Month: March 2020

by Pastor Joe Pullen

During this time away from friends and (for many of us) our workplace, God has given us unique opportunities that I hope we all embrace, because such opportunity may not come around again in our lifetime. Specifically, He’s given us the opportunity to slow down and be with Him and those He’s given us.
In my life, perhaps yours too, slowing down comes with feelings of laziness; it almost feels wrong. I usually feel guilty whenever I lessen my pace. For too much of my life, I found my value in what I did, my job title or rank in the military, and the badge of working longer hours than most. I did it to cover my insecurities and the trauma of my past. My reward? Disconnection from God and others, mild depression, difficulty relaxing, and chronic insomnia. It’s not a lifestyle I’d recommend, and God has so much better for us.

In my training to become a counselor, I studied anxiety extensively. One of the manifestations of anxiety, especially in men, is speeding up – doing more, going faster, and trying to be on top of everything to gain an artificial sense of control. This is a natural, but not always beneficial, response to trauma – to try to protect ourselves from the uncertain by exerting control over all that we can. It seems to work temporarily, but eventually the body pays the bill through physical pain, emotional irritability, or difficulties with restlessness, sleep, appetite, guilt, or fluctuating energy levels. God so wants us to avoid this cycle of speeding up, feeling in control, crashing, and then depression when we realize we’re not in control of anything.

When Pastor Ben Korinek was interviewing for his current teaching pastor role at CTR, he was asked to lead the CTR staff in a devotional. He taught us on the scripture below, and it so impacted me that I journaled for weeks about everything that God showed me through that one verse about my busy life, and where I found my security:

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
In quietness and trust is your strength,
But you would have none of it.”

ISAIAH 30:15, NIV

I love that God refers to Himself as the Sovereign Lord here. The sovereign is the one from whom all other power and authority is derived. God is reminding us that every created being gets their ability to exist and function from Him. Without Him, nothing exists or continues to function. And none of us can add to His sovereign control over the world or our lives. Anytime we speed up or add more to our plate, attempting to reshape our world the way we want it, we forget that it is God who has already provided all that we need.

Instead, God is reminding us that our salvation was obtained through repentance of sin and resting in the finished work of the cross where Christ gave forgiveness. But that isn’t the only saving work of the cross. Through the cross we are saved from striving to earn favor with Him or to earn good standing among other men. Through the cross we can rest, knowing that our present, future, and eternity are secure.

Jonathan Edwards said, “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin which made it necessary.” God is calling us to rest in that truth – to slow down and let it permeate how we see ourselves and the world around us. God is sovereign and He has given us all that we need for life and godliness. Let’s just accept that more deeply and watch as He does the rest.

God creates a quiet heart within us when we slow down, surrender control, and trust in His loving provision. We become stronger and more resilient when we know the all-powerful Sovereign is in full control, and it’s so much better than what our striving gets us.

To what degree do you find yourself speeding up these days? Wouldn’t our lives be much richer if we lived them at a more manageable pace, with less striving, with less worry and fear? Would you be willing to share in the comments what a step of repentance, rest, quietness or trust looks like for you?
Let’s keep growing together and showing the world around us how believers endure times of apparent uncertainty.

Blessings,
Pastor Joe

by Pastor Joe Pullen

God has blessed the world with brilliant people who understand how diseases spread and can be contained. We can all recite by heart the disease prevention protocols they’ve taught us lately – wash your hands thoroughly, cough and sneeze into your elbow, and avoid touching your face. We’re also becoming fluent at new phrases that weren’t in our vocabulary just a few weeks ago, like social distancing and the creepier one, virus shedding.

Physicians have passed these procedures along and taught us this vocabulary to help our country limit the spread of coronavirus, but have you ever wondered what protocols God has in place for times like these? What’s the spiritual equivalent of washing your hands? A passage in 2 Chronicles lays it out for us:

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among My people, if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 CHRONICLES 7:13-14, NIV

Now I’m not pretending to know that coronavirus was sent by God, but I am certain that our land needs healing. I also know our anxieties can make us focus excessively on disease prevention or trick us into denying its reality – or our addictions tempt us to just escape the whole thing. None of these coping mechanisms provide any curative impact, but we freely engage in them nonetheless.

The Lord says in this passage that our responses should include turning to Him and turning away from sin. God calls us in these times to pause and think about what’s happening. He wants us to humble ourselves by surrendering our pride and acknowledging our need for Him. Having enough food and toilet paper won’t stop a pandemic. Having a huge emergency savings account won’t protect me from long-term harm, and it’s foolish when I think that if my pantry is full, I’m safe from the microscopic enemy that stalks us. Humility is kneeling before the Lord in a desperate posture and saying, “God, I am completely dependent on You to protect me and my family. Unless You stop the spread and heal the sick, no one is safe. This is a problem too large for people to solve and Your power is the only solution. I recognize that I need to be right with you – show me me my sin and help me turn from it.” That’s humility and seeking His face. When was the last time you had a kneeling conversation with God like that? It’s time.

He also calls us to turn from wicked ways. That brings us back to humility too. It’s fairly easy for me to tell someone that I made a mistake or I harmed them. It’s a whole different thing to kneel before God and say, “God, I have wickedness in me that I need You to help me turn away from.”

With this time at home and limited opportunities to leave the house, would you be willing to ask God to reveal your wickedness and agree to turn away from it with His help? Maybe it’s time to admit a secret addiction, or time to get your emotions under control. Maybe your isolation at home is exposing the cracks in your marriage and it’s time to get counseling. Maybe it’s time to surrender your entrenched position towards a family member and time to reach out and say “Let’s heal this.” Whatever it is, God stands ready to help you, and your pastors stand ready to guide you through it.

What if God’s people at Christ The Rock led the way in this? What if ,when we emerge from isolation, we return with nothing hindering our relationships with God and others? What if our humility before God leads us to be humble enough to love our neighbor and offer love to those we’ve never bothered to get to know? What if? The promise of our faithful God is that, when we follow His protocols to spiritually distance ourselves from sin and shed the evil within us, that He will forgive us and heal our land. God, make it so.

by Pastor Joe Pullen

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

COLOSSIANS 3:12-17, NIV

Crisis has a way of helping us quickly decide what’s most important in life. Last summer, our friends came over to grill and hang out. Everyone was just relaxing outside watching me grill burgers, when all of a sudden, a grease fire started that quickly engulfed the whole grill. It was pretty embarrassing to have our friends and family watching as two-foot tall flames leapt off the burgers I was making for them. I was calm but afraid the fire might leap to our siding and melt the side of our house. My immediate need was for baking soda and fast. Suddenly I didn’t care about looking cool, retirement, or my long to-do list. The crisis of the moment helped me quickly name what was most important.

When Paul wrote the above passage, he was imprisoned. He was isolated, like many of us are right now. God used Paul’s crisis to name what those in the churches he oversaw needed most – to know the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ, no matter their circumstances.

Paul reminds us, that even in crisis, we are God’s chosen people who are dearly loved. God hasn’t forgotten you or ceased to love the world. Quite the opposite, because God says we are holy, which means we are set apart for a divine purpose. God allows His people to be in crisis with everyone else so the world can see how a person that is secure in Christ faces it differently. He wants the world to see how a believer is generous when others hoard, how a believer prays when others panic, how we reach out when others withdraw. This is being the light to the world that Jesus referenced in Matthew 5:14-16. It’s not easy to do, though, when we’re being squeezed by what’s happening around us. So how do we display this light?

Paul tells us to clothe ourselves, to put these things over our human nature: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience — all traits that tend to be most lacking when people are afraid or just trying to survive. He’s telling us to drape these character traits over what we might be tempted to do without God’s prompting. He tells us to exhibit His character with others by bearing with people and quickly forgiving with the same extravagant mercy Christ uses when He forgives us.

As we face uncertainty, concern for loved ones, and even fear, the instruction from God through Paul is to let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. Will you allow the peace of Christ to rule your heart? We do that by choosing to filter what we see and hear through the lens of Christ’s supremacy and sufficiency. Paul tells us to do this by being thankful. In practice, that looks like recognizing that what’s happening in the world is under the control of a merciful and loving God who has a divine purpose behind what He allows to occur.

I am thankful that no matter what happens to my body, my soul is destined for an eternity in the presence of Jesus, whom I love. I’m thankful that so many of you in our church are donating food, babysitting kids of healthcare workers, dropping off meals, checking on senior citizens, and much more. We can be thankful that spiritual conversations are happening with extended family members, co-workers, and friends. We can be thankful that even when we can’t gather as a church in the building, the Coronavirus pandemic has launched all of us to the frontlines to be the church.

During this time, it’s so tempting to allow fear, anxiety and escapism to rule in our hearts, instead of the peace Jesus offers. Instead, try taking time to intentionally be thankful. Be detailed and thorough. If we make intentional thankfulness a daily practice, we will see time and again that Christ is faithful, and His faithfulness gives us peace.

by Pastor Joe Pullen

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

JAMES 1:2-4, NIV

Are you joyful today? You may be facing fear or anxiety, reduced income from being returned home, wondering about friends and family scattered around the country, or just counting the rolls of toilet paper you have. I admit that joy isn’t the first emotion I’m experiencing when I check the news or look for the latest update on what’s happening around the world. But this Scripture reminds me that God intends to develop me through this crisis we are facing together.

Regarding the trial we’re facing, we are first instructed “to consider it pure joy”. God is asking us to choose to use our thoughts to look at what’s happening differently than the rest of the world sees it. He’s not asking us to be Pollyannaish or ignore reality, rather He’s asking us to see reality through a different lens – the lens of joy. The Chinese word for crisis is a combination of two characters – “danger” and “opportunity”. As we look at the disease outbreak around us, we have the choice to use our mental energy to focus on opportunity as much as we focus on the danger. I can focus on the personal danger I face, whether my family is prepared, or will I still have a job when this is all over. Or I can use the same mind to focus on the opportunity that God is giving me – time with my children who are growing up way too fast, time with my wife that allows us to grow even more in love, and time to lean into God in ways I’ve never needed to until now.

We can focus on the things we can’t do or the things we get to do; that we might get sick or that we’re healthy right now; that the future is uncertain or that a believer’s future in Christ is unbreakably sealed. The choice to count it all joy is ours.

When we begin to look at situations the way God sees them – that they are full of His presence, and in His presence is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11) – then our anxieties lessen, our resilience increases, and fear gets replaced with gratitude and joy. Now that’s the kind of mental stamina needed to endure – that’s perseverance.

Why is perseverance so important to James? The entire book of James focuses on putting our faith into action. James conveys to us that the testing of our faith produces perseverance, and perseverance makes us mature and complete, lacking nothing. When we become mature as believers and secure in our identity in Christ, we no longer focus on ourselves — because we will have grown to a point where we look beyond ourselves, put our faith into action, and love others through the same trials we’re facing . . . with the love of Christ compelling us forward.

Will you, as James put it, “let perseverance finish its work”? Will you look at your personal situation through the lens of joy, and put your faith into practice in the weeks ahead? Will you look beyond yourself and meet the needs of others around you and experience joy as you do?

I’m in it with you. In the days ahead, I and other pastors, staff members and volunteer leaders will post devotions three days each week to help us all mature as we go through this time together. I encourage you to share this if you find it helpful, and I’d love to engage with you in the comment section about how God uses His Word in your life. Let’s choose to tell the stories of how God is using you to meet the needs and speak to the anxieties of the world around us as we bring His joy to them.

Blessings,
Pastor Joe

Last week, two volunteers from The Salvation Army drove up to CTR’s West Doors in a truck. When they walked in and saw boxes and boxes of hygiene donations awaiting delivery, they were in awe. They exclaimed, “We can’t believe this!” “This is just awesome!” What a joy to see the surprise on their faces — and to know that our local homeless shelters and crisis agencies will have a year’s worth of shampoo, diapers, soap, cleaning supplies, and more to care for the people they serve!

Later, one of the drivers called back and left a voicemail, thanking all of you profusely, saying that he knew it took a lot of people to create such a generous amount of donations. He also said that when our staff member Julie showed him the donations, he thought to himself, “This has got to be a joke.” He simply couldn’t believe one organization would give so much. Thank you, Christ The Rock — this is the church loving our community in Jesus’ name!

Here are a few stories from last year’s recipients:

He had nothing. We were able to give him clothing, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, shaving cream, razor and a hot lunch. He wanted to be prepared for job searching the next day. He was so happy, but most of all thankful – the tears in his eyes said it all…along with his very emotional “thank you.” – Karen V., The Salvation Army

13-year-old Emma* told me that this was the first time she’d ever owned a stick of deodorant or had tampons that she hadn’t had to steal. She repeatedly thanked me, saying that the supplies meant more to her than I could ever know. – Jillian M., AVAIL Inc. (*Name changed to preserve her privacy)

In tears, the young mother told me that she was afraid of losing her job, and possibly her apartment, if she couldn’t find diapers for her son. After rent, gas, and food, there was no money left for diapers. Day care and would not accept her son without a diaper supply, and she’d have to skip work to care for him. She’d hoped to use the diaper bank, but the hours conflicted with her work schedule. She had come out of a homeless shelter and she didn’t want to go back. Thankfully, I was able to offer her a package of diapers we’d received through The Family’s “Help for the Homeless” drive. Months later, she is still successfully maintaining her own home even though her time is our program is over. Thank you for your help! – Amy L., ADVOCAP