You're invited to Element's Pumpkin Killing October 25th from 12-3pm at Element, 4890 Bethany Lane. 

There will be Free pumpkins and activities, while supplies last. There will also be food trucks available for you to purchase and enjoy lunch or shaved ice. Take your pumpkins and food to go or enjoy one of our socially distanced family stations with all the supplies needed to paint and carve on site. Kids in costumes will also receive a free treat*. Hand sanitizing stations available, however no public restroom access.  

This week Michael and Aaron sits down with Michelle to discuss Acts week 40.

Questions Discussed: 

- Michelle’s song selection for services
- Where are we headed after Acts2 is over in a few weeks
- When was the last time you came alongside someone else and encouraged them by walking with them through troubled times, and vice versa? How did that make you feel?
- Michelle, Aaron and Michael spend a few minutes encouraging/building each other up.

Watch Acts Week 40's Livestream Here.

When I was a kid, there was one thing you had to have in order to be accepted by all the other kids…the right clothes. I don’t know whoever thought up the stupid ritual where kids gravitate toward fashion (while having no fashion sense) and then judge others based on some arbitrary standard. Case in point, when I was in elementary school and junior high, my mom swore by the jeans, made by the Sears Roebuck Company, called Toughskins (you can look at an ad for them here - if you are so inclined). They were the poor man’s Levis…and we were poor so they were my Levis. 

Granted, Toughskins had an ambitious marketing campaign--there is even one ad featuring the unstoppable Chuck Norris doing a high karate kick. If Chuck Norris can’t sell Toughskins to the masses, then no one can. Toughskins had large X’s sewn on the back pockets to proudly display the cancellation of dirt, grime, and holes that young boys so often got into. Unfortunately, the X’s also signaled the cancellation of “cool” status when other kids saw them. As a matter of fact, the X actually signaled an invitation to be made fun of…which happened to me on occasion. 

This phenomenon is an odd thing, the need to mock and belittle someone who you deem as less fortunate than you are. Why is it that we naturally pick on the most vulnerable instead of defending the most vulnerable? I was talking to a schoolteacher friend of mine this week, and she spoke about this young boy (3^rd grade) who was living in the homeless shelter with his family. If you don’t already know this, the homeless shelter doesn’t have the best internet. As a result, this young man’s internet feed was glitching while trying to do class work with other children…and instantly, he started to be made fun of for having slow internet. “What’s wrong, your parents can’t get better internet?” The answer to that is “NO, I LIVE IN THE HOMELESS SHELTER.” These are nine and ten year-old kids we’re talking about, and they are able to hone in on a difference and exploit it. 

When Jesus speaks to people who think they are very religious, but really live very self-centered lives, He calls them out on it. We see Jesus say in Matthew 25:44-45 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. We tend to think the ‘least of these’ are people we have never encountered; they certainly are not those we would make fun of--and yet we all have. 

There is a hypocrisy, deep within our bones, that stems from unrealized and unacknowledged sin. No one is exempt--no one. Today if you watch the riots that break out over racial and societal injustice, oftentimes the crowd’s rage will turn against the vulnerable and not their oppressors. There are videos of singled-out shopkeepers, lone people walking down the street, and random people in cars who are attacked for no reason other than they are vulnerable and can’t stand against the mob. A protest that came together for justice can easily become a force for injustice, because human hearts are in the mix.

Yet on the other side, there are many who watch this hypocrisy and do not see it in themselves when they ignore the cry of the why behind the protests in the first place. Too many look at the incongruous actions of the protestors and use that as an excuse to write off everything that the movement is proclaiming. Our deep-rooted sin that makes us seek our own comfort, naturally wants to turn down the volume of what we perceive as Toughskins and not Levis, so to speak. Our sin nature makes us want to see people who either don’t agree with us, or don’t look like us, as the “other.”

And quite honestly, left to our own devices, this would never end. 

Some people have seen many of the problems in an honest way--not using the division for power or politics--and have come to a place of despair. Vox had a recent article detailing the 12 things most likely to destroy humanity, and most of them were brought about by humanity. Harvard scientist Abraham Avi’ Loeb believes that humanity will destroy itself long before the sun burns out. Dan Wells writes, “Humanity will destroy itself, body and soul, before it will learn a simple lesson.” If I could be so bold, I would say humanity already has destroyed itself in what we refer to in the Scriptures as “the Fall.” The greater question becomes then, “Why are we still here?”

And the answer is grace.  

Too often we think the answer to the human dilemma is our Levis (or our faster internet)--some sort of homogenous mass where everyone looks and likes the same thing. We are told that if we all just agreed that the problem is privilege, climate change, or something else, we would all get along, but that is untrue. Humanity, in its fallen state, will always find ways to make some people less than others. This is why we should stop solely advocating our favorite authors or causes without speaking the truth of the Gospel. So many dismiss our human condition while sitting in a pool of it, and that just makes no sense to me. The bad news is that humanity is destroying itself; the good news is that God has come to rescue us. 

In 2 Corinthians 5:21 the Apostle Paul (who once killed those who disagreed with him before coming to trust Jesus with his life) says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Paul doesn’t say, “God made Jesus sinful,” he says, “God made him sin…” What that means is on the cross, God laid all of humanity’s sin on Jesus, and Jesus willingly took that upon Himself to rescue us. For us, the beauty of God’s good news is that all of the evil within us was poured onto Jesus…and that becomes the beginning of our story. Paul says that message of grace was what changed him; it is this same message that offers us any possibility of meaningful, lasting change. 

The only way we will ever be able to look at others through a lens that sets our own Levi’s aside is to see the world as God does…and that only comes through a life surrendered to Jesus Himself. The answer is not humanity; humanity is the problem, but by the grace of God, we can truly become one people. The process is mysterious in that it is both instantaneous and slow. In trusting Jesus, we are immediately saved from ourselves and the wrath we deserve. At the same time, God also does His long work of molding and changing us to better reflect Him to the world. There’s a Greek proverb that says, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” It’s a beautiful image that speaks to a love that can only come from God, a love compassionate enough to care for those whom we would never meet—and some we would surely disagree with. We must plant trees of the Gospel that grow beyond ourselves, slowly but surely, if we are to live the diversity that is Toughskins and Levis…noticeably different, but cut from the same cloth.

I can confidently say that Bugs Bunny cartoons did not adequately prepare me for my deployment to the Middle East.  According to Looney Toons, the most reliable feature of any desert is the presence of a mirage followed closely by an abundance of magic lamps.  The cartoon bit was always the same.  Dying of thirst, dressed as Lawrence of Arabia, Bugs Bunny or Yosemite Sam would spot a palm-lined oasis in the distance, only to find their hopes dashed by a pesky mirage.  I have been here since May, in the heat of the summer, and I have yet to see a single mirage (or lamp for that matter).  It is worth noting that the defining characteristic of a mirage is that it promises something that it can’t deliver.  

The expectations I set for ministry prior to my deployment and the things I would accomplish for God’s Kingdom were in many ways like a mirage.  When I arrived at what I thought was a palm-lined oasis, I quickly realized it was something completely different.  Maybe you have had this experience.  You resolve to do something for God.  Before you can realize this great vision, reality smacks you in the face.

I prepared and prayed for my deployment, but had no idea of what God would do through me in this place. I had no expectation of what ministry might be in this place.  I’m not gonna lie though, I imagined I would be preaching and leading Bible studies, and if I could get my hands on a guitar… well you get it.  So far, that vision of a ‘Middle East Billy Graham’ has been more mirage than reality.  Often we imagine how God may answer our prayers before we pray them.  Usually while we wait on God’s answer to prayer, our hope is that God will give us exactly what we asked for.  Our sin nature causes us to want to lead God to the outcomes we most desire, even in prayer, but is that how it ought to be? 

Psalm 25 teaches that God leads and we are to follow: “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.  Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” (Psalm 25:4-5) The problem I have experienced is, instead of marching toward a goal, I end up wandering in a desert (quite literally) toward a mirage of my own creation.  Meanwhile, I miss the gentle leading of the Lord, which is the very answer to prayer that I am seeking.  The solution to this problem starts when we stop looking for an oasis that meets all the desires of our prayer and start looking at Jesus.  Jesus was very clear about one thing in His ministry, we only harvest where He has sown the seed. 

John chapter 4 tells the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.  Because of the first century prejudice that existed between Jews and Samaritans, this interaction nearly scandalized Jesus’ disciples.  Jesus promised this woman (and us) living water.  This unexpected encounter (to the disciples), was actually a divine appointment that resulted in a multitude coming to salvation.  Jesus taught his disciples a very important lesson, “For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’  I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” (John 4:37-38).  Meaning, when we have success for God’s Kingdom, it is only because God prepared the way before we arrived.   

The Apostle Paul put this another way, “Paul planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase.” (1 Cor 3:6).  God always reaps a harvest where he has sown.  Should we pray for God to lead us? Absolutely.  Should you have an idea or expectation of how God might answer that prayer?  You would not be a human if you did not.  The wisdom comes from discerning God’s answers to your prayer.  

So what am I to do?  The mirage has faded and there is only sand as far as I can see.  Satan has whispered in my ear more than once that I have failed.  I think it is time to look around and see the ministry that God has led me to.  It does not include a podium, a microphone, or a guitar.  I have already annoyed everyone at the Base Chaplain’s Bible study with my long theological rants.  So where does that leave me?  The answer is with the fruitful harvest that God has led me to.  I can’t wait to report to you what that is, once I have figured it out.  I remain willing as ever to obey God’s leading, but more than ever, I am also ready to get out of His way.

One last thought.  Between 1947 and 2005, Billy Graham led 417 Crusades, in 185 countries, on every continent except Antarctica. You and I may never evangelize to the untold millions to whom Billy Graham gave the Gospel, but as great an evangelist as Billy Graham was, somebody first shared the gospel with him.  Whether you are Billy Graham, preaching to millions, or the person who witnessed to Billy Graham, in both cases God sowed the seed, and God reaped the harvest. 

God probably won’t send you or me into the mission field we expect, but the mission field He sends us to is always the right one.  Learn from me; don’t keep wandering toward the mirage.  Look around you at the oasis God as already led you to and share the living water with anyone who will drink.

Element's Mission is: To Glorify God by teaching and living out the Scriptures, transforming community into Gospel Community, and planting churches. And we are excited to talk about partnering with Tom and Jing in Beuang Kan, Thailand as they begin planting a church in the North-East part of Thailand.