Looking Beyond the Clouds

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Recently, we met with someone in our church who has undergone some medical challenges. They were full of faith, trusting the Lord, and believing that God was at work in their life. But there were no answers as to ‘why’ or when these trials would end. As we talked, the pastors with me did an excellent job of pastoring this person’s soul and encouraging them (albeit we were greatly encouraged by them). What struck me was how ‘real’ our sermon series in the Psalms had been to them and us. I have noticed a remarkable theme through our summer psalms: hardships and trials that seem to come without rhyme or reason. We are left with asking the Lord to alleviate the pain, and we’re left with, ‘How long, O Lord?’

I think we’ve been in this vein of the Psalms because this is real life, and genuine faith comes in. I’ve been concerned for quite some time that the American Church has been fed a ‘bill of goods’ regarding the Christian life. We have been taught that if you’re obedient to the Lord, do your devotions, faithfully attend church and share your faith, and teach your kids the Bible, things will work out for your good. And our translation to that is: our kids will all walk with Jesus and never do anything dumb; our marriages will be blissful and passionate; our bank accounts will be full; our health will be pristine; and God will answer all our prayers with ‘yes.’ Yes, we know we will have trials, but eventually, they’ll stop and never be too debilitating. But here’s a raw and hard question: what happens when none of this happens? What happens when the sickness lingers, the job never returns, and our kids make bad choices? What then? See…faith. This is why I believe Christians are not immune to the troubles of this world. God uses those in our lives to show non-Christians how people of true faith live in a Genesis 3 world. It’s an opportunity to display true faith in our faithful God.

This is why I love the Psalms. They’re raw, honest, and painful. They point us to the foundation of our salvation and that only God is our sure and constant hope. The Psalms never promise to lift the clouds, but they help us see what’s beyond them. That’s why we need them.

And it’s why we need a Psalm like Psalm 47. Interestingly, there are few Psalms of exaltation and ascent, but there are many Psalms of lament. We need both. We need moments, like Sunday, to remind ourselves that our King is seated on His throne and will one day bring all things under His glorious rule. We need it because it’s easy to forget in times of lament. We need it because it’s easy to overstate our input into the achievement in times of success.

We sincerely hope you’re enjoying this summer series. It is equipping you. It’s stirring you to keep your gaze lifted to the only One who is your help. It’s causing your attention to be drawn to His glorious rule.

This Coming Sunday

This Sunday, August 13th, we will look at Psalm 13. Remember, our service is at 10:00 a.m. at Jacoby Auditorium.

What’s Coming Next?

Beginning in late August or the 1st Sunday of September, we will go through a series on the Great Commission. You can look that up in Matthew 28:16-20. This series aims to equip you to understand your role in the Great Commission, to see the history of the Great Commission being worked out in human history, and to understand a biblical view of evangelism and discipleship. This will be an exciting and informative series for our church.

Then we study “Shaping Virtues of the Christian Life,” where we will talk about particular Christ-like character traits that we, as Christians, should be growing in and developing. The purpose of this series is to help you see the importance of Christ-like character but also show you some key traits that have been hallmarks of CLF for 20 years.

Now, let me add a couple of key things coming up that will encourage you:

On September 10th, we will celebrate our 20th anniversary as a church (our 1st official Sunday was September 7, 2003). During this service, we will have testimonies of God’s kindness to us and celebrate His grace to us. He has been remarkably good to us. Our joy and unity, our desire to honor the Lord, and the growth He has brought us are evidence that He’s at work. We will have a Church Picnic at River Forks after church as we continue the celebration.
On September 29th-30th, we are hosting a conference led by Bob Kauflin called “Life Together.” The focus of this conference is to learn why we gather together, what should motivate our gatherings, and what we do when we gather. If you’re looking for another opportunity to hear good preaching, worship together, and fellowship together, this is a great one. To find out more, please go to this link: https://clfroseburg.com/life-together/. You will not regret joining us for this special weekend.

As a reminder: Church locations for the next several months will be at Jacoby Auditorium at 10:00 a.m.

From the Cheap Seats

Ok, this is nuts: https://www.mlb.com/news/yankees-prospect-anthony-seigler-switch-thrower?partnerID=mlbapp-iOS_article-share. The dude played catcher as a right-handed thrower and played left field as a left-handed thrower. What?!?
The Pac-4? I don’t understand where college sports is heading. I heard today that Stanford is considering going to the ACC, which stands for Atlantic Coast Conference. Isn’t Stanford on the Pacific Coast? Hmm…
The Rangers sent 6 guys to the All-Star game in Seattle a few weeks ago. Since then, 4 of the 6 have been on the injured list with thumb, wrist, and forearm injuries. I suddenly became a fan of All-Stars, using that time to take a break.

To watch or listen to the sermon described in this post, please click here.