I Know God Is Able To Do It; But Is He Willing? (Daily Devotion)
When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”
Matthew 8:1-4
Think of the 4-5 most powerful people on the planet. These people have unparalleled authority. These people have unmatched power to get things done. Who comes to mind? Is it Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos? Is it President Donald Trump? What about Russian President Vladimir Putin? All of these men are incredibly powerful and have unsurpassed authority. But here is the question: With such power and authority, can you picture any of them stooping down to the lowest of the low?
This isn’t a dig at any of them but rather just an observation. We rarely think of the most powerful people as those who stoop down to the lowly. Take a look at Matthew 8:1-4. Up to this point in Matthew, Jesus has been seen as the greater Moses, the Divine Warrior, and the King of the already/not yet kingdom. Matthew has painted a picture of Jesus as not merely a man but God in the flesh. This person is unusual. He is unrivaled. He is at the top of all authority and power.
Mountain Theology
In Matthew 5-7, Jesus has just finished preaching the now-famous “Sermon on the Mount”. In 8:1, it says that Jesus “came down from the mountain”. Why would it say this? Surely Matthew isn’t wasting words here. So, if he isn’t, then why does he want us to be reminded that Jesus is coming down from the mountain?
Did you know that there is such a thing as mountain theology? Mountains play a crucial part in the Old and New Testament. Mountains represent the presence of God. Think about the Garden of Eden that was on a mountain. Think about Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. These high and lifted up places have always been where we have seen God’s glory.
Listen to what biblical scholar T. Desmond Alexander says: “The concept of God living on a holy mountain is a significant theme in the Old Testament. However, this same theme frames the entire Bible.” The theme is that our God is high and lifted up. There is no one so glorious and great as our God! And here is what’s awesome, God’s plan is for His people to dwell on His mountain with Him. God wants us to be in His presence. God desires to glorify His people and redeem them from their sin. That’s why the Bible begins on a mountain and ends on a mountain. Have you ever noticed that?
So, how does this relate to Matthew 8? Jesus, God in the flesh, has just gotten done proclaiming the law of the kingdom on the mountain. Does this remind you of something from the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy (Hint: see Exodus 19-20)? Matthew is saying that the same God who proclaimed the Law from the mountain in the Old Testament is the same God in the flesh here. Jesus is no ordinary man. Jesus is Yahweh in human flesh!
Mountains and Mr. Clean
Because the mountain represents God’s holy presence, it means that the mountain also represents purity and cleanliness. Everything unclean cannot dwell on the mountain in God’s presence. Now, this is where it gets REALLY cool! In Exodus, God speaks from the mountain. At the end of Exodus, God tells Moses to build a tabernacle. The tabernacle becomes the “mobile version” of the mountain. In other words, it’s where God’s holy presence is.
So, in Leviticus (the next book after Exodus) God speaks to Moses from within the tent of meeting (the “mobile mountain”). In Leviticus 13, God tells Moses about what they should do with people with leprosy. Twenty-one different times (21!!!), God tells Moses that people with leprosy are unclean. Here is what this meant for them. Because they were “ceremonially unclean”, people with leprosy had to stay away from the “clean” people. God told Moses in Leviticus 13:45 that if people with leprosy went in public that they had to cry out “Unclean! Unclean!” to warn people to stay out of the way. Could you imagine having to do that for a long time? This wasn’t a disease that was easily healed. People who got it were those who would be socially shamed by others.
“OK, Wilson. What in the world are you talking about?” Wait for it. This is so cool! Jesus, the Holy One who speaks from the mountain, is now coming down the mountain to a man with leprosy. Jesus (aka Mr. Clean himself), approaches someone unclean.
I wonder if you feel your uncleanliness. Do you see the depths of your depravity? Do you understand how dirty and shameful your sin really is? If we’re honest, we’re spiritual lepers. In God’s presence, we should have to go around saying, “Unclean! Unclean!” We don’t deserve to dwell with the God of the Mountain. We are unholy and He is Holy, Holy, Holy (Is. 6:3). Did you notice that the word “clean” or “cleansed” was used three times in this short section in Matthew 8:1-4?
So, what’s Jesus going to do? Do you see the tension here? This guy doesn’t deserve Jesus to respond to him. Jesus doesn’t have to approach him. But, He does!
Mr. Clean and Mr. Unclean
Look what the leper asks Jesus. “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Do you notice what he’s saying? He calls Jesus “Lord”. This leper is recognizing that Jesus is not merely a man. He is more than just a man! But then he says something else. “Lord, I know you’re powerful enough to clean me but I’m not sure if you are willing to clean me. I know you’re able to do it but I’m not sure if you really want to come near someone as unclean as I am.”
Haven’t you and I been here before? It’s easy to think about God’s power and even His sovereignty at times but it’s often harder to believe in His goodness, His compassion, and His desire to help us. Don’t our cries often sound like this: “Lord, I know you’re powerful enough to provide for me but I’m not sure if you are willing. Lord, I know that you are powerful enough to forgive me of my sins but I’m not sure if you are willing. Lord, I know that you are powerful enough to turn this past mistake into some form of redemption but I struggle to believe that you’re willing.”
So, what does Jesus do? Look at v3. This is wild! Jesus reaches out His hand and TOUCHES the leper! “Jesus! You’re not supposed to do that!” But, He does. And notice how Jesus responds. “I am willing; be clean.” Why didn’t Jesus just say, “Be clean”? Why did He have to also say that He is willing?
Jesus wanted to grow this man’s faith. The man had unbelief in Jesus’ willingness to stoop down to the lowly. He saw Jesus as Lord and someone of God-sized authority and power but he doubted that Jesus would want to take His time with someone as small and unclean as a leper. So, what does Jesus do? Jesus not only touches the leper but also speaks to him. Jesus shows him that He is more willing to stoop down low than anyone could ever imagine.
Jesus is like no one else! Jesus is simultaneously the Sovereign King and also our Compassionate Savior. Jesus is the Divine Warrior who fights the strongest enemy and He is also the Prince of Peace who goes to the lowest of the low. Don’t you see how different and amazing Jesus is? No one is like Him!
Jesus really cleansed this guy. There were eyewitnesses and everything! There was no denying that this happened. There was only a matter of how they would respond to Him in light of this happening. It’s the same with us. We must respond in faith in our all-powerful, all-compassionate King. We must trust that God is not only able but He is also willing. The reason why this moment in history is recorded in Holy Scripture is that God wants you to trust that He is the most willing person to cleanse you! The God of the Mountain is also the one who comes down the mountain to transform us.
So, What?
Take all your sin and shame to Jesus. Take all of your failures and faults to God. The Holy One deeply desires to cleanse you. The greatest yearning that you have to be cleansed doesn’t compare in the slightest to God’s desire to cleanse you.
But, how does He do this? He does this by coming down the Mountain into the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Jesus came to die. Jesus came to be declared unclean so that we might be able to cry out “Clean! Clean!” If you’re a Christian, you stand in cleanliness because of the Cross and Resurrection. Not only that; you are also being practically cleansed as you walk in faith.
There is nothing in the Christian that will remain unclean. All of your life will be cleansed and you will be brought home to the Mountain. That’s your destiny because Jesus took your place! This is what Matthew wants us to see. This is the Jesus that Matthew proclaims to us. He is simultaneously the Holy One of the Mountain and also the Suffering Servant who shows compassion to the unclean. Now that’s a Savior you can trust in these times and any other time!
Absent in Body, Present in Spirit
March 23, 2020
Though my formal and official installation by Presbytery as Senior Pastor of Pear Orchard Presbyterian Church has been postponed until we’re able to gather for corporate worship again, I have begun my new role today as we have been planning all along - and what a strange set of circumstances in which to take the baton from Carl! To be unable to assemble for worship or to meet in groups greater than 10, to be practicing social distancing, not to be able to meet for breakfast or lunch or coffee or visit you in your home - pastoral ministry will have to look very different from what I’m used to in some ways for the foreseeable future. In that light, I have been so thankful that our elders have continued to shepherd the flock, that our deacons have continued to serve those in need, and that our staff have tirelessly worked to make sure that we can worship through our live-stream and that the operations and ministry of the church persist as much as possible as this pandemic unfolds.
The weirdest part of this coronavirus crisis for me is our inability to meet for corporate worship. Such has been the case in previous pandemics, though, and we ought to give thanks to God that we live in a time when the internet exists and we can still worship the Lord together, albeit separately in our homes. And we must not forget that because of our spiritual union with Jesus Christ, even when we are absent in body, we are present together in spirit. The Bible, particularly the apostle Paul, strikes this note in several ways that are instructive for us in a season of pandemic.
Our Savior is absent from us in body, but present with us by His Holy Spirit. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20). “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7; see also John 14:16, 26). Jesus is the Head of the church and we are His body. Because He is absent yet present with us by His Holy Spirit, in union with Him we are able to present in our spirits with one another even when we are absent in body.
Our bodily absence yet spiritual presence ought to motivate each of us to pursue holiness. Paul wrote to the Colossian church, “For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ” (Colossians 2:5). He wanted the believers in Colossae to continue to walk by faith in Jesus even though he was not, and likely never had been, with them physically. He speaks in similar ways to the church in Philippi: “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents…Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 1:27-28; 2:12-13). Recalling the spiritual presence of our absent brothers and sisters in Christ, even of your absent pastors, is a strong incentive toward godly living. Certainly I can say with Paul that I long to hear that the saints of POPC are growing in grace even while we are physically separated from one another!
Our bodily absence should drive us to pray for one another earnestly. Paul remembered the saints to whom he wrote in far away places, and he prayed for them: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy…” (Philippians 1:3-4). When we cannot be present physically, we can be present spiritually with our prayers for one another. Mine the Scriptures, especially the prayers of Paul for the churches, as you pray for your church family. Pray with joy as you remember one another and long to see each other again.
Our bodily absence should create a deep longing to be restored to one another physically. In I Thessalonians 2:17, Paul writes, “But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face.” Knox Chamblin, one of my seminary professors at RTS, used to say, “The same sun that melts butter hardens clay.” Being away from one another and from corporate worship will either cause your heart to long all the more to be reunited with the saints in the presence of God, or will lead you to be even more careless about worship and about the people of God. Which will it be for you? Again, with Paul, as your pastor, I long to be together again, to see you face to face. As he writes in I Thessalonians 2:19-20, you are my glory and my joy, my hope and my crown of exultation, when Jesus Christ returns to be physically present with us once again.
May the Lord restore us quickly to one another, and may He be with us and watch over us while we are absent from one another!
Casting out Fear
March 20, 2020
John C. Kwasny
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (I John 4:18)
We are most familiar with the opposing emotions/heart attitudes of love and hate. One person loves Brussels sprouts, the other hates them with a passion. Half of our church loves Ole Miss, but the other half…well, you get the idea. While love and hate are certainly opposites, they are not the ones the Apostle John addresses in I John 4. Instead, he writes first that people can only truly love God and one another when they know the love of God in their lives. According to verses 16-17, God’s love for us is so powerful that when we abide in His love, and His love abides in us, then we are “perfected” in love. And that perfect love gets rid of the fear that so often characterizes our lives. Thus, fear is the opposite of love as well.
Now, what does John mean by perfect love? Since none of us are perfectly holy, how can we expect to achieve this sort of love--and thereby get rid of our fears? According to the late James Montgomery Boice, perfect love “means ‘whole’ or ‘mature,’ and it refers to that state of mind and activity in which the Christian is to find himself when the love of God within him … has accomplished that which God fully intends it to accomplish.” In other words, the more we enjoy the love of God in our lives, the more mature and complete we become in loving Him and loving one another. Then, as that love becomes increasingly mature, we find ourselves with much less fear, dread, and sinful anxiety.
Practically speaking, when we are afraid, the Biblical solution is to not only to trust God more, but to love God more. He is perfectly loving and perfectly trustworthy to handle all things perfectly! Then, this love versus fear dynamic moves to human relationships as well. For example, If I am deeply afraid of another person hurting me, it may actually be unwise to trust him or her to not hurt me (for lack of trustworthiness). Yet, according to I John 4:18, I can still work to love him or her with the love of God, which will also greatly reduce my fear of being hurt.
So, let’s apply this Biblical principle to the fear that is being experienced by many during this coronavirus pandemic. Should we all be trusting God more during this time? Definitely. Should this crisis move us to love God more? Yes! But an overlooked opportunity is for all of us, as the Body of Christ, to learn to love our neighbor much more intentionally and intensely. Loving others with Christlike service has the God-given power of getting our minds off self, and by extension, our fears. Perfect love casts out fear! Go in that grace today, loving God and loving one another with the love of God.
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms Through Times of Storm
In light of the current pandemic we’re experiencing as a nation, and with my concern for the people of God in particular, I found myself reflecting on the statement “All we as Christians need for faith and practice is found in the law of God.” While reflecting on this statement, the following questions then came to mind: “How can we, in light of our current circumstances, practically experience and live out this statement in a manner that centers our focus on Christ, and not on the negative emotions we’re so prone to wallow in? How can we be strengthened in a time when a key source of our strength, our fellowship with one another, has been restricted or taken away?” My thoughts:
In the Reformed tradition, based on Scripture, we assert that the requirements of the law of God, as it pertains to our salvation, have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and thus, we are saved by faith in him, apart from the law. This reality is a source of great comfort for those who know and understand the depths of their own sin and waywardness. We also assert that the law still has a purpose in our lives; it guides us into paths of righteousness for our Lord’s sake, for His glory, and towards the betterment and sanctification of his people. Our Westminster Larger Catechism, answering the question, “What are the duties required in the first commandment?” provides the following answer:
The duties required in the first commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly, by thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of him; believing him; trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in him; being zealous for him; calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all obedience and submission to him with the whole man; being careful in all things to please him, and sorrowful when in anything he is offended; and walking humbly with him.
Encapsulated in this answer is an acknowledgement of God’s control, His authority, and His presence among, and specifically with, those who are His. It is in times like these that we need to be reminded of our duty to engage in the volitional acts described in our catechism. The Apostle Paul sums it up well, writing to the church at Philippi, and by extension to us:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)
Our Lord has graciously called us to live in the manner described above. Let us, therefore, respond by committing our hearts to walking in the manner he has prescribed, turning to him, loving him, and walking with him, in Christ our Lord, and not our fears and anxieties. As we experience the type of separation that goes against the very grain of the gathering together we’ve been called to (Hebrews 10:25), let us take this opportunity to strongly lean into the Everlasting Arms: through prayer, increased personal reading of God’s Word, family devotions, and encouraging one another as much as is possible, through the means (phone, media, distance socializing) we have available to us.
In His Service, Pastor Dean
Livestream Devotional from Carl Kalberkamp on Psalm 46
Fast forward to 7:30 in the video to start the beginning of the teaching.
How Do We Effectively Pastor During This Time?
This is the question the entire Church is asking today: How do we effectively pastor during this time? This is the question that Jared Wilson responds to in his very helpful blog:
A friend messaged me yesterday asking, “How do we effectively pastor during this time?” In this odd season of quarantining and social distancing and church service suspending, how can pastors maintain their duties to the flock?
In some contexts, perhaps the work of shepherding continues fairly normally. For many others, however, the daunting prospect of ministry in the season of COVID-19 entails more than simply figuring out how to live stream a service. If you can’t be near much of your congregation, how do you pastor them? Some suggestions:
1. Keep preaching.
Obviously, conscience and conviction may dictate whether you want to preach via the internet, but it’s still important to put the gospel in front of your people as many ways as you can. If that means broadcasting a full sermon each Sunday, do it. It may also mean publishing podcasts, vodcasts, blog posts, tweets, or Facebook updates involving devotional thoughts. Right now, your people are taking in all kinds of messages—some helpful, some not, some simply distracting. Don’t let other voices tempt them in their loneliness or anxiety to tempt their eyes away from Jesus. Figure out the ways that work best for your convictions and your context to “show them Jesus.” This is your prime directive.
For the rest of the list, click here.
Hope for the Hurting and Confused
March 17, 2020
What surreal and sobering times in which we live! And yet we can confidently say with David, “But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hands…” (Psalm 31:14-15). Each day this week, and for the indefinite future, the staff at Pear Orchard will aim to post a brief word of encouragement and counsel here on our website. This morning I want to share three truths that have been bouncing around in my head and heart these past days.
Plague and pestilence are from our sovereign Father. In all our human efforts to stem to spread of this virus, let us not forget that this physical, social, and economic disaster is according to the sovereign will of God. He was not caught by surprise by this outbreak like we have been, for He “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). We learn that pestilence and disease specifically is from the hand of God in I Chronicles 21. After David had sinned against the Lord by numbering the people of Israel, God sent the prophet Gad to declare to David, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Take for yourself either three years of famine, or three months to be swept away before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel’” (I Chronicles 21:11-12). David responds, “I am in great distress; please let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.” George Armstrong, a Presbyterian pastor in Norfolk, Virginia, during the days of the yellow fever epidemic in 1855, noted regarding David’s words: “Thus he speaks, not because David did not regard famine and war as a part of God's providence, but in the pestilence, the mysterious, the terrible pestilence, "the pestilence that walketh in darkness, the destruction that wasteth at noon-day" [Psalm 91:6], the soul instinctively acknowledges the presence of an agent, fresh from before the eternal throne.” God sovereignly sends pestilence, even as He sovereignly sends the hurricane or tornado, according to His inscrutable, mysterious will. Like any trial, though, for the people of God this affliction comes as His fatherly discipline (Hebrews 12:5ff.; I Corinthians 11:32). So David could acknowledge that suffering through a period of plague (which in that case killed 70,000 Israelites) was actually falling into the hands of a God whose mercies are great. “Though He slay me, yet I will hope in Him,” declared Job in Job 13:15. And so must we hope in Him as we endure this judgment of God from His loving hand of discipline. He causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28). And so we can say with Jeremiah, “For the Lord will not reject forever, for if He causes grief, then He will have compassion, according to His abundant lovingkindness” (Lamentations 3:21-32).
Our joy in changing times is grounded in our unchanging salvation. Few passages of God’s word state this as explicitly as I Peter 1:3-6. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials…” As we are distressed by various trials for a little while, as God deems it necessary, we greatly rejoice in “this” - and what is the “this”? It is the salvation that God has accomplished for us in Jesus Christ. Salvation past - God has raised Jesus from the dead, and has caused us to be born again to a living hope through His resurrection. Salvation future - we have an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance reserved in heaven for us and ready to be revealed in the last time. Salvation present - even now God is protecting us by His power for this salvation to come. Because this salvation is sure, then our joy is great - no matter what we might be suffering. Our joy is not found in our circumstances but in our God and in His grace to us in Jesus. Are we distressed right now? Absolutely, and Peter does not deny the distressing, sorrowful nature of trials and afflictions. Yet he affirms that even in our sorrow there is a deeper undercurrent of joy that holds us up as we suffer. So let us rejoice and be glad even as we endure the hardships of these days.
Though we cannot gather for corporate worship right now, we can and must gather for private worship and family worship. The desire to limit the spread of the coronavirus has led us to forego assembling together in person on the Lord’s Day for a season, and thankfully we have the technology to meet virtually through the internet. But formal worship in the public assembly is not our only opportunity to worship God. Yes, it’s true, all of life is to be worship for the Christian, so that whether we eat or drink or work or play, we are to do all to the glory of God (I Corinthians 10:31). But more specifically, we are to worship God in secret, each one by ourselves, and in our families. Spend time by yourself each day crying out to God in your distress, and thanking Him for His mercies that are new every morning. Listen to His word before you listen to the morning news or to your newsfeed on Twitter or Facebook. Fill your hearts with His truth before they are filled with fear and trembling at the increasing number of COVID-19 cases or the decreasing number of the stock markets. With our children off of school, and so many activities cancelled, even at church, it is all the more imperative that we redeem the time and take advantage of these strange circumstances to engage in family worship each day. Whether first thing in the morning or right after dinner or just before bed, gather your family together to sing, to read the Bible, and to pray. Keep it simple, especially if you’re doing family worship for the first time. Sing the assuring hymns and songs of the church down through the ages. Comfort and encourage the hearts of your children with God’s truth and grace. Answer their questions from His word. Praise and thank God for His goodness in the midst of suffering. Intercede for the sick, for our leaders, for health care workers, for those who don’t know Jesus, for missionaries in other countries. Worship Him as the God who does as things well.
There are so many more truths that we can take hold of and live in the light of, but I hope that these three will sustain your heart this day. God is sovereign, wise, and good.
How To Survive and Have Fun At Home During A Pandemic
One of the biggest concerns that I have been hearing recently has been what parents can do to keep their children active and not merely in front of screen during this time. How can we have some sort of “normalcy” during this time? I am sure that there are many helpful articles out there (and I will seek to pass several of those along as well) but here are some things that might help a family who has their children at home more than usual.
Exercise
Going to a gym or sports practice seems to be a “no-go” right now since things are touched by everyone. So, how do we stay active? Here are some helpful tips:Walk/Run/Bike around the neighborhood. You can still practice “social distancing” by walking around the neighborhood with your friends.
Find good YouTube workout videos. There are TONS of people who have developed helpful videos for at-home workouts with no weights needed. Trust me, if you find the right video, it’ll get the job done.
Walk the dog/cat/hamster. Just kidding. Don’t walk the cat. I’ve done that before. We hardly got 50 feet.
Yard Work
The grass is growing. Get out there and cut the grass! Look, you can even spread it out. Cut the back yard one day and cut the front yard the next day. As experts are telling us, it helps to be outside in the heat to defeat the spread of the disease.Pick up books
This is the perfect time to replace the phone, Netflix, and video games with a good book. Pick up Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or The Hunger Games. Read a good fiction book. Get immersed in the wonder of a good story told. Pick up a good book to aid in the Christian life. Check out books by John Piper, Tim Keller, Kevin DeYoung. Don’t do audiobooks! Get a real book in your kid’s hands. Matter of fact, I bet Amazon will still deliver books to you!Grill Out, Bake, Cook
Teach the kids how to cook. Parents, what could be better than you taking time to teach the kids how to grill out, bake, and cook now so that when life gets back to normal you can get your kids to cook for you? Teach them how to cook the basics so that they don’t have to survive on Easy Mac and Ramen Noodles when they go to college. They’ll make more friends when they know how to make an awesome “White Chicken Chili”. Don’t microwave food (unless it’s leftovers). Enjoy the process of creating, putting together, and enjoying a hard-earned craft. Cooking can take about an hour to three hours from getting off the couch to finishing your last bite. Take advantage of it.Find a Hobby on YouTube
I have seen several of our students who can woodwork, build stuff and every other synonym that goes with what I just said. There are tons of awesome tutorials and “how-to” videos on YouTube that our students have already learned from. I know students who have learned how to work on cars, knit, cook, bake, do magic tricks, play the guitar, and many other things off of YouTube. Take advantage of technology during this time to get them to do things that will take their eyes off of screens. Yes, it means that they’ll have to get on screens in order to find something. But, it’ll pay off in the end.Space Out Your Entertainment
One of the best ways to promote boredom and complaining teenagers is if we watch all of our entertainment in only a few days (or hours!). Space it out. Don’t watch a movie every night. Don’t spend all the time in front of the TV. To be sure, we need to watch how much we’re in front of screens but let’s also be realistic that we will certainly be in front of screens a good amount during this time. This isn’t all bad. We just need to be good stewards.Board Games
It’s time to break out the board games. There are some really fun games you can purchase or dust off:Bang!
Pandemic (Yes, this might be the most fitting game during this time!)
Forbidden Island
Risk
Ticket To Ride
Settlers of Catan
Exploding Kittens (don’t worry, it’s a fun and silly game)
Superfight
Keep a Normal Sleep Schedule
Not every day is the weekend. Even though it feels different, avoid the late nights. Go to bed at a normal time and wake up at a normal time. This is definitely a time to get more sleep (as many youths get only around 4-6 hours a night) but don’t over-sleep.Don’t Wear “Lazy Clothes” All The Time
When I was on my “paternity leave” with Knox, I quickly realized that if I put on jeans, shoes, and a decent shirt that I would not feel as drowsy and lazy. Get your kids to still put on decent clothes at times to help the mood. Now, to be sure, don’t make them wear their school uniforms or a suit. Actually, I’d love to see kids wear suits. Send me the pictures! But seriously, don’t go overboard but do figure ways to have them realize that it’s not the Summer yet.Get on FaceTime and Make Phone Calls; Don’t Just Text
Get the kids off of texting during this time and get them on FaceTime, House Party, Instagram Live, or whatever else it is to get them talking with each other. Keep up social contact during this time but foster good conversations and not sporadic texting. Bring back the days where you might have a 30+ minute phone conversation with one person. That’s not bad!Don’t Overload Chores
Some of us might be grinning from ear to ear like the cartoon Grinch did when he figured out how he could destroy Christmas. Don’t overload your kids with chores. Like the entertainment, space it out. Don’t burn them out. Dads, don’t burn your kids out of yard work. Get them outside but don’t keep them outside until the sun goes down. Moms, don’t worry if they take some time to sit down and watch TV or play games. Give them stuff to do but give them time to hang out. It’s very healthy for them to work hard AND play hard. That creates a good mindset. We don’t want workaholics. We want to create good stewards.Consider Buying “Table Topics”
This is one of the BEST conversation starters. It’s a box of tons of questions that help you start genuine conversations. Grace and I have done these and one day we spent hours outside without phones going through some questions. There are tons of different options that they have. I’ll include some below:Go Fishing!
This is a great way to get outside and still have social distance. Get your hands dirty. Dig up some worms from the ground. This is a good way to get with friends without getting sneezed on.Make A Literal Bucket List
Make a bucket list or a “jar” list that you write your own ideas on. Do one a day. Figure out some fun things that you know your family loves to do.Plant a Garden
Plant some thyme, oregano, basil, tomatoes, peppers, and anything that you can consume. Plant some bushes, flowers, vines, or whatever else to decorate your home. If your kids help you plant the garden, I guarantee you they’ll think twice before running through it next time.
How Do We Love Each Other Well During A Time Of A Pandemic?
Many of you know Andy Crouch from his books on leadership, culture, or technology stewardship. Andy always seems to put his finger on the pulse of where things our in our culture. In this timely article, Andy Crouch talks about how we can love each other in leadership during this time. Here is an excerpt:
At this extraordinary moment, local leaders — people who lead groups of 10 to 1,000 people — have perhaps the greatest opportunity to shape culture in the United States that they have ever had. This is a guide for those of us who are Christian leaders at this moment.
Shaping culture is a matter of changing “the horizons of possibility.” Culture tells us, in countless direct and indirect ways, what we are able to do, and what we are not able to do. And leaders play an outsize role in moving those horizons, especially at times of disruption and crisis. They play that role through both symbolic action — what they say, how they say it, even how they hold themselves and respond to others — and through decision-making on behalf of others.
A leader’s responsibility, as circumstances around us change, is to speak, live, and make decisions in such a way that the horizons of possibility move towards shalom, flourishing for everyone in our sphere of influence, especially the vulnerable.
With the arrival of COVID-19 in the United States, we need to change the horizons of possibility extremely rapidly in two fundamental ways:
We need to change norms of social interaction literally overnight to minimize the transmission of the virus. I will outline below what I believe are the most important steps, based on the best public information about SARS-CoV-2 (the virus) and COVID-19 (the disease). These steps feel drastic. Crucially, implementing them early enough will require tremendous leadership because they will not initially seem necessary to most of the people we lead. When dealing with pandemics, the measures that will actually make a difference always need to be taken sooner than we think.We need to redirect social energy from anxiety and panic to love and preparation. This crisis presents an extraordinary opportunity to fortify small communities of love and care for our neighbors. That will only happen if we lead in a way that reduces fear, increases faith, and reorients all of us from self-protection to serving others.
There are several reasons that now is an almost uniquely important moment for local leaders. We have become accustomed to culture being shaped “somewhere else” — by elected officials, especially national ones; by celebrities; by media. But we are dealing with a virus that is transmitted person to person, in small and large groups of actual people. This is not a virtual crisis — it is a local, embodied one. Local, embodied responses will quite literally mean life and death for people.
For the full article, click here.
Francis James Grimke and the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918
One of my hobbies is collecting and reprinting the writings of and about 18th and 19th century American Presbyterians (I was a history and mathematics major at LSU, and have enjoyed studying history for as long as I can remember; combine that with my love for the Presbyterian Church and books, and I guess it was only a matter of time before Log College Press happened). Preserving and reading old books is important for many reasons (if you’ve never read C. S. Lewis’ essay “On the Reading of Old Books,” do it as soon as you can), but one of my favorite reasons is that “there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 7:10). The trials and issues we face today have already been faced by Christians in generations past, and their writings continue to minister powerfully to us.
One example is immediately obvious: a recent precursor to today’s coronavirus pandemic was the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Between October 1, 1918, and November 1, 1919, nearly 3,000 citizens of our nation’s capital died from the virus. During October 1918, as we’re experiencing somewhat today, public gatherings were banned. Francis James Grimke was an African American Presbyterian minister in Washington, D.C., who pastored Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church from 1878-1928. When his congregation was allowed to gather for corporate worship again on November 3, 1918, he preached a sermon entitled Some Reflections, Growing Out of the Recent Epidemic of Influenza That Afflicted Our City. In it he elaborates upon several lessons he learned during the worst season of the deadly flu. I encourage you to read all eleven pages of Grimke’s sermon, but I want to summarize a few of the things he learned in hopes that God might teach us similar lessons over the next few months.
1. In spite of all the resources of modern science and all the skill of trained professionals, it is easy for viruses to kill large numbers of people. Grimke soberly reminds us, “How easy it would be for God to wipe out the whole human race, in this way, if he wanted to; for these terrible epidemics, plagues, the mighty forces of nature, all are at His command, are all His agents. At any moment, if He willed it, in this way, vast populations or portions of populations could be destroyed.”
2. Why do some who get the virus die and others recover? Why do some get the virus and others do not? Certainly there are physical answers to those questions. But ultimately, the answer is that God has written all our days in His book, when as yet there was not one of them (Psalm 139:16). Grimke explains, “[The reason] is to be found in the will of God. For some, the time of their departure had come, the limit of their earthly existence had been reached, and this was God's way of removing them out of this world into the next. Some day we have all got to go, but how, or when, or where, we do not know; that is with God alone.”
3. Viruses are no respecter of persons, and certainly no respecter of skin color. In Grimke’s day, racial discrimination against African Americans in the United States was present to a large degree. He was struck by the way that white Americans were having to face the fact that white skin was no guarantee of a stronger constitution, as some in his day were claiming. “In this terrible epidemic, which has afflicted not only this city but the whole country, there is a great lesson for the white man to learn. It is the folly of his stupid color prejudice. It calls attention to the fact that he is acting on a pinciple that God utterly repudiates, as He has shown during this epidemic scourge, and, as He will show him when He comes to deal with him in the judgment of the great day of solemn account.”
4. Flu pandemics keep death and eternity before people in a way that only wars tend to do. Grimke puts it beautifully, and I quote him at length: “While it lasted, it kept the thought of death and of eternity constantly before the people. As the papers came out, day after day, among the first things that every one looked for, or asked about, was as to the number of deaths. And so the thought of death was never allowed to stay very long out of the consciousness of the living. And with the thought of death, the great thought also of eternity, for it is through death that the gates of eternity swing open. We don't as a general thing think very much about either death or eternity. They are not pleasant things to think about, and so we avoid thinking of them as much as possible. It is only when we are forced to that we give them any consideration, and even then only for the moment. They are both subjects of vital importance, however, involving the most momentous consequences. For after death is always the judgment. The grim messenger is God's summons to us to render up our account. That there is an account to be rendered up we are inclined to lose sight of, to forget; but it is to be rendered all the same. The books are to be opened, and we are to be judged out of the books. During the weeks of this epidemic—in the long list of deaths, in the large number of new made graves, in the unusual number of funeral processions along our streets, God has been reminding us of this account which we must soon render up; He has been projecting before us in away to startle us, the thought of eternity.”
5. Finally, it is only a living faith in Jesus Christ that can give a true sense of security in the midst of deadly perils. “While the plague was raging, while thousands were dying, what a comfort it was to feel that we were in the hands of a loving Father who was looking out for us, who had given us the great assurance that all things should work together for our good. And, therefore, that come what would—whether we were smitten with the epidemic or not, or whether being smitten, we survived or perished, we knew it would be well with us, that there was no reason to be alarmed.” For the Christian, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And so while we live, we live for Christ and for the good of our neighbor, not for self. And if He chooses to take us home, then we rejoice that we will be with him forever.
May the Lord grant us protection and peace, as well as grace to use this trial for our spiritual growth and His glory!
Dear Christian, When The Pandemic Hits, This Is Our Time (TGC Article Excerpt)
Once again, I would like to provide another article that might aid your faith in our all-Sovereign God who is completely in control of every molecule and disease in this world. I have been greatly helped by several articles and blogs this week and I am only wanting to pass these along.
This is a season where the “rubber meets the road” for our faith. How big is our God? What are the demands of the gospel? Do we really love our neighbors? What an opportunity for us at Pear Orchard!
Here is another helpful excerpt from a good blog post from The Gospel Coalition:
And so we’re wondering: how bad is this crisis going to get? Is our society going to pull together, and get through it together? Or is the panic buying a sign of things to come?
Will we be praising the bravery of our medical staff, like we praised the RFS during the bushfire crisis? Or will many of the hospital staff go AWOL if the crisis picks up, like they did in the Matt Damon movie Contagion?
How bad will this crisis be?
The truth is, we don’t know for sure.
And so as a society, we’re increasingly anxious. Anxious for our loved ones. Anxious for ourselves. It’s a time of fear.
But whatever happens, dear Christian, know this: this is our time. God has raised us up for such a time as this. It’s no accident you’re here.
This is our time to think not about ourselves, but about our neighbours. Many of whom are scared, and will only grow more so as the virus spreads.
For the full article, click here.
How To Encourage Young Adults To Drop Out Of Church (Yes, You Read The Title Correctly)
The stats are nothing new. We’ve seen the numbers for several years now. But, we saw again recently that the numbers have remained the same. Young Adults are dropping out of church when they go to college or when they enter into the professional world.
In his VERY helpful blog, Jared Wilson gives us six ways how we can encourage this trend. Yes, you read that right. In other words, if you want to see these numbers stay the same rather than get better then here are six recommendations he has:
Attend church sporadically.
Complain about your church.
Insulate them from the rest of the body.
Ignore their crucial questions.
Church hop.
Marginalize or muzzle the gospel.
If I might be so bold, I would add a couple more that would encourage this trend:
Don’t talk to your children about the difference between going to church versus listening to a podcast or watching a YouTube video of a sermon.
Don’t model vulnerability with close friends at the church.
Treat Jesus as a means to an end rather than the end in Himself.
Only attend what is “absolutely necessary” in order to keep up your membership at the church.
Criticize the sermon every week in front of your kids.
Teach them that doctrine isn’t important as long as they just “love God and love others”.
Don’t prepare for Sunday worship like it’s an important day.
Don’t talk about how Sunday worship applies to the rest of the week.
For Jared Wilson’s full article, click here.
How Would C.S. Lewis Respond To The Coronavirus?
In this phenomenal excerpt from C.S. Lewis provided by Matt Smethurst from The Gospel Coalition, it is helpful to replace “atomic bomb” with “coronavirus”. The reason why I wanted to post this helpful except is to show us yet again another man who has a balanced response amidst a crisis. Here is a man who reacts with faith in a great God while also using common sense. In this, we see how C.S. Lewis might respond:
In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”
In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.
What Would Martin Luther Say About The Coronavirus?
As the tensions, panic, and severity of the coronavirus seem to be ramping up over the past 48 hours, Martin Luther is certainly someone who comes to mind in circumstances like this. Luther, the man who fired the theological shot that was heard about the world, was a man who also went through a legitimate plague.
In August of 1527, the infamous Black Plague visited Wittenberg where Luther lived. What was his take on the plague that had knocked out far more than our coronavirus? Was it to downplay the disease in light of God’s sovereign provision? Was it to overreact in fear and hysteria? No. As you might see, Luther has one of the most balanced responses in circumstances like ours.
In his helpful overview of how Luther responded, Marvin Olasky from World Magazine has shown how Luther might react were he to be alive today. Here is a helpful excerpt:
Luther’s step one was to follow Christ’s statement, “‘As much as you did to one of the least, you did to me’ (Matthew 25:40). If you wish to serve Christ and to wait on him, very well, you have your sick neighbor well at hand. … This is said as an admonition and encouragement against fear and a disgraceful flight to which the devil would tempt us so that we would disregard God’s command in our dealings with our neighbor and so we would fall into sin of the left hand.”
Luther went on to say: “Others sin on the right hand. They are much too rash and reckless, tempting God and disregarding everything which might counteract death and the plague. … They do not avoid persons and places infected by the plague, but lightheartedly make sport of it and wish to prove how independent they are.”
Luther concluded, “It is even more shameful for a person to pay no heed to his own body and to fail to protect it against the plague the best he is able, and then to infect and poison others who might have remained alive if he had taken care of his body as he should have. He is thus responsible before God for his neighbor’s death and is a murderer many times over. My dear friends, that is no good. … Shun persons and places wherever your neighbor does not need your presence.”
For the full article, click here.
Should Christians Feel Guilty All the Time? (Kevin DeYoung)
This article is one that was written in 2016 but the power of the gospel still speaks in this short blog. This blog greatly helped my own heart especially when feeling the guilt and shame of past mistakes that can go back as far as 10-15 years ago. So, for those of you who struggle with something similar, maybe this excerpt will help you too:
1. We don’t fully embrace the good news of the gospel. We forget that we have been made alive together with Christ. We have been raised with him. We have been saved through faith alone. And this is the gift of God, not a result of works (Eph. 2:4-8). Let us not be afraid to embrace the lavishness of God’s grace.
2. Christians tend to motivate each other by guilt rather than grace. Instead of urging our fellow believers to be who they are in Christ, we command them to do more for Christ (see Rom. 6:5-14). So we see Christlikeness as something we are royally screwing up, when we really should see it as something we already possess but need to grow into.
3. Most of our low-level guilt falls under the ambiguous category of “not doing enough.” Look at the list above. None one of the items is necessarily sinful. They all deal with possible infractions, perceptions, and ways in which we’d like to do more. These are the hardest areas to deal with because no Christian, for example, will ever confess to praying enough. So it is always easy to feel terrible about prayer (or evangelism or giving or any number of disciplines). We must be careful that we don’t insist on a certain standard of practice when the Bible merely insists on a general principle.
For example, every Christian must give generously and contribute to the needs of the saints (2 Cor. 9:6-11; Rom. 12:13). This we can insist on with absolute certainty. But what this generosity looks like–how much we give, how much we retain–is not bound by any formula, nor can it be exacted by compulsion (2 Cor. 9:7). So if we want people to be more generous we would do well to follow Paul’s example in 2 Corinthians and emphasize the blessings of generosity and the gospel-rooted motivation for generosity as opposed to shaming those who don’t give as much.
For the full blog, click here.
How to Raise Children in a ‘Be Yourself’ World (The Gospel Coalition)
Here is an interesting excerpt from an article that might bring parents some encouragement amidst the struggle to parent children today:
An advertising poster for vitamins was recently put up near our house. It has the singer Nicole Scherzinger telling me: “How you look and feel comes from within having that inner light. Whatever you do, give it your all and be amazing.”
What you make of that statement may well depend on your age. The older you are, the more likely you’ll smile and think, Uh, no matter how many vitamin supplements I take, I’m unlikely to ever look like a model and pop star. A younger audience, though, will tend to be less cynical and to cheer the sentiment.
We live in a world that tells us endlessly to look within, discover who you are, and be true to yourself. For parents, it can be bewildering how this message has been absorbed by our children. Let me therefore suggest five—admittedly broad-brush—thoughts on helping your teenage kids navigate the modern maze of messages.
Click here for the rest of the article.
Getting Ready for Supper - the Lord's Supper
Even as the apostles of Jesus made logistical preparations for the Passover meal at which Jesus would institute His Supper (Luke 22:7-13), so the apostle Paul reminds us of the spiritual preparations that are necessary before we come to the meal that memorializes Jesus’ death: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (I Corinthians 11:27-29).
As our preparation for earthly meals are informed by the purpose of those meals (is it a wedding? a family BBQ? a church crawfish boil? an anniversary date?), one way to get spiritually ready for this supper is to recall its purpose. The Lord’s Supper is at least three things: commemoration, communion, and anticipation.
It is commemoration: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” This command has reference to the past. We remember the once-for-all, unrepeatable event of our Lord’s death. We show forth His death; we declare to all around us that the heart of the good news is a bloody cross. There Jesus bore our sins in His body, and our sins were forgiven. There God’s wrath was satiated, and He was reconciled to us. And not only do we remember that event, but we remember our Lord Himself. We remember that He who possessed all glory and riches became poor for our sake so that we through His poverty might be made rich in Him.
The Lord’s Supper is also communion. There is a present aspect to what we are doing at the Lord’s Supper. Jesus Christ is present at the table; He is the host. We commune with our Savior in the here and now, in the eating of the bread and the drinking of the cup. “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?” (I Corinthians 10:16). By His Holy Spirit and by faith we partake of and feed on all the spiritual blessings that are ours in Him. The one whose death we commemorate is living and present with us as we gather around the communion table. Likewise, our brothers and sisters in Christ are present with us - together, we are the body of Christ, and we commune in one another’s gifts and graces. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (I Corinthians 10:17).
Finally, the Lord’s Supper is anticipation. We “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” We must not forget the future aspect to what we are doing as we eat and drink the Lord’s Supper. There will one day be a presence of Jesus bodily and visibly, and seeing Him we will be made like Him! The sacrament of the Lord’s supper will be no more, and the marriage supper of the Lamb will be at hand (Revelation 19:9). We anticipate that day every time we partake of the Lord’s supper.
So as you prepare your heart for this Sunday’s worship service, and in particular for the Lord’s Supper, remember what you come to do. Put on clothes fit for the occasion: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Colossians 3:12-13).
[1] Based on John Murray, Collected Writings
A Few of The Things God Taught Us At Our Missions Festival
Last week we enjoyed a rich spread of gospel truth and missional encouragement at our 2020 Missions Festival. If you weren’t able to hear Nate Bonham on 2/9, John Snyder on 2/12, or Dave Garner on 2/16 - or even if you were - here are some of the highlights from their sermons.
Nate Bonham preached from John 17, and reminded us that missions is for the glory of God and our joy. Remembering that God’s glory is the goal of missions redefines the battlefield, redefines the weapons, and redefines victory. That is, a focus on God’s glory reminds us that the battlefield is actually the heart of man; that the word of God is the weapon, as is our money, which we sacrifice for His glory and for the sake of others knowing God; and that success in missions is guaranteed, for it is based on God’s sovereign grace alone. The purpose of missions is also the joy of those who are saved. God sanctifies His people and aligns our joys with His, and sends us out together with other believers to share the gospel so that we might rejoice as others come to know His joy.
John Snyder preached from the life of Ahaz in II Chronicles 28. He challenged us to ask ourselves if we are the kind of people with whom God can entrust new believers. Ahaz’s view of God was so small that it led him toward pragmatism, idolatry, unfaithfulness, and a disbelief of God’s promises. When we walk in the way of Ahaz, when our view of God is tiny, then our evangelism will be affected dramatically. Not only will we cease to evangelize but God will not want unbelievers to be in our midst, lest we infect them with the same view of God that we have.
Dave Garner preached from Matthew 28:18-20 and III John 1-8. In Matthew 28 he showed us what makes the Great Commission so great: its comprehensive scope (all nations gathered into the church); its depth (demands a complete life change); its source (the triune God); its authority (the authority of the incarnate Son of God); its accompanying promise (that Jesus will be with us by His Spirit). In light of these realities, we go forth to bring the message of salvation to all the earth. From III John 1-8, he were called to walk in gospel truth, to abound in gospel love, and the breath a gospel mission. Our mission must be marked by a priority (Jesus Christ), a fidelity (to the word of God), an accountability (to the church that sends us), a hospitality (to strangers), a generosity (to those who are sent), an intentionality (to see ourselves as fellow workers), and a mutuality (we are all called to send and to receive, to go and to send).
These notes are just a summary of the truth and exhortation we heard this past week. As we point others to the hope of the gospel, may the Lord continue to spread the fame of His name through us, both around the corner and around the world.
Wednesday Night Preview
Tomorrow night, I will be leading us in our next talk in our series on “Through the Trembling Darkness: Thinking Biblically About Anxiety and Depression”. We will be talking about “The Fear of God vs The Fear of Man” and how this affects our understanding of anxiety and depression. We will be seeking to answer questions such as:
How does the fear of man actually show up in real-life?
What happens in our hearts whenever the fear of man takes over?
What does it mean to fear God?
How can I grow in the fear of God?
How does fearing man affect my anxiety and depression?