THE FREEST MAN ON EARTH Several weeks ago, some Christian friends and I were talking about slavery. We had each traveled and were describing the ways we have observed the topic of slavery being treated at historical sites in the United States. Several years ago, my wife Erin and I toured the state of Virginia. And we spent some wonderful time in what is called the Historic Triangle. This area includes the sites of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. Historically, the sites are from different eras, but geographically, they are quite close. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the New World, established in 1607. Williamsburg was the capital of the colony of Virginia and played a major role in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War, which began in April 1775. And Yorktown was the site of the last major battle of that war, in October 1781. Erin and I thoroughly enjoyed all three sites, especially the “living history” aspect of Williamsburg, where folks dressed in period clothing demonstrate the lifestyle of the day and welcome questions. What we noticed in the treatment of the history of both Jamestown and Williamsburg, however, was the inordinate amount of attention paid to the institution of slavery. Had we not been well-versed in the history of these sites, we would have come away from our visit viewing all the important events that occurred in those settlements and all the people who lived there and their incredible contributions to our country’s history, as secondary to the institution of slavery in importance and impact. Slavery is a terrible thing. It has destroyed countless lives throughout world history and continues to do so today. There is no rationalizing it, no excusing it and no condoning it in any form. There is no denying that it is a blight on our nation’s history. But I also think we should realize that United States history does not hold a monopoly on the institution of slavery, nor does it define our history. Unfortunately, it has existed for thousands of years, in many parts of the world, and as long as people are sinful, it will never go away. So, after all that introductory material, to the point of this devotional: you are a slave. I’ll give you just a moment to digest that. Maybe I should type it again. You are a slave. You may not feel like you are, and you may take offense at me for saying so, but you are unquestionably a slave. And you always will be. The Stoic Roman philosopher Seneca famously said, “We are all slaves to something.” He’s correct. And the quality of our lives depends very closely on what, or who, we choose to enslave ourselves to. Money, power, success, alcohol, status, performance, sex, people-pleasing - these are all harsh taskmasters. Jesus, on the other hand, is not. In Matthew 11:29,30, Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart: and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Let’s take a closer look at the Greek word for “slave” – doulos. In Greek it looks like δουλοσ, and it’s pronounced DOO-loss. It can be, and has been, translated several ways, including “bondservant,” just plain “servant” and “slave.” Because the word is sometimes translated just plain “servant,” some have gotten the misguided impression that a doulos is more of a paid servant, like in the show Downton Abbey. However, the first definition of doulos in Strong’s Concordance, a well- respected academic source, reads: “one who was in a permanent relation of servitude to another, whose will was completely subject to the will of another.” Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, another go-to source for scholars, says the word doulos derives from the Greek word δεώ, pronounced DEH-owe, meaning “to bind.” Clearly, these two esteemed scholarly sources define the Greek word for slave the same way we think of a slave – one who has no rights of his own, but is completely bound to serve another. Paul calls himself a slave in his letters to the Romans, the Philippians and Titus, as does Peter in his second letter. Even James and Jude, half-brothers of Jesus, refer to themselves as His slaves in their letters. Here is a set of verses discussing slavery: John 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” Ephesians 6:6 Try to please them [your earthly masters] all the time, not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. I Corinthians 7:22 And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. I Peter 2:16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Galatians 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. The term doulos appears twenty-six times in the New Testament. You just read five of them. Eight more are found in the second half of Romans 6. Let’s take a look at verses 16-23 of that chapter and see if we can make further sense of the use of this difficult word, and find some application. Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We were all slaves to sin. We had no real power to resist its influence. Then Christ came and bought us from the slave market, using His own blood on the cross as payment. He set us free from the bondage of sin, and at that very moment we became slaves of God. But what a difference between these two masters! Sin vs. God. Think of your life before Jesus and compare those two masters. Slavery to sin led us to pain, self-loathing, depression, hopelessness, death and condemnation. Slavery to God, on the other hand, to quote Paul in Romans 6, “leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” Pastor Paul Washer said, “The freest man on the face of the earth is the one who makes himself a slave to a perfect Master.” I am called to bow my knee in subjection to my Maker. And I joyfully do so. Obedience and service to Him are what I was made for. They foster holiness in my life and draw me closer to the One who loves me and sacrificed everything for me. In my slavery to God, I truly am the freest man on earth.

THE HOLY SPIRIT A Christian arrives in Heaven and meets several of his Old Testament heroes. He asks Noah what it was like to experience the Great Flood inside the ark with all those animals. He wants to know from Joseph what it was like to understand dreams and to be almost as powerful as Pharaoh. “Moses, what was it like when the Red Sea parted and when YWHW thundered from Mt. Sinai?” He asks Elijah what it was like to be caught up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Finally, he asks Daniel what it was like to serve great kings and be thrown to the lions. Each man graciously answers his questions, but then each asks this New Testament Christian the same question: “What is it like to have the Spirit of God dwell in you always?” The Old Testament saints knew nothing of the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Only since the Day of Pentecost, described in Acts 2, has the Holy Spirit come to indwell Believers. In the Old Testament, Scripture describes how the Holy Spirit came and indwelt people temporarily. But the New Covenant changed all that. In John 14:16,17, Jesus told His disciples, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” Every person who “believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, will be saved (Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9).” When we turn from the old life and receive new life from God, not only do we receive an eternal inheritance (I Peter 1:4), but we receive the Holy Spirit to empower and comfort and guide us through the rest of this earthly life. The Holy Spirit is often called the third Person of the Trinity. This title signifies that the Holy Spirit is God Himself; not some lesser being, but fully equal with the Father and the Son. And it also means He is personal and relational, not just some ephemeral mist or vague presence, as He is so often portrayed. To use a phrase from a previous generation, “He is God and very God.” When a person receives new life by faith in the shed blood of Jesus, he or she receives the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 1:13, Paul wrote, “When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation, our eternal life. Paul reiterated this later in the same letter. In Ephesians 4:30, he wrote that the Holy Spirit “seals us for the day of redemption.” In some sermons, I’ve heard the Holy Spirit likened to a pledge or earnest money. His presence signifies the fact that God will never let us go. However, just a few paragraphs later in yet again the same letter, Paul wrote that we are to be “filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).” Though we know the Holy Spirit will never leave us, Paul’s statement implies that there are varying degrees of His impact on our lives. If we are called to be filled with the Spirit, that must mean there are times we may not be filled. J.B. Phillips paraphrased Ephesians 5:18 as “Let the Spirit stimulate your soul.” Eugene Peterson, in The Message, used this phrasing: “Drink the Spirit of God, huge drafts of Him.” Last week I watched part of a sermon by pastor and author Tim Keller. He addressed three points. First, he portrayed the Person of the Holy Spirit. Second, he discussed a unique “take” on the meaning of the term, “Be filled with the Spirit.” And last, he described the incredible nature of that filling. I’m not sure how recent the sermon was, as Pastor Keller died in May 2023. Here is the transcript of the excerpt I watched: “When you believe in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes into your life, and when that happens, you’re not getting some vague force; you’re not getting some emanation from a distant god-planet. God Himself, in fact, you might say the Triune God Himself, is coming and living right in the middle of your life. Have you been profoundly affected and shaped and changed by the knowledge of that fact? Do you walk around in acute consciousness of that fact? There’s a term in the Bible: ‘Be filled with the Spirit.’ And the trouble with the word ‘filled’ is it sounds like a metaphor that leads you to believe the Holy Spirit is a thing, like voltage. So, you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? ‘I’ve only got three amps; I need six.’ Or like a liquid. ‘I’ve only got one gallon of the Holy Spirit; I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit; I need five gallons.’ And you see, the trouble with the word ‘filled’ is that it immediately moves you away from what the Bible says about the personality of the Holy Spirit. What does it mean to be filled with a person? To be filled with the Holy Spirit means to be filled with a person. It’s more like being in love. That’s what it means to be filled with a person. But it’s more than that…Do you know Who is living in the middle of your life if you’re a Christian? Has it sunk in? Has it changed the way in which you live? Because, after all, there might be some things you would ordinarily do that you would never do before the face of someone you respect. Has it affected the way you feel about yourself? Have you been melted by spiritual understanding of the greatness of the Personage and the gloriousness of the Person who lives in the middle of your life, to the degree that it humbles you and amazes you and changes you and exhilarates you? To that degree, you are filled with the Spirit.” So, to the question: Do you spend your days filled with the Holy Spirit? Sin gets in the way of that filling, and apathy gets in the way of that filling. I’ve heard people who had cataract surgery describe their new vision: “I had no idea how dim and blurry my world had become. After the surgery, colors were incredibly more vibrant, and everything blurry became crystal clear.” Living filled by the Holy Spirit brings color and clarity. So confess your interfering sin and kill your anesthetizing apathy. Spend time with God, talking to Him and letting Him talk to you from His Word. Bask in His company. Let the knowledge and understanding of Who lives in you and loves you “humble you and amaze you and change you and exhilarate you.” And then step back and watch Him work wonders in and through your life!

URGENCY Many years ago, I watched a movie called Gallipoli. It was about the catastrophic World War I campaign by the same name. Specifically, it was about two young Australian men who went to war together and became close friends. Frank (played by a very young Mel Gibson), and Archy, because of their ability to run fast, were assigned as couriers, delivering messages from headquarters to the front trenches. It’s been over forty years since I watched the movie – once – so the details of how the final setting came about are a bit fuzzy, but I remember that Archy was to be part of an attack that was guaranteed to fail and result in the slaughter of virtually every man involved. Frank was back at headquarters and was given paper orders to deliver to the front to stop the attack and save Archy’s life and the lives of all the men with him. For what seemed like an eternity, the camera cut back and forth between two scenes. On the one hand, Frank’s desperate sprint from headquarters toward the trenches where he knew his friend was, dodging every possible obstacle; and on the other hand, Archy and the other soldiers in the trenches, somberly preparing to “go over the top” to their certain deaths. The sense of urgency was nearly unbearable. I was literally on the edge of my seat. “He has to make it in time to stop the attack. He just has to!” And that’s what I want to write about today – urgency. Nowadays, it’s extremely rare to be in a situation where we experience a life-or-death sense of urgency, although you may have just such a story to tell. If so, I’d love to hear it. But the sense of urgency we typically experience is more like what you feel when you’re late for an appointment, and you can’t find your phone (ten years ago I would have used “keys” instead of “phone” – how times have changed). Or you have a deadline. Or you’re running late to pick up a loved one who is waiting on you. Or you’re just running late for anything! Three years ago, my wife Erin and I were literally running late. We were returning from a wonderful Irish vacation. Our flight into Denver arrived a bit late, and we didn’t have much time to get to our gate. And, as you likely know, when you’re flying to Helena from anywhere, your gate is always at the far-flung fringe of the airport. As we inched slowly through customs and then security, I kept thinking, “We’re never going to make it by 6:45!” When we were finally able, we began to run. However, since we didn’t check bags, opting instead to pack everything in our carry-ons, our run was more of a fast shuffle, weighed down by our luggage. I kept an eye on the time as we navigated the concourse, and watched in despair as 6:45 came and went. The sense of urgency was overwhelming. After just arriving in Denver on an interminable flight from London, I couldn’t imagine missing our flight home! My lungs were on fire, my legs were screaming and Erin was a couple hundred yards behind me when I arrived at the gate (I figured if one of us made it to the gate before they closed the door, they would have to hold it for the other). And there at the gate, instead of the expected silence and emptiness, were all kinds of people, milling, reading, scrolling on their phones, all looking very relaxed. I was completely discombobulated. After I caught my breath, I was able to look again at my boarding pass and saw that the flight didn’t leave until 7:10. Boarding began at 6:45. We were not late at all! And a few moments later, when Erin came huffing up next to me, I realized I had married a saint, because she did not berate me for being the idiot I was. And she has never ridiculed me since! But my point is that, though the problem didn’t actually exist, the sense of urgency was very real! Do you ever experience a sense of urgency? Often retired folks, especially those who had stressful jobs with high levels of responsibility, swing the pendulum as far in the other direction as they possibly can when the job is done. “I’m retired. It’s time to relax and enjoy the absence of urgency for a change.” I understand. Carrying the weight of deadlines, meeting schedules, expectations from the higher-ups, the foibles of coworkers and a to-do list as long as your arm, is miserable. When that weight is removed at retirement, why would anyone in their right mind want it back? So, from first-hand experience, I understand the desire to reduce urgency and simply relax. But I think maybe there are some arenas of life where we need to experience, and maybe even foster, a sense of urgency. I’m talking about helping to build the kingdom of God. As much as we’d like to think God put us here on earth to float along with the current after our job is finished, He didn’t. The job is never finished! The job you went to every morning for years- the one that paid the bills- may be finished, but as servants of the King, we have a greater purpose. God could easily just take every person to heaven as soon as they believe in Him, but He doesn’t do that. He’s left us here for a reason – to further His kingdom. And I think we need to have more of a sense of urgency about it. In John 9:4, Jesus said, “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” We only have a limited time on this earth. Let’s work for what matters while we can! Do I think you should wake every morning and immediately start stressing about what God wants you to do that day? Stressing like Erin and I were as we ran through the airport, or stressing like I was while I was watching the last few minutes of Gallipoli? No. The urgency I’m talking about comes hand in hand with joy. “I want to make someone’s day today, Lord. Show me who to talk to along my way.” “God, I have a real burden for my neighbor. Give me an opportunity today to share Your love with him.” “Lord, I have an unpleasant doctor’s visit today. Shine through me so the doctors and nurses see You.” “I’m so looking forward to seeing the grandkids today, Lord. Help me to be intentional about instilling in them a love for You.” “God, I’m excited about what today holds, and I’m committed to living deliberately, always looking for ways to serve You.” “Furthering His kingdom” can be defined in many ways. Most often, it’s applied to a church setting. It can be up-front, like playing an instrument to aid in worship on a Sunday morning, or preaching and teaching, or leading a ministry or leading a small group. Or it can be as quiet and unassuming as setting up chairs or microphones for an event, making coffee, mopping a floor, giving, organizing the minutiae of an event, praying, or mentoring a younger man or woman. No matter what it looks like, we should perform it with a sense of urgency. When it comes to church, we should be asking every day, “What needs doing?” “How can I help?” “Is there a place for me to serve?” The concept of furthering the kingdom of God relates to our life outside of the church body as well. If you are pouring your life into others, you are working for the kingdom: caring for a loved one with dementia or other medical needs, shoveling a neighbor’s sidewalk or caring for their yard, paying for someone’s coffee in line behind you, allowing that car into your lane in front of you with a wave and a smile, listening with intent to understand, doing a chore unasked and doing it with joy, checking in on someone lonely, exercising patience while driving, exercising patience anytime at all, volunteering your time, holding a door for someone, smiling at the cashier, returning your cart to the store (not just the corral in the parking lot), sending an encouraging note, making someone new feel comfortable, donating. I could go on, and you could add plenty of ideas, too. Please don’t float with the current. Work for the kingdom. Use every day God gives you to bring Him glory. Sometimes you’ll get recognized; usually you won’t. And that’s okay, because the only One who matters keeps track of it all. And when I stand before Him one day, when you stand before Him one day, we all want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master (Matthew 25:21).”  There’s no one I want to please more than my Savior. How about you?

Defection Forty years have passed since Moses led the people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt by the power of God. A new generation has grown up, and Joshua has led them over the Jordan River to finally enter the land God promised to Abraham hundreds of years before. The first city in the path of the invasion is Jericho, fortified by impregnable walls. And within those walls, among thousands of God-hating pagans, lives a prostitute named Rahab. Her story begins in Joshua chapter 2. Please take a moment now to stop and read the chapter. It will take you less than five minutes. Then come back and continue reading. There is a plaque on the wall of the Hebrews Chapter 11 “Hall of Faith” with Rahab’s name on it. Hebrews 11:31 says, “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.” And in James 2:25, Rahab is mentioned right alongside one of the heroes of Israel, Abraham: “And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?” Some folks believe Rahab’s story shows that God condones lying. But if they were to read a bit more carefully, they would find that God never commended her for lying. Rahab is not in the Hall of Faith because she lied, but because “she gave a friendly welcome to the spies (Hebrews 11),” and because “she received the messengers and sent them out another way (James 2).” And why did she do that? Because she believed in the God of the Israelites. By protecting those Israelite spies, she threw in her lot with Israel and their God. There could be no turning back. She was committed. She was betting her life on a God she’d never met, only knew by reputation. Rahab began her conversation with Israelite spies by saying, “I know the Lord has given you the land.” She was fully convinced that her culture was about to be destroyed, and she wanted out. She was willing to sacrifice a lot to avoid being swept into the teeth of God’s wrath along with the rest of the people of Jericho. How about you and me? We tend to get ensnared by this modern-day Jericho in which we live. Are we ignoring God’s judgment that is marching silently around our city, or are we constantly reminding ourselves that this culture - this world - will one day be no more? Rahab defected from her culture, and it saved her life when the culture was destroyed. Like Rahab, are we willing to make some sacrifices if we are serious about renouncing our godless culture to walk with God? This culture is insidious. Hitler’s regime proved that if you repeat something often enough, no matter how ridiculous it is, people will begin to believe it. He was right. And it wasn’t just true ninety years ago, as the Third Reich grew. The last few years here in the United States have proven the point yet again. Here are a few of the lies quietly spreading through our culture. Have any of them worked their devious way into your thinking? God wants you to be happy. This sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? God is our loving Father, so of course He wants us to be happy. This lie is preached far and wide, and sometimes the words “healthy” and “wealthy” are added to “happy” for good measure. But God tells us in His Word that He is more interested in your holiness than your happiness. Becoming more like Jesus is God’s will for your life, and sometimes moving closer to that goal means hardship and suffering. In I Peter 1:16, God admonishes us to “be holy, for I am holy.” Here’s another lie: Being spiritual is the most important thing of all. Sometimes it’s rephrased like this: “That you have faith is more important than what you have faith in.” I’m amazed at how often I hear this. You’re telling me faith itself is the key, and the object of that faith is irrelevant? Remarkable. It doesn’t matter what you believe; simply believing something makes you a better person. Using that rationale, the act of boarding an airplane is more important than the destination of the airplane. But if we hear this often enough, we might begin to buy in and join the 62% of Americans who believe this foolishness. Don’t. Jesus said the object of our faith is crucial. In John 14:6, He said, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through Me.” “I am enough.” This lie is everywhere, from advertising slogans to bumper stickers. “I am strong; I am capable; I can do anything I put my mind to; I don’t need help, because I am enough.” Whenever I see or hear this, I want to ask, “Who created the oxygen your body and brain need to function? Who created your diaphragm that pulled oxygen into your lungs, and who created the intricate and complex system of gas exchange in those lungs of yours, expelling poisonous carbon dioxide with very exhale? Do you know that you are one heartbeat from meeting the God who effortlessly holds together every atom in the universe?” No, I am not enough, and neither are you. I am miserably needy, and I get myself in trouble when I forget it! Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “And He [God] has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong (II Corinthians 12:9,10).” Truth is relative and personal. Two out of three Americans believe this. The lie of moral relativism has been around quite a while now, and it may be the lie most dangerous to us. Nowadays, you may define your own truth based on your experience and preferences. As Christians, we often encounter Scripture that challenges us or convicts us. Every time that happens, we have a choice to make; either we change and level up to Scripture, or we pull Scripture down to our level - we redefine God’s Word to make it more palatable. Oh, not blatantly. But we’re pretty good at rationalizing away the fact that our behavior doesn’t match the commands of the Bible. As just one example, consider Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” Hold that standard up next to the books you read, the music you listen to, the places you frequent and the shows and movies you watch. When we don’t measure up, rather than changing our entertainment choices, we rationalize. “There’s not that much profanity (or sex, or violence or the pushing of a secular worldview).” I do it, too! I heard a Christian talking recently about a very popular television show that they loved to watch: “Yes, there are lots of f-bombs, and lots of violence, and the main character is less than honest and very selfish, but I just don’t pay attention to all that.” There are many other examples. Maybe it’s time to take a cold, hard look at our behaviors in light of God’s Word and get our hearts a little more closely aligned. All faiths are the same. We’re all worshiping the same God, just by different names. We are tempted to believe this lie because we are bombarded with it every day, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. According to a poll taken by Ligonier Ministries in 2025, a staggering 47% of evangelical Christians believe that God receives the worship of Christians, Jews and Muslims. This lie has its claws buried in many Christians. However, the one true God is the only one who took on flesh and died for all mankind. The one true God is the only one who is a personal God. The one true God is the only one who rose from the dead. The one true God is the only one who has established a system of grace rather than works. Don’t believe the lie that all faiths are really the same. Christianity is exclusive. In Acts 4:12, Peter preached that “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” The Bible is a good book and has lots of wonderful advice, but nothing more. This one we would never say out loud, but how many Christians really don’t buy in completely to the inerrancy of Scripture? According to a 2022 Gallup poll, less than 50% of Americans who identify as evangelical or born again believe that the Bible is without error. Yet another lie has worked its way into our thinking. In II Timothy 3:16,17, Paul wrote, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” And Peter agreed. In II Peter 1:20,21, he wrote, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Are you, am I, entangled in the web of our culture? Are you, am I, starting to believe some of these devious lies? Like Rahab, we must defect from our culture. However, she had an advantage over us. She didn’t remain in her culture. We must. God has given us a tightrope to walk. He has called us to reject outright the lies of our culture while remaining winsome and loving to those who disagree with, and often hate, everything we believe and love. Our mandate is to be in the world but not of it. In Matthew 5:14, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.”  God, help us balance on the tightrope, avoiding the lies of the culture while shining Your light.

I’ve Read the Back of the Book, Part 2 Two weeks ago I wrote about the final destination of satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. I’ve read the back of the Book and the Bible is clear in Revelation 20:10: “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast [the Antichrist] and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” What a blessing that God has given us His final playbook. Two weeks ago we looked at Revelation 19 and 20 and saw God’s plan for the final judgment of evil. satan has been playing the spoiler since his defeat on Resurrection Sunday two thousand years ago, attacking everything God has created and especially those men and women who love Him. But that will come to a fiery end one day. And that fact should encourage us no end. Today I’d like to take a look at Revelation 21 and 22. If two weeks ago was “out with the bad,” today will be “in with the good.” After the final judgment of those men and women who have rejected God, chapter 21 opens with an amazing description of where and, to a degree, how, we will spend our eternity- those of us who have surrendered our lives to our loving God. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children (21:1-7).’” That sounds wholly, breathtakingly wonderful to me. No more tears or death or mourning or pain. You can stop right there - I’m sold! Oh, but there’s so much more. God will make all things new. Everything familiar to us, all the ways we live our lives, everything we’re used to, even the laws of nature, will be different, and so much better than anything we could possibly imagine. I’m just as tempted as you are sometimes to ask all my questions. “Will animals be there?” “What will we do all day?” “How could we not get bored sometimes?” “Will our glorified bodies look like young people or like we look now?” “What will babies who died look like?” “Will we recognize our loved ones?” “Will we miss our loved ones who aren’t there?” “What will worship be like if Jesus is right there with us?” We could ask a thousand questions. But I must be content to not get answers, and to rest in the knowledge that 1) my feeble mind couldn’t possibly comprehend the wonders God has in store for me anyway and 2) I mustn’t overlay my finite knowledge of how life works onto God’s way of operating. Thinking about the unknowns of heaven in the familiar terms of what we understand and know here on earth is a mistake, but a mistake we can’t help but make, because we don’t have any frame of reference except an earthly one! Let me highlight a few more things about eternity. Here is a description of the New Jerusalem, also found in Revelation 21. I have left the verses in the text so you can see that I’m skipping a bit. “The Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia [1400-1500 miles] in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. 22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” What an incredible place! There’s so much to write about here, but let me limit myself to just two observations. First, did you notice that, in verse 16, John tells us that the city is as high as it is wide and long? I can’t even comprehend that! A city that is 1400-1500 miles high? And second, the sun and moon are no longer necessary, nor are lights or lamps, because God provides the light. Here on earth, when an object blocks a single light source, what results? Right - a shadow. In my very limited understanding of the text in Revelation, however, it appears that darkness will no longer exist, and in that case, no shadows will exist. You will never need a flashlight to walk into a dark closet. You will never need to strike a match or light a candle or flip on a switch. Light will be everywhere, all around us! How can that possibly work? Now, see, there I go, trying to understand God’s infinite heaven in terms of my own earthly experience. We just can’t help ourselves, can we?! C.S. Lewis addresses heaven in the last of the seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia, The Last Battle. In it, all the heroes of the Chronicles have entered heaven. The Unicorn puts it in perspective: “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this.” Kinda makes you homesick to read that, doesn’t it? And hopefully the combination of Lewis’s interpretation and what you read in God’s Word removes any lurking fear in your heart about going to heaven, and provides you with some comfort when you think of your loved ones who are already there. And one last passage from the Word: Here are the first several verses of Revelation 22. “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever (22:1-4).” Let me wrap this up with one more very inspiring quote from The Last Battle. Let it encourage you if, as you’re aging and maybe declining just a bit, you feel like you’re coming to the end. You’re not. Steven Curtis Chapman, in his song The Glorious Unfolding, sings that “this life we’re living is just the beginning of the beginning.” But back to The Last Battle: In the last paragraph of the book, the author/narrator steps in and concludes the Chronicles, “And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” Hallelujah!

DO YOU REMEMBER? I had been in my new job as Residence Life Director at National American University in Rapid City, South Dakota, for about a month. My office was just off the dormitory’s front lobby/lounge, and on that Tuesday morning, I was preparing to meet with a representative of a local international Christian ministry. One of the students had turned on the television in the lounge, and a small group had gathered to watch, slack-jawed, the horrifying events occurring on the East Coast. I arrived just in time to watch the first tower collapse at about 8:00. And the second tower half an hour later. When my appointment arrived, we canceled our meeting and spent the rest of the morning watching the news as shocking reports came in from the Pentagon and Pennsylvania as well as New York City. I have no doubt that you also remember where you were and what you were doing that Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001. That terrible day ranks right down there with Pearl Harbor in 1941 (we have a handful of folks in our group who were born by then, though they probably weren’t old enough to remember it), the 1963 Kennedy assassination and the 1986 Challenger explosion. We typically remember many details about the days that rocked our world. Just to refresh your memory of what happened that remarkable day, allow me to include an excerpt found at https://www.history.com/articles/9-11- attacks. “On September 11, 2001, terrorists linked to the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda - founded by Osama bin Laden – hijacked four commercial passenger airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York City. Within a few hours, both of the twin towers collapsed into rubble, demolishing a large section of lower Manhattan. A third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The passengers and crew of the fourth plane fought back, and the plane was downed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks...The shocking events of September 11 were televised globally and left much of the world reeling in horror.” I’d like to pull two applications from the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11th. First, it is important for us to live every day as if it were our last. As I write this, Erin and I are packed and ready to fly to Seattle this afternoon. We will be attending the funeral of a man who was one of my father’s closest friends for many years, a man I loved as an uncle, though we weren’t related. We have every expectation that the plane will make it safely to Seattle. However, it might not. If it does not, remember me fondly! But we can say the same thing every time we get in our vehicle. We have every expectation that we will make it safely there and back. However, we might not. We are not guaranteed tomorrow even when we stay home. We all know people, or know of people, who have died in their home, the place we all consider the safest. I don’t write this to be morbid or pessimistic. But we all know, whether we want to admit it or talk about it, that God could call us home at any time. On the more encouraging side, I recently heard a man preaching on the radio that no one dies before God’s time for them on earth is up. In other words, none of us will die before God says, “It’s time to come home.” That’s comforting to know. So, are you living each day like it could be your last? Am I? None of those 2977 people killed twenty-five years ago woke up that morning knowing it would be their last day on earth*. All of them had plans for the future; all of them expected they would have more time to love their families. With that reminder, I encourage you (and I encourage myself) to take your Christian life up a notch. Love a little harder and love a little stronger, extend a little more grace, forgive a little more readily, listen a little more and judge a little less, show a little more compassion and stand up a little taller for the cause of Christ. Our time on earth is short, and it’s shrinking every single day. How are we using the time God has given to us? I encourage you (and I encourage myself) to spend more time on the few things that matter instead of on the many things that don’t. Spend more time with God. Many of us are limited by distance, but if possible, spend more time with your family and the people who matter to you. And use every day to bring God as much glory as possible. The second application I’d like to draw is about remembrance. Today we commemorate the 25th anniversary of a day none of us will ever forget. However, there is a day in history that makes 9/11 look like a picnic in the park. It is Good Friday, the day that Jesus died in our place on the cross (I had a friend in college who used to call a payday Friday Good Friday and a Friday without a paycheck Passover). May we never let fade the significance and the tragedy of that horrible day. The world has swept it under the carpet - may it always be in the forefront of our minds and hearts. It’s the day that a perfect Man took all the justified wrath of the Father – wrath meant for His enemies, those who had broken His perfect laws, i.e., us. Look at Romans 5:6-11 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” We who were enemies of God have been reconciled to Him through the death of Jesus on the cross. When God looks at you and me, instead of our sin, He sees the shed blood of Jesus. What an amazing thing! Good Friday is a day we should never forget. It’s the day God took us from the slave market of sin, redeemed us by taking our deserved place on the executioner’s block and set us free. We’ve been bought with a price, that of the precious blood of Jesus (I Corinthians 6: 20). The cross began the process of our redemption. The empty tomb finished it. A dead-and-buried savior has no power to redeem anyone. But a risen and triumphant Savior fulfills all the prophecies and brings new life to all who trust in Him! The resurrection of Jesus is far and away the most astonishing event in the history of the world. We remember and celebrate it hand in hand with Good Friday. Read what Paul says to the church in Ephesus. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:4-10).” We remember the attacks of September 11 every year at this time. Let’s remember the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus every single day. It brought us new, triumphant life from despair and death! And if you have never given your heart to Jesus and received His forgiveness for your sins and the eternal life He offers , I encourage you to do so today. He died and rose for you, too. And He waits with open arms to welcome you to His family as His child. If you’re not sure how to do that, please contact me through our church website, www.hannaford.org. I’d consider it an honor to show you how. You will never make a better decision in your life! * If you’re wondering why my number doesn’t match the official death count, I’m not including the nineteen men who committed suicide.

I'VE READ THE BACK OF THE BOOK, PART 1 I noticed something about my wife Erin very early on in our relationship, and it puzzled me. When she begins a novel, she thumbs through the last few pages. The first time I saw her do that, I was appalled! “Why would you look at the back of the book before you even start?” She said she simply wants to know how it ends. All these years later, though I accept her mindset, I still don’t understand it. Wouldn’t you want to enjoy any plot twists along the way and appreciate the story not knowing how it ends – and maybe value the ending? That’s how I feel about reading fiction. My attitude toward God’s Word is very different. I love knowing how it’s all going to end. I revel in it! The Book of Revelation is one of my favorites. Yes, there are some difficult passages and yes, some of the symbolism John uses is difficult to understand (I imagine he found some difficulty describing a lot of what he saw, too!), but I love reading the back of the Book! We are in the middle of difficult times. Jesus spoke about some painful indicators that His return was nearing. He called those indicators “birth pangs” – precursors to the labor of the Great Tribulation. We recognize many of those pangs when we observe our world right now. Wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24:6), nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom (Mark 13:8), earthquakes, plagues, famines, terrors and great signs from heaven (Luke 21:11), increasing persecution of Christians (Mark 13:9), Christians falling away from the faith, rampant hatred (Matthew 24:10), the rise of false prophets (Matthew 24:11), an increase in lawlessness and the cooling of hearts (Matthew 24:12). It’s very easy to get discouraged as we see these things happening around us. None of them are positive. We don’t like to see the world we once knew slowly deteriorating and evil rising. But please keep in mind that it’s all part of God’s plan. I almost feel sometimes, as I read the headlines, that I have a front-row seat to God’s strategic planning sessions. Of course we don’t know very many of the details, but how gracious of Him to share the ending of history with us, His children. The Book of Revelation is definitely a behind-the-scenes look at God’s plan for the end of time. Where others flounder and even despair, we have hope, because we’ve read the back of the Book! And we know that God wins! satan and his demons have been so active and destructive in this world for so long, it’s wonderful to read about how they get what’s coming to them (that’s not a typo at the beginning of this sentence – I recently heard (or read – I can’t remember which) a pastor say that he doesn’t feel the name of satan merits capitalizing, and I thought that was great). In Revelation 19, we read about Jesus returning to earth riding a white horse, followed by the “armies of heaven,” also on white horses. Ironically, however, He doesn’t need an army to vanquish His enemies. He does all the work Himself. Here is Revelation 19:19-21. “Then I saw the beast [the Antichrist] and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.” The next chapter describes the immediate aftermath of that one-sided battle. Revelation 20 begins with this narrative: “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.” After that one-thousand-year physical reign of Jesus on earth, often called the Millenium, satan will be released. Immediately, he will gather all the resentful and rebellious of heart for one last throw against God. The narrative of Revelation 20:9 is stunning in its brevity. “They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.” Every time I read that, I smile inside. Such mounting drama, such a threat against God’s people. The good guys are surrounded! Oh no! What will they do?! And then ZAP! “But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.” Just like that, no more threat. Game over. Please understand that I don’t wish ill on anyone. I’ve never had an enemy (that I knew about). I don’t want anyone to go to hell. But don’t you agree that there is a very real sense of satisfaction deep inside you when you read that verse? We are bombarded with animosity by those who hate God; we have been all our lives. And we’ve all prayed for justice to be done. “God, step in! Please do something!” Well, here it is. God does something. Boy, does He. And it’s all over in a moment. Well, almost all over Revelation 20:10 is the final capstone of judgment on satan: “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” No extra language, no embellishment, no drama. Simply God taking care of business. After all the plagues and suffering of the Tribulation, this is almost anticlimactic. I love seeing God hand down judgment to satan after all the millennia of satan’s rebellion and his causing such mayhem and grief and heartache on this earth! Whenever I’m discouraged about satan’s attacks in my life or the life of my family, or even in our country and our world, I’m always encouraged when I think about what’s going to happen to him in the end. I hope you’re encouraged, too. We are still in the middle of the war, fighting our battles daily. Battles for purity, battles for justice and holiness and truth. And we will continue to fight until either Jesus calls us home to heaven or He comes back for us. It’s encouraging to know that, as powerful as satan is (and never underestimate him – only God is more powerful), he is a defeated foe. In sports, at the end of a season, there is often a tension-filled race for playoff spots. But by that time, many teams have been eliminated from contention. They have no post- season to play for, so they act as spoilers. “I know I’m not going to make the playoffs, but I’m going to do my best to keep you from making them, too. My goal is to spoil your chances.” That’s what satan is doing. He’s already lost the war. He’s been defeated by the cross of Christ. When Jesus rose from the dead that incredible Sunday morning, after taking the sin of the world on Himself and dying on the cross as the final sacrifice for all mankind, satan was vanquished. The head of the serpent was finally crushed (Genesis 3:15). But God did not de-fang him. He is still “the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2)” and he is still “the god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4).” And he continues to do everything in his power to destroy those who love God. We can rejoice that satan is defeated. And Revelation 19 describes his final destination – “the lake of burning sulfur…to be tormented day and night for all eternity.” So be encouraged. As powerful as he is, satan is simply playing the spoiler. God is in control. His plan for the end of history is set and He will accomplish it. I’ve read the back of the book and God wins. And as His children, we win, too!  Rejoice in that today.

PLEASE, GOD For those of us with a child or children who don’t know God. Colored markers on a white page. A brown cross on a green hill. A childish orange sun surrounded by childish, blue-outlined clouds. “Jesus saved me from sin” A plain white sheet of paper, wholly covered by a child’s ballpoint scrawl. “I am a chiled of God. I asked Jesus into my heart and he caim into me heart. I love him. He ceaps me safe. He is the best.” Tucked away in a file, forever in my heart, a father’s heart. Decades have passed. You don’t believe it anymore. How does such tragedy creep into a family? You don’t think it’s a tragedy. You grew up. You grew away. You grew apart. How did this happen? Truths I hold dear, cast away like so much detritus of youth. The One I love with all my heart, the One who sacrificed Himself and died a horrible death so that I could be set free forever, dismissed as a fairy tale. Everyone else’s kids love Jesus. Everyone else’s kids are raising their kids to love Jesus. What did I do wrong? I’m sure I didn’t pray as much as I should have. I’m praying now. I’m sure I didn’t lead well enough. I’m sure I didn’t listen as well as I could have. I’m trying to listen now. How could I have let this happen? Forgive me. Am I responsible? Yes. And no. Insidious black tentacles crept into our home, wrapped around precious souls and took them away. I didn’t even see them. The day she stands before you all alone, vulnerable. Will I witness it? Will childlike faith stand up against adult rebellion? Will she be escorted away to an eternity without You, Lord, while I watch? “Oh, God, please no…” How can heaven be heaven without my children? Selah God, Your Word says there is always hope. You desire all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (I Timothy 2:4). But love isn’t love if it is forced, so You never force. But the Hound of Heaven does pursue. My voice is silenced but Yours is not. I lift to You my chiled – my baby, the one who drew the crude cross with a brown marker twenty-some years ago. Do You see her there? Running away? Her brother, too? And her sister? They are blind and deaf, but far from dumb. Adults, making adult, informed decisions. Father, do what You must to wake them up. To get their attention. Pull them into the love of Your embrace. Break them. Just as You broke me.  Do what You must do…but please…show mercy.

FEAR I am going to offer you the opportunity right now to show grace and compassion and mercy to a fellow believer – me. A few weeks ago, at the Thursday morning men’s breakfast, the topic of the devotional was fear. We went around the room and spoke of our greatest fear (a fearful proposition for a bunch of guys, let me tell you). The fear of heights came up several times, dementia was mentioned and one man said his fear was dying a long, agonizing death like his father did with cancer. Mine is water. Now, please take a moment to refer back to the first sentence of the devotional! This is your opportunity to refrain from laughter, derision and all statements that sound anything like, “You have got to be kidding!” And always remember, one man’s fear is another man’s forte. Some are afraid of heights; others make their living there. Some are afraid of public speaking; others thrive on it. Some are afraid of reptiles; others keep them as pets. Some are afraid of needles; to others they are indispensable tools. Every couple of years, my wife Erin’s extended family gets together for a family vacation. The grandparents, the parents, the siblings, the cousins, it’s just a big family-fest for a few days. And invariably, it’s a location on water. We’ve rented several different lake houses over the years – Sand Point, Idaho is always a winner. One year we even rented a mobile houseboat for a week on Lake Roosevelt, in Washington. The young ones spend all day enjoying jumping off the dock (or deck), swimming, waterskiing, tubing, fishing, kayaking, you name it. I do not. I’d much rather spend several days exploring a nice dry canyon somewhere in the Southwest, or enjoying hikes from a cabin somewhere high in the mountains. Anywhere else but a lake or a river or the ocean. But it’s always water! I don’t like to be in water. I don’t like how it gets in my nose and my eyes and my ears (and refuses to leave). I don’t like the way sound disappears when I go underwater. I don’t like thinking about what could be swimming around down there, looking up at my potentially delicious silhouette. I don’t even like to be on the water, mostly because that’s a great way to end up in the water. But enough about me. How about you? What is your greatest fear? Clowns? Public speaking? Spiders? Heights? Flying? Snakes? Germs? Needles (that’s called trypanophobia, by the way)? Choking? Dentists? Illness? AI? Small spaces? Large spaces? Lightning? In several articles I have read, the fear of heights is far and away the most common among those polled. Or maybe your fear is a bit less concrete than those I just mentioned. Maybe it’s the fear of failure? Not measuring up? What other people think of you? Death? Not being enough? Loss? The fear of missing out (FOMO)? Rejection? Abandonment? I didn’t get a clear idea about which of these is the most common, but many people suffer from these fears. The greatest fears of the aging population – us – are exactly what you might think. I’m pretty sure we all have experienced, or are right now experiencing, one or more of these: losing our independence, cognitive decline (I think about that one often, as both of my parents died of complications related to dementia), declining physical health, outliving our financial assets, becoming a burden, being forgotten. Fear is natural. We’re human, after all. Everyone is afraid of something, right? But it’s not a healthy way to live. We all learned about the fight-or-flight reflex when we were in school; how the body is designed to protect itself either by vacating the area or striking out at the threat, depending on how we perceive the situation. And how, either way, chemicals like adrenaline are released into the bloodstream that heighten awareness and readiness to act. And how, if those chemicals keep getting released into the body long-term, it eventually begins to wear down. Studies have shown that living in a constant state of fear is harmful. I’ve always thought about that fight-or-flight reflex as being related only to the fear of heights or snakes or water or small spaces or public speaking; those tangible, right-here-and-right-now, credible-threat-to- my-well-being-in-this-very-moment types of fears. But I think there is also a certain amount of physical damage that happens to us when we are constantly exposed to that last set of fears I mentioned above: declining health, running out of money, losing our independence, becoming a burden, etc. It runs under the radar because it’s not flashy and glamorous like the fear of heights or spiders. These fears are quiet. No one talks much about them (of course, no one really talks much about the flashy ones either, until they’re put on the spot at a Thursday morning men’s breakfast!). So let’s move away from the “phobia-type” fears like public speaking and water, and focus on the deeper fears common to the aging population; the ones that might cause you to lose sleep more often than you’d like to admit. Every sermon on fear I can remember has stated in some way that fear is simply a lack of trust in God, and that it comes from trusting too much in the things God has created and not trusting enough in God Himself. That fear is rooted in the belief that God does not have my back; deep down, I don’t believe He will come through on His promises to me. That’s not easy for us to hear about ourselves. “Don’t tell me I don’t trust God! Don’t tell me I doubt His goodness and provision.” But join me and let’s really drill down. Do you have any of these fears? “I can’t get around anymore like I used to. How will I function if my condition gets worse? Maybe I’ll have to go to a “home.” How will I function if I lose my spouse (many of you have come face to face with that one)? I’m afraid of physical suffering and disease. How am I going to live if my income can’t keep up with rising costs? My memory is slipping and I’m afraid that I’m getting dementia. What if I forget my family? What if I forget Jesus? Will I still go to heaven? The kids and grandkids don’t come around much anymore – maybe they’re going to stop coming altogether, and I’ll be forgotten. I’m not afraid of going to see Jesus, but I’m afraid of dying.” The best course of action is always to go to God, to lay your fears at His feet – honestly, with no pretense, no pride, admitting humbly, “God, I’m simply afraid. I know I shouldn’t be. But I am. Please help me. I know You will never leave me alone, even if all the things I’m afraid of happen. I’ll always have You.” I picture myself often as the father in Mark 9. He came to Jesus because his son was cruelly demon- possessed. He said to Jesus, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” Jesus replied, “If you [I] can! All things are possible to him who believes.” And I think we can all relate to the statement of the father in response: “I do believe; help my unbelief.” Or in the case of fear, “You tell me not to be afraid, Lord, so I’m not going to fear…(a five-second pause)…Help my fear, Lord!” God’s Word, we know, also has a lot to say about fear and our response to it. When I was trying to simply survive every day as I walked through my divorce almost thirty years ago, Isaiah 41:10 made a big impact on me: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” The thought of being upheld by the hand of God has always been extremely comforting to me. Matthew 10:29-31 is very encouraging, too. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” And how about the one almost everyone has heard of, II Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Finally, Joshua 1:9, a verse we can all take comfort in. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” John Piper, retired pastor and author, wrote an article titled Not Dead Yet: Fighting Nine Fears of Old Age. It’s dated March 16, 2023 and you can access it on the Desiring God webpage. This was his closing, very appropriate paragraph: “Therefore, trust Christ. That’s the issue in this room right now. Do you trust Christ and his purchase of all these promises? Do you trust his word? Trust his promises of ever-arriving future grace. He’ll always be there. Be glad in him. Be freed by this gladness for service, not self. Glorify him by your gladness in him and your service to others. And let’s pray for each other. We’re going to help each other die well, right? And to live well till then.” How about Isaiah 41:10 one more time? “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  Fear not.