Turning on the Lights! – Thursday, January 16, 2025. From the Churchtown Church of God. Our identity in Christ and Christ alone. Psalm 118.
Good Morning, Good Morning my brothers and my sisters! It is Thursday January 16, 2025 and today we talk about what it means to have our identity in Christ and Christ alone.
I share a bit of personal testimony concerning me and the church and then dig into Psalm 118 which speaks of the authority of God and our calling to be faithful to it.
I pray that maybe something I say as I ramble touches a nerve and makes you think = maybe even makes you take another look in the mirror at who YOU are as an image-bearer of the Most High.
may God bless you and keep you and, as always, we will see you in church!
This is a video recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Thursday, January 16, 2025. Watch here via the YouTube link!
This is an audio recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Thursday, January 16, 2025. Listen here or through your favorite podcast app!
This is a transcript from the audio of this episode of Turning on the Lights! – Thursday, January 16, 2025
Hey, good morning, good morning, my brothers and my sisters. We are here at the Church Town Church of God. You are looking live. It’s not as beautiful as it was the other morning because the sun is not shining. There’s a little light in the background. There’s a little light in the foreground. We are just getting here. I’ll tell you the story. It’s not a big secret. Got a call from my daughter-in-law this morning. She has the flu. Could I run over and put my granddaughter, Mackenzie, on the bus at 8.25? So I did because you don’t say no. So that’s why I’m late. Everybody’s okay except Alyssa. She needed to know if I could put Mackenzie on the bus. So it was nice to see Mackenzie this morning. Have a little chat. She’s got a little spelling test going on today. Let me get my coat and my hat off too because I got a lot. Like I said, I just walked in off the cold street. We’ll get down to business here. We’ll talk a little bit about this concept of a cornerstone and we’re going to talk about the prophecy of it. There’s the spinning fan. Are you ready? Good morning, Sandy. Here we go. Oh my goodness gracious. So there we are. Thursday morning. It promises to be a busy day. Got a big appointment in the afternoon. So I’ll get my work done this morning. The Church Town Weekly should come out. The podcast should come out. The YouTube should come out. And I should be prepared for this Sunday. And I’m also writing for the council meeting. And all kinds of things to do as a small church pastor. I love it. I love it. Well, most of the time. I do really well with this teaching and preaching. And if you want to say spiritual leadership, I said once, maybe a year ago, I started writing about my own journey. And I’ve been very transparent in my own journey. And I’m much more adept at spiritual leadership than I am at pastoral leadership. And there is a difference. And pastoral leadership is the intimate emotional involvement, so to speak. It is the holding of hands and guiding and sort of, you know, it’s different. Now there’s elements of both in each. But spiritual leadership is where I take scripture. I pray through scripture. I feel as though I am submitted to God’s Holy Spirit. And I try to teach and lead spiritually that people may grow in their knowledge of Jesus Christ and thus grow in their knowledge of themselves. So you see the difference? Good morning. I imagine that it is, well, I got to go way back in time here. Way back in time. Psalm 118 is where we’re going to be today. I turn to Psalm 80. But Psalm 118 is where we’re eventually going to be today. I want to make a couple of commentaries. One is what I’m just talking about. My circle of friends are all small church pastors and they know exactly what I’m talking about. Pastoral leadership and spiritual leadership. And then there’s organizational leadership. And those are, that’s the things like, and it’s all spiritual. Don’t get me wrong. We’re church, not a business. But even the finances and the maintenance and all of those different things. But they’re not, they’re not mutually exclusive yet. They are their own categories, if that makes sense. And certain people have giftings in different categories. And so coming to terms when, when, when we first started out 13 years ago and the church was what it was, I was kind of all things to all people and every, it was, I always described it as like being a church plant. It was like Kelly and I planted a church and it was very pastor centric. Nearly everything flowed through pastor. Even when we started to develop council, the first council members were appointed, were chosen. You know, would you please serve that sort of thing? No constitution to speak of, no policy, no order structure, foundation, et cetera. We began sort of at the beginning, if you will. And we have really dedicated ourselves to growing since then, not growing like praise God, there’s a thousand people here, but growing from the inside out, staying committed to scripture and remaining faithful. Because as I have said a thousand times, I think one of the greatest benefits I’ve had as a pastor is not being well churched. I didn’t know all the churchy stuff. I didn’t know all the churchy language. I didn’t know all the things I was supposed to do. So I just had a decent theological education and I had the Bible. And so there we go. Good morning, Daniel. And so that’s, it’s been, I reflect back because we’re coming up on 13 years now. Actually, I guess we hit 13 years at the beginning of this year and I reflect back on the journey which has been a spiritual journey leading to where we are today and who knows where we’re going tomorrow. But I know that those who remain faithful to the end will be saved. I just read that in Mark this morning. And Jesus Christ, that’s his promise. In the Church Town Weekly, you will read today that if we do what we’re called to do and we trust that God will do what he promises to do, it works out an awful lot better for us, for the church, for his creation. But boy, we like to meddle, don’t we? I’m also reading in Genesis as I’m, you know, and I just, this morning it hit me how much like David, Abraham was. I mean, these guys just can’t get out of their own way. Sometimes women, right? And sometimes the male, men help and sometimes women help. All of that is true. But when I just look at David and Abraham, these guys can’t get out of their own way. Throughout scripture, we see people who can’t get out of their own way. Because of the Lord, I just read of the magnificent covenant that the Lord made with Abraham. You remember when he cuts the animals down the middle? Well, that’s a servant-master covenant. And the servant is supposed to walk through the cut animals saying that if I break my part of the covenant to you, oh my master, I sacrifice my life to you. But that’s not what happened, is it? Just like Adam, God put Abraham, Abram into a deep sleep and God walked through the animals saying I give myself to you as the way to come back to me. I will not break my covenant. It’s just powerful stuff, powerful stuff. We learn these things and like I said, it lends me to a sense of, okay, I look back at 13 years and I know all the places where I messed up, but there’s the hope, right? Where’s your heart? Where’s your heart? And this goes for every life that is out there. When you mess up, is it premeditated? Like I’m going to do this and then I’ll ask for forgiveness later. That’s not good. When you mess up, are you convicted of your sin? Do you realize that your emotions got the most best of you and you behave that certain way? And do you turn and repent? Do you want to be that way for the rest of your life? No, right? If the answer is no and you feel genuine remorse, then you’re on the right track. And so again, I read through these things and I know that those who stay faithful to the end will be saved. Morning. And that’s what I bank on because, you know, as many Christians are up to say, I mess up every day, right? But those who remain faithful to the end will be saved, right? And that in a microcosm is where we’ve had so many ups and downs. So many times that I felt spiritually, emotionally, physically, just like quitting, going back to teaching, like even though you had, I had a very strong calling and a very dramatic experience, much like you see individuals in scripture and then all of a sudden it doesn’t matter. I had a very strong calling and a very dramatic experience in that even as I reflect upon that, I felt like quitting and going back to something more stable, more steady, more money, more of everything that the secular world offers. But we have stayed the course together. There are times and Kelly, myself, but together, together we make one and where I was weak, she was strong and vice versa. And we have marched on now for 13 years. So there you are. And I’m reflecting upon these things. If I make a little commentary, there’s a little small church pastor commentary. I don’t think my brother Dale or Mark or Barbara or April would say much different than what I did. Small church pastor embedded in a town, in an area, in a region, rural or urban or what have you, you’re there for a reason. You’re there for a reason. And that’s one of the things I see when you have urban areas, even places like Carlisle, all of the big churches moved out of Carlisle for the most part. And they want to go to the suburbs where the money is. Well, you were planted in the middle of this town and giving up on that. I hope that it was the Lord’s will. I hope that they were submitted, but everybody wants to go out to the suburbs where the money is, right? Where all the people in the half million dollar McMansions are going to come to church to be entertained and bring their kids so that they can be watched and then pay for everything. I don’t know. The love of money is the root of all evil. This is what gets me. I’m rambling now. How about this for a Thursday morning behind the scenes? It’s what always gets me every year when we look at Christmas Eve services and you can always tell how good the economy is because you can see churches and how many Christmas Eve services they have. Because I know as I’ve had these discussions quite literally face to face with people, pastors who say Christmas Eve is responsible for this percentage of our yearly income. We love Christmas Eve. Why? Because we celebrate the incarnation of the risen Lord. No. We’re looking at four services and we can pass the plate at each service. I can’t, and in my mind, and this is not a holier than thou type of a thing, but I can’t imagine like charging for church to the point where there are times when me or council has to share with the congregation, okay, these actually are our needs. Like this is what’s happening now. It’s heating oil season. We just dropped like $1,800 on heating oil last week. That’s a real thing and that is way better than it used to be, right? It used to be twice a month. Now with all of the improvements, it’s like every five weeks, six weeks, but that’s a real thing. That’s a real bill that smacks you in the face and we, so we’ve got to let people know that. Your existence is just an important thing as we, we stood up last week and several people said, this is where I’m going to plant my flag. This is my place. These are my people. This is my church. I want to be here. I want to serve you. Turned around to the congregation and said, I want to serve you. I promise I will. I promise I’ll be here. That’s something, right? That’s something in a person’s life. We can talk about church membership, membership, all of that stuff, but the real crux of when you become a member here is turning around and saying, I promise I’ll be here. That’s the crux of it. Do we, we don’t talk about attendance or money or this or all of that. This is my place. These are my people. I promise I will be here for you. Here’s my covenant. I promise I will be here to make with you. So we talk about those sorts of things and we move forward in God, by God’s grace, we move forward in God’s grace. We move forward, submitted to God’s will. We move forward sometimes at a snail’s pace when you feel as though, what are we doing? And sometimes in a whirlwind when you’re like, what are you doing? But understanding this is where the, like the last three to four years we have grown and I have grown because the Lord has brought so many great people, so many faithful people who have demonstrated the faith that I was lacking and understanding that no, no, no, you pastor are going to stop worrying about the light bill and the heating oil and they’re all we need to focus on this, why we’re here, the spiritual foundation of the church, who is our cornerstone, who is the head of this church. And just like when we said early on, Lord, if you want this church open, you’ll keep it open. You’ll keep it closed, you’ll keep it closed. We sort of rededicated ourselves to that saying, Lord, we’re going to stay faithful to your word and we’re going to move forward in our spiritual growth submitted to your will. If you want this place to thrive, it’ll thrive. If you want it shut down, you’ll shut it down. And we’ve never looked back. So I don’t know why I’m in such a contemplative mood today. I’ll tell you one other thing that social media, you know, I am, I’m still, my generation is probably the last bridge generation. I speak the language of pre social media and I speak the language of social media, right? We I lived my generation, I’m 59, we lived through that when there was no technology. There were no smartphones. There was nothing like social media, anything of that nature. And then you had the advent of these things online, the internet, AOL, right? I think our first computer was an IBM Aptiva. You know, that’s sort of, and we, we have spoken that language since, but still I view social media as a tool, something that can be useful in order to disseminate information, stay in touch, that sort of thing. Josh around, sometimes the messages are serious. Sometimes they’re not serious, whatever. But what I’ve grown to realize as we have dabbled in social media is that there is a brand new generation whose entire identity, whose entire reality, whose entire existence. And this is the way I heard it described. And one of the reasons why I’m turning away from even participating in other pieces of social media, and I’ll explain that in a minute, is when you talk about their existence on this app, my existence is on this app, tip, talk, Instagram, all the other ones. There’s always new ones popping up because I would go on from time to time and I would just troll folks to get their answers and you know, I’d be naughty and you know, Oh, you said sky daddy. My once solid Christian faith is shattered. Things of that nature or something political or you know, our, our governor is so pro-abortion that sort of thing. It’s hard to resist saying, why are you giving money to this when you don’t really care? And many of the responses, like I said, I am trolling for reaction, but many of the responses are so heartfelt and so what do I want to say? The terminology is used about them questioning my existence on this app or them saying about their existence, their reality that is tick tock or is Instagram. And that’s when that started happening. I was like, whoa, like I’m not just messing with people or what have you. I’m not just goofing. This is where these people live and their defense of their position is not just a defense of a political or social position or theological position. It’s the defense of who they are. It’s wild, man. That’s who they are. And so enough of that, enough of that, I’m going to maintain my original idea, move going forward with social media and live social media and just keep it all pointed right there to Christ and stop messing around because like I said, it’s not like you’re sitting in a room messing, joshing around with friends or even acquaintances or cracking a little joke here and there. This is their life and you have really threatened or invaded or said something and it is threatening to their existence. That’s horrible. And I’m not going to do that anymore. I’m going to try to help find folks whose existence may be on an app and help pull them out and let them know that their identity is in Christ and Christ alone, that this technology should continue to be viewed as a tool because it’s a moral. It’s not evil or good. It is a moral. It’s what we do with it. I want to do well with it. So how about that? There’s everything for this morning. Let’s read this because I want to read Psalm 118 to you. Father, thank you for the time that we get together this morning, get to have together this morning with you. Thank you for the reminder to stay focused only on you, regardless if the tool we’re using is simply a Bible that we’re opening and reading or some form of technology and social media. Let us remain focused on you. The name of Jesus Christ. Amen. And this is why we remain focused on him. Thank God because he’s good because his love endures forever. That Israel say, let Israel now say his mercy endures forever. Let the house of Aaron now say his mercy endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord now say his mercy endures forever. In my distress, I prayed to the Lord and the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is for me. So I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? And that’s and that is exactly what I’m talking about. Right. And thank you, Rosie. Says the Lord, my distress in my distress. I pray to the Lord and the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is for me. So I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? My identity is in the Lord. What can mere people do to me? So again, when you start poking and prodding people whose identity is in this, that or the other thing, when you start poking and prodding individuals whose existence is on an app, that’s a completely different thing. When your identity is in Christ, people can’t do that to you. Maybe when you’re new in the faith and still on, as the scriptures say, spiritual milk. And even so, you don’t lose your humanity if you feel humiliated or embarrassed or whatever the case may be. You feel the feelings, but your faith is in Christ and who you are in Christ. And that faith, oh my, getting fired up. And that faith endures forever. That’s the Christian dichotomy, if you will. We are flesh, but we are spirit and maintaining as Paul teaches, capturing our thoughts, capturing our words, capturing our behaviors and allowing them only to honor God is part of our conscious effort in his will to worship him. We make ourselves a living sacrifice. So as we are, our identity is in Christ, those other things can’t shake that because Christ is the rock. When your identity is elsewhere, anything that a human being says to you can rock you because it rocks your fragilely constructed identity. That is all false. Does that make sense? It’s one of the things I realized in my testimony this morning. I’m not going to do that to people. We’re not sitting around in a theological discussion, making cracks. We’re really rocking people and their fragilely constructed identity outside of Christ. So why don’t we, and I, example, be a better example? Yes, the Lord is for me. He will help me. I will look and triumph at those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. Though hostile nations surround me, I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord. Yes, they surrounded and attacked me, but I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord. So the focus here, the central aspect of the author’s identity, the central aspect and point of focus of the author’s worship of faith, and all power and authority comes from the Lord and we are but vessels. Our identity comes from the Lord and we should demonstrate that to those whose identity is not in the Lord. We should demonstrate the completeness, be complete as I am complete. We should demonstrate the holiness, be holy as I am holy. We should not even for fun poke and prod at their wickedness. Now there’s a time and a place to, but I’m talking in general terms. They swarmed around me like bees. They blazed against me like a crackling fire, but I destroyed them all with the authority of the Lord. My enemies did their best to kill me, but the Lord rescued me. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has given me victory. Songs of victory are sung in the campfire of the godly. The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things. The strong right arm of the Lord is raised in triumph. The strong right arm of the Lord has done glorious things. I will not die. Instead I will live to tell what the Lord has done. The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not let me die. I write in the Church Town Weekly this week about the rebukes that I have experienced in my own spiritual journey. As Brian Warner continued to rear his ugly, egotistical, self-centered head, the Lord would say, “If you are going to live your calling, then get over here instead of over there.” He would bring me in line with my marriage. He would bring me in line with my relationship with him. He would bring me in line as a pastor in what my duties and calling are. And sometimes he did it very harshly, but he didn’t do it because he doesn’t like me. Like any good parent, he did it because he loves me. That is a powerful realization. And if you’re willing to accept the discipline, accept the punishment, understanding that it is because God loves you that you have submitted yourself to his vessel and he’s giving you every opportunity to live up to that commitment, then it becomes very much worth it. You are blessed and rewarded, and I’m not talking prosperity gospel. You’re blessed and rewarded in your life spiritually for those behaviors, for that focus. Good morning, Catherine. Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the Lord. These gates lead to the presence of the Lord and the godly enter there. I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory. The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. Christ is the cornerstone. Christ is the cornerstone. It is the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see. This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Please Lord, please save us. Please Lord, please give us success. Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God shining upon us. Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar. You are my God, and I will praise you. You are my God, and I will exalt you. Are you picking up what he’s putting down? The authority of the Lord, the central focus of his life, the central focus of his thoughts, the central focus of his behaviors. The Lord God Almighty, give thanks to the Lord for his, he is good. His faithful love endures forever. I’ll leave you with this thought when we talk about the authority of the Lord, our identity in the Lord, and we being submitted vessels to the power of God, and we speak and teach and walk and minister in the authority of the Lord. I once had it described to me like this, a state trooper, a single state trooper, stopping an 18-wheeler. That state trooper will stand in the highway and hold up his hand. Does he have the power to stop that 18-wheeler? Absolutely not. Right? Physics is going to win that battle, but he does have the authority. And if that driver is submitted to the authority, he will stop. The world wants power. The world wants power. Christians walk in authority. Do you remember the scriptures when Jesus stands up and starts reading the scrolls and he did not speak as one of the Pharisees or teachers of religious law, he spoke with authority. That is quite a shot at those who were running the church at the time. He spoke Jesus with authority. The world wants power, right? They want to Lord it over us. And scriptures clearly say, “You won’t Lord your power over the people as the world Lords its power over the people. You will live in the power of God through the sacrifice of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and you will live with authority. You will live in truth. You have that authority flowing through you when you demonstrate that even if it’s just the just, the ministry of presence to an individual who is shattered and you’re just there sitting with them. You remember how Job’s friends came to him and for seven days they sat in silence as he grieved. That was a good thing. Then they opened their mouths. That was a bad thing. Walk with that authority. That’s why I’m always red flag when you got preachers talking about the power, the Holy Spirit is power. The world wants power. Boom, we just had that same, right? And then you can translate that too, to being the king of your own fiefdom, so to speak. And we’ve both seen that Dale as well. So you talk about small church pastors or larger church pastors and you see on TV and internet type people, they want power over people. When we stand at that pulpit, Dale, that’s the real deal. And we speak with authority and that authority is not ours because Weinbrenner Theological Seminary said, “I am ordained.” That’s no authority. That authority is the fact that we are submitted to the authority of Christ. Father, we pray your word will just penetrate the hearts and minds, particularly of Christians. I know I needed this lesson this week. Thanks for setting me straight. May I walk in your authority. May your Holy Spirit be demonstrated through me in any way that you see fit, Lord. From sitting in silence to intervening in crisis and everything in between. Lord, let your church shine. Let your light shine through your bride and through every individual in Jesus’ name. Amen. Hey, thanks for putting up with me today. It was more of a therapy session than a good old Bible commentary. But we all need that, don’t we? We need that, especially when that therapy session, so to speak, comes from scripture and points right back to scripture. This is where we need to be so our roots can grow deep and we can be the people of God that he wants us to be. God bless you. May God keep you. And as we always say on Thursdays, and you can fill in the blank, you can type it in right now, you can say it out loud. We’ll see you in church.
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