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Okay?
He wants us to expect provision.
He wants us to expect the blessing
because of the fact that that means
we have faith in His word
that what He says is true.
But you know,
Christians can often fear the consequences
of being open about their faith too.
Sometimes Christians are afraid
to share their faith
or talk about their Christians
whether to their family,
to their friends.
You know,
they could be afraid to say
they go to First Works Baptist Church.
You know,
they listen to Pastor Bruce Mejia
or they're part of the new IFB.
They can fear that
because of the repercussions
that can come with that.
Look at John chapter 9 verse 18.
But the Jews did not believe concerning him
that he had been blind.
This is referring to the blind man
that was given sight
and received his sight
until they called the parents of him
that had received his sight
and they asked them saying,
Is this your son
who ye say was born blind?
How then does he now see?
His parents answered them and said,
We know that this is our son
and that he was born blind.
But by what means he now seeth?
We know not.
Or who hath opened his eyes?
We know not.
He is of age.
Ask him.
He shall speak for himself.
Now let me just tell you.
They knew.
He said,
Well, he's old enough.
Let him speak for himself.
They're asking you.
These words spake his parents
because they feared the Jews.
For the Jews had agreed already
that if any did not confess
that he was Christ,
he should be put out of the synagogue.
So they didn't want to give a clear answer
because they were afraid of being
put out of the synagogue
even though Jesus Christ
fixed their son.
Okay?
Go to John chapter 12.
John chapter 12.
You know,
fear can cause you
to not be open about your faith,
not be open about the gospel,
not be open about what church you go to.
Fear can cause you to do that
because you're afraid of what people
might think of you.
Right?
It's like,
Well, what are people going to think
if they know that I'm a Baptist?
Or what are people going to think
if they know I go to a new IFP church?
Or what are people going to think
if I believe in the reprobate doctrine
or something?
What are people going to think of me?
Well, they're going to think the same thing
they think about you
before they knew that you believe
the reprobate doctrine
because they characterize Christians
all the same.
And God forbid that they would think
that you believe the Bible.
God forbid,
if someone were to pass judgment on you
and say,
Oh, he believes the Bible.
You know,
you should be proud of the fact
or should I say grateful of the fact
that people characterize you
as being a Bible believing Christian.
It's an embarrassment
when people are embarrassed of the Bible.
When people are ashamed of the Bible,
that's an embarrassment.
Look at John 12 verse 42 says,
Nevertheless, among the chief rulers
also many believed on him,
but because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him,
lest they should be put out of the synagogue,
for they love the praise of men
more than the praise of God,
the Bible says.
So apparently there's many Pharisees
they got saved,
but because they're afraid
of the other Pharisees,
because they're afraid
of being put out of the synagogue,
they didn't want to say anything
because they love the praise of the Pharisees
more than they love the praise of God.
They're cowards basically.
Okay.
The Bible tells us that God
did not give us a spirit of fear,
but of power,
love,
and a sound mind.
Be not afraid of sudden fear.
Romans 8 14 says, 15, excuse me,
it says,
For you have not received
a spirit of bondage again to fear,
but ye have received
a spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry,
Abba, Father.
Go with me to Psalm chapter three,
Psalm chapter three.
What's the sermon this morning?
Stop being afraid.
Stop fearing.
Stop being a fearful person.
Stop being a fearful Christian.
Start exercising more faith.
Start being bold in your faith.
Stop worrying about the state of our nation.
And let me just say this,
it's only going to get worse.
Well, not if a Republican gets in office.
It's only going to get worse
because you know what?
The Antichrist might be a Republican.
Then what?
Then what are you going to do?
I mean, think about that.
Okay.
You're like,
Oh, man, it's just all this stuff is crazy.
Well, I'm going to give you some principles
this morning regarding fear.
Okay.
Because, you know,
first of all,
fear obviously is sinful.
Sinful.
It's a sin to fear.
It's a sin to be afraid.
But secondly,
it just hinders Christians
from just being obedient to God's word
when they become fearful.
So let me give you a couple of principles here.
Number one,
stop listening to fear mongers.
Stop listening to fear mongers.
And what I'm going to say right now,
it's going to make a lot of people mad,
I don't care.
I do this because, you know,
you need to hear the truth.
And I'm not saying this just to offend you
or to be cantankerous with you.
I'm doing this for your spiritual benefit.
I'm not a politician.
I'm a pastor.
Amen.
Some of you need to wake up and realize
that a lot of the freedom fighters
you like listening to
are doing more harm than good.
More harm than good to your walk with God.
You know, some of these podcasts you listen to,
some of these YouTubers you like to listen to,
they're doing more harm than good.
But they're exposing the left agenda.
Well, by doing that,
they're causing fear in your heart.
And I guarantee you,
you probably listen more to those freedom fighters
than you actually listen to the Bible being preached
or the word of God being read.
Oh, the pin can drop now.
Stop listening to fear mongers.
Be like, well, I just got to stay up to date
on what's going on with the left.
Why?
It's homos?
That's pretty much it.
It's homos and Joe Biden.
And it's like, well, I got to know
what they're going to do with the economy.
Why?
Why do you have to know?
Why?
Well, just because I want to know.
Why, though?
It's only going to cause...
You can't change it.
So why know about it?
Are you saying that ignorance is bliss?
When it comes to that, it is.
And you know what?
I'd rather be ignorant of what the left agenda is.
And you know what?
I'd rather be ignorant of what the left is doing
to be ignorant of God's word.
See, I want to be like the sons of Issachar
that had understanding of the times.
And let me just say, the sons of Issachar
were not listening to a bunch of freedom fighters
getting all their information from them.
They knew what the word of God said.
And you know what?
A lot of people, especially right wingers
or libertarians or whatever you want to call it,
you know, a lot of these people,
I get where they're coming from.
I know that they have a pure motive
and they want to expose evil
and they believe a lot of what we believe,
but at the end of the day,
they actually cause more fear in the hearts
of God's people than anything else.
That's what the Bible tells us
to be simple concerning evil.
You know what simple means?
Stupid.
It means you should be simple minded
regarding the evil because God doesn't want us
to just investigate evil all the time.
Well, I just got to know every single conspiracy
and what they're doing and adrenochrome
and all this stuff and I just need to know these things.
Why though?
You can't fix any of it.
Now, don't get me wrong.
They make for good memes.
Make for really good memes.
I have a doctorate in memeistry.
I love putting out memes.
But here's the thing.
You know, you can't go too deep though
because after a while it begins to grip your heart
and that's all you think about.
And don't tell me that's all you think about.
You say, well, how do you know?
Because out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth is speaking.
And you know, when you come to church
and that's all that's coming out of your mouth,
you know what you're telling me?
You're afraid.
You're fearful.
You're scared.
Stop listening to fear mongers.
And let me just say this.
Those of you in church, stop fear mongering.
Stop talking about the gas prices.
We all can see the signs.
Stop sending pictures of empty food shelves.
Because there's not a single one of us in here
that is gone without food.
Not a single one of us.
I mean, we're having pizza tonight.
Porky's pizza tonight.
So once you have Porky's pizza tonight,
don't start sharing pictures tomorrow
of empty grocery stores.
You just ate pizza.
Stop with the fear mongering.
Amen.
You know, look folks,
we have to behave like we're living in Goshen.
And you know, there's nothing wrong with every once in a while
just talking about, yeah, you know, you hear what's going on.
It's crazy, huh?
Well, good thing we're Christians, though.
That's what I like to say.
Anytime people talk about gas prices
and food shortage and all this nonsense that's going on,
what I say is like, man, good thing we're saved.
That's right.
It's a good thing we're saved.
But you know, some people, they don't want to hear that part
because for some reason people are attracted to fear
and they're attracted to other people who fear, too.
So they like getting with their little groups of fearful weenies
and just talk about all the evil that's going on
so they can just be afraid together.
They won't admit that, but that's what it is, folks.
The Bible says in Psalm 3, verse 1,
Lord, how are they increased that trouble me?
Many are they that rise up against me.
Many there be which say of my soul,
there is no help for him in God.
Selah.
Now, this is referring to wicked people,
but you know what?
Sometimes you could apply this to even Christians who fear monger.
There's no hope for this country.
And you know what?
For the United States of America as a whole,
there is no hope, but there is hope for the people within America.
There's hope for the Christians in America, folks.
Verse 3, but thou, O Lord, are a shield for me,
my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
Stop hanging your head low, worried about and depressed about
everything that's going on in this world.
Lift up your head for your redemption, draw nigh.
God is the lifter up of our head.
We have so much to be thankful for.
We have food in our stomachs.
Everyone in here practically has a suit on.
We're not worried about raiment.
You got here, so obviously there's gas in your car.
You're like, I don't know about tomorrow.
Revisit the beginning of the sermon.
Sufficient unto the days the evil thereof.
And look, folks, let me just say this.
If you're ever struggling to that point, just come talk to me.
I'll help you out.
I'll go without so you can have some.
But I guarantee you it's not even going to get to that point.
Why? Because God doesn't just take care of one person
and God's family takes care of everyone.
He'll take care of your finances.
He'll take care of your needs.
He will take care of you as long as you're seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
And again, I get where people are coming from.
You know, the left pisses me off too.
It angers me of some of the stuff that they're doing.
Want to expose children to all the filth and the garbage and the sodomy.
I get that.
But you know what? I can't constantly watch that and think about it
because it'll just make me more angry.
And I don't want to live my life angry.
And you know what happens?
Anger often delves into fear as well.
Okay.
Look at chapter 4, verse 6.
There are many that say, who will show us any good?
Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
Thou hast put gladness in my heart more in the time that their corn and their wine increase.
He's saying, look, there's people who have it good, they have good resources,
their wine and their corn has increased.
I have more happiness than they do.
And you know what?
If you're saved today and you're in this church and you're walking with God,
you have more access to more joy than the person with the yacht and the helipad.
That's fact.
Because the dude with the yacht and the helipad is stressed out about his yacht and his helipad.
I guarantee you that.
I will lay me down and I will both lay me down in peace and sleep
for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety, he says.
He says, I'm safe.
God's hand is upon me.
I know that God's blessing me.
I know that God's favoring me.
So I'm not going to worry about what is going to take place in this world.
I'm not going to worry about the ills and the economy or anything that takes place.
Who will show us any good?
I'll tell you who.
God.
God will show us good.
And look, you know who's notorious for fear mongering?
Is Republican Christians who are leaving California and going to other states.
Or those who have already left.
You're in California?
Oh man, we left like five years ago.
It's so great here in Texas.
Texas sucks.
And let me just let you know.
You know why Texas sucks?
Because it's the only state that actually evicts churches.
How about that?
All that freedom.
Oh, it's so free over there.
Oh yeah, so free that the wicked people have the liberty to just evict a man of God for preaching the Bible.
Just break a lease, evict him, throw him out of his building.
Doesn't sound very free to me.
You know, but stop listening to the people out there who just move to other states and they're just bashing on California, bashing on California.
And any time people do that, I'm thinking to myself, like, everything you guys are talking about I've never experienced.
Like, oh man, you can't even homeschool out there.
I have four kids that I'm homeschooling right now. What are you talking about?
Why are you lying?
Stop lying.
Oh, you can't even, it's not even like, you know, everything's so expensive out there.
Yeah, but everyone here gets paid more.
What are you talking about?
And we have better weather anyways.
Better food, better weather.
Everything's just better in California.
You can say everything's bigger in Texas, but everything's better.
In California.
You know, but stop listening to people who just want to bash on California.
And really what they're doing is they're trying to make you discontent with where you're at.
But you know what? That's against the Bible, my friends.
Because we ought to be content with what we have.
And whatsoever state we're in.
Got that?
We should be content in whatever state we're in.
Whatever state we're in.
Whether we have need, or whether we're abased, or whether we're abounding, or whether we're in California.
Or whether we are, whatever part we're in, we should be just content with what we have.
And here's the thing, folks.
It doesn't matter where you run to, problems will follow you if you don't walk with God.
So people who left California, listen to this.
And everyone who doesn't live in California anymore who's listening is going to tune out on this one.
Look, anybody who left California to go somewhere else because of how liberal this state is,
if they're not walking with God, it's not going to do them any good.
Because if you make your bed in hell, he's there.
If you ascend up into heaven, he's there.
He's always there.
God will always chase you and punish you no matter where you go.
You can fly to the moon.
It's not going to do you any good.
You could go to the most conservative, most right-wing, red state in the country,
but if you're not right with God, if you're not reading the Word of God, it'll do you no good, my friend.
It didn't do Jonah good.
So what makes you think it's going to help you by leaving?
Folks, the principle is this.
You can flourish wherever you're at.
That's why, put it this way, Pastor Thompson, Sherriff Foundation Baptist Church,
is in one of the most liberal parts of the country.
He's in Vancouver, and it's bad over there.
I mean, I went there, I'm just like, this is terrible.
I remember I went there with, I was there with Brother Huyck and Brother Jordan, Miss Stevie,
and they had their little ones, and we went to a coffee shop,
because they're in Portland, known for their coffee,
and they go there, and everyone is just like mad-dogging the children.
And you know, I think Zayce was having a rough time like kids do, and he was crying a little bit,
and everyone was just like, they just like hate children,
and the person was just like, you're going to have to take this baby out.
The baby can't be here. You can't be here.
It's like they hate children over there.
But you know what? Pastor Thompson is flourishing in Vancouver.
Why? Because he's in God's will.
He's serving God. He's reading the Bible. He has an awesome church.
So it just goes to show that changing your geographical location changes nothing if you're not right with God.
Psalm 11 verse 1 says,
In the Lord put I my trust. How say ye to my soul,
Flee as a bird to your mountain, go flee to Ohio,
or go flee to Boise, Idaho, or go flee to Texas, go to Florida.
Don't go to Florida.
Flee to, you know, these places.
Why flee? Why don't we just walk with God here?
And here's the thing, folks. We need more Christians in California.
We need more Christians in California.
And I'm talking about Bible believing, face ripping Christians in California.
And you know what? If you're a weakling Christian,
and you don't believe in the Bible as much, or you're more of a politician,
then yeah, go somewhere else. Because we need the real ones to stay.
We need the hardcore, Bible believing, independent, fundamental Baptist Christians to stay behind to fight the good fight of faith.
Here.
But what I'm saying is, you know, stop listening to the fear mongers, stop fear mongering yourself.
And in fact, listen to this, we need to be faith mongers.
Amen?
We need to instill faith in people.
Not instill fear.
So when someone comes to you to see the gas prices, just be like,
amen, thank God we're saved, thank God God provides for us.
Be strong and of good courage.
Have faith in the Lord.
He shall provide, but if not, it's okay.
He's always going to be there.
He shall never leave us nor forsake us.
Faith monger, amen?
We're like, but I don't want to be afraid though.
Be strong and of good courage.
Have faith in God.
Hey, in that men's chat, the little thing you guys got going on in there.
We need to have more faith mongering in that chat.
Amen?
And anytime someone shares bad news, someone needs to respond with the verse.
And God do I put my trust.
Because you know what?
Fear is contagious my friends, but you know what?
Faith is contagious as well.
Amen.
We need more people to put more verses and give with the Bible.
I know this is uncomfortable for our church here.
But you know what?
Sorry, this isn't a comfortable Baptist church.
You need to stop instilling faith in your brethren.
Stop worrying about the miniscule things of this life and start quoting verses of the Bible.
If someone said, man, what about all the meat?
Well, you know what?
I have meat that you know not of.
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.
Like, oh man, but you know, that's not what people want to hear.
I know it's not, but that's what they need to hear.
Okay, and I'm not saying be a hyper spiritual person.
What I'm saying is, you know, if there's fear being instilled in the brethren,
you know, we need to change that folks, because we cannot have a church of weakling men
who are just constantly afraid of all the ills that are going to happen in our country.
We need to have a church that's strong in the Lord and the power of his might.
That's strong in faith, that does not fear, they're courageous, they trust in the Lord,
and they exhort their brethren to trust in the Lord as well.
Okay, stop fear mongering.
Joshua 10 25 says, and Joshua said unto them,
Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage,
for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.
Folks, we need Joshua's today.
Don't be afraid, stop being afraid.
Don't fear, be courageous, don't be dismayed, be strong.
Go to 1 Samuel 27.
And men, let me just say this, don't fear monger in your household either.
Because you know who's more afraid than you is your wife.
You know who can fear more than you? Your spouse.
You know who fears more than her? The children.
So if you're shaking in your boots, just mark it down,
your wife's going to be shaking in her heels,
and your children in their little shoes as well, you're going to cause fear in your family.
What you need to do, and look, if you're afraid, it's normal.
But this is what you do, you've got to fake it until you make it.
If you're scared, don't show that to your wife or to your kids.
Just go to her and be like, why are we afraid? We should not be afraid.
God's going to provide for us. God's going to make this happen.
Hey kids, the Lord is going to provide for us no matter what.
And look, the kids are the easiest ones to convince because they have more faith than we do.
So you need to take advantage of how much faith kids have,
and say God's going to provide for us, he's going to miraculously provide for us,
he's going to show himself strong on our behalf,
he's always going to do it because he's done it before and he'll do it again.
And then when you go into your own room, you're like, oh man,
this better happen.
Fear on your own, but don't fear before your spouse because that's detrimental to your family, folks.
Okay?
You need to have a nonchalant attitude about the ills of this world.
Did you hear what happened? Yeah, I heard.
What's for dinner?
Don't you hear about the shooting and they're going to take away our guns?
Man, that sucks.
What are we doing today?
You need to change that conversation.
Didn't you hear about what's going to happen with the gas prices?
Yeah, I guess we're going to have to start walking or something.
Just be nonchalant about it.
Because you need to diffuse fear.
You need to just stop it in its tracks.
And women, don't feed into fear if your husband is afraid.
If your husband shows a little bit of fear, don't start,
don't start screaming with him.
You know, maybe that's the time when your husband is weak and you need to instill some faith in your husband as well,
and just tell him, well, you know what, you're God's man
and God has used you mightily in times past and He's going to use you mightily again.
I know the Spirit of God is upon you. You're leading our families.
And still fear, and still faith in Him.
Man, don't be afraid of your wives, by the way. No, I'm just kidding.
That's a sermon for another day, man.
Number two, feed your faith and starve your fear.
So many people feed their fear and they starve their faith.
What you should be doing is feeding your fear.
You should gluttonize on fear and, you know, do keto on your fear.
Starve it out.
Okay, look at 1 Samuel and you say, why is that?
Well, your imagination is a powerful tool.
And we're supposed to use our imaginations to construct what God can do.
But unfortunately, a lot of people use them to construct just what can potentially go wrong.
You know, this is the what if.
Yeah, but if this happens, then this can happen, and then this happens, then this happens.
And then we're moving next week. We've got to move.
It's like all based upon imaginations.
But what you should be doing is using your imagination to exercise your faith.
And say, you know what? God can actually do something great through this.
Maybe we just need to pray more.
Maybe we need to read the Bible and take our mind off of these things.
And maybe fast a little bit and pray and see what God can do.
And why? To increase your faith.
I mean, I've heard stories from my father-in-law from times past where, you know, they have to go without for certain things.
And you know what? He prayed for certain things.
And you may think it's silly, but you know what? It increased his faith.
You know, where the kids went to my mother-in-law and they said, we want coconuts.
And he's like, well, we're broke. We can't have coconuts.
So if you want coconuts, you better pray for coconuts.
And they're like, all right, pray for coconuts.
Someone came right to the door with a box of coconuts.
Like, that's fake. Okay, you keep thinking that.
Okay, fear monger.
Okay, oh ye of little faith.
You know, I don't think God will do something like that. Okay, then God will do it for you then.
Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
And there's plenty of stories like that. I can share stories of times that we prayed for as a family for a specific need and God provided on that day.
You know what? A lot of what's going on today should just move us to pray more.
Because, you know, we don't pray enough when everything, when we have all the resources we need.
But now maybe, maybe when it's being cut a little bit, you don't have as many resources, maybe that should, that's a reminder to pray a little more then.
God, show yourself strong on our behalf.
Feed your faith and starve your fear.
And look, if you don't get your imaginations under control, they're going to take over your life.
They're going to take over your mind. They're going to determine your decisions in life and you're going to regret it.
Look at verse 1, it says, David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.
This is immediately after Saul said, I'm just going to leave you alone. I'm not going to do anything.
I'm done chasing you. And they made peace.
It was like, they're good to go. And then he's like, I'm going to die one day by Saul.
Where did he say it? In his heart.
There is nothing better for me than I should speedily escape into the land of Texas.
Land of the Philistines, because everything's bigger over there, right?
And Saul should despair of me to seek me any more in any coast of Israel, so shall I escape out of his hand.
Listen to this, and David arose and he passed over with the 600 men.
They were with him unto Achish, the son of Mayoch, the king of Gath.
Skip down to verse 7.
And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.
So he literally moved his entire family, all his troops, based upon his imagination.
Because you know, how did David die eventually?
Old, in bed, surrounded by his loved ones like everyone wants to die?
He didn't die by the hand of Saul. That was in his heart. He imagined that up.
But that imagination carried him to do something that was really stupid, which is move into enemy territory.
Goes to show you what imaginations can do to you if you don't keep them under control, if you don't utilize them.
Go to Philippians chapter 4. If you don't utilize them, to think upon and to imagine what God can do.
And let me just say, God can prosper you financially in a time of crisis.
God can give you a raise, men, when he's not giving anyone else a raise.
Your job can give you a raise even though the economy is just trash. It can happen.
So how does that happen? I don't know. I don't know how these things work.
I just know what the Bible says. I just know that God says that he can do it.
And I know, and obviously we know what the Bible says, but there is anecdotal evidence as well.
Because I've known men of God of times past who went through tough times as well, myself included, and God provided for us every single step of the way.
Just increase our faith more and more in that.
Look at Philippians 4 verse 8.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.
Now notice that comes immediately after he tells us, be careful for nothing.
So he gives us the remedy of what to do when we are worried, but then on top of that he says, also you got to make sure you're thinking the right things as well.
So you're not going back to this state of mind of worry.
So if you're worried, pray, you know, peace of God can keep your hearts and minds, but at the same time, you better be thinking the right things as well.
And how can we avoid thinking about nonsense? Don't watch or listen to nonsense.
Turn off that stupid podcast.
Turn off that stupid channel.
Turn off that stupid freedom fighter and just turn on some Alexander Scorby instead.
Turn on some Pastor Anderson, some Pastor Thompson, some, you know, some Pastor Joe Jones, maybe some Pastor Mejia if you want.
Turn on something else. Listen to that because that will benefit you more. That's going to cause you to think about the right things.
Go to Proverbs chapter three. Proverbs chapter number three. We're almost done.
Let me say this. This is a point that I really want to make this morning.
And it seems like it goes along with everything else, but I think it's an important point to make and it almost sounds silly, but listen to this.
Stop fearing pestilence.
And by pestilence, I mean sickness.
We need to stop being afraid of that stuff. Now, let me say that, you know, coronavirus just screwed everything up.
And I don't mean like physically, I mean like mentally. It made everyone so afraid.
And look, I'm not saying we're not to be precautious. We even have policies at our church that say, you know, if you have a running fever, stay home.
You know, if you're projectile vomiting, stay home.
If you just finished projectile vomiting outside, go home.
If you have an uncontrollable cough, let me just explain what an uncontrollable cough is.
An uncontrollable cough is not you cough every, you know, couple of minutes.
Uncontrollable cough is like you've been smoking for like 50 years or something and you sound like you're about to just give up your lung.
That's what I mean when you're just like, to the point where you're just like gagging, go home.
Stay home.
But let me just say this. If you have a cold, a minor cold or something, it's not bad if people come to church with a minor cold.
You're like, what? I mean, what if I get sick?
Dude, you went to the grocery store like how many times this week? You go to public places all the time.
And there's more people that go to those places on a rotation than people that are here right now.
And if, look, if you're that, let me just say this, we can't have our church become like this hypochondriac church either.
We're just constantly afraid that you're going to get sick. If you're afraid, then take some vitamin C, get in the sun, eat more healthy and stop shaking hands if that's what you need to do.
But we can't have people say, well, you know, what if I just get sick? What if I get the coronavirus?
Yeah, you might die driving down the street too. Did you know that?
You know, a plane might just crash on top of you or something too.
You know, you might just get mauled by a dog out sowing too. You know, that's a possibility. Anything's a possibility.
Of course, we can't be these fearful people and somehow it's crazy, but people have gotten to a point and I think it's because of coronavirus.
They've gotten to a point where it's just like, well, I'm so afraid of pestilence, I'm so afraid of coronavirus that that immediately overrides my responsibility to be in church.
So I don't want to get sick, so I'm not going to go to church. I'm going to disobey God.
Well, at that point, you're just not exercising any faith though.
But let me just say this, the vast majority of people who say that or think that way go to all types of public places.
If you're so fearful of germs, then just stay home in a bubble.
But you're not going to stay home in a bubble now, are you?
You're going to go to work, you're going to go to the grocery store, you're going to go visit your family, you're going to go barbecue, you're going to go to the pool, you're going to go to the park, you're going to go everywhere else except for church because for some reason church is just this cesspool of disease.
It's nonsense, folks. Stop fearing the pestilence.
And if you're that scared of getting sick, then maybe you need to change some things in your health.
And look, yeah, but what if my kids get sick? Kids need to get sick.
I know it's uncomfortable for you and I know it's uncomfortable for me because we get no sleep. I get that.
Kids are running fevers and they're sick and they have hand, foot and mouth disease and all this stuff.
But folks, this is life. I want my kids to get sick because they need to build a strong immune system.
They need to learn how to fight that stuff off.
And if you're constantly bubbling your children up and not wanting them to get sick, they're going to be some of the most miserable adults.
They're going to get sick constantly, constantly be debilitated. You need to let them build their immune system.
Now, please don't go overboard on that either.
We're bringing Johnny, he's running 104.
Stay home.
But folks, if someone is coughing mildly, okay, take a cough drop.
Cover your mouth. Bump fists if you have to.
But we can't just say, well, just anybody who's sick just can't come at all.
You understand? Or if it's just like you're just mildly sick, your hair hurts a little bit, it's just like I'm just going to stay home or something.
It's nonsense, folks. Stop fearing pestilence.
Did you know we got sick before coronavirus?
You guys remember that? You remember the flu and the cold existed before coronavirus?
Now, look, I'm not going to tell you what to do because I'm not the Baptist police here. I'm just trying to knock some sense into you.
And I understand we got a lot of sick little ones, but folks, sometimes we just got to let them get sick.
And let me say this. Yeah, but they always catch something at the church, though.
Oh, really? That's interesting because, you know, my kids got hand, foot and mouth disease the other day.
And, you know, my sister in law, who's all the way in Cambodia, her son got hand, foot and mouth disease, too.
Pretty much at the same time. How did that happen? I don't know. Maybe she came to our church or something?
Sometimes it's literally a coincidence, folks. That's all it is.
OK, so we need to wake up, not be careless, but not become so fearful that you're just completely debilitated.
You just refuse to come to church. And let me just say this. That's a bunch of baloney most of the time.
Because you go everywhere else where there's all types of germs, all types of sickness.
And that doesn't seem to bother you now, does it? I know that's an uncomfortable point, but I need to make that point.
OK, because, you know, coronavirus just kind of messed everyone's mind up where they're just constantly fearful.
And look, folks, if you have a cold and you come to church, don't just be like, yes, just breathe on everyone and cough on everyone's face.
And just be close to everyone's face and just, you know, you're you're spitting in everyone's face and touching everyone's stuff.
You know, have some courtesy. You know, wash your hands, fist bump, stay away from people, you know, leave early if you have to.
That's what you have to do. That's what you have to do. Don't be don't be careless. OK, look at Proverbs three, verse five.
You know, verse five of Proverbs three is still in the Bible. Did you guys know that?
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean on him to thine own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones.
Did you know obeying God and trusting God is actually more healthier than you just isolating yourself, staying away from every Tom, Dick and Harry that comes through this world?
According to the Bible, trusting the Lord is health to thy navel. OK, and you know what? If you get a fever, then so be it. You get a fever.
Is that so bad? People act like getting sick now is just like the worst thing possible that could ever happen to you.
And let me just say this. Sometimes I get sick and I feel like I'm on the brink of death. That's just because I'm a baby when I when I get sick.
I'll just be honest with you. OK, I get sick and I'm just like bedridden and I'm just like I can't even move.
I'm just like I'm never going to pastor again. And I'm like depressed and I'm sad and I'm just like I want my blanket or, you know, just I just become a baby.
But you know, the next day I'm fine. And I tell Sarah, don't mention that to anybody.
That was I had a fever mind. And, you know, you just you just don't know what you're saying during that time. And so let's move on.
But I didn't need to make that point. OK, go to Genesis 18. This is the last point.
Be not afraid of sudden fear. What if I get sick if I go to church? Be not afraid of sudden fear.
You could get hit by a car going through the grocery store. A drunk driver could hit you.
No, I'm trusting in the Lord when that if that ever happens, then trust in the Lord in other places, too.
Is God not sovereign over the diseases of this world and, you know, controlling whether you get sick or not or something?
Don't compartmentalize God. But that goes to show you that a lot of people are listening too much to the news, too much to the fear mongers, even to the point where it's just like this element is just completely removed.
OK, now, sure enough, everyone's going to get sick this week and they're going to be like, well, pastor, you said this.
Well, you know, I still believe it no matter what. I can get sick tomorrow and I'll still believe it.
Here's here's another point. Stop fearing the desolation of the wicked.
As it says, be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh.
That's an interesting way of putting it. Why would we fear the desolation of the wicked when it cometh?
Why, I think here's a perfect example. The United States of America is under God's judgment.
So everything that you're seeing, this food shortage, the gas prices, the diseases, that's all part of God's judgment.
It's coming upon it's a judgment that's coming upon the wicked.
But that's why God is saying don't be afraid of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh.
Don't put yourself in the same arena of fear as the wicked are.
Let them be afraid of God's judgment. You keep serving God.
But it's going to affect us. Look at Genesis 18, verse 21.
It says, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me, and if not, I will know.
And the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.
Listen to this. And Abraham drew near and said, Will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
And the obvious answer is no.
That's why he allowed him to kind of see if there's any righteous within Sodom and Gomorrah.
Because Abraham knew God's not going to destroy the righteous with the wicked.
So we should not fear the desolation of the wicked. Why?
Because God's not going to destroy the righteous with the wicked.
You know, he's not going to allow you to suffer the same punishment as the wicked do.
Now, if you are living in sin, you're out there fornicating, you're dishonest, you're not walking according to the precepts of God's word.
You're just living in complete rebellion. I would fear greatly.
Because it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.
But you know, if you're serving God, if you're living an honest life, you're reading the word of God, you're doing the best you can, and you're serving him, you have nothing to fear.
There's nothing to be afraid of. No matter how desolate the wicked become, it's not going to come nigh unto you.
It's not going to come nigh unto you. I mean, Goshen was just this little place in Egypt, and as Egypt is literally falling apart,
there's hailstones of fire mingled with blood, killing people, diseases, pestilences, livestock is dying.
Israel was just fine. Why? Because he didn't destroy the righteous with the wicked.
So stop worrying about the desolation of the wicked because it's not going to come nigh unto you as long as you're serving God.
Now, if you feel like you got some secret sin, if you're doing something you're not supposed to, well, you know, this is your friendly reminder to get right with God.
Get right with God, clean up your life, get back into the Bible, get back into church, do what you're supposed to do, and those things will not come upon you.
At the end of the day, go to one more verse, actually, because I want to read this verse. Go to Hebrews 11.
It's like, yeah, but what about all these, where do they start making laws, though?
You know, where do they start making these laws and they start passing these bills and, you know, all this stuff starts happening.
Well, look at verse 23 of Hebrews 11.
And it was worse back then than it is now. Way worse.
But even then, his parents were like, we're not afraid of the king's commandment because they're doing that which is right, my friends.
So what's the sermon today? Be not afraid of sudden fear. Fear God, but be not afraid of sudden fear.
Don't be afraid of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh. Our confidence should be the Lord.
We're not to be careless, but we are to be full of faith and walk circumspectly, you know, making sure that we're pleasing God correctly.
Making sure that we are putting the right priorities in our life, church, the Bible, souls, your children, your spouse, the brethren.
You know, I know these are simple things to take care of, but you know what? Thank God that God made it that simple for us.
That's all you have to do and he'll take care of the rest. But too many Christians want to take care of the rest and just neglect the easiest parts.
The easy parts, they're so easy. They're so easy. And God says, I'll take care of the complex parts as long as you take care of the easy parts.
But Christians are so stubborn sometimes, they want to flip it around, try to take care of the complex things and leave the simple things to just the government.
It's nonsense, folks. Don't be fearful. Don't be afraid. And when you are, come to church. Be strong and of good courage. Don't be dismayed. God will take care of us. Amen.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the reminders that you constantly show us that we should not be afraid.
We shouldn't fear pestilence. We shouldn't fear the desolation of the wicked. And sure enough, all of us to a certain extent, maybe myself included,
we're going to go through some trial this year that's going to cause us to be off balance, but these principles still remain true no matter what.
And I pray that you would remind us of these things when we do go through those tribulations and trials.
And Lord, help us to increase our faith as we trust in you. May you show yourself strong on our behalf and provide for our needs, Lord.
Provide for the needs of our church family. Help the husbands to be successful at their jobs, Lord.
That you would increase their resources so they can continue to provide for their families. But not just that, but just to be in church, to serve God.
You bless us so that we can be a blessing. You bless us so that we can be in a position to obey you and serve you.
And I pray that, Lord, you'd help us to do so. We love you. We thank you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Song number 102, He hideth my soul. Song number 102.
Song number 102, seen on that first verse.
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand.
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord. He taketh my burden away.
He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved. He giveth me strength as my name.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand.
With numberless blessings each moment He crowns and filled with His fullness divine.
I sing in my rapture of glory to God for such a Redeemer as mine.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand.
When clothed in His brightness, transported I rise to meet Him in clouds above the sky.
His perfect salvation, His wonderful love, I'll shout with millions on high.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand.
He hideth my soul in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand.
And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood?
He died before me. He causes pain for me.
He moved Him to death pursued. Amazing love, how can it be?
And how my God should die for me? Amazing love, how can it be?
And how my God should die for me?
All right, we have a baptism here. Tell us your name.
Skyler, have you trusted Jesus as your Savior?
Upon your public profession, I'm going to now baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit going to cross your arms over your chest.
Bear it in the likeness of His death, raise to walk in the witness of life.
Congratulations. We have another one.
Huh? All right. You don't want to sing, bro?
Others thrown above, so free, so infinite, His grace emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race.
Tis mercy, all, immense and free, For, O my God, it found out me.
Amazing love, how can it be? That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Tell us your name.
Jaylene, have you trusted Jesus as your Savior? Okay, upon your public profession, I'm going to now baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, going to cross your arms over your chest.
Bear it in the likeness of His death, raise to walk in the witness of life.
Congratulations. All right, let's pray. We'll be dismissed.
Father, we thank you so much again for this day. We're thankful for our salvation.
Thank you for the privilege to come to church. I pray that, Lord, you help us to take to heart that which we heard this morning in regards to fear and faith.
Lord, help us to be a people of faith. Increase our faith as you provide for us and you show yourself strong on our behalf, Lord.
And I pray you bless our afternoon that many souls would be saved in this evening's service as we preach on the family.
Bless all there is, Lord. We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You are dismissed.
Amen.