Illuminate Community Church

6/12/22 - God’s Graces In Unexpected Places - Genesis 21 - Pastor Jason Fritz

Our text this week starts off on a high note. A specific promise from God to Abraham and Sarah is being fulfilled. Let’s just say it’s a big one that will change the course of human history...

The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 
-Genesis 21:1-2

Can you imagine attending this baby shower? Sarah is 90 years old at this time. I can hear someone say, “Congratulations Sarah! Now enjoy this stroller for the baby…and here's a walker for you." God wanted there to be no doubt he was the one making this happen. He will be faithful to his word. This is stressed three times in the first two verses so we don’t miss it. Remember my friends, God still keeps his word today and every bit of it. You see our problem is with the timing. Don’t fall victim to your timeline. Wait on God to do what he says he will do. With this baby, Abraham and Sarah know that God is faithful in every detail of his promises. The birth of Isaac was the undisputable empirical data validating God’s voice. Therefore Jesus declares this...

"For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." 
-Matthew 5:18

An iota is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet and a dot is a tiny stroke of the pen. We would say today, “Make sure you dot every i and cross every t.” Because Jesus is God in the flesh we can trust and rely upon his words too. Jesus Himself is the greatest evidence of God keeping his promises because everything God said in the Old Testament about a forthcoming prophet was fulfilled in Jesus. If you ask me, “What is the Christian life?” I would say the Christian life is lived in faith upon every word that God speaks.

6/5/22 - God’s Grace and Our Mistakes - Genesis 20 - Pastor Jason Fritz

Once again we find our man Abraham sliding into his old ways. Familiar sins die hardest. We’ve said several times throughout our study that the Bible portrays its heroes as real people. They have moments of great success and moments of great failure. Makes them relatable. Shows us that in spite of our failures God doesn’t abandon us and his love is not conditioned on our performance. It also reminds us that faith is a journey from immaturity to maturity as we grow in our understanding of who God is.

There’s an incredibly honest statement made by the apostle Paul in Romans 7:15,

"For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” 

This is the man who encountered the resurrected Jesus, planted many churches, faced countless dangers, and gave us much of the New Testament. Yet he has an inner struggle between the desires of his flesh and the desires of God working in him. When we sin, our sinful nature crawls back into the driver's seat and steers us away from God. We know what this is like. We have new life in Christ and we want to serve God well and know him more. We want to spend time in the Word and attend church every Sunday morning. We also have an old nature that dies hard and wants to sleep in. It’s a war between the flesh and the Spirit. This war will never come to an end until we die and enter heaven. 

So what is the answer? Where do we find help? Paul spends a great deal of time in Romans talking about God’s grace. Simply explained, grace is God's unmerited favor towards you and me. In spite of all the wrongs we do, God does not give up on us. Therefore, only God’s grace can transform and redeem a stubborn, rebellious heart, and only Jesus can conquer sin in one’s life. This is why Paul concludes the chapter by writing this in Romans 7:25, 

“Who will set me free from the body of this death?” The answer: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

The good news is that we will no longer see Abraham faltering like this again. He presses on to maturity. He is learning he can trust God in all things. Finally, his fear of God is stronger than his fear of man and this brings him to new heights in his faith.

5/29/22 - It’s a Message not a Massage - Genesis 19:30-38 - Pastor Jason Fritz

It doesn’t get much stranger than the account of Lot and his two daughters. In fact, it’s probably one of the darkest accounts in the Bible. Go ahead and read the text and then come back and you’ll quickly understand for yourself.
 
Lot is a complicated man. On the one hand, he is considered righteous (2 Peter 2) and on the other hand, he is a man with many faults. In this text, he is used by others, and at the same time, he is a victim of his own lifestyle and actions. 
 
While living in Sodom, Lot’s daughters knew what wine could do to a person. Deception was practiced by everyone in the city. Lot was distressed by it, but not enough to have any kind of noticeable impact for God in his new hometown. Certainly, if he spoke against the depravity it would have been the end of his political career and to his high standing position. It seems to me that Lot was a chameleon. 
 
Additionally, the girls learned how to look out for themselves because that’s what their father did. We saw this last week when he went so far as to offer his daughters to an angry mob in an effort to protect his interests. Now in a crazy twist of events, the girls use him to get what they want. Where do you think they learned that?

Now understand that while Lot was drunk he was also responsible for what he did. He wasn’t passed out drunk. He couldn’t remember what happened in the morning but that does not excuse his participation. The Bible doesn’t forbid alcohol, however, it repeatedly warns about its abuse. This story reminds us of Noah’s alcohol-induced drama when he steps off the boat. Even after God spares these men from the worldliness around them, we find the pre-flood world is still in Noah and the city of Sodom is still in Lot. Causes us to consider what part of our old life is still in us? You can take out the trash but that doesn’t mean every fly stops buzzing around the can. There is an ongoing cleaning needed and only God can do it.
 
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” David, Psalm 51:7

5/22/22 - God Cares Enough To Judge - Genesis 19:1-29 - Pastor Jason Fritz

Genesis chapter 19 tells the story of the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. They are known for God’s judgment upon their wickedness. Now I understand that the judgment of God doesn’t sit well with modern people. In fact, there was a time when it was an uncomfortable topic for me. However, I have changed significantly and here’s why... I do not want to serve a God that turns a blind eye to the evil we see and experience in this world. Let me ask you - What do you do when you hear about a child that has been molested? What if it was your child? What kind of God dismisses that kind of abuse? I want a God who brings justice once and for all in a final event that rids the world of it entirely.

Sodom and Gomorrah became famous for sexual deviancy. Sexual sin, as many will attest to, is a unique stronghold and the apostle Paul explains why in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. He is writing to a church that existed in the city of Corinth, one of the most sexually charged cities in the first century AD. 

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18

One commentator gave an insightful description of Paul’s surroundings. "In the Greco-Roman, idol-worshiping culture of Paul's day, sex of all kinds had been normalized for nearly everyone. That included prostitution, adultery, pedophilia, homosexuality, and so forth. Growing up in this environment, it's not surprising to think some of the Christians in Corinth had trouble seeing sex outside of marriage as a big deal. Paul shows that sexual immorality is different from other kinds of sin because it's a form of self-harm. We might commit other sins with our bodies, but sexual immorality unites us sinfully with another person. This happens on a deeply physical and spiritual level. We will experience the natural consequences of that sin at that deep level, as well."

It's important to note that Paul is not telling us that sexual immorality is the worst of all sins, as we sometimes conclude. Instead, he is combatting the casual attitude toward sexual sin carried by some Christians in hyper-sexualized cultures. In addition to hurting others, sexual immorality contributes to our own deep pain. It's no more or less a sin than any other, but human cultures throughout history, including our own, tend to treat it more casually than other offenses.
 
The main point of the story is not the graphic sins involved. The main point is that God is just and righteous. Once again we see a foreshadowing of the Jesus story. Our sin was placed on Christ and our punishment fell upon him. The justice of God was satisfied. In return, we became that righteousness of Christ! Therefore, Paul writes:
 
For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

5/15/22 - Dinner With God - Genesis 18 - Pastor Jason Fritz

When I was in elementary school, there was a special reward for well-behaved kids. One week, I was chosen. One week. The reward was eating lunch with the Principal at his table. This is the guy who is in charge. He has all the power. Even the teachers seem to bow down to him. This was a very special honor in my little 8-year-old mind. Of course, when you get to Junior High, sitting with the Principal is the last thing you want to do. You get beat up for things like this.

So imagine Abram’s delight when he gets to sit with God for a meal. Here’s how it happens... the sun is high and Abram is relaxing in the shade. The morning chores are done and the workers are in their own tents resting in the afternoon before going back to work. Maybe Abram is starting to nod off a little bit when suddenly he sees three strangers standing in front of him. He hadn’t seen them coming, they just kind of appeared out of nowhere.

Abram rushes to serve them because there is something majestic about their presence. We know what he does not. This is God and two of his angels. To eat dinner with another was to say, “We are friends, what’s mine is yours and you have my protection.” What an honor for Abram!

Two thousand years later, Jesus does something similar. He uses himself as a metaphor for spiritual food. Jesus has become very popular at this point in his ministry. He has been feeding large groups of people at a time when many were existing from meal to meal. Therefore, Jesus is providing something valuable. Some are following Him for no other reason than to be fed. So Jesus begins talking about the kind of food that feeds one's soul.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." John 6:35 

Jesus is the spiritual bread that brings us eternal life. When we obey the words of Jesus we are sitting at his table. Are you eating this spiritual bread? If your spiritual life is anemic, consider your diet and consume more bread of life!

5/8/22 - El Shaddai - Genesis 16-17 - Pastor Jason Fritz

Our text this week includes the story of two mothers, Hagar and Sarai. Each has her moments of triumph and tragedy. The tragedy is in part due to the relational conflict between husband and wife. As a result, pregnant Hagar is on the run. This happens because Sarai becomes impatient and decides to help God accomplish his will. 
 
God doesn’t need our help to fulfill his promises.
 
We can relate. You and I become impatient waiting for God to act as if he is obligated to our timelines. We say, “This is God’s will but things are taking too long!" So we take matters into our own hands thinking we need to help move Him along. These actions create complicated problems and complicated problems don’t just go away. There is grace of course, but there are consequences that result in much pain. Best to wait on God. It’s been said that the gears of God’s sovereignty grind slow, but they always grind exceedingly fine. I’ve been saying throughout our study that faith is built through obedience. But this passage reveals more. Add to your obedience, patience.
 
Are you waiting on God? Does it feel like things are stuck? Be assured, God is always working behind the scenes until the big reveal. So patiently wait for Him my friend and your faith will grow!

5/1/22 - God Speaks to Abram’s Doubt - Genesis 15 - Pastor Jason Fritz

"Doubting does not prove that a man has no faith, but only that his faith is small. And even when our faith is small, the Lord is ready to help us." J.C. Ryle

Doubts. At times we all have them. It might surprise you to know that God wants to speak directly to our lack of faith. In fact, when we doubt He is ready and able to give us what we need. This was certainly true in the life of Abram.

"After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” Genesis 15:1

God speaks to people in many different ways. In this moment he uses a vision. Note carefully the first thing God acknowledges is Abram’s anxiety, "Do not fear." This is the most often repeated command in the Bible and for good reason. Humans are fearful creatures. A few of us might be adventurous thrill-seekers willing to risk our lives for the adrenaline rush but let’s be honest; there are fears common to us all. The fear of being unloved, failure and rejection to name a few. Can you relate? Fear is a very powerful motivator. There are healthy God-given fears such as when you are in a situation where you or someone you love might be harmed. This fear should be used for self-preservation. That’s not what is being spoken of by God. This is fear that causes you to doubt Him. This is fear that undermines your faith in what God says.
 
Anytime we are afraid of taking God at His word, we are acting irrational. 

God speaks directly to what Abram is experiencing in his life by saying, “I am your shield.” This is exactly what Abram needed. Last week we saw Abram defeating a much larger army made up of a partnership of four kings. Abram needed a shield because there could be retribution at any time. God also tells him, “I will reward you.” He needed reward because he had denied himself great wealth offered from the king of Sodom. Abram did what he believed was right and that came at personal cost. Therefore, God lets Abram know He saw and He will provide and protect. Don’t for a moment think God doesn’t know what’s happening with you and your fears. He wants to speak to them.

4/24/22 - Lot’s Values and Abram’s War - Genesis 13-14 - Pastor Jason Fritz

So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. Genesis 13:1-2

This is the first time wealth is mentioned in the Bible. The Bible doesn’t view wealth as inherently good or evil, rather it is neutral. What makes it good or bad is the way it is used and its effects upon you and others. Contrary to popular belief, money is not "the root of all evil.” However, "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,” (1 Timothy 6:10). This proves to be true in Lot’s life. 
 
When he and Abram part ways, Lot will choose for himself and his livestock the prime parts of the land. Abram gets the leftovers but he trusts that God will provide what he needs. Lot’s selfish decision is the best possible way to grow his net worth…so he thinks. However, Lot’s value system proves disastrous. It puts him in close proximity with those who will eventually take him as a prisoner of war. This separation proves to be a good thing for Abram, but for Lot it was bad. 
 
There are healthy separations in life.

Uncle Abram steps in to clean up the mess. (After graciously deferring to Lot over the land deal.) He leads a team of soldiers to free Lot and his family. Sometimes you have to bring a righteous fight to bring peace. The Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer said, “For a Christian to be a pacifist in a fallen and broken world means that we would desert the people who need our help the most.” Abram and his men get the job done.

We should value what God values which are things not of this world. These are things of eternal consequence. After a few bad decisions, we see Abram trusting God more and more. We see his faith growing. The example is for us.

4/17/22 - Easter - Oh, Happy Day! - Pastor Jason Fritz

He is Risen!!!

The single most important event in human history is the resurrection of Jesus Christ and here’s a few reasons why…

1. Jesus’ resurrection means that all who believe in him will also be resurrected to eternal life.

2. It proves Jesus is to be trusted and believed.

3. It demonstrates God’s love in rescuing us from sin's penalty of death.

4. The empty tomb gives us hope!
 
Humans need to have hopes and dreams and when they are taken from us we are reduced to nothing. Viktor Frankl was a holocaust survivor and psychologist. As a result of his experiences he wrote a fascinating and insightful book called, “Man’s Search For Meaning.” He was captured by Nazis and transported to different camps. Of his family, only he and his sister survived after two and a half years. In the book, Viktor tells his story and what he learned from it. He focused on how people dealt with the horror of being in the camp. Concentration camps mean that people are forced into concentrated losses. Most people experience loss over the course of time, but in the camp you lose everything immediately - your job, home, health, family.  Some believed they would never leave and they became like zombies. They gave up until their bodies died. Others were certain they would be freed in six months or less. But with each passing month they lost hope. So who were those who survived over the years? The common denominator of survivors were those who had kept hope. They were able to find a way to see current events as having a greater end or purpose.
 
God’s purpose and plan for the world turned out to be extraordinary. The future of the universe and humanity is now redefined. The resurrection is not just a historical event. It gives you present hope for today and eternal hope for the future. This changes your whole outlook on life. You are a new kind of human. You have a new perspective. You see the world in a different way and you are changed. The resurrection reminds us that there is more to come. There is a city that awaits us and it is indescribably beautiful and without sin and best of all in the presence of God who supplies its’ light.
 
The world needs this hope doesn't it? We wake up and we see division, war and violence and trauma. Jesus came to heal all of that but it requires belief on our part. It’s easy to believe in someone who demonstrated his love to the extreme. So let’s celebrate together and remember: hopelessness went out with the resurrection!

4/15/22 - Good Friday - Pastor Steve Johnson