The Runaway: This Time Around

The Runaway: This Time Around 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: It doesn’t matter where you’ve been before - this time choose to obey God!

• Jonah Responds

• So Do the People

• So Does God

Jonah Responds

When we obey God, the Holy Spirit will empower us to be bold witnesses for Jesus Christ. 

Jonah 3:1-5 ESV

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you." So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.”

After Jonah’s repentance, the word of the Lord came to him again for the same people in the same city.  

Nineveh was called a great city by God.  

Why didn’t Jonah want to go there in the first place?

God was disturbed by the evil going on in the city, but rather than ignoring it or simply overthrowing it, he raised up a prophet to minister to it.   

God always gives people, cities and nations a chance before overthrowing them. 

The chance that God gives is a warning of destruction from the mouth of his prophet. 

God was giving the people of Nineveh forty days.   

Nineveh was called great in not only importance, but size, taking three days to travel across. 

It would be hard to even know where to start to address the issues there, but God called Jonah to be intentional rather than intimidated by the task set before him.  

He walked a day into the city, right in the middle of its happenings and began to engage those who were there. 

Jesus would later say about to his followers:

Matthew 5:13-16 ESV 

“"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

The people of Nineveh were living in their sin, thinking it normal until they were confronted with the word of the Lord.  

 The beautiful thing is that by God’s grace, when the people of Nineveh heard Jonah’s warning, they believed God.  

 And as they believed God, they responded in humility with fasting and repentance.  

 Revival broke out so that every person in the city, from the greatest of them to the least of them, turned to God.  

If that is what God did in Nineveh through the preaching of one man, what can God do in our great city with a church that loves him, honors him and preaches his good news?

But how? 

We have tools.  

Learn to use the One to One as a tool to minister the good news of Jesus to a family member, friend, neighbor or co-worker who needs to come into relationship with Christ.  

So Do the People

When we obey God, we will see even the most unlikely people respond in repentance and faith.  

Jonah 3:6-9 ESV 

“The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish."”

The king of Nineveh, the gatekeeper of all that went on in the city, was compelled to remove his sign of authority and sit before God in humility at the preaching of God’s unadulterated word.  

The word of God did not have to be watered down to produce God’s desired effect.  

Because the fear of the Lord was birthed in the king of Nineveh as Jonah preached, the king called the entire city to fast and call upon Yahweh.   

The king of Nineveh, who now believed God, called the people of the city to “turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.”

This is the essence and goal of discipleship as Paul the apostle later described it to Timothy:

2 Timothy 2:2 ESV

“and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”

The hope of the king Nineveh was that through fasting, repentance and calling upon the name of the Lord, that the people of Nineveh would fall upon the mercy of God and not be destroyed for their sins.  

This is the hope that the gospel of Jesus brings to individuals, families, cities and nations. 

So…

• Are you a gatekeeper in your city? 

• Do you know one who is?

• Have you responded to the word of the Lord to you and for your city?

The question then becomes:

• Why does it matter whether I choose to obey God going where and to whom he’s called me?

• It is because according to God, literal lives and destinies are on the line.  

Consider these passages: 

Ezekial 33:7-9 ESV

“"So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.”

Romans 10:13-17 ESV

“For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

So Does God

When we obey God, Jesus has room to move in grace and power to turn disasters away from individuals, families, cities and nations.  

Jonah 3:10 ESV

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”

The response was more than lip service. 

When God saw what the people of Nineveh did in turning from their evil way, he relented and did not destroy the city.   

But I thought God doesn’t change his mind?

God did not change his mind, but the people their allegiance and behavior, so that relationally, they found themselves in a position to be recipients of God’s mercy and grace.  

Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter where you, your family, city or nation have been before, this time you can choose to obey God!

And in doing so, God can release times of not only refreshing, but renewal and revival when we look to his resurrection life!

Jonah 4:11 ESV

“And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"”

Always remember that we serve the God who with miracle power brings dead things to life!

His kindness can lead the hardest heart to repentance and any situation on the brink of disaster into his glorious grace.  

Scriptures upon which I stand as we go out like Jonah to preach:

There is no walking out any of this without first having deep daily roots in relationship with Jesus.  

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”

Isaiah 60:21-22 ESV

“Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. The least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation; I am the Lord; in its time I will hasten it.”

John 14:12-14 ESV

“"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

John 15:7-8 ESV 

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

John 15:13-16 ESV

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

Acts 5:42 ESV

“And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.”

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 ESV

“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

The Runaway: God’s Dealings

The Runaway: God’s Dealings

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: God will hem us in to call us out into his life and eternal purposes in Christ.  

• Hemming You In  

• Calling You Out  

• From the Belly of the Grave  

Hemming You In

It is an act of mercy to come to a place in life where the only answer for our situation is to cry out to God.   

Jonah 2:1 ESV

“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,”

God will allow you to be hemmed in so that you finally slow down enough to think about what is most important in life - love for and obedience to Jesus.  

It’s in this place where we feel that we have nothing left to lose that we can truly hear clearly from God. 

“The purpose of prayer is emphatically not to bend God’s will to ours, but rather to align our will to his.”

— John R.W. Stott

Calling You Out

The grace of God is found when we turn away from vain idols and once again call solely upon the name of Jesus.  

Jonah 2:2-9 ESV

“saying, "I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.' The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!"”

Deceptively, it is not usually us actively running away from an audible word from God that throws us off course in his plan for our lives.  

It is what Jesus spoke about in the parable of the sower which consumes us without us thinking twice that anything is abnormal in the way that we’ve chosen to live.   

Luke 8:14 ESV

“And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.”

Mark 4:19 ESV

“but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”

The only antidote is to allow the Word of God to be a mirror to you and deep prayer to be a refiner to you where you are continually asking the question: 

• “Am I living set apart to God?

• Am I doing the things that Jesus is doing?”

• Am I loving the lost?

• Am I making disciples?

• Am I praying for and helping the gospel of Jesus Christ go to my city and the nations? 

When you are hemmed in by God, it is to call you out on the things in your heart that stand opposed to him.  

Jonah 2:8 NIV

““Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.”

• What is God calling you out on today?  

• What worthless idols are you clinging to - in a search for love, acceptance and identity - that you need to let go of to be found in Him?

There is nothing that compares to God’s love and plan for us. 

Throughout history, even those without God have had the inkling that there could be a change, but failed to reach it without the transforming power found in the love and Lordship of Jesus Christ: 

“You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.”

-Alan Watts

It is only Jesus and his gospel that enable us to know not only what is eternally valuable, but receive the power to live in it. 

From the Belly of the Grave

Jesus is the proof that God is able to speak to our condition to bring resurrection life where there was once only a grave.  

Jonah 2:10 ESV 

“And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.”

When you are vomited out, you may come with a taste or smell that reminds you of the place from which God brought you, but it is the very thing that will propel you to fulfill his high call on your life.  

It is the anointing of God that then comes upon you to finish that call with the word of the Lord - the gospel of Jesus - and a testimony of God’s mercy to you that he also wants to extend to those to whom he sends you.  

Just as your repentance will see you leave the belly of the great fish, so the message of repentance will call people out of their sin and entrapment.  

Jesus was the greater Jonah facing literal death for us on the cross to pay for our sins.  

He went not into the belly of the fish, but into the grave to snatch the keys of death and Hades (Revelation 1:18) from the enemy. 

Matthew 12:38-45 ESV

“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation."”

*Just as Jonah emerged from the belly of the fish, so Jesus rose in resurrection power with a message of repentance and liberty to those who would let go of their vain idols that embrace God’s redeeming love for them. 

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

The Runaway: Nowhere to Run

The Runaway: Nowhere to Run 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: God will call us to himself and then to the people whom he works through us to save, whether we like it or not.  

• Where Will You Run?

• God Will Have His Way

• Christ in the Belly of the Fish

Where Will You Run To?

God’s presence is often found in the very place from which we want to run.   

Jonah 1:1-6 ESV

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me." But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, "What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish."”

God loves people that we don’t and cares about people and places that we won’t on our own.   

That is good news for us because it is the reason any of us are here today (I Corinthians 1:26-31). 

God always calls his servants to a place, to a people and for a purpose.  

This is a theme that we see throughout Scripture.  

God has his eyes on the city and sends his people to minister to it, not just enjoy and take from it.  

God’s concern is not just the pleasures and career opportunities that people can find in the city, but the evils that exist there. 

*Though God called Jonah to minister to the city, Jonah fled seeking comfort over confrontation. 

This can be a pattern in Christendom, Christians fleeing the cities to find their fortresses of safety free of trial and pain.  

It is interesting that as Jonah fled from Nineveh, he fled from the presence of the Lord who was there to work in that city. 

Jonah found a ship going to Tarshish, away from Nineveh where he did not want to be, but where God wanted Jonah to be.  

*Opportunity does not equate to the call of God.  

*Whether it be a job, a home or a relationship, If you are determined not to listen to God, you can find a vessel to take you where you want to go.  

God called Nineveh a great city.

Don’t run from what God calls great so that you can find what you think is good.  

Jonah paid the price to run from Nineveh and again it was repeated, the presence of the Lord.  

What we can find outside of God’s circumstantial and geographic call is a certain perceived ease, but it will come with a price.

When we step outside of the will of God, we stop asking questions as to what he wants us to do, so that by willfully ignoring his voice, we can create a pseudo-spirituality of our own making where God is available to us whenever we call rather than when he calls us.   

Have you ever found it difficult to engage the presence of the Lord when you knew you were outside of his will?

Jonah 1:4 ESV

“But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.”

God will disrupt things in our lives when we are off course to get our attention and the attention of those around us that things have got to change.  

The trouble that came upon everyone because of Jonah’s sin caused the sailors to call upon their false gods, but no help would come until there was an acknowledgment of the one true God of Israel from whom Jonah was running.  

Have you ever been found running from God?  

How did it affect your life and the lives of those around you? 

God Will Have His Way

God’s peace is found solely in the middle of his will - he will have it no other way.  

Jonah 1:7-16 ESV

“And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, "Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?" And he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, "What is this that you have done!" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?" For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you." Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, "O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you." So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.”

*We are called to walk with Jesus, not just believe in him.   

As always, if you are living in disobedience to God, your sin will find you out.  

God will arrange it so that your quiet life that you think that you’ve constructed for yourself will inevitably spit you out.  

It can be a job loss, relational or financial distress, even a health challenge that comes in the place that you thought you would find peace.  

When trouble came to the ship, the people on board with Jonah were determined to find out why.  

When you are thinking about building a home, raising kids and providing the best future for your family, you need to remember the words of a woman devoted to God through the horrors of the Holocaust:

“The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.”

-Corrie Ten Boom

Prior to his crucifixion, there were people who tried to throw Jesus off of a cliff as he ministered - yet he walked right through them (Luke 4:29,30). 

The good news is that even in Jonah’s willful disobedience, God came to discipline, deal with and redirect Jonah. 

Don’t be a portent - if God has to redirect you through discipline, he will. 

God will use your trouble in the midst of your discipline to minister to others the truth about Jesus.  

What did God use to finally grab your attention and turn you to Jesus? 

Christ in the Belly of the Fish

Jesus is our great God and prophet leading us to reconciliation with the Father through his own time spent three days in the grave after being crucified for our sins.  

Jonah 1:17 ESV

“And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

This is all a foreshadowing of the life and work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

What was your belly of the fish moment?

How did Jesus meet you or is he now coming to meet there?

“Hold loosely to the things of this life, so that if God requires them of you, it will be easy to let them go.”

-Corrie Ten Boom

Because Jesus was the better prophet, he ran to the city, not away from it, to provide a word that would bring salvation to the world.  

As God in the flesh, Christ lived sinlessly showing us the way of perfect obedience to the Father and walked with him all the way to the cross to pay the price for our rebellion. 

Because of his innocence, though he was in the grave three days, Jesus rose from the dead to provide an opportunity for repentance and forgiveness of sins to those who would put their faith in and truly follow him.  

All who are called of God are called to be servants of God.  

God wants to not only turn our lives around, but then calls us to the very cities from which we would otherwise run, to find his presence, his peace and his prophetic word for the people he has come to save.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Life Unexpected: The Joy of the LORD is My Strength

Life Unexpected: The Joy of the LORD is My Strength

Anthony Connington

• Part 1 - The Father’s Joy In The Son

• Part 2 - The Word Gives Joy

• Part 3 - A Joy Restored

Focus: Through Christ we can partake in the life of God and share in the joy of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 14:17

for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

We can have joy in the Holy Spirit

PART 1: The Father’s Joy In The Son

What does it mean to have joy, a true joy that lasts. A joy that can be experienced no matter the unexpected curveballs life throws our way. 

First, let us define what joy actually is and is not.

Joy is not the same thing as happiness, though they are often associated together. There are subtle and important differences between the two.

Happiness is a very good thing to experience and it feels amazing when you have it. Unfortunately, on this side of eternity, being happy is only a temporary experience. It is a fleeting emotion that comes and goes and is never constant in our lives. 

Joy is similar in that it too is expressed at times as an emotion. However, unlike the emotion of happiness, joy is much more than just an emotion.

“Joy is closely related to gladness and happiness, although joy is more of a state of being than an emotion; a result of a choice” –The Lexham Bible Dictionary

“Joy is a state of delight and well-being that results from knowing and serving God…Joy is the fruit of a right relation with God, It is not something people can create by their own efforts.” –Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary 

Joy is something that is best defined outside of ourselves.

Joy comes not by the pursuit of enlightenment and gaining knowledge and wisdom. Nor is Joy found in seeking your own happiness, personal pleasure, and fulfillment. Instead, true joy is found in giving your life away to God and surrendering yourself to His Lordship. 

True and lasting joy is only found in God Himself. 

God is not a cosmic killjoy as some have claimed. In fact the word joy appears over 150 times in the Bible and if you include the words joyous and joyful that number exceeds 200 times.

The word “rejoice" also appears in the Bible over 200 times.
The fact that these words are mentioned so often shows us that God is in the business of giving and receiving joy. This comes from his very nature, He is a God of Joy. 

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.

Joy is best defined in God. God Himself is the very definition of Joy.

Let's take a moment and look at this from another angle, the perspective of the Trinity. 

Here are a few passages that describe the relationship between the Father and the Son.

Isaiah 42:1

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

This passage is speaking about the future messiah to come. The word “soul” here is speaking of God’s essence and fullness of being. All of God takes great joy and delight in the messiah. 

Later we see this same type of language exemplified at the baptism of Jesus.

Matthew 3:16-17 

When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”

God the Father is fully pleased and delights in His beloved Son. 

This is how the Triune God relates within Himself, full of delight and joy for one another. The Father perfectly expresses delight, and joy to the Son, the One in whom He is well pleased. The Son relishes in and fully shares and enjoys that same joy with the Father. The Holy Spirit then proceeds from both the Father and Son as the perfect expression of that same joy He shares with the Father and the Son. 

Michael Reeves says it best when he writes…

“First, if there is nothing more precious to the Father than (the Son), there cannot be any blessing higher than him or anything better than him. In every way, Jesus himself must be the very great reward of the gospel... He is the treasure of the Father, shared with us. Sometimes we find ourselves tiring of Jesus, stupidly imagining that we have seen all there is to see and used up all the pleasure there is to be had in him. We get spiritually bored. But Jesus has satisfied the mind and heart of the infinite God of eternity. Our boredom is simple blindness. If the Father can be infinitely and eternally satisfied in him, then he must be overwhelmingly all-sufficient for us. In every situation, for eternity.” –Michael Reeves, Rejoicing In Christ

Do you see it? That same joy can be ours through the Holy Spirit. We see this in Jesus in one of Jesus' prayers, He invites us to partake in that same joy. 

John 17:24-25

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation. Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However, I have known you, and they have known that you sent me. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.”

This prayer shows us that Jesus desires to share with us the same intimacy and joy He has with His Father.

Through the Holy Spirit, the Father shares His Son and the Son shares His Father with us. 

Through the Holy Spirit we are invited to partake in that same love and joy the Father and Son share together. 

“To be indwelt by the Holy Spirit is to be indwelt by the Joy of God in God. To be full of the Holy Spirit is to be overflowing with God’s Joy in God. We are not left to our own limited personalities. We are given divine assistance to enjoy what is infinitely enjoyable. God the Spirit is our indwelling ability to enjoy God” –John Piper

The true meaning of joy is to partake and share in the Joy of God that He has within Himself. To know the Joy of God in God. This is to know God, to experience His joy. 

The question needs to be asked, how can we practically do this, share in the joy of God? 

PART 2: The Word Gives Joy

We partake in the Joy of God in God through receiving His Word

The Old Testament prophet says it best when he says…

Jeremiah 15:16 

“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. 

When we eat and take in the Word of God, the Holy Spirit imparts His joy to us. This Joy that we receive then becomes a great strength to us. 

No matter the unexpected things that come our way, the Word of God is our guiding light. The Word of God will sustain you and bring you great joy even in the midst of life's most difficult moments.

We see a great example of this in Nehemiah. The people had returned to Jerusalem after their exile in Babylon but things were not what they used to be. Things had changed. For many this was a grievous thing. Although the temple was rebuilt, it was not restored to its former glory. The walls were just rebuilt, the city was just beginning to heal, and things were not as some had remembered. Then Ezra begins reading the Law and we see this brings comfort, joy, and strength to the people.   

Nehemiah 8:1-3

And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 

Nehemiah 8:9-12

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”  So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

The people were grieved because they were not as they once were. They were starting over and rebuilding their lives and identity in God after the exile. 

When we hit the reset button in our own lives, it is God’s Word that will become our strength. 

The Joy of the LORD is my strength comes from a deep relationship with God and is given to us through the Word of God. By faith we receive this Word and then choose to live and share in the joy of God. 

But what happens if our joy is stolen from us? 

What if we feel like we have lost our joy?

What do we do to begin this rebuilding process like they did in Nehemiah's day?

Where do we start?

PART 3: A Joy Restored

To answer these questions, let's take a look at Psalm 51:1-12

Behind the scenes of this song is a story, the story of David

Here is King David’s darkest moment in his life. He has just murdered his good friend Uriah, taken his wife by force, got her pregnant, and then shortly after the baby is born God kills the infant as a judgment against David’s sin. 

David’s world is turned upside down. Things are not as they are supposed to be and it is because of him. All of this is his fault.

Psalm 51:1-12

Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right[b] spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

The Father reconciles us to Himself by joining us to his incarnate Son, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is through this reconciliation we can now partake in the joy of the LORD.

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Life Unexpected: Patiently Righteous

Life Unexpected: Patiently Righteous

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: How you respond whenever there are curveballs in life helps reveal your foundations and refine your love for Jesus. 

• Patience is a Virtue

• How We Respond 

• In the Righteousness of God

Patience is a Virtue

Much of life is here to help test and develop our patience.  

When Paul was instructing the early Roman church, he had to clarify for them the nature of true faith. 

Whereas they were looking to determine their piety by ceremonies involving rituals like eating and drinking certain foods, Paul pointed instead to a life that comes fully alive in Jesus Christ.  

Romans 14:17 ESV

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

When Paul speaks about the Kingdom of God, he is speaking about Jesus as Lord - Christ being the governor and benevolent ruler of your heart, mind and actions. 

True faith is to be based around our understanding of the one true God in Jesus, fortified by a relationship with him and grounded in genuine experience with him.   

Though valuable, true faith is not found simply in external, cultural rituals.  

True faith is found in how we walk with Jesus through life, even in the midst of an unexpected life.  

The question is: 

What is God determined to produce in you through the unexpected curveballs of life?  

Answer: 

Fresh Fruit!

One of those fruits is patience.  

Patience is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that is the bedrock on which righteousness can be received, developed in our lives and expressed toward others.   

Curveballs are the opportunities to grow in this fruit by making determined choices to live righteously despite our surprising, and  at times, frustrating,  circumstances. 

*This is why we need to find a way to encourage one another daily - intentionally filling our conversations with the truth, promises and eternal hope found in Jesus. 

Proverbs 24:10 ESV

“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.”

Hebrews 3:12-14 ESV 

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

It is not only how you treat others outside the home, but how you treat people closest to you - in your family, with your roommates - that is the real measure of your devotion to pleasing God. 

Life unexpectedly shows us where our faith, love and our confidence truly lay.  

Were they in God or something else?

“If my house has collapsed at one blow, that is because it was a house of cards. The faith which 'took these things into account' was not faith but imagination.”

-C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

Patience literally means long-suffering.  

That means suffering for a long time. 

• Can we do it with patient, righteous responses?

• Can we do it with peace?

• Can we do it with joy in the Holy Spirit?

How We Respond

Those who understand patience as long-suffering know that God is shaping us to be like Jesus through trial.  

God tests you to break you and then strengthen you.  

This is the real testimony.  

We become a living testimony of the truth of Scripture when we patiently walk with Jesus through an unexpected life. 

“More often than not, it is what you are rather than what you say that will bring an unbeliever to Christ. This, then, is the ultimate apologetic. For the ultimate apologetic is: your life”

-William Lane Craig

*The only thing that truly produces both righteousness and patience is time spent with Christ - reflecting on his sufferings and receiving grace for our own as we look to our reward in him. 

Walking with God is different than just believing in God.  

Walking with God means that you are:

1. Thinking about how to obey Scripture in the decisions that you are making regarding relationships, work and pursuits. This applies to how you spend time, talent and treasure. 

2. Listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit - Inviting God into every moment of your day, including at home, at work, with friends and with neighbors. 

3. Asking God to fill you your heart with the tangible patience of God, as you set your heart on living righteously before him. 

Matthew 18:21-35 ESV

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

When people are already trying to live for Jesus, harsh judgments discourage rather encourage people to become who God has made them to be.  

How do I know if I’m being patient with others?

We now it by our response and our tone.  

Proverbs 15:1 ESV

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Proverbs 25:15 ESV

“With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.”

In the Righteousness of God

The righteousness of God frees me to develop in Christ and patiently allow others to do the same.  

Whenever we return to the original Scriptural reference in Romans, Paul was addressing a community that was trying to find their right standing with God based on ceremonial rules and traditions regarding their eating, drinking and rituals rather than in Christ.  

Paul was appealing to the Romans that there is no basis of our right standing with God without Christ, his cross for our sins and his resurrection from the dead.  

How often has life unexpected brought us to a point where the fruit of our lives, embittered and disillusioned by disappointment with circumstance, yourself and others, brings out of you what Paul would describe in Romans?

Romans 3:10-18 ESV

“as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known." "There is no fear of God before their eyes."”

Again, life unexpected exposes our foundations to us, not to God.  

“God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn't. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.”

-C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

The surprising righteousness of Christ provides a patience with myself and others that enables me to walk in kindness towards myself and others.  

Romans 3:21-27 ESV

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.”

When I’ve come to understand the righteousness that God has given me in Jesus, I am no longer continually beating myself or others up, but am striving to treat everyone with the same mercy and grace with which Jesus has treated me.  

I can patiently wait on God’s promises and respond in righteous obedience to him because I know my promises are not based on my merit, but on God’s goodness to me.   

The righteous things I do as I wait, I do out of love for the one who has given me his perfect record, and not to earn that which I could never measure up enough to attain.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Family Matters

Family Matters

Pastor Joel Magpantay

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Uncommon Faith

Uncommon Faith

Anthony Connington

Focus: A faith observed leads to a faith lived that becomes a legacy of faith

1. A Faith Observed

2. A Faith Lived

3. A Legacy of Faith
   

The Life of Isaac

The Family Background 

Genesis 12–God calls Abram from the land of Ur to move and settle into the land of Cannan. He traveled across the world with his wife Sari and in faith believed the promise that God would bless him with many descendants. For years, the deepest longing of their heart, the desire to have children, was yet an unfulfilled promise from God. 

How many of you know your own birth story, or maybe know someone else’s? 

Genesis 21: Isaac is born into this family of faith

Isaac means “he laughs” or “laughter”

Isaac is the direct result of the promise, the fulfillment of the word given to Abraham and Sarah. 

A Faith Observed

Isaac grew up knowing his birth story and that he was the promised son. In the eyes of his parents he was the golden boy, the prized child in his house. All the focus, attention, and love was given to him alone. So much so that his older step brother Ishmael was kicked out of the house. Isaac was then an only child. 

Imagine growing up like this with wealthy parents, God’s blessing present everywhere, and looking up to a mom and dad who have a very strong faith. Isaac grew up watching his mother and father interact with God and he enjoyed all the family blessings and prospered as a result of his parents faith.

Then comes chapter 22

Genesis 22:1-19

“After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. 2 “Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” 3 So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together. 7 Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.” And he replied, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide[a] the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together. 9 When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac[b] and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.” 12 Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” 13 Abraham looked up and saw a ram[c] caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide,[d] so today it is said, “It will be provided[e] on the Lord’s mountain.” 15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn,” this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their[f] enemies. 18 And all the nations of the earth will be blessed[g] by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.” 19 Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba.”

A few details to take note of

1. This was a test designed and orchestrated by God. It was at God’s command that this sacrifice was to take place

2. Abraham immediately obeyed without question and left early the next morning

3. In verse 7 notice that Isaac was very familiar with Abrahams’s sacrificial worship. Isaac was taught the proper way to relate with and ultimately worship God. This event was very different then all the other times he had seen before.

4. Notice Abrham’s faith, he tells his 2 servants that he and his son will come back to them after they worship. He knew God would raise Isaac from the dead.

5. Notice God’s provision, the ram in the thicket. When tested, God always has a provision for us, but it may come in ways we did not see or expect. 

6. The test re-shaped and re-defined both Abraham and Isaac’s faith in God. The promise was reaffirmed and God used this test to build strength and fortitude within the family. 

Hebrews 11:17-19

“17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, 18 the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring[a] will be traced through Isaac.[b] 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.”

This event showed that Abraham loved God more than the blessings and promises God had given Him. He was willing to trust God and sacrifice the most precious gift God had given to him, his son of promise Isaac.

Abraham was willing to give it all up to please the LORD.

The question for us today is the same. Are we following God just for his blessings and promises, or are we following God because we desire to be with Him above anything else?

To be clear, the promises of God are very good and essential in our daily walk and relationship with Him. Cling to those promises and with uncommon faith hold fast to them. However, the question still needs to be asked, do we love the blessings and promises of God more than the person of God? 

Are we following God because we think we can get what we want? What if God’s plan is for us to be transformed and become more like Him? What if that plan includes pain, suffering, rejection, and persecution? Are you willing to sacrifice your prized promise and blessing in order to gain Christ the ultimate blessing? 

A Faith Lived

Isaac could not live on his fathers faith, he needed to make his faith his own. He needed to learn how to walk with God on his own.

Isaac experienced a series of tests.

The first test happened when Isaac was 37 years old. His mother died and during this dark period, the family had many choices that needed to be made. Abraham bought a field from the Hittites. This would ultimately be the only land he actually possessed during his lifetime.

During this period of mourning and major life transition, God was faithful and showed his love again to this family. 

At this time, in his old age, Abraham sought a wife for Isaac. In faith Isaac agreed to marry and stay in the land. Genesis 24 recounts this beautiful love story, it is my personal favorite.

Isaac chose to obey and not marry a foreign woman and also chose to obey even when he was struggling with this major loss, he did not give up faith in God, but persevered–uncommon faith. 

Later in In Genesis 25 we see that Abraham dies. Isaac is now charged with leading his family and everyone looked to him to lead. 

Isaac’s next test happened when his wife was unable to conceive. He knew his own story and that God is able and would come through to fulfill the promise. He chose to pray.

Genesis 25:21

“Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord was receptive to his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.”

Uncommon faith was not just for Isaac. Take note in the next verse what Rebekah did when complications arose during the pregnancy. 

Genesis 25:22-26

“But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” [a] So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her:

Two nations are in your womb;
two peoples will come from you and be separated.
One people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.

24 When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb. 25 The first one came out red-looking,[b] covered with hair[c] like a fur coat, and they named him Esau. 26 After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob.[d] Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.” Ed

In faith Rebekah inquired of the LORD. In response, God gave her a word of prophecy that would then define the lives of her two sons. In this story it was Rebekah who took this prophecy to heart and was comforted knowing God would follow through on His promises. 

Isaacs next major test was the famine that came upon the land. What would he do?

Genesis 26:1-5

“There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. 2 The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about; 3 stay in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed[a] by your offspring, 5 because Abraham listened to me and kept my mandate, my commands, my statutes, and my instructions.”

We see that God reaffirms the promise to Isaac and in faith Isaac obeyed God and built his life in the land. Unlike his father, Isaac did not go to Egypt and instead chose to plant crops and do business where God commanded him to live. As a result he was blessed a hundredfold and became very wealthy. 

Genesis 26:12-14

“Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped[a] a hundred times what was sown. The Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich and kept getting richer until he was very wealthy. 14 He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves, and the Philistines were envious of him.”

“When the whole world is running toward a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.” – C.S. Lewis 

Watch the journey. Isaac observes his parents faith and grows up with this great legacy. But he needed to build his own life in God. Isaac needs to go through his own test, trials, rejections, and persecutions. He needed to take that faith he had seen and then put it into practice himself. 

Whether it be choosing a spouse, enduring a loved one's death, experiencing barrenness of the womb or living through a famine, Isaac displayed uncommon faith time and time again.

*Personal Story*

Uncommon faith is not the same as perfection. Isaac struggled over and over again, he wrestled with God, prayed, worked, planted, and chose to live and worship God no matter the sacrifice, pain or disorienting circumstance. Uncommon faith is choosing to believe, choosing to look to God when you are helpless. Choosing to bless His name even when you feel utter despair. 

God is our anchor. He alone is our rock, our firm foundation. He can be trusted. 

I

A Legacy of Faith

Leaving a legacy of faith is great because it endures beyond our life time and impacts more people than you can count.

In Isaac’s story God was not just concerned with his own family but in the background orchestrating events that would last for generations to come. 

Is your faith walk marked by multi-generational thinking? Do you have faith to believe God working not just today with you, but through your great-great-great-great-great grandchildren? Are we praying with that type of legacy in mind?

God is always thinking beyond just our lifetimes. Look at this example here.

2 Chronicles 3:1

“Then Solomon began to build the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where the Lord[a] had appeared to his father David, at the site David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan[b] the Jebusite.” 

Mount Moriah is the place where God met with David, and where Solomon built the temple of the LORD. This is a LEGACY of FAITH.

Do you see it! 1000 years before David, God ordained Abraham’s test as a reflection of things to come. Sometimes our tests and our trials are not so much about us in the moment but about something bigger we can not see. 

Moriah is the land of Jerusaleam. Years later Jesus would step on the scene and this is the same city in which he died on the cross. Same mountainous region that God called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. 

Everything in this story is a complete typological reflection of what Jesus would do. Jesus carried his own wood up the same mountain. Instead of God sparing His only son of promise, God the Father let the knife fall and His son was killed. The fire is our punishment.. Jesus bore hell on our behalf. Do you see the connections?

When you face your mount Moriah, your famine, your test, know that Jesus walked that same path. He completely understands. You can choose to have uncommon faith. You can choose to trust even when you don't feel like it.

Even when you don't see it, God is faithful. He will fulfill all His promises in Christ. He will deliver and set us free. 

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Uncommon Healing

Uncommon: Healing

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: In all the stages and circumstances of life, there is an uncommon, redemptive purpose to your pain and supernatural healing available to those who submit to Jesus Christ.

• God’s International, Eternal Sovereignty

• But I Thought…

• Uncommon Healing in Christ 

God’s International, Eternal Sovereignty

We need to run to God for healing rather than stay in the holes to which we’ve become accustomed.  

We will look at this familiar passage today not just from the perspective of Naaman, but the young woman who was taken captive into his service.  

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, "Would that my Lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." So Naaman went in and told his Lord, "Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel." And the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy." And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me." But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel." So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean." But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, "My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”

It is clear that you can have great success in life but still be in desperate need of healing.  

This was true of Naaman.  

How many people do you know who are professionally successful but have bodies, families, mental or emotional states that are literally falling apart?

The good news is that Jesus is no respecter of persons and comes for both the high and the low, those who seem to have it all together and those who are fully aware that their lives are unraveling.  
It is amazing that in Naaman we see God working outside of the walls of his people Israel, showing his concern for all of the people of the earth. 

The Scripture says clearly that Naaman, though neither knowing or serving the one true God of Israel, had won a great victory for his Syrian people by the hand of the Lord.  

This is a poignant communication that God is sovereign even in the international affairs of nations.  

In the midst of God’s sovereignty, the young girl mentioned had been carried off from Israel to serve Naaman’s wife.  

How much pain, heartache and loss would her family have experienced, not to mention the young girl herself?

However, God allowed this Syrian raid and her abduction for greater missiological purposes.  

*In all of our lives, when we are thrown circumstantial curveballs, we will either get bitter or be buffeted to become even more useful in the hand and eternal purposes of God. 

The young girl had a choice in those circumstances - to allow her pain to divorce her from her allegiance to Yahweh, the one true God of Israel because of her pain and foreign captors, or allow her pain to be a bridge to God’s supernatural plan and glory in the nations.  

The young girl chose the latter.  

Have you ever wondered why pain was allowed in your life?  

Did you see this pain as a prison or a platform?

“To stay away from Christianity because part of the Bible's teaching is offensive to you assumes that if there is a God he wouldn't have any views that upset you. Does that belief make sense?”

-Timothy Keller

The young woman was positioned through her pain to be a witness to Naaman of God’s supernatural grace and healing.  

But I Thought…

We all have ideas in our minds of how our healing will come, but need to learn to trust God’s word and his plan.  
God’s word and his ways are always higher and better, though it may take more time than we prefer and his healing comes in a manner different than we would have engineered it. 

God has purpose in the process. 

God used the humility that it would take for the great military general to listen to this servant girl’s testimony of Yahweh to bring him to a place of healing. 

*You may be captain of your world in business, work and industry, but you need to be open to hearing the voice of God in the way that he chooses to deliver it. 

*Part of God’s ordained process of healing is worked out as you intentionally develop Christ-centered relationships in the church.  

“The glory of God is available to you in the church in a way it’s not available to you anywhere else. . . . There is no more important means of discipleship than deep involvement in the life of the church.”

-Timothy Keller

Have you begun building life transforming relationships in your church community?

II Kings 5:10-12 ESV

And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean." But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage. 

We must submit to God’s process until it is complete for the healing to take place. 

This is why Elisha told Naaman to wash seven times in the Jordan, the Biblical number often associated with completion. 

In each of our lives, the real issue is sin that has introduced physical, emotional and spiritual death into our worlds.  

Bitterness is an example of the results of that sin. 

Bitterness is a poisonous trap that we feel justified in nursing.  

Usually, we have some valid reason in our minds that allows bitterness to be an option - an offense, some disappointment or a way against which you’ve been legitimately sinned. 

However, God does not allow us to remain in bitterness, since in the end, not only do you suffer, but you poison the well from which others drink.  

Here’s how bitterness affects you:

Matthew 5:21-26 ESV

“"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' 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. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 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. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”

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Here’s how bitterness affects others:

Hebrews 12:12-17 ESV

“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 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; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”

Again, why would God have chosen the methodology (not to be replicated) of dipping in the Jordan for Naaman’s healing?

1. To humble Naaman

2. To associate Naaman with the Jordan River - the place of Yahweh’s miracles for Israel and not just any cultic or spiritual power source. 

3. To release Naaman, a man of stature, rank and success from his bondage to control.  (He needed to learn, as we all do, that the only way to serve Jesus is as Lord)

In the places in which God has wanted to heal you, how has:

1. Pride kept you from following God’s prescriptions for cleansing?

2. Syncretistic philosophies kept you from crying out to Jesus as your ultimate source (even as you embrace his natural means of treatment)? 

3. Control kept you from submitting to and persevering in God’s process with his designated people?

Uncommon Healing in Christ 

It is only through repentance (a change of mind to go in a different direction) and faith in the foolishness of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection that we can be forever healed from our deepest needs. 

What could have been the devil’s plan for the young woman who testified to Naaman?

To shut her down in bitterness so that in her pain, she no longer engaged with her captors and inevitably cut off her service and witness to the foreshadowed Christ.  

“Contemporary people tend to examine the Bible, looking for things they can’t accept; but Christians should reverse that, allowing the Bible to examine us, looking for things God can’t accept.”

-Timothy Keller

We also look for things we can’t accept in others and distance ourselves from the very people who would aid in our healing. 

There is a complete, supernatural healing, either now or at the resurrection, for those who come to Christ - for those who’ve submitted to Jesus at the cross.  

There is supernatural healing through prayer. 

If you are stuck in your soul, first do all that God has prescribed in his word (including medical attention as needed) and then cry out for God to heal your body, soul and spirit through prayer.  

I Corinthians 1:18-25 ESV

“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.”

Romans 10:8-13 ESV

“But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."”

Whether now or at the resurrection, there will be complete, supernatural healing for those who call on the name of Jesus - mind, body and soul.  

No one who calls on the name of the Lord will be put to shame. 

That is God’s promise and he never fails.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Uncommon Freedom

Uncommon: Freedom

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: We are called to live in an uncommon freedom through the power of and eternal perspective of Jesus Christ. 

• Feelings vs. Flesh

• Spirit vs. Flesh

• Uncommon Freedom in Christ

Feelings vs. Flesh

Our feelings are valuable and God-given, but must not be our masters in this world.  

“You are tempted without ceasing, so pray without ceasing.”

-Charles Spurgeon

We have constant enemies of:

• Bitterness (we’ll speak about this next week)

• Jealousy

• Envy

that war against our souls (our mind, will and emotions). 

Jesus comes to be the Lord and liberator of our souls as we repent of our sins and look to his healing and forgiveness at the cross. 

Galatians 5:16-26 ESV 

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

Though your feelings are very real to you, it does not mean that they are reality.  

We were introduced to Anxiety, Ennui (boredom), Embarrassment and Envy. 

Our feelings can become our reality if we focus on them more than we focus on God’s truth in his Word and what the Spirit of God speaks to us.  

“What we think about when we are free to think about what we will – that is what we are or will soon become.” 

― A.W. Tozer

Proverbs 23:7 NKJV

For as he thinks in his heart, so  is  he. “Eat and drink!”  he says to you, But his heart is not with you.

Spirit vs. Flesh

The Word and Spirit of God lead you to power over corruptible flesh and common anxieties of this world.  

A recent study found that as an older generation, we have fallen short in creating environments allowing people to fail and pick themselves up again - we haven’t taught them how. 

Many young adults feel paralyzed thinking, “I don’t want to commit to anything because if I’m labeled, then I have a pressure to succeed at it.”

A 2021 Gen Z Barna report identified them as having these driving characteristics:

• “A pressure to be successful”

• “A need to be perfect”

• “Judged by older generations”

• “Pressured by parents expectations”

Yet these pressures affect not only Gen Z, but have filtered into societal consciousness as a whole. 

Choice overload, otherwise known as choice paralysis or the paradox of choice is a very real challenge in today’s modern environment.  

Whereas rising income promised to give freedom, technology opportunity and social media connection a window to the world, what people have instead been met with are paralyzing anxiety, doubts, envy and jealousy regarding the lives that they do not have rather than joy in the ones that they are actually living.  

Even in the church, we see it reflected. 

One of the young women interviewed for the Fuller Youth Institute described it this way:

So what is the solution?

Proverbs 22:4

“The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.”

Even in business, the exhortation given by Rick Warren in the Purpose Driven Life is appropriate:

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others. Humble people are so focused on serving others, they don’t think of themselves.”

What do we do when we’ve failed to meet such lofty and pious goals?

We learn a new confidence and freedom through the gospel and Spirit of God.  

Romans 8:1-11 ESV

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

In the gospel, we learn how to fail and allow God to pick us up again. 
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. 

The righteous requirements of the law have been fully met in us because of Jesus’ sinless life - his record imputed to us by faith. 

We are freed from the paralysis of indecision because we are walking with God, and are not afraid to give ourselves to the trying because our identity is not wrapped up in others’ perception of success, but in Christ.  

The key to uncommon freedom is setting your mind on Jesus and what the Holy Spirit desires as revealed in God’s word.  

When we are not myopic, but choose to die to ourselves in order to glorify God, we access the power of resurrection life and actually live.  

“Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 

Uncommon Freedom in Christ 

There is an uncommon freedom released to us when we learn to live for Jesus alone.  

Romans 8:12-17 ESV

“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

There is an uncommon freedom available to us as we put our faith in and submit to the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Acts 16:7; Philemon 1:19). 

When we turn to Jesus, God distributes an unmerited favor, a grace that paid for our sins by the death of Christ at the cross and a forgiveness released by Christ’s resurrection from the dead as we repent of our self-absorbed rebellion.  

In this gospel, he calls us to live no longer for ourselves, but him who died and gave himself for us - for our freedom. 

There is a freedom in learning to die to yourself that you might live solely for Christ. 

“People imagine that dying to self makes one miserable. But it is just the opposite. It is the refusal to die to self that makes one miserable. The more we know of death with Him, the more we shall know of His life in us, and so the more of real peace and joy. 

His life, too, will overflow through us to lost souls in a real concern for their salvation, and to our fellow Christians in a deep desire for their blessing.”

The Calvary Road by Roy Hession

In the workplace, in our relationships, in the recesses of our own minds and hearts, we can all find this uncommon freedom and an eternal joy when we truly allow Christ to be our anchor and his good news our all in all.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Uncommon Value

Uncommon: Uncommon Value

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: When you belong to Jesus, you have uncommon value because you were not only created in God’s image but have been purchased by Christ’s blood.  

• Looking for the Special

• Finding Someone of Value

• No Greater Worth 

Looking for the Special

We are all looking for a place where we can feel special and belong.  

Proverbs 19:22 ESV

“What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar.”

This is the theme of so many of our popular movies and works of literature.  

A recent study by the Fuller Youth Institute resulted in the book:

3 Big Questions That Change Every Teenager book by Kara Powell and Brad Griffin

• Identity - Who am I? 

• Belonging - Where do I fit?

• Purpose - What difference can I make?

A recent seminar with Andy Jung of the Fuller Youth Institute noted that:

Harry Potter was filled with these three driving questions.  

So were movies such as Shang-Chi

and Encanto…

*We find that the same questions are in the transition of empty-nesters. 

“There is something so valuable about human beings that not only may they not be murdered, but they can’t even be cursed without failing to give them their due, based on the worth bestowed upon them by God. The image of God carries with it the right to not be mistreated or harmed.”

-Timothy Keller

Yet even further than the value placed on every human being because they were created in the image of God, what does God say about people that he’s called his own - who have been adopted into his family through their repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ?

God foreshadowed his answer regarding his people through the prophet Isaiah who ministered about 700 years before Jesus:

Isaiah 43:1-7 ESV

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears! All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and show us the former things? Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right, and let them hear and say, It is true. "You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.”

There is no other savior for your emotions, mental state, sense of security, value and your very life, but Christ alone. 

Through him alone were you made (John 1).  

We have all sinned and become broken vessels.  

Through Christ alone can we truly be redeemed, made whole and saved (Colossians 1:16-20).  

The truth is that if you have put your faith in the perfect life of Christ, his sacrificial death at the cross for your sins and his triumphant resurrection from the dead for your eternal life, it is evidence that you are called by God and special to him.  

As Jesus said, 

John 6:44 ESV

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

If you feel that drawing to Christ today, it is the very same tugging to which Jesus was referring - God drawing you to repentance (a change of mind, and thus, direction) and life in Christ.  

Finding Someone of Value

When you find Jesus, you find life and the value that he places on yours.  

From what do you attempt to derive your value? 

Is it Christ-centered or others-centered?

If you try to derive your value from anyone or anything other than from the immutable, benevolent Creator to whom you belong when you turn to Jesus, you will forever be a ship without an anchor.  

About eighty years after Isaiah, God continued his ministry calling people through the prophet Jeremiah who hailed from a priestly family.  

This meant that he was around the things and people of God, but still saw the ways that they were looking to other saviors to make them whole.  

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭2‬:‭11‬-‭19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. "Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant? Why then has he become a prey? The lions have roared against him; they have roared loudly. They have made his land a waste; his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant. Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head. Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the Lord your God, when he led you in the way? And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates? Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts.”

The value of anything comes from who made it, the quality of the design and how much you are willing to pay for it.

You were fearfully and wonderfully made by God (Psalm 139:14).  

Yet sin marred God’s beautiful design. 

God settled the question of value by giving the life of his perfect Son, Jesus, to pay the price to make atonement for your sins and mine at the cross. 

The power of Christ’s resurrection calls us not only into the forgiveness of our sins, but an eternal, restored life of infinite worth in Jesus. 

When the three aforementioned issues (questions) are settled in your heart by God’s grace and not your merit, you are free to love and serve others with the same grace of God.  

You are no longer a leech trying to suck life from others, but become a life giving source (Proverbs 10:11).  

“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

-Timothy Keller

No Greater Worth 

There is no greater worth than relationship with Jesus and living for his eternal Kingdom.  

Matthew 13:44-46 ESV

“"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

God’s Kingdom is the only thing that answers the three questions with benefits that last forever.  

When we come to Christ, the three questions are answered in this way:

Who am I?

I am a child of the Most High King of all Creation - God Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth (I John 3). 

Where do I fit?

I am a part of the body of Christ, and therefore have an indispensable role in his family, the church (I Corinthians 12). 

What difference can I make?

I am an ambassador for Christ and am effectively a minister of reconciliation between loved ones and God, calling people out of God’s wrath and the cracked cistern existence in which they’ve lived into the forgiveness of sins and the abundant life of Christ.  

"Christians will not, interestingly, benefit society if they’re just like everybody else in society. We’re not going to benefit a society filled with self-actualisers unless we really are different, unless we do believe Jesus died for us, unless we do believe that we live through the self-sacrifice of the great Jesus Christ, and therefore we’re going to live by self-sacrifice. You see, unless we are shaped deeply by that, then we’re really not going to be of any kind of benefit."

-Timothy Keller

Let’s cling to the mercy of God found at the cross of Jesus Christ, and through his grace, live a life empowered by the uncommon value that he placed upon us when he gave his life for us.  

May we forever praise him in response and point people to the only one who can truly mend and make their souls whole.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Uncommon Love

Uncommon: Love

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: The uncommon love of the Heavenly Father gives us a new name and a new identity to redeem our pain in Christ.  

• Defined by Pain

• Your Old Name 

• Your New Name in Christ

Defined by Pain

So many of us struggle being defined by our painful experiences in life.    

Genesis 35:16-39

“Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant: Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.”

As Rachel experienced the pain of childbirth, she spoke out of that pain and named her son Ben-Oni. 

Ben Oni is translated as “son of my sorrow.”

Jacob stepped in and renamed him Benjamin, which means “son of the right hand.” 

 “The only love that won’t disappoint you is one that can’t change, that can’t be lost, that is not based on the ups and downs of life or of how well you live. It is something that not even death can take away from you. God’s love is the only thing like that.”

-Timothy Keller 

What experiences, traumas and pains have marked you most significantly in life?

These experiences can include sin, violations or sustained circumstances that were out of your control.  

“But resurrection is not just consolation — it is restoration. We get it all back — the love, the loved ones, the goods, the beauties of this life — but in new, unimaginable degrees of glory and joy and strength.”

-Timothy Keller 

Your Old Name 

With an uncommon love, the Heavenly Father comes to meet us in our pain and redefine our identity in Christ.  

The pain and heartache that previously defined us living in this fallen world will not forever define us in Christ.  

Jacob knew a thing or two about having a past, having a reputation and even the power of names.  

Whereas Jacob can be translated as “supplanter” meaning one who seizes, circumvents or usurps, after his encounter with God, Jacob would be renamed Israel with a new reputation and identity.  

This is the essence of the gospel. 

Genesis 32:22-30 ESV

“The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered."”

How have you chosen to be identified by the pain or loss in life that you’ve experienced?

What hard things is God calling you to wrestle with that you might fully realize your new name and identity in Christ? 

“There are the good things of this world, the hard things of this world, and the best things of this world—God’s love, glory, holiness, beauty. The Bible’s teaching is that the road to the best things is not through the good things but usually through the hard things. . . . There is no message more contrary to the way the world understands life or more subversive to its values.”

-Timothy Keller

Do you believe that God has a new name and identity for you?

Your New Name in Christ

In Jesus, you are given a new name and a new identity by a Heavenly Father who made the ultimate sacrifice for you.   

I Peter 2:1-12 ESV

“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

As we repent of our sins and turn to Christ’s perfect sacrifice at the cross for us, not only can we be forgiven, but we can be separated from the shame that used to be attached to our name and experience.  

This is why we are to be ready to declare the excellencies of him (Jesus) who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.  

“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me alone and keep your religion to yourself—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

“I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”

- Penn Jillette, self-proclaimed atheist

It also means that rather than being a victim, we get to walk in the new authority of our new name, being dual citizens of our country of origin and the Kingdom of God.  

This is given to us by our Heavenly Father to whom we belong in Christ. 

“All Christians have dual citizenship. By natural birth, they are citizens of earthly nations, and they are subject to all the ordinances and requirements of their nations’ lawful governments. But by spiritual rebirth, through faith in Christ, they are also citizens of God’s heavenly kingdom. This is the basis of Paul’s statement, already referred to in the previous chapter, ‘we…are citizens of heaven.’ (Phil 3:20 NEB) As citizens of heaven, Christians are subject to the laws of the heavenly kingdom, but they are also entitled to share in its authority.” 

-Derek Prince in Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Uncommon Grace

Uncommon: Uncommon Grace 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: God gives us uncommon grace to thrive when we are grounded in the eternal life of Christ.   

• General Revelation 

• Special Revelation 

• Common Grace

• Special Grace 

General Revelation 

God has given revelation of his existence, power and love to and through all creation. 

Psalm 145:1-21 ESV 

“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. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. [The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.] 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.”

“All the beauty we have looked for in art or faces or places—and all the love we have looked for in the arms of other people—is only fully present in God himself.”

-Timothy Keller

Special Revelation 

God gives special revelation of his love and care to the world through Jesus Christ.  

2 Corinthians 4:4-6 ESV

“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

“The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

-Timothy Keller 

Common Grace

God cares for everyone and desires to show them his grace in Christ. 

I Timothy 2:3-6 ESV 

“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.”

This does not mean that people, though cared for, will not be judged.  

Ezekial 33:10-11 ESV 

“"And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: 'Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?' Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?”

God’s patience means that God is giving people time and opportunity to come to faith and repentance in Christ.  

2 Peter 3:8-10 ESV 

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

This is why our witness to the gospel is so important as we daily, intentionally, share our faith with our family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers. 

We testify to Christ’s historic incarnation, his sinless life, his sacrificial death on the cross for our wrongdoings and the forgiveness of those wrongs by his resurrection from the dead as people repent and believe the good news.   

We testify that people can be reconciled, brought back into friendship with God through Jesus and actually one God intimately - this is eternal life (John 17:3). 

 “While other worldviews lead us to sit in the midst of life’s joys, foreseeing the coming sorrows, Christianity empowers its people to sit in the midst of this world’s sorrows, tasting the coming joy.”

-Timothy Keller 

We also testify that Jesus has come to give abundant life - life to the full (John 10:10) - and to destroy the work of the devil in our lives (I John 3:8). 

Yet what does it look like that God gives us grace to live day by day? 

Special Grace 

There is special grace to bear up under any circumstance when you are in the will of God through Christ.  

How do I know that this special grace exists?

We see and hear it in the testimony of those who’ve walked through difficulties with supernatural grace while being rooted in Jesus Christ.

The power of God is demonstrated not only when our circumstances change, but the grace that he gives us while we wait for our eternal hope and still thrive in the face of suffering.  

 "It’s possible to practice this in the smaller deaths that we all experience, such as the loss of a career, friend, or loved one. In those painful situations, you have to do essentially the same thing that you have to do when you're told you’re going die: You have to take something abstract that you believe about God and make it real to your heart so He becomes your consolation. You're no longer looking to the things of this world to be your salvation.”

-Timothy Keller

Proof that there is an eternal life is Christ’s resurrection from the dead and the uncommon grace that people who know him demonstrate intimating that there is a reality beyond the grave. 

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Samson: A Confusing Paradigm

Samson: A Confusing Paradigm 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Have you ever tried to live with your feet in two worlds - the Kingdom of God and the world?

How did that work for you?

How did it end up in the end?

Focus: Just because you are used of God, doesn’t mean you won’t be judged by God - be holy!

• Then There Was Delilah

• Ignoring all of the Signs 

• Blindness, Death and Redemption

Then There Was Delilah

Samson’s downfall was steady, then all at once. 

Judges 16:1-6 ESV

“Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron. After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.””

God loves blessing his children in the right way, at the right time with the right people - all according to his wisdom and eternal plan in Christ (Romans 8).  

One of the goals of our lives is learning to trust this truth.  

When you belong to Jesus, your life is no longer your own.  

When we lose sight of this fact, sin enters in when we decide to do what is best in our own eyes rather than God’s, and we try to take our destinies into our own hands. 

I don’t know how it can be any more clear than this:

I Corinthians 6:12-17 ESV

“"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

“And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”

I Corinthians 6:18-20 ESV

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

Unchecked sin is a slippery slope.  

This is why John the Baptist warned that we should bear fruit in keeping with repentance (a lifestyle of it). 

Matthew 3:8-10 ESV

“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Once you get used to living in one measure of unrepentant sin, it becomes easier to open a door to add additional rebellion. 

Samson’s presumption that God would continually be with him despite his actions resulted in Samson persisting in more consistent and brazen measures of disobedience.  

People have been hurt because they’ve seen men and women of God, who’ve been used mightily of God but were full of sin that destroyed their relationships, their families and even their view of God himself.  

This is to help clarify things.  

The reality is that God will use people for his purposes even when they are in sin.  

This is because God’s great love and compassion for his people and the world will not be short-circuited by individual sin. 

However, it does not mean that he will not judge the individual sin, even while he is using the people in mighty ways.  

Don’t be misled and don’t deceive yourself.  

Jesus is your perfect standard and everyone will be held 

accountable to God.  

In fact, the Scripture tells us that judgment begins in the house of God.  

Jesus also gave this warning:

Matthew 7:15-23 ESV 

“"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'”

Balaam provided a way for Israel to be led into sin - through sexual temptation and immorality. 

Remember that there was nothing that Balaam could do to curse Israel because God had blessed them - but Israel could call curses on themselves through sin. 

The moral of the story - be holy and be pure. 

‭‭

Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭14‬ ‭ESV

“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”‬‬

Samson’s sin would eventually catch up with him. 

All of the warning signs were there which he chose to ignore because of how his flesh was being satisfied. 

You can not talk about Samson without talking about sexual immorality. 

You can not talk about sexual immorality without talking about pornography. 

God wants to free you and heal you. 

To the unmarried:

• Stop Netflix and chilling with your time and find something more public to do if you want to win. 

• The same self control that you learn to exhibit as a fruit of the Holy Spirit before you are married is the same self control or lack thereof that you will exhibit when you are married.   

• The only difference is it will have greater consequences for better or for worse.  

To the married:

• You will reap what you sow. 

• Learn to sow into and (husbands especially) cultivate your spouse rather than looking for the easy road of uncommitted affection.  

• This is why people love dogs 😆. 

Delilah was eventually introduced as a trap that would play on Samson’s sin, accentuate his disconnect from God and lead to his downfall. 

Ignoring all of the Signs 

God gives many opportunities to wake up and turn before sudden destruction. 

Judges 16:7-22 ESV

“Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” Then the Lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread. Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web. And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.” When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the Lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.”

You can not outrun the consequences of sin if you are committed to it. 

Samson begins to lie to Delilah, thinking that if he can just keep stringing her along, he will be able to have his cake and eat it too.  

*It may not be hair, but when we forsake  our consecration, we eventually lose the supernatural grace and power of God, when we try to serve two masters. 

Jesus said:

Matthew 6:24 ESV 

“"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

It is not just about you and money. 

You can not serve, for example, God and lust, sex, unholy ambition or just plain old hedonism.  

Enjoy them with the right person at the right time (monogamous, covenantal marriage) and all these things are ultimately blessed.  

“If you asked twenty men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness. But if you asked almost any of the great Christians of old he would have replied, Love. You see what has happened? A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance. The negative ideal of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness was the important point. I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love. The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself. We are told to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do so contains an appeal to the desire. If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desire, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

-C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Blindness, Death and Redemption

Redemption will always come in repentance and death - death to sin and the death of Christ to bring us life.  

Judges 16:23-31 ESV

“Now the Lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” Now the house was full of men and women. All the Lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained. Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the Lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.”

Again, a confusing paradigm is how the mighty have fallen, have been greatly used by God, but were full of unrepentant sin.  

May this provide clarification and healing - but also a warning to us all. 

Samson gave up his consecration and was judged - but found redemption in the end through his sacrificial death. 

“We must not be troubled by the unbelievers when they say that this promise of rewards makes the Christian life a mercenary affair. There are different kinds of rewards. There is the reward which has no natural connection with the things you do to earn it, and is quite foreign to the desire that ought to accompany those things. Money is not the natural reward of love; that is why we call a man a mercenary if he marries a woman for the sake of her money. But marriage is the proper reward for a real lover, and he is not a mercenary for desiring it. A general who fights well in order to get a peerage is a mercenary; a general who fights for victory is not, victory being the proper reward of battle as marriage is the proper reward of love. The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation.”

-C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

I Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

Have you been reconciled to God?

*We all need to be prepared for death which will come for us in unexpected ways. 

You will not be right with God because of any of your good works, nor will your evil deeds be ignored.  

The only hope that we have of eternal life is repentance and faith in the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ at the cross for you. 

Through his death, he paid the penalty for our lifetime of disobedience and rebellion against God - to atone for sins. 

By his burial and resurrection, we can put away the old man in baptism and rise through faith in the power of God to the freedom of a forgiven and redirected life.  

We can be new creations living out the rest of our days in our redemption road in Christ - for his pleasure and glory alone.  

I Corinthians 6:18-20 ESV

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

The Lord knows those who are his (II Timothy 2:19).  

Be counted in that number. 

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Samson: God in the Midst of Chaos

Samson: God in the Midst of Chaos 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: God can be found, his care felt and his will done, even in the midst of the chaos of our lives.  

• Cycles

• Victories in the Midst of Chaos

• God Still Cares 

Cycles 

All decisions have consequences, even if made impetuously.  

Judges 15:1-8 ESV

“After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards. Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.”

The cycle of the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris this year reminds us that life is meant to be a marathon with God, not just a sprint. 

There is a lot of life and unspoken detail in the pages of Scripture that speak to the apex moments we have highlighted from which we can learn lessons from the men and women of who encountered God. 

Life can feel like a marathon that is long and grueling, but understand that it is the sum total of decisions made daily that God wants to use as a testimony to his love, gospel and glory.  

Your life is a testimony (of God’s faithfulness) to be built. 

The impetuous results of our decision making always come with consequences. 

Here, Samson ends up working vengeance against the Philistines because his Philistine wife was given to his companion, his best man at his wedding, when there were perceived marital issues between Samson and his wife (Judges 14:20). 

This begins a cycle of retaliation, where the Philistines burn his wife and father-in-law to death because of Samson burning their stacked grain, standing grain and olive orchards of the Philistines with the 300 foxes.   

Marriage is a beautiful thing instituted by God and people are blessed when they enter into such a covenant. 

Proverbs 18:22

“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”

However, we need to kill the idolatry that surrounds romantic relationships in our culture where people derive their value, significance, sense of accomplishment and acceptance from such relationships.  

Covenant relationships within the body of Christ are amazingly valuable and are not a consolation prize for those who didn’t find a spouse.   

II Samuel 1:25-27 ESV

“"How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! "Jonathan lies slain on your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant have you been to me; your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women. "How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished!"”

You can live a happy, fulfilled and life of great Kingdom significance without ever getting married.   

We know this by looking at the life of our Lord and Savior - Jesus.  

Paul said, those who marry will have trouble in the world and he wanted to spare people this (I Corinthians 7). 

Matthew 19:7-9 ESV

“They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?" He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."”

After Jesus said you can not divorce a person except for marital unfaithfulness (adultery) Peter said it was better then not to marry, to which Jesus replied: 

Matthew 19:10-12

“The disciples said to him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry." But he said to them, "Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it."”

You can live your entire life as an unmarried single and fulfill the will of God for your life.  

You can die an early death and in it have completely glorified God and fulfilled his will. 

How do I know these things?

It is because they are the very things that Jesus did. 

The more that we reject these truths, the more chaotic things become in our souls and the world we create with impulsive decisions and the problematic cycles that follow. 

“The more people marginalize the true God of the Bible, the more chaotic things become.”

-Dr. Tony Evans

What cycles does Jesus want to break in your life to bring you into his gospel good?

Victories in the Midst of Chaos

God can move even in the midst of the chaos of our lives. 

Judges 15:9-17 ESV

“Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi.”

It may not be your preference, but it could be God’s will - seek Christ in the midst of the chaos.

What is it in your life that you may not have chosen, but God is definitively using for his Kingdom purposes?

“Sometimes God lets you hit rock bottom so that you see that He is the Rock at the bottom.”

-Dr. Tony Evans 

God Still Cares 

God still cares for his people, even in the midst of mistakes - this is a gospel of grace. 

Judges 15:18-20 ESV

“And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.”

Sometimes we overspirtualize our need while God wants to give us natural remedies to revive us while breaking cycles in our lives.  

You are spirit, soul (mind, will and emotions) and body.  

I Thessalonians 5:14-24 ESV

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

God made and cares about every aspect of you. 

God gave Samson water out of the hollow place to revive his spirit.  

Though very real, not every challenge is spiritual warfare.  

For example:

• If you are fatigued, you may need to rest and get better sleep.  

• When you are hungry, you may need to eat.  

• If you are lethargic, you may need more exercise and a better diet. 

• If you are stressed, you may need to unplug from devices and get some quiet restoration in nature.  

How this will change our daily living:

How often do we treat the people who are closest to us the worst while giving our best efforts and energy to those who wouldn’t think twice about us if push came to shove?

Here’s the point - the gospel has to translate to the way that I treat my spouse, my kids, my parents, my sister, my neighbors, my co-workers, my friends (which is usually easiest for people) and the world at large. 

God cares about it all. 

If it does not, I am deceiving myself.   

Here is the good news as I seek to find God’s care in the midst of the chaos:

Romans 5:6-11 ESV

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

Let’s come to Christ at the cross in repentance and faith to break destructive cycles, find him in the midst of the chaos and ultimately rest in his eternal care.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Samson: Cracks in the Foundation

Samson: Cracks in the Foundation

Pastor Rollan Fisher

This is Pentecost Sunday

Focus: Just because we can, doesn’t mean that we should - we need to obey God. 

• A Question of Values 

• Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should 

• Cracks and the Cross 

A Question of Values 

The choices that we make in life need to be aligned with God’s values in Jesus if they are going to be blessed.  

If we don’t govern ourselves this way, we have no one to blame but ourselves for the consequences. 

Judges 14:1-4 ESV

“Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, "I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife." But his father and mother said to him, "Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes." His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.”

This is wedding season 

People say to me all of the time - “well God made my mistakes right in the end.” 

The background here is that God had given instruction to the Israelites not to intermarry with the Canaanites who he was driving out of the land - not because of their difference in ethnicity, but because of their difference in values.  

If they gave their sons and daughters in marriage to the people of Canaan, God forewarned that this would lead to the Israelites worshiping other gods, having other things other than Yahweh ruling their lives.  

Deuteronomy 7:1-5

This is a theme that was repeated in the New Testament when God through the apostle Paul commanded the new believers not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers - those who were not trying to wholeheartedly serve Jesus. 

II Corinthians 6:14-7:1

Have you ever been in a relationship where you were unequally yoked?

Who did you end up choosing in that relationship when it came to living a holy life - God or that romantic interest?

How was that a warning sign to you of things to come?

An important note needs to be made here - just because God used Samson’s disregard for the commands of God, doesn’t mean that God approved of it.  

The issue is that God has plans that are bigger than any of our individual lives, and if he has to use our willful disobedience to accomplish his purposes, including our inevitable demise, he will. 

Samson’s parents appealed to him not to live in disobedience to God, but Samson persisted.  

If you have adult children who are wayward, do not condemn yourself.  

They have decisions and a judgment from God that they must face on their own. 

However, through your fasting, prayers, love and earnest appeals, you can make it as hard as possible for them to go to hell. 

Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should 

We think that because we have the the ability to live the way we want without immediate consequence, that somehow God doesn’t see or doesn’t care.  

We couldn’t be more wrong.

Judges 14:5-9

“Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes. After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.”

Samson’s parents eventually acquiesced to Samson’s appeal for the Philistine wife. 

In parenting, especially with young children, you must not get worn down by their persistent disobedience.  

Do not check out and begin to ignore their behavior, escaping into the entertainment and social media world.  

*Love, clarity and consistency are the keys to godly parenting and discipline.    

Judges 13-17 display 10 feats of strength and heroism by Samson - the first five mentioning the Spirit of the Lord; the last five not.  

This is all very relevant as we consider the significance of Pentecost Sunday when God would pour out his Spirit on those committed to Jesus that they might be supernaturally empowered witnesses of him to the nations (Acts 2). 

Rather than defeating the nations, through Christ’s gospel, we see a harvest of redeemed lives from the nations. 

*Samson was developing patterns of dismissive disobedience. 

Jesus said the Holy Spirit is in the world not only to empower the servants of God, but amongst other things, to convict the world in his kindness of sin, righteousness and the judgment to come.  

You may identify it as your conscience, but the conviction that you feel when things are off is more than that - it is God’s law written upon your heart (Romans 2:15,16) and the Holy Spirit trying to bring you back to the blessing of God’s direction and commands.  

Jesus said:

John 16:7-11 ESV

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

What has the Holy Spirit been convicting you of that you have tried to ignore or remember running from years ago that set a trajectory for your life?  

Romans 2:4-11 ESV

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.”

Samson’s sin and secrecy started to have detrimental effects. 

Samson had learned to live without dependence on the Spirit of God which would inevitably lead to his demise.  

This is a great threat and danger to us all. 

Yet Jesus, the better Samson, would live in step with the Spirit of God and would inevitably give his life to defeat his people’s enemies - sin and death.  

Cracks and the Cross 

When we recognize the cracks in our life foundations, the pattern of bad decisions that have caused inordinate trouble in our broken lives, it should lead us back to the cross of Jesus Christ. 

Judges 14:10-20 ESV

“His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. And Samson said to them, "Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes, but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes." And they said to him, "Put your riddle, that we may hear it." And he said to them, "Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet." And in three days they could not solve the riddle. On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?" And Samson's wife wept over him and said, "You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is." And he said to her, "Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?" She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people. And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" And he said to them, "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle." And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father's house. And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.”

We try to justify why we are where we are and our sin by convoluting them with life’s riddles and saying “this is just the way life goes.”

Yet Jesus sees through all of this.  

The cross is our pathway home. 

At the cross of Jesus Christ are forgiveness, restoration and healing. 

Redemption can come when the family has lost its way and has gone astray.  

Repentance and faith are offered by God.  

Romans 3:23-26 ESV

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

God is both just and wants to be the justifier of those who come to him through Jesus.  

The gifts and call of God are without repentance. 

Romans 11:29 ESV

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

May you listen to the Holy Spirit today as he is beckoning you to the cross and repentance to resurrect callings thought dead and reorder dreams centered on Christ.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Samson: Part 1

Samson: Part 1

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: Parents are charged by God to set their children up for a life of love for, consecration to and mission in Jesus.  

• A Mother’s Instruction

• Mission

• My God Who Stirs

A Mother’s Instruction

We should look to God for instruction on how to live consecrated (set apart) lives in Christ.  

Judges 13:1-7 ESV

”And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”“

The challenge today is how to raise our kids in such a taxing world. 

My dad continually says it was easier in his day. 

The good news is there is a God who cares and is seeking to be involved as Lord and Savior of our family lives.  

Mothers have an incalculable place in forming and shaping the lives of their children.  

From birthing to feeding to nurturing and instructing, to comforting, providing, correcting and teaching, the responsibility list for a mother seems endless. 

And often goes thankless.  

Yet we honor and thank our mothers today. 

Over and over again in Scripture, we see the awesome influence of mothers shaping kings and gospel heroes alike.  

We have the model of a godly woman from the lips of a Spirit-led mother instructing her son on how to live:

Proverbs 31:1

“The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:”

and what things to look for in a godly wife:

Proverbs 31:10

“An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.”

The apostle Paul speaking to his young disciple Timothy acknowledges the importance of his grandmother and mother:

2 Timothy 1:5

“I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”

In the case of Samson, it was no different.  

Samson lived about 50 years before Saul would be made the first king of Israel. 

He would be the twelfth and last of the recorded judges who attempted to rule Israel at a time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes, lived in sin and consequently under the oppression of foreign peoples.  

In Samson’s time, Israel lived under the constant oppression of the Philistines.  

When God wanted to raise up a deliverer in Samson, he started first with a godly mother to whom he would give instruction that she would receive and bring to her family.  

What Samson’s mother learned is that when God gives us children, they are to be a gift not only to the family, but understood as a God-given gift to the world for Christ’s purposes.  

v. 5

“…and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 

*Our main objective as parents should be to raise our children to know, love and serve the Lord Jesus Christ.  

“Far too many parents are more interested in their kids making the team than making the Kingdom.”

-Dr. Tony Evans 

Did you grow up knowing the gospel?

Do your children know the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ?

A good tool created by Dr. Rice Broocks, author of God’s Not Dead, can be utilized as a memory tool unto this end:

Mission

We should parent and live with God’s gospel mission in view. 

Judges 13:8-14 ESV

“Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, "O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born." And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, "Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me." And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to this woman?" And he said, "I am." And Manoah said, "Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?" And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe."”

Samson’s mother had the initial revelation from the angel regarding how Samson was to be set apart to God.  

When this is the case, run to bring your husband in so that he too may develop a conviction before the Lord. 

When possible, do not leave the child rearing to a single parent - Manoah also prayed to get revelation and a conviction from God as to how they were to raise Samson that they might do so before God in unity.  

When Manoah prayed, the angel appeared again to Samson’s mother while Manoah was away, but she was quick to go get Manoah so that the angel might speak the same thing to Samson’s father. 

“God, teach us how to raise this child!” should be our cry as parents. 

God’s instruction to Samson’s parents was for them to raise Samson in a life of  consecration. 

The Nazirite vow was usually voluntary - in this case it was Samson’s calling from birth. 

12 And Manoah said, "Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?" And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe."”

We need to ask as parents “what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is their mission?”

*The angel responded not with a detailed report of all that Samson would do, but that which would prepare him for his mission.  

As parents, do not feel pressured to have a life plan for your child, but give them a plan of how they should live before the Lord.  

What things?

Teach them who God is in Jesus as revealed by his word. 

Teach them where to find God while committed to a Biblically grounded church community. 

Teach them how to seek God’s face to serve Jesus as a part of his people on a gospel mission. 

That is our responsibility as parents - to love our children and prepare them for their God-given mission by raising them in the instruction of the Lord.  

“It is far easier to shape a child than to repair an adult.”

-Dr. Tony Evans 

A good resource for this parenting task is:

My God Who Stirs 

We should cultivate a life of encounters with Jesus that our families (both natural and spiritual) might be continually stirred to God’s Kingdom cause in Jesus.  

Parents need to set their children up for encounters with God that will propel that mission by modeling encounters with God themselves.  

Judges 13:15-20 ESV

“Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you." And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord." (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, "What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?" And the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.”

All sustained Christian mission springs from encounters with the living God.  

Judges 13:21-25 ESV

“The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God." But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these." And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.”

The same God who instructed Samson’s mother, and then father, began to stir Samson as he lived in Mahaneh-Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol. 

As the children grow, we should help them cultivate a relationship with God so that God might bless them and the Spirit of the Lord might begin stirring them to his Kingdom purposes for their lives. 

Samson’s name was derived from the Hebrew word semes, which meant “sun.”

So Samson would bear the attribute of God who is called “a sun and shield” in Psalm 84:11, acting as a protector and watching over the people of Israel in his generation, acting as its judge/leader. 

“Your greatest contribution to the Kingdom of God may not be something that you do but someone you raise.”

-Andy Stanley 

John and Charles Wesley's mother's story. 

Mothers have a unique role in pointing their children to the better Samson. 

We have a better Samson in Jesus whose birth and mission were also prophesied by the angel.  

Jesus had parents who would raise him with the person, purposes and people of God in view (ref. The Gospel of Luke). 

Jesus too was consecrated at birth, and would grow in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.  

Jesus would be stirred even as a child to be in his Father’s house, learning the word and presence of God that would prepare him for his ultimate mission - to save humanity not from the Philistines but from sin and death itself.  

At the cross Jesus would fulfill that mission taking on the punishment that we all deserve for doing what is right in our own eyes as Israel did, living in rebellion to God.  

Though we may have suffered consequences of our choices up to this point, we can be reconciled and set apart to God because of Jesus’ sinless life lived in our place, death on the cross for our wrongdoing and resurrection from the dead.  

Through repentance and faith, we can come back to God and be stirred as his children, by his Spirit, for our Christ-honoring, God ordained purpose in life.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Choose Your Reward: So Many Choices

Choose Your Reward: So Many Choices 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: Do what you see the Father doing and you will find your rest in Jesus. 

• My Plans 

• God’s Plans

• What the Father is Doing in Christ

My Plans

My plans aren’t always God’s plans and can lead to worry, burnout and haste. 

John 5:17-30 ESV

”But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”“

‭‭This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.“

Much of the world is frazzled, harried and discontent. 

How many times have we said there is not enough time in the day?

Is there not enough time to do what we want - or what God wants?

There will always be enough time, resources and energy to accomplish what God wants to do in and through your life.  

Doing what God wants does not mean that it does not come without effort, sacrifice or self-denial, but it does mean that what is meant for Christ’s glory and your good is always met with God’s grace to accomplish it.  

The gospel scene above comes after a significant moment when Jesus physically healed a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years (John 5:5-6). 

Jesus asked him a significant question:

John 5:6 ESV

”When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?"“

Jesus, though God in the flesh (John 1:1-14), was a Jewish man and would have known the customs - how this healing on the Sabbath would have been perceived by the religious community.  

However, Jesus moved past their criticisms to demonstrate God’s compassion to the ailing man whom he loved.  

Jesus saw what the Father was doing and moved on it.  

Walking with God in faith and obedience is ultimately a matter of trust and submission. 

It is often the case that the love of God moves at a different pace in life than which we move. 

Many in the invalid’s case (John 5:1-16) were used to walking past this man at the pool who needed healing. 

How likely would I have been to do the same in our modern context while plugged into the incessant dopamine hits of my cell phone?

Proverbs 19:2 ESV

”Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.“

*I regularly need to slow down to truly hear/perceive God, see the people God has actually placed in front of me and the opportunity that he is giving me to love them well with the gospel.  

Proverbs 19:17 NIV

”Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.“

 

“IF YOU CAN’T FEED A HUNDRED PEOPLE, THEN FEED JUST ONE.” –MOTHER TERESA

God’s Plans

We need to learn to slow down to look for Jesus in our everyday affairs to give ourselves to what God is doing. 

What God is doing, he will bless. 

What God is not involved in, we should not expect him to bless, but possibly resist.  

This is the definition of a curse.  

The Sabbath was created as a holy rhythm, amongst others, to keep us living at a proper pace with a proper focus.  

When we look to God, he shows us who he is and what he is doing in Christ. 

When we’ve done what we’ve seen the Father doing, we will live well satisfied and at rest. 

Is God at the front and center of all of your planning?   

We need to be discerning enough to know the difference between the resistance of God and the resistance of the enemy.  

God will bless what has been submitted to him for his eternal purposes in Christ, even while the devil tries to resist it.   

The key is to find yourself in the tailwinds of the Father, as Jesus did. 

John 5:19,20

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 

How do I know what God is doing? 

When I study God’s word, I have clear commands that are to be obeyed.  

Psalm 119:9-12 ESV

”How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!“

Psalm 119:35-39 ESV

”Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.“

Psalm 119:67,68 ESV

”Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.“

Psalm 119:71,72 ESV

”It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.“

‬‬

Psalm 119:105 ESV

”Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.“

But do I seek the face of God and the application of his word by walking with God moment by moment? 

Proverbs 3:5-8 ESV

”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. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.“

*Though this is what Scripture instructs, when I want to maintain control of my own life, I’m not looking for what the Father is doing, so that through willful ignorance, I can ultimately do what I want. 

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/0ZY-2KG4ucg

 If you are so locked into your own agenda, you can miss God. 

So what is God doing - what is he planning?

What the Father is Doing in Christ

The Father is always working to reconcile the world to himself in Christ to provide the peace that we so desperately need.  

At the end of the day, you are obligated to nothing more than obedience to God that comes from faith in Jesus (Romans 1:7) - nothing more and nothing less.  

Anything more is presumptuous and is an existence lived at the hands of another task-master.  

Anything less is sin. 

James 4:17

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Do you believe that the will of the Father is actually best for your life?

What do you feel like you’d be missing that you need to add?

God will not allow you to miss out on what is truly important. 

What do you feel like God would require of you that you wish he’d take away?

God will not require anything of you that is not ultimately for his glory and your good (Romans 8).  

We should believe to see the miraculous as we look to God for our daily direction. 

Striving for more than God would have you do leads to fretting and can be driven by either greed or pride. 

Doing less than God would have us do can be a symptom of laziness or self-centered living where we are serving our pleasures/interests rather than Christ’s. 

Walking with God brings peace, stability (even in trial) and fruitfulness because God is the author of your activities and his miraculous hand of blessing can be on their outcomes. 

Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law, commandments and will of God to be our example, as well as the all sufficient sacrifice at the cross for our sins, to reconcile us to God.  

As we turn in repentance from self-sufficiency to faith, we will find our rest in Jesus, the Prince of Peace, as we walk in friendship with and service to our ever-loving, ever-living God.  

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Choose Your Reward: Jesus on Rewards

Choose Your Reward: Jesus on Rewards

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: When our focus is on Jesus, we see that our public life is fueled by our secret life, which leads to a multiplication of lives impacted for the Kingdom of God.  

• The Public Life 

• The Secret Life

• A Life Multiplied 

The Public Life 

What we do for Jesus in the public place will determine our reward in the eternal place.  

People have made many foolish and costly decisions to publicly identify with groups without a sure reward.  

https://fox4kc.com/news/70-of-chiefs-fans-who-suffered-frostbite-at-bitter-cold-playoff-game-need-amputations/

Matthew 5:9-12

”"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.“

Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are called to be peacemakers in the world around us. 

We do this by introducing a peace with God through the gospel and peace between people with that same good news.  

The Secret Life

What we do in the secret place builds who we are for Jesus in the public place.  

Matthew 6:1-6 ESV

”"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.“

What you sow into when only God’s eyes are on you will determine your reward.  

Jesus says that we should learn to give in secret, fast in secret and pray in secret, so that God might see what is done in secret and reward us.  

It is about the motivation of the heart, where we think our rewards come from and whose reward you truly desire.  

People say today that “if you don’t post about it, then it didn’t happen.”

We are pressured today to be a walking advertisement of our resume, our accomplishments and our experiences to convince others around us how good our lives are.  

And we think that if we do this well, somehow we won’t feel left out and will quiet the nagging voice that necessitates us convincing ourselves that our lives are actually worth living.  

But think about how fleeting is other people’s praise and how enslaving it is to validate your existence by continually feeding the beast of public approval.  

God wants to free you from this and bring you into a quality of life that only he can provide.  

In this way, your happiness is not determined by how much money you have amassed (or has passed through your fingers on pleasure seeking expenses), but on how much you have given - and your reward will come from God who cannot be outgiven. 

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.“

How do you think God will reward your giving?

How will he reward your prayers?

How will he reward your fasting? 

When you do these things without looking for public accolades, God rewards your with supernatural provision in your life, answered prayers and supernatural power to break yokes in your life and others. 

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Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭19‬-‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?“

Jesus said that we should lay up our treasure in heaven and not on earth.  

Make no mistake about it, your heart will ultimately follow the places where you put your money.

You want to make sure that your heart is continually aligned with Jesus, sowing into eternal things, things that will last and that God will reward, and not just the temporary things that we would enjoy.  

God created a mechanism for us to do this well by requiring the tithe from his people, where we acknowledge God’s provision with the first and best ten percent of all of our increase/income (Leviticus 27:30-33; Deuteronomy 26), sowing it into Christ’s Kingdom affairs and asking God’s hand of blessing to be upon all that we put our hands to.  

Offerings go above and beyond the tithe to freely and joyfully contribute to the ongoing work of the Lord (II Corinthians 8+9).  

An example of this is serving organizations like Safe Families that help keep children out of the foster care system that Ben and Kendall Foote can tell you about.  

God also provides you with the ability to be free of the tyranny of money, knowing that he will provide for you as you serve him alone as your master. 

How do we do this in our daily living?

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Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭31‬-‭34‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.“

Thanks to many of your faithful tithes and offerings over the years, we have been able to not only preach the gospel and make disciples faithfully, but we now have a church building in Roger’s Park that we will be calling our home for future services, to expand the impact of the gospel in Chicago, in addition to our continued Sunday morning services here in Lincoln Park.  

As we continue to cultivate our relationship with Jesus in these manners, when only his eyes are on us, we will have the strength to walk with Christ when other people’s eyes are on us as well.  

This will lead to lives multiplied as the gospel is preached by us and lived through us. 

A Life Multiplied 

Jesus laid down his life for us so that we might be reconciled to God - that the impact of his mission would be multiplied in us and through us.  

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John‬ ‭12‬:‭20‬-‭36‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. So the crowd answered him, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" So Jesus said to them, "The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.“

Like Jesus, we need to live for something that is truly bigger and longer lasting than the fleeting time that we have on earth in its present form - we need to live for the eternal Kingdom of God.  

Study after study shows that this is one of the key ingredients to a sustained happiness in life. 

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/news/23/10/mental-health-challenges-young-adults-illuminated-new-report

When seeds are sown, they metaphorically die in the ground in which they are planted that they might eventually be positioned to bring forth additional life.  

Every seed planted in faith is done so with the hope of bearing more fruit.  

Every aspect of our lives are seeds to be sown for Jesus and his eternal Kingdom. 

Jesus would lay down his life at the cross - a single, innocent life sown in sacrifice to pay for our sins - that through his death,  burial and resurrection, many souls might be born again, and through him, enter into eternal life.  

As Jesus was lifted up on the cross over two thousand years ago, and is continually lifted up through our sharing of the gospel today, he promises to draw all men to himself.   

May the lifting up of Jesus be the focus of all of our giving, our praying and our fasting that he might reconcile this lost and dying world to God.  

And like Jesus, how can we today reevaluate how we will lay down our lives so that as we sow in our giving, prayers and fasting in the secret place, it might result in the great reward of the life of Christ being multiplied in countless souls being redeemed in the Kingdom of God? 

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Choose Your Reward: Praise and Pain

Choose Your Reward: Praise and Pain

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: Praise from God is greater than praise from people and comes with an enduring reward. 

• Tell Me That I Matter

• Love of Praise 

• Praise from God

Tell Me That I Matter

We all want to feel like we matter in life - we need to get that affirmation from God.   

‭‭

Luke‬ ‭14‬:‭25‬-‭35‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."“

When I love God first and well, I am better able to love the other important relationships in my life - whether they be parents, spouses, children or friends.  

When we allow God to maintain the preeminent, right place in our lives, it allows us to order every other relationship and decision that follows well. 

Seeking affirmation is not a bad thing - as long as it is for the right reason and from the right source.  

Why is this difficult at times? 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_ONMJFkuXBo

1:54-4:32 

Having affirmation from God who does not change allows you stability in life.  

It allows you to prioritize healthy Kingdom choices and make difficult decisions amidst people who do change.  

Whose praise do you covet the most in life? 

What will you do to get it?

What are you willing to do to keep it?

If your highest value in life is not praise from God, it will lead you to compromise and sin.  

Living for the praise of God alone provides certainty, security and stability in your soul (your mind, will and emotions).  

It is your access to what we so desperately crave - which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit of joy and peace. 

Love of Praise 

What we think that praise will bring us is peace - but it will only bring us peace if it is coming from the right source. 

This is why loss of a loved one can be so difficult, because in them we found, at least temporarily, a source of love, acceptance and a perceived peace.  

 Melancholy by Albert György in Geneva, Switzerland 

This is what grief is.

A hole ripped through the very fabric of your being.

The hole eventually heals along the jagged edges that remain. It may even shrink in size.

But that hole will always be there.

A piece of you always missing.

For where there is deep grief, there was great love.

Don’t be ashamed of your grief.

Don’t judge it.

Don’t suppress it.

Don’t rush it.

Rather, acknowledge it.

Lean into it.

Listen to it.

Feel it.

Sit with it.

Sit with the pain. And remember the love.

This is where the healing will begin.

Monica Bobbit

Yet is there peace beyond the temporal? 

When we set our focus on Jesus, it leads to a lasting, eternal joy and peace. 

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Isaiah‬ ‭26‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.“

What does it say about your state when you live for other people’s praise?

What does it say about you when you live for God’s praise? 

Living for God’s praise alone does not mean that you have the right to pendulum swing to being a jerk, an independent or an isolationist.  

It means that you love people well when you’ve been grounded in the palpable, enduring love that God has for you.  

Praise from God

Desiring praise from God is what led Jesus to the cross and ultimately to our hope of resurrection life.  

‭‭

John‬ ‭5‬:‭30‬-‭47‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”"I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"“

God will ultimately test the motives of our hearts.  

Proverbs 16:2

”All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.“

What we see in Jesus is that something had to die that we might actually live.  

In your personal life:

What is it that needs to die in your life, that has a death grip on you, that you might actually live?

In terms of our call to make disciples:

To what are you willing to die so that others might actually live?

Your reputation?

Your free time?

Being able to do all that you want with your money? 

Your feelings of acceptance from those who might not love God but whom God loves?

Because Jesus lived for the praise of the Father alone, he was able to live sinlessly, perform miracles, die sacrificially at the cross for our sins and rise victoriously from the dead so that we might have new life in him.  

Let us turn from putting our hope in anyone or anything else above Jesus to make us healthy, happy or whole.  

Let us live for the praise of God alone to know him, experience his freedom and make him known offering the life that is truly life to others through the gospel.  

In doing so, we will be both free and motivated to obey this life-giving command:

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ NIV

23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher

Choose Your Reward: Balaam and Balak

Choose Your Reward: Balaam and Balak

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: When God speaks, we must learn to obey - for his glory and our good.  

Numbers 22-24

• God Has Spoken 

• Say Again? 

• Don’t Negotiate, Trust the Cross 

God Has Spoken

When God speaks, we need to take him at his word so that we and others might be blessed.  

‭‭Numbers‬ ‭22‬:‭1‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. And Moab said to the elders of Midian, "This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field." So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the people of Amaw, to call him, saying, "Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me. Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed." So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and gave him Balak's message. And he said to them, "Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the Lord speaks to me." So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. And God came to Balaam and said, "Who are these men with you?" And Balaam said to God, "Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, 'Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.'" God said to Balaam, "You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed." So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, "Go to your own land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you." So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, "Balaam refuses to come with us."“

We need to stop looking for omens and trust what God has already said. 

What has God already spoken to you about - in his word and through prayer that he expects you to obey?

“There is no peace like the peace of those whose minds are possessed with full assurance that they have known God, and God has known them, and that this relationship guarantees God’s favor to them in life, through death and on for ever.”

-J.I. Packer

Say Again?

What God has blessed, no man can curse. 

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Numbers‬ ‭22‬:‭15‬-‭21‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these. And they came to Balaam and said to him, "Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: 'Let nothing hinder you from coming to me, for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.'" But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me." And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, "If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you." So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.“

Have no doubt about it, Satan and his hordes will try over and over again to throw you off track with God, just as Balaam attempted multiple times to have Israel cursed.  

Each time the devil tempts, the deal will seem sweeter and sweeter to you, and he’ll show you different angles from which to look at his offer. 

The good news is that God is resolute. 

Relationally:

The good news is that in this spiritual battle in which we find ourselves, God is for us, not against us, and is intent on blessing his people.  

“Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel. The traitor is forgiven, brought in for supper, and given the family name. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater.”

-J.I. Packer 

When we have enemies who arise, because of the righteousness of God and the cross of Christ, even in our imperfections, we remain in the grace of God because he has called his children blessed.  

Covenantally:

When God has spoken by his word (what is revealed in the Scripture) he is communicating to us what he has and will bless.  

No amount of desire, reasoning or cultural shifts will change that - because God is disclosing his immutable character and giving us the blueprints of his all-wise design in creation.  

Yet if we persist in trying to find ways around God’s clearly stated commands and decrees, we will reap the consequences of it.  

Israel would see this later as they gave themselves over to sexual immorality with the Moabites.  

Trying to add or subtract from God’s commands is sin and leads to death. 

God continually says that he opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble; that unless we become like children, we will never enter his kingdom (Matthew 18:3; I Peter 5:5). 

Yet we’ve become like modern oracles with all of our instant access to information deeming it wisdom.  

Yet knowledge and wisdom before God lead to life giving instruction.  

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.“

Knowledge can be cheap and easy to attain - wisdom is found in God’s unchanging word and is gained at the price of humbling ourselves and listening to his instruction.  

I get nervous if my wife and I have been in a disagreement and eventually she says with a certain tone, “that’s fine.”

It usually does not mean that she agrees, but that she is no longer willing to argue and that the consequences of my decisions are now in my hands.  

God’s discipline and wrath are revealed when he turns us over to what we desire (Romans 1:18-32) despite his commands that are contrary to our choices.  

God’s mercy is revealed when people in our lives who we have looked down upon thinking they are less educated, skilled or experienced can be the very voice of God to turn us away from folly and to Christ.  

This was the case with Balaam and the donkey.  

‭‭Numbers‬ ‭22‬:‭22‬-‭35‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”But God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall. So he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?" And Balaam said to the donkey, "Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you." And the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?" And he said, "No." Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. And he bowed down and fell on his face. And the angel of the Lord said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live." Then Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, "I have sinned, for I did not know that you stood in the road against me. Now therefore, if it is evil in your sight, I will turn back." And the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, "Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you." So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak.“

Who has it been in your life that has attempted to act as an obstacle to sin and folly?

How have you treated them?

How were your eyes opened to the impending consequences of your choices?  

‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.“

Don’t Negotiate, Trust the Cross

When God has spoken, we should not expect him to change his mind. 

Balsam’s Second Oracle 

‭‭Numbers‬ ‭23‬:‭18‬-‭27‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”And Balaam took up his discourse and said, "Rise, Balak, and hear; give ear to me, O son of Zippor: God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it. He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel. The Lord their God is with them, and the shout of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox. For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, 'What has God wrought!' Behold, a people! As a lioness it rises up and as a lion it lifts itself; it does not lie down until it has devoured the prey and drunk the blood of the slain." And Balak said to Balaam, "Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all." But Balaam answered Balak, "Did I not tell you, 'All that the Lord says, that I must do'?" And Balak said to Balaam, "Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there."“

We often persist in our negotiations with God hoping that he will change his mind.  

However, God has made it clear that he does not change his character, his mind or his commands, regardless of the fluctuating convictions of the environments in which we live.  

What have we tried to hold onto in life, thinking that it held our great reward, that God has told us to let go?

The things that we hold onto that God has told us to let go will be disappointing in the end.  

What I thought to be my numismatic coin collection:

When we understand the cross, we will begin to trust God more in every circumstance because:

1. We know that God loves us and wants what is best for us, demonstrating this in that he was willing to lay down the life of his own beloved son to save ours. 

2. We know that whatever we endure is not the end of the story since through Christ’s resurrection, those who trust and obey him are ushered into an eternal good that far surpasses anything that we feel we might have lost.   

When we embrace these two truths, our prayers begin to change to seek God to fortify our trust in his divine will rather than trying to hold onto what we perceive to be better, our temporary gain. 

Balaam’s negotiation with God was different from Jesus’ prayers offered at Gethsemane.  

Jesus asked the Father if there was any other way, yet when the Father answered, Jesus did not go back to the Father to get a different answer, but the resolve and strength that he needed to go to the cross. 

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."“

Because God has spoken and Jesus has obeyed, we have immutable benefits from the cross of Christ.  

“Readiness to die is the first step in learning to live.”

-J.I. Packer 

Let’s trust Jesus by picking up our cross daily to truly live in the best that he has for us as we focus on God’s glory and he focuses on our good. 

Balaam’s Fourth and Final Oracle 

‭‭

Numbers‬ ‭24‬:‭1‬, ‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. 

And he took up his discourse and said, "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened, the oracle of him who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down with his eyes uncovered: I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.“

Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher