The Big Ten: Better Response. Better Relationships. God’s Commands.

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The Big Ten: Better Response. Better Relationships. God’s Commands.

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: You will have better relationships when you obey the commands of God.

• It Starts in the Home

• It Affects Every Relationship

• The Commands of a Perfect Father

It Starts in the Home

We will better understand God’s gospel of grace when we learn to honor our parents.

Commandment #5:

Exodus 20:12

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

This commandment is the bridge between loving God and loving people.  

The relationship that we have with our parents is meant to be the first and most shaping relationship that we have in our early development. 

Amongst other things, parents are to be our first:

1. Caregivers

2. Instructors

3. Source of Definition and Stability

4. Authority

*This is important because what we learn from our parents, whether consciously or subconsciously, affects how we perceive God.

Parents were given by God to be the first earthly reflection of our Heavenly Father.

The reality is, no matter how godly our parents are, they will be imperfect.

God knew this when he gave the command and expects us to honor them anyway.

Honoring someone does not mean agreeing with everything that someone does.

Honor means that you accept the object of honor within the same human frailties that you have and treat them with the same grace that you have received from the Lord.

When you are a child, obedience is expected.

Earthly parents set a foundation of relationship with God.

It is the authority that we can see to be a practice for obedience to the authority of God that we can not see.  

1 John 4:19-20 

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

When you are an adult, honor means valuing and speaking well of your parents even as you obey your Heavenly Father in what you think, say and do.

Because of the damage done by sin, our relationship with our parents and perspectives of God can both be distorted, in need of renewal. 

The Word of God provides a way to a better response.

*It shows us that our parents may not be perfect, but this does not disqualify them from receiving your honor, just as our sin does not prevent us from receiving God’s agape love.

Why is it the first commandment with a promise?

It does not matter how old you are or how removed from an active relationship you find yourself.

*When we refuse to honor our parents because of their shortcomings, we are ultimately the ones who end up bound in our souls, destined to either repeat or overcompensate for their visible sins.

The honor that you show for your parents will directly affect your relationship with your Heavenly Father, and if you have children, the honor that they replicate towards you.

Practicing Honor:

1. Understand their shortcomings with a Biblical worldview, that your parents, just like the rest of humanity, are fallen creatures in need of a Savior because of sin

2. Pray for their salvation if they are still living and share the gospel of their own redemption when able

3. Identify any positive qualities that you can encourage and for which you can thank God

4. Love them with demonstrations of respect (in interaction), value and kindness. The cost may be great but your absorption of sin will allow you to better understand both the sufferings and love of Christ.

The same is true for relationships outside of the home.

It Affects Every Relationship

We will have better relationships with others when we learn to lay down the offenses that we carry against them. 

Commandment #6 

Exodus 20:13

“You shall not murder.“

Matthew 5:21-26 

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 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.

The truth is when we don’t forgive others, we are the ones who remain in bondage while the offenders are allowed to go about their lives, possibly never giving our condition a second thought.

When we hate or hold animosity towards people in our hearts, God counts it as murder.

The reason why is that the meditations of your heart are the precursors of all human activity.

Whatever we allow to grow in our hearts, whether for good or ill, whenever given the opportunity, we will find ways to fulfill.

This is equally true of altruism as it is of evil which we would undertake more readily if we thought there were the possibility of indulgence without consequence.  

The Commands of a Perfect Father

We have the humility needed for better relationships when we embrace the forgiveness of a perfect Heavenly Father.

Matthew 5:43-48

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Really, it comes down to forgiveness and reconciliation.

Can we forgive those who have wronged us and can we choose to reconcile with those who’ve offended us?

Well, because of the cross of Jesus Christ, through the gospel of God’s grace, you can.

Some people find it hard to forgive themselves for their past or wrongs that they have done.

You will experience the forgiveness of the Lord when you offer others the pardon that Jesus has first offered you. 

Remember, all of the commands of God reflect God taking us out of slavery into the freedom of new life in Him.

“Love difficult people.  You’re one of them.”

-Bob Goff

And so am I 😆. 

“Mercy and forgiveness must be free and unmerited to the wrongdoer. If the wrongdoer has to do something to merit it, then it isn't mercy, but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness.”

-Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

The Big Ten: It’s Not In Vain

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The Big Ten: It’s Not In Vain

Pastor Rollan Fisher 

Focus: You will be more fruitful when you obey the commands of God.

• You Can’t Just Slap His Name on It

• Sabbath Rest

• True Rest in Christ

You Can’t Just Slap His Name on It

Exodus 20:7-11 

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Taking God’s name in vain means treating what is revered as mundane, what is to be holy as common. 

Commandment #3:

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” 

1. You don’t want to dishonor God who is our uncreated, all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful deity using His name without reverence or as a pejorative.  

Yet it cuts deeper than this on a daily basis for us.

2. You can not just attach the name of God to anything that you choose to do.   

This is taking God’s name in vain and cuts against the essence of being a disciple or servant of the Lord. 

The detriment of this is it not only reduces a healthy fear of the Lord in our hearts, but it also strips our existence of the holiness that is to permeate all aspects of our lives. 

*This was at the heart of King Saul’s disobedience to the Lord and God’s subsequent rejection of Saul as king of Israel (I Samuel 15). 

When we are followers of Jesus, our LIVES ARE NO LONGER OUR OWN. WE ARE TO NO LONGER DO WHAT WE WANT, WHERE WE WANT, WHEN WE WANT WITH WHOM WE WANT.  

2 Corinthians 5 shows us that when we were bought back from death by Jesus, that our lives moving forward are no longer about us.

They are about Christ, his glory and then our good. 

Our lives have to be laid out in that order to be eternally significant and that for which you receive an enduring reward. 

2 Corinthians 5:15 

and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

The essence of being a disciple is learning to deny YOURSELF, pick up your cross daily and FOLLOW JESUS.

We follow Jesus through God’s written commands and Holy Spirit directives fulfilled alongside the people to whom God has attached you.

We don’t want to be those who miss the ways of the Lord because our minds are focused more on God blessing our comforts rather than His Kingdom purposes in our lives.

Mark 8:31-38 

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

So how do we make sure that we are not taking God’s name in vain?

You pray about everything

Proverbs 3:5-6 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

You have accountability with covenant believers helping to shape your life

John 21:18-19

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.)  And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”  

Sabbath Rest

*The commands of God lead to a life-giving existence. 

Commandment #4:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The Sabbath was designed to teach us to trust and find our rest in God.

“Rest time is not waste time.  It is economy to gather fresh strength….It is wisdom to take the occasional furlough.  In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less.”

-Charles Spurgeon

Each Sabbath, by pausing their work, the Israelites were expressing their trust in God as their source of provision and defined significance. 

Consider these promises.  

Leviticus 25:18-22 

“Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely. The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.

Matthew 6:31-33 

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

The Sabbath is meant to be a time of worship where we are not finding identity merely in our work, but in the God who brings significance to our work.

*When we honor the Sabbath, we are reaffirming the fact that work is meant to be worship unto God rather than work being that which we worship.

Each Sabbath we are pressing a reset button allowing God to once again reorient our lives around His Word and Kingdom purposes.

It is here that we are each reminded of our divine purpose affirming God’s commands as healthy boundaries to provide necessary direction to our pursuits and outlets for our resources.

*Being a disciple of Jesus affects the decisions that we make on a daily basis, where the rubber meets the road. 

How does this help free us from common trappings?

There are only twenty four hours every day. 

Lose the extra stress - God will never call you to do something which he doesn’t give you the time or discoverable provision to fulfill.  

God will never “call you” to something that requires you to break his commandments to fulfill. 

If you feel like you don’t have enough time in the day to obey the commands of God, the issue is that your days are being filled with things God has not called you to do. 

You can not serve two masters. 

Trust the Lord - it leads to your peace, prosperity, God’s glory and Kingdom good. 

*One is not sacrificed for the other, but it does begin with sacrifice. 

Reference Andy Stanley’s book - Choosing to Cheat

True Rest in Christ

True rest is ultimately found in Jesus Christ.

True rest means that we are freed to no longer be driven by the tyranny of the urgent, #YOLO or #FOMO motifs.  

True rest in Christ means that we work hard for our provision, but we do so with boundaries recognizing that our needs will ultimately be met by the hand of a caring Heavenly Father. 

Because of Christ’s sacrifice at the cross, you no longer have to work your way to God or his salvation, but rest in Jesus’ finished work for you.

And with this we subsequently find rest in our soul’s from the burden of trying to forge an identity, significance or ultimate success in life outside of God’s loving plan.

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

The Big Ten: Your Clear Number One

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The Big Ten: Your Clear Number One

Pastor Rollan Fisher 

It is with the Ten Commandments that God’s covenant with the Israelites began.

Ancient rabbis identified 613 separate commandments throughout the entire Law of Moses, which consisted of the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  

The Ten Commandments are the principles upon which the 613 Laws are based.

The first four focus on man’s relationship with and reverence towards God, with love for God as their ultimate theme (Deuteronomy 6:5).

The latter six give instruction regarding man’s relationship with other human beings, exhorting us towards the “golden rule” (Leviticus 19:18).

*In essence, in the Ten Commandments, you see the two greatest commandments to which Jesus referred given practical application (Matthew 22:35-40).

Focus: You will experience the freedom of the Lord when Jesus is first in your life.  

• Where God Belongs

• Distorted Images

• True Freedom

Where God Belongs

When God is not first in our lives, we will be enslaved to lesser, harsh things.    

All that God requires of us is predicated on the fact that He heard our cries of desperation (whether silent or loud) just as He heard the Israelites’ cries when they were groaning in slavery.  

The Israelites were in bondage in Egypt.

We were in our slavery to sin and the resultant consequences.

Exodus 20:1-6

And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

The first commandment deals with who or what god has priority in your life.  

“You shall have no other gods before me.”

When gods are mentioned in Scripture, it was referring to any manner of rulers that lorded over people’s lives. 

The question is what has received the priority of your time, attention and affections before and above Jesus?

What has that produced and why is it detrimental?

*The commands of God always place Jesus first in your life for your good.

People deceive themselves to believe that they experience greater freedom without the commands of God.  

However, from anger and hatred to insecurity and fear to lust and an inability to forgive, without Christ, we are all enslaved to the frailties of our carnal fallen nature.  

Ironically, all of the commands and law of God are meant to truly set humanity free.  

James 1:25 

But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Distorted Images

Distorted images of God enslave rather than free us. 

Whereas the first command deals with God’s place as priority, the second deals with idolatry and what we are in fact, serving.  

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,”

Though all of humanity was made in the image of God, today we are encouraged to reshape God in our own image, according to the whims of our changing culture, reflecting our preferences and the loudest voices in a distorted society.  

This is the essence of idolatry. 

*An idol is made whenever we substitute God’s direct, self-revelation and commands for a caricature of God we remake in our preferred image.  

The damage done is palpable personally, relationally and societally. 

To that point, in his 2009 publication Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters, Timothy Keller states:

“When anything in life is an absolute requirement for your happiness and self-worth, it is essentially an ‘idol,’ something you are actually worshiping. When such a thing is threatened, your anger is absolute. Your anger is actually the way the idol keeps you in its service, in its chains. Therefore if you find that, despite all the efforts to forgive, your anger and bitterness cannot subside, you may need to look deeper and ask, ‘What am I defending? What is so important that I cannot live without?’ It may be that, until some inordinate desire is identified and confronted, you will not be able to master your anger.”

Yet the good news is that at this point we see God’s jealousy enter in. 

God’s jealousy is for our benefit.  

He will not be reduced to a caricature in any extreme nor be hijacked for any human cause.  

He is jealous not only for his own honor, but jealous to keep us from harm because of his love for us.  

A life of disobedience brings about generational curses, where we and others are damaged by the idols that we worship. 

A life lived in obedience to God brings generational blessings.  

It is only through the cross that Jesus redeems and redirects family histories to bring us from generational curses into generational blessings.

When we serve God as He’s revealed Himself rather than as we’d like to remake Him, it leads to our freedom.  

True Freedom

*The commands of God lead to true freedom.  

John 8:31-36 

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

*Think about it.  

When has anything that you’ve ever put before God ultimately turned out for your enduring good?

Career?  Your physical appearance and looks?  Romantic relationships?  Finding identity in the success of your children?

Ultimately we become obsessive about these things, they become task masters to us, and we end up in slavery to them in our souls.

*Idolatry always takes more from us than it gives. 

It offers false hopes and promises that are temporary at best and must be fed constantly to simulate life. 

Jesus, however, invites you into his finished work where you are freed to neither hunger nor thirst for fleeting pleasures in your soul.  

Life in Christ always gives more than we can ever repay. 

“Nothing but God ever completely satisfies, because the soul was made for God.  Don’t starve your soul.”

-Billy Graham

*When we serve God first and before all things, everything important in our lives is put in their right place and in the right order so that rather than being life-draining, they might be life-giving.  

This is true freedom. 

This is where we’ll pick up next week. 

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

These Three Remain: Love Defined

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Love Defined

Pastor Cole Parleir

Today we are going to talk about love in the life of a believer. 

My prayer is that when we are finished today you will have a concrete standard for love as defined by God so that you can build a life of eternal significance and success in God's freedom and favor.

When you hear the word ‘love’ what comes to mind?

If you are like most people this word probably brings up many different pictures or feelings without one universal standard.  

This is not the way it should be. 

This is because we are surrounded by counterfeits and half truths regarding love.  These counterfeits come from many different sources. Some of these sources are overtly sinister while others are simply confused or hurt, thereby perpetuating the cycle they've fallen prey to. 

Genuine or counterfeit dollar bill?

It's important that we understand the true value of love, faith, and wisdom. In order for the value of these to have their effect in our lives we must discern if we have the genuine article in our possession and not counterfeits.

Look at this dollar bill.

How do you know if it's genuine legal tender and able to buy you something? You must know what real legal tender looks like. 

We come to recognize counterfeits by devotedly studying the real thing, NOT by studying counterfeits.

So, let's spend a little time studying what God has said in His written Word, the Bible, about his gifts of genuine love, faith, and wisdom. 

Scripture Background of 1 John 4:7-21

Who is John?

• One of the 12 disciples specially denoted as "The beloved disciple".   He walked with Jesus during his earthly ministry first hand witnessing love, faith, and wisdom in action. He's the disciple whom Jesus entrusted to take care of his mother Mary at his crucifixion. He along with Peter were the first 2 of the 12 apostles to see the empty tomb after Jesus's resurrection from the dead in power. He wrote the Gospel of John, the letters with his name sake, and the last book of the Bible: Revelation. 

Who is he writing 1 John to?

• He was writing to Christians who were falling prey to Gnosticism and other schisms that were perverting the true Gospel, which he was a first hand witness to. 

Why is John writing this letter to them?

• John is writing to remind people of the truth of God’s love in Jesus Christ, who Jesus is, and what He has done and is doing to not only redeem and save, but to preserve those whom he has snatched from the fires of hell.   He wants the readers to stand firm in the truth that they may be confident on the day of judgement when Christ returns to save those who are waiting for him. 

Summary of the letter

• The ESV study Bible puts it this way “…the letter is not a list of dos and don’ts.  It is rather a manifesto of “Done!"" echoing Jesus on the cross when he declared “It is finished!”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:7-21‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:7-21‬ ‭ESV‬‬

https://www.bible.com/59/1jn.4.7-21.esv

What are the concrete things God is imparting to us in his Word today? 

• To give God's genuine pure love, you must first have received it. 

  • "Beloved" is used 3 times in this chapter alone to address the believer that's being warned of counterfeit loves. 

  • You must personally know in an experiential way God's holy and pure love for you. There is no replacement for experiencing God's love. No person can you give what only God has. 

  • Any love you give not sourced from God is incomplete and tainted. It will always be laced with some selfish motive that will rear it's ugly head when an expectation on the object of love is not met.

  • To my single friends: if you are out their looking for love the best thing you can do is focus on God's love for you. This is studying the original so you can discern when the counterfeits show up with big smiles, smooth words, and deep pockets. This will help you live single without regrets. Also, this will prepare you to love properly the spouse God is preparing for you, not expecting them to provide for you what only God can. 

• God is love, but love is not God. 

  • God is the definition of love. Anything presenting itself as “love” but is devoid of God, rejects God, or doesn't follow his ways, is a perversion at best that will disappoint you. It's demonic at worst and will kill, steal, and destroy you.

    • For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

2 Corinthians 11:13‭-‬15 ESV

• The easiest thing to turn into an idol is another human being. This is because all humans are created in God's image with a heart that needs love, as well as a capacity to give love.

  • He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
    Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV

• But when that God given need for love is not sourced from God, this good thing becomes a God thing: a.k.a- an idol. Idols promise to give you life but only return hurt and death. This is why God wants you free from idols and counterfeits. He wants to give you pure life.

• Where have you received your definition of love up until this point?

  • Usually it’s our parents, our family, our community, our classmates, our politics, and our culture or society through media. 

• Because humanity is created in God’s image all of these outlets have some correct aspects of God’s love on display. But because these persons and institutions are not God they fall short of displaying God’s glory to our sincerely love hungry hearts.  

• Jesus is God's love manifested among us.

  • True love is revealed in the Son of God Jesus Christ. himself. 

    • "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

  • God's love is sacrificial and not self servíng.  

  • God's love gives life because it covers a multitude of sins that seperate us from Him. 

  • God's love is undeserved. 

  • How do we confirm our status as God's beloved? 

  • Confessing and accepting Jesus Christ as the son of God and savior of the world is accepting God’s love because Jesus is God’s love made manifest.

• What does love look like? Jesus

• What does love sound like? Jesus

• What does love accomplish? Salvation

Love can not be purchased.

It can only be given. 

Love cannot be repaid. It is priceless.  To attempt to repay it only diminishes its affect in your life. 

“Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.” - Song of Solomon‬ ‭8:7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Love can not be forced or coerced. 

It can only be freely given and accepted.

This is chain breaking good news for all of us that have been manipulated by counterfeit loves!

"First, it is impossible to pay God back for all the grace he has given us. We can’t even begin to pay him back. . . . Second, even if we succeeded in paying him back for all his grace to us, we would only succeed in turning grace into a business transaction. If we can pay him back, it was not grace. (Godward Life, 36)"

-http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-comes-after-thanksgiving

So, how can we be free from counterfeit loves? 

Come into the truth of God’s love and light: Jesus Christ. 

““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 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. 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. 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. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 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 ‭ESV‬‬

https://www.bible.com/59/jhn.3.16-21.esv

Now how do we show our gratitude and love God since He has no needs?  We allow His Holy Spirit to work in us to live according to his ways. Jesus said if you love me you will obey me. You'll be my disciple.

Disciples are simply people abiding in God’s love in Jesus Christ and sharing that love with others by telling them the news that:

Vs 19 we love because He first loved us.

A world full of love is a world full of Christians; little Christ’s who have accepted God’s love in Christ Jesus and are sacrificially sharing God’s love in word and deed through the Gospel.

Illustration

• Eveliz and the flower resurrection

  • You know if a plant is truly dead by pouring some water on it.  If if it revises it was just dormant due to neglect and not dead.  

• In the same way we share the love of God in the gospel of Christ to see spiritually “dead” lives revived.  

 

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

These Three Remain: Love

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These Three Remain: Love

Pastor Rollan Fisher
 

We all want to build a better world right now - but how?

Focus: We will walk in the redemption of God as Jesus remains the standard of our love.

• The Look of Love 

• The Labor of Love 

• Redeeming Love
  

The Look of Love

1 Corinthians 13:8-13 

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

God is all powerful “El Shaddai” - “Almighty” (Genesis 35:1-15)

Luke 9:51-56

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.

Because God is Almighty, he transforms our struggle into purpose. 

The God we serve is Yeshua (Luke 1:26-35)

In His name He reveals His salvation.

God’s salvation is given to us through his favor (grace), and he enables us to be part of the grand narrative of the redemptive story.

As opposed to English, there were at least four distinct words for love in the Greek language.  

• Storge - represented familial fondness; liking someone through familiarity, as they find themselves bonded by chance.  

• Philia - represented deep friendship, as in the strong bond existing between people who share common values, interests or activities.

• Eros - represented the idea of sexual passion and desire. 

• Agape - represented selfless charity; the kind that exists regardless of changing circumstances.

“When we avoid difficult conversations, we trade short term discomfort for long term dysfunction.”

-Peter Bromberg

The real test of our modern Christian worship (who or what are we actually worshiping)

Is God worthy of my love (devotion and obedience) when I don’t get what I want?

Are others to expect my love (commitment and care) when they disappoint or offend me?

The Labor of Love

Love must be sincere.

"Anything worth doing is worth doing badly." 

— G. K. Chesterton

Now I’m a Marvel fan, so you know I enjoy a sci-if world. 

However, the problem with our generation’s overconsumption of media is we live in a world of fantasy fear over practical, real-time faith, hope and love. 

Choose love over fear:

Demonic fear has to do with what could happen and imagined scenarios of harm.  

Love has to do with the people you actually know, the days that you actually live and the opportunities to do good that you actually have.  

THIS is the only life for which God will hold you responsible - obeying his commands in real time.  

Not the fantasy worlds or dangers we looked to avoid. 

Proverbs 12:11

Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.

Proverbs 26:13-16

The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!” As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.

In Christ, we get to transition from would could be, might be and is coming for me to what I am destined to see as I choose Him.  

Stop living in the unknowns.  

Proverbs 11:25

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Proverbs 21:21

Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.

We will reap what we sow. 

Redeeming Love

Galatians 6:7-10 

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.

“Jesus didn't wait until we got better to die for us. He died when we were in our most unlovely state. The person who doesn't deserve love actually needs love more, not less. If you know someone unworthy of love, that's great! You now have a chance to emulate Christ, because the essence of His love is unconditional.”

-Tony Evans, Our God is Awesome: Encountering the Greatness of Our God

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

These Three Remain: Hope

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These Three Remain: Hope

Pastor Rollan Fisher
 

Hebrews 11:1 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Focus: We will experience the resurrection life of God as Jesus remains the foundation of our hopes. 

• The Reason for Hope

• Hope in the Midst of Suffering

• Why Hope Springs Eternal

 The Reason for Hope

• The reason that we can have hope in life is because we have seen and trust the goodness of God.

Definition of Hope 

• Hope is Biblically defined as an often pleasurable anticipation and a confident expectation of good.

• Hope is the internal desire for things to be better and the spark that tells us that things can, in fact, be different.

• Hope is based on the good that God has shown of Himself in the world and has been testified to in Scripture.

• Jesus let us know that God is a kind miracle worker and that all things are possible to those who believe.

• When you have seen the goodness of God in one area, you can have hope for it in another, even if you’ve only experienced it through the testimony the Scripture or others offer.

These testimonies invigorate hope:

• FOR HEALINGS

• FOR DELIVERANCE FROM OPPRESSIVE SPIRITS

• FOR GOD TO GIVE YOU A FAMILY OR ADD TO THE ONE YOU ALREADY HAVE

• FOR MIRACLE PROVISION

• FOR A REDEFINED PURPOSE AFTER ALL THAT YOU’VE BUILT HAS BEEN SHAKEN OR ALL THAT YOU’VE PURSUED HAS FEELS LOST

• FOR RENEWED STRENGTH AND DIRECTION

• FOR THE SALVATION OF FAMILY MEMBERS, FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS and BELOVED CO-WORKERS

 These are all things worthy of Biblical hope based on the track record of God.

Benefits of Hope:

• Hope stabilizes

• Hope energizes

• Hope gets us out of bed with expectation in the morning.

This is why King David, knowing God as a faithful, loving shepherd would speak, 

Psalm 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This phrase “follow me” literally had the implication that God’s goodness would find and chase down the one who was submitted to the Lord as one of His beloved sheep, because of God’s goodnesss, not our own.  

Yet interestingly this terminology also followed the fact that David, and those who would follow, would 

“walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4)

and that God would

”prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” (Psalm 23:5)

Thus the hope that God intends for his people to have is not in the absence of suffering, but in the midst of it.  

Hope in the Midst of Suffering

• Hope can be challenged, but God can meet us there.

Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 

*SUFFERING COMES IN MANY FORMS, AND SOMETIMES, AS IN THE CASE OF ABRAHAM AND SARAH, THE SUFFERING WAS IN THE WAITING.  

The fact can not be ignored, but needs to be highlighted - that between God giving Abraham the promise and Isaac, the son of the promise, arriving on the scene, there would be a period of twenty-five YEARS.

THIS IS WHERE TO MAINTAIN CONTINUED HOPE, WE MUST LEARN TO LEAN, NOT ON OUR OWN STRENGTH, BUT ON THE STRENGTH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHOSE FRUIT PRODUCES THE POWER OF LONG-SUFFERING (PATIENCE) WITHIN US.  

This is how Abraham and Sarah learned endurance connected to the promise of God. 

Though they took detours along the way (Egypt, Hagar and Ishmael), the long process of waiting on Isaac would eventually develop the character (the quality of being tried, tested and found usable) needed in them to walk in the purposes of God.

And so their journey would become the bedrock for living a life of hope in God.   

It offers encouragement to us today as we wait on such things as:

• Marriage

• Children

• Provision

• Promotions

• Healings

• Salvation of family, friends, classmates, neighbors and co-workers

• The return of Jesus Christ

On what things are you waiting in hope today?

In what ways do you need help enduring?

In what ways is God using this waiting to produce character in you?

How is Biblical hope exercised?

Whether it’s true or not, while we wait in hope, it can feel like the lament of Psalm 88

Psalm 88:1-18 

O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you. Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.

*When you have no other place to go and you still keep coming back to the place of worship and back to the place of prayer, this is Biblical hope being expressed in Christ.  

Hope was expressed on the part of the Psalmist because despite their FEELINGS, they kept going to God and calling Him the God of their salvation. 

When we put our hope in Jesus, we are putting our faith in El Roi (Genesis 16:1-16) “The God Who Sees”

This is because he is a compassionate God and never forgets your pain. 

• God sees us when no one else does and brings redemption out of our suffering.

• God is also Jehovah Jireh “My Provider” (Genesis 22:1-19)

• God is always looking to redeem, meaning buy back, what was lost.

• God saw our deepest need (sin), he provided the solution (the perfect Lamb), and now we can be at peace when we ask for our daily bread (daily needs).

*Into the isolation of the pandemic God wants to pour His love.

What is our hope in the midst of suffering?

• God Sees the Unseen

• God Calls Us Into His Purposes

• God Gives Us Sure Promises

*This is why we, like the Psalmist, can continue to seek God even when it seems like the current end of our song is darkness. 

Condemnation tries to creep in when you don’t feel right. 

The devil, the accuser, tries to weigh you down. 

The Scripture, inspired by the Holy Spirit, lets us know that we can be both honest with God about our condition because of the state of our sufferings and filled with a hope that God sees and acknowledges at the same time.  

Why this process? 

• God uses our sufferings to produce endurance, character and true hope within us.

• God utilizes our sufferings to help us cement us in the fact that He, through His Son Jesus is the source, guardian and fulfillment of all truly satisfying and enduring hope.

• “God can not give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

-CS Lewis in Mere Christianity 

• This of course is not speaking of the fact that you can not find joy in things outside of God, rather, that you won’t find the ultimate, enduring joy and happiness for which we all long outside of him.

Every attempt to do so is a fleeting quest. 

This is the message of Ecclesiastes. 

• God, in His love, will allow whatever is necessary to help us realize this.

We rediscover a capacity to hope again through meditating on God’s great love for us expressed in Jesus.

NO MATTER WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCE, IN CHRIST, RESURRECTION LIFE IS ALWAYS PART OF THE STORY, WHETHER PRESENTLY OR IN THE LIFE TO COME. 

This is why hope springs eternal.

Why Hope Springs Eternal

The hope that God gives is one that never ends.

The only hope that ultimately fulfills is found in the life eternal that Jesus offers.

Hope can be challenged, but hope can also be renewed.

• The gospel of Christ gives us the context for all of human suffering and ultimate glories in Him. 

1. We begin with God’s design and our initial invitation to a blessed life.

2. We encounter the consequences of sin and fallen humanity (Jesus enters into this with His earthly life and ministry).

3. We go through the stages of grief and loss responding to what could of and should have been (Jesus comes alongside of us, keeping us afloat by teaching us the endurance of Gethsemane).

4. Christ comes to our aid restoring our hope in the midst of suffering, while building our character (Jesus became our salvation at the cross of Golgotha).

5. We reengage the mission of God with the hope of our resurrection from the dead (following in the train of Christ at the empty tomb).

• Because of the ultimate glories for which we are destined in Christ, the love that God pours out in our hearts gives us hope for our situations and gives us strength to once again engage others with the same hope.

“The glory of the Christian life is that we have a hope that overwhelms grief.  It doesn’t eradicate it.  It sweetens it.  It overwhelms it.”

-Timothy Keller

“The happy ending of the Resurrection is so enormous that it swallows up even the sorrow of the Cross.”

-Timothy Keller

This means for the Christian, no matter how dark it gets, you are always on a trajectory for things to get better as you stay grounded in the hope of Christ and His resurrection life.  

Even as we know that things sometimes get worse (the cross) before they get better (the empty tomb), because we know the culmination of Christ’s story, we also know the end of ours.  

Let’s once again meet Jesus at the cross to receive the hope of his resurrection life as we wait on Him to fulfill all of God’s good promises.

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”

-unknown 

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

These Three Remain: Faith P2

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These Three Remain: Faith, Pt. 2

Pastor Rollan Fisher
 

• The Nature of Faith

• Faith and Unity

• Faith and the Blessing of God

Faith = Trust

 
Romans 1:1-6 

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

Ephesians 4:1-6

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

 

“There is no place for faith if we expect God to fulfill immediately what he promises.”

-John Calvin

Psalm 133

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.

Around what were the people of God to be unified?

They are unified around that which: 

1. God institutes 

2. GOD blesses (people don’t always agree)

3. That which leads to  LIFE ABUNDANT here AND ETERNAL LIFE to come

Philippians 1:27-30

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

These Three Remain: Faith P1

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These Three Remain: Faith, Pt. 1

Pastor Rollan Fisher

How does God instruct us to move forward?

• With faith, hope and love

*In our day, we need to redefine our terms to understand what God means when He introduces the vital qualities of faith, hope and love. 

Today, we’re going to talk about faith.

Focus: We will walk in the blessing of God as Jesus remains the focus of our faith.

Romans 4:13-25 

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead ( since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

God’s promises towards us are made to us because of God’s goodness, not our own. 

The promises that God makes us are entered into as a product of grace - God giving us what we don’t deserve rather than what we do. 

God gives life to things that have died and calls into existence those things which did not exist. 

Faith is not a denial of reality.  It is a realization that God is greater than our present reality.  

Faith is counting God’s word as true and acknowledging His ability to do what He’s promised in His word and that He's spoken to us by the Holy Spirit.  

We are counted righteous and enter into the life of God when we take God at his Word and put our trust in Him. 

We enter into Jesus’ righteousness, the forgiveness provided by His substitutionary work at the cross and are justified at the judgement when we put our faith in Him.  

By faith in God, all things are possible!!!

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

2021: Guest Speaker Peter Ahlin

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Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

2021: Guest Speaker Jim Laffoon

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Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher 2021

2021: From Bitter to Better

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From Bitter to Better

2021

Associate Pastor Cole Parleir

Focus: When we trust God and His plan, He will take us from bitter to better.

Prophetic Word for 2021

Second City Church, in 2021 God is giving us the choice to get bitter or get better. We have the choice to remain in fear of life's uncertainties harboring anger and bitterness toward God for the circumstances He allowed that caused us pain in 2020.  This choice will be justified in the eyes, hearts and minds of an unbelieving world.  This choice will drive you into self-reliance unable to receive God's Word and plans for you in 2021.

 We also have the choice to get better in 2021 by believing and trusting in God's redeeming plan that comes through faith in Jesus Christ.  He is the God of all comfort who also disciplines and prunes those He loves that they may be even more fruitful.  This lasting fruit brings God, our Lord, much glory and us much joy.

Today God wants us to know that He desires to take us from bitter to better as we move into 2021.

Pray

Genesis 50:1-26 ESV

'Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.’” And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.”So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days. When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan. Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s house. Joseph lived 110 years. And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph’s own. And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.  

To move from bitter to better we must trust God with what was lost

When we trust God with what we’ve lost or what has been taken from us we are acknowledging his sovereignty and making room for His redemptive plan.

Trusting God with our losses is not approving of evil, nor empowering the evil One, or diminishing the real pain caused by loss.  It is simply acknowledging a good and powerful God at work in a fallen sinful world. 

We can trust God with our losses by not speaking evil of him or cursing those with whom the losses came through.  We mourn with hope in God’s redemption.

Romans 12:14 ESV

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

“Be careful, dear friends, that you do not misrepresent God yourselves. You who murmur; you who say that God deals hardly with you, you give God an ill character; when you look so melancholy, worldlings say, "The religion of Jesus is intolerable;" and so you stain the honor of God.”

- Charles Spurgeon

God has never done evil nor can he. 

James 1:13 ESV

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

God is working ALL THINGS together for our good.

'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. '

- Romans 8:28-29

Ex: Peter vs Judas (one led to suicide and the other to a holy earthly life and eternal life)

"As we pour out our bitterness, God pours in his peace."

- Pastor and Evangelist  F.B. Meyer

To move from bitter to better we must thank God for what was gained

God used the slavery and the famine to bring blessing to Joseph while fulfilling His redemptive plan for the world.

'See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 

- Hebrews 12:15-17

Gratitude is the shovel that digs up roots of bitterness. 

It can be a heavy shovel, and faith is the muscle behind the shovel of gratitude.

When we by faith ask God to open our eyes to see His good plan he is pleased to do so.

When we remind people of the gospel of Christ's redemptive work on the cross and resurrection, we are helping others with our faith dig down deep and uproot ugly bitterness.  

If bitterness is not DUG up it will SPRING up and defile not just you but your sphere of influence.  You have to make a choice to employ gratitude or let bitterness root.  There is no middle ground. 

'Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” '

- Mark 10:29-31

To move from bitter to better we must build on what remains

Because God is The Redeemer, He can and is always building even when the world is destructing.  

Joseph’s brothers destroyed their family and yet God turned that same family into a large nation which became the earthly lineage of God’s one and only son, Jesus Christ who would make salvation available to the whole world.

At the end of Joseph's life he became a prophetic voice to God's redeeming plan of salvation for his family, stating that God would deliver them from Egypt according to the promise of God made to Abraham.

God brought his one and only Son Jesus Christ into the world not to condemn the world, but to save it and redeem it.  

'Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

' Matthew 24:35

Because of the power of Christ’s sacrifice we can leave 2020 at the foot of the cross where the blood of Christ covers it, uses it for our good, and will one day bring justice to all the unrepentant evil. 

When we are pruned or shaken we are blessed to see what is at the core: Christ or self.

God has pruned you and now He can multiply you with fruit that will last.

Today the invitation is two fold:

• To the lost and bitter:

  Come to Christ as the Rock of Ages and only redeemer who leads you into eternal life. 

• To the believer:

  Don't miss the grace of God and allow bitterness to take root. 

  This is not God's plan for your life. 

  Trust him, thank him, and build on God's promises in Christ that are trustworthy.

Second City Church - Associate Pastor Cole Parleir 2021

Joy to the World: Those Looking for Answers

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Joy to the World: Those Looking for Answers

Pastor Rolan Fisher

We made it to the end of 2020!!!!  

Congratulate yourselves and praise the Lord!!!!  

As our lives have been turned on their heads, it has been God’s grace to us all helping us to search for the answers to life’s most important questions. 

Questions like:

• Why are we here?

• How do we respond to life’s challenges?

• Where do we go now?

We’ve learned the truth that:

“Serious circumstances remind us that the difficulty of finding the truth is no excuse for not looking.”

-Paul Copan

Focus: God brings joy to those looking for answers in Christ.  

• Looking for Answers

• Finding the God Who Cares

• Jesus at the Temple 

Looking for Answers

• We all have questions to which only God has the answers. 
  

Luke 2:41-52 

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Finding true joy in every circumstance is only possible when we look to Jesus for the answers.  

We are all ultimately here to know God and make God known through his Son, Jesus Christ. 

God is a constant tutor pointing us to this fact despite all of life’s varied circumstances. 

In the midst of a Roman occupancy that did not particularly affirm their faith, the people at the temple in Luke’s account were those who were looking for answers.  

They were giving God an opportunity to speak rather than camping in life’s discouragements or popular accusations against God’s goodness at the time.  

The truth is that God is not afraid of your questions. 

Isaiah 1:18-20 

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

When we come to God with questions, He doesn't always give us the answers that we want, but He ultimately responds with the answers that we truly need - those that lead to life and godliness. 

The great challenge of our worship is learning to humbly trust and obey God with the answers that He provides. 

We must come to grips with the fact that God can not be benevolent and sovereign when we like the outcomes of our circumstances, and treacherous or lack control when we don’t. 

That would be equating our opinions and preferences to God - and they are not the same thing. 

“Whenever I read the Bible and come across something that I disagree with, I have to assume I’m wrong.”

-Francis Chan

God is all wise and good all of the time. 

Christ’s advent is joy for those looking for answers because it reminds us of the great lengths to which God went to demonstrate His love, make Himself known and reconcile us to Himself through the cross.  

“Jesus didn’t come to win a debate, He came to win His people.  Jesus never answered a question, He answered the person.  Jesus never sought to win an argument, He sought to win the individual.”

-Ravi Zacharias

God intends our questions in life to ultimately lead us to Jesus. 

Yet when we FOCUS on the wrong things, we can end up in the ruts of life marked by cynicism, nihilism and despair.  

• If we’re not careful, even the routines of religion can make us think that we’re in step with God when really we’ve left Jesus behind. 

• Mary and Joseph had their own moment of this when they lost track of Jesus. 

• We know that we’ve lost track of Jesus when we find ourselves in emotional and mental ditches trying to answer life’s biggest questions without the Lord. 

2020 has brought plenty of opportunity for that. 

What has been your “thing” - the one focal point on which you found yourself meditating most, that which became a lens through which you interpreted all else this year?  

Was it the election, the economy, racial injustice, calamities in the world or the pandemic? 

All of these tensions could have made a person afraid to even leave their house if they were all upon which they meditated. 

You can fixate on such things or you can fix your eyes on Jesus and truly live, in every season, and at all times. 

Because through His Word, you find that there is a God who cares. 

Finding the God Who Cares

• Jesus is God who reaffirms his care for those who seek him in the world. 

God cares for us each individually. 

When you seek God personally, you find that Jesus is the all wise teacher and gentle healer that we all need it right now. 

Jesus is lowly of heart and is SO approachable. 

Though that is His nature, we need to beware of responding simply emotionally when we are looking for answers.  

Remember, as the Israeli prophet Jeremiah said, 

Jeremiah 17:9

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Mary was understandably emotional when she couldn’t find Jesus, and so are we when we don’t sense God or understand what he is doing in our lives. 

*However, Mary would have missed what God was doing if she didn’t give Jesus an opportunity to speak.

Jesus explained exactly why He was at the temple, revealing more about his nature and His unique relationship with the Father when Mary asked her questions.  

Think of how many of you would not have been in church or moments of worship like this if it had not been for the upending of our worlds.

Think also of the countless lives that God has been eternally saving in the midst of our difficult circumstances. 

But does God care for our world?

“Cynics point to the humanitarian problems around the world and then tell us that there is no God who cares. To answer the cynics who say that pain points to a God who doesn’t care, consider that the World Health Organization says that we could feed the entire world with food and clean water for thirty billion dollars per year. Yet we spend one trillion dollars on military worldwide. The cynics can’t honestly answer the question about human depravity. They fail because they point their rage at God rather than fellow humans who could solve hunger with 3% of their military budgets.”

-Rice Broocks in The Human Right 

When we meet Jesus, we find that He is the only one who provides in the moment, comprehensive and eternal solutions to life’s challenges. 

Mary and Joseph thought Jesus went missing and found instead that they were really the ones in need. 

The good news is that we can make our way back to Jesus and find that He cares for our whole world.  

Where do you find Jesus when you feel like He’s been lost?

You go to the place of worship where God’s Word is being taught.  

You will always find Jesus there.  

The Bible not only describes the problem with the world regarding sin, but also intricately describes its solution in the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

And so even in His youth, at the temple Jesus was showing those who thought themselves older and wiser how much they still had to learn. 

Jesus at the Temple

• We find our answers and joy at the place of worship.  

When Mary and Joseph finally found Jesus, Jesus exclaimed, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?”

*God meets us right where we are, but also calls us to be where He is. 

Those sitting at the temple with Jesus were committed to the worship gatherings where the heart and thoughts of God were revealed through God’s Word. 

In this same way, God continually brings encouragement and joy to us today as He reveals Jesus not only as a good teacher, but the great God and Savior for whom all mankind is really waiting.  

“It is impossible to read the Gospels or Paul and come away with the impression that Jesus of Nazareth thought of Himself as a mere man. Jesus said much about Himself that would have been outlandish if He were just a man.

“I am the light of the world.” —John 8:12

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” —Mark 13:31

“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” —Matthew 18:20 NKJV

“The prophets who spoke for God prefaced their statements with the phrase, “Thus says the Lord.” But when Jesus spoke, He didn’t say, “Thus says the Lord,” but instead He made comments such as “Truly I say to you.” He spoke in such terms because the Lord was speaking. JESUS DEMONSTRATED HE IS THE MESSIAH”

-Rice Broocks, Man, Myth, Messiah: Answering History's Greatest Question

In response to their search, Jesus was pleased to return home with His earthly parents.

And so He is pleased to make a dwelling in your life, family and home as you repent of sin and believe the good news of Jesus. 

So where do we go from here?

Mary treasured the entire encounter that Luke recounts in her heart. 

As Jesus grew, the Scripture says that He would “increase in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.”

And so Christ’s impact on the world would grow as well. 

During our times of worship gatherings, we encounter both God’s word and the power of His Holy Spirit.  

We are to bring our questions to God and then humbly ponder the answers in His Word to allow direct application in the ways in which we live. 

Community groups are a great place to flesh this out with others!

We then allow the Holy Spirit to, like Christ, increase us in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men to take God’s gospel truth and care to the world.  

This is what it means to go and make disciples of the nations. 

“The Bible has built an entire civilization that has changed the world. We must see that the greatest steps toward justice have been taken by those following the cross. Vishal Mangalwadi says, “I call the Bible the soul of Western Civilization because it propelled the development of everything good in the West: its notion of human dignity, human rights, human equality, justice, optimism, rationality, family, education, universities, technology, science, culture of compassion, great literature, heroism, economic progress, political freedom.”

-Rice Broocks, The Human Right 

When we return to finding the beginning and end of all of our questions in Jesus, we will once again find the joy for which the world is actually longing!

Repent of your sin and meet Jesus at the cross today to receive this great joy!

Second City Church - Joy to the World, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Joy to the World: The Learned

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Joy to the World: The Learned

Pastor Rolan Fisher

Focus: God brings joy when we allow our learning to discover life’s purpose in Jesus. 

• Following the Signs 

• With Special Revelation

• To the Feet of the King

Following the Signs

• Our joy is stirred when we begin to follow the signs in life pointing us to Jesus.  

Matthew 2:1-12

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.

The first thing we see in Luke’s account of the wise men is that the good news of Jesus is not an idea, but a recorded event.  

Jesus came at a particular, well documented point in human history - in the days of Herod the Great, the Roman appointed king of Judea who ruled from Israel and Judah from 37-4 BC.  

Two reasons the invitation to meet Christ would have brought joy to these wise men are:

1. It is a calculated certainty that we will all face God one day in death to give an account of our lives.  

PHD Stephen C Meyer during his interview by Lee Strobel for the book The Case for a Creator said it this way:

“If it's true there's a beginning to the universe, as modern cosmologists now agree, then this implies a cause that transcends the universe. If the laws of physics are fine-tuned to permit life, as contemporary physicists are discovering, then perhaps there's a designer who fine-tuned them. If there's information in the cell, as molecular biology shows, then this suggests intelligent design. To get life going in the first place would have required biological information; the implications point beyond the material realm to a prior intelligent cause”

-Lee Strobel, The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God

In essence, both then and now we see that resistance  is futile. 

We’re all going to physically expire one day.  

It was joy for these erudite men because for all their deep learning and achievements in life, it all amounts to nothing if you are damned in your destiny after the grave.  

King Solomon of ancient Israel, one of the wisest and wealthiest men who ever lived said it this way by the Holy Spirit:

Proverbs 11:4 

Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

Jesus echoed this strongly in his teachings when he posited:

Matthew 16:26-27 

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?  Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?  For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

Mortality is a liberating thing if we are right with our intelligent creator.  

Yet it is a fearful and daunting reality if you enter eternity without Christ. 

It is better to meet God now with the invitation of peace, than to face the wrath of His foretold judgment.  

2. The meeting of Christ would finally put the reason for all of their great learning, achievements and resources into proper perspective. 

God intends our great learning to ultimately lead us to Christ.

This is why the wise men deemed it necessary to make such a long, costly and time consuming trip to meet the King. 

As in all encounters with God, responses of active worship are not only what God is due, but are for the benefit our hearts as we remember both our place and responsibilities in life before God.  

Worship of Jesus puts our world and all that we deem is ours in the right order. 

As with the shepherds, an invitation was made to the wise men. 

“Wise Men Still Seek Him”

God put his creation to work using the star as a sign. 

Psalm 19:1-4a

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. 

Romans 1:19-20 

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

The wise men followed the signs of God’s revelation in the natural world to ultimately lead them to both the predictive and explanatory power of the Bible.  

What signs has God been giving you to lead you to meet Jesus?  

With Special Revelation

• Our joy is confirmed when we embrace the special revelation of God’s Word leading us to Christ.  

How did the wise men catch wind of the Messiah?

Scholars tell us that the term wise men originally referred to priests and experts in mysteries in Persia and Babylon where years before the Israelites had been deported in judgment. 

The Israelites carried the special revelation of the Law and prophets of God with them to Babylon speaking of the soon coming Messiah. 

By this time the meaning of the term wise men extended to those who practiced astrology, dream interpretation, study of sacred writings, wisdom and magic.  

It was not that God approved of these practices.

Rather God was demonstrating his love and missionary heart towards all mankind, meeting people where they were to bring them back to Himself through Jesus.  

*So it is today. 

It is not just good enough that we believe in something.  

God wants to bring us to Jesus who is the only means of reconciliation between fallen humanity and God because of what Jesus would eventually accomplish for us on the cross. 

When the wise men arrived in Jerusalem, they came into contact with God’s Word and were charged by Herod to diligently search for the child who was born King. 

Yet today, so many of us excuse our lack of faith with herd mentality euphemisms to simply justify the sin in which we want to live.

Both Herod and those in Jerusalem were troubled because the advent of Jesus threatened their perception of rule over their own lives. 

However, the joy and life that you find in Jesus are worth the prolonged search to make your confidence in Christ sure.  

“I started out as an atheist, utterly convinced that God didn’t create people but that people created God in a pathetic effort to explain the unknown and temper their overpowering fear of death. My previous book, The Case for Christ, described my nearly two-year examination of the historical evidence that pointed me toward the verdict that God really exists and that Jesus actually is his unique Son.”

-Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity

It took faith for the wise men to follow the predictions of Scripture to lead them to Christ.  

On what were are we basing such confidence today?

“Faith is not a leap in the dark; it’s the exact opposite. It’s a commitment based on evidence… It is irrational to reduce all faith to blind faith and then subject it to ridicule. That provides a very anti-intellectual and convenient way of avoiding intelligent discussion.”

-John Lennox

Is there a reliable source to tell us how to find the Lord?

In his apologetic, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, scholar Gary R. Habermas writes:

“We can start with approximately nine traditional authors of the New Testament. If we consider the critical thesis that other authors wrote the pastoral letters and such letters as Ephesians and 2 Thessalonians, we'd have an even larger number. Another twenty early Christian authors and four heretical writings mention Jesus within 150 years of his death on the cross.

Moreover, nine secular, non-Christian sources mention Jesus within the 150 years: Josephus, the Jewish historian; Tacitus, the Roman historian; Pliny the Younger, a politician of Rome; Phlegon, a freed slave who wrote histories; Lucian, the Greek satirist; Celsus, a Roman philosopher; and probably the historians Suetonius and Thallus, as well as the prisoner Mara Bar-Serapion.

In all, at least forty-two authors, nine of them secular, mention Jesus within 150 years of his death.

In comparison, let's take a look at Julius Caesar, one of Rome's most prominent figures. Caesar is well known for his military conquests. After his Gallic Wars, he made the famous statement, "I came, I saw, I conquered." Only five sources report his military conquests: writings by Caesar himself, Cicero, Livy, the Salona Decree, and Appian.

If Julius Caesar really made a profound impact on Roman society, why didn't more writers of antiquity mention his great military accomplishments? No one questions whether Julius did make a tremendous impact on the Roman Empire. It is evident that he did. Yet in those 150 years after his death, more non-Christian authors alone comment on Jesus than all of the sources who mentioned Julius Caesar's great military conquests within 150 years of his death.

Let's look at an even better example, a contemporary of Jesus. Tiberius Caesar was the Roman emperor at the time of Jesus' ministry and execution. Tiberius is mentioned by ten sources within 150 years of his death: Tacitus, Suetonius, Velleius Paterculus, Plutarch, Pliny the Elder, Strabo, Seneca, Valerius Maximus, Josephus, and Luke.

Compare that to Jesus' forty-two total sources in the same length of time. That's more than four times the number of total sources who mention the Roman emperor during roughly the same period. If we only considered the number of secular non-Christian sources who mention Jesus and Tiberius within 150 years of their lives, we arrive at a tie of nine each.“

The star reappeared after the wise men consulted God’s word, and led them full measure, with natural and special revelation working together, to the feet of Jesus.  

To the Feet of the King

• Our  joy is realized at the feet of Jesus when the purpose behind all of our talents, learning and resources come into full view. 

People often wonder at the great purpose behind their learning, their opportunities and the measure of their resources.  

God gives us understanding when we finally meet Jesus as He is. 

• There is no other way to truly meet Jesus except as King. 

• As with the wise men, when we finally meet Jesus as KING, it demands at least three responses:

1. Jesus becomes Lord of your time - the wise men made a trip from the East that would have taken 40 days over 800 miles if they averaged 20 miles a day by caravan along the main trade route from Babylon

2. Jesus becomes Lord of your treasure - the wise men came and laid their wealth at the feet of Jesus that their resources would not be their God, but their God would be the provider of those resources.  They understood what Jesus would say later, “You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24) and undertook great expense to travel to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. 

3. Jesus becomes Lord of our talent - the wise men would take their encounter with Jesus, along with their great learning, to become witnesses of Christ in the places in which they used their talents on a daily basis.  

• These three responses are right in the middle of the Christmas story because worship always comes back to this:

How will God see that you used your time, treasure and talents to worship Jesus as King?

Will these things have been used for the Kingdom of God to reap an eternal reward or will they have been wasted and one day buried with you?

The wise men ventured together with like minded individuals to meet Jesus. 

They ultimately found the joy of worshiping and giving to the One who would reign forever. 

So what does Jesus being Lord mean?

“Again; thousands are deceived into supposing that they have “accepted Christ” as their “personal Saviour,” who have not first received Him as their LORD. The Son of God did not come here to save His people in their sin, but “from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). To be saved from sins, is to be saved from ignoring and despising the authority of God, it is to abandon the course of self-will and self-pleasing, it is to “forsake our way” (Isa. 55:7).

“It is to surrender to God’s authority, to yield to His dominion, to give ourselves over to be ruled by Him. The one who has never taken Christ’s “yoke” upon him, who is not truly and diligently seeking to please Him in all the details of life, and yet supposes that he is “resting on the Finished Work of Christ” is deluded by the Devil.”

-Michael L. Brown

God reroutes us in life to ultimately save our lives.  

God sent the wise men a dream to warn them of the danger that Herod, who would try to remain his own king until his death, now posed to them. 

Will you allow God to reroute you?

Take an account of your life and begin now to reorder your time, treasure and talents in Christ. 

*Leaving any one of these out is sin. 

After meeting Jesus, the wise men returned home a different way.  

So when we meet Jesus let our courses forever be altered to turn us away from a life of self-sufficiency and sin. 

In doing so, we will find the joy of Christ’s advent and be a testimony of his true life to the world. 

Second City Church - Joy to the World, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Joy to the World: Those in Waiting

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Joy to the World: Those in Waiting 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: God brings joy to those who wait on his consolation. 

• What are you waiting for?

• Joy in the waiting

• What is God waiting for?

What are you waiting for?

• We are all ultimately waiting for consolation from life’s pain.

Luke 2:1-21 

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.

The first thing we need to acknowledge is that God is constantly at work behind the scenes to bring about his spoken Word, including great joy to those who would receive him in the world.  

At the beginning of this recounting of Christ’s arrival, we see the historian Luke making reference to the events that would fulfill ancient prophecy. 

A contemporary of the prophet Isaiah, the Israeli prophet Micah wrote the following words approximately 700 years prior to the arrival of Jesus: 

Micah 5:2 

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.

It was also significant that Jesus was born of the kingly Davidic line, as it was written:

Jeremiah 23:5-6

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.  And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness’”

So God would order national affairs to fulfill the predictions spoken by the prophets as to the birthplace and lineage of His Christ. 

The point over and over again is that every word of God will be fulfilled.  

This includes God’s consolation and joy for his people who’ve experienced pain.  

Among other things, consolation means comfort. 

Though God wants to bring consolation, be careful what you allow to be that for which you most long, that which you think will give you comfort and joy.  

“Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.”

-C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

And so it is interesting that God chose to first reveal himself to those who were ordinary men who were outside of the power circles in their society. 

The shepherds were those who would have been familiar with stigma, but were vital to Israel’s ongoing economy at the time.  

God thus declared that no one is too great or too small to meet his anointed king. 

The shepherds had observed the oppression of Roman rule from the wilderness, the outskirts of society.  

And God met them there. 

Now the shepherds rejoiced and travelled together to meet the Savior. 

* It was good news of great joy that was to be for all the people.  

Joy in the Waiting

• We find joy in the waiting as we together put our trust in God’s promises.

The shepherds found Jesus just as they were told. 

Just as at His first coming, so we will find God’s words true of his second coming.  

Yet as we wait the message of Christmas is clear.  

Fear not. 

Jesus is the savior that the world needs.  

“You never know God is all you need until God is all you have.”

-Rick Warren

Why?

“Every person has something that concerns her ultimately and whatever it is, that object of ultimate concern is that person's God.”

-Ronald H. Nash

And over and over again, these things in place of God that we hope to achieve and satisfy so often fail us. 

Yet God wants to put all of our concerns in right perspective.  

For every need that we have during the Pandemic, Jesus is the supply. 

Comfort and joy come from truly knowing who Jesus is. 

Jesus was proclaimed by the angels to be (Luke 2:11): 

1. A Savior

2. Christ (the Greek word for the Hebrew “Messiah”) 

- it was a title speaking of the anointed deliverer of God’s people 

3. Lord 

- proclaiming  to the shepherds that Jesus was God himself

Just as Jesus grew to fulfill the words of his prophesied miracle ministry, so our understanding of Christ can grow to meet him in new ways as we travel together.  

There is joy in togetherness as we collectively remind one another of those most important promises from God. 

As He grew:

• Jesus would bring stability in turbulent times and His authority would calm storms.

• Jesus would Himself know fatigue, hunger and thirst in his human frame, and so can understand and console us in our suffering.

• He is a miracle worker providing for those with felt needs, financial or otherwise.

• Jesus is gentle and humble in heart, inviting those who are weary and heavy laden.

• Jesus is a healer of sickness, pain and disease.

• Jesus is the Creator who calls us and knows our way when we feel lost.

• He is the builder of his church, setting the lonely in family.

• Jesus provides peace for those who’ve been under mental and spiritual oppression.

• Jesus is forevermore a resurrector of the dead.

• He provides forgiveness of sins to those who have gone astray

• He is Lord of the harvest rescuing a world set against God by turning them back to Him at the cross.

God intends good for the world. 

God sees you when no one else does. 

He sees you in isolation, in wanderings and in your own personal wilderness.  

God meets you right where you are and brings you to to meet his Christ.  

During the pandemic, it has been an amplification of the fact that people are desperately looking for peace and joy.  

* Yet this is important -  the peace that Christ brings is among those whom God is pleased, not just everyone.

This was true then. 

It is true now. 

It will be true at the second advent, Christ’s ultimate return. 

Not everyone will find Christ’s peace or joy, though it is offered to all the people. 

What makes the difference? 

What is God waiting for?

• God is waiting for a people made ready for Christ’s return.

Luke 2:22-40

And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” 

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

Sometimes you are drawn to meet Jesus, sometimes he comes to meet you.  

Either way, respond when he comes.  

“I do not know why there is this difference, but I am sure that God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait. When you do enter your room, you will find that the long wait has done you some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise. But you must regard it as waiting, not as camping. You must keep on praying for light: and of course, even in the hall, you must begin trying to obey the rules which are common to the whole house. And above all you must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best by its paint and paneling.”

- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Details matter here as God is described as the great equalizer among men. 

Mary and Joseph are described as bringing offerings appropriate to those of modest or poor means according to temple requirements. 

They brought a pair of turtle doves and two young pigeons which were more affordable vs. the lamb that the well to do would have brought. 

At the same time, though we do not know Simeon nor Anna’s station in life, we know that God chose to define them by their proximity and relationship to him.  

They made choices that should matter to us as well.  

Neither Simeon nor Anna were said to be priests or of a priestly line, but because they were righteous and devout, found themselves right in the middle of the action of Christ’s coming to the world.  

May you have the same experience, regardless of your pedigree or profession because you have the same heart.  

Jesus brought  joy to Simeon as a faithful follower of God looking for Him to fulfill his prophetic promises regarding the Messiah. 

Jesus brought  joy to Anna who was affirmed that her life’s work in prayer for the Kingdom of God to come was not in vain, but a stewardship that God would reward. 

What are you waiting for?

What is God waiting for?

Christ came and He is coming again. 

Like Simeon, will you be waiting?

Like Anna, will you be ready?

If so, there is joy on the waiting. 

And because of Christ’s coming and his finished work at the cross, you will know God’s consolation as we together look to speed his return. 

So what should we do while we wait?

1. Believe the words of God like the shepherds, Simeon and Anna 

2. Make haste like the shepherds to meet Jesus.  

3. Once you do, worship him and make known this good news of great joy for all the people. 

Joy to the World: For Humble Servants

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Joy To The World: For Humble Servants 

Associate Pastor Cole Parleir

FOCUS: God gives joy to His humble servants 

• Favor for humble servants

• Miracles for humble servants

• Everlasting joy for humble servants

Everybody wants joy, right?

Jesus came to bring great joy to the world, to all the people (Luke 2:10).  

Then why do so few people seem to have genuine, deep seated, lasting joy?  

Could this be because we have forgotten or never understood what joy is or where it comes from?   

A definition of Christian Joy by Theologian John Piper:

"Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as he causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the word and in the world." - John Piper

Today on the second Sunday of Advent we are going to indulge the Christmas story truth that God gives this  joy to His humble servants. 

Main Scripture

“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy— the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” 

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry,  

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

- Luke‬ ‭1:26-45‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Favor for humble servants

Joy starts with an invitation from God to let Jesus Christ live in you and bring Christ into the world.  

• For us, we do not have the opportunity to be the mother or surrogate father of Jesus, but we do have the invitation of the gospel to let Christ live his life in us and to bring the good news of salvation to our generation.

• God is already at work in the world fulfilling his promise to bring salvation to every people group on the planet. He will accomplish it with or without you or me….but because He knows there is no joy for you or I apart from humble service in His kingdom, he invites us to join in.
  

Joy comes from being in God's presence without fear 

Psalm 16:11

"You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

Psalm 84:10-11

"For a day in your courts is better

    than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

    the Lord bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold

    from those who walk uprightly." 

Humility is the path to favor and into God's joyful presence.

Luke 14:7-11 (The Parable of the Wedding Feast)

Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, 9 and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

We must ask ourselves "Where I have assumed a position or a role in life that God has not called me into it?  Where have I exalted myself?"

What are some ways we can choose to humble ourselves rather than God humbling us?

• Obey Jesus, Pray, Give, Serve, Fast, Study

• These are all 'spiritual disciplines' that like working out our muscles physically will make us weak but in the long run make us strong spiritually as we learn to lean on Christ.

• I recommend the classic book "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard J Foster

"Nothing disciplines the inordinate desires of the flesh like service, and nothing transforms the desires of the flesh like serving in hiddenness. The flesh whines against service but screams against hidden service. It strains and pulls for honour and recognition. It will devise subtle, religiously acceptable means to call attention to the service rendered. If we stoutly refuse to give in to this lust of the flesh, we crucify it. Every time we crucify the flesh, we crucify our pride and arrogance."

-- Richard J. Foster 

Miracles for humble servants

 When we, like Mary and Elizabeth, humbly accept God's invitation to know Christ and make him known he will do miracles among us. 

Humility is the essential ingredient to be used by God for the impossible.

We do not know if it was Mary's dream to be the mother of the one and only Son of God (probably not!). But the sanctified imagination and historical reality for young ladies at that time would lead us to believe that she did dream about being a wife and mother.  

Elizabeth and Zechariah served God faithfully as Levites performing temple service into their old age NEVER having their desire for a child fulfilled…then God miraculously healed her barrenness with the conception of a prophet. 

When we humbly surrender, wait for God's timing and serve him he will fulfill not only his plans for the redemption of the world using us, but will also grant the desires of our heart in the process. 

Psalm 37:3-5

Trust in the Lord, and do good;

    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

    trust in him, and he will act.

Nothing will be impossible with God. 

What are you longing for?  God doesn’t rebuke you for having desires.  He does command you to surrender those desires to him and make them secondary to his plan to bring Christ to you and your generation. When we surrender our desire to him he can mold it to be better than we can imagine.  

Mary became God's servant according to His word.   She exchanged her dreams for God's dreams.  This is the essence of being God's humble servant. 

Everlasting joy for humble servants

 Everlasting joy comes when we are united to Christ Jesus.

We were made to be one with God but our sin has separated  us from His presence and eternal joy.

Jesus came to earth to live the righteous and sinless life we should have lived.

Jesus died a sinner's death for you and me on the cross as a perfect sacrifice paying for our sins. 

Three days later God raised Jesus from the dead as proof the payment was accepted.

Today you are invited by faith to accept the gift of Jesus' life, death, burial, and resurrection as payment for your sins and receive everlasting joy being made right with God forever. 

For those united to Christ Jesus and serving him,  be assured that God is faithful to bring you home with great glory and joy:

Jude 24-25:

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Second City Church - Joy to the World, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Joy to the World: Dreamers

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Joy to the World: Dreamers

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: We find the greatest joy in life when we allow God’s plans to become our plans. 

• Our Plans 

• God’s Plans

• Our Salvation

Our Plans

We all start out with dreams of how we think life should go, that which we think will bring us the greatest joy.  

Matthew 1:18-25 

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.

We are continually tempted to build lives with ourselves at the center. 

God’s Plans

The goal is to discover whether our plans are, in fact, God’s plans.  

When circumstances upend our plans, we don’t need to simply substitute the next best thing. 

We need to seek God to discover how he wants us to turn in our plans for His plans. 

When we truly meet God, He gives us a different dream centered around his Son and stewarding HIS plans.  

The significance you are looking for is found in being a submitted vessel to God’s eternal purposes.  

Our Salvation

Our great salvation and greatest joys come when we begin to build our lives on Jesus Christ.  

Jesus and his salvific work at the cross are the centerpiece of human history.  

The purpose of God’s shaking is that we might begin building our lives on Christ, around Christ and for the glory of Christ as we bring his good news to the world.  

Second City Church - Joy to the World, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

SOVEREIGN: In Personal Affairs

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Sovereign: In Personal Affairs

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: God’s sovereignty in our personal affairs gives us reason to be thankful at all times in Christ. 

Just as God is sovereign in our public affairs, so God is sovereign in all of our private affairs. 

• The Challenge of the Thorn 

• Knowing God’s Heart

• Sovereign in His Grace 

The Challenge of the Thorn

God is sovereign in the thorn. 

We must learn to acknowledge God’s sovereignty in our lives as readily when we are being shaped by challenge as when we see things going along with ease.  

There are different degrees of difficulty in life and even this pandemic has offered different measures to people.  

The goal though, through it all, is that we would get our footing in Christ alone when all of the extras stripped away. 

2 Corinthians 12:1-10 

I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,  a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

A person’s theology that gives them a picture of life without challenge or trouble causes greater anxieties, issues and problems because we think something is wrong or we are out of the will of God when we face them.  

Greater theology can equal greater peace. 

Could it be that you are actually in the will of God when you have a thorn in your flesh?

“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own,' or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life -- the life God is sending one day by day.”

- C.S. Lewis, The Collected Works of C.S. Lewis

The key to remaining in a good place is knowing God’s heart in the midst of His sovereignty.  

Knowing God’s Heart

God’s heart of love and care for us remains steadfastly the same.

It is imperative that we know God’s heart towards us even as we trust his sovereignty in our trials.  

Psalm 35:27-28 (NIV)

May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, “The Lord be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.” My tongue will proclaim your righteousness, your praises all day long.

3 John 1:1-2

The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.

The issue of our perpetual frustrations, misplaced faith and dashed hopes is that we are trying to create heaven on earth within our own little worlds.  

This is eschatologically problematic and emotionally draining. 

Just as God uses historical persecution towards the church to separate nominal Christianity from authentic faith in Christ, so he uses trials within our lives to deepen our trust in and devotion to him. 

“God uses chronic pain and weakness, along with other afflictions, as his chisel for sculpting our lives. Felt weakness deepens dependence on Christ for strength each day. The weaker we feel, the harder we lean. And the harder we lean, the stronger we grow spiritually, even while our bodies waste away. To live with your ‘thorn’ uncomplainingly — that is, sweet, patient, and free in heart to love and help others, even though every day you feel weak — is true sanctification. It is true healing for the spirit. It is a supreme victory of grace.”

- J.I. Packer, God’s Plans for You

Knowing God’s end game is key. 

“Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord.”

- J.I. Packer, Knowing God

When we have a proper theology we acknowledge and put our hope in the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Until then, we are sojourners passing through. 

Sovereign in His Grace

God’s sovereign grace is sufficient for us. 

We know that as we learn to rest in God’s sovereign grace, we are freed to be thankful, turning places of weeping into places of God’s great joy.  

Psalm 84:1-12 

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed! For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

I’ve found that the greatest challenge to my joy can be the lack of control that I feel.  

I am by nature a fighter, and we are absolutely to be in the Kingdom of God for the purposes of God.  

The realization that I can fight by faith while not being responsible for the outcome is an exercise in trust in God’s sovereignty. 

It allows us to serve God with joy knowing God works all things for the good of those who love him.  

“Storms make trees take deeper roots.”

-attributed to Dolly Parton

God is in control now.  

He will forevermore be. 

Let him use the thorns that we face to press us into him.  

As we do, meeting Jesus continually at the cross, may we also know his joy and great resurrection power as a foretaste of the life to come.  

Repent of sin and believe the good news today. 

God is sovereign in our personal affairs.  

Second City Church - Sovereign, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

SOVEREIGN: In Public Affairs

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Sovereign: In Public Affairs 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: God’s sovereignty in our public affairs gives us reason to continually trust in Christ. 

• Truth (we need to embrace)

• Test (of where our deepest hopes lie)

• Trust (in God’s sovereignty and eternal plan)
  

The Truth We Embrace

We need to embrace the truth that even as we do our part, God is sovereign in the public affairs of humanity. 

What is the sound theology that we need to embrace?

God is sovereign in public affairs.  

Daniel 2:19-23 

“Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter.”

The Test

We need to know that  results in the public sphere  test our hearts regarding the sovereignty of God. 

What is a sound reaction?

How Did We Respond?

It is a surprise to no one that some people are elated and some people are mad.

It is especially not surprising to God

Proverbs 13:12 

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Both our heart sicknesses and rejoicing are tells indicating where or in whom our hopes have been placed.

Because the church of Jesus Christ is serving an eternal King who is neither voted into nor out of office, our character and mission remain the same no matter who our public servants are.  

Make sure that your hopes are placed in Jesus even as we work with men and women for the benefit of our cities, nation and all who live in it. 

Be humble in victory. 

Be gracious in defeat. 

Why?

“Stability, predictability and manageability were never meant to be security for us.  We were made to hide ourselves in him.”

-Ruth Chou Simons

What remains true today whether you feel like you are one whose heart is sick because of the possibility of  election results or rejoicing because of the historic advances that have come from it, God is sovereign in what is happening.   

What is still true of the church by God’s sovereignty:

We are still those who worship Almighty God as king by the authority of his written Word. 

We are still those who are charged to live by the fruit of the Holy Spirit. 

We are still those who are committed to bearing fruit in keeping with repentance when we miss it.  

We are still those who fight for Biblical justice. 

We are still those who live at the feet of the cross of Jesus forgiving others  who sin against us just as we have been forgiven. 

We are still a people who fight as one man for the faith of the gospel.  

We are still those who are peacemakers to see people reconciled with both God and one another in Christ.  

We are still those who are to go into all the world to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded us.  

These things will never change.  

For all humanity, the ultimate tree of life is in the paradise of God, which will never be found on earth in its present state, but will be enjoyed by all who accept Christ’s invitation to life.   

This is where our true and lasting longings are fulfilled - the very things for which people strive.  

Until then, it will only be momentary glimpses because of the sin in the world perpetuated by the evil of fallen men and women.  

So what are we to do?

Trust

We need to participate in God’s public sovereignty through prayer and testimony of his truth. 

What is our sound responsibility?

1 Timothy 2:1-7 

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle ( I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Second City Church - Sovereign, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Be Christian: Wisdom Defined

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Be Christian: Wisdom Defined

Associate Pastor Cole Parleir

Today we are going to cut through the confusion of the days we live in and talk about ‘wisdom’. 

Is there anybody out there today who wants to be more wise?  I do!

With so  much information and opinions available at our fingertips, wisdom seems like a lost ideal in our day.  But, I’m here to tell you today that God wants you to be wise.  

God promises if we ”cry out” for wisdom and seek it, He will give it. 

 Let’s pray and ask God for wisdom.

Scripture 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

‭‭James‬ ‭1:5-8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

• Wisdom is a gift from God

• God wants to give you more than you ask for

• God won’t rebuke for asking 

• Faith is the price for wisdom

• Confusion is a symptom of faithlessness and lack of God’s wisdom

Before we jump to James chapter 3 let's take in a summary of James 2

Your tongue is powerful.  It produces blessings  and cursing.  If you want to be perfect you most first control your words.  

So how do you know if you or someone else has wisdom? Self assessment: 

"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

‭‭James‬ ‭3:13-18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Two Wisdoms: Heavenly and Worldly 

Heavenly Wisdom 

• Sourced from heaven. A humble heart that is displayed in good works that backup good talk. Walk the talk. 

• Pure (motivation)

• Peaceable

• Gentle

• Open to reason

• Full of mercy

• Full of good fruit

• Impartial

• Sincere

• It sows peace and reaps righteousness

• Gives and promotes God’s abundant life

 Heavenly Wisdom is tied to righteousness. The prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective.  You want wise people praying for and counseling you. 

 “If it’s not godly, it’s not wise.” - Anonymous

Worldly Wisdom

• Sourced from hell and sowed by demons into human hearts in order to kill, steal, and destroy you. 

• Shows up in the heart as bitter jealousy (unhealthy competition) and selfish ambition. 

“See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;”- ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

• Many become deviled  through disorder and every vile practice. 

 We can only come to know God through HIS wisdom and power. 

Christ: the power of God and the wisdom of God

“For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.””

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1:17-31‬ ‭ESV‬‬

• The cross of Christ is God’s wisdom. 

• The cross of Christ is God’s power. 

• The cross of Christ disarms demonic wisdom freeing it’s captives. 

• Christ Jesus is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 

This heavenly Wisdom from God gives us understanding of his free gifts, beginning with salvation. 

Wisdom is the mind of Christ. It is the renewed mind. 

“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:18-23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

 Will you become a fool to the world today?

Will you allow God to wash away your sins by placing your faith in HIS  wisdom and power displayed at the cross of Christ?

Will you believe the gospel today?

The Gospel is the good news that God became man in Jesus Christ. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died—in our place. Three days later he rose for the dead, proving he is the son of God and offering the gift of salvation and forgiveness of sins to anyone who repents and believes in him. 

 Wisdom is to see heaven and move toward it. 

Second City Church - Be Christian, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020

Be Christian: Learning to Worship, Learning to Love God

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Be Christian: Learning to Worship, Learning to Love God

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Every day, we are answering two eternity shaping questions regarding God:

Do we worship him?

Do we love him?

Focus: To be Christian, we must learn what it means to worship and love God through Jesus Christ. 

Learning to Worship

Learning to Love God

Learning to Worship

Being Christian means learning to worship God the way the Bible prescribes.   

Psalm 145:1-12 

A Song of Praise. Of David. 

I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your  mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

A life of worship to God, in service to him, begins with the acknowledgement and praise of who He is. When you come to God, he gives you a song to sing because you finally get a realization of his greatness, his majesty, his abundant goodness, his righteousness, his mighty acts and particularly what you realize that he’s done in your life.  

Being Christian ultimately means making the transition from acknowledging God as a king, to declaring him your king, the Lord of your daily existence.  

This is how the Psalm begins. 

I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.

Being Christian doesn’t mean just trying to be a better person - it means finally coming to and submitting to the one who will make you who you were always intended to be.  

A benefit of the worship of God is that being recreated in God’s image you find access to the greatest freedom, joy, peace, daily satisfaction and life fulfillment you’ve ever known.  

And this is only a small portion of the wonders  of God for which we extol him. This is why it has been said:

“The only one that can satisfy the human heart is the one that made it.”

-Unknown 

Praise makes this known. Giving God praise is something that can be done anywhere, at any time. Praise can be accompanied by meditating on the wondrous works of the Lord, singing, sharing testimony, dancing, clapping, shouting and leaping. 

These are all things about which the Psalms speak. Yet as far as frequency, praise needs to be every day and forever, meaning without end.

This means that despite what is going on around me, I am going to take the time to proactively praise the Lord. 

Why is this so?

*The art of praise is like the art of encouragement but with reciprocal effects. 

A friend recently posted about mental health awareness by sharing a quote from influencer Stephanie Peltier who said:

“Don’t tell a mother she looks tired; she already knows that.  Tell her she’s doing a great job; she may not know that.”

-Influencer Stephanie Peltier

Also avoid saying, “Whoa, you look like you have your hands full!”  Instead say, “You’ve got this” or “I’m here to help whenever you need it.”

Saying these things would be learning the art of encouragement and would only be made more powerful with the truth of God’s Word attached. Similarly, the art of praise works like this:

You are telling God what He already knows about himself but is that about which you need to be reminded. 

**The reality is that the life that you need in your soul (mind, will and emotions) comes through praise and worship - when you are declaring what is TRUE about God despite your feelings, what you perceive in your circumstances or what report you’ve been given.  

It lifts you to the place of God’s eternal rule and heavenly influence.  

This is what was demonstrated in a particular instance with the Israeli prophet Elisha who was referenced in a wonderful message spoken at our church right before the pandemic lockdown in March by Pastor Jim Critcher.  

If you’ve not listened to it, I commend it to you. 

2 Kings 3:15-16 

But now bring me a musician.” And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’

When we praise, it is preparing our hearts for the hand of the Lord to come upon us and for the power of the Holy Spirit to be released for healing, refreshing and deliverance in our minds, our bodies and our situations.  

Whenever we are singing songs of praise to God, we are joining in prophesying what God will do by his sovereignty, strength and might.  

When I praise, I feel like I’m singing the opening lines of Hamilton each time....

“Just you wait, just you wait....”

“The God whom we worship is not a weak and incompetent God. He is able to beat back gigantic waves of opposition and to bring low prodigious mountains of evil. The ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able.”

- Martin Luther

Every time we stop to give praise to God, this is the truth we are declaring. 

This is why you need to praise God throughout the day and make moments every day (v. 2) - in addition to our corporate gatherings.  

People often say to me:

 “I need more faith”

I ask:

Have you been reading your Bible?

“I need more peace”

Have you been praying?

“I need more encouragement”

Have you been fellowshipping with other believers in the places provided (i.e. - church and community groups)?

“I need more joy”

Have you been worshiping?

Worship transforms you because you are over and over again immersed in the reality of God’s matchless worth. 

You need to know this:

More worship = more transformation.  

This ultimately leads to you learning to love God.  

Learning to Love God

Being a Christian ultimately means learning to love God.  

Psalm 145:14-21 

The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

As the Psalm intimates, there are times that we feel like the things on which we have been leaning are removed, and possibly, that things are out of control. 

This is what much of 2020 has felt like.

When we feel like we’re falling, we find out what it is in which we’ve trusted most because we grasp hardest to maintain those things to sustain us. 

-Jim Carey who has recently made guest appearances on SNL said the following during a 2018 interview in the Talks when asked what had prompted his spiritual awakenings:

“I guess just getting to the place where you have everything everybody has ever desired and realizing you are still unhappy. And that you can still be unhappy is a shock when you have accomplished everything you ever dreamt of and more and then you realize, “My gosh, it’s not about this.” And I wish for everyone to be able to accomplish those things so they can see that.”

It is from the trappings of wanting desires that Jesus comes to set us free. 

The Scripture continually alerts us to the truth that without a Biblical love for Jesus, we will never truly be satisfied. 

The Lord upholds those who are falling.  

And then there is the bowing down. 

Worship in the Bible was often accompanied by those who were bowed down, kneeling and even laying prostrate before the person or thing to whom they were demonstrating an internal submission. 

In our time, the question is: to whom or to what have we been bowing down?

The Lord lifts up (encourages, sustains, refreshes and exalts) those who are bowed down to him. 

*Biblically we can see that any ideology that places the love of certain people, parties and systems before and above God is at the root of humanistic idolatry. 

This is why William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army which has done so much good in the world, was prescient for our times when he said, 

“The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy Spirit, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.”

- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

There is no way to truly love God if you are placing any person, cause, agenda, group, pursuit or thing before Him.  

Why?

Because worship was never meant to go to an amorphous, ambiguous God, nor was love for God ever left to be obscure or undefined.  

John 14:1-7 

14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

In the Psalm, God reminds us that He is the provider and sustainer of all life giving things and therefore, we should learn to love him.

So it needs to be said that:

Participating in a church service no more makes you Christian than stepping into a gym makes you an athlete or wearing Lululemon makes you a certified yoga instructor.  

Love for Jesus is what makes a Christian.  

So how do we love God?

Jesus made it a plain. 

John 14:15-27 

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 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. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Don’t allow our trying an muddled times to allow your love for God to grow cold.  

Don’t let your disappointments with people, frustrations with our political environment or the personal and emotional strains from the pandemic diminish steal the peace that Christ has for you.  

*Rather let everything deepen your love for Jesus as you recognize Christ alone is our standard of perfection and our eternal hope.  

“The LORD hath promised the crown of life to those who love Him. Only lovers of the LORD will hold out in the hour of trial; the rest will either sink or sulk, or slink back to the world. Come, my heart, dost thou love thy LORD? Truly? Deeply? Wholly?”

-Charles Spurgeon

As you deepen your love for Jesus, the love that you have for others in the world will follow.  

As you relish in the grace of God expressed at the cross towards you, it will overflow in the grace that you are able to show others.  

It all begins and ends with the love of Jesus. 

Remember that you are more than a conqueror - not solely by the virtue of your love for Jesus, but by the strength of Christ’s love for you, demonstrated at the cross. 

We are not saved by the love we exercise, but by the love we trust. -Richard Lovelace

So again, at the end of the day, when we all stand before God in judgement, these are the questions that will have to be answered. 

Did we meet Jesus at the cross so that he might take the punishment for our sins?

Did we repent of those sins in return to give God our submitted worship?  

Did we love him?

This is what it means to be Christian. 

Second City Church - Be Christian, Pastor Rollan Fisher 2020