Month: August 2019

August 10, 2019 Pastor Justin Thomson - Duluth

Privacy Kills

Somewhere between four & five thousand healthy American’s die annually from choking on food, which means it kills more people than accidental shootings or airplane accidents. It’s number four on the National Safety Council’s list of death caused by “unintentional injury”. Somebody chokes to death every 2 hours, and over 95% of them will die in a safe & comfortable environment: At home. Statistics show that more people die from choking than die in fires. These statistics, however, as true they are, can be misleading.  

It’s common knowledge in the medical world that many choking deaths could’ve been prevented if only the individual hadn’t been so afraid of public humiliation. Out of sheer embarrassment, choking victims are known to silently excuse themselves from their company, calmly walk from the dinner table to the bathroom, lock themselves inside, and die privately. Ask any paramedic and you’ll find that the real cause of death in many of these cases wasn’t choking at all, it was too much dignity.

Choking at Church

The House of God is no stranger to dangerous levels of dignity. People can get comfortable over time in an environment like ours. They start feeling “at home” in their position, not realizing that home is the most dangerous place to be in regard to choking. Complacency sets in, and once it does, they grow a little too over-confident & self-permissive; they start to indulge in questionable attitudes & practices. Pretty soon they’re stuffing more unholy thoughts, desires, and behaviors into their life than their soul is able to swallow. Everything seems alright until they’re unexpectedly seized by an abnormally large portion of sin that they aren’t able to spit out. Not wanting to draw any attention to themselves, they do what they can to hide the truth of the situation. And more dangerous than the actual choking, they impulsively conceal their panic behind a calm demeanor and pretend to be fine.  

The House of God is no stranger to dignity…

In the church culture, this lethal form of dignity is better known as ‘pride’. Pride is refusing to concede that something has gone wrong at all. It’s not asking for help when you need it the most, for fear of the imagined social repercussions. It’s defending your integrity to your own detriment. When sin lodges itself in your heart and cuts off your life-giving supply of the Spirit, pride is what keeps you acting like everything’s normal. You might be dying, but pride doesn’t care. Rather than seeking help, pride steers you to the bathroom where you can try and save your own life, all by yourself, in private. And once that happens, you’re in greater danger than ever.

Swallow Your Pride

There is a calculated maneuver which has proven effective time & time again in rescuing a person from airway obstruction. It’s a technique that can be used by anybody, amateurs and professionals alike. It has saved lives every day (over 100,000 in fact) since its initiation in 1974. The dilemma, however, for those with too much dignity, is that it requires the help of another person. And that’s exactly what victims of pride try to avoid. Nothing scares them as badly as needing help from someone else. In some cases, it appears, death is preferred over accepting rescue.

Nothing less than full surrender…can liberate a person from pride

There is likewise a cure for pride, but like its medical counterpart, it’s stubbornly avoided by those who need it most. The Biblical practices of confession, repentance, and seeking forgiveness are some of the most sidestepped activities among pride-choked Christians. Some would rather die than to go through the inevitable shame associated with a procedure like that. They might try to put everyone at ease by making a forced confession (without really owning it), repenting outwardly (but not inwardly), and asking for forgiveness (before they’re even really convinced of their wrong), only to realize, you cannot dislodge pride with minimal effort. The issue is still an issue, and you still can’t breathe. Nothing less than full surrender to God’s instruction in a life & death situation like this can liberate a person from pride. Many victims have realized the truth of this just a little too late.

Unwanted Publicity

Perhaps it’s the nature of the rescue procedure itself. It hurts! The cure for choking is aggressive to say the least. The victim is usually pounded in the back, slapped, punched, and when that doesn’t work, squeezed until they hopefully spit up. Ribs are sometimes broken. The whole process is invasive & demeaning. It’s confrontational, and, worst of all, it’s usually public. If only choking were between me and you alone, but it rarely is. Choking never checks to see whether you’re dining alone, or if the restaurant is packed, with a line out the door. And pride is no different. Pride doesn’t care if people are watching. In most cases, it waits until they are.

No One Here Doesn’t Choke

All of us will choke, but only some of us will die. It should go without saying, but there’s nothing dignified about being found, dead & alone, on the proverbial bathroom floor with a throat full of pride. You haven’t protected yourself from embarrassment by hiding your issues from us, you’ve only secured it for yourself by refusing our help. Godly people don’t reject help…Godly people pray for it. “If they correct me, it is soothing medicine. Don’t let me refuse it” (Ps.141:5).

Sometimes it’s comforting to know that the one who’s helping you, has himself needed help from others at one time or another. We all have pride, and we all choke on it sooner or later. If you have reason to be ashamed of yourself, please understand, we all do! We’ve all felt that embarrassment, and we’ve all been tempted to ignore the truth of our situation. No one looks forward to the Biblical rescue process, because the techniques that save our life hurt every time. But we’ve all felt that pain, and we probably will again. So you are not alone. 

All of us will choke, but only some of us will die

How many of our friends, who share space with us at the Lord’s Table, are choking on their dignity right now? How many are pretending that they’ve swallowed their pride when they’re still not able to enjoy the fresh air of Christian fellowship? Don’t avoid help because it hurts, & don’t reject it because it offends. If you do that, you’ll die on the floor. And we’ll all know the real reason why.

   

August 7, 2019 JFB Books and Media

Are we watering down the gospel?

Benjamin Corey confronts our vision of Jesus head-on, asking the hard question: Is what we see and hear in the modern church all there is to the message of Jesus… or is there a more radical side to Jesus than we have been led to believe?

Get ready to encounter a Jesus that is determined to turn over the tables of a stale, ineffective and boring gospel that seeks to escape from the world instead of transforming it.

This radical Jesus and His message…

  • Invites us to reorient our lives not on Christian religion, but on the person of Jesus
  • Calls us to live out faith in the context of authentic community with others, instead of isolation
  • Includes the excluded and invites the outcast to have a seat at the table
  • Responds to enemies with a radical, unexplainable love

Undiluted will invite you to step out of your comfort zone and into a process of rediscovering the radical, counter cultural, and life-changing message of Jesus. As you do, you’ll discover a more vibrant faith as you embrace an undiluted Jesus and His radical message!

What are you reading?

Ben Morrison is reading “The Pursuit if God” by Tozer.

” I’ve actually read this book a few times before and get a lot out of it each time.  The book is about pursuing God with your whole heart and life: moving from knowledge about God and into daily realized experience walking with God. It doesn’t try to focus too carefull on doctrine, and in that way can at times be on the “mystical” / experiential side.

But I tend to be more stoic with devotions, prayer and worship. So I find the book to be both stretching and inspiring in the way he writes about having awe of God, the seriousness in following God, worshipping God, and having passion and desire to be close to God in daily experience. 

Right now I believe God is using this book to speak to me about a few things that are slowing me down spiritually. Specifically, the self-importance that I can feel about my job during the day and the self-reliance I can have when making decisions. I’ve been talking to Sasha about these things and we’ve been praying together about. I’m trying to lean further into God throughout the day: praying, reading, thinking about God. Trying to add fuel to the spiritual fire.”

August 2, 2019 Believers Church

Just the way it is…

                You’re human, right? Good. Then you’ve probably experienced some of what I am about to write. In this world, things don’t always go as planned. A loved one dies. A pregnancy happens unplanned. A job comes to an end. A relationship turns sour. A terminal illness is discovered. A daughter becomes a victim of abuse. The money runs out. A house burns down. A friend becomes an enemy. Parents file for divorce. A son is found addicted to drugs. A spouse reveals an affair. A friend is exposed as a long-time liar.

                Most of us started out our lives with somewhat of a positive outlook and high expectations, but somewhere along the way, things ticked up a notch. This kind of stuff is the underbelly of life. Stating an obvious reality for himself, an older cousin of mine casually said, “I seem to find myself at more funerals than anything else lately.” With age comes difficulty. It’s entropy, by the strictest definition. Life is like a loaded freight train rolling downhill. It’s gaining speed and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

The unwanted guest

                There are times when we are deeply hurt by situations or other people. For Christians, our feelings can get stirred up and pointed at the people around us (whether they were involved or not), and sometimes even at God. In the midst of these issues (what are typical of the human experience in a fallen world), it is not uncommon for our hearts and minds to become clouded with all forms of trouble. Anger, envy, and bitterness all tempt us to welcome them into our lives with open arms. Unwittingly, we make space for this evil roommate which only exacerbates our situation. It is almost as bad as becoming roommates with Satan, himself. Why would we so quickly make a bed for these spirit-sucking freeloaders? Well, sadly, we do it because we believe we have justification for feeling the hurt we feel when life goes downward. In fact, we believe we’re being victimized and that we deserve better. Jesus said, in Matthew 5:44, “you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Indeed, we have! Where have we heard that? From our own voices.

                Have you ever felt a bitterness so deep that you’re hard-pressed to remember what it was like to not feel that way? When we experience hurt, especially in situations which are out of our control or in things that are deeply personal, we naturally push back, emotionally. When emotions take the wheel, they open up what we perceive to be a righteous defense, when in fact it creates vulnerability, instead. At that moment, we allow provision for sin to make his home in us. When that roommate moves in, he tends to keep us from moving on. He rents movies that feature a distorted version of what happened. He hangs framed photos of those who we blame. He tells us that we don’t deserve to be treated like that. And the more we listen to him, the worse it gets.

                I read a story online recently about a woman who said she had been bitter toward her mother for years. The most revealing note about her story was that even years after her mother’s death, the bitterness remained as strong as it was before.

“Bitterness is like drinking rat poison and waiting for the rat to die.”
– John Ortberg Jr.

“Uncontrolled temper is soon dissipated on others. Resentment, bitterness, and self-pity build up inside our hearts and eat away at our spiritual lives like a slowly spreading cancer.”
– Jerry Bridges

Facing the Truth

                Is it too extreme to say that there is absolutely nothing righteous about bitterness? Not according to Jesus. In fact, in Matthew 5:43-48, He says (in opposition to our own voices), “BUT I SAY TO YOU, Love your enemies… pray for those who persecute you… so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven.” And this instruction comes on the back end of “turn the other cheek” and “go the extra mile” rather than using justifiable retaliation. Jesus calls us up from self-defense and personal wound-licking to (vs 48), “…be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” I know… that is a steep order.

                How is this even possible? Jesus modeled this directive when He was bleeding to death on the cross. At one point, in the middle of the pain that He was being subjected to, it became clear to Him that all of those who spat upon Him, punched Him, mocked Him, wrongfully accused Him, and tortured Him would face the reality that what they were doing was evil. At that moment, Jesus turned to the Father and said, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” Didn’t those who were hurting Jesus actually know what they were doing? Yes, it was an intentional execution. Likewise, Paul was facing an uncertain difficulty which he wrote about in 2 Timothy chapter 4. In the middle of a trial, after a careful survey of the crowd, Paul realized his advocates had turned their backs on him. No one rose to his defense. He told Timothy, “At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me…”

Evidence that demands action

                Do you find yourself stewing about the same situation over and over? Do you hold imaginary conversations with someone in your mind? Do you replay a conversation over and over in your mind? Do you feel anger when you think of a particular person or hear their name? –it’s likely that you have allowed the unwanted roommate to live with you. Believe me, I’d love to tell you that your particular bitterness is permissible… perhaps you are completely innocent, yet hurt. I have my own grievances, friend. But no level of bitterness is considered righteous. So, maybe you have already told yourself (like a thousand times) that you just need to suck it up, get over it, and do what you are supposed to do. That method might get him out of your house for a little while but those freeloaders always come back, and when they do, it’s with a vengeance.

“If you’re a follower of Jesus but you feel distant from Him during this era of your life, if you’re having difficulty resting easy in His forgiveness, could it be because you’re blatantly refusing to let go of your animosity toward another person.”
– Lee Strobel

“Acrid bitterness inevitably seeps into the lives of people who harbor grudges and suppress anger, and bitterness is always a poison. It keeps your pain alive instead of letting you deal with it and get beyond it. Bitterness sentences you to relive the hurt over and over.”
– Lee Strobel

Dumping the freeloader

               To make progress in evicting this nasty roommate, you aren’t going to succeed through brute-strength, but surrender. Begin by talking to God. Jesus did, on the cross, “Father… forgive…” Paul, again in 2Tim 4, also found the Lord standing by him for strength. So, turn to the Lord and confess your sin. Pray for the Holy Spirit to help you overcome and forgive. Then, as Matthew 5:44 tells us, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” I’m not telling you that this is easy. Far from it, but thank God that it’s this simple. Confess, forgive, bless.

“Bitterness imprisons life; love releases it.”
– Harry Emerson Fosdick

August 1, 2019 Believers Church

By John Ortberg

Many years ago I was walking in Newport Beach, a beach in Southern California, with two friends. Two of us were on staff together at a church, and one was an elder at the same church. We walked past a bar where a fight had been going on inside. The fight had spilled out into the street, just like in an old western. Several guys were beating up on another guy, and he was bleeding from the forehead. We knew we had to do something, so we went over to break up the fight.… I don’t think we were very intimidating. [All we did was walk over and say,] “Hey, you guys, cut that out!” It didn’t do much good.

Then all of a sudden they looked at us with fear in their eyes. The guys who had been beating up on the one guy stopped and started to slink away. I didn’t know why until we turned and looked behind us. Out of the bar had come the biggest man I think I’ve ever seen. He was something like six feet, seven inches, maybe 300 pounds, maybe 2 percent body fat. Just huge. We called him “Bubba” (not to his face, but afterwards, when we talked about him).

Bubba didn’t say a word. He just stood there and flexed. You could tell he was hoping they would try and have a go at him. All of a sudden my attitude was transformed, and I said to those guys, “You better not let us catch you coming around here again!” I was a different person because I had great, big Bubba. I was ready to confront with resolve and firmness. I was released from anxiety and fear. I was filled with boldness and confidence. I was ready to help somebody that needed helping. I was ready to serve where serving was required. Why? Because I had a great, big Bubba. I was convinced that I was not alone. I was safe.

If I were convinced that Bubba were with me 24 hours a day, I would have a fundamentally different approach to my life. If I knew Bubba was behind me all day long, you wouldn’t want to mess with me. But he’s not. I can’t count on Bubba.

Again and again, the writers of Scripture pose this question for us: How big is your God? Again and again we are reminded that One who is greater than Bubba has come, and you don’t have to wonder whether or not he’ll show up. He’s always there. You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to live your life in hiding. You have a great, big God, and he’s called you to do something, so get on with it!

Reprinted from the John Ortberg sermon “Big God/Little God,” /Christianity Today International.