WEDNESDAY'S WORD - SECURE - Sadell Bradley 4/1/20

"The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous." -Frederick Douglass

"What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms. I have blessed peace, with my LORD so near. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms." Elisha Hoffman and Anthony Showalter wrote this hymn in 1887 based on the Scripture Deuteronomy 33:27 "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." The image of a father holding his newborn is powerful. This is a time when we long to feel SECURE - safe, stable and free from fear or anxiety; not subject to threat; certain to remain or continue safe and unharmed. From a spiritual perspective, the first definition of secure in the dictionary may be the prerequisite to the others: fixed or fastened (on God) so as not to give way, become loose, or be lost. Our sense of security is found only in Jesus.

David was a worshiper before he was crowned king. Even as a young man, he would sing to the LORD while protecting his sheepfold. He devoted himself as a lover of God and a warrior for Him. David is described in Acts 13:22 as a man after God's own heart, who would do all of His will. David certainly was flawed, but in 1 Samuel 19, when his envious father-in-law Saul was plotting to kill him; David received providential protection from God from both his friend Jonathan (Saul's son) and his wife Michael (Saul's daughter). God has prescribed ways to provide for us, giving us favor even from the most unlikely places! David wrote Psalm 57 while Saul was pursuing him: 

Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy! I look to You for protection. I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings until the danger passes by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill His purpose for me. He will send help from Heaven to rescue me, disgracing those who hound me. My God will send forth His unfailing love and faithfulness. (Ps. 57:1-3)  

We trust God to fulfill His purpose for us. As we lean on His everlasting arms, He will send help from Heaven to rescue us. Our security comes from Him. "What a fellowship, what a joy Divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms."   

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - SETTLE - Sadell Bradley 3/25/2020

   

"Adult life is dealing with an enormous amount of questions that don't have answers. So I let the mystery settle into my music. I don't deny anything, I don't advocate anything, I just live with it." - Bruce Springsteen 

 

Right now we have, "an enormous amount of questions that don't have answers." I wonder if we're able to let the mystery settle. What a powerful and transformative idea. Christian leaders have various theories of speculation on whether the COVID 19 virus is a judgment for an increasingly dark, idolatrous and sinful world, or a reset that brings us back to our families, an opportunity for the Gospel to go to the ends of the earth via technology or all of the above. We struggle when we don't have answers, control, or solutions. It's crazy how this same word SETTLE which can mean to resolve and reach a conclusion or end; can also mean to become calmer or quieter, to silence, and come to rest without conclusion. Can you settle in the mystery?

This situation has literally brought us to our knees in prayer. There is a level of medical and spiritual warfare that we've not experienced in our lifetime. We need the grace and mercy of God to intervene. 1 Peter 5 says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. He gives admonitions that are very appropriate for our time:

 

6Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

 

We're in the midst of what Paul terms a light and temporary affliction.

"16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. For our light and temporary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs our troubles. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  (2 Corinthians 4:17-18) Do all that you can to still yourself and settle down in the mystery. 

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - CALAMITIES - 03/18/2020- Sadell Bradley

"Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility, but through greatness of mind."

- Aristotle

 

"Crises are challenges, not calamities." Guy Verhofstadt, former Belgium Prime Minister and coordinator of Brexit said. Some believe he and his comrades were the instigators of both a crisis and a calamity. A CALAMITY is an event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster. Unfortunately, a lot of the calamities in the world are the result of our sinful, human nature. We vie and struggle to gain political and economic power. We fail to steward our environment. We do not care for the most vulnerable among us. We want to over-rule God in our decision making, and we try to make Him obsolete with scientific theories that merely explore and explain things He has created that are too high for us. In this season, God is exposing and weaning us from the love of this world.

 

"Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever." 1 John 2:15-17)
 

"The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life." (KJV)  That's really all that is in the world. This is revealed in calamities like the one we're facing. We see the result of our greed, disobedience to authority, and selfishness. We're watching man's inhumanity to man. The things upon which we've historically propped up our lives are in jeopardy: the prestige of work, our savings and retirement plans, experiences of travel, sporting and entertainment events, etc. The things we took for granted are now not available to us: hanging out with friends and extended family, enjoying co-workers, heading to church and other forms of community building. We've discovered what's really important. The good thing is that history tells us that calamities do not last forever and prayerfully we can and will course-correct during and after this one. In the meantime...king David was fleeing for his life from king Saul, he asked God for mercy and declared that he would hide and rely on the LORD. This is a prayer we ought to pray in this season. "Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast."  

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - TRUST - 3/11/2020 -Sadell Bradley

"Put your trust in the LORD and go ahead.   Worry gets you no place." - Roy Acuff "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." - Corrie Ten Boom. The times seem uncertain now, but no more disconcerting than those that Corrie Ten Boom and her family faced while assisting Jewish families in the Netherlands to escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. The devout Christians called their home "The Hiding Place," and saved the lives of 800 Jews. Eventually, her family was arrested and imprisoned in Ravensbruck concentration camp. Despite the bleakness of their plight, Corrie and her sister Betsie held worship services with a smuggled-in Bible. Upon her death, Betsie exclaimed, "There is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still." In times like these, perspective is everything. The Ten Boom family drew from a well full of trust. King David sang in his distress, "You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance."   TR TRUST is a firm belief in  the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something; it is allowing someone to look after or commit something or someone of importance or value to safekeeping. You are important to God and He cares for you. Isaiah proclaimed, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." (Isaiah 12:2) That is a strong declaration. I love how these Scriptures pair trust with a song. Christ-followers can lead the way in these times by preaching the Good News. "14Because God's children are human beings made of flesh and blood-the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying." (Hebrews 2:14-15) The Ten Booms were not afraid of death.  Paul said, in the last days perilous times would come. (2 Tim. 3:1) So we pray Psalm 91:3-7 over ourselves and our loved ones, "For He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrows that fly by day. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not dread the disease that stalks in the darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you." The One who determines when we are born and when we'll die is God. If it's our time, we trust Him to make that appointment. In truth, for a Christ-follower, "to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil1:21) Because we know where and to Whom we're going we can say like David, "I TRUST in You LORD, You are My God, my times are in your hands." (Psa. 31:14-15)

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - FULFILLMENT - 03/03/2020 Sadell Bradley

"I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious." - Vince Lombardi   FULFILLMENT is an interesting word. It expresses the achievement of something desired, promised, or predicted. It also conveys the meeting of a requirement or condition, or the performance of a task, duty or role as required, pledged, or expected. Sherman and I are at the intersection of those definitions as we embark upon the next leg of our ministerial journey. On April 12th, at 11:00 am, we launch The Warehouse church in Over The Rhine in Downtown, Cincinnati. We'll occupy the former Nast Trinity building at 1310 Race Street across from Washington Park in the heart of the City. We've worked to restore the inside of the building for months. This was prophetically spoken years ago, and LORD's Word is being fulfilled in 2020, glory to God!    When the name "The Warehouse," was revealed, I was not aware of its history. In 2001, race riots occurred in Cincinnati after 19- year-old Timothy Thomas was shot and killed in Over the Rhine by Steven Roach, a police officer. Thomas, an African-American wanted for 14 minor warrants - mostly traffic violations, had just left a local club called 'The Warehouse.' A chase ensued which ended with the officer shooting the unarmed young man in the heart in a dead-end alley. It was the 15th African-American man dead at the hands of police in 5 years in the City, which ignited days of civil unrest and a citywide curfew. We as clergy were called in to help to minister to the hurting and angry. I remember standing between rioters and mounted police on Central Ave in the midst of the conflict. Sherman and I were serving at different congregations at the time. An historic collaborative agreement between citizens and police ensued, as did a plan for gentrification. The economic and ethnic polarization of our community continues. We believe these divisions can only be overcome by the power of God, and His loving community.     Almost 20 years later, we are planting a multi-ethnic, inter-generational and multi-class church called The Warehouse in the same community. Finding fulfillment is not synonymous with finding ease. God calls us to do hard things and the cross to which Jesus calls us is not self-fulfillment, but self-denial. (Matt.16:24) The LORD has always planned to unite those who believe across ethnic lines. The unity and love we have for one another through Christ is meant to be a redemptive witness to the world. (John 17:20-23) God created only one race - the human race. The divisions we experience are a social construct of man's sinful devising. This type of enmity also existed in the Bible, but God's purpose in Christ was and is to break down ethnic barriers and create One New Humanity of Kingdom Citizens:     14For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. (Eph. 2:14-16)    What Christ did for the Jews and Gentiles, we believe is possible for the deepest ethnic divides in America. We not only want to see Dr. Martin Luther King's dream fulfilled...we want to see God's dream fulfilled.