do we decide which line to enter. If we have a really bad case of hurry sickness, even after we get in line, we keep track of the person who would have been me in the other line. If we get through and the person who would have been me is still waiting, we’ve won. But if that person walks out of the store first. we feel like we lost. SLIDE #: Multiple-Tasking Thought I’d seen everything. Guy in Volkswagen driving to work holding on to steering wheel while eating bowl of Cheerios. SLIDE #: Clutter Julie: “More than three ways for people to get in touch with you.” “Roger: “For some people that is not clutter!” Julie: “But, that is the way they live. Words we never had before: texting, downloading, I-poding, emailing, cell phoning, face booking, tweeting, tivoing, skyping SLIDE #: Superficiality Perhaps one reason that Abraham Lincoln achieved the depth of thought he did is that he grew up with access to very few books: Lincoln often spoke of how slowly his mind worked, how even as an adult he read laboriously and out loud. His law partner and biographer William Herndon claimed that “Lincoln read less and thought more than any man in his sphere in America.” Gary Shrader driving tractor hour after hour on the farm. SLIDE #: Inability to Love STORY: Tucson to Destin, Florida trip. Report card. Quit the ministry. Long walks up beach—decided to slow down and make a priority of our children. SLIDE #: Sunset Fatigue Sunset fatigue is when we come home at the end of a day’s work just too tired, drained, or to too preoccupied, to love the people who need our love the most. Our spouses and children end up getting the leftovers. Sunset fatigue has set in when you set up mock, hurry-up-races: “Okay, kids, let’s see who can take a bath fastest”) so you can get them to bed as soon as possible to have some quiet. I don’t think that the effects of busyness and hurriedness on children can be underestimated. They have school, then homework, music practice, soccer practice (or whatever sport), and they actually have to schedule “play dates” with friends. 3-year-old football player at YMCA in Dallas: help Derrek: 5 and 6 year olds, three point stance, which direction to run, where the goal line is. Resting, watching games. Big, giant of a man holding hands with preschooler. “Can I help you?” “Where do I sign up my child for football?” “How is he?” “Three.” “Don’t have leagues for 3-year-olds. But give us another two or three years and I am sure we till have one.” ADD and Bipolar: The plastic brain—the Agile Gene SLIDE #: JESUS UNDERSTANDS THE PRESSURES SLIDE #: LUKE 4:38: Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. SLIDE #: LUKE 4:39 So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. SLIDE #: LUKE 4:40 When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. SLIDE #: LUKE 4:41 Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ. Don’t you think Jesus felt like saying “Leave me alone!?” How many of you moms felt the tug of your child’s hand and wanted to yell “Leave me alone!” How many of you bosses have employees that knock on your doors and you want to say “Leave me alone?!” How many of you teachers have students that are so emotionally needy and you want to say “Leave me alone!” SLIDE #: LUKE 4:42: At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. Put yourself in Jesus’ sandals for a moment. Can you ever feel justified in pulling away to be alone? Jesus did. On occasion He even left some hurting people unhealed, unexorcized, unfed, and untaught in order to get away for a time of restoration. SLIDE #: THE PRESCRIPTION: The spiritual practices of slowing and solitude are the antidote to hurry sickness. SLIDE #: Luke 5:15-16: Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. To eliminate hurry does not mean that we won’t be busy. Jesus was busy; but, He was never hurried. If we don’t want hurry to rule our lives, we need to take steps to slow down Ortberg: “Not long after moving to Chicago, I called a wise friend to ask for some spiritual direction. Described his fast pace … everything around him moving so fast … Family life was suffering … heart was growing cynical, testy and irritated … “What did I need to do, I asked him, to be spiritually healthy?” Long pause. Another long pause: “There is nothing else,” he said. SLIDE #: “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life,” he said at last. “Okay, I’ve written that one down, ”That’s a good one. Now what else is there?” SLIDE #: Slowing and Solitude are the spiritual practices God gives us for healing “Hurry-Sickness.” SLIDE #: “Slowing” Slowing involves cultivating patience by deliberately choosing to place ourselves in positions where we simply have to wait. For the next month, when you are at the grocery store, look carefully to see which check-out line is longest. Get in it. Let one person go ahead of you. Over the next month deliberately drive in the slow lane on the expressway. Yesterday refused to honk at lady at the stoplight at La Jolla and Naranja. Putting on make up. Drove 35 in 45. Pulled in the right hand turn lane to finally pass. Her, slowed down and practiced slowing. For a week, eat your food slowly. Force yourself to chew at least fifteen times before each swallow. Go through one evening unplugged. SLIDE #: A researcher found that it takes a high dose of amphetamines to kill a mouse living in solitude. But a group of mice will start hopping around and hyping each other up so much that a dose twenty times smaller will be lethal – so great is the effect of “the world” on mice. In fact, a mouse that had been given no amphetamines at all, placed in a group on the drug, will get so hopped up that in ten minutes or so it will be dead. “In groups they go off like popcorn or firecrackers,” the writer observed. We might guess that only a mouse would be so foolish as to hang out with a bunch of other mice that were so hopped up, going at such a frantic pace in such mindless activity that they would put their own well-being and even lives at risk. It would be wrong to think so. SLIDE #: “Solitude” What exactly is solitude? What do we do when we practice solitude? What should we bring along to that quiet place? The primary answer, of course, is “nothing”. We bring nothing. Entering into Solitude helps to counter act a society that is running out of control. We are being carried along with it. The messages come at us in a continual stream: “We’ll help you move faster… Act now, don’t delay! … You can buy it now if you’ll just stretch – no money down, easy monthly payments… You can earn it if you run a little faster, stay a little longer, work a little harder… It’s okay to be frantic and stressed and empty and exhausted – that’s the way everybody is.” It is creeping up on all of us and we are so used to it that we don’t recognizing that it is squeezing the live, love and joy right out of us. Frog in high school: cool water, slowed respiration and did open heart surgery. Died. Put frog in pan of water and add heat and frog will acclimate and boil to death. We are the frogs in our culture. What are some steps into solitude? T advantage of the “little solitudes” that fill our day. Consider the solitude of those early morning moments in bed before the family awakens. Think of the solitude of a morning cup of coffee before beginning the work of the day. Savor the little victories Find a “quiet place.” Why not insist that a little inner sanctuary be put into our house plans, a small place where any family member could go to be alone and silent? We build elaborate play rooms and family rooms and think it well worth the expense. If you already own a home consider enclosing a little section of the garage or patio. I know of one family that has a special chair. Whenever anyone sits in it he or she is saying, “Please don’t bother me, I want to be alone.” Used to have a secluded place on the way home to Cassim House: quiet moment, settle heart, lay down burdens. We need brief periods of solitude on a regular basis – preferably each day, even at intervals during the day. But we also need, at great intervals, extended periods of solitude – half a day, a day, or a few days. Glenn tells me that you can have solitude while you are surfing. I am not certain that he isn’t right. Melancholics, introverts restored by quiet reflection. Extroverts might very well find restoration, slowing and solitude by stepping out of their normal, hurried and harried lifestyle and changing pace with some beloved activity. Don’t try to do it right the first time! One day I hope to do better. But for now, I find consolation in the words of Brother Lawrence: “For many years I was bothered by the thought that I was a failure at prayer; and I’ve gotten along much better ever since.” SLIDE #: THE RESULT: We enter into the realm of Joy God intended for us to enjoy all along. No one really enjoys being around harried, hurried people. Ruins relationships In his book, The Life You Always Wanted, John Ortberg tells of asking an airline pilot to share one of his favorite flying experiences. An elderly couple were flying first class, sitting behind a businessman who was enormously frustrated with them. They had been just ahead of him in line at the gate, and again boarding the plane, and they moved slowly, but he was in a hurry. When the meal was served, they delayed the businessman again by having to get some pills from the overhead storage, inadvertently dropping a battered duffel bag. “What’s the matter with you people?” he exploded, loudly enough for the whole cabin to hear. “I’m amazed you ever get anywhere. Why can’t you just stay home?” To register his anger, the hurried business man reclined his seat back as hard as he could – so hard that the elderly husband’s tray of food spilled all over him and his wife. The flight attendant apologized to the couple profusely: “Is there anything we can do?” she asked. The husband explained that it was their fiftieth wedding anniversary and they were flying for the first time. “Let me at least bring you a bottle of wine,” the flight attendant offered. She did so. When it was uncorked, the old husband stood up, proposed a toast – and poured the bottle over the head of the impatient businessman sitting in front of them. And, the pilot told Ortberg, everybody in the cabin cheered! Genesis One God is on a roll as He creates: good, good, good, etc. very good! He finished and looked at it and was delighted. God’s pleasure for Adam and Eve to enjoy the Garden. Then the fall, Salvation is to restore us to the joy in the Garden. Jesus was the Joy Bringer: He brought the restoring Gospel. SLIDE #: John 15:9-11: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, SLIDE #: just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. Consider how your life would be different if you approached it from an unhurried perspective. We might hear the voice of God better, express worship to God more effectively, find physical, mental and spiritual restoration, and enjoy life more than we ever imagined it could be enjoyed. SLIDE #: JULIE STORY: As I reflect on a life lived in the fast lane, I have a few regrets. I spent years in the practice room patiently honing my musical skills, but I wish I had taken the time learning how to love my family better. I wish I’d sat on the bubble-gum pink carpet of Bronwyn’s room playing with her hamsters (all thirty-two of them). I wish I had savored more moments snapping Brie’s Barbie dresses or combing her “My Little Pony” mane. Brie quietly accepted being ignored when I stepped over her to do greater things, but I wish I had rocked her longer. Bronwyn did not hide her hurt, and I wept with her years later. I wish that I had held her closer sooner. “Hurry” is a hard-core addictive drug. Once you feel the rush, you want a hit, and then another, and another and another. You don’t realize that the adrenaline that flows through your veins is killing you. You don’t realize that living life in fast-forward is like riding a high-speed train: you miss the view. You miss the love. And most of all, you miss God. Because, as you probably know, eternity stands still. So why don’t you try it? The people you love will love you for it.

Chances are that if you’re a Christian, your desire is to be more like Christ. That’s great. But are you?How would you know? A Barna study done a few years ago owned me. The survey revealed that 51% of the North American Christians polled have attitudes and actions more like those of the Pharisees than those of Christ. In other words, the attitudes of most Christians were described as self-righteous and hypocritical. According to the study, only 14% of Christians surveyed reflected attitudes and actions that better resembled the attitudes and actions of Christ. What surprised me (as well as study author David Kinnaman) is how my attitudes and actions still need work…. I’m far too much like a Pharisee and not enough like Jesus. What breaks my heart is that I think the Pharisee spirit in many of us is killing the mission and effectiveness of the church. So how do you know how much Pharisee resides within you?The attitude of many Christians today is more like the Pharisees than it is like Jesus. Share on X In Defense of the Pharisees (Well, Almost Defense) Before we jump to that, I understand that in many church circles, to simply say the word ‘Pharisee’ is to immediately conjure up an image of a villain. Pharisee=bad. And yet the Pharisees were, to some extent, well-meaning people. They studied the law and knew it as well as anyone. Their downfall, among other things, centered on their self-justification and self-importance. Who are the Pharisees in the Bible? But there’s evidence that some Pharisees in the bible were sincerely seeking God. After all, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, both Pharisees, arranged for Jesus’ burial. They were sympathetic to Christ and, from what we can tell, ultimately ended up following him. Similarly, the mission of the early church was radically advanced by a converted Pharisee—Paul. And yet Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their pride, lack of compassion and hypocrisy. The irony, of course, is this: the people who purported to love God most ultimately killed him when he showed up. This isn’t about Jews and Gentiles. It’s about religious people (like you and me) who in the name of God deny who God really is. Denying God is exactly what we do when our attitudes justify us more than they reflect the heart and love of Christ. People who say they love God sometimes kill him when He shows up. Share on X Feeling overworked and overwhelmed? Want to boost your productivity?  Take my FREE Burnout Assessment and get your results in less than 5 minutes.  Take the Assessment Now (Free) Burnout Assessment - Resource - CareyNieuwhof.com 10 Things Pharisees Say Today So what do modern day Pharisees say? Based in part on the research and in part from my own experience, here are the top 10 things today’s Pharisees say. A word of caution. As you read them, don’t think about who these phrases remind you of nearly as much as you think about how they reflect your attitude and actions. If we all do that, we will all be better off and the church will be stronger for it. 1. “If he knew the Bible as well as I did, his life would be better.” Yup, there it is. Judgment and self-righteousness rolled up into a neat little package. I really want people to read their Bibles. But when I get smug and superior about reading mine, I miss the point. Arrogance is not a Christian virtue. Arrogance is not a Christian virtue. Share on X 2. “I follow the rules.” And if you do, awesome. But that’s not what got you into Christianity, is it? You got in because of the mercy which Christ extended to you when you broke the rules. Following the rules doesn’t keep you in the love of God any more than it got you into the love of God. So why follow the rules? Following the rules is a response to the love of God. And your attitude should be one of gratitude, amazement, and humility. 3. “You shouldn’t hang around people like that.” I understand that we have to choose friends for our kids carefully. But when applied to adults, this thought process stinks. One of the reasons many churches aren’t growing is because Christians don’t know any non-Christians. If many of us were preaching the parable about being the salt of the earth today, we’d switch it up and command the salt to stay in its hermetically sealed box and never touch any food. Of course, Jesus said the opposite. Salt needs to get out of the box to season food. And Jesus paid a price for that among religious people. They couldn’t fathom why he would hang out with tax collectors, hookers, and other notorious sinners. When was the last time you hung out with a hooker? Convicting, isn’t it? Disturbing, isn’t it? Yes, it is. Many churches aren’t growing simply because Christians don’t know any non-Christians. Share on X 4. “God listens to my prayers.” Prayer is amazing. And we do trust that God listens to our prayers. But, as we’ve said before in this space, prayer is not a button to be pushed nearly as much as it is a relationship to be pursued. The smugness and certainty with which many Christians talk about prayer must strike people as weird, weird, weird. The biblical portrait of prayer is as much about broken people embracing the mystery and majesty of a forgiving God as much as it is about anything. When prayer becomes a predictable formula that manipulates or controls God, you can be pretty sure you’re no longer praying. Prayer is not a button to be pushed. It’s a relationship to be pursued. Share on X 5. “Sure I have a few issues, but that’s between me and God.” And if you keep it between you and God, people will never be able to relate to you. Perfect on the outside and flawed on the inside—that’s the accusation Jesus levied against the Pharisees. When people on the outside look at pretend-to-be-perfect Christians, it does three things: It alienates them. It makes them think you’re fake… because even they know we’re all broken. It suggests God can’t help them. The antidotes? Transparency. Vulnerability. Honesty. When you let people know you don’t have it all together but you’ve met an amazing God, many people suddenly want to join in. When you let people know you don’t have it all together but you’ve met an amazing God, many people suddenly want to join in. Share on X 6. “They just need to work harder.” Jesus loved the poor and had compassion on broken people. Many Christians today don’t.  (Self-righteousness rears its ugly head again.) Yes, I am very familiar with the passages in scripture that talk about hard work and prudence. I try to live by them. But when I allow my relative ‘success’ to serve as a basis to judge others… I miss mercy. Compassion should be a hallmark of Christians. The early church’s compassion in the first few centuries after Jesus’ resurrection was one of the key reasons the Christian faith spread so rapidly, even amidst extreme persecution. 7. “Of course I’m a Christian.” Few people are better at explaining the difference between moralistic self-righteous religion and authentic Christianity in our age than Tim Keller. Keller points out again and again in his preaching that religious people say things like “Of course I’m a Christian”… and that underneath is a pernicious idea that they have somehow earned the favor of God by their obedience and faithfulness. True Christians, he says, by contrast, are filled with wonder, amazement, and gratitude that God would accept them despite their brokenness? When asked whether they are Christian, they say things like “I know, isn’t that unbelievable? Can you believe that God would extend his mercy to someone like me through Christ? I am amazed! Grateful! Overwhelmed!” I love Keller’s heart on this. 8. “More people need to stand up for Christian values.” As Christendom slips away in our lifetime here in the West, we long for what used to be. But moving forward we will have more in common with our first-century counterparts in Christianity than with our 20th-century forebears. They lived out their faith in a world that didn’t share their values, but rather than fight their non-Christian counterparts, they laid down their life for them. While some people might get very angry and demand that we stand up for Christian values, I think the biblical argument runs the other way. As I outline here, maybe one of the best things Christians today can do is let non-Christians off the moral hook. Christians should live out Christian values deeply and authentically. But why would we hold non-Christians to a standard they don’t believe in, anyway? Jesus and Paul never appeared to do this… not even once. Why would Christians hold non-Christians to a standard they don’t believe in? Share on X 9. “I’m simply more comfortable with people from my church than I am with people who don’t go to church.” This is one major reason why you and your church are incredibly ineffective at reaching unchurched people. If you want to change that, go to some parties and get to know some people who are far from God. You will discover that God likes them. And you might discover you do too. And people – who at one time didn’t follow Jesus –  might even start following Jesus.If you want to change your attitude toward people who are not like you, go to some parties and get to know some people who are far from God. You will discover that God likes them. And you might discover you do too. Share on X 10. “People who don’t go to church can come if they want to.” And Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Too many churches are all about the preferences of their members rather than the power of the Gospel. Here are some suggestions on what you can do if you serve in a church where people don’t want your church to change. Again, please hear me, because this is as much a challenge to me as it is to anyone else. There is a modern-day Pharisee that lives in me. But before we leave this, can you imagine what would happen if Christians today exuded the love, truth, grace and mercy of Christ? I think the church would be different. www.careynieuwhof.com.

Have you ever begun reading a passage in the Bible and started anticipating where it was going, and then it took a left-hand turn? I recently had one of those moments. In Romans 5, Paul takes four turns, each more surprising than the last. At the core of Paul’s argument is a counter-intuitive perspective on hope.   Having just worked through Abraham’s faith, Paul begins, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1-2). I’m tracking with Paul here. I got it: faith leads us to peace with God through our relationship with the one who secured that peace, Jesus Christ. And he has also has brought us into grace. Because of this, we rejoice at the in-breaking hope of the glory of God. Yes and yes!   But then Paul’s mind takes a left turn, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,” (Rom. 5:3). Wait, what? We just went from faith to peace to hope to glory to suffering? My mind would have probably moved from glory to heaven or maybe love. What the connection here? I think I see it: the grace we live in causes me to rejoice in the completion of that grace in the incoming glory of God, but that makes me recognize that the completion of that grace won’t come until we go through this time of suffering, and that isn’t a waste, it is doing a work in us.   Paul continues, and now I’m tracking, “and endurance produces character” (Rom. 5:4a). Got it, Paul. I’m with you. The work of suffering produces endurance and character. Any athlete knows this. And we know this of those who have gone through severe challenges in life—those who walk through those challenges with faith have their character molded to the image of Christ.   But then Paul loses me again, “…and character produces hope” (Rom. 5:4b). Wait, what? The end of the chain of what God produces in us through suffering is hope? Character produces hope? I would’ve probably ended that sentence with “grit” or “perseverance,” or “wisdom.” However, Paul concludes by saying that “character produces hope.” How is this? How does character produce hope?   In our jaded world, hope can get a bad rap. Hope is for the wide-eyed optimists, the inexperienced, the naïve. But for Paul hope is one of the crown jewels of the Spirit’s work in us. For those in Christ, suffering makes us more hopeful, not less. We think of suffering as something that extinguishes hope, but Paul thinks suffering is fuel for hope’s fire.   I’ve probably seen this best exemplified in my friendships with those in the persecuted church. I think of our church-planting friends in India, most of whom have been beaten and imprisoned for their courageous ministry. I can’t think of a single time one of them has ever asked for prayer that the persecution would stop. These men and women radiate with joy and hope. Their hope in the new heavens and new earth is clearer and brighter than mine.   But are they just being foolish? Will their unflinching hope not merely add to the embarrassment of their poverty and their suffering?     Certainly not, Paul concludes, “and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). Hope won’t put you to shame, but it’s not the hope of wishing upon a star, or asking the universe or self-will, it is from God almighty and “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” It’s the real deal.   If you want an enthusiastic friend to watch a game with you, I’m your guy, especially if it involves one of my teams. But I’m still much less emotional than I was in my earlier years. Some of that is good: I’ve matured a bit, and sports don’t matter as much to me as they once did. But part of it is because I’ve been jaded by the losses of many teams I thought would finally bring that championship home. My hopes have dimmed.   We live in a world where hope has dimmed. We are a cynical people. Some of that is probably good. After all, it wasn’t that long ago a United States presidential candidate’s face was seemingly plastered everywhere on the word “hope.” Sports teams and political candidates are faulty sources of true hope. But there is something sad about our anti-hope culture as well, something tragic and unbiblical. A teenager quickly learns that youthful excitement is uncool. “Try hard” is a pejorative term used for someone who cares too much.   Paul would urge Christians to buck the trend, to be a people who demonstrate their character not with flippancy, coolness, or dispassion, but with resonant hope. www.thebeehive.live.

The Lord Is My Shepherd PSALM 23 November 5, 2006 S-746 Psalm 23 is often referred to as the “Shepherd’s Psalm”. This Psalm is used more often in hospitals, prison cells, or among the bereaved or the depressed than any other passage. SLIDE: READ PSALM 23. Most of us don’t know much about sheep—or about shepherds either. If David were writing this today he might very well begin this psalm with the words, SLIDE: “The Lord is my Babysitter.” Roxanne Kapferer: puppets, surprise gifts, candy; tents made of sheets over the table: had more fun with Roxanne than with us. Bronwyn loved Todd Follett, Glen’s brother-in-law. He was the only one Bronwyn would let pull her baby teeth. My children were in good hands—good shepherds—they felt safe and secure—and they were. Bad babysitter: Emergency trip to Dallas; sweet college student offered to watch our kids for three days while we were out of town. She stole Julie’s wedding rings to buy drugs and left town after dumping the kids at a neighbor’s. Imagine the fear and distress of our children with that woman! Bad sitter—bad shepherd—what the bible calls a “hireling.” Ever baby sat your own children. Sure you have. Do it most all day, some days. Even One morning about 3:00 a.m. I heard Julie cry for help from the nursery—it was one of those cries that you knew needed immediate attention: Roger, Heeeeelllllllp. She was standing with Brie under one arm and poop sliding down Julie’s leg and she was stuck with a hand full—unable to move without spilling it all over the rug below. I did the only appropriate thing: I started laughing at the sight. She was not pleased. SLIDE: We all have our poopy baby stories. So does Jesus. Jesus is the Good Shepherd—the divine baby sitter—who picks us up even when our diapers are filled with poop! Psalm 23 is one of the best-loved passages of the Bible—but perhaps not the best understood. Two thoughts to make it come alive: SLIDE: 1. This psalm is written from the viewpoint of a sheep—not a shepherd. It’s as if David gets down on all fours and views life from the perspective of the sheep looking at the shepherd—not the other way around. Keep this in mind and the psalm will open up with new vistas of understanding. SLIDE: 2. The first verse states the theme of all six verses: Because the Lord is my shepherd, I have all I need. This theme is woven throughout the entire psalm. SLIDE: THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD, I SHALL NOT WANT. John Lynn ministered to children. Once he asked from the pulpit, “Do any of you children want to quote for us the 23rd Psalm?” One eight-year-old girl’s arm almost went out of the socket: She began: “The Lord is my Shepherd, He’s all I want…” And then she sat down. That was all she knew. That was enough. SLIDE: I have always been intrigued that in the Bible God calls us sheep. He never says we are wise as owls—or cunning as a fox. Or as regal as a lion. He calls us sheep. And I guess that hurts a bit because sheep are such unintelligent creatures. How often have you seen a group of sheep in a circus doing tricks. No one trains sheep because they’re such dumb, unpredictable creatures. Train a whale or a dolphin… dog…monkey, birds, lions and tigers… but you don’t train sheep. God sees us as sheep. We need a shepherd who transcends time, place, and limitation. We need the Lord for our shepherd. SLIDE: HE MAKES ME LIE DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES, Always thought the emphasis here was on the green pasture, but it’s not. Hebrew suggests that the emphasis is on the verb “He makes me lie down.” Picture a sheep in your mind. Sheep are rather defenseless animals. Top-heavy wool coat about to topple over on those spindly legs! No strong, sharp claws but those awkward hooves. No fast speed to race away from some treacherous animal. This makes them rather fearful – Unusual voice will cause them to run in awkward directions without knowing where they’re going. It is the responsibility of the shepherd to take that sheep by the tender back of the ear and to force it to head down to the green pastures, and the sheep will stop, and it will bring order out of chaos. In our rapid, hurried, pace it’s easy for people of any age to race out of control and occasionally the Lord grabs us by the ears and shows us that the most fertile grass is at our feet. Some of the best things happen when God makes us lie down. Paul writes: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 2 Timothy Man shipwrecked on deserted island: fire burns out of control. “Worst day of my life.” “Ahoy, we saw your smoke signal and we have come to rescue you.” HE LEADS ME BESIDE QUIET WATERS, Sheep don’t like fast current or splashing water. They fear drowning among many things. Heavy coat like a sponge, and they’re poor swimmers and drowning is not unusual. A kind shepherd will pull rocks from the bank into a little area and dam up part of the stream to allow the sheep to come and to drink in a calm setting. Has the Lord done that recently for you? Has He slowed you down and quieted the waters? God is a master at that! He has a way of damming up just the right area and of slowing our pace so that we will drink from his fountain. How fast is your pace? Court reporters relate that people talk 40 to 60 words faster per minute than they die 50 years ago. The average American sleeps 2.5 hours less today than 100 years ago. Before electricity people slept 9.5 hours per night: By 1950, 8 hours; By 1990, 7 hours. 28% of people admit to falling asleep while driving last year. The average desk worker has 36 hours of work on their desks all the time. 54% of Americans say they are more exhausted after a vacation than when they left. Ablation: Looking forward to the rest: No body can bother me for 3 to 4 hours. “We have the technological capacity to make ourselves available at a level that we may not have the physical capacity to service.” Jesus never had a cell phone to interrupt His reverie. Never in a hurry. “My time has not yet come.” Walked everywhere He went. SLIDE: HE RESTORES MY SOUL. What does that mean? Does that mean that He encourages me when I am down? Lifts me up when I’m discouraged? I am certain that that’s part of it!! But original word “restored” means “to turn back” or “to turn around, so as to rearrange” the life. He repents my soul. Alas, there are stubborn lambs. There are sheep who delight to go their own way … quote Isaiah 53:6 – “All we like sheep have gone our own way.” This says, “He restores my soul…” So, it’s an inward bent He changes. Little lambs often are so stubborn. Instead of staying with the flock, independent ones often eat their way into a thicket or by a very dangerous precipice. After they’re trapped they’ll begin to bleat loudly. Shepherd hears bleating and with crook of staff pulls that lamb to safety. If the same lamb continues to wander, the shepherd will pick up that lamb and with his rod, strike the leg of the lamb and break it! Then he’ll splint the leg and carry the little lamb in his arms. Remember the lovely solo in Handel’s Messiah about the shepherd carrying the little lamb in His arms. “What a lovely picture!” Well, I want you to know that the lamb isn’t thinking that at that moment. That lamb often has a splinted leg. He’s had a broken leg because he needs his soul restored. He needs to be turned back toward his shepherd – and after a while when the lamb is able to hobble along the shepherd puts him down and that little lamb stays glued to the side of that shepherd. If I could speak quite freely, there are some splints now in this congregation. SLIDE: Some of you have been wayward: “The way of the transgressor is hard.” You took the hard way and finally He’s broken your leg. You look at your life and the results of some of your choices and you are wounded and hurting and you don’t know what is going on? Maybe your answer is right here. It would be interesting to earmark the lambs who have once worn that splint and to check on their obedience in later years. I have a feeling that lambs who have had their souls restored tend to stick closer to the shepherd than do others. SLIDE: HE GUIDES ME IN THE PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE. Hebrew says, “He guides me in the right tracks.” Julie, Brie and Wanda on Amtrack: In Dallas; Brie with ear Infection; can’t fly. Take train: Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio (off from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.); San Angelo; El Paso; Las Cruces; Lordsburg Tucson. Wrong tracks: 56 Hours Wanda Pneumonia, Brie about to die. Just described some of your lives. You are on your own wrong tracks. God has the right tracks in mind. Why? For the sheep? No! It’s “for His name’s sake.” “It is not about me.” SLIDE: The purpose of sheep is to make a profit for the Shepherd: food and wool. When the shepherd goes from A to B with all of his sheep, he makes a profit… and our shepherd does not lose his sheep. His name is at stake! Does this take the pressure off of life or what! How many of us live constantly worrying about the outcome. If we relax in the Holy Spirit our livrs will be an obedient and profitable life. Will it be easy? The tone of the psalm changes in verse 4. SLIDE: YEA, THOUGH I WILL WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I WILL FEAR NO EVIL, In the winter months the shepherd moves his sheep to the warmer, lowland areas. As summer comes he leads his sheep upward to new green grass. The journey upward is often treacherous. New ravines and unsure footing bring fear and danger on the way to new pastures. I know of no passage where the Bible teaches that the Christian life is easy. God never promises that as a Christian all problems will cease. He doesn’t promise a heaven on earth experience. It is often a life of deep shadows—of heartaches and loneliness and treachery—surrounded by enemies—but a life in which the sheep can walk in confidence knowing that the Shepherd has yet not make His first mistake—and he never will. Let’s set the record straight. It doesn’t say “might”, it says “even though”. SLIDE: The Christian can still lose his job–terminal cancer…lose closest friend…have automobile accident…face incredible number of problems… and never once need to doubt: “Is the Shepherd in this?” You see, the shepherd leads along right tracks. The next several phrases are all tied to walking through the shadows of death. SLIDE: FOR YOU ARE WITH ME; YOUR ROD AND YOUR STAFF, THEY COMFORT ME. We understand the staff (Long, crooked stick), pulls me out of dangerous ravine. The Rod is an oak club about two feet long into which shepherd has pounded pieces of bone or metal. It’s a club for use against savage animals. He could use it as a club but he could also hurl it like a missile over the heads of his sheep to a wolf lurking in the distance. Think of that! Here we are enjoying the green pasture and whirl, whirl, whirl… here goes this club in front of our faces. That’s the shepherd at work! He guards us. There’s no savage wolf strong enough to take the shepherd. SLIDE: YOU PREPARE A TABLE BEFORE ME IN THE PRESENCE OF MY ENEMIES. One of the sheep’s enemies is the little brown adder, which delights, when disturbed by a munching sheep, to jump quickly from his hole and to bite the sheep on the nose or on the face! A wise shepherd prepares the table. Holds the sheep back, and with his staff he moves through the grass looking for these holes. He pours the pungent oil all around the hole. The snake is repulsed by the odor and refrains from coming out to bite the sheep. SLIDE: YOU ANOINT MY HEAD WITH OIL; Refers to protection from a Nasal Fly, which deposits eggs in damp, moist, mucous membranes of the sheep’s nose. Hatch in a few days to form small, slender worm-like larvae. Burrow into flesh and cause severe irritation and inflammation. Often cause sheep to deliberately beat and rub head against ground, rocks, post, etc. Extreme cases can kill itself in frenzied endeavor for relief. Homemade remedy of mixture of linseed oil, sulfur and tar which are smeared all over the sheep’s forehead as protection. Flies leave and sheep settle down immediately. MY CUP OVERFLOWS. This is a little stone cup, common in Palestine – Sheep can’t drink out of a well. The faithful shepherd draws the water and fills these little stone cups to overflowing. Why, it may take two to three hours just to water the sheep! That’s the Lord! This is the overwhelming attitude we have in the midst of the difficulties of life. John 7:37: Closing the gap. Triumphant living of Philippians 4. Now, with pardonable imagination, every flock needs some sheepdogs. They are named “goodness” and “mercy”. SLIDE: SURELY GOODNESS AND MERCY WILL FOLLOW ME ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE, If ever live in a large spread, love a couple of border collies – name them “Goodness” and Mercy”. “Here, Mercy!” What great names! What marvelous reminders – not “Wrath” and “Judgment,” but “Goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life!” Surely and Goody herd our family on walks. SLIDE: AND I WILL DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD FOREVER. Funerals: always close Christian funerals with this. Of course, some don’t make it home! Too many of us want to be our own shepherd. We want to make our own paths… draw our own water… fight our own battles… call our own shots… build our own business… choose our own life’s partner… and then let Him somehow come and bless it… Tragedy. But the rest of us can take much comfort in this Psalm, for He is indeed our shepherd. Never too late to invite Him to be your shepherd. APPLICATIONS SLIDE: 1. Live close to the Shepherd. Why would you want to live any where else? SLIDE: 2. If the Lord is your only shepherd, you don’t have enough shepherds. Genesis 2: “It is not good for man to be alone.” SLIDE: 3. Those who have plumbed the depths of their own inadequacies are the ones that God invariable calls to shepherd others. SLIDE: Jesus sufferings from rejection in Nazareth, to illegitimate child, etc….. SLIDE: Peter and boasts…failed…Feed My Sheep. SLIDE: Pour in acceptance, etc.

GOD WILL USE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF JUDGMENT AT THE GREAT WHITE THRONE. GOD WILL JUDGE: 1. With Truth ( Romans 2:2 ) 2. According To His Kindness ( Romans 2:4 ) 3. On The Basis Of Accumulated Guilt ( Romans 2:5 ) 4. By How Well Our Deeds Compare To The Best Deeds Of Jesus ( Romans 2:6-10 ) 5. Without Favoritism (Romans 2:11 ) 6. According To How Well We Live Up To The “Light” We Have Received (Romans 2:12 -15) 7. According To Our Inner-Most Secrets (Romans 2:16 ) CHRIST INVITES US TO SETTLE OUR CASES OUT OF COURT (MATTHEW 5:26 -27.) #preachitteachit #Romans #drrogerbarrier #casas #judgment #grace #salvation EVEN GOOD PEOPLE HAVE NO EXCUSE Romans 2:1-16 S-1701 ●SLIDE: It began with Survivor. Then came American Idol, the Apprentice, America’s top model, America’s Biggest Losers, The American Inventor. Contestants are evaluated and eliminated—only the smartest, strongest, skinniest survive. I guess. Sometimes I don’t have the slightest idea what criteria the judges are using. I watched Randy, Paula, and Simoncrucify Katherine McFee on American Idol last Tuesday night. You need to know that she is the best vocal by far. Beautiful. Doesn’t mean that America will give her the most votes. But she certainly did not need to be treated the way she was last Tuesday night on American Idol. All Idols singing Andrea Bocelli songs. Katherine led off the program. Outstanding performance. Julie: “Best performance of the night. No one can top that.” She turned to face the judges and get their opinions of her performance for the night before America would be turned loose to vote. Expectancy of great review on her face. She’d done a great job and she and everyone else in America knew it—except the three blind judges. Randy: Awful, song way to big for you. Look of despair and disbelief on her face. Then Paula: “This should have been your moment and you ruined it.” Then Simon: “That was like bad karaoke.” Then, Ryan Seecrest, “You look beautiful. You will probably get some votes from people who had their volume turned off.” Julie and I looked at each other: “What criteria are they using? Are they out to sabotage her? This so unfair! I know why Kelly Pickler lasted so long. America voted for her looks and figure. It was about time for her to be voted off last Wednesday. But Katherine?? The comments regarding here were a capricious mystery. Have you considered that the Game Of Life is a Reality game which is in the process of being evaluated by Jesus Christ Himself? ●SLIDE: In Romans Two Paul lays out the criteria of evaluation for the game we call LIFE which we are all playing. Only it is not a game. It is for Keepers. There are no good excuses. God’s evaluation criteria is never capricious. It is consistent, truthful and fairly applied. REVIEW OVERHEAD: Gospels, Acts, then Book of Romans is the foundation for the all of Christianity. OVERHEAD: In Romans One Paul demonstrated that no one can be excused for ignoring and dismissing God. Both the internal witness of the conscience and the external witness of nature (Intelligent Designer) make it clear that God exists. Any society that dismisses surrendering to the Person of Jesus Christ will soon find that He gives them over to promiscuous sex, rampant homosexuality and depraved minds. In Romans Two Paul changes from the general plural in Romans One to the specific singular. No longer is Paul discussing “they” who are abandoned by God after they first dismissed Him. He is now addressing the individual—especially those who thinks to himself, “I’m good enough for Heaven. I’m a lot better than most of the other folks I know.” ●SLIDE: In God’s eyes, there are no “good people”. We are all flawed. READ ROMANS 2:1: You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. What about the good people? Surely, God would not send the good people to Hell. In God’s eyes, there are no “good people”. We are all flawed. Lowell Johnson Rapist at our house I have learned a lot since those early days. We all have flaws—even the best of us have warts. Sooner or later we discover the infinite difference between Jesus Christ and us. OVERHEAD: Remember as a child with Dad on top of Braniff Building in Dallas. Looked down, said, “All the cars look like toys.” Dad said, “Look at the people.” “They all look so small.” “Can you tell the difference between a five foot tall man and a six foot tall man?” “No.” Few minutes later we were down on the sidewalk. “Now can you tell the difference between a tall man and a short man?” It was easy. So it is on our human judgment. On the human plane we can see all sorts of variations in wealth, culture, education, character, goodness, and badness. From God’s point of view all men are on the same level. All have sinned. Many people feel that it may be close, but that they’ll make it to Heaven. ●SLIDE: Picture themselves before the Judgment Throne. Dictate code and procedure to God. Get upon bench and explain why they did what they did and that God will smile and wink and say, “Well, you really were pretty good, come on in.” The Bible teaches that will never occur. READ ROMANS 2:3: So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? “Do you think that you will escape” = “logidzomai” = “calculate” or “compute” – Translation is very strong in Greek. Roger paraphrase: “You dummy. Do you really figure that you have calculated some change that will let you go up against God and get away with it? You don’t have a ghost of a chance.” ●SLIDE: THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST (REVELATION 20:11-15) READ REVELATION 20:11-15. Explain The Books of Works Explain The Book of Life later. In Romans Two Paul detailed the seven criteria that God will use at the Great White Throne. ●SLIDE: 1. God will judgE WITH TRUTH (Romans 2:2). READ ROMANS 2:2: Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. ●SLIDE: James 1:23-25: God’s Word is a mirror. Look in mirror of Word of God and see ourselves as God sees us. Very few people see themselves as God sees them—because they don’t read the Bible. Many of us have a distorted image because we are in the habit of comparing with others. Will come to Judgment Day and God will say, “Let’s judge you for what you really are.” ●SLIDE: 2. God will judgE ACCORDING TO HIS KINDNESS (Romans 2:4). READ ROMANS 2:4: Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? People say, “How can God allow a tyrant like Hitler or Stalin or Saddam Hussein? to murder millions of innocent people? Why doesn’t God judge these men?” Question that we ought to ask is, “Why didn’t God shrivel my hand when I took a pencil and cheated on my income tax? Why didn’t he strike me dumb when I was gossiping on the phone this morning?” It’s because of God’s kindness – To lead us to repentance. Notice the trinity of grace! Three degrees of God’s kindness which will come to every man. *God’s kindness – God provides for and protects and preserves even when we don’t deserve it. *God’s tolerance – Greek word describes God lifting one hand with the thunderbolt of His wrath to strike against man. But then with the other hand He restrains Himself from giving to man what he certainly deserves. *God’s patience – close synonym to the other two. Further describes God’s third level degree of holding back from bringing His wrath to men while they are on earth. Stand before God at Judgment. “I did so many things for you while you were alive: sunsets, good job, healthy children, nice possessions, etc. Yet you never turned to me.” God’s kindness to turn them to repentance – the longer they reject His kindness, the more inexcusable they will be when they stand at the Great White Throne Judgment. ●SLIDE: 3. God will judgE ON THE BASIS OF ACCUMULATED GUILT (Romans 2:5). READ ROMANS 2:5: But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. If grace and kindness of God have not led you to repentance, then every day, moment by moment, hour by hour, you are storing up drops of the terrible treasure of God’s wrath which will break forth at the Great White Throne. Picture is most striking – picture of a man who unwittingly collects rattlesnake eggs and brings them to his bedroom where they will one day all hatch at the same time – and destroy him. ●SLIDE: 4. God will judgE WITH JUSTICE—NOT MERCY (Romans 2:6-10). READ ROMANS 2:6: God will give to each person according to what he has done. No one in his right mind wants to be judged on works! I want mercy—and you do, too. Richard III went out to reconnoiter at twilight. Found a sentinel fast asleep at the outpost. The King promptly stabbed him in the heart. He left a note with a stern inscription upon his chest: “I found him asleep and I left him so.” That’s what it’s like to be judged according to works. I don’t want justice. I want mercy! Standing before God now is the man who says, “Look, God, I’ve lived a good life. Take my good works and put them over against my bad deeds and certainly the good will outweigh the bad.” But the problem is that he thought that his good deeds will be weighed against his bad deeds. That will not be the case. Word for “works” or “deeds” – “what he has done” – basically means, “good deeds.” God is so gracious. He’ll leave out the bad deeds. Just take the good deeds and God will compare them with the works and life of Jesus. Heals lame, blind, deaf; take on sins; die for the world. I certainly do not want to go through that Judgment. ●SLIDE: 5. God will judgE WITHOUT FAVORITISM (Romans 2:11). READ ROMANS 2:11: For God does not show favoritism. God doesn’t play favorites. No matter how much God likes someone; no matter how much we like God or we think God likes us, God will not play favorites. ●SLIDE: 6. God will judgE ACCORDING TO HOW WELL WE LIVE UP TO THE “LIGHT” WE HAVE RECEIVED (Romans 2:12-15). READ ROMANS 2:12: All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. OVERHEAD: Two types of people: Those who have heard the Gospel and those who have not. Those who have heard the gospel—good news— will be judged on whether or not be lived up to what he knew—did he receive Christ or not? What about man who has never heard of Jesus or of the Bible? He’ll be judged according to how well he lives up to what he knows—how much Light he has received. READ ROMANS 2:14-15: (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) The key is – are we living up to the amount of light we have received? READ ROMANS 2:13: For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Let’s say I’m daydreaming as I drive through the school zone. Let’s say that I’m doing 55 mph in a 15 mph zone. Go to court and judge pulls out citation. “Were you actually doing 55 in a 15 mile zone?” “Well, you see…” “Yes or no?” “Well, yes.” “I find you guilty. I fine you $500 for going 55 in a 15 mph zone.” I say, “Just a minute, judge. I know that it was a 15 mph zone. I know that!” Judge replies, “I’m not fining you for what you know. I’m fining you for not living up to what you know.” Here is the question for global outreach. How can God judge him for never hearing about Christ. He will be judged according to how well he lived up to the light he has received. Don’t get too excited! Not one person at this judgment will pass the test! No one lives up to the amount of light they have received. All fall short. ●SLIDE: 7. God will judgE ACCORDING TO OUR INNER-MOST SECRETS (Romans 2:16). READ ROMANS 2:16: This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. God will open the closet doors. What have you hidden away? Skeletons will come out of closets then. Deeds long buried in the depths of memory will be brought up. Unsolved crimes will find their solutions. These are the secrets of men. Woman came to see her pastor – 60 years old – pillar in Christian community. “Must make confession to you. 38 years ago I murdered a man.” Pastor shocked. She related details. At 22 she lived in a boarding house. Man who lived on her floor had sexually abused her. One night he came to his room drunk and fell on his bed in a stupor. She entered his room and turned on the gas in a small heater without lighting it. Pulled rug close to the door and closed it. Went to her room and lay sleepless through the night until the alarm was given. Someone knocked at her door and told her that her fellow boarder had committed suicide. That was all there was to it. She was never detected. But God knows the secrets of man. You don’t want to face this Judgment. ●SLIDE: Christ invites us to settle our cases out of court. READ MATTHEW 5:26-27: “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. Christ died on the cross to offer us a chance to settle the issue of our sin before Judgment Day. If we die without Christ our cases will come to trial and God has enough evidence to condemn every one of us to Hell—and He will. There is mercy now—settle out of court. But the days of mercy are not without end. When we die, our choice is sealed for eternity. Explain: Book of Life – those who settle out of court. What might coming to God through Christ look like? David’s confession in Psalm 51after he had been reminded and convicted of his sin by Nathan the prophet. He had committed adultery with Bathsheba; murdered Uriah; lied about everything. When he recognized his guilt he prayed: READ PSALM 51:1-3: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. I want you to see verse 4. David said, “I don’t want to mince words. I don’t want to leave anybody with the wrong impression.” READ PSALM 51:4: Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. “I want it distinctly understood that you have every right to judge me. I’m not laying blame on Bathsheba because she left the curtain open. Not blaming circumstances. Not blaming her husband Uriah for not being a better husband. “I’m saying that I have sinned before you, O God. It’s all my fault.” All right, let’s settle this out of court. ●SLIDE: “No condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus” – Romans 8:1. Serious business: Water moccasin story at Grapevine Lake: “Get out and get out now.” “Why?” “Get out and get out now.” Criteria: Obey or not? Bite or not? Not Randy or Paula or Simon talking to you. This is God through His Word: Settle out of court. Psalm 51:7 and 10: Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. … Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Bow heads: Listen carefully—some of you engaged with—frightened, not want to face judgment. Plead with you to settle your case out of court. His arms are open in invitation. Do it at your seat—then come to hospitality room after service is dismissed. Christians: Burden for friends and neighbors—not just an intellectual exercise. Friends will face this: Bring them here to come and see. SONG: There is a fountain filled with blood.

tHE END TIMES FRAMEWORK: “LET THE READER UNDERSTAND” Jesus’ Olivet Discourse #2 Matthew 24:15-29 S-1744 TITLE SLIDE #1: Today we continue a four-Sunday emphasis on Jesus discussion concerning future events in the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24. We will call this series, “Fast Forward.” Jump right in. Just a moment of review for those of you who missed last week. Jesus leaving Temple for last time: “Temple will be destroyed—no stone left on another—won’t see me again until 2nd coming when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’” SLIDE 2: Matthew 24:3: As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Stunned by Jesus’ pronouncement regarding the destruction of the Temple, the disciples asked three questions. SLIDE 3: When will this (the destruction of the Temple) happen? What will be the sign of your coming? What will be the sign of the end of the age? Disciples lumped all three events together (if temple is destroyed the end must be near!) They are not at all simultaneous. PLEASE SWITCH TO ROGER’S COMPUTER (Note that I will use several of the following slides off of my computer before returning to your control.) SLIDE 4: The Mountain Peak Principle: Events that seem close together may in fact be separated by varying lengths of time. Draw three separated mountain peaks with distance between and eye looking and show all questions lumped together. Temple Destroyed——Sign of your coming (lightning flash)——–End of the age Temple destroyed during “their generation” (Matthew 24:34-35.) The prophecy was fulfilled in 70 a.d. when the Temple was torn down. Jesus mentions all sorts of signs in our times and surrounding 2nd coming.Deceit, War, earthquakes; Famine; Apostasy, Persecution; Gospel preached Lightning flash…appears in sky…two in bed, one taken other left, etc. SLIDE 5: The Multiple-Fulfillment Principle: Prophecies may be fulfilled multiple times. SLIDE 6: Matthew 24:15: “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel — let the reader understand— The Abomination of Desolation predicted by Daniel (Daniel 9:27) is at least a triple fulfillment. 168 B.C. Antioches Epiphanes, the king of Syria, determined to wipe out the Jews and their religion in 168 b.c. erects an altar to Zeus and slaughters a pig in Holy of Holies, turned the treasury rooms into public brothels and great persecution begins. 70 a.d. Titus desecrated the Holy of Holies—and great persecution begins “Get out of town: pray you’re not pregnant or nursing; pray it does not happen on the Sabbath. Don’t take time to pack a suitcase….” Titus and Romans came in Anti-Semitism Future: The Book of Revelation and Paul suggests this future fulfillment (2 Thessalonians 2:2-4). The false prophet will erect an image of the Anti-Christ in the Holy of Holies: and the persecutions to end all persecutions begins—world-wide! Signs of Matthew 24:4-14 are not the end. Fulfilled before Abomination. Double Fulfillment around the time of the second coming (Revelation). “Let the Reader understand”—Daniel. Inspired by God Daniel prophetically lays out the prophetical framework of world history from his day to the second coming of Christ to the end of the age. Daniel’s dream image of a multi-metallic man and what is commonly called Daniel’s “70 Sevens” prophecy provide the skeleton for all of prophecy. All other prophetical passages are the meat on the skeleton. Revelation, the Olivet Discourse, 1 & 2 Thessalonians are only understood with a foundational understanding of Daniel 2 and 9. SLIDE #7: THE MULTI-METALIC MAN (DANIEL 2:31-35) SLIDE #8: The Dream (Describe the dream) Golden Head Silver Arms Brass Belly and Thighs Iron Legs Feet and Toes of Iron Mixed with Clay Rock Descends from the sky and hits the Man on his toes. Man is crushed to fine powder which the wind blows away. Rock grows into a Mountain which fills the earth. RETURN COMPUTER SLIDES CONTROL TO TECH SUITE UPSTAIRS The Interpretation (DANIEL 2:36-45) SLIDE #9: The Head Of Gold–Babylon SLIDE #10: DANIEL 2:37-38: You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38 in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. SLIDE #11: The Arms And Breast Of Silver—Media Persia DANIEL 2:39a: “After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Two arms picture a divided kingdom. Literally fulfilled in Daniel 5:28 during handwriting on the wall by the Medes and the Persians. SLIDE #12: The Belly And Thighs Of Brass—Greece DANIEL 2:39b: Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Next Kingdom to arise after Media-Persia was Greece. Alexander ruled the whole earth. Positively identified in DANIEL 8:21-22 Incidentally, this passage greatly impressed Alexander. Had besieged Jerusalem. Jaddua the High Priest came out and read this to Alexander, and he was so impressed that he gave special protected status to Jerusalem and Israel. SLIDE #13: Legs Of Iron—Rome DANIEL 2:40: Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron — for iron breaks and smashes everything — and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Every schoolchild has heard of the iron legions of Rome. The Roman legions were noted for their ability to crush all opposition with an iron heel. Two legs of Iron, Strong Empire, divided into Eastern and Western Empire (get Roman Catholic Church and Greek Orthodox from that) SLIDE #14: Feet Of Iron And Clay—????? SLIDE #15: DANIEL 2:41-43: Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. This federation will be in existence when Christ returns. Final stage of Kingdom will be a loose confederacy of ten countries—represented by ten toes of iron and clay – not mixed well. The kingdom of Rome exists today in the broken fragments of the many kingdoms of Western Europe. (Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hapsburgs of Austria and Holy Roman Empire) German Kaisers, Hitler’s Third Reich.) SLIDE #16: The Rock Which Grows Up To Fill The Whole Earth SLIDE #17: DANIEL 2:44-45 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands — a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. “Who?” or “What” is this stone “cut without human hands?” Man can make a brick; but, only God can make a stone. Jesus knew who this stone is. It is He Himself. SLIDE #18: MATTHEW 21:42-44: Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?’ He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” SOME LESSONS: SLIDE #19: All human governments stand on delicate foundations. Look at the foundation of the colossus. Heavy gold, silver, bronze and iron is supported on a foundation of mud. Picture of the tottering nature of man’s government. The foundation is based on humanity and humanity is unstable, weak, and unpredictable. Average length of nations is 200 years—most less. SLIDE #20: All human governments eventually deteriorate and decay. The descending values of the metals suggests the degeneration of government: Gold is more valuable than silver… silver than bronze… bronze than iron…iron than iron mixed with clay. Verse 39 – another kingdom shall arise “inferior” to you. It will be better? NO! It will be worse. Over time governments degenerate from strength and unity to disunity and destruction. You start with gold and soon you are down there in the mud. Professor Alexander Tyler wrote about the fall of the Athenian Republic 2000 years earlier when the thirteen colonies were still a part of Great Britain: SLIDE #21: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. SLIDE #22: From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policies and is always followed by a dictatorship. SLIDE #23: “The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith… to great courage… to liberty… to abundance… to selfishness… to complacency… to apathy… to dependency… and back to bondage.” Where are we? We are on the downward cycle. We are in a combination of iron and clay. Iron and clay don’t mix. Iron stands for authority and clay stands for people. They don’t mix. We have a deteriorating form of government. SLIDE #24: The power of human governments is increasing. Look at the image. Gold is followed by silver which is stronger than gold… silver followed by bronze… bronze by iron. This is overwhelming to realize that as we degenerate in morality and unity and ability to rule that we increase in force. Nuclear weapons spread all over the soviet republics. These lessons soberly remind us that the days of man’s rule are just about over. We are living on the threshold of the end of the age. SLIDE #25: THE SEVENTY “SEVENS” PROPHECY (DANIEL 9:24-27) As we come to Daniel 9, Daniel has some questions about God’s plans for Israel. Daniel reading Jeremiah where God related that after 70 years in Babylonian bondage Israel would return home to Jerusalem. It is now 69 years later: Plan of 70 years of bondage drawing to an end. God now reveals that He has another program for Israel. This one is for 490 years: 70 X7. PLEASE SWITCH TO ROGER’S COMPUTER SLIDE #26: Daniel 9:24: “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. “Sevens” = Hebrew word “Heptad.” Generic word which can mean seven of anything. Like our word, “Dozen.” Dozen Bananas = 12 bananas. Heptad bananas = 7 bananas. Context is years: One “heptad” equals 7 years. 70 X 7 Heptads (years) = 490 years. This program will continue for 490 years until second coming and Christ establishes His Kingdom. SLIDE #27: Daniel 9:25: “Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. When 62+7= 69 “sevens” conclude the Anointed One, the Ruler comes. The decree went forth: Nehemiah 1:1; 2:5-8: March 4, 444 B.C. SLIDE #28: March 4, 444 B.C. 7+62=69 “sevens = 483 years 483 X 360 days per prophetic year = 173,880 days 173,880 days after March 4, 444 B.C. is Palm Sunday, April 6, 32 A.D. 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on Pam Sunday. By the way, The 69 “sevens” are broken down into two phases. 7 sevens and 62 sevens. 7 sevens tells of time during which temple was rebuilt. Temple rebuilding took 49 years. SLIDE #30: Daniel 9:29: After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. There is a time gap after the end of the sixty-ninth week and before the beginning of the seventieth. Three events occur before the seventieth “seven” begins. First, “The Anointed One” will be crucified. Here is one of the clearest testimonies in the Bible of the death of Jesus Christ in prophecy. Second, “The people of the ruler who will come” will destroy Jerusalem. Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. See arch of Titus in Rome today. Masada occurred. “Ruler who is to come” is Anti-Christ – He’s little horn of Daniel 7:8 and the Beast of Revelation l3. Third, there will be no peace on earth. Wars will continue unabated. At the Triumphant Entry when Christ entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, 32 A.D., God’s prophetic time clock stopped. The hands stand poised at 69. There is still one “seven” to go. Like time clock at end of basketball game: time out with ten seconds left. All fans anxious, waiting for final play. How much time left in the game? About 10 minutes. God’s clock for the team of Israel has been stopped since 32 A.D.. SLIDE #30: Daniel 9:27: He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” SLIDE #31 DRAW LAST 7 YEARS and summarize. The prophetic clock will restart—time out will be over—when the Anti-Christ makes a peace covenant with the nation of Israel. Peace treaty will be between Anti-Christ (probably western Europe and Israel (feet and toes of Iron and clay). We will not recognize the peace treaty: Sadat … Jimmy Carter … George W. Bush … Don’t get excited. We are told to look for the Abomination of Desolation. We’re told elsewhere that the Jews will accept the Covenant with the Anti-Christ who rules Europe because they are fearful of the threat of the “King of the North.” When a Bible student sees Israel aligned with the West, and not the North or South or East, he is not surprised! Just a sign of the times. Teams are lining up. Anti-Christ takes over control of ten nation confederacy in Europe by subduing three nations. In the middle of the 70th “seven” (3 l/2 years), the Antichrist breaks the treaty. Satan falls from Heaven and indwells this man. Read Revelation 12:9, 12; 13:4. Satan does not know who this antichrist will be. He always has one ready. Adolf Hitler; Alexandr Zherinovski; Vladamer Putin, Osoma ben Laden—Bill Clinton. Now, the Antichrist forbids the offering of sacrifices in the Temple. Indicates Israel will have a Temple! Plans underway this moment to rebuild it. Then he erects the Abomination of Desolation and demands to be worshipped. Period of Great Tribulation now begins as Anti-Christ tries to wipe Jews off face of earth. Will launch greatest wave of Anti-Semitism that the world has ever seen. All the plagues, seals, trumpets, and bowls of Revelation take place. The Anti-Christ will last 3.5 more years until Jesus returns with Armies of Heaven and defeats him at the Battle of Armageddon RETURN COMPUTER SLIDES CONTROL TO TECH SUITE UPSTAIRS SLIDE #32: SOME MORE LESSONS 1. Discerning Christians have no reason to be baffled nor confused regarding the events of the end of the age. 2. Investing in global outreach is personal involvement in bringing in the Kingdom of God on earth. 3. Living holy lives is the best preparation we can make for the return of Christ. VIDEO: ON THE MOVE

Paul sent numerous greetings to the Christians at Rome as he concluded his letter. No doubt behind each of these names is a story of romance with Christ. The number of people in Paul’s network was impressive. Paul had a lot of friends to keep up with. Of the many things that jump out at us from these greetings, the number of women mentioned is astounding. Of the twenty-nine people referenced, nine are women. That is worth remembering, for often Paul is accused of belittling the status of women in the church. If we really wish to see Paul’s attitude to women, it is a passage like this that we should read SLIDES: TOP 10 FEMALE DRIVERS How many of you think that a woman took those pictures? No, of course not! Men making fun of women. SLIDE: Call it battle of the sexes. It goes on in every culture. Barbara Bacon stuck her head into my office several years ago: “What is the Greek word for ‘woman’?” “‘Gune.’ Why do you want to know?” “I was in Gary Shrader’s office (Gary of the 4 box fame of the last two Sundays) and he told me it was ‘YakYak.'” Barbara left office and returned: “What is the Greek word for ‘man’?” I thought a minute: “courageoso.” Barbara was gone about 7 seconds: “No, it is not. I think it is ‘Ego Ego.'” But, in some ways, the battle is no joke. How many of you believe that women are treated in our society with the same equality as men? How many of you believe that women receive the same pay for the same amount of work as men? How many of you believe that women are treated equally and fairly in the Christian church? This ought not to be! Why the ongoing battle? SLIDE: Genesis 1-3 Reveals God’s Original Design. SLIDE: GENESIS 2:18: The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” “Helper Suitable:” woman is the counterpart of man: interlocking fingers Man and woman are to work together like two finely meshed gears. Then—the Fall into sin. SLIDE: Genesis 3:14-15: So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Is Genesis 3:16 is a Curse on Satan—but, no curse on the women or the man. SLIDE: Genesis 3:16: To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Not a curse, it is a consequence: This is not God’s design and it doesn’t have to be this way. Show you what is happening here. Desire–“You are Turning” God says, “You have turned from me and now you are turning to your husband. He is going to rule over you. “Supposed to turn to me and desire me: Love Lord God with all your heart.” Now look what you have done! No more harmony. No more counter part. Forever after men are justified to rule over women. This is the consequence for first eating the forbidden fruit. Fall also has a consequence for men. SLIDE: Genesis 3:17: To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. The ground is cursed—not Adam—but he has to bear the consequences. In Christ, God’s desire is for men and women to be restored to the place they had before the fall. The glory of Christianity is restoration. SLIDE: No one is more concerned with restoring women to their proper place than the Apostle Paul. SLIDE: Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Do you see the restoration? Probably the most profound New Testament insight regarding the respective status of men and women in the Christian community. In the society of Paul’s day women had little or no standing whatsoever. BLACKBOARD: Jewish Society: A woman was forbidden to learn the law Women had no part in the Synagogue service; they were shut apart in a section where they could not be seen, and were allowed no share in the service. Greek Society The respectable Greek woman lived a confined life. She never appeared on the street alone; she never went to any public assembly; much less ever speak in an assembly. In those days education was the privilege of the men. The Greek language had a special word for almost everything—but there was no special word for “wife.” Same word, “gune” (γυνη) use the context. (By the way, we get our English word, “goon” from this word! Just kidding!) SLIDE: 1 Corinthians 11:11-13: “In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.” The companionship between man and woman is broken all over the globe. Paul leaves no doubt through Christ, God has every intention of bringing restoration to the male-female relationship. SLIDE: PAUL’S RESTORAION OF CHRISTIAN WOMEN IS SURPRISING BECAUSE MANY CONSIDER Him A CHAUVENISTIC SEXIST. 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 women can’t speak in church. Yet: 1 Corinthians 11:5 talks about a woman praying and preaching in church. Talking about rules for tongues. Integrating cultural practices with liberating Christian truth. SLIDE: 1 Timothy 2:11-15: A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing-if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. Egnamatic passage: Misunderstanding brought hurt, confusion and bondage to women. There is a sudden change from “women” in verses 9-10 to “woman” in verses 11-15. The Greek makes no distinction between “woman” and “wife.” In Martin Luther’s German version verse 12 reads “I permit not a wife to teach nor to have dominion over her husband,” implying that this is simply a family matter; it has nothing to do with church worship. “Let a women learn…” (culture where they were forbidden to learn) and then he goes on to give Timothy the reason why. His mind goes back to Eden, and he remembers how Eve through her innocence and immaturity had fallen victim to the wiles of the devil and had become “thoroughly deceived.” Yes, she was once deceived, so teach her! She has been restored through the work of Christ on the cross. Let’s get back to headship and counterparts as I designed it. 15 But women will be saved through childbearing-if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety. This doesn’t mean that if she has kids and remains faithful and loving she can go to Heaven. No, because of the promise that the Messiah would come through woman, because Christ has now come, she can be saved, restored to her proper place with her husband before the Fall. Of course, if she turns from the faith, becomes selfish and unloving and lives an impure life, she will never know the intimacy of partnership God designed for her. Paul Yonggi Cho in 1982 in korea; church of 700,000. Speaking to a group of American pastors. “Biggest hindrance of the American church is the under-utilization of the women in the church. Through a series of beliefs that are more cultural than theological you are attempting to advance the Kingdom of God on earth with one hand tied behind your back. You would double your power, resources, and effectiveness if you would allow women to lead and minister as God ordained them to do.” To that Paul would shout a hearty, “Amen!” I know that is true because of how he commends some precious women as he closes Romans. SLIDE: Romans 16:1-16: Of the twenty-nine people, nine are women. Phoebe Romans 16:1-2: I commend to you our sister, a servant [deaconess] of the church in Cenchrea. 2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many people, including me. Letter of introduction: sustatikai epistolai. Phoebe was the bearer of the letter to the church at Rome. “Great Help:” The word occurs no other place in the New Testament, but is the feminine form of the Greek word prostatès. According to Liddell and Scott’s lexicon the literal meaning is “one who stands before, front rank man, leader, chief, protector, champion.” Priscilla Romans 16:3-5: Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. 5 Greet also the church that meets at their house. The order here is significant: The wife’s name first, because she was foremost, no doubt. Could have been rich woman married to slave. They risked their lives for him and that “all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.” We do not know how they risked their lives for Paul, but it may have been at Ephesus when the mob led by the makers of idols of the goddess Diana were rioting. Mary Romans 16:6: Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. Junias Romans 16:7: Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. Imprisoned with Paul. Crysostom in his exposition of Romans 16:7 (homily 31) comments: “Oh! how great is the devotion of this woman, that she should be even counted worthy of the name of apostle!” Tryphaena and Tryphosa Romans 16:12: Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, those women who work hard in the Lord. They were very likely twin sisters – he wrote them with a smile. The verb kopian (copius) means “to toil to the point of exhaustion.” Tryphaena and Tryphosa means respectively “dainty” and “delicate”! It is as if Paul said, “You two may be called dainty and delicate; but you have worked your tails off for the sake of the church and for Christ.” Persis Romans 16:12: Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. Here he uses the past tense. This probably means that Persis was old; her hardworking days were over. Yet although she could no longer work as she once had, what she did was remembered and she was highly regarded. Paul calls her “my dear friend”. Rufus’ Mother Romans 16: 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too. Her husband was Simon of Cyrene who carried the cross of Christ—became a Christian and led his family to Christ Nereus Sister Romans 16: 15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them. Nerus and his sister were children of the man who implemented the death of Christians during the Neronian persecutions of the early 60s. Saw the testimonies of dying Christians and became Christians. BLACKBOARD: New Testament tells us of women laboring in the four areas mentioned in Ephesians 4:7-13: pastoring and teaching evangelism, prophesy, acting as deaconesses and leaders in the early church, and even fulfilling the role of apostles missionaries in taking the gospel to foreign lands. Letter From Pliny The Younger (Ad 62-113) SLIDE: “I thought it the more necessary to inquire into the real truth of the matter by subjecting to torture two female slaves who were called “deacons,” but I found nothing more than a perverse superstition which went beyond all bounds…. Pliny chose these two “female slaves” to torture because they, like Phoebe, held some official position as deacons and could reveal what Christianity was all about. SLIDE: PERPETUA was a young married aristocrat who lived in Carthage, North Africa. At the age of twenty-two she was tried before the procurator who asked, “Art thou a Christian?” “I am” she answered. Her diary is preserved: “Then he passed sentence on the whole of us, and condemned us to the beasts…. Then because my baby was accustomed to take the breast from me, and stay with me, I asked my father for my baby. But my father refused to give him. And as God willed, neither had he any further wish for my breasts, nor did they become inflamed; that I might not be tortured by anxiety for the baby and pain in my breasts. Then she summoned her brother and spoke to him: “Stand ye all fast in the faith, and love one another; and be not offended by our sufferings.” The story is finished by Tertullian: For the young women the Devil made ready a mad heifer…Perpetua was tossed first, and fell on her loins….Then, having asked for a pin, she further fastened her disordered hair. For it was not seemly that a martyr should suffer with her hair dishevelled, lest she should seem to mourn in her hour of glory. So revolutionary was the power of the Gospel in early church times that Libanius, the heathen philosopher, exclaimed, SLIDE: “What women these Christians have!” SLIDE: Ephesians 5:21: Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. See the restoration… Ephesians 5 relationship: Engaged couple volunteers to illustrate sun and moon. SLIDE: Romans 16:25-27: Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him- 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

This study is the culmination of kingdom living, which is the future kingdom itself. There are four distinct experiences that sum up the announcement and inauguration of the coming future kingdom. When His Kingdom Finally Comes – Revelation 11:15-19 – Skip Heitzig Welcome to Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig. We’re so glad you joined us today. As people of God, we are part of a spiritual Kingdom even as we live in the world. Jesus will ultimately establish his kingdom on Earth. But until then, we are called to be his ambassadors here and now. In this series, Pastor Skip explores what it means to occupy till he comes. OK, make your way, please, to the end of your Bible to Revelation chapter 11, Revelation chapter 11. This is a message that I’m calling When His Kingdom Finally Comes. In this entire series on Kingdom City, we’ve had the name “Kingdom” in every single title, this one notwithstanding. But this is really a message of hope. All in favor of a little more hope these days? Yeah. [APPLAUSE] Hope is the confident expectation that something better is going to come. And the Bible says we have a hope that is an anchor to our soul. In a topsy-turvy world that blows in different directions, it’s great to set our anchors in some stable stuff. And that’s what we do in the word of God– so Revelation chapter 11. 20 centuries ago, a politician stood in front of a prisoner. The politician, schooled, trained politically, trained in law, was curious because he was in front of a prisoner who had made some claims. And there was some scuttlebutt going on around the community about who he was. And what threatened this politician is this claim that he was a king. And so he flatly asked him, “Are you a king?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would rise up and fight.” Then he said it again. “But my kingdom is not of this world.” That was then. But do you know there’s coming a day when his kingdom will include this world? And we’re about to read the announcement of that in Revelation chapter 11. One day, what is only now a spiritual kingdom of Jesus ruling and reigning over individual hearts, all of that will change when he rules and reigns over the Earth. On that day, his kingdom will finally come. His will will finally be done. There is coming that day a day where there will be no more elections. No more campaigning. [CHEERS] No more spin, no more empty promises, no more broken promises, no more accusation of misinformation or disinformation from one side to the other. And during that time, it will not be a four-year stint. There won’t be in term for four years like American presidents and their administration. It will not be a coalition government of a prime minister and his parliament or her parliament. It will be the eternal, righteous rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. [APPLAUSE, CHEERS] Today we come to the end of this series, Kingdom City. This is the 12th and final message in this series. And this passage of scripture takes us to the kingdom in its fullest sense– not just kingdom values, not just kingdom mindedness, not just kingdom example, or being kingdom citizens, and establishing a kingdom city mentality. We’re talking about an actual, real, literal kingdom. This is not an allegorical kingdom. This is not a metaphorical kingdom. This is not kingdom-like conditions. We’re talking about the kingdom. And know this, all of history has been moving in this direction from the very beginning, from the very beginning. Daniel saw a time when the rule and reign of God would cover the entire Earth and last forever. Isaiah predicted a Messiah who would rule and reign forever. The angel said to Mary, who was a teenager, “Not only are you pregnant, but you’re going to have the King of Kings. And God is going to give him the kingdom of his father David. And he will rule over the House of Jacob forever.” It is that kingdom that we are highlighting. I was interviewed this week on a podcast. Alisa Childers had her podcast, and she was asking me some questions. And she said, “If you were to explain the overarching narrative of the Bible in 60 seconds, what would you say?” I said, “The Bible can be summed up by saying it is about one person and two events. The one person, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ. The two events, his first coming and second coming. At his first coming, he came to redeem the world from sin. At his second coming, he will come to rule and reign with those he has redeemed from sin.” That’s the Bible, and that’s 45 seconds. So the two events, first coming and second coming, we’re dealing with the second one– the second, the kingdom coming. And by the way, there’s more in the Bible about the second coming than there is about the first coming, as we belabored that point in our previous series. Dwight Pentecost, whom I quoted last week, said, “There’s more scripture that is devoted to the subject of the kingdom developing its character and conditions than any other subject.” And Alva McClain, who wrote a great book on the kingdom, said, “The Kingdom of God is, in a certain important sense, the grand central theme of all of holy scripture.” And get this. All the previous studies that we have done on Kingdom City up to this point all have their incentive basis in this study. Let me explain that. The reason we can be kingdom citizens, and do kingdom business, and be kingdom minded, and all of those responsibilities is because of the reality that is coming, this kingdom that is coming. This provides impetus, motivation, incentive. With that, let’s begin looking at our paragraph, Revelation chapter 11 verse 15. “Then the seventh angel sounded. And there were loud voices in heaven saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever!'” “And the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, ‘We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is, and who was, and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants the prophets and the saints. And those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the Earth.'” “Then the temple of God was opened in heaven and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, and earthquake, and great hail.” There are a few ingredients in this kingdom event that I want to draw your attention to. And the first is the arrival of the kingdom, the arrival of the kingdom. That’s the announcement that is made at the top of the paragraph. Verse 15, “The seventh angel sounded.” Now stop there. It doesn’t say it here, but when it says “sounded,” it means “sounded with the trumpet.” The context of this chapter begins in chapter 8. I’m not going to have you turn to it. Take my word for it, please. The context begins in chapter 8 when John sees seven angels who stand before God being given seven trumpets. And they blow the trumpets. And with each blow, blast of the trumpet is another judgment that falls on the Earth. So six of them happen in chapter 8, chapter 9. Chapter 10 is then a hiatus or a parenthesis. And then chapter 11 has the seventh angel sounded the trumpet. Now we’re dealing with a period of time– and I know you know this– a seven-year future period of time called the tribulation. Look how good you are. Not only that, but you know the next answer to this. We’re specifically dealing with the last half of that seven-year tribulation period known as the great tribulation. Very good, class. You’ve been paying attention. So the tribulation begins in Revelation with Jesus Christ being given a scroll. Remember that scroll has seven seals on it? And Jesus, the Lamb, begins peeling off each one of the seven seals. And every time he peels off a seal, the scroll opens further, revealing more judgment. Another seal, it opens up further, more judgment– so seven seals revealing seven judgments. The last seal ushers in seven more judgments called trumpets. And then the seventh trumpet will usher in seven more judgments called the bold judgments, where the wrath of God is poured out in rapid fire sequence. And then the end comes. So chronologically, Jesus doesn’t take control of the world until chapter 19. But here in chapter 11, already, it’s like the zoom lens is put on the camera. And we are ushered to the very end, and this proclamation is made in heaven. “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.” It’s a very important announcement, especially during a dark time. I suppose if there were a weather forecaster in heaven, it might sound something like this. “The weather in heaven today is just fine, and Earth is also clearing up and promises to be a fine day.” See, the good news can be seen already on the horizon. The King is coming. Now, just a word about trumpets. And again, I know it doesn’t have the word in the text, but the idea of the sounding of the trumpet is trumpets were the most significant instrument in the consort of instruments in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew instrumentality. So they show up, trumpets show up twice as much in the Bible as harps do. So people get all hung up. You’re going to send on a cloud playing a harp. Well, you know what? Odds are it’ll be a trumpet, first of all. I’m going to ask for an electric guitar, just saying. But trumpets play an important role. When a trumpet was blown, people would assemble together in Israel. When a different trumpet was blown, people would march out to war. The armies would go out. Another trumpet would be blown, it would be the commencement of a feast in Israel. At Mount Sinai, the law was given when a blast of the trumpet was heard. At Jericho, the armies marched around the city to the blast of the trumpets. In fact, the walls of the city fell down at the blast of the trumpet. In the Old Testament, kings were elevated and anointed to rule with the blaring of trumpets. And here in chapter 11, the seventh trumpet in heaven is a cue for a very particular chant. And that chant is in verse 15. Let’s put verse 15 up on the screen. Let’s look at it. It’s a little small for people in the past, like, 10 rows, but can you read that? Raise your hand if you can read it in your church. Wow, all the way back there. You’ve got good eyes back there. So since there’s loud voices in heaven saying this, let’s put all of our loud voices on right now. Put your outside voice on, and let’s say this together. “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. And he shall reign forever and ever.” This is a Hallelujah moment. This is a Wizard of Oz moment. This is the ding dong, the witch is dead moment. This is the moment that heaven breaks out in song. Why? Because Satan’s rule is over, and Jesus’ rule is about to begin, so unrestrained joy breaks out. [APPLAUSE] Now, notice something perhaps peculiar. It says the kingdoms, plural. I know some of your translations say kingdom, singular. Mine says, “Kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.” Well, how many is that? Well last count today, there are 195– actually, 193 that are member states in the United Nations– so let’s just say over 190 separate sovereign nations, kingdoms on Earth, that will come to an end. So do you remember Nebuchadnezzar in the Old Testament? Remember he had a dream? And he told his guys, “Interpret my dream. Tell me what I dreamed first, then interpret it.” And they said, “We can’t do that.” And Daniel comes in and goes, “I can do that.” So he goes, “I saw what you dreamed. You saw a big statue, head of gold, chest of silver, stomach of and thighs of brass, bronze, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay. That’s what you saw.” And Nebuchadnezzar said, “Yeah, that’s what I saw. What does it mean?” “Well, I can tell you what it means. There’s going to be a succession of kingdoms that come to this Earth. But you also saw in your dream a stone, a rock that came out of heaven, and smashed the statue, and decimated it, and turned to dust. And that stone grew into a mountain that filled the whole Earth.” And Nebuchadnezzar said, “Yeah, that’s what I saw. Now, what does it mean?” And Daniel said, “This is what it means. The God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,” plural. “And it shall stand forever.” That’s way back in the book of Daniel. By the way, forever, it’s a long time. And just in case somebody might say, well, does forever have an end? It says forever and ever, forever and ever. So if you were to look in your Bible, you would discover 393 times the word “forever” shows up. Another 47 times, “forever and ever,” like here, shows up. So at that time, all human kingdoms come to a screeching halt. And there’s a very important reason why, and I’m going to give it to you. Mankind, humankind is incapable of governing himself successfully for very long. The best form of human government that there is will fail because mankind, because he and she are mankind, are doomed for failure because of their sin nature. If you’re a student of history, you know this to be true. The Roman Empire lasted 499 years. The Byzantine Empire lasted around 1,100 years. The Ottoman Empire lasted around 600 years. The United States of America will, on July 4, have lasted 248 years. But all human governments fail because the only best form of government is a theocracy, not a democracy– a theocracy where God is the only one calling the shots. You don’t vote him in and out of office. He’s in charge. That day is coming when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. So that’s the first component, the arrival of the kingdom. Following on that is the second component, and that is adoration in the kingdom. That makes sense. If the kingdom comes, then there is a response to that announcement. And we find that in verse 16. “And the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, ‘We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is, who was, and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reigned.'” And you’ll notice that John focuses in on one particular group in heaven– 24 elders. If you know this book, the book of Revelation, you know this group, the 24 elders. They show up several times. They’re in chapter 5. They show up again in chapter 11. They show up here in chapter 11. So 5 , 7 , 11 , and then chapter 19, they show up. Who are they? A lot of guesses. I’ll tell you who they’re not. They’re not angels. Angels in the Bible never sit on thrones, so these are not angels. We find in chapter 4 and 5 the 24 elders, and besides the 24 elders, a group of angels, so they’re not the same– two different groups. Without taking you through all the hermeneutical gymnastics, it is my best guess that we’re dealing with here the glorified raptured church, the 24 elders as we have noted before in previous studies. This is the glorified raptured church. And get this. This is now the third round of heavenly praise. In chapter 4, they praise him for being the creator. In chapter 5, they praise him for being the redeemer. Here in chapter 11, they praise him for being the ruler. And when it says, “Lord God Almighty,” the word “almighty,” Pantocrator means the absolute, all-powerful, omnipotent ruler. He is flatly, firmly in charge. So they’re praising him for that. And I just got to have you make a note of this. Whatever’s going on in heaven, it’s loud. I’m sorry to tell some of you that. You guys turn up the music too loud. You may want to bring earplugs to heaven. Because in verse 15, the seventh angel sounded. There were loud voices in heaven. And then look at verse 19. and there were lightnings– uh-oh– noises– uh-oh– thunderings– that’s loud– and earthquake, and great hell. So the worship is at least very robust in heaven. What are we dealing with here? We’re dealing with a thanksgiving service in heaven. That’s what it says. “We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty.” Why are they giving him thanks? Because they’ve been anticipating this for a long, long time. All of God’s people have been looking forward to this from the beginning. Jesus 2,000 years ago said, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done.'” Now, the announcement? It’s come. That’s why the thanksgiving erupts. But let’s not wait until heaven to be thankful people. Would you agree with this statement? We, Christians, God’s people, should be the most thankful people that live in this city. We should be thankful people. And this thanksgiving service in heaven should just remind us that though we’re not there yet, we should get a little practice before this event. We should get in practice. You know I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating here. Every year when Thanksgiving comes up, I always think the thought. It’s like, you know I think we have this wrong. We have one day a year. I’m so thankful. And especially if you have pumpkin pie added to it, I’m really thankful. And we get thankful for, like, a day. It’s Thanksgiving day, as if we are given the unrestrained privilege of complaining for 364 other days. And so I think that we have it wrong. I think we should get it all out on one day and say, now you’ve got 364 days to be thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful. Have one day. Call it Grumpsgiving. [LAUGHTER] You just get grumpy. You get mad. You complain about everything you don’t like because then you won’t do it for 364 days on Twitter or Instagram, right? You’ll be thankful. So this is a thanksgiving service. The arrival of the kingdom brings adoration in the kingdom, takes us to a third component, and that is antagonism at the kingdom. What we notice in this paragraph is not everyone in the scene is happy. Verse 18, “The nations were angry, and your wrath has come.” And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, and– there’s a lot of ands. There’s like six ands in this sentence– and should destroy those who destroy the Earth. That verse is so comprehensive, it covers the entire 3 and 1/2-year great tribulation. In fact, it covers past that into the thousand-year reign of Christ, because saints are being given rewards here. So there’s the great white throne judgment that will come. There’s the rewards given to the saints. Jesus will close out revelation by saying, “Behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me.” This is where what we read last week comes to pass. Remember last week the parable of the minas? And Jesus said to two servants, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful in a few things, the little things, so I’m going to make you ruler over 10 cities and five cities. You get rewarded.” This is where these rewards are realized. There’s a reward coming for your life. Single moms who are raising those children for the glory of God, busy business people who are building your business because you want to spread the Gospel and love your family. And then the people in the office, they yell at you because you’re a Christian, your reward is coming. Don’t expect to get rewarded anytime soon on this Earth. If you are living for the plaudits of people, the pats on the back, you’re going to be very disappointed, because you won’t get a lot of it, and for one simple reason– the world hates God. And so God’s representatives don’t rank very high in most admired people. So even though you live with Kingdom City principles and you pour out your life– and we should– your reward is coming. It’s coming. The reality that it is coming is what gives us incentive today. Or put another way, the promise of the future kingdom will help you endure the present crisis. The promise of the future kingdom will help you endure the present crisis, the pressure of the present crisis. How am I going to make it through? Put your eyes a little bit on the horizon. Go a little higher to when we say, they say, we hear, “The kingdoms of this world have become his kingdom.” But again, look at verse 18. “The nations were angry.” It means enraged, hostile. One of the discoveries we make in the book of Revelation is that as the tribulation progresses and God pours out judgment, you would think that would, like, I don’t know, soften a few people’s hearts. OK, I give up. It makes people angrier, more mad. They shake the fist. They blaspheme God all the way through to the very end. And so the nations were angry. This is antagonism that is directed at God for establishing his kingdom. They’re mad that God is imposing a kingdom that everyone will have to submit to. And this has the feel of Psalm 2 . I was reading Psalm 2 last week. Let me refresh your memory. “Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the Earth have set themselves, the rulers have taken counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ, saying, ‘Let us break their bonds in two. Let us cast their cords far from us.'” It has the same feel. The nations were angry. They’re antagonistic for God establishing his kingdom, so the nations will show hatred toward Christ to God’s people who are living through this horrible time. They will show hatred to the two witnesses mentioned a paragraph back in chapter 11, all the way to the end. Now let’s pause for a moment. Would you think back with me to the messages we’ve given throughout this series? Don’t worry if you don’t remember what they are. I had to take notes to remember what they are. So one of our messages was Acts chapter 1, the apostles. And they’re thinking about the kingdom, the kingdom that is coming. And they watch Jesus blast off, go into heaven from the Earth. They’re looking up and the angels said, “What are you guys standing around looking around for?” So they’re preoccupied. And they were told not to be preoccupied, but be productive. Then, then we looked at the Sermon on the Mount and our mandate to be salt and light, to shine light into dark places, to be a disinfectant in this world, the salt of the Earth. Then we did a follow-up message on Jeremiah chapter 29, which was quoted just moments ago, where Jewish refugees who were captive in Babylon were told, dig in. Be responsible. Improve this place. Make Babylon a better place than you found it. Then we looked at the life of Joseph, and Esther, and then Daniel– all who lived out these principles. We looked at kingdom compassion when Jesus had compassion on the multitude, gave them truth, fed them lunch. All these wonderful things that serve people and bless people, the world won’t appreciate it. The world won’t appreciate it because it doesn’t appreciate people of faith. The world is enraged, like the parable last week. “We will not have this man reign over us.” Same sentiment. And that’s OK. It’s OK because our reward is coming, as we just mentioned. But also, God’s justice is coming. He is going to settle accounts. So if you walk away from work one day, and it’s like, they always get away with stuff. Man, I always get put down, and I’ve been trying to serve the Lord. And I go through so much hardship and heartache, and these unbelievers don’t. Today’s Friday. Sunday’s coming. Judgment’s coming. So notice this. “they say, “For your wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged.” As I was reading through this this week, something struck me. This is part of a worship song. This is part of a thanksgiving hymn, right? Verse 17, “We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty.” So they’re thanking him. It’s a thanksgiving song, a worship song. Part of the worship song is the lyric we just read. “Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged.” Question, and this was what struck me. Who in their right mind would be thankful that God is going to pour out judgment upon the Earth? Well, I thought about that. And the more I thought about it, I thought, I actually get it. And I think you will, too. Think for a moment of all of the persecution against God’s people the last several centuries. To give you a snapshot, it’s estimated from AD 30 to 2000, the year 2000, 70, seven-zero, 70 million Christians have died as martyrs for their faith. They’ve been killed by a world that hated them. How do you feel when you hear of injustice, when you hear of corruption, when you hear of certain violent crimes? What goes through your mind and heart as you read a news article or see a YouTube video of atrocities and rapes? Does that ever bother you? OK. God reads every article of every crime. He has seen every YouTube video ever created. In fact, he saw the events as they happened in real time. And if those things that I’m talking about offend your sensitivities and sensibilities, how much more a holy God? So that’s why in heaven when judgment comes, it’s like, yeah, awesome. It’s about time. It’s about time. God’s going to end this nonsense, bring justice where it needs to be brought. And then it says– I know some of you are like, you’re ready to applaud at that. You’ll have your chance in heaven, OK, because you’ll be singing this song. But I’ve got to get through this. So notice how that ends. “And”– look at verse 18– “And that you should destroy those who destroy the Earth.” And be careful here. Don’t think, oh, God is siding with the environmentalists, all right? [LAUGHTER] This is not God saying, I’m mad at those people who don’t recycle. Not saying that. Or, I don’t like straws. People throw straws everywhere, or a climate denier. It has nothing to do with that. We’re talking about people who destroy the Earth by sin and wickedness. He’s referring to those who pollute the Earth with sin. It’s the worst kind of trash. It’s the moral filth. Listen, the most destructive thing in the world is an unredeemed person who pollutes this world with sin. And so God is going to destroy those who destroy the Earth. You guys destroyed the Earth. I gave you this. It was a stewardship. You messed it up by pouring sin, upon sin, upon sin. I’m done. Judgment will fall. So we have the arrival of the kingdom, adoration and the kingdom, antagonism at the kingdom. Fourth and finally– I think it’s the best part of the story– we have acceptance by the kingdom. Now look at verse 19, a simple verse. “Then the temple of God was opened in heaven.” Wait a minute. Is there a temple in heaven? Well, this might be symbolic. However, you remember the book of Hebrews belabors the point that the tabernacle and temple on Earth in the Old Testament was really just a model of a real temple in heaven. It’s a shadow of the reality of heaven, so there actually may be that. “The temple of God was opened in heaven and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, earthquake, and a great hail.” This chapter closes, this verse closes with a glimmer of opportunity. This is a vision of heaven’s temple. It’s like God is holding open house in heaven. And you can see past the veil into the holy of holies to the ark of the covenant. You remember in the New Testament this happened one other time when Jesus died on a cross and the veil of the temple was ripped? And because the veil of the temple was ripped, it means that you could have stood outside and looked into the holy of holies and been able to see the ark of the covenant. We know what that symbolized. It symbolized there’s no more separation. Now you can come. Now we can have intimacy. That’s what this is about. So real quickly, the ark of the covenant, remember that? You’ve seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, right? OK, so in the very least, you know Hollywood’s version of that. But it was a gold box. It was 45 inches long, 27 inches wide, 27 inches high. It was wood covered with gold. The top was a lid of pure gold. Inside the box was a copy of the Ten Commandments, the two tablets of the law. Here’s the problem with that. Carrying around the law was a perpetual reminder to Israel that they failed, because they broke God’s law time, and time, and time, and time, and time again. And as long as they carry around the law that they keep breaking, it’s a reminder of their failure. Except what makes it the most valuable piece of furniture in the temple is that once a year, the priest would come in and sprinkle blood on that lid. And now the broken law of God was covered with blood. And by that, God was saying, you and I, we can have intimate fellowship with each other. This is the basis that I will meet with you over. The shed blood of this animal once a year on Yom Kippur, we will meet together. What God is saying here in heaven is similar– that in the midst of judgment, God throws open the holy of holies, and invites people in, and says, in effect, we can have fellowship with Him because of the shed blood of his Son. That when you place your faith in Jesus Christ, that will admit you into the very presence of God. So this is the acceptance by the kingdom. So to close this out, the seventh trumpet is about the declaration that man’s governments, rule, authority is very temporary, very temporary. Man rules presently. He will not rule ultimately. Jesus Christ will come back. He will set up his kingdom. He’ll be in charge. He’ll rule and reign. It’ll be perfect righteousness, and he will rule and reign with those that have been redeemed from sin. So my question to you is, does that include you? Are you sure? Does that include you? Are you sure? We’ve been talking kingdom in every message. Kingdom, kingdom, kingdom, kingdom, Kingdom City. Kingdom implies control. Kingdom implies there is a King who is in charge. And the kingdom of God comes now when the King is in charge of your life. Have you asked God to control your life? Have you asked God to change your life? Chuck Colson, who was in government, he worked for President Nixon. He went to jail on the Watergate scandal. He became a strong believer after his years in politics. Chuck Colson, a great influence in my life, said, and I quote, “Human politics is based on the premise that society must be changed in order to change people. But in the politics of the kingdom, it is people who must be changed in order to change society.” So where does Kingdom City begin? Right here in my heart, where I step off the throne of my life and I invite Jesus to take the royal place of controlling my future, my decisions, my life. I live my life not according to my will, but according to an alien will, his will. Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. What’s the first step? The first step, let go. Let go of you. Let go of your life. Relinquish surrender, control, and let him sit on the throne of your heart. Father, that’s where we must begin and that’s where we ought to live, in a place where we are no longer kings and queens of our destiny, running around singing, I did it my way, but living our life that declares, I did it his way. And Father, we know that that’s a choice, and you don’t force anybody to make that choice. Yes, You’re going to impose your kingdom one day. And when that is happening, the world will hate it until it is finally established, and everybody will love it. But Lord, right now, that’s eternity, but we have now. And right now, Lord, you are calling men and women to place their faith in Jesus Christ. You’re giving people a chance. You’re throwing wide open the doors of heaven. You’re saying, come in. Let’s hang out. Let’s have fellowship. Let me forgive your sins. Be my child. Be part of my plan. It’s the greatest invitation ever, but we have to choose it. And so Lord, I pray that many who are here today would choose it. OK, with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, you’re just thinking about your life. Think about this. What would my life be like if Jesus Christ were in full control, if I let go, relinquish my ownership– not responsibility, but my tight grip of my life– and I let him be the King of my heart, the King of my life? If you’re willing to do that, I’m going to give you an opportunity to do that now. So our heads are bowed. Our eyes are closed. If you’ve never given your life to Christ, I mean really, sincerely, authentically, or you’ve said yes to Jesus Christ, or maybe you made some religious decision in the past, but today you’re not hanging out there, you’re not living that way, you need to come back to him. Rededicate your life, re-surrender, so to speak. If you’re willing to do that, if you want to do that, if you want to know that you’re right with God, I want you to raise your hand up in the air. Just raise it up in the air. Keep it up for just a moment, please. I can see your hand. I want to pray for you. I need to know who I’m praying for. God bless you toward the back. Anyone else, raise your hand up. Raise it up so I can see it. Right there. God bless you. Thank you. Who else? God bless you. Toward the back right there in the middle toward the back, thank you. Right over here, a couple of you. Anyone else, just raise it up high. Got it. Awesome, yeah. Father– again, a couple of you right over here to my right. Father, we thank you. Each one of these are so important to you. Lord, I pray for each life that is making this very important eternal decision. Lord, I pray you’d fill them with a sense of confidence, assurance. Lord, I pray that as Jesus comes into their life, you’d give them strength to live for you. You’d fill them with a sense of joy and purpose they thought was never imaginable. Lord, I pray they’d feel lighter than air. I pray they would feel just so deeply satisfied by saying yes to you. Encourage them to live for you. In Jesus’ name we ask, Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen. Let’s all stand. We’re going to sing a final song. And those of you who raised your hands, I’m going to do something that is a bold step for you. Some of you thought, I never thought I was going to do this when I came to this church today. I like going to big churches because I can hide. That’s over. And I’m going to call you out into the aisle, if you raised your hand. And I want you to come to the very front and stand with me, not to embarrass you but to encourage you. Something happens when somebody says publicly, I’m going to follow Jesus Christ. It settles, it cements something deep inside your heart. So if you raised your hand and I just prayed for you, now I want you to come to the front. And when you all gather to the front, I’m going to lead you in a prayer making Jesus Christ Lord and Savior. We’re going to do this thing right now. So come on. Come on right now. Come on up to the front. [APPLAUSE] Awesome, awesome. [MUSIC PLAYING] Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Come on up. Come on. Awesome, you guys. So good. It’s so good. Please, welcome. Welcome. Can you feel the encouragement with this applause? I hope you can. [CHEERS, APPLAUSE] Wow. I hope you can, because what everybody is saying by their applause, they’re saying, you’re making the most important and the best decision you could ever make in your life. That’s what all that applause means. That’s what it means. Anyone else want to join them? Whether you raised your hand or not, come on up. Come up to the front. Make this the day. Today is the day [APPLAUSE] Some of you are saying, I’ll do it one day, but I don’t feel really holy today. I’ve really blown it a lot this week. I want you to know something. Listen carefully. God is not mad at you. God is madly in love with you. Yeah. He’s mad about you, not at you. He’s madly in love with you, so give your life to him. Surrender to him. Anybody else want to come up? If so, bee line it up here. Come on up right now. [CHEERS, APPLAUSE] Hey, listen. I love church. I love the music. I like preaching the word. I love, love, love this part of the service. It’s the best part. [APPLAUSE] Hey, you guys. I know a dirty little secret about every one of you. You’re imperfect. [LAUGHTER] And now you know a dirty little secret about me and everybody else. So are we. [APPLAUSE] That’s what salvation is all about. He takes people the way they are. So I’m going to lead you in a prayer. I’m going to say the prayer out loud. I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. But you’re saying this not to me, not to us, but to him. Let’s pray. Please, come, yes. We’ll wait for you. Thanks, Rob. [CHEERS, APPLAUSE] Now say Lord, I give you my life. Lord, I give you my life. I know that I’m a sinner. I know that I’m a sinner. Please forgive me. Please forgive me. I believe in Jesus. I believe in Jesus. That he died for me. That he died for me. That he shed his blood for me. That he shed his blood for me. That he rose again. That he rose again. I turn from my sin. I turn from my sin. I turn to Jesus as my Savior. I turn to Jesus as my Savior. I want to follow him as Lord. I want to follow him as Lord. Help me do that. Help me do that. In Jesus’ name. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Is the church biblically sound? Do its leaders bear a faithful witness with their personal lives? Is the theology sound? Does the worship honor Christ? Is there programming that helps those from diverse ages grow in faith? Does it reflect the ethnic diversity of its neighborhood?   This is just the tip of the iceberg of appropriate questions when considering whether a church might be a good fit for us. Most of us have a finely tuned ability to evaluate churches. We’ve developed these skills by combining our biblical knowledge with our experience in our consumer culture.   Last week I ate out at two new restaurants. As soon as I arrived, I made dozens of judgments based on the location, the ambiance, the service, the cleanliness, the quality of the food, and the price to determine whether I would return. The sticky floors under the table and the inflated prices made me decide that I wouldn’t be returning to one, while the reasonable prices and unique twist on carne asada tacos made the second a place I will be returning to.   Over the same week, I listened to two people voice concerns about our church. Both had me consider how we might make New Life a church that better reflects God’s purposes for us. Any pastor would rather hear those concerns than have someone leave without communicating. As the body of Christ we ought to be able to offer and receive feedback to grow in conformity to Christ.   I wonder, though, if our critiques are too often directed at the church and not often enough directed at ourselves. Our “the customer is always right” culture tends to have a blind spot for the customer. And we are, of course, not customers of our churches.   The church, after all, is not primarily an establishment we give our patronage to, but a body we participate in (1 Cor. 12:12), a household that we are a part of (Eph. 2:19), a temple that houses the presence of God (Eph. 2:22), and a bride that awaits our groom (Rev. 21:2).   Perhaps we need to balance out our evaluation of our churches with some self-evaluation. Are we connected meaningfully to the people of God at our church? Current stats show that 53% of adults who attend church are connected in a group.[i]   Scripture is filled with admonitions for how we are to live life together. Often called the “one anothers,” it is helpful for us to pause and consider how we are meaningfully one anothering those God has placed in our church community. As the one anothers stack, it’s easy to realize the depth of commitment God assumes in our relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ.[ii] “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” (1 Peter 4:9) “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.” (Romans 12:16) “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up” (1 Thess. 5:11). “Be at peace with one another.” (Mark 9:50) “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” (Romans 16:16) “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted…” (Ephesians 4:32a) “…forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32b) “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:2-3) “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2) “Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another…” (2 Corinthians 13:11a) “Therefore, confess your sins to one another…” (James 5:16a) “…and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16b) “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13) “Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” (Ephesians 5:19) “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24) “Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21)   Many critiques of our churches would be solved if we were in genuine community serving on mission together. The Unstuck Group’s recently reported that 35% of church attendees serve (down from 45-50% pre-pandemic).[iii]   These one anothers are lived out in community where we serve and care for one another. Paul says, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7). The health of our churches depends on us sharing our gifts for the good of others.   Perhaps before we evaluate our churches, we ought to assess ourselves. What would the church look like if everyone acted like me?   How healthy would your church be? How encouraging would it be? How many visitors would be welcomed? Would unchurched families love your church? Would the community be impacted? Would it be a community that does the hard work of peacemaking, or would it be a place where people would be kind, but not take the risk and do the hard work of forming deep friendships?   We don’t have the same gifts. We are called to build the body up differently. We are different parts of the body. But we have the same responsibility to care and serve. And all of this comes from the reconciling love of Christ, who has called us to the work of reconciling others through his love (2 Cor. 5:20).   The greatest of all the one anothers', after all,  is echoed by Jesus, Peter, John, and Paul who all tell us to “love one another” (Jn. 15:12, 1 Pet. 4:8, 1 Jn. 4:7, Rms 12:10). “Do you love me?” Jesus asked Peter after Peter had denied him. “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” And Jesus responded, “Tend my sheep” (John 21:16).[iv]

Jesus’ perplexing story of the dishonest manager teaches us that non-Christians are often more diligent and wise in preparing for their futures than Christians. We must use earthly wealth to build earthly relationships that make spiritual impact. How we handle our money reveals more about our values and priorities than anything else about us. That is why God invests so many verses in the Bible talking about money. Pastor Larry Burkett illustrated this principle in a story about Alan and Jean Hitchcock who had decided to end their marriage after 24 years: In anticipation of the divorce settlement, Alan reviewed their financial records. As he sorted through the files, he came across a faded old check made out to the hotel where he and Jean stayed on their honeymoon. (Once upon a time banks returned copies of canceled checks to help people reconcile their accounts each month. Nothing was electronic.) Another check was an installment payment for their first car. He picked up another check and remembered with fatherly pride how he wrote it out to the hospital when their daughter was born. And there was the $5,000 down payment on their first home. After several hours of sorting through the old, canceled checks, Alan realized how much he and his wife had invested in the marriage. He paused in deep thought for several moments. Then he closed the files and dialed his wife’s phone number. After an awkward exchange he blurted out the reason for his call: “Would you work with me to rebuild this marriage?” One of Jesus’ most powerful parables regarding money is found in Luke 16. Let me explain the parable, and then I will draw some lessons and principles that will help us understand better how to handle our money in a manner that honors God. Jesus told his disciples: Once there was a rich man whose manager was accused of stealing his possessions. The rich man said to him, “I am going to have a complete audit of the books. If what I hear is true, then I am going to fire you.” The manager said to himself, “What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg.“ (my paraphrase of verses 1-3) The dishonest manager faced a crisis—the sudden and unexpected loss of his job. He knew that he was guilty and that the audit would only confirm it. He frantically searched for a way out of his dilemma. Jesus was setting up an analogy. We Christians have a management contract with God to handle His resources on earth just as this manager had a contract to manage his landlord’s estate. First, note that the sudden dismissal of the manager is analogous to the death of the Christian. When we die, our management contract of God’s assets expires. There will be a complete audit of our management at the Judgment Seat of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 15). In order to secure his financial future, the dishonest manager hit upon an ingenious plan. Rapidly and secretly, he approached each one of the men who owed his master money and offered them the opportunity to settle their debts for a sharply reduced amount. “I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.” So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” “Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,” he replied. The manager told him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.” Then he asked the second, “And how much do you owe?” “A thousand bushels of wheat,” he replied. He told him, “Take your bill and make it eight hundred.” (Luke 16:4-7) His plan was to gain the good will of these men so that when he lost his job, they would invite him into their homes out of gratitude and give him food, clothing, and shelter. Here is the key to the entire parable: “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly” (Luke 16:8). The rich man said to his manager: “You clever rascal. I’ve got to hand it to you. What a slick plan!” He didn’t commend him for his management or for his honesty, but he did commend him for his clever ability to work out a plan to secure his future. AT THIS POINT, JESUS PRONOUNCES A SWEEPING CONDEMNATION OF HIS FOLLOWERS. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. (Luke 16:9) The people of the world are more shrewd at securing their financial future on earth than Christians are at securing their future assets in eternity. JESUS DREW SEVERAL CONCLUSIONS FROM THIS PARABLE (see Luke 16:9-13). I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” (Luke 16:9) FIRST, USE WORLDLY WEALTH TO GAIN FRIENDS. Who are the friends? Most likely, “friends” refers to people here on earth with whom we share our material wealth. These are people who precede us in death. “Friends” also refers to those grateful people that we led to Christ before they died. They will welcome us into eternity. Jesus doesn’t say: “Give X percent to church… or give money to the poor or… find a missionary or pastor to support financially… or you rich folks set up charitable foundations for the cause of Christ.” He tells us to use financial assets to build healthy relationships. SECOND, WE MUST STOP THINKING LIKE OWNERS AND START THINKING LIKE MANAGERS. Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. (Luke 16:10) We are so prone to reason, “If I just had a little more money, if I just had a little higher income, I’d be a better manager. If I could just get these debts paid off, if I could just get the kids through college, I could finally tithe; I’d be a better manager for the Lord.” Don’t you believe it! Jesus said that that is false reasoning. It will not happen that way. Imagine that we have nine dollars. We say, “I had another dollar, if I had $10, then I could give it to God.” No. It will never happen. If we are not managing wisely with the $9 that we do have, we will not change our pattern with another dollar more. We will spend it on ourselves, too. A Barna Research Group Survey revealed that the average American adult believes that he or she needs an additional $15-$20 thousand dollars more per year to live comfortably. However, tracking studies show that even when adults reach or exceed the income levels to which they aspired, they still claim that they need another $15 to $20 thousand. If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? (Luke 16:11) “True riches” as Jesus speaks it here means rewards and treasures in heaven—that is all it can mean. THIRD, JESUS TEACHES THAT WE DO NOT OWN ANYTHING IN THIS LIFE. WE ARE JUST MANAGING GOD’S ASSETS FOR HIM. And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? (Luke 16:12) “Property of your own” is fascinating because according to the Scriptures, we do not own anything in this life. We are just managing God’s assets for Him. FOURTH, AS WE BEGIN TO THINK LIKE MANAGERS, WE ACTUALLY BECOME OWNERS. We know this, because we know that we will take nothing with us when we die. For example, a miserly millionaire told wife, “I am placing a briefcase full of money in the attic. When I die, I intend to grab it on my way up to heaven. See to it that no one touches it until it is my time to go.” She respected his wishes. Soon after he died his wife could hardly wait to run up in the attic and see if it were still there. Sure enough, there it was right where he’d placed it. She said, “I knew he should have put it in the basement.” Some people think, “Well, I don’t particularly care how much treasure I have in Heaven. I just want to get there.” I want to say, “No, don’t you ever think like that!” At the Judgment Seat of Christ those who lived like owners will have no rewards. Fortunately, they are saved through the fire, but they will suffer a loss (1 Corinthians 15). On the other hand, those who manage God’s assets well while here on earth will be owners in heaven of all sorts of rewards. Whole bodies of Scripture teach that Heaven is not a classless society. Jesus said that the first shall be last. How we manage our finances here on earth makes a big difference in Heaven. FIFTH, MATERIALISM IS A RIVAL GOD. AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS. No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and noney. (Luke 16:13) One of my friends and I were talking about the many stories we had heard about angels and demons appearing to Christians in third world countries. One pastor from Mexico overheard us and said, “the reason that you don’t see this type of activity in the United States is because Satan does not need to bring out the big guns of demonism and overt spiritual warfare. He has you American Christians so enmeshed with materialism that he doesn’t need his big spiritual guns.”

Christine Caine shares powerful insights from her book in an article published by www.propelwomen.org. She writes with relevance and power: “None of us will ever forget the last four years, will we? In addition to moving through a global pandemic, and watching it continue into 2021, we experienced natural disasters on most every continent—hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, drought and flooding. The ground warmed enough in the mid-Atlantic region for billions of Cicadas to emerge—after 17 years of being underground. It was reminiscent of a plague of biblical proportions. We see protests and riots in major cities in more than 60 countries, drawing attention to racial injustice. It was easy to understand why some people wanted to throw their hands up in the air and ask, “What’s next?” because it did feel like one thing after another just kept happening. When people questioned if it was the end of the world, it was—even though we’re all still here—because it was the end of the world as we once knew it. Like most everyone, I was tempted to look back. To want to go back. To go back to normal, whatever our normal was. To forget all the new normal that we were all desperately trying to create. Yet, no matter how much I longed to go back to normal, there was no going back. That world as we knew it was finished, and God was beckoning me, along with everyone else, to move forward, to lay hold of his purpose and promises in the future. Sorting through the tension of not looking back and trying to move forward, I began reminding myself that while the world had changed, God had not. He was the same as he’d always been, and I could depend on him to guide me forward. Pin it During that same season of doing my best to not look back and to keep moving forward, I was reminded of a woman in the Bible who looked back when she wasn’t supposed to, and it didn’t go well for her. Do you remember Lot’s wife? She was the woman running for her life with her family in Genesis 19. As they ran, destruction was raining down on their hometown of Sodom, and despite being told not to look back by an angel who was holding her hand, she turned and looked back. Scripture tells us, “But Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.” What makes Lot’s wife especially significant is that Jesus said for us to remember her. In the middle of an eschatological discourse in the New Testament, Jesus dropped in three words “Remember Lot’s wife.” If you’ve ever read Luke 17, it’s all too easy to miss these three words. I know because I did for years. I read them, of course, but that’s all. I flew past them. But Jesus never wastes a word, let alone three, so there must be some significance to remembering Lot’s wife. These three words began to show me the importance of not looking back. Of always moving forward. Even in the midst of a pandemic or a war or something far more normal. They became words I couldn’t forget and words that showed me the way forward. “Remember Lot’s wife.” For 30 plus years now, I’ve been going to women’s conferences, and I don’t remember ever hearing a message on Lot’s wife, nor do I ever remember teaching one. And yet, of the possible 170 women mentioned in Scripture, she is the only one that Jesus tells us to remember. Why her? Why not Eve, Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Rahab, Esther, Elizabeth, or even Mary, his own mother? Of all the women Jesus could have told us to remember, he mentioned only one, “Lot’s wife.” This is astonishing to me. Why her? There had to be a reason. She Lingered As I began to study her life, I noted something very important. This woman was told one thing: “Don’t look back,” and the one thing she was told not to do is the one thing she did. Furthermore, I found that understanding how she looked back quite possibly held a clue as to why she looked back: “But Lot’s wife, from behind him, [foolishly, longingly] looked [back toward Sodom in an act of disobedience], and she became a pillar of salt.” She looked back longingly…in an act of disobedience. I don’t want to be harsh about Lot’s wife. We all make mistakes, and we all disobey, and to think she looked back longingly causes me to feel for her. Here she was living her life as usual and suddenly she’s told to pack up and run for her life. All the while an angel is holding her hand and guiding her. I have found that if we linger too long where we’re not supposed to be, we’ll start longing for what we are supposed to no longer be lingering in. When we linger, we hesitate. The literal meaning of linger is “to be slow in parting. To remain in existence although waning in strength. It’s to procrastinate.” And it includes one more eerily accurate depiction: “To remain alive although gradually dying.” Lot’s wife might not have had any idea that looking back would cause her death, but it did, didn’t it? Are you longing for something that once was? That is no more? That can never be again? Are you lingering there in that place where you should no longer be lingering? Are you lingering in a place and longing for what was, all the while tolerating what is, all in hopes that if you linger long enough, you might get back what God told you to leave? When Lot’s wife longed and lingered, she stopped and looked back toward Sodom in an act of disobedience. Then, she became calcified and stuck, frozen in time, paralyzed for eternity as a pillar of salt. I’m Greek, and because I was raised to salt food generously, I love salt. But I don’t want to get stuck and turn into a pillar of salt. I imagine you don’t either. But in a sense, I find that getting stuck like she did is so easy to do. We can get stuck in our emotions, our thoughts, our attitudes, our opinions, our possessions, our plans, our desires, our habits, our comfort, our pain, our wounds, our relationships, our past, our present, or even our future hopes. There are a myriad of ways and places we can get stuck, and it’s not always easy to move on when God beckons us forward, especially when things are safe, comfortable, and just the way we like it. Equally, it is often difficult to move on when we have experienced deep trauma, pain, or suffering, and feel utterly hopeless and helpless. Moving on is something we know we should do, what we often want to do, and at times what we actually refuse to do, but it remains something God eagerly wants for us. Wherever you may be on this continuum, it is my prayer that you will be able to identify places where you are prone to be stuck, or maybe are stuck, and that you will be infused with the strength of the Holy Spirit to take the next step to getting unstuck—and it all starts with remembering Lot’s wife. Pin it During that same season of doing my best to not look back and to keep moving forward, I was reminded of a woman in the Bible who looked back when she wasn’t supposed to, and it didn’t go well for her. Do you remember Lot’s wife? She was the woman running for her life with her family in Genesis 19. As they ran, destruction was raining down on their hometown of Sodom, and despite being told not to look back by an angel who was holding her hand, she turned and looked back. Scripture tells us, “But Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.” What makes Lot’s wife especially significant is that Jesus said for us to remember her. In the middle of an eschatological discourse in the New Testament, Jesus dropped in three words “Remember Lot’s wife.” If you’ve ever read Luke 17, it’s all too easy to miss these three words. I know because I did for years. I read them, of course, but that’s all. I flew past them. But Jesus never wastes a word, let alone three, so there must be some significance to remembering Lot’s wife. These three words began to show me the importance of not looking back. Of always moving forward. Even in the midst of a pandemic or a war or something far more normal. They became words I couldn’t forget and words that showed me the way forward. “Remember Lot’s wife.” For 30 plus years now, I’ve been going to women’s conferences, and I don’t remember ever hearing a message on Lot’s wife, nor do I ever remember teaching one. And yet, of the possible 170 women mentioned in Scripture, she is the only one that Jesus tells us to remember. Why her? Why not Eve, Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Rahab, Esther, Elizabeth, or even Mary, his own mother? Of all the women Jesus could have told us to remember, he mentioned only one, “Lot’s wife.” This is astonishing to me. Why her? There had to be a reason. She Lingered As I began to study her life, I noted something very important. This woman was told one thing: “Don’t look back,” and the one thing she was told not to do is the one thing she did. Furthermore, I found that understanding how she looked back quite possibly held a clue as to why she looked back: “But Lot’s wife, from behind him, [foolishly, longingly] looked [back toward Sodom in an act of disobedience], and she became a pillar of salt.” She looked back longingly…in an act of disobedience. I don’t want to be harsh about Lot’s wife. We all make mistakes, and we all disobey, and to think she looked back longingly causes me to feel for her. Here she was living her life as usual and suddenly she’s told to pack up and run for her life. All the while an angel is holding her hand and guiding her. I have found that if we linger too long where we’re not supposed to be, we’ll start longing for what we are supposed to no longer be lingering in. When we linger, we hesitate. The literal meaning of linger is “to be slow in parting. To remain in existence although waning in strength. It’s to procrastinate.” And it includes one more eerily accurate depiction: “To remain alive although gradually dying.” Lot’s wife might not have had any idea that looking back would cause her death, but it did, didn’t it? Are you longing for something that once was? That is no more? That can never be again?Are you lingering there in that place where you should no longer be lingering?Are you lingering in a place and longing for what was, all the while tolerating what is, all in hopes that if you linger long enough, you might get back what God told you to leave? When Lot’s wife longed and lingered, she stopped and looked back toward Sodom in an act of disobedience. Then, she became calcified and stuck, frozen in time, paralyzed for eternity as a pillar of salt. I’m Greek, and because I was raised to salt food generously, I love salt. But I don’t want to get stuck and turn into a pillar of salt. I imagine you don’t either. But in a sense, I find that getting stuck like she did is so easy to do. We can get stuck in our emotions, our thoughts, our attitudes, our opinions, our possessions, our plans, our desires, our habits, our comfort, our pain, our wounds, our relationships, our past, our present, or even our future hopes. There are a myriad of ways and places we can get stuck, and it’s not always easy to move on when God beckons us forward, especially when things are safe, comfortable, and just the way we like it. Equally, it is often difficult to move on when we have experienced deep trauma, pain, or suffering, and feel utterly hopeless and helpless. Moving on is something we know we should do, what we often want to do, and at times what we actually refuse to do, but it remains something God eagerly wants for us. Wherever you may be on this continuum, it is my prayer that you will be able to identify places where you are prone to be stuck, or maybe are stuck, and that you will be infused with the strength of the Holy Spirit to take the next step to getting unstuck—and it all starts with remembering Lot’s wife.” Reprinted from  Don’t Look Back, Getting Unstuck and Moving Forward with Passion and Purpose by Christine Caine. Copyright © 2023 by Christine Caine. Reprinted with permission of Thomas Nelson Publishing. All rights reserved.

FINDING foundationS FOR CONTENTMENT AND joy Romans 5:1-11 S-1706 Turn to Romans 5 and Philippians. This morning we are talking about rejoicing from Romans 5. Paul mentions several reasons to rejoice after four long chapters on why we are flowed and need a Savior. Take a little test with me. List by a show of fingers how glad you’d be to find yourself in these circumstances. One finger-no big deal. 3 fingers-This is really cool-I’m excited, 5 fingers-“so great, I’m speechless.” ●sLIDE: Got off with a warning ticket for doing 50 mph in a school zone. ●sLIDE: Aced your final exam and didn’t study. ●sLIDE: You graduated magna cum laude after being a sixth year senior ●sLIDE: You reached your goal weight. ●sLIDE: You missed 11 free throws in the NBA finals to finally hit the basket. ●sLIDE: Your son came home from Iraq unscathed ●sLIDE: Your parents reconciled and didn’t get divorced ●sLIDE: You got to live in the same city as your grandkids. ●sLIDE: Your Dad paid off your car. ●sLIDE: You won an IPOD from a Coke can tab. We all love to rejoice when things go great! The Book of Philippians is the Joy book of the Bible. And it is no wonder. When Paul wrote it, he was having a great time in life. READ: Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ●sLIDE: Paul wrote Philippians relaxing on the beach near Rome. Suntan oil—SPF 45 to keep from burning. Tall, cool, drink in his hand—probably glass of wine. Imagine, got his IPod earphones on listening to rap music as the waves roll in. It doesn’t get any better than this. Continued writing: READ: Philippians 4:6-7: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Put down his letter and picked up his surfboard and hung his toes over the edge for a few hours and added in Philippians 3:1: READ Philippians 3:1: Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! Headed back to his bungalow to play Zelda on his Play Station. Then spent some time on his X Box. Went on line for a little virtual reality. Engaged in War of the Worlds for a few hours—killed a few guys on line. Decided to write a thank you note: READ Philippians 4:10: I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Thanks for sending all the money so I could sit back and relax and really enjoy life! ●sLIDE: But, I was just kidding. Paul was not on the beach listening to his IPod. He was in prison—under the sentence of death—for proclaiming the gospel of Christ. His life will soon be sacrificed for his faith. But, he still rejoices. Enter into the primary sources. READ Philippians 1:12-14: Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. Think they have me in chains. I talk about Jesus to the guard and every twelve hours they bring me another one! How many ever been in jail? Any prisons in life have no walls. ●sLIDE: What is your prison? What are your chains? How are you handling it? Are you grumbling and murmuring and complaining? Or, are you handling it victoriously? Full of joy and rejoicing? Paul awaiting death—tradition that he was beheaded. READ Philippians 2:17-18: But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me. How can he have this sort of attitude? ●sLIDE: [contented kitty] READ Philippians 4:10-13: I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength. ●sLIDE: Two things stand out. I learned to be content: Doesn’t come naturally. I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Relationship with X is the power. ●sLIDE: “Small kitten following a leaky cow.” ●sLIDE: First introduced to this passage and concept: colitis, ten days in hospital bed. Out of work and school for six months: soon had surgery. This was one of my prisons. Wanted to know this secret: I want that for my life. I have been working on this since I was 20 years old. I want you to have it for yours. Reading Romans 5:1-11 and noticed a link I had never seen before. ●sLIDE: “Romans 5:1-11: Key word is “rejoice” or boast, or be glad about. ●sLIDE: [MAP]: Paul wrote Romans in 57 AD from Corinth, Greece to the church in Rome, Italy in order to lay out the theological underpinnings of Christianity. He left Corinth and then returned to Jerusalem and then intended to come visit Rome. Arrested in Jerusalem. Bound in chains to Rome. Been in prison for four years and wrote in 64 AD he composed the most joy filled letter in the Bible—to Philippi—more references to joy and rejoicing than in any other book in the NT. And it is only four chapters. ●sLIDE: Reading this passage and it dawned on me that in Romans 5:1-11 Paul laid down in the foundation for rejoicing and contentment that enabled him to experience contentment in every circumstance. READ Romans 5:1-2: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Explain and expound the verse as I read it. READ Romans 5:3-5: Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Comment on the progression. READ Romans 5:11: Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. ●sLIDE: HOW FAR ALONG ARE YOU IN YOUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY? (How far along toward true contentment?) Spiritual children rejoice in the hope of a glorified life (Romans 5:1-2). Spiritual young men and women are able to rejoice in their sufferings (Romans 5:3-5). Spiritual mothers and fathers rejoice in God (Romans 5:1-2). ●sLIDE: 1. REJOICING IN THE HOPE OF GLORY ●sLIDE: Romans 5:1-2: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. WRITE ON SLIDE: As a result of our justification *Peace with God *Access to the Father *Leads to rejoicing in Hope of glory This is what spiritual children experience. ●sLIDE: Peace With God There is a war going on. READ ROMANS 8:5-7: Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. How was the war brought to an end? Blood of Jesus Christ mixed with our faith. We don’t come to God as the victor to the vanquished. We come as conquered to conqueror. But when we come, we find God is all smiles. Lord Nelson: Reputation for receiving vanquished foes in gentlemanly manner. Frenchmen defeated. Crossed deck to take Nelson’s hand as equal. Nelson, “Your sword first and then your hand.” Lay down arms – War is over. Only then does God extend his hand. ●sLIDE: Access: Because we have peace we have ready access. Give all brides my cell phone number. ●sLIDE: Because of this We Are Moving Toward The Day When We Shall Be Glorified With Christ. READ 2 Corinthians 3:18: And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. What would reflecting the Lord’s glory look like? Fruit of the Spirit? What else? Fantasy society: Virtual Reality puts us into a passive mindset. No filter; no obligation to respond. Hear Bible stories—just another story—become spectators. Flight Simulator: “Leave me alone, Julie, I am landing in Denver and it is snowing.” “Roger, it is not real.” “Hope” = lost meaning – means “certainty”. Our hope of glory is reality—not virtual reality. Paul is saying that our hope has substance. When do we experience the glorifying? READ 1 John 3:2 – “Dear friends, now we are the 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!” Get glory in one of 2 ways. 1. We die 2. Christ returns at the rapture Second Coming sermon title – “Gabriel is licking his lips.” This takes the sting out of death. ●sLIDE: REJOICING IN SUFFERINGS ●sLIDE: Romans 5:3-5: Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Peter read Paul’s Roman letter. Peter knew that Paul’s letters were often hard to understand. 2 Peter 3:14-16: …Paul … writes the same way in all his letters,… His letters contain some things that are hard to understand… Peter was Mr. Practical Paul lived by revelations and dreams: dizzying intellect Peter never had that. Paul was cream of the cream; argued in Athens Paul brags about his sufferings. Peter said “wait a minute, I suffered too.” Peter wrote out in 1 Peter 1 a practical application of Paul’s theological ideology. READ 1 Peter 1:6-7: In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ●sLIDE: [write] The purpose of suffering is: 1) To Refine Our Faith In The Fires As We Are Molded To Look More Like Christ Overhead of refining gold in the crucible (2) To Bring God Glory People can look at our response and see how God is pouring in the power. Daughter suffering loss. Dad boils three pans of water: Tossed in Carrots; Tossed in Eggs; Tossed in Coffee Beans “What do you mean?” Pulled out carrots: In the fire, some things get soft. Pulled out eggs: In the fire some things get hard. Drinks the water with the coffee beans: sweet aroma, tastes great. “Some things improve the water around them.” (3) To Test Just How Genuine Is Our Faith Way to test real and false faith is to observe what happens in the hour of crisis. A faith which doesn’t bring victory when we need is not yet genuine Genuine faith may get angry and full of grief—but genuine faith handles tragedies well. How can we rejoice in them because the Christian has inside information! “Because we know”! We know something that the world doesn’t know. Lost people suffer for nothing. Christians suffer for Someone. Suffering of believers and unbelievers may not be too much different. Both can get cancer… lose jobs… watch loved ones die… but in one case it is most all wasted. In the Christian’s case God is using it according to His needs. Watch women in labor – expression of faith – have empathy – deeply hurt, much pain, yet great joy because she knows that childbirth produces children! The baby makes it all worthwhile. Suffering produces something which is worthwhile. ●sLIDE: REJOICING IN AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THROUGH CHRIST Through Jesus Christ we can develop and ongoing intimacy with God Himself. Only reconciliation with God allows us to reconcile all of our other relationships. READ Ephesians 3:14-19: For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Precious’ pastor last Sunday: Last month 17-year-old son diagnosed with cancer undergoing intense chemotherapy. Parent there around the clock—child did not want to be alone. Last week 14-year-old son came home from church camp with an infection in his arm. Grew progressively worse—flesh eating bacteria. Fought to save his arm. Preaching Sunday from 1 Peter 1. No sense of resentment against God: peace and rejoicing. Did not have to be there: Loved those Senior Adults. Contented in Christ. Foundation of rejoicing. Knew how to handle suffering. Testifying the glory of God for suffering people in their dying years. Meditate on the three rejoicing and levels of sp growth.