Do Not Worry

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.   Philippians 4:6, 7

Jesus was so resolutely connected to His Father by obedience and faith that He never wavered or lost sight of His mission – to bring many souls to glory. Men who loved Him one day would cry, “Crucify Him!” the next - yet He was not moved. Jesus often armored Himself for the onslaught of opposition with hours alone in the closet of prayer. When he came down from the mountaintop of communion with God, He was filled with the Spirit’s confidence and ready to step victoriously into the demon possessed valley.

Worry is a sure sign of spiritual laziness. God calls us away from wallowing in uncertainty to the sweet communion of prayer and worship – the same fellowship our Lord Jesus enjoyed. A saint cannot pray and worry – cannot truly thank God without trusting in His love and concern. Once we’ve touched the heart of God and received His Spirit afresh, we cannot dream He would ever leave or disappoint us.

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."             Isaiah 30:15

Shake off your doldrums and exercise your faith in Jesus. Your peace awaits!

Love and peace

Pastor Eric

I Will Build my Church

"I will Build my Church..."

  Matthew 16:18

For a pastor (at least this pastor), these words of Jesus are among the most comforting and reassuring words in the Bible.  They are also the most sobering and convicting, because they oppose so many beliefs I have about my job.  I always feel the self-imposed pressure to “grow up” the Father’s House both in membership and maturity, and God must remind me every day that it’s His job to build the church, and He instructed me to, “. . .  feed My sheep.”

Please refocus with me.  The question is not, “How can I get the church to grow or get others to come?”  But, “How can I share the love God has shed on me with others?”  We can trust that if the Lord is pleased with the Son of God in our lives, He will use us and our church to bring many sons and daughters to glory, and that excites me much more than simply larger numbers of bodies in chairs!

Here’s my point.  It’s my one desire to see Jesus Christ fully realized in my life.  It doesn’t matter what occurs or does not occur, what happens to me and the things I love, or if I get anything in life I so deeply desire – as long as the Heavenly Father receives glory and honor through me. Efforts to make the Father’s House in our image are simply vain and futile, because we can’t build the church.  But we can be built up in Christ and function as a member of a church where Christ builds up others in His image.

 

Now, I do believe that God will multiply and mature us mightily in this coming season.  My main task, though, is to see that this flock I pastor reflects the person, power, and the love Jesus Christ with anyone and everyone who comes among us. Examine yourself, as I’m examining myself.  Are we loving, honoring, praying, and giving in the way that Jesus commands?  If we are, God will delight in increasing us, because He’ll be multiplying Christ through us. That’s all the Father wants . . . more, much more of  Jesus!

Love and peace beyond understanding,

Pastor Eric

The God of Our Mistakes

For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way.                            1 Sam 12:22-23

The children of Israel had sinned greatly in asking for an earthly king and rejecting the Heavenly King. They looked away from God and looked to the world, and if we are not careful, we are sure to do the same. Yet the Lord did not use Israel’s disobedience against them, but He lovingly rebuked them and set Himself to bless them still. As such, He is not only our God when we make right choices, but also when our choices are poor. He is our God, even of our mistakes.

God chose us as members of His body and church, and He knew what He was doing. He did not choose us because we were righteous and able (we were not), but out of His love and His sovereign right as God, He made us who we are by His grace. Our goodness did not qualify us, nor will our shortcomings disqualify us, because His mind is already made up about us;

Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.    Romans 8:33                                                              

Therefore, the children God chooses must operate with a deeply–rooted confidence in the God who knows us best, and we follow Him with boldness and assurance even in precarious times. Even our good deeds and good intentions are not the point – they are simply the overflow of the life hidden with God in Christ. So, stay hidden, and go forward with the God Who sees you in the secret place and rewards you openly. He will never leave nor forsake you – even when you blow it!

Love and Prayers,

Pastor Eric