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Illuminate Community Church Podcast - Pastor Jason Fritz - Scottsdale, AZ
Episodes
Monday Jul 25, 2022
Monday Jul 25, 2022
When Jacob deceived his father by bringing him some food in the way of Esau, Isaac asked, “How did you kill and prepare the game so quickly?” Jacob, acting as Esau said, “Your God gave me favor,” He doesn’t say “our God” or “my God.” Why? Because at this point Isaac’s God is not Jacob’s God. Jacob didn’t know God personally. You see, Jacob was a religious man, but he didn’t have a relationship with God. He knew about God because of his father’s faith but he didn’t know God himself. However, all this is about to change while on the run from his angry brother. Jacob is alone and isolated; a victim of his own deceit. Eventually, he gets tired, lays his head on a rock and begins to dream...
He sees a stairway bridging heaven to earth. Angels are traveling back and forth. God himself is orchestrating their movement. This is a sign to Jacob that God will be with him wherever he goes in spite of his failures. Jacob names the place Bethel, “The House of God."
We are all Jacobs in our own way. We find ourselves in flight because of our sins. But in our solitary places God ministers to us. There is a stairway that extends between heaven and earth for us today. God controls every step of it and the gate of heaven opens from the inside. Jesus entered first which means he allows entrance to those who believe in Him. This is the ultimate expression of God’s grace.
Are you at a place where you are guilty over your past, confused in the present, or anxious and uncertain about your future? Then maybe you’re at a place where God can break through and into your life. He won’t give you magical, instant solutions, but He will begin to work when you come to the end of yourself and admit, “God, I have a need or a circumstance I can’t deal with on my own. I need You!” That’s the place where grace—God’s unmerited favor—can take effect. The fact is, the house of God is anywhere his people need him to be.
Monday Jul 18, 2022
Monday Jul 18, 2022
Rebekah and Jacob develop a plan to steal the blessing from Esau and have it pronounced on Jacob. But there’s some intense deceit involved. They must take advantage of old dad’s failing senses. Jacob is smooth-skinned and Esau is hairy. Jacob will feel, smell and sound like Esau if they are successful. Jacob is not convinced of the plan, but not because he doesn’t want it, instead, he thinks it could backfire. He worries their deception will be discovered and dad will curse him. Mom says, “No, my favored son, we are making this happen and I will take responsibility!” The plan is enormously successful. But it also has unintended consequences. Esau is raging with anger and will not be satisfied until he takes revenge. However, Esau must take responsibility for his own misguided actions.
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
-Hebrews 12:15-17
This is an incredibly insightful commentary from the author of Hebrews. What’s being said is this - it was Esau’s love for himself that created his anger. You see, anger is always tied to that which you love. Now that may sound strange to you but it’s true. Anger is always an outgrowth of love. The more intense the anger, the more your true love is revealed. Think about it, when you read of an innocent person being falsely imprisoned, or alternatively someone who is guilty yet they escape justice - you might say, “Well that shouldn’t be happening, that’s wrong.” Your next thought is, “What do I want for lunch?” But when the boss calls you in to work on a Saturday you seethe with rage for hours or even days. Don’t you see the cause of your anger is what you love the most - and that’s you, your time, your freedom, your stuff. Thankfully, God’s Word gives us a threefold strategy. 1. Be aware of your anger, 2. Bring it before the throne of God and 3. Consider the grace of God in your life.
Monday Jul 11, 2022
Monday Jul 11, 2022
What if you could directly ask Jesus one question, face to face, right now? What would it be? My guess is an overwhelming amount of people might ask Him, why am I here, or what am I supposed to do? There is an instance in Scripture where a man comes and asks Jesus a question like this. His goal was actually to discredit Jesus, as he didn't believe He was the Messiah. But, in typical Jesus fashion, He gave this questioning lawyer more than he bargained for. Just a few simple directions. These simple directions have made their way into almost every Bible-believing church that exists, but perhaps the most difficult aspect of these truths is how to put them into practice.
This Sunday, we jump a bit ahead of Genesis for a moment and walk through the direct words of Jesus. As a church family, let’s look into the teachings of Jesus, the Great Commandment, and ask ourselves do we have these commands written on our hearts? Bring a friend, let’s explore collectively.
Monday Jul 04, 2022
Monday Jul 04, 2022
“Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!”
(Psalm 139:7-8)
As we come to Genesis 26, we find what amounts to a short narrative of Isaac’s life. It’s interesting that, even though Isaac lived longer than any of the other patriarchs (180 years), less is recorded about him than any other. Genesis 26 is really the only chapter dedicated to his life.
Isaac's story in the first part of the chapter reminds us eerily of Abraham's "adventure" in Genesis 20. Both faced a famine, both traveled to the land of the Philistines, both lied about their wife, and both had to deal with Abimelech (who might be a particular king, or simply the title of the king of the Philistines at the time).
But Genesis 26 is not a simple repeat. What jumps off the text are the two visits from Yahweh Himself, the reiteration of the blessing promised to his father, Abraham, now upon Isaac and his offspring, and most of all, the praise and reality of God’s presence throughout Isaac’s ups and downs. Three times God makes it clear – He will be with Isaac in the future (vs. 3), He is now with him (vs. 24), and He has already been with him in the past (vs. 28).
We don’t talk about it a lot, but the reality is that, like with Isaac, God has, is, and always will be with you in every moment and in every situation to protect, bless, and help you. And how you respond to His presence has everything to do with how you will live your life. On Sunday, we’ll see how God’s presence changed Isaac’s life, and how it can change yours!
Until then, be encouraged with these words from the Psalmist:
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Sunday Jun 26, 2022
Sunday Jun 26, 2022
I have loved this series in Genesis because we have looked carefully at the origin story behind God’s plan to redeem and restore all of creation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. What has been most shocking to me is how the all-powerful God of the cosmos chose a family to start His plan of redemption. As I get older, I become more aware that one thing is true about every family….they are all dysfunctional. Now, this fact is no surprise to the Biblical authors. We have seen some incredibly dysfunctional family dynamics so far in Genesis. This week, the dysfunction continues.
Genesis 25:19-34 begins by moving the narrative forward. Now, it is Abraham’s son, Isaac’s, turn to trust in God for the promise He made to his father. Isaac’s story begins similarly to his father's, Isaac’s wife Rebekah is barren. After forty years of praying to God, Rebekah conceived. This pregnancy was unusually difficult, so she sought a word from God, which foreshadows all that is to come….
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the older shall serve the younger.”
This prophecy would come true in many ways. Rebekah gave birth to twin boys and these brothers were opposed to each other in every way. The plot comes to a head when Esau comes in from the field and begs Jacob for some stew. Esau begs as he believes he is on the verge of death. Jacob takes advantage of the situation and makes a deal with his starving brother, your birthright for my stew. Esau takes this horrible deal, and the author of Genesis gives a short commentary, “Thus Esau despised his birthright.”
In this event, Jacob is given the rights of the first born and becomes the heir to the promise that God made to Abraham. We learn in the following chapters that Jacob is renamed Israel and his immediate descendants become the twelve tribes of Israel.
This story becomes a pillar for understanding God’s sovereignty in remaining faithful to His promise to Abraham and how that promise became the hope for our salvation today. We can stand firm in times of trouble because we serve a God who is faithful to His promises.
This theological understanding of God should lead to practical application in every believer's life. How much more can we persevere in holiness and in the spiritual battle, knowing that the victory is ours and that the end is already written?
Monday Jun 20, 2022
Monday Jun 20, 2022
Genesis chapter 22 contains one of the most well known stories in all of ancient narrative. Abraham’s willingness to make an offering of his son is the crescendo moment of Abraham’s faith. How did he get here? What was it that caused Abraham to embark on this journey with God in the first place? The author of Hebrews tells us…
By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Hebrews 11:9-10
Abraham went out because he was searching for a foundation. After you’ve been a Christian for a little while you believe in principle that God is foundational. But then things happen in your life that tests this belief. Difficulties come your way and you begin to wonder - Is God really on my side? It sure doesn’t feel like it. Hard to imagine the quiet moments between father and son as they walked up the hill together. The boy is genuinely curious about how and when the sacrificial lamb will be provided. Abraham moreso. How do you know your faith is strong? You don’t know until it is tested. Remember, Satan tempts, but God tests. So what is the difference? Satan tempts to weaken you, God tests to strengthen you.
The late Elisabeth Elliot, told about a time years ago while visiting friends who owned a sheep ranch in Northern Wales. One day she saw a shepherd pick up a sheep and take it to a sheep dip which is a large vat of liquid insecticide and fungicide, and put the sheep into the vat, and the sheep frantically fought for air. Then the shepherd pushed the head down, but the sheep kept fighting and coming up, and the shepherd kept pushing it down because all of its surface had to be coated with the solution to keep it from getting ill.
Elisabeth said, “I wondered what it’s like to feel like your shepherd is trying to kill you? Then she remembered the death of her missionary husband at the hands of the very people he served and said, “Oh, I remember.”
If this story of Abraham tells us anything it tells us that sometimes your shepherd, who is trying to save you, will feel to you like he is trying to kill you. And that is a dark time indeed. I don’t know what it looks like for you, but I know this: Every human being in history has walked through some sort of dark time. But one day, one day the “third day” will come. It came for Abraham. The Lord provided.
To get a view of Isaac you need to understand Jesus. Consider the parallels: both were only sons, both offered on a mountain, both traveled with donkeys, two men accompanied them, both carried wood on their backs. The ram was stuck by thorns and then sacrificed, Jesus was also stuck by thorns and sacrificed.
You see, the story of Isaac points to Jesus. God never intended to sacrifice Isaac’s life. His life was a giant neon sign pointing to the cross. We see ourselves in Isaac. Bound for death but saved by another. Only the cross makes sense of this story. Because the Lord did provide.
Monday Jun 13, 2022
Monday Jun 13, 2022
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.
Monday Jun 06, 2022
Monday Jun 06, 2022
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.
Tuesday May 31, 2022
Tuesday May 31, 2022
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
Thursday May 26, 2022
Thursday May 26, 2022
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