As many of you know I have been following the teachings of pastor Steven Smothermon of Legacy Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico for some time now. Over the past year, as is the case with several churches across the country, Legacy has had to make some tough decisions on how to handle the Covid-19 pandemic in regards to lockdowns imposed by New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Ultimately pastor Smothermon acted on what he knew to be the truth of the matter, he chose to follow the word of God over what the governor demanded.
This bold move in opposition of the relentless pressure to conform to mandated statutes designed to silence the church in the guise of protecting public health echoes a message that God has put front and center in my life over the past week. I feel that Jesus is calling His followers to stand up for His ministry despite growing persecution to the faith at all levels. The message of Courage has been the underlying theme of several sermons I have heard lately not only by Smotherman but also pastor James Greer here at Journey Church in Louisiana. I feel that this message is coming from multiple pastors for a reason, God is speaking and we as followers of Christ need to hear this message and prepare ourselves for a time that is coming very rapidly where we will have to follow Smotherman's example and choose to stand for Christ when there will be growing pressure to submit to worldly authority.
I believe that this recent sermon by Smotherman explains the importance of having such courage:
The Governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, told NBC we were selfish. This is coming from the lady who made the sick and elderly stand in modern-day bread lines just to get groceries. She called us selfish for having a peaceful protest to celebrate the birth of Jesus that people voluntarily chose to attend.
Selfish?
Legacy Church is a congregation of great people who, during the Covid-19 crisis, have given:
– 21,952 packs of nonperishable food for Feed New Mexico Kids
– $50,000 donated to VIC (Veterans Integration Center) to help them on their mission to help Veterans & the community locally
– $175,000 donated to Make-A-Wish New Mexico
– Helped eliminate $1,894,800 in hospital bills for people in New Mexico
– 750 masks for the city of ABQ employees
– 708 meal boxes to the Zia and San Felipe Pueblos
– 255 masks for Navajo Nation
– 80,000 local lunches partnering with Central Grill and Steelbridge ministries
– 5,232 elderly care packages
– 3057 family care packages
– 281 first responder and medical staff meals that feed a family of 4
– 487 units of blood donated
– 4810 families served through our partnership with Roadrunner Food Bank
I knew that during this time, we needed to be the Church more than ever. Some people decided to slow down, but we decided to speed up. We didn’t want to let this shut down, shut us down. We will never stop being the Church.
We will continue to conduct peaceful protests against this Governor’s orders.
PSS
PASTOR STEVE SMOTHERMON
Likewise pastor James Greer echoed this message of courage this morning in his sermon about Gideon who had to summon a supernatural bravery in order to lead a group of three hundred against more than one hundred thousand adversaries:
Judges 7:1-7, 1 Corinthians 3:8, NKJV; Revelation 22:12, NKJV
God calls a leader to follow.
God prepares the leader before He prepares the people. (Judges 6:12, NKJV) God saw something in Gideon that he did not see in himself. (Psalm 139:14, NKJV, MSG) God called Gideon, now God’s testing Gideon. (Judges 6:25-27, NKJV
) You have to pass the test if you want to be blessed. Gideon’s calling and testing was done in secret. (Judges 6:29-30, NKJV) The secret to success is what you do in secret. (Matthew 6:3-4, CEV; Matthew 6:6, CEV)God destroys self-confidence to build Godly-confidence. (Hebrews 13:5-6, NKJV)
Most people are not willing to pay the price for success. God wants us to go from self-reliant to God-reliant. God is taking what you see as being betrayed, forsaken, or forgotten and turning it into Godly dependence and Godly confidence. (Hebrews 13:5-6, NKJV; Judges 7:2-3, NKJV)
You have to trust God’s Word over your feelings. (Judges 7:7, NKJV)
The real secret to success is trusting the facts over your feelings. God’s words and promises are facts to believe.
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