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Advent 2020 – Isaiah 8:11-15 (Dec. 10)

Isaiah 8:12–13

[12] “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. [13] But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. (ESV)

2020 could safely be called the year of conspiracies. For example: who started Covid19? Did the presidential election get stolen? Are socialists threatening to overturn our country? Is the New World Order about to overturn our world? 

How much time have you invested in the news or alternate news, worrying about conspiracies or speaking about them with family members, neighbors and friends?

Conspiracies are nothing new. Back in the early ministry of Isaiah the prophet, conspiracies about foreign powers aligning together against Judah caused the hearts of the people to melt with fear. God spoke to Isaiah and said, “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy” (12). It was central to God’s way that His people not waste their energy on conspiracy theories. Instead they are to live their lives in the fear of the LORD, or, as God said, “Let [the LORD of Hosts] be your dread” (13). 

We don’t typically think of responding to the Lord God with dread. That seems inappropriate somehow. But for some reason we think that dread of foreign powers invading or foreign powers sending a virus our way is somehow a responsible action. No, the only thing that makes sense is to put those conspiracies on the scale with the LORD of Hosts and responding to the Lord as the Sovereign King and Master of our lives. To dread Him is to live in awe of Him and respond to His way in this world. He says He will be a sanctuary to all who fear Him. 

For those who do not respond by fearing the LORD, God says He will be a rock of offense, a stone of stumbling, a trap and a snare to them. If any of us disregard God, thinking we can ignore Him, we’ll find ourselves tripping over Him to our own destruction. 

When Paul refers to Isaiah 8:11-15 in Romans 9:32-33, or when Peter refers to the “rock of offense” in 1 Peter 2:8, both men are referring to Christ. And here’s how all this relates to Advent: Christ did not go from the cradle to Paradise. No, He went from the cradle to the cross. Most of the world finds celebration of the baby Jesus just fine. Sentimental, culturally acceptable, traditional. But the cross is offensive. It deals with the scandalous, unacceptable news that our sin cannot be ignored. It must be punished. Advent reminds us of the hard truth that Jesus came to die for our sin. If you run to that stone of solid ground, you’ll be safe. If you try to ignore the Christ on the cross, you’ll trip over it eventually and be crushed. 

These things may be hard to understand, so we’ll look at them again over the next two days of devotions. But what is clear is this: Christ came to die for sinners. This is God’s way.

Do you know that you are a sinner?  

Do you trust in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ alone for your salvation?

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Counsel for the Heart: Contentment (Phil. 4:11-13)

One of the brothers from church that I miss is John McClellan Sr. Since he and I work at the church building together I often see him when I start work in the morning. Each time I ask, “How are you, John?” he sincerely answers, “Better than I deserve!”

John reminds me each time that it’s a blessing from God to be content.

Contentment is recognizing, through good times and bad, that God is dealing with us not according to what we deserve but according to His grace.

The Apostle Paul wrote about that in Philippians 4:11-13 about contentment and how we can regard whatever comes our way each day as “better than we deserve.”

Philippians 4:11–13

[11] Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. [12] I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. [13] I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (ESV)

Getting to the Heart

The Apostle Paul wrote from prison, “Not that I am speaking of being in need.” Can you imagine being in prison and unjustly treated yet saying you don’t need anything! Sometimes it seems like Paul writes from the locker room of Major League Christianity while I am still playing on faith’s elementary playgrounds.

I’ve been challenged in this area of contentment, especially during this time of extended quarantine. Typically my lack of contentment is expressed in the opposite of Paul’s statement: “If I could only have ______ I’d be happier,” or “By now I should have ______ if it wasn’t for this virus!”

Can you relate?

Since I wrote about fear earlier this week, I’ve recognized that we experience fear in two key  ways: fear of losing what we have and fear of getting what we don’t want. Both those fears are preoccupied with the future, living in the land of “What-ifs?” and losing out on the present blessings that dominate the Christian’s life thanks to the sustaining grace of God.

I will write more about practical ways to cultivate contentment tomorrow on Counsel for the Heart, but for today let me suggest a couple of reasons why our current circumstances are “better than we deserve.”

First, think of what you and I really do deserve. Honestly friends, it’s hell. Each day we wake up not in that fiery place of punishment and separation from God is a gift of grace. I have another friend who often prays, “Father, thank you for this unpromised day.” It’s true: this day was not promised to me, and I didn’t wake up this morning entitled to blessings and favor because of who I am. By myself, I’m only a sinner separated from God, and I deserve the punishment of hell. That’s one reason we are doing “better than we deserve” today.

Second, think of the Lord Jesus. He was not content to leave us in that lost and terrible state. He saw our true need and entered this world to save all those who put their hope in Him and see in Him their truest need. I know that’s how the imprisoned Paul could say, “not that I am speaking of being in need.” Paul focused his mind and heart on Jesus Christ. Actually, the whole point of Paul’s life was looking to Jesus for what He wanted of Paul that day and tackling that day’s challenge in the power of Jesus Christ.

Let’s talk it over:

  • How would you complete the following statement? – “My life would be better right now if I had ___________.” Or “My life would be better right now if I didn’t have to deal with ___________.”
  • In addition to the two reasons listed above to cultivate contentment, what other reasons can you think of to help you be content and “not speak of being in need”?

Prayer:

Almighty Father, all around and within us are enticements to want more and to be dissatisfied with our current situation in life. Forgive us, Lord. You have redeemed us to be about Your business in this life in this today of either abounding or being brought low. Strengthen us to live with great contentment in Your grace, to remember we’ve been delivered from Hell, and to rejoice this day in Your Son! Help us Lord, and thank You. Amen.

Worship in Song:

It is Well With My Soul

The link above is unique today. Clicking it will take you to a Nashville News source with a video featuring Nashvillian singers singing “It is Well With My Soul” as a choir… over their cell phones. It’s a witness to the praise that can still offered to the Lord when we can’t be where we want or even have the worship we need. It is still well with our souls.

Memory Passage for this Week:

____________ 13:5–6

[5] ____ your ___ _____ from ____ of ______, and be ______ with what you _____, for he has said, “I will _____ _____ you nor ______ you.” [6] So we can ________ say,

“The ______ is my _______;
I will not _______;
what can ____ do to me?” (ESV)

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Dealing with Depression and Anxiety

Written by James Lynch (4/29/2020)

This current season of difficulty and uncertainty with the Covid-19 crisis has brought many challenges for all Americans, and believers in Christ are not exempt. We watch the same news reports, we hear the same controversies, we experience many of the same hardships that the rest of the world is going through currently. The coronavirus is, of course, a health concern, but the measures that have been taken to slow the spread of the disease have caused additional stress to many. This is a perfect environment for anxiety and depression to take root and grow. So, how can believers cope with these challenges and uncertainties? In this article, I would like to talk about these very real battles in which many believers find themselves in their daily lives.

First, let me state clearly that anxiety, depression, and other mental and emotional disorders like them are real. It is unfortunate that many who suffer from these conditions have often been ignored, dismissed, or even chastised by other Christians for feelings that they seem to have no control over. If you have ever been treated that way by another believer, please allow me to apologize for their ignorance. There has been a culture in many Bible-believing churches that seems to give a message that real Christians do not have problems and are always happy. This is simply not scriptural! David spoke of feelings that we would call depression: “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.  I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.” Psalm 69:1-3.

In fact, there are other examples of God’s servants in scripture struggling with both anxiety and depression. Daniel was anxious at what God was showing him about future events (Daniel 7:15), and even the Apostle Paul wrote this to the Corinthian church in his second letter, “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.” II Cor.1:8

Let’s take a moment and consider what anxiety and depression are, and why I have linked the two in this article. Anxiety is basically worry. Modern psychology has a term G.A.D. or Generalized Anxiety Disorder. It is characterized by constant worry, often about things that are unlikely to happen. Depression is a persistent sadness or depressed mood. The reason I wanted to talk about them both is because they often go together, and both can cause a person to lose interest in normal activities causing serious disruption in every area of life. Anxiety can show itself in many different ways. A person can be withdrawn and fearful as a result of anxiety, another may resort to excessive efforts to control everything and everyone around them in an effort to keep their worries from being realized. This can result in obsessive behaviors or unreasonable demands and angry outbursts toward others. Depression often comes into play because the anxiety causes behaviors with negative results. The fearful person is depressed because they begin to lose hope living in a constant state of worry and fear. The controlling person ruins relationships, and eventually realizes that they cannot control everything, and they lose hope as well. Both these conditions can bring a person to a place of hopelessness, and that is an extremely dangerous place to be.

As you can see, these conditions can seem overly complicated and they can have far-reaching consequences to those who suffer with them, as well as those who are around them. The fact is, they are not really complicated at all, but they are difficult to work through. If you know and love someone who has one or both of these challenges, please be patient and prayerful. You need the power of God to navigate through these issues, especially if you have never struggled with anything like this yourself. If you are a generally positive person, it may be hard to imagine why someone cannot just “ tough it out” or “get over it”. You do not have to understand to empathize, and you do not have to understand to pray. Ask God for wisdom, believing that He will give it to you (James 1:5-7).

If you are a person who fights feelings of anxiety and depression, let me tell you that there is hope! That hope is in non-other than Jesus Christ. It is not in a medication or a human counselor, but it is in Christ Himself. Don’t misunderstand, there may be a place for medicine and there is certainly a place for counseling, but the only true and lasting hope is in the person and work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you believe that, you can move toward a road to recovery, because that road is a walk of faith.

I cannot possibly explain all the principles you need to follow in an article. Each person and their experience are unique, but the basic problem and solution are the same. So, I will share just a few basic truths and some action points to begin with.

Four Vital Truths for battling Negative Emotions

  1. You are not in this alone. 1Co 10:13a … “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man”…  Many others have and are where you are.
  2. God will make a way out. 1Co10:13b … ”God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Even though it may not feel like it, God has promised to make a way for you to endure.
  3. The feelings of anxiety and depression are not necessarily sin, but how you manage them is where the temptation lies. This is an especially important point. This is not to blame you for the feeling of anxiety, depression, or any other feeling. However, you are responsible for how you respond to the temptation. You may have never thought of your anxiety as a temptation, but that is exactly what it is.
  4. The “way of escape” is the path to enduring the temptation without giving in to it. Not necessarily the removal of the temptation itself…” that you may be able to endure it.”

Action Points for Dealing with Negative Emotions

  1. Recognize that this is a battle that must be fought by faith. Faith chooses God’s truth over present feelings. Rom 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Faith is the believing response to God’s revealed Word. Just as David believed that God would fight for him against Goliath, despite all his physical senses telling him otherwise, you must learn to choose to believe God over your emotions.
  2. Make a list with two columns. In the first column, write the specific things that cause anxiety and fear in your heart. In the second column record passages from scripture that reveal what God says about those things, or just worry in general.
  3. Pray through your list, confessing your unbelief to God and asking Him to grant you faith to believe what He has said. Every time you find yourself slipping into anxiety, take it to Him in prayer (Philippians 4:6).
  4. If anxiety or depression has a grip on you that you are having trouble getting free from, please contact the church for counseling help. One of the ways that we love one another is to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). We are the body of Christ, and when one member hurts, the whole body hurts with you. You are not alone. You have brothers and sisters who love you.

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Counsel for the Heart (Introduction)

Years ago during seminary I attended a church that memorized scripture together over the course of one year. Of all the excellent content I received in seminary, that year of memorizing scripture was one of the things that most rooted me in the Faith.

Consider what has helped you to grow most as a Christian. What would you attribute to your endurance in following Jesus?

No doubt if you traced those lines of help and influencers down to the source you would see again and again God’s Word has been your lifeline.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks I will be writing a new devotional series called “Counsel for the Heart.” Each weekday I will focus on a common area of heart need that is commonly coming up in biblical counseling during Covid19. Fear, anxiety and worry, depression, anger, addictions, feelings of abandonment by God, and so much more comes up as people have reached out to me and others. As much as we tire of hearing about Covid19, it has provided many opportunities for us to renew our faith and come back to confidence in God by His Word.

In addition to my devotion series you will see accompanying articles written by the biblical counselors of our church. They want all of us to see that life is blessed as we submit to the Lord Jesus and live in obedience to Him.

Above all we know that God’s Word is life-giving! And as I conclude this brief introduction of the series I invite you to memorize a passage with me this week. Work on these verses, meditating on them, asking the Holy Spirit to help you internalize the message. You and I will need this passage always, but especially for times of fear that come up out of seemingly nowhere. I will write more about fear tomorrow and the rest of this week.

Hebrews 13:5–6

[5] Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [6] So we can confidently say,

“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?” (ESV)

Getting to the Heart:

In this section each day I will ask a question or two or offer a reflection of my own for you to meditate on. For today, consider what this verse says: we can put our confidence in either money or God. One of the draws of money is that if we just get enough of it we can potentially live without fear. The Bible says that is a false assurance. Why?

  • Why is trusting in what money can provide a dangerous hope?
  • According to these verses, how do we know we can trust the Lord?

Prayer: 

Holy Lord, Maker of every human heart, we seek Your blessing on your Word in our lives. Your Word leads to life! To whom else can we go but You? Please use this series on Counsel for the Heart to bring about good in our lives. Please change us to be like our beloved Lord Jesus. Help us by Your Holy Spirit to walk in Your Word with faith. Lift up those who are struggling and tempted by sin. Lead none of us into temptation. You are worthy of our undivided hearts, Father, and we give ourselves again to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Worship in Song:

Christ Our Glory

I’ve had this song on repeat recently. It has gospel-rich truths in it, and these lines stick in my head:

“Our rest is in heaven, our rest is not here
Then why should we tremble when trials draw near?
Be still and remember the worst that can come
But shortens our journey and hastens us home”

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Local Perspectives on Coronavirus – Pt 7

This week I had the privilege of interviewing Nancy Cross. I’m so encouraged every time I talk with Nancy. When you meet her you may first see the wheelchair she sits in, but Nancy’s joyful countenance and confidence in the Lord will leave you seeing Jesus Christ.

Nancy has been married to C.W. for almost 26 years and has two children by a previous marriage. She had been divorced almost 10 years before she met C.W. at work. All their married lives they have prioritized the Lord and faithfulness to Him in a local church. For 20 years they have been glad to call West Park home and are faithful members of the Fruitbearers ABF.

May God be glorified in your life as you read Nancy’s perspective today.

Nancy, thank you for talking with me today. I’d like to know what your current experience is during this time of the Coronavirus.

Probably during this period of time the thing CW and I, even though we do the online services and everything, miss is the physical fellowship of the believers. We just really do. It’s like it’s given us a new appreciation for the church body. It’s more than a building, and I know I’m not telling you anything that you haven’t told all of us, but it’s a fellowship. And I understand why God’s Word says, “Don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together with other believers,” and I understand that. When I say we feed off of each other, God gives each one of us gifts to share in a body, and that’s why we need to be one in the body. Not only in what we say but what we do and how we love one another. And that’s what we have so missed!

And you know, the other thing we’ve talked about also is that this period of time has given us a new insight into what believers in other countries who do not have the opportunity for open fellowship with one another, what they have experienced all along! I don’t think God wastes anything, does He?

Nancy, people describe those in our elderly community as “at-risk.” Do you consider yourself to be at-risk during this time?

Honestly, no. I guess the reason I say that is I don’t go out and do things that our authorities have said don’t do, because not only would I be putting myself at risk but I could harm somebody else. I don’t fear; I’m not afraid. That’s just bottom line. Although I’m sure if people looked at me and saw my age and that I’m in a wheelchair and everything they’d say I’m at-risk. But I don’t think about that. We’re trying to live our lives as normally as possible under the guidelines of what the government has said.

Nancy, what difficulties have you faced in your life, and how have those difficulties prepared you for what you face today?

You know, I grew up in a very difficult emotional situation. My dad was an alcoholic for much of my early years, and that was a really difficult time both emotionally and financially for us growing up. But now that I’ve experienced breast cancer and then the spinal cord situation, they have been difficulties, but I almost look back at that, Joe, and think, you know, in a way, all that was difficult for me in my early years has somewhat served me well for now because this doesn’t feel as difficult as maybe those years did, and some of the things that I learned then were how to be emotionally dependent on God and also to be wise in how we deal with our finances. So I know all that sounds like a fairy tale but really when I look back on my early life, and it was really painful for me and my siblings and my mom as well, somehow or other the scripture that says “God uses all things for the good,” He has! He has in my life, and it’s not to say there aren’t difficulties at times. Of course there are. I’m human just like everybody else, but I know that all those years of hardness that I dealt with then as a much younger person has shown me how dependence on God and then opening up to people in my life that I need to talk to that can help me deal with things… and it’s not to say things now aren’t difficult, but it’s not as difficult as [it may be] for someone who hasn’t experienced the things I did growing up. And that doesn’t mean that I’m all excited that I had all that difficulty! It’s just I’ve looked at those things as things that can useful for me today.

May I ask, what is the name of the condition that requires you to be in the wheelchair?

I have transverse myelitis, and it is a spinal cord disease that… can be caused by a virus or you could have some kind of immunization that can settle in the spinal cord area, and then it just takes over the spinal cord. It shows how marvelously and wonderfully God made our bodies and then because we live in a world that is affected by sin, that sin has affected everything around us, our environment and everything, so that you’re susceptible to getting anything.

Nancy, thank you for sharing what God has used to prepare you for these times of suffering. Last question, if you were to sit down with someone from our church, maybe someone young experiencing lots of difficulties right now who doesn’t have the background that the Lord gave you, what would you encourage them to focus on? What lessons from the Lord, in addition to how He works all things for good, would you encourage them to be thinking about?

I love young people, Joe, and I love young women and men, married couples, and I look at them and recall being like them, raising children, and it’s not really easy. There is so much going on, even in the church and in the communities and everything, and I pray for the young people in our church, I pray for all of them. It’s not easy emotionally, spiritually or financially, and especially in relationships.. that can be really tough!

I would encourage them to think on a daily basis about how God will lead them through that day through the power of the Holy Spirit within them. If at the beginning of that day they sit down and have time with Him before they rush out into the world to see what’s going on and seek His guidance in His Word. Joe, I know when I pick up God’s Word… most of the time there’s something in that scripture that speaks to my day or to my life at that time that I could use. And I know better than I did when I was thirty years old, how important God in my life is. I mean every day. You have to get up every day and intentionally seek His fellowship with you that day.