WHOM SHALL I FEAR?
Pastor David Lukinovich
The Tabernacle (Covington campus), Louisiana
Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation–whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life–of whom shall I be afraid?
Recent events of the past year, I believe, have exposed something that was always present--fear. Fear in regards to health, finances, family, job, etc. Our society, in spite of so much wealth and ingenuity, lives in a constant state of fear and anxiety.
Has the Church bowed down to a spirit of fear? The Apostle Paul said, “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” In Christ, death, our greatest enemy, has been conquered, defeated and removed.
Christians and pastors have the obligation to stand in complete faith and trust in Jehovah. They must reject any and all attempts that fear makes to enter our churches.
The world is searching for people who have confidence, assurance, and trust in something greater than themselves. They are looking for something to give them hope and release from their fears and anxiety. Where will they go if the Church has surrendered to the same fears as the world around them? If it looks like even Christians are without hope, if even those who confess the Lord Jesus for their salvation also live in fear, what hope does the world have?
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Fear is not from God. No matter how great or small, fear of anything is not from the Lord.
Fear is a liar. Fear deceives; it causes us to fear something that “might” happen but likely never will.
Fear is bondage. Fear will rob all joy, peace, and sleep. It will paralyze you from doing and becoming what you were created to be.
To the church, the pastor, and the believer: Stand in faith before a confused and lost world. Hold out the light of salvation that’s in you, and shine the hope of Christ. Resist and reject a spirit of fear in your life and in your church.
As the world moves toward the end of the COVID pandemic, I feel a greater threat than the virus may still linger--fear. The Church cannot hide behind the world’s definition of who and what we are to be afraid of.
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love [dread does not exist]. But perfect (complete, full-grown) love drives out fear, because fear involves [the expectation of divine] punishment, so the one who is afraid [of God’s judgment] is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love].
A city on a hill cannot be hidden; let your light shine so brightly before a world in fear that they will see your hope and glorify the Lord.
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