John Fischer The Catch

Time to set your watch

Posted on September 14, 2022 by jwfisch

(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)

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Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. Revelation 1:3

I think Revelation should be required reading for all believers at least once a year. It’s a little like setting your watch. We can get so entrenched in everyday life that we lose sight of the bigger picture. The bigger picture — the forest we lose sight of for all the trees in front of us — is the fact that this world, and time itself, is passing away. There is an end in sight. Life does not go on indefinitely even if it feels like it.

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A different kind of end times?

Posted on September 13, 2022 by jwfisch

(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)

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We call it the Great Commission. It’s where Jesus gave his disciples (that would include us) their final assignment. It’s His parting word to them before He ascended into heaven. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) No small thing, indeed.

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Posted in end times | Tagged end times | 2 Comments

State of the world

Posted on September 12, 2022 by jwfisch

(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)

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Every day it seems we are presented with, no matter what your chosen news source, a new list of terribly worrisome things that we can do nothing about. The last part of that sentence is the most important — the fact that we can’t do anything about these worrisome issues is what has so many people frightened. That produces a helpless feeling, unless, of course, you know someone that can do something about the state of the world. Well here is the good news: we do.

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Posted in end times, fear, Worldview | Tagged Christian worldview, fear | 2 Comments

Happy Birthday, Chandler!

Posted on September 9, 2022 by jwfisch

(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)

This is a special day. Yes, there is much going on with the queen’s passing, a new school year starting, fires burning in southern California and ash falling from the sky during the hottest heat wave of the summer here, but none of that can hold a candle to the real news today. Today is Chandler’s birthday. He is a 9/9/99 baby, and that makes him 23 today.

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Posted in image of God | Tagged image of God | 6 Comments

Mentoring through time

Posted on September 8, 2022 by jwfisch

(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)

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Tuesday night’s BlogTalkRadio interview with Brent Garrison is required listening for everyone over 57. It’s about mentoring across generations, especially between Boomers and Millennials. Our research tells us that the Millennials are all for it, but the Boomers aren’t quite sure. Now if mentoring sounds scary, it’s not. Mentoring can seem intimidating if you think of it as the formal imparting of information. You have to train and create materials or use someone else’s. You have to be much farther along in personal development than the person you are mentoring, or so we often think, but none of this is true or necessary.

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Posted in discipleship, Millennials | Tagged discipleship, mentoring | 1 Comment

It’s all about Jesus

Posted on September 7, 2022 by jwfisch

(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)

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At the beginning of the Seventies, a small group of musicians shook Christianity to its base. They burst on the scene seemingly unknown to each other yet all with the same message. The message was about Jesus and how his gospel related to the deep, unresolved needs of their generation for love, meaning, community, peace and justice. These “Jesus Freaks” melded the freedom of the Sixties and the Jesus of the Gospels into a new way of looking at Christianity.

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Posted in Jesus, Jesus Movement | Tagged Jesus, Jesus Movement | 4 Comments

The Proverbs 31 woman

Posted on September 6, 2022 by jwfisch

(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)

Let me introduce you to a Proverbs 31 woman. Do you know her?

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Connected

Posted on September 1, 2022 by jwfisch

(Click here for a video of John reading today’s Catch.)

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I woke up this morning feeling a really strong connection to my bed. We had a hold on each other that didn’t want to let go. My bed really wanted me, and I must say it was nice to be so desired, but God and you want me too, and that’s not a statement of arrogance. I’m not talking about the fact that you couldn’t wait to read my Catch this morning. I’m talking about the fact that we are connected far more than we realize. We are all a part of each other. Remember the Bible calls us a “body.” Someone is an eye, someone is a foot, someone else is a little finger, but we are all connected and we all need each other. The same blood flows through us all. When we move, we move together. Where I go, you go too. Where you go, you bring me.

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Posted in body life, church | Tagged body of Christ, church | 1 Comment

‘Relationships, relationships, relationships’

Posted on August 31, 2022 by jwfisch

(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)

In the real estate world it’s known as “location, location, location.” Where a property is located determines its value more than anything else. In the church and in all types of ministry today, it keeps on coming up as “relationships, relationships, relationships.” Here at the Catch we have discipleship ministries going on, we have evangelism, we have counseling, prayer and Bible studies, but in reality they all boil down to one thing: relationships.

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Posted in discipleship, relationships | Tagged discipleship, relationships, witnessing | 3 Comments

Honoring women

Posted on August 30, 2022 by jwfisch

(Click here for a video of John reading this Catch.)

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Ruth, Rahab, Deborah, Jael, Esther, Abigail … We have a tendency to think of these women of the Bible as exceptions to the rule. They are not. Many of you might have a wife like mine who is actually a composite of all of them. She is loyal like Ruth, cunning like Rahab, wise like Deborah, opportunistic like Jael, influential like Esther, but I would say that she is mostly like Abigail.

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