Russell Moore inspires us as we contemplate our independence: “A few years ago, I stood at the grave of Thomas Jefferson, and wondered. I was in Charlottesville to speak at the university Mr. Jefferson founded, and made my way up to his homeplace, Monticello. Standing at his grave, I was prompted to give thanks for his life and legacy. After all, if it weren’t for Jefferson and his majestic Declaration of Independence, there might not even be a United States of America, and certainly not a country quite like it is now. If it weren’t for Jefferson (and the Baptists), would I have grown up in some cold, dead, state-established Anglican church instead of the vibrancy of a free church in a free state? And, of course, if President Jefferson hadn’t purchased the Louisiana Territory, I would have grown up some place other than America. But, much more than that, standing at Jefferson’s grave prompted me to realize that Jefferson is, well, in a grave. The Enlightenment ideals that gave this brilliant thinker a right understanding of natural rights led him to idolize human cerebral capacity. Jefferson’s anti-supernaturalism is seen in visual form in his famous Bible, with the miraculous parts cut out, most significantly the bodily resurrection of Jesus. I love Jefferson for standing up against King George, but not for standing up against King Jesus. And yet, two hundred years later, belief in the resurrection of Jesus persists. Just days after I was at this hero’s grave, Christians from all over the world, despite all this science and all this progress and all this technology, confessed what the earliest believers in the catacombs of Rome cried out: “Christ is risen indeed.” Thomas Jefferson is still dead. I thank God for him, but standing at his grave reminds me how limited even his legacy can be in the grand scheme of trillions of years of cosmic time. It also reminds me of the contrast with a Middle Eastern day-laborer whose monument isn’t a house or a temple made with hands, or even a simple grave-marker. It’s instead a borrowed tomb that isn’t filled anymore. That empty tomb is, itself, a declaration of independence. By raising Jesus from the dead, God declared him (and all who are in him) to be free from death, free from the curse, free from Satan’s accusation. I suppose you could say that Jesus was endowed by his Father with certain unalienable rights, among these life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness… except that these blessings don’t end in a graveyard.” www.russellmoore.com . Used by permission.

What myths do you believe about money? If we follow God’s plan, He’ll do more through us together than we could ever do on our own. Message entitled, “Camels and Needles and Spoons” from Fresh Life Church.

“What is truth?” Pontius Pilate The greatest pursuit of mankind has been that of truth. What is truth? How do we know? How is it lived? Truth is that which is really present. The correct interpretation of what truly exists…what corresponds to reality. More specifically, it is what gives meaning to the observable world. We see matter and its mechanics but where does it come from? Why is it here? And specifically, man and morality. What is man and what makes him different? What is right and wrong, and says who? Some call it upper story and lower story. Down here is “substance”… up there, “forms”. Down here the visible something … up there an invisible something or someone who determines right. What is there? Who is there? And how do we know? Down here, we observe … up there, we either reason or establish contact in some way via meditation? hallucinogens? a direct revelation?… or an incarnation of God to man. One’s solution to finding these answers is their claim to truth and that claim will be the fountain from whence that civilization proceeds, because all things will be judged, evaluated or permitted by its perspective of truth or its “world view.” Whether for good or evil the claim of truth will frame society and prophesy what is to come. “God is true.” Jesus Christ The claim of the Bible is that God is true. He is the source of all that is. He establishes the laws, physical and moral, by which all things are governed. His word, His revelation to man – The Bible claims for itself “truth.” “The sum of Thy word is truth.” “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” “The scripture”, said Jesus, “cannot be broken.” God will not lie, mislead, err, or fail to communicate His word truly, or be so weak as to not preserve it. It is the only means by which we know the essential answers. What He commands is in keeping with His nature, thus “truth” will always correspond to the way, the best way, to live. “…let God be found true, though every man be found a liar.” Therefore, Satan, the enemy of God and of man, logically speaking, needs only to lie and misdirect man against God’s word to bring about man’s destruction. What opposes God will oppose truth and finally oppose man. Let me summarize the Biblical Worldview. Creation, it is written, bespoke of “order” from God’s “invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature… being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse.” (Rom 1:20) Man, it is written, was set atop the crown jewel of earth to view the visible universe; he was material as the animal world, but immaterial and spiritual in the image of God. The divine and the created came together in the person of man – as no other creature. He was God’s mediator to creation. He was given mind, reason, conscience, choice, and will to choose righteousness or depravity. To be the best or the worst. Truth was self evident, instinctively knowable. “A Priori” As birds were built to navigate the air worms the sod fish the oceans, and beasts the land man was designed to navigate the question “why” – to navigate choices. He could find some answers in creation; that God was above and before all things. But, the specifics of who God is, how He created? Why He created? That would require special revelation. A word from God. And that, Adam had. Final, unknowable truth was made knowable to Adam by God’s initiative and goodness. Sadly, a problem occurred. The Fall. The event of man’s alienation from God. The Fall: Man’s Autonomy Man was given choices. Such is the will as part of the image of God. The choices were represented in two trees. The tree of life. In man partaking of it he would receive immortality as a gift from God. But in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would assert independence from God, and thus, to then be able to choose for himself good or evil and find (he supposed) a happy, safe and good life without God. He would be the arbiter of good and evil within himself. He would be as God and know no authority but himself. Adam and Eve were tempted and lied to. Deceived by a person. A rebel. A fallen angel called Satan and the devil. “A liar and the father of all lies” who had opposed God and sought his own glory in the destruction of God’s image in man, replacing it with his own. He would be man’s father. The world, his. Satan caused Eve to doubt God’s truthfulness by accusing God’s very character. That God wanted obedience so that man would have to be beneath Him. God simply did not want a rival in independence. If they would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would be fully enlightened, free and independent of God, to live life on their own. God was their restriction to life. The serpent was the “fan of man.” They ate and indeed became alien to God … and died. Man’s mind, heart, and will became alien and even hostile to God and truth. Man’s flesh, passions, and mind were now bent toward rebellion. Smeagol had become Gollum, clutching “precious” independence. An independence that would disfigure man and destroy him. Man was now dis-integrated. Life lost its unity. Man was spiritually, mentally, and physically magnetized toward rebellion, self-gratification, lust, pride, and violence. The children of darkness would now bring forth a brood of Gollums. Man was adrift from his moorings. The Metastasizing of Error But this is not simply a study of the Bible, but its claim to truth. A great deal of time occurred in between Adam and Noah but, suffice it to say, that Satan ruled and the world became a stench in its violence and murder. God sent the flood and a new beginning. Noah was in a sense a new Adam…but the post-flood world became corrupted in the rebellion of the Tower of Babel. Man’s rebellion in a tower to his glory, “a tower into the heavens.” Man again was God. But God slowed man’s evil by the confusion of languages. Man’s unity was removed, and as man dispersed in the Fertile Crescent mankind formed 70 different language groups that married within the languages and became the nations, and races and peoples of the earth. And as their idolatrous religions arose, an even deeper corruption now formed in the earth…that of superstition and “systems” of lies. Religions, man fashioned “gods” of his own imagination whom man could placate to his own benefit. Israel: Nation of Truth But amidst these lies the truth sprung up from the earth. A man named Abram was called from the idolatry of Ur, the leading city of ancient Chaldea, to go to Canaan, to have Isaac, who would have Jacob, then the twelve that would become the 12 tribes, who would incubate 400 years in Egypt, then, through Moses come out a great nation then travel through the wilderness into Canaan and become two million – Israel, a holy nation, a nation in covenant with the only TRUE God. The only orthodox nation … a nation reflecting the truth that had been diluted and lost since Eden. At Sinai they were given moral law, written down to be learned and passed down, and a religious sacrificial system depicting salvation. And a promise given of a man to come. A Jew, from King David of Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah, who would die and rise and reconcile man to God and return and rule the earth – the “Christ,” Messiah. Indeed “Salvation is of the Jew.” Truth lived again through the beginnings of the Bible – a written record of the truth to be progressively continued then given to all of mankind. In Genesis, the first book of Jewish law, all the vital questions would be answered in an hour’s reading. The lower story of nature would rest on its strong truthful upper story revelation of God. What a glorious nation it could be … …amidst pantheism – the belief that all is one and all is god. …amidst polytheism with its many gods and idolatry …and animism – the belief of spirits in nature …amidst henotheism with its master god among many gods …alongside dualism – equal opposite gods of good and evil in conflict ..amidst Buddhism with its moral improvement and conquest of sin through meditation and discipline. A shaft of light broke – Israel with its teaching tribe of priests. “… come out from their midst and be separate.” “Thou shalt be unto Me a holy nation… a kingdom of priests.” But alas … as with Adam, as with the sons of Noah, so also with the sons of Abraham, the children of The Book, who wandered from God and mingled with the darkness around them and learned their idolatrous ways. From the Assyrians of the 7th century B.C. to the Romans of the 1st century A.D., the prophets of God warned the nation and called it to repent lest God’s wrath scatter them just as Moses promised. But Israel turned a deaf ear. www.dentonbiblechurch.org . Used by permission.

Share 0 I have read Paul’s words, “Be anxious for nothing” many times (Philippians 4:6). That means when something happens that we didn’t expect in our health, we’re not to be anxious about it. When there’s been a reversal in a relationship, we’re not to be anxious about it. That’s a troubling verse, because the reality is, researchers report 40 percent of Americans say they have more anxiety today than they did a year ago.[1] Some people wrestle with unexpected panic attacks, heart palpitations, sweating, trembling, shaking, shortness of breath, feelings of impending doom and feelings of being out of control. When I was in my thirties, out of the blue, I started having panic attacks. I didn’t have symptoms when I was working. It occurred when I tried to rest my mind. As Christians, we need to make sure we are practicing these six steps to resting an anxious mind, but you may also need to seek professional help. Don’t feel like you are less spiritual than you ought to be. Some of the great giants of scripture wrestled with mental illness issues. We live in a fallen world, a broken world and the stresses that we face today are very real. We should all be practicing these six steps in our lives, if we have anxiety or not. 1. Let it go. 1Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” Casting literally means to throw it or to drop it. It means to simply take whatever it is you’re carrying and leave it. A good picture of this is going into the grocery store. The other day, I was there to pick up some things for home, and I didn’t get a shopping cart. I thought, I’m just getting a few things . I got milk, eggs and paper towels – just walking along picking up things, and I realize I really needed a cart. If you’ve ever done that, you’ve got all this stuff in your arms and you begin to feel the tension in your muscles as you’re trying to hang onto it. You get to the conveyer belt and release it all, and that tension in your arms immediately releases. That’s what happens to us with the worries and anxieties in our life. When we finally drop it, it’s no longer our responsibility. The key is to know the difference between the things we should drop and the things we need to hang onto. So, the first step is to let it go. 2. Activate your spiritual life. Paul gives us the solution in Philippians 4:6, “Don’t be anxious for anything, but in everything” – in your finances, health, relationship, work – “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Paul says these three things are the way to treat feelings of anxiety in your life. Something happens when we pray to God and say, “Father, I am really anxious about this.” And use the word, anxious. Take it to the Lord on a regular basis and admit to Him “I just can’t handle this myself. I need you.” Something happens when we pray that’s not only spiritual, but also psychological and emotional, as well. Supplication means I need you. It’s asking boldly, “God, would you please take this anxiety I’m feeling from me.” And Paul says, “Do this in a thankful heart.” 3. Just breathe. If you see a professional about anxiety, one of the things they are going to teach you is to breathe. Breathing exercises are a part of good health, reducing anxiety and blood pressure. When people wrestle with great levels of anxiety, we breathe shallower. We’re not breathing as deeply as we should. There’s something relaxing about being able to breathe deeply when we’re feeling anxiety. This is something I wrestle with in my life. I’m a high control person. I like to know what’s going on. This message is to help me, and I believe it will help you as we learn these things together. 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4 NKJV). But what is he encouraging us to rejoice in? He’s not to rejoice and celebrate my anxiety. Many times, we confuse rejoicing in the Lord with rejoicing in the junk that’s going on in our lives. I’m just going to rejoice in this pain. I don’t want to rejoice in the cancer diagnosis. No, it comes back to the focus that we have – being able to rejoice in God no matter what we are facing at any particular moment. Not rejoicing in our worry, our fears or our problems, but rejoicing in the Lord, which is a daily commitment. 5. Change your focus. Jesus said, in Luke 12:29-31, “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you” (NKJV). We’re to seek the kingdom of God. We’re are to focus on Christ’s reign. When we focus on the fact that He rules and reigns in the universe, it puts us into our own little perspective, doesn’t it? 6. Meditate intentionally. Meditate means to contemplate, ponder, think and consider. If you’re dealing with an anxious mind, meditate on the right things. Again, we have more wisdom from Paul. He says, “Finally, Brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8). Our meditation is to be on God, to be on scripture, to be on His love for us intentionally. After all of these things, if we have this restless mind, and we do these things, scripture promises – And then we will experience God’s peace (Philippians 4:9). I’ve learned when we do these things every day intentionally, they truly make a difference in our lives. Paul’s instruction comes with a promise – then the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). ­ www.theintentionallife.com . Used by permission.

“How easy is it for you to handle the stressors of life today? How hard are simple decisions?” A few months back, Josh Reich, pastor at Revolution Church and author of Breathing Room , shared with a pastors’ group I recently started attending. He asked a series of questions that have served as a great mirror for me in the past few months to assess my health. It’s a strange thing that it’s a difficult thing for us to assess our own emotional and spiritual health. We’re usually pretty aware when our physical health is off, whether it’s an upset stomach or a headache or a sore back. And yet, I suspect that you have those days where you really don’t know how well you are doing emotionally and spiritually. In Matthew 11, Jesus casts a vision of what following him looks like. You’re probably familiar with the verses. Read Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase and ask yourself how much this resembles your life: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Isn’t that a beautiful vision of the Christian life? Are you living into Jesus’ “unforced rhythms of grace”? Can your life be characterized by its lightness? For many seasons of my life, if I was honest, my life was best characterized by its heaviness. A grey fog hung over and distorted my perception of everything. When that fog lingers for long enough it’s hard to even identify it is there. How light is your life? How clear is your emotional and spiritual vision? In ReSet, David Murray reflects that ours is a “burnout culture”: a never-off, always accessible, fast-isn’t-fast-enough culture, and we are in desperate need of a cure. Here is a list of questions Josh suggested (with a couple of my own mixed in) that you might consider asking to help evaluate your health: · How hard is it to fall asleep? Do you need alcohol? TV? Pornography? · How hard is it to get started in the morning? · How fuzzy is your vision of your future? · When was the last time you prayed? · How many times have you been in the Word in the past week? · When was the last time you laughed or had fun? · How healthy has your diet been in the past week? · How many times did you exercise last week? · Are you playing? I would encourage you to walk through those questions and provide honest answers to them. What I like about the questions is that they not only help me assess my health, they also help me to identify the areas in which I need to get my life in alignment. When I’m honest, there are always at least a couple questions on that list that trigger a need for re-evaluation and correction. For me, to really make that correction stick, I need to make sure that I’m actually scheduling time for the activities that will lead to health. It’s fine and well to know that I need to get more exercise, but if I don’t put it into my calendar, it’s probably not going to happen. We are creatures, not the Creator. In Murray’s words, “He is infinite, we are finite; he is unlimited, we are limited. Although none of us would say we are unlimited, most of us think we are less limited than we actually are.” At the heart of so much of our emotional and spiritual sickness is our refusal to admit our finitude and make substantive changes that acknowledge our need. www.thebeehive.live . Used by permission.

The day had arrived. It was beyond sad. It was solemn, and it was heavy. Without hesitation we were there to support, to console, and to be present. In what seemed like a dream, we were getting ready to speak at the funeral of our dear friend who had just lost her battle to cancer. She had just rounded the corner past 25 years old, and was in every other way a healthy beautiful young lady. But, her life on this earth was over. She was surrounded by her husband who served her until she drew her last breath, she was nurtured and cared for by parents whose baby girl passed before their very eyes, and she was loved and admired by so many friends and family for not only the life she lived, but the strength exhibited in the way she died. This dear friend was a Christian. She loved Jesus, and she served others. She wasn’t ostentatious, and she wasn’t callous or judgmental. She displayed dignity and compassion. Always quick to listen and slow to speak, she was endearing and she carried herself with class. You wanted to be around her, because she was characterized by joy. Her life exuded joy, and she displayed it until her Lord called her home. And it was into this untimely and tragic situation that her mom, whose name is Joy, has wisdom for us today. When Joy–months after her daughter’s passing–had others praying for her to have a “better year”, she responds by saying, “ A better year? You cannot give me a better year. This was the best year of my life.” How can a mom–who stared down and continues to stare down the reality that her baby girl is gone–say that? This is almost too much to bear, but it is nevertheless the resolve of this mother when considering the loss of her daughter’s life on this earth. What can we learn from Joy’s joy to apply to our lives today? “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials…” James 1:2 “Joy” is a noun that is here preceded by the adjective “all”. Thus, implying an un-mixed or unsoiled-ness to experiencing joy. But, the word is also preceded by another word, consider. Which means to think. In other words, while this joy is certainly an unmixed experience of gratefulness, it is also something that you set your mind to. It’s a conscientious choice that–after the evaluation of your circumstances–you choose to live in this unmixed joy. Hence, Joy’s resolve for joy as she considers her daughter’s life and death. “Trials” are not if, but when. The reality of our world–riddled with sin–is that we face trials of varying proportions and causes everyday. To prove this, James places the preceding word, various, before trials, which essential means manifold. In other words, the trials that are faced are not going to be the same. It’s as if we live in a world that has built-in and diverse challenges to face. Thus, we are needy. We are vulnerable. And we are unable to do this alone. And so, it was into this manifold trial-filled world that God sent His Son. It was into this world that we have One who overcame sin and death, and therefore promises those who love Him that their death won’t be the final say about their life. No, no, Joy–the mother to the dear lady who passed–knows that her daughter may not be here in person, but she lives on in her (and many other minds), and that her daughter simply passed from life to life. Joy knows that she will be reunited with her daughter because of Christ; and so, she chooses–considers it all–joy. Glory, because of Christ there can be joy. We can have true joy beyond, outside of, and above our circumstances. Glory. www.staffandstones.com . Used by permission.

When Denalyn and I travel together, she wants to drive. It’s not that she loves the steering wheel, it’s just that she loves to stay on track. My mind tends to wander. My thoughts tend to stray. I may be on a highway, but mentally, I’m in a distant land. Consequently, I miss exits, forget to turn, or stray off course. More than once she has dozed off only to awaken in a strange location. The ensuing conversation goes like this: “Where are we?” “I don’t know.” “What happened?” “I think I messed up.” “Max, we will never get there if you keep forgetting where we are going.” Sigh. Guilty as charged. The children of Israel made the same mistake. They didn’t miss a turn; they missed the reason for their return. Here is the backstory: they had passed the last seventy winters in Babylonian exile. Their city was razed; their beloved Temple ransacked. Except for the courage of Daniel and his three friends, the era would have been a shameful one. But, after seven decades of clouds, a tunnel of sunlight pierced the clouds and surprised the people. “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem’” (Ezra 1:2-4). God turned the heart of King Cyrus toward the Jews and turned the Jews toward Jerusalem. He prompted the king to give the exiles permission and resources to rebuild the temple. In 538 B.C. a delegation of 50,000 Jews, prompted by God and funded by Cyrus, made the 900-mile trek back to Jerusalem. They rolled up the sleeves of their robes and got to work. Initially, God’s big thing was their big thing. But after a few years, they began to grow weary. Perhaps the stone-stacking was too tiresome, or the criticism too irksome. Or maybe they began thinking of their own projects; their farms, houses, and businesses. One by one, little by little, person by person, they turned away from God’s big thing and quit working on the Temple. God’s big thing became their small thing. They concentrated on their own homes and businesses. “We’ll get back to the house of God, they surely reasoned, next week, next month, after the harvest, after the turn of the year.” And, before they knew it, sixteen years came and went. Sixteen years! Enough time for grass to grow and cover the footers of the foundation. Enough time for neighboring nations to conclude that Israel’s God wasn’t worth any devotion. Enough time for a generation of Jewish children to determine that the abandoned temple was a forgotten construction project. They got off track. Meanwhile, as God’s house decayed, the houses of the Jews flourished. Fine, paneled houses. The former exiles built businesses and enterprises and, to their surprise, grew more and more miserable by the day. Take a highlighter to the words of Haggai. “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin? Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’” “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,’ says the Lord. ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands’” (Haggai 1:4-11). Want to know how God responds to lethargy and misplaced priorities? You just read it. Ever wondered what God does when we make his big thing a small thing and our small things big things? Now you know. Ever asked the question, “How does God get our attention when we fail to give Him ours?” According to a page out of His playbook: there will be seasons of drought, times of exhaustive emptiness. When nothing quenches our deepest thirsts, when no achievements abate our restless hunger, when droughts turn our fields into deserts and retirements into pocket change, what can we do? God’s answer is clear. “Give careful thoughts to your ways.” Evaluate your priorities. Assess your strategies. Is God’s big thing my big thing? You gave your heart to God and your life to God’s work. But then came…the kids, the promotion, the transfer, the long hours, the business trips. With each passing day you thought less about God’s work and more about your work. Tithing became tipping, prayers became rote quotes. You didn’t forget God, but you didn’t remember him either. And you can relate to the people of Haggai’s day. Life just doesn’t work like you’d hoped. And now God has pulled you aside for a face to face. It’s time to consider your ways. It’s time to “Go up into the mountains and bring down the timber and build my house” (Haggai 1:8). Amazingly the Jews did. The Lord stirred up the leadership and the people got to work on the house of God. And God blessed their renewed spirit. “I am with you” (Haggai 1:13; 2:4) he twice assured them. And He is with you. It’s not too late to start again. C.S. Lewis said, “Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first and we lose both first and second things.” They built the House of God. They participated in the greatest work of heaven. God’s word proved true. The glory of the latter was greater than the former. Trust this promise of God. You aren’t building a temple, but you are building a marriage, a career, a witness, and a legacy. In God’s plan, in God’s hand, the glory of the next chapter will exceed expectations. Just keep your eye on the road. Make his big thing your big thing and see what happens. ©Max Lucado www.maxlucado.com

Scripture says that the Lord left nations in the promised land “to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan); only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war” (Judg. 3:1-2). To complete our spiritual maturity, the Lord must “test” us with enemies; like Israel, we must be “taught war.” I realize that most of us prefer peace. Yes, as much as it depends on us, we should live at peace with all men (Rom. 12:18). Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but we are in a worldwide conflict with principalities and powers (see Eph. 6:12). You see, there is a “time for war” (Eccl. 3:8). As Christians, we must accept and adjust to this truth. To stand victorious, we need to expand our understanding of who Jesus Christ is. The Bible says Christ “will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies” (Isa. 42:13). Even the rapture must be understood in military terms: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess. 4:16). The imagery of the Lord’s coming is explosive: He comes with a “shout” (or “cry of command,” a “war cry”). He’s followed by the stunning “voice of the “archangel,” then a blast of the “trumpet of God,” so loud, so undeniable that the powers of the heavens are confronted and collapse! Finally, the very “dead in Christ” begin to rise! The whole operation is fiercely militant in nature. One may argue, yes the Lord is coming to war, but His first goal is to rescue us. Well, I am certainly not against being rescued, having been rescued many times by the Lord! But the picture of the church is also one of militancy. Remember, Jesus said, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (Matt. 16:18). Consider again the imagery: it is the church that is advancing against the gates of hell, and it is hell that is not prevailing! The Need for War Truly, I am for peace, but I recognize that I cannot have peace unless I am first trained for war. It is my training for war that secures my ability to have peace. Indeed, it was during the times of warfare – of struggle and battle – when I have grown the most in courage, in faith, in sacrifice, and in love. The battle stretched me beyond the boundaries of my spirituality. Yes, when I was fighting for my family, church or community, it was the fight itself that defined and established my spiritual growth. Indeed, as I have grown older, I have come to understand that every generation is ordained to confront and defeat the enemies of its era. In the last hundred years, men and women fought in WWI; then came the Great Depression, and poverty and fear were conquered. WWII began, and again a generation rose and saved the world from unspeakable tyranny. Next, America rose to stand against the spread of godless Soviet communism. You see, every generation, at some point, will face a war that must be won. In that fight we learn lessons of courage. Do we see this generational warfare? Thus, we cannot interpret the fallen conditions of our world and assume the end of the world is upon us. No! What we are seeing in our world is the battleground of our war against the godless enemies of our times. Remember, I believe in the rapture; I also believe we are in the season of the end. But I cannot excuse myself from facing the giants of today’s wars. As our forefathers had to succeed on the battlefield against great and highly trained enemies, so we too must overcome the radical agenda of those who seek to mainstream perversion into our society. Some of us have fought in the physical wars in the Middle East – and we must pray righteous conclusions for these wars as well. Others are fighting to see our nation returned to Christ. I know some are weary, yet it is time that we too “might be taught war.” Regardless of the battle before us, no matter how dark the spiritual atmosphere becomes, we must fight for the purposes of God in the earth. We cannot relax our intercession nor surrender our vision for our nation’s future. We have not entered the day of irreversible darkness. You are no doubt familiar with the Lord of the Rings trilogy written by J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien, an Englishman, denied that his work mirrored the realities of World War II. Yet much of his manuscript was written during the height of that great conflict, when entire kingdoms were at war. He was clearly influenced by his time. His book is a metaphor for all times and conflicts, especially highlighting the role of common men to attain uncommon levels of valor and victory against forces of evil. In a scene from the third Lord of the Rings movies, The Return of the King, King Aragorn seeks to inspire his outnumbered men to fight in spite of what seems like sure defeat: Hell’s swarming legions have amassed before them and the courage of Aragorn’s fighters is weakening. Riding along the front lines of his gathered, but lowly army, he shouts: “I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day. . . . This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, men of the West!” Let us also put aside our fears and especially the burden of a passive, prayerless existence. Let us take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And let us fight for all we hold dear in our times and culture. Yes, a day may come when the world will fully succumb, for a sprinkling of years, to the forces of evil. But it is not this day. This day we fight! Adapted from Francis Frangipane’s book, “This Day We Fight” available at www.arrowbookstore.com.

Compared to joy, happiness has gotten a bad reputation. Particularly among Christians. In the recent past (30-40 years) we have been taught that there is a significant difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is a temporary emotion; joy is an abiding attitude. Christians have joy; the “world” is relegated to mere happiness. In a nicely written article, author Randy Alcorn debunks this misunderstanding. He makes it clear that, biblically, there is no difference between joy and happiness. Click here for the article. But for a moment, let’s explore the premise that joy may be deeper and more enduring and happiness is short-lived and momentary. Okay; what’s wrong with that? They both sound good to me. I value, even pursue, moments of happiness. Several months ago I shared a meal with 27 friends in a restaurant in Helsinki. We talked, laughed, and ate reindeer tongue. To this day, I pause and smile when I reminisce about that time. My wife and I walked, slowly and uncovered, through a pouring rain in New Orleans until we were soaked to the bone. What a wonderful moment. I am happy when holding my hands around a hot cup of coffee on a cold morning. When my grandson falls asleep on my chest and his breathing syncs with mine, it is a fleeting but transcendent moment. If you seldom have “happy moments” you might not be looking for them. In 2006 Stanford professor Arnold Zwicky coined the phrase “frequency illusion” to describe this syndrome. It’s caused, he wrote, by two psychological processes. The first, selective attention, kicks in when you’re struck by a new word, thing, or idea; after that, you subconsciously keep an eye out for it, and as a result find it surprisingly often. The second process, confirmation bias, reassures you that each sighting is further proof of your impression that the thing has gained overnight omnipresence. We can use this phenomenon to our advantage. Since we tend to notice that which we look for, let’s choose what we look for. For instance: We are surrounded by innumerable reasons to be grateful—life, freedom, friends—but we’ll remain unaware, and perhaps ungrateful, unless we look for them. We are encompassed by beauty—nature, children, music, books—but often don’t recognize it. God is at work in our lives but we may not recognize His activity because we’re looking elsewhere. A story is told of a monk who, while out walking one day, is confronted by a ferocious, man-eating tiger. He slowly backs away from the animal, only to find that he is trapped at the edge of a high cliff. The tiger snarls with hunger and pursues the monk whose only hope of escape is to suspend himself over the abyss by holding onto a vine that grows at its edge. As the monk dangles from the cliff, a mouse begins to gnaw on the vine. If he climbs back up, the tiger will devour him; if he remains clutching the vine he faces the certain death of a long fall onto jagged rocks. The slender vine begins to give way, and death is imminent. Just then the monk notices a lovely ripe wild strawberry growing along the cliff’s edge. He plucks the succulent berry, eats it, and says, “This lovely strawberry, how sweet it tastes.” At the core of my being, I do want to possess a steady and enduring sense of peace, contentment, and hope—perhaps we can call it, joy. But I also value moments of relief from the unrelenting stress and pressure of life—perhaps we can call it, happiness. Let’s embrace both.

Share 0 Intercessors live on the frontier of change. We are positioned to stand between the needs of man and the provision of God. Because we are the agents of redemption, Satan will use a variety of methods to offend, discourage, strike or otherwise steal the strength of our prayers. The wounding we receive must be interpreted in light of God’s promise to reverse the effects of these attacks and actually make them work for our good (Rom. 8:28). Since spiritual assaults are inevitable, we must discover how God uses our wounds as the means to greater power. This was exactly how Christ brought redemption to the world, for it was by His wounds that we are healed (1 Pet. 2:24). Jesus knew that maintaining love and forgiveness in the midst of suffering was the key that unlocked the power of redemption. Isaiah 53:11 tells us, “By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.” Jesus possessed revelation knowledge into the mystery of God. He knew that the secret to unleashing world-transforming power was found at the cross, in suffering. At the cross, payment for sin was made. As Christ forgave His enemies, heaven’s power rent the temple veil in two. Christ’s stripes purchased our healing. I am not just talking about suffering, but the suffering of love. The terrible offense of the cross became the place of redemption for the world. Yet, remember, Jesus calls us to a cross as well (Matt. 16:24). Wounding is simply an altar upon which our sacrifice to God is prepared. Listen again to Isaiah’s prophetic description of Jesus’ life. His words at first seem startling, but as we read, we discover a most profound truth concerning the power of woundedness. He wrote, “But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand” (Isa. 53:10). How did the power of God’s pleasure prosper in Christ’s hand? During His times of crushing, woundedness and devastation, instead of retaliating, Jesus rendered Himself “as a guilt offering.” The crushing is not a disaster; it is an opportunity. You see, our purposeful love may or may not touch the sinner’s heart, but it always touches the heart of God. We are crushed by people, but we need to allow the crushing to ascend as an offering to God. The greatest benefit of all is the effect our mercy has on the Father. If we truly want to be instruments of God’s good pleasure, then it is redemption, not wrath, that must prosper in our hands. Adapted from Francis Frangipane’s book, The Power of One Christlike Life, available at www.arrowbookstore.com

It’s a challenge you face as a church leader: what do you do with people who only occasionally attend church? Like at Easter or Christmas or special occasions? But infrequent attendance isn’t just for holidays anymore. It’s for every day. How do you respond as people generally attend less often? You know…the couple who comes once every two months but who absolutely calls your church home? So, the question…How do you interact with infrequent church attendees who don’t seem to be embracing the mission of your church the way you hoped they would? It’s simple. You embrace them anyway. That’s what God would do (have you read the Gospels?). I also think that’s what emotionally intelligent people do. That also means, if you’re like me, that you have to fight your inner urge to dismiss infrequent attendees, write them off or just roll your eyes at people who only show up once in a while. I know…that’s the real issue, isn’t it? I chose the word ’embrace’ on purpose. Because I know there’s something deep-seated in many of us that wants to reject people if we sense they’re rejecting us. And people who don’t come out to church much on Sunday can feel like rejection if you’re an insecure church leader. When I started in ministry a couple of decades ago, if someone didn’t attend church for a while it was almost always was because they left. Today, I don’t actually sense that the people who haven’t been at our church for a few weeks or a few months are rejecting us. In fact, when I run into them, they tell me they love our church. And that they can’t wait to get back at some point. Most people who haven’t been at your church for a few weeks or a few months aren’t rejecting you. Here’s the challenge. Infrequent attendees haven’t left your church. They just haven’t been lately. So what do you do? There are at least 5 ways you can respond. 1. DEVELOP SOME EMPATHY Many of today’s church leaders grew up in church. We remember a time when church attendance was simply the thing you did every Sunday. And as church leaders or volunteers, it’s what we still do every Sunday. So at times it can be a little hard to empathize with people who don’t see things the way we see them. Personally, I think participating in the mission of a great church weekly (including Sundays) is one of the best things a Christian can do. Unless I’m fooling myself, I think this is a personal conviction, not just a vocational conviction. If I stopped doing vocational ministry tomorrow, I would still want to participate weekly in the mission of a local church, including the Sunday ministry. But just because I see it that way doesn’t mean everyone sees it that way. And…here’s the danger…if you start judging people for not seeing it your way, you almost certainly turn them off. People—especially teens and young adults—can smell judgment a mile away. Judgment creates barriers. So what do you do instead? Empathize. It’s not that hard to do if you realize you probably have an attitude about other organizations similar to their attitude toward your church. Take going to the gym for example. I have a gym membership. Truthfully, I haven’t been there in two months. But I spin on my bike trainer at home, do push-ups and hike. I watch what I eat and I do other exercises. To me, my goal is fitness and health. It’s not going to the gym. The gym is a means to an end, and it’s not the only means for me. Am I going to make the cover of next month’s Muscle Magazine? Nope. But that’s not my goal. Many people think the same way about church. Especially if you’re reaching unchurched people. If a formerly unchurched person shows up 12 times a year, that’s far more than they’ve ever been in church! They might think they’re doing great, and maybe they are compared to how they used to feel spiritually. So rather than judging them for it, tell them they’re doing great. And invite them into a deeper conversation about faith and life. I realize the gym analogy breaks down because I don’t think the Christian faith is an individual pursuit like fitness can be (more on that in part 4 of this blog series). And clearly, I would be in better shape if I went to the gym three times a week and had a personal trainer. But if you stand there with a scowl on your face every Sunday angry about empty seats, why would anyone want to sit in one? 2. SEPARATE THE MISSION FROM THE METHOD Somewhere along the way a lot of us end up confusing the mission and the method. Your mission is to lead people into a relationship with Jesus, not to get people to show up for an hour in a box every Sunday. Please hear me…I value our time together on Sundays as a church. And I think it’s presently one of our very best vehicles through which to advance the mission of the church (more on that in Part 4 of the series). But our mission is not to fill seats on a Sunday. It’s to lead people to Jesus. You should be obsessed with your mission, not with filling seats. Truthfully, some of us are more in love with the method than the mission. If that’s you, repent. I have. I am. That shift will create a whole new mindset in your team. It will help you run offence, not just defense. You’ll start to think of fresh ways to help people on their journey toward Jesus. And—don’t miss this—if you really help people move into an authentic relationship with Jesus Christ, they might show up more regularly in your church on Sunday. Ironic, isn’t it? 3. USE TECHNOLOGY TO HELP PEOPLE EVERY DAY Church leaders today have an advantage that we simply didn’t have a decade ago. Social media and even email are great ways to help people deepen their journey with Christ, not just sell your latest program. What if you started viewing your social media channels and email list as an opportunity to come alongside people and help them grow in their faith? You have to be careful how you approach this because if you’re just trying to drive attendance, people will notice. But if you encourage them, inspire them, challenge them and help them, they’ll welcome your presence. So how do you do that? Simple. Be helpful. If you run your social media and email content through a helpful filter, people will be thrilled to hear from you. And it will deepen the bond you have with infrequent attendees. They’ll come to see you as a friend, not just one more person trying to sell them something. Be the favorite person in their inbox, and their favorite thing to see on their newsfeed. Never underestimate what being helpful does for everyone involved. 4. START MEASURING OUTPUTS Church leaders are programmed to measure inputs, not outputs. We measure how many people showed up, what they gave, who they brought and even online traffic. But rarely do we measure outputs. What if the church became as much a sending organization as a receiving organization? What if you developed ways to measure spiritual growth? Like how much time people spend with God personally each day reading scripture and praying? The stats are surprisingly low. According to a recent study, 57% of Americans read their bible four times a year or less. Only 26% read it more than 4 times a week. What if you helped the people around your church change that? And what if you got innovate and started thinking through whether people were better off five years after joining your church than were before? Or whether they feel closer to Christ? Or whether they’re making a difference in their workplaces and neighborhoods? What if you helped them be the church, not just go to church? Leaders get passionate about what they measure. So measure thoughtfully. 5. CELEBRATE WINS It’s strange that when a child takes their first steps, we applaud wildly, but when a Christian takes their first steps, we call them immature. Sure, so a new Christian doesn’t read their Bible every day or attend every week or give the way you want. I get that. Many long-time Christians don’t either. Rather than judging them, why not love them? Why not celebrate when they take a step? Send a handwritten thank you note to each first-time attendee. Welcome them when they come back. Throw a party when they show up again 3 months later. Celebrate like crazy when someone gives their first $5 gift. Jump for joy when someone decides to serve or high five them when they decide to get in a group. Okay, I’m exaggerating a big. The point isn’t to get weird. The point is to celebrate. As Andy Stanley says, what you celebrate gets repeated. Want to know how to celebrate? Follow my friend Bob Goff. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with a bigger heart than Bob, or who take more delight in things others might ignore or despise. Let some of his Kingdom of God joy rub off on you. If the church approached ministry the way people like Bob approach life, the church would be a far more attractive and contagious place. www.careynieuwhof.com . Used by permission.

Shame doesn’t have to hold you back. In Unashamed, Christine Caine will share how her own journey through shame showed her how God had something better in store for her–and that He has something better for you, too. Find your purpose, learn to defeat shame, and become the person God wants you to be as you discover what it means to live #Unashamed. www.lifechurch.tv/open . God took out half my thyroid and took out a lump that was benign so thank God I’m cancer free. That’s fine. But I want to say this thing. When the doctor called to say Christine you have cancer I know she was starting to kind of sound like she was freaking out, so I thought I better go into pastoral care to make sure that you know. And I remember saying to her Leslie, it’s okay. Cancer can’t kill me. Life will kill me. You just need to live long enough and you’ll die. I don’t know anyone that’s gotten out of life alive. So death is the ultimate statistic. One out of one will die. So you don’t want to miss this series is all I’m saying. I’m gonna be tuning in as I do every week to your pastor. I’m pumped up, fired up and ready to go now. You all know I’m both Greek and a woman. So I only speak three ways. Hard, fast and continuously. So strap yourself in and no matter where you are at any one of our Life Church locations, if you need an interpreter, this is an Australian accent. This is how the colonies speak. You threw the tea out in Boston. But the rest of us, we actually speak the Queen’s English. So this is what it is like. You will catch up. I want to share my heart. I’m with family today. And this church is like home for us. And I want to share with you there’s some thoughts about the subject that I have struggled most with. I turned 52 recently and that is awesome. It’s a great milestone. My father died when he was 52 and so for me to reach the age of 52 was very, very significant and everyday is a gift from God. But there’s been one issue more than any other issue that I’ve had to struggle with most of my life. And I have to still make a daily conscious decision to really not spiral down into this issue. And you know, I think it’s one of the most important issues that scripture talks about. I think there’s not one person that’s listening today that this won’t pertain to. We’re gonna turn to the book of Genesis because why not start at the beginning? We’ve got a whole 30 minutes together so if I read really fast we’ll get to Revelation by the time that I’m done. You’ve got nothing better going today anyway. So I know that that’s happening. But Genesis chapter two, we’re gonna go to Genesis 2:25 right through to Genesis 3:17. Now that could be more Bible than some of you have read all year, I know that. But that’s okay. I’m gonna catch you up to your Bible reading plan that I know that you’re on so you would have gotten through in a day. But we’re gonna go to Genesis 2:25. The Bible says and the man and his wife were both naked. I got some of you right there if you’ve never been in church before and you’re like they talk about this in church? Yes, it’s in the Bible there you go. The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden”? And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God”. Is that not the desire of most of humanity? Knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you”? And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself”. He said, “Who told you you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat”? The man said, “The woman”! I’m just saying very few things have changed in life. You all do what you want with that. But there it is. “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit..”. So it wasn’t just the woman’s fault, it’s not God’s fault because God gave the woman to the man. Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done”? The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate”. If you’re kind of wondering where the origin of the blame culture is, it didn’t just start today on Twitter, it was right there in the Garden of Eden. It is not my fault! It is this person’s fault! It is the system’s! It’s anybody’s fault but my fault. It started right there. But I think it’s really interesting that we start Genesis 2:25, the very last verse in the Bible before we step over into humanity’s fall is a very, very important verse. Because God wants us to know there is one thing I’m going to take the time to put in holy, I’m gonna write it in this so that you my people created in my image, are going to know that there is one thing I created you to never know what it feels like. There is one thing that I created you to never know the burden of. The Bible says Adam and Eve were naked and they knew no shame. Is that interesting to you? That God could have said they knew no fear. They knew no joy. They knew no peace. They knew no, I mean he could have picked anything out of the plethora of human emotions to put in there. And he puts only one thing in scripture before the fall. I created you to never know the burden of shame. So if I was the enemy, which I’m not contrary to what some might think, but if I was the enemy, and I wanted to take out the only thing created in the image of God, then I would want to make sure I put on them the one thing they were never created to bear the burden of so that they would be rendered ineffective. So that they would be rendered fruitless. Because the enemy is after your fruitfulness. See if he can’t get you, if you are saved, if you are born again, if you are sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, the enemy is not gonna get your soul. But if he can heap shame on you, he will render you ineffective so the people on the other side of your obedience will not be reached with the gospel. It is about our fruitfulness. So much of what is happening in the world today is an attack of the enemy on our fruitfulness. And I’m gonna show you this from scripture. So the enemy comes into the garden. And here he comes in. And the very first thing in the Bible, the very first words that we read from the enemy in scripture is a question. And the question that the enemy asks right here in the book of Genesis is pertinent to us today in 2018 across the earth. The enemy comes into the garden and he asks that one question that begins it all. Did God really say? You see when the enemy wants to untangle your life, he will begin by undermining the authority of the word of God. He will always begin by questioning did God really say? Is that really in the Bible? Is that what really God says about marriage? Is that what God says about monogamy? Is that what God says about family? Is that what God says about society? Is that what God says about the best way to … Did God really say that? Or perhaps if we take it and put it in the washing machine, and the dishwasher and the dryer, turn it upside down, translate it from Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, and make it say what you want to say, did God really say is the question for every generation. Oh it’s the question on the table for this generation. Did God really say scripture is inherent? Did God really say Jesus is the only way to God? Surely, there are so many other options. Did God really say that that is relevant in 2018? I mean really Christine. Culture is so different today. I mean there was no technology, there was no internet, how could God have known the internet was going to be? Did God really say is the foundational question that if you don’t get that answered, your whole life will begin to unravel in so many ways. The way we see so many things unraveling in society today in every sphere politically, morally, socially, environmentally, economically, we see it in every sphere of society. It is beginning to unravel because people don’t know what God really said. Now God’s saying I created you to never know shame. If you don’t know what I said about you, if you don’t know how I created this world and the order I created, then I’m telling you what is gonna come upon you will be a great shame because if you don’t know who you are, in whose image you were created, and what you are on the earth for, you’re gonna spend all of your life chasing the wrong thing. Feeling like you’re not good enough. Feeling like you don’t measure up. Feeling like somehow you are deficient. And everything in society is created to echo that message. You’re not enough. You’re not smart enough. You’re not good enough. You’re not talented enough. You are not enough of whoever you are. The only problem is if you don’t know who you are and whose image you’re created in, you will constantly be trying to get your significance, your security, your value, and your esteem from other people or things and they were never created to satisfy you. And the inevitable consequence of it all is that you will end up full of shame. I wonder what it would be like to not know shame. Because I personally don’t know. Any moment in my life. I was the kid that was left in a hospital unnamed and unwanted, rejected by my biological mother. I don’t even know who she was. Or my biological father. My birth certificate doesn’t have a name on it. It says child name, unnamed. I grew up in the poorest zip code in my state in Australia. Second generation migrant Grecian. That was before My Big Fat Greek Wedding when it was not cool to be Greek in Australia. So marginalized because of my ethnicity, my gender, in a culture that did not esteem women. Where I was always told Christine why can’t you be like all the other girls? You know my mother would drop me off to ballet classes and come and pick me up and I’d be on the soccer field playing soccer with all the boys. Or drop me off to play with Barbie dolls in K-Mart and I’d be reading books. And it was like Christine, you’re not enough. Christine no man’s ever gonna want to marry you if you’re smarter than him. No man’s ever gonna want to marry you if you don’t want to dress like this, look like… I never felt enough. Always shamed because I was different. And then I was sexually abused most weeks of my life from the time I was, before I went to school right through into my mid-teen years and so many of us today all across every campus know exactly what that is like. We have a world venting so much angst and pain and shame that has come because of the injustice of abuse. Whether it’s sexual or emotional or physical, verbal. But most of us in some way shape or form know what that is like. The word abuse means to use an object for a purpose for which it was never designed. And all of us in some way, shape or form by this world have been used for a purpose for which God never designed us. As a result of that shame has come into our soul. The sense that there’s something wrong with me. And we have a world that is full of anxiety. That is full of fear. A world that is medicated at unprecedented levels because people feel fundamentally there’s something wrong with me. I don’t measure up. You see when you first begin to be abused you think what is happening to you is wrong. But when it continues to happen and nobody stops it, you then begin to believe the lie that there’s something wrong with me. That’s why it’s happening. I cannot remember a time in my life where I did not think there’s something wrong with me. There’s something wrong with me and if I am not consistently in the word of God, and if I’m not consistently renewing my mind according to the word of God, I’m only ever one thought away from going back into that way of thinking there’s something wrong with me. My default if I don’t arrest it is I must have done something bad. There’s something wrong with me. And so many of us fundamentally feel this sense of longing, what is wrong with me? What can fix me? And there is only one that can do that. And his name is the Lord Jesus Christ ’cause you and I were created by God for a relationship with God. And it’s Jesus that connects us to God. It’s Jesus that connects us to the grace of God. You and I are created in the image of God! This might be revelation for some of you because you may not know this. You may have grown up like I did in Australia. We grew up in a school system where this is what they taught us! Now you have to be highly educated to believe this! You have to have a lot of letters after your name! But in my school system in Australia, they taught us that many, many moons ago we knew total nothing of the nothing. Two nothings came together, and went bang! And there it was. My great grandfather, the cockroach. He was awesome. And then that cockroach just walked around planet earth for a while and had a genetic mutation, went bang and there it was a frog. Then the frog just hopped around planet earth, it had a genetic mutation, went bang and there it was the ape. And the ape was walking around Oklahoma City on a really hot summer’s day. And it went to the hairdresser, had a cut, shave, and blow dry and here we are today. It was awesome. You need a lot of faith to believe that. But essentially we have raised a generation by telling them that you came from nothing, you live for no reason. And you are going nowhere. Now if you tell a generation long enough that they came from nothing, that they live for no reason, and they’re going nowhere, why would you be surprised when they begin to live like they came from nothing, they live for no reason and they’re going nowhere? But I’ve got some good news for Life Church today. You didn’t come from nothing! You are created in the image of almighty God! You are filled with God given destiny! You are filled with God given purpose! God, has a planned purpose and destiny for your life, Genesis 1:26 and 27 has probably never been more important in light of current debates in society. In his image he created them. Male and female. We are not genderless. God went to the trouble of telling us that he created us in his image on purpose and for a purpose. No matter what’s been done to you, you are created in the image of God. He loves you. He’s got a plan and a purpose and a destiny for your life. So the enemy comes into the garden and he says did God really say? It’s important that you know what God says. In our day of social media and 24/7 news cycles, oh most of us have got an opinion about what everyone else is saying. But do you know what God said? Do you know what God is really saying and it’s time to turn down the voice of the world and turn up the voice of God. Thank God that out of this house the YouVersion Bible app has gone around the world to 28 billion gazillion people thank God and counting and growing everyday. Because our world needs to know what God said. And then the enemy wants to get his way and heap shame on the world. And they call us the shaming culture. They wrote an op-ed in the New York Times calling us the shaming culture. You just have to be on social media for 10 seconds to understand that that’s true. Everyone calling everyone else out. Everyone shaming everyone. It’s an outrage culture. It’s a shaming culture. And God says I actually created you not to know what shame is. I actually set up a method in my Bible of how you address conflict and how you talk to one another. And how you honor one another. And how you cover one another. But it’s like we’ve forgotten all of that. When it comes to the shaming, the world itself calls us a shaming culture. And God says I didn’t make you to know what that is. So he says did God say. She turns around and says well you know, God said that we shouldn’t eat from this tree or we’re gonna die. And here comes the enemy. You will not die! He will always try to undermine the character of God. He will make you think that God is a kill joy. That God is trying to rip you off. You can do what God said not to do. You’re not gonna die. You go to the nightclub and snort what you want. You won’t die. You go and sleep with whoever you want, you won’t die. You marry whoever you want, you won’t die. You go and cheat on your tax return, you won’t die. You go and gossip and slander, you won’t die! All the underpinnings of the enemy are always there. God knows that you’re gonna be like him. God wants to rip you off. That’s why God doesn’t want you to go and get stoned and drunk and sleep around with everybody because God’s such a kill joy. And he just really, really wants you to miss out on the fun of waking up in your own vomit, of waking up next to someone you don’t even know who their name is. That’s right, God’s such a kill joy. And then he tries to take the things that God does to protect us and to dignify us and to help us live a flourishing, fruitful life. The enemy says oh no, no, no. God actually just wants to rip you off. So he’s undermining the character of God. That God truly is good. That God does good. That’s what Psalm 119 tells us. And that anything God asks us to do, even if we don’t understand why he would want us to withhold from a certain pattern of behavior. Or perhaps not go down a certain track. It may not make sense to us in 2018, but will we trust God when we don’t understand why God has asked us to do something? That’s the issue that’s on the table. Will you trust the character of God? And what happened here is Eve didn’t. She ultimately didn’t trust that God is good. And that God does good. And so the enemy will always say no, no, no. That really won’t destroy you. Just go and click on that website, it’s not gonna hurt your marriage. Just go and have that extra glass of wine. It’s not gonna hurt you. It’s not gonna turn you back into an addict. He’ll always just try to make you go just that little bit more. Just compromise this word, just that little bit. It’s not gonna kill you. Because all he wants to do is kill you. You go Christine what’s the scripture and verse for that? Read your Bible, John 10:10. The enemy comes to do one thing. Steal, kill, and destroy. That’s all he wants to do. He wants your fruitfulness. If he can’t get your soul, he wants your fruitfulness. So what he’s going to, so much of what we’re talking about in society today, it’s not an issue of salvation. It’s an issue of fruitfulness. Can you go and do it? Knock yourself out honey. But you will not be fruitful for the glory of God. And John tells us it is to our Father’s great glory that we bear much fruit. The enemy is after the fruitfulness of the church. So he gets us arguing about theology and doctrine and is this, can you do this, and how close to the line can I get? And are you saved if you do this? And you know what? It’s very rarely a salvation issue. It is a fruitfulness issue. Obedience to God is a matter of fruitfulness. So then she says but God did say. See you could be in church every week. You could do Bible study. You could be able to quote the word of God. But it will be of no effect if you don’t do it. She knew what God said. She said God did say don’t eat of it. But she did what God said not to do. If you do the antithesis of what God tells you to do, what is the point of all of this? We come and we sit in church every week. We do Bible studies. We download podcasts. But if you’re not going to do it, faith without works is Dead. And there’s so many Christians with an ineffective faith that doesn’t work because they’re not putting their faith to work by obedience. Obedience is not legalism. Obedience will lead to a flourishing life. God is not trying to restrict you. God is trying to launch you into your destiny and your purpose. There is nothing greater than obeying God. And so, she says God did say, he says no it won’t. Here’s where the problem starts. Don’t have a big dialogue with the devil. When he starts talking to you, do not sit there. And then what happens? For God knows you’re gonna be like him. Here is the deal. She had forgotten. She already was like God. Genesis chapter one. She was created in the image of God. See, when you forget who you are, whose son you are, whose daughter you are, in whose image you are created, you will end up doing things contrary to God to become who you already are. But when you know who you already are, you can stand up to the enemy and go no, I know who I am in him. I’m a son or a daughter of the king. And so I’m gonna obey the word of God. And so what does the Bible say? They ate of it and then they realized they were naked. And here’s the difference between shame and guilt. See guilt says I did something wrong. And when we do something wrong, the first place we should run is to God. But shame says you are wrong, so it makes you run away from God. And so there is a difference between your who and your do. What you did is not who you are. And every one of us, the Bible says all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I need to be running to God for the, you know why he’s immersing you every morning? Because I need them. Every morning. Why I need his grace every day. Confession is not a legalistic thing. It’s such a gift that I can go and pour my heart out before God and know that he is faithful and just if I confess my sins to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. There is no better feeling. Than the feeling of freedom and cleansing. This gospel message is so much more than just trying to make us live good and be good and just hang on ’til the rapture. It’s to live free and shame free. Everyday. It’s so liberating. It’s so life giving. And so what happens is they hid from God. And then to me, one of the saddest questions in the Bible, the first question we see God ask in scripture, the Lord walks into the garden, now can you imagine, he’s always walked in and Adam and Eve would be there. And he walks into the garden and here is first question of God in scripture, Where are you! I think God’s still asking humanity that question today? Where did you go? Now, when God asks where are you, it’s not because he doesn’t know. His omniscient. He knows everything. So there you go, that’s not the issue. But what happens is when we do stuff wrong, we normally run from the presence of God. And some of you watching this today, and you’re here in church, or you’re watching online, and you think that what you’ve done is unforgivable, you think that you have just messed up so royally. And you’ve been hiding from God. And some of us are hidden in plain sight. You’re hiding at the top of your corporation as a CEO. You’re hiding behind your money. You’re hiding behind your assets. You’re hiding behind your image. Some of you are hiding behind drugs. Some of you are hiding in someone’s bed jumping from bed to bed trying to numb your reality. Trying to numb your pain. Trying to numb the memory of what you’ve done or what was done to you. And God’s saying where are you? Where are you? When we mess up or something has happened to us, this is the time to run to God not from God. But the enemy will try to make you run from God every time. First conversation between man and God in scripture. This is what Adam says to God. I was naked and afraid and so I hid. Fear, shame, hiding. First conversation in the Bible. And for so many people, that’s exactly the conversation that you have with God if you ever talk with him. It’s full of fear. It’s full of shame. It’s full of hiding. Some of you did everything just to kinda turn up to church today. And you’re here, your body’s here. But you’re hiding from God in your heart. You’ve pulled back. And I believe by the grace of God today, you’re gonna know the love and the forgiveness, and the mercy in the grace of God. And to me, the saddest question in the Bible is next. One passage, three questions. The three questions that I believe are as pertinent in 2018 as they’ve ever been. Did God really say? Where are you? Some of you are hidden in plain sight. Where did you go? And then to me the saddest question, and I could imagine God asking Adam this with tears streaming down his face. Saying, who told you? Who told you you were naked? At what point did you believe the lie? When did you elevate someone’s voice above my voice! At what point did you believe that you’re too dumb! That you’re too stupid! That you’ll never amount to anything! There’ll always be addiction in your family! There’ll always be divorce in your family! That you can’t go to college! Where did you believe the lie! What uncle, what teacher! Who told you! Because so many of us are living so far beneath what God has for us, because we’ve elevated the voice of the world, the voice of social media, the voice of our teachers, the voice of a parent above the voice of God! Who told you is critical. At what point in your life did you believe the lie that crippled you and paralyzed you and kept you so far beneath the will of God for your life? Who told you? The best way for me to exemplify this is my daughter Catherine, she’s 16 now. But when I took her to Kindergarten, you know she’d grown in an environment like this with us and ever since she was born I would always speak over her. Catherine Bobbie, you are the head and not the tail. You are above only and not beneath. You’re a leader and not a follower. You’re a woman of God. You’re a woman of prayer. You’re a holy ghost terrorist. You are gonna grow up and you are gonna marry a very, very, very wealthy Christian man. I’ve told her since she was born. I’m a Greek mother. I’m into arranged marriages. Send me an email, so there you go. And her Daddy, ever since she was born, over both of my daughters, every day, every night, it doesn’t matter where we are in the world, if we’re not with ’em, he will set an alarm for three a.m. if it is to wake up so that he can pray for them before they go to bed. I sleep, but he does that. And so, but he’ll do that. And he’s always spoken over her. Catherine, Catherine Bobbie you are intelligent. Catherine Bobbie you are strong. Catherine Bobbie you are courageous. Catherine Bobbie you could do anything God’s called you to do. You could be anything God has called you to be. You are beautiful. And he’ll always say beautiful at the end. So that she knows that she’s intelligent. That she’s strong, that she’s capable, that she’s courageous. As well as beautiful. And well, you know, you get told that, and there’s a sense of confidence and strength in your identity. Well I took Catherine to Kindergarten. And how many know that the kids at school are not quite as nice as Mum and Dad? You know they’re not gonna say the same thing. Well, I went to pick Catherine up from Kindergarten and her teacher said this to me. Her teacher goes Christine, there was a little fight today at school. And she said you should have seen what happened. The little boy, there was this little boy. And he wanted Catherine’s teddy bear. So he ripped Catherine’s teddy bear out of her arms at lunchtime. And he said these words to her. As he took the teddy bear, he said Catherine Bobbie, you are dumb and you are ugly. And you could imagine I’m thinking how would my daughter even know what those words meant? And the teacher said oh no Christine, don’t worry, you don’t need to panic. And she said, you should have seen your daughter. She just eyeballed this kid. She put her shoulders back. And like, I was so pumped, I thought she was gonna tell me she king hit him. I’m like, yes, yes! Please do not send me emails. I’m not gonna read them. We breed them tough in Australia. I’m like yes! That is my daughter. Extra Christmas presents if she did that for sure. And she said no Christine, she put her shoulders back, she looked that kid in the eye, and she said to him, no I’m not. I’m not dumb. And I’m not ugly. My Daddy says that I am intelligent. And that I am beautiful. And church why am I telling your that this morning? I’m telling you because the most important thing you can know in the day and the age in which we live is not what social media says! It’s not what your friends says! It’s what does your Daddy say? Your Daddy says that you are a son or a daughter of the king of kings and the lord of lords! My Daddy says I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me! My Daddy says I am called! My Daddy says I am chosen! My Daddy says I am redeemed! My Daddy says that I am loved! My Daddy says that I am a child of God created in his image! My Daddy says there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus! My Daddy says I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. The greatest thing you will ever know on this side of eternity is who you are in him. And what he says about you and to you. Did God really say? Where are you? Who told you? The three questions for our generation. Your God is for you. Let me pray for you church. Father, I thank you for this amazing church. I thank you Lord for your word. I thank you for your promise. I thank you that as we live on this side of eternity and this thing called time and space, Father there are so many voices shouting at us telling us who we are not, reminding us of our failures, reminding us of our flaws. But I thank you Lord that you have given us your word and your word is full of life. And your word is full of hope. And I thank you that we are sons and daughters of the king of kings and the lord of lords. And where the enemy has declared shame on you, on any person, under the sound of my voice, I’ve come to Life Church today to declare and decree in the name of Jesus Christ shame off you. In Jesus’ name. Amen, amen.