Right In My Own Eyes: Gideon The Danger of Success Judges 8 G: The greatest danger: success. Success pulls us away from God and the gospel. The lie that we earned it and deserved it. Parenting. J: Parenting success. Compare to when kids were small. All the mistakes I made. 24 when Camille was born. Afraid of DCS coming. Gideon: unique slide. Usually after judge comes time of peace. Not with Gideon. It begins with success that he claims for himself: Jdgs 7:18, 20: “and for Gideon!” G: 8:1: Ephraim; 8:5: follow me. I deserve respect and honor. 8:7/9: Right: difficult trust in the Lord. Wrong: did you doubt me? Disrespect me? J: 7:15: He worshiped! Posture of trust. When do we lose our faith? In success. Faith: only by grace. God called. Equipped. Overseeing. Forgotten. Vengeance. Pride.Yeah, but… 8:16-17: Punished! Taught them a lesson. What do you do when God doesn’t bring justice. I deserve your respect. G: 8:18-21: vengeance. Forgiven. Gospel. Compassion. Rightness. Critical. Tear down. Danger. Success. Mark Driscoll. J: Me monster pastor. Me too. 8:22-23: Won’t rule. Head/heart. Last glimmer of hope. Collects spoil. 50 pounds of gold +++. 8:27: Ephod: priest. G: Unimm/Thummim. Greatest danger in ministry: People need you. Feels good. J: Healthy churches multiply. Church planting. John the Baptist: “he must increase, I must decrease.” We learn the danger of pride in the story of Gideon. Preached by Pastors Greg Lavine and John Beeson. www.newlifefellowshiptucson.com

Politics and government. We seem to see them as necessary evils, bringing frustration in the present but still giving us hope for the future. Our contradictory attitudes about politics are revealing. We recognize the failure of human solutions, but at the same time we know something must be done to fix what’s broken in the world. What man can’t do, God has done; He’s given the Messiah. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 Isaiah 9:6 may be the most familiar Old Testament prophecy about the birth of Christ. Handel included those words in one of the great choruses of his Messiah oratorio. Chances are you either sing it or hear it several times every Christmas season. Unfortunately, we seem to pull this passage out of the box only during the holidays. It’s like one of the ornaments we use to decorate our houses. But have you ever thought about the rich truth this single verse teaches concerning the King of kings? Though we still await the full realization of His kingdom, the promised Messiah is the greatest political ruler ever. Isaiah wrote this prophecy at least a hundred years before Israel was taken into Babylonian captivity—nearly 600 years before the birth of the Savior! Looking at a litany of failed monarchs, and sitting in the rubble of Israel’s monarchy, Isaiah looked across the centuries to a time when God would rule on earth through His Son. “A child will be born to us” underscores the Messiah’s humanity. He had to come as a human being, in the form of a child, so He could endure the temptations men face, yet be without sin (Hebrews 4:15). “A son will be given to us” implies the Savior’s deity. He existed before His birth as the second Person of the Trinity: “Although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7). He came as the Son of God—God in human flesh—to conquer sin and death forever. “The government will rest on His shoulders” affirms His lordship. This verse looks to a time still future when Christ will reign over a literal, earthly, geopolitical kingdom that encompasses all the kingdoms and governments of the world (cf. Daniel 2:44; Zechariah 14:9). In that day, the government of the whole world will rest on His shoulders. But until that time, His kingdom is in an invisible form (cf. Luke 17:20-21). The Messiah’s rule is over those who trust Him and obey Him as Lord. It’s currently an invisible kingdom, but will one day become visible and universal as His rule extends even over those who do not acknowledge His lordship in their hearts. What kind of kingdom is it? What distinguishes the Messiah’s kingdom from the other kingdoms of this world? The names Israel used for Christ in hint at four characteristics that make the Messiah’s kingdom—in all its manifestations—different from any other earthly government. At a time when the world is weary and despairing of political solutions, when the political future looks bleak, this is welcome news. No Confusion—He Is a Wonderful Counselor First, this kingdom is free from confusion, because Christ is a “Wonderful Counselor.” The King James Version separates “Wonderful” and “Counselor” with a comma, but the words seem to go better together and appear that way in most modern versions. Every now and then, a politician comes on the scene who possesses, according to some, messiah-like qualities. Whether it’s a reference to speaking ability, charisma, or wisdom, it’s certainly a compliment. However, when you compare the greatest social or political leader with Jesus Christ, you’ll find there’s no comparison at all. During His incarnation, Christ demonstrated His wisdom as a counselor. While I was writing The Gospel According to Jesus, I studied every major encounter Jesus had with individuals who came to Him for counsel. He always knew what to say, when to reach out to a seeking heart, and when to rebuke an impetuous soul. Even his enemies testified, “Never did a man speak the way this man speaks” (John 7:46). As God incarnate, Christ is the source of all truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). No politician can match that! It is He to whom we must ultimately turn and trust His loving rule of our lives. Many of our politicians turn everywhere else for counsel. They go to one another; they listen to special interests; they have their own psychologists, psychiatrists, analysts, philosophers, spiritual advisors, gurus, astrologers, and other human counselors. But the King of kings keeps His own counsel. After all, “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has informed Him?” (Isaiah 40:13). The Messiah is the Wonderful Counselor because He is God, the source of truth. When He rules the earth, there will be no uncertainty in his administration. He is the ultimate and only true answer to political confusion. No Chaos—He Is the Mighty God Second, the Messiah’s kingdom is singularly free from chaos because He is the Mighty God. He is the One who in creation brought order out of chaos. Scripture says, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33). Chaos is antithetical to who He is. He is a God of order. Christ the King is orderly, and He brings order to the troubled lives of all who surrender to Him. In other words, He not only tells His subjects what to do as a Wonderful Counselor, but since He is the Mighty God, He can also energize them to do it. Legislation can go only so far; it stops short of providing the power and the will to obey. Because of the sinful nature, people will always strain against law and order (Romans 7:8). Add human fallibility to the inability to make people obey from the heart, and you can see the severe limitations of political and legislative solutions. But when Jesus Christ comes to rule this earth, He’ll display His divine power by bringing order to the chaos. Those who do not submit to His leadership from the heart, He’ll subjugate with a rod of iron (cf. Psalm 2:9; Revelation 2:27; 12:5; 19:15). Those who humble themselves from the heart, bowing to Him as Lord and Savior, will find the power of the Mighty God unleashed in their lives to help them obey. Because Christ is God, He can forgive sin, defeat Satan, liberate people from the power of evil, redeem them, answer their prayers, restore their broken souls, and reign as Lord—“Mighty God”—over their newly ordered lives. That’s a politician this world has never seen. No Complexity—He Is the Father of Eternity In comparison to human governments, the Messiah’s kingdom is uncomplicated because He is the “Eternal Father.” The phrase literally means, “Father of Eternity.” That is a clear reference to the biblical truth that Christ is Creator of heaven and earth. In Hebrews 1:10-12 God the Father says to Christ the Son, “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; they will perish, but You remain; and they all will become old like a garment, and like a mantle You will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.” Nothing is too complex for the Creator and Sustainer of everything. Infinity and all its intricacies are nothing to Him who is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Human life is getting more and more complex. Technology has so improved communication and transportation that commerce, culture, and religion have become global in nature. And rather than organizing and making sense of it all, governments of the world seem to exist primarily to make things more complicated. We build bureaucracies to deal with the complexities of life—and consequently life only grows more perplexing. Messiah’s government, however, is simple and uncomplicated. He is the sole ruler—no bloated bureaucracy—and He knows the end from the beginning because He is the Father of Eternity. Isaiah, prophesying about the kingdom, wrote of the highway of holiness: “The unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein” (Isaiah 35:8, KJV). His way is so free from the complexities of life that even fools cannot lose their way. That kind of simplicity characterizes Messiah’s entire government. As the Father of Eternity, He alone comprehends the complexities of time and eternity. He requires no bureaucracy; He shoulders His government by Himself. No Conflicts—He Is the Prince of Peace Finally, in the Messiah’s kingdom there are no conflicts because He is the Prince of Peace. He offers peace from God (Romans 1:7) to all who are the recipients of His grace. He brings peace with God (Romans 5:1) to those who surrender to Him in faith. He brings the peace of God (Philippians 4:7) to those who walk with Him. There never really has been peace on earth in the sense we think of it. Wars and rumors of wars have characterized the entire two millennia since the announcement at His birth of peace on earth (Luke 2:14). That angelic announcement of peace on earth was a two-pronged proclamation. First, it proclaimed that God’s peace is available to men and women right now. Read the words of Luke 2:14 carefully: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (emphasis added). Who are those with whom He is pleased? They are those who have yielded their lives to the authority of His government: “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy” (Psalm 147:11, KJV). Why should we hope in His mercy? Because we are sinners who need His forgiveness (Romans 3:23). We must recognize that fact first of all if we are to place our lives under His government. We must understand that He gave His own sinless, guiltless life on our behalf. He died for our sins to save us from God’s righteous wrath (Romans 5:6-9). And we must be willing to turn from our sins and embrace Him by faith, realizing that we can never earn His favor (Ephesians 2:8-9). But secondly, the angel’s announcement of “peace on earth” declared the arrival of the only One who ultimately can bring lasting peace on earth. Jesus Christ will bring lasting peace in the final establishment of His earthly kingdom. As we already mentioned, He will ensure “peace on earth” over the rebellious at heart by wielding a “rod of iron.” There will be no coup d’état, no insurrection, not even the slightest threat to disturb the peace He brings to the world. Isaiah 9:7 continues, “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace.” In other words, His government and peace will keep expanding and improving. The familiar hymn “Like a River Glorious” accurately speaks of peace that is “perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day, perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.” How can anything perfect improve? That’s one of the mysteries of Messiah’s government. It gets better and better, and the perfect peace flows deeper and deeper. I look forward to the day when He returns to execute the final political solution that will truly bring world peace. His is the greatest government because it’s ruled by the greatest ruler—the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” He is the only hope of mankind. I also hope the government of your life is on His shoulders, that He rules and reigns even now in your heart. Only then will you experience the growing peace that comes only from the Prince of Peace. gty.org . The Government on His Shoulders Psalm 2:9; Psalm 147:11; Isaiah 9:6–7; Isaiah 35:8; Isaiah 40:13; Daniel 2:44; Zechariah 14:9; Luke 17:20–21; 1 Corinthians 14:33; Philippians 2:6–7; Hebrews 1:10–12; Hebrews 4:15; Revelation 2:27; Revelation 12:5; Revelation 19:15

God loves you. God is good, God does good, and God is always working all things for our good—even through all the unexpected events (Romans 8:28). He doesn’t cause bad things to happen, but he’s always there leading us, working in the midst of them for our good. He always has a plan, purpose and destiny for our lives regardless of what we see going on (Jeremiah 29:11). God wants us to drop what we don’t need to be doing, so we can pick up what he wants us to be doing. 1. Stop doing things that aren’t working so you can start doing some things that are working. I know this sounds so basic, but it’s amazing how long we will continue to do the same old thing expecting a different result—and it’s not going to happen. Just because you’ve always done it that way doesn’t mean that’s the way you need to continue doing it. Maybe it’s something you’ve connected to—like the pain from abuse—and it’s time to put it down and let it go. Maybe it’s how you’re balancing your family life or how your running your office. I continually evaluate our leadership of A21 and Propel, along with my team, to see what is working and what is not. And what is not, we have to let go. 2. Stop investing in relationships that are taking you nowhere so that you can start building relationships that will take you somewhere. It’s amazing how many friends and acquaintances we have in our lives that really just drain us. It’s time lean away from the people who might have been good for you in the last season, but they are not good for you in this season. You may love them dearly, but they are no longer good for you. God wants you building your inner circle with people who can help you get to where you’re going—who can help make a difference in your life. 3. Stop trying to change other people, and just let the Holy Spirit change you. In my 50 years of living, I can tell you, no one can change anyone but God. Changing people is the Holy Spirit’s job, not yours. You are simply not that strong. If you will drop this, you will sleep much better and have a whole lot more peace in your life. 4. Stop trying to please everybody, and start just trying to please God. The truth is you are never going to please everybody—not even some of the time. So set yourself free. If I tried to please everyone with what I post on social media or write in my books, I would be a man-pleaser and not a God-pleaser. I certainly don’t want to offend or hurt people, ever. I love people, but I can’t please everybody—and neither can you. Drop it and let it go. 5. Stop looking for the path of least resistance, and start embracing the challenging path of going to where you want to go. You’re not going to build the spiritual muscle, the tenacity, that you need to end up where you’re going, if you take the path of least resistance. We’ve grown accustomed to having an app do the work for us in so many areas. But there are no apps for building character or tenacity. We have to do the hard work of crucifying our flesh, obeying Jesus, and going the distance in our race. John Maxwell says everything worthwhile in this life is uphill. He’s right. By choosing to be all that God has created and called me to be, I’m choosing the challenging path and daring adventure of where he wants me to go—even if it’s uphill. 6. Stop procrastinating, and start doing what you need to do. Just because you’ve decided to do something doesn’t mean you’ve done it. Too many women make New Year’s resolutions and a year later haven’t accomplished any of them. Don’t be that woman. Don’t put off what you can do today for tomorrow. Don’t say, “I’ll go to the gym tomorrow. I’ll eat healthy tomorrow. I’ll start reading my Bible tomorrow. I’ll start being nice tomorrow.” It’s not good when that becomes the story of our lives. I have wanted to get my master’s degree for years, and I have decided to go for it in 2017. No more putting it off until tomorrow. Whatever it is you need to do—apologize to someone, get a relationship right, address inner issues in your heart—stop procrastinating. Do it today. 7. Stop expecting people to be Jesus, and let Jesus be Jesus. A lot of the conflicts in our marriages and friendships could be eliminated if we quit expecting from others what we can only get from God. I get up early so I can get from Jesus what I need from Jesus—and so I won’t unintentionally try to get it from my family or pastors or team. When we let people off the hook, when we quit expecting them to be Jesus in our lives, then we quit being a victim and start taking responsibility for ourselves. That’s when we make Jesus bigger than anything anyone has done to us in our past. That’s when we get free. 8. Stop blaming everything and everyone else for where you are in life, and start making what Jesus did for you bigger than what anyone has ever done to you. Maybe you’ve had a past like mine where there’s been pain and abuse. It wasn’t our fault. We didn’t ask for it. But we can’t live our lives as victims. I’ve made what Jesus did for me bigger than what anyone did to me. I’ve made what Jesus said to me bigger than what anyone else has said to me. This is your year to drop the baggage. Get my book, Unashamed, and learn how to walk free from all that you’ve been through. God has used this book more than any other I’ve written to help people find freedom. 9. Stop being so hard on yourself, and start loving yourself. Jesus took all the commandments and summarized them into the two most important points: Love God, and love your neighbor as you love yourself (Matthew 22:36-40; Mark 12:29-3). When you don’t like yourself, you tend to not like others. When you’re hard on yourself, you tend to be hard on others. So give yourself forgiveness, grace, mercy, genuine love and kindness. Start with discovering and loving who you are in Christ. Learn to truly love yourself so you can genuinely love others. 10. Stop doubting and start believing for the best. Perhaps from your perspective—and certainly from so many who’ve posted on social media—you think everything that happened in 2016 was a mess—from the political process to the social unrest to the tragedies around the world. And it has stirred up insecurities in you, anxiety, fear and doubt. Consider this instead: Two thousand years ago, God said he would build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Well, I’ve read the end of the Bible and we win. So, even if all the economies and governments of the world are in flux, let’s keep moving forward sharing the love and grace and mercy and goodness of God with everyone we encounter. What one thing should you start? Stay focused on the truth: The government rests on Jesus’ shoulders (Isaiah 9:6). All things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26). He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, and no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9). We are on top and not on the bottom (Deuteronomy 28:13). We are women of God, women of prayer, women of faith.

If you’re an aspiring ministry leader, you’ve probably read countless articles on what it takes to succeed. While there’s no one-size-fits-all plan for success, there are certain habits that many successful ministry leaders share. Here are seven of the most important: 1. They have a clear vision for their ministry. When leading a thriving ministry, having a clear vision is essential. Ministry leaders who know what they want their ministries to achieve are more likely to make informed decisions that lead to success. Without a vision, it's challenging to set goals or develop strategies for growth. A clear vision can help to inspire and motivate staff and volunteers, who are more likely to be productive when they understand the ministry’s overarching goals. 2. They’re passionate about what they do. A deep interest in running a successful ministry drives an inspirational ministry leader. They’re not just in it for the money or attention– they genuinely enjoy what they do and are always looking for ways to improve the ministry and expand God’s kingdom. Their passion often leads to innovative ideas and a willingness to take risks. Passionate ministry leaders commit to their ministries. They’re not afraid to put in the long hours required to make their God-given vision a reality. So, if you’re thinking about starting a church or ministry, ask yourself: how passionate am I about this? If the answer is “very,” you might have what it takes to be a successful ministry leader. 3. They’re great at networking. Ministry leaders are a special breed of people. They are, at some level, risk-takers, dreamers, and doers. They are not afraid to fail but are driven by obedience to God. They view failure as a learning opportunity to grow and improve their obedience. A critical skill that ministry leaders must master is networking. Building relationships is essential for any ministry leader, and great ones know how to network effectively. They can quickly build rapport and create long-lasting relationships. They know how to listen attentively and ask great questions. As a result, they can make a strong network of people, be it volunteers, potential staff, or others ministry leaders, to help them achieve their vision. 4. They’re always learning. The most successful Pastors and ministry leaders never stop learning. They are constantly reading, researching, and experimenting to find new ways to improve their ministry. They understand that there is always room for improvement and are constantly looking for keys to taking their ministries to the next level. In addition, successful ministry leaders are continually learning from their failures. They use their mistakes as opportunities to grow and become better leaders. As a result, they can create thriving ministries that make a lasting impact on the world. 5. They’re willing to take risks. Many believe that being a great ministry leader is about taking risks. While successful ministry leaders are often willing to take risks, there is more to it. Taking risks is only part of the equation. It is also essential to assess those risks and make informed decisions. A ministry leader who is afraid to take risks will achieve nothing significant. A ministry leader who takes too many risks may find themselves over their head and quickly fail. The key is to find the right balance between taking risks and being cautious. By being willing to take calculated risks, ministry leaders can put themselves in a position to achieve great things. 6. They’re good at time management. We know successful ministry leaders for their creativity, risk-taking, and determination. However, one of the essential skills that successful ministry leaders possess is good time management. In a fast-paced and ever-changing leadership landscape, juggling multiple tasks and priorities is essential. Effective time management means setting goals, making plans, and sticking to them. It also involves being able to delegate tasks and hold others accountable. Those who are good at time management can create a balanced ministry-life schedule and avoid burnout. 7. They know how to delegate and build a strong team. Successful ministry leaders can often delegate and develop a strong team. It allows them to focus on the most critical aspects of their ministry while still getting the most out of their staff and volunteers. Delegation can be a difficult skill to master, but it is essential for anyone who wants to succeed in ministry. By delegating tasks and responsibilities to others, ministry leaders can free up their time to focus on more important matters. Similarly, building a solid team is crucial for any ministry leader. A good team will be composed of individuals with unique skills and strengths that can complement each other. This way, a leader can ensure that their ministries run smoothly and effectively by having a solid team. How to build a strong team: A few key things to remember when building a solid team. First, hiring individuals or enlisting volunteers with the right skills and experience is essential. Second, creating a positive and supportive ministry-work environment is essential. When your team feels appreciated and valued, they will be more likely to perform at their best. Finally, giving your team the resources and tools to succeed is essential. By investing in your team, you are investing in the future of your ministry. These are just a few essential habits for any ministry leader who wants to succeed. While there is no guarantee of success, those who possess these qualities will find it easier to achieve their goals. So, if you’re an aspiring ministry leader, keep these habits in mind as you work to build your ministry. In Christ, Jeff P.S. With the busy season and pressure of the holidays coming over the next few months, one way you can invest in your team is to have a Christmas party for them that they and the entire church will enjoy. It can be an excellent time for outreach for everyone in your community. Check out Merry Mania as a great pre-packaged Christmas party for your team and community. It requires very few volunteers but guarantees an excellent return relationally!

For the first ten years of my marriage, I struggled with the fear of abandonment. My father and my first pastor had both left their wives for younger women. Because of what I had experienced, I allowed fearful thoughts to linger unchecked in my mind. They didn’t yell; they whispered. Eventually all men leave. Don’t let them get too close. Then they can’t disappoint you. This kind of thinking caused me to even resist small displays of affection. When John hugged me, it wasn’t long before I’d start patting him so I could pull away. One day after one of my “pat-and-pull-aways,” John asked me point blank, “How long will we have to be together before you realize I’m not going to leave you? Are you going to wait until we’re seventy?” I was stunned. “I’ll wait as long as it takes,” he continued, “but we’re going to miss out on a lot of fun in the meantime.” I realized I was making John pay for the disappointments I had with other men. I thought, Why should John have to pay for their shortcomings? That’s not fair. In an effort to protect myself, I am sabotaging our relationship. My fear of losing John in the future was robbing both of us in the present. I decided then that I would rather love John completely, even at the risk of losing him, than love him halfway and look back with regrets on what might have been. Fear and distrust keep us from thriving in marriage, for fear tenaciously clings to the past while refusing to believe something better can arise in the future. If we want God to do a new thing in our marriages, we must choose to abandon fear and accept what love would forecast for our futures. Fear expects failure, while love can never fail. Fear is a spiritual force in direct opposition to God’s love and protection in our lives. It is the opposite of love, for both love and fear operate from belief in the unseen. Love challenges us to doubt what we see and believe for what we cannot. Fear urges us to believe what is seen and doubt the unseen. When faced with the fear of failure or the hope of love, we can choose to believe one or the other, but never both. Fear displaces love; love casts out fear. …Perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first. (1 John 4:18–19) Love’s ability to transform is greater than fear’s ability to ensnare. The perfect love that expels fear is only found in the experience of God’s love. Through the power of His love, we can forsake concern for self, because we know that God will faithfully tend to our needs. But if we don’t spend time in God’s presence, we cannot have an intimate knowledge of His loving nature; for His faithfulness manifests in His presence. Without knowledge of God’s true nature, we will live in constant fear of abandonment by Him or by spouses, which is a twisted form of punishment. As we grow more and more secure in God’s love for us, we can become free from fear and offer selfless love to our spouses. …Let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7–8) The stronghold of fear is what causes us to say things like, “If my spouse ever cheats on me, I will never forgive him.” Such vows, which are intended to shield us in the future, keep us from embracing the power of God’s love today. We must learn to trust God to care for our hearts, even if a spouse wounds, rejects, or betrays us. God has asked us to surrender our fears to Him. Refusal to do so tells God we don’t believe He is capable of directing our lives. We cannot submit to Jesus’s lordship without surrendering our fears. What fears are you holding on to? Dear one, let them go and watch the love of God transform you from the inside out and free you to step into your destiny. On the other side of your fear, you will discover the life you so deeply long for.

- We are in a message series called Peace of Mind talking about mental health. Next week we're gonna talk about burnout. Many of you right now feel like you're on the edge and like you can't take anymore, we're gonna talk about that next week. Today, we're gonna talk about trauma- - [Congregant] Let's go. - Which is probably the most difficult of all the subjects that we've talked about in the previous and upcoming weeks. It's a subject that quite honestly, you may not hear about frequently in churches, but we're gonna talk about it today. Many of you, unfortunately, in fact, probably the majority of you at some point in your life you've endured something severe, some kind of trial, some kind of abuse, some kind of heartbreak. And so, it's with a lot of help from experts that I've been studying God's Word and getting advice from people who help others heal for a living and with a very heavy heart that I've been praying all week long that the presence of God would do something in the lives of so many of you who need hope that you can heal. So many people think trauma, what is it? What is trauma? A lot of people think that it's the event, it's the injury, it's the abuse, but technically speaking, trauma is actually the response to what happens in an event. A good definition of trauma would be this, trauma is a response to a deeply disturbing or distressing event. Some think of trauma as physical, kind of like a traumatic injury, a physical injury, but the truth of the matter is that while trauma can be physical and it often is, it also can be emotional, it can be mental, it can even be spiritual abuse or spiritual trauma. And that's why it's so important to remember that the wounds you can't see can hurt as much as the ones that you can see, and sometimes they even take longer to heal. And so it's with a very real awareness that many of you have been hurt and deeply wounded and been through horrible experiences that I wanna share God's Word today. Because when you walk into maybe church or in your LifeGroup and you're in pain and you wanna talk about what you've been through, inevitably some happy Christian- - Yes. - Some very happy feely, good Christian, with very good intentions quote Romans 8:28 in the middle of your pain. "And we know that in all things," they tell you with a very good heart, "That God works them together for good to those who love Him, who He called according to His purpose. - [Congregant] Come on. - A powerful truth, a life changing truth, an important truth, is always true, but maybe doesn't always feel helpful- - [Congregant] That's right. - When you still feel like you're in shock or maybe denial, or maybe you feel moody because of what happened and you don't know why you can't control your emotions, or you feel overwhelmed with anxiety, or you feel numb completely. Or even though what happened to you may not have been your fault, you feel guilt and shame for something that someone else did to you. So today we walk into it prayerfully. The title of today's message is 3 Ways to Seek Healing From Trauma, and I would love it if my amazing church family would pray together with me. God, thank you for your presence and for 1 PeaceofMind_6_Transcript your goodness and for the healing work we can find through Jesus that by His stripes we can be healed. We pray for you to work through your Word and by your Spirit to transform lives. We asked this in the name of Jesus and everybody said- - Amen. - Amen and amen. All right, some of you grew up around the time I did, and I'm not proud to tell you this, but I was from the generation when someone said, "I experienced trauma," I was kinda like, "Trauma Schmama," kinda like, "Get over it, it couldn't be that bad." I grew up and when we got hurt my dad said, "Rub a little dirt on it, get back on the field." Any of you grow up like that at all, anyone? Couple of you. Maybe my life was different than I thought it was, okay? I don't know, but I kind of just grew up with a, hey, just kind of get over it mindset. And what I've grown to learn is that you don't just get over trauma, you don't just move past it, you actually have to heal from it. And so what I wanna do today is I wanna try to build a foundational understanding of what trauma is and then I wanna show you in Scripture how we pursue healing and seek God for what only He can do. And we'll start with three different types of trauma just to build a foundational understanding. The three different types of trauma, there's acute trauma, there's chronic trauma and there's complex trauma, three different types of trauma. What is acute trauma? Acute trauma is a response from a one-time traumatic event. Maybe you were in a horrible car accident or you survived a natural disaster. For those of you in Oklahoma it was a tornado, for those of you in Southern Florida it was a hurricane, whatever it was, but it was dangerous and you survived, and it was very traumatic, your response was. It might have been a complicated birth. One of my daughters went through an indescribably complicated birth, for others of you it might have been losing your business in the middle of COVID, or for some of you, unfortunately in college, you might have been date raped. It was a one time event, it was horrible, and the response to it was traumatic. Then the second type is chronic trauma, and that is a long term response from prolonged or repeated events. It's not a one-time event, but it's a long term event. For example, some of you may have been bullied all the way through junior high, or others of you experienced racism for most of your life. It might have been that you were very, very young, five, six years old, you came across pornography for the very first time and you looked at porn six years old, seven year olds, eight year old, nine year old, and you've been looking at it for years and it's a very traumatic experience for you. Some of you, you were raised in a home where there was alcohol or there was drug abuse and you lived in an environment that never ever felt safe to you. Others of you, you were sexually abused, not one time, but multiple times and often by somebody that should have been protecting you instead of harming you. There's chronic abuse. And the third type is called complex trauma, and that's a response to multiple and ongoing events. This is when you're raised in a home or you're married to someone and you see some combination of all the things that we talked about. There's chemical abuse, there's emotional abuse, there's physical abuse, there might be sexual abuse and the list could go on and on. And no matter what you've been through or at what level, trauma changes you and it changes your perspective, it can change how you see people, it can change how you see God, it can change your outlook on life. I'll give you an example of something that's not nearly as severe as what many who have been through, but as my counselor says, "You don't compare trauma, you just seek God for healing." - That's right. 2 PeaceofMind_6_Transcript - I went through a kind of an unusual series of events when I was a kid, I was in multiple car accidents in the passenger side of the vehicle. Now, again, for those of you who around my age, I grew up in the era where we didn't wear seat belts. Does anybody remember that era, no seat belts at all? We would even lay up in the back of a car in the window and take naps as a kid for hours upon hours. This was the era when you would put an entire junior high baseball team in the back of a pickup truck, drive 70 miles hour down the highway and think you were smart. It was a very fun era and by the grace of God we lived through this dumb era, but that's when I grew up. Those of you online, you can type in the chat if you were there, "I was there," you did that as well. And so I was in a passenger seat of a car when I got in another accident. I had just turned 16 and my friend had turned 16, we were in his pickup truck and we were driving down a side road pulling up to a four lane highway. And he leaned over to me in his truck and he had this crazy look in his eye, I'll never forget it, he leaned over and he said, "What's this?" And he drove straight through the stop sign straight across the four lane highway. I looked up, and you could see the timing was gonna be just perfect for all the wrong reasons, there was another vehicle coming probably 70 miles an hour straight at me. I got no seatbelt, I'm in the passenger side looking up, looking up, bracing, bracing, bracing, bracing, bracing, bracing, and his car came right toward my door and by the grace of God just missed me, hit the back of the truck, spun it around three and a half times, ambulances, hospitals and the story goes on and on and I am terrified to ride with any of you. Any of you, I don't care how good your driving is, I mean, there's no offense, you're driving and I'm reaching over there, I can barely take it. My flight instructor said I fly like a fighter pilot, just think Tom Cruise. But I fly like a maniac, I drive like a grandpa driver. And you say, "You are a grandpa," and that's true, but I've been driving like a grandpa driver since before I had kids. I am in my mid fifties and have never had a speeding ticket, never had an accident, traumatized, it changed me. For you, it might be that someone hurts you and you don't know how to trust people, it might be that you find it difficult to trust God, it might be that you grew up with no money, and so you got these really dysfunctional views and fear of not having enough no matter what, it might be that someone did something to you and so you are traumatized worrying that one day they'll do the same thing to one of your children. How do we heal from trauma? But we will look today at God's Word and we're actually gonna look at someone that you probably wouldn't guess experienced trauma. I've been all the way through seminary with a master's divinity, studied Scripture for years, and it wasn't until I dug into this person this week that I realized the apostle Paul, the person that most of us would never think was traumatized, the guy who wrote two thirds of the New Testament, the guy who said, "To live is Christ, to die is gain", he experienced acute, chronic and complex trauma. And I wanna show you and I want you to see it and I want you to watch what God did to bring healing and how God brought him to a stronger place based on what he'd been through. You go all the way through to his conversion. If you don't know, he was the guy that was killing Christians, he was not a Christian, and his conversion was traumatic. My conversion was like a Christian Hallmark commercial. I felt bad for my son, went and kneeled down in a softball field at night, the sun was setting, the birds were chirping, there was a Michael W. Smith song playing somewhere in the background, "Friends are friends forever if the Lord's the Lord to them." I stood up, new creation in Christ, saved by the grace of God, it was an amazing, peaceful experience. The apostle Paul was killing Christians and in Acts 9 you can read about it. A light from heaven knocked him into the ground. We don't know for sure what light knocks people to the ground, but based on my fifth grade science class, that was probably lightning, possibly struck by lightning. And then a voice from heaven speaks, and the voice doesn't say, "Hello, my servant, I have chosen thou." The voice says, "Why you persecuting me, 3 PeaceofMind_6_Transcript Saul?" God knocks him down and ask him a in your face question. Then, Paul is blind, three days, and God doesn't say, "Don't worry three days from now I'm gonna send this guy, he's gonna come pray for you and you're gonna be healed." God doesn't do that. He's just blind, he's knocked down by lightning, a voice from heaven is not particularly generous, and then he is blind for three days, and then he is healed and this Christian killer becomes a killer Christian preacher- - Come on. - He preaches the gospel. And so the good news is that God rewarded him with a six figure salary, with great benefits and lots of babes. - [Congregant] No. - No, no, no, no, no, no. For the rest of his life he endured prolific abuse, running for his life. In fact, I wanna show you just on the screen a map of just according to the Bible, just the verses that we have, in every city we see, he had to run out of town trying to escape to save his life. I had someone kind of rude to me at a restaurant recently, and I decided to walk out. Here's my story. Paul exited city after city, after city, after city, after city because people were trying to kill him and take his life. He endured ongoing severe trauma and he healed from it. And I wanna show you three things in Scripture that we can do that we can learn from God's Word to pursue healing with God. The first thing that we learn is this as we look at Paul and something we need to do, is we process the pain of our trauma. Now, as a side note, in order to process it, you gotta acknowledge it. And I wanna start here and say, some of you have been through something and you're trying to put it aside and try not to act like it ever happened. You don't heal when you ignore the wound- - That's right. - You don't heal when you suppress the wound, you don't heal when you try to forget the wound, you start to heal when you take it to God and start to process it. And so some of you, what you have to say, you have to acknowledge it, "I was abused." Now, there's some people today that think everything's abuse. Just 'cause someone disagrees with you doesn't mean you're abused, just because someone corrects you, just because someone believes something different than you, that's not the same, but some of you need to just acknowledge, "I was abused" or "I was raped," you need to say it. "I was abandoned, I was mistreated." And the reason that we don't wanna say this, one, is we just like to shut it out because we feel vulnerable, we feel helpless, we feel like it's better to ignore it than to process it. And what happens is, according to the experts I've worked with, instead of seeking connection, we prioritize protection. - Wow. - Yeah. - Instead of taking our pain to trusted people, we often push trusted people away. And the problem is that we don't heal in isolation. How do we heal? We heal in communities. - That's right. 4 PeaceofMind_6_Transcript - We heal together with the people of God. And that's one of the reasons we talk often about LifeGroups. It's not because we want you to do something else in your already busy life, it's because we're better together, because iron sharpens iron, because we confess our faults to one another and we pray for each other Scripture says that we may be healed. - Yes, sir. - Community matters so much. And the challenge is, if you ignore the pain, the wound is still there. What happens is you go somewhere else to cope. You go to drugs or you go to alcohol or you go to sex or you use food as a coping mechanism, or you do what I do and that is you just work, you just work. Paul actually processed his trauma. And I'm gonna show you on the back wall a big portion of Scripture and he's writing about this, and yes, he's telling them what he's been through, but the reality of what he is doing is, he is processing his pain. And you can read this whole text in 2 Corinthians 11 starting in verse 23 if you want to, I'll just give you the high points. Essentially it says, he was in prison too many times to count, five times, he was beaten with 39 lashes. Now, why 39 lashes? Because you could actually die from 39 lashes. But if you died from 39 lashes, in court they would say you died from a beating. If you died from 40 lashes, that would be murder, so they would just beat you 39 times and see if you lived. Five times, he was lashed 39 times, three times, he was beaten with rods, he was stoned, and I feel like in this day and age I need to say that's not recreationally speaking, just based on where we are in the world today just thought I would say that. He was shipwrecked, he almost starved to death, he froze, he was in danger everywhere that he went, and this is what he said in 2 Corinthians 1:9, this is the apostle Paul. He said, "We were under great pressure," watch this, "Far beyond our ability to endure so that we despised of life itself." I wanna pause for a moment and tell you, if you've ever hurt so deeply that you didn't know if you wanted to go on, the guy who wrote two thirds of the New Testament had been there as well, "The despair of life itself." And what did he do? He's talking about it, he's writing about it. he's processing it. And I wanna encourage you to find a safe place, the right place with the right people to process the pain of your trauma. And that very well could be for many of you, your LifeGroup, your trusted, spiritual friends, it could be your local campus pastor, it could be a Christian counselor who's trained to help, but we don't heal when we ignore it, we have to acknowledge it and we process it with trusted people. The second thing that we do is we prayerfully press into God with our trauma. We take it to God, we cry out to God, we talk to God, we might even complain to God about it, and this is what Paul did in 2 Corinthians 12. If you don't know the context of this chapter, he had something that he called a thorn and we don't know what the thorn was, scholars guess all these different things, but it was a thorn that was tormenting him. It seems to me that almost everybody has a thorn. Raise your hand if you have a thorn, raise your hand if you have a thorn, type online if you have a thorn, some of you, yes, type online. "I have a thorn," type online "I have a thorn." Some of you right now you have a thorn, some of you you're sitting by your thorn, don't elbow your thorn right now, that would not be polite to do in church. But it seems like all of us have that something that we wish we didn't have in life. And Scripture says Paul did this, he said, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord, I begged Him to take it away from me." Most scholars would say this wasn't like just three little prayers, it was very likely three seasons of ongoing prayer. But notice that he didn't blame God for the thorn, but he took his thorn to God and he prayed and he pleaded and he begged in the very same way you can take your hurt to God, and you can take it to Him again, and you can take it to Him a third time, and you can unload on Him and say, "God, I don't 5 PeaceofMind_6_Transcript understand, why did this happen? Why did you let this happen when you could have perhaps stopped it?" You can tell Him, "It's not my fault. I don't know what to do, God, I don't even know how to heal." You can totally and completely be honest with Him, don't hold back, He can handle it. Scripture says, "Cast your cares upon Him because He cares for you." You take your burdens, you give it all. You give Him your praise, you give Him your thanksgiving, and you give Him your hurt from your heart. God, please take it away. Three times he pleaded with the Lord and God responded to him. "And God said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you. For my power," God says, "'Is perfect in your weakness.'" "In the thing that you hate the most, you'll best discover my power and presence." And Paul says something that would be just almost weird in any other circumstance, he says, "That's why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties. For when I am weak," he says, "Then I'm strong." - Amen. - That only comes from the presence of God. You take it to God, you take it to God, you take it to God, you take it to God. And even if God doesn't take it away, he says, "My grace is what you need, this is what you need." And I hope that you'll understand, and this is for somebody here, let it sink in your soul, nothing can change your past, but God can heal your broken heart. - That's right. - God can heal your broken heart. And Scripture that may be for you is this, "That the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." We process the pain of our trauma with trusted people, we prayerfully press in to God, we take it to God, we take it to God, we take it to God. And then the third thing I'm gonna tell you is gonna make some of you mad because you're not ready for it yet. If you're not ready for it yet, just pretend like this is for later. But number three is, we pursue purpose in our trauma, we pursue purpose. And again, I'm hesitant to say this right now because I know if you're hurting right now, you're like, you don't like me because you're not ready for that. It's too soon, it's too soon, but there will be some point that if you process it and if you take it to God, you may say exactly what or something similar to what Paul said. And this is Paul who had been beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, left for dead, whipped too many times to count, and he says this, "Praise be to the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles." Why? For a purpose, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. Praise be to the God of all comfort- - That's so good. - Who comforts us with all compassion so we can have a purpose in our pain- - That's right. - And one day comfort others. Now, this is the point where I tell you a story, and I got a million I could tell you about someone who was abused, sought God, found healing, and now does ministry, hundred of stories. But what I wanna do instead of tell you a story is I wanna just step off of the platform and go to my seat and sit amongst my people because I am not just a pastor, I am also a people, and I wanna just tell you that I've 6 PeaceofMind_6_Transcript been hurt too, and the people all around me that I'm sitting with, many of them they're hurting right now, and my heart as your pastor is heavier than I can describe because I know right now there are so many of you that are just, just not okay, you're not okay, your responses to what's going on, it's not normal. You're frustrated more easily, angry more easily, you're more critical, you're more dissatisfied, you're hurting more. It's not you, it's, something's not right. - That's good. - And what I wanna say to you is if you're not okay, it's because you're not okay, meaning something happened. And I talked to my counselor in detail about this, and we went through the list of all that the last few years has done to disrupt what is normal and inflict people, many people with untold levels of pain, lost of loved ones, loss of fellowship, loss of freedom, loss of trust, loss of relationships. Like, how many of you guys disagree on one thing and so, bah! We don't like each other anymore? And so my counselor got onto me. I sent him my notes, he said, "Hey, these are really good. Thank you, you helped me with 'em." And he said, "Don't just tell 'em that they can be healed." That's what most people thought. "Tell 'em they can be way, way stronger-" - [Congregant] Come on. - "On the backside." And then he said, "What I want you to know is you are communicating it from the strength of Jesus inside of you." - Come on. - Yes. - And that's what I'm doing. Because what I want you to know is, yeah, I've been hurt too, and I don't want you to read into it, I'm not gonna tell any kind of stories, but I'm gonna tell you I've had to recover from some stuff. And I process it and I pray with my best friend and we stand together- - Come on. - And we pursue Jesus and pursue Jesus, and we pursue Jesus, and I'm not just healed, but I'm stronger. - Come on. - Stronger, closer to God, closer to God, closer to God, closer to God, stronger, stronger. And that's why I would tell you this, not in a easy Christian cliche way, but I want you to know and I want you to feel it, I want you to feel it. And we know what Scripture says, we know that in all things, in all things, even our most painful and broken moments, in all things, our God works together for good to those who love him who are pursuing him and need him and are called according to His purpose, purpose. - Purpose. - So I'm gonna push you a little bit. What's a pastor's job? You comfort the afflicted and you afflict the comfortable, right? So I'm gonna push you a little bit. I wanna tell you 7 PeaceofMind_6_Transcript right now, I want you to hear me, is that your trauma may or may not have been your fault, but pursuing God for healing is your responsibility. You gotta do it, you gotta do it. No more victim. We've been hurt, we could heal because we have a good God. - That's right. - We have a good God. And so I want you to have hope. I hurt with you, I love you more than I can tell you, and I love you enough to push you a little bit towards Jesus because there's healing and there's hope, and you can be stronger with Christ. So why don't we pray together? God, thank you for our amazing church community and for your amazing grace. Thank you that you are the Father of all compassion, who comforts us with comfort from heaven so that one day we can comfort others with the same comfort that you've given to us. So today, wherever you're watching from, those of you online, those of you at a Life.Church location, I'm just gonna ask that you would lift up your heads, open your eyes right now and look around the room at a bunch of people that are not okay. And they're not okay 'cause they're not good people, they're not okay 'cause they're living in a broken world. And what I want you to do is publicly, for just a moment, I'm gonna push you a little bit, is if you're not really doing great right now, I want you to go ahead and lift up your hand and say, "I need help from Jesus." Would you do that? Just lift up your hands right now, just lift up your hand right now, just lift up your hands right now, lift up your hands right now. What I want the rest of you to do is I want you all to clap right now because we have some honest people, there's healing from God. And those of you online you can type in the comment section, "I'm not okay right now." And if you're okay with this, if you're not okay, well, you weren't okay when you walked in here. So I'm gonna just ask you maybe if there was someone near you that you might just put your hand on their shoulder right now if they're close enough and pray, if you're sitting next to someone you know well and they're family, you might even hold their hand. And God in, in this moment as a church, we come before you and we ask for your presence to do what only you can do. God, would you give us the courage to start by just admitting, acknowledging if we've been hurt and wounded. And it may have been abuse, we may have trauma, we may not know how to label it, God, but we know we need your help. And so, God, give us a safe community and a LifeGroup with a pastor with a trusted Christian counselor just to take our pain and process it. And we give it to you, God, our hurt, our confusion, our anger, our guilt, our shame, our doubts, our rage, our unstable, we just take it all to you, God, we cast our cares on you. And somehow, God, we have the faith to believe that you could take the worst pain we've experienced and somehow make us stronger, closer to you one day to help others with the same comfort that you've given to us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Everybody say, in Jesus' name. - In Jesus' name. - We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Keep praying today if you will, keep praying today. This time, nobody looking around, there are those of you that you don't know God intimately. And about right now you may know that, "I really don't know God intimately." Let me tell you about the goodness of God. God loves you more than I can describe, so much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, the Son of God, perfect in every way. And Jesus was abused, He was mistreated, He was beaten, He was punished because He was the innocent lamb of God who died in our place as the perfect sacrifice. He took the punishment that we deserved and He died for the forgiveness of our sins, and the goodness of God raised Him back to life, why? So that anyone, you want some 8 PeaceofMind_6_Transcript encouraging news today? Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord, Jesus, your sins, your brokenness, your pain would be washed away, all of your sins forgiven and you become new. Wherever you're watching from today, those of you that know, "I'm really not in a relationship with God." God is a relational God, He doesn't want you just to serve Him, He wants you to know Him, to be loved by Him. You step away from your heart, you step away from your sin, you step towards Jesus, you come to Him. As you cry out to Him, He'll hear your prayer, forgive your sin and make you brand new. Wherever you're watching from today, those who say, "I need Jesus, I need Jesus, today, I surrender my life to Jesus," that's your prayer, lift your hands now all over the place and say, "Yes, that's my prayer right here." Praise God for you and you as well, others today saying, "Yes, Jesus, I need you, I surrender to you." Those of you online just type it in the comment section, "I'm surrendering my life to Jesus" and together as one church family, we pray. Pray, Heavenly Father- - [Congregation] Heavenly Father. - I need you, - I need you. - Your grace. - Your grace. - Your love. - Your love. - Your forgiveness. - Your forgiveness. - Your salvation. - Your salvation. - Jesus save me, heal me, - Jesus save me, heal me. - Forgive me. - Forgive me. - Fill me with your Spirit so I could know you and follow you. - And follow you. - My life is not my own. - My life is not my own. 9 PeaceofMind_6_Transcript - I give it all to you. Thank you for new life, now you have mine. In Jesus name I pray. 'Cause somebody praise to God who is worthy of all praise. 10 PeaceofMind_6_Transcript Paul faced many kinds of trauma throughout his ministry. Here are just a few: Acute: a response from a one-time traumatic event Chronic: a long-term response from prolonged or repeated events Complex: a response to multiple and ongoing events A Few Places Paul Faced Traumatic Event You can access the power of God to be healed of trauma. www.lifechurch.tv/open

"I do believe. Help me overcome my unbelief". I'm not asking God to just take it away. I'm asking God "Help me overcome it". My faith is not gone. I just have to learn where to look. Sometimes the greatest faith…I need you to get this…is right underneath that biggest doubt. Sometimes the greatest thing God wants to show you, if you will start lifting and looking and lifting and looking… Do you see what I'm saying? We can't just cover over it. We can't just come to church for a fresh coat of paint over our problems. We can't just come to church for a three-hour scriptural sugar boost to get us feeling good for a moment. It won't work, and we'll end up like the disciples, saying, "Why did I shout and sing and listen and take notes in church"? Because you didn't invite Jesus into the real place of your pain. You didn't lose your faith; you just stopped looking at the surface. "It's gone. It's gone". One boy broke up with you. "I guess I'll never be loved". You're 14 years old! "I guess it's gone. I guess you can't trust anybody". See how we do it? "It's gone". You have to know where to look. Can I preach something else? Sometimes you are so intimidated by it you forget about him. "When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit". He didn't argue with the disciples. He didn't argue with the teachers. He didn't have to. He was bigger than it. So, the disciples said, "Why couldn't we drive it out"? He said, "Because you lost your focus. This kind can only come out through prayer". When we think about prayer, we think about maybe a list of things we say to God, but God is showing me lately that prayer is more about a lens than a list, and it's more about what I see than what I say. So, if my prayer is always just "Let me just say my prayers…" When Jesus said, "This kind can only come out by prayer…" The King James says "…and fasting," but the original manuscripts don't say "by fasting". Even the fact that he said, "This kind can only come out by prayer…" He's letting you know you can't do it alone. I looked on my message last week, and somebody said on a comment… I don't usually read the comments. Pray for me. I read them more than I should. They said, "You left out fasting. It said 'By prayer and fasting.' They didn't get the demon out because they didn't fast". Isn't that just like us to think if we'll just do one more thing, if we'll just do one more step… It was their inability to rely on God's power in them that got them in the predicament to begin with. He said, "It's only by prayer". It's intimidating. How dare we judge the disciples that they couldn't cast out a demon? That's like all of the out of shape people watching these Olympic athletes, talking about "That was pretty good. I mean, second place. It was all right". I want to judge the disciples. "Why couldn't you drive out the demon? You should have confessed the name of Jesus and prayed and fasted". I can't even get my kids to clean their room, y'all, and I'm going to judge the disciples for not casting out a demon? This is a demon that has been with this boy since childhood. How dare we judge them for that? It was intimidating. He said, "This kind can only come out by prayer". This isn't going to be like one of your other problems you can fix in your own strength. I wonder, have you been losing it because you've been fighting on the wrong level? One of my friends went into a business situation a few weeks ago, and he said when he pulled up to the person's house for the meeting, the house was so big and so beautiful he lost his confidence. He said, "I went in there, and I thought, 'I can't do this. I can't do this.'" When he went in to meet with the people… After he left, they sent him a text and said, "You are amazing. We have not stopped talking about your spirit". He's a great Christian. This guy changes the atmosphere of every room he walks into. He said, "Afterward, they were texting me how amazing the meeting was and how they were so impressed with me". He said, "I couldn't believe it, because I went in so scared". And do you know what I told him? I said, "Yeah, because you got so caught up in what you were walking into you forgot what you were walking in with". Who is this for? You were so focused on what you were walking into, but God says if you will get a focus on what you are walking in with… Not just your abilities, not just your education, not just your knowledge, not just your wisdom. At some point, that will fail you, but if you remember you are walking in with the Spirit of God… This is a guarantee of your inheritance. This is not corruptible. It cannot perish. It cannot spoil. It cannot fade. Whatever it I'm walking into, I'm walking in with something that is greater. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. When Jesus confronted it, it had to back down, because greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world! I've got it, Devil! I have the Spirit of God. I have the calling of God. I have the purpose of God. I have the Word of God. I have the assurance of God. I have the anointing of God. I have a sling and a stone and a promise and a Savior. And I still have faith. After all I've been through and all it cost me and all they took… It robbed my speech, but it didn't take my faith. I do believe! I still believe! So, let me give you a Scripture. Lift before you look. Stop looking at stuff on the surface and saying, "Oh, there's nothing there". Lift before you look. This is what Holly taught me. "It's not gone; you just haven't looked yet". You haven't looked, so you haven't seen the opportunity that's in this hardship. You haven't seen the blessing that's in this rejection yet because you haven't looked. "I will lift my eyes to the hills". What did the psalmist do? He said, "I have to lift before I look". They looked at the boy, and he looked dead, but Jesus reached down and lifted him up. Why? Lift before you look. Before you look at your schedule for the day, lift your eyes to the hills. You're going to need help today, and you have it on the inside. Don't look so much at what you're walking into that you forget what you're walking in with. "Oh, no! I'm a nobody with a somebody on the inside of me. I have to decrease so he can increase. I lift my eyes to the hills". I might be preaching for three people, but you haven't really looked yet. You've been saying, "There's nothing special about me. I don't really have a gift. I'm not anointed like those other people. I'm not called. I don't really see any benefit in this situation". You haven't really looked until you've lifted. When you lift your eyes to the hills… The turning point for the father is when he stopped looking at the crowd, stopped looking at the disciples, stopped looking at the symptoms, and finally saw Jesus. I see Jesus coming toward your unbelief, coming toward your struggle, coming toward your issue. Will you lift your eyes? Lift before you look. He said, "I lift my eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help". It's not going to come from the disciples. It's not going to come from my own flesh. It's not going to come from my own solutions. "My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not suffer your foot to be moved. The Lord keepeth thee. He will not slumber nor sleep. For the Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. He that keepeth Israel shall preserve your soul, even forevermore". Who is this for? You were so focused on what you were walking into, but God says if you will get a focus on what you are walking in with… Not just your abilities, not just your education, not just your knowledge, not just your wisdom. At some point, that will fail you, but if you remember you are walking in with the Spirit of God… This is a guarantee of your inheritance. This is not corruptible. It cannot perish. It cannot spoil. It cannot fade. Whatever it I'm walking into, I'm walking in with something that is greater. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. When Jesus confronted it, it had to back down, because greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world! I've got it, Devil! I have the Spirit of God. I have the calling of God. I have the purpose of God. I have the Word of God. I have the assurance of God. I have the anointing of God. I have a sling and a stone and a promise and a Savior. And I still have faith. After all I've been through and all it cost me and all they took… It robbed my speech, but it didn't take my faith. I do believe! I still believe! So, let me give you a Scripture. Lift before you look. Stop looking at stuff on the surface and saying, "Oh, there's nothing there". Lift before you look. This is what Holly taught me. "It's not gone; you just haven't looked yet". You haven't looked, so you haven't seen the opportunity that's in this hardship. You haven't seen the blessing that's in this rejection yet because you haven't looked. "I will lift my eyes to the hills". What did the psalmist do? He said, "I have to lift before I look". They looked at the boy, and he looked dead, but Jesus reached down and lifted him up. Why? Lift before you look. Before you look at your schedule for the day, lift your eyes to the hills. You're going to need help today, and you have it on the inside. Don't look so much at what you're walking into that you forget what you're walking in with. "Oh, no! I'm a nobody with a somebody on the inside of me. I have to decrease so he can increase. I lift my eyes to the hills". I might be preaching for three people, but you haven't really looked yet. You've been saying, "There's nothing special about me. I don't really have a gift. I'm not anointed like those other people. I'm not called. I don't really see any benefit in this situation". You haven't really looked until you've lifted. When you lift your eyes to the hills… The turning point for the father is when he stopped looking at the crowd, stopped looking at the disciples, stopped looking at the symptoms, and finally saw Jesus. I see Jesus coming toward your unbelief, coming toward your struggle, coming toward your issue. Will you lift your eyes? Lift before you look. He said, "I lift my eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help". It's not going to come from the disciples. It's not going to come from my own flesh. It's not going to come from my own solutions. "My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not suffer your foot to be moved. The Lord keepeth thee. He will not slumber nor sleep. For the Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. He that keepeth Israel shall preserve your soul, even forevermore". Will you lift your eyes for a moment? You’ve been looking in the wrong places for your joy, for your peace. You didn’t lose it. You just need somebody to help you look. That’s what the Spirit of God does. He searches all things. He helps you look in the places where you haven’t looked yet. God has put his help on the inside of you, and I just want to help you look for a moment. Stand to your feet. One time, Paul prayed that the eyes of your heart might be opened. Prayer isn’t just about saying things to God. It’s about seeing things as God sees them. I do believe. Would you say that? www.ElevationChurch.org

NO OFFENSE—5 WHEN FORGIVENESS SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE Joakim Lundqvist Intro: Colossians 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness Rescued Greek Erry-Sáto: snatch someone out of danger, child stepping out into the street. and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves Not only saved from something, you are saved to something. You are a citizen of a brand-new Kingdom, now you need to be integrated (refugees). So what is this Kingdom all about? Learn language, value system. Become ambassadors. in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Vertical and horizontal forgiveness (the shape of the cross). • The Perspective That Releases Forgiveness Peter: “How many times do I have to?” (Peter’s backstory?) Matt 18:23-30 NKJV “Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 30And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.” 10,000 talents - 100 denarii (One day’s wages) - 1 denarius (silver coin) 1 talent = 6,000 denarii 1 denarius = $154.64/day (2021 avg U.S. daily wage) 1 talent (= 154.64 x 6,000) = $927,840 6,000 talents = $9 billion, 278 million, 400 thousand $15,464 • The Pride That Kills Forgiveness Pride robs you of blessing. 1 John 1:9-10 NKJV If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. • The Peace Found in Forgiveness Pic Sara back then Pic Sara now - married • The Power Unleashed Through Forgiveness Pic ISIS image—2015—“People of the Cross” Pic Egypt—miracle unlocked by power of forgiveness Forgiving someone who wronged you can be hard—it might even seem impossible. We’re learning what can happen when we unlock the power of forgiveness. From the latest headline to social media comments, to the person who just cut you off in traffic—there are plenty of opportunities to be offended each day. But what if we decided to respond differently to those around us? Together, let’s learn how to live with No Offense. www.lifechurch.tv/open

Pastor Chris Brown September 17-18, 2022 Message #37 / 2 Samuel 17:24-18:33 northcoastchurch.com/sermons How To Prepare For Bad Days Ahead Another tragic ending: 2 Samuel 17:24-18:33 The power of a chapter 17: 2 Samuel 17:24-18:33 There are three stages of adulthood: We are currently DEALING with a PROBLEM. We just got OUT of a PROBLEM. We are about to HEAD INTO a PROBLEM. We must be PROACTIVE to avoid being REACTIVE to our problems in life. What your church needs from you: Galatians 6:1-10 Our CHRISTIAN relationships have to look different than our SECULAR relationships. This is far more than just our ATTENDANCE; it is about our: AUTHENTICITY APPROACHABILITY AVAILABILITY The best way to connect with us is the Connection Card in the bulletin. For the Digital Bulletin, visit myncc.info. Pastor Chris Brown September 17-18, 2022 Message #37 / 2 Samuel 17:24-18:33 northcoastchurch.com/sermons How To Prepare For Bad Days Ahead Another tragic ending: 2 Samuel 17:24-18:33 The power of a chapter 17: 2 Samuel 17:24-18:33 There are three stages of adulthood: We are currently ___________ with a ___________. We just got _______ of a ___________. We are about to ______________ a ____________. We must be _____________ to avoid being ____________ to our problems in life. What your church needs from you: Galatians 6:1-10 Our _____________ relationships have to look different than our ___________ relationships. This is far more than just our ______________; it is about our: _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ The best way to connect with us is the Connection Card in the bulletin. For the Digital Bulletin, visit myncc.info. Life Group Study Questions For the week of September 18, 2022 WELCOME TO THE FALL QUARTER OF LIFE GROUPS! This week we kick off our Fall Life Group Quarter. Your first gathering is designed to give you time to get acquainted, enjoy a meal together and connect with each other, as well as time to discuss how to make your Life Group meetings great! The study questions have been shortened this week to allow ample time to accomplish all of this. To prepare for your first meeting, take some time to focus on the questions below and be prepared to share your answers with the group. Online Groups - If your group is meeting online, your leaders will be sending you the link for your group. Use this link for tips on meeting with your group online: lifegroups.northcoastchurch.com/pro-tips/ GETTING TO KNOW YOU One of the great parts of being in a Life Group is getting to know others better. Take a moment to jot down your answers to the questions below and be ready to share with your group. ð Tell us about yourself … • What are your five favorite foods, with the most favorite first? • When you were a kid, what was your dream job? • Would you rather have your dishes or clothes be magically clean? ð How was your summer? What are one or two things you enjoyed the most? Looking back at your notes from this week’s teaching, was there anything you heard for the first time or something that caught your attention, challenged, or confused you? DIGGING DEEPER This weekend’s message spoke of how, as followers of Jesus, our relationships look different than others. As you read the verses below in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, what unique relational attributes is he saying are essential for followers of Jesus? Ephesians 4:14-16 New International Version (NIV) 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:20-24 New International Version (NIV) 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:29, 31-32 New International Version (NIV) 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. What, if anything, was a bit surprising when you read it? How would you want someone to speak the “truth in love” to you? We all want to be connected in quality relationships. Which verses above could be a good theme verse for you in relating to others this next quarter? LOOKING AHEAD Life Groups meet every week to gain the encouragement and support we need in life as we follow Jesus. Take a moment to jot down some of the reasons you joined a group this fall, along with what you are looking forward to the most. THE PURPOSE OF LIFE GROUPS Life Groups exist to promote spiritual maturity and personal growth through meaningful Christian relationships and the study of God’s Word. (Romans 8:29 & Hebrews 10:24-25). Here’s how it will happen: SHARE Each week we’ll take time to share what is happening in our lives. At first this sharing will include planned “sharing questions.” But after the first few weeks, it will become more informal and personal as we feel more comfortable. STUDY Each week we’ll study a section from God’s Word that relates to the previous weekend’s sermon or an appropriate personal growth topic. Our goal is to learn how to live out our Christianity in everyday life. SUPPORT Each week we’ll learn how to take care of one another as Christ commanded (John 15:9-13). This care can take many forms, such as prayer, encouragement, listening, challenging one another and meeting real needs. SERVE Spiritual growth is fostered not only by what we gain through the support and input of others, but also through service to others. The role each of us fills is important to the health of the church and for us to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the community in which we live (Ephesians 4:11-16). Throughout the quarter, it is our hope that you can find and/or be affirmed in the ways God has designed you to serve and make a difference in God’s Kingdom. NORTH COAST MEN’S CONFERENCE It’s back because the first year was incredible! Join us Friday evening, October 28 & Saturday morning, October 29, for the second North Coast Men’s Conference held at the Vista Campus! Come ready to recharge and refocus on God’s call for us with teaching led by pastors Chris Brown and Ricky Jenkins, along with worship, activities and tourneys! Register at northcoastchurch.com/mens-conference/. All of us realize that we live in a broken world that is not getting any better, yet few of us are doing something ahead of time to prepare for when that brokenness hits us. Today’s two passages shed some incredible insight on what we need to do to prepare for the bad days that are sure to come. www.northcoastchurch.com .

Substitute Identities: Sexuality/Saint 1 Cor 6 J: U of A Mall: “what is your identity?” Sexual orientation. Contemporary American culture: gender + sexual preferences = identity (bi, cis, trans). Substitute Identities sermon series and today’s substitute identity: sexuality and true identity: saint. Feels like an unfair fight: who wouldn’t want to have their sexual desires fulfilled? And who wants to be a saint? The first sounds like fun and freeing. The second sounds like getting turned into a ceramic statue that will sit on someone’s mantle. God’s purposes for us are to have our identity rooted in his calling for us to be saints and to trust our sexual lives to him. A: In the Bible, saint appears 82 times. We might think a ceramic statue. A super Christian. But that isn’t what a saint is. When you hear the word saint, I want you to hear someone who is living without any guilt, any shame. A saint is free. Pure. Nothing to hide. A saint has trusted their desires to Christ. In 1 Cor 1:1-2, Paul begins his letter inviting the church into their sainthood. J: Introduce Angel, Whole Hope, walked with many who struggle. Saints are pure. But We’ve been told that what we desire is good and that unfulfilled desires are bad. We’ve been told we are what we desire. The truth: 1) In Christ, we are not our desires. 2) In Christ, our desires will be changed. 3) In Christ, our desires can be used as a powerful force for his kingdom. 4) Our sainthood displays the kingdom of God on this earth This isn’t so different than the culture Jesus stepped into. When Jesus enters the Roman empire, it is a place where massive sexual issues are present. Husbands can divorce their wives at the drop of a hat and women are left uncared for. Roman culture was very accepting of sex outside of marriage, of prostitution, and homosexual practice. The ultimate problem isn’t a culture problem “out there.” It is a struggle in our hearts with trusting God’s narrow way. A: In the Garden of Eden is crystal clear about his purposes for sex. God’s first words to Adam and Eve relates to sexuality: “Be fruitful and multiply.” First commandment: have sex. Gen 2:24-25. Man and woman. Sex and one flesh. Naked and not ashamed. J: Sex and purity are not at odds. Being a saint does not mean shutting down sexual desire. God made us as desiring beings. And he made us as sexual beings. It’s his gift to us. And it’s a gift to fulfil his purpose to procreate and it’s his gift for the purpose of marriage. Superglue. It’s great for very specific purposes. It’s not rubber cement. Don’t play with it. A: The line in Christian sexual ethics is not that Christians believe that heterosexuality is good and homosexuality or bisexuality or transgenderism is bad. It’s much more specific than that: God has given us our sexual desires for one context: in marriage. So many ways to misuse our sexuality: lust, pornography, sex outside of marriage, etc. J: God approaches sexuality with such a radically different perspective, that we need to slowly consider what God has to say. 6/27/2021 Substitute Identities: Sexuality/Saint 1 Cor 6 As we turn to 1 Cor 6, I want us to hear this passage not in terms of culture wars, but rather out of God’s pure desire for our purity. Conversation with someone disgusted with others’ sexual sin, minimizes his own. Hear this passage for yourself. God wants us to live life in his perfect intentions. The gospel changes everything. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: we are all here: three types of sexual sin, idolatry, greedy. Without Christ, this is all of us: living out our own desires. This is a double death. They control us and take us to the grave. Our desires need to be molded. Mac and cheese, brownie sundaes for kids vs. veggies. Problem: our desires. False identity: living out desires. True identity: having desires changed in Christ. A: 1 Cor 6:11: the work of Christ is to wash, sanctify, and justify. Wash: by Christ’s blood so that you might be pure, white as snow. Sanctified: made like Jesus. Justified: Jesus is your defense attorney. He took the penalty of your sin. Not just wash and justify. Sanctify! How? The Spirit of God? Do you want this? Do you trust God? God makes us saints. Joey: “Angel got her wings cut off!” Angel has a halo!” A saint: guiltless, shameless, a light! We have the light of God in us. We are transformed. We are not merely worthless sinners. Saints must trust Christ with their desires. 1) In Christ, we are not our desires. 2) In Christ, our desires will be changed. 3) In Christ, our desires can be used as a powerful force for his kingdom. 4) Our sainthood displays the kingdom of God on this earth. J: The church at Corinth: sex is no big deal. It’s like eating. Christianity is for the spiritual stuff. 1 Cor 6:12-17: an embodied theology of our lives. Not just our spirits. Resurrected bodies await us. Two become one. Superglue. A: Substitute identity v. true identity. 1 Cor 6:18-20: God gives us bodies to glorify him. He gives us an embodied Savior! Do you trust him with your body? He has paid a price for you. I’ve seen far more lose their faith because of their desires, than not believing in God for intellectual reasons. J: Mt 16:24-25: Following means denying yourself. Don’t be deceived: following Christ means denying our desires. We are not defined by our desires. J: Our desires can change. The promise of the heart of flesh: Ez 36:26-27. Do you trust Jesus with your desires? Saints trust Christ with their desires. Born again! Temple of the Holy Spirit. A: Story of hard heartedness, sexual sin, and transformed desires. Walked in the lies of sexual desires and their fulfillment. My desires were fulfilled so much better when I trusted God with them. J: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matt 5:8. Saints trust Christ with their desires: 1) not our desires; 2) our desires will be changed; 3) desires a powerful force; 4) sainthood displays kingdom. Story of Princeton friend who saw his sexual desires change. Fulfilled life with Christ. A: What next? Live as a saint. Our fulfillment awaits. Single: trust sexual desires with Christ and remain abstinent. SSA: trust sexual desires with Christ and remain abstinent. Porn: deny your desires and trust Christ. Confused about gender: trust Christ with your identity. You are a saint. Let Jesus speak identity: you are a saint. You are pure. J: Heaven is a place where our desires will be perfectly aligned with Christ. In the meanwhile, he is using you for his glory and your good. 6/27/2021 Week Four of “Substitute Identities.” God’s purposes for us are to have our identity rooted in his calling for us to be saints and to trust our sexual lives to him. Preached with Angel Beeson, John’s wife. www.newlifefellowship.com .

My beloved parents believed dancing was a sin, all dancing. And, as I remember it their convictions caused me a little anxiety growing up. As I approached middle school and high school I began to worry, “What would I say if a boy asked me to a dance?” But, of course this only happened once and I didn’t want to date this particular boy anyway. So, I guess you could say their beliefs were helpful to me, except that today when asked to dance by my sons or my grandchildren I still have no rhythm. After I started college I began working part time at a local hospital where I encountered a larger sphere of people who thought very differently than my parents. I remember specifically two ladies who were my mother’s age and yet, they loved to dance. Every time I helped or assisted them with a project they would both say the same thing. “Oh, thank you so much. When you get married I will dance at your wedding.” I wasn’t sure why this was a compliment, but I knew they meant it to encouragement me, and I also knew there would be no dancing allowed at my wedding. After I began reading Luke 15, and I saw the parties enjoyed at the end of each parable, I was reminded of my conversations with these ladies. In reflection I think my co-workers wanted to share in some communal delight at my wedding. Their joy gave me fresh insights into Luke 15 Some students of the Bible enjoy dissecting a single Greek or Hebrew word found in a passage, almost as if they were putting it under a microscope. But, another valuable way to study the Bible is to pull back the lenses and look at a passage from a greater distance. I call this view the airplane method. It is similar to climbing aboard an airplane that will take us far above the earth. This analytical observation helps us find the major themes of the Bible. Both methods are useful and legitimate ways to study the Bible, but today we are going to climb in the airplane. Look at Luke 15:1-2 1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” ESV 1) What do you these verses reveal about the Pharisees’ interest? Why do you think they were upset? These next three parables in Luke 15 are going to reveal Jesus’ interest. Each of these stories are similar and yet different, but it is the way that they are the same that will expose to us the most about the Jesus’ heart. So, as the chapter continues look for the ways these parables are alike. Now look at Luke 15:3-32 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety- nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” 11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, or this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” ESV Jesus loves us with a missionary heart. Jesus is not like us. He loves people before they know him. Jesus left the safety of heaven to seek and to save those who are spiritually lost. We fall in love with people because they are kind or generous or have a good sense of humor, but Jesus is not like us. He sees the value of someone before they see their own value. He seeks out those who don’t know him, as a Shepherd would seek out his lost sheep, as a woman would search diligently for her lost coin, and while it might not be evident at first, even in the story of the prodigal, we will see it too is a story of Jesus searching for the lost. We don’t look at people the same way Jesus does, because we do not posses his missionary heart. 2) If God gave us a missionary heart like his what might change? Jesus loves us by initiating true repentance. We cannot come to Jesus unless he enables us. In each of these parables we will see that genuine repentance is first initiated by Jesus. Jesus’ love will prove to be extremely costly in each story. The good shepherd will have to leave the ninety-nine sheep he owns and search across the wilderness for the lost lamb until he finds this wandering one. Then he will place this sheep, who could weigh up to seventy pounds, on his shoulder and carry him back home. The woman who is the second picture of Jesus in this chapter has to light a lamp in a dark house and search for her lost coin on her hands and knees until she finds it. She does this at great personal effort because that coin is worth a days wages. In the story of the father, the last picture of Jesus told in Luke 15, it will be important to look for the sacrifices the father makes for his son. At this time in history during the day people worked outside of the town in the fields they owned, but at evening they returned to a home they lived in within a walled city or fortress for protection. A man of status might even have a roof patio or balcony that would allow the father to see his son drawing near to the town from a great distance. When he saw his son the father in this story breaks will all cultural tradition set for a dignified middle-eastern patriarch, hikes his robes, and runs to meet him. Yes, the son started home on his own volition when he got hungry, but true repentance is more than wanting to escape sin’s consequences. God initiated repentance will woo us with the compassionate love of Jesus. The father in this parable will not be satisfied with the younger son’s desire to repay him by working as one of his hired hands. Only the restoration of his child to true sonship will please the father. In each parable the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son, the person or object found has one response in honest repentance and that is a willingness to accept Jesus’ finding them. We learn from these parables that we cannot even come to Jesus unless he draws us to himself. True repentance is always Jesus’ idea. In John 6:44 Jesus teaches this clearly when he said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. ESV And, in Romans 2:4 Paul wrote, Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ESV 3) Jesus is the initiator of true repentance and we are helpless to bring about repentance. So, how might understanding this truth change the way we pray? Jesus loves us by inviting us to join him in his salvation celebrations. Jesus gets excited when people repent. Heaven has a party each time a sinner is found and Jesus wants us to enter into these joyous celebrations just like the neighbors, family and friends did in each of these three parables. Heaven in these parables is portrayed as a communal joy where even the angels join in the music and dancing, delighted for those who are now safe in God’s arms. 4) How can we join in heaven’s celebration of repentance? In closing look at what Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:8-9, 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ESV

Let’s talk about sharing our faith at work. The big point of our series is that our work itself matters to God and is part of his creation and redemption mandate. It’s not that our job doesn’t really matter, except that it is a platform to share our faith. Our work itself is part of our divine calling and therefore doing it well glorifies God and represents him well to others. All that is true. It is also true that work provides maybe the best opportunity to impact other people spiritually because most of that happens through relationships and most of our relationships develop at work. Whether you know Jesus or not, you are on a spiritual journey or you wouldn’t be here. We all have a story to tell and if we are compassionate at all would love for other people to know how they could know Jesus, find transformation and meaning in a relationship with him, and know real hope. If we are loving at all, we realize we can’t just keep this to ourselves, and many of us know that we are in fact commanded in the New Testament to actively share that good news with others. Most people who become Jesus followers do so through a relationship with someone who is already a Christian, which is probably your story. That’s significant when we talk about work because most people develop their friendships with people they work with every day. So, how can we develop relationships in a way that can help other people in their journey? That can be a challenging question, because we have all probably experienced well-meaning Christians in the workplace that did more harm than good by coming on too strong. I recently read an article referred to me by a pastor buddy in Boston, written by a Jewish lady about an overly zealous Christian coworker, where she says, “He’s the nicest person in the world but has the unfortunate habit of using the workplace as a recruiting center. When he approached me to discuss religion, I mentioned that I was Jewish. Big mistake. His face lit up, and I came to find out that converting Jews was his personal mission. I couldn’t get up without finding a religious tract on my desk when I came back. After many attempts at conversion, I finally convinced him that I was happy with my religion and nothing he said would change it. He reluctantly moved on and now tries his hand with our clients.” She entitled her article, “Keep the Faith, but Keep it on your Side of the Cubicle.” We don’t want to be that girl or that guy, which can lead us to another mistake—just going completely silent and dark about our faith in the workplace. We hide our light so to speak rather than letting it shine, and just hope something good happens anyway. This is especially tempting because we don’t want to violate boundaries in the workplace in such a way where we could get fired or where we are just seen as a problem. We can easily become paralyzed in the workplace as Christians and hide the most important part of our lives. It’s a little like goldilocks, one porridge too hot and the other too cold. What would “just right” look like? The great news is that the New Testament talks about this quite a bit, how we as Christians can influence and live out our faith in attractive way everywhere we are in culture, including work. Collectively as a church, we are told to create irresistible influence by doing good, by being the most loving and inclusive people on the planet, that creates curiosity and interest in our message. Individually as Christians wherever God places us, we are compelled to do the same—to be people of irresistible influence, to live such attractive lives as transforming Jesus followers that others are drawn to us and to the good news that is transforming our lives. A great friend and fellow leader here at Chase Oaks, Mike Hogan, terms this in such a helpful way as creating pull, not push. If we as Christians try to push people toward our faith, by being loud and pushy, insisting on our own rights, sharing even when people don’t want to hear what we have to say, become argumentative and disrespectful, then we shouldn’t be surprised when people recoil. If you push me, I’m either going to stand my ground or push back. Nobody likes to be pushed (play with this?). Creating pull is what the New Testament tells us to do and is way more effective. It is living our lives in such a way that draws people toward us, creates curiosity and interest in what we believe. The NT talks a lot about this, and once we understand that God has placed us where we are on purpose, to be a light, then we must ask, “How do I do that? How can I live around people at work in such a way that creates pull?” We are going to start with Paul talking to Christians in 1 Thessalonians 4, where he lays it out so clearly: 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anyone.” The first phrase is such a powerful one, “Make it your ambition.” For those of us who are goal-oriented, we perk up with a phrase like that. “Make it your ambition—” a good strong command, and I’m ready to do whatever is next. Coach, put me in the game, and tell me what to do. “Make it your ambition”—okay I’m ready. But what comes next sounds so deflating, “Make it your ambition…to lead a quiet life…” What? That sounds like non-ambition. Try super hard to do nothing. But it isn’t nothing. A quietly attractive life takes tremendous intentionality and restraint. It is also very powerful. He is saying we don’t have to be loud and proud in the workplace with our faith. We shouldn’t be pushy and rude. Instead, we create pull by doing our work well and by living our daily lives in a way that creates respect. Quality work and an attractive daily life. Let’s talk about doing our work well, the quality of our work first. We’ve already seen in this series that our work matters to God, and that ultimately, we work for him and are called therefore to do our work excellently because it honors him. We should be the best workers at work because of that, but also because of this—by doing so we win the respect of outsiders. It should be that when a hiring manager finds out the person they hired is a Christian, they feel like they just won the lottery, that they would say quietly to another manager, “Hey, I know this may be inappropriate to consider faith in the workplace, but I just found out the person I hired last week is a Christian,” and that the other would say, “Oh man! No fair! You always get so lucky. Those people are the best!” With all the difficulties in the workplace over the last few years, the new trend replacing the great recession is quiet quitting, where instead of leaving your job, you just do the bare minimum and quietly skate by and stay under the radar. That is not what Paul is advocating. He is advocating quietly knocking it out of the park, doing your work so well that it wins the respect of others. This is also true of Christian businesses, of course. It’s like when people put a fish sticker on the back of the car, or a church sticker like we have for Chase Oaks, remember that when you are on the road. Don’t be a jerk, and don’t drive slow in the left lane. The left lane is called a passing lane, so if you aren’t passing then don’t be in that lane—especially with a fish sticker. Represent Jesus well if you put a fish or Christian bumper sticker on your car. That’s even more true for those who let others know that your business is a Christian one. When I had just graduated from college, I was spending time with some high school friends who were a few years older than me and had been working a career for a few years. One of those, Don, was telling a story how he had just hired painters to paint his house, and that he had chosen them because they were called “The Christian Painters.” This was before Google reviews, when we still used these things called phone books and you made choices by looking at the yellow pages. So many of you are giving me blank looks because you have no idea what I’m talking about. But that’s the way things were before the internet. He had chosen them out of the yellow pages because of the name. Someone else in the group, who was not a Christian, immediately blurted out, “Oh no! They call themselves Christian? They didn’t also have a fish on their ad, did they?” Don said, “They did! It’s part of why I chose them.” Everybody laughed, without even knowing what had happened, and that same guy, “Oh man, I hope it worked out, but you have to beware of the fish. Any time you see the fish, run away and choose somebody else.” Don then shared, “Well, I wish you would have told me that sooner, because the guy had a sob story and asked for most of the money up front, and I have never seen him again, and he isn’t answering his phone.” This was not a very compassionate group of friends, so laughter erupted even louder, as people kept saying, “Burned by the fish!” How sad is that! We should win people’s respect and win a hearing by being the best of workers and the best of businesses. We don’t just represent us. We represent Him. The same is true when it comes to how we live our daily lives. Remember quality work and attractive daily lives—let’s talk about our daily lives around our coworkers. Our social media team just did a survey of what my dream job would be if it wasn’t doing what I already do, and I said a professional skier—to get paid to travel to the best ski destinations in the world. Not realistic, but dreams don’t have to be realistic, right? My brother-in-law is a sales rep for Salomon skis, which does mean that I get good deals on ski equipment. But my real goal is to be officially sponsored by Salomon, to be a brand ambassador. That’s not realistic either because I’m not very good, but I love the thought of it. I am, however, a brand ambassador, and so are you if you are a Jesus follower. We represent Jesus, and how people experience us will determine in large part what they think about him. The NT actually gives us that job, as we just read. Our daily lives will either attract people to Jesus or distract them from Jesus. In Titus 2, Paul commanded the Thessalonians that they should live out their faith in the workplace in such a way that: SLIDE______________________) Titus 2:10 “Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way.” Titus 2 is all about how we in all spheres of life with outsiders should realize that we are brand ambassadors, that what people experience from us will either attract or distract people from Jesus. I was significantly impacted as a teenager reading the biography of Sheldon Van Auken, an atheist student at Oxford who came to know Jesus while in contact with professor C.S. Lewis and other Christians at the university who won him over through exemplary lives. In one of his journal entries early in that spiritual journey, he wrote: “The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians – when they are sombre and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.[1]” – Sheldon Van Auken As a new believer with mostly non-believing friends in my high school, I realized my job to represent Jesus as best I could, because the way people experienced me would either make them more open or closed to all that he wanted for them. That is true for all of us, however we interact with people outside the faith—certainly those at work. We should intentionally be the most loving, humble, respectful, compassionate, helpful, and gracious people at work because we represent the brand of Jesus. When we pull that off, it makes people curious in a good way about what makes us tick. Our daily lives can create pull. And then what? Peter, talking to Christians living in Rome, tells us what will happen and what our responsibility is. Creating pull with an attractive life will create conversations and opportunities. He says, 1 Peter 3:15-16 “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” You and I are not on our own at work when it comes to spiritual impact. God is at work, pulling people toward himself, and wants to use you and me in the process. When we live lives that are compelling, as Jesus is transforming us, we will have opportunity to share our faith. That’s why we are told to always be prepared to give an answer when people wonder about the hope that we have. Hope is a powerful thing. Hope gives us a why that others who don’t know Jesus do not have. Christian hope is what drives us forward, giving us the motivation to live differently by being the most loving people on the planet, to do our work well as unto the Lord, to be here for good people. So, when we love in ways that are remarkable or serve in ways that are sacrificial or work in ways that are above and beyond the normal or converse in ways that are remarkably respectful, don’t be surprised when people find all that surprising enough to become curious about what makes us tick or to come to us when they have spiritual questions. That’s also true when we or others around us encounter the inevitable difficulties of life in a broken world. Our hope is not based in circumstances, but in the God above the circumstances, which is a surprising kind of hope. When we go through difficulties with hope in God, there is a strength even in our grief that is surprising to people who don’t have that hope. How can you keep going? How can you be so strong? We create pull by quality work and attractive daily lives, enough that we need to be ready for those spiritual conversations to happen. That’s what Peter says, “Be ready!” But what does that mean? How can we be ready? Let’s talk about being prepared and how we can share our faith when people want to hear about it or when people come to us in tough times for support. When someone says, “How can you always stay so positive in a work environment like this?” You could say something like, “Oh, I believe that God placed me here and that what we do really matters to make our world function the way that he intended, so even when work becomes difficult, it helps me to tap into that higher purpose.” Someone might say, “How can you keep treating customers, even rude ones, with such respect and patience?” You could say something like, “Oh, I believe every human is made in God’s image and worthy of respect always, and when people are at their worst, it’s an opportunity to show some love to someone who must be hurting in other areas of life.” How about when people come to you in difficult times for support? Christians are still in our culture the go-to people when life gets hard, because we have a hope that is above circumstances. When conversations happen with people who are struggling, it’s perfectly okay to offer to pray for them. And if they wonder how you can be so strong, you can say someth8ng like, “Oh, I’m not strong. But fortunately, God is, and he is with me in all that I go through. Without him, I’d be a total basket case.” That may open up more conversation and opportunity to invite someone to your small group where you find support, to invite them to take a step on their spiritual journey by joining you at church. Surveys of non-churched people consistently show that they would be open to going to church if someone they respected invited them…but hardly any of them have ever been invited. It’s how Philip, one of the twelve disciples, invited Nathaniel, a friend of his who would also become one of the twelve. Nathaniel was curious but had a lot of doubts and questions. Instead of debating him, Philip just said, “Come and see!” and brought him to Jesus. We design our church services to be come and see environments where we can easily invite those who don’t know Jesus yet and are curious. It’s one way they can encounter Jesus too. You should also be prepared to share with someone how they can begin a relationship with God because of what Jesus did. He came here to take away the guilt of our sin by dying on the cross and being raised from the dead. He wants to not only forgive us but to be in a relationship with us that changes our lives. He invites us into a relationship with him that transforms us from the inside out. I think the best way to about that is to share your story of how you began a relationship with Jesus and the difference it has made in your life. It is not so threatening to share your story, because it is your story. You aren’t saying, “I’m right and you are wrong in what you believe.” You are simply saying, “This is what has happened to me, and why I’m so thankful to have found connection with God through Jesus, because it has made all the difference.” This fall we are doing Chase Oaks Road Shows at each campus, where a traveling group of facilitators will be showing up for a couple of weeks to offer classes designed to give us more confidence and skill in life, including this one. One of the topics will be how to share your story in an effective way. That’s so important. You may have heard a quote by an ancient saint, Francis of Assisi, that says, “Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.” – Saint Frances of Assisi Even if you haven’t heard it, it sounds really good. There are two problems with the quote though. One, he never said it. And two, it’s not true. Yes, just as Paul has instructed us and we’ve shared in this sermon, respectable lives are the most important witness of the reality of Jesus. But that doesn’t mean that words don’t matter. At some point, words are necessary to help someone understand what Jesus is offering them. Like Paul said in Romans, Romans 10:13-14 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” How will they know if they don’t hear? How can they hear if we don’t use words? So be prepared to tell your story, like a before and after story, and if you aren’t, then the roadshow is designed to equip you to do so. Our work itself matters to God, and therefore we should do it well in a way that glorifies him and helps others flourish. Our work also, because we spend so much time there, is usually our most strategic place to represent Jesus in such a way that we can help others know about him. So, let’s go back to work with this thought in mind, that we are there to win the respect of others, to love people with no strings attached and do our work well and treat people with respect, so much so that it creates spiritual pull. Imagine how exciting it would be to help someone in their spiritual journey, wherever you are at in your own. Imagine what it would be like to help lead one or two or ten others around you to a relationship with Jesus and sharing that journey with them? Imagine if all of us Chase Oakers, about 10,000 or so, started doing work the way we have talked about it in this series, how with that critical mass we could actually lift the whole experience of work for others? Let’s ask God to help us be his people in the workplace in a way that can make a real difference. Let’s do our work well, live increasingly attractive lives as he is transforming us, and always be ready to share our story and the reason for our hope when people want to hear about it or come to us for perspective. He will help us do that, because he will always empower us to do what he commands us to do. [1] Sheldon Van Auken, A Severe Mercy