- April 22, 2020
Re: Pastor Russ’ Message to Grace
To my dear brothers and sisters of Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, Oregon,
1 John 3:1-3 says, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Sometimes we forget and need to be reminded of God’s great love for us. This is your reminder: God loves you! He didn’t “have to” love you because He is God and is somehow required to. He doesn’t love you because He “feels sorry” for you. You poor thing you! And He doesn’t love us because we are “so great!” He loves us because He is God, and God is love. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us; and that shows us the extent of His love. He lavishes us with His love as He calls us His children through the power of the resurrected Christ.
God is on the move today, even amidst this pandemic. A lot of good things are happening as believers are acting like Christ-followers. They’re doing a lot of caring and sacrificing in Jesus Name. This is a good thing!
Here at Grace, a number of things are going on as well. Let me name a few: #1. Our garden effort is underway! Praise the Lord, spring has sprung and as a result we are putting in plants to help out locals. Charlotte is leading that charge, (she is our new deacon overseeing the garden ministry). Alice brought her tractor in and I saw LaVoy plowing and tilling. Dave Williams took a turn at tilling as well. Marc Collins was in too—doing some weeding and planting. I also saw him dig a ditch because in the process of tilling we broke an irrigation pipe. Ed got parts for that, and later Dave Williams repaired the pipe way down in the hole that Marc dug. I caught Wayne supervising and he has been a big help when a tool or an extra hand has been needed. We have some thriving strawberries, onion and pepper starts going. Marc and Dennis also planted some potatoes and so our garden ministry is underway.
#2. Around the property, Dennis Fritz sprayed weeds and they are starting to die off. He also mowed the fields and did some weed whacking. Stann Lyman washed all the windows in the church building, (and seriously we could use some additional cleaning and tidying up in the church house). Charlotte has been keeping the flowers and plants healthy and happy. Julie has been busy keeping the church family up to date with email posts; and Stann has been busy with mailing out my messages and calling and checking on everyone. #3. Barbara continues to do banking for us and paying the bills. No doubt I’ve missed someone and I apologize—but honestly I want to thank everyone for your recent efforts. Thank you for praying for the church and thanks for your gifts.
Last Sunday I had planned to be at the church-house so I could be available for anyone who wanted to drive by and give them a word of encouragement and prayer. Instead, I was called out to a fire on E. Ellendale Ave. Up at 3:17am and out to the fire by 3:30. It was a long day for me as I brought support and encouragement to our firefighters, law enforcement, and paramedics; and the residences of the home. Three of our neighbors died that day, but it could have been worse. There were 7 in that home. At times like that you have opportunity to reflect on all the blessings that you have and to be grateful for them. I left that fire scene at 1:45, tired and thankful for your prayers. I also came away with a greater respect for fire, as this one just would not die. Time and again, when they thought the fire was out—it would blaze up again. This went on for hours. The heat was incredible. The Bible says, “The Lord our God is a consuming fire,” Dt. 4:24. Think about that…the house fire is nothing compared to our God. So much for being at church Sunday? Ellendale was closed and you couldn’t get there anyway.
Now then, this pandemic seems to be going on and on; and everyone is getting tired of staying home and sheltering in place. We would no doubt like to “get on with things.” The Governor’s shelter in place order was put into effect till April 28th, and with some states “opening up” and relaxing restrictions, I am hoping to see an end to the stay at home restriction soon. In which case I hope to be addressing you face to face rather than sending out a message and posting something on Facebook. (By the way, thanks to several of you who helped me with the posting—especially my wife.) People are getting anxious right now and I don’t blame them. So let’s take a tip from the Apostle Paul who was “sheltering-in-place” in prison when he wrote these words to the Philippians. Let’s look at Philippians chapter 4:4-7:
“4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
First, Paul says to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Now that would include him being in prison—and it includes us being stuck at home. “Always” means always and all times. In other words it means for us to develop a mental toughness so that we “take every thought captive to the Lordship of Christ,” and we say to ourselves: I will be joyful in all things. Why? Well, for one is because we have a Savior who endured much more than personal confinement in order to redeem us from certain condemnation. He endured the cross for us; so we should certainly be able to endure some confinement. Be joyful in that. Take your eyes off of your confinement and put it on the Savior.
And for two, joy is God’s antidote to depression, anxiety, worry, and doubt. To be joyful is to bask in His love and provisions for us. Joy is the happy state that results from knowing and serving God. If we are serving ourselves and things aren’t going our way we get angry or sad. But since we are serving God, if things aren’t going according to plan, then we can go to God for His help. It’s His responsibility and He can handle it. We can then watch God move mountains so that He can accomplish His will. Thy kingdom come and Thy will be done should be in the midst of our thoughts. It will supercharge our joy. Also, listen to what Jesus taught in John 16:24, “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” Jesus wants us to have joy and He tells us how—we are to come to Him. Psalm 16:11 says, “In your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (ESV) Come to Jesus when you are down and discouraged and let Him fill you with His joy. This is so important that Paul says it twice: “I will say it again… REJOICE!”
Next, God tells us to “Let our gentleness be evident to all.” Gentleness is defined as a “personality trait of meekness and humility—the opposite of which is pride.” Typically when people rejoice over something it can go to their head. But rejoicing in Christ and because of Christ develops humility for what He has done for you. It makes it easier to be gentle when we are mindful of all that Jesus has done for us. And since He has been gentle to us—we can in turn become gentle toward others. Since it is a personality trait it is impossible to manufacture this on our own. It has to be created in us by our Great Creator. So when Christ lives in us, we begin to bear His fruit. Gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit of Christ who was given to us when we received Jesus as our Lord. Don’t quench His Spirit. Now just in case we forget, the Apostle reminds us that the “Lord is near.” When we are tempted to be coarse with someone instead of gentle—this is a good reminder. Jesus sees you, and knows what you are doing and thinking always.
Third, we are told to “Not be anxious about anything.” If you are like me, that is easier said than done. I’m anxious about getting through this quasi-quarantine. How about you? Are you anxious? What are you anxious about? Finances? Covid-19? Getting sick and dying? A Loved one dying? Losing everything? Not being joyful? Whatever it is, we are instructed what to do when we are tempted by the sin of anxiety. Yes, I said sin. And the reason is that when God tells us NOT to do something—and we disregard that and do it anyway—that is called sin. Just like when God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the certain tree in the garden. But they did it anyway and it precipitated in the fall of Mankind. Jesus told us not to worry (synonym for anxiety) and taught how futile that was in Matthew 6:25-33. So let’s not worry or be anxious… but if you are hard pressed: here is what to do…
Fourthly, Paul instructs us that in every situation (where we are feeling anxious) we are to pray and petition the Lord with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving flows out of joy so I would first say go back and remember your joy and why you have joy so that you can present your prayer and petition to God. Then, when you get that right, present you prayer requests to God. He will listen. He will answer. You can know that you are heard and that He cares for you. It’s like Peter says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you,” 1 Peter 5:6-7. You can’t pray correctly with a proud or haughty heart, so you have to humble yourself before you come. Prayer in many ways is humbling because it is often the realization that we are not God and we can’t accomplish what we want—we need His help. Apart from Him we can do nothing. But with God, all things are possible. That ought to help our joy realizing that today?! I find it amazing that God wants to hear from us and answer our prayers more than we seem to want to pray?
Now if you do those things, we are told that something will happen to us. Something that I think we all want. We want peace of mind and peace of heart. We get that peace from God. God’s peace, which transcends all understanding, means that this is an un-worldly peace. Jesus said, His peace is not like the world gives, but it’s a peace that the world can’t take away. In other words, if you have God’s peace, nothing can take it away. He is our peace, and HE can’t be taken away from us. But how often do we drift from Him? If your heart is not at peace at this moment—it is not because the world took it away or that God rescinded His gift. No, we probably drifted. Hence, we should go back and remember what it is we can be joyful about. That’s a clue for us.
In fact, Paul says that God’s peace is like a guard for you. God’s peace will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. I NEED a guard—a holy and heavenly GUARD for my mind. Why? Because there are all kinds of things out there that my mind wants to fixate on. My goodness… there is the coronavirus; there is the lack of income at church, we aren’t meeting; there are health concerns; there’s what should I do with my time and a whole host of things. The world, the flesh and the devil have all kinds of things that they would like to fill my mind with in order to distract me from my heavenly bridegroom. I need a guard—the peace of God to guard my mind and help me take every thought captive to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. (See 2 Cor. 10:4-5) Yes there is a “war” afoot; it is a spiritual war for the mind.
I need a heavenly Guard for my heart also. You see, my heart stands for my affections. They are much more powerful than my thoughts—my affections are what drive me. I pray for holy affections. Some are pretty important like thirsting for righteousness; for falling in love with the Savior each day; for a holy desire for God’s Word and to be with Him. But if my affections are off—my pursuits are off as well. I desire to be healthy so I’m trying to eat right. But when someone tempts me with an ice cream sandwich at lunch, that desire can easily overcome my mind’s thoughts about eating right. It’s the same with a lot of things—our hearts are responsible for our actions so it needs a Holy Guardian. God’s peace can do that knowing that He who did not spare His own Son will also graciously give us all things. (See Romans 8:32) We need to cultivate a holy desire for Him, and that comes with His Peace.
And so, my dear friends… where does that leave us today? No doubt it’s time for rejoicing, (I’ve been grousing a bit and my wife has been trying to get me to smile.) Let’s rejoice in the Lord—and I will say it again: REJOICE! It’s a great cure for a lot of things that ails us. Be gentle… just like Jesus; because He is gentle with us. He is near us. Let’s stop being anxious as well. We can’t change our situation anyway? So let’s look to Jesus. Indeed, let’s go to Jesus and present our prayers to Him with thanksgiving. And if you are looking for some peace of mind and heart today—God’s got it. His peace will guard your hearts and minds if you will let Him. Now, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen
Pastor Russ Hilsinger,
Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, Oregon