Our New Location

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Hi Church family, 
As you know, we are meeting in our new location tomorrow morning, Sunday 6/30/24. We will be meeting in the 2 story building at 6385 N Fresno St. Fresno CA on the campus of New Heights Church at the corner of Fresno and Sierra.   See the map below.


Our service times will remain the same, Prayer meeting at 9am and worship at 10am.  

We will continue to receive mail at our PO Box at 373 E Shaw Ave # 354, Fresno CA 93710




Battling Bitterness

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Matt Troupe

Several Sunday's ago someone asked a question about how to deal with bitterness when it already seems to have set in? And how can we use scripture to help us?

Working through questions like this is important because it not only helps us with bitterness, it helps us understand how we deal with other temptations. The word of God, and particularly His word of grace, is an important weapon for battling sin. 

We see this in Psalm 119:11 "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."  The word stored up in the heart - memorized and meditated upon, prayed over and preached to our own hearts - is a way to avoid sin. We see the psalmist apply this specifically to fear, Psalm 56:3 "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?" There is a connection between battling fear, trusting God, and recalling and repeating  his words. We need to talk to ourselves using God's truth. "What can flesh do to me?"

When in the wilderness being tempted by the Devil, Jesus replied to each temptation by quoting an appropriate scripture to fend off the attacks of the devil. (Matt 4:1-11).  There is no better example than Jesus.

Websters 1828 Dictionary defines bitterness as "extreme enmity, grudge, hatred; or rather an excessive degree or implacableness of passions and emotions; as the bitterness of anger."  This kind of grudge can be the result of being harmed by others in big ways, or from the accumulation of numerous small offenses. It is often the fruit of a failure to forgive. When we are obsessed with the failings of others and cannot let them go, this often ripens into bitterness. This moves us from being upset about some particular sin (or sins) to seeing everything another person does as intolerable.  We put on red glasses and everything looks sinister. Bitterness in one area can make our souls broadly raw and irritated. 

One way to address specific sins is to ask how scriptural authors dealt with the particular temptation in question. 

The Apostle Paul wrote, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Eph. 4:31)

Jesus deals with forgiveness the same way as Paul, by connecting our need to forgive others with our own forgiveness. Matt 6:14-15 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."  We know from the rest of what Jesus said, that he is not teaching that we earn forgiveness from God by forgiving others.  But the two are clearly connected.  Consider Matt 18:21-35 and the parable of the unforgiving servant. It is the greatness of our own debts, and the outrageous greatness of God's forgiveness that motivates us to forgive others. The person that does not, and cannot forgive others, shows they do not understand God's forgiveness and have ultimately not been forgiven. The person given over to bitterness does not understand this parable. They see the debt of others as large, their own debt as small and the mercy of God as small and inconsequential. 

So if you find yourself struggling with bitterness against others, first, ask God to help you see the struggle clearly. Then you should confess it and repent. Call it what God calls it, and receive mercy from Christ (I John 1:9). But then go on to spend time reflecting on the greatness of your own sin, and the even greater ocean of grace that bears it all away. When we are gripped by these two realities this will be a good place to grow in our fight against bitterness.

Another surprising connection to bitterness is pride. When we forget our own sins, we are tempted toward pride. We might even believe that because of our own righteousness, we should not have to deal with the sins and struggles of others. That we deserve better. In my experience, bitterness is tied to self righteousness.  

In addition to the scriptures above, here are some passages to memorize and meditate on in context.

Luke 7:47 "Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Ephesians 4:31-32 "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

Why Your Work Matters

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Matt Troupe

We have started a monthly men’s BBQ to encourage one another. Last time we discussed the importance of work. Here is the gist of what we learned.

Why our work matters

Why does my work matter? Why do the tasks that make up my everyday routine have any significance beyond themselves? And why does my work matter no matter how insignificant it seems to the world?  I have found that worldly attempts  to answer these questions fall short. They often center around various understandings of self, or fail to show any transcendence beyond our own lives.  The question of meaning is THE nagging question for our generation. We have jettisoned most ideas from history, including faith in God as an acceptable answer to the question of ultimate significance.

 

I would like to offer 4 substantial reasons why our work matters as believers.

 

Our work matters to God.

This is the ultimate source of meaning and everything else I have to say flows from this. We ultimately inhabit God's story. He created all things and upholds them by the word of his power.  He designed us with work as a central purpose. Practically, our work matters because we are seeking to please our father.

 

But our work also has divine significance in reflecting his glory to others. Our work, done in excellence, faith, sacrifice, and perseverance is a witness with a language of its own.

 

Further, he made the world as a kind of "job site" for our lives.  The cosmos was made as the raw material for the work we would do. The first garden that God made is something of a prototype for the way we are commanded to subdue the whole earth.

 

He also commands us to work. So for the Christian, Christ is our ultimate boss and master. We look beyond our supervisors and managers, our customers and end users, to Jesus Christ. Our goal is to please him with our work. This is the main application. We must believe that our work is valuable to God and has eternal significance in his plan.

 

Our work matters for our own fulfillment.

In our vocations we find that we have an opportunity to fulfill our created purpose. We were made to work.  We were designed to create things, care for things, manage them, maintain them.  He made mankind with an itch to create. We have an incurable disposition to take what he has made and create new things.  We have a compulsion to learn and create, and to enjoy the creations of others. This is one of the things that distinguishes us from the animals. 

 

So when a Christian works to the glory of God, there is a completion of God's intended design.  And this yields all kinds of joy and satisfaction. This comes as we learn how to do the work, in the process of the labor itself, and in the results.  Yet, because of sin, our work is under the curse of thorns and sweat and death. So things don't always work out as we intend. But there is still a place for knowing a job well done.

 

We see this in the wisdom literature. For instance, "The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails..." (Ecclesiastes 12:11 NASB) There is something satisfying when wise men speak wise words. They are pleasant and useful.  And the scripture compares this to the work of a carpenter. We share a degree of wonder when a skilled hand trained through years of experience places a nail in the right place.  Every calling has its own version of a "well driven nail." And when you get to participate in a job well done, there is satisfaction and a measure of wholeness. And this is part of God's gracious design.

 

We see this satisfaction in the praise of the virtuous wife in Proverbs 31, "Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates." (v. 31).  Good work is not only satisfying to us, but to others.  We see this in Moses’ prayer in Psalm 90:17 "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!"  Work that is "established" is considered the blessing of God.

 

Our work matters for the flourishing of our community.

This is one of the key measures of honest work. Does it promote human flourishing? Does it help others in practical ways to have a good life? Especially as God defines "good."

 

This is an application of the great commandment and golden rule. We are to love God first, and our neighbors as ourselves (Matt 22:34-40). All our work in this sense should be a labor of love. We should do unto others as we would have them do to us (Matt 7:12). We should do the kind of work that we would want others to do for us if our roles were reversed. Paul expands on this by saying that "love does no harm to a neighbor." (Romans 13:10)

 

The work we do should be a blessing others and should not bring them harm. Because of this, scripture forbids some kinds of practices outright. Consider Usury or the charging of high interest), or withholding wages, or dishonest business dealings. We must not live by the blind hand of the market, willing to do anything for the right price. We should aim to do work that is good, true, and beautiful. The goal is what the apostle Paul called "honest work" (Eph. 4:29)

 

Our work matters for our provision.

God has arranged that, broadly speaking, we are to provide for ourselves and others by our work.  We see this in how God speaks the curse to Adam in Genesis 3:17-19 "..cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life...thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” He had previously given them every tree and green plant for food (1:29-30). The obviously implication is that they had to go and gather the food for themselves. This task would now be much more difficult. But the relationship between our labor and our provision endures.

 

Proverbs 12:14 points to this, "From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good, and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him."  This is why Paul went to such pains in Thessalonica. He wanted to make sure that the church understood this connection, "For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." (2 Thess 3:7-10)

 

This does not mean that only "waging earning" counts as work. That is one of the central mistakes of many strands of feminism. There is a lot of important work that does not earn a paycheck.  The work of children (in doing chores), homemakers, parents,  grandparents, and volunteers are all very important. But the larger principal still applies. God made the world so there is a relationship between the work we do and the way we live.  Paul makes this connection in Ephesians 4:28 "Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need."  The thief TAKES. The man doing honest work MAKES. The thief takes FROM others, the honest man makes enough to provide FOR himself and others. 

 

And this connection between our work and the fruit of our work is deeply related to our sense of purpose and meaning in the world. Through our efforts we come to have a sense of what makes something valuable. We come to understand the meaning of sacrifice and generosity. It is one of the ways that we are "needed" by our community and this has transcendent significance. In addressing the Ephesian Elders in Acts 20 Paul explains "You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” Acts 20:34-35

 

 

 

Why We Are Leaving the Acts 29 Network

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Our church leadership has recently made the decision to leave the Acts 29 Network. The content of the letter we sent them today is below. I am including several considerations before I share the letter

  • Our leadership has been having these conversations for a number of years. But our unease began as far back as 2016. Until recently we felt that we were still had an opportunity to make an influence on these issues.

  • We have a lot of love and respect for many of the pastors and churches in the network. We have learned a lot and been blessed in so many ways. We are truly thankful. We will continue to fellowship and work with these friends as we are able.

  • We have intentionally moved slowly in this as we do not believe that we should sever or create ties of Christian fellowship casually. We have had many conversations and made a number of attempts to voice our concerns so that we could avoid this.

  • One of the driving reasons for finally making this decision is the realization that the network has no organizational process or structure for change or accountability.

  • We are working through the next steps of what future association looks like. Please pray.

February 16, 2024

To the Acts 29 leadership,

It is with sadness and regret that we inform you that our Church, Free Grace Church Fresno, has decided to withdraw from the Acts 29 Network. Our leadership has been having conversations about this for years as we watched the network drift into practices and teaching that have been more shaped by worldly philosophies than scripture, and that have brought false condemnation on its members, unnecessary division, and a drift from the mission. Our church has been privileged to have some great seasons of fellowship and partnership with churches in the network, and we are thankful for this. We will continue to work together with those churches outside the network as we are able. But it seems clear that the network leadership is intent on leading in a different direction from what it has in the past, as well as many of its members. In our estimation the network has changed, not us. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Amos 3:3

 

Our concerns have continued to grow over the last 5+ years by the way the network chose to address the issues that were causing so much polarization in the culture, especially with regard to race, class, and gender. While some of this was helpful, there was also push to formally teach and train our churches in unbiblical ways of thinking about these things. Further, when attempts were made to ask questions or disagree with this teaching, member churches and pastors were often met with dismissal, insults, hostility, and accusations. I (Pastor Matt Troupe) have experienced this on several occasions within the network and spoken to many other pastors that have similar stories to tell. Efforts to challenge or even ask questions about network positions have been cast as divisive or disloyal. My attempts to address these issues with network leadership have been met with defensiveness and an unwillingness to listen to what I and so many others have been saying.

 

Several notable examples of network leaders being fired (e.g. Shaun Garman) or churches being dismissed (The Well Church Boulder CO) without scriptural due process, show a dangerous accretion of power that is resistant to accountability or criticism. It has become clear that the Board of Acts 29 is not willing to consider our concerns, and that there is no mechanism for accountability or change. Who is the board accountable to? We have been told things like "we are not a denomination and we are not a democracy, we do what the board says." After years of attempting to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace while also pursuing reform through conversations and the writing of letters, it seems clear that the only thing left to do is to make a vote by leaving. Our hope is that our departure will be an opportunity for the network leaders to reflect in humility and change.

Regretfully,

Pastor Matt Troupe