In an age where everyone is looking for alternatives to gathering together, here are 10 things that—helpful as they may be in some respect—aren’t church. If it gets a bit feisty in the points below, just know it’s because I’m challenging the gravitational pull I feel sometimes in me and I see all the time around me. So here goes. Here are 10 things that still ain’t church. 1. WATCHING CHURCH ONLINE Watching church online has exploded in the last decade. We have an online campus at our church, which I love, because for many people it’s a step into church can be if it’s a step back in if you’re out of town or on vacation, but for too many people church online is a step out of church. It’s a step toward lower devotion, not greater devotion. And to less mission, not deeper mission. If we’re really honest, for too many people church online is a step out of church, not into church. It’s a step toward lesser devotion, not greater devotion. Here’s a little exercise I want to propose. If you’re watching online because it’s easier (or honestly, you’re just lazy), get yourself into a real human community. Yes, a real church is going to be worse than your online experience. You will have to sit next to people you don’t like and who aren’t like you. You could get hurt. You’ll have to do something. And you may have to give. You’ll get into awkward conversations with people as you invite them to come with you. And you may damage the friendship as a result and feel all worried. This is church. (Have you ever read 1 Corinthians? I mean really….) Dating is easier than marriage. Especially first dating. But marriage is where the real reward is after you’ve disliked each other long enough to fall in love again and remember that in the midst of the mess God is writing a deeper, more powerful story than you could ever write on your own. A C+ real life church experience is better than an A+ online church experience because real life is messy, and it’s going to force you grow. So go find a real-life C+ church and get involved. And remember, you are not the solution to the C+ church’s problems. You’re part of the reason it’s a C+ church. So am I. A C+ real life church experience is better than an A+ online church experience because real life is messy, and it’s going to force you grow. 2. LISTENING TO A PODCAST If you want to 1.5x speed God into your life while you’re on a run or driving to work, go ahead. I love podcasting, but in the end, what it gives you is information and not much more. Podcasting (and church online) should function like online dating. Everyone I know who met online and fell in love gets married. You rarely meet someone who says “We met online, have been married for five years but we’ve never actually met.” Of course you meet, that’s the point. And I think that’s the point of church podcasts and church online…they lead to something greater: real human interaction around a mission bigger than you. But 1.5xing a sermon podcast every week probably only gives you a .5 dose of God. 1.5xing a sermon podcast every week probably only gives you a .5 dose of God. 3. VIRTUAL PASTORS Because there are thousands of churches online and thousands more who put their content online via podcasts, many people have multiple preachers they listen to and think of as their ‘pastors’. It’s great that you’re listening, or that you follow 10 megachurch pastors or local pastors on Instagram, but that’s not church. You may have a charcuterie board of favorite speakers and feel full, but true discipleship is not measured by how much you know, it’s measured by how much you love, and how much that love flows out of you and into the lives of others. True discipleship is not measured by how much you know, it’s measured by how much you love, and how much that love flows out of you and into the lives of others. 4. THAT CHARITABLE THING YOU STARTED We live in an amazing time where it’s easy to start almost anything you imagine, including a charity. Charities are amazing, but they’re not church. When the church gathers in worship, prayer, community, joins together on a mission to baptize people and grow people into the likeness of Christ…well that’s church. I have a company outside the church that helps produce this blog, my podcast, books etc. Guess what? I think of it as a ministry, and it has huge ministry implications, but it’s not the church. It never will be. Sure, we think of it in many ways as a ministry. And yes, we’re on mission to help leaders. But it ain’t church. 5. COFFEE WITH FRIENDS If you stop attending a local church, it’s easy to come up with substitutes for it, like having coffee (or meals, or whatever) with friends. The early church didn’t change the world by gathering with friends for coffee. By all means, be social. Hang out. Cultivate deep friendships. Hang out. Connect. But don’t fool yourself—that isn’t church either. 6. THE GATHERING AT YOUR HOUSE I understand that this one will be a little controversial, but most of the time, that gathering in your house ain’t church either. Even if you gather to pray, study scripture, fellowship and celebrate communion, it may still not be the church. Why? Too often house church functions as a community of people who are fleeing the church, who have been hurt by the church, or who are rejecting the local churches in their neighbourhood. Rarely (I mean rarely, it’s not like it never happens) do I see a house church really embrace the full mission of the church, which would include evangelism baptizing new disciples, community service, giving financially beyond itself and an outward focus that brings more people into the Kingdom. If that happens—and occasionally it does—then that is church. The problem of course, is that when you embrace all of that, it won’t be long until you outgrow your living room…and you start gathering in public space because you can’t squeeze into a home anymore. But if it’s just the eight of you year after year after year after year…it probably ain’t church. 7. A WALK IN THE WOODS/ON THE BEACH I love nature. My wife really loves nature. Almost all of us feel closer to God in nature. And some personality types feel extremely close to God in nature—maybe even closer than they feel in church. But your subjective feeling is no substitute for a timeless mission. God didn’t just call us to feel him. He calls us to serve him. Your subjective feeling is no substitute for a timeless mission. God didn’t just call us to feel him. He calls us to serve him. 8. FAMILY DEVOTIONS I love my family. You love yours. And family devotions are wonderful. When you’re on vacation, I get that you may do family devotions on a Sunday rather than a long drive into a local church. But a steady diet of family devotions—even daily devotions—isn’t church because your family isn’t baptizing people, reaching out into the community, serving, or even moving beyond itself to engage the world for which Christ died. Authentic mission has to go beyond you to someone else and embrace and include them. Family devotions may be sincere and convenient, but they’re no substitute for the Kingdom of God. 9. CHURCH SURFING Church shopping is one thing. But I’ve met a growing number of people who are doing what I can only call church surfing. They may go to the 9 a.m. service at one church, and then sample the later service at another, and then they switch it up against next weekend, adding maybe a third church into the mix. It’s like serial dating with no engagement, commitment or even investment. Once again, it’s an expression of a consumer culture—take, but feel no obligation to give. Of course, a significant life is rarely measured by what you consume. It’s measured by what you contribute. Church surfing contributes almost nothing to the true mission of the church. A significant life is rarely measured by what you consume. It’s measured by what you contribute. 10. ANONYMITY So let’s say you show up at the same church whenever you attend, but you sit in the back row, anonymously. You don’t engage, don’t serve, don’t invite, don’t join the mission. You just…sit. That’s not much different than just consumption, except it’s analog, not digital. It’s hard to build the future of the church on someone who consumes and never contributes. And it’s hard to build a meaningful, resilient life, when all you do is consume, not contribute. So contribute. Serve. Invite. Give. Do community. You’re called to be the church, not just attend one. You’re called to be the church, not just attend one. THREE QUESTIONS If you find your church attendance declining or evaporating, ask yourself: Are my current patterns leading me to greater devotion to Jesus? Am I serving, inviting, giving and helping to make new disciples? Is this really about me, or is it about seeing the Kingdom of God flourish and expand around me? If you’re a church leader, I hope this helped frame or at least spark some thinking on what’s happening around us, within us and in our culture. In an era where everything is become hyper-individualist and hyper-convenient, it’s wonderful to get together and participate in something that inconveniences me, challenges me, stretches me, grows me, makes me uncomfortable and does something great for the world in the name of Jesus. When the early church did just that, it changed not only millions of lives, it changed history. www.careynieuwhof.com . Used by permission of the author.

It was during a family dance party to Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” that our patriarch commented about the vapid lyrics. “They just don’t make them like they used to,” he concluded. I teased back: “Sure, because ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘Tutti Frutti’ and ‘Duke of Earl’ were so profound! Musical preferences are profoundly etched into us. One generation’s trash is another generation’s treasure. Modern worship has a bullseye on it. It’s a fairly regular occurrence that I read a blog or a reflection in a book decrying the insipid lyrics we sing in our churches or hear a complaint from a congregant about modern worship. Last week I defended the treasure of hymns for the church. This is my defense of modern worship. A few disclaimers: 1) I am not claiming that all modern worship is good: there is a plenty that isn’t good; 2) I am not making an argument that modern worship is any better than any other era of music; 3) I am not making an argument that your church should primarily sing modern worship; there’s nothing wrong with a church that chooses songs that are several decades or several centuries old. With that said, here are four reasons that we should enjoy modern worship: 1) Modern worship obeys God’s command to sing a new song. We are commanded to sing new songs to God. The Psalmist tells us, “Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth!”[i] There will never be a moment for all of eternity that the well of worship will run dry. God is infinite and so our praise is endless. We are called to participate in new expressions of praise to our limitless God and join in singing with all we are! 2) Modern worship is musically fresh. Modern worship’s structure is typically: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus. This lends to music that is slightly more musically diverse than classic hymns, but slightly less lyrically diverse. Why do I say that? Because there are typically three musical sections of a modern worship song, with a chorus that repeats, while most hymns repeat the same tune three to five times, but have different lyrics for each verse. So hymns typically have more lyrical content while musically, modern worship is more varied. It should be noted that if you go back further into the church’s musical tradition (early church music and Gregorian chant), those were primarily based on the Psalms and were, in general, far less lyrically rich than even modern worship.[ii] In fact, in some of the Psalms themselves, you find quite a bit of repetition: see Psalm 100 and 150 for example. But modern worship engages a broader swath of music and does so with more diversity in each song. 3) Modern worship is jubilant. One surprise when you dig into what Old Testament worship looked like is that it was loud. In the Psalms we are told to “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.”[iii] We are told to “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!”[iv] And, every drummer’s favorite verse: “Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!”[v] While there are certainly hymns that live up to this call, on the whole, modern worship excels in jubilant worship. This of course isn’t to state that worship shouldn’t be reverent and even somber at times. A healthy worshiping body includes both calm and contemplative moments as well as dynamic moments of praise and weeks that are more reverent and weeks that are more jubilant. Most of us have a mode of worship that is more comfortable for us: quieter and meditative or louder and jubilant. It’s healthy for us to grow in both directions as worshipers. 4) Modern worship is theologically strong. This declaration might surprise you the most. In fact, the most pointed accusation I hear against modern worship is that it is theologically weak. Granted, by its very nature, modern worship has not been vetted by time as our favorite hymns have been. However, it takes only a cursory glance at hymns to find hymns that are very theologically weak and likewise it takes only a cursory glance at modern worship to find theologically rich songs. Let’s consider a few theologically weak hymns. In “He Lives,” we sing that we know Jesus lives because “He lives within my heart”: that places the foundation of our beliefs in our feelings, not on the Word of God. In “Away in a Manger” we sing that “the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes”: that smacks of a Savior who is not fully human. “I’ll Fly Away” can encourage escapist theology. “In the Garden” is sentimental and leans toward an individualistic faith when we sing “And the joy we share as we tarry there none has ever known.” Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not for a minute suggesting that the hymns don’t contain some of the most powerful and rich lyrics ever composed. They do! “Holy, Holy, Holy,” “Amazing Grace,” “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise,” and on and on! Gems all! And certainly there is dross in modern worship. But there is a lot less dross you might think if you examine modern worship closely. A sampling of the top of the charts of modern worship finds songs rich in biblical truth. Consider some of the rich theology in the following modern worship songs: What a Beautiful Name by Hillsong You were the Word at the beginning One With God the Lord Most High Your hidden glory in creation Now revealed in You our Christ This is Amazing Grace by Phil Wickham Who brings our chaos back into order Who makes the orphan a son and daughter The King of Glory, the King of Glory Lord I Need You by Matt Maher Where sin runs deep Your grace is more Where grace is found is where You are Where You are, Lord, I am free Holiness is Christ in me King of My Heart by Bethel Let the King of my heart Be the mountain where I run The fountain I drink from Oh, He is my song Let the King of my heart Be the shadow where I hide The ransom for my life Oh, He is my song Cornerstone by Hillsong When darkness seems to hide His face I rest on His unchanging grace In every high and stormy gale My anchor holds within the veil If heaven is a place where every tribe and tongue are gathered, heaven will be a place of worship that is diverse beyond our comprehension. It is to our credit, then, when our musical preferences grow. I have been richly fed by Gregorian chant, traditional hymns, classical music, spirituals, urban and traditional gospel, bluegrass worship, as well as contemporary and modern worship. In heaven we will get to appreciate them all—and more! Let’s appreciate the gift of all types of worship God has granted the church, and lean into preparing for heaven a bit more by appreciating more and more of the songs we get to sing for eternity! Next week, I want to pick up one final objection against a subset of modern songs that I didn’t have room to properly address here: that they are too intimate and turn Jesus into a heavenly boyfriend. The other two parts of this three-part series can be found here: In Defense of Hymns [i] Psalm 96:1 [ii] https://www.worshiplibrary.com/library/music-and-the-arts-in-christian-worship/music-in-worship/a-brief-history-of-music-in-worship/ [iii] Psalm 33:3 [iv] Psalm 47:1 [v] Psalm 150:5 www.thebeehive.live . Used by permission.

We’re lonelier than ever, some say. We’re not lonely enough, say others. They’re both right. THE PROBLEMS OF LONELINESS AND COMMUNITY University of California, Berkeley, sociologist Claude S. Fischer writes that the loneliness epidemic is a “false story.” Yes, loneliness is a problem, he contends, but we have no evidence that such has accelerated in recent years. And yet, I wonder, how else does one explain, among many other factors, statistics showing a dramatic increase in suicides over the past twenty years? Professor Fischer further contends that those warning of a loneliness crisis are wrong to suggest that “lonely people are tearing America apart.” He writes, “While ‘loners’ are occasional shooters, they often become so after getting connected to a movement.” But that’s exactly the point. Few are arguing that the loneliness we see most often across our country results in mass shootings. Instead, the argument is that loneliness manifests itself in, among other things, the sort of rancid pseudo-political debate we see on social media, a sort of angry trolling that has now turned itself into the political process itself. The fact that the occasional “lonely shooter” becomes connected to a movement before turning violent is exactly that about which many are warning. Where there are not real communities, where people are genuinely connected via neighborhoods or churches or unions or civic organizations, people craving connection will seek to find substitutes, often through the hive-mind of social media or through the debased artificiality of pornography or, sometimes, even through violent, radical movements. I was drawn even more to a letter from a woman in Chicago, who referenced Sasse’s “hometown gym on a Friday night” feeling that comes from intact communities offering authentic connection. The correspondent, Susan E. Anderson of Chicago, writes that she has had that feeling and that it’s “oppressive” and “depressing.” In her hometown, she writes, those Friday nights were for boys’ basketball games, where the only place for the girls was to cheer for the boys. Since moving to the big city, she notes, she has found genuine friendships over a range of interests. “Loneliness hurts,” she concludes “But most of all, it hurts when we’re not connected to ourselves or when our real selves are not valued by our communities.” She has a point. Many communities are, in fact, smothering, seeking to absorb the individual in the collective. That’s why, in the last century, Robert Nisbet asserted that genuine connectedness allows the flourishing of both the individual and the community, and that the alternative to this sort of community is, ultimately, statism. He was, and is, right. A lack of genuine intimacy (physical or emotional or spiritual) is what leads to the temptation toward pornography. And a lack of genuine community leads to the herd. That’s why more and more on the Right are drawn toward blood-and-soil ethno-nationalist populism and more and more on the Left are drawn toward populist socialism. And it’s why “dissenters” are so harshly excommunicated, even if those dissenters are simply those who still hold to what their ideological movements have always said they believe. THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY That’s why a Christian vision of humanity is necessary. The pattern of the Christian life is, of course, Jesus himself (Rom. 8:29). Jesus forms a community, the church, to which he is organically connected (Jn. 15:5; Eph. 5:32), and he is the lonely man of faith, often walking away from the community alone and bidding his followers to do likewise. Abraham was called to leave his father’s land; the apostles were called away from their father’s nets. Too much aloneness, “I am and there is no other” (Isa. 47:10), is the way of the devil. But too much community, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” (Rev. 13:4), is too. The gospel reaches us personally and individually, one sheep at a time (Matt. 18:12), but then places us in a flock (Jn. 10:16). Like a body, the church functions together, serving one another and worshipping the same Lord (1 Cor. 12:12-31). And yet, for the sake of future community, lonely prophetic voices must often stand alone, calling the people away from the herd and toward the narrow way (Gal. 1:10, 2:5). The fact that the most “Christianized” places in this country are also among the loneliest should be alarming to us of just how far we have drifted from seeing the biblical picture of the gospel, which balances for us the personal and the communal, the one and the many, the individual and the community. In Christ alone, we are in Christ, together. And in Christ alone, we are in Christ, alone. www.russellmoore.com .

Is it biblical to pray for yourself? Jesus did! His prayer in John 17:1-5 gives us a model for how we should pray for ourselves. Drew Anderson writes: Jesus starts His prayer with a request for the Father to glorify Him. He then moves to praying for His disciples and their actions within the world. Finally, He prays for the unity of all those who might believe in Him unto the salvation of their souls. This prayer is nestled at the end of His life and conclusion of His public ministry–which only lasted approximately three years. All throughout His public ministry, His message was consistent and clear, “…a kingdom is coming.” Listen to His words as He began His ministry… “…Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near.” Matthew 4:17 The problem for those who were hearing this message then, as well as for those of us today is that no one is able to enter into this kingdom because of its high standards of entry. The gate isn’t swung open for anyone to just drop in. No, no, there is a standard of righteousness required for any and all people. In other words, you have to be as righteous as God to enter His kingdom. And that’s where and why Jesus entered our world. Thus, God, in His wisdom, sent His Son into our world so that through His perfect–righteous–life, He could offer Himself for us who are not righteous, in order to stand as a substitute in our place–paying the penalty for all our sin (incidentally, a penalty is incurred, because the Law or standard has been broken–by everyone. God doesn’t turn His head or wink at anyone breaking His standards). And so, the result of His perfect–righteous–life sacrificed on behalf of (or in the place of) unrighteous people means that His righteousness is now available to any who—by grace through faith—believe that His sacrifice (dying on the cross) was for them in particular–and they accept and believe that this is God’s only provision made for them in order to be a part of His kingdom. No law to keep. No standard to maintain. No sin to avoid. It’s a simple yet God-sparking recognition of who you are in light of who God is, and a turning from depending upon yourself to be righteous (i.e. trying your best to be good), and turning to God’s provision–Jesus. The standard (or Law of God) of entry into God’s kingdom is not intrinsically bad or an impossible requirement handed down by a hateful god, but was rather given because of transgressions that served as a tutor until Jesus came, as well as pointed (as a copy and shadow) to its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. And so, Jesus spent His earthly ministry preaching about the coming kingdom, as well as keeping its standard of entry (the Mosaic Law) for us! In the meantime, He trained His disciples for His departure. And, it was at the end of this training–just before Jesus’ sacrifice for all humanity–that John’s gospel provides insight into a most intimate moment of…The Prayer of Jesus. Jesus’ Prayer for Himself “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” John 17:1-5 Jesus begins His prayer acknowledging that His life—His purpose—has reached its final point. He thus requests that God glorify Him as a result of the completion of His earthly work in fulfilling the kingdom’s standards (God’s Law) perfectly. This glory request is not strange for Christ to ask of the Father, because He had previously (and eternally) dwelt in the same glory with the Father before the world existed as the second person of the Trinity. Since Jesus emptied Himself of this glory by becoming a servant and sacrifice in order to fulfill the kingdom’s standards (or Law), He is now requesting that it be restored. In other words, Jesus is stating in so many words that all of history has pointed to this moment, and its ultimate fulfillment is now reaching its apex. Mankind’s righteousness has always been short of God’s righteousness, and as history has unfolded this reality has only proven its point. Therefore, Jesus–the God-man–came to deal with it, and to offer His life of righteousness to all who are unrighteous, so that those who are unrighteous could enter into His kingdom without fear of its perfect righteous standard. Therefore, the prayer of Jesus begins with profound importance–God is dealing with mankind’s failure…Jesus is proclaiming this new reality for all of humanity… Thus, Jesus prays… My mission is reaching its completion… Restore my glory… Amen and Amen. How Does This Apply To Us Today? Because Jesus ended perfectly what He began (thus fulfilling His mission on earth), you and I now have hope for life after death, as well as purpose (and mission) in (and for) our life today. Our Lord–King Jesus–is not a defeated god, but One who reigns in all His glory, and who stands in our place–ever mediating on our behalf. That’s our God…that’s our Lord…that’s our King, Jesus! Mission fulfilled. Glory restored. Amen! Therefore, worship. Worship your King Jesus who forever receives worship! Worship Him, and let the world see you do it! www.staffandstones.com . Used by permission.

Have you ever considered the words of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who, when told by Moses to let Israel go, responded, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2). As rebellious as Pharaoh was, this was actually a good answer. To Pharaoh, the Lord was an alien god, not part of the Egyptian pantheon. He, literally, did not know him. But, through a series of judgments, God worked miracles against Pharaoh stating, “By this you will know that I am the Lord” (Exodus 7:17). Through his judgments, God took Pharaoh from knowing nothing of the Lord to knowing who he was, though he ended up condemned. What process have you gone through to come to know the Lord? I’d like to suggest that there are six stages we go through to come to the knowledge of who God is, and specifically, to come to know him intimately. In your Christian experience you should be able to identify where you are on this scale. Now, I don’t want you to think that this is some gnostic means of gaining some secret knowledge. Not at all. What I’m about to share is nothing more than a helpful description designed to aid us in coming to know the Lord intimately. It is not exhaustive, but it can be helpful. Here are the six levels of knowledge that we grapple with as we come to know the Lord. Theoretical knowledge Learned knowledge Revelatory knowledge Experiential knowledge Practical knowledge Intimate knowledge First, a little background. During biblical times, people of the Old Testament had a view of knowledge that was a bit different from ours. “The people of Old Testament times viewed knowledge as a relational understanding of the present based on an experiential understanding of the past.” (1) Most things, to ancient people’s, were an expression or working out of a deity’s will. For Ancient Near East people, whatever happened on earth had a parallel to what happened in the heavens. The two were not as separate as what we think of today. This is very much like African or Asian animism is today. Animism believes that whatever happens in the spiritual realm has a corresponding event in the earthly as well. In New Testament times, the ancients carried the Ancient Near East ideas forward, but expanded upon them with a different kind of knowledge sourced from the Greeks. “For the Greeks, knowledge was based on reason and philosophy. The most common verb meaning ‘to know’ (????, oida) in the New Testament literally means ‘to have seen’ and as such is related to the audience’s having experienced something in the past prior to knowing it in the present.” (2) In other words, something could not be known in the present without also having knowing it in the past. The Greeks also believed that true knowledge was that which was reasoned out in the mind, but not necessarily experienced. So, where does this take us biblically? Biblically speaking there is knowledge we can learn, but there is some knowledge that without the aid of God, can never be attained. This is Revelatory Knowledge. Let me break down the six kinds of knowledge with a little definition to help you understand what the Christian goes through in the development of his knowledge of God. Theoretical knowledge applies when we speculate about spiritual things but have no true knowledge of them. This includes wondering about the afterlife, if God exists, what God might be like, and so on. Interestingly, the unregenerate person doesn’t usually wonder about knowing God. He usually wonders about going to heaven or some celestial place after he dies. It’s not about God. It’s about himself. It is also the beginning of inquiry. Many people wonder about spiritual things but never move beyond asking questions that seem to them to have no answer. Learned knowledge is when we begin to research spiritual things, specifically, reading the Bible to learn about God, or come to know other, seemingly, spiritual people and interact with them about what they think are spiritual things. Revelatory knowledge is the knowledge of God we get when he reveals himself to us. We cannot discover God on our own (Romans 8:8, John 14:6), he must reveal himself to us in order for us to gain knowledge of him (Matthew 16:17). Without revelatory knowledge there is no way anyone can know God personally. Experiential knowledge comes when we have made a commitment to Christ and begin to apply scripture to our life. We begin to experience God’s love and grow in the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts during the process of revelatory knowledge (John 16:8-11), but as we grow in Christ that conviction continues as the Holy Spirit brings to our minds issues that need addressing, such as sin to repent of or situations where we can express trust in God or share our faith. Practical knowledge comes as we mature in Christ and discover the practices of the faith and how to live day-by-day in a way that pleases God. This happens over time until we hit the ultimate in knowledge. Intimate knowledge is to become close to the Lord in our relationship and in the application of scripture. God wants us to know him intimately. This is more than knowing about God. This is knowing God personally. This is when our thoughts, feelings, and actions continually turn toward the Lord, his ways, his word, and his kingdom. Christ becomes first in all things in all we think, feel, and do. This is true love for the Lord. The key to all of this is right in the middle, Revelatory Knowledge. Many people, having never come to Christ, go through these five other steps (in a general way) if they are interested in what they think are spiritual things. This applies to any religious idea or system: Buddhism, Islam, even atheism. They seek, they learn, they experience what they learn, they apply it practically, and even become intimate or well-educated about it. But without the revelation of Jesus to us by the Holy Spirit, all of this so-called spiritual knowledge is incorrect, wrong. No one gets to God through wrong knowledge. That would be like a stranger knocking on my door asking for Peter. I’m not Peter. He may have made a series of discoveries that led him to my home, but not knowing me correctly means I’m not letting him in the door. So too, God does not let us into his heaven without a right knowledge of who Christ is. Now, the ultimate goal of this progression of knowledge is the last of the six. God wants us to have intimate knowledge of himself. This is because Christianity is not simply a matter of rules or philosophy. Christianity is a matter of relationship. God not only wants us to know him personally, but to know him intimately. “Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:24). Intimate knowledge requires time to know God in a deeper way. “I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning” (I John 2:14). “From the beginning” indicates a long period of time. Application Now, where does this take you in your relationship with the Lord? Have you ever thought in terms of Intimate Knowledge of God? For many people who claim to be Christians, this is where they stumble. We study the scripture, but don’t have an intimate knowledge of God. Jesus talked about this when he rebuked the Jewish leaders, saying, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). All of these types of knowledge are actually tied together. We cannot have an intimate experience with the Lord without Experiential Knowledge or Practical Knowledge. If we think we can, then perhaps we don’t know the Lord at all. So, where are you on this scale of knowledge? Where do you want to be? What is the Lord convicting you of right now? —— (1) (2) Garrett, J. K. (2016). Knowledge. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Bro

Paul teaches in Galatians 5:24 through 6:10 that true spirituality is manifested in a loving concern for others. The crucified life is a life of love and self-sacrifice. Help those beneath you. Honor those above you. Help those around you.

Empathy does not appear automatically. Nor does it develop in a smooth, steady progression. Indwelling sin is a constant impediment (as illustrated throughout the Book of Proverbs), which requires a daily Outpouring of the Gospel. In addition, o ur brains are not fully wired until our mid-twenties. As a result, a child’s ability to show empathy develops in phases. For example, affective empathy (the ability to feel what others are feeling) usually develops in a child’s early years, while cognitive empathy (the ability to imagine what others are experiencing) develops later. In fact, most girls don’t see a steady rise in cognitive empathy until age 13. In boys, steady growth is often delayed until around age 15. Unfortunately, many boys experience a corresponding decline in affective empathy between ages 13 and 16. This may result in part because of a spurt of testosterone during puberty, which can spark a desire for dominance and power. Stuffing emotions is also aggravated by pressure to “act like a man,” which is often portrayed as being tough, detached, and unshakeable. Teen boys may also suppress empathy so they can join in joking and teasing with peers—the social glue for boys—even if it means hurting others’ feelings. Practical Ways to Promote Empathy Although some of these growing pains are unavoidable, there is a great deal that parents and other influential adults can do to encourage steady growth in empathy, which is a key component of other-awareness and relational wisdom . Here are few practical tips on how to help children develop this quality. At All Ages · Recognize your unique role as a parent. Biblical teaching, countless behavioral studies, and personal experience all confirm that parents are uniquely positioned to teach empathy to their children. One of the best ways to do so is to develop warm, open, and safe relationships, and to model healthy emotions and empathetic interactions with those around them. · Be patient and forgiving as your child stumbles and grows in relational skills. None of us is able to throw off sin and develop a godly character instantaneously. Since it’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4), it is crucial that we offer the same grace to our children (Col. 3:12-15). Here are two short film clips that illustrate how redemptive parental patience can be: Cinderella Man and Spanglish. · Weave the gospel into daily life. God’s gracious sacrifice of his Son for our salvation was the most compassionate event in history. Refer to the gospel regularly in practical ways, not only as the source of our salvation but also as the ultimate model of empathy and the key to our ability to grow in Christ-like character (Titus 2:11-14). · Pray without ceasing, asking God to give your children loving, sensitive, empathetic hearts, and to give you grace to model these qualities in your life. · Establish a secure and trusting relationship with your child, showing the same unchangeable commitment to and love for him that God shows to you (Heb. 13:5). · Be open with your own emotions (John 11:35). Use the READ acrostic to show your children that it’s OK to express emotions in reasonable ways, and that there are constructive ways to control and channel them. · Model empathy (1 Cor. 11:1). Apply the EMPATHY acrostic on a daily basis to demonstrate empathy for your children and for other people. With Young Children · Affirm empathetic behavior in your children. When my grandson wiped away his mother’s tears, I said, “Andrew, what a good thing to do! You heard your mommy crying and felt sorry for her. You wanted to comfort her the way she has comforted you. Wiping her tears and saying kind words to her has made her heart glad again.” Such praise sends the message, “This is good behavior; keep doing it more and more!” · Use Bible stories to illustrate empathy and show that this quality is pleasing to God (e.g., Ruth 1:7-19; 1Sam. 20:41). · Empathize with your child. (“Are you feeling scared of the bee? I think he’s just looking for some food to take back to his home, but he is pretty close and he can sting us. That’s scary, so I’ll stay close until he flies away.”) · Talk with your child about others’ feelings. (“Kristen looks sad because no one is playing with her. She probably feels lonely. If you asked her to play with us that would make her happy … and me too.”) · Read stories about feelings. If emotions are not specifically described, ask your child to guess what different characters are feeling at various points in the story. · Use pretending to introduce older toddlers to emotion and empathy. For example, hold two of your child’s stuffed toys in your hands and have one of them do something that hurts the others’ feelings. Ask your child how the hurt animal feels, and what the other animal could do to take away the hurt. · Use role plays to enable your children to practice and learn empathy. Our Young Peacemaker Curriculum contains illustrated stories and role plays that are well-suited for such use. · Talk openly about your child’s unpleasant emotions, such as sadness, disappointment, fear, or anger. Don’t simply condemn the emotion or try to fix the situation. Instead use it as an opportunity to help your child learn how to label her emotions, to understand why they’ve arisen, and to choose a constructive response. (“Are you afraid to go in the swimming pool. That’s OK. I understand, I felt the same way the first time my dad took me swimming. Would you like to just sit on the side of the pool, or do you want me to hold you and walk around in the pool for a little while?”) With Older Children · Describe how other people have shown empathy to you, and explain why you appreciated it. · Use books and movies to help children to develop both cognitive empathy and affective empathy (“Why do you think that character did that?” “What is that person probably thinking and feeling?” “If you were in her shoes, what would you be tempted to do?”) You’ll find a wide variety of short film clips in our RW Movie Blog section that show how to use movies this way. · Use news reports and current events in the same way . (“How do you think those people felt when their homes were destroyed by a tornado?” “How do think our soccer players felt when they lost that game? If you were their coach, what would you say to them?”) · Study and discuss famous empathetic people, such as Abraham Lincoln, Florence Nightingale, Albert Schweitzer, Hudson Taylor, Corrie ten Boom, Oskar Schindler, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Theresa. · Expose children to situations that stimulate healthy emotions and compassionate actions, such as volunteering in the church nursery, mentoring a younger child, visiting a nursing home, working at a local rescue mission, or joining a mission project that serves suffering people. Beneficial Life Outcomes Developing empathy is a life-long, time-consuming endeavor, but it is worth the effort. Here are just a few of the long-term benefits of raising empathetic children. · Their lives are more likely to reflect the character of Christ and be pleasing to God (Eph. 5:1-2). · Protecting, comforting, and helping others will come more naturally to them (1Thess. 5:14-15). Just think how much you’ll appreciate these qualities when your children become your caretakers someday! · They will have greater social competence, which contributes to deeper friendships and more intimate and stable marriages. · Behavioral studies show a direct correlation between empathy and knowing right from wrong, as well as creative thinking and problem solving. · They will be more skilled at team-building, collaborating, negotiating, and conflict resolution, all of which contribute to vocational success and advancement. · Empathetic people are more likely to be humble, open-minded, and able to connect with and learn from a variety of people, all of which contribute to being a life-long learner. None of these skills or benefits develops overnight, but with patient and consistent teaching and modeling, both you and your children can experience steady growth in this vital relational quality. “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind” (1 Pet. 3:8).

Have you ever considered the words of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who, when told by Moses to let Israel go, responded, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2). As rebellious as Pharaoh was, this was actually a good answer. To Pharaoh, the Lord was an alien god, not part of the Egyptian pantheon. He, literally, did not know him. But, through a series of judgments, God worked miracles against Pharaoh stating, “By this you will know that I am the Lord” (Exodus 7:17). Through his judgments, God took Pharaoh from knowing nothing of the Lord to knowing who he was, though he ended up condemned. What process have you gone through to come to know the Lord? I’d like to suggest that there are six stages we go through to come to the knowledge of who God is, and specifically, to come to know him intimately. In your Christian experience you should be able to identify where you are on this scale. Now, I don’t want you to think that this is some gnostic means of gaining some secret knowledge. Not at all. What I’m about to share is nothing more than a helpful description designed to aid us in coming to know the Lord intimately. It is not exhaustive, but it can be helpful. Here are the six levels of knowledge that we grapple with as we come to know the Lord. Theoretical knowledge Learned knowledge Revelatory knowledge Experiential knowledge Practical knowledge Intimate knowledge First, a little background. During biblical times, people of the Old Testament had a view of knowledge that was a bit different from ours. “The people of Old Testament times viewed knowledge as a relational understanding of the present based on an experiential understanding of the past.” (1) Most things, to ancient people’s, were an expression or working out of a deity’s will. For Ancient Near East people, whatever happened on earth had a parallel to what happened in the heavens. The two were not as separate as what we think of today. This is very much like African or Asian animism is today. Animism believes that whatever happens in the spiritual realm has a corresponding event in the earthly as well. In New Testament times, the ancients carried the Ancient Near East ideas forward, but expanded upon them with a different kind of knowledge sourced from the Greeks. “For the Greeks, knowledge was based on reason and philosophy. The most common verb meaning ‘to know’ (????, oida) in the New Testament literally means ‘to have seen’ and as such is related to the audience’s having experienced something in the past prior to knowing it in the present.” (2) In other words, something could not be known in the present without also having knowing it in the past. The Greeks also believed that true knowledge was that which was reasoned out in the mind, but not necessarily experienced. So, where does this take us biblically? Biblically speaking there is knowledge we can learn, but there is some knowledge that without the aid of God, can never be attained. This is Revelatory Knowledge. Let me break down the six kinds of knowledge with a little definition to help you understand what the Christian goes through in the development of his knowledge of God. Theoretical knowledge applies when we speculate about spiritual things but have no true knowledge of them. This includes wondering about the afterlife, if God exists, what God might be like, and so on. Interestingly, the unregenerate person doesn’t usually wonder about knowing God. He usually wonders about going to heaven or some celestial place after he dies. It’s not about God. It’s about himself. It is also the beginning of inquiry. Many people wonder about spiritual things but never move beyond asking questions that seem to them to have no answer. Learned knowledge is when we begin to research spiritual things, specifically, reading the Bible to learn about God, or come to know other, seemingly, spiritual people and interact with them about what they think are spiritual things. Revelatory knowledge is the knowledge of God we get when he reveals himself to us. We cannot discover God on our own (Romans 8:8, John 14:6), he must reveal himself to us in order for us to gain knowledge of him (Matthew 16:17). Without revelatory knowledge there is no way anyone can know God personally. Experiential knowledge comes when we have made a commitment to Christ and begin to apply scripture to our life. We begin to experience God’s love and grow in the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts during the process of revelatory knowledge (John 16:8-11), but as we grow in Christ that conviction continues as the Holy Spirit brings to our minds issues that need addressing, such as sin to repent of or situations where we can express trust in God or share our faith. Practical knowledge comes as we mature in Christ and discover the practices of the faith and how to live day-by-day in a way that pleases God. This happens over time until we hit the ultimate in knowledge. Intimate knowledge is to become close to the Lord in our relationship and in the application of scripture. God wants us to know him intimately. This is more than knowing about God. This is knowing God personally. This is when our thoughts, feelings, and actions continually turn toward the Lord, his ways, his word, and his kingdom. Christ becomes first in all things in all we think, feel, and do. This is true love for the Lord. The key to all of this is right in the middle, Revelatory Knowledge. Many people, having never come to Christ, go through these five other steps (in a general way) if they are interested in what they think are spiritual things. This applies to any religious idea or system: Buddhism, Islam, even atheism. They seek, they learn, they experience what they learn, they apply it practically, and even become intimate or well-educated about it. But without the revelation of Jesus to us by the Holy Spirit, all of this so-called spiritual knowledge is incorrect, wrong. No one gets to God through wrong knowledge. That would be like a stranger knocking on my door asking for Peter. I’m not Peter. He may have made a series of discoveries that led him to my home, but not knowing me correctly means I’m not letting him in the door. So too, God does not let us into his heaven without a right knowledge of who Christ is. Now, the ultimate goal of this progression of knowledge is the last of the six. God wants us to have intimate knowledge of himself. This is because Christianity is not simply a matter of rules or philosophy. Christianity is a matter of relationship. God not only wants us to know him personally, but to know him intimately. “Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:24). Intimate knowledge requires time to know God in a deeper way. “I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning” (I John 2:14). “From the beginning” indicates a long period of time. Application Now, where does this take you in your relationship with the Lord? Have you ever thought in terms of Intimate Knowledge of God? For many people who claim to be Christians, this is where they stumble. We study the scripture, but don’t have an intimate knowledge of God. Jesus talked about this when he rebuked the Jewish leaders, saying, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). All of these types of knowledge are actually tied together. We cannot have an intimate experience with the Lord without Experiential Knowledge or Practical Knowledge. If we think we can, then perhaps we don’t know the Lord at all. So, where are you on this scale of knowledge? Where do you want to be? What is the Lord convicting you of right now? —— (1) (2) Garrett, J. K. (2016). Knowledge. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Bro

Spiritual Weapons “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh . . .” 2 Corinthians 10:4— that is, they are not merely human. This is not a mere battle between one philosopher with some human wisdom against another philosopher with some human wisdom. “. . . but [the weapons of our warfare] have divine power to destroy strongholds.” Then he defines this powerful stronghold-destroying activity in two steps. “[First] we destroy arguments and every lofty [or proud] opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and [second we] take every thought captive.” It’s like when you move in a battle: you destroy the fortress, and then you take captives. We “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5. Stated, Not Commanded The first thing I think that needs to be said is, when we apply this to ourselves, we have to make sure we are in the right place in the text. When Paul says first that he is destroying arguments and arrogant opinions against God and second that he is taking thoughts or minds captive, we need to realize that it is the minds and thoughts of others. He is not talking about taking his own thoughts captive. It is the thoughts of others. In other words, it’s as is if Paul is saying, “I am visiting these rascals in Corinth who are so boastful in their philosophical prowess that I am going to demolish them — not by counter philosophy, but by divine power. I am going to show them power, and they are going to collapse in their thinking. And then I am going to take their thoughts captive so that they now obey Christ.” So, Paul is the warrior, and the enemies are those people whose minds and arguments are proud and lifted up against God. And when Paul defeats those minds and arguments in the power of the Holy Spirit, their thoughts and their minds are taken captive, and they become people with the mind of Christ or obedient to Christ. This is a statement about what Paul is doing to his opponents. He is demolishing their worldview and then taking their defeated thoughts captive for Christ so that they become right thinkers — obedient in the way they think about Christ. How to Capture Thoughts There is a way to apply this to ourselves. We just have to get ourselves in the right place, and the place we belong in is the group whose opinions and thoughts Paul is trying to demolish. That is where we belong. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive. We should pray, “Okay, Paul. Here I am. Do your demolishing work on me. Do your captive-taking work on me. Destroy in my mind any false or proud thoughts that I have about God.” This really means two things, I think, that Sarah and I — and anybody else, any Christian — should do. 1. Submit All Thoughts to Scrutiny We should listen to Paul and submit all our thoughts and ideas and feelings about God and about life to Paul’s teaching (as God’s apostle) for scrutiny. And if anything is out of sync with Paul’s teaching, we should let it be destroyed. I have experienced this very painfully. If you put your mind and thoughts really at the disposal of the apostolic teaching and say, “Anything in my thinking that needs to be destroyed, destroy it,” that can utterly undo you. There have been seasons in my life where I have wept over the dismantling of what felt like really important structures in my brain. So, I think that is the first thing we do. We listen to Paul. We submit everything we think — all our ideas, all our worldview, all our viewpoints — to God, and we say, “Let your word dismantle me if necessary.” 2. Ask the Holy Spirit to Work And here is the second thing that it means. We should ask the Holy Spirit to work, because Paul said we don’t fight with mere human, fleshly arguments. Our ministry has power, so we should expose ourselves to that power. Paul says, “The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power.” In other words, he is tearing down arguments and God-belittling ideas, but he is not doing it merely by argument. So when I come to the Bible, there is a lot of studying that I do. I love to study, and I love to assess arguments and figure them out. But I should also be crying out, “O God, I know that mere intellect will not dismantle the deeply rooted errors of my mind, so I avail myself. I open myself to the Holy Spirit, and I seek your face.” Paul said, “For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience.” Romans 15:18. Now, I think that is the same obedience as in 2 Corinthians when he brings our thoughts into obedience to Christ. In he says, “I won’t speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished,” and that is what I am getting at when I say, “Expose yourself.” Lay yourself open to the risen Christ — by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the words of the apostle Paul — so that everything can be dismantled. Then your brain, your mind, and your thoughts can be taken captive and everything can be brought into conformity to Christ. From www.desiringgod.org. “Ask Pastor John.”

Look at your mental processes. For example consider the following: How many “could-have”, “would-have”, “should-have” statements have you made today? How many “if onlys” were part of your inner vocabulary today? How many times have you replayed in your head a conversation or situation that pained you, or one that hasn’t even occurred yet? How many scenarios have you created of the unpredictable future? How much is speculation taking out of your day? How passive is your mind? How honest are you with yourself? Are you at cross-purposes with yourself – going through the motions, but not really committed to the goal, saying one thing but meaning another? How distorted is your thinking? Are you forming a personal identity around for example, a disease? Do you speak about “my arthritis”, “my multiple sclerosis”, “my heart problem”? Do you ever make comments like “nothing ever goes right for me”; “everything I touch fails”; “I always mess up”? If you answered yes even to just one of these, your thought life needs detoxing right now. 87% to 95% of the illnesses that plague us today are a direct result of our thought life. What we think about affects us physically and emotionally. It’s an epidemic of toxic emotions. The average person has over 30,000 thoughts a day. Through an uncontrolled thought life, we create the conditions for illness; we make ourselves sick! Research shows that fear, all on its own, triggers more than 1,400 known physical and chemical responses and activates more than 30 different hormones. There are INTELLECTUAL and MEDICAL reasons to FORGIVE! Toxic waste generated by toxic thoughts causes the following illnesses: diabetes, cancer, asthma, skin problems and allergies to name just a few. Consciously control your thought life and start to detox your brain! Medical research increasingly points to the fact that thinking and consciously controlling your thought life is one of the best ways, if not the best way of detoxing your brain. It allows you to get rid of those toxic thoughts and emotions that can consume and control your mind. Change in your thinking is essential to detox the brain. Consciously controlling your thought life means not letting thoughts rampage through your mind. It means learning to engage interactively with every single thought that you have, and to analyse it before you decide either to accept or reject it. How do you go about doing that? By “looking” at your mental processes. That may sound like a strange, if not impossible thing to do. After all, it’s not as if you can just crack open your skull like an egg and have a look at what is going on inside your brain. A potential pitfall on the path towards detoxing your brain is the fact that toxic thoughts come in many guises. On the surface, a thought like “I must do well” seems positive enough. It is only when you look at it closely, and check out the feelings it generates and their effects on your body and mind, that you will be able to judge fairly and squarely if this is a thought that serves you well. If you base your thought life on assumptions like the above the foundations will be shaky and the edifice (your body mind) that you create thereafter will be highly unstable. As you think more toxic thoughts and generate more toxic emotions, that edifice will show cracks, cave in and eventually collapse altogether as burgeoning illness and disease takes hold. Right off, you need to ditch unrealistic thinking and keep in mind some key principles to kick-start the process of controlling toxic thoughts: Thoughts create your moods! When you experience a fear-based emotion you will feel depressed and your thoughts will be characterized by negativity. A negative thought linked to emotional turmoil will be distorted “ …bringing all thoughts into captivity to Christ Jesus” ( 2 Corinthians 10:5 ) becomes the golden rule of safe thinking The process of “bringing all thoughts into captivity” There are four simple techniques involved: Understanding that thoughts are real and have an actual anatomy Thoughts are real things: they have a structure in your brain and occupy space. Thoughts are the same as memories. Thoughts and memories look like trees and are called neurons or nerve cells. You build a double memory of everything as a mirror image of each other. This means that the memory on the left side of the brain builds from the detail to the big picture; and the memory on the right side builds from the big picture to the detail. When you put these two perspectives of thought together, you get intelligent understanding taking place. As information comes in from the five senses, you process it in certain structures of your brain, then you grow branches on the “trees” to hold this information in long term memory. In fact, as you are reading this, you are growing thoughts, because, thoughts are the result of what we hear and read and see and feel and experience. This means that whatever you grow is part of you, actual branches in your brain that create your attitude and influence your decisions. Increasing conscious awareness of your thoughts and how you are feeling. Knowledge of the anatomy of thought naturally leads into the process of actively analysing incoming information and thoughts constantly. You should never let a thought or thoughts roam chaotically and unchecked through your head. Examine every thought you have and ask yourself: is this good for me? Is it from God or the devil or my own confused thinking? Conscious awareness of your thinking should become like a habit. A habit takes twenty-one days to create. Today is the first day of that twenty-one… Doing something once you have analyzed the thought . So, whilst technique two is developing a conscious awareness of what you are thinking about. Now technique three is doing something about the thought. This means making a conscious decision to actively accept the thought (if it is good for you) or reject it (if it is bad for you). This means you use your God-given ability of free will (this also has actual structural position in the brain) to do something about the thought you are consciously aware of. Thoughts have as much control as we give them. Building new memories over the old. This is the really exciting part in dealing with our thought life because, accepting or rejecting the thought is changing the neural circuitry of your brain: your brain is growing while you think and you have control over the process. Technique four happens when the brain steps in and creates a structural representation of what you have chosen to accept (adds more branches on the tree) and converts what you have chosen to reject into hot air! Let’s see how these four techniques work if you have unforgiveness in your memory trees towards someone: Technique one: this unforgiveness looks like a thorn tree and will hurt you – visualize the twisted bitter thorn tree. Technique two: be consciously aware of this thought of unforgiveness – where it comes from, how long it has been there, and so on. Technique three: ask the Holy Spirit to help you use your free will to make the wisdom decision to reject unforgiveness and forgive. Picture the unforgiveness disappearing as hot air. Technique four: now build a new de-thorned memory to replace the thorny unforgiveness with for example, quoting scriptures, singing a worship song, praying for the person, and so on. READ DR. LEAF’S BEST-SELLING BOOK “WHO SWITCHED OFF YOUR BRAIN” drleaf.com/store/

After the first edition of my book Heaven , this question was one of the most frequently asked. It’s worth considering. Though it’s possible we may cover vast distances at immense speeds in God’s new universe, I don’t believe we’ll be capable of being two places at once. Why? Because we’ll still be finite. Only God is infinite. Because the resurrected Christ is both man and God, the issue of whether He can be in more than one place at the same time involves a paradox not only in the future, but also in the present. On the one hand, Jesus is a man, and man is finite and limited to one location. On the other hand, Jesus is God, and God is infinite and omnipresent. In a sense, then, one of these truths has to yield somewhat to the other. I suggest that perhaps Christ’s humanity defined the extent of His presence in His first coming and life on Earth (humanity thereby trumping deity by limiting omnipresence). But Christ’s deity may well define the extent of His presence in His second coming and life on the New Earth (deity thereby trumping the normal human inability to be in two places at once). Jesus has and always will have a single resurrected body, in keeping with His humanity. Yet that body glorified may allow Him a far greater expression of His divine attributes than during His life and ministry here on Earth. Since we can accurately say that Jesus’ functioning as a man does not prohibit Him from being God, we must also say that Jesus’ functioning as God does not prohibit Him from being a man. So, although we cannot conceive exactly how it could happen, I believe it’s entirely possible that Jesus could in the future remain a man while fully exercising the attributes of God, including, at least in some sense, omnipresence. Don’t we already see that now? Where is Christ? At the right hand of God (Hebrews 12:2). Just before dying, Stephen saw Him there (Acts 7:55). Jesus will remain there until He returns to the earth. In terms of His human body, Christ is in one location, and only one. But despite His fixed location at God’s right hand, Jesus is here now, with each of us, just as He promised to be (Matthew 28:20). He dwells in our hearts, living within us (Ephesians 3:17; Galatians 2:20). If even now, in this sin-stained world, He indwells those who are saints and yet sinners, how much more will He be able to indwell us in the world to come when no sin shall separate us from him? That indwelling will in no way be obscured by sin. On the New Earth, isn’t it likely we might regularly hear Him speak to us directly as He dwells in and with us, wherever we are? Prayer might be an unhindered two-way conversation, whether we are hundreds of miles away in another part of the New Jerusalem, thousands of miles away on another part of the New Earth, or thousands of light years away in the new universe. Consider the promise that when Christ returns “every eye will see him” (Revelation 1:7). How is that physically possible? By the projection of His image? But every eye will see Him , not merely His image. Will He be in more than one place at one time? If God took on human form any number of times, as recorded in Scripture, couldn’t Christ choose to take on a form to manifest Himself to us at a distant place? If He did that, might He not take on a temporary form very similar in appearance to His actual physical form, which may at that moment be sitting on the throne in the New Jerusalem? Might Jesus appear to us and walk with us in a temporary but tangible form that is an expression of His real body? Or might the one body of Jesus be simultaneously present with His people in a million places? Might we walk with Jesus (not just spiritually, but also physically) while millions of others are also walking with Him? Might we not be able to touch His hand or embrace Him or spend a long afternoon privately conversing with Him—not just with His spirit, but His whole person? It may defy our logic, but God is capable of doing far more than we imagine. Being with Christ is the very heart of Heaven, so we should be confident that we will have unhindered access to Him. www.epm.org . Used by permission.

ometimes I have the privilege to speak to young men and women at graduation ceremonies and I look at them and wonder if they are ready to succeed in the areas that you must succeed in. Because it is possible in life to fail by succeeding in all the wrong things. One of the things that you learn through growing old is that the things of education can help make a living but not necessarily a life. Only the author of life can help do that. Life can seduce you, however, into a feverish pursuit of an illusion called “success.” The point I am speaking of is called “values.” Are your values eternal or are they temporal? If temporal they will go only so deep and only for so long. Like one who labors at a sandcastle and hears the coming rising tide that will wash all away and make his efforts become as if he had never existed, so in life we hear the coming of dissolution that will reduce our works to nothing. How desperately important it is that we know what things to build on and hope for as opposed to those things that we merely enjoy. Your values determine your goals in life. Your goals determine your priorities of where you spend your time, money and energies. Your priorities determine your choices. Your choices determine your final end. So we had best be clear on what is worth dying for. Without a shift in values one will find himself housing the chaff and burning the grain. Jesus put it very clearly. “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23) The context of these two verses is about values. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…” Thus “the eye” speaks about how you see and what you value. What is precious and valuable to you? Is it the things of this world that will fail you or the things of God that will last beyond this life? Because the eye is “the lamp of the body.” This means that just as your body is guided by the light of your eye, in the same way one’s life is guided by their values- what they treasure. If their eye is clear- or their values true and heavenly- then their whole body- or their entire life- will be “full of light.” They will be safely and successfully guided through life. But if one’s eye is bad, if their values are worldly, then their whole life will be in the dark. Men succeed at all the wrong things when their eye is bad. Paul put it clearly. “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (I Timothy 6:10) The fact is that God made men for Himself. Man is made for immortality, for the eternal. His joy will not come from money, beauty, acclaim or fame. Those pleasures will be short term and often the path to those things will be bordered with pain and compromise and sin. But when men “lose their lives for the sake of the Gospel” they find their lives and purpose. We don’t learn these things from lectures on these things. Rather we learn from disappointment. We dream and labor and succeed only to grasp a mirage. Like a dog chasing a killdeer, happiness is always just beyond our grasp. Sometimes our eye has cataracts that must be removed by anguish and emptiness. Sometimes the joy of the eternal has to take by surprise when we are forced to look up. Do you want some good reading? Read Psalm 37 and Psalm 73. See what they say about values, about succeeding in the significant. www.dentonbible.org