WEDNESDAY'S WORD - CONSPIRACY - Sadell Bradley- 07/29/2020

WEDNESDAY'S WORD CONSPIRACY Sadell Bradley 07/29/2020 "Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe." -Frederick Douglass You would think that Frederick Douglass was speaking in 2020 and not in the 1800s. 200 years later, his words still ring true. Conspiracy theories are everywhere. A CONSPIRACY is a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful; the action of plotting or conspiring. CONSPIRE means that events or circumstances seem to be working together to bring about a particular result - typically to someone's detriment. If you've been paying attention, you might have heard everything from...these illnesses and deaths are not due to the COVID-19 virus, but 5G cellular towers. How about this one...the virus is for population control to neutralize the financial effects of Baby Boomers on Social Security funds. Or...this situation's intent is to negatively affect people of color, in particular African-Americans. They're going to use Blacks to test the vaccine...and all of this is just a precursor to them implanting a chip into everyone so we can ALL be tracked by the government. A conspiracy theorist believes that in back rooms somewhere, people with power are making decisions that disenfranchise the poor and the weak in order to retain money and control. On either side of the political aisle, folks surmise that plots are being hatched that allow for certain perspectives to be propagated, and rule to be sustained. Conspiracies increase our levels of distrust, so it's hard to know what to believe. NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN In Isaiah 8, the prophet makes statements during a time when Syria and Ephraim were in cahoots which would have meant treason. Everyone was suspicious that their neighbors were traitors. Isaiah was warned not to treat this Syro-Ephraimitish alliance as a serious danger. (Cambridge) He brings a Word of refocus for the remnant of God's people that would be good for us as well. "11The LORD has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, 12“Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.13Make the LORD of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble. 14He will keep you safe...20Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. 21They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven 22and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness. (NLT) LET GO, AND LET GOD! We're struggling to discern the truth these days. Everyone is talking and it's hard to know whom to trust. It's a good thing we can stop trying so hard to decipher through all these news stories and conspiracy theories. Instead, we can go higher and trust in the LORD. Isaiah said, "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation." (Isa. 12:2)

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - STRETCHING - Sadell Bradley 07/22/2020

WEDNESDAY'S WORD

STRETCHING

Sadell Bradley

07/22/2020

"The hallmark of successful people is that they are always stretching themselves to learn new things." - Carol S. Dweck - American Educator

There's an old church song, I Feel the LORD Stretching Out In Me (Listen)The lyrics say, "I feel the LORD stretching out in me. I feel the LORD stretching out in me. I cleaned up my house, and I kicked the devil out. I feel the LORD stretching out in me!" With all the changes going on, we're trying a bunch of new things we've never done before. It's stretching us to trust GOD and ourselves more. Perhaps prior to March, we'd never thought we could...home school our kids, work from home or stay inside for this long, or do our own videos (that's me). Of necessity, we've had to override our insecurities and self-doubt. The song goes on to declare, "I CAN! 'cause GOD says I can! I CAN! 'cause GOD says I can! I can do ALL THINGS through Christ that strengthens me, I CAN 'cause GOD says I can!" I'm actually starting to appreciate the STRETCH - to be made capable without tearing or breaking; to extend to the full length; to cause to last longer than expected; to make great demands on the capacity or resources of; to cause someone to make maximum use of their talents and abilities. I'm doing stuff now that would have taken me YEARS to even try were it not for this situation. How about you?

WE'RE BEING STRETCHED Some of you remember this toy, Stretch Armstrong. He was one of my favorites!. Not only could you pull him as far as your little hands could muster, but you could even tie his arms in knots and he'd bounce back to his original form. We had a lot of resiliency teaching tools: Weebles that wobbled but didn't fall down, Timex watches that took a licking but kept on ticking. These lessons gave us the perspective to withstand the pressure of negative circumstances; terrorist attacks, gas shortages, race and gender battles, and other viruses. We also had grace for new opportunities, uses of our gifts and talents, and promotions of all kinds.

Completely Overwhelmed

It's good to know that we are not the first to ever be stretched. Paul was frayed at the ends. He told the church at Corinth about his suffering for the sake of the Gospel, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on GOD, who raises the dead." (2 Cor. 1:8-9) You and I are facing some daunting times ahead. But I feel the LORD stretching out in us to meet them...and WE CAN 'cause GOD says WE CAN!!

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - AUTHENTIC - Sadell Bradley 7/15/2020

WEDNESDAY'S WORD AUTHENTIC Sadell Bradley 07/15/2020 "The truth is: Belonging starts with acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you're enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable, and imperfect." -Brene Brown A long long time ago, when computers had just started to be all the rage, there was this acronym WYSIWYG. It stood for What You See Is What You Get. It was used for a text editor and told the operator that whatever was on the screen would have the same result as the document they were creating. Some might recall that comedian Flip Wilson in character as Geraldine also said the same phrase What You See is What You Get to imply that there was nothing fake or put-on about her or her interactions. She was wholly authentic, and don't you forget it! AUTHENTIC means of undisputed origin; made or done in a way that faithfully resembles the original; based on facts; accurate or reliable; genuine. To be genuine means that you are truly what or who you say you are - that you are sincere. Authenticity is almost a lost art. BE YOURSELF! Who else are you going to be? In John 1:43-51, Jesus was choosing His disciples. I love that they were regular authentic dudes. Here, one of them Phillip along with the other disciples is excited. He tells his friend Nathanael, "We have found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael is not at all impressed, nor does he put on any airs. He retorts, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" When Jesus saw Nathanael coming, he said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit." (verse 47) Deceit means concealing or misrepresenting the truth. The NLT renders it, "Now here is a genuine son of Israel - a man of complete integrity." Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; the state of being whole and undivided; internal consistency and a lack of corruption. Jesus appreciated that Nathanael was not going to fake it, not even for the Son of God. What you see is what you get. Nathanael was refreshing, and someone Jesus wanted on His team. So Jesus gives him a supernatural word of knowledge to convince Nathanael of his Deity and invites him into greater revelation of the mysteries of God. What You See Is What You Get Wouldn't things be so much easier if we didn't have to worry about the unenviable pursuit of trying to read other people's minds when they interact with us? What if there were more folks like Nathanael. who tells it like it is without fanfare, political posturing, or misaligned motives? What if it were true, like Brene Brown said, that we'd experience more of a sense of belonging if we could only be ourselves? It seems like we could weed out a lot of posers, and our lives might be a little more free and simple...that is if people can take that level of straightforward frankness...or whatever other character traits are completely us. If we were more authentic, would Jesus invite us to be a more prevalent part of His team?

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - ENORMITY - Sadell Bradley 07/08/2020

WEDNESDAY'S WORD

ENORMITY

Sadell Bradley

07/08/2020

"No one doubts the enormity of the social challenges we face around the world but one critical element of our response must be the generation of new thinking and ideas. Yet creating the conditions that make this possible is not simple." -Simon Mainwaring - Businessman

"No one doubts the ENORMITY of the social challenges we face around the world..." So true. I've been a part of addressing them inside and outside of the Church for decades. Still, I've not begun to grasp their ENORMITY - the great or extreme scale, seriousness, or extent of something perceived as morally bad or wrong; a grave crime or sin. The word originally meant deviation from legal or moral rectitude (correct behavior/thinking; righteousness); a transgression. The travesties of racial, social, and economic injustice have been around for thousands of years, across the entire world. Caste systems, elitism, colorism, apartheid, Jim Crow, etc. have desecrated the moral fiber of countries, and divided their citizens. Just reading the bottom word in the pyramid, "Untouchable," the lowest caste in India, brings sorrow to my heart. Why do we struggle so to value and embrace each other's humanity? Gratefully, Jesus' Kingdom turns the systems of this world upside down, and He challenges our notions of what's possible.

"We are afraid of the enormity of the possible." - Emil Cloran "The the world is full of zanies and fools, Who don't believe in sensible rules and won't believe what sensible people say. And because these daft and dewey-eyed dopes keep building up impossible hopes, impossible things are happening every day." That's what the fairy godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella told the pauper-princess, who didn't have a chance to become the prince's chosen love. She wasn't the first to say, "It's possible!" God told Abram that he and Sarai would have a child in their old age, asking them, "Is anything too difficult for the LORD?" (Gen. 18:14) The prophet Jeremiah, prophesied, "Behold, I am the LORD the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?" (Jer. 32:27)

IT'S POSSIBLE.

"With men, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible." That's what Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 19:26. Just at the idea that a wealthy person would be willing to forsake their riches and give them to the poor to receive greater treasure in Heaven seemed impossible. Mankind's greed and thirst for power and fame appear to be an enormity more powerful than God sometimes. But God can change anything and anyone at a moment's notice. He can turn the hearts of kings and make them obey His will. He can right what's wrong, restore the disenfranchised, and reconcile the divided. If I really believe that's true, I must focus my attention not on my/our scarcities and inabilities, but on the ENORMITY and abundance of God's possibilities.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY- 07/01/2020 -Sadell Bradley

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY 07/01/2020