June 8, 2013 "I Shall Not Fear" Pastor Howard-John Wesley

would you pray with me let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation taking on the form of a bondservant he came and obedient even to the death on the cross and God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father we thank you O Lord that there's no other name given whereby we can be saved other than the name of Jesus and the name of Jesus is so powerful that it calls us demons to shake and tremble we thank you that we've got the right to call on that name that because of that name you grant us the richness of your grace and the fullness of your mercy so God we thank you for Jesus Christ teaches how to use that name how to call on him how to lift it up how to proclaim his glory in every difficult and dark situation we face come now Holy Spirit and speak to us in that precious name in his name Jesus we do pray amen tonight quickly I dare not be before you long I'm going to invite you to share reading for me when one is considered one of the most favored and beloved passages of Scripture and rightfully so you'll find that in and Elijah are some words from God through the psalmist David that need be repeated and reiterated throughout the journey of this thing we call life it's so well known and beloved and some of you may not need to turn to the 27th psalm but for those for whom it is unfamiliar I pray that we would change that at the end of this preachment tonight the 27th psalm of david puree but once you stand is together we heed and hear the word of God this is penned by the psalmist David after you've got Psalm 23 under your belt Psalm 27 is a good one to get under there as well hear the words of the psalmist David the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked came upon me to eat of my flesh my enemies and foes they stumbled and fell though a host should encamp against me my heart shall not fear the wars may rise in this will I be confident one thing have our desired of the Lord and that will I seek after him that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his temple because I found out that in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion and the secret place of his Tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me high upon a rock and now my head shall be lifted above my enemies all around me therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in the tabernacle yes I will sing I will sing praises unto the Lord as we review and re-examined that beloved Psalm I want to talk tonight subject I shall not fear you may be seated in the presence of God one of the greatest struggles you'll find yourself dealing with when you engage and encounter the Word of God in find yourself in discussion and debate with different doctrines of those who hold God's Word to be true but yet believed dramatically different things and you do at the root and the cause of it dr. Judy I found is a deep struggle because at the end of the day with one verse of scripture you can make the Bible say whatever you want it to say with just one verse you can cause the Word of God to endorse and embrace just about any position on any subject in life with just one verse you can make the Bible say whatever you think you want the Bible to say as a matter of fact you can mark most of the distorted doctrine and Colt tech creations of Christianity have come from the hands of those who were good at taking one verse pulling it out of its context stretching and inflating it until that one verse became normative for the other 31,000 103 verses in all of the Bible that with one verse they have assumed has come all the Word of God in that one verse with just one verse of scripture you can make an argument that sisters ought to just shut up and church to sit down and not do anything with just one verse with just one verse you can make an argument that you have to must speak in tongues in order to prove you have the presence of the Holy Spirit with just one verse with just one verse you can suggest that the only name that you ought to be baptized in is the name of Jesus Christ and not the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit with just one verse one verse you can make the Bible say whatever you want map back with one verse you can justify just about every sin you feel like committing yeah with just one verse you can justify alcoholism because the Bible says take a little wine for the stomach singer with just one verse you can justify fornication please the Aster chapter 4 verse 11 says how can one be warm if you lay it lone but if to lay down it'll be all right went just one verse with just one verse you can justify being prejudiced bigoted and violent against people whose life choices you don't respect because you know how to interpret one verse with one verse you can justify hurting others who've hurt you the scripture does teach an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth with one verse you can make the Bible say whatever you want it to say now suggest to you that the biggest challenge in interpreting the Word of God is not to take one verse out of context stretch and inflate it that it's greater than the other 31,000 103 verses in the Bible but rather that we take hold of some of the larger consistent messages that continuously come to us in God's Word you'll see that there are some themes and some messages some ideologies some doctrines some points that God presses time and time and time again in his holy word yet you can take one verse and take it out of context or you can open your eyes to the replete and repeated messages that come to us in God's Word and just about every chapter in every book in every section you'll find some consistent messages that God lifts up time and again and again and again and again and again and drives them home in our lives what are some of those messages I'll give you a few of them God is merciful and at the end of the day you never really reap all that you've sown my fact you are a holiday Amen right then and right there that we serve a merciful God who does not impute to us our iniquities and our transgressions but because of his mercies which are new every morning we have a God does not punish us as we are that that message comes out and again in Scripture God is with us that's another message you can't miss if you know how to read your Bible because repeatedly montrezl you will hear the Lord saying I am with you when you go through the waters I'll be with you when you walk through the floods I'll be with you when your journey to the fire I'll be with you to the ends of the earth I'll be with you because I'm a God who will never leave you and I'm a God who will never forsake you that's a message that you see in Scripture a message that you can't escape in scriptures that no one body and no one sin is outside of the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ I don't care how low down you fall I don't care how long you've been doing it who you've been doing it with I come by tell you that grace is greater than sin and no matter what you've done in this life it was covered by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary that's a message you cannot escape now we're commanded to love folk I know we don't practice that enough but that is a consistent message of Scripture that the true mark of our identity in God in our discipleship and Jesus Christ and our indwelling of the Holy Spirit is our ability and capacity to love those who are not easy to love you want to prove you got the Holy Spirit you ain't got to talk in tongues you just got to show me you can love folk that despitefully use you you can pray for them which hate you you can embrace them which would rather do you harm that's how I know you got the Holy Spirit can you love these dr. garner some messages that we find consistently in Scripture not just in one verse but replete and repeated and it will surprise you they're one of the most replete and repeated and reiterated messages that comes from God's Word is when God speaks to us through his children with this one message don't be afraid it might shock you when you go home and open up your concordance and pull out your blue letter Bible dot org and see how many times God issues the commandment don't be afraid when Abram is called to leave his father's house God sends him a tweet don't be afraid when God prepares to send Moses to Pharaoh Elijah to AZ hyah Jeremiah to the children of Israel Ezekiel to the Israelites he tells all of them when they're called don't be afraid we have Scott and Jehoshaphat are about to go to war God sends Isaiah and jahaziel respectively with a message to give them don't be afraid when Nehemiah stands on the wall the word to God to him is don't be afraid when the children of Israel prepare to him to the promised land repeatedly in the book of Deuteronomy God gives the commandment through Moses don't be afraid when Joshua steps up to leadership and take on the mantle of Moses before he makes his first leadership move God tells him repeatedly don't be afraid when the angel comes down to Bethlehem to tell folk about Jesus and John the Baptist Zacharias Joseph and Mary are all told don't be afraid when Jesus walks to the disciples on the middle of the water in the middle of the storm the first words out of his mouth are don't be afraid when the women show up at the tomb of a resurrected Jesus the Angels message to them is don't be afraid when Jesus meets the first eyewitnesses of his resurrection his commandment to them is don't be afraid when Jesus converts Saul on the road to Damascus and he sent to Ananias and Ananias is told don't be afraid when Paul is getting ready to speak to the church at Corinth the Holy Spirit convicts him and tells him don't be afraid and it is Paul who puts a capstone on it writing to his son in the ministry Timothy as he gets ready to take on the ministry of Paul he tells Timothy not whatever you do know this that God has not given us a spirit of fear cuz I operate in fear is to not operate with the gift that God has given you my present my sister's why does God repeatedly reiterate the commandment not to be afraid why does God hammer that home more than talking in tongues more than the role of women in church more than issues around sexuality you may find those in one verse but one thing you cannot miss from Genesis to Revelation chapter 1 chapter last is god screaming at us time and again don't be free could it be because God understands that the devil's greatest weapon against the people of faith is the induction of fear God knows we have the proclivity and the propensity to be afraid to be worried to be anxious and no matter what stage of life you're in life is filled with things that you ought to be afraid of reasons to worry causes to be anxious starts in your childhood years afraid of the dark afraid of the boogeyman afraid of that built in the closet that don't nobody wear it serves one purpose afraid of doctors and immunization afraid of dentists no disrespect dr. Morrison it grows when you become a teenager the fear being rejected laughed at different fear of college fear failure then come the adult years and the real fears show up financial fears will I ever get married fears what about these children worries marital concerns those don't go away no matter how seasons you get in life seasoned years bring different fears health and sickness retirement loneliness and the ever-present fear of death I present my sister's mat suggest to you that no matter what stage of life you're in there's always something to cause you to worry there's always something going on in your world that makes you anxious they're more than enough reasons to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to go back to sleep more than enough things that cause you to be concerned and worried and fearful they're always enemies around us they're always talk going on there's always financial concern I don't care how big your bank account is and how big the degree on your wall is there's no level of life you can reach which will cause you to be immune from the real fears of like you stop thinking that folk with big bucks just lay down at night and go to sleep with nothing on their mind I want to declare on behalf of one whose counsel some big ballers that no matter how much you get no matter how much you own the reality is that everybody in here has a reason to be afraid that's why I'm so glad that God followed Psalm 26 with Psalm 27 because the Lord knows and if ever there's something you need to hear it's the words of this psalmist David that whenever life has pushed your fear button I want you to take a full dose of the Lord is my light and my salvation whenever you've got enemies circling around your life you need to take two pills of though a host should encamp against me and wars may rise and this will I be confident when you don't know how it's going to turn out and you're worried on every side I need you to lay down holding on to in the time of trouble he shall hide me you need a good dose of Psalm 27 can I just say that Psalm 27 is some good medicine for you to take today cuz it is tried and proven look at who wrote Psalm 27 this ain't no Rick into the game this ain't a new brother on the street this is the psalmist David and if anybody knew anything about fear it was David David who stands with a giant in the valley of Eli called Goliath David who runs for his life from King Saul David who's thrown out of his own Kingdom by his son Absalom David whose daughter was raped by his own brother by her own brother David who has the mess up with Bathsheba and has to stand before God David who's got the battle with the Philistines always in his rearview mirror David who had to fight a bear and a lion if anybody knew what it was like to be afraid it was David and with everything that would cause him to be afraid of everything he had reason to worry with everything that pushed then don't go to sleep button in his life David yet winds up with this statement the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear would you go home and do some exegetical homework on Psalm 27 and look at everything David says he will and will not do he says I will not fear I will not be afraid I will be confident I will offer sacrifices of joy and I will sing praises I've got enemies all around me I've got trouble in my home my kingdom is not what it up being my life is in jeopardy but I will not fear I will not be afraid I will be confident I will offer sacrifices of joy and I will sing praises that's what David says and three quickly says I won't be afraid I will be confident and I will rejoice no matter what is going on in my world I will not fear I will be confident and I will rejoice I don't care how much changes I don't care who stands against me I don't care what the doctor says I don't care what happens on the job I don't care what's going on in my family I've made a decision that because the Lord is my life I will not fear I will be confident and I will rejoice how does David wind up in those three places which says no matter what's going on in life I will not fear I will be confident and I will rejoice subject what gets them there let me give to you in about twelve minutes we go on out of here communion he says I will not fear watch the movement of the psalm I will not fear because I know who God is what watch how David starts I will not fear because I know who God is to me now pay particular attention Saints he does not start I say I won't fear because I know what God is going to do and I know when God is going to do it and I've been given a prophetic promise of how the Lord is going to bring it to pass easily I don't need to go win I don't need to know how I don't need to know what all I need to know with all assurance is who God is in my world I don't need God to tell me when I just need to know who he is I don't need him to promise it's going to be alright I just need to rest my hope on who I know God is what resets I know the Lord is my light my salvation and the strength of my life he's my light he's my salvation and he's my strength he's my strength without him I can't do this but with him and in him and through him I've got the strength to face whatever is causing fear in my life as long as he's holding me and he's with me and I'm walking with Him he's all the strength I need in order to fight my battle all I need is the Lord he's my strength he's my salvation in him I'm saved in him I'm secure in him I'm shielded in him I know that he's going to protect me and keep me so I don't have to worry cuz the or it is my salvation and he's mine light okay why that's so important because light metaphorically is the antithesis of darkness and darkness is the metaphorical representation of fear and so my God brings me comfort from my fear which causes me to walk in darkness in darkness I'm afraid in darkness I don't know what's around the corner in darkness I don't know who's got it out for me in darkness I don't know what I'm supposed to do in darkness I don't see where the help is going to come from but all I need is a little bit of light in the midst of darkness and I've got comfort for the journey that I'm on he's my light to counteract my darkness best ways best way to catch on I told you my family hails from little town just outside of Baton Rouge Louisiana I called Plaquemine Louisiana plaque Louisiana and I remember as a child going down the Plaquemine once I was my dad and and the thing about plaque when it gets me is the really only two roads that there's a main highway and then there's the winding road down by the Bayou not to get to my great-aunt house you got to take the winding road that's called Route one it's right outside of the bridge when you come across baton Sam you don't I'm talking about right down down turn you know it is at route 1 it's a winding road and one day we went to see my great-aunt and we stayed too late and it got dark now let me tell you what y'all think of darkness ain't dark it's just not as light as you're used to you go on down to plaque for Louisiana and find yourself on route 1 down on winding road by the bayou and you will understand darkness ain't a light nowhere to be seen and so I said that we might as well stay here - no we got to going back so we get in the car and my dad is flying down route one on this winding road in the middle of the darkness I said dad you got to slow down because if my dad said means the boy I've been walking this road since I was a kid I pull the tractor down this road I've ridden horses down this road I've rented a car down this road and I know it's dark and you don't know where the turns are and you don't know how we're getting where we're going but I just need you to know that Daddy knows where he's going and that's all I came by to tell somebody in the darkness of life right now that we've got a God and a father who knows the bends in the road who knows the road you're on who knows the way you travel so rest in God cuz he knows the way he knows my Road so does what David says listen because I know who God is what watch this whom shall I fear can I teach and preach at the same time that word whom a Richard that's that that reference is a person whom who who are you that I should be afraid of you when I know who God is okay you almost miss by five year all awake he's a little it I'm gonna take who you are and what you're causing me to be worried about and I'm gonna compare it to what I know about God and when I compare who you are to who I know God is maybe I came by to tell you that I ain't scared of you cuz I know my God is able and my god is great and my God is mighty and my God is sovereign and my God is loving and my God is omnipotent is there anybody here who knows who God is my god is too big for me to be worried about you and the only reason you should be afraid of a person is if you really don't know who God is if you don't know who God is you should be scared you don't know who God is you should be worried but if you know that he's your light your salvation and your strength why are you afraid so listen I will not fear cuz I know who God is but remember the second place he lies and said no one I fear he says I will be confident he says I will be confident watches because I know what he's done I won't fear because I know who he is but I will be confident because I know what he's done Saints watch the progression of the problems David testifies to in verse 1 he talks about whom that's a person but in verse number 3 he begins to give testimony that if a host should encamp against me if Wars should rise Saints that ain't a person those are powers I got through people only now to have to deal with powers and sometimes the fears of life are generated by the presence of perilous powers systems and stereotypes statistics and isms that stand against us office practices and nepotism that don't treat you right inequities and injustice 'as in the penal system policies and policy makers who do not look out for people of your kind or your color sickness and prognosis that say there's nothing else we can do recessions and sequestration that attack your finances like termites attack the field of your home that there are powers that we stand against and watch what brother David says that even if I stand against powers and not just people I will be confident no matter what the power is I'm going to be confident when my financial world is turned upside down even then I will be confident when the report comes back that it's cancer even then I will be confident when I'm the victim of racism sexism and ageism even then I will be confident when the odds are stacked against somebody like me even then I will be confident when the statistics say that somebody in my color and my gender from my background can't do what I want to get done even then I will be confident when the bottom of my life drops out and I don't know where the next time is going to come from even then I will be confident if I've got to stand all by myself even then I will be comfortable when you google my name on the Negro net and all my business shows up E and then I will be confident can I give you a 2013 a translation of that Hebrew word confident either what you catch it is 2013 you will translate the word to be confident it means to have some swag about you yeah it means to what will it strut on your side to have little attitude in your face to have some backbone in your back I'm so tired of weak and wimpy Christians who walk around with the head bowed down scared of everything and everybody and every situation and David says watch my swag watch me walk with some confidence watch me walk like I know it's going to work out for my good does somebody tell them get your swag back he says says I'm I'm gonna be confidence that even when I stand against a host who wants to raise war I will be confident David how can you be confident when you stand against systems that haven't lost and powers that don't yield and isms that don't change and financial situations that don't get better David says the reason I'm confident it's because I caught a flashback cuz in verse number two david testifies about something it already doesn't happen with mary enemies came upon me to eat of my flesh they stumbled and fell her don't know shot me too soon when I'm pressed against present powers I caught a flashback of what the Lord has already done and made a confident prediction that everything was going to be alright you missed that when I'm standing against something now I take a look at what he's already done and I make a confident prediction that everything is going to be alright can you say third time's a charm no matter what I'm dealing with now when I look at what is already done I make a confident prediction that everything will be alright okay okay okay okay okay I'm coming come come come it's called the process of induction can I teach you some logic induction is when a conclusion is drawn based upon premises that I believe to be true and even if it is uncertain what the next one will be because of what I've already shown I can make a logical conclusion okay okay let me give an example it's called finding a pattern so let me say so if I said to you that I've got four numbers in my head and I'll give you three of them I want you to predict the fourth watch what happens two four six now my next number might have been 2123 but because you saw the pattern of what I've already presented to you you made a logical conclusion that the next step has to follow the pattern of what has already been presented can I talk to somebody I want you to see the pattern of what the Lord has already done the ways he's already made the brass he's already answered and how do I know that he's gonna handle it now because he handled it then and if he did it then then I just got confidence that God will do it again would you know somebody tell him illogical follow the pattern I gotta let y'all go he listen listen he says I won't fear cuz I know who he is I'm confident because I know what he's done and what's the third when he lastly says I will rejoice no matter what I'm going through this was deep Melvin I'm going to rejoice because I know what worship does David stand against people and powers reason to be worried reason to be afraid reason to be anxious and this is what David says in the midst of people and powers one thing have our desire to the Lord in the midst of people and powers david says god I just need one thing come on Saints don't don't close your Bible Lord oh holy heck is breaking loose and I just need one thing I got enemies on every side I need one thing I got a reason to stay up at night but I just need one thing don't know how it's going to turn out but god I just need you to do one thing for me watch what he asked for I don't need you to make them like me I don't need you to send another check in the mail I don't need you to turn the world upside down all I need is for you to grant me access to your presence and if I can get in your house and look at your beauty and hear you talk to me God that's all I need I wish I had some worshipers in the house who know that if I can just get in the presence of God and worship God and rejoice in God and sing the praises of God that's all I need in order to face my struggles I knew everybody wouldn't catch that but here's what David says and Tweety correctly living in the presence of God is greater than living in the absence of trouble say again living in the presence of God is greater than living in the absence of trouble God you ain't got to move the trouble just open the doors of your house and let me get in your presence and bow down at the altar and lift up holy hands and worship you can I preach it like it's written in the Bible watch this is so deep I need you to make sure you get this as the deepest point of the sermon that he says in verse 4 all I need is to get in your presence let me live with you let me look at you and let me listen to you now here's the deep dark gun I need you to put your doctoral hat on because verse 5 follows verse 4 that's the deepest thing I get to say verse five follows verse 4 verse four Lord all I need is to get in your presence and then I found out in verse five that if I can get in the presence of God and I can worship God and I can glorify in its presence that when my time of trouble comes that my God is able to hide me in the time of trouble then if I worship in verse four he'll hide me in verse five if I rejoice in verse four he'll keep me in verse five if I lift up hands in verse four he'll wrap his arms around me in verse five says you'll hide me in the time of trouble not now now I'm not done can I tell you what this verb to hide means so that you can execute this passage Christ to hide does not mean to remove from sight no no no that's not how David is hidden the hide does not mean to lock in the closet turn the lights off and tell you to be quiet to hide watch the Saints means to be put in a place where the folk who want to slay you can see you but they can't touch you that not good like Megan means me put in the place where you can see me but you can't slay me because the Lord has put his hand on me is to be put in a place where no weapon formed against you shall prosper when everything meant for you evil works together for you good when a thousand fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand where the Sun Dance might you by day nor the moon at night because he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the wings of the Almighty it means to be put in the protection of God and there's some folk here today the only reason you're in church on a Saturday night it's cuz the Lord hid you the Lord protected you the Lord kept you is there anybody here that knows the Lord put his arms around you the Lord held you together okay I'm done I got to leave you but can I tell you what the Bible says that verse 6 follows verse 5 and in verse 6 David says that since the Lord hid me in trouble and since the Lord kept me from fear I will rejoice I will sing praises when I get to the tabernacle I won't sit like a bump on a log when I get in the house of God I won't act like God ain't done nothing but when I get in the presence of God and think about what the Lord has done I will I to in Spain would you just know somebody if you've been there and say the Lord kept me the Lord hid me and not that that's why I sing praises to God I know I get on your nerves and when you see me in church you don't want to sit next to me cuz you remember what I did last Sunday I know that gets on your nerves I know when I stand up you can't see that's what the screens are home I know you don't like it that I shout when ain't nobody else shouting but you don't know like I know what the Lord has kept me proud - I'm not ashamed to sing praises to my god God's been that good to me he's kept me through so much and at this stage you are to join in with David now Claire I shall not fear I don't care what comes my way I don't care what the forecast is I show not because I know who God is I know what the Lord has done and I know what worship does it puts me in the secret place of the Most High Sanka can I just say that that's why you are a high tell yourself to church every time you get a chance can I be real that's why you all never let the devil convince you to stay at home on a Saturday or Sunday coz when you get in the presence of God and you worship Him from your heart and you rejoice in what he's done he will you

Channel: Alfred Street Baptist Church

Views: 158,831

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Keywords: Pastor Wesley

Id: hsn3w7_QtoM

Length: 46min 45sec (2805 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 10 2013