Pastor Brian and Jacque Lother
Jacque: That's awesome.
Brian: I think there were a couple of days this past week you wanted to send me the Happiness Project.
Jacque: No, no, you are great.
Brian: I don't know.
Jacque: I'm doing the happiness project. You can't be happy enough. You can always be more happy.
Brian: Well, there has been this like depression project going on the last year and now we need a happiness project. Wouldn't you say? New Year is an annual reminder that things can start afresh. I really liked that about new years. Mother Teresa, you are a big fan of... I was going to say one of your biggest fans.
Jacque: No, I'm her fan.
Brian: You are one of her biggest fans. She has a great quote that kind of applies to new beginnings. It's this; she said "Yesterday is gone; tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today, so let us begin."
Jacque: There you go. Just do it.
Brian: Let's just do it. So let's do the happiness thing. Let's do the sister to sister thing. Let's do the prayer thing. Guys, we'll figure out something to do for us. We are not quite as needy.
Jacque: The Happiness Project is not just for women. It's for men. Men need to be more happy too.
Brian: No, we are in more denial. We are in more denial. We are in more denial. I don't sing in the shower much because I always swallow too much water when that happens.
Jacque: You are starting this year out funny.
Brian: That's good. I've been reading the Happiness Project. I was reflecting, because you kind of do that when you go into a new year and you reflect on the past year and sometimes even further in our past. We planted Hope Community Church a little over 23 years ago. We were sent out from Calvary Temple Souls Harbor, a very long time established church here in the Twin Cities. It was a privilege to grow up in that ministry. I was telling Joel, our audio and technical guy here this morning, how many New Year’s Eves we were directing telethons, from 10 at night until two in the morning, television things and so forth.
Jacque: Singing, singing, singing.
Brian: Singing, singing, singing.
Jacque: we sang in the New Year.
Brian: Yeah, we sang in the new year all the time; just the great heritage that we have. When we started Hope and when we planted Hope, really from the very beginning of hope community church, I personally never had a big emphasis on growing the church numerically. That was never my focus. It was never trying to get more numbers, more people here. Some people can debate whether that was right or wrong. I don't know. I'm just being honest about how I felt I was to pastor and shepherd this church.
Our approach, your and my approach has really been, Jacque, that we are on a journey; we are on a spiritual journey and that we've invited people to join us on that journey. We have a specific calling in our neighborhood, in our community and in our relationship with Christ and we invite people to join us on that journey. That's why so much of kind of the messages that we present and we bring are really talking about our own personal experiences, our own personal growth, and the things that we've encountered personally. We try to be as transparent as we possibly can with everybody, because hopefully, that transparency will help them where they are at in their journey with the Lord.
On this kind of 23, we planted Hope Community Church a little over 23 years ago. We had church in a box for a few years and [inaudible 49:32] Fernbrook elementary school, and then in 2003, we were blessed to be able to come into this facility. We've been here since that time. In the last 23 years, we've seen some incredibly spectacular things happen by God for us. We could go into those details, and maybe someday we'll talk a little bit more about some of those specific things, because it's very faith building. It's very encouraging to know that God is so supernaturally there with you. We've also had an incredibly vast number of what I would call ordinary things happen as well. Ordinary things happened over the last twenty-three years; ordinary things like, a lot of windows have been cleaned in the last 23 years.
Jacque: A lot of ordinary days.
Brian: A lot of ordinary days, a lot of grass has been mowed in those years.
Jacque: A lot of vacuuming.
Brian: A lot of vacuuming, a lot of snow has been shoveled and plowed. A lot of kids have been taught. A lot of babies have been born. They've grown up and now they are out in the world, work day, everyday world. Sometimes we forget that God is just as much in the ordinary as much as he is in the spectacular. We forget that. We don't see God in the everyday things of life. We don't see God in the ordinary. Every year at this time, we kind of ask the Lord to give us like a word; I don't mean like a prophetic word, but just like a word or an idea for this coming year. I know that if you listen to your average newscast, the word for last year, and even the word for this year is uncertainty. If you listen to your average newscast or read your average headline in your newspapers, the word for this year is uncertainty.
Jacque: Like in the world, the world's word.
Brian: Yeah. To be frankly honest with you, I don't want that to be my word going forward. How many of you like to live in a place of uncertainty? I don't, and so the title of our message today is like, what's next? And you can say, what's next, like 'what's next?' because that has kind of been the attitude in 2020, or-
Jacque: What's next?
Brian: What's next? Yeah. What's next? What the Lord encouraged me to do, kind of the word or the idea for my life and for me, was Brian, stay the course; stay the course. So I asked the Lord, “How do I do that? Tell me what you mean,” and he goes back to what he spoke to me about seven or eight years ago. He said, "Keep reading the words in red." Keep reading the words and red, which are the words of Jesus in the New Testament. Keep reading the words in red, the red letters. I was tempted to say, I've been doing that for quite a while now, Lord, but I didn't want to get chastised, because I knew he was going to say, “Well, when are you going to start doing them all?” There is an end game that God has in mind that we need to be targeting and focused upon. That end game is to become more like Jesus, become more like him. It's really interesting.
Jacque: Even on the ordinary days.
Brian: Yes. It's interesting that being like Jesus has nothing to do with external, what's going on around us. It has everything to do with what he is doing inside of us, inside of us. To be more like Jesus, we all have to be very intentional.
Jacque: Rachel used our word.
Brian: Rachel used our word today. We have to be intentional, especially now. Hopefully, you understand what I mean by this, because the best Christians are found in the worst of times. The very best Christians are found in the very worst of times, not the best of times. You and I have talked about that. 2020 was a very hard year. Everything got unraveled; everything got topsy-turvy. It wasn't just something that affected a minor region of our country, but it was something that has affected the whole world.
Jacque: So many people lost people that they love.
Brian: So many people have died; so many people got sick, so many jobs were lost, and so many things like that happened. Our routines were completely turned upside down. The things that were constancy in our lives were taken away and so forth. It can leave you with a feeling of being unsettled, can't it? You can have this sense of being unsettled.
Jacque: If you are somebody like me, you really love people, you love to be with people and you get energy from people. I really love being with you, but I really miss being with people.
Brian: I'm a poor substitute for everybody else.
Jacque: I love being with you, darling, but God has really helped me to grow being alone more. It has been really growing for me.
Brian: Yes. I came across a verse in Romans chapter 12. We memorized the whole chapter of Romans 12, back when we were in a discipleship school back in 1973. That's a long time ago. That was really a fun time in some respects. Anyways, we went back to Romans chapter 12 and you know how you've read a chapter so many times and you think, well, I've read that so much I can go someplace else. But the Lord really drew us back to this chapter, and the second verse. I would like you to read it because I really feel it pertains so much to what we've been through and maybe what we are kind of coming out of and where we are headed in the new year. Romans chapter 12, verse 2, and I really have such an affinity for Eugene Peterson. I like to read a lot of his perspective on it. I've memorized this verse in King James and I memorized it in the NIV and New American Standard, and I would like to see what his take is on this because he was such a great Hebrew and Greek linguist. He brings things into what I call the American language. Here is how Eugene Peterson writes this Romans 12 verse 2.
Jacque: Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.
Brian: Why do you think Paul says this that we are not to fit into our culture so easily that we kind of do it without thinking? Why would he say that? It's because we are to actually be part of a different culture. We are to be a part of a different culture. Most of us who were born in America, grew up in America, lived here in America and never traveled outside of America, really have very little to know and experience about other cultures, but all you need to do is go to Norway, like we've done, or go to Haiti or go to some of the other countries we've been in, Mexico and so forth, and you start to understand that boy, how they do things in their cultures is different. They even think differently.
In fact, we had a couple of Haitian girls come and live with us when they were young, Deliverance and Janice. They are probably watching. God bless you, gals. You are our daughters. They lived with us for about nine months when they were in their formative years of thinking, and we got them medical treatment. Some of you remember them really well. They went back to Haiti, and it was really interesting how the missionary in Haiti said they don't think like Haitians anymore, because they were so exposed to the American culture, living with us and how we do things and so forth. It's not that America is better than Haiti. I don't mean to say that culturally. I'm just saying they understood by being exposed to the American culture as they were, especially in their formative years, they no longer just thought like Haitians, but they had more of a Western and American perspective on things. This is what Paul's trying to get across here, that we are not supposed to be so inundated in our culture, that we actually quit thinking like the kingdom of God culture.
Jacque: Instead, fix your attention on God.
Brian: Yes. What a good thing to do.
Jacque: You will be changed from the inside out, readily recognize what he wants from you and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Brian: God does this, but how does God do it?
Jacque: Fix our eyes on him.
Brian: Yeah. We fix our eyes on him and readily recognize what he wants from us. I think that is a challenge for us for this coming year. We need to ask God this question, “God, what do you want from me this year?” What do you want from me this year? How do I... and then when he shows me where to what? Quickly respond; quickly respond to what he shows us to do for this year. Unlike the culture around you, which oftentimes drags us down, doesn't it? Sometimes our culture, you have to fight against what our culture is doing. I don't just mean from a sin perspective; I just mean from an attitude perspective. It drags us down to its of immaturity- no hope, no future, and God will bring the best out of us. He will develop well-formed maturity in us. Tell us about your word that God gave you for this year.
Jacque: The reason- a lot of people do this, a word for the year, and what it really helps us, me do, it's just like a focus. I saw a picture yesterday, when I was thinking about this, like a target, like the target is my word and whatever I'm faced with, from one decision to the next decision, I just pull back and I aim at that target. The word that God gave me for this year is abundance. I'm not just talking physical, monetary; it's so much more than that. Abundance, thinking about, I want to live abundantly. The verse that I pick- There is so many verses in the Bible about abundance, that say abundance or words that describe abundance.
Brian: Jacque was reading those verses, and she said, "What about this one?" What about that one?” I said, “Just pick one.” So this is the verse that she picked.
Jacque: Okay. It is. And God is able to bless you abundantly.
Brian: Say that again.
Jacque: 2 Corinthians 9: 8: and God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. That's how we become mature, like we want to become, one good choice after another good choice, after another good choice. Sometimes I just say to myself on an ordinary day, when maybe I'm struggling, just do the next right thing.
Brian: I was in the car, and I heard you. I think we were talking on the phone and you were talking to me about your word, abundance. You know how people have passwords and they are supposed to use capital letters and this and that and small this, and what have you, and as I was driving the car, I got this picture of A B U N capital D A N C E, Abundance. It could be dancing. What happens when people dance? Usually it's...
Jacque: They are happy.
Brian: They are happy. It's a joyful occasion. This is part of what is embedded and what God wants to do with the abundance; it's to help us to be dancers.
Jacque: Absolutely. Absolutely. Because when we live with an abundance mindset about God, we are going to be happier. I'll just make this really fast. I could just talk like, for the next half an hour, but I won't. I swear. Abundant, like, think about how abundantly God loves me. His abundant love fills me, so you know what? I want to love abundantly, not scarcely, but abundantly. Think of how he is so freely pardoned me. There is a scripture, how he will abundantly pardon. So when I am hurt, how do I want to respond with forgiveness? I want to forgive abundantly. Oh, it's such a big word. We could talk about abundance one whole Sunday.
Brian: Maybe we should do it again next week.
Jacque: Maybe we should talk about abundance because it's a target that is going to keep me on track and help me mature this year.
Brian: One thing about targets, having been a Hunter myself and so forth, with both bow and arrow and rifle and so forth. I have not always hit the thing that I was aiming at. I would miss some of the targets at times. We might miss this target of thinking of God's grace and goodness, and abundance, but sometimes you go back and maybe it's your sights that are off, but more often than not, it's how I was handling, to where are we shooting. We need to go back and just keep siting in, and keep aiming for that target.
Jacque: Because the beautiful thing is with God, there is always a do over. The next minute, there is a new over. If you are having a horrible morning, just stop and start the day over right then. There is always a brand new, fresh opportunity. Do you know what? One more thing, and then I'll stop. The thing that's so cool…
Brian: It's good. You don't need to stop.
Jacque: about picking a word for the year, and then just having an always around you. Like, I'm going to find some kind of an art piece to hang in my house that says the word abundance. I've turned my passwords, because you got to change your passwords all the time, make it your word for the year. You could even tattoo it on, but I won't.
Brian: Wow. Okay.
Jacque: I'm thinking of Misty here. You can tattoo your word for the year on you. Anyway, this is being intentional.
Brian: That's right. Being intentional about focusing on the fact that God's heart is a heart of abundance. It’s a heart of abundance.
Jacque: I am loved abundantly. It changes how I look at myself.
Brian: One of the first scriptures I ever memorized with the word abundantly in it was, "let the unrighteous for sake his ways and turn to the Lord and he will abundantly pardon." We probably wouldn't really admit to very often, but in most of our minds, there are some things that if people do them, we will write them out of our lives.
Jacque: It's the way of our culture.
Brian: Yeah. It's the way of our culture. The fact of the matter is if you need mercy, don't go out into the culture, because you can have a failure at 16 and at 75, it is brought up in our culture, but if you want mercy, then hang out with Jesus. If you are ever in a place where you need mercy, and to be frankly honest with you, without judging all of you, you all need mercy and I need mercy.
Jacque: We all need mercy.
Brian: We all need mercy, and we all need grace. The best place to get that is in the presence of Jesus. When January 1st came around and 2020 was in our rear view mirror, that calendar change actually didn't change anything. It didn't change anything. It's us that actually can change. It's us that can actually change. When we change, it actually changes things, doesn't it? We can change our view. We can change our perspective. We can change from being a victim to being victorious. We can change from being crabby, to being happy. We can change from being doubtful to being hopeful. We can change from being angry to being full of peace.
I think the name glorious victorious should be our name. I think that's what our names should be- the glorious victorious and so-forth. We are victorious over all of these things that culture can try and bring our way. Unfortunately, our culture and many even in the household of faith are at an all-time high in depression and all-time high in discouragement, an all-time high in anger and an all-time high in frustration. We are also at an all-time low in compassion, an all-time low in grace and mercy and love. In our routines, because our routines have been up ended and our norms have been eroded and our norms have been shattered, we've tried to hang on to, and we've been clamoring to hang on to what has been, what has been our routines, what has been the norms. Because we have been able to hold onto that and our lives have been changed outside of our own choices, we become angry, frustrated, and we clamor for more of the norms that we've had in the past.
As we've been clamoring, we become more and more and more separated from each other. We've been more and more separated and we've gotten more and more inward. There is a great temptation to fight to hold on to what we've had. There is a great temptation to fight to hold on to what was normal; in our fight to do that, we lose sight of being like Jesus. We lose sight of being like Jesus right here, right now. We lose sight of being just like Christ wherever we are at. We can still reach out to others, can't we? We can still love others, even in quarantine, even in social distancing, we can still do that.
Let me say this: hopefully, it will touch your hearts. As long as there is one promise in the word of God that can be found, we can fight against despair. As long as there is one promise from the word of God that you can find, you can fight against unbelief. As long as there is one promise in the word of God that you can find you can fight against anger and bitterness. I heard a minister/pastor recently, and he was bemoaning how the church has been silenced this last year, and how there is been in a sense in his mind, an attempt to silence the church. I felt bad for this man, because a year ago at this time, none of us were dealing with the pandemic that has happened. We were having services, and our seating was a lot different than it is now, and there was a lot more people here in attendance, but our influence as a church was basically just with the people who showed up here.
In the past year, due to the pandemic, we've been forced to approach doing church differently. That approach was to do live stream and Facebook live and to invest in technology that is available. Last week we had our highest viewership ever of Hope Community Church. We are reaching more people today, a year after the pandemic, than we ever did before the pandemic.
Jacque: That's happening with lots of church.
Brian: That's happening with lots of churches. I believe that Hope Community Church, as well as scores and thousands of others maybe, are affecting more people's lives today than ever before because of the pandemic, because it forced us to have to do things differently. What Satan meant for evil, God is always able to bring good out of it. So when we come into what appears to be a very dark season and time in our lives and adversity faces us, let's understand that God can use that for something great and glorious for his namesake and bless us as well.
Adversity doesn't guarantee success for our future, but how we respond to it does. How are we going to respond to adversity? I've seen adversity destroy people because of how they've responded to it. I've also seen adversity, make people into giants of faith and giants of grace and mercy, just because of how they've responded to it. We need to be intentional about how we are going to respond to not just the pandemic, but to life in general.
One of the things that I started to share on last year before the pandemic was the Sabbath. I started a series on that and then the pandemic hit and I kind of shelved that because of all the other issues that we've been facing as a church and as a culture. One of the things that the Sabbath does, when we make that a spiritual discipline in our lives, is it creates an opportunity for us to just really enjoy God. There are some spiritual disciplines that Jacque and I have been talking about that we want to cover here in the next few weeks and months. I'm going to just give you a quick list of some of the things that we want to go over and share with you and share with our online community here in the coming weeks.
The spiritual disciplines are things that we just need to do. You and I have been doing a pause, you know, the one minute, three minute, five minute, ten minute pause. We do pauses every day. We have a great app. If you haven't gotten the app, just talk to us about it, we'll help you with that. This app reminds us to do pauses. We'll pause during the day. We just take 60 seconds. Sometimes we will take three minutes, sometimes five, and we'll just pause right in the middle of our day. We'll say, “God, I give this day to you. I give this problem to you. I give this moment to you."
Jacque: I give everyone and everything.
Brian: Everyone and everything to you. We've probably done about a thousand pauses since started this last April or whenever it was.
Jacque: It's so amazing, just the smallest thing done regularly over a long period of time has great results.
Brian: It does. Yeah, it does. I want to just share briefly some of the disciplines that I believe are important for us to implement in our lives. Even with me, some of these, I do much more than others.
Jacque: This will help us mature.
Brian: We need to be intentional about. Silence and solitude- that may not seem to be something that we need to much focus on because of the pandemic, because we've all been somewhat of alone, but we don't like silence very much. We don't like silence because we don't like to be alone with our thoughts, but when we are really silent, that's the clearest time that we can actually hear God speak to us. Of course, having a Sabbath every week where you can really refresh yourself and have just that time where we set aside to be in the presence of God, simplicity. Most of our lives are very complicated, very complex, very busy. A lot of the busy-ness distracts us from the more important things in life that come out of our relationship with God. So slowing down, you have to be intentional to do that, don't you in our culture? You have to be very intentional about slowing down.
Meditation and being contemplated, that's something that in a busy life is very hard to do, but we have such revelation from God and relationship with God when we will be contemplative and meditative on him. And then of course, prayer; a lot of times we think of prayer as kind of a wish list of just asking for things. That is partly what prayer might be, but prayer also is this communion where we just- Some of these are dovetailed together with each other, but in prayer, Jesus just encouraged his heart so much in prayer to do what he did.
Fasting, that’s another one. Again, when I think of fasting, the first place I go to is 40 day fast, and then I just throw it out the window and say I'll come back to that another time. There are all sorts of things that we can fast from. You can fast from the TV one day a week. You can fast from all sorts of different things. When you are doing that fast, take the time to focus on the Lord. Fellowship with each other- that's harder to do now in our culture, but that's why you have the zoom meetings. That's why we have so much of that still at our fingertips. We can even FaceTime each other, even if it's a butt call. So that happens. And it was good.
Jacque: We can't give up on a fellowship just because we can't be within six feet of each other right now. There are ways to look into each other's eyes and connect.
Brian: One of the things that I'm not very good at is journaling. Maybe part of the reason for that is I write so many sermons and I write so much stuff. I don't do a journal much because a lot of my sermons are my journaling, I guess. Journaling is a way that you can really also have a spiritual time of growth in your life. Here is one that we like to avoid in our culture, chastity. We don't like to talk about chastity because that's old school, but God made us to be virtuous and live virtuous lives and live lives of chastity. There is where the greatest level of intimacy can come, when you are chased with just one person. Stewardship is another; there are all sorts of different ways to be good stewards. Sometimes I look at my attic and I think I'm not a very good steward of what's up in my attic. I need to do something about that.
Jacque: We will do it this year.
Brian: We will do it together. Yes. Another word that's often not liked very much is submission and obedience, submission and obedience. But you know what, if he is the king and I really have him as my lord, there has to be an aspect of just submitting to God at times. There just is.
Jacque: And when I walk and submit in obedience, I'm happier.
Brian: We are, aren't we?
Jacque: Yes. I have that peace internally, and happiness.
Brian: We quickly finished these. Study, just study to show thyself approved, a workman unto God that needs not be ashamed. Outreach and evangelism, those are things. We just can't become inward. We need to take this great love and mercy and grace to people who are hurt and broken and wounded. Confession, sometimes we need to confess one to another, our failures and our weaknesses and ask for help. I remember failing as a dad, and I would go into my boys' rooms and I would kneel down and be by their bed. I would say, "Would you please lay your hand on daddy's head and pray for me that I would be a better dad, because I failed you as a dad today. Please do that for me." Confession helps in these areas. And then of course, gratitude. Gratitude goes such a long ways, doesn't it? Being appreciative for everything that everybody does, especially what God does. Sometimes self-examination; we need to look at ourselves and just see what's going on here.
And then of course, celebration- we always need to celebrate in worship and in gathering together. I was struck by a quote by John Bunyan because you and I kind of off of Pilgrim's Progress the other night, and I was reading some quotes by John Bunyan. Bunyan said, this, "My name is Christian." This is from Pilgrim's Progress. "My name is Christian, but it used to be graceless." Isn't that great? My name is Christian, but it used to be graceless. No grace in my life, but now my name is Christian because I have grace.
This is what a new year can offer us. It doesn't matter how discombobulated things are. It doesn't matter if our norms have been undermined. It doesn't matter if our favorite restaurant is now closed and maybe will never open again. Those things actually don't have to matter too much. They don't have to completely discombobulate us. What they can do is bring us to a place where we remind ourselves that there is a Jesus that can be imitated, where his love and grace can come into our lives, and we can be like Christ with his power and grace in our lives. Let's become this gracious, victorious, glorious person that God has for us this year. I'm glad to leave 2020 behind us. I'm glad to leave it behind, but not because it was such a bad year; it’s because I want to look forward to what God has for us in our futures. God has a great future for every single one of us today, a great future. Let's pray together.
Father, I thank you that your future for us is good. We put on the cornerstone of this building when we erected it some 17 years ago, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord; plans to give you future and a hope”, good plans, good things. And Lord, these are your plans for us. For all of us of you who are here today in the sanctuary, and all of you who around the country in the world are watching this live stream, be encouraged today. Be encouraged today. Let your heart be made glad, because I know the plans that God has for you; plans to give you a good future, plans to give you good hope, plans of abundance. That abundance is way beyond a bank account or a bigger home, but it's an abundance of peace and joy and contentment, abundance of satisfaction and knowing that you are in the will of God, and knowing that the purpose that you were born for you are walking in.
Today, Lord, we pray blessings upon all your people; all those who are hearing this broadcast and this message that Lord, we pray your favor to be upon them today. I thank you, Jesus, that 2021 is going to be a good year because you are with us; Emmanuel, God is with us. With you, all things are possible. Lord. So give us Lord, an expectation deep in our hearts for tomorrow and have an excitement in our hearts of looking forward to what you will bring our way. This, we pray, in your name and for your sake. Amen. Amen.
Let's raise our hands together. Let me bless you. May the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you, and may the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you his peace. May you have an excitement about 2021 because God is there with you. This, we pray, in the name of the father, son and Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful, wonderful day. Happy New Year to everybody. We look forward to hearing from you soon. God bless.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 1-3-21. If you would like to watch the full service, click one of the links below.