Getting Out of Sorts by Pastor Russ Fochler

Have you felt “out of sorts” lately?  I have.   I won’t go into specifics.  Let’s just say it has do with how decisions and actions are damaging things I care about.    And, without fully realizing it, I’ve been sorting people into categories.   This is exactly what Danny Silk tried to warn about at the Bethel Leaders Advance last November (2016).  The Greek word for “accuser” (as in “accuser of the brethren Rev 12:10) is “kategoros” from which we get the word “category”.  The verb form’s original sense of “accuse” eventually weakened to “assert or name”.  Yet, as Danny shared, it is still true that when we “sort” people into categories and then devalue them based upon the category we think they fit into, we are really doing the work of “the accuser of the brethren”.   Have you ever experienced someone trying to sort you into a category?  When my sweetheart Susan lived in North Carolina in the early 90’s, people in the supermarket would scrutinize any blue clothing she wore.  They wanted to know if she wore the Carolina sky blue of the UNC Tar Heels or the darker blue of the Duke Blue Devils.  They first needed to know where her loyalties lay so they could know how to relate to her!   We all feel the pressure of pervasive “us versus them” mindsets in our culture. To meet our intense human need to belong and be accepted (and feel we are “in the right”), we’re tempted to compromise truth and the values God established in our consciences.    The Nazis continually portrayed Jews as subhuman, as disease-carrying rats.  So, removal and even “extermination” of Jews eventually seemed appropriate to many.  Dehumanization of individuals and groups is conveyed in many ways today including comedy sketches, politicians and commentators who play to prejudices, slanted news stories, etc.  Can we find the heart to stand up to this whether we like or dislike the person or group being dehumanized?  This is particularly hard when we’ve been taught to believe an individual or group is a threat to our way of life – and maybe to our existence.   Jesus challenges us to die to our self-centered judgments so we can be compassionate – even as our Father is compassionate.  27 “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.  35b Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. Luke 6:27-28 and 6:35B-36 NLT    I’m encouraging myself to see people first as humans loved by Father God instead of first sorting them into categories.  This is not easy for me!  I’ll still feel scared or angry or both about how decision makers are degrading the well-being of future generations.  I’ll need to keep asking Father God to help me see people the way He does.    And may I remember to keep asking for Holy Spirit’s life and power to lead me in authentic and civil responses to people wanting to fit me into their ownl version of “us versus them”.   I found many helpful insights and moving stories in Brené Brown’s new book Braving the Wildernessabout her recent research into belonging, authenticity, and spiritual connection.  You can read a few quotes I picked out from her book here.   Jesus is challenging my heart attitudes.  I need to learn to trust Him more in the midst of the many short-sighted, destructive decisions my species is making.    As Heidi Baker admonishes us: “Stop and love the one.”  And “God is God, I’m not.  Hooray!”                                                                   With affection,                                                                              Pastor Russ Fochler

Hope Never Disappoints by Pastor Karena Lout, Pastor Susan Fochler and Intercessor Diane Jung

- KARENA LOUT -

A few months ago, a young adult showed up at our house pretty desperate. Unfortunately her Mom told her that there's no hope and she would have to live the rest of her life without it. I recognized that look of desperation as she shared this with me. Before I knew Jesus, I remember I'd often feel like I was suffocating, gasping for air and searching for any ounce of life I could cling onto. The good news is this young woman experienced Jesus' love for her in a powerful way and the hopelessness that once weighed so heavy in her heart is gone.   As someone who feels compassion pretty deeply, I've had to learn how to process with the Lord what my part is when people around me are suffering. I once heard someone say that empathy is feeling "With" not "For." It's important we aren't discounting people's pain or feeling responsible to fix what they're facing. The world is really looking for people who are filled with hope. Hope isn't passive. It's a substance, like faith, yet it's something we can't see. Jesus is inviting us to peer into Heaven and grab hold of it. Hope never disappoints.

- DIANE JUNG -

Romans 15:13  May God the source of all hope, fill you with all joy and peace, by means of your faith in him. so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit. (GNT) Pondering on this verse, God continuously and abundantly provides all hope. He desires to fill me, but this flowing can be impeded by my lack of trust in Him.  Growing up, I was taught that hope was an expectation or goal to be met. Recently, I was in a circumstance which I couldn't solve, so I felt out of control. Doubt kicked in and anxiety overwhelmed me. I was self-condemning myself. Why didn't I have enough faith in God? What the heck was wrong with me? As these lies were piling up, hope was being stolen, letting disappointment settle into my heart. I couldn't be present with anyone, because my mind was focused on shaming myself. Tired of feeling this way, I chose to hope. I sought ways to process my heart, with safe friends, and received inner healing prayer.  I was vulnerable with God, acknowledging that I was not able to have faith in Him to help me. Instead of feeling He was judging me, I felt Him pouring out love and empathy. Trust began to build, creating space in my heart to receive from God's abundant flow of truth. Hope became reality, and I felt so much joy and peace replacing the anxiety. Even though I thought I had less faith than a mustard seed, God took that little bit, and ran with it. Bill Johnson said "Hope and Hopelessness are both contagious. Decide the influence you would have on the world around us." No matter how hopeless your circumstances feel, I bless you to open the door to trusting God, and find "your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit"!

- SUSAN FOCHLER -

I’ve had quite a journey learning to embrace hope.  Before I understood the ways of the Kingdom, I dumbed down my expectations and allowed cynicism to flavor my view of the future.  I didn’t even realize it-but I had so come to expect disappointment that my heart was hardened against hope. It was just a pleasant surprise if something good happened.  But the more I experience Christ’s love and acceptance it is becoming easier to keep my heart soft as I focus on the Person of Christ, and less on circumstances and outcomes.   It is such an amazing but true statement from Col 1:27, that Christ within us is the only hope, the only source of the glory of God’s goodness and abundant life.  The power of this truth is in knowing He who created all things, who is holding this entire universe together, indwells us in full.  I cannot control or predict my future, but I can know without a shadow of a doubt that my Jesus and all of heaven is as close as my next heartbeat.

How Awesome Is That? by guest Charles Razzell

How is your year going so far? No, not the one that started on January 1st, but the one that began on Rosh Hashana, (September 21, in 2017). The start of the Jewish year begins with 10 “days of awe,” which are days set aside for repentance, introspection and charitable works leading up to Yom Kippur, also known in English as the Day of Atonement. This “Sabbath of Sabbaths” is a day of complete fasting from both food and water along with several other prohibitions. The scriptural basis for this practice comes from Leviticus 16:29-30:

This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: on the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work – whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you – because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.

The Hebrew word for repentance is TESHUVAH, pronounced: tuh-SHOO-vah, meaning literally “return”, referring to a “return to God.”  This was never intended as a mere intellectual exercise, but was always profoundly practical. It required action, including confession, reconciliation and restitution. Isaiah 55:6-7 calls for this return to God in the following words:

Seek God while he’s here to be found,     pray to him while he’s close at hand. Let the wicked abandon their way of life     and the evil their way of thinking. Let them come back to God, who is merciful,     come back to our God, who is lavish with forgiveness.

There is no hiding in religious niceties here; it is downright practical and direct: “Let the wicked abandon their way of life.”   An important lesson we can learn from Jewish observance of the Days of Awe and Yom Kippur is a radical awareness of our need for atonement and forgiveness. However, it would be a tragic to stay in that place, and not alsounderstand God’s astounding and complete provision for our atonement! The fulfillment of the Day of Atonement was completed, once for all, when Jesus offered himself on the cross, as described in Hebrews 9:6-14.

But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

May we never lose our wonder, at that act of amazing love!  As Steffany Gretzinger’s worship song puts it:   It's extravagant, it doesn't make sense We'll never comprehend, the way You love us It's unthinkable, only heaven knows Just how far You'd go, to say You love us To say You love us To say You love us   God’s love requires a response: If we understand, even dimly, that the One who was without sin died for us, we should be willing to move out of the comfort zone of “theory” and open ourselves up to receive him. Although we must take a step towards Him, he takes huge leaps and bounds to meet us, while we are on the way!  The prodigal son story illustrates this perfectly in Luke 15:20

So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

This is Teshuvah (repentance) in a nutshell. “I will get up and go to my Father” is a very practical statement that was immediately followed though by visible action. However, that action is not one that attempts to fix the problem directly by using our own resources, but it is a decision to depend entirely on the mercy of God and His resources!   The willingness to take concrete action, however small, is often a prelude to much greater supernatural power showing up, so that we are no longer self-powered but Christ-powered. This unequal partnership is key to enjoying the Normal Christian Life, which is always God-powered and goes far beyond what our own actions could ever achieve on their own.  How awesome is that?!                                                                          Blessings! - Charles