Don't Let Doubts and Fears Rob You of Your Peace

August 12, 2020

Leadership Notes

The people of Covenant Church are so kind and patient. I never want to take that for granted. The people of Covenant Church also treasure God's Word. I always want to feed and nurture that God-given desire for faithfulness to Scripture.

These next few Sundays are going to sound more like I'm pulling weeds than planting wheat. Jesus talked about planting wheat. That's what we want to do, most of the time. One of the ways to control weeds is to have healthy growth crowd them out. Jesus talked about that. We are clearly on the wheat planting side of things.

But don't misunderstand. Jesus never said to never pull weeds. He had his weed-pulling moments. Sometimes you have to pull weeds in order to encourage healthy growth. And sometimes, despite your best intentions, your healthy growth can get choked out by the weeds. There are instances when the Apostle Paul found it necessary to address the unhealthy presence of weeds. He did this by calling out false teaching that was threatening to creep into the church as well as attitudes and actions that weren't rooted in God's Word.

So, what am I saying? Simply put, for the next few weeks we'll be negotiating our way through a positive presentation of the gospel along with defending against false teaching. False teaching, if left unchecked or unacknowledged, can take root and before we know it, we're deep in the weeds. It can happen to any of us. It's happened to me.

So, in the pursuit of Biblical truth, I grabbed my garden rake, put on my gloves, and examined a couple of current threats to sound doctrine and solid Biblical theology. After that, before moving on to our fall series on Christian Apologetics, we'll look at the holiness of God. Everything we do is to the glory of God and edification of His church.

In closing, three pearls to share.

Kofi Adu-Boahen {I love his Twitter handle - @ACupofKofi} writes:

I've come to the realization that I do not have political views. I have theological views and they just so happen to cause me to think in very particular ways about issues including politics. If you're a Christian, I would argue that should always be the case…

Paul Washer observes {with some minor edits, by me, which have not changed the meaning}:

People were made for God's glory but have fallen short. We have dislocated and deformed ourselves and are no longer driven by affections for God, but indulge in the desires of the flesh and are by nature children of wrath. The Gospel and the regenerating work of the Spirit is the only remedy!

Finally, a most excellent thought as we find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic:

But do not let doubts and fears rob you of your peace.

- J.C. Ryle

With Much Love and Affection,

Richard