I want to share about 2 men—David and Asaph—good friends—whose lives were falling apart. Some of you are free-falling through life with no parachute and you feel like David. On the other hand, some of you are struggling with more intellectual issues—like his friend, Asaph. TRANSCRIPT: Thank you. I'd like for you to take your Bibles and turn to the Book of Psalms this morning. I want to begin here with a couple of Psalms. We'll look at Psalm 10:73. We'll examine here in just a moment. While you're turning, an announcement or two. I want to encourage you again to check out our website on PreachitTeachit.org. We're trying every week to put some things on there you might find really helpful. Dr Chet Weld and I st down and have taped a number of conversations between our pastoral counsel and myself. You can get the podcast on that and deal with a lot of personal issues. He's a brilliant man. We've had a lot of fun doing those so I hope you'll take advantage of that. We've had over 15,000 hits in the last six weeks. A lot of you have asked me questions on the Ask Roger column and I've enjoyed that you can make comments back and discuss things with me and welcome that the questions this week deal with cremation. What's the Bible says about cremation and the other one question I'd never received before was is Christ Jesus' last name. Not that was an interesting question so those are a couple this week and some more coming up right after that and finally, you might enjoy what we're calling the Shepherd's Journey. A lot of you have asked for years for Julie just to sit down and make a recording playing on the piano so we did one of Psalms and I'm reading some Psalms and she's playing behind that underlaying that you might find just relaxing and helpful and quiet in your mediation time. It's also probably something good to go to sleep with in the evening so again you might find that helpful and I hope you'll make available of that. Now we've been doing a little series five weeks called Greater Than and they're all from the Psalms and this morning want us to talk about the God is greater than our doubts. And I'd like to compare and maybe contrast a little bit two Bible characters. They were both very good friends, David and Asaph. David wrote a lot of Psalms. Asaph wrote 10 and they both had their complaints. They were upset with God and they shared their struggles and then they reached the same conclusion and I think you'll find this helpful this morning and hopefully very applicable to your life. There was a point in both their lives when it seemed like everything was spinning out of control, like just falling with nowhere to be caught. No safety coming reminds me about the new movie Get Smart. How many of you have seen the new movie Get Smart. Isn't that a great movie. Even if you never saw the old TV show, you'll enjoy it because it's a new sort of put together. A movie about a fight between Control and Chaos and I want to show you a little clip now. This is not pirated, there's a website that the movies want to put their trailers on so you can share them if you want so this is a little trailer from Get Smart. I'll describe it to you in a little bit. They're on the airplane and Agent 86, Maxwell Smart, has bumbled himself, shooting himself with arrows in the bathroom in the airplane and then ejects himself out of the plane with no parachute and thank God there's Agent 99 because 99 comes to hi rescue. He's freefalling, spinning out of control. She comes to him, he says "Where you been?" and she says as she watches the control agent jump out of the plane and come down to fight them "I'll be right back". Well he's left totally spinning out of control so maybe you felt occasionally something like this. Well the parachute came out and they made it okay. David felt like that in a lot of the Psalms. You may have felt like that. I mean, aren't three times we've all had when it's like everything's falling apart. You ever had that feeling. Sure you have and there's no one to rescue you and you don't know how it's going to come out. David, often times in his Psalms, exhibits what it's like to be falling out of control. I want to show you there in Psalm 10, here's one of his complaints. Why, oh Lord, do You stand far off. Why do You hide Yourself in times of troubles. And he's in the midst of tremendous physical duress as his enemies are out to get him and where are you God. That's what he's asking here. Where are you, why aren't you here with me. Haven't we all, of course, had moments where are you God. Where are you. Some of us have lost our jobs there will in the recession God. Where are you. It's like he's abandoned you. Where are going. Some of you are dealing with childhood issues. Are you own children? It's like life's falling apart and you're going to identify with David in this because see David worked through his issues and he ran to a great conclusion. Here's his complaint - Where are you when I need you. And remember God's greater than our doubts. He's doubting God's care for him. On the other hand, some of you are like his friend Asaph. You're going through more intellectually driven issues like look now. Psalm 73, verse number 1. He gives to us his complaint. It's and intellectual one. He writes Surely God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure. Now that's your premise. God takes care of the good people But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone. This is called spiritual sickness. I nearly lost my foothold. Why I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Now Asaph has been taught that God takes care of the pure in heart that God watches after his children but that doesn't seem to coincide with his experience and it's throwing him off a little bit. See, he's living for God and he's not as well of as the folks out there who aren't living for God. And this is not how life's supposed to work and you know what that feels like. You trust God and you look at your neighbor who's doing yard work on Sunday morning or at the soccer games or going on a picnic on Sunday, who doesn't give God the time of day and you look over there and go, he's better off than I am. This is not how it's supposed to work. There ought to be some payoff for following God. He's got a new house and your roof's caving in. You know you're looking over there and he's bought his children seven or eight pairs of shoes and you're struggling just to buy your kids one pair of shoes. He's got a nice job, you just lost yours and you're so does it pay to be a Christian. See, why bother. I might as well not follow you and longer cuz they're doing better than I am. See, that's his complaint. My life isn't working out the way you said it would now. God never said it would work this way but a lot of us think that when I become a Christian, God's supposed to take care of me and all my problems. And his complaint, I guess it's just not worth it to follow you after all. It's not worth it. Now Asaph and David were friends. Asaph wrote 10-11 Psalms, David wrote maybe 75. Asaph was a leader. They were friends but Asaph over here and we got David over there and I thought a lot about their different responses. Now you're going to see this morning, some of us are going to be like Asaph, some of us are going to be like David. And we get to the same conclusion, we just get there in different ways. And it's a little harder I think for some of us than others, for example, I've heard a lot of comments and research about how the brain is in two parts. And there's the left side and the right side. The left side controls the right side of the body and vice versa. And why God put it all together this way, I know he knows best. Not sure we can ever figure this out but you know that most of our words come from our left hand side. In fact the only words they can find in the right hand side are curse words. This is very rational. Okay, it's very ordered. It's very logical. It really focuses a lot on details. Okay which is very different from the other side of the brain. This is very abstract things tend to come into it randomly. It tends to think in pictures. It's very sympathetic in its feelings. See they're very different and of course you know that there's set a neurons between the two called the corpus callosum which enables them to talk back and forth but they're very different brains. Which one's better, I'm not sure. You could really answer that question because both are significant. Both are important. See with Asaph, he's got a problem and how does he handle, well, you read his 10th Psalm and he's very rational. He's very ordered. He's very logical. he goes to all the details you read David's Psalms and they're kind of abstract he thinks in random he's drawing pictures they both got problems and Asaf tries to analyze his and David just makes a big jump he looks at the big picture but they both end up in the same place when you got problems you need to run to God one gets there a lot quicker than the other now in our family Roger is a lot more like ASF Julie is a lot more like David when I've got a problem I analyze it I structuralize it I try to figure it out I rationalize it I try to figure out what's going on here and Julie goes stop it just believe in God and I go well it's just not that easy for me well it ought to be she says if you have more faith could it be that I'm just different and that I'm made differently and that you're made differently this is just one little tiny section see most Engineers live over here because you know that's what they have to be you couldn't be a good engineer if you didn't have a lot of this work into your into your work um some folks go both ways like Gabe who just LED worship he's over here on the more musical right side but he's also an engineer and and the whole point of that is this aren't we all made differently yes this is just one dimension of how we're made differently didn't God put us all together like he wants us yes could you imagine that if I were more like Julie I wouldn't be Roger wouldn't that be true wouldn't be the leader wouldn't be the husband wouldn't be the Thinker the worrier I am can you imagine if Julie were more like me she wouldn't be Julie if Julie were left with my left brain thinking she would never be the musician she is because most of the music comes out of this side and the rhythms come out of her side does that make sense we come at this from different perspectives the key is that we get to the right place now here's how David did it David's struggling with his problem and he sees the big picture and he immediately turns straight for God his faith flourished Asaph struggled with his problem he got stuck in all the details he had to figure everything out and by the time he figured everything out he'd almost lost his faith now some of you will identify with that Julie says just believe and I go it's just not that easy why don't we reason things out she says well I don't want to do that well I just go right to God see we're just a little different Asaph was struggling because life wasn't working out the way it was supposed to it's not good that the evil people get along better than the good people notice there in verse 12 Psalm 73:2 here's his struggle verse 12 here's what the wicked are like now they're really not like this way but when you get to thinking screwy you'll think things like this uh when you get jealous here's what the wicked are like they're always Carefree they're the ones increasing in wealth verse 13 so why should I bother surely in vain in emptiness have I kept my heart pure in vain I have washed my hands in innocence you ever felt that way see why why should I bother with Christ those unbelievers better off than I am why would a loving God send anybody to hell now some of us will struggle to find an answer to that why should we think that Christianity is the only way to God the Father why does God allow suffering in the world see David was under great duress his struggles because people were trying to kill him now some of you have been through that and he couldn't find God in this where are you why have you deserted me and when you read David's Psalms you discover they're very different Asaf was struggling with an intellectual issue couldn't figure out how things should work when they're not working the way he thinks it's about to blow his faith away David on the other hand was struggling with intense persecutions remember think about this read the Psalms how many of them begin with words like this a Psalm of David when he ran from doag after being betrayed a Psalm of David when he was on the run from so from King Saul a Psalm of David when he feigned Insanity before the king of the Philistines who was trying to kill him a Psalm of David when he was being put on the Run by his son absam in Rebellion think about it he's 18 years old he's killed Goliath and King Saul picks up a spear and tries to run it through him CU Saul's jealous of him and for the next 12 years David's on the run like a partridge being hunted and a whole slew of his Psalms come during those days oh God where are you you're letting that Wicked guy flourish and think about this when he was 78 his own son Absalom has driven him out of the kingdom and David's on the other side of the kedin valley trying to run away real quick before absent soldiers can kill him and he looks back and absam has got all of his wives and concubines up on top of the of the house over there and he's committing adultery with David's own women listen we think about him sitting back strumming on the harp we forget that over his lifetime he lost he lost at one point his kingdom he lost his wives he lost his children he lost his health he lost his integrity and he knows what it's like to be under physical pressures of people out to kill you who's after you that's a fair question to ask you know you know who's your Goliath and it could literally be somebody at work who's betraying you know what I mean it could be loss of health and what are you struggling with as you struggle with and you're wondering where God is uh how about the c-word cancer some of you heard the doc say you got cancer could that be a big Goliath or what you know you die of a heart attack it's kind of clean you die of cancer you know you just don't want to die that way do you it's really messy so I'm with the doctor a few weeks ago time for a checkup he's got that little camera inside my bladder and the TV screen over there and he's showing me all the different parts of my bladder and it was so interesting here's this part and it's okay and this part works here and that's okay and he swings the camera and goes that looks good and he swings the camera and here's what he says next what in the world is that that's what he says then he says this that's not supposed to be there now what do you think I'm feeling so he says sit real still I'm going to cut that out of there well you know you don't feel any of this at the cuts at least he cuts the deal out it's a little piece of skin he says now listen I got to tell you when these are in your bladder 99% of the time it's cancer but don't worry about it says it's kind of a low-level cancer well you know that just didn't help so I've got seven days while I grow the culture any of you been through that waiting for the results and you know what I didn't handle that very well I'm on the internet looking at this angle and figuring this out and why is it going to happen and what if this and what if that looking at all little details and Julie's just Roger just trust God he's got a plan it's all going to be fine well I'm going to God here but but I'm still struggling with all these issues and it was good results um the radiologist his report and I quote said to the doc I've only seen two of these in the last 10 years and both of them were benign it was supposed to be cancer well isn't that nice okay that was good but the point is how I handled that see it was hard for me to get the big picture and just go it's okay God's in control now David could do that but Roger is a little more like ASF see David's conclusion when life is slipping away and Goliath Rises up to his full 10 ft height you just run straight to God that's uh look back in Psalm chapter 10 verse 16 it's a great statement of faith here's his conclusion he goes through all the struggles here's his conclusion verse 16 you're king forever you hear the desire of The Afflicted you encourage them you listen to their cry you defend the fatherless and the oppressed God you're going to work this baby out it's going to be fine you read David's Psalms and you realize there's a friendship between the two that you really don't see with Asa so much see David and God were friends they had a deep relationship you might say Ahab excuse me ahab had religion and he was moving through his religion to find a relationship but they both came to the same conclusion see Asaf reached the conclusion okay when life is slipping away when the world doesn't make any sense I'm going to stop trying to figure everything out and I'm still going to run to almighty God look back in Psalm 73 verse 17 and then I went to church and I understood their final Destiny I thought these guys were doing good but they're really not now some of you have been in church and God started speaking to you isn't that true and Roger's up here preaching or Glenn's up here preaching or Jack's up here preaching and all of a sudden you don't hear a word he's saying CU you and God are talking over some stuff that ever happened to you in this place sure it has okay what caused you to leave out of the sermon you should have been listening to me but that's okay if God wants to talk to you he's probably a lot more important than I am but you know what I mean sitting here he begins to speak but maybe not here you could be talking with a friend over coffee and all of a sudden things begin to make sense you can be in your own bedroom praying and all of a sudden things make sense and see he and God have been struggling through this issue and all of a sudden when he got in God's presence in church everything made sense and he says surely you've put them on slippery ground he starts out he's slipping but now he realizes they're the ones who are slipping for you will cast them down to ruin how suddenly they are destroyed completely Swept Away by their Terrors he he got to God and he reasoned things out here's what he's reasoning I was a teaching children's church when I was very young had about 300 kids in in the children's church and we're working through the story of rich man and Lazarus so I tell all the children there was a rich man and there was a beggar and the rich man had steak and potatoes and the beggar sat at the bottom of the table saying please can I just have a crumb and the rich man didn't give him the time of day how many of you would rather be the rich man and all the little hands went up how many of you rather be the beggar not a single hand goes up so I tell them more of the story and there came a day when the rich man died and went to hell and the beggar died and went to heaven and the rich man is burning in hell and he says oh God if I could have a drink just a drop just the tip of the finger drop how many of you kids want to be the rich man now not a hand goes up how many want to be the beggar man all the hands go up see this is Asap reasoning through and then God opens up the veil to let him see things from his perspective and there comes this beautiful statement look in verse 23 I'll just simply read this to you he writes yet I'm always with you he and God weren't very close at the beginning of this Psalm were they he was angry and bitter and envious but now I'm always with you hold me by my right hand remember when your children were little babies if You' had children and they're in the crib and all of a sudden they cry out not quite awake yet but you know they're about to wake up and you slide into the room you leave the lights off and you just take their little right hand and hold it and all of us sudden everything quiets down God you're holding me by the right hand verse 24 so you guide me with your counsel and afterward you'll take me to Glory they don't get to go Glory but I will and then this beautiful statement whom have I in heaven but you and Earth has nothing my desire besides you and he's to God different Roots same result but now think of this for a moment Julie and I were chatting about this week um could there be a difference between how you handle things when you're under great stress and when you're not see David was under tremendous stress and I got a hunch he didn't have time to sit around and figure all this stuff out he was just trying to put bread on the table he was just trying to survive till the next morning he was running like a partridge and even was King he was under great tremendous stress and you know I don't have time to sit down and reflect on how the world works man I'm just trying to stay alive God help me Asaph was different he was a worship leader and those worship leader guys got all time to sit around just think about stuff see and so he's struggling with all these issues and I wonder sometimes if what's going on in our lives can matter a lot as to how soon for example so jul and I are in Turkey talking with a an Armenian guy who had been a missionary from Christian Armenia into Iran and uh we've become friends enough now in the last four or five years that he's he's really opening up to us and here's what he shared he'd had numerous persecutions but finally he opened up his heart and shared he said I was in with the secret police and they were trying to get me to tell them the names of the other Christians it's pretty secret and they began to torture him some and he described the tortures and here's what they he wouldn't tell and here's what they did he's sitting in the room tied in a chair they open the curtains and he looks into the Next Room oneway mirror and there's his wife with some Iranian men and the interrogator says okay either give us their names or we're going to rape your wife and he didn't and so they did now can you imagine what it would be like to go through that watch your wife being raped when you could break down but so he shared this some of the deepest hurts in his heart and I said to him wow I would guess you've had a hard time forgiving them I would bet that you know you've got to deal with a lot of issues and heal a lot of hurts here before you can really forgive him and he looked at me like I was crazy he said no I just forgive him he said I don't have time to worry through all that kind of stuff Jesus said forgive them I just have to forgive him if I were to sit around worry about this stuff all the time I could never be over here doing God's work I'd just flat out forgive him and go on and you know I thought to myself Bo he lives in a different place than I do see we get hurt by somebody well will I forgive them will I no oh blah blah blah you know we have too much time in our hands sometimes it's okay I don't have time to fill with that sure I forgive him life's got to go on let's get on with this thing and that was David reminds me of the uh of the man with two sons son one and Son Two who never went to church couldn't care less about spiritual things Godly things so the pastor and a lot of the friends had spent time trying to help this man uh and his children you know find spiritual things find life in Christ and they were totally not interested until son number one was bitten by a rattlesnake they rushed him to the hospital the anism wasn't working well legs swelling a you know five times normal or whatever Poison's coursing they're worried about him surviving so who do they call the pastor we got to get God in here so the pastor comes would you pray for our son he said You Bet Your Life dear God he prayed and in your Infinite Wisdom thank you for sending that rattlesnake to bite son number one use this time to draw him back for you and by the way God would you send a rattlesnake to son number two and a great big rattlesnake to bite This Old Man you know when you're laying on the gurney with the rattlesnake bite sometimes you'll just run straight to God that's David they say I've had a little more time could this remind you of doubting Thomas and the Apostle the disciple John see we tend to get mad at Thomas where's your faith well unless I see the nail prints and the spear hole I won't believe where's your faith and remember what Jesus said to Thomas when he appeared come on Thomas you know better than that I told you all these months about the resurrection and all get it together boy no because that's not how Jesus treats the Thomases he says look here's my hands here's my side and Thomas was able to believe John he never faltered in his faith he and Jesus were very close friends and Jesus said follow me and John went straight to the Cross he's only the only disciple at the cross now who's better John or Thomas that's not the right question God will meet us John's or Thomas at the point of our struggles and the key is that we get to the right place so let's be honest just for fun how many of you are more like ASA and David go ahead and raise your hands it's all right look at around look around the room see we will take to look at these kind of people and say why don't you have more faith and they might say back to you well I'm working on it see just a little harder for me how many of you would say I'm more like David you know you know for my little look here I'd say it's about half and half and wouldn't you expect that maybe the key is that you get there so a couple of thoughts number one all of us have unique spiritual Faith Journeys we're all going to come at it in different ways and it's okay to struggle that's how you're put together that's how God Made You I wish to goodness I was more like Julie sometimes but then I go I don't want to be that way there's things I'd like to struggle fear meets my own conclusions it's okay number two both Asaph and David found a relationship in the almighty see they both came to their conclusions and found peace in the depths of their relationship that's why you read these things whom have I in heaven but you if I got you I desire nothing on Earth you're the one that takes me to Glory you're the one he talking about his relationship remember there's always a difference between religion and relationships religion is all the stuff you do you think you have to do to be right with God relationship is just something you live out let me illustrate I'm going to use a word that's used often in church hell that's a good word you can say in church but I'm going to use it in a way that's kind of not like you usually hear in church because I want to quote for you word to word what William coffee said coffin said he was a chaplain at Yale when his boy was killed in an accident and at the funeral he's sitting there and the preacher making this feeble attempt to make it all Justified and everybody feel good by saying of course we all know it was God's will for this boy to die in the accident and William coffin stood up and interrupted and with a lot of emotion said like hell it was God was the first one crying when the accident happened now you know God sometimes allows accidents he's but it's a fallen world and William coffin had such a close relationship he wasn't angry at God wasn't matter he knew his God was crying and weeping and isn't that the god of the Bible Who Weeps over hurt and pain and sin that was the relationship and because William coffin had that kind of relation how do you get that relationship thought about it spent a lot of time in the Bible read psalms you get to know his heart read the gospels you get to see Jesus read Galatians Ephesians Philippians and Colossians when Paul talks about the intimacy that comes in the glory of Christ watch his hand at work you get to know his heart and finally a third thought final thought it's possible to keep walking with God even when sorting out angers and doubts is that true You Bet Your Life see that's Mother Teresa bless her heart oh my what a wonderful woman ministering to the poor and the down and out throughout the whole world she was in Haiti at one of the most horrendous slums in the world and she was ask how do you explain this how do you explain that a loving God would ever let this happen how do you explain that God could ever allow such suffering and pain and Mother Teresa replied replied well when I see him God's got a lot of explaining to do now that's an interesting perspective in it Philippians 2 verse2 it's a good thought to chew on as we go into communion Paul writes therefore dear friends as you've always obeyed not only my presence but now I'm gone in my absence continue to work out your salvation ation with fear and trembling that doesn't mean you've got to receive Christ to work on that once you've given your heart to Christ you are a Christian he lives within but you see you still got issues you got to work out still got to figure things out still got to work through issues it's part of maturity it's part of growing to be like Christ work out your salvation it's okay for it's God who works in you to Will and to act according to his good purpose when you watch God's hand and have a relationship you watch his hand you begin to realize no matter what's coming at us God has a purpose the purpose is what to make us look like Christ the purpose is to draw us closer to his heart the purpose is to allow us to move into intimacy with it whom have I in heaven but you Earth has nothing I desire but you you're the one who sits on the throne David says you're the one who hears the hurting because see he's even greater than our doubts isn't he it's okay to struggle it's okay to make a lead deep of Faith just get there because that's where life is well that's what communion is about Jesus Christ and the life that he gives and the problems that he solves and the support that he pours in and the world that he's changing so let's bow our heads just for a moment I want us to pray very simply God will bless the next few moments the meaning and significance as we share together work of Jesus Christ father we pray with grateful hearts for the work of Jesus for all that he means to us and to the world father I thank you that you allow us to come to you by faith that you're patient with us you allow us to struggle through issues Lord the disciples struggled through and it was okay and father as we come to these moments of our Declaration of faith in Jesus I ask again you forgive our sins thank you for the work of Christ on the cross I pray you'd make these very special moments to us in Jesus name amen Sync to video time

What if the fear of other people's opinions has been quietly costing you your destiny? Pastor Mark opens a powerful new series on courageous creativity by drawing from Caleb's defiant faith—a man who, at 85, still demanded the hardest hill to conquer because he trusted God's promises over popular opinion. Just as Harriet Beecher Stowe's Spirit-led vision birthed a book that altered history, your convictions carry generational impact. This message will challenge you to break free from conformity's grip and live boldly for the applause of nail-scarred hands. Don't miss what God is saying—watch or listen now!

Currently one in every sixty-eight children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with autism. More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes, and cancer combined. In the 1970’s and 1980’s only 1 out of every 2,000 children received an autism diagnosis. Autism was not nearly as prevalent, and little practical information was available for parents and educators. My development began normally and continued until I was eighteen months old. At that time, I began to regress rapidly. I lost my ability to communicate with words, and I ceased to engage in eye contact, a skill I had previously learned. (About 20% of children with autism experience a similar period of regression.) When I entered kindergarten, the Rochester School specialists labeled me emotionally impaired. My mom refused this label, informing the professionals, “My son’s disability is not emotional but neurological.” She diligently researched the top professionals for learning disabilities and paid to have me tested. Neuropsychologist Dr. Jerel E. Deldotto from Henry Ford Hospital confirmed that my disability was indeed neurological. Educational specialists and doctors informed my parents that I would probably never read beyond a seventh grade level, attend college, or participate in athletics. Even so, my mom was determined to help me to excel in life. She empowered me to develop my unique gifts for independence, employment, and relationships. As Dr. Temple Grandin said, “In special education, there’s too much emphasis placed on the deficit and not enough on the strength.” The Prairie Pup Years When I was seven years old, my mom gave me a stuffed animal of a prairie dog for Christmas. This toy sparked a special interest in prairie dogs; I could tell you every detail about prairie dog life. In the 80’s most boys played with GI Joe, He-Man, Star Wars toys, Atari video games, or even a Teddy Ruxpin. But I carried around a stuffed prairie dog named Prairie Pup. As my Special Ed teacher Ms. Milne once told my parents, “Ron always carries an animal book in his right hand and Prairie Pup in his left.” My mom harnessed my special interest in prairie dogs and animals to teach me reading and writing skills. As a professional artist she taught me with art, drawing pictures of prairie dogs to illustrate concepts. In fifth grade, I won the Detroit Edison Drawing contest for Oakland County by creating a poster of Prairie Pup and his furry friends. For the prize Prairie and I met captain of the Detroit Pistons basketball team and future Hall of Fame inductee Isaiah Thomas. In sixth grade, I was deemed too old to carry a love-worn stuffed animal, so Prairie Pup was officially ‘expelled’ from the Rochester public school system. In my presentations, I joke that it’s a good thing my special interest at the time was a stuffed prairie dog and not a honey-badger. It would have been hard for the school administration to expel an agitated, aggressive, wild beast! My mother Janet Sandison recalls: One of my son’s favorite activities was dictating short fictional stories about his stuffed animals and drawing illustrations. I wrote Ron’s short stories in spiral notebooks. Ron drew the main characters: Chatter the Squirrel, Little Gnawing Beaver, Bouncing Bear, and Prairie Pup. I was able to teach Ron new vocabulary through writing and also helped his imagination to blossom. By watching me write, Ron was able to learn reading comprehension and memorized the spelling of words. During elementary and middle school, I had difficulty developing friendships with peers due to my social awkwardness and sensory issues. If my daily routines were altered, I experienced painful meltdowns. I call my meltdowns, “My honey-badger moments.” Like many children with autism, I lacked the ability to decode body language and interpret social clues. As a result, I was bullied ruthlessly by my peers. Star Athlete and Faithful Christian Everything changed in eighth grade, when I began attending Heart Middle School. That’s when I discovered my new special interest: track. Bullying ceased as I became a star athlete, eventually setting three school records. In my junior year of high school I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and felt that my life was now on the right track, both literally and metaphorically. I made the honor roll two straight semesters, was a star athlete in track, and memorized over 2,000 Scriptures. (I currently have over 10,000 Scriptures memorized, including 22 complete books of the New Testament.) In the spring of 1994, our school’s 3,200 meter relay team finished 12th in the State of Michigan. As we drove back from the state final, Nate, the anchor on our relay, commented to Coach Budd, “Next year we could be the fastest 3,200 relay but Ron will be past the age requirement!” I heard the Holy Spirit speak to my heart, saying, “I will make a way for you.” So I said, “God will provide a way for me to compete.” Since I had repeated kindergarten, I was past the MHSAA age requirement by three months. My family prayed daily for a miracle. As my senior year approached, my mom contacted the MHSAA. In May 1994, they stated, “Due to your son being past the age requirement we will not allow him to compete!” My parents contacted attorneys and learned that a lawsuit would cost over $40,000. As the cross-country season drew near, the circumstances seemed hopeless. My mom told me, “There’s nothing we can do now but pray and trust God.” In June 1994, I returned from a five mile run and grabbed the Detroit Free Press. On the front page, I saw an article about Craig Stanley, a fellow athlete past the age requirement. Our situations were remarkably similar. We were both born in May 1975. Each of us had repeated early elementary grades, and we were both cross-country and track runners. My mom immediately contacted his family. Soon we met and joined forces in prayer and advocating. Unexpected Blessings and New Beginnings After I rededicated my life to following Christ, I felt a desire to be re-baptized to demonstrate my commitment. (I was first baptized at nine months old, on the same day I said my first word: “Mom.”) On Sunday June 10, 1994, I was baptized by Pastor Rob. As Pastor Rob lifted me from the water, he said, “I feel this verse is for you: Joel 2:25, ‘I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and young locust, the other locust and the locust swarm—my great army that I sent among you.’ Your blessings will begin today.” When I got home and checked the red flashing answering machine, I had an unexpected message from attorney Rick Landau. He said, “I believe that your case will set a precedent for the Americans with Disabilities Act and I want to represent you pro bono.” As a result, we won our federal case and Craig and I were able to compete during our respective senior years of high school. My 3,200 relay team set the school record; we also ran the second-fastest time out of 182 teams. During this season, I felt a call to become a minister. Michigan Christian College, now Rochester College, gave me an athletic scholarship for cross-country and track. I finished my freshman year making the Dean’s List both semesters, and I received an academic scholarship to Oral Roberts University. Six years later, I graduated with a Master of Divinity and highest honors. On December 7, 2012, I married my wife Kristen. What’s Ahead for the Future On April 5, 2016, national publisher Charisma House will release my book, A Parent’s Guide to Autism: Practical Advice. Biblical Wisdom. In writing the book, I interviewed over 40 experts in the autism community and over 40 parents who have a child with autism. Thanks to the help of my parents and the grace of God, I am living my dream working as a professor of theology, serving in the medical field, and enjoying married life with my beautiful wife.

Transcription This podcast episode discusses how to determine the main point of a Bible passage or book when studying it. The guest, John Beeson, explains that understanding the author's intended main point is crucial. He also mentions that there can be multiple points, but there is usually a driving purpose. He gives the example of the book of Proverbs, which is about seeking wisdom and fearing the Lord. The host, Tom Terry, shares his approach of studying longer passages to understand the bigger picture of the entire book. The conversation also touches on how to read a book or letter as the original audience would have understood it, using study Bibles and the book of Acts for context. The episode concludes with the importance of identifying the main point and recurring themes in a book, even if there are other themes present. This is Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org. I'm your host, Tom Terry, and in this podcast, we'll be exploring elements of Bible study so that you can get the most out of your time when studying God's Word. Our guest for this three-episode series on the elements of Bible study is John Beeson. John received his Master's of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is currently the co-lead pastor of New Life Fellowship in Tucson, Arizona, and in addition to his pastoral duties, John is a regular contributor to PreachItTeachIt.org. For this episode, we'll be talking about how to make the main point of a Scripture passage the main point in your Bible study, class, or sermon. John, thanks for joining us again. Glad to be here. First question I want to ask you about our topic today is how do you determine what the main point of a passage or a Bible book is? That's a good question. I think the most important way to answer that, I would pick up from where we left off last time, which is just that question, what do I think the main point of the author is? Or what do I think that if I was an original hearer of the message, I would hear as the main point? It's not to say the classic Baptist preacher has the three points, alliterated for extra points there. It's not to say that there can't be more than one point. Sometimes there is. I'm going to ask you about that in a minute. Yeah, go ahead. I do think that there tends to be a driving purpose. My heart is in the book of Proverbs because we start that here a week from Sunday. I've been processing that. Proverbs is kind of the ultimate book in terms of how could you possibly nail Proverbs down to one thing. The nature of how it's written is all over the map. It feels like spaghetti. There's just everything everywhere. But it's not a surprise that they've been organized in such a way as to lead us in with the very beginning of telling us, no, no, no, the heart of this thing is all about seeking after wisdom. When you seek after wisdom, you're seeking after the things of God. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of that wisdom. And it's foolishness to depart from wisdom. So that then frames and really ought to then, all the spaghetti strands ought to pull back to that. They're all coming from that main point, if you will. Yeah. Now, when I'm doing my studies, I really get wrapped up in whatever the point is for that particular passage that I'm looking at. And when I look at a passage, I tend to make it a long passage. Some people say, you know, just focus on this verse and this verse and that's it. But I'm like, no, because it's not written in a vacuum. It's got all this other stuff around it that it's trying to tell a portion of the story. But then I find myself sometimes getting lost in that instead of getting to the big picture of the entire book. The exception to that is John. Because in John 20, he tells us exactly why he wrote the book, so that we may believe in Jesus. And in one sense, you can say, well, that's really the point of all the four Gospels and the book of Acts when you really get down to it. But there's a lot more to it than that, isn't there? Yeah, well said. Yeah. Yeah, there really is. And I think beginning and end, you ought to wait, kind of give a special wait to. Sometimes it'll come in the middle, but usually you're going to get your, the hand is going to be tipped early. You know, I love what you're saying about the Gospels, right? So let's take, you know, the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew kind of tips his hand on the centrality of the theme of the Jewish messianic king bona fides of Jesus right up at the front of the book in terms of how he lays out the genealogy of Jesus. And so it gives you the sense, oh, he's writing for a Jewish audience. He's writing to prove them their Messiah has come. The king has come. And I want to prove to you that the king has come, right? Right. John, perfect. Actually, the end is, right, I'm writing it that you may believe. Yeah. You know, as an American in the 21st century, I wish he would say that up front instead of waiting until the second to last chapter. But the front is helpful for John, too. The bookends are helpful because John, how does John begin his book? In the beginning was the word. The word was God. The word was with God. And so John very much is writing. He's a philosopher writer in some sense. He's setting up Jesus' identity right at the first chapter. Exactly. Exactly. So you are believing for John in the connection of belief for John. It's not that it's without culture. It is. But unlike Matthew, who's making a very, very Jewish argument, John is making a very, very philosophical argument in terms of what belief in Jesus looks like and who he is. Okay. All right. How can we read a book or a letter like the original audience would have understood it? Because we are so 2,000 years divorced from their time, I kind of wonder if we could ever get it right. Yeah. So, I mean, the reality is yes. We can't. We can't ultimately get it right. Not in a perfect sense. We can't get in the heart, in the head, you know. My hunch is that those who read the book of Hebrews probably knew who it was from. We don't have that right now. We don't know who that was. Even some of the questions right now, we've kind of shifted over time. For instance, like the book of Ephesians, the way that we read that book now, we actually read that book as more of a circular letter than just to the people in Ephesus. So, yes, even though it's authored to the people in Ephesus, we actually read it more as a regional letter that holds writing this letter to that region of churches. And so that shapes and shifts our reading of it a little bit as well. But, yeah, I do think that there's, you know, we mentioned kind of a study Bible. A study Bible can be very helpful in helping you locate kind of when it was written, the location it was written, understanding, you know, what's the context leading up to this book and what happens after this book and why, you know, what do we know? You can, the letters are a great place to go back to the book of Acts. Acts is a super helpful book to kind of help trace, oh, you know, this is to, you know, Ephesians is a good one, right? This is to the people at Ephesus. Oh, well, let's look back and see what happens in Paul's ministry at Ephesus. Oh, okay. So Paul, you know, lands here and now he's, you know, obviously this is a very secular town. He ends up kind of preaching the gospel in this, like, almost doing, like, seminars, lunch seminars every day is kind of his method. It's an interesting method and ultimately he gets traction. But then there's some major consequences for him, right? His life is put on the line and there's the way in which the gospel threatens either the industry, the pagan industry of the town as it play there. And so Acts can be super helpful for the letters with that. I do think that the easiest answer to your question is a study Bible often gives you kind of eyes to see. I never want to be overly confident that I know exactly the location and exactly what those, what that first audience is thinking in receiving it. And yet as much as we can put ourselves in their sandals, if you will, and hear as they heard, the better we are going to be at discerning what is being said and how it's being said. And it really helps us protect against the most egregious mistakes that we can make in listening to a book. And dragging it straight into our culture without considering that culture that it's written to initially. Okay, so let's get right to the main point, which is what is the main point? How do we derive the main point from a book, even a larger booklet? We've talked about Isaiah, you know, in the past 66 chapters. How are you going to get the main point out of that one? Because it's a long one. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I think that there's a number of questions there. And of course, you know, again, I would want to pull back and just be careful. So, you know, just because, so, you know, when you read a novel, right, there's oftentimes the main truth that that author is driving at, right? You read a book like A Tale of Two Cities, and at the heart of that book is this question of sacrifice, right? But that doesn't mean that there aren't other themes in it. So I'm going to be careful. I'm going to be careful with the main point that I don't challenge people to say, hey, if you preach the book of Isaiah, you can only preach the main point. That would not be fair. But I do want that to be sort of a guiding thing. And so, yeah, this is where, honestly, one of the things that I love doing is actually reading through a whole book. Actually, I like listening to a whole book because before I begin to preach it, a passage in it, honestly, I find both methods helpful and my brain kind of fires different ways. But one of the things about listening to it, which would have been how most people would have heard, you know, a letter, they would have received a letter in listening form or heard, you know, even a scroll of Isaiah would have been listened to before. Yeah, there was no mass distribution of Bibles. Exactly. So part of whether you're listening to it or reading to it or reading it, listen to those themes that are coming up again and again and again. And what's echoing kind of loudest in there? And let the author of the book then help guide you as you kind of step into the shoes of what's going on in the context of that book. And so listen for repeated words. Listen for repeated themes. You know, in the book of Isaiah, there's a whole series of warnings which you can kind of tune out of. But if you begin to kind of have ears to hear, you recognize that this is a book wooing God's people back to God. And so what does it look, you know, all of these themes then are now connected to a central theme that then is guiding the way that we're preaching that and the way that we're handling the text that's in front of us. You know, the more I do my own study, and I like to outline a bit of passage that I'm reading because it helps me understand the main point that they're getting to in that passage. But the more I do that, what comes across to me is the Bible or this particular book that I'm reading is really sophisticated. You know, we tend to look at maybe ancient literature or religious literature, and we think it's simple and it's not very intelligent. But really, that's not true. I mean, people in ancient days didn't just write willy-nilly and release their book at the Barnes & Noble bought or store, you know. They had very complex things that they wanted to communicate. But sometimes I find myself missing it because, again, I don't have their perspective. Yeah, no, that's well said. You never want to underestimate the intelligence of the Spirit of God working through the authors of God's Scripture. And, no, there's an incredible intentionality and layeredness there. And that's a both-and, right? So there's an invitation into the weeds of the text because you can find really good stuff even in the minutia. Yeah, there's a lot of great nuggets. Yeah, and yet there's an invitation to make sure that we're... I would say, for me, my tendency can be to get into the weeds too deep so that I miss the forest. I miss kind of what are those central guiding themes that are happening here. And that can throw me. That can throw me as an interpreter of it. If I get too deep into the specifics, then sometimes what ends up happening is then I'm grabbing hold of those nuggets and I'm beginning to pull them out and utilize them for my own systems and my own what's important to me as opposed to what's important to that author. Okay, so then how do we avoid doing what you're saying and get to the main point of an entire book, like maybe one of the Gospels or something? You don't want to get caught up in the minutia. What's the main point and how do we grab a hold of it? Yeah, yeah. So, I like that. Let's go back to the Gospels, right? So, you pick up a, you know, a Gospel of Luke. Let's take a different one, right? So, Luke begins in a very different way. It begins taking us kind of through the eyes of Mary into the story of Jesus Christ. Now, it's a very different approach. It's the approach of Luke who really pulls together quite a number of eyewitnesses to the account, Luke not being one of them, which is kind of interesting for a Gospel writer. But Luke pulls together all of these Gospel accounts And in the person of Jesus, we see a Savior who is really, in many ways, kind of shaped by that first, by the entry, which is through the eyes of Mary. It's a Jesus who has eyes for the downtrodden, has eyes for the marginalized, who is very much connected to a kingdom-making vision, which Jesus sets out in his first sermon there, pulled from the book of Isaiah, actually, in his hometown. And he says, hey, you know, you were looking for people to be healed. You were looking for the lame to walk. You were looking for, you know, for those who couldn't see to see. Here I am. I have completed this mission. And that then really shapes the whole book because you begin to see, oh, Jesus is on this kingdom-reversing mission throughout the book of Luke. That really gives you eyes to see. So take that to the very end of his life and these encounters he has with Pontius Pilate, with the Sanhedrin, the Jewish authorities, and all of these people who have their own kingdoms they're building. And Jesus is flipping those, is twisting those. He's reversing what their kingdoms are. And so, yeah, to me at the heart of Luke is this kingdom language. Now, you could say that that's also at the heart of Matthew, and they're similar. But Matthew's kingdom is a kingdom that Jesus is bringing in in very Jewish form. And so Jesus is, throughout the book of Matthew, inhabiting and fulfilling all of the great prophets that have come before, whether that's David or Moses. You know, he is the new David. He is the new Moses. And so you see these motifs very clear. Where in the book of Luke, Luke has a very much, it's not that it's, it is a very Jewish book. And yet it's also a book that's written, if I can use this language, this might be a little bit clunky. But it's a book written with a God who comes for the underdog, a God who sees and is building a kingdom out of underdogs for his own purpose. Okay, last question. What is usurping the text? How do we avoid it, assuming that it's a bad thing? Yeah, so usurping the text is probably the greatest threat really to any Christian. But I would put that mantle particularly strong around sort of the shoulders of a leader, where usurping a text is pulling a text out and it's making that text fit whatever I think, whatever my issue of the day is. Oh, you mean like that stuff that I do every day? Yes, exactly. And so there's ways in which we can do that which are less harmful and more harmful. The ways in which we do that in a less harmful way is a classic, you know, Jeremiah 29, 11. You know, I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to bring you hope and a future. It's great. That is, I think, a truth about God's purposes for me. It's actually, though, written not to me, you. It's written to a people in captivity where God is telling them, life is really, really hard right now. It's going to keep getting, it's going to keep being really hard. But I want you to remember in this context, I haven't forgotten you. I haven't given up on what my purpose is for you, right? The more dangerous form of that, I think, comes in a form of preaching, tends to be topical in nature, that where I'm addressing issues of the day, where I'm being pulled by whatever my hobby horses are, frankly. But how is that different from the systematic? So what do you mean by different? Well, you're talking about, you know, preaching something topically and then getting caught up in what is said with your own agenda. But in a sense, isn't teaching systematics, isn't that similar to topical? You mean like systematic theology? Yes. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, so, I mean, every form of preaching has its dangers. You know, the classic, and this is not a dig on them because I appreciate this, the classic Calvary Chapel who preaches beginning to end of the Bible verse by verse, there's dangers in that too, right? And, you know, I'll share, as a church, we probably do 65-35. Sixty-five percent of the time we're walking verse by verse or close to it through a book of the Bible. Thirty-five percent of the time we're addressing topical issues. And there can be a danger in both of those. There's a danger in walking through that kind of either systematically in terms of expositionally, walking through verse by verse a book of the Bible in which you're so glued to the minutia of the text, you're really teaching and not preaching. You're not connecting the text to the people's lives. There's a danger in there that you kind of miss some bigger redemptive themes that we've been talking about on this podcast. But the danger of topical, though, is that I become the driving force. The preacher becomes the driving force. And now I'm looking for a text to suit my, you know, whatever it is that I want to say. And, you know, so I'm preaching on, you know, it could be something great. You're preaching on parenting, right? And you preach on discipline as a parent, you know. He that spares the rod spoils the child. You pull it, yank it right out of the book of Proverbs and bam, there you go, right? Well, okay. But, like, what about the bigger themes? Like, are you actually doing justice to that verse? And, you know, what's actually tricky, the actual, you know, I'll step into hot waters here, right? The actual issue of whether or not to have physical discipline on your children and what the Bible says about that is actually a really tricky one, right? So we have this one proverb, but we recognize that it's not built up. There's not a lot of context around that, right? And so we can say, yeah, but there's truth to that. And yet there's not a lot of other places to go in Scripture where we can say, hey, this is clearly taught kind of through and through. So I have to be careful in the rigidity in which I bring that as a preacher. Am I really bringing, hey, these are the top hits of John Beeson's parenting. These are the things that will work great for me. And so they're going to work great for you? Well, you know, they might have worked great for me, you know, by God's grace. There's many different kinds of children and there's many different challenges that parents face. I have to be very careful to grab one little verse like that and now I'm doing a sermon series on parenting and boom, there you go. And then, you know, now my next topic is, you know, if you help... I'm blanking on the verse right now. I apologize. The verse about if you help, if you raise your children in a godly way, then that's kind of the way in which they're going to go. I apologize. I'm butchering that verse right now. You're still good. You're still good. And, you know, I pull that verse out and now I'm saying, hey, listen, if you're a godly parent to your kids, then they're going to end up as godly kids, right? Well, again, we have to be careful. This comes out of the book of Proverbs. It's a truth, but it's a truth in a meta sense, not a micro sense, right? There are things that tend to be true. It's the way the world tends to bend, right? And so now I'm usurping the text for my own agendas as a preacher. And you could say the same thing about, you know, anything from dealing with whatever political, whatever the political issues are of the day. You know, if you're concerned about, you know, I remember sermons being preached on violent video games as a kid, right? And I look back on that sort of thing and it's not as though I support and think violent video games are great. I just don't think that actually it's pretty... The Bible is a pretty tricky place to go for that, right? You can say, well, you know, we go to Philippians and we say, you know, we're supposed to think about that which is honorable and lovely and, well, but the Bible is full of violence though too. Like the Bible is a violent video game. If it was a movie, it would be rated R. And so we have to be really careful that we don't just pluck these verses out and then just yank them and drop them into the laps of our congregation with a, thus saith the Lord, when it's really, thus saith John. So isn't part of the danger of topical that the gospel can get lost through that process really easy as opposed to teaching through a book or the life of Jesus? That is really well said. Okay, show's over, thanks. There's some preachers today that I really appreciate and respect, but I would call them wisdom preachers. They give great sermons filled with great life lessons that are podcasts and books I've listened to. But at the end of the day, are they really preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ? Yeah. Are they really? Is it Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection that I'm being pointed back to again and again? Yeah. I'm not so sure. You know, I got a little story about this I'm going to share here. Please do. My primary career for the last 35, almost 40 years now, has been broadcasting radio and television. And so I teach on it, I consult on it, I work on TV broadcasts for Campus Crusade. And I've noticed something in American Christian radio that really kind of floors me. I've driven across the country at least 24, 25 times, going back and forth all over the country, from Orlando to Washington to everywhere else in between. I've listened to a lot of Christian radio. I've been on Christian radio. And I can tell you there's one thing missing from Christian radio, and that's the gospel. You can't tune in to a Christian radio station today. If you do, you're going to be lucky. I've never once heard a radio announcer during that music program or something else just explain the gospel, with the exception of teaching programs, but that's what they're supposed to be doing behind the ball. But anyway, you don't hear it on regular radio. It's just missing. And so when I consult and train, I focus on your primary audience. Forty percent of your audience doesn't know Jesus. So you need to take advantage of that. And every day, at some level, you need to share the gospel. And that is, frankly, missed in our industry. Yeah, yeah. And I think it's, unfortunately, you talk about it's what teachers are supposed to do, preachers are supposed to do. Yeah. But honestly, it can be missed by us as well, right? Like if my heart is being wrapped up with outrage or frustration or concern over whatever the topic of the day is, I have a real danger as a preacher that that's going to drive my preaching, as opposed to my concern that I lift Jesus high and clearly present the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And at the heart, I mean, you know, circling all the way back to the beginning, the presupposition of that is that every single book of the Bible points to Jesus Christ. Every single book of the Bible tells us of our desperate need for a Savior and of the unbelievable gift that he is in his death and resurrection for us. All right, John, thank you so much. Appreciate your wisdom and insights. Thank you. Really appreciate you. All right, we'll look forward to talking to you again on more topics. You've been listening to Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org. Today we've been discussing how to make the main point of a passage the main point of your Bible study, class, or sermon. This is the last in a three-part series. Future episodes will feature other guests helping us to understand how to study and apply Scripture. I'm your host, Tom Terry, with PreachItTeachIt.org. Be sure to visit our website for tools and resources to help you craft your sermon or Bible study. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you again next time on Truth Rightly Divided, a podcast of PreachItTeachIt.org.

Dear Roger, I have so many questions about the “millennium”. or “Thousand-Year Reign of Christ.” Can you help me understand what John was describing? Love, Crystal Dear Crystal, I would be delighted. THE THOUSAND-YEAR REIGN OF CHRIST War is a terrible thing. Sometimes it's necessary. Even God goes to war. In the Book of Revelation, we learn that the world will look bleak when all Hell breaks loose at the Battle of Armageddon. Armies will be destroyed in nuclear holocaust. Gog, Magog and Rosh from the North will march to destruction. The antichrist will be put in his place of eternal hell. An army of of 200 million from the east will invade the Mediterranean world. Eyes will melt in their sockets. It will take seven years for crews to clean up the subsequent radiation. (Revelation 16:12-16) Revelation also describes seven seals that are the title deed of Earth. God has almost been an absentee landlord. But God had in mind all along for Christ to rule and reign upon this earth. God uses the seven-year Great Tribulation and the battle of Armageddon to remove from the earth every last vestige of godless rebellion. With this fresh start, the 1000 year millennium begins (Revelation 20). Just as there are Three Ways To Interpret The Great Tribulation, There Are Three Possible Ways To Interpret The Millennium. PRE-MILLENNIALISM Christ will literally and bodily return to earth before (pre-) the thousand year reign begins. Jesus will set up His Kingdom and reign from the throne of David out of a rebuilt city of Jerusalem. When Christ returns to earth, He will take all the believers out, condemn all the unbelievers, and eternity will begin right then. All of God’s promises to Israel will be transferred to the church. This interpretation also teaches that Israel forfeited all of God's promises to her because of unbelief. The Church will inherit all the promises originally intended for Israel. POST-MILLENNIALISM Post-millennialists believe that the world will get better and better through the spread of the Gospel, and this will be the millennial age. Then after the Millennium, Christ will take the believers to Heaven and condemn those who reject Him. However, this teaching suffered a severe reversal in the past century, as two world wars made this position untenable. The world is obviously not getting better and better. AMILLENNIALISM There will be no thousand year reign of Christ on earth and no earthly Kingdom of God. God will literally fulfill all His promises and covenants with Israel, regardless of. Israel's past history of spiritual failures. PAN-MILLENNIALISM Pan-millennialism is that everything will "pan" out in the end. Don't worry about it. WHETHER OR NOT THERE IS A LITERAL REIGN OF CHRIST ON EARTH IS OF GREAT SIGNIFICANCE. I tend to follow the Pre-Millennial viewpoint for several reasons. The one central theme of the prophets is that Israel must prepare and get ready because the Messiah was going to come and establish His Kingdom. The heart of the Old Testament prophetic message is the coming of the Messiah to set up an earthly Kingdom over which Christ would rule from the throne of David. God is restoring all things as they ought to be. In vindicating righteousness, God will ultimately showcase what He had in mind from the beginning; one world unity under the control of Jesus Christ. To a large degree, as the seven-year Great Tribulation is a preview of Hell on earth, so the 1000 year reign of Christ is a preview of Heaven. The Millennium will also be the public honoring of the Son of God. “Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 14:16). For centuries, men have longed for a golden age of peace on earth. Philosophers have talked about it. Poets have written about it. Musicians have sung about it. Politicians have promised it. Kings have fought for it. Prophets have foretold it. A misunderstanding that Christ would come twice and not once is the main reason that Israel rejected the Messiah and missed their Savior when He came to Jerusalem. “Then I will pour out a spirit] of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died” (Zechariah 12:10-12 NIV). The Old Testament is filled with truth that the coming of the Messiah is not one-fold but two-fold. He comes first during the Great Tribulation to receive all of his Christian saints into heaven. He comes secondly at the commencement of the thousand-year reign. He would come to die before He came to reign. Philippians 2:7-10 He came the first time to a cross but the second time to a crown. Zechariah 12:10 The first time Jesus stood before Pilate. The next time Pilate will stand before Him. Revelation 20:12 The glorious coming of Messiah is not yet. He came the first time to deal with sin, which is why we need a Savior, which is why we have no reign of peace on earth. Now that He's dealt with sin on the cross, He'll come a second time to set up His earthly Kingdom, (the millennium) and that may be just around that corner. The King comes to establish His reign on earth. He has one more problem to deal with after Armageddon. The devil himself needs judgment. The False prophet, the Antichrist and unsaved men and women are awaiting judgment: The Great White Throne judgment where all will be judged guilty and cast into the Lake Of Fire (Revelation 20:11). All have now perished except for Devil himself who is the source of all the trouble. “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon—that old serpent, who is the devil, Satan—and bound him in chains for a thousand years. The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward he must be released for a little while. The host of fallen angels, together with the demons and the world of men, during the preceding three and one half years, had bowed to Satan, now "an angel" fastens on Satan a great chain and chains him for 1000 years” (Revelation 20:1-3). Just before the end of the millennium Satan is set free for little time to do his dastardly deeds to be sure that all evil has been eradicated as the millennium begins. The demons greatly feared by the abyss most of all. In the story of the Gadarene demoniac, the request of the demons is that Jesus would not command them to leave the man and go into the abyss (Luke 8:31). He acquiesced and sent them into a herd of swine. Why does God finally put Satan under lock and key? So that Satan can't go around deceiving the nations during the thousand-year Kingdom. For thousands of years, he has deceived the nations of the world into thinking that they can build a better world without Christ. Sometimes he convinced the nations that the only way to solve their problems was by war. At other times he deceived them into thinking that education, environment, and religion could save the world. He sponsored any program that left Christ out. With Satan bound, God will show us the world as it ought to be. Why wouldn’t everyone be saved if Jesus is the king? Because Satan is still free to blind people from seeing the gospel and because people still have a sinful nature which precludes some from asking for forgiveness and surrendering their lives to Christ the Savior. The reason that God allows Satan to be free for a thousand years and then allowed to be free for a short time at the end of the millennium is to ensure that evil has been completely eradicated as King Jesus begins His earthly reign. The souls of those who become Christians during the millennium will enter heaven when they die. Those souls who have not received Christ will be waiting for the great white throne judgment where they will be judged guilty for their sins and be cast into the lake of fire. Unfortunately, they had no Savior. My biggest question is: Why did Jesus release Satan from the pit during the millennial reign? I believe Martin Bradley gave the best answer: "I believe the main reason God will let Satan loose for one more time is to prune out some of these bad people who won’t stay loyal and committed to serving Him. These people will not be able to start any kind of trouble against God in the Millennium Kingdom because Satan is not around yet, people no longer war with one another, and we will have perfect law and order in this new environment since Jesus will now be in full control of everything. I believe God will set these people up. He will allow Satan to roam free one more time so he can tempt these people into going against Him and His people. And right at the point where these rebellious ones are getting ready to encircle Jerusalem to attack it, God will literally destroy them right there on the spot. What this tells us is that there will still be some people who will rebel and go against God – even in the most perfect God-environment imaginable! These people will have all been born into and raised up in this Millennium Kingdom without any type of bad influence from Satan, his demons, and any other bad and unsaved people, since God had already thrown all of them into Hades for the entire length of the Millennium Kingdom. These people will have also been raised up being taught who the real God is, along with being taught all of His awesome ways. There will be no other gods or false religions to confuse or seduce them. And even in this most perfect scenario imaginable, there is obviously going to be a group of these people who will still choose to rebel against God and try to overthrow Him by attacking His holy city of Jerusalem once Satan is let loose to try and set all of this up. When you first examine all of the above, you have to ask yourself, how could a group of humans be so stupid to think they can overthrow or go against God Almighty Himself, especially since they have probably been taught the entire history of our world during the Millennium Kingdom? How could these people go against God when they have been raised up in the most perfect God-environment imaginable? To answer this, all you have to do is look at what happened to Satan and all of the fallen angels. They were all initially living up in heaven with the Lord with no negative influences until Satan started to malfunction through pride and conceit. They too were living in the most perfect God-environment imaginable, and possibly up to one-third of them decided with their own free wills to rebel against God Himself in this perfect heavenly environment. So just as a certain of amount of the angels decided to rebel and go against God Himself in a perfect heavenly environment, so too are a certain number of human beings going to do the exact same thing at the end of the Millennium Kingdom. And once again, God will allow Satan to be the one to tempt and cause these rebellious ones to fall. Bottom line – God knows there are going to be a certain number of people who will still try and come against Him, even in this perfect Millennium Kingdom. He is simply going to draw them out, expose them, and then prune them out by allowing Satan to deceive them like he did with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden." Then once all of this has been accomplished, you will have nothing but the good apples left that will finally inherit God’s best for all of humanity – The New Heaven and the New Earth. Why isn't the Great Tribulation also 1000 years? Because Jesus said in Matthew 24:22: "If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened" NIV. King David penned Psalm 2 years before Jesus came to reign. Here is his warning: The Reign of the Lord's Anointed 2 “Why do the nations rage[a] and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree:The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break[b] them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” ESV

True identity doesn't come from your job, generation, relationships, or achievements—it comes from Christ alone. Ephesians 4:1 calls us to "lead a life worthy of your calling," and that calling starts with knowing who we are in Jesus: children of God, forgiven, and purposeful. When we root our identity in Him, sin and failure can't shake it, and neither can circumstance. Have you ever caught yourself introducing someone by their job title before their name? Or scrolled past a birth-year meme and felt a strange sense of belonging just because you're a "90s kid"? We do this more than we realize. We reach for labels because we're all trying to answer the same quiet question: who am I, really? That question has been sitting in the human heart since the very beginning. There's a God-shaped hole in every one of us, a space only He can fill. And when we try to fill it with something else, no matter how good that something else might be, it never quite fits. This article kicks off a series called "What If" that is built around one verse, Ephesians 4:1: "…lead a life worthy of your calling you have received" [NIV]. Over the next several weeks, we're going to unpack what that calling actually means. But first, we need to talk about identity, because you can't live worthy of a calling you don't understand. How do we typically define ourselves? Before we can talk about identity in Christ, it helps to name where we usually go looking for it first. Think about the categories we use every day. Generation: Gen Z, Millennial, Boomer. Social trends: the causes we champion, the aesthetics we adopt, the opinions we perform online. Sports: the team we bleed for, the jersey we wear like armor. Jobs: "I'm a nurse," "I'm an entrepreneur," "I'm still figuring it out." Relationships: someone's spouse, someone's parent, someone's ex. None of these are bad on their own. They're part of the story God is writing through your life. But when any one of them becomes the foundation of who you are, it starts to crack under pressure. And pressure always comes. Why chasing identity in the wrong places leaves us empty Here's the problem: every one of those identity markers is temporary, fragile, or conditional. Generations shift. Trends fade. Teams lose. Careers end, sometimes suddenly. Relationships change, and sometimes they break. When your sense of self is built on any of these, you're building on sand. A layoff doesn't just cost you a paycheck; it costs you your name if "provider" or "professional" was who you thought you were. A breakup doesn't just end a relationship; it can feel like it erases you, if being someone's partner was the whole picture. This is the God-shaped hole trying to speak. It's telling you that nothing in this world was ever built to hold the full weight of your identity. What does it look like to find your identity in Christ first? Here's the good news: there's a foundation that doesn't move. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (NIV). Your identity in Christ isn't something you achieve. It's something you receive. This doesn't mean your job, your relationships, or your interests suddenly don't matter. It means they stop being your foundation and start being the fruit of a life already rooted in something unshakable. When Christ is first, everything else finds its proper place. Why does identity in Christ actually matter for everyday life? This isn't just theology for a Sunday morning. It shows up in the real questions people wrestle with all week long. How do I live out my identity in Christ and not be defined by work or success? Start by asking what would still be true about you if the job disappeared tomorrow. If the honest answer feels shaky, that's a sign your identity has drifted toward your work instead of resting in Christ. Success and calling can absolutely overlap, but your worth was settled before you ever had a resume. Is my identity and salvation lost when I sin or fail? No. This is one of the most freeing truths in all of Scripture. Your identity in Christ isn't performance-based. Failure feels like it should disqualify us, but Jesus already paid for that failure in full. Sin doesn't erase your salvation; it's the very thing Christ's sacrifice covers. You're not one mistake away from losing who you are in Him. Do I even need purpose? Yes, and you already have one. Purpose isn't something you have to invent from scratch or discover through trial and error alone. Your purpose flows out of your identity in Christ, not the other way around. The unchanging truth: when I put my faith in Jesus, I AM When everything else in your life feels like it's shifting, this is what stays fixed. We are children of God. Not distant acquaintances, not strangers hoping to be noticed. Adopted, known, and loved as sons and daughters. Jesus has paid for our sin. Fully. Completely. Not partially covered, waiting on our good behavior to finish the job. It's done. We all have a purpose. Every single person reading this was created with intention. Not despite your past. Not once you clean yourself up. Right now, as you are. Say it with me: when I put my faith in Jesus, I AM. I am forgiven. I am chosen. I am purposed. How does this identity actually shape a rich and satisfying life? Jesus didn't come just to secure our eternity and leave the rest of our lives untouched. John 10:10 tells us He came so we could have life, and have it to the full. That fullness starts the moment our identity shifts from what we do to whose we are. When you know you're a child of God, forgiven and purposeful, you stop performing for approval and start living from security. You serve differently. You forgive differently. You handle failure differently because it no longer threatens who you are. Answering the call: leading a life worthy of your calling Ephesians 4:1 doesn't ask us to earn our calling. It asks us to live worthy of one we've already been given. That's the heart of this entire series: understanding who we are so we can walk confidently in what we're called to do. If any part of this stirred something in you, that's worth paying attention to. Maybe it's time to stop searching for identity in things that were never meant to hold it. We'd love for you to walk through this series with us and with a community that's asking these same questions. Come discover what it looks like to belong, to grow, and to live out a calling that's already yours in Christ. Frequently Asked Questions What does it mean to find your identity in Christ? Finding your identity in Christ means anchoring your sense of self in who God says you are, not in your job, relationships, achievements, or failures. According to Ephesians 4:1, this identity comes with a calling worth living out daily. Can I lose my identity in Christ if I sin? No. Your identity in Christ is secured by what Jesus already did on the cross, not by your ongoing performance. Sin doesn't erase your salvation; it's exactly what Jesus' sacrifice covers. Why do people struggle to find purpose without faith? Many people search for purpose in temporary things like career success or relationships, which can't fully satisfy because they're not designed to. Purpose rooted in God's calling offers a foundation that doesn't shift with circumstances. How is identity in Christ different from self-esteem or confidence? Self-esteem often depends on outside validation or personal achievement, while identity in Christ is rooted in an unchanging truth: you're a loved, forgiven child of God regardless of performance. Who is this message for? This message is for anyone searching for purpose beyond themselves, whether you've followed Jesus for years or you're just beginning to explore what faith means for your life.

Ask Roger and Julie I suspect my teenage daughter is using drugs. Her behavior has changed drastically. She is unmotivated, rebellious, and secretive. How can I know for sure, and what can I do about it? Sincerely, Scared Mom Dear Scared Mom, We are so sorry for your worry and disappointment. Navigating the adolescent years is challenging for any parent; believe me, we know. Roger and I had the opportunity to raise two daughters. You desperately want to keep them safe from danger, and yet, you have to allow them to experience the world in order to learn how to live as healthy adults. It’s like walking a tightrope … with life-and-death results. Unfortunately, drug use of any kind can be a volatile issue between parent and child. But let me encourage you—God’s Word provides us with practical wisdom for dealing with our children in difficult situations. Let’s begin with this: the Greek word for witchcraft is “pharmarkaia,” from which we get our English word “drugs.” Note the correlation between drugs and witchcraft. Any sort of mind-altering drug leaves our minds open to control by demonic influence. So, when some argue that because marijuana is legal in 25 states, it is relatively harmless … nothing could be further from the truth. Drugs and the Brain Neurotransmitters are responsible for producing communication between the brain and the body. Opioids trigger the neurotransmitters most responsible for pain reduction and inducing pleasure responses. Dopamine also takes part; when its production is stimulated, it floods the brain and can create a euphoric state. Prescription and street-produced opiates mimic the effects that stimulate these pleasure sensations. Unfortunately, as a person takes more and more artificial opiates, his or her tolerance increases. The brain requires more and more of that substance to achieve the same effects. Drugs and the Lungs Opiates depress the central nervous system. This effect can cripple the respiratory system. Whether ingested or injected, opiates can slow breathing and ultimately lead to respiratory distress or loss of consciousness. Over time, opiates can cause severe long-term effects on the lungs, leading to pneumonia, tissue damage, and even respiratory failure. Drugs and the Liver In general, alcohol and substance abuse have major risk factors in regard to the overall health of the liver. Most opiates contain acetaminophen, which is very difficult for the liver to metabolize. Often, addicts will combine alcohol or other substances with opiates in order to increase or prolong the “high,” which further reduces the ability of the liver to process these compounds and can cause long-term damage. Drugs and the Digestive System Narcotic Bowel Syndrome describes the dysfunction of natural bowel function due to an influx of opiates or other narcotics. Common side effects include nausea, bloating, constipation, abdominal pain, and sometimes gastrointestinal bleeding. This disorder flares up once the narcotic effect wears off, often leading to intense pain that prompts the user to seek relief through more drugs. Drugs and the Heart Opiates are naturally depressants, and the effect on the heart is no exception. As the opiate reduces the function of the central nervous system and the cardiovascular system, the heart’s function is also slowed. This effect can lead to dangerously low heart rates, also called “bradycardia,” low blood pressure, vasodilation, and edema. In an overdose, the heart can stop. So how do you know if your child is using? Here are a few signs that we’ve learned from parents, counselors, and medical personnel over the years: Your teen has become increasingly defiant, disrespectful, dishonest, disobedient, and often destructive. He or she displays behavior that is a marked change from what has been normal, like sleeping little or too much, forgetfulness, lack of motivation, aggression, depression, anxiety, grades slipping, hating what they once loved or loving what they once hated, always wanting to be with friends or away from home, or avoiding friends altogether and spending too much time alone. You observe rebellion against Christian belief systems or rules of the home. Teens often show this in passive aggressive behavior or open defiance. He or she threatens suicide, begins self-mutilation/cutting, takes excessive risks, or gets involved in sexual promiscuity—overall, they show a loss of a conscience or moral compass. Your teen thinks he or she is the center of your family and shows blatant disregard for the feelings of other family members and refuses to do anything family related. You cannot keep your teen away from peers who are obviously leading a lifestyle counter to your beliefs; your teen is buying into their destructive behavior and attitudes. Your teen starts having money and you are unaware of its source, or you begin to notice money missing. Your child’s grades fall right off the table, with no other obvious cause. Please, don’t tell yourself, “My kid would never do such a thing!” Because kids that struggle with drugs come from every home situations, socioeconomic strata, and background. You are not powerless! God has provided positive ways to prevent or help heal your child from destructive behaviors like drug abuse. Above all, pray earnestly for your child. God can do miraculous things to change his or her heart! Now, here are a few tips to help our kids to make good decisions in life. Remember, you are your child’s best teacher! Make sure your kids have plenty of practice making decisions in your home. This is their safe place to learn good judgment and godly wisdom. He wrote them to teach his people how to live—how to act in every circumstance, for he wanted them to be understanding, just, and fair in everything they did. “I want to make the simpleminded wise!” he said. “I want to warn young men about some problems they will face.” Proverbs 1:2-4 NLT Encourage your child to be involved with godly friends and to be involved in a Bible-believing church. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Hebrews 10:25 ESV Show respect for your kids’ opinion on everyday family issues and give them the opportunity to become discerning and mature. Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance. (Proverbs 1:5 NLT) Make sure you have POSITIVE expectations for your kids. Help them to see how much you love and value them. Children are a gift from God; they are his reward. Psalm 127:3 NLT Identify and meet the needs of your teen. Therefore encourage and comfort one another and build up one another, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 AMP Recognize that they often become angry and rebellious because they are hurting. Comfort them! Rejoice with those who rejoice , and weep with those who weep . Romans 12:15 AMP One final note: self-medication can be a cry for help from a child who needs psychiatric attention. A good doctor can identify symptoms like bipolar disorder and give help by starting your teen on the right medicines. Counseling is also a great way to deal with chemical imbalance. Don’t minimize the possibility that these issues are present. Roger and I were fortunate that our girls never used drugs, but we came home from a conference once and our youngest had dyed her hair bright orange in the church bathroom. She also wanted piercings, so she poked a safety pin in her belly button to be accepted by the “cool kids.” Unfortunately, she contracted a massive infection, and we raced to the doctor to treat her “secret infection.” Twenty years later, we have learned of her “adventures” in rebellious behavior during her youth. She is a beautiful, well-adjusted woman now, but I can’t believe how we missed her cries for help and attention. May God be with you as you navigate these teenage years! He loves your daughter more than you ever could. Love, Julie and Roger

Was Dolly Parton a Christian? The recent death of Dolly Parton has Americans mourning this cultural icon. She was a much-loved and accomplished entertainer who brought joy to millions through her music, theme park, and philanthropic activities. Almost immediately after her death, social media was inundated with tributes and reviews of her life, with many making the specific note that she was a Christian who was open about her faith in an industry that often shuns Christians. However, there were some on social media who also noted that Dolly had some aberrant theology. She believed in reincarnation, refused to condemn homosexuality as a sin, and didn’t clearly speak of Jesus as unique Son of God and Savior. Was Dolly Parton a Christian? Some say yes, some say no, and at best she may have been a confused Christian without a strong personal theology. It’s not my purpose here to settle the question of whether Dolly was a true Christian. In situations like this, the Apostle Paul warns us in I Corinthians 4:5, “Do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts.” Rather, in this confusion, I’d like to point out that we may have a teachable moment about ourselves. The death of Dolly Parton is an opportunity for a little spiritual inventory. What constitutes a genuine testimony that a person truly knows Christ and intentionally lives for him as the chief affection of his or her life? I like to ask the question this way: Are you a Christian by culture or by conviction? Let me explain. A cultural Christian is a person who lives and expresses themselves as part of a Christian, or Christianized culture relative to their experience. It doesn’t mean that he or she is a true Christian, but that they are part of the church in some fashion, where they may attempt to live a Christian morality or be involved in Christian things. Many people go to church and take part in its culture without having made a genuine commitment to Christ. We have examples of such people in Scripture as models for such behavior. Demas traveled with the Apostle Paul and even took part in his ministry, but in the end Paul said that “Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me” (II Timothy 4:10). Of course, the best example of this is to be found in Judas Iscariot, who followed Christ as one of his disciples, even being sent out to evangelize in Luke 10:1. He was among those whom Jesus said, “Stood by me in my trials” (Luke 22:28). Yet, none of us today would argue that Judas was a true Christian. Scripture elsewhere speaks of people like Judas and Demas when it says in Hebrews 6:4-6 that they “tasted of the heavenly gift” and were “partakers of the Holy Spirit,” yet were lost. Are you a cultural Christian? What about the person who is a Christian by conviction? This is a person who falls under the description of John 16:8. Jesus said the Holy Spirit comes to “convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment.” Do you have a conviction of sin? Are you convicted that Jesus Christ is the only, unique Son of God and Savior? Are you convicted that Jesus has judged the enemy and that he will judge you one day? Here’s the thing. You cannot be a Christian without these convictions. Notice what Jesus said. He said that these convictions were the work of the Holy Spirit. “He, when He comes, will convict…” If you have no conviction of your sin, you cannot be a Christian. If you have no conviction about Jesus’ unique identity and role, you cannot be a Christian. If you are not convicted that you will be judged by him (and so bringing yourself under his judgment now), then you cannot be a Christian. To deny these convictions is to deny the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. You can maintain the facade of cultural Christianity, but without these convictions you cannot experience the grace and love of Jesus Christ. So, are you a Christian by culture or by conviction? Every one of us must go through that spiritual inventory to be sure about our faith. “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves” (II Corinthians 13:5). Do you play with Christianity and church? Are you depending upon your experience with the church and doing Christian things? Being involved in Christian things is no guarantee of salvation. Dolly sang some Christian songs. But singing Christian music doesn’t merit salvation. Remember country artist BJ Thomas? He released Christian albums for a while until he said during a TV interview that he had “grown out of” Christianity. Remember Jennifer Knapp? She was a much-loved Christian artist popular on the radio and in concerts, but led a secret lesbian lifestyle, eventually abandoning Christ for that lifestyle. I’m not trying to be hard on Dolly or say that she was or wasn’t a Christian. My point is that involvement with the church doesn’t make us a true part of the body of Christ. Only faith in Christ, with deep conviction of our sin and God’s grace, can do that. It’s not enough to say, “Jesus loves me.” You have to truly love Jesus in return. Do a spiritual inventory today. Test your faith. Do you come out as a cultural Christian or a convicted Christian?

TRANSCRIPT: First number seven. Paul writes a bit about his thorn. These words he says. To keep me from becoming conceited, Because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given to be a thorn in my flesh. A messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times, I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest upon me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delighted weaknesses and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. The subject of handicapped lives is one that takes all of us in. There may be some shining young Apollo here tonight who's never had a problem, but I, frankly, really rather doubt it. I think back over my years, and I think I can honestly say, I've never known a man or woman with any sort of intimacy at all. who did not turn out to be dealing with some kind of a handicap. One of my favorite Scottish preachers, Alexander McLaren, made a little statement I kept open in my mind. He said, please be kind to everyone you meet because everyone you meet is fighting a battle. All of us struggle with handicaps, and some of us in no small degree. And the secret of the quality of our spiritual life, oftentimes, depends upon the way that we deal with our limitations. I think that's one of the reasons why I so greatly admire a scientist like Louis Pasteur, who, in many ways, was the father of all of our modern medicine. We just assumed that Louis Pasteur had a very robust health with wits to work and make all of his discoveries. And yet, you and I discover that, at the age of 46, Pasteur, suffered a debilitating stroke, and had to work with that handicap. for the rest of his days. And so we find a Beethoven writing music while deaf. nd Milton, writing poetry, though blind. And we begin to discover that, in general, some of the greatest work done on Earth has been wrought... by people with handicaps. Now, they may have had some faults and some forables like the rest of us, that's true. But they also had their handicaps, and many of them handicaps far more severe than many of us face. And they dealt with them superbly. And how they do it? How they overcome their limitations, how they overcome their difficulties. Guys, we're not one of us here who wouldn't like to have a little secret into that. Even I go to the Bible and find example after example of man and woman who confirm the problem. One of the greatest things in life, have been accomplished by folks with some terrible handicaps. Look at Paul's thorn. And nobody knows what Paul Thorn was. But a lot of guesses, a lot of speculation, that it was epilepsy. Or perhaps eye trouble, or maybe malaria, or maybe Mrs. Paul, I just threw that in to see if you were listening. Or maybe a bed back, lots of speculation, but nobody knows what Paul's Thorn was. I've been a lot of guests, but nobody knows for sure. Now, rest assured that if some of us had been Paul, or if Paul had been like some of us, everybody would have known what his thorn was. I mean, with all the letters the man wrote, if it probably been like us, everybody from Tesla and I could, the Corinth, the Colossi, to Lycaonia, to Rome would know what his thorn was. But we don't know. All we know is that behind the scenes, just like most of us, Paul had to wrestle with some sort of limitation that he prayed earnestly before God to escape, and that he could not, in any form or fashion, evade, and that one way or other, he had to settle down and live with it. So you and I asked, well, Paul, how'd you do it? How were you able to live and overcome, in spite of that great limitation? It is a critical hour in the life of any man or woman, boy or girl. When, for the first time, they come face to face with their handicap. Here is some young boy, crippled, early in infancy. And he's gone up in his early years with no idea of what's really going on in his life, nor what's really happened to him. But sometime or other, early on in his childhood, it finally dawns on this little crippled boy that he's not like. All the other children. Any recognizes he's got a handicap. And his whole spiritual, mental, physical, and social life may well depend upon how he chooses to handle it. Here's some woman whose parents didn't understand the acritical development of a little child's emotions. who wakes up to discover one day that something's rather wrong on the inside, and that all of his basic emotions and all of our basic feelings begin to flow along channels of suspicion and fear, distrust, and anxiety. And he looks, she looks with envy at those people who seem to have such nicely integrated personalities, who seem to remain so tranquil and calm in the midst of great stress. And her spiritual life, her mental health, will depend upon how she chooses to deal with that handicap. Here's some man, who, in his youth, had all the natural ambitions for success, and now understands he'll never arrive at his desired goals. He'll never write poetry. He'll never be able to compose music. He will never hold the business positions for which he so often dreamed. And again and again, it's like he stepped on the gas, And the power just wasn't in him. For God did not equip him with 8 subtleness or with 6. And frankly, the 4 he's got, don't fire too well. It's a crucial hour when a person comes face to face with their handicaps. Here's a, here's a man who has high expectations for a noble and profitable life. But upon whom, like some beast, from ambush, an accident, or a sickness leaps upon him, and now he's got to spend the rest of his life working with crippled machinery. And again and again, he likes to throw in the old power in the old way, and all he does is blow a fuse. And somehow, he's gotta face that handicap. Moreover, there are many of us who have all sorts of limitations that lie in our personal relationships with people. There's some here tonight, who wanted love, and missed it. There's a home where a marriage might have been a thing of great beauty, and instead, tragedy, transpired. Here's a family with a little child created is a great blessing. who instead became... an agony. Here's a home where death severed. A tie that was the support of that home. Among the few things that are true about all of us is the fact that each one of us has a handicap. Well how do we deal with it? What's the technique? How do we harness the grace that Paul says is sufficient? I struggle with my thorn, he writes, three times, I prayed, and God wouldn't take it away, and now come to understand, it's in the midst of my weakness that God pours out his grace. And so how in the world can you and I harness the grace that God wants to pour in to make us victorious in the midst of all of our handicaps? Well, in the first place, you and I look through this pass, they didn't meditate on it a bit. In the 1st place, if we're to deal handsomely with our handicaps, we must resist the temptation toward rebellion and self pity. And choose instead to deal in life with a very positive attitude. You know, the initial reaction, you and I have your handicap, is rebellion, or self pity in a negative sense. How many folks respond like Joe? Job's wife? Rebellion? And she sees Job in all of his calamities, in all of his difficulties, and she advises Joe just to curse God and die, and many a handicapped person has cursed God. However, there are many of us not quite so vehement, as Job's wife, and instead of turning to rebellion and cursing God, we just, we melt away in the midst of self pity. And how often you and I hear people stroke their wounded spirits and say things like, If I only hadn't have this handicap, think what a great person I might have become. And so drifting along in the dreams of their imaginations, they... they dream of what they could have been, had they not had this handicap, and they begin to feel very sorry for themselves. That such a miserable occurrence, said, keep them from such a wonderful paradise. Now, that's natural. But it's not very helpful, nor practical. attitude. In dealing with our handicaps, if we're to experience the grace that is sufficient for us, we must be willing to realize that very few people, in fact, none of us that I know of, live through life without having some sort of limitations. Whoever had the chance to live their full life on Earth under the ideal circumstances that they would have chosen. A person doesn't exist. Once, when the great violinist, O Bull, was giving a concert in Paris, one of the four strings on his violin, his A string, snapped. And so he simply transposed the composition and finished out the concert with three strings. Now, that's life. They have your A string brake and have to finish out on three strings. Now how many of us had to test that out? It seems that some of the most thrilling parts of life lie in the ability to handle those handicaps. I think if I could have only heard O Bull play once in concert. With all the resources of a perfect instrument in hand. I think if I could have hurt him only once, I would like to have hurt him that night in Paris. When his A string broke, and without rebellion, without self pity, without surrender, he finished out the concert on three strings. You see, as soon as a man or woman begins to view their handicaps in a positive attitude, they soon present themselves as opportunities instead of defeats. It is a good cook who, after she has burned the dinner, or after he has burned the dinner, knows how to make a fine meal out of the leftovers. And it's a good cook who's challenged to try. It's a successful Christian. who's able to say, well, I can't help it if my A string broke, and I, frankly, I can't help it if I burn the dinner, but I can sure help my attitude towards it. Because rebellion gets us nowhere and self pity gets us nowhere, but the insight to see that something can be done with second best. can get us everywhere. I've thought for years, one of my dad's favorite sayings, such a common one, but it's finally sinking deep into my head. I just a little boy, I can recall him saying, over and over, Roger, when live hands you a lemonade, lemon, squeeze it, and make lemonade. That is still good advice. Now, I'm certain Paul would rather not have his thorn, don't you? He didn't want that, Thorn. I'm certain that Paul, if he had his wishes, if he had his Druthers, would rather not have had that thorn. But I suspect that there are qualities of understanding and sympathy that was seen as music moving through Paul's epistles that would never have been there had Paul not been forced to finish out his life on just three strings. Now, in the second place, if you and I are to experience the grace that God wants to pour in, to make us sufficient in the midst of our weaknesses, If you and I are to experience that grace, then, uh, not only must we have a positive attitude towards our handicaps, you and I must stop comparing ourselves with other people, and stop wishing to be what somebody else is, are wishing to have what somebody else has, we must stop wishing to do what somebody else is doing. The reason that so many of us are so frustrated with our limitations is that we continue comparing ourselves with other people, and we wish to be what they are, or be able to have the facilities to do what they do. And we habitually measure ourselves by other people, and we assume a responsibility for our happiness or our success, our usefulness that God never intends for us to assume. It is a great day in the mind of a handicapped person, be he female, male, old, or young, when he finally understands that he has only one responsibility, and that one responsibility is not to be like anybody else, but instead, just to handle his own situation. As best, he can. Psychologists tell us that one of the reasons for emotional maladjustments is due to the fact that most of us won't accept who we are. One of the reasons for many mental maladjustments is that most of us won't accept what we are. You know what we do? Born to be berry bushes and produce good berries, many of us, look at the apple tree and long to produce bigger fruit. Born to be apple trees and produce beautiful apples. Many of us cast our gaze at the maples and wish we could provide shade like they do, born to be a maple tree. Many of us look at the elms and wish we were as tall and as graceful as they. Now, God has given each of us a very special field to tell. accept it. And if the soil is thinner, and the rocks were numerous, and the prospects in your field, less promising than those in another's field, that is simply a fact of life. We all must face. We've got to stop looking over the fence and dreaming what we could do with somebody else's field. Our limitations are also our opportunities. Remember, Ralph Waldo Emerson's squirrel, when the squirrel was talking to the mountain, and they were discussing the value of their lives, and the squirrel says to the mountain, well, maybe I can't carry forests on my back, but you can't crack a nut. For to handle this with grace, we've got to stop trying to be like somebody else, and except... the field God gives to us. I think a little diminutive, four and a half foot tall, William Wilberforce. Now, I would imagine that that Englishman, uh, the previous generation, long to have a big body, and a stronger frame. In fact, a Boswell once went to hear Wilberforce speak, and he said afterward, I saw what seemed like a mere shrimp, mount the table. And as he began to speak, and speak, and speak, it wasn't long until that little shrimp grew to the size of a whale. And you know, that little shrimp of a man never had good health. In fact, for 20 years, he lived on opium, under strict care of his physician. Trying, somehow or other, to keep that diseased racked body in harmony with his soul. But more than anybody else in England, he stopped the British slave trade, and, in fact, is buried now in Westminster Abbey. where he's known as the etern attorney general of the untrodden, the unprotected, and the friendless. Now you examine his life, and it seems rather obvious, doesn't it? That that suffering, sensitive, life translated itself into a persistent, unconquerable sympathy with downtrodden people at some healthy hunk of a man in good health would never have felt. So don't despise those limitations, their opportunities. God will not judge us in masses, we will all have a personal examination. And what we did, in our own little field, is all that matters. And if we say, before God, well, um, I'm not good as, I'm not as good as so and so was, uh, we will rather have missed the point. Because maybe God says to us, well, done good and faithful servant, and you didn't have all the abilities and strengths and opportunities. It so-and-so, head, and you did a marvelous job with what you hit. And if we say, well, God, I was better than so-and-so, we missed the whole point. It may be that God says, yeah. But so-and-so had all kinds of troubles and problems that you didn't have. You should have done a whole lot better. And finally, if you and I are to experience God's grace poured in, it makes us sufficient in every circumstance. Not only unless we have a positive attitude, not only, unless we stop trying to compare ourselves, in wish we were somebody else, I wish we had a different place to live, our different body to live it with. Thirdly, if we're to experience that grace, it will be because we finally perceive that however limited may be our outward service, we can always make a spiritual contribution. to the world. Handicaps, far from preventing the development of spirituality, are usually the indispensable setting. for it. You bring on some shining specimen of manhood who's never had a handicap, who has a marvelously well integrated personality, who's lived in fortunate circumstances, who has great physical health, unhindered by any days of sickness whatsoever, and however energetic his service and activity may be in the world, there are simply some things he can never offer to people that Helen Keller can. She's handicapped. She's blind. She's deaf. And for her, the doors of life have shut on every side. Except the one door that can never be shut for her. The chance to be a radiant soul in the midst. horrible. circumstances. The relationship between, uh, those fortunate people on one side who have few handicaps, and those who labor under intense difficulties, is a fascinating study. And many of us will never appreciate the literary value, frankly, of paradise, lost, or paradise regained, but there's not one of us. who can't appreciate blind John Milton sitting down to write. Now that does something. Forrest. Many of us, frankly, aren't impressed at all with Longfellow's translation of Dante. But when you and I learned that Mrs. Longfellow accidentally set her dress on fire, and that Longfellow desperately, but vainly, tried with his own hands to quench the flames. And that after it was all over, and Mrs. Longfellow died from the burns, had Longfellow himself sat down in that wifeless, motherless home. And there to occupy a tormented mine. He translated Dante. And did it marvelously well? Now, that says something. Do it. No one can easily estimate the spiritual stimulus that comes into human life. From the handicapped people who have found God's grace. Sufficient. A number of years ago there was cheering at the commencement service of one Midwestern university, the likes of which had never been heard in that school before. As a crippled boy, was carried across by arms of compassion. to receive his hard work for diploma. Four years ago, the boy answered present on the first day of his first class in school, and his professor said, Stand up, and the young boy said, I'm sorry, sir. I haven't been able to stand since I was four years old. But, by being what he was, in the midst of a very difficult situation. That boy made such an impression on the entire university. That when his companions carried him in their own arms in front of that great assembly to receive his diploma, there was cheering and clapping, such as had not occurred there for years. Whatever despise a handicap, they are opportunities for service, spiritual service. That no one else can render. You say, Well, it takes great faith to live like that, yes? And you won't find that faith in any atheistic society, and you and I won't find it in any cult. You and I will only find it... from a powerful living relationship. with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul writes. To keep me from becoming conceited, because of the surpassing great revelations, there was given to me a thorn in my flesh. A messenger of Satan to torment me three times, I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, but he said, my grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses. So that Christ's power may rest. upon me. Can we bow our heads and pray? Oh, there's not a one of us here. Could have a struggle at one time or another, at one point or another, with some limitations. Some handicaps. Some of us were debilitating than others. You know, I simply asked tonight that your spirit might take this verse, and do it deeply into our minds, so that we wouldn't fret or be upset, or anxious, feel cheated, about some difficulty that's come to us. Instead, Father, we will look upon those difficulties as a marvelous opportunity for you to pour in your power. And make us... victorious. by your grace.

We are all familiar with the mark of the beast. Fear and confusion surrounding it seem to swirl around it. As a child, I remember hearing a preacher declare that the birthmark on Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s head was the mark of the beast. We were warned that Visa cards or barcodes might be the mark. Today, rumors abound that the mark is a QR code, a vaccine, or something connected to artificial intelligence. Such speculation dramatically misunderstands John’s explanation of the mark of the beast in the book of Revelation. The best-known passage on this subject appears in Revelation 13: Also [the second beast) causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. (Rev. 13:16-18) The Dragon and the Two Beasts To understand the mark of the beast, we must first understand the beast. Or, more precisely the dragon and the two beasts that form an unholy imitation of the Trinity. In Revelation 12, the first member of this unholy trinity appears: the dragon. John recounts the spiritual conflict between the dragon, the woman who represents God’s covenant people, and the Christ-child. “And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems” (Rev. 12:3). To understand John’s vision, we must recognize the rich Hebraic symbolism and imagery woven throughout this apocalyptic book. The imagery of the serpent, Leviathan, and dragon appears throughout the Old Testament (Genesis 3, Job, and Ezra, respectively). John draws upon that imagery to portray Satan as the ancient enemy of God and His people. The dragon has seven heads (a number of completion) with ten horns (representing power, and also a number of completion). John is showing that the spiritual enemy that sought to destroy Christ continues to oppose God’s purposes throughout the world. In Revelation 13, we meet the second member of the unholy trinity: the beast from the sea. “And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads” (Rev. 13:1). Like the dragon, the beast has seven heads and ten horns. John continues, “And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority” (Rev. 13:2). John’s description draws directly from Daniel’s prophetic vision in Daniel 7. In Daniel’s vision, four beasts emerge from the sea, representing successive empires that will emerge (the lion-eagle is Babylon, the bear is the Medo-Persian empire, the leopard-bird is the Greek empire, the iron-toothed animal is the Roman empire). John’s beast combines creatures from all four. It is a monstrous composite, representing rebellious human political power in all its forms. What is the meaning? The point is similar to the imagery of the seven heads and ten crowns: the beastly pattern of pride, persecution, idolatry, and rebellion against God can appear in every empire and age. Satan is not omnipresent, but his corrupting influence extends widely through the kingdoms of this world. John then describes the first beast as receiving a mortal wound and appearing to recover from it (Rev. 13:3). Some interpreters see an initial fulfillment in Nero’s suicide (68AD) and the apparent death of the Roman Empire that followed. The empire’s renewed strength under Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian may have contributed to this imagery. The world responds by worshiping the haughty and blasphemous beast (Rev. 13:4-10). We finally meet the third member of the unholy trinity: the beast from the earth. This beast appears lamb-like but speaks with the voice of the dragon, “Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon” (Rev. 13:11). He also performs miraculous signs and makes the earth worship the first beast (13:12-15). The Mark of the Beast With this background in view, we return to the mark of the beast. Are you aware that in the book of Revelation, those who follow God are also marked or sealed as his own? Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. Rev. 7:3 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Rev. 9:4 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. Rev. 14:1 Why are both God’s seal and the beast’s mark associated with the forehead and hand? The imagery echoes God’s instructions to Israel following the Ten Commandments, “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” (Dt. 6:8). To this day, Orthodox Jews wear phylacteries (teffilin) on their foreheads and on their arm and hand. God’s intention of the commandment was not literal. Any Jew to this day would tell you that they are not fulfilling the law by the binding of their phylacteries; the phylacteries are a physical reminder of a spiritual reality. We are to bind God’s truth to our mind (head) and actions (hand). Both the mark of God and the mark of the beast, then, are not a physical, but a spiritual mark. If you worship God, you will be spiritually marked by God. If you worship the beast, you will be marked by him. Paul cautions us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rms. 12:2). Peter echoes, “do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance” (1 Pet. 1:14). Paul tells us that, as we behold “the glory of God, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18). The Psalmist warns us that, for the idol worshiper, “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them” (Ps. 115:8). Jeremiah similarly warns those who “went after worthlessness, and became worthless” (Jer. 2:15). The mark of the beast cautions us: we become what we worship. Calculating the Number of the Beast This leaves one final question: how do we calculate the number of the beast: 666? There are at least two explanations. The first is that John uses the Hebrew practice of Gematria, which assigns numbers to each Hebrew letter. Using Gematria, Cesar Nero calculates to 666. This surely was in part what John intended to communicate to his audience. More broadly, John is communicating that the beast falls short of God’s glory on every level. 7 is the number of perfection; 6 is imperfection. Three is the number of magnification, so 666 is magnified imperfection. So, what is the mark of the beast? It is those who have been marked by the one who masquerades as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), but is, in fact, a fraud. This arrogant blasphemer prowls about (1 Pet. 5:8), seeking to draw worship to himself. He uses our own fleshly desires, fears, and cultural and political influences. If our attention of the beast is focused on trying to figure out which individual is the Antichrist, or whether the mark of the beast is a QR code or a vaccine, we’ve been duped by that demonic magician, Satan. He’s diverted our attention from the true threat hiding in plain sight: when we worship ourselves or the broken things of this world instead of the true Triune God who alone is worthy of our praise. Reject the Frankenstein-idols of this world and worship the Holy One. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu says, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” Know God. Know yourself. And know the enemy. Don’t be duped by his masquerading, don’t be confused by misunderstandings of the mark of the beast. Be sealed by the Holy God and hold fast to him alone.

There are at least 2 really beautiful love stories in the Old Testament. One is between David and his friend Jonathan. The other is between Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi. These love stories have nothing to do with hormones or romance and everything to do with loyalty, sacrifice, devotion, character and fidelity. The love that we experience in Christ. This is the story of Ruth’s character, Providential Hand of God and also the Provisional Hand of God, what you don’t see in Ruth are miracles. Miracles are God working beyond or against ordinary means. What miracles look like: Seas parting Dead rising Blind seeing Food multiplying Fire falling from heaven Instant healing Have you seen what you feel is a Miracle? PROVIDENTIAL HAND OF GOD Providence is God working through ordinary means. What providence looks like: People making choices Weather patterns Timing of events "Coincidences" that are too perfect to be coincidences Natural cause-and-effect Human decisions that God bends toward His purposes The providential hand of God is rarely seen by looking at our current situation, never seen by looking ahead and can often be recognized by looking to the past. MY STORY: After leaving several colleges because I was flunking out, I gave up on what I thought I had to do and signed up for the draft because I didn’t know what else to do. On my way home from signing up for the draft, I heard on the radio that the army needed helicopter pilots. I turned around and signed up to fly. This led to many other events in my life that led me closer to God. None of these things happened until I gave up on my way. Everyone who belongs to Christ has his/her Providential event stories in their life. Think for a moment. Can you point to what must have been God’s providential hand on your life? THE PROVISIONAL HAND OF GOD GOD’S PROVISION FOR THE POOR in the Old Testament centers on a system of built‑in justice, not random charity. The Mosaic Law created structural, economic, and social protections so the poor, widow, orphan, and foreigner could survive with dignity. Agricultural Provision: Gleaning Laws, We will see this as we get into the story of Ruth. Economic Provision: Open‑Handed Lending, “Do not be hardhearted or tightfisted.” “Freely lend them whatever they need.” “Give generously… without a grudging heart.” (Deuteronomy 15:7–11) The Third‑Year Tithe (Storehouse Tithe) Every third year, Israel stored a special tithe specifically for: The Poor: The Levite, The foreigner, The fatherless, The widow (Deuteronomy 14:28–29). This created a local safety net in every town. Ruth 1:1  During the time[a] of the judges, there was a famine in the land. A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to stay in the territory of Moab for a while. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife’s name was Naomi.[b] The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the fields of Moab and settled there. During the time of the Judges, This could have happened about Judges chapter 10. Jair was probably the Judge. The land of Israel was going through a time of judgement. This placed a hardship on the people of Israel. They did what people all over the world have done. They immigrated to another country to find better opportunities for their family. However, these were not just any people they were of the chosen nation of God. They were choosing to leave the land God had given them. To make matters worse they were going to a land that God had told them to have nothing to do with.  Deuteronomy 23: 3 No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the Lord’s assembly; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the Lord’s assembly. 4 This is because they did not meet you with food and water on the journey after you came out of Egypt, and because Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim was hired to curse you. 5 Yet the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but he turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you. 6 Never pursue their welfare or prosperity as long as you live.  Elimelech looked at their situation and leaning on all the understanding he had, he chose to leave the land God had given him. Now his children would be raised in a culture dominated with service to the god Chemosh. Does anyone remember a verse that says something about leaning on your own understanding? Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Let’s meet the characters of the book of ruth. I wondered how they came up with names for their children. Did they wait a little while and determine the temperament of the child before naming him. Did the name indicate the aspirations of the family for the child. Ruth 1: 3 Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and without her husband. After Elimelech died, her boys each took a Moabite woman for his wife. This was strictly forbidden; however, you get the idea that following God was not high on their priority list. This was the way it was during the time of the judges. People were doing what was right in their own site. Then as if things could not have gotten worse for Naomi both of her sons die. She was broken and wanted to go home. Like the prodigal son who understood his lostness, she wanted to go home. Ruth1:6 She and her daughters-in-law set out to return from the territory of Moab, because she had heard in Moab that the Lord had paid attention to his people’s need by providing them food. 7 She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah. Her daughters-in-law loved her and did not want to leave her. She saw no future for them with her. They were Moabite women who were going to find themselves in a totally different culture. Ruth 1:8 Naomi said to them, “Each of you go back to your mother’s home. May the Lord show kindness to you as you have shown to the dead and to me. 9 May the Lord grant each of you rest in the house of a new husband.” She kissed them, and they wept loudly. 10 They said to her, “We insist on returning with you to your people.” In the middle of Naomi’s grief and hurt she thought to the needs of Ruth and Orpha. This has to be one of the lowest points in Naomi’s life. She has lost her husband, her two boys and now she must convince her to daughters-in-law to leave her. She would move on totally alone. An old woman in what could be a hostile world. One of the most divine statements in the Bible could apply here, “But God”. The Lord was not going to let Naomi proceed alone. He had other plans. We would call this the providential hand of God. We can see it plainly because we are looking back on it, but Naomi did not have a clue. Ruth 1:11 But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Am I able to have any more sons who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons, 13 would you be willing to wait for them to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying?[c]  This logic is strange to western culture. The idea that Naomi would hold herself responsible for providing her two daughters-in-law with a son that they could marry. The levirate marriage: If a brother dies without his wife having a son, his brother would marry her and the first male child would legally be the heir of the dead brother. This would keep the dead brother’s property and name in the family. An example of this is found in Genesis 38. Judah had three sons, Er, Onan and his youngest Shelah. Tamar became the wife of the Er, the oldest. He died without having any children, Tamar marries Onan, he died without having any children. Juda refuses to give his youngest son to Tamar. He did not want another son to die. Read the story in Genesis to find our how Tamar winds up in the linage of Christ. Naomi was saying that this in impossible in her situation so Ruth and Orpah should return home where they could get married and have children of their own. Ruth 1:13B No, my daughters, my life is much too bitter for you to share, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me.”  Everything that Naomi had hoped for was lost. She felt that the Lord was against her. Given her circumstances we might agree. But we know what Naomi did not know. God was providentially drawing Naomi back home. She had absolutely no idea of the joy God had instore for her.  Ruth 1:14 Again they wept loudly, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Follow your sister-in-law.” With this comes some of the most beautiful words in the Bible. You may have had these words spoken at your wedding. 16 But Ruth replied: Don’t plead with me to abandon you or to return and not follow you. . For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me, and do so severely, if anything but death separates you and me. 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped talking to her. The Gaithers have put this beautifully to music. The providential hand of God has placed Ruth firmly in Naomi’s life. Now Naomi must face the people she left behind when she and her husband ventured to Moab. Naomi comes home depressed. So much about her future she does not have a clue about. Leaning on her own understanding she sees very little to be hopeful about. We have already quoted Proverbs 3:5-8 This is an encouragement to us that no matter how loudly our understanding screams at us, we can continue to take the next step. This is a lot easier to say than it is to live out. However, it is a promise of God and God is always true to His word. Ruth 1:19 The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival[e] and the local women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,”[f] she answered, “for the Almighty has made me very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed[g] me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” Like the prodigal son she left her home full of hope but returned with little hope. Also like the prodigal, God has much more instore for her than dying a beggar in her hometown. Ruth 1:22 So Naomi came back from the territory of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Who can see God’s providential hand in this verse? The harvesting began with the barley harvest and when that was over you had the wheat harvest. In all that is 7 to 10 weeks of harvest. Why is this important? Naomi and Ruth came into town with little or no resources. How are they going to sustain themselves. Ruth 2:1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side. He was a prominent man of noble character from Elimelech’s family. His name was Boaz. This piece of information is just stuck in the story for later use. God made provision for the poor. Ruth 2:2 Ruth the Moabitess asked Naomi, “Will you let me go into the fields and gather fallen grain behind someone with whom I find favor?” Naomi answered her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So Ruth left and entered the field to gather grain behind the harvesters. She happened to be in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech’s family. Don’t you just love the use of the words, “She happened” Again, the providential hand of God. Gleaning is a provisional hand of God. When you harvest your fields: Ruth 2:4 Later, when Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he said to the harvesters, “The Lord be with you.” “The Lord bless you,” they replied. This tells us about the character of Boaz. He had established a culture in his workforce which honored the Lord. The ideal Boss. Ruth 2:5-7 Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 The servant answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab. 7 She asked, ‘Will you let me gather fallen grain among the bundles behind the harvesters?’ She came and has been on her feet since early morning, except that she rested a little in the shelter.”[a] Boaz caught sight of Ruth and asked his foreman who this woman was. She was a stranger, not someone Boaz had seen before so he was curious. His foreman tells of her relation to Naomi. He had heard of this Moabite who came to town with Naomi. The foreman continues with how polite and humble she was asking if she might glean. Then the foreman goes on about what a hard worker she was. Needless to say Boaz is impressed. Ruth 2:8-9 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter.[b] Don’t go and gather grain in another field, and don’t leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants. 9 See which field they are harvesting, and follow them. Haven’t I ordered the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.” Ruth was a young Moabite widowed woman. This placed her on about the lowest rung of the social ladder. She had no reason to expect any kindness. She was in a very vulnerable position. For Boaz to show her any preference was totally unexpected. This has been compared to our position before God before salvation. Our sin placed us totally outside the camp of God. We could have no expectations of warranting God’s favor. Yet he chose to bestow it on us. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 Boaz goes up to Ruth and calls her daughter. Then he proceeds to show her favor. She is dumb founder. Why would such a man have anything to do with me. 10 She fell facedown, bowed to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor with you, so that you notice me, although I am a foreigner?” 11 Boaz answered her, “Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband’s death has been fully reported to me: how you left your father and mother and your native land, and how you came to a people you didn’t previously know. 12 May the Lord reward you for what you have done, and may you receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” The benefits of good character. Proverbs 22:1 — “A good name is more desirable than great riches.” Ruth’s reputation had reached Boaz even though he had never met her before this. God’s providence had placed Ruth in that field. Ruth’s character shaped the outcome. 13 “My lord,” she said, “I have found favor with you, for you have comforted and encouraged your servant, although I am not like one of your female servants.” Can you imagine the encouragement that having a prominent Godly man of the village pay attention to her and show her favor. She went from barely hanging on to hope, to being encouraged. 14 At mealtime Boaz told her, “Come over here and have some bread and dip it in the vinegar sauce.” So she sat beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over. Boaz shows her more attention than one would expect him to show the widowed daughter-in-law of a relative. He was likely becoming twitterpated. 15 When she got up to gather grain, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her even gather grain among the bundles, and don’t humiliate her. 16 Pull out some stalks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to gather. Don’t rebuke her.” 17 So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. Boaz is definitely twitterpated. After gathering grain all day she still has work to do. She beat out what she had gathered, and it was about twenty-six quarts[c] of barley. 18 She picked up the grain and went into the town, where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She brought out what she had left over from her meal and gave it to her. I got tired just reading all the things she did. This young lady knew how to work. Ruth had herself quite a day. She started her day being a little-known Moabite woman in a town just trying to get food for her and Naomi to eat. Then she accidentally finds herself in Boaz’s field. She then goes from being well thought of to getting special privileges. At the end of the day, she had a very influential, Godly man looking out for her best interest. She also had a lot to tell Naomi. We can see the providential hand of God all through the day. Ruth 2:19 Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you gather barley today, and where did you work? May the Lord bless the man who noticed you.” Ruth told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.” Naomi starts to do her happy dance. Examples of The Providential Hand of God 20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May the Lord bless him because he has not abandoned his kindness to the living or the dead.” Naomi continued, “The man is a close relative. He is one of our family redeemers.” 21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also told me, ‘Stay with my young men until they have finished all of my harvest.’” 22 So Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “My daughter, it is good for you to work[d] with his female servants, so that nothing will happen to you in another field.” 23 Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s female servants and gathered grain until the barley and the wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with[e] her mother-in-law.

Have you counted the cost of following Jesus? Today: counting the cost. Contractors love to dream big. Hard to deliver. 28% average cost overrun. Comic. Some of the worst in history: Sydney Opera House (1959): $7M estimated. $102M final. (4 years planned, 14 years total) Montreal Olympic Stadium (1976): C$40M. C$836M (20x!) What does it cost to follow Jesus? Before you follow—know the cost. Luke 14:25-27 (family, cross) Luke 14:28-30: Tower: built to guard a vineyard/house. Foundation. Background: Herod Antipas: one of the three building projects he accomplished during his 35 year reign were the fortifications in Sepphoris, only three miles away from Nazareth. It’s likely Joseph would have worked there. Nearby were two rock quarries: Kefar Kenna and Khirbet Cana. 90% of construction was with stone. Jesus grew up a (teknon’s) contractor’s son: he knew the need to prepare the costs. Twice: also Luke 20:17. The Jews knew well the cost of construction. Taxes spiked to 20-50% under the reign of Herod the Great. Greatest builder in the history of Israel: five fortresses, the second temple. Jews loved the temple. Hated taxes. Developing world construction. Rocky Point -- has many unfinished buildings. The rich young man: what you want! Mark 10:17-22. Run after him and lessen. Descriptive v. prescriptive. Grace is free, but it costs us everything. Not an optimized life "the life you always wanted." Not a cheap salesman. What is it going to cost? Repentance: me: giving up pastoring. Angel: homeless in the streets of Princeton. Defending myself. Control. Reputation. Luke 14:28-3- 1. Count the cost. Comfort. Respect. Control. Money. Reputation. Friendships. Suffering. Jesus counted the cross. Heaven for us. 2. Pay the cost: Matthew 13:44; treasure. Sell everything. Don't delay. Give away so little. Get: Christ, character, inheritance. Security. Release your will to God's will. Our plans are so small. Jeus paid the cost. 3. Trust the Master Craftsman God is the master craftsman: Ephesians 2:10. Philippians 1:6: the master Craftsman has no incomplete jobs.