FEAR NOT

“Fear Not”

It is said that the phrase “fear not” is mentioned in the Bible 365 times - one “fear not” per each day of the year. I recently came across someone who studied this and found that, although you may find this phrase about that many times, it is not always used in the context we are told by some preachers. Actually, there are 80+ instances of “fear not” and another 30+ other variations (“Don’t be afraid”, etc) found with the intended context. Regardless of how many times “fear not” is used in the Bible, the need for us to hear it over and over again may indicate our lack of faith and obedience. Because it is written over and over again in God’s Word, it also shows us a loving, thoughtful, merciful God and Father who desires His children to trust and obey Him. My personal struggle with fear is real and found on various levels in my life. The crippling power of fear is no stranger to me. With me, it has certainly been an issue of trust and obedience. A large part of my struggle with fear is that “seed sowers” of fear have been sowing seed throughout my lifetime without my awareness or permission. Some of the seeds have taken root and have influenced the way I respond to circumstances and people. The results have no been pleasing to the Lord God. 

On December 23, 2018, my daughter sang a song I co-wrote with two other people a few years ago. The message of the song reminds the listener that even in the reality of pain, suffering, doubt and fear, there is an antidote. It is the presence of God - Emmanuel - that casts out all fear! (1 Jn. 4:18) In more ways than one, this song continues to minister to me in helping me overcome fear and to be reminded to trust God more fully. The Prince of peace desires to me to walk with Him every moment of every day, believing all His promises, and obey Him. 

I hope you and I will “be still and know that [He is] God” in 2019. May His love cast out all fear in us and may He empower us to trust and obey Him in all things.

A blessed new year to you,

Don

FEAR NOT 

written by Don Johnson, Hannah Johnson, Anna Bosworth

Verse 1:

In a world full of despair
There’s pain and sorrow everywhere
People are crying out
Filled with fear and doubt
Who will bring them peace,
in all their suffering? 

Chorus 1:
Fear not, He has come 

God with us, Emmanuel 

Fear not, there in a manager            

Is the Prince of peace Our King and Savior 

Fear not

A LETTER TO THE CHURCH

I HOLD THIS AGAINST YOU:

• You have forsaken the love you had at first...If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Your purpose and influence will perish)
• There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak so that one could be fully cooperative with the world and still serve God. Blending into the world so as to not stand out as a holy and sanctified Christian.
• Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans whose teachings perverted grace and replaced liberty with license. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against you with the sword of my mouth.
• You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching (through fear, control, threats, plotting and scheming against innocent people, lies, deceit, producing false witnesses, abuse of power, and stopping at nothing to get her way)... I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
• I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
• You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
• I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
• Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. 
• So be earnest and repent.

(Read Revelation 2 and 3 for full context)

This is a compilation of things God has against the seven Churches mentioned in the book of Revelation. When studying these letters through the eschatological view taken by most dispensational, pre-millennial, pre-tribulational Bible students and scholars, you can say that today we are living in "The Church Age", specifically, "living in Laodicea" (the seventh church). Thus, being a popular view among those in the Baptist denomination, we would read the letter to the Church at Laodicea as if it was written to your Church. The previous six Churches mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3 all have good things about them that God praised them for. By in the letter written to the Church at Laodicea, there is only a pointing out of what is wrong and the warning to repent. The challenge for us is to read and study the Bible and ask, "How does this apply to me?" "How does this apply to those around me?" "How does this apply to the church?" And then make personal application. If we are living in the Church Age of Laodicea then what do we, as individuals, need to do? What do we, "as a church body" need to do?

The corrective action, as the Lord has prescribed in His Word, is this:

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

2 Chronicals 7:14 (NIV)

Otherwise, the Lord will rebuke (express sharp disapproval or criticism of someone because of their behavior or actions:) and discipline (train someone to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience:) His people. 

It's never too late to begin examining your own life (1Cor.11:28) to see if there is any wicked/offensive way in you (Ps.139:24). It is easy to evaluation and judge others around you - especially if you do not particularly care for them - but there's a verse or two for that as well! (Matthew 7:3-5 and Jn.13:35). 

I don't know about you but I don't favor "nasty grams" or "spew mail" from others. Especially, if the author "forgot" to sign their name to it. I throw the "no names" in the trash. We cannot do that with God's letter to us. He signed it! We've have to read it. We have to allow Him to search our hearts. We have to repent of every offensive or wicked way. Then we will be able to please Him. Not to mention the rewards we will receive for our obedience! But the point is, if we say we belong to Him then we do not belong to ourselves and we have to humble ourselves, surrender our "rights" to Him (deny yourself...), allowing Him to transform us into the Church He designed us to be. 

How do you think a letter from God to the "Church at ______________" would read?

Desiring Him,

Don

TO TITHE FOR A BRIBE

TO TITH FOR A BRIBE
by Don Johnson | October 27, 2018


₁The church secretary answered the ringing phone to hear a man on the other end ask if he could speak with the "Head Hog at the Trough."

The secretary replied, "Who?"

"I want to speak to the Head Hog at the Trough!"

"Sir," she replied, "if you are asking to speak with our pastor, you will need to refer to him with greater respect."

"Oh, I see how it is," the man said. "Well, all I wanted to do was talk with him about this ten thousand dollar gift I want to give to the church."

"Hold on," said the secretary. "The Big Pig just walked through the door!"

To the flesh this may be comical. To the spirit it should be abhorrent. Why? Because it smells like flesh. Unfortunately, many people in the church are easily influenced by the dollar - just like the world is. Especially if it is a significant amount. Sadly, the old adage "money talks and..." is more than a trend in the modern church. It has become the lifestyle of many who claim to be lovers of God and followers of Jesus. The mere thought of dropping money into the offering plate or basket, and using it as leverage to control others should be appalling. To use our gift to the LORD as a bribe to make others do or say what we want them to do or say should be non-existent in the church. Some even try to bribe God and control the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ because (1) we bring our tithe to the church and (2) we like our church experience a specific way. These two "reasons" give us a perceived sense of entitlement - to have it our own way. If you are wanting things your way at the weekly worship celebration of Almighty God, then you might try Burger King because the King of kings will have it no other way but His. I know this sounds blunt, but there is no other way. What's supposed to be a gift, or tithe, to the Lord (because of His great mercy and grace towards us (and because he commands it)) has become, to some, a way to manipulate the direction, events, and decisions (and leadership) in the local church. Is this the teaching found in the Scriptures? By no means!

The Heart of the Matter

We think of tithing as taking a tenth of our earnings and giving it to the church during the offering time on Sunday.  In the Old Testament, when the tithe first appeared on scene, the tithe wasn't restricted to money. Crops, cattle, grains, etc. were what God's people tithed from. The tithe wasn't a strict 10% either. Some have calculated a tithe to be about 26% or better in some cases. In others, folks were to add 5% here or 10% there on top of the base. And this was called a "tithe". The New Testament gives us a bit of grace when Paul writes the church at Corinth letting them know that "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give..." Tithing, or giving is definitely a heart issue...an act of worship between the giver and his/her God. To use it as anything else would be in violation of Scripture...the very Word of God.


“A tithe...belongs to the Lord [not me; not you]; it is holy to the Lord."
- Leviticus 27:30 NIV

“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. [You are keeping some back for yourselves out of fear and lack of trust]. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."
-Malachi 3:8-10

"Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly [unwillingly or hesitantly] or under compulsion [by force], for God loves a cheerful [exuberant] giver."
-2 Corinthians 9:7 NIV

The good news is that there is blessing from the LORD in giving tithes and offerings! The bad news is, the person who gives or tithes with any kind of strings attached, (or withholds a tithe) is totally missing out on the heart of God for him/her, for the rest of the Body of Christ, for the community, etc., and is in disobedience.

What are we doing? When we place the check or cash into the offering basket, are we giving/tithing or are we bribing? Let's check our hearts the next time we tithe. If we are thinking, "I pay part of the pastor's salary so...", or "I'm withholding my tithe until that decision I want is made", then we might want to check our hearts against what God says about it. Our money is not our money. Everything is the LORD's. (Psalm 24:1)

If you are struggling right now - as I am - with this topic, please know you are not alone. But also know that you are being prayed for and the desire is that you are released from a heart that uses money to control and manipulate, and instead, be given a personal revival to stimulate the desire to worship and please God with your finances as your real reason for giving.

Growing together with you!

Don


Follow me on Instagram @donleejohnsonjr

1. (adapted from "What They Didn't Tech You In Seminary", pg37)

PLASTIC PEOPLE GETTING REAL

When you think of Jesus’ apostles do you think of them as men of a higher echelon in the Kingdom? Most people do because, after all, not everyone was appointed by the Lord Jesus to be included in His “inner circle”. And how about Peter, James and John? Those three were chosen by Jesus to be in His intimate inner circle. Although Paul came into the picture a bit later than the others, God used him in mighty ways to propagate the good news. The all seem to be the “perfect” followers of Jesus - except Judas, of course. But Paul let’s the cat our of the bag and shows us that he’s not as much of a “saint” as we have him canonized to be.

Read Romans 7:14-25 then continue reading this page.

One of the many things I’ve never fully understood is this passage in Romans where Paul writes about his ongoing struggle with sin, even though he is a follower of Jesus - an apostle: “What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.” He is obviously talking about God’s Commands - the Law. In my religious/spiritual training, I’ve always heard that “we are no longer under the law but under grace”. As true as this statement is, I was under the impression that the Law (God’s Commands) are to be discarded, ignored, they are obsolete. Unfortunately, this is one of the things that became part of my belief system that led me on a more carnal path in my “Christian walk”. Despite what you and I believe, the Word of God is always true. 100 people can take the same passage of the same Bible and form various beliefs but there is only one truth. 

The truth that Paul is communicating here is that when Jesus did what He did He didn’t abolish the Law. Even Jesus stated, in Matthew 5:17, that He came to “fulfill it”. As a scale is used to obtain a balance of weight of the objects placed on either side, so a balance scale also is a picture of what Jesus actually did. Romans 7:25 states, "He (Jesus) acted to set things right…” Jesus “balanced” the scale, so to speak. Now, Paul is talking about his (and our) struggle to live in the balance that Jesus established.

I can intimately relate to what Paul shares in verses 20-23:

“Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It (falling into sin) happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.”

 Can you relate? I certainly can! I have tried and tried to live a holy Christian life, doing and saying the right things and I seem to get nowhere. Retreats, conferences, seminars, books, counseling, accountability groups, Bible studies, mission work, vocational and volunteer ministry, “correct” doctrine - It feels like I’ll never be free from sinning. Back to verses 17-20…I love Paul’s honesty: 

“But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.” 

And verse 24: “I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?”

This is the APOSTLE PAUL, y’all. He is sharing his real struggles with his audience. The opposite of what we do today, right? Don’t we get embarrassed when people find out we struggle with sin? And don’t we make the meeting house of God a sanitary place where real struggles shouldn’t be shared because (1) we don’t want to offend anyone, (2) turn people away from God, (3) it would be bad PR for the church, (4) people would actually know that we’re not perfect, or…etc. What we do delivers a blow of death to the body of Christ. What Paul did here is breath life into all of us! 

Many believe, like I did, that if we only exercise spiritual disciplines and religious duties that our behavior, speech and thought life would somehow become sanctified and holy. That’s not what sanctifies us. It’s not what makes us holy. A dirty dish is incapable of making another dirty dish clean. 

So Paul’s “at the end of [his] rope”. He’s “tried everything and nothing helps.” Then there is JESUS. Paul is resolved to knowing that while he still resides in his earth suit, he will continue struggling with sin but that there is grace and forgiveness through the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus “can and does…set things right”.

Paul did not claim to “have been the Chief of sinners”. He made a claim in the active present tense. He said, “I am the Chief of sinners.” Like Paul, I have and do struggle with sin. I struggle constantly. I desire to live by God’s Commands but not all of me feels the same way, and I sin. I have and do hurt people I love. I have and do thought/think things I shouldn’t have. I have/do said/say things I shouldn’t. I have done/do things I shouldn’t. I am a broken vessel - a sinful man in desperate need of Jesus. The Law of God shows me that. If it wasn’t for His Law I would not know right from wrong. If it wasn’t for the grace of God through Jesus Christ my wrong could not be made right.

We’ve got to stop “dressing up” to look good for everyone. It’s OK to be you. If getting real is good enough for Paul it’s good enough for us. 

Don