Notes of Faith July 26, 2021

Article by William Farley

What does the Bible say about grandparenting? Very little. Although past generations matter significantly to the biblical authors, the Bible does not give grandparents specific attention. The word grandparent does not even appear in the English Bible. Nevertheless, we know this role is essential to God, our extended families, and our local churches.

Most of today’s grandparents recognize that they face challenges previous generations did not. Old age is respected less, families are shrinking, and the desire to flee to permanent vacation tempts those with the resources.

Challenges of Old Age

My grandfather was born in 1891 and died in 1983. In 1951, when he was 60, youth culture did not exist. William Manchester dates the emergence of teen culture in North America to the 1950s (The Glory and the Dream, 720–25). The word teenager was first coined by Bill Hailey and the Comets, but not until 1957. That was only sixty years ago.

“We are sons and daughters of the living God. Whether old or young, that is our identity.”

The aged were esteemed and admired back then, but this is no longer the case. In his book Being Mortal, Atul Gawande notes that when people were asked their age in previous generations, they exaggerated upward. “The dignity of old age was something to which everyone aspired” (18). But, today, people exaggerate downward. No one wants to be old or admit to being so. Disrespect for the aged was not such a challenge in previous generations as it is in our own. So, today’s grandparents have great need to remember that we are sons and daughters of the living God. Whether old or young, that is our identity.

Another challenge is the falling fertility rate. Families used to be large. In 1955, the average Christian might have five to fifteen grandchildren. Today, it is not uncommon to have three or fewer. Our role in the lives of the next generation can feel especially thin.

A final challenge is our cultural wealth and life expectancy, which tempt many Christian seniors to go on permanent vacation. There is nothing wrong with travel or vacation in themselves, but spending our last decades on perpetual vacation is inconsistent with the gospel. In the words of Sam Storms,

The call to obedience, fruitfulness, holiness, witness, learning, leading, prayer, and worship is lifelong. It ends only when life does. . . . The call of Scripture . . . is to live as fully as possible for God’s glory until one’s dying breath. (Packer on the Christian Life, 195)

Despite the passing of decades, one challenge hasn’t changed. The world is fallen, relationships can be fractured, and extended family members can be selfish, greedy, insensitive, or uncaring. The world is not what it’s supposed to be.

Opportunities with Old Age

With these limitations in mind, what does it look like for grandparents to “live as fully as possible for God’s glory”? It means a heart-attitude to serve with grace and flexibility — a disposition that shouldn’t change with retirement. Consider a few of the opportunities in front of us.

LIVE AS A PASSIONATE EXAMPLE

First, longer life expectancies provide us a golden opportunity to be personal examples to our grandchildren. Most importantly, this means exemplifying passion for Christ. A retired friend recently told me, “I want my children and grandchildren to see me reading God’s word and praying. I want my example to convince them that Christ is the Treasure buried in the field, the Pearl of Great Price.”

GROW DOWNWARD IN HUMILITY

Second, grandparenting is an opportunity to demonstrate humility. In the words of the late Dr. Packer, spiritual fruit in old age means growing “downward . . . into profounder humility, which in healthy souls will become more and more apparent as they age” (Finishing Our Course with Joy, 95). Humility means thinking more highly of God and less highly of yourself.

“Let your children and grandchildren watch you sacrificially loving the local church.”

Growing downward also means increasing in wisdom — a virtue inseparable from humility. Biblical wisdom pursues God’s great end (his glory) with God’s means (the laying down of our lives and egos). This pursuit does not cease at retirement. In fact, Psalm 92:14 promises that the righteous will “still bear fruit in old age . . . ever full of sap and green.”

DISPLAY YOUR HOPE

Third, besides passion for Christ, humility, and wisdom, grandparenting is an opportunity to exemplify hope. Life is short. Decades of experience have taught you this in ways that your children and grandchildren do not yet understand. They need to see you not living in the past, but looking forward to “a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1).

Our decades of experiences in the past will tempt us to live there, but God wants us to live in the present, for the future. “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14).

DISPLAY CHRIST’S SUFFICIENCY

Fourth, communicate with words and actions that, no matter how bad your circumstances, Christ is sufficient. Your children and grandchildren should remember you trusting God to work all things together for good (Romans 8:28). As your body breaks down, seek God for grace to radiate “joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8).

I’m thinking of an 88-year-old wheelchair-bound Christian with oxygen tubes coming out of his nose. His halting speech was full of joy, hope, and praise. His whole demeanor proclaimed one simple message: “My God is big and all-sufficient.”

LOVE THE LOCAL CHURCH

Fifth, love the local church. If you have lived long enough, a local church has probably hurt or disappointed you. The temptation is to withdraw. A friend recently told me that his parents, both professing Christians, had done this. He was deeply concerned, not only for them, but for the effect their example would have on his children. Please don’t drift away from the church. Yes, the bride is not yet what she is supposed to be, but let your children and grandchildren watch you sacrificially loving your local church, warts and all.

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY

Sixth, pray resiliently. When we don’t see immediate results, it’s easy to get discouraged and quit praying for children and grandchildren. But that is a mistake. I met a young woman who recently became a Christian. “What brought you to Christ?” I asked.

“My parents are not Christians” she responded. “I did not grow up in the church. Still, for twenty years my paternal grandmother has consistently prayed for my conversion. I am convinced that this explains my faith in the gospel.”

INVEST IN GRANDCHILDREN

Last, take every opportunity to build a relationship with your grandchildren. Here family traditions and customs are crucial. Some take their grandchildren to lunch each year on their birthday. Others attend their concerts, games, and recitals. I know grandparents that contribute money to their grandchildren’s education. My great-grandparents hosted dinner for their extended family every Sunday afternoon.

Even to Old Age

Strive not to be intimidated by today’s emphasis on youth. Yes, you are slowing down. Yes, your memory isn’t what it used to be. But don’t forget that Noah began his life’s work past 500 years old, Abraham conceived Isaac at age 100, Caleb inherited Hebron at age 85, and the widow Anna, serving in the temple day and night, prophesied over baby Jesus at age 84.

The same God who sustained you in your mother’s womb, and has now sustained you for decades, is the same God who will “not cast [you] off in the time of old age.” He will forsake you not when your strength is spent (Psalm 71:9). Rather, he will walk with you “until [you] proclaim [his] might to another generation, [his] power to all those to come” (Psalm 71:18).

Even as old age and gray hairs point to our life on earth drawing to a close, in Christ we can appropriate this promise to ourselves: “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4). This is our hope.

I am enjoying growing old.  I am growing in maturity in Christ and want to be with Him more than anything else, but as long as He leaves me here on earth I want to have an attitude and appearance of the joy of the Lord.  May all see Christians filled with joy and hope of their inheritance in Christ.  Let us bless and lead the young to Jesus while living a life of faith and joy.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 25, 2021

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” 
— Matthew 26:39

We all struggle. But did you ever think that perhaps God may be using your struggles to change you? To shape you? Even to heal you? For two years I have been asking God to remove the pain in my writing hand. Even as I write these words, I feel stiffness in my thumb, fingers, forearm, and shoulder. The doctors chalk it up to thirty-plus books written in longhand. Over the decades the repeated motion has restricted my movement, rendering the simplest of tasks — writing a sentence on a sheet of paper—difficult.

So I do my part. I stretch my fingers. A therapist massages the muscles. I avoid the golf course. I even go to yoga! But most of all I pray. Better said, I argue.

Shouldn’t God heal my hand? My pen is my tool. Writing is my assignment. So far He hasn’t healed me.

Or has He? These days I pray more as I write. Not eloquent prayers but honest ones.

Lord, I need help... Father, my hand is stiff. The discomfort humbles me. I’m not Max, the author. I am Max, the guy whose hand is wearing out. I want God to heal my hand.

Thus far He has used my hand to heal my heart.

So that thing you’re struggling with, that you’ve prayed about over and over and over again... could it be that God is using it to heal your heart?

~Before Amen

Chaos

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. — 1 Peter 5:7 NIV

Imagine this scene. It is breakfast time, and the family is in chaos. The daughters are complaining about their brother who took too much time in the bathroom. As a result their hair isn’t brushed and makeup isn’t applied. Mom is doing her best to manage the conflict, but she woke up with a headache and a long list of things to do. The clock is ticking like a time bomb, ever closer to that moment when, boom! It’s time to go. Dad stops at the kitchen entryway and surveys the pandemonium. He weighs his options:

• Command everyone to shape up and behave.

• Berate his son for dominating the bathroom, his daughters for poor planning, and his wife for not taking control.

• Sneak out before anyone notices.

Or he could turn to God with a simple prayer: Father, You are good. I need help. Reduce the frenzy in my house, please. Will the prayer change everything? It may. Or it may take another prayer, or two, or ten. But at least the problem will be in the hands of the One who can solve it.

~ Before Amen

Excerpted from God Is With You Every Day by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.

Struggles and chaos. Sounds like a normal Monday, right? The profound truth is that God is with us in our struggles. He is with us in the chaos. In fact, He may be using struggles and chaos to make us more aware of Him being present with us!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 24, 2021

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in His word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning. — Psalm 130:5–6 

I have a routine that I follow almost every weekday: I wake up and gasp at the forty-five-year old woman staring back at me in the mirror.  

Then I make sure Caroline eats something for breakfast while I pack her lunch.  

After she leaves for school, I pour myself a cup of coffee and then sit on the couch with my dogs, Piper and Mabel, on either side of me, and that’s where I stay for the next two to three hours while I catch up on email and write and sometimes watch an episode of This Is Us that I recorded the night before. Eventually, I get up and get dressed and usually go work out and run whatever errands I need to run that day, and then when I get back home, I load Piper and Mabel into my car and take them to the dog park to run.  

I don’t know if you’re a dog person, but dogs are brilliant.

And they learn a routine pretty quickly. Piper and Mabel know my daily schedule, and so as soon as I pull into the driveway after running my early-afternoon errands, they know that it’s only a matter of time before I take them to the dog park. They follow me and whine at me and bark loudly every time I walk by the back door until I finally can’t stand it anymore and cave to their demands and their pleading puppy eyes. They wait for me. They put their hope in me.

They wait for me more than watchmen wait for the morning, and I think people on the nightwatch are usually beyond thrilled to see dawn finally break.  

And it makes me think about how I wait for the Lord in my life. Do I wait with an excitement and hope like Piper and Mabel wait for their trip to the dog park? Or am I missing out on all that He can offer because I so often forget to wait on Him and just run ahead to the next thing in my life? Do I spend too much time mired in disappointment instead of finding my hope in His presence and in His word? The honest answer is yes, but my dogs (of all the stupid ways I could learn something) have shown me what it looks like to wait with joy and anticipation, knowing that good things are always ahead when you wait on your Master and find your hope in Him.  

Excerpted from Everyday Holy by Melanie Shankle, copyright Melanie Shankle. 

Wait on the Lord.  Set aside time to be in His presence praying and listening and worshipping. 

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 23, 2021

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” — Acts 20:35 

Jesus calls us all so clearly to love and help others. He doesn’t mince words or speak in riddles. He doesn’t suggest we only help people who agree with us or who look like us.

He doesn’t let us off the hook because we already helped some other people some other time. He doesn’t give guidelines for determining which of the weak are more deserving than others. No, Jesus calls us to help everyone in need.

Is there a group that you feel resistant to help? People who you don’t think deserve your money or your time? We all have blind spots and stumbling blocks. But Jesus’ love for each and every one of us is bigger than our blind spots.

Take some time to talk this over with God. Pray for His guidance and for Him to work in your heart to help you want to help all people in need.  

The Two Greatest Commandments  

God’s greatest commandments to us are to love Him and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It all boils down to living a life overflowing with love, to treating others with the same kindness and care that Jesus demonstrated for us. So how does something so simple become so complicated?  

In truth, it’s still that simple. Our disagreements about politics, our rules about who can and can’t do what, and our insistence that some people must surely be better than others just don’t hold up when viewed through the lens of love.  

Choose love today. Ask God to lend you His vision. As you interact with each person you meet, ask yourself how you can love them like Jesus. And then do it. You’ll find your heart warming toward even the most seemingly unlovable people when you do your best to see them through Jesus’ eyes. 

Excerpted from You Are Essential, copyright Thomas Nelson. 

God calls us to love people and help them… any time we can and in any situation He calls us to. No matter who they are, if the Lord puts someone in front of us and is clearly pointing us to love them… we have to! Are you up to the challenge?

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 22, 2021

SILVER LININGS IN DARK PLACES

Surveying the various good outcomes God frequently produces from our agonies requires a careful word of caution.

Because knowing the mind of God is impossible (Romans 11:33–34), discerning His intentions demands humility.

Though it is true that God may have a singular goal for our afflictions, His desired end is often multifaceted and complex. You may understand something of God’s design for your hardships, but the full breadth of His intentions is often incomprehensible.

Grasping for understanding of what God might be teaching you is commendable, but speaking dogmatically for Him is not. We should be proactive in order to grow, without being presumptuous regarding the Lord. With these boundaries in place, the following list is by no means comprehensive.

These are just some of the beneficial results God brings into our lives through our suffering. 

Trials Grow and Strengthen Our Faith

Because God is more concerned with our character than our comfort, sometimes He chooses to use calamity in order to sanctify us. James 1:2-4 explains:

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

If ease or happiness is your primary goal in life, you will likely feel frustrated and betrayed when God chooses to deepen your maturity through a trial. The potential for meaningful development and growth, however, may be greatest when we are hurting the most. Will you eagerly follow a God who will likely break you in order to mature your commitment to Him?

Before Carson was sick, I confess that my life was relatively easy — no major heartache and few serious problems to weather. This first real challenge to my faith tested everything I said I believed. Even though I had preached for more than a decade with an adequate knowledge of the Scriptures, suddenly my situation forced me to reckon with my confidence in the fundamentals of my faith.

Surface faith will not suffice when circumstances threaten what you treasure most in life.

I am thankful that throughout our dilemma, my confidence in God’s truth only deepened. Before I might have told you what I believe about Christianity. Today I can tell you what I know from firsthand experience.

Trials Deepen Our Fellowship with Jesus and Reveal His Strength

When speaking about his primary goal for living, the apostle Paul reminds disciples of Jesus of the need to seek to

know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. — Philippians 3:10

Though most of us are eager to experience the power of Christ’s resurrection, we are less enthusiastic about the fellowship of His sufferings. Do not forget, however, that the agony of Golgotha preceded the glory of His victory over the grave. As we learned previously, experiencing the power of Christ’s resurrection begins on the road of heartache.

In a similar way, receiving God’s power in our lives will require enduring great wounds without wavering. Apart from suffering, we simply cannot learn about God or relate to Him on an intimate level. Believing that God is real and present is one thing; trusting that He is enough, no matter what we face, is another thing entirely.

Though we are quite capable of cognitively grasping these ideas, we cannot embrace them fully until we experience their reality for ourselves.

Trials force us to move beyond superficial knowledge of Jesus into a meaningful, daily walk with Him.

Even those who believe the gospel and claim a relationship with God sometimes fail to live in light of their commitment.

Tragically, though we know God is there, we seldom feel like we need Him. Before Carson’s diagnosis, I often preached about the peace of God, but I seldom felt like I needed it. My prayer life was consistent, but it left much to be desired. I read my Bible to prepare sermons, but I rarely did so with desperation to hear from the Lord. My outward obedience was, at times, lacking the inward fellowship with God that I now crave.

Maybe you can relate. Do you pray more when times are tough? Is your Bible always close by when you are searching for answers? Is your church worship attendance noticeably more frequent when things have gone awry in your life? Why are these patterns so apparent? Stated simply, it’s because suffering forces us to live what we really believe. Thus, the Lord beckons us into a deeper, more meaningful fellowship with Jesus through the doorway of hardship. In our weakness, we move from having a cognitive awareness of His strength to experiencing the personal peace it brings.

Trials Increase Our Effectiveness in Serving Others

We seldom consider how our current struggles might prepare us for future service, yet God often equips us to serve others as a result of our most painful experiences.

In 2 Corinthians 1:4, we learn that God the Father

comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

In addition to the personal benefit God produces, the fruit of adversity in our lives will often bear the seeds of comfort for other hurting believers along the way. The Lord’s intention to comfort us is also His investment in bearing the pain of others who are not even hurting yet. When we enjoy the supernatural peace that surpasses our understanding today, we become distributors of that same consolation to others tomorrow and every day thereafter (Philippians 4:7).

Today I regularly receive calls from other pastors and churches whenever a child they know is diagnosed with cancer of some sort. Though I was completely unaware of it at the time, God was giving my wife and me the gift of His comfort so that we could share it with other hurting people.

Your trials will enable you to do the same.

*

Trials Embolden Other Christians to Be Courageous for Christ

Similar to its impact on those outside of Christianity, resolute commitment to the Lord despite adverse realities is a powerful motivator for other believers as well. Again, God’s servant to the Gentiles is a powerful example of maximizing our deepest moments of despair for the kingdom of God. Philippians 1:14 celebrates this: “Most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.” In other words, Paul’s devotion to Christ in prison was a powerful influence on believers who were not suffering.

Those who were less committed were challenged to devote their lives to the gospel because one man was willing to serve God under any circumstance.

Think about the Christians who inspire you the most.

Chances are you watched them walk through a season of difficulty without wavering. When I was a boy, my favorite teacher fought a brain tumor for nearly four years. This giant of a man demonstrated the substance of Christianity to me in a profound way. Before one of his surgeries, he sat me down in the hallway of my elementary school one day and declared, “I am not afraid to die, and you won’t be either if you will live every day of your life for Jesus Christ.” That conversation still impacts me today. Mr. A, as we called him, ultimately lost his earthly battle with cancer, but he is still enjoying his heavenly reward for such profound faithfulness.

His life emboldened me to give myself more fully to my Savior. Your suffering may allow you to do the same for someone else.

Trials Can Be a Form of Discipline Intended to Produce Repentance

No Christian will ever experience the condemnation of God (Romans 8:1). However, Scripture explicitly teaches that God does discipline those who belong to Him. Hebrews 12:9–11 reminds us:

Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Sometimes trials are the consequences of our sinful choices and actions. Other times our adversities may not be directly traceable to a specific moment of disobedience, but God intends to produce greater holiness within us nonetheless.

God loves us too much to ignore any behavior or perspective that would push us away from Him. Like a loving father, He carefully and expeditiously works to correct us when we stray. Though this involvement in our lives can be painful at times, it proves God’s affection for us rather than His abandonment of us.

Excerpted with permission from Hope When Life Unravels by Adam Dooley, copyright Adam B. Dooley.

Your pain has purpose. It has meaning. It’s not just random and it isn’t unknown to God, nor unseen by Him. God loves His children more than we could possibly comprehend.  Trust God and expect your faith to grow and blessing to follow!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 21, 2021

Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” — Luke 8:50 

I am prone to lose hope. As a father of five children, I desire to see them all well adjusted and hungry for Christ. What happens when one of them wanders? The waywardness of a son is a deep grief. My wife and I have sought to love him, bring the gospel to him, and find resources to aid him in his struggles, but we have been met with deceit, distrust, and dangerous behavior. At night, he has risen from bed and vandalized the house, endangering us all. I am prone to fear. After seven years of heart-wrenching struggle, I cry out, “How long, O Lord?” I am prone to lose hope.  

Do you believe that Christ can mend? Jairus’s daughter was dead, yet Jesus said, “She will be healed.” Not even the dead are beyond the reach of our Great Physician. No loss, no grief, no tragedy is beyond the power of Christ to restore, to console, to mend. Do your fears steal away your sleep?

Think on Him in the watches of the night. Does your heart ache with unbearable loss? This, too, will be healed. Jesus hears our griefs and knows them well, and He gives His sure words of comfort: “Don’t be afraid.”  

~ CALEB  

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. — 1 Chronicles 22:13 

There was a time in my life when strep throat was the worst-case scenario. I was a seven-year-old girl who adored school and hated doctors, especially doctors who wanted to ram oversized Q-tips down my throat.  

My younger brother held the same opinion about strep, but for him it was the antibiotics. I’m not sure who thought it was a good idea to flavor the already-terrible children’s medicine with sweetened hot-pink syrups, but my brother, who didn’t like desserts anyway, wasn’t fooled. So when sickness season came around and a nurse tried to soften the diagnosis with promises of “pink bubblegum!” and “strawberry milkshake!” we cried in unison.  

One winter night the situation was especially bleak. We had
the misfortune of not one, but two cases of strep throat. My brother resisted the prescribed medicine like a champ, pulling out just the right number of tears and kicks to send our family’s dinnertime peace into an immediate nosedive.

“You’ll love the pink bubblegum!” my parents pleaded.  

“Your favorite — strawberry milkshake!” they tried, knowing it was false.  

He needed backup. Enter yours truly, his seven-year-old sister, to the rescue. I jumped into the middle of the spat, motioning for him to climb on my back. Piggybacked and void of socks, jackets, or plans, I opened the door and whispered, “We’re running away. I won’t let them get you.” We ran out the back door and into the woods, only to abandon our plans and return home after hearing the first noise we couldn’t identify.  

I hated my little brother’s pain and wanted to help him find comfort as soon as possible. But finding temporary comfort wasn’t the same thing as healing.  

God doesn’t like our pain either, but His plan for us is better than our just escaping it.  

He wants to heal us and redeem us, providing each of His children with an active hope and eternal comfort. But we can’t always see the ways He’s doing this, and many times we may wonder if we’re still on His agenda at all. This is why we need strength and courage too — to bridge the gap between hurt and healed.  

God tells us to be strong and courageous because He knows we will want to listen to the pain rather than to His promises. He knows we will want to find our own solutions and escape routes, and He understands we will struggle to trust His plan is good when it feels anything but. Our fear is not a surprise to Him, which means He has anticipated it and prepared for it with the gift of His Word. Because of these promises, we can be brave.  

~ KAITLIN  

Excerpted from The Book of Comforts by Caleb Faires, Rebecca Faires, Kaitlin Wernet, Cymone Wilder, copyright Caleb Faires, Rebecca Faires, Kaitlin Wernet, Cymone Wilder. 

Jesus longs to bring you comfort and healing. His plan for you is good and will be for your good. Be strong and courageous! Believe! 

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 20, 2021

Give freely and spontaneously. Don’t have a sting y heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers GOD, your God’s, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. — Deuteronomy 15:10 MSG 

Psychology has helped us understand that even a subtle gesture or the tone of someone’s voice can trigger a memory or a reaction. Some memories are good, such as times with a loved one, an especially fun vacation, or a time when God’s presence was very real. Sometimes, though, painful memories or feelings of anger can be triggered. At times those triggers blindside us. Suddenly we’re dealing with intense emotions we didn’t anticipate.  

Today’s verse from The Message says that God has triggers and gives us a specific example.  

How we treat people — whether we lead generous, giving lives or cold, stingy lives — triggers God.  

When His children give spontaneously without regard for the cost, He is triggered to bless them. He will give peace to those of us who freely give to others in all we do.  

Are you living in a way that triggers God’s blessings?  

God, enable me to me to live openly and give generously, not for Your blessing but to honor You with my life. Amen. 

Given to Be Used  

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 

— 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV 

Imagine if merely receiving the gift of an exercise bike meant automatically experiencing its health and fitness benefits. Gifts don’t work that way, though. We need to use the exercise bike: we need to rely on discipline, hard work, and sweat to experience any beneficial results from that gift.

The gift of flowers placed in a closet is not a gift we enjoy. A blender placed on the counter but never used is a gift of little worth. Good gifts are the gifts we use.

God gives the best and most appropriate gifts. For instance, He knew that as a young preacher, Timothy needed gifts that would counter his natural timidity and fear. So God gave him power, love, and self-discipline.  

What gifts do you need? If you ask for and receive them, will you use them as Timothy did? God knows what you need, so ask Him for those gifts, and then be ready to use them to serve Him and others.  

God, please give me the gifts of power, love, and self-discipline. Help me to use the gifts you’ve given me wisely and well. Amen.

Excerpted from 365 Devotions for Peace by Cheri Cowell, copyright Zondervan. 

You can trigger God’s abundant blessing by being open-handedly generous? God blesses us in order that we may be a blessing to others! How can you show free and joyous generosity today to honor God?

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 19, 2021

Article by Joe Rigney
Teacher, desiringGod.org

Hidden sins destroy Christians because they’re hidden. Far too often, Christians wallow in the darkness, smothered by the guilt of sins that they are too ashamed to name. It’s impossible to put to death a sin you won’t confess. Which means cultivating the right environment for honesty and confession is essential in a Christian community. No issue reveals this better than the struggle against pornography and lust.

In my experience, one fundamental factor in creating the right environment for intentional action, real accountability, and healthy habits of confession is the presence and demeanor of a wise pastor or mentor. The gospel presence of a leader is a powerful means of grace that helps Christians resist the hopelessness that often marks this struggle. So, what exactly is gospel presence?

“Cultivating the right environment for honesty and confession is essential in a Christian community.”

By gospel, I simply mean the good news that, as sinners, we are embraced and accepted by God because of what Jesus has done for us. He lived the life that we couldn’t live. He died the death we should have died. And God raised him from the dead, triumphing over sin and death. Outside of Jesus, there is no hope. In Jesus, we have a living hope.

By presence, I mean that there’s a way of being, an orientation to life and reality and others, a fundamental attitude that emanates from the core of who you are, and shapes and colors everything you do. The way you carry yourself. The impression you give. That’s what I mean by presence. And gospel presence is crucial for creating the right environment for dealing with any sin, and especially sexual sin.

Six Aspects of Gospel Presence

Because gospel presence is more about the way that someone carries himself than following a specific set of actions, it’s difficult to define. However, I’ve found Colossians 3:1–17 to be a fruitful place to get the feel of it. Here are six aspects of gospel presence in the passage.

First, gospel presence begins with setting one’s mind on Christ (Colossians 3:1). Set your mind. Set your affection. Orient your life by Christ, who is your life. He’s the sun; everything in your life orbits around him.

Second, gospel presence means putting on the new self, or the new man (Colossians 3:9–10). The fundamental contrast is between the old man (Adam), who rebelled against God, and the new Man (Jesus), who fully trusted, obeyed, and imaged God. Gospel presence means that you “put on” the new Man — that you “clothe” yourself with Jesus. And that’s a good image for it: You must wear Jesus, like a cloak. There are practices that flow out of this presence. There is an old man with his practices, and a new man with his practices. There are practices that come from and accord with sinful Adam, and practices that come from and accord with Christ. And you can’t do the practices if you don’t put on the presence.

Third, gospel presence means that you are fundamentally defined by God’s love in the gospel. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved . . .” (Colossians 3:12). There are characteristics and qualities that you put on and practice because you are holy and beloved by God. He defines you. “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10). His grace is what makes you who and what you are. Gospel presence means that his love and grace define you, and you know it deep in your bones.

Fourth, gospel presence means you are ruled by the peace of Christ (Colossians 3:15). You are firm, stable, steadfast, unshaken. You’re not tossed to and fro. When storms come, you’re planted on a rock. When chaos erupts, God’s peace still reigns in your heart. There’s a kind of stability and security that comes from knowing you’re loved by God, defined by grace, oriented by Christ, clothed with the new Man.

Fifth, gospel presence means that the word of Christ dwells in you richly in all wisdom (Colossians 3:16) — not just that you read your Bible, but that there is a richness and fullness and potency to the word in your life. The Spirit of God hangs on you, and there’s a felt sense that “here’s a person who has been with God.” Gospel presence means you have the wisdom to connect the word of God to life in a way that bears fruit.

Last, gospel presence means all of your practices are done in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:17). Your actions bear his name. They testify to him and point to him and draw attention to him.

“Gospel presence aims to create that graciously paradoxical environment that is safe for sinners, but not for sin.”

How then does gospel presence serve honest confession and the fight against sin, and especially sexual sin? The gospel presence of a pastor or mentor is designed to create an environment that invites people to confess their sins, to be honest about their struggles, to overcome the natural aversion they have to exposing their shame. In other words, gospel presence aims to create that graciously paradoxical environment that is safe for sinners, but not for sin. They are welcome; their sin is not. And thus there are two key elements of gospel presence that help to create such an environment: compassionate stability and focused hostility.

Compassionate Stability

Compassionate stability means that a mentor aims to de-escalate the situation by leaning into the mess. Often people who are wrecked by sexual sin are filled with shame, fear of exposure, anxiety about future failure, and hopelessness about the possibility of change. They think, “If I admit out loud what I’ve done or seen or thought, then everyone will be so disgusted by me that they’ll reject me.” Such passions overwhelm a Christian’s desire to be honest about his struggle. The compassionate stability of gospel presence is meant to calm the broken, anxious, and fearful sinner.

Compassionate stability leans into the mess. The aim is to communicate that God is for them and with them through the fact that you as the mentor are for them and with them. This stability and calmness is not stoic; you should feel deeply for the people to whom you minister. But your passions and emotions are, by God’s grace, under your control and direction so that you can willingly and compassionately lean into their sin. Broken sinners need to know that you’re not recoiling in horror at them, no matter what they confess. They need to feel that you (and therefore God) are with them and passionately committed to their good.

Compassionate stability communicates that we are not afraid of a person’s sin. No matter how dark the darkness, the grace of Jesus can reach deeper. There may still be consequences for certain sins (especially any sins that are also crimes). But compassionate stability communicates that, no matter the consequences, Jesus is real, and he will be with you as you bring your darkness into the light.

IF GOD IS FOR US

Compassionate stability seeks to embody the deep truths of the gospel reflected in passages like Romans 8:31–39. This passage captures the spirit of compassionate stability as well as any in the Bible.

If God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)? God didn’t spare his own Son but gave him up for us, and will therefore freely and graciously give us everything (8:32). No one can bring a charge against us, because God himself has justified and approved of us (8:33). No one can condemn us, because Christ was crucified for us and raised for us and is now interceding for us (8:34). Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ — not tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword (8:35). God’s all-conquering love means that every possible obstacle to our ultimate good makes us more than conquerors (8:37). Death, life, angels, rulers, present things, future things, powers, height, depth, anything else in all creation — none of these can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (8:38–39).

That’s how committed God is to our good, and that’s what faithful pastors and mentors communicate to their people. When nerves are on edge, when passions and fears are raging, compassionate stability plants itself in Romans 8 and brings a deep and settled sense of Spirit-wrought peace and calm. Romans 8 empowers us to be stable and compassionate, and compassionate stability makes an environment that is safe for sinners.

Focused Hostility

But there’s another aspect to the right environment. Embracing broken sinners entails a violent hostility toward their sin. If we’re really committed to someone’s good, then we will hate and resist those things that are harmful to them. And so it’s necessary to combine compassionate stability with focused hostility. Focused hostility is still under control, but it includes a relentlessness and patience in exposing and killing sin. Without this focused hostility toward sin, we may find ourselves reluctant to challenge people to pursue holiness. Comforting may turn into coddling. But part of being a wise and faithful counselor to others means communicating the gravity of sin.

The Bible minces no words about the consequences of making peace with ongoing sin. “If you live according to the flesh you will die [eternally]” (Romans 8:13). Those who practice the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19–21; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10). And the Bible uses intense and violent language to describe how we ought to resist sin: put it to death (Colossians 3:5–6; Romans 8:13); tear it out (Matthew 5:29); cut it off (Matthew 5:30); flee sexual immorality and youthful passions (1 Corinthians 6:18; 2 Timothy 2:22). These words of violence and intensity remind us that we can’t make peace with our sin, because the Holy Spirit will never make peace with our sin.

“Gospel presence aims to communicate both that God is for you, and that your sin is not welcome.”

Gospel presence aims to communicate both that God is for you, and that your sin is not welcome. A person doesn’t need to clean himself up to come to us or to God; he can come as he is. But we are committed to not letting him stay as he is. And so, with our demeanor and our words, we say, “I am for you; I’m leaning in; I’m not recoiling because of what you just confessed. I love you and I’m with you and I’m for you because God loves you and is with you and is for you. And I am so for you that I will never make peace with your sin. I will call you to put it to death, to cut it off, to flee from it.”

Gospel presence says to a sinner, “I love you, I’m for you, I’m with you. Now let’s put to death that sin.”

We need to be advocates (and have advocates stand with us) for those around us wallowing in sin.  We need to love them, challenge them, encourage them, and help them pursue a holy and godly life that God commands His children to live.  Let us work hard to help sinners and seek help for our own sins to be put to death that we might truly live!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 18, 2021

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of Your hands. — Psalm 138:8 ESV

I like the idea that God only made me once. Like paintings — there’s something special about the first one. My cousin Joe just recently passed away, but for my entire life, he was a painter. An artist. My home is filled with paintings and sketches and illustrations he made just for me. In fact, one of the paintings he gave me proudly hangs in my dining room. It’s huge and abstract and purple and blue and black and weird. I love it. A few years ago, I asked Joe what it’s like to replicate art versus painting the original piece.

The short answer he gave is that the original is work, but fun. Any copies, exact or modified, are boring, if not mindless. Creating is just problem solving, and once you solve the original problem, it’s like you could train bright monkeys to do the replicating. (That’s a quote. “Bright monkeys.” Man, I miss Joe.) The question is not unlike asking a chef to create the most special French onion soup in the world and, after he or she has succeeded beyond any expectations, to keep making it every day.

God made you once. You were worth the work that first time. Then He threw away that mold because one of you is enough for Him. You’re enough. You are the sacred painting, the original.

God made us this way on purpose. It’s no mistake that we are formed the way we are. But why?

Why did God make humans in the first place?

Look at Isaiah 43:7:

Everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made. — ESV, emphasis mine

God created us for His glory. Hang with me for a little Old Testament lesson. The word create in the original Hebrew is bara. When this particular word is used, God is the only subject — He does all the work. Only He can create in this particular way. We may be able to create a painting or create chaos, but as humans, we cannot bara. So when God made you, He did something that only He can do, and He did that for His glory.

This short Hebrew 101 lesson does have a point. We look at the original language of the text to see, according to Scripture, that we were made especially by God to promote Him, glorify Him, and worship Him.

If we are each as unique as the Bible says we are, then our calls to courage are each equally unique.

So what does this have to do with being brave?

If we are each as unique as the Bible says we are, then our calls to courage are each equally unique.

We each have to be brave in our own ways.

The painting of your life is a masterpiece that will never be replicated, and there’s a brave brush to use in this painting that will change everything for God’s glory and for your good. Maybe you want to move to another country to live and share about Jesus. My friend, that is brave. It really is.

But so is being a stay-at-home mom. And so is being a cable technician. So is being an author or a baseball player or a chef. Courage looks different for each of us.

God made you on purpose and unique. God has called you to be brave. And God will equip you to do it.

Excerpted from 100 Days to Brave by Annie Downs, copyright Annie F. Downs.

Be Brave: List some ways your life is unique. What do you love? How do you like to spend your time? What ways do you see your life as different from anyone else’s? You were made to bring God glory!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith July 17, 2021

We don’t know her name, but we know her situation. Her world was midnight black. Grope-in-the-dark-and-hope-for-help black. Read these three verses and see what I mean:

A large crowd followed Jesus and pushed very close around Him. Among them was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered very much from many doctors and had spent all the money she had, but instead of improving, she was getting worse. — Mark 5:24–26 NCV

She was a bruised reed: “bleeding for twelve years,” “suffered very much,” “spent all the money she had,” and “getting worse.” She was physically exhausted and socially ostracized. She awoke daily in a body that no one wanted. She was down to her last prayer. And on the day we encounter her, she’s about to pray it.

Perhaps you have felt this way. You’ve been sick for days, weeks, years. Doctors, specialists, tests — no one seems to know the cure, and you are tired. You are tired of being sick, but most of all you are tired of hoping. Each day you hope and pray today will be better than the last, and each day you are disappointed.

How do you continue to believe you will be healed? How do you continue to believe that God cares?

By the time the woman in our story gets to Jesus, He is surrounded by people. He’s on His way to help the daughter of Jairus, one of the most important men in the community. What are the odds that He will interrupt an urgent mission with a high official to help the likes of her? Still, she takes a chance.

If I can just touch His clothes, she thinks, I will be healed. — Mark 5:28 NCV

It was her last hope, her last resort. Her last-ditch effort in a long series of efforts to be made well, and it all depended on this man they were calling a prophet. It all depended on Jesus. Risky decision. To touch Him she will have to touch the people. If one of them recognizes her, hello rebuke, goodbye cure. But what choice does she have? She has no money, no clout, no friends, no solutions. All she has is a crazy hunch that Jesus can help and a final hope that He will.

Maybe that’s all you have: a crazy hunch and a little bit of hope. You have nothing to give. But you are hurting. And all you have to offer Him is your hurt.

Maybe that has kept you from coming to God. Oh, you’ve taken a step or two in His direction. But then you saw the other people around Him. They seemed so clean, so neat, so trim and fit in their faith. And when you saw them, they blocked your view of Him. So you stepped back.

If that describes you, note carefully that only one person was commended that day for having faith. It wasn’t a wealthy giver. It wasn’t a loyal follower. It was a shame-struck, penniless outcast who clutched on to her hunch that He could help and her hope that He would.

Which, by the way, isn’t a bad definition of faith: a conviction that He can and a hope that He will. Sounds similar to the definition of faith given in the Bible:

Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that He is real and that He rewards those who truly want to find Him. — Hebrews 11:6 NCV

A healthy woman never would have appreciated the power of a touch of the hem of His robe. But this woman was sick, and when her dilemma met His dedication, a miracle occurred. Her part in the healing was very small. All she did was extend her arm through the crowd.

“If only I can touch Him.”

What’s important is not the form of the effort but the fact of the effort. The fact is, she did something. She refused to settle for sickness another day and resolved to make a move.

Healing begins when we do something. Healing begins when we reach out. Healing starts when we take a step of faith.

God’s help is near and always available, but it is given only to those who seek it. The great work in this story is the mighty healing that occurred. But the great truth is that the healing began with her touch. And with that small, courageous gesture, she experienced Jesus’ tender power.

Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, ‘Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And the woman was made well from that hour. — Matthew 9:22

If you are low on faith but need the healing power of Christ, perhaps you could rely on the faith of a friend. This is the type of faith Jesus witnessed when he saw a man being lowered through a hole in the roof where Jesus was teaching one day (Mark 2:1–12).

Whether he was born paralyzed or became paralyzed, we don’t know, but the end result was the same: total dependence on others. Perhaps someone had to wash his face and bathe his body. He couldn’t go on a walk or run an errand on his own.

When people looked at him, they didn’t see the man; they saw a body in need of a miracle. That’s not what Jesus saw, but that’s what the people saw. And that’s certainly what his friends saw. So they did what any of us would do for a friend. They tried to get him some help.

Word was out that a carpenter-turned-teacher-turned-wonder-worker was in town. By the time his friends arrived at the place, the house was full. People jammed the doorways. Kids sat in the windows. Others peeked over shoulders. How would this small band of friends ever attract Jesus’ attention?

They had to make a choice: do we go in or give up?

What would have happened had the friends given up faith?

What if they had shrugged their shoulders and mumbled something about the crowd being big and dinner getting cold and had turned and left? After all, they had done a good deed in coming this far. Who could fault them for turning back? You can do only so much for somebody. But these friends hadn’t done enough.

One said he had an idea. The four huddled over the paralytic and discussed the plan to climb to the top of the house, cut through the roof, and lower their friend down with their sashes.

It was risky — they could fall. It was dangerous — he could fall. It was unorthodox — de-roofing is antisocial. It was intrusive — Jesus was busy. But it was their only chance to see Jesus. So they climbed to the roof.

Faith does those things. Faith does the unexpected. And faith gets God’s attention. Look what Mark says:

When Jesus saw the faith of these people, He said to the paralyzed man, ‘Young man, your sins are forgiven’.

— Mark 2:5 NCV

Finally, someone took Jesus at his word! Four men had enough hope in Him and love for their friend that they took a chance. The stretcher above was a sign from above — somebody believed! Someone was willing to risk embarrassment and injury for just a few moments with the Galilean.

Jesus was moved by the scene of faith.

The request of the friends was valid — but timid. The expectations of the crowd were high — but not high enough. They expected Jesus to say, “I heal you.” Instead He said, “I forgive you.”

They expected Him to treat the body, for that is what they saw.

He chose to treat not only the body but also the spirit, for that is what He saw.

They wanted Jesus to give the man a new body so he could walk. Jesus gave grace so the man could live.

And they were all amazed, and they glorified God. 

— Luke 5:26

Two pictures of miracle-prompting faith: A woman who reached out. Friends who drew near. Jesus responded both times. He did the impossible for them. He will do the same for you. And you know what the best news is? Jesus heals the body, but He also heals the soul. He sees you as more than just an ailing body. He sees that your heart, mind, and soul need healing too. He offers more than you ask because He knows exactly what you need. Come to Him, have faith, and He will make you well.

God, I know that you are my healer. You are the miracle worker. You can heal every sickness and disease. You can raise the dead to life. I confess it is easier for me to believe You can heal others than it is to believe You will heal me. It makes me feel vulnerable to trust You with my sickness and brokenness. I don’t want to get my hopes up and then be disappointed. At the same time, I don’t want to lose hope. Help me believe in Your healing powers. Strengthen my faith in you, Your power to heal me, and your love for me. Give me the courage to reach out to friends and family for help. May I encounter the healing powers of my Lord Jesus. May I believe again. Lord, make me well. In Christ I pray, amen.

Excerpted from God Will Help You by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado. 

We need to take a step of faith when we have need and trust God to do the healing work that only He can do.  He knows our condition and is faithful to care for that which belongs to Him.  He may heal in this life, or He may choose to wait until we are perfectly glorified and brought to be with Him, but we have a glorious healing to look forward to.  Look to Jesus for your perfect healing.

Pastor Dale