Diagnosis 911: Buszerkitis

Description- A tendency to stay very BUSY that can lead to a disorder called
GOING BERSERK.

I was driving to work one morning this week, stopped at a red light and thought, ”Hmmm, busy and berserk sound similar. That’s interesting!” That is how my brain tends to work. Think I will write a blog about that.

So, I get to the office. I then reflect on statements that I hear from the majority of the many people I chat with....

“It’s been such a BUSY week”
“Our kids are so BUSY”
“We are too BUSY to go to TFL classes”
“We were too BUSY to get to worship this week”
“We are too BUSY to pray together”
“I am too BUSY to spend time with God”
“I’m too BUSY to come to counseling”
“We are too BUSY to invest in our marriage”
“I am so BUSY at work”
“I have to stay BUSY because I can’t stand down time”
“BUSY is my middle name!”
“There is not enough time in the day because I am soooo BUSY”
“I am too BUSY to eat right”

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!!!

My friends:) These are the statements that people truly believe but the truth is:

B- BEING

U- UNDER

S-  SATAN’S

Y-  YOKE

Often BUSYNESS is a tool of the enemy that pulls us away from our Savior and feeds the false gospel of saving ourselves.

There is no way any of us can hear God’s still small voice in BUSYNESS.

I used to buy into the American cultural belief system that staying BUSY meant that you were an active, contributing member of society that would be a successful, prestigious person who would have a great big house and blinged out car, get married and have a bunch of kids. That was success!  That was fulfilling the American Dream, right? I went BERSERK!! I really did. I began to feel empty, working many jobs at one point in my life to pay bills, and seek relationships as medication. The next chapter: I entered COUNSELING!!! I began to seriously seek God’s plan for my life. At this point, I live in a wonderful little house, drive a car that works, I am not married and have no children. I love my life!!! Because it is the life God has called me to. I would have been miserable if I continued to strive and pursue what my then friends, family and work said I was supposed to be and look like.

This is a lie my friends. It leads to a lifestyle that felt like I was going BERSERK! Have you ever felt that way, or was it just me??

I would encourage you to not let the “calendar monster,” as I call it, fill up with BUSYNESS. Set those boundaries. Say ‘Yes’ to life-giving things that lead you to Jesus and ‘No’ to those things He is NOT calling you to- even taking roles in the church ministries!

He has made you special, unique and one-of-a-kind. You have a unique design on your life and a purpose to live out. It is your responsibility to protect those gifts and talents that He has given you :)

Learning to say Yes and learning to say No prevents BUSZERKITIS. It is a painful disorder and I encourage you to take steps to avoid it!

A Time of Change

If you were there, I don’t need to tell you what a great sermon Pastor Greg preached last Sunday. God has given it all to him it: warmth, humility, love, understanding, and even a touch of whimsy. But yesterday, especially, I was strongly reminded of my earliest knowledge of Samson, and how it separated me from any interest in God.

I grew up in church; Sunday school, Young Peoples, choir, the whole bit. But no one there ever told me the truth about the Bible’s “men of God.” They were, all of them, described as near-perfect people. And we were encouraged to be perfect, too. This was a long time ago, in the 30’s and 40’s, but I’m not sure things have changed that much in some churches. What it did to me was to present an unreachable goal, totally divergent from reality, peopled with folks with whom I could not identify at all, and a God who would never care about a young girl who was often angry, sometimes dishonest, and surely far from perfect. I didn’t know any better. But I was baptized anyway, because all my friends at church had already taken that step, and I went on for years believing that I was a Christian, without changing anything at all. I wasn’t Jewish, so I MUST be a Christian, mustn’t I? My parents were, and my grandmother (embarrassingly!) REALLY was, so what else could I be?

Years later, of course, in my forties, I really did come to know the real God and my beloved Savior Jesus, and read the Bible cover to cover, and discovered the full truth about those men of God. It was a definite “ahHA! Moment, and taught me how God loves us in spite of our imperfection, even beyond our comprehension! I could suddenly see how God used sinful people, even in their disobedience, to further His immutable plan. So much started to make sense.

But this isn’t just about Greg presenting Samson in all his humanity and bad choices. The fantastic truth is that God blesses us every day with His Holy Spirit guidance and with the opportunity to be ourselves a part of His plan for us, by making our own right choices. I had never heard so clearly how Samson’s bad choices can easily be our own bad choices, leading to pain and misery. Our clothing styles may have changed many times, but people have not changed at all, in any way. Greg’s message last Sunday made this truth inescapably clear, and he spoke it with love and compassion. If you weren’t there, you should really go online and hear it!

The point of all this is this: we as a church are right now in a season of change, when we welcome Pastor Greg as our new Senior Pastor. It can’t be the easiest time for him; it certainly wouldn’t be for me were I in his shoes. But just this once, let me remind you of my 87 years, and give you some good advice: if Greg were Billy Graham himself he would still need your love and support and appreciation right now. I hope he doesn’t mind my featuring him today, but his sermon last Sunday was one of the best I have ever heard. Ever. It touched me deeply. If this is an example of the future, I am really excited!

—Norma Stockton

The Last Things an Old Wise Man Had to Say to the Church

The message on the book of 3rd John found here is included as a follow up to my last blog article.  I preached this sermon on 7/29/18, about six weeks ago.  Listen specifically in the message for the main characters (Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius) whom John discusses. The distinctions in each are highlighted by the beloved old apostle John who is the wise man speaking in 3rd John.  Also, there is a tone of love with which John speaks in this short but beloved epistle. It is my hope and my prayer that the LORD Jesus through the Spirit of God would teach you and encourage you and challenge you in this short commentary on 3rd John. May His Spoken Word drive you back to the Word.

—Thor Knutstad

Can We Talk About What Happened Sunday?

On Sunday we had an amazing family celebration. Angelo led our first ever worship service with an alternate venue. We had a beautiful time praying over teachers, administrators and students who are going back to school; we honored the legacy of Nate and Sharon's ministry; we were challenged by our Bridgeton Church planter Isai Garcia to consider our calling and then we celebrated four lives committed to Jesus in baptism. After all of that, we had some great food with and amazing water slide! It was a fun, worshipful family celebration. While I would enjoy talking about those with you, that is not the part of Sunday I would like to talk to you about.

Matthew King, who is not a member or an attendee of Living Faith, came into our worship service, not to worship or celebrate the work of God in the lives of the four people being baptized, but to be disruptive. He called all the attention to himself and shouted a message about the return of Jesus and then fled. He had a driver waiting for him outside so that he could flee the scene and drive to another church and repeat the same disruptive message. The police are aware of at least nine other incidents since 2015 where Matthew and some other men have acted out their aggressive shouting of a Biblical message.

Our security team spotted him and moved toward him as he yelled in the sanctuary and then ran through our lobby and cafe and out to the car that was waiting for him. I am thankful for our children's ministry team, who responded well by following protocol for Safe Place and our security team who also served our church community by identifying the man, ensuring that he left the premises and following up with the local police.

Even though his message was Biblical, Jesus will return, his chosen means of communicating that message distorts and dilutes the truth. It does not result in the bride of Christ being prepared for His return but rather confusion, fear, and a dishonoring of what the Spirit of God was doing in our worship service. That is not the work of the Holy Spirit. This is what the New Testament calls a false prophet (2 Peter 2:1, 1 John 4:1). His choice to disrupt our service was not an act of worship of God but rather it was self focused. It pulled all of our attention off of the beauty of the steps of faith happening through the baptism and onto himself. His actions were not designed to glorify God but himself. 

As followers of Jesus, one thing that we are constantly asking is, "What is God doing? What is God up to in this situation?” I want to attempt to answer that first by saying there is no reason for us to panic over what happened. There is no reason to respond in fear or to sensationalize the event. What God is doing is what He always does: He is sovereignly and lovingly inviting us to faith (1 Peter 1:6,7). I want to tell you that this incident has the opportunity to increase our faith in at least three ways:

1. Who we are: Let it remind us that we are what Peter calls “sojourners and exiles” on the earth. That means this is not our home, and we live in a world that is broken, where people act selfishly and foolishly in a way that is not honoring to God but self, glorifying and disruptive to the worship God. 

2. Where is our hope: Being “sojourners and exiles” also means the we have home that we are looking forward to, and it is the builder and architect of that home who leads us and protects us now. Psalm 20:7 reminds us to not put our trust in anything less than God: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." I am thankful for our security team and their diligence and service, but we do not put our hope in ourselves or other men but rather in the One who watches over us. 

3. What is our purpose: As we remember who we are as sojourners and aliens and that this is not our home, we come to the realization that the Father has planted us here for a reason. Jesus said in Matthew 10, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” So let us be wise and have security and Safe Place protocol, but let us rally around why we are here as sojourners and aliens.  Matthew 10 said that we are “sent out.” We are here not just waiting for heaven but to live out our days pursuing the life changing presence of Jesus. We are here to impact South Jersey one precious life at a time.

Let us continue to pursue our Father together, let's strengthen our commitment to pursuing Jesus, and loving South Jersey, and let us do that with both wisdom (like Safe Place policy and security teams) and extravagant love (missional movement into our community and environments like Celebrate Recovery). The truth that has been at the foundation of creation and the fall is that what the enemy intends for evil, God intends for good. 

--Pastor Greg

It’s Time For a New School Year!

It’s time for a new school year!

As we move into all that September signifies and entails, I offer two articles, one written by my husband, and one preached by John Piper, to spark thoughts for families starting up their school year routines again. 

http://www.somuchhope.com/parenting/2018/8/28/new-school-year-6-ideas-for-getting-my-family-ready

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-sends-you-back-to-school?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedpress.me&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dg-articles

May each of us that are walking this path have the energy and courage to meet our children wherever we’ve chosen to send them or keep them this year. May we find the face of Jesus right in the middle of our routines. 

--Sarah Howard