the world. So he ends up jumping in the back of his vehicle, starts driving, and he's like
follow me. So I'm following him. So I'm right behind him. All of a sudden I guess he loses
more patience. He just turns on his lights and he's running every stop sign. So now I'm
thinking to myself, he just pulled me over for running stop signs. Now he's making me
run more stop signs. So I'm literally right behind him and he got his lights on. He's
running stop signs. I'm right behind him. And I tell him, look, what am I supposed to
do? If I don't run these stop signs, I'm going to get behind. And then of course my partner
is like, man, I don't know. This doesn't look good. This doesn't look good. Where is
he taking us? Where is he taking us? He's like, I don't know. He's like, oh Chris, it
doesn't look good, man. Where is he taking us? I don't know. But what do you want me
to do? You know, it's like, I'm not going to take off on him. He has guns. His partner
has guns. They're going to turn around and come and shoot us. You know? So we're just
following this guy and he's getting nervous. And I remember just thinking, thinking of
this and this came in my head because I just read it. He said, you know what? Don't worry
about it, man. You know, we're doing the work of the Lord. You know, we're here for the
work of the Lord. Whatever happens, happens. Let it happen. I don't care because of course
he's thinking what is going to take us to an alley, rob us, shoot us, whatever. And
I kind of thought the same thing. I'm like, well, this is it. This is it. You know, whatever.
But I also had my son and he had his daughter in the back. And so of course, you know, I
had to kind of take advantage of that. I'm like, well, Chris, it was nice knowing you.
I think this is it. They're going to kidnap us. And of course my buddy's like, don't tell
them that. Don't tell them that. You know, but my son, you know, he's nervous in the
back. His daughter's nervous in the back. So we're following this guy and it's five
minutes, seven minutes. I'm like, where is this guy taking us? We're like, well, it is
what it is, man. At that point, I just say, you know what? Forget it. I am here to do
the work of the Lord. I did go from fear to zero fear because I just thought of that.
And I'm like, you know what, Lord, if I'm doing something to make you mad, this is how
it's all going to go down. Well, if I deserve it, I deserve it. Then finally we saw some
hope. We started driving and he's looking around. It's like, whoa, I see a Mexican flag.
Whoa, what is that? And sure enough, he turned the corner. It's like, oh, it looks like a
building. Okay, this may be legit. This may be legit. And then we end up driving. He drives
and he starts seeing more police vehicles and ends up parking in the parking lot, right?
I saw the building. I parked right to the right of him. He cuts out and he sure enough
knocks on the window and I roll it down. He's like, so whose car is this again? I'm like,
this is a church's car. It does not belong to me. And I'm stressing that. It's the church's
car. Church, church, church. We're here for church, you know. You know, church, church.
You know, I'm here to also try to check out this Baptist church. This is Baptist church.
Like five minutes from here, I want to pair up with them because we're going to bring
a big group in a couple of weeks. I want to preach the word of God. Okay. God, you
know, so I'm stressing all this stuff. So he's like, okay. He's like, let me bring it
to you. Look, insurance. It says faithful word, Baptist, Baptist church, Baptist church.
Look, here's my ATM card. Faithful word, Baptist church right there. That's me right there.
I work for a church. He's like, okay, get out, leave the car on. Just follow me. I'm
like, all right, no problem. So I start following this guy, takes me inside the building. He's
like, sit down. I'm like, okay. You know, just sit down. I'm just there. So I'm trying
to give, you know, like, like, like a, like a feel, you know, I'm trying to make him understand
I'm not here. I'm not upset. So I'm trying to stay neutral. On the inside, I'm upset.
I'm mad. Like, oh man, this is baloney. You know, but on the outside I'm trying to show,
yeah, you know, I have no problem. I got nothing to hide, you know, type deal. So the guy goes
over and he talks to some other guy for about 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Then afterwards he's
like, Christopher, come in. I'm like, okay. I go up there and he's like, I'm not going
to get you for no registration, but you're supposed to have registration everywhere in
Mexico. It's supposed to prove this is your vehicle. I'm like, okay, my bad. You know
what? Fair is fair. Tell me me. So then he's like, but I'm going to get you for the stop
sign. I'm like, which one? The 20 that I just ran with you. But I didn't say that out loud.
So I'm like, okay, no problem. He's like, so how much? You know, $25. I'm like $25.
I'm like, I have no money on me. Do you take cards? He's like, yeah, but the card machine
doesn't work right now. You know? I'm like, yeah. I looked at the lady behind the counter.
The machine is down. She's like, don't look at me. It's down. You know? So he's just got
like, no, no. So I'm like, all right, whatever. So then I walk outside to my buddy. He's like,
Hey man, they want $25 from us. You got some, some money on you? He's like, I do. Here,
take it, take it. All right, whatever. So I go back in. I'm like 25. I got 25 right
here. Boom, 20. Boom, five. Okay. Let me get you some paperwork sign here. So I sign. Sure
enough, the lady starts printing, prints it out. Here's your receipt. He's like, make
sure you're safe. You guys have better driving laws in the United States. You guys get trained.
I better not see you run and stop sign again. No problem. I'm sorry. You know? And I just
walk away and then I just walk away. Didn't think anything. Jumped in a car and my friend's
like everything good. I'm like, well, they took our $25, but it is what it is. I was
praying for you. I don't know what they were going to do to you when you went in there.
I didn't know either. You know, I'm like, man, what am I doing? I'm in a foreign country.
Yeah. I speak Spanish, but they don't look at me as a, you know, Hispanic guy. They look
at me as some American guy who probably sold them out for moving over there. Who knows
what. But I looked at my receipt and I'm like, 400 pesos? What in the world? He took
about $25 from us, which should be about 400 pesos. So maybe he took $5 extra for his lunch.
I don't know. I felt like I was extorted. And we even went back. We went back to try
to find that stop sign that we supposedly ran, but we didn't find it. Let's just be
honest. We didn't find it. I'm like, no, I guess Joe's like, no, man, this is baloney.
He just wanted your money. And then he figured out you were from a church. They're probably
thinking about it as they're driving. Should we ride this guy? Should we not? Should we
take more? Should we not? I think they felt bad, which is why he was verifying that you
were from a church and you probably felt bad, stealing from a church, stealing from church
members. So he said, forget the registration and the, you know, the stop sign. I'm just
sending for one thing to try to make it legit so he can't complain on me. So at that point,
it was like the point of no return for the police officer. So they probably felt like,
well, let's just take something from them so they don't feel like we were extorting
them. So they took $25 from us. But it did get a little scary when you start driving
around town and that town doesn't look like a cool town either. So you're driving around,
you're sitting graffiti and you're thinking, man, could this possibly be something that
I'm thinking is going to happen? But going back to how God wanted us to deal with that
situation, I think he just wanted us to deal with that situation so we can exercise some
faith and show that we only not just have courage, but that we have good courage. And
I said, forget it, man. We're here for the work of the Lord. There's nothing to worry
about. You know, we're good. We're in his hands. Something does happen. He let it be.
Or maybe he allowed that story to happen so I could preach to you today and tell you about
it. But anyways, you know, if you have your Bibles, go to Genesis 1 31, Genesis 1 31.
And that was just a small example of what can happen to you in your life. But here's
another example that can happen to you where God will want you to exercise not just courage,
but good courage is also winning tonight or this afternoon. And of course, we all go and
knock doors and we get all excited about knocking doors. But you know what? Sometimes we get
to that scary door that has that big sign that says no soliciting. Who's come across
those? But I'm not just talking about the ones that say no soliciting. I'm talking about
the ones that specifically are talking about you. The ones that say, hey, we're too broke
to buy anything. You know, the ones that say we found Jesus. The ones that say, no, seriously,
don't knock on my door. Don't make it weird. Unless you got Girl Scout cookies, go away.
I've seen those. I hate those. Those make me want to ring it even more, bing, bing.
But you know what? There was a point when I used to see those no soliciting signs, not
even the big ones that say, hey, not you, no so many, no one. You know, that has even
pictures of somebody with like a briefcase or whatever. And I used to see those and be
like, oh, forget this one. Let's move on to the next one and I wouldn't ring it. But then
after I heard, you know, people say, no, ring that because I got this person saved, that
person saved. I was thinking to myself, you know what? At the end of the day, the reason
why I don't ring it, it's not because I don't want to bug them. It's not because I think
this person won't get saved. At the end of the day, if you're honest with yourself, the
reason I don't knock that doorbell is because I'm scared. It's because I'm afraid. Because
I'm afraid they're going to yell at me. I mean, what are they going to do? Come out
with a machine gun and blow you away? Highly doubt that. Highly doubt that. But that's
what goes in your mind. Oh, man, I don't want to ring this one. The guy might kill me. No,
no, no, no, no. Ring that doorbell. Look, whoever put that sign on there, not the no
soliciting sign, but the big one, the one that says don't ring on my doorbell, I'm going
to kill you. You know, whoever put that on there, that individual obviously is wicked.
But who knows? Maybe he's just stupid and wicked, but he's not a reprobate. And not
only that, there's about a 50% chance that the person that answers that door is not the
person that put that no soliciting sign on there. So think about it. If somebody were
to say, look, this house has about a 50% chance of having somebody get saved. Every time I
go there, one out of two people get saved. Wouldn't you ring it? That seems to be the
case with the no soliciting signs as well. I'm also thinking of doing like a small little
video and just showing all the doors that say no soliciting and showing how even though
it says no soliciting, especially no soliciting, we found Jesus, et cetera, et cetera. People
do get saved from these doors. They do. And it's worth you getting chewed out. It's worth
you being yelled at. You understand what I'm saying? I remember her, we went soul winning
and her brother, Nick's wife, she's probably saying, yeah, yeah, I know what you're going
to talk about. I'm literally knocking doors in the background. I hear a bunch of yelling
like, and I'm like, what in the world is that? So I'm looking around and I see you
and your crew. So her and her crew later on, we meet up and I'm like, was that guy yelling
at you? Yeah, sort of. Okay. He was, you know, but then he quit. They kept going, you know,
they exercise courage and hopefully they kept knocking doors with good courage, meaning
that they weren't fearful of anything or anyone except the Lord. And that's what it comes
down to. When the Bible says have good courage, it comes down to you exercising a lot of courage
and not just that, exercising courage to where you have zero fear. And the only fear that
should be in your heart is the fear of the Lord. That's the only one that's acceptable
in the eyes of God. So what exactly do I mean by good? Let's just define that word good.
Well, it's the same word that we see obviously in Genesis chapter number one, if you're right
there in Genesis one 31, you know what, just go ahead and follow with me. I think you guys
are fast enough to follow with me and I'm going to start at Genesis one four and then
we're going to skip a few and then go to Genesis one 10. But let's go back to seeing
that word good in scripture. Here's one example, Genesis one four, and God saw the light that
it was what? Good. And God divided the light from the darkness. Go to verse 10. And God
called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters cold he sees and God
saw that it was what? Good. Let's go to verse 12. And the earth brought forth grass and
earth building seed out there is kind and the tree yielding fruit who see was in itself
after his kind. And God saw that it was what? Good. Verse 118. Go ahead and skip to verse
118. And it says to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from
the darkness. And God saw that it was what? Good. Genesis one 21. And God created great
whales and every living creature that move in with the waters brought forth abundantly
after their kind and every wing file after his kind. And God saw that it was good. Go
to verse 125. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind and cut out their their
kind and everything they creeped upon the earth after his kind. And God saw that it
was good last verse Genesis 131. It says in God saw everything that he had made and behold,
it was very good. So what did God say? Very good. What is he trying to show us as readers
that it was okay? No, when you look up that word good, and I just googled it on the internet
just search entered good. And this is what came up. And while you have well, I'm reading
what came up, I want you guys to go to go to Genesis 31 three, go to Genesis 31 three.
And so I looked up that word good. And this is what came up word good, excellent, superb,
outstanding, magnificent of the highest quality, highest standard, exceptional, marvelous,
wonderful, first rate, first class, splendid, super great, hunky Dory, a one, all this stuff
just to simply say this guy that's saying the word good. He means this he means wonderful,
exceptional, magnificent, superb, super great. Now when God were to say, Hey, this person
has good courage, what he's trying to say is, this person has excellent courage, excellent
courage. That's what God wants us to have excellent courage. And even though a lot of
people say, Yeah, you know what, I have courage. Well, that's great. But remember, God is talking
about us having good courage and did around me 31 because he's not just talking about,
you know, those individuals. This is Moses about to, you know, go into the Promised Land,
he says, I'm not going to be able to go into the Promised Land. But I want you guys to
understand that the Lord says, Look, you guys are going to go in. But when you go in, he
wants you guys to be strong and have a good courage. So once again, that word good means
excellent, superb, outstanding, magnificent, of the highest quality, high standards, exceptional,
marvelous, wonderful, first rate, first class, splendid, stripper, great, hunky Dory, a one.
I never even knew what a one meant. I told you just recently. Who's ever heard of a one
sauce? Be honest, who really knew what that meant? A one sauce. It means excellent sauce,
believe it or not, you know, so maybe brother Shelly should buy some a one sauce and stick
it in the fridge. So when you guys go in there, it'll remind you to have good courage. Amen.
But those those definitions don't end. Here's a few more. Terrific, tremendous, fantastic
fab. You know, for those of you that were into Disney movies, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
That's a definition for good, which means great, top notch, tip top, awesome. And it
has as one of the definitions for good that I found the word wicked. You're like, how
in the world is that even related to good? Well, that's what they say in Australia to
say good, wicked. But in America, we don't use that word. So don't go around saying that's
wicked courage this brother has. No, stick to what we know. Excellent, superb or just
simply say good courage. But you guys are right there in Genesis 31 three. Now, we just
saw what the word good means. It just means excellent. It just means superb, top notch.
You know, if you remember anything, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. That's the type of courage that God wants
you to have. But that's what the word good means. It just means excellent courage, tremendous
courage, magnificent courage. But let's look at that word courage now. What exactly does
courage mean? When I say, hey, I want you guys to have courage, I want you guys to be
clear as to what I mean when I mean courage. So I looked up the word courage and I saw
three definitions. I didn't 100 percent agree with all of them, but I do see them in scripture.
So we'll start out with the simplest one. When I searched the word courage, here's what
came up. I guess you can call this the web definition. It says the ability to do something
that frightens one. The ability to do something that frightens one. And I do see that in scripture.
You're right there in Genesis 31. This is the story of Jacob returning back to his homeland,
back to where his brother Esau is. And the last time he saw Esau, he was upset at him
and Esau wanted to kill him. So it says in Genesis 31 three, and the Lord said unto Jacob,
return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. And
that's something that will help you to have courage. It's just remembering that the Lord
is with you. He will not forsake you. He's not going to fail you. It's in it for a reason.
And it says the Lord said unto Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred,
and I will be with thee. And Jacob said and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his
flock. Go ahead and skip to verse number five. And it said unto them, I see your father's
confidence that is not towards me as before, but the God of my father have been with me.
Skip down to verse 11, please. Go to Genesis 31 11. And it says that the angel of God spake
unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob, and I said, Here am I. And he said, Lift up now
thine eyes and see all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringed, straight speckled
and grizzled, for I have seen all the labor and doeth unto thee. I am the God of Bethel,
where thou knowest the pillar and without bowest a vow unto me. Now rise, get thee out
from this land and return unto the land of thy kindred. So God is talking to Jacob says,
hey, return unto the land of thy kindred. Go ahead and flip the page of Genesis 32 or
look down on your Bible at Genesis 32 1. And now we're going to see him doing such thing.
So he just got orders from God saying, Hey, go back to the land of thy kindred. And last
time he was there, somebody wanted to kill him and that someone with his brother. So
now let's see what happens. And it says, And Jacob went in his way, and the angels of God
met him. Verse two, Genesis 32. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is the God's host.
And he called the name of that place Mahanaim. And then he said, This is God's host. I'm
sorry. Verse number three. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau. So now he's
sending people to go meet his brother Esau unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
And he commanded him saying, Thus shall you speak unto my Lord Esau. Thy servant Jacob
saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now. And I have oxen and
asses, flocks and maidservants and womanservants. And I have sent them to tell my Lord that
I may find grace in thy sight. So he sends them saying, Look, I'll talk to Esau, my brother,
tell him I have these things. Hey, I want to meet him. Take these things to him. Verse
number six. And the messengers now came back to Jacob, saying, We came to Esau, thy brother.
So his messengers found Esau, his brother. And it says this, And also he cometh. So now
they come back. Now they're telling Jacob, We found your brother, and he's coming and
he's coming to meet you. And it says, And he's coming to meet him. Verse number six,
Halfway through, and four hundred men with them. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.
So now he's scared. And who wouldn't be? He's thinking these guys are coming to kill us.
Think about it. They put themselves in his shoes. He's thinking, Man, they're coming.
He's coming with four hundred men. Why? Why would he do such a thing? I would think the
same thing. He's probably coming back to kill me. So he's showing right there that he's
afraid and distressed. And he divided the people that was with him in the flocks and
herds and the camels and two bands and said, If Esau come to the one company and smite
it, so he's thinking that, hey, they're coming to kill us. If he kills half of my company,
then the other company which is left shall escape. And Jacob said, Oh, God of my father.
That's a good thing. Whenever you're scared, first thing we start doing is praying unto
God, you know, trying to get him to help us. And Jacob said, Oh, God of my father Abraham
and God of my father Isaac, the Lord would say unto me, Return unto thy country, into
thy kindred, and I would deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies
and of all the truth without has shown unto thy sermon. For when my staff I pass over
this Jordan and now become two bands, deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother,
from the hand of Esau. Look what it says right there. For I fear him. So is he afraid? Yes,
he is. He's afraid. And it says right there, let's he come and smite me and the mother
with the Children. So the definition that I first saw is simply this doing something
that frightens one. Well, I see that here in scripture. What is he doing? He's doing
what God told him to do. Go back to the land of your of your kindred. And he's doing it
while he is distressed, while he is afraid. Because if I would have been in his shoes,
I'm gonna tell you right now, I would have ran the opposite direction back to Laban.
I would have done that. I would have got out of there as fast as I could. And I would
have just said, look, he's coming to kill us. But he was ready to die to obey God. He
said, you know what? I'm gonna do what I can in this situation. I'm a pray. I'm gonna do
what I can. If it turns out that it is what I think it is, then you know what? I'm ready
to just leave if I have to. But he's showing courage. But he's also afraid. And this is
just one thing that I want to show you guys that yes, he is showing courage. But this
is not the courage that God wants us to have. The other definition of courage that I found
in the Merriam Webster says this, mental moral strength, go to Acts 20-21, you know, mental
moral strength to venture, persevere and withstand danger, fear or difficulty. That one's a little
bit more specific. It's saying, look, courage is that the mental ability to persevere, even
though you know it's dangerous, even though you know that there's something to fear, even
though you know it's difficult. And if you can get to Acts 20, you know, 21, great. You
know, I'm gonna just start reading. If not, just go ahead and meet me in verse number
24. Acts 20-21 is talking about the Apostle Paul. He's saying, testifying to the Jews
and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward Lord Jesus Christ. And
now behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds
and afflictions abide me. So here the Apostle Paul says, I'm going back to Jerusalem. And
of course, we know that they're being persecuted. You know, the Jews in Jerusalem, they started
to hate Christianity. They were persecuting Christians everywhere they went. And Paul
knows that. But even though he knows that, verse number 24, he says, none of these things
move me. Now they're counting on my life dear unto myself that I might finish my course
with joy in the ministry where I have received the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the
grace of God. So he's saying, look, I know it's dangerous down there. Just like that
definition of moral mental strength to venture, persevere, withstand danger, fear or difficulty
he says, I know it's dangerous down there. I know it's going to be difficult, but those
things do not move me. Those things do not move me. Obviously, this story is a little
too vague. We don't know if the Apostle Paul is talking without fear or if he's just saying,
look, I'm going to go do it. These things don't move me. They don't scare me. The definition
that you see, this is what they say courage is, having the mental ability to persevere,
withstand danger, fear or difficulty, similar to the other one, is doing something basically
that frightens one. You know, but the last definition is the one that I think is more
accurate. It's the one that I think is the way that God wants us to understand courage
as, and this is what I found on dictionary.com. If you have your Bibles, go to 1 Samuel 17.32,
1 Samuel 17.32. Just go ahead and meet me there. I'm going to read the definition on
dictionary.com. It says this, the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to
face difficulty, danger, pain. This is similar to the one in Merriam Webster's, but this
is what the one in dictionary.com, you know, ends up adding. It adds two words at the end
of their definition, and these are the two words, without fear, without fear. See, the
first definition didn't have that. The second definition didn't have that. So if you were
to just look it up, you would think, okay, well, I'm showing courage. Hey, I have the
ability to, you know, withstand danger, fear or difficulty. Hey, I'm able to do things
even though I'm afraid. That's true. But you know what? That's not what God wants us to
do as Christians. He wants us to do things without fear, specifically without fearing
men, because obviously we should be in the fear of the Lord all the day long. We should
fear someone. We should be in fear all day, but that fear should be the fear of the Lord.
We're afraid that He's going to hurt us if we cross the line. But when it comes to men,
what men can do up to us, that's the fear that God doesn't want us to have. He wants
to have zero fear when it comes to fearing men. And when you see right here in 1 Samuel,
here's an example of someone that I believe has zero fear, just looking at the actions
that they showed. It says in 1 Samuel 17 32, they're talking about David when he's taking
on Goliath. It says, and David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. He's
saying, hey, don't let anyone be afraid. So that tells me that David wasn't afraid. Why
would he tell the king? King, make sure you let your men know. Don't let your heart fail
you. Don't let anybody be afraid at all, which that tells me that he wasn't afraid. And then
you could tell from what happens next that that was the case. And it says, David said
unto Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant would go and fight with
the Philistines. And it came to pass when the Philistines arose and came and drew night to
meet David, that David walked towards him. Is that what it says? No, it does not. It says,
David hasted, meaning he didn't waste any time. It says, David hasted and ran toward the army
to meet the Philistine. He didn't walk towards Goliath. He, without even hesitating, ran toward
Goliath. Why? Because he wasn't afraid of him at all. He had zero fear. And you know the story,
he ends up killing Goliath. You imagine God looking at him from heaven? That must not just
say, whoa, that is my child right there. That's what I'm talking about. Get after that guy.
Everybody thinks you're going to lose. Everyone there thought he was going to lose. They said one
person and that was David. And of course God knew he was going to win because he was going to give
him the victory. But wouldn't you want your children to be that way? Don't you want your
children to attack the enemy without fear? To not haste, just go after him? Hey, that's what I want
my children to realize. They say, look, live this life fearing God. Don't fear man. Fight the good
fight. You're in a warfare. I want you to fight it without fear. I want you to do that without
fear to be of good courage. Just like you saw in Deuteronomy 31. What is happening? Moses is telling
the children of Israel, go fight without fear. Have good courage. Don't just have courage,
have good courage. Be very courageous what he's telling them. Go to Daniel 3 14. One of my favorite
stories in the Bible is found here in Daniel chapter number three. It's a story of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. Who loves that story? That's an awesome story. I love how they stood
up to the king. They didn't hesitate at all like King David. Oh, we're not going to be careful to
answer thee. We're going to tell you how it is. The only way you can do that is if you have zero fear.
The only way you can do that is if you fear the Lord. That's the only way you can do that if
you're full of faith. And I'm going to start reading verse number 14. If you want go in and
meet me in 19, but I'm going to read it 14. It says Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them,
this is after he arrested them, people accused them. He already made his law. They bowed down
when he heard the music, bowed down to his stupid statue. This is when he had already taken them in.
It says Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, this is true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Do not you serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up. Now, if ye be ready,
that what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flue, harp, tuck-butt, psaltery, and dulcimer,
and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made. Well, but if ye
worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is
that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said
to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this manner. If it be so, our God
whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us
out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods,
nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury,
and a form of his vicious was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he
spake and commanded that they shall heat the furnace one seven times more than it was want
to be heated. And if you know the story, they got thrown into the fire, they survived it, the Lord
rescued them, and Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed. Once they came out, he wrote letters saying if
anybody says anything wrong against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he's going to
destroy them is what it came down to. And I can't imagine that people did not get saved from them
standing up and hearing that story and realizing that they were delivered from the fire. It's
coming from the king. It's coming from from credible sources. Imagine reading that or hearing
that, and you're like, this actually happened? You're like, oh, the Lord is the Lord, if you
were on the fence about it, that's what I'm thinking. People didn't get saved. And look,
I've never suffered this type of situation before, but you know what? Something like this kind of
happened to me when I was working. My first job that I got in Arizona, I applied at an
electronics store, and I put down that I cannot work Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and
Wednesday nights because I go to church. They still hired me. I even told them one when I was
going through the interview. I came down to Arizona to go to this church, to go to faith-forward
Baptist church. This is about 10 years ago. And you know what? I can't work these days,
but I'll work between services. I'll work in the other night. I'll close in every night. Give me
whatever skills you want, whatever skills you people don't want. I'll take it. You know what?
I just want to work, so they gave me the job. Well, later on, they ended up promoting me as
supervisor. Once again, I told them, look, it's going to be an issue because I got to go to church
on Sunday, Sunday evening. I also go to church on Wednesday evening. I want to take the job. I
really want to, I really like the job. It's going to pay me more, but I wouldn't want to take it.
Look, I'll bust my butt. You know, I'll do the best job possible. You know, I just want to make
sure that it's not a problem. Sure enough, they're like, well, let me go talk to the other
supervisors. Manager comes back saying it won't be a problem. You know, they say, you want to close?
All right, no problem. We don't want to close. If you want to close, we'll deal with you. You know,
we'll handle this. Not a big deal. Six months down the road, manager comes back and he says, hey,
we just got out of a meeting and the corporate bosses, they want everybody to work their
corporate schedule. I was supervisor number three, so guess what? My schedule consisted
of working Sunday all day. So he comes to me and says, look, I got a little bit of bad news. I'm
like, what's going on? Got out of a meeting. Corporate schedule says you need to work Sunday.
So I'm scheduling on Sunday. He didn't even ask me. He said, I'm going to start scheduling on
Sunday. I said, whoa, you know, slow down. We got a problem. And he said, can I talk to you in the
back? He's like, sure. So I don't want to talk, you know, among everybody else. Let's go talk in
the backstock. Go to the backstock. He's like, hey, when you hired me, when I got hired, I
physically said Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday night, I'm not available because of
church. I'll work any other hours. Even before you hired me as a supervisor, I told him, look,
Sunday morning, Sunday evening, I told you again, you said it's not going to be a problem.
Now that you're saying, hey, I have to work those days. Now we have a problem. And look, my, my
whole thing is I'll work anything. I'll close every night. I don't care. I'll work off the
clock. It doesn't matter. I'll get the job done. It doesn't bug me whatsoever. I'll talk to the
other troops. I'll work with them. I'm sure they'll be okay because I'll be closing every
night. Look, who wants to work till midnight? Nobody does. I'll close their days. I just need
one day. And that's Sunday for them to close for me. And I told him, look, I just cannot budge.
This is the situation. And he's like, well, it's already been set in stone. Can you do anything
about it? And I respectfully just said this, well, look, if that is the truth, if they force your
hand, then you know what, if that's what's going to happen, then it is what it is. Go ahead and
fire me. No hard feelings. Just go ahead and fire me. At that point, I had a wife. I had a car
payment. I had four kids and I didn't have a backup plan, but I told them, I'm not going to
come in. You schedule me. I am not going to come in. If they force your hand, I am not going to
come in. And then sure enough, another employee walks in wanting to talk to the manager and ends
up saying, look, just stand up over there. I'll get with you. I'm dealing with him right now.
So that employee stood over there. And then he's like, man, he's getting upset. It reminds me of
another condition. He's starting to get boiled up like, man, don't make me do this. He's like,
you know what? I'm not forcing you, but if they're forcing you, then you do what you have
to do. I'm not going to come in. I am not going to come in. I don't know what you want to do about
this right here, right now. He's like, well, I'm going to tell you, it's not going to change. It's
coming from corporate. They don't change anything. I'm like, well, do what you have to do. No hard
feelings. You need to terminate me. No hard feelings. I'll start looking for work today.
You know, let's just get it settled right now. Go talk to the main store manager. He was a
department manager. Do what you have to do. He's like, okay, fine. I'll go talk to him. He ends up
leaving. Sure enough, the other employee heard like 90 percent of it, and bottom line, realized
that this whole thing is about church. This person says, oh, wow, Chris, I didn't know you went to
church. He's like, I do. I'm a Baptist. I go to this church like five minutes away. He's like,
I go to church as well. What church do you go to? Well, I go to the Catholic church with my grandma.
And at that point, I figured, hey, I got nothing to lose. I'm about to get fired. Well, I just said,
well, you know what? More important than church. You know, if you're down right now, do you know
for sure you're going to heaven? And they looked at me like, whoa, that's a crazy question. It's
like, I don't know. It's like, you know what? I know we're working, but after work, since I'm
closing and you're with me, he's like, can I tell you what the Bible says about going to heaven?
Would that be okay? Sure. No problem. You know, and later on, they ended up getting saved. You
know, because I stood my ground. But going back to the story, comes back 15, 20 minutes later,
hey, we need to go see the manager. I'm like, okay, I guess this is it. I go up to the manager
and then sure enough, he's like, wait right here. So I'm waiting outside the manager's door.
He walks inside, closes the door. I don't know what they say. He ended up,
the manager ends up coming out really fast. He just busts out because he was busy,
busts out, starts walking. And he's like, well, good. I was walking. I started walking.
And he's like, well, what's going on? He's like, hey, and sure enough, it came up right away. You
know, the store manager, he got orders. He's like, hey, we got it all settled. Everybody's
working their corporate hours. What's going on? He's like, yeah, every, every supervisor's working
their corporate hours, except for one guy. He's like, who? It's Chris. He said, what's going on?
Chris, Chris can't work these hours. Why? Because he has church and everything. And the main store
manager simply said this, well, give him what he wants. So he tells him, give him what he wants.
He's like, what? He's like, yeah, I don't care. Give him what he wants. Why? Because I was a good
employee. Why? Because I was never late. Why? Because I even worked off the clock, even though
he knew about it. I didn't care. I just wanted to get the job done. Why? Because I was in charge of
the Mac department and never number one for six straight months because the Lord blessed my hard
work. When I didn't get the job done on my schedule, I said, forget it. I'm not saying to
do this. I'm just saying I did this because I didn't really care. At that point, the job
didn't pay that much. I'm like, whatever. I must still get the job done. I pretended like I clocked
in, went back, and I was off the clock, fixed things and go home. Sure enough, everything's
getting sold. The weekly reports come in saying, hey, you're number one again. You're number one
again. So I sacrificed time. But you know what? I was just thinking six days should I labor. So
why not? They gave me a 40-hour week. I'm like, look, I'm looking for a part-time job. Might as
well spend extra work just doing things off the clock. And I ended up doing that. And sure enough,
that paid off down the road. But the manager knew, hey, this guy's getting the job done.
Give him what he wants. And at that point, I just went with the other suits and said, look,
how about I work this and you work this so you guys can work my Sunday and I work the rest of
your days. So we figured that out. And that was the end of that. You know, that was the end of
that. But I kind of just say, you know what? I knew God was going to take care of me. I knew
one thing. I can't give this up. I'm not about to work Sundays after I just moved my family from
Northern California all the way down to Phoenix all to just compromise this quickly. And for me,
it was like, hey, I'm not slow to answer. I'm not careful to answer the department manager.
I'm going to tell you right now, I'm not coming in. Bottom line. You know, but this story is what
helped me to do that. This is what's going to help you as well to have the fear of the Lord. So you
don't fear men. It's just to continue in God's word and see how he does business. And I realized,
you know what? It is going to end. As soon as showing up, everything went down. I'm like, yeah,
I thought I was going to be fired. I called my wife, told her what happened. It's like, well,
it is what it is. But I can only imagine what would happen had I compromised. Who knows where
I'd be today. You know, but that's what we need to realize is that God obviously will take care of us
and do the best you can. Follow the Bible as best you can. And the Lord will help you
to have zero fear of men. And that's how he wants us to be very courageous. You know, if I didn't
tell you to go there, go there now. Deuteronomy 31. Or as a matter of fact, just go to Joshua
1-1. Just go to Joshua 1-1. And once again, I'm just going to remind us how God wants us to do
business. In Deuteronomy chapter number 31, I kind of tell people that's the good courage chapter
because it says that phrase good courage three times. So go ahead and go to Joshua 1-1. I'm just
going to reread Deuteronomy 31. You guys already read that with me. But just go to Joshua 1-1
where it says in Deuteronomy, be strong enough, good courage. And remember, the key thing is
fear not. Fear not. So how do you know if you're having good courage? Well, do you have fear in
your heart? You know, what I mean is, do you fear man? Are you afraid what that guy's going to do
if you're ringing no soliciting sign? You know, if you ring that doorbell, are you afraid of what
he's going to do to you? Then you know what? You're not of good courage. Just look at it and say,
you know what? I'm going to ring it no matter what because it is what it is. There's a chance
somebody's going to get saved. And if this person gets mad, I'm just going to say, all right, have
a good one and move on. Just ring that. Don't let it discourage you. Don't let it make your heart
melt, you know, when you're knocking doors. This is great. It's going to be awesome. Woo! You know,
nobody's getting saved. Get to that door or get to the apartment and you see that no soliciting.
It's like, oh man, you know, I don't know about this one. I do. Beaming. That's what I'm going to
do. You know, just ring it. I already said that. Every single no soliciting sign, beaming, beaming,
beaming, you know. And it's funny because Pastor Anderson, when we were doing the mega soul-winding
marathon, I'm not sure if you guys heard his testimony while he was doing announcements,
but you know, it was in a hard area. He was just ringing, ringing, ringing. Sure enough,
he rings the door with the no soliciting sign. You know, Pastor Anderson is that type of leader
that when things go bad, good leaders always try to find humor in a situation, you know, because
he doesn't want to show any fear because then guess what? The troops are going to start fearing.
He doesn't want to break down because the troops are going to break down. So of course, when he
shows some courage, the troops are going to continue to show courage. So he rings that door
bell. Lady comes out mad. Can't you read the sign? So Pastor obviously turned it into like a humor
situation. He's like, I did. It says, God bless America. I figured you want me to ring, you know.
And sure enough, not that one. That one. The no soliciting, you know. So he's like, yeah, that's
all right. But then Pastor goes to try to give her the gospel. Doesn't want to hear it. That's
how you do business. Just move on to the next one. You know, don't let these people discourage you.
Obviously, they're being influenced by Satan, you know. But Deuteronomy, remember, good courage.
What comes next? Fear not. And he says it again, nor be afraid. You think it's a coincidence?
That's not a typo. That's God telling you what he wants you to have when it comes to having good
courage. And that's no fear. No fear, man. Deuteronomy 31 23. See, it first started out by,
you know, Moses talking to the entire country saying, hey, let's say the Lord be strong enough
good courage. And then he takes Joshua aside to make sure he understands, hey, this is what God
wants to do. He says, and he gave Joshua, the son of Nun. This is Moses in verse number 23. And he
gave Joshua, the son of Nun, a charge and said, be strong enough to give courage. And Casey,
he was nervous that maybe Joshua didn't hear him. Maybe he got distracted when he's talking to the
nation. Hey, be strong enough, good courage. Then he takes Joshua and make sure he understands,
hey, God wants you to be strong enough, good courage for thou shall bring the children of
Israel into the land, which I swear unto them. And I will be with thee. So let's see what happens.
You're right there in Joshua 1 1. So this is Moses taking him saying, look, I'm not going to
go to the promised land because I'm messed up. And that's another story. But he's telling him,
let's say the Lord be strong enough, good courage. The Lord's going to help you against your enemies.
And then he takes Joshua aside and says, look, be strong enough, good courage. In case you didn't
hear me, I want to make sure you understand me. Be strong enough, good courage. And he tells
him really quickly that he's going to take them into the promised land. So now what do we see?
It says now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord,
now God himself, because it was such an important topic. Now the Lord, God himself, the Lord spake
unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister. You would think it would be enough that he told the
whole nation and probably Joshua heard it. You would think it would be enough that Joshua went
one-on-one or Moses went one-on-one to Joshua to tell him, be strong, be of good courage.
You think that would be enough and that would be it. God doesn't need to jump in anymore.
But then Joshua, you know, specifically gets visited by God. Now God personally is talking
to him because it's what he wants us to be in 2019 of good courage. This isn't just a story
for you to read and we're like, wow, God really wanted him to be courageous. No, it's for us,
it's for our children as well. And he says this, the Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun.
Verse number two, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan,
and all these people unto the land which I do give to them, even to the throne of Israel,
every place of the sole of your foot shall tread upon that have I've given unto you. As I said
unto Moses from the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates,
all the land of the Hittites, and not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.
That's how it was moving, so it will be with thee. I will not fail thee not for safety.
Verse number six, be strong and of good courage. Front of this people should not
divide from the inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them.
And then he says that again, only be thou strong and very courageous. In case he didn't figure
out what he meant by good, he meant very magnificent, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
type courage is what I want you to have Joshua. This is what the Lord's telling them. And it's
great you're going out sowing in, you know, but God wants you to go out with a sowing in of like,
hey, I'm going out there to conquer for the Lord. I'm going out there to do the Lord's work. And I
don't care who comes at me today. Hey, I'm going to show no fear. I'm just going to fear the Lord.
I'm doing this for the Lord. That's the attitude that God wants us to have, an attitude of good
courage. And it says there be very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all
the law, which most of my sermon commanded thee. Look at verse number eight, this book of the law.
So he's like, how are you going to get this courage? This book of the law shall not depart
out of thy mouth, but thou shall meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do
according to all that is written therein. For then thou shall make thy way prosperous,
and then thou shall have good success. And look at this, have I or have not I commanded thee.
So it's not saying, look, if you can't be courageous, be very courageous. Be of good
courage Joshua. No, he says, look, I commanded thee, be strong and of a good courage. And what's
the next three words? Be not afraid. Be not afraid. He's going to command you to be not afraid. And
guess what he's commanding us today in 2019 as well. This is for us. It ain't just for him.
This is for us. And he says this, be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid. Neither be thou
dismayed. What does it mean to be dismayed? It means to lose courage, to become fearful is what
he's saying. So he's saying it, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid for the Lord thy God is with thee
whithersoever that goes. If you remember that, and that's what was in my mind in Mexico. You know
what? This is the work of the Lord. I don't know where this guy's taking us. If it's in bad bush
and we're dead, then so be it. It's kind of what I was thinking in my head. Honestly, I was thinking
that. I'm like, so what? Every time we're doing the work of the Lord, who cares, man? But I'm
ready to run this guy over if I have to. And hopefully we don't have to get to that point.
I'm going down with it swinging, man. If this guy ends up coming out, pulling his gun, I'm running
him over. I'm going to kill somebody. Anyway, that's the whole story. That wasn't in my head.
I was just thinking plan B will run people over and try to get the heck out of Mexico.
All right. We're not going down. You know, I'm thinking in my head, take the guy's gun. You know,
I'm trying to get out of there. I don't know. I'm just thinking all kinds of crazy stuff. Because
I'm like, look, I'm not afraid, but I'm going to come up with a backup plan. If this is it,
if he's trying to kill us, because I've heard crazy stories where they kidnap you and they take
your kids and this other kid. All kinds of crazy stuff was going in my head. But one thing that
wasn't, you know, going in my head is like, hey, being afraid to die. And I'm like, hey, if this
is it, this is it. You know? But go back to Theuteronomy 31.6. I'll give you time to go there.
So here's what we got. We got God telling Joshua, be good courage, have good courage,
be not afraid, be very courageous. And then what does Joshua go around and does once they fight a
few battles in Joshua 10? He reminds the people. Because I don't know how much time went from
chapter number one all the way to Joshua number 10. But this is something that Joshua ends up
bringing up again. Because we need to hear it here and there. You know, if you hear this message
once a month, you know, great. Once every six months, great. Once a year, great. You know,
just a reminder to be very courageous. Because it's not a coincidence that we're in chapter
number one. But in chapter number 10, Joshua's talking to the people. And this is what he says.
You guys are there in Theuteronomy 31.6. Just follow along. This is what he says in 10.25,
Joshua 10.25. And Joshua said unto them, fear not, nor be dismayed. Be strong and of a good
courage. We need that reminder once in a while. Be of good courage. Be of good courage. You know,
that's what we all need here and there. It's not a coincidence that in chapter one, God tells him
this. And in chapter number 10, Joshua's telling it to them. Because we need this reminder from
time to time. It's great that you have courage. But remember, what kind of courage should we have?
We should be very courageous. Good courage. That's a key thing. And that's what God wants us to do.
The Theuteronomy 31.6 right there, another reminder. Be strong, good courage. Fear not,
nor be afraid. Joshua 1.9. Be of good courage. Be not afraid. If you can't go ahead and go to
1 Chronicles 22.6, I'll give you some time to get there. 1 Chronicles 22.6. You know, and this is
something that we need to constantly remind ourselves of, but also remind our children.
You know, if it's one of the last things I get to say to my children before I die,
if I get to be 89 years old and I kind of can tell that, hey, you know what? I'm about to go.
It's time for me to just, you know, die. It's just old age. It's just life. It is what it is.
I'm about to leave this world. You know what? What I'm thinking of doing is doing exactly what
David did to Solomon right before he died. And what was one of the last things that he told
Solomon to do? Let's take a look right there in 1 Chronicles 22.6. Just to see this is such an
important thing to just remember, not just to be courageous, but to be very courageous. They have
good courage. 1 Chronicles 22.6. This is David talking to Solomon right before he's about to die
and look at what he ends up saying to him right before he goes. Then he called for Solomon his
son and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. And David said to Solomon,
my son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God.
But the word of the Lord came to me saying, Thou shed blood abundantly, has made great wars. Thou
shall not build a house unto my name because thou has shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.
Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest, and I will give him rest from
all his enemies round about, for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto
Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name, and he shall be my son, and I will be
his father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. Now, my son,
the Lord be with thee and prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God, as he has said to
thee. Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning
Israel, that thou mayst keep the law of the Lord thy God. Then shall thou prosper, if thou takest
he to fulfill the statutes and judgments the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel. And what did
Moses, you know, charge the people? Be strong and of good courage. And once again, he's telling them
what that means, dread not. Simply put, don't be afraid. And he says it again, nor be dismayed.
Twice in a row, he's saying, hey, remember what God, remember what Moses told the throne of Israel,
be strong and of good courage, dread not, nor be dismayed. Saying, look, this is how I want you
to be when I'm gone. I want you to have a lot of courage when you serve the Lord. Don't lose
courage. He says right there, don't be dismayed, don't lose courage. Go to Matthew 14 21, please,
Matthew 14 21. So now we know that God wants us to be very courageous. Maybe you thought, well,
you know what, God wants us to be courage. That's a big duh. But of course, when it comes to courage,
God wants us to have good courage, to be very courageous. And how do you know if you're very
courageous? How do you know if you have good courage? Well, ask yourself, am I fearful?
You know, I'm afraid of what they can do unto me. Then you don't have good courage. Let's just be
serious. You know, when you ring that no soliciting sign, you know, then hopefully you're ringing,
knowing that that's the right thing to do is try to get this individual safe. I mean, if they get
annoyed, then go ahead and tell them, hey, you know what, have a great day and just move on.
You know, but at the end of the day, if you don't ring that doorbell, hopefully it's not,
you know, because you're fearing what can happen to you. Maybe it's because it's time to go or
whatever, you know, but let's just remember that. But one key area that God wants us to have good
courage in, simply put, is preaching, is preaching. Hopefully you're there in Matthew.
You know, let me remind you what the Lord Jesus Christ told the apostles,
told his disciples, I don't know how he wanted them to be, especially when he came to preach it.
Matthew 10 24 says this, that disciples not above his master know the servant about his Lord.
It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and his servant as his Lord,
and they have called the master of the house Beelzebub. How much more shall they call them
of his household? Fear them not. So Jesus is saying, hey, fear them not therefore,
for there is nothing covered that should not be revealed and hid, that shall not be known.
What I tell you in darkness, that speak in light, and what you hear in the air,
that preachy upon the housetops. Notice it says preachy upon the housetops. What I'm telling you,
I want you to preach it, and look what it says next, and fear not them. It says, look,
I want you to preach, and I don't want you to preach with fear, I want you to preach,
and don't fear them. Don't fear the people that you're going to preach to. He says simply this,
and fear them not which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him,
which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Go ahead and go to Jeremiah 1 4,
if you can't go to Jeremiah 1 4. So this is just the Lord Jesus Christ talking to his disciples,
his apostles saying, hey, go preach what I tell you in darkness, go preach it, preach it, preach
it, and then he simply follows that up by saying, hey, fear them not. Don't be afraid of them,
but this is something that happened also in the Old Testament. This is a lesson from the
Old Testament. If you're there in Jeremiah chapter number 1, I'll just start reading.
Jeremiah chapter number 1 says this, then the word of the Lord came unto me saying,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and before that I came as forth out of the womb.
I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet. What's a prophet? Somebody that preaches. Somebody
preaches God's word. A prophet unto the nations. Then say, aye, O Lord, behold, I cannot speak,
for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, say not I am a child, for thou shall go to all that
I shall send thee, and whatsoever command thee, thou shall speak. That's similar to what he told
the apostles. Go and speak. Go speak upon the house tops, what I tell you in darkness, you know,
say it in the light. But look at verse number 8. He follows it up by saying this, the Lord is
speaking to Joshua. Be not afraid of their faces. Be not afraid, for I am with thee to deliver thee,
saith the Lord. Once again, how are we going to have this type of courage? By remembering the
Lord is with us. He's with us. But he tells him, look, I want you to go speak. I want you to go
preach. I ordained thee a prophet, Jeremiah, and I want you to go out there, and I want you to speak,
and be not afraid of their faces. Go to Hebrews 4 16. I'll just read from Jeremiah 1 17. Go ahead
and go to Hebrews 4 16. This Jeremiah is saying, therefore, gird up thy loins and arise and speak
unto them all that I command thee. Be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
That's similar to what he said over here in Jeremiah chapter number 1. You know, verse number
8 says, be not afraid of their faces. You know, skip down to verse 17. He says, hey, go speak
unto them everything I command you. He says, and don't be dismayed. Don't lose courage when you do
that. Don't lose courage at their faces. If you do, hey, I'm basically going to confound you. I'm
going to embarrass you is what he's telling Jeremiah. But if you're right there in Hebrews
4 16, the second thing that I believe God wants us to have courage when we do it, the first one
was preaching his word. The second thing is praying. Look right there in Hebrews. It says
this, let us therefore come boldly. What does it mean to be bold? It means to have courage.
It says, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. If you have your Bibles, go to Daniel chapter number 6. One of my
favorite chapters, Daniel chapter number 6. But what do we see in Hebrews? God says, hey, come to me,
but I want you to come up with my boldness, believing that I can do the things that you
want me to do. Don't just come to me afraid that I may not be able to do something. Is anything too
hard for the Lord? So God says, hey, come to his throne boldly that you may attain help, grace,
mercy, and your time of need. We need to come to God believing, come with him with boldness,
coming with him knowing that he can't get things done. James 1 5 says this, you guys are going to
Daniel 6. I'm going to read from James 1 says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God to give
it to all men liberally and afraid if not, and this shall be given him. But the key thing is let
him ask in faith, nothing wavering, nothing wavering. David, when he attacked life, he wasn't
wavering at all. He knew he was going to kill him. He says, hey, he's going to deliver you into my
hands. Just like he did a bear on the line in the past. Hey, you're done. That's why he ran up to
him. He didn't just start walking towards him. In haste, quickly, he ran towards the Philistine.
He ended up killing him and that's what ended up happening. He believed in the Lord. Same thing,
you know, the greatest way you can pray is like, Lord, I know you can do this, but if not,
hey, let your will be done. That's what Chadrick and Chadrick Michigan have been and told never
can answer. He is able to deliver us, but if he doesn't, so what? We're not going to worship your
idol. We're not going to do it. You know, it's like, hey, he can't. And that's the thing. God
could have delivered us from those, those, the Mexican federales, you know, but I was thinking
about it. If not, then it is what it is. If we go down, we go down, you know, you're kidnapped,
we get kidnapped, whatever, whatever the case, you know, but you guys are right there. And Daniel,
one of my favorite stories, this is a scary situation. Just kind of catch you up. This is
where they trick the king into making the law that says nobody's allowed to pray except to whoever
the king wants to. And then sure enough, if you break the rules, you're going to end up being
thrown into the lions den. But when Daniel heard that, look right there in verse number 10,
it says, now when Daniel, Daniel 6 10, now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went
into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber towards Jerusalem. He kneeled upon
his knees three times a day and prayed and kept thanks before his God as he did a four time. He
wasn't afraid to pray. He knew what would happen. He knew that he was facing the lions den, but he
did it anyways. Why? Because he showed good courage. He was very courageous. And he got on
his knees three times a day. He could have just switched it to one time a day early in the morning
where nobody could see him. But he did it three times a day, morning, night, and noon,
because he wanted to show the Lord, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of these people.
I'm going to continue to pray to you and whatever happens, happens. And same thing,
he got thrown into the lions den, was delivered. And after he was delivered, the king wrote a
letter that nobody talks bad about the God of Daniel. And I'm pretty sure that people realized
what had happened, a miracle, and maybe they stopped believing in their false God and they
put their faith in the God of Daniel. And that's what ended up happening because one person had
good courage, showed that he was very courageous and continued to do, even though it was against
the law, he continued to do what was right in the Bible. And that's to pray to the Lord,
you know, God and Him only. The Bible says in John 14, 14, if you have your Bible, go to Deuteronomy
14, 22. And John 14, 14 says, if you shall ask anything in my name, he says, I will do it. But
there is a catch. If you love me, keep my commandments. That's why it's important to
read the Bible. How are you going to know these commandments if you're not reading the Bible?
But that first part should just settle it for you. If you shall ask anything in my name,
I will do it. God, you can deliver me from these federalities, but if not, then it is what it is,
you know. That's just how we look at things. Lord, I know that you can change my boss's heart.
If you want me to get fired, then I'll get fired. It is what it is. But I did my best. I did my best
as much as possible to be at peace with my manager and make things happen. I told him from the get go
that I can't work these days. I told him when he hired me as a supervisor, I can't work these
days. They agreed. Now they're coming at me saying, hey, we need you to work these days.
And I said, I cannot agree with this. I just cannot. You need to fire me, fire me. I'm not
going to quit and I'm not going to hold any grudges. But if they force your hand and that's
what I got to do is lose my job and go find something else, then I believe the Lord is going
to take care of me. Because if I didn't really believe it, I would have backed out like, okay,
all right, I'll go to Sundays and I'll start looking for a job in the meantime. It wasn't
going to happen. It just wasn't going to happen. And I didn't have a big savings account either.
I didn't have like 10 grand or 15 grand. I didn't have a backup plan. This came out of nowhere. Hit
me out of nowhere. And I'm not saying that it's at the level of these guys. Shout out to me as
you're going to Bendigo, but you know what is going to happen to you too, if it hasn't already.
So this whole sermon is to help you. It may not help you today. It may not help you tomorrow,
but it's going to help you down the road to just exercise some good courage. Amen.
So I'll just end up flying through these. So the first thing that I just brought up
was preaching. God wants us to be very courageous when it comes to our preaching,
when it comes to our praying. Obviously there's other things that God wants us to be courageous
as husbands. He wants to be courageous as far as leading our family. Not just that,
leading our wives, our children. Obviously our children are going to get to the age where they
think they know better than you, but you still got to exercise discipline. I just got an email
from somebody saying, Hey, I just got saved with my kids. You know what? They're teenagers already.
They don't listen to me. What do I do? Make them listen to what I told them.
He said, we live in an apartment. You know what? They know that if they complain or make too much
noise, they can kick us out. So I don't know. I'm afraid to put my foot down because they may end up
getting upset and start yelling or whatever. I said, put your foot down anyways. Now put it down
and if they kick you out of your apartment, hopefully your kids are not that wicked,
where they're going to fight you back. But I just said, okay, worst case scenario,
you take your kid's Xbox because he's not listening to you. He won't clean his room.
He won't do his homework. And he gets up and he wants to fist fight you. I be like, you know what?
Forget that. Since I'm not allowed to do what the Old Testament says I can do to you. Then I just
call the cops and say, look, he assaulted me. I want him out of my house. Get him out of my house.
Hopefully a night in jail will wake his butt up. And if it does, then I'll drop the charges. If
not, then you know what? It is what it is. You know, this kid needs to be woken up if that's
what it comes down to. But if you're raising up your kids now, I don't think you're running to
that situation. And I told him, look, it's going to be hard. You're in a tough situation. But
if I were you, that's what I would do. You know, because you have to just by faith believe what it
says in the Bible. God will be on your side. And Pastor Anderson says, hey, I don't care
if my kids are in their 20s. I'm going to spank them if they get a lot. And as long as they're
under my roof, it's my rules. And they don't want to listen. I'm going to whip them even though
they're 20, 25, 26. It's like, who does that? Somebody that fears the word and believes in the
word, amen. You know, but obviously those are other things God wants us to be bold in.
But for the sake of time, I'm 46 minutes into it. Let's just talk about how we can increase
our faith. One is reading God's word. Bottom line. Why? Because it's going to increase your
fear of the Lord. Let me just quickly, well, I don't have time to read it all, but I just
read the Romans 17. Simply as this, and it shall be when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom,
it's talking about a king, that he shall write him a copy of this law, talking about the Bible,
in the book of that which is before the priests and Levites. And it shall be with him and he shall
read therein all, not some, not most of the days, all the days of his life that he may learn to
fear the Lord. And when you're fearing the Lord, you can't fear a man. You can't have both. You
can't be afraid of both. It's either one or the other. So when you're reading the word, it says,
look, if you read the word every day, you're going to fear the Lord. And when you fear the Lord,
you don't care what this guy can do to you. He's like, you know what God can do to me?
Leprosy. I mean, all kinds of crazy stuff. It's like, forget that. You can do nothing to me.
You know, it's like ringing the doorbell. Oh, to knock you out. So what? Knock me out. You know,
but God wants me to preach the gospel to every creature. You know, and that shouldn't discourage
you. It didn't discourage your wife, but you got yelled at, you know, and who knows Paul
Wittenberger, Paul Wittenberger, director of a movie. So I remember the first time he went
solo when he was with me, you know, almost eight years ago, man, he must've been like
being tested by God. The first guy, I mean, the first bell rings and bing, bing, you know,
I'm a silent partner. A guy comes out and he starts yelling at him. He says, da da da da da da
da da da da. Like using all bad words. I'm going to punch you in your face if you don't get the
F out of my property. And Paul's like, what? He's just like, what? You know, he's like, yeah,
no, no. You know, that's how the guy was. He's like, let's go, Paul. I'm laughing. Like,
let's go get off my property right now. And he was serious. If Paul would have stood there a few
more seconds, this guy would have jumped on him. He was crazy. You know, but guess what? I exercised
some good courage and kept knocking doors that didn't discourage him. He kept going, didn't break
him. And he ended up making a few more documentaries after that. And he's now in our church.
Amen. He didn't quit because he had the fear of God. He knew what would happen if he quit on God.
His life would just be destroyed. So he just kept doing what he's doing. It didn't discourage him
at all. I thought he was going to quit and never come back, but it didn't, you know, so it's not
much I'm good at judging character, you know, but there you go. Reading God's word, because this is
a story of where Moses says, I know you guys are going to rebel. You're going to want a king,
but you know what? Here's what you need to do. Make him write the Bible by hand, by hand. Make
him read it every day that he may learn to fear the Lord so he doesn't get puffed up and all
praise him and thinks he's better than everybody else. Hey, if he does that, that's what's going
to happen. You have a good king. That's why these things weren't bad because they didn't have the
word of God. They didn't write it. They didn't read it every day. And it became prideful and
whatever. And it started worse than devils, et cetera, et cetera, but not just reading God's word.
Why don't we read God's word so we can find something good to meditate on. That's what it
says right there in Joshua 1 7, only be that strong and very courageous. How? That thou mayest
observe that and observe everything that God has commanded you. This book of the law. This is God
talking to Joshua, by the way, telling him this. So I'm just telling you what Joshua was told by
God. And think about it. This is a message from God. This book of the law shall not depart out of
their mouth. Sometimes we think like, who said that? Moses? No, this is God telling him. This
book shall not depart out of your mouth and you'll meditate day and night. So that's going to help
you as well to have good courage is to have God's word, looking at it, busting it out maybe once or
twice or whatever it is that you're doing to memorize the scripture. Because the Bible says
that his word or David said that word have hit him hard that it might not sin against thee.
It doesn't say that it will not, it says that it might not. So of course the more you meditate,
the higher chance you're not going to sin against God. But that's one way, reading this word,
meditating on this word, listening to preaching. Faith comes right here and being brought to God.
Faith is going to do what? It's going to help you to have courage. And courage is going to do what?
Help you to overcome fear. So that's why you need to also hear the word. And I recommend listening
to Pastor Jimenez. I recommend listening to all these guys that are on our side. Bottom line is
your faith needs to increase. And if your faith increases, your courage will increase and your
courage will help you to overcome fear. You know, pray for boldness. That's an easy one.
And now Lord behold their threatening, grant unto thy servants that with all
boldness they may speak thy word. This is Peter in the book of Acts 8. Give us boldness, Lord.
So reading God's word is not enough. If it was, they wouldn't have prayed for boldness.
Meditating on God's word is not enough. It says right here, if it was, this verse wouldn't be in
there. He says, Lord, give us boldness, give us boldness. Pray for the Holy Ghost. When you're
filled with the Holy Ghost, you're going to have boldness. And it says right here in Luke 11,
if ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how's much more so your
keyword, Heavenly Father, he's talking to believers. Heavenly Father, because we're not
all true unto God, we're true unto God by faith in Christ Jesus. So when it's saying your Heavenly
Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Sometimes you're like, man, how come I'm such
a scaredy cat? Well, ask for boldness, you know, ask for the Spirit and it'll give it to you.
And also purify yourself, clean up your life. Hey, this is a famous verse, Proverbs 28, 1,
the wicked flee when no man pursueth, right? It says, but the righteous are as bold as a what?
Lion. Righteous, keep saying righteous, meaning that you're a righteous person, you're a godly
person. You know, say what make you a scaredy cat, you can say, but guess what? Reading the
Word, maintaining God's Word, asking for the Holy Spirit, you know, asking for boldness, that's
great, but hey, we got to clean up our lives. The Bible says if you have iniquity in your heart,
the Lord will not hear you. So then He can give you boldness, He can give you the Holy Ghost,
so you have to do your best to clean up your life. Whatever it is, we should be cleaning our
lives and it's not something that happens just once, it's just a continual cleaning through
God's Word, just meditating, getting rid of sin, repenting of stuff, that's going to help you to
have good courage. Amen? And at the end of it all, it's simply this, look, a lot of people wish that
they were, you know, a certain individual, either the pastor or the deacon or whatever, wish I was
this guy, that guy, whatever the case may be. You know what, not everybody can be those individuals,
but everyone can be very courageous, everyone can do that. From a little child, because David,
he wasn't an old man when he killed Goliath, he was a young man when he killed Goliath. You know,
he was filled with boldness. Of course, we know Moses, he was filled with a lot of courage,
but he was in his 80s. And then sure enough, you have Joshua. Joshua was not a young man,
he wasn't an old man, he was in the middle, but yet he showed good courage, he obeyed this Word
until he died. In the nation, it went well with them and his husbands, wives, everybody,
all of us, we need to exercise good courage and realize that, that, hey, this is the standard,
good courage. You know, and you realize that, hey, which one of these definitions is the one
that's right? Well, the one that says without fear, that's the one that's right, because that
matches Scripture. The other ones are good, but the best one that says, hey, being able to overcome
difficult situations, dangerous situations without fear, because that's what you see,
have good courage, be not afraid. Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you so much for all that you've
done, thank you for these people, thank you for these children. Lord, I know that these children
are going to grow up in a more dangerous world, in a more fearful world, you can say, but I ask you,
their fathers, just help them to pray, help them to get right, help them to read their Bible every
single day, help them to memorize their Scripture there, Lord, you know, help them to pray for
boldness, help them to clean up their lives so that we can have good courage, so we can obey
that commandment, because you didn't just suggest that it is a commandment, you commanded us to be
of good courage and to fear not, and I ask you to do all these things in the name of your Son,
Jesus Christ. Amen.