2017 NEW YEARS MESSAGE

My Story

I have abandonment issues.  There I said it!  I just gave away my biggest weakness.  Much of this has existed since I was a child, but it was deeply pronounced when my first wife walked out on me.  It really came to the forefront when I was a pastor.  While in the middle of getting the church ready for VBS for the first time in ten years, a family in the church that was helping became angry over something that was totally fabricated and left.  I felt abandoned like I had on the day my first wife walked out.  It is both an annoyance and a major issue that needs to be dealt with.

After things fell apart at the church I began a journey of questioning if I should be in the pastorate.  In fact it was so bad that I thought maybe I should not even preach anymore.  The very last service things blew open so bad that I had to take measures to protect myself from a man who was rushing the rostrum.  It wasn’t pleasant.

The incident forced me to reflect.  Before the divorce I had been fairly productive.  It seemed anything I touched ministry and work wise just seemed to prosper.  Youth ministries, college & career classes, home based Bible studies, evangelism events seemed to all just work.  In fact the several of the BMA churches were I was interim pastor all seemed to take off and start growing before the new pastor came in.  I even had three churches considering me to pastor.  You might say it was the golden era of ministry for me.  

However after the divorce things were different.  I lost my job because the business shut down.  I still had the opportunity to preach from time to time, but nothing like what it was before.  At one point the one church that was looking at me to pastor decided against it because of the divorce.    I decided to go back to college and finish my degree at Dallas Baptist University.  I went to a larger church that was a part of a larger Baptist denomination. While involved there I met Mary.  The two of us married a year later.  At that point I thought things might turn around.  Things just were not meant to be.  While at this church Mary and I started working with the 20 Somethings class in the Singles Ministry.  It had two people.  Within a month we had ten.  About six months later we had twenty.  Because our work was growing and the College & Career class was not the associate pastor encouraged the College and Career teacher to get those in our class to start attending their class.  So Mary and I would do the work while they reaped the benefit.  His reasoning was because the younger singles who had never been married didn’t need to around a group of divorced, bitter people.  Never mind that half of the twenty year olds in the class was either divorced already, single mothers, or couples who use to live with each other before Mary and I counseled them.

About two years later I followed one of the staff members to another church to be their education minister.  While there I was excited hoping to see a small urban church revived and reaching out her community.  That lasted four years and we moved our membership back to the church I originated at.  While at my old home church I became their youth minister because the one before me became a missionary.  He had been there for ten years.  It was not easy since the church and surrounding area were in transition.  Plus the former youth minister continued to come around which made things very difficult.  The best I could do was maintain the ministry.  There was some growth which was very little because the youth who were imbedded there did not want to participate in ministry.

Add to those lack luster moments the church that I resigned from and you get the last thirteen years of my life in ministry as a virtual failure.  I began to think maybe it was time to move on to other things.  Maybe I could do something that would help my family financially and just support ministries rather than be involved in them.  

I was on total burnout.  In fact I was even ready to chunk the towel in on my job.  There I had received abuses as well, which added to the ugly in the situation.  My thoughts were turning toward just giving up.  I wasn’t suicidal, but I was beginning to lean in a suicidal direction professionally, ministry, and socially.  Something was about to snap and it was going to be ugly.  

It was at the point that I thought I was going to break.  I had made my mind up…trash it all and go live for myself.  Never mind the grace of God which had been given to me through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.  Never mind the sacrifice made for me through Jesus Christ.  Never mind the Holy Spirit who has been working in my life since I was 17.  Never mind the ministry work that God had done by allowing me to be used by Him.  Never mind the family He had given to me.  Never mind the loving son He gave to my wife and me when we were told to stop trying.  Never mind the countless people who supported me through my difficulties of the divorce.  Or for that the extreme support I had received from both those who belonged to the church I pastored and those who had been praying for me during this deep moment of despair.  Never mind any of that!  All I can say is look at the good God has done for me, but I was ready to call it quits.

That’s when the minute of miracle occurred.  I have programed in my phone for a verse from the Bible to pop up every morning.  Right at that moment when I was going to go for the gusto and quit, Isaiah 41:10 came up, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” 

It was a verse I had memorized years ago when I was going through the trials and pitfalls of my first marriage before the divorce.  It meant a lot to me then and its meaning was about to get deeper.

When I glanced at the phone the only words I saw was, “…I am with you…”  It grabbed me as if God Himself was telling me that.  But once I sit back and think about it, since I do believe in inerrancy and infallibility, God was talking to me!

My heart stopped and I looked again.  God knew what I needed.  I deserved Hell, but He gave me salvation!  I deserved a rebuke but He showed kindness!  Despite all of the grief, disappointments, and failures I had seen God literally told me, “…I am with you…”

I am sure I have a long way to go.  This is possibly the first step of many back to recovery.  Not recovery of ministry, but of a relationship which I have need of.  Ministry should be the outpouring of my life not what I base my life on.  Success had formed a mentality of entitlement.  The abuse of others had brought the feeling of abandonment.  God used that to bring a refreshing walk with Him.

So is that the message?  No, but it makes a great introduction for what this verse can mean for us throughout this year.  Let’s take a moment and see how it applies to our thoughts for 2017.

Do Not Fear

One of the things that made 2016 so difficult was the election.  For eight years we have lived under a very repressive government that was meant to be representative.  The election was brutal especially if you didn’t support Donald Trump as the nominee and especially if you supported him after he received the nomination.  (In other words he was not my first choice.)  But Trump won and now I have many friends who “fear” the worse.  To be very honest, I think it could be better if my person would have won in the primaries, but I am very doubtful that things will be worse under Mr. Trump. 

So the message is from God, do not fear what tomorrow brings.  No, literally He says that.  When teaching His disciples in Matthew 10 He discussed with them about how that there would be abusive, arrogant people who would come into their lives and into the lives of the churches they would plant.  He called them wolves and serpent (v. 16).  But Jesus tells His disciples, “Therefore, do not fear them…” (v. 26).  Just to make sure that is understood He repeats Himself in verse 31, “So do not fear…”

Each time we are called out to actively pursue God in faith, fear is the very result.  But it is the reason not to fear that is important!  God simply tells the people of Judah, “Do not fear, for I am with you…”  The presence of God is a powerful thing. The very thought of God being with us takes the fear out of things.  And why wouldn’t it, John states in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”

That leads us to our next thought:

Do Not Anxiously Look About You

This reminds me of Peter walking on the water in Matthew 14:22-33.  The narrative goes that Jesus sent His disciples out in a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee while He prayed.  During that time a storm rose up and was tossing the little boat around.  At this point the Lord comes to them walking on water.  The disciples were afraid thinking it was a ghost.  When the Lord tells them that it is Him Peter requests to go walk out on the water as proof.  Peter does walk on the water, looks away from the Lord at the waves and begins to sink.  He cries out to the Lord who pulls him out of the water.  So why did Peter sink into the water he was successfully walking on?  Verse 30 shows us, “But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’”  Peter looked at his situation and became frightened as a result.  Do not get this wrong!  Peter’s fears did not cause him to sink!  It was taking his eyes off of the Savior that caused him to sink.  

The key is found in the adjoining statement in Isaiah 41:10, “…for I am your God”.  The reasons for not being anxious by those things swirling around us is simple, God is in control.  Not always what any of us want to hear, but the truth is in the fact that all things are in His control.

The writer of Hebrews gives us words of encouragement in Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  The idea is that the race is finished with the help of keeping our eyes focused on the One who gives us the strength to not only finish the race but finish it correctly.

Three Areas of Support For Us in Doing God’s Will

God through Isaiah promised help to the nation of Israel resulting in the defeat of their enemies.  The same is true for those who believe in Christ.  If we have truly turned from our fear to His presence and have moved from a people who are anxious about what is going on around us because of the person of God Himself, then there are three provisions that are given to us as well.

First, He promises to strengthen us.  Paul notes best in 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 regarding a particular weakness he had, “Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.  And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’   Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”  In the midst of our weakness throughout this year, if we place our trust in God’s presence and fix our eyes on Christ Himself, then the strength of God will be manifest in our lives.  We may not always see it, but we can live with assurance that this is true.

Second, His help will be ever present.  It makes sense that if He will strengthen us He will also help us.  Again this is in line with recognizing His presence and committing our eyes on Him.  The Psalmist proclaimed this deeply in Psalm 46:1-3, “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.”  Despite all of the troubles from life and nature the refuge that we have is in the very strength and help we have in Christ.

The final thing that God promises us for this coming year is the fact we have His support.    Again we turn to the Psalms for a deeper explanation.  In Psalm 89:13-14 it’s noted, “You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted.  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.”  Here we see that the strength of God’s hand is found in His righteousness.  Because He is righteous He knows where and how to support us in our endeavors.  In other words He is not going to support anything that does not bring Him glory and does not exhibit His righteousness.

Final Thought

So how does this all relate to us?  First, as we move through the year we need to constantly stay aware of God’s presence in everything that goes on.  This will keep fear from invading and robing us of the wealth we have in Christ.  Second, as the year moves forward we need to understand that God is with us during those anxious moments that will come along during 2017.  In all that we go through we must remember that step by step, when in our weakest moments God is there strengthening us; in our moments of helplessness He becomes our help; and in our times when there seems to be no support, as long as we are living within His righteous will, He will always be our support.

The only way to get any of this from the Lord is if we know Him personally.  And the only way to know Him personally is through the person and work of Jesus Christ.  You and I have to conclude that without Him we are too weak to save ourselves from our situations or our sins.  Without Him we must conclude that we are helpless to save ourselves.  And without Him we will find no support for having eternal life.  The Lord Jesus died for our sins which nailed Him to the cross.  Through the strength of His resurrection we can find eternal life.  All we have to do is turn away from ourselves and place our trust in Him alone.  This is the only way to find hope, help, and support in 2017.

His Servant with You,

Steven Swaim

President & Founder, Be Devoted Ministries

Please look for my next upcoming book Walking Faith.

If you have any speaking engagements in which you would like for me to speak, feel free and contact me at StevenSwaim@BeDevotedMinistries.com.  Please place “Speaking Engagement” in the subject line.  I will need a contact phone number, date of the event, and the place in which I will be speaking.  All other arrangements will be made from when contact is initiated by me.