Year in Review: 2019

Welcome to the last Sunday of 2018.  I’ve been trying to figure out where in the world this year has gone.  It seems like just a few weeks ago Janet and I brought home a tiny little 5 pound bundle of joy, but even that was back in 2017.  2018 has been full of lots of turns and twists.  I have learned a lot this year, mainly because I’ve gotten the chance to re-learn life through the eyes of a new child.  I’ve learned to watch my mouth and actions all over again because they will be repeated.  And convincing a 13 month old not to say something daddy just said doesn’t work.

My 2018 also started with the fear that my grandmother wouldn’t be with us much longer.  She had prayed since she found out that we were expecting that God would allow her to meet Elise before she passed away.  So in late January, we made a trip with a 7 week old to Lexington, SC so she could meet Elise.  Thankfully, she is still with us.  But we are back on the same roller coaster at the end of 2018.  Her hospice nurse has recently told us that her heart is just completely worn out from congestive heart failure.  So again, we made a last minute trip to Lexington yesterday.  Leaving the hospice house was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my short life.  

But 2018 held more than my little world.  I searched for a few interesting events that happened this year:

1/24/18 – Chinese scientists successfully cloned the first monkeys

4/19/18 – The First president of Cuba not named Castro was sworn in

4/27/18 – N. Korean leader Kim Jong-un crosses into S. Korea to meet with S. Korean leaders for the first time since 1953

6/12/18 – US / N. Korea summit was held in Singapore

6/24/18 – Saudi Arabia allows women to drive

7/10/18 – 12 Thai soccer players and their coach were rescued from a flooded cave after being trapped for 17 days

8/2/18 – Apple Inc. becomes the first company in the world to reach a market value of $1 Trillion (USD)

11/11/18 – Marked 100 years since the end of WWI

11/28/18 – A Chinese scientist announced that he had altered the DNA of twin human girls to be more resistant to HIV

Before we review what happened at our small church this year, let’s pray.

We started out the first half of the year with a series on the second half of I Samuel titled “Walking Through and Stepping Up.”  We saw how David had been anointed as king of Israel after Saul.  An evil spirit came upon Saul, and he tried on many occasions to murder David.  David spent years hiding in caves and supporters homes to stay one step ahead of Saul.  We also looked at several Psalms David wrote either during specific points or while looking back on specific events of his life during the time he fled from Saul.  David continually relied on God’s promise for strength.  He saw his circumstances, but his focus was on God the whole time.  A prime example would be Psalm 31.

In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.—Psalm 31:1

Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God. I hate those who cling to worthless idols; as for me, I trust in the Lord.—Psalm 31:4-6

You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place. Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief.—Psalm 31:8-9

Love the Lord, all his faithful people! The Lord preserves those who are true to him, but the proud he pays back in full. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.—Psalm 31:23-24

Love the Lord, all his faithful people! The Lord preserves those who are true to him, but the proud he pays back in full. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.—Psalm 31:23-24

During the summer, we also hosted the first LiNC Clemson.  I totally forgot all about this until the very end, so I didn’t go find the statistics, but if I remember correctly, the Gospel was shared hundreds of times with several professions of faith and quite a few baptisms.

Then for six weeks starting in July, Carl taught us about the societal psychology of shame / honor – the mindset that governs society in much of the world including the Middle East, and the mindset that the authors of the Bible would have had.  He started by contrasting the shame / honor mindset with the guilt / innocence mindset by which we in the western world.  He explained the concepts of Face, one’s reputation in society, Patronage, honoring the shamed, and shaming the honored.  I specifically point out those last two because our next series will rely heavily on those points.  We are going to start a series next week on the book of Esther.  Our western minds don’t fully understand the issues created by Vashti not appearing before the king – aka shaming the honored – or why Haman absolutely despised Mordecai.  As children, we were told different reasons; but at least from my experience, almost none of those are true.  Our western minds often assume many things that just aren’t in the Bible.  I’m really excited about this next series, but I’m going to move on before I spoil it all (like a college freshman trying to read Cliff’s notes for a literary criticism paper).  Carl finished the series by explaining how to share the Gospel with someone who has a shame/honor mindset.

After the “Shame Honor” series, we studied I and II Thessalonians until the first Sunday of November in a series titled “Follow Christ. He Comes!”   Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to pursue Christ in light of his imminent return.  He gave several instructions and encouragements to a young body of believers in a location filled with persecution. 

The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. –I Thessalonians 1:8-9

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own

people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.—I Thessalonians 2:13-16

Paul often praised them for their faith, and encouraged them to keep on keeping on.  But in both short letters, he also encouraged them with the promise of a returning Savior, and the wonderful, joyful celebration we are to have with Him.  I took the following paragraphs from John Farmer’s message from September 23:

“Scripture is not silent on what being with the Lord will be like.  There is a new heaven and new earth to come and explore.  It will be filled with adventures and relationship and meaning and meaningful work.  It is not going to be an ethereal existence of quiet, nor will it be an endless church service.  (Thank the Lord!)  The God who created the splendor of this world is preparing a place for us which fits perfectly with who God has created us to be.  We will live in our own bodies except they won’t grow weak and old.

“There’s a song from Keith Green called “I Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven.”  He says a few things before the song starts including this line, “I know that Jesus Christ has been preparing a home for me and for some of you, for two thousand years. And if this world took six days and that home two thousand years, hey man, this is like living in a garbage can compared to what's going on up there.”

Carl then taught another three week mini-series, this time titled “Freshman Mistakes that Seniors Make.”  He looked at three wrongs: Wrong House, Name, and Life.  In Wrong House, Carl focused on how believers sometimes are caught up in the wrong house of actions, beliefs, or feelings.  We add rules, lose sight of our heart, and try to go at life on our own.  In Wrong Name, we saw that often we call ourselves by a name or label that isn’t who we are, or we allow Satan or others to do the same and latch onto that name.  Carl had us right those names down, then tear them us as a symbol of God’s forgiveness.  Finally, we looked at Wrong Life – a life focused on worldly pleasure instead of a kingdom life. 

Finally, we ended the year with a four part message on the birth of our Savior focusing on the prophecies He fulfilled, John the Baptist’s ministry preparing the way for the Savior, the foreshadowing of Elizabeth bearing a child, and finally His arrival in a small stable. 

So, what was the overarching theme God was teaching us in 2018?  For me personally, it is the absolute severity of sin.  As I was driving him from Lexington yesterday, I asked myself why my grandmother has to die.  Why can’t she stay here forever?  Why must she be in such pain with her lungs rattling with most every breath?  The answer came back with such force that I was almost shocked by it: SIN!! Sin is a killer.  Cold blooded and ruthless, he doesn’t care who or what he destroys.  He lies in wait at our weakest moments to entice us with things so subtle, we hardly realize the trap.  Because of sin, we are all “destined to die once, and after that to face judgement.” Hebrews 9:27. 

Can I challenge us in 2019 to wage an all-out war on sin in our own lives?  And I mean take drastic measures to cut it out.  What area does sin have a firm grasp on that I need to let go of?  Maybe I need to cut that entire area out, so that I can walk away from sin and focus on God.  Maybe I need to set my computer on a barrel in my front yard and take a few swings at it with a baseball bat while my elderly neighbors across the way stare at me like I should be in a psych ward.  This won’t be easy.  I guarantee that Satan, your flesh, and sin itself will try to drag you back.  They won’t give up without a fight.  It won’t be easy.  You’ll need an accountability partner.  You’ll need prayer warriors to shield you in prayer. 

For me, it is social media and the things I allow myself to watch.  My phone tells me how much time I average each week looking at my phone screen.  I’m appalled each week at the number; but in the same breath, I can’t figure out how in the world I never get closer to God.  Because the hours I spend watching this dumb “smart” phone, could be time studying the Word and praying.  I recently read about a pastor who sold his television so that he could spend the 2 hours a day praying instead of watching TV.  Those 2 hours changed his life, and he became a missionary to teenage street gangs in New York City, reaching thousands of lonely children who other thought were unreachable.  Many of the children he worked with quit heroin, something that in the 1950’s and 60’s only two hospitals in the nation would even think about treating.   

What could God do through us in 2019 if we devoted more time and energy to Him?  I’m excited to even think of the possibilities.  Before we circle up for communion and sharing time, let’s spend some quiet time praying, confessing, and turning over these areas to God.