HA Zoom - 5 lessons

Jim asked me if I had anything to share. I said no, but I'm open haha... And I don't have a theme or maybe even a direction, but I have some things to share. And so I am basically just going to say some things, and they may be things that you relate to, they may be things you are going through, it may be something that encourages you, I hope it does, and it may be something completely opposite to where you are at. Which is something I'm learning at the moment! But, I was putting together our bible reading program for the church and I do a bit of an overview or introduction to each book we’ll be reading in that particular month, and this month just happens to be 14 books in the new testament, everything from 1 Timothy straight through to Revelation, and it’s amazing how many of those books mention that they were to encourage the believers who were going through trial and persecution… so, I’ve got 5 little points I want to make and do with it what you will. But the first one is:

1. The Value of this Community And really the value of community in general, The value of our local community, but as Cam said, we need this. And this is really the idea behind what I want to share today. It all comes from this scripture I want to read. Romans 1:10-12 says, One of the things I always pray for is the opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. That is the power, and the reality of community. Showing up for each other. There are times where I come to these zoom calls feeling like I have absolutely nothing to share, and something inside of me just wants to tell you all how bad things are. Not because things are all that bad, but because life can be overwhelming, even in the face of God's purpose and provision. So, I'm grateful to have these. Sometimes there's a few of us, and we share a little more, sometimes there's lots of us and we share a little less, but I always walk away feeling encouraged, and I hope, even when I'm going through it, that in some way, even if just by being with each other, you are encouraged by me. We never want to stay down. I think it might have been Winston Churchill who said it first, I've definitely heard Bill Johnson say it, "If you're going through hell, keep going." Don't sit down, keep moving. But, I also want to say, sometimes, hearing the struggle, the difficulty and the tragedy is a really good reminder that we're not along and we're all human. If all we ever heard was the good, we'd basically just be looking at Instagram, where everything is sunshine and roses and we only post the best of our self and lives. So, my first thought, and the reason this is why I'm doing this this way, is because of this. It's not always the good that encourages us. Sometimes the struggle encourages camaraderie, prayer, linked arms. Paul says in Romans 12:15, ...be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. All that to say, Thank you. Thank you for encouraging me. And yes, when you struggle, it's better that I hear that than you putting on an Instagram face. I need your struggle just as much as I need your success! And it's what makes us a community. Your wins are my wins. Your setbacks are my setbacks. Your heartache is my heartache. Your joy is my joy!

2. Hold on to the word when the world goes to ..... the bathroom. Paul writes to Timothy in his first letter, chapter 1:18, Timothy, my son, here are my instructions for you, based on the prophetic words spoken about you earlier. May they help you fight well in the Lord's battle. I think one of the most powerful things we have is the word. Not just scripture, but the word that has been spoken to us, through actual words - maybe through a prophet, or through journaling, or maybe by actions, or experiences we have had that we look back and know beyond a doubt that it was God. Before I was even leading worship, Isabel Skulason said to me, "Yes, you are a worshipper, but that is not the end goal, you will be a pastor..." This is me at 19 years old in Marmac, never led worship in my life... She saw past even the next phase and into the greater destiny. And good thing too, because in grade 4 or 5 I was in a play, a production, at a Christian school, and I played the pastor, and I can't tell you how many people came up to me at the end and said, "Wow, you're going to be a pastor one day." And I said, "Absolutely not." But I've had it questioned.... is this what you're really supposed to be doing? Do you think maybe you need to change directions? Maybe go back to the music thing? And in those moments don't rely on just my own word, I rely on what has proven to be the word of God for my life. I go back to, "You are a worshipper, but God will raise you up as a pastor..." That does way more than me trying to do affirmations in front of my bathroom mirror in the morning. Any time something goes on with our property, I go back to that piece of paper I keep right next to me at my desk that says, "The Evangelical Lutheran Church of American has removed you from the roster of churches..." Once and for all settling the debate in my own heart as to whether this massive religious organization might ever come for our property which has no mortgage and is worth probably nearing $2 million dollars at the moment. And that settles every lie, every fear, every question I might have. Let's put it this way. I don't know if there's a scripture that specifically says, "God has taken me too far to turn back now..." But I do read a whole lot, especially in the Psalms where it says, "Remember what the Lord has done..." "Encourage yourself in the Lord..." "Why so downcast oh my soul...put your hope and your trust in the Lord." And I try to bring myself to that place as quickly as possible. But I'm not always good at that. Last night, which was the worst time to do this, I remembered that our mortgage company had said they were going to do an escrow analysis in May, meaning, they check to make sure they're taking enough of my money to pay bills on my behalf. So I pulled it up.... here's an encouragement, don't do that at 11:30 at night... Our mortgage is set to increase by $360 / month and that is not including any changes to insurance, which, Kelley works for an insurance agency now and I don't think there is a single person in Florida who hasn't had an increase of insurance. And that won't be assessed until November. Add to that our daughter got accepted, and we made the commitment to send her to a private school in town. Which is a great thing, but it's also an expensive thing. Now, God has already done great things in that area through scholarships directly through the school, and with Florida opening up fully school choice our application for state funds has been approved, we just don't know what the amount we will be left to pay. But I do know it will be about $250 a month minimum, plus a big increase in gas because instead of driving 9 minutes to school i'll be driving 30-45 minutes x 4. And on top of that the fact that Kelley and I Just had a conversation about me enrolling in University and now I'm asking, Maybe instead of school I should be looking for a second job... Last night I was overwhelmed.... and it was getting to me. I went to bed and my mind was swirling, and I suddenly remembered....God has brought us too far to turn back now. So, whether that is creative ways to make more money, or we sell the house and buy something smaller, or we win the lottery....just kidding, I don't play the lottery.... I said to Kelley. I don't know how God will do what He will do. I don't know what part we play in it yet, because I'm not just going to sit back and say, "God fix it..." When he's saying, "hey, look over here, I've got something for you to do that will provide for you..." But I had to remind myself, and then that gave me courage to pray in faith, not wallow in fear. Remind yourself to look back at the word, or the miracle, remind yourself of it, and even when things don't make sense, understands God is with you. We each have stories, moments of God we can look back at. I don't know why and I can't answer why not for others, but I do know I did not walk out of that hospital a year and a half ago with less purpose on my life. I walked out knowing that God preserved my life for a reason. Again, that's not to say because I believe God did a miracle in my life that those who didn't make it through the pandemic God didn't want to do a miracle. I can't answer why. I just know I'm here. And if I'm here. He is with me. 3. Move at the speed of Jesus I have come to a point where I am no longer willing to compare myself or what God is doing in and through me and our church to other churches or other pastors or other ministries. Carl Thomas, many of you know him, up in Boca Raton. I was watching one of his sermons one day and he said this line, and I don't remember anything else from the message, and I don't even know if what I pulled from it was his point, but he said, "Move at the speed of Jesus." So many of us think we have to move as fast or as slow as everyone else. Sometimes we feel like church growth should look like the church growth of the ministry across town. It's so easy to compare ourselves or the work we do to the people around us that are doing it differently. And I'm careful not to say better, because that's what I want to say, because something in me, and I would dare to say, something in US, always wants to say, "They're doing it better" and that is only based on our understanding of the metrics of success. God is so different. Jesus is so different. Be led by the Spirit for your life, not even the Spirit for someone else's life. There's a saying, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." I have a really good friend who moved to our town about 3 or 4 years ago to plant a church. He's polar opposite to me in his temperament. And we would get together and I would share frustrations with him, and I eventually got to a point where I didn't want to share my frustrations because his advice was what he would do, and we are nothing alike. Now, that doesn't mean I can't learn from him. I do. In spades. But if I'm left comparing how what I did didn't work for me when it worked for him, I'm left feeling less than, when what I should have done is said, "Holy Spirit, you led him this way, how do you want to lead me?" Which leads me to my next thought: 4. Lead people like you want to be led One of the most personally limiting pastoral rebukes that was ever said to me was, "You can do all things through Christ, which means you can do anything that I can do, so get out there and do it like I do it..." The person was so completely different to me that their statement broke my brain, my heart and my spirit. I was frozen in their tracks because I wasn't able to do what they did. When Paul says, Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ, he's not saying you have to do it just like he's doing it, he's saying do it because Jesus did it, that's why I'm doing it, and you should be doing it to. But HOW you do it, that's going to look as different as the differences in you and I. And so I've been trying to communicate that more effectively in our work here. Especially because I'm pretty sure this is why a family left our church, and I can't verify, because they didn't tell me why they left, but I think in my approach, leading people toward the goal of being like Christ in how I follow Christ, limited them enough to say, "But what about my gifting, my temperament, my way of doing it?" One of the things we do is give out water at our towns events. We just did one a couple weeks ago, and it was amazing. My parents are in town visiting for the first time since before pandemic, so they got to be a part of it. Thankfully, no one in my church showed up, so it would've been me and Kelley alone. But one of the couples that used to come to our church, I think they really didn't get the why we aren't just working to evangelize like a traditional evangelistic event would work. Get as many info cards in peoples hands as possible, invite as many people to church as possible, get in their face. And up front I tell our team, wait for the opportunity. Don't just go handing everyone a card. Some will read it, most will end up on the floor. And I don't want people avoiding our tent at the next event because the think we're just going to hound them to come to church. My error in that was that I limited peoples ability to be themselves. My pastor friend is amazing at just interacting with people and getting out there, starting conversation etc... I'm not, so it makes way less sense for me to be doing that. So I've started to really look at how I say things. I don't want people to be limited in their gifting by my lack of that gifting. If you are outgoing, be as outgoing as possible. Yes, here's why we don't just hand cards out to everyone, but if you're outgoing and great at that, you're going to be handing way more cards out than I would anyway. And I don't want you to act like me which might limit God working through you. I know how I am, so I give myself jobs that enhance that. I stand by the water, I open the cooler for people, I ask them as they go by if they want water... I smile a whole heck of a lot. I am kind. I am genuine. If I felt like I had to try and get you to church tomorrow, and that's all I had in my mind. I wouldn't be genuine, and you would feel that. But, I have people that are incredible at that. So I'm learning to lead people into who they are, to imitate Christ like I imitate Christ, me being me, and them being them, both of us following the way and work of Jesus and his leading for our lives. And the last thought I have, and this one I have to preface with, this might just be fore me. And I'm 100% ok with that. You might be in a completely different season than I am, you might never feel this way, so this is 100% coming from what God is saying to me, where I am, as I am and doing what I do in the town and place that I'm doing it in. 5. Simplicity Maybe this goes more in line with moving at the speed of Jesus, and Jesus just has me moving at this particular speed and rhythm, but here's a couple verses to give you an idea of what I'm feeling right now. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 says, Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others. I am feeling this from a community perspective. We are living a quiet life, doing good work for those around us, and the result is people respect us for what we do. We have favor with the town, favor with our neighbors, favor with our community. Do I wish we had more people on Sunday, sure. Do I understand why we don't, no. But have I become content with where we are at, whether our sanctuary is full or empty, ya, I'm getting there. 1 Timothy 2:2 says, Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

Eugene Peterson said that Discipleship is a long obedience in the same direction… It’s not a rat race or a sprint, It’s the long road to becoming more like Christ, on our own, and as the body!

There seems to be a relentless desire in society for bigger, faster, better, and I think sometimes the answer is smaller, slower, deeper.... Again, that might just be for me because of where God has me and what he's doing in me. As long as bigger, faster, better is coming from the right heart and you're not killing yourself, then it's probably good and it's probably God. And maybe that's more the point, you do you boo