John 4:18

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

From Background Notes [BN] for the weekend of November 30^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

By sending Jesus, God perfected His love among us and provided a way for us to become his children with forgiveness. On the day of judgment, we are able to stand boldly before God as His forgiven children not as His enemies in need of punishment.

Micah 5:4-5a

He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be our peace when the Assyrians invade our land and march through our fortresses.

From Background Notes [BN] for the weekend of November 30^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Moved by the promise of such deliverance, Micah breaks forth in a prophetic utterance that reaches far beyond the immediate, passing crisis of Hezekiah and Jerusalem in 701.

Isaiah 35:8

And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.

From Background Notes [BN] for the weekend of November 30^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The language of 35:8-10 emphasizes the safety of this highway (no lion found there) and the purity of this way (no unclean will journey on it). How is such a perfect path possible? The answer lies in the statement, “Only the redeemed will walk there.”

Isaiah 35:3-4

Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”

From Background Notes [BN] for the weekend of November 30^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

To all such persons, the prisoners of fear, the prophet offers this challenge: “Be strong, do not fear.”

1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 23^rd & 24^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Or, as we have commented in these Notes: God loves us; fear not! Thanksgiving, as a celebration…

Psalm 69:30

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 23^rd & 24^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Thanksgiving becomes a form of authentic witness to the world around. What we desire from our worshipful thanksgiving and our thankful worship is that other people might embrace the name of Jesus, would offer loyal obedience to His Word, and open their hearts to His steadfast love.

Psalm 100:3

Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 23^rd & 24^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

We belong as “his people, the sheep of his pasture…” Ancient Israel was a distinctive people, a peculiar people, a holy people. Their identity was bound up with the God who called them and shaped them.

 

Genesis 15:1

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great".

From Background Notes [BN] for November 23^rd& 24^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

When God gave his promise to Abraham, he needed to receive, believe, and hope. In the dialog which follows, God’s covenant partner shared his deepest concerns — his fears, asking God, “What will you give me… You have given me no offspring … Make my slave my heir …” These disputatious words show us a man wrestling with his fears based on what was in front of him now.

Genesis 8:22

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 23^rd & 24^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

When our pilgrim ancestors settled on the North American continent, they soon experienced the challenges of first seedtime and first harvest in a land that held great promise for a generous food supply.

Philippians 3:7

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 16^th& 17^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

As growing Christians, there are good things and then there are better things. What happens, if we remain stuck in the past, is that the good things can start to go bad, especially when we cling to them as trophies of our past accomplishments.

Hebrews 11:10

For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 16^th & 17^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

“He was looking forward.” The future was not closed off to Abraham, nor is it shut for us. One marker of the Jewish faith has been the idea that time is actually going somewhere and is not a monotonous cycle of unchangeable events.

Hebrews 11:8

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 16^th & 17^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

“He did not know where he was going.” Yet he knew who was going with him: the God whom he trusted. Because of his faith — his trust — (our first Core Value), he could make this risky decision.

Psalm 105:8-9

He remembers his covenant forever, the promise he made, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 16^th & 17^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Abraham’s life was a signpost that pointed well into the future! “A thousand generations” is the Hebrew way of saying “for a very, very long time.” The God who called Abraham would remain faithful to “his covenant” and to oath” he swore. To take this journey into the future means trusting God’s faithful past as the basis for His hopeful future.

Psalm 41:9

Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 9^th & 10^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

So, the offer of friendship by the church to newcomers can be risky for them. We don’t always know what experiences newcomers bring to their encounter with us, which would include incidents in previous churches or loss of confidence in a friend they once trusted.

2 Corinthians 5:18-20

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 9^th & 10^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

We, the church, have been given the ministry of showing other people how God wants to make them His friends! That’s what Paul means by “the ministry of reconciliation.”

Job 19:21

Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!

From Background Notes [BN] for November 9^th & 10^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

So we come back to the Core Value of Friendship in the life of the church. People come through our doors all the time, and we don’t have the permission or the freedom to decide in advance what Job-like experiences they will bring with them.

Job 6:14-21

¹⁴ “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend
    forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
¹⁵ But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,
    as the streams that overflow
¹⁶ when darkened by thawing ice
    and swollen with melting snow,
¹⁷ but that stop flowing in the dry season,
    and in the heat vanish from their channels.
¹⁸ Caravans turn aside from their routes;
    they go off into the wasteland and perish.
¹⁹ The caravans of Tema look for water,
    the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.
²⁰ They are distressed, because they had been confident;
    they arrive there, only to be disappointed.
²¹ Now you too have proved to be of no help;
    you see something dreadful and are afraid.