WEDNESDAY'S WORD- CONTROL - Sadell Bradley 6/30/21

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD CONTROL 6/30/2021 "I don't get upset about things I can control, because if I can control them there's no sense in getting upset. And I don't get upset about things I can't control, because if I can't control them there's no sense in getting upset." - Mickey Rivers - American Baseball Player If you grew up in the 1980s, you probably know this album cover—Janet Jackson's Control. You may also be familiar with her coming-of-age story, out from under the shadow of her famous siblings and her manager father. Janet told the LA Times, "It was all about stepping out, taking control of your life... a certain point in your life when you ask yourself who you are and what you want to do." CONTROL in this sense is the power to influence, hold authority over, or direct one's own behavior or the course of events. Most of us desire a semblance of control over our lives. I'm not talking about the self-control that is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is also crucial. (Gal.5:22) I'm talking about personal autonomy and independence found in the song's lyrics, "I want to make my own decisions. When it has to do with my life, I wanna be the one in control..." Ever felt that way? Some of us bristle when we feel we're being controlled, losing control, or being required to relinquish control...even to God, but..how much control do we really have? not as much as we think. Especially as Christ-followers. Gospel songwriter Carol Antrom in the '80s wrote a very different song about control— "My Times." It's based on Psalm 31:15. The lyrics are vulnerable, "If I were in control of my life, I think that I would have worked things out differently. There would be no disappointments, no hurt, no pain, of these things my life would be Scott-free. But that just goes to show how little I really know about leading, about controlling my own life. For you see all these things have worked together to make the best of me. And I'm glad that God controls my life. My times are in His hands. I'm learning each and every day to trust Him, come what may." In Psalm 31, David is calling on the Lord for protection. He asks God to be his fortress and refuge. He's older and frailer now. His soul is in anguish because his enemy is his son Absalom, who is coming to Jerusalem to kill him. Even in this horrific situation, David turns to God in worship, "My enemies conspire against me, plotting to take my life. But I am trusting you, O LORD, saying, “You are my God!” My future is in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly." (vs. 13-16, NLT) Sometimes it seems as if our sense of control has been lost, and we are helplessly at the mercy of others. David knew, despite evidence and emotions to the contrary, that God was ultimately in control of his life and even of his death. He could let go of the control he really never had and trust God to make decisions about his future. My times and yours are in God's hands. The 'control' we think we have is not control at all, because God has the final say.  WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY TIME HEALS ALL WOUNDS TONIGHT, 7:00 pm EST @warehouseOTR on Facebook or YouTube thewarehousechurch.org

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - STRIVE - Sadell Bradley - 6/23/21

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD STRIVE 6/23/2021 "When everything is moving and shifting. the only way to counteract chaos is stillness. When things feel extraordinary, strive for ordinary. When the surface is wavy, dive deeper for quieter waters." - Kristin Armstrong - Athlete "I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better" - Paul Theroux What a great thought and an excellent aim. To STRIVE in this sense means to make great efforts to achieve or gain something. We strive for virtues of character, independence, growth, and success. We strive for goals and hope to accomplish them. Antonyms for this type of striving are: to surrender, succumb, yield, or withdraw. God places vision inside us. Opposition and difficulties cause us to retreat. The LORD calls us to strive toward His dream and persevere. To STRIVE also means to struggle or fight vigorously. The psalmist Korah assures us in Psalm 46:1, "God is our refuge and strength is a very present help in the time of trouble." The Lord brings calm to both our fears and the struggle within. He commands, "Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." The writer of Hebrews admonishes us to endure the Lord's chastening as sons and not to lose heart when He corrects us, "You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." Believers are in constant contention with the forces of darkness. Galatians 5:17 reminds us of the continual struggle for God's Spirit inside us to defeat our fleshly, carnal, impulses. Scripture is clear that we are to do good, to seek and pursue peace with others and not strive with them. (1 Peter 3:11) Galatians 5:22 reveals that one fruit of God's Spirit— gentleness or meekness, includes giving up our rights of retaliation. Our human tendency is to fight and seek revenge. This type of striving is something we have to relinquish and put to death. "Do not strive with a man without cause if he has done you no harm. (Proverbs 3;30) "If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men." (Romans 12:18). Paul admonished his protege Timothy, "But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes knowing that they generate strife. (angry or bitter disagreement over fundamental issues; conflict) And a servant of the LORD must not strive (quarrel) but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God will perhaps grant them repentance, so they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil having been taken captive by him to do his will." (2 Timothy 2:24-26) These days it seems like everyone wants to fight and gain power. Some fights belong to God. He's more than able to win them. Put your dukes down, the verbal ones too. Stop striving, and let Him fight for you.  WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY THE TIME IS NOW! TONIGHT, 7:00 pm EST @warehouseOTR on Facebook or YouTube thewarehousechurch.org

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - NIHILISM- Sadell Bradley -6/16/2021

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD NIHILISM 6/16/2021 "I think you can get to a point where nihilism, if that's the right word, is overwhelming, and the basic laws that society has set up—either religious or social laws—become meaningless." - Bruce Springsteen I don't like horror films. I'm not sure I get why folks want to intentionally scare themselves to death. There's a new dystopian horror/action film out called The Forever Purge. It's actually the fifth Purge movie. The Purge is an imaginary 12 hour time frame where any crime including murder is legal. It's a scary, nihilistic idea. NIHILISM is the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless. The Latin root nihil actually means 'nothing,' or 'that which does not exist.' In philosophy, nihilism is an extreme skepticism that maintains that nothing in the world has a real existence. The famous proponent of this idea was German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. In nihilism, “"Every belief, every consideration of something true, is necessarily false because there is simply no true world.” Thus, nihilism is the belief that all values are utterly worthless, that nothing can be known or communicated. The philosophy of nihilism is also associated with extreme pessimism and deep-seated skepticism about life. It has no allegiance to anyone or anything." (GotQuestions.org) In nihilism, God does not exist or He is dead and there is no distinction between good and evil. Consequently, everyone and every thing is dispensable. There is no real care for, or embrace of life—and I don't just mean embryonic life. Each Summer in inner cities across the Country, we brace ourselves for an increase of shootings. I watched an alarming 60 Minutes expose on mass shootings in the US that are now being committed with AR-15 assault weapons. Psalmist King David said, "Only fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!" (Psalm 14:1) We often talk about and aspire to be godly—we talk much less about the possibility that we might become godless. Belief in the existence of God is a prerequisite of faith. God and all that He has created are by no means 'nothing.' He is definitely Someone, and His creation is something. Christ-followers are the opposite of nihilists—we are Believers. The Book of Jude warns us about being influenced by this nihilistic culture and exhorts us to hold onto and contend for our profession of faith in Jesus Christ, "3My dear friends, I really wanted to write you about God's saving power at work in our lives. But instead, I must write and ask you to defend the faith that God has once for all given to his people. 4Some godless people have sneaked in among us and are saying, “God treats us much better than we deserve, and so it is all right to be immoral.” They even deny we must obey Jesus Christ as our only Master and Lord. But long ago the Scriptures warned that these godless people were doomed." (Jude 3-4, CEV) Nihilism is becoming more and more prevalent in our society, let's not let it creep into the Church.  WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY HALL OF FAITH By Faith They Overcame TONIGHT, 7:00 pm EST @warehouseOTR thewarehousechurch.org

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - FAMOUS- Sadell Bradley - 6/9/2021

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD FAMOUS 6/9/2021 "When you're poor, you are invisible. Every poor person will tell you nobody sees you. So being famous was me just wanting to be seen." - Viola Davis - Actress On Sunday, The Kennedy Center honored several great artists, including Debbie Allen—an award-winning dancer, choreographer, actress, director, producer, and philanthropist. She was introduced to the world in the 1980 movie Fame as dance teacher Lydia Grant at New York's School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Grant challenged her students, "You've got big dreams. You want fame. Well, fame costs, and right here is where you start paying—in sweat." The film went on to show the lengths to which the desire for fame impacted these young artists and their teachers. Nowadays everybody wants to be FAMOUS- the state of being known or talked about by many people, especially on account of notable achievements. People are famous just for being famous—at least for 15 minutes. Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis, in a great display of self-awareness, disclosed above that her desire to be famous was due to a gaping internal hole from childhood. She wanted to be seen and to prove that despite being a child of poverty, she was significant. Have you ever had dreams of being rich and/or famous? Why? What would it mean to you? The Atlantic reported that only .0086% of the population is famous. Your odds of being famous are similar to winning $1 Million in the lottery. Your chances of becoming a millionaire through hard work or investment are a little better at about 6.71% according to CNBC. Prayerfully, your self-worth is not attached to being rich or famous. Jesus said in John 5:41-44, “I do not accept glory from human beings, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" Noted theologian and apologist Ravi Zacharias said, "Pleasure without God, without the sacred boundaries, will actually leave you emptier than before. And this is biblical truth, this is experiential truth. The loneliest people in the world are among the wealthiest and most famous who found no boundaries within which to live. That is a fact I've seen again and again." Even as a professing Christian leader, who was more known and knew more about the Bible than almost all of us—Zacharias was not able to stay within God's boundaries. A scandal of decades of sexual sin with hundreds of women was revealed after his death. It made me wonder how lonely he was, and if there was anyone who could have helped him. I wondered if his fame made it feel impossible to admit his sin or engage in repentance. Christian celebrity culture is out of hand. We seem to have forgotten that our responsibility as Christ-followers, even if God allows us come to notoriety, is to make famous the name of Jesus Christ. One translation of Psalm 45:17 says it this way, "I will make your name famous from now on, so people will praise you forever and ever." (EXB)  WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY HALL OF FAITH RAHAB TONIGHT, 7:00 pm EST @warehouseOTR live.thewarehousechurch.org

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - HOSPITALITY- Sadell Bradley 6/2/2021

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD HOSPITALITY 6/2/2021 "Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you. Hospitality is impossible to teach. The most important thing you can do is make the distinction between customer service and guest hospitality." - Danny Meyer - Restaurateur

This past weekend, we observed and celebrated Memorial Day, honoring the men and women who gave their lives in service for our Country. It was the first time many of us had the chance to flex hospitality muscles weakened by over a year of pandemic isolation. HOSPITALITY is the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. I did not realize how much I'd missed being able to have people over to our house for food, laughter, and fun. It was great to return to some sense of normalcy. We don't often talk about it, but hospitality is a Biblical character trait required of everyone and especially of leaders. In 1 Timothy 3:2 Paul includes hospitality or 'enjoying having guests in one's home,' as a qualification for bishops or overseers. Peter admonishes all Believers to, "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling." (1 Peter 4:9) The New Living Translation renders that verse, "Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay." Many of us would be willing to do the former, but the latter—offering someone a place to stay, might stretch the bounds of our hospitality.

In her book on Pastoral Care called "Hearing Beyond the Words: How to Become a Listening Pastor," Emma Justes suggests that listening is a form of welcoming hospitality. An adept and nurturing pastor or Christ-follower should acquire this trait and practice this skill. As I reflected on her wisdom and some of the exercises in the book, I thought back to the ways in which we had attempted to make compassionate listening and a culture of vulnerable transparency a part of the DNA of The Warehouse Church. We'd taken our leaders through a course called "Trust Building" from Equipping Ministries International, that focused on active listening. It was clear through the practice of that discipline that the hospitality of listening was a part of creating and maintaining trusting relationships of every kind. There are things we can do or not do that build or 'bust' trust with one another. Still, I'd not made the connection between listening as hospitality and pastoral care, but when I looked more closely and saw the root word of hospitality was HOSPITAL—everything came together. A hospital is a place that provides nursing and care to sick and injured people. Hospitality is a matter of emotionally caring for the weary, the disenfranchised, and the weakened. When the Pharisees asked Jesus' disciples why He chose to eat with tax collectors and sinners, He replied, "The whole do not need a physician, only the sick do." (Matthew 9:12) For many, the area of their hurt is not physical; it is emotional, mental, spiritual, or relational—so the mere sense of being seen, heard, and valued is enough to recover their lives. Maybe you're not prone to invite people into your home yet, but through the blessing of hospitality, you can invite them into your heart.

 WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY HALL OF FAITH MOSES TONIGHT, 7:00 pm EST @warehouseOTR live.thewarehousechurch.