(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

In Jeremiah chapter 38, I want to focus on this story picking up in verse number 17, with Jeremiah speaking unto King Zedekiah. And what I want to preach about tonight is the subject of fear. Now fear is a subject that the Bible talks about over and over again. In fact, just the word fear, afraid, fright, or variations thereof, that word appears 727 times in the Bible. So over and over again when you're reading the Bible, you're reading about fear. And the Bible is very consistent in its teachings on fear, that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. In fact, out of all these hundreds and hundreds of times that fear is mentioned, whenever it's fearing God, it's always a good thing. It's always positive when we're fearing the Lord. But when we fear anything else or anyone else, it's wrong, and God's constantly telling us, be not afraid, do not fear. And in this story, we see how a man is afraid to do what's right and ends up not only destroying his own life, but destroying the lives of everyone around him because of his fear to obey the voice of the Lord. Now beginning in verse 17, let's look at what Jeremiah told Zedekiah. It says, then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah, thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, if thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live. And this city shall not be burned with fire, and thou shalt live, and thine house. But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given in the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hands. So the message is crystal clear. There's no question as to what God wants Zedekiah to do. He says, look, you need to surrender to the king of Babylon. You're done. You've lost. Just surrender. And if you surrender, everything's going to be fine. The city won't be destroyed. You're going to be okay. Your wife's going to be okay. Your kids are going to be okay. But look at the answer in verse number 19. And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I'm afraid. So he knew what's right, but he's afraid to do what's right. He says, I'm afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand and they mock me. So what's he afraid of? He's afraid of the fact that when he surrenders unto the Babylonians, the Jews that have already gone over to the Chaldeans are going to make fun of him, maybe torture him or do bad things to him. And so he's just afraid of the faith that will befall him. But Jeremiah reassures him and tells him in verse 20, Jeremiah said, they shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee. So it shall be well unto thee and thy soul shall live. But if thou refuse to go forth, and he explains all the bad things that are going to happen. Flip over to chapter 39. Let's see what happens. He's afraid to do what's right. Look at what happens starting in verse 6 of chapter 39. Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes. Also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. Moreover, he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with chains to carry him to Babylon, and the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people with fire and break down the walls of Jerusalem. All the things that God said would not happen if Zedekiah would have obeyed, none of those bad things would happen. Now just imagine how horrible it would be for you to be taken captive of a foreign nation and they kill all your children in front of you while you watch, and then they punch out your eyes so that's the last thing that you ever see before they poke out your eyes and put you in chains and take you off to live and die in a foreign country. Now think about another guy in the Bible who had his eyes poked out. Who was it? Samson, right? And what did they do with Samson after they poked his eyes out? They mocked him. They made fun of him. They made him work like an animal. They treated him poorly. Look, what Zedekiah was afraid of was being mistreated and mishandled if he obeyed God. He said, look, if I obey God, I'm afraid of what the Jews are going to do to me on the other side, and what happens? He disobeys God because of fear and what comes upon him. The exact thing that he was afraid of is actually what ends up happening to him and maybe even worse than he could have imagined, you know, his children being killed, his eyes are poked out, etc., etc. Go to Proverbs chapter number 3. Proverbs chapter number 3, and this is a very famous scripture beginning in verse number 5. I'll start reading it while you turn there. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In 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. So sometimes we, like Zedekiah, think that we have it all figured out. Well, if I obey God, then these bad things are going to happen to me. You know, if I disobey God, then everything's going to be okay. When in reality, God says, look, don't lean on your own understanding. Don't fear what man's going to do unto you. Just obey what I'm telling you to do. Fear the Lord, keep his commandments, and he says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. And Zedekiah thought that he had it all figured out what the best course of action is going to be instead of obeying God, and he was afraid to do what God told him to do. Instead of fearing the Lord, like this passage tells us, he's fearing man. He's fearing the consequences of what man can do to him. Let's keep reading. It says, 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. Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. You know, it's interesting just because it's right in this passage where he's talking about trusting in the Lord, not leaning on your own understanding. He brings up the first fruits, which is another area of obedience to the Lord. You know, we think of tithing, which is the first, bringing the first fruits of our increase, the 10%. And if you think about it, why would a person disobey the command to tithe? Go to Malachi chapter 3, if you would. Why would we disobey the command to tithe? Because you know what? I'm afraid that if I tithe, I'm not going to have enough money to pay the bills, right? Isn't that what people would think like? Well, I'm just afraid. It's not that I don't want to give unto the church. It's not that I don't believe in what the church's program is, but I'm just afraid that if I give that first 10%, because it's the first fruits, if I give that, I'm just afraid that I'm not going to have what I need. But look what the Bible says in Malachi chapter 3, verse 8. It says, Will a man rob God? Yet you've robbed me, but ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, and there shall not be room enough to receive it. So what we see here is that God's saying, if you don't pay the tithe, he says you're cursed with a curse. So think about it. Why are people not tithing? Because they're afraid of financial catastrophe as a result of tithing. But what God is saying is, when you don't tithe, the financial catastrophe comes. That's when you're cursed with a curse. That's when the devourer will eat up the fruit of your ground. And then when you step out in faith and obey the voice of the Lord, he says, I'll pour out a blessing. I'm going to bless. It's going to turn out great. And Zedekiah is thinking, I don't see how it's going to turn out great. There's all these Jews over there that have already gone over to the Chaldeans. They all hate my guts. They're going to make fun of me. I'm just going to be turned over to them, and they're going to do whatever they want with me. And Jeremiah is saying, no, actually, none of those bad things are going to happen. Actually if you obey the Lord, everything's going to be great. It's going to turn out fine. But he didn't listen because he's leaning on his own understanding. And we as Christians need to be careful that we don't let fear hinder us from doing the will of God. I've got a whole bunch of points in my sermon tonight of different areas that Christians do not obey the Lord in because of fear. And there are so many different examples I could give. But just this exact example that we see with Zedekiah applies. Flip over to Proverbs 29. But what was Zedekiah afraid of? He said, I'm afraid the Jews are going to mock me. Well think about it. Today, a lot of people are afraid to do a lot of things because they're afraid of being made fun of. They're afraid of standing up and being a Christian openly or maybe taking an unpopular viewpoint of standing up for biblical Christianity and just the traditional teachings of the Bible. Because our society is getting so weird and sinful and they want to fit in at school or fit in at work and be cool and be accepted of the world. And so they're afraid to stand up for what's right because they don't want to be mocked. And Zedekiah says, I don't want them to make fun of me. You know they made fun of Jesus. And if you follow Jesus Christ, the Bible says the disciple is not above his master. The servant's not above his Lord. If they called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? He said if they hated me, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. And so the Bible tells us to expect people to persecute us and mock us and attack us. The Bible says in Proverbs 29, 25, the fear of man bringeth a snare. But whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be saved. So again, just like the other scripture that we looked at, what's the opposite of fearing man? Trusting in the Lord. You know you trust what the Lord's telling you to do or you fear man and what he can do to you. Now flip over to Acts chapter 20. Because a big problem today is that pastors are afraid to rebuke sin or they're afraid to preach on certain subjects because they're afraid of being persecuted. We read the scripture of Jeremiah in chapter 38. He's being thrown in prison. He's being attacked. He's in trouble with the law. And a lot of pastors today frankly are afraid to preach the truth because they just don't want to deal with the persecution. And the Bible says, yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And a lot of pastors today are willing to trim the message because they don't want to lose church members. They're afraid that people are going to leave the church. And then they're afraid that they're not going to be able to pay the bills. Or they're just afraid of the persecution. And they don't want to be under attack. And they don't want to have people retaliating against them in various ways. Thank God for Pastor Jimenez. And you know what? That's why this church is so important. Because this church is not just another independent Baptist church in Sacramento. It isn't. I mean there are other independent Baptist churches, but you know how many of them are really willing to get up here and call a spade a spade and not leave anything out but to preach the whole counsel of God. Look what Paul said in Acts chapter 20 verse 19. Serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in way to the Jews, watch this, and how I kept back nothing. This is his style of preaching. Keep back. Who was it that told me before the service, don't hold anything back? She said, hey, don't hold anything back tonight. She must have read my outline. But you know what? I'm not going to hold anything back. Because you know what? If I'm going to be like the Apostle Paul, he said I kept back nothing. There's nothing that I said. Oh, well, I don't know if they can handle that or well, I better not say that. That's going to get me in hot water. Look, if it's in the Word of God, it needs to be preached. And who are we to decide, well, I think this is appropriate in 2015 America, whereas this chapter, this scripture is a little rough, you know, it's a little edgy for our society. No, God said preach the Word in season out of season, if it's popular or not popular. Look down at the Bible. He said, I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you and the Bible says all scripture is profitable. So what he's saying is he preached all scripture. Anything in the Bible, he preached it. No subject was off limits. He said, but I've showed you and I've taught you publicly. So did he get up on Sunday morning and preach a watered down, positive only sermon, and then take aside the inner circle and say, okay, let me tell you guys what the Bible really says. No, he said, I taught everything publicly. I got up and what was told me in the ear, I preached it from the housetops, as Jesus said, and I didn't keep back anything from public preaching for everybody to hear. He said, I taught it from house to house. He was going solo and he's preaching the Word of God. He said in verse 21, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our 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 witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life, dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel of the grace of God. He said, I know about the lying in wait of the Jews, he said in verse 19. He said, I know that afflictions and bonds abide me. I know that I'm going to be persecuted because the Bible says, yea, in all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But he said, none of that moves me. It doesn't affect my preaching. It doesn't stop me from doing the work that God wants me to do. And he even said, I'll tell it to the Jews and the Greeks. You know, even if the Jews are mad about it and hate me, I'll preach it to both. I'll preach it to everybody. I'll preach the Gospel to every creature and I will keep back nothing from the church. And then right after this, he's going to admonish those pastors there from Ephesus and those places. He said, feed the flock of God which is among you, you know, teach the whole counsel of God, speak all of it. Now let me tell you something, lately, just to give a personal testimony for my life, I'm telling you, the last few months I have been more persecuted than I've ever been in the history of my ministry or in the history of my life. And I'll tell you why. It's because for a long time I was working a secular job and pastor, but you know, I've been full time pastoring for over a year and I've just kind of just ramped up everything that I've been doing because I just have more time now. So I'm preaching more sermons and you know, we've been putting out more films and just really working hard to try to get the word of God and just preach it because of the fact that our country is on a horrible course right now, downwards final, and people are not preaching what needs to be preached. But whenever you ramp up your efforts for God, you have to just expect ramped up persecution. And I mean, I've been getting it from, you know, the IRS, the CPS, you know, I had some transgender freak, you know, come to my church service a few months ago that I had to physically cast out, you know, and then the police are coming and trying to figure out whether I assaulted this transgender freak when I picked him up and threw him out. But you know, it's the house of God. We can't allow these filthy perverts in the house of God. And you know, just all the weird stuff I've been getting in the mail and the police pulled me out of bed at 1145 at night a couple weeks ago. I mean, it's just, it seems like over the past few months, it's just one thing after another of just hate mail and death threats and people outside my church yelling at me and people smearing stuff on the door of the church building. And they want to intimidate you and they're trying to terrify you and put fear in you. And it's a persecution to stop. And look, by the way, you know, the CDs and the films that we do, I've gotten to the point now where the companies that have printed CDs for us for years are refusing. We won't print your DVDs. We won't print your CDs. And we have to call, I have to call around to try to find somebody who's even willing to print the CDs and the DVDs because of the fact that, you know, we're getting to the point where if you're just a Bible believing preacher, you're just ostracized of this world now. And it's funny because I've had a lot of people say to me, hey, maybe you should just back down just a little bit. Well, you know, just, why don't you just let off on the throttle just a little bit. But here's what they say, you know, aren't you afraid to keep preaching like that then if all this stuff's coming at you from all sides? But you know what the truth of the matter is? You know who should really be afraid? Let me tell you who should be afraid tonight. The pastors who are holding back and letting these things stop them and they're being intimidated by this faggot controlled mafia of, you know, well, we had to all hate speech and we're going to shut you down. I mean, we had the congressmen of our state, the congressmen standing in front of our church doing a press conference in front of our church building. This guy is saying all these hateful things and we need to stop this guy. Let me tell you something, the truth is hate to those who hate the truth. And you know what? This book now, the Bible, is being called hate speech now. Just saying what the Bible says, you're hateful and you're this and you're that and they'll put all these labels on you. Let me tell you who ought to be scared. The pastor who's holding back and refusing to preach the word of God because it's not popular today, he ought to be scared of what the Lord is going to do to him. Scared of what man is going to do to me? I don't care if some Jewish congressman comes and huffs and puffs and everything and doesn't like my preaching or some filthy faggots are going to line up and hold up signs and everything like that. You know what? None of these things move me. And you know what? I ought to be afraid not to preach the way that I do because it's these bunch of compromisers that ought to be afraid of what the Lord is going to do to punish them for standing up and saying I'm going to preach to you the whole counsel of God and then holding back part of it. It's fraud. God wants us to preach the whole word of God. It's the compromisers that ought to be afraid. You know what? If we offend God, the Bible says in Luke 12, you don't have to turn there, but the Bible says in Luke 12 verse 4, And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear, fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. I mean what can people really, what can man really do unto us? If you think about it. Now go to 2 Timothy chapter 4. What can man really do unto us if you think about it? I mean they can kill the body, but you know what Paul said, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But honestly, you know what I've noticed studying the Bible, and I want you to really get this point because this is kind of the point of the whole sermon. The whole sermon tonight is about the fact that Zedekiah was told by the Lord, do this. Real clear. Do this and you'll be fine. Disobey it, you're going to die and people around you are going to die and everything like that. He obeyed it because he was afraid and then all the bad things came upon him. That's what the sermon is about. Listen to me, I'm not disputing the fact that sometimes in the Bible people were killed for their beliefs. Like Stephen comes to mind, right? Stephen is stoned to death. And there are a lot of other people in the Bible who are righteous people who died for their beliefs. And the Bible does say in Revelation, you know the devil shall cast some of you into prison and you shall be tried. So let me tell you something, as I read the Bible from cover to cover and you look at godly people, most of the time God actually preserved them. It's not like they're all just killed, they're all just slaughtered. Look how many people in the Bible didn't get killed, didn't get slaughtered. And Jeremiah is a perfect example because in the end Jeremiah ended up being completely safe when the Chaldeans came in and are killing everybody and raping and pillaging. He's fine. They unchain him and give him money and say, you're free to go buddy. And he was fine. But you know who else ended up his life? Fine? The Apostle Paul. Now think about it, the Apostle Paul probably went through more persecution than anybody else that we read about in Scripture, right? Think about the afflictions that the Apostle Paul went through. He was beaten with rods, he was thrown in prison over and over again. He was whipped and scourged, he was shipwrecked and he was at the point of being killed by the Roman guards because they were just going to kill all the prisoners and everything. And one time he was even stoned and they stoned him and they thought he was dead. They're like, he's dead and they leave him there and then he gets up and walks away because he was still alive. So Paul went through a lot of persecution, right? But look what the Bible says in 2 Timothy 4 verse 17. Let me turn there myself. Actually I want to start reading a little earlier than what I have in my notes. So let me just turn there myself. 2 Timothy chapter 4, it says in verse 16, at my first answer no man stood with me but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to be glory forever and ever, amen. Now a lot of people will tell you, oh the Apostle Paul was beheaded by the Romans. That's not in the Bible anywhere. And in fact I think that that's unscriptural because if you study this passage, just a few verses earlier in verse 6 and 7 he said, I'm now ready to be offered in the time of my departures at hand. I fought a good fight, I finished my course, I've kept the faith. He said, I'm about ready to depart and he's talking about departing and being with Christ. He's talking about dying a physical death. Yet a few verses later he says, the Lord delivered me from every evil work. I went through all these persecutions but I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. I was delivered from all the evil works of man. I believe from the top of my head to the bottom of my foot that the Apostle Paul died of natural causes. If you read the book of Acts, which is the story, a lot of it is the story of the Apostle Paul, it ends up, the last words of the book of Acts, he's on house arrest, he's living in his own house, he's preaching every day, his friends are coming over to his house every day. No man's forbidding him to preach the Gospel. He can preach whatever he wants from the Bible. He can say whatever he wants. He continues for two years. Why would the book of Acts end on such a positive note and then like, oh by the way here's what we're not going to tell you. They chopped off his head right after that. That's not a biblical teaching. That's man's history and it's all legend and folklore. The Bible says that he's going to be preserved from that and delivered from the lion and he talks about his death is impending but it doesn't sound like it's coming from man. Sounds like he's just an old man that's about to die. He knows he's about to die. Why do I bring that up? Because the Bible says many are the afflictions of the righteous. Did Paul go through a lot of afflictions? Yeah, he's beaten, he's in prison, all these different things, stoned. Did he go through pain? Did he go through suffering? But you know what? In the end, he was blessed. And the Bible says many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Go to 1 Peter chapter 3. First Peter chapter 3. Think of other, while you're turning to 1 Peter chapter 3, let's just think of other examples in the Bible of men who went through trials but they came out okay and God preserved them and they didn't go to prison. They weren't killed. What about Job? Did Job suffer and go through trials? Yeah, but the latter end of Job was more blessed than the beginning. He lived to be an old, old man and he got to see his children and his children's children under the third and fourth generation. He was blessed. Everything went great. In the end, the latter end of Job was blessed. Look at men in the Bible who served God. A lot of them ended up in John. The apostle John ended up in old age. Now there were some that are martyred like John the Baptist or Stephen at a young age but if that's God's will, so be it. That's God's will. If that's what God wants but let me tell you something. It's the minority and the reason that I bring up the fact that that's the minority is that here we are in America today, a bunch of pastors scared of our own shadow and don't want to preach the Bible because oh, we're going to go to prison and oh, we're going to be killed. Most of it is a phantom that's never even going to happen and even if it does happen, most of the time in the Bible, it's a temporary affliction. Even when a guy like Paul is thrown into the prison, he gets out the next day and he keeps on going. Big deal. Where did I return? First Peter 3, look down at verse 13. Watch this. Who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? So there's a protection there that's promised from God, isn't it? Verse 13. Who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good, but and if ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. So he says, look, if you do what's right, God's going to protect you, you're not going to be harmed. But he says, but if God does decide for you to be harmed, he says, you know what, don't be afraid of that. Be faithful unto death and I'll give thee a crown of life. Look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They stood up for what was right. They took a stand. And you know what? They could have said, oh, I'm afraid, like Zedekiah. I'm afraid of going into the fiery furnace. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to bow down before the image, but in my heart, I'm going to be bowing down to the Lord. I mean, you could see how you could easily justify that. You know, everybody bows down to the golden image. You could just tell yourself, well, OK, I'm going to bow down so I don't go in the furnace, but I'm just going to worship the Lord in my heart. Like, in my heart, I'm going to be bowing down and saying, you know, it's to Jehovah. It's not unto this idol. And they said to the king, we're not going to do it. Because they wanted to take a public stand. Because they're a testimony unto a whole. And you know what? The whole world heard that story. Think about it. What if these three guys would have just compromised in their heart, bowed down, and just prayed to the Lord in their heart? OK, what ended up happening is that a decree ended up going out to all nations that the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's God is the true God. What's that worth? When you take a stand and put your head on the chopping block and you're willing to go into the fiery furnace, that the whole world will hear the gospel. It's worth it. Not only that, but we're still talking about the story today. It's still an inspiration to us today. But even just that generation, it went out into the 127 provinces of the realm that, hey, nobody can speak ill of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Look, three guys stood up, risked their lives, and then they secured freedom for the whole realm where people were free to worship the true God of the Bible. And so there are so many examples like that. Because when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown in the fire, they're preserved. Didn't they end up unharmed? In fact, when they got out of the fiery furnace, they're promoted. This is where the prosperity preaching gets it wrong. The prosperity preaching says, if you do what's right, bad things won't happen to you and God's just going to bless you. But listen, whenever there's a false doctrine, usually there's a little truth mixed in it, but then they've twisted it, they've corrupted it. Here's the true story of what the Bible teaches. When you do what's right, you're going to suffer for it and go through affliction. That's what the prosperity preacher's not telling you. But most of the time, in the end, you come out as gold. And sometimes I think we miss that because we're so against the prosperity preaching, we forget that a lot of times God will bless us when we do right. But after we go through the trial, after we go through the fiery furnace and the affliction, yeah, you take the beating, you go to jail, you get stoned, but in the end, you're living in your own house and everything's cool and everybody's visiting you and you're preaching the Word of God and everything's great and you die of old age, like the Apostle Paul. What am I trying to say? That people are afraid of something that's not even really going to happen. And even if it is going to happen, God says, look, if that's my plan for you, fear not. Just do it. It's worth it. Stephen's death was worth it because it inspired the Apostle Paul and many others. John the Baptist's death was worth it. Everybody who died for the Lord today up in heaven is glad that they did. Nobody's up in heaven thinking, man, why did I have to be that guy that got killed? You know, here's Paul, old age, John's living into old age. Why was I the guy that just killed, I'm killed off at the very beginning of the Book of Acts. I barely even get any, I mean, I could have been a main character. I could have been writing epistles and everything. Why am I the guy that's just killed off in the first five minutes of the movie, as it were? And hey, I don't think he's saying that. He's glad, it's honor and privilege to die for the Lord Jesus. But you know what, it's a select few that will even do it anyway. So what are you afraid of? Your own shadow in many cases. Because God's going to see you through and protect you. Look, all things work together for good to them that love God and to them that are called according to his purpose. If you believe that, then you just need to fear not. And if God tells you, hey, preach the whole Bible, you preach the whole Bible. And you say, well, I'm not a preacher. Then get in a church where the pastor's preaching the whole Bible is what you take away from this point. If you're a preacher in here, and I know that there are young men in this room that eventually will be pastors, my message to them is preach it all and let the chips fall where they may and only worry about, is God pleased with my sermon? And you know what, you know who I really couldn't care less what they think about my sermon? The unsaved, wicked world. Why would I try to please them? Oh, but you're going to turn away from the God. They're already turned away from the God, because they hate the Lord. It has nothing to do with preaching the Bible. And look, this thing of like, oh, trim the message, it hasn't been working out for America. But anyway, let's move on to the next point. Go to Matthew 25. Because, you know, I'm talking a little bit about preachers who are afraid to preach the whole Bible. But what about this? What about men who are just afraid to preach in general? You know, the preaching night rolls around, I think you guys have a preaching night where there's an opportunity to get up and preach, right? You know, I bet there are a lot of men that God could use at that preaching night and maybe use down the road to become pastors and preachers of the next generation that we desperately need. And I think fear is stopping them from getting up behind that pulpit and doing that 10-minute sermon. They're afraid of being mocked or they're afraid of making a fool of themselves. They're afraid of getting up here and messing up. But here's the reality. You know, if you fear failure, you end up doing nothing, which is failure. Now look down at this story. This is a perfect example. Matthew 25, verse 24, Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strong. And I was afraid. Look, whenever you see that in the Bible, bad things are going to happen to these people. I was afraid, I'm afraid. I was afraid, and when it hid thy talent in the earth, lo, there thou hast that is thine. Now in the Bible, the talent was a type of money, you know, it was a measurement of weight or a measurement of monetary value of coin. But we have a word talent today, right, and when we talk about someone having talent, what do we mean? Skill, right? If we say, hey, he's talented at the piano, or he's a talented speaker, or he's talented. Why do we call that talent? It actually derives from this word, because the Lord gave them money. He gave them a talent. It was actual money that he gave them. It was a measurement of how much money he gave them. And he said, I want you to do something with the money that I give you. And when I come back, I want to see fruit from it, okay? Well, when God gives us skills and ability, the reason we call those talents is because they came from God. And just as we call them a talent because of this story, we should apply this story that God wants a return on his investment. He says, thou wicked, verse 26, his Lord answered and said unto him, thou wicked and slothful servant. Slothful means lazy. He says, you wicked and lazy servant, thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I am not strong. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then in my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and ashing of teeth. Now this scripture is about, you know, basically the Jews are the unprofitable servant, and then the Gentiles are the one who ended up taking the Gospel and so forth, and the Jews are cast out. That's the theme of Matthew 21 through 25. All of those chapters deal with that subject of basically God turning from the Jews unto the Gentiles and all these different parables and so forth. But what we can take from this as an application tonight is that when God gives you talent, you need to use it for the Lord. And if not, he might even take it away from you, because that's what he did with this guy. Well, you know, you're not going to use it for me. I'll take it from you. And think about the talent that goes to waste today, and that's why you see a lot of the most talented people don't serve the Lord, and a lot of people that are not as talented, that they're willing, God uses them more, just because they're willing to at least bring what they have to the table and be used by God. But think about this. People are talented musically. They're able to play the piano. What good is it to sit there and become an expert in classical music at the piano? How much are you really going to be able to use that realistically in life, versus if you learn how to play the hymns, you could actually be used by God three times a week playing the piano and so forth, or playing an organ, or playing whatever musical instrument, and the Bible says God wants to be praised on musical instruments, you know, or a talent of singing. You know, oh, you've become a great singer. You're going to be the lead singer of some rock band? And then we'll hear about you strung out on drugs, and we'll hear about you, you know, making an idiot out of yourself because the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. Hey, if you have a talent for singing, learn how to lead the singing. Come to church and sing out with all your heart unto the Lord and worship God. That's a good use of your talent. If you have the talent to get up and speak, you need to get up. And preach the word of God and use that talent for the Lord. But you know, a lot of people are just afraid to get their feet wet. They're afraid to come to that preaching night and get up here and preach the sermon. You know, the hardest part about learning how to preach is just getting up and doing it the first few times, just getting up and doing it. And look, this guy in this story, he said, I was afraid. I didn't want to lose the talent, so I went and hid it. Okay? So what was he afraid of? Failing at the mission? But his fear paralyzed him. And he ended up doing nothing, and that is failure. So when God looks down at your life and you're doing nothing with your life, he sees you as a failure. And he says, you're wicked and slothful. I want you to serve me. Get out soul winning. Look, people don't go soul winning. Why? Because they're afraid. Oh, I'm afraid. I'm not going to know what to say. I'm afraid somebody's going to ask me a question I can't answer. I'm afraid that I'm going to knock the door of someone I know. It's going to be humiliating. And look, we've all knocked, who's knocked the door of someone you've known when you went out soul winning. And sometimes it's a little uncomfortable just because it's kind of weird, like people think you're stalking them or something, because you know these people, and then you're just at their house, like how do you know where I live, what are you doing at my house? But I've had it happen many times. But you know, oh, I'm afraid of this, afraid of that. But you know what? I remember when I started soul winning, I would say probably the first year of soul winning, every single week when I went soul winning, I was nervous for about the first year, where literally when I would knock on the first door out soul winning, I kind of hoped that they wouldn't be home. You know what I'm talking about? You go soul winning, and you kind of knock on the door, and you're kind of, I don't think they're home. And you're just kind of hoping that that first, and I just remember the first door, my heart would be kind of pounding. You've been there, right? Heart's kind of pounding, you knock the door, you kind of hope they're not home. That's how I felt. I started soul winning when I was 17, and that's how I felt. But after about a year or two, I got to the point where, you know, I just knocked that door. But by the way, even in the beginning, it was only the first few doors that are like that where you're scared, because once you kind of got warmed up, you kind of realize this isn't so bad. And look, the whole point of the sermon that I keep trying to drive in on almost every point is that the stuff you're afraid of is a phantom, it's a boogeyman. You know, you're so, oh, I'm afraid, I'm going to make a fool of myself out of soul. You're never going to see these people again. I mean, I'd rather make a fool of myself at the door with some stranger than with people I actually know. You know? I mean, if it's somebody that you know, have your silent partner do it, or whatever. Have them handle it. But I'm saying that, you know, you go out there, and you're walking up to that first door, and you're scared, and you're nervous, and your heart's pounding. But once you do a couple doors, you're like, wow, this isn't so. I mean, I've talked to people where they struggled with it, and they, man, I don't want to go soul winning, I'm scared, and they were nervous. And then they came out, and they're like, oh, is this all? It's like, what did you think we were going to be doing? Like we're just going to go out and just confront people, and you know, we're just going to be in a fight every time. I mean, it's so easy. So look, soul winning's not that hard, is it? I don't think it's that hard. In the sense of, I mean, it's hard work, in the sense that it's strenuous, but it's not hard in the sense of you just show up, you're not, especially, I mean, how hard is it to be the silent partner? And look, if you're not out soul winning, you need to show up at the soul winning time and be the silent partner. I mean, if you're afraid of that, then you're just a complete weakling. And you know what the Bible says? That when they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, it says they spake the word of God with boldness. And you know what it tells me? If you're afraid to even do something as easy as showing up and being the silent partner, it tells me you're not filled with the Holy Spirit at all, because the evidence of the fullness of the Holy Spirit is that you have boldness. You say, well, I'm still scared, I'm nervous. Pray for boldness. Paul prayed for boldness in the Bible, and he asked other people to pray for him. He said, pray for me that utterance will be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel. That was his prayer request. Why don't people go soul winning? Because they're afraid. Why don't preachers preach the whole word of God? Because they're afraid. Why won't people get up and give their 10 minute sermon at the preaching class? Because they're afraid. Why won't people pay their tithe? Because they're afraid. Why won't people take a stand in front of friends and loved ones and stand up boldly and proclaim the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Because they're afraid to do it, and it's wrong, and it's not from God. It's the spirit of fear, and God said, not give us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. That's what the Bible teaches, Psalm 23. What else are people afraid of? People are afraid to spank their children because they're afraid they're going to get in trouble with the law. This one is something that's kind of near and dear to me right now, because the CPS was coming to my house because some filthy sodomite, and you say, oh, you need to love, no, they're filthy, they're reprobate, and by the way, AIDS is the judgment of God. And all God's people said, amen. Okay, so, I'm not afraid to say that. Did you get that? I'm not afraid to say that. And listen, these filthy sodomites, you know what, I can show you my email inbox. I went into my email inbox after the CPS and the police came to my house in the middle of the night, okay, I went into my email inbox, I just searched the word CPS in my Gmail, and you know, it's just, oh, I'm going to call the blankety blank CPS on you, oh, you hate homos, well, I'm going to call CPS. Oh, you're preaching against homos? Well, then you should have your kids taken away from you, and blah, blah, blah. And I, I better stop preaching against the homos for a while and just do a big series on the love of God because, you know, these people are really scaring me, intimidating me. You know what, somebody's got to get up and tell the truth tonight. And I'm telling you that most people are shying away from that subject, and that's a big subject right now. You know and I know that they are taking over and cramming it down our throat, and somebody needs to be the voice of reason and say, no, it's wrong, it's sin, it's filth. And somebody's got to do it, but they try to intimidate you with that, but, but here's the other thing though, the CPS will sit there and say, well, it's no, you know, it's no secret that we know, this is what they told me, we know you, Pastor Anderson, that you preach on spanking, so we need to make sure that your kids aren't being abused. And you know what they're trying to do? Scare pastors into not preaching on spanking? Because then it's like, oh, if I preach what the Word of God says, I'm going to have the government on my back and everything. But you know what, any pastor who won't get up and preach that we should spank our children is a liar and a fraud and a compromiser and needs to sit down and shut up and get an honest job and let a real man get behind the pulpit who will preach the book of Proverbs that says, withhold not correction from the child, for thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die, thou shall beat him with the rod, shall deliver his soul from hell. That's what the Bible says, I'm quoting scripture tonight, and you preach against spanking. No, the Bible preaches spanking. The Bible preaches that you discipline your children. That's what the Bible says. Is that what I, oh, is that what you think? Is that what you believe? No, the Bible said it. And if I don't preach the Bible, then I'm not even a man of God in the first place. What if I get up and just preach whatever I want? No, I've got to preach what the Bible says. Well, go to the New Testament. Hey, Hebrews 12 teaches the same thing. He said, if you are without chastisement, whereofal are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. He says, every son, what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourges every son whom he receiveth. Well, you know what? I'm not abusing my kids. I'm not harming my kids in any way. I'm just giving them a normal biblical Christian spanking like people have given for hundreds of years in this country. And you know what? I'm not committing any crime, but these people want to intimidate you today into not telling the truth. Well, you know what? They're never going to intimidate me. And they should never intimidate you. And if you say, well, I'm afraid to spank my kids because I'm afraid of the CPS, you need to stop fearing man and start fearing God because, you know, I would fear to disobey that commandment in the Bible that says to discipline your children. You know what I would fear? Oh, God's not going to bless my children. God's not going to bless... Hey, he said that if I spank them, I'll deliver their soul from hell. I'm afraid my children are going to go to hell if I don't spank them. That ought to be the fear. And you know what? You know why children who don't get spanked often go to hell? You know why? Because God is our Father in heaven, right? And if you think about it, if they have a father on this earth that won't give them any consequence when they do wrong, you know what they think? Oh, that's what God's like. I do whatever and there's no punishment. That's where this doctrine comes from. I don't believe in hell. It's from some kid that didn't get spanked. You know, that filthy faggot Rob Bell, I don't think he ever got spanked as a kid. This Christian pastor who says, oh, I don't believe hell's real and, you know, and this and that. Look, he didn't get spanked as a kid. That's why he didn't believe in hell. You're like, man, did your dad spank you that hard that it taught you about hell? I'm just kidding. You know, OK. But I'm just saying, you know, you can see how somebody could think that, oh, God doesn't punish. Why? Because their parents don't punish them. And there are children today, they're growing up and they're not being punished by the parents. And why? Because they're afraid to punish them in many cases. But you know, we talk about spanking the children. What about people who are just afraid to even have kids in general? Why are people not having kids today? I mean, you see so many people who want it because a lot of it is that they're afraid because you know what? It takes a lot of faith to have a lot of children because children are expensive. And when they start eating a whole burrito and a whole pizza in one sitting and they're eating a whole foot long sub. And I have eight children. And literally, if I stop and think about just how much it costs to feed them on a monthly basis and just how long they're going to live in my house, it's a scary thought. Like I try to just not even think about it. Like my wife was like, do you know how much we spend on food every month? I'm just like, don't even tell me, you know. And I'm just calculating. Oh man, this is crazy. It's scary that just the numbers, you know, and just huge pieces of meat are being brought into my house and just, you know, huge amounts of food. It's like one meal. And I'm just like, what in the world, you know? And they get to a certain age, they start eating like adults. And that age is like seven, you know, seriously. And it's scary. But you know what? It takes the faith of saying, you know what, I'm not going to fear. God said be fruitful and multiply. God said children are a blessing, children are a heritage of the Lord, fruit of the womb is his reward. God said that he'll supply all our need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. God said I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. But you know, it takes a lot of faith to believe that when you start looking at the numbers of just how much these kids are eating like locusts, just, you know. You bring home all this food, oh this is going to last, it's just gone. All gone. All consumed. And people today are afraid to have kids. Go to Hebrews 11. People are afraid to have kids today and so they disobey the Lord by not having kids. When God wants us to reproduce, God wants us to have children. You know, he wants us to see children as a blessing. But you know, you've got to step out in faith and do it. Not only that, look here in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 23. I love this little segment of scripture about Moses and his parents because it shows how the parents had the faith to do what was right and not to fear. And then that was passed on to the child. Look what it says in Hebrews 11 23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the King's commandment. They said, look, I don't care what the King says, I'm not going to sin against the Lord here. I'm going to preserve this child. I'm not going to have this abortion that they're trying to force on me of, you know, killing the male children. And it says they were not afraid of the King's commandment. Look what it says next. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the King. Notice how it's almost the exact same thing. The parents did not fear the King's commandment. And then Moses grows up, he does not fear the wrath of the King. So that was passed on from generation to generation. We need to set an example for our children and say, you know, we're going to do what God says by faith, and we're not afraid to do it. We're not afraid to preach right, and we're not afraid to go to a church that preaches. Oh, you go to that church? What are you doing going there three times a week? And oh, that pastor, he meant it as a fanatic. It's too radical. And, you know, what do you mean, you know, you spank your children? That's abuse, blah, blah, blah. I'm going to call the child protection service. You need to teach your children boldness so that we raise up a generation that's not completely spineless like the current generation of Christians is today. Look, Christianity today, 99% of Christians in this country are scared of their own shadow and they're afraid to do what's right. Look, I get up and preach this stuff about the homos and most people agree with me. It's true. But you know what they are? They're scared. It's not that I, look, if you look at most of my, if you look at all of my preaching, nothing that I preach is unique. It's all Bible stuff that a lot of people have said before. I haven't come up with any new thing. But you know, it's just a lot of people just don't say this stuff anymore. But they used to say it. But they just don't say it anymore because there's just a spirit of fear that's come. And we can't let this creep in. Now there's so many examples we could go down the list here. Turn over to Psalm 27, if you would. So many things that people are afraid of. Here's another perfect example. How about wives who are afraid to submit to their husband? Now you say, well, what does that have to do with fear? Because the Bible says, you know, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. The Bible says that the wives are to be good and obedient to their own husbands, that the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed. The Bible says that they should love their husbands, love their children to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands. I mean, there's so many scriptures, even as Sarah also obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord whose daughters ye are as long as you do well and are not afraid with any amazement. A lot of scripture telling wives to obey their husbands, telling wives to submit unto their husbands. Why do so many women not obey their husbands or not submit unto their husbands? Because they're afraid. And here's what they're afraid. Oh, I'm afraid that if I let him lead, he'll do something stupid, because I'm smarter. I mean, you've heard women say this, right? Well, in my house, I need to run things, because my husband, you know, he's stupid with money, so I have to handle it. I mean, there are women who think that. I need to run everything. Or well, if I let my husband run things, I mean, you know, he'd take us off the cliff, you know, financially, or take us off the cliff, spiritually or whatever. I mean, there are a lot of women who feel that way. They're just afraid of, you know, my husband's inept, he doesn't know what he's doing. So I need to, you know, I need to run things, you know, because I'm afraid of him. Or how about this, they're like, they're afraid that if they submit to their husband and humble themselves unto him, he's going to take advantage, you know, he's going to take advantage of that. He's going to abuse. If I give him that authority, it's like, excuse me, God gave him that authority. You know, but it's like, but women will say, well, if I give him that power, you know, I mean, that right there shows where they're at mentally and spiritually. If I gave him that power of being the boss, then I'm afraid he's going to abuse it, you know, and he's not going to use it properly. But here's the key words, I'm afraid. God told you to do it and you're afraid. Isn't this kind of repeating over and over with almost every area of life? Soul winning, God told you to do it, you're afraid. Tithing, God told you to do it, you're afraid. You know, preach the whole Bible, God told you to do it, you're afraid to do it. Spank your kids, God told you to do it, you're afraid to do it. Submit unto your husband, you're afraid to do it. It's not of the Lord. It's of this world that wants to instill fear in us. And so women are afraid to obey their husband. But in reality, what they need to do is step out in faith and say, hey, if the Bible says that I'm supposed to submit unto my own husband as unto the Lord, and I know that the path to God's blessing is through the door of obedience, that if I step out in faith, I just believe. And you know, you just have to sit back and you know what, let him screw things up a little bit. So what? God's going to bless you if you do. And you know, maybe you'll find out your husband isn't as stupid as you think. And maybe you'll find out that you know what, God is going to bless his decisions because he's the one that God actually ordained as the main decision maker. And I'm not saying it's wrong for the husband to delegate authority and delegate things to his wife. But you know what? The wife needs to be firmly the head of the home and he needs to be the boss. That's what the Bible teaches. But a lot of people are just afraid of that. Or they're afraid of what other people will think. Well, if I'm respectful to my husband in public, people are going to call me a doormat and they're going to be like, oh, you know, what's with her? She's respectful to her husband. She called him sir. She was friendly and polite. Now here's what's funny. I went out to a restaurant with my wife. And we were sitting at the restaurant and the waitress came over and was very friendly and attentive. And isn't that how waitresses usually are? When you go to a restaurant, they come over and they smile and they fill your drink. Hey, would you like anything else? And are you enjoying the meal? Everything good? And you know, hey, can I get anything else for you? And they're real nice and so forth. And this woman was serving us in that way. And I was thinking to myself, you know, what's funny is that the world respects a woman who goes and puts on a uniform, puts on a name tag and goes and serves strangers at a restaurant if she does a good job and is really friendly, really humble, really good servant, really quick and bringing everything out and attentive. You know what they say? That's a wonderful rate. Well, she's doing a good job. She's a good waitress. And they'll respect that. And they, you know, that's great. She's doing a good job. Respect it. But here's the thing. She acted that same way toward her own husband and treated that as her job and brought him dinner. You know, he sat down and she brought him the food and she poured his drink. Can I get you anything else? You know, smiling and friendly. They'd say like, what in the world is this, the 1950s, you know, the step word wives or what? You know, they would. Think about that for a while. So why is it that the world has brainwashed us that serving strangers is honorable and wonderful, but serving your husband will make fun of you? And say you're a doormat and you're, you know, you don't have any self-respect and you need to show him and blah, blah, blah. You know what? We need to cut through this brainwashing of the world and not be afraid of what people think of us and just run our home the way God told us to run it. And wives just need to step out in faith and say, you know what, if God wants me to submit to my husband, I'm just going to submit unto him as unto the Lord. You know? People that he deserves it, the Lord deserves it. He's the one who's telling me to do it. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments, I'll do it for the Lord. You know, and then you might find that your husband will love you more and that you'll love your husband more because you're actually on God's program and God's going to bless that. And the thing that you're afraid of, the scary, oh, the Jews that have fallen to the Chaldeans are going to mock me, you know, probably won't even happen. You know, your friends will probably respect you when they see you being a good wife. When your husband's not going to abuse you or take advantage, he's probably going to start treating you better. You know, when you start obeying, he'll probably start treating you better. Look at Psalm 27 verse 1, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. Psalm 3, you don't have to turn there, but verse 5 says this, I laid me down and slept. I awake for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. It's pretty easy to say that, but just picture yourself. You're in your house and ten thousand people have surrounded the house and they're all coming to get you. Could you say, well, I'm not afraid of any of this. I'm in God's hands. I know that I've done right. I laid me down and slept. You know what? When you can go to bed at night and put your head on your pillow and fall asleep and sleep like a baby, not because your life's perfect, not because government agencies aren't on your back, not because everybody loves you, not because you haven't been hated and threatened and are in peril every hour. You know why? You go to bed and put your head on the pillow and lay you down and sleep like David said and with no fear. You know why? Because you know I did what was right and God promised to take care of me if I did what's right and so everything's going to be great and let the chips fall where they may because you know what? It's up to the Lord what happens to me and He's going to protect me and preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom. Look, your whole life might be falling apart, but when you do what's right, you can go to bed at night, put your head on the pillow and sleep like a baby and say, you know what? I'm doing what I can. I'm trying to serve the Lord. I love God. I did what was right. You go to bed and you sleep peacefully and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. You just pray to the Lord and say, Lord, here's what I'm going through. Here's what's going on. We'll close with Psalm 56. I've done what I can, Lord. It's up to you now to protect me and you can have peace in your life and not live a life of fear. How do I overcome fear? Well, first of all, you just overcome fear in the sense that even if you're afraid, you do what's right anyway even if you're afraid. You do it anyway. And as you develop a pattern of doing what's right in spite of fear, you'll start to realize, hey, a lot of the stuff I was afraid of didn't even happen. Hey, I thought I went out solo and it was going to be embarrassing and actually was totally normal. It went well. Hey, I was afraid to get up and preach a 10-minute sermon. I actually did okay, you know, I mean, and you start developing that pattern. Secondly, you pray for boldness. You pray for boldness. And the Bible says, in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Look at Psalm 56 verse 2. Mine enemies would daily swallow me up. And try to put yourself in the scripture. Just think about this is your life. Take it literally. You're David. You have enemies that just daily want to swallow you up. You'd be afraid, humanly speaking, without the Lord and His Holy Spirit giving you boldness. It says, mine enemies would daily swallow me up. For they be many that fight against me, O Thou Most High. What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. In God, I will praise His word. In God, I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. Every day they rest my words and they're twisting my words. I say one thing, they twist it like I said something else. All their thoughts against me are against me for evil. They gather themselves together. They hide themselves. They mark my steps when they wait for my soul. I mean just imagine, people are just lying in wait. They're conspiring against you. They're laying traps for you. They hate you. Everything you say, they're listening so they can twist it. Shall they escape by iniquity? In thine anger, cast down the people, O God. Thou tellest my wanderings. Put thou my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book? When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back. This I know, for God is for me. In God will I praise His word. In the Lord will I praise His word. In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. This is the message tonight. We started out with a man Zedekiah who said, I'm afraid. Zedekiah, obey the Lord. You're going to be fine. Your family's going to be fine. Your friends are going to be fine. Your city's going to be fine. But if you disobey, it's all going to be burned. Everybody's going to be killed. Everybody's going to be suffered. I beseech you, obey the Lord. I'm afraid. Here we end on the man David who said, you know what? I will not be afraid. And that's where we need to be tonight. I will not be afraid. You start out with a sermon talking about the wrong guy that said, I'm afraid, I'm afraid. You need to walk out of here tonight and this is the, you know, I mean memorize the whole chapter for crying out loud, but at least just memorize that one phrase. Let that one phrase sink into your ears. I will not be afraid. I remember when I was much younger being in a really dangerous part of town at night by myself working. You know, my job had sent me into a real dangerous part of town at night and I'm by myself. I'm working. What's the natural reaction? Fear. Fear is real because you're in a really bad area. It's at night. You're by yourself. There's a lot of crime. And you know, I used to quote Psalm 23 to myself and I would quote, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. And when I read this passage where he keeps saying over and over again, I will not be afraid. I will not. It's, I almost get the feeling that he's trying to convince himself a little bit when you read this passage. Right? He's saying, you know what? He's reminding himself with this song. You know what? God's for me. He's reminding himself. He's asking the Lord, but he's also saying, you know what? The Lord's for me. I know God's with me. I'm not going to be afraid. I'm not going to be afraid. I'm not going to be afraid. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Look, you're going to have decisions that come in your life. And you're going to be like, you know what? I know I need to start going to church or I know I need to start soul winning. Or you know what? I know God wants me to preach. Or you know what? I know that as a pastor I need to preach the whole word and I've been holding back. Well, I've kept back some things. Or you know what? I know I need to submit it to my husband. Or you know what? I need to start tithing or whatever. I know I need to start spanking my children. And you know what? The bottom line is, the thing that's going to come in is this fear is going to creep in. And you have to just remember this sermon and just remember all these scriptures and just say, you know what? I will not be afraid. Whatever decision I make in my life, it's not going to be based on fear. It's never going to be based on fear because it's never of God. It's never. Look, how many? We could go to all seven. We could turn to all 727 mentions if you want of fear, afraid and frightened. And we could go through all of them. And you know what you're going to find? Whenever people fear, it's wrong. I don't care what you're fearing or why. It's wrong unless it's the Lord. The Lord is the one that we fear and Him alone. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.