I Didn’t Sign Up For This – What To Do When The Abnormal Becomes The New Normal – Part 2

The Dream Team

(an unsuspecting story)

Lessons:

• Play for the name on the of the jersey and not the .
• Discern the and urgency of the moment.
• You can be . (Just showing up is not enough).

Application

Lesson # 1

• Play for the name on the of the jersey and not the .

Spiritual Concept

• “The goal is not to get back to normal but to get back to God”—Bishop Dale Bronner
• This should not merely be an act of deference, but an act of.
• The church belongs to God and anything in His hands is unstoppable (Matthew 16:18 [ESV]).
• God decides when church activity resumes in buildings, not us. (Jeremiah 28:14 [ESV]; Jeremiah 29:10-14 [ESV]; Ezra 1:1-4 [ESV]).
• Debate about what the church should do in the pandemic diminishes when we remember whose church it is (I Corinthians 3:3-9 [ESV]).
• Jesus is building His church, but it is one made of, not bricks.

Lesson # 2

• Discern the and urgency of the moment.

Spiritual Concept

• Discern the Context
• Matthew 24:3-14 [NKJV]

• The national and global scene is in a state of disarray, some of which is unprecedented.
• Whether or not are fully living out Matthew 24 right now, what is clear is that the for fulfilling it currently exist.
• Consider the changes to the world in the last 20-25 years that have changed our way of life:
• • The internet
  • The Bush v. Gore Presidential Election
  • 9/11
  • Smart devices
  • Social media
  • The 2008 Presidential Election and the eventual election of President Obama
  • LGBTQ Legislation
  • The election of President Trump
  • Drastic changes to American foreign policy
  • The current pandemic (and the domino effect on the economy, education and other spheres of society)
  • The George Floyd killing and its aftermath

If all of these things could happen in a 20-25-year period, consider what could transpire within the next 20-25 years?

Lesson # 3

• You can be —but can’t. (Just showing up is not enough; you have to lean into and His for the church).

Spiritual Concept

• Distinguish between the things you can control and the things you can’t control.
• If the current pandemic is one of the pestilences Jesus about, it is in God’s hands, not ours. (Matthew 24:21-22 [ESV]).
• However, you can choose to be more rooted in , which is key to enduring the events that lead up to the end of this age (Matthew 13:18-23 [ESV]).

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2020