South Fellowship Church

Filling Up Christmas | The Fullness of Family | Galatians 4:4-20; 3:28-29; John 1:12 | Week 2

I love the Christmas season!  One of the things that I think I love most about this time of year is those Christmas movies.  My favorite Christmas movie---judge me if you must---is "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."  One of my favorite scenes in the entire movie is where Clark W. Griswold has worked for days putting up lights on his house, and he's finally got them working.  [The camera] pans to the scene where Cousin Eddy is unexpectedly there.  He's got his RV and he's staying for an indeterminate amount of time.  One of the things I love about this movie is it points out some of the comedy, and in a very funny way, the pain of family.  We all probably have someone in our family like Cousin Eddy, where we wonder, "Are they coming this year?"  If you don't have a Cousin Eddy....you might BE Cousin Eddy!  
The longer I've pastored, the longer I've worked with people, the longer I've counseled people, I've come to find out that Christmas, and the holiday season in general, is sort of a double-edged sword.  As Dickens writes:  It's the best of times and the worst of times.  For some people, there's joy and elation....oh my goodness, Christmas is coming and it's marked on the calendar.  For others, oh my goodness, Christmas is coming and it's marked on the calendar.....and it's sort of in 'red,' do you know what I mean?  If we went around the room and shared, and if people were bold enough to say, "Hey, this is why Christmas is hard for me," a lot of what we would see if we drilled down deep enough, is a lot of the pain and a lot of the questions and a lot of the angst around the holiday season in general, has to do with family, doesn't it?  For some, maybe there's a fracture in the family, so when people show up, it just reminds you that things aren't what you wish they were or what you think they should be.  For some of us, we have a very empty seat at the dinner table for Christmas dinner, don't we?  Some of you are coming up on that for the very first Christmas and you don't know what it's going to do to you?  For some, it's just man, family's coming!  It raises the level of anxiety because it's sort of a wildcard.  It might be amazing, it might be great, and it might hit the fan!  Who knows?...

Filling Up Christmas | The Fullness of Time | Galatians 4:4 | Week 1

If you're anything like me, I get real excited about the Christmas season, I get excited about Advent, and we put a lot of energy into it and then we feel exhausted when it's done.  Are you with me? December 25th hits and we're like, I don't want to see anybody, I don't want to talk to anybody.  I know that Jesus has been born, but I've drunk so much eggnog and had so many parties and I've seen so many people, I just need a moment to myself.  Is anybody with me?  We get done with Christmas and we're like, hey, we can only do this once a year, because it's exhausting.  What if we could make a few minor changes in the way that we think, in the way that we act, in the way that we engage this season, rather than ending this season feeling like we're running on empty?  What if?  Imagine in four weeks you felt like you had more energy, you felt like you had a bigger vision for what God was up to, you're more excited for what was coming in the future than you are right now.  I think that's what God wants to do in our lives as a community of faith over the next few weeks.  We're starting a series this week that we're calling "Filling Up Christmas."  We all fill up Christmas, we just sometimes fill it up with the wrong things.  I want to point us back to the Scriptures, over the next few weeks.  I want to point us back to the way of Jesus, in hopes of really painting for us a different picture of what Christmas might look like.
Every year when I was growing up, I had elementary teachers that had us make a Christmas chain.  Each one of the links in this chain represent one day from now until Christmas Eve.  So there's twenty-two links on here and each one represents one day.  As a kid, I remember making these in elementary school and thinking, "It's coming! Christmas is on its way!"  Every time we tore off one of these links, the anticipation just started to build.  Oh man, it's one day less before that present that I have been waiting for is at my door.  It was our way, as kids, of counting time...  

Bleeding Hearts: Praying Through The Unexpected | Ephesians 6:18-20

Josh Suddath - Student Pastor
My prayer life often feels abysmal. I often feel like I’m just not going to God like I should or as much as I should. But 6 years ago married to a prayer warrior named Kristine and she’s fantastic. And my bible tells me that through marriage and the uniting of our spirits we are two people acting as one. So for the next half hour I’m going to act like her prayer life makes my prayer life better and pretend I know what I’m talking about.
6 years into our friendship, and 2 years before we got married, my wife started praying that God might do something in the heart of a slow, clueless Southern boy from Tennessee. She prayed, and she didn’t tell anybody, for 2 years. As year 2 came to a close, she went to the beach with her friends and shared her heart with them – “I’ve been praying for 2 years now and nothing has happened...I’m ready to give it up...

Hills + Valleys | Going Home | 2 Kings 2:1-17 | Week 7

Next week, we will be done with this series on Elijah; we've given seven messages in all. This brings us to the conclusion of this life of the ancient prophet of Israel, Elijah. We saw Elijah burst onto the scene, sort of came out of nowhere. He stepped into the king's palace and made a declaration about drought and a confident call that Yahweh was the King above all kings, the Lord above all lords, the God above all gods. We've traced Elijah's journey over the last few weeks and now we're coming to the end of his journey. The end of his journey is unique. It's not intended to be looked at as normative. Elijah is one of only two people we have recorded in Scripture who didn't die. Enoch is his counterpart in Genesis 5, but Elijah's ending is as strange as his life, in many ways. It comes to an abrupt end where he's taken---spoiler alert!---in a chariot of fire up to heaven. As we read his story, his story conjures up all sorts of questions in our life, at least in my life....questions about what heaven is going to be like. I think there's this sort of transcendent human longing to figure out what's next. We have people who have these, supposed, experiences of heaven and they write books. A guy named Don Piper wrote a book, 90 Minutes in Heaven, in which he was supposedly in a car accident and died and for ninety minutes spent some time in heaven, came back and made millions of dollars and wrote a book about it. I'm not saying it didn't happen. He very well may have had that experience. In Heaven is for Real, you have this four-year-old boy who dies and goes to heaven and experiences things and learns things he really shouldn't have been able to learn in any other way. His dad wrote a book. 90 Minutes in Heaven has sold over six million copies, Heaven is for Real has sold over twelve million copies since it came out in 2010. I tell you this, not to say you should go buy one of these books to figure out what heaven's like. I'm not saying they're wrong, but I'm just saying somebody's experience is never a great foundation to build your theology off of. I think, we should go to the Scriptures and see what the Scriptures have to say about heaven. If you want to read an interesting book, pick up one of those, but then really hold it up to see what the Scriptures say...

Hills + Valleys | Go Back | 1 Kings 19:19-21 | Week 6

If you've been with us over the last few weeks, you know that we're journeying through the life of one of Israel's ancient prophets, his name is Elijah.  Elijah sort of jumped onto the scene in 1 Kings 17, where he burst into King Ahab's palace and declared, "It's not going to rain again until I say it's going to rain."  Doesn't exactly make you a lot of friends.  Elijah quickly found himself on the run, led by God into the wilderness, the place at Kerith, where he was both cut down and then built back up.  Shortly thereafter, he went to Zarephath and met a widow.  God continued to build Elijah's faith.  We've sort of seen this journey Elijah's been on as one where God is growing him and shaping him and molding him into the man of God that He designed him to be.  His faith grows at Zarephath, so much so that he calls out the prophets of Baal.  He tells Ahab to have the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah to meet him on Mount Carmel.  At that place, Elijah challenges them to see whose God is the God of all the gods.  Elijah calls down fire from heaven and the fire consumes this sort of small mountain they're on.  Elijah, instead of beating his chest and saying God, you're at work, God, you're amazing, God, you're great, actually runs.  Finds himself in the season of depression where he's wondering where God is and he runs to the wilderness.  He runs to Mount Sinai.
Last week, Liz Ditty did a great job of preaching that text in 1 Kings 19, and we're going to pick up where she left off today, but I just want to remind you that the context of our passage this morning comes out of verse 3 of 1 Kings 19 and it says this:  Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.  He's been on the run.  He's heard the voice of God in the midst of this mountain---in the cleft of the rocks.  He does not hear Him in the fire, not in the earthquake of thunder, but God in the whisper.  This intimate, still small voice of God declaring His goodness and His love.  The question I want to ask today is where do you go from there?...

Hills + Valleys | The Whisperer | 1 Kings 19:9-18 | Week 5

Guest Speaker: Author and Spiritual Director Liz Ditty
If you could have the 100% complete and honest answer to any question this morning, what would you ask?  When I was twelve, I only had one burning question, and that was.....Does Jonathan Green have a crush on me?  Fortunately, I was a child of the 80's, so my cousin had the foolproof thing that could give me my answer.   The magic 8 ball.  I must have shaken this thing thirteen times, and it always came up doubtful.  The truth is Jonathan Green never had a crush on me.  I'd like to think that's because early on God knew that He had Mike Ditty, who was going to be the perfect man to walk with me through all the ups and downs of life.  That Mike's best friend, Rob Colwill, would be the best man in our wedding.  That he and his wife, Kristine, would speak wisdom and life into our marriage years before he became an elder here at South.  That if Jonathan Green had gotten in the way, we might not be here this morning.  I'd like to think that it's that well thought out, but the truth is I was a quirky kid and I cut my own bangs and I'm pretty sure that had a lot to do with it.
As that little girl grew up, my questions grew up with me.  I wanted to know why it was so hard to make friends and why I was so lonely all the time.  I wanted to know why, when I finally got my dream job, I didn't actually like it.  I wanted to know why I couldn't make my family look like I wanted it to look like.  I wanted to know what success actually looked like in my life and how I would know I had it.  None of those questions could be answered by two words on a 20-sided dice.  Today, we're going to rediscover the most important questions that we have and the best place that we can take them.  I think Elijah can help us...

Hills + Valleys | Depressed, Alone and Running | 1 Kings 19:9-18 | Week 4

What do you do after you've been miraculously fed by ravens; they've brought you little cakes in the desert?  In a middle of a drought, you had a brook that gave you enough to drink.  You saw oil and flour not run out; miraculously multiplied over and over and over again; God's provision that's unmistakable.  You saw somebody raised from the dead, because you prayed and laid down on this young boy and he came back to life.  Then you stand on Mount Carmel and you call down fire from heaven and it comes down.  {Quick survey---How many of you have down ANY of those things?}  What do you do after that?  After that scorched earth is still breathing up the remnant of that fire, where you see these prophets that are slaughtered in this valley.  I mean, this is when, if you're Elijah, you have people hoist you up on their shoulders and carry you down the mountain, right?  This is where you cue the confetti for the Super Bowl parade.  This is where there's high fives and there's no going back.  This is where you beat your chest and go, "That's my God!"  Only that's not what happened!  As high as Elijah was on that hill, he drops almost immediately to the valley.
1 Kings 19.  We're going to see more of the human, frail side of Elijah this morning.  I think maybe we can relate to that side of him a little bit better than we can relate to the side that calls fire from heaven and sees it happen.  I don't know.  Just me.  Verse 1 ---  Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. {You'll remember, if you've been here over the last few weeks, Jezebel is Ahab's wicked wife.  She's a worshipper of Baal.  She's brought that worship to Israel, the Northern Kingdom.  She's killed many of the prophets of Yahweh.  She's a blood-thirsty, vindictive, violent woman.} So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods {Those gods that were silent, those gods that weren't able to produce fire, those gods that Yahweh was more powerful than....those gods.} deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."  Then Elijah said, "Well, MY God raised the dead!  And MY God called down fire from heaven.  And MY God is with me.  And MY God is for me and you're not going to tell me what to do because....[Ryan sings] my God is greater//My God is stronger//My God is higher than any other...   Right?  That's what I expect and that's what I hope for from one of the ancient prophets of Israel, one of these guys we still name kids after.  That's what I expect...

Hills + Valleys | Main Card Yahweh vs Baal | 1 Kings 18 | Week 3

I can remember this day because there was a lot of buildup.  The day was January 28, 1997.  It was the summer before my senior year of high school.  A bunch of my friends and I had gone in together to buy a Pay-per-view boxing match.  It was Evander Holyfield vs. 'Iron' Mike Tyson.  Most boxing matches you don't remember; my guess is, you at least have a recollection of this one.  In the third round, Mike Tyson came out of the gate, tried to spit out his mouth guard, and promptly bit off a portion of Evander Holyfield's ear!  I had just dipped my first chip in the queso and I'm putting it up to my mouth and it's over....because a portion of Holyfield's ear is on the floor.  I decided that day that I'm not a huge fan of boxing.  What I recognize is that there is this draw to see a fight.  Whenever there's a fight, there's a crowd that forms, right?  There's something in us where we go......I at least want to look on and check it out.  I have a friend that invited me to go see Conor McGregor vs. [Khabib Nurmagomedov].  It was billed as the best UFC fight in the history of UFC.  I said no because I had been watching the Kavanaugh hearings that week and I'd seen enough fighting.
Have you noticed that all around us there is fighting?  There's a survey that's done by the Institute for Economics and Peace.  They give the world a peace rating every single year.  Peace is steadily on the decline, but what they found out in their most recent survey of the 162 countries around the globe that they surveyed, only ELEVEN of them are without  military conflict of some sort.  162 countries surveyed and only 11 can say we're not involved in some sort of war or some sort of conflict with our military.  That's been the case for a long time.  It is the case now.  Here's my question:  Are we just not listening to John Lennon; have we just not given peace a chance?  Is that what's going on here?  Or is there more going on in the world than we can see with just our natural eyes?...  

Hills + Valleys | The Widow at Zarepath | 1 Kings 17:7-24 | Week 2

I was in second or third grade and I was in a particular math section.  The teacher was trying to teach us some math concepts, and for some reason, my brain could not get it.  She gave exercise after exercise and she circled the plane ten different ways.  Now when my kids come home and they ask for help with math, there's like 117 different ways to it and they have to know them all, I'm like, "Can't help you, dude, sorry."  I was not getting it.  She gave us this very specific process to follow to explain this particular type of math.  Then she gave us a test.  As teachers often do, she asked us to show our work, which means you've got to show them to do it the way they taught you to do it.  I didn't like that because it seemed real hard, so I came up with my own way to solve the problem.  A new technique, if you will.  On the top right of my paper, I wrote, "Here's a new way to do this the proper way."  I was trying to teach my teacher the right way to do this.  I wrote this formula---here's how you do it---and I was hoping she'd learn from this---it's going to be in a textbook someday.  I showed my work according to my own sort of plan and then I solved the problem.  She was not as excited about this path as I was, which is really, really interesting.  The other thing is.....it was ALL wrong!  Every bit of it!  The process was wrong.  The final answer was wrong.  All of that!  After sort of going I don't want to choose this hard path, I had to go back and choose the hard path, because she made me redo it all.  I still don't understand how to do it!
We're in the series called "Hills and Valleys" and we've been exploring what do we do during uncertain times and how do we navigate through those?  We're looking at the life of Elijah to help us walk that journey.  Last week, Ryan talked about how being in the wilderness is a training ground.  I remember listening to that and going, I don't know about you, but I hate that.  I was like I do not like this --- the wilderness is a training ground.  I think it's because I wish there were a better way to experience growth.  But I've learned, as many of us have, that it seems like those wilderness moments have such power to shape us into who God created us to be...

Hills + Valleys | Water in the Wilderness | 1 Kings 17:1-7 | Week 1

If you have a picture in your mind about what a prophet is like, might I suggest to you that the biblical image might ruin your idyllic view. Prophets, in the Scriptures, weren't people who had their own TV show, weren't people who made a lot of money, they weren't people who flew around and had large followings. They were sort of fringe folks. They were the people that were on the outside of the norm, as far as faith went. They were people that took off their clothes and preached naked. They were people who cooked their food over a flaming pile of dung. They were people who married a prostitute to make a point. The prophets were on the fringes of faith. They were sojourners. They were wrestlers. They were people who had to fight for their faith. Far from being stable, they were people who doubted God. If you read through the prophet Isaiah, if you read through Jeremiah, oftentimes you'll get this lament, "God, where in the world are you?" Sojourners---physically and spiritually.Elijah, who we're starting our series on today, was no different than those other ancient prophets of Yahweh. His life is full of ups and downs, of hills and valleys. We'll see next week that Elijah sees the dead raised. He sees fire called down from heaven to wipe out the prophets of Baal. Then after that, he runs for his life for fear of Jezebel, this wicked queen. He hides in the desert. He laments that he was ever born. He contemplates taking his own life. He's a prophet who tastes joy and sorrow. Immense success and incredible defeat. He is a prophet who has great faith in God and doubts God. He's a prophet of both the hills and the valleys...