The third day of a conference in
My condensation of the day’s events and messages by Pastor Jim Futral
Many of the problems we have in our lives and in our churches are results of fears. However, if we read God’s Word carefully, we will see that He has given us the perfect solution to eradicate all fear…LOVE
In verse 18 of the passage below, the word for “casts out” fear in the Greek is the same word as when Jesus drove the moneychangers out of the temple area. Perfect love, God’s kind of love (refer to 1 Corinthians 13) drives fear out of our lives, thoughts and actions…
18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19We love, because He first loved us. 20If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. 1 John 4:18 - 21 (NASB)
Pastor Futral listed three fears specifically in his message: the fear of rejection, the fear of ridicule and the fear of reprisal. These are big ones in our lives today.
Later that night, I attended a youth worship time. It was a little different format than what they had been doing (sing, pray, preach). They had a Talent Showcase. There were only about 25 kids in the room but almost half went up and did something. It seemed that they were with fear as they sang, spoke or played for each other. In just a few days, they had learned to love each other to the point where fear no longer existed because God was in their lives, working in and through them.
May we adults learn a lesson from them (and God’s Word!), putting aside ego, pride and fear to let God work in and through us.
SEEK FIRST THE
