I stopped listening to the news on June 15, 2020. I had to. The negativity and biased rhetoric wore me down. It permeated my life and threatened my ability to function.
Though I didn’t like being out of touch, when I stopped listening to the news a weight lifted off me right away. I became happier and less agitated. It was a smart move on my part and overdue.
But after a two-and-a-half-year break, I started listening to the news again. It comes in the form of a podcast each weekday morning: “The World and Everything in It.”
It’s from WORLD News Group, which “produces sound journalism, grounded in facts and biblical truth.” This is exactly the news source I need.
It’s so counter to other news sources, that it took me a couple weeks to get used to it and embrace it, but I now so look forward to it every day.
If you want to hear news that won’t confront your faith and challenge your beliefs, check out wng.org. It’s a news source you can trust.
My friend, Thomas Umstattd, recommended it to me. Now I’m recommending it to you. Please check it out.
Then you can recommend it to your friends.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
In my post God Rested, I talked about the Old Testament command to keep the Sabbath holy and not do any work (Exodus 20:8-11). Yet Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament law, so it doesn’t apply anymore (Matthew 5:17).
However, God rested on the seventh day of creation and declared it holy (Genesis 2:2-3). So, what should our Sunday practices be?
Our Conscience and Our Freedom
My parents taught me not to work on Sunday. It’s a Sunday practice that has stayed with me. Even though I no longer believe I must adhere to it with legalistic zeal, I still mostly do.
I let my conscience guide me. Like Paul, I want to keep my conscience clear (Acts 23:1). And later, in Paul’s teaching about food sacrificed to idols, we get a principle about following our consciences (1 Corinthians 8:1-13). That is what I do.
Yet, I don’t judge anyone whose conscience gives them a different path to follow for their Sunday practices (1 Corinthians 10:29). After all, Jesus gives us freedom (Galatians 5:1).
My key guide in my Sunday practices comes from Jesus. He said the Sabbath—which most people now apply to Sunday—was made for us, not the other way around (Mark 2:27).
Sunday Examples to Consider
For my Sunday practices, which I share only for consideration, I treat it as a set apart day. A holy day, if you will. I want it to be different than the other six days of the week. It’s a special day, that I get to experience once a week.
On this set-apart-day, I go to church with family, enjoy time with them afterward, and do things that give me joy. I don’t do any regular work, but I do pursue activities that relax me. These activities give me a Sabbath rest.
I might watch a limited amount of TV, take a short nap, go for a walk, listen to a podcast, or work on a crossword puzzle.
I also look for a project to do, that although it may look like work, will fill me with joy and provide a sense of accomplishment, fulfilling a personal need I have.
I especially relish when I can immerse myself in God’s creation and worship him through nature. This is often when we connect at the deepest level.
A friend enjoys a Sunday afternoon of weeding in her garden; it is a holy time that draws her to God. A pastor likes to go fishing after Sunday dinner; it gives him rest and helps prepare him for the week ahead.
Though neither of these Sunday practices would work for me, I’m happy it does for them.
Pursue a Sunday Practice
It’s worthwhile for us to consider our creator’s blessing on the seventh day to make it holy, along with his example of rest.
Yet it is up to us to figure out the best way to do it as we develop our own Sunday practices.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
What Do You Focus on When You Should Be Focusing on God?
This is a post I’m hesitant to share. Yet I’ve always been forthright when I talk about my spiritual journey. So there’s no point in holding back now.
The disconcerting truth is I often struggle with church distractions during the service. I wrestle to keep my focus solely on God.
Though not often, sometimes my thoughts go elsewhere. I may fixate on something that occurred before church or be preoccupied with what will happen afterward. Though my body is present, my mind isn’t always there.
Yet these types of church distractions don’t happen to me too much—anymore. My pre-church prayer usually removes these mental interruptions.
My struggle with church distractions usually relates to what happens at church during my time there. This can occur throughout the entire service.
Church Distractions during the Music
Here’s a list of some things that threatened to take my attention away from God in the first part of the church service:
Edit song lyrics: As a writer, I fixate on words. Whenever I see something written—and even sometimes when I hear words—I’m mentally edit them. This happens often with song lyrics at church.
Irritated by false rhymes: Though I don’t often write rhyming poetry, I appreciate a smart rhyme. But whenever I encounter a false rhyme in a song—or a contrived twist to force a rhyme—I’m taken out of the text.
Add punctuation: Another occupational hazard of being a writer is that I edit too. This means I often mentally insert commas, periods, and ellipses into the song lyrics displayed overhead. This would make them easier to sing, especially for songs with odd timing.
Consider biblical support: The purpose of the songs we sing at church (at least I think so) is to draw our attention to God.
It’s not altogether bad if our focus shifts to the Bible, but too often a lyric captivates my attention as I mentally seek biblical support for it. I can easily miss the rest of the song when I go down this path.
Critique the audio: Early in my life I was an audio engineer at a TV station. I ran the sound board and mixed the audio feeds for broadcast. I sometimes slip back into this mindset with the sound and sound system at church.
Consider cameras: In my work in TV, I sat next to the director. This allowed me to hear his instructions to the camera operators and technical crew, as well as to watch him switch between video feeds.
Because of this, I sometimes slip back into focusing on the technical aspects of producing the service.
Watch the worship team: Another early job of mine was working as an electronics technician at a music store. Though not musically inclined, everyone I worked with was.
Their job at the music store was merely to pay the bills so they could pursue their passion to play music.
They mesmerized me with accounts of their concerts and performances. As such, I watch musicians from a perspective different than most people.
Church Distractions during the Message
My list of distractions is shorter for the second part of the service, but it exists nonetheless.
Technical aspects: During the sermon I’m less likely for the audio, video, and camera work to divert my attention, but it still happens.
Biblical support: I’m more likely, however, to be sidetracked in considering the scriptural support for the minister’s words. Though this is a laudable effort (Acts 17:11), I may sometimes go too far.
Delivery: I consume many hours listening to podcasts each week, normally at twice the normal speed, at 2x. This requires me to focus if I am to catch every word.
The downside is when I hear a minister speak live, the slower, real-time delivery (effectively at 1x) provides much opportunity for my mind to go elsewhere. Taking notes helps keep my focus on the message.
Writing and research ideas: During the sermon—as well as the rest of the service—ideas pop into my mind.
Often these turn into blog posts. Occasionally it’s a book title or concept. Sometimes it’s a topic to research in the Bible or contemplate more fully under Holy Spirit direction.
I jot these items in my notebook so I can shove them out of my mind at the time and return to what’s happening in front of me.
How to Stay Focused at Church
My lengthy list of church distractions may have some elements that resonate with you. Or perhaps you’ve come up with your own list. Everyone struggles in this area, although some much more than others.
The issue in all this, however, is to combat it. Though we may make some progress on our own volition, as an effort of self-control, the real solution comes from God.
When I remember to seek him in prayer—both before the service and when distraction threatens—this is the best way to remove the disruption and return my focus to where it belongs: on God and my relationship with him.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
We Must Remove Distractions to Hear What the Holy Spirit Says
I recently listened to a talk on the topic of noise. It was the opening message to a sermon series. The teaching provided many thought-provoking ideas to consider. It also supplied me with a springboard to examine my own contemplation about noise—specifically the noise around me. It triggered the realization that we need to reduce the noise pollution in our life to better hear God.
When we think of noise, we typically consider it from an auditory perspective, as in a tangible noise that assaults our eardrums. But noise occurs in other areas as well. There is visual noise, mental noise, and emotional noise. Yes, even spiritual noise.
Anything that distracts us from what is most important in our life is noise. Noise has a negative impact on our emotional state, our overall health, and our mental capacity. This is in addition to the noise pollution in our physical environment.
All sources of noise, in all forms, serve as a distraction and make it more difficult to hear God when he speaks.
Noise All Around Us
Life bombards us with noise.
Though we each live in different environments, with varying degrees of noise from diverse sources, life blasts us with noise.
In addition to the sounds from our environment, all too often we bombard ourselves with additional racket. We may do some of this without thinking, but other times it’s intentional.
Many of us also try to force our minds to multitask, even though real multitasking is an illusion. True, we can have one conscious focus, along with one subconscious input. But we can’t truly focus on two things at once.
At best we merely train our minds to quickly switch back and forth between the two. This, however, doesn’t produce optimum results. It’s exhausting. Some say attempting to multitask even damages our brains.
With all this noise pollution around us, how can we expect to hear God when he speaks? He may be talking, but are we in a position to hear?
Too often, the answer is no.
Reduce the Noise
For some time, I’ve been working to reduce the noise—the distractions—in my life. This has served to produce a saner, happier, and less stressful existence. It has improved my mental health and provided more opportunities to hear from God.
Here are some areas I’ve tackled.
News
One item I’ve addressed is the news. As I told friends on my email list, I’ve stopped listening to the news. It’s negative, biased, and has an adverse effect on my mental health and overall well-being. I’ve now gone over one year without listening to the news on TV or radio. I do subscribe, however, to one weekly newspaper so that I’m not totally unaware of what’s going on, but when it comes to news, that’s it—along with whatever my family may tell me about.
Social Media
Another area is social media. The noise there is intentional and can serve as a huge time drain. Yes, I still have a presence on social media, but I don’t go there often. I seldom go to a few platforms, and I visit most others only once a week for a brief check in.
Facebook is one place I go to each weekday, but it’s only once a day. I review messages in the handful of Facebook groups I’m in and see updates from family. It’s intentional and brief. I schedule this Monday through Friday. It’s a task to complete, which I try to do in as short a time as possible.
Smart Phone
I’ve seen too many people who were slaves to their phones, granting it their attention at every idle moment and having it inundate them with an array of alerts.
My smart phone is for my convenience, so I place severe limits on it. I don’t have any social media apps on it, and I’ve not connected it to my email. There is no email message that needs my immediate attention.
Few people have my number and—unless I expect a call from someone—I never answer numbers I don’t recognize.
Computer
I use technology for my work, with my computer being central. Just as with my cell phone, I’ve turned off every alert except for reminders tied to my calendar.
I also pursue a zero-inbox strategy with my email. Else there’s a pile of pending messages to add more noise to my life—emotional noise, not physical. In parallel fashion, I’m pushing to have only one tab open in my browser. It’s a work in progress.
Noise Reduction Goals
I’ve made much improvement in my effort to reduce the noise in my life—the distractions that bombard me every second of every day—so that I can better hear from God. But I have more work to do.
Here’s my current list.
Podcasts
I’m a podcasts junkie and subscribe to over two dozen informative programs. Some are faith related, others are about writing and publishing, and a few benefit my business. I try to listen to them only when I’m doing some subconscious activity, but in the push to listen to them all—even at 2x, twice the normal speed—I sometimes find myself listening to recordings when I should just turn it off and listen to God.
Windows
I’m not talking about the computer operating system but the number of application windows open at any one time in my computer. Right now, I have seven open. That’s too many. Each one serves as a distraction, a source of mental noise. Each window I close is one more step to reduce the noise in my life.
Smart Phone
When I first got my phone, I pledged I would never pull it out in the presence of someone else. Even if it rang during a meeting, I would ignore it. The person in my presence should be more important than the person on the phone trying to interrupt us.
Over time my resolve has slipped. It’s true that without email and social media on my phone, I’m not pulling it out for the latest updates during every idle second. But I too often find myself looking something up germane to the conversation I’m having in real life. But, In truth, we need to know every answer to everything that comes our way in that exact second.
Television
Long ago I stopped turning on TV to see what was on or because I lacked the motivation to do something more productive. But even though my TV consumption is now intentional, I still watch too much. This is another area where I need to reduce the noise.
Few TV programs and movies pass Paul’s lofty list of what to think about: whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). Instead of seeking out shows that “aren’t too bad,” I’ll be better off applying Paul’s list to the visual entertainment I consume.
YouTube
Watching videos online can be a huge time suck. That’s why I stay off YouTube as much as possible, otherwise one video leads to a second, which calls for just one more. Before I know it, I’ve lost a half an hour of my time that I can’t recover. Yet when I go online to post a video, there it is, begging me to watch the next intriguing, can’t-miss video. If I can resist watching the first one, I’ll stave off wasting thirty minutes of my time.
I do, however, subscribe to a couple of YouTubers, but I block out time to watch them on television. I go through the list of pending episodes, and then I’m done, without watching anything else.
Less Noise and More Hearing from God
Some may conclude that by removing these many things from my life I’ve made it somehow less interesting, even boring. Let me offer a counter conclusion: less is more.
I take most seriously what my Creator says, “Be still, and know that I am God,” (Psalm 46:10). The less noise I have in my life, the better I’m able to connect with the Almighty. I have much more noise reduction to accomplish, but I’m headed in the right direction and making steady progress.
May we all reduce the noise pollution in our life and allow more time to hear from God.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
I listen to a lot of podcasts each week. Since I work at home and my wife doesn’t, I often eat lunch by myself. This is an ideal time to listen to podcasts.
I also listen when I take my daily walk—at least each day when the weather is nice enough to go out. I once subscribed to many sermon podcasts, hearing over fifteen each week.
I know what you’re thinking: that’s too many. I agree. Over time, I fell behind, grew overwhelmed at my backlog of not-listened-to messages, and began unsubscribing from the less beneficial ones. Yes, not all sermons are equally valuable.
I culled the number of sermon podcast feeds I was following. I now listen to just two, though I may up the number to three.
(Most of the other podcasts I now follow relate to writing and publishing, but some of those have stopped producing content, giving me the space to add another to my list of sermon podcasts.)
When I began cutting back on my sermon podcasts habit, I scrutinized the value of each one.
Merely Entertaining
The first to go were the messages that were more entertaining than educational. Though they tickled my mind with intriguing soundbites or had a compelling delivery, they did little to challenge me or provide spiritual enlightenment.
Nothing New
Next to go were the sermon podcasts that told me what I already knew. With so many better options out there, I saw no point to persist in repetition.
Knowledge Without Application
Third on my list of sermon podcasts I unsubscribed from were the ones that only gave information with no application. Though my mind expanded from this new-to-me insight, my life didn’t change.
There was no point in continuing. As Paul wrote, “knowledge puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). I didn’t want to be a puffy follower of Jesus.
Life-Changing Insight
I ended up with two podcasts that challenged my thinking. They provided me with fresh insights.
These messages enhanced my comprehension of God, expanded my understanding of how I could best fit in his world, and provided actionable challenge. In short, these podcasts produced life change. And that’s the point.
Which Sermon Podcasts?
You may want to know which messages I now listen to. Not to be mean, but I won’t tell you. This is for two reasons.
The first is that the list of podcasts I subscribe to will surely change in the future, so what I post today will not be accurate tomorrow.
The second, and more important, reason is the podcasts impactful to me may not be meaningful to you.
That is, the sermons that give me new insights or fresh perspectives may be things you’ve already heard. You don’t need to hear them again. On the other hand, podcasts that may repeat information for me may be exactly what you need.
This means we each need to carefully make our own list of sermon podcasts and online messages to listen too. May we choose wisely.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
Over the years there have been times when I couldn’t go to church. I’m not talking about the Sundays I was ill or traveling. Instead, I’m referring to times when the church canceled its service.
These have included weather-related problems, power outages, no heat, and construction issues. Each of these instances affected only one Sunday, and the next week everything returned to normal.
However, I can now add another reason to this list of why churches may close: to stop the spread of a potentially deadly virus in the midst of a health pandemic.
When this occurs, we stay in our home for church. We have house church.
Here are some ideas to have church
at home.
Duplicate a Typical Service
We could plan for and provide the
elements of one of today’s church services in our home. This means having
someone lead worship, pray, and teach a lesson at our house church. If we
wanted, we could even take an offering.
This provides the opportunity for better interaction and greater participation. It also requires a great deal of preparation for those who will lead.
The more people who will gather in our home to experience this type of church, the more meaningful this can become. Doing this one time would be hard. It would be even more challenging to sustain it over many weeks.
Participate Online
As an alternative, we have many options online that can bring a church service into our home. These include podcasts of sermons, videos of services (either in part or in full), and live streaming.
From the comfort of our home we can listen to messages or watch services as they take place. This allows us to experience the main elements of a church service with little preparation or effort.
What we lack from this approach, however, is community. Aside from our small gathering of family or friends who sit in our living room to experience our house church, we have no opportunity to interact with others.
These online options do not include the ability to connect with other followers of Jesus.
Just Hang Out
To address the lack of community that will occur when we passively tap into online church services and resources, we have the option to get together with the goal of spending time with each other (see Hebrews 10:25).
Of course, if only the people in our house—who we’ve already been hanging out with all week—are present, we won’t gain much more in doing so on Sunday.
However, if we can invite friends or neighbors over, this could provide meaningful, spiritual community—if we pursue it with intention.
Follow Paul’s Advice on a House Church
Each of these three approaches have their strengths and weaknesses. However, Paul gives us some ideas of what we could do for house church in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 14:26).
For now, don’t focus on Paul’s list but let’s look at the phrase that precedes it: “each of you.” This suggests an egalitarian house church, where everyone can participate, and everyone can take turns ministering to one another.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
I
listen to a lot of podcasts. And I started a podcast over a decade ago. It was
a lot of fun and a lot of work. After a dozen or so episodes I ran out of time.
Yet my interest in the medium never waned.
For me, the ideal solution is to make guest appearances on other people’s podcasts!
I’m honored to be a guest on the inaugural episode (episode 1) of the We Are Saved podcast, with my new friend Lyle Perez. Listen to it on iTunes or Podomatic. The whole episode is great, but if you’re short on time, my part starts about 34 minutes in.
2. Was Moses wrong in his teaching, since Jesus came and made a
lot of changes to “the Law?”
These are great questions.
Yep, I was nervous, but I had a blast!
I pray that this podcast will help many people in their walk with Jesus or their journey to him.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
What perplexes me, however, are the security questions—they are either too simple or too hard.
Packing My Gadgets
First, I had my camera and the associated paraphernalia—spare battery, charger, data cable, and extra memory card. Since I was attending as a photojournalist, my camera was a requisite tool.
Next was the computer with all its accouterments. I needed it as a functional viewing tool—it’s amazing how perfect a shot can appear on the camera’s tiny screen only to later find it is unusable. The computer also serves as a backup device.
Normally, I would have my thumb drive for a third backup, but I forgot it. I’ve never lost any files going through airport security, but why take unnecessary risks?
The third item was my digital recorder, which I used to record three podcasts. It’s a slick device, holding up to 100 hours of recordings. When I transfer the files to my computer, they automatically convert to MP3 files, ready for playing or posting.
The fourth item was my iPod, which I used to pass the time in the airport and the plane (when allowed) listening to other people’s podcasts.
Last was my cell phone. Of course, there were a myriad of associated items that accompanied each device.
Keeping Track of My Gadgets
In the end, I had more pieces of technical gear than items of clothing—seriously.
I was concerned about keeping track of them all, especially smaller items, such as the iPod. Once I was so focused caring for my digital recorder, that I left my camera on a table. Fortunately, it was still there when I returned in a panic a few minutes later.
Later, I misplaced my digital recorder, eventually discovering that the breast pocket in my sports coat had a small hole and the sly device had worked its way into the garment’s lining. It was quite a challenge to extricate it from its little burrow.
Anyway traveling with all that electronics gear made me feel a bit like a techno geek—wait a minute, I am.
What perplexes me, however, are the security questions—they are either too simple or too hard.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
I have owned and enjoyed an iPod Nano for many years. Though I don’t use it much for music, it is a regular source for listening to podcasts and lectures.
Almost from the start, however, I’ve encountered intermittent difficulty in turning it off. There are some tricks to accomplish this posted online, but they only work some of the time.
When these workaround solutions don’t resolve this issue, I either just let the battery run down, forcing it to turn off, or dock it with my computer, thereby bypassing the problem.
Although this is mildly irritating, it’s not a big deal. At least not until recently.
In preparation for a trip, I loaded my iPod with hours of recordings. While waiting to board my plane and during the preflight process, I listened to it.
When the instruction came to turn off and stow all electronic devices, my iPod was unresponsive. And the tricks to make it cooperate didn’t work either.
What would a flight attendant do with a device that can’t be turned off? I didn’t want to find out, so I pretended that nothing was amiss and shoved it in my bag, feeling only a slight twinge of guilt for my non-compliance.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
