Most of us have experienced our personal worlds becoming smaller in the past few weeks. As of this writing, much of the U.S. and the rest of the world is living under restrictions or advisories affecting personal movement (stay at home, shelter in place, etc.) These restrictions are especially limiting in regions very hard-hit by COVID-19 and communities of older individuals at high risk of a serious form of this illness. Regardless of our particular circumstance, it is important to be attentive to the possibilities for deep spiritual growth during this experience of living in a “smaller world.”   While this is a unique experience for each of us, it has important parallels with that of men and women we interviewed as they entered the “smaller world” of influence, authority, or recognition in retirement (1, 2). These individuals expressed feelings of loss, sadness, or lack of purpose or direction as their world became smaller in one or more of these ways. These feelings can also be associated with many other events of adult growth, such as midlife, illness, and physical limitations associated with aging.   Moving from a larger to a smaller world is by no means unique to our time. In 1809, at age 65, Thomas Jefferson went from being President of the United States to overseeing his estate, Monticello. A Monticello tour guide noted that Jefferson reportedly said that he got more satisfaction from “tending his Monticello garden” than from being President. In other words, he found beauty and fulfillment by observing and experiencing the richness of a smaller world.   We can look even further back to gain insights into living with meaning in a smaller world, specifically to the Old and New Testament. Surprisingly enough, it’s often in a “smaller world” that we see God speaking most clearly to individuals. Take for example the apostle Paul, a Jewish leader and a Roman citizen, who forsook his larger world as a widely-recognized religious leader to follow Jesus. Galatians 1:16-21 describes Paul’s years following his conversion. They were spent in relative obscurity and solitude in remote parts of Arabia and Damascus and additional years in Syria and Cilicia. Only then did he assume a place of prominence in the early church. Some of us may feel like we’ve been knocked off our horse as Paul was ( Acts 9:1-9 ), yet it was in this downward movement, followed by years of relative obscurity in a remote place, that God worked deeply in the life of Paul. It was in this “smaller world” that Paul seems to have received the remarkable insights about God’s work of grace that he writes about in his letters to the early church.   Exodus 2:11-4:17 provides another example, in the life of Moses. Because of a crime he had committed, Moses went from the privilege and prestige of a king’s son in the Egyptian capital to the life of a fugitive in the very remote region. The Scripture makes clear that it was here in this “smaller world” of the desert, that Moses first encountered God. It is almost as if Moses had to get away from the distractions and expectations of the larger world to be in a position to hear God clearly and subsequently, to see God work uniquely in his own life.   Finally, consider the account of the angel encountering Mary in Luke 1:26-38 ; 2:1-7 . In this case, the point is not that Mary herself had gone from a larger to a smaller world. Rather, it is how God chooses to work in what seems like a small or insignificant world. While the gospel writer refers to the larger world of Caesar Augustus and Pontius Pilate, he makes it clear that God was about His most important work in Mary’s smaller world of everyday life and poverty. God is at work, but not always in the places that we imagine.   In each of these examples, a “smaller world” provided the context for God to do a new and significant thing. These examples encourage us to be sensitive to new things that God may be doing in us in our seemingly smaller COVID-19 world. For most of us, this will mean leaving behind some pursuits we have considered important prior to COVID-19 in order to give ourselves more fully to what God has for us in the next phase of life.   The spiritual practice of “letting go” will be particularly important for this journey. “Letting go” may not seem like a spiritual practice. After all, we all have to let go, sometimes reluctantly and sometimes with pleasure. Yet, in this time, we may become uniquely aware of things we routinely do that in fact get in the way the next thing God has in store for us.   In her book How Can I Let Go If I Don’t Know I’m Holding On , Linda Douty (3) provides very helpful insights into both the “why” and the “how” of the spiritual practice of letting go. Douty suggests three steps in the process. First, make a list of your losses. At first, that may seem simple; but probe a little deeper. What do you miss during this time? Perhaps it is the frequent, in-person interactions with friends, neighbors, and strangers. Maybe it is the regular gathering of your congregation for worship or your small group for study and fellowship.. What else do you miss? Maybe volunteer opportunities you normally participate in, that give a sense of accomplishment and of helping others.   The second step is feeling the pain of the loss. Some of us have trained ourselves to stay away from our feelings. That training may have helped us be task-centered, problem-solving professionals. When we slow down, feelings are more likely to surface, and for some of us this may be very uncomfortable. It’s okay to take some time with this and let the feelings come. Douty’s advice and ours too, is to take time to experience some of the feelings that surface as you name your losses. Keeping a journal can be a helpful tool in the process. And you may want to talk this over with a trusted friend or Spiritual Director as you work through these feelings of loss.   Once you’ve named the losses and given yourself time to feel the pain, the third step is asking God to help you resolve your feelings. If there is anger or resentment, ask God to help you begin the process of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a process; it takes time. You may want to write out your feelings, directed at the person or situation that caused your hurt. Here again, keeping a journal can be a valuable practice. (If you write a letter to someone, you may want to set it aside and return to it later or rather than mailing it immediately and regretting it later). Many people find it helpful to write a prayer or a letter to God; God knows and welcomes all of our feelings, including feelings of betrayal! If you have unexpressed gratitude, now is the time to acknowledge something beautiful in your heart and mind. That may be a good letter to send!   Finally, ponder how you can be helpful to others in this new reality. Are there friends or fellow church members that you can encourage by regular phone calls or video chats? Are there a services project you can be a part of while maintaining required social distancing? Can we engage in new, virtual forms of worship, discipleship, and ministry as a part of our church family? Remember that you are limited only by your own willingness to think and act in new ways.   Throughout the process of entering a smaller world and letting go, we can be confident that we that we are on a journey to the next good thing in life. Or, paraphrasing the words of Loretta Marshall, “When I am on what seems to be a set of dead ends and winding paths, openness to the surprises of God’s Spirit can move me from lostness to a highway of grace.” (4)   REFERENCES   (1) Joyce Rupp, Little Pieces of Light…Darkness and Personal Growth (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994.)   (2) R. Jack Hansen and Jerry P. Haas, Shaping a Life of Significance for Retirement (Nashville, TN: Upper Room Books, 2010)   (3) R. Jack Hansen and Jerry P. Haas, Retirement as Spiritual Pilgrimage: Stories, Scripture, and Practices for the Journey , (Amazon Books, 2016)   (4) Linda Douty, How Can I Let Go If I Don’t Know I’m Holding On: Setting Our Souls Free (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 2005.)   (5) Loretta L. Marshall, The Upper Room Disciplines (Nashville, TN: Upper Room Books, 2010) pg. 354. Spiritual formation leader Jerry Haas is co-editor of this article as well as co-author of Shaping a Life of Significance in Retirement

What do you trust? Who do you trust? This is the overarching theme of the Bible. Where do we put our trust? Biblically, it is called “self-righteousness” to seek outside sources for solutions to your internal problems. A fallen world innately pursues self-seeking solutions, and it is only through surrender of pride of self and complete submission to the precepts of God that we have any victories over our weaknesses. We are to seek God through confession, and surrender to Him in repentance to obtain victory. This is what pleases God the most: our full trust in Him. Humanity has developed ten areas of self-righteousness:   Religion Government Education Insurance Healthcare Commerce Politics Technology Entertainment Vices   The order of importance is different for each of us. Some rely heavily on government for their security, others rely on their vices, others their 401K. The western world is highly reliant on insurance, whereas the concept of insurance is barely a thing in other parts of the world such as Africa. We find our security in many things. Personally, I sought money, prestige, and affection for my security, and I was deep into my selfish pursuit of relief.   I was going to church, highly involved with many committees, volunteering, mission trips, service projects, choir, children’s teacher, usher and so much more. I know I loved God and Jesus, but I was also deep into my sin: chasing money, a very long addiction to porn, high credit card debt. I decided to transition to self-employment in order to be my own boss. I was completely focused on my ability to provide myself security and acceptance. I had made myself my god and I knew everything. After several years of trusting and relying upon myself came divorce, bankruptcy and joblessness. It broke me. I learned in the hardest way possible to fully trust in God. After having literally every aspect of my life altered, an accident with a truly miraculous outcome involving my 22-month-old son convinced me that God is in full control of even the millimeters of life.   Here we are in April 2020 with a virus wreaking havoc around the globe. The virus is on every continent. Almost every nation is in lockdown. We are tracking worldwide deaths, and I reflect on numerous biblical accounts: the flood, the plagues, Job, and the bowls in Revelation. Each has a common purpose: do you Trust in God?   Noah built a boat and got in it to live. The world laughed at Noah, but being in the boat saved his life and the life of his family: trusting in God saves lives. There were those who believed and those who did not believe. The Israelites applied the blood of a lamb over their door post and believed that God would pass over their home. There were those who believed and those who did not believe: trusting in God saves lives. The story of Job is entirely about how easy it is to believe during times of plenty and abundance, but what happens when the heat is turned up? Will you believe during times of distress? It is a story about staying firm in belief.   Lastly, I come to the bowls in Revelation 16 .   “For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and His divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20   “AND I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth,” Revelation 16:1 .   Revelation is all about the final wrath of God which has several underlying realities. First, Revelation is not His initial act of wrath; there were several others preceding it. Second, we should not be surprised when wraths come, we have the written word telling us to be prepared for these times of persecution. Third, this is what God does to prove He exists; these events leave us feeling completely out of control and that helps bring His children back to Him. When science is slow and cumbersome at providing a vaccine, quarantine policy demands isolation, stimulus relief checks get entangled in politics and food runs low in the pantry; it opens the path to seeking God for provision.   We are given small glimpses of God’s purpose in the verses: “…and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent, so as to give Him glory,” verse 9. And in verse 11, “and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of the pains and their sores; and they did not repent of the deeds.”   God wants us to give Him the Glory for being the source of overcoming the desires of our flesh. It is that simple: we accept that we are helpless and we confess our need for God’s transforming power, and we repent by trusting in Christ for the transformation. We deny God the glory of being our source when we pursue money for our security, sex for our affection, materialism for our approval, prestige for our respect. We naturally seek earthly solutions for spiritual problems instead of turning to God.   So here we are wanting testing, a vaccine, government imposed quarantine, shelter in place orders, social distancing, essential vs non-essential employment, relief checks, and even toilet paper as our security. We put so much trust into our institutions, but a teeny tiny virus can bring every institution to complete irrelevance. Money does not have an answer, the stock market is no help, politicians have no answers, government and its policies have no answers. The vaccine will be a year away. Churches are shut down, schools are shut down, commerce is divided between essential and non-essential services. We have no answers. Our human desire to “fix” things is placing all hope on testing and the quarantine. When will we learn?   In a time of great fear and anxiety, I cannot count the number of times I have heard the word “uncertainty”, but I have great peace in my trust. Neighbors, friends, family are worried about the things they cannot control. There is great fear about getting the virus, great fear about death from the virus, great fear about loss of income from the shutdown, the uncertainties can be overwhelming. We try to put our fears to peace by loading up on food, applying for unemployment, watching the news for updates on testing and the fatality rate. This fear is real. It is consuming, and it is insatiable.   The solution for the fears, is trusting in God. Daniel WAS put into the lion’s den, (we might get the virus), but Daniel came out the next day unharmed. The tenth plague came, He did not hold back, but trusting in Him is what got the Israelites through. Job endured the loss of his children, loss of his income, loss of his health, but Job did not waiver in his trust of God (minus a little complaining to God, which is a topic for another post). We know that this is God holding back. We know from scripture that the restrainer is still with us. We know it will get worse. The seals, the trumpets and the bowls are yet to come. All are for His predetermined purpose of purging self-righteousness and turning people towards Him.   “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Here’s what Pastor John Piper said when he was speaking to children about COVID-19.  “I’m 74 years old. That means I’m old enough to be your granddad and maybe your great granddad. My name is John Piper. You can call me Pastor John. I want to talk to you for a few minutes about the coronavirus — that sickness that is changing how people live all over the world. And I want to talk about God, I want to talk about Jesus, and about you. What does the coronavirus have to do with you and God and Jesus? So, I hope you’ll listen for just a few minutes. Coronavirus Is Not in Command What makes the coronavirus so unusual and so dangerous is that you can catch it as a sickness by just being around people who have it, and you can’t tell when they have it. And that makes it really dangerous, which is why everybody is staying inside these days, trying to stop the virus. And it’s dangerous because it is ten times more serious than the ordinary flu. And the reason our leaders, like the governors and the President of the United States, are so concerned is because maybe one or two or three people out of every hundred who get this sickness will die from it. Now, that may not sound like a lot: one or two out of every hundred. But if in my town, for example — Minneapolis — a hundred thousand people (which is not unlikely) got sick with this, that means one, two, or even three thousand are going to die of it. So, when you think of it that way, a lot of people who weren’t planning to die that quick are now going to die, if it spreads that much. Now, the Bible is God’s very word. And the Bible teaches that God is stronger than the coronavirus. I hope you believe that. We know this because  Matthew 4:24  says, “They brought [Jesus] all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains . . . and he healed them.” Jesus is more powerful than diseases — every one of them. In fact, over and over again, the Bible tells us that God commands the wind, rain, snow, lightning, plants, grass, grasshoppers, flies, frogs, gnats, worms, whales, birds, and everything else. He commands them where to go, what to do, and they do what he says. They have to; he’s God. They do what he says. God made the whole world and everything in it, and he holds the world in his hand, and he does what he wants to do with the world and in the world. You can see that again in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, where he says that God “works all things” — that includes the coronavirus — “according to the counsel of his will” ( Ephesians 1:11 ). That means nobody is over God telling God what to do. He’s the highest. He’s the strongest decision-maker in the world. Nobody makes God do what he doesn’t choose to do. He made the world, he holds it up, so he does what he wants with it and in it. It never falls apart. It always does what he plans for it to do all the time and all of it. God’s Perfectly Wise Plan I hope you’re asking — and it’s right to ask, if we ask humbly and ready to learn the answer from God — “Why is there a coronavirus, then? Why don’t you, God, Jesus, please take it away, since you could?” And that’s right; he could. He’s God. The coronavirus is not God. The coronavirus is not stronger than Jesus. Jesus could take it away just by snapping his finger. And the time will come when he has decided he will take it away. And it might happen overnight. We don’t know how it will happen. So, why is it here? Why doesn’t he just take it away now? And the answer is this:  because he has wise purposes for it . God is perfectly wise. That means he knows exactly what needs to be done to bring about what’s best for all time. That’s called  wisdom . When you know what is best to do all the time, you’re a wise person. And God is perfect in wisdom. He knows what needs to be done: he knows how it needs to be done, and he knows when it needs to be done. And since God is perfectly wise and knows everything — he knows way, way, way, way more than we know — everything he makes happen and everything he lets happen fits into a perfectly wise and good plan that he has. We can’t see all of it — all the plan. But we can see some of it. For example, let me give you some things that I can see and you can see in the Bible that God is planning to do with the coronavirus. 1. Jesus said in  Luke 13:1–5  that things like the coronavirus happen so that people in the world who don’t believe in Jesus would wake up, and repent, and think about God and Jesus and heaven and hell and salvation and the need for forgiveness, and that they would turn to Jesus and be saved. That’s one thing he’s doing. 2. Paul said that things like the coronavirus happen so that people would stop trusting in themselves and trust God. Lots of people think — adults think, children think — that they’re way smarter than they are, way stronger than they are, way more in control. “I’m the captain of my soul.” Bologna! You’re not the captain of your soul; God is the captain of your soul. And that kind of pride needs to be brought down. If it needs to be brought down by coronavirus, God will do it. We have a lot of arrogant leaders in this world who need to be humbled, and if it takes the coronavirus to do it, God will do it. God wants us to know that he’s in control, and that we ought to trust him and not our own abilities or our own intelligence. 3. And the third thing that God is doing is this: the Bible says that things like the coronavirus happen to show us that we might be loving things more than we love God; we might be loving other people more than we love God. And there’s nothing in the world more important than loving Jesus more than we love ourselves or more than we love other people ( Matthew 10:37–39 ). So, the coronavirus is showing people what they love most. Our Savior Makes Us Brave God is in charge of the coronavirus, and he knows what he’s doing, and he’s perfectly good and perfectly wise. And here’s the really good news we ought to want the whole world to hear. I hope you will share with your friends the news that Jesus, God’s only Son, came into the world and died so that God would never punish us if we trust him. He said that the punishment that you and I deserve because of our sin — that punishment was put on Jesus. And if we trust Jesus — that is, if we receive Jesus, welcome Jesus as our Savior and our Guide and our Treasure, the one we really love — then we never have to be afraid of God. We never have to be afraid of God’s punishment ever. This is wonderful. That means we don’t ever have to be afraid to die — not from the coronavirus or anything else — because when Jesus died and rose from the dead, he changed death from punishment into a doorway to everlasting happiness with him. So, what does this mean for you? What does it mean? You don’t have to be afraid of the coronavirus. God is stronger than the coronavirus, and if you trust his Son, Jesus, God will make everything turn out for your good. So, be brave. Don’t be brave because you’re strong; that’s called pride. All those TV superheroes, they’re all proud. They’re not basing their strength on God; they’re just basing it on stuff that they have inside of them. Don’t be like them because you’re not them and you’re not strong. You’re weak. Be brave because you have a great Savior. Your best friend, Jesus, your Savior and Lord, is strong — strong enough to make everything, including the coronavirus, turn out for your good ( Romans 8:28 ). Trust Him Always I taught the kids in our church, when I was a pastor, a two-line poem. It’s especially for children who believe in Jesus. Hundreds of them said it over the years. Let me teach it to you, and we’ll be done. And I want to say it once, and then you say it with me the second time, okay? It goes like this: When things don’t go the way they should,God always makes them turn for good. Maybe, kids, we’ll talk again later. I don’t know. But for now, trust Jesus no matter what. You’ll never be sorry. That’s a great word, Pastor John. We do have an amazing opportunity to share the gospel with our classmates and friends in this season — if you have access to social media or texting or phone calling or video messaging, or maybe you can meet them face to face. We encourage you to reach out to your friends with the hope of Jesus. The time is right. May the Lord give you boldness and the right words to speak eternal truth into the lives of your friends during this season. www. desiringgod.org . Ask Pastor John.

Look at Jesus Christ. He despised it, ignored it, endured it to save you and me. SHAMEFUL REJECTION Luke 4:28-30: He came to his hometown – They kicked him out. SHAMEFUL ACCUSATION Jesus was brought before the Priests, Annas and Caiaphas – the charge? Blasphemy (Mark 14:56-64) Remember that He said, “My job is to do the will of Him who sent Me!” He was charged with taking God’s name in vain—claiming to be God—but He was God! To charge some else with blaspheming God and would startle no one. Some have done it. But to charge one who loved like Jesus Christ loved, obeyed as He obeyed, to charge Him with blasphemy – must have caused him peculiar suffering. MOCKED HIS KINGSHIP They brought Him before Pilate. “Are you a King?” Pilate asked, incredulous. “Are you a king?” Here stands the King of all creation. He humbled Himself. “As a lamb before his shearers is dumb, so He opened not his mouth.” So what do they do to the King? Did they bring Him robes and bow down to worship the King of Kings? No. They placed a crown of thorns on Him and spit on Him and mock Him. MOCKED HIS DEITY The soldiers took Him before Herod. They stripped Him and blindfolded Him. They began to poke the Son of God with sticks. “Prophesy, Jesus, who struck you?” “Do us some tricks to prove that you are God,” mocks Herod, “and we’ll let you go free.” MOCKED HIS PRAYERS Never before do we read in the annals of execution that anyone mocks the prayers of a dying man. We read of villains about to die ask, “Give me a minute or two to pray.” They usually say, “Well, of course.” Look at Jesus. Every His prayer is an object of jest. “Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabacthani… My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” They make a pun. “He calls for Elijah! Let’s see if Elijah will come and rescue Him!” Men have devised many horrible ways to die over the years… the guillotine, gas chamber, electric chair, torture, poisoning, hanging… but, I suppose nothing is more shameful than the cross. Take time today to meditate on Jesus today. Thank Him and meditate on His wounds. They were for you!

We live in uncertain times. But God is not surprised. Solomon wrote these words in Psalm 127: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the Watchmen keep awake in vain.” Psalm 127:1 NAS “Unless the Lord…” is a conditional clause. If God doesn’t lay the foundation, if Jesus is not the cornerstone of your life, your home will collapse. Jesus taught: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” Matthew 7:26 NIV My father was a contractor. When he retired, he built a home in a new suburban development. My parent’s house was the smallest in the neighborhood. Large homes were built replete with Porsches, country-club wives and 2.5 preppy children. Two years later, every elegant edifice had cracked foundations. You see, those buyers looked inside the homes but not underneath them. My father, on the other hand, knew the soil in his neighborhood was sandy. Before he laid his home’s foundation, he poured concrete piers 150 feet beneath the surface. Your life may feel out-of-control today. Every security blanket may be yanked away. This is the time to build on the rock. Jesus, the Cornerstone, is the strong foundation you need. Give God, the Master-Contractor, the blueprints. Your house will stand.

COVID: What on Earth is Going On? Tony Evans I want to state for you a very important biblical principle. If you really want understand what on earth is going on, everything visible and physical is preceded by something invisible and spiritual. So, if you want to deal with a physical, visible problem, you must identify the invisible spiritual invisible cause. Let me say it another way. If what you see is all you see, you do not see all there is to be seen. Behind every physical reality is a spiritual reality. But if you don't get to that, I mean, look at the pandemic, people having physical problems about something they cannot see. Until they address what they cannot see, they won't be able to fix what they really do see and feel going on in their lives and their bodies, and being transferred to the human race. And so, in Hebrews chapter 12, we read these words to help us answer the question, what on Earth is going on? Beginning in verse 25, "See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking, for if those did not escape when they refused when he warned them on earth, much less how will we escape when we turn away from the one who warns us from heaven? And his voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised saying, 'Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.' This expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things, so that those things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we've receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a When there is a cloudy, threatening day, the weatherman gets a lot of attention. Because what we want to know is what the weatherman sees. Given what the atmosphere looks like, what does he see that we need to know about? Is it going to rain? Do I need an umbrella? Do I need a raincoat? Is it going to be cold? We shift how we operate based on what the weatherman has to say. God is talking. And one of the ways God speaks is through allowing circumstances into our lives and into our world that are not pleasant. He allows those circumstances to get our undivided attention. It's a wake-up call. It's sort of like your alarm clock going off. When your alarm clock goes off and wakes you up, it brings you out of one reality of slumber and sleep into a new reality of alertness. The further you remove God from a life of family and a culture, the more chaotic things will become. And so, oftentimes in the Bible and in the world, God will shake things. What does the Bible mean by shaking? Shaking means when God allows disruption in the normal order of things. Life is going along like you prefer it, like you want it, like you desire it, like you love it. And all of a sudden, there is an interruption in the affairs of normalcy. That's what God does all through the Bible, he would shake things up when he wanted to get our undivided attention. The text that we read says, "Don't turn away from him who is speaking". And you know he is speaking because you've been shaken, your world has been disrupted. This pandemic has disrupted our lives, our work, our play, our sports, our travel, our fun. It has disrupted our gatherings. It has turned what was normal and made it abnormal. In fact, it's made it in some sectors very, very dangerous. But this is a grand opportunity to return to the God who allowed the shaking to occur. Because the text says when God allows the shaking, it is because he's trying to get our undivided attention. Which means we have wandered from him, we have marginalized him. We had gotten idols, which is any noun, any person, place, thing, or thought that you look to as your source. We've gotten something to replace him. God is not just interested in us singing a song, "God Bless America". He's not interested in only a pledge of allegiance to a nation. He's interested in a pledge of allegiance to himself. And when he detects that he is being marginalized and we're more interested in blessing America or blessing something else rather than blessing him, he will allow us a disruption. But the reason he allows this disruption is because he wants to create a new opportunity for his favor. That's why I love Lamentations chapter 3, verses 31 to 33, which says God will allow grief so that we might return to him. So, he allows a bad day so that we can desire the sunshine again. And he has the sunshine ready to break forth. This is sort of like a mother in labor. That's a painful situation. The labor part is not desirable. Now, I don't know that by experience, but that's what I'm told. Now, the labor period is not what you would prefer. But when you know what's coming from the labor, when you know that bursting out of this is new life and new opportunity and new growth, then all of a sudden the labor is good news in a bad situation. We got a bad situation. And I am very grateful for the doctors, and I'm very grateful for the nurses, I'm very grateful for the hospitals and the medicine and all the effort being put forth to reduce and ultimately eradicate this pandemic. But if we would allow God, who is speaking, who is shaking up our normalcy, to become frontpage news again. I mean, look at what has happened. This situation has got folk talking who weren't talking to each other. I mean, we got folk in Washington trying to agree on stuff because they have been forced to because there is something bigger than them taking place that affects us all. You've got people wanting to help other people that they didn't think of before because they see the crisis. You've got people taking care about cleanliness, about responsibility, because we have been forced into it. God is forcing us to not just say we're one nation under God, but to start acting like we're one nation under God. And the reason he's doing this according to verse 25 is that if you belong to God and you know Jesus Christ, you're part of an unshakable kingdom. faith alone in Christ alone. And that guarantees it for everyone who puts faith alone in the cross of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. Yes, I've got my eternal destiny secure, but let me tell you why else I love being a Christian. Because I belong to another realm, which he calls another kingdom, another rule of God which is not subject to the circumstances on earth. He says we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken even when things are being shaken. You know, when there's an earthquake, things tied to the ground shake. But if you're in an airplane, you're not going to shake with the ground 'cause you're not attached. What God wants to do is dislodge us from dependency on this life to him. And if he can dislodge us to him, then we're able to live this life in the way it ought to be lived. This is not chance, this is not luck. This is not just another virus, it's too big for that. It's too awesome for that. It's too unstoppable for that. This is God saying, not making the disease, but not stopping not stopping it from doing what it's doing yet because he wants a focus on him, a return to him, part of this unshakable kingdom. And I love the way he bring this home. He says, "For our God is a consuming fire". What does a consuming fire? Well, it burns stuff up, right? But why? Well, this is coming from the Old Testament, when they would take the sacrifices and put it on the altar. That was bad news for the lamb that was being slain or the goat that was being slain. That wasn't good news. But the purpose of it was powerful because that sacrifice meant sin was being dealt with, forgiveness was being granted, and eternal life was being experienced. Or life then is being offered to the people because it was being consumed. Let me bring it up to contemporary discussion. When you put on a wrinkled shirt, or you wear a wrinkled blouse, ladies, that's not what you want. So, what you gonna do? You're going to put on it some consuming heat. That's called an iron on an iron board. You take that iron, you get it hot. You put that shirt, those pants, that blouse, and you put it down there, and you begin to iron it. Why? Because you want the wrinkles consumed by the heat. If the shirt could talk, it would probably say, "Leave me alone. It is too hot up in here up in here, up in here, up in here. You smoking me to death". The shirt would complain. However, the reason why you put consuming fire on the shirt is because you want to wear it and look good in it. So, you're not trying to hurt the shirt, but you need the fire on the shirt for the shirt to be the shirt worth you wearing. God wants to put you and me on, but not with wrinkles. And so, what he does is he lets the fire hit our lives, our circumstances, the Bible calls them trials, until he irons out the wrinkles. Now, how long do you put an iron on a shirt? Till you get the wrinkles out. How long do we have to deal with all this stuff we dealing with? Until God can get the wrinkles out of America, and out of the culture, and out of the world, and out of our lives, and out of our families, and out of our circumstances. He wants to get the wrinkles out. And he'll keep the heat on no matter how many experts you get, no matter how technically advanced you are. He knows how to bring the heat in order to get the attention. So, this trial that we are going through as individuals and as a nation has created an opportunity for you to become part of this unshakable kingdom that is no longer tied, tethered, and limited to what earth has to offer. I can't guarantee that you won't feel some of the pangs of this trial that we're going through. What I am saying is that you won't be controlled by it or owned by it if you're part of this unshakable kingdom. That's why I love what he says. He says, as I wind down here in verse 25, "Since we are a part", assuming you are a part, "of this unshakable kingdom, you are to give thanks and you are to serve him". Oh, wait a minute, and he's talking about when things are shaking. Did you know you can give thanks right now? You don't give thanks for the problem, you give thanks in it. God, I want to thank you right now how you're gonna use this mess to create my miracle, how you're gonna to use this trial to give me my triumph. And God, I am gonna praise you for how you're gonna use this crisis to bring America together, bring it back to God 'cause it's wandered far away from him, and do it in such a way that you get the glory that you deserve and not just a prayer meeting in an emergency, when we forget you when the emergency is over. The last thing he says is that, "What I want you to do is I want you to serve". Hey, we're being told to wash our hands, and to wash our hands a lot. Well, as you wash your hands, I want you to wash somebody else's feet. I want you to go and serve your neighbor. Serve other members of your family. This is not a time for fighting and arguing. This is a time to serve those who desperately need your help, the homeless and the helpless. This is the time to reach out and not be selfish with your goods and have to get it all for you when some can be left for someone else. This is the time when we can be kind to one another in our nation. And this is a time when we can glorify our great God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, in closing, if you are a Christian, if you're part of this unshakable kingdom, I want you to give thanks that this pandemic does not own you 'cause God owns you. And that's why I love Matthew 6:33, which clearly says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his standard, his righteousness, and all the rest will be added to you". And in that same passage, he says, "And when you put my kingdom first, I got your back and I have your worry". Your worry will dumb down when your kingdom commitment rises up. So, don't be a casual Christian, this is a time for full-time Christians, not part-time saints. This is a time for you to be all in with the Lord. If you're here today this morning and you're listening and you're not a Christian, you haven't come to faith alone in Christ alone, don't go another day without securing your eternal destiny and having divine help in time. And the way you do that is simply acknowledging that you need a Savior because you're a sinner, acknowledging that you can't save yourself. Because if you could save yourself, you wouldn't need a Savior. So, acknowledging you are a sinner, that you need a Savior. And going to Jesus Christ, who died on the cross as your substitute, who rose from the dead, and who offers you the free gift of salvation if you would simply receive him as your personal substitute. You do that right now and you become part of the kingdom that cannot be shaken. You surrender and now learn to live under him in a great church nearby you, and then you will grow in your faith and not be shaken by what's shaking everybody else. Hey, there's good news in a bad situation. In fact, there's great news in a bad situation. Become part of the kingdom that cannot be shaken. This pandemic, as bad as it is, is subject to a greater king, who is in charge of a greater kingdom. Male: You talked about serving and praying in a hardship. Why does serving and being focused outward help me with my problem? Tony: Because of Luke 6:38, which says, "Give and it will be given back to you". So, whatever you want God to do for you, do for somebody else because God says, "I'll boomerang that". Why? Because now you've become a conduit and not a cul-de-sac. A cul-de-sac you can go to, but you can't go through. But when you're a conduit, God sees you expressing his love through you, which means you're being like him, which means he wants you to do more of it, so he'll circle it back to you so you can keep doing it. Male: Wait, say that again. That's good. Priscilla: I think that people probably think too that you talked to us like this when we were kids. Like you would stand with your Bible and preach a whole sermon. But our family dynamic was exactly like they might picture it would be with four small children. So, how did you lead in devotions when you had, you know, a two year old, and a four year old, and a six year old, and chaos around? What are you about to say, Chrystal? Chrystal: I was gonna say Jonathan was usually under the table. Priscilla: He was usually under the table, that's right. So for someone that's thinking, "Well, this is great for this Sunday morning because you all are leading us. How do I do this on Monday or on Tuesday, just gathering my family together to read a few verses of Scripture today"? Tony: Well, first of all, it became clear when we were going all through all that that y'all needed to be converted. So, that was one of the things. But what we were trying to do was emphasize principles. So, maybe read a verse, emphasize a principle, and talk about that principle with life, and try to make it age appropriate. So, you can do it based on age. There are many devotional books, Jonathan and I wrote one for families to gather around the table. But extract a principle about God and about life, attach that principle from God to life, and then let them repeat it back to you. Because that helps you to know whether they got it, whether they picked up that principle or not. And repetition is the key. If you're around the table once a year, the Bible says in Psalm 128, verse 3 that the way you grow your children is around the table. So, you don't just come to table to eat, you come to table to bless, to pray for, to encourage, to correct, and to give spiritual principle. So, grab a principle, extract that principle, give a biblical reference for that principle, and then discuss that principle to the age appropriate level of your children. Extract the principle, repeat it, have it repeated back to you. And what you're doing is you're building roots. And you're building a boomerang principle. Here's a principle every parent needs to know. When you instill biblical principles, you're instilling a boomerang so that if they do depart they, can go but so far because you've put a bungee cord over on them. And they got to bounce back because you have given something that their spirit cannot get away from. So, put it in and let the Holy Spirit keep reminding them of it. Male: Well, while dad was talking, while you were doing your sermon right here, I was looking up at you. And I think this is the first time since we were kids when we've sat at the table with just the four of us and you did what you did growing up, like gave us, this is a longer Bible lesson today, but I was thinking about that what I have in me because of you doing this your whole life. Just right here while I was looking up at you talking, I was flashing back to being a kid, and like he's done this since I can remember, where he's instilled principles in us along the way, where if we struggle, we get pulled back. So, I'm just a testament to what you're saying. He's not just giving instruction to you as we are sitting around this table. And it's just an amazing, this is a beautiful moment, the detour just started really when it comes to us and all the crazy stuff we're going through, but this moment is a beautiful view of us being able to do this together. Tony: And I have I have to add your mother was a critical part of that because when I couldn't be there, she was there. And she would do it and make sure it continued when I was absent. So, it was a team effort. Priscilla: And the beautiful thing about the two of you is that your parents were chainbreakers. They made decisions that changed the trajectory of our family. So, for somebody that's watching, maybe they are single and haven't been married yet, or don't have children of their own, or someone that their parents didn't set the pace for them. They have the opportunity to be the one that breaks the chain and sets a whole new course for their life, and you've modeled that as well. Chrystal: I was thinking as you were talking in this passage. You said, well, the Scripture says, "See to it that you do not refuse him". And you were talking about how we are part of a kingdom that's unshakable. But of course, we've had a couple of years of a lot of shaking. And I was thinking about the person who's not sitting at their table, you know, with their family. They're at their table by themselves. They're in the middle of their own difficulty, maybe like us caused by grief, and they don't have the family support like we do. Or maybe they're shaking because, like so many people recently have found out, they can't go to work. And that has immediate implications on their ability to provide, to get food, or whatever. And so, when we're looking at this passage and we talked about us sitting in the table and all of the wonderful things that have come about in our family as a result, you know, we've been shaken. And I'm thinking about all the people who are currently shaking. Can you speak to the person who is not refusing God, who has been faithful? And while they understand this principle of not being shaken, they are very much so feeling shaken 'cause I have felt shaken. Sometimes, I still do. And I know lots of people are sitting here watching us right now and they're like, "This is great and I'm trying, but I am shaking in my boots". Can you give a word to that person? Tony: To that person that you just described, I want to send you in a hurry to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40 spends most of the chapter talking about the sovereignty of God. He comes down to the last few verses and people are asking questions. They're saying, "Why am I going through this? And life isn't fair". We've all felt that. And what he tells you is that even when you do not understand why and how and all of the questions that we all ask, you must return to the character of God. Once you leave that, you're in quicksand to your emotions, to your circumstances, to your pain, to your fear. You rush back. God is good. God is faithful. God is sovereign. God is love. And even though times are bad, that's not who God is. And God makes a promise at the end of Isaiah 40, "If you will return and make your focus on me". It's like a phone that's losing its power, and you take it back to the base to get recharged. God's character is the base. And you go back to that base of the character of God. While he may not answer all your questions, he says, "What I will give you is new strength. I will give you the ability to keep going when your get up and go has gotten up and gone". That's what Job found out. He said, "Even though I've lost everything, my eyes have seen him. And now that my eyes have seen him", chapter 42, "I can handle my situation 'cause I went back to the base". Go back to God's character. If not, you'll be awash in your circumstances. Priscilla: And finally, dad, would you just speak to all of the believers who are scattered, they're not in their local churches? They remember, you know, historically that's what they've done, that's what they've always done every Sunday. Now, they're at home. Would you just talk about, number one, the role of the body of Christ globally during this time, but also individuals' responsibility and commitment to the local church even while we're gathering in homes and gathering in unconventional ways? Tony: A Christian who is not meaningfully attached to a local church is like a body part not meaningfully attached to the body. You have limited the blood flow of the Spirit of God. When you are a detached Christian, you are a disobedient saint. And God is not going to bless your disobedience when you're holding back the body of Christ because the body needs you, and you need it. You should be contributing to it time, talents, and treasures, and it should be contributing to you growth, and ministry, and support during your times of need. So, strengthen your local church, whatever your church is. Let the pastor in your leadership know you're not a SMO, Sunday Morning Only. You're not just a person who shows up occasionally. No, you are a vital part of the program of God, and you want God to use you because he blesses you when he knows he can trust you and when he knows he can use you. God is not going to skip the church house to fix the White House. So, God is waiting on the church so he can do something better in the culture. We’re being told to wash our hands, and to wash our hands a lot. Well, as you wash your hands, I want you to wash somebody else’s feet. I want you to go and serve your neighbor. Serve other members of your family. This is not a time for fighting and arguing. This is a time to serve those who desperately need your help, the homeless and the helpless. This is the time to reach out and not be selfish with our goods and have to get it all for you when some can be left for someone else. This is the time when we can be kind to one another in our nation. And this is a time when we can glorify our great God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I recently studied the 10 Commandments and took notice of number four,  “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” ( Exodus 20:8 )  I have no problem not stealing or murdering, but I often disobey the fourth commandment. I’m sure you do too. It’s not one we hear a lot in the world today. However, it is no less important than any of the others, so I want to give you five practical ways to keep the sabbath in the 21st Century. 1.  Rest and reset . The Sabbath, as God intended it, is to be a day of rest. You should observe the Sabbath on a day you don’t have to work, attend school, or anything similar. Do you ever start your week completely drained from the week before? I know I do. That’s because we don’t rest. I constantly have things going on and never have a day to relax. God gave us the gift rest, use it. “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”  Exodus 20:11 2.  Put your phone away.  I have a cell phone addiction. It’s like its an extension of my body. I’m constantly, texting, playing games, and scrolling through social media. We all are. It’s 2020. However, the world will not end if you don’t pick your phone up for a day, (at least that’s what I’m telling myself.) It is acceptable to wait a day to respond to that text or that Snap. So, leave your phone off the charger, give it to a parent or a family member, and remember, it can wait! 3.  Intentionally plan for it.  I’m used to having that seventh day of the week to get my stuff done. I treat it like an extra day to run errands or turn in assignments, but it doesn’t have to be. I can run errands after school or work any of the other six days of the week. If I manage my time better, I can easily get all my assignments done one day early. My discipleship groups can take place on another day. I just have to be intentional about getting everything done. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter.”  Exodus 20:8-10 4.  Spend time with your family.  If I don’t have a lot to do, which I won’t if I’m observing the Sabbath correctly, I get bored easily. A great way to fill that time in a restful way is to spend it with family. I can watch movies and play games all day long! (I’m sure they wouldn’t mind either.) 5.  Spend time with God.  The most important reason for the Sabbath day is spending time with God. With a clear schedule, I have all the time in the world to reflect, pray, and study God’s Word. Sometimes, I fall behind on my Bible studies throughout the week because I get so busy. The Sabbath is a great time to catch back up and just enjoy time with my Savior.

I saw a post on Facebook that compared the Coronavirus to a storm. For the majority of us, it’s just a little sprinkle. It affects us, but not in a major way. For some it’s a storm, causing excessive stress and anxiety. For others, it’s a hurricane, affecting loved ones and maybe even themselves. For those of you dealing with the sprinkle, let’s not cast away the feelings of those who are more affected than us. Within a month, the Coronavirus has completely reshaped the way I do life. I’m stuck at home, my classes are online, and all events have been canceled. I worry about allowing myself to become lazy, do the bare minimum, and just survive this trying time. Instead, my goal is to focus on the Creator, the one who holds the heavens and earth in his hands, trust that He is working out everything for my good, reflect, relax, strengthen my earthly relationships,  and  thrive . Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on the scales?   Isaiah 40:12 (CSB) Focus on the Creator.  We’ve been presented with the unique opportunity of seemingly endless free time. Some people choose to fill their time sleeping or watching movies. However, I urge you to spend time in the Word. Prioritize your relationship with God like never before. Spend the hours praying, reading, and studying God’s Word. Dive in, learn, and grow closer to your Savior than ever before. Reflect and relax.  My life is crazy. I bounce from school, where I’m heavily involved, to church, to work, and more constantly. I’m sure you can relate. I rarely have enough time to breathe, much less reflect and relax. I want my life to change as a result of this period of time, to focus on the things I want to do better, and live according to what’s most important. I don’t know about you, but I would love for my life to be less busy and more Christ-centered as a result of the Coronavirus. I have the chance to relax and spend time with my family, a luxury that was extremely rare a month ago. Strengthen your earthly relationships.  Since all this began, I’ve had to be creative about how I get in touch with my people. I teach Bible study through FaceTime. I do mission trip training through Zoom. My friends and I are constantly chatting through text or Snapchat to keep each other up to date. I challenge you to step up and be intentional. Don’t let your relationships fade away just because you can’t see your family and friends face to face. Trust His plan.  I serve the God who has always been and will always be. He created the entire universe, “ counts the number of the stars; he gives names to all of them.”   ( Psalm 147:4 ) , and still knows the number of hairs on my head;  “Indeed, the hairs of your head are all counted.” ( Luke 12:7 ) ! Is your mind blown? Mine sure is. This truth has rocked my world for a very long period of time, but recently it has become a reality instead of an idea. That very same God has a plan for me, and He has a plan for you;   “For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” ( Jeremiah 29:11 ).  A good plan. He will see me through this; I just have to trust Him and have faith.

I was first introduced to the idea of courtship while reading  The Mingling of Souls  by Matt Chandler. I was automatically intrigued. My boyfriend and I have been together for almost a year now, and I really like him. A big focus of ours has been building a relationship the right, God-honoring way. In our society, dating has become extremely difficult. People are “dating to date,” and turning away from God’s design for a romantic relationship. In order to properly address this topic, we should first define both dating and courtship. Dating is, according to the dictionary, going out with someone in whom one is romantically or sexually interested. On the other hand , courtship is dating with a purpose around people you trust . As a whole, courtship is about approaching relationships in a way that avoids the downfalls and temptations of this broken world. While dating isn’t inherently wrong, there’s a much better way to do it. “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3 While courting will look different in every relationship, there are some basic principles that should always be present in order to avoid pain and temptation. First, courting is more serious than dating.  Courtship is only applicable when both people could see their significant other being their permanent spouse.  (That doesn’t necessarily mean they will be.) In our culture, relationships are being used as entertainment. People become involved romantically with people they could never see themselves marrying. Courtship requires community.  Dating is full of temptation. Sex before marriage and even sexual activities that “aren’t really sex” have become acceptable and even encouraged in our society. Needless to say, this is not God’s design for romantic relationships. He commands we  “flee from sexual immorality”  ( 1 Corinthians 6:18 ).  Community helps defeat temptation.  It involves going out with each other’s friends, families, or even church groups. Avoid being alone with your significant other, and have an accountability partner on standby. That doesn’t mean you can never be alone. Just be sure it’s in an environment where temptation is minimal, like taking a walk or playing games in the backyard. Courtship is genuine . By being around people who hold you accountable, the couple gets to know each other in an authentic way. It is not lust-driven. You genuinely like the other person for who they are, not what they can offer you. I’ve found this extremely crucial while being in quarantine due to the Coronavirus. My relationship currently consists of Snapchat, text, and FaceTime, and I love it. I like my boyfriend for who he is as a person, not because of anything physical. He’s constantly making me laugh with his outrageous ideas and stories. Also, when you’re alone with your partner, it is easy to unintentionally put on a front. After all, you want to put your best foot forward so they like you, right? Hanging out around people you’re comfortable with, your family and friends, helps you act like yourself, and allows the other person to see the real you. Finally,  courtship seeks wisdom.  When in a relationship it can be so easy to fall head-over-heels “in love” with someone and lose sight of reality. I’ve learned that having people I trust, who are close to me, offer advice helps combat the infatuation. “ Therefore encourage one another and build one another up”  ( 1 Thessalonians 5:11 ). Additionally, if I’m always around godly friends and family, I have people who have watched the two of us throughout the entire process. They can offer great advice!

TIME magazine featured a cover story on a new initiative against Internet pornography. These anti-porn activists, though, aren’t the caricatured pursed-lip moralists. They are instead young men who say that pornography has compromised their ability to function sexually in real life. The cover struck a chord with me because I’ve seen a similar situation show up many times with couples seated in front of me for pastoral counseling. In a typical version of this scenario, a young married couple seeks help because they’ve stopped (or in some cases never started) having sex. In this typical scenario, the husband is the one who cannot maintain interest in sex. When one asks the right questions one finds that he’s been deeply immersed in pornography since adolescence. It’s not, in these situations, that he can’t get the mechanics of sex to work. It’s that he finds intimacy with a real-life woman to be, in the word that emerges repeatedly, “awkward.” Many of these men can only have sex with their wives by replaying scenes from pornography in their heads as they do so. So what’s happening here? Why does it seem that pornography ultimately kills sexual intimacy? There are, to be sure, many psychological explanations. Pornography desensitizes one to sexual stimuli, feeds the quest for endless novelty, and creates a script of expectations that does not, and cannot, meet up to the real dynamics of personal relationship. But I think there’s more afoot here. In order to understand the power of pornography, we must ask why Jesus warned us that lust is wrong. This is not because God is embarrassed about sex (see “Solomon, Song of”). God designed human sexuality not to isolate but to connect. Sexuality is intended to bond a wife and a husband and, where conditions are met, to result in newness of life, thus connecting generations. Pornography disrupts this connection, turning what is meant for intimacy and incarnational love into masturbatory aloneness. Pornography offers the psychic thrill and biological release meant for communion in the context of freedom from connection with another. It cannot keep that promise. When pornography enters into a marriage, the result is shame. By “shame,” I am not meaning the feeling of being ashamed (although that may be part of it). I mean that one is, at the most intimate level, hiding. There’s something within us that knows that sexuality is meant for something other than the manipulation of images and body parts. Pornography kills sexuality because porn isn’t just about sex and because sex isn’t just about sex. In the ancient city of Corinth, the warning was given about prostitutes in the pagan temples of the city. The prostitutes were paid for sexual activity, disconnected from covenant. They were part of a cultic system that ascribed almost mystical powers to the orgasm. How is that any different from the pornography industry of today? The Apostle Paul warned that the implications of immorality with these prostitutes weren’t just a matter of bad relational consequences or a bad witness for Christ to the outside world (although these were no doubt true too). The one who joined himself to a prostitute participated in an intangible spiritual reality, by joining Christ to the prostitute, by becoming one with her (1 Cor. 615-19). Since the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, sexual immorality is not just “naughtiness.” It is an act of temple desecration, of bringing unholy worship into a holy place of sanctuary (1 Cor. 6:19). Pornography is not just immorality; it’s occultism. That’s why pornography has such a strong pull. It’s not just a matter of biology (although that’s important). If there are, as the Bible teaches, unseen criminal spirits alive in the cosmos, then temptation is about more than just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The professing Christian, no matter how insignificant he or she may feel, is a target of interest. Sexual immorality seems to present itself randomly when, in fact, as with the young man of Proverbs, it is part of a carefully orchestrated hunting expedition (Prov. 7:32-33). The shame that results within the conscience in the aftermath of a pornographic episode—much less a lifetime of such—cannot help but break intimacy in the one-flesh union of marriage. From the beginning of the human story, shame before God leads to shame with one another (Gen. 3:7-12). Nakedness (intimacy), designed to feel natural, now feels painful and exposing—or, to put it the way many men have put it, “awkward.” If this describes you, you are hardly alone. Marriage is always difficult, always a matter of spiritual warfare (1 Cor. 7:5). In order to fight, one must first address shame, which means repenting of the desire to keep everything hidden. Find a trusted elder in your church, and seek help. The young men seeking an insurgency against the pornography they’ve grown up with are to be commended. But pornography is a lure too powerful to be fought by willpower or social movements alone. We need to bear one another’s burdens, through the energy of the Holy Spirit within the new temple of the church. That starts with being honest about what pornography is—and what it does. www.russellmoore.com . Used by permission.

Encounter | Week 2: God seeks a loving union with you. The better the relationship the deeper the union. Join Matt as he uses Exodus to explain this in more detail.

King David doubts God because his life is falling apart. He doesn't think God cares. Asaph doubts God because his world is falling apart. He doesn't think God is fair. But when life is slipping away, David and Asaph run to Almighty God to sort out their doubts and anger.