2021 Graduates

Page 52 CLASS OF 2021 LINCOLN DAILY NEWS MAY/JUNE 2021 Stetzer asked, how then should we live in a divided time? It is probably the most divided time in our history. He said scriptures point us to ways and paths forward in 2 Corinthians. Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and spoke to how they were living in the midst of their divided time. In 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 it says, “From now on then, we don’t know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, now we no longer know him in this way. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come!” Those who have been around the church have likely heard this verse. Stetzer said people like the part “old has passed away, the new has come” so much they put it on plaques. In Christ we are made new and born again in the power of the Holy Spirit. Even though that verse talks about a new life, Stetzer said before that, the passage talks about a new way of looking at the world around us. Christians should have a new set of lenses or way of seeing the world tied to their life in Christ. When Stetzer was an interim preacher at the Moody Church in Chicago, people often expressed their opinions through complaint letters. In one letter, someone said Stetzer had adjusted his glasses 74 times during the first 36 minutes of his sermon or once every 30 seconds. The person told Stetzer that in Christian love because he thought Stetzer would be interested in knowing anything that would distract from the sermon. He knew Stetzer would want to be as effective for Christ as possible. Having worn glasses since childhood, Stetzer said he adjusts his glasses because they are out of focus. We live in a tumultuous world and our gospel lenses have been jostled by world events. Stetzer said we need to see the world not from a worldly perspective shaped more by a cable news channel than the gospel. We should not be driven more by our social media feed than the gospel. What the world needs now is Christians who have been shaped by the power of the gospel and are walking in power of the Holy Spirit. We need people who are choosing when the world is filled with rage and outrage to instead be filled with the Holy Spirit, and show and share the love of Jesus. CONTINUED u