Control Your Future

Happy Sabbath, brethren! Thanks very much, Kinsey, for the special music. Very heartfelt and very biblical as well. We appreciate that. I'd like to give a few announcements before the sermon today.

First of all, ABC begins next week. That's an exciting time. At the same time, Mr. Myers will be back. Mr. Eddington will be back. We'll have quite a change here in the congregation with ABC coming back in the room, starting to reset this hall, etc. Council of Elders will take place a little different this year. It'll be in September, the first week in September, beginning right after Labor Day. So that first week in September, the council will be in town.

Some exciting news. On September 7th, just put it in your minds, beyond today's first new 14-minute segment, productions will begin airing. And we'll put two of those together on the Word Network. We can put one at a time on, say, YouTube or various things. They can be dissected, each one into smaller. You can put out some short clips of those. It can be reels.

Each one of those is its own topic. Those 14-minute productions are its own topic. So putting those two together, Mr. Darris McNeely was the first to record, and his will begin airing according to the schedule we see today on the 7th of September. Really looking forward to seeing those take place.

As you know, there was a trip to Sri Lanka by Mr. Myers, Mr. McNeely, myself, some of our wives. David Bensinger was there. He is an elder that oversees the Myanmar area in East Asia. See, Martin Kush and his wife were up from Australia. They assist with some translation issues.

But we had a conference in what is called the South Asian, or you might say the Indian Peninsula, and with leaders from that South Asia region coming from Bangladesh, coming from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka. And the conference was very important because we have individuals scattered in those areas who are working with congregations that have never really had a long history with anyone else.

They've sort of been out there by themselves. And so we brought all of those in, and with some very good training and discussions and interaction for several days, we laid a foundation for that region on which the church can grow. There is some new interest. We see some responses coming in from places like South Korea. We don't have any members there or a congregation there. But Mr. Bensinger has been laying a foundation for us being able to begin to preach the gospel there and reach out, maybe establish those whom God might call.

So there are some exciting things happening in that area, just like they have been around the world. On the way back, our flight was interrupted by a massive storm along the East Coast. And it's interesting. You read about those on the news and how it disrupts travel. But when you're in it, you then see. You see at the airport the scrambling for any other flight the next day that might be going out. Those fill up quickly. All the hotel rooms are gone in the region. All the rental cars just disappear. And you're at the airport wondering, how do I get from here to anywhere?

But God opened a wonderful door for us to visit with the pastor and his wife there in the New York City area, the Van Ostels. And we had a wonderful time visiting with them. And then on the Sabbath, able to go and be with the New Jersey congregation. It's one of the New York City congregations, but it's across the river in New Jersey. And spend kind of a surprise day. None of the members knew we'd be there. And it was delightful to spend a church service and a potluck meal afterward and get to know them.

So it's good to be back home here today and glad to be with you. We humans like to control our lives. We like to decide things, make decisions on a daily basis, a yearly basis, a future, careers. We like to be in control. And we like to stay away from things that we can't control. Unpredictable things or unknown things are things we just don't tend to do or get involved with.

We avoid the unknown. God has put in us kind of a mind that has a fear of the unknown. Like if it's not known to me, it's not a huge fear, but I'll just avoid it. For instance, we probably don't walk in the woods at night. You know, if you think of the woods at night, you just don't go in there. Why not? Well, because it's unpredictable. You don't know what's in there. We don't... Some people have a fear of flying on commercial airlines.

They just don't do that. There's a fear of dying. Some fear that they might drown when approaching baptism. That may seem odd, but that's... Some people almost go into a panic, thinking about going underwater from an area of the world where you don't swim. You've never been underwater. And to think of going underwater, there's a panic when they are put underwater that they could drown.

It may be about the unknown, tens in us humans, towards catastrophizing. That's probably a new term, but there's a term for a mental arrangement that we have with the unknown that tends to go towards catastrophe. I just mentioned some things. You heard the catastrophe element in all of them, right? Catastrophizing. If you go in the woods, I might get eaten. If you go on a plane, I might crash. If you go underwater, I might drown. We take it out to its limit and imagine worst-case scenarios. Catastrophizing is actually the invention of things that are inaccurate. It's an inaccurate view of reality. And if we were to say, look in Scripture and look at the future and then begin to imagine the future, even as Jesus described it in the end times, pretty dramatic time, we would tend towards putting ourselves in there in a catastrophic situation and begin to fear then the unknown or the uncertain future.

Let's look at some realities. We live in a place, we have lived in a place where we have woods on the property. I go in the woods in the daytime. I've gone in the woods at night. Guess what? Same things are there. Animals are afraid of humans. Okay. Let me ask you a question. Let's catastrophize here for a minute.

If you were to die in an airliner statistically, would you need to fly every day for three years, every single day for the next three years? Statistically, would you perhaps die in an airliner if you flew every single day for the next three years? Well, the answer to that question is no. You would have to statistically fly every day for the next 103,000 years in order to die in an airliner statistically. Imagine 103,000 years of daily flight in order to statistically die. Reality. To avoid drowning during baptism, sit up. Some of these things can be obvious, and I don't want to make light of them, but so what causes the fear of the unknown?

If you look into studies, the main cause that we have of the fear of the unknown is lack of reliable information. If we have reliable information, then we can plan, can't we? We have a certain amount of control with reliable information. And the Bible is a book of reliable information.

It's about decision making and consequences. It's about getting reliable information for what will work in almost every life situation, and then applying that to accomplish certain consequences that we want. And then lack of information we find in the Bible, and not using this information will lead us to consequences that we don't want. So there's a preparation and consequence, and there's also a plan with reliable information. And we look to God, we look to His Word, not only, but also to God's Holy Spirit in us that would prompt us in circumstances to make wise choices, good choices. To give you an example, one way to counteract the fear of the unknown is to have reliable information from God, from Jesus Christ, and actually use it. Take, for instance, God's church in Jerusalem. God's church in Jerusalem. If you go back about 1.5 generations, almost two generations after Jesus Christ, somewhere around two generations after Jesus Christ had risen, the church there had distanced themselves from those who actually knew Jesus Christ, had seen Jesus Christ. It kind of reminds me, in this church you might pick a historical figure people will talk about from time to time, and then others will say, I never knew him. You know, you'd have to be about 50 years old, for instance, to even have known Herbert Armstrong in any meaningful way, somewhere around there. And so, as time goes on, life changes, the world changes, societies change, etc., etc. And so, in the year, let's say 66 AD, you're 45 years out, from Jesus's life on earth as a human being, a couple of generations there. And what happened?

Everybody comes in for the Passover, around from Judea, they pack into Jerusalem, and an army, a Roman army, surrounded Jerusalem, just surrounded them. Whoa! That was unexpected.

There is a lot of fear. There is a lot of uncertainty. Not only did this army just surround Jerusalem, but it started building ramparts. It started building things to attack and break down walls, and to break into Jerusalem. And everybody knew what the Romans did. They came in and just massacred and broke things apart. And here was the church inside.

You know, some of these things are difficult. The church members needed reliable information, didn't they? Who trusted what at that point in time? Who was listening to what? They needed to be able to plan, to prepare, and to control their future, to control what was going to happen to them, and also to be able to thrive. Luke's account gives information for what the first century church needed to know. Let's go to Luke chapter 21 and verse 20. Luke chapter 21 and verse 20. Imagine you're in the church and you have this particular information that comes from Jesus Christ. This was known to them. He says, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, whoa, well there they are. This is kind of a real difficult situation. Then know that its desolation is near. Now the rest of the population didn't have that information. The church did, right? What did they know? Wow! When you see this event, know that this city is going to, it's going down. That's good information, isn't it? So information number one, desolation is near, but not here. Near, but not here. The ramparts were built. Probably some breaching machines were rolled up. Verse 21, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the midst of her, and in particular Jerusalem, depart and let those who are in the country not into her. Don't come into the city. What happened? Well, it's kind of interesting that right then civil war broke out in the Roman Empire, and an upstart began to war against the current Caesar. And so there was this tussle for a little while, and so the army left.

The Roman army just left Jerusalem, took off, and they were involved, no doubt, in the wars of the civil war there in the Roman Empire. So in verse 22-21 we see, depart. The information had reliable information that the brethren did. Get out of here! And that's when we find the church fled to Pella.

It went across the Jordan River, heading into modern-day Jordan. And the Roman Empire didn't extend very far into Jordan back in those days. We don't know how long the church stayed in Pella.

I don't have that information. I've not found that. It's lightly detailed, I think, in time. But the church initially was able to move forward. It would flourish. The church could continue to flourish. But meanwhile, very shortly, a new Caesar conquered the other one, named Vespasian, and things got back to business. The new commander of that region was named Titus. He was Vespasian's son. And he came back to this city of Jerusalem. And this time, what I've read is he built a wall around the walls, just to wall everybody in. Nobody was getting out. The Romans built their own wall.

And for the next three years, they starved out the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Verse 23. We find out what happened to them. Verse 22, it says here, For these are the days of vengeance, and all things which are written may be fulfilled. Woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing and babes in those days. For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. This is called the first Jewish revolt, and this was the reprisal to that revolt. It was kind of the Romans against the Jewish population, not against the church.

But it says there will be great distress in the land and upon this people.

It not only would go after Jerusalem, but also in the counties surrounding. They would end up taking about a quarter of a million people and erasing them in verse 24. Here at this next Passover in 67 AD, again, all the people had come back in to Jerusalem. Jesus said, don't go in there. They were back in there for the Passover. That's when Vespasian came in and, or sorry, when Titus came in, built the walls and trapped three million people into this small area. They did not have, and it was believed that it was believed to be the seventh year, the year of land rest. They didn't have a lot of food.

They didn't have enough to sustain themselves.

Three years in distress and starvation. Now verse 24, what will happen to them?

Notice it doesn't say you, they, and they will fall by the edge of the sword.

If you go to Josephus' War of the Jews in Volume 6, you'll see what happened there.

And I am not about to start describing that. That was some of the most terrible things that humanity could imagine. And also, those who were of a certain age would be led away captive into all nations and made slaves. And Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. That was really good information, wasn't it? That was something that they could really flourish by. We, too, with Jesus Christ leading the Church, have reliable information by which we can prepare, we can plan, and we can control our future.

Today I'd like to examine fear versus control in relation to our calling in Satan's evil age. This is a time for humanity to live in uncertainty and the fear of uncertainty. And we will see in Scripture how the nations will fear and things will happen that are, you know, Satan is just full of confusion, right? But we should not look at the future through that lens.

So let's examine how we are to live during this unpredictable age. We can find direction and information that will replace fear with godly courage to control our future. The title of the sermon today is Control Your Future. Control your future. And I'll show you individuals and examples in the Bible of controlling our future and that God wants us to. And you are in control of your future if you want to be with Jesus Christ. You and I can defeat fear and uncertainty with Jesus Christ's information through which we can plan, we can prepare, and we can control our lives, ourselves. And in doing that, have control of our future. You know, the Bible is filled with people coming up to uncertain times and events who had a fear of the unknown. You remember people like Moses afraid and fearful, you know? How would I go back into Pharaoh, into the palace of Egypt, where I ran away into a different country and hid out in the backlands, herding sheep out of fear? How would I do that? Joshua. Joshua had seen walled cities, armies who had chariots and horsemen, people who had giants. And now he was supposed to lead Israel out of a protected environment, the wilderness, where they were being fed and now they had to go into unknown territory.

Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 31 and verse 6. And here's where we begin to get a foundation for controlling our future. Deuteronomy chapter 31 and verse 6.

Here's where God tells Joshua, be strong and of good courage. And we might think, oh yeah, God told him that. So I should do that too. I should just, as the Canadians would say, buck up. Just say, I've got this. I can do this. It might be you or me saying, yeah, I, I, me, my, I am courageous. I can be courageous. Watch me rise. There's a lot of humanism that would tend towards that direction. But let's notice here in Deuteronomy chapter 31 and verse 6 what it says.

Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear nor be afraid of them.

Because for the Lord your God, he is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do those words sound a little familiar to us? God has called you. He's called us. He's called the body of Christ. Jesus Christ is going with us. And he said, I will not leave you or forsake you. I will be there all the way to the end of the age.

In verse 7, Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people.

He had been assigned by God to do something. You must. Have you been assigned by God to do something?

You have. We all have. We've been told. We've been commanded by Jesus Christ to do things.

You must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, he is the one who goes before you.

Same with you and me. He will be with you. God dwells in you and me through His Holy Spirit.

That's their dwelling place, their home, the temple. He will not leave you nor forsake you, do not fear nor be dismayed. That's where we get our courage. That's where we get rid of this fear of the unknown, fear of the uncertainty. It's not like it just disappears, but we begin to be strong and of good courage because we are called to do something by God.

And as we do that, it pleases God. God dwells in us after baptism through the Holy Spirit, and He will always be with us. He can perform miracles. He can open doors. He can make things happen that you and I never dreamed of. Your life at this point may be a testament to that very thing. Why are you where you are right now? I was talking to Mr. McNeely this week. I said, can you imagine how we got where we are? We were a couple of kids at a dig in 1971 in Jerusalem, and you can't see the future. You just don't know. You don't know what life will bring.

But when you obey God, you submit to what He asks you to do, whatever that is.

God is with you. He will direct you. Do it. Be strong and courageous.

You know, later after the death of Moses in Joshua chapter 1 and verse 7, God repeats that to Joshua. He says, only be strong. He says it in verse 6, be strong and of good courage.

Verse 7, only be strong and very courageous. And our mind would probably go, yeah, go conquer in Israel. You know, go conquer in Canaan for Israel. No, read the words. Verse 7, only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to all the law. Hmm. See where our courage now and our lack of fear begins to be based? It's doing what we do. It's doing what God says. As Jesus said very clearly, a new commandment I give you that you love one another, you agape one another as I have agape'd you. That's our marching order. So be very careful to observe according to all the law. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left that you may prosper wherever you go. Wow. God wants you to prosper. He wants me to prosper. He wants his people to grow and to prosper. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The one who is the head of the church, Jesus Christ, is the one who has led and encouraged all those he has directed towards prospering, towards the work being done, towards lives that are fulfilled.

And today, he tells all his people to be courageous. These things are repeated in the New Testament.

One thing we want to note here, though, is God assigned responsibilities to righteous people or people doing right. And he tells them, keep doing right. Don't turn to the right hand or to the left. Keep doing right. So these are fundamentals. Right? Fundamentals. Do right.

Don't fear. God is with you, but he is directing you. And we should get up each day and go through that model prayer outline as we pray and start with our Father in heaven. We have a God. It's our God at this point in time that we serve. Our Father in heaven. Holy is your name. Godly. He is Godly. Your rule, the word kingdom, your rulership, your authority, come. Let it come today. Let it come in the millennium. Let it come in the second resurrection. Let it be there forever. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You start out your day like that. You start out the day observing what God wants and doing what he wants. We have confidence. We have confidence as his people.

Courage comes from a relationship directed by God to people who are godly. Holy godly. We're set apart by a calling. We're developing a godly spirit in sign. He has likewise called you and me to an observance just like he did there to Joshua. Let's go to Matthew 28, verse 18.

We come right to the church in which we are in. Jesus Christ is all authority has been given to me in heaven and earth, he said, in verse 18 or chapter 28. Therefore, verse 19, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in verse 20, teaching them what's the work of God? What are we to be doing? Go to all nations, disciple people, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

So here's where we really begin to say, hey, what's the unknown? We know some prophecies. There's enough there to give us kind of a road map to see where society is going.

And now we see that if we're observing all things Jesus has commanded us in Scripture, he is with us always. We are in really good shape.

Matthew 24 kind of has some scary end time prophecies, doesn't it? It's kind of the worst of the worst is coming. But Jesus Christ gives you and me today advanced information to help you control your life during the end time. His end time church is given information that it can plan, just like the church there in Jerusalem that went to Pella. There's a comparison there.

Luke now moves on to our day. If we continue in Luke chapter...well, let's go to Luke.

Let's go to...

Sorry, back up. Luke 21. It's kind of the companion to Matthew 24. Luke chapter 21 and verse 25.

He talked here in that previous section that we read about events that would happen then. Now we go to the title, the heading of my book is The Coming of the Son of Man.

Now there's some words here for you and me to plan, just like in their day we can now plan. And there will be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and on the earth, distress of nations. We heard about the distress that came upon the Jews at that time. Now there's going to be distress of nations. Jesus describes this in Matthew 24. With perplexity, total unknown.

The sea, the waves roaring, men's heart failing them from fear. And what do you have in that situation? Catastrophe, fear. And what does it say? Their hearts failing them from fear and the expectations of those things which are coming upon the earth. They're imagining the worst. And guess what? It's coming. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. We know this in advance.

We know this in advance. It's good to know this in advance. And then they, not the church, they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And we know in Revelation how they respond to that. Oh, they run and hide. Looks like some alien invasion from space and they hide in the caves. And they pray that the caves will fall and collapse on them. And then eventually they go out to war. Right? There's a total rejection. Verse 28, now to us, now when these things begin to happen, when these things begin to happen, you look up and lift your heads because your redemption draws near. We welcome the return of Jesus Christ. We prophesy. We preach a gospel that includes the coming of the reign of Jesus Christ on earth.

That's a wonderful time. But he continues with some information that we need in order to control our future. Verse 34, but take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life. That's not carefully observing what we're commanded to do, is it? That's sort of letting society come in and influence us, water things down, become materialistic, become self-reliance, hedonistic, humanism. No longer having the structure of the church that Jesus put in in Ephesians 11 with the leadership and then the true teaching and then the body growing and developing itself in love. No, this is something else. Be careful because you can't have courage if you're not a right living individual with God dwelling in you and led by Jesus Christ who will never leave you or forsake you. And be careful that that day come upon you unexpectedly, for it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. I think we all think we can see this this will happen. Oh, it's going to happen. We got this and we'll know that. And it's, you know, it's kind of predictable. It's going to roll out gradually. It's kind of like the church in Jerusalem. And they woke up one day during the Passover and there's a Roman army out there. And a year later they woke up during the Passover. There's a wall being built. When it talks about a snare, you know what a snare is? It's a trap. It's a spring-loaded trap. And it's just there, you're walking along and all of a sudden, bam! It got you just like that. Jesus keeps telling us something's going to happen just this fast. Be in the right place at the right time. Watch, therefore, verse 36. Now, here's some good information for you, a member of the body of Christ, one who is a righteous individual, one who is being led by God's Spirit, one who Jesus Christ is supporting and is with you every step. Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things. Wow!

What a great place to be to escape all these things, like the church at Pella, who simply walked out during an interim. They escaped all the Josephus records that happened to some three and a quarter million people. And to stand before the Son of Man. There's control of your life right there.

You do these things and you end up standing before Jesus Christ at His return.

It reminds me of Apostle Paul when he was in prison, a Roman prison in Rome. And he says, I know I'm about to die. Whatever the circumstances were, the circus games were really ramping up. They were short on people to throw into the lions and all these other things that were going on. They had a new Caesar that was just crazy in the head. And he said, look, my time's at hand. Now, what did he say? He says, I have fought the good fight. I'm in control of my life.

I have a crown laid up for me. And not only for me, but also all those who long for the appearing of Jesus Christ. That's where we control our future. You have control over your eternity, over your future, over your second coming of Christ part in the body, in the the bride, in the rulership of the coming government that will send Satan packing and will bring peace to this earth. That is our individual responsibility. And we're giving these bits of information, really helpful pieces of information. Let's go look at our job in 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 13.

1 Corinthians 16, 13. We don't have to know how to navigate the stock market or how to figure out how to avoid a crashing out currency that we may have some funds in or what will happen, you know, in this crazy world. That's not important, but we do know that we have a God who loves us. And Jesus said, if you will focus on these things, don't worry about your food, about your clothing, but what you'll wear. He says, I've got you. You know, you devote yourself, you devote yourself primarily first above all things else, you devote yourself towards obedience, towards righteousness, towards doing God's will, and all these other things will be taken care of for you. That's what he tells us. And here in 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 13, Paul here also says, watch, pay attention, pay attention to yourself, pay attention to the calling, pay attention to the job God has given you to do. He says, watch and stand fast in the faith. You know, the faith, stand fast in that. Do it. Be brave, be strong. How interesting. There are the elements right there.

Stand fast, be brave, be strong. In verse 14, let all that you do be done with agape.

That's Jesus' command to us. That's the whole Bible from beginning to end. That's the mindset of God, this agape mindset. That should be our primary thing. You know, don't lose your primary thing, agape. That is what we are to focus on, primarily. So courage and bravery and being strong is indelibly linked to a calling, to God, to observing his law, to faith, to agape. All of these things are what give us a strong foundation on which we can be strong and be brave.

In 1 John chapter 4 and verse 18, we see a direction here that we are to live that casts out fear. 1 John 4, 18, and it's the same principles repeated. 1 John 4, 18, there is no fear in agape love. It just doesn't exist there. But perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment, catastrophizing. Remember? You torment yourself by catastrophizing and taking this thing to some limit that is awful. But he who fears has not been made perfect in agape.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. See how all of this goes together. My brothers and sisters, this all goes together. And we are with Jesus Christ strong and brave.

If we follow the one who traveled there before us and he leads us, he gives us all the information we need to control our future. I say control our future. You know, you and I don't necessarily control everything, but in fact we do. It's God's will. It says in 2 Peter 3, verse 9, It is not God's will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have everlasting life. So we know what God's will is. God wants you to live forever.

Now, the only part of the control missing is me, right? Do I want the same that God wants?

So yes, you can control your future because God has already got a place. He's already got a place for you in the family home. Jesus Christ is preparing a place for you. God is confident he's not going to leave or forsake you. So in a sense, we do control our future as far as our part in it. In verse 16 it says here in 1 John 4, Agape love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. When we're judged at the resurrection, we may have boldness because as he is Jesus Christ, so are we in the world. As he is Agape, so are we. As he is the master, we are the disciples. We have confidence when we are like Jesus Christ, when we are in the body of Christ, when we have him and the Father dwelling in us.

And that's where we get our boldness. That's where we say, yes, a crown of life is laid up for me, along with the rest of the family who long and love the return of Jesus Christ.

We are people of God, but we are also human, and we can be scared and dismayed by certain dangers.

For instance, in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 16 to the apostles, Matthew 10, 16, Jesus said, Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

Now just think about that. He set that up so that we could catastrophize. Catastrophize. What is a sheep? A little white sheep. And what is a wolf? A big, bad wolf. Not just one, lots of wolves. What do you think the end of that's going to look like? It's going to be a lot of red, I'll tell you right now. It's not going to be good. And Jesus knows that. And when we look at the future, he says, look, the future in the world and Satan and everything, I'm sending you into what would normally be a really bad situation. Therefore, here's some instruction. Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Be like him. Verse 22, you're going to be hated by all nations for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved. Now we have something to go on here. When we navigate whatever, make sure that you are loyal to Jesus Christ. Don't deny his name. Make sure you're loyal to the family of God, of which you are a citizen of the of the kingdom family. And you endure to the end, you will be saved. In verse 26, therefore, after all the scary stuff, what does Jesus say? Because of this, do not fear them. It just doesn't sound logical, does it? You got the sheep, you got the wolves, people are going to hate you. Therefore, don't fear them. Does that sound logical? It's not logical to the human mind, but it is logical when you have been directed by Jesus Christ, you're led by the Spirit of God. He's got your back, He's there with you, He's leading and guiding. Do not fear them. Do not fear them.

If you understand what fear does, according to American humorist Irma Bombach—let's get some levity here—fear is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but never gets you anywhere.

How true! We can just do a lot of fear. As we heard in the sermonette today, you can just fear a whole lot of stuff. It doesn't do anything for you. We can imagine it, but it doesn't get you anywhere. The Apostle Paul was a target of the Jews. He was a target of the Romans. He was a target of the Greeks. This guy had a target on him anywhere he went, and he went through various societies, cultures, languages. Apostle Paul.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 3, he says to the Corinthian church, which is west of Athens.

It's really in the Greek culture. He says, I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. This can happen. This can happen. But at some point in time, we have to catch ourselves. We have to be encouraged by God and Jesus's words, and that's what happened to Paul. Here he was. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. It doesn't sound like our big bowl to Apostle Paul, does it? But there's the human side at times. If we go to Acts 18 verse 1, we can pick up some of the events there. Acts 18 and verse 1. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. Verse 4, and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and he persuaded both Jews and Greeks. He was sent there. He's doing the work. Jesus Christ has his back. Verse 6, but when they opposed him and blasphemed in Corinth, Paul became afraid and fearful and trembled. So, verse 9, now the Lord spoke to Paul in a night vision, saying, do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent, for I am with you. Without God, you and I can't have courage. We can't know what to do. We have to have that strong relationship with God through prayer, occasional fasting, drinking in of his word in various ways, various formats, various media. We put it out there in so many available, accessible ways. We need to keep eating that spiritual food. So, in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6, as we begin to wrap this up, we see this Apostle Paul then. He learns some things. He internalizes some things. He gets strength from God. He can't do it without God. You can't go through a day without trying to do what God's will is and asking him to lead and guide you. Paul here is writing to the church at Philippi, do not be anxious about anything. That's what Jesus tells us in Matthew 5, 6, where he says, you know, my father provides certain things for the flowers of the field and, you know, birds of the air. Don't be anxious about your physical needs. Paul here is saying, don't be anxious about anything. Anxiety. Don't have anxiety. Oh, kind of a fear, a worry. But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. He has to be in that equation. And the peace of God, which so many people have, is and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, cuts through all of this craziness, all of this turmoil, all of this uncertainty, the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

So one who is led by God's Holy Spirit will not be plagued by worry and anxiety.

The Holy Spirit is not a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.

So in conclusion, let's go to 1 Timothy 6 and verse 11. Here again, the Apostle Paul is giving us direction, giving us instruction, giving us information. Uncertain situations in the world are already beginning to trigger some unbridled fears of the unknown in the world.

People are fearful. And so, oh, they don't know what's going to happen. So we better get more bombs.

There are countries who don't have nuclear bombs that are getting nuclear bombs, wanting to get nuclear bombs, because the fear of the unknown. There's a fear of finance and nations, governments, sovereign wealth funds have been buying up all the gold that can be gotten.

Gold. What does Jesus tell us about gold? It'd be thrown in the streets. Because gold by itself, while it may be rare, is not a useful thing for anything. The only thing gold does is require you to pay somebody to protect it for you that nobody else gets it. And that's what happens with gold.

It's not like copper or something that's actually out there being used. And so, trust in something like gold isn't going to accomplish a thing.

Verse, 1 Timothy 6 verse 11. But you, O man of God, O woman of God, O child of God, you're in a different category. Flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, agape love, patient endurance, gentleness, fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life. Yes, you control your future. You lay hold on eternal life. So let's look at that again in verse 11. But you, O man of God, let's each ask ourselves, am I really a person of God? Am I really a person where God is dwelling in me and I am in touch with Him to the point where we dwell together and where we are one, God in Christ, Christ in God, them in us, us in them? That's an individual responsibility. You, O man of God, pursue righteousness. Here is the reliable information for how to control our future. Pursue righteousness. Pursuing righteousness would be like pursuing one of the deer out here. Deer are there. Go try to pursue one. It's very difficult.

They can disappear. They can hide. They can run. You go pursue one of those deer. See if you can catch one of those cute little fawns and pet it. Pursuit involves a lot of effort. So you pursue doing right in your daily thoughts, your daily life. Pursue godliness. That's, you might call, holiness. God has put His Spirit in you. Am I living in a godly fashion? Am I thinking godly thoughts? Am I putting out things that are not godly? Faith. Do I trust God? Or do I think in this uncertain world, I can figure out and navigate it? Agape. Only one source of agape. It's a fruit of God's Holy Spirit. Patience, patient endurance, gentleness, and fighting the good fight of faith.

As all the doubt comes in, all the evolution theories, all the stuff that AI brings in, all the stuff that science seems to bring as far as genetics or historical genetic lines that tend to disprove and weaken the Bible, are we fighting the good fight of faith? By doing these things, you control your future. Lay hold on eternal life.