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It used to be that if you wanted to take a good portrait of someone you had to carefully adjust the F-stop and aperture. I don’t even know if I said that right, but you had to do something like that, and if you failed, your picture was a blurry mess.

In comes auto-focus and a camera’s ability to single out and track an object, even give specific attention to faces. It’s quite incredible, and all happens seemingly instantaneously.

You don’t have to worry about a subject going out of focus. The camera will automatically do the work of refocusing.

If only it were that easy with our hearts. Life happens, change happens, and no matter what, our hearts would spontaneously and instantly recalibrate and refocus on God.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. Our hearts are idol factories as John Calvin put it. Our default is idol worship. And with that being our default, one of our standard practices must be repentance.

Life is difficult right now. We all know it. We all feel it. Our hearts and minds are liable to go off the deep end into fear, sin, and insanity.

But we are also living in glorious times. Our God is a rock, a fortress, a mighty deliverer, who holds the heavens in the palm of his hand, and who directs history toward His intended purpose without the slightest hint of uncertainty.

“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” -Isaiah 46:9–10

He delights to use the worst of us and the worst in this world, to show His exceeding power, greatness, and grace. He is glorifying His Son Jesus, and He will glorify His Son. He is building His church, and He will extend His mission through the Church to the ends of the earth. He is doing these things, and the Bible calls us to trust Him on that.

But we are weak. We are sinful. We are prone to unbelief and idolatry.

May we take today as an opportunity to refocus our hearts on God. Here are three encouragements along that line:

1. Worship Jesus

Our great King has come for us and died to save us. He now lives and reigns above every other power and authority. His love will never let us go. He conquered everything we could possibly fear. He will one day wipe away every tear and every trouble, every sickness, and every sin. He waits for the appointed time for when His Father says, “Go claim your bride and bring her home.” Our precious Jesus waits for us in our heavenly Jerusalem. May we set our affections on Him and worship Him now in all His glory.

When life gets bitter, Christ becomes all the sweeter, as John Piper comments:

What God is doing in the coronavirus is showing us— graphically, painfully—that nothing in this world gives the security and satisfaction that we find in the infinite greatness and worth of Jesus. This global pandemic takes away our freedom of movement, our business activity, and our face-to-face relations. It takes away our security and our comfort. And, in the end, it may take away our lives. The reason God exposes us to such losses is to rouse us to rely on Christ. Or to put it another way, the reason he makes calamity the occasion for offering Christ to the world is that the supreme, all-satisfying greatness of Christ shines more brightly when Christ sustains joy in suffering.” (Christ and the Coronavirus, 82)

2. Love the Church

May we also love one another deeply and sincerely, from the heart. Our brothers and sisters need us. They don’t primarily need our “right” opinions on masks, vaccines, or government, as passionate or convictional as we might feel about those things. They do primarily need us to be bringers of Christ to one another, bringers of hope and encouragement, light and life. May we put our disagreements in their proper place and focus on what unites us…

“I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” -Ephesians 4:1-6

We may disagree about things. We will disagree. But while disagreements are optional, agreements are not. We must agree in the gospel as the fundamental reality of who we are and we must let our unity in God then fashion and shape us.

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” – James 1:19

May we have listening ears and tongues seasoned with grace. If we can’t say anything that brings edification and grace to others, let’s not say it. That doesn’t mean we stop standing up for truth, but that we speak the truth in love.

Celebrating the gospel will lead us to more joy, more hope, and more satisfaction in Christ. We will all be more resilient against the onslaughts of this broken and evil world and more effective in our mission to the world.

3. Reach the World

Satan hates the glory of God and he hates the mission of God. He will throw at us anything he can to get our sights off of the hurting and lost around us. Pain, sickness, tribulation, and temptations to jealousy and division–he will use whatever he can.

If Satan can get us divided or distracted, he wins big time. Not ultimately of course, but temporarily he gains a foothold. Therefore we must stand fortified against His schemes, stirring our affections for one another and resilient in our missional posture toward nonbelievers.

May we show the world a hope that reaches beyond sickness, government, and death. May we show them a church family that loves one another and that invites them in to experience the joy of our fellowship. May we show them a Savior who loves them more than they could possibly imagine.

We can’t wait for life to adjust back to “normal” before we get back out on the missional front. Satan isn’t taking time off, and neither should we.

May we be freshly invigorated with the glory of Jesus, affections for one another in gospel unity, and a zeal to see the lost saved and Christ magnified among the nations. 

To Him be glory in Christ and in the church throughout all generations, forever and ever, Amen.

The Bible is a story, and Joshua is a small part of that story. This is a story that’s largely about redemption. God created, it was ruined, and he sets out to fix (or redeem) his creation. But this is also a story about extreme faithfulness. God remains faithful to people that betrayed him, he remains faithful to a nation that wouldn’t obey him, and he remains faithful to followers that fail him every day. The bit of this story found in Joshua sits at a vital juncture between God’s plan of redemption and his faithfulness. Let’s trace God’s story up to where we meet Joshua.

            The Bible begins with something truly beautiful. God decided to create. He created to bring glory to himself, setting the beginning of both time and space into motion. He filled this space with existence, a beautiful universe and a spectacular world that he filled with countless other marvelous creations. As the final act of God’s creation, humanity was made in the very image of God. This image means that we were created to reflect our God within his creation, serving as his representative rulers on earth. However, we failed in our role as image bearers. Instead of ruling over creation, we listened to the deceit of the serpent and reached for something God did not yet intend for us to have. Our failure brought sin and corruption into God’s creation. But the next thing to happen is one of the greatest moments in history. God didn’t quit on us. He could have wiped the slate clean and started fresh, but he chose to remain faithful to his creation. He chose to work toward the redemption of his creation with us.

            For a long time after the fall, humanity continued to forsake God. Nevertheless, God remained faithful, but he needed to answer the problem of the human condition. He did so by raising up a single man named Abram. He promised to make an extraordinary nation out of Abram’s descendants. They would get to be a major part in God’s story and his plan to fix his creation. That nation would be used by God to bless and redeem all of creation.

            Unfortunately, only a few generations into God’s plan, Abraham’s people found themselves exiled and enslaved in the land of Egypt. God had been faithful in his promise to give Abraham numerous descendants. His family grew quickly in number until they outnumbered their Egyptian captors. However, Abraham’s people were still without the land God had promised to them. In his faithfulness, God had not forgotten his promises, and he rescued his people using a man named Moses. With Moses, God led his people (also known as the Israelites) out of Egypt so that they could claim the land he had promised to them.

            Despite what God had already done for his people, they were unfaithful to him before they could even reach the promised land. God was angry with his people. He was angry because he continued to provide for a people that seemed to have little interest in faithfully following him. In response, God threatened to wipe them out and begin a new nation through Moses. Thankfully, there was still some faithfulness to be found within the ranks of the Israelites. On Mt. Sinai, Moses met with God and plead on behalf of the people. God was so impressed by Moses’ faithfulness that he renewed the covenant he had made with Abraham with Moses right on top of the mountain. This time God also provided Moses with instructions for what his people should look like. This was his law to the Israelites.

            The story continues and it now takes a pessimistic turn. God’s people repeatedly returned to unfaithfulness during their slow journey through the desert to the promised land. Even with the law telling them exactly how God’s people should look, they continued to fail. Though God was continually faithful to them, why couldn’t God’s people get it together and live up to their calling to bless all of creation? They simply weren’t capable and never would be capable to do this alone. Once again, knowing they would never follow through, God could have abandoned his people. If we’re being honest with ourselves, this is probably the route many of us would take. God doesn’t. He chooses to remain faithful to his people despite their failures. He will provide the promised land to them, and he will provide a Savior who can bless all of creation.

            This is where the book of Joshua picks up, in camps hovering on the edge of Canaan (the promised land). Moses is now dead, but God is still faithful to his people. He raised up a new leader, Joshua, and roused his people. It is time they retake their land, establishing themselves as a nation based upon God’s law, and become a faithful means of blessing to the world.

We live in a unique and exciting time in world history. Never before has the world been so interconnected. Travel is easier than it has ever been. The internet has enabled us talk to people on the other side of the world by the click of a button. Not only do we live in exciting times, but we at Harvest Church believe we have been placed in a strategic area to reach the nations. Immigrants are flooding into our country every day with the hopes of a better life or better education. Whatever the motivations are for coming here, we know that God is bringing the nations to us.

“From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:26-27)

We at Harvest want to love our neighbors well and show gospel-hospitality to the visitors in our land. We want to invite them not only into our cities but also into our homes, our families, and our lives.

Last Saturday, we hosted our very first Equip 1:8. It was a morning full of brainstorming different ways that we as a local body of Christ can be more intentional about loving the immigrants in our area. We were not seeking to add things on to our already busy lives, but rather we were seeking to adapt our every-day schedules in such a way that we can better love the people from all over the world that surround us.

We decided that it was time to show humility by seeking to understand the worldview of our international neighbors. We want to know and celebrate the cultures that they come from. We desire to understand the religious beliefs they hold dear, so that we can better understand where they are coming from. Perhaps we can even learn greetings in their own languages in order to show that we care and seriously desire true friendship with them. We want to open up our homes and invite them into our lives. We believe that in these ways, God can use us at Harvest to impact the nations.

As we continue to pray and think through how each of our families can best respond to the opportunity God has given us in the Greater Raleigh-Durham area, we are asking ourselves …

1. What interactions do we already have with those who have come from other lands (whether it be at work, our neighborhoods, where we shop, etc.)? Are we being intentional about being a light among these peoples?
2. Are we sharing our lives with the internationals in our city or are we too busy to even open up our homes for a meal with them?

As God is bringing the nations into our neighborhoods, we pray that God will find Harvest faithful with the role He has given us to play in His overarching story of redemption among every tribe, tongue, people and language.