Fear

today about fear. Okay. So, God tells me what to preach on each week. You know, someone was asking me the other day, are you going to do like, you know, going through the a book, you know, one chapter at a time or whatever?

Maybe if I if God stops telling me what to preach on, but as long as he keeps telling me what to do, you know, I'm going to do what he tells me to do. So, I'm taking a a break and I'm at a hotel and um you know it it was the half point of the year so I wanted to review the last year and look forward to the next year. I do that I try to do that at the midpoint of the year and so I was doing that and I still didn't have the message.

It was like Thursday for this week and um and then I'm in the hot tub actually and uh God gives me the message. So, um, someone here needs to hear this message about fear today. Someone who's here today. We've got a lot of new people, and I'm I'm really thankful for that.

It's really neat. So, when I started preparing this message, I thought, man, I'm going to look up all the Hebrew and Greek original roots of the word fear. I'm going to look up everywhere where the word fear is in the Bible and then and then pull up the original um Greek and Hebrew roots. Okay?

I did that with the word love. Um, and I ended up writing a book about it. It was so much fun. It's so much fun to do that sometimes.

You ever get a chance to do it? I was like, "That's a great Saturday." And uh, I'm a freak. I know.

Um, but in the Old Testament, and I I thought I was going to see something and and I didn't get what I thought I was going to see. So in the Old Testament, everywhere, most of the places where you see fear not, most of the places where you see fear, the root is yay, like y a w r a y is how it's kind of pronounced. I'm I'm butchering the word I'm sure uh in the Hebrew, but uh it means fear. It means to be afraid.

It means actually revere also. Okay? So there's a respect element to it. In the New Testament, most of the places where you see fear, it's the root is phobia.

Okay? Where we get the word phobia from. All right, makes sense. Um, and again, it's fear.

Being afraid, revere. Um, being afraid of something that's stronger than you, okay, is basically kind of the root. The fear of the Lord, I was thinking would be a slightly different word, you know, a root word root as fear not. All the places where it says fear not.

And that was surprising to me. Um because you know we're taught the fear of the Lord is like a respect type thing. It's different. You know it's not like you know fear not or some other fear.

And that's not that's not actually the case. Um there are some notable exceptions. Proverbs 29:25 where it says the fear of man is a snare. That was a different route.

That root comes from car a do which is the feminine of car rod. And again probably butchering that but it means to be afraid quake but but there's no revere. It's to be afraid of something that is not more powerful than you. Okay.

Some examples of this could be when you worry about what people are going to say. Okay. What what are they going to say about this or or what are they going to think if I do that? That is being afraid of something that has no power over you.

Right? It's a the Bible almost says it's a silly type of fear. Um it's it's a snare. It's a trap.

We're often afraid to witness to about Christ because we're afraid of what people will say, you know, and the Bible says that's kind of stupid. It's a snare. It's a trap. Okay?

You can't lose when you witness. You realize that you just can't lose. If you tell someone about Jesus and they accept him, victory. All right.

If you tell someone about Jesus and you're just you're just planting a seed, again, victory. Because when one person plants, another person waters, that's all good, right? And if you tell someone about Jesus and they turn and walk away, that's another victory. It's even a better victory.

Check this out. Matthew 5 11 and 12. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven. For so so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

So if you tell someone about Jesus and they go, I don't want to know about him. I, you know, I'm I'm done. Which I rarely get around here in the south, but I bet you up north and out west, you probably get a lot more. Um, cha-ching.

You just got your it says here your reward is great in heaven. That's even better. Okay, so you really can't lose. And yet because of the fear of rejection, okay, we we tend to hold back from that.

But listen, man, time is short and we need to be out there talking to people. Okay, the Bible calls that kind of fear the fear of man a trap, a snare. The root word for that word snare there is mo kashi which means a noose like that you use to hang yourself with is a noose. Okay.

So anytime we fear what people will say or think that's a trap. It's silly. It's ridiculous. Okay.

Political correctness has created a culture that's whacked, you know, really. And um and we're stuck in our own stupidity. And the there's really not much of a way out at this juncture. Okay.

The Bible tells us not to be that way. We're to speak the truth in love. Okay? Not to be afraid to talk about biblical truth.

It is okay to call a spade a spade. Okay? As long as you're doing it with love, okay? It must be done in love.

If you're not pride, if you're getting on everybody else because everybody else is a mess, okay? But you're not, of course, okay? There there's a pride function there. All right?

um that's not a good thing. And um the goal should be healing. Okay? There are people that are hurting.

Often they're hurting because they're fearful of things that don't even matter. Okay? And someone needs to maybe come up beside them, put their arm around them, okay? And share with them, listen, man, you're worrying about something that just doesn't matter.

Okay? You've got to you've got to move past that. We should be like an antiseptic. You know, it hurts maybe a little going on, but it heals.

Okay? It's it's it's it's in their best interest. If you know someone that's hurting or in trouble and you know why and you don't tell them because you're afraid of they might get offended, that's not being biblical, man. You got to search your heart.

Okay. Are you truly trying to help someone or are you being holier than thou prideful? See, I told you so. Okay.

We must be about love. A safe place is not a soft place, man. A safe place is not a soft place. It's not.

Okay. We need to speak the truth and we need to do it in love. Remember the rich young ruler story. Matthew 19.

Let me pull up my boy Matthew. Matthew 19 16- 24. Let me read it. Now behold, one came and said to him, "Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?"

So he said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God." Isn't that funny? That's Jesus saying, "Why do you call me good?"

Right? He he he trips me out. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him, "Which ones?"

Jesus said, "You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness.

Honor your father and mother. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself." This story appears in two other gospels. It's the same words that he says.

Okay. What's left out? Did you notice that in the ten commandments? The first three commandments are all about God.

Okay. No, no, no idols before us. Don't take the name of the Lord in vain, etc. Okay, he left those out.

He only talked about the ones that are manbased, right? Why do you think that is? Watch. The young man said to him, "All these things I've kept from my youth.

What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have your treasure in heaven and come and follow me." Because he's God, right? Isn't that hot?

Like, I saw that the other day. I'm like, "What?" But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Okay?

Jesus knew his heart. He was hurting. Jesus didn't criticize him for it. He actually loved the guy.

But he said, "Listen, this is this is this is what you're missing. You know, your heart is for you and what's best for you. It's not for God." And it's got to be for God.

This rich young ruler is going to spend eternity in hell if he doesn't change and follow Jesus. Right? That's an important thing. Why would Jesus not tell him that?

He's not. Jesus loves him. So, he's going to tell him that. Right?

He wasn't concerned what people would think. He wasn't concerned to offend. He told him the truth plainly. That's the most loving thing we can do.

Okay? The fear of man is a snare. All these types of worrisome fears, what we think or say, they're really silly. They're a snare.

They're a noose. Now, there are legitimate fears. Okay? Okay, the Bible shows us that there are giants that we have to face.

Okay, these things aren't silly. The Bible tells us clearly though we're not to fear them. Okay, why are we not to fear them? Because our God is bigger than those giants.

Okay, our God is bigger than those giants. When you're facing a problem that's too big to face, it seems to be an impossible situation. The Bible says, "Do not fear." Every time your God is bigger, trust him.

bigger than our problems, even the hearts, even the nearly impossible problems. The reason we love the story of David and Goliath so much and everyone can pretty much tell that story is we have all at one time or currently right now have a giant that we're facing. Okay? And David, man, he just walked into that thing trusting his God is bigger than that giant.

And we love that because we know we should be doing that, too. And a lot of times we stay coward in instead of boldly going forward knowing that God is bigger. The metaphorical giant in our lives is too big or too scary. But Bible tells us to fear not.

David walked. That giant was huge compared to David. David was a little boy. Okay, the giant's nine feet tall.

So it was a monster. And David just walked forward. Okay. And he slayed the giant.

God called him a man after his own heart. Why? Because he trusted God. He knew his God was bigger than his problems.

What giant is in your life today? Okay. What giant are you thinking of right now that's in your life today? God is saying, "Trust me.

Let go. Trust me. move forward and trust me. You can trust him.

Okay. What are some other legitimate fears? You know, most people say the fear of death and the fear of public speaking are the top two fears. Okay.

The fear of public speaking is just the fear of what people are going to say. That actually is back in that silly phase. But the fear of death, death is stronger than you. 10 out of 10 people die.

Okay? It's guaranteed you're going to die. All right? And so it is stronger.

Okay? But the Bible says not to fear it. If your faith is in Jesus, okay? Then death is going to be a good thing.

Okay? It's a good thing. It's paradise. Death is only scary if you don't know Jesus.

The the funeral should be a celebration of life. If they know Jesus, right? You've heard that phrase, a celebration of life. Maybe you worry about devils or demons.

You know, the Bible says, "Fear not." Why? Because God is bigger. In Matthew 28:18, Jesus said, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and in earth."

If he has all the power, then the devil has none. Okay? You have to you have to let the devil in. Okay?

To for him to mess with you. That can happen by not forgiving yourself, okay? Still clinging to a past thing you've done wrong instead of releasing it. If you ask Jesus to to forgive you of that sin, it's gone.

You don't have to carry it in the future. And when you do, you're allowing the devil to mess with you. Okay? Maybe you have unforgiveness in your heart.

Someone's wronged you so bad, you just can't forgive him. Okay? That's a that's a little hole that the devil can weasle through. Okay?

You got to you got to forgive. If God forgave you of all your sins, you've got to forgive other people of theirs. You just have to. It's you who doesn't who who who hurts when you don't forgive people.

Okay. Lust, porn, you know, those can be a door. Ouija boards, tarot cards. I think some of the horror movies out today, man, those are just a window into hell.

Um, sorry you people who like, you know, I saw Halloween back in the 70s when it first came out, the first one. There's And uh that was it. I couldn't that was too scary for me. I couldn't do anything else.

Forget about anything else. And now I'm glad I'm glad because I don't need that stuff in my because you remember what your eyes see. You can't forget that stuff. Okay.

Um drugs and alcohol can be a door. Okay. We saw that last year with a a a laced vape. Okay.

My daughter's life. Um but I also know that demons can get cast out. Okay. I know that our God is bigger.

You could believe the devil's lie that he's bigger. He's scary and that can be a door. Don't believe it. He's got no authority.

Okay? We have to stand in the truth of the word because the truth Jesus is what is stronger than any devil, any stronghold. Okay? We have to believe, declare, and act on the truth of God's word.

And the devil is thwarted every time if you do that. Okay. Um I'm not afraid of it. Um I know my God is bigger and we're not going to be a church that's afraid of offending people, afraid of uh the devil or afraid of any of that.

God called me to start a bold church. He called me to start a remnant church. And we will not operate in fear in this church. Okay?

That I can promise you. So, what is it you fear? Is it getting sick? Maybe another Corona virus you're worried about?

You're sitting there up nights over that? Maybe you're afraid of the end times. All those things in Revelation, you know, they sent they're so scary. Whatever it is, God is bigger.

You can trust him. God is bigger. Okay. Psalm 91 1-10 says this.

Man, I love this verse. We're going to be saying this lots of times I think through the next seven ten years. He who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. I will say of the Lord.

He is my refuge and my fortress. My God in him I will trust. Surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. That's from wars or diseases.

He shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and your buckler. Jesus is your shield and your buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by the day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, and 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the most high, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. Okay, it's a powerful promise of scripture.

The end times, death, disease, God can protect you from all of it, but you've got to make him your refuge. Okay? You've got to make him your refuge. There are no giants to fear if you make God your center.

He is bigger than your giants. The Bible's basically saying every fear is wrong except the fear of the Lord. silly fears. We're wor worrying about what people think or say, and fears that are big because our God is bigger.

You don't have to worry about it. You're worried about money, maybe the stock market crashing. You don't have to worry about it, man. God's got this.

Okay? Um worried about your kids, what they're going to turn out to be. God's got this. Worried about your health, man.

Bible says, "Fear not. Trust God." Isaiah 40. Let me find my boy Isaiah.

Isaiah 40 28-31. I love this passage. Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not be faint.

God can give you strength no matter what you are facing. Okay? Whatever it is you fear, God is bigger. Whether it's a silly fear of man or a legitimate fear, trust God and make it bigger.

The only fear that's acceptable according to the Bible is the fear of the Lord. Okay? Matthew 10:28 Jesus not Brian Jesus Christ says this do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell okay and that is that same root word fear okay it word there is phobio okay it's not a loveydovey respect okay it's the same root of fearing something that's stronger than you. But it's okay to fear this person because God is love and he loves you.

Okay? He's not going to harm you. He's he he's going to correct you maybe, but he's not going to harm you. Let me give you a story to to to to share this.

Back in the early 2000s, I was the leader of the men's ministry at Summit Baptist Church, and um we used to bring in a bigname preacher once a month to speak to our guys on a Wednesday night. Okay? So, I'm driving down the airport to pick up this bigname preacher. Now, I respect this guy.

I've listened to his stuff. I've got a high pedestal respect for this guy. I'm so excited to pick him up. I I got one-on-one in the car with this guy to talk to him for a while.

I'm like, "Yes, I'm going to talk to this guy." I'm driving like I normally do 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit. About the same as traffic. I know I'm a sinner.

I'm going over the speed limit. And I don't think I'm gonna change that unless the Lord just really because when you go slower and everyone else is going five to 10 and you go slower, you mess things up. You know what I mean? But anyway, I'm going that and not thinking anything of it.

And then I see a police officer. Foot goes off the thing and I slowed back down to the speed limit. Okay. Now, I respect the policemen for what they do.

And I respect this preacher, but the police officer, there's a smidgen of fear mixed in there, okay? Because he can get me a ticket. He can get me in trouble. God can discipline you.

Okay? Jesus said to fear him who can destroy your body and your soul in hell. Don't fear anything else. Jesus says just God.

It's not. We're being taught today that it's like a respect like yes sir, no sir that you give God. Okay? That that it's just, you know, like the respect you do for the elderly.

You know, I'll listen to him, but you know, that's not it. According to Jesus, you should fear God for what he can do for to you and it's okay because he loves you. Okay. Hebrews 12 5 through 11 says this.

And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. for whom the Lord loves, he chasens and scourges every son whom he receives. Okay, we're taught that, you know, God's never gonna ever, he's just going to look the other way.

All your sins are always forgiven no matter what you do. It's just not truth. Okay, it's just not truth. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives.

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasen? But if you are without chastening, have you ever seen a kid who's never been punished ever? a spoiled brat, man.

You can't even take him to the store because, you know, horrible. God doesn't want you to be like that. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. If you've never been disciplined by God, he's saying here, you got to question whether you're saved.

Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chasened us as seemed best to them. But he for our profit for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness.

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful. Nevertheless afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. God is a father and he is a good father and he will discipline sometimes. Okay.

Do you know what happens to a pre preacher, bigname preacher, when he falls from grace? When it's discovered that he's been um doing things that are wrong, um you know, with with people that he shouldn't be doing things that are wrong with. Okay? Do you know what happens when he's lost his family and he's lost his ministry?

He comes back to the Lord, humbled, on his knees, repentant, and his soul begins to get healed. And the end result is he's ready as a bride for when the king comes. Okay? That's what happens to the guy.

And it's not just bigname preachers. I know some small preachers in this area that are in um affairs. Okay? It's it breaks my heart.

Okay? If you're in the dark and you think, you know, doing something that you shouldn't be doing, and you think no one's going to know, you're deleting stuff online or whatever, telling you, man, a kid could come walking in, a wife could come walking in, the repair man could come and find stuff because that stuff's never really gone. Okay? Um, my kids, I'm a steward of them.

I I I'm to raise them up, train them, turn them over to God so that God has them now. And I'm more of a mentor, a friend. Um, you know, they're for money. Um, but but now they're gods, okay?

And and and they're accountable to God now. And God can see what you're doing when no one's watching. I I could get faked out, okay? And there's all sorts of stories I've heard now about things they did when they were in high school that I had no idea they were doing right?

You know, obtuse, but but God sees everything. All right? And we should respect that. He knows our thoughts and he is watching.

He loves us. He wants what's best for us. Okay? Back in the early 2000s, I'll give you an example of how this happened to me.

Okay? Back in the early 2000s, I was successful monetarily. I was the leader of the men's ministry. I started a Christian mortgage brokers association across the nation.

Okay? I actually had bimonthly Bible studies with mortgage people across the nation. We had a code of ethics, all this stuff. Okay?

I was married. I had kids. I was everything I'd ever thought I'd be, you know, and then Layman Brothers went down. All right.

And the great recession of '08 hit, all right, and my business just so when Layman Brothers went down, they were the big buyers of mortgage back securities market. Okay, this is a little aside, but it shut down my business. It would be like if insurance was outlawed and you were an insurance agent and you can no longer sell insurance. It it's that's what happened.

My business got turned off. Okay. 95% of my business gone at three weeks. Then my wife leaves me.

Okay. With four kids, one of them two years old. And uh I went from here to this divorced, broke, struggling single dad. Now, God did not cause the recession of '08 just to teach Brian a lesson, but he would.

He went to the cross for me. I know he would, but he didn't have to because greed, etc. brought about that recession. But what it did, and I wouldn't trade those day, I wouldn't get I wouldn't wish those days on my worst enemy.

There was a solid two years where my morning quiet time consisted of reading a proverb, then getting on my knees and crying. That was two years. That's all it was. Okay?

But I was prideful, okay? I was so prideful and that took me down and it humbled me and it set the stage for me for what God has for me down the road. Okay? He loves me so much that he would do that for me.

Now, that doesn't mean that God is going to send a sickness to you and and and harm you. He doesn't have to. He is allowing free will to happen, okay? But he will work all things for good.

And he may work in these things to discipline you. That pastor locally who's messing around, if I know about it, others do. It's ripe for a fall. Okay?

God didn't cause him. He's causing it from his own actions. Okay. But God will allow it maybe to happen.

Okay. He lets free will play out and then he works all things for our good. Okay. God can use the things of this world, situations to orchestrate uh other people, moves of others to expose us and to discipline us.

He loves us. It is okay to fear the Lord in this way. Jesus himself says it. The Bible says it.

Okay. The reason it's okay though is because he loves us. Okay, where am I? Psalm 103 11-17.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards those who fear him. Okay, it's not just Jesus talking. It's Old Testament, too. It's a great promise of scripture.

As far as the east is from the west, so far as he removed our transgressions from us, he's not going to punish you for the things you've done in the past. He's not even punishing if you're going through a tough time now. He's allowing free will to happen and then he's going to may use it to discipline you, but that is just his sovereign will working. Why?

Because he wants you holy. Okay? It's a lie to think his only job is to make you happy. He wants you holy.

Okay? But he will not punish the past. Once you've asked forgiveness of the sins, they're gone. As far as the east is from the west, as a father pies his children, so the Lord pies those who fear him.

Fear him. We're just vapors and dust, man. We're we're, you know, but he is God. He knows our frame.

He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower in the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness is to his children's children. God has forgiven you. God is stronger than any fear or giant you're going to face. God will protect you and keep you from the things you're afraid of if you trust in him.

God is a loving father and as such he may correct you. Okay? It's okay to respect him in that way to understand that he has that right because he knows you. He knows what his plans are for you.

They're to prosper you. And sometimes you need correction to get there because you're off track. Okay? It doesn't mean he doesn't love you.

It means he does love you. You have to understand he loves you. Set your love on him and he will protect you. He will love you.

He will save you. He will give you a purpose and a hope. As guys come up, I'm going to read Psalm 91:14 through 16. This is just a great verse, man.

Because he has set his love upon me. That's us setting our love upon him. This is God talking. Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him.

I will set him on high because he has known my name. He shall call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.

He will honor us. Man, that doesn't even make sense. Okay, he'll honor us with long life. I will satisfy him and show him my cre my salvation if we just set our sights on him.

I want to um I want you guys to close your eyes real quick. I want to read something over you. Just close your eyes. You don't have to stand up.

Just close your eyes. Okay. Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all those who are incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced.

They shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish. You shall seek them and not find them. Those who contended with you, those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a non-existent thing. For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, "Fear not.

I will help you." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, as as we have a time of reflection, I just pray that if anyone here don't know you, that they please come forward. Lord, Lord, I pray that if anyone is facing a giant that they come forward and they lay that giant down.

Lord, I and stand up knowing that their God is bigger. Lord, I pray that if anyone is struggling right now, that they will turn to the Lord and seek him and ask forgiveness and welcome that forgiveness into into their hearts, Lord, and accept your love and your grace. Lord, I pray that they will set their sights on God and that your word will not return void in Jesus name.