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Revelation

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By Brian Waple

Normally, I try to write these articles in a way that is encouraging to others.  My desire in what I write is to take the challenges we face as a body…challenges that seem to hijack our focus away from God and redirect that focus back towards God and the loving grace and mercy He has for His people and this church.  During normal times I feel I can write with a clear sense of God’s purpose, and this has helped me find a peace, which I trust brings peace to the reader as well.

But as we all know these are not normal times.  There are a lot of hard, unprecedented things going on right now and I have a difficult time seeing where God is working in the midst of it all.  As a believer, I know that God is in control of all things, but it’s become difficult for me to understand exactly where He is in the day to day.  It’s sad to see what these events are doing to our country.  And as an Elder, it’s become increasingly disheartening to see what these events have done to our Elim community.  As things have unfolded, I fear we are becoming more and more divided…polarized.  And this polarization is not so much a result of the events of the day (it’s expected that we would all have our individual views about what’s happening in this country and how we should respond), but in how we use our views to criticize, judge and marginalize others. 

In the midst of all these polarizing views and divisive stands, I have been asking, “God, what are you doing?  What are you revealing to me, to your church?”  I wonder if, during this time of uncertainty, God could be using these situations to reveal who I am and where my heart, and the hearts of His Body the church, truly are.  I don’t think this is a question of salvation, but more about how I am living life as a follower of Jesus.  Is it pretty?  Not always.  If I’m courageous enough to look, God is showing me more and more how judgemental I can really be.  As long as I have a simpatico relationship with someone, it’s pretty easy to hear them.  But, if I sense resistence or criticism or a difference in what I believe, I attribute something wrong with them and it takes a lot more energy and willingness to be open to hearing them and seeing any truth to what they have to say.  This type of judgement is detrimental individually and as a community, and the judgement we are warned against in Matthew, for as we read, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.” (Matthew 7:1, NLT)

Therefore, my desire is to be less judgemental.  But, being less judgemental and more open to others takes effort and is not something that feels natural to me.  Plus, as a person who likes control, this is all very conflicting.  How can I do it?  Well, there’s the rub…something else He is revealing to me is that I can’t change in my own power.  As Paul says, “I have discovered this principle of life – that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.” (Romans 7:21, NLT)  As hard as I may try this is largely a transformation of the heart, not the mind.  In the end, I realize I can only be obedient by placing all of this before Him in prayer.

As I said in the beginning these are not normal times, and during this period it’s hard to see where God is working.  But, perhaps we need to shift our focus.  I heard a line from a pastor recently that really impressed me: “God is revealed in the conflicted moments, not just in the resolution.”  We find ourselves living in many conflicted moments.  What is being revealed there for you?

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One in the Spirit

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By Jeff Foerster

Cross, Jesus, Christ, Sky, Faith, Jesus Christ

In the beginning, the Deceiver had a plan.  His target was God, but his mark was man.

God created the world.  God created Adam and Eve; in His own image He created them.  Satan’s fall from heaven landed him upon the back of man.  His hatred for God gave him fuel for the fire he unleashed upon mankind.  His attack upon image-bearing humanity is ultimately an attack upon God himself.  Adam and Eve were a means to an end.

The Accuser began by offering and fostering doubt.  He sowed seeds of distrust of God in the hearts of Adam and Eve.  He distracted them, exploiting their vulnerability and shifting their focus from God.

Doubt led to distraction, distraction led to division.  Once fellowship with the Almighty was broken God’s beloved image-bearers followed not the lead of their faithful Creator and Father, but of the one who came to kill and destroy.  The man blamed the woman (and by extension, God) and the woman blamed the serpent.  Fingers were pointed and blame was placed. They chose division over unity.  They chose accusation over responsibility.

Of course they did.  They were deceived, they were distracted, and they lost focus.  We are not so dissimilar from our original ancestors.  We have a tendency to wander from our Creator, become distracted, and seek to place blame.  The result of this will always be division.

Yet hope remains!  The finished work of Jesus Christ has delivered us from bondage to doubt, distraction, and division.

If we experience doubt, distraction, or division, know that these are tactics of the evil one.  And he has been defeated by the blood of the Lamb, our Savior, Jesus Christ!  We need not give in to these difficulties but recognize them for what they are and work to preserve the unity of all believers by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” –Galatians 3:27-28

Unity comes by prayer, it comes by seeking the good of others, and it comes by grounding ourselves in the love of our Father, and dependence upon Him in all things and at all times.  To do so is to live a life perpetually fixing our focus upon Jesus, our one true Hope!

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A Call to the Church Body of Elim

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By Jason Comerford

Most of us don’t know what it’s like to live in constant fear.

To be sure, we have our moments and our challenges. Perhaps we are worried about our job and possible layoffs. How are we going to pay off that credit card? Or maybe we had a concerning physical exam with the doctor. These are legitimate trials.

But as we watch the protests unfolding in hundreds of cities across the world, it’s becoming clearer that our black brothers and sisters are experiencing our country in a way that white people generally aren’t.

This past year, I’ve been hearing many stories from black friends, both within the Church and without. Over and over, the same theme rises to the surface: helplessness in the face of abuse by authority.

It’s the humiliation of being asked, in your own neighborhood, if you belong there. The chill of anxiety that comes with a traffic stop, wondering if you’ll be just one more statistic. The dismay that comes from knowing that the first time you give your son “the talk,” the topic won’t be “the birds and the bees,” but instead, “how to respectfully respond to the police when they stop you on the street.” The sickening reality of recognizing which of your mixed-race children will “pass for white.”

These are not isolated stories. This is a daily reality for at least 40 million black men and women living in the United States. And recently the Elder Board has been wrestling with the recognition of this painful reality.

Recognizing Grief

Friends of Elim, one of the things we need to recognize is that central to these protests is the voice of grief. This is what it looks like when the struggle of multiple lifetimes of grief and oppression overflow with little hope for justice.

I’m saddened that our response in the American white Church has long been to critique the legitimacy of protesters and their methods, rather than to feel the incalculable grief and pain of our black brothers and sisters.

The Church in America has arrived at a moment of reckoning. Martin Luther King Jr., whom we love to uphold as a beloved civil rights leader, famously lamented that one of his biggest obstacles was not violent bigots such as the KKK, but silent white churches. I fear that this hasn’t changed much in the last 60 years.

Fortunately, even now, there’s still a way forward in all of this.

How Do We Respond?

We have a lot to discuss in the coming months and years. We need to take a hard look at systemic racism—the racism running deep within and shaping our society. It’s outside most of our daily experiences, and so it’s a blind spot for us. We’ll need to take a hard look at our own history at Elim and examine if we’ve played a role in it. If so, we’re going to have to call it sin and repent.

And then we must find a way to act.

The call to the Church is to be salt and light in our world, and we’ve taken up that call with issues such as human trafficking and abortion. We’ve not only preached against these things, but also taken up activist roles to put a stop to these evils. Along with preaching to the heart, wherein lies the ultimate root of these problems, we have sought to change laws, addressing systemic problems with systemic responses.

To fail to do likewise when it comes to the travesty of racism would be an obvious hypocrisy.  We cannot merely “preach the Gospel” at the problem and then fail to pursue actual justice. God has clearly told His people how he feels about religious pretense that fails to do any actual good.

So, here’s where this starts for us.

Education

The first step is education. This is not onlyseeking an understanding of the facts, important as that is, but also listening to the stories of our black brothers and sisters and willingly immersing ourselves in their perspective, entering into their pain. Before we can even begin to discuss heavy and important topics such as systemic racism and the proper response of the Church, we must learn how to listen and weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15).

Let me be clear: this is no small thing we’re being called to. The human heart wants to discount those who are different from us, to explain away their experiences in order to preserve our comfortable and unchallenged view of the world—especially when it involves the history of our own compromise and guilt in the American Church. To attempt to educate ourselves will be an act of spiritual warfare. We will be opposed.

Nevertheless, we must do this.

If we wish to serve our Lord Jesus Christ and be a light to the world around us, then we cannot ignore this calling; if we do, we’ll continue to watch as Christianity in this country slides into something utterly irrelevant to our society.

What’s Next for Elim?

I call upon Elim and its leadership to seek out black voices, read black books, and hear black stories. I’d like to see us hold after-church conversations discussing what we’ve learned, bringing in speakers as we think this through. We can seek recommendations for materials that can help with all this—books, podcasts, and more. We could really make this a part of the life of our church.

Long term, we could see Elim become so reflective of the unity and diversity of Christ that we begin to see a greater diversity in our membership and qualified leadership. The people of God are helped, not hurt, by different perspectives and views within the Body.

Elim: Let’s pray and think seriously about this. Education and understanding are merely a first step toward the more important goal of action. Not everything has to happen right now, but we risk rejecting our calling entirely by pushing off the call of justice to a more “convenient” time. Finding our next pastor is very important, but we do not get to put off the more weighty matters of the law until then.

I believe God has laid this at our feet during such a trying time not to make things harder, but because it is the right time for us to embrace it. Our God is a God who works justice and mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation, love and resurrection. These things really are possible in our world.

What a testimony to His greatness would it be to see such wonderful things worked in our day and in our country?

“With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

                                                                                    Micah 6:6-8

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Our Hope

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By Kendrick & Janna Gilli

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail. Isaiah 51:6

Fear is a crippling thing. It can wreck our lives, destroy our minds and bodies, and take our focus off the one thing that can help us: our hope in the Lord.

Lately we have had a lot to worry about. Satan has provided us with an abundance of reasons: COVID, riots, corrupt politicians, failing businesses, illness, death, loss, our economy, jobs … the list goes on and on. And if we let ourselves focus on our world and the downward turn it has taken, well, things could look very bleak indeed. In fact, depression and suicide are on the rise. People are focusing on their circumstances and they are forgetting what is desperately important.

Elim, our world IS going to get worse; the Bible is very clear on that. However, the Bible is also very clear on what WILL last and that is our salvation, our heavenly home, and God’s plan for us. No matter how bleak things seem or how much Satan seems to have taken hold, God is on His throne and has won the war.

This week God sent me a special reminder of this. We are visiting the Sharpes in Colorado and they took us on a spectacular hike in the mountains. It was breathtaking, and as we reached the top, I stopped for a breath on a boulder, looking out over the expanse of mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and lakes. My heart was filled with wonder and joy at such amazing creation and God’s love.

Suddenly and without warning, a huge, violent wind began blowing, and there were dark clouds where seconds before was blue sky. It began thundering ominously and I knew that we better get off that mountain. In that moment, God spoke to me and said, “See my power! I am the God that calms a storm in an instant. I am the God that shakes the mountains. I am God and I am in control!” An awe of my God took my breath away, and I had tears running down my cheeks even as the rain began to pelt me while I hurried down the trail.

Later, after we were safely back in the car, I began to contemplate what God had spoken to me. I felt that God wanted me to share this message of hope with Elim.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4: 29-32

Let’s focus not upon our circumstances, but upon our hope in Christ. Our identity is not our jobs, our economy, or our political affiliations. Our identity is in Christ and our citizenship is in heaven. We need to conduct ourselves as daughters and sons of the King, loving each other well with our words and deeds. During these days of turmoil we need to stand together, setting aside our political views and differences. We need to love and encourage each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. When we start focusing our eyes on the battle around us and are filled with fear, let’s remind each other of our future and that God is on His throne through it all. Let’s stay focused on the real mission at hand: to glorify God by helping people know Christ personally, follow Him completely, and make him known throughout Puyallup and the world.

5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6

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My Story Isn’t Over Yet

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By Dan Amos

A couple of weeks ago, I realized my children knew very little of my history before them. And when Fran and I told our stories of salvation at community group, she said we need to tell them to our sons. So, on Father’s Day, after one son gave thanks for the food, we dished up and headed outside to eat. I got to go first and got started eating before everyone else came out. I had a plan. I now had a captive audience and I declared executive privilege on Father’s Day. While they continued eating, I told my story.

It wasn’t the quick three minutes Pastor Steve suggested, because even the slower eaters were done before me. I started by telling about my parents. My mom was involved in an evangelical church when she was a teenager and accepted Jesus then. She then introduced her mother to Jesus, but I don’t know about how my grandfather became a Christian. I should have asked my grandma when she was telling me her story shortly before she died. 

My dad was raised in a Catholic family, but I didn’t get the impression it was meaningful. He lived with his dad, who I think owned a bar, and his aunt who raised him after his mother died when he was around 10. But I only knew him as a Christian growing up. By the time I was born, my parents were attending a Nazarene church in Southern California, where my dad was stationed. The only birth announcement I have is a clipping from the church bulletin that gives a couple of options for my name, neither of which ended up on the birth certificate.

I grew up knowing about Jesus and the need to submit my life to him. I can’t say when this happened, but I was probably seven or eight. I heard a lot about Hell and the reality of going there. I learned of God and creation, sin and redemption. This shaped the worldview through which I see things today. It also meant that I was and am aware of my sin and my constant failing, but when I confess my sin, God is forgiving, graceful, and merciful.

I have seen God work in my life through provision, assignments, and circumstances, but one of the most enduring and powerful ways was in providing me a partner for life in Fran. She is my constant support and gentle challenger to examine my choices and life.

I am thankful that I did not see prejudice from my parents. Until I was nine, we lived in Navy communities that were integrated, and my friends had a variety of skin colors. But even though we played together, I did not know their stories. I did not know their struggles or the racism that they had to deal with.

I am learning more about racism and my heart is broken over it. I want my world to change and it starts with listening to the real problem. We have had many discussions at work, and I hope they never stop. We are in a difficult time because passions are high, reactions vary, and criticism abounds. I pray that we conquer this sin and extend grace to each other through it all.

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