John Fischer The Catch

Whitewater Christian Church

Posted on October 27, 2015 by jwfisch

Pastor Coop

Step 5. Will cease all attempts to apply teaching and rebuke to anyone but ourselves.

My son, Chandler goes to a very cool church. The pastor has tattoos and brown disks the size of poker chips implanted in his earlobes, and he quotes from Oswald Chambers and C. S. Lewis — oh yes — and he plays a mean electric guitar in the worship band. His wife has bleached hair shaved ultra short on the sides, and not sure what it’s doing on top. The church meets in what was once a civic center auditorium with a large stage, concrete floor and theater seats. The concrete floor was a good thing since I spilled most of Marti’s hot tea on it and no one seemed to care. That’s why they let you carry your free coffee and cookies into the service. The bulletin was announcing a new women’s group called “Chicks,” (to go along with the men’s group, “Dudes”). On the website, the associate pastor is on a Harley.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged church, discipleship, Pharisees | 4 Comments

Judging judgmental people

Posted on October 26, 2015 by jwfisch

5. Will cease all attempts to apply teaching and rebuke to anyone but ourselves.

We’ve all done it. We’ve all done it recently. We will all do it again. What am I talking about? We will all hear a message that applies to us, and apply it to someone else instead. We think, “So-and-so needs to hear this,” or, “This would be a perfect message (book, tape, CD, quote, seminar, sermon, song, etc.) for such-and-such,” and in the process, we deflect the part of that message that very well could have been meant for us. It’s the great “duck-’n’-run” move. It’s the way we keep on perpetuating the same problems and dysfunctions — we keep on diverting to others what was meant for us.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged judging, Pharisees | 5 Comments

Whac-A-Pharisee

Posted on October 23, 2015 by jwfisch

4. Have decided that we don’t want to get what we deserve after all, and we don’t want anyone else to either.

A recovering Pharisee has to be quick with the mallet.

Now that we’ve got what we do and don’t deserve sorted out, what about everyone else?

Remember the difference between Pharisees and recovering Pharisees is that Pharisees want to get what they deserve because they are working their way to heaven, and based on their efforts compared to the poor and mostly non-existent efforts of others, they believe they’ve got the kingdom of heaven pretty locked up. Recovering Pharisees, by contrast, don’t want to have anything to do with what they deserve, because they have come to the realization that what they truly deserve is to die for their sins. It’s a radical change in perspective.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged grace, mercy, Pharisees | 4 Comments

Hello, human race

Posted on October 22, 2015 by jwfisch

4. Have decided that we don’t want to get what we deserve after all, and we don’t want anyone else to either.

Step 4 is a turning point for the recovering Pharisee. The first three steps are negative attitudes we want to overcome; the last nine are positive attitudes we want to adopt. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged love, pharisee, sin and mercy | 3 Comments

Getting what we deserve?

Posted on October 21, 2015 by jwfisch

Step 3. Realize that we detest mercy being given to those who, unlike us, haven’t worked for it and don’t deserve it.

The classic illustration of this attitude of the Pharisees is seen in a parable Jesus told about a landowner who hired workers for a day job, and because the job turned out to require more workers than he originally expected, he had to hire additional people to finish the job, right up to the last hour of the day (Matthew 20:1-16). When it came time to pay the workers, he started with those who had worked the least amount of time down to the first, and paid everyone the same thing — a full day’s wage. You can imagine what those workers who had been hired first thing in the morning thought about that. “You have made these guys who have only worked an hour equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day!”

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged legalism, Pharisees | Leave a comment

No mercy

Posted on October 20, 2015 by jwfisch

Step 3. Realize that we detest mercy being given to those who, unlike us, haven’t worked for it and don’t deserve it.

“Hi, my name is John, and I’m a Pharisee.” And this is when you’re all supposed to go, “Hi, John!” By that meaning that you realize you are Pharisees, too — that’s why we’re all here — and you are sort of welcoming me into the club. You’re also saying that you’re glad I made it to the meeting, because if I hadn’t made it to the meeting, it would most likely be because I was out “Phariseeing” somewhere. And what would it mean that I was “Phariseeing” somewhere? It would mean that I was out in the marketplace judging people, comparing myself with others, and being ungrateful and unmerciful.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged mercy, Pharisees | 1 Comment

Keys to the Kingdom #12Steps Video 3

Posted on October 19, 2015 by gunsim11

Posted in 12 Steps | 1 Comment

Oh mercy

Posted on October 19, 2015 by jwfisch

Step 3. Realize that we detest mercy being given to those who, unlike us, haven’t worked for it and don’t deserve it.

The Pharisees don’t like mercy because they are legalists. Legalists base everything on the law. They are interpreters of the law; they preserve the law; they represent the law; they live by the law; they justify themselves by the law; and they judge everyone else by the law.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged legalism, mercy, Pharisees | 2 Comments

Rain on me

Posted on October 16, 2015 by jwfisch

Step 2. Have come to believe that our means of obtaining greatness is to make everyone lower than ourselves in our own mind.

I find myself loving people
who in turn are loving to me
But what you ask
is a greater task
to love my enemy
Like the one who has hurt me
And cut me down to the shreds
That’s the guy
I’m supposed to try
to love instead

You drive a hard, hard line
Thought I’d have an easier time
You drive a hard, hard line
Guess I gotta change my mind

When I examine my actions
my life seems decent to me
But one look of lust
And you say I’m thrust
Into adultery
Or when I’m hating my brother
And putting him down in my head
The angry thought
Is like a rifle shot
He’s as good as dead.
from the song Hard Line, by John Fischer

Step 2 is mainly a detailed version of Step 1; it just shows in greater detail how we judge others, and most importantly, why. Judging is a manipulative, controlling way in which we gain and maintain our worth. Step 2 introduces the measuring aspect of being a Pharisee. A Pharisee is all about judging and measuring. A Pharisee is continually comparing himself or herself with other people. Life is a contest a Pharisee must win.