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Tag: fear

Why won’t we do it?

July 1, 2019 /

This post is the final in the slow series on our summer of Sabbath rest. In it, I want to address the “why not?” of Sabbath. For all the benefits of the Sabbath, most of us will not actually engage in the practice of rest. I am sure the reasons are many, but I want to share two here:

First, we are afraid of stopping. Our identity is tied up in what we do. Want to know how much? Try going to a gather and never ask a person what they do and never say what you do. It is nearly impossible. Not being identified with our work causes us to feel lost and useless. Sabbath will confront your very sense of who you are and what you find your value in. Most of us, myself included, do not want to go there. Sabbath is not productive. We fear we are missing out. We fear we will be accused of being lazy or failing to carry out our responsibilities.

Second, fear of legalism. Certainly, there are many stories of excess rules and structures of the past. When children were not allowed to play and joy was looked upon with disdain. We are right to be apprehensive, but let us not avoid one excess by going to another excess that never stops, never delights in God and his good gifts to humanity. If your Sabbath has become a burden then it is time to change your Sabbath. Sabbath is a day to celebrate the abundance of God. A day filled with joy, laughter, beauty, rest, love, and delight. Jesus, says to come to him like a child. There is something winsome and childlike about the Sabbath. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. The Sabbath is God’s holy gift to humanity. It is a means of expressing his continual love and provision to each one of us. Sabbath is the invitation to be with God.

Blessings,
Stephen

Do something new

January 11, 2017 /

Start something new this year. Go where you have always wanted to go. Try what you always wanted to try. Failure isn’t fatal. You may not have everything you need. You may have more fear than faith. You may not have a functional plan. There may be more doubts than answers. Your friends may try to have you committed. But do it anyway…

Anything worth doing

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

It’s Election Day

November 8, 2016 /

Keep Calm and Kingdom On

Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. (NIV)

As Christians, we go through life differently than others. We can go through life with an impenetrable optimism. Jesus is King. He was yesterday. He is today. He will be tomorrow. Whatever happens, as Christians let us “Keep Calm and Kingdom On” and never lose our eternal optimism for the Kingdom of God until, as the song says, “earth and heaven are one.”

Keep calm and do the work of the Kingdom!

Pastor Stephen

 

The New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011. Print.

It Changes Nothing

August 24, 2016 /

The Whitehouse

Dear friends,

As you all heard me talk about many times before, I listen to podcasts . . . a lot. One of my favorites is the EntreLeadership Podcast hosted by Ken Coleman. Recently he interviewed the entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. During the interview, Gary said something I had to come back and type it up to share it with you.

As you read this quote Replace the word “entrepreneur’ with church or Christian.

“If you are an entrepreneur or in business, not Donald Trump, not Hillary Clinton, Not Barack Obama, not George W. Bush, none of these human beings are going to help or hurt you . . . That is a straight fact . . . I’ve really been running businesses now for twenty years, and there has been absolutely not even a second let alone a day in my life that I thought oh God great thank God Bill Clinton was President when I started this company. . . there’s never been a day when I’ve said oh man Obama has stopped me from being successful. That is loser talk with a triple capital L . . . I feel bad for the person that says, ‘Well if Trump wins or if Hillary wins or Barack wins or if George wins like I’ll be better . . .’ To think that your future rests in the hands of the government, that is a recipe for disaster, and you will turn into a pawn.” (Source: https://www.entreleadership.com/podcasts/144-gary-vaynerchuksecrets-of-growth)

At the end of the day, the person who may or may not be in the White House has no bearing what so ever on our ability to be people of the Kingdom of God.  Nor does it change our call to declare to the world “The Kingdom of God is near.” The church will persevere. The will of God will be done. There has never been a day in history when a political leader, no matter how good or bad, made one once of difference on this truth.

Let us not be consumed with fear or anxiety about the future. Let us not place our hope in anyone but Jesus Christ.

Blessings,
Stephen

Micromanaging God

April 26, 2016 /

man holding a banana gun

We have all had that boss. You know the one that makes the pointy-haired boss in the Dilbert cartoons look like a managerial ninja. There are not enough hours in the day to tell the stories of the trauma we experienced at the hands of our micromanaging bosses. The micromanager will say they view themselves as an empowerer of employees. If pressed further to explain why they must check with a ruler the trash bags to make sure the tops of the bag descends exactly 2.78 inches over the lip of the garbage can the micromanager will say it is because it is important . . . and everything is important.

The foundation of any relationship is trust. The micromanager has none. If they trusted their employees they would allow their employees to do the job for which they were hired. What keeps them from trusting? Low self-confidence and fear. They doubt themselves and their employees. They are filled with fear of what could happen if they were not there to handle every situation. No one likes a micromanager.

All of us have a little micromanager inside of us. This manager’s name is “fear.” But it is not employees we are hovering over it is God. To be consumed by fear is to micromanage God. Craig Groeschel puts it another way “Fear is placing your faith in ‘what-ifs’ rather than in ‘God is.'”

What’s the problem with micromanaging God? First, you are not his boss. Nothing more should really need to be said here. Second, do you honestly think you can run the world better than its creator and sustainer?

In this dramatic political season, many of us are tempted to be fearful of the “what-ifs.” To do so is to attempt to manage our world and not trust God’s capacity to manage. It is to place our faith in our capabilities or the capabilities of a particular candidate rather than the capabilities of God.

In this time, let us place our faith in who God is rather than being consumed by what could be.

Blessings,
Stephen

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