Vision Sunday

In 1998, People’s Church faced an enormous trial of survival. The congregation found itself unable to meet its financial burdens because of a failed bond program. Marilyn and I were leading a Bible School in Cordoba, Argentina, when we received a call to come and lead them during this crisis. We pondered the request and sought God’s guidance and thought how ironic to return to the Church where we had served as youth pastors 23 years earlier. God had blessed us, and we found ourselves in a fruitful time of ministry in Argentina. However, we also realized that People’s Church had been an incredible partner with us in Argentina, so now would be our opportunity to help them. Although it was a difficult decision to leave Argentina, we accepted the challenge of leading the Church forward. People’s Church assumed a new mortgage of almost 1.6 million dollars as part of the solution. This new mountain of debt would take 21 years to pay off; we all wondered whether we could do it, but with God’s help, we began an arduous journey that ended in June of 2019.

The financial arrangement afforded us one year to plan for monthly payments. Our yearly income projection fell way short of making these monthly payments. In 1999, in preparation for our task, we created an account called The Joseph Fund; this fund became our strategy to prepare for these intimidating payments. Like the widow in First Kings, chapter four, all we had were empty vessels—we desperately needed God’s provision. We began raising revenue by selling everything we could, the singing Christmas tree, farming implements, a radio station, and of course, we gave weekly offerings.

About 10 years into the loan payments, we applied to another lender to get a lower interest rate. They answered, “You are too big of a risk,” so they denied our application. Although we may have looked too small and insignificant on paper to climb this mountain, God never gave up on us. He helped each step of the way—all the way to the top. This has been our financial strategy this last 20 years:

·         Keep missions front and center

·         Stay current in our financial obligations to everyone

·         Do not incur any more debt

·         Keep giving to the Joseph Fund each month

·         Keep everyone informed as to our progress

Our Vision Going Forward!

·         To invest money and resources into ministry to people

·         To implement effective ministries that reach our community

·         To continue to improve our facilities with needed renovations

·         To save for future projects

·         To increase our missions giving in greater capacity

Let Justice Roll Like a River

In St. Louis, Missouri, we are accustomed to rivers. We have the Missouri River that joins the Mississippi, making it the 4th most extensive river system in the world. It’s a big river, and it never stops flowing south toward the Gulf of Mexico. Amos, a prophet who delivered some powerful messages to the people of Judah about 750 years before Christ, talked about a mighty river. One of the illustrations he uses is that of a river. He says, “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:24). The context for this statement is that justice had become scarce in the land of Judah.

There was so much perversion of justice in the way people treated each other in Judah that it repudiated God. The morality of fairness and equality had disappeared. Honesty and integrity were rare, and cheating, lying, and taking advantage of each other was the norm. When the people went to worship—their worship meant nothing to God. He said to them, “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps” (Amos 5:21-23). These words carry deep emotion as God rejects their attempts to worship him without their living righteous lives.

God’s solution was that he wanted transformation of their hearts, “But let justice roll on like a river,

righteousness like a never-failing stream!” He wants justice all the time, not just when it is convenient. Justice is not supposed to be a faucet you turn on and off but a mighty river that runs all the time. Justice is not an option with God but a requirement.

Maintaining this kind of integral consistency seems impossible to many people. The truth is that by ourselves, it is impossible, but it is not impossible with God’s help. If we learn to depend on him, he will help us be just and righteous. That means that we always do the right thing. If we fail to do the right thing in life, we own our mistake and make it right. This is what God wants from us and expects from us.

God Knows

In the life of Abraham and Sarah, a fantastic event occurs—God came to dinner. That’s right, God, accompanied by two angels, paid a visit to Abraham. Sarah prepared them a feast, and they ate with Abraham. This is the only place in the Old Testament where God shared a meal with a human. No wonder Abraham is called a friend of God.

In the course of the conversation, God told Abraham, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son” (Gen 18:10).  Sarah overheard the conversation and instantly laughed with unbelief. How could she, now an old woman with a husband who was one hundred, have a baby? The statement seemed utterly absurd. Sarah’s laugh is a laugh of hopelessness. God posed a question for Sarah even though she wasn’t physically present in the conversation and never uttered the thought. Moses writes: Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” (Gen 18:15).

Sarah was face to face with the omniscience of God. She realized that her unuttered thought was fully known to the Lord. Sarah was brought face to face with the reality that God is omniscient. How powerful is the idea that God knows our innermost thoughts.

The most insane thing we can do is not be truthful with God—the one who can help us, free us, and deliver us, and we believe we can hide our sin from him. We can fool others, but not the omniscient eye of God. Even the most intimate secret or hurtful shame that we are afraid to share—he already knows about it. Knowing that God is omniscient empowers us to believe that nothing is too hard for the Lord. David’s words about God’s omniscience are beautiful:

Psalms 139:1-4

O Lord, you have searched me

and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

you know it completely, O Lord.

A Marriage Triangle

Marriage was meant to be an unbroken circle, but when it is broken, it can become a triangle. The intimacy of marriage is compromised when one partner brings in a child and divulges secrets belonging only to the couple. Besides the harm done to the child—it diminishes the bond between the spouses. Then there are those emotional affairs where one spouse shares intimate conversations about his or her marriage with someone else. This too is a triangle, and it is harmful and deadly. It will destroy a marriage in short order.

In Genesis chapter 16, there is a marriage triangle with Abram, Sarai, and Hagar. This story vividly highlights the emotions of rejection, anger, jealousy, loneliness, which results in deep hurt for all the parties. This story is real life stuff. It is what happens in marriages and families today with frequency.

After Sarai and Abram had been waiting for the promise of a son for ten years, Sarai grew impatient. She was overcome with fear—fearing she would be barren her whole life. To be barren in Biblical times was considered a horrible tragedy. Sarai blamed herself and God for her condition. Her humiliation was unbearable. She consequently, decided to use her servant girl Hagar as a surrogate mother (Gen 16:1-16). Sarai’s solution was justifiable and acceptable in the culture of the day, but not to God.

I have watched the story of the Three Little Pigs at least 500 times with my little grandchildren. When the wolf climbs up on the roof and decides to enter the brick house through the chimney since he cannot get in the house—I say, “Bad idea Mr. Wolf!” This is a bad idea, Sarai from the start.

Today it has become culturally acceptable for young people to be sexually active before marriage. Our culture says yes, but God’s Word says no. Why is that? Does God want to deprive young people of pleasure and enjoyment? No, it is because young people are not mature enough to handle the emotional fall out of being intimately connected and do not know how to stay connected. Consequently, they go from one relationship to another, and many young people fall into depression and anxiety, unable to handle the feelings of rejection.

Sarai’s choice was wrong because it went against everything and everyone. It robbed her of her intimacy with her husband and introduced even more shame into her life. Her attempt to help God out only brought more pain to her and her family. Abram, however, abdicated his leadership as a godly husband when he accepted the offer. God had spoken to him on several occasions and confirmed his promise to him. He could have assured Sarai that God will come through if we remain patient, but he did not do this. Instead, he was passive, and he contributed to the dysfunction that only grew worse with time.

If you are contemplating how you could expedite your happiness and fulfill your own dreams. It seems God has forgotten you, and therefore, you will have to take matters into your own hands. Think before you act and do not abandon God’s promises—wait for them. If you act out of a deficit of faith, you will live to regret it all your life. Sin has far-reaching consequences.

If you are married, nothing is more sacred than the bond that exists between the two of you. Always keep your promises to each other. Always apologize and own your mistakes and reclaim quickly any ground that is lost to bad decisions. Always protect the bond between you and make sure it remains an unbroken circle. Always guard against any intruders who would make your relationship a triangle.

Love Is Patient

Love has many facets, as the Love Chapter of 1 Corinthians explains. One of the most important ones is patience. The old English translation of patience is long-suffering. It is not easy to listen to someone who is angry, resentful, or hurt. To do so requires a great deal of patience or suffering. We have to be disciplined enough to not be provoked and at the same time, not be quick to react in defensive behavior. Our usual reaction is to fight back if we feel attacked, which only escalates the conflict. We are talking about the ability to withstand frustration with the point of listening to someone who is just as flawed and messed up as we are. Long-suffering or forbearance invites God into the situation, and it lessens the resentment or anger.

Solomon said, “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools” (Eccl 7:9). Only a fool is defensive; he will not hear the matter out. Only a fool will respond with accusations before really listening to the other person. When there is a deficit of patience and long-suffering, there will be an abundance of unresolved conflict. Solomon also said, “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride” (Eccl 7:8). Resolving a matter is better than quitting in the middle with both people extremely upset. We will all experience conflict, but we do not all know how to resolve it.

Exposure to unresolved conflict hinders a child’s normal growth patterns and increases their defensiveness. Unfortunately, children are growing up in homes where they witness unresolved conflict between their parents regularly. They internalize this chaos or act it out. Many of them experience social anxiety and even depression or anger, and as a result they live with confusion.

We see mass shootings, and we wonder what is causing this. The answer lies in the confusion that exists in the child and adolescents. This confusion has serious implications when they are adults. Many children are living in a chaos of unresolved conflict because their parents are living that way. They learn the same negative patterns of communication and possess the same inability to listen and resolve their disputes with others.

Deescalating an argument and later resolving the differences that initiated the disagreement are learned skills. These skills do not come easily, especially if the model we grew up with was one of unresolved conflict. What helps us is to learn to ask ourselves, “What can I do to resolve this?” We need to listen and hear what our husband or wife is really saying. We need to take responsibility for our mistakes. We need to apologize and ask for forgiveness. We need to keep working on our attitudes.

There has been and continues to be way too much permissive parenting where kids are raising themselves. There is little modeling of emotional control and teaching of right and wrong. Kids are growing up without a sense of morality and little patience with others. They have not been taught and have no idea how to listen to another person and try to resolve their differences. This is one of the reasons we are seeing so many problems in our culture today.