You Are With Me (online sermon March 29, 2020)

By Pat Russell

"You Are With Me" – Psalm 23

Sermon by Pastor Bruce Spear, March 29, 2020

This last Sunday Pastor Bruce gave us some wonderful images from Psalm 23 to hold in our minds during these troublesome days.  He spoke of the way Hebrew poetry is structured in a mountain format with the theme halfway through, like the peak of the mountain.  The theme in this psalm by David is “You are with me.”  This is the peak of the poem; this is the peak of our lives!

With that in mind he then pointed out three ways he is with us:  he is a rod of protection; he nourishes us with green pastures and quiet waters; he blesses us in the midst of calamities.

If you would like to take this psalm more deeply into your thinking, feeling, and actions, use this exercise below to guide you.  It is written by Jan Johnson who led me and others while on retreat. I have modified it somewhat to fit our situation.

Live in this passage and take it everywhere with you by memorizing it.

1.    Pick the version you want to memorize.  Feel free can pull favorite words from different versions. 

2.    Print it out, perhaps in large type, and carry it around with you. 

3.   Take some focused time to memorize it, which won’t be difficult because you’ve heard it so much. Go over it in your mind while you’re driving to pick up your grocery order.

4.    Pray it back to God, especially when you feel uneasy. For example: O Lord, I really want to trust you as my shepherd who looks after my well-being. Help me to believe today that I have everything I need.   You might want to pray it for someone else.  For example: Help the suffering people in hospitals to have a sense of you as their shepherd.  Please provide for each of them today every single thing they need, even when it looks impossible.

5.    Interact with it. 

Ø  God as Protector, Provider, Doctor, Healer, Therapist, Good Parent who disciplines fairly, Rescuer, Companion, Delighted Manager. Make up a few more like that. (v. 1)

Ø  You lying down carefree as can be in the midst of a rich pasture because you have everything you need.  You walking beside water but not guzzling it because you have everything you need. (v. 2)

Ø  Your soul restored rather than broken in any way.  (Maybe:  Your mind restored rather than broken in any way; your feelings restored rather than broken in any way, and so on with will, body, and social context.)  (v. 3)

Ø  You following Jesus down a path and knowing it’s good and makes sense. (v. 3b).

Ø  You walking through a dark valley but God is your companion.  You conscious of God guiding you, using circumstances, Scripture, people and others to protect you (as a rod) and rescue you (as a staff). (v. 4)

Ø  You sitting with a difficult person, but knowing you have everything you need—that your cup overflows. (v. 5)

Ø  You glad and content that Christ dwells in you and that you are “in Christ.” (v. 6)

If you wish, picture yourself believing this in a situation in which you are often afraid:  listening to the news, reading the stock reports, rocking a sick child, or thinking about an elderly person you cannot visit. Enjoy moving out of stages in which your soul is on alert, to trusting the world is a perfectly safe place to be.

Images taken from Trusting God for Everything (by Jan Johnson).

If you would like to connect with me about “Going Deeper” or about living in these days of confinement and stress, feel free to email me.

patannruss@gmail.com 

Peace and Hope (Online Sermon March 22, 2020)

Going Deeper

By Pat Russell

“Peace and Hope” – Romans 5:1-5

Sermon by Pastor Bruce Spear

This is our first week of meeting online to help decrease our exposure to the corona virus.  If you watched the service on YouTube what was your inner response?  How was it for you to not be in community this week?  What did you miss the most?  What did you gain from worshipping online?  As you reflect on these questions, keep in mind that often when old things disappear in our lives, God is going to bring something new into that space.  You might want to ask God for an open and discerning heart.

Pastor Bruce pointed out three important truths in the Romans passage that are available to us because we have been made righteous through Jesus.

Fill in the blank (answers at the bottom):

1. P______________ with God.  Hint--we say this word every Sunday when we greet each other. When anxiety intrudes remember our Savior never abandons us.

2. A______________ to the throne of God’s grace where we can ask for help, like Marlene does.  Philippians 4:6 & 7 is her encouragement.

3. C______________ that comes from our hope.  The translation uses “boast” for this word, but Pastor Bruce told us the original meaning of the word is “____________ or hope in God.” This “word” increases in our character as we go through affliction, like Paul did.

P________________  A______________ C_______________ = PAC.  Perhaps you would like to use this acronym to remind you of the gifts given you from God during this difficult time.  When you feel your body tensing up because of worry or your mind repeating a discouraging thought over and over or you hear news that makes you anxious, repeat this truth: “In Christ I have PAC.  P____________ A______________ and C______________.  Thank you, Jesus.”

How does this work?  Romans 5: 4 & 5

“And endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”  Hallelujah!

Written by Pat Russell in follow-up to the sermon.

If you would like to connect with me about “Going Deeper” feel free to email me.J

patannruss@gmail.com 

Answers:  Peace, Access, Confidence

Love (Sermon March 15, 2020)

Going Deeper

By Pat Russell

“Love” – 1 John 4:7-21

Sermon by Pastor Bruce Spear

During Lent, which means “spring,” Pastor Bruce is leading us through some “spring housecleaning” of our souls.  How are you loving these days?  Let’s see if we can let in more of the fresh air of love into our souls.

Here’s a little quiz from this past Sunday’s sermon.  How much do you know about “love”?  Can you answer these questions?

What did you hear from PB this past Sunday? 

1.     In this passage from 1 John, the word ________ is mentioned ____ times.

2.     “Love does not have anything to do with what WE DO to earn it, because love __________ from God.”

3.     From verse 16: “Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”  From PB: “Live a ________ of love.”  If you do this, then you reveal that you are living in God and God is living in you.

4.     Verse 18: “There is no _______ in love.”  What drives out ______?  ________  _______.

5.     Name your biggest fear during this season when we are dealing with the corona virus.___________________________________________________________________.

6.     Can you complete this sentence?  “Live in the house of _______ _______, not in the house of _________.”  Now explain what this means to you.

7.     Why does ________ ______ drive out ________?  (Answer in verse 18).

8.     How does our love become perfect? PB said that the word “perfect” means “made complete.” 

9.     Explain why we love in the first place. ________________________________________ 

10.  Re-read the Jen Wilken quote from our handout.  Write down the sentence that means the most to you. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Spend some time meditating on that sentence.

11.  Talk to God about your desire to love in this difficult time in our world.

If you completed this “quiz,” please send your results to me.  I would love to read your answers and thoughts and might even comment back! J

Written by Pat Russell in follow-up to the sermon.

patannruss@gmail.com 

Faith (Sermon March 8, 2020)

Going Deeper

By Pat Russell

“Faith” – Romans 4:1-3, 18-25

Pastor Bruce Spear

We all have heard many sermons on faith and yet we are still challenged to grow in our faith.  We don’t get faith all at once!  It does not happen just because we hear a good sermon.  To grow in our faith, we must increase that “muscle” by practicing actions that draw on faith and by receiving grace from God.  He loves to give good gifts to his children, and he loves to partner with us in our growth. 

On our hand out from Sunday, Paul says this about Abraham: “Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.” (Rom. 4:20-22).  Abraham's part:  He did not waver, he gave glory to God, he was fully persuaded of God’s power.  God’s work: He gave a promise and he strengthened Abraham with even more faith!

What is your working definition of faith?  A working definition is something that you live by, not just something that you think about.  An example of a working definition of faith might be, “For me, faith is trusting that God will help me even if I get really sick with the corona virus, so I am going to chose to NOT walk in fear.”  Now write your own working definition that is about your life right now.

Perhaps you might like to write a prayer that is like what the frantic father said in Mark 9:24:  “Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.”  It might go something like this, “Lord, I believe that you love me, but help my unbelief that you will protect me and care for me.”  “Lord, I believe that _______________ but help my unbelief in this area______________________. 

Go ahead!  Give this practice your truth, not your “what I should say.”  Be encouraged by the words of Karl Barth.  “By faith we must resolutely turn our backs on our own lived experience, in which we find the old nature still there and the new nature not yet present.  We must with equal resolve set our faces on our new life in Jesus Christ in which the former is dead and new is alive.

You ARE a new creation and new creations GROW!

Written by Pat Russell in follow-up to the sermon.

Feel free to email me to express your thoughts and experience with this passage.

patannruss@gmail.com 

The Temptation of Jesus (Sermon March 1, 2020)

Going Deeper 
By Pat Russell 

“The Temptation of Jesus” – Matthew 4:1-11
Sermon by Pastor Bruce Spear

How could Jesus resist all that Satan was offering him in his time in the wilderness while at the same time being hungry?  He was offered a chance to fill his own physical needs; he was offered a chance to confirm that he would always be safe; he was offered tremendous earthly power. And yet Jesus said, “No.”

I would like to suggest that in his first 30 years of life, Jesus leaned into a powerful spiritual habit.  It is called “detachment.”  We often think of detachment as being a blank sheet of paper in the face of someone or something – we show no emotion, we don’t care, we are distaining of the object or person.  But that is not what the spiritual habit of “detachment” is.

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun suggests that the desire behind the discipline of detachment is “to nurture the spirit of trust that is attached to God alone.”  She goes on to define it as “replacing the attachment to (1) idolatrous relationships and (2) self-serving goals and agendas for success, money, power, ego, productivity and image with whole-hearted attachment to and trust in God alone.”*

Jesus: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  Jesus was detached from filling his physical needs as the highest priority in life.  He was attached to the what comes out of the mouth of God, instead.

Jesus: “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  Jesus was detached from trying to protect himself.  He was attached to relying upon the Lord’s discretion regarding his body’s safety.

Jesus: “For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”  Jesus was detached from his “success, money, power, ego, productivity and image.”  He was attached to only worshipping and serving God.

So, my friends, if we want to stand in the face of temptation, we might learn the discipline of detachment. How do we learn this?  Pastor Bruce has suggested that we memorize selected Scripture to set our mind in the right direction and set our hearts only on what the Father wants. In addition, here is a list of practices from Adele Calhoun that we can also engage in to increase our detachment strength and fortify ourselves when we might be tempted.

•       Name and confess attachments that take priority over God.
•      Allow others to lead and win.
•      Let go of image management (e.g., not buying clothes just to stay in fashion). 
•      Let go of notions that your money and possessions belong to you and make you who you are; living on less rather than more. 
•      Trust outcomes to God rather that your own capabilities. 
•      Honor the freedom of others; refuse to manipulate and control in order to get what you want.

This Season of Lent (or “spring housecleaning”) might just be the time for you through Jesus’ help to pick up another “house-cleaning” tool as Paul says in Ephesians 6, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.  Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” 

*Spiritual Disciplines Handbook:  Practices That Transform Us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

Written by Pat Russell in follow-up to the sermon.

Feel free to email me to express your thoughts and experience with this passage.

patannruss@gmail.com