[0:00] blessings to all of you in Jesus name this morning it's good to be here good to be together and worship him together our Savior the one that is worthy worthy is his name worthy to be praised appreciated the children's lesson the challenge that was given to us maybe more even for us older ones to think and meditate on like to speak this morning about the subject of fear and worry or anxiety or versus being made perfect in love you would turn to Isaiah chapter 43 just for a few verses get started you know fear is a real thing that everybody from time to time probably faces and the Bible has a lot to say about fear and I'm talking about the bad kind of fear there's also a good fear a healthy fear a fear of God but in Isaiah 43 verse 1 it says but now thus saith the Lord that created thee
[1:38] O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned neither shall the flame kindle upon thee you know in these verses we see God's promises he promised well he didn't promise that he would take away the trials he didn't say I'll remove the rivers or I'll remove the flames speaking of flames there's a lot of those around here right now he didn't promise to take those away but what did he promise he said that we won't be overtaken by them and that he will be with us when thou passest through the waters
[2:46] I will be with thee God didn't promise that he would take away trials in this life he didn't say that I'll make the road easy but he does promise that he'll be with us he'll be right there with us why?
[3:06] because he is God he is our God those of us that have believed on him in Isaiah 41 verse 10 it says fear not thou sorry fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I will strengthen thee yea I will help thee yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness another beautiful promise there in Philippians 4 6 be careful for nothing what does that mean?
[3:53] be careful for nothing does that mean we have to be careless? is that what he's saying? no he's not saying that he's saying don't worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God the opposite of worrying is to worship by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving we can make our requests known to God not to worry today so many people including Christians live with much anxiety and fear sometimes we've probably counted in that statistic but it says here that three out of ten Americans have anxiety disorders everything today if they don't know what to do with people they just call it a disorder you know if they don't believe in the word of God they don't believe the Bible so they diagnose everything and they usually have disorder behind it but three out of ten and that's only the ones that admit they have a problem so that number is much higher than that
[5:24] I'm sure I would expect that at least half of all Christians worry and fret and live with at least an element of anxiety you know we'll talk about some of that later but many people start out life with worry about who they're going to marry they start thinking about that and their mind wanders and the mind the battle is in the mind and they think about who they're going to marry and as they grow older they start fearing about if they're going to marry and so the worry just begins to pile up and once they're married they worry about their finances and other things this is costing more than they thought it would so now we need to really start working and maybe start my own business to really make it now they worry about their business will their business make it what if the economy goes bad and we lose everything worry and worry we fret later when children come that brings more stress and more worry so we better build our business even bigger to support them too we worry on and on until we worry about worry you know president roosevelt once said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself it's quite a statement from a president some people worry so much they don't have children you know the world says that it's fearful to have children so or maybe one or two or you know really limit that because a lot of times it's just selfish reasons but it's also about this thing of worry what if my children won't make it to heaven then it would be better they had never been born that's actually a true statement and you know
[8:03] I want to clarify that being concerned having a godly concern is different than worry or fear being concerned and caring deeply about those that we are responsible for as god has called us is very different than worry we can be and should be deeply concerned about our children and about those people that god has made us responsible for but that's different than worry our concern will rest on god's shoulders instead of our own what did jesus say cast your cares upon me our concern will also be god's concern and remember we're called to be co-labors with him he carries our burdens we can trust in him to take them upon his shoulders and he makes our burdens lighter and he walks with us yes even through the desert even through the fire right merlin even through the fire at paradise it's scary those things are real they're scary they're frightful but god promises to be with us but once we have children people worry about them they worry about their health they worry about their well-being they worry about will they learn right in school what influence will their friends have upon them who will they marry will they live right and will they raise their children for the lord or will they drift into worldly ways and eventually lose all vision of being separated unto god the way that we're called to be will they become just like the rest of the world no fear of god these are real legitimate concerns but we can choose and discern whether it's worry and anxiety or whether it's a godly concern if it doesn't bother god it shouldn't worry us but if god's concerned then we should be concerned i'm not downplaying the fact that we should be concerned you know i have to just now think of eli in the bible he was not concerned about how his sons lived he didn't care he just let him go at least i shouldn't say he didn't care because i don't know that but he did nothing he didn't reprimand them he didn't speak to them about their evil ways and god shows us in the bible what he thinks about that so as fathers we do need to be concerned and we are if we're godly we are concerned we take responsibility but we need to let the holy spirit show us the difference between worry and fear versus being concerned with the things that god is concerned about we are called to fear god the bible calls it a fear of god i think maybe to understand that word better would be a reverence
[12:04] of god a high respect of who god is the thief on the cross remember him the one that jesus said today you will be with me in paradise he said to the other thief he said don't you fear god that's a different kind of fear that's a healthy fear that's a fear to displease a righteous and a holy god that god can save our souls or he can destroy our souls the bible says hell will be full of fearful people when david was telling god about how his enemies were constantly trying to destroy him this is what he said in psalms 56 what time i am afraid i will trust in thee in god i will praise his word in god i have put my trust i will not fear what flesh can do unto me how often do we become afraid of what flesh meaning other people can do to us we're afraid david said i will not fear what flesh can do to me jesus said not to fear those that can destroy our body but to fear him that can destroy both our body and our soul in hell that's who we're supposed to fear we're supposed to fear offending god and displeasing him proverbs 29 some of these are just single verses that i want to read about fear but proverbs 29 verse 25 says the fear of man bringeth a snare but whoso putteth his trust in the lord shall be safe safe don't we want to be safe this morning the fear of man brings a snare it has a crippling effect on us and it controls us we are to be led by the spirit of
[14:30] God not by the fear of man when we are free of the fear of man oh what a safety we find when we put our trust in God when we completely trust him when we trust his word then we can also trust those that have a spiritual authority over us yes our godly parents those that God has set over us as a protection and as a guidance for guidance you know when we willfully walk out from under that umbrella of protection that God has established that probably means that you don't really trust God the way he designed it you know there's a lot of people say well I'm just trusting God but I won't trust any of these people over here that that God put in my life but in reality we're not trusting
[15:33] God and and I want to clarify something it's the same way you know wives you're called to submit to your husband and if your husband is surrendered to God then your heart should safely trust in him as God has set him over you and gave you you know we as fathers as husbands are responsible to lead our homes we are God has given that to us that wasn't our idea we didn't come up with that it would be a lot easier if we just wouldn't be responsible right Laverne but once you're married you become more responsible God has put that on us but what happens when you don't walk with the Lord or you walk out of his order and you don't submit to your head to your spiritual authority it's the same way with children you know there's many young people that get saved today that their father and their mother aren't walking with
[16:39] God what are they supposed to do they're not Christians but so so they need discernment in how to submit but obviously they can't submit to everything if the father is not okay with you know like let's just pick on Enos like if your dad was not okay with you going to church what would you do you know at some point you submit to Christ and say I can't listen to that I want to submit to you dad but thankfully that's not your case your dad would be the opposite if you don't go to church he tried to bring you anyway right I hope but you see what I'm saying we submit where we can but ultimately our submission is to Christ and to his word his truth to be clear I believe that a young person that has ungodly parents can be in the perfect will of
[17:43] God it just might be a little different walk than those that have godly parents we must find that place of safety that place of blessing a place of trust and great peace a beautiful place of submission I think we have it so nice when we're in a home that that has godliness and fathers are living right we're almost spoiled because there are people that especially I'm thinking of like Muslim countries where technically they're supposed to kill you for being a Christian for believing in Jesus believing in the new birth and the cross to follow Christ is so great and yet they choose to isn't that amazing that's the power of
[18:51] God but we have it so nice when we have parents that love Jesus and they want to follow him I believe that we are even more responsible let's turn to 1st John chapter 4 verse 16 and we have known and believed the love that God hath to us God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is so are we in this world there is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love my friends this morning
[19:56] I believe that God wants his church the church of Jesus Christ to come to a place of full trust in him a place of rest in his perfect love love you know these words are so simple these words of scripture are so simple and yet so profound because of the worry and the fear you wonder if we're made perfect in his love you know there's a need there's a call for the church of Jesus to be moving on to be about the father's business about his work the work of our savior but so often I fear that we're I fear I'm afraid how do you say that I'm not supposed to be afraid anymore but we're afraid and we're lacking the boldness that
[20:56] God wants his church to have Holy Spirit boldness to speak those things that are true how often does the fear of man hinder us from that and many things that God wants to speak are unspoken because his people are afraid second Timothy you want to turn to second Timothy chapter one there's some words here that the apostle Paul said that will prove this point to not be afraid to recognize where fear comes from starting in verse seven second Timothy one seven for God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind let me ask you this morning if
[22:00] God didn't give you the spirit of fear who did it indicates here it was given to us if we have fear but it says very clearly God did not give us that spirit of fear he gave us power and love and a sound mind it didn't come from God so it must have came from our enemy came from the enemy Paul goes on to say in verse eight be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me his prisoner but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purposes his own purpose and grace which was given us in
[23:00] Christ Jesus before the world began but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel he has brought he has abolished death and he has brought life that word immortality means the opposite of mortality he has abolished death you know fear brings death the fear of man brings death but Jesus came to abolish that and these verses talk of a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace are we fulfilling that calling are we walking in that or has fear and anxiety crippled us and we are afraid we won't speak the truth because we're afraid sometimes the truth is a blessing sometimes it's a challenge sometimes it's you know correction but it should always be in the spirit of humility and in the spirit of love the spirit of Christ not in our own works it says as soon as I speak the truth my own way it's my own works right and it doesn't bring the effect that God wants to bring but it says here that it is according to his purpose and his grace if we don't have the grace of God on us let's not speak or it won't bring forth the right fruit but if we have his grace and his holy spirit then we are not to be afraid and I don't want to come across as saying that or giving you the impression that if you're scared of something or something frightful happens in your life that you shouldn't become scared you know it's our nature to be you know
[25:15] I can only imagine having that being surrounded with fire around your house wouldn't be scary I'd be a little scared I know I would I'd be lying if I'd say that wouldn't be scary Merlin so I'm sure it was so we're not talking about that but we're talking about living in fear you know you're scared yesterday and you're just scared every day you just live in fear that's what we're talking about that big fire in paradise is not a pleasant thing when you have all your belongings there and your home is there and it might be especially scary for younger children but we can find our rest and our trust in the Lord Jesus just because something scares us once in a while doesn't mean we keep living in fear right we get over it quickly we can turn to him we can run to him we can pray to him and trust in him just like
[26:17] David did think of all the terrible things that happened in Job's life this morning I woke up and I was thinking of Job he lost everything one thing after the other he lost in this life and then in the end he had his own terrible painful boils even his wife said just curse God and die what did Job say that is such an amazing amazing account of a godly man he said though he slay me yet will I serve him none of us have come to that place of being that desolate and that having lost that much but he kept right on trusting I would to God we have that kind of a commitment to our
[27:19] Lord that we keep right on trusting him you know he is trustworthy if God this God who hung the moon and the stars and all that is out there I just am so amazed you know what we can see with just our naked eye just when we look up into the sky I know I tried last night and I only saw a couple stars but I knew they were all there I just couldn't see them because of the smoke but when you can see in a clear evening clear night all that is up there the millions the billions of them the greatness of his creation all the heavenly hosts that we can see and all the ones that we can't see which is even much more and then he came down here on this earth to show us how much he loved us he became one of us so to speak became a man and then he died for us he humbled himself he was obedient the bible says unto the cross even to the cross and then we don't trust he just wants us to trust to believe he's made all the provisions in fact he's our heavenly father he's our father he's not just a stranger strange god or a god that's far away he's our father romans 8 verse 14 says for as many as are led by the spirit of god they are the sons of god for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear to fear there's that word again but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry abba father daddy father the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of god are are you a child of god do you live like you are do we trust like we are speaking of this abba father just reminds me of a child jesus said that except we become as a little child that's what god wants us to be to him a child that trusts him you can take a child small child
[30:24] I'll pick on Brantley but I know Tony has put him up on his housetop roof and way way bigger than I would higher but you know if you would put him on just this high by himself he'd never jump down right he'd be scared he'd be but if daddy's there I'll jump off of that thing and he does he'll just jump right off and the only reason he'll do that is because he can trust his dad and I just that picture this morning just came to me that's what God wants from us he just yeah it's fearful maybe some of the things we face or want to do but if God's there we can do it we can do all like Paul said all things through Christ just trust him if he's there we can trust just like a child also in
[31:28] Romans 8 same chapter verse 1 says there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit and then in verse 35 who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or pearl or sword as it is written for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are counted as sheep for the slaughter nay in all things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
[32:30] I hope and trust that after this message we can't remember why we were afraid or what we were worried about this fear that many of us struggle with or have struggled with will cripple the church from moving on into deeper things of God fear fear is meant to hinder and cripple us as individuals but ultimately it cripples the church from doing the work that God wants his people to do and accomplish remember a genuine godly concern is very good and it should inspire us with to have vision and purpose but never let it turn into fear an ungodly or an unholy fear Paul he had many concerns for the church but fear was never his motivator it was a love and a passion for God and for godliness with great resolve he wanted to see
[33:42] God's purposes fulfilled you know many people have such a fear of becoming religious like their background I'll just say it I think the first ten years of my Christian life I had that maybe more I was afraid that I'd become religious and I just you know I just knew what I didn't want so I was afraid of that and I allowed that to be my guide for a while other people have a fear of becoming worldly like the world and then all their decisions the decisions they make is based on fear and worry instead of a love for the truth a love for God's word that deep inner desire to please him and to worship him to obey his commandments the motivation of a disciple of Jesus should never be feared but through peace and a sound mind they are motivated by the love of God does that make sense you see the difference motivated by fear and anxiety worry or are we motivated by the love of God that's where we find peace think of David and the Lord's shepherd or the
[35:11] Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd what do they call that we'll just call it Psalm 23 but let's turn to that and just look at those verses the Lord is my shepherd the good shepherd I shall not want the wording there in the King James I remember as a child I could never understand that word so I like to explain it for children but I used to read it and read it the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want like how does that make sense but we know now what it means it just means that we shall not be wanting we shall not be lacking anything nothing lacking if the Lord is your shepherd is he our shepherd he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters a place of total peace he restoreth my soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake he has perfect guidance for us yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
[36:32] I will fear no evil why for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me no fear trusting fully thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth over a promise a promise here that in the midst of turmoil and severe battles Christ fills us with his spirit and we overflow with love with strength with spiritual boldness right in the middle of the battle we sit at his table and we feast on his spiritual food and we are anointed by him why are we so fearful then he goes on he says surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever we can walk in the goodness and mercy of God and stay in his presence the rest of our days and for all eternity fear is often crippling people fear is tormenting us and it's because we don't believe a simple chapter like Psalm 23
[37:57] Psalm 34 verse 1 says I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth continually all the time my soul shall make her boast in the Lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together I sought the Lord and he heard me and he delivered me from all my fears has he all my fears they looked unto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed is your load heavy today do you need to look unto Jesus he will make our load lighter does your load need to be a little lighter we can look unto him just like they did
[39:07] Revelation chapter 21 I want to read a few verses there also about what God thinks about fear I've been talking about fear to us this morning I think trust God has and we might in case we think that having fear is optional to you and that it's okay to be fearful I want to just look at this for that purpose to let us know what God says about it in Revelation 21 verse 6 and he said unto me it is done I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end I will give unto him that is a thirst I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of water of life freely what an offer he that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his
[40:12] God and he shall be my son but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death my friend this morning to have this fear is to not believe and it is a great sin in the sight of God it is just as sinful in fact it's listed the first one the fearful and unbelieving is listed among all these sins but it is the first one right along with murderers and liars and the fearful will be in that same place so in case we thought that it's not a big deal if I'm afraid all the time and have anxiety it is we need to come to Christ if that's our experience and that we're fearful we need to come and just have a talk with
[41:25] Jesus about it and give it to him he will take away our fear in Matthew 28 what Jesus said oh and what Jesus said so many times I want to look at that for a moment too but how often did Jesus say fear not don't be afraid almost every time he came to the disciples in Matthew 28 verse 5 and the angel answered and said unto the women fear not the angel this is where the angel was at the cemetery at the grave for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified he is not here for he is risen as he said come see the place where the Lord lay and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and behold he goeth before you into
[42:26] Galilee there shall you see him lo I have told you and they departed quickly from the sepulcher with fear and great joy I'm sure this was a godly fear fear of the Lord and did run to bring his disciples word and as they went to tell his disciples behold Jesus met them saying all hail and they came and beheld him by the feet and worshiped him then said Jesus unto them be not afraid go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there shall they see me how many times did Jesus say to his disciples to not fear and why did Jesus keep saying it over and over think about all the miracles and the times that he the disciples met him and he would address them with the first thing he would say often is fear not one time he said fear not it is
[43:29] I I'm here don't be afraid is Jesus here is he with us is he with you I'm told that the term fear not is stated in the Bible 365 times that ring a bell that number 365 times there might there's other times more than that but as far as the exact term that's what I read that it was 365 not that I looked it up I didn't study and read all those verses of course but somebody apparently did will we come to Christ and broken us and lay our life before him will we put all our trust in him today all our trust he is trustworthy
[44:32] Jesus said that if if your earthly father if you can trust him if he can give you good gifts how much more will I your heavenly father so if little Brantley can trust his daddy to jump off a roof that may or may not be a smart idea but it worked but if he can trust that how much more can we trust our heavenly father who is perfect who makes no mistakes just like a child will trust a parent and they will defy that logic things they should be scared of all they really need to know is that daddy is there that's all and he's simply asking us to trust him no wonder Jesus said you must become like a little child
[45:34] I don't know why but a few days ago this thing about fear just came to me I just that's all I could think about I'm too fearful I need to trust more if we have the right fear of God the kind of fear that trusts and believes we don't need to fear anything else sure we have concerns sure there's things that concern God and that he warns us about that should grip our hearts as well but not in fear let's pray