Reemerge: A Return To Faithfulness

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Reemerge: A Return to Faithfulness

 Lead Pastor: Rollan Fisher 

Focus: You will reemerge with Christ when you understand him as the God of all faithfulness. 

• A Cry for Faithfulness

• Our Need

• God’s Faithfulness

A Cry for Faithfulness

There is a desperate cry for faithful, Christ-centered relationships that will shape a generation for Jesus.  

2 Timothy 1:1-18 

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 

I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. 

But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. 

You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me— may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.

Our Need

Our needs were exposed by our lack in this past year, yet Christ’s solution to that need remains the same.  

Former surgeon general Vivek Murthy speaks of a social recession and the health impacts of loneliness. 

Starbucks and the great human reconnection 

As more and more people are getting vaccinated and returning to post-pandemic life, we are all in a sort of social rehab for life outside the home.  

We are learning how to allow Christ to redefine the six basic needs that every human being has which are difficult to live without  - meaning, satisfaction, hope, identity, freedom and justice.  

Waiting for ideal circumstances to begin what you should is not God’s plan.  

We must begin addressing those needs in God now.  

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

- Chinese proverb

God’s Faithfulness

We are able to endure and reemerge after our trials because of God’s faithfulness to us.  

Psalm 138:1-8 

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased. All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord . For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

God’s love and faithfulness were most clearly expressed at the cross of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus faithfully lived the sinless life that we should have lived, and at the cross, died the sacrificial death that we should have died, in our place.  

In his faithfulness, God the Father was true to his word to raise Christ from the dead to give forgiveness of sins and new life to those who would turn to Jesus in a reciprocal faithfulness. 

God models faithfulness for us and expects us to emulate that faithfulness in relationship with others. 

Acts 2:42-47 

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Faithfulness is the foundation of all Christian devotion.  

In essence, we have a pact with Jesus, made at the cross. 

Yet any pact is a two way street. 

The pact that we have with Jesus is the vehicle through which we put selfish, self-centered living to death and by which God’s Kingdom advances.  

P.A.C.T.

*GOD’S COVENANT IS BASED ON: 

• THE PROMISES OF GOD TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE

• THE ALLEGIANCE WE PLEDGE BACK TO JESUS

• THE COMMITMENTS THAT WE MAKE TO ONE ANOTHER

• THE TIME, Talent and Treasure you devote to the person and cause of Christ.

I am most unfulfilled when I put the idea of worldly success above God-ordained relationships. 

At the end of the day, what remains will be those relationships - the one that I have with God and those to whom he unites me in Jesus.  

Come to the cross today in repentance from sin and faith in Jesus’ substitutionary work to experience God’s faithfulness towards you.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

Reemerge: A Return to Vision

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Reemerge: A Return to Vision

 Lead Pastor: Rollan Fisher

Proverbs 29:18 

Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Focus: You will reemerge with Christ when you allow him to realign you with his eternal vision. 

• Strangled Vision

• An Encounter With Jesus

• A New Vision

Strangled Vision

The trials through which we pass can strangle the vision and thus distort the image of God in our lives.  

Mark 5:1-20 

They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

In what ways do we need to reemerge?

Many have experienced atrophied muscles socially, relationally and spiritually this past year, all of from which we need to reeemerge.  

The prolonged shutdown broke many spirits, smothering both personal and Kingdom ambitions. 

Just as there is a real God with angels who do his bidding, there is a real devil and demons who reflect Satan’s.  

One of the things demons look to do as we go through times of trial is drive us into isolation.   

It is in this place that demons look to strangle the image and vision of God in our lives. 

*If you lack healthy love and acceptance from God ordained sources, the temptation is to receive these things from the wrong voices that will distort the image of God in your life.  

How did the demons strangle the vision of the man with the unclean spirit?

1. They drove him into isolation 

2. They gave him a supernatural strength to resist those who would try to help him. 

3. They drove the man to inflict self-harm. 

The world has fundamentally changed.  

We all need to reengage atrophied muscles of loving interaction, faith and ministry to address the isolation, depression and fear that have marked our world. 

Coming out of the pandemic, we all need to learn to walk again through an encounter with Jesus.  

An Encounter With Jesus

Jesus comes to restore our God-given image and vision. 

The demons began to identify the man more than his remembrance of his own name or the image that he bore of God.  

* Do not defend that which God wants to heal.  

You may have become comfortable with the demonic forces with which you have been identified and tormented, but God has a different vision for your life.  

Jesus comes not to torment you, but to set you free through the change that he brings.  

The ultimate goal of the demons was to not only destroy the man’s vision, but his life.  

This was reflected in what the demons did to the pigs when they were driven out.  

In the world, those who usually thrive after periods of trial are those who have the vision, resiliency and ability to reinvent themselves. 

It is a wonderful time “to reinvent yourself” in Christ. 

You must know that when Jesus invades your situation, he does so speaking a word of peace to you.

Yet you must meet Jesus in death at the cross before you can truly experience his resurrection life.

Repentance and faith are God’s incubator for healing.

A New Vision

When you encounter Jesus, he gives you a new vision which includes testifying to his deliverance, healing and peace.  

The gospel demands that you come to realize what needs to die that you might truly live.

*Several times throughout life we are presented with scenarios that evoke existential crises pushing us to ask the big questions in life:

• What does it all mean?

• What am I here for?

• Why do things happen the way they do?

This is what the man could have undoubtedly questioned but knew that all great longings of the heart and soul could ultimately be satisfied as he was with Jesus who had healed him. 

Jesus gave him that peace and an even greater vision. 

The man would be a witness for the power, love and mercy of God that had transformed his life. 

The Scripture would later testify to a revival in the Decapolis that would break out when Jesus arrived for which this man’s testimony paved the way.  

May our lives be used in a similar fashion as we encounter Jesus and reemerge with Christ’s eternal vision for our lives!

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

Reemerge: Returning What the Locusts Have Eaten

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Reemerge: Returning What the Locusts Have Eaten

 Lead Pastor: Rollan Fisher

Focus: We will reemerge with Christ when we understand him as the God of restoration. 

• What the Locusts Have Eaten

• Restored Years

• Restored Dreams

What the Locusts Have Eaten 

God wants to restore for his people what the locusts have eaten. 

Joel 2:18-27 

Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. The Lord answered and said to his people, 

“Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. 

“I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into the eastern sea, and his rear guard into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things. 

“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things! Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield. 

“Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. 

“The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. 

“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

At its core, restoration means:

• Turning pain into victory, loss into strength.

“The reality is, the modern church created an entire culture around Bible McNuggets and assumed they were nutritious.”

-Phillip Yancey

Restored Years 

God is able to turn years of loss into greater strength as we learn the lessons of the cross. 

Restoring the year(s) the locusts have eaten means:

• Returning to the health and fruitfulness that you had prior to the time of trial with greater strength and lessons learned.

If you are hearing this simply as a means to gratify the desire for personal blessing, you are off and have missed the message of the cross.

In Jesus, those who want to save their lives (in the mere pursuit of pleasure, wealth, worldly security, etc.) will lose them, while those who lose their lives for his sake and the gospel will find life.  

Mark 8:34-38 

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Restored Dreams

The dreams that the old men dream in the following passage are not self-centered, but God-centered dreams, and therefore re-emerge with the backing of Heaven. 

“There is nothing more irreligious than self-absorbed religion.”

-J.I. Packer, Knowing God

Joel 2:28-32 

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 

“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

This is all gospel language that the apostle Peter would reiterate on the day of Pentecost.

After Jesus’ suffering, burial and resurrection, he would exhort the church to re-emerge in the power of the Holy Spirit for the purposes of God.  

If God is so good and wants all people to come into this restoration, why won’t everyone be saved?

“If you were to force people to do something against their free choice, you would be dehumanizing them. The option of forcing everyone to go to heaven is immoral, because it's dehumanizing; it strips them of the dignity of making their own decision; it denies them their freedom of choice; and it treats them as a means to an end. When God allows people to say 'no' to him, he actually respects and dignifies them.”

-J.P. Moreland

Why the does the Scripture in Joel sound so familiar and what should we do with it? 

Acts 2:37-41 

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Come to Jesus for restoration.  

Through your repentance from self-absorbed living, let him restore the years of damaged relationships, health and provision that the locusts have eaten. 

Find resurrection life in the cross of Christ today and rejoin God’s people in the pursuit of his Kingdom purposes and blessing.

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

Reemerge: A Return to Right Lenses

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Reemerge: A Return to Right Lenses

Lead Pastor: Rollan Fisher

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

Reemerge: A Return To Promise

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Reemerge: A Return To Promise

Lead Pastor: Rollan Fisher

1. There is a Promise Of Return

2. When we return with all of our heart and all of our soul

3. God returns us too His promises

Focus Point: We will reemerge with Christ when we cling to God’s Word for His promises

A reiteration of the law of God given in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  

Deuteronomy 30:1-10

' “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. '

Moses is preparing the people to come out of their wanderings and into the promised land.  

1. There is a promise of return

   1. They did not believe the promises of God

   2. They did not obey the commands of God

   3. They wanted to return to the familiar slavery in Egypt

   4. Only Joshua and Caleb in there generation went into the promised land

      1. Even Moses didn’t enter the promised land

   5. Deut 28-29 God gave commands accompanied by blessing and cursing

      1. Obey and be blessed (God’s favor)

      2. Disobey and be cursed (God’s resistance)

   6. Deut 30 God knows our tendency to stray and drift in forgetfulness, bringing about cursing.  

   7. One of those curses was being scattered among the nations (diaspora)
      

2. When we return with all of our heart and all of our soul (vs 3)

   1. Promise of returning from scattering.

   2. Promise of mercy.

   3. Promise of restored fortunes.

      1. Israelites: A physical land

      2. Us in Christ: Freedom from sin, fear, lack, and more. 

      3. No matter how far we’ve been scattered He can bring us back.  (vs 4)

         1. Separated in heart, mind

   4. We are blessed when we obey God fully.

   5. Heart and soul (will, emotions), mind (thoughts).  

   6. Vs 6- God will cut away attachments to things destroying us and killing us.  Generational sins and habits he will deliver us from.  When we come back with all our heart he will do a work in our families multi-generationally.

   7. Vs 7 - God puts the curse on the demonic forces oppressing us.  God will be an enemy to our enemies.  

   8. Vs 8 - Freedom to obey and become prosperous in our soul and then the work of our hands, the fruit of our womb and the ground. God DELIGHTS in prospering his people. 

3. God returns us to his promises

This is a prescription for changing seasons.  For emerging.  

The Great Physician’s prescription: Love Me, turn to Me, and commit to obeying my Word with all your heart and soul.

Heart means ‘affection’.

Q: Survey your affections.  Where do they lie?  Have you given your heart and affections to Christ?  Your mind and thoughts to Christ?  Your emotions?  Are you committed to obeying ALL of God’s commands?  Have you been scattered, how?  

Pray: God, forgive me of not loving you by trusting and obeying you wholeheartedly.  Help me to take you at your perfect Word.  Help me to obey Your Word, believe Your promise, and give you my whole heart.  Thank you Jesus for making a way for me to start again by your sacrifice for me on the cross.  Help me Holy Spirit live in wholehearted devotion to Jesus Christ all my days.  In Jesus name, Amen.  

Action: Ask God to show you where you’ve been scattered in your mind, heart, and soul.  Repent of where you missed the mark.   Commit to God’s grace in Jesus Christ to help you obey His Word that He may bring you back into his favor.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021