How a Worldwide Pandemic Exposes the Heart

I have shared publicly a couple of times that God uses trials to expose us.  He uses trials to expose what’s really in our hearts - where we’ve placed our hope.  God has used the trials of this worldwide pandemic and my life to expose a lot of false hopes and counterfeit gods in my life - and it’s been very painful. Maybe you can resonate with what I’m struggling through. 

Stuff like: 

Watching investments dwindle and our economy be dismantled.

Seeing ministry work with MSU come to a screeching halt.

Having a computer hard drive crash (never a good time to lose years of work).

Wondering how this virus will affect my friends and family.

A future that feels more uncertain than it ever has.

James tells us to consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds because the testing of our faith develops perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4).

Paul wrote something similar to the Church at Rome in Romans 5:3-5 ESV:

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Did you see the progression there? 

Suffering -> Endurance -> Character -> Hope  

It would almost seem like we have to suffer in order to come out the other side of the equation with our hope placed firmly in Jesus.

God wants to help us learn to depend on Him.  And as we face trials, He wants us to come to the end of ourselves so that we can learn to fully trust Him:  with our finances, our health, our work, and our future.

We are entering into a season in life where our hearts have been and will continue to  be exposed. For me, as things are stripped away, I am forced to slow down and ask the question - can I be content without ________ (401K, vacations, work, health, school, March Madness, workout facilities, dreams, etc)?  Is Jesus enough?  

My encouragement to you is to take the time to slow down, get alone with Jesus, and deepen your prayer life.  Go to Him with your wrestling. Take your concerns to Him. Pour out your heart to Him. Ask Him to redirect your eyes off of the temporary and onto the unseen eternal.  Ask Him to fill you with hope - the hope of the resurrection, the hope of one day being with Jesus.

God is always about refining - remember His goal is to make you and me like His Son (Romans 8:28-29).  You and I aren’t the first to have struggled with our circumstances. God wants to put our lives on display to a watching world.  How do we respond to a worldwide pandemic? What really matters to us? How is God at work in our lives? Let’s lean hard into Jesus and point a watching world to Him.

What can I do to improve my mental health?

You’re just moving into campus. Everything is exciting and new. The weather is great. There’s no pressure from classes yet. Your anxiety and depression seems like a thing of the past. How can you keep moving in a positive direction with your mental health struggles? We thought we’d put a series of articles together to try and give some encouragement to you as you start this academic year.

We asked Dr. Keith Nelson D.O., a series of questions on what a college student can do to stay healthy. We’re going to share the results of our interview with you:

Dr. Nelson, can you share your top 5 thoughts relating to anxiety/depression?
1. “Both are increasing in prevalence every year in all ages.”
2. “Anxiety and depression very often both exist together.”
3. “They are associated with the lack of adequate un-interrupted sleep.”
4. “Marijuana use may exacerbate symptoms and may even cause ADHD and psychosis.”
5. “Seems to relate to rising loneliness/social isolation and use of technology devices.”

Dr. Nelson, what kinds of advice do you give to young people who want to move forward positively as they struggle with anxiety and depression?
1. “Sleep 8 hours nightly without interruption by technology.”
2. “A good practice is to avoid texting and computer 2 hours before bedtime.”
3 “Set an exercise goal of 30 minutes daily. You can even divide that up during the day in 10-15 minute intervals.”
4. “Your diet can play a significant role in your mental health. I encourage students to avoid caffeine, alcohol, sugars, and processed food. Chose to add vegetables and fruits into diet choices.”

Dr. Nelson, those are excellent suggestions. Most of the counsel you just gave us has to do with sleep, exercise, and diet. What else can someone do to make progress in this struggle?
1. “Count your blessings daily. Keep a journal and actively keep track of the things you are thankful for in your life.”
2. “Spend time in meditation or prayer.”
3. “Address any unresolved conflicts in relationships.”
4. “Find ways to serve others.”
5. “Find a confidant or a group of like-minded people with values and character that you respect to share your thoughts of concerns, fears, goals, life.”

Thanks so much, Dr. Nelson, for your thoughts on this topic!

At MSU, there are lots of people who would love to walk with you in your struggle. You can pursue professional help. You can also find people who would love to walk alongside you! The GreenHouse Community is a Christian community and we would love to offer a listening ear and some encouragement (we’ll also take you out for coffee or ice cream on us!). Any time throughout the year, you can text “GreenHouse” to 94090 if you want to connect!

A big thanks to Keith G. Nelson D.O. Family medicine. Dr. Nelson wanted to make a special mention that MSU resources are found at Student Health and Wellness Counseling and Psychological Services. Other college students can contact their college/university counseling services for more information or to get help.

What does it take to navigate Michigan State's campus life successfully?

Have you ever thought about what your vision is for your time on Michigan State’s campus? What do you want your time to look like? Even more importantly than that, who do you want to become over the next four years of your life?

How will you have the most deeply fulfilling experience over the next half a decade? How will you end up happy, healthy, and prepared to take on the challenges that our world throws your way? Here are 5 things to consider as you move to MSU over the next couple of days:

1. Find a great group of friends to connect with. Your community dictates who you will become. Step out of your comfort zone and meet people on your dorm floor and in your classes.

2. Get involved with life giving activities. Jump into a group with people who enjoy the same kinds of things you enjoy. If you love to run, join the running club. If you love to fish, jump into the MSU fishing club.

3. I’m going to sound like a dad with this one: Take care of yourself. Eating right, exercise, and getting consistent, solid sleep are a couple of great examples of ways you can take care of yourself. Talk to anyone who is trying to help students on campus in the midst of a mental health crisis and they will all say the same thing: sleep, diet, and exercise are all super important to your mental wellbeing.

4. Approach your school work like a job. My pastor when I was in college encouraged us to work at school as if it were a 40 hour week job. Put in an 8-5 with class and study and you’ll be surprised with how much free time you’ll have.

5. Pursue answers to the biggest questions in life: Why are you here (Purpose)? Does God exist? If so, who is He? What’s He like? How can I know Him? What happens after the grave?

We started the GreenHouse to help students pursue all of these areas. If you are looking for more information about finding a life giving community on campus, text the word “greenhouse” to 94090 and we’d love to connect with you and buy you coffee or ice cream and connect with you!

Navigating Transitions

One could argue that all of life is a series of transitions.  You’re born, you transition to life outside the womb, sleeping, nursing, eating, walking, using the big potty, puberty, school transitions, job/career, marriage transitions, parenting transitions, more job transitions, empty nest transitions, and th you die or those you love die.  All of life is a series of transitions. So...

How do you navigate a transition successfully?

1. Know Jesus.

   We must keep the first things first. Times of transition can be distracting and disorienting. This is a vital time to draw closer to Jesus, know him better, and learn to trust Him more. How?

   Pursue Him in…

   • The Bible: Make reading God’s Word the focus of your life – come up with a plan before the transition. As you read, ask yourself, “What is God revealing about himself to us in this passage?” Learn or be reminded of who God is. What is His character like? (He is faithful, steadfast, loving, merciful, kind, powerful, etc.)

   • Prayer:  Transitions can often be lonely times – this can be a great time to deepen your intimacy with God through engaging Him in frequent prayer. Set aside a specific time regularly (daily) and pray.  Don’t just intercede. Talk to God about your life.

   • Obedience:  Is there a specific area where you just need to obey – practice obedience. Don’t just know something about God… know Him because you have experienced Him in your life.

   • Community:  find a community and pursue Christ-centered relationships. (2 Timothy 2:22) They can help you process through your difficulties - get advice, encouragement, and assistance.

2. Know Yourself.

   Know your weaknesses. Where are you more likely to get tripped up or tempted when out of your comfort zone? Make plans to protect yourself during this time. Proverbs 27:12 says “Sensible people will see trouble coming and avoid it, but an unthinking person will walk right into it and regret it later.”

3. Know Your Adversary.

   Be aware of the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:10-13; 2 Corinthians 2:10-11).

   What are the schemes of the devil?

   1. Deception: This is #1 for a reason. It is Satan’s primary tool. Jesus calls him the Father of Lies for a reason (John 8:44).

   2. Division of believers: He seeks to destroy God’s community. (Matthew 13:1-58)

   3. Doubt the character of God: Question God’s words, His love, and His goodness (Genesis 3 – “Is God really good?”).

   4. Complacency:  “This is a dangerous state because it causes us to see no need for self-examination. Being overly satisfied with how things are and not wanting to change them for the better prevents us from accelerating with God from glory to glory. In fact, to stop going forward in the spiritual life is to go backward...even if we're standing still.”
      Read more at https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/galleries/6-strategic-schemes-the-enemy-uses-to-distract-you.aspx?p=2#lxTxrcc3QDS1fbRp.99

   5. Discouragement: Keeping us disheartened or in paralyzing despair.

   6. Diversion: Makes the wrong things seem attractive and harmless. You may want them more than the right things.

   7. Defeat: By using shame, guilt or self-doubt, you feel like a failure, so you don’t even try.

   The best way to beat the devil: Know Christ and Live in the truth of the gospel.

Since all of life is a series of transitions, we need to spend some time thinking through how we can navigate them well. You’re probably on the verge of a transition right now - it’s a great time to draw near to God and allow the transition to push you closer to Him!

How do you choose which Christian group to connect with while you're at MSU?

In an age with lots of options, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and choose nothing. I would highly discourage you from making that choice as you’re transitioning to a campus like Michigan State. Here are a couple things to consider while making a decision:

1. Is the focus Jesus? Get involved somewhere where Jesus and the gospel message are the focus.

2. Is the group connected with a local church? The NT teaches us that the church is the vehicle to reach the world with the gospel. The beauty of finding a college ministry connected with a church is that you will learn about what it will be like to be apart of a local church - which is what you will be involved with for the rest of your life.

3. Is there a multigenerational influence? Wouldn’t it be awesome to find a ministry where olders and youngers interact together. It seems like young people need older people in their lives to offer wisdom and life skills that you may not have developed or seen the need for up to this point in your life.

4. Does the ministry have a dynamic community? Finding a community is huge - but you need to find a community that is healthy and focused outward on trying to serve and love people outside of itself.

You will become like the community you are a part of. It’s a principle that is true at every point in life - and especially when you are making a transition to Michigan State University. Make the decision before you arrive to jump in and be apart of a local church and ministry and join in the effort of taking the life transforming gospel of Jesus to your fellow Spartans!

Connect + Engage = Grow

I love to fish. And what makes fishing so enjoyable to me is hard to put into one sentence. But a lot of the pleasure that I get from fishing has to do with learning and success. I love learning new details about fishing and as I engage with those new concepts and techniques and experience success, I grow as a fisherman. And the same principles apply not only to other sports and hobbies and vocations, but also to our spiritual growth as a follower of Jesus.

As I connect with God and others about my faith journey and as I engage in loving God and others, I begin to be shaped and molded as a disciple of Jesus. That’s really what discipleship is all about. It’s about learning. A disciple of Jesus is someone who submits their life to be a learner and a follower of the most amazing Rabbi who has ever walked the earth - the God-man Jesus.

We believe that as you connect with God and others and as you engage with Him in the stuff that He’s doing around you, you will grow to become more like Him. And when it’s all said and done - we can say that God’s will for you is just that - He wants to make you more like His Son, Jesus.

Here are a few tangible ways for you to engage with Jesus and the work of God around you:

1. Look for ways to serve people. Serve your family and friends that you know, and serve people that you don’t know as well.

2. Look for ways to tangibly love people. This might seem redundant - loving and serving people is the same thing, right? Sometimes. Loving someone might be leaning in and listening. It might mean giving - being generous. Jesus said that we should do to others as we would have them do to us. So we could start by loving the people around us the way we feel and experience love.

3. Learn the art of engaging in relationship and conversation. This is huge and scary stuff for many people. But there’s no better day than today to start the process of learning how to engage in relationship and conversation. Start by simply taking an interest in the people around you. Look for opportunities to listen to them and learn about the things that they are interested in. That’s how you build relationship.

4. The most important step of engagement - gospel dialogue. Maybe it’s too overwhelming to begin with something connected with the gospel…that’s OK. Start by asking your friends and family this question: Do you have any kind of spiritual beliefs? What’s your perspective about the Christian faith? To you, who is Jesus? And become a great listener. Learn to draw others out - how did you come to that conclusion? What do you mean by that?

And as you engage, you will grow. My wife and I have always said that engaging in the ministry and mission of God is what caused us to grow up in our faith. I would nudge you to move out and see what God does!

Why would someone consider joining us for our fall retreat?

Retreats and conferences can be life transforming. Why? One of the biggest reasons to consider jumping in with our fall retreat is the impact of what happens when you spend a lot of time with people over a day and a half. Makes sense, right? Going on a fall retreat is the equivalent of a semester and a half of time invested in a community. So when someone goes on the fall retreat, they go from feeling like an outsider, to feeling really connected!

That connection is huge when it comes to building a community. Everyone talks about community these days - but the way that real community happens is when people really know each other and trust each other. The only way that I know that trust is built is through time spent with other people.

Our goal with the GreenHouse is to create a family feel. We want you to feel like you are a part of a family - that you belong, that you have a place at the table, and that you’re fully accepted!

This year we are doing our fall retreat with 4 other churches as well - campus focused churches filled with people your age. It’s 45 minutes away and it’s inexpensive - $49 for a first timer (we also have scholarships available if needed - email joe@newhopehaslett.com for more about that).

In all my years working with college students, I’ve never heard one person say: “I wish I hadn’t gone on that retreat!” This is something you don’t want to miss. To sign up, you can click here.

Why is sex such an important topic for the church to talk about?

The Bible talks about sex.  And yet this topic is one that many Christians and churches shy away from. In working with college aged and young adults, this is a topic that gets a lot of attention because it’s what young people are wrestling with on a regular basis. But I would argue that this topic is one that needs to be addressed to a broader audience.

For the sake of this blog - we are just going to focus on one aspect of this topic and that is design. What is God’s design for sex? Why did He create sex?

God's desire for you (speaking to the follower of Jesus) is that you would understand His design for sex and worship God through the way you live out sex and your sexuality. 

God designed sex with at least three reasons in mind:

1.  He's an awesome God who loves to give us good gifts.  Sex, within God's design, was created for pleasure!

2.  Sex was designed to created a bond. He created it to bond one man and one woman together for life within the covenant of marriage (Genesis 2:24).  Sex was designed as glue and it doesn't discriminate.  It will create a bond whenever it is experienced.  Outside of marriage, sex is incredibly destructive.  Within the commitment of marriage, sex actually brings health and vibrancy to the relationship.

3.  It’s a spiritual illustration. God also created sex as a picture of the gospel message (Ephesians 5:31-32).  In sex, a husband and wife communicate to each other that they are fully known, fully loved, and fully accepted.  And that's the message of the gospel...when you become a Christian by putting your faith in Jesus and trusting His finished work on the cross, you are fully known, fully loved, and fully accepted forever.  So God created sex as a living, experiential illustration of a profound mystery - the gospel message.

We need to talk about this topic with our kids and with our friends.  We need to be people who talk about what we're for, and not just what we're against.  We need to be for God honoring sex!

What are the questions that you want us to blog about?  Feel free to leave a comment and we will try and address your interests as quickly as we can!

Want more information on this topic? You can listen to a recent teaching I did on 1 Thessalonians 4 and you can click here to listen.