#1039 Living Life Without Fear

1039 Living Life Without Fear

You can go to Second Timothy. We heard in manifestations "fear not" and that's what I want to talk to you about this morning. Living life without fear. There once was a criminal who had committed a terrible crime; and he was sent to the king for his punishment.

The king told him he had a choice. "I feel generous this morning I'm going to give you a chance to pick the way you die. You can either be hung by a rope or you can take what's behind the big black scary mysterious iron door. The criminal quickly decided on the rope. As the noose was being slipped around his neck, he turned to the king and he asked, "By the way; out of curiosity, what's behind the door?

The king laughed and he said, "You know, it's funny. I offer everybody the same choice and nearly everybody picks the rope." "So," said the criminal, "tell me what's behind the door? Obviously I'm not going to tell anyone." He said, pointing to the noose around his neck, The king paused and then he said, "Freedom, but it seems that most people are afraid of the unknown. And they immediately take the rope (something that they can see; something that they can touch."

Fear in a person's life will stop you from living. It'll lull you into a counterfeit feeling of safety. And many times people become complacent, and they become content to live with this fear. However, this is one of the ways that the devil stops you from living for God and doing things for God.

You're in second Timothy verse 7 of chapter 1. It says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear… " The success of the devil's plan in your life depends heavily on his ability to conceal himself from you and the lies that he has convinced you to believe. Satan will gladly offer you a logical excuse why you shouldn't do such and such; and just continue in the routine that he has provided for your life. Because in the routine that he has provided and he has convinced you of, you feel safe.

Take your Bibles and go to Exodus chapter 14. Exodus 14 contains the record of a people who were bound and imprisoned for many years. Their first born male children were taken from the mother and thrown into the Nile, fed to the crocodiles. And the fathers, and the mothers, the sisters, and the brothers stood by and could do nothing. That's torment.

And yet, in that slavery and in that bondage, God was able to raise someone up to bring those people away from that. But they had lived so long in that fear. They had lived so long that they got comfortable with that. And much of the fight that God had to deliver the children of Israel came from the children of Israel themselves, not only the Egyptians.

God had to convince the children of Israel that there was a better way: his way. In Exodus 14 contains that record. It says in verse 8 (We'll begin.) "And the Lord hardened the heart of the king of Egypt; Pharaoh the king of Egypt. And he pursued after the children of Israel and the children of Israel went out with a high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them. All the horses and the chariots of Pharaoh and his horses (horsemen) and his army and overtook them in camping by the sea. besides Pihahiroth before Baalzephon.

And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore (what?) afraid. And the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord." And you've got to read the next verse to see what they cried out. "And they said unto Moses because there were no graves in Egypt hast thou taken us away to die in the (what?) wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of (what?) Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying. Let us alone… "

Let them come in and as soon as the child is born, cut the cord take it and throw it in the Nile. Let us alone. Let them beat the H out of us. Let them work us 20 hours a day. Let them control us. Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians. "For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the (what?) wilderness."

Why is it that even to this day God's people choose bondage over freedom? You know why. Because bondage is complacent. Bondage is safe. They know what's going to happen; what's expected of them; what to do; what not to do. Freedom is not. Freedom takes some effort. Many people have given their life so we could be free in this country. It reminds me of the story I often tell about the chicken and the pig.

A little chicken and the pig were walking past an orphanage, and they looked over and they saw that the children had no food on the table that morning. So the pig said to the chicken, "Oh that's a shame." And the chicken said, "We should do something about that." And the pig said, "Well what do you propose we do about that? Because you see all you have to do is cackle and lay a couple eggs. Me, it's a little bit more involved."

People don't like to get involved. People don't want to be confronted with the reality that this is going to be uncomfortable; this is going to be unpleasant. I may lose my life. And yet they would choose bondage over freedom. There's always been leaders. There has always been soldiers. And then there's always been few, but there;s always have been warriors.

You know what the difference between a warrior and a soldier is? A warrior looks forward to death. A soldier always wants to come home: even the best of the best. But a warrior gladly gives his life for his cause and looks forward to it. And there's always been men and women that have to take that stand.

Moses was one of those men and women. See? He was one that God raised up. Moses didn't look forward to dying, but when he rebelled against Pharaoh he signed his death warrant. Because not only Pharaoh was after him, he ticked off a whole country; a whole nation.

They were afraid. Verse 13 says, "Moses said unto the people fear ye (what?) not." Now sense knowledge wise, that's ridiculous. Because earlier I read to you that they got chariots, they got horsemen, they got weapons. Israel had nothing. You know what Israel had? Israel had their gold. Israel had their silver. Israel had their clothing that the Egyptians gave them (and said 'get out of here.' But they didn't have anything to fight back with.

Moses said, "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more for (what?) ever." That's quite a promise in the face of an army pursuing you. But Moses knew a couple things about fear. And he knew that he had to get the people's mind off of that garbage. So he told him 'fear not'. He says in verse 14, "The Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your (what?) peace."

And that's so hard for some people to do.They've got to fight. They've got to figure it out. The best thing in the world sometimes when you're faced in a situation is just let God fight for you and keep your trap shut. Hold your peace. "And the Lord said unto Moses, why criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel that they go (what?) forward. There's another key when confronting fear. You don't sit. You continue to move; and you don't move towards the rear. You advance; you go forward.

"Lift up thy rod and stretch out thine hand over the sea to divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the (what?) sea." That's amazing. you know: listen. Do you see that straw in the yard? Okay, so in the straw that is in the yard I have a gully like this. It's a drain gully which I dug out. We did reseed it. So when it rains and the water comes down the driveway, it goes right down through the backyard. All right, if you go out there and lift that straw up, it's wet. Okay?

Now can you imagine what the bottom of the sea floor is like? And yet God said, "When you split these waters, the children of Israel are going to cross the Red Sea on (what kind of ground?) dry ground. You know how long it takes to dry ground out? You know if you cut grass. If you ever got stuck with a mower, right? But he said, "You're going over on dry ground."

Well, go forward. "Lift up thy rod (16), stretch out thine hand over the sea, divide it in the children of Israel shall go over on dry ground through the midst of the sea." The water is walled up — that's what they did. On either side they walled up. Did you ever go to Camden Aquarium and see them fish? But they're behind glass, right? There was no glass. There was just waters walled up. That's what it looked like. And there was this path that was dry that the children of Israel went through.

Look at verse 19."The angel of God which went before the camp of Israel removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:" You see through the night, Egypt tried to get to them, but there was an angel — just one angel amongst oodles and oodles and oodles of Egyptians; just one angel. And the fog or the cloud was an adversary unto them. They couldn't see clearly enough to get direction to go after God's people. So the angel removes. "And he came between the camp (verse 20) of the Egyptians in the camp of Egypt and it was a cloud of darkness unto them; but it gave light by night to these: so that one came not near the other all night."

Okay. Don't bring the cloud of darkness into your life, okay? And this is what the cloud of darkness is. The cloud of darkness that is pronounced by the prophets of doom on this world can be a cloud of light to you. Just because these people are saying, "this is going to happen." And these people (the media)… Let me be clear with you, okay?Especially in the news: "and this is going to happen; and this is going to happen; and this is going to happen." You listen to that garbage, you bring that into your life.

When I hear that stuff, do you know what I said? Israel had light in their camp. When darkness fell on Egypt. In one of the plagues you know what the Bible said? That Israel had (what?) light. See, that's why I don't worry about that kind of junk. Because I know that how dark it's going to get, the Bible still says that I can have light; that God will provide for me. And God will provide for you.

I don't care two beans about the stock market. I don't care two beans about the investments. I don't care about none of that junk. Because you know what the Bible says? The Bible says that God will provide for me. The Bible says God will provide for you: it's just that simple. Is it dark? I'm not refuting that it's dark. Yeah it's dark. But what was darkness for them was light for the people of God. And it works the same way today.

"Moses (verse 21) stretched out his hand over the sea; and he caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry and the waters divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon (what?) dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left hand. And the Egyptians pursued."

See how dumb these people are. "And they went in after them into the midst of the sea. even all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen. And it came to pass that in the morning that the Lord looked upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians."

"And took off their chariot wheels for they drave them heavily, so that the Egyptians said, 'Let us flee from the face of Israel for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.'" They had just gone through ten plagues that proved that the Lord fighteth for them, right? You see what a hard heart does. How stupid can you be? But you know who was stupid? Their leadership. And you know what they had to do? They had to follow the king. And the King had it all figured out; and he led the country right into destruction.

But God's people were safe. "Now the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, and upon their chariots, and upon their (what?) horsemen."

Oh no, we've got to put them in jail, rehabilitate them because they're the victims. They didn't have much when they grew up, and they were abused, and some bully in school called them a bad name. So we just have to spend, I don't know — maybe 50, 80 000 a prisoner to rehabilitate them. And if they get out again, we do the same thing. And they get out again and we do the same thing. And if they get out, we'll do the same thing. Because we can make them good people. Let's release them.

Now, are there situations where a person makes mistakes and can change their life? Yeah. Many cars are safe in this area because of me. Because I changed my life. So you don't have to worry about me stealing your car, Richard. Richard. would never have to worry about me stealing his car. It's not a Corvette. It wasn't on my top 10 list to steal.

So there are situations where you lose your way and you make mistakes. You either, Shep. I don't want your Toyota or Nissan.

I think it's where people can be rehabilitated. These guys were no good. They murdered the Egyptian children… or Israel's children. They beat them. They whipped them. They worked. These guys were no good. and you know what God said to Moses? Because in order to execute on the earth, God had a man standing; and the man of God had to have steel up his backbone. And God said, "Kill them all." That's what he said.

That's the Word of God today. It hasn't changed. You've got a bunch of people that are worthy of crimes of death. Kill them and kill them quickly. So it saves us, the righteous, the money that we have to be put up with. But you got these people who work for the devil who are in positions of authority in the government who say, "Oh no, let them go. Oh no, we'll do this." See how backwards It is?

Well,"And the Lord said unto Moses (26), Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, and upon their chariot,s and upon their horsemen. (Verse 27) And Moses… (said what's Nancy Pelosi going to say? What is such and such party going to say? What is.. no!) and Moses( did what?) he stretched out his hand; he stretched out his hand.

And the sea returned to its strength.And when the morning appeared, the Egyptians fled against it, and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, there remaineth not so much as (what?) as one of them.

But the children (listen…) but the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore."

Now when you go down the shore you're supposed to see seashells. Right? You know what they saw? Egyptians. Egyptian seashells. That's what God did. He showed them. And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. And the people feared the Lord. They respected him and believed the Lord and his servant. What? A couple verses back, they're saying, "You brought us out here to die, what's the matter with you?" Now that they saw the power of God they're singing a different tune, right?

Exodus 15 verse 1. "Then sang (what?) Moses…" You see what that says? He's having a victory dance. He's singing a victory song. Could you imagine if you got these people today that are worthy of death: and I'm talking about caught dead. And that you execute them; could you imagine if people went out and had a victory dance, a victory song? What the news would do with that?

Do you remember when President Trump had that one terrorist killed? Many (you know: six, five, four) years ago, whatever. Do you see what the news did with that? The news turned around. This guy did horrible things — horrible things; but the news turned around said such and such a religious leader was bombed. Such and such by the United States. The Trump Administration killed such and such.

Could you imagine what the media would do with this? They're out there singing in the streets. See that's how bad it is. "Then sang Moses… for he had triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." I'm thinking this morning what tune do I know that I could sing this to these people this morning. I thought about American Pie, but it didn't fit. I don't know. Maybe you guys could put some music to this to this song, Sheppy.

Exodus 15. I'm sure maybe you can look it up and and sing it for us. Here's some of the song, The Lord is my strength and my song, and he became my salvation: he is my God and I will prepare him in habitation; my father's God and I will exalt him." That's such a wonderful verse! My father's God! For a father to be able to pass on to a child the knowledge of God — and for the child, the same. "The Lord is a man of war, the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host had he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also were drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord had dashed in pieces the enemy."

It's donkey backwards. I'll make the sermon G rated. It's donkey backwards. Today they take evil. They do parades. They sing about it. Back in the day, they took evil and they sung about the victory over it. Could you just imagine, really, what would CNN, ABC, CBS, and the rest of them do? If there were a bunch of Christians were out singing at the top of their voices if such and such was executed. What do you think they would do? What do you think they would make you out to be? A hater! You're this; you're that; you're insensitive.

Moses is insensitive; he has no heart; he has no mercy! Shame on him and he says he's for love and he loves God! What kind of God would do that? … and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, right? Wrong! This is right: The world's backwards. As a matter of fact, for years I heard and I'm going to repeat it again. If you take what the world says and do the opposite, you'll probably be just about dead on. Because they're backwards.

When and where you have ongoing fear in your life, you cannot believe God. Now, that's important. I didn't say you were afraid, or you were afraid for a day or two, or whatever — and you got your mind back and you're back on track. What I said is ongoing fear. You can't believe God. Constant fear causes you to doubt God. And once you enter this mode of doubt, you cannot believe God. This is why fear defeats the promises of God in your life.

Look at Mark 11. Jesus said in verse 23, 'For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain…" Who? What's a whosoever? Are you a whosoever? it doesn't say captain. It doesn't say prophet, It doesn't say minister. It says whosoever. So that means you're a whosoever, right? All right. "…whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."

You can't doubt — and what does it say? Doubt in your what? Heart. Well yeah, but it says doubt in your heart. It's your innermost being where you think; where your soul, your life, where that emanates from: your heart; the heart of your mind. You can't doubt. What are you putting into your heart? What are you putting into your mind? Are you putting things into your mind that are encouraging you? Are you putting things into your mind that are giving you hope; that are building your faith; that are strengthening your walk with God? Or are you putting things into your mind that will encourage fear in your life? That will encourage darkness — that teaches gloom and doom is going to come upon you.

See? that's why I keep riding you about the news; about the media. They're nothing but a bunch of liars. They work for the devil. And you sit there and you listen to that garbage day, after day, after day, after day. It's going in your heart and you're not going to be able to believe God. It'll put you into complacency. It'll put you into bondage and fear, and you won't go anywhere. You'll be scared to come out of your door, see? And they'll accommodate you.

You know how the devil accommodates you? He'll get your groceries delivered to your door. He'll get your meals delivered to your door. He'll get someone to cut your grass for you so all you have to do is just stay inside where it's safe. And that's where he wants you. He wants you boxed up because you can't do him no harm boxed up. You know why? Because you have no peace; you're afraid; Isaiah 26:3 says,"Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose minds his mind has stayed… on the TV?"

No. You want to lose your peace? You want to be full of fear? You want to be full of anxiety? You want to say, "Oh such and such is going to happen." Or, "This is going to happen", or "That's going to…" Listen to that garbage. I stay my mind on God. See? The Bible says it was dark in the camp of Pharaoh, but in the children of Israel's house they had what? Light. God will provide for you. He will provide for you. Look at Isaiah 35 please.

What are you keeping your mind on? What are you feeding your mind? Are you feeding your mind the Word of God, or are you feeding your mind the word of the world? See? Isaiah 35 look at verse 3. "Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees." That's what you're supposed to do to help people. You strengthen the weak hands. You confirm the feeble knees. Say unto them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; and he will come and (what?) save you."

You see! Let's close in Micah. Where's Micah? It's before Revelation. If you don't know where it is, I'll just read it to you. "Say unto them that are of fearful heart…" The stock market's going to crash and you're going to lose everything. Say unto them that are of a fearful heart, inflation is at 59% (if there is such a thing). It is what it is. God will provide for you. You live within your means, and all that you need is common sense. It's all you need.

You know what common sense is? Don't spend more than what you make and don't buy things that you can't afford. That's common sense. That's how my parents did it. That's how their parents did it. And that's how every other body's parents did it before this new generation who arose; who knew not God; and then every man did that which was right in his own mind. And they got all these PhDs teaching,"you know, just do this, and let's do this, and let's do that… and don't worry because the government's going to forgive you. He's going to wipe your debt away. The H with all those other people who are still in debt and had to work real hard, and had to pay for what they earned.

We're going to wipe yours away, because we're your buddy and you keep us in office. You keep your buddies in office so we can continue to give you things. And they'll give you things right into bondage. And then you know what they'll do? Then they'll take everything; and you will do what they say and you will go where they say. And you won't have anything to fight back with; and it's a slow process but they're moving in that direction.

Micah 7 verse 7, "Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God (may? No! my God will what?) he'll hear you." He'll hear you. So you know what? Cry unto the Lord. Wait for the God of your salvation; and know that God will hear you. And stay put on your confession.

Do you know how you stay put on your confession? It says, as you see the day approaching you continue to gather more and more. You just stay in fellowship. Stay with like-minded believers that are going to encourage you; tell you the truth about God; about the things of God; tell you that it's okay.

It's okay. You'll see Chuck again. So will I. I sat here when my son died. I told you the same thing. I told you that the sun will shine again. And it does. And next time when you see him, he'll be just as goofy as ever and there will be no end to his goofiness. He'll live forever in goofiness. That's okay, right? So he blessed us with his ministry and his love. His life lives on through you: each one of you he has touched.

You continue to live the way he would want you to live; and you all know what he would tell you if he were alive today, so I don't have to tell you. So you continue to believe and move ahead for God. Love one another and it'll be fine. And death has a sting, the bible promises that. So, if you feel that sting, there's nothing wrong with you, okay? It's okay. But you will not sorrow as others who have no hope. If you saw the Incarnate family on Thursday they were smiling and happy and cracking jokes and — and I've been at a lot of places with people that weren't believers.That didn't understand it. (You know, his eternal life and the promises we have,) Where they just sorrow, and sorrow, and sorrow, and their lives fall apart. But they know the Word of God. Do they miss their daddy and her husband? Yes, sure they do. But life goes on. Okay? so let's pray.

Lord thank you for your Word. Thank you that we can cry unto you and we can wait on your salvation. And thank you Father that the children of Israel — they're not children by seed as we are father — they didn't get into the kingdom by the blood of your only begotten son. They got into your kingdom father by their obedience to your Word. And many of them lost that because of their disobedience. We are sons and daughters of the most high God. So we thank you that all that you did for them, you would do no less for us. Thank you once again for Dolores and her family. I ask that this week be peaceful for them and things would work out quietly. Thank you for these your people this morning and that they can continue to love you and bless you and bless each other in Jesus Christ's precious name. Thank you. Amen