What I can't...

Hey there, beloved…
 
There are a few things I cannot do. Some are legit. Some are not. But where I can’t, maybe you can. Curious? Let’s talk in Deeper Thoughts below…
 
But first, just four quick reminders:
 

• Join us TOMORROW, Saturday, October 11, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. for a fun morning preserving the history of Mt. Hope. We’ll clean up our cemetery headstones, trim up cemetery grounds, and other fun history stuff! RSVP to Sherri at [email protected] or text 571-437-3127 so we can know who’s coming!

                                                                                                                 

• Teens:  Youth Group THIS Sunday, 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. with food, fun, fellowship, and the Word. God is doing some really great things in our youth group!!

 

• Get creative and fun—Trunk or Treat is Sunday, October 26 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. We need your help decorating cars, handing out candy, greeting folks, and all manner of fun and activities. Sign up in the church foyer on Sunday or email Chris Bowen at [email protected].

 

• Join me for “The Daily Six” – six minutes each morning in the Word of God, Monday through Friday, on our YouTube channel. If you’d like to receive daily email reminders and you’re not already getting them, click here to sign up!

 
OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers and you who have zero incapabilities. BUT…
 
 
Some Deeper Thoughts:
 
Some of my incapabilities are legit. Some of them are laziness or disinterest. Some are fear.
 

• I cannot bench press my own body weight. Lazy category. I could do the work to get that buff. But why?

 

• I cannot breathe underwater. Legit. God did not design me that way. It will never happen. (I tried once. It hurt.)

 

• I cannot hold a large, hairy spider in my hand. Fear. Serious fear. Freak out and burn the house down kind of fear.

 
God had a plan and a vision for Israel. Part of this plan was for them to be the tip of the spear in bringing justice against a profoundly wicked people (see Deuteronomy 9:4-6). The other part of this plan was to reward them with a land of their own, a land of abundance that was “flowing with milk and honey,” and whose grapes were spectacular (Numbers 13:23-27).
 
But to this spectacular plan, Moses’s entire generation said, “we can’t” (Numbers 13:31).
 
God’s intention for us is always laden with immense blessing. See Jeremiah 29:11. But sometimes that blessing will cost us a LOT to get there. For Israel in this defining moment, the cost would be a difficult and drawn-out war. No one wants to go to war. But sometimes it is necessary to confront great evil. There is a blessing on the other side as faithfulness to God’s call is rewarded with rest and peace.
 
Fear got them this time. The “I cannot” wasn’t legit. God was able. The “I cannot” wasn’t laziness or disinterest. It was simply fear. Giants were in the land ahead of them. The risks were high. Dependence on God would be their only hope, and the faith required to willingly place themselves in that situation was more than their emotions would allow.
 
One important note: Fear is not incongruent with faith. I can have faith and still be afraid. I believe God can (and will) do this, but I’m still scared. Faith can coexist with fear. It just rules over it. When I choose faith over fear, the fear does not go away. It is simply put in submission under faith. Faith decides to go forward. Fear is forced to tag along.
 
Moses’s generation chickened out. They chose fear over faith. “Nope. Not going. Cannot.” (Correction: “Will not.”)
 
God couldn’t do anything more with that choice. He never violates human free will. So, God marched them back out into the relatively secure desert to give them the safety they wanted. It was safe in the sense that no one would attack them out there because no one wants to live in a desert. And there they sat. For forty years.
 
It would be a new generation that would finally rise up in faith. Young people. The kids of that fearful generation. They would believe God where their parents had not.
 
In Deuteronomy 31, Moses resigned. He passed the baton of leadership to Joshua, one of the only remaining leaders from Moses’s generation. Joshua was one of only two from the original military scouting team who had believed God could deliver Canaan into Israel’s hand forty years earlier. Ten of his other colleagues said, “we can’t,” and their fear became Israel’s fate.
 
But now, the kids of that faithless generation were ready to believe, so Joshua would lead them forward to take possession of the land.
 
Friends, let’s bring this home to you and me.
 
Does anyone doubt that our current generation of leaders in our society has lost their way? It’s been a long time since “The Greatest Generation” won a world war against fascism and delivered the planet from tyranny. Most of us who are currently in middle to late adulthood--the ones of us who presently hold all the political and economic power—grew up as kids and grandkids of that very faithful generation. WE became the faithless generation who has largely abandoned God in favor of comfort.
 
(Now don’t misunderstand me here… the vast majority of us Baby Boomers and Gen-X’ers reading this letter are personally and profoundly faithful to God. But we are part of a larger culture that is not. Even in the Church throughout our society, a spiritual laziness has decimated our vitality in the things of God. We are not living in the promised land of spiritual abundance and power.)
 
But a new generation is here. They are the kids of these two lazy generations that presently hold power and are keeping our society stuck in a spiritual desert. And these kids might just be ready to believe God and cross the Jordan River. For the first time in decades, statistics are showing a rise in conversion to Christ—and it’s coming from a unique demographic: Gen-Z young people, especially young men.
 
Even at Mt. Hope Church, there has been a subtle but noticeable shift where a TON of young adults are exploring faith in our church. They have a hunger for God that we Boomers and Gen-X’ers need to step up and pour into.
 
This Sunday, one of my lifetime close friends, Pastor Chris Campbell, will open the scriptures for us and challenge us with the transition from Moses to Joshua, and what that means for us today. Chris and I met three decades ago doing ministry with teenagers in central West Virginia. We co-pastored a church in Ashburn for a few years more than a decade ago. These days, he and his wife, Cynthia, are a regular part of our online community at Mt. Hope.
 
Let’s dig into the Word of God this Sunday… bring your Bibles. And let’s look at what we need to do to inspire the faith of a new generation. They can go well beyond any of our own “I can’t’s”.
 
What I cannot do, I bet they can. Let’s empower them, shall we?
 
Can’t wait… Much love to you all…
 
Chris Eads
Mt. Hope Pastor
Friend