2021 Fearful or Fearless
I am humbled and honored to bring my 16th annual report and sermon to the great people of Rosedale. We have been through a lot together and we have been each other’s strength as we serve the Lord together.
Greeting
Can you believe it? That we sit here with so many changes going on in our life that we need a scorecard to determine how we will keep tract of everything.
What was the normal may never be the normal again and the new normal may be fresh out of God’s playbook for each and every one of us.
I like that thought- something new out of God’s playbook for our lives!
I would have never thought that I would be sitting here doing my report with an oxygen bottle in case I need it. That as a church move to the new church year and we would have to discuss some things that we took for granted a year ago.
Covid-19 has changed our lives. It has changed how we think and it has forced each one of us to adapt quickly to things that are beyond our control.
Becky and I can stand here today like many others and say that we have survived Covid-19 and bought the tee shirt.
It has changed every part of my life.
It has changed my thinking , it has left me devastated with the loss of my mother and almost left my kids without a father, grandfather.
God has shown us that it is no longer easy to be a people of faith and allow our relationship with Him to be casual.
There was nothing casual about serving God in 2021.
We have seen that to be a Christian is more than saying that you believe in God- because the devil believes that-it is our personal faith put under attack and your personal faith being stretched.
Life has become precious and nothing can be taken for granted.
You thought I was emotional before, I have gotten worse.
I want to Share a moment of my journey in the hospital/ how that some were fearful and some were fearless of the Covid-19 that I had, and then we will talk about the two-
They brought my food to my room on take out trays and set on my stand and left.
Brought me plenty of water as needed but tried to do multiple things at one time so they would not have to keep suiting up.
The night time was the scariest time because in the night the darknest tries to rule our minds.
It is where my mind had me being alone instead of the being with the Lord
Satan is vicious but he is not victorious.
He (devil) will keep us distracted by the night so that we cannot see the light and the joy that is coming.
I found myself asking God to do for me what I could not possible do for myself.
On the other side of the room door was my way home and that door seemed like it would never open for me again to go back to what was my normal and kept me to what is now the new normal.
Covid-19 with double pneumonia and Covid-19 with an immune deficiency takes the disease to a new level and quickly was more than I had the strength or ability to stop.
There were aids that were fearful. They feared the disease and they feared me because I had it.
The doctors and nurses were the fearless ones.
They were the ones that stepped between me and the virus and was doing everything they could to make my stay and my healing possible.
The difference was who they were putting their trust in.
Take all precautions and do what is right and needed or do what was absolutely necessarily and live in fear that you would be the next victim.
Fearful or Fearless- (If I had to title the message)
To the people that believe that this virus was a hoax, you have to be blind to the fact that to some it affects more than others and for those who have gone through it and fought for their lives, to say that there is something wrong with their faith is one step from blasphemy.
This has us standing on one truth- That we need to look to the Lord as the author and finisher of our faith- that when we have done all that we know to do to be smart and to look at scriptures and to show the love of Christ that at some point we will have to trust God for the unseen, unknown, and to do the impossible.
Believing gets harderas our options become fewer. Let me say that again, Believing gets harder as options become fewer.
It is easy to tell someone else to trust God in areas of their lives when you are on the outside looking in, but until you have put your trust in the Lord as you see the options you desire become fewer and you still stay focused on Him, you will not truly see your faith in action.
Every area of our lives has been affected from government on down.
People, all people are angry and are ready to fight at every stage of their lives and at any person, place, or thing.
Get these definitions-
Fearful is to look at any situation and believe that God has lost control-
Fearless is to look at every situation and see that God can change it.
God and God alone sits on the throne of the heart of every believer and every believer that gives up that spot to situations and circumstances has wither they want to or not allowed the devil to take control of their emotions and their decisions.
My Bible tells me that “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of need.” Psalm 46:1
He is our strength from strength to strength.
He has to be our Lord on the mountaintop and He is my Lord in the valley and I have been in both places and so have many of you.
NO HARD PLACE WILL EVER SILENCE MY PRAISE-
It is time for us as a church and as leaders in our families that we will focus on the Lord and our relationship with Him.
We choose Fearless in the fact that we know that God can do the impossible and God can right the wrongs in the world today.
OUR FAITH IS NOT DETERMINED BY WHAT WE DO, IT IS DEMONSTRATED BY WHAT WE DO DURING THESE HARD TIMES.
This is the time that God has chosen us (You and I) to be here- you are not here by accident, you are the people God has chosen for such a time is this-
We say that we want revival.
We say that we want to see people saved and serving God, but yet, we feel that we should be exempt from the trials and hurts of a hurting world that needs Jesus!
I feel like Jesus left the 99 and came looking for me and I want to be the pastor of a church that people are looking for those who need to be rescued and will use whatever it takes to reach souls for Jesus Christ.
The church is not the church until we want saving souls
Vision for the church is not only getting people in church but to get people to not only thinking about God but serving God.
To not only be a part of your life but God to be your whole life. That God would be first in every area of our lives.
Gospel of Mark talks about us as believers straining at the oars of our lives. Fighting against the current, fighting to stay on course, and making sure where we are headed in the direction that the Lord has given us.
Putting the old year behind and the New Year in front of us. Goes without saying that most want to throw out the old.
Before, we throw out all of 2020, we need to make sure that we have learn the lessons needed and we have done what the Lord has shown us so the new in front of us can be blessed of God.
Since Covid-19, I not only want to be your pastor, a person who shares God word with you but more than ever I want you as family and friends and as God’s people to stand firm in your relationship with the Lord and experience all that God has for each one of us.
I will stand before God that by choice that I wanted to stand in the gap for your relationship with God.
I wanted those that were praying for me to see Jesus in my life if I survived and in my death if he took me home and my family prepare for my loss
The church today has the responsibility of snatching people from the fire- Jude
2021 vision is that Rosedale would move to be more involved in the life of the community by showing them the love of Christ and moving them from casual to participate in an active relationship with the Lord.
Every family is going through something! I know that all of you are and I found those nights praying and lifting you and your family up.
The church financially- it has been a tough year- understandably. God has provided and I believe that he will continue to supply our needs as we do what He has called each one of us to do. My pray as we move to put God first, it will include finances and it will include being active and not satisfied with old bread but new manna from heaven that is delivered daily by the Lord Himself.
The church spiritually- it has taken a hard hit- many have become fearful in their walk with God because they have put their trust in man instead of God. God alone does miracles! If we can do them ourselves they are not miracles. Miracles are God doing something that we ourselves cannot do!
The church being Compassionate- That God’s people want to please God more than anything else so we will show the love of Christ to people who need to see the love of Christ shown to them.
The church doctrinally- We are doing all that we know to do- As Nazarenes, of which I am proud to be, we stand with other denominations that proclaim Jesus as the only way to be saved and eternally secure in Jesus! We are three things!
We are Christian!- We like many others want to be more Christ-like.
We are wanting God to make us more like Him everyday in our lives.
We are Holy People- we are not perfect, we do not claim to be perfect. We want to be holy as God said He is Holy. We want to be people that want to please and obey the things that we know God desires of us.
We are Missional People- We care about the lives of those that are around us- We desire people to know the Jesus we know. This includes all people. This includes our enemies that Jesus says that we are to love and move to Christ.
We are people who know that everything that we have has come from the Lord and that should He desire it or if we would loss it that it was His to take in the first place.
As I close this report for 2020, it is so much more than what we did and what we hope to do in 2021- it is about seeking God like never before with the intensity that if I don’t do it, it won’t get down.
There are many things that have been forced to be put on the back burner because the front burner was survival mode. That is where I pray the New comes to each of us- That the New thing God is doing in us is for us to put God first!
To seek His face and His will for our lives and that we will experience His presence like never before.
That we would trust him in our finances so that He will be able to bless us in our finances.
Most people say that when they can they will give to God- money, time, resources, first love.
If you will not give God 1 dollar for every 10 he gives you, you will not give 10 dollars for every 100 he gives you. I have watched many Christians receive a good amount of money and had before they got it said what they would do for the kingdom of God.
If you have not learn the principal of giving, you will not be able to do it when it is in your hands because if you do not understand that the first fruit does not belong to you – you will find reasons to not give or give less than what is right.
Taste and see that the Lord is good. I don’t say this to shame anyone into giving but desire for some to catch the reality of God gracious giving heart and see that He will do what he says he will do.
Every believer should have a desire to see people come to Christ- if you really believed that when we take our last breathe that we will spend eternity with or without Jesus, it should change how we look and how we talk to people everyday of our lives.
Our loved ones that do not know Christ should drive us to our knees that they do not know Jesus.
We cannot save them but we can share with them the love of God in a loving way.
Be praying how we might show them the love of God.
The ministries we do for the church are expressions of Jesus love.
We are able to do that because each of you has given so that we can give to others. Bountiful blessings, Samaritan fund, world evangelism, district level, college level. All because we think people are important and want their lives changed like God did for us.
If he can saved me, he can saved anyone. I was not bad, but I was not good. I was not one to just hurt you, I but didn’t care if I did and felt the weakest link was the link to get rid of.
We need a fresh drink of water from the living well of life. We are all so dry from the journey that for most, we forgot where we are going because of all the obstacles.
I survived covid-19 by God’s grace and mercy.
God saw the widow give her last two coins.
He saw the mom with the lack of flour and no oil.
He saw the faith of the centurion that says you do not need to go just say the word and my man will be healed.
This report is not only about what we did and what we want to do it is about how we will frame the future and what part we will allow God to play in our lives and in our church.
Thank you Lord that you have not given us a spirit of fear but of a sound mind that rest my everything on you as Lord of my Live!
That fear can be replaced with the fearless Presence of God Almighty in my life!
Stand with me as we close- pray that God would get glory and honor in our lives in the days to come and that God would bring revival and it will start in each one of our hearts!
Prayer-
