On creations morning an all-powerful God Flung the glittering stars against the velvet of the night He holds the seven seas in the palm of his hand. He measures space with his fingertips He waves the mountains in the scale and the hills and the balance the God that we serve has total control He says let there be light and in that moment of time darkness Was shattered and conquered forever his son Jesus Christ walked upon the raging Sea of Galilee And he held the winds of his fist and said peace be still that's control that God is in control of planet Earth and he can be Absolutely in control of your life if you let him He will make a way where there seems to be in a way Stop worrying and start living Worry proves that you don't believe God can take care of you worry is faith in fear Worry is faith in fear the two words in the New Testament from the mouths of the apostles fear not Fear not fear not the past. Why because your past has been forgiven and forgotten fear not the present I will never leave you nor forsake you Joshua 1 and 9 be not afraid for thy God is with you wherever you go David said yea though, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil for thou art with me Death has been reduced to a shadow The Lord is my light and my salvation Whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom should I be afraid? Psalms 27 and 1 Hebrews 13 6 the Lord is my helper I will not fear what man can do with me fear not death The Bible says I am he who was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Fear not sickness because this is the book of the Great Physician Fear not poverty for it is the Lord that gives you the power to get wealth Fear not other people the Bible says I will make your enemies to be at peace with you You will climb the impossible mountain. I'll give you the ability to defeat the impossible foe 1,000 shall fall at your left hand Ten Thousand shall fall at your right hand. David said I will fear no evil Why because God? Almighty is with me. That's why Worry is trust in the unpleasant worry is assurance. That disaster is coming Worry is believing in your personal defeat and despair Worry is a polluted stream that flows through your brain that drowns hope and optimism That kills faith worry is interest paid on trouble that never happens Think about that One old man said and I quote most of the trouble I've had in life never happened How many of you have worried yourself, silly? about something you just knew was going to be disaster and it never happened Worry enters our life through thoughts But the Bible teaches us to cast all of our care on God because he cares for us Life is real and we never know exactly what's going to come our way, but we do know God we don't have to live in fear because he's with us And He's on our side Well worry sees the problem but it doesn't see God I don't think it's wrong to see the problem. Matter of fact, I think we should look at our problems squarely And then we need to tell them where they stand in relationship to God worry sees the problem but faith sees The God who can handle the problem and that's what we have to do and whatever Situation you're in right now in your life Whether it's something with your kids or your marriage or your finances or you think you're never going to recover from your past or you're fighting with some kind of an addiction or some kind of a Sin, that just keeps trying to cling to you whatever it is, you have to know that God is greater than any problem that you have and you have to not worry because When you pray and then you worry the worry nullifiers your prayer Prayer is something you do instead of worry if we pray and then worry We're saying with our mouth That we're depending on God, but we're staying with our actions that we don't really believe that God is going to come through So we're going to worry and have a back-up plan just in case he doesn't We don't have to know what God is gonna do we don't have to know when he's gonna do it All we need to know is that he is and he has a plan and at the right time Not our time But at the right time God will execute that plan matter of fact, I'm gonna tell you something's just bubbling up in my heart right now God is working in your life Every single one of you God is working in your life right now in ways that you cannot feel don't see and don't understand And everything that we go through we need to lift up our voice and say God, I believe you're working in my life right now I'm expecting something good And God is with you in your situation Some of you are in very difficult situations And yet in the midst of that you have joy and peace and you have hope and only God can give us that God is with you just because you have a problem that does not mean that God has abandoned you God is with you Jesus Christ made the profound statements about worried that the world has ever heard in Matthew the sixth chapter Therefore I say to you do not worry about your life what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body What you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing Look at the birds of the air for they neither sow nor reap nor gather and barns yet Your heavenly Father feeds them or you not of more value than Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow they neither toil nor spend and yet I said to you that even Solomon all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these now if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven Will he not much more clothe you oh you of little faith Therefore do not worry saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear For after all these things the Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things shall be added unto you Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things Sufficient for the day is its own trouble Simple profound God gives you what you need And I'm sure that many of you have things looming out there in the future that you know is going to require answers and you don't have those answers, but you know What the greatest way that you can show faith in God is to refuse to worry about it Refuse to think about it excessively and every time it comes to your brain just say, I don't know what I'm gonna do But I know the God who does know what I'm gonna do And that's when we get over into the miracle realm with God where he can do exceedingly Abundantly above and beyond all that we could ever dare to hope ask for or think Many of you have got a wonderful testimony in your life of what God has done for you And God has brought you some from some places that nobody would ever thought that you could have recovered from Of course, I have that same testimony myself, and I'm telling you what God is no respecter of persons His promises are not for somebody else or an elite for you. They are for you. He is here right now And He is taking care of your situation You don't have to worry God will do one of two things if you have a problem He will either remove the problem which is always our first choice and usually the only thing that we think we can even be remotely satisfied with He will either remove the problem our he will give you the strength the grace the ability to go through The problem now, I know we don't like to going through part But I'm telling you if you can say God, I know you'll do one of two things You're either going to remove this you're going to move it. You're gonna take it away or you going to give me the grace to deal with it And if we can trust God enough to leave that choice up to him Because if he lets us go through it, then he's got a purpose in mind There's something we're going to get out of it that we need Trusting God is wonderful It's so wonderful to just say I don't understand this But I believe God's gonna work it out I do not understand this. It hurts so bad. I feel like I can't stand it But I believe that God is going to work it out Some way somehow, I believe that God is gonna work it out Our journey with God is a very wonderful wonderful wonderful thing and I'm asking you today to choose boldness Don't live a little bitty narrow nothing life When there's such a great big wonderful life available to you just because you won't take that Chance That just maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe what you feel really is God God has not given us a spirit of fear. He doesn't want us living timid weak wimpy fearful lives he wants us to be bold and Courageous and strong and not afraid to try new things I think a lot of the reasons why people don't step out and try new things is they already think before they even try about all the things that might happen if they fail And I think that if you know that how much God loves you really understand how much he loves you Then you can live without that fear of failure, which immediately sets you free to try things If you just do the best you can when you step out Then God will promote you a little bit at a time so often I think we look at the way We think it needs to be in its perfection and if we can't do that yet Then we won't even step out and do anything and I can tell you my beginning was pitiful But I was following God I think that some of you are at a point in your life and I just I feel this in my heart that some of you You're facing something new Maybe something in your life has come to a close and now you're facing something new and Fear always comes against us when we face new things. You're not the only one Every time you try to make any kind of progress, you can be assured that Satan will try to frighten you that's the way that he keeps people from going forward Courage is not the absence of fear, but courage is actually forward motion in the presence of fear. I don't want you to forget that You're not afraid you're not a coward because you feel fear But we're cowardly when we let the fear control us Rather than continuing to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit. God will lead us through fear And into His perfect will for our lives If you ever really want to live your life led by the Holy Spirit You have to understand that God doesn't even usually call people that are qualified Or who feel ready to do what they're being asked to do. That's why it takes faith to do it And faith means that you step out based on what's in your heart Not based on what's in your circumstances Instead of being afraid of new things we should be excited about new things and I know this sounds really Like kindergarten simple, but honestly and truly if people would just have the courage to just follow God for their individual lives You would have an outrageously Wonderful life not everybody might like what you do, not everybody might approve of your choices You might not always get a lot of encouragement and handclaps when you begin But God will prove himself to you. If you'll be bold enough to follow God and not the crowd Myself included we regularly come to places in our life and we haven't been there. We haven't done that We have no experience with that And so we have a tendency to want to start backing off from it and just stay in our little boat of safety But God's encouraging you today to step out and be bold enough To follow the leadership of God for your life and it never ceases to amaze me what God enables a person to do if they will just step out Bold faith Christianity is viewed increasingly with not only skepticism but open hostility And it requires of us a bolder faith a willingness to say out loud. I'm for Jesus I'm for Jesus. I think Jesus is a good thing. I think he'll help you It's now acceptable in our culture too, if you hold that worldview It is suggested openly not hinted at not nuanced. It's openly suggested that that somehow you're not quite up to speed with the 21st century That intellectually even left a little behind that your your moral development and your philosophical awareness And your worldview is is a bit jaded a bit skewed it's it's underdeveloped and you're a diminished person in some way It takes bold faith to be a Jesus person in these days and I want to encourage you And let it be known in your circle of influence with your friends and your neighbors and your family members and your co-workers your with Jesus It's important. They need to know people like you love Jesus Bold faith A faith that says on the daily basis, I want to do my best to make choices that honor Jesus of Nazareth. I'm for him And I would encourage you to be for him. He's made my life better Jesus doesn't diminish life. He extends the quality of life. He expands the contentment in life Bold Faith Not critical not harsh not mean-spirited but a passion for Jesus that influences your life If we would go to Joshua 1 We would see that when God sent Joshua to take Moses's place to lead the Israelites across the wilderness into the Promised Land He said there's only one thing that you have to do Fear not and be bold God can't work through fear. He works through faith Fear opens the door for the enemy to work in our life and faith opens the door for God to work in our lives Fear comes out of your flesh out of your circumstances out of what you think and feel but faith comes out of your heart And you have to follow your heart you have to keep your heart safe and you have to keep your heart free And if you're not following the leadership of God for you, then your heart is not going to be free. It's going to be burdened And I believe that even if you step out to try something you believe is God and you don't make it all the way God likes that spirit of aggression and that Boldness that says I'm gonna step out and try it. I'm not gonna live in fear So we have a choice of facing the difficulties we face in life in one or two ways We can do it courageously or we can do it fearfully and God doesn't want his people living fearful He says I have not given you the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind God wants us to be triumphant he wants us to be courageous and bold whatever we face in life and he's made promises to make it possible for us to face anything and everything and Still be standing when the battle is over in difficult times dangerous times. We don't look around we look we're up And so we get courage strength and we're willing to trust God be fearless and bold no matter what God requires of us God will change your life God is ready to give you the best the question is are you ready to trust him for it Couple of scriptures just for encouragement and your ear will hear a word behind you saying this is the way walk in it When you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left God is promising us now get this This is a promise to every one of us that when we step out Into what we believe is God's will that he will guide us every step of the way But he's not going to give you a blueprint for the next 10 years before you make the first move Psalm 118:6 The Lord is on my side. I will not fear What can man do unto me? Isiah 12:2 Behold God is my salvation. I will trust Not I feel But I will trust and not be afraid for the Lord God is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation Isaiah 45:2 is another great promise and I man I pray this one all the time And I will go before you and level the mountains to make the crooked places straight And I will break in pieces the doors of bronze. I'm cut asunder the bars of iron. I know that everywhere that I go There's always opposition There's always a plan that the enemy has To stop the good that we want to do But I just pray this scripture that God will go before me and send his angels before me and he'll prepare the way before me And prepare the hearts of the people before me and you know, what if you will make a decision To stop letting other people make your decisions and to step out and try some things You'll find God's destiny for your life You'll find what's going to fulfill you and what you're meant to do and you're meant to be but you've got to be bold You have to be bold enough to step out and find out Do we dare to dream What is a dream Do you dare to dream when others say it's impossible Do you dare to dream when others live in doubt and despair Jesus Christ the author and the finisher of our faith said all things say that with me all things Are possible to them who believe Believe that God will do what he said He will do our God is able to overcome the limitations that others have placed on you. Whatever Forecasts they stated for your future. God can cancel it in a second if you put your faith in Him Our God is able to overcome the pain of your past and heal the wounds of yesterday Our God is able to give you strength for today and fill you with hope for tomorrow Our God is able to take all things the good the bad the pleasant the unpleasant and work them together for your good but what you have to do is believe Believe that the dream that he placed in your heart is a glimpse of your destiny and then press on endure hardness God will not fail you God will give you the desires of your heart You just have to trust in him and know that he didn't bring you this far to let you down and if God has you in one hand and your destiny in the other I assure you your dream will come true Dreams consider the power of a dream Our dreams are the golden ladder by which we climb to heavenly places Dreams are the mountain peaks of vision that we climb and look over into the promised land that God has given us dreams are the Lanterns by whose light we pass safely through the darkest Valley Dreams are the inner flame in your soul that gives you the strength And the day of adversity to fight through the darkness until the dream comes true All great things are born in a dream art books music sermons building skyscrapers corporate empires Beethoven used to wander in the woods to get his music in the theatre of his mind He heard great symphonies of sound that blessed the world James Walt invented the steam engine and he cranked it up He shouted to his friends you see it today with your natural eye but years ago. I saw it in my mind's eye Dreams are the stuff that life is made of Walt Disney said if you can dream it you can do it And I hope and pray that you have a dream for your life Not having any kind of goals or any kind of dreams for your life. It's kind of a boring dull way To live don't ever stop dreaming no matter how old you are Don't stop dreaming. You're not too young to dream You're not too old a dream and even if you've got some shattered dreams in your life. I want to encourage you to dream again Don't you give up on your dream I don't care if you don't have the money You don't have the help And you don't have the family for it and you don't have the background for it and you don't have friends for it Don't you give up on your dream don't you do it don't you do it don't you do it It may take you twice as long You may have to take courses and classes. You may not read as fast. You might not move as quick You might not have as much but don't you quite Sometimes it's best that you just keep your dreams to yourself Because your dream is about you It is God's divine way of giving you a glimpse of your destiny It was God's Way of saying that Joseph's one day. I'm going to exalt you and you're going to rule And all the nations are going to bow before you That was Joseph's destiny That was the dream that God planted in his heart in order for that dream to become a reality Joseph had to endure he endured misery and pain and a season of hell on earth. That would be difficult to describe But all that he went through he was able to walk through because before it ever began God gave him a glimpse of what was to come and he walked down that long road believing that if God before him who can be against Child of God, I believe that he is no respecter of persons If God had a dream for Jacob and God had a dream for Joseph then God has a dream for you. The devil's job He got one mission is to make you think You ain't going to make it The devil wants to keep you from your destiny. That's his one job Satan got one job to keep you from your destiny the devil don't ever want you to be what God created you to be If you've been dreaming about opening that business You should start the process Don't try to figure out how to make a million dollars just start the process see if you make one step he'll make two but he can't make his two unless you make your one Don't worry about what you're going with just get started He'll show you the way to go cuz he wants you to get to your destiny but he got to make sure that you want to get to your destiny first if you tell him you want to get to your Destiny that God you serve, he gonna show you how to do it. You could believe it. Don't forget to pray Don't be ashamed to pray and don't ever be too proud to pray because prayer prayer changes things Why is it that sometimes people's dreams don't come true You know the devil is always trying to dig some kind of a pit for us trying to pitch us in it whether it's a pit of depression a pit of discouragement a pit of poverty A pit of sickness and disease he always wants us to be somewhere between besides on top where God wants us to be It's kind of hard, you know when you're having to wait longer than you thought you would And things are a lot harder than you thought they would be And it seems to be costing you more in your life than what you ever think that you can bear And it just keeps going on and on and on and on and on but the people who refuse to quit The people who won't give up I can tell you I promise you if you won't quit and you won't give up You will make it to the finish line You will make it to the finish line But it goes without saying that life can push you through seasons where it becomes difficult to dream Is it right to hope for a better tomorrow? Is it fair to believe that there's a brighter day ahead This mindset is something that is contrary to what the Word of God tells us We are to believe for and believed in We may indeed be in a world that is spinning in absolute financial Cultural and global chaos, but the Bible tells us that we are not in this we are in this world We are not of it we have been told that greater is He Who is in us than he who is in the world We are told that even though we may see the hardest of times we can Expect the best of things because it is our God who sits upon the throne in a world of hardship He has promised to be the divine provider. He has said I have a plan for you It is a plan not to harm you it is a plan to give you a hope in a future In a world of need he has said I am still the God that shall supply all of your needs According to my riches and glory in a world of chaos and confusion He said I am the Prince of Peace and my peace not only do I give it unto thee but it surpasses all understanding You may be in a dry season today But our God has said he would be a spring of living water for your thirsting soul You may be walking through a dark Valley but the light of the world has Promised that he'll be right beside you and he'll lead you every step of the way to the other side You may be in a world of trouble, but he is a strong tower He is a shield and he is an offense in your day of adversity. He said I'll be the rock of your salvation I'll be the glory and the lifter of your head My goodness and my mercy they shall follow you all the days of my life for even David himself declared Since the Lord is on my side what can man do to me? Child of God if you have a dream today don't give up on the dream that God gave you Businessman don't quit pursuing the dream that he planted in you mother and father Continued to believe for the dream that he has in store for you young person don't abandon The dream that he planted down deep in your soul because God did not bring you this far to fail He brought you this far to crown you dream a new dream and believe in a God who can never fail Everyone wants a miracle But no one wants to be put in the crisis that requires a miracle The only way you really need a miracle is that you have a problem and the bigger the problem the bigger the miracle you need We like miracles, but not the problems that go with them but sooner or later it's going to happen to you The phone is going to ring and you're calm tranquil well-ordered life is Instantly going to be in a ranging storm Sooner or later you're going to face a crisis Beyond your power to control Our God is a God who wants to perform the miraculous in your life There are times in our lives where we face something that it just seems like there's no way out We could do all the math in our mind and our mind will tell us there's nothing that can be done here Maybe you're in a job and you know God wants to bless you, but you look at your situation You think what God can't move here. My boss doesn't like me my I can't get along with the other people at work There's there's such a ceiling in my environment It's impossible for God to move in this situation other times we might say well my marriage pastor. It's just so bad It's been so many years that it's been sliding in the wrong direction I don't know that God could ever move our marriage into the position that he keeps talking about How is God gonna change these things in my life? pastor I've been attacked in my body for so long The diagnosis is that it's incurable. Nothing can be done here I'm not sure that God could even move I don't know what he would do and our brain starts to opt us out of God's best in our lives It says well the impossible things. I don't know. God still does that anymore We begin to forget the things in our past Where God did perform the miraculous Can you think back to a time when God did something miraculous in your life that no one could explain? Something happened and you got a breakthrough when there seemed to be no way. There was a Miracle that happened in your life, that could not be explained with the mind The mind wants to get in your way. It wants to say well that's impossible A lot of people believe in the Bible they believe in the miracles in the Bible What they don't believe is that God will do it for them and do it now That's what faith is believing that God can do it for you and do it right now There we live in a world where everyone's telling you you can't pull this off What we live in a time when when people Even in the church don't believe in the power of the Holy Spirit and what he can do Sometimes we just look at the scriptures and go well Yeah, that was back then and you guys it's it's not about back then. It's it's about always It's about ever since the beginning of this book and all the way to the end The followers of God were filled with courage There was a fearlessness in them There was a confidence of my God will come through we grew up with these stories we really did and don't you remember as a kid just Having this faith like God can do anything God loves to work best and shine his glory when things seemed the darkest when the Israelites were in a situation Hemmed in by the mountains, they couldn't escape the mountains. They had to sea in front of them They couldn't swim across that and the Egyptians were coming in and God had positioned them there. What's going on? This is impossible You know what? Even when it looks impossible God can either blow up the mountains or he can part the sea he's gonna figure it out We just have to keep believing that no matter how impossible it looks God can still do it I don't know how he's going to come through in this financial situation But here's what I do know, I know that my God will meet all of my needs according to his riches in glory I don't serve a God of the practicals. I serve a God of the miracles The God of the Bible is a miracle working God in the genesis of time He breathed into a handful of dirt and Adam became a living soul That was a miracle He separated the day from the night. He flung the glittering stars Against the velvet of the night to glisten like diamonds as an eternal reminder to mankind That he is the Infinite Creator He set the Sun ablaze and placed it in the heavens as his version of the eternal flame The infinite power of God to create is far beyond our imagination to grasp The God of this Bible is a God of might and miracles. He's a God of grace and glory He's a God of power and patience Moses parted the Red Sea and walked across on dry ground with almost 2 million people He healed the lane healed the Deaf he healed the blind That my friend is miracle-working power we serve a Jesus who walked around making the Uncommon events and the power of God look like they were common every day he was performing a miracle you have that same spirit on the inside of you and It's so rare that someone even in Church gatherings so rare for someone to put their arm around you and remind you of how powerful you are How powerful your God is who dwells inside of you and what you can do You know, we kind of we become more and more cowardly He's never been pleased with cowardice He's never been pleased with people who don't believe that he can come through and that he can do anything But have we lost the wonder of God Do we see his might and majesty so often were blind to its presence Have you ever watched the sunset or the sunrise That ball of fire that's glowing on the horizon. It's a staggering miracle that you really you can't wrap your mind around Why should you know this Because on Creations morning a divine spark of glory Escaped from the fingertip of Almighty God It blazes in the heavens on a daily basis as God's billboard to the nations of the earth He say this is my miracle working power of the God that created heaven and earth that You can serve he is awesome. He is full of wonder. He is the light of the world Sometimes we think of all the busyness we're gonna do to help God try and do what he's doing Listen, take a step back and let God do what God's trying to do just put your faith that when things get impossible He's gonna unlock the impossible. He's gonna show up in his glory so that we could say all these years later That was God that did that and not us People get the idea it's easy for God to heal a head cold and he can't touch cancer Let me take the cancer is not a challenge for God When you have the faith for it, I mean you can move mountains here God's just waiting for you to uncross your fingers and start believing He wants you to see that miracle he wants to wow you and when we stop expecting and we Negotiate we say well how God's gonna do that. I don't know But you know what God I'm fine Our brain tends to look at what the devil's bring in and say well that might be working You know, it's not what I thought it was gonna be. It's not a WoW, but it'll do I'll settle in this situation I'm just gonna take what this compromise is Remember this if you remember anything out of today God is not a God a compromise He's gonna bring a miracle into your life don't accept second best We get knocked down here and there and then people start telling you you can't pull it off and our faith and that risk and that courage just seems to subsid And it's not right It's it's not good. That's not that's not how we want to live Why don't I believe like I used to we're children of God God is still God not just when he was when we were little kids But when were 40 when were 80 Just go man. I'm gonna go for it God's done some amazing things throughout time As I grown my knowledge. I want my courage and my boldness to grow with it. Not not the opposite Our Father which art in heaven is still Jehovah Rufie the Lord that heals all disease His Son Jesus Christ is still the great physician. He is the balm of Gilead He's the conqueror of death. Hell and the grave. This is the word of the Living God It is a two-edged sword. This is the bread of life. This is living water This word spoken under the anointing of the Holy Spirit is a divine proclamation that can move mountains and conquer diseases you are what this book says you are you can do what this book says you can do you can have What this book says you can have you can know what this book says You can know you can go where this book says. You can go nothing is impossible unto you if you go in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ This book says whatsoever you ask in my name I will do it And if that was the only verse in the Bible, it would make Christianity the greatest faith on the planet Ask and you shall receive Today I'm asking God that she received the miracle that will turn your life around The only way you're ever gonna know your purpose for your life why you're here on this planet What on earth you're here for is a Talk to your Creator God who made you and b read the owners manual God has never created anything without a purpose Every plant has a purpose every star has a purpose every animal has a purpose God does not create things without a reason without a purpose And if your heart is beating and you're breathing there's a purpose for your life Because God never makes anything without a purpose and the very fact that you're alive makes your life Meaningful that God had a reason for creating you it is in Christ we find out who we are what we're living for part of the overall purpose that he God is working out in everything and everyone The next verse Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 says this everything absolutely everything Got started in Christ and finds its purpose in him it is in Christ that we find out who we are And what we're living for So you said I really got to find myself. You're gonna find yourself in Christ You were made by God you were made for God Until you understand that your life is never gonna make sense. You're gonna go through life wondering what on earth am I here for? You gotta start with God God wants you to know him and love him back Here's what he says in the book of Hosea in the Bible chapter 6 verse 6 God says, I don't want your sacrifices. I want your love This is God talking to you. I don't want your offerings I want you to know me the most important thing you can know in life is that God loves you and the most important thing you can do in life is Love him back First Timothy chapter 6 the Bible says this some people Have missed the most important thing in life They don't know God they don't know God Now how do you know when you don't know God how do you know when you're disconnected from God? How do you know when in that moment? You're not knowing and loving God? God has given us a warning sign and that goes off like a bright yellow light in your life Every time you get disconnected from God and that warning sign is this Worry When you worry you're acting like God doesn't exist. You're acting like if it's to be it's up to me No, it's not up to you. It's up to God And when you when you worry you're acting like it's all your responsibility That you don't have a Heavenly Father who loves you but there weren't 7,000 promises in the Bible that God hasn't already agreed to take care of all your needs We're always worried about what does God want me to do God what job should I have? Where should I go to work? We should go to school. What should I do? We're always worried about what we should do. God is much more interested Not in what you do, but in what you become and the reason why is you're not taking your career to heaven You're not taking your car to heaven You're not taking your cash to heaven. How much money you making You're not taking your china, you're taking your character the only thing that's going to heaven after your 80 years or so here on earth is you You're not taking any of your accomplishments, you're not taking any of your achievements. You're not taking any of your acquisitions You're not taking any of your things you've piled up stockpile them money materialism stuff like that None of that's going to heaven. The only thing that's going to heaven is the person you became the man you became the woman you became the only thing you're taking to heaven is your character And God puts you on this planet to develop your character to grow up spiritually and to become like Jesus Christ when things happen to you the normal question you ask is the word why why is this happen? Why is this happening to me? Why is this happening now and the answer to all the why questions of life is this? to make you like Jesus To make you like Jesus If God's gonna make you like Jesus, he's gonna take you through everything Jesus went through And Jesus wasn't spared from difficulty was there are times when Jesus was lonely. Yes time when he was misunderstood. Yes We're the times when Jesus was disappointed by people. Yes were the times when he was tempted to be discouraged and give up Yes were there times when who's just tempted? Yes And if God let his own son go through all that don't you think he's gonna let you go through it, too Yes, why because he's more interested in your character than your comfort This is not the comfort side of life. The comforts gonna come in eternity comforts gonna come in heaven This is the classroom side of life where you were to learn and some things you only learn through difficulty If you got everything you want, everything went your way you had no problems. You would be a spoiled brat Self-centered brat and the whole goal of life is learning unselfishness It's not about you It's about learning to love God and learning to love other people and that's where fulfillment and joy and purpose comes from You know those problems you don't like in your life Every problem has a purpose and that purpose is to make you like Jesus There is no situation in your life You cannot grow from if you'll just trust Jesus and if you'll just learn to respond in the right way God knows that you've been frustrated with your life He knows your hurts. He knows your sadness. He knows your fears. He knows the turmoil that goes inside of you He knows the loneliness you feel when you put your head down on the pillow at night he knows the Insecurities that you feel that you don't want to admit to anybody else. He knows all of that He knows every part of you You're not gonna surprise him by the hidden part of your life or the life that you're leading. He knows you He is a loving father He is the father that cares for you more than for you can ever imagine and a father wants to guide his children Before you were born The Bible says I knew you before you in your mother's wombs I know the hairs on your head your names are written on the palms of my hand I have plans for you plans for welfare and not for evil Sometimes you may feel just too insignificant When God called Moses to free the Israelites Moses protested that he could not speak publicly When Sarah was promised a son she protested that she was too old when Jeremiah was told to prophesy He protested that he was too young When God sent Gideon to fight the Midianites Gideon protested that the family was insignificant when Samuel anointed Saul with oil Saul protested that his tribe was too small and when Samuel anointed David Jesse protested that David was the youngest of his eight sons and even Mary When she was promised that she would carry the Messiah Protested that she was a virgin He sees us not as we are But as we will become No man will ever love you no woman will ever love you Like your Creator does like Jesus Christ does And to go entirely through your entire life Disconnected from your Creator who loves you that much Makes no sense at all If somebody Was willing to die for you. Wouldn't you want to know about it if somebody loved you so much They died for you Wouldn't you want to know them? Somebody did die for you His name is Jesus Christ, and he died for you to pay for all the things you've done wrong So you could live a life a purpose And my plea to you as your pastors do not waste your life Decide right now that for the rest of your life You're gonna give the best of your life not to your girlfriend not to your boyfriend not to your job not to something else But did God and this kingdom Become what God made you to be the man God made you to be the woman God made you to be Jesus Christ commanded the church to fear not Fear is mentioned in the Bible over 600 times It's no small subject in the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation Abraham to John on the Isle of Patmos we hear that commandment given over and over fear not That command was given to Abraham That command was given to Israel that command was given to Moses It was given to David who ran from Saul for years who lived in caves before he became a king That command was given to Daniel who was going into the Lions Den that command was given to the city of Jerusalem the angel Gabriel gave that message to Mary to Peter who was sinkin in the swirling tide of the Sea of Galilee To Paul who had been on a ship for 14 days and it looked like all would be lost the angel of the Lord appeared and said fear not fear not fear not every time you see in the Bible fear not Which is all over the Bible Fear not for I am with you fear not for I am with you fear not for I am with you Fear not for I will never leave you nor forsake you That's the main reason that the Bible gives for us not fearing is to know that God is with us and that if he's with us He loves us and He will take care of us. But God says over and over fear not For I am with you remember not talking about not having the feeling of fear. We're talking about not letting it stop you We can't live our lives in fear And dread of what's going on and what's going to happen Satan wants us to shrink back in fear and live little tiny useless lives But God wants us to be brave and bold Do not be afraid It is said in different ways different variations But it's basically the same thing fear not do not be afraid Be fearless Fear ye not over and over and over again in different ways God wants to say to us the exact same thing in fact it is so critical and so important to him that he gets to the New Testament and Paul writes a letter to a young man named Timothy and he says Tim This is what you need to know that he has not given us a spirit of fear He says of all the important things Timothy that you need to know in your life And in this ministry that God is sending you through to as you go through things in this journey of life that you will inevitably go through He says would you remember that what our God does not give Is fear. He gives power and love and a sound mind Fear is a real thief in our lives Isaiah 41:10 says fear not there's nothing to fear. Well, isn't that interesting For I am with you. That's the only answer he gives because I'm with you and so if we really know who the Lord is I'm not talking about just going to church but I mean if you really know who the Lord is Then we don't have to know what he's going to do. We don't have to know when he's going to do it We don't have to know what the way is going to be. We just say Lord. I know you're with me and therefore I can do what I need to do Because when fear causes you to stop and to do nothing It's the master spirit. I believe that the enemy uses to try to keep us from fulfilling our destiny And so he tells us there's no way he says you you got to be afraid of this, you know If you failed before then you got to be afraid that you're gonna fail again, but God says fear not For I am with you. I love that. There's nothing to fear. Do not look around you In terror and be dismayed, you know, it's one of our problems. We look around us too much instead of looking up the more you stare at your problems, the more you rehearse your problems the bigger, they're gonna get Every time you go through something difficult. It makes you a little bit stronger just a little bit stronger Fear is a fact of life fear of the future fear of danger fear of the past others fear the loss of their job the loss of your health There's a sudden and unexplainable pain and it brings fear to your mind Some of you fear the loss of position the loss of self-esteem you fear Failure you fear the criticism of other people you fear exposure you fear being Disliked there's a fear of death. There's the fear of the unknown the era of human history is the era of anxiety and fear When the fear knocks at your door Send faith to answer and no one will be there. Isiah wrote I will trust and I will not be afraid we have to understand that fear First of all is a demonic spirit it's not from God. I think it's the enemy's favorite Tool in his toolbox The sole purpose of which is to keep us from making progress and going forward Fears whole design is to stop you in your tracks or to drive you back where you came from? Instead of You going forward and becoming all that God wants you to be? if we believe that our God does not give a spirit of fear But you find or I find in my life that there is a spirit of fear attached to something specific in your life or in your journey an opportunity that you're intimidated by a relationship an endeavor a ministry An interest of yours that just seems to cause you to feel a little bit paralyzed and Insecurity or fear if you and I know what we know now based on the scriptures that God does not give fear But you sense that there is a spirit of fear attached to something in your life And you know, God didn't give it that means You know who did and if the enemy enemy has placed a spirit of fear on something in your life It must mean that he is trying his best to keep you away from something And if he's trying to keep you away from it that must mean there's something in it that he does not want you to have He wants you and had to be so paralyzed so crippled so disarmed, so Disinterested from the very thing that he knows is exactly what God wants to take you through So that he can bring you to a new place in him do not be afraid A believer in Jesus Christ can only have one attitude toward fear and this must be their attitude. I will not fear I will not fear fear prevents forward progress Is there anyone here who ever feels like that you have let fear keep you from doing what you know you were supposed to be doing I beg you not to give up but to press through and to be all that God wants you to be Do all that he wants you to do So you can have all that he wants you to have The reason why you have no reason to be afraid my friend as God calls you to go here or do that or go through this particular thing in your life. It's not because you're so capable It's not because you're so prepared It is because you have a daddy who loves you he has already gone behind the scenes. He has already orchestrated and Manipulated events and people and circumstances so that all he needs is a woman that's willing to say Yes, Lord, and stand there at the plate of His grace and his glory in his Calling on your life and to do what he's called you to do and if you and I will just do it We will realize we've been set up to hit a home run every single time So if right now there is something crippling you the enemy is working overtime to cause you to be afraid in your life Will you hear this message from the Holy Spirit today. Step up to the plate. Do not be afraid. Your God has got your back If God is for us Then what difference does it make Really who's against us? Because God is certainly greater than anything or anybody That could come against us and you know, I think that where we get into trouble is we believe that God is for other people But are we sure that he's for us Can I tell you something you having a problem is not a sign that God doesn't care It does not mean that God doesn't see you it does not mean that he does not care about you He wants to help you in your time of need and trouble we give the enemy access to our lives through fear And we give God access to our lives through faith We don't have to be afraid of things God will take care of us Whatever's coming up in your future, even the stuff that you don't know about. God will take care of you Come on God will take care of you Get it in your head God will take care And that's really all we need to know God's gonna take care of us God has not given us a spirit of fear
