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The gospel means good news! Literally. To speak of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to talk about the goodness, love, and power of God and how, through Jesus, he reached out to us in our need. It's to explain the entirety of his work and ministry that saves us from the corruption in the world, and establishes the Kingdom of God in our lives, and through our lives. 

Unfortunately many have presented the gospel as a propositional statement that you have to believe, like a few facts you need to agree with, and if you do that right, you'll go to heaven. But if you do it wrong, you'll spend eternity in hell.

The gospel is so much more powerful than that! God's love is so much more powerful than that!

In our complicated world, and our longing for simplicity, it's tempting to pick a pet verse like John 3:16 and memorize it as the gospel. But there are actually many verses that communicate the good news to us. And if we will just take time to read the scriptures, we will be renewed and refreshed by the fullness of the gospel!

In this week's teaching, I devote time to just reading the scriptures. Meditate on them as you listen.

And then, at the end, I give three statements that help me to summarize the gospel. It's such good news! May it be used for your strength and encouragement.

<TRANSCRIPT OF ABOVE VIDEO>

The gospel is not something so delicate that you have to get it just right or else you'll lose it. The gospel is not just a certain pet verse that you memorize . It's not three details that you have to have understood, or five details that you have to get just right or else it doesn't work for you. It's not something that if you accidentally get it wrong, somehow it fails for you. It's not a set of facts that you agree to. It's not any of that. It's way better than that. The gospel is something that will deliver you. It will redeem you, restore you, reconcile you in all the ways that the bad news has been bad in your life, in all the ways that the darkness has overpowered you, in all the ways that your own decisions have just put you to shame. 

The gospel is the best news. The good news is the best news that you could ever encounter and respond to.  

At the end of this, I'm going to give three statements that help me to understand it in a succinct way. It's not a replacement of scripture, it's just a way that I understand the gospel. 

Sometimes when I speak about the gospel, I find it necessary to open up our view about the gospel because some people think that they've empowered it, that they've made it bold, but they've made it so delicate that you have to get it just right or else you'll lose your salvation. Oftentimes, I feel as if I'm trying to undermine certain aspects, certain core convictions of some people who would declare the gospel as something very defined around their own niche, doctrinal understanding. And that's not to say that I think that they're entirely wrong, it's just to say that the gospel is way more powerful than just a small doctrine that we believe. 

Today I wanna read scriptures that excite me about the gospel, and at the end of this, I'm gonna give those three statements. But first I just have to read the scriptures because this is where we get the whole context. 

MATTHEW 4:17
Matthew four. In Matthew four, Jesus is beginning his ministry and it says, " From that time on, Jesus began to preach, 'Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near.'"  

That is the gospel. Jesus was a preacher and that's what he went around preaching: "Repent for the kingdom of Heaven has come near." 

JOHN 3:16
And of course the all familiar John 3:16. Now it's larger than just this verse here. There's a context to it where Jesus is telling Nicodemus, a Pharisee , if you want to enter the kingdom of Heaven, you have to be born, not just physically but spiritually. You have to be reborn. You have to be born again. And he's explaining it to Nicodemus, and we read this: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." He says, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only son. This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light. For fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." 

MATTHEW 28:18-20
After Jesus had died and was resurrected, he said this to the disciples in Matthew 28:18-20, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything [you heard me teach you,] everything I've commanded you, and surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  

MARK 16:15-16
At the end of Mark, we read the similar thing. Jesus appeared to them and he said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." 

And it goes on to say that the disciples did that. They went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.  

LUKE 24:46-49
In the end of Luke, the same sort of a message. Jesus tells them, "This is what is written. The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things," Jesus says to his disciples, "I'm going to send you what my father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."  

JOHN 20:21-23
At the end of John, Jesus says to them the same sort of thing. He says, "'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.' And with that, he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.'" Peace be with you.  

ACTS 2:17-40
And so that's what happens. In Acts 2, we read that they're together and the Holy Spirit falls on them and they begin to prophesy and speak in tongues. And then Peter has to explain what's going on. And Peter's explanation is this — and listen to the good news. Listen for the good news in this.  

He says, "'In the last days,' God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below, And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' He says, ' Fellow Israelites, listen! Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.'" He said, "'This man, Jesus, was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.'" He says, verse 32, "'God has raised this Jesus to life and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this, God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.'"  

And it says, when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and they said, "What should we do?" And Peter said, "'Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promises for you, [but it's also] for your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God calls.'" And he kept on pleading with them, "'Save yourselves from this corrupt generation!'" 

ACTS 4:12
In chapter four. Peter again is talking. He says, "'Salvation is found in no one else for, there is no other name under heaven given to mankind, by which we must be saved.'" 

ACTS 10:34-46
Acts 10. Peter is called to Cornelius's house, a Gentile, and he's called to explain the gospel — not to a Jew, but to a Gentile. And Peter begins to speak. He says, "'I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation, the one who fears him and does what is right. You know, the message God sent to the people of Israel announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened through the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit in power and how we went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen, by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.'" And we're told elsewhere that it was up to 500 people. "'He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.'" 

ACTS 13:26-39
Acts 13. Now Paul is speaking. Paul is starting to explain the gospel. And he says this, "'Fellow children of Abraham [Jews] and you God-fearing Gentiles, [non-Jews]. It is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him, they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead. And for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people. We tell you the good news, what God promised our ancestors, he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. Therefore my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.'" Everything you've ever done. "'Through him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin. A justification that you weren't able to obtain under the law of Moses." 

The gospel, the good news proclaimed by Paul. 

1 CORINTHIANS 15:2-8
As we turn to the epistles, we read in first Corinthians 15, where Paul says, "I want to remind you of the gospel that I preached to you, which you received, and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you've just believed in vain. For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas (or Peter) and then to the Twelve, and after that, he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, and so forth. 

2 TIMOTHY 1:7-11
In 2 Timothy 1, Paul writes this. " The spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord. Rather join with me in suffering for the gospel. By the power of God, he has saved us and called us to a holy life. Not because of anything we've done, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 

ROMANS 2:6-7
In Romans 2, listen to the good news. "God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good, seek glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life... This will take place on the day when God judges people's secrets through Jesus Christ as my gospel declares." 

ROMANS 10:4-13
Do you hear the good news? Romans 10:4. "Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes... This is the message concerning faith that we proclaim. If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As scripture says, 'Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.' For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him. For, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"  

The best news you can imagine. 

2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-21
2 Corinthians 5 verse 14. "Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone. The new is here. All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us this message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." Be reconciled to God. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 

2 PETER 1:3-11
2 Peter 1, " His divine power, has given us everything we need for a godly life, through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these, he has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness, and to goodness, knowledge into knowledge, self-control, into self-control, perseverance into perseverance, godliness, into godliness, mutual affection, and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they've been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters make every effort to confirm your calling and election for if you do these things, you will never stumble and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."  

I'm almost done with scripture here.  

1 JOHN 1:5-9
1 John 1. Ah. "This is the message we have heard from him. And declare to you: God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar. And his word is not in us, but I write this to you so that you will not sin, but if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the father: Jesus Christ, the righteous one. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world." 

JUDE 1:24-25
And then finally, Jude. Last two verses. " To the only God our Savior, be glory and majesty and power and authority through Jesus Christ, our Lord, before all ages now and forever more."  

We can keep on reading the stories of scripture and what we would come up with is this gospel that can't be just boiled down into one pet verse. If you are a pet verse person, I probably read one of your pet verses and I'm just saying listen to all of it, because it's not just the gospel about how you can get your sins forgiven so you can go to heaven instead of going to hell. This is the gospel of the kingdom, how you can live in right relationship with God, how you can be in the kingdom of God and all that that means.  

This is the gospel. The good news.  

 I said at the top, that I'm gonna give three statements that help me to just kind of keep all of in perspective. The last thing I would want anyone to do is just memorize these three things and say it's the gospel because the gospel is just read the scriptures and let it speak. But for me, when I do that, of course I gotta try and figure out what is it saying? And this calls me to action. It calls me to decision. And I would pray that it does to you too.  

As I understand it. Three statements.  

STATEMENT #1
God is good, loving, and powerful, and Jesus is the exact representation of his being.  

He's all good, always good, all loving, always loving, all powerful, always powerful. God is good, loving and powerful, and Jesus is the exact representation of his being. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God. God is good, loving, and powerful, and Jesus is the exact representation of his being.  

STATEMENT #2
Second statement: Humanity is idolatrous, adulterous, and powerless, and I am the exact representation of its being. This is on me. I am by nature, idolatrous, adulterous, and powerless. I'm the exact representation of humanity in that sense. 

We all have experienced that. We all are inclined to be idolatrous, to set up other things in the place of God. We are all inclined to be adulterous, to be faithless to God and to go after other lusts. And we are all powerless over these things. We are born with this weakness that is inclined to things that we decide we don't want to do. The things we say we're not gonna do, those are the things we do. And the things that we say we do want to do, those are the things that we can't do. We're powerless. Humanity is idolatrous, adulterous, and powerless, and I am the exact representation of its being. I'm owning that. I would suggest you own it too. Can you say that? 

This is the confession of our need, the confession of God: he's good, loving, and powerful, and Jesus is the exact representation of his being. The confession of our need: humanity is idolatrous, adulterous, and powerless, and I am the exact representation of its being.  

The good news.

STATEMENT #3
Third statement: the good news is that Jesus redeems, reconciles, and restores all who turn to him and put their confidence in him. I have done that, and I do that. This is the good news. This is the good news.  

Have you done that? I have and I do every day. I am right with God. I'm redeemed. I am reconciled. And I am restored. Where I was idolatrous, I have been redeemed. Where I was adulterous, I have been reconciled. Where I was powerless, I have been restored. His divine power works in me. His divine power has given me everything that I need for living a godly life, for participating in the divine nature. 

This is the gospel, the gospel of the kingdom. I pray that it encourages you. Come back to this and chew on it. Meditate on it. Be encouraged. Be strengthened to remain faithful to him. 

 If you have any comments about this or take issue with anything that I've said, go ahead and leave a comment. I'm happy to have that engagement.  

If you've never put your faith in Jesus and would like some connection around that, go to my website, rogershenk.com. Connect with me there. 

If you don't have a church we have a network of microchurches. We meet together in small groups in homes or wherever , and I believe that that would be a powerful way for you to understand the scriptures better and to learn what it is to be in Christ. 

So reach out to me at x242.net. However you reach me is fine. I'm the same person either way, but x242.net and just let me know that you're ready to find a micro church.  

These are good times because the good news is greater than the bad news. Be encouraged. Be strengthened.
​Amen.

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When I was discerning whether to step out of conventional church ministry and focus on microchurches, I read and listened to many people who were already doing it. One piece of advice was jarring: "Don't think it will be easier. It's not easier."

I knew pastoring conventional churches is hard. But it's hard like running a business. Running a business is fine, even fun. But in my experience, the business approach to church often confuses entrepreneurial enthusiasm with evangelical fervor. Love of success replaces love of neighbor. Love for "my church" is confused as love for God. The business approach to being church isn't good. It's hard where it doesn't need to be hard.

In my heart I did want something easier! But not in a lazy way. I just wanted something more reliably effective at doing the things that matter. I just wanted to strip away whatever was too much.

Now that we've done it for close to two years, it's fair to say that microchurch is, in fact, an easier way to do the essential things —  simply because we aren't trying to do non-essential things. But I've also noticed that once we take the non-essentials out of being church, non-essential things in other parts of life see their opportunity to become important. They crowd in to fill up the space, and they crowd out the essential things of being church.

It's there that we again discover our original conviction: Our flesh has a bias against the things that matter. "We have met the enemy and he is us."

I think a lot of people are attracted to microchurch for all the same reasons we were. But life keeps crowding out people's best desires to do something that's simply significant. For the same reasons that it's harder to run a conventional church, it's easier to attend a conventional church. Perhaps the only thing easier is not participating in any church. 

I think the things that make it harder to belong to a microchurch are exactly the things that make it good. So, in this week's teaching, I decided to name the things that make it hard, so that we could lean into those good, hard things. I pray that it is for your strength and encouragement as you daily decide to spend your life on things that matter. And I pray that others will be drawn from the complacency of busyness to the devotion of simplicity.

For Christ's sake.

<TRANSCRIPT OF ABOVE VIDEO>
We've been doing microchurch for almost two years now, and it's wonderful. But I want to give you five reasons not to do it. Five reasons not to do microchurch instead of what we might say is "real church." And by "real church," I mean conventional church, like you show up on a Sunday morning, you attend a service that's prepared for you and you participate. But someone else is leading the way in the worship service.  

Microchurch is different. Acts 2:42. "The believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." It says they continued to meet in the temple courts, yes, but also in each other's homes. They broke bread together. They just loved being together. And that's the core of this microchurch that we do. We meet in homes as compared to conventional church meeting in a church owned or rented space led by a pastor, preacher, song leader, the whole bit.  

FIVE REASONS TO NOT DO MICROCHURCH INSTEAD OF "REAL" CHURCH.

1. It takes more effort.
It just does. It's not easy to do microchurch. It's not. it's not as easy as someone else doing all the work where you show up for the show, you show up and someone else has prepared a message, someone else has selected songs. It's not as easy. It takes more effort to do microchurch.  

2. There's no show.
There's no show. After 22 years for me being on stage in conventional ministry, after that first time that we actually held church in our home, I was like, man, that was awful. Like, there was no feedback. There was no moment where I just had the crowd in my hands because I wasn't preaching a sermon. There was no moment where, man, that song really landed because we actually didn't even sing a song. There was no show, there was no stage. There was nothing to inspire. 

But as I processed it and as I listened, the people who were a part of it said it was better than the show. So, if you like the show, yeah, microchurch has no show. There's no stage. There's no show.  

3. You can't get lost in the crowd.
There's no anonymity. I think that's self-explanatory.  

4. There's no motivational speaker to get you fired up or to get you beat down.
There's not a motivational speaker. You might be inspired by the presence of other people who have a gift, but there's not a motivational speaker. That's a shift. If you need a motivational speaker to get you fired up, to get you beat down, someone that you just follow and you hang on their every word. Yeah. You don't get that in microchurch. You just get the scriptures.  

We open the scriptures, we talk them through. Now in my experience, the scriptures are way more motivating than someone like myself saying, here's something I thought you needed to hear today.  

5. It's harder to skip.
It does create accountability. You can't just wake up and decide whether you're going to church today. We're planning how many people are showing up for a meal, and the expectation is we all show up. So if you're not going to, we try to communicate ahead of time. It's harder to skip. You can't just attend or not attend . It's a commitment.  

Those are five reasons not to do microchurch instead of conventional church.  

But I also realize these days many people who are full on believers have left church and they've left fellowship and they experience church by watching a show online with a motivational speaker. They listen to music that's been recorded and made available to them, and they're out of fellowship. And they open their scriptures every morning or whatever. They're in the faith, but they have no fellowship. And yeah, that's easier.  

FIVE REASONS TO NOT DO MICROCHURCH INSTEAD OF NO CHURCH.

1. It takes devotion.
It does take devotion to do microchurch. It's a commitment. It'll call your bluff. It does take devotion.  

2. It requires input.
It's a conversation. It's not just scrolling and liking and sharing memes and things. And it's not just reading something thoughtful and doing a prayer journal. I think those are beautiful things. But you show up and, not everyone always talks but, it does require input. You are there as one of six or eight or 10 or 12 people and you're supposed to bring something.  

3. It creates faith friendships.
It creates faith relationships. Imagine taking the friendships that you have right now that are based in a common interest, and adding faith as not just a common interest, but a common goal and desire. It changes how you do relationship that way. And so, if that's not a good thing, don't do microchurch because it does create faith relationships.  

4. It doesn't feel safe.
It's not always safe, it's just not. We do our best to create safe spaces and in my experience, I don't know of time that it hasn't been safe, in a true sense. But it doesn't always feel safe. You might be asked to share something. You might be asked, "What tension does this create for you?" And it might be different than something it creates for someone else. Or you might find yourself in a spot where you have to ask for prayer for something that feels vulnerable to you.

And of course, in our setting, we don't force anything unsafe. Of course not. Like we do it well. We do it wisely. But if you're looking for just the safety of a bubble wrap around you, where you don't get to know people and you have been hurt by fellowship and things like that, yeah, this won't feel safe to you. It is safe, but it doesn't feel safe.  

5. It will challenge you.
It'll challenge you.  

To open up the scriptures and go through them verse by verse, asking questions of the text, asking questions of the apostles who wrote them , seeking to understand where it even challenges your prior understanding, and to be in conversation with people who are seeking the same thing and doing it in a communal setting. It'll challenge you. All the above. For all the reasons why you shouldn't do microchurch, it will challenge you.  

And so actually I would say those are 10 reasons why you should do microchurch. Those are 10 reasons to do microchurch.  

1. It takes more effort.  
2. There's not a show.  
3. You can't get lost in the crowd. 
4. There's no motivational speaker to get you fired up or beaten down.  
5. It's harder to skip.  
6. It takes devotion.  
7. It requires input.  
8. It creates faith relationships.  
9. It's not always safe.  
10. And it will challenge you.  

I think those are good reasons to do it.  

I believe it's better. That's not to say that conventional church is bad. I'm helping a church right now with conventional church, leading worship. And as I say, the heart of the believer wants to be wherever the believers are gathered, and so I don't care where that is. It can be a huge crowd. It can be a small crowd. My heart just wants to gather where believers are gathered.  

And so there's nothing wrong with meeting in conventional settings, but I do believe this is better. 

In the conventional setting, you go to "real church" and then, if you want, you can supplement that with a small group setting. The way we look at microchurch, that smaller setting is real church. And if you want, you can supplement that with a larger gathering.  

So I actually do believe it is better for all the reasons why you shouldn't do it. All the things that make it hard. It is better. Such is the case with so many things in life, that it's the things that are worth it that are actually not always the easiest.  

I also believe that we may one day have this as our only option. And if we do face persecution, which Jesus said we would, I believe the microchurch model — the network of microchurches where people are in close relationship with each other, and then with other people from other microchurches — that spread out network of microchurches, I think, will survive whatever the enemy would throw at it. And not just survive, but thrive. I believe it's better. 

If you're interested in joining a microchurch, I'd love to talk to you. I'll put a link in the description below. Let's talk. Be encouraged. I believe that if you put yourself into this sort of a setting, you will grow in your faith. If you've found yourself disillusioned with church, this is what you've been looking for. It's what we were looking for. 

So reach out, be encouraged. Even if there are 10 reasons why you shouldn't do microchurch, those are 10 reasons why you should do microchurch.  

Part of my call is to strengthen and encourage anyone who's interested in this. And so reach out, please, wherever you live, reach out. Oh man, these are exciting times.

​Amen.  

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Sometimes just reading scripture verbatim can challenge our tightly held doctrinal positions. And when it does, there should be joy in it! We shouldn't shrink back from that!  The principle of bible study is to let it say what it says, and not make it say what it doesn't say. Even if it challenges long-held beliefs. 

I've noticed this with what we think of as "the gospel." As a preacher of the gospel I have often gone to the scriptures to find (yet again) the succinct, once-and-for-all articulation of "the gospel" and, while I do find articulations of it, the apostles never settled on one final "this is how you explain the gospel" way to say it. We have our pet verses like John 3:16, or "the Roman Road," or whatever, but they just kept speaking the good news of Jesus and his kingdom, bringing its light into darkened hearts in whatever context they found themselves.

Five hundred years ago the context was dark, with a polluted gospel that said we could buy God's forgiveness, and various other heresies. The correction of that was a powerful and freeing, boiled-down view that emphasized the verses that say salvation is "by grace through faith."

This was a necessary corrective! But it de-emphasized the verses that say explicitly that God does tie reward to how we live.

We have difficulty holding the two thoughts in tension, especially when theology has run amuck on one of the thoughts. So now, when we read verses like Romans 2:6-8, it almost feels heretical. "God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger."

In our X242 context, as we devote ourselves to the apostles' teaching, reading the scriptures verse by verse, it gives us a wonderful opportunity to open our hearts again to the entire conversation.

That's what I hope to stimulate with this week's teaching. I'm not arguing against the faith-only, or grace-not-works view of the gospel, as much as opening our minds to hear all that the scriptures say about the gospel. In my experience, this conversation feels very threatening to people. But that tells me that we need to have it if we are to be mature in our thinking. We need to let the scriptures speak all that they speak!

(Watch and listen above while reading below.)

<TRANSCRIPT BELOW>

If you're in the church, and especially if you're a teacher, there's pressure to teach certain things and to not teach certain things. If you pay attention to what people tell you the Bible says, you will preach one thing. If you simply read the Bible and teach the Bible, willing to simply read for people what the Bible says and explain the applications of that, you'll end up teaching and preaching different things. 

One of these things has to do with the gospel itself. And I say this with respect and with gentleness to those who would come against some of the things I say. But today I just want to read for you what I think of as a different gospel, and I'm suggesting it's the complete gospel.  

This is a continuation of my thought that I introduced several months ago on disentangling. And it really is what defines my interaction with the text and teaching these days — disentangling the faith from a whole bunch of things that we've woven into our understanding of the scriptures, of the faith.  

Some of it is very good thought, good thoughts that are speculative and some of those speculations may be spot on. They're speculative, but we've allowed them to nestle in as the only possible reading of a text, or understanding of a theological or doctrinal position. And it's time to disentangle that. It's time to pull out those threads, not because they're always wrong, but just so that we can understand what is the essential meaning of the text and what it essentially means to follow Jesus. 

And I suppose you could say whether we should follow Jesus, but I'm way down the path on that one. For me, this is about following Jesus as revealed in the scriptures, and ultimately it lands at a very orthodox understanding of the essentials, and a generous understanding and interaction with the non-essentials — which allows us to have conversation about things that are not essential where we disagree, and allows us to have unity about things where we do agree.  

Now I cringe a little bit to talk about the forgotten gospel or the other gospel because it reminds me of, "Oh, we found, Peter's gospel," or "We found Philip's gospel," or whatever . And I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the forgotten aspect of what the scriptures describe as the gospel. And by gospel I mean the "euangelion", the good news that has been preached and is still to be preached. 

So today, I just want to read other things that the scriptures say that might not line up — no, that do not line up with a very narrow understanding of what the gospel means.  

Now, when I say narrow understanding, yes, I believe that it's a narrow road. I'm not talking about whether the path is wide to get into the kingdom. I believe it's narrow because that's what scripture says. But I'm talking about a narrow understanding of what the gospel is.  

Now, I recently had a conversation — what I felt was a challenge — but it became this very respectful dialogue. There was a distinction that we made between the gospel of salvation and the gospel of the kingdom. And I would be one who says the gospel of the kingdom. I'm not inclined to put labels on it, but it just is a way to speak of that.  

And so the popular gospel that many Christians in the evangelical world, the popular gospel would be that Jesus came to save us, and that it's about getting saved. And many people would say that means going to heaven when you die, escaping God's wrath.  

I totally believe those are a thing. Like, I believe that's God's desire to save us from sin. But not just from our sins, but to save us from sin. I believe it's God's desire to bring us into fellowship with Him, to reconcile us to himself. I believe that wrath will be visited by God on everyone who chooses to reject him. I believe that. That's what scripture says.  

But the emphasis on simply grace — I know that this scares some of you. It doesn't scare me at all, but I know that it scares some of you because you think that I'm saying, oh, we need to work our way into God's favor. 

I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that.  

God's grace is more than just an easy forgiveness mechanism. God's grace is his favor on us. God's grace is his love toward us. God's grace is his guidance. It's his discipline. It's his wisdom. That's God's grace toward us. His grace is generous toward us.  

And so it can't just be boiled down into this concept that we are saved by not having to do anything except simply believe. I don't believe we find that in scripture. We find seeds of it. It's not a totally foreign thought to scripture, but it's incomplete.  

And so today what I want to do is simply read scriptures that say more than, and possibly the opposite of what some of us have been taught and continue to argue. 

Now my challenge to you is as you read the scriptures, let them say what they say and don't dismiss the things that don't fit in with what you've already decided that the gospel is.  

Let them say what they say. And when they say something other than what you — now, this is a how to study the Bible kind of moment — when the scriptures say something other than what you've been taught, ask yourself: Where did I learn what I believe? Who first told me that? How many people have told me that? And there is something to be said totally about learning within the community. So I'm not dismissing that. But ask, Okay, who first taught me this? Where did I first learn this and why did it sound reasonable to me? What other impressions was I under? And I'm talking about when you're reading scripture and it says something other than what you've been taught. 

So ask yourself that question. Who first taught me this?  

[Then] ask yourself, Where is it written? Where else is what I understand written? And ask yourself, am I perhaps going beyond what is written in my understanding?  

And so this is this desire to disentangle the faith and to come back to a simpler understanding of things. That's not simplistic, but simply saying, this is what scripture says, so this is what I believe.  

These won't necessarily be in chronological or biblical order. These are [just] what come to me as I study the concept. 

Matthew 16:24-27
"Then Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disci..." — now just ask yourself, is this a part of the gospel that you have come to believe? "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." They must do it. They must follow him. "For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the son of man..." — here's verse 27 — "for the son of man is going to come in his father's glory with his angels and [then] he will reward each person according to what they have done."  

Now that doesn't fly for some of us who say, "Uhoh! That's works! That's works righteousness!"  

Let the scriptures say what they say.  

Matthew 7:21.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,'" — calls out to me, "Lord" — and I'm not gonna read the other things right now that say, "Those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." That's part of our understanding. But here, Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven." 

Reading on. "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?'" Did we not have the evidence that we were filled with the Holy Spirit, that we were operating in the things of God? Didn't we? And Jesus says, "Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers."  

So start piecing this together. The Lord will reward those, each of us, according to what we have done. Those who do evil: "Away from me. I don't know you," regardless of whether you're operating in miracles and signs and things like that.  

Matthew 25:31-46.
Little bit longer, but listen. Jesus is talking again.

"When the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 

"Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come you who are blessed by my father. Take your inheritance. The kingdom prepared for you. Since the creation of the world for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me.'  

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or imprison and go to visit you?'  

"And the king will reply, 'Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you did for me.'  

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. I needed clothes and you did not clothe me. I was sick and imprison, and you did not look after me.'  

"And they also will answer, 'Lord, when do we see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or imprisoned and did not help you?' 

"And he will reply, 'Truly, I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'  

"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."  

Does it fit your understanding of the gospel?  

Romans 2:5-10, 16
"But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good, seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil... but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good..." Jumping to verse 16, "This will take place on the day when God judges people's secrets through Jesus Christ as my gospel declares."  

Does this align with your understanding of the gospel where we simply call out to Jesus and he saves us, and after that there's nothing that we have to do, or that how we live after that bears no consequence in whether we are saved? 

Now for me to even say that causes me some distress because , like I say, I do believe that God's forgiveness is free. It's total. We call out to Jesus in confession of our sinfulness, in confession of our waywardness, and I'm talking about that core sin in each of our lives. It's the same thing as when Adam and Eve decided for themselves what's right and wrong, that they would be the judge of themselves. They would be the judge of right and wrong, of good and evil. When they decided that they would be the Lord of their own kingdom, it's the same sin that we live with. 

It's the same sin that I live with, that desire to decide for myself. I'm talking in the flesh. I've been released from it, but that desire to decide for myself what's right and wrong. " God, I know you said that [but] I'm gonna do it this way. I think I know better." That sin. When we confess that to Jesus and say, "Lord, I'm done living for myself. Lord, I'm sorry." He forgives us. He comes and wraps us up in his arms. He says, "My child, welcome home. I forgive you totally and freely. I paid your debt."  

Like, I believe that. But I also believe this, that God will reward each person according to what they have done; to those who by persistence in doing good, seek, honor and glory and immortality he'll give eternal life. But to those who are self-seeking, and who reject the truth and follow evil, eternal punishment, eternal death.  

Does it cause you stress? Does it open your eyes to possibly a different way of seeing the gospel of the kingdom to live out the things of God? 

2 Corinthians 5:10
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." 

Does it fit? Does it add to your understanding? 

Ephesians 6:8
Again, pulling this out of context. You can read it. "The Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do."  

Ephesians 5:3-7
And chapter five, verses three and following. "But among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality or of any kind of impurity or of greed because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather there should be thanksgiving. For of this, you can be sure: no immoral, impure, or greedy person — such a person is an idolator — no immoral, impure, or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of such things, God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them." 

I'm not saying that the gospel of grace only, or of simple grace — call out "Jesus," say, "Lord, Lord," and he will save you — I'm not saying with finality that those are empty words that deceive. But I do believe that many have been deceived into believing that if you pray a prayer of salvation, everything's done.  

And it's because of our fear of setting ourselves back up in the kingdom of self, like we're gonna work our way back to God. And that's not what scripture is talking about. Scripture is saying, live a dependent, a surrendered life to God. And live it out choosing good and rejecting evil. Do that every single day because that actually bears consequence on eternity. 

So it's our fear of putting ourselves back on the throne, we might say, that has us saying, but if it's not just grace, if it has to do with how I live, aren't I then earning my way to heaven? No. No. I understand the fear. Don't put yourself back on the throne. Don't think you can be good enough to get to heaven.  

But let scripture say what it says: live a good life. Reject evil. Choose good and what's honorable. Reject evil and what's dishonorable. And know that God will reward your decisions in that. That's what scripture says. So stop thinking, "I prayed the prayer. The blood of Jesus covers me and all my sins, even as I continue to keep on doing them." Like, stop doing that to yourself. 

Those are empty words that deceive. It matters how you live. It matters the choices you make. If you call out "Jesus" and yet you persist in sin saying, "Well, I know this is wrong, but it's just kind of what I need to do right now." Whether that's debauchery or drunkenness or whatever that is, if you continue to do that, "Do not be deceived. Such a person has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." God will reward each of us according to what we have done. " For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It's shameful even to mention what the disobedient doing secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, and everything that is illuminated becomes a light." 

That's for you. That's for you. Have you put your faith in Jesus, live as illuminated. Reject the darkness. Choose the light.  

1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
"Each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans who do not know God... The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us" — talking to brothers and sisters in the faith — "God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being, but God, the very God who gives you His Holy Spirit." 

If that doesn't fit your understanding of the gospel and you're choosing to live a life that does not reflect the glory of God, the goodness of God, that's not living in the light, you should tremble a bit. It's time to shake. 

But listen to this.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 
"God did not appoint us to suffer wrath , but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep," like living or dead in the body, "we may live together with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up just as in fact you are doing."  

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10
"You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead — Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath." 

When Jude wrote his book, he started out saying, "I wanted to write to you about one thing, but now that I'm writing, I gotta write about something else. I was hoping to write to you, to encourage you to talk about the mutual faith that we share. But man, I've gotta write this, and it's a hard word."  

That's what my heart feels often. If I'm talking to you face to face, I'm going to speak about God's love towards you, and how generous he is towards you in his thoughts and affections, how gracious he is towards you, how he is quick to forgive your sins. He's slow to get angry with you. I'm going to tell you all those things because I totally believe it. And whenever I speak to someone, it's in my heart to go that direction.  

But what I see in the church is an entangled understanding of the gospel that doesn't allow the scriptures to fully speak into our lives what they speak. When we read the scriptures, they say it does matter how you live. It does matter how you live. Yes, Jesus took care of everything, but it still matters how you live.  

Jesus will one day judge everyone according to what they have done. According to what we have done. He will reward us according to what we have done.  

If this is a word of discouragement to you, repent, turn from whatever is not earning a reward that you would want to get.  

If it's a word of encouragement to you to keep on fighting the good fight, to keep on choosing well and choosing good, then be encouraged. Be strengthened. There is an eternal reward. There is a heavenly kingdom that awaits all of us who by persistence in doing good, and choosing what's honorable — and who by persistence in loving the people around us as if they are Jesus himself, who by persistence in living a righteous life, choose to honor Jesus — there is a reward for each of us, and we will receive it. We will be part of the eternal kingdom.  

But for those who believe that they can pray a prayer and then choose what's evil — choose to live there — I want you to be discouraged from that course of action. You should tremble. Judgment is coming. God's wrath is coming. God's wrath is coming on the wrong doer. Trust God. Trust Jesus. Trust his love. He is good and loving and powerful. Trust him with your life and then live as if you trust him in all things. 

Whoever would follow him, must deny themselves. Take up the cross daily. Follow him. 

This is the word of the Lord. I welcome your comments below.

​Amen. 

 Click above image to watch

In Romans 12 we read, "Keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord."

When there's a revival, it's tempting to measure "spiritual fervor" by what we might call ecstatic experience. Ecstasy in the Spirit is beautiful — that overwhelming joy that we experience when we meet God in a profound way, or are renewed in a time of dryness. We burn bright, we feel the heat deep within. It interrupts life, as it should. But then there is also such a thing as quiet intimacy in the Spirit that we experience in the dailies of life. As Keith from one of our churches said to me last week, "An intimate walk with God is unsurpassed by anything in this life." Amen.

I've long thought about this as four stages of a fire. It's helpful to think of "revival" as a bonfire. It serves a wonderful purpose of burning off things that don't belong. But we don't live in the bonfire. We don't do work with the bonfire. In fact, there's a stage that precedes the bonfire, and one that should follow it, and another that too often follows that. 

In this week's teaching I explain all four stages of fire. This is important, not only to our own personal spiritual lives, but to the work of the church. May it be for your encouragement as you posture yourself humbly before the Lord, ready to repent quickly of anything that needs to be burned off, while content to burn more slowly, glowing evenly throughout the daily responsibilities of life.

​(Watch above while reading below.)

<TRANSCRIPT BELOW>

There's a story of a fourth century Christian man who went to an older, well, venerated Christian, and said, "How can I get closer to God? I say, my daily prayers. I'm in scripture. I go to church." However, he would've said it then. And he said, "What can I do?" And the old man stood up and lifted his hands to heaven, and all ten fingers became like flames, like lamps of fire. And the old man said, "If you want, you could become all flame." 

I don't know if that literally happened, but I do believe crazier things have happened. I believe that in Luke 3:16, John said that Jesus would come and baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. I believe that in Acts 2 that happened, that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers as they were meeting in that upper room. And there was a sound of like a blowing wind. And then there was these flames of fire, tongues of fire that came down and rested on each head. And they began to speak in different languages. It was this evidence that the Holy Spirit had been given in a new way. I believe that.  

In my life there was a time that I called out "Jesus" — in my brokenness I called out "Jesus" and I fell to the floor and the Holy Spirit washed over me and transformed me. And I was like he lit my heart on fire. And my heart became all flame that day and it transformed me. No one would've said, my fingers were glowing, but I think the people around me would've said my heart was on fire. It transformed me. I believe things like that happen.  

Right now. We have Asbury Revival, and I think it's like a bonfire. It's like the people are watching these students calling out "Jesus." They're falling on the floor, and the Holy Spirit is just filling them and renewing them, and it's like a bonfire. It's an incredible — and I mean this with respect — it's a spectacle, an incredible demonstration of what God does when we call out to him. But it's a bonfire moment. The bonfire moment is not where we live. Sorry, I got a dog right here. I'll try it this way.  

The bonfire moments are impressive, but it's not where we live. And so I've thought of it this way. It's an analogy of a fire. We have the dry wood that's stacked up in a way that can catch fire. And that dry wood is the conviction of sin. It's all the sins and the silliness that we live with (and the terrible sins too, not just making light of it.) But it's these things that we live with. It's the convictions of sin, of worthless things. They get stacked up like dry wood, dead, ready to burn, and it gets stacked up in our life, and that might come through hearing the gospel preached. 

In the Great Awakening of the 1700s, they articulated what they had seen. They observed that there was conviction, followed by conversion, followed by consolation. And the conviction was where, through prayer and the scripture and preaching, they became aware of their sins. The conversion was when they turned their life over to the Lord. And they poured themselves out to God. The consolation was when the Holy Spirit gave them assurance of their salvation through an experience of God. And also just this sense of love and joy and peace: the consolation of the Holy Spirit. So conviction, conversion, consolation which I believe we're seeing now.  

In the dry wood moment, it's that conviction, that sense that I have things in my life that aren't right. And that might be through hearing preaching. It might be through broken relationships. It might be through opening up scripture. It might be through prayer. It might just be that God's doing something in your life and you're saying this can't continue.  

Then there's this bonfire moment when the Holy Spirit for some reason just sparks it. It's like you hear the gospel that one time or you become aware of your need in a special way, and it just sparks the dry wood and it just becomes a bonfire. It's an impressive spectacle. People come running. It is so hot, so bright. It's a bonfire. It's cool, and I think we're seeing that in this revival.  

But you don't live in the bonfire. You don't do work with a bonfire. The only thing a bonfire does is it burns up the dry stuff and makes a spectacle a cool spectacle. But that's all it does.  

Where you really start to get to work is with the glowing embers. When it dies down and becomes a campfire and then dies down a little bit more, and you can stick a burger over it. You can cook on it. And I believe that's where God wants us to live. 

Not in the bonfire moments. They're great, but we live with the glowing embers where we can actually cook over it. The glowing embers is the life in Christ. It's the life of the Holy Spirit that wakes up in the morning and devotes ourselves. It's the glowing embers that continues what we could call the spiritual disciplines — deciding that I'm going to devote myself to certain things. The dedications where there's no bonfire that anyone would pay special attention. We just do the things in the privacy of our own home. And this is my prayer is that as the bonfire becomes the glowing embers, that we don't lament the loss of a bonfire, but that we celebrate the glowing embers and seriously get to work.  

There's a fourth stage, which is the dying coals. And sometimes we can see this in believers who've been around for a long time or who have disconnected from fellowship with other believers. A coal by itself just dies. 

My prayer is that some of us who have started to die — like we're just the dying coals, our faith has grown cold, we're not in fellowship with others — that we would come back and, if there's sin in our lives, come back to the bonfire. Let the bonfire ignite. That's my prayer over you. Let the bonfire ignite and burn up all that junk, the worthless stuff. So you become glowing embers again. The glowing embers happen in fellowship. If you've pulled away from fellowship, you've got to move toward it. Move toward God, move toward other believers. Lay your sins out before him. Let him burn them up. Let him burn them up. 

Be encouraged.
​Amen.  

Click above image to watch

Almost two weeks ago the chapel service at Asbury University broke out into repentance and prayer, and it kept going. Immediately people starting calling it a revival. And people like myself starting weighing in on whether it was a revival or not. 

I didn't. Not right away.

I just think it behooves us to go slow in declaring such things. The pressure is great to judge quickly and decisively. This world rewards that. But quick judgment isn't usually our best discernment.

As I've said elsewhere, I believe there is such a thing as holy skepticism and cynicism — the kind that is devoted to honoring God by pursuing truth and understanding with hope, but with humility that suspends judgment, even at the risk of being misunderstood. I mean, most people think of "skepticism" as "suspicion" or "distrust" or "doubt." It can be coupled with that, but it's not necessarily that. For me it's just a decision to be thoughtful in declaring judgment one way or the other about something.

So I chose to just watch and observe. I watched the sermon that kicked it off. I watched documentaries of past revivals at the same location. I watched the videos of what's going on there. And then I recorded my thoughts about it. For whoever is watching and listening.

I'm honored and humbled to have your attention.

​(Watch above while reading below.)

<TRANSCRIPT BELOW>

The temptation is to weigh in quickly. Whenever someone says there's revival, we want to weigh in quickly and help to decide what's going on. I had the same impulse, the same instinct when I heard about the Asbury Revival because people right away were saying revival has hit, and the evidence that they were giving was that chapel went long and it shows no sign of stopping. That was the evidence.  

And I wanted to know, okay, what are they talking about? Is it an unusually responsive worship service that keeps on going or is it something else?  

As I think through revival, revival is bringing back to life something that has died. That's the best way to think of revival. Now, looking through scripture, you don't have revivals, not by that language, but you do have an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We see it in Acts 2, of course. We see it in different places. And you see it in the Old Testament, you see where God works with his people to bring them to a special sensitivity to his working. And it comes through repentance, a laying down of my life for the Lord. And it comes through all sorts of demonstrations of that repentance.  

So when I heard about Revival, "revival has broken out," I wanted to know, okay, are we talking about worship or are we talking about repentance? 

I have said for the last couple years, revival is coming. But I also said, it won't be the revival of hype and hubris. It won't be the revival of big concert worship services with motivational speakers. It won't be that. And it won't be the revitalization of institutions, even small institutions like churches. And it won't be the restoration of America to Christian values only. Like if that happens, that's a good thing, obviously, but that's not gonna be what revival is. It won't be who wins the presidency and all that.  

I said, revival is coming, but it's not going to be the revival of hype and hubris. It's going to be the revival of self denial and my willingness to lay down my life, lay it down, to lay down my life in service for and surrender to and submission to Jesus. The willingness to lay down my life in love for Jesus, for my brother and sister, and even for my enemy.  

That's what revival will look like. That's what I said a couple years ago — a year and a half ago probably I said it the first time publicly. And so I was looking at this Asbury revival and I think that we all — if you listen to the influencers, the social media and all that — everyone has to say it is or it isn't of God. And I just think it behooves us to go slow on it. Why do we have to know right away? Why can't we just watch? Why can't we just observe? And that's what I've been doing.  

I'll tell you my first instinct these days, like I've taught here, my first instinct is skepticism and cynicism about human nature and never cynicism about God. 

So God can do this, absolutely. But my first thought was, okay, are we calling something revival because we so much want it to be revival or is it really revival? And just knowing human nature tends to rush in and declare things that aren't necessarily.  

And so I withheld judgment. I suspended judgment. I looked openly. I called out my own cynicisms that bumped over into negative cynicisms. And as I've looked at it I've found joy that God is really doing something.  

The marks of it — ironically, there's not people like me leading the thing. There's not great preachers. If you watch the sermon that started it off, it's a classic bad sermon. Sorry whoever you are. But the cool thing is the guy started off by saying — and throughout it said — I don't want you to remember me. So I'm not even saying his name (even though I remember that it's Zach). 

And the music. Well, it's like, not great. Like there's not people who have made a name for themselves by being great presenters or great worship people, and all that, it's just God doing something. And that is cool. That is one indication that God is doing it, and it's not just another fabrication of us. 

So part of my understanding of this is that, I've led worship thousands of times — two or three thousand services, I don't know. I've led worship way more than I can count, for close to 30 years. And I've preached more sermons than I can remember. And I know what it is — now I'm not saying this with cynicism. I'm saying this from a behind the scenes perspective. 

Please hear me. In the same way that my wife can bake in a way that causes me to feel emotions. I can make music in a way that causes people to feel emotions. That doesn't make it bad. In fact, the church is saying to the worship musicians, please help us feel something that we are perhaps too inhibited to feel on our own. Please help us feel something. And so I believe that the music can do that, and we can actually give our attention to things as musicians. We can actually create services that cause the church to feel and respond and become especially attentive to God and what he would have us do. And that's not bad. And so I know what it is to do that.  

I also know what it is to stand in front of a big crowd and talk to them where you could hear a pin drop, like they're just hanging on every word. And I know what it is to get a crowd to all shout hallelujah. I know what it is to get a crowd to all get on their knees and pray. I know what it is to get people to come forward. Like I know what that is. I'm talking from behind the scenes. There is a thoughtfulness to it that doesn't make it wrong. It makes it good. It makes someone a good speaker. It's like we don't show up to people who haven't formed their thoughts or don't know how to make a persuasive case. Why would we listen to them?  

And so from that, from the behind the scenes thing, when I hear that there's a revival, I go, is this just a really good music service where we're singing the prayers to God? And that's great. It's my prayer every time I lead in worship. It's like, "Please, Lord, cause people to respond to you."  

And so is it just a prolonged example of what thousands of churches experience every Sunday? Is that all it is? Or is it something else? And I wanted to know, is it just someone who, man, he's got a gift to present in a compelling way to motivate? Is it just that?  

And as I have looked at it, it's not that. So it's this revival, not of hype and hubris, but a revival of self denial. And a willingness to lay down my life for the Lord, for my brother and sister, and even for my enemy. And I believe this is the love of God being poured out onto, and out through us.  

Now here's my prayer. It's not gonna go on forever. This service at some point, for some reason, it won't be going anymore. It's cool that it is going. It's just that's not where you live.  

My prayer is that the same emphasis, the same attentiveness, the same sense of God's presence, the same desire to be poured out before God will move into the living room. That it'll exist where we make our decisions about how we talk to our family, how we treat each other, and what we put on the TV, and how we entertain ourselves. And all the things that we do when we're in the privacy of our home. The escapes, the habits.  

My prayer is that there will be a great purification in our hearts as we lay down our lives, and that it'll be in the living room. And my prayer is that whether people continue to gather in large groups or not — like, I think that can be a beautiful thing — but my prayer is that all across the world, we will see fellowships, house fellowships, people gathering together, just gathering to share a common meal, to open scripture, just to let it speak to them, ask questions of it, to pray together, and to love each other in genuine fellowship. Ah, oh Lord, please.  

This is my prayer that this revival will break out into that. Not because I have any stake in it. It's what I'm giving my life to these days, but not because I have a stake in it, but because I believe that will be the great witness — not to build new churches, not to throw great concerts, not to grow empires , but rather to become people of the Holy Spirit, people of the Word, people who love God with all we are and love our neighbor with all we have.  

Oh Lord, may that be — may that be the fruit of this revival.

​Amen.
​

​Click above image to watch

In last week's teaching on forgiveness, I read a parable from Matthew 18 where the king forgives a man, then that man refuses to forgive another man, so the king "unforgives" the first man. And Jesus says that's how God will treat you if you don't forgive your brother or sister from your heart.

If that's not jarring, we’re not paying attention.

And if that doesn’t create tension, we’re not thinking. Because doesn’t it contradict what we've been taught about forgiveness? Is it not true that our sins are separated from us "as far as the east is from the west?" Will God really "unforgive" us if we don't forgive someone else?

You might not like my answer. But I think it's the best answer.

< BELOW IS A TRANSCRIPT OF THE VIDEO ABOVE > 

Will God really unforgive you if you don't forgive someone else? Because it sounds like that's the case. But I don't think we really believe this. I want to talk about how to really understand it.  

Last week we read Matthew 18, where Jesus tells this made up story, a parable, a made up story in order to make a point. And in this story he talks about a king who wants to settle accounts with his servants and he calls them in and one comes in and owes, like in our terms, three or four billion dollars to the king. And the king says, "Pay it up." And the guy says, "Be patient with me. I'll pay it all back." And the servant's master took pity on him. The king took pity on him, canceled the debt, and let him go.  

But then that servant went out and found another servant who owed him like $10,000 in our terms, and said, "Pay me back." And that servant said the same thing: "Have patience, I'll pay it back." And the servant who had been forgiven the great debt said, "No!" And threw him into jail until he could pay back everything.  

And when the other servants saw it had happened, they were indignant. They went to the king and told him, and he was angry. And he went back to that first servant and he said, "'You wicked servant. I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?' And then, in anger. the master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed." 

And then Jesus says this: "This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart."  

I don't think we believe that.

Maybe Jesus is just using hyperbole. He's just exaggerating it. Just trying to get our attention so that we can be scared and then go, "No, just kidding. I'll forgive anything. You don't need to worry about it." Like we think that there's something about that, that is not true because it doesn't line up with some other things that we've come to believe about the gospel. That "if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just, and he will forgive us our sins." Absolutely true. But if we don't forgive someone else, he'll unforgiven our sins. That causes me tension. It should cause you tension. If you haven't ever thought that through.  

Will God really unforgive you if you refuse to forgive your brother or sister? 

In the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, "Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. For if you forgive other people, when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." 

Is that true? Is it true? 

Matthew 7:1-2. "Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."  

Do we believe that?  

Luke 6:36-38. "Be merciful. Just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven, give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured [out] to you."  

Do we believe that?  

James 2:13. "Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment."

Do we believe that?  

So if we went to Jesus and asked him the question, "Will God really unforgive me if I refuse to forgive someone else," I believe Jesus would turn the question around and give it right back to us: "Will you really refuse — will you really refuse to forgive someone else when God has forgiven you?"  

In other words, can someone who refuses to forgive someone else really make a heartfelt appeal for forgiveness? Can someone who refuses to show mercy to their brother or sister really make a heartfelt appeal for mercy? Is that really a possibility? Will you really refuse to forgive your brother or sister when God has forgiven you so freely? So patiently? So generously? 

As I was looking at this and reading through the scriptures around this, I came across this series of thoughts in John's first epistle, first John, and it's talking about love. And I think as we listen to how he writes about love, it adds some understanding to how we can think about forgiveness. Because it's filled with just as many hard sayings, things that I would say, I don't think you really believe. I don't think we really believe it because it doesn't nestle in nice with our evangelical gospel — not saying that gospel is wrong, I'm just saying it doesn't nestle in nice with it. It doesn't play nicely with all of our doctrinal nuances.  

If we read First John, we read things like this: 1 John 2:9. "Anyone who claims to be in the light, but hates a brother or a sister, is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them." 

1 John 3:10. "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother or sister. For this is the message you heard from the beginning, we should love one another." 

1 John 3:14. "We know that we have passed from death to life because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer" — a taker of life — "and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need, but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth. This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence." 

1 John 4:7. "Dear friends, let us love one another. For love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love, does not know God because God is love... This is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another... if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us... God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world, we are like Jesus... We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."  

As I reflect on this, it applies to the whole topic of forgiveness, of mercy, of love. It's your choice. You can choose to live without love. You can choose to live without mercy. You can choose to live without forgiveness. It's your choice.  

But if you choose to live without love, you will live without love. If you choose to live without mercy, you will live without mercy. If you choose to live without forgiveness, you will live without forgiveness. It's your choice.  

But it is your choice. You could choose to live with love. And if you do, you will live with love. You could choose to live with mercy. And if you do, you will be one who lives with mercy. You could choose to live with forgiveness. And you will be one who lives with forgiveness. It's your choice. It's your choice. 

So if we ask the question again, "Will God really unforgive you if you refuse to forgive someone else," and if we let Jesus turn the question, "Will you really refuse to forgive someone after God has forgiven you," we can say this: If you don't step out of your sin, you are still in your sin — be that lovelessness, hatred, mercilessness, harsh judgment, bitterness, revenge, lack of forgiveness, whatever the sin is — if you don't step out of your sin, you are still in your sin. You are still in the dark. You are not in the light. You are not in Christ. You are still in your sin. 

And yet. Yet.

There is hope because with God turning from sin is always just a momentary flip. A decision: I'm going this direction, I'm going to repent. I'm going to go this direction. I'm no longer going to engage in the sin. I'm no longer going to cherish revenge. I'm no longer going to replay the bitterness. I'm no longer going to hold this over that person's head. Today, right now, in this moment, I turn from that. I confess it as sin. I repent from it. Even if it's difficult.  

Even if I catch myself saying, "It's going to take a while, I can't just forgive right away," I'm going to confess that as sin and, even as I fall on my knees to God and say, "Please have mercy on me. I've been bitter. I've refused to forgive. I've been harsh — because I've been hurt — but Lord, please have mercy on me. Show pity on me."  

Even as I do that, as I turn from sin and make my appeal to God, I say the same to the person who has wronged me: "I have mercy on you. You are forgiven. This is my stepping into the light, out of the darkness, into the light, out of the sin, and in toward holiness. I forgive you. I forgive you, I release you. I release you."  

This is the glory of the gospel. The great news of this good news.

1 John 1:9. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."  

This is something you can bank on. Just make sure that you are not Yes and then No. Make sure that you have left your life of sin. God will not be mocked.  

So, will God really "unforgive" your sins if you don't forgive someone else?  
Will you really choose to live in your sin when God has forgiven you?  

Be encouraged. Choose well. Forgive quickly.
​Amen. 

Click above image to watch

Have you ever said this?

• "I just can't forgive yet. I'll get there, but I just need more time."
• "Maybe I just overreacted. Don't worry about it." 
• "I could never forgive that person."

​​All three are indications that you don't have a biblical understanding of forgiveness. In the above teaching I explain a better way to think about it and do it. May God use it to heal your broken hearts and broken relationships.

{THE FOLLOWING IS A TRANSCRIPT OF THE ABOVE TEACHING}​

​There's three reasons why we have difficulty forgiving. Number one, we think of forgiveness as more than what it really is. Number two, we think of forgiveness as less than what it is. And number three, we think of forgiveness as the opposite of what it is.  

I want to explain that, but, as is my practice, I want to give you the scriptures that influence what I'm getting ready to say, so it's not just my opinion. 

MATTHEW 6:9-15
Matthew chapter six, you'll recognize this as the Lord's Prayer. He says, "Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." Some translations will say trespasses. Some will say sins.  

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." And he says, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins."  

I'm not sure we really believe that, but that's what it says.  

MATTHEW 18:15-35
Matthew 18. Verse 18. Jesus says, "Truly, I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven. Whatever you lose on earth will be loosed in heaven." He says, "Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on Earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."  

And then we read in verse 21 that "Peter came to Jesus and he asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?' And Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times' or '70 times seven.'" 

Then he tells this parable. "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him 10,000 bags of gold" — that's 10,000 talents. One talent was worth about 20 years of a day laborer's wages. If my math is correct, we're talking several billion dollars. It's an insane amount. And Jesus is just telling a made up story here to make a point.  

"As he began the settlement, a man who owed him [several billion dollars] was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this the servant fell on his knees before him: 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt" — didn't say you have to pay it back — he "canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins."

A hundred denarii. A denarius was the usual day wage of a day laborer. A hundred of those. Might we say 10,000 bucks? Still a chunk.

"When that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins," several thousand bucks. "He grabbed him and began to choke him, 'Pay back what you owe me,' he demanded. And his fellow servant fell to his knees" just like he had, "and he begged him, 'Be patient with me and I will pay it back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and they went and told their master everything that had happened. 

"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had on you?' In anger, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed."  

And then Jesus says this — and again, I don't think we really believe it. Do you believe it? — He says, "This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart."  

Write in your Bible "true statement?" Put a question mark until you can erase the question mark. True statement?  

"This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart." 

1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-5
First Corinthians chapter 13. The Love Chapter. "Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It does not dishonor others. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs."  

ROMANS 12:9-21
Romans 12 verse nine. "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." Skipping down verse 14, "Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do curse." Verse 17. "Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it's possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath for it is written. 'It is mine to avenge. I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink." (Bless those who persecute you.) "In doing this, you'll heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." 

JOHN 20:21
John chapter 20, Jesus has died, come back to life, and he's spending time with the disciples before ascending and going back to heaven, and he gives them the Holy Spirit. 

Chapter 20 verse 21. "Jesus said, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I am now sending you.' And with that, he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." 

There's three reasons why we struggle to forgive.

1. WE THINK OF FORGIVENESS AS "FINDING EMOTIONAL RELEASE FROM THE PAIN"
​Number one, we think of forgiveness as more than what it really is.

We tend to think of forgiveness as some magic thing that will erase all memories of the wrong, that will help us to forget, that'll erase the consequences, that will erase the pain. That's not what forgiveness is. You might always remember what you've forgiven. Forgiveness isn't erasing the pain, and often it's not erasing the consequences.  

What I mean is this, if, if you came up to me and you cut off my arm, whether it was an accident or whether you did it on purpose, if you cut off my arm and then came to your senses and you pleaded with me, "Roger, please forgive me. I'm so sorry I did that," I would forgive you. But I still wouldn't have an arm. I would forgive you, but it wouldn't take away the consequence. I would still have the phantom pains. I would still live without an arm, but you would be forgiven. 

They may have broken your heart and then they come back and they ask you to forgive them. And if you think that forgiveness is erasing the pain, that's gonna be pretty difficult because sometimes the heart holds onto those memories. Sometimes the heart continues to feel the pain, and sometimes the relationship has consequences. Sometimes the heart heals, but it heals with a scar just like the rest of our body. And I'm talking figuratively, but it heals with a scar, it doesn't quite, it doesn't have the elasticity, the emotions don't have the elasticity. It doesn't feel quite like it did, but it still functions. And you can say, I forgive you, but it might just be that your heart still feels broken because they, they cut off your arm. They broke your heart.  

But forgiveness is not finding emotional release from the pain. Forgiveness is releasing the person from having to pay you back for the pain. 

You probably won't forget. I mean, to forget something is really not an indication of mental health. You probably won't forget. There are things that I've forgiven people, I remember all the details but I forgive them. You probably won't forget, and you may even still be able to recount the story in a way that brings the pain back for you. I'd advise against that, but it's still possible. But they are forgiven. 

If you think that forgiveness is finding emotional release from the pain, you will spend days and weeks and months and possibly years saying, "I'm just not quite ready to forgive you. I'll get there, I'll forgive you one day, but I'm just not there yet." Because you're waiting for emotional release from the pain, but that's not what forgiveness is. That's more. That's expecting forgiveness to be something it isn't.  

Forgiveness is not finding emotional release from the pain. Forgiveness is releasing the person from having to pay for the pain. 

2. WE THINK OF FORGIVENESS AS "JUST GETTING OVER IT"
The second reason why it's difficult for us to forgive is we think of forgiveness as less than what it really is. 

We think of forgiveness as just looking the other way with a shrug. Apologizing for being offended. "You know, it's okay. Don't, don't worry about it. I just, I overreacted." 

But forgiveness is not looking the other way and just shrugging it off. Forgiveness is looking the offender in the eye. And saying, "That was wrong. That hurt. And I forgive you for it."  

3. WE THINK OF FORGIVENESS AS A "NECESSARY EVIL."
The third reason why we struggle to forgive is we think of forgiveness as the opposite of what it is.  

I'm convinced that most of us — until we check this, like, you're not gonna do this anymore because I'm getting ready to point it out to you, but until we are confronted with this, I think we think of forgiveness as a necessary evil. 

Like, we read what Jesus said about if, if you don't forgive your brother or sister from the heart, then the father's not gonna forgive you. And we go, "Okay, I guess I gotta do it," like a necessary evil. Like somehow it's unjust, it's unfair, that it's just something that we just gotta suck it up and do it, even though it's an awful thing. But, you know, "I guess I'll just, I'll just have to do it." That's the opposite of what forgiveness is.  

That's the opposite of what forgiveness is. 

It's not a harsh prerequisite for being forgiven by God. It's not unjust, it's not unfair. It's not just adding insult to injury, something we just gotta go through. It's not that. 

Forgiveness is not a necessary evil. Forgiveness is love's great power-move to open the prison doors and set the captives free. It's this redemptive relationship that I talked about last week. It's giving ourself in love to the redemption of another, even to the person who's so caught up and imprisoned by sin itself that they would wound you. It's actually stepping in and it's forgiving them. It's breaking the prison doors and letting them out so that they can be redeemed. Forgiveness is love's great power-move to open the prison doors and set the captives free.  

CHOOSE TO FORGIVE — WITH UNDERSTANDING
If we would understand this — if we would understand that forgiveness is not just finding emotional release from the pain, and forgiveness is not just shrugging it off and looking the other way, and forgiveness is not just some necessary evil that we've gotta go through. And if we would remember that forgiveness, chooses to release the person from having to pay back for the pain ,and forgiveness looks the offender in the eye and says, that hurt, that was wrong and I forgive you, and forgiveness is love's great power-move that opens the prison doors and says, "Get out of there! Come and be free! Walk in the light!"  

If we remember these, we would have a better time of forgiving. We would have an easier time of forgiving. It's still, it's a matter of the will. It's a matter of the choice. Forgiveness isn't something you feel. It's something you do. So my challenge, my encouragement to you today: choose it. 

Choose it. Don't wait to feel it. Choose it. If there's anyone in your life that you're holding something against, go to them. Forgive them. Decide that they no longer have to pay back for the hurt. Forgive them. Don't let bitterness come between you and them and don't let bitterness come between you and God. 

Forgive. 

Now we have this assurance in 1st John 1:9 that if any of us confess our sins, God is faithful and just, and he will forgive us our sins.

​That's my encouragement to you. If you've never put your faith in Jesus, do it. Start following him. Just bow your heart to him. Surrender to him and say, okay, "Lord, I'm gonna follow you now and I'm gonna start with this forgiveness. Lord, I confess my sin," and he says, "I forgive you. Now go do likewise." And I would say to you, "Go do likewise."  

I believe this is the word of the Lord. Amen. 

Click above image to watch

I've used this counsel many times when helping people in hurtful relationships, but I don't think I've ever taught it publicly before. At least not at this length.

Our X242 model of being church puts us in close relationship with others, by design. We're all in various stages of learning to walk in the grace of the Lord, and it's not unusual for our rough edges to show. But to be in redemptive relationship we need to know how to love even those who are hurtful to us.

I don't know of any current situations in our churches where this counsel is pressing. But my prayer is that we can learn to do this in our personal relationships, and that, together, we can learn to be healthy redemptive communities of faith.

{THE FOLLOWING IS A TRANSCRIPT OF THE ABOVE TEACHING}

​But what if they're abusive? Shouldn't you set boundaries?  

Last week I talked about how to work through conflict. Today I want to talk about how to work through conflict with people who are abusive towards you.  

Now, here's the tension I have with this. It's popular to set boundaries with those who've hurt you. Too often when I hear people talking about setting boundaries, it sounds like they're willing to break relationship with someone. They see that as their only option. They're going to break relationship with that person because that person is not a safe person.  

And that's not the godly way. God is always about redemption. But it doesn't mean that you can't set boundaries.  

Today. I want to give you a picture of how you can look at it when you are in relationship with someone who persists in being abusive and insulting and hurtful towards you — how you can set boundaries with them without just breaking relationship.  

Today I want to explain a two-door method. But first I want to give you the scriptures that have informed this picture for me, because for me, if there's no scriptural wisdom in it, we might just be following the winds of this age in our thinking. 

1 CORINTHIANS 5:9-11
1 Corinthians 5:11. Paul's writing to the believers in Corinth, and he's talking about a specific situation, but how he writes about this helps me to understand God's wisdom for this. And so I won't go into the detail. You can read 1 Corinthians 5 and see what the detail is that he is talking about. But here's what he writes in verse 11: "I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister" — meaning a believer, someone in the faith — "I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister, but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolator or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people." 

Now that slanderer term in some of your Bibles, it will say reviler or railer, and there's one translation that actually calls it verbal abuser. Slanderer.

Many of us are in relationship with people who are verbally insulting and abusive, and I'm not talking about just kind of rough with you, but like actually, they use their words to harm and we're trying to figure out how can I be in redemptive relationship with that person? How can I just let them keep on coming back to me? You talk about trying to make peace, how to work through the conflict with them, and you're thinking, I've tried, this person just isn't trying to change.  

Paul says that if there's someone who's trying to relate to you as if they're a follower of Christ and they persist in these ungodly ways — yes, slanderer, someone who uses their words to denigrate, someone who uses their words for harm — if they persist in that, he says, do not associate with anyone who does that. You must not associate with anyone who does that. It says, don't even eat with such a person. 

I think that's key. And this will play into this two-door analogy, this two-door method that I'm gonna explain in a little bit.  

2 CORINTHIANS 2:6
Now in second Corinthians, Paul is writing the next letter to them and he references that counsel he gave, not to associate with a specific brother — in that case because of sexual immorality but I'm extending it to all the things that he named, including slander. But just to get a sense of his heart on why it wasn't breaking relationship, but it was redemptive, we read in 2 Corinthians 2:6: "The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now, instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore to reaffirm your love for him."  

Now, the assumption here is that this man received the shame from his community, that they disassociated with him, that he felt ashamed, not just by their disassociation, but by his behavior. And he was penitent. Paul's writing back and saying, okay, now that it's done its purpose, now that it has produced Godly sorrow in him, reaffirm your love for him. Restore relationship with him.  

2 CORINTHIANS 7:10-11
And then He says something a few chapters later in chapter seven that also adds to our understanding of how Paul was seeing this godly sorrow. And he says, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." He says, "See what this godly sorrow has produced in you. What earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done."  

And so Paul sets up, he says, if someone is a slanderer, narrowing in on that one, or abusive or a drunkard — whatever all that paints into — if someone is abusive toward you, don't associate with them so that they'll feel ashamed. 

But if they respond with repentance, reaffirm your love for them. Godly sorrow brings repentance and repentance bears fruit, and that's the goal of this. That's the goal of redemptive correction, redemptive relationship when working through conflicts with people who are abusive toward you. 

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5
In second Timothy, Paul's writing to Timothy, a pastor who he had left in charge of believers, and we read in chapter three, verse five, he says, "Mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves..." Now, think of the people who are abusive toward you. See, if this doesn't describe them: "...people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power." He says, "Have nothing to do with such people."

Have nothing to do with such people. This is the word of God. 

2 TIMOTHY 2:24-26
But right before he says that, in chapter two, he has said in verse 24, "The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth" — this is always the goal — "that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will."  

This is the goal. Redemptive relationships, not just protective; redemptive relationships. 

2 THESSALONIANS 3:14-15
In 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15, we read this very succinctly. "Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them in order that they may feel ashamed."  

Now, I know in our culture we relate to shame as the worst thing possible. We should never shame anyone. But honestly, scripture says that there is a time when someone's behavior, their choices are so bad that they should be ashamed of themselves. The difference we've made in popular psychology — the distinction we've made — is that shame is this root identity that I am worthless, that sort of a thing. There's a conversation to be had with that, but scripture says if someone persists in living a disobedient, worthless-of-respect life, don't associate with them so that they may feel ashamed. We need to renew that, not with harshness, with love. This is all about redemption.

In fact, we see this, "Do not associate with them in order that they may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer."  

These are the things that — this is coloring what I'm getting ready to tell you about this two door method of making peace, working through conflict with people who are abusive towards you.  

MATTHEW 18:15-20
Just a couple more here. Jesus himself, Matthew 18, says, "If your brother or sister sins go and point out their fault just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church. And if they refuse to listen even to the church" — and the church is not talking about like, if you go to a thousand person church, you have to stand up and tell all 1,000. Like think who are the people that this person is in closest relationship with. In our setting, it's the microchurch. It's the 10 or 12 or 15 or six or whatever it is. — "Tell it to the church. And if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Truly, I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven for where two or three gather in my name there am I with them."  

The goal is nothing but redemptive. If you read "whatever is bound on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever is loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven" — check your heart — are you saying yes, we are going to bind this person out of heaven, or is your great desire to loose him from whatever has him captive, to loose her from whatever has her captive? The goal is redemption in this. 

LUKE 17:1-6
In Luke 17 Jesus says, "Things that cause people to stumble, are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones" — meaning the believers — "one of these [believers] to stumble. So watch yourselves." And then he says, "If your brother or sister sins against you rebuke them."

Rebuke them. Redemptive rebuke. We're gonna see this in the two-door picture, this two-door analogy. "If your brother or sister, sins against you, rebuke them. And if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive them."  

You must forgive them. I'm gonna teach further on that, Lord willing, next week. You must forgive them.  

Then the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." In other words, man, that sounds hard. And Jesus says, "Well, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can do it. You can do it." 

MATTHEW 7:17-20
Matthew 7:20.Again, I'm just telling you what has influenced my thinking on what I'm getting ready to explain to you. 

Verse 17. "Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit." Verse 20. "Thus by their fruit, you will recognize them."  

If someone is bearing bad fruit towards you, if they're insulting or they're abusive, they're destructive in your life, recognize the fruit. They are not a good tree in your life.  

1 CORINTHIANS 7:10-15
And then finally, in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul is talking to married people and he is addressing a specific concern and I'm borrowing from his wisdom in addressing that and saying this has colored my wisdom in this other way that I look at it. And he's talking to married people and he talks specifically to a situation where someone is married to an unbeliever. 

It says, "To the married, I give this command, (not I, but the Lord)" — the Lord has said this — "a wife must not separate from her husband, but if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband." There's that reconciliation, redemptive emphasis. "And a husband must not divorce his wife." 

Then he says, verse 12, "To the rest I say this" and he qualifies "(I, not the Lord)." In other words, I don't have a specific command from the Lord on this. This is the wisdom that has been given me. He says, "If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her." You can imagine the pain in the situation, and some of you experience it, no doubt. "And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to keep on living with her, she must not divorce him." It's not about breaking relationship. "For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband." He says, "Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy" because they belong to a family where Christ is honored, even if not unanimously, mutually. "But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or sister is not bound in such circumstances." Why? "God has called us to live in peace."  

God has called us to live in peace.  

ROMANS 12:18
And so what I'm pulling together from all this, and I'll also reference last week I read Romans 12 where it says, "If it is possible, as much as depends on you live at peace with all people." And here Paul says, even in a marriage, if the unbelieving spouse decides to leave, let them. Peace isn't just chasing after and saying, "Please! Please! Please!" Peace sometimes says "So be it. I am at peace with your decision to disconnect from me," because God has called us to live in peace.  

We don't just keep on going after conflict. But neither do we quickly break relationship.  

And so this is this tension that it leaves me in, that it leaves us in. If we apply ourselves to the wisdom of scripture, of what God has said about relationships and about working through conflict, this creates tension for us. But what I'm gonna describe to you will only make sense if you shift in your thinking from "protective" to "redemptive." 

We've become so preoccupied with protecting myself from further pain, protecting myself from anything that's not edifying in my life, protecting myself from bad people. Yeah, if someone's coming up and they're punching you every single time, protect yourself. Block yourself. But if your only focus in this is to simply block yourself, to simply protect yourself, to wound them first so they can't wound you back. If that's your goal, if it's simply protective, this won't make sense.  

But if you focus on the heart of Christ, the heart of God, which while we were yet sinners, he came and he died for us. This is how we know what true love is. He died for us while we were yet sinners. He came to us when we were insulting and abusive toward him. When we were destructive toward his children, toward those he dearly loves, he came and called our name and said, "I'll forgive you if you come to me. I'll forgive you. Come to me."  

And so that's our model. If we allow the Holy Spirit to remind us of that love of Christ, that love of God toward us, we shift from simply being protective and we become redemptive. 

And so with that as the background, here's how I've come to give advice to people. This is what I think about in my life, but this is the advice I've come to give to people.  

TWO DOOR METHOD.
Think of your life as a room. And it has a door in it that this person has been coming through — and by the door, I mean this is how they walk into relationship with you. And that door is framed by, characterized by abuse, by insult, by wounding. They walk in through that door with blasphemy. They walk in through that door with insult, with slander, and they walk through and it's full on abuse. It might even be physical abuse, whatever it is. They walk in in order to hurt. And up until now that door has been open. You've left it unlocked. They get to come in all the time, and you're saying, I don't know what to do because I don't want to break relationship with them . And so how can I close the door to my mom, my dad, my sister, my husband, whatever it is, how can I close the door to them if God's called me to love? 

And the way that I think about it is you close the door and you tell them there's another door. Imagine yourself, you go to them and you say, "I will never open this door to you again. If you come to this door with insults and abuse, if you come to this door with intent on doing violence toward me, I will not open this door to you. I am locking it. I will not open this door to you anymore. It is closed and locked for good. It will not be opened to you. 

"But there's another door that I will leave open to you till the day I die, in Jesus' name, till the day I die. That door is respect, honor, gentleness, kindness, humility. If you come to that door, I will let you into my life.

"I'm not closing the door on relationship with you. I am deciding that I will no longer associate with your evil behavior toward me. And my goal in this is that you would be set free from that sin, that you would be set free and that we would be restored to a healthy relationship. 

"And if I have wronged you in any way, I invite you to apply the same thing to me. My goal is humility and kindness and gentleness towards you. But I'm talking to you about how you've wounded me. This door is now closed.  

"But there is a door that's open, and the way you find that door is you walk through remorse, you walk through regret. It's not for me to decide what that looks like for you. I'm just saying for you, you walk through this remorse, this regret, this repentance, this sorrow of what you've done to me. When you walk through that, that will produce fruit in you and I'll see it. That will produce fruit in you that looks like gentleness and kindness and love and humility.  

"If you come to me through that door, it is open to you. It's open to you. We can be in relationship. But as long as you come to the other door, this relationship will not go further. That door will never be opened to you again. My prayer is redemption in this relationship."

So this is how I've come to think of it, and I hope that's helpful. It's helpful to me. It's helpful to others that I've explained it to. God's heart is redemptive. He wants to give you that heart. It's his heart. He says, "Be like me. Be like me. This is what I did toward you, be this for someone else."

So choose the redemptive restoration, the redemptive relationship, even with people who are right now very abusive towards you. God can set them free from sin. That's the gospel. He can set them free from sin. Not just forgive their sin, but set them free from their sin. But it might just take someone like you explaining the horror of their sin and letting them come face to face with it rather than just tolerating it. 

This calls for sacrifice, but not sacrifice of personal agency. It's sacrifice of vengeance and vindictiveness. It's sacrifice of what we think of as justice. It's sacrifice of that. It's not sacrifice of personal agency. You maintain your personal agency. You decide for yourself, "I am going to do this." 

In fact, you take back that personal agency where they've been taking it away from you. You take it back and you bow it to the Lord Jesus and say, "Lord, I will do your will, no longer the will of the enemy. I will do your will in this. Lord, redeem this person. Save them from their sins. And Lord, I forgive them."

I think I'll talk about that next week. I hope this is helpful to you.  The wisdom of God. 
​Amen. 

This Week's Teaching | Prayer

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{TRANSCRIPT}

Today, I want to give you encouragement that you can resolve the conflict. You can work in a healthy manner through the conflict. It's not asking too much. You can do this.

Proverbs 27:17 is a familiar proverb to all of us. "Iron sharpens iron." And it talks about how, as iron sharpens iron, so a brother sharpens a brother, a friend sharpens a friend, a spouse sharpens a spouse. Iron sharpens iron.

It's human to be in conflict, and it's human to not do conflict well, but it's possible to do conflict well. It's possible to follow the wisdom of God and actually do conflict well.

Today I want to present some principles that I've learned by the wisdom of God from scripture that guide me in working through my own conflicts with others, but also as I help others work through conflict with them.

1. COMMIT TO THE LONGER CONVERSATION
Commit to the longer conversation. Slow down. Just slow down the conversation. Listen long, speak less.

Proverbs 18:2 says that fools delight in airing their own opinions. Stop just speaking to air your own opinions and start listening to understand what the other person is trying to say. This is difficult. We all want to just jump in, but just think in terms of commit to the longer conversation. You're not just trying to quick jump through it. It's a long conversation. Slow down. Listen slowly, not quickly. Listen long.

Proverbs 18:15 says that the ears of the wise seek knowledge. Listen to understand. Not to prove your point. Listen to understand.

2. ASK MORE QUESTIONS
I was talking with someone yesterday about helping her and her husband just understand conflict, and I said one of the most guiding principles for me is found in Proverbs 18:13 where it says "it's foolish to give an answer before listening to the question."

If you apply that to yourself, if you apply that to how you lean in toward conflict and say, I'm not going to play the part of the fool, I'm not going to give an answer before I even listen to the question, it'll slow down your conversation and you'll stop missing each other. You'll stop missing the key points. You'll listen for what is the question behind what the other person is saying? What is the offense? What, whatever that is. But it's foolish to quick jump in and give an answer before you even really know what the question is.

Lengthen the conversation and ask more questions.

3. GUARD YOUR HEART
Proverbs 4:23 "Above all else, guard your heart for it affects everything you do." Guard your heart.

When you're in conflict with someone else, you need to know, what do I want out of this? What am I defensive about in this conflict? Is my heart desiring an inequitable outcome? Or is my heart really desiring what is fair and honest and true and equitable in this conflict? Am I just in this to win? Am I in it to win it? Or am I in this to win the person? To restore relationship, to resolve the conflict? Above all else, guard your heart. It affects everything you do.

Jesus said, "Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34, Luke 6:45) If you don't guard your heart, you will find that your mouth, especially in conflict, your mouth spews venom. It spews awful things. Things that you would never sign your name to and, and hold up to the world and say, this is what I want to be known for. You find yourself saying things that you hope are uncharacteristic of you. But the reality is that if it's coming out of your mouth, it's in your heart. Start by guarding your heart.

Proverbs 18:21, "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." You have the power in the words you speak toward the other person to give them life or to give them death. There's power in your tongue. Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks and that mouth can speak life or death.

Make sure that what's in your heart when it overflows, overflows toward love, toward peace, toward compassion, toward gentleness and kindness, and showing consideration. Guard your heart. Let it desire an equitable outcome. Not just to make sure that you're not hurt, not just to make sure the other person gets what's coming to them.

Ask yourself, am I trying to win this argument or am I trying to win the person? Am I seeking vindication or am I seeking restoration? Guard your heart.

Proverbs 19:11 says that it's to your glory to overlook an offense. Guard your heart. Ask yourself, am I allowing offense to take root in my life? Am I speaking from an offended position? And to be sure there are so many things that you can be rightly offended by. There are offensive things in this world. This isn't to say let nothing be considered as offensive. This is saying don't let offense take root in your heart, because what will spew out will be this venom. Make sure that you're not just speaking from an offended position, but choose no offense. 

"A person's wisdom yields patience. It is to one's glory to overlook an offense." Choose patience. Guard your heart.

And so choose the long conversation. Ask more questions and guard your heart for it affects everything you do.
And then love deeply.

4. LOVE DEEPLY
Romans 12:9-21. I can't say it better. Don't skip past this. Even if you've read this. Listen again: "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil? Cling to what is. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath. For it is written: 'It is mine to avenge, I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

Love deeply. That's the key. Let everything you do when you are in conflict with someone, choose love. Let everything you do be the overflow of love, the desiring of that person's good, even over and above your own. Devote yourself to one another considering them as more important than you.

I know that doesn't seem fair. I'll talk another time about how do you remain in relationship with someone who's abusive, but today to resolve conflict, be devoted to one another in love. Let love be sincere. This is the wisdom of God. This is the wisdom of God.

Commit to the longer conversation, ask many questions, guard your heart and love deeply, and you can work through the conflict.

Now, I know this is a hard word and it's easy to dismiss it. There's plenty of worldly wisdom that runs counter to this. So much so that what I'm talking about sounds counterintuitive if you've been listening, to a lot of the the babble of today where people are guessing at things. What I'm talking about is choosing the wisdom of God, the wisdom of the ages. The one who created it all understands you better than you do yourself. Who understands what's working in the other person's heart, who sends his Holy Spirit and his angels to come and minister to those who will inherit salvation.

The God who is able to take your best efforts and your best desire, and multiply them as prayers in Jesus' name to actually work out an effective resolve and resolution to the conflict you're experiencing. And so above all this, even though it may feel counterintuitive, trust God. Trust God, work through the conflict.

To work through conflict is an act or demonstration of faith and obedience. To refuse to work through conflict is an act of faithlessness and disobedience. It's a hard statement, but I believe it. And I mean it for love.

God will heal what's broken in your relationship, if you both lean into him, if you both follow the wisdom that he's given. If one of you doesn't, yeah, you'll both suffer the fruit of that decision, but at least you'll be one who followed God in it. So don't be the one to give up.

Trust God.

Choose the longer conversation. Ask many questions. Guard your heart. Love deeply. Trust God.

​My prayer is that it'll go well with you, and that your relationships will be restored and the conflicts will be resolved.

This is the wisdom of God.

Amen.

• Pray for your family, and that you would be a generous blessing to them in all things.
• Pray for your neighbors by name. If you don't know their name, let love lead you in getting to know them.
• Pray for your enemies by name. And if there's an offense, name it. If you have wronged them, make it right. Ask their forgiveness. If they have wronged you, forgive them from your heart. Pray for their redemption.
• Pray for our brothers and sisters who live under persecution.
• Pray for those who lead microchurches: Mike, Shirley, Dan, Nate, Trevor, Roger
• Pray for our disconnected and disillusioned brothers and sisters who have left conventional church. Pray that they would discover the life and encouragement of what we're doing. 
• Pray for opportunity to plant and encourage more microchurches, and that those who are feeling called would be strengthened and encouraged in faith to take the step.
• Pray for pastors and leaders of conventional churches who are trying to discern vision for this season: Should they rally the troops around the familiar mission of growing the worship service, or lean into the process of disentangling the church and focusing on true discipleship?

This Week's Teaching |  Prayers

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Wow. I recently heard this story and was so encouraged! So inspired. And so invigorated about this ongoing emphasis that we need to be in the scriptures! This is why we do what we do!!! 

I hope I've done the story justice. It's powerful. Especially the punchline. So cool. Be encouraged. If you're not reading the scriptures for yourself, just start. Set aside a time today and start reading the scriptures for yourself. I pray that God meets you there. I believe he will.

Here's the scripture I reference in the above teaching: "The Holy Scriptures...are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God a may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (1 Timothy 3:15-17)
​
​Amen!