Imago Dei | Guest Speaker | Pastor Tim Johnson

What's up? It's you, it's you, it's you. Pastor Tim, I'll just say one last thing and I'll get off the stage. Already my favorite moment. I was checking Pastor Tim into the hotel. And this wonderful little young man was checking us in and asked, is there a reason for your visit today in Pastor Tim Bowling House? I'm visiting my brother. And then he looked him in the eye and said, did you know that this is my brother? And I saw this young man like look at me, like wishes this, like. [LAUGHTER] I did tell him we had different mothers, but the same father. Yeah. Because he looked confused. So I let him up a little. I'll leave you eight, the awkwardness. But it was a beautiful moment for me. Thank you, my friend. Thank you. Can we keep those applause going for Pastor Seth? [APPLAUSE] A great leader and a gift to the whole wide world. He's gone a lot because he's in demand. And so thank you for sharing the gift of this amazing man with us last year personally at Orlando World R. East Church, but also all over the world. And so your impact goes far beyond these borders of where Oregon State exists. And so in whatever high school you go to, I don't know those, so don't hold me to account for that. I do bring you greetings from Orlando World Outreach Church in Orlando, Florida. And one thing I always do every single week in our congregation, I ask a question, and it's not a trick question, because the answer's in the question. I ask to make sure that we're all at least starting in the same place with the idea that nothing I have to say to you is going to make sense without faith. If you're looking for reason, you might want to go to the library. This ain't a library today. This is a place that requires a little bit of faith. And so my question each week is faith alive, and their answer is faith is alive. Not, uh-huh. Yeah, yeah, it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that's not the answer. And I'm just wondering if, at Grace City Church, is faith alive? Faith alive. Oh, that's strong. I'm strong because Jesus is alive this morning. It's faith alive. Faith is alive. You guys done good. So let's use your faith to have you stand up, and we read the Bible. [APPLAUSE] Not in a way of self-promotion. So much of what I want to share with you today comes from a book that I wrote. And there's no glory in it because it took six years. It's called "Fatherless No More." I want to just show you this graphic. And it's actually, "Seth blew me away." I passed it, said, "Bluemirway, this morning, the book is actually outside." I mean, this is the first church I've been to, where it was there ahead of time. I'm thinking, this is the smartest dude in Oregon. How do you know these things? And so maybe we don't have the graphic. Maybe we'll have the second service, as well as three free devotionals on you version in the Bible app that allows what I want to share with you today to be cultivated, because this is not a one and done. This is a whole life. And so I want to just point to the opening scripture, and we'll jump right in. It says, "In second Samuel of three, one, there was a long war between the House of Saul and the House of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, where the House of Saul became weaker and weaker. Father, help us to see who you are so that we would know who we are in the name of Jesus. Amen. You may be seated." The title of my message is, "Why Fatherless No More? Why?" I don't know if you know, but currently, Fatherlessness is at a crisis level in Western society. It is described as the worst social crisis in America. And it's not just an American issue. It's a social pandemic that has affected nations all over the world. Just got back from Singapore, Manila, I've been to Sweden, where they have more dogs than children. All over the place, all over this country. And it's important because it affects who we are. This issue affects who we've become. This issue affects who you're going to continue to become. You see, every one of us has been born with a hole in our soul in the shape of our dad. And down in that hole is a desire that when we come into this world, our dad would be there. Be there to want us. Just want me. To be pleased with us. To see us. Tell us who we are. Protect us. Love us without having to perform a meat conditions for that love. And when our Father is absent, present but absent, detached, unengaged, unwilling, or unable to do this, it leaves the hole right there and it becomes something impossible for us to fill on our own. In fact, over time, it becomes painful. And it just develops into this gnawing emptiness, this wound that's got to be healed. And the crisis of Fatherlessness is not something that just affects the next generation. That's going to be the focus of my comments, but I will tell you this, if it's left unaddressed, it will carry over into adulthood for men and women and follow you right to your grave. Because Fatherlessness has a generational effect. And it's not a Christian issue. This ain't a Christian thing. This is a human condition issue. If you don't believe in God, you still need to hear what I want to submit to you today. It does require some element of faith to respond, but you were human before you were whatever. Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, atheists, whatever your claim is, you were human first. Can I get a weak amen? You know, down in Orlando, they're talking back to you sometimes. Y'all pretty quiet over here. There's a lot of reasons for this crisis, and I don't claim to know them all, but I do want to submit to you a couple of thoughts. Number one, when fathers are in conflict, the next generation pays the price. And notice I use the word conflict intentionally. Conflict means troubled, troubled, disturbed. Look at the landscape of our society and world. And what I want you to observe in your own investigation is the fact that the trouble we see in the world comes from the troubled souls of the Vivalus. And notice I said, when a man is in conflict, not when he has conflict, because there's nowhere you can go on the planet and not have conflict around you. So you can have conflict around you, but it doesn't mean you have to have conflict on the inside of you. And a person is in conflict when he has no peace. And I need to show you what I'm talking about through the scriptures and begin with this second Samuel 3-1, it says there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker. This issue will determine whether my life and future and legacy is getting stronger or weaker. And what we find is there's a difference between being in conflict and having conflict. It's the difference between knowing when there's an enemy I can see and when the enemy is the enemy, that I cannot see. The enemy is the enemy when those that I'm supposed to love and connect with and care for become my enemies. How did we love each other so much to start and now we hate each other's goods? It's how families break apart, it's how friendships fail and end, it's how businesses end, it's how churches spread. grave yards, prisons, jails, and hospitals are built for people not who have been overcome by the conflict around them. These places are established for the people who cannot overcome the conflict in them. And for those who are targets of that trouble. You see, when you have conflict in you, it's impossible to handle the conflict around you very well. Look at Saul. This is a scripture of contrast, Saul and David. And so they talk about Saul, they talk about David. Well, you have to go a little deeper into Saul's life to understand why they said Saul got weaker and weaker. His family, his generation. Well, Saul was a man that had conflict around him. He had wars with the Philistines and all the other ites that you find in the Old Testament. So there was no time where there was not some conflict in war between Israel, the people of God and other nations surrounding them. So that was normal. But the issue with Saul is that Saul, though, conflict around him, he did not handle conflict in him very well. In fact, he rejected being fathered by his earthly father and he rejected being fathered by God. And I can show you. In the tragedy of Saul's life, is that when the Philistines began to ramp up, he saw way back, had rejected God, even though he was the one put in place as the first king of Israel, as a cry from the people to represent the father on the earth. And he rejected being able to trust him for the trouble that was in him. He refused to not deal with his insecurities, his fear, his anxieties, pleasing man, wanting the right image. He refused to deal with it. He kept cuddling it to the point where every offer for help was rejected. And you find out in 1 Samuel 31, so in 1 Samuel 28, Philistines are about to attack him again. And he says this kind of perfunctory prayer, Lord, help me. Oh, you ain't going to help me. Okay, I'm going to go over here to this witch. I'm going to go over here and start talking to the universe and get some sprinkles and incense. And I'm going to go to the horoscopes and I'm going to go to the Ouija board. He went to the old cult for something that was ordained by God to be addressed by him. So we can't have a synchronic mindset of I can include the Lord in a whole bunch of other human inventions. And still believe that I'm going to have some victory. He had conflict around him because he refused to settle the conflict in him. It cost him and his sons their lives. And how many things are being weighed it down by trouble? Because we don't want to deal with the trouble. In 1 Samuel 31, we see the result of this war between the Philistines. Now the Philistines attacked Israel, the men of Israel, fled before them. Many were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gabor, the Philistines closed in on Saul and his sons and they killed three of his sons, Jonathan, Abiddab and Milkissua. And Saul later, he was wounded, committed suicide. He said, "Just kill me. I don't want to be caught in the hands." You know what's ironic about Saul? He breaks the stereotype of fatherlessness. You know, a lot of times fatherlessness can be stereotype as little pookie with no man in the house. You know little pookie. A little Johnny, you know little Johnny has a weekend, Disney dad. No, no, no, no, Saul had a daddy in the house and he was rich. Refirst Samuel 9. But he rejected what was a gateway to deal with the trouble. Now let's contrast that against David. David on the other hand in first Samuel 16, Samuel, the prophet goes to Jesse because Saul had lost his mind. He rejected, "Gasel, God says, I'm rejecting you. I'm taking my spirit from you and I'm going to set someone else as king over Israel." He says to Jesse, "Go get your sons and I want to," the Lord has told me, "He's going to choose one of your sons to come." Now what does it take to not be invited to important family gatherings? What does it take? I mean when I was growing up, even my drunk uncles came to the family reunion, ate up all the chicken and you know the grease popping fingers licking, lie clapping, crazy talking like even Uncle So-and-so came. Because they were part of the family, how would you feel if you found out there was a family gathering and you didn't get invited? Unseen, not good enough, rejected abandoned. Yeah, man, have a little bitterness and unforgiveness there. David wasn't even invited. In fact, Samuel had to say to Jesse, "Hey, man." He didn't say it like this, but this meant, "Hey, man, don't you got another kid?" So sometimes you can have a father and feel rejected with their father. You can feel rejected. You can feel unseen, unwanted, unprotected. And this was David's story. And when they presented all the sons, all of the sons, all of them were TikTok worthy. All of them would go viral in our world. They would have all the Instagram followers. They would look good, stood tall above everybody and the Lord said, "I didn't choose them." The one you rejected is the one I chose. So be careful how you hand a rejection by man because it could be a setup for you to know acceptance by God in heaven to be your father. David was rejected, but God became his father because he felt accepted. Unlike Saul who lost the battle, David never lost the battle. Can you imagine never losing a contract for a business, never getting any less than an A on a test? Can you imagine always having victories around your life? You imagine that? It was because even though he had conflict around, he trusted God the father to handle the conflict of all that he could have felt rejected. He could have felt unseen, unwanted. He could have had all of that, but he let the father heal his soul so that he can be made whole. We see the next generation paying the price and what's the price they pay? Second Samuel. So Saul had a father, he was a father to his sons, but the tragedy is he left his grandson fatherless. We're going to pick up the story on his grandson, fascinating. If you read through all of this, I'm just pulling out highlights. Is that okay? It was going to be anyway. I was just being polite. Second Samuel 4.4. Saul's son, Jonathan, had a son named a fibbership who was crippled as a child. He was five years old when the report from Jesuero that Saul and Jonathan have been killed in battle. When the child's nurse heard the news, she picked him up. She was doing her best and fled, but as she hurried away, she dropped him and he became crippled. When fathers and out around the hold us, emotionally, mentally, relationally, whatever you're expecting to hold you is going to drop you. Life, circumstances. And here's the thing. Being dropped and crippled and orphaned is the price, the next generation pays, but keeping mind being crippled is not just a physical state. It's the impact of fatherlessness on your soul, your mind, and your life. Anybody ever been in a dark place? Anybody ever want to hurt yourself or hurt somebody? Anybody ever have secrets that you knew if people knew about you, you would feel the shame, but you're crippled by certain things and you feel certain ways whether it's loneliness, anxiety, being bound to some addiction or sex or pornography. It's like, I'm crippled by things. I've been dropped because I never had anybody tell me the answer to the three most important questions. every human needs and answer to, to whom do I belong, what to believe and how to behave. When I don't have answers to those three questions, I begin to figure out where I belong. And I believe what is most convenient for what I feel I belong to. And then I'll behave accordingly. And let me tell you that there is an answer for these three questions. And to give you a summary statement in 1 Corinthians 8 verse 6, it says, "But for us there is one God, the Father by whom all things were created." This is the answer. All things were created. Whatever you think you belong to didn't create you, you created it. To belong to it in your image and your likeness. There is a creator whose image and likeness we will create it by and for. And for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created and through whom we live. When you don't know whom you belong to, when you don't know what to believe, when you don't know how to behave, you end up like my fivorship. Look at my fivorship. For 2 Samuel 9 verse 3 and 4, the king then asked him. And he asked Zebra, Zebra was a servant and Saul's cabinet in his family and his administration. He asked him, "Is anyone still alive from Saul's family?" If so, I want to show God's kindness to them. Zebra replied, "Yes, one of Jonathan's sons, he's still alive. He's crippled in both feet." Where is he, the king asked, in Lodobar? Can you say Lodobar? Remember that. Zebra told him, "At the home of Maker's son of M.L. hang on a second. You are born the grandson of a king and you should be in Jerusalem preparing to lead the nation but you're in Lodobar." You're in Lodobar, so when you don't know whom you belong to, you end up in places you don't belong. Mentally, you end up in a place. Relationally, you can end up in a place. Emotionally, you can have a physical address that you feel is right but not feel like you belong to anything. We have an America, a radical individualism that allows us to experience intentional loneliness and crowds. And when you look at Mfibbashyev, he's not where he belongs. He's living in the pain of being dropped and crippled. This is a physical state of debilitation but he's in a place he doesn't belong because Lodobar means land of nothing. Cut off. Maker's son of M.L. was a wealthy man so all of his needs were being taken care of. He probably went to college and got a degree and maybe he's doing some things that make him feel significant. But when you're not where you belong, something in you knows it and you feel the hole in your soul carries on. So I can have other success and it means nothing. I can climb the ladder of success and realize it's on the wrong wall. So when you look at Mfibbashyev, he becomes an example. How sometimes anybody ever feel like an imposter? You don't know what I'm saying? I felt that. Well I'm just waiting for somebody to tap me on the shoulder and say, "Man you don't belong here. I knew it. I just, "Oh, shh. Tell me where to go." You just wait for somebody. Hiding. Hiding behind all the things you hide behind so they don't figure you out. But they won't really know you, like the real you. Because sometimes we do play acting very well. We know how to put on a mask except we don't know when the mask starts sticking to our face. And this is the counterfeit life that I built. Can I give you some good news? Yeah. It's about time, dude. When fathers are in covenant, the next generation is best. Best. What do you mean by that? So load a bar was about 70, 80 miles from Jerusalem where he didn't belong. David was that war which saw, saw through spears that he had been trying to kill him because he couldn't handle the insecurity inside of him. But because David was now experiencing the blessing and the freedom of being fatherless, even though he was rejected. He wanted to honor the covenant that he had with Jonathan to look out for his family as he was looking out for David. So he said, "Where is he? Now here's what you got to understand. My man, my fibisive, is what, 70, 80 miles from Jerusalem. In his head, he is a dead man walking because he understands the history of war in ancient times. When kings and kingdoms ward, if one kingdom dominated another, everybody, dog, cat, kid, everybody is wiped out because the dominating kingdom could not stand an uprising later on to contend with their dominance. So in his head, he knew at some point they're going to find me. Like David and his people, they're going to come get me and I'm done. So he was living on bar time, knowing that at some point everything is going to come to a head and his life would be over. Well depending on which king you meet, your life could be over but if you meet the right king, your life could just be getting started." That's what he didn't understand. David sent an entourage, 70, 80 miles to go get that boy. Well he was a man now, it is his own kid. He went looking, you know how sometimes you might feel that Jesus might be mad at you because you didn't do something you sinned or didn't read your Bible eight days out of the week. It's only seven. Once you didn't, anybody would feel like that. Like sometimes he might be mad at me. Two people, that's the rest of you. You're just so righteous. Love that freedom. Like you have a feel like that? Like I'm not good enough. Let me tell you he's not mad at you. He's mad about you. And that's what we're going to see in Mephiba Shav. Mephiba Shav saw the entourage come up. He looked out at the lattice. He said, "Oh, shoot. They found me. My life is over. Got in the chariot. Came back to Jerusalem. But he met a different kind of king. And this is the encounter. In the second Samuel, 978, here's the opening line. Don't be afraid. Why is he saying don't be afraid? Take a while, guess. He was afraid. He was afraid for his life. He said, "I'm a dead man walking. Can you tell him he don't be afraid?" Listen to what else, David says. David said, "I intend not to condemn you, but to show kindness to you because of my promise to your Father Jonathan. I will give you all the property that once belonged to your grandfather, Saul, and you will eat here with me at the what? At the what? At the king's table." So, if it was Chef, bow respectfully. He's on the ground, bow respectfully, and exclaim, "What is your servant that you should show such kindness to a what?" What does it say? He's being treated like the grandson of a king, but sees himself as a dead dog. Let me tell you something. Whatever you think about yourself, you're right. I'm saving you some phone calls to people to help you try to change what's right. It's true. Whatever you think about yourself, I just save some of you money. It's true. Don't fight it. But it's not the truth. See, whatever you think about yourself, you're right. But listen to me. It's not your fault. If you realize you've been dropped and crippled, but it becomes your sin, if you don't come to the king's table and forgive those who dropped you and repent of the things that crippled you, now you want it because the king made himself available to change it. So we find this Mephibashep, looking at a king, telling him who he belonged to, what to believe, and how to behave, and he can't get it. It's impossible. It's been two-old. Sometimes it's like, I'm too old or I'm too young, I'm too something. It's like, I can't, I don't know how to deal with this. Let me tell you, be unloved today. I don't care who you are. That hole is still there. The king is in the building. The king is in the building this morning. I'm serving you notice the king is in the building. (Applause) To let you know, you're not a problem to be solved, you're a person to be loved. But if you hold on to being crippled and hold on to being dropped, all you have at best is a counterfeit life, a lesser version of what you will create it to be and how you will create it to live. And here's verse 10. This is David telling Zebra what's about to happen. Zebra reply, "Yes, my Lord, the king, I am your servant, and I will do all that you have commanded." And from that time on, Mephibbyshev ate regularly at David's table. Like what? One of the king's own sons. Mephibbyshev had a young son, a mica from then on, all the members of Zebra's household were Mephibbyshev servants, and he finally got off the floor. He finally realized the way he thought of himself was not the way he was thought of. What he was is not going to continue to be who he is. So he believed enough. He got up at the king's table, and I thought, you know what? If two human beings, David and Jonathan can make a covenant to take this young man from being fatherless to fatherless no more, how much more does the king have a covenant with their father, not my father, a redemption to take someone like me from being fatherless to fatherless no more? If it worked for two humans, how about the father and the son working by the spirit to make me fatherless no more? And just so you know, I'm not just preaching the Bible in 1965 when I came in this world at 2.31 in the morning, just like you, I have a birth certificate where it says, "Father and mother," on the mother line, it has my mama's name, but on the line where it says, "Father is still empty." There's no name there. I know what it's like to walk around with a hole in your soul in the shape of your dad looking for something that you never found. And making a lot of mistakes, I was a mistake that I was trying to solve. And it's amazing what you can accomplish when you're motivated by pain. As Pastor Self mentioned, I showed some students last night that you may never see this again for the rest of your life because you have people with a bunch of super-bull rings or a bunch of national championship rings, but it's very, very exclusive. The club are men of one of each. A super-bull ring and a national championship ring. You can do all kinds of things, even as an orphan. But this is the ring that shows I'm a love son because this is 39 years married to one woman and I've never cheated on her even though I played ten years in the NFL. (Applause) This let you know success wasn't going to become my life. My father's love is my life. And oh, by the way, do you ever picture of my family? I need to show you that when Jesus, I was a dead dog. Trust me. I was a dead dog. I was not looking for Jesus. I never found Jesus. I never found Jesus. I wasn't looking for Him. Can I just be honest for a minute? I have been the whole time, and this is extra honest. (Laughter) Can I be extra honest? You know why I wasn't looking for Jesus? I was looking for more sin. I was literally looking for sin. It was the only thing that helped me for a few minutes and then it sent me back into depression. Then I had to deal with anxiety again. But at least I get relief for a moment. And I just realized I was going to live my whole life like that because the whole was too painful for me to not do something about. I didn't find Jesus. He found me. Because in John 14, 18, he says, "No, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." He came to me a dead dog. Drop and crippled. Often unwanted unseen, not good enough. And Jesus on the cross allowed himself to be dropped by the father, crippled with my and your sin. But when he rose from the dead, he allowed us all who would put our trust in him to become fatherless no more. And all my birth certificate now, I see a name you can't see. It says, "Heavenly Father, He has been read because it costs the blood of his son to break the curse of fatherlessness over my life." And I know it's broken because I didn't have a name or my birth certificate. But I got my name on all my baby's birth certificate. (Applause) When he invited me to the table, I got up in my mess, my trash life. I got up in no, by the way, I was an all-American in high school, all-American in college. I mean, I was a successful guy in high school, prom king, all best all around, you know, boys, club, role model. I was all of that, but I was trash inside. Troubled. And I got honest. I let my guard down and got honest one time. It says, "You tell him the truth about me. Some of you are me. If you're honest, you are me. You might look good, but down inside you know this trouble." Something missing. That client to the table. Jesus welcomed me as his home. I became fatherless no more. And the freedom he's given me is giving hope to those around me because I've invited my wife to the table, my kids to the table, my sons-in-laws to the table. I invited cities to the table, nations to the table, and oh, by the way, I don't have much time, but I went to the worst place in this country, if not the world, correctional facility. Rikers Island in New York. The most violent jail on Rikers Island, I entered in, lived there for five months, and now I go back once a month for a week, and saw the violence in the most violent jail for 18 to 21 years, and the most violent jail, the violence went down 60%. And I had no weapon, but I began to tell these young men whom they belonged to, what to believe and how to behave. Let me ask you to close your eyes. For some of you who came in here feeling accomplished and feeling good, but you know you're fatherless. Not because of physical proximity to a man. Every earthly father is a comma, not a period. When they become a period, I don't see anything past them, but when they become a comma, even the good ones, I see access to the father who loves me. And if you hear today, and you know there's someone you got, to forgive, to drop you, it could have been a mother, could have been a friend, could have been a coach. And then there's some things that have crippled you, that you have to take responsibility for. I want you in your lap, just ball up both hands, because this is the condition of our soul. Just ball up both hands. It takes humility to do this, because there's something in us that doesn't want to show, hey, I really need this. You know what? I don't care, because you can't save me. If you're willing to humble yourself and come to the king's table, just in your lap, ball up both hands, not together, separate. And I want to pray a prayer with you. And this is the prayer family. Say it with me, Father, thank you, that you see me. I'm so sorry I have not seen you. I have been blinded by the pain and the shame. Of being dropped and crippled. But today, I trust you. I trust that you love me. You love me enough. to give me the grace, to let go, and forgive those who've dropped me, including my father. So I choose now to forgive and then say the names you need to forgive, whomever, however, say that name. Say, I forgive you. I release you. You no longer own me anything. Jesus Christ is my Lord. My Heavenly Father loves me. And then say, Father, I choose to repent and no longer make excuses for the things that have crippled me. I repent of my own sin and ask you to cleanse me and heal me and fill me with your spirit and allow the holes in Jesus' body to make me whole in my soul. I trust you today in the name of Jesus. On the count of three, release and open both hands and lift them high to receive what the Father's going to do right now. One, two, three. Let it go. Oh, hallelujah, holy spirit. Now I trust you for the pouring of overwhelming love and power. Just say, Father, I receive. Say it like I receive your overwhelming love. I receive your overwhelming power to live in the freedom of being fatherless. No more because you're my father. I belong to you. I'm loved by you. And I will behave like I believe in Jesus' name. Can somebody give him praise right now? Can somebody give him a shot? Can somebody say, "Hallelujah?" Oh, I'm like he's such a freak. Can somebody say, "Hallelujah?" (audience cheering) Praise God. Praise God. I need to tell you this. I'm in Texas, successful businessman, entrepreneur, young guy. Doing big things in the hallway after the meeting. It was a powerful meeting. I looked at him and I said, "You're not cursed." And he took us that back. He says, "I don't feel." I said, "You're blessed." He said, "I don't feel that way." It's amazing how the lies prevail. So I'm gonna tell you, "Look up at me. You're not cursed. You're blessed. You're blessed." And I want you to say this with me right now. Father, thank you. That you see me and you like what you see. Thank you that you made me to love me. I am loved. I am loved by you. Father, show me. I act like you wanna believe this. Father, show me. How to enjoy the way you love me. Show me how you want to express your pure love to those around me with the help of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus. - Name of Jesus.