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So you're there in Proverbs chapter 3, and the verse really that I'm focusing on is verse 25 there. It says, be not afraid of sudden fear. And the name of my sermon this morning is, Fear Not. Fear Not. And I think that in this time of uncertainty or civil unrest, if you will, there's a lot of fear. And there's fear among the unsaved, which you can understand, but there shouldn't be fear among the saved. Okay. And that's what I want to get into is that, and there's a lot of things that you could be fearing. Okay. So meaning this is that when it comes to the coronavirus, right, I personally not afraid of that at all. Okay. I'm not even like, I haven't even given that a thought of being afraid of that. And that's just me personally. Maybe you're different. Okay. So this is a sermon that could maybe hit you on a different level as far as what you're afraid of. I, if I were to be afraid of something, it's more so of the government doing more than what they should and taking away our rights. Okay. Because I was here when 9-11 happened, you know, and I, and you know, just history repeating itself and all that. So I think that's where a lot of Americans are probably at right now. As far as not, I mean, I would say most conservative Christian Americans are probably more in the fact of like, don't take my liberties. And that's the fear. Okay. But either way you slice this is that we should not be fearing. Okay. I don't care if that is the fear that shouldn't, that's not a legitimate thing to fear. That doesn't mean that we don't address it. That doesn't mean that we don't talk about it. That doesn't mean that we don't, we don't speak up against certain things like that, but you shouldn't be fearful. Okay. Notice, look in verse 19 there. I just want to step back a little bit in this passage and then kind of come back to that, to that verse there. But verse 13 it says, So when it comes to this, you know, we're talking about having the wisdom and knowledge and discretion of the Lord. When you have all of that, you should be sleeping like a baby. Okay. I'm just going to be honest with you. I haven't lost sleep over any of this. Okay. I've been, I've been sleeping like a baby. Okay. Meaning that, and like I said, I'm not saying there aren't things where people would say I'm afraid and wouldn't maybe have a legitimate reason to say that. But what we need to come back to is that our trust is in the Lord, that we have God on our side, and that the fact that we need to be not worried, not fretting, not being afraid, and not fearing what man can do unto us or what some outside force can do unto us. And that's when it gets into verse 25. It says, Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken. So, you know, if I had, you say, why, you know, what's this coronavirus doing? Well, it's probably the judgment of God, if you wanted my real true opinion about it. Okay. Meaning this is that would it really surprise you if God was judging our nation because we kill 3,000 babies a day? Would that be a big surprise? Or other nations. You know, you think of like Europe and China. China is a wicked country, my friends. Okay. And I'm not saying like I'm here to say, well, glad they're all dead. You know, I'm not here to say that. Okay. What I'm saying, though, is that what it what the Bible is saying here is don't be afraid of sudden fear or when the wicked are becoming desolate. Okay. Meaning that if this is a judgment of God. Okay. You know, in that what it's saying is don't be afraid of that because God, you know, the Lord is your confidence and he'll keep you from being taken. Okay. And I think of sudden fear in this. I think of things where something happens real quick and you're just like afraid. You know, you don't have all the facts. You don't know everything that's going on. And my general rule, and I think this is a rule that should apply to everybody. Meaning this is that don't worry about things you can't control. If you can't control it, what's the point of worrying about it? Okay. Does that make sense? Like if you can't control, you know, something that's going on, is worrying going to help anything? Okay. I'm not saying it's not going to be bad. Okay. But worrying about it isn't going to help anything. Anybody that knows when you're dealing with with work or a project or something like that. Let's say just everything hits the fan and you're just like everything's just going haywire. Everything's going wrong. The wrong thing to do is panic and be afraid and be like, what are we going to do? You know, just go crazy on that. You're wasting time. What you're doing right there, you're wasting time. What you should be saying is that, yeah, this sucks. Okay, let's figure out some solutions. Let's figure out what we're going to do. And worrying and panicking and, you know, getting all irate is not going to help the situation at all. Okay. And so you need to be cool, calm and collected, even if things are going bad. Okay. And not fearing. Okay. Fear is only going to cripple you. Okay. And here's the thing. A lot of times when we fear about things, it ends up being nothing. And then you just lost years of your life worrying about stuff. Okay. So and I'm not saying, you know, there's not legitimate things to be concerned about and to deal with. Okay. But like I said, things that you can't control. Well, don't worry about that. Okay. All the economy's crashing. Can you control it? Are you going to fix Wall Street? Are you going to fix this? You know what I say to the fiat, you know, basically fake economy that we have. Maybe it needs a crash and burn and we can have a legitimate currency again. Okay. You say, well, you know, then we're all going to be affected by that. We're all going to be out of jobs. Listen, I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. That's what it said. That's what David said in the Psalms. So, you know, yeah, it can be bad. But here's the thing. We need to not fear about those types of things, especially because you can't control that. Okay. It's like everybody's watching the news is like, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? You can't do anything. So why are you worrying about it? Okay. You're not in that position. You're not in the position to make any type of judgment calls or anything like that. So you know what? Why worry about it? You know, that's one good reason not to be in leadership in the country right now. Right. Because you don't have to worry about making those decisions that are going to affect everybody for tens of hundreds of years maybe, depending on what you did with your policies. Okay. Now, when it comes to this, Christians should definitely not fear death. Okay. Go to Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1. When I see stuff like this happen, you know what I see is really how everybody's attached to this world. And as far as the items of this world. And as Christians, we should be looking at, you know, as far as the fact that, hey, to be, to depart and be with Christ is far better. And we're not afraid of death. Okay. As Christians, we know we have eternal life. We know that no matter what happens, we're going to be in heaven. So we have this ultimate joy that's within us that should keep us from fearing. Okay. Meaning that if everything, if all hell broke loose and just everybody in America died, well, then we're all in heaven. You know, those of us that believe. So, but, again, that's ridiculous. Okay. To say that that's going to happen, you know. And one good point that, you know, someone brought up as far as if America is Babylon, then you know that America is going to still be prospering even after the rapture. Actually through all the wrath. Okay. So, whoever the Babylon is, you know, it's still going to be going strong. You say, well, maybe it'll crash before that three and a half years is really going to get that back up to where, you know, or even seven years if you're going to say that, that's going to get it back up to that through famines and pestilences and wars and, you know, everything that's going on. No, I think that the Babylon is going to be so powerful that even through all the pestilences, the wars and all that stuff, that it'll still be a luxurious society that is basically wanting all these extra things, right. Cinnamon, odors, you know, all these different things that talk about these precious vessels of ivory and wood and all that, that people are trying to sell to that country. And so, that being said, I kind of look at this and be like, well, you know, if it is bad, it's probably not going to be that bad here. Okay. I'm just giving you some ideas as far as why I don't worry about that, you know, as far as stuff going on, you know, especially being in America. Okay. Now, Revelation chapter 1 and verse 17 here, notice what it says. It says, and when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not. Now, this is Jesus talking here, and this is a phrase that's brought up a lot in the Bible. And, no, I'm not going to go to every place that's mentioned in the Bible this morning, but it's mentioned a lot. Fear not, fear not, or be not afraid. Those are those phrases that the Lord is constantly saying to us is not to fear. But Jesus is saying, fear not, I am the first and the last, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. Okay. So, why don't we fear? Because Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and we know that because he rose from the dead, we have salvation through his name. And that we have eternal life, we have the gift of eternal life that he purchased for us because he did that. That's why we're not to fear. Now, go to Hebrews chapter 2. People that are not saved can't have that confidence, and they should be afraid. Okay. So, I'm not saying all America fear not, okay, because you should be afraid of death. As believers, we're not afraid of death, though. So, ultimately, what we're going to get to, though, is that we're not to fear what man can do unto us, we're to fear what God. You know, we're supposed to fear God. Okay, so we need to have fear in the proper place, and I think what most people are fearing, though, is not God. If you looked at America right now, as far as what they're afraid of, they're afraid of the economy crashing, they're afraid of getting this virus, they're afraid of the government coming after them, taking their rights, taking their guns, taking whatever. It's not God that they're fearing. Okay. And as Christians, we don't want to fall into that same trap. And listen, you can get into that trap. You watch the news. Listen, the news is a bunch of fear-mongering morons that just want ratings. They are literally trying to profit off of this catastrophe or this crisis. They love it. They probably don't want this crisis to end, you know, because they are getting so many ratings because people are watching the news so much now. I don't have cable, so if I watch something, it's like a clip on YouTube or something like that. But all that to say is that I don't believe a word that comes out of most of these news anchors' mouths because they're just trying to get ratings. They're sensationalizing everything. They're trying to divide everybody. And even now, they're just like, you called it the Chinese virus? You called it the Wuhan Chinese virus? You called it that, you big morons. I mean, the same people that are like saying, well, you're saying it's the Wuhan, that's racist. No, you just said that because that's where it came from. And even now, through this crisis, these morons are still trying to divide everybody and try to make everybody about their skin color and all this garbage. Anyway, Hebrews chapter 2, notice what it says in verse 14. Notice in verse 14 there. It says in verse 14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. Notice in verse 15, and deliver them who, what? Through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. See, before we were saved, before we had that confidence in the fact that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life, we were living in fear. I was that way. I'll tell you why I got saved. I was afraid of death and hell. And that's legitimate. It's not saying it's not legitimate for them to be fearing death. They should fear death because if you die in your sins, you're going to go to hell forever. And you're condemned. So, that being said, you can understand people being afraid of death when most of America is not saved. You can understand that fear of death and the coronavirus or the economy crashing or the government coming in and stepping in and locking into your house or killing you or something like that. And you can understand that fear from an unsaved person, but from a saved person, this should not be the case. From a saved person, you should say, if God be forced, who can be against us? And, you know, when it talks about this in Proverbs chapter 3, if you remember, it kept saying, you know, if you have this wisdom, if you have God, and it says, you know, so shall they be life unto thy soul and grace to thy neck, talking about wisdom, talking about, you know, the ordinances of God, the commandments of God. It says, then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou lies down, thou shalt not be afraid. Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. This isn't automatic for a Christian, meaning this, is that if you're too busy looking at news articles, looking at everything that's going on in the world, and you're not reading the Bible, and you're not in prayer with God, then you're not going to be, your sleep's not going to be sweet. And you're not going to be, basically, confident and not afraid. You're going to be afraid as a Christian. What you should be reading is what the Bible says on this when it says, like, 62 times in the Bible, fear not. That doesn't count. Fear thou not. I'm just talking about the phrase, fear not. But then you have, you know, be not afraid. Just constantly saying, don't fret, don't be afraid, don't fear. And that's, what I want to do with this sermon is give you confidence in the Lord to say, hey, listen, I shouldn't be afraid this time. Whatever happens. Okay? I should be confident in the Lord. And to me, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not, I don't think this thing's going to last that long. I don't believe that, you know, because this is the scare. Everybody's like, force vaccinations. Try it in West Virginia. I'm just being honest with you. You know, the scares that they put out on people, though, to say, well, we're going to force vaccinate people. Or we're going to do martial law, and we're going to weld your door shut. This isn't Communist China. Okay? You know, the society that we live in right now, I don't have, listen, yeah, do I have lots of faith in a lot of people? Yes. To a certain extent, right? But again, there's still a lot of red blooded Americans here that this isn't just a Christian fight. You know, when it comes down to this, this is not just like, well, the Christians have to stand up or no one will. Are you kidding? I think that the people that aren't Christians are going to be the ones that are going to take it to their face more than anybody else. Because the people that aren't saved, this is their life. This is all they got. Okay? Because we ask Christians to say, well, you know, this isn't our home. You know what I mean? Like, you say, well, we lost our rights, but we're just trying to do what we can do. We're going to go to heaven. This isn't it. People that aren't saved, this is it. Okay? So, you know, if you want my opinion, who's going to step up probably to this more than anybody else? Or those that are afraid of death and that are afraid that the government is going to do this more than anybody else. Okay? I'm not saying I wouldn't be for them, you know, as far as like them fighting, you know, the government and overreaching their bounds and all that. But what I'm saying is that I don't see that happening. Okay? Now, Matthew chapter 10. Go to Matthew chapter 10. And I'll say this, too. This is a good time to be in a good church. Okay? Meaning this, is that being around believers, you know, you say, well, the economy crashes. What if I lose my job? What if this happens or that? Listen, if you're working hard and you're doing what you should be doing, you know, people will take care of each other. Okay? That's one great thing about having a church is the fact that we may not all be suffering the same way and some of us may not be losing our jobs like other people are losing their jobs. And, you know, this is a good time to know like this is why, you know, a good reason for the church to be here to help everybody. Okay? This is not a time to get away from the things of God. Okay? And I'm not talking to people that are at home right now that are taking it safe or they're sick or something like that. That's not who I'm talking about right now. I'm talking about people that are like, I'm giving up on Christianity. I'm not going to do anything else anymore. You know, nuts to this. I'm just going to stay home and be a hermit and, you know, go in my hobbit hole and never come out. You know, this is a time that you should be getting closer to God. Okay? Because if you don't want to fear, you need to be right next to the Savior. I've set the Lord always before me because He is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. If you want to feel safe and you want to not fear, have the Lord right at your right hand. Read through the book of Psalms this week and then tell me that you're afraid. I challenge you. I challenge you to read through the book of Psalms. I challenge you to read through the book of Revelation and be afraid when you see all the promises that God gives His people through that time. And so even the hard times that Christians go through, I challenge you to look at all the major prophets and what they went through and then see if they didn't come out unscathed. That follow the Lord without faltering. Okay? You say, what about my children? I'm afraid about my children. That's legitimate. Okay? Meaning this, is that if I, listen, before I had, I was married and had children, I didn't care about anything. Meaning like I wasn't afraid of anything. Meaning this, I rode a motorcycle. I didn't care. Like I was just like, you know, whatever happens, happens. You know, I was just not afraid of things. Okay? When I had children, then the fear came. Okay? And I'm not saying this is legitimate fear. Meaning this is that I should be not fearing. You know, I should be trusting in the Lord. But I'll say this, if there is something that I have to work on when it comes to fear, it's fear that something would happen to my children. Okay? When it comes to any of this stuff, I mean, if the government overreached their bounds or if the coronavirus or, you know, anything that would go on, my children are what I'm afraid about. Okay? And this is something I'm constantly in prayer with the Lord saying, Lord, take away that. You know, give me confidence. Give me, you know, that assurance that you're going to take care of everything. And so, you know, if you want to know my, if I had a fear that I would be fearing, it's like that something would happen to my children or I can't provide for my children, right? You know, something would happen to where I couldn't protect them or whatever. Outside the coronavirus, I mean, you think of children being kidnapped. You think of all the crazy stuff that goes on in the world. And you know what? You know what I do? I take it to the Lord in prayer. I put it on the Lord and say, Lord, I am trusting you to take care of my children and make sure that does not happen. I have confidence and I'll basically just tell the Lord, I have confidence that you will not let that happen. And I put it on the Lord. Okay? I'm not, I'm not tempting the Lord. I'm not trying to like, you know, basically test the Lord or anything like that. What I'm doing is saying, Lord, I'm relying on you to do this and I believe the Lord will follow through. Okay? So that being said, I can understand people having fears, but what we need to do is to try to get rid of that fear. Okay? Trust in the Lord. None of us are immune from having fear. Okay? But what the principle of the Bible is, is that we should not have that fear. Okay? And that we need to be working on that all the time. So in Matthew chapter 10 verse 24 here, Matthew chapter 10 verse 24 it says, The disciples not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Fear them not therefore for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness that speak ye in light and what you hear in the ear that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear them not which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore for ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. The reason I want to read those last two verses there, this is not talking about him denying us entrance into heaven or denying us eternal life. What this is talking about is that if you want these promises that God is taking care of you as a Christian, you need to be following him. Not denying him. What this means is that all things work together for good. For them who love God. For those who are called according to his purpose. And so in that, loving God is not how we get saved. If you love me, keep my commandments. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. And the fact is that if you want this protection and you want this assurance to not be fearing what man is going to do unto you and not fearing the things that come in this world, you need to be loving God. You need to be following God. And so this isn't necessarily a curt blanche basically. Now obviously God will take care of us when it comes to eternal life. He's sealed us into the day of redemption. That's unconditional. But in this life, if you want God to be on your side and to be protecting you and doing all this, then you need to be living for him, keeping his commandments, and loving the Lord. But you notice here that it says, fear not him which is able to kill the body, kind of like our memory verse, that I will not fear what man shall do unto me. The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me. And here it's saying don't fear him that is able to kill the body but is not able to kill the soul. Meaning this is that this world, all it can do is really hurt your body. That's all it can touch. Now when it says, but fear him that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell, it doesn't say who is able to destroy your body and soul in hell. That's what the people that think you can lose your salvation want you to think. What it means is that God is able to both kill the body and to cast that person into hell. People on this earth are not able to do that. And what it means is that God is more powerful. Does that make sense? God is more powerful than any man on the earth. He is more powerful than Satan. He is more powerful than any of the angels. He is the most high. He is the omnipotent God. Meaning he is all powerful. So what it's saying there is that if God is telling you to do something but man is coming against you, who do you fear? The more powerful one, right? You would fear God. He's the most powerful. Of course I'm going to fear the person that has more power because God can destroy them in a second. And they're out of the picture. I'm not going to fear the person that's less powerful than the other. So that's the principle here is that God, do you think God can't protect you through this? Sometimes I think you need to step back and think about this. Do you think God is not able to get you through anything that's going on right now? Do you think that if the economy crashed and the dollar just burned up and they took control of all that stuff, do you think God cannot provide for you? Tell that to Elijah when he sent the ravens to him and started feeding him. Tell that to the children of Israel when he sent manna down from heaven. You say, well that's the Old Testament. You're telling me that God can't do that again? You say, well how do you know that's going to happen? Listen, like I said, I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. I hold to that. Meaning this is that if you're living for God, you're a born again believer, then God is going to protect you. If you're trusting in him, I mean think about it. If you have children and they're trusting in you, how much are you going to do what you can do to give them what they need? And they're saying, Daddy, I'm trusting in you to give me what I need. You're going to die giving them what they need. And how much more will your Heavenly Father, which is in heaven, you being evil, give your children gifts, right? How much more will your Heavenly Father give you that ask him? And so the point of this sermon is really to show you, hey, we shouldn't be fearing. We should be fearing God, meaning that we should have our fear, reverent fear in God. But not in man, not in these outside circumstances, not in some virus, not in anything. And a lot of this stuff is phantom stuff, meaning this, that a lot of this stuff is not going on right now. Forced vaccinations aren't going on. The police state of basically people forcing you to, at least here, I'm just speaking here where we're at right now. That's not going on in America by and large. I could be wrong about some areas or something like that, some police force that's just going out of bounds or something. But a lot of this stuff is phantom fear. It's not really going on, but it's the thought of it maybe happening. And that's the thing that you shouldn't be fearing things that could happen or is possible or all these hypotheticals. So now go to Acts chapter 18. Paul, you know, if anybody was to be afraid of what man would do unto them, it was Paul who was like stoned and beaten all these times and all the stuff that he went through. But Jesus literally came to him and was telling him to not be afraid. Because people were trying to kill him and all this stuff. Acts chapter 18 verse 9, it says, Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this city. See a lot of times you think you're alone. I think when fear comes in is when you think you're alone. Okay? Satan wants you to think that you're alone. Okay? And even, you know, you say, well, I know the Lord's with me, but listen, what did Jesus say to Paul here? He says, I have many people, right? I have much people in this city. So you're not alone. Just like Elijah said, I'm the only one, I'm the only prophet that hasn't bowed the knee. What was the answer? There's 7,000 that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. Okay? That's in Israel, I believe, too. Meaning that there was the southern kingdom of Judah at that time. I believe he was just talking about Israel. Okay? Because that's where Baal worship was going on, right? Where they had the golden calves, all that stuff that was going on up in the northern kingdom. So that being said, you know, what you need to realize is that you're not alone. Okay? You're not like the only one that's thinking about these things and worried about what's going on and all that. So you're not the only one that has these concerns. And so you need to not be afraid. You know, and what did Jesus say? He says, I am with you. I am with thee. And not only is Jesus with you, but there's much people in this city that will be there. Meaning this is that no one's going to hurt you. Because I got people there. There's people that have your back. Okay? And Psalm 56, Psalm 56 and verse 3, I want you to go to Psalm 56 and verse 3. Psalm 56 and verse 3. And some of these, I have a lot of verses here I'm not fearing. So some of these I might just give you the reference and then you'll have to look it up later just for sake of time. But in Psalm 56 and verse 3, notice what it says. What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. So when it says the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me. You know, it's also going back to this Psalm. So it basically says in what time I'm afraid, I trust, I will trust in thee. So whenever you're afraid, what you really need to be doing is, you know, casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. You need to be casting that upon him and saying, Lord, I'm trusting you to take care of this situation. And you know, what you say, well, when do I do that? Well, you should do that all the time, but specifically you should be doing that when you can't control the situation. Okay? You're like, well, the economy. Well, bring it to the Lord. And what time I'm afraid, I will trust in thee. As a coronavirus, what time I'm afraid, I will trust in thee. I'm worried about my children. What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. You know, when it comes to a lot of stuff, you can't control it. And you can run all these scenarios in your head of what you would do and how you're going to do this and that. I'm not saying to not be prepared. You know, when it comes to protecting your family, the Bible says, Jesus said, if you don't have a sword, sell your garment and buy one. But you know what Jesus didn't say? Is to worry about it and to just train nonstop with that sword. Okay? Meaning that it's like you're just preparing for war at all times. Okay? Now, that's kind of like, you know, he wants you to have it and I believe he can use that as he's keeping you safe. But ultimately, safety's of the Lord. Does that make sense? I mean, you could have an arsenal and know how to shoot better than anybody else in the world. In the end, chance happens to every man. Amen. You know, and the fight isn't always through the mighty. Right? It says that in Ecclesiastes. So, you could be the most skilled person in the world when it comes to battle, but it doesn't mean you're going to win the battle. Okay? So, here's an easy answer to that. Trust in the Lord and the Lord will keep you safe. Okay? It doesn't mean not to do anything. It doesn't mean not to be prepared for anything or to be able to fight. Okay? What it means is that when that situation comes, really ultimately, it's the Lord that's going to help that be on my side for the victory. Okay? You think about all the people that, you know, David and his mighty men took out, where they took out like 800 people at once or they took out a lion and all this stuff. The Lord was in that. The Lord got that victory and, you know, he can cause it to where your enemies can't prevail against you. And you don't even have to be the most battle-ready person. Okay? So, or if you're not battle-ready, if you're trusting in the Lord, I believe God can take that person out like that. You don't even have to fight. And a lot of these cases that we see in the Bible, they didn't even have to fight. Right? And then they're just spoiling the people, you know? All they had to do was go pick up all the spoils, you know, as far as they needed food. There was a big famine, right? He just took them out. He made them all scared and they ran away. And they remember the lepers that went into the camp and got all the stuff and they said, we do not well because all these people are starving and we're just getting all this stuff. And then they went out there and they spoiled the army that was coming against them. And so, but go to, you're in Psalm 56, go to Psalm 91. Dealing with this, you know, this virus or plague, if you will, again, it could be the judgment of God. I mean, to think that it isn't, I think you'd have to be more, you'd have to prove that more to me. Okay? Meaning that with all the weakness that's going on in the world and all the ungodliness and all the god-hating that's going on in the world, to convince me that it's not God's judgment is, you're going to have to work harder to do that than to convince me that it is God's judgment. So in Psalm 91 in verse 9, it says, Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation, notice the prerequisite, There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. Now I don't believe this is a curt blanche, you're never going to get sick and all that, but we're talking about a plague here. We're talking about something that's not just a sickness, it's not just a cold, this is a plague that's going around and taking out people. I believe that if you make God your refuge and habitation, that God will protect you through that. And you look through the Bible and you see people dying and all that stuff, but you see the righteous prevailing out of that in all these cases. And we go to Isaiah chapter 41. Isaiah chapter 41 and verse 10. I was going to show you Isaiah 43, Isaiah 44, Isaiah 54, because this is not in a corner. But for sake of time I'm not going to probably read all of this to you. But really just read Isaiah 40, actually just read Isaiah, no I'm just kidding. Obviously we're going through Isaiah right now, but Isaiah 40, 41, 42, 43, those are some great passages on confidence in the Lord and God protecting us and all that. But the theme that I see through a lot of these chapters, especially in the 40s of Isaiah, is fear not. Verse 10 here, so Isaiah 41 verse 10 says, Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee. They that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught. For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Amen. You say, well, that's just Israel. Listen, all the promises are mine. Every verse, every line, and I think there's another one in there. Anyway, all I have to say is that these promises are to believers, okay? We are the Israel of God in the New Testament. You know, the middle wall partition is broken down. We are that holy nation. So these promises apply to us. And notice that in this, you know, you're dealing more so with the fact that people coming against you, your adversaries coming against you, and God's saying, I am going to take them out. They will be ashamed. They will be confounded, and they're not going to prevail. They're going to be as nothing, okay? So, we need to have this confidence when it comes to the fact of, you know, who can actually come against us, who can actually prevail against us, if God be force, who can be against us? And I'm not saying we're not going to have persecutions, you know, yea and all that will live God in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, okay? But in a lot of these cases that people are afraid of right now is not Christian persecution. It's not. It's just civil liberties in general, or it's the fear of a plague, okay? But it's not Christian persecution. They're not coming after us for preaching against the queers right now. You know, I've seen all of them shut up, you know, as far as like, you know, they've got bigger things to worry about right now than the Christians, okay? So, you know, if there's any bright side to a lot of the stuff that's going on, is the fact that people, you know, aren't against the Christians right now. They're scared, okay? And when people are scared, they're not going to be confident enough to come after you. See, they were fat and sassy a month ago. They were fat and sassy, they had everything they needed, and they had all the time in the world to just come after the righteous. But when plague comes down on the country, or on the world, then they go into the fetal position and they basically cry themselves asleep at night, okay? And I'm talking about the reprobates of the world. Listen, they're a bunch of cowardly dogs, is what they are. And, you know, the time that all this stuff hits, you know, it actually makes it easier for us, you know, because we don't have a whole bunch of persecution coming against us right now. And so, it kind of puts things in order, puts things in perspective for a lot of people, as far as what's important. And, you know, they're like, what happens if Hollywood, you know, and all the movie industry and entertainment, let it burn to the ground! You know, a lot of stuff, I'm like, this is good news. The public school system's closing down, the Hollywood is on fire because, you know, like no one can go out and watch their films, they're putting stuff online, and, you know, that's not going to do as good as if they went to the movie theater. You know, all this stuff is kind of, you know, people are just like, that's not needed, you know? Listen, Hollywood and a bunch of actors out there, you're not needed. So, stop preaching to us like you actually mean anything to us. You pretend for a living. I mean, isn't that what actor means? You pretend. You pretend to be someone else for a living. You're bipolar. Or, you know, I guess it'd be more like bipolar or something like that because you're constantly trying to be someone else than your actual self. Listen, Harrison Ford is an Indiana Jones, okay? I'm sorry, you know, and I liked Indiana Jones and all that, but these actors aren't the actual people that they're portraying to be, okay? They're pretending for a living. And, you know, I think it's hilarious that their industry goes down a tank because they're not producing anything of any value in this world. So, why would I listen to their moral compass when they're a bunch of pedophiles and a bunch of just sexual deviants, okay? And, when this comes down, you know, they're cowering. And, you know what I saw recently? I know this is a sermon I'm not fearing, but I just got to get this on my chest. They put out a video on how they were singing John Lennon's Imagine. Imagine there's no heaven or hell beneath. You can imagine that all day long, but there is a hell beneath, and if you don't believe on Christ, you're going to go straight there. It's the dumbest song I've ever heard in my life, okay? John Lennon was an idiot, okay? Oh, he was a genius. Did you listen to the lyrics of that song? Imagine there's no borders, no country, no religion to. I mean, all the stuff that he's saying in there is not practical, first of all, but it's just, it's literally someone that's on drugs, okay? He lost all his brain cells at that point, and he wrote that song. And, you know, it's a catchy song that people like to sing, but you're literally, this is how stupid Hollywood is. And, they got all these celebrities to like sing a line of it. Okay, so when everybody's afraid right now about some virus, you're going to say, imagine there's no religion. Imagine there's no borders. When everybody's closed, there are borders. What are you talking about? Imagine there's no borders. If you didn't have borders right now, then you couldn't shut everything down. So, it's just, I mean, the stupidity, you know, but these people are the educated ones, right? They went to drama school to learn how to pretend to be someone else. So, and you can read Socrates, and you can read, you know, Voltaire, all these God-hating homosexuals, and you can read all their philosophy and sound smart all you want, but in the end, you're going to be cowering in the fetal position when the judgment of God comes down on this country. But, you know what? As Christians, we are not in the fetal position. Listen, I slept like a baby last night. You know, I'm not worried about this. And, so, we should not be fearing this. We should not be afraid about this, especially if judgment is coming on a nation or on the world. You know, this is something that we should be looking at and say, we're trusting in the Lord. You know, God is our refuge. He's our safety, and it should be something that you can talk to other people about, too. So, in my next sermon that I'm going to be preaching, I'm going to be getting into that and, like, you know, the soul-winning aspect of it and how we deal with this during this time. So, but Isaiah 43 hits the same thing. I'll just read the verse one there. It says, But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. Verse 5, it says, Fear not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back, bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Even everyone that is called by my name, for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him. See, we belong to God. We are God's children as believers. If you don't believe me, you're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. And as many as received him, that they gave he power to become the sons of God, even them that believe on his name. And so we are the children of God. And do you think that God's not going to take care of his children? And, you know, sometimes when you deal with these situations, you really just need to ask these rhetorical questions. You know, does God care? You know, I know we had the song, Yes, he cares, you know. But do you think, you'd be like, does God care about me right now in this situation? Does God care about my children? Does God care whether I live or die? Does God care whether I get this sickness or not? Does God care whether I can feed my family or not? And the answer is yes, God cares. God loves you, and especially his children that are following him and doing what they should be doing, listen, he's going to protect you. He's going to help you. He's going to be with you through this, but you have to lean on him. Okay? If you're fleeing from the Lord, from the presence of the Lord, how can he help you? Does that make sense? Now what you should be saying is, the Lord is at my right hand. Right there. I'm holding on to him. And, you know, draw an eye to God and he will draw an eye to you. But if you're fleeing from the presence of the Lord, you can't blame him if he's not helping you through it. Does that make sense? Does that make sense? It's kind of like the prodigal son. I mean, if the prodigal son got into trouble or got beat up or got taken out by somebody, can you really blame the father for not protecting him? He wasn't there. And it's not like he ran away from his son. His son ran away from him. Okay? But what about when he came back and he's with the father and someone tried to take him out and someone tried to hurt him? Guess what the father's going to do? He's going to protect his children. Okay? So we need to be thinking about that in these times. One thing that keeps being brought up here in Isaiah 54 and verse 4, it says, Fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither be thou confounded. It's interesting because this being not ashamed, being confounded, is mentioned over and over again in Isaiah. And it's saying we're not going to be confounded. Well, how about this verse in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 6? It says, Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Or for the scripture, Seth, whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed, it says in Romans chapter 10. Because, you know, obviously for salvation, for eternal salvation, we're not going to be ashamed. We're not going to be confounded. But as believers, if we're putting our faith in him in this physical world, listen, we're not going to be ashamed. Like I said, when I say to the Lord, Lord, I am putting my trust and leaning on you to take care of my children, make sure nothing happens to them, that they are protected. Listen, I don't believe I'll be ashamed. I don't believe I'll be confounded. I do not believe I'm going to be put to shame for putting my trust in the Lord. That's what it's saying. You will not be ashamed if you put your trust in the Lord. Someone's not going to be saying, I thought you were trusting in the Lord. No. You will not be put to shame. Now, other things I was going to get to here, just take your time here. Go to Psalm 111. Again, I could spend all day going into the verses about not being afraid, fearing not, fret not, you know, time would fail me. But what we should be fearing is God. So when I say fear not, fear not anything but God. God is who you're supposed to be fearing. And you think about it, if God is our Heavenly Father, do you see how you're not, you're fearing your Heavenly Father, but it's not this uncertain fear of what's going to happen. God is our Father and He's going to protect us, but we need to have our fear in the right place. So in Psalm 111, in verse 10, it says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all they that do His commandments. His praise endureth forever. So, you know, it's not that we're not supposed to fear anything, it's just that there's one thing we're supposed to fear. One God that we're supposed to fear. That's it. We're not to fear anything else. That makes it simple, honestly. Should I fear this? Is it God? Then no. Right? That's how you figure it out. Whatever you're afraid of, is it God? Then no, you're not supposed to be afraid of that. And Proverbs 9, verse 10, kind of says the same thing. It says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Listen, to fear God, that's the beginning. And so, when you think about these people that think they're wise, they're wise in their own conceits. But when they think they're wise, listen, if they don't fear the Lord, they haven't even begun. The foundation of wisdom and knowledge and discretion and all that is the fear of the Lord. And the thing that I think about this, too, is the fact that as Christians, ultimately, we want to get to the point where we're not really fearing God like we're fearing a chastening of the Lord. Like with a child that's going to get spanked, they don't do right, they don't keep the commandments. That's the beginning, right? You think about children, right now, they might be doing a lot of the things I tell them to do because they don't want spanking. They don't want discipline. But ultimately, it shouldn't be, eventually, they should graduate to where they're doing what I tell them to do because they love me. And not because they're afraid of getting spanked. I'm going to go to 1 John, chapter 4, but I'm going to read some other verses about the fear of the Lord. In Hebrews 12, 28, it says, Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. Ecclesiastes 12, 13, let us hear the conclusion matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Very simple. What are we supposed to fear? God. What are we supposed to do? Keep his commandments. And again, you know, the Bible says, When we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Listen, there's going to be a lot of things you're not going to like that happen in your life. I'm not saying to enjoy those things. I'm not saying to say, praise the Lord, you know, I got hit in the face. Or I got, you know, I lost my job. Or, you know, it's not saying like you have to rejoice in all those things. But, what it's saying is that if you love God and all those things happen, what you've got to realize is that when you're in those situations where everything is kind of going downhill, but you're loving God, you're serving God, know that it's all going to work together for good. This isn't carte blanche if you're just a Christian. Because if you're a Christian living in the flesh, all things aren't going to work together for good. Actually, it's going to work together to death, and disease, and anguish. But, if you're loving God, keeping his commandments, listen, there's going to be things that are going to happen that aren't going to be fun and delightful, but it's all going to work together for good. And we just need to remember that. And remember this, you know, like with tribulation trials, the more you go through that type of stuff, the more you have experience, the more you have patience through it, because you know, hey, we've already went through that. And so, I see the light at the end of the tunnel. You know, I don't think this is something, this isn't something that's going to last forever here. And that's what people want you to think. Oh, we're going to be here for 18 months, we're going to be in lockdown. Yeah, right. I would really like to see them try to do that. It's laughable that people are going to be in lockdown for 18 months, or 12 months for that matter. It's laughable that you think you're going to hold down America like that for that long. Without having uprisings and all this stuff that's going on. It's just not going to happen. People, you have to have the consent of the people to really do all that. And so, but in 1 John 4, verse 18, notice what it says. It says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. And here's the thing, you know, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You know, as far as getting saved, what are you fearing? Hell, you're fearing death, and you want to get saved. You're fearing what God, you know, the judgment of God, right, you're fearing that. And when you're a babe in Christ, you're fearing the chastisement of God. You're fearing what, you know, if you don't keep the commandments, you know, the rod's coming. But ultimately, a mature Christian that's not a babe in Christ, that's living for the Lord, you're not going to church, and you're not keeping the commandments because you're afraid that he's going to punish you. You're doing it because I love God, I want to serve him, and I want him to be proud of me. I want him to be well pleased with me, right? And that's where, you know, you're not just like afraid of just the punishment coming down on you all the time, and that's your motivation. The motivation's love, okay? So that's where you kind of graduate from the fear to the love, right? Now obviously, you know, there's always godly reverence and all that stuff that's working together with that. If I saw God right now, you know, I'm sure I'd be on my knees trembling, okay, because of his majesty, okay? But what I'm saying with this as far as in this life, as far as we're living for God, it should be more, that pendulum should be swinging more towards I'm loving God and keeping his commandments, and I'm fearing God, and I don't want the punishment of God, okay? Ultimately, if you say I fear God, and I don't want the punishment of God, and that keeps you on track, then great, okay? But ultimately, God wants us to love him and keep his commandments. God wants us to do things because we want to do it, not out of duty, not out of fear, not out of, you know, it'd be like your children, right? I want them to do it because they want to do it, right? I want them to do it because they love me. You know, I don't like spanking my children, and I don't believe God likes spanking his children, okay? But he does it because he loves us, and he wants us to do right and all that, so. And the last thing, go to, go to Matthew chapter 28, Matthew 28. And think about this, too. In 2 Timothy chapter 1, it says this, in verse 7, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Okay? So if you're fearful of things that are going on in the world, God didn't give you that. Okay? Because you have the Holy Ghost inside of you, right? You have the Holy Spirit of promise that you're sealed until the day of redemption. You have God dwelling you, indwelling you, and, you know, that's not coming from the Holy Spirit, that fear. Now, Godly fear can be coming from that, right? But not the fear of the things of this world, okay? Not the fear of man, not the fear of a virus, not the fear of the economy crashing, not the fear of, you know, anything like that. That didn't come from God. But what I want you to see here is in Matthew chapter 28, I believe this still applies to today, obviously, is the fact that Jesus is going to be with us to the end, okay? He's not going anywhere. He's going to be with us. If God before us who can be against us, notice what it says in verse 18. It says, Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. That's a good promise to have that Jesus has all the power, right? He has, it's all been given to him. It says in verse 19, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things which are of command you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Listen, when things get bad, and let's say we get into the time of, you know, the beginning of sorrows and the Great Tribulation, listen, Jesus is with us. He said lo, even unto the end of the world, he's with us, okay? So I hope this sermon helps, you know, and I'm not saying you guys are in here saying I'm afraid, I'm trembling and all this stuff, but I hope it helps you to basically cast off that fear. You know, if you have any fear that's going on right now, cast that off, put it on the Lord, okay? And especially things you can't control, okay? If you can't control a situation, why are you worrying about it? And I tell my, you know, like sometimes my wife will bring up something, I'm like, well, can we do anything about it? No, but I'm still worried about it and be like, well, we shouldn't be worrying about it. I've learned though, being married, okay, is that that's not the right thing to say. Sometimes, okay, so man, if you want some advice, what you should say is that, yeah, you're right, that's bad. You're like, yeah, we need to, yeah, I see where you're coming from and then just leave it at that. So sometimes you don't want to rationalize everything, but all I say though, seriously though, if you can't control it, try not to worry about it, okay, because what's the point, okay? So, but fear not, be not afraid, that's what our Savior keeps saying to us and that does not change today. Actually, if anything, it applies more right now than ever, okay? So that's the end of the word of prayer. We thank you for today and Lord, just pray that you be with us with the next service and Lord, just pray that you be with us with soul winning efforts throughout the week as we try to talk to people and people we run into and I pray to be with those that we have talked to this past week and Lord, just pray that you work on their hearts and help them to believe it and to be saved and Lord, we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.