Trading Faces excerpt Marriage Written by Angel Beeson as part of Trading Faces with pastor John Beeson Jack’s aching was palpable. “I don’t know who I am now that she’s gone. I’m lost.” He had aged a decade in the year and a half his wife had cancer. He lovingly poured everything he had into trying to heal her: his time, his prayers, his finances, his heart. And now she was gone. Avery looked so put together on the outside—a fresh manicure, perfectly done makeup and hair. But you could hear her voice catch and her eyes moisten when she began to share with me. “My life is wasting away. Why won’t God send me a husband? I feel like everything is on pause until I become a wife.” The wedding reception room was inviting. Candles flickered, swelling piano chords filled the room, faces stretched wide with grins. As I sat at the reception table, my ten-year-old eyes never left the bride. She was beautiful—the embodiment of everything I hoped for. She was marrying a young pastor at our church. I prayed, “Jesus, please let me be a pastor’s wife one day.” That night, as our young pastor wed his beautiful bride, my identity was wed with the idea of one day being a bride. The wedding ushered in my obsession with the newly released Father of the Bride movie—and any other rom-com that culminated in a wedding. I hammered out every detail of my future wedding, including the be- jeweled sneakers worn by Annie (the bride in Father of the Bride). My heart, my mind, and my soul were shaped by that day to come. In fact, in sixth grade I made a list of every characteristic I wanted in my future husband and started praying fervently for him. Who wouldn’t want to be in a healthy marriage? We all dream of being in a relationship with someone who knows us, values us, and speaks hope into us. In Hebrew, the first word that refers to sex in the Bible (Gen. 4:1) is yada, which also means “to know intimately.” We all want to be intimately known. In one of the most memorable romantic scenes in the history of cinema, sports agent Jerry Maguire (played by Tom Cruise) confesses to his wife (played by Renée Zellweger) that while he was celebrating one of his greatest nights professionally, it felt empty without her. “I love you,” Maguire declares. “You complete me.”1 The flaw in my praying so fervently for all the characteristics I wanted in my future husband was that I was shaping my heart to rely on him to complete me, not the Lord. I was waiting for the day when my knight in shining armor would sweep me off my feet and bring me safety, security, value, worth, and happiness. We’ve all been raised with a “you complete me” view of love. We’re told, “Your other half is out there waiting for you: the yin to your yang, the peanut butter to your jelly, the wine to your cheese, the bacon to your eggs.” Even those who would balk at Calvinism rely heavily on predestination language when talking about love. “I found the one!” “We were destined to be together.” I remember the first time I laid eyes on John. I had just entered high school, and he was the president of the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I went to the lunch meeting on that sunny day in a classroom at Canyon Del Oro High School, and I thought to myself, “That is the man I’ve been praying for!” I prayed for a friendship, and from that friendship, I prayed for a relationship. At that young age, I began making my relationship with John the source of my identity. This is dangerous territory in a relationship. When we allow our spouse or ideas of a future spouse to be the anchor to which we stake our happiness, value, worth, safety, and security, we set ourselves up for failure in marriage. Our identity is tied to expectations of our other half, which that person was never designed to fulfill. While the value of matrimony has been chiseled down in our culture, in Christian circles we still hold fast to its importance. And rightly so. Marriage was created to be the most intimate relationship on this earth. In no other relationship do two become one. Christ calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves, and the closest neighbor we ought to have, if we are married, is our spouse. And yet marriage wasn’t meant to be our identity. Rather, it was intended to point to our identity as Christ’s bride. My husband, John, and I have written our book Trading Faces: Removing the Masks that Hide Your God-Given Identity to help us identify these false identities and put on the true identities we have in Christ. We have developed a quiz to help you begin your journey of self-discovery. We would encourage you to take the quiz and pass it along to friends if you find it helpful.  Check it out here.

Transcription In this podcast episode, the importance of biblical context in studying the Bible is discussed. It is emphasized that reading the whole book or a large section of Scripture is crucial before diving into a single passage. An example is given using Philippians 4:13, where the context of Paul's suffering and striving towards Christ's goals is often overlooked. The significance of understanding the broader story and context of each book is highlighted. The approach to studying a smaller book like Philippians may involve starting with the first chapter and drilling down, while a larger book like Isaiah requires an understanding of its two distinct movements and the historical context of Israel's transition into exile. The discussion concludes with the recognition that biblical passages have individual applications, but must be understood within the larger framework of God's story and our role within it. This is Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org. I'm your host, Tom Terry, and in this podcast we'll be exploring elements of Bible study so that you can get the most out of your time when studying God's Word. Our guest for this three-episode series on the elements of Bible study is John Beeson. John received his Master's of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is currently the co-lead pastor of New Life Fellowship in Tucson, Arizona, and in addition to his pastoral duties, John is a regular contributor to PreachItTeachIt.org. For this episode, we'll be talking about the importance of biblical context and its role in our study of the Bible. John, many people, myself included, often start their Bible study by looking at a single passage, but a single passage by itself is part of a much larger section of your book. So how important is it to read the whole book or a large section of Scripture before actually beginning the study? In a way, you can't overstate how important it is to read the larger section that the passage comes out of and, in fact, the whole book. I don't know which I'd choose, the redemptive history as being more important or the book, but maybe I'd say the book. Can I take us to an example of that? Yeah. In fact, I'm hoping that you'll take us to an example of a large book, because how do you do that if you're in a passage in Isaiah, for instance? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So let me start with an easier one. Okay. Can we start in the shallow end and work our way to the deeper end? Let me start with the shallow end, and maybe one of the most frequent verses I get from when I ask the question, hey, what's your favorite verse? I often get Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. A wonderful passage, right? Yeah. A wonderful passage that's often... I know where you're going. I know where you're going. Go ahead. That's frequently misunderstood and misused, because as you pull out from that passage, it's a passage that's very un-American, meaning the broader meaning and context of that passage, but is applied in very American ways, in ways that it's often read in the Western context at least, where we talk about, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can get the grades that I'm trying to get. I can get into the school I want to get. I can achieve what I want to achieve in the world of sports, and yet if we just pull out one verse even, the verse before it talks, I know how to be brought low. I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I've learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. We have Paul writing from prison, from house arrest, talking, when he's talking about I can do all things through him who strengthens me. He's talking about a context that's very much non-21st century Western in its origin. That isn't to say, of course, that Christ is not present in a high school football game or something like that. It's just to say that the context of doing all things, they're accomplishing the things of Christ, not the things of me, and so it reshapes your entire understanding. In fact, you pull out even broader from there to the whole book, and you start to look at, hey, what's going on here? Just move earlier, one chapter earlier, Paul is talking about straining toward a goal in Philippians 3. Not that I've already obtained this or I'm already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me my own. Brothers, I do not consider that I've made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Doing all things has to be understood with a primary motivation and a primary context of Paul striving toward Jesus Christ and toward the things that are lasting, so that's a smaller context. I have to confess, I've looked at that passage for many years, and for me what's been helpful is to realize the amount of suffering that Paul was enduring when he wrote that book, and so I've kind of looked at that passage and kind of given it my own layman's reinterpretation to say I can endure all things through Christ, instead of the 21st century pull-your-up-by-the-bootstraps type of interpretation. Yeah, excellent. Excellent. I love that. In fact, that word endure is a favorite word of Paul's, and so it's the reading of that book that is lending you that word, which I think is perfectly fitting for that context. And in fact, this is what is so powerful about this. It's not as though the intention of reading a verse in its context, we're not trying to push it away from you. We're not trying to push it away from your heart, from your life. No, no, no, scripture does absolutely apply to us in a very individual way through the power of the Spirit of God, right? But what we are doing is we are part of God's story, and so if we're not understanding the context and the story that Paul's living in, or if we want to shift over to Isaiah, that Isaiah's living in, then what we can tend to do is we're actually making God's story way too small, and we're making the stories that God's inviting us into way too small as well. So it seems to me, to get back to our idea of looking at a passage, you know, for a smaller book like Philippians, if you're going to study an individual passage like you've been talking about, to me it would seem to be good to start with chapter one and get a broader context of what he's talking about and then begin to drill down. But in a larger book like Isaiah, would you handle that differently? Because it's not like you're going to sit down and devotionally read 66 chapters of Isaiah. Well, actually, it's interesting that you bring up Isaiah. Isaiah is a—and I didn't prepare for this—Isaiah is actually a particular challenge because there's quite a bit of academic disagreement. Yeah. Is it really two books? Exactly. About the authorship of Isaiah. So Isaiah actually provides maybe one of the most unique challenges in Scripture. But let's go there. Let's go to the top of Mount Everest here and see if we can navigate that because regardless, as readers we don't need to get actually tied up into that question of figuring out whether or not there's two authors or not. Everyone does agree that Isaiah clearly is written in two parts, that there's two kind of, if you want to say, two different movements in the book. So, yeah, so figuring out kind of what movement, the piece of the book that you're navigating kind of looks into and how you navigate that. So, you know, for instance, you know, as Christians probably the part of the book that we're most familiar with is this section near the end of the book where we begin to kind of hear about this suffering servant and trying to understand, you know, who is this one who is prophesied about and what is the context of these prophecies about this suffering servant and how do we understand that for ourselves. And so if, you know, so for instance, if we go over to Isaiah 52, sorry, Isaiah 53 to this section that many of us are familiar with. Who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed for he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed. And he continues from there. So there's this picture of what, again, Isaiah calls this servant. It's this promise of God and, you know, why would the context of this matter? Why does it change the way that we read the book? Well, the book of Isaiah is written right at this, really, this point of transference of Israel as a nation, kind of under its own authority and autonomy to, Isaiah follows them all the way into captivity, into exile. And so understanding even that transition is significant because you have a people of God at the beginning part of Isaiah, Isaiah is calling them back, like, it's not too late, you can still repent, you can still turn to God, the nation, God, you know, the nation's going to crumble, it's going to fall apart unless you repent. And then we have in the whole second part of Isaiah a very different tone, a tone of a people, a written, a book written to now a people in exile that says, what happens now? You know, there's this, if we can oversimplify, there's this very harsh tone at the beginning of the book and there's a gentler tone at the end of the book. Well, this falls in this gentler passage where it's a passage that's saying, it's this what now time, where Israel's like, what now? What happens next? And Isaiah, in really a profound way, he says, here's what happens next, is that you keep your eyes open for God. You keep your eyes open for the work of God. And in fact, what's really neat throughout this section is that Isaiah, in a sense, is holding up the promised suffering servant and really he's contrasting him with the type of faithless leaders that Israel has had. And so in this sense, God is very compassionate toward Israel because they have been led by unfaithful, by unrighteous, by unjust, by power-hungry leaders who have not stewarded their leadership well. And so he turns and he says, look, look, look, look, look, there's one who's going to actually bear your grief. He's going to bear your sorrows. He is going to pay for your sins. That's your way out. That's your way out of exile. That's the hope that you have. And it's this profound and tender moment of a crushed people who look toward the one who will be crushed for them. That, you know, and I could say all of that and you're like, well, that doesn't really change the way that I read it. And I'd say, well, that's okay, that's fine. But here's what it should do, though, is that it should actually, we should recognize in ourselves those places where we feel crushed by shame. We feel crushed by the weight of our sin, the consequences of our sin. And it actually, in a cool way, bridges that historical divide where we feel like actually the heartbeat of the exiles really can connect with us in a pretty spiritually rich way. Okay, you've just gone from observation to examination and application in a matter of minutes. Here you go. You just preached a minister's sermon that you weren't prepared for and you did a great job. But you can't, it seems to me that you can't get there just by casually reading as an example of what you just shared in Isaiah. You can't get there by just casually reading the scripture. You've got to dig deeper somehow. You've got to get a fuller context. You're not going to get that kind of interpretation in a simple devotional reading, are you? That's correct, yeah. And here, we mentioned this last time, the importance of a good study Bible. The book of Isaiah really reveals that to us, right? Now the book of Philippians, for the most part, you could draw most of what we talked about from the book itself, with the exception of maybe some of the details of like Paul being in house arrest. That's less crystal clear in the book. But most of the rest of it is all taken from the book. Now the book of Isaiah really does require a little bit more of understanding sort of the context and the overlay and wait, when did he live again and wait, when did he start his ministry and how long did his ministry last and what was going on in Israel and who were the kings at the same time? That's all pretty complicated stuff. But it's actually made pretty simple by picking up a study Bible. So yes, you're exactly right. There is kind of some heavy lifting that has to be done. But that lifting, we have some nice helps that can assist us with that. Yeah, I think a lot of people get nervous about doing Bible study. I mean, when I first became a believer, I just wanted to soak it up because the Lord just radically changed my life in so many ways in just a matter of one day. One day I wasn't a believer and I could care less and the next day everything was transformed. And so I just began soaking up Scripture. I read from Genesis to Revelation in a month. I was so enamored by what I was learning that I did it again the second month and just kept on going. And I found that I couldn't get deeper unless I went deeper and I needed a study Bible and somebody gave me a great study Bible. If you're going to recommend a study Bible or a set of notes or something of that nature, what would you recommend? My two favorites are still the classic NIV. The study Bible has been around for a while and it's still an excellent resource. And the ESV is what I would consider kind of the heavyweight of the study Bibles. And there's lots of different types of study Bibles out there. There's ones that are a little bit more devotional in nature. I personally, for the sake of a preacher and a teacher, I would just encourage you to go for just the straight study Bible so that it really just helps you provide just some crutches along the way. Those would be the two that I would say are my personal favorites. There are plenty of other good ones out there as well. Now, do you use just a standard, you know, plain paper Bible or are you doing things on your computer? I actually, for the most part, use just a standard plain paper Bible. I do a little bit of the language study for those who have the ability to, who might know Greek and Hebrew. I do some of that on my computer, which is, some of that stuff is pretty readily available. But otherwise, I just use my plain paper Bible, yeah. Well, I'd like to throw out a recommendation if I could, not to be a salesperson for Olive Tree Software, but I love their software on my iPad, which is what I use it on. And the beauty about the Olive Tree Bible software is that you can buy all of those study notes for the different Bible translations as a separate package, so you can choose your study notes but keep your translation the same if you want. So sometimes I'm looking through the ESV notes, sometimes I go to the archaeological notes and I really, I kind of live there in the archaeological notes section. I really enjoy learning more about the intricacies of the culture and the history and things of that nature. But that has been really helpful to me in having a tool that's so versatile to help me not just with my study but even my devotional reading. Yeah, that's great, that's great. Any other tools that you'd suggest? Well, you know, if you're going to be a Bible student, whether you're going to seminary or Bible college or something like that, you've got to get Logos. You know, Logos is the number one Bible program out there. You're going to pay a hefty price for it, but it's worth every dime. So I use that a lot in my studies when I'm going to teach. But my daily go-to is that olive tree. And it's organized, it's so easy to control on the screen. So anyway, I'm not the expert here, you are, but I had to throw in my dime. I'm glad you did. I'm glad you did. All right, let's talk about historic context for a moment. Give us an example, if you want to use again Philippians, about historic context and how that affects your interpretation. Yeah, we already mentioned a little bit of that, but I'll circle back around to Philippians. And so, yeah, so a few things change our interpretation of this. A, who's the author of this? It would change if it wasn't Paul's letter, if it was Peter's letter, right? Why would it change? Well, Peter was the apostle to the Jews, really, and Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. And so they had very different trajectories, very different kind of ways in which they wrote and the approach that they took it with. Who did he write it to? Paul is writing the church at Philippi, a church that he had a relationship with. You can flip back to the book of Acts and you can see Paul's travels there and you can read a little bit about what happens there. That's very helpful. And then obviously, as I mentioned, the fact that Paul is under house arrest here, again, it changes the way that we read this letter. It changes the context of the, I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me, knowing even, you know, I'll talk about this. So even in a spiritual sense, actually, Paul doesn't do everything through Christ who strengthens him in the way that he thought he was going to. You know, his ultimate destination in his mind was Spain. It appears Paul never got there. And so even understanding who wrote it, what their story is, it doesn't undermine the truth of what's written here, not at all. But it ought to, back to your translation, I can endure all things through Christ. Now, that's exactly what we're talking about here, because Paul, very much the story of his life, a post transformation, a post meeting Jesus Christ, is a life in which he is enduring all sorts of things and really is navigating a life that's, on the one hand, incredibly intentional, but on the other hand, incredibly out of his control. Like he, it's not at all what he plans. It changes all the time. And so very much so, it's not this kind of, as we would so often co-opt this verse in the West, it is not at all a name it, claim it. It is not at all a, you know, a self-willed theology that's at the core of this. And how do we know that? We know that from the book itself. We know that from its author. We know it from its context. Okay. What are some of the common mistakes that people make in Bible study? Mistakes that you find yourself having to correct in real life? Yeah, I think, so I'd start right where we are, which is just very much kind of rifling through Scripture for inspiration, right? It's a, you know, it's the classic kind of bumper sticker mentality of looking for a little phrase, a little something that kind of captures you and inspires you and pumps you up. And sort of pulling that into my life as kind of fuel for inspiration. That's not the work of Scripture. The second thing is the classic mistake in the Old Testament, and actually this happens in the New Testament as well, but in the Old Testament in particular, is to reduce stories to morals and to reduce characters to heroes. And in fact, what we find is most of actually the stories in the Old Testament, the main character is rarely a hero, actually. And there's rarely a simple moral at the heart of the story. So, for instance, you know, the book of Judges is a great example of this. There's not a single hero, frankly, in the book. Well said, well said, right? And yet, and yet how many Christians have you heard say, hey, I'm going to put out a fleece before God? Well, hold on, we're referring to the story of Gideon here and, well, he may have been slightly more faithful than the other judges, but in general, actually, the man's life is a faithless life. And the act of putting out the fleece was a faithless act. He was not someone who was hearing God and responding to God in faith. And so we grab snippets like this and we turn the character into a hero. We turn the narrative into a moral. Actually, oftentimes the moral that is the exact opposite of what the authors want us to get, it misses the whole point. Back to the redemptive thing that we talked about last time, right? Every story, when you begin to see how is the story of Gideon pointing us to Jesus Christ, we begin to see Gideon a little bit more clearly, we begin to see ourselves more clearly. So for Gideon, you know, I'll ruin the story for you. How does Gideon, well, Gideon begins, right, as a wimp, as a fear filled, he's shaking in his boots, almighty man of valor, the angel says with great irony in what is being spoken there. Now, the story actually ends as Gideon, the incredibly presumptive and proud man who has just absolutely been wrecked by the success that God has given him. How has he been wrecked? Well, he's been called by God as a judge. But what we see at the end is he takes on himself the place of a priest. He calls his son, son of a king. He's not supposed to be a king, but he's taken on now, he is prophet, priest and king. Well, he was called to none of those things, right? And so the story itself is this great reminder of who is the prophet, priest and king, Jesus Christ. That was going to be my next question. How does Gideon then prefigure Christ? There you go. If he's not the hero. Exactly. He is the anti-hero, right? He is the self-willed, self-determined man who presumes to take on himself a role that only God can take in the person of Jesus Christ. And the only Messiah, the only rescuer is in the person of Christ. And yet we see ourselves in Gideon. And so I see in Gideon the power of ego, of pride, of self-determination, of self-will, the lure of believing that the work of God in me is my work and work of my own intelligence and strength and charisma when it's only Christ at work within me. Excellent. Last question. How do we take all this and apply it? Yeah, so I would say quite simply, I would encourage, and one of the simple ways as a teacher and a preacher that can help you with this, can help any of us with this, is just to have as your staple preaching through a book of the Bible. One of the pitfalls that we can often fall into when we're just snatching verses of scripture here and there is to conform that verse around us and our heart and the things that make us excited. And there's a danger there. And so one of the gifts of preaching through a book of the Bible is that the book can help course-correct us as opposed to vice versa. And so it can shape us as we preach through the book and it can speak and protect us against going off the rails. So that's one admonition I would say is that expositional preaching that preaches through books of the Bible can be very course-corrected in this. And then just do your homework. Spend time studying the entire book, even if you're just doing one passage or one verse in the book. Spend time in the entirety of the book. Spend time with a study Bible and spend time reflecting on just this very simple question, what was this author saying to the original audience? Once we get that, what was this author, what was Paul saying to the church at Philippi? Once I understand what Paul was saying to the church at Philippi, I know what Paul is saying to me or what Christ is saying to me because it's the same message. It's not, this isn't a code book that we're reading. This is God's word for God's people. And so those would be some of the tips that I'd encourage teachers of God's word to lean into. All right. Well, thank you very much. Thank you, Tom. All right. For our next episode, we're going to be talking about how to understand the main point of any passage. So we'll do that on the next episode. Thanks so much, John. Great. You've been listening to Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org. Today, we've been discussing the importance of context in Bible study. This is the second in a three-part series. Our next episode will focus on how to understand the main point of any passage of scripture. I'm your host, Tom Terry with PreachItTeachIt.org. Be sure to visit our website for tools and resources to help you craft your sermon for Bible study. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you again next time on Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org.

“I’m sure no one has ever told you this.” “It’s so bad. You are going to think terrible things about me.” “Everyone would hate me if they knew what I was thinking.” “There is no one who loves me for me.” I’ve heard each of these helpless words from those who sat on the couch in my office. They are raw, vulnerable, and heartbreaking confessions. The words leak their hearts’ crippling loneliness and fears that they are destined to remain alone. I’ve been there. Discouragement spiraled into depression. I multiplied my angst by entangling myself in sin. I didn’t think anyone would understand. I was too afraid to ask anyone for help. Lies compounded sin. I remember sitting on the other side, watching my wife Angel slide into depression and then sin. It was debilitating to watch her slip into darkness, and I didn’t know how to get help. I felt frozen. I felt as though there was a piece of me no one could ever understand. It was a lie. But it was a potent lie.   Satan traffics in lies. Jesus hit it on the nose when he called our Enemy “the father of lies” ( Jn. 8:44 ). He wants you to believe that God is not good, that you are alone, and that your shame can never be removed. Those are all profound deceptions. In 1 Peter 5:8 , we are reminded to “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Don’t be deceived, Peter says; you must fight to stay out of the enemy’s jaws. There is one who intends to destroy you. How can we fight the enemy’s lies? It’s not an accident that Peter’s admonition to be on guard against Satan comes after his encouragement for elders to shepherd the flock and then a call to humility. Peter knows a humble and unified flock is a powerful force against Satan’s wiles. Peter urges us, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” ( 1 Pet 5:6-7 ). Isn’t that peculiar advice? What is the connection between Satan’s attacks, humbling ourselves, and casting our anxieties on God? Peter puts his finger on our Achilles heel that Satan goes after: anxieties that drive us away from God and community and toward ourselves When we deal with our stress and our fear through our pride, Satan is at our heels. When we experience anxiety, it doesn’t feel like our biggest temptation is to be proud. We feel laid low. And yet, do you see how the statements I began with are subtle forms of pride? Take this one: “No one loves me for me.” How does this person know this? Are they omniscient? And do you see the judgment the statement is laced with? The speaker stands over those who attempt to love him and declares their compassion wanting. By believing that no one else can understand or help us in our struggles, we convey a Wonder Woman or Superman-like status upon ourselves. We respond to the overwhelm of anxieties with the foolish belief that if we just buckle down or try this one other thing, we will be able to solve our problem. They can’t possibly help. When we draw in on ourselves in our anxieties and sin, we play right into the devil’s hand. The enemy’s tactics are simple: separate the struggling from the flock by enticing them to respond to their sin and anxiety on their own, with pride, and not Christ and community.   When I was a kid, I loved playing basketball. I had a knack for rebounding and wasn’t the worst shot, but my ball-handling skills were sorely lacking. I dreaded playing teams that would defend us with a full-court press. The coach would shift me to the backcourt to help us break the press. When the defense collapses on you, the universal temptation one has is to pick up your dribble (stop dribbling) and pull the ball into your stomach to protect it. It also happens to be the very worst thing you can do. Dribble out of the trap, or pass out of it! Don’t pick up your dribble, drop your head, and clutch the ball for dear life. So it is when anxiety strikes us. Our impulses are entirely wrong. We withdraw and isolate ourselves as we try to work out of our mess. Are you anxious today? Stop. Pick your head up. First, look to God, and then look to the family of God. The power of the belief that you are alone traps you in the shame cycle. It sucks you into the belief that we can get ourselves out of our messes (See the pride there? See the legalism?). Break the cycle. Reach out to God. Message a trusted Christian friend. Contact a biblical counselor. I’m here. You can reach out to me. I’ll pray for you and would be happy to point you to some people who can help. You are not alone. You are never alone. www.thebeehive.live

The Loneliness Epidemic Did you know that loneliness is one of the  leading causes of death  in our world today?  Isolation is no joke. Loneliness actually increases the risk for premature mortality among all ages, while  one recent study  indicates that social isolation and loneliness kill more people than obesity. Isolation is linked to a number of dysfunctional immune responses and increased blood pressure, which impact our overall wellbeing. In fact,  researchers  saw that people who were lonelier produced more inflammation-related proteins in response to stress than did people that were more socially connected, which are associated with numerous conditions including coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s disease.   On the emotional side, humans need deep and meaningful relationships within which to develop their identity and to thrive in life. The absence of these relationships can often lead to suicide. We need to take loneliness very seriously, as  every 40 seconds someone takes their life .  The Problem It is easy in today’s age to have access to any number of readily accessible stimuli through social media, email, text, face time, skype, chat rooms—you name it. Although we now have the world at our fingertips, yet, paradoxically, more and more of us live solitary, futile lives. More and more of us, of all ages, prefer aimlessly scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, online shopping apps or random things on our smart phones or devices than going out for coffee with a friend or talking with our neighbors. Although we are more connected, we are more isolatedand disconnected than ever before. ever before. Technology and social media can, of course, be wonderful. Yet we need to make these mediums of communication work for us, not control us. The more removed we become from human connection, the more potential there is for us to turn to the fantasy world as a replacement for reality rather than using our imagination as a tool to create successful and satisfying lives. We all, to a certain extent, fantasize about how things could or should be, and this imagining often encourages us to pursue our dreams. Yet our imagination should not be divorced from real life; otherwise our fantasies can become more important to us than reality. When our fantasies get that important, they often lead to long-term social isolation, which can dramatically affect our mental health and reduce our lifespan. The Solution Loneliness by its very nature is not something we can fix by ourselves. As I discuss in my latest book,  Think, Learn, Succeed , we need to develop a “community mindset” if we want to thrive in life, and if we want to help others as well. How can we deal with the loneliness epidemic?  Have Meaningful Discussions.   Make your conversations matter, whether you are speaking with your spouse while making dinner, or your kids in the car to school, or grabbing coffee with a colleague, or at lunch with a friend. Choose to initiate and keep a discussion going, even if you have to search around for topics or don’t always agree. Everyone loves to talk about themselves or get praise and encouragement, so that could be your icebreaker! Take the time to listen to people’s stories. Everyone has a unique story and something to share—something you can learn from! Be sure not to just hear, but try to listen to people without judgement.  Volunteer . Serving others is a wonderful way to become part of a meaningful community, improving both your mental and physical health— studies  show how helping others can increase your own chance of healing! Join a local institution, spiritual center or non-profit organization and see what you can do to help.Some of our favourite organisations to volunteer for are  Food Forward  in Los Angeles, the  SPCA  and  Bonton Farms  in Dallas, TX. Switch off Your Phone . The average person spends up to eight hours a day using technology. Some of the worst effects of electronic devices seem to be mitigated when devices are used less than two hours a day. Find ways to limit your use of technology throughout the day, and increase your face-to-face interaction with your loved ones. Maybe put your phone aside when you are eating. Or leave it at home when you go for a walk. For more information see my podcast on  social media . Get Out the House . Think about what you could do to get out of the house and foster community in your area. Perhaps start a book club, a hiking meet-up or arrange dinner parties and invite someone new each time. Get to know your neighbors and invite them for a walk or for coffee, or join a local community or spiritual center. The possibilities are endless. This may be a little uncomfortable at first but just remember everyone loves to be included, and you never know who may be really struggling with loneliness. The simple act of reaching out may be what helps someone heal! Be Friendly . When you are in a small space with a stranger, such as an elevator, smile and say hello instead of looking at the floor or your phone. Think of ways to start a conversation!  Reach Out. When you feel burdened with work, emotionally challenged, or are going through something, try stopping for a moment and helping someone else, even if it is just to listen, hug, or encourage them. Send an email or text to someone, telling them you are thinking of them, or invite someone to dinner instead of eating alone. Develop a habit of reaching out to friends, family, and colleagues and see if they need anything, even if you just send them a little word of encouragement now and then! If you are struggling with loneliness, talk to someone. Finding life difficult at times is not something to be ashamed of, while suppressing emotions will only make matters worse. Talk to a friend, a family member, a local counselor, or an online help center. The key to healing is not in pretending you are always okay; rather, healing comes from being proactive in seeking help and helping others.  www.drleaf.com .

Transcription This podcast episode discusses how to determine the main point of a Bible passage or book when studying it. The guest, John Beeson, explains that understanding the author's intended main point is crucial. He also mentions that there can be multiple points, but there is usually a driving purpose. He gives the example of the book of Proverbs, which is about seeking wisdom and fearing the Lord. The host, Tom Terry, shares his approach of studying longer passages to understand the bigger picture of the entire book. The conversation also touches on how to read a book or letter as the original audience would have understood it, using study Bibles and the book of Acts for context. The episode concludes with the importance of identifying the main point and recurring themes in a book, even if there are other themes present. This is Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org. I'm your host, Tom Terry, and in this podcast, we'll be exploring elements of Bible study so that you can get the most out of your time when studying God's Word. Our guest for this three-episode series on the elements of Bible study is John Beeson. John received his Master's of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is currently the co-lead pastor of New Life Fellowship in Tucson, Arizona, and in addition to his pastoral duties, John is a regular contributor to PreachItTeachIt.org. For this episode, we'll be talking about how to make the main point of a Scripture passage the main point in your Bible study, class, or sermon. John, thanks for joining us again. Glad to be here. First question I want to ask you about our topic today is how do you determine what the main point of a passage or a Bible book is? That's a good question. I think the most important way to answer that, I would pick up from where we left off last time, which is just that question, what do I think the main point of the author is? Or what do I think that if I was an original hearer of the message, I would hear as the main point? It's not to say the classic Baptist preacher has the three points, alliterated for extra points there. It's not to say that there can't be more than one point. Sometimes there is. I'm going to ask you about that in a minute. Yeah, go ahead. I do think that there tends to be a driving purpose. My heart is in the book of Proverbs because we start that here a week from Sunday. I've been processing that. Proverbs is kind of the ultimate book in terms of how could you possibly nail Proverbs down to one thing. The nature of how it's written is all over the map. It feels like spaghetti. There's just everything everywhere. But it's not a surprise that they've been organized in such a way as to lead us in with the very beginning of telling us, no, no, no, the heart of this thing is all about seeking after wisdom. When you seek after wisdom, you're seeking after the things of God. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of that wisdom. And it's foolishness to depart from wisdom. So that then frames and really ought to then, all the spaghetti strands ought to pull back to that. They're all coming from that main point, if you will. Yeah. Now, when I'm doing my studies, I really get wrapped up in whatever the point is for that particular passage that I'm looking at. And when I look at a passage, I tend to make it a long passage. Some people say, you know, just focus on this verse and this verse and that's it. But I'm like, no, because it's not written in a vacuum. It's got all this other stuff around it that it's trying to tell a portion of the story. But then I find myself sometimes getting lost in that instead of getting to the big picture of the entire book. The exception to that is John. Because in John 20, he tells us exactly why he wrote the book, so that we may believe in Jesus. And in one sense, you can say, well, that's really the point of all the four Gospels and the book of Acts when you really get down to it. But there's a lot more to it than that, isn't there? Yeah, well said. Yeah. Yeah, there really is. And I think beginning and end, you ought to wait, kind of give a special wait to. Sometimes it'll come in the middle, but usually you're going to get your, the hand is going to be tipped early. You know, I love what you're saying about the Gospels, right? So let's take, you know, the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew kind of tips his hand on the centrality of the theme of the Jewish messianic king bona fides of Jesus right up at the front of the book in terms of how he lays out the genealogy of Jesus. And so it gives you the sense, oh, he's writing for a Jewish audience. He's writing to prove them their Messiah has come. The king has come. And I want to prove to you that the king has come, right? Right. John, perfect. Actually, the end is, right, I'm writing it that you may believe. Yeah. You know, as an American in the 21st century, I wish he would say that up front instead of waiting until the second to last chapter. But the front is helpful for John, too. The bookends are helpful because John, how does John begin his book? In the beginning was the word. The word was God. The word was with God. And so John very much is writing. He's a philosopher writer in some sense. He's setting up Jesus' identity right at the first chapter. Exactly. Exactly. So you are believing for John in the connection of belief for John. It's not that it's without culture. It is. But unlike Matthew, who's making a very, very Jewish argument, John is making a very, very philosophical argument in terms of what belief in Jesus looks like and who he is. Okay. All right. How can we read a book or a letter like the original audience would have understood it? Because we are so 2,000 years divorced from their time, I kind of wonder if we could ever get it right. Yeah. So, I mean, the reality is yes. We can't. We can't ultimately get it right. Not in a perfect sense. We can't get in the heart, in the head, you know. My hunch is that those who read the book of Hebrews probably knew who it was from. We don't have that right now. We don't know who that was. Even some of the questions right now, we've kind of shifted over time. For instance, like the book of Ephesians, the way that we read that book now, we actually read that book as more of a circular letter than just to the people in Ephesus. So, yes, even though it's authored to the people in Ephesus, we actually read it more as a regional letter that holds writing this letter to that region of churches. And so that shapes and shifts our reading of it a little bit as well. But, yeah, I do think that there's, you know, we mentioned kind of a study Bible. A study Bible can be very helpful in helping you locate kind of when it was written, the location it was written, understanding, you know, what's the context leading up to this book and what happens after this book and why, you know, what do we know? You can, the letters are a great place to go back to the book of Acts. Acts is a super helpful book to kind of help trace, oh, you know, this is to, you know, Ephesians is a good one, right? This is to the people at Ephesus. Oh, well, let's look back and see what happens in Paul's ministry at Ephesus. Oh, okay. So Paul, you know, lands here and now he's, you know, obviously this is a very secular town. He ends up kind of preaching the gospel in this, like, almost doing, like, seminars, lunch seminars every day is kind of his method. It's an interesting method and ultimately he gets traction. But then there's some major consequences for him, right? His life is put on the line and there's the way in which the gospel threatens either the industry, the pagan industry of the town as it play there. And so Acts can be super helpful for the letters with that. I do think that the easiest answer to your question is a study Bible often gives you kind of eyes to see. I never want to be overly confident that I know exactly the location and exactly what those, what that first audience is thinking in receiving it. And yet as much as we can put ourselves in their sandals, if you will, and hear as they heard, the better we are going to be at discerning what is being said and how it's being said. And it really helps us protect against the most egregious mistakes that we can make in listening to a book. And dragging it straight into our culture without considering that culture that it's written to initially. Okay, so let's get right to the main point, which is what is the main point? How do we derive the main point from a book, even a larger booklet? We've talked about Isaiah, you know, in the past 66 chapters. How are you going to get the main point out of that one? Because it's a long one. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I think that there's a number of questions there. And of course, you know, again, I would want to pull back and just be careful. So, you know, just because, so, you know, when you read a novel, right, there's oftentimes the main truth that that author is driving at, right? You read a book like A Tale of Two Cities, and at the heart of that book is this question of sacrifice, right? But that doesn't mean that there aren't other themes in it. So I'm going to be careful. I'm going to be careful with the main point that I don't challenge people to say, hey, if you preach the book of Isaiah, you can only preach the main point. That would not be fair. But I do want that to be sort of a guiding thing. And so, yeah, this is where, honestly, one of the things that I love doing is actually reading through a whole book. Actually, I like listening to a whole book because before I begin to preach it, a passage in it, honestly, I find both methods helpful and my brain kind of fires different ways. But one of the things about listening to it, which would have been how most people would have heard, you know, a letter, they would have received a letter in listening form or heard, you know, even a scroll of Isaiah would have been listened to before. Yeah, there was no mass distribution of Bibles. Exactly. So part of whether you're listening to it or reading to it or reading it, listen to those themes that are coming up again and again and again. And what's echoing kind of loudest in there? And let the author of the book then help guide you as you kind of step into the shoes of what's going on in the context of that book. And so listen for repeated words. Listen for repeated themes. You know, in the book of Isaiah, there's a whole series of warnings which you can kind of tune out of. But if you begin to kind of have ears to hear, you recognize that this is a book wooing God's people back to God. And so what does it look, you know, all of these themes then are now connected to a central theme that then is guiding the way that we're preaching that and the way that we're handling the text that's in front of us. You know, the more I do my own study, and I like to outline a bit of passage that I'm reading because it helps me understand the main point that they're getting to in that passage. But the more I do that, what comes across to me is the Bible or this particular book that I'm reading is really sophisticated. You know, we tend to look at maybe ancient literature or religious literature, and we think it's simple and it's not very intelligent. But really, that's not true. I mean, people in ancient days didn't just write willy-nilly and release their book at the Barnes & Noble bought or store, you know. They had very complex things that they wanted to communicate. But sometimes I find myself missing it because, again, I don't have their perspective. Yeah, no, that's well said. You never want to underestimate the intelligence of the Spirit of God working through the authors of God's Scripture. And, no, there's an incredible intentionality and layeredness there. And that's a both-and, right? So there's an invitation into the weeds of the text because you can find really good stuff even in the minutia. Yeah, there's a lot of great nuggets. Yeah, and yet there's an invitation to make sure that we're... I would say, for me, my tendency can be to get into the weeds too deep so that I miss the forest. I miss kind of what are those central guiding themes that are happening here. And that can throw me. That can throw me as an interpreter of it. If I get too deep into the specifics, then sometimes what ends up happening is then I'm grabbing hold of those nuggets and I'm beginning to pull them out and utilize them for my own systems and my own what's important to me as opposed to what's important to that author. Okay, so then how do we avoid doing what you're saying and get to the main point of an entire book, like maybe one of the Gospels or something? You don't want to get caught up in the minutia. What's the main point and how do we grab a hold of it? Yeah, yeah. So, I like that. Let's go back to the Gospels, right? So, you pick up a, you know, a Gospel of Luke. Let's take a different one, right? So, Luke begins in a very different way. It begins taking us kind of through the eyes of Mary into the story of Jesus Christ. Now, it's a very different approach. It's the approach of Luke who really pulls together quite a number of eyewitnesses to the account, Luke not being one of them, which is kind of interesting for a Gospel writer. But Luke pulls together all of these Gospel accounts And in the person of Jesus, we see a Savior who is really, in many ways, kind of shaped by that first, by the entry, which is through the eyes of Mary. It's a Jesus who has eyes for the downtrodden, has eyes for the marginalized, who is very much connected to a kingdom-making vision, which Jesus sets out in his first sermon there, pulled from the book of Isaiah, actually, in his hometown. And he says, hey, you know, you were looking for people to be healed. You were looking for the lame to walk. You were looking for, you know, for those who couldn't see to see. Here I am. I have completed this mission. And that then really shapes the whole book because you begin to see, oh, Jesus is on this kingdom-reversing mission throughout the book of Luke. That really gives you eyes to see. So take that to the very end of his life and these encounters he has with Pontius Pilate, with the Sanhedrin, the Jewish authorities, and all of these people who have their own kingdoms they're building. And Jesus is flipping those, is twisting those. He's reversing what their kingdoms are. And so, yeah, to me at the heart of Luke is this kingdom language. Now, you could say that that's also at the heart of Matthew, and they're similar. But Matthew's kingdom is a kingdom that Jesus is bringing in in very Jewish form. And so Jesus is, throughout the book of Matthew, inhabiting and fulfilling all of the great prophets that have come before, whether that's David or Moses. You know, he is the new David. He is the new Moses. And so you see these motifs very clear. Where in the book of Luke, Luke has a very much, it's not that it's, it is a very Jewish book. And yet it's also a book that's written, if I can use this language, this might be a little bit clunky. But it's a book written with a God who comes for the underdog, a God who sees and is building a kingdom out of underdogs for his own purpose. Okay, last question. What is usurping the text? How do we avoid it, assuming that it's a bad thing? Yeah, so usurping the text is probably the greatest threat really to any Christian. But I would put that mantle particularly strong around sort of the shoulders of a leader, where usurping a text is pulling a text out and it's making that text fit whatever I think, whatever my issue of the day is. Oh, you mean like that stuff that I do every day? Yes, exactly. And so there's ways in which we can do that which are less harmful and more harmful. The ways in which we do that in a less harmful way is a classic, you know, Jeremiah 29, 11. You know, I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to bring you hope and a future. It's great. That is, I think, a truth about God's purposes for me. It's actually, though, written not to me, you. It's written to a people in captivity where God is telling them, life is really, really hard right now. It's going to keep getting, it's going to keep being really hard. But I want you to remember in this context, I haven't forgotten you. I haven't given up on what my purpose is for you, right? The more dangerous form of that, I think, comes in a form of preaching, tends to be topical in nature, that where I'm addressing issues of the day, where I'm being pulled by whatever my hobby horses are, frankly. But how is that different from the systematic? So what do you mean by different? Well, you're talking about, you know, preaching something topically and then getting caught up in what is said with your own agenda. But in a sense, isn't teaching systematics, isn't that similar to topical? You mean like systematic theology? Yes. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, so, I mean, every form of preaching has its dangers. You know, the classic, and this is not a dig on them because I appreciate this, the classic Calvary Chapel who preaches beginning to end of the Bible verse by verse, there's dangers in that too, right? And, you know, I'll share, as a church, we probably do 65-35. Sixty-five percent of the time we're walking verse by verse or close to it through a book of the Bible. Thirty-five percent of the time we're addressing topical issues. And there can be a danger in both of those. There's a danger in walking through that kind of either systematically in terms of expositionally, walking through verse by verse a book of the Bible in which you're so glued to the minutia of the text, you're really teaching and not preaching. You're not connecting the text to the people's lives. There's a danger in there that you kind of miss some bigger redemptive themes that we've been talking about on this podcast. But the danger of topical, though, is that I become the driving force. The preacher becomes the driving force. And now I'm looking for a text to suit my, you know, whatever it is that I want to say. And, you know, so I'm preaching on, you know, it could be something great. You're preaching on parenting, right? And you preach on discipline as a parent, you know. He that spares the rod spoils the child. You pull it, yank it right out of the book of Proverbs and bam, there you go, right? Well, okay. But, like, what about the bigger themes? Like, are you actually doing justice to that verse? And, you know, what's actually tricky, the actual, you know, I'll step into hot waters here, right? The actual issue of whether or not to have physical discipline on your children and what the Bible says about that is actually a really tricky one, right? So we have this one proverb, but we recognize that it's not built up. There's not a lot of context around that, right? And so we can say, yeah, but there's truth to that. And yet there's not a lot of other places to go in Scripture where we can say, hey, this is clearly taught kind of through and through. So I have to be careful in the rigidity in which I bring that as a preacher. Am I really bringing, hey, these are the top hits of John Beeson's parenting. These are the things that will work great for me. And so they're going to work great for you? Well, you know, they might have worked great for me, you know, by God's grace. There's many different kinds of children and there's many different challenges that parents face. I have to be very careful to grab one little verse like that and now I'm doing a sermon series on parenting and boom, there you go. And then, you know, now my next topic is, you know, if you help... I'm blanking on the verse right now. I apologize. The verse about if you help, if you raise your children in a godly way, then that's kind of the way in which they're going to go. I apologize. I'm butchering that verse right now. You're still good. You're still good. And, you know, I pull that verse out and now I'm saying, hey, listen, if you're a godly parent to your kids, then they're going to end up as godly kids, right? Well, again, we have to be careful. This comes out of the book of Proverbs. It's a truth, but it's a truth in a meta sense, not a micro sense, right? There are things that tend to be true. It's the way the world tends to bend, right? And so now I'm usurping the text for my own agendas as a preacher. And you could say the same thing about, you know, anything from dealing with whatever political, whatever the political issues are of the day. You know, if you're concerned about, you know, I remember sermons being preached on violent video games as a kid, right? And I look back on that sort of thing and it's not as though I support and think violent video games are great. I just don't think that actually it's pretty... The Bible is a pretty tricky place to go for that, right? You can say, well, you know, we go to Philippians and we say, you know, we're supposed to think about that which is honorable and lovely and, well, but the Bible is full of violence though too. Like the Bible is a violent video game. If it was a movie, it would be rated R. And so we have to be really careful that we don't just pluck these verses out and then just yank them and drop them into the laps of our congregation with a, thus saith the Lord, when it's really, thus saith John. So isn't part of the danger of topical that the gospel can get lost through that process really easy as opposed to teaching through a book or the life of Jesus? That is really well said. Okay, show's over, thanks. There's some preachers today that I really appreciate and respect, but I would call them wisdom preachers. They give great sermons filled with great life lessons that are podcasts and books I've listened to. But at the end of the day, are they really preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ? Yeah. Are they really? Is it Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection that I'm being pointed back to again and again? Yeah. I'm not so sure. You know, I got a little story about this I'm going to share here. Please do. My primary career for the last 35, almost 40 years now, has been broadcasting radio and television. And so I teach on it, I consult on it, I work on TV broadcasts for Campus Crusade. And I've noticed something in American Christian radio that really kind of floors me. I've driven across the country at least 24, 25 times, going back and forth all over the country, from Orlando to Washington to everywhere else in between. I've listened to a lot of Christian radio. I've been on Christian radio. And I can tell you there's one thing missing from Christian radio, and that's the gospel. You can't tune in to a Christian radio station today. If you do, you're going to be lucky. I've never once heard a radio announcer during that music program or something else just explain the gospel, with the exception of teaching programs, but that's what they're supposed to be doing behind the ball. But anyway, you don't hear it on regular radio. It's just missing. And so when I consult and train, I focus on your primary audience. Forty percent of your audience doesn't know Jesus. So you need to take advantage of that. And every day, at some level, you need to share the gospel. And that is, frankly, missed in our industry. Yeah, yeah. And I think it's, unfortunately, you talk about it's what teachers are supposed to do, preachers are supposed to do. Yeah. But honestly, it can be missed by us as well, right? Like if my heart is being wrapped up with outrage or frustration or concern over whatever the topic of the day is, I have a real danger as a preacher that that's going to drive my preaching, as opposed to my concern that I lift Jesus high and clearly present the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And at the heart, I mean, you know, circling all the way back to the beginning, the presupposition of that is that every single book of the Bible points to Jesus Christ. Every single book of the Bible tells us of our desperate need for a Savior and of the unbelievable gift that he is in his death and resurrection for us. All right, John, thank you so much. Appreciate your wisdom and insights. Thank you. Really appreciate you. All right, we'll look forward to talking to you again on more topics. You've been listening to Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org. Today we've been discussing how to make the main point of a passage the main point of your Bible study, class, or sermon. This is the last in a three-part series. Future episodes will feature other guests helping us to understand how to study and apply Scripture. I'm your host, Tom Terry, with PreachItTeachIt.org. Be sure to visit our website for tools and resources to help you craft your sermon or Bible study. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you again next time on Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org.

In 2003, Bart Millard still mourning his father’s recent death, penned the lyrics for “I Can Only Imagine,” a song that would go on to be the most-played song in the history of Christian radio. Can you imagine what heaven is going to be like? There are lots of different views of heaven out there. A couple of decades ago a cottage industry developed, selling stories of those who said they had been to heaven while on death’s doorstep. We’re told of bright lights, lives re-played, and a warm glow. Others might daydream of harps and clouds, when asked to imagine heaven. It all seems pretty harmless, really. What are the consequences of getting our view of heaven wrong? Especially when we can’t possibly know who is correct. Right?   But what if there are consequences to the way we perceive the afterlife? What would those be? Let’s acknowledge that the Bible, not first-hand accounts, ought to be what frames our vision of heaven. What does the Bible say about heaven? Then, we will ask what that means for our lives now. Heaven is not just heaven . Many Christians have been influenced by the Platonic notion that the afterlife is non-material. Heaven, for some, is understood as a purely spiritual destination. However, in scripture we are told that the eternal life of the saints is lived not just in heaven, but in “the new heavens and the new earth” (See Is 65:17 , Is 66:22 , and 2 Pet 3:13 ). Heaven is not a dreamlike state or merely spiritual, heaven is physical.   We will have bodies. Jesus Christ is “the firstborn of all creation” ( Col 1:15 ). His resurrection from the dead ushers in a new era where God has conquered death. In 1 Corinthians 15 , Paul devotes a whole chapter declaring the universe transforming reality of Jesus’ resurrection. He explains that Jesus’ bodily resurrection means we will be resurrected in his likeness. “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” ( 1 Cor 15:48 ). We will learn in heaven. In Ephesians 2:6-7 , Paul gives us a glimpse of heaven that includes God’s continued revelation of his glory to us. Paul says that God has “raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” How much fun is that? Heaven will be an invitation to an unending tour of God’s breathtaking, grace-filled new creation. America’s greatest theologian Jonathan Edwards rejoiced in the progressive increase of our knowledge in heaven, “The number of ideas of the saints shall increase to eternity.” [i] We will work in heaven. We were made for work. In Genesis 1:26 , God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” The first way that God says he intends for us to image him is through our dominion and stewardship of God’s world. We do not work because of the Fall. Our work has been damaged, twisted, and made difficult because of the Fall. Work won’t go away in heaven; it will be redeemed. In heaven work will be purposeful and meaningful. We will rule. Part of the dominion God created us for is not just working, but ruling. We will rule in heaven. Paul explains to the church at Corinth that we will judge the earth and even angels ( 1 Cor 6:2-3 )! We will party in heaven. I hope you enjoy a great party, because heaven will be the ultimate party: full of fun, laughter, singing, and incredible food. Isaiah offers us this snapshot of the party in 25:6, “ On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine – the best of meats and the finest of wines.” We will have the best friends in heaven. We will be part of a perfect community. In Colossians 3:15 , Paul exhorts the church, “ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” The calling of Christ is an invitation to his peace. That shalom will be perfect in heaven. The disappointments and hurts of apathy, callousness, gossip, lies, cliques, rejection, and betrayal will be wiped away and an ideal, joyous community will remain. Heaven and Today What does this mean for our life now? In short, if we believe in a more popular conception of heaven, we will care much less about our lives here. We will focus on holding our breath to get through this life and emerge on the other side. Our worldview will lead us to look past many of our responsibilities here (work, caring for our bodies and the earth) with an eye toward heaven. If, on the other hand, we believe in the new heavens and the new earth and not merely heaven, then we will see much more value in our lives today. Caring for our responsibilities today is preparation to have dominion over the new heavens and the new earth for all eternity. We can say the same thing about our bodies. How we care for our bodies now matters if we believe in a bodily resurrection. Curiosity isn’t wasteful; it’s eternal! Our work has meaning that echoes into the new resurrection life. Fun isn’t just for now; it’s forever! And our investment in relationships lasts into the new world. [i] Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards , vol. 13, 483. Quoted in Alcorn, Heaven , 319.      You May Also Appreciate: Dreaming About Heaven Photo by Qingbao Meng on Unsplash Tagged:  mourning ,  death ,  Heaven ,  Bart Millard ,  Can you imagine what heaven will be like? ,  will we have bodies in heaven? ,  Will we work in Heaven? ,  Will we remember our life in heaven? ,  will we learn in heaven?

Living in the Waiting Room – part 2 Jeremiah 29:4-14 After my husband Gary’s cancer diagnoses, we were open to trying anything the doctors suggested. One of the things they wanted him to continue doing was to keep exercising by going on short walks in our neighborhood. So, we did. One day as we were holding hands and walking down the street Gary asked me, “Jan have you ever noticed that when we go out for our walks that none of the other married couples, we see walking in the neighborhood are holding hands?” “No, I said. “I don’t think I have ever noticed.” “Well, I have,” he said. “And, I have decided what I am going to say if anyone ever ask me why we are holding hands. I am going to tell them that we are newlyweds.”  Another day, when we were driving to his cancer therapy Gary said, “Jan did you know that when, we get to heaven you and I are not going to be married?” “Yes,” I said. “I have read that in the gospels.” He turned and said with a straight face said, “Well, you don’t have act like you’re so excited about it.” All I could do was laugh. Even in illness Gary had the ability to entertain me. I think these stories show what a truly special person Gary was and how great our loss was when he died. In one of the grief classes I took after Gary died someone said, “Grief is the price we pay for the privilege of loving someone”. If we had the ability to create a completely safe environment, a place where people didn’t feel judged, I am convinced that every single person could tell us a sad story. But we need to remember that suffering is not a competition where we compare and try to find the person who has suffered the most. Your sorrow is real and so is mine. Grief is exhausting, but sadly, extremely common.      In our last lesson we began looking at what happens in our lives when we have lost control and feel like we have moved to the waiting room. We also started exploring Jeremiah 29:4-14 . How did we define the phrase “Waiting Room”? I would define “the waiting room” as anytime in our lives change has been forced on us. With that review now let us return our passage. Pray and ask God to speak to you in his word and then read Jeremiah 29:4-14 again. 4  This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon:  5  “Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce.  6  Find wives for yourselves and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, do not decrease.  7  Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.” 8  For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them,  9  for they are prophesying falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them.” This is the Lord’s declaration. 10  For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place.  11  For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  12  You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  13  You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.  14  I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration— “and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place from which I deported you.” CSB We are strengthened when we remember God is in control. We serve the LORD of armies. We may have found ourselves moving to a place of uncertainty, but God knows what he is doing. So, this brings us to two more principles. 1) When we remember we serve the LORD of Armies, we can love the truth while still living in in in the waiting room. Jeremiah 29:8-9 We may feel we are trapped in situations that were not of our choosing, but while we reside in the unknown, we can still love the truth. Unfortunately for Jeremiah, his prophecies were not very popular while he was still alive. He was often mistreated, beaten multiple times, imprisoned, and left for dead all because the people didn’t love God’s warning message. My father had an idiom about deception that he used to say, “Well, they just wanted their ears tickled.” Meaning they liked being flattered or being lied too, more than they wanted the truth. This was part of the reason God changed their address. Look again at Jeremiah 29:8-9 . 8  For this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them,  9  for they are prophesying falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them.” This is the Lord’s declaration. CSB Jeremiah was so despised by the people of Judah that when the Babylonians came to haul the Jews off the final time, they left him behind. These invading armies were looking for people of influence and beauty. They were interested in the Jewish nobility, the healthy, the young and strong, the wealthy, and those who had useful skills. The infirmed and elderly were left behind to eke out a meager existence in Palestine because they were not considered useful to Babylon’s purposes. Jeremiah was lumped with the undesirable people Babylon was happy to leave behind. As the nobility were being carried off to Babylon, they were probably thrilled that they were not going to have to listen to any more of Jeremiah’s frightening sermons. This is the way self-deception works. We can want something so bad that we start rejecting the truth. The truth often hurts, but without it our lives will continue to move from one disaster to another. Jeremiah’s message reminds us of Jesus words in John 8:31b-32 , “…If you are my disciples, you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Do we love the truth enough to let it set us free? When we find ourselves living in the waiting room it is imperative we learn to love God’s truth. 2) When we remember we serve the LORD of Armies, we can seek him while still living in the waiting room. Jeremiah 29:10-14 . Look at Jeremiah 29:10-14 again. 10  For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place.  11  For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  12  You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  13  You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.  14  I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place from which I deported you.” CSB Frustrating trials often cultivate within us a more teachable and pure heart. Even though it made him unpopular Jeremiah prophesied what God told him, and because of this his writings became very popular after his death. Do you remember the prophet Daniel who was taken into Babylon as a youngster? Jewish tradition tells us that Daniel was a part of Judah’s nobility and probably between the ages of 12-14 at the time his captivity. Scholars think that after being dragged to exile he probably spent the rest of his life in Babylon. In Daniel chapter 9, when he is an old man, we find him reading Jeremiah’s prophecy from chapter 29. The very passage we have been studying. After reading about the 70 years, Daniel figures out that the years of captivity are almost over. The veracity of this message drove Daniel to prepare the people for their return to Israel and how is he going to do that? He prays for them. In Daniel chapter 9:4b-19, he offers a substitutional prayer of repentance on Israel’s behalf. I say substitutional, because when we read this prayer, we know that Daniel has not committed the sins he is confessing, he was only a kid when he was carried into captivity. But Daniel could confess these sins because as a middle-easterner his thinking was different than our western mind-set. In the middle east those who are descendants of Abraham, the Jews and the Arabs, live in an honor/shame culture where they are discouraged from doing things that would bring shame to their community. Daniel identifies himself as being from the tribe of Judah, and as such he could confess sins for his entire tribe, even though he didn’t personally commit these sins. Daniel was raised to value community over individual freedom. Different cultures place importance on different principles. In the west we live in an innocent/guilt culture where we value individual liberty and responsibility over community. So, we would rarely feel comfortable confessing someone else’s sins. I want you to read this prayer, but I want you to pay attention while reading this prayer by answering this question, “What stands out to you from Daniel’s prayer?”   Daniel 9:4b-19 Ah, Lord—the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands—  5  we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commands and ordinances.  6  We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, ancestors, and all the people of the land. 7  Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but this day public shame belongs to us: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel—those who are near and those who are far, in all the countries where you have banished them because of the disloyalty they have shown toward you.  8  Lord, public shame belongs to us, our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you.  9  Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against him  10  and have not obeyed the Lord our God by following his instructions that he set before us through his servants the prophets. 11  All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. The promised curse written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him.  12  He has carried out his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us a disaster that is so great that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of heaven.  13  Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth.  14  So the Lord kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all he has done. But we have not obeyed him. 15  Now, Lord our God—who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and made your name renowned as it is this day—we have sinned, we have acted wickedly.  16  Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, may your anger and wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors, Jerusalem and your people have become an object of ridicule to all those around us. 17  Therefore, our God, hear the prayer and the petitions of your servant. Make your face shine on your desolate sanctuary for the Lord’s sake.  18  Listen closely, my God, and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before you based on our righteous acts but based on your abundant compassion.  19  Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for your own sake, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name. CSB What stands out to you from Daniel’s prayer? Daniel appeals to God’s righteousness, not Israel’s righteousness. He confesses her shame and reminds the Lord that Jerusalem and Israel bear his name. For God’s sake Daniel asks God to forgive his people. Daniel stood in the gap in prayer between the sinful exiles and a holy God, interceding on their behalf. While still living in captivity Daniel found the courage to believe the seventy years of exile were almost over. The Jews were ready to return to Jerusalem when they began to seek God with all their heart. When we remember we serve the LORD of Armies, we can love the truth, and we can seek him while still living in the waiting room. If we want to survive moving to the unknown, we must crave and desire the truth. One of the main reasons the exiles ended up in Babylon was they didn’t want to hear what God thought of them. We must guard our hearts from deception, especially self-deception and we must learn to seek God no matter the cost. He is worth any sacrifice.         In Daniel 9:23 after Daniel’s prayer of repentance, God sent Gabrielle an angelic messenger to Daniel with these words, “ 23  At the beginning of your petitions an answer went out, and I have come to give it, for you are treasured by God…” Wouldn’t we all love to hear these words, “You are treasured by God”? I know I would. God treasured Daniel because he passionately interceded for others. We can bless our city, and we can offer substitutional repentance, even when we have not committed the sins we are confessing. God loved Israel, but he also loved the Babylonians. In these two lessons on moving to the waiting room of life, we see God wants us to pray for those who still don’t know him, and he wants us to pray for those who know him but need to repent. Unfortunately, I think we often get these two people groups reversed. We judge the non-Christians and keep asking God to bless the Christians who show no interest in repenting. If we want to take as many people to heaven with us as we can, we need get this straight. God called the exiles to bless the unbelievers in Babylon, and he treasured Daniel for identifying with Israel’s shame and sin. This is only imaginable when we remember we serve the LORD of armies. With him in control anything is possible.

Dear Roger, I can't go on like this. The suffering is too great. I am learning how to cope. Would you give me some advice? Sincerely, Hurting. Dear Hurting, I am sharing the experience from my daughter Brianna, who has suffered from chronic illness for over twenty years. Here is her testimony: "Yesterday, I HAD ENOUGH. Have you ever HAD ENOUGH? You roll with the punches, keep up the good fight, be the little engine that could…until you can’t. ENOUGH is ENOUGH. I have a severe immunodeficiency, and I’ve been struggling with lung infections since early December. They wear me out! Breathing is really important. And for me, it takes weeks of breathing treatments, steroids, and antibiotics for my lungs to decide to move air again. I’m finally getting some air, and my body decides a migraine would be a great idea. So would extreme nausea. I haven’t kept food down—except for Jell-O or bread—in four days. Then the internet went down. With four video calls on my docket. I’m applying for a doctoral program, and my transcript request was denied because I messed up a number in my student ID from 15 years ago. And then? The last straw? We. Ran. Out. Of. Apple. Juice. ENOUGH doesn’t always hit at the most important moment. Just the most inopportune. I proceeded to turn into a slavering hyena, biting the heads off of everyone in my vicinity. Mom, I AM FINE. No, I don’t want soup. EVER AGAIN. Dad, I DON’T CARE what we watch on TV. No internet means commercials. I hate commercials. Brad (my sweet husband), LOOK OUT! I’ve had the worst day. No, I don’t want a hug. I don’t want you to be nice to me. I’VE HAD ENOUGH. I decided it would be best for everyone if I removed my lovely self from their presence. So, I did the obvious thing. I hid in the bathroom. Small space = containment. Angry, frustrated, and exhausted doesn’t cover it. But I only know one way to deal with ENOUGH. And that’s to place it in the hands of the One who holds exploding stars. He is big enough, loving enough, and patient enough to deal with my ENOUGH. Plus, you can tell Him when you’re angry, frustrated, and exhausted. He already knows! He can take it. It’s not a sin to have feelings. It’s a sin to act on them in a way that hurts other people. My dad always says, “Hurting people hurt people.” He’s absolutely right. So, pour out the hurt. Holler at God. Tell Him all about your ENOUGH. Get out the pain. Then ask Him to fill you with His peace. Accept that He is in control. Verbally place all your frustrations and needs in His hands. Now, go rest. ENOUGH takes a lot out of you physically, mentally, and emotionally. You need to recharge. Make the time. I slept hard last night, but I’m still pretty empty. So, after doing the work I have to do today, I’ll take some time to read, nap, and just chill. Gotta keep ENOUGH at bay, you know?" Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:3-5 NIV) Sincerely, Roger and Brie

I sit with a young woman. She exhales and looks at her shoes. “My grandfather molested me when I was six. My father first raped me when I was eleven. Abusive boyfriends took his place by the time I was thirteen. Alcohol, drugs, men. It’s been the story of my life.” She looks up at me flatly. “Nothing works. I hate myself. I am worthless.” John got the call from Brian’s mother this morning. “He committed suicide last night.” John’s heart drops and he remembers their last session. “My kids would be better off without me,” he said. “My wife has moved on. She already has a boyfriend. She won’t even look me in the eye.” Brian made assurances that he would not commit suicide. But as he sat in his truck pulled off to the side of the road, looking at the home he had been forced to sell when he and his wife separated, his emotions probably churned inside of him. He might have remembered the first day they moved in, with all their hopes and aspirations. His thoughts may have drifted to teaching his kids how to ride their bikes, to a fight he and his wife had, to a piñata hung up on a mesquite tree for a birthday party. And in the end, he believed the world was a better place without him. The American Psychological Association reports that suicide rates have increased 30 percent in the past two decades.1 In the age group of fifteen- to twenty-four-year-olds, the rate of increase is a staggering 56 percent.2 How can self-hatred be so pervasive in this age of self-positivity? The rise of suicide rates has directly correlated with the rise of social media.3 John and I don’t think that is a coincidence. Never in the history of the world has there been a time when we all are more susceptible to the dangerous trap of comparison. When we grew up, we compared ourselves with classmates and neighbors. Today, via social media, we compare ourselves to virtu- ally any acquaintance we’ve ever had. And that comparison is poisonous. No matter how great our lives might be, one glance on social media is sure to remind us that someone out there has a better life than we do. A discouraging day is compounded by social media, where we are sure to see friends in some exotic location. The Voice of Shame Many of us live with a voice that speaks words of despair into our ears: “I am a fraud.” “I am so messed up.” “I am stupid.” “I am pa- thetic.” “I am worthless.” And the you messages: “You suck.” “Every- one knows you’re an idiot.” “Who do you think you are?” “Everyone thinks you are such a loser.” “No one will ever want you.” This shame attendant has been present since the relationship be- tween humans and God ruptured. One of the reasons we feel shame is because God has an enemy (and therefore we do too!). His name is Satan, and he’s the accuser and tempter of human beings. Shame is Satan’s most powerful tool to estrange us from God and to multiply the power of sin in our lives. When Adam and Eve rejected God’s authority in their lives and chose to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, what was their immediate response? Shame. Suddenly aware of their nakedness, they hid their bodies. Guilty of what they had done and ashamed of who they were, they hid from their Maker. This is what shame does: It alienates us from one another and from God. While guilt is our response to what we have done, shame tells us that we are what we have done. Gripped with the fear of what we will see if we encounter ourselves, we hide from ourselves, others, and God. The voice of shame records fragments of conversations with others that echo our worst fears about ourselves and plays them on a loop. John has told me horror stories of the many times he’s heard, in the chambers of his heart, the echo of an elder’s words at a church he pastored: “You are unfit for ministry.” The context of that statement is wiped out; John’s heart ignores how he’s changed since then. Instead, he feels the words aimed like a bony finger at his chest, accusing him, defeating him. The voice of shame also takes even small events and attaches messages to them. We write a text message to a friend that is reciprocated with silence. “You aren’t worth his time,” the voice tells us. Yesterday John spoke to a group of pastors, and no one followed up with a text or email. “You should have declined the invitation to speak. Now they know you are an imposter.” It happens in anticipation as well. Invited to speak to a group of pastors, I have heard the voice of shame speak to me: “You’re stupid. What do you have to offer these older, wiser men?” The voice speaks to us both as we write this book: “Who do you think you are? You’re not authors. No one will read this.” Once Satan instigates shame, he hands us fraudulent tools to escape its imprisonment: comparison, comfort, and numbing. “If you just compare yourselves to others who are worse, you will feel better,” he lies. “Console yourself with this bowl of ice cream,” he coos. “Ease your pain with this porn,” he entices. “Shut down so you don’t have to feel these bad feelings,” he whispers. The shame attendant rubs his hands together when we cave to comparison, comfort, and numbing. Scrolling social media creates more fodder for shame, as does the bowl of ice cream, masturbation, and numbing. Shame wants us to stop, to freeze, to shrink. Our flesh goes to great lengths to avoid pain and seek comfort. The danger and irony of shame language is that it arrogantly dismisses God. Shame plugs our ears from hearing the voice of God and refuses his truth about who we are. Amplifying the voice of shame can feel as though we are acting in humility. But it is not humble to believe lies. It is not humble to reject what God says about us. It is sinful to deny God’s words over us; when we do, we position ourselves on the enemy’s battlefield in allegiance with him. How do we break the cycle of shame? How do we fight the voice that tells us we are worthless? Excerpt from Trading Faces by John and Angel Beeson.

She sits in my office, tears running down her face. Two years ago her mother died in hospice while she lay asleep at home. She was trying to get a decent night’s rest after days spent at her mother’s side. “I just can’t forgive myself. I let her die alone. I knew I should have been there, but I was selfish. I can never forgive myself for that.” I’ve heard dozens share similar confessions with me. Does this resonate with you? What guilt do you bear? What burdens are you carrying because you can’t forgive yourself? Many are trapped because they can’t forgive themselves. My friend isn’t alone. And she feels trapped. Because she will never hear her mother offer her forgiveness, she feels like she can’t release herself from her guilt. Why can’t you release yourself from your sin? Is it because the weight is too much? Because you know you haven’t changed? Because the ripple effects of your sin can’t be reversed? I have good news—such good news. You don’t need to forgive yourself, because you can’t forgive yourself. What? I know—this sounds foreign. Our contemporary therapeutic culture tells us that self-forgiveness is not only a category of forgiveness, it is the most important category of forgiveness. Writing in Psychology Today, psychotherapist Beverly Engel says, “I believe that self-forgiveness is the most powerful step you can take to rid yourself of debilitating shame.” [i] But let me ask you: can you point me to one example of someone forgiving themselves in the Bible? There is no category of self-forgiveness in the Bible. And that is a freeing truth! Your shame and guilt is not dependent upon your ability to forgive yourself. There are two biblical categories of forgiveness biblically: others’ forgiveness and God’s forgiveness: horizontal and vertical. Horizontal forgiveness marks us as Christians. Seeking the forgiveness of others is not optional. Forgiving one another is not optional. Paul says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” [ii] It’s not enough to ask forgiveness from God, we must ask forgiveness from those we have injured. As important as horizontal forgiveness is, even more important is vertical forgiveness, which comes from God alone. After committing a heinous double sin of adultery (one could argue it was actually rape [iii] ) and murder against Bathsheba and Uriah, David cries out to God, “Against you, you only, have I sinned!” [iv] Is David minimizing his horrifying sins against Uriah and Bathsheba? Hardly. He realizes that as awful as his sin is horizontally, his sin is much worse vertically. He has profoundly offended his Creator and the Creator of Uriah and Bathsheba by devaluing one life and then snuffing out another. He has profoundly offended his righteous, covenanting God with his wicked, covenant-breaking actions. But you know what David never walks through? The process of self-forgiveness. He doesn’t entertain for a second that he needs to forgive himself, or that, once he has sought forgiveness from God, he needs to self-flagellate to fully release himself from his sin. In fact, David shocks the modern therapeutic sensibilities with how quickly he feels release. He says that once forgiven, he will sing—sing! “Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.” Have you experienced that kind of freedom? Have you ever felt the complete forgiveness of God so much that you have sung with joy? Vertical forgiveness allows us to experience the power and release that comes through the cross and then it sends you back to the horizontal, where you are made right in community. Dear ones, fellow sinners, does guilt plague you? Seek forgiveness from those who you have sinned against. Seek forgiveness from God your Rescuer who has purchased your salvation through the death of Jesus. And then sing! Celebrate your forgiveness. Enjoy your freedom.

We believe whoever finds God, finds life. Because of You, more people are experiencing the love, hope, and healing only found in Him. Let’s celebrate what God has done and look forward to what He will do next. BecauseofYou_2023_Transcript 1 - I wanna take a moment and just sincerely say thank you, like from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for being here today. You made it. And your presence, it really, really matters. Like in all the busyness of your life, you chose to gather together with God's people to hear God's Word and to serve God's people and to praise God's name. And I just wanna say sincerely thank you. And what I wanna do is I wanna show you a portion of scripture that reminds me of how I feel about you. Paul said to the Thessalonians this and God's Word, he said, "So we have been greatly encouraged in the midst of our troubles and sufferings, dear brothers and sisters, because you have remained strong in your faith. It gives us new life to know that you're standing firm in the Lord." Now watch this. He said, how we thank God for you." and you're gonna hear me say it again and again and again. Thank you. I thank God for every single one of you. How we thank God for you. Now, let's say these next three words aloud together. Everybody say it with me, because of you. One more time. Let's say it loud, because of you, we have great joy as we enter God's presence. How I thank God for every single one of you. And because of you, we have great joy as we enter into God's presence. What I wanna do is I wanna tell you that because of you, God is changing lives. And honestly this is ridiculously emotional for me because it was 28 years ago this very week that we met for the very first time with 40 people in a two car garage. We just saw the overhead projector there and there's mirrors that made it look like there's 80, but there's really only 40. And we gathered together for the first time, Paco, you and Jennifer were there. Jerome and Shanna, of course, if you've been a part of our church for any amount of time, you've heard me brag on Jerome and Shanna, you represent what our church is about. And just this month they had 85 people in their life group, 85 people, twice the size of our church in the beginning in their life group. And it is the most diverse group that you have ever seen in your life. And you have to understand Jerome and Shannon to understand their life group. Jerome was a drug dealer who got saved. Now he's a very successful computer programmer, but he was a drug dealer. And before, you know, he had a legal job. We tried to build him a resume and all we could come up with was he was good at sales, good at marketing. That's all we could do. Now Jerome has memorized 58 chapters of the Bible. Come on somebody that's ridiculous. 58 chapters of the Bible. And Shannon is the strength. She is a powerhouse, she is a mentor, she is a missionary, she's a homeschool mom. She is someone that we all look up to. And even with their mission work, it's no wonder that they have people from seven different countries in their life group. Let me tell you about their group. Drum texted me and he said they had three YouVersion engineers, one architect, one veterinarian, one lawyer, two accountants, and a partridge in a pear tree. Okay, I made up the last part, but that sounds about right. Attorneys and YouVersion to in, you know, veterinarians and stuff. They also have two prostitutes. One who's been saved and baptized and outta the industry. The other with the support of the group is making positive steps in her life even now. They also have two ex gang members, four ex strippers, two guys just out of prison. Three people who were homeless, now they're employed and thriving. So what I want you to see is in this life group, you can get free from an addiction, you can escape an abusive situation, you can get your pet spade, you can get good legal advice, you can get your house designed, you can get your teeth cleaned, and you can get your taxes done at this life group. And I wanna say to you, Jerome, and to all of you, thank you for being a church that loves those that other people reject. Because of you, we're a church where everyone is welcome, everyone is needed, and everyone can be changed. And so today I would invite a few other people to help me say thank you to you, to show you what God is doing through our church because of you. First, I wanna invite Pastor Brian Franco to come up who's been married for 14 years to Sarah. Pastor Brian is the campus pastor at Life.Church in Springfield, Missouri. The reason I show you this building is BecauseofYou_2023_Transcript 2 because this building used to be a concert hall and Brian had his very first date with his wife at a concert. None other than Shane and Shane concert in that very building. And only God knew that years later that would be a Life.Church and he would be the campus pastor. Would you please help me welcome Pastor Brian Franco. - Thank you Pastor Craig for the opportunity to share what's happening in Springfield. I want to introduce you all to my very good friend Steve right here. This was us having some fun last summer. The little thing we call at the movies and we were having a good time. But here recently, Steve turned 62 years old, or 62 years young as he likes to say it. And on his birthday, I asked him the birthday question. I said, Steve, what lesson has it taken you 62 years to learn? And he immediately replied, "Brian, I don't know, I can't remember. I'm too old." And then he came back the next day, but this time is a little different because this time he said, "I've got got your answer." And with tears in his eyes and his voice starting to quiver, he said, "Brian, I've learned that God is enough." Now the reason why that's an amazing answer because there is no way he could say that unless it was a miracle of God at work in his life. See, I met Steve in 2018, about six months before the Life.Church Springfield campus opened the doors and he said, I cannot wait to be a part of what God's gonna do in the church. I'm so excited for how it's gonna change our community. "But I want you to know you're never gonna see me, Brian." I was like, what do you mean? He's like, "I'm not gonna attend in person." Because Steve was actually the primary caregiver for his wife Kristen, who had been battling muscular dystrophy for her entire life. Now, when we went through the lockdown in 2020 through Covid and we started to feel the challenges of pain and isolation in our life, that very thing you felt, I want you to recognize, they'd already been feeling it for years. They'd been isolated, they were alone. And it was my privilege at that moment of their life to enter as their new pastor. And honestly, what was gonna be the closing journey of Kristen's life? 'Cause it was in 2021 that I got the news from a neighbor that said, "Brian, you need to get over there fast. It doesn't look like she's gonna ma last much longer." So I rush over. I get into the house, I find the room where they're at. I grab Steve's hand, I put my hand on her shoulder, we begin to pray. Gotta give her hope, give her hope, give her peace. Lord, let the light of Jesus rise up in her and lead her home. We said, amen, and moments later she passed. She entered into the presence of her savior. And Steve was devastated. He was lost. He didn't know where to turn. He didn't know how to put his life back together. That's all he had known for so long. He probably felt like many of you have felt before or maybe even many of you feel right now. So lemme tell you what Steve did. Steve went to church. He said, you know what, as much as I'm hurting, I'm gonna take advantage of my opportunity to be involved, to get engaged. So he started attending regularly, then he went to an event where he got to know other people. He started serving on the host team, developing friendships outside of his home for the first time in years. He found himself in his way to a life group where he was surrounded by other Christ-centered people, strengthening him. And he said, it was in those contexts that I began to discover the truth about who I was, my identity that I had forgotten a long time ago, that I'm not Steve the widower, I'm not Steve the caretaker. He said, "No, I am Steven, a follower of Jesus, a man of God centered in Christ. I am called. I have a purpose and I can make a difference." He's like, "I got a second lease on life. Let's do this." And then 361 days after his li his wife passed, he got that phone call, that phone call that you don't ever want to get. His doctor said, "Steve, it's cancer, it's melanoma, it's stage four, it's metastasized." And so for the last 18 years of his life, Steve has been fighting for his life. But the difference, the difference is this time he's not doing it alone because he has the support of the love of God through the local church, which we have not forgotten is still the hope of the world. Because BecauseofYou_2023_Transcript 3 Steve found hope in the local church. It was his friends from the host team taking him to the hospital. It was his life group that was the life support to him, the strength to him. And yes, he is in the fight of his life, but he is not fighting alone. So when Steve stands up on his 62nd birthday and he said, Brian, I have learned that God is enough, he's saying that as a man who lost his wife, who lost his health, but he has found that he has the only thing he's ever needed in life. And it is because of you. When you give, when you serve, when you invite, when you do those things, you step out by faith, God uses you to create space for people like Steve to discover that God is enough. So thank you for letting me share this story with you all today. - And the good news is that through the church, many of you will discover that when God is all you have, God is actually enough. And Steve, right now, we pray for you in the name of Jesus, that the power of God would touch your body, that you would continue to be strengthened, healed, that God would extend your days to be a blessing in the church as the church to people all over the world. We pray this in Jesus' name and the church of God said, amen and amen. Next, I wanna introduce a very good friend of mine. This is one of the coolest guys and one of the toughest guys at all of Life.Church. It's Pastor Zane, who's been married for 23 years to Stacey and he actually launched Life.Church in Mustang, Oklahoma. The biggest Life.Church launched with almost 4,000 people on the very first weekend, their switched ministry. This is ministry to teenagers. It is so big that they don't fit on one night. They have to meet on two different nights because they're impacting so many young adults. And I'm thankful for every single one of them. Would you please help me welcome Pastor Zane Rowland. - I'm so thankful to Pastor Craig to have this opportunity. I want to first introduce you to my family. This is my wife Stacey, and our five kids ranging from 21 down to 10 years old. And yes, the little one with blonde hair and blue eyes is our daughter. But we thought when we start spitting out blonde hair, blue-eyed kids, we have gotta stop because we have broken something. So we stopped at five. Man, you know what? I love the way that God interacts with humanity. Now here's what I mean by that. When we choose to serve, when we choose to serve him, what he does is he uses simple, ordinary actions to create extraordinary spiritual impact. Simple ordinary actions that we have. And he uses those who create and extraordinary spiritual impact. That's exactly what he did in the life of Alex. Alex and her husband Derek attend the Life.Church campus in Mustang. And they've been there since 2016. But Alex's story began about a decade before when she was a senior in high school. You see, when she was a senior, she was so excited to get her life started. She was ready to roll and all the possibilities that life had to offer. And so she moved out and was excited to get it. Everything started. And about six months into that, she found herself surrounded by the wrong people, doing the wrong things and eventually had to come to her mom and dad and confess that she was pregnant. Now, for her, it was like the end of the world. She was scared, she was embarrassed, she was full of guilt and shame. So much so that she couldn't even go back to the church that she'd been attending her entire life. So for the first time, she was looking for a new church and they found the South Tulsa campus. And when they walked in, the very first time she met Pastor Tommy. And as she was walking in, pastor Tommy looked her right in the eye and he said, I'm so glad you're here. Simple, ordinary actions. Because when Pastor Tommy said that, which by the way, he says to everyone, what she heard God say was that, I see you, I love you and my grace is sufficient for you. She said she felt a wave of peace come over her, that silence every one of her fears. Simple, ordinary action that produces extraordinary spiritual impact. She continued to walk into worship. And as she sat down and got ready for worship, the very first song they sang had the lyrics, your BecauseofYou_2023_Transcript 4 love never fails. It never gives up, it never runs out on me. And Alex in that moment just broke, because no more was she scared and embarrassed and full of guilt and shame, now, after God washing over her, she felt safe, she felt forgiven, she felt welcomed, and she felt wanted by a God and people who never give up. In 2020, she and Derek were baptized at the Mustang campus and that's a picture of them going public with their faith. And man, since that time, they are so consistent and they go to Life.Church every single weekend. And Alex gets to take her daughter Abby and their little brothers, and she gets to take 'em into a life kid's classroom where there's somebody there that knows her name, that looks at 'em and says, I'm glad you're here. So here's what I want you to know. I wanna say thank you to those of you who serve in Host Team, in Life Kids, in Switch, on ops, in worship, or you lead a life group at your house or whatever you do. However you choose to love God by loving people, I wanna say thank you because even though you may never see the impact that you're serving makes, you gotta know because of you, families are forever different. God uses your simple, ordinary actions to make extraordinary, eternal spiritual impacts. Thanks so much for letting me share this story. - I love that. And I wanna just say to you that you are so welcome here. It doesn't matter what you're going through, what you're in the middle of, you are welcome here. You are loved and God's grace is sufficient. God is changing individuals, he is changing families, he's changing legacies. And as your pastor because of you, God is doing something special all over the world through the YouVersion Bible app. It's probably the most humbling thing to me to know that our church stewards what many people are calling the greatest Bible engagement tool in the history of the world. And we give this away for free because of you. And when it comes to the Bible, our vision is big. Just so you'll know, we plan to get God's Word to everyone everywhere, every day. And we will not stop until we see God's Word in everyone's hands, everywhere and every day. And because of you and with our partners around the world, we are making progress. I wanna introduce you to Mastone, who is a church planter in Zambia. And I wanna show you how people are being transformed by God's Word because of you. - For a community that is really remote, it gives a community of people so much dignity when they hear the word in their language. As a ministry, we've been developing leaders, local missionaries like Mastone. - People are so open to the gospel and it hurts because communities who need the word the most in many situations can't afford to buy a printed Bible. - People don't have to die without hearing the gospel. We have the means. We have technology. We have YouVersion. - With YouVersion in my life God has made me for this moment so that they can reach out to those in what areas and preach the gospel to them. - Let's go ahead and tell God thank you for that, huh? Because of you, because of your generosity, the YouVersion Bible app is on over 700 million devices around the world, on its way to a billion. And we're not gonna stop. And it's always interesting to me, people often say like, you guys give that away for free. Like why don't you sell ads? Or why don't you just sell it for like a dollar each? And if you've never heard the story, I actually came to Faith in Christ by someone who gave me a free Gideon's Bible and that's how my life was changed. And so just for the record, our Bible is not for sale. It will never be BecauseofYou_2023_Transcript 5 for sale. We will always lead the way with irrational generosity because we truly believe it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. And not only are you impacting people all over the world with the word of God, but you're empowering churches around the world as well. And to show you what God is doing in churches because of you, it's my honor to introduce Danny to you who was originally from Oaxaca, Mexico. And three years ago she relocated to Oklahoma where I live to intern with Life.Church Online. The good news is she never left. She actually joined the YouVersion team as a YouVersion Global expansion coordinator, which means she works with partners all over the world to expand the content library of the YouVersion Bible app. I'm gonna tell you right now, get ready, 'cause this gal is one of the most passionate Jesus followers you will ever meet. Would you please help me welcome Dani Newkirk. Let's go Denny, come on. - Thank you Pastor Craig. And okay, have you ever wondered if what you do matters or if what you give matters? Let me tell you the story of the church I grew up in back in Mexico. In 2017, my family and I were living in a city called Puebla when an 8.2 earthquake struck the city next to us, which is Oaxaca, where my mom's family's from. After the earthquake struck, my dad and my family quickly began to mobilize resources to bring relief to the people in these communities in Oaxaca who had lost everything. After just a few weeks of doing this work, my dad started feeling called by God to not just meet people's physical needs, but to prioritize meeting their spiritual needs by planting a church in the city. So you could imagine the weight that my dad was feeling, the weight of seeing people all around us hurting and in desperate need. And now on top of that, the the added layer of now having to plant a church. And my dad knew that he couldn't do this alone, so he started searching for support and came across Life.Church 's free resources. We launched the church. And believe me when I say we used everything that this church had to offer every single week since day one. My dad translating Pastor Craig's sermon notes into Spanish every week and preaching off of those to the team and I translating and rerecording the kids' curriculums available on Open Network to using YouVersion Bible plans as our small group's curriculum. We used everything that Life.Church had to offer every single week. Now around that same time, I started asking myself, how can I better equip myself to serve the church? And after seeing everything that Life.Church was doing, I decided to apply for an internship here. Fast forward a few months later, I got the internship and my dad came to drop me off in Oklahoma. And when he was here, he got the chance to meet the Open Network team. And I will never forget how as soon as he stepped into that Open Network office, tears started filling his eyes and he looked at the team and said, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be in ministry anymore. Or in other words, because of you, I'm still in ministry today. See, I had never seen my dad so vulnerable. And I also hadn't fully comprehended all that Life.Church had done for us until that moment. At that moment, I realized a huge weight that had been lifted off of my dad's shoulders because of you. And I realized that as my family and I were trying to do everything we could to bring relief to meet people's physical and spiritual needs, at that same time, God was actually bringing relief to us through you. God brought relief, God brought encouragement, God brought people closer to him, and God did more than anything we could have asked for or imagined in it's by his power working in you. - So if you are here today, and if you're wondering if what you do matters or if what you give matters, let me remind you that this story is one of thousands of stories. There's hundreds of thousands of pastors all across the world who today get to do their ministry that they're called for because of you. And because of that, there's millions of people all BecauseofYou_2023_Transcript 6 across the world who today get to attend a church where they feel seen, known, loved, and cared for. Because of you they're able to find relief through a local church. - So on behalf of my family and on behalf of the church in Mexico, thank you for not just preaching about irrational generosity, but for actually living it out. The thing I realized today is that as we were doing everything we could to bring relief to the people in Oaxaca, you were actually standing right beside us, bringing relief to us, and therefore bringing relief to the community. So thank you for being irrationally generous. - And thank you. Thank you for being you, love you so much. So I pray that you can see it and that you can feel it, that what you do really matters. And when it sinks in, it's very humbling and sobering to recognize as a church of 44 different locations and globally touching every country in the world through church online and spreading the word to the YouVersion Bible app and resourcing churches all over the world, that we are big enough to impact the world. And we are small enough to care for the one. Alex, you are absolutely welcome and you are loved. And the good news is we're just getting started. Like it's a new year with new chances, new people to love, new people to come to faith, new resources to give, new churches to bless, new languages, to translate God's Word into. - And every now and then some people say, isn't the church getting too big? Like no, never. Never. As long as there's one person without Christ, as long as there's one person in need, as long as there's one church that we can serve, as long as there's one language that doesn't yet have the word of God in, we will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever stop lifting up the name that is above every name. His name is Jesus. And that is why we're here. We'll never stop. We wholeheartedly reject the label Mega Church. We're just a micro church, a little startup organization with a big world that needs the good news of Jesus who loves them. No one could say thank you better than one 14- year-old girl I wanna tell you about. I'm gonna call her Ava, it's not her real name, but I wanna respect her situation because her parents do not support her newfound faith. They agreed to drop her off, but wouldn't go in the weekend that she decided to get baptized. And so 14 years old, she sat alone in a room full of adults who were being baptized in the pre baptism meeting and a husband and a wife stood up and told their story and they were crying and said, we feel so bad. We raised our children. It was during the Parenting on Purpose series, we raised our children, but we were not a Christ- centered family. And we feel so inadequate. And now we want to be a Christ-centered family to our grandchildren. And we're so sorry that we failed. And little Ava stood up in front of a room full of adults and said, no, no, no, no, no. She started crying. She said, you need to hear this. She said, you are my family and you are my spiritual support. You're my example. She said, "I don't have anybody at home. I don't know anybody around that loves Jesus, but you are my spiritual family." And everyone in that room cried because they realized that who they are, what they do, matters. And then she went on a rant. She said, thank you for serving in Life Kids and thank you for serving in Switch and thank you for serving on the host team. And I want to say that to you because of what you do, because you serve and because you pray and because you give and because you invite people who would never feel welcome at most churches, our God is changing lives. And I'm gonna say this, not in a way for you to clap, I'm just gonna say it and let it sink in that because of you this year, and I want just to sink in because of you this year, there are over 43,000 people who have said no to their sins and said yes to becoming followers of Jesus. And I want that just to sink in without you clapping. 43,000 people like Ava. And we get to be a part of that. And how did that happen? BecauseofYou_2023_Transcript 7 Because of God's work through you. 43,000. That's twice the size of my town I grew up in. And every one of those has a name. And every name has a story. And every story matters to God. And so I wanna give God the glory and the honor and the praise because he is worthy. And I want you to feel the gratitude. Because of you, God is changing lives all over the world. So Father, thank you that we get to do our small part and together it adds up to one significant ministry. I pray, God, that your church, your people, these people, they would feel blessed today that they're making a difference. As you're praying without looking around, I would just ask as we move into a new year, I wonder how many of you think that there's even more in you. There's more ways you can give. There's more people you can serve. There's more prayers you can pray. There's more people you can invite. With nobody looking around today. I wonder how many of you say you know there's more in you. Would you lift up your hands right now? Lift 'em up high, lift 'em up high. Lift 'em up high. Online you can type, there's more in me. God, I pray that the power of your Holy Spirit would stir up within your church God. That as we launch into a new year, that we would lift the name of Jesus higher, that we would give you praise and all that we do. God, that you would push back all the forces of darkness and that you would draw people to know your son Jesus. God, we pray for miracles. We pray for healings. We pray for provision. We pray for restoration. We pray for salvation. We pray for more of your spirit. God, we pray for more of who you are and what you can do. God prompt us. God, if it's to serve, show us where to serve. If it's to give, God, may this be our most generous year ever. If it's prayers to pray or worship to give, God, let us give freely to you. And God, if it's someone who doesn't know the grace of your Son, Jesus, prompt us, God. Give us the words to say, the heart to care, to invite them to know you. Invite them to church. Invite them to experience the grace of Jesus. God, do more exceedingly and abundantly, more God than all we can ask, think or imagine. According to your power, God, that has worked within your people, that you would be glorified in your church. As you keep praying today, guess what? There's more of you that are about to have your life changed. In fact, wherever you're watching from today, some of you right now, as you move into a new year, you recognize there needs to be something different in your life. And guess what? It's time for a lion in the sand. As we move into a new year, what better time to move into a new relationship to say, I'm no longer gonna live for the things of this world. I'm not gonna live for myself. I'm not gonna be caught in the old trappings of sin. But today, by faith, I give my life to Jesus. What does this mean? Who is Jesus? Well, he is the Son of God. And God loves you so much that he became one of you in the person of his son. Jesus who was without sin, died on a cross for the forgiveness of our sins. But he didn't stay dead. God raised him from the dead so that anyone, and this includes you, it doesn't matter what you've done, it doesn't matter where you've been. It doesn't matter how dark your life is. Anyone who calls on the name of Jesus, God, here's your prayers and forgives all of your sins. It makes you brand new today as you launch into a new year. It's time for a new faith and a new beginning. The old is gone and the new is coming. If you need his grace, if you need his forgiveness, if you're stepping away from your sin and stepping toward Jesus today, I need Jesus. I give my life to him. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now all over the church. Lift them up and say, yes, we praise God for you. Hands going up all over. Thank God for every single one of you, say yes to Jesus online. Type it in the comments section. I am surrendering my life to Jesus. Just type that I'm surrendering my life to Jesus. And today, step into new life and prayer. Let's all pray together. Pray, heavenly Father, forgive me for all of my sins. I step into your grace, your love, your forgiveness through Jesus. Jesus saved me. Change me. Fill me with your spirit so I could know you. My life is no longer my own. I give it all to you, my past, my present, and my future. I give it to you. Thank you for new life. You have all of mine. In Jesus' BecauseofYou_2023_Transcript 8 name, I pray somebody give God praise right now. Welcome those born into the family of God.

Grief hits different people different ways. One of the worst things about grief for me besides the intensity of missing my loved one is dealing with all the business end of death. For example, when someone dies like my brother did last fall, I had to call Social Security, to alert them that he had died because they were sending him a monthly check. I didn’t want them to deposit money into his bank account that they would later need to take back out. If I didn’t report my brother’s death to Social Security they could come after me and prosecute me for fraud. So, this was one example of something I needed to do after he died. I find the paperwork of death exhausting. I have many gifts, but I am not very good at administrative stuff. And, my brother didn’t make it easy. He didn’t write a will or appoint anyone as his power of attorney. He never had any children, was recently divorced, and he died in Mexico, so his death certificate is in Spanish. Settling his estate has been frustrating, but at times it has also risen to comic proportions. My brother Dwight owned 2 acres of land south of Deming, New Mexico and north of the Mexican border. He had dreamed of building an off the grid home there, but never did. My son suggested that before we try putting this land in my name, we should see a copy of the deed. So, he wrote a nice letter to the Luna County clerk’s office for me and told me to write a check for $1.50 and include a self-addressed stamped envelope in with the letter, so we can see a copy of the deed. How hard can this be? I didn’t even have to write the letter. So, at ten o’clock in the morning I mail the letter and at two o’clock in the afternoon I run into my office for something and I see the letter explaining what I needed them to do still sitting on my desk. Frantically I mail the letter alone and embarrassed I call the Luna County clerk’s office to tell them they would be receiving two pieces of mail from me. A copy of the deed finally arrives and thankfully there was not an issue with it. My next step is to mail three pages of documents to my living brother Rudy, so I can begin filing probate in New Mexico on my brother’s estate. A week goes by and the documents return to my mailbox because I mailed them with insufficient postage. Seriously, I am laughing by now. This debacle is proof I don’t have the gift of administration. On Monday morning I go to one of those mail centers to make sure I have the proper postage, I include a self-addressed stamped envelope, so everything can easily be mailed back to me. And, then two days later before Rudy can receive the paperwork, he ends up going to the hospital. And of, course this ignites all my fears that I am going to lose another person I love. As I try to explain my ineptitude saga in the form of a prayer request, my friend Trudy quickly realizes I am taking myself way too seriously. So, she said, “Well, when this is all said and done, I am going to start calling you The Baroness, since you are going to be a landowner,” which makes us both giggle. After I leave my lunch date with Trudy, her humor reminds me that in the Sound of Music, the Baroness was named Baroness Von Shrader. My last name is Shrader. Alone in the car I am giggling all over again, and if anyone had been there, I couldn’t have explained what was so funny. When I finally have the opportunity to share Trudy’s joke with my Bible study, they all think it is hilarious. While we are still laughing, I make a really silly suggestion to my ladies. “Well, now that we have free land, we could start that Baptist convent I have always wanted to join.” A couple of days later with a straight face my friend Yvette says to me, “Jan I have been meaning to ask you, if we are starting a Baptist convent can we now call you Mother Superior? And, I say, “Yes or the Baroness.” She and I erupt in more giggles. From all this lighthearted teasing I am reminded of how precious my family and my friends are to me and how blessed I am to share life with them. They truly do divide my pain and multiply my joy. I find it helpful when I am struggling to remember that I am just a pilgrim in this world, to visit with my friends and family. They remind me of God’s goodness and their encouragement gives me the emotional and spiritual resiliency that I need. When we see ourselves as pilgrims traveling to that heavenly city, we will experience life in community. In the Old Testament three times a year the men of Israel were required to make special trips to Jerusalem for three important feasts: the feast of the Tabernacles which was in the fall, and in the spring the feast of Passover and then five weeks later in the spring the feast of Pentecost. Women could join the men on these journeys, but because of family obligations there were not required to by Jewish law. For protection the men from a village would often choose to travel together because there were bandits on the road, and because it was easier to share the cooking and packing responsibilities. These joint endeavors became known as pilgrimages and those who journeyed together were more successful than those who traveled alone. They even wrote songs that they would sing as they ascended the hill to Jerusalem. Psalm 120 to Psalm 134 are the 15 songs they would sing as they climbed the Judean hills that surround Jerusalem. Going on a spiritual pilgrimage was a communal effort. In the book of Hebrews, the writer borrows the Old Testament imagery of pilgrims traveling to explain how we should view our time on earth. Look at Hebrews 11:8-12 . 8) By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. 9) By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. 10) For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11) By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. 12) Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came, offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore. CSB When we see ourselves as pilgrims traveling to that heavenly city, we will exercise our faith.  When Abraham heard God’s invitation, he had a choice to make of whether he would believe God or whether he would stay where he was. When we exercise our faith, like Abraham we will leave our comfort zone. We leave our past behind and adventure on with God. We will travel to a new place, and eventually at the end of our life we will come to a city where God is not only the architect, but also the builder. In Hebrews 11:10 we learn that the architect of heaven is God. I love visiting unique architecture. I love looking at old and antique buildings. I like to imagine the people who used to live there, but I have never seen architecture that will compare to the architecture of heaven. In Hebrews 11 we learn when our lives on earth end, we are moving to a heavenly city. A city where God uses things that are extremely precious on earth, but in heaven they are ordinary building material. For example, the streets in heaven are paved with gold, this is how common gold is in heaven. This is hard for us to imagine because we have seen asphalt streets, and even cobblestone streets, but we have never seen gold used as a paving material. The Bible also talks about the different gem stones we know to be precious on earth but in heaven they are foundation stones. For example I think sapphires are so pretty, it is one of my favorite stones. But, I can’t envision a city where sapphires are so common and large they are used as foundation stones. And, each gate of the 12 entrances into heaven are made of one gigantic pearl. Nothing on earth has prepared us for the beauty that we will experience in that heavenly city. ( Rev. 21:10-21 ) Dreaming about heaven will help us to put our present sufferings in perspective. When we realize God is working for all eternity our current trials will make more sense and give us a new outlook. Slowly, we will find we can work with God and not against his purposes. When we see ourselves as pilgrims traveling to that heavenly city, we will recognize our time in this world as only temporary. The actual time we have to make a difference for Jesus on earth is really very short. Now let’s continue looking at Hebrews 11:13-16 . 13) These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. 14) Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15) If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. 16) But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. CSB Like Abraham many of us will only see our prayers answered from the balcony of heaven. That is what the writer is talking about. Can you imagine how much Abraham enjoyed watching his descendants take possession of the promise land? Some scholars believe the Israelites who moved in to conquered Canaan had grown to over two million people by the time Abraham got to see them march in. He wasn’t there in person, but he got to see it from heaven. When we pray God gets to answer our prayers any way he wants. The important thing to remember is that even if we have to witness our prayers being answered from afar God is on the move and using our prayers for his glory. When we see ourselves as pilgrims traveling to that heavenly city, we will experience life in community, we will exercise our faith, and we will recognize our time in this world as only temporary. I bought this echinopsis cactus as an anniversary gift for myself on my first anniversary after my husband died. If Gary was alive he would have thought it was a great gift for me because he knew of my love for desert gardening. It was about the size of a quarter when it arrived in the mail, covered in bubble wrap. I made this purchase online while I was stuck doing one of those business chores that come with death. I was waiting on hold for someone from Social Security to answer my call for five and half hours because of Covid. I was trying to let them know my husband was gone. On one of the worst days in my life God was about to do something precious. I hadn’t anticipated my wait time on the phone would be that long. I got bored listening to their music, so I started looking at cactus online. I had never ordered a cactus on the internet, but it was my anniversary, so why not. This plant is living proof that God brings beauty from ashes. The color is named Antimatter. Isn’t that a perfect name? Three summers later this cactus has grown to be a showstopper. I love it and its prolific flowers are a constant reminder that God sees me and knows my true desires and needs. Even if, God doesn’t give us what we want, we need to remember he is still loving us. He is still working all things for our good. When my time on earth is done, I know I will be surprised at how little time I was actually separated from my loved ones. Life truly is short, but eternity is long. God is not finished in me and he is not finished with me. When we choose Jesus’ ways no matter what our circumstances are, we will find our pilgrimage to heaven will be worth it.