Month: May 2018

May 11, 2018 Pastor Justin Thomson - Duluth

Sarah Churman makes a lot of people cry. Not because she’s intentionally cruel or violent, and not because of anything she says or does, but because she can hear. That’s all. People cry because Mrs. Churman can hear. Millions of people have watched her listen to stuff, and a lot of them have cried because of it. They just can’t help themselves. It’s overwhelming.

In case you’re not one of the 27M who’ve seen the video, Sarah was born deaf (as the story goes), and at age 29 received a cochlear implant that allowed her to hear clearly for the first time. That moment was captured on film and uploaded to YouTube for the whole world to watch. And when they did, many of them, like Sarah herself, couldn’t help but to cry.

The reason a situation like that can be so emotional is because we all know that people were meant to hear, so we’re sad when they can’t. Deafness is hugely problematic in many ways. It so severely impedes communication with the hearing population that the deaf oftentimes form their own communities and develop their own culture with their own set of social beliefs, behaviors, art, literary traditions, history, & values that are influenced by their handicap. Deafness also endangers, because wherever warnings are made audibly (as they often are; sirens, alarms, screaming, etc.), such warnings will be missed; undetected by the unhearing ear. Moreover, deafness stifles wonder, because so much of our world is enjoyed through the ears: Instrumentation & song, the chirping of birds, a reassuring voice. Deafness, in many ways, is tragic.

No one as far as I’m aware wishes they were deaf. And I would imagine that the deaf would gladly choose to hear if given the choice. That’s why the response to one gaining the ability to hear, especially after having lived so long without, is so universally emotional & joyous.

Spiritual Deafness

Peter had already been busy in the discipleship community for a couple of years by the time he made the “Great Confession” in Matthew 16:16. He had taught bible studies, served at tables, participated in missions…all common activities for the average disciple of Christ. He was submissive to his leader Jesus, he was keeping pace with his peers, and he was learning plenty along the way. But something was still amiss…Peter couldn’t hear.

Sheer obedience, by itself, isn’t enough to impress Jesus

The “Rock” (as he was called) needed a personal translator in life issues, and so Jesus quickly became his Linguist. As long as he had someone around to tell him exactly what to do and how to do it, Peter was ok. If Jesus sent him into the mission field, he’d go (Mt.10). When Jesus told him what to do out there, he did it (v.5-6). If he was assigned to preach, he would preach, if to heal, he’d heal (v.7-8). He would bring everything that was on the ‘packing list’ and nothing more (v.9-10). Peter was like some people in the modern church who literally won’t move a muscle unless they’re prompted by their spiritual leader…and once they’re given the ‘green light’, nothing is going to stop them. They’ll risk their very life if they have to (see Mt.14:28-30 for a very vivid display of this kind of attitude). Needless to say, Peter’s obedience was remarkable, a thing to be envied by fellow disciples, and perhaps something he prided himself on. But sheer obedience, by itself, wasn’t enough to impress or to please Jesus. Quite the opposite in fact (see Mt.14:31). Without his Interpreter, Peter was sunk, and Jesus was unnerved by that reality.

From Silence to Sound

What Jesus was looking for in Peter was a “change-over” of sorts. A conversion from spiritual immaturity to adulthood whereby he no longer needed someone else to dictate his beliefs and make his decisions for him. A transition from blind confidence in his earthly Instructor, to full trust in a Heavenly Father. And this was one lesson that Jesus wasn’t allowed to teach. For Peter’s own good, this one had to come from God Himself. Some conclusions are meant to be made on your own, between you and God alone, so to let someone else do all your thinking for you on important decisions like these is extremely dangerous. Jesus wouldn’t even do that for the Apostle. As much as He loved him, Jesus refused to hold Peter’s hand and tell him, step by step, what to believe, for that would have been to enable him further in the very habit He was hoping to break him from. He wouldn’t do it for Peter…He won’t do it for you.

Some conclusions are meant to be made on your own, between you and God alone

When Peter’s deafness finally ended and he uttered his first words as a hearing man (Mt.16:16), Jesus responded emphatically: “How blessed you are Simon!” (v.17). Jesus wasn’t merely excited because Peter gave the correct answer, but because he was finally being directed by God more than he was being influenced by what others were telling him: “This truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven” (GNT). It excites Jesus to see His disciples graduate from their dependence upon man to a reliance upon God. Jesus had never explicitly told His disciples that He was the Son of God. He couldn’t. It wouldn’t have been good for them. Yet, by God’s grace, & according to His perfect plan, Peter eventually came to that understanding without the help of anybody else except God. It might’ve taken a while, but Peter could finally hear. Good for him.

Christ’s Hope for You

Doing what you’re told is good if you’re a child. Every parent appreciates an obedient youngster just as every pastor appreciates a compliant disciple. But as the years pass, even children are expected to function without the same coaching they received as a juvenile. And when they don’t, mom & dad start getting nervous. Hearing God is a critical part of the Christian life, and to be a well-trained member of the church, without ever maturing beyond the need for your hand to be held at every step, wasn’t what Jesus wanted for Peter, and it isn’t what He wants for you.

It’s not hard to find people in our fellowship who wish they had someone around all the time to tell them exactly what to do & say & believe, but that’s unhealthy. Sooner or later you’ll need to enter in to Christian adulthood and wean yourself from a “godly-council-only” diet. You’ll need to learn how to hear God for yourself & come to your own conclusions. I can only imagine how Peter’s life would’ve turned out had this ‘change-over’ never taken place in him. I’ve known people who, like Peter, spent years in the discipleship community, keeping pace with everyone else, setting the example of Christian obedience. But they never developed the ability to “hear from God” for themselves on important matters. And they died.

Hearing from God is a critical part of the Christian life

You may have a mentor, and you may go to your Christian kin for advice now and then. You might appreciate the wise counsel & insight of your pastors and elders, which is just fine. Truly, to negate the value of earthly help is foolish, and to reject godly advice is pride to the hilt. Surely, Jesus had something of value to offer Peter during their time together on earth. But we, like Peter, also need something that no human teacher or leader can provide us with: Ears to hear. As helpful as a godly man or woman can be in getting you through the sticky mess of this life, they are no substitute for God.

So how old are you? How many years has it been since you began your journey of discipleship? Can you hear God yet? Because that’s what Jesus is waiting for, and that’s what we’re hoping to see in you as well. Spiritual deafness is tragic. That’s why, when someone finally hears God’s voice on their own, for the very first time in their Christian life, it’s such an overwhelming joy for the rest of the family. Almost enough to make you cry.

May 4, 2018 Believers Church

Mark Driscoll – John 6:16-22

Pastor Mark Driscoll is currently teaching through the Gospel of John. In this sermon, we learn a great many truths about ourselves as we watch what Jesus does with His disciples in a boat in a storm on the sea (John 6:16-22). One of the overriding messages in this teaching deals with God’s desire for relationship. In the middle of the sermon, Mark sheds some important light on the need for us to have regular solitude with God (not isolation but solitude).

We often seek God to fix our outward storms, but God comes to firstly deal with those that are inward. Do we recognize God in the midst of our storms? How incapacitated are you by fear of the storm? How are we to rise above the storms of life with Jesus?

Click now to watch the sermon.
Make some personal notes as to how God ministers to you in this season of your life:

subject: relationship
Mark Driscoll – John’s Gospel
May 3, 2018 Believers Church

Street Level Ministries is now accepting donations for their annual Thrift Sale.

Donate your unwanted thrift sale items by calling 715-233-2063 and making arrangements to drop off your items. Please only donate sell-able items. No undergarments please.

The Thrift Sale will take place May 25-26

at the Street Level House
1009 6th Street, Menomonie, WI

All Proceeds go to Local Missions.

May 1, 2018 Believers Church

There are times I find myself in predicaments and situations that could bury me if I let it. I can find myself drowning beneath a whole spectrum of things that I can’t control; things that can paralyze me with anxiety and fear; tossing and turning at 3am wondering what’s going to come of it all. These experiences reveal to me my limitedness. I can get exhausted wrestling to change the future or control the outcome of my circumstances. God never made us with those abilities.

Where do we get the idea we can? For the answer to that, we need to rewind the tape to the beginning of Genesis. The “temptation” in the Garden of Eden finds its fingers in every avenue we try to live today… without God, that is. Satan was speaking with Eve in chapter 3:4-6 saying, “‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” Why did she believe Satan? He stirred in her the notion that God was keeping something good from her. Bottom line, she desired to be like God (and not in the way we seek to be by the Holy Spirit today). Satan said, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Don’t we all want to be like God in that way? She didn’t want world domination per se, but to be limitless. It is interesting how today we gravitate toward comments like, “Honey, you can be ANYTHING you want to be. You can do anything you set your hands to.” How disappointing it is to learn when you are older that this is simply not true. One drunk driver drifting across the line, one organ disease, one cheeseburger too many will reveal quickly that we are limited. I get the sentiment, right? We want our kids to try hard and to excel. It’s the backbone of America, but this world is broken. Can you see how, perhaps, this has set up generations with the false idea that they can live without God? We are very limited. We only have so much energy, and so much strength; only so much endurance and intelligence, only so much time. Our vitality is on a nonstop conveyor belt downward. If you think you can do anything, go ahead and try to swim from California to Japan. Be sure to wear a beacon so we can find your remains when you don’t make it. When we think that way, we’re confounded when we try to rectify the “I can do ANYTHING!” mentality with Jesus’, “Apart from me, you can do NOTHING.” How do you live in that?

Embracing your limitedness is quite radical, don’t you think? Or maybe you think I mean that we’re to become lazy sloths with ho-hum attitudes. “I can’t do that… I can’t do anything… waaaa waaaa!” Ha! …um, no. What I mean is, it is time to get over ourselves. I am human, therefore I am limited! I know it! And it is totally okay! When we embrace the fact that we are limited it causes us to become dependent. A man in a wheelchair, like my aged father, needs to embrace the fact that his motor skills are limited by his condition. He will need help to change clothes, eat, bathe, or even to use the restroom. He is totally dependent. The difference between us and the man in the wheelchair is that he knows he needs help with everything. Being dependent often gets looked at as a negative attribute, and it definitely should be when capable people manipulate others or abuse support systems to put off living in an independently sustainable way. But now let’s turn that statement over to say we are not capable of our own Christian salvation, holiness, perfection, or ministry. Sure, in our society, you can find a way to live safely. You can find a vocation and even get a sense of purpose from it. You can regiment your time and finances to make a name for yourself in business or in life. You can differentiate a foolish choice from a wise one. (Keep in mind most of us are starting off our lives with an advantage here in the US. Many others are born into a limiting difficulty). BUT you cannot do enough good to make yourself righteous. You cannot lead yourself into ministry. You cannot empower yourself for ministry work. You cannot make God-aligned choices with your own logic. You’ll never, because of your own goodness, inadvertently happen into righteousness and Godliness. You WILL NEVER BE GOD, though you may feel like you can (that’s the Edenic temptation); you can never partake of the divine nature by your own will and muscle. He is eternal; we are created …and there is a huge chasm between us.

When we embrace our limitedness, we’re forced into undeniable dependence on Another; the Eternal One. Paul once quipped, “I CAN DO ALL THINGS!!!!! …through Christ who strengthens me.” From the outside, Paul may look like he, himself, was one unstoppable machine of ministry; a great man of religious integrity. Gutsy. Fearless! But that would be missing the full picture. Paul embraced his limitedness. In fact, he told us that anything from his own strength was something he looked at as dung (Phil 3:2-11). Let me help you with this one. Dung is off-putting and repellent. There’s a lot of it in our backyard, now that the snow is gone, thanks to our dog. We don’t host dinner parties in the middle of the backyard this time of year. It’s offensive. That is how Paul saw his own abilities and strength; off-putting and offensive. Because of that, he knew he was limited and had to become heavily dependent on the Holy Spirit. With his limits fully understood, he called on the limitless one to come. It was the Spirit of Christ at work inside Paul that made Paul unstoppable. It wasn’t Paul’s natural ability and he didn’t just happen to be this type of man. Paul “strove”… he “fought”… he “beat himself into submission”… not to be a better man but to know God; to engage God, who has no limits.

My prayer is that we grow in knowing just how very limited we are without Him; and that when we embrace our limitedness, we would become more and more dependent on God.

-=pastor tom