GREETINGS
IN CHRIST FROM PASTOR CHRIS
Dear
Friends in Christ,
Within
the next few weeks we will be finishing up our six week Sermon and
Bible Study series on Fearless. So, how do you feel? Are you
completely void of fear, walking about knowing that there is no need
for fear outside of fear of God? If you have taken part in our
studies and heard the sermons, you will probably still have fear. It
might be that the fear you have is lessened, and I hope that it has,
but I am doubtful that you are completely fearless. Does this mean
that the Bible study isn’t working or that we just aren’t good
enough to apply the sermons to our lives? As we ponder these
questions we can start to feel the doubt that is within us rising to
the top.
However,
I think that there is something that is missing from this equation.
The thing that is missing is God. Whenever we try to leave it up to
ourselves we can never succeed. I know that Mr. Lucado mentions this
in his book, but we always need to remember that this is not
something we can force or somehow make happen. There are things we
can do such as reading our Bible or attending Church on a regular
basis, but in the end God does not necessarily work on our schedule.
Sometimes our trust in God builds around us with-out us even knowing
it.
There
is a story that immediately comes to my mind. It is one that I tell
often so I wouldn’t be surprised if you would have heard it before.
During college I went to Alaska with my home congregation in
Beaufort, MO. Now this was my first experience of this sort. It was a
mission trip to a small village name Tuluksak. When we first arrived
many of the people knew exactly what they were doing and began to
work. They usually had a big dinner and invited the entire village.
It was a well oiled machine, they had been doing this for years, but
I stood there not knowing what to do. As I stood there, it occurred
to me that I was afraid. I had fear, fear of what seemed like
everything. The people were different than me it was a different
culture all together. I went to a market, they went fishing and
hunted bear, if I drank out of a river I would get sick, their main
source of water, was the river. Not knowing what I was doing and
having a sudden rush of fear, I began to walk. Now as I walked it
never occurred to me that I stuck out like a sore thumb. This was a
small village with no roads in or out, you had to take a charter
plane to reach, basically, you noticed if someone different was
there. Sure I was stopped a few times and asked who I was, but I told
them and moved on. When I finally returned there were plenty of
people there waiting for the dinner. When I talked to others in the
crew, I was told that this was the largest crowd they had ever
had. As I walked I had become a walking billboard for the meal and
the news spread to people that normally did not get it. God had used
my fear and brought people to church. My fear began to change to
trust and I found myself not afraid anymore.
God
often times creates trust in us and gets rid of fear in many ways. In
this instance my fear is what drove me, but it was what God used not
only to bring people to a place where the Gospel was being proclaimed
at the dinner, but God also used to build my trust in Him. In only a
few weeks it will be Friendship Sunday, the day that we invite
friends, hopefully the unchurched friends that we have, so that they
may come to a place where the Gospel is proclaimed. Many might have
fear of doing this, but I hope that while doing this instead of fear
that God will build up more trust in Him. May God continue this work
in all of us, bringing us closer to Him with everything we do, till
eventually we may become fearless, and filled with our trust in God.
