From: Dr. Randy L. Rowland [rlrowland@comcast.net] Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2007 5:47 PM To: Dr. Randy L. Rowland Subject: Weekly Words From Randoon ... 3/11/07 Weekly Words From Randoon …for the week of 3/11/2007 Greetings one and all! Happy Sunday to you! PRAYERS – Lord Jesus, we give you thanks that John Fason is back in his own home and that he is done with chemotherapy for the time being. God, please bless Mark and Summer as the embark on their marriage journey next Saturday. Spirit, we pray your comfort and healing for Patty after surgery and for all those recovering from surgical procedures. Lord, we lift up the Eidson’s to you and ask that you be with John’s father who has a very serious heart condition and is too ill to have bypass surgery right now. Help him to recover enough to have this procedure done. God, for all those unemployed and job hunting, we ask you assistance to match their gifts with the needs of various enterprises. And, for those who have left jobs hurt or humiliated, we pray for healing and a return of confidence. Lord, bring healing to our ministry partner, Clarence Presley, as he battles an illness. NEWS FROM SANCTUARY 3/11 Attendance: 85 Kids: 1 Offering: $5,637 Sanctuary Running Club is … well, off and running! Information: parmstrong@sanctuarycrc.org There are some great learning and entertainment events going on at the Green Bean Coffee House. Information: letter@sanctuarycrc.org REFLECTIONS – on “Living Beyond our Fears in FAITH” 1 John 4:1-6 We have been working our way through a series on FACING OUR FEARS this winter. It’s been revelatory for me to have to look at this stuff in scripture and in my life and be challenged to think and live in new ways. We’ve covered quite a bit of ground. We opened with the concept of fear and what it does to us psychologically, physiologically and sociologically. We also discussed the fact that FEAR is the opposite of FAITH. The realities of the effects of fear have really sobered me and made we want to examine my life more deeply and move more deeply into my faith in Jesus Christ in the midst of my many fears. Hope the same is true for you…It has been particularly helpful for me to explore the many FACES of fear --- some of which we have worked on together here at Sanctuary 1. The fear of God 2. The Fear of Satan/evil 3. The Fear of the Unknown 4. The Fear of failure 5. The Fear of Death 6. The Fear of Poverty 7. The Fear of Rejection/Abandonment 8. The Fear of Sickness This week we embark on our final 3 weeks on LIVING BEYOND OUR FEARS with messages on LIVING BEYOND OUR FEARS IN FAITH, LIVING BEYOND OUR FEARS IN HOPE and LIVING BEYOND OUR FEARS IN LOVE. This week, it’s LIVING BEYOND OUR FEARS IN FAITH. I would like to enter into our reflections today by looking at a passage of Scripture that is very poignant. It is written by the Apostle John, Jesus’ youngest disciple, many years after Jesus death and resurrection. John is an old man, most likely in prison. He writes almost sentimentally and poetically, but the truth of his statements goes right to the heart of what it means to be a Christ-follower. First John, is a relatively short letter. In it, John instructs first century believers to lean hard into practices of Renouncing sin, Loving God and others as an act of continual obedience, Refusal to capitulate to the “world’s” systems. In the latter part of First John, in the opening of Chapter 4, John talks about the idea of understanding how the world works and how the Holy Spirit works…and he urges us always to live in the Spirit. Let’s take a look at First John 4:1-6 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. Where is John taking us here? There is always a vibe, or buzz in the air. There are lots of spirits. You can feel that in everyday life – there are times of cultural sadness like after a hurricane Katrina. You can feel a spirit of partying in the air during Seafair weekend in Seattle. During the mid 80’s here in Seattle there was a tremendous Spirit of seeking wealth and comfort. Since the late 70’s, Anthropologists tell us we live in a culture of extreme fear and brokenness that was only made more pervasive after 9/11. John urges us to really test what comes at us by way of the vibes of our culture. Do those resonate with the Holy Spirit….or could they actually steer us away from God. John’s test of the Spirits is to see if what is “wooing” us deepens our confidence in the realty of Jesus who came in the flesh and truly knows what it is to be human, to face fears, to move through life in relationship to the Father, even in the midst of powerful distractions. For John “the spirit of antichrist” is any view, attitude or behavior that diminishes Jesus Christ. Bible Commentator Stan Smalley says that the essence of worldliness is “to be anchored to a society that does not know God.” So, theologically, perhaps the best definition of WORLDLINESS is to possess attitudes and/or behaviors that do not promote a deepening faith in Jesus. One of the strongest attitudes in our society that fails to recognize GOD is FEAR. The vibe is everywhere. And, there are some social forces that seem to want to legitimize fear and make it one of the gods of our age. For instance, I say to you that I have a fear of death, “you say to me Jesus is bigger and I can get through.” Suppose I then become indignant and say, “My fears are real and powerful and don’t you dear hit me with your lousy spiritual platitudes and memory verses. God hasn’t taken this away yet and I don’t think he will. Lots of my other friends have big fears. So..get real” I may be hurting here when I say this…but the fact is that I am capitulating to my fear, defending it rather than denouncing it….and I am failing to recognize God. That’s what John call the spirit of antichrist. As we have learned: FEAR IS THE OPPOSITE OF FAITH. John is not trying to lay a guilt-trip on his original audience or on you and me. He is extremely positive and encouraging. Look at verse 4: 4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world THIS IS OUR KEY TEXT TODAY. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world You and I have overcome the world and Fear and all the spirits of worldliness that would try to DISTORT or DIMINISH our ABSOLUTE FAITH IN GOD. JESUS CHRIST AND FAITH IN HIM are not only the opposite of FEAR, THEY ARE THE ANTIDOTE FOR FEAR. Our #1 Value here at Sanctuary is WE BELONG TO GOD. Nothing says that we belong to God more that the truth of this passage. And, because we belong to God, we needn’t capitulate to attitudes of fear that have been instilled in us by this world. BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST HAS OVERCOME THE SPIRITS OF THIS WORLD, WE HAVE TOO! Greater is HE who is in YOU, than he that is in the world. John’s fellow Apostle, Paul, echoes this same idea in 2 Timothy 1:7 when he says, 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. By the HOLY SPIRIT, JESUS CHRIST IS AT WORK IN YOU AND ME. He has OVERPOWERED the world. He has EMPOWERED us. We need not be cowed by our fears…shivering in timidity. Instead, we can know that we have the power of GOD…the very power of the Spirit that raised JESUS CHRIST from the dead giving us LOVE and SELF-DISCIPLINE to achieve Reshaped attitudes about fears we have. Discipline, love and power to face our fears in love and trust and faith in God and WALK THROGHT them like the are butcher paper painted to look like a prison wall instead of being a real wall. And, the enduring quality of the Spirit in our life and the discipline to keep facing our fears literally changes our belief system about our fears..of life, death, heights, water, relationships, rejection, finances….they are become less relevant, less powerful and less noisy as we test those spirits and discern that they are not THE SPIRIT … and just maybe, over time, those things that once owned us and paralyzed us becomes lesser factor….and maybe eventually a NON FACTOR. WHILE FEAR MAY BE THE ESSENCE OF WORLDLINESS….FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST IS OUT OF THIS WORLD AND IS THE WAY BEYOND OUR FEARS. God Bless you … and go out and make it a GREAT WEEK! Much Love, Dr. Randy L. Rowland 2854 NW 59th Street Seattle, WA 98107 USA 206.953.0909 www.sanctuarycrc.org