Psalm 46:10 : “Be   still ,  and   know   that   I   am   God :  I  will  be  exalted  am ong the heathen,  I  will  be  exalted  i n the earth.” Care of the soul is serious and important work. For it is through this task that we draw closer to God and thus, deepen our relationship with Him. A SOUL CARE CAVEAT As we engage in this weighty work, there is a warning to be disclosed. While we can share ideas on how to effectively care for the soul with one another, it is crucial for us to recognize that  the responsibility for this work is ours alone. Hidden in the innermost part of our being, no one else has access to our soul. Therefore, the responsibility for its care belongs to each of us individually. Consider the following 35 practical ideas for soul care. Then, establish your personal plan – prioritize it, nail down the when and where and for how long, prepare ahead, set up a physical space, arrange childcare if needed, make it portable so that you can take it with you. Do whatever it takes for the work is crucial and the responsibility yours. Walk with God Breathe breath prayers throughout your day. Say His name – “Jesus.” Out loud. Remind yourself that He is right there with you. Have a heart-to-heart with God. Don’t hold back. Share your deepest concerns, fears, and thanks with Him. Wear a special item of jewelry that will remind you of Jesus. Practice immediate obedience to Him. Keep a daily appointment with God. Provide a soundtrack for your work – listen to podcasts, turn up the praise music, build playlists for different purposes. Carry on conversations with Christ. Pay Attention Before your feet hit the floor in the morning, commit your day to God and invite Him to be with you. Each morning, challenge yourself by asking: “In how many moments of my life today can I be consciously aware of and surrendered to God’s presence?” Schedule a dedicated and consistent time for self-reflection. Stay alert to God’s surprises throughout each and every day. Keep your eyes open to God’s guiding hand on your life. In prayer, ask your loving Heavenly Father to show you which of your attitudes, expectations, beliefs, or plans are holding you back from intimacy with Him. Step away from social media and turn off your devices. Then turn your focus toward Him. Lean in physically while talking with God. Enlist an accountability partner or two who will help you pay attention. Examine your motives regularly – Duty or love? Performance driven or response from the heart? Engage in the Spiritual Disciplines Pray Scripture. Read a Bible passage back to God as a prayer or put the passage into your own words. Take prayer breaks throughout your day. Set an alarm on your phone to help you remember. Listen to the Bible. Write out Scripture – by hand. Meditate on a passage of Scripture as you enjoy a walk. Read God’s Word with a pen in hand – underline important words, make lists, draw diagrams, record your reflections, note your questions, do word studies, compare and contrast, make connections, summarize. Pray as you live life – having coffee, doing laundry, waiting in line, walking the dog. Offer thanksgiving, every day. Preach the Gospel to yourself. Learn to spend more time talking to yourself than listening to yourself. Rest Enjoy a leisurely prayer walk through your neighborhood. Set a timer and sit quietly alone with God for five minutes. Spend some time alone with God – write it on your calendar, prepare for it, and if possible, get away from home. Take a nap. Get plenty of sleep at night. Learn to wait on the Lord – in solitude and silence, with no agenda. Plan a personal retreat day (or hour). Let go of perfectionistic tendencies and impossibly high expectations of what things  should  look like. Extend grace to yourself and allow for adjustments that will better fit your current season (ie; shorter amount of time spend in daily quiet time, Bible reading and prayer spread out over time, spiritual disciplines practiced at different times of day, children included in spiritual practices). www.deborahhaddix.com . For more resources and Bible studies, go to her amazing site!

We have been navigating a sermon series that has been a while in the making here at New Life. It is called Rest. If you’re interested in digging into the sermon series, you can find it here. Sabbath has been an interest of Greg’s for years. In fact, growing up Jewish, understanding a Christian perspective on Sabbath was a stumbling block to Greg’s conversion. As a type-A overachiever, rest has been a very personal challenge to me. The do’s of Christianity come more naturally than the invitation to rest. Our culture struggles with rest. What passes for rest is usually recreation and entertainment. Good things, but not rest. If you want to dig deeper into rest, here are some books that have helped me in growing in what it means to follow the way of Christ. I hope they help you as well. John Mark Comer was on the ascent. In his early 30’s he already was pastoring a megachurch in Portland and living an incredibly successful life, but a life where the sheer pace was choking out his joy and peace. This is the “hypermodern world” a world where we are constantly tethered to our devices, bombarded by information. This is a world where we are “bone-deep” tired in our souls. To this world Jesus speaks, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” This is an invitation not just to receiving the gift of salvation through Christ, it is an invitation to walk in Jesus’ way. This Jesus way of living stands is an upstream way of living, calling us to fight against the current of this world. It requires The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. John Mark Comer draws that phrase from Dallas Willard, who counseled John Ortberg, “You must ruthlesslessly eliminate hurry from your life.” In the words of Walter Adams, the spiritual director to CS Lewis, “To walk with Jesus is to walk with a slow, unhurried pace. Hurry is the death of prayer and only impedes and spoils our work. It never advances it.” Or, in the words of Jesus to Martha, “You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.” Comer takes us on an historical tour of how our lives came to be lived as the pace that we accept as normal. The church bell and light bulb and internet all are culprits. We tell ourselves that “if only I just had more time, more hours in the day…” but it’s a lie. Our hurry swallows up everything in its path. What have we gained? Who are we becoming as a result of these disordered lives? Comer invites us to experience what it looks like to walk with Jesus, to learn his pace, and to kill the ache this hyper-modern world has implanted in us to fill every corner of our lives with information and doing. Comer examines Jesus’ life and shows us the unhurried pace he lives at. He is never in a rush. He always creates margin for intimacy with the Father. He is always present to those who are with him. Isn’t this the life we want to live? Yes! Comer then transitions into the final four chapters, where examines four practices for un-hurrying our lives. Those are silence and solitude, Sabbath, simplicity, and slowing. In each of these chapters, Comer begins to offer practical wisdom for battling the world of distraction and walking in the way of Jesus. My favorite of these final four chapters was Comer’s reflection on Sabbath. Happily, my wife and I read this book together, and this is where we felt most convicted and where the book has already begun to make some practical changes in our life together. Comer explains that “Sabbath is more than just a day; it is a way of being in the world. It’s a spirit of restfulness that comes from abiding, from living in the Father’s loving presence all week long.” Comer reminds us that Sabbath came into being because God first practiced Sabbath. GOD rested! Whoa. If God rested, what does that say about our need for rest? HH Farmer says, “If you go against the grain of the universe, you get splinters.” Comer reminds us that in the ancient world those who were forbidden from taking sabbath were slaves. To refuse the Sabbath is to live as a slave; it is to live in the clutches of Egypt. Comer invites us in Sabbath to stop and delight, to rest and worship. I’m so grateful for Comer’s book. It is convicting and encouraging, providing hope for this weary reader. As Comer reminds us, “Aim at an easy life and your actual life will be marked by a gnawing angst and frustration; aim at an easy yoke and, as John Ortberg once said, ‘Your capacity for tackling hard assignments will actually grow.’ What’s hard isn’t following Jesus. What’s hard is following myself.” I did have a few minor quibbles with Comer’s book. At times, Comer can overstate his case, or misinterpret texts. For this reader, those hurdles could be lept because of how good the vast majority of the content was. Take up The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and be blessed by this breath of fresh air. Better yet, if you’re married, pick it up with your spouse. I hope it continues to change me and I hope God uses it to broadly change his church. May we walk Jesus’ way at Jesus’ pace and would the world watch and desire our grace-filled unhurried lives. Jefferson Bethke believes that Americans have bought a lie: work has become where “we derive our ultimate value and meaning.” Work is the great American idol and we are its slaves. We celebrate those who hustle, who are grinders. Bethke explains this kind of hustling: “When I say the word hustle in this book, I do not mean hustle as in working hard, diligently, and with focus (i.e., your coach telling you to hustle for the ball, which is a good thing!). I mean hustle as it has culturally been adapted to mean in our online conversational lexicon: a mind-set of do more, grind more, be more, accomplish more, #neversleep, and all that the word tends to tell us to do right now.” Bethke urges us to say To Hell with the Hustle. All the while, the idol of hustle is chewing us up and spitting us out. • 7 in 10 millennials would say they are currently experiencing some level of burnout. • 54 percent of us (millennials) would say we are chronically lonely and say that we “always or sometimes feel that no one knows [us] well.” • 30 percent of millennials and Gen Z currently say they experience disruptive anxiety or depression. There has been a massive transformation in the nature of work over the past hundred years. “Derek Thompson noted one large change no one saw coming: how work itself and our view of it evolved. Work jumped from being a means of “material production” to being much more about ‘identity production.’ In other words, work used to be about making things. Then all of a sudden, work was about making us.” Bethke believes there is a better way: Jesus’ way. He reminds us that, “Jesus was never in a hurry. Jesus was the fully human one. The prototype of all humanity. And I think we can pretty easily see that he was someone actively resisting cultural pressures, on many levels. Hustle isn’t him. And if hustle isn’t him, there’s only one other place it could come from. Hell. The curse. The source of death.” Bethke believes that we’ve become goal-obsessed when we ought to be concerned about our formation. Formation is the result of habituated practices and the result isn’t tangible: it is the health of our soul. “Humans aren’t made,” Bethke asserts, “We are formed.” What that means is that Jesus isn’t just a repository of truth, a giver of goals, but rather that his way shows us how to be human. In Bethke’s words, “To follow Jesus we need to not just follow his teaching, but also follow his way. His process. His cadence. His demeanor. His spirit. His very essence.” In the midst of wonderful technological innovation, from the light bulb to modern farming, to the internet, we have been promised health and happiness. But is that what we’ve received? Levels of depression have skyrocketed, our health has deteriorated. How much we sleep has shrunk. We’ve tried to fix our souls with information and found information wanting. But information won’t fix us. We live in the age of information and of soul sickness: “Every two days we develop as much information as we did between the dawn of civilization and 2003.” Bethke takes us back to Augustine, who teaches us that, “We do not become just what we think. We become what we desire. We are not shaped by facts. We are shaped by what we love.” We change when what we love changes. Christ’s final question to Peter, “Do you love me?” then, is the question. In addition to information, our world offers freedom. But freedom isn’t free. Instead, it can be a cancer. When our freedom is not from or for Christ, it shackles us. Bethke asserts that “self-discovery in our culture is just another way to self-destruction.” Many of these re-forming practices are revolutionary in today’s world. How do we incorporate silence and solitude into our lives in a world of constant noise? Bethke says, “Silence today is so rare, so undervalued, that it is an act of resistance.” Do we trust God with our time? Do we trust God enough to stop being busy and rest? Have we given God space to speak to us? Do we dare risk the quiet and face boredom? Maybe that is the very thing God needs. “America’s mantra is, ‘I produce, therefore I am.’” But God calls us to, like Mary, stop and sit at his feel. There is no better thing we could choose than this. Bethke has taken his time digesting some heavy-duty thinkers: Augustine, Charles Smith, James KA Smith, and others, and has delivered them on the bottom shelf. Are you weary? I encourage you to pick up this book and consider why that might be. I have a few quibbles along the way: I think Bethke tends to have a vision with the individual and nuclear family inhabiting too much of the space and the church too little, and Bethke’s unusual life (he’s a writer and YouTuber) is probably hard for many of us to translate into our own lives. Bethke’s vision of what a godly life of formation looks like might look very different from yours, but overall his wisdom is helpful for every one of us. We all ought to stop and consider what it looks like to care more about being formed into the image of Christ than into the image of success we are presented. thebeehive.live .

TRANSCRIPTION SERIES: ...but God MESSAGE: Haters Hate…but God Skip Heitzig SPEAKER: SCRIPTURE: 1 Samuel 23:14-18 Imagine what it would be like to believe God called you to the mission field, take your family there, and then have happen a series of events. Well I'm going to read it to you. It's from a friend of mine who did just that. He moved to the Philippines with his family. He believed God called them to be missionaries. I believe God did call them to be missionaries there, but he says this-- "Dear Skip, I penned this letter in the midst of turmoil. The Philippines right now is facing one of the most difficult times I have ever seen since being here. The inflation rate has just hit 13%. This has caused great difficulty for all of us. There have also been major problems with the electrical power, and we are experiencing two-hour blackouts twice a day. This is expected to continue. Manila is also engulfed in a transportation crisis. Then, this morning, we were awoken by the gunfire of another coup attempt. Getting up, I watched from my daughter Anna's bedroom window as two World-War II-era planes dropped bombs on channel 4 TV. Even now, as I write this, I can hear gunfire. Personally, we have also had major trials and attacks from the enemy. Diana and Anna both contracted an amoebic parasite and needed 10 days of treatment. The landlord raised our rent. Caleb, our dog, was diagnosed with heartworms, and a burglar got into our yard and tried to steal the car. He did not succeed, but he caused some damage before he left." Now, if you spend the money and the energy to go to a foreign field and then have one bad thing happen after another, at some point you've got to question, did we make the right move, right? Now listen to how he ends his letter. "Yet even when faced with an uncertain future, I am realizing the truth of Philippians 4:7, that says, 'the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.' In fact," he says. "In fact, I feel guilty for feeling so peaceful when many of the people around are panic stricken. No matter what happens, there is no greater peace or joy than to be in God's will. Even in the face of uncertainty, there is an excitement and an expectation of what God is going to do." How's that for a letter of encouragement? Every time I read this, I get convicted, which leads me to a question. How do you view your life? How do you see the reality of things that unfold around you, good or bad? How do you view them? The real question is, what is your world view? You know, everybody has a world view, how you view the world, and we put a lens on every time something happens around us, we read a news story, we hear a report, we experience good or bad, we are viewing those events through a lens-- our Haters Hate…but God - 1 Samuel 23:14-18 | SkipHeitzig.com/4295 Page | 1 world view. Now the Bible, when you read it, has a very distinct worldview. It gives you a very unique lens. And the biblical world view in a nutshell is this-- that everything was created by God, that mankind made really bad first choices that caused disastrous results, that those results have lingered on in every generation, bringing death-- physically, morally, and spiritually-- that God's plan was to let those results play out for thousands of years, while at the same time staging a rescue operation that would take care, first, of the sin problem, then eventually he would return to rule over a restored creation with those that he was sent to save. That's a biblical world view in a nutshell. Now if you do not have that world view, if that is not your perception of things, then most of life is not going to make sense. In fact, what happens around you is going to seem very haphazard, very random, very arbitrary, cruel, and you'll be very lonely. If that is your world view, life is still going to sting, it's still going to hurt, will still be hard, but it's going to be much clearer and more satisfying. And all of that can be boiled down to two words that we are considering in a series-- but God. We're going to be looking at how the Bible presents that reality, and every time it does, it puts that lens back on. This is how to view your life. No matter what happens up to that point, but God changes everything. So we're looking at 1 Samuel 23. I'm going to begin around verse 13 or 14, and what I've done is come up with four statements, four axiomatic statements, or self-evident statements, self-clarifying statements that emerged from the text that we were reading. And the first one is a very simple one I think we would all agree with-- bad things happen to good people. You know, it would wonderful if it was like, bad things only happen to bad people. Good things only happen to good people. But it's not that cut and dried. Bad things happen to good people. Let's see what happened to David. 1 Samuel 23, verse 13 is the end of a previous paragraph, but let's connect them. "So David and his men, about 600, arose and departed from Keilah--" a little town on the border with the Philistines-- "and went wherever they could go. Then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; so he halted the expedition. And David stayed in the strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life--" that is, to kill him. "And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest. Then Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, 'Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that.' So the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. And David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house." All right, this is David we're talking about. This is the guy of whom it is said, he was a man after God's own heart. This is David. This is the future King of Israel. This is the ancestor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is David. This isn't Cain, this isn't Saul, it's not Haman, it's not Judas, it's not Herod the Great-- it is David, the central figure in God's plan of redemptive history at this particular time in history. And yet, he is suffering. He's being chased and hunted. His life is in danger. And all of that shows us a very self evident truth-- that bad things happen to good people, that suffering is not a measure of goodness or godliness, that it's not like some cosmic karma that happens. It's like, boy, a lot of bad stuff happened to that Haters Hate…but God - 1 Samuel 23:14-18 | SkipHeitzig.com/4295 Page | 2 family. It must mean they're doing bad things. That's not always the case. In fact, Jesus put it this way-- God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. What we are seeing here play out is the effect of a very jealous king named Saul-- jealous of David, jealous of David's calling, jealous of David's capabilities, forcing David to flee and live for years-- in fact, some believe up to a decade-- as a refugee. So the language here, the names that are mentioned, the places that are mentioned here in the text are somewhere in the region between the hill country of Judea and the Dead Sea region. There's a lot of ravines, a lot of rocks and caves, places to hide, and that's where David is. You probably know this, but some of the psalms that are written in the Book of Psalms written by David were written during this period of time, this decade of time while he was fleeing and he was suffering, and they're very moving psalms. One of them is Psalm 63 that we believe could have been written during this time, and it's because the very top of the psalm says this-- a psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah. That's probably this time. Now that's a psalm you're familiar with. He says, "Oh God, you are my God. Early will I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for you in the sanctuary to behold your power and your glory, because your loving kindness is better than life. My lips shall praise you. Thus I will bless you while I live. I lift up my hands in your name." It's the story, it's the psalm of somebody longing to go back to the central sanctuary worshipping with his people, but is forced to be out in the dry desert areas as a refugee because his life is in danger. Question-- what did David do to invite this kind of mistreatment from King Saul? Answer-- absolutely nothing. He didn't do anything bad to Saul. He didn't say bad things about him. He didn't try to stage a coup to take over. He was faithful, he was diligent, he was obedient, he did everything the king wanted him to do, he took care of some of Israel's enemies, and yet this. In fact, he brings this point up in another psalm-- Psalm 59, certainly written during this period, when David writes, "The mighty--" that is Saul and his armies-- "The mighty gather against me not for my transgressions nor for my sin, oh Lord. They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine." David is not saying that he is sinlessly perfect. He is just saying, I am not suffering because of my sin. I didn't bring this on because of my sin or my disobedience. So sometimes bad things happen, and there's no direct cause and effect correlation. Bad things happen to good people. Now, when this all started is when David, just a kid, just a shepherd boy, goes to the front lines of the battle and sees this big lug of a Philistine named Goliath, and he defeats him. David kills Goliath. It's a story we're all familiar with. Well, after that battle is done and everybody's going home-- King Saul is going home with his army, and as he's going back home, Saul leading his armies after David got the victory, the people of Israel meet the armies, and they're singing, and they're dancing, and they're partying, and the Bible says the women are singing a song, and here's the lyrics-- "Saul has slain his thousands, and David has slain his tens of thousands." Now first of all, the women were singing that song, which didn't go over well with a very egocentric King Saul, and apparently everybody knew the lyrics to this song, because everybody was singing it. It hit the top of the charts, and his name is in the song, but it's compared to David, who has slain his tens of thousands. So he gets all in a huff and decides to get very jealous of David, saying, well, what more can he have but the kingdom? Haters Hate…but God - 1 Samuel 23:14-18 | SkipHeitzig.com/4295 Page | 3 So from that moment on, the Bible says a jealous eye was cast toward David. A couple of chapters later, when David is in Saul's presence, Saul grabs his spear and throws it, trying to play pin the spear on the musician, but he ducks. David leaves the room, and so Saul comes up with another plan. I've got to get rid of this kid. I'm jealous of him. And it says that he said, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to give David-- my enemy that I want to kill-- I'm going to give David my daughter, that she may become a snare to him. How would you like to be the daughter of that creepy king, using you as a pawn to kill somebody he doesn't like? Well long story short, while they are together, they're married, they're in the same house, Saul seeks to kill him. David escapes once again. Now, from that moment on, for all of these years, David is suffering as a refugee hunted by the king, and it's probably the lowest moment in David's life, as expressed in some of those psalms that I mentioned. But I've got to tell you something. I'm going to make a confession to you. It's going to sound a little cruel, but I am so glad that David suffered, and I bet you are too, because out of that suffering was produced all of those magnificent psalms, many of them that when we read bring encouragement to us. And you read them go, David went through that? That very deep stuff that still ministers to millions of hearts around the world. The music of the sanctuary is often forged in the trials of the Saints. We benefit from it. Spurgeon said, "God gets his best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction." Now I'm bringing this up as the first major point, because sometimes, if you listen to some believers, you get the idea that they're saying, well, once you come to Christ, all your problems go away. Now is that true? Well, in one sense it's true. Your biggest problem goes away. You're not going to Hell. That's a big problem, and that's your biggest problem. That goes away, but you get a whole bunch of new problems. You now have a target on your back, and all the minions of the Hell and Satan himself will target you. Oh yes, you still have victory, God gives you incredible promises to get through that and be overcomers, but that does not mean life is a downhill slide from that point on. Good things happen to bad people. I want to lead you to a second truth that is self-evident in our story. Not only bad things happen to good people, but bad people can't stop a good God. Bad people can't stop a good God. Now we come to the very crux of this passage in verse 14. Second sentence, second part of verse 14-- "Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hands." Now those two words change the story. Those two words pull back the curtain of God's providential care. As James Montgomery Boice said, "If you understand those two words-- but God-- they will save your soul. If you recall them daily and live by them, they will transform your life completely." Verse 14, these two words introduce us to the truth that there is a divine sovereign hand ruling the universe, so that even though bad things happen to good people, even though bad things happen to God's good people, it's not the end of the story. The story continues-- but God. When you have a supreme, all-powerful, universal ruler, malicious plans won't succeed. Now let me restate that. When you have a supreme, all-powerful, universal ruler, malicious plans won't always succeed. Sometimes they do succeed. In fact, in this case, they did succeed for a while. How long did I say David was running from Saul? 10 years. 10 years of suffering. 10 years as a refugee. 10 years living away from his home. 10 years in caves. All because of this madman, this crazy, jealous king. God allowed that to happen. Haters Hate…but God - 1 Samuel 23:14-18 | SkipHeitzig.com/4295 Page | 4 But Saul was only allowed to go so far and no further. He was allowed to display that maniacal, crazy behavior only up to a point, and then God stepped in. And when did God step in? When it served God's purpose. So all of this was allowed to happen, but when it didn't serve God's purpose, it stopped. Maybe your wheels are spinning. You're going, what do you mean served God's purpose? Are you telling me that it served God's purpose for David to suffer 10 years? Uh-huh. Sad to say, but yes. It served God's purpose for David to suffer 10 years. Why? Well I think you know the answer to that question. I think you know that suffering can sometimes be beneficial, in fact, very beneficial to the life of a believer. If we were to have testimony time, and you were to tell me your story or stories, I bet several of you would say something like, it was a dark time. It was a very dismal time. I was so discouraged, I didn't see any way out, but then this is what happened. This is what I learned. This is why I'm better because of it. Spurgeon, once again-- he said so many good things. He said, "The hardest hearted, most unlovely Christians in all the world are those who have never had much trouble, and those who are the most sympathizing, loving, and Christ-like are those that have suffered the most affliction. The worst thing that can happen to any of us is to have our path made too smooth." That's amazing. "The worst thing that can happen to any of us is to have our path made too smooth." But here's the good news-- there is a limit. There is a limit, and the limit is when it violates God's purpose. Now what's God's purpose for David? He's going to be the next what? King. King. So for him to be the next king, he has to live, not die. That's why we read, "Saul sought him everyday, but God did not deliver him into his hands." So up to a point, this guy is crazy and maniacal, but God wouldn't allow that to happen. That's the difference. It's a profound truth. Remember the story of Job, the book we sort of love but not really? So Job, he was godly. He was the godliest guy on the earth. God even bragged that to Satan. But there's this conversation between Satan and God in chapters one and two, and God allows Satan to go against Job up to a point. Remember, the thing is, don't touch his person. So things around him happen where his life caves in with his loved ones. Second chapter, God says, OK, you can go further, but don't take his life. Spare his life. At each point, Satan was under the parameters of a sovereign God, under the permission of God up to a point and no further. Satan is on a leash. Sometimes I think it's a little too long, but that's God's business. Then you go to the New Testament, Mark chapter 8. A demon-possessed man-- there's not just one, but several demons in this man, and the demons say to Jesus, permit us-- listen to the language-- permit us to go into that herd of swine. They had to get permission. They only acted and reacted upon permission of a sovereign God. What does that mean? It means this-- all of humanity, all the angels in heaven, all the demons of hell, and Satan himself operate under the strict parameters of a sovereign God. So only by permission. And only for God's purposes, and these two words-- but God-- introduce us to that truth. Those two words introduce us to the truth, that God's ways are behind the scenes, but he moves all the scenes that he is behind. This is what's happening in the natural world. But God is acting. What this means to you personally is that if you are going through a fiery trial, that God has his eye on you and his hand on the thermostat. He's watching. He knows how long you've been in there. He knows how hot it's getting. He didn't walk away and Haters Hate…but God - 1 Samuel 23:14-18 | SkipHeitzig.com/4295 Page | 5 forget. He didn't have ADD. He never says, oops. Oh, that poor Christian crispy critter. I've left him in an hour too long. He's really burnt by now. I'd better get him out. He's got his eye on you and his hand on the thermostat. Now what this means even further, if I boil it down, is a profound truth. You are invincible until God is done with you. You are invincible until God is done with you. In Revelation 11, there is a story in the end times of two witnesses that come to the earth. They have miraculous powers, and the world knows about them, they see them, but there is a remarkable text that says, "and when they had finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit came against them and killed them." They died. When did they die? When they had finished their testimony. So you are invincible until God is done with you, and once God is done with you, can I just say, who wants to be around here anyway? It's like, well, there's heaven waiting. I'll take that. When God's done with me, get me out of here. I'm out of town. So bad things happen to good people, but bad people can't stop a good God. Here's the third truth, a self-evident, axiomatic truth from this passage. A good God doesn't negate good sense. Now look at verse 15 for a moment. God has just not delivered him into the hand of Saul, verse 14, but look at verse 15. So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life, and David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest. That means he was looking for cover amongst foliage so that he wouldn't be spotted. Now this is amazing. Why didn't David just throw caution to the wind? I mean, if God is sovereign, and God's God-- God can deliver anybody, why didn't David just walk out in the open and go, oh Saul, here I am! You can't touch me! Answer-- because David is not an idiot. He hid. He made all the right choices. The fact that God is running the universe doesn't turn David into a fatalist. He used every means at his disposal to protect himself. He's still using his mind, he's still applying evasive strategies to get out of a predicament, because David believes both in the sovereignty of God and in the responsibility of man. He believed that God did not deliver him into Saul's hand. Why should he deliver himself into Saul's hand? I bring this up because I find many people very passive in their view about God's sovereign nature. When you talk to them, it's sort of like they feel they're just passengers along for God's wild ride, and they have absolutely no responsibility, no duty. Whatever happens is what God wanted to happen, so why should I think, or deliberate, or plan, or organize, or strategize? David did not think this way. David thought this way-- God may deliver, but I have to duck. I still have to use my common sense and do everything I can, because this is what God might use to deliver me from Saul's hand. So he believed that God's sovereignty is enmeshed in man's responsibility. Now in the New Testament, Jesus gives a parable. I've always found it an interesting parable. It's sort of out of left field. It throws a lot of people when they read it. It's in Luke chapter 16, I believe. It's called "The Parable of the Shrewd Manager." It's the story of a manager who works for the owner of the business. The owner of the business is about to fire him, he knows it, so he goes to all of the clients of the owner and cuts a deal with them. How much do you owe my master? Just cut the debt in half. It's a very illegal-- it'd land him in jail today. It was illegal, self-serving, but he was using his present clout to think of his future. And it says the owner of the company finds out about the manager and actually commends him, not because he stole from him, which he did, but he commands him for thinking far enough in advance to plan and hedge his bet for his own future. What's the point of the parable? Jesus says this in closing it off-- he's making a point about using our heads. He Haters Hate…but God - 1 Samuel 23:14-18 | SkipHeitzig.com/4295 Page | 6 said, "For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light." That's an amazing statement. He's saying sometimes unbelievers are smarter than believers in thinking through and planning and strategizing their future. He's using a negative example to give a good point. There was a man in New York City. Walked into a bank and asked for a loan. A loan officer came out and introduced himself. He said, how much you want? He goes, I want $5,000. I'm going to Europe on business. I'll be back in two weeks. I'll pay it back in two weeks. You need $5,000? Yes, sir. He goes, well, for us to loan you $5,000, we need some sort of collateral. We need some sort of security. What have you got? The guy who wanted the loan pulled out the keys to his Rolls-Royce and says, it's parked right out in the front. Would that be enough security? And the guy said, well, that would be plenty. So everything checked out. The man got the loan, walks out of the bank with the $5,000. Meanwhile, an employee of the bank takes the keys, gets in the Rolls-Royce, drives it under the bank in the parking garage underneath in secure parking. In two weeks, the businessman returns from Europe, pays back the $5,000 plus the interest, which was $15.41. The loan officer approached the man and said, listen, thank you for your business, but while you were gone, we did a little checking, and we discovered you're a multimillionaire. You don't need a $5,000 loan. So why would you come in here to get a loan for $5,000 when you're a multimillionaire? The man smiled, and he said, where else in New York City can you park a car in a secured area for two weeks for only $15.41? That's why he was a multimillionaire. That boy wasn't playing checkers, he's playing chess. He's strategizing his move. Back to what Jesus said, the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light. Listen-- while God is being sovereign, make sure you're being sensible. That's the truth of this. Bad things happen to good people, bad things can't stop a good God, and a good God doesn't negate a good sense. That brings us to the fourth and final truth that emerges, self-authenticating truth from this passage, and that is, bad times call for good friends. Verse 16 introduces such a friend. "Then Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David in the woods, and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, 'Do not fear, for the hand of Saul, my father, shall not find you. You shall be King over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that.'" It's a pretty remarkable statement because Jonathan is the son of King Saul, which means, in that day and age, the way kingdoms worked, when the father dies, who's the next king? Son. So the next king after Saul would have been Jonathan. Jonathan says, you're the man after God's own heart. You're the next King. Not me. I'll just be next to you. Even Dad knows that. So verse 18-- "The two of them made a covenant before God, before the Lord, and David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house." David's hiding, trusting in a sovereign God, but even though he's trusting in a sovereign God who did deliver him, he's discouraged. He's weak. He's fearful. That's why his buddy says, don't fear. You don't walk up to somebody with a big smile saying don't fear. You don't say to somebody who's very confident, don't fear. It's a nonstarter. It makes no sense. You say that to somebody who's fearful. Haters Hate…but God - 1 Samuel 23:14-18 | SkipHeitzig.com/4295 Page | 7 We know David was fearful and discouraged because many of the psalms we have written during that period expressed that fear, that discouragement-- pouring out his heart, weeping before the Lord. Enter Jonathan. It says he strengthened his hand in God. He encouraged him to be strong in the Lord. Listen, you might be a strong believer, but all believers experience discouragement. All believers experience setbacks. All believers experience low moments of wondering, of second guessing, and their faith goes back and forth. All of us, even the greatest. When you think of Elijah the Prophet, you think of somebody who's bold, right? Unafraid, right? Keeps going, right? That was chapter 18 of First Kings, where the prophet stands with great power of God, and calls fire down from heaven. Very next chapter, he's running from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Gets down to the Sinai desert, perks his head up toward heaven, he goes, God, it's enough. Take my life. He goes from victory to suicidal in one chapter. That's Elijah. That's discouragement. When you think of Paul the Apostle, you think of somebody bold, assertive-- put me down, I'll get back up, but he writes to the Corinthians and he says, "We were burdened beyond measure and above strength so that we despaired even of life." That's why at times like that, you need friends like this. Every David needs his Jonathan. Every discouraged person needs his encourager. Don't you love it that Jonathan comes to encourage him. He didn't say, hey, come on, man. You're David. You're the man after God's own heart. You're mister psalm writer. What's up with your discouragement? No, he meets them there. He knows David loves the Lord, but he turns his thought back to God. The best friend you can ever have is somebody who turns your thoughts back to the God you love. Jonathan does that. By the way, their friendship was forged over their mutual love for God. When Jonathan saw David's zeal for the Lord as he stood before King Saul and he said about Goliath, "He's defied the armies of the living God," as he stood before Goliath and he said, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin. I come to you in the name of the God of Israel whose armies you have defied." Jonathan hears this little kid talking about his trust in God, and every time he heard it, he said, amen. I like this guy. And from that moment on, they formed a covenant. It says, "their hearts were knit together," and they became friends. So the long and short of it is this-- David was being chased and attacked by Saul, but God kept him safe. David was feeling weak and discouraged, but God sent him Jonathan. David was being hated by the king, but God would one day make him the king. So, back to those two words-- but God. If you can live your life with the truth of those two words, then you can live like my friend who went to the mission field in the Philippines and said, man, all this bad stuff is coming down, but I am living with the peace of God in anticipation and expectation of what God might want to do. I'm praying that all of us will learn to look for the but God in our lives. You may not see it right away. It may take years, and then you'll look back on a situation and go, wow, God was in that. I hated that car accident I was in. I saw no point of that, but then I watched how the Lord used that. I'm praying that you'll learn to live in expectation and anticipation, that but God inserted into your life can change it whole. Father, we thank you for stories such as this, the stories that highlight these two life-altering, life-changing words-- but God. Once God is introduced, once you are put into a situation, once we view you, and we put on the lens of a biblical worldview, everything is remarkably different. Everything that didn't make sense, we believe, will one day fall into place. Everything that seems so random and haphazard is orchestrated, somehow, on multiple levels by an all-powerful sovereign God. Haters Hate…but God - 1 Samuel 23:14-18 | SkipHeitzig.com/4295 Page | 8 And so, Father, we entrust ourselves to you because we know that you love us, and we know that the Bible is a story of romance, of a good God drawing out a fallen, broken people to himself into a love relationship, and that no matter what happens because of us or to us, once you're brought into the picture things can change. I just pray that we would view that and see it, because it's there no matter what, but once we see that, it changes our outlook. May our uplook change our outlook in Jesus' name. Amen! We hope you enjoyed this message from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. How will you put the truths that you learn into action in your life? Let us know. Email us at mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can support this ministry with a financial gift at calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for this teaching from Calvary Church. Haters Hate…but God - 1 Samuel 23:14-18 | SkipHeitzig.com/4295 Page | 9 The story of David and King Saul teaches us how God can intervene in any situation to deliver us. www.skipheitzig.com .

On October 2, 2020 I became a widow. My husband Gary’s death was not unexpected. For almost 17 months my husband had suffered a slow decline due to a brain cancer called glioblastoma. While Gary never got Covid, he endured many restrictions because of Covid’s danger. After months of home care, the last month he was isolated from us in a care facility. I found standing at the ground floor window, trying to help Gary find his cell phone to be exhausting emotionally. The nurses were so good to keep it charged. One day after coaxing him for twenty minutes he finally found his phone in his pocket, answered it and said, “Jan I can’t talk now, I am sleepy and need a nap.” Leaving him I burst into tears knowing he was pulling away. Sadly, this incident was my last real conversation with my husband on earth. At the end we were able to bring him home on hospice and Gary died surrounded by our love. The words I would speak at Gary’s funeral I had written the year before. I found it very comforting while caring for him to think about what I could say to honor my husband. Gary was a long-range planner and he always had contingency plans on top of contingency plans. Gary believed considering the future reduced stress during times of change. He wasn’t wrong. He would say, “Nobody likes change, but we like it better if we can exercise some control over what we experience.” So, I wrote and practiced, and grieved prematurely the loss of my husband. After my husband’s funeral, I started looking at the book of Ruth in the Old Testament. This story of two widows, one older and one younger has comforted me in many ways. I see in their grief work, principles that would help us all cope with the things we don’t like in our lives. God does not always give us the life we want, but I believe he always gives us the life we need if we are going to accomplish his higher purposes. Look at Ruth 2:1-13 Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” And the servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early morning until now, except for a short rest” Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him,“Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” Then she said, “I have have found favor in your eyes my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.” ESV In verse 2 of chapter 2, Ruth expresses an expectation that she will find favor in someone’s eyes. This will actually happen in verses 10-13. Why do you think Ruth could find this confidence? When I first read these verses I wondered if Ruth was a beautiful woman and was used to finding the favor of men because of her good looks? Doors open for beautiful people that don’t open for others. Or, was Ruth’s confidence based on her work ethic? We do find in this story that Ruth was not afraid of hard work. Was her declaration in verse 2 an act of faith? We know from chapter 1 that Ruth had embraced Naomi’s God. Was this statement an expression of her reliance that God would provide the favor? I think so. Ruth had abandoned everything in her old life and now she put her faith in God. When God isn’t doing what we want, we can still trust him. Even when God is allowing things into our lives that we don’t like, we still have the ability to put our trust in him. We can believe that he is in control, and we can trust in his goodness even when we don’t understand our circumstances. Ruth and Naomi were not happy to be widows, but they could still trust in God. I am not happy I am a widow, but I can still put my faith in God, and when I do God restores my peace. Interestingly, the thing that caught Boaz’s attention was the kindness that Ruth had shown to Naomi and her faith in God. Like Ruth, Boaz’s mother Rahab, had once been a foreigner to the blessings and promises of Israel. But, Rahab’s courageous move to hide the Jewish spies caused the Jews to invite her into their lives and community (Joshua 6:22-25). Discovering an unexpected woman of valor would definitely intrigue Boaz’s. Review Ruth 2:10-12. Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done, and full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!” God gave her favor because of her faith in him. These two women had experienced a series of terrible losses, God had not behaved as Naomi wanted. Ruth did not know what to expect, but she knew enough to move to trust God. Her small act of faith will be richly rewarded and it started by embracing the need in front of her and not living in denial. Even in our day widowhood has many challenges, our denial will only make it worse. There are things we are forced to tackle as a widowed, that we never had to do as a wife. Until we can accept the reality of our loss we will be blinded to God’s path forward. We think we can only trust God when we understand why something is happening, but that is not true. Faith in God is based on his character not our grasp of the situation. Unfortunately, our desire to understand will drive us away from trust. When God isn’t doing what we want, we can still stay open. In Ruth chapter 2 Naomi recognizes the huge blessing Ruth is to her. Other people are also noticing Ruth’s devotion to Naomi. But, Ruth was a non-traditional blessing to Naomi, meaning she wasn’t what Naomi expected God to use to encourage her. We expect a husband and children to bless us, unfortunately we don’t usually expect God to use a daughter-in-law. When God isn’t doing what we want we can still stay open, so we don’t miss what he is doing. In her deep grief in Ruth chapter 1 Naomi had been blinded to the huge gift right in front of her, her daughter-in-law Ruth. We need to realize all of God’s plans are perfect, even though there may be parts of his plans that are hard for us. Trusting God takes great courage. His designs are always wider and more inclusive than what we could hope for. We simply dream to small and too narrow. When we zero in on what we want, especially in our grief, instead of staying open to God, we can be blinded to what God is busy accomplishing. When God isn’t doing what we want, we can still tell ourselves the truth. These two women were destitute and poor, but they still had options. Ruth could glean in the fields. When circumstances are spinning out of control it is very important that we listen to the right voices, voices of truth. It is normal to feel extreme sadness when we undergo a loss, but wallowing in self-pity can either destroy us or immobilize us. When I miss my husband I grieve, I weep, and I cry, but I try very hard to also tell myself the truth. I remember that during this pandemic, if Gary were still alive, he would be miserable and alone in a care facility. We would not be able to visit him and the cancer would have more time to ravage his brilliant mind. Gary had a terminal illness. He was dying. During these days of Covid watching someone you love in agony feels ten times harder because of the intense isolation. I miss my husband, but he is in a better place and no longer suffering. Gary is having the time of his life in heaven. He is happy and he wants me to be happy. This is the liberating truth that sets me free. These two widows living in a male dominated, agrarian society could easily have felt sorry for themselves, but instead they choose to believe in God’s goodness. Desiring to embrace truth led Ruth and Naomi beyond their circumstances into the glorious future God had prepared for them. God was writing a beautiful story with Naomi’s life and it had a plot twist that would bring God all the glory. The same is true in our lives. Through Ruth, Naomi’s life will intersect with Messiah’s linage. Spoiler alert, there is a baby involved in this drama. Ruth and Boaz’s will eventually marry, from their union little Obed will be born and make Naomi a grandmother. Obed will grow up to become the father of Jesse, who will become the father of King David. Jesus the Jewish Messiah will descend through King David’s linage, and trace his family’s heritage all the way back to these two faithful women, who bravely faced down bitterness, scarcity, and two broken hearts. I am sure these two widows had no idea their emotional distress and subsequent trust in God would usher in the Savior of the world. What blessings might our faith in God bring into our world? Four months after Gary’s death our family welcomed a new grandson. Every time I look at this little one I see my husband’s eyes. Holding this newborn gives me great hope for our tomorrows. When I reflect on Ruth and Naomi’s lives, I am reminded that with God in control our losses are more about protecting the future outcome God desires, than they are about our past or present circumstances. God is often orchestrating monumental changes when we experience a trial. What we are going through and how we go through it has the power to influence many lives. Will we be a force for good or force for evil? In our grief will we sow faith or will we sow despair? Morning is important, but morning is not meant to last forever. After the sorrow will our joy return? Like Ruth and Naomi, when God is not doing what we want, we can still trust him, still stay open, and still tell ourselves the truth.

While no one can say exactly what the future holds, here are 8 trends I’m watching and would encourage you and your team to consider and process as well. 1. The Majority Of Attenders May No Longer Be In The Room Physical church attendance has been in decline for decades and COVID in all likelihood  accelerated the decline even further . The average church has seen their re-opened attendance come in around  36% of previous levels . Almost  no leader I’ve interviewed  expects church attendance to jump back to pre-COVID levels for a while. For years, most pastors didn’t know how to handle anyone who engaged the message or mission outside of their facility. Moving forward, many church leaders will realize that people who are engaging from home or other places will count just as much as those who are attending in a facility. Over the last year, so many things have shifted home: work, shopping, food, fitness, school and (at least for a season) church. People have realized they don’t have to go to a building to engage. And as a result, some won’t do that nearly as much in the future. As 2021 rolls on, many growing churches will see off-facility attendance (home partipation, micro-gatherings and distributed gatherings) eclipse facility-based attendance: the number of people participating in the mission who are  not  in the building on a Sunday will surpass the number of people participating in the mission  inside  the building. More and more growing churches will embrace online viewing from home, micro-gatherings and micro-campuses as normal. What pastors have to understand quickly is that this trend  isn’t  about people who are dropping out. It’s about people who are leaning in. If you can be good with the fact that micro-gatherings, distributed gatherings and people watching from home count, then you can mobilize those people in the same way you would people who are in your building. In the same way retailers have come to understand that an online purchaser is still a client, and restaurant owners have embraced the fact that drive-thru, take out and delivery can still be fulfill their mission around food, so church leaders have to get good with the fact that people who aren’t in the main room count. Your church is still around. The church is still around. It’s just left the building. In the post-pandemic church, it’s possible that the majority of attenders as well as your most engaged people may not be in the room. 2. Growing Churches Will Shift Their Focus From Gathering To Connecting This leads us to the second trend. Historically, the church has wagered almost everything on gathering people in a building. This year, however, growing churches will focus less on gathering and much more on connecting. (Thanks to  Tony Morgan for this language. ) Connecting people who are engaging from home both with the church and with one another will become an essential skill for all church leaders. In 2021, if coming to Christ means coming to your church in a set location and a set hour, you need a new strategy. The easiest way to think about this is the same way church leaders have thought about small groups for the last 25 years. Almost no church leader today feels threatened by the idea that hundreds or thousands of people will be meeting in their homes to connect with other people. The church  facilitates  groups but doesn’t  host  them in a centralized facility. Instead, leaders simply connect people who want to be connected and engage them in the mission. This is where the potential for Sunday morning starts to move it to the new direction. Small groups by nature tend to be closed and intimate. Gathering in people’ homes and outside the building on Sunday morning (or off-Sunday) would consist of micro-churches that are outward focused. Think of groups, but with an evangelism thrust. The good news is that this scales in a way that gathered worship doesn’t period. It costs less and produces for more. Gathering people on Sunday mornings will be as important as ever. It just won’t all happen in a building owned by the church. 3. Some Pastors Will Try To Fill Auditoriums While Others Focus On Fulfilling The Mission The first two trends are disorienting and it’s easy to see why they would seem discouraging to many leaders. It’s a whole new paradigm the church is emerging into. Just search the comments on this blog or social media and you’ll see church leaders who are having a really hard time coming to terms with what’s happening. I get it—it’s hard. As a result, the natural tendency will be to ignore Trends 1 and 2 and focus on filling up auditoriums again once everything is fully open. That might create a short term win but result in a longer term loss and missed opportunity. After all, for most leaders filling rooms was getting harder long before the pandemic. So what’s underneath the obsession about filling auditoriums? Often arguments include things like “Christians can’t forsake getting together” or “we have to gather in community.” That’s deeply true. What’s not true (or biblical) is that the gathering has to happen in a building owned by the church (see the first two trends). As someone who’s led a church for two decades, I promise you I like full rooms too. A little too much to be honest. As much as they make for great pics on Instagram and make you feel better about yourself, full rooms do not guarantee a fulfilled mission. In the future, leaders who only focus on filling a room will miss the biggest opportunity they have to fulfill their mission. If the size of your vision shrinks to the size of a room you can fill, you’ve missed the church’s mission. 4. Growing Churches Will See The Internet And Their Buildings Differently So, what do you do with your building? Great question. You use it to equip people, not just gather them. Yes, people will gather in your building. And that’s awesome. For too many years, pastors have been focused on one thing: Getting the greatest number of people in the room at the same time. Sometimes that’s about ministry. Sometimes (honestly)  it’s about ego . I’ll confess to both. The church facilities of the future will be places where people assemble to be equipped to do ministry during the week. I realize that, theoretically, we’ve always believed that, but we often haven’t behaved that way. What we believe and how we behave are often two very different things. The difference is that most of the people you’re equipping won’t be in the room. You may be speaking to them from the room, but they’ll be in their homes, in their cars, at work and in the community. Right now, most pastors are using church online to get people into the building. In the future, most pastors will use the building to reach people online. Just because they’re not attending doesn’t mean they aren’t engaged or in community. They can and will gather outside a church building. In the future, churches that equip Christians will eclipse churches that gather them. 5. Content Alone Won’t Cut It. Community And Connection Will.  The rush in 2020 was to get content online. Which was completely natural and appropriate. Heading into 2021, the mood around content is shifting. Pastors are complaining that views are down because people are ‘Zoomed out” or “Screened out.” Sure, the spike in screen time has been a shock to all our systems, mine included. But just because you personally feel screened out doesn’t mean the culture is. If you think people are screened out, run your theory by TikTok or Instagram. Apparently, people aren’t nearly as done with screens as church leaders think. Which leads us into the fourth trend. Yes, content matters because sharing the Word of God matters…immensely. However, many Christians now realize they they can watch or listen to their favorite preachers, content creators and voices in the world today any time for free. So they do. One approach is to try to equal or match the exceptionally gifted and skilled communicators out there. But for most of leaders, that’s not a winning strategy. You won’t be able to compete. Growing churches (and yes, that includes small and mid-sized churches too) will realize that connection and community will win out over content in the end, and they’ll focus their resources there. Nobody should be able to out-local or out-community the local the church. Absolutely produce the best content you can, but make the goal connecting with people. When you provide connection (getting to know people, moving them into community, caring for them), it will provide a loyalty and sense of tribe that people can’t get elsewhere. Therefore, make the goal of digital content connection, not consumption. 6. Generational Differences Will Become Clearer Than Ever Shifting gears a little, one of the creeping trends in the last few years is that generational differences are becoming sharper than ever. While according to  one survey , 71% of Boomers preferred physical worship as opposed to digital or hybrid church, only 41% of Gen Z preferred physical worship. Everyone other than Boomers had a preference for hybrid (a combination of in-person and digital gathering) or digital gatherings. Many studies these days show stark differences between younger adults and older adults. And while leaders love to pick part data, try a simpler approach. If you think attitudes about worship, racial justice, sexuality, economics, and even things like climate change aren’t morphing where you live (i.e. folks around here are pretty traditional), talk to a youth pastor. Youth pastors more than almost anyone else sense where trends are heading. If you want to get more personal, talk to some churched and unchurched teens and young adults. While this doesn’t change core Christian theology, it does mean wise leaders will think about their tone and approach. 7. The Political And Ideological Churches Will Lose Influence With The Unchurched If 2020 surfaced anything, it’s how political and ideological some kinds of churches have become. It’s easy in a tribalized culture to become tribal. And while that might score some short term points with like-minded people who are angry and self-righteous (both are characteristics of the political left and the right), in the long run it will diminish your influence with most of the people you’re trying to reach. Unchurched people aren’t looking for an echo of the culture, they’re seeking an alternative to it. Moving ahead a few years, the future church will consist of Christians who look, live and sound much more like Jesus than the political candidate of their choice. What many church leaders are about to face is this truth: Unchurched people aren’t looking for politics or ideology. They’re looking for Christ. I pray they find him in our churches. 8. Spiritual Entrepreneurs Will Thrive These are hard times for all leaders, but as the dust settles and we emerge into the post-pandemic world, leaders who see opportunities instead of obstacles will thrive. The missing gift set in the church is spiritual entrepreneurship—something the New Testament calls  apostleship . It’s the kind of radical determination, innovation and fierceness the Apostle Paul showed. As  I wrote about here , the church today is filled with shepherds, to the point where shepherds are perhaps over-represented in church leadership. What we need most as we navigate new waters in a post-Christian culture is not more shepherds, but spiritual entrepreneurs. Whether you call it spiritual entrepreneurship or the gift of apostleship, what we need is a new generation of Apostle Pauls who forge out in new directions. Who experiment boldly. Who dare greatly. Spiritual entrepreneurs are the kind of leaders who will find tomorrow’s solutions when most leaders can only see today’s problem. In a marketplace that’s in love with start-ups and new ventures, we need some leaders who are inclined to spend their lives in the marketplace who will take their God-given talents and energy and throw them full time behind the mission of the church. Some of the ideas that will become widely embraced five years in the future are being birthed right now. New ways of gathering people, mobilizing and equipping people and moving the mission forward are being developed as you read this. Micro-churches, the distributed church, community focused churches, the  location independent church , and many other new forms of expression are leading the way into the future. Right now, most of those approaches will get more criticism than praise. In the same way few people thought private citizens renting out their homes and vehicles to others was a good idea (Airbnb and Uber), so a lot of the ideas for church you’ll see in 2021 will be denounced and dismissed…until they’re not. As is often in culture, the leaders you criticize today will be the leaders who coach you tomorrow. So be open. A lot of good, messy, untested, might-not-work initiatives are going to launch. It’s out of that the future is always born. www.careynieuwhof.com .

Fresh Life Church | This Is Your Wake-Up Call | Pastor Levi Lusko [MUSIC PLAYING] Now I want to start our time today with a question. And the question is, have you ever considered how different the world would be if Hitler was a morning person? Now hold that thought. We're going to return to that in a second, I promise. But first, would you turn in your Bibles to First Kings Chapter 20. And in First Kings 20, I want to give to you a message that I'm calling "this is your wake-up call." This is your wake-up call. A soldier is standing before a king. And the soldier is dusty, and he is clearly war torn. The battle has just finished, and he now is standing before his sovereign. He's got a bandage across his head. His eye is very clearly puffy and bloody. And a little too soon for me to be talking about damaged eyes, but this soldier has just clearly been through it. I mean, he's got filth and blood caked on him. He looks like he's just barely hanging on. And standing before his king, he speaks to give an account of what he did during the battle. And in First Kings 20, verse 39, it says the following. "Your servant went out into the midst of the battle. And there a man came over and brought a man to me and said, 'Guard this man. If by any means he is missing, your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.' While your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. Then the king of Israel said to him, 'So shall your judgment be. You yourself have decided it.'" Now, the king was understandably frustrated and really probably confused as to why the man thought the king would be happy. I mean, it's from the man's own mouth evident that he had failed to do the one thing that he had been asked to do. He was told, in this battle, you have a job. The job is take this prisoner. Take this prisoner and watch him. Guard him. The New King James version that we just read renders it "guard this man." But the more archaic King James puts it this way, "Keep this man." So guard him. Keep him. Watch him. The point is, don't let him get away. In fact, the man was told, if he gets away, your life's going to be required for his life, or you'll have to pay a talent of silver, which is like-- I would pick that option if it was me. I have to either die or-- but you have to understand, this is like a half million dollars. And a simple common soldier in this war would have had no way of paying such a staggering sum of money, so that fine was really just there to be there because there's no way he's paying half a million dollars. If he lets this guy get away, he is going to have to die. And he let the man get away. As he gives this accounting, he says, I watched him at first. I was keeping great care of him. I was checking in on him. But eventually, the man, I let him out of my sight. And he's bringing it to the king almost like, what do you think should have to happen to me? Like he's almost appealing his case to the Supreme Court. I let him get away, but king, come on. I know that you probably know that I had good intentions and that I tried really hard. And that there was an enormous amount of time while I was watching where he did not get away. Sure, there was a five-minute window. But we all know who is perfect. He's saying this to the king almost hoping for mercy. And what the king says is, you said it. You told me yourself that you were warned. If you let him get away, your own life would be required. So you've already said your judgment. So shall your judgment be. And once the king had said those words, that it was very clear that this man needed to do the time since he had done the crime, did the man then pull off his bandage and show his true colors. He was not a soldier at all. In fact, he was a prophet, a man of God sent by God to confront King Ahab with this made-up story. Now, I beg you, please read the verses before we jumped in later on this week. Because you will find out how this man got wounded. He didn't have prosthetics. He didn't stop by a Hollywood studio. He really did have a bloody eye. He really was beat up. And I need you to read about how this man got the wounds that tricked the king. Because it involves a lion. That's all I'm going to say. The Bible is incredible. But the reason this man had told this story-- I was told to watch a man. I was warned if the man got away, my life would be forfeit. But now that it happened, I don't like the results and I want someone to do something about it. He was intended to arouse in the king a revelation that this was a ridiculous thing to do. And so the king would then speak, the judgment is going to stand because you had your chance. You were warned clearly. And you failed to do the one job that you were called to do. And the purpose of this leadership parable, this made-up story-- because, spoiler alert. There was no POW. There was no soldier. There was no man that got away-- was to show a mirror to Ahab that he might realize, I'm the man. I'm the man who was supposed to watch the man. I'm the man who had a job that he was given. I'm the man who was told, you have this thing to do. And if you don't do it, your life will be forfeit for your disobedience to God in doing what you were told to do. Now the particulars of why King Ahab needed this message had historical context and significance with Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, and what happened in that exact day. But what exactly the leadership parable meant to him isn't the most important issue to us today. Because Ahab is dead and buried. In fact, the dogs licked up his blood. That's also in the Bible. The bigger issue for us is this question. What does it have to do with you, and what does it have to do with me? Because I believe the story as it was told is meant to hit us hard for us to see that we, too, have been given an assignment. So if you'll permit me, I want us to do what the man of God wanted Ahab to do. I want us to insert ourselves into the story. I think it can be very easy to read the Bible and just think, well, that's good for Peter, or that's great for Esther, or that's amazing for David. What an inspiring story. But I think, like Ahab was meant to see, no, no, you're the man. This isn't just about them. It's about you. What are you going to do with what you've been given? I want us to see ourselves in a story about a man who was given a charge to watch over someone. And the king at some point is going to stand before us. And we're going to have to explain to him what we did with that one job we were given. Now you're like, that's great, Levi. I even get what you're saying because we're going to die and stand before God. And when we stand before God, he is the king. And so we're going to have to answer to God. But who are we supposed to watch? The answer is you are meant to watch the most difficult person to babysit on the planet. You're like, I had a feeling you were going to talk about my husband. No, no, I'm not talking about your husband, and I'm not talking about your wife, and I'm not talking about your kids, and I'm not talking about someone on your soccer team or someone you work alongside. I'm talking about you. The person on this planet most suited to deceit is you. The person on this planet more capable of harming yourself is you. You and I are, in fact, able to be, like no one else, our own worst enemy. And the Bible, from beginning to end, warns us about how important it is that we watch ourselves, that we keep ourselves. We are the soldier who is meant to guard the other soldier. Only the other soldier we're meant to guard is us. And that's clearly evident from the fact that if we don't do the job we're meant to do of keeping ourselves, our lives will be forfeit. Why? Because our life will be snatched from us while we weren't paying attention. And that is precisely when it happens. And that's why the soldier says-- notice what he does in verse 40. When did the guy get away? Guard this man, he was told. Keep this man. Keep this person. Guard this person. Don't let them get away. And when he finally said, they got away, the king must have been like, well, when did he get away? How did he get away? What happened? Did someone bring him a cake that had a file in it? Was it some Prison Break action? Did he get tattoos on his body with schematics of the penitentiary? Like what-- that is a throwback reference right there. That's something you're like, what? It was a great ride for a little while, then it got just out of control, right? And that's the most embarrassing part. He says, I was busy here and there. Then he was gone. My friend, pastor Jentezen Franklin, he one time preached this message on this text. And he said that the man wasn't bad. He was just busy. He wasn't bad. He was just busy. Is it possible that while you're going here and there doing one thing and another thing, your life is passing you by? And through your fingers, like water is slipping away the version of yourself you are meant to be, the version of yourself you're meant to become, the version of yourself that Jesus sees you are capable of becoming, who you're meant to be, what you're meant to be like as you grow up in Christ. You're meant to guard yourself and watch yourself, supervise yourself and lead yourself, that you might not escape. That you might not slip through your fingers. And you end up stuck immature, end up stuck selfish, end up stuck with a small mentality, living in self-pity, smothered by anger and numbing and coddling yourself spiritually when you're meant to rise up in strength and rise up in power. This is your wake-up call. You are called by God to guard yourself, to keep this man, to keep this woman, and to look after yourself, lest you get away. Didn't Jesus himself say that it's easy to chase after the things of this world and to lose your soul? Now, when he said that, and my whole life I've kind thought of that as like, oh my gosh, that was intense. Lose your soul? How do you-- gosh, I need to hang on to my soul. I don't want to lose my soul. But the words that he uses in that sentence don't speak about losing your soul entirely. And you can see that in verse 26 of Matthew 16 in the message translation when it says, "What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself?" To lose your true self, to lose hold of yourself to let yourself get away. I think what Jesus is warning in Matthew 16 is the same thing that's in First Kings Chapter 20, that we're meant to not be distracted, and busy here and there, and chasing after this, and defined by that. And all of a sudden we got the things that we thought we wanted, but we ended up losing the version of ourselves that we were meant to become. And on and on, warnings come throughout the Bible about how easy it is to trick yourself, how easy it is to deceive yourself, how easy it is to let yourself get away. Proverbs 4 verse 23, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life." There's no area quite like the heart that's able to control the outcome of our lives. And I think our love lives are easily able to steer us. We talk ourselves into dating a person we shouldn't date, to being with someone that we shouldn't be with. It's easy to let the heart-- especially young people, listen to me. It's easy to let the issues of your heart steer you away from where God wants you to go. Jude says in his little book, verse 21, "Guard and keep yourselves in the love of God. Expect and patiently wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ." Jeremiah warns the same thing when he says, "The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" So our hearts are able to steer us. Our hearts are able to trick us. We have to guard our hearts. We have to guard our spirits. We have to guard our devotion. We have to choose to do the hard things, to watch after ourselves, to be checking in with ourselves, to be asking the question, hey, time's passing. How am I doing? Am I getting better? Am I staying the same? Am I coasting? Am I fighting? Am I advancing? Am I becoming a kinder husband? Am I becoming a better father? Am I becoming a more patient manager? Your heart's tricky. Your heart will talk you into doing things you shouldn't do. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life-- these things will all deceive us. We have to guard ourselves. We have to keep ourselves. You can't just be cruising through life doing what you feel and going along with what's easy. Broad is the path that leads to destruction. Narrow is the road that leads to eternal life. And few are they who find it. Why? Because it's so easy to let yourself get carried away, to let your heart pull you in a way you shouldn't go, to fall for the lies that the devil tells. You have to be actively involved, vigilantly involved. He said, guard this man. That's active. You can't guard him only a little bit or guard him most of the time. You've got to keep watch. I'm telling you, you've got to keep watch over yourself because yourself is tricky. You will talk yourself into things you shouldn't do. Jesus said in Mark 14, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." If you know you're weak, you make it easy on yourself to do the right thing with guardrails. You make it easy on yourself to do the right thing with accountability. You make it easy on yourself to do the right thing with systems, with trellises to let the vines grow. I think about what you can intentionally do for spiritual formation, like being in a small group of Christians who are praying for you weekly, holding you accountable. So that as you come and go in the world-- because we're meant to be in the world. We're not meant to create a Christian subculture we exclusively live in. Because we need to live among people of this world so we might show the light and be that salt and be testifying for Jesus of his goodness. If there's not people in your life who don't know Christ, if you're not eating and breaking bread and doing life with people who are Christians, though, it's going to be easy to give into those around you. So we build systems around ourselves. We know that our flesh, indeed, is weak. So what do we do? We watch and pray. Otherwise we will enter into temptation. That man, that woman that you're meant to grow up into will slip through your fingers. First John chapter 5, verse 21. "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols." It's easy to give into valuing things, because that's worship. Worshipping idols is valuing something above God. The Bible says honor God as the highest. Honor God. Give him your worship. Give him the glory. Let him be the most important thing in your life. There are so many things that compete. And the human heart, it's been said, is an idol factory. It can value anything above God and churn out a new idol every day. So you have to keep yourself, meaning it will be easy and automatic for your heart to gravitate to other things as more valuable than him. That's why the Bible says we have to seek ye first the kingdom of God. Every single time I get paid and I give the first and the best to God, what am I doing? I'm seeking to keep-- I'm trying to keep myself from idols. I know it's easy and automatic for my heart to gravitate to things. But I have to keep myself-- I have to keep this man. I have to keep my heart pure. I have to keep myself away from pornography that would diminish my love for my bride and enjoyment of the relationship of love and intimacy that he wants from me. It's not easy to do. I have to be actively aware that the lust of the flesh is trying to bombard me. I have to keep myself strong. I have to keep myself reinvigorated by spending time alone with Jesus. It's so easy to give in to the weakness of the flesh. But you have to choose to keep yourself. I wanted to preach this message today because I wanted to issue a wake-up call like you would get in a hotel room. This is your wake-up call. Your life is passing you by. You need to keep this man. You need to fight to guard over the version of yourself that you are meant to be. Otherwise, here and there, your life will pass you by, and you'll wake up one day with regret. You'll wake up one day with heartbreak. And ultimately you will stand before God to give an account of what you did with this life, and with regret you'll go, I don't even know. There was a point when I heard his voice. There was a point when I sensed his spirit. I knew as I read his word there was something to it. I knew I needed to get around to that. You kept saying to yourself, yes, that is dragging me down. That is toxic. That is unhealthy. Yeah, I shouldn't really be doing that. Yeah, I shouldn't really be-- and you rationalize, and you justify. And while your servant was busy-- not bad, just busy. Here and there, [SNAP] life ended. Now here am I to stand before you. I let him get away. I let her get away. Two things to be on guard against as you keep this man, you keep this woman. First is giving in, giving in. It's so easy to give in, in our world that we live in, to culture's distractions. We carry around with us at all time-- at all times a device that can simultaneously feed and nourish your spirit. Many of you are watching church right now on your phone. You're watching church right now on a laptop, on a TV. It's good that's coming in, streaming in. It's God's word. It's milk. It's food. It's wonderful. But then on the same device, you can be conflicted. I mean, you could even push me to the background on YouTube and be doing something distracting to your soul while you're trying to spiritually multitask. How conflicted is that? And we live in a day when it's possible to make mistakes digitally, to be distracted, to be on it too often, to be glued to these things, to mess up the wiring of our brains and our souls to be perpetually dissatisfied, never able to be present where we are because we're looking at where we wish we were, what we wish we were doing, the life we wish we had. It's easy to give in to distraction, to give in, secondly, to lies. Lies like, I'll always be this way. Lies like, I've tried to change before, and it didn't work, so why would it work this time? We give in to lies like, it's OK that I'm this way because I know other people who need to take back their life more. Listen, there will always be someone in your life more jacked up and more broken than you are. And we kind of almost sometimes like to keep some deranged people in our lives just so we can feel good about ourselves a little bit, quite frankly. This, by the way, is why any time that we take steps to better ourselves, there will be people in our lives who kind of push back like, oh, you've changed. And I'll be like, hey, first of all, that's the point. I would hope so. I don't want to stay the same as I was at 20. I don't want to be the same as when I was 34. I want to change. I want to grow. I want to improve myself. But if you try to start changing and someone in your life pushes back and tries to hold you back, guess what? You were their hold out. And they're only angry because they're now realizing if you change, they're going to have to change. So they don't want you to change because you make them feel good about themselves. And so what we need to all do is realize we don't want to give in to other people's plans for our life. We were called to guard this man, not them. Your sister's not going to stand before God accountable to him for what you did with your life. But you are going to stand before him for your life. They have their own day in court. All of us need to know, we've got to guard this man. We've got to guard this person. We can't change anybody else. But we can and must change ourselves. Jesus modeled this for us in John chapter 6 when, after feeding the 5,000 and everybody is super pumped on all the Krispy Kreme donuts they were eating that day, he then became very popular. And everyone wanted a piece of him. Everyone wanted an autograph. Everyone wanted a selfie. Everyone wanted something. It says, verse 15, "Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him King by force, he withdrew again to a mountain by himself." What does that tell you? That tells you, number one, that if you take the steps to better yourself that you need to, meaning you don't give in to other people's plans for your life, there are going to be lonely moments in your life. Sometimes you'll feel lonely. But that loneliness for Jesus was not a liability. It was an asset. It was there that he was refueled. It was there that he was strengthened. He wouldn't let them take him by force to make him a king. He went to be alone with the Father, who was able to remind him, you already are a King. You see, many people, if you give in to their plans for your life, they will try to get you to leave what you have to get what is already yours and can't be taken away. But they'll try to give you an imitation substitute version of it that's always less than. So Jesus didn't need to go with these people who were going to try and make him a king because he was already a king. A king not meant to wear a crown of gold, but one who was sent to wear a crown of thorns. A king who would not sit, at least on the first coming, on a golden throne. But a king who would be stretched out as a suffering servant upon a wooden cross. But by remembering who God said he was, he was able to combat the patient to give in to who people wanted him to be. And I want to let you know something. You cannot take back your life if you live for the approval and pleasure of other people. Living to please people will keep you from pleasing God. So don't give in. Don't let anyone turn you into a king, turn you into a queen. You are already a son or a daughter of the King of kings. You don't need to approve yourself to anyone. The second temptation will be to give up. Giving up is a very real temptation. Giving up control of yourself to a substance. Why do they say under the influence? Because while you give yourself away to a drug, while you're high, while you're drunk, you're not in control of yourself. You don't have your wits about you. That's why Ephesians says being drunk with wine is like being filled with the Spirit, different but like. You're under the influence of alcohol while you're drunk. You're under the influence of the Spirit when you yield yourself to God. For some of us, we've made the mistake of giving up control, and we need to take back our lives from the things that we have willingly submitted our lives to. We need to guard this person. We need to guard ourselves to not be under the influence, to be controlled by a substance, to be controlled by emotions, to just do what we feel, to let our anger overtake us, to be controlled by habits or patterns of thinking. We need to fight against. We need to keep ourselves and guard ourselves with all diligence from the mistake of giving up. But not just giving up control. Also the temptation to just give up because it's hard. Come on, is it-- anybody like 19 months into this thing? Is it feeling hard for anybody else? I mean, and that's just this season. But all seasons have difficulties to them. I know it's easy to idealize, oh, if we just get through this, it's going to be great. Remember back in 2019 when everything was perfect? Oh, yeah, really, back in 2019 when all of us complained all the time about something different, right? So if it's not this, it's going to be something else. The reality is life is hard. And the reality is that following Jesus is difficult. But here's the good news. Our God is a God so good that he is able to bring honey out of rocks. That's what he says in Psalm 81 verse 16. He says, "But you would be fed with the finest of wheat. With honey from the rock I would satisfy you." I love that verse, and I feel like for weeks God's just been strengthening my heart with it. Because what David's doing is he's sampling a line from a song Moses wrote back in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, where he praised God saying, you're a God who brings honey out of rocks. And I love it because, as I have thought about it, I've realized it's impossible. You don't get honey from rocks. And that's exactly why it's so powerful. Tim Keller says God uses our troubles to show us where true joys are to be found. He gives us-- listen to me-- unlikely food from impossible places. What he wants to sustain you with, the honey, might just have come in a strange wrapper called COVID-19, or called the loss of a job, or called a messy divorce, or called a challenging circumstance. But it's in that rock that you've been handed that God wants to squeeze honey out into your life. So don't give in, and don't give up. Now you're like, Levi, that's amazing, and I want to take back my life, and I want to guard this man. And I can't believe I let myself get away. But what about Hitler? That's what you're probably wondering. Because you brought him up like it was so natural. But June 6, 1944, 76 years ago this summer, was D-Day, the most decisive event in World War II, the battle, the invasion that really turned the tide. D-Day is incredible for so many reasons. Largest amphibious assault in history. Largest deceit, most incredible deceit since the Trojan Horse. 160,000 troops coming into France to take it out from under Nazi controlled forces, just absolutely astounding. And the fact that they managed to completely deceive the whole Axis army about where the landing was to take place. Now they knew when it was coming. You don't get to mobilize that many people without them being aware it's going down. So Eisenhower, the supreme commander, knew that the Nazis knew when they were going to be coming. But they didn't know where. You see, there was this whole Atlantic Wall that Hitler thought was impenetrable that ran from the Arctic down to basically Spain. And he thought this massive stretch would-- as he made sure there was guns and pillboxes and barbed wire, that he would just watch it all. And so the Allied forces basically tried to trick Hitler into thinking they were going to land in the south of France because it was the closest from the nation of England just across the channel, the most shallow depth. And so they did some incredible things to make them think that was where the invasion was going to take place. Like the morning of D-Day, they rained out paratroopers who were actually mannequins all over the south of France. And these mannequins, some of them were rigged with explosives so as they landed, there would be bombs going off. They covered the area adjacent to where they were trying to make Hitler think they were going to land with inflatable tanks so they would think that they were amassing a massive force. Because in aerial reconnaissance photos, it looked like there were so many tanks there in the south of France, but they were actually just literally dummy balloon tanks. And meanwhile, of course, the real invasion was happening at the five beaches of Normandy in central France, where 5,000 ships were going to quickly come across these man-made ports that created harbors. And they were going to storm the beaches there, and they had hoped all the gun stations had been taken out. But of course the Omaha ones weren't taken out, which is why it was so terribly bloody and devastating at Omaha. And the reason this whole thing worked-- one of the big reasons that this massive turn the tide event happened in this war was because Hitler was not a morning person. You see, he liked to sleep in, sometimes as late as noon. And on D-Day, when this actually was happening-- and remember, he knew when it was happening. He was so overconfident that even that morning, he slept in. And his men were so afraid-- all of his generals were so afraid of waking him up that even once they f igured out that it was raining mannequins in the south of France and that was now where the invasion was happening, when they finally figured out it was actually happening in Normandy and they needed his explicit permission to move the elite SS panzer divisions of tanks-- Hitler had to give personal approval to allow the rerouting of all the tanks from the south of France up to Normandy. And the speed of reinforcements was everything in battle, is everything in battle. And it could have actually changed the outcome of the D-Day invasion in favor of the Nazis. But because he had to give permission himself, and because he was asleep when the battle took place, when he finally woke up 11:00 or 12:00, it was too late, and they already got a foothold on the beaches of Normandy that led to them taking France back. And it was the event that turned the tide in World War II. Now, I'm not saying that if you're a night owl, you should change your ways and become an early bird. What I am saying is you can't win a war while you're sleeping. And Romans 13 puts it this way. I'm going to close with this. "To live like this is all the more urgent, for time is running out, and you know it is a strategic hour in human history. It is time for us to wake up, for our full salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Night's darkness is dissolving away as a new day of destiny dawns. So we must once and for all strip away what's done in the shadows of darkness, removing it like filthy clothes. And once and for all, we clothe ourselves with the radiance of light as our weapon. We must live honorably, surrounded by the light of this new day, not in the darkness of drunkenness and debauchery, promiscuity, and sensuality. Not being argumentative or jealous of others. Instead, fully immerse yourselves into the light of the Lord Jesus. And don't waste even a moment's thought on your former identity to awaken its selfish desires." Church, this is your wake-up call. You have one life, and it will soon be passed. And only what's done for Christ will last. So keep this man. Jesus, thank you for this time and your word. Thank you for every single person whose heart is being stirred by your Spirit, realizing the need to wake up to what's really happening, wake up to the lies and deceit of culture, waking up to the deceitfulness of sin, realizing things in our lives that we need to jettison if we're to become who we're meant to be. And I pray that even now, as you are ministering to people's hearts, that you will stir up not just a prick of conviction, but a resolve of decision and a time for action. If, as we're praying, if you would, just say, Levi, I resonate with this. God's touching my heart. I want to guard after this woman. I want to guard this man. I want to take ownership of myself and leadership of my own heart to keep myself in the love of God, knowing that he is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Can I just ask that you would just raise a hand? Right there at your watch party, right there in your car, right there in your living room or on that elliptical. Just grab the bar with your other hand. But raise up a hand just to say, God, I hear you, and I want to take a step to take back my life. Thank you, Jesus, for the way you're pouring out strength into so many lives. You can put your hands down. And I want to give a quick invitation to anybody who's never made the most important decision, and that is the one to give your heart to Jesus as Lord and Savior. If watching this message you're like, man, I see so much in my life that I want to change. The first and most important is to receive new birth. Outward modification will never change a dead heart, a dead soul. But God can do that because of what Jesus did hanging on that cross 2,000 years ago. And here now, in this moment, all around the world as his spirit brings the gospel to people's hearts and lives, he can do that work of changing your heart today. If that's you and you would say, I need to be born again. I need to be saved from my sins, saved from this crooked and perverse generation. I want to become a child of God. I want to go to heaven. I want to live forever. I want his spirit to live inside of me. If that's you I'm describing, right now, pray this prayer with me. Say this. Say, "Dear God, I know that I'm broken. I'm a sinner. I need your help. I need your healing. Please come into my heart and make me new. I give myself to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen." Amen. God bless you. God bless every single one of you making that decision. And we would love to resource and encourage you. So please shoot a text message to 97000, and put the words Fresh Life in your text message so we can send you a link to resources that are going to help you grow in this relationship with Jesus. And would you join us on this 40-day journey to take back your life? In the Bible, the number 40 speaks of testing. I talk a lot about that in the book. And I find it very interesting that 2020 is 40 if you add it together. So perhaps in this year of testing and time of testing, like never before, there is a need for us to rise up and become who we're meant to be. So I hope that not only would you come back for the weeks of this series, but that you'd grab a copy of this book and we could all, together, see God do brand new things in our lives. Amen. The person on this planet most suited to deceit is you. The person on this planet more capable of harming yourself is you. You and I are, in fact, able to be, like no one else, our own worst enemy. The Bible warns that it is essential that we watch ourselves, we keep ourselves. Ahab didn’t learn that lesson, and his life was snatched from him when he wasn’t paying attention! Preached at Fresh Life Church.

I may or may not know your pastor. But I know one thing: your pastor is tired. I have the blessing of being a part of a couple of local pastors’ groups and am friends with a number of pastors outside of those groups. While we come from a broad spectrum theologically and denominationally, we all share the same experience of leading a church through COVID-19. We are worn out. I know you’re tired as well. This has been an exhausting stretch for all of us. My heart with this post isn’t to have you pull out your violin for pastors, nor is it to diminish the challenges of non-pastors during this time. My heart is to give you a peek behind the curtains so that we might grow in grace with one another. I will first explain six reasons why this season has been so hard for your pastor, and then I will share six ways you can show your pastor grace. Why has this season been particularly trying? 1.       COVID-19 Pastoring the sick when you can’t visit a hospital is frustrating. Pastoring those who are at risk and are fearful has been a challenge, especially when you can’t meet with them face-to-face. 2.       MASKS Whatever decision you make as a church about wearing masks will meet heavy criticism from some contingent. We’ve lost several people (we know of) from our congregation over our decisions around masks. It’s heartbreaking. 3.       POLITICS Everything seems to be viewed through the lens of politics: masks, race, decisions to open your church facility or not. Data tells us that Americans are consuming massive amounts of news coverage. Many view the world through red or blue-tinted glasses. One of my pastor friends recently texted me, “Polarization tells people to bundle every possible statement as part of some partisan agenda, which makes saying anything a losing position. The bind I wrestle with is how to simultaneously be a human (who has my convictions and thoughts on everything), a pastor, and non-polarizing.” Most pastors believe that the Bible speaks in contradistinction to both American political parties. Both are out of step in their own way with a biblical vision of governance and justice. But to speak as a follower of Jesus, not the Republican or Democratic party, sets your pastor at odds with both. 4.       EVERYTHING IS NEW How do you do check-in for children? How do you set up chairs in the worship center during COVID? How do you clean? How do you teach children’s classes in ways that comport with CDC guidelines? How do you do a COVID baptism? COVID dedications? COVID communion? How do you connect those online to the body in a meaningful way? So much of what we took years learning how to do we’ve had to unlearn. 5.       LACK OF FEEDBACK Online feedback is ruled by social media norms, which means it tends to be more critical and superficial. I’ve heard more feedback on our camera shots than I have on the substance of the preaching. Our experience has been that few guests are leaning in and connecting in online environments. They stay anonymous in ways that they don’t in person. This is a challenge as we try to know and care for those who are part of the body. 6.       LACK OF KNOWING HOW YOUR FLOCK IS DOING Within the last few weeks I learned of two families leaving the church. One family said that they have been drifting and felt the pull elsewhere for a while. I’m grateful that both of these families has the courtesy to inform us that they are leaving (many don’t), but I wonder if part of that sense of drifting was fueled by a lack of personal connection. As pastors we care for the body, but we’ve never known less about how those in our care are doing. How, then, can you extend grace to your pastor? 1.       BEAR WITH YOUR CHURCH’S DECISION ON MASKS Your church has had to make a tough call on whether to gather in person and what their policy on masks will be. It’s likely it’s not the decision you wouldn’t have made. Whatever your church has done, please recognize that this isn’t a gospel decision. It’s not a reason to leave your church. 2.       TAKE OFF THE POLITICAL GLASSES Our partisan world has trained us to view every statement as a political statement. Try to hear what your pastor is saying in this season through the lens of the Bible, not politics. 3.       FORGIVE I’ve said dumb things. I’ve said things that were phrased poorly. I’ve dropped balls. Please forgive your pastor. If you are offended, please approach your pastor in person, don’t harbor bitterness. 4.       ENGAGE With many of our people unable to participate in face-to-face ministries, every church has massive ministry holes. If you’re not in-person yet, raise your hand to help with online ministry. If you are joining in person, step forward and make a difference in the life of your church. 5.       WRITE A NOTE Your pastor has probably received more criticism since COVID than he did in the past five years combined. Let your pastor know how much you appreciate him, how much a message impacted you, or just that you are praying for him. 6.       PRAY Speaking of which: pray for your pastor. Pray for peace, pray for spiritual life, pray for his family, and pray for the unity of your church. Pastor or not, we are all tired. Let’s grow in empathy and grace toward one another. As Paul says in Ephesians 4:29 , “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” And similarly in Galatians 6:2 , “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” May grace flow freely to one another in Christ’s family. www.thebeehive.live .

If you have your Bibles go ahead and grab them. Matthew 5 is where we're going to be. If you're a guest with us today and don't have a Bible with you or don't own a Bible, there should be a hardback black one somewhere around you. Again, if you don't own one, don't just use that; that's our gift to you. Just take that; I believe it will be beneficial. Everyone born of woman, which would include all of us (correct?) was born with an innate sense of justice. You and I are born, and inside each of us is this kind of real specific sense of justice. It might not be dialed in correctly, but we have a sense of what is just and what is right. Since that's true, since all of us were born with an innate sense of justice, we are all naturally inclined to retaliation and revenge. We do not have to be trained in it. We do not have to be taught it. We very naturally will retaliate against those who offend our sense of justice. You don't get trained in this. You just do it. My middle child is soon to be 7 years old. Sweetest disposition of any young boy I've ever been around, and I saw him attack another kid at a birthday party like a lion attacks an antelope. Like jumped on the kid's back and bit the back of his neck, and all of this because he felt as though there was an injustice. Naturally, I've never pounced on anyone like a puma in my life. I've never see Lauren do that. He did not pick that up from his environment. He just attacked this poor kid. I have seen grown men and women on the freeway either get right up on the trunk of the car in front of them or, my favorite move, speed past them, cut in front of them, and slam on their brakes. Do you know what that is? That is, "I have been the recipient of injustice and will not stand for it." I have seen grown men and women attack one another verbally, cut the legs out from one another. All of this stems from an intrinsic belief in justice and the refusal to tolerate at any level injustice. Now here's the problem with that. The problem with our sense of justice and how naturally we retaliate or seek revenge… The issue honestly becomes that revenge and retaliation rarely if ever actually bring about peace, because we all have a sense of what is just. Revenge and retaliation, more often than not, simply elevate and escalate the conflict, because they tip the scales. Someone does something to us, so we retaliate because we have been the victim of injustice, so let's set the scales right. We retaliate, and what happens in that moment? Even if the person is willing, and that's a huge if, to even admit there has been an injustice against you, you certainly went over the top on your retaliation, so that forces them and their sense of justice to retaliate your over-retaliatory attack on them , which only then emboldens you to fight back all the harder. It escalates, and it escalates, and it escalates, and it escalates. What started as silly can turn into something devastating in a hurry, and it all starts because you and I are born with a sense of justice, are born with a sense of what's right and what's wrong and naturally flowing out of that sense of justice are retaliation and revenge. Retaliation and revenge rarely, if ever, solve conflict, nor do they rarely if ever bring about peace with legitimate enemies. Jesus is going to enter the fray here. In this whole series what Jesus has done is he has shown up in the very difficult scenarios and situations like this, because we can agree justice is good. No one is going to go, "We don't want justice!" Even God is a God of justice, so justice is good, but because we're broken our outworking of justice actually leads to sin growing and conflict escalating, so Jesus is going to enter the fray. The problem with Jesus entering the fray for you and me as broken people is… Maybe this is the best way to illustrate it. I've been with m y wife for 15 years: 2 years dating, 13 years married. I'm not saying m y wife is my enemy, nor am I using an illustration about retaliation and revenge in m y marriage. It would not be right or safe. I've been married to Lauren for 13 years. We've been together for 15, and my in-laws in that amount of time have bought four separate houses they purchased, gutted, and rebuilt from the inside. I think that's dumb. My card is on the table. If you want a house with a big room, don't buy a house with two small rooms that then requires you to have to rip the house out to get your big room. Find a house with a big room! How hard is this? If you want a bigger closet, don't buy a house with a tiny closet. Buy a house with a larger closet. But they've done it four times. Now the reason it's dumb is because I lack vision, and I lack skill. It's just the truth. My mother-in-law can walk into a house and just almost immediately (it's some sort of weird, freak gift) feel that the flow needs to be different in the house. "The house would just feel better…" All right, follow me here. "…if it was more open when you walked in, if you could see through this, if this room was larger, if you created a wall here." None of this is actually in place. "This kind of floor will match this kind of wall, and we could take some wainscoting…" I didn't even know what that was four years ago. "…and put it down at the bottom. Then what we could do is put canned lighting in." She sees it, and my father-in-law is skilled enough to execute. I not only lack the vision, but I'm completely incompetent in those matters. Over the last 15 years, there have been times my father-in-law has invited me to participate in these remodels. Before you take this to a place, I'm not taking it, those projects are always like, "Take the nails out of that board. Go dig a hole out on the side of the house." Those kind of tasks. In fact, I believe there have been a couple of instances where I've just been taking nails out of wood we planned on throwing away. In all of these years (four different remodels), I've been allowed to use the saw twice, and both times everyone stopped what they were doing and cam e to just watch to make sure I didn't lose a hand or I didn't ruin the cut, because I use m y hands a lot, and it's going to be even more distracting if I'm missing a finger. It's going to start throwing you off if I'm preaching and I've maligned myself because I was trying to put baseboards in. In the end, here's what I have learned about reconstruction: it's always harder than you think it's going to be, it always takes longer, and the tools you need are usually the tools you don't have. The room is not going to be square to begin with. Your nail gun is going to jam. The one socket wrench you need is the one you don't have. You have every drill bit created by man except the one-sixteenth, which is the one you need. You will begin to wear out the road between your house and Lowes and/or Home Depot, depending on your allegiances. Remodeling takes longer than you want and is painful, especially if you're trying to live in the house while you do it. Why would I use this illustration? Because what Jesus is doing in this Sermon on the Mount is really coming into where we live, coming into our homes, and he's remodeling. He's remodeling while we live in it. He's blowing out walls. He's changing the flow. He's creating a new feel. He's reshaping how we think. He's reshaping how we act. He's creating new walls for our good and for our ultimate comfort, albeit not comfortable while he's blowing out walls and rearranging the furniture. He's going to enter into this idea of retaliation and revenge in a way that blows out all our walls and takes what we find to be a tidy, little home, and he's going to rearrange it. I'm telling you, it's painful when God rearranges the house. You're kind of like me in that scenario where my mother-in-law was kind of talking about how the room is going to look and no matter how much she talks I just get more confused and think, "This is all dumb." I want to give you a word of warning that what Jesus is about to teach goes contrary to almost everything you're going to feel in your gut. Aren't you glad you're here? Let's do work... Matthew 5. We're going to pick it up in verse 38. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'" That's justice, is it not? I mean, that actually is a pretty nice little sentence in regard to justice because it gets rid of all privilege. It gets rid of all socioeconomic or ethnic pecking orders. If you pluck out an eye you lose an eye. If you knock out a tooth, you lose a tooth. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter where you are in the pecking order of culture. If you make somebody lose their eye, you get your eye plucked out. If you knock out somebody's tooth, you're going to get your tooth knocked out. It seems on the surface pretty fair and pretty straight, like something we could live with. Except, if you'll remember what Jesus is after… We said this in, I believe, week one or two of this series that Jesus is after the transformation of our inward motivations and our inward understanding of how things actually work in the universe. Here's what he is going to say. Verse 39: "But i say to you, Do not resist the one who is..." What? "...evil. Buth if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic..." Keep in mind this is someone who is evil who is suing you for your tunic. "...if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you."  Now that runs about as contrary to our gut as anything I've ever read. Can I just talk to the men? What part deep inside of you would respond to an open-hand slap of your face with, "That's okay," or "That's all right with me"? In fact, what I know about men is if you punch a man and knock him out he will be able to deal with that more healthily than he will if you open-hand slap him. To open-hand slap a man is to wound not only his face but his soul. He will replay that for the rest of his life and will desire to choke you out. If you get knocked out you just get knocked out, but if a man slaps you there is a component of shame built into that. He just said, "If someone who is evil slaps you, give them your other cheek. If someone who is evil sues you for your inner garment, give them your outer garment also. If someone forces you to walk one mile, give them two." This is counterintuitive and what Jesus has just done in this teaching is he's tossed a hand grenade into your living room to blow out all the walls. Specifically, the walls and the way of thinking and the way of living that says, "Ultimately, my push, my pursuit, what I'm after and the lenses and filter by which I should see the whole world around me is in the interest of my own self!" Really what matters when all is said and done is, "Is this good for me? Is this right for me? Is this just for me? Does this benefit me? Does this move me forward?" He has just deconstructed our ability to think that way. Two years ago, I pressed long and hard about this idea of how miserable of a human you are if ultimately everything is about you. The more the world is about you, the more anxiety you're going to feel. The more the world is about you, the more fear will exist in your heart. The more the world is about you, the more angry you will be. The more the world is about you, the more you elevate yourself as the purpose. I don't think anybody would ever say this, but the more you actually walk in the belief that you're the sun and everyone else is the planets kind of orbiting around you, the more miserable of a human being you're going to be. Because if you're the point of it all, doesn't that make your spouse your maid? If you're the point of it all, doesn't that put an undue amount of weight on your children to reflect well upon you? Doesn't that mean you'll have to discipline cruelly? Doesn't that mean you'll have to crush any type of vitality or personality? Doesn't that mean you'll need some sort of Stepford child to do everything perfectly all the time? Won't you heap that expectation on them because it reflects on you? You need to discipline your kids. I am not advocating a lack of discipline. I'm advocating a love and concern for your children that's not about you but is about them . If your kid is acting a fool in Blue Goose and throwing chips like ninja stars at other tables, I think you should handle that. You can handle it your own way. We handle it our own way, but it gets handled. I'm not talking about a lack of disciplining your children. I'm saying a pressure on your children to behave a certain way or look a certain way, not because it's good for them but because it looks good on you. That's different. How good of a co-worker are you if it's all about you? How good of a neighbor are you if it's all about you? Do I need to keep going, or do you have my point? I mean, I can keep going. I have nothing but time here. The more you make the world about you, the more anxious, fearful, and miserable you'll be, and the more you get freed up from that, the more life, vitality, and I would even say happiness and an ability to be untouchable settles in on those who understand it's not all about them. This is the deconstruction of our house. This is the knocking out of walls and the ripping up of floors. It grates against the flow of our lives that has us first and foremost as our primary, saying, "Is this best for me? Is this what's good for me? Is this what I want?" It blows up us seeing through the lenses of our personal self-interest being the driving force of our lives. The salt and light of the world, God's chosen people, are not to live that way. Let's be honest here. If we're reading this text and being honest, if Christian men and women historically were literally to follow this text without continuing to read the text, then so much of what God has accomplished through his people over the last 200 years would not be in place. If the men and women of God would have read this text and not kept reading, there would be no dismantling of the slave trade. If Christian men and women would not have kept reading in this text and not continued to press past the verses we just read, then the civil rights movement would not have gained traction in the 60s. How are we to read this text in light of the fact that Jesus cleansed the temple, flipped over tables, made a whip, and drove moneychangers out? How are we to read this text in light of so many good things we've been called to stand against in regard to injustice? The next part of this text is the reconstruction of how God would have us to live as salt and light in the world, how he would have us a church to be a city on a hill. Verse 43: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes hi sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.' Two things, and then I want to roll out the point of this text in light of all that we've read today out of the Bible. The first thing I want you to notice is, again, this is counterintuitive. There is nothing easy or natural about loving your enemies. What is natural and easy is what was first listed: to love those who love us and to hate those who hate us. It is a very easy work of our hearts to go, "Oh, you hate me? Well, I hate you. I didn't even need a reason to hate you. Just finding out that you hate me makes me hate you back." That's natural, right? Kids do it. Adults do it. We all do it. It's natural. It's what's inside of us. What Jesus has just demanded of his people (remember, this is a superseding righteousness that Christ is creating in our hearts) is that we would love our enemies and pray for them. He even says there is a reward for loving your enemies and praying for your enemies that is not present when you love those who love you. If you love somebody who loves you, there is reciprocity there. Are you tracking with me? There is no reward. They love you; you love them. How easy is that? But if you love those who hate you, if you love your enemies, then the reward that is…don't lose me here…possible is that you might bring peace to where there is strife and you might see an enemy come under the same saving grace you were able to come under. I don't ever want to take things further than the Scriptures allow them to be taken, so let me be very, very straight with you. There are times we love our enemies and we pray for our enemies that do not bring peace; it simply emboldens our enemies to attack all the more. Amen? I'm not trying to say, "Be nice, and it will all work out." That's not what I said. Do you know the proverb that says a kind word is like heaping burning coals on someone's head? Can we chat about that for a second? How do people who have coals heaped on their heads respond? Your answer should be, "I think they respond like this." It shouldn't be, "Here's how they respond. Last night I saw…" They respond with agitation and anger and are emboldened to attack all the more. Again, another example of a verse we try to make cute that is not trying to help us see the cutesy-ness of our allegiance to Christ, but actually some of the conflict that is intrinsic within being faithful to Jesus Christ. There have been times where I've tried to act loving toward an enemy of mine and found it only emboldened their rage toward me. When you are kind to your enemies, it will press on deep-seated soul issues, and if conviction flares up, it will work itself out in rage toward you. The opportunity for reconciliation, peace, and maybe winning a brother or sister over to the Lord is there if you love your enemy. None of that reward exists if your plan is retaliation and revenge. No shot at all. You will simply escalate it. The point of the text here actually becomes Christ being interested in our motive and then our motive being how we see the first part of that text. Let me flush this out like this: sometimes the most loving thing I could do for someone who slaps my cheek is to not give them my other cheek. Sometimes the most loving thing I could possibly do is not allow you to take my tunic or my cloak, but to make a stand. The most loving thing I could do is to refuse to walk that mile with you. Two nights ago, my youngest, little Norah, woke up throwing up. I don't know how many of you parents have had the joy of the 3:00 a.m. "there's something to clean up on the carpet in my room " wakeup call. Really a delightful thing. I went in and cleaned that up and then cuddled with her for a while. I woke up around 4:30 with her mouth breathing right into my face. I thought, "I wonder when that's going to hit me in the next week." Then she got up and threw up again. She got to the toilet that time. When you're 3 you're learning this is where you have to get when this happens. She made it on that one. I put her back to bed and then went to bed. My wife was speaking at a conference called "Sparrow" up at UNT this week at an event for collegiate young women, so I had all three of the babies. We had a party at our house Thursday night. There was stuff left over from that party, so on our countertop is some carrot cake that Kimberly Miller, Brian Miller's wife (one of our lead pastors), brought to the party. What does Norah want for breakfast two hours after she vomited all over the bathroom? Does anybody want to guess? Did she want a cracker? No, she wants the carrot cake. Is it most loving of me to cut her a big ol' piece and put it on a plate and give it to her with maybe some milk? Or is the most loving thing I could do go, "No, I'm not giving that to you"? I tried to be loving. She did not see, sense, or understand what I was doing was loving. In fact, lip quivering, eyes filling with tears, wounded my soul, "How could you, Father?" meltdown on the kitchen floor because I would not allow her to vomit much more moving into the day. In the same way, our motive being love are the lenses by which we see the world around us and take our enemies and the attack of our enemies on our lives and lay them on the scale of how we respond. Let's be real honest. Maybe we're different. Maybe you're just far godlier than I am, but I almost always feel like the most loving thing I could do is say, "No." I almost always feel like the most loving thing I could do is not give you my other cheek, is not give you my tunic, is not walk that mile with you. I almost always feel the most loving thing to do is to stand my ground and not allow myself to be the recipient of injustice. How do you work through this if what Jesus is saying here is, "Motivated by love, we are to decide in the moment with our enemies whether to be motivated by love or be motivated by self-preservation and our own pride." How do you wade through that, because that gets messy, doesn't it? I mean, that's like seeing through mud. It's just not an easy thing. Here's what I think you have to have if you're going to be able to get in your own heart and tell what your motives are. Is my motive self-preservation? Is my motive the exaltation of self, the convenience of self, the pride of self, or is my motivation genuinely love? First, walk in wisdom. This is going to require you to not be biblically ignorant. Let me be really clear here. I'm not talking about verses you know; I'm talking about verses you've been able to apply. To know verses of the Bible does not mean you know your Bible. Do we understand? You actually have to be able to apply the truths of the Scripture for them to be of any real value. This should not be difficult for you to believe. Are you able to drain from your food the nutrients in your food if you very quickly vomit it up and don't digest it? That's a disorder called bulimia. Are you tracking? People die of it. We have to be able to digest and apply. Secondly, walk in community . If you lack wisdom from the Word of God and then aren't walking in community with others, I think what we're talking about here is nearly impossible for you, and you will always pick your flesh. You will always pick what you feel is best for you and not what is best overall for everyone involved. Here's what I mean about community. I'm in a home group. I don't ask you to do anything I don't do myself, so my home group is Brad Payne, Brian Miller, and Josh Patterson. When you hear me talk about the guys I run stuff by, the men I walk with, those are primarily who I'm talking about. Those men and their wives make up the home group I'm in. We meet on Sunday nights. We're meeting tonight. Those guys know me. They know how I respond, how I react. They know my iniquities, my bents, and they are able to, in a given situation, help me wade through what's true and what's not true. When you're fully known, people can look from an outside perspective. Not building people who are going to defend you and be on your side no matter what. People who really love you are willing to tell the truth to you. If you don't have truth-tellers in your life, if you don't have people who consistently or at least every once in a while tell you things you don't want to hear, then you have put around you people who when all is said and done value your friendship more than they value your soul. That's not healthy or good for you in the long run. Each one of those men I've named has no problem going, "I think you're being a fool. I think this is your pride. I think you just don't want to be seen in this light and that's why you're responding this way." They're able to speak into, knowing the details, a situation and help me work through whether or not m y motivation is myself or my motivation is love for all involved. I think the bigger question here is that all of this feels really impossible, so how do we grow in love in such a way that we have the capacity to love our enemies? Because to be straight, I just don't feel like I have the capacity most of the time. How do we grow in our ability to love our enemies? I think there are probably more but let me give you the three things we're going to cover if we're going to love our enemies. 1. We have to grow in our understanding of being children of God. I always want to point back to this because I find such a neglect in the Christian mind and in the Christian heart over this simple, basic truth. Yes, God has forgiven you in Jesus Christ. Yes, your sins are forgiven because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I think people get that by and large. They accept that by and large. It's the foundation on which they stand, and rightfully so. Justification is the crown jewel of our relationship with God. But we can't tend to get past God the Judge and get to God the Father, that God delights in you, that God loves you, that God is concerned for you, that God is passionate about you, that the Spirit of God feels things concerning you. Those things are not regret. Those things are not, "I can't wait for this guy to grow up." God loves you. We have a hard time with that. We have a difficult time believing that. Do you know why? Because we know us. We know us, but if you don't understand God as Father, then you will doubt situations and scenarios and not trust him to be your Father. Let me give you an example. Matthew 6:31-32 says, "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all." If we don't have a heavenly Father who knows we need food, we need clothes, we need shelter, and we need protection, then we are forced to handle those things on our own. If we don't have a heavenly Father who loves us and will give to us what we need (not necessarily what we want, but what we need), then we are forced to take matters in our own hands. If I have to take matters into my own hands and can't trust God for these things, then you become my enemy. I have to retaliate. I have to work hard. I have to cut your legs off and stop you from cutting my legs off so I can get ahead, so I can further my career, so I can look a certain way to the people around me. One of the things I hurt in my heart for when it comes to the Metroplex is how concerned we are with external image. Maybe that's all cities, but Dallas… Goodness sakes! Can I just be straight? Isn't that what we were doing in high school? Are you telling me now at 30 and 40 we're still playing the same game? At 50 and 60 we're still playing the same game? I mean, holy high school, right? If this is still the driving force… "How will these people perceive me? How will they see me? What will they think of me? I have to try to be in with the cool kids." It's sad and ridiculous and is a driving force behind many of us, which is why Jesus says you walk in the anxiety you walk in, you walk in the fear you walk in, and while you will so quickly retaliate against injustice because you cannot be seen as weak, you cannot be seen having a righteousness that isn't your own, you can't be seen having honor that isn't your own. It has to be yours. You have to own it. You have to drive it. It forces our hand, and what it reveals is that we don't trust, know, and love God as the sovereign Father. We have to grow in our understanding of God as our Father. 2. We have to live with eternity in mind . This is not easy for us. Romans 8:18 says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." Let me give you one more here. Second Corinthians 4:16-18: "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen...: Why? "For the things that are seen are transient..." They're going away. There will be a day that they don't exist. "...but the things that are unseen are eternal." Those are the things that matter. Now a couple of things to line up out of these texts: When you and I are talking about enemies and persecution, we are not talking about physical beating. We are not talking about imprisonment. We are talking about other people's perception of us, other people's gossip about us, or other people at work trying to undercut us so they get the promotion. When the author of these words is writing, he's talking about imprisonment. He's talking about beatings. He's talking about the murdering of his friends. He is talking about the pillaging of churches he has planted. When he is not in jail, he is being pursued by those who wish to either kill him or imprison him, and he calls them…hear me.. .light and momentary afflictions. When you live with the unseen things in view, the eternal things in view, then regardless of situation here it becomes light and momentary. I don't believe that difficulty is ever light and momentary. It never feels light and momentary in the moment. I think it feels heavy and eternal in the moment. Can we just agree on that? When things get difficult for us, it doesn't matter that Paul was beaten with rods and we're in a fight with a friend. It doesn't matter that Paul had the skin ripped off his back and Christ was crucified and James was killed with a club and all we're dealing with is someone at work who is making life very difficult for us. Somebody is making fun of us because of our faith. It feels heavy, and it feels like it's not going away. If we get our eyes on what is eternal, we see that in the scope of things this is a blip on the screen. Hear me. I am not a man who is unfamiliar with the sorrows of this world. Pastors are second responders. We show up at the house usually while the body is still there. We show up in the ICU, in the NICU, in the waiting room with family members before the person in NICU or in ICU is stable enough to be seen. I am not saying what I am saying with any type of naïve lenses on at all, but what the Scripture is teaching us here is regardless of the difficulty wherein, when all is said and done, as people of God the issues of this life will seem light and momentary compared to what is coming for us who are God's children. In our last service here as the service ended, there was a man in the service. Cancer is just eating his body up. In fact, tumors are now in his bones, so his bones are easily breakable. When it came time to respond and worship, he was full-on enjoying the Lord and worshipping the Lord and exalting the Lord. His journey has not been light, and it does not seem momentary until he gets his eyes on what is eternal. When he gets his eyes on what is eternal, now it seems light and momentary, and now he's not crying tears of loss and sorrow, but tears of hope and sustaining grace. You get your eyes on what is unseen not on what is seen. All of this is transient. It's going away. Do you see if you see like this how free you become? What can man take from you if this is how you see? If everything would be light and momentary compared to the future glory we have coming, then what could man take from you that would rile you to betray this God who has made all things light and momentary? 3. We have to have a greater understanding of what we've been saved from, how we've been saved, and for the reality that if it were not for the grace of God we would be the givers of injustice and not just the receivers of injustice. Let me read a text, and then I want to state some things I believe you can't deny. Ephesians, chapter 2, 1 through 3: "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience -- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the minds, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." Hear me. But for the grace of God, you are the most hardened, antagonistic, God-hating, secular atheist on earth. It's the grace of God that rescued you, the grace of God that opened up your heart, the grace of God that opened up your mind. God help us be empathetic toward those who are our enemies in the faith. I have heard heartbreaking things said by men and women of God toward famous antagonists against our faith. Let me be real straight with you. I think Bill Maher is a fool. You can email me and tell me I'm wrong about that, but I think he's a fool. He's a blasphemous fool, and at the same time there isn't one cell in my body that looks forward to the day where he finds out what's true and what's not. There is nothing in me, and if I sense it in me I plead with God to break my heart of it, that longs for the day that he gets his. God didn't give me mine. God didn't give you yours. Do you really believe you weren't born hostile in mind toward God, that you weren't alienated and estranged, that you didn't think you were smarter than God, that you were better than God, that your way was better than his way? There is no difference in God's eyes from a vocal rebellious person and a silent rebellious person. It is by the grace of God alone that you have been saved. God help us from forgetting it, because when you know that you, like our brother Paul, are the chief among sinners, until you're willing to acknowledge that you will be unable to extend grace because you don't believe you have received a lot of grace. You believe if you think that way, whether you would articulate it like this or not, you would believe God is kind of lucky to have you on his team, that God's rep is finally being protected by you, that you deserve God's grace, and you deserve God's mercy because you're a great catch. In reality, if you bring God any glory whatsoever it's that he rescued a fool like you and like me. God's glory is seen in the fact that he did save you, that he did pick you for his team. He's like winning with all the people who can't play. That's God's glory. He picks everyone who wouldn't get picked and then wins the game with them. That's the glory of God. Until you understand that and can rest in that and glory in that, you will never be able to extend grace to those who need grace, and most definitely not your enemies. The people of God (the city on a hill), they're people who handle retaliation and revenge like this: "What is loving? How do I love this enemy of mine in a way that is good for them, helpful for them, and in the end gives us the best opportunity for them to sense, see, and enjoy the grace that has been so richly lavished upon me?" Church, how are we doing on this one? How are we responding to those who actively are against us? Don't ever be surprised when lost people act lost. Don't ever be surprised when immature believers act immature. This is God rebuilding the walls. This is God creating new flow, so that my first response when my face gets slapped is not attack, but prayerful consideration, a gathering of community and saints asking and seeking wisdom and then responding with a heart motivated by love. As I remember the grace afforded to me in Jesus Christ, I remember I am a son of God who will be defended and protected and provided for by God and by understanding the glory and riches that will be lavished upon me will be lavished upon me in eternity and in the eons to come and that anything here and now is light and momentary. How is your capacity to love today? I'm not asking, "Do you love those who love you?" I think everyone does that. In fact, the text says the tax collectors, the Gentiles… That's his way of saying, "Everyone does that." Drug lords love those who love them. The question at hand is…Is your capacity of love great enough that you can love your enemies? If that's not the case, church, where do we need to repent? Where do we need to reconcile? Where do we need to make things right before the Lord? Do we need to confess today that we don't really view God as a good Father? Do we need to confess that we live where we're hedging our bets? "Yeah, we're kind of hopeful that when we die maybe there is heaven and glory for us, but we're not quite sure, so we're going to hedge our bets. We want this world and the next. We're not willing to lose anything on this side, but we want to do just enough that if there is another side, we get that, too." Are we hedging our bets? Are we living with eternity in view? Are you glad or excited about God's judgment on others? Oh, that God might increase our capacity to love both him and our enemies. I'm going to pray for us, and when I say "Amen" there will be some men and women who you can pray with, who you can talk with. Maybe there's a specific situation you're in, and you're not sure how what I've just taught works out in that situation. W e've already had some of that this weekend. If we can pray for you, counsel you, or encourage you, there will be men and women able to do that. Then we will come back around and enjoy the Lord's Table, enjoy the celebration of God's broken body and shed blood as we conclude our service today. Let me pray for us. Father, thank you for these men and women. Thank you for the grace and mercy afforded to us. I pray we might reflect it to the world around us in rich, deep, and good ways. It's through your beautiful name I pray, amen. I love you guys

You need some good news—as a human and as a leader. We all do. While 2020 was dominated by crisis, tragedy, division and disease (as this recap of the Top 10 posts of year shows), it wasn’t all bad news. So here’s a post on 7 good things that came out of 2020, things you can easily carry into 2021. I’d love for you share personal wins in the comments at the end of this post. In the meantime, here are 7 good things you can carry into 2021. 1. Innovation Got Accelerated From the very beginning of the pandemic you’ve known that crisis is an accelerator. A lot of trends (like working from home, online shopping and boosting your internet presence) that might have taken years to take place without a crisis accelerated overnight. And along with it came innovation. Disruption happens all the time, even without a global crisis.  Just ask the Kodak about camera phones and Instagram or music artists about Spotify and streaming. With the move to streaming, video conferencing, distributed gatherings, micro-gatherings and organizations becoming location independent, there is likely more opportunity right now that there are obstacles. If you’re open to change, so is everyone. COVID may have broken your model, but the innovation it demands can give new life to your mission. If you’re looking for a framework that will help you embrace innovation,  this will help . 2. People Rallied Around Small  Yes the big got bigger, but toward the end of 2020 there was a strong, people-fuelled rally around small. Small restaurants, shops and businesses. And around local too. Amazon’s algorithm may know you well, but it’s no substitute for the shop keeper, mechanic, grocer, restaurant owner or pastor who knows your name, your kids’ names and is invested directly in your community. As intimidating as big might be, nobody should be able to out-local local organizations. And for church leaders, just a reminder than nobody should be able to out-local the local church. Your competitive advantage is not that you’re big and bullet proof, but that you’re human and you care. That still goes a long way. 3. The Resistance Around Change Crumbled Change is always such a big leadership challenge. For years, my mantra has always been if you’re going to change, change big. (If you’re going to disrupt things, at least make it worth everyone’s stress.) Of course that’s easier said than done, and most leaders struggle with change, as do even more of the people you lead. But the good news about the current disruption is that everything broke, and now you only need to keep what’s still working. You didn’t have to change. The pandemic did it for you. On the other side, keep the things you would keep if you were starting over. Behave like a start up. If people don’t like it, blame the pandemic. Everything you wanted to change is suddenly changeable. 4. Justice Got Put Back On The National Agenda  The summer of 2020 was tragic for more than just COVID. The brutal death of George Floyd and many others brought racial injustice back to the forefront of the American and global consciousness. As heartbreaking and cruel as those deaths were, some African Americans say they feel the most hope they’ve felt in their lifetime because of the conversations (and action) they sparked. I was recently reading an account of Lyndon B. Johnson’s push to end segregation and Jim Crow laws in the US in the 1960s. It occurred to me (having been born in the 60s) that the world I was born into was only barely accepting of the fact that the color of your skin shouldn’t be a barrier to use something as simple as a bathroom or drink from a water fountain. Almost everyone (I wish I could say everyone ) would find that inconceivable and incomprehensible today. A mindset shifted in a cultural moment. We’ve come a long way, and we have a long way to go. While all the issues around race aren’t ‘solved’ by any stretch, I’m hoping and praying things will never quite be the same again. That justice is being advanced, and that what was acceptable in 2019 won’t be acceptable any longer in 2021 and beyond. May it be so. 5. Many Leaders Focused On Giving, Not Getting Almost everybody gives at Christmas or when there’s an acute crisis. I’ve been encouraged, for example, by what Jud Wilhite and the crew at Central Church in Las Vegas Nevada have done, feeding over  700,000 people with over 8 million pounds of food  in 2020. In an era where virtual signaling is a thing, I’ve been encouraged to see what the Central crew has done all year long, when people are watching but mostly when people haven’t been. If you’re going to err, err on the side of generosity. 6. The Hard Reset Ushered In Healthier Habits Everybody’s life ground to a halt in mid-March. Yes, it created massive hardship, tension and tragically fuelled addictions in some people. But my guess is that the hard reset ushered in some things you have come to appreciate too. For example, a year without travel has turned out to be a gift. More time with my wife, with my family and more time to change my pace and enjoy the life I’ve been given. I miss people, and moving forward I probably won’t travel at the level I used to so I can spend more time with the people around me. Also was more active than I’ve ever been—cycling over 3K km (finally!) and taking up running. If you look back over 2020, you probably have some refreshing family and personal rhythms you don’t want to quit either. So don’t. 7. People Valued Community Even More One of the great ironies of 2020 is that you suddenly had time to gather with people—you just weren’t allowed to meet with them. One of the deep appreciations I’ve had in 2020 is for family and friends that I now value more than ever. Which also leads me to a key reason I want to travel less is because I want to hangout more with the people around me. The daily FaceTimes and Zooms with people you care about will hopefully morph into longer meals, lingering nights and fun memories together. For the church,  community continues to evolve . It’s happening. It’s just happening less in a central facility than it was even a year ago—even for reopened churches. When it comes to church, I hope it means you cling to the people who matter to you a little more tightly. www.careynieuwhof.com .

“Gabriel.” Just the sound of my King’s voice stirred my heart. I left my post at the entryway and stepped into the throne room. To my left was the desk on which sat the Book of Life. Ahead of me was the throne of Almighty God. I entered the circle of unceasing Light, folded my wings before me to cover my face, and knelt before Him. “Yes, my Lord?” “You have served the kingdom well. You are a noble messenger. Never have you flinched in duty. Never have you flagged in zeal.” I bowed my head, basking in the words. “Whatever You ask, I’ll do a thousand times over, my King,” I promised. “Of that, I have no doubt, dear messenger.” His voice assumed a solemnity I’d never heard Him use. “But your greatest work lies ahead of you. Your next assignment is to carry a gift to Earth. Behold.” I lifted my eyes to see a necklace—a clear vial on a golden chain—dangling from His extended hand. My Father spoke earnestly, “Though empty, this vial will soon contain My greatest gift.” …Handing me the necklace, He explained, “This vial will contain the essence of Myself; a Seed to be placed in the womb of a young girl. Her name is Mary. She lives among My chosen people. The fruit of the Seed is the Son of God. Take it to her.” “But how will I know her?” I asked. “Don’t worry. You will.” I could not comprehend God’s plan, but my understanding was not essential. My obedience was. I lowered my head, and He draped the chain around my neck. Amazingly, the vial was no longer empty. It glowed with Light. “Jesus. Tell her to call My Son Jesus.” The Father whispered to me. I heard Him as if at my side. “Go, Gabriel: go and tell Mary.” On a wave of worship I flew, this time alone. I circled through the clouds and over the ground. Below me was the city where Mary was born. The Father was right; I knew her in an instant. Her heart had no shadow. Her soul was as pure as any I’ve seen. I made the final descent. “Mary.” I kept my voice low so as not to startle her. She turned but saw nothing. Then I realized I was invisible to her. I waved my wings before my body and incarnated. She covered her face at the Light and shrank into the protection of the doorway. “Don’t be afraid,” I urged. The minute I spoke, she looked up toward the sky. Again I was amazed. I praised my Father for His wisdom. Her heart is so flawless, so willing. “Greetings. God be with you.” Her eyes widened, and she turned as if to run. “Mary, you have nothing to fear. You have found favor with God. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call His name Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Highest. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; He will rule Jacob’s house forever—no end, ever, to His kingdom.” Though she was listening, she was puzzled. “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.” Before I spoke I looked up into the heavens. The Father was standing, giving me His blessing. I continued, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest hover over you; therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God. Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.” Mary looked at me, then up into the sky. For a long time she gazed into the blueness, so long that I, too, looked up. Did she see the angels? Did the heavens open? I do not know. But I do know when I looked back at her, she was smiling. “Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say.” As she spoke, a Light appeared in her womb. The King walked over and reached for the book. He turned it toward Lucifer and commanded, “Come, Deceiver, read the name of the One who will call your bluff. Read the name of the One who will storm your gates.” Satan rose slowly off his haunches. Like a wary wolf, he walked a wide circle toward the desk until he stood before the volume and read the word: “Immanuel?” he muttered to himself, then spoke in a tone of disbelief. “God with us?” For the first time the hooded head turned squarely toward the face of the Father. “No. Not even You would do that. Not even You would go so far.” “You’ve never believed me, Satan.” “But Immanuel? The plan is bizarre! You don’t know what it’s like on Earth! You don’t know how dark I’ve made it. It’s putrid. It’s evil. It’s…” “IT IS MINE,” proclaimed the King. “AND I WILL RECLAIM WHAT IS MINE. I WILL BECOME FLESH. I WILL FEEL WHAT MY CREATURES FEEL. I WILL SEE WHAT THEY SEE.” “But what of their sin?” “I will bring mercy.” “What of their death?” “I will give life.” Satan stood speechless. God spoke, “I love my children. Love does not take away the beloved’s freedom. But love takes away fear. And Immanuel will leave behind a tribe of fearless children. They will not fear you or your hell.” Satan stepped back at the thought. His retort was childish. “Th-th-they will too!” “I will take away all sin. I will take away death. Without sin and without death, you have no power.” Around and around in a circle Satan paced, clenching and unclenching his wiry fingers. When he finally stopped, he asked a question that even I was thinking. “Why? Why would You do this?” The Father’s voice was deep and soft. “Because I love them.” We were a wreath of Light around the stable, a necklace of diamonds around the structure. Every angel had been called from his post for the coming, even Michael. None doubted God would, but no know how He could, fulfill his promise. I’ve heated the water!” “No need to yell, Joseph I hear you fine.” Mary would have heard had Joseph whispered. The stable was even smaller than Joseph had imagined but the innkeeper was right- it was clean. I started to clear out the sheep and cow, but Michael stopped me. “The Father wants all of creation to witness the moment.” Mary cried out and gripped Joseph’s arm with one hand and a feed trough with the other. The thrust in her abdomen lifted her back, and she leaned forward. “Is it time?” Joseph asked. She shot back a glance, and he had his answer. Within moments the Awaited One was born. I was privileged to have a position close to the couple, only a step behind Michael. We both gazed into the wrinkled face of the infant. Joseph had placed hay in a feed trough, giving Jesus his first bed. All of God was in the infant. Light encircled His face and radiated from His tiny hands. The very glory I had witnessed in His throne room now burst through His skin. I felt we should sing but did not know what. We had no song. We had no verse. We had never seen the sight of God in a baby. When God had made a star, our words had roared. When He had delivered His servants, our tongues had flown with praise. Before His throne, our songs never ended. But what do you sing to God in a feed trough? In that moment a wonderful thing happened. As we looked at the baby Jesus, the darkness lifted. Not the darkness of the night, but the darkness of the mystery. Heaven’s enlightenment engulfed the legions. Our minds were filled with the Truth we had never before known. We became aware for the first time of the Father’s plan to rescue those who bear His name.

Jesus’ story begins with shepherds coming to him, the lamb of God. It ends with the Shepherd being struck down and the sheep scattering. And then there is a final twist. The story begins with sheep being drawn to the lamb: 8  And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  9  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.  10  And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  11  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  12  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  13  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14  “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15  When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”  16  And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.  17  And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.  18  And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.  19  But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.  20  And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. [Luke 2:8-2-] God loves shepherds. Abel, Moses, David, and Amos are all shepherds. In Psalm 23, God refers to himself as a shepherd. It’s no surprise that God would allow these nameless shepherds to be the first witnesses of the birth of Emmanuel. To top it off, God promised that the Messiah would be a Shepherd-King. Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd who knows his flock by name and protects them against thieves. The night before he is crucified, Jesus warns them that, as Zechariah prophesied, he is about to be killed, and his disciples will scatter. 31  Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’  32  But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”  33  Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.”  34  Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”  35  Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same. [Matthew 26:31-35] That very night Jesus was taken by force and the disciples fled. The perfect lamb was led to the slaughter to atone for the sins of the world. Peter, ashamed of his cowardice, went back to fishing. The risen Shepherd comes for him. They meet on the shore. 15  When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”  16  He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”  17  He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. [John 21:15-17] His first night on earth, the shepherds welcome the Lamb-Shepherd. This foretells the life ahead for the one who will shepherd his people with justice, lay his life down as a sheep to the slaughter, and commission his disciples as shepherds.