Fear Not! For God is With You!

This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang.! Thank you for joining us. All right. Believe it or not, I, in my undergrad, had to lead some worship services.

It was part of my pastoral ministry degree, and I had to lead even with doing the 2, 4, 3, 6, all that. So, Ron, you'll forgive me for forgetting all that.

Now, the blessing for you tonight is we're not going to do that. I'm not going to lead us. I just want you to know I do have some experience in an actual congregation, and even not long ago was asked to lead us in singing Amazing Grace at a graveside service.

And about three words in, I realized I started it a little too high. And there's no coming back once you start.

I guess there is a way to just say, hang on, wait a minute. But we were outside, and the wind was kind of blowing, not like this. But I was like, we're going with it, and I'm going to get as high as I can until my voice cracks.

And then they're going to take it. And so there are times when we, as your pastoral staff, may have to lead. But tonight's not one of those that we're going to lead in the, or I'm going to lead in the singing.

But we are going to take a little bit of time to do some concentrated prayer. And we'll just do it right there in your seat. I'll voice a prayer for you.

But I believe we have the slides. Yes, they made it up there. So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and open to Psalm 119. Psalm 119, and we'll begin with a focus on praying for what Donald Whitney has called Bible intake.

Others have called just the desire to be in the Word, Scripture, saturation. Just this idea behind there's a desire to spend time in the Word, but not just to check off a box, but to truly commune with the God of the Word.

And so Psalm 119 is an amazing psalm. We'll be there for all three portions of our prompted prayer time. But this one, with a focus on Scripture, beginning in verse 17, says, Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth. Hide not your commandments from me.

My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. You rebuke the insolent and the cursed ones who wander from your commandments.

Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies, Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.

Your testimonies are my delight. They are my counselors. Just a great stanza within this amazing chapter in the Word of God.

But tonight, let's pray together that you personally would cling to your word as we pray this to God.

That we would cling to your word as my truest delight and see your word as my counselors all the days of my life. Let's pray together and I'll voice that prayer for us.

Well, Father, we once again bow knowing it is good and it is right for us to pray and to seek you in prayer.

And we do that with a concentrated effort on Scripture and our intake of Scripture and our desire for Scripture. Our desire being that we would understand that your word is, in our prayer is that it would be our truest delight.

And that we would also recognize that as we hide your word in our hearts, they become counselors to us all the days of our life.

We want to be those who bleed Bible. We want to be those who not only read your word, but commune with you in your word.

Meditating, praying, studying, and then seeking for direct application in our lives.

And so help us to hunger and thirst after your word, that we might live and keep your word.

That is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. Let me just, a little side note here. You will not grow spiritually apart from Bible intake.

That's just a fact. If you don't read the word of God day in and day out, you will not grow. He's given us his word. His word is here for us.

We've got to take up and read. And it can't be haphazard. It can't be just here and there. It's got to be a priority. And so let that be your prayer, even as you approach the word of God and spending time in his word.

Well, number two, we're going to look at meditation. So still there in Psalm 119, but look with me beginning in verse 33.

Verse 33 says, Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain. Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways.

Confirm to your servant your promise that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts in your righteousness.

Give me life. So looking at the idea of meditation, once again, a secular or a non-Christian view of meditation would be emptying yourself, emptying your mind, emptying your thoughts, and in order to achieve some nirvana type state or some surreal other emotional type state.

Well, Christian meditation is chewing on the Word of God. It's meditating on the Word of God. It's filling your mind with what God has said. And scripture meditation and memorization go hand in hand.

As you memorize the Word, you will be meditating on the Word. And that's important because we don't want to just memorize passages of scripture just for passages of scripture's sake.

Just like we don't read the Bible just to check off the box of reading through the Bible. So we don't memorize scripture, just say I have this many verses memorized without meditating on it.

Turn it over in your mind. Go phrase by phrase and turn it over in your mind repeatedly and ask the Lord to apply it directly to your heart and to your life.

So our prayer is, oh, that I might learn, understand, and walk in your Word all the days of my life. That I may walk in your Word all the days of my life.

Again, verse 33, teach me, oh Lord, the way of your statutes and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

Part of achieving understanding is by meditating on the Word. And then you grow in your understanding of the Word of God.

So let's pray again. Father, we pause now and we're reminded of Psalm 1, obviously, that reminds us of blessed is the man who does not walk, stand, sit in the seat of sinners and scoffers.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. And so that is our prayer that we would be those who not only read your Word, but that we would meditate on your Word.

even thinking through a passage like tonight that we will look at in Isaiah 41. A passage that we can chew on and meditate on and be reminded of, especially when fear creeps in, worry creeps in, anxiety creeps in.

So, Father, we just pray that not only would we read your Word, but we'd meditate on it. Would you help us in that?

Turning it over in our minds. Help us to look away from worthless things. I can't help but think about how much we scroll through social media as a people, that this is the air that we breathe now.

And before you know it, we can be scrolling for hours on end while just giving a passing glance at your Word. And forgive us for that.

And help us to be convicted and challenged, but then to walk in the grace that you extend to us in that we would be able to not only read your Word, but memorize and meditate on your Word as well.

That is our prayer. And we ask this again in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right. One more prayer. We'll go to the first section here and we'll look at, again, just flip back to the left in Psalm 119.

We'll go back to verses 9 through 16. And this is praying that we would be consistent in prayer.

That prayer is communing with God. It's talking to God. And we can do that in a variety of ways, as many of you know, that we can do that through praying Scripture.

You can take a psalm or a proverb and literally just pray Scripture. Again, you're not doing anything magical or mystical. It's not a mantra that you're participating in.

You're just literally praying back to Him, His Word. And you can do that. And that'll bring variety as well into your prayer life. Or you can use other prayer prompts.

Like, one I use is the Echo Prayer app. It's free. And you can create that yourself and work through that in a different day.

Each day, you can construct your prayer time through different events or people that you are praying for on a regular basis. And I love it because it's easily adaptable and you can change things up.

And when there's answered prayer, you can praise the Lord and thank Him for that and then move on to other prayer requests. And so, that's an option. Or you can pray through unreached people groups.

There's another app that I think it's Joshua Tree put out that you can pray through each day a different people group across the world that has little to no access to the Word of God or to the Gospel.

And there's hostility to missionaries and to the Gospel. And you can pray that way. So again, we live in an information-saturated time. In history, be sure you're praying.

Tap into other resources and spend time praying. And so, Psalm 119, verses 9 through 16, says, How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you. Let me not wander from your commandments. I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Blessed are you, O Lord. Teach me your statutes. With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes. I will not forget your word.

O that we might treasure his word in our hearts that we might not sin against him all the days of our lives. I hope you see how these are all tied in together.

Scripture reading, meditation, memorization, and prayer are all parts of the basic spiritual disciplines for growth in the Christian life.

If you forsake them you won't grow. Now again in participating in these spiritual disciplines remember that you are not gaining justification before God or merit before God.

we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone to the glory of God alone. I jumbled that up but you get the point. And so we are justified by the righteousness like I shared this morning of another.

But then because we have a new heart because we have a new life now we live these things out. And so progressive sanctification it requires your involvement.

Again we don't just sit back and say God help me to read your word without a copy of the word of God. We don't sit back and say help me to meditate. What am I going to meditate on?

No we have his word. We don't just sit back and say God help me to pray and then we don't pray and we say Lord move my lips. No we pick up a copy of the word of God we read the word of God we meditate on the word of God and then we pray.

Practicing the basic spiritual disciplines! But all of this bathed in Lord help me to seek you. So let me pray again then we'll turn our attention to Psalm Isaiah 41 10.

Let's pray. Our Father once again we thank you for the opportunity to pray and our prayer is that you would help us be a praying people.

And again we don't do this just to fill a service or to fill in a gap as a service moves along. But we are to be a praying people.

A people that seeks your face. And so that is our prayer even now that as we read your word as we meditate on it as we hide it in our hearts that we would live this out with a life of prayer praying and asking you to constantly feed us and nourish us on your word and in times of prayer and in seasons of intercessory prayer just even as we open this service when we lift up others we know that you hear us and when we call out to you you in fact tell us to ask and seek and knock and so we do that even asking you to help us be a people of prayer individually and corporately as a family of God and we pray this all in Jesus name amen amen all right well looking at

Isaiah chapter 41 in our fear not series fear not passages literally litter the pages of scripture from the old testament and the new testament fear not or derivatives of that do not be anxious those type imperatives occur over 300 times in scripture think about that do not be anxious do not worry fear not do not fear over 300 times throughout scripture imperatives that are given to us commands and promises well again not only is this near and dear to my heart when we take up the subject of fearing not just even tonight with having a daughter in another state in severe weather moving in there's rightly any parent looks at that and says because if we were there we would be able to stop the storm right no obviously not but our presence is there so we feel like we can do something well fear can grip in another way too and and

I just need to be transparent with you because that's what I do I want you to know I'm a fellow sojourner I don't have a lot of regrets in life but one that I do have was not completing now you're going to chuckle at first but this is serious you can feel free to chuckle but then I've got a serious point with this was not completing my career in soccer in high school I'm 53 years old I don't think about it every day but I think about it often I started playing soccer when I was three years old had an older brother in the sport and I really was a very physical soccer player because I really wanted to play football but my parents wouldn't have it they were afraid I'd get injured and so that's for another story for another time but

I really wanted to play football but I enjoyed it until I got to freshman year see freshman year at our high school all the freshmen had to play on the freshman team and if you were pretty good you could play up and play JV but unless you were a phenom you didn't play varsity in fact a gentleman by the name of Mike Burns who went on to play for Team USA and played in several World Cups and he was from my high school he graduated just ahead of me he played as a freshman but he also played for Team USA and then he played for the New England Revolution and professional soccer but for the most part you just played freshman and then you play sophomore year you would be on JV if you were an average player but here's why I have a regret

I played freshman year but I knew what was coming in sophomore year even if I didn't play varsity I was going to have to play under the lights at Kelleher Field in Marlborough Mass and Kelleher Field in Marlborough Mass to me was a massive stadium I mean it's where we played all the football games it's where the guys and girls soccer games were held I mean it was a big deal and I was gripped with fear so much so that I came up with every excuse in the book to end my playing career at the conclusion of my freshman year again I still regret it this day because fear won and man do I use that with not only my kids

I use it with people that I meet with fear can paralyze you fear can paralyze you to the point that you do nothing or you do that which is harmful it's interesting that years later I would I would be back in Marlboro not too many years ago I was back in Marlboro and I decided to drive by Kelleher Field you know what I was confronted with Kelleher Field was really not big it was small especially compared to Mustang High School and Moore Stadium I mean 10,000 12,000 seats and and we had you know there was the old cinder block seats on the home side and then the metal bleachers on the visitors side but to me the thing that gripped me with fear was playing under the lights and that I would embarrass myself that

I would make a mistake and so I quit and fear can do that to you in your life and yet scripture is filled with passages that tell us to fear not and as I mentioned this morning but again tonight just by way of reminder that there is a healthy God given fear that he gives every human being I mean if we're out camping in the woods and there's a bear outside of a tent that we're in we should be gripped with fear right the heart rate is going to be up adrenaline is going to be up you hear a bang in the middle of the night and the wind isn't blowing 70 miles an hour but you hear a bang in the other room and you're gripped with fear your adrenaline comes up your heart starts beating!

fear so there's a healthy God given fear fear of governing authorities Romans chapter 13 they bear the sword for a reason they're ministers of God if we break the law we should be gripped with fear if you're going 50 outside here outside of our church on Mustang Road and there's a Mustang officer sitting in our parking lot you should be gripped with fear because the speed limit is 35 so there's a healthy fear but then there's a sinful fear the sinful fear is what I just referenced even in my own life fear that paralyzes fear that is so absorbed in self fear of failure fear of man we're worried about what people are going to think of us what they're going to say about us we we obsess over that we may leave a conversation and we think about it over and over again oh what did I say did I talk too much did

I not talk enough what did I say I hope they didn't misunderstand me I said this and they probably misunderstood me and then before you know it you just worked yourself up into a frenzy sinful fear does not trust God does not look to the Lord again sinful fear drives us in a variety of ways in fact we we've got time for this I brought all my great resources I know I'm preaching tonight but you know I'm going to bring books and resources for you to spend more money on but counsel with confidence Joel James is a great book great resource addressing biblical counseling to various issues in your life excellent excellent resource covers anger anxiety worry fear bizarre behavior chronic fatigue or pain crisis counseling depression eating disorders growing old homosexuality money pornography repentance self-esteem then marriage and parenting just a great quick guide to passages of scripture and here's what I like what

James does here ten things people commonly worry about or are gripped with fear over money success or work he references Ecclesiastes 2 22 to 23 and Matthew 6 24 and 25 their children's futures Proverbs 17 25 28 7 a lack of information there's a lot of scripture references so you'll need to buy the book a lack of information decision making what other people might be saying or doing crime or injustice questions God does not answer that their hidden sin might be exposed the consequences of past sins insignificant daily details listen the old adage of don't borrow trouble how many times do we do that we heap up in our minds that which isn't even our concern and we just we go and we grab it and we put it on our plate and it's not hard to find things to be fearful over or to be worried about and so we're not to fear in a sinful way but then there's godly fear a sinful fear when we don't trust god and we lose hope when we seek to control our circumstances or situations we find ourselves in and then godly fear that is reverence and awe as well as complete trust in the lord and that god is the one who said he's always with us and that this is the very beginning of wisdom the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom proverbs 1 7 proverbs 9 10 15 33 so fear not do not be anxious now we turn our attention to isaiah isaiah 41 10 if you don't have this passage memorized i'd encourage you to memorize this verse a quick quick overview of the old testament prophet not getting in the weeds if you will our men at the institute can show you on the timeline and where isaiah lands and who he's prophesying to and it's all a great healthy practice where you can see the big picture of what god is doing through his old testament prophets but for our purposes here tonight honing in on isaiah his name means the lord is salvation very similar to joshua is quoted directly in the new testament over 65 times far more than any other old testament prophet he's known also as the evangelical prophet he spoke much about the grace of god toward his people particularly in the last 27 chapters one of the things that i love about this book one is personal and the other is i love the exchanges when he's comparing idolatry to the one true god and nations who worship idols and bow down to idols with the one true god it's fascinating you just work your way through isaiah 40 all the way through the chapters there in the forties and it's just it's a great back and forth on a personal note when i was in my undergrad i had the book of isaiah as one of my classes and i was studying that and it was a semester that our nephew at the time who was young was in the hospital for a month

with pneumonia it was severe case of pneumonia he was in the hospital i think over 30 days and and we didn't have children at the time and so we were up there shauna and i were up there just about every day and just being there with them and i sat many an hour in the waiting room at baptist hospital studying the book of isaiah and so i can't help but and that was over 20 years ago probably close to 30 years ago now but that reminds me of what John Piper says and the value of being in the word of God and when you're in the word of God always God will use your surroundings to remind you of passages of scripture when i walk into baptist hospital you know what i think of isaiah passages from isaiah truths from isaiah it's powerful so isaiah himself though looking i mean isaiah chapter 41 you you have this exchange that happens here in the beginning of isaiah 41 listen to me in silence o coast lands let the peoples renew their strength verse 1 let them approach then let them speak let us draw together draw let us together draw near for judgment this idea of

God summoning other nations before him but then he lets them know he's going to judge them but he also brings comfort to his people he brings challenge to his people so God does discipline his people but he also comforts his people just like we do with our children where we will we love our children we'll provide for our children we will comfort them but then also there are times when we need to discipline them and so we see this happening in the Old Testament but here specifically in Isaiah 41 10 we see both a command and a promise 41 10 fear not for I am with you be not dismayed for I am your God I will strengthen you I will help you I will uphold you with my righteous right hand if you go back up to verse 8 you see but you

Israel my servant Jacob whom I have chosen the offspring of Abraham my friend you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners saying to you you are my servant I have chosen you and not cast you off then into our present text it's a great passage and a great reminder that God both issues a command and the command is what fear not do not be gripped by fear do not be paralyzed by fear and what is the promise for I am with you God is with you so just looking at that and breaking that down we are confronted with several points flowing out of this one verse and the first one is this remember who capital

W remember who is reminding you he is with you remember who is reminding you he is with you this speaks to relationship fear not but Lord they're gathering around me the armies They're gathering around me they are bigger than me they are stronger than me there's opposition in my life do you not see do you not hear do you not care and he says fear not don't be gripped by fear why because I am with you again this speaks to relationship and it also speaks to intimacy he is not distant he is near you he is with you and remember who we're talking about God God the creator the one who has always been is now and will always be this

God the one who spoke in the universe leapt into existence this God who sustains all things by his righteous right hand this God who is not overcome or burdened by the needs of billions of people this God who is working his plan because history is his story he he has a plan and he's working and he's bringing to culmination all things this God has said he is with you again I think we could illustrate it in this pales in comparison but if you think about if you ever had an older brother or an older sister and they were with you and you weren't gripped by fear because their presence was with you but if they weren't with you you were gripped with fear

I had an older brother five years older than me he graduated just a year before I went into freshman! year he did play soccer and finished his career and went on to play D2 soccer and he was known in our high school and yet my brother guy wasn't present with me his name was known especially by the seniors and juniors and so I was little a duke you know little a duke come over here little a duke you can but there wasn't the same it wasn't the same as when he was present with me when he would come back and visit or he would go to games and be with me there was a difference with those who were around me seeing his presence with me and experience his presence with me well again that pales in comparison when we're talking about an older sibling or a parent or someone in authority in your life to God please let that sink in

God is the one who is with you and if God before us Romans 8 31 who can be against us if God is on my side that changes everything so we remember who is reminding you he is with you it's God speaks to relationship number two remember God's faithfulness to you in covenant relationship remember God's faithfulness to you in covenant relationship we see it there fear not for I am with you be not dismayed excuse me for I am your God the relationship that God has with us is a covenantal bond relationship based upon we as New Testament believers understand this being found in

Christ that phrase in Christ makes all the difference the love that he has for us is found in Christ remember Joey referencing this even talking about the security of the believer the security of the believer is wrapped up in the father's love for the son and we're found in the son do you see the security in that that we are loved by the very one who loves the son because we're in the son and here he reminds us in Isaiah 41 10 do not be dismayed for I am your God your God Spurgeon mentioned this in Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd

I shall not want makes all the difference in the world the personal relationship that we have with the one true God and God says I am your God now remember the greater context is idols and idolatry and nations who were bowing down to idols who were really nothing and the one true God and he's reminding his people hey be not dismayed for I am your God and so to us be not dismayed for I am your God this speaks of his character his dependability his faithfulness he can be trusted because he is God and he is perfect number three remember God is active in this promise he is not passive remember

God is active in this promise he is not passive speaks to God's action his action again where do we see that verse 10 I will strengthen you I will help you I will uphold you with my righteous right hand all actions I'm strengthening you I am helping you I am upholding you all with my righteous right hand he's active in this promise God intervenes God does a work in that he strengthens you when I am weak he is strong second Corinthians chapter 12 Paul asking for the thorn in his side to be removed God responds with my grace is sufficient for you

Paul understands when I am weak just like my voice right now when I am weak you are strong that God you are the one who strengthens me in fact the greatest strength in your life is when you recognize your own weakness because if you think you're strong in and of yourself that is pride and it leads to prayer lessness and it leads to confidence in yourself but when I'm weak I understand God I need you every hour every moment every step I am weak and dependent on you and you are the one who strengthens but he helps as well think about how many times we need to cry out for help we don't know what to do we don't know to turn to the left or turn to the right so we cry out to the

Lord we're asking for help we find ourselves in a circumstance in our lives that we don't know what to do we don't know how to respond we ask for his help we're overcome with grief we ask for his help the list goes on and on and on he's active in this promise and then he upholds he lifts us up he strengthens he helps he sustains his righteous right hand speaks of God's might and his righteousness God's might and his righteousness and so fear not for I am with you be not dismayed for I am your God I will strengthen you I will help you

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand now I mentioned counsel with confidence deals very briefly with a chapter on fear anxiety and worry passages of scripture to turn to brand new book that just came out Jonathan Okanaga serves as a biblical counseling professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary it's also an alma mater of mine but he just came out with this book and it's a biblical handbook for counseling heart issues again very similar to this in that it's going to give you a resource that you can go to with a host of control critical spirit deception decision making depression perfectionism pornography procrastination PTSD relational idolatry sleep insomnia

I mean he just covers a host of issues and then just comes straight out of scripture addressing issues of the heart so listen to what he has to say here and then I'm going to point you to some homework that you can apply in your own life if you battle fear on a regular basis but he says in the intricate tapestry of human emotions fear stands out as a complex response to perceived threats encompassing feelings of anxiety dread and a momentary loss of courage both tangible dangers and intangible concerns can trigger this emotion in the biblical context the term fear of God has a dual significance on one hand it refers to a sense of awe reverence and respect acknowledging God's sovereignty and majesty this reverence is foundational to a right relationship with the creator and is a guiding principle for righteous living we looked at some of that even this morning the fear of the

Lord is the beginning of wisdom at the end of your days what we fear God and keep his commandments the idea of at the end of ecclesiastes I mean and then also on the other hand the fear of God can also describe the overwhelming dread and trepidation experienced when confronted with God's manifest presence or the judicious execution of his divine wrath listen there is a healthy fear before God not just for the beginning of wisdom because he is the judge and he does see all things don't ever listen to the lie of the enemy that says hey nobody else sees what I'm doing I'm sinning in private I'm living a double life that no one else sees and no one else knows listen God knows and God sees and if you're one of his he's going to discipline you and if you're not one of his what you have awaiting you is a judgment of

God and so practical advice here's what I love about this practical advice and homework on each of these sections so big bold face number one confess sin if this is a sinful fear in your life number one is confess it don't rationalize it don't justify it confess it you agree with God God this is a sinful fear in my life this is an irrational fear this is something that has consumed me this is sin before you because I am magnifying fear and in diminishing you fear is bigger than you and we confess that to the Lord forgive me of that then you renew your mind through scripture God commands us to fear not Isaiah 43 1-5 as well so

God the homework would be read the following biblical text God's perspective on fear so we can approach the passages of scripture renewing our mind through the word of God number three obey God you put off fear and you put on faith put off fear put on faith number four acknowledge God's presence what we've just been doing in fact right here in this this exercise he says memorize Isaiah 41 10 you're literally acknowledging the presence of God even in memorization and meditation next one embrace your God given spirit understand that God grants you a spirit of power love and self discipline not a spirit of fear which is 2nd Timothy 1 7 then seek comfort in God's protection and he just goes on with another face your fears write down a specific fear then take one small step this week to confront or address it while trusting what we just looked at remember who

God is and God is the one who is the one who said to you fear not for I am with you and then trust him in his faithfulness that he can be dependent on and then understand he's active ask him for help Lord I need your help with this another great resource Wayne and Joshua Mack courage fighting fear of the fear of man instead of the fear of

God again it's just become the air we breathe and we give ourselves passes on it but that's for another message another great resource anxious for nothing John MacArthur God's cure for the cares of the soul great great book on fear and the one I didn't bring up here consider the lilies consider the lilies by Johnny Artavanis another great resource Lou Priolo has great resources on this now why do I share all this your number one resource is the word of God go to the word of God Lord help me to understand these passages that say fear not help me to memorize and meditate on them and help me to live my life in such a way that I pray this

I ask for you to help me I ask for you to strengthen me I ask you to uphold me sometimes it's moment by moment by moment but all these resources are resources that are good and profitable because they point you to the book the word of God and there's lots of resources out there if this is a besetting sin in your life let me encourage you hone in on this hone in gather resources ask others to pray for you meet with others who can remind you of who God is and the passages from his word all so that we would be a people who would fear not why for God is with us be not dismayed why for he is our God and he is the one who strengthens us helps us and upholds us by his righteous right hand let's pray together our father once again it is good for us to close this time in prayer looking to you we're thankful for this one verse of scripture that challenges us challenges us in that there may be things in our lives that truly do grip us with paralyzing fear it may be things that are irrational to others but in our minds and in our hearts it's very real it may be things that others struggle with that they can come alongside and help bear the burden if that is the case help us to open up and to let other people into our lives that they can help us with prayer and reminders from your word and encouragement father whatever the case may be in a room this size with this many people here there's no doubt of a host of applications when we are confronted with fear not and so tonight we look to you and we're thankful that you are our

God you are the one who strengthens you are the one who helps and you are the one who upholds for that we give you thanks again father before we close we do pray for the rest of our night and this week that you would watch over us that your providential hand would guide and direct us give us divine appointments that we might be ambassadors for Christ those who are sharing the good news of the gospel and we pray all of this in Jesus name and all God's people said amen are going to some other fathers or some going on your sign for going and all have our okay one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one one fathers fathers

Bo America fathers each were our two fathers boy fathers whether One fathers fathers