Fear Is Not the Lack of Courage But the Lack of Faith in God

There are many styles of KJV, and their price is not inflated by employing "translators."

Luther's sermon on the storm-tossed boat is exceptional, because it touches on our basic fears coming from lack of faith. 

We think of soldiers as being fearless, but they are not likely to say so. They are afraid of bad consequences and guard against those results. When they teach a newbie to toss a grenade, they use an area where they can protect themselves against a badly thrown grenade about to explode. They have a pit to crouch in, but sometimes the bouncy, poorly tossed grenade rolls right into the pit. Then they scramble out as fast as possible. 

When our emotions strike us, faith goes out the window. Fear builds up and dominates. That has been the history of Lutherdom for more than 50 years. The leaders are ashamed of faith in Christ, so they bitterly cling to marketing gimmicks, which clearly "work" for some. 

I was inoculated against Church Growth by the year-around-tan Disciples of Christ minister my parents admired. Rev. Chuck Willey was a forerunner of Paul Kelm and Mark Jeske, Floyd Luther Stolzenburg and protectors.

The simple phrase is - faith in Jesus Christ gives us access to His grace. That is so clear and plain.

KJV Romans 5:5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

We all have anxieties, and they build on their own. The last few months for me have been - "Not another technology challenge!" although the actual problems were not catastrophic. I have found that a few words from friends are a big help in shrinking the looming size of the problem to almost nothing. You will chuckle when some results become clear.

By the way, I ordered four KJVs in case someone wanted one or more. I will send them free with the KJV book that I already have at home (8 of them, almost for free).  Just send a note to greg.jackson.edlp@gmail.com.

Two things I want to work on - besides more teaching via Bethany:

1. Free book distribution of the KJV and related books;
2. A conference this year, perhaps via technology or even a combo of some here and everyone else online.