Liberty Church Audio

The Newport Theatre Guild Presents “Shadowlands” this November. Based on real-life events, the stage play “Shadowlands” shows how the famous English author, C.S. Lewis, met and fell in love with the American, Joy Gresham. It is a story of humor and drama that has captured the imagination of audiences around the world. Now, the Newport Theatre Guild is partnering with the Liberty Church Arts Fellowship in Cosby, Tennessee to bring Nicholson's play to life for the first time in Cocke County. Three performances are this November 17th and 18th at 7 pm—and November 19th at a 3 pm matinee at Liberty Church of Cosby. The play is directed by Jerry Maloy. John Rush, who played Captain Von Trapp in the Guild’s recent production of “Sound of Music” will portray C.S. Lewis. Ruth Rush will co-star in the role of Joy Gresham. Gary Carver, who recently starred in Arsenic and Old Lace in Greenville, will play the role of Lewis’s brother, Warnie, with Tucker Faison’s first performance on stage as the young Douglas Gresham. C.S. Lewis was famous for his life-time of work, but most folks will recognize him for his beloved children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia and the classic Screwtape Letters. “Shadowlands” by William Nicholson made its stage debut at the Queen’s Theatre in London's West End in October of 1989. It has also played on Broadway. Screen adaptations of the story have shown on the BBC as well as in a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger in 1993. Tickets are now on sale at newporttheatreguild.com Liberty Church is at 35 41 Cosby Highway across from Carver’s Apple Orchard.

This past Sunday at Liberty Church, we had a panel discussion during our morning service on the subject of "Going Through Hard Times." The panel included people from our congregation. We invite you to listen to their stories, and we hope the discussion is encouraging.

Daily work can often feel like meaningless toil. Repetitive, mundane effort. We wake, we work, we sleep, only to start the process all over again… as the clock ticks on. But understanding the spiritual significance of our work as serving God brings an unexpected meaning to every day life.

People admire celebrities for various reasons. Some can be healthy reasons. By that, I mean aspirational or motivational. You can admire somebody who takes his talent, combines it with a work ethic and makes creations that thousands of people can enjoy. But people can admire celebrities for unhealthy or pathological or pathological reasons—especially if you feel like a nobody and envy the rich and famous, or those that are excellent in what they do. Fans will do anything to have a brush with, even a fleeting moment with, what they consider to be greatness. Right? I mean, celebrity worship is rampant. If they get a chance, people want to take a selfie with their favorite celebrity. Or someone they admire in some way. But what bothers me is how many people feel like a nobody in comparison with people other people. So I want to remind you, when you feel like a nobody, that in Christ, your life is uniquely special, and eternally important.

We’re tempted to believe that God's not really for us. If He's not for us, He must be against us, at least somewhat. He's actually a barrier to what would really make me happy. Just by who He is, He blocks my personal happiness. He stands opposed to me. Therefore He is an adversary. But the message today is contrary to all of that. The message is: God is not your Adversary.

Why are you here? Why do you exist? What is your life about? This podcast discusses the framework of our purpose in life.

What does a new humanity look like? Colossians 3:8-17 describes what a new life in Christ looks like.

David Powlison crafted probing questions that help us understand the condition of our hearts. What do I love most? Peoples’ approval? Comfort? Control? Which voice in this world do I obey? Whom must I please? What makes me tick? What sun does my planet revolve around? The point of all these questions is to help us find the idols of our hearts.

Have you ever wished you could be someone else? Several people made comments along this line on Reddit. Here are some examples of what they said: "I wish I was pretty. I wish I was successful. I wish I had friends. I wish I had a boyfriend. I wish I was happy. I wish I wasn't broken. I wish I had hope. I wish I was worth anything to anyone." Someone else wrote: ”I built up an ideal version of myself in my head, and while daydreaming about it is nice, it kills me to know I'll never live up to that." Here’s another post: ”I wish I was smart, but I know I'm not. I wish I was pretty, but I'm just normal-looking. I wish there was something about me that stood out, or something that was useful about me. I wish I had a different personality type… My nose is big and I hate it, and I hate the shape of my thin eyebrows. I wish there was something interesting about me that made people want to interact with me, or want my presence but I just feel creepy and awkward when I interact with people or I feel that I'm bothering them.” These voices reflect the struggle many face, but in Colossians 3, we find the way to our True Selves.

People often feel that religion is just an atmosphere of control, judgmental-ism, and rules, along with extreme and strange views. This is all too true in aberrant religious movements throughout history—even some religious movements that take the name of Christ. Instead of enjoying the freedom and joy that the Gospel brings into the life of a Christian, we take the gospel, a gift from God, and turn it into hierarchical power structures, religious domineering, and atmospheres of suspicion and precision-oriented performance and demands that drain the life right out of people. This creates a fear-driven, soul-draining atmosphere. But the Apostle Paul warned us against this a long time ago in the book of Colossians, especially chapter two verses eleven through twenty-three.

Christ is Everything You Need, Right Now and without Effort." A summary of the message delivered to Liberty Church of Cosby, June 18, 2023. Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/dan-phillipson/making-progress License code: RNCGSLMCGHT0LMTM

Summary of message notes written by Tom Black: The virtues and values which have for some time undergirded our national character are under direct attack by the forces of those who have embraced the ideology and agenda of so-called "progressivism," which is the driving force behind the drastic spiritual and moral decline in our culture today with its destructive effects on our society. Seen as an enemy of the progressives, and an obstacle to their goal of radically transforming society, even the Christian faith itself has been specifically selected as a target of their hostility. Those who are deeply concerned about our current situation will recognize in Psalm 11 a striking parallel to our dilemma: “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Matthew Henry wrote: "In times of public fear, when the insults of the church's enemies are daring and threatening, it will be profitable to meditate on this psalm." The church and the Christian faith have had such a privileged status throughout much of our nation's history that we tend to overlook Jesus' words: "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first (John 15:18). When the church is faithful to its calling, it will always be counter-cultural, and that will attract the hostility of the world around it. Faced with the disappearance of what Francis Schaeffer called "the Christian consensus" in our nation, we may find ourselves in the situation that has been the norm for the church throughout history and still is in many parts of the world, in which the apostle Paul calls us to live as "blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world." The foundation for such living in a hostile and unbelieving culture is based on the three eternal realities revealed in Psalm 11. 1. God is sovereign and is in control. 2. God is aware of, and takes note of, what is happening. 3. His justice and righteousness will ultimately prevail, and "upright men will see His face."

Preeminent. What does it mean? Preeminent means “distinguished, or supreme, surpassing all others. It describes someone or something that is of the highest rank or importance, paramount rank, or dignity. Something outstanding. Something supreme. In the New Testament Book of Colossians, the Apostle Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ is the truly preeminent one, not just in the Field of Teaching, or in Religious History, or simply in the Minds of Christians. No, Paul tells us that Christ is Preeminent Over All Things.

Angel Falls, Niagra Falls, Victoria Falls are some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. Definitely the most visited. There’s Yosemite Falls as well, the Gullfoss Waterfalls in Iceland, the Sutherland Falls in New Zealand. People travel the world and spend their fortunes to see their beauty—feel the power of them—hear the crushing weight of water plunging downward. But what if I told you all this descriptive language was a waste of time. All the travel documentaries were worthless. None of these falls were really beautiful. They’re not awesome. Not breathtaking, not captivating, nor overpowering. Not one. Not really. Influencers today would tell you that when you say something of value, you’re only describing your feelings. You’re only saying that you feel wonder when you happen to look at the falls, but there’s no wonderful quality in the falls themselves. You’re projecting your personally subjective feelings of wonder onto the falls and using an empty word to describe them. You’re just having a reaction you call wonder. This makes your statement subjective and… unimportant. After all, they’re just your feelings. Yours and no one else’s. And all your statements of value are unimportant. In fact, you can't really say anything at all.

“Don't think about making women fit the world — think about making the world fit women,” Gloria Steinem said. It’s a pretty famous quote. I haven’t followed Steinem’s writings, but this quote is a great launching point to discuss the idea of subjectivism. And the issue goes much broader than what we call “women’s issues.” And I want to make sure I hit this issue at the proper level. If Steinem means that we should change the world to make things better for women because it hasn’t been so good in the past, I don’t think anyone argues with that in a general sense. In a general sense. But let’s take women’s issues out of it for now and focus on the thought of making the world fit us rather than us aligning ourselves to the world. Is that a good idea? Can we make the world fit us?

Your favorite stories, the best narratives have what many writers call an “All is Lost Moment.” In the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey loses thousands of dollars and is at risk of going to jail—through no fault of his own. In Star Wars, Darth Vader kills Obi Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker’s friend and mentor. In the classic, Pride and Prejudice, Jane learns that her sister Lydia and run away with Wickham—and that her family—along with her hopes for a future with Mr. Darcy—are ruined forever. There’s a whole movie named “All Is Lost” that came out ten years ago starring Robert Redford. IMDB says, “After a collision with a shipping container at sea, a resourceful sailor finds himself, despite all efforts to the contrary, staring his mortality in the face.” He’s a lone man battling the ocean. The All is Lost moment happens when his life raft catches fire and he sinks into the water. Ben Frahm described like this: “Without a boat. Without hope of rescue. Our Man gives up. He lets himself sink towards the bottom of the ocean. Staring at the still burning lifeboat on the water’s surface. We are convinced Our Man will die…” To make matters worse, “All is Lost Moments” are followed by a Dark Night of the Soul. Blake Snyder, who wrote a lot about storytelling, described the Dark Night of the Soul as the point in a story when the hero reaches rock bottom. Has a crisis of faith, a loss of hope, or a total sense of failure. It is usually accompanied by a profound emotional and psychological battle or a struggle that forces the hero to confront his own limitations, anxieties, flaws, and failings. It makes people face their innermost fears.” It really is a moment when dreams shatter. The life of Jesus Christ was both history and narrative, a true story that also had it’s “All is Lost” We’re so familiar with the Gospels, that we pass over it without letting ourselves feel what the writers are trying to tell us. The Apostle Matthew said “ As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.” If you listen carefully, you can hear the stone rolling, and the echoing thud as it dropped into place, sealing the tomb. So… What Does Matthew Want Us to Feel Here? The shattering of dreams. That all is lost, and the night is dark. He wants us to feel what the disciples and Christ’s loved ones must felt. The echo of a door slamming shut, reverberating through their minds. There’s No Way Out. Shock. Loss. Grief. We feel smothered. All Is Lost. Why Do We Call this Holy Week? Because it is a week of Sacred Sorrow. A Week that Ends in Darkness. It tells us to shed our tears for Christ has Died. See Your Savior on the Cross. See him in the tomb. See the stone rolling in to block your view forever. Then feel the Silence of the Night. Notice the Silence of Saturday. Feel the Calm Before the Storm… What Storm? What Do You Mean by Storm? The Storm that will be Sunday. A storm that sweeps through to usher in a New World. The old passes and the new has come, all in one day. We call it Easter.

Are you running short on opinions? Do you need some new ones to take with you today? Here are some opinions from Mindjournal that might help: 37% of people agree that cold weather is better than warm weather. 41% of people agree that orange juice tastes better with pulp. 35% of people agree that tomatoes ruin sandwiches. Or you can just take these opinions with you without the polling percentages. Just straight up opinions: Pancakes are overrated. Batman is not an interesting character nor a great superhero. Grown adults should not be reading Harry Potter It’s okay if you haven’t seen any Star Wars movies and that you don’t want to. You may hold these or other opinions, but why do you believe them? Are your opinions thought out or do you have them press in from the culture, the masses, the majority of your classmates, colleagues or co-workers? The majority of the population? In his book, “Democracy in America” Alexis de Tocqueville stressed that for people in democratic nations—where people are more or less equal—we may not believe the opinion of one person, or even the opinions of the elite few—but we are really vulnerable to the opinions of the majority. The ideas of the majority can really press in on our minds and influence us without us really noticing. Tocqueville wrote a lot about the Tyranny of the Majority and gives this good reminder: “For me, when I feel the hand of power pressing on my head, knowing who is oppressing me matters little to me, and I am no more inclined to put my head in the yoke because a million arms present it to me.” He’s saying that if you would’t believe the priesthood of a religion simply because it is a priesthood. Or if you wouldn’t hold to the opinions of the aristocracy simply because they are Dukes or Duchesses, Barons or Baronesses—why would you believe something simply because a million people do? This is different than believing things on good authority. C.S. Lewis said: “Don't be scared by the word authority. Believing things on authority only means believing them because you've been told them by someone you think trustworthy. Ninety-nine per cent of the things you believe are believed on authority. I believe there is such a place as New York. I haven't seen it myself. I couldn't prove by abstract reasoning that there must be such a place. I believe it because reliable people have told me so. The ordinary man believes in the Solar System, atoms, evolution, and the circulation of blood on authority --because the scientists say so. Every historical statement in the world is believed on authority. None of us has seen the Norman Conquest or the defeat of the Armada. None of us could prove them by pure logic as you prove a thing in mathematics. We believe them simply because people who did see them have left writings that tell us about them: in fact, on authority. A man who jibbed at authority in other things as some people do in religion would have to be content to know nothing all his life.” I think Lewis is right. Believing ideas on good authority is the simply the beginning of being educated--and you have to trust somebody. But I’m making a Simple Request: You may have to believe many things on authority, but only if the sources show themselves to be trustworthy. And if you consider what they say or can investigate it with good questions that are followed by good answers. But don’t believe something just because most people do—and you don’t want to be the odd man out, the odd-ball—or worse: You're afraid of being called names by the majority.

“We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” — C.S. Lewis Why do we seem to lose our humanity and how do we get it back?

Are we in danger of losing what makes us human? Have we been fatally poisoned by a dangerous idea? Is humanity at risk of losing its soul?

Standing on the grass between our houses, I got into a philosophical discussion with my friend. I had to be eight or nine years old and we got into a deep question. Are we animals? We had to know. It was important. We couldn’t agree, but we had resources to find out. All we had to do was run home and consult the authorities. This was years before home computers, let alone the internet. So… we asked our moms. My friend reported back and said yes, of course, we are animals. But that didn’t sound right. So I ran into my house and asked. Mom didn’t even look up from what she was doing. “No, son. We’re not animals.” That was clear, so that was that. I knew what she meant. Human beings are way more than just animals. I ran back outside with the satisfaction of knowing I was right and my friend was wrong. Mom proved it. We dropped the debate and went back to riding our bikes in the streets. But maybe the answer is more nuanced than that. As humans, we share mammalian traits with other animals. Yet, we know we are unique too. We are able to reason and speak at a qualitatively different level. We socialize and understand each other, also at a qualitatively different level. In fact, it’s only humans that blush. You don’t have to be religious to know that our mental life is distinct from our physical existence—though they do go together. For centuries, we’ve known that humans are rational animals, as Aristotle said. Rational Animals. We use our heads to think, but our animal appetites are tangled up and pulsing at the gut level. In our bellies, so to speak. We have an almost angelic mental capacity in the head, and a visceral and roaring animal nature in the gut. We are rational animals. Is that what makes us human? Maybe. But how do we handle this tension between Reason and Instinct? This life on two levels? How does the reason of the mind regulate the impulses of the gut—the animal instincts of the belly. In the book, The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis offers an answer. This answer, he says, is what makes us human. It’s what sets us apart from anything else in the Universe. Lewis argues that Humans are a fusion—or the joining—of our Mental Life and our Animal Nature. This joining takes place between the Head and the Belly—right in the Chest—at the Heart Level. Michael Ward describes what Lewis means: “In the head, we have thoughts and in the belly we have sensations, but only when we learn to integrate the rational and the sensual in stable sentiments located in the chest, do we really discover ourselves as human beings…. Connect the angel and the animal and you will have the anthropological. The human being is a synthesis of the human brain and the human belly in the human breast.” This is from Ward’s book After Humanity. The chest, or the heart, is where our conscience, our virtue, our living out the Good, the True, and the Beautiful is found. The Chest, so to speak, is where our self-discipline and our rightly ordered loves reside. Loves that are informed by objective values outside us and above us. Not subjective impulses below. The fusion of the head and the belly in the middle ground of the chest makes us human. But Subjectivism kills all that. That is why he titled his book, The Abolition of Man. Subjectivism creates Men without Chests—humans without that special joining of Reason and Instinct that gives us an informed Conscience, informed Loves, Virtue in the heart. Subjectivism craters that unique human quality right out of us. It kill’s our ability to blush. We’ll discuss how and why in the next podcast.