Love Conquers Fear
The book of 1 John is a powerful book for those who realize the effects that sin has on the sinner and yet realize that God is ready to forgive and cleanse of all unrighteousness, those who turn their lives over to Christ. I John 1:9 tells us that God is faithful and just to forgive us of all our wrongs if we but come to him humbly and confess said wrongs to Him. He is a Good Shepherd. That brings me to the subject of two, often conjunctive, forces or emotions; they are fear and love. Many types of fear are antithetical to love, but sometimes they can be symbiotic as one can lead to the other and vice versa.
In the next couple of Sundays, I want to explore this idea of fear, and what appears to some contradictory statements in the Word of God. We want to examine the different understandings of what the Lord is saying when conveying the idea of fear; how fear can either work for or work in opposition to our faith in God and understanding of His love. In 2 Timothy, we are informed that we have not been given a spirit of fear. We are told to “fear not” throughout the Word of God, yet in Proverbs, the “fear of the Lord” is the beginning of wisdom!
How can God tell us to “be not afraid”, turn around and tell us to have the “fear of the Lord” and then make the remark that “perfect love casts out fear” (Isaiah 41:10, Proverbs 1:7, 1John 4:18)? These statements are not a contradiction but can be confusing when not examined in the context and meanings for which they were intended. Yes, fear, types of fear, can lead to terror and torment. Yes, fear, a type of fear, can lead to wisdom and God’s love. Come the next couple of Sundays and find out what we mean.
Be blessed and be grateful,
Pastor Chris
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What a Big God (Father) We Have
This past month, our morning Sunday service we talked about how big God is. We did this by taking a look at the stars, the number of them, and how long it would take to traverse the expanse of our own playground galaxy known as the Milky Way. The Milky Way contains an estimated 200 billion stars and is 100,000 light years across or 600 quadrillion miles. This is so vast that if you could travel at the speed of light, which is 186,282 miles per second or 670,615,200 miles per hour, it would take you 100,000 years to arrive at the other end of the Milky Way! Wow, that is big!
Scientists estimate that there are some 125 to 200 billion galaxies in the known universe (some say there could be 100 times that number of galaxies, we just can’t see that far) with the next closest galaxy to the Milky Way, known as Andromeda, being 2 million light years away or 12,000 quadrillion miles (At the speed of light it would take 2 million years to reach). The Milky Way galaxy, Andromeda galaxy, and about 20 to 25 other galaxies further than Andromeda but nearest to the Milky Way than the other 100 to 200 billion galaxies, are known by astronomers as the “Local Group” of galaxies. The Local Group, are you kidding???
The incredible thing, our God made all of this. Isaiah 48:12-13 says this, “Listen to me Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the first and I am the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.” Our God, and we call Him our Father, spread out the heavens with His right hand. I guess that is why scientists tell us the universe continues to expand…our Father (God) is still spreading out the heavens and commanding the galaxies as He wills!!! And Jesus was there the whole time! The book of John starts out like this, “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God and the Word was God, ALL THINGS were made by Him and without Him was nothing made that was made” (John 1:1-3).
I have just two questions. If our Lord is powerful enough to create this vast universe, that we cannot even comprehend its size, is there any problem to big for Him? Second question, if our Father loved us so much that He would send Jesus, and Jesus loved us so much that He would come to this planet and die for our sins when we did not even know Him, is there any good thing that He would withhold from us? (See Romans 8:32) Something to make you go, hum!
Be blessed and be grateful.
Pastor Chris Hayden
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Give, It Will Be Given
There are many important principles to learn in life and from the Word, another one is that of sowing and reaping. This is explained in detail in 2 Corinthians 9:6-11.
Let me break it down for you:
If you sow little – you’ll reap little
If you sow generously – you’ll reap generously
God loves cheerful givers
God provides the seed you need
You are blessed to be a blessing
In the book of Luke the 6th chapter and 38th verse (NLT) we read, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full–pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” While we do not give to get, the principle is still the same that we sow what we reap whether it be good things or things not so good. If we are generous towards the work of the Lord, we will receive generosity in return.
In a few days the leadership of Central Christian will be sending out pledge cards for members and attenders to participate in this years stewardship campaign. During this time of examining the finances and stewardship of this ministry here in Huntington and surrounding areas, I would ask that we examine our own hearts as to what God would ask of us individually in response to the call to stewardship surrounding our participation in the work of the Lord.
The past two Sundays we launched a stewardship campaign (Back in Black) and we talked about giving principles. The last thing we need to do is become legalistic about our obligations to the ministry of God, however let me sum up this past weeks message. God wants us to give to honor him and to provide for the ministry (Proverbs 3:9-10, Malachi 3:10). However, just as important is that do so cheerfully, sacrificially, and regularly.
Be blessed,
Pastor Chris
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