Fear

I've been reading a book called "The Chronicles of Nicodemus" where the premise of the book (a historical novel) is that Nicodemus and Joseph (who secured the tomb to bury Jesus) when out after His resurrection to talk to various witnesses to the events and chronicle the events of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. It has been a very cool book so far, and i would like to share a section of it with you. This section comes from the discussion with Peter, and this is what Peter says; "Fear, it was fear that motivated His execution. Religious charlatans crucified Him for fear He would expose their hypocrisy. Out of fear they posted a gaurd at His tomb. Even in death, they wer tormented by His life. Out of fear, the Temple Gaurd trembled at the angel's message of 'He is Risen.' Faithful women left His empty tomb with mixed emotions, both fear and joy. He allayed their fear with His words, 'Do not be afraid...' Fear stalks each of us like a cunning assasin. At the end of life awaits our greatest fear, death. One day regent Death will point his caustic finger at each of us and say, 'Your turn.' Death offers noone an appeal. Our peace is found in the fact that He defeated death and demonstrated by His resurrection there is life beyond the grave. Regarding death, the greatest fear, He said... 'Fear not.'" (The Chronicles of Nicodemus, page 141) Now, does the author not hit the nail on the head with this section. We as human beings live so much of our lives in fear, and make so many decisions we make based on fear. There are many people who get married just b/c they are afraid to be alone, and that often leads to much heartache for both parties involved. Sometime we put way too much time into our job, b/c we are afraid of losing it, and that often comes at the cost of family. Many young ladies in the world give up their virginity and innocence with some boy, just b/c they are afraid to lose him, and often with disastrous consequences. Many people get involved in drugs or alchohol b/c they are afraid to stand up and say no, and others still do so to cover up some other fear or hurt which they are going through. And then ultimatley, we all end up doing something stupid and fear death, simply b/c we don't want this life to end. Fear is sadly one of our biggest motivatiors as human beings.... But what does Jesus say about fear? He says, "Fear not!" What an amazing comfort and encouragment to us who follow Him. Paul goes on to say that we were not given a spirit of fear, but of boldness and of power. If you are a Christian, you are indwelt with the very spirit that calmed the waves, created the universe, split the veil, drove out demons, died on the cross, nullified the power of hell, and spat in the face of death and said, "NO MORE!" Don't let your flesh make you live in fear, but live in the power of that spirit that endwells you. Now, if you aren't a Christian, then you don't have that spirit yet... you still have the human spirit of fear, and I encourage you to seek out someone to help you meet the Jesus that I serve... the Jesus that told death it would no longer have the victory over His people....

United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we're lying in the dark
There's a shout heard 'cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night
America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping Will we be sleeping
United States of America Looks like another silent night

These lyrics are from a song called "While You Were Sleeping," by Casting Crowns. I was listening to this song this morning and I was struck by it. The beginning of the song talks about how Jerusalem and Bethlehem slept through the arrival of their King (Jesus) and did not have anything for Him. But it is the above lyrics that really struck me. We in America are blessed with material blessings, with great freedoms and with wonderful ability to worship freely. These blessings are not b/c of anything America has done, but b/c God has ordained and allowed it. And b/c of these freedoms which God has allowed, this country has taken it upon itself to pass laws to save trees and at the same time allow the slaughter of millions of unborn children. We have used our material blessings to uplift and endorse ourselves, rather than be a blessing to those who are around us and around the world in need of things we could so easily supply. I am afraid of the direction which this country is heading, and afraid that if we as Christians do not start to make some stands for Christ, then the same fate that befell Jerusalem will befall us as well. I would challenge each of us to get the names and addresses of our congressmen and senators, and let them know that we are not going to stand for these things anymore. We have to stand tall for God. God has blessed us, lets be a blessing to everyone else!

There's a day that's drawing near When this darkness breaks to light

And the shadows disappear And my faith shall be my eyes

Jesus has overcome And the grave is overwhelmed

The victory is won He is risen from the dead

And I will rise when He calls my name No more sorrow, no more pain

I will rise on eagles' wings Before my God fall on my knees And rise I will rise

These are some lyrics from a song that we sang a lot at camp last week. I was just singing it a few minutes ago b/c it was stuck in my head, and I got to thinking about the words. How awesome is it to know as a follower of Christ that there is a day drawing near where our faith will be our eyes. We are one day going to see Jesus in the flesh, so to speak. Faith will be obsolete at that point because we won't need it! And then to realize that He has overcome one of the most "final" things in the human experience, death and that because He has overcome it, we have the Resurrection in our future. Death is not the end, we can even rejoice in death. It is b/c of those facts that I think we can sing that chorus with such ease, "I will rise, when he call my name." With a God that has overcome death and given us new life, how can we help but to rise when He calls to us. I want to challenge each of us to pray through this song, and really tell God what the song is saying.

Party at a funeral?

In the past couple weeks, there have been lots of stories in the news of famous people who have died: Farrah Faucet, Micheal Jackson, Billie Mays just to name a few. The response of the media and such has of course been sympathy and grief, and rightfully so, b/c death is a horrible thing to face. It is made even more difficult by the fact that with many of these people, their eternal destiny is questionable. It is hard to know where they are now. Maybe they found Jesus at some moment, maybe not, but the fact is we don't know. How awesome is it for those who are Christians thought to know that we can be sure of our eternal fate. When we face the death of a loved one, or even our own death, we can do so with a godly grief, a grief that is supported by hope and the resurrection. The next time we hear of someone famous dying, or even someone who is not famous, let it remind us that for those of us who have Christ, death is not a reason to fear, b/c for us, death is simply a door to eternity with our God. Grieve for loved ones, miss them, but celebrate the fact that they are finally home! I want my funeral to be a party, b/c I'm going to be partying with my Lord.

Just a thought

I was checking my email today when one of the headlines just jumped out at me. The headline was "Gingrich at Republican Fundraiser Says Obama’s ‘Already Failed.'" The article was not really that interesting, just talked about a speech Gingrich gave where he made the comment that President Barack Obama’s plan to fix the economy through stimulus spending and government intervention to boost companies like General Motors Corp. has "already failed." Now, my point is not make some political argument, my point is that the American people have put much of their hope in Obama, and to some he has already failed their hopes. The point however is that as followers of Christ, we don't have to worry about the One we put our hope into failing. God has said he will never leave us of forsake us, and that is the truth. We can go through even hard times like we are in now with a sense of peace and excitement knowing that our hope is found in Christ and his righteousness. So the next time you are having a rough day, week, month or year, I urge you to make sure you have placed you hope in Christ alone, and God gaurantees that you won't be disappointed!

Faith?

We see this image and chuckle at it... but the reason we chuckle is it seems outlandish. I don't think that many of us in the church today really believe that our faith can accomplish miracles. We read where Jesus said with the faith the size of a mustard seed we can move a mountain, and think it is great for preaching, shows how important faith is and all that, but i don't think we really believe it! I think that when Jesus said that, that is exactly what he meant. He later said we would do greater things than He did in His earthly life with faith. Our faith is powerful, and can change lives. What mountains are we letting get in our way today? and the better question is what does it say about our faith if we are unable to move those mountains with our faith? Get out there and move some mountains for God...

Summer is coming up soon!

Hey yout's! Summer is right around the corner. Soon it will be the days of sun and fun and no school again. It is an exciting time when summer rolls around. Yet sometimes I thing and wonder if it is taken advantage of to its fullest. I know when I was a youth, for the most part i just relaxed all summer and had fun, and did not really put much thought into trying to do something productive, and looking back on it I have some regret for that. The challenge I would give each of you is to use some of the multitude of free time you will have this summer to do something extra for God. There are people all around this area who could use some help. We are to be His hands and feet, so lets use this summer to do that. If you can't find someone who could use the help, let me know, and I'm sure we can find something for ya!