Faith's Answer to Fear

excited to be here today. I do feel like I have heard from God a few weeks ago and I told the church that I felt like the Lord had laid on my heart to talk about fear today. And it may be an odd topic on a on a day when we invite so many guests in, but I feel like in our culture and society today, there's a lot of fear and angst that's there. And I know I'm not alone in feeling all that. And I do feel like God has given me something for us today. I'm going to go to Psalms chapter 11 and read a few verses of scripture. And this is a big subject matter when we talk about fear. And this is definitely more more to deal with than I would have time in one message. But I I'm going to go with what I feel like God laid on my heart. Now, this is not going to be a message you're going to walk away and be like, "Man, Pastor Kevin just blew my mind." But I feel like what I have to say today is anointed from God. And I'm going to pray one more time over the next few minutes that all of our hearts and minds can be open to his word today. Will you help me pray along that? Jesus, Lord, we felt your presence from the moment we come into campus today. I know that you were here in a special way to do a special thing. I pray for the next few moments, God, that you could just open our hearts and our minds to receive what it is you have for us, God, and do what you do best. make our lives whole in Jesus name. Amen. Psalms 11, going to read the whole chapter, seven verses. In the Lord I put my trust. This is a psalm of David. How can you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? For look, the wicked bend their bow to make ready their arrow on the string that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold. His eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence his soul hates. Upon the wicked, he will rain coals. Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous. He loves righteousness. His countenance beholds the upright. And for just a few minutes today, verse three, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? And for just a few minutes, I want to preach on faith's answer to fear. The question is asked here by the psalmist. He's talking about the foundations that are there. And if they're to be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Not what shall, but what can the righteous do in these moments? If there's any psalms that I feel like parallels the day and age in which we live in, I feel like the 11th psalm is just such a song. Most historians believe that this was written either during the time when David was fleeing from Saul or during the time of Abselum's rebellion. What's obvious, I feel like, to anyone who reads this psalm is that you can feel the pressure and the stress that's in his life as he's talking about what he's facing in his life, which leads us to this obvious feeling of being fearful and afraid. Now, when we read through it here, there is something that jumps out to me, and that is that it feels like he's talking about everywhere he looks, high and low, there's something that's facing him in opposition, something that he feels coming after him. You can feel the fear, but also you can also pull out of this psalm the fact that David has faith. I feel like there's a lot of plausible reasons that were given to suggest that he's in a fight. And I feel like it's normal for every one of us when we feel afraid to feel that self-preservation mindset. Come on. You know what I'm talking about. Faced with opposition, faced with something that maybe seems overwhelming or insurmountable. I think it's a natural inclination, a natural reaction to all of us to go back to how do I protect myself? That flight or fight that's put inside of us. What do I need to do in this moment to survive what I'm going through? But I I'm a big believer that God didn't put us here just to be survivors. I I've read through the Bible many times in my life and never have I walked away with a with the comprehension that he only wants me to survive today. But I I've always walked away with to be victorious that that God is with me in all that I do. But when we get into overwhelming circumstances, that doesn't tend to be our natural reaction. Amen. So what do we do? What do we do the questions being asked? What do we do when our foundations are being destroyed? What are the righteous to do? Because ladies and gentlemen, we are facing foundational issues in our world today. A lot of what we are going through and a lot of what society is has is has is experiencing in our in today's climate in today's news reels in the highlights of their are foundational issues that we're fighting over when right and appropriate and it feels like everything that's moral and clean is being assaulted on every side. It grieves me at my core all that we're facing today. And I know that I'm not alone. What do we do? And I know this is such a politically charged environment we live in. It almost makes us feel like we got to be a little bit cautious in what we say. I don't understand why we're going through what we're going through. Why there's so much fear behind everything around us everywhere I look. If I'm not careful, if I'm not intentional, it just seems to come up on me and almost cling to me and gravitate to me. And I got to be careful that I keep my mind right. I don't understand why we're facing so many things, why there's such a gross abuse of power, why there's school shootings, and why there's moral erosion. and why there's assassinations and disrespect and open rebellion and on and on and on and on it goes. It seemingly that we've lost the ability to just be civil and able to sit down and have a conversation. What has happened to us? What is going on in our world? Ephesians 6 and2 says, "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood." I'm going to say that again. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness and heavenly places. It's hard for me to remember that when I feel like there's flesh and blood that's fighting me. It's hard for me to be reminded that this I'm not fighting the person, but there's a spirit in the day and age in which we're living and it's driving so much of what's going on in our world. I got to I got to remind myself that there's it's a spiritual fight. It's not a flesh and blood fight. It isn't about me putting my fist up and fighting with my neighbor or fighting with my friend or fighting with my family or fighting with my coworker. That's not what it's about. The enemy wants us wants to cause us to think those ways that they're against me. But I'm telling you, there's a spirit that we're fighting. What Paul was talking about as he's writing to the church in Ephesus is don't get confused. Don't get confused in times of persecution. Don't get confused and allow fear to drive the narrative. Fear is not writing the story. Fear is not writing the story. I refuse to let fear write my story. My God writes my story. He is still in charge. He is in control. He is in the one who's writing my narrative in my life. I have never feared an outside force conquering the United States. But I fear that we are setting ourselves up for a fall from within. And ladies and gentlemen, we cannot legislate oursel out of this mess. You hear me? We cannot legislate oursel out of this mess, but we can pray our way out. Right. That's right. We can pray our way out. Oh, I know there's a lot of things being talked about that they're tired of people saying, "I'm praying for this. I'm praying for that." I'm telling you right now, if anything has the ability to change the course to write a new narrative, it's when the men and women get down on their knees and cry out to a holy God. I'm here to tell you, prayer still has the ability to change the course of where we're facing in our life. And I'm not I'm not trusting in the government. I'm not trusting in who's in the White House. I'm not trusting in the United States of America. I'm not trust I'm for all those things, but that's not where I put my hope. My trust is in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. My trust and hope is in a kingdom to come. That's where I put my faith. And I'm here to tell you in the midst of fear, faith has an answer. Faith has an answer to there's something else that we can trust in today. The very foundational issues that have made us a great country are being undermined even at this very moment. The foundational issues of our spiritual life are put into question every day. And when the foundation is attacked and assailed, there are many people who would who would be lost in despair. But the psalmist says in such a times when the foundations are being taken away, what can the righteous do? Is there anything that we can do in these shaky times? Because I believe that everything that can be shaken is being shaken as the word of God says. There's a lot of uncertainty in our time now. We can we can pretend it's not there. We can we can put our heads in the sand, so to speak, or if maybe your household hasn't been affected so much. You have a way of just walling yourself up. I'm here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, it's going to creep in one way or another. You're going to have to face the issue of what's going on in our world. You cannot just hide away some point. We have to ask the question, how shall the righteous live in this present world? And the psalmist is dealing wrestling with this question. And against advisement to run, there was something down inside of him. There was a there was a voice of the soul who spoke up to the senses and said we shall not run but we shall stand. We shall stand. You see if our life is cast in a time when truth is slided and set apart. We live in a day and age in which the word of God is given no no authority that is there is put on common place with man's thoughts and man's actions. It's just a common book. It's just another historical article that we can go to in our life. We got to be careful of how we embrace what's going on. And here's where I'm at today. What what a great God we serve that he's allowed you and I to live in these wonderful times. You heard me say that correctly. That he's allowed you and I to live in these that he trust us enough to be placed in the time and age in which we're tr we're being placed right now. I'm excited. I'm excited about not necessarily what's going on, but the day and age in which we're living in. It's the church's finest hour. We got to be careful because so many things are being elevated around us. It doesn't make sense. Paul talking to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 2 10:12 reading from the New Living Translation to give it some today's language. He says, "Oh, don't worry. We wouldn't dare say that we are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are. But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as a standard of measurement, how ignorant." King James says, "Comparing themselves among themselves, they are not wise." Well, that is the world we're living in today, man's intellect. And I'm not against education. I like education. I think you should have education. But we got to be careful when we put man's intellect on even playing field with the word of God. We get into a very dangerous place when we say that we can think our way through important thoughts just like God has laid out. And we've got to be careful when we do that. We start eroding the moral foundation in which which God has laid for our lives. I'm going to push this beyond just the United States of America. For our lives to be built on. Amen. That's good preaching. If I got an amen myself, when morality is lowered to a base level, what can the righteous do? See, I believe the psalmist gives us faith's answer to fear's question. I'm not of the opinion the church should just withdraw withdraw into these four walls. No. No. That that's not what we're to do. We're not to seek safety inside these walls. That's not what we're do. It's the it is our finest hour. I'm of the opinion today that we should take advantage of what's going on without fear and doubt. We first of all have to be aware that that letting too many of us are letting the temporary triumph over the eternal. What we're facing today is just temporary. It's quiet in the church right now. I'm okay with that. I feel real good about what I'm saying. There's too many people who are caught up in the temporary news headlines right now and they're allowing that thing to be the what's crippling in their life. It keeps them from moving forward. Well, you need to get back and settle some things that are eternal in your life. God is for you. So, let me ask you this question. Do you have faith in God or faith of God? I'm going to dive into this pretty deep on Wednesday night, but I feel like I need to ask this question in order to get this message moving forward. Do you have faith of Jesus or faith in Jesus? It's a different there's difference. And you say, "Well, there's just one word." What? No, I'm going to show you. You can go you can go to the book of Mark. And the disciples were in Jesus were in a boat and a storm comes up and it says that Jesus is taking him a little nap in the back of the boat and the disciples are checking out. They are allowing fear to drive the narrative to the point that they go back and they wake Jesus up and they say to him, "Don't you care that we're about to die?" Now they had faith in Jesus. Why? Because they went and woke him up, but they did not have the faith of Jesus. That's why Jesus got up and rebuked him and said, "Why do you have so little faith?" Now, you you're going to struggle with that because you're like, "Hey, they had enough faith to wake you up." But he's getting to the point of why did you worry when I'm still in the boat with you? Do you think I'm going to die, too? See, I'm going to ask you the question again. And do you have faith in Jesus or the faith of Jesus? Because in this day and age, you need to have that settled. You need to have that question settled because there's a lot of stuff being shaken in our world. And we can have faith in Jesus, but we don't have the faith of Jesus. We're going to be we're going to be driven by fear to make decisions that cause us to not always do the right thing. Because the faith of Jesus says, "Hey, I know in the end it's all going to work out okay. I may not understand why things are going the way they're going. and I may not like what I'm going through and I may not like who's in the White House and I may not like all the decisions but I may to understand that that Jesus was not surprised by who's in the White House. You may not like the president right now or you may he may be your favorite and you may be the biggest fanboy. I'm going to tell you right now, God wasn't surprised. If you go to the book of Daniel, it tells you pretty plain that he puts in control who he wants in control and takes out of control who he doesn't want to be in control. So, I have to trust that I have the faith of Jesus. that he's writing the narrative the way he wants the narrative to go. That means I just throw my hands up and say, "Well, you know what? It's all going to work out in the end, and I'm just going to sit back and just let God be God." No, you got to have faith operating in your life. And you got to you got to be doing your part because I every one of you, every one of you, every one of you have a kingdom assignment. Every one of us have a kingdom assignment. So, I got to figure out what my kingdom assignment is and do my assignment and do my job. But, I got to let God be God. I got to let God be God. I'm not God. I'm not God. I got to get back over in my notes because it's important if I do. What we see right now and what we often struggle with is the temporary. I'm not going to be caught up in these temporary things and forget the eternal promises that God has already established in his word. Ladies and gentlemen, we win in the end. We win in the end. And I'm just going to here to tell you that this is how it works. Now, you can think about it any other way, but this is the truth. The Bible talks about the great revival coming in the end and great turning away. I'm just going to tell you right now, if the economy is great and everybody's comfortable and everybody has a perfect life, no one's going to turn to God. So, in order for things to get to where they need to be so that we can go to heaven, I don't know how you draw any other conclusion. and it's just got to get bad. So when things get bad, we cry out to God because that's what we do. We trust in God and we have faith in God and if hopefully we have the faith of God. But I don't know how else to draw the conclusions in order for things to happen the way they need to happen. It's not always going to be pleasant for us. In fact, when I read the Old Testament and the New Testament, every time the church grow grew by exponential numbers, it was under persecution. in Egypt, they tried to suppress them and try to push them down and try to make it harder. What what does the word of God say? And they grew exponentially. When you when you go into the New Testament and Rome's trying to stomp out this movement, trying to trying to squelch it, the harder they push, the bigger the church got to the point that they're saying, "Hey, these are those who've turned the world upside down where they're every time they try to silence the voice, the church got bigger. The church is going to continue to be successful. The church is going to be victorious." But understanding part of that process, we're going to face some persecution. Things aren't always going to go the way we want them to. It isn't always going to be comfortable seating and comfortable lighting and air conditioned rooms. I'm here to tell you that this church is not about the building. The church is about who's sitting on the seats right now. We're the church. Don't ever forget, we're the church. I'm telling you, there's a day coming in the not too distant future when the church is going to continue to be persecuted to usher in the latter day revival. It's going to be different than anything you could have ever imagined before. And if we have not settled the faith issue, fear will drive the narrative. And there's going to be a lot of people who are going to fall away from God because they're too afraid. I You got to be prepared, ladies and gentlemen, to have an answer for what fear is asking you. Faith will give you the answer you need. Hey, God has my back and he has your back and he's not going to leave us out there. He's not going to forsake us. He's going to walk alongside us. It may not look the way you want it to look and it may not happen the way you want it to happen and there may be some days you're a little bit uncomfortable. But hey, my promise is not here. My promise is over there. And if it gets bad here, I'm not going to worry about the bad here. Because over there is where I'm headed. I'm heading to heaven one day. I'm headed to streets of gold. I'm heading to a mansion. I'm heading to a place where there is no dark. There's an eternal light. I get to stand in his presence. That's what I'm looking for. That's what I'm longing for. I'm looking for the day that my savior comes back and he splits the skies and he says, "Come back and be with me. Are you holding on to that promise? My promise is not in the United States of America. It's not into a comfortable life right here. I cannot find myself being intoxicated with Egypt and forget that there's more on the other side for us. I'm not I refuse to allow fear to drive the narrative in my life when I have hope and a promise of a better one to come. I believe that there are many people who are being overwhelmed by these temporary issues and they're making them permanent problems and that is not the will of God. There's coming a day. There's coming a day when he's coming back for us. And in spite of what the world governments do, I don't care what happens to the price of oil or what China decides to do or not do. I'm not going to get caught up in that. I'm not going to caught up in the price of this or that or any other commodity. These things will not determine my eternal destiny. I'm here to tell you the reason I worship is because he's still on the throne and he's still in control. I refuse to be intimidated in these final hours. I'm inspired. I'm not going to be intimidated. I'm not going to back into a corner. I'm not going to put my head into a sand. I'm telling you, ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you, this is the church's finest hour. Don't be intimidated. Be inspired. We have a God who says, "I'll come alongside you." I'm not in this by myself. We're not in this alone. But God says, "I will be with you every step of the way. You may not see me sometimes, but I promise you, I'm orchestrating and working things out according to my plan." and according to my purpose to bring about an expected end. He knows what's going on. The government doesn't know. The government doesn't know what comes tomorrow. These world governments, they don't know. They don't know the next thing that's going to happen. They try to speculate, but they don't. But I know the one who knows the beginning from the end according to Isaiah. He knows. He's orchestrating his plan. It's in him I put my trust. It's in him I put my The one who knows. The one who holds all my tomorrows in his hand. I trust in that. truth and revelation. As Charles Dickens said in his book, A Tale of Two Cities, it was the best of times. It was the worst of times. I believe that's appropriate for us today. It is the best of times for the church at in the worst of times for society. I'm hanging on to the goodness of God. And here's the deal. I, you know, I don't know how the how it's going to unfold. I don't know. I, you know, I'm not I'm not going to stand up here and say I have a dead-on prophetic word, but there's a feeling inside of me that they're going to start silencing at some point what we can and cannot say across the pull pit, but it's not going to take away the witness, and it's not going to stop the church. It's only going to explode. I'm telling you, they may push at us, but this does not control what the church is going to do. You cannot silence the witness of God's people. No country can do it. No government can do it. They can't. They cannot I don't care what they outlaw. I don't care what they say. You cannot silence it. You can still go to work. You still go to school. You can still live out your principles in your life. And maybe they maybe they keep you from saying things, but they can't keep your light from shining. They can't keep your light from shining. You're to be salt and light everywhere you go. They may they may ban us from meeting like this, but they can't keep me from walking outside. They can't keep me from living the principles. I can't believe me from building on the truth that I know in this scripture. There's an answer to be had. We need to remember God's authority overrules man. God's authority overrules man. It doesn't matter what social media says or how society and culture feels. I don't care what governments do or what they approve. It's going to be God's authority that's going to overrule man's decision. Amen. Every time I've made up my mind that I'm going to live by the authority that's in his word. I'm going I'm going to build my life on this book. I know I talk about a lot. I bring this is a different Bible than I normally bring out here. I got several Bibles. I got way more Bibles than I probably need, but I like the word of God. This is this is what I build on. I don't build on man's opinion. Because let's be honest, there's a room full of people here today. I guarantee you, we all have differing opinions about different things. So, how can I build it on opinions when opinions change and how can I build it off of feelings? Because feelings change. My feelings have misled me many times. I felt it like Pastor Kevin is just knowing my heart. I know you know in your heart, you know what the word of God says about your heart, it's desperately wicked. Yeah. He was talking about your heart and my heart and every human heart that you can't know it. You can't depend on how you're feeling in the moment. That's why you got to determine that there has to be something in my life that's established, that doesn't change, that is settled, and has been settled forever. I don't have to defend this book. It's done a real good job all by itself. It doesn't need me. It doesn't need you. This is the word of God is forever settled. I'm telling you, ladies and gentlemen, it is this word that you and I will be judged by. So, that's why you got to put it in your life. Figure out what it says. Not bits and pieces. Don't orphan it. Don't take it just popular chapters here or there, but take it in its entirety. It's a hard book. It is. It's a convicting book. It'll get down in your life and sometimes it makes you a little uncomfortable with the things it says, but that's because it's under a magnifying scope. It's evaluating where you are. It knows your thoughts and your intents and it's trying to bring those things out to a point to where you can deal with the matters that you need to deal with. Because I'm telling you, you're not that good. Look at your neighbor right now. Say, "You're not that good." Now look back at your neighbor and say, "Neither are you. Neither am I. I'm not that good. I thank God that he still convicts me. I'm so thankful that sometimes I have that check and I'm like, "Oh, and I sometimes I got to go back and apologize. Sometimes I got to I got to do some reconciliation. Sometimes I got to ask for forgiveness. I need that in my life because I'm still human being. I'm still wrapped in flesh and my flesh is trying to drag me down every day and my enemy keeps piling stuff on me. But I'm thankful that I have a relationship with a God who says if you'll ask, I'm faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse you from that unrighteousness. Don't ever stop asking, ladies and gentlemen. Don't ever stop getting away from being a person who lives in a repentant life and a repentant state. You need it. I need it. I trust in his authority. Romans 5 and 20. Moreover, the law entered in that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace much more abounded much more. Sin's on the increase. The Bible says the hell keeps enlarging itself. But you know what I love about the reality of those things is that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. As bad as sin gets, grace keeps going bigger. Keeps going bigger. And man, do we need that in our world today. I'm thankful for that. So I'm saying to somebody in this room today, you may think that you have done more than grace can cover. Impossibility. It's an impossibility because even though sin may be abounding, grace is abounding more. Sin can't keep up with it. Somebody ought to be happy about that besides Sister Dy. God, ladies and gentlemen, God determines the end. Yes, he does. It's another thing that I've realized in studying this out and I've come to remind all of us that in the end it's in his hands. Not the rulers of this world, but in his hands. The end is in his hands. And I choose to keep my hand in the hand of the one who rules the universe. I choose to keep my hand in the hand of the one who rules the world because he will take care of his people. David said Psalms 37:25, "I've been young and now old, yet have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread." I came across this scripture the other day back about a month ago. I was reading in Hebrews. Hebrews 13. They can go ahead and throw it on screen. Hebrews Hebrews 13 and5. So the writer here and we can argue about who you think it is and who I think it is. But the truth of the matter is we don't know because it wasn't written. But whoever it was who wrote this, if you read it as it says, it says, "Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. for he himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So, leave that up for just a second. Whenever you're studying the scriptures, this is I'm gonna give you a little little little tip here. You got to ask questions. Always read the Bible asking questions. Always. Because if you want to get down to the good nuggets there in scriptures, it comes through asking questions. So the question you have to ask, at least in my opinion here, and since I'm the one preaching, let's go with it for a minute, is who's the he? Who's the he himself? Now, if you took the time, and I would encourage you later to pull this up, the he himself, because it goes in and we got something in italics. You see it? I will never leave you nor forsake you. That's in italics. So, it's a reference point. What's the reference? It takes you back to Joshua chapter 1. And Joshua is having discourse with the children of Israel because Moses has died and now he's in charge and he's reminding them of God's promises. But the struggle here in this verse is this happens a lot to us is New Testament primarily was written in Greek. The English language doesn't always translate well to what the Greek has to say. So we read it in English and it says, "I will never leave you nor forsake But if you went to the to the Greek and you and you took the time to translate it out, it would it would say this to you. And I'll make sure I got it right right here. It says this, "I will never never leave thee. No, never never forsake thee." Five times the word never is implied here. God wants you to know that it's not just I'm never, but I'm never never never going to leave you. I'm never never never never. There's a maximum emphasis is placed on the word never. Why? Because he wants you to know and understand there's not a possibility, there's not a reality, there's not a day, there's not a moment, there's not a minute that I'm never going to be with you. I'm always going to be by your side. I'm always going to be. You may not feel me in the moment. And you may have made some decisions that were not wise on your part, but it wasn't because I left you. It's because of a decision you made. But even in the midst of your worst mistake and your worst failure, I will never, never, never, never leave you. I will never never never never never never forsake you. I will never never never never never leave you. I will never never never never never forsake you. What a promise we have in God. He is with you. Faith's response to fear's question is my God will never leave me. Never in the darkest hour when I'm overwhelmed and over overwhelmed in my mind and I'm dealing with all the anxious thoughts are there. I need to remind myself he will never never never never never forsake me. He is always with me. God determines the end. It's not a act or arbitrary rule that's going to settle all this thing, but it's the will of an almighty God. So when the foundations are being destroyed and I have to ask myself the question, what do I do in that moment? Have a couple things for you and I'm going to bring this to an end. Number one, you need to remind yourself that you can trust him. Now, you may be saying, "Pastor Kevin, I don't even understand what you say when you say that I can trust God." So, I would I would ask you just lean in for a minute. Just lean in a little bit and see if he won't give you some understanding that you can trust him. You can. I can trust him. You can trust him, too. John 16:33, Jesus's words, redlettered words here. He says this, "These things I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace." What are you going to have in him? In the world you have tribulation. Everybody say tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. The word study on tribulation literal interpretation is a pressing pressure. A pressing pressure. Anybody identify with that? Anybody feel that pressing pressure in our world today? And you feel it. It's there. It's hard to run into somebody that's not experiencing that that pressing pressure. Time, schedules, juggling life, finances, relationships, all these things are coming. It's a pressing pressure that was there. And Jesus is saying, "Hey, don't be surprised by this." Okay? But I love how he starts it off by saying, "In me, you have what?" Because what is it we find ourselves often times missing? Come on. What is it we miss so often? We struggle with, right? It's that peace. I get all worked up, Joey. Yeah, I get a bad haircut. Joey cuts my hair. I'm just picking on him. You see what a good job he does himself. I get all get all worked up and nervous because something's not the way I want it to be. Cuz I have plans. Don't you have plans? I have expectations. Don't you have expectations? It's good to see you. Yeah, I got expectations. I got plans. There's things I want. And I'll be honest with you, I think I'm pretty good at planning. I'm pretty good at thinking through how my life should be. I think I got a good idea. I got a good grasp on it. Now, now what you need to do is ask me a question and say, "Hey, Pastor Kevin, has your plans always worked out good for you?" No. No, they haven't. I've made some really bad mistakes. And I were they were good plans written out on paper. I mean, it was thorough. I wasn't just I woke up one morning and had one of those bean dreams, you know, ate some bad pizza and wake up with a revelation one morning. That wasn't what I'm talking about. Like wellthoughtout stuff that I acted on that just turned out to be terrible. But I'm thankful that I don't have to live my life based off of my plans. That I got a God who has a plan for me. And guess what? Here's a secret. Y'all ready for a secret? He has a plan for you, too. Not just me. Not just Look, look. I know I know sometimes people think this way, but it's not just for pastors. It's not just for the ministry. It's for everybody. Because the reality is everybody's a minister. You're a minister, right? Yeah. You know, you're a minister, man of God. Baptize your sister. Yeah. You You have a ministry. But the enemy, he loves to use fear. What was the first emotion ever identified in scripture? Genesis chapter 3. Adam, where are you? Lord, I heard you and I was the very first time it was fear. Fear. And it's still in his playbook to use fear. Fear causes us to make emotional responses. Fear drives the narrative in the direction always away from God. What does fear make us do? Fear makes us go and hide. Right there in Genesis 3, I heard you. I was afraid because I was naked and I went and did what? I hid. And the enemy is like always putting the fear on you because he knows if I can get you afraid enough, you'll go hide. It's the opposite of what you're supposed to do. Wow. What you should do is remind yourself in the moments I'm most afraid is to run. Yes. Is run. Run where? Where? Pastor Kevin? into the arms of a loving God who has never never never never never left you, who never never never never forsakes you. So the answer to fear's question is, I don't have to be afraid. I don't have to be afraid of you. And if I do find myself allowing the fear to seemingly overwhelm me, I'm going to turn to my God and he will embrace me where I am. You got to learn to trust him. 2 Timothy 2, excuse me, 2 Timothy 1:7. For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and of what? You see that? He said, I don't give you fear. That's not what I give. I give you sound mind. I give you something you can work with. I love I'm going to skip down to verse number 12 of that chapter. Says, "For this reason also, I suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed. For I know in whom I have believed." Listen. Look, look, look. He's writing to young Timothy. I have believed and I am persuaded. Everybody say persuaded. Look, look at the words that he is able to keep what I have committed. Terry Freeman, what I bring to him. So, what Paul says is this. This is where this is where you get the maturing, okay? This is where you get the maturing with God is you realize that when I get afraid, you know, I'm afraid I'm going to lose something. I'm afraid he's coming against my family. I'm afraid he's coming against my health. I'm afraid he's coming against my job. I'm afraid he's coming against my finances. I'm afraid he's coming against my marriage. Whatever you're afraid of, Paul says, "Commit it to him. For I am persuaded that whatever I commit to him, do you see it? He's able to keep it until that day, he can keep. Throw that verse back up there. I'm here to tell someone, faith's response to fear is, I don't have to worry about what you're trying to steal from me and what you're trying to take from me. I'm going to take it and I'm going to run to my father and I'm going to put it in his hands. He holds my tomorrow and he knows what I'm facing and he knows what I'm going through and he knows and I am persuaded. I am convinced because of his goodness and his mercy. I'm convinced because of his word and his faithfulness that he can keep what I give him until the day until what? Until the day he comes back to take me home. What is faith's response to fear is? I'm not going to be afraid of you because I'm going to take what's important and I'm going to give it to the one who can hold it and who can keep it until he comes back. That's the faith of God is to live it out in your life every day. Now, here here's the last part and I'm past my time, so forgive me, but I feel like it's important that we end correctly. Amen. We don't want to end bad. You don't want to pull the pie out before it's done. then it's just a gooey mess. King David was a man who was no stranger to fear in troubled times. And he gives us the recipe on how we handle fear in Psalms 34. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My should make his boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord in me and let us exalt his name. I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from what is faith's response to fear is I'm going to worship my way out of this anxiety. I'm going to worship my way out of this fear. I'm going to worship my way out. And you know what the psalmist he realized that sometimes it it's so overwhelming that I can't do this by myself. So he said, "Oh, magnify the Lord with me." Look, maybe you don't need this, but I got a bad thing going on in my life, and I'm being tempted right now by a lot of stuff, and fear is trying its best to me, but I want to fill my mouth with praise and maybe I'm not strong enough on my own, but oh, magnify the Lord. Can you worship God with me? Maybe this isn't about you today. Maybe it's about your brother or your sister. I feel like today we need to end on a worship service. stand in this place because faith has an answer to fear's question. I refuse to be intimidated by you. I've come too far in my walk with him to turn around now. My God has been faithful and he is true and I've read in his word that he will never never never never forsake me. He will never never never never never leave me. So I have no worry. I'm going to take what I and I commit it to him and he will see me through. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together in this place. We're going to worship God in just a minute. If you want to, this altar is open. There's going to be ministry is going to pray for you. If you need to leave because of the time, you can head out. We're just going to spend a little bit of time in worship because I know that one of the main responses to fear's question is, I refuse to not worship God in my life. So, let's worship God together today.