I guess our last post was a little ambiguous as to our nursery situation. I'm trying to think of a way to lead you all on so you think we're having a little Hilty, but it's not coming to me. No, there is no announcement to be made. The nursery in question is our church's nursery. Sorry to keep you all guessing...although that is kinda funny. When the day comes, there will be no guessing. And hopefully we'll be able to call all of you instead of just posting it online.
Anyway, thanks for wondering... If you read this between now and Sunday, pray for our services. I'm giving a salvation message, and I know there are unsaved people who will be attending. Thanks and God bless.
Saturday, October 28
Wednesday, October 25
Prayer Update
Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for us! It has been an amazing few weeks as we've seen God work. Two weeks ago a woman walked into Parkway. She had moved up to Baraboo from Madison (45 minutes away) with her family. As they drove the moving van by the church, she felt like she should come in...for a reason she can't explain (psst...it was God!). She liked service, and we went to her house two weeks ago today to visit with her. Last Sunday she came back with her daughter and daughter-in-law, who brought her two young sons. And last Sunday night we had dinner with her and her husband. Josh has started tutoring her daughter in math. Her husband is a professional painter and has volunteered to paint our non-existent but soon to exist nursery for free. And, they are bringing used nursery items that their sons and daughters don't need anymore for their kids.
So I just have one thing to say: Praise God! Please continue to pray for this family, as they are not Christians. Some have church background and some do not. God is definitely at work, and we know your prayers are making a difference.
Other prayer requests include:
1. Finding a time for our leadership team to meet. Since we are under district supervision, we have no board. Just a leadership team. There are nine of us, and with conflicting work schedules, it has been hard to find a consistent meeting time.
2. Conflict. There has been minimal conflict so far with changes already happening. Please pray for understanding and a desire to reach out into the community, rather than a desire to be content with who we are.
3. Jamie's restlessness. Sometimes staying at home all day (especially with few friends and shopping malls) can get boring and repetitive. Pray she would feel like she has a purpose.
4. Church participation. Pray that our whole church would desire to get involved in what is happening. Right now we pray Tuesdays at 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM. One man comes in the morning and no one at night. We want people to want to pray and be involved.
5. Grace for each day. God has been SO faithful thus far, and we know He will always be. Pray for His grace for us and our congregation. In change, we've found, grace can be hard to come by.
Thanks for praying. We love and miss you all!
So I just have one thing to say: Praise God! Please continue to pray for this family, as they are not Christians. Some have church background and some do not. God is definitely at work, and we know your prayers are making a difference.
Other prayer requests include:
1. Finding a time for our leadership team to meet. Since we are under district supervision, we have no board. Just a leadership team. There are nine of us, and with conflicting work schedules, it has been hard to find a consistent meeting time.
2. Conflict. There has been minimal conflict so far with changes already happening. Please pray for understanding and a desire to reach out into the community, rather than a desire to be content with who we are.
3. Jamie's restlessness. Sometimes staying at home all day (especially with few friends and shopping malls) can get boring and repetitive. Pray she would feel like she has a purpose.
4. Church participation. Pray that our whole church would desire to get involved in what is happening. Right now we pray Tuesdays at 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM. One man comes in the morning and no one at night. We want people to want to pray and be involved.
5. Grace for each day. God has been SO faithful thus far, and we know He will always be. Pray for His grace for us and our congregation. In change, we've found, grace can be hard to come by.
Thanks for praying. We love and miss you all!
Sunday's Sermon: Get Out of the Lifeboat
Last Sunday I preached about a concept Donald Miller writes about in Searching For God Knows What. Its an issue our church struggles with, and though I'm not sure how many people caught on (I got more compliments about my tie than the sermon), it was a message that spoke to me. By the way, the book is excellent and I would highly recommend it. So, here's the sermon.
The Lifeboat
I just finished reading a book called Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller. For those of you who don’t know who he is, Donald Miller is a contemporary Christian writer. He has a way of writing that just makes sense. He puts Biblical concepts onto paper and it makes you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” I would highly recommend the book to anyone. One of the concepts he talks about is being in a lifeboat.
Sometimes as Christians we think of a lifeboat metaphor in terms of saving everyone who’s not a Christian, going out to the Titanic and picking up all the drowning people. That’s not what he’s talking about. To illustrate what the lifeboat is all about, I need some volunteers. (During service we had four people come up front and stand on a half-inflated swimming "couch.").
On a lifeboat, you want to save as many people as possible. But what if the boat gets too heavy and you have to throw someone off in order for it not to sink? Who gets thrown off? Who decides who gets thrown off? What happens in this situation is everyone tries to stay alive. They try to convince the other people they are worthy of staying on the lifeboat. But still, someone has to go. We’re getting pretty full up here, right? So, Mary says, “You can’t throw me off. I have children and grandchildren. My grandson just turned 4 last week. I’m a secretary at a school. I have to stay on this lifeboat.” And Linda says, “Me neither. I have a husband and daughter. I won’t even be able to say goodbye to them. Besides, I know how to get us to land. If you throw me off, you’ll all die anyway.” And Jamie says, “I’m too young to die. I’ve only been married for a couple years. And I sell Mary Kay. How will anyone get make-up if I’m dead?” And so the women conspire against poor Al, and he doesn’t get a say. So Al gets tossed overboard and drowns.
This is the lifeboat. Not a fun place to be is it. It’s a good thing we don’t normally have to be on these things, right? Not to sink your boat or anything, but this is life. This happens everyday to every one of us, even on Sunday morning at this church. You see, everyone wants to think of themselves as being in the group that doesn’t get kicked off. The popular group. The group everyone likes. And so, either consciously or subconsciously, we do our best to make everyone think we’re a great person.
And sometimes we trick ourselves into thinking we’re better than this person or that person. Why? Because there is a deep desire within us to be accepted, to feel important, to be looked up to, to be loved. And to counteract the fear of rejection or isolation being unloved, we put other people down. And this is just the surface issue. Because in a perfect world, there wouldn’t be a lifeboat. We wouldn’t have to worry about being the unloved one or the last one picked for a team.
At one point this world was perfect, and this wasn’t an issue. In the Garden of Eden, God created Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were perfect. They walked and talked with God, and as their Creator, God gave them their sense of worth. They had nothing to fear. Adam never told Eve she was ugly, or she got on his nerves. And Eve never told Adam he watched too much TV and didn’t spend enough time with the kids. There was no fighting match to see who was better than whom.
Until sin entered the world, when they disobeyed God. All of a sudden, they were kicked out of the Garden, and God wasn’t as close as He used to be. The way things used to be was tarnished and trashed, and they were separated from God. Without God telling them how much He loved them, without them getting their worth from Him, they had to seek it from each other. And Adam couldn’t always give the love God did. Same with Eve. Sin equals separation from God equals searching for the love and acceptance of God in others which ultimately equals a letdown and a lifeboat.
That’s where we’re at today and that’s where the disciples were at when they walked with Jesus. Mark 9:33-37 gives an account of their lifeboat games. So if you have your Bibles—by the way if you have a Bible you brought to church, could you hold it in the air? If you have your Bibles, turn to Mark 9:33-37.
They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
Disciples in the Lifeboat
In this passage, Jesus and the disciples are going to Capernaum. They are walking away from just having witnessed Jesus drive out a demon from a boy. They had tried to drive the demon out but couldn’t. And so in their state of failure, they walked. And soon arose an argument. In the Greek, the word for argued is what we get the word “dialogue” from. This word literally means “to balance accounts, to take full account of, to consider, to debate, or to argue.” In arguing about who was the greatest, they were being careful to give full account of why they should be at the top of the list. They compared themselves to each other, putting one another down and building themselves up. And they knew that what they were doing was wrong. Because when Jesus questioned them about it, they all got very quiet.
I remember a time when I was younger, probably seven or eight years old, when my brother and I thought it would be a great idea to take our bats and see who could make a crack in our mom’s windshield. So we got up on the hood of the car and started banging away. And I can’t remember who won, but we did make a good crack in it. Obviously mom found out about it. And so did dad. Boy did we ever get quiet. Which is pretty silly seeing as how we were the only ones who could have done it, and we couldn’t really hide what we had done.
Same thing happens here with the disciples. Jesus is no dummy. He knows what they were talking about and lets them know, “Whoever wants to be first must be the very last and must be servant of all.” You mean, I have to be thrown out of the lifeboat if I want to be the greatest? Yes.
You have to be tossed, and you have to want to be tossed. When Jesus tells them they must be a servant, he uses a word which means one who attends to the needs of others freely. He could have used another more common word, doulos, which refers to a slave. Jesus isn’t saying you have to be a servant who is forced to serve, as a slave would be. He’s saying you have to be a guy who desires to serve. This has to be in your blood, being last. So not only do you have to be tossed from the lifeboat, you have to want to be tossed.
And this is hard for us. No one wants to be last. Last is horrible. Last means you don’t make the cut, you don’t get the trophy, no one pats you on the back and compliments you on a job well done. We’d much rather be first. And so when we don’t like what someone has done, we tell others about it. We put the pastor down because we don’t like a decision he made. And we don’t tell him about it for fear we’ll end up at the end of the lifeboat.
Or we boast about how much money we have in the bank, or our intelligence, or any other talent we have. Anything we feel makes us more special than someone else, or anything that makes others love us. Then there are others who feel they’re always at the end of the lifeboat, and just wish that for once someone would consider them worthy of stay onboard. I know I’ve been on both sides of the coin. But perhaps it’s time we shut our mouths a bit and begin loving other people. Just think about it: If everyone is so busy focusing on how they look to other people, then no one is looking at you. They’re all looking inward. So, instead of worrying about it, let’s take time to encourage each other, to serve each other, and to get out of the lifeboat.
Call to Get Out of the Lifeboat
That’s what Jesus called the disciples to do. In verse 37 he said, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” A child in Jesus’ day was at the low end of the social totem pole. Children were supposed to obey their parents and be sure to make their parents proud. They didn’t have many of the responsibilities an adult would, and just weren’t seen as very important. They are the ones who we would most likely toss from the lifeboat. So Jesus is saying we must welcome—receive with open arms—this child, Himself, and the One who sent Him—God the Father.
We must welcome God, for He is the only one who can love us and give us the sense of worth we are seeking. We won’t find it in other people, in their acceptance of us, or in putting them down. We’ll never be satisfied with ourselves until we welcome God and His love for us.
So today, it’s time to step out of the lifeboat. If we all step out of the lifeboat, then we don’t have to worry about being thrown overboard (take off swim trunks and throw away “lifeboat.”). God wants our relationships with Him and with each other to be pure. No more faking like we like each other just to feel good about each other. No more talking behind someone else’s back because you feel better about yourself. No more secretly evaluating people based on appearances or wealth or fame or Christian maturity. Jesus would say the greatest thing we can do to display that we love Him is to love others unconditionally.
Conclusion
I would guess I’m speaking to two types of people today. You’re either in the popular group pushing others out of the lifeboat, or you’re being pushed out wishing you weren’t. If you’re in the first group, and you want to change, here’s what you need to do. You need to tell God you’re sorry and repent. And from here on out, you need to commit to seeing other people as equals, as created by God and given worth by God. And you need to see yourself in that way too.
For those who are in the second group, and you want to change, you need to forgive those who have been doing this to you. Whether you’ve heard through the grapevine comments someone has made, or you’re jealous about another person, or something else, you need to forgive those people. And then you need to commit to loving them, even if they stay in the lifeboat.
I know that everyone is in one of these two groups…maybe even in both at the same time. That means we should all respond today. I would ask that everyone who desires to change pray quietly where they are at, out loud. As an act of commitment, pray for forgiveness and for a love for others. Then I’ll pray to close.
The Lifeboat
I just finished reading a book called Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller. For those of you who don’t know who he is, Donald Miller is a contemporary Christian writer. He has a way of writing that just makes sense. He puts Biblical concepts onto paper and it makes you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” I would highly recommend the book to anyone. One of the concepts he talks about is being in a lifeboat.
Sometimes as Christians we think of a lifeboat metaphor in terms of saving everyone who’s not a Christian, going out to the Titanic and picking up all the drowning people. That’s not what he’s talking about. To illustrate what the lifeboat is all about, I need some volunteers. (During service we had four people come up front and stand on a half-inflated swimming "couch.").
On a lifeboat, you want to save as many people as possible. But what if the boat gets too heavy and you have to throw someone off in order for it not to sink? Who gets thrown off? Who decides who gets thrown off? What happens in this situation is everyone tries to stay alive. They try to convince the other people they are worthy of staying on the lifeboat. But still, someone has to go. We’re getting pretty full up here, right? So, Mary says, “You can’t throw me off. I have children and grandchildren. My grandson just turned 4 last week. I’m a secretary at a school. I have to stay on this lifeboat.” And Linda says, “Me neither. I have a husband and daughter. I won’t even be able to say goodbye to them. Besides, I know how to get us to land. If you throw me off, you’ll all die anyway.” And Jamie says, “I’m too young to die. I’ve only been married for a couple years. And I sell Mary Kay. How will anyone get make-up if I’m dead?” And so the women conspire against poor Al, and he doesn’t get a say. So Al gets tossed overboard and drowns.
This is the lifeboat. Not a fun place to be is it. It’s a good thing we don’t normally have to be on these things, right? Not to sink your boat or anything, but this is life. This happens everyday to every one of us, even on Sunday morning at this church. You see, everyone wants to think of themselves as being in the group that doesn’t get kicked off. The popular group. The group everyone likes. And so, either consciously or subconsciously, we do our best to make everyone think we’re a great person.
And sometimes we trick ourselves into thinking we’re better than this person or that person. Why? Because there is a deep desire within us to be accepted, to feel important, to be looked up to, to be loved. And to counteract the fear of rejection or isolation being unloved, we put other people down. And this is just the surface issue. Because in a perfect world, there wouldn’t be a lifeboat. We wouldn’t have to worry about being the unloved one or the last one picked for a team.
At one point this world was perfect, and this wasn’t an issue. In the Garden of Eden, God created Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were perfect. They walked and talked with God, and as their Creator, God gave them their sense of worth. They had nothing to fear. Adam never told Eve she was ugly, or she got on his nerves. And Eve never told Adam he watched too much TV and didn’t spend enough time with the kids. There was no fighting match to see who was better than whom.
Until sin entered the world, when they disobeyed God. All of a sudden, they were kicked out of the Garden, and God wasn’t as close as He used to be. The way things used to be was tarnished and trashed, and they were separated from God. Without God telling them how much He loved them, without them getting their worth from Him, they had to seek it from each other. And Adam couldn’t always give the love God did. Same with Eve. Sin equals separation from God equals searching for the love and acceptance of God in others which ultimately equals a letdown and a lifeboat.
That’s where we’re at today and that’s where the disciples were at when they walked with Jesus. Mark 9:33-37 gives an account of their lifeboat games. So if you have your Bibles—by the way if you have a Bible you brought to church, could you hold it in the air? If you have your Bibles, turn to Mark 9:33-37.
They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
Disciples in the Lifeboat
In this passage, Jesus and the disciples are going to Capernaum. They are walking away from just having witnessed Jesus drive out a demon from a boy. They had tried to drive the demon out but couldn’t. And so in their state of failure, they walked. And soon arose an argument. In the Greek, the word for argued is what we get the word “dialogue” from. This word literally means “to balance accounts, to take full account of, to consider, to debate, or to argue.” In arguing about who was the greatest, they were being careful to give full account of why they should be at the top of the list. They compared themselves to each other, putting one another down and building themselves up. And they knew that what they were doing was wrong. Because when Jesus questioned them about it, they all got very quiet.
I remember a time when I was younger, probably seven or eight years old, when my brother and I thought it would be a great idea to take our bats and see who could make a crack in our mom’s windshield. So we got up on the hood of the car and started banging away. And I can’t remember who won, but we did make a good crack in it. Obviously mom found out about it. And so did dad. Boy did we ever get quiet. Which is pretty silly seeing as how we were the only ones who could have done it, and we couldn’t really hide what we had done.
Same thing happens here with the disciples. Jesus is no dummy. He knows what they were talking about and lets them know, “Whoever wants to be first must be the very last and must be servant of all.” You mean, I have to be thrown out of the lifeboat if I want to be the greatest? Yes.
You have to be tossed, and you have to want to be tossed. When Jesus tells them they must be a servant, he uses a word which means one who attends to the needs of others freely. He could have used another more common word, doulos, which refers to a slave. Jesus isn’t saying you have to be a servant who is forced to serve, as a slave would be. He’s saying you have to be a guy who desires to serve. This has to be in your blood, being last. So not only do you have to be tossed from the lifeboat, you have to want to be tossed.
And this is hard for us. No one wants to be last. Last is horrible. Last means you don’t make the cut, you don’t get the trophy, no one pats you on the back and compliments you on a job well done. We’d much rather be first. And so when we don’t like what someone has done, we tell others about it. We put the pastor down because we don’t like a decision he made. And we don’t tell him about it for fear we’ll end up at the end of the lifeboat.
Or we boast about how much money we have in the bank, or our intelligence, or any other talent we have. Anything we feel makes us more special than someone else, or anything that makes others love us. Then there are others who feel they’re always at the end of the lifeboat, and just wish that for once someone would consider them worthy of stay onboard. I know I’ve been on both sides of the coin. But perhaps it’s time we shut our mouths a bit and begin loving other people. Just think about it: If everyone is so busy focusing on how they look to other people, then no one is looking at you. They’re all looking inward. So, instead of worrying about it, let’s take time to encourage each other, to serve each other, and to get out of the lifeboat.
Call to Get Out of the Lifeboat
That’s what Jesus called the disciples to do. In verse 37 he said, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” A child in Jesus’ day was at the low end of the social totem pole. Children were supposed to obey their parents and be sure to make their parents proud. They didn’t have many of the responsibilities an adult would, and just weren’t seen as very important. They are the ones who we would most likely toss from the lifeboat. So Jesus is saying we must welcome—receive with open arms—this child, Himself, and the One who sent Him—God the Father.
We must welcome God, for He is the only one who can love us and give us the sense of worth we are seeking. We won’t find it in other people, in their acceptance of us, or in putting them down. We’ll never be satisfied with ourselves until we welcome God and His love for us.
So today, it’s time to step out of the lifeboat. If we all step out of the lifeboat, then we don’t have to worry about being thrown overboard (take off swim trunks and throw away “lifeboat.”). God wants our relationships with Him and with each other to be pure. No more faking like we like each other just to feel good about each other. No more talking behind someone else’s back because you feel better about yourself. No more secretly evaluating people based on appearances or wealth or fame or Christian maturity. Jesus would say the greatest thing we can do to display that we love Him is to love others unconditionally.
Conclusion
I would guess I’m speaking to two types of people today. You’re either in the popular group pushing others out of the lifeboat, or you’re being pushed out wishing you weren’t. If you’re in the first group, and you want to change, here’s what you need to do. You need to tell God you’re sorry and repent. And from here on out, you need to commit to seeing other people as equals, as created by God and given worth by God. And you need to see yourself in that way too.
For those who are in the second group, and you want to change, you need to forgive those who have been doing this to you. Whether you’ve heard through the grapevine comments someone has made, or you’re jealous about another person, or something else, you need to forgive those people. And then you need to commit to loving them, even if they stay in the lifeboat.
I know that everyone is in one of these two groups…maybe even in both at the same time. That means we should all respond today. I would ask that everyone who desires to change pray quietly where they are at, out loud. As an act of commitment, pray for forgiveness and for a love for others. Then I’ll pray to close.
Monday, October 16
Sunday Sermon: God Can Forgive and Use You
A quick disclaimer: If you think this sermon ends abruptly, it does. Part 2 is next week.
Introduction of Israel: From Joshua to Gideon
Gideon was a judge over the nation of Israel, appointed by God to bring the nation back to Him. Israel had turned from the God who delivered them from Egypt. You see, after Moses died, he appointed Joshua as leader, and he brought Israel into the Promised Land. Joshua led the people into battle, most famously against Jericho. And the generation he was a part of served the LORD. In Joshua 24, he tells the people, “Fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
Then the people answered him, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from the land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”
So, there was a period of success as Israel marched forward to drive out the nations living in the Promised Land. God was with them as they drove out the Canaanites. But they failed to drive out every nation. And so Israel was corrupted by their gods, and began to worship Baal. Baal literally means “owner, husband, or lord.” He was considered a weather god associated mainly with rain. The Canaanites were farmers, and so they worshiped Baal in order for him to provide the rain for their crops. They believed that every winter Baal would “hibernate” in the underworld, and in order to bring him back for springtime, they would make sacrifices—both animal and human—and engage in sexual orgies. Just as they were showing their fertility, they believed Baal would bring fertility to their crops. This is what a good portion of Israel got involved in, thus breaking the LORD’s command, “You shall not have any other gods before me.”
So God, in Judges 2:3 said, “Therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.” And in verse 15 it says, “Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.” So, Israel was in great distress, but it hadn’t come to its senses yet. God then raises up judges—those faithful to him who would bring the people back to Him. Yet the people did not turn back to God. Instead, they continued in their wicked ways. What did happen though, was that as long as a judge was alive, the LORD had compassion on them and saved them from their enemies. Yet when the judge died, the people threw themselves further into rebellion and idol worship. And this happens on and off for a period of a couple hundred years. Looks like a pretty grim situation doesn’t it?
Israel at the Hand of Midian
As we get closer to the time of Gideon, it says in Judges 5:31, “Then the land had peace forty years.” Forty years. That’s one generation of peace. A chance for those who worshiped Baal to die out, and for their sons and daughters to return to the LORD. In fact, peace signifies that the LORD’s hand wasn’t against Israel anymore. Somehow they had turned back to Him. Obviously it didn’t last though. The next verse tells us that, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.” Midian was a nation south of Israel. And it was formed by the descendants of a man named Midian, who just so happens to be a son of Abraham. Genesis 25 tells us that after Abraham’s wife Sarah died, he took another wife, and she bore him many sons, one of whom was Midian. Abraham sent all these sons east and gave Isaac all of his inheritance.
Thus we have Midian, an affliction to Israel. Midian was so fierce, so oppressive, that the Bible tells us the Israelites ran and hid in caves. The Midianites killed their flocks and destroyed their crops. They were so numerous that one couldn’t count them, as a swarm of locusts. And finally, after seven whole years—SEVEN years—Israel cries out to God. You’ve got to be kidding me! That’s like a woman in labor, sitting on her couch in pain as the contractions keep getting worse and worse. And she waits and waits. She even tells her husband she’s okay. Then after seven years and a boy half her size living in her stomach, she goes to the doctor. What kind of joke is this? It’s not a joke. It’s a testimony to how deep in sin and apostasy Israel was. They had turned tail and ran from God so many times they forgot who He was. They forgot He was the only One who could save them from these nations. They loved the gods of Midian and of Canaan so much that the pain and fear became bearable.
It’s like asking the question, “Would you rather run 20 miles in 68 degree weather or 5 miles in 100 degree weather?” The correct answer to that question is "Neither!" And Israel has answered, we’ll take both. Both your gods and your pain.
After Israel cries out to God, he answers them in two ways. The first is through the prophet in Judges 6:7-10. He tells them that God had brought them out of Egypt and said He was their God; don’t worship the other gods. But they hadn’t listened to Him. The prophet says this and that appears to be all it is. This paragraph reminder of their sins was a type of “course correction.” They had to remember what God had done for them in the past, or what He planned to do for them through Gideon would be of no consequence. They had to remember they were in the wrong, they had sinned, or else they would not turn from their sin.
God Calls (Forgives, Is Patient With, Believes In) Gideon
God first sent the prophet, and then He called Gideon. Let’s begin reading in Judges 6:11-24. “The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.’ ‘But sir,’ Gideon replied, ‘if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said “Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?” But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.’
The LORD turned to him and said, ‘Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?’
‘But Lord,’ Gideon asked, ‘how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family.’
The LORD answered, ‘I will be with you and you will strike down all the Midianites together.’
Gideon replied, ‘If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.’
And the LORD said, ‘I will wait until you return.’
Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
The angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth. And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, ‘Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!’
But the LORD said to him, ‘Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.’
So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.”
God called Gideon in a such a way that blows my mind. Gideon is scared to death of Midian, secretly threshing wheat in order to not get caught. And when the angel of the LORD, later called Yahweh, appears to him, he speaks foolishly. He says that God cannot be with Israel because there are no wonders, no miracles he’s heard so much about. He’s standing at least somewhat close to his father’s altar to Baal and he has the gall to tell God it’s his fault. “It’s your fault we’re being attacked all the time and I have to hide in this winepress. If only you would show up and do a few miracles we’d be okay.” In reality, it was the sin that so easily entangled Israel, which blinded Gideon to the truth of sin and of God, that caused the current troubles. If it was easy for Gideon to lay the blame on God, how easy is it for us to do the same? Even when we’re standing neck deep in it? We think if only God would do this, or if only he would answer my prayer…when perhaps God is calling us to repent and turn to Him. Think about that one for a bit.
Gideon assumes it’s God’s fault, and then God tells him he should go and save Israel in the strength he has. Even in his sinful state, Gideon has some strength left which God plans to use. But Gideon baffles me again. He makes a silly excuse about being part of the weakest clan and least in his family. He’s saying to God, “No way. I’m of no use, no good, just a weak scared guy. Nice joke, God.” Remember last week when we talked about saying, “I just can’t do much.?” This is Gideon here. Gideon forgets, in a breath of time, that it is God who performed the wonders for Israel. All of a sudden he thinks God won’t be able to perform wonders but will expect him to save Israel by his own strength. Crazy guy. If God performed wonders to release Israel from Egypt, He surely can do it again.
The LORD answers saying he will be with Gideon, reaffirming what he first said in verse 12. Then he says Gideon will strike down all the Midianites, reaffirming what he said in verse 14. And finally Gideon catches on. Almost. He’s really set on this signs and wonders thing, so he asks God for a sign. So he prepares an offering of a goat and unleavened bread.
God commanded Israel to sacrifice one male goat during each major feast—Passover, the Feast of Weeks, during monthly offerings, on the day of atonement—as a sin offering to make atonement for sins. And unleavened bread was made to signify the separation of sin and Egypt, since there was no yeast (sin) in the bread. Gideon’s offering, therefore, was one of atonement for the sins he had committed by worshiping Baal. And his test of God in that offering was not just to see if it was truly God calling Him and speaking with Him. It was a test to see if God would forgive him. Gideon, like us, believed that his sin was too great for God to forgive, and that because God wouldn’t forgive him, He couldn’t possibly use him. Too often Satan lies to us, saying we’re too horrible to forgive, and that we can never be used by God because of how horrible we are. It’s all lies. It’s all lies. We see that the sacrifice was consumed on the rock as God signaled to Gideon, "Your sins are forgiven."
Gideon worries about dying because he’s seen the angel of the LORD. But God reassures Him this isn’t the case. He will not die, because the LORD is Peace. The LORD and Gideon made their peace that day. Next week we’ll return to Gideon to see how God used him. But today, there are those of us who feel like God cannot forgive us. We have turned to worship other gods and want so desperately to turn back to God, yet something is holding us back. It’s our fear of being rejected by God. Fear of not measuring up to God's standards (which forgiveness tosses out the door). There are no standards to be forgiven, except a contrite and repentant heart, and a commitment to serve the LORD.
Introduction of Israel: From Joshua to Gideon
Gideon was a judge over the nation of Israel, appointed by God to bring the nation back to Him. Israel had turned from the God who delivered them from Egypt. You see, after Moses died, he appointed Joshua as leader, and he brought Israel into the Promised Land. Joshua led the people into battle, most famously against Jericho. And the generation he was a part of served the LORD. In Joshua 24, he tells the people, “Fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
Then the people answered him, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from the land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”
So, there was a period of success as Israel marched forward to drive out the nations living in the Promised Land. God was with them as they drove out the Canaanites. But they failed to drive out every nation. And so Israel was corrupted by their gods, and began to worship Baal. Baal literally means “owner, husband, or lord.” He was considered a weather god associated mainly with rain. The Canaanites were farmers, and so they worshiped Baal in order for him to provide the rain for their crops. They believed that every winter Baal would “hibernate” in the underworld, and in order to bring him back for springtime, they would make sacrifices—both animal and human—and engage in sexual orgies. Just as they were showing their fertility, they believed Baal would bring fertility to their crops. This is what a good portion of Israel got involved in, thus breaking the LORD’s command, “You shall not have any other gods before me.”
So God, in Judges 2:3 said, “Therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.” And in verse 15 it says, “Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.” So, Israel was in great distress, but it hadn’t come to its senses yet. God then raises up judges—those faithful to him who would bring the people back to Him. Yet the people did not turn back to God. Instead, they continued in their wicked ways. What did happen though, was that as long as a judge was alive, the LORD had compassion on them and saved them from their enemies. Yet when the judge died, the people threw themselves further into rebellion and idol worship. And this happens on and off for a period of a couple hundred years. Looks like a pretty grim situation doesn’t it?
Israel at the Hand of Midian
As we get closer to the time of Gideon, it says in Judges 5:31, “Then the land had peace forty years.” Forty years. That’s one generation of peace. A chance for those who worshiped Baal to die out, and for their sons and daughters to return to the LORD. In fact, peace signifies that the LORD’s hand wasn’t against Israel anymore. Somehow they had turned back to Him. Obviously it didn’t last though. The next verse tells us that, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.” Midian was a nation south of Israel. And it was formed by the descendants of a man named Midian, who just so happens to be a son of Abraham. Genesis 25 tells us that after Abraham’s wife Sarah died, he took another wife, and she bore him many sons, one of whom was Midian. Abraham sent all these sons east and gave Isaac all of his inheritance.
Thus we have Midian, an affliction to Israel. Midian was so fierce, so oppressive, that the Bible tells us the Israelites ran and hid in caves. The Midianites killed their flocks and destroyed their crops. They were so numerous that one couldn’t count them, as a swarm of locusts. And finally, after seven whole years—SEVEN years—Israel cries out to God. You’ve got to be kidding me! That’s like a woman in labor, sitting on her couch in pain as the contractions keep getting worse and worse. And she waits and waits. She even tells her husband she’s okay. Then after seven years and a boy half her size living in her stomach, she goes to the doctor. What kind of joke is this? It’s not a joke. It’s a testimony to how deep in sin and apostasy Israel was. They had turned tail and ran from God so many times they forgot who He was. They forgot He was the only One who could save them from these nations. They loved the gods of Midian and of Canaan so much that the pain and fear became bearable.
It’s like asking the question, “Would you rather run 20 miles in 68 degree weather or 5 miles in 100 degree weather?” The correct answer to that question is "Neither!" And Israel has answered, we’ll take both. Both your gods and your pain.
After Israel cries out to God, he answers them in two ways. The first is through the prophet in Judges 6:7-10. He tells them that God had brought them out of Egypt and said He was their God; don’t worship the other gods. But they hadn’t listened to Him. The prophet says this and that appears to be all it is. This paragraph reminder of their sins was a type of “course correction.” They had to remember what God had done for them in the past, or what He planned to do for them through Gideon would be of no consequence. They had to remember they were in the wrong, they had sinned, or else they would not turn from their sin.
God Calls (Forgives, Is Patient With, Believes In) Gideon
God first sent the prophet, and then He called Gideon. Let’s begin reading in Judges 6:11-24. “The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, ‘The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.’ ‘But sir,’ Gideon replied, ‘if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said “Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?” But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.’
The LORD turned to him and said, ‘Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?’
‘But Lord,’ Gideon asked, ‘how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my family.’
The LORD answered, ‘I will be with you and you will strike down all the Midianites together.’
Gideon replied, ‘If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.’
And the LORD said, ‘I will wait until you return.’
Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak.
The angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth. And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, ‘Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!’
But the LORD said to him, ‘Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.’
So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.”
God called Gideon in a such a way that blows my mind. Gideon is scared to death of Midian, secretly threshing wheat in order to not get caught. And when the angel of the LORD, later called Yahweh, appears to him, he speaks foolishly. He says that God cannot be with Israel because there are no wonders, no miracles he’s heard so much about. He’s standing at least somewhat close to his father’s altar to Baal and he has the gall to tell God it’s his fault. “It’s your fault we’re being attacked all the time and I have to hide in this winepress. If only you would show up and do a few miracles we’d be okay.” In reality, it was the sin that so easily entangled Israel, which blinded Gideon to the truth of sin and of God, that caused the current troubles. If it was easy for Gideon to lay the blame on God, how easy is it for us to do the same? Even when we’re standing neck deep in it? We think if only God would do this, or if only he would answer my prayer…when perhaps God is calling us to repent and turn to Him. Think about that one for a bit.
Gideon assumes it’s God’s fault, and then God tells him he should go and save Israel in the strength he has. Even in his sinful state, Gideon has some strength left which God plans to use. But Gideon baffles me again. He makes a silly excuse about being part of the weakest clan and least in his family. He’s saying to God, “No way. I’m of no use, no good, just a weak scared guy. Nice joke, God.” Remember last week when we talked about saying, “I just can’t do much.?” This is Gideon here. Gideon forgets, in a breath of time, that it is God who performed the wonders for Israel. All of a sudden he thinks God won’t be able to perform wonders but will expect him to save Israel by his own strength. Crazy guy. If God performed wonders to release Israel from Egypt, He surely can do it again.
The LORD answers saying he will be with Gideon, reaffirming what he first said in verse 12. Then he says Gideon will strike down all the Midianites, reaffirming what he said in verse 14. And finally Gideon catches on. Almost. He’s really set on this signs and wonders thing, so he asks God for a sign. So he prepares an offering of a goat and unleavened bread.
God commanded Israel to sacrifice one male goat during each major feast—Passover, the Feast of Weeks, during monthly offerings, on the day of atonement—as a sin offering to make atonement for sins. And unleavened bread was made to signify the separation of sin and Egypt, since there was no yeast (sin) in the bread. Gideon’s offering, therefore, was one of atonement for the sins he had committed by worshiping Baal. And his test of God in that offering was not just to see if it was truly God calling Him and speaking with Him. It was a test to see if God would forgive him. Gideon, like us, believed that his sin was too great for God to forgive, and that because God wouldn’t forgive him, He couldn’t possibly use him. Too often Satan lies to us, saying we’re too horrible to forgive, and that we can never be used by God because of how horrible we are. It’s all lies. It’s all lies. We see that the sacrifice was consumed on the rock as God signaled to Gideon, "Your sins are forgiven."
Gideon worries about dying because he’s seen the angel of the LORD. But God reassures Him this isn’t the case. He will not die, because the LORD is Peace. The LORD and Gideon made their peace that day. Next week we’ll return to Gideon to see how God used him. But today, there are those of us who feel like God cannot forgive us. We have turned to worship other gods and want so desperately to turn back to God, yet something is holding us back. It’s our fear of being rejected by God. Fear of not measuring up to God's standards (which forgiveness tosses out the door). There are no standards to be forgiven, except a contrite and repentant heart, and a commitment to serve the LORD.
Thursday, October 12
Messed Up Weather
Guess what happened yesterday and today? SNOW. It's invading already, and some trees still haven't changed colors yet. And you all thought Indiana weather was messed up. It's been great to see all the leaves change colors, especially near our state park.
But snow in October? Snow means warming our car up, scraping ice and shoveling snow, being scared about how many people in my congregation will slip and fall and break something. It also means Christmas is coming. I think I'll be excited for Christmas when it gets here, but now I'm worried. People expect big Christmas services, and at this point, we can't really offer much. I'm scared guests will walk into our church Christmas Eve and walk right back out. I'm scared that by Christmas people will be leaving the church in the midst of changes. Maybe I'm too pessimistic.
God, remind me and anyone else who needs it that You send the snow, and that Your presence as Immanuel is much more important than any Christmas service. Thank you.
But snow in October? Snow means warming our car up, scraping ice and shoveling snow, being scared about how many people in my congregation will slip and fall and break something. It also means Christmas is coming. I think I'll be excited for Christmas when it gets here, but now I'm worried. People expect big Christmas services, and at this point, we can't really offer much. I'm scared guests will walk into our church Christmas Eve and walk right back out. I'm scared that by Christmas people will be leaving the church in the midst of changes. Maybe I'm too pessimistic.
God, remind me and anyone else who needs it that You send the snow, and that Your presence as Immanuel is much more important than any Christmas service. Thank you.
Tuesday, October 10
New Church University
As many of you know, Jamie and I were in Indy last week (Oct. 2-5) for our first conference. It was good to see family and friends at Brookhaven and Indy. Family, we miss you all. Kevin and Sandra, thanks for the meal and time with friends. Let's get together quicker than two years next time. Jessie, Jewel, Haley, David, Ty, Janel, Janna, Pastor Bob and Veralyn, Pastor Matt and Laura, and Pastor Phil and Stephanie, it was good to be back at youth group once more.
What an amazing time! New Church Specialties is a church health focused organization "based" from the Church of the Nazarene. They train pastors and lay leaders in refocusing (moving from inward focused ministry to outward focused), restarting (shut down the church, change lots of things, re-open) or church planting. Our church is in need of a mix between refocusing and restarting (leaning toward restarting).
We were blown away at how comprehensive it was. Everything was grounded in Scripture and prayer. We heard spiels from a few guys for most of the time and also got to meet in small groups with other pastors from around the nation. Guys were there from Kansas, Texas, California, Indiana, Wisconsin... Overall, we are excited about what God has in store for us. We found this to be a time of learning and commitment. The process of restarting a church takes about 3-5 years. And at the end of that time, we should be ready to at least assist with a church plant. It's like God was emphasizing how big a work He is going to do at Parkway. Not only does He want to make us a healthy church, but also a multiplying church.
Now that we're back in Baraboo, it's time to convey what we've learned to our leadership team. For those of you who've committed to pray for us, please pray that we would have wisdom to know what to say and what to hold back. There's so much information that we could easily overwhelm and discourage our church. Pray also that we would be personally renewed by God's Spirit in these next weeks and months. If we are going to lead this process, we need to be renewed first. Also pray for our leadership team, that they would commit to the long process, and that the right people would be on it. We have asked a few new people to join the team after learning we had too few. And one man is hesitant to join because he's new to the church and isn't sure how a few people will react. Pray for God's will to be done in him and our church.
If any of you know churches or pastors looking to plant churches, please pass this website on to them: www.newchurchspecialties.org. Refocusing churches are those at the "plateau" stage, and I believe most churches would benefit from this training. So, as the guy from Reading Rainbow says, "Don't just take my word for it. Check it out yourself."
What an amazing time! New Church Specialties is a church health focused organization "based" from the Church of the Nazarene. They train pastors and lay leaders in refocusing (moving from inward focused ministry to outward focused), restarting (shut down the church, change lots of things, re-open) or church planting. Our church is in need of a mix between refocusing and restarting (leaning toward restarting).
We were blown away at how comprehensive it was. Everything was grounded in Scripture and prayer. We heard spiels from a few guys for most of the time and also got to meet in small groups with other pastors from around the nation. Guys were there from Kansas, Texas, California, Indiana, Wisconsin... Overall, we are excited about what God has in store for us. We found this to be a time of learning and commitment. The process of restarting a church takes about 3-5 years. And at the end of that time, we should be ready to at least assist with a church plant. It's like God was emphasizing how big a work He is going to do at Parkway. Not only does He want to make us a healthy church, but also a multiplying church.
Now that we're back in Baraboo, it's time to convey what we've learned to our leadership team. For those of you who've committed to pray for us, please pray that we would have wisdom to know what to say and what to hold back. There's so much information that we could easily overwhelm and discourage our church. Pray also that we would be personally renewed by God's Spirit in these next weeks and months. If we are going to lead this process, we need to be renewed first. Also pray for our leadership team, that they would commit to the long process, and that the right people would be on it. We have asked a few new people to join the team after learning we had too few. And one man is hesitant to join because he's new to the church and isn't sure how a few people will react. Pray for God's will to be done in him and our church.
If any of you know churches or pastors looking to plant churches, please pass this website on to them: www.newchurchspecialties.org. Refocusing churches are those at the "plateau" stage, and I believe most churches would benefit from this training. So, as the guy from Reading Rainbow says, "Don't just take my word for it. Check it out yourself."
Sunday's Sermons
Sorry we haven't blogged in a while. We've been going, going, going lately. If any of you want to read my last two Sundays' sermons (Oct. 1 and 8), just post your email and I'll email them to you. I figure posting two huge entries at the same time will be too overwhelming and the second one wouldn't get read by anyone... I'll be sure to get back to posting them again for next week.
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