The following are notes from a recent sermon at Haven of Hope. Hope it is a blessing to those who read it and I hope that you can make sense of my notes. :)
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. Ex 14:13
2 Tim 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear ; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
KJV
It was about 1:30 am and I was around 8 years old. It was summer time and the fan was running. It was a loud fan that was in the shape of a square and sate on the floor. I had too much soda the night before and had to take a trip to another room to take care of some business. As I returned to my bed, I walked inosently past the fan when the loud scream and a hand reached out from the fan and grabed my leg.
It was my brother Jim. Jim always like to scare people. We shared the same room our whole life and he would always try to scare me. He would say things like, “Rick, don’t look now…but there is a hand reaching out from beneath your bed.” Or “Do you see the man sitting in the closet.” Or “Do you see the head floating in the corner?”
He was something else. It wasn’t until one day I made up my mind that I wasn’t’ going to allow fear to control my life that I was able to shake off the many years of him tormenting me with his “scary” stories.
Fear is something that can be very healthy. It is something that is very scriptural. A healthy fear is reverence or respect. The Bible teaches that children are to respect their parents (Lev 19:3), wives are to respect their husbands (Eph 5:33). The Scriptures also declare that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov 1:7) as well as "the beginning of wisdom" (Prov 16:16).
We fear what we have reverence for. We fear what we respect.
Example:
- Burn yourself one time and you will have a respect for fire.
- Be taken to the Police station and be treated like a criminal, you may earn respect for the law.
- Have a near drowning experience in a large body of water, and you will have greater respect (or fear) of the water.
We need to avoid harmful fear, a sense of terror or dread. Believers are instructed not to fear human beings (Matt 10:28; Phil 1:28), because they cannot ultimately harm us. Wicked men, however, are constantly fearing other people, especially the righteous (Prov 28:1; Matt 14:5; Rom 13:3-4). Such fear causes them to act deceitfully in an attempt to hide their sins (2 Sam 11; Matt 28:4-15).
Be leery of those amongst us who want to cause you fear, who bring in confusion! It is not of God! Scripture declares that it is an attempt for them to hide their sins!!!
1 Cor 14:33
For God is not the author of confusion , but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
KJV
This kind of fear is not from God! This kind of fear is not of GOD!!!!!
Our problem is that oh too often our respect (fear) is for Satan himself! We allow him to implant fear in our hearts, in our minds, in our souls! The big question he wants us to ask is: What if…this what if that….
What if my friends don’t except me…
What if my family disowns me…
What if I can’t live this life of Holiness…
What if I take that step of faith and fall down…
What if I listen to the voice of God but times get rough?
What if!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We fear the future for our selves, families, and yes even the church!
A family was awakened by their smoke detector in the middle of the night to discover that their house was on fire. The father ran into the upstairs bedroom of his children and carried his eighteen-month-old baby in his arms while dragging his four-year-old son by the hand.
They were halfway down the stairs when the little boy remembered that he had left his teddy bear in the bedroom, so he broke free from his father’s hand and ran back to the bedroom to retrieve it. In the furor and confusion, the father didn’t notice that his son wasn’t with him until he got outside. By now the little boy was trapped by the flames and smoke in his second-story bedroom. Smoke swirled around him and he coughed and cried out from the upstairs window, “Daddy, Daddy! Help me!”
His father yelled from below, “Jump out of the window, Andy! I’ll catch you!”
In the darkness and smoke, the little boy yelled back, “But Daddy! I can’t see you!”
Daddy shouted back, “That’s okay, son. I can see you! Jump!”
There is a true saying that goes, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future.” Do you worry about the future? Are you afraid of what you can’t see? Does it seem dark and smoky? None of us can see what lies ahead, but God tells us to trust him and “jump!”
Fear caused:
- Adam to attempt to shift responsibility for his sin on Eve.
- Abraham to call his wife his sister.
- Isaac to call his wife his sister.
- Jacob in flying from Laban.
- Aaron in giving in to the Isralites when they demanded him to make an idol.
- The ten spies who only saw the giants.
- The Isralites in Failing to fight Goliath.
- 20,000 of Gideons army.
- Samuel, fearing to obey God’s command to anoint a king in Sauls place.
- David in fleeing from Absalom.
- During the storm at sea….saw Jesus walking on water.
- Pilot condemning Jesus for fear of the people.
- The Philipian Jailer…
The list could go on and on!
I feel like Moses this moring, God wants you to hear this message! Stop worrying about what you can not control! Your worry is nothing more than FEAR!
I’ve got news for you Devil!
- David did kill Goliath!
- Gideon was not defeated!
- Jesus calmed the waters!
- The philipian jailer did not kill himself!
- The Egyptian army was killed in that great sea!
- The dry bones did live!
- Lazurus did come forth!
- The lame man was healed!
- Peter did make things right and preached on the day of Pentecost!
- There is only ONE GOD and His Name is Jesus!
- He is not dead but He is Alive!
- WE ARE NOT AFRAID!
STAND STILL and SEE the Salvation of the Lord!!!!!!
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