Last Saturday, we pulled into Sun Valley, California (basically, Las Angeles proper!) where we spent the night parked at a small Jewish synagogue, Valley Beth Israel. (And we might have grilled and eaten pork in their lot. Didn’t make the connection until it was too late. Felt bad about that one.) This synagogue was just a few blocks away from Grace Community Church and The Master’s Seminary, presided over by Pastor John MacArthur. Pastor John, has been pastoring at this church since 1969, has written over 150 books and Bible commentaries, and has been instrumental in training up an entire generation of Bible teachers and preachers for the cause of Christ. Personally, I haven’t listened to many of his teachings, but have used the MacArthur study Bible for many years.
Before service, we browsed the bookstore, and everyone, minus the little boys, picked out a new Bible. In my attempt to minimize the amount of belongings in me and Maleah’s bunk, I had opted out of bringing a physical copy of the Bible, thinking I would use one on my phone…a decision I quickly started to regret. Not having a physical Bible meant I wasn’t able to study at night when I couldn’t sleep, since the family rule is that phones get shut off and put away at bedtime. The past year, us four “big kids” were studying Spanish over Zoom with a wonderful teacher from Mexico. (Hola Josefina! We miss you!) We want to continue learning the language, so decided to purchase a bilingual Bible when the opportunity arose. We were happy to find that the Grace Church bookstore carries them! Moral of the story: digital Bibles will never measure up to a good-ol’ physical copy.
The worship service was beautiful, featuring an organ and choir. The old hymns we sang were simple and lovely, pointing attention toward God. The sermon was on 1 Corinthians 4 and Pastor John’s message was the second part of a two-part series on Characteristics of a Faithful Shepherd. The focus was towards pastors and church leaders, but much of what Pastor John taught on can be applied to all Christians.
We are called to not set ourselves above others in the body of Christ and instead be faithful to Christ…even unto death. In addition, we are not the author of our skills, talents, opportunities or strengths…God is, and we are to bring glory to God through these gifts.
Faithfulness and pride are exact opposites. The faithful man is content to be lowly and judged by God. He is content to be equal (not superior) to others. Considering ourselves superior to others is to disregard and violate the Scriptures.
True humility is being honest with your weaknesses and sins. True faithfulness is seen through complete and total submission to God.
While we weren’t able to actually meet Pastor John, it was a blessing and a privilege to visit Grace church and hear the Word preached by a man who has spent well over 50 years serving the Lord and ministering in the Kingdom.
Right after the service, we hurried back out to Kram-a-Lot-Inn, where we found a note from a lady who had backed into us. Thankfully, the only damage sustained was a broken light. We loaded up and booked it down the Californian interstate through the intense Los Angeles traffic in an attempt to reach the afternoon service at Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills, lead by Pastor Jack Hibbs. Despite the stressful traffic and crazy California drivers, we made it to the Kohl’s parking lot where the church staff had advised Mom that we should park. Ironically, we survived the drive only to experience the second incident of damage to the RV… from driving under a low-hanging tree branch. It ripped the awning that protects one of the slides. The only way I can explain the sudden onset of two different accidents damaging our home-on-wheels at each church location, along with the insane traffic and near-misses with crazy drivers, is that satan was working to prevent us from these God-given opportunities to sit under the teachings of two faithful men of God. What do you think?
We made it into Calvary Chapel just a few minutes before service began, and found seats in the crowded auditorium. The worship service featured modern praise-and-worship songs with a choir and full band. While this style of music is what our family is used to from our decade at South Cities (previously Bethlehem Baptist Church) and our Christian radio stations, several of us felt like this portion of the service felt more like a concert rather than a church service. Perhaps it was just because of the mega-church size, the loud volume and number of cameras…but it was hard to focus on worshipping our amazing God.
Pastor Jack’s sermon, however, was hard-hitting and full of truth. He preached on Romans 8:18-23, the third in a series called “What Are We Waiting For?” There was so much to be learned from his sermon, but here’s a few points that stood out to me:
As Christians, our allegiance is to Jesus and Jesus alone. Not to careers, sports, relationships, money, etc...
Real faith gets involved in the things of God, and it moves forward, not backwards.
When time is running out, Christians are to do three things: 1) practice expectation [Romans 8:18a], 2) look for the right perspective [Romans 8:18b], and 3) look forward to the new beginning [Romans 8:18c].
As Christians, can we say that we are diligently seeking God with all our heart?
The reason we made the effort to attend Calvary Chapel – Chino Hills, is that Mom and several of us big kids listen to his podcasts pretty regularly from back home. It made sense that since we were in California and passing somewhat near this area, to take the opportunity to worship at the church he pastors. We hoped to also have the opportunity to briefly meet him after service and thank him for his ministry, but since the temperatures had risen drastically and we had dogs waiting in Kram-a-Lot-Inn, we had to scramble out of there quickly. Pastor Jack does a really good job of teaching the Word and connecting to current events that are going on in the world today. I highly recommend taking a listen at “Real Life w/ Jack Hibbs” & “Happening Now”. While disappointed in not having the chance to meet Pastor Jack, we were incredibly blessed by getting to visit the church God has given him to shepherd.
So, to summarize, Sunday was an incredible day of rock-solid Biblical teaching and spending time in the presence of God with fellow believers in a state that is increasingly hostile toward the church. As if sitting under the teaching of these two men wasn’t special enough, our next hope was to make it to Sunrise Bible Church in Henderson, Nevada (a suburb of Las Vegas) for the Wednesday night and Sunday morning services under Billy Crone…a pastor whom Dominic and I have listened to for several years, and who isn’t afraid to address the hard present-day topics such as the rise of Satanism, the Cult/Occult, false teachings/teachers, etc… Randall, Maleah, and Mom have more recently begun listening to some of his series and are also finding him engaging. He has an incredible testimony that has made him passionate about spreading the good news of the Gospel. Pastor Billy has been in the Minneapolis area several times over the last few years, usually speaking at Jan Markell’s Understanding the Times event. Unfortunately, we’ve never been able to make it to that event, so we eagerly anticipated sitting under Pastor Billy’s teaching for a Wednesday evening and a Sunday morning service…except that we didn’t get to.
We arrived at Sunrise Bible Church shortly before the Wednesday evening teaching, drawing lots of attention from the small group of folks who had gathered for the service. They were very welcoming and regretfully informed us that Pastor Billy is actually out of the country on a speaking trip. Bummer!
The lesson was taught by the head deacon, John Hood, and was based on Matthew 18:7-14. There was so much information in a rapid-fire delivery, it felt like drinking water out of a fire hose! :) Here are a few parts of the lesson that stayed with me:
A. Do we gamble our eternal treasure for our earthly pleasure?
a. If we are comfortable practicing sin because “God will forgive us,” we need to
consider whether we are really saved or not. (Romans 6:1-2, 15-16, 1 John 3:9)
B. Satan knows our weaknesses and will continually send his minions to tempt us.
b.We are going to fall, but when we are down, we need to repent and get back
up…but we cannot get back up without Jesus. Don’t try to DIY it.
C. We are not meant to carry the weight of the world, Jesus already does.
c. The world can be going to hell in a handbasket, but as long as we are following
our Good Shepherd, we have nothing to worry about.
Sunrise Bible Church kindly offered the use of their parking lot for as long as we wanted to stay, and even electricity to plug into so we could power everything. (Unfortunately, the outlet was 50amp, which would explode our little 30amp without a converter). Despite the disappointment of Pastor Billy being gone, we were blessed by the time we spent at Sunrise Bible church. Who knows? Maybe we’ll make it back there someday in the future. Lord willing.
Wow, that was a longer post than I had planned. I’ll link to the churches below, along with the Sunday sermons we were in attendance for and the podcasts we follow. Please consider checking them out. These men have so much wisdom to share from God’s Word.
Until next time, God bless!
LINKS
John MacArthur
Church: https://www.gracechurch.org/
Sunday’s Sermon: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/81-156/characteristics-of-a-faithful-shepherd-part-2
Jack Hibbs
Church: https://calvarycch.org/
Real Life with Jack Hibbs: https://podcast.jackhibbs.com/
Happening Now: https://jackhibbs.com/happening-now/
Billy Crone:
Church: https://www.sunriselv.com/
Wednesday's Service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7XiH6KeObA&ab_channel=BillyCroneLive
Podcast/Video Ministry: https://www.getalifemedia.com/video/video.shtml
That's so cool that you got to see Pastor MacArthur - how fun!! (I don't know of anyone else you mentioned!)