Notes of Faith June 20, 2022

Luke 7:36-39

36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner!"

Luke 7:47

"I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love."

NLT

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard He was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind Him at His feet, weeping. Her tears fell on His feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing His feet and putting perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know what kind of woman is touching Him. She’s a sinner!”

“I tell you, her sins — and they are many — have been forgiven, so she has shown Me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

Could two people be more different? He is looked up to. She is looked down on. He is a church leader. She is a streetwalker. He makes a living promoting standards. She’s made a living breaking them. He’s hosting the party. She’s crashing it.

Ask the other residents of Capernaum to point out the more pious of the two, and they’ll pick Simon. Why, after all, he’s a student of theology, a man of the cloth. Anyone would pick him. Anyone, that is, except Jesus.

Jesus knew them both and picked the woman.

What’s more, He tells Simon why.

Simon is angry. Just look at her — groveling at Jesus’ feet. Kissing them, no less! Why, if Jesus were who He says He is, He would have nothing to do with this woman.

One of the lessons Simon learned that day was this: Don’t think thoughts you don’t want Jesus to hear. For Jesus heard them, and when He did, He chose to share a few of His own.

“Simon,” He said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people — 500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

“That’s right,” Jesus said. Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer Me water to wash the dust from My feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet Me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing My feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint My head, but she has anointed My feet with rare perfume.

“I tell you, her sins — and they are many — have been forgiven, so she has shown Me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”

— Luke 7:40–47 NLT

Simon invites Jesus to His house but treats him like an unwanted step uncle. No customary courtesies. Or, in modern terms, no one opened the door for Him, took His coat, or shook His hand.

Simon does nothing to make Jesus feel welcome. The woman, however, does everything that Simon didn’t. We aren’t told her name. Just her reputation — a sinner. A prostitute most likely. She has no invitation to the party and no standing in the community.

But people’s opinions didn’t stop her from coming. It’s not for them she has come. It’s for Him. Her every move is measured and meaningful. Each gesture extravagant. She puts her cheek to his feet, still dusty from the path. She has no water, but she has tears. She has no towel, but she has her hair. She uses both to bathe the feet of Christ. As one translation reads, “she rained tears” on His feet

(v. 44 MSG). She opens a vial of perfume, perhaps her only possession of worth, and massages it into His skin. The aroma is as inescapable as the irony.

When Jesus hands you the goblet of grace, drink up.

You’d think Simon of all people would show such love. Is he not the reverend of the church, the student of Scripture? But he is harsh, distant. You’d think the woman would avoid Jesus. Simon’s “love” is calibrated and stingy.

Her love, on the other hand, is extravagant and risky.

How do we explain the difference between the two? Training? Education? Money? No, for Simon has outdistanced her in all three.

But there is one area in which the woman leaves Him eating dust. Think about it. What one discovery has she made that Simon hasn’t? What one treasure does she cherish that Simon doesn’t? Simple. God’s love. We don’t know when she received it. We aren’t told how she heard about it. Did she overhear Jesus’ words “your Father is merciful”? (Luke 6:36 ESV). Was she nearby when Jesus had compassion on the widow of Nain? Did someone tell her how Jesus touched lepers and turned tax collectors into disciples? We don’t know. But we know this. She came thirsty. Thirsty from guilt. Thirsty from regret. Thirsty from countless nights of making love and finding none. She came thirsty.

And when Jesus hands her the goblet of grace, she drinks.

She doesn’t just taste or nip. She doesn’t dip her finger and lick it or take the cup and sip it. She lifts the liquid to her lips and drinks, gulping and swallowing like the parched pilgrim she is. She drinks until the mercy flows down her chin and onto her neck and chest. She drinks until every inch of her soul is moist and soft. She comes thirsty and she drinks. She drinks deeply.

Simon, on the other hand, doesn’t even know he is thirsty. People like Simon don’t need grace; they analyze it. They don’t request mercy; they debate and prorate it. It wasn’t that Simon couldn’t be forgiven; he just never asks to be.

So while she drinks up, he puffs up. While she has ample love to give, he has no love to offer. Why? The 7:47 Principle. Read again verse 47 of Luke chapter 7:

A person who is forgiven little shows only little love.

Just like the jumbo jet, the 7:47 Principle has wide wings. Just like the aircraft, this truth can lift you to another level. Read it one more time. “A person who is forgiven little shows only little love” (NLT). In other words,

We can’t give what we’ve never received. If we’ve never received love, how can we love others?

But, oh, how we try! As if we can conjure up love by the sheer force of will. As if there is within us a distillery of affection that lacks only a piece of wood or a hotter fire. We poke it and stoke it with resolve. What’s our typical strategy for treating a troubled relationship? Try harder.

“My spouse needs my forgiveness? I don’t know how, but I’m going to give it.”

“I don’t care how much it hurts, I’m going to be nice to that bum.”

“I’m supposed to love my neighbor? Okay. By golly, I will.”

So we try. Teeth clinched. Jaw firm. We’re going to love if it kills us! And it may do just that.

Could it be we are missing a step? Could it be that the first step of love is not toward them but toward Him? Could it be that the secret to loving is receiving? You give love by first receiving it.

We love, because He first loved us. — 1 John 4:19 NASB

Excerpted from They Walked with God by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.

1 John 4:7

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

John 15:12

12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

NAS

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 19, 2022

Though it happened many years ago, I remember the moment as if were yesterday. My ten-year old son, Luke, snuggled up to me after dinner as I was reading in my chair, and he said, with big eyes and a sweet face, “Dad…can I ask you a question?”

I knew he was after something. Cookies maybe. Or permission to run down to a friend’s house. “Sure,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Dad…can I have a chain saw?”

The things these boys come up with. It cracks me up. He was dead serious, by the way.

You understand. We all — as men — pretty much want the same thing. We want power. We want to have an impact. We want to leave our mark on the world. A boy with a chain saw is a powerful thing. Just imagine all he could do. In a short time there wouldn’t be a tree left standing in the entire neighborhood. Which, of course, is why I did not give him one. A ten-year old with a chain saw is more powerful than he ought to be. But I understand the desire. It’s essential to the masculine nature.

Boys who play baseball don’t want to strike out. They want to hit that ball hard. They want to knock it over the fence. My boys love to wrestle with me, but they don’t simply want to wrestle — they want to pin me. They want to be on top. This is true of every man. This is what’s behind men and their fascination with fast cars, or power tools, or politics. It’s about power. A man may take it in the wrong direction sometimes, but the bottom line is

a man needs to know he’s having an impact.

Or think of it this way: What’s your worst fear as a man? Isn’t it some version of failure? To royally blow it? To really screw things up? Lose your job. Drive your company into bankruptcy. Wind up pushing a shopping cart down the street. If you’re a doctor, you fear misdiagnosing a patient’s fatal disease. If you’re an attorney, you fear losing the big case. Because all those things in some way prove that you don’t have what it takes.

You, Dad, are the most powerful man in the world

Not so for a woman. A woman’s worst fear is abandonment. Most women survive a career setback that would send men into a tailspin. Failure doesn’t seem to matter as much because a woman fears that she won’t be loved. It shouts to the world, “She wasn’t worth pursuing; she wasn’t worth fighting for.” But

for men, the dog at our heals is failure.

We need to know that our lives mattered. That when the time came, we had what was needed. We came through. There was something powerful about our lives.

So let me say this as clearly as I can: You, Dad, are the most powerful man in the world… at least in their world. Your children are looking for you to answer the deepest questions of their lives. How you handle their hearts will shape them for the rest of their lives. Never forget that no one is as powerful as you are in the lives of your sons and daughters.

Please note I am not saying Mom is unimportant. Not at all. Mother teaches us unconditional love, and she teaches us about mercy. She is a comforter. When boys or girls want to do something adventurous, they don’t ask Mom; they ask Dad. But when they skin their knees or cut their fingers, when they get their feelings hurt, who do they run to? Mom, of course. Even wounded soldiers on the battlefield are known to cry out for their mothers in their last moments. Mother is love and tenderness and mercy. She is a picture of the heart of God.

But identity — especially gender identity — is bestowed by the father. A boy learns if he is a man, if he has what it takes from his dad. A girl learns if she is worth pursuing, if she is lovely, from her dad. That’s just the way God set this whole thing up. This power he has given to you.

Excerpted from You Have What it Takes: What Every Father Needs to Know by John Eldredge, copyright John Eldredge.

Not sure I can agree with everything John says, but as a dad, I still want the kids to come to me for advice…meaning I still want to have the answer to their questions and needs, even though they are well into raising families of their own.  The father can only bestow on his family things like gender identity, and having an effect to shape their lives, if he is a godly man and is leading them first of all to the throne of grace and mercy. God made those children and loves them more than we do!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 18, 2022

Love is the most important word in any language — and the most confusing word.

I say that love is the most important word because Jesus once said,

I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples. — John 13:34–35 NLT

Jesus gave the non-Christian world the right to judge whether we are His disciples by the way we love each other. That makes love extremely important. I say that love is the most confusing word because we use it in many different ways. We say, “I love hot dogs. I love pizza. I love my new car. I love the mountains. I love the beach. I love my dog. I love classical music. I love rock.” Then in a romantic setting we say, “I love you.” What is that supposed to mean?

We are going to define love in a cross-cultural friendship. This kind of love begins with an attitude and then expresses itself in our behavior. By attitude, I mean our fixed way of thinking or our mindset. Love chooses to seek the best for a friend. “I want our friendship to enrich your life” is the attitude of love. The opposite of love is selfishness. “I am in this relationship to meet my needs” is the attitude of selfishness. “If you meet my needs, if you make me happy, then I will continue in our relationship. If not, I will move on.”

• Friendships will not develop between two selfish people. In true friendships, the attitude of love is essential.

Jesus Modeled How to Love

When we examine Jesus’ lifestyle, we see love demonstrated. Peter said about Jesus,

He went around doing good. — Acts 10:38

He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, spent time with people from all levels of society. Ultimately, He gave His life, not only for those of His generation but for people of all cultures and all generations. His coming to earth was motivated by love.

For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. — John 3:16 NLT

Jesus Himself said,

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many. — Matthew 20:28 NLT

It is this kind of love that builds friendships and identifies us as His disciples.

The best description of love in the Bible is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4–7.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. — NLT

This is the kind of love that enables us to build cross-cultural friendships.

• Love in a cross-cultural friendship begins with an attitude and then expresses itself in behavior.

God actually commands us to love each other as He loves us. Anything God commands, He will enable us to do. Perhaps you are thinking, “I just can’t initiate or be involved in a cross-cultural friendship because my family has historically been the victim of racial injustice or my family has been involved in some capacity of promoting racial injustice.”

The reality is we cannot love as Jesus loved without His help. The apostle Paul reminds us that indeed we have His help.

For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. — Romans 5:5 NLT

So we are to be channels of expressing God’s love to each other — not by self-effort but simply by opening our hearts to the Holy Spirit so He can fill them with His love.

Excerpted with permission from Life-changing Cross-Cultural Friendships by Gary Chapman, copyright Gary Chapman and Clarence Shuler.

Let us love one another, for love is from God!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 17, 2022

I meditate on Your precepts and consider Your ways. I delight in Your decrees; I will not neglect Your word. — Psalm 119:15–16

When I was little, my grandmother entertained me by opening a box containing hundreds of little funny-shaped pieces of cardboard. A jigsaw puzzle! Putting them together seemed impossible until my grandmother said, “Anne, make sure the color pictures on the puzzle pieces are facing up.”

Then I’d look at the cover of the box and try to put the pieces together to match the picture.

In some ways, the Bible is like that jigsaw puzzle. It can seem like bits and pieces with no meaning in themselves. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was walking with His disciples, He

explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself. — Luke 24:27

And in John 16:13, Jesus said the Holy Spirit would “guide you into all truth.”

He turns over the puzzle pieces one by one — until they come together and we see Jesus!

As you read your Bible, ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. The pieces will fit together!

*

Ask Your Questions

I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation. — Psalm 13:5

Jesus is never offended by your confusion — or your questions. He knows exactly what you’re feeling, and He takes the initiative to help you understand. You simply have to trust Him to know best.

For most of us, that’s never easy! You have to trust His silences, respect His mysteries, and wait for His answers. Trust Jesus each and every time, in every situation:

When you pray for the healing of someone you love, and she dies. When you pray for reconciliation, and you’re handed divorce papers. When you pray for a promotion, and you get laid off.

Trust Him.

We serve a sovereign, living Lord, whose ways are not our ways. Be patient.

Trust Him to know best!

*

The Sword of the Spirit

Jesus said to him, “Away from Me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” — Matthew 4:10

The Word of God is called the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17). It’s your primary offensive weapon against Satan and his minions.

Each time Jesus was attacked by Satan, He countered with, “It is written,” or “It is also written,” or “For it is written” (Matthew 4). If Jesus used the sword — His Word — as a necessary weapon to defeat the enemy, why do we think we can do without it?

Where is your sword? Is it ready on your mind and in your heart? Or is it tucked away, dusty and unused? Jesus Christ wielded His sword to effectively and victoriously counter every thrust of the enemy. If you follow His example, empowered by His Spirit, you, too, can win this battle!

The Bible says,

The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

 — 1 John 4:4

You’re promised victory in Jesus Christ. So ... pick up your sword!

Excerpted from Fixing My Eyes on Jesus by Anne Graham Lotz, copyright Anne Graham Lotz.

Indeed, greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world!  Trust and obey what you know to be true.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 16, 2022

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” — Luke 18:9–14

When Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow, He created a picture that would have surprised the disciples. But the next parable Jesus shared would have had a familiar ring, with two characters who would have been immediately understandable to the disciples: the Pharisee and the tax collector. Both were fixtures in the imagination of those who heard Jesus tell this parable. The Pharisees were ubiquitous in Jerusalem, loud in their piety and ostentatious in their self-righteousness. They lived to be seen. The tax collectors, on the other hand, were a part of the underclass. Indeed, they epitomized complicity with Rome, criminality, and unrighteousness. As you might expect, there is far more to this parable than meets the eye. But it begins with a comment about those to whom Jesus spoke it.

We learn that Jesus told this parable “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.” Those two descriptors go together. Self-righteousness is one of the primal sins identified in Scripture. It is rooted in an illusion and an arrogance that simply cannot be hidden. It is true that men and women live lives of variable righteousness in terms of personal morality. The Bible is clear about that.

Christians are called to obedience to God’s Word and to holiness. We are called to avoid sin and unrighteousness. But even as we are called to live holy lives, we recognize that there is absolutely no righteousness in us.

The Bible’s indictment of our unrighteousness is comprehensive. Indeed, the prophet Isaiah declared that our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). There is no goodness in us. In the words of the Book of Common Prayer, “There is no health in us.”

Understood in this context, Jesus told this dramatic parable to puncture the illusion of self-righteousness among those who heard Him.

*

God, be merciful to me a sinner!

From the earliest days of my Christian experience, Bible teachers trained me to hear the word Pharisee with judgment. Most Christians have the same response. And yet, there is more to the Pharisees than that quick judgment. The Pharisees were truly seeking to be righteous and to show their righteousness before others. The Pharisees’ central problem is that their righteousness was a self-righteousness, not a righteousness that comes from God. Pharisees were evidently traumatized by the understanding that they could not demonstrate righteousness, even to themselves, merely by obedience to the law. The Pharisees kept adding to the law in order to try to convince themselves that they had actually achieved a form of righteousness that would be acceptable to God.

In Matthew 6, Jesus warned the disciples not to pray as the Pharisees prayed, with their ostentatious piety. Throughout Scripture the Pharisees are shown to commit the fatal error of trusting in their own righteousness.

They were right to seek after righteousness, but they were wrong to think they had found it in themselves.

The tax collector, however, presented a real problem for Jesus’ audience. The temple represented the apex of holiness — after all, God’s presence filled the temple. This would be the last place a first-century Jew would expect to find a tax collector. The tax collectors lived traitorous lives, selling out their nation to the Roman Empire by exacting pagan tolls and taxes on the people. They were opportunistic men who did business with idolaters and enforced Roman oppression. They lined their pockets with the wealth of their own neighbors by predatory action. In the minds of those hearing this parable, the tax collector should have had no place in the temple of God.

In short, in starting the parable by saying that two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector, Jesus surely grabbed the attention of his audience, as he has ours.

Two Men at Prayer

Jesus described the prayers of these two men, and significantly, He told us something of their posture as well. In both the prayers and the postures we see a contrast between self-righteousness and a heart that comes before God knowing that it bears no righteousness at all. The prayer offered by the Pharisee is almost like a set piece — a caricature of what we would expect a self-righteous person to pray. And yet, this prayer is entirely believable coming from the lips of a first-century Pharisee. We are told that the Pharisee stood by himself. His posture was one of self-assurance: he stood apart, seeing the masses as un- worthy of being in his presence. “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.”

The most important thing to recognize about the Pharisee’s prayer is that it is essentially self-referential. Even before speaking to God about himself, he thanked God that he was not like the others he observed — the great mass of Jewish men worshiping alongside him and especially the tax collector, whom he had noticed. Both the Pharisee and the tax collector were standing apart from the larger group of worshipers, but for two diametrically opposed reasons.

The Pharisee considered himself superior to others, while the tax collector knew himself to be inferior.

The Pharisee in this parable represents exactly what is wrong with false religion and false worship. It is about ourselves, rather than about God. There is no declaration in the Pharisee’s prayer of the holiness and righteousness of God. There is no confession of sin. It is all about the Pharisee, from beginning to end. His purpose in worship is to convince God of his superiority as compared to others.

Meanwhile, the tax collector was praying at the same time as the Pharisee, standing far off by himself. His posture was of one who knew himself to be unworthy of worship, but he was drawn by the compulsion to find God’s mercy. While the Pharisee stood proudly, the tax collector was unwilling even to lift up his eyes to Heaven, opting instead to beat his breast, a near universal sign of self-abnegation and humiliation.

To bring our fist to our chest with bowed head and lowered face is to demonstrate grief and brokenness. That is all this man knew to do.

His prayer was short, and it had nothing to do with others in the temple. He simply cried out, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” It is an exceedingly short prayer. It reminds me of the thief on the cross who, in a moment of agony as time was running out, simply turned to Jesus and said,

Jesus, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom. — Luke 23:42

Sometimes the shortest prayer is the sincerest prayer. Sometimes we simply have no words adequate to express our grief and remorse, our broken-heartedness and our repentance.

Christians should be encouraged by Paul’s message to the Romans about how the Holy Spirit helps us, even articulating our prayers when we are unable to find the words. Paul wrote,

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

— Romans 8:26–27

Jesus’ point is clear. The brief, sincere prayer of the tax collector is the prayer of authentic repentance.

He prayed for God’s mercy.

Christians must keep in mind that the word mercy does not just mean kindness. It means grace extended to those who have no claim upon it. Mercy as extended by a parent, a ruler, or a judge is understood to be undeserved. That’s what makes mercy. And this is infinitely true when we speak of the mercy of God. This tax collector simply asked God to be merciful upon him, a sinner. That one word, “sinner,” encapsulated everything he knew to say about himself and everything he needed to say about himself.

Excerpted from Tell Me the Stories of Jesus by R. Albert Mohler, Jr., copyright Fidelitas Corporation, R. Albert Mohler Jr., LLC.

We may not understand the grace and mercy of God until we see Him face to face but what joy it brings when we also understand our sin and the sacrifice of God to bring us salvation!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 15, 2022

One day in my midtwenties while studying to become a pastor, I was alarmed to see a suicide note published in the local newspaper. It was written by a pastor. In his note, the pastor said, “God forgive me for not being any stronger than I am. But when a minister becomes clinically depressed, there are very few places where he can turn to for help... it feels as if I’m sinking farther and farther into a downward spiral of depression. I feel like a drowning man, trying frantically to lift up my head to take just one more breath. But one way or another, I know I am going down.”

The deceased had been the promising young pastor of a large, thriving church in Saint Louis. Having secretly battled depression for a long time, and having sought help through prayer, therapy, and medication, his will to claw through yet another day was gone. In his darkest hour, the young promising pastor decided he would rather join the angels than continue facing demons for years to come. The signoff to his note, “Yours in the Name of Our Blessed Lord, Our Only Hope in Life and Death,” brought a strange comfort, because grace covers all types of things, including self-harm and suicide.

·         One can only imagine the deep compassion in Christ’s heart when His beloved children lose their way like this.

Yet for this aspiring pastor, grief and confusion felt more real than hope did.

Grief and confusion grew even larger when a second pastor, also from Saint Louis, asphyxiated himself to death because of a similar, secret depression.

The news of these two pastor suicides shook me. How could these men — both exemplary leaders who believed in Jesus, preached grace, and comforted others with gospel hope — end up losing hope for themselves?

I had also heard others teach that being a Christian and being depressed aren’t supposed to go together. “Light always drives out darkness,” these misguided teachers would say. “When you’re believing the right things, peace and joy will always follow.” In that same season, a worship song based on such teaching was released that became very popular among Christians. The lyrics confidently declared that in the Lord’s presence, all our problems will disappear.

But when reality strikes, such teachings and songs hurt more than they help. Two faithful pastors, who prayed and sought solace from Scripture every day, who served their churches and cities and counseled people and preached grace, ended their lives. What drove them to do so was that in God’s presence, their problems, curiously, did not disappear.

I, too, have battled anxiety and depression from time to time. My struggle with both has most often been more low grade than intense. But in one particular season, anxiety and depression flattened me physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

During those days, I could not fall asleep for two weeks straight. Even sleeping pills couldn’t calm the adrenaline and knock me out, which only made things worse. At night I was fearful of the quiet, knowing I was in for another all-night battle with insomnia that I was likely to lose. The sunrise also frightened me, an unwelcome reminder that another day of impossible struggle was ahead of me. I lost 15 percent of my body weight in two months. I could not concentrate in conversations. I found no comfort in God’s promises from Scripture.

·         I couldn’t bring myself to pray anything but “Please help,” “Please end this,” and “Why?”

According to a study conducted by Thom Rainer, circumstance-triggered anxiety and depression hit ministers at a disproportionally high rate. Because of the unique pressures associated with spiritual warfare, unrealistic expectations from congregants and oneself, unrestrained and unaccountable criticism and gossip toward and about ministers (especially in the digital age), failure to take time off for rest and replenishment, marriage difficulties, financial strains, and the problem of comparison with other ministers and ministries, Rainer says that ministers are set up as prime candidates for descent into an emotional abyss.1

The two pastors committed suicide because they could not imagine navigating the emotional abyss for another day. Both also suffered their affliction in silence, for fear of being rejected. The one who left the note said that if a pastor tells anyone about his depression, he will lose his ministry. People don’t want to be pastored, taught, or led by a damaged person.

Or do they?

Maybe instead of labeling anxious and depressed people as damaged goods, we should learn from the psalms and Jesus and Paul about the biblical theology of weakness. Maybe we should start learning how to apply that theology in our lives and also in the lives of those who are called to lead us. Even the apostle Paul said that it is in weakness that we experience the glory, power, and grace of God. This is how God works.

·         God is upside down to our sensibilities.

Better said, we are upside down to His.

I once heard someone say that it’s okay to realize that you are crazy and very damaged, because all the best people are. Like nothing else, suffering has a way of equipping us to be the best expressions of God’s compassion and grace. It has a way of equipping us to love and lead in ways that are helpful and not harmful. A healer who has not been afflicted is extremely limited in his ability to participate in the healing of others. As Henri Nouwen has written, “The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.”2

Conversely, she who has been afflicted is strangely strengthened in her ability to lead others into the less arid, more fertile, healing pastures of God.

The apostle Paul encourages us with these words:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.3

According to Scripture, the “crazy, very damaged” people are the ones through whom God did the greatest things. It is worth adding more examples to the ones given previously. Hannah had bitterness of soul over infertility and a broken domestic situation. Elijah felt so beaten down that he asked God to take his life. Job and Jeremiah cursed the day that they were born. David repeatedly asked his own soul why it was so downcast. Even Jesus, the perfectly divine human, lamented that His soul was overwhelmed with sorrow. He wept when His friend died. Each of these biblical saints was uniquely empowered by God to change the world — never in spite of their affliction, and always because of it and through it.

The likes of these are God’s chosen instruments to bring truth, beauty, grace, and hope into the world. Many of the best therapists have themselves been in therapy. It’s how God works.

If you have experienced anxiety and depression, I share this part of my story to remind you that there is no shame in having this or any other affliction. In fact,

·         our afflictions may be the key to our fruitfulness as carriers of Jesus’ love.

What feels like the scent of death to us may end up becoming the scent of life for others as we learn to comfort others in their affliction with the comfort that we, in our affliction, have received from God.

Broken trees bear fruit, and I am one of those trees, bent and broken.

In my darkest hour, in those months of facing into the abyss of anxiety and depression and a rapidly diminishing will to live, there were two people who put themselves on permanent call for me. These two carried me day and night, with constant reminders that though I was down, I was not out. Though I was afraid, I was not alone. Though I had been called upon by God to face some demons, I was surrounded by an angelic presence. Perhaps these two, also, were my guardian angels.

These two angels were my brother, Matt, and my wife, Patti. Both were outstanding healers because they were themselves wounded healers. Both had suffered with anxiety and depression, too. Having been bent and broken themselves, they helped me in my hour of need to find the straight path of hope again.

Being afflicted does not make you ineffective.
Being damaged does not mean that you are done.
Anxiety and depression can also, ironically, be occasions for hope.

After I had served as pastor at Nashville’s Christ Presbyterian Church for about two years, one of our members told me that he thought I was a gifted preacher and that he was entirely unimpressed by this fact. He told me that the moment he decided to trust me, the moment he decided that I was his pastor, was when I disclosed to the whole church that I have struggled with anxiety and depression and that I have needed therapy for many years.

In that very moment, it dawned on me: as a pastor and as a man, my afflictions may end up having greater impact than my preaching or my vision ever will. It is helpful to remember that nearly all of the psalms — and all the books of the Bible— were themselves written from dark, depressed, wrecked, and restless places.

1.     Thom S. Rainer, “Pastors and Mental Health,” Charisma Leader, March 3, 2014, https://ministrytodaymag.com/leadership/personal-character/20758-thom-rainer-pastors-and-mental-health/. 

2.     Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer (Melbourne: Image Publishing, 2013), 72. 160

3.     2 Corinthians 1:3–7.

Excerpted from Beautiful People Don't Just Happen by Scott Sauls, copyright Scott Sauls.

We all have weaknesses…issues of imperfection that are better talked about and lived with than attempting to hide them in some secret inner sanctum.  We will be encouraged by others and able to encourage others ourselves in offering the truth of our suffering in weakness.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 14, 2022

The Final Reset
by Mark Hitchcock & Jeff Kinley

For all the justified criticism that has been leveled against the great reset, there is one point the great resetters have right. There is one point we can all agree on.

This world desperately needs a great reset. We need more than a simple tune-up. We need a total transformation.

Our planet is groaning and heaving. War, social and racial unrest, shattered families, surging suicide, runaway debt, inflation, deadly new viruses, drug and alcohol abuse, rising lawlessness, and political polarization are coalescing to drive civilization to its knees. In today’s environment, good news can be difficult to find. Hope is in short supply. Our world is increasingly weary, worried, and worn. Something has to change. Something big. We all know it. We all know deep down inside that this world is not what it is supposed to be. We all yearn for things to be much better. We imagine utopia on earth — a new world order — a great society permeated with peace and prosperity, where everything is made right. But how in the world could that ever come to pass?

Is it even remotely possible? If so, who can possibly pull it off? Is there any hope?

This final, ultimate reset we need for planet Earth will not come as a result of human effort, no matter how heroic. Humanity has created the mess, and humanity cannot fix the mess, as hard as we might try. It just keeps getting worse. The reset will not be produced by climate change advocates, the WEF, the Democrat Party, the Republican Party, peaceful protests, economic equality, the US government, the Chinese government, better laws, world religions, nuclear disarmament, or peace treaties.

The only true Global Resetter is God.

Only the Creator can be the Re-Creator. Only the One who set the world in motion can reset it back to its original condition. God is the “Great Resetter,” and the work of total transformation will commence on the day when He sends Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, back to planet Earth just as He promised two thousand years ago when Jesus ascended back to heaven. When Jesus fulfills that promise and comes back to earth, everything will change. His return to planet Earth is the fulcrum of history. All hope for this dying, broken, disintegrating world flows from the reality that he is coming again to conquer and receive the inheritance that Adam and Eve forfeited in the garden. He will do it.

You have God-given purposes

In 47 BC at the Battle of Zela, the Roman army under Julius Caesar soundly defeated the forces of King Pharnaces, who fought the Romans for control of Pontus in Asia Minor. After his victory, Caesar returned to Rome and made his famous announcement, “Veni, vidi, vici.” “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Some seventeen hundred years later, a Polish military strategist, King John III Sobieski, led a brilliant campaign to drive the Ottoman invaders out of central Europe. Leading a force of twenty-five thousand men, he came to the aid of the German emperor Leopold I and beat the invaders back to the walls of Vienna, saving the city and the emperor. The Polish king was given audience before Pope Innocent XI, who congratulated him on his victory. King John’s reply was classic: “I came, I saw, God conquered.”

So shall it be in the last days. God will destroy the evil forces of hell and the wicked armies of the earth at the triumphal return of Jesus. Jesus will come, the world will see, and God will conquer. That will be the glorious consummation of history and the climax of this age.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before Jesus comes to initiate the final, great global reset, there will be a great tribulation — a time worse than any period in history up to that point. Jesus spelled it out.

For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. — Matthew 24:21

A great tribulation will precede global transformation. Things on this earth are going to get worse, much worse, before they get better. All the destabilizing forces we see at work in our world today will multiply and intensify and peak in the earth’s final days.

Excerpted with permission from Global Reset by Mark Hitchcock and Jeff Kinley, copyright Mark Hitchcock and Jeff Kinley.

Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 13, 2022

So I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” — Nehemiah 6:3

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. — Hebrews 12:1

 A long time ago a guy named Artaxerxes was the Persian ruler of the Jewish people. Despite some early friction between Artaxerxes and the Jews, he had an unexplained change of heart toward them as a people. Nehemiah was a servant — the king’s cupbearer — when all of this was going on. The cupbearer was a special job in the palace. This person would pour the wine and taste it before the king did. It wouldn’t have been a bad first job — unless someone was trying to poison the king and you got a mouthful. Then, not so much.

Nehemiah was someone the king trusted with his life, but he was also a slave to him. It was an odd juxtaposition but a deal many of us make all the time. Jerusalem was the big city. If you’ve read the history books, it was forever in the middle of a controversy, much as it still is. It was leveled twice, attacked more than seventy-five times, and recaptured almost as often. One group would overthrow the city, destroy it, and take over, then another group would arrive and do the same. The last group that overthrew the city of Jerusalem had the city walls destroyed and the gates burned (again).

• Nehemiah had a special love for Jerusalem and asked the king if he could leave court and help rebuild the city.

It was a bold ask for a slave, but the king trusted him and told him he could take leave and go. 

There was a lot of work to do, but Nehemiah didn’t just think about it; he got to work. It wasn’t long afterward that some people tried to distract him. These men called him names, said mean things about him, and tried to intimidate him. Their hope was that Nehemiah would become so distracted that he would bail on what he had come to do. Nehemiah made a power move I hope you will adopt in your life. He looked down at the men below calling his name and declared: “I’m doing important work, and I can’t come down!”

• He was a guy who had cracked the code. He knew what he was there to do. He knew why he was doing it. And he wouldn’t be distracted.

Another group figured out where Nehemiah was and threw everything and the kitchen sink at him to get him off task — but once again it didn’t work. Nehemiah yelled down to them while stacking bricks on the wall.

“I’m doing important work, and I can’t come down!”

I can see him — head down, focused, confident, unwilling to yield to the noise around him. Nehemiah knew plenty about distractions, including the power of a distraction to interfere with his larger God-given purposes. He knew these distractions would come his way, and he figured out what he was going to say when they did. You should take a lesson from him.

• “I’m doing important work, and I can’t come down!”

He probably practiced in the mirror so he didn’t have to think about it on the spot. Do the same. Practice saying this to disruptions when they come your way.

“I’m doing important work, and I can’t come down!”

This phrase wasn’t just a slogan for Nehemiah; he had a strategy and a plan to back it up. Here is what he did. Half of the people with him worked on rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem while the other half protected them.

Here are a couple of questions I have for you: What are you going to say to the people and circumstances that come your way, conspiring to distract you from your greater purposes? Will you have the guts and grit to tell these people and the noise around you, “I’m doing important work, and I can’t come down”? Nehemiah couldn’t complete his work alone, and you probably won’t be able to either. Who’s got your back when you are doing the important work? Who is going to help you stick to the important work when you can’t come down?

There was a valley nearby called Ono, but it is pronounced “Oh no.” I’m not kidding. You couldn’t make this stuff up. The people who came at Nehemiah wanted to do more than just distract him; they wanted to take him out. To do this they tried to get him off the wall and down to the “Oh no” valley. I’m willing to bet you’ve been to a place called “Oh no” in your life at some point. Perhaps you’ve listened to the cautious and fear-laced advice from the people around you. “What about this? Oh no. What about that? Oh no.” You might feel like you are on the edge of this place, or perhaps you’ve been living there for a long time. Maybe you have fears born out of disappointments and letdowns in the past. Or anxiety about the future. Perhaps you are in the “Oh no” valley so often it feels like you should get a timeshare there and make it kind of like a lousy trip to Hawaii.

If you aren’t in the “Oh no” valley now or haven’t been there recently, I bet you know people who are the greeters. They are easy to spot because when a great idea comes their way, their first reaction is always: “Oh no. It’ll never work. Why try? Give up! You’re wasting your time. Be more realistic.” These phrases are the coin of the realm for people in a constant state of “Oh no.” Don’t be one of them, and for Pete’s sake, quit hanging out with people who are scaring you off the scent of your beautiful and lasting purpose. Remind yourself that you are doing important work, and you’re not going to come down.

Excerpted from Undistracted by Bob Goff, copyright Bob Goff.

If we want to be like Jesus, we need to be about our Father’s business, doing His work!

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 12, 2022

He Will Hold Me Fast

When I fear my faith will fail

Christ will hold me fast

When the tempter would prevail

He can hold me fast

He will hold me fast

He will hold me fast

For my Savior loves me so

He will hold me fast

(Ada Habershon/Robert Harkness 1906-07)

This beautiful old hymn has become one of my favorites in recent times. It seems almost on a daily basis we are confronted by bad news, difficult prospects and personal tragedy. The world, the flesh and the devil conspire to attack our joy, shake our faith and subvert our confidence in a Holy God and the sufficiency of His Word.

I could never keep my hold

He will hold me fast

For my love is often cold

He must hold me fast

We must always remember that even when our love for Him “cools,” perhaps because of the “cares of life, the lusts of the flesh and the deceitfulness of riches”; His love for us remains ever fervent. Why you may ask? Because...

I am precious in His sight

He will hold me fast

Those He saves are His delight

He will hold me fast

This hymn has its roots in three continents. American evangelist, R.A. Torrey, and his music director, Charles Alexander, were holding an evangelistic campaign in Australia in 1902. There they met a new young pianist named Robert Harkness.

Harkness was invited by the local organizing committee to play the piano for the meetings. During the campaign Dr. Torrey asked Harkness, “Are you a Christian?” Harkness replied, “No, I’m here to play the piano!”

Charles Alexander shortly thereafter led Harkness to faith in Christ. Harkness then served with Torrey’s ministry team for several years.

The team traveled to Tasmania, New Zealand, India, and eventually to London where they came in contact with songstress, Ada Habershon.

In early 1906, the team was in Toronto, Canada. Harkness met a young convert there who “expressed the fear that he would not be able to hold out.”

Harkness wrote to Habershon in England to request more texts to address this sentiment. At a mission in Philadelphia later that year, Harkness pulled out some slips of paper that Ada Habershon had sent him. Among the lines written down was the phrase, “He will hold me fast.” Harkness immediately worked out the music for the verses and chorus then and there.

The following summer in 1907, the song was introduced at the Moody Bible Conference in Northfield, Mass. Later that year in an evangelistic campaign led by Dr. Charles Gordon, assisted by Charles Alexander (and probably Harkness) in Kansas City; He Will Hold Me Fast was sung and regarded by many to be the “highlight of the experience.”

“The climax of the service of song came when Mr. Alexander united choir and audience - 6,000 strong - in singing Mr. Harkness’ new hymn, He Will Hold Me Fast. The people were electrified by the vast volume of melody, such as was probably never before heard in the building, and by the thought of Christ holding us fast amid all of life’s temptations.”

May we, across the span of time, join our hearts and voices with that “audience of 6,000 strong” as well as many thousands of others who have sung these words amidst the trials and tribulations of their lives.

He’ll not let my soul be lost

Christ will hold me fast

Bought by Him at such a cost

He will hold me fast

He will hold me fast

He will hold me fast

For my savior loves me so

HE WILL HOLD ME FAST!

In Christ,

Dallas Holm

Great music is an expression of great faith.  May we not only understand but believe the truth that He Will Hold Me Fast!  You are safe in the hands of the One who loves you best.

Pastor Dale

Notes of Faith June 11, 2022 2nd Edition

Comments from Compass International, Inc.

Food and the Tribulation

There will come a day, probably sooner than later, when Satan will have achieved his goals on planet earth. He will no longer need the Democrats, liberals, atheists and those with Biblical perversions to spread his pathetic misery.

Yep, the time will come when Satan can operate without the Holy Spirit's Restraint, causing death, disease and destruction of most of the humans on earth. This time begins right after the "big boom" ...our exciting exit!

Boy, will all the non-believers be in for a shock both from the Rapture and the immediate results following the Rapture!

Just after the Rapture, in quick succession, Jesus begins breaking seals of destruction and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are first to appear.

The Four Horsemen

Rev. 6:2 - 1st

World leader conquers with drugs(1)

Rev. 6:3 - 2nd

World war and chaos

Rev. 6:5 - 3rd

Economic calamity

Rev. 6:8 - 4th

Death and hell on earth

The result of the first three horsemen—the drugs, war and economic calamity—is the 4th horseman, who brings massive death worldwide totaling roughly two billion people (1/4 of the earth).

Famine is specifically mentioned:

Authority was given to them [Death & Hades] over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. Rev.6:8b

One out of every four people on the earth will die in the first months of the Tribulation, mainly from mass starvation.

Few will have access to enough food and water to keep themselves alive and will die a horrible death. Or they can't afford to purchase food due to severe inflation (Rev. 6:5).

All the Satanic liars who have wrecked our great country will get their due. They won't be exempted from the billions who die in just a matter of months. All death will be equal across the board.

Satan Wants Death

Satan wants death and misery for everyone—the unsaved Republicans will fare no better than unsaved Democrats.

The unsaved church-goers will fare no better than the unsaved atheists. Those with Biblical perversions can't whine and demand they get food.

All those who told the Lord to take a hike and all those who thought they were Christians will now be in the same starvation mode.

They'll be scrambling for anything to eat and willing to do anything to get food. Ultimately food becomes more valuable than gold.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! James 5:1-3

A person needs sleep, food and water to survive. Ultimately the lack of food causes a person's mind to be obsessed only with food. Sleep and water seem less important, which hastens their death.

Those outside of major cities will fare better in the short run as they will initially survive the food riots. But in the long run, it doesn't really matter, God's wrath has arrived. No one will escape.

A Silver Lining

The silver lining in all of this mess is that all the death listed in Rev. 6:1-8, the first four seals released by Jesus, is followed by an uncountable number who are martyred for their faith.

After these things [The Four Horsemen] I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; Rev. 7:9

This is exciting because we all know people who seem to understand and be knowledgeable about the Gospel but never connected the dots to Believe by faith that results in a salvation experience.

But after the Rapture they'll know exactly what's happened. They'll refuse to serve the New World Order to survive. Rather, they'll Believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ and therefore have their sins washed away—even if it costs them their lives.

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?" I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 7:13-14

This is confirmation that our witnessing today, during this ramp-up to Rapture, could be a lifeline to our family, friends and co-workers who miss the departure.

Maybe some of our bright blue Millions Missing booklets will come in handy! :-)

And as I've said many times, the only thing that ultimately matters in this life is who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. A LOT of people will recall our words of warning, and we'll see them again in heaven!

For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” Rev. 7:15-17

So as we get more and more confirmation that God's wrath is getting closer, we can be comforted that Jesus' rescue is near.

Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1Th. 4:18

CQLJ!

BP

1) https://compass.org/a-bow-without-arrows/