There are a lot of scary things going on right now in the world. What should we be afraid of? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage means that instead of obeying fear, we will live by faith. There will be times in our lives where all we have to go on is God's word. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you will go through some horrifying things. If you don't follow Jesus, you should be terrified, for there is no hope for you. Are you ready to meet Jesus?
When we don't serve the God who is God, we are free to be our own authority, our own god. Once we know where we will spend forever, then we can know how to live now. Before we know Jesus we feel like we need the things of this world to feel successful. When we know Jesus we know we don't need anything else. We must seek first the Kingdom of God and everything we need we be given to us. God knows how to speak our language. God loves us!
Three are the most important questions in life are:
Who do you think you are?
Where do you think you are going?
What do you think you are doing?
Pastor Wood teaches about these questions and how they shape our lives. Everything we do now is of eternal significance because we should be doing it for Jesus. Our greatest point of blessing is often tied to our greatest pain.
Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Our God is a consuming fire and He will judge the earth with fire. When that happens, there will be no place to run. When we die, what do we expect and what are we hoping to take? The things that our world holds dear are not important, what is important is whether or not our lives are hidden in Christ. We are not to fear what the people of this world fear, Christians are only to fear with reverential awe, the Lord our God. The world cannot destroy the Kingdom of God! Jesus died and rose again so that we might live.
Unseen realities are throughout the old and new testaments. There are unseen forces that are very real and powerful. They are at war with the people of God. Even so, their doom is sure, and one day they will be defeated forever. God is greater than any person, and God is still on the throne. There is nothing that God does not know about, He knows our motives, and He knows the future. Sin is insanity. God is the Creator of life. If we are trusting in God, we do not need to be afraid. God may not do what we want, but he always does what is best. We all were by nature enemies of God. He has chosen to love and bless us, His enemies. There is so much going on that we cannot see. We need to love, trust, and obey God.
What could possibly make a person love their enemies? Why does God allow evil? Does anyone know the secret sins we commit? These are a few of the questions that Pastor Wood teaches about in the 5th chapter of 2 Kings.
When we surrender our lives to the Lord, we will still have battles. Whatever we go through we must focus on the Lord. We cannot get the trophy without running the race. The Lord is good and does what is right. God's will for us is perfect. The Lord will lead us to and on the correct path. We have an enemy that is real and powerful. If we are honest we don't have to be afraid. Our only hope is in the Lord.