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

Amen, the part that I'd like to preach on is beginning verse number seven there where the Bible reads, He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death. The title of my sermon tonight is The Fearful and Unbelieving. The Fearful and Unbelieving, but before I get into that subject, let me just give you the context here of what he's saying. The Bible says, He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death. So God is contrasting two different types of people here. One that overcomes, that becomes a child of God, and then the other who is going to have his part in the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Now what does it mean to overcome? Well flip back just a few pages to 1 John chapter 5 and let's define that term from the Bible. It's a term that the Bible doesn't use that often, but John uses it frequently in the book of Revelation and he also uses it right before Revelation in the book of 1 John. Look at 1 John chapter 5 verse 4, For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? So according to 1 John chapter 5 verse 5, he who overcomes the world is none other than he who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So what does it mean to overcome? Well according to the Bible it means to be born again. It says whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. What does it mean to overcome? Well according to the Bible here it means to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Now why is that called overcoming? Because there's so much opposition to the gospel of Christ. There are so many lies out there, false gospels, false doctrines, and just oppositions of science falsely so called. You have to overcome that in order to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the victory that overcomes the world is our faith. Now a lot of people will just kind of make up their own definition for overcoming that's not based on the Bible. They'll look at verses in Revelation 2 and 3 where it talks about overcoming and they'll say well overcome that means that you're doing works or you're living a good life or you're giving up addiction, you're overcoming addiction. They kind of just make overcoming be about all these other things but if we get a biblical definition it's our faith, it's being born again that makes us an overcomer which makes perfect sense that he says he that overcometh shall inherit all things and I'll be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. It makes sense because the Bible says as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. So it makes sense that the overcomer is the one who believes in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's talking about those who are saved. On the other hand the Bible talks about those who are not saved that they will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Now it lists a whole bunch of sins in that verse. It mentions some pretty big sins like murder and sorcery and the Bible says that these people will go to the lake of fire and most people would have no trouble understanding that but then he also says all liars and every single person in this world has told a lie before and so what this verse is illustrating is that all of us deserve to go to hell when we die but because God loves us even though we're sinners he died for us and he sacrificed his own life and through his death, burial and resurrection we can escape that punishment of hell. That's what it means to be saved, being saved from the lake of fire, saved from that second death. That's why the Bible says he that overcometh shall not be heard of the second death and what's that second death? That's the lake of fire according to Revelation 21.8 but that's not what the sermon's about tonight. I wanted to focus in on a few of the sins that are on this list here. The very first sin that's listed is being fearful. That's the first sin that's listed and there's a list of sins here and we're not surprised to find murder on that list. We're not surprised to find being a whoremonger on that list. Of course we wouldn't be surprised to find idolatry or lying on that list but I wonder how many people don't even realize that being fearful is a sin. Being fearful, it's the first sin mentioned in this list of things that would condemn a person to hell. He says the fearful and unbelieving and abominable and everything else. Now I find it interesting that fearful and unbelieving are mentioned in the same breath. Let me show you the connection. Go to Matthew chapter 8, first book of the New Testament Matthew. There is a connection between being fearful and being unbelieving. Now the word fear or afraid is mentioned in the Bible hundreds and hundreds of times. It's a major theme in the Bible and fear in the Bible is always negative unless you're fearing the Lord but the person who fears the Lord is not a fearful person. A fearful person is one who is scared of things other than the Lord. We're only supposed to fear the Lord. No one else. The Bible says fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. But fear thou him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Only the Lord deserves our fear but look how fearful and unbelieving go hand in hand. Matthew chapter 8 verse 18, now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him he gave commandment to depart under the other side. Look at verse 23, and when he was entered into a ship his disciples followed him and behold there arose a great tempest in the sea and so much that the ship was covered with the waves but he was asleep and his disciples came to and awoke him saying, Lord save us we perish. And he saith unto them, why are you fearful, watch this, why are you fearful oh ye of little faith. So you see how being fearful and unbelieving go hand in hand? Many arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm but the men marveled saying what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him. Now Jesus Christ in verse 18 had said we're going to the other side. Now if Jesus says that we're going to the other side we're going to make it to the other side. But they doubted Christ, they doubted that they were going to make it to the other side and so they woke him up and nobody likes to be woken up when they're trying to sleep. They come and wake up Jesus and he says, why are you fearful oh ye of little faith. Why don't you just believe that we're going to make it. Now the reason why fear and unbelief go hand in hand is because God has promised us so many times in the Bible that he's going to take care of us. He promised us over and over again that he would supply all our need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. He promised us that he would never leave us nor forsake us. He promised to protect us. He promised that the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. He promised that all things work together for good to them who love God and to them who are called according to his purpose and knowing that Christ is with us and that he's going to go to bat for us and that he's going to protect us and that he has sent his angels to guard us and protect us and minister to us. How could we be afraid of anything? Why would we fear anything if we know that God is our protector? The Lord is my keeper. Why would I fear anyone or anything? The only reason is if I'm doubting God's protection. I mean think about it. What if I had a little child and I'm taking one of my sons or daughters somewhere and they started to get nervous about something and I told my son or daughter, look dad's here. Dad's going to protect you. Everything's going to be okay. Then they continued to fear and tremble and say basically what that comes down to is they don't quite believe that dad is really going to protect them. Right? You know you're putting them on that roller coaster and tell them hey it's going to be fine. You're going to love this. You know why? They doubt what dad is telling them. See God has made us all these promises and only doubting those promises would make you scared because the Bible says in Psalm 23 yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Now look if you would at Jeremiah chapter 38 and while you're turning there let me point out to you the first mention of fear in the Bible. The first time fear is ever mentioned in the Bible it's a direct result of sin. Adam and Eve sin in the Garden of Eden and in Genesis chapter 3 verse 9 the Bible reads and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him where art thou and he said I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself and he said who told thee that thou was naked? Has thou eaten of the tree where have I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? Fear is a negative thing my friend. If you are fearful it's a sin. If you have fear in your heart today or any other day you should confess that to God and you should pray for boldness and you should rest on the promises of God. Now I'm a human being you're a human being there are going to be times when because of our sinful flesh fear enters in doubt enters in and I can remember many times and situations where I was afraid and I remember what I did was just I quoted scripture about God's protection. I quoted scripture about God caring for his children and the fear goes away because God hasn't given us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. So this is something that we should regard as sinful when we have fear in our lives. We are to have boldness, we are to have courage, we are to be brave and we're not to fear. Now Jeremiah 38 I'm going to give you a couple of different Bible stories that illustrate some points about fear and how fear can keep us from doing the right thing. Fear can actually cause people to commit sin. Look at Jeremiah chapter 38 this is a story about Zedekiah the king. Beginning in verse 14 the Bible reads then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the Lord and the king said unto Jeremiah I will ask thee a thing hide nothing from me. Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah if I declare it unto thee wilt thou not surely put me to death and if I give thee counsel wilt thou not hearken unto me? So Zedekiah the king swears secretly unto Jeremiah saying as the Lord liveth that made us this soul I will not put thee to death neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life. So King Zedekiah secretly brings in Jeremiah and he wants to know what the word of the Lord is. But Jeremiah tells him well if I tell you the word of the Lord you're going to kill me because you know you've already thrown me in prison you've made it illegal to preach the truth and so why would I preach anything to you you're just going to kill me. So Zedekiah swears I'm not going to put you to death just tell me the truth just give it to me straight doc you know what is the word of the Lord? So Jeremiah is going to tell him what the word of the Lord is verse 17 then said Jeremiah unto 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. That is a promise from God. God is telling Zedekiah if you obey me I will protect you I will protect your entire family and I will protect your entire city if you obey me. Do my will do what I'm telling you to do and you will all be safe and that's a pretty good promise you know there's a dangerous enemy menacing the land the king of Babylon and he's being told you your family and the whole city will be spared great. But verse 18 but if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans and they shall burn it with fire and thou shalt not escape out of their hand and Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah I'm afraid I'm afraid you see that he's given a clear choice. Do right and be blessed do wrong and face all these horrible consequences. Why is he afraid? Why? Because he doesn't believe God's promise because if he believed the promise then this is a no brainer. Do right be blessed but because he doesn't believe the promise he's afraid that if he does right bad things will happen even though God just told him if he does right nothing bad is going to happen in this particular situation. He says I am afraid of the Jews that are fall into the Chaldeans lest they deliver me into their hand and they mock me. So what is he specifically afraid of? He's specifically afraid of being mocked, being made fun of. But 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 this is the word that the Lord has showed me. And behold all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes and those women shall say thy friends have set thee on and have prevailed against thee thy feet are sunk in the mire and they are turned away back so they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children the Chaldeans and thou shalt not escape out of their hand but that shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire. Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah let no man know of these words and thou shalt not die. Now let me ask you this how many people do you think who are saved godly Christians have failed to do what was right in certain situations because they were afraid of being mocked? This exact situation I promise you there are people who thought about preaching the gospel or they thought about witnessing unto their friends or loved ones or witnessing to a co-worker but they said well I'm afraid of being mocked. See fear can often hinder us from doing the right thing from serving God and fear is based on one thing unbelief not believing the promises of God not trusting in the Lord. First of all we should be willing to suffer reproach. We should be willing to be made fun of for the cause of Christ if that has to be then so be it. Jesus Christ was ridiculed and made fun of on our behalf and we should be willing to suffer for his sake but the most interesting thing about this story though is that often the things that we fear the most never happen anyway the fears are totally unfounded and not only are our fears often totally unfounded but often by disobeying God will bring upon us the very thing we fear you see if God tells us to do something and then we don't do it because we're afraid God will often punish people by causing their exact fear to come upon them and nail them because they didn't obey for example a Christian decides to to hide their testimony and not take a stand for the Lord Jesus Christ because they're afraid of being mocked God would often cause that person to just be mocked for some other reason why because he doesn't like it when we disobey him through fear he wants us to have faith in him let me show you how this is fulfilled in the story flip over to chapter 39 so 38 is where he gets the warning let's see what happens in chapter 39 verse 6 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 so because Zedekiah disobeyed why did he disobey because he was afraid he said I'm afraid because of that not only was he punished his family and his whole city were punished the whole city was destroyed because of his disobedience but what's interesting is that the exact thing that he feared is what happened and worse can you imagine how terrible it would be to have your children slain while you watched and that's what happened to him his sons were slain right before his eyes and then they poked out his eyes so that the last thing that he saw was his children being slain but if you think about Samson in the Bible he was another character who had his eyes poked out why did they poke out Samson's eyes that they might mock him that they might ridicule him you remember what they did once Samson's eyes were poked out they said bring out Samson that he may make us sport we want to make fun of we want to have fun with him look he ended up being mocked he ended up being ridiculed he ended up having his children killed his city destroyed why because he didn't obey the Lord if he would have stepped out in faith none of that would have even happened go to second Kings chapter six second Kings chapter six and in my own personal life I can think of so many things that I dreaded so many things that I just worried about and fretted over and fretted over and I dreaded and they didn't even happen I mean have you ever had that happen where there was something that you were just afraid of and you're dreading and you're just oh it's gonna be horrible and then it turned out it didn't even happen and you wasted all that time fretting and worrying over something that wasn't even real a boogeyman a phantom I remember I was I was audited by the IRS you know and that's never fun right several years ago I was audited by the IRS and oh man talk about being stressed out and you're nervous and they're coming at you and I mean I'm just spending weeks and weeks assembling just piles and piles of documents and binders full of documents and sending over all the electronic files of all these documents for my business and for my personal and I mean I'm just thinking oh man this is just gonna destroy my finances because you know everything was fine at first you know it was stressful and a nightmare I get through the whole audit everything's fine they thought I owed them some token really small amount of money just over some legal fees it was just a small little thing no big deal but the small little thing that I owed them it ended up that you know I took it to a lawyer and the lawyer said well you know it was just it was just like H&R Block tax specialist they looked at it and they said well no you're right they're wrong you need to appeal this you don't owe them this money you know and they showed all the legal precedent and everything they said if you go to court you'll win you know you shouldn't pay this I was like cool okay so you know the couple thousand bucks I owed them I went ahead and appealed it right so then I send the appeal off and then I don't know I guess just to punish me I get it I get a letter like a month later like oh we're reopening the audit and they'd already gone over everything with a fine-tooth comb and determined that everything was legit everything was fine oh we're gonna read we changed our mind we're gonna reopen it like what in the world we just went through all this you went through the whole process we signed it all it's done it's over nope we're gonna reopen it and then they changed it they come after me and got me on just this total technicality crossing of the T dotting of the I okay and they're sending me all this stuff in the mail that I owe them like fifty thousand dollars they're like they're like well you owe us like fifty thousand dollars and we owe you like thirty thousand dollars I'm like what because they're like well over here you overpaid by thirty thousand and over here you underpaid by thirty thousand so I say to the guy like well doesn't that even out then if I underpaid 30 over here and I overpaid 30 over here like isn't money green does it really matter you know where it came from and they're like oh well no so basically we're gonna give you back the thirty thousand or whatever you know that you overpaid but you owe us thirty thousand but then there's penalties so now thirty becomes fifty thousand or you know what at sixty thou or whatever it was some crazy you know because they just charge all these penalties even though they had thirty thousand dollars of my money it was just the wrong thirty thousand I'm not kidding this is a true story because they didn't you know cross the T and dot the I and whatever I'm just like oh man what a nightmare I mean my you know my business is being destroyed you know I'm going through all this but you know what I went through that whole process you know I called up the you know taxresolution.com and explained to them you know I went through it but look I'm not gonna give you all the details and tell you just to make a long story short I'll put it this way I didn't end up paying any money not even one cent I ended up they gave me money and I didn't give them any money that's how things ended up so I went through months of this grueling audit and they're going over everything I do with the fine tooth comb and I ended up not owing them any money and they ended up giving me money back but I dreaded something it didn't even happen it ended up being a blessing I mean I was like thank you IRS man for the free money but you see how sometimes we dread and worry and oh man but you know what God was faithful and God actually blessed me and it turned out fine everything was okay you know we stress and we worry about things but God's able to see us through things and looking back I can see how it all worked together for good even though at the time it sure didn't feel that way it sure didn't seem that way but it kind of helps me to understand why our government is in debt so much because they spend all this time and energy auditing people and then giving them money instead of taking money from them you know so I get I was like well I guess this is why their finances are a mess you know why they're in so much debt but I'm just using that example just to show you how there are so many things that you worry about and they don't even happen you know I know that there are a lot of people that were nervous today about going to Verity Baptist Church they were nervous about protests or nervous about you know what could happen a lot of people stayed home just because of fear which is really a shame you know they should have been there to support their pastor over there but then you know the people who were actually bold and showed up you know what they said to me I you know my sister was there she texted me and said this was a cakewalk she said it was nothing you know because all the protesters were held at bay by metal barricades they were they were behind bars sort of like an animal in the zoo and basically they were kept at bay and they were able to go to church and and she said it was a great service everything was great great preaching great spirit but there's so many people who dreaded and feared you know people are nervous but everything turned out fine you know I'm not sure if anybody was nervous or not about you know how they were saying hey we're going to go down to Panera Bread and we're going to protest the soul winning marathon at Panera Bread you know people might have been nervous about that but there was really no need no reason to be nervous since only two protesters came and they didn't even protest they were too scared you could spot them a mile away because they were so effeminate but they didn't even protest they and they each had their own personal police officer you know I think the ratio of police at Verity today was probably like one per protester also you know everybody gets their own personal cop to protect them I guess but all that to say this the things that you fear are often just a phantom they're not even going to happen you know you just need to trust in the Lord now do bad things sometimes happen yes they do but God can work it out God can use it for good God will see us through God is faithful in the long run but I think that the majority of things that we're afraid of don't ever end up happening the majority of things that we're scared of the majority of things that we're nervous about don't ever even happen that person that you're going to give the gospel to and you're afraid that you're going to get made fun of you know most of the time you won't get made fun of presenting the gospel you go door-to-door soul winning you rarely will have someone mock you you you open your Bible and talk to that friend loved one coworker you rarely are mocked you know most of the time if you actually are a zealous Christian who really is serious about what they believe even unsaved people will have respect for you and think well hey at least this guy stands by what he believes and they're not going to mock you you know when you get mocked and made fun of is usually when you're kind of a middle-of-the-road guy because you're a joke at that point but when you're serious you're no you know when you're a serious Christian when you're a zealous Christian the world doesn't look at you as a joke they take you seriously because you take the Bible seriously so don't fear fear is often just a phantom you know the disciples would have been fine even if they hadn't of woken Jesus up they still would've been fine they were scared of something that was a phantom look at 2nd Kings chapter 6 this is a great story in the Bible it says in verse 8 then the king of Syria warred against Israel and took counsel with his servants saying in such-and-such a place shall be my camp and the man of God sent unto the king of Israel saying beware that thou pass not such a place for thither the Syrians are come down so here the king of Syria he wants to attack Israel and he's holding counsel with his generals about how they're going to do the attack and God reveals unto his prophet Elisha the battle plans so then Elisha is warning the king of Israel hey don't don't go there they're waiting for you they're going to ambush you there and the king of Syria is wondering how do they know our plans we must have a spy in the midst of us someone is betraying how do they always know what our tax strategy is look at your Bible there in verse number 10 and the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of and saved himself there not once or twice meaning many times Elisha warned him and he was saved therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing and he called his servants and said unto them will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel who's the traitor you know who's for the king of Israel here and one of his servants said none my lord o king but Elisha the prophet that is in Israel telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber and he said go and spy where he is that I may send and fetch him and it was told him saying behold he's in Dothan therefore sent he hither horses and chariots and a great host and they came by night and compass the city about now this is such a funny story because they're literally sending an entire army to arrest one man just the prophet Elisha an entire army is sent and surrounds the city where he is this reminds me of David in Psalm 3 when he says I will not be afraid though ten thousands of people set themselves against me round about David said if ten thousands of people are surrounding me I won't be afraid so let's see if Elisha is going to be afraid I mean Elisha has an entire army I mean think about it what if you're preaching just put yourself in the story okay you're preaching let's say in the city of you know Gilbert right you're preaching in Gilbert and you know that basically the US military comes and just surrounds downtown Gilbert you know and you're there and they surround the place the entire United States military just to get you they're all there you're totally surrounded okay let's keep reading the story therefore sent he hither horses verse 14 and chariots and a great host the whole military and they came by night and compass the city about and when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth behold and a host compass the city both with horses and chariots and his servant said to him alas my master how shall we do and he answered fear not for they that be with us are more than they that be with them and his young man's looking I'm like what there's two of us we're surrounded by an entire army and Elisha prayed and said Lord I pray thee open his eyes that he may see and the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha man wouldn't that have been a cool thing to see I mean wouldn't it be cool to be that young man with Elisha and Elisha says oh fear not we have more people with us and then God just opens his eyes to just chariots of fire and horses surrounding the enemy on the mountains we can't see it but it's there I believe that there's a great army of angels a host of angels surrounding us when we stand for the Lord the Bible says the angel of the Lord and campeth round about them that fear him not just Elisha no all those who fear the Lord the Bible says that the angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation and he said he maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flaming fire we have that same protection today literally you know people talk about the guardian angel it's biblical the Bible teaches that these fiery angelic spirits are there to protect us in reality we can't see them but they're there and this man was able to catch a glimpse of the spiritual world I don't even know that Elisha could physically even see what was there he just he believed it by faith but he said well you know show him he lacks the faith so show him and then the young man got to see that great vision of the chariots of fire and the horses and then I like how the story ends up it says in verse 18 and by the way if you believe that wouldn't that alleviate a lot of your fears if you really believe that there were angels and and you know angels with flaming fiery swords surrounding you as you go out soul winning as you go out to preach the gospel as you go out you know and into the the danger and peril of this world I mean wouldn't that set your mind at ease if you could see it but if we can see it by faith because faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen so watch what happens verse 18 and when they came down to him Elisha prayed unto the Lord and said smite this people I pray thee with blindness and he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha and Elisha said unto them this is not the way neither is this the city follow me and I'll bring you to the man whom ye seek but he led them to Samaria now it says here that he smote them with blindness there's two ways that you can interpret this you can interpret that they were all smitten literally blind but I I don't think that that's what it means because that'd be a little far-fetched that they would still be wanting to you know hey let's go still find Elijah Elisha even though we're totally blind what I think is that they were blinded basically clouded to the truth of the situation where he's able to just pull the wool over their eyes and just tell them this ridiculous thing oh yeah you're in the wrong town this is this isn't who you're looking for you know let me show you I'll take you to the place where you're gonna find Elisha he just reroutes this whole army he brings them to Samaria which is the capital city of the enemy Samaria is the capital of Israel so he basically just marches the enemy troops away from where he was aware from where he would be arrested he just brings them into the center of the capital city of their enemy where they're just completely vulnerable to their enemy and in verse number 20 it came to pass when they were coming into Samaria that Elisha said Lord open the eyes of these men that they may see and the Lord opened their eyes and they saw and behold they're in the midst of Samaria you know so whether and it's possible that they were literally blind but I think it's more like he opened their eyes basically they they saw the reality of whoa we're in Samaria you know they kind of snapped out of the trance that they were in or whatever delusion that they were under God sent some kind of a delusion upon them where they thought they're still going to to get Elisha and all of a sudden their eyes are opened they're in the midst of Samaria then the king of Israel said unto Elisha when he saw them my father shall I smite them shall I smite them you know what do I do do I just I just destroy this enemy army verse 22 and he answered thou shalt not smite them would as thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow he's saying you don't just kill prisoners I mean if you have prisoners if they're at your mercy you don't just slaughter them you don't just kill them all you wouldn't even do that if you'd fought a battle and won the battle you'd you'd take prisoners alive he says set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their master and he prepared great provision for them and when they'd eaten and drunk he sent them away and they went to their master so the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel I mean isn't that a great story you know he just brings them right into the enemy camp feeds them gives them water and they're just so scared and they're just so blown away by it that they just say yeah we're never going to go back to Israel again we're never going to fight these wars again we're just going to leave them alone and God gave peace now look this story shows us so many spiritual truths I mean so many truths in the story one great truth is that God can protect a righteous nation you know if God wants the king of Israel to be protected he could protect him how by revealing enemy battle plans under the prophet of God by smiting the enemy with blindness and leading them right in you see if we would do right in the sight of God as a nation God could protect us if we would do right personally God could protect us and this is God protecting a righteous nation at that time because the king at least was putting his trust in Elisha at this point and so he's protected because he's putting his faith in the man of God and his leading in the ways of the Lord okay but the other thing we can learn from this too is that the things that we fear you know God is able to protect us even when it seems impossible like how could God get me out of this situation when I'm totally surrounded well God can send all kinds of delusions on people and God can change people's minds and God can cause people to do strange things in order to protect you and get you out of a jam and let me just close with a few more scriptures on this on this idea of the fearful and the unbelieving why because the only reason you fear is because you believe that those angels and fiery swords and chariots you don't believe that they're there that's when you start to fear you doubt okay the only reason that you fear is because of unbelief in the promises of God the fearful and unbelieving now let me just give you a few scriptures on this in closing you don't have to turn there but Matthew 6 30 wherefore have God so clothed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you oh ye of little faith what's he saying don't be of little faith God can provide you with clothing God is going to provide your physical needs you don't have to fear and fret and worry about it God can take care of you Matthew 6 33 of course the famous verses but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you and that is talking in context about food drink and clothing God will take care of you if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness Matthew 14 31 is where Peter is walking on the water and he begins to sink and Jesus immediately stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him oh thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt Matthew 16 verse 8 which when Jesus perceived he said unto them oh ye of little faith why reason ye among yourselves because you have no brought no bread he's saying why are you so worried about the fact that you didn't bring bread I just finished feeding 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fishes you don't think I can provide our dietary needs oh ye of little faith over and over again Jesus is saying these 2 phrases fear not and oh thou of little faith fear not fear not so many times fear stops us from doing what's right stops us from witnessing unto people stops us from going soul winning stops us from getting up and preaching a sermon stops us from showing up to church maybe when things get a little hot when the persecution gets hot I just want to know how are people going to make it through the tribulation they can't even show up to church when there's 200 cops there and a bunch of metal barricades and the media is there like what do they think it's just going to be a bloodbath when the media is there and barricades are set up and there's 200 police and firefighters there and you're afraid to go to church but man you're willing to give your life for Christ and man you know I'll go with you even unto death and then you find yourself warming your hands by the world's fire and a little damsel comes to you and says weren't you with him in the garden also oh no I don't know what you're talking about I don't even know Jesus a little girl a teenage girl scares you when you just finish telling us all how oh you're going to stand up look if you can't stand up now when things get a little hot and I'm not just talking about the fact it's 120 degrees outside I'm saying when the persecution gets hot and you can't even stand up when the stakes are oh I might be made fun of oh my family might not approve or oh I could lose my job you know what I'd rather lose my job than my head I mean think about it what would you rather lose your job or your head I agree with you whoever that small child was yeah I'd rather lose my job but you know what God expects us to be willing to lose our head you can't even lose your job for the cause of Christ but yet in your mind you think oh man I'd be willing to lose my head for it no you wouldn't you know if you're not willing to live for Christ you'd never be willing to die for Christ you gotta be willing to live for him you gotta be willing to stand up when it's easy if you can't run with the footmen how you gonna contend with the horses I mean it's just people think that they're a better Christian than they really are is what it comes down to people think oh man I would do every you know if I was in the days of the Bible man I'd be right there in the front lines I'd be screaming into battle you know the victory is ours you know if the Lord's with us and the Spirit of the Lord would be upon me I'd be slaying Goliath and slate but it's like whoa I might lose my job because you know I go to this church or something you know that it's just it this doesn't make any sense people now you know I don't think that 99% of Christians need to lose their job to be good Christian see here's the thing when you go to work if you're a good worker you're gonna succeed at your job okay now a lot of people are lazy don't like to work hard don't give a hundred percent at their job and then their job basically you know I'll put it this way then they'll basically use their Christianity as an excuse for why they're failing at their job like oh I just can't get ahead you know because they're persecuting me over there for being a Christian you know I like I remember there's a story that was told me about a guy where he basically he said hey I'm not gonna miss church on Sundays you know to you know I'm not gonna skip church to go to work and amen you know I you know when I when I fill out job applications I put down that I'm not available on Sunday or Wednesday nights and you know those are the times I'm not available and I tell them hey there's 168 hours in the week I'll work all the other hours but I don't want to miss church I'm not going to miss church and you know I took that stand for many years and stuck with that for you know a decade or whatever you know before I was even a pastor not a decade before I was a pastor but about seven years before I was a pastor seven years where you know I didn't miss Sunday morning Sunday night or Wednesday night for work but I was told a story about a guy who told them hey I can't miss Sunday morning church and they basically told him hey you know they were working out of town about five hours away and they told him okay fine but you have to work your full Saturday eight hour shift and then drive back on your own time to church you got to drive the five hours you're not gonna get paid for the five hours there and five hours back because that's you going to church because you wanted to go to church and teach your Sunday school class that's you okay well the guy is saying well no I'm not willing to do that and then he loses his job he gets fired no I got to be at church well no that's at that point that's just you being lazy because you don't want to put in that 13 hour day and make that drive to get back to church you know if you're going to take a stand that says I'm not going to miss church for work that might mean you might have to do some night shifts you might have to give up some other primo days off you might have to make some other sacrifices you might have to put in some overtime you might have to get there a little early and stay a little late to make up for the fact that you want your Sundays off and you know that's how you succeed at your job folks is by working hard and giving it a hundred and ten percent the rest of the time and then saying hey I just want to go to church on Sunday morning Sunday night and Wednesday night your boss is going to understand that so we don't want to just hide behind religious or there are also some people who would go to their job and just walk on the job praise the lord amen hallelujah and it's like whoa buddy this is work you know this this isn't a revival meeting and then they say oh I'm being persecuted at my job because they won't let me praise the lord every five seconds or whatever well look you need to learn to be appropriate at your job and realize that when you're at your job you need to shut up and work you know and not just like well hey let's just stop working and let's just study the bible together on the clock well I've seen people do stuff like that and then they get in trouble and then they call being persecuted you know you don't just walk into your job and just start blowing off your mouth and just like you know obviously you have to use propriety and you have to realize that when you're working and on the clock you need to do the will of him that sent you your employer and make them happy and do what they want you to do and act how they want you to act and you know yeah you can win uh your your co-workers to christ though when it's appropriate you know when you're in the work truck driving to a job and the two of you are sitting in the cab that's a perfect time to to talk about the gospel you know on a lunch break that's a great time to talk about the gospel but what I'm saying is that we should be willing to give up anything for Christ including our job and I don't mean through these these foolish ways of losing your job but actually if it came down to well hey we just found out that you go to faithful word baptist church or verity baptist church you know well you can't work here if you go to that church you know at that point that's not your fault if they came to you and said that now you say would that ever actually really happen well you know my understanding is that that would be highly illegal because you know you're not supposed to have religious discrimination but you know I heard about a couple people this week that literally they were approached like that not at our church but in other bible believing churches that literally were approached with hey we might have to let you go because we found out about your affiliation and you know we're just we just love the LGBT which you know LGBT is a great slogan as long as it stands for let god burn them okay but but the thing is you know that's what it stands for to me but the bottom line is though that you know if we had to give up you know whatever a house a job you know friends popularity you know what if you look if you go to school and obviously you know I believe in homeschooling but I know we do have people in our church who do attend school you know and I did graduate from public school if you go to school taking a stand for Christ is going to cause you to sacrifice some popularity sacrifice some things maybe you're running the risk of being mocked or whatever but you know what though god expects us to be willing to give up everything for him and people want a religion today that costs them nothing they want to have the best of both worlds but we need to loosen our grip on the things of this world and be willing to give everything unto Christ to love not our lives unto the death and to be willing to give up earthly possessions give up popularity give up position and career and so forth if that's what god requires and just understand that look god's faithful he will take care of us he will give us another job he will give us what we need to survive and get through but we need to be willing to give everything we need to be willing to give up everything to put everything on the altar and say I'm willing to give up everything I'm willing to risk everything you know when we're doing what's right for the cause of Christ we shouldn't hold anything back you know we sent up a church van full of people to support pastor Jimenez but then a whole bunch of other people went up so it turned out it was like 60 people but somebody said hey you better not send that church van because if that church van is parked there and people know who you are there's a good chance that that church van could get vandalized up there you know what I mean because I said let's send the church van so that everybody can see that we support brother Jimenez let it be known that our church you know is up there supporting him we're not gonna hide that and they said whoa man that church van but I was thinking to myself you know what I'm ready to kiss that church van goodbye I'm ready to kiss this building goodbye now I'm not ready to kiss this pulpit goodbye alright I like this pulpit but you know I'm willing to I'm willing to kiss everything goodbye you know if the government came in here to shut me down and said hey you can't preach like that so you know and look in the Soviet Union and everywhere else where they go after churches they don't go after them and say hey you're under arrest for preaching the gospel they always find some other reason to arrest you they always find some other thing that you're doing wrong or whatever hey it's hate speech or hey you know you you didn't do the taxes right or hey you know just whatever dumb thing and if they ever came in here and and they wanted to shut us down and they put a padlock on the door and said hey we're shutting this place down you got to stop preaching this way or you can't have a church and and you know we're gonna audit you and you know what I would do I would just toss them the keys to the building toss them the keys to the church van and say it's all yours buddy take everything and then I'd go across the street and start a church called living word Baptist Church we don't own anything the only thing we own is that church van and I'm ready for it to be to kiss it goodbye I don't care if they took apart every piece of that van and stripped it of all its parts is just a skeleton sitting there I'd say praise God more rewards praise the Lord we've suffered persecute who cares it's just it's just a hunk of metal at the end of day this building can be replaced that van can be replaced anything can be replaced except for the one thing that can't be replaced is your boldness it's priceless cherish it that's what you ought to consider valuable your faith I preached on the campus about how precious our faith is that's what's pretty not not cars and buildings no no it's our faith and boldness that comes from faith I you know my boss I used to work for a guy in the fire alarm business named Tim and they put the boot they put the boot on his car because he had so many parking tickets but he would just even though he made good money he would always drive just the junkiest cars I mean he would drive like a six hundred dollar car and this thing sounded like a washing machine going down the road and I remember you know he bought this car for six hundred bucks and then we drove it for like forty thousand miles got in two accidents with it and then sold it for like four hundred you know and we and that was like the company vehicle I mean this guy was kind of a shady business guy but anyway I liked working for him it was fun but anyway he got the boot on his guy he saw them putting the boot on his car he literally tossed the keys to the guy who was putting the boot on said it's all yours buddy enjoy and walked away you know what I like that that's going to be my attitude well hey oh the IRS comes in and says we're going to come and take away everything that you have you know I just say I don't have anything that's what I told them when they audited me I don't own anything and they're like well let's see how much money you make how much you can pay us I'm like okay well I got nine kids it's like whoa what they're like well if you got nine kids you should be making just the minimums a hundred and twenty grand a year I'm like I don't make a hundred twenty grand a year so they're just like so I'm like so how about I pay you guys zero a month because that's how much extra money I have zero because they're like well anything you make per year above a hundred twenty grand you got to give us I'm like well I don't make that so I'm fine if you got nothing you got nothing to lose you know people need to loosen our grip a little bit on the things of this world now look I'm not saying to be irresponsible or foolish I believe in being responsible I believe in working hard I believe in in protecting yourself and you know I'm not saying just oh God's gonna protect me so I'm being idiot or something no I believe in carrying a weapon I believe in securing your home I believe in you know being smart with your money and and and being smart with your finances but you know what don't just get so hung up on the things of this world though where you don't trust the Lord anymore you know I mean just be willing to just be willing to lose everything just be willing to just lose just to just to lose everything and be like Job naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return the other the Lord gave the Lord I've taken away hey blessed be the name of the Lord you know what they can never take away your salvation no really matters to me my wife my children their souls what matters to me the church members that come here the friends the family you know that's what really matters and you know what the devil can't really take those things away from us you know so we just need to realize that and the reason that I preach this sermon is just because of you know persecution is a subject that's that's been on people's minds over the last few weeks and so when persecutions on our mind we need to think about the fact that fear is is is a sin now are we all sinners yeah are we are we of flesh so are there going to be times when all of us fear of course there are times when I fear but at least I realize it's a sin when I fear and I'll confess it and forsake it and quote scriptures to bolster my confidence because the Bible says the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken let's buy our cards and a word of prayer father we thank you so much Lord for the all the precious promises that you've given us in the in the word Lord so many times you've you've guaranteed us Lord that you are looking out for us you you've even got a full staff of angels and spirits Lord that are guarding us and protecting us Lord help us to have the faith to believe that and to have the faith that you will feed clothe and nourish us and take care of us Lord and I just pray that you would help every single person in this room Lord to banish fear from their hearts and to fully trust in you for their daily needs Lord and in Jesus name we pray amen