Don't Fear

Don't Fear (The Reaper) of Anything Else

How to be a Christian and be Fearless

By Pastor Adam Fox

Cinema has produced quite a few characters that invoke fear in us. From the terrifying likes of Jason or Freddy Kruger, to the dark lord of the Sith in Darth Vader. Then there are those that take fear and use them like Batman or Voldemort for good or evil purpose. Of all these types of fear based characters - Daredevil is the one who stood out to me. 

Daredevil or Matt Murdock is a character from Marvel comics who is a blind lawyer by day, and defender of Hell's Kitchen, New York by night. It was written by a few men, most famously and my favorites were Kevin Smith and John Romita Jr. Daredevil is a handicapped man who uses his other senses to overcome his blindness. Daredevil can do nearly anything because he is a man without fear. 

There are some days in which I would love to be daredevil, to live life without fear. Fear is something that we all can relate to and all have our own things that cause us to be afraid.  I get really freaked out each time I go on a plane or near a roller-coaster and studies show that I am not alone.

The most common fears are: 

1.  Snakes.  51% of us are afraid of them to some degree.

2.  Heights, 38%.

3.  The dentist, 23%.

4.  Confined spaces, a.k.a. claustrophobia, 21%.

5.  Needles, also 21%.

6.  Clowns, 18%.

7.  Public speaking, 17%.

8.  The dark, 15%.

9.  Flying, 14%.

10.  Birds, 5%. 

While I am not cool with easily five of the 10 listed hear - what about you? Fear is something that traps us, that causes us to be a prisoner in life. But should we be afraid? As a believer in God, does living in fear hurt my ministry or testimony?

I think it does. 

The enemy, Satan, loves to keep us in our fears and not grow in our faith. If we are afraid, filled with worry or anxiety we are not good examples of our Lord. If we let our anxiety or our worries or the dread of something in the future control us - we are trapped in our sin prisons and that is where Satan wants us to be.  

Satan enjoys seeing us worry and fear over money, health problems, things we cannot control, future stuff, work, relationships and so on. Instead we need to lean on what Scripture tells us, over and over again - do not fear. 

"The phrase “do not fear” (אַל־תִּֽירְאוּ; ʾal-tîrāʾ) occurs often as an encouragement or a call for courage. Joseph repeats the phrase twice when he reassures his brothers that he will not pay them back for selling him into slavery (Gen 50:19–21). The phrase is also used as a general encouragement to trust in God’s deliverance (Neh 4:14; Isa 35:4; Hag 2:5). Before battle, a priest was supposed to encourage the people to not fear since Yahweh was fighting for them (Deut 20:3–4). Moses encouraged the people with this phrase before they entered the land (Deut 31:6), and Joshua echoed this call for courage during the conquest of the land (Josh 10:25)." Lexham Theological Wordbook

As we can see in this brief look at the command to not fear, it is something that God shows us over and over again of where we need to be, to be fearless. Lets use my fear of heights as an example of how God wants us to live. 

God calls us to trust Him for all that we do and are and IF we are in a relationship with God that is based on our belief in the Risen Savior who died and rose again so that we can be eternally forgiven and a trust in the Almighty Creator who established and ordained all things we can be fearless. That then would mean, I can walk onto a plane and not burst out in sweat or freak out because I know that God is in control of all things, including me and this plane. 

Look at what God tells Israel in Isaiah 41 about not fearing because He is with them. 
8 “But you, Israel, are My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
The descendants of Abraham My friend.
9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its farthest regions,
And said to you,
‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and have not cast you away:
10 Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

This is a promise to Israel, but the principles can be applied to us in the Church Age today. God has chosen us, He will never leave us so then we have nothing to fear. How wonderful is this, How great is our God!

Living a life without fear is where I want to be as Christian but it is a daunting goal for me. Not letting my fear driven emotions deceive me into thinking that this plane that I am flying on could fall out of the air at any moment or has incompetent staff for instance. I should be replacing my fears with trust and love in God and knowing that God is my refuge.

Trust you would think is a no doubt obvious response for a believer in God. But trust can sometimes be like eating healthy or exercising. We want to do it but sadly not regularly. We trust God when things are great or fine we have a great amount of belief in God. But when things turn south, when life gets real - trust in God has a habit of shrinking. David show us that this should not be the case. Look at what David writes in Psalm 23: 4

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Even in the moments of life in which David refers to walking in the shadow or the presence of death itself, He still has nothing to fear about. WOW! What a great example for us to live by, not letting fear overtake us but still trusting that God will protect us. David can walk in presence of this shadow because God is with him and David trusts that God will provide all the time. 

But Psalm 23 is not just about the great amount of trust that David has in God, it also shows us the love that David has for his God, for our God. 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

Psalm 23 is a classic Psalm of comfort in the toughest and saddest moments of out life, which is why it is a standard Scripture to be read at a funeral. But it has more to it than just in moments of grief. It can show us how to love God and others in every moment of life. Verses 5-6 ends this section of Scripture by showing us how to love even if we are filled with dread, afraid, worried or even just anxious, we can still have God's love. David shows this by describing the events of the 23rd Psalm. He has enemies around him and should be afraid but is still surround by God's love and that brings him joy and comfort. 

We can learn from David in dealing with our fears and letting or trust and love of God replace them and to also get comfort from knowing that God is our refuge. Psalm 91 shows us that we have nothing to be afraid of if we have a relationship with the Lord since God is our protector and defender. 

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust.”

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler

And from the perilous pestilence.

He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,

Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,

Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

What a comfort! If we have are part of God's family, we are in the arms of our God, protecting us from all that scare us, from all that make us want to run and hide. Look at how the author of Psalm 91 shows line by line at all the ways God protects His beloved from the attacks of the Devil. Praise God and Amen. 

Fear is something that we all have, some are more common than others but all need to be addressed. We cannot pretend we are not scared or bothered by anything. If a snake dressed as a clown turned off the lights in a small plane while I am taking an exam in my underpants - the worst possible fear chain - most of us would be terrified for a while. But staying in those fears, letting them control us is not healthy. 

We need to learn how to be fearless and let God into the areas of our life that Satan controls. It is not easy but learning how to trust more, to love more, to dwell in the refuge that is our God is worth all the growing pains that come with it. 

So what do you fear and how can you allow God access these areas of your life? How can we be more like Daredevil - the man without fear. While I do not expect to see anyone jumping off of buildings at night to fight evil ninjas or crime lords ( I can see Jerry Miller doing this actually but please do not). But we need to be Christians that are fearless and not letting our fears control us. 

Don't fear the Reaper my friends or any other Blue Oyster Cult song reference. But let us all aim to be a godly Matt Murdock - a Christian without fear!

Cheers and Excelsior!

Pastor Adam

Soy Un Perdedor

I'm a Loser Baby 

So why don't you PRAY for me!

By Pastor Adam Fox

If I would make a short list of artist and bands who I have loved and still do, it would include the OC Supertones, DC Talk and of course the Beach Boys. But I would be lying if I did not have Al Yankovic on that list. 

“Weird” Al is a parody musician that writes funny songs about so many famous songs or artists. He has covered Michael Jackson, ACDC, Queen, Lady Gaga and the Beastie Boys. In Al's album Bad Hair Day, he song Alternative Polka and started off by singing a song by Beck, Loser. 

While it is a catchy song, the thought and persona of being a loser is something that a lot of us struggle with, myself included.  The desire to not be a dud or a failure is one of the larger fears for us as Americans. The pressure of succeeding is a real thing and it can come from all areas of life: Cultural expectations, gender expectations, personal goals, business standards, family needs and so forth. The fight to not be a loser, to be successful is one that can take all of you some days, Frankly, it can be quite overwhelming. 

Being overwhelmed by the need to prove yourself that you are not a waste or that you can do things can run you ragged. What sometimes happens, in a fit to show to ourselves or others that we are not a loser, we end up doing silly things and we try to measure ourselves by sinful or broken standards. By how much money we have, the largeness of our house, the importance of our job or cars or other classic status symbols like talent and so forth. 

Overwhelmed. 

Trying to measure up to the standard that Satan sets for the World will leave us pretty darn small and feeling like an overwhelmed dude. But this is not just a byproduct of our selfishly sinful religious country - even the Apostle Paul felt this way. 

A little bit ago, my Sunday Morning Small Group (every Sunday morning at 930 before Worship!) was studying 2 Corinthians 1 and I was struck by the honesty in this letter to the church in Corinth. 

8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, 2 Corinthians 1:8-10

The phrases "burdened beyond measure" and "despaired"  jumps out at me. Could it be that the Apostle Paul, the Levite of Levite, the man, the world’s best missionary was not always whelmed?

Yes, Paul was dealing with some kind of trouble, what we do not know. Was he tormented by the onset of a stubborn and life-threatening ailment, menaced by particularly dangerous persecution, struck down by an accident of some kind, or stricken with some psychological distress? He does not say. He only explains that the depth of the great danger he faced in Asia. The encouraging part for us, is the fact that Paul gives his struggles voice by acknowledging that he does have them - just like us. 

 

"Rather than gloss over his feeling of despair and helplessness in this situation Paul underscored it forcefully to illustrate how powerless both he and the Corinthians were apart from God and to stress how important is prayer as a means of effecting God’s gracious intervention and aid" David K. Lowery The Bible Knowledge Commentary on 2 Corinthians

Getting overwhelmed in life is normal and a part of life but it does not make you lesser of a person. We may feel that way at times but it does not make you a lesser person, especially to God. 

The point of view of us is important for us to understand. We can be seen the way God sees us or the way the World sees us and friends, they are two totally different points of view. One sees you as a failure or loser if you are not at the top and perfect in all ways and the other loves you no matter what. Look at what Scripture says about Gods love for us.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10:28-31

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 1 Peter 2:9 

I could go on, because that is just a drop in a bucket of the compassion and love that God has for us, His most special of all of creation. If then God does care for us this much, then why are we looking to our standard by the World and the brokenness that is in this sinful world? We are better than that.

Since we know that god cares for us so greatly that He sent Jesus Christ, God the Son, to Earth to take the punishment for us so that we can live forever with Him. We are chosen and forgiven, how then shall we defeat these Satanic attacks of feeling less than or being overwhelmed and the like? Prayer!

11 you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many. 2 Corinthians 1:11

Paul finishes this over honest section in his 2^nd letter to Corinth about what is going on in his heart and life by asking for prayer. After the issues that he has experienced and dealt with, Paul is honest enough to come before the thrown of God in prayer and to top it off, Paul is not praying alone - he is asking for intercessory prayers of the Saints. 

Prayer is one of those things where the Bible encourages us to pray, often in fact, about everything. 

14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. 1 John 5:14-15

14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Prayer works, so we should not be ashamed to come and lay our concerns and problems before God - he in fact encourages us to do so. These moments of our lives that are filled with overwhelming problems or suffering or even the feeling of being a loser. That is when we each need to armor up (spiritual style) individually and as a church go before the Lord. 

See what I said, take these concerns as a church and go before God. There is no shame in asking another Christian, a spiritual sibling and one who loves you, to pray with you about things that concern you, Paul does. Prayer and being in and knowing the Word of God are the two best weapons we have against Satan and his like. 

While I  am not a smart man, and my grades this semester show that, but what I do know is that God is faithful and will keep His promises to us. All we need to do is ask our Father for them and have the strength to let others - who are willing - to pray with us. 

9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11: 9-13

Let me end with this, pray early and often and corporately. But do not let the world and the stupidity of this sinfulness make you believe for one moment that you are a loser. The Lord Jesus did not come to Earth from Heaven, become sin and die in our place for a "loser". He did it for you and I, the ones he has loved greater than we will ever realize. 

So take that Weird Al!

Cheers and Excelsior!

Pastor Adam

Me, Myself and Israel

Me, Myself and Israel

Am I Israel or are they me?

By Pastor Adam Fox

To some of you this is no shock, but I am a pretty big fan of Spider-man. I have quite a few collectibles and two or three dozen shirts sporting the wall-crawling web slinger. So of course I am going to go see any television show or movie that is about him, and that includes Into the Spiderverse. 

This animated movie took us as the viewer into the Marvel Multiverse, where the comic world is not just one but many worlds filled with versions of heroes. The movie collected some Spider powered heroes from different universes to fight super villain crime boss, the Kingpin. 

While for me it is hard to pick which version of Spider-man is my favorite, it usually goes down to Peter Parker or Peter B. Parker. Huh?

Let me explain. The first Spider-man we see is a blonde successful Peter Parker who (SPOILER!) gets killed. But another universes Spider-man, Peter B. Parker, comes into the film to help the team of heroes save the day. "It's Peter Parker at 40, it's Peter Parker with a bad back... and who's not sure if he still wants to be Spider-Man, and what it means to be Spider-Man after the excitement of being Spider-Man,"

The point that I would like to hit and hit hard is, the two Spider-men are similar but not the same thing, just like the church and Israel. 

There is a debate in some theological circles about future things, the Doctrine of Eschatology. Some of these debates include the nation of Israel, when the church will be raptured up and so forth. A lot of these debates center around those who believe in Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism - stay with me on this, cause it is important. 

Dispensationalism can be defined by Paul Ennis as "“Dispensation is a system of interpretation that seeks to establish a unity in the Scriptures through its central focus on the grace of God. Dispensationalists arrive at their system of interpretation through two primary principles: (1) maintain a consistently literal method of interpretation, and (2) maintain a distinction between Israel and the church."

Let's look at the first point of the Dispensationalism, the need for a LITERAL interpretation of Scripture. When you read a passage from the Bible, do you see it as something that has or will happen or a figurative or loosely translated that could or may have happened. Or can we pick and choose? 

This seems to be the one that is easiest to understand, all of Scripture should be read as literal. When we look at the Exodus tale from the life of Moses, God parted the Red Sea and the walked across on dry ground. How should we interpret this passage? Did Moses and Israel walk on a dried sea bed or was it an allegory for something else, like faith in God?

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.  Exodus 14:21-22

Simply: Moses and all of the Israelite walked on dry ground in a parted Red Sea. Literal. 

While we read some sections of Revelation or of Daniel and scratch our head at what we read, we still cannot see it as figurative. While there is figurative language in the Bible, we have to take the Word of God serious and literal. 

The big fish in the Dispensation camp is the view on Israel and the Church. The nation of Israel as we can see from the Older Testament is the narrative of God's people as they establish the promised land and look towards a redeemer (Jesus). The Church by contrast is the story of a people of faith who believe in Jesus the redeemer. Are they one group or two? Does it matter? Friends, it always matters. 

“Traditional dispensationalists also put great stress on the distinction between Israel and the church. Some of them, in fact, regard this distinction as fundamental to understanding Scripture and organizing eschatology. In their view God made an unconditional covenant with Israel; that is to say, his promises to them do not depend on their fulfilling certain requirements. They will remain his special people and ultimately receive his blessing. Ethnic, national, political Israel is never to be confused with the church, nor are the promises given to Israel to be regarded as applying to and fulfilled in the church. They are two separate entities. God has, as it were, interrupted his special dealings with Israel, but will resume them at some point in the future. Unfulfilled prophecies regarding Israel will be fulfilled within the nation itself, not within the church."

If Israel and the Church are different entities as the Dispensationalists believe, then the church do not participate in the Biblical Covenants. Covenants are promises basically, promises between God and an individual. But since these are promises from God - they will never be broken and you can count on that. There are five major Covenants in the Old Testaments. 

• Noahic Covenant in Genesis 9: “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth”
• Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12: 1. He will be made into a great nation (12:2).
• 2. This nation will be led into the Promised Land (12:1).

3. Through him (Abraham) all people of the earth will be blessed (12:3).

• Mosaic Covenant in Genesis 19: God tells Moses that if Israel obeys, they will be His chosen people, His treasured possession. Ultimately, these blessings will be extended to all people.
• Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7: David and his descendants that his house will rule over Israel forever which is fulfilled by Jesus Christ. 
• The New Covenant in Jeremiah 31: Despite the failure of God’s people to live up to the covenants that were made, God graciously made a new one with his people:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” – Jeremiah 31:31-34 

These five covenants from God to the people of Israel are important. They show us to a certain extent the nature of God and His guidance and care for the Israelite's. But that is where it ends, with Israel. With the promises and covenants from God to the nation of Israel, the people of God, it makes sense that the church today would want to be in on it. But the church is a separate entity but still loved by God equally. The two are separate and need to be so. Israel will have a special place in the final dispensation, in the future kingdom of God.

Look at what Paul writes in Romans 11 about the nation of Israel:  I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? 4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. 7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

Israel will have a place in Glory as will the Church - but that does not make them the same person. The Dispensationalists in my humble opinion have a point, but the part that makes me scream out Testify! is what they think about the end times. Traditional dispensationism believes that the church will be raptured up BEFORE everything happens. YES!

The homecoming of the believers in God is something that is coming and when it does happen, it is going to be awesome. The only question that we in the church have is when. When will the church be raptured home? Pretribulation (before everything happens) MidTribulation (during the middle of it) or Post-tribulation (after all the tribulations happen).

Looking at this objectively, I am reminded what a senior saint would always claim about when the rapture will happen. He would state defiantly, we are to be raptured before the tribulation happens but if I am wrong - then in the middle. If I am wrong on both - then it will be post-tribulation. 

The Dispenationalists thankfully take a stronger stance on the rapture and future things then my wishful thinking elderly saint. The tribulation period is not designed for the church - the bride of Christ nor Israel since it is a period of outpouring of God's wrath. This wrath makes it inconceivable that the church will be on earth during the tribulation period. 

It is important to see future things like the rapture or the millennial kingdom, mentioned in Revelation 20:4-6, through the lenses of theology. Because Dispensational theology and their double tent pole of Literal translation of the Bible and distinction between Israel and the church - it makes understanding Revelation easier. 

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

We can read passages like those of Revelation 20:4-6 and take them literally, as in a thousand years MEANS a thousand years. 

Theology is important, because it teaches us about our Heavenly Father. We should want to learn as much as possible, learning about Him and imitating Him in all that we do and say. The more we know, the less we don't. 

Cheers and Excelsior!

Pastor Adam