I talk about something fun and mentally challenging you can do with your children this summer: letter writing! This is part of my summer series on brain-building activities you can do with your children to help them build up their mental resilience and manage their mental health while having fun. These days, it’s so much easier and faster to send a text message, email or e-card than it is to sit down and actually write on a card or craft a letter. However, there are several downsides to more modern forms of communication. It is often easy to misinterpret what is being said—the tone and intent often gets lost in a text or email; it can feel impersonal and can create false expectations regarding response times. These forms of communicating can lead to a potential erosion of writing and language skills, especially with features like spelling and grammar auto-correct, which can be particularly challenging for children. We can quickly lose the amazing brain-building benefits of taking the time to think deeply about what we are trying to say and why, which is an important part of brain development. However, sending a written card or letter shows someone that you have taken the time to craft something special just for them—it shows you care on a deeper level, helping build a more meaningful connection. This is true for both adults and children, and it is a great way to improve our relationships and wellbeing. Not only is it like receiving a special, thoughtful gift, it’s also easier to understand the writer’s intentions, and it helps us practice and maintain our handwriting and language skills. Letter or card writing is also a great way to redirect energy from toxic stress, and is a great way to let off steam, remind ourselves what we have to be grateful for in the moment, and help us sort out our thoughts and emotions when dealing with a relationship issue. The effort it takes to think about what you want to write as well as the act of communicating how you feel is a healthy challenge, helping your brain and body respond in a more positive way. For example, it can increase your heart rate and blood flow as well as oxygenate your blood so that you are more prepared to do what needs to be done. (This is the opposite of what happens when you’re threatened  or in a state of toxic stress, as I spoke about in a recent  podcast . ) As you face a healthy challenge like letter-writing, your adrenal gland gives you a shot of cortisol to increase your energy in the moment, but then your brain quickly shuts off cortisol secretion when the challenge is over. This is a robust, healthy kind of stress, similar to the kind you may have when you exercise. For children, brain-building (or “thinking things out”) through letter-writing helps them learn how to make more accurate decisions and focus on a task. It is also associated with better brain aging and a reduced risk of developing dementia later on in life for people of all ages. Here are some ideas for types of letters you can write with your children: Encourage your child to write a letter or card to their friend or loved one telling them about something that they just learned at school or are interested in. Explain to them that during the 18th and 19th centuries, letters were used to self-educate. The main purposes of letters were to send information, news and greetings—learning about this while writing a letter is a fun way to teach them about history. Teach your child to practice critical reading skills through letter-writing. Encourage your child to read about something and then write about it (and if they are younger, you can help them read something and write the letter with them). You can create a group amongst your friends to exchange these letters and encourage your children to communicate with others about what they are reading and learning. Help your child to make a habit of writing cards to people they love and appreciate, especially elderly relatives or friends. The older generation really loves to receive letters and cards, even a picture decorated on the cover! Encourage your child to write a letter or card as a form of self-expressive writing. This will help them get to know themselves better and what they do and do not like, which is a great identity-building exercise. www.drleaf.com .

Sex as God intended—in marriage, between a man and a woman—is a pleasure to be celebrated (see  Proverbs 5:15-19 ). Sex outside of marriage brings serious negative consequences—emotional, physical, and spiritual. Promising long-term pleasure it can’t deliver, addiction to sex and pornography enslave and degrade everyone involved. “[The adulterer] follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter. . . . He does not know that it will cost him his life” ( Proverbs 7:22-23 ). Research data from 16,000 American adults who were asked confidentially how many sex partners they’d had in the preceding year proved the same point made in the book of Proverbs: “Across men and women alike, the data show that the optimal number of partners is one.” [1] Other research similarly revealed that “people with more sexual partners are less happy.” [2] Satan would like us to believe that people who have sex outside marriage are happier, but that’s a lie. Sin Does Not Lead to Lasting Happiness The unhappiest-looking person I’ve ever seen—face drawn and haggard, eyes vacant—was holding a sign that said, “Gay and happy about it.” I’m not suggesting, of course, that homosexuals can never be happy. God’s common grace offers some happiness to all. But  Romans 1:27  speaks of those making these choices as “receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” Romans lists many other sins God hates, yet that one is singled out as particularly self-punishing. I’ve had long, honest talks with those living the “gay lifestyle” who are decidedly miserable—just like many heterosexuals who have idols of their own. Teenagers and single adults often face heavy pressure to pretend they’re having a great time sleeping around, when privately they’re filled with self-loathing and disillusionment, because reality never lives up to the promises. Likewise, there’s pressure on gay people to project an image of fulfillment. Some people—both heterosexuals and homosexuals—go out of their way to publicly celebrate their promiscuous behavior, all while trying to ignore the emptiness and pain. With the Satan-scripted obligatory claim, “[Fill in sin] makes me happy,” they offer false advertising for the father of lies, who relishes their self-destruction. Little Idols vs. Infinite God There’s a tragic irony in the positive term  gay . No matter how happy  gay  may sound, these are the facts about the suicide rate among homosexuals: The risk of suicide among gay and lesbian youth is fourteen times higher than for heterosexual youth. Between 30 and 45 percent of transgendered people report having attempted suicide. I didn’t get these statistics from religious conservatives, but from a secular website sympathetic to gay and lesbian issues. [3] A study that analyzed twenty-five earlier studies regarding sexual orientation and mental health showed that “homosexuals and bisexuals are about 50% more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to suffer from depression and abuse drugs.” [4] For many years, it was widely assumed that this much higher level of unhappiness was due to humiliation over others’ disapproval. Though society has become much more accepting of the LGBQT lifestyle, unhappiness persists even among those surrounded by affirmation. Being gay or transgender may be celebrated in our culture, but that doesn’t change its nature or eliminate the harm to those engaging in such a lifestyle. Jackie Hill Perry, author of  Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been , writes: All of the dead things I loved—the things I said, thought, did, talked about, watched, walked in, listened to, promoted, and went to bed with—had a measure of satisfaction in them, but they were never enough. I was made for an infinite God, so how could some little idol make me whole or happy? Likewise, countless heterosexuals’ lives have been destroyed by believing the false promise of happiness in an affair. I know many people who’ve had affairs and have spent the rest of their lives regretting it. Radical Steps Required, Great Joy Promised The god of lust dominates countless lives in our culture. Jesus said, “I tell you that any one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” ( Matthew 5:28, NIV ). Then He added, “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you. . . . If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you” ( Matthew 5:29-30, NASB ). How decisively do we deal with the idol of lust? To find true happiness, radical steps are required to dethrone it and put God in His proper place. Christopher Yuan puts it simply in his book  Holy Sexuality and the Gospel : “Our biggest problem is our sin nature, and victory is found only in Christ Jesus.” This radical solution starts with salvation in Christ, which transforms our nature and dramatically affects our capacity to embrace greater happiness in God. Our justification by faith in Christ satisfies the demands of God’s holiness by exchanging our sins for Christ’s righteousness (see  Romans 3:21-26 ). In  Future Grace , John Piper writes that we “must fight fire with fire. The fire of lust’s pleasures must be fought with the fire of God’s pleasures. . . . We must fight it with a massive promise of superior happiness. We must swallow up the little flicker of lust’s pleasure in the conflagration of holy satisfaction.” Once believers are born again, sin is still present in our lives (see  Romans 6:11-14 ;  1 John 1:8–2:2 ), but we have supernatural power to overcome it since we’ve died to sin (see  Romans 6:6-9 ). God’s Holy Spirit indwells us and helps us obey Him and embrace the deeper happiness  (see  2 Timothy 1:14 ). The result? We’re free to reject sin and its misery, and embrace righteousness, with its true and lasting happiness. Beckett Cook, who lived for years as a gay man in Hollywood but later had a radical encounter with Jesus Christ,  writes : Surrendering my sexuality hasn’t been easy. I still struggle with vestiges of same-sex attraction, but denying myself, taking up my cross, and following Jesus is an honor. Any struggles I experience pale in comparison to the joy of a personal relationship with the one who created me and gives my life meaning. My identity is no longer in my sexuality; it’s in Jesus. Sam Allberry has spent a lifetime wrestling with homosexual temptation.  He writes : “Whatever we give up Jesus replaces, in godly kind and greater measure. No one who leaves will fail to receive, and the returns are extraordinary—a hundredfold. What we give up for Jesus does not compare to what he gives back. If the costs are great, the rewards are even greater, even in this life.” One day God’s children will look back on this life with complete clarity. When we do, I believe we’ll see that our only true sacrifices were when we chose sin instead of Jesus. The “sacrifice” of following Jesus produces the greatest, most lasting happiness—both here and now, and forever.

Can you imagine what could happen if we gave control of our life to God? It’s scary, but the benefits are world-altering. The story of Elisha challenges your congregation to answer God’s calling and take the risks that are necessary to do His will. “Elisha: A Tale of Ridiculous Faith” would work well at a retreat or as part of a mission emphasis. It’s time we start taking risks and making decisions the world doesn’t understand. Come see what life can look like when we let go…when we decide to have Ridiculous Faith. "Elisha", Week 1 Pastor Craig Groeschel INTRO VIDEO: The leader sent the great messenger, Elijah, to anoint a prophet to follow him. God chose someone odd. Elijah found Elisha, a nobody, plowing his father's field. And what was Elijah's response? He burned his plow and left everything to follow God. Elisha, a tale of ridiculous faith. PASTOR CRAIG GROESCHEL: Hey, welcome today to all of you at all of our LIFE Churches and those of you in our extended network family. We are also very thankful for those of you joining us everywhere at church online. Today, we are starting a four-week message series on the life of the old testament prophet named Elisha. We've subtitled it: A Tale of Ridiculous Faith. And I want to say, very sincerely, that I believe, for many of you, the next four weeks will be a defining moment in your relationship with God. I have one goal and one purpose only, and that is to allow the teaching of God's word to build your faith, to give you a ridiculous amount of faith. Now, if you're a little bit old school, "ridiculous" is actually good, in this sense. Right? How many of you notice that there are a lot of words that have opposite meanings? They mean what they mean, and they mean the opposite. Have you noticed that? "Bad" used to mean bad. Now "bad" can mean good. If it's like "bad," it's good. If it's "bad", it's not good. "Sick" is the same thing. Right? Sick is like "sick, like you threw up on me," that's sick. Or if it's really cool, it's "sick." "Sick" is "sick." "Sick" is cool. sorry, this is how my mind works -- ridiculous is the same way. Ridiculous just used to mean outlandish in a bad way. But now if the cake is really good, what is it? The cake is like ridiculous. What I want to do is look at the life of Elisha and I believe God is going to build ridiculous in the good sort of way in our lives. Let me give you a little bit of context for you. If you've got your mobile devices, you can click on"Live Events" and you can follow along with the scriptures there, or turn in your bibles to 1st King, chapter 19. Let's talk about who he was, then we'll look at our text, then I'll tell you where we're going in this series, then we'll dive in. There was a guy by the name of Elijah. Some people get Elisha confused with Elijah. Elijah was one of the great prophets of the old testament, bold, daring, full of faith. Elisha wanted to be like Elijah and he was bold enough, ridiculous enough, ask for a double portion of Elijah's anointing. And God, in his sovereign will, gave Elisha, who studied under Elijah, a double portion of this anointing. And Elisha actually performed more recorded miracles in scripture than anyone, with the exception of Jesus. What's interesting about this guy is he was very ordinary. He wasn't the son of a priest, he wasn't a monk, he wasn't like some sort of outward spiritual giant. He was an ordinary guy who was living at home with his parents, working on a farm when God called him to do something incredible. The context is he lived during the 9th century B.C. in a time when Israel was divided.....great tension. Many people were worshiping the false god of Baal and God raised up this ordinary guy, did something extraordinary through his life. 1st Kings, chapter 9, verses 19 through 21. These are the verses we'll study today. Let's read those and then we'll break them down verse by verse. Verse 19 says this: "So Elijah, this is the older one, Elijah went from there and found Elisha, son of Shaphat. He was plowing with 12 yolk of oxen and he himself was driving the 12th pair." "Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye," he said, "and then I will come with you." "Go back," Elijah replied, "what have I done to you?" So Elisha left him and went back, he took his yolk of oxen -- this is crazy -- and he slaughtered them. It gets even more ridiculous. He burned the plow and equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people and they ate it. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant. Somebody say, "That is the beginning of a ridiculous story." [Audience says it.] That's ridiculous, the way you said that, but I'll work with you. All right. Okay, so let me tell you where we're going in this series. Next week, we're going to see something that really speaks to me. So many of us, because our faith is small, we're not willing to dream big. At the same time we're not willing to dream big, so many aren't willing to start small. We're going to look at a story where Elisha asks some people to dig some ditches in a valley long before there's any sign of water. God is going to expand your faith to think big, and at the same time, I believe you'll be willing to start small. In the third week, we're going to look at a widow who was desperate. Any of you who are going through difficult times right now and you wonder, "How am I going to make it?" This poor lady was about to lose her two sons and all she had to her name was a little jar of oil. All she could see was what she didn't have and God, through the prophet, Elijah, is going to show her that she had everything that she needed to do everything God wanted her to do. This will build your faith. And the fourth week, we're going to see a crazy miracle. For those of you, who at one time were more passionate about the things of God, you were more on fire and closer to God but you lost your spiritual edge, we're going to look at a miracle where an axehead fell into a body of water, the prophet through a stick, and the axehead floated again. We'll look at that and apply it symbolically to our lives and I believe God is going to help you get your spiritual edge back. Today, I want to show you a ridiculous commitment of faith from the prophet Elisha, and we'll look at these verses again, and then we'll break them down and apply them to our lives specifically. Let's look at verse 19 again, the middle of the verse where it tells us what he was doing. Scripture says that Elisha was plowing with 12 yolk of oxen and he, himself, was driving the 12th pair. What we'll notice is he was doing the same job he had been doing for a long time. He was working on his parents' farm, and he was driving the yoke of oxen. Now, I've got a good friend -- if you've been here a while, you've heard him preach, Pastor Steven Furtick is the pastor of one of America's greatest churches, Elevation Church -- and he wrote a book called "Greater" on the life of Elisha. If you haven't read that book, I totally recommend this book. I am bias because I love the Furtick family like my own, but it's really a faith building book. And in it, he points out something I never thought about. And that is, the monotony of what it would be like to plow behind a yolk of oxen every single day. Think about this. What do you smell? Something that's sick, and not in the good kind of way. Right? You smell oxen residue. What do you see? What is your scenery everyday if you're behind a plow? You're walking behind oxen. What is your scenery? Oxen rears. Don't say anything bad. Oxen rears. Oxen tails. Oxen behinds. In case you're having a hard time visualizing this, I gave you something to help you see. [shows video of oxen facing away from camera} That is your scenery and that is not cool every single day. Now, some of you may feel a little bit like Elisha. You're not looking at oxen rears, but you're doing the same thing day in, day out. And it gets really really monotonous. You're going to the same job, working with the same people and you're like, "I feel like I'm staring at oxen rears." Do not call your coworkers "oxen rears." That is not what I'm saying. But that's the way you feel. Some of you, you may be in sales and it's just day in, day out. You make your quota and it starts over again and you make your quota and it starts over again. You're like, "This is so monotonous. All I ever do is try to live up to some standard and then it starts over again." Some of you, you might be students and you think, "What do I do? I study and I work to pay the bills. I study some more and I work to pay the bills. I study and I work." Oxen rears everywhere. Those of you that are parents, what do you see all day long? Diaper, laundry and dishes, diaper, laundry and dishes. And you start to think, "It's incredibly easy to lose your passion when all you see is oxen rears." Right? All day long. And this is where Elisha was. But I want you to notice he was being faithful in the task at hand. And I believe with all my heart that God loves to reward those who are faithful in the little things. When you're faithful with a little, he can trust you with much. And Elisha, even though it might not have been the favorite thing to do, even though it could have been incredibly draining physically, emotionally, he was faithful. And in the middle of his faithful daily routine, God sent something new to take him from where he was into a ridiculous place of impact. Verse 19, the end of the verse says this -- "Elisha" -- this was a great man of God that Elisha would have looked up to at the time -- "Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him." Now, what in the world does that mean? Well, his cloak would have been kind of like a coat made of animal skin or fur. This was his covering. And what Elijah did was he took his covering, and he put it on Elisha and basically, symbolically saying, "that which covered me will now cover you. That which was the mantle on me, will now be the mantle on you. That which I was under, now you will be under. You will be my student; I will be your mentor. As God has been working through me, now God is going to work through you." And he put his mantle, or he put his covering over Elisha. Now, I want to apply this story to your life and show you two principals of ridiculous commitment and watch how the ordinary man responds to this extraordinary call. Two principals if you're taking notes. The first one is this: God is going to call him to follow Elijah and he's not going to know all the details. Number one, if you're taking notes, write this down: You don't have to understand fully to obey immediately. When God calls you to do something, you don't have to understand all the details to obey immediately. You don't have to understand fully to obey immediately. Verse 20, here's what happens. First Elijah puts the cloak around him, then in verse 20, Elisha then – what did he do -- the bible says he left his oxen and then what did he do? The bible says then he ran after Elisha. He simply said, "Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye and then I will come with you." Notice this: He didn't have to pray about it. Oh, did a pastor just say that? He didn't have to do a list of pros and cons. "Here's the reasons why and I should;" "here's the reasons why I shouldn't." He didn't have to consult his counselor. All he did was said, "God, I believe you're in on this." I don't know the details but since I believe you're in on this, I will obey immediately. You don't have to understand fully to obey immediately. Now, if I can take a quick rabbit trail down a leadership thought, I want to give this to you because this could apply to some of your life as leaders. People ask me all the time "Craig, what's your five-year plan for the church?" And I love strategic planning. I think it's wise to think ahead but my answer has changed. In the past, I used to always have a five-year plan but what I noticed is the world is changing so rapidly, so quickly there is no way for me to project ahead five years all the divine opportunities God is going to send our way. So I have totally and completely stopped making five-year plans. I honestly don't plan more than 18 months out in advance for the church. Instead of planning for the future, what I do is I plan to respond in the present. I want to be immediately able to respond to the voice of God, to opportunities that I am not smart enough to predict. Therefore, as a staff, we always want to have financial margin to seize opportunities that we did not plan for. I want to have margin in our leadership and margin in our times, and margin in our family so we can jump on divine opportunities that we are not smart enough to predict. I don't know how this would speak to you but I believe with all my heart if you will get in a posture of spiritual readiness, you can't plan what God might do a year from now, but if you're ready, you can obey immediately even if you do not understand fully. That's some good teaching if anybody needs to get into it, you can anytime you want to. I wanted to be ready to say "yes" immediately. And here's the way God will lead you. God will rarely give you details. I believe God is often strategically vague in his directions. You want details, and I believe God would look at you often and say, "You can't handle the details. If I showed you everything, you wouldn't show up. I'm just showing you the next step." God often will guide even with just one word. I love the power of this. Just one word sometimes is all God will give, and that needs to be enough to go on. In the Old Testament, whenever God was giving Moses direction, you could summarize the directions in one word. "Moses, go." "Go." "Abraham, go." "Go." "Go to the land I will show you." Peter, in the New Testament, Jesus was walking up on water. Peter was like, "Hey, that's ridiculous. The dude's walking on water. Jesus, if that's you, tell me to come." And Jesus gave him one word. What was the word? He said "come." One word. One word. I don't know the details, but you follow; one word, "come." Some of you, you may hear one word from God; I don't know what it will be, but in your marriage, maybe you're struggling right now and you're thinking about cashing it in, and you hear one word and that one word is "stay." And you don't have to understand completely to obey immediately. You stay. Some of you, you might have a health situation and it doesn't look good, or maybe it's for someone you love, and God gives you one word and it's "trust," and you hang on that word and you obey. Some of you, you've got an idea, some business idea or a ministry idea or a book idea and you're like, "how" and "when" and "how are we going to pay for it", and "I don't understand." And God gives you one word and that word is "start." You don't have to understand immediately. Some of you, you've been hanging around the church for a while and you're kind of starting to grow with God but you're still observing. And God may give you one word, "commit." Commit. Don't just watch what God is doing, get involved, commit. Some of you may be praying about the future of your family and you hear the word "adopt" or "foster". You're like "wait, wait, what age and from where, domestic or international? Boy, girl? I don't understand." You don't have to understand everything to take the next step. There may be a great single girl right now and you know you're dating a jerk, loser, punk. Everybody knows it and God may give you one word and when he does, you obey. What is God's one word? "Break up with the jerk." Five words but maybe you need to hear five instead of one because you are too special to settle for a fixer upper punk like that. Break up. Well, who am I going to marry? What if nobody else better comes along? You can't marry a cherry limeade when you're drinking a slush. I don't even know what that means but it might mean something to you. You don't have to understand everything to do what God tells you to do. Right? When I just met Amy, I was 22 years of age, graduating from college and I was blessed to have two job offers. One was in Houston in management, in kind of the field that I'd always wanted to be and the other one was kind of an embarrassing job that was where I lived in Oklahoma City. And one of my life goals was get out of Oklahoma City. I didn't have a love for the city like I do now. And I just met Amy and I was praying, "God, what do I do? What do I do? Good job, good salary, bad job, bad salary, good city," all this stuff. And I heard one word. One word. And that word was "stay." And I was like, "But what about, what about, what about?" "Stay." And on that one word, I stayed, and it's incredibly emotional for me to think about number one, what God did through that one-week relationship; I just met Amy and then he multiplied us into a family of eight. Wow! That's what God does. And that one job led me to the church I went to where they helped me to get in ministry and helped me start. So everything I'm doing at this moment is the result of ridiculous obedience that made no sense whatsoever, on one word. Some of you, you're going to hear one word from God and you're going to be crazy enough, ridiculous enough to say, "I don't know all the details but I don't have to understand fully to obey immediately." Thought number one is: You don't have to understand fully to obey immediately. Thought number two, and I love this with all my heart: Those God uses the most are the ones that hold on to the least. This is going to speak to somebody; those that God uses the most are the ones who hold on to the least. Watch what Elisha does in verse 21. "So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yolk of oxen." Okay? These were the animals that brought about his livelihood. And what does the bible say he did with the oxen? The bible says he slaughtered them, he killed them, dead. Then what did he do with the plows? Scripture says he burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people and they ate. He made a bonfire out of the plowing equipment and cooked steak for his buddies. Then he set out to follow Elijah and he became his servant. That is ridiculous through and through. Okay? God is calling me to go and follow this prophet, become a prophet, become like him, maybe even become greater than him. So what do I do? I kill the cows and burn the plows. That's what I do. That's ridiculous. Now, you can kind of see "kill the cows" because symbolically, whenever God did something, people would make a sacrifice, like when the prodigal son came back, the father killed the fatted calves and said, "How do you like yours? Medium rare." You know, "Whatever, let's party." You can kind of see, but he goes and burns the plows. It's almost like he's saying, "I'm burning plan B. There is no plan B. There's only 'obey God.' There's only plan A." And I've just got to tell you, as a dad, if my kids come home with that plan, I'm kind of saying, "Hey, you know, I'm proud of your faith and everything and go serve God, but let's keep our options open." Right? I mean, that's honestly what I'm thinking. Let's use our minds here; there's no reason yet. You know, "Go follow God but keep the cows and plows because you never know when you might need to use them." But what you're going to see in scripture is there are often times when people are so moved by God that they do ridiculous things to follow him. Whenever Jesus encountered Peter for the first time in Luke, chapter 5, Peter was having a bad fishing day. And Jesus came up and said, "Throw your nets on the other side." Peter was like, "You don't know what you're talking about." Jesus said, "Just do it." And he did it and caught so many fish, the nets started breaking. He's like, "Woe, who are you? This is amazing; I am a sinful man. You're the Lord," all this stuff. And Jesus looked at him and said, "Hey, from now on, you don't have to just catch fish. Now you can fish for people. You can be a fisher of men." And scripture says something that is just as crazy as the "Burn the plows and kill the cows." The bible says that the disciples left everything. Okay? We can just read by that and not even think about it. You contextualize that to your life. Leave my job, you know, I trained for this; I got a major in college for this. You know, leave my comfort, leave my family, leave my neighborhood, leave my church. They left everything to follow him. There are some of you that God is going to speak to you at some time and give you a plow burning faith. And let me just say, and qualify, make sure God is speaking to you; you don't just go in and say, "I'm sick of my job," walk in and say, "I hate you all," and burn the building down. Okay? That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about when you know that you know that you know that God is calling you to leave where you are and go where he wants you to go. There are sometimes when you're so convinced that you just burn the bridge back, because you're not turning back because something has happened in you and you're never going to be the same. You can't go back because God is calling you forward. There are some of you, God is going to give you a plow-burning faith where deep within, you're willing to do whatever it takes to follow God to the next place. I'll give you some stories of people that I know that had plow-burning faith. I've got a friend whose dad was very successful in the fast food industry and so his dad generously went to pass that on to his son. The problem is his son didn't like the fast food business. But his dad said, "I can make you rich" and the dad would have been right. But my friend, all he wanted to do was teach junior high and coach boys' basketball. And so his dad gave him this business and he tried his best and he was successful but he was miserable because he wasn't called to make money, he felt called to invest in the next generation. And so he very respectfully went to his dad and said, "Dad, I love you. I honor you. You're one of my heroes but I can't do this anymore." And he, in a sense, burned the bridge and said, "I'm giving all this back," and he left a tremendously lucrative career to go and teach junior high and coach boys' basketball. And to this day, I don't know a happier married man and guy more fulfilled doing what he was called to do. He had to burn some plows to leave where he was so he could go to where God wanted him to go. I know a family that's really on fire for God, they're really strong Christians, but quite honestly, in the summer, something changes. They are so in love with the lake that we don't see them between early May and early September and they disappear completely every weekend, and it's all about the lake. And don't let anybody hear that I don't like the lake, I like the lake. If you have a lake house and want to take me once or twice a year, I will go with you. Okay? I like the lake. But it was so severe that this guy's nine-year-old daughter, one day said, "Daddy, why is it that we love God all year long but we don't love God in the summer?" And when he heard that, he realized what had happened. They loved God but their lives said something different, that God goes on hold. They didn't serve anybody in the summer, they didn't make a difference in the summer, they didn't worship in the summer. In the summer, it became all about their enjoyment. And when the dad realized this, he said, "I can't have that," and so he burned the plow. He sold the boat, sold the lake house, and this wouldn't be for everybody but this was for them. He said, "I'm not going to let something send an example to my-nine-year-old that God is not important to us all year long." I've got another guy who was struggling again and again, addicted to pornography. And he was able to overcome it for a while when he got his computers monitored, and then the mobile phones came out and he got his butt kicked every single day, and we tried to block things and block things and block things. And then, he'd find another way around and another way around and another way around, and he couldn't seem to get over when there was an open door anywhere, he'd go through that door and look at things that were hurtful to him and his faith. And so we talked about it, said, "What do you think we should do?" And he said, "Well, the only thing I can think of to do is get rid of this phone, but you've got to have this kind of phone." And I said, "Do you? Did people survive for like, you know, thousands of years without it?" And the lights came on. And so symbolically, he decided to get rid of his new iPhone and took it and went up to a high place and he crushed it, saying basically, "I'm burning this plow. I'm not going to let it take me down." And now he uses a little flip phone, a little stupid flip phone. He hates his flip phone but he loves his purity and I admire a guy who would say, "I'm not going to let something keep me from being the man that God wants me to be." I know a lady that lives in another part of the world who got saved, transformed, made new in Christ through church online, totally and completely born into the kingdom of God, her sins forgiven. She started serving at church online. The problem is all of her friends still did drugs and as hard as she tried to get away, she kept slipping back into the drug lifestyle, slipping back into the drug lifestyle. And so finally, she decided to burn the plow. She moved away, quit her job, moved to another city where there was a LIFE Church so she could make brand new friends, get into a Christian community because she said, "My faith in God is worth it," and she burned some plows to leave where she was to go where God wanted her to go. Would you look at the person sitting next to you and say, "Maybe you need to burn a plow." Go ahead and go right now. All of our churches, come one, all of our churches, just lean over. Now look at the other person on the other side who was your second choice, and tell them, "Maybe you need to burn a plow." I don't know what it would be in your life, but if there is anything keeping you from serving God, you're going to burn that plow. If there is sin holding you back, you burn that plow. If there is a doubt in your life, you burn that plow. If there is a relationship holding you back, somebody's going to burn that plow. You're not going to let anything keep you from following God because you don't have to understand fully to obey immediately. Those that God uses the most are those who hold on to the least. Some of you, you're like a little kid holding onto your blanky. "I got my blanky." I want you to know, I didn't have a blanky. I had a "Bobby the bear." And God is my witness, I took "Bobby the bear" to college with me. And I realized it was time to hide "Bobby the bear" under my bed if he was going to be in college with me. I didn't burn Bobby but I had to leave him behind. Some of you, you're holding onto something that keeps you secure. Never ever forget this: To step towards your destiny, you have to step away from your security. God is going to speak to somebody and give you the faith to believe that he's calling you to something new. Because, you may be looking at oxen rears today, but in your faithfulness, God may call you to do something even greater for his kingdom. You have to have the faith to go and you don't have to understand fully to obey immediately. Because those that God uses the most, are those who hold on to the least. "Father, we pray that you would build faith in this church, God, corporately and individually, that we would recognize it is impossible to please you without faith and we want to follow you and do what you are leading us to do." As you pray today at all of our network churches, all of our LIFE Churches, I'm going to ask you just a couple of questions. The first one I want you to think about really really seriously before you respond, and then I want to pray for you. I want to ask -- and think about this, don't just -- don't just respond; think about it. I wonder how many of you who are followers of Christ want so much for God to stretch your faith that you are willing to look ridiculous to leave things that you thought were important your whole life, to not let anything hold you back from living the perfect will of God for your life. All of our different churches, that's a big place to be and so think about it before you respond. But I wonder how many of you would say, "I don't want anything to hold me back. I want ridiculous faith to obey God. Even when it doesn't make sense, I will trust him." Would you lift up your hands right now, just all of our different churches? Hands going up everywhere. Man, thank you for those of you who want that kind of faith. I would even say "thank you" for those who are honest enough to say, "I'm not ready for that yet." "Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would do a work in us. Over the next four weeks, God, as we look at the your word of this ridiculous faith, I pray that through the hearing of your word, you would build our faith, God, that we would not just believe in what we can do but we would believe in who you are. And when you call, we will obey, God, even if it's just one word. I pray, God, for those who have made a decision to move. I pray, God, that they would hear you. I pray, God, that they would search for your will in your word." "God, I thank you that so many are in a community with other believers, that they can hear your voice, even confirm from those around." "God, I pray that we would be surrounded by those who would build our faith. And God, when you call us, give us the faith to obey even when we do not fully understand." "As you keep praying today at all of our different churches, there are those of you right now, even as we are in this time of prayer, you recognize that you don't have that kind of faith. You're not fully following God. You would even say, "I'm not a fully devoted follower of Jesus." And if I asked you why, you'd have any number of different reasons. Some of you would say, "Well, I don't believe that stuff." Some of you would say, "Well, that's just kind of a legend." Some of you would say, "Well, I think there's lots of ways to God." Some of you would say, "Well, I'm not good enough yet." Some of you would say, "After all I've done, I don't know if I could ever be forgiven by God." I want to say very very clearly that there is a God, he does love you, and if you're feeling drawn toward him today, there's going to be a million reasons why you don't take the step of faith. But there is one reason why you should and that's because God loved you so much, he sent his son, Jesus, who was without sin to become sin for us, to die and be raised again so that anyone who calls on his name would be saved. The moment you call on the name of Jesus, all your sins will be forgiven. "But I'm not ready." I don't care. "But I've still got questions." I don't care. "But I've still got" -- I don't care. The time is never going to be just right where you have everything. At some point, you have to take a step of faith. Scripture says you're saved, not by works, but you're saved by grace through faith where you believe in the perfect work of Jesus was enough. And at that moment, you become a new creation. The old is gone and behold, everything becomes new. And that is why many of you are here today. By faith, you give your life to Christ. At all of our churches, those of you who would say, "That's me. I need his grace. I needed forgiveness. I turn toward him and I trust him." Would you lift your hands high right now? Just lift them up and say, "Yes, that's my prayer." Right over there, sir, God bless you. Both of you in this section, both of you right here. Praise God for you. Others of you? Here in the middle section towards the back. Right up here close to me. Praise God. Both of you right here. Bless you. Wipe those tears away. Right back over there. God bless you. Others of you who would say, "Yes, that's me." Right over here in this section, and way back here towards the back. Others of you? Church online, you click right below me. Bless you. Others of you who would say, "Yes, that's my cry." Would you pray with those around you who, by faith, are believing in the Lordship of Jesus. Pray, "Heavenly Father, forgive me of my sins. Make me brand new. I believe you died for me and you rose again so I could live for you. Fill me with Your Spirit so I could follow you for the rest of my life. Thank you for new life. Today, I give you mine. In Jesus name, I pray." Somebody go crazy, worship God, welcome those born into his family. (End of sermon) www.lifechurch.tv/open

“Consumerism and the Church: Reclaiming the Gospel From Our Most Powerful Religion” is written by Joe Terrell, content manager at CareyNieuwhof.com . Joe’s writings for Medium, Relevant, Carey Nieuwhof, and his personal blog, Instrument of Mercy, have been read by over three million people. For the past six decades, the local and institutionalized church has positioned itself as a place  to be entertained, discover your purpose, and “plug in” to community . And it’s a strategy that’s been wildly successful. Until now. Echoing  national trends of a growing distrust of “large institutions ,” a 2017 Gallup poll found that  only 41% of Americans  view the Church as a “ trustworthy organization .” According to a Barna research study,  only  2 out of 10 millennials  believe church attendance is “important or worthwhile. “ At the same time,  nearly 40% of millennials  consider themselves “ Religiously Unaffiliated .” Additionally, members of Gen Z (the generation currently entering college) are  twice as likely to identify as atheists than the general population . What happens to large institutions when people  begin to lose faith in large institutions ? In other words, what happens when miming secular culture finally  leads the Church down a road it can’t follow without dismantling itself ? While high-profile  scandals ,  partisan politics , and  generational shifts in opinion regarding controversial social  issues certainly contribute to the modern disillusionment of organized religion,  I believe a much larger unifying force is at play here . It’s called  consumerism . And it affects nearly  every aspect of your life . Consumerism has not only infiltrated our understanding and application of Christianity, but it is also  essentially a religion in and of itself. And, by almost every metric, it could easily be considered  th What is Consumerism? Consumerism is a cultural ethic born out of the advent of mass production and further cemented by the advertising boom of the fifties and sixties. Consumerism hinges on the belief that if  we only bought what we needed, our economy would collapse . Therefore, the goal of consumerism is to  create artificial demand for goods and services you don’t really need and probably didn’t even know existed . Consumerism is  so much more  than an advertising strategy. It’s  a worldview that fundamentally alters the way we approach our bodies, our relationships, our mental health, and our religion . The goal of consumerism is to create artificial demand for goods and services you don’t really need and probably didn’t even know existed.  There is no aspect of the American experience that hasn’t been infiltrated by consumerism. In  The Shattered Lantern , Ronald Rolheiser writes, “Our lives become  consumed with the idea that unless we somehow experience everything, travel everywhere, see everything, and are part of a large number of people’s experience, then our own lives are small and meaningless .” It’s an economic system that  thrives on your lack of self-control  and  preys on your insecurities . We give magazines, home-makeover TV shows, and social media accounts permission to sow discontent in our personal lives and shape our desires for  something better . From diamond engagement rings to home ownership, we’ve been led to believe that “ Bigger is Better ” by corporations and financial institutions  that profit from that very belief . Our religious and national holidays have become  excuses to shop . Products – like cars and smartphones – are  purposefully designed to make you yearn for the newer model . One of the fastest growing real estate markets in the U.S. is storage containers – so we can fill them with stuff that can’t fit in our too-big houses. We are taught through an endless barrage of advertisements that  love is best expressed through the exchange of expensive gifts  and  purpose can be obtained by a trip abroad . The consumer culture has slyly  commodified conversations about happiness, contentment, mindfulness, and empowerment  into conversations about individualism and materialism under the banner of “pursuing an authentic life.” Even the  virtue of simplicity  quickly became the  marketable aesthetic of minimalism  –  another ‘lifestyle’ only available to those wealthy enough to afford it . In   Sapiens , Yuval Noah Harari writes, “Consumerism sees  the consumption of ever more products and services as a positive thing . It encourages people to treat themselves, spoil themselves, and even kill themselves slowly by overconsumption.  Frugality is a disease to be cured . Consumerism has worked very hard, with the help of popular psychology (“Just do it!”) to convince people that  indulgence is good for you, whereas frugality is self-oppression .” Consumerism  absorbs ,  modifies , and  commodifies preexisting belief systems and ideologies.  And Christianity is not immune. Because, make no mistake,  consumerism is a religion . Our  temples  are malls and digital storefronts, our  altars  are checkout counters and online baskets, our  priests  are advertising agencies, our  sacrifices  are the dollars in our checking accounts, and  God  is our unmet desires. Consumerism absorbs, modifies, and commodifies preexisting belief systems and ideologies. And Christianity is not immune.  The Marriage of Consumerism and the Church In the early 1970s, a generation was coming of age that didn’t seem to want much to do with their parent’s faith; church attendance among young people began to plummet. (Sound familiar?) The sixties and seventies were periods of  immense  social and political upheaval , and people were  questioning the role of religion in the new cultural landscape . At the same time,  color TVs were making their way into every living room in America , and the entertainment industry was experiencing its heyday – some of the most iconic films and bands were born out of this era. How could a stuffy church service  possibly compete  with  Star Wars , the Rolling Stones, televised sports, and the bloom of New Age spirituality? However, a few innovative pastors began to experiment with new ways of doing church. Instead of shying away from cultural expectations, these ministries leaned in and began  crafting a church experience with something to offer everyone . In  How Churches Became Cruise Ships , Skye Jethani writes, “The logic was simple: if the Baby Boomers did not feel the need to connect with God, then  perhaps another felt-need would draw them into the church : the need for  community , or  entertainment , or  help with their children and marriages . While they consumed the upbeat music, support groups, dramas, and therapeutic sermons,  the hope was that they would find God as well. “ Evangelical churches began orientating their Sunday morning services around  worship experiences  with an emphasis on production.  In the 1990s, the emphasis shifted to offering programs, art, and services that mimicked the secular culture, but offered a “Christian twist.” New churches  stripped religious iconography  from their exteriors and interiors and gravitated toward an architectural style that blended  the aesthetics of a mall, community college campus, and movie theater . Church could be anything,  as long as it wasn’t boring . And this cycle began to perpetuate itself: The growth and direction of the modern church were fueled and influenced  by money donated by the congregations attracted by entertainment and conditioned by consumerism . In  The Forgotten Ways , pastor Alan Hirsch writes, “Win them with entertainment, and  you have to keep them there by entertaining them . For a whole lot of reasons, this commitment seems to get harder year after year. We end up creating  a whip for our own backs .” And this creates all sorts of weird problems. For example, people become more prone to leave  if the reason they were attracted to a church  (entertainment, community, etc.) in the first place gets  a sleeker and more productive counterpart in the secular culture  (this phenomenon explains, in part,  the surge of popularity in “community-based” fitness programs like CrossFit and SoulCycle ). Additionally, seeker-friendly churches that construct their congregational appeal around family-oriented programming often  find it difficult to engage young professionals who don’t have children  and  re-engage parents whose children have left home . It’s important to note that none of this was driven by ill intentions. It’s simply  an organization responding to market pressure . And a lot of these changes were for the better. Obviously,  we shouldn’t try to make our church experiences more miserable and inaccessible  to the average American. And it  worked . God has clearly used (and is using) the attractional model t o change countless lives for the sake of the Gospel . But there was a cost. And it’s  catching up to us .

For better or worse, our words function as self-fulfilling prophecies and create worlds. If you want to change the world, change your words. Just as ships are steered with a rudder, our tongue steers the direction of our life. Our words have the power to help us win or lose, hurt or heal, bless or curse. Sermon begins at 17:04 www.theaterchurch. National Community Church

Angel and I have a nineteen-year-old and a seventeen-year-old. On the precipice of empty-nesting, I’ve been reflecting upon what has worked and what hasn’t worked as I have tried to lead our family spiritually over the years. I have experienced ebbs and flows of successes and failures as the spiritual leader of our family. By God’s grace, our kids are faithfully following Christ and have vibrant spiritual lives. Angel and I give God all the credit and glory for the ways in which we have been able to encourage Camille and Soren’s spiritual development; anything good we gave them the Father first gave us.  We cannot lay claim because “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” ( James 1:17 ) We own the times we have unintentionally and foolishly put obstacles in their spiritual path. Perhaps our wins and losses might help you walk a wiser course. The Basics None of the basics will surprise a mature Christian. While uncontroversial, these are more important than my suggestions for spiritual rhythms below. If leading your family spiritually is playing jazz, the basics are the structure that keep the music cohesive, and the spiritual rhythms are the improvisation that make the song unique to your family. I’m not able to properly lead my family into spiritual health if I myself am not intentionally growing spiritually. They are watching you closely: lead through your example. There is no faster way to give Christianity a bitter taste than for your kids to sniff out that you don’t take your walk seriously. Similarly, the spiritual temperature in your marriage will impact your children. The depth of spiritual intimacy in your marriage will directly affect the depth of spiritual intimacy in your family. If your spouse isn’t a Christian or isn’t committed to the spiritual development of your children, it’s far better to act alone than to wait for your spouse to get on board. Just as your relationships with your children change as they get older, so too will your spiritual relationships with them change. Expect this to happen and welcome their growth in spiritual maturity.  As you walk alongside them, you will be blessed watching God transform them and even through their struggles you can experience joy in seeing God sanctify them. Spiritual Rhythms I’m that dad – the one who introduced his kids to great books about two years too early. A great book isn’t great if the reader isn’t ready for it. Similarly, I often made the mistake in our family’s spiritual life of trying to push the kids ahead of where they were developmentally. How about you? Our goal as parents isn’t to have the most theologically astute eight-year-old, but rather a child whose walk with Christ is marked all the days of his life as having run the race well. Infant and toddler stage: this was the most straightforward stage for me. The main goal is to create a warm environment where children come to love singing praise to Jesus and reading his Word. For us, this meant that our bath and bedtime were times where we sang simple songs of praise (such as “Jesus Loves Me” and “God is so Good”) and read Bible stories ( The Jesus Storybook Bible and The Biggest Story Bible are both excellent). Elementary stage: this transition was very hard for me because of several challenges. First, most families will begin to have after-school activities (sports, music, and clubs) that impact dinner and bedtime. If you also have toddlers and other elementary-age kids, this is exacerbated. It took me far too long to ditch a bedtime routine and switch to a morning routine. Your family might be able to create healthy daily rhythms in the evening, but our schedule made our evening family devotion times too haphazard for us. The other challenge is that, if you’re a fellow eager beaver, you might become too focused on the content of your family devotions. I must have bought half a dozen books that we tried out as a family. While solid theologically, most of my efforts of taking us to the next level removed the joy from our family devotions. Whether trying to memorize catechisms or jumping too early out of children’s Bibles to the regular Bible, I tended to focus on theological formation too much which made our devotions too long. Just as important as not rushing your children to develop theologically is having your children intrinsically enjoy devotional time as a family.  Is it more important that your child loves spending time singing, praying, and reading the Bible together, or that they can explain the atonement or the Trinity? If I were to do it over again, I would have worried far less about theology and far more about having the kids love our time together. Teenage stage: as your kids enter middle and high school, they gain autonomy and their schedules become busier. For us, switching from evening to morning devotions were vital at this stage. While we tried to keep as many family dinners a week as possible, the reality of their busy lives meant that trying to protect family devotions at night wasn’t realistic. More than ever at this stage make sure to create rhythms and an environment that your kids want to be a part of. Allow them to have more and more leadership in family devotional choices. If they are interested in studying specific topics, follow their interest. Let them have the loudest voice in choosing worship songs. Encourage them to lead in prayer. The most important thing is engagement and warmth. During this stage, give your kids nudges to begin studying the Bible on their own as well. It is healthiest for family devotions not to replace individual quiet times, but to be done in addition to them. But again, the goal here isn’t to lay down the law for your children, but to invite them into a deeper and richer spiritual life. In each of these stages consistent involvement in the church is significant. Build into your children the rhythm of gathering in worship. Include them in corporate worship (regular church) earlier rather than later. Invite them to serve alongside you when they are young and let them discover their giftings and place in the body of Christ when they are still kids. Church ought to be a place where they form friendships with peers and also with those younger and older than they are. Teach them to love the family of God. General tips Think of your family devotions not like a sermon or a Bible study, but rather as an invitational time of spiritual engagement. Your role, then, isn’t to have done a lot of homework beforehand and deliver your talking points, but rather by the Spirit’s leading to pull your family into honest and vulnerable conversation. The foundation of your devotions ought to be God’s Word and prayer. Generally, for us the best rhythms from later elementary age on have been to read one chapter of the Bible, ask some basic questions about the chapter, sing a song, and pray. Don’t overly complicate the time. It’s better to go shorter than longer. I would rather have five ten-minute family devotions a week than one hour-long devotion. The daily rhythms help draw us into closer intimacy not only with Christ, but also with one another. Our daily bedtime rituals were as equally important as our daily devotions. For most of my children’s lives (even when they were teenagers), we closed the day by praying blessings over them before they went to sleep. Those prayers of blessings call them back to the truths of who God says they are and remind us of who God is. Our rhythms of devotions in the mornings and prayers of blessing in the evenings allowed us to begin and end the day at God’s feet. One of the things I focused on in our evening prayers were prayers of blessing over their character. I tried to lift those prayers beyond the day-to-day and pray big prayers for who God was forming them to be. Every day I wanted them to hear promises of God’s faithful work in transforming them into the woman and man of God he was calling them to be. Parents, we have a big Jesus, so pray big prayers over your most precious ones! Finally, consider your family’s life more broadly in spiritual terms. How are you engaging in the Christian community as a family (going to church, attending a small group)? How are you serving as a family? How are you being generous as a family? All of these components contribute to a healthy spiritual environment in your home. At the heart of your family’s spiritual health is your own. When I look back to times when we struggled as a family, my spiritual struggle was usually the root of that struggle. When I wasn’t spending enough time with Christ, my anxieties would often come out in fear-based parenting that moved toward my children with control, not love, with law, not grace. The best thing you can do for your children’s spiritual health is to first ensure that you are spiritually healthy. If you are interested in reading more, I have appreciated Jefferson Bethke’s Take Back Your Family and Justin Whitmel Earley’s Habits of the Household .

The fact that Jesus loved women and encouraged them is a very personal truth to me. From childhood I have felt the Holy Spirit stirring in my heart toward full-time Christian service, but, because I am a woman, answering that call has been challenging. Throughout my formative years I watched churches cheer and groom boys, some as young as 7, who felt God was calling them into full-time ministry. Few of us girls got that same encouragement.   As a preacher’s daughter I never wanted to marry a pastor until I met my husband Gary Shrader. We had the privilege of being married for more than forty years. Nobody has every loved me better than Gary loved me. Marrying Gary opened many doors for me that are usually closed to women. I initially started teaching because Gary kept double booking himself to speak in more than one place at a time. Eventually, I begin to feel the tug of God to attend seminary. I felt God wanted more for me, but I also wanted more. Pursuing a graduate level degree while I was still responsible for three teen age sons, two elderly parents, and serving as an active pastor’s wife proved to be painfully slow.   A year before I finished seminary my academic advisor asked me to step into her office because she needed to speak to me about something she had noticed in my transcripts. She said, “Jan you are majoring in the wrong subject. You will never get a job with this major. You need to change your degree to a Masters of Christian Education.” (I was studying for a Masters in Theological Studies).   I asked her, “Isn’t Christian Education primarily an administrative degree?”   “Yes.” she said.   “Well…, nobody gets blessed when I administrate,” I said. “In fact, it is just the opposite. Whenever I try to organize anything people are extremely frustrated with me. But, when I teach the Bible people get blessed.”   She said, “That may be true, but you will never get a job with this degree you are pursuing.” “I understand what you are saying,” I said, “But I can’t be something I am not. God will have to take care of me.”   Many women I have talked to about entering the ministry have faced similar frustrations. Did my faculty advisor really say “Never”? Never? Never is an extremely long time. God is employing my seminary degree. I mean, aren’t you reading my words right now? Opening doors of ministry are God’s responsibility. I have found waiting on God and his timing has only enriched my spiritual life and made me more useful for the kingdom.   When studying Luke 15 I originally choose not to write about the parable of the Good Woman because it felt too short and too complicated all at the same time. Whenever we see Jesus talking to women or telling parables about women it is significant, but scholars rarely write about these encounters with much passion. So, just from a scholarly point of view it seemed daunting to me. Finally, I realized though, that too many important principles are found in these short verses for me to ignore this passage. What does this passage say about Jesus and women? Why would Jesus include a parable about a woman to explain his evangelistic heart?   Look at Luke 15:8-10 .               8  “Or what woman who has 10 silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  9  When she finds it, she calls her women friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’ 10  I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.” CBV   To fully comprehend these verses we need to see this story in light of the entire chapter of Luke 15 . In Luke 15:1-2 Jesus is hanging out with the undesirables, the people that the religious leaders feared and despised, sinners and tax-collectors. Sinners could have been anyone male or female who wasn’t perfectly keeping the law. But, tax-collectors were rejected for specific reasons. The tax collectors were considered the scum who were in cahoots with the Romans. Few in Israel would have thought tax collectors were worth redeeming.   Some scholars have suggested that Jesus indirectly answers the accusations of the Pharisees and scribes by telling one parable with three parts. He is explaining why he came to seek and save the lost. In the first part Jesus is the Good Shepherd, in the second part he is the Good Woman and in the third part he is the Good Father. Each story has similarities and differences. The second parable about the Good Woman is significant because it is the one that describes the angelic party in heaven every time the lost are found by God.   Why does Jesus tell a parable that describes himself as a woman?   Jesus’ places himself in this parable as a good woman, so he can relate to women. Remember Jesus is explaining why he loves and seeks out the undesirable. Why he would eat with them? Jesus wanted the women in his audience to grasp the importance of his actions, so he told a parable that they could relate to. This lost coin was worth about a day’s wages, so ten coins were worth about one third of a month’s salary. This woman could buy a sheep with 10 silver coins. It was a significant amount of money to lose and she is going to turn the house upside down trying to find it.   By telling this story Jesus wanted us to know people are extremely valuable to God. They are worth searching for and just like in the lost sheep parable they are helpless to find themselves. Neither the sheep nor the coin in Luke 15 have the ability to find their way back to God. That also, could be said about the prodigal son and his older brother found in the same chapter. They simply did not know the loving character of their father enough to even desire a relationship with him. Hunger, not repentance propelled the youngest son home. And, when he contemplated his return he assumed he would become a worker on his father’s estate, and not a true son. The oldest son thought his father was a harsh task master whose favor had to be earned ( Luke 15:29 ). We learn from Luke 15 that the lost do not know the true character of God, this is why they need merciful evangelists who will show them God’s glorious love. Repentance is always first and foremost God’s idea.   Interesting, in Luke 8:1-3 we see that there were many women who traveled with Jesus and the other male disciples. Look at Luke 8:1-3 .               Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2  and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3  and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.    ESV   It would have been highly unusual at this time to find women who were financial independent and could travel with Jesus as Luke describes. And, it would have been even more unique for women to have had the funds to financially support Jesus and the other disciples. Jesus includes a story about a woman who had lost a silver coin, so the women listening to his message could also understand the importance of seeking and saving the lost.   Jesus’ places himself in this parable as a good woman, so he can restore women. Women were not treated very well in the first century. But, the truth is most women have not been treated well in any century. Without this example of Christ relating to and elevating women we would continue to be seen as less than men.   Rabbi Ben Sirach, a very popular Hebrew scholar, who taught about two hundred years before Jesus’ ministry, had some very disturbing teachings about women. What makes his words, so appalling was his fear of the women he actually knew, his wife and daughter. Here are some of his more alarming quotes he wrote about women,               A gift from the Lord is a silent wife, and nothing is so precious as her self-discipline. Charm upon charm is a wife with a sense of shame.             And nothing is more valuable than her bound-up mouth. (26:14-15)               A daughter is a secret anxiety to her father, and worry over her robs him of sleep;             when she is young, for fear she may not marry, or if married for fear she maybe disliked; while a virgin, for fear she may be seduced and become pregnant in her father’s house; or having a husband, for fear she may go astray, or though married, for fear she may be barren. Keep strict watch over a headstrong daughter, or she may make you a laughingstock to your enemies…. (42:9-11d)               Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good; it is a woman who brings shame and disgrace. (42:14)   I would have hated to have been this rabbi’s wife or his daughter. He certainly didn’t know how to cherish a woman. He saw women as an awful burden and his attitude is very different than Jesus’ approach.   This is also, the emotionally abusive atmosphere the women in Jesus’ audience had suffered under. When Jesus taught he gave women the privilege of sitting at his very feet, along with his male disciples ( Luke 10:38-42 ). Sitting at the feet of a rabbi was reserved for his disciples. Jesus was restoring and rebuilding relationships in Luke 15 when he compared himself to a good woman. In contrast, Rabbi Sirach taught that the wickedness of a man was better than a good woman. Jesus’ parable and actions have far reaching consequences for us today.   Jesus’ places himself in this parable as a good woman, so he can reach women. Jesus knew the best person to reach out to another woman is a woman. Let’s be real honest here many women are scared of men. Unfortunately, the abusiveness and controlling of some men have been the source of great heartache and trouble. Wounded women will struggle to trust men, even godly men. But, another woman feels less threatening.   Jesus’ places himself in this parable as a good woman, so he can relate to, restore and reach women.   In Luke 15 Jesus makes it clear that repentance is God’s work.  He seeks and saves the lost. Jesus teaches us that sinners are helpless to return to God in their own strength.   One of my favorite binge worthy TV shows is Call the Midwife . I think currently there are 11 seasons streaming on Netflix and 12 on PBS. It is a drama about a group of Anglican nuns who as a spiritual order are seeking more midwives. So, they invite single women who want to train as midwives to move into their convent for a season without having to commit to becoming a nun. In each episode and in graphic detail, at least two babies are delivered, so it is certainly not a G rated show, and in every episode the nuns exercise their faith in God. My husband Gary could not watch this show with me. As he was leaving the room he would say to me, “Jan, that show has way to much estrogen.” It is definitely true that men and women look for different story lines in a TV drama. Strangely, though things changed after my husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor. As he was recovering from his surgery and enduring chemo therapy we would sit for hours watching this drama. And, with every episode we appreciated the Christian community portrayed in this series.   If you can, watch at least one episode of Call the Midwife. With that visual answer this question. How can we encourage and enable women today to reach more women for Jesus?

We are each building a life. We’re building on a foundation. We each get to choose what that foundation is and at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is calling us to choose him as that foundation. He is the one to build your life upon and the only foundation that will help you and I withstand the storms of life. To build your life on Jesus means that you trust him and that you not just appreciate what he says, you actually do it. Doers of the word, not just hearers. Elements City Church, Tucson Arizona. Build Wisely-Sermon on the Mount Jack Schull The Sermon on the Mount is the most famous sermon Jesus ever preached. It derives its name from the place where Jesus preached it; a mountainside that acted as a natural amphitheater along the shores of Galilee. The Sermon on the Mount, preached to ordinary people, covers a wide range of topics like prayer, fasting, money, worry, forgiveness, anger, lust, judging others, and more. But the theme that unites it all is Jesus explaining the heart of God behind His given Law. It's here in the Sermon on the Mount -- found in Matthew 5-7 -- that King Jesus gives us a radical picture of what life in His Kingdom looks like. And it’s our hope that, as we meditate on Jesus’s words, we might become people who more closely follow His Way and experience a life that truly flourishes in the process. “I think the Sermon is a piece of wisdom teaching from Jesus that invites people into true human flourishing through wholeness centered on God and his coming kingdom. Jesus’s Sermon invites us to see the world in a certain way and to be in the world in a certain way that accords with God’s nature, will, and coming reign upon the earth; in short, “righteousness” (cf. Matt 5:20). It is a call to faith‐based discipleship in Jesus, the Son of God.” - Jonathan T. Pennington Matthew 7:24-29 NIV 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. Quote: “It’s important to note the radical Jesus-centeredness that undergirds this closing exhortation of the SOTM. Jesus does not say that the wise and foolish are distinguished according to how they obey God or practice Torah or follow the teachings of the elders. Jesus emphasizes that the wise and foolish are distinguished on the basis of how they respond to his words. While Jesus is certainly presented as both a Prophet and Sage, he is also repeatedly offered as more than these roles - the true and final source of revelation itself. His hearers are invited to build the foundation of their whole lives upon his teaching and way of being in the world. He is presenting himself as the authoritative arbiter of God’s revelation and the path to human flourishing.” -Jonathan T Pennington 2 stories side by side. 2 builders. 2 identical storms. 2 different results. One is viewed as wise, a wise man who wants to build something, a wise man who gets spiritual training, and a wise man in the storm. The other man is a foolish man who wants to build something, a foolish man who exposes himself to divine truth, a foolish man in a storm. Wisdom, in Scripture, is the ability to take divine truth and apply it to life. The fool in Scripture is not necessarily the person who lacks information. It is the person who does little or nothing with the information received. Jesus is the sure foundation to build your life upon. When Luke tells the story in Luke 6:48, it says the wise man dug deep. 46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” It costs to build on rock. You can build on sand fairly cheaply. To build on rock is hard work; to build on sand takes little time. This difference between the two builders is fundamentally rooted in the fact that the second man, the foolish man, was building a house for show. The man building his house on rock was building a house to last. Only the storms reveal the nature of your foundation. TRUTH: Our foundation must be formed before the storms come. John 16:33 (Jesus said) “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus is to be your foundation, which involves the truth of God applied in the realities of life. Foundations are not merely the information to stand on. It is to have the truth of God as the modus operandi of decision-making. What differentiated these two men? Both heard, but only one did.Jesus is saying - build your life on me.Don’t just be a hearer of my words - be a doer.The apostle James would later write:Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.--James 1:22–25 Matthew 7:24 NIV 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Jesus explained that his true followers, by acting on his words, are like a wise man who built his house on rock. The one who builds “on rock” is a hearing, responding disciple... not a phony, superficial one. As character is revealed by fruit (7:20), so faith is revealed by storms. The wise person, seeking to act upon God’s Word, builds to withstand anything. It will be the foundation, not the house, that will determine what happens on the Day of Judgment. What action did Jesus expect as a result of his words? What “building” did he expect to happen? Radical discipleship—people whose lives revealed the characteristics that he had been describing in this entire sermon (see Matthew 5-7).

Ben has decided that he wants to die. This son of mine, who lives with a trust I aspire to….he believes in heaven, and can’t wait to get there. Why do I find this disturbing? I’ve watched friends hold onto life with a white-knuckled grip, desperate for healing to come here on earth, grasping for a few more years before death arrives (and death always arrives, no matter our attempts to deny it). Ben, however, is ready to go. My boy has always been up for an adventure. Death is something that we ignore or fear, believing that it won’t visit us until we are old and frail and out of options. Have we forgotten the unending pleasure and splendor and love that heaven offers? Or, if we’re honest, do we not really believe it? Death, after all, does not allow us to hedge our bets.  It is an all-in proposition. Paul said in Philippians 1:21 , “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Read that again: To die is gain! Ben has lost a few people that he loved over the past couple of years. He has cried in churches and at gravesites. He typically can’t comprehend what he can’t touch or see or hasn’t experienced, and yet somehow he understands that death is the doorway to something wonderful, and he wants to be next in line. I think that Ben understands death to be a little like coming home from work. Every day, after removing his boots and taking his lunch box to the kitchen, he goes down to his room to change. I hear him call out to his invisible friends: “Home!” And then they answer, “Ben! You’re home!” I can easily imagine Ben entering heaven, healed and whole, calling out “Home!” and hearing Jesus and myriads of angels cheering, “Ben! You’re home!” I read Isaiah 35 this week, which describes our joy at entering heaven: “and the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” Can you hear the laughter? The songs of joy? This is our destiny. The end is the beginning. A party is waiting! Ben is ready. Are you? https://andreasanborn.com/

Emmeline Wetherbee shares what she loves about her godly father, Brad Wetherbee in this humorous yet compelling interview..

James 1:2-3: 'Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy,3 for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow.4 So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.' LB The hot-stove effect was first proffered by humorist Mark Twain: “We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it and stop there lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove lid again and that is well but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.” Throughout life, be careful not to overreact to painful experiences. Failures, embarrassing moments, and hurtful events, if not properly processed, can have an inordinate impact on our lives and dissuade us from “jumping on the stove” again. Carefully study and analyze experiences and put them into proper perspective. Even positive experiences, if not properly processed, can lead to unhealthy conclusions. For example: You may abandon a helpful technology because your first experience with it was distasteful. Some divorcees feign the thought of marrying again because of the hurt they sustained in a former marriage. Not being accepted into your school of our choice may discourage you from pursuing formal education. I have been a public speaker and teacher for 30 years, but two embarrassing moments in my early years might have derailed this aspect of my career. When I was eight years old I was asked (with no prior notice) to stand in front of my Sunday School class and pray aloud. I froze…awkward silence ensued…kids giggled…I was embarrassed. But the following week, one of my teachers took the time to meet with me. He spoke words of comfort and encouragement, helped me compose a written prayer, coached me as I practiced reading it aloud in the same room where the nightmare took place, and arranged for me to speak the prayer in the same Sunday School Class the next Sunday. All went well and I fully recovered from the debacle. In high school, I was vice president of my senior class. Once, when speaking before the student body, I planned on using the phrase “hook, line, and sinker,” as in, “he was so naive that he swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.” But in my speech the phrase came out “sink, line and hooker.” My classmates were unmerciful. Unfortunately, no one helped me process what had happened; fortunately, I thought carefully about the incident by myself and decided that though it was a bad experience, it need not be a life-changing one. A wonderful way to love others is to recognize when they may be susceptible to the hot-stove effect and take the initiative to help them process the incident and put it into proper perspective. I will be forever grateful for my Sunday School teacher (I cannot even remember his name); he might have salvaged my future career. Summary What? – We often misinterpret and overreact to painful experiences. So what? – You may suffer from the hot-stove effect, but you can recover. Now what? – Individually, identify and study your life-wounds – both small and large – to see if you have overreacted to them. Based on a more accurate assessment, adjust your thinking and behavior. Look for opportunities to help other people negotiate their burned paws. Leaders – Consider how your organization may be suffering from the hot-stove effect. A good place to start is to analyze past failures and trauma.

Years ago, a mundane event turned into one of the more interesting and memorable moments of my life. I was flying from Los Angeles to El Paso, Texas, to speak at a men’s conference. I was seated in the dreaded middle seat, slowly progressing toward El Paso. The man in the window seat next to me was a Muslim from the Middle East. His presence was distinguished and palpable—he was in traditional dress and had a quiet demeanor. About thirty minutes into the flight, he looked over at me. I had my Bible out and was writing a few notes. He said, “Excuse me, sir. May I ask you a question?” “Sure,” I said, and he asked, “Is that a Bible?” “Yes, it is a Bible.” “Oh,” he replied, “Sir, can I ask you then another question?” “Of course,” I said. He said, “Can you tell me the difference between a Catholic, a Protestant, and a Baptist?” That was not at all what I was expecting him to ask, but I was happy to oblige. And after I explained the difference between Catholics, Protestants, and Baptists, I said to him, “Now may I ask you a question?” “Of course, of course,” he said. We were already talking about the nature of the gospel, but I wanted to bring the issue to his spiritual doorstep. I asked him, “Do Muslims sin?” “Oh, yes. We have many, many sins.” Testing his self-awareness, I asked, “Well, do you commit them all the time?” The honesty of his answer still stuns me. He said, “Yes. In fact, I am flying to El Paso to commit some sins.” “Really?” I said, somewhat surprised. “Yes. I have just immigrated into the U.S. I came through the El Paso immigration center, and I met a girl there. We have arranged to meet this weekend to commit some sins.” Since he was comfortable with blunt honesty, I said, “May I ask you another question? How does Allah feel about your sins?” I had clearly found a sore spot. “Ah,” he groaned, “it’s very bad. I could go to hell forever.” “Really? Why don’t you stop doing those sins?” “I can’t stop,” he said. I prodded a little further. “Do you have any hope that in spite of your sins, you might escape hell?” I’ll never forget what he said next. “I pray Allah will forgive me.” “Well, why would he do that?” Somewhat hopelessly, he said, “I don’t know. I just pray he will.” Here was the opportunity I had been pressing for. I said, “Well, let me tell you something. I know God personally, and I can promise you, He won’t.” He looked at me like I was crazy, as if to say,  You know God personally, and you’re in the middle seat on Southwest? You’ve got to be kidding me . I was determined to push past his visible incredulity. “I know the one true God personally, and He cannot overlook your sin.” “But,” I said, “I have some good news for you. There is forgiveness available. There is a way to be reconciled with God.” And I went on to present the gospel to him. That’s what I do—I tell people how to be reconciled to God. It’s my job; it’s my  life . And it’s yours, too, if you’ve been reconciled to God through Christ. That’s what Christians do—it’s our primary function. We preach the forgiveness of sins and redemption by God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. In  2 Corinthians 5:18–21 , Paul speaks about the responsibility that we have as believers to proclaim the message of forgiveness—the message of  reconciliation . And that’s the pivotal word we’ll carefully examine in the days ahead. www.gty.org .