WEDNESDAY'S WORD - CODE - Sadell Bradley 08/31/2022

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD CODE 8/31/2022 “Don't violate your own code of values and ethics, but don't waste energy trying to get other people to violate theirs.”— Melodie Beattie, American Writer

Sisterhood is that feeling of closeness and community that we feel when we gather together with women who seek to know and love Jesus Christ and each other. The Sisterhood Breakfast is a time where women of all ages, races, and stages can laugh, love, share a meal, learn and grow together. We'd love to have you join us please RSVP HERE  Now on to the blog...

When the word CODE is spoken, it means a myriad of things. Accountants think of the Tax Code. The military operates by a code of conduct. Scientists practice genetic coding, while IT folks program in code. African-Americans might think of 'code-switching'—the effectiveness with which they can change their language and mannerisms depending on their audience. Musical lyrics are a type of code. Politician Alexandria Cortez said, "I was born in a zip code that determines your destiny." We don't often talk about our codes, but we all have them. A CODE can be a system of substituted words, letters, figures, or symbols, especially for the purpose of secrecy. We use safety codes on our phones, computers, and homes. In wartime, messages were sent by Morse code to confuse the enemy. Codes classify and identify us. They are sets of systematic laws, standards, regulations, or conventions that govern the behavior and activity of individuals, families, workplaces, classes, societies, and even churches and religious systems. We all operate by codes. "If someone hits you, you'd better hit them back! (or alternatively call the teacher, LOL!)" "What goes on in this house stays in this house." "Never let them see you sweat/ cry/ get angry." Some of us have very strict codes of conduct. Imagine my surprise when I awoke to the Spirit speaking the words, "Change your code." In Matthew 5:20-43, Jesus told His disciples unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and Sadducees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He went on to challenge the strict codes by which they'd lived their entire lives with the lead-in phrase, "You have heard it said..." Jesus told them...You have heard it said do not murder and that was right. You can't even hold onto anger or call someone an idiot in My Kingdom. If you know someone has something against you, go to them and reconcile it before you bring your gift to the altar. You heard you cannot commit adultery, well you can't even look at a woman to lust after her in my Kingdom. If you do, you've already committed adultery in your heart. You heard you can take revenge—an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth—but I'm telling you don't resist evil, turn the other cheek and go the extra mile. You thought you only had to love people who love you...but I'm changing the CODE. Love your enemies, pray for your persecutors and do them good. Then you'll really be God's children, for He makes the sun shine on the just and the unjust. Read Matthew 5 yourself if you dare, but whether we're talking about morals, lifestyle, relationships, finances, work, or worship...we all abide by codes. When computer codes are outdated, new ones are written that are more helpful to our lives. Are you living by antiquated codes? Change your code.

TONIGHT 7 PM WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY  SERIES: OUT OF THIS WORLD TOPIC: INFECTED @warehouseOTR  Facebook, Youtube

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - BUOYANT - Sadell Bradley - 08/24/2022

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD BUOYANT 8/24/2022 “It's the hopeful, buoyant, cheerful attitude of mind that wins. Optimism is a success builder; pessimism is an achievement killer.”— Orison Swett Marden JOIN US TONIGHT AT 7PM!! WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY NEW SERIES: OUT OF THIS WORLD! Strangers and Nomads @warehouseOTR Facebook & YouTube The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, is my favorite movie. It is hilarious and heartwarming. In it, Canadian Margaret Tate, a famous and infamously cruel book editor upon threat of deportation out of the US, commands her reluctant and subservient assistant Andrew Paxton to marry her to make her legal to stay in America. She and Andrew travel to his home town, Sitka, Alaska, to celebrate the 'engagement.' Margaret finds out that Andrew is the heir to a fortune. The very comedic love-hate relationship they hold turns into love-love. In the climactic scene, Margaret regrets putting Andrew in this dicey and illegal situation. She realizes that the pain of the loss of her own family (her parents died when she was 16) juxtaposed against the perfection of the Paxtons is eliciting very deep and uncomfortable feelings and reveals that grief, hurt, and pain lie beneath her crass exterior. Overcome with emotion, she dangerously commandeers Andrew's speedboat and inadvertently throws herself overboard. Margaret cannot swim. Andrew screams at her to paddle over to a BUOY - an anchored float that serves as a navigation mark, to show reefs or other hazards, or for anchoring, in order to save her life. Then he pulls her back onboard to safety,  Figuratively, to buoy or to be buoyant, means to keep someone or something afloat, to become cheerful or confident, to rise to or remain at a high level. It is not just Margaret's physical life, but her emotional and relational life that is being rescued, by love, by trust, and by joy.  Proverbs 15:13 says, "A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit." Proverbs 17:22 echoes, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength." Like Margaret, many of us have had excruciating situations in our upbringing or in adult life that have caused us at times to be sour, bitter, regretful, fearful, or angry. At times the pain spills over into home, work, school, and church relationships. When that is the case, it is difficult to summon up buoyancy, even when we know  'the joy of the Lord is our strength.' (Nehemiah 8:10) Christ still calls us to reach out to Him has our spiritual and emotional buoy. Hebrews 6:19 calls the hope we have in Him the anchor for our souls. The Holy Spirit gives us access to a joy that will keep us afloat in the storms of life. Do you feel like you're drowning today? I pray you receive God's love and rescue as you swim toward and reach for Him as your buoy.

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - SOCiETY - Sadell Bradley- 08/17/2022

WEDNESDAY'S WORD SOCIETY 8/17/2022 “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children.”— Dietrich Bonhoeffer JOIN US TONIGHT AT 7PM!! WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY NEW SERIES: OUT OF THIS WORLD! @warehouseOTR Facebook & YouTube On Sunday, The Warehouse Church, OTR held its Annual Back to School Bash in Washington Park. Check out photos! The LORD held back the rain and hundreds of kids and their families were blessed with book bags, books, school supplies, a great feast, and a lot of fun! We worshiped Jesus and heard inspiring messages of God's love and how it can be shown to our precious children. Then we prayed for the children, their parents, caregivers, teachers and administrators for a safe, joy-filled, and successful school year. We listened as our worship leader, child advocate Robert Johnson, shared some of the obstacles children face as they re-enter schools including: poverty, fears for safety, and dysfunctional family systems that produce behavioral issues. He challenged us that every time we interact with a child we can leave them encouraged or discouraged, loved or wanting...that seems true for us as adults too. Nelson Mandela said, "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." Both Mandela and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (above) provoke us to consider the society we are crafting for generations to come. SOCIETY is defined as the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community—having shared customs, laws, and organizations. Society also means companionship, a friendly association with others. A healthy society understands and acknowledges that we are all in this together. Sometimes I wonder if we as Christians consider how our ways impact the youth of our nation. Our moral fiber seems to be thread bare these days, and our witness is becoming less and less credible. This makes me think of one of Jesus' encounters: 13One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. 14When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” 16Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16, NLT) The Kingdom of God is a society made up of Heavenly citizens with childlike qualities. That makes it worthwhile to consider not just whether or not we are treating our children well, or leaving them a good societal legacy; we must also examine ourselves to see if we hold the nature of children. Jesus taught His disciples, "Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all]. Whoever will humble himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3-4, AMPC)

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - IMPROVISE - Sadell Bradley- 8/10/2022

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD IMPROVISE 8/10/2022 “Jazz stands for freedom. It's supposed to be the voice of freedom. Get out there and improvise, and take chances, and don't be a perfectionist—leave that to the classical musicians.”— Dave Brubeck

JOIN US TONIGHT AT 7PM!! WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY CREATE SERIES: IMPROVISATION! @warehouseOTR Facebook & YouTube

Improvisation is a tool in many artist's toolboxes. We see it in acting, comedy, and jazz, but it happens in art, dance, and other disciplines as well. Actually, improvisation happens in almost every field. To IMPROVISE means to create and perform spontaneously or without preparation; to produce or make (something) from whatever is available. The Latin improvivso 'extempore,' from which we get extemporaneous, means on the spur of the moment, literally 'out of the time.' In the arts improvisation is a skill that is learned and mastered. Actor Christopher Walken says, "Improvising is wonderful. But the thing is that you cannot improvise unless you know exactly what you are doing.That's a kind of paradoxical thing about improvising." When we heard John Coltrane or Miles Davis doing a riff, or watched Robin Williams perform as Aladdin's Jeanie; we knew they were already masters at their craft and the FLOW we witnessed came from years of experience. Improvisation happens in our lives too. You know why? because things don't always turn out perfectly as we hoped. You start cooking and one of the ingredients you need is not in your cabinet. Your mind scrambles to find an appropriate substitute. You can't go back to the store now. Or your job lays you off and you have to find a way to feed your family so you drive Uber or sell dinners. Many a person has jury-rigged an apparatus with a wire, rope, or safety pin to make it work. Jury-rigged is from the French ajurie which means to 'aid.' It is often confused with jerry-rigged which means cheaply or poorly made. Both are improvisations. Timing is a big part of improvisation, so is flexibility. We must be willing to see setbacks, inconveniences, shifts, and losses as opportunities to create something new. For intuitive, abstract thinkers, and creative folks this may seem obvious and even easy...but for perfectionists and concrete thinkers, not so much. Whether in life, music, or art...improvisation requires faith and trust. We believe if we go out on a limb, our partners in life, and our God will be with us. As we co-create together, the process and the ending will be beautiful and harmonious. In Exodus 2:1-9, Moses' mother told his sister Miriam to place her baby brother in the Nile River in a papyrus basket lined with pitch and tar. They were saving him from the death decree for all boys under the age of two given by Egypt's Pharaoh. Miriam watched as Moses was found by Pharaoh's daughter. Then she started improvising and intuiting—working out the scary situation by her instincts. When Pharaoh's daughter recognized that Moses was one of the Hebrew's babies; Miriam, thinking on her feet, offered to get 'a Hebrew woman' (her mother) to nurse him. Not only did that allow her family to stay connected, but her mother was PAID to nurse her own baby! who would now be safe and in Pharaohs house. Maybe you're in a sticky situation. The answers aren't laid before you like ducks in a row. Perhaps the faith and freedom you seek involves risk, getting out there on a limb, and improvising.

WEDNESDAY'S WORD - FORWARD - Sadell Bradley - 08/03/2022

 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD FORWARD 8/3/2022 “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”— Soren Kierkegaard - Danish Philosopher JOIN US TONIGHT AT 7PM!! WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY CREATE SERIES: WORDS HAVE POWER! @warehouseOTR Facebook & YouTube It's amazing how preoccupied we can be with the past—whether historical or recent. As a pastor, I've invested innumerable hours in counseling sessions, intercessions, and teachings that attempt to help folks unravel, understand, and heal from what has happened in the past. Complicated and entangled situations plague them: painful circumstances from home, work, school, and church—between friends, family, co-workers, and parishioners. People are still mentally, emotionally, and spiritually dealing with their own regrettable decisions or the behavior or words of others that has brought injury. Many are stuck between "If only...and what if," or so focused on "The good old days," that they are stalled at a standstill. When our life's-blood is only made up of memories—it is hard if not impossible to move FORWARD—onward so as to make progress; toward a successful conclusion; toward the future. The military's definition of forward is positioned near enemy lines. Maybe we don't move forward because we're afraid of what lies there— but destiny is found in forward. Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian Nobel Peace Laureate, and explorer said,"I demolish my bridges behind me...then there is no choice but to move forward." Nansen led the team that made the first crossing of Greenland in 1888, traversing the island on cross-country skis. It takes courage to move forward—to stop thinking about, to ignore, disregard, and leave the past behind, while choosing to forge ahead. The Apostle Paul, who held many regrets from his former life persecuting Christians, made "Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead," his focal point—'the one thing " he would do. (Phil 3:13) If we are to make forward progress...the past can no longer rule us. We are called to forgive ourselves as we have been forgiven...even for the time we believe we have "lost." We can choose to release our cravings for revenge, and let go of our fights for vindication. We can surrender: our approval addictions and our internal wars for significance by means of achievements, relationships, notoriety, and possessions. Many of us have been struggling to 'prove things' to ourselves and others for quite a while. It's time to be free. If we are to move forward, we must do so without fear...in particular, the fear of failure. C.S. Lewis said, "Failures, repeated failures, are fingerposts on the road to achievement. One fails forward to success." Move forward.