Amazing Grace: Week 2

Amazing Grace:

Pastor Rollan Fisher

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

-Titus 3:3-7

Second City Church - Amazing Grace - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Amazing Grace: Week 1

Amazing Grace:

Pastor Rollan Fisher

16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.18 Therefore, as one trespass[a] led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness[b] leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

-Romans 5:16-21

Second City Church - Amazing Grace - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Vision 2020: Prophetic word for Second City Church for 2020

Vision 2020: Prophetic word for Second City Church for 2020

Pastor Cole Parleir

“As you let God put your roots down deep, He will send the branches out wide”

(John 15:5-6)

Focus Scripture

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

-‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭29:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is joyful.”

‭‭-Proverbs‬ ‭29:18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.”

‭‭-Proverbs‬ ‭29:18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

1. Prophetic vision is revelation of divine guidance into God’s plan. It’s seeing life as it really is according to God’s plan set forth in Jesus Christ.  To know and walk with Jesus Christ, God incarnate, is God’s plan for your life, your family, and the world. To know Christ is to be forgiven, to be blessed,  and have the Holy Spirit enabling us to live God’s way walking with Christ as Lord. To not know Christ is to be under God’s wrath and is the opposite of being blessed. To not know Christ is to cast off restraint of the Holy Spirit who wants to work in, preserve, and increase your life through holy living. To not know Christ is to be discouraged and feel condemned and hopeless as you languish in sin. To not know Christ is to be frustrated, living an unproductive life by running wild chasing fruitless pursuits that dishonored God.  

   1. “Revelation” is the uncovering or revealing of God’s plan. 

1. “Divine guidance” happens when you see and surrender to God's plan in Christ for your life.

2. “No prophetic vision” is not knowing Christ, His forgiveness, and His ways.  Christ is the blessing, the happiness, and the joy our Heaenly Father intends for us. 

   1. “No prophetic vision” is Divine judgment and comes by rejecting Christ as Lord and Savior

      1. “Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord God, "when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. "In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst. Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, 'As your god lives, O Dan,' and, 'As the Way of Beersheba lives,' they shall fall, and never rise again."

         1. ‭‭Amos‬ ‭8:11-14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

      2. “Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord. The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.”

         1. ‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭2:9-10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

      3. “We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long. How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?”

         1. ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭74:9-10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

1. Casting off restraint, running wild, and discouragement are the results of not knowing God’s plan for your life found in Christ Jesus.

   1. “Running wild”

      1. Living your own way, the world’s way, or ultimately Satan’s way.  If we want to build a life that produces something of eternal value we must take up our cross and follow Jesus. 

   2. “Discouraged”

      1. Satan’s plan for the follower of Jesus is to discourage them.  To steal their courage and replace it with fear or frustration.  Abiding in Christ and praying His kingdom come (that our Heavenly Father’s vision come to earth) is how we maintain courage through God’s grace. 

2. Blessing comes when we obey God walking with Christ. Walking with Christ obeying God will make us the happiest and joyful.

   1. Happy 

      1. “Blessed [spiritually prosperous, happy, to be admired] are the poor in spirit [those devoid of spiritual arrogance, those who regard themselves as insignificant], for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [both now and forever].”

         1. ‭‭MATTHEW‬ ‭5:3‬ ‭AMP‬‬

   2. Joyful

      1. “For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,”

         1. ‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭1:4-6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

3. Keeping the law refers to God’s commands as a whole, but can also apply to God’s wisdom and instruction.  Does the God of the universe give suggestions? No, if we’ve heard His voice in His word or our heart on a particular matter we must obey with corresponding grace He gives, and this leads to blessing

   1. Torah

      1. Gods commands

   2. Instruction

      1. Obeying Jesus

In summary

Start this year by recommitting to Christ as Lord and Savior.  Gaze upon His life in the Bible marveling at God’s graciousness and blessing toward those who trust Him.  Let Christ be your prophetic vision and surrender to it. Receive His blessing through abiding in Christ, walking with Him in all of his Holy and perfect ways.  Let God put your roots down deep in Christ so He can send your branches out wide. Amen.

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”

-‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:12-16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

-‭‭John‬ ‭14:6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Second City Church - Pastor Cole Parleir 2020

When God Draws Near: Extraordinary Response

When God Draws Near: Extraordinary Response

Pastor Rollan Fisher

• The Nature of Lordship

• Appropriate Gifts

• Returning a Different Way

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.  Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

-Matthew 2:1-18

The Nature of Lordship

When God draws near, it is to benevolently rule our lives. 

*Herod was disturbed because Jesus coming as King would threaten his own rule.  We attempt to seek and destroy those aspects of the commandments of God where our hearts are not submitted to Christ (and anyone who holds us accountable to these things).  What area is that for you?

• Is it how you view your relationships?

• Is it how you use your finances?

• Is it the control you want over your own time?

• These are our treasures. 

“When you find your definitions in God, you find the very purpose for which you were created. Put your hand into God's hand, know His absolutes, demonstrate His love, present His truth, and the message of redemption and transformation will take hold.”

-Ravi Zacharias

Appropriate Gifts

When God draws near, it demands an extraordinary response on our part. 

The wise men traveled with a group to give their gifts and honor Christ.  They knew God’s worth and purposes were greater than their independent plans, so they openly and together gave out of their treasures - what was valuable to them and useful to Christ.  

Don’t be a misanthrope. 

“In community, we discover who we really are and how much transformation we still require. This is why I am irrevocably committed to small groups. Through them, we can accomplish our God-entrusted work to transform human beings.”

-John Ortberg

These gifts would be used to preserve the life of Jesus and his parents when they would go for a period of time to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath. Their financial gifts literally paved the way for the protection of Christ, the fulfillment of his earthly mission and perpetuation of generational gospel work.  Your gifts, tithes and offerings have no less significance today. 

Returning a Different Way

When God draws near, we are expected to leave different than when we came.  

The issue is transformation. 

“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.“

-Napoleon Hill

And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord , who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

-Isaiah 49:5-7

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.

-Isaiah 60:1-6

“Transformation is a process, and as life happens there are tons of ups and downs. It's a journey of discovery - there are moments on mountaintops and moments in deep valleys of despair.”

-Rick Warren

Second City Church -When God Draws Near - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

When God Draws Near: It Will Be Just Like He Said

When God Draws Near: It Will Be Just Like He Said

Pastor Rollan Fisher

• Just Like He Said 

• Peace Among Those With Whom He is Pleased

• Marked by Jesus 

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

-Luke 2:1-21 

Just Like He Said 

God drawing near will be just as he said it would be. 

In the first advent, the Messiah would be:

• Born of a Virgin (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6,7)

• Of the Tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:9-12)

• In the town of Bethlehem 

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

-Micah 5:2

It will be the same for us as for the shepherds.  As we follow the instructions of the Lord, we will find Jesus in his second advent just as the messengers of Scripture have spoken about him - the resurrected King who makes his return to save those who are waiting for him in the world. 

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. 29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

-Matthew 24:3-14,21-31 

“Bible teaching about the Second Coming of Christ was thought of as “doomsday” preaching. But not anymore. It is the only ray of hope that shines as an ever brightening beam in a darkening world.”

-Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes

Peace Among Those With Whom He is Pleased

Since this is our hope, we make it our ambition to please him in every way.  We want God’s peace to be upon us as we are those with whom he is pleased.  Faith is how we please him, demonstrated in obedience to his commands in all areas of life. 

21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

-John 14:21-24

Marked by Jesus 

Your life needs to be marked by Jesus To live this way, you must make what is said about Jesus the treasure and meditation of your heart, just as it was Mary’s.  Why don’t I have a heart to worship? I don’t need to procrastinate.  I need to in haste, make moves towards God, lest my heart be hardened and dull. Can you imagine if the shepherd’s got this news and then stayed put where they were simply discussing Jesus’ birth? 

True worship will be the result when you not only hear the good news about Christ, but in haste do everything in your power to meet with him, see him as he is.  The shepherds had to make an effort to leave their daily affairs and go to the place where they could meet with Christ.  Then you will go your way rejoicing like the shepherds did because you will experience that everything that was said about Jesus is true.  

The Shepherds Became Marked by the Life of Jesus

There’s no getting around this reality - just as in any other relationship, the more you share this good news as the shepherds did, the more real in your life Christ becomes because you invite his life to define yours.  

In many traditions, the fourth Sunday of Advent celebrates LOVE.  In no greater way was this expressed in the fact that Jesus in his first Advent was literally born to die for the sins of the world - yours and mine. 

“If man had his way, the plan of redemption would be an endless and bloody conflict. In reality, salvation was bought not by Jesus' fist, but by His nail-pierced hands; not by muscle but by love; not by vengeance but by forgiveness; not by force but by sacrifice. Jesus Christ our Lord surrendered in order that He might win; He destroyed His enemies by dying for them and conquered death by allowing death to conquer Him.”

-A.W. Tozer, Preparing for Jesus' Return: Daily Live the Blessed Hope

This Advent Season, let us take great confidence in the fact that the Second Coming of Christ will be just as the first was, as he said it would be.  Therefore come to the cross in repentance and faith that you might live a life pleasing to him.  Receive the great joy of his salvation that is for all the people.  Let the worship of Jesus, this risen King, be upon your lips and mark your life forevermore.  

Second City Church -When God Draws Near - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

When God Draws Near: Intentional Preparation

When God Draws Near: Intentional Preparation

Pastor Rollan Fisher

• Why Hedonism Doesn’t Work

• Where True Joy is Found

• Preparing for the Coming of the Lord

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

-Isaiah 40:1-11

Why Hedonism Doesn’t Work

Though we are redeemed believers, we still live with the reality of the sinful nature that we must put off daily. Though God have us all things for our enjoyment, if we only live for that enjoyment, we will be unfulfilled and disappointed.

The problem with hedonism is it keeps you from being useful in the hand of God because you’re always living for pleasure rather than appropriate sacrifice.

*The challenge is the longevity of devotion

To combat this, God told the Israelites to prepare for the first coming of the Messiah. The Scripture continually talks about the Second Coming of Christ the Messiah not to die for sins again on the cross, but to save those who’ve been waiting for Him. We must live prepared for this.

Where True Joy is Found

In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

-Luke 1:5-17

We have joy because, in Christ, no matter what comes from here, I’m good and it gets better if I’m right with God. I have no reason to fear the future, death, lack or his coming if I’m building my life around him now.

“The second coming of Christ will be so revolutionary that it will change every aspect of life on this planet. Christ will reign in righteousness. Disease will be arrested. Death will be modified. War will be abolished. Nature will be changed. Man will live as it was originally intended he should live.”

-Billy Graham, Billy Graham in Quotes

It will be joy for those who are waiting, distress for the unprepared.

Preparing for the Coming of the Lord

“When He returns is not as important as the fact that we are ready for Him when He does return.“

-A.W. Tozer, Preparing for Jesus' Return: Daily Live the Blessed Hope

“Let us be alert to the season in which we are living. It is the season of the Blessed Hope, calling for us to cut our ties with the world and build ourselves on this One who will soon appear. He is our hope—a Blessed Hope enabling us to rise above our times and fix our gaze upon Him.”

-A.W. Tozer, Preparing for Jesus' Return: Daily Live the Blessed Hope

Second City Church -When God Draws Near - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

When God Draws Near: Unusual Mission

When God Draws Near: Unusual Mission

Pastor Rollan Fisher

• The Complexity of Purpose

• Recognizing that which is of the Holy Spirit

• Serving Immanuel

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

-Matthew 1:18-25

The Complexity of Purpose

You need to realize that God’s plans may not be your plans.

Through the Eyes of Joseph

When you have a day like Joseph’s, receiving the news of Mary’s pregnancy, sometimes, platitudes like the following are not enough:

“The attitude you bring to the day is what the day will bring to you. Great attitude, great day.”

-unknown

Joseph’s entire concept of purpose was being shaken. We live in a culture where our sense of significance is attached to our feeling of individual achievement and purpose. It was expressed well in the existential musings of Saul Bellow’s Dangling Man:

“Of course, we suffer from bottomless avidity. Our lives are so precious to us, we are so watchful of waste. Or perhaps a better name for it would be the Sense of personal Destiny. Yes, I think that is better than avidity. Shall my life by one-thousandth of an inch fall short of its ultimate possibility? It is a different thing to value oneself, and to prize oneself crazily. And then there are our plans, idealizations. These are dangerous, too. They can consume us like parasites, eat us, drink us, and leave us lifelessly prostrate. And yet we are always inviting the parasite as if we were eager to he drained and eaten.

It is because we have been taught there is no limit to what we can do. Six hundred years ago, a man was what he was born to be. Satan and the Church, representing God, did battle over him. He, by reason of his choice, partially decided the outcome. But whether, after life, he went to hell or to heaven, his place among other men was given. It could not he contested. But, since, the stage has been reset and human beings only walk on it, and, under this revision, we have, instead, history to answer to. We were important enough then for our souls to be fought over. Now, each of us is responsible for his own salvation, which is in his greatness. And that, that greatness, is the rock our hearts are abraded on. Great minds, great beauties, great lovers and criminals surround us. From the great sadness and desperation of Werthers and Don Juans we went to the great ruling images of Napoleons; from these to murderers who had that right over victims because they were greater than the victims; to men who felt privileged to approach others with a whip; to schoolboys and clerks who roared like revolutionary lions, to those pimps and subway creatures, debaters in midnight cafeterias who believed they could he great in treachery and catch the throats of those they felt were sound and well in the lassos of their morbidity; to dreams of greatly beautiful shadows embracing on a flawless screen. Because of these things we hate immoderately and punish ourselves and one another immoderately. The fear of lagging pursues and maddens us. The fear lies in us like a cloud. It makes an inner climate of darkness. And occasionally there is a storm and hate and wounding rain out of us.”

-Saul Bellow, Dangling Man

Joseph was moving dutifully through the seemingly uninspired, but good, life responsibilities thrust upon every man of his day. He was making use of his skills of stone masonry for work, had an impending marriage and was preparing a home for a simple Jewish family.

*However, Joseph almost missed the call of God because the immaculate conception didn’t fit into his life plan and offended his sensibilities of how things ought to be done. Joseph could have said to himself, “It is not my plan to married to a woman who claims pregnancy by supernatural, undefined means. Nor do I plan on supporting this child that is not my own. It would definitely take a deep level of trust in God and those he’s put in my path for me to do this. I don’t want to deal with the ridicule of what it will mean to be associated with such a faith that will be misunderstood.”

We find ourselves in similar circumstances. Do you have ideas of how you should best spend your time - what type of experiences should fill the Instagram feeds of your life? What about your idea of what relationships you will or will not allow to be prioritized in your life? What about that to which your resources will go to supporting?

Recognizing that which is of the Holy Spirit

You need to be able to recognize that which is being birthed by the Holy Spirit.

The demands of faith are really answering the question, “How will I recognize that which God is trying to birth by the Holy Spirit in, around and through my life?”

You do this, in part, by responding to the relationships that will bring you into the unusual mission of God’s redemptive story.

What was significant about Joseph’s submitting to that which the Holy Spirit conceived:

1. It came through God’s unusual interaction with his betrothed. The immaculate conception seemingly sucked Joseph into God’s story indirectly, but his role became of vital importance.

1. The call to be the surrogate father of Jesus, the Son of God, rubbed his natural sensibilities. He had to overcome doubts and reasonable suspicion towards Mary.

1. What was conceived of the Holy Spirit was confirmed by God through his messenger (the angel). Who has been your messenger of confirmation calling you up into the purposes of God?

Serving Immanuel

Like Joseph, you need to realize that your life is ultimately about glorifying Jesus and supporting the story of Immanuel - how God draws near to both judge and save the world through His Christ.

The entire meta-narrative of creation is ultimately HiStory - His Story. This means it’s all about God the Father, sending his Son Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit to save a world broken and estranged from him. In many traditions, the second Sunday of Advent represents PEACE. Submitting to this reality is where you find true fulfillment and peace.

The sooner, like Joseph, we recognize that our purpose is to find our place in God’s redemptive storyline, the sooner we’ll stop trying to live for ourselves. Instead, we’ll come to the cross in repentance to receive forgiveness of sins through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, burial, and resurrection from the dead. We’ll accept our place in serving God’s ultimate ends as we’re entrusted with the unusual mission of serving Immanuel.

Second City Church -When God Draws Near - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

Excuses Excuses: God's calling on your life

Excuses Excuses: God’s calling on your life

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Guest Speaker Michael McReavy

The Burning Bush

3 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

-Exodus 3:1-4 

10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

-Exodus 3:10-12 

13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”[a] And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

-Exodus 3:13-14 

Moses Given Powerful Signs

4 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’”

-Exodus 4:1 

10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”

-Exodus 4:10 

13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

-Exodus 4:13-14 

A short message film by Caleb Bislow about a man who lives in a bunker for 14 years. This film seeks to inspire followers of Jesus to take risks for the things that matter most before time runs out. You can purchase and download this film here: http://www.sermonspice.com/product/68007/bunkerman

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

Seasons: Thankful In All Circumstances

Seasons: Thankful In All Circumstances

Pastor Rollan Fisher

• When Things Go Right

• When Things Go Wrong

• When All Will Be Made Right

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

-1 Thessalonians 5:12-24

When Things Go Right

We never want to be remiss in thanking Jesus for what he has done.

“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.”

-George Bernard Shaw

Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

-Deuteronomy 8:17-20

Though some in the Christian camp have at times misused it, prosperity is not a dirty word. The Lord delights in the well-being of his servants.

Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether who rejoice at my calamity! Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me! Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant!” Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.

-Psalm 35:26-28

At the same time, we need to be sober-minded and prepared.

“Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ.”

-John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence: Sex, Race, and the Sovereignty of God

When Things Go Wrong

We never want to act like our present circumstance is all that we will ever see of Jesus. However, we don’t want to miss what he wants us to see through it.

Thank God for what he’s done in the past -this expresses your appreciation for his faithfulness

This protects you from an entitled heart which is never satisfied and ungrateful (Luke

“Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Thank God for what he is doing presently - this opens your eyes to the present moves of the Holy Spirit in, through and around you. This protects you from a dullness of spirit, being unaware of how Jesus is constantly on the move around you (John

“The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!”

-Henry Ward Beecher

“Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining - it bores everybody else, does you no good, and doesn't solve any problems.”

-Zig Ziglar

Thank God for what he will do - this is an act of faith demonstrating your trust in God’s faithfulness. It protects you from a fearful heart, knowing the way God has moved in the past, he can move again by his power and grace

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”

-Zig Ziglar

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt, Citizenship In A Republic

When All Will Be Made Right

We never want to forget that this place is not the Christian’s ultimate home. We want to live in the light of our ultimate salvation, the forgiveness of our sins purchased by Christ on the cross through his death, burial and resurrection from the dead.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

-1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Second City Church - Seasons - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

Seasons: Food That Does Not Spoil

Seasons: Food That Does Not Spoil

Pastor Rollan Fisher

• The Problem at the End of the Rainbow

• What You're Looking For

• The Bread of Life

On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

-John 6:22-40

The Problem at the End of the Rainbow

Our vats can be full but our souls still be wearied, disoriented and empty. Intrinsically, we know such things as the following to be true:

“All the success in the world means nothing if you aren’t loved and respected the most by those closest to you.”

-John Maxwell

Yet in life, we're more often driven by things like the following:

• FOMO

• Living My Best Life Now

• The perfect relationships (romantic, with children, etc.)

• The search for the Fountain of Youth

• The Thirst for Defining Culture and Prestige

• My storybook ending

"The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced that which you thought would deliver the ultimate & it has just let you down."

-Ravi Zacharias

Food that spoils has a shelf life to it. You are always battling to maintain a sense of control to create the perfect environment and scenarios for the food to stay fresh, lest it deteriorate. This is exhausting and is that from which Jesus wants to free you. He gives food that does not spoil that leads to eternal life in him.

"I wish everyone could experience being rich and famous, so they'd see it wasn't the answer to anything."

-Jim Carrey

The problem is, that even having all of your material and perceived experiential needs met, what's at the end of the rainbow lacks the promised luster of animating, sustained life.

“I am absolutely convinced that meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain; meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure. And that is why we find ourselves emptied of meaning with our pantries still full.”

― Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God

What You're Looking For

We long to live a satisfying life full of love, meaning, and purpose that can only be found in proper relationship with Christ.

“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”

― Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God

The recognition of Jesus Christ has to be more than a mental assent. Jesus and his Word must be the bread that you feed on daily for the life that is truly life.

“Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.”

-J.I. Packer,Knowing God

The Bread of Life

Our needs can only fully be met by the Creator of those desires, Jesus, the Bread of Life. Continued repentance, a continual renewing of the mind through the Holy Scriptures (the Bible), is key to accessing this life.

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

― C.S. Lewis

“We do not live so that we can eat, nor do we just eat so that we can live. Life is worth living in and of itself. Life cannot be satisfied when it is lived out as a consuming entity. When it is filled by that which satisfies a hunger that is both physical and spiritual in a mutuality that sustains both without violation of either, only then can life be truly fulfilling.”

― Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message

We need to end our cycles of living lives full of JUSTIFYING sins of omission and commission.

What must I do?:

1. Come to the cross and accept Jesus' saving work through his death, burial, and resurrection for your self-sufficiency and sins.

2. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance as you are baptized and added to Christ's church.

“Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God, and as our knowledge grows at these three points so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged.“

-J.I. Packer,Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in Our Walk with God

3. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind as you continue to feed on the life and purposes of God in Jesus, the Bread of Life, that does not disappoint or spoil.

”For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

-John 6:40

Second City Church - Seasons - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

Seasons: When God Chooses Us

Seasons: When God Chooses Us

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Orphan Sunday

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

-James 1:26-27

• Stages of Life

• When God Chooses Us

• Fruitful in Every Season

Stages of Life

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life —is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

-1 John 2:7-17

3 stages of life:

• Children

• Young Men/Women

• Fathers/Mothers

“Nobody is born into this world a child of the family of God. We are born as children of wrath. The only way we enter into the family of God is by adoption, and that adoption occurs when we are united to God’s only begotten Son by faith. When by faith we are united with Christ, we are then adopted into that family of whom Christ is the firstborn."

~ R.C. Spoul

When God Chooses Us

When God chooses us, it is an act of unmerited grace

Fruitful in Every Season

The goal is to be fruitful in every season

“The Gospel is not a picture of adoption, adoption is a picture of the Gospel.”

~ John Piper

Second City Church - Seasons - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

Seasons: Your Root Determines Your Fruit

Seasons: Your Root Determines Your Fruit

Pastor Rollan Fisher

• With Whom You Walk

• On What You Stand

• Where You Are Seated

With Whom You Walk

In each season, God wants you to be discerning regarding the counsel you receive.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

-Psalm 1:1-6

“People have presuppositions... By 'presuppositions' we mean the basic way that an individual looks at life- his worldview. The grid through which he sees the world. Presuppositions rest upon that which a person considers to be the truth of what exists. A person's presuppositions provide the basis for their values- and therefore the basis for their decisions.”

-Francis A. Schaeffer

The counsel of the wicked is sin-loving and approving. It does not encourage obedience to Christ in such things as love, purity and faithfulness, but instead endorses a spirituality that remains independent, self-sufficient and self-focused.

In every season, God has a purpose and a plan, whether it is in:

• Finding the job you were going to take after years and thousands of dollars of education.

• Marriage

• Starting a family

• Shepherding Teenagers

• Beginning life as empty nesters or in retirement

We must seek him in the counsel of his word and people for that plan.

2“but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

On What You Stand

In each season, you stand on that which you meditate. God wants you to stand on his eternal, Holy Word full of good promises. The way of sinners is simply an existence not rooted in the life of Christ as our Creator and Lord.

Jesus is both gentle and gracious. He is also all wise and all powerful. Christ calls both the strong and the weak to repentance and faith that times of refreshing might come from him.

“Christ is sufficient. We do not need “support groups” for each and every separate tribulation. The most widely divergent sorrows may all be taken to the foot of the same old rugged cross and find there cleansing, peace, and joy. “

-Elisabeth Elliot

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

-Psalm 1:3-4

Where You Are Seated

In each season, your root determines your fruit. When seated perpetually in Christ, you will bear the good fruit of God’s promises in season.

Seat of Scoffers -

people begin to become cynical and mock the counsel of God because the seasons are longer than we would like (think the Chicago winter). We begin to gravitate instead to the quick fix or “get rich quick” mentality. What we need is an investor’s mindset. Before you ever see fruit, plants have a well-established root system from which they draw life-sustaining nutrients.

“I think the greatest weakness in the church today is that almost no one believes that God invests His power in the Bible. Everyone is looking for power in a program, in a methodology, in a technique, in anything and everything but that in which God has placed it—His Word. He alone has the power to change lives for eternity, and that power is focused on the Scriptures.”

-R.C. Sproul, The Prayer of the Lord

We must give God’s promises the time to work. They bear fruit in season, as we are faithful to remain rooted in his commandments and ways.

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

-2 Peter 3:1-13

“It is not what we do that matters, but what a sovereign God chooses to do through us. God doesn't want our success; He wants us. He doesn't demand our achievements; He demands our obedience. The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of paradox, where through the ugly defeat of a cross, a holy God is utterly glorified. Victory comes through defeat; healing through brokenness; finding self through losing self.”

-Charles Colson

The sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our forgiveness and His subsequent resurrection from the dead makes a way for an eternal season of fruitfulness for all who turn from their sin and believe the good news.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

-Ephesians 2:1-10

Second City Church - Seasons - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

Seasons: Pruning for Growth

Seasons: Pruning for Growth

Pastor Rollan Fisher with Guest Speaker Pastor Peter Ahlin

I Am the True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants,[a] for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

-John 15:1-17

Second City Church - Seasons - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

Seasons: Surprising Seasons

Seasons: Surprising Seasons

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Some seasons you can prepare for

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

-Genesis 8:22

The winter in Chicago

*What do you do when you find yourself in a season you did not expect?

Though we may be surprised, God is not, and has a plan in the midst of it all.

• What I wouldn’t have expected

• What I wouldn’t have done

• What I couldn’t have imagined

What I wouldn’t have expected

Our surprise seasons are for the advance of God’s Kingdom and for the believer.

And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.

-Acts 8:1-8

What I wouldn’t have done

Surprise seasons move you to do things you would not have done if left to yourself

“When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.”

-Corrie Ten Boom

What I couldn’t have imagined

In the end, with eternal perspective, as we work with God through our surprise seasons, tilted towards him to ask what he wants to do with the circumstances for Kingdom advance, it will lead to exceeding joy for the believer.

-Galatians 4:13-14

You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

-Romans 8:28-39

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Second City Church - Seasons - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

Seasons: Seasons Change, God Stays The Same

Seasons: Seasons Change, God Stays The Same

Pastor Cole Parlier

Main Scripture

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time.

‭‭-Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:1-11a‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

-‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭13:8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The Point

1. What is a ‘season’?

a. Definition

i. Weather effects based on timing

1. “each of four divisions of the year (spring, summer, autumn, and

winter) marked by particular weather patterns and daylight hours,

resulting from the earth’s changing position with regard to the

sun.”

ii. Circumstances based on timing

1. “A proper or suitable time”

iii.

1. “An indefinite or unspecified period of time”

b. Synonyms

i. Mature, harden, toughen, period

c. Origin

i. Root is Latin “serere” meaning ‘to sow’ and ‘time of sowing’

ii. Moved to Old French then English as “season”

d. Astrological

i. Seasons occur mainly due to earth's tilt on it’s 23.4 degree ever changing

(very slowly) axis. The hypothesis goes that the earth was rotating

straight until a “Giant Impact” knocked it off its original axis resulting in it’s

bent. This axis is very, very slowly changing.

e. Conclusion

i. In the same way seasons change due to the earth's tilt toward or away

from the sun rather than the earths proximity in orbit to the sun, our lives

fluctuate not due to our inherent closeness to God (because He’s always

near us by His Spirit) but due to our hearts tilt toward or away from Him.

Our souls can prosper in every season life if we trusting God through faith

in Jesus. Though we can be rooted in the love and favor of the Lord

Jesus always, in this life we will have night and day, winter and summer,

life and death, joy and sadness. We must remember sorrow lasts for the

night. The earth is spinning and joy will come in the morning.

2. Earthly life is seasonal, Heavenly life is eternal

a. Our perception of seasons of life (though real) and our power to persevere or

lack thereof within them can change vastly based on our spiritual position

regarding the Son of God. The sun is always shining above the clouds and the

Son of God is always reigning on His throne and by His Spirit.

i. “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not

consumed.” - ‭‭Malachi‬ ‭3:6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

b. Abiding in Jesus, obeying Jesus, and applying His wisdom makes every season

and circumstance “beautiful in its time” as we speed the coming of the eternal

beauty of the everlasting kingdom of Christ.

i. We speed the coming by sowing to the Spirit and not the flesh, forsaking

the desire of the flesh and embracing the desires of the Spirit. This is the

out working of praying “your kingdom come”.

ii. If you walk by the Spirit of God in these temporary seasons you will make

the most of every season by bringing God glory, putting treasure in

heaven, and producing the fruits of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22)

3. Your assignment may change, but your calling stays the same

i. Because your ever-changing calling is to be formed into the image of Christ as you love and obey God, love people, and pursue the “good works he prepared in advance you” (Ephesians 2:10) we must learn to recognize a change of season (assignment). You will need to reorganize, say yes and no to opportunities, to prioritize your calling. This is called repentance (changing your mind to follow Christ rather than the circumstance changing you).

ii. Learn to number your days so that you may gain a heart of wisdom for the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. We need faith to stand on this!

1. “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”- ‭‭Romans‬

‭11:29‬ ‭ESV‬‬

4. God will help you not grow weary in well doing, to sow kingdom seeds in each season

a. “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also

reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption,

but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us

not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give

up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially

to those who are of the household of faith.” - ‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:7-10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Truths to know in EVERY season

1. In Christ God loves me

2. In Christ, I have God’s favor

3. God is always with me

4. What I sow I reap

5. God’s wants me to be fruitful

6. Mercy is available

7. Grace is available

8. Help is available

Seeds to sow in EVERY season

1. Love

2. Faith

3. Hope

4. Obedience

5. Wisdom

6. Mercy

As we sow the seeds of the gospel and produce the fruit of the Kingdom of God in every

season, we are fulfilling the prayer “Your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is

in heaven” we are asking for God’s eternity to overcome the world’s temporal.

Questions for action

- Have you entered into the eternal season of the life and favor of God by accepting

Christ?

- Can you identify what earthly season you’re in?

- Are you producing spiritual fruit that honors God?

- What seeds are you ‘sowing’ in this season, is it to the flesh (temporary seed) or to the

Spirit (eternal seed)?

Conclusion

God wants you to be fruitful in every season of earthly life. He wants you to produce fruit that lasts. Today God is calling you out of the spiritually cold and dead winter and into the eternally favorable and fruitful summer of God in Jesus Christ. He is the eternally fruitful vine of life and you can be His branch allowing Him to work in and through you each day in every season. Will you turn your eyes to Jesus and let him reset your crooked off kilter spiritual axis by letting Him change your mind and heart? Will you let Him bring you into the everlasting season of the favor of God because of the eternal impact of the gift of the perfect life, sacrificial death, resurrection, and current heavenly reign of Jesus Christ?

The Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for your sovereign seasons. Thank you for diversity of life through challenges, struggles, joys, and even uncertainty. We trust that you are working out your eternal plan of salvation and redemption that began on the cross as Jesus rules and reigns at your right hand at this very moment. I confess when I don’t trust you and follow you, everything does not seem beautiful. You promise for all those who are in Christ we are seated with Him at your right hand in heavenly places. Help me to see from your eternal heavenly viewpoint that I may receive your comfort and confidence today and persevere through every season honoring and loving You.

Invitation to follow Jesus

“Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”- ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

- into the eternal life of Christ that overcomes every season here

More scriptures to meditate on

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”

‭‭-Malachi‬ ‭3:6‬ ‭ESV

‬‬

“teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

-‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28:20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

-‭‭Psalms‬ ‭90:12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

‭‭-Romans‬ ‭12:1-2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."”

-‭‭John‬ ‭4:34-38‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have the opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

-‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:7-10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

-‭‭John‬ ‭15:4-8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.”

-‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭4:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

‭‭-Revelation‬ ‭22:1-5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Maxims

- Keep your eyes on heaven to be rooted on earth

- Be heavenly minded to be earthly good

Second City Church - Seasons - Pastor Cole Parleir 2019

Back to Church Sunday 2019: Part 4 “Servant Leaders & God’s Mission”

Back to Church Sunday 2019: Part 4 “Servant Leaders & God’s Mission”

Pastor Rollan Fisher with Guest Speaker Pastor Reggie Roberson

Growing up it seemed like the lead pastor of the church was supposed to be everything and everywhere?  The pastor was supposed to be at the hospital when every church member or their kid was sick. The pastor was supposed to be at every graduation from graduate school all the way down to kindergarten. The pastor was supposed to be at every birthday party.  The pastor was supposed to do every funeral and wedding even if they were happening at the same time.  The pastor was supposed to remember every person's name and take every phone call.  The pastor should be the best greeter, children's minister, youth minister, outreach guy, teacher, consultant, and adviser.  The pastor is supposed to do all of this while somehow giving his own family love, attention, and leadership as well as living off of a meager amount of money. 

I have two questions for you:  

How many of you would sign up to be a pastor like I just described?  

How many of you think that it is pretty unreasonable to ask one person or even two to do all of this?  

What’s interesting is that God also thinks this is unreasonable to ask of one person to do all of this.  In fact, God is grieved at anyone approaching church in this way because it hinders us in fulfilling God’s mission.   

• This approach to church deprives the pastor of having a balanced life that can serve God and others well without burning out.  

• This approach also deprives followers of Christ of using their God-given gifts, strengths, and opportunities to serve each other and the world.   

What we are going to see in our passage today, Acts 6:1-7 is God’s approach to fulfilling his mission through the church through servant leaders.  

1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Big Idea:  We fulfill God’s mission by accepting His calling, appointing, and anointing.   

The first thing we read in this chapter is that there is a dispute between Christian widows who are Jewish (Hebraic) and greek (Hellenistic).  

1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

This is significant because it is the first time there was a dispute within the body of Christ or the church.  

You see, in Acts 5 the church has disputer but it was the religious leaders who had crucified Jesus earlier, who were not members of the church.  Peter and John had been thrown in prison and then freed by an angel to go preach the gospel again.  

Now this a dispute among widows threatened to undermine, disrupt, and stifle God’s mission to see the world come to know him.  Think of how the church would have been branded by people if they did not deal with this dispute well: 

• They don’t really practice what they preach.

• They are no better than the world, at least the world (jews) tried to do something for us.

• This Christianity is really a religion for one type of ethnicity; in this case the Jews.  

So what did God do in response to this issue that was going to hinder His mission to see more people know him and possibly rip the church apart?

We see God doing three things: 

Calling people to His mission

God uses this circumstance to wake up the church to His voice.  They become the woke church. 

You can hear God saying through this bible passage, “Look, I am calling you through a particular need to step up and help.  Why? I don’t want my mission to be hindered. I want my mission fulfilled and it’s going to require all of us to serve in some way.  The apostles accepted the call to delegate and not try to do everything so they can fulfill God’s glorious mission. While the church accepts God’s call by being problem solvers and actually serving and not being complainers.  

As the church, we are called to be participators and not spectators.  Spectators would look at the problem and just complain, fault-find, or say somebody else will deal with that issue but not me.  

We are called to be a part of the solution and not perpetuate the problem. 

Story Lilly Ferrick -serving the shut-in isolated/widow and wants to do systematic studies through the bible vs. pastor we should have this or be doing this.  

Can you hear God’s voice calling you to serve in a particular area?  

What problems or potential issues is God highlighting with you to solve in the church?  

What gaps do you see?

This is a moment for us to see what God may ask us to do in order to fulfill his mission as servant leaders.  

The next thing we see is God...

Appointing people for His mission

In this story, we find that the apostles and people have a very important moment of clarification from God about this issue of appointment.  

First, the church leaders realize they can not do everything.  They can do something and they prioritize two things. Verse 2 and 4 tells us.  2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 

4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

• Prayer private yes but more so with the community of Christ-followers.  

• The second is the ministry or service of equipping people to be able to understand and share God’s word.  

Without them doing this God’s mission will be stifled.  

It becomes clear to them that in order for God’s mission to continue they must share the stewardship of God’s mission with the church; it can not just be them.  God was appointing not just the apostle but everyone to help steward God's mission and promote it.  

So then they appointed some people within the church to serve the widows using their God-given strengths and abilities. 

This shows us two important truths:  

Every task is important. (Waiting on tables was not a menial task but was a way of caring for people God cares about. 

““Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.”

-‭‭Exodus‬ ‭22:22-24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Parking lot team and greeters seems pretty unimportant right?  

Wrong here’s a survey feedback from a guest this past week. 

Answer the questions: What did you notice first?  

“The special attention to making guests feel welcomed. The yellow designations in the parking lot, guest tent & gift bag, guest greeter. Made us feel very welcomed and at ease.”

Every task is important

Every person is valuable. 

Every person has some type of ability or strength that God has given them to help fulfill God’s mission in the church and in the world.  It talks about the seven but the people had a role in appointing the seven.

My friend Justin Thomas was trained in being a health coach. He has a passion for young professionals, especially one’s coming out of college.  He decided in the church to lead our young professional’s ministry.  

Picture of CL Thomas fellowship 

Outside of the church, he founded an organization called CL Thomas Fellowship named after is dad in which he takes young men through a 9-month program where through books and discussions they are learning to be providers.  Providers bless and protect.  

What are you passionate about?  What ability and strengths has God given you?  Are you willing to use them to steward God’s mission for second city church? 

Anointing people in His mission

These seven guys are considered by scholars to be the first deacons to be appointed in the church.  The word for deacon in its original language is “helper”. Deacons are leaders in service as servant leaders.  The passage tells us that they were chosen and presented to the apostles by the congregation and the apostles laid their hands on them and prayed for them.  The apostles through this act of laying their hands on them became conduits for God’s power to be activated in the lives of the deacons for God’s mission. The power is what we call the anointing.  

Why were they anointed and not others at the time?  What was the basis of their anointing?  

5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 

• They were known by the people and did not have a private faith.  They attended church regularly, they went to community groups, and they were faithful. FAITH.

• They were seen as being men full of faith. They were not perfect but they had noticeable confidence in God.  They lived in such a way that their confidence in God was expressed through what they said what they did.

• The were full of the Holy Spirit.  This meant that the presence of the Holy Spirit, the fruit or love of the Holy Spirit, and they power of the Holy Spirit was present in their lives.  

What would people say about you when they observe your life?  

Do you stand out enough for others to recognize you as a man or woman of God? A follower of Christ?  

Does your speech and actions show you are confident in Christ?

If you are a Believer in Christ, the good news today is that you have been given a measure of faith and the Holy Spirit lives in you!  You can be like any of these men, fulfilling God’s purpose and mission for you life as servant leaders. 

Lastly, the reason God anoints us is so we can fulfill this great mission known as the great commission in and through the church to Make disciples of Jesus Christ and all of the groups according to Matthew 28:18-20.

7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

When everyone did their part the church flourished and grew and lives were changed forever.  All of this is so that the mission that God had in Christ would be fulfilled. 

God became man in Christ and died on the cross for us to pay the punishment for our sins and provide forgiveness of sins, to bring us into an everlasting relationship as sons and daughters with the Heavenly Father that starts now, and to give us eternal inheritance now and in the new heaven and new earth.  Righteousness or right standing with God, peace, joy, and fulfilling our purpose are all a part of this inheritance.

We fulfill God’s mission by accepting His calling, appointing, and anointing.   

Second City Church - Back to Church Sunday 2019 - Guest Speaker Pastor Reggie Roberson 2019

Back to Church Sunday 2019: Part 3 "Unity with Diversity"

Back to Church Sunday 2019: Part 3 "Unity with Diversity"

Pastor Rollan Fisher

• The Unity God Desires

• Utopic Ideals

• Unmitigated Forgiveness

People who were committed to the gatherings of the people God (despite their differences with those gathered with them):

David - Heart differences with other Israelites

Jesus - Nature and Holiness

Paul - Gentiles

Luke 1 and 4 - the first places Jesus ministered were at the Temple as a boy and in the Synagogue after returning in the power of the Spirit

Unity God Desires

Jesus builds his church with a people of diverse ethnic, socio-economic, cultural and experiential backgrounds. We must celebrate this and learn to share life together as we are being conformed into the image of Christ.

A Song of Ascents Of David:

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

-Psalm 133:1-3

Who is spurring you on to greater faith, love and good deeds In Christ?

-Hebrews 10:19-25

“Children will play with everyone until someone tells them not to.”

Utopic Ideals

Biases and offense are the killers of unity in the Church. We must resist both in the love of Christ.

How to Pick (be planted by the Lord in) a Local Church.

Once you have prayed and discovered that it is a Bible Preaching, Jesus loving church on mission, build life together with the church community.

Spending Time with people is the only way to overcome suspicions, misunderstandings and cultural stereotypes. You begin to see that people have the same hopes, the same dreams, the same aspirations, needs from God and fears. You all breathe the same air.

Intentionally develop friendships and have people in your home (a good read - Rosario Butterfield‘s - The Gospel Comes With a House Key).

“Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”

-Verna Myers, VP of Inclusion Strategy at Netflix, TED Talk Contributor, Founder of the Verna Myers Company

Don’t be afraid to ask questions to get to know another person’s experience, perspective and pain. You unite Biblically around the cross and gospel of Christ.

-(Racism and Champ Bailey’s Hall of Fame speech - listen to those experiencing something different from you.)

Immigration and how to treat the foreigner

Humility is necessary on both the side of the listener and the one who shares. Dealing with things as a porcupine. The city brings out biases and accentuates issues.

-Unknown author.

v. 47 indicates they are in exile. A community lament. Crisis after persistent unfaithfulness.

Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise. They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the Lord. Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them that he would make them fall in the wilderness, and would make their offspring fall among the nations, scattering them among the lands.

-Psalm 106:24-27

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together

Don’t allow offenses with brothers and sisters to hamstring the work of God.

23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

-Matthew 5:23-26

“Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest and sacrificial. God hates this wishful dreaming because it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. Those who dream of this idolized community demand that it be fulfilled by God, by others and by themselves. They enter the community of Christians with their demands set up by their own law, and judge one another and God accordingly. It is not we who build. Christ builds the church. Whoever is mindful to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying it, for he will build a temple to idols without wishing or knowing it.“

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together

Unmitigated Forgiveness

We preserve unity in diversity by continually offering the forgiveness that we were first offered at the cross of Jesus Christ.

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

-Matthew 18:21-35

Jesus makes a way for men and women to be born again. This is the cure for the deep seeded ills such as the racism and the bigotries of this world. We need to repent of our self-centered, ethnocentric and culturally biased living (which tells us we deserve our best life now and we should have Eden on this side of redemption - an impossibility in a fallen world marred by sin). We need to put our full trust in Jesus, the crucified and risen Son of God to supernaturally be given a new heart and new spirit to empower us to live in the life of Christ.

Second City Church - Back to Church Sunday 2019 - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

Back to Church Sunday 2019: Part 2 "Building the House"

Back to Church Sunday 2019: Part 2 "Building the House"

Pastor Rollan Fisher

• Battle

• Become Active

• Build

Battle

God places you in his church to fight battles both external and internal.

To the Choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God! But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy! Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him! Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad; you restored your inheritance as it languished; your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

Psalm 68:1-10

King David knew battles both external and internal. He needed to be continually connected God and his people to overcome in the midst of these battles.

Externally (After defeating Goliath, David needed the army of Israel to defeat the Philistines. On the run from Saul at work, he needed Jonathan to survive).

Internally (After becoming a successful, victorious king, David needed the prophet Nathan to help him overcome his battles with lust, adultery, deception and murder as seen in the case with Bathsheba. He needed the wise woman of Tekoa to deal with family issues when, because of the discipline of God, his family looked like it was falling apart (reference II Samuel 11-19 for David’s failed response with Amnon and Tamar; the following judgment and being on the run from his son Absalom).

“Whether we like having alone time or not, we all need community. In fact, engaging positively with people in our social support network correlates with a number of desirable outcomes. Community involvement can be associated with mental health and cognitive resilience, reduction of chronic pain, lower blood pressure, and improved cardiovascular health. Isolation, on the other hand, can negatively affect our well being.”

-Dr. Caroline Leaf, Think Learn, Succeed: Understanding and Using Your Mind to Thrive at School, the Workplace and Life

With the proliferation and ubiquitous nature of social media, we feel like we’re connecting, but we’re still alone. The ministry of presence with God and his church is important. God sets the solitary, the lonely, in a home, in a family. Don’t voluntarily live in a parched land.

Become Active

God places you in his church to get active to remain spiritually, mentally and emotionally healthy.

One of the reasons David fell into sin is that he became inactive. Pride began to creep into his heart telling him he now deserved things that God had proclaimed forbidden.

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

2 Samuel 11:1-3

Build

God places you in his church to become a disciple who will work his field and build for the glory of his eternal Kingdom.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Matthew 20:1-16

No matter where you began or when you were called, God’s same saving grace is available for you today. Repent of solitary, selfish living. Be healed in reconciliation with God. Come to the cross to receive God’s forgiveness through Christ’s sacrificial death for your sins, burial and resurrection to eternal life. Be baptized and deployed with God’s people to fight your battles, become active as a disciple and build God’s Kingdom.

Second City Church - Back to Church Sunday 2019 - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

Back to Church Sunday 2019: Part 1 "The Church and the City"

Back to Church Sunday 2019: Part 1 "The Church and the City"

Pastor Rollan Fisher

• The City of God

• The Church in the City

• Coming to the Wellspring of Christ

The City of God

The church is where you find the grace of God in the city.

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. A Song.

On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush — “This one was born there,” they say. And of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; for the Most High himself will establish her. The Lord records as he registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.”

-Psalm 87:1-7

The Basis of Faith

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

-Ephesians 2:8-10

“Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?... Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Disciplship

The Church in the City

The church is God’s vehicle through which He dispense grace to the city.

• The mInistry of presence

• Psalms 139 vs. temple

“Christianity revitalized life in Greco-Roman cities by providing new norms and new kinds of social relationships able to cope with many urgent urban problems. To cities filled with the homeless and the impoverished, Christianity offered charity as well as hope. To cities filled with newcomers and strangers, Christianity offered an immediate basis for attachments. To cities filled with orphans and widows, Christianity provided a new and expanded sense of family. To cities torn by violent ethnic strife, Christianity offered a new basis for social solidarity. And to cities faced with epidemics, fires, and earthquakes, Christianity offered effective nursing services.”

-Rodney Stark

Article to Freshmen (and newcomers to a city, new season of life - applies to any time of transition).

“To quit attending church in college would be like Noah jumping out of the ark, forsaking the chief means God was using to preserve him.

"You need the church because you need to hear God’s Word. You need the church because you need wise and godly mentors. You need the church because you need accountability for your profession of faith. You need the church because you need reminders that your identity rests in Christ crucified. By his death he purchased for you all the power, energy, and motivation you need to invest your life in a local church.”

-From the article: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/college-freshman-commit-church/

Coming to the Wellspring of Christ

The church is full of grace because it is built on the wellspring of Christ.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

-John 6:35-40

“Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Repent of sin today. Come to the cross of Christ where he, being sinless, paid the price for your forgiveness. He was crucified, but resurrected from the dead not only to give you the opportunity for new/eternal life, but has given you his church so that you might have the encouragement to stand in that new life. Be planted in Christ and his church/body today.

Second City Church - Back to Church Sunday 2019 - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019

Joshua Generation - Part 7

Joshua Generation: Part 7

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Taking the City

A Joshua-Type Generation has a heart to impact the city with the love and gospel of Jesus Christ.

• The Care

• The Commitment

• The Commission

Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord.” And he said to the people, “Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.” And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days. On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord .” So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword. But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. But Rahab the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. Joshua laid an oath on them at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. “At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates.” So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

-Joshua 6:1-27

The Care

We must care about reaching the city because it matters to God, the world and your children’s future.

Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord.” And he said to the people, “Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.”

-Joshua 6:1-7

Keep your eyes on Jericho.

The Importance of Cities

The trajectory of our nations are determined in city centers:

“We will neglect our cities to our peril, for in neglecting them we neglect the nation.”

-John F. Kennedy

The vast majority of provision and societal innovation is produced in city centers:

“Just 10 years ago, cities were seen as vital contributors to the global economy. That’s no longer true. Today, cities are the global economy…the 40 largest cities, or mega-regions, account for two-thirds of the world’s output.”

(Ian Wylie, “Knowledge is Power,” The Guardian, Sept 2008.)

The moral compass of nations are shaped in city centers:

“Even if 80 percent of the population of a country are Christian believers, they will have almost no cultural influence if the Christians do not live in cultural centers and work in culture-forging fields such as academia, publishing, media, entertainment, and the arts. The assumption that society will improve simply by more Christian believers being present is no longer valid.”

Timothy Keller, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City

The apostle Paul understood that city centers export their values to the surrounding towns, villages and provinces. The missiological pattern in Acts was that Paul focused primarily on the city centers of trade, commerce, culture and thought in the establishment of gospel preaching churches and left it to them to reach the surrounding areas that were pagan.

“Early Christianity was primarily an urban movement. The original meaning of the word pagan (paganus) was ‘rural person,’ or more colloquially ‘country hick.’ It came to have religious meaning because after Christianity had triumphed in the cities, most of the rural people remained unconverted.”

-Sociologist Rodney Stark

*God sends us first to the hard place, the high walled up city of Jericho that demands a miracle to reach. Once we take this by faith, the other surrounding areas will be become a metaphorical certainty. “If I can make it in Jericho, I can make it anywhere.”

If God cares about the city, why was there a seeming genocide of the Cannanite people?

The collapse of the walls was a sign of God’s singularity and supremacy over all of the false gods of the Canaanite people.

God’s justice had to be enacted for hundreds of years of reprehensible sins against the divine Law of the Creator (Genesis 15:12-16). In this time, God gave people opportunity to turn. It was a foreshadowing of the final judgment to come.

In a barbaric society, things not dealt with in the city would ultimately come for the faith (syncretism) and life of the Israelite children (i.e. - Haman in the book of Esther was a descendent of those who were ancient enemies of Israel and tried to ethnically cleanse the Israelites. See Esther 3:1; Exodus 17:8-16; I Samuel 15:1-33). You can not escape through relocation or co-habitation (ignoring, but not addressing the enemies of God).

The Canaanites would have had the opportunity to turn to God just as those who left Egypt during the plagues (Exodus 12:33-38), just as Rahab and her family had done. They chose not to do so.

If you’d like to learn more on this topic, please reference resources such as Paul Copan’s book Is God A Moral Monster?

The Commitment

We must commit to long-term obedience to God’s instructions with a church community to reach a city.

Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days. On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord .”

-Joshua 6:12-19

God wants to build with those who are stable. God is not flakey like us. We need to stop attaching God’s name to everything we want to do. We need to stop using his voice as a scapegoat every time things get difficult (walking around Jericho seven days continually blowing then trumpets) or we lose interest in something (in our relationships, in our marriages, in our careers, where we choose to live, in our financial plans, in our calling). We need to stop blaming God every time we change our minds. He hasn’t. We need to learn follow-through. Let your yes be yes and your no, no.

THE FIRSTFRUITS MUST CONTINUALLY BELONG TO GOD IN OUR LIVES.

God wanted it in Jericho and for it to remain leveled (Joshua 6:26). GOD SET THIS EXAMPLE BY GIVING US HIS FIRSTBORN AND BEST IN JESUS WHO DIED FOR OUR SINS ON THE CROSS BUT WAS RESURRECTED UNTO EVERLASTING LIFE because of HIS OBEDIENCE. This life, the life that is truly life, is now ours as we turn to God in repentance and faith in Christ’s atoning work.

The Commission

We must embrace our commission to reach specific individuals and families to see the Kingodom of God advance in the city.

But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute's house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. But Rahab the prostitute and her father's household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

-Joshua 6:22-25

Walls come down so that people can participate in the resurrection life of Christ.

The two spies had an assignment from God to go reach Rahab and her family to ensure that they were saved.

Who (not just what) is your assignment from the Lord?

The mission of the church:

“Winning the lost, making disciples and trianning leaders to establish Christ honoring churches that multiply in the city of Chicago and the nations.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

We advance into the city armed with love and the truth of God’s Word.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

-John 3:16-21

Second City Church - Joshua Generation - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2019