February 28, 2021 Looking for the ‘Son’ in 2021!

Partners in Prayer: “Everything We

Need!” Dear Partners in Prayer Team,

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just

as there will be false teachers among you.” 2 Peter 2:1 (NIV)

“Such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the

hearts of the naive.” Romans 16:18 (ESV)

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of

themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such

people.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NIV) Have things this week turned out as you expected? Have you found yourself going from bad to worse in some area of your life or prayers? How do you go forward when the landscape you expected isn’t what you thought it would be in situations you’ve recently faced? What impassible things are we suddenly faced with that we can’t do ourselves, but only God will be able to get us through? I imagine that Meriwether Lewis was excited when he received the letter from the President that read: “To Captain Meriwether Lewis. The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri River, and such principal stream of it, as by its course and communication to connect with the waters of the

Pacific Ocean… may offer the most direct and practicable waterway across this continent for the purpose of commerce- signed Thomas Jefferson.” This was something he was known for. Meriwether Lewis was an explorer and hero of adventure. He partnered with William Clark to do what everyone expected to be an easy task- August 31, 1803 to September 25, 1806, also

known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. Everyone knew the Colombia River reached the Pacific, and the Missouri River flowing into the northern Mississippi had to meet in some way. But no explorer of European descent had ever made the trip to find a water route. It would be the key to national sovereignty and financial stability for the Americans who wanted to connect and control the trade from the Mississippi to the Pacific. Lewis and Clark started their expedition on the border of Iowa and Nebraska where the Missouri River flowed. Years ago, our family was able to visit that spot as we traveled west into the Dakotas for a summer vacation. They had expected to find a natural waterway flow all the way. They literally prepared and expected to paddle by canoe all the way to the Pacific Ocean. And everyone just knew it was out there somewhere. It was a broadly believed, persistent assumption about the way the world was arranged that the journey to the Pacific would be much like the journey from the Atlantic, over the Appalachian Mountain watershed, and down the Ohio River to the great Mississippi. Lewis and Clark moved ahead of the entire expedition for fifteen months until they found themselves at the headwaters of the Missouri River, and when they walked up the hill, looked down the gentle slope that would take half a day carrying their canoe, they expected to see the start of the Columbia River, and the Pacific. Easy-peasy to the finish line. BUT they could not have been more disappointed. What Lewis actually discovered was that three hundred years of experts had all been completely and utterly wrong. In front of him was not a gentle slope down to a navigable river running to the Pacific Ocean, but the Rocky Mountains stretching out for miles and miles as far as the eyes could see, one set of peaks after another! Here is what he wrote in his diary: “The road took us to the most distant fountain of the waters of the mighty Missouri in search of which we have spent so many toilsome days and restless nights. Thus far I had accomplished one of those great objects on which my mind had been unalterably fixed for many days. I rested myself to allay my thirst with this pure and ice-cold water. Two miles below McNeal had exultantly stood with a foot on each side of this rivulet and thanked his God that He had lived to bestride the mighty and endless Missouri. After refreshing ourselves we proceeded on the top of the dividing ridge from which I discovered immense ranges of high mountains still to the West of us with their tops partially covered with snow. There was no Northwest Passage. No navigable river. No water route. The geography west of the Continental Divide was supposed to be the same as the geography east of it. How will we be able to take a keelboat and canoes from here where there is no downriver to the ocean?” (Canoeing the Mountains, pg. 26). For no American had ever seen mountains like these. In the words of Corps Sergeant John Ordway, “The Mountains continue as far as our eyes could

extend. They extended much further than we expected.” Or as another said, “These mountains are the most terrible mountains I ever beheld.” (ibid, pg. 27). At that moment everything that Meriwether Lewis assumed about his journey changed. He was planning on exploring the new world by boat. He was a river explorer. They planned on rowing, and they thought the hardest part was behind them. But in truth everything they had accomplished was only a prelude to what was in front of them. Perhaps this illustration hasn’t connected yet with us, but allow me to help. Nowhere is this sudden stop and change of a journey more evident than in the arena of 2021 and our condition of the American culture and church. Since the coronavirus epidemic and all the world-wide changes and halts to the normal way of life, we have been stopped to re-evaluate how we as churches are making out in following the Great Commission and showing a light and testimony of Christ to this nation. Like Meriwether Lewis sitting on the crest of Lemhi Pass and looking at the landscape he couldn’t have imagined, Christian pastors and leaders today are sitting in meetings, reading reports and conversing with colleagues about the brutal truth: “All that we have assumed about leading our churches, all that we have been trained for, is out of date.” We have left the map in 2021 with how we do church, and are in uncharted territory, and it is different than we expected. We are experienced river rafters who must learn to be mountaineers. And some of us face “the most terrible mountain” we have ever beheld. How do we keep our churches from dying? How do we cope and fight the incredibly fast-paced shift of political, social, and moral values to be dominated by an anti-Biblical worldview? The statistics of the Western church’s steady decline are well known over these last 50 years. Most churches (with few obvious exceptions) are dying or not connecting to their communities. Extracurricular activities from music lessons to sports participation are considered by most parents to be more effective at forming good character in our children (and getting them accepted to good colleges!) than the church. Spirituality has become wildly popular but so deeply individualistic that the fastest-growing “religious affiliations” among those under thirty are “none” and “spiritual-not-religious.” Going to church is no longer the majority expectation in our culture. As pastors we are called on to minister to a passing parade of people who treat us like we are but one option in their personal salad bar of self-fulfillment. Now this year, almost 100% of Bible-believing churches are trying to understand how to operate and reopen from the Covid-19 shutdown. Are we doing what churches should be doing? How did we lose such a sudden percentage of “confessing believers” as we have? We, like Lewis and Clark, are trying to cross the Rocky Mountains in a canoe and paddle the mountains. So what are we to do? How does the church canoe over mountains?

Peter was facing similar situations in his day. He was coming to an end of an era of hugely successful gospel outreach and evangelism as the whole of the salvation message of Christ did reach the entire Roman Empire and even beyond into the regions of the Orient. But the tide shifted like running into mountains of impossibility as Nero ordered Christianity to be outlawed and anyone professing Christianity to be second-class citizens with no rights. Persecution was beginning and would last for three hundred years. Christians and churches were not going to be popular anymore. There wasn’t going to be a favorable draw to Jesus. The world was about to dramatically change so much that Peter needed to write his letter to help believers who would face the Christian journey ahead of them. Peter reminded the church, even us today, that Jesus has given us everything we need to navigate the most impassible route to live Christ, even if there was no map, or no quick fix or easy answer. In Chapter 2 of our small letter, Peter talked about the hardest things that Christians and churches must face: false believers, fake leaders, and apostate “Christianity”. It is the most dark, murky and scary part of Peter’s letter. He even said in chapter 2:1, “But just as there were false prophets, too, in those [Old Testament] days, there will be false teachers among you! They will cleverly tell their lies about God, turning against even their Master who bought them; but theirs will be a swift and terrible end. Many will follow their evil teaching that there is nothing wrong with sexual sin. And because of them Christ and His way will be scoffed at” (The Living Bible Paraphrase). With the advent of social media there has been an alarming level of anti-social behavior, marked by hostility, outrage; a counter culture, marked by a spirit of offense. The spirit has seeped into the church, with many caustic offenses toward believers. This spirit of offense is also manifesting in a growing racial divide in America. People are shifting away from the true teachings of God’s Word. Peter was taking this opportunity to express ever more clearly what it means to follow and serve God who is King of the entire world. The church at its best has always been a small band of people willingly heading into uncharted territory with a mission worthy of our utmost dedication. So what is this world coming to? I don’t understand it! Have you asked yourself this question at all lately? When you see the warning given to us in Scripture about the end times we are told that we must watch for false teachers overtaking the church. Could that mean that the church will be overrun with unbelief? The actual thought horrifies and scares me. I have

found myself staring out the window of the church office watching all the cars pass us on 611 and the snow fall over and over. I realize I’ve been staring out my window a lot this past year. What is this world coming to? I remembered years ago while in seminary, a pastor friend Bill Boulet used to say this when one was discouraged: “Don’t look at what is going wrong, or what is negative, instead focus and find the one thing God is doing!” So in these days I find myself watching for God’s “one good” in my circumstances. As I’ve looked, a sort of “count-your-blessings” approach to reviewing the grace of God, I’ve seen many exciting things transpiring amongst the hurt: our children are all thriving, I love serving with my church family, hearing the laughter of my grandson Oliver always brings joy, and then there is my wife’s smile… it hasn’t changed since the day we first met. These are all ‘good’ things. But when your heart aches and you can’t breathe, life just seems upside down, words don’t come easily, and you find yourself staring out the window with more questions than answers. I believe Peter wants us to carefully watch and discern for what is false or real around us as we head into the last days. Peter wants us to be warned and alerted to what the world will be like in the last days. He also wants us to be careful that we don’t fall victim to con artists who try to tell us what the church is about in these last days. This is why the “prayer room” is so critical to end times’ endurance and living. We need to be praying strongly to put on the armor of God for the spiritual wars ahead. I’m not a prophet, and I really don’t want to imagine that being a Christian today will get harder instead of better, but I am willing to stop pretending that we are going to experience smooth sailing in the next few years to just see our little church along this 611 corridor grow huge overnight. We need to be on our knees praying and fighting the battles in these days to come. Don't you sometimes just shake your head and wonder, "What on earth is happening in the world?" Over the course of my lifetime, I have witnessed numerous changes in the broader culture. Unfortunately, not all have been for good. If Christians hope to make an impact in this world, it's imperative that we first understand it. So let's take a look at three especially troubling changes that I see in our day. If we are to liken ourselves to Lewis and Clark who needed to canoe the Rockies, what are the mountainous impossible obstacles we are seeing right now in our society? First, I see a blurring of the line between right and wrong. In my lifetime, I have seen a move from a wholesome standard of morality to a wholesale and undiscerning emphasis on tolerance. Many in our world have replaced common sense with political correctness. We defend criminals more passionately than victims. Standing against same-sex marriage labels a person an "intolerant homophobe" and "out of touch with reality." Stating that Scripture teaches for or against some behavior or attitude no longer carries the weight it once did. In this climate, holding to conservative moral standards makes one look foolish.

Why? Because there's a blurring of the line between right and wrong. Did you know that this week the Congress is trying to pass an “Equality Act” through House of Representatives? (It did pass through the House on Thursday 224-206. Now it goes to the Senate.) If you haven’t updated yourself on it, you need to. It really isn’t a plan to help an unfairly treated people to gain more rights, it really is trying to make Christians and people with morals to be second-class citizens. It will give people the right to persecute or take anyone to court for anything that they “perceive” as bigotry against them, even if it isn’t true, as long as they “feel” or perceive you are acting against them. With that in mind, if churches try to set standards for their employees, or if students entering a Christian institution are told they can’t enter if they do not have standards, or even if someone were to join our church with gender issues, the Pastor is not allowed to stop them. That will allow “unsaved” individuals to enter our churches without any standards. You will start to hear people say, “The Biblical teaching on sexuality needs updating.” A second troubling change is occurring these days: I see a growing ignorance of Biblical knowledge and thus wrong values are already finding their way in our churches. There was a time, even in recent years, when theological thinking, Biblical understanding, and doctrinal truth were our culture's standard guides for living. Politicians as well as educators frequently quoted from the Scriptures. Prayer was a part of every classroom experience in my elementary-school-age years. Pastors taught the Scriptures forcefully. Now? Sadly, in our times we have "a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the LORD" (Amos 8:11). A third troubling change occurring is: that no authority is valid except a person’s own. Those who hold this position challenge authority, asking, “Who are you to tell me what to believe?” Respect for authority is virtually nonexistent. No rules are valid. This means that we should make up our own minds about right and wrong, following only those rules we feel are right for us. Style is more important than substance. Here we get the idea that reality consists only of image or appearance, rather than substance. Morality will soon become a matter of choice. This mentality suggests that it's alright to live however we want. The cardinal virtue is tolerance. This kind of

tolerance says that we must validate everyone's beliefs . . . except the beliefs of those who aren't tolerant. Ironic, huh? Words have no inherent meaning, so true communication is impossible. Words carry weight or they carry nothing, yet in our world the significance of words continues to erode. Hollywood becomes the source of truth rather than the Bible. Images and fantasy interpret reality. The unsavory images in video

games or television become reality for kids who are growing up under their influence. What people believe is right, so they can do anything to achieve a goal. Paul said it this way: “The Spirit makes it clear that as time goes on, some are going to give up on the faith and chase after demonic illusions put forth by professional liars. These liars have lied so well and for so long that they’ve lost their capacity for truth” (1 Timothy 4:1-2 MSG). And then Paul shared these words; “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1-4). Serious words . . . so much to think about. I know you care. But it is so easy to be swept along by the waves of our times. I urge you to become a serious student of the Scriptures like we talked about last week in 2 Peter 1: 18-21. Let God's Word be your guide. Adopting this habit of relying on the Bible's timeless wisdom will do amazing things, as it helps you hone discernment and develop direction in a world that has lost its way. And most importantly, if we are going to keep from dying and reach all these lost souls along the 611 corridor, we need to be on our knees in prayer. I want to close with a great hero of prayer Martin Luther. His best friend and

associate writes about Luther’s praying: “I cannot enough admire the extraordinary cheerfulness, constancy, faith, and hope of the man in these trying and vexatious times. He constantly feeds these gracious affections by a very diligent study of the Word of God. Then not a day passes in which he does not employ in prayer at least three of his very best hours. Once I happened to hear him at prayer. Gracious God! What spirit and what faith are there in his expressions! He petitions God with as much reverence as if he was in the divine presence, and yet with as firm a hope and confidence as he would address a father or a friend. ‘I know,’ said he, ‘Thou art our father and our God; and therefore I am sure thou wilt bring to naught the persecutors of Thy children. For shouldest Thou fail to do this Thine own cause, being connected with ours, would be endangered. It is entirely Thine own concern. We, by Thy providence, have been compelled to take a part. Thou therefore wilt be our defense.’ (This was just

before he wrote the Hymn we come to know as: ‘A Mighty Fortress Is our God.’) Whilst I was listening to Luther praying in this manner, at a distance, my soul seemed on fire within me, to hear the man address God so like a friend, yet with so much gravity and reverence; and also to hear him, in the course of his prayer, insisting on the promises contained in the psalms, as if he were sure his petitions would be granted.” (Purpose of

Prayer, pg. 30). So, in these days of canoeing over impossible mountains, what are we as this little church to do? Pray! Fight on our knees! Give ourselves to fervent prayer, not just convenient small prayers. Did not Jesus tell us that just a little mustard seed of faith will remove impossible mountains, because He is the God of the impossible? Here are just a few prayer needs this week: 1. Pray for the hardness of the soil of men’s hearts around our church. Let’s pray that God works in bringing souls. Also, just a small reminder that we will avoid being a great obstacle to those people attending our church if we follow our “masking” rules. I know many of you are frustrated by those rules, but we must not forget that our actions will affect our testimony. My desire is to send out postcard invitations to our church before Easter in a month. So please keep remembering not to be a cause of stumbling for others. 2. Last Sunday morning before church, we received an update from the Vosters that they are building and starting a dorm ministry. Pray for the special offering we are taking this morning to help buy Bibles for the Cambodian students. We want to encourage all of us to give above and beyond our normal giving to help make a difference for God’s Word to become the first-ever Bible these students can have. Remember that offering is today! 3. We also want you to keep in prayer our “Membership Sunday” coming March 7th and our first shoe box ministry after church. Nelson asked if we would like to have a picture and message to go in these set of boxes from our church. That way the children receiving the boxes will see those who packed them. Sign up for Sunday the 7th or Sunday the 21st. 4. Also, I am calling a meeting of certain ministry leaders to brainstorm with me during Sunday the 14th. I hope that it can just be a quick time after church to talk about what is working for us as a church, and if we should start new ministries. We want this time to help us, as the Elders, canoe these mountainous days ahead. Let’s pray, “Heavenly Father, How free and generous is Your grace that reminds us of the spiritual dangers we face and urges us to press on to know and love You more. We thank You that though we often turn away from You in weakness, You always draw us back to Yourself. Jesus, we thank You, that if it wasn’t for Your forgiveness and love, we would be utterly lost. The changing landscape that suddenly is before us as Your church isn’t smooth sailing or easy canoeing downhill. Holy Spirit, hold fast to us. Melt our hearts with the powerful love shown to us at the cross. Jesus do show us the way forward. Help us be true and protective of our church in these ever increasing end days. Hold us up, or we will fall time

and time again. Show us truth, or we will follow after lies and worship false idols and ways. Give us faith, or we will live in the barren wilderness of our own imaginations. Our every breath comes from You; give us abundant spiritual life and overflowing joy in the knowledge that You have made us Your children and You will never let us go. In Christ, our Trailblazer and Leader’s Name we pray. Amen.” Praying and canoeing in these days of impossible mountains,

Pastor Corvin <><

Quote: “God is looking for those with whom He can do the impossible– what a pity that we plan only the things that we can do by ourselves.” …A. W. Tozer