Drugs, Friends, and Scandal

I came across a story about Jimmy Carter that was quite fascinating and reminded me of my own experience. Watch the video to find out what Jimmy Carter did and how he was a loyal friend.

Cartwheels in the Airport

I had the opportunity to take a trip with our youngest child recently and made a video about the trip as well as why I take trips like this.

20 Questions to Ask Your Kids

1. What are your favorite foods?
2. What was your favorite thing about today?
3. What is your favorite subject in your schoolwork?
4. What would you like to be when you grow up?
5. What is your favorite thing to do?
6. What embarrasses you the most in our family?
7. What are you most afraid of?
8. What is your favorite thing to learn about outside of school subjects?
9. What irritates you the most in our family?
10. What makes you the most angry?
11. What has disappointed you the most in your life?
12. If you could change the way you look in any way, what would you change?
13. What are your favorite things to do as a family?
14. If you could change anything about me, what would it be?
15. What are two things you would like to do this year?
16. Who do you admire the most outside your family and why?
17. If you could travel anywhere within this state, where would you go and why?
18. If you could travel anywhere within this country, where would you go and why?
19. If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
20. What would you most like to accomplish for God in your life?

Some of these questions are just to open up the conversation and make them comfortable to talk. Others are more in depth questions where you have to be willing to hear the answer and will probably have to encourage them to be honest with you. These questions and questions like them are are not unique to us and these are a starting point that you can use to come up with your own questions. Some obviously will not apply to very young children but may apply to older ones. The important thing is to talk to your children and listen to their answers. In order to be effective, it also means you must be willing to ask questions that might be hard to hear the answers to.

Do You Listen to Your Children?

We have had a number of situations in the past few years where listening to our children's concerns about someone would have saved us from lots of pain and suffering. Do you listen to your children? Find out why this is important in this video.

Lead on Softly

This is a video I recorded recently about leading in the family and how we can learn some important lessons from Jacob.

Stand like Stephen: An Appeal to All Adventists

This past Sabbath afternoon, Susanne gave a talk about how the the life of Stephen gives us insight into what is happening today with mandates and coercion with her appeal to our beloved Seventh-day Adventists all around the world. Please watch and share.

Narcissistic Pastor?

— Reflections and Comments on the book When Narcissism Comes to Church: Healing Your Community From Emotional and Spiritual Abuse by Chuck DeGroat —

The DSM-5 defines narcissism in a good one-liner: a grandiose sense of self-importance. Narcissism involves entitlement, attention seeking, overall a lack of empathy, and a lack of personal insight. The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory places people along a spectrum of narcissism. According to Chuck DeGroat’s studies (as well as his own fifteen year inventory of psychological assessments of pastors) and other scholarly studies reveal that around eighty-five to ninety percent of pastors fall on a spectrum of Cluster-B personality disorders. Cluster-B personality disorders are defined by Mayo Clinic as “personality disorders characterized by dramatic, overly emotional or unpredictable thinking or behavior. They include antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.” DeGroat clarifies that this does not mean that every pastor is a narcissist but that many pastors fall within a spectrum and that there is a certain personality type drawn to pastoral ministry.

I know many pastors join the ministry because they are called by God and want to serve their fellow man. And, generally speaking, it takes a certain kind of person to get up in front of other people and be used by God to speak for God every week. This takes a certain amount of hutzpah! There is a healthy confidence required to get up on the platform and speak. This is a noble and worthy calling and I am encouraging my own children to consider this their life path. But what happens between seminary and a call to a church? Not all charismatic pastors are narcissistic but many pastors will struggle in this area and there are things pastors may do to prevent narcissism from growing into the uncontrollable and hidden blind-spot in themselves and things that a congregation may do to prevent a toxic church culture that grows narcissistic pastors. We all wage the greatest war with self but pastors fall prey to a particularly insidious temptation that many of us do not outside of social media influencers. This is the adoration of the congregation and this adoration sets them up for a life of secrecy and hidden pain.

There is a pride that sometimes comes from public speaking and there can also be a fear of losing the love of your congregation the way social media influencers fear losing followers and likes. Some pastors have grand dreams of mega churches. They are taught either by society, driven by conference leadership, or their congregation to get the three B’s of pastoral ministry: the bums in the pew, the bucks in the offering plate, and the baptisms. This becomes a pressure pushed on pastors by congregants and conferences. Numbers and dollars on their own are good things but the motive for numbers and dollars is what reveals what is at the heart of a pastor’s ministry. Is it a desire for recognition, adoration, approval from the congregation, or power? Or is it a desire to serve, love, humble one’s self, demonstrate a leader moving forward in constant repentance toward his congregation and community? Above all, is it a driving desire to please Jesus Christ first even if it means speaking things that will not make you popular with your congregation? Pastors must investigate and take close stock of their own hearts. We must all investigate the motives of our own hearts. I find it interesting that many pastors and churches cannot wait to declare their ministry numbers, activities, and good works from the pulpit yet the Biblical principal from Matthew 6:3, “do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing,” means that as soon as we announce our good deeds to the congregation in an effort to praise and flatter ourselves, they cease to be good deeds but become dead works instead. All this not only reveals a level of narcissism in a pastor but in the congregation as well.

Parishioners are often not even aware that their pastor struggles with narcissism because it is something that goes on behind the scenes. Or, parishioners simply do not have the language to define what they are observing. It is often the case that parishioners find out after the fact that, for example, thirteen staff members have left their positions and feel hurt or abused as a result of a narcissistic pastor and they are grieved because there is this debris field of pain and suffering left in the church. Churches are full of vulnerable people and parishioners need to know how their pastors react to vulnerable people. A Church Called Tov by Scott McKnight defines a healthy church culture by the way the church and primarily the pastor responds to criticism. If the response to criticism is usually negative, we need to start looking at the reasons why. Are pastors using their power to get their own way? Do they respond kindly to criticism and do they respond to the vulnerable in an empathetic way?

Chuck DeGroat is the author of the book When Narcissism Comes to Church and he is associate professor of pastoral care and counseling at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan and a former teaching pastor of City Church San Francisco and executive director of City Church's Counseling Center. He had one pastor recognize the traits of narcissism in himself (which is absolutely amazing to me) and this well known pastor said, “hey, give me a book to read so I can get better and back to ministry!” DeGroat’s response was that it is not as easy as just reading a book. It takes following the methods that Christ has laid out. DeGroat said in a podcast interview, “it gets tougher before it gets better and that requires us to look at some of the hard stuff. And, generally, when we begin to get into their stories, we begin to get into profound pain. I’m talking really young. Stories of bullying, abuse, and, if they let me in, that is when the tears begin to come. That is where I see the cathartic, ‘I can’t believe this happened.’ ‘I am so scared.‘ ‘I am so terrified.‘ It is almost like the person I am sitting with in the room goes from the put together–you know how some of these guys dress–whatever the jeans they wear now with the blazer, the shirt, the manicured hair, and the fitness. And now they look like a little boy and they are sitting in my office and they are hunched over and I’m holding them and they are weeping like a child. And that is a round about way to get to...the answer: it begins from the inside out. They recognize the deep pain that they are in. Perhaps some of the abuse that they have experienced and the bullying, recognizing their own shame.” Thinking of the pastors I know and love, this breaks my heart.

However, continuing in this vein...

“I am pained when I see men praised, flattered, and petted. God has revealed to me the fact that some who receive these attentions are unworthy to take His name upon their lips; yet they are exalted to heaven in the estimation of finite beings, who read only from outward appearance. My sisters, never pet and flatter poor, fallible, erring men, either young or old, married or unmarried. You know not their weaknesses, and you know not but that these very attentions and this profuse praise may prove their ruin. I am alarmed at the shortsightedness, the want of wisdom, that many manifest in this respect.” Adventist Home, page 335.

“Keep the eye fixed on Christ. Do not fix your attention on some favorite minister, copying his example and imitating his gestures; in short, becoming his shadow. Let no man put his mold upon you....
Praise no man; flatter no man; and permit no man to praise or flatter you. Satan will do enough of this work. Lose sight of the instrument, and think of Jesus. Praise the Lord. Give glory to God. Make melody to God in your hearts. Talk of the truth. Talk of the Christian's hope, the Christian's heaven.” Evangelism, page 630.

In short (or not so short), pastors need and demand our prayers but never our flattery or worship. Let God praise him at the last day and let us not look to them as infallible and therefore set our pastors up for a terrible fall. Support them with your prayers, they need our untiring work alongside them, and our words of encouragement. And sometimes they even require the cutting truth that wounds for the purpose of healing. The truth is that pastors, even the greatest ones, are fallible humans who have set themselves apart as an instrument of God. This is commendable and to be respected as a position of authority. To me, there is no greater profession than ministry.

Many pastors suffer in silence with issues of abuse, secret sin, and inner emotional pain because they have not dealt with many of the issues that the rest of us are free to talk about and address publicly and privately with professionals. Many congregations are simply not open to a pastor who is not “perfect,” therefore pastors with past trauma are never able to effectively deal with these issues because of a deep fear of rejection and of being “found out.”

This is why the Adventist message of the Day of Atonement is so vital to the operation of a healthy church and a healthy pastor. A healthy church and a healthy pastor recognize that the work of the gospel is to lay the glory of men and women in the dust. A healthy church and pastor are willing to have repentance be the key message and practice of their church. There is no glory for us. It is all for Jesus Christ because He left the glory of a light-filled heaven to come down to this dusty, dirty world to save us. The glory goes to no man. There is no extra credit for the pastor who builds a larger church. There is no extra credit for a nicer building. There is no extra credit for the money raised. There is no more extra credit for the man who does all these things versus the drunk on the street who accepts Christ into his heart at the last moments of his fleeting life.

What I am trying to say is that our pastors are human and we have made them superhuman and, in some cases, gods. They need more of our love and our prayers but not our adoration or worship. They are often secretly hurting and, since they are the ones called to minister, they have very few places they can go where they can be honest and lose the carefully crafted image they have designed and the image the congregation has demanded of them. Because, let’s face it, churches want to look good to the community because it helps us feel good about ourselves! A perfect, charismatic, and amazing public-speaking pastor makes us feel good and look good to those around us. It is selfish, narcissistic, and demanding of us to require perfection in our pastors. We are, in a sense, breeding and training our pastors to be narcissistic social media influencers rather than Christ-filled servants of the Most High God. In pride, we demand that our pastors be perfect because we want them to act as a mirror of our own reflection. If they are righteous and they approve of us then we must be righteous. This is a sad and hidden version of Pharisaism and puts an unprecedented and unjust amount of pressure on the pastor who is human.

And what is the result? They fall. They will, nine times out of ten, always fall. And then we all stand back aghast as if we are shocked that our hero is actually human. Personally, and I hope and I know that there are many to join me in this, I want to be the kind of church member that is prepared to help catch the man or woman who falls from grace. And like Chuck DeGroat said, be there “to hold the hunched over pastor who is weeping like a child.”

Why? Because of the Biblical concept of grace and the Day of Atonement which says, “ere by the grace of God go I.” Because, one day, I will need someone to comfort me as I weep like a child over my own selfishness and sins. Because, whether we are weeping in repentance or proudly narcissistic, God is holding us all and He always will.

Pastors, the number one thing that you can do to prevent narcissism from evolving in your own heart is to be like and study David from the Bible and pray to God for a heart change. David embraced criticism and rebuke. He purposed to be grateful for it and thanked God and his fellow men for criticism and rebuke even when it did not come in very nice ways. He sought no vengeance upon those that criticized or rebuked him. The health and level of toxicity of a pastor and/or church may be measured by how they deal with their critics.

Congregations, make zero room in your hearts for the worship of a narcissistic pastor striving for that mega church yet make all the room possible in your hearts for a pastor who is imperfect so they might have healing in Christ. Be a church that is willing to be honest and open about the faults of your church because they are there and to say otherwise is to be found a liar according to Scripture. If you, as a church, are willing to hear your critics, you are thereby implying that you are embracing repentance and are willing to be open and honest. This speaks volumes to a church community, local community, the world, to individuals, and to the pastor who might be struggling. Denial and defense speaks yet another story whether you like it or want this story or not and that story is this: we are perfect, we have no problems, and we do not want to know or want to hear about your imperfections or problems. You become a closed off, cold, and Pharisaical church. Churches embrace your critics and repentance as one of the very best tools and weapons for and against the dangers of narcissism and other issues that threaten the health of the church. By doing this, you are sending a message to the world and to your pastor that they may be open and honest with their own struggles too because their church will embrace them instead of reject them.

Please join us in our desire to have God work in us and through us, in our pastors, and in our churches to accomplish His purposes and save us all from our tendencies toward narcissism and create a healthy culture in our churches.

Prison Swap: The First Step of the Gospel

Prior to the crazy events of 2020, we were spending two evenings a week in the local juvenile detention center ministering to the young people there. Because we cannot currently go in there in the same way, we are making a video once a month to share with the young people and hopefully encourage them to make the first step toward Christ. This is our video to them for December 2020 and we hope it is an encouragement to you also. Feel free to share it.

Snakes and Stones May Break My Bones but My Compassionate God Will Never Hurt Me

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” Matthew 7:9-11

In the Middle East they had lots of pebbles and big boulders that looked like typical middle-eastern bread. Would a father give his hungry son a piece of stone? The answer is “no.” Please remember that Christ was talking by the Sea of Galilee where the staple diet was fish and bread. Verse 10:

“Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?”

The word “serpent” (in some translations) means a poisonous snake, a snake that will do you harm. Both the snake and the stone will do you harm. (The stone will break your tooth). Notice now verse 11:

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

What did he mean that “we are evil”? He is telling us that we not only have a bent toward evil, but we poor, sinful human beings are evil, unable to do something good. Paul also uses the words “much more” to show a contrast with our Father, Who is good.

In other words, Why are you doubting your heavenly Father? Doesn’t it make sense to you that if sinful human beings know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will our Father which is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him.

The same passage is repeated in Luke, except Luke uses another word where Matthew uses “good things” or “good gifts” in verse 11. Go to Luke 11:9-13 and you tell me what words Luke used instead of “good gifts.” You will notice that the passage is almost identical to that in Matthew:

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

You see here that the “Holy Spirit” is the “good gift.” Why? Because the title that Christ gave to the Holy Spirit is paracletos, which is a very important word. It means someone who is by your side to help you, to comfort you, to take you through trials, to be there for you. Please remember that the Holy Spirit is a divine person. He is the One Who gave Christ victory. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, Christ was able to conquer sin, the devil, and the world. That same Spirit is by our side to help us, to strengthen us, to comfort us when we are discouraged. That is why we now have to learn to depend on that Holy Spirit, the “good thing” that God gives us.

It is nice to be able to help each other, but there is coming a time when we will be scattered just like the disciples were. Jesus in Gethsemane said to the three disciples, “Please wait and pray for me. I need your comfort, I need your encouragement.” Three times He came and what did He find them doing? Sleeping. And then, when He really needed them and He was taken captive, what did they do? They fled. But Jesus knew One Person Who would not forsake Him and that is God. God has sent you His Holy Spirit — a Gift above all good gifts. He is there by your side and you can talk to Him. Unfortunately, you cannot see Him, because the Spirit is like the air; you can’t see the air, but you can feel it. Do you believe that He is by your side? He is there to comfort you, to strengthen you, to meet your needs. When you tell God that you are discouraged, He will reply, “My Spirit is by your side and He will Comfort you.”

We human beings need to see something, especially in this television world that we all belong to. We need to practice and to believe that He is there to help us through trials, to answer our needs (myself included). That is the kind of God that we worship. A God Who loves us, cares for us, and will never forsake us. Jesus does not want us to think of our heavenly Father as a stern judge who wants us to suffer for our sins.

I want to conclude by giving you an example from the Sermon on the Mount which Jesus has given us. He said, “When you pray, how do you address God?” “Abba, Father.” “Abba” was the common term which the Jews used when they were addressing their earthly father. Just like in Europe fathers are called “papa” and here we say “daddy.” Abba was the common term for the earthly father, but no Jew would dare address God as “Abba.” When Jesus told the disciples to call their Father in heaven “Abba,” that was radical. I can imagine some saying, “This is blasphemy,” because, when the scribes wrote the name of God, they would use a special pen, they would never use the common pen which they used to write the scripture. They were so scared to use the name of God and they were scared of God.

Florence Litthauer is a famous speaker who has spoken to many Adventist audiences around the United States. She gave a series to a women’s group in South Carolina. Below is a statement that she gave regarding our denomination. One of the Adventist ladies asked her to describe her impressions of Seventh-day Adventists after speaking at an Adventist gathering. It is good to hear from a non-Adventist source what their impression is of the Adventist religion. Here is her impression:

“Adventists seem to be very aware of their distinctive doctrines but appear to have a low level of confidence in their relationship to God. Adventists spend time in Bible Study each day, at least some of them, but very few spend a significant amount of time talking to God in prayer. Adventists mistakenly attempt to substitute an intellectual grasp of their distinctive truths for the assurance of salvation which every believer can enjoy in Christ. This substitution naturally results in spiritual insecurity and the dominance of guilt.”

What a tragic observation! Sadly, it is too often the case. I hope that we will eradicate from our own people this insecurity. I pray that it will be eradicated in myself. We need to have the assurance that, “I can come to my Father, not because I am good but because He has redeemed me in His Son and He has adopted me while I was still a sinner.” When the time of crisis comes (and we will all face it at some time or another— maybe personal crisis — but ultimately we will all face crisis) we need to all know that God will never forsake us. Our church might forsake us, our friends might forsake us, our pastor might forsake us, but I tell you that our Lord Jesus Christ, our heavenly Father, and His Holy Spirit will never forsake you; they are here by your side.

This is why we need to understand what Christ is saying in terms of our relationship with the Father. It must be the relationship of a child to a loving and compassionate father. And this is also why the enemy works so hard to destroy a child’s relationship with their father. The enemy does not want us to know what a loving father looks like. So...if you do not know what a loving father looks like then please read the following story that is taken from the CBS Morning News and a Yahoo News story.

But before you read the story please keep in mind something about our justice system: there are minimum and maximum sentencing laws. This judge sentenced this man to the minimum sentence that he could. But our heavenly judge is bound by no state laws and is able to give us infinite mercy. Our heavenly judge (God), according to the entire book of Romans (not to mention the rest of the Bible also), is looking for a way to make us innocent. Did you catch that? God is working out our innocence and not our guilt. As if that is not the best news ever, in addition to His role of Judge and Advocate, Jesus came and paid the penalty for us. In Christ we are made righteous.

The following story depicts the Heart of our God. It demonstrates the kind of “in the trenches” God He is. It is such a perfect story because when Jesus told His disciples that He was sending a Comforter, He used a very special word to describe the Comfort. It was a word based on the Roman legal culture of the day and that word was Paraclatos. Back then, if you were arrested, you were assigned someone to walk through the legal process with you. That is pretty important. But the Paraclatos was also responsible for your needs and your comfort while you spent time in jail. The Paraclatos would bring you food, blankets, encourage you, keep you company, bring letters from family, etc. It was their job to make jail as positive an experience as jail can be. When Jesus says that He is sending the Paraclatos He is saying that our current circumstances on earth may be difficult but we are not alone because we have the Paraclatos, the Comforter.

When Joe Serna was arrested for drinking and driving, one of the terms of his probation was that he would not consume alcohol for a predetermined amount of time. However, after lying on a urine test, Joe was brought back to the courtroom, this time in front of Judge Lou Olivera. Judge Olivera felt he had no choice but to sentence Joe to a night in jail for breaking probation, a sentence which was carried out.

This might seem like your pretty typical courtroom story, but the story of Joe and Judge Olivera had really just begun. As with most things, there are two sides to every story. You might have read the first paragraph of this story and assumed you knew everything about Joe Serna because of his apparent alcoholism, but there is so much more to this man and his journey than you can discover upon first glance at the details.

Joe is a decorated veteran who served three terms in Afghanistan and has two purple hearts to show for his bravery. This Green Beret survived an IED and a suicide bomber, as well as a terrifying experience getting trapped in a sinking truck with his fellow soldiers. This moment (in the truck) is credited as Joe’s most terrifying of all, despite everything he had seen.

While following a creek, the road gave way, causing the truck Joe and his men were in to be submerged under water. Unable to move, Joe was trapped in place and forced to feel the water rise up his legs, his torso, and his neck. Finally, it stopped at his chin. Joe was the only soldier to make it out of the truck alive. Considering this terrifying brush with death, as well as his other horrifying experiences in the war, Joe suffers from PTSD. One of his triggers, which he blames on the sinking truck, is a fear of small, confined spaces.

Such as a jail cell.

“I knew what Joe was going through and I knew Joe’s history,” Judge Olivera told CBS Evening News. “I knew he had to be held accountable, but I just knew…I had to go with him.”

The next afternoon, Judge Olivera got a text telling him, “FYI, Joe Serna is reporting to jail today.” Judge Olivera crossed the street to wish Serna luck at the local jail. The jailer opened the cell where the judge found Joe to be highly agitated, his white T-shirt soaked with sweat.

“You OK?” asked Judge Olivera.

Joe, his eyes locked on the floor, mumbled an answer. Suddenly Judge Olivera remembered the story of Joe’s rollover and the lingering claustrophobia it had caused. The judge asked the jailer whether he had an open cell, one with bars instead of cinder blocks and a door. He didn’t. The judge turned to Joe and asked him,

“Do you trust me?” (This is the time in the story where we ask ourselves if we trust in God.)

“Yes, sir,” said Joe.

“Then get in my car,” Judge Olivera said.

Judge Olivera drove Joe to nearby Lumberton, North Carolina, where he knew the local chief of police. An hour later, Joe Serna, dressed in a jail-issued orange jumpsuit, walked into a ten-by-seven-foot one-person cell in the Robeson County Detention Center. As the heavy steel door slammed behind him, Serna sat on the hard steel cot. He felt his shoulders tightening, his heart beating faster. He tried to fight the familiar feeling of dread, but as his body tensed, the gunmetal-gray walls began to close in on him.

He knew he would soon be flashing back to that armored truck, feeling helpless as the water rose up to his chin, reliving the horror of that night. His mind was racing. “How do I get out of here?” he thought. “There is no way out!”

Then the door jangled as the jailer unlocked it. Standing in the open doorway was Judge Olivera, carrying two dinner trays.

“OK, Joe, are you ready?” Judge Olivera asked.

“Where are we going?” asked Joe.

“We aren’t going anywhere,” Judge Olivera said. “We are staying here.”

Joe was confused. But a few minutes later, after the jailer brought in a two-inch-thick foam mattress and once again locked the heavy steel door behind him, Joe understood. The judge was a FELLOW war veteran. Judge Olivera realized that this cell was no better than the first one. So he decided to spend the night with a comrade in arms.

Judge Olivera’s compassion nearly drove Joe to tears. But he managed to regain his composure enough to beg Olivera to take the cot and let him sleep on the floor.

“Judge, I can’t give you the floor,” he said.

“Call me Lou, Joe. And I have slept on the floor before. In fact, you and I have slept in worse places.”

Moments after Joe was locked away for his one night in jail (a very light sentence), he was so surprised by Judge Olivera, who came to stay the entire night with him while he met the consequences of breaking his probationary terms. But, with a loaf of homemade meatloaf and a change of clothes, the judge accompanied Joe through the night, talking with him about their families and their lives.

Joe said that with Judge Olivera there, “the walls were no longer there.” His anxiety and his fears melted away and he was able to have a genuine conversation with this wonderful and comforting person.

Our God is that comforting Father and that compassionate judge. He is in the “jail cell” with us. He knows what it is like to “go to war” because He has fought the good fight of faith too and the encouraging news is, He won! He gained the victory over the enemy, sin, and death. He never leaves us alone. Ever. He sends us the Paraclatos to take care of our every need and He is with us all through the night so that we can sleep a peaceful sleep.

What I have learned from being being a daughter of the King is this: I am not alone. We are not alone. He, the Father, is with me and He is with you too. And, if you ask anything according to His will, He will answer you.

These are scary times in which we live right now but we do not need to be afraid because the Judge is our Father too. He will not give us snakes and stones but He will give us love, justice, and mercy. The thing about having our Father as the King of the Universe is that this gives us hope. His love gives us hope. His being our constant Comforter and our “Paraclatos” gives us hope. And hope does not disappoint.

Having our Judge invest His love into us will slowly change us. The love of our Father changes us! I did some investigative work to find Joe from the story above because every good story needs a good ending and simply knowing that Joe was not alone in that jail cell was not enough for me. I was not happy to use this feel-good story and Joe would be in prison or something much worse. But I also knew better than that. My experiences as a mentor at the Juvenile Detention Center have taught me that investing love and time into a person usually changes the situation for the better and I was right. Joe is doing well. He achieved a degree in Accounting and Finance from Methodist University and went on to write a book on his experiences being deployed in Afghanistan during wartime all culminating in his experiences with Judge Olivera. Both Joe Serna and Judge Olivera are national speakers and I have invited him to do an interview with my husband and I to which he readily agreed.

I myself have spent enough time in front of judges to know that, when you mess up and break your probationary terms, you do not expect love, compassion, and company in your jail cell. You pray for mercy but, really, inside you expect and prepare for the proverbial stone and a poisonous snake. I wonder how many of us pray to God but inside we are, just as Florence Litthaur observed, filled with doubt about our own salvation. I think this is because we know that we are personally undeserving of mercy and compassion and we believe that we have not worked hard enough yet doing good to cancel out what we are on the inside. Thankfully salvation does not work like that at all. Salvation is just as sure as John 3:16 promises, “For God so loved the world that WHOSOEVER will believe in Him might not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. It does not matter how imperfect you may feel because, praise God, salvation is not about feelings. Salvation is about your BELIEF in the Jesus Christ as the Son of God and His power to change anyone. If you pray to God and say you believe and want Him to save you, do you think that God will give you a stone or a snake? No. That is not the Divine and Compassionate Judge we serve. He will give you forgiveness, love, and eternal life.

God as our Compassionate Judge has only one concern and that is for our good. Each one of us is like Joe and in need of mercy. I know that I certainly am. But though our righteousness is as filthy rags, each one of us may think of ourselves as a “daddy’s girl” or “the favorite son” when it comes to how God feels about us. He will never refuse you anything that is for your good. He will never give us a stone or a snake when we ask Him for something but He will give us the very best that heaven can offer each of us. We can rest in that truth forever.

The Cure for Anxiety and Fear in These History-making Times!

If you hang in until the end, there is a reward of amazing stories that are like healing medicine for the soul.

In the last section of Matthew 6, verses 25-34, Christ deals with a subject that immediately concerns each one of us especially in these times. I don’t think there is anyone who does not have anxiety over something especially in our current climate. For various reasons, we are guilty of worrying — about our children, over certain material things, about our safety, about our health, about our job security, etc., and we yield to anxiety about our future security. This is increasing as we see the end approaching.

The first thing I would like to do is to read the passage that we are going to study. Then we will look at it in its context and we will see what Christ is trying to get across. Matthew 6:25-34:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

“And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Quite a passage, isn’t it? Please remember how it begins: “therefore.” In other words, to understand this passage, we need to understand what Christ has said before. There are three things here that have been said before. In verses 19-21, He has told us that we are not to store up for ourselves treasure on this earth. That is the first thing He tells us. The second thing is in verses 22-23: “Walk in the light and not in darkness.” Notice the contrast. The third thing He says is in verse 24: “You cannot serve two opposite masters. You cannot serve God and self (which is what money represents here) at the same time.”

Please notice the contrast in these three things. It is the contrast between a believer and an unbeliever. An unbeliever gets his material security in his bank account, in what he stores up on this earth. A Christian’s security is not in the bank account but in heaven. Number two, a Christian walks in the light as Christ is in the light. An unbeliever walks in darkness. Number three, a Christian has God as his Lord and Master, whereas the unbeliever depends on self.

What Christ is saying is, if you apply these principles, then you will not worry. The King James Version says, “take no thought.” That is not the best translation because Christ is not saying that you should not think about these things. What He is saying is that you should not worry about these things. Jesus says, “O you of little faith.”

With this in mind, let’s go and look at two things that this text is not saying. I’ve already mentioned one: Christ is not saying, not forbidding that we should not think about these things. In verse 26, He says:

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns....”

They are concerned about eating, but they do not worry. The second thing we must be clear on is that Christ is not here denying forethought. We read in other passages of the Bible where He says (Proverbs 6:6-8):

”Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.”

What does the ant do? It stores up food for the winter. Remember that God is not saying that we should not think about these things or plan for the future. He is saying that we should not worry, that is the issue here. With this in mind, let us go to the passage itself and see what it says.

Number one, when you become a Christian, you turn from self-dependence to God-dependence. How much is God concerned about you? Is He only concerned about spiritual things or is He concerned about what we eat, drink, and what we wear? He is concerned about everything! Because of this, we should not worry about what we eat or drink — even if we are without a job we need to remember that God sometimes allows this, that our faith may be developed. Notice that the problem that He expresses is found in verse 30:

“O you of little faith.”

In other words, what Christ is saying in this passage is, “Please, I want your faith to become strong through these trials and difficulties that you will face regarding the world, material things, regarding a home, regarding clothing, regarding food.”

Three problems are created by this passage that we must be aware of.  Number one, faith in God is what Christ is requiring from the believer. That does not mean that we should not earn our own livelihood. It does not mean that we should sit down and do nothing and God will open the windows of heaven and pour down food and clothing (although He does sometimes miraculously do this as I have witnessed myself). I want to give you a passage where the New Testament is clear. The birds, for example, do they sit down and wait for the grain to be poured into their mouth? No. They have to scratch for it, look for it. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 3 and I want to show you where certain Christians had misused this kind of thinking and were doing nothing but waiting for God or others to supply their needs. We will begin with verse 6, through verse 10:

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat.’”

So please remember (and this is a command coming from Jesus) that Jesus did not mean that faith simply sits down and does nothing. You have to work; faith is not saying that you do not work. Faith is saying, “Do not worry.” Do not confuse working with worrying.

The number two problem is that faith in God does not mean that we have no responsibility to our brother. What do I mean by that? If you see somebody having a hard time financially, materially, we must not say, “Well, God will take care of him,” because God takes care of him through us. Let me give you a text — James 1:27. In fact, you need to read the whole of James. Chapter 2 brings this out in a very interesting way. James talks about a person in need and you say to that person, “I will pray for you” and you do nothing about it, your prayers are meaningless. Now James 1:27 is one of my favorite passages that defines Christianity in its practical outworking:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Please notice “to look after orphans and widows.” What James is saying is that faith does not mean that, when we see others in trouble, that we say, “God will take care of them.” Remember that God often helps others through us. We are the instruments of God. So we must not use this passage in the Sermon on the Mount to say to those in need, “God says He will take care of His people like He takes care of the birds,” and walk away from the needy.

Number three, faith in God does not mean exemption from trouble. A Christian will face material problems. A Christian will face all kinds of problems — familial, financial, physical, social. Look at Paul. Was he in prison? Yes. Was he shipwrecked? Yes. Did he have physical problems to face? Yes. But he put his faith in God. Why does God allow these things to happen? How can your faith increase unless it is tried? James said the same thing, “The trying of your faith develops endurance.” James 1:2-4:

”Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Please remember this when you are going through stress, disappointments, and hardships. Remember that if God does not seem to answer your prayers, there are two things you will feel like doing. You will feel like saying, “God doesn’t love me. God is not taking care of me. I had better turn from God dependence to myself.” That is the last thing we should do. Why?  Because God’s love for us is everlasting.  He will never let us down.

The second thing that can happen is that, no matter what happens, I will hold on. I know that God will never let me down. The best example I can give you is Jesus Christ. Did Jesus feel forsaken of God on the cross? Yes. But by faith He was victorious. When we face hardships, remember it is not because God does not see and provide for our needs; it is because He wants our faith to develop. We are going to face a crisis one of these days just before Jesus returns to take us to heaven which is our home, when God will allow Satan a time to persecute His people. God will remove all the protection and He has to produce a people whose faith is unshakeable. But first God has to develop that kind of faith in us. In this context, I would like now to turn to Matthew 10:29-31. This is Jesus talking:

”Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.”

This may not mean anything to you but in the Middle East they sometimes use sparrows for eating. They make soup out of them or they may use them for sacrifice. A farthing was the price tag in those days. Continuing with verse 30:

”And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

So please remember that your faith must not dwindle. That is why Paul tells us in Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good”:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

God allows everything to happen to us not because He wants to see us suffer but He wants to develop faith in a people who will one day reach the goal. With this in mind, go back to Matthew 6:31-32. Now he gives the application. First He gives the counsel not to worry about what we eat, drink, and wear (verse 31), then He gives examples. The first example is the “birds of the air.” I just watched an episode of 60 Minutes with my children on the famine in Somalia. You likely know the situation well. I was trying to do that mom thing where you tell your kids “do you see how these Somalian children are starving? So please eat all your food at dinner tonight and do not be picky!”

In the episode, you could see the Somalian people were starving but the birds flying around in the background were not starving at all. I think of all the problems I stress about and they pale when I see the Somalians suffering. But all problems, large and small, may be boiled down to two things. One is a lack of faith on my part and, two, could it be that God is trying to develop a people (develop faith in me)?

Birds are not like us. God takes care of them. But the birds do not have the power of either faith or unbelief. But us? God wants our response to Him to be from the heart. He does not want us to become automatic robots. He created human beings with the power of choice. I want to take you to a very important incident to help you realize what the application is all about. Christ said in Matthew 6:31:

”So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’”

Please turn to Genesis. I want to show where this all began. God created man, Adam and Eve, and God did something for man in Genesis 2:8. What did God do for our first parents?

”Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.”

Who planted the garden? God. For whom? Adam and Eve. God said to Adam and Eve, “I will take care of you. I will supply your needs.” Between that text and the next text, which is Genesis 3:19, something happened. We call it “the fall.” In verse 19, the same God says to Adam and Eve:

”By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

What happened? What is sin really? Sin is turning our back to God. Sin is becoming self-dependent. Before Adam sinned, he was God-dependent. God supplied all his needs. When he sinned, he became self-dependent. That is why every human ideology is based on self. Whether it is communism, which failed miserably, whether it is humanism that enveloped this country long ago, it is all based on self. A Christian has turned from self-dependence to God-dependence. In other words, it is no longer your headache; you have to work, but it is not our problem to worry about. The man who is self-dependent has to worry.

Let me put it another way. The fundamental issue all through the history of the Bible is over this issue of self-dependence versus God-dependence. Bring it down to the spiritual level and it is salvation by works versus salvation by faith. These two have been in conflict all through the ages. The first evidence of the conflict was between Cain and Abel. Both of them offered a sacrifice. Cain was depending on his sacrifice for salvation and Abel offered a sacrifice of faith. He offered a lamb, depending on Christ.  What did Cain do to Abel? He killed him. And it seems that all through history that salvation by works (or legalism) has won the battle.

Why did the Jews crucify Christ? Because His works were better than theirs. He was telling them that they could not save themselves. He told Nicodemus, “You have to be born again.” So they crucified Him. This conflict reveals itself in many ways. I believe that, in the last days, a show-down will take place. The conflict over self-dependence and God-dependence will take place over the issue of Sunday and the Sabbath. We must not make the issue over days. We must make the issue over what the days represent.
Sunday will symbolize self-dependence. And if you will look at the philosophy of these two days — the principles — you will notice they are opposite. With Sunday, man first works and then he rests. And he rests, not because his work is finished, not because his work is perfect, but because there is a break. His work is never perfect and it is never finished. Sunday will symbolize salvation by self-dependence. In the Sabbath issue, Adam did not begin by working. The first day in Adam’s life was God’s Sabbath. Adam began by resting. As long as Adam rested in God, God supplied all his needs. And this will be the fundamental issue in the last days. The issue is not between Sunday-keeping Christians and Sabbath-keeping Christians; that is not the issue. I know that I have been very convicted as I study these things that I have often been a Sabbath-keeper-in-day-only but on Sabbath and the rest of the week I worry myself into a Sunday-keeper at heart. Are we really entering into God’s rest or are we continuing to think that we are keeping the Sabbath but our self-dependence is destroying our Sabbath experience. I pose the question here and now: does that really mean that we are a Sabbath-keeper? No. It means that we are not keeping the Sabbath and missing the point of the Sabbath altogether. 

In the end of time, the issue will be clearly settled that the Sabbath will represent all of those who are resting in God by faith. Sunday will symbolize all those who are resting in their own dependence — or salvation by works. That is why it is important that we understand what Christ is saying here. “Therefore” meaning “if you are depending upon God.”  Now verse 31 (of Matthew 6):

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’”

Verse 32:

“For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”

Remember that the word “pagans” (“Gentiles” in some translations) has two meanings in the New Testament. The word “pagans” can mean a non-Jew — that is one definition. The second definition of the word is “an unbeliever,” those who do not believe in Christ. It is in this context that He is using the word “pagans.” In other words, the unbeliever worries about what he shall wear, what he shall eat, what will happen for tomorrow. Why does the pagan worry? Because they are depending on themselves and they cannot provide. They are not sure of their future, they are not sure that the banks will take care of their money. They are not sure that they are financially secure. 

I have a friend who was approached to make a very lucrative investment into a resort in the Caribbean Islands. However, his wife was opposed to the investment but my friend could not resist the investment because it was supposed to have such profitable gains. So, my friend invested nearly half a million dollars into this resort with the hope of making his financial situation more secure in the future. This was because he often worried about his financial future and he wanted to prove to all of his friends that he was a good businessman. Totally unpredictably, a huge hurricane hit the Caribbean Island and totally decimated the resort in which my friend had invested.

He learned a huge lesson after that: we must not worry. We may make wrong decisions, we may make right decisions; God is not saying that we must not invest. Sometimes it seems that you can’t help but worry but we must not allow that worry to overrule and destroy our faith. Therefore Christ is saying in verse 32, “It is the unbelievers’ privilege to worry about these things, but your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.”

What then should we seek? The pagan seeks his security, his personal security.  What should the believer seek? Here in verse 33 is the contrast:

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

And when I take the counsel of this beloved verse and apply it to my life, I have to take all the counsel that He gave in the previous verses too. To seek the kingdom of God means to put your treasure in heaven and not on earth. To seek the kingdom of God means walking in the Light. To seek the kingdom of God is to serve God and not self — to be God-dependent. We must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. What does it mean to seek God’s righteousness? It is righteousness by faith. What is man’s righteousness? Let me give you a text that will show this. Turn to Romans 9:30-31, where Paul talks about two righteousnesses:

”What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.”

“Gentiles” here means non-Jew, but they are believers. What is the law of righteousness? How does one attain to the law of righteousness? What does the law say to you? Those who do it shall live.  Look at Romans 10:5, where Paul explains the two righteousnesses:

Moses (he represents the Law) describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.”

How many of you have kept the Law perfectly? (No one is implied.) Then you have failed. Now Paul is not talking here about the Law as a standard of Christian living. We must never confuse the two. He is talking of attaining to righteousness by your works. Now look back up at verse 4 because it tells of righteousness by faith:

“Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”

In Christ we have the righteousness of God. Let me give another example. In Philippians 3:9 Paul describes the same kind of thing:

“...And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”

Paul is teaching the same thing that Christ is teaching in Matthew: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” How do we seek the righteousness of God? By faith. “And all these things will be given to you as well.” Righteousness by faith does not simply mean spiritual things. It means that we no longer worry about material things. We no longer worry about the future because righteousness by faith puts our lives in the hands of God. This is what Christ said in the beginning: “Is not your life more important than these things?” Your life is now in the hands of God and if God allows you to be hungry or in pain, accept it. If God says, “I want you to die as a martyr,” accept it, because you have put yourself in His hands. I know this is hard to read. I know firsthand that suffering is a very difficult thing to accept. I suffer every single day with an immune deficiency disease and autoimmune diseases. The treatment for my disease is brutal and half the month I am sick because of the side effects of the treatment. I have chronic infections and I have sustained some organ damage due to this. For years I fought accepting the pain but one day the Holy Spirit impressed upon me the thought, “I have to learn to accept this pain because fighting it is ruining my life.” We need Jesus to live in us and teach us what acceptance means to each one of us. 

Now to verse 34: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

We don’t have to worry about the future. God is not saying that we should not plan for the future, but do not worry about the future. I get email messages every day from some company that is promising me that, if I invest in their program, they will take care of my future. Even if you invest your money in gold, it will be valueless in the time of trouble. Christ wants the believers (remember, the Sermon on the Mount is for believers) to be totally dependent upon God — through hard times or easy times. Our faith must be resting in God not only for righteousness in terms of our vertical relationship but in terms of our horizontal needs.

It is my belief that the cure for anxiety is righteousness by faith because it leads us to take our eyes off of self and put them on Jesus Christ. When we learn that of my own self I can do nothing and my salvation is completely the work of the Lord it takes the pressure off of me. Righteousness by faith gives me peace with God and it gives me peace in terms of my future and in terms of material needs and that is the joy of the gospel. That is the kind of people that God wants. When we keep our eyes on Jesus we need not fear for the future except we forget how He has led us in the past. We must remember that God is a loving Father who has great empathy for our suffering. In fact, He suffers more when we suffer because He loves us that much and has infinite empathy and feels our pain and suffering deeper than we do. 1 John 4:15-16 says:

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”

This is a promise that if we confess our belief in Christ that He will come and live in us. We become the temple of the living God and, over time, God will grow us up to be mature Christians. However, we cannot get discouraged when we feel that we are not making any progress. The more we see the purity of Christ, the more we will feel undeserving of God’s love and/or more and more sinful. That is Christian progress. This is why we must not trust our feelings when it comes to our salvation because we will be led into utter hopelessness. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ and what He has done on the Cross and what He is doing in heaven. 

I have so many stories of God being in control of my own life from standing in the face of a fire that was threatening my home to circumstances threatening the life of my children. But, today, I will start with someone else’s story. 

The following is a true account. Laura Holiday was on a trip with her professor from Stanford Univeristy. Laura, who had a terrifying fear of tsunamis her entire life asked her professor the chances of being killed by a tsunami. Her entire life she had reoccurring nightmares of being caught up in a tsunami. Since junior high school she had these nightmares. Her professor often laughed at her and said, “Laura you have less than a zero percent chance of dying in a tsunami!” However, statistics were cold comfort for her. 

In Job, the Bible fleshes out the principle of what we fear often comes upon us. “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.” Job 3:25. Our fears give power to the evil one and our anxieties cause us to loose faith so that often times we will see our fears come to pass. 

Laura just so happened to travel to Thailand in 2004 for one of the worst tsunamis in recorded history. This tsunami that occurred was caused by an underground megathrust earthquake. A series of massive tsunami waves grew up to 30 meters (~100 ft) high as they headed inland after being created by the underwater seismic activity offshore. Nearly 300,000 people would die during this catastrophic event.

The tsunami hit Laura like a dark, muddy, uncontrollable force and separated her from her friends. She was alone, disoriented, and she thought that maybe she was in a dream when the water hit her full force. 

Laura was underwater when the reality of the situation hit her. She thought to herself, “I must be pinned by something because my chest feels like I am being crushed.” Then she realized that she was not being crushed but she was, in fact, drowning. Her lungs were in pain as they were filling with water. Her worst fear had come true! She was in the middle of a tsunami. Her worst nightmare was happening. 

She started to panic and realized that death was beginning to wash over her. She was thinking of her parents and how sad they will be when they find out that she was killed in a tsunami. However, in those moments she thought, “hey, this isn't as awful as I thought it would be! I do not want to die in a state of panic.” So Laura prayed to God. She immediately felt a sense of peace come over her and she felt that, even if she did die, it was okay. Laura accepted God’s plan for her life even if her life was shortened. She desired to be totally God-dependent and not self-dependent. She completely surrendered her life to God and she realized in those dying moments that she was no longer afraid. The current of the water pushed her with a powerful shove so that all the heavy objects moved off of her. Laura felt the Lord giving her His strength to fight for her life against a watery grave. She would not let her fears swallow her up. 

My worst fear for many years was to see my children suffer and, in the flesh, it still is. I may be sick with a chronic illness but, like most of us parents, as long as my children are happy and healthy then life is good. My children have always been the untouchable thing in my spiritual experience. God could allow me to pass through trials but, in my heart, I felt that He better not cause my children to suffer because I did not think I, or my faith, could survive my children experiencing any level of suffering. How many times do we put conditions on our allegiance to God or decide to be Christian only in the good times? But God did allow trials to come to my children and I found out that what I thought would destroy me brought us closer together as a family. I felt the grace of God bringing me through what I had feared the most. 

I had heard of a missionary woman who was captured and brutalized and starved in an enemy prison camp. For many years she survived under the worst conditions that the human mind can imagine or grapple with. But, at last, she was rescued and was set free! However, after she was made free a strange thing happened. Years after she was made free someone asked her, “do you miss the prison?” What a strange question! But an even more strange reply followed. The missionary woman responded, “I miss the prison all the time. I have never felt God as close to me as I did in that prison.” I was always baffled by this until I went through my own worst nightmare scenario and I felt the Spirit of God in a strong way. 

Back to Laura Holiday’s story: she faced her fear of a tsunami and survived it. She nearly met a watery grave with hundreds of pounds of rubble and debris on top of her but God intervened and gave her His strength to accept her circumstances and press onward Not only did God grow her through acceptance but God sent Laura a lovely French woman to help her, protect her, and help her contact her parents oversees.

Laura was completely unable to do anything for herself. She was as a weak, newborn, runt-of-the-litter-kitten. She was totally powerless and dependent on the kindness of others to move her from place to place over the vast wreckage and debris the tsunami had created. But this loving French woman never left Laura’s side no matter how difficult the journey became. She would sometimes even carry Laura until they reached the make-shift hospitals that were erected by relief agencies to deal with the mass of people who were injured and facing death. The French woman would sit with Laura through the long days and nights in the make-shift hospitals. She, the French woman, wanted to make sure that Laura was getting good care for her injuries so that Laura would survive. She contacted Laura’s parents and urged them to do all they could to help Laura get out of the make-shift hospitals and into a real hospital. Without this French woman’s help, Laura would have surely met her death while lying on a hospital gurney. But she took care of Laura every step of the way. When Laura was too weak to speak, she advocated for Laura and fought for her medical treatment.

The French woman is symbolic of Christ’s role toward us as we face our own fears. He is there to carry us, encourage us to keep going, advocate for us, and deliver us when we would die without His operating our every move. But, over all of this, He is most concerned with growing our character so that we are completely God-dependent and not self-dependent because He wants to take us all home to live with Him.

Whoever may be reading this, I implore you to look around your circumstances and recognize that God has allowed this for some reason. When God allows suffering, inspired writers sometimes call this, “God’s strange act,” because God is NOT the author of anxiety or suffering but He allows it for our sake because He loves us and He wants us to exchange our lives for His life so that we will have eternal life. Our anxiety and our anger are often thermometers of what is going on in our hearts so that we may have a very real indicator and wake-up call to tell us if we are living life as God-dependent or self-dependent. How are you living your life? Is your “heart failing you for fear.” Are you overrun with fear?

The answer is to accept the circumstances that God has allowed in your life today. Take these circumstances one day at a time or even moment by moment and use fear, anger, and anxiety to determine whether or not you are living life as God-dependent or self-dependent. When you discover that you are living life as a self-dependent individual pray this prayer, “Lord, take my heart for I am incapable of giving it. Keep it for Yourself for I am incapable of keeping it.” When you pray this prayer, it is impossible to be lost. Jesus will always find you right where you are and save you. It doesn’t matter if you are found in the bed of a prostitute or believing that you are holy at Mecca, Jesus Christ WILL find you where you are at and save you. If you desire to be saved, being lost is an impossibility. That is a Biblical promise from the Word of God.

I will end this here because I could go on and on. My friends, this is the gospel. Some have tried to silence me from sharing this and other aspects of the gospel but we must not be silenced especially in this unprecedented historical time of fear and anxiety. It the enemy who wants us to be quieted from sharing the gospel.

If you are interested in learning more about the gospel and righteousness by faith, this is the most encouraging series that you need to go through now that we have all had some time free up. If you want to learn God-dependence then please go through this series and be blessed:

The Salesman

I share this story because I know people are afraid to witness. It is awkward sometimes but we must pray that God will give us the words to speak and His courage to faithfully do it.

This story took place in Scotland which just happens to be my mother nation being that my DNA (thank you 23andMe) is 75 percent Scottish, Irish, and English. I do not know how many of you have heard of the famous preacher Alexander Whyte but he lived from 1836-1921. He was a very famous preacher who was born to a single mother during the time period when that was a great shame. He grew up in abject poverty. His mother had stubbornly refused to marry his father stating that two wrongs do not make a right. During Rev. Whyte’s childhood she became a Christian and it changed both of their lives forever.

When Rev. Whyte’s mother refused to marry his father, his father left the unwed pregnant mother in Scotland for America. Through a series of events, he went from being a cobbler's apprentice to having his estranged father pay to put him through seminary. He ended up becoming a famous preacher who preached in London at St. George's Church to a regular packed church of over 1,000 congregants and, every Wednesday, the church was packed again to hear more gospel preaching.

As fascinating as Rev. Whyte's story is, this story is not about him but about one of the men that regularly attended services at his church. This man was a traveling salesman. Every week he would make sure he was in Edinburgh to listen to Alexander Whyte. He was so impressed by the message that it touched him. He wanted to witness, but he had a problem. He was afraid to give Bible studies and he was afraid of public speaking. He was afraid to open his mouth and tell people what the Bible teaches.

But he got an idea. He said, "You know, one thing I can do. I can't preach, I can't give Bible studies, but there is one thing that I can do. As I travel in my business I can invite people to go and listen to Alexander Whyte." So he did just that. One day he called one of his customers and said, "Please, could you go and listen?" This man was a non-believer and this man curtly replied, "No, I don't want to waste my time." But the salesman insisted, he even said to him, "I'll come and take you to the church." To please him, the man relented and said, "All right, I'll come, but I am coming reluctantly." "That's alright!" said the salesmen cheerfully and the two men traveled the distance to go hear Alexander Whyte together. The man that came with the salesmen was so impressed by the message that Rev. Whyte gave that the man gave his heart to Jesus Christ.

The salesman felt that he should go and tell Alexander White this wonderful testimony of this man who had just given his heart to Christ. So the next day the salesmen went to Alexander White's house. He knocked on the door and introduced himself and said, "I would like to let you know that your preaching is not in vain. This man, who I invited, gave his heart to Christ last Sunday." said the salesmen to the famed preacher.

Alexander Whyte looked at the salesmen and said, "You know, I have been trying to find you. I've been trying to meet you for a long time."

The salesman said in surprise, "Really, do you know me?" "No, I don't know you, but I know your name. Come in." said Alexander Whyte. He took him to his office, pulled out a file and produced twelve letters from individuals who had given their hearts to Christ because this man, the salesman, had invited them to the church. Four of those men wrote from seminaries where they had enrolled. They had become ministers. I am told that it was Alexander Whyte's preaching, but it was the salesman who brought them to the message of Jesus Christ and it changed their lives forever.

All that God wants you to do is to tell people what Christ means to you because Jesus wants us to bear fruit. The Bible is clear that we are saved by grace without works, but genuine justification by faith is not stagnant. It bears fruit. We may not see the results of our fruit. We human beings look at results to see whether our works are successful or not. But we must leave the results in God's loving hands. My husband and I volunteer two days a week as mentors to teenagers at our local Juvenile Detention Facility and the head of the Religious Services Department is always reminding us that we are seed planters and not the seed growers and he is right. Our job is to faithfully witness about Jesus Christ and plant the seeds. It is God's job to win souls. That is not our job, it is His job. Our job is to tell the world. Acts 1:8: "...You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

So wherever you find yourself today, remember that the point could be made that, although Rev. Alexander Whyte had an absolutely incredible testimony and preached the gospel to the masses, the public-speaking-afraid salesmen changed an equal number of lives by faithfully doing what God called him to do in his small sphere of influence. By faithfully sharing Jesus Christ right where you are Christ WILL use you to change the world.

Satan Says…Jesus Says

Satan says that God is unapproachable... Jesus says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 KJV.

Satan says that, with our sin, we will one day wear out the patience of God...Jesus says, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:20 KJV.

Satan says that God’s love for us may be extinguished...Jesus says, “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3 KJV.

Satan says that God will abandon us to his jurisdiction...Jesus says, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 KJV. “... I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5 KJV.

But then I found this: “Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:” Jeremiah 23:39 KJV.

This says that there are circumstances under which this patient and merciful God will forsake us. So I asked God, “what are those terrible circumstances?” And He answered me through His words in the Bible...”Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:1-2 KJV.

Satan seems to bring the shadow of darkness of the Valley of Death to the people’s mind...but Jesus has, “His agencies. Even among the heathen there were men through whom Christ was working to uplift the people from their sin and degradation. But these men were despised and hated. Many of them suffered a violent death. The dark shadow that Satan had cast over the world grew deeper and deeper.” - The Desire of Ages, Chapter Two.

Men have no barrier against sin when they seek to save themselves. Satan says, “man can save himself by his own works” and this does “lay at the foundation of every heathen religion.” But Jesus says, “I am the Way and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.”

How does Satan pervert the gospel and confuse even the greatest gospel preachers to preach a false gospel. “They robbed God of His glory, and defrauded the world by a counterfeit of the gospel. They had refused to surrender themselves to God for the salvation of the world, and they became agents of Satan for its destruction.” Desire of Ages, Chapter 2. There are two sides to this perverted gospel. On one side you have a lack of surrender to selfish ways and a desire to be comfortable and have everything we want instead of what God wants. We have been lulled to sleep and told that sin is not that bad. If we ignore sin with a false sense of protecting the young or denial it will go away. But that is a lie from the pit of hell. We have not heard the cry, “Come out of Babylon, My people!” We have not been clinging to our God. Could it be that Jesus is coming soon and this is part of that cry? I feel it friends. I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that I will see the Lord coming soon and I want to be ready and remove anything from my life that He asks me to remove.

On the other side of the perverted gospel Jesus is made to look like a tyrant that hates sinners. He does not hate sinners. He loves even the worst of sinners. I am the chief of sinners and God has called me out of darkness into His glorious light and I have never felt closer to my Lord than now. Yet, I long to be closer and have Him clean me more. He can do the same for you. Jesus says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:8-10 KJV We must lose our defensive edges and be willing to repent. God is faithful to forgive and meet us a long way off. He will run to us and is running to us now.

The faith of Jesus is a poignant aspect of the gospel that is often overlooked. Even in some Bible translations it is changed. The faith of Jesus is Jesus’ having faith in us. He sees in us what our potential is in Him. We must have the faith of Jesus toward others and know that the Lord is allowing trials and tribulations for our good so that we may become what He envisions us to be.

But Christendom has lost its ability to call “sin by its rightful name” under the banner of “don’t judge me!” We are to judge. We are to evaluate fruit. We are not to hide and cover over sin but repent of it and to anyone else whom our sin has affected. Is this easy? No! But we have not been assured that Christianity is easy. We have been assured that it is “the narrow way.”

We have a faithful God who will never reject us but He hates sin and loves us. So He will do everything it takes to save us from it and not in it. I must be willing to do whatever it takes to obey Him.

Satan says that the Sprit of Prophecy is old and outdated and only ultra-right-conservative-judgmental-Adventists read it. This morning I woke up at 5:30am and started my worship a little thereafter. Four or five paragraphs into the second chapter of the Desire or Ages the Holy Spirit started impressing upon my mind to write this and I found myself searching the Scriptures and shut in with God. This is the best and most comforting feeling. To be wrapped in the warm glow of the Word of God. I have done almost every drug that exists on our planet. There is no other experience so pure and so holy and so mind-opening as reading the Bible AND The Desire of Ages. Anyone who makes light or makes fun of those who hold the The Desire of Ages in high regard does not know what a wonderful tool they are missing. This tool leads us to search the Scriptures and I am grateful for it.

Lastly, Satan says, “forgiveness is impossible, God is a tyrant, and you CAN live without Him.” And Satan waited with glee to watch Jesus, in anger, destroy the world because of His hatred of sin... But Jesus did not destroy the world. Instead He threw down His body over the altar of the world and became the smallest living cell which grew like we all do into a baby in the womb. And He became what He hated in that He became sin for us so that He could destroy what He hated without destroying the children that He loves.

Whoever you are reading this, Jesus LOVES you. This love is so completely amazing that writers like myself have no words to describe it. It is intense, passionate, and complete. His faith in us cannot allow us to not reach His vision for us. That said, He must take us through painful experiences to see us fulfill His vision for us. When we emerge from the fire, we will be as gold, soft-hearted, beautiful, precious and valuable. Though we are dirty with sin, Jesus sees in us the gold. Though we have made mistakes, He can wash us and make us as the purest snow, with His purity and not our own. He wants to save us. When we are saved, there are things that Jesus calls us to do. That is make things right with our fellow man and share with others our own experience. This is the fruit of salvation. If we are not doing these things, are we not dishonoring our Lord’s sacrifice?

Satan says salvation is for others and not for you...Jesus says, “nothing can separate us from the love of God.” Romans 8:38-39. Nothing. Period. Stop. Nothing can separate us. That love exists all around us. It is a force that upholds the world. The reason why we even have the conveniences of life that we have now is because God wants to do whatever He can to show us mercy. He does not just love us. He “agapes” us. The definition of agape is found in 1 Corinthians 13. Part of that description of agape is that Jesus “rejoices in the truth.” And in Psalms 51:6 He says, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” Psalms 51:6 KJV. We can not enjoy the love of God while harboring secrets, sin, and shame. We cannot experience a growing walk with God and have wisdom while we fail to call sin what it is. And this is because secrets, sin, and shame destroy the faith of Jesus in us. It destroys the image of God in us and in the church.

Satan says that you can never be free. It is too hard. It is too embarrassing. You will lose money or friends if you take steps towards freedom...but Jesus says, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36 KJV.

Do you want to be free in Jesus? Are you experiencing the truth in all your ways and in all your heart? Are their people you need to ask forgiveness of? Then ask God to do what we are unable to do for ourselves. Be like Peter in the stormy wind and waves and cry out, “Lord, save me!”

Satan says Jesus will not hear you...but Jesus will stretch, “out His hand and catch you, and say to you, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’” Matthew 14:29-33 NKJV.

Truly He is the Son of God. And that is the Truth. Amen and amen.

WHY?

Being around hundreds of university students this last weekend I walked away with more than just dorm-acquired pink eye due to my compromised immune system. I walked away with a pretty good sense of why Christianity is observing a mass exodus of our young people. I met a young man over the weekend who wants nothing to do with his parents’ religion. He grew up with much of the staples of an Adventist upbringing. But instead of loving his faith, he hates it. How did that happen? I heard one kid question this young man, “why do your parents do that?” To which the young man genuinely answered in an exasperated tone, “I don’t know!”

How tragic. This young man does not know why his parents do not want him to do the things they do not do. I can almost hear this young man quipping in a nasty teenaged-tone at home with his family, “Why not!?!” And his parents reply, “Because I said so!”

Now I do not know if that really happened with this young man but I know of many other situations and in many other Christian homes where “because I said so” is the reason. When our children are little toddlers, they must do what we ask them to do certainly because we said so. But they soon grow to an age when we must start explaining to them why we are asking them to choose the narrow pathway or else. And the latter is frightening but the choice is inevitable. We cannot demand that our children follow rules that we do not explain to them.

In the Bible we see that God not only gave us the Commandments but He explains His reasoning why He did. Over and over we are given the examples of the lives of men and women who followed God’s ways and those who did not. We get to see and observe the results of these two choices. God explains everything to us. God is the kind of loving God that allows every one of us to ask Him “why?”

More often than not, we, as parents, choose to be stern on standards when mercy is what is needed. I have seen over and over again the situation where a young person leaves Christianity because their parents were too stern on standards and never explained their reasoning. It is not a bad thing when our young people ask us why we do not do something. But, too often, we have taken the questioning, and maybe the tone of questioning has much to be desired, as a threat. We feel called to defend our faith in the face of rebellion. But our vitriol is unnecessary. If our children are asking us questions, even if it is in a negative sense, that is an OPPORTUNITY to share on a heart level. Any question about God is a good question and an OPPORTUNITY not to be squandered.

As parents and leaders, we have to know that children reach a certain age when we have to explain the reasons WHY we do not do some forbidden thing or listen to, eat, wear something, etc. If we cannot explain, perhaps it is WE who need to change and not them. If we cannot explain it, we need to reevaluate our reasoning or study more. If we cannot explain it, we may need to pray and ask God why we cannot explain it. And maybe God will show that we are more afraid of what others think of us than anything else. That is parenting from fear. We cannot parent from a fear of man. That is one of several reasons why we are losing our children from the faith. The Christian church has not become what it has out of arbitrary rule setting. There is good solid and undeniable reasoning WHY God has set limits on human behavior. We need not be afraid of a little questioning and challenging of the faith. The church will stand all on its own without our fear as parents.

If we are to make a mistake, let us make a mistake on the side of mercy rather than sternness.

As a mother, I can hear the reaction to what I wrote above. I can hear every mother groaning as even I do at times out of fear for my child’s future. “Well... if I just give up on standards in the home, won’t they become a drug addict or go to prison or get someone pregnant?” I cannot say that none of those things will happen. We live in a sinful world. But I can say that if we clamp down on our young people about the music they listen to, the clothes they wear, etc. and we do not ever explain to them our reasoning why then we are just demanding they follow a rule which they will promptly break when they leave your eye line. A heart change is what is needed. That can only happen if we gently and kindly explain to them our reasoning. We need to explain to them that we were once their age and we know what it is like to want things we should not want and do things that we should not do. We need to join them in the trenches of a fallen world and say we too are tempted and tried in those same areas. But, this is why we do not do these things. It is not out of some arbitrary fear of what “so and so” will think. It is out of a love for a very real and living God. 

Even then they need to know and believe that, even if they should choose not to abide by our rules and standards for Christian living, we will always love them. 

“For thus says the Lord: ‘Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.’” Isaiah‬ ‭49:25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

It is a promise that God has given us that He will save our children. He will do it. It may not be as quick as we would have it but, if our children belong to God as we say, their life’s testimony is not up to us. Their life belongs to God. They may not even know or live like their life belongs to God but it does. God has promised that He will bring them out of captivity.

What are we to do while we wait out this promise? We are to pray and pray and pray some more. We are to unapologetically love the justice of God and embrace His grace and mercy and give it to our children as it has been so graciously been poured out on us.

We must do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God at home with our family more than any other group of people. God help us all to win back our young people to the church.

“Happy are the parents whose lives are a true reflection of the divine, so that the promises and commands of God awaken in the child gratitude and reverence; the parents whose tenderness and justice and long-suffering interpret to the child the love and justice and long-suffering of God, and who by teaching the child to love and trust and obey them, are teaching him to love and trust and obey his Father in heaven. Parents who impart to the child such a gift have endowed him with a treasure more precious than the wealth of all the ages, a treasure as enduring as eternity.” - Prophets and Kings, page 245. 

There is one more crucial thing that parents must do to reach their children. I will tell you about it in my next post.

The Good, Good Father of Romans 8

“You believers are the light of the world.” Then, in Matthew  5:16, He (Jesus) says, “Let your light shine that the world may see your good works, your love for your enemies, your blessing of those who curse you, praying for those who hate you. Let them see this, and glorify your Father that is in heaven.”

But, please remember, only those who are led by the Spirit can do this. You can’t do it by pumping up your willpower and making resolutions. The Jews tried that. “We will do everything the Lord has said” [Exodus 19:8]. Did they do it? No. But, as you are led of the Spirit, it will be revealed because it is possible for the Holy Spirit who raised Christ up from the dead to mortify your mortal bodies and produce righteousness. We, human flesh, can not do this. Then, in Romans 8:15, Paul goes on to say:

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again....”

All through Paul’s writings, slavery or bondage is linked with legalism. In Galatians 5:1 he says, “You have been set free, don’t go back to the yoke of bondage.”

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

There is no peace, there is no assurance, there is no hope in legalism. Outwardly it may appear wonderful, but you are constantly living in fear. And that is a TRAGEDY, that Christians should live in fear. I want to give you a text that is very important for us who are living in the hour of judgment which is found in 1 John 4:16-18. I want you to notice what the Apostle John has to say to those who believe in God. Verse 16:

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”

Two things. The question I am going to ask you is, “Do you know and do you believe?” What are we to know and what are we to believe as Christians? The love that God has for us. The unconditional, the self-giving love that God has for us; we can see this love when we read Romans 5:6-10. We know and we believe [or rely on] that love God has for us. And the reason that God loves us is not because we are good or because we deserve it, it is because God IS love. The natural thing for God to do is to love us, because His love is unconditional.

What is the result of this?  1 John 4:17:

“In this way, love is made complete among us [i.e., our knowledge and our belief of love is perfected among us in this] so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.”

If you are still afraid of God’s judgment while you are a Christian, you have not understood God’s love, you have not been made perfect, you are still a victim of fear, and he will bring this out in 1 John 4:18. And the reason we have boldness in the day of judgment is not because we are satisfied with our performance, but because:

“...in this world we are like him.”

That’s good news. Verse 18:

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

All works produced out of fear are unacceptable to God. “Such religion,” says my favorite Christian author, “is worth nothing.”

So let’s go back to Romans 8. What is Paul saying? Paul is saying that we who are led by the Spirit will give evidence by our behavior that we shall live like children of God. Romans 8:15:

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

That’s very interesting, two words, “Abba, Father.”  Abba is an Aramaic word, the language of the Jews in Christ’s day, in Paul’s day. The word means, simply, “Father.” The second word that Paul used is “Pater” which is “Father” in Greek. So if you really translate those two words, it means, “Father, Father.”

Whether you are a Jew or whether you’re a Gentile, it doesn’t matter, if you’re a Christian, you can refer to God as “Father.” Paul is saying He is our Father, not our Judge, not our Executer, but our Father, Who loves His children, and He wants to bestow all kinds of blessings. Then he goes into verse 16:

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, but when you read his account of it, he says, “I was there forever.” That’s how he felt. So keep your eyes on the future.

But now I want to say something about the word “hope.” Because in English, the word “hope” can have more than one meaning. Sometimes we use the word hope in a doubtful connotation:

“Have you passed your finals this semesterp?” “I hope so.”

“Will you make it to heaven?” “I hope so.”

That is not the word that Paul uses. Paul is not doubting his salvation. He is sure. But he’s using the word “hope” in terms of something that he knows he will get but he doesn’t have at the moment. But he’s sure of it.

So he says, “Because I’m sure of what I’m going to get...” (that’s why he uses the word hope: “We were saved, but we were saved in hope...”), “because I’m sure, I’m eagerly waiting with perseverance. And while I’m waiting, the Holy Spirit helps me. He helps me to endure the suffering, He helps me, guides me, comforts me, He intercedes for me.” And so Paul says in [Romans 8:26]:

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

The Spirit, besides giving me strength to suffer, the same Spirit, the Paraclaytos, also helps in our weaknesses. He understands when we groan, He understands when we complain, “Why, Lord, are you allowing this?” He understands. He understands our groaning and He makes our prayers meaningful.

“We do not know what we ought to pray for...”

Because we are plagued with this flesh. Often our prayers are egocentric. I know my prayers sure are!

“...but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

God doesn’t need words. He knows the groaning of your heart. Romans 8:27:

“And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

The Bible teaches that God saved us unconditionally, that all men were redeemed in Christ. Only those will be lost who deliberately, willfully, persistently say, “God, we don’t want You!” Those who push Him away and say, “We don’t want You; we don’t want your gift!”

Then God will not force that upon you. But please remember that the Holy Spirit is there. Do you know why? Because when Jesus went up to heaven, He said, “Father, I have redeemed the world. But these people who have accepted Me, who follow Me, need help. They cannot manage on their own. Can I send them the Holy Spirit?” Jesus said [John 14:16]:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever....”

The Third Person of the Godhead, Who will be by your side NOT for a mere seven hours or ten hours a day. He doesn’t have office hours. He has 24 hours a day, He’s by your side until you die or until Christ comes. That is the kind of God that I worship, Who leaves me not helpless, but He has sent me a Paraclaytos to be by my side. The question we must answer is, “Do we know this?” For Paul says in [Romans 8:28]:

“And we know...”

If you don’t know this, then you have not understood the gospel. The unbeliever doesn’t know this, even though what is true of the text may apply to Him, but he doesn’t know this. The key words here are, “and we know.” What do we know?

“...that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to this purpose.”

Now, some of the best manuscripts do not say it exactly like this. Some read, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.” So I’m going to read to you from the Revised Standard Version. Because the RSV and the New International Version are really the more accurate texts. This is what it says:

We know that in everything God works for good with those who love God.

In other words, not everything that happens to us is from God. But God will use anything that happens to us, the bad and the good, He will use it for our good. Because that’s all God has in mind.

Sometimes, when you are in the dumps, when you have lost your job and everything goes wrong and the world is collapsing, please remember the Paraclaytos is by your side. You can’t see Him, you can’t feel Him, but “do you know, do you believe” that He is by your side? He’s there to help you, to guide you, to lead you because that is what good Father’s do. We have been adopted by a good, kind, and merciful Father. 

I want to leave you with a promise. The promise if found in 1 Thessalonians 5:24. And verse 23 also but verse 24 is the one that I want you to keep in mind:

The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

He will do it! The work of justification, the work of sanctification, the work of glorification is not our job, it’s the work of God. Through the Spirit, God is going to fulfill what He has already accomplished in Jesus Christ. Our job is faith. Our job is to walk in the Spirit. Our job is to say, “Not I, but Christ.”

It is my prayer that we learn, daily, to walk in the Spirit, that we learn to say daily, “Not I, but Christ,” that we will daily allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit, so that He may produce in us the character of His Son that we may behave and act like children of God.

While we may have to suffer in this world in many ways — physically, socially, mentally, economically — please remember, the suffering in this world, while we are waiting for the actual adoption to be a tangible reality, remember it is only for a season. And remember that this suffering is not worth mentioning when you compare it to the eternal glory we will have in Christ.

The Cross and Creativity

I just finished listening to a neuroscientist’s research on the creative brain and what it takes to be creative. It is fascinating to me that the human brain learns best (practical application of art, behavior, technology, etc. and retention of lessons learned) from failure.

He, God, designed our human brain to learn best from our mistakes. In fact, when man fell, He didn’t zap man out of existence or force us to obey him like a robot. He has made this long drawn out story wherein we fail miserably and, when the story is done, we will go to heaven and know from our mistakes that rebellion is the worst possible thing. We will all personally know this from our own mistakes. This is why Christ compares sin and rebellion to yeast. Yeast must be given time to grow and develop to see how high it will make the bread rise. God waits for us to learn that, as sin and rebellion grow, it will only take our lives to new lows of pain and evil. Sin never stands still but always grows.

So does that mean that God condones my sins and mistakes? Definitely not. God’s wrath is against sin but He loves the sinner and knows how we learn. We have a sin nature and the righteous covering of Jesus to cover us. We will fall. We will make mistakes. The journey of the Christian life is set within a narrow path and, at times, we trip and fall but we are to get up and learn from that failure and keep moving on the path. We learn from our mistakes within this safe bubble called Righteousness by Faith. Without the safe bubble, when we forsake God, we are no longer making mistakes but are choosing death. We are then experiencing death instead of life on a daily basis.

Should we despair because we make mistakes? No, we need to learn from them and keep moving. We need to look at our mistakes as the most expensive academy wherein we learn the cost of sin and rebellion. In addition, despairing because of our failures and mistakes is a self-focus. When all we do is look at the foreboding circumstances around us, we are focused on ourselves instead of Christ. We must open the Bible and ask God to point us to Christ.

We are God’s children, and God is extremely patient with us. He lets us have our own way. He says, “You think you can live without me?  Go ahead.”  He allows us to make a mess of our lives. He allows us to make a mess of our country and our community, of our marriages and everything else, until we come to the end of our resources and say, “God, please, you take over.”

God gives us freedom to choose to make failure after failure in our freedom hoping that this time our creative brains, designed with the stamp of the image of God, will learn from our failure and turn to Him and ask Him to take over. God was standing over us the entire time we were making a failure. With every failure that made us hurt, He hurt even more than we could ever feel or imagine. He waits as long as it takes for us to turn to Him. He doesn’t say, “I told you so.  Now you can wallow in your mess.”  He doesn’t do that.  He says, “I will accept you with open arms.”

The more failures and mistakes we stubbornly choose to make on our own, the more scars we have in life. The wonderful good news of the gospel is that God takes those scars and gives them each a story to bless and comfort others with. We know from the story of Mary Magdalene that those that are aware that they have been forgiven of many mistakes and failures have a greater capacity to love.

The creative brain outside of God will learn from mistakes and failures but will also have tremendous scars. You might have learned painful lessons along the way but you will fail to experience true joy as you struggle to forgive yourself and others. BUT the creative brain in Christ will be all the more creative because the TRUE POWER behind the creative brain’s capability to learn best from mistakes is love and humility. In Christ our worst moments become our greatest testimony. In Christ our greatest failures become the greatest learned lessons to share with others. Our level of creativity is expanded as we experience love and forgiveness. We see creative potential in others as we experience this love and forgiveness that has been given to us.

The Cross increases and expands creativity in the brain. The Bible is the deepest well of creative thinking and writing on our planet and yet it is often overlooked and put aside for other forms of human philosophical musings when it is because of the Bible that we, as humans, have any musings in the first place.

My failures and mistakes belong to Jesus. He is the sin bearer not I. My creative brain was never designed to bear the burden and learn from life’s most painful mistakes all by itself. I was designed to throw them completely on a Savior. I was designed to, “Consider myself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:11. True creativity is in the Creator. My brain is the most creative and alive in Christ and I take that creativity and pick up the most creative thing in all the universe: seeing the Creator in all my fellow human beings. This is what it means to have the Faith OF Jesus. Jesus was the most creative mind to ever walk the earth and I want His mind in me.

Will I still make mistakes? Yes. I will have a growth process in Christ. But that is when I allow Jesus to take the yeast of sin and reverse it. Instead of more and more sin it will creatively reverse and be less. But I will never see that or feel it because, the closer I get to the greatest Creative mind in the universe and beyond, the more I will feel how “in the box” my mind and sinful flesh really are. I will notice my character flaws and desire to be more like Jesus than ever. But the creative brain recognizes a need for balance. Though I recognize my flaws, I will not focus and dwell on them! However, they are there. “He that has started a good work will finish it.” That is a promise! It is not about my mistakes and failures. It is about Jesus and THAT is truly good news. I have lost all confidence in my own abilities and claim Jesus’ abilities. I point not to myself or to others but to Him!

The question is, “Have you lost all confidence in yourself?” Have you realized that your only hope is in Jesus Christ and His Righteousness? That is the purpose of exposing us to our problem. We don’t have to keep learning the hard way with no hope of turning failures into learning lessons, growth, and blessings.  The word of God says that God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against ungodliness and unrighteousness.  I don’t have to go through the process to learn it. The word of God tells me that. So why are we waiting to learn the hard way? Let us realize now that our faith looks not at ourselves but on Jesus Christ and His Righteousness.

May each one of us realize that God’s wrath is against ungodliness and unrighteousness because He loves you, not because He’s angry with you. He wants you to turn back to Him. He wants you to accept Him as the only Source of hope, salvation, and Righteousness. Whether it is in terms of your standing before God or whether it is in terms of Christian living, the formula is always the same: “Not I, but Christ.”

Susanne Speaking at GSCSDA Camp Meeting

Susanne is speaking at the Gulf States Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Camp Meeting at Bass Memorial Academy in Lumberton, Mississippi multiple times over May 22-25. Below are the links to the two live streamed messages. The first is entitled The Rope & The Noose. The second is entitled The War Is On. We are immensely enjoying our time in Mississippi and appreciate the opportunity to come! We will be posting more videos about the adventure of flying with five of our six children ages 10, 9, 7, 3, and 1!

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Mississippi Here We Come

Although our trip has not happened the way we expected, we are heading to Mississippi! Find out the surprise that happened and what we are going to do in this video!

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Number One Way to Rescue Your Child

We recorded a message where Susanne shares the number one way to rescue your child. This is a message from the heart and has such important principles that we can all learn from.

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Labyrinth of Death

Watch our latest video, Labyrinth of Death. This video is the dramatic true tale of a three year old's dive into a pit in the treacherous Labyrinth of Columbia, California and the miraculous events that transpired afterwards.

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CVID, Makeup, and Birds

We recorded a message yesterday about some things Susanne has been thinking and studying about lately. Watch her thoughts on how CVID (Common Variable Immune Deficiency), makeup, and birds are all part of lessons that God has been teaching her.

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Crystal Clear II Class

After the first Crystal Clear class finished, we were asked to teach another class. This time we called it Crystal Clear II: Going Deeper into the Message of The Cross. The class is available each week in the Crystal Clear II YouTube playlist and we will also add each video below as we release it.

This second class builds and expands on what we covered in Crystal Clear and also covers some new topics we have not addressed before.

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For the seventh class, we also talked about a list of lies which is available here.