Asbury Church

People with strong personal relationships are more resilient. Anything worthwhile demands an investment of time, energy and attention. If we neglect social contact, then friendships will wither and atrophy. Hebrews tells us to consider ways to “stir up one another.” When someone puts cream or sugar in coffee or tea and stirs, it permeates the whole drink. The New Testament lists how to treat “one another.” Here are a few descriptions: “Be in harmony with, greet, welcome, outdo in honor, serve, comfort, do good to, confess your sins to, be gentle, patient and kind, submit, forgive, admonish, encourage, build up, have humility for, show hospitality to, be at peace with, and have fellowship.” Jesus said five times in John 13 and 15 to “love one another.” Love is less about feelings and more about behavior. John says the same thing six times in his epistles. The flip-side states it in a negative way: “Do not…. judge, have lawsuits, compare, bite and devour, provoke, consume, lie to, grumble.” We are to avoid the bad habit of neglecting to meet together. Instead, we are to be encouraging one another. Matthew Hansen wrote, “The Divine is hidden within community, and this community, when submitted to, shapes us into resilient people we could not have become on our own.” - Pastor Tom Harrison

My 10th grade teacher asked our class what was our one wish? A classmate wished everyone in her family could be healthy. At the time I thought, “What a dumb wish!” Someone in her family must have had health issues. I did not understand it then, but I do now. My father and sister both died at 56. Now my mom has severe memory loss. I have two degrees from ORU. Oral Roberts was a visionary. He was a leader in emphasizing the whole person—in body, mind and spirit: “May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23) Jesus spoke to the spirit and soul, but also healed bodies. Paul said our bodies were important: “With full courage now as always, Christ will be honored in my body,” and will be transformed in heaven. (Philippians 1:20) The joke is, it is called COVID “19” because since it hit, we all have gained 19 pounds. Staying physically strong is challenging but essential. Christians tend to condemn some unhealthy behaviors while ignoring others. We often overlook the stewardship of our bodies. This saying is tacky but can be true: “He dug his grave with a knife and fork.” The Old Testament esteemed the human body. It provided many rules and regulations to keep it healthy and safe (particularly in Leviticus 13- 16). An integration of the physical and spiritual is fasting. - Pastor Tom Harrison

Things seldom go as we anticipate. There are many variations and transitions that occur. Rarely do we go from “Point A” to “Point B.” There always seems to be “Point C.” Any new and worthwhile endeavor demands mental resilience. I love what Paul says: “Think about these things.” We get to choose our attitude. There are certain ways we should think and certain ways we should not think. “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” helped change my thinking. When we shift our thinking, we change our behavior. “Think about these things.” Then put them into practice through action. Then we start to feel better. “Self-talk” is the conversation we have with ourselves. We need to be careful about the tapes we play inside our heads. Bill Taylor told me on his birthday in 2019, he had accepted my challenge to memorize 30 scriptures. He said he recently finished memorizing the last one. He says them each night. He confessed he memorized some that were not on “my list” but I told him I wasn’t offended since I’m not the author. Bill was born July 12, 1932. He was memorizing scripture at the age of 87. He and his wife, Phyllis, are hoping to hit 50 memory verses this year. What a great example to follow. - Pastor Tom Harrison

The Apostle Paul had highs and lows. He experienced relentless hardship. He had spiritual, physical, mental and social stressors. But he also had the affection of Jesus. In return, Paul loved the Lord and was on mission for Jesus. He had a deep affection for the Church. He was never alone. He always had teammates. He refused to quit. He saw the big picture. He knew who he was and where he was going. He finished strong. The key to the Christian life may be the development of spiritual affections. How we spend our money and time may be the best indicators of what we truly worship. “Passion” is a good word, but it is often connected with sudden impulses that override wisdom and reason. Affections may be less intense and less sporadic but more continuous. It is hard to stay in the heat of passion for long. Affections can be nurtured and developed over a lifetime. We can build, grow and shape our affections. Jonathan Edwards, an influential New England preacher in the 1700s, helped birth revival (The Great Awakening). He felt too many Christians of his day did not understand what it meant to have their treasure in Jesus Christ. He observed how material riches were the source of security, hope and beauty for many congregants. Faith becomes more vibrant when we realize our true riches come from God. “Stuff” can be good but can never be ultimate or best. Loyalty to Christ is first but that loyalty is expressed through church. - Pastor Tom Harrison

Since Pharaoh in the time of Moses, it seems the Jewish people have been the objects of hatred. The same narrative shows up again in the book of Esther. The situation was dire. The story from Esther shows the evil Haman had devised a sinister plan to trap and kill the Jews. Then there was a transition from defeat to victory. Queen Esther’s uncle Mordecai showed the confidence of a child of God. Once again, the word “but” shows there will be a critical transition. Esther’s fate was bound up with her people. Mordecai helped her see the true value of her position. Nehemiah was another Jew with murderous enemies, but he discerned the plot against him. The wonderful story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel, shows how desperate things looked but God wasn’t finished. Once again, there was a great reversal. God is in the reversal business. When it seems things are finished, God surprises. The greatest surprise in history was the day the Crucifixion turned from stoned-cold silence to resurrection (Luke 24:1-12) and witness (John 20:11-18). - Pastor Tom Harrison

Elijah, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, like John the Baptist, hit a rough spot. Elijah wasn’t in prison like John, in fact, he had just won the Super Bowl of the Old Testament on Mount Carmel. But he crashed when Queen Jezebel threatened him. Instead of standing on the conviction he displayed in 1 Kings 18, his knees buckled, and he fell apart. He took flight and ran for his life. Depressed and isolated in the Valley of Jezreel, he wanted to die. While David Brooks’ insightful book, “The Second Mountain,” doesn’t mention the Elijah story, it illustrates even the best among us have valleys. It’s easy to be intimidated, bullied and sabotaged. It can result in us losing our nerve. Bad situations can illustrate how easy it is to forget how God has blessed and equipped us previously, and even recently. I have experienced a loss of confidence in ministry, too. Confusion and exhaustion can put us in a place where we crash. Living in an emotional and spiritual valley is not fun but we can learn from it. God’s will for us is not to remain in those valleys. God spoke to Elijah in an interesting way. It was time to get his legs and voice back and to reenter the fight.

- Pastor Tom Harrison

Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “David and Goliath,” discusses fighting a battle with the wrong weapons. David used artillery to fight an infantryman. As Gladwell explains, Goliath didn’t stand a chance. He, not David, was at risk. The giant Philistine hurling insults at the God of Israel did not endear him to David. David, a man after God’s own heart, was infuriated. He stood up and spoke up for the Lord. David was a great illustration of “confident humility.” We can trust in the wrong sources. I love this verse: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.” (Psalm 20:7-8) Paul noted in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 that God prefers the foolish over the wise and the weak over the strong. I love this line from the text: “He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” Paul also recognized “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9) because he depended on the Lord. Courage gets up and goes into battle even without guaranteed success. Some prefer to sit on the sideline because we feel another is better qualified or we have limited resources, or there is a chance of failing and looking like a loser. David’s story illustrates the power of what a young person can accomplish. We can’t get to success without taking that first, scary step. - Pastor Tom Harrison

The selection of David as the second king of Israel is a beautiful story. We think one way, but God often takes a different approach. We see the outward appearance, but God sees the heart. This is counterintuitive. Jesus took this approach in His Sermon on the Mount. The human worldview is one thing, but God’s perspective is entirely different. “But” is found 27 times in Matthew 5-7. Jesus’ ministry had one overall objective – introduce people to the kingdom of God. As is in the case of David, it is so easy to overlook and marginalize people. We see their limitations and weaknesses. They are too young and inexperienced. We want them to wait their turn and not disrupt the status quo. Or maybe they are too old and out-of-touch. We want them to move aside and give us our day in the sun. We tend to be preoccupied with outward appearances, but God has an entirely different way of seeing things. Our readings this week will be from the Sermon on the Mount (read Matthew 7, too).

- Pastor Tom Harrison

The final verse in the book of Judges states: “In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (21:25) It was a chaotic time. “Judges” weren’t what we experience in a courtroom but were military action figures. Samson, like Rahab, was quite a character. Someone said, “Samson was a he-man with a she-weakness.” If we play with fire, we may get burned. Samson had wandered so far away he didn’t realize the shift. We see again the little word, “but,” as it introduces a new reality. “But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” Actually, Samson left the Lord. What we sow, we reap. After Delilah deceived him and he fell and experienced the consequences, Samson’s heart turned back to the Lord. Once again, we spot this transition in the verse with the word, “But the hair of his head began to grow again…” There are times when we come to our senses and turn back to the Lord. That’s what happened to the prodigal son: “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!’” His older brother also had a “but” in the opposite direction: “But he was angry and refused to go in.” (Luke 15:17, 28) This is a story about repentance. When we’ve left the Lord, we can turn back to Him and get our hearts right. The Lord will graciously receive us and welcome us home.

- Pastor Tom Harrison

Everything was great in the garden God created for the original pair, Adam and Eve. However, the first “but” in the Bible is when God said, “…but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) There is one and only one restriction. The first problem is introduced three verses later: “But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.” In the next chapter (verse 4) the simple word introduces us to what’s going to be a big problem: “But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.’” Uh oh. No longer could Adam and Eve live without guilt and shame. Their innocence was gone. They didn’t die physically, but death had spiritually entered the world. We are all affected by this. The second Adam, Jesus, came to undo the work of the first human. I love how Paul wrote it: “But the free gift is not like the trespass.” (Romans 5:15) The Bible, from cover to cover is about one thing: redemption. Redemption is buying back something that was lost. In the Bible story that introduces sin, we see God’s heart for redemption: “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” The Lord is always seeking to save the lost (Luke 19:10).

- Pastor Tom Harrison