Every day it feels like we read another news report about the mental health crisis among children and youth, as well as how depression, anxiety, and suicide rates are getting worse. Recently, the U.S. Surgeon General went so far as to issue an advisory to protect the mental health of youth. Things seem bad, and for many young people, they truly are. The world is changing, and sometimes it can feel like we’re barely keeping our heads above water, whether we are parents, guardians, or vulnerable children just trying to figure out our place in the world. These feelings have been exacerbated through the recent pandemic and other major world events, which often make everything seem worse, further straining our sense of mental wholeness. We need to look at how we’re teaching our children to process and navigate the new world in which we live. This process starts with us as parents and guardians; how we manage our mental health is a model for how our children will manage their mental health. Research reflects that the unmanaged stress of an adult becomes the unmanaged stress of the child. So, one of the best ways you can help your child with their mental health is by working on your own mental health. Why ? Our mind drives who we are: how we think, feel, and choose. Our mind drives how we wake up in the morning and start the day; how we show up throughout the day; how we interact with our family, friends, teachers, and environment; and how we manage the good and bad things that happen to us. Our mind drives how our body makes cells, impacting our biological health and how we absorb nutrition from our food. The mind controls everything to do with our “aliveness.” We can go for three weeks without food, three days without water, and three minutes without oxygen, but we don’t even go for three seconds without using our mind! If the mind is the driving force of our “aliveness” as human beings, we should be putting a massive amount of energy into understanding and developing the skills of mind-management to help both ourselves and our children manage the vagaries of life. A child with underdeveloped mind-management tends to be more vulnerable to intense feelings of confusion and be overwhelmed as they attempt to process what they’re exposed to, because they don’t have the mental skills necessary to understand what is happening to them or to communicate what they are going through. It’s our job as parents, caretakers, and educators to help them navigate a world that can easily feel scary and overwhelming. And one of the best ways we can do this is by giving them the gift of mind-management. In my upcoming book,  How to Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess , which is now available for  preorder , I offer a scientific, evidence-based first step in dealing with the crisis in children’s mental health through mind-management. I give you easy-to-use, simple ways you can start teaching your child how to manage their mind so that as they grow, they can live their best life. Additionally, along the way, you may learn a thing or two about how to manage your mind so that you, can also live a life of resilience, peace, and joy! One great way to start practicing mind management with your child is to teach them empathy from youth. At its core, empathy is the ability to sense the emotions of someone else. Encouraging empathy in our children means teaching them how to think beyond themselves and focus on what another person is feeling or experiencing. Yet teaching our children empathy is not only important for social cognition and social interaction. It also helps children build their identity and develop a sense of their own personhood as they learn to interact with the world around them. In fact, empathy and identity work together and can help a child learn how to create and respect healthy boundaries in their relationships. Eventually, your child will learn to understand what they need and, in turn, recognize and respect what other people need as well. Empathy is learned through social interaction and communication. We all have the ability to mirror the people we interact with, but to truly empathize, we must learn how to cultivate our understanding so we can truly connect with others. We must learn to “tune in” on a deeper level. Of course, we will never be able to fully understand what someone else’s perspective or experience is, but we can learn to draw a connection to our own experience and use this to get a sense of what someone else might be going through. And, the younger we learn how to do this, the better we will understand ourselves and connect with other people as we grow. Empathy means imagining, as close as we can get, what someone is experiencing, which helps us relate to and connect with others on a deeper level. Empathy also improves our communication. It is a form of interaction that uses emotions and nonverbal communication instead of language. In the same way that language works, where someone says something and we respond, empathy involves experiencing another person’s emotion and connecting with that experience. It is however important to remember that empathy takes time to understand and develop, even for adults! First, it is important to help your child try understand what empathy is. Here are ways you can explain empathy to your child and help them learn how to be more empathetic: You can say something like “sometimes something happens to someone else, but we feel sad for them even though it didn’t happen to us. Has your friend ever hurt themselves and started crying and you felt sad for them even though you didn’t hurt yourself? Empathy means you are trying to see how you would feel if those things happen to you and how you would want someone to respond to you.” Remember that a big part of trying to show your child how to be empathetic starts with you as parents practicing empathy—children watch what we do and learn from us. Cultivating empathy also means helping your child cultivate their unique identity. It is important to help them understand that they are different from other people and may experience the world in a different way and have different feelings. When you validate your child’s experience and show them empathy, they will begin to understand what it means to have empathy for others. For example, say your child is afraid of your cat. You can say something like, “Are you feeling scared of the cat? Cats can be scary. I can hold your hand while you are close to it.” This shows you are validating their fear—you are not telling them to not be scared. You are letting them know that you see them and what they are experiencing and that you will be by their side to support them even though you are not afraid of the cat. Or, say your children are fighting and one child makes the other one cry. Rather than forcing your child to say sorry (especially when they are younger and may not be able to grasp the full meaning behind an apology), try to teach them to feel empathy. Try to say something like “Look, James, Tina is really sad and is crying. She is very hurt because you took her favorite toy. Can we try to see if we can make her feel better?” Empathy generally comes when people connect through thoughts, emotions, and actions, so encouraging your child to try do this instead of just getting angry at them will help them understand why what they did was hurtful, not just that it was “wrong” or “bad”. An extremely important part of cultivating empathy in young children is to help  them learn and appreciate diversity at a young age . This means exposing them to different ideas, worlds, and people, and showing them these differences are good and not something to be afraid of. www.drleaf.com .

The Australian Coat of Arms depicts a very insightful image—and one that I hold dear since I was born and raised in Australia. There are two animals portrayed holding up a shield—the Red Kangaroo and the Emu. They were chosen not only because they are indigenous to Australia, but also because they were created to move forward. The Emu, a large non-flying bird slightly smaller than its cousin the Ostrich, is known for its speed covering as much as nine feet in a single step when running full throttle. It is the only bird with calf muscles—much like a human—nonetheless, it can’t walk backward. It can only move forward. The Red Kangaroo—like all kangaroos—moves by a hopping motion called saltation, which literally means “to leap.” They push off with both of their large feet simultaneously and use their tails for balance. The combination of their muscular legs, big feet and tails help the kangaroos move forward effectively. But again, they can only move forward—not backward. I believe God designed you—another marvel of creation—to move the same way. Forward-bound, never stepping back, not even looking back. Throughout the Bible, God consistently leads His people in one direction:  “Press on…look ahead…forget what lies behind…REACH FORWARD to what lies ahead” ( Philippians 3:12-14 ). Just as the Apostle Paul challenged the Philippian church to move forward, Propel Women exists to mobilize and motivate women to go forward—to keep reaching for all that lies ahead. The word  propel  means “to drive, to push, to cause to move in a particular direction,” and that is forward. That is the direction God wants you to move. I know our world often feels like it is spiraling out of control—certainly globally and often close to home. That’s why Jesus is the only hope, and we as Christians have been given the responsibility to shine his light in a dark world—to encourage others with hope that they too can move forward in life. Your world needs believers like you who can lead themselves well, and then lead others. Propel Women wants to accelerate your growth—through every season, challenge and change. We want to energize you to move from where you are to the next place God has orchestrated for your life—activating you to live on mission, on point. We want to help you REACH forward—a motion that will always require intentional effort. If you’ve been considering and praying about a change—whether it’s a promotion, moving to a new city, or going for more education—it will begin with your decision to take a step forward. To help you in your decision-making, take a personal inventory and contemplate these questions: 1. Have you been where you are long enough?  Whether it’s some place physical—like your present position—or someplace mental—like your attitudes or habits—if you’ve made a permanent place out of something that was supposed to be a pit stop, or somewhere you were supposed to grow through, then you’ve been there long enough. Procrastinating is never going to move you. 2. Is it time to break out of where you are into where you are going?   To break  is to shatter, smash, snap, crack or fracture. It’s to interrupt, disturb or break your routine. When you break something, it often hurts physically or emotionally. It might not be comfortable, but it’s often necessary to leave a place that’s constricted, confined and limiting. It’s often necessary to grow to the next level. Remember: It’s just as easy to miss a moment as it is to seize a moment. 3. Is it time to advance?   To advance  is to move forward in a purposeful way, to press on, to progress. Oftentimes, it takes courage to let go of where you are and what you have to lay hold of the future. You will have to be more faith-FULL than fear-FULL. If God is saying go, your willingness and determination will be necessary to go and receive what he has for you. 4. Is it time to forget the past—if that’s what’s holding you back—and risk failure or hurt again?  God will always have another chance ready for you to take. But you will have to let go of any of the past holding you back emotionally. You will have to build strong emotional intelligence and capacity to move forward and successfully lead others and build healthy relationships. You can do this! 5. Does it seem impossible?  Maybe…but so what? Impossible is what God does. And nothing he asks us to do can ever be done in our natural strength anyway. If you can manage it on your own, you don’t need God. It’s time to increase your capacity. The world is waiting—and you are the answer. If God is saying, “Go,” then don’t say, No.” Whether you are a CEO of a national company, a supervisor in retail, a stay-at-home mom managing a home-based business, or a post-career leader in your community, God has things for you to do every day you are on this Earth. There are assignments for you to responsibly manage—and now is the time to live propelled into your future. Answer these questions and discover your leadership capacity—then embrace all that God has for you to do, individually and collectively. Identify how you are equipped, and then be confident in how he’s gifted you and prepared you. He’s calling you forward, the only direction the Emu, the Red Kangaroo and  you  were ever created to go. www.propelwomen.org .

A lie is an enemy of the truth, and Satan is the father of lies. He originated lies, and he has children, since he’s the father, who perpetuate his lies. Because if he can deceive us and draw us from the truth as God declares it to be, he can draw us away from God into error, into failure, and into spiritual defeat. You can only overcome lies with the truth. The abandonment of truth is wreaking havoc in our world as people abandon the truth in order to pursue a lie that feels like the truth. But truth has an enemy. Truth has an enemy. We're told this in John chapter 8. Jesus says in verse 43, "Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear my Word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me". The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 18, by two unchangeable things it is impossible for God to lie. Jesus says about Satan there is no truth in him. In Isaiah chapter 14, verses 12 to 14, it talks about the lies of Satan. It talks about the fact that his one goal is to build a kingdom that rivals God. It says, "I will be like the most high". He wanted independence. He didn't want to have to answer to a higher authority. When God created man he created Adam, and he created Adam and gave him the well-known instruction in Genesis 2, verse 16: "But the Lord commanded the man, saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat it, for the day that you eat from it you will surely die.'" And it's a Google tree that has good information in it, bad information in it. In chapter 3, Satan shows up. He's already there, but he shows up and he begins his process of deception, starting with Adam and Eve, and at the root of his deception was his opening question in chapter 3, verse 1: "Hath God said"? Satan brings a thought to Eve's mind, a question mark, and now she begins to question 'cause the thought is now rotating in her head. Please notice the thought did not come from her. The thought came from the devil but was introduced to her. He introduces his thought until it becomes her thought. Satan's strategy is to take his thinking and make it your thinking. When he takes his thinking and makes it your thinking, it says she saw that the tree was good for food. It was a delight to the eyes, and it could make one wise. So she eats of the fruit, Adam eats of the fruit, and they lose fellowship with God because they're removed from the garden. When this happens, their whole world collapsed. So you had collapse and ultimately physical collapse because you're going to die. And like in a football game, when Adam stepped offside, the whole team of the human race was penalized. You see, when a player jumps offside, it's not just the player that's penalized. The whole team has to go back. Because we are in Adam, and in Adam all die. He wants to break our fellowship with God through the process of deception. That's his goal, knowing that God will separate and that he's got you now. He's got you, he's got me, and he's had us. All of us at various levels can testify at points in our lives whether mentally or physically or spiritually he got you. Now, Satan has a problem. He's got a challenge. He's not omnipresent, so he has helpers called demons. These rogue angels called demons assist Satan's goal of deception. He has assigned a demon to you who has studied you, but what he wants to do is introduce to you something that will be consistent with what he knows you're apt to respond to. These demons then create doctrines. He says there are deceitful spirits and demons that teach doctrine, but notice it says he uses men who are seared in their conscience. So you got Satan talking to demons and demons talking to people, and the demons, the people that the demons talk to talk to other people to teach them, to teach them. A doctrine is a teaching. He has a course. Satan has a course. The demons are trained. They find people that they can train who can speak into your life lies. They have been educated and trained as deceivers. He says, and they deceive in a number of ways. He says they deceive by denying you things that God says is okay. You know what Satan did in the garden? He got Eve to focus on the one tree she couldn't have instead of all them other trees she could. God said, "From every tree of the garden you may freely e one tree she couldn't have instead of all them other trees she could. God said, "From every tree of the garden you may freely eat". But he got them focused on this tree in the middle that you can't eat. You can't, you can't, you can't, you can't, you can't. How many people do you know who've run away from Christianity because of all the negatives of what you can't do? So they give doctrines, and they give it about things that are very legitimate. If you are enduring your Christian life more than you're enjoying it, you're listening to demons. If you are enduring your Christian life more than you are enjoying it, that means Satan has got you duped and tricked and looking at the wrong thing. He got you looking at one thing and not the breadth of things. 1 Timothy 6:17 says that if God gives it to you to enjoy, you should enjoy it. So Satan wants to steer you and me away from the truth so that he can control the agenda of our lives. Now, he wants to draw you from the truth so that you don't have access to God. That's his goal. And why does he want to get you away from the truth? Let me tell you something that you need to know about you and me and us. Psalm 139, verse 16, "Your eyes have seen my unformed substance". That's God creating life in the womb, by the way. "And in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them". Number one, that verse cancels out abortion, okay? "You were aware of me when I was in the womb". And what was in the womb? Me. That's personhood, okay? That's another subject for another day. But notice what else he said about you, about me. There's a book. There's a book with all your ordained days. Let me tell you what that means. God has written out his program and purpose for your life. It's written in a book. You've got your own book with your own name on it, and that book with your name is designed to fulfill the ordained purpose of God for your life. That's your book. It's not my book. I got my book. You got your book. So what Satan wants to do is remove you from the truth so that you don't fulfill your book, so that the purposed plan of God for your book is not realized because you and I wandered from the truth. We discarded the truth partially or fully and were duped by the deception of Satan. Revelation chapter 12, verse 7, "There was a war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon". So there's spiritual warfare among angels. It's called the angelic conflict. "The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives" here's our word, "the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth", that's where he does his business, "and his angels were thrown down with him". Those are the demons. "And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying", now watch this, "now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come", watch this, "for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before God day and night". Satan is called the accuser. This is a legal term. You must picture this as a courtroom. The Bible is full of court scenes, full of court scenes. You find lawsuits. You find justice. You find judges. You got legal activity taking place in heaven, which is why we have it on earth. This is a courtroom. The prosecuting attorney is Satan. He is bringing judgment against every believer when we sin. When we sin he has evidence against us because we have disobeyed God, giving him material he can use in court. Why does he go to court? He goes to court for the same reason a prosecuting attorney goes to court: to condemn us. And the purpose of condemning us is to legitimize righteous judgment against us for our betrayal of God by believing his lie, which has led us into sin. We don't have time today, but you can see it worked out in Zechariah chapter 3 the first seven verses. Joshua was the high priest, and he's in court. He's in court, and Satan is the accuser bringing accusation against Joshua the high priest, and it says in that passage that his clothes had to be changed because he was dirty. So Satan had accusation against him. The accusation was true, which gave him prosecutorial rights. He did this against Job. He accused Job before God. So Satan is there in order to bring condemnation legitimately for sins we have committed or is in our propensity. Now, he is the accuser of the brethren, and since angels don't need sleep, it says day and night. So this is a 24-hour courtroom scene. So now come out of the spiritual realm for a moment and think about court. You're in court now, 'cause this is legal. His goal in court is to bring judgment, condemnation, or keep God from intervening in your prayers, intervening in your circumstances, intervening in your challenges. So that's the scene. Verse 11, "And they overcame him". And they overcame him. Satan is the accuser, but he can be overcome concerning his accusations. Satan can be beaten in court. The Bible says about Jesus Christ in John chapter 2, verse 2 that if any man says he doesn't sin, in those first couple of verses he says, he's a liar 'cause we all sin. But it says but we have an advocate. Remember we're in court. The Greek word advocate means lawyer. An advocate is a lawyer. We say that today, talk about a lawyer being an advocate. It's a legal term, 'cause we're in God's court now, okay? Satan does not now beat you with power, he beats you with legislation. He takes you to court. He says, "I'm going to sue you because look at the infraction you committed". But we have an advocate. We got a defense attorney. And I like it, it says we have an advocate with the Father, and I like knowing that my advocate is the judge's son. So I got a little family thing working for me. Jesus Christ the righteous, they overcame him. The word overcome, which is a favorite word of John, yakol, this is how it's pronounced. That word overcome is used of both a state and a standing. A state meaning a legal position in a practical ramification. So legally, we are overcomers. It's like saying legally I am married, legally you are married if you're married, okay? That's a legal status. But we also know you can be legally married and personally miserable. So just 'cause you have a legal status don't mean that you have a positive standing, 'cause you could be legal status but in perpetual conflict. When the defense attorney enters the room, he has the right to overcome the lawsuit that has been against you that's breaking you with fellowship God, with God so that your book is not lived out in completion. But he can be beaten in court, and in this courtroom there are three things that beat him in conclusion. He says in verse 11 they overcame him because of the blood of the lamb. The blood of Jesus Christ, that is his sacrificial death on the cross, is not a 2.000-year-old event only. We believe in a cross, not a crucifix. A crucifix is a cross with somebody still on it. Our Savior is no longer on the cross. The cross is a historical event with practical, contemporary relevance. The constitution was written many years ago. It's relevant today. You claim, "I know my rights". You claim what was written then for what it can do now. The cross took place then, but it can get some stuff done now. When you appeal to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, there's no better time to do that than communion. When you appeal to his cross, which paid the penalty for your sin, what you are saying to the accuser, "That accusation has already been covered. That accusation, real as it is, has already right now been paid for". You are appealing to something back then for its relevancy today. The second thing that will win you in the courtroom, he says, is the word of their testimony. The word testimony is a legal term. In court you testify. It is a legal term, meaning that you are giving judicial witness not based on what you see, follow me here, but based on what God says. So you literally bring to the courtroom. See, some of us need to learn to have a Bible study with the devil. See, if you're only having Bible studies with Christians, you ain't using it. Remember when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, and he had a Bible study with the devil? He told the devil, "It is written, it is written, it is written". Now, you can't have a Bible study if you don't know what's in the Bible. See, what you have to understand is Satan is allergic to Scripture. He has an allergy. You hit him with the Word, he goes... He's allergic to Scripture because he cannot handle God's Word. He can handle your word, and he loves to hear you say I think and I feel, 'cause that word has absolutely no authority in his court. But when you bring his Word, the Word of thy testimony; that is, you give testimony. When the 12 spies went in, what happened? Twelve spies, ten came back and said, "We can't beat them". Caleb came back and said, "Yeah, but God told us to go in there 'cause we could beat them". See, majority not always right. What God says must be more important than what you see. They said, "There are giants in the land". Caleb said, "But what did God say? I see, but what did he say"? Because that's evidence in this courtroom, it is the word of your testimony, and that testimony is the testimony of God's truth. Finally he says they did not love their life even when faced with death. That means that they were fully committed, fully surrendered. They were not casual Christians, part-time saints. Jesus has a huge fan club. He's looking for some followers. He got a fan club, and every Sunday folk gather in the stadiums 'cause they want to see Jesus on Sunday. But all the fans are in the stands. Jesus is looking for somebody getting on the field. They did not love their life even to death. It meant they were fully surrendered, fully committed. They weren't part-time Christians. They were all in. We all fall short, we all fail, but we have an advocate, a lawyer, and he knows how to handle a courtroom. When you appeal to the blood, when there is the word of your testimony and you give the judicial witness to God's truth; when you are all in, case dismissed, case dismissed. I am not suggesting that there won't be battles with the devil. I am not suggesting that Satan's not going to come after you if you become a person of the truth. I am not suggesting that you won't get bloodied, thrown down, thrown against the ring, punched, flipped, grabbed, and abused. I am not suggesting that. What I am suggesting is victory has already been predetermined and that you will come out more than a conqueror in Jesus Christ who loved you and gave himself for you. A lie is an enemy of the truth, and Satan is the father of lies. He originated lies, and he has children, since he's the father, who perpetuate his lies. Because if he can deceive us and draw us from the truth as God declares it to be, he can draw us away from God into error, into failure, and into spiritual defeat. You can only overcome lies with the truth. So on every subject find out what God has to say, because with the truth you wind up being set free, with a lie you wind up being in bondage. Satan can't handle the truth, so give him and his children God's perspective so you can live free. www.ocbfchurch.org

We’ve all had moments in our lives where it seemed like all hope was lost. I remember sitting at my desk in high school, staring at an AP Chemistry test that might as well have been written in Latin. I felt so doomed. My mind spun. I was going to fail this test. I was going to fail the class. Would I have to take summer school? Would I be able to get into my dream college?  I had catastrophized this one test into determining the trajectory of my future years. We’ve all experienced failure and hopelessness: the creeping dread of loss. Why does God allow us to fail? And how can God bring victory in hopeless circumstances? In Judges 6 , fear is spread like a blanket over the hearts of Israel. The Midianites have “overpowered Israel,” scattering the people of Israel into dens “in the mountains and the caves of the strongholds” ( Jdgs 6:2 ). Israel cannot even harvest crops, “For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them” ( Jdgs 6:3 ) and “leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey” ( Jdgs 6:4 ). The Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey, had become a barren graveyard. In their despair, “the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord” ( Jdgs 6:6 ). And God responded in the most unexpected way. He sends an angel to a fearful Gideon who is beating out grain not on a true threshing floor (where wheat was usually threshed), but to a Gideon who is tucked into a winepress (traditionally carved into a rock) away from Midianite eyes. Without proper access to wind which was needed to carry away the chaff, the return for his efforts must have been nearly inedible grain: as much chaff as wheat. “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor!” ( Jdgs 6:12 ), the angel of the Lord greets Gideon. Gideon’s head swivels, his heart thumps. Where did this intruder come from? What did he want with him? Gideon wants to run, but freezes instead. He then musters the courage to question the faithfulness of God, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” ( Jdgs 6:13 ). Why did God choose Gideon? He was fearful.  He had accomplished nothing. He was the weakest member of the weakest clan ( Jdgs 6:15 ). How was God going to use Gideon to bring about victory for his people? The angel of the Lord simply responds, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man” ( Jdgs 6:16 ). How is victory going to come? Through God’s hand alone. What is Gideon’s responsibility? To worship. Gideon builds an altar to the Lord and calls it “The Lord is Peace.” The Lord then gives him his first command: tear down your father’s altars to Baal and build another altar to me. Gideon does so, albeit in the middle of the night “because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to it by day” ( Jdgs 6:27 ).  Gideon is obedient even while being afraid.  Is that you sometimes? Worship and obedience precede victory. God then gives himself unmistakable recognition for the way in which he orchestrates the Israelites’ victory against the Midianites.  He dwindles Gideon’s force from 32,000 men to 300 men.  The small band of three hundred men (that would go into battle against a vast Midianite army) held no weapons: only torches and trumpets. But they needed no weapons. They only needed their worship and their Lord. They had run to the caves for peace and protection, but the Lord was their only peace, their only stronghold. And so, with hearts set on their only hope, they blew the trumpets, broke the jars covering the torches, and cried out (with no small irony), “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” ( Jdgs 7:20 ). Are you desperate for victory? Over sin? Over despair? Over loss? Bow down and worship. “Draw near to the Lord and he will draw near to you,” ( Jms. 4:8 ) James admonishes. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise,” ( Ps. 51:17 ), David echoes. This is not a promise of victory in our way and in our timing. God’s victories often look very different than our version. But God’s glory is made manifest when our hearts draw low in worship. Let us heed the warning in the conclusion of the text.  Having witnessed God provide rescue for his people, Gideon begins to siphon off glory that was due God for himself. He accepts tribute as a king would and fashions an ephod in order to claim a priestly role. And he and the people return to worshiping false gods. God again allows cyclic judgement to come on his people to draw them back to himself. Worship is a daily invitation. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” ( Ps. 139:23 ) David cries out. Repentance and worship must be formed as a lifestyle, as a pattern of godly living. We cannot rest on the worship of yesterday. We cannot presume on the mercy of God. “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor!” God has victory for you, even if you are hesitant or afraid like Gideon.  Step into obedience and worship. God promises to be with you and invites you to worship him as you behold his mighty hand at work.

The God who lives in unapproachable light became approachable in the person of Jesus ( John 1:14 ). In fact, it was Jesus Himself who made God visible to us: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” ( John 1:18 ). Consider the dialogue between Philip and Jesus in  John 14:8-9 : Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” Jesus also says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” ( Matthew 5:8 ). This is all a precursor to what God promises we’ll experience after the resurrection, on the New Earth: “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.  They will see his face ” ( Revelation 22:3-4 ). “Without holiness no one will see the Lord” ( Hebrews 12:14 ). For us to see God would require us to undergo radical transformation between now and then. And that’s exactly what will happen. By faith in Christ, God’s children already have His righteousness, which will allow us into Heaven ( Romans 3:22 ;  2 Corinthians 5:21 ). Because we stand completely righteous before God in Christ, once we’re glorified and forever made sinless, we’ll be able to see God and live. That’s why the most astonishing sight we can anticipate in Heaven is not streets of gold or pearly gates or loved ones who’ve died before us. It will be coming face-to-face with our Savior. To look into Jesus’ eyes will be to see what we’ve always longed to see: the  person  who made us and for whom we were made. And we’ll see Him in the  place  He made for us and for which we were made. Seeing God will be like seeing everything else for the first time. I sometimes ponder what it’ll be like to see Jesus, to fall on my knees before Him, then talk with Him and eat with Him and walk with Him as a resurrected person living on a resurrected Earth. Like Job I’m struck with the realization that “I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” In my novel  Deadline , the character Finney, having just entered Heaven, meets His Savior face to face: At the back of the crowd stood one being glowing with a soft light that did not blind, but attracted and captivated the eyes. He smiled at Finney, who trembled with joy at the immediate realization of who it was. This was the ageless one, the Ancient of Days, who is eternally young. He stepped forward.… He who had spun the galaxies into being with a single snap of his finger, he who could uncreate all that existed with no more than a thought, extended his hand to Finney, as if the hand he extended was that of a plain ordinary carpenter.… For the moment, it was impossible to look elsewhere, and no one in his right mind would have wanted to.“ Welcome, my son! Enter the kingdom prepared for you, by virtue of a work done by another, a work you could not do. Here you shall receive reward for those works you did in my name, works you were created to do.” And then, with a smile that communicated more than any smile Finney had ever seen, the Great One looked into his eyes and said with obvious pride, “Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord!” As the crowd broke out in cheers, Finney felt overwhelmed, and dropped to his knees, then flat on the ground, face down, as if the knees were still too lofty a position before the Lord of Heaven. epm.org . Used by permission.

An encouraging study by Lifeway Research found that two-thirds of churchgoers invited someone to church in the last six months. [i] When was the last time you invited someone to church? Who is the next person God might have you invite? Inviting someone to church isn’t, of course, a substitute for evangelism, but it sure is a great partner in our evangelistic efforts. Similar to our homes, our churches ought to be a place that, while they are primarily for the gathered body of Christ, are also always welcoming to the outsider. Diana Davis had an excellent post at Lifeway that spurred me to consider ways that I can better engage those God has put in my life with the gospel and be more active in inviting them to church. [ii] I’ve tweaked and whittled her list of 52 down to 17. They are a good challenge for me, and I hope they will be for you as well. 1.       Walk your dog. Jog. Stroll.   Walk to your mailbox instead of stopping at it in your car. Rhythms of availability are important in creating in-roads for relationships with your neighbors. There is no easier way to say hi than with your dog on a leash, or with mail in hand. 2.      Spend time in your front yard.  Water your plants, sit on the porch, do projects, play with your kids. Visit with neighbors who walk by, get to know them, and invite them to church. 3.      Plan a neighborhood gathering to get to know your neighbors.  It could be a cookout in the yard, a dinner, an ice cream or watermelon party. Play corn hole or volleyball, or just put out lawn chairs and hang out. Give each guest an invitation when they leave. 4.      Regularly attend local sports events, such as Little League, high school, college, professional, baseball, softball, football, soccer, etc.  Tailgate, cheer, have fun! Get to know other spectators. Invite them to your church. 5.      Each time you go to the church building, click “check in” on your Facebook account.  Also, “like” your church’s Facebook page and it will show on your news feed. Friends notice! 6.       Your personal social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) offers a great way to invite people. Post a photo, tell a story about how church impacts your life, link to the church website, or say “Join us Sunday at 10!” You never know who is reading. 7.      Forward the event info or repost the invite from your church website or Facebook page to invite a friend to a church service or event. Don’t assume that a standing invitation will be met with a yes: circle back with specific invitations. 8.      Add an extra line under your personal email automatic signature.  It might say “Check out my awesome church: [link to your church’s website]. Join me there next Sunday?” 9.      Invite someone while you’re on the way to church.  A neighbor getting his newspaper, an acquaintance at the donut shop, a student you pass in the dorm. Be ready. 10.   Join or volunteer in a community organization, or take a class, with the intention to invite new acquaintances to church.  The group could be the PTO, a book club, a business or a community group, a sports team, a class at the gym, a college class, etc. 11.    Deliver a welcome gift and church invitation to new move-ins in your community.  Subscribe to a service or ask members to call if they see someone moving into their neighborhood. A volunteer delivers a welcome packet and homemade goodies or gift. 12.   Coach a kids’ ball team, represent Jesus well, and conclude the season with a backyard cookout.  Invite kids’ families to join you for church, and sit together as a group. 13.   Plan play-dates with your children’s friends and parents.  Invite them to church, and plan to meet for burgers nearby afterward. Get your children involved. They can invite friends to church just as well as you! 14.   Get to know your child’s schoolteacher, coach, or physician.  Invite him or her to your home for a casual dinner. If they don’t have a church, invite them to yours. 15.   Host “First Day, Moms/Dads Pray” coffee on the first day of school.  Invite other moms/dads to the half-hour prayer for kids and teachers, then moms/dads hang around for coffee, snacks, and fellowship. Provide a personal invite to your church. 16.   Arrange a van to provide pickup for students at a nearby university.  Get permission to post a sign in freshmen dorms as they move in and give a number they can text for a lift to worship. 17.   Talk about your church in everyday conversations —on the bus, in the break-room, at the park, in the coffee shop, in an Uber, the grocery line, the waiting room. Just chat and invite naturally. As God puts people in your life, will you intentionally invite them? Jesus commands his followers to bring lost people to know Him. You have a unique circle of influence, and your personal invitation can influence them toward Jesus. Be an inviter! [i] https://factsandtrends.net/2018/07/12/most-churchgoers-invite-guests-few-say-its-not-their-job/ [ii] https://factsandtrends.net/2019/01/02/52-ideas-for-inviting-someone-to-church-this-year/?ecid=PDM161152&bid=369927744

Michael J. Kruger’s book, Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College   (Crossway, 2021) is a wonderful resource for high school or college students preparing to live for Christ in a potentially hostile environment. Don’t confuse not having an answer with there not being an answer. The two are not the same. Even if  you  don’t have answers to difficult questions, that does not mean there are none. . . . Here’s the big point: you’re not going to be able to answer every objection to Christianity that you hear. And that’s okay. It’s not a reason to doubt your faith. (31, 32) Apart from the Spirit’s help, people are hardwired to reject Christianity. . . . Thus, the widespread rejection of Christianity by intellectual elites has nothing to do with whether Christianity is true. . . . Truth is not determined by majority vote. (45, 46, 49) Is Jesus arrogant to claim that he is the only way to God? Well, that depends on [his] identity. He didn’t claim to be a mere human or simply a prophet, but rather the divine Son of God. And as such, he would certainly have the authority to tell us about how one goes to heaven. (55) Relativism only works if the statement “There is no objective truth” is objectively true. Thus, relativism only works if it exempts itself from its own rules. . . . In order for relativists to condemn others for making absolute truth claims, they must make their own absolute truth claims (namely, that there are no absolute truths). Thus, what seemed to be a humble position ends up being as dogmatic and absolutist as the positions it condemns. (59) Stand your ground. And always do so with kindness. It’s the  combination  of these two things that is so powerful. Some Christians stand their ground but are unkind to those who disagree. Other Christians are kind to those who disagree but abandon their belief that Christ is the only way. You are called to do  both —stand your ground on the uniqueness of Christ and show kindness. The two are not mutually exclusive but belong together. (62) Most of your friends are both moral relativists and moral absolutists  at the same time . For some behaviors, they are one; for other behaviors, they are the other. They pick and choose. So when it comes to environmentalism and the treatment of refugees, they abandon moral relativism and act as if there are moral absolutes after all. But when it comes to their sexual behavior, they suddenly become moral relativists again, insistent that morality is determined by each person and culture. They want to have it both ways. (70) Your moral views (particularly about sex) are not really your views at all; they are God’s. That means that if people think your views are hateful, then they would have to think that God himself is hateful. If people get upset with you, just remember that they are really upset with the God you serve. The goal of your conversations, therefore, will be not so much about helping your friends understand your views as about helping them understand  your God . (74) If Christians change their view of homosexuality simply because they discover that homosexuals are nice people, then that actually reveals a very embarrassing reality, namely, that they had assumed homosexuals must be awful people. Sexual purity is not based on personality, but on the truth of the Word of God. In other words, it reveals that they had a form of prejudice —they had assumed that people who are different from them must be mean, cruel, and unpleasant. But that is a decidedly anti-Christian way of thinking. (79) Most people find hell unimaginable because they measure themselves by a standard that they can  already meet . But what if the standard was not easy to meet? What if the standard was God’s perfect holiness, and what if we were corrupt, fallen sinners who violate God’s law even more than we know? (95–96) What should surprise us is not that God would judge sinners (that actually makes sense) but that he would save any of them. Heaven, not hell, is the real mystery of Scripture. (102) Either God exists and there’s good and evil in the world, or God doesn’t exist and there’s no good and evil in the world. . . . The problem of evil is very real. But it is more of a problem for the atheist than it is for the Christian. (117) Far from being a hindrance to science, belief in God is the very thing that makes science possible in the first place. Christianity doesn’t need science; science needs Christianity. (125) One of the best pieces of evidence of the resurrection of Jesus is the existence of the church itself. If Jesus had remained in the tomb, there would be no such thing as Christianity. (142) If [the Gospels] were written between twenty and sixty years after the life of Jesus, that means they were written when  people who had witnessed these things were still alive . In other words, they were written when someone could step forward and say, “That’s not how it happened. I was there.” We might say, then, that there was at least some level of  accountability  surrounding the publication of these four Gospels. If the authors were fabricating their stories, it is difficult to imagine how they would have been so enthusiastically received. (164) [The New Testament] might just be the most well-established text in all the ancient world. If it cannot be trusted, then no ancient text anywhere can be trusted. (176) The teachings of Christianity, rightly understood, were the foundation for the defeat of the African slave trade. (206) Despite the modern impression that Christianity is a hostile place for women, Roman women didn’t agree. On the contrary, they flocked to the new faith in droves. Our best estimates indicate that women made up nearly two-thirds of early Christian communities—basically the  opposite  of that found in the broader Greco-Roman world. Apparently, women found the church to be a place where they could find honor, dignity, fair treatment, and healthy marriages. Indeed, so popular was early Christianity among women that it was often ridiculed by Roman critics as a religion for women. (208–9) Skeptics are appealing to a moral standard in order to object to the God of the Bible. But they need the God of the Bible in order to have a coherent moral standard in the first place. In effect, they are sawing off the branch they are sitting on. (214) It’s not just belief that affects behavior, but it’s also  behavior that affects belief . When we don’t obey God, we can begin to doubt God. Indeed, if we don’t obey God, we can begin to fight against God. He can feel like the enemy, rather than a friend. (224) Reprinted from www.thegospelcoalition.org .

Dear Roger, I have so many questions about the “millennium”. or “Thousand-Year Reign of Christ.” Can you help me understand what John was describing? Love, Crystal Dear Crystal, I would be delighted. THE THOUSAND-YEAR REIGN OF CHRIST War is a terrible thing. Sometimes it's necessary. Even God goes to war. In the Book of Revelation, we learn that the world will look bleak when all Hell breaks loose at the Battle of Armageddon. Armies will be destroyed in nuclear holocaust. Gog, Magog and Rosh from the North will march to destruction. The antichrist will be put in his place of eternal hell. An army of of 200 million from the east will invade the Mediterranean world. Eyes will melt in their sockets. It will take seven years for crews to clean up the subsequent radiation. (Revelation 16:12-16) Revelation also describes seven seals that are the title deed of Earth. God has almost been an absentee landlord. But God had in mind all along for Christ to rule and reign upon this earth. God uses the seven-year Great Tribulation and the battle of Armageddon to remove from the earth every last vestige of godless rebellion. With this fresh start, the 1000 year millennium begins (Revelation 20). Just as there are Three Ways To Interpret The Great Tribulation, There Are Three Possible Ways To Interpret The Millennium. PRE-MILLENNIALISM Christ will literally and bodily return to earth before (pre-) the thousand year reign begins. Jesus will set up His Kingdom and reign from the throne of David out of a rebuilt city of Jerusalem. When Christ returns to earth, He will take all the believers out, condemn all the unbelievers, and eternity will begin right then. All of God’s promises to Israel will be transferred to the church. This interpretation also teaches that Israel forfeited all of God's promises to her because of unbelief. The Church will inherit all the promises originally intended for Israel. POST-MILLENNIALISM Post-millennialists believe that the world will get better and better through the spread of the Gospel, and this will be the millennial age. Then after the Millennium, Christ will take the believers to Heaven and condemn those who reject Him. However, this teaching suffered a severe reversal in the past century, as two world wars made this position untenable. The world is obviously not getting better and better. AMILLENNIALISM There will be no thousand year reign of Christ on earth and no earthly Kingdom of God. God will literally fulfill all His promises and covenants with Israel, regardless of. Israel's past history of spiritual failures. PAN-MILLENNIALISM Pan-millennialism is that everything will "pan" out in the end. Don't worry about it. WHETHER OR NOT THERE IS A LITERAL REIGN OF CHRIST ON EARTH IS OF GREAT SIGNIFICANCE. I tend to follow the Pre-Millennial viewpoint for several reasons. The one central theme of the prophets is that Israel must prepare and get ready because the Messiah was going to come and establish His Kingdom. The heart of the Old Testament prophetic message is the coming of the Messiah to set up an earthly Kingdom over which Christ would rule from the throne of David. God is restoring all things as they ought to be. In vindicating righteousness, God will ultimately showcase what He had in mind from the beginning; one world unity under the control of Jesus Christ. To a large degree, as the seven-year Great Tribulation is a preview of Hell on earth, so the 1000 year reign of Christ is a preview of Heaven. The Millennium will also be the public honoring of the Son of God. “Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 14:16). For centuries, men have longed for a golden age of peace on earth. Philosophers have talked about it. Poets have written about it. Musicians have sung about it. Politicians have promised it. Kings have fought for it. Prophets have foretold it. A misunderstanding that Christ would come twice and not once is the main reason that Israel rejected the Messiah and missed their Savior when He came to Jerusalem. “Then I will pour out a spirit] of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died” (Zechariah 12:10-12 NIV). The Old Testament is filled with truth that the coming of the Messiah is not one-fold but two-fold. He comes first during the Great Tribulation to receive all of his Christian saints into heaven. He comes secondly at the commencement of the thousand-year reign. He would come to die before He came to reign. Philippians 2:7-10 He came the first time to a cross but the second time to a crown. Zechariah 12:10 The first time Jesus stood before Pilate. The next time Pilate will stand before Him. Revelation 20:12 The glorious coming of Messiah is not yet. He came the first time to deal with sin, which is why we need a Savior, which is why we have no reign of peace on earth. Now that He's dealt with sin on the cross, He'll come a second time to set up His earthly Kingdom, (the millennium) and that may be just around that corner. The King comes to establish His reign on earth. He has one more problem to deal with after Armageddon. The devil himself needs judgment. The False prophet, the Antichrist and unsaved men and women are awaiting judgment: The Great White Throne judgment where all will be judged guilty and cast into the Lake Of Fire (Revelation 20:11). All have now perished except for Devil himself who is the source of all the trouble. “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years. The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward he must be released for a little while. The host of fallen angels, together with the demons and the world of men, during the preceding three and one half years, had bowed to Satan, now "an angel" fastens on Satan a great chain and chains him for 1000 years” (Revelation 20:1-3). Just before the end of the millennium Satan is set free for little time to do his dastardly deeds to be sure that all evil has been eradicated as the millennium begins. The demons greatly feared by the abyss most of all. In the story of the Gadarene demoniac, the request of the demons is that Jesus would not command them to leave the man and go into the abyss (Luke 8:31). He acquiesced and sent them into a herd of swine. Why does God finally put Satan under lock and key? So that Satan can't go around deceiving the nations during the thousand-year Kingdom. For thousands of years, he has deceived the nations of the world into thinking that they can build a better world without Christ. Sometimes he convinced the nations that the only way to solve their problems was by war. At other times he deceived them into thinking that education, environment, and religion could save the world. He sponsored any program that left Christ out. With Satan bound, God will show us the world as it ought to be. Why wouldn’t everyone be saved if Jesus is the king? Because Satan is still free to blind people from seeing the gospel and because people still have a sinful nature which precludes some from asking for forgiveness and surrendering their lives to Christ the Savior. The reason that God allows Satan to be free for a thousand years and then allowed to be free for a short time at the end of the millennium is to ensure that evil has been completely eradicated as King Jesus begins His earthly reign. The souls of those who become Christians during the millennium will enter heaven when they die. Those souls who have not received Christ will be waiting for the great white throne judgment where they will be judged guilty for their sins and be cast into the lake of fire. Unfortunately, they had no Savior. My biggest question is: Why did Jesus release Satan from the pit during the millennial reign? I believe Martin Bradley gave the best answer: "I believe the main reason God will let Satan loose for one more time is to prune out some of these bad people who won’t stay loyal and committed to serving Him. These people will not be able to start any kind of trouble against God in the Millennium Kingdom because Satan is not around yet, people no longer war with one another, and we will have perfect law and order in this new environment since Jesus will now be in full control of everything. I believe God will set these people up. He will allow Satan to roam free one more time so he can tempt these people into going against Him and His people. And right at the point where these rebellious ones are getting ready to encircle Jerusalem to attack it, God will literally destroy them right there on the spot. What this tells us is that there will still be some people who will rebel and go against God – even in the most perfect God-environment imaginable! These people will have all been born into and raised up in this Millennium Kingdom without any type of bad influence from Satan, his demons, and any other bad and unsaved people, since God had already thrown all of them into Hades for the entire length of the Millennium Kingdom. These people will have also been raised up being taught who the real God is, along with being taught all of His awesome ways. There will be no other gods or false religions to confuse or seduce them. And even in this most perfect scenario imaginable, there is obviously going to be a group of these people who will still choose to rebel against God and try to overthrow Him by attacking His holy city of Jerusalem once Satan is let loose to try and set all of this up. When you first examine all of the above, you have to ask yourself, how could a group of humans be so stupid to think they can overthrow or go against God Almighty Himself, especially since they have probably been taught the entire history of our world during the Millennium Kingdom? How could these people go against God when they have been raised up in the most perfect God-environment imaginable? To answer this, all you have to do is look at what happened to Satan and all of the fallen angels. They were all initially living up in heaven with the Lord with no negative influences until Satan started to malfunction through pride and conceit. They too were living in the most perfect God-environment imaginable, and possibly up to one-third of them decided with their own free wills to rebel against God Himself in this perfect heavenly environment. So just as a certain of amount of the angels decided to rebel and go against God Himself in a perfect heavenly environment, so too are a certain number of human beings going to do the exact same thing at the end of the Millennium Kingdom. And once again, God will allow Satan to be the one to tempt and cause these rebellious ones to fall. Bottom line – God knows there are going to be a certain number of people who will still try and come against Him, even in this perfect Millennium Kingdom. He is simply going to draw them out, expose them, and then prune them out by allowing Satan to deceive them like he did with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden." Then once all of this has been accomplished, you will have nothing but the good apples left that will finally inherit God’s best for all of humanity – The New Heaven and the New Earth. Why isn't the Great Tribulation also 1000 years? Because Jesus said in Matthew 24:22: "If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened" NIV. King David penned Psalm 2 years before Jesus came to reign. Here is his warning: The Reign of the Lord's Anointed 2 “Why do the nations rage[a] and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree:The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break[b] them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” ESV

The Good Woman Luke 15:8-10   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 prepare 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 and 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 sense 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 ten 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 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.” CSB   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 joy in heaven every time one person is 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.   Interestingly, 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. 1 Afterward he was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her); 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions. CSB   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 Jewish 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 evangelize another woman is a woman. Let’s be real honest here, many women are scared of men. Unfortunately, the abusiveness and controlling nature 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. When we saturate ourselves with this chapter in Luke we find the very mercy of God.   Are we ready to see women through Jesus eyes? The way Jesus valued females freed them to know and serve the real God. He refused to objectify them or to see them as a burden. No wonder these ladies were willing to support Jesus’ expenses from their own wealth. (Luke 8:1-3)   Think about it for a minute. How can we enable more women to be like Jesus?

David and Jonathan, son of King Saul, formed a deep bond of friendship despite the attempts of a raging father to destroy David. Their friendship is legendary. The protection of God, powerful. TRANSCRIPTION SERIES: 09 1 Samuel - 2021 1 Samuel 19-20 MESSAGE: Skip Heitzig SPEAKER: SCRIPTURE: 1 Samuel 19-20 1 Samuel 19-20 - Skip Heitzig [MUSIC PLAYING] Calvary Church is dedicated to doctrine, and we want you to experience the life change that comes from knowing God's word and applying it to your life. So we explain the Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. Let's turn in our Bibles to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 19, 1 Samuel, chapter 19. When we left off last time, there was already tension growing between Saul and David. There was a song that had become quite popular. Saul was used to getting all the accolades from the battles that were fought. But now David, his name is inserted into the victory song. And he didn't like that lyric. The women came out with tambourines and dancing, and they said, Saul has slain his thousands. And he arched his back, and puffed out his chest, and smiled real big. And he loved the lyrics so far. But it was the second verse that he took offense to. For it went this way. Saul has slain his thousands, but David has slain his tens of thousands. So from that moment on, he put two and two together, knew that David was the one God had appointed. And we left off in chapter 18, verse 29. "Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David's enemy continually." What we're going to observe now is that he becomes irrational, paranoid, even schizophrenic, when it comes to David-- like, I'm going to kill him. OK, I won't kill him. I'm going to kill him. OK, I won't kill him. And he's torn. And he loses-- it's like his mental faculties have become addled a bit. And I believe that when a person rejects God in their lives, that they lose some of their capability to make sound judgments. It's skewed. There's spin on it. There's paranoia attached to it. There's something they're trying to protect themselves from. And Saul certainly fits into that category. Jealousy begins to eat away at Saul. It's destroying him. He sees God's hand and God's favor upon David, and he wants to eliminate the threat. especially since, in chapter 15, Samuel the prophet said, God has torn away the kingdom from you and has given it to one of your neighbors who's better than you are. Ooh, that irritated him. Now he's dying to find out who that neighbor is. And because David shows himself wise and wins battle after battle, he now knows this is the Lord's anointed. 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 1 So the prophet has told him, the kingdom is no longer yours. It's being taken away. But Saul is trying to hold on to what is not rightfully his. Yes, he's the king. But he's going down. And the prophet of God said, the kingdom doesn't belong to you. It belongs to somebody else. So rightfully, it is David's. And David will be the next king. But Saul doesn't want to let go. Saul wants to hold on tight to what is not rightfully his and to keep what he has by force and to eliminate by force the threat of David. Now, in this area, Saul becomes a type of Satan. Because Satan, Jesus even said, is the prince of this world, the god of this age. Paul said he's the one that rules in the children of disobedience. He has rulership over the world. Again, the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the prince of this age Jesus called him. Satan even said to Jesus, concerning the kingdoms of the world, for they are mine, and I give them to whomsoever I wish. Jesus did not argue that point with him. But God has raised up to rule the world Jesus, the Son of David, to sit on the throne, to rule and reign forever and ever. Satan is trying to hold on to his rule by force and doing everything he can to eliminate Christ and the Christian cause. I recommend reading, not now, but later on, Revelation chapter 12 and how he wants to eliminate the male child that would be born to the nation of Israel. But one day, Jesus will return and rule and reign over what is His, given to Him by his Father. So Satan is-- or Saul is like a type of Satan, and David is, in this case, in this consideration, a type of Christ. So chapter 19, verse 1-- "So now Paul-- or now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill David. But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David." Now, you recall twice, Saul tried to pin David to the wall, tried to execute him right in the palace by throwing his spear at him. And David got the point. [LAUGHTER] And so he got out quick. He ran away quick, just to see-- I do that to see just if you're listening or not. [LAUGHTER] So now, because David has fled Saul's attempt at destruction, he decides to take a contract out on his life, to hire assassins to go get him. He has a dispatch of men to go kill him. But it says Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David. There is a translation called the Berkeley translation. I really love how it renders this verse. It says that Jonathan highly prized David. That friendship was a gift to him. It was a prize to him. Even though Jonathan knew that, on normal circumstances, he would be the next King, he knew that he wouldn't be the next king, that God anointed David to be the next King. And he would rather have David as the next king, because he so prized the relationship, so love David as his own soul. And so Jonathan would rather do God's will than become king. And we saw in chapter 18 that their souls were knit together. And they gave each other a covenant of friendship, a covenant of love. 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 2 Actually, Jonathan and David would have made a great team together. And unfortunately, you're going to see, if we get to it in time, you're going to see where they part company tonight, and they won't see each other at all the rest of their lives. They go two different directions. But you know, the Bible often has great teams. There's Paul and Timothy or Paul and Barnabas or Paul and Silas. Often, he was together with somebody. There's Peter, James, and John-- great team. There's Aquila and Priscilla-- great team. There's Ruth and Naomi-- great team. David and Jonathan made a great team. They loved each other. So Jonathan told David, saying, "my father seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until morning and stay in a secret place and hide. And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell you. Now Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, let not the king sin against his servant David-- against David, because he has not sinned against you and because his works have been very good toward you. For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine. And the Lord brought about great salvation for all of Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood to kill David without a cause?" Saul discovers the plot to assassinate David. He tells David to go and hide. Let me go have a chat, a little talk with Dad. And so he gets Saul, and he says, you know, Dad, basically David is the best thing that ever happened to you. You'll never have a more loyal servant. If you remember, he was the one that risked his own life, put his own neck on the line, without any armored all, faced Goliath, won the battle, took his head off. You loved David when that happened. So he's vying for him. He's reminding his father of the recent past. So verse 6-- "So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan. And Saul swore, as the Lord lives, he shall not be killed." Victory, temporarily. "Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past. And there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines, and struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him. Now a distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand." Here goes. "And David was playing music with his hand. Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear. But he slipped away from Saul's presence, and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night." There was for the time being a reconciliation between Saul and David, a temporary reconciliation. David was restored to the royal court once again, after Jonathan had that little talk to his dad. Dad said, yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. I love David. Bring him back. So David once again is playing music. But once again, a distressing spirit-- which we read about a few weeks ago-- from the Lord tormented him. It is possible, though I do not believe at all that a Christian, a child of God, can be possessed by a demon-- I think that's abundantly clear from the scripture-- I do think we can open ourselves up to the work of demons and the work of Satan. The Bible says, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. But sometimes, you don't resist the devil. And when you don't resist the devil, he won't flee from you. Resist 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 3 the devil, and he will flee. Don't resist the devil, and the devil will frolic, not flee. He'll play around. And he desires to get a foothold. He desires to make your action a habit, and then a lifestyle, and then a bondage. So Saul opened himself up to that arena. And he was not a saved man, so it's not the same thing as a believer. But once again, this distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul. So David fled, it says at the end of verse 10, and he escaped that night. Now, this is probably a good time to just consider how to handle life when spears are thrown at you, when your enemies say things against you or attack you. How do you handle it when that happens? Number one, duck. [LAUGHTER] That's number one. David ducked. David didn't stand there. He just sort of ducked and ran. Now, David had an advantage. The spear came his way, stuck in the wall just above him. He could easily have taken that same spear, pulled it out of the wall. David was a much better aim than was Saul. He could have just easily said, oh, really? And thrown it right back at him-- which would have been a whole lot more fun for David, like vengeance always is for any of us. You know, whenever we take vengeance, whenever we talk back or get back or do something that hurts an opponent that tried to hurt us, there is an immediate sense of gratification. Admit it. We love it. We go, oh yeah, they deserve that. I admit to you, when I drive-- [LAUGHTER] --vengeance comes so easy to me. Because there's so many poor drivers. And I am so prone to judge them all and in my mind, correct how they could do it better. But the Lord would have us duck, number one. That's the first thing, duck. When the spear comes your way, when an insult comes your way, duck. Number two, do. Duck-- number one; number two-- do. Do right things. David went back to battle. David humbled himself. David went to work in the palace. Do things that are right and righteous. Don't end up doing good works before the Lord. Don't let the antagonism of others destroy your enthusiasm. You're enthusiastically serving the Lord. They're attacking you sometimes just because you believe in God. Don't let that take away your zest, your zeal, your joy. So duck, do, and then number three, devote. Be devoted to the Lord. Devote yourself to the Lord's cause. Let the antagonism and the insults become-- and the pain and the suffering become fuel for your prayer life, for your devotional life. You may not know this, but David is entering in a period of several years, where it's going to be the dark day of David's soul. David is going into a period of almost a decade, where he's going to be hunted like an animal by King Saul. He's going to have to go from cave to cave, from dwelling place to dwelling place, from city to city. But during this dark time, listen to how many psalms were written because of it. Psalm 18, Psalm 34, Psalm 52, Psalm 54, Psalm 57, Psalm 59, Psalm 63, Psalm 124, Psalm 138, and Psalm 142 were written because of this. So allow that pain as fuel for your devotional life. 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 4 So verse 11-- "Saul also sent messengers to David's house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal"-- or the Hebrew pronunciation Michal, but I probably will just henceforth, call her Michal, because it's which we're used to-- "and Michal David's wife told him, saying, if you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed." So they went to his house. They watched his house. They're scoping out his house. Now, keep a marker here. You don't have to turn to it, if you don't want to. But I'm going to read to you the inscription just above Psalm 59. So you can turn to it if you want. You don't have to, if you don't want to. But we're going to, the Lord willing, end up there. In Psalm 59, at the very top, it says, "To the chief Musician, set to Do Not Destroy"-- I guess that was a popular song-- "a Michtam of David, when Saul sent men, and they watched the house in order to kill him." Now you are reading the account of when Psalm 59 was birthed in the heart and by the pen of King David. It's always good to do that. So Lord willing, we'll get back to that. But let's go on. "So Michal let David down through a window. He went and fled and escaped. And Michal took an image and laid it in the bed. Put a cover of goat's hair for his head and covered it with clothes." You remember doing that as a kid. Right? You did it for your brothers or sisters, or you did it for your parents. I did it. They said, go to bed. So I'd put something in the bed. Then I'd go in the corner and turn on a flashlight and read something or do something. And they might come in and it looks like I'm fast asleep. And then they'd leave. And then I'd turn the light back on and do it again-- so one of those kind of things, only different. "So when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, well, she's sick. Then Saul sent messengers back to see David, saying, bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him. And when the messengers had come in, there was the image in the bed with a cover of goat's hair for his head. And Saul said to Michal, why have you deceived me like this and sent my enemy away so that he has escaped? And Michal answered Saul, he said to me, let me go. Why should I kill you?" Now, she's fudging it a little bit. She let him out, warned him, said, hey, get out of here. My dad's going to kill you. But she said, look, he threatened my life. You know, I had to let him go. Here's what I find ironic. Two of Saul's own children, Jonathan and Michal, know that David is right and are on his side. They know their dad's whacked. They know he's a wing nut. He might be the king. He might be in charge. He might give all the orders. But he's nuts. So it's like, no, we're not going to do what he says. That's ridiculous. Go hide. What also is interesting to me is that Saul refers to David as my enemy. Jonathan referred, in verse 4, to David as your servant. He's really your servant. And he was. He wouldn't even touch God's anointed throughout his entire life. He wouldn't raise a hand. He wouldn't take a piece of his robe. He wouldn't kill him when others said he should kill him. He wouldn't raise a hand. He served Saul. But Saul sees him as an enemy. He's paranoid. "So David fled and escaped and went to Samuel"-- remember Samuel the prophet-- "at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth." Now, that little word Naioth, Naioth in Hebrew, Naioth actually means-- is the Hebrew word for dwellings. And it refers to a compound of homes, like condominiums. 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 5 So Naioth, or dwellings, this little compound, is where the prophets lived with Samuel. Samuel had like a little school of ministry, called the school of the prophets, where he would train these young men in prophesying in ministry. And he went to Ramah, which was Samuel's home, and went to this compound, this Naioth, these dwellings, and found Samuel. "Now it was told Saul, saying, take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah. Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. When Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. And he asked and said, where are Samuel and David? And someone said, indeed they are in the dwellings at Ramah. So he went there to Naioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah." Now evidently, these messengers from Saul, these assassins, they're going in to find David. They get so overwhelmed by the Spirit of God, that they're held captive. They're captivated by it. Some commentators believe they were rendered limp, put on the ground, and they slept. I don't know if that's the case, because it says they prophesied. They entered into the praise of God or uttering spiritual truths of some kind. And then three groups came. And then finally, Saul himself says, you know, I don't know why I send the kid to do a man's work. I guess I got to do it. So he went. Same thing happened to him. "And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and laid down naked all that night-- and all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, is Saul also among the prophets?" Now, let me tell you what this is not. This is not a case of being, as some call it, slain in the Spirit. I don't know if you've ever heard that term. Slain in the Spirit is a term used in Pentecostal circles for somebody who's so overtaken by the Spirit of God, that they collapse. So you may have seen televangelists lay their hands on somebody and get very charismatic with them and go, Yay! And they go, oh. And they fall back, and there's people who catch them. And they're professional catchers, and they go-- [LAUGHTER] --seriously, come and be blessed. And their blessing is they get knocked out, and they haul them over and lay them down. They call that experience being slain in the Spirit. I find that nowhere in scripture. This is not being slain by the Spirit. Number one, they are unbelievers. They are assassins. They are murderers. They're not getting a blessing. They're not being slain in the Spirit. They're being restrained by the Spirit. Even Saul was. It's like God is pinning him to the ground, making him utter praise to Him, so that David has time to escape. That's what this is. David now can have an escape route. He can get out. 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 6 But I think there's a point to be made. Whatever happened to Saul and these assassins, it is possible to have a profound spiritual experience and still be unsaved. Oh, you know, that person went and said this and did that, and I got goosebumps, and I fell over. Or I went on a pilgrimage, and I saw that statue, and I was overcome. OK, good. Wonderful. We're glad. Hallelujah. Now what? How are you living today for the Lord? How has that changed your life? Saul had a wonderful spiritual experience. Didn't change him. He's as unsaved coming out of it as he was going into it. Now, just want to clear something up in verse 24. It says, he stripped off his clothes, and he laid there naked. Most scholars believe this is a reference to taking off his armor and becoming royally naked. That is, he took off his royal robes, his kingly robes, that he wasn't in the nude. He took off his-- he humiliated himself, so to speak, took off his royal garments, and was exposed in that way. OK, so from this point on, David's life gets dark. He becomes a refugee. He's going to be hunted from place to place. He lost his position in the palace. He lost his wife. He's going to be hunted by his father-in-law for about a decade, waiting on the Lord's timing. The Lord said, you're going to be the king. But He didn't say when he's going to be the king. So whatever promise the Lord has given you, be patient. You may go through hardship. You may have some spears thrown at you. Don't say, well, Lord, You promised this. So then if He promised it, it's going to happen. Be patient. This incident, though, reminds me of something I heard the first time I went to India with my wife Lenya. We met a young man who was an evangelist, named Steven. He was raised in a Hindu home. He was the son of a Hindu priest. And he had an incredible conversion experience with the Lord, filled with the Spirit, loved Jesus, happy as could be. You'd never know by his joy what his background was. He said, when I gave my life to Christ, I went home and told my parents, knowing they would be displeased. My father, a Hindu priest, was so displeased, he took up a knife and tried to kill me, and drove me out of the house. And he said that he would kill me and sacrifice me to the Hindu gods that he worshipped. He said, so I ran away from home, and I have not seen my parents since. And I mean, I'm heartbroken by his story. He goes, oh, don't be heartbroken. [LAUGHTER] And he said, because that night, I found in Psalm 27 that great promise, where God said-- or where David said, when my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. And he was so filled with joy. So David is now on the road. Chapter 20, verse 1-- "Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and went and said to Jonathan, what have I done? What is my iniquity? And what is my sin before your father that he seeks my life?" Notice the questions of David-- what did I do? How have I sinned? How have I gone wrong? How have I misread this? You know what's interesting? When we walk with the Lord, we get confused when life doesn't turn out the way we think it should, when people come against us and say things or do things against us. We get confused, and we think, well, what did I do wrong? You may have done nothing wrong. You may have 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 7 done everything right. The fault wasn't on David's end. The fault was on Saul's end. Sometimes just following the Lord, just loving God, just trusting Jesus, is enough to get unbelievers to hate you. That's it. I love the Lord. I hate you. You're what's wrong with the world. And they will spew their vitriol only because you love God. And so you go, man, what did I do wrong? Nothing. But we get confused. It's easy. Like David, you go, what did I do? Is it my fault? "So Jonathan said to him, by no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? Is it not so?" Now, apparently, I'm just guessing some time has passed between the last chapter and this chapter, because Jonathan was the one that informed David, look, my dad wants to kill you. And now David goes, you know, your dad wants to kill me. No, he don't want to kill you. Like, that's so done. It's so over. It's so much yesterday's news. And maybe this is on the heels of what happened in Naioth. Maybe he goes, look, man, my dad was prophesying. The Holy Spirit came over the guy. So he's thinking, he's good now. "Then David took an oath again and said, your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes. And he says, do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death." Look at that verse-- there's a step between me and death. How true that is. David lived in the conscious awareness that his life at all times was hanging by a thread. Now, we typically don't think this way. In fact, especially when we're young, we think we're invincible. And we might carry that thought through into our middle age and even maybe into our older age. We think, oh yeah, we get life all planned, right? It's going to happen this way, and I'm going to grow old that way. And probably that's good that we have sort of that feeling. Because otherwise, we would be afraid to go to sleep at night. You think, well, who knows? The ceiling might cave in and crush me. Or I might get in the car, and it might blow up. It's possible to live in fear, and that's no way to live. So we usually push those thoughts out, and we don't plan for it. However, the truth is, there is but a step between you and death. My brother died when he was 24 years of age in a motorcycle wreck, instantaneously. Didn't see it coming. When I got the phone call-- some of you have been in this situation. I get the phone call from my dad. It was like denial. No, that couldn't happen. It didn't happen. These things don't happen to us, not to our family. It doesn't happen to me. It happened. When my father was diagnosed with what he was diagnosed with, I read the medical report. I called my brother, oldest brother Jim, and I said, Dad has about, if I'm judging this correctly from the report, about a year to live. And I remember my brother yelling at me. How can you say that? That's such a mean thing to say. I said, you know what? I'm not a doctor, but I have a little bit of medical background. Just judging on what I read and what his condition is, he's got about a year. I'm making this phone call so you'll make the most of this 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 8 year. Within that year, he died. There's a step between us and death. There's no guarantee that COVID won't take you out, that a car won't take you out, that a number of things won't take you out. You know it's appointed under every man once to die. You know that. You, I hope, as a believer, are mature enough to realize, you're not getting out of this alive. The thing is, God hasn't told you when that appointment is. You'll find out. You'll wake up one day, and oh, hi, God. I guess today's the day. [LAUGHTER] There's a step between you and death. But you know what? There's also a step between you and life. There's a step between you and eternal life, and that step is to put your trust volitionally, intentionally, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're walking the fence, and you're thinking, oh, I got time, I got time. You might. You might not. And to gamble with the certainty of your death in spiritual matters, the most important matters, is the height of what it means to be a fool. If you know that you're going to face eternity and face God's judgment, but you don't give your life to Christ and secure that, you're foolhardy. So there is a step between you and death. But there's one step between you and eternal life. Take it. Go there. "So Jonathan said to David"-- verse 4-- "whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you. And David said to Jonathan, indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening. If your father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly asked permission of me that he might run over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family." And real briefly-- a new moon is the beginning of every Jewish month. The new moon is what appears in the Western sky. When there is no moon at all, when it's black or there's just a sliver, that's the beginning of the month. That's the new moon. And you know that in the Old Testament of Judaism, they worked off of not a solar year, not the Gregorian calendar, not a 365 and a third day year calendar, but a 360-day calendar, more off a combination of the lunar and solar years. So their months were different, and they would mark them by the moon. According to Leviticus, when you'd have a new moon, it was a civil holiday and a spiritual holiday. So they would have one, and some months, they would have two days of a feast. Now, if you worked for the king, especially if you were a bodyguard for the king or a soldier for the king, as David was, you were expected to be at these feasts to show your loyalty and support to the king. David knew that. But David said, tell Saul that I'm going to Bethlehem. Now, it could be that he wasn't lying. It could be that there was a feast in Bethlehem that his brother and father had and that he was called to it. But he was going to hide instead to find out the temperature, the decision of Saul toward David. "If he says"-- verse 7-- "it is well, your servant will be safe. If he is very angry, then be sure that evil is determined by him. Therefore, you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 9 a covenant of the Lord with you. Nevertheless, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself. For why should you bring me to your father?" Look, Johnny boy, if I've sinned, just kill me. If I've done something wrong, I'd rather you be the one to kill me-- capital punishment, you're the king's son-- rather than have the king himself do it. "And Jonathan said, far be it from you. For if I knew certainly that evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would not I tell you? Then David said to Jonathan, who will tell me, or what if your father answers you roughly? And Jonathan said to David, come, let us go into the field. So both of them went out into the field. And Jonathan said to David, the Lord God of Israel is witness. When I have sounded out my father sometime tomorrow or the third day, and indeed there is good toward David, and I do not send to you and tell you, may the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will report it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. And you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lord while I still live-- and you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lord while I still live, that I may not die, but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not when the Lord has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth." Now, again, it's pretty clear that Jonathan knew that he would not be the next king, the heir apparent, even though that was typically how things were done. In those days, it was a dynastic succession. The right of succession fell to the son. But he knew that David was God's anointed. So he just says, look, let's make a covenant for the future, for my progeny, that you protect them. "So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, let the Lord require it at the hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him. For he loved him as he loved his own soul." You know, it is human nature, even though we love someone, that when we love someone, we want that someone to reaffirm their love for us verbally over and over again. You never get used to, or it never gets old, hearing somebody you love say, I love you. Imagine if I were to tell my wife, come on, I told you that I loved you when we got married. [LAUGHTER] I made that promise. You don't need to hear it from me again. I'm a man of my word. How wonderful would the relationship be? Not very. She likes to hear it all the time. I love you. [LAUGHING] David and Jonathan had that warm friendship, and they made that covenant bond again. "Then Jonathan said to David, tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed and remain by the stone Ezel."-- some monolith or outcropping of stones. And then I will shoot three arrows to the side of it as though I shot it at a target. And there I will send a lad, saying, go find the arrows. If I expressly say to him, look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them and come, then as the Lord lives, there is safety for you and no harm. But if I say thus to the young man, look, the arrows are beyond you, then 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 10 go your way, for the Lord has sent you away. And as for the matter, which you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lord be between you and me forever. So David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast." Now, why this clandestine game of shooting arrows? I mean, they're talking face-to-face right here. Why not just say, look, I'll find out what the deal is, and then I'll come, and we'll have a meeting like this? Well, probably because Jonathan wasn't sure. If my father has indeed plotted against David, he may be watching me to go tell David. Because he knows that he and I have this relationship of loyalty to each other. So they might be spying on me. And so just to make it safe, we've got to come up with a code of some kind. So to keep me safe and David safe, he came up with this plan. "Now, the king sat"-- verse 25-- "on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall." That's a position of honor. "Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side. But David's place was empty. Nevertheless, Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, something has happened to him. He is unclean. Surely, he is unclean." According to Leviticus chapter 7, there were certain obligatory stipulations. To eat at a peace offering, you had to be ceremonially clean. You had to go through oblations. That happens, that a person could be unclean. A soldier could be from time to time. That is not beyond the pale of possibility. "So it happened on the next day, the second day of the month, that David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan, why has the son of Jesse not come to eat either yesterday or today?" Notice that Saul hates David so much, he can't even say his name. Where is that son of Jesse? "So Jonathan answered Saul, David"-- calling him by name-- "earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers. Therefore he has not come to the king's table. Then Saul's anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, you son of a perverse, rebellious woman." OK. You know what he's saying. There are other translations that color that up a little bit. "Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die. And Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, why should he be killed? What has he done? Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David." This is what happens when you become a thrower of spears, when you attack other people. When you attack other people, and you're always-- you want to make sure they get your point-- you're attacking them. You're going to make this point. You're going to yell at them or tweet something or say something. Eventually, it's going to affect your family. You're going to enter into a way of thinking, that if you're living in that kind of attack mode, you'll attack your son. You'll attack your daughter. You'll attack those that are in your own household. "So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 11 grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully. So it was in the morning, Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David. And a little lad was with him. And he said to the lad, now run and find the arrows which I shoot. And the lad ran, and he shot an arrow beyond him." That was the code that they established. "When the lad came to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, is not the arrow beyond you? And Jonathan cried out after the lad, make haste, hurry, do not delay. So Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter. Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad and said to him, go, carry them to the city. Now, as soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another, and they wept together, but David more so. Then Jonathan said to David, go in peace, since we are both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, may the Lord be between you and me, between your descendants and my descendants, forever. So he rose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city." This is the very last time they will see each other. The next time Jonathan comes really into David's life, it will be when he hears that Saul and Jonathan and Malchishua had fallen slain on Mount Gilboa, at which time David will cry, oh, how the mighty have fallen and the glory of Israel taken away. One wonders if Jonathan shouldn't have gotten up and gone with David. It would have been a great team. He could have defected from his father's kingdom. He could have gone on the road with David in hiding. But David goes into hiding. Jonathan goes back to the court, perhaps thinking, I need to be a buffer between my dad and David. Maybe I can have an influence over him. I did it once. Maybe I'll have that opportunity in the future. But I want to close, since we have just five minutes left, with that psalm that I mentioned, that I made reference to, and I read you the inscription at the beginning, Psalm 59. Because this teaches us how to pray when people attack us. And it is called, incidentally, an imprecatory psalm. An imprecatory psalm is when you call down an imprecation on someone, you're basically unleashing God to do whatever God wants to do. Now I'll warn you. This song is rated R in the sense that, though God is God, and God will do whatever God wants to do, David is going to be very upfront and pointed and honest with God toward his enemies. So Psalm 59, "To the chief Musician, set to Do Not Destroy. A Michtam of David, when Saul sent men, and they watched the house in order to kill him. Deliver me from my enemies, O God. Defend me from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Save me from bloodthirsty men." Notice how definite David is, to the point he is. He's not vague. Sometimes our prayers are just so vague. And if we wonder why sometimes they're not effective, that could be one reason. Some people are just, Lord, we just lift up all their needs, spoken and unspoken. No no, not unspoken. Speak them. Not I bring you unspoken needs. Speak them. Speak the needs. Say the needs. None of this, just bless everyone everywhere with everything. 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 12 [LAUGHTER] Well, first of all, how do you want God to bless you? Deliver me-- that's to the point. Defend me-- that's to the point. Save me-- that's to the point. Help. Be definite. "For look, they lie in wait for my life. The mighty gather against me, not for my transgression or for my sin, O Lord. They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine. Awake to help me and behold. You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to punish all the nations. Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors." Now, when you pray like this, it doesn't necessarily mean God's going to say yes to that prayer. Because God is merciful. God is kind. God is just. But I'm saying that it's OK to make your feelings known to God. Be honest with Him. If you're mad, be mad in your prayers-- not at God. But God already knows how you feel. Be honest with Him. Don't hide it from Him. Don't fill it with pious verbiage. Be real. Be authentic. "Awake to punish. At evening, they return. They growl like a dog. They go all around the city. Indeed they belch out with their mouth." Now, this is a heavy prayer. Like, God blow them out of the water. They're a bunch of burping dogs. [LAUGHTER] It gets better. Verse 8-- "You, O Lord, shall laugh at them. You will hold the nations in derision. O You, his Strength, I will wait for You. For God is my defense. My merciful God shall come to meet me. And God did. God will see my desire on my enemies"-- which He did. It took a while, but He did. But look at this. Look at this one. Verse 11-- "Do not slay them, lest my people forget. Scatter them by Your power and bring them down, O Lord our shield, for the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips. Let them even be taken in their pride and for their cursing and lying, which they speak. Consume them in wrath. Consume them, that they may not be. And let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth." Whoa! That's a worship song. It is amazing what you find in the scripture. Now, I'm going to read that one verse, a couple of these verses, in a translation called The Message. Have you ever heard of that translation, The Message, by Eugene Peterson? So listen to this. "Don't make a quick work of them, Yahweh, lest my people forget. But bring them down in slow motion. Take them apart piece by piece. Finish them off in fine style. Finish them off for good." That sounds like a prayer the godfather would pray. [LAUGHTER] This is so mafioso. It's like, kill them, God. I want You to really take them apart limb by limb. [LAUGHTER] Now, I'm not suggesting that you go mafioso in your prayer life, but that you get oh so honest in your prayer life. And don't be afraid to report anything you are feeling into the ears of a loving, all powerful, all knowing, all merciful God. He can handle it. He can handle your prayer. 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 13 [APPLAUSE] And then you leave it to Him. Father, thank you. Thank you for Your goodness to us. Thank you for Your word, that surprises us. Our lives are in Your hands. The issues that the world faces in terms of a disease, in terms of earthquakes, famines, hostile armies, we don't understand why You allow so much of what we see. But once again, Lord, we are brought back to Your word, and we learn that You are sovereign. You are working things out. Life is short for all of us. We have a chance to make a difference. While we live, there's a step between us and death. But tonight we choose life. We choose to walk with You and to serve You and to honor You, and to march into our future without fear and without compromise. In Jesus' name. [MUSIC PLAYING] For more resources from Calvary Church and Skip Heitzig, visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us for this teaching in our series Expound. 1 Samuel 19-20 - 1 Samuel 19-20 | SkipHeitzig.com/4673 Page | 14 www.connectwithskip.com

Why would a perfect God create us with free-will?  Surely He would have known we would turn our wills against Him.  Wouldn’t it have been easier to make us to be obedient and unquestioning?  And in Genesis 1:31 , how could God say (about the creation of man) that it was not just “good” like he said on the other five days of creation, but “very good”, knowing how that free-will would manifest itself throughout history?   When my wife and I were expecting our daughter, we actually prayed that God would give us a strong-willed child.  Man, did He ever answer that prayer!  That sounds insane, because strong-willed children challenge everything, from an early age. Early on, we concluded she would grow up to become a hostage negotiator!    But we prayed that prayer for a reason.  We knew it would be a challenge to raise a strong-willed child.  But we also knew that if we, by God’s grace, could get her pointed in the right direction, we would not have to worry about her.  If she went in a particular direction, it would be her choice, her commitment, her conviction.  She would not have to depend upon ours.   The point is, that free-will is absolutely necessary for commitment and conviction, and even more so, for love, grace, and mercy.  In fact all of the spiritual fruit listed in Galatians 5 , are acts of free-will, a free-will that has willfully submitted itself to God’s will, and is intentionally living out the imago dei.  Without the freedom to reject God, you could not truly love Him any more than your lawn mower can love you.  Love is an act of free-will!    He created us for a relationship with Himself, an intimate, loving relationship in which we freely choose to love Him, because He first loved us.  Not out of compulsion, guilt or manipulation, but out of gratitude for the love He sheds into our lives continually.   So free-will was an absolute necessity, despite its messiness and risks.  It was the only way to achieve what God was after.  He knew the risks, nay the inevitability, and He was prepared to deal with it before time began.   One might assume that it was maybe through some weakness in God that He was unable to make me obedient, that God is not as all-powerful as He claims to be.  But let’s think about it.  Yes, it would take a mighty God to create “perfect” humans that never did anything wrong.  Even with all of our technology and science we cannot create perfect machines that never fail, much less “autonomous” ones that make decisions for themselves.  Surely that would be an impressive feat of power and might!  That would surely be worthy of glory – at least from our perspective.   But God had something far more glorious in mind.  He wants us to choose to love Him, not out of compulsion, but because we feel that is in our own best interest.  Does it not take far more strength for God to woo me back to Himself than it would to force me to be obedient in the first place?  The way He made me requires that He, at some point, convince me that living for Him is in my best interest.  Then, and only then, is it my decision, not His or anyone else’s.  Every believing parent looks for the day when they know their child is living in her own faith, not that of her parents.  Does it not take an amazingly awesome God to win me back through loving mercy and grace rather than by means of intimidation?   Free-will is also a pre-requisite for creativity, another part of the imago dei.  Without free-will, our repertoire of possible solutions to challenges would be limited to that which was pre-programmed into us from the beginning.  And our response to any challenges would be mechanical and instinctive.   But how is free-will consistent with God’s sovereignty?  In his book, “Chosen by God”, R.C. Sproule addresses the apparent conflict between mankind’s free-will and God’s sovereignty.  He concludes that the two are compatible, because of God’s eternal nature and His ability to arrange the circumstances of our lives in a way that convinces us that a particular course of action would be in our own best interest.  While some may look at this as a form of divine manipulation, I prefer to see it differently.  God loves me so much, that He will move Heaven and Earth to help me see my need for Him and His love for me!  He so wants me to “not perish” that He goes to great lengths to convince me.    One word that Sproule uses as he talks about how we make decisions is interesting.  He doesn’t say we make decisions based upon what we think to be in our own best interest at the time.  He says we make decisions based upon what we feel to be in our own best interest at the time.  There is an important difference.    If we made decisions based upon what we think, probably not many people would ever smoke, over-eat, speed, etc.  We have so much information available to us that none of these choices should really make any sense.  Statistically, they all put us in danger and are shown to decrease the quality (and quantity) of life.  The data are very clear, so it is not really logical to choose doing any of these things.  So why do we do them anyway?    Research has clearly demonstrated that no matter how much we know about potential consequences and risks, when it come down to making decisions of all types, it comes down to what is emotionally appealing to us at the moment.  Somehow that over-rides any logical conclusions we have come to previously.  If we perceive some temporal emotional gratification from a particular choice, we will ultimately find some rationalization to make that choice.    Rationalization is one of mankind’s strongest faculties, right up there with denial.  And they both are useful because it allows us to set aside the cold, hard facts and make the choice that gives us the most immediate sense of gratification.  It takes great discipline and intentionality to overcome that tendency, and a willingness to delay gratification for some future greater good.  It takes conviction!  And conviction is the result of your values, what you really believe in your deepest being, that determines who you are.   True, many of us have personal or corporate value statements that are pretty lofty.  But if you really want to know what you or someone else really believes deep down, who we, or they, really are, look at the actions.  Jesus says it this way.   Matthew 7:15-20 – 15  “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16  By their fruit you will recognize them . Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17  Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20  Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them . ”   So the issue becomes how do I make my “personal values” match my “public values” so that the choices I make reflect what I really want to become?  The Apostle Paul speaks of this struggle.   Romans 7:14-25 – 14  We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15  I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  u For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out . 19  For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21  So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23  but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!   This ties into the story of Adam and Eve.  They both knew what was the “right” thing to do, but a thought was planted in their minds that just maybe they were missing something really good.  As they continued to ponder the thought (or meditate on it) it grew bigger in their minds and hearts until they were able to rationalize deviating from the proper course in hope of gaining that so-called “greater good”.    And that is why it’s so important to be careful what I let into my head, but become intentionally disciplined about how I think about things.  I need to not dwell on things that may look good or feel good for a moment, but have negative consequences.  Instead I need to diligently fill my mind with truth, and meditate on that, so that it sinks down into the deepest parts of me and becomes part of my true values.  And that is how I build conviction.  It’s all about building an accurate world-view!  I believe that is why Paul admonishes us to be intentionally and proactively mindful of our thoughts.   Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.   Free-will is also part of the imago dei.  God is the ultimate in free-will.  No one does, or ever could control His thoughts and actions.  God does what God wills!  While we are the imago dei, we only imperfectly reflect that attribute.  There is probably no one on earth or in history, except Christ, who perfectly exercises free will.  And even Christ said He only did what the Father willed.   In most cases, what we call free-will is choosing the lesser of two perceived evils, especially when free-will is only practiced in reaction to our circumstances.  We approach perfect free-will more closely when we are intentional and proactive in our lives.  But even then, our choices are strongly influenced by perceived immediate threats and opportunities.   So when God created us with free will, He determined that He would not force His will upon us in regard to His relationship with us.  He knew that would not allow us to love Him as He desires.  Instead, He allows us adequate room to express that love in our own way, and in our own time.  He lovingly draws us to Himself.   Jeremiah 31:3 – The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness .   The old adage that “you can draw more flies with honey than with vinegar” also applies in our case.  God knew we would more likely respond out of gratitude than out of fear, and that the response would be to enter into deeper relationship.  Fear never deepens a relationship; it builds walls that hinder relationship.    His loving kindness includes mercy (not getting what we deserve) and grace (getting what we could never deserve).  If all He had done was to die on the cross so our sins could be forgiven, that mercy would have been more than enough.  But He goes far beyond and pours grace into our lives continually through the power of His Holy Spirit.  He fills our lives with good things that we in no way could deserve as a way to show His delight in us and as an invitation into deeper fellowship with Him.   He delights to give good gifts to His children, just as any good father would ( Matthew 7:11 , Luke 11:13 ).  He desires that we, in gratitude, would enter into the delight with which those gifts are given.  They are an invitation into deeper relationship.  When we, of our own free-will respond in gratitude, we are blessed because our greatest relational need is being fulfilled.  As we draw nearer to Him, we see that His motivation is love, and we are changed.  We learn how to love others with the same unconditional love that He showers upon us.  Then we begin to understand a bit of the blessing He receives as well.  And our free-will seeks to follow His will.   God’s mercy and grace are not limited to those who are obedient.   Matthew 5:45b – … For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. (NASB)   1 Peter 3:18 – For Christ also died for sins once for all , the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; (KJV)   If it were limited to the obedient, we would all be without hope.    Our free-will, more often than not, results in bad decisions, decisions made from wrong motivations.    James 1:14-15 – But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.   Such decisions almost always have negative consequences, not just for us, but for others as well.  In spite of Hs mercy and grace, God generally lets us experience the negative consequences of bad decisions, not because He can’t prevent them, but because He, like any good parent, realizes that we learn more from what we experience than what we are told.  Like a loving parent, He sometimes mitigates the severity of those consequences, when the consequence would prove too severe.  But rarely does He eliminate them altogether.  And when He does mitigate the circumstances, He often does so at a dear cost to Himself, the ultimate example being His death on the cross.   But despite our bad decisions, God never withdraws His love.  He never rescinds His invitation into deeper relationship.  In fact, many times He uses the consequences to hem us in, so we are more likely to see Him waiting for us at the mouth of the box canyon into which we have fallen.  We are still free to practice self-sufficiency, trying to climb out on our own, or making the box canyon our new home.  He stands at the mouth of the canyon waiting for us to tire of our way and take Him up on His invitation to join Him on the hike to higher ground.   God continually places growth opportunities in our paths.  He knows that growth only comes when we are stretched beyond that to which we have become accustomed.  Many of the “challenges” of life are opportunities to climb out of our box and flex muscles we have used little or not at all.  It is when facing such challenges that we must decide whether we indeed climb out of the box, or just pull the lid down and hide.    Even when we climb from the box, we still face decisions about how we will respond to the challenge.  There are fundamentally two categories of choices we face that start with the decision to either move towards God, or to move away from Him.  There are generally a limited number of responses that will result in growth towards godliness, but many more that compromise what ground we have already gained.  Fortunately, He does not leave us to ourselves to figure out which is which.  His word is rich in wisdom, and for those that yield to Him, he sends His Holy Spirit to live inside of their spirits to teach not just their minds, but also their hearts.   God’s unconditional and unwavering love for us frees us from many self-defeating choices.  If we accept His unwavering love and acceptance, we escape the self-condemnation that so often defeats us on our journey to becoming what He created us to be.  If I recognize that nothing I do will make Him love me any less, there will be no reason to beat up on myself when I do fail because I will recognize that He already knew I was going to, but He still chose to love and accept me.  He sends conviction my way, but never condemnation.   Romans 8:1 – Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…   Before Christ climbed upon the cross, He knew every horrible thing I was going to think, say, or do.  But He still chose to die for me.  His free-will is so strong that not even I, or anyone else can convince Him to quit loving me.  He cannot be disappointed in me, because disappointment implies that He expected me to do something different than I did.  But He already knew what I was going to do, and He took that to the cross along with all my other sins – so it’s covered!    Self-condemnation keeps me focused on the sin.  Accepting His unconditional love keeps me focused on His loving mercy and grace, and deepens my relationship with Him.  I am free to chose which path I take!  And as my relationship with Him grows, it changes me; I want to draw even closer.  And because it is my “want” that ultimately drives my decisions, my decisions will naturally grow to be more in line with His will, what He wants for me.

Tests and trials are unavoidable, but the way we respond to them is up to us. Join us for the next talk in our series  Far from Perfect  as we take a closer look at how Abraham responded to the ultimate test of his faith. Far From Perfect Week 4 March 17/19, 2023 Far From Perfect Week 4 “Is God Testing Me? Ryan Leak Welcome to Chase Oaks. We’ve been in a series called Far From Perfect learning lessons from the life of Abraham who was considered one of the greats, but he was indeed, far from perfect, but God used him a powerful way. If you missed any of the messages in this series, I encourage you to go back and see messages delivered by Jeff and Greg that unpack Abraham’s story. In case you know nothing about Abraham, God comes to Abraham and his wife and tells them he’s going to use them to change the world and that he’s going to start with helping them get pregnant… at a very old age. Not like 40s/50s. No, Sarah was in her 90s and Abraham was in his 100s. But God let’s an imperfect couple that he’s going to do the impossible through them. Their story is inspirational and powerful. I want to zoom in one piece of their story that wasn’t so fun for Abraham. And it’s found in Genesis 22. SLIDE______________________) Genesis 22:1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Anybody like test? I certainly never looked forward to them in school. I certainly don’t look for them in life. But ready or not, they land on our front doorstep often, right? Sometimes they arrive in the form of a circumstance. An unforeseen layoff. A diagnosis. A breakup. A pandemic. All tests… Sometimes a test arrives in the form of a person. Got anybody in your life that test your patience? Don’t look at them. Could be a family member, a boss, a colleague, or a neighbor that we would say… they hold a special place in our hearts. =) Regardless, I find it interesting that scripture says God tested Abraham, called his name, and Abraham’s response is, Here I am. I think if we were told that tomorrow a test would be coming from God, I think most of us Far From Perfect Week 4 March 17/19, 2023 would say return to sender. If there was a website where we could sign up for God tests, I don’t think many of us would willingly take those tests, but Abraham is moving towards the thing that most of us steer away from. I’ve found that for a lot of people who follow Jesus, they’d like a testimony, a God story to share with others… without going through a test. But I think it’s hard to have a God-story without a God-trial and a God test. Here’s Abraham’s big test: SLIDE_______________________) Genesis 22:2-3 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. This is no small test, ladies and gentlemen. Obedience is easy when it’s convenient. Growing up I had friends who did great missions work in Africa. And they’d always say that they prayed, God don’t send me to Africa, and that’s exactly where they ended up. I thought… well why don’t I pray… God, whatever you do, don’t send me to Hawaii. Sometimes we’re ok with obedience as long as it lines up with our 5 year plan. But I can guarantee you for Abraham, this did not line up with what he thought was going to happen in his future. Remember, the back story of this is that Isaac is Abraham and Sarah’s miracle baby. Can you imagine the dinner conversation with Sarah after God told Abraham to kill him? You know how it is when you got bad news for your wife. You be giving it to her in pieces to see how she swallows it. Hey bay… Far From Perfect Week 4 March 17/19, 2023 God spoke to me tonight. That’s great. What he say? He said I need bring a burnt offering before him on a mountain. Which one? He didn’t say yet. Well, that sounds fun. Yeah. So, you need to pick up a lamb on your way? Nope. God told me to kill our only son. Often times God will tell us things that are unpopular. God tells Abraham to go before he tells him exactly where he’s going. I believe God often reveals our destiny piece by piece. Here’s what I know about you and me: SLIDE______________________) If God gave us the full picture of where he wants you to go, we may try to get there without him. There are moments when God will tell someone to resign from their position before having their next job. There are moments where God will tell you to break up a dating relationship with someone long before he reveals your future wife or your husband. Some of us are waiting for the full picture before we obey the first step. But if there’s one thing this story tells us about God is that he often allows us to go through tough seasons to TRAIN our ears to hear his voice. The Bible says that God tested Abraham. I believe God often tests us and that’s not bad. The question you have to ask yourself tonight is how are you doing with your test? This weekend I want us all to consider how we are you doing with obeying what we heard God say last? SLIDE_____________________) Genesis 22:4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” Sometimes we want everybody to come along our journey with us, but Far From Perfect Week 4 March 17/19, 2023 often times God wants to get us alone. There are some people we have to let go of so that we can hear God alone. Sometimes we struggle with loneliness, and it can be viewed as a negative thing, but perhaps our solitude for a season is a strategic set up to hear from God. Abraham viewed this as worship. However, there was no singing. SLIDE____________________) Genesis 22:6-7 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” If I’m Isaac, I’m asking the exact same thing. Scholars believe that Isaac was actually strong enough to fight his dad. They believe he was a late teenager or in his early 20s. This is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ giving his life for humanity. He had the power to deliver himself, but he willingly gave his life for all of us. This is a beautiful picture that tell us that our ability to hear God in the moment doesn’t just affect us, but it affects other people around us. Our ability to hear God affects our kids. And they trust that the moves we’re making in faith are really God. Abraham is in a real pinch here. Because listening to what God told him to do has him conflicted with his wife obviously, and he had to be conflicted internally. But … SLIDE__________________) Genesis 22:8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. The more time you spend with God, the more you’ll get to know him and his voice. God’s training session with Abraham involves Abraham being able to hear God’s voice under pressure. It’s under pressure that we begin to lean on other people’s voices instead of our own. Think about it. Who do you call first when you have a problem? It’s often a person. But Far From Perfect Week 4 March 17/19, 2023 Abraham, in a high-pressure situation, perhaps questioning if he’s really hearing God begins to rely on God’s character and His character is what he explains to his son. GOD WILL PROVIDE. Dad, are you sure? I don’t know how; I don’t know when. But I know my God will provide. One of the greatest things we can instill into our kids is the ability to trust God and I think the best way to do that is by modeling it first. Perhaps the greatest impact my parents have had on me was watching them trust God my entire upbringing. SLIDE_____________________) Genesis 22:9-14 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Sometimes the picture I get when I read this story is Abraham walking up one side of the mountain with Isaac and the angel of the Lord walking up the other side with a ram. I have to wonder if that’s us this weekend. Feel liking we’re in uphill battle on one side of a mountain not realizing God’s coming up the other side with exactly what we need. SLIDE_________________________) If we could see our life as God sees it, obeying what He asks us to do would make so much sense. Is there anything in your life that you’ve felt nudged by God to do but it just seems way too outside of your comfort zone? What I love about the Far From Perfect Week 4 March 17/19, 2023 nature of God is He rarely gives assignments without provision to pull them off. It’s just that the provision for it often comes after obedience. I’m learning to just say yes to God even when it doesn’t make sense because when I look back on my life, every time I felt alone, I look back and realize, I’ve never walked alone. I had one of the biggest speaking engagements I’ve ever had about a year ago. Was speaking to about 9,000+ people. And what a lot of people don’t know about me is I get extremely nervous before preaching and speaking. I was especially nervous not just because of the size of the audience, but also, I had some potentially big clients in the room as well. And there was a young man in the back who was there to assist for me the morning and right before I was getting ready to walk on stage. He put his hand on my shoulder and asked if it was ok to pray for me. It changed everything for me that day. I realized I wasn’t just there to speak, but God had an assignment for me that day and knew exactly what I would need to complete it. Provision is interesting but we can be the type of people that pray for it, or we can be the type of people that try to be an answer to somebody else’s prayer for it. SLIDE_______________________) Genesis 22:15-18 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” “The blessing of God is not good luck; it's hard work. The blessing of God is not a magic trick; it's long obedience in the same direction.” - Mark Batterson I’ve never met a person who regretted obeying God. What I want to mark my life is that I have obeyed the voice of God. Far From Perfect Week 4 March 17/19, 2023 Here’s what would make all of our lives better: If we woke up every day and said: Lord, what’s your will for my life today? (And then sat quietly before God for 5 minutes.) Some of us are being tested right now and didn’t know it. I want to encourage you this weekend to pass the test. Continue to pause long enough to hear God and trust that as you’re going up one side of the mountain, God’s doing the same with exactly what you need to pass the test. www.chaseoaks.org