Faith vs Fear • The Battle for our Hearts and Minds

we are um between book studies we finished uh first timothy last week we're going to start second timothy soon but um i often do this between book studies i'll just uh kind of take some time and and uh go through something that i feel like is kind of on my heart and i've got something on my heart that's why i'm sitting down today we're going to kind of have a family talk if i could have put a fireplace behind me i'd have done it a little little fireside chat you know but when i'm when i'm sitting down like this it puts me in a little more of a conversational mode and we need to have a conversation except i'm going to do all the talking would you um open up your bibles please to romans chapter 12. i'm gonna start us off with two passages the first one we'll read together and then the second one i'll put up on the screen but romans chapter 12 please do you remember those talks like with your parents where they said we need to sit down and have a talk and then they did all the talking you know me too romans chapter 12 are you there we're going to read the first two verses it says i appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of god to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god which is your spiritual worship do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of god what is good and acceptable and perfect it's a powerful powerful passage and then i'm going to put the second one up on the screen for you so that we can see it together it is from luke 18 8. this is jesus talking and he says when the son of man comes will he find faith on earth would you pray with me heavenly father as we get into your word today and as we talk about some very important things i just really pray that your holy spirit would lead and guide i pray that you would speak to hearts i pray that you'd bring clarity and understanding and comfort and blessing lord we look to you to accomplish what you desire through your word today and we thank you and praise you for it in jesus precious name amen the uh last year and a half has been hard hasn't it it's been very hard and i have come to believe that in the light of everything that has transpired in the last year and a half or so that romans chapter 12 verses 102 the verses that we started off reading here this morning are some of the most important exhortations that frankly have ever been given to the body of christ and even though they were given by the apostle paul for any age any time any time period any church they are very very relevant to we who are living in this day and age and dealing with the things that we're dealing with here's the sad part and this is where we kind of need to have a family talk i believe that these verses have gone largely unheeded today by the body of christ and i want to get into what the passage is saying to us but first i want to explain why i'm feeling the need today to kind of share uh this this message with you i'm you know we all we all nobody has to tell us that we've all been dominated by a particular virus for the last you know year and a half and it has become literally all we talk about it is most certainly all we hear about and it dominates the news it dominates our attention it dominates our lives but i'm not going to talk about the virus i'm going to talk about the effect that the virus has had on the body of christ because i think that's the more important topic to be completely honest with you i have to tell you i am far more concerned about how we the body of christ are reacting to the virus i'm far more concerned about that than i am the virus itself and you might hear me say something like that and think that maybe i don't truly understand how serious it is i would respectfully differ with you uh in august sue and i got coveted part two 2.0 whatever you want to call it and it was hard we were sick for 14 days straight we interestingly enough we both got sick at the same time so we're we're sitting across from each other in the our recliners just kind of going you know and it hurt to move it hurt we were exhausted couldn't hardly get up to get a glass of water you know come back to your chair and you're like out of breath like you just ran a marathon or something you know it was hard it was really hard so i understand that particular perspective but i've also personally performed three memorial slash graveyard gravesite services for people who have passed away from complications related to covet so i think i get it i mean it's pretty it's pretty tough to be with people who've just lost a loved one and not understand the uh the gravity of what we're dealing with okay so but even as difficult as all those things are it is my sincere and unyielding belief that there are things far more serious than covet in our midst as believers that we need to be aware of far more serious and the reason i say that is because i believe that born-again christians have fundamentally failed to discern the danger that is going on through this pandemic in the world today we have failed to see that we are in the fight of our lives and it has nothing to do with a physical battle because the physical battle i mean if it ends up taking you guess what then you're home you're with jesus if if it takes you you walk into glory and behold the never removed presence of jesus that's the worst it can do for you so you know there's there's something far greater here there is a sickness that is going on in the body of christ that is not a virus and it is not something you can catch physically but our fight is against the sickness of fear and dread and it has been rampant in the body of christ and it distresses me i just have to tell you it distresses me and honestly i think it's far more serious and has farther reaching implications you know than any sickness of the body could ever have i expect the world to freak out when something like this happens you know i mean we live in a godless world today and [Music] all they have is this life that's all they have they have nothing beyond this they don't believe in god they don't believe in any kind of a you know life after this life and so what are you gonna do when something comes along and threatens everything you have and all that you have what are you going to do you're going to freak out and i expect the world to freak out and i don't really frankly get all that upset when the world freaks out it's kind of like well you know so it happens when you that's all you got when all you have is being threatened yeah i kind of expect people to you know get weird about it and we've seen from the world that that's exactly what they're doing they're freaking out i mean we have a sue and i have a lovely adopted daughter living in australia have you heard about what's going on in australia they're not letting people leave town they have the roads blocked it's it's it's been absolute craziness the world's freaking out what has troubled me deeply though is seeing the body of christ have the same reaction that's what bothers me and that's why i started off with this passage here in romans chapter 12 because i think that the big question that we need to ask and answer today is how did this happen how did we get here how did we get to the point where we're freaking out just like the world that's the really the the question of the hour and so we come to this passage here that we started off reading romans chapter 12 verses one and two and you'll notice in those verses that there are two things that we are to do and there's one thing that we are not to do so these are the do's and don'ts of of uh romans 12. let me put them up on the screen for you the do's and don'ts verse to do offer your bodies as living sacrifices we are to not be conformed to this world and the other do is that we are to be transformed do be transformed by the renewing of your mind and these are the three things we're going to look at here this morning and we're going to see how these things apply to what is going on in our lives and in the world today so first look with me again here in your bible chapter 12 verse 1 look with me again at that verse i appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of god to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to god which is your spiritual worship now this is a very interesting verse because the apostle tells us here that it is an act of spiritual worship to present the to the lord something that frankly is not spiritual but rather physical did you notice that he says offer your bodies your bodies as a living sacrifice and offering your body is in a sense surrendering your body to the lord can i tell you why he asks us to surrender our bodies to the lord it's the same reason he asks us to surrender anything else that we happen to have it's because it belongs to him anyway but he gives those things to us as stewards of them that we might offer them back to him and that he might use them according to his purpose have you ever thought about the fact that you know your body belongs to the lord all of your material wealth belongs to the lord your spouse belongs to the lord your kids these are my children actually they're the lord's children he gave them to you for a short period of time and you have this stewardship over them for that period of time but he constantly wants you to be giving those things back to him he constantly wants you to be offering those things back to him right my marriage my wife in my case my children even though they're grown we offer lord them back to you all that we have we offer these things back to you our physical bodies paul says is a spiritual act of worship to offer this physical body why because the physical body is the recognition of our life on this earth your physical body is something you are going to set aside at some point but for now he ought he asks you to offer it up to him because it represents your life right the physical life let me show you something kind of interesting in first corinthians chapter six we've already made reference to this paul writes do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy spirit within you whom you have from god look what he says here you are not your own you were bought with a price we talked about that in communion how did jesus purchase us with his blood right he says don't you understand don't you realize your body is a temple of the holy spirit doesn't belong to you you can't say what the world says the world says it's my body i can do what i want with it you can't say that it's his body right it's his body and it and and conversely not only can you not do whatever you want with it he can do whatever he wants with it it's his and so paul says in light of this merciful god who has given all these things offer your physical life literally your body to the lord as a as an act of spiritual worship offer it up well here's the deal we've failed to worship him in that way largely as the body of christ we've failed to worship him in that way we have viewed or at least tended to view our bodies like the world views their bodies we look at our bodies like it's my body to to to dress and and uh feed and and work out and make it do what i want it to do and it's all about me and all about my life and it's all about how i live and what i live for rather than taking these physical bodies that we've been given as stewards over for a short time and use them you know for him and see what happens when we begin to live and take that which is created and we begin to live for it and begin to focus on it we begin to worship the creation rather than the creator right paul says to offer your body as a sacrifice is to live for the creator to keep your body as your own to do with as you see fit is to worship the creation you get it so so this is this is this is what we're supposed to do but it is it is frankly what we have not done so how should believers view their bodies i i think the best way is paul said it when he wrote to the philippians up on the screen i love this he says for me to live is christ and frankly i could just quote that part of it and that would be all i would need to quote he does go on however and say and to die is gain he said he said he says if i'm to live in the flesh and that means in this body if i'm to continue to function in this body well you know what that means that just basically means more fruitful labor unto the given unto the lord it's it if i stick around in this physical body a little bit longer paul says then it's just okay cool then it's it's god's purpose it's god's will it's god's time and service if he takes me home that's his business and in that case for me that's gain right isn't this an interesting perspective isn't it isn't it so different from what we see in the world though i mean the world's perspective is is just so completely opposite and so foreign to what the the bible kind of tells us here but i i want you to consider thinking about those though that phrase for me to live as christ just think about even writing that down or just thinking put it in your brain for me to live and that means for me to live in this body is christ for me to live as christ for me to live see again the world tells you for you to live is you it's you because it's all about pleasure entertainment joy happiness no so paul says for me to live is christ it's all about him it's all about him let's keep looking at romans chapter 12. the next portion of the passage you'll notice says in verse 2 do not be conformed to this world okay the word conformed means to comply with the world in its rules its standards and its principles paul says don't do that don't be don't be conformed to the world and what i hear the holy spirit saying here in this verse is is that it's possible for a born-again believer to become conformed to the world otherwise why would he give the warning right why give the warning if it's not even possible that it could happen of course it's possible so he says do not be conformed to the world what does being conformed to the world look like well it looks like loving what they love it looks like desiring what they desire it looks like fearing what they fear okay it looks like living the way they live you know in my own bible time lately i've been going back over the sermon on the mount it's kind of funny that's what sue's teaching right now and the women on the word women of the word series but i've been reading and going back over the sermon on the mount too and and and really enjoying it because i love that passage back when i was going through matthew i think i took about a year to get through the sermon on the mount i wanted to drag it out as long as possible but there's a there's an overriding theme i don't know if you've ever noticed in the sermon on the mount over and over and over again in that sermon jesus says this is the way the people of the world are you be different you've heard that it was has been said but i say to you right and there's even one point in the sermon on the mount where paul or excuse me where jesus says do not be like them he talks about something the world is all about and then says but you don't be that way don't be like them see that's that's that that's the theme of the sermon on the mount do not be conformed to the world around you now see that's it's it's this is a problem isn't it this is really a challenging sort of a thing because i don't know about you but i i came to the lord when i was well i mean really got serious about walking with the lord when i was about 25 years old and by that time you know 25 years i had become well acquainted with the ways of the world the way the world does things the way the world thinks and and and loves and desires and acts and responds and and it was it was it was part of me it was ingrained in me and then i come to jesus goodness gracious and he says don't be that way don't be like the world i'm like that so it's it's okay the lord tells me i've given you my spirit i've given you my spirit but here's the deal paul you must constantly choose me every day you must reject that which is of the world and you must embrace that which is of me every single day that's hard isn't it can i just tell you right now that if you guys weren't here today i'd be going through the same message because i need to hear this myself i still i still struggle with not being conformed not falling into that form of worldliness that i learned so well before i came to know christ but we as the body of christ need to kind of admit we've been conformed we've taken our cues from the world and we've become very much like them in our ways our responses our feelings and yes our fears we have become very much like them let me show you one reason why i believe this is true and put up a passage from colossians 3. look at this on the screen paul writes and says if then you've been raised with christ seek the things that are above where christ is seated at the right hand of god set your minds on things that are above not on the things that are on earth or if you will of the earth for you have died as a believer and your life he says is now hidden with christ right in god so simply put the apostle paul is saying in this passage that our thoughts and desires as christians are to be on the things of eternity and heaven and less and less on the things of this earth now listen i under i understand that as as a human being living on the earth you got to deal with stuff there's things we have to deal with we you know we have to go to work we have to earn money we have to be able to buy food we have to buy cars and maintain them and and get insurance and all these other things that are all part of living on earth i i get it and i know that those things take up a lot of our time and a lot of our attention but what we have to fight against is those things drawing us down to a place where that's where we live all the time and we don't give the time and attention that otherwise needs to be given to things that are above and and the reason i'm giving you that excitation is because if there's one thing i've learned by our reaction to this pandemic our reaction as the body of christ if there's one thing i've learned it's that we have not focused our attention on eternity we have focused it on the here and now and we have and we have been filled with the same fear the same dread as the world and and and can i stop for just a moment to tell you that fear and dread and all those other things have nothing to do with whether you wear a mask or get a shot oh everybody focuses on these externals i'm talking about what's in your heart do you know we have a lot of people even in our fellowship here who work in the medical industry the medical profession and they some of them come to church with a mask on because they're they want to be careful not to do anything against their patients some so we have some cancer nurses and things like that and they they want to be in church but they also want to protect their patients and yet we there are christians you know who are judgmental about that that shouldn't be that shouldn't be and frankly that's the other thing that's really bothered me about the pandemic i'm not going to get into it a whole lot but the other thing that really bothered me is that it has divided the body of christ it has divided us to the point where on social media or even to somebody's face we're willing to be cruel to our brothers and sisters in jesus because they have a different opinion you know i was mentioning before i told sue he said if the apostle john was here right now you know what he would say to the body of christ little children love one another and we'd say yeah but john you know let me tell you what's going on in the world and here's all the things we tell them all about the pandemic and all this stuff and all the stuff we're going through and we'd say what should we do about that he'd say little children love one another yeah but john you don't understand we're really under a lot of stress here i mean this is a really difficult situation little children love one another that was john's message in a nutshell we haven't gotten that one down very good but i want to come back to this issue about not being anxious about your life you know jesus actually makes that statement again you know i told you i've been going through the sermon on the mount and i came across that in matthew chapter six where jesus says do not be anxious about your life and we've probably all read it and and we know what a challenge it is to not be anxious i deal with anxiousness just like you do but we hear that and we think do not be anxious about your life and we're kind of like okay how do i do that we forget that right before jesus said do not be anxious about your life do you know what he said if you read that passage if you go right ahead of do not be anxious that section of scripture says do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth you see that's the secret to not being anxious about your life make sure that this isn't your treasure or whatever you can have in this life because i got news for you if your treasure is in this life you will be anxious about your life because everything goes away everything except jesus goes away at one time or another and so if your treasure is here what happens he says your heart is here also right and so if your heart is here then your anxious thoughts are going to be here but he says don't do that lay up instead treasures in heaven because those aren't going to go away and you'll never be anxious because he's protecting what you treasure right see that's the interesting thing about you know this whole idea of don't be anxious don't be anxious don't be anxious well that's just really easy to say but if you don't connect it with what he said earlier about laying up treasures in heaven you're just going to continue to be anxious and then feel guilty about it and that's the way a lot of christians live frankly they know what the word says but they're not doing it and they just feel guilty about it we all once again see daily that the world is living in total fear for their lives i mean you don't have to look very far but once again that's what we expect among people who have no hope outside of this life but listen we're christians we're followers of jesus we are born again believers we serve the one who has conquered death and the grave and we ought to be showing the world confidence in the one who conquered death and the grave rather than responding in fear and dread like they are so here's the question are we showing the world our hope and our confidence in the lord we we should be showing them an unshakable faith unshakable and that doesn't mean we're cocky it doesn't mean we go around arrogant and criticizing other people it means showing in love and compassion what it is to be confident and have your hope in something greater than this life you know because i've got to tell you something i i've i've pastored i think long enough in my 35 years or so as a pastor in my 64 years now of living as a human being i've learned a little something about human nature and that is the more you focus on something the bigger it gets and that includes both negative and positive i don't believe this fear thing is going away in the world i'll just be honest with you i got to be careful what i how to say this i believe the world is being prepped for even greater control you know we all know that there's an antichrist coming one day and he will be revealed and i i believe he will rule by fear and the world is being prepared for that but you as a believer in jesus you're not being prepared for that you're being prepared to live by faith not by sight you are being prepared to live courageously in faith trusting the lord because i got to tell you something when we begin to give in to fear we give into an unrelenting master fear will not let you go apart from the lord and as christians we have no business bowing at the feet of fear no business because because he's a task master let me tell you and it's the tool of the enemy and we've been given to another master we've been promised to another master and guess what he doesn't deal in fear let me show you a passage on the screen from second timothy god gave us a spirit not of fear notice i emphasize that for you on the slide there but of power and love and self-control this is this is a wonderful passage that reminds us that this whole fear thing this isn't of god this is this is 100 the making of the world and too much to the enemy's joy and delight that people are walking in it but this is not this is this is not what the lord is doing the lord is not preparing you through fear the lord is preparing you or desiring to prepare you through faith so here's the question which spirit are we conveying to the world are we conveying the spirit of faith and confidence in the lord or are we conveying the same spirit of the world which is fear fear of what might happen because there's a there's a spirit in the world there's a spirit of the world there's we all john tells us in in one of his epistles he says we know that the whole world is under the control of the evil one we know that and i know that sounds like a dramatic statement but i didn't make it he did and so there's this spirit of the world that is is very prevalent and very controlling we've seen it we have seen the world fall under that spirit's influence have we not the whole stink and globe is under the influence of that spirit and then paul comes along and he says but god has not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of love and power and self-control that's what we've been given so here's my question are we walking in the right spirit because you know just because you're a christian doesn't mean you're going to walk always in the power of the holy spirit you probably have learned that by now right i mean that was a real disappointment to me when i figured it out that that this is something i have to continually choose to yield to you know i used to think it was going to be automatic you know it's like i'm a christian now more that's when the battle begins doesn't it because now you've got the spirit of the world and the spirit of jesus christ who has now come to live inside of you and he's not going to dominate you he's a gentleman and that whole and he'll convict you when you get off base but he's not going to he's not going to turn you into a puppet that would demean you as a human being and someone created in the image of god you have to choose him every day i choose to follow the spirit of christ in me rather than the spirit of the world that has dominated the world you know the last portion of romans chapter 12 2 look at it there in your bible this is the final do he says but be transformed by the renewal of your mind and then paul speaks of the powerful benefit of that renewing he says that by testing you may discern what is the will of god what is good and acceptable and perfect and i love this last portion of romans because it exposes for us that i think the primary reason that much of the body of christ is acting just like the world and that is because we have not been renewed in our minds we've not fully been renewed because you see renewal of the mind doesn't just take place when we hear the word of god it's when we lay hold of it by faith okay you can know the word of god here but they that you know people like to talk about that incredibly long 18 inch journey from here to here and it's true there is a need among born-again believers to not just hear the word of god but to embrace it by faith and when that happens we get set free do you guys remember that letter i read to you from that gal a couple of weeks ago who talked about just that transformation in her life when she got serious about the word of god and began to embrace it by faith remember one of the elements she she talked about the kind of person she was before and then the kind of person christ is making her today and one of the things she said in that second description of herself and she said i no longer fear the death of the body i wonder how many christians can say that i no longer fear the death of the body her mind had been transformed and she was now walking in a peaceful confidence that jesus has me and he's not letting go and my life is his i am literally bound up in his arms and he won't let go and all the days ordained for me were written in his book before one of them came to be when you begin to really get a hold of that by faith changes the way you live it changes everything it's a dynamic that begins to enter into your life that is just incredibly powerful i want to share with you just some quick promises from god's word and the blessings that go along with it let's start in oh you know this proverbs 3 5-6 who hasn't put it on the refrigerator trust in the lord with all of your heart oh by the way how much of your heart are you supposed to trust the lord with just oh yeah yeah it does say that doesn't it and do not lean on your own understanding that's your ability to figure things out but in all your ways acknowledge him oh by the way how many of our ways should we acknowledge the lord in yeah all of them that's what it says and he here's the promise will make straight your paths now this passage is interesting because it actually and we're not going to read it or put it up on the screen but if you keep reading in this passage it goes on to talk about the physical benefits of trusting the lord have you ever have you ever gone on to read in that passage it goes on to talk about how it'll be health to your bones that crazy it literally will have a healthful effect when you do what trust in the lord with all of your heart i know easier said than done but this is our goal right because the promise is that he will direct our paths and when we get a hold of really trusting the lord and we realize that it's his job to protect and direct in my life and i don't have to be the one that goes through life white knuckling it you know holding on for dear life oh god what's going to happen now you know and i just kind of start sitting back and saying you know what i'm an idiot and you're in charge and all this time i thought i had to hang on tight or something bad was gonna happen instead i have to start choosing i have to start choosing to trust and praying that god would help me to do it with all of my heart because i'm not there yet look at john 14 27 this is jesus i love this peace i leave you jesus says my peace i give to you check this out not as the world gives do i give to you let not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid so you see there's there's something that we have to do and there's something that he does and what we have to do is we have to be careful not to let our hearts be troubled oh i know i know when you've kind of been bowled over by fear and all the reaction of the world it's pretty tough for god to come along and just say don't let your hearts be troubled and we're all kind of going i'm there i'm in the midst of trouble my address is trouble avenue right and so that's when we have to come back to the cross and confess that we have given in to a spirit other than his and do you know that you can do that that was i gotta tell you something guys one of the most freeing things i ever learned in my christian life was that fear is something i can confess as a sin it was freeing because before i just thought it was just part of me and there was just nothing i could do about it and god just had to put up with it literally i did i didn't think of fear like lying or cheating or or adultery or something like that i just thought fear was just me fear is me you know it's not what i do it's who i am and god made me aware of the fact that fear is something you do it's something you you've been choosing and it's become habitual in your life and so you need to come to me on your knees and confess it and say lord i'm a fearful person and i ask you to forgive me i ask you to wash me and cleanse me and i ask you to give me the strength not to just jump into fear when i feel threatened you know it's a toughy that's a toughy but you know what it gives me hope because it reminds me that i can do something about fear i can bring it to the cross and i can be forgiven and strengthened not to go back there again you know because i want his peace i want his peace you guys remember me telling you that story about corey ten boom she was telling about after she some of you know who she is some of you don't doesn't matter she's a woman lovely woman that tramped all over the world for the lord taught people about jesus because she herself lived through a german concentration camp and learned how to trust god in the midst of a you know when you learn how to trust the lord in the in the midst of a german concentration camp you'll learn how to trust the lord and she was on a plane one time going somewhere and then and the cabin of the plane started to fill with smoke smoke that's not a good sign and this you you don't want that to happen you know and you never want to hear you know like the captain go uh oh is the first thing he says or something you know that's just not what you want to hear anyway they they got through it and they landed the plane safely and there was this businessman who came up to corey afterwards and he said ma'am i just have to talk to you because i happen to notice during that whole issue with smoke in the plane you never were worried you never were upset the rest of us were absolutely going berserk and you sat there with this piece on your face the whole time well of course corey had the opportunity to tell him about jesus but she said i know where i'm going my life is in his hands and if he chooses to take it that's his business not mine what an odd thought that is and yet that ought to be the thought of every christian should it not don't you want to get there lord this is that see that's part of what we talked about first i offer myself as a living sacrifice my physical life it's yours it's not mine it's yours you can do with it what you want you know then philippians chapter 4. i love this too i love all these the lord is at hand paul writes do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication and thank with thanksgiving let your requests be known to god here comes the promise and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus so you see there's an interesting and lovely promise in this passage but there's also a condition to it isn't there and the condition is understand the lord is at hand number two don't be anxious and that's i know again that's difficult but you need to be careful not to allow your heart to go into a tailspin and he says and then in whatever time you would otherwise be sitting around being anxious and and fretting bring it to prayer to the lord in prayer he says and be careful to offer your thanksgiving and then lay your requests out to god tell him what you need tell him what you need and then he said the peace of god will guard your hearts and minds we love to just quote the promise without talking about the condition have you been careful to keep anxiousness at bay have you taken it to the lord in prayer have you laid your petitions at his feet with thanksgiving because when we get into the habitual behavior of doing that we're going to begin to experience the peace of god that'll guard our hearts and our minds let me just say it to you again god is challenging the body of christ like never before to live courageously we are living in a period of time in history that is very exciting we're living in a post-christian nation by the way democracy is on its way out okay because democracy was made for christianity they're made to go together and as this nation gets away from their it's christian roots democracy isn't going to work anymore because democracy is based on human rights and valuing human life in our country wouldn't do that anymore so that thing on your dollar bill that says in god we trust it's not true but that doesn't mean you can't trust him but but because of the fact you live in a post-christian america it means it's gonna keep getting bad that's okay that's god's business he's gonna take care of you don't be anxious don't be anxious about the way the world is going you just trust the lord and put your hope in him and make sure your confidence is completely in him here's why we're going to revisit that first question from jesus that we started off this message with luke 18 when the son of man comes and by the way he's coming his question to you and me is will he find faith on the earth is he going to find that or is he going to find fear and dread i want him to find me with a heart of faith don't you let's stand together well thanks for the little fireside chat sometimes we need to just kind of sit down and remind ourselves what god's word says don't we and and then decide we're going to get serious about it or not you know but if we're not going to get serious about it let's stop playing games i mean if you're going to just walk in unremitting fear and dread like the world then you're probably going to feel kind of out of place among other believers but what we need to be doing as believers is encouraging one another daily as long as it is today encouraging one another put your hope in the lord put your confidence in jesus don't listen to the spirit of the world because that's not the spirit you've been given you've been given a spirit of power and love and self-control heavenly father i thank you so much for giving us this time and lord i want to pray for anybody here this morning who has not yet bowed the knee to jesus and received the spirit from you your holy spirit and i pray lord god that this morning they would take care of that and they would just come to you and say lord i accept what you did for me on the cross i believe you died for my sins i know i'm not worthy of your love but i accept it anyway and along with it i accept that free gift of eternal life now lord come and live in me fill me with your spirit and chase away from my heart and mind the spirit of the world that lives in perpetual fear and dread and fill me instead lord god with your spirit and the peace that you give that is not like the world gives but the true peace that comes from knowing you are the lord of all i thank you i praise you god for your wonderful promises and lord i know that not one single promise you have uttered will ever get left behind you will fulfill every single one and i thank you for that lord for you are faithful in jesus precious name we pray and all god's people said together amen god bless you have a good rest of your sunday

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

Views: 11,517

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Id: ayiY2eui5kA

Length: 48min 56sec (2936 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021