Did you know that one of the biggest challenges to Christianity comes during the Christmas season? It is centered on who Jesus’ family was. In our day when people challenge us about who Christ was, they sometimes argue against Jesus’ divinity. They might say that Jesus was a good teacher, or a holy person, or a talented teacher, but he wasn’t God in human flesh. Yet in the days which immediately followed Jesus people didn’t doubt his divinity, they doubted his humanity. This is because in Jesus’ day many people believed in gods and goddess’s, but no one believed that a god would become human flesh and be fully human and do so permanently. This was part of why John the apostle wrote I John. Look at what John says in I John 4:2-3: “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” Today’s challenge is a little different. It goes straight to scripture in Matthew and Luke, specifically, the two genealogies showing the line of Jesus’ stepfather, Joseph. Matthew has one genealogy and Luke has a completely different one. To the person who hasn’t studied the scriptures much these two genealogies are contradictory and proof that the Bible is not to be trusted. But would it surprise you to learn that, in fact, both genealogies are completely true and both genealogies lead directly to Joseph, and thus to Jesus? Allow me to show you why. There is an argument to defend these scriptures that says that Matthew’s genealogy was the genealogy of Joseph and Luke’s genealogy was that of Mary. Some people make this case because Luke, being a gentile researching the life of Jesus, must have interviewed Mary, Jesus’ mother. Luke has far more references in his Gospel to Mary and her experiences whereas Matthew focuses more on Joseph. They say that the Luke Genealogy is really Mary’s genealogy, but Joseph is noted as her husband. There is only one problem with this view. The Jews, in the time of Mary and Joseph, did not trace lineage through women, but only through men. The line of a tribe was not considered through the mother, but only through the father. There is even some Ancient Near East evidence for this in the book of Genesis. Genesis 46:15 refers to multiple daughters of Jacob though we are only told the name of one, Dina. Yet, when the tribal lines of Israel are counted, they are only counted through Jacob’s sons. The children of his daughters were not considered as part of the tribe of Israel. They would marry and be part of tribes elsewhere, outside of Israel. How does this apply to our look at the genealogies of Matthew and Luke? To put it simply, Mary’s line didn’t count for relationships back through the ages to the kingship of David. Hers was not the royal line. But Joseph’s was. So, that leaves us with the question, “How can both genealogies be Joseph’s? It’s a little complex but follow me along this trail and you’ll see that both genealogies are true and accurate lines of Joseph, stepfather to Jesus. It all has to do with something called, “Levirate Marriage.” Different Rules for a Different Day What is Levirate Marriage? In the Ancient Near East it was customary for a man with a deceased brother to marry his brother’s widow and raise up children in his brother’s name. This was even codified in the Mosaic Law. Look at Deuteronomy 25:5-6: “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.” Now, this kind of marital arrangement is completely foreign to us in the modern age. No one would think of marrying his dead brother’s wife to fulfill some esoteric tradition. But this was not the case in ancient times. In fact, to fail to fulfill one’s obligation this way was to bring shame on his family. Moses goes on, “And if the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house’” (Deuteronomy 25:7-9). What is interesting to note about this arrangement is that it was not simply a part of ancient traditions, but it was codified in the Mosaic Law, made a requirement for Israel to follow. Now, move ahead in time many centuries to the time just before Jesus and see how the law of Levirate Marriage made it possible for Joseph to have two family trees. Joseph has two genealogies because Joseph had a genetic line to David, and he had a Levirate line to David. This is possible when we go back to an ancestor of Joseph’s named Mattan (Matthew 1:15). Here’s how a Levirate arrangement worked. Mattan married a woman and the two of them had a son named Jacob. But at some point, after Jacob was born, Mattan died. Since Mattan had a son, the law of Levirate Marriage did not apply to him and his widow was free to marry someone else outside the family line. After a time, she married a man named Matthat who we find in Luke’s genealogy in Luke 3:24. The two of them have a son named Heli, found in Luke 3:23. This makes Jacob and Heli half-brothers. Then Heli died without having any sons. Jacob then steps up to fulfill his brotherly obligations as found in Deuteronomy and he and Heli’s widow have a son named Joseph. Therefore, Joseph is the son of Jacob in the royal line from Matthew’s account and he is the son of Heli through the law of Levirate Marriage. Thus, both genealogies are true according to the laws under which their culture lived at the time. In this explanation, in this cultural practice of the day, there is no contradiction, and all is considered legal and honorable. Now, you are not going to find a set of passages that spell this out in the New Testament. In the day in which the scriptures were written, these kinds of relationships were normal and taken for granted. One would not need to explain the details as we’ve just done here, because such arrangements, though perhaps rare, were normal and a part of the culture handed down in Israel for many centuries. But you and I, not being a part of that time or culture, need to do a little digging to learn of possible solutions to what seem to us to be apparent difficulties. This is why the study of scripture is so important. The scripture is not simple in some ways, it is sophisticated and deep, and we must plum those depths to arrive at the truths we need to discover. Be confident in the scriptures and study them well. You won’t be disappointed. Merry Christmas.

A great author tells the beginning of the story to prepare the hearer for the end of the story. Charles Dickens famously starts A Tale of Two Cities with the line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The reader knows that the saga that follows will entwine the strands of joy and sorrow, of righteousness and evil. We shouldn’t be surprised, then, that God foreshadows the end of the gospel accounts at the beginning. As we examine the beginning of Jesus’ life closely, we beginning to see the end of his life as well. In the coming weeks of Advent, let’s look together for crucified Emmanuel in the créche. Today, we start with Mary. Gabriel and Mary  “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” [i] Gabriel says to the young betrothed woman. Mary responds appropriately to the heavenly creature: with fear. Gabriel explains, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” [ii] Mary asks the reasonable question, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” [iii] Gabriel answers, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” [iv] Elizabeth and Mary Mary heads to the safety of her Aunt Elizabeth, who has a miraculous child of her own in her womb. Elizabeth rejoices, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Mary responds with a powerful and prophetic hymn, My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. [v] Fast forward to the final hours of Jesus’ life, and we find several echoes of these scenes. A Blessed Womb First, we hear Jesus’ words as he is led to Golgotha ironically echo Elizabeth’s greeting of Mary. There followed him “a great multitude of the people and women who were mourning and lamenting for him.” [vi] Jesus turns to them and says, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’” [vii] The man who was once the blessed “fruit” of Mary’s womb now speaks a sobering word of the coming judgment. Blessed now, Jesus says, are the barren. Where Jesus’ birth bestows the highest blessing upon his mother, Jesus’ death portends the sobering reality that it is now the women whose wombs are empty who are called blessed. A New Family Next, notice how Jesus’ birth disrupted family connections and commitments and how they are re-ordered at the cross. As soon as Mary learns of her pregnancy, her reputation is marred. She leaves her parents to find shelter with her aunt. Her engagement with Joseph is disrupted and almost terminated. The rumors of Jesus’ illegitimacy hang around Jesus into his adulthood. [viii] This man, whose heritage was questioned, will reshape heritage altogether. Whereas the family of God was biological—the heirs of Abraham—the family of God is now spiritual: the brothers of Jesus Christ. [ix] Mary stands at the foot of the cross along with other female disciples of Jesus and the apostle John. Jesus speaks to his mother and John, “Woman, behold your son!” “Behold, your mother!” With his final breath, the man who turned Mary into a mother places her into the care of a new son. This was not a son Mary birthed, but who God re-birthed spiritually. John takes Mary into his home, the spiritual ties of their relationship trumping Mary’s biological relationships. A God Who Looks on Our Humble Estate Next, we turn to Mary’s hymn, where she rejoices that God has looked on her “humble estate” and “exalted those of humble estate.” Mary speaks a profound truth, the depths of which she will fully realize at the cross. At his birth, Jesus didn’t just attend to the humble, but he identified with them, “by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” [x] His birth foreshadowed his death, where, “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” [xi] The humility of an infant in an obscure cattle trough would be outdone by the shameful humiliation of being stripped naked on a Roman cross. And yet, the hour of Christ’s deepest humiliation was the hour of his (and our!) greatest exaltation. Jesus tells us that “the Son of man [must] be lifted up.” [xii] As Jesus prepares for the cross the night before he dies, he speaks not of the horror of its humiliation, but rather of its glory, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” [xiii] The Endless Kingdom This exaltation concludes in dramatic fashion at Jesus’ ascension, when he, in the middle of teaching the disciples, is raised up into heaven. [xiv] Later, as Stephen is being stoned, he sees the heavens pulled back and Jesus standing on the right hand of God the Father. [xv] Gabriel promised Mary that Jesus would “be called the Son of the Most High,” and that “of his kingdom there will be no end. The Son of Mary sits at the right hand of God the Father reigning in glory today. What glory to see the end in the beginning. Next week we will see how we see the end of Jesus’ life foreshadowed through the man who tried to kill him as an infant. [i] Luke 1:28 [ii] Luke 1:31-33 [iii] Luke 1:34 [iv] Luke 1:35 [v] Luke 1:46-55 [vi] Luke 23:27 [vii] Luke 23:28-29 [viii] See Matt 13:55 , where the crowd emphasizes that Jesus is Mary’s son (not Joseph’s son, as would have been culturally accepted). [ix] See Mark 3:34-35 , Ephesians 3:14-19 , Romans 8:29 , and Hebrews 2:11 . [x] Phil 2:7 [xi] Phil 2:8 [xii] John 3:14 [xiii] John 17:1 [xiv] See Acts 1:9 [xv] Acts 7:56

A great author tells the beginning of the story to prepare the hearer for the end of the story. Charles Dickens famously starts A Tale of Two Cities with the line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The reader knows that the saga that follows will entwine the strands of joy and sorrow, of righteousness and evil. We shouldn’t be surprised, then, that God foreshadows the end of the gospel accounts at the beginning. As we examine the beginning of Jesus’ life closely, we beginning to see the end of his life as well. In the coming weeks of Advent, let’s look together for crucified Emmanuel in the créche. Today, we start with Mary. Gabriel and Mary  “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” [i] Gabriel says to the young betrothed woman. Mary responds appropriately to the heavenly creature: with fear. Gabriel explains, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” [ii] Mary asks the reasonable question, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” [iii] Gabriel answers, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” [iv] Elizabeth and Mary Mary heads to the safety of her Aunt Elizabeth, who has a miraculous child of her own in her womb. Elizabeth rejoices, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Mary responds with a powerful and prophetic hymn, My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. [v] Fast forward to the final hours of Jesus’ life, and we find several echoes of these scenes. A Blessed Womb First, we hear Jesus’ words as he is led to Golgotha ironically echo Elizabeth’s greeting of Mary. There followed him “a great multitude of the people and women who were mourning and lamenting for him.” [vi] Jesus turns to them and says, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’” [vii] The man who was once the blessed “fruit” of Mary’s womb now speaks a sobering word of the coming judgment. Blessed now, Jesus says, are the barren. Where Jesus’ birth bestows the highest blessing upon his mother, Jesus’ death portends the sobering reality that it is now the women whose wombs are empty who are called blessed. A New Family Next, notice how Jesus’ birth disrupted family connections and commitments and how they are re-ordered at the cross. As soon as Mary learns of her pregnancy, her reputation is marred. She leaves her parents to find shelter with her aunt. Her engagement with Joseph is disrupted and almost terminated. The rumors of Jesus’ illegitimacy hang around Jesus into his adulthood. [viii] This man, whose heritage was questioned, will reshape heritage altogether. Whereas the family of God was biological—the heirs of Abraham—the family of God is now spiritual: the brothers of Jesus Christ. [ix] Mary stands at the foot of the cross along with other female disciples of Jesus and the apostle John. Jesus speaks to his mother and John, “Woman, behold your son!” “Behold, your mother!” With his final breath, the man who turned Mary into a mother places her into the care of a new son. This was not a son Mary birthed, but who God re-birthed spiritually. John takes Mary into his home, the spiritual ties of their relationship trumping Mary’s biological relationships. A God Who Looks on Our Humble Estate Next, we turn to Mary’s hymn, where she rejoices that God has looked on her “humble estate” and “exalted those of humble estate.” Mary speaks a profound truth, the depths of which she will fully realize at the cross. At his birth, Jesus didn’t just attend to the humble, but he identified with them, “by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” [x] His birth foreshadowed his death, where, “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” [xi] The humility of an infant in an obscure cattle trough would be outdone by the shameful humiliation of being stripped naked on a Roman cross. And yet, the hour of Christ’s deepest humiliation was the hour of his (and our!) greatest exaltation. Jesus tells us that “the Son of man [must] be lifted up.” [xii] As Jesus prepares for the cross the night before he dies, he speaks not of the horror of its humiliation, but rather of its glory, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” [xiii] The Endless Kingdom his exaltation concludes in dramatic fashion at Jesus’ ascension, when he, in the middle of teaching the disciples, is raised up into heaven. [xiv] Later, as Stephen is being stoned, he sees the heavens pulled back and Jesus standing on the right hand of God the Father. [xv] Gabriel promised Mary that Jesus would “be called the Son of the Most High,” and that “of his kingdom there will be no end. The Son of Mary sits at the right hand of God the Father reigning in glory today. What glory to see the end in the beginning. Next week we will see how we see the end of Jesus’ life foreshadowed through the man who tried to kill him as an infant. www.thebeehive.live . Used by permission.

Do we choose to be Herod, cling to our power, and our glory, and our sin, and ourselves? Or do we willingly humble ourselves before Jesus and find that in losing our lives we gain it? If you are willing to leave your throne, Christ invites you to rule and reign with Him. That’s the Gospel. Christmas is God saying there’s no way for you to save yourself, so I’m going to allow my Son to save you by dying in your place. Preached at Fresh Life Church. www.sermons.love.

So, you probably want people to like you and your leadership. Who doesn’t? If we’re honest with each other, most of us in leadership prefer to be be liked (rather than not liked). That’s natural, and it’s not entirely unhealthy. But, so many leaders would also quietly admit that, deep down, they’re people pleasers. People pleasers usually evaluate their leadership by how popular their decisions are. That’s not great leadership in the best of times. Often, the right decision isn’t the popular decision. Doing what’s best for people isn’t always doing what’s popular with people. Anyone who’s parented for more than ten minutes understands that tension. Throw a crisis into the mix, particularly a crisis as deep and pervasive as the one we’re in right now, and it makes people-pleasing leadership even less effective than it normally is. Crisis: The Perfect Storm For People Pleasers One of the trends I’m tracking very closely as this crisis compounds and lingers is the mental and emotional health of leaders. Recent polling shows that mental health among leaders has now reached crisis levels. If your ego is fragile at the best of times, that makes leadership difficult. What you think will make you happy (pleasing people) not only doesn’t, it makes it worse. Crisis makes that dynamic ten times more complicated, difficult and challenging. The current climate, one of almost unprecedented divisions, polarization, trivialization and misinformation means you’re trying to please people in heavily divisive times. Getting agreement in normal times is hard enough. In crisis, it’s almost impossible. As a result, crisis leadership crushes people pleasers. People-pleasing was always a bad leadership strategy. In a crisis, it’s so much worse. If there was any time to kick the habit of people-pleasing, it’s now. Here are five ways your people-pleasing is already hurting you in this crisis. Once you see where people-pleasing takes you and the people you lead, it becomes that much easier to change. You Put The Mission At Risk A key goal of leadership is to lead a diverse group on a common mission. That’s why leadership isn’t for the faint of heart. When you try to please all kinds of people, you usually end up sacrificing the mission. Is that what you want your legacy to be? Didn’t think so. Here’s why so many leaders end up sacrificing the mission. The people who disagree with you naturally don’t agree with each other. So you might have three or even five conflicting visions or ideas you’re trying to synthesize. No wonder it’s feels impossible. It is. It’s a little like trying to agree on what to do for dinner: You want to grab take out, your spouse wants to dine in, your oldest wants you to grill burgers and your youngest wants mac and cheese. Unable to gain consensus or make a decision, you end up skipping dinner. So many non-decisions or poor decisions happen because of a lack of consensus. Conversely, very few good, innovative ideas gain consensus before a leader acts. In fact, most great new ideas worth anything are inherently divisive. So rather than waiting for consensus across the boards, try these things: Don’t ask the team for agreement, just get permission. (Chances are you already have it. You’re the leader.) Listen to people, but make the best decision you’re capable of making. If you’re wrong, take full responsibility. If it emerges that you were right, be humble and invite others on the journey. Great decisions usually only look like great decisions in the rear-view mirror. You Dislike Who You’ve Become People pleasers feel like they’re winning in the short term, but long term, they are rarely, if ever, satisfied with the results. After compromising again and again, people pleasers end up very unhappy with who they’ve become. In an attempt to please others, they’ve sold out. In the long run, you lose self-respect, and that further undermines your leadership. It’s difficult to respect a leader who doesn’t respect themselves. When you’re tempted to people please, think about who you’d like to be a decade or two from now. Then, act accordingly. It Gets Way Harder To Hear The Voice Of God When you are trying to please all the voices around you, it becomes far more difficult to hear the voice of God, let alone obey it. Scripture gets interpreted through the filter of the critics. You can begin to avoid what you know to be right because it’s just…so…hard to do what you believe to be right. Do you really want to lose the courage to hear the voice of God? Didn’t think so. The Real Leaders Leave Great leaders have a sixth sense that picks up people-pleasing. When you give into multiple voices and the mission is in decline, your best leaders will make a beeline for the door. They won’t make a lot of noise. They’ll just quietly disappear. Guess where that leaves you? It leaves you with all of your best people gone and a bunch of people who still aren’t happy. All of which leads us to reason number five to stop people-pleasing. Nobody’s Happy In The End You and I have heard it a thousand times: When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody. Here’s why that’s true. When you try to please a multiplicity of voices, you can’t follow a course that is clear or hone in on a singular purpose. You end up going nowhere. Guess who’s least happy with that in the end? You. So remember: The critics don’t even agree with each other, which is why they need leadership. www.careynieuwhof.com

Don’t you? Don’t you need some Peace On Earth and Goodwill to Mankind ? Don’t you need some Silent Night, Holy Night ? Don’t you need the appearance of angels, the sudden joy of shepherds and the hope, the blessed hope of a baby whose very name means salvation? You need someone to save us. From this rancor, this bitterness, this hostility. From partisan fighting or depression and despair. Here is what I’m for: the baby in the manger. God in a barn. God with an umbilical cord. So human he suckles milk, so divine he is worshipped by angels. A wide-eyed girl who has had a baby and never had sex. A stunned Joseph who has soldiered his way into the most improbable story in history. “Call Him Jesus” the angel told them both because that is the name that means “The Lord is salvation” and this Lord, Jesus, is all about salvation. Salvation from sin, guilt, shame, death, and, yes, political mudslinging. And, Gabriel added with what might have been a smile, “he will be great.” Great enough to silence storms, banish demons, command viruses, vacate a few graves, including his own. He’s going to be great. Do we not need a great king? This world is so chaotic, life is so fragile. For or against impeachment? I’m for the Hope of Christmas. And I am praying that He will do what our national leaders seem unable to do, calm us. Unite us. It’s going to take a miracle. Yet, if Christ is willing to show up in a barn, then a Senate Chamber and Oval Office are within his reach. There is so much shouting going on. On the airwaves, shouting. On the news broadcasts, shouting. On social media, shouting. All sides, shouting. It is one thing to have an opinion; it’s something else to have a fight. Let’s reason together. Let’s work together. And, if discussion fails, let love succeed. If love covers a multitude of sins, can it not cover a multitude of opinions? We need an intermezzo of calm in this cacophony of opinions. Gratefully, we have one. It’s called Christmas. Father Josef Mohr needed this reminder. He pastored the small church of Arnsdorf near Salzburg, Austria. The congregation, like the village, was comprised of simple people. They were farmers and woodworkers. There was more poverty than affluence. They worked long hours and endured harsh winters. Christmas was one of their few respites. The pastor did his best to make the holiday service special for his flock. But this year, 1818, he had a problem. The organ had become unfit for use. It was old. Mice had eaten at the bellows. The church needed a new one. But they didn’t have the money. Father Mohr went to his organist and expressed his chagrin, “We must have something special for midnight mass.” What is Christmas, they wondered, without music? On the day before Christmas Eve, the Father was called to administer last rites to a dying woman. By the time he returned to Arnsdorf, the hour was late. The valley and the village lay in darkness. The priest paused on a height overlooking the town. The events had left him sad: the useless organ, the death of a parishioner, the cold night and long journey. His heart, like the valley, was lost in shadows. But then he saw a faint light of a distant home. Against the black curtain of night, it shone even brighter. The priest pondered the light, then thought to himself: It must have been something like this–that silent, holy night in Bethlehem. Suddenly inspired, he hurried home, sat over his desk and wrote: Silent Night, Holy Night, All is dark, save the light, Yonder where they sweet vigils keep, O’er the Babe, who, in silent sleep, Rests in heavenly peace, Rests in heavenly peace. Silent night, peaceful night, Darkness flies, all is light; Shepherds hear the angels sing. Alleluia! Hail the King, Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born. Upon arising the next morning, he took his lyrics to Franz Gruber, his organist. Within moments, Gruber imagined the perfect melody. When he sang the song to his wife, she told him, “We will die, you and I, but this song will live.” It has. Christmas is not Christmas without the song, “Silent Night”. We cherish its promise. The world still sits in shadows. Death casts its shroud. Misfortune silences the organ. Yet, whatever the generations bring, the light of Jesus still shines. Thank God  for  Christmas. Thank God  it’s  Christmas. Because this Christmas, we really need Christmas. www.maxlucado.com .

Are you old enough to remember retrieving the newspaper in the morning? My dad would crack the front door every morning, stroll out to the driveway, grab The Arizona Daily Star, tuck it under his arm, and bring it to the kitchen. He would sit at the breakfast table, bowl of granola in front of him, with the news of the day spread out on 15” x 22” of grey paper. Today, most of us get the news before we reach the kitchen. Sitting on the toilet, we scroll our 3” x 5” devices and the news of our friends and the world is piped into our palms via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This change is not neutral. While there are many ways we can point to social media as a benefit (connection with friends across the world, and providing a voice for those who wouldn’t have had the ability to speak to larger groups, for instance), it doesn’t come without a cost. Netflix’s The Social Dilemma[i] raises the alarm about the cost of social media. What are the dangers of social media? Most of us have a nagging suspicion that all is not well with our relationship with social media. But what is it precisely that we should be concerned about? The ex-employees and leaders of various social media platforms put their finger on what some of those issues are in The Social Dilemma. These employees point out that Google, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tik Tok, and the rest are leveraging the work of psychologists to capture their prize: an ever-increasing slice of our attention. They’ve weaponized our neurological rewards systems against us. Let’s examine four specific dangers of social media: 1) Time I’m grateful my parents didn’t let us buy an Atari or Nintendo when I was a kid. I didn’t have the wisdom nor the self-restraint to protect me from the magnetic dopamine hits those screens provided. I remember going to friends’ houses and getting sucked into the world of video games. As many other young men have learned when they went off to college, I learned the challenge of having unfettered access to video games in my college dorm. As soon as I came back to my room, there was certain to be someone, somewhere on the hall playing. The words of Solomon about the prostitute could be applied to the call of those screens: For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it. (Prov 5:3-6) Our lives have become one big college dorm room. The Siren’s call of our screen is ever-present. And we are running the ship of our attention into her rocks again and again. Check your screen time for last week. Would you want to schedule that many hours for your phone into next week’s schedule? I doubt it. Our phones are gobbling up time that, if we were wise, we would devote to prayer, reading, service, or exercise. 2) Social Interaction Human beings are social animals. We all need relationships. Over the past fifty years, that community has shifted from public spaces (parks, bowling alleys, and restaurants) to our cell phones. While our communities on social media are bigger and more geographically diverse, they are much thinner. Instead of a handful of friends we invest in, we invest into hundreds of relationships. Many have exchanged a few deep relationships for many shallow ones. And the lack of face-to-face interaction means that communication we have with one another tends not to have the same depth. We don’t often move past the superficial. We rarely step through peacemaking to resolve our differences. Whenever the slightest hiccup in a relationship comes, we move on. 3) Division The Social Dilemma spends a bulk of its time explaining how and why social media is divisive. There are two primary reasons, both driven by the same fact: social media companies want us to be on their platforms as long as possible. We are not consumers of their products. We are their product. They sell us to advertisers. The first reason social media is divisive is that it keeps us in our ideological echo chambers. We stay longer in places we are comfortable than uncomfortable, and so, social media companies suppress the content of friends who have perspectives that might make us uncomfortable and amplify the content of friends with whom we agree. The second reason social media companies are divisive is that they amplify content that drives heightened engagement. Go to YouTube right now and check out the titles that fill your screen: they’re almost all clickbait. It’s as though each of has a personalized National Enquirer funneled to pocket every second of every day. Outlandish headlines vie for our attention, fan our anger, and calcify our beliefs. Republican and Democrat alike are convinced that the other party is destroying our nation. More and more see the other party as the primary threat to our nation. Social media is complicit in creating this divisive culture. It rewards us for caricaturing our ideological opponent, it suppresses nuanced, level-headed engagement. A friend of mine posted what I quote below on Facebook last week. His post is so helpful. I wasn’t surprised to see that I was the lone comment on the post and one of only a few likes. I’m sure most of his friends didn’t even see the post as it doesn’t trigger any of the algorithm amplifiers Facebook has in play. It’s worth reading and reflecting on: The election is over but our divisions remain deep. Today I would be heartened to remember THE COMMON GOOD. What are some things we can all agree on? What are some goals we all strive for, whatever our differences in how to achieve them? This exercise in no way suggests that the differences aren’t real, and sometimes significant. But humanizing each other, seeing our commonalities, matters. A few things come to mind, in no particular order. (What’s on your list??? Tell me in the comments.) – Cherishing family and loved ones. – Defending the innocent and the oppressed. – Acting with justice towards one another. – Freedom and liberty – to live as each of us sees fit, to worship or not in whatever way, to assemble and associate, to speak freely, to make use of our economic resources as we see fit. – That we jointly protect the public square and jointly share in the burdens of our defense and governance. – Creating good jobs and a fair shot at success. – Rewarding hard work, innovation, and effort. – Playing fairly, not stealing or swindling others. – Protecting our families and communities from injury/harm. – Not lying, not deceiving others. Not bearing false witness. – Behaving with decency and kindness. – Seeking truth and learning. Understanding there *is* True and False, right and wrong – and that ideas have consequences. Working hard to overcome our own biases and be open to the truth. – Understanding one another and listening to one another. – Honoring our obligations, written and unwritten. – Finding and celebrating beauty in this world. – Being good stewards of resources that have been entrusted to us. – Enjoying good things in life – the blessings of good food and clean water and shelter and technology – and seeking to create a world where more people enjoy those things. – Handing things on to the next generation better than we found them. – Seeking and celebrating things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Social media isn’t built for this type of unifying conversation. But, don’t you think we need more of it, not less? It’s not surprising that my blog gets a fraction of the visibility it used to on social media (if you’re reading this via Facebook or Twitter, you’re in the minority). As a side note, this is why subscribing to receive blogs via email is so important to maintain the relationship between bloggers and readers, most bloggers are trying to write in a way that breaks this chain. 4) Religious suppression Finally, the gatekeepers of social media are not neutral arbiters. They have ideological commitments that run counter to a Christian worldview. I don’t say that with any animus toward them. It’s just a fact. They should no more expect me to host a blog that gives equal footing to a secular naturalist worldview than I should for them to create environments on their sites that are favorable for Christians. Social media companies have unequally applied their “hate speech” censorship to those of different ideological stripes. Along with many other churches, we’ve struggled with streaming services on Facebook. Again and again our streams have been shut down due to non-existent copyright infringement. I don’t believe Facebook is targeting churches. But they’re not working hard to fix their broken system. They don’t have a reason to do so. I fully expect these voices’ marginalization will only get worse, not better, in the coming years. Why would it be otherwise? Our interests and purposes are completely misaligned. What now? So, what do we do in light of this discouraging news? First, let’s be thoughtful and strategic about our social media usage. Realize that the game is rigged against you. Knowing that, make intentional choices to tilt that game back in your favor. That might mean you keep your phone out of your bedroom or away from your desk at work, maybe it means that you remove notifications, or perhaps you uninstall the apps on your phone, or you might even delete your accounts. Second, let’s not just pull away from what is dangerous, let’s pull toward what is good. Let’s be intentional about the way we are creating and building relationships. Let’s be thoughtful about how we are getting our news and information. Subscribe to helpful blogs and podcasts. Pick up a book. Prioritize time in the Bible and prayer. I’m right there with you. These are challenges in my life that I’m reassessing even now. As a pastor, I believe I need to be on social media. But I’m no less immune to its pull and toxicity than you. What are your best tips? I would love to learn from you. [i] The irony of Netflix releasing this movie should be noted, as Netflix utilizes similar technologies to its own advantage. In fact, their CEO famously said that their real competition wasn’t another company, it was sleep. www.thebeehive.live . Used by permission.

Some Christians believe that depression is a sin. As someone who has experienced bipolar depression I have my own perspective on the issue. To be up front, never in my experience with depression did I ever consider killing myself. I had long before determined that murdering myself was a sin and a violation of God’s plan for my life. However, in 2008, for a period of several months, I was in a severe state of depression. I was mostly nonfunctional. My perspectives were all screwed up. I had a wrong view of myself, my family, my ministry, my life. Though I would not intentionally kill myself, I still wanted to die. If something bad had happened to me, then I would not have done anything about it. I would have let happen whatever would happen, even if it meant letting me die. I suppose that’s as close to suicide as I had ever come. During my time of being treated by a doctor and going through counseling I was also reading books about how the brain functions, what it needs to stay healthy, and how certain mental disorders can permanently change the brain, literally causing physical damage to the brain. Everything we feel and experience centers on our brains. With our brains we experience the world around us, the world inside us (whether real or imagined), and how we feel about our experiences. If the doctor could come up with the right cocktail of medications we could alter my perceptions, minimize my mania and depression and get me thinking straight again. I was one of the fortunate ones. Finding the right mix, along with counseling, brought me back to a healthy mental state in a matter of months. For many people suffering from bipolar disorder the treatment can take years. When I was suffering from depression I felt strongly that I was in sin. I reasoned that if I had faith in God and believed his promises that my depressive feelings were a failure on my part to trust God with my present and my future. Taking that view did not help me. In fact, it only made things worse. It became a spiral until I sank deeper and deeper into depression that kept me from functioning. But when I began to understand that the interaction of chemicals in my brain was a significant factor in my depression I reasoned that perhaps depression is not a sin after all. If I am prisoner to my body and to my brain how can I feel anything other than what my brain chemistry makes me to feel? I came away from the experience with the understanding that depression is not a sin in the way that adultery is a sin, or murder is a sin, or lying is a sin (except when I persisted in lying to myself, which depression can cause). In fact, let me say it more clearly. Depression is not a sin. There can be a spiritual dimension to depression, but depression is not a sin. At first you might think that this idea would actually excuse whatever we do as a result of depression. But that is not the case. What it does is free us to understand that what we feel and what we do are two different things. One we are always responsible for, the other we are sometimes responsible for (which I’ll explain shortly). In thinking through my experience and the experiences of others whom I have read about or talked with, I have come up with six important principles regarding our view of sin and depression. My take on this is a little forensic, but that’s how I tend to explore things. Perhaps what I share might not be helpful to you. But if it is I hope you come away with the understanding that a person who suffers from clinical depression or bipolar depression is not a person sinning. The person suffering needs help, compassion, expressions of love and care and to walk with them through the darkness (as my wife, my pastor, and my doctor did for me). Depression can lead to sin, but by itself, depression is not a sin and does not necessarily mean that we are not trusting God for the outcome of our lives. We may take drastic action because of our depression that does violate trust in God, but that is different from the depression itself. I hope what I have to offer helps you. Here are six things we should understand about sin and depression. First, you are not a spiritual being in a body. You are a composite being of spirit and body This is an important truth to recognize because Christians are often tempted to view the depressed person as not being responsible for his actions while in a depressed state. This is because the view that the body is only a shell for our spirit means that if our brain is malfunctioning then we are not responsible for the sin that we think originates in the brain, but not in the spirit. I don’t believe this is a biblical view. Our bodies are not simply shells in which our spirit, the real person lives. Our bodies, specifically, our brains are part of who and what we are. Everything we experience we experience with our brains as well as our spirits. All of our memories are stored in our brains. Brain injury and brain surgery can radically alter a person’s perceptions and even personality. We are, therefore, composite beings made up of both body and spirit (Genesis 2:7). We can argue that emotional states leave us without control to some degree, but I don’t think that we can persuasively argue that that loss of control is total or absolute even if we have chemical imbalances in our brains. There are always some levels of control we have and thus we still bear responsibility for our actions (though not our depression). Second, sin is not a condition of the spirit only, but is a condition of spirit and body This goes hand-in-hand with my first point. The sin nature that Paul talked about in Romans 7 and Galatians 5 is not of the spirit only or the body only, but is characteristic of our entire being. We are sinful through and through. Our spirit is corrupted but so is the body; from our genes to our chemicals to our neurons. This is the reason why Paul talks in Romans about the trap of our sin. We are sinful in every way, body and soul. Depression is not sin. But the sin nature can facilitate and magnify depression in a way that is difficult to bring under control because it is a condition of both body and soul. Therefore, though depression is not sin, on the other hand it is a trap and one that few escape without proper help. Third, depression is an emotional state, not an action of sin, but it does not excuse our actions If a depressed person, acting from his depression, kills someone, most of us would agree that he must be held accountable for his action. We don’t regard him as a victim but as a victimizer. But we do not hold him responsible for his depression. This is also true about other mental or emotional states. For instance, we know from extensive research that some people are hard-wired for violence (link). They have short fuses and can blow up easily and even cause harm to others. Regardless of his emotional state we agree that his actions have legal consequences and if he hurts others he must be held accountable. Some people have imbalances that bring about unhealthy attitudes about sex (link). Yet, we don’t sympathize with the adulterer or excuse his betrayal of his wife. He is responsible for his actions no matter what his brain chemistry may be. These problems in the brain are just as real and powerful as that which brings on depression. Yet, we don’t use them as an excuse to pardon destructive behavior. The fact is, every emotional state has foundations in our brain chemistry. Whether tweaked one way or another, no matter how we are wired, no matter the severity of our sinful state, God always holds us responsible for our actions. Have you ever noticed that when Judas betrayed Jesus he was possessed by Satan (John 13:27)? Yet, Judas was still responsible for his actions that lead to Jesus’ murder (Matthew 26:24). Why then is it different for the person who commits suicide? Biblically speaking, it is no different. It is tragic. It is horrible. It is hurtful. But suicide his not an act without moral responsibility.Remember that Job rebuked his wife for suggesting he should kill himself (Job 2:9). If suicide was an act without moral responsibility, then virtually anything a person might do can be excused because they are “wired that way.” The fact is, no matter what kind of sin you are dealing with, you are “wired that way.” That is part of the reason why Jesus died. To bring a remedy for sin and the eventual doing away of its overreaching consequences. Fourth, the depressed person who sins while in depression is still responsible for his sin though not for his depression The only time we can hold a depressed person guilty of his or her depression is when he or she consistently over time refuses to get help while knowing his or her condition (Exodus 21:36). If you rationally or intuitively know something is wrong with you and with your behavior and you do nothing to even try to remedy the situation then you are responsible not only for your actions, but also for your emotional state in as much as you are willing to let it exist without corrective measures—assuming you knew and understood your condition. However, if you have tried to bring your depression under control through whatever means, whether you succeeded or not (like Robin Williams) then you are not responsible for your depression. You are responsible for your actions, but not your depression. Fifth, depression is not a sin anymore than happiness is righteousness Plenty of happy people sin. Plenty of depressed people do not sin. Remember Job of whom the scripture says he “did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10). If there was anyone in scripture that we might excuse for sin because of depression, it is Job. No other person in the Bible suffered so greatly in such a deep, far-reaching, and destructive way. Yet, Job himself did not use his depression to sin. Depression is an emotional state with its foundation in our brain chemistry. We have other emotional states that may lead to negative or sinful acts, but we don’t call those emotional states, sin. Anger is not a sin. But anger expressed wrongly is a sin. Jealousy is not a sin if we are jealous for the right things. Sexual desire is not a sin. But wrongly expressed for a non-spouse or as adultery is a sin. So too, depression, grief, sorrow, these are not sins whether to the extreme or not. They can lead to sin, but are not sin themselves. Sin can lead to depression just as righteousness can lead to happiness. But depression is not sin. Sixth, the depressed person who harms himself is both the victim and the victimizer Not all suicides are depression motivated, though by far that seems to be the biggest facilitator (link). Depression completely changes a person’s perspectives. Our perceptions turn inward. We usually don’t recognize this when we are in a state of depression. But the reality is that when we are depressed the focus of most of our thoughts revolves around “me.” Where narcissism also focuses our thoughts around “me,” it elevates our view of ourselves wrongly whereas depression lowers our view of ourselves wrongly. But depression is a greater trap than narcissism because it can motivate us to harm ourselves. We are victimized by our depression, but we also become the victimizer when we succumb to it and do ourselves in. The sad truth is that we are unable to recognize this and think that we are doing to ourselves something good when we commit suicide. We think it will free us from the overwhelming burdens we feel. But that is a lie. If we take our lives but have not surrendered ourselves to Christ then our troubles are just beginning. Only an eternity of torture awaits us. But, depression removes this realization and we deceive ourselves. We become our own victim and have no way to escape. Though depression is not a sin, it can be insidious. If you suffer from depression then you must seek help. Perhaps you suffer from mild bouts. Regardless of the severity you must talk with someone who can let you lay out your feelings freely without condemnation. Secondly, you must consider God’s love and plan for you. Many Christians do suffer from depression. But that depression does not change the fact of God’s love and his redeeming work on the cross. “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Angels are largely relegated to the realms of mythology and childhood fantasy. Most people never think about them. But angels are very, very real. Martin Luther commented, “An angel is a spiritual creature created by God without a body, for the service of Christendom and of the church.” He was partly correct, but angels serve an even greater role than being strictly for the church. Their ministry objective is principally concerned with the glory and majesty of God. Let’s explore some of the noteworthy traits that angels have.

A Spontaneous Savior Steven Furtick https://youtu.be/DmrjYZfF7q4 Acts 1:4-8, Genesis 12:1-4, Mark 5:24-30, Psalm 121:1 How great is this? Just to have another opportunity. We don't take it for granted the opportunity to worship God, to give him glory and to receive from him. Come on somebody say right there in the chat, "I'm here for it". Whatever you want to do Lord, I'm here for it. I'm here for it. You just fill in the blank. I'm here for healing. I'm here for restoration. I'm here for instruction. I'm here for direction. But above all of that God, if you want to correct me that's fine, if you want to comfort me that's fin, but I'm here to worship you! Are there any worshipers in the chat? Are there any worshipers on YouTube, Facebook, Roku? Yeah I'm here for it. I'm here for it. And be more specific. Where are you here from? Please in the chat right now, if you haven't had the opportunity yet to just identify yourself on a basis of first name, city, state, township, hamlet, village. We've got 'em all represented today. Praise the Lord. Everybody in the room shout your name and your location. Do it on the chat. Name and location. Whether you're watching it right now, or whether you've been, you know, slacking and you have to catch up later in the week. Whatever. God's word is not bound by time. I believe that He is going to customize this word to the exact continuity of the circumstance that you are facing. To remind you that you are not going anywhere that He is not already there. You have not been anywhere that He did not bring you through. If it's behind you, it's covered. If it's ahead of you, it's covered. All you gotta do is be here right now. Somebody say, "I'm here for it". I'm here for it. I'm here for it. Who's here for it? Wave at me. Wave at me. Wave at me. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. I want to get right into the Word of God. Get your Bible…paper, digital, papyrus. It doesn't matter the format. What really matters today is that you clear out a little bit of space in your very distracted, busy heart, fearful heart, uncertain heart. "Why are you saying all of those things about me? You don't even know me". Maybe I'm just autobiographical right now. I have a fearful heart, anxious heart, distracted heart. So, we just make the space for God. We welcome him into this and every moment. I want to read you a Scripture, and then let's just see where it goes from there. Somebody asked me one time, "Do y'all plan? When you're preaching sometimes and the music comes in, it scares me. It comes out of nowhere. You have a guy back there, and he starts playing, and it scares me. It comes out of nowhere". But we don't plan it. The best parts are not planned. I've noticed that. Anyway, I don't know if you were planning to watch today or if you accidentally got click-baited into this sermon. We ought to start doing that with our YouTube videos to lead people to Jesus. We'll put a thumbnail that says, "Seven Ways to Get a Girl," and then you click on it and it's me preaching about holiness or something like that. Just con people to Christ. I'm kidding… kind of. Acts, chapter 1, is really cool and really confusing. Not for us, but it certainly would have been for the disciples. Acts 1:4: "On one occasion, while Jesus was eating with them…" On one occasion. Not a special occasion. Just any old Sunday morning, any old Monday afternoon. On one occasion, he would give them the instructions that would explain to them his kingdom in a way they'd never seen. He gave them the greatest promise of the greatest gift they would ever know. "On one occasion, while he was eating with them…" This is Jesus eating with his disciples. "…he gave them this command: 'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'" In a few days, you will receive the greatest gift. It's not going to come in the form of a car or a house or a bonus or something like that. It's going to be the Holy Spirit. The greatest gifts come from within. This is the part I want us to jump from today. We have a lot of ground to cover, but let's jump from here. "Then they gathered around him and asked him…" Here's what they wanted to know. He's speaking about the gift he wants to give them, the Holy Spirit. He has already died on the cross and risen from the dead. He's about to ascend to heaven, but he said, "I'm going to give you a gift, and you have to wait". "Then they gathered around him and asked him, 'Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?'" At this time. "He said to them: 'It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power…'" Here's the guarantee. "…when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth". This is the Word of the Lord. By the way, shout-out to my 15-year-old son Elijah B. Furtick. The B stands for Beats. He's a beat maker. He's a producer. "Dothedash" is his YouTube, and I'm sure he would appreciate a subscribe. Happy fifteenth birthday to my oldest son, the one who changed my name to "Daddy" and then changed it again to "Dad". I'll never forget the day he dropped the D-Y off the end. It was a horrifying moment. Just even saying "My 15-year-old son…" Do you know how archaic that makes my bones feel? My knees started hurting. I felt automatically old when I said it. I was feeling sprightly, and then all of a sudden, I started feeling saggy just saying I have a 15-year old son. His birthday was yesterday, and I love him so much. He's watching right now. He had better be if he wants to use his phone this week. I'm going to quiz him on the sermon. He's my number one conversationalist. He's my workout partner now. He's getting strong. The B stands for Beast too when we're working out together. We have a good time. I love talking to him about my sermons. He is a great blessing. Children are a blessing. When you're getting ready to have kids, they give you all kinds of advice. We were talking about the birth of the church, and I was talking about the birth of my firstborn son. When you're having your first one, since you don't know what to expect, all of the experts come out of the woodwork telling you how they raised their kids. They don't tell you that the one they're telling you how they raised and giving you advice based off of went to rehab three times, but they just start telling you all this advice. And they'll tell you it perfectly. They will prescribe for you perfectly, like kids are blenders and like you can put them together and plug them in. They were telling us with Elijah the whole time, "Put him on a schedule. What you want to do, what we did with our kids when we were your age… Now our kids are grown, but what was really helpful for us that just really helped us establish order, and it's very good for the child and it's good for you, is just put them on a schedule day after day. A schedule". Elijah was unschedulable. Is that a word? If it's not a word, it needs to be. How many agree? After the year we've been having… I don't know how you do this, but if anybody knows Webster and we can get a word added to the dictionary… I looked it up before I came out. I don't know how we're going to spell it, but I want to suggest that we get… After the year we've been having, after being a parent of three kids, I want to suggest we get this word in the dictionary as soon as possible: unschedulable. My firstborn son was unschedulable. I mean, you can set the schedule, but he doesn't give a crap about your schedule. He does not care for sleeping, for eating. And my kids still don't. They do not check my schedule. Y'all are looking at me like your kids do. You're looking at me like you can schedule. Oh, you know what else? My sermon preparation process is unschedulable. I don't know how to spell it, but that's what it is. I was thinking of a way to explain it to you. I set aside time to study, and then I'll just sit there and look at the Bible. I'll get five Bibles and spread them out, and none of them make any sense, and then, while I'm trying to go do something else and I have something else going on, the sermon will just come walking through the door, like, "Hey, here I am. I don't care that you're on a date night". How many movie theaters have we been in, trying to have a date on a Thursday night, and I'm like, "I'm sorry, babe. You're going to have to tell me what happens to Tonya Harding in the ice-skating movie. I've got to write this down real quick". Because the sermon doesn't check my schedule. I wish it did. That's why I sent y'all these Scriptures five minutes before I walked out, and I just sent you all of them, because I had 10. I've been working on 10 of them. Ten! I sent them all to you, and I said, "I don't know where we'll start. I'm not the one setting the schedule here". I went to seminary. They taught me how to prepare sermons. You know, "You should have, from 7:00 to 9:00…" Just like people telling you how to be a parent, telling you how to be a pastor. "From 7:00 to 9:00, and you're going to study". That's great. I do. I have study time. I believe you ought to prioritize what's important to you, and if it's not on your schedule, it might not be your priority. That's good for working out. That's good for dating your wife. That's good for taking time to be alone. We talked about this last week as well. But some things don't check your schedule. Certain things in life do not consult your calendar. In seminary they taught me that God was immutable. These are big words. Immutable. You can't change God. How many are glad you can't change him? If he called you, he called you. Do you know why you aren't clapping? You don't have anything wrong with you. For me, sometimes I think God might have changed his mind about me when he saw what he got when he drafted me. He knew all of my injuries. He knew all of my susceptibilities. He knew all of my vulnerabilities. In fact, some of the stuff he picked me for is stuff that I'm trying to get out of my life, but he wants to take that weakness and fill it and turn it into something that can be called strength. He's immutable. Another word they taught me in seminary is that he is impeccable. He's holy. He's perfect. That's another thing I'm not. He's impeccable. He's other, separate, set apart. He's holy. He's impeccable. Another one is incomprehensible. You can know God, but you can't totally know God. He doesn't change, but the way you see him had better change or you're not growing. He is, like we say, mysterious. Faith is mystery, not mechanics. When people say, "The Bible is an instruction manual for life…" What a horrible analogy, to boil the living Word of the living God down to something that can help you put together a scooter. An instruction manual for life? No. It's an invitation to mystery, because he's incomprehensible. I don't want to add anything to the theology book, but might I add that not only is he immutable, impeccable, and incomprehensible, but he's unschedulable. God is unschedulable. What I have to say to you today may mess with a category or two that you have about God, but I want you to stay with me, because some of you are off schedule, but you're right on time. For some of you, your life is off schedule, but you're right on time. The reason I chose to start with Acts, chapter 1, is the disciples have been through a lot with Jesus that they didn't understand. Have you? Have you been through some seasons with God that made no sense to you? They want to know, "Okay. Now that the cross is over and now that you did that thing on the third day that we'll still be singing about in 2,000 years… Now that that's over, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel"? Jesus spent three and a half years teaching these boys about the kingdom of God, but they were still thinking about the kingdom of Israel. That's important, but what drew my attention today is the idea that Jesus said, "It's not for you to know the times". Now, let's notice a few things that God does give them, because God does speak. He speaks specifically. God will show you things that you don't even know how you know it. He never did it out loud for me. I never had that experience. I have friends who say they have. Honestly, they're the kind who are a little bit… You know, just a different personality than mine. With me, it's a wisdom within. It's like how Elijah the prophet heard a whisper in a cave and in his weakest moment God spoke. So, the Lord speaks to us in ways. I mean, we have a lot of specifics to go off of, by the way. "I don't know what God's will is for my life. Everything is crazy". Um, "Love your neighbor as yourself". Um, "Forgive as Christ also forgave you". Um, "Do everything without bitterness or complaining, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you". And when you've mastered that, come back and I'll give you the extra credit work. All right? I wonder if God sometimes is laughing while we make our plans and our schedules. Don't you know God was just laughing his head off in heaven? I looked to see if there was a time when Jesus laughed in the Scripture, and there's not one where it says he laughed, but you know he was laughing while he was watching Peter try to fish all night. You know he was laughing while he watched him, like, "Oh, I'm about to mess with his whole theology of fishing. I'm about to mess with his whole concept, his whole system. I'm about to blow wide open his whole idea of how the water works, because I'm the one who walks on water. I don't need the laws of water or the laws of economics or the laws of politics or the laws of medicine to regulate what I'm going to do". Can I tell you something? God is laughing at some of the stuff we're stressed out about, because while we can't figure it out and we don't see a way, he's just about ready to walk up behind schedule and show us something we could not see in our own strength. Somebody told me the other day, "You're going to look back and laugh at this one day". I didn't say this. I just thought it. "You're going to look back and cry when I punch you in your nose for telling me I'm going to look… Because it's not funny right now". What I was going through was painful. "You'll look back and laugh". "You'll look back and laugh, Abraham". That's who the nation of Israel started through: Abraham. He didn't have fancy seminary words for God to go off of. He came from Ur of the Chaldeans, and he was called out of everything that was familiar to him to follow a God he could not see visibly or predict. It's kind of similar to Acts, chapter 1, but instead of starting the church, it was when God was starting the nation. There are a lot of parallels, and I'll show it to you real quick. Genesis 12:1-4 is very similar to Acts 1:4-8, and I'll show you how. "The Lord had said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation…'" That implies process. There's a promise, and then "I will make you" is a process. That means "Just because I spoke it to you doesn't mean you will automatically see it, but just because you don't automatically see it doesn't mean I didn't speak it". Who am I preaching to today that you're waiting for something to be revealed and manifested that God showed you? He said, "I'm going to make you a great nation…" Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then, of course, you know about how the nation of Israel came through Jacob. It was a generational promise God was making to Abraham. "I'm going to make you a great nation, and I will bless you". "I will bless you. I might use your job to pay you, but I will bless you. I might use somebody else to encourage you, but I will bless you". I did not thank the pan she cooked in last night for the food. I thanked the one who used the pan to cook the food. It's important, especially in this season of your life, that you remember the source of your blessing. He is immutable. He doesn't change. He is also impeccable. He doesn't make mistakes. At the same time that he is immutable and impeccable, he is also incomprehensible, which means you don't always know how even though you know who. He said, "I will bless you," and then he said something really crazy. "I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing". You will be a blessing. Blessing is not something I get. Blessed is who I am, so blessing is what I do. I can bless and not curse because I know the source of my blessings. Do you know the best way to be blessed? Be a blessing. Do you know the best way to be happy? Encourage somebody else. Do you know the best way to receive the Word of God? Share the Word of God. Do you know the best way to reap? To sow, even in a famine, even in a drought. God is my source. He is my supply. He is my shield and my exceeding great reward. He said, "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you". See what God can do through you. Then it says, "Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him". I could stop there, but it probably wouldn't do justice to the text. "Abram was seventy five years old…" You know Isaac we were talking about? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob? He's not even born yet. God makes an appointment with Abram to make him the father of many nations a little bit behind schedule, a little late. The Devil has been telling somebody under the sound of my voice, "It's too late. Back in February you could pray for that, but it's too late now. Back before you started… You're over here now, and you're wrapped in the chains of this addiction. If you wouldn't have done that, then you could have been used. It's too late". I wonder if God showed us that he does not need a human schedule to accomplish a divine purpose. You're like, "That's fine, Pastor. I'm 19". When Timothy was getting ready to minister in Ephesus, which was a hard place, Paul told him, "Let no one look down on you because you are too young". When Jeremiah got ready to prophesy, God said, "I formed you in the womb. Before you were born, I set you apart. I ordained your days before any of them came to be". He said, "Don't say, 'I am only a youth.'" What that means is God is not bound by human timelines. What that means is God is not looking at 2020 and saying, "Well, I can't wait till December 31 where I can turn it all around for my glory. Next year will be better, guys. Hang in there". God said, "I don't need to check your schedule to bless you. If you come into Elevation as an intern, I can raise you up to tour the world leading worship". Jonsal has been in Europe worshiping God, leading people into the presence of God. He has been in Canton, Ohio, leading people into the presence of God. From Canton to Cambodia. I just said it because it's alliterated. Do not be limited. He said, "All people". I will bless the Lord at all times. Is it a good time to praise him? Well, do it then. Check your schedule. Did he wake you up? Did he give you another day? This is the day! Check your schedule. This is the day that the Lord has made! It's a good time to praise him right now. There are only two times to praise him: when I feel it and when I don't. "I was young and now I'm old, and I've never seen the righteous forsaken". I'm sorry. Is it a bad time? My kids never ask that. "I'm sorry. Is it a bad time? Is it a bad time, Dad"? Unless they want something and want to catch me in a good mood. Then they might ask me, "Is it a bad time"? Never. Unschedulable. God is unschedulable. He doesn't ask, "Is it a bad time? Is it a bad time for me to be your provider"? Actually, if he asks that, it's only for the purpose that it's going to make him look that much better when he does it. If God ever asks you, "Is this a bad time…"? I hear somebody saying, "It's a bad time for a blessing. I can't be happy right now. I can't have peace right now. I can't be content right now. It's a bad time; I'm single. It's a bad time; we just got married. We don't have much money. It's a bad time; our kids are little. It's a bad time; our kids are toddlers. It's a bad time; our kids are teenagers. It's a bad time; my kids are gone". When would be a good time? One time I read a book on sales. They said never ask them, "Can I come see you"? They say, "When would be a good time"? You don't ask them, "Can I"? You just say, "When would be a good time"? God doesn't ask that. In fact, God is like… Do you want me to illustrate it from the text or do you just want me to tell you? You want a text? I already gave you Genesis 12. You're so greedy. John 11. "Lazarus, the one you love, is sick". When he heard Lazarus was sick, he waited where he was two more days. Check me out in your Bible. You think I'm making this up. You're like, "Oh no. Pastor has been locked in an empty auditorium with 40 staff members too long. He forgot that God is an on-time God". Jesus was like, "Oh yeah. He's sick? All right. Let's wait a little bit. We've got to wait till it's a bad time. If we go right now, it'll be a good time. It'll be the right time. But I want to show up at the wrong time. I want to bless you at a bad time. I want to show you how powerful I am at a bad time". "Jesus, you've got to stay on schedule". The ministry of Jesus must have been so frustrating. It's like, "Hey, Mary and Martha are major donors, Jesus. It's not good form for you to not go to Bethany. That demon-possessed man you just healed? You probably could have left him off the schedule". You can tell what's important to someone by what they schedule. Just because it wasn't on the disciples' schedule, what makes us think it wasn't on Jesus' schedule? Just because you didn't see it coming doesn't mean it didn't come from God. Thank you, Lord. I receive that for my own life. God isn't going to check my schedule to do his will. "Okay. Is this it? Are you going to get them now? Is this the time where you're going to restore the kingdom"? That's what the disciples wanted to know. Remember Mark 5? Jairus comes, and he's a synagogue leader. He's important. You can tell what's important to someone by what they schedule. His 12-year-old daughter… I have a 12-year-old son. Graham is 12 right now, so I can picture this. His 12-year-old daughter is about to die. This is an urgent need for Jesus to go and heal this little girl. Some of you have an urgent need with your kids right now. That's why I wanted to bring this Scripture into the conversation. Jesus was on his way to heal the daughter of Jairus, who was an important official. This is a political figure. He has a lot of power, and he's asking Jesus to come to his house. On the way, a woman who is unclean by society's standards stops Jesus. He stops because she thinks, "If I can touch him, I'll be made whole". What she said was true. She touched him. He stopped. She was healed. Jairus' daughter died. I don't know that I ever saw it this way before. Some of y'all, especially with what we're going through right now, are really worried about your kids, because your kids are off schedule right now. I need every mom who needs to know whether your kids are going back to school… I want you to put in the chat the following prayer request: "I need details, Jesus". I just need to know if it's going to be Furtick Education Academy this year. I want to apply for my nonprofit status if I'm going to have to educate these kids again. It's crazy. Some of y'all are watching this message in the year 2035, so you're watching this at a weird time in history. We have had an unschedulable year. Life is unschedulable. We laugh at each other now. "Hey, man. Let's get together next week. Ha-ha-ha! If the world isn't over". We put an asterisk by everything right now. "Hey, man. I'll see you tomorrow…if Armageddon doesn't come". And we're only halfway kidding. I can't wait to watch the Clemson Tigers…if they ever play again. How will I know it's fall if there are no college boys in tight pants with painted helmets to signify the season? I don't even know what time it is. It's unschedulable. And now I'm supposed to prioritize God, but I'm not even allowed to go to church. How do you keep your priorities when life wrecks your schedule? While Jesus was healing the woman, the little girl died, and the servants said something that has been going through your mind too. They told Jairus, "Don't bother the teacher anymore. The girl is dead. It's too late. He got off schedule". Peter tried to shoo that woman away, but she was persistent. Jesus healed her anyway. Jesus was always stopping for stupid stuff. "Let the children come to me". "Jesus, the children don't have any money to put in the offering account. Come on. Let's go back to Bethany and heal Lazarus. Why are you stopping to tell knock-knock jokes with the kids? Come on, Jesus". You can tell somebody's priorities by what they schedule. Now, if that's true and God still has you here in this season at this time, if God has you parenting those children, if God has you in that position, if God has you in that assignment, that place, that city, if God put you here right now, you must be important to his purpose. If God is speaking this word to you right now… You can tell what's important to someone by what they schedule. Just like he stopped for a woman who most priests wouldn't have touched for fear of defilement; just like he stopped for a leper he could have stoned; just like he sat on a well to speak to a woman from Samaria, a place the Jews would walk around to avoid having to confront people they hated, God has stopped this moment to speak to you. Do you have time to hear from God? Some of you, for the first time in your life, have had time lately, and now you've crowded out your schedule with even more crap, and you're bored, and your mind is busy, and you can't figure out why. We want to compartmentalize God. Jesus was still on schedule. "Oh, Jesus, you want us to go to the other side on the boat? Okay, we'll go. Wait, wait, wait. There's a storm. It's going to throw us off schedule". No, no, no. You're still on schedule. In fact, even the storm has an appointment. Even the trial has an appointment. Even the thing we did not put on our calendar is a part of our calling. Don't you believe he's sovereign? Don't you believe he's immutable? So, if he can't change… No matter how much the world does, he doesn't. But maybe we need to reset our schedule. So, when Jesus finally gets to the tomb of Lazarus and he's going to raise his friend from the dead, but he's late… If he would have gotten there on schedule, Lazarus never would have died. Lean in. I have to tell you something. He said, "Martha, Martha…" He met her at the gate. He said, "Do you believe"? She said, "If you would have been here, he wouldn't have died". Jesus said, "Let's reschedule. I know I didn't show up when you wanted me. I know I didn't do it by the time you thought I was going to do it". I hear God saying, "Can we reschedule? I know this year hasn't gone like you thought it was going to go. I know you don't know how to teach your kid algebra and you're worried they're going to grow up dumb and can't count, but can we reschedule? I'm going to make up lost time". God is a good driver. God knows the back roads. God knows how to get there anyway. God knows how to reroute an expectation. This is a faith word. This isn't a "sit there and cry because it's over" word. This is a "Martha, your brother will rise again". She said, "Even now…" Now is a magic word. God said, "Can we reschedule? I know you've been stuck in the past, worried about what you should have done by now. I know you've been stuck in the future, wondering what's coming next. Can we reschedule? My name is the Great I Am. I am in this moment". "Hey, Moses, take off your shoes. I know you didn't schedule a meeting with destiny, but this is holy ground. Let's reschedule". God said, "I will restore the years the locusts have eaten. I will restore the years depression has stolen. I will restore the joy that fear has robbed. I am resurrection". Resurrection works on a different schedule. Resurrection has faith to know, on Saturday, Sunday is coming. Let's reschedule! "I'll meet you on Sunday. I'll meet you in the valley. I'll meet you in the storm. I'll meet you in the pain. I've got your kids. I've got your money. I've got your mind. I've got your nation. Let's reschedule". I didn't miss church this morning; I just moved church. My living room is the anointed apostolic holy temple of the First Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian Elevation Church location. Let's reschedule. He didn't give them a schedule. "When are they going to come up with that vaccine, man"? I don't know. Do I look like a doctor? Doctors don't wear sweaters this trendy. I don't know. But he did not give them a schedule. "Are you, at this time…"? He didn't give Abraham a schedule. Do you know what's really going to mess you up? Sit down, because this is depressing. Abraham was 75 when God told him, "I'm going to make you a father," and his wife's womb was barren. He gave him the source of the blessing ("I will bless you"), the scope of the blessing ("All people will be blessed"), but he didn't have a seed. He didn't have a son, and he wouldn't until he was 100 years old. In case you're that one who can't do math, that's 25 years that God did not tell Abraham about, but he was right on schedule. That's longer than we've known each other, Holly. We haven't even known each other 25 years. That's older than y'all put together. Twenty-five years. He didn't tell him the schedule. How many of y'all think, "I could trust you better, God, if you'd show me the schedule"? That's not a trick question. You're allowed to want it. It doesn't mean he's going to do it. He's not going to show you the schedule. You can't handle the schedule. I promise you, when Jesus said, right after they caught fish, "Hey, follow me," he left out some details. That part about the cross? He told them that a little later. He tells you some stuff a little later. He's an unschedulable God. So, he doesn't tell them, "Hey, they're going to try to kill me. You're always going to be on the move, always going to be on the run. I'm going to do PR nightmare kind of stuff that's going to get us in the headlines. Every day, it's going to be terrible. Follow me". He said, "Hey, you like those fish? Follow me". That's all he told them. "Abram, go to the land I'll show you". My wife never would have gone along with God on this one, because she loves details. Oh yes. I am much more like God than Holly in this area, because I don't need the details. I just want to know, "What time are we picking up the kids"? I don't need to know which of their friends might be coming with them. I don't need to know if that friend's parent is mad at the other friend's parent. I don't need to know whether or not they're thinking about switching schools. I don't need to know whether their great-uncle had a coronavirus test that came back negative. She loves the details. I don't need all that. Abraham is like, "I don't need all that. You said you'd bless me? You said you'd be with me? You told me the source. You told me the scope. You handle the schedule". But then, about year 11, it started getting kind of sketchy. Now, God is sketchy with the details. I'm going to prove it to you. That sounds heretical, but I promise you God is sketchy with the details…on some stuff. He told them to build the tabernacle when they were in the wilderness. He told them what kind of yarn, what kind of curtains, what kind of brass, how high, how wide. He gave them all of the dimensions, but he left out a few details. This was the Tent of Meeting that God's glory would fill in the middle of the camp. They're wandering around in the wilderness. They need a place to meet with God. Right? Can I show you this? Numbers, chapter 9. Watch how sketchy God is with the details. The historian is recording how God would guide his people. How many of you want God to guide your life? Just raise your hand right there in the chat. "I want God to guide me. I want a GPS (a God Positioning System). I want to be where God wants me to be, and I want to know what he wants me to know, and I want to do what he calls me to do, because everything else is a waste of my time". All right. This is how he would guide them. "On the day the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant law, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire". You got the picture? Here's the tabernacle. He told them how to build it. He told them how high, how wide, how long, all of the dimensions, but then there would be a cloud above the tabernacle, which represented God's presence, and this is how it continued to be. It went on like this. The cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. Next verse. "Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped". This is the system of how God guided them. "At the Lord's command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord's order and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord's command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year…" Whoa. Okay. That's a wide range. So, you're following this presence of God… I'm not telling you to be flaky. I can't stand when people are just flaky and they call it faith. God calls you to quit every job after three months once everybody who works with you sees how dysfunctional you are, so you just transplant your dysfunction to another place, and you just move it around like you can avoid having to give attention to your issues. I'm not talking about just moving. I'm talking about how God guides us in our daily lives, how we experience him. I'm not talking about everybody just moving all around and just chasing the next feeling and chasing the next trend. What they had to do was they had to pay attention to what God was doing in that moment. Watch this. "Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. At the Lord's command they encamped, and at the Lord's command they set out". Are you seeing the pattern here? "They obeyed the Lord's order, in accordance with his command through Moses". Here's the whole thing I got up here to tell you, and it ties together with Acts, chapter 1, where he said, "I'm not going to tell you when, but I will tell you who: the Holy Spirit. I'm not going to tell you when, but I will tell you what: power. I'm not going to tell you all of the details, but I will tell you the scope of the blessing. I'm going to use you to do way more than you could ever picture". Now that we got that out of the way, let me tell you this from Numbers, chapter 9: God's presence is unschedulable. "Um, I'm not sure about that, Preacher. I mean, I read my Bible every morning at the same time and the Lord speaks to me". I'm sure he does, but you can't leave him with your coffee cup in the sink when you go out the door. You have to move with him. The cloud would stay, and God knows how we are as humans. If he did it at the same time every day, they would worship how he did it and lose sight of him. When we're working out, they always talk about muscle confusion. If you do the same exercises over and over, you won't get stronger. I call this miracle confusion, where God knew… "I'm going to teach you to move when I move. I'm going to teach you to obey when I speak. I'm going to show you not how to set your schedule and worship your schedule…" God is not a monument. God is not a formula. God is not a concept. God is not human logic. No, no, no. God does not check your schedule. By the way, neither does the Devil. The Devil doesn't look and see, "Would it be all right if I stopped by at 3:30 Tuesday afternoon and visit you with depression, anxiety attack, panic attack, and shortness of breath"? No. You have to stay in a place where you know how to breathe in the presence of God. You have to stay in a place where you are looking at the presence of God. One psalmist said, "I lift my eyes to the hills. My help doesn't come from the north, the south, the east, or the west. My help comes from the Lord". Who does your help come from? If God wants to reset your schedule, will you let him? If God wants to move… He's like, "Hey, I know all of your other friends are over here doing this, that, and the other, but I have something different for you". God said, "Can we reschedule? I know you had all this stuff you were going to do this year. Can we reschedule"? I almost hear the Lord saying, "Let me make it up to you". I almost hear the Lord saying, "I'm going to do exceedingly, abundantly above what you had on your schedule". I almost hear the Lord saying, "Let me get you ready for what I have scheduled". See, to really trust God… We can sing about that and quote about that, but to trust in the Lord with all your heart means you have to move with him. Life has come along this year and interrupted your rhythm. I know it. It sucks. I'm not saying you have to like it, but what are you going to do with it? He didn't promise you a schedule; he promised you a Spirit. See, that's better, because his Spirit will give me the ability to step out if I need to step out or to stay put if I need to stay put. This is for you if you feel behind schedule. "I should have more money in the bank by now. I should know more of the Bible by now". It does not matter what your schedule was. It matters what God spoke about you before you were born. Do you get it now? You can be 75. Eleven years into waiting, Abraham tried to have a baby with Hagar because he got tired of waiting for the schedule. I'm glad the disciples waited for the Spirit. Whatever you're waiting for today, I just need to make it clear, as clear as I can… I can't make it as clear as I saw it. I'd never be able to do that, but I just saw God saying, "Stop trying to schedule me. Build your schedule, but realize that some of the best things I'm going to do in your life are not going to be on your schedule". Can anybody testify that one of the greatest blessings God gave you…? The greatest blessings are unschedulable, and if you are so stuck on what you thought this stage of life or what you thought this day would be like, I'm telling you, you are going to miss the gift. Wait for the gift. I'm waiting for the gift, and I'm looking for the gift, and I'm looking for the cloud. I can't schedule God's presence and say, "You should have done this then, and you should have done that there, and you need to give me details then". I'm sorry. You're not going to get all of the details. God will tell you what to build, but he will not tell you when to move it. He wants you to depend on him. This is the most anointed word I've preached all year. God is resetting our schedules, and what we are calling interruptions are really invitations. Jesus said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid. Just believe". When he got to the house, the little girl was dead to the other people. She was sleeping to Jesus, because he has his own schedule. Heaven has a schedule. Heaven has a purpose. Heaven has a blueprint. Heaven has a process. Have you submitted your schedule to the Lord just to say, "Lord, I want to reschedule"? "I thought you were going to do this, but let's reschedule, Lord. I thought you were going to heal Lazarus, but, hey, if you want to raise him from the dead, let's go to the tomb. Let's reschedule. I'll roll the stone. Yeah, I've been disappointed, I've been depressed, I've been stressed out, but let's reschedule. I've been confused, but I've been trying to control the timing, and you've been calling me to trust you, so I receive power". I receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on me, and I'm going to be a witness wherever I go. Father, I thank you in this moment for the unschedulable blessings that are coming to your people all over the world, the unschedulable blessings, the testimonies that are coming because you are an unschedulable God. You give a 100-year-old man a baby. You can bless us behind schedule. At the same time, you can be interrupted by a woman with an issue of blood. You can bless us ahead of schedule. You can do anything, because you're God. You can prepare a table in the presence of our enemies. You don't even have to get rid of the problem to bless us. You're unschedulable. It's not for us to know the time. We can't control anything. We can't even control our kids' Little League schedule. We certainly can't control how things unfold in our lives, so we're just going to wait. Not because we're lazy, just because we know you love us. Some of the best stuff God will do in your life will not be on your schedule. Brandon, I was in your neck of the woods on Sullivan's Island in 2016 on vacation. It's a beautiful place. I love going there with the family. Holly wanted us to go to some farmers' market at Sullivan's Island, and she somehow conned me into going with them. Do you remember the girl, Addie Mae, who came over…? She had cupcakes and pastries and stuff, and she said she listened to the podcast and could we get a picture together. I had my hat and my sunglasses on. She was like, "I thought that was you. I thought I recognized you". She was so kind and nice. Then she said, "You know what? My pastor is going to be jealous that I met you. He invited you to speak at our church. This week, we're having holy convocation at our church. They invited you to come speak, and your office said you couldn't come because you were on vacation with your family". I said, "Well, that's exactly what you're seeing here. You will be witnesses". She said, "Okay, okay". She brought over a box of sugar for my kids so they could be crack addicts all night, which I greatly appreciated. "Thanks for taking a picture. Let me dope up your kids on sugar as a way of saying thank you. Appreciate your ministry". She said, "I just talked to my pastor. He told me to make sure to invite you to come to convocation". I said, "No, Addie Mae. Vacation. No con". You know sometimes God will con you. Right? I don't mean he'll trick you because he's deceptive. He's impeccable. Remember. But sometimes you will think you're going to the farmers' market, but God knows the future. You have to know that about him. He knows the future. "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". Don't you want the one who knows the future to set the schedule? Don't you want him to bring the right people into your life? Don't you want him to get the wrong ones out? Don't you want the one who knows the future to open the doors? Don't you want him to close some too? It was just a normal afternoon. She said, "You should come to convocation". I said, "Uh-huh. Sounds good". Now I'm trying to find a way to end this conversation with the convocation. I was trying to have a vacation. She said, "We have great speakers". She named a bunch of people I didn't know, and then she said one for one of the nights who I did know, and I always wanted to hear him preach. I said, "Huh". I suddenly got interested. I thought, "Well, I'm still not going to go, but let me at least write it down. Maybe they have a livestream or something and I can watch him preach. Maybe I could have lunch with him. Maybe I could skip church and meet him if he's coming this way. The church is just right down the road". She gave me the crack…I mean, the cupcakes…for my kids. She wrote down the name of the church and the date of the thing for convocation. I didn't think much about it. I asked Jess, my assistant, "Reach out to this preacher. He's coming to this church on this night. Just see if we can say hello. We've talked a few times, but I never really got to meet him. It would be good". She hit me back and said, "Yeah, he wants to do it. He wants to meet with you". The next week rolled around, and I had kind of forgotten. I was in my vacation flow. You know, limited showers, no shaving, or anything like that. I was like, "Oh, this is the day I'm going to meet with the pastor". Jess texted me. She was like, "By the way, so-and-so had to cancel. He had emergency back surgery. He can't come". You know how sometimes you'll get an idea and it's not God and you're like, "I rebuke you, Devil; I'm not doing that," and then sometimes you'll get an idea and you will try to rebuke it and it remains, and the more you think about it, you're like, "I think this might be what God wants me to do"? Something inside of me… I believe it was the Holy Spirit, because I don't think the Holy Spirit just gets you to speak in tongues. I think it gets you to take steps and do simple things. It's not always something sensational. It can be very simple how the Spirit can guide you. This is what the unschedulable God did. He spoke to me in kind of an impression. "Call the church and offer to fill in for the preacher". I said, "Lord, that's creepy". "Hey, you want me to come over and preach for you? I could come preach for you. I'm over here just wanting to preach. I've got my Bible. I've got a little Bible Scripture. I could come preach". I'm like, "I'm not calling the church". The Lord said, "You were the one they wanted on that night. They couldn't get you because you were on vacation. Now call the church". I said, "Lord, she didn't write down the number". The Lord spoke to me very powerfully. He said, "Google". He's very practical. You're asking God for all kinds of big stuff. God just wants you to do practical things sometimes. I called, and it rang like six times, and nobody answered. I said, "Thank you, Lord. Six is the number of man and…" Before the seventh ring… No kidding. Now remember. I don't have a shirt on. I don't have shoes on. I don't have church clothes. I'm so glad. It's 3:00 in the afternoon. I'm like, "Okay, Lord. It was like a ram in the bush". Do you remember when he called Abraham and said, "Sacrifice Isaac. Just kidding. Sacrifice the ram"? I'm like, "Oh, cool. This is one of those deals". After the sixth ring, the man picks up and says the name of the church. I said, "Oh, hey! Um, hey, uh, I was calling to speak to the pastor, Pastor [So-and-so]". He said, "He's not available. Can I take a message"? I said, "Oh, no. I don't want to bother him". He said, "No. The pastor would want you to leave a message". I'm like, "Okay, okay. All right. My name is Steven Furtick. I met a girl named Addie Mae. She gave my kids cupcakes at the farmers' market. She said there was convocation. I don't know the name of your church. I don't know your pastor. I've never met him before, never even heard of him before, but they said he wanted me to come preach, and I'm 30 minutes down the road, and I'll come preach tonight. Just tell him that". He said, "I'll tell him". Then here comes the call back five minutes later. He was crying. The pastor was crying. He said, "I'm sorry we missed your call. We were in prayer meeting. We were praying God would give us a speaker for tonight. I had three funerals this week". See, funerals don't schedule themselves. Funerals will come right in the middle of convocation. He said, "I'm so out of energy. I was going to preach, but I'm dry, and we were praying". He said, "Did you know that you're the first person we asked? The one we were having was going to be the second choice. Do you know that we asked you first"? I said, "Yeah. Addie Mae told me. That's crazy". I said, "This is the weirdest thing. I never invite myself to preach anywhere. I don't even invite myself over to people's houses, let alone to people's pulpits. But, man, do you want me to come…"? He said, "Yes!" before I even got… He said, "You'll come"? I said, "I will, but I don't have convocation clothes. Really, the dressiest thing I have is some Pirate Black Yeezys". He said, "I'll wear my Yeezys too. We'll both wear our Yeezys. You'll come preach"? And I went out that night. Con-vacation. I thought I was going to the farmers' market. You don't know what heaven has scheduled. Some of the best stuff doesn't come when you say, "Okay. This is where it's going to be". Your kids might not turn out like you wanted them to. God might do something better on a different schedule. "Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it". "How old, Lord"? He said, "Let me set the schedule. Some of the stuff I'm going to lead them through at age 17? I'm going to use it until they're 70. You let me set the schedule. You train. You obey. You show up". Look. That convocation that night… I did not know this until this year, but the pastor, who was just a delightful guy… We had the best night. I mean, the best night. His son was leading worship on the worship team. He said, "That's my son". He was proud. I was like, "Oh, he's amazing. What an amazing…" It was your friend Chandler Moore. Now he and I have been writing songs with Chris. Do you know what's funny? Brandon told me that when I was coming to preach at a church one time, I walked over and said to him, "God is going to use you in a great way. You've got good hair. You're handsome". I'm real spiritual, you know. Man looks at the outward appearance. That's my job. God looks at the heart, not me. I can't see your heart. I can see your hair. I said, "The Lord is going to use you". I didn't even know that. He said he was 16. God has got your kids. His dad is a great man of God. And I didn't even know who your dad was. Your dad was somebody whose leadership book I read. I didn't know any of that. It wasn't on my schedule to stop by… I think we were at Pastor Greg Surratt's church. Shout-out Seacoast Church. It wasn't on my itinerary. "Stop by and encourage Samson on your way up to the pulpit". It wasn't on my schedule. Some of the best stuff, some of the blessings… God said to tell you, "Get ready for the unschedulable blessing". If you're ready for an unschedulable blessing… "I have nowhere to go. I'm here for it. I'm waiting for the gift. God, you give me the direction. I'll give you the details". Brandon, I'll tell you one more thing. We were writing a song (you weren't there that day) in the same studio where we wrote "Graves Into Gardens," which, by the way, was the second song we wrote that day, and it was the song that really defined the season for our church. Chris and I were in there a couple of months ago. We had a songwriting appointment. You have to show up. Right? That's the only way you're going to be there. Sometimes God has scheduled something for you, but you're waiting on an opportunity. The Bible says, "On one occasion…" You never know when the breakthrough is going to be. You never know when your kid is going to need… You're just going to be driving them to another stupid dance recital, and the conversation happens. You don't know these things, so you have to show up. We were writing music one day, and we wrote a little song. I still like it, and we haven't done it yet. The songwriting appointment was over. I remember looking at my watch and going, "Okay, cool. I've got time to get home for dinner. Great. Glad we finished up quickly. Okay. Let's get in here, and let's set up the mics, and let's record it real quick". Jack was setting up a mic. JMix was in the control room. I verified this with him the other day to make sure I remembered it right. I told Christy, "We don't need dinner. We're done. It's over. We're all going to go our separate ways for dinner. We got a song. We're done". As they were setting up mics, a little melody idea came to mind that we recorded. It almost sounded like a lullaby. It was "May the favor of the Lord be upon you. May the glory of the Lord be your strength. May the presence of the Lord go before you and give you peace". I said, "Record, record, record, record, record! Okay. Done. All right. Let's go back to the other one". The other people in the room said, "No, no, no. Let's work on that". I said, "Y'all like it? We've got to go home. Right"? "No, no, no, no. Let's see. That might be something". I'll never forget. Cody Carnes started singing. I said, "Go to number six and see if we can sing it. We could write a benediction". He said, "The Lord bless you and keep you, make his face shine upon you, be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace". I said, "We don't need dinner. We're done". God said, "I'm not. You can go home if you want to, but I want to bless you". "You can give up if you want to. I want to bless you. You can write this year off if you want to. I'm going to bless you". Then we sang, "Amen, amen, amen"! Do you remember we sat there working? "What's Kari Jobe doing over there? She's singing something about 'Your family and your children and their children and their children.'" I just thought it was significant that "The Blessing" came after we thought the session was over. He wanted me to tell you that your latter will be greater. He wanted me to tell you that just like at Cana in Galilee, he saves the best wine till you think you've run out. Don't you go home yet, and don't you bury that blessing yet. Don't you cast your confidence away yet. God said, "I'm an unschedulable God". I made up a word. Paul made up a word. He said apokaradokia. I expect a blessing in the unexpected season. I'm not too young. I'm not too old. It's not too soon. It's not too late. Here comes the blessing. "Blessing I will bless you. I will bless you. I will favor you. I will love you. I will use you". Many of Jesus’ blessings were spontaneous. The wind of the Holy Spirit Jesus described in John 3 , the fire by night in the desert in Exodus, the miracles of Jesus all show that we serve a God who wants to bless us spontaneously. Preached at Elevation Church. www.sermons.love .

- Who's ready for an encouraging word from God today? With so much negativity, so much hard news, I'm so thankful for God's Word that is living and active to speak to us today. Would you pray with me? Father, thank you for every person watching, every person at Church Online, every person in a building. We pray, God, that Your living, inspired Word would build our faith, encourage our hearts, God, to be Your church, shining Your light, lifting Your truth, and loving people toward Jesus. We pray this in His name. And everybody said, amen. - [Congregation] Amen. - I don't know if you've noticed it or not, but everyone that you come across is facing some type of battle in their life. Just about everybody that you encounter is often going through something that may not be obvious from the outside, but they're facing a battle on the inside. It's a lot like a guy named Scott that I met years ago. Scott was one of the nicest, most easy-going guys that I'd ever come across and that's why I was completely shocked when we were having a private conversation in my office that Scott told me that he had concluded that it was best for him to take his life. He went on to tell me about the ongoing anxiety that he felt, the depression that he fought, and that he was just tired of being alone and hurting and he thought the best solution would be for him to take his life. I was a very young pastor, wasn't experienced in this type of situation, so I immediately just kind of prayed a shotgun prayer to God like, "God, just help me. "Give me the words to say, I don't know what to say. "God, help me in this moment." And at that moment, I felt like I was prompted by God to do something that I've only done one time, only in that situation, never before and never again. But at that moment, I just looked at Scott and saw so many good things about him and I took out a notepad and I said, "I believe you're supposed to give me 100 reasons." Somebody say, "100 reasons." - [Congregation] 100 reasons. - Just type that in the chat. A hundred reasons why your life matters. A hundred reasons why you should live. A hundred reasons to be encouraged. "Give me some reasons and I'm gonna write them down." And he just looked at me hopeless; he said, "There's no reason. "I can't think of a single one." I said, "No, tell me something good about yourself." And he said, he kind of , "Well, I'm a pretty good writer." And he was a very good writer. So I wrote it down, "You are a good writer. "So tell me something else." He looked at me kinda just deadpanned and he said, "I'm funny." And I thought, "I've never noticed that before, "but since you're in this state, "I'm not gonna argue with you. "Yeah, you're funny." I said, "Give me somethin' else." He said, "I look a lot like Robert Redford." He didn't look anything like Robert Redford. I said, "Oh, you are funny!" and I wrote that down. "You look like Robert Redford." And about on number seven or eight, he started to kind of have a little bit of a breakthrough. Instead of feeling heavy and like there was no reason to live, he started to kind of almost smile and started givin' me more reasons. He said, "Well, my sister says that I'm really faithful. "My boss says that I'm a really, really hard worker." He pulled out some random ones. He said, "I still have very full head of hair" and stuff like that. And before long when we hit about 20, 22, 25, he just started crying and saying thing after thing, reason after reason of why his life was valuable and why he should be encouraged enough to go on. We listed 100 reasons on the front and the back of a yellow notepad and then we prayed and I asked God to put these reasons on his heart that he would know that he could be encouraged by a God who was with him and a God who loves him and a God who has given him so many reasons to live. And I folded up the little piece of paper and I gave it to him and I believe that God was 1 StayPositive_2020_4_Transcript gonna do something special. I lost track of Scott. I end up starting Life.Church in the year 1996, it was probably four or five years after starting Life.Church that I got through preaching one time and I looked out and, lo and behold, Scott, who had moved away, came back to church to say hello. This time he wasn't alone, he had his new wife and a little son walking with him and when I saw him, man, we just liked hugged, like the old days. Remember when you could hug? And we just hugged and embraced each other and he said, "This is my wife and this is my son." I'm like, "Oh, this is so amazing!" And then he just said to me, he said, "You remember that time in your office?" I'm like, "Oh man, I will never forget that time "in my office." He said, "That saved my life." And I asked him, I said, "Do you still have "that yellow notepad piece of paper?" He smiled really big, he reached back into his wallet, he opened it up, he pulled it out, and he said, "I've carried with me all the time, everywhere. "This completely saved my life." Then he handed it to me and he said, "I want you to have it." I'm like, "No, no, no, no, no, no this is yours." And he looked at me and he said, "Remember the prayer you prayed?" He said, "I no longer need to read it on paper "because those 100 reasons are now in my heart." And then we hugged some more and it was really sappy and I loved every minute of it. I hope that you'll embrace that you have no idea what God might do through a single word of encouragement. You have no idea how God could use you to offer someone hope, to build someone's faith. You have no idea what our God might do through a single word of encouragement. That's why the title of this message is "100 Reasons to Be Encouraged" because everyone you see is facing a battle that you know nothing about. And I don't know about you, but there is so much negativity in the world today. I can't open up my social media feed without being discouraged. I can't read a news app without just being depressed. I can't talk to people with all the heartbreaking news in the world without being disheartened and so many people in a polarized world can be so incredibly critical, so undeniably hateful. I think it's time that we as believers step in and lift others, bring words of hope, bring words of encouragement. I don't need any friends like Job had. You guys know about Job's friends? You know his story, those of you that may not be like Bible people, in the Old Testament? There's this guy named Job and he was really a good man, a godly man, and the enemy, Satan, attacked Job and robbed him of more than you could ever imagine. You know what his friends did? His friends got up into his business and they're like, "It's your fault! "You deserve it! "You're goin' through this because of your sin!" Negative, negative, negative, negative ! There's enough people like that in the world today. And I love how Job responded to them in Job 16:2, he said, "I've heard all this before!" And then he said, "What miserable comforters you are!" Any of ya have any friends like that? You just wanna say, "You're not the best comforter "when I'm down right now!" "What miserable comforters you are!" And then he says this, I would love to say this. I'm too pastoral to say this, but if you ever strip the pastoralness away from me, there are people I want to say this to you. "Won't you ever stop blowing hot air? "What makes you keep on talking?" Too honest? You ever feel like that at all? "Why do you keep blowin' hot air?" He says this, "I could say the same things "if you were in my place. "I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you." But I love what he says. He says, "But if it were me," Somebody say, "If it were me." - [Congregation] If it were me. - Elbow the person four seats down from you even though you're social distancing, "If it were me." He says, "If it were me, I would encourage you. "If it were me, I'd speak words of life. "I would try to take away your grief." "If it were me, I'd try to encourage you. If it's possible at all, I would love to be the greatest voice of encouragement in your life on 2 StayPositive_2020_4_Transcript this side of heaven because the words we speak are filled with power. Our words can build up or our words can crush. In fact Scripture says in Proverbs 18:21 that "the tongue has the power of life and of death." I want my words to build your faith, to strengthen your confidence, to believe that God is for you, that He's with you, that He'll never leave you, He'll never forsake you, He's working in you. If it were up to me, I would encourage you and build your faith because everyone you see is facing a battle that you don't know anything about. Maybe that's why the author to the Hebrews said this in Hebrews 3:13. It's such a power-packed verse. The author said this, the author said, "Encourage one another," That he didn't say this, "every now and then." He didn't say, "Encourage one another "whenever the Spirit prompts you." What he said was, "Encourage one another," how often? He said, "Encourage one another daily." Now that's a lot of encouragement. Why do you encourage one another daily? You "encourage one another daily, as long as "it's called today, so that none of you may be hardened "by sin's deceitfulness." What does sin do? Sin lies. Sin distracts. Sin destroys. Sin tears down. Sin tells you what you don't have. Sin tells you you can never be happy. Sin tells you you won't measure up. I don't know about you all, but I face discouragement every single day. There's voices in my head that say, "You're not gonna measure up. "You're not gonna be good enough. "You can't get it all done." There's not a day that goes by that I don't experience discouragement and negative voices in my mind. Therefore because I need encouragement, I will freely give it. Because I need it, I assume you probably need it too, therefore we will "encourage one another "daily, daily, daily, as long as it is called today," so we're not distracted "by sin's deceitfulness." Now, when I talk about being encouraging, here's what I know some of you are gonna say immediately. You're gonna say, "Well, I'm just not naturally gifted "at it. "I'm not really good at encouraging others. "It's not a natural gift." And I would say to you, neither was walking when you were a little baby, right? You weren't very good at it at first, but somewhere along the way, you took a step and became a drunk Frankenstein, right? And you fell a couple of times and then you got back up and you learned how to walk. One of the most valuable tools you can learn, a gift to give to those around you, is to have the gift of encouragement. Learn how to do it. Make it a priority. You wanna learn how to do it? I give you the most simple rule that is a game-changer in the world of encouragement. The most simple rule is this. If you think something good, say it. If you think something good, express it. The moment you think anything positive about someone else, text them, call them. Those mobile devices, you still can make a call on them, I don't know if you know that or not? Reach out to someone, write a note. Tell them, express your love, your encouragement. The moment you think something good, say it, spray it, show it, express it! Why in the world would you ever rob someone from a blessing that goes unexpressed? One of the best things you can do for your relationships if you're married, if you have children, if you're a leader or an influencer at work, if you have someone in your small group is to bless them with words of encouragement. Set the blessing free. In fact, I have a rule in my own mind and evidently some people think this rule is unreasonable. But in my mind, I know every now and then I'm gonna say something that may not be helpful, I may be critical. My goal, honest to goodness, is to say 100 encouraging words for every word that may feel like criticism. I ran that idea by a few of my friends and they said, "Well that's impossible! "You don't know who I'm married to, "that would be unreasonable to ask!" Paul said this, he said, "Don't let any unwholesome talk "come out of your mouth, but only words helpful "for building others up." That's not 100 to one, that's 100 to none. Think about how different your relationships could be, the faith of the people around you, if every time you thought something good, you set it free to bless them? A hundred positive words of encouragement. Listen, I don't know about you, but with my children, I would 3 StayPositive_2020_4_Transcript rather them hear 100 times what I see in them, what I believe in them, how I'm for them, where they're winning, instead of hearing me picking them apart for what they're doing wrong. I wanna instill spiritual confidence of how I see the work of God in them and not let any unwholesome talk come out of my mouth, but building others up. If it were up to me, I would be full of encouragement because everyone you see is fighting a battle that you know nothing about. This can change and revolutionize your marriage. Those of you that are not married yet or you hope to be one day, listen, if you build up your spouse, it's a complete game changer. I'm able to do what I'm able to do today because my wife believes in me and she'll tell me and she'll show me. One of the bigger complaints I hear from Christian women is, "My husband ain't no spiritual leader." What's funny is she'll say it right in front of him. Ha, ha, ha! You think that's gonna encourage him to be more full of faith? No! He's gonna take his ball and go home 'cause he feels like he can't win. What I would say is anytime and every time he does anything that is remotely spiritual, you celebrate it like crazy! All he has to do is say, "Hey, let's watch Church Online" and you just look at him and go, "Oh, I feel so close to you when you say that!" Just do it, do it! You'll be goin' to Church Online every single week. If he says a prayer and it's the only prayer he's ever prayed and it's a bad prayer, but he tried. He's prayin' over Thanksgiving meal, "God bless this food, amen." You just look at him and say, "I love it when you pray like that." Stick your tongue in his ear and tell him you're celebratin' a prayer, you're gonna have the most prayin' man of God you've ever seen in your life. You build them up. You guys are lookin' all nervous like, "Can we do that? "Is that legal?" You encourage what you want to see and you typically see more of it. If it were up to me, I would be so encouraging. If you think something good, say it. If you think something good, say it. In a world full of so much criticism, so much hatred, so much disappointment, so much negativity, as people of the light, we'll lift up others around us. I don't know about you, but since everyone is facing a battle that you know nothing of, that probably includes you. That would include me. Right now I'm facin' some pretty real discouragement to the point that in the back of my mind, it just like almost won't let go. I've found that sometimes the person that needs the most encouragement is often me. And you might find the person that needs the most encouragement at times would be you because so often people may look at you and think, "Man, you got it all together." And you are smiling on the outside, but you're often hurting on the inside. You may be like a lot of people who look really, really confident, but the truth is there's parts of you that are indescribably insecure. When others look at you, you look like you got it all together, but they have no idea privately, at home, you feel like you're falling completely apart. Sometimes the person that really needs to be encouraged is you. I wanna show you the portion of Scripture that really speaks to me and builds my faith and equips me to do just that. It's found in the Old Testament in 1 Samuel 30 and to give you the context, David, if you remember David was a valiant warrior and king of Israel, his army arrived to their home in Ziklag and the enemies had burned their entire city to the ground, it was left in ruins. And if, imagine this, you come back with your troops, your men, and your wives and your children have been kidnapped, taken away, and your homes burned to the ground. So here's the picture, the city's burned, the families are gone, and what do the men do? The men blamed David. All of the sudden, they're all crying, they're all wailing, and the men decided, "It's David's fault. "We're gonna make him pay and we're gonna put him to death." That's exactly what we see potentially happening in 1 Samuel 30:6. "David was now in great danger because all his men "were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, "and they began to talk of stoning him." But what did David do? Scripture says, "But David found strength "in the Lord his God." "David found strength in the Lord his God." This phrase "found strength" comes from a Hebrew word "chazaq." Everybody say "chazaq" just for fun. 4 StayPositive_2020_4_Transcript - [Congregation] Chazaq. - It's spelled C-H-A-Z-A-Q, chazaq, and it means to tell yourself to be strong. This Hebrew word implies that you're talking to yourself. In fact, that's probably why the King James Version translated it this way. "But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." He encouraged himself, he spoke to himself. He told himself of the faithfulness of God. He preached to himself about the goodness of God. He reminded himself of the provision of God. He built himself up in the things of God. When everything he saw with his eyes said, "Hopeless," when everything around him cried, "Discouragement," he encouraged himself, he preached to himself, he built himself up in things of faith. He encouraged himself in the things of the Lord. He got his chazaq back. Oh, I can say that again! Okay, some of you need to get your chazaq back, you've gotta encourage yourself in the Lord. What happened after this and verse eight says this, "Then David asked the Lord, 'Should I chase after "'this band of raiders? "'Will I catch them?' "And the Lord said to him, 'Yes, go after them. "'You will surely recover everything "'that was taken from you!'" When did this word of victory come? After David encouraged himself in the things of God. What do we know? We know that positive words are so difficult to remember and the negative words are so difficult to forget. Are you like this? I could have 10 people give me a compliment, say something, "Oh, we're so thankful. "Oh, you've changed our life." One person gets up into my business with criticism and that one thing seems to take over. In fact, neurologists will tell you that about your brain, that your brain is almost pre-disposed to believe the negative immediately, but it takes a full 15 seconds of focusing on anything positive before you even start to believe it. It's so difficult to remember something positive, but it's so difficult to forget something that's negative. That's why what we say to ourself matters more than you can imagine. Your self-talk, are they words of life and words of faith or words of death and words of hopelessness? David encouraged himself, he talked to himself, he preached to himself, he built himself up in the Lord. In fact to me, it's so profoundly personal when you just even read through the Psalms and you read the words of David. It's like reading his own private journal. It's like getting a glimpse into his own inner dialogue. Three different times, David talked to himself and said the same exact thing. Three different places in Scripture David asked himself, "Why are you so downcast, oh my soul? "Why are you hurting? "Why are you so low? "Why are you so down? "Why are you so depressed?" Somebody here, you may wanna ask yourself that. Why do you feel so disconnected? Why are you so battling with anxiety? Why has fear overwhelmed you when you know you're called to be a person of faith? And David preaches to himself, "Why so downcast, oh my soul?" And then he encourages himself and says, "Put your hope in the Lord." Why are you depressed, why are you down when you know the faithfulness, the goodness, the power, and the provision of God? Put your hope in God. Put your faith in God. Put your trust in God. He's always with you. He will never leave you. He is completely for you. "Why so downcast, oh my soul? "Put your hope in God." What David didn't say is he didn't say this, he didn't say, "You got this David." He didn't say, "You have what it takes on your own, David." No, he said, "Put your hope in God." Get your chazaq back. Talk to yourself. Preach to yourself. Whenever you look on the news and says, "Everything's coming to the end. "This is the worst thing ever. "We're never gonna recover ." Go preach to yourself, "My God is my Provider. "My God is my Protector. "My God is good, He's all-powerful, He's ever present." He knew this before it ever happened and He's working in all things to bring about good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. When that voice says, "You're screwed. "Your relationships are gonna break down. "You're never gonna have anything 5 StayPositive_2020_4_Transcript meaningful." "No, my God is working in me and I trust God "is working in the people around me." Whenever you find yourself down, depressed, discouraged, and afraid, just like my friend Scott, write down 100 words to be encouraged, 100 reasons to keep your faith, to tell yourself, "No weapon formed against me will ever prosper. "I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. "I am blessed coming in and I am blessed going out. "My sins have been forgiven, I am redeemed. "I am a child of the Living God. "I am a joint heir with Jesus Christ. "I am an ambassador of the Most High God. "I am the highest ranking diplomat sent by God from heaven "to represent the love of Jesus on this earth." - [Congregation] Amen! - "I am free from the power "of sin and of death. "I have the mind of Christ. "I am filled with the very Spirit that raised Christ "from the dead. "I am the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus "to do good works which He prepared "in advance for me to do. "My sins "are completely forgiven. "I am a new creation in Christ. "My sinfulness has been separated from me "as far as the East is from the West. "I'm called by God to be a light in this dark world. "I am the salt of this earth. "I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. "I'm the head, I'm not the tail. "I'm seated in heavenly places with my Savior Jesus. "My God has not given me a spirit of fear, "but of power and of love and of a sound mind. "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." "Why so downcast, oh my soul?" Why are people of faith walkin' around actin' like we got no power? Get your chazaq back! Preach to yourself. And because of what God did for us and because of who He is in us, as far as is concerned to us, we'll be a voice of encouragement. We'll be a voice of faith. When the world seems polarized, we'll express love, we'll express grace. We'll stand for what's right, we'll stand for justice, we'll be people of faith, and they will know us by our love. If it were up to me, I'd be the biggest voice of encouragement you've ever seen this side of heaven. So whatever you're goin' through, and I would guess for some of you it might be a heck of a lot, and I don't want little power statements to be insulting to you, I want the true power and presence of God to be enough for you. Be encouraged. Our God loves you more than you could ever imagine. Our God understands your pain. His Word is true. He's always faithful. His promises are for you. So when you're down, talk to yourself words of faith, words of life. And hey, with the people around you, every time you think something good, you say it, you bless them. As far as I'm concerned, I'm gonna encourage those around me. So Father, we ask today that by the power of Your Word, you would encourage your church. God, I can only imagine in all the different parts of the world, all the different scenarios in all the different levels of pain and complications people have experienced this week. We ask, God, that Your Word, Your power, Your presence would be the lifters of our head. As you're praying and reflecting today, I wanna just talk to you wherever you are. Those of you who would say, "Yes, I wanna be an encouraging voice to those around me, "all the time, everywhere. "I wanna be a voice of hope and life "and faith of encouragement." Would you life your hands right now? Just lift them up. You can just type in the chat, "That's me, I'm in." Just type it in, "I wanna encourage." So Father, today we thank You that You're a God who encourages us. And Lord we know that our words have so much power. God, help us to not let any unwholesome talk, any words of death, come out of our mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up, for lifting them, for pointing them to You, for giving life. God, may we bless others with the gift of encouragement. Give us opportunities and, God, every time we think it, help us to show it, to say it, to express it. As you keep praying today, maybe you're watchin' online, you might be watchin' on your phone, or you're watching at home on TV, watching later on 6 StayPositive_2020_4_Transcript on a YouTube clip, or you're at a physical campus even now at this moment and there are some of you that you really need encouragement. You might not know where you stand with God, you might find yourself overwhelmed with fear. Let me just encourage you with some really, really good news. If you ever feel guilty because of your sin, I understand. The truth is all of us, we've all sinned, we've all messed up. And so we wonder, "Where do we stand with God "and if we've done so many things wrong?" Be encouraged that our God loves you, He still loves you. And our God is so good and so full of grace that He sent His Son Jesus who was perfect and never sinned. And Jesus loved you so much that while we were still sinning, He gave His life on a cross. And because of the power of God, when Jesus paid the price for our sins, our God raised Him from the dead, He defeated death, hell, victory, and the grave. Be encouraged that anyone, and this includes you, doesn't matter what you've done, doesn't matter how dark your life feels, anyone who calls on that name that is above every name, the name of Jesus, when you cry out to Jesus, God hears your prayers, He forgives your sins, and you become brand new. Be encouraged. Perhaps you're watching today because this is God's message to you. He loves you. He wants you. He wants you to be forgiven. He wants you to experience life. He wants you to know His grace. He wants you to be free. And all of our churches are watching online, those who say, "Yes, I want His forgiveness, "I need His grace." When you call out on Jesus, He'll forgive your sins, you become brand new. Wherever you're watching today, those who say, "I want His forgiveness. "I surrender my life, I give it to Him. "Jesus, I give You my life," that's your prayer, just lift your hands now, right now, lift them up. Type in the chat, "I need You." Those in all of our different churches calling on Him, we celebrate you, we thank God for you. Type it in the chat, "I need the grace of Jesus." And I would love it if you would all pray with those around you. Pray, "Heavenly Father, forgive my sins. "Jesus save me. "Make me new. "Fill me with Your Spirit so I can walk with You, "so I could know You, be changed by You, "be a voice of hope and encouragement "to point people to Jesus. "Thank you for your grace. "Thank you for salvation. "Thank you for new life, I give you mine. "In Jesus name I pray." Could somebody celebrate the grace of God today at all of our churches online? Welcome those born into God's family! 7 StayPositive_2020_4_Transcript You have no idea what God might set into motion with one word of encouragement. Words have power! One encouraging word could be the catalyst for change in your life. Join Pastor Craig Groeschel to see how encouraging words have extraordinary power and potential to give life, build faith, and offer hope. www.lifechurch.tv . Used by permission.

Let’s start here. You’re leading in one of the most complex moments in generations. It’s not easy. Right now, nothing is easy. And with the Presidential election results being so hotly contested, things are only likely to become more complicated, not simpler. It’s hard to even know what to say or do. I find that when I find myself in a situation where there are so many things I  don’t  know,  it’s good to anchor myself in a few things I  do  know. As a Canadian who majored in US history and politics, who has spent a lot of time in the US over the years and whose audience is largely American, I have more than a passing interest in what happens south of the border because I have so much affection for our US friends and neighbors. I also have many American friends. In fact, some of my very closest friends are American. I simply love the drive, positive attitude and relentless determination to make things better that so many Americans exude and the heart of so many US church leaders. So I’m coming at this as a fan…and, I hope, a friend. With that in mind, here are three things the culture needs right now that the church can give. When you find yourself in a situation where there are so many things you don’t know, it’s good to anchor yourself in a few things you do know. 1. A Blaming Culture Needs A Confessing Church All of this leads to the final suggestion: How much of the negativity we’re swimming in can you own… personally? I know when I see a problem, I would rather assign blame than assume responsibility. And I also know there’s zero progress when that happens. Confession bridges the gap between blame and responsibility. If the church got better at confessing and not blaming, we’d have a better church. Confession bridges the gap between blame and responsibility. If the church got better at confessing and not blaming, we’d have a better church. What can you confess today? What part of this do you own? Who have you hurt? Who do you hate? Have you mistreated  anyone? Even if it’s the neighbor on your side of the street, start there. You’re worried about your kids watching politicians and mimicking them. I promise you that your kids are watching you more closely than they’re watching any politician. So, take your personal sins seriously. Confess them. Repent. Change. You’ll never address what you don’t confess. You’ll never address what you don’t confess. When I confess my sins (as a husband, father, leader and friend), everyone around me begins to heal. Imagine if that happened 10,000 times over today in families, churches and communities. Not sure how to do that, or resist the urge to post something designed to undermine someone who thinks differently than you do? Here’s the best thing I know how to do: Process privately. Help publicly. Processing privately can be as simple as praying about it and waiting 24 hours before you do a thing. Often, that’s enough. Sometimes, you’ll need to talk to a friend. Other times, you may need to go see a counsellor. I highly recommend that. The gravitational pull is toward hate, not health. (Here are  5 reasons anger is the new epidemic .) Healthy doesn’t happen on its own. You and I need help. When the church starts to confess more and accuse less, we’ll make more progress. When the church starts to confess more and accuse less, we’ll make more progress. 2. A Divided Nation Needs A United Church As a Christian, you already know that one of Jesus’ most important prayers was for unity, and that the early church was marked (in its best moments) by a completely counter-cultural unity. A divided nation needs a united church. First, if your church plays the political game, you’ve already alienated half the people you’re trying to reach. Second, you’re alienating entire generations looking for an alternative. David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyon’s book  UnChristian  both explained and predicted a world in which younger generations would reject Christianity based on, among other things, our closed-mindedness and division. Written over a decade ago, that book was eerily prophetic. As Gen Z leaders emerge into leadership,  some feel the need to lead with an apology  for how badly the church has behaved. We’re living in that reality now. The oldest Millennials are turning 40 and fewer than ever are showing interest in turning to the church. Unity would be an exceptional show of strength to a divided nation. Election Day on social media, at least for the leaders I follow, showed (for the most part) remarkable unity and restraint. Carry that into the future, and the church may pick up momentum. Cave to the deepening divisions and partisanship that are bound to come, and the church will lose more ground more quickly than ever. Become a unifying force around an alternative mission (the Kingdom of God) and the culture may come running. A divided nation needs a united church. 3. An Exhausted Culture Needs An Alternative To Itself, Not An Echo Of Itself There’s little doubt you’re probably exhausted by the division, tribalization and anger that characterizes culture today. It’s pretty clear that the culture is tired of itself too, but it doesn’t quite know how to escape. That’s where the church can help. The culture is tired of itself, but it doesn’t quite know how to escape. That’s where the church can help. That’s the perfect opportunity for the church to simply be the church. An exhausted culture needs an alternative to itself, not an echo of itself. Authentic, grace-filled, hope-bearing, truthful people are what our friends and neighbors need. A generation tired of hate, yet caught in its grip, will only be released from it if there’s a clear alternative. Church, an exhausted culture needs an alternative to itself, not an echo of itself. Hope counters hate better than hate counters hate. And hope is what the church, at its best, offers. Not hope in a candidate. Not hope in a political party. Hope in Christ, someone in the world who also transcends the world. If you echo the culture, you get more of the culture. How do you know whether you’ve given in to merely echoing the culture? If God has all the same opinions you do, you’re probably not worshipping God. If God has all the same opinions you do, you’re probably not worshipping God. Imagine, if in the next few months in your church: Love surged. Hope got fueled. You could disagree but not be disagreeable. You focused on what united people, not on what divided people. In a divided culture, Christians should be the help and the hope, not the hate. www.careynieuwhof.com .