I want to speak about fear today; what does the word fear mean? 

A DISTRESSING EMOTION AROUSED BY A REAL OR IMAGING THREAT
   
When a spirit of fear comes over us, it disrupts our life, drains our spiritual  strength and clouds our judgment. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a  spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”      
In fact, God says, Fear not” 360 in the Bible because He wants us to rely
on Him when fearful times come. Let’s look at the effects fear has:
When the evening news reports, economics collapse, crime  and natural disasters, it can ignite anxiety. You may think, “Am I next on the  list?”…fear invades
Maybe you’ve experienced loss, thought failure was  inevitable, or felt frozen and unable to take the next step in your life…fear  paralyses
You may be going through a storm and it looks like there is no way out; you panic, worry and fret at the same time almost feeling like you are losing your mind…fear steals 

BUT
 
Jesus died to remove fear from our midst.

 “Peace I leave with you, my  peace I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”  (John 14:27)

 “There is no fear in love. But  perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment.”  (1 John 4:18)
             
Jesus said that the storms of life will be present but we do have to let fear  ravage our lives; we can trust in God. The Bible says in many places that God is on the side of those who love Him and obey His commands, decrees and precepts. The Bible says that is God is on your side, who then can be against you. The  Bible also says that those who are with us are more than those who are against us. And furthermore it says: He that lives in me (God that is) is greater than
he (the devil) that lives in the world.
              
Friends we have a way to withstand fear when it comes against us…trust that whatever God says, He will do. 

 The weekend is here and some are going, “yippee” good times are here…And God is also saying “Yippee” I am going to see my children in my house on Sunday. But sadly He doesn’t get to see all of his children because some deemed it unnecessary to go to church…they have better things to do, so they think.

“I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3)

 The apostle Paul is addressing the church at Corinth and warning them about the false doctrines running about. The church at Corinth had a problem with wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing and led some people astray. The serpent once again had stricken the people with deception. He made some to believe there are better things to be busy with than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 So it is today! You look at the church attendance and the shopping centers’ on Sundays at the times of services. People don’t seem to care about respecting the Day of the Lord as it once used to be. The once “Holy Day” has turned into “holiday” and people have lost the value of “being in the house of the Lord on the Sabbath.

“Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” (Exodus 20:8)

“You shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you; every one that defiles it shall surely be put to death for whosoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.” (Exodus 31:14)

“Blessed be the man that does this; and the son of man that lays hold on it; that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it and keeps his hand from doing evil.” Isaiah 56:2)

And the list goes on and on; I don’t think we truly understand how important is the Sabbath.  When God created all things, He did it in six days and the Bible says that in the seventh day He rested. Now that does not mean that God took a seat and went off to sleep. No, my dear readers. The rest of the seventh day the Bible is speaking of means that God stood back and considered what he had made. And after all this “stock taking” He declares…”It is very good…”

So what does the Sabbath means to me today? That is the day I consider my work and actions and behavior of the past week. It the times when I hear from the Father instructions for the times ahead. It is the times I offer my thanksgiving and praise unto God for the work He has and does in my life.

                Let’s get to church…ok?

Truly this nation is in trouble; may be you are in trouble. You may be worried about paying your bills. Politicians seem more interested in feathering their own nest than helping solve our problems.

Students pile up college debts only to end up working in fast-food restaurants. The nation’s infra-structure…roads, bridges, dams and traffic management is deteriorating. Our education system has fallen behind much of the rest of the world. The news is filled with violence, murder, fraud and robberies.

This nation (and Africa is not alone in this) has lost its way and needs a spiritual revival. But just what kind of revival does the world need today? Tent meetings were the rage during the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression. Evangelists travelled from town to town setting up large tents, calling people to believe in Jesus and be saved. In the 1960’ and 70’ the Jesus people sprang from the “hippie culture’.

But what would the 21st century Christian revival look like? A real Biblical, God-centered revival involves a radical change in your thinking and actions. It requires a radical change in your life. It will even take a radical change of how you define Christianity.

Jesus Christ, the Founder of Christianity came to launch the greatest religious revival in human history when he said:

“If people come to me and are not ready to abandon their fathers, mothers, wives, children, brothers and sisters, as well as their own lives, they cannot be my disciples. So those who do not carry their own crosses and follow me cannot be my disciples.” (Luke 14:26-27)

What does God want to do in your life?

At the beginning of His ministry Jesus stood in the synagogue and read from the book of the prophet Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, set at liberty those who are oppressed and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19)

God wants to prepare you for the greatest revival the world has ever known. It will be a time when all humanity will receive workable solutions to political, economic and social problems. Christ is returning to lead this mighty revival…not through tent meetings or political movements but by literally establishing God’s Kingdom on the earth. You can take part in this spiritual renewal by submitting to him today.

 Have you ever experienced the feeling of crawling into God’s arms when things
around you get though? Many of us in time of crisis or uncertainty an inward
instinct pulls on us like an irresistible magnet back to God. No obstacle is too
great to separate us from our Lord.
Jesus felt and experienced the same feeling; when the human race was terrified
by sin, death, judgment and hell fire, Jesus left the heights of heaven to
journey to earth for the likes of you and me.
In John’s Gospel, the phrase Jesus used for this journey was to “come down”. He
said: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who  came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man… for I have come down   from  heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me…I am the bread  which came down  from heaven…I have come down from heaven…”
(John 3:13; 6:38, 41, 42)
This is the greatest mystery of all time, that God is a Trinity, and that the  Second Person of the Trinity should come down to earth on a sacrificial  journey; from the pinnacles of heaven to the chasms of earth. He was born  through the womb of a virgin as the sinless Redeemer, completely God and a  complete man, for the redemption of the world (John 3:16)
Distance:                 
Consider the distance Jesus travelled. It cannot be measured in miles the way we  think of trips. For example; if you decide to travel once around the globe,  you’ll cover 24,900 miles. If you want to travel on the space shuttle to the moon, you’ll go 238,900 miles…one way.
Humans know how to travel vast distances, yet no one has ever crossed a greater  expanse than Jesus Christ when He journeyed from heaven to earth. He travelled from eternity into time and from infinity into space. Leaving the Ivory Places of heaven, He descended instantly through the criss-crossing currents of both  splendor and sin, free-falling from the heights of heavenly glory into the  darkness of a virgin womb and tumbling into the shadow of a cross.        
When you think of what Jesus had to do…WILLINGLY…you might understand how great  is the love of God for us. You might think WOW we do serve a mighty, holy and  majestic God. You might think that when he calls you, you would answer…isn’t it?  When God calls you to repentance and calls you to a holy life-style, what is  your response?
“Let every man abide in the  same calling wherein he is called.” (1 Corinthian 7:20)
 “Who has saved us and called  us with a holy calling not according to our works, but according to his own  purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
(2 Timothy 1:9)
 “Wherefore the rather  brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if you do
these things, you shall never fall.” (2 Peter 1:10)
When Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God because of their sin; but God’s voice could be heard calling, “Adam, where are  you?”  Are you hiding? Is God calling out to you?

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I pray for all who read this. That your  face will shine on us today. I pray for every one’s safety wherever we may  travel, wherever we may work. Help us with our Monday chores and  give us the strength to endure whatever we will face knowing that you love and care for us…in Jesus’ Name amen

“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)

The Garden of Eden was an astonishingly beautiful paradise, but Eden was just a part of the Big Picture. All creation on the entire planet was “very good”. All flora and fauna were flawless.

Our planet today is far from perfect. We live in a fallen world, disease and death, thorns and thistles have overtaken paradise. The Bible says that man has fallen short of the glory of God: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

This morning, I am asking you to pause for a moment, forget about yourself, your problems, circumstances and what you might be facing today and you will see so much beauty shining through that it will take your breath away.

“Give unto the Lord the glory due to His Name; worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness.” (Psalm 29:2)

Prayer:

Heavenly Father forgive me for forgetting to look upon you in the morning and seek your face. Father I give you praise for all the good things you have done for me, and bless those who I will be in contact with today in Jesus’ Name….amen

“Your iniquities have separated you from God; and your sins have hidden His face from you.” (Isaiah 59:2)
Disobeying God came with a huge price; humanity’s relationship with the Divine was sundered. To this very day, mankind’s iniquity separates us from God. We can no longer see His face. “We grope from the wall like the blind” (Isaiah 59:10)

 When we have no relationship with the Lord, when the power lines are down, when doubt, denial and disobedience leave us in darkness, how can we communicate with God?

Thankfully God planned to turn the lights back on again through Jesus Christ;

“Unto the upright there arises a light in the darkness; he is gracious and full of compassion.” (Psalm 112:4)

“And I will bring the blind by a way they do not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known; I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight. These things will I do to them and not forsake them.”

                                                                                                                                                                                (Isaiah 42:16)

“Then Jesus spoke again to them saying: I am the light of the world, he that follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Prayer:

Heavenly Father give me today the light that leads my paths, my ways and show me the light of Your glory in Jesus’ name…amen

Then God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3)

Talented people make useful and beautiful things that enhances our lives…the houses we live in, the foods that we eat, the arts we enjoy. But every artisan must begin with some kind of raw material…wood, stone, grain, pigments and so forth; not so with God.

When God wanted to create our incredible universe, He simply said the word…and it happened. Light, sky, dry land, plants and animals…all arose at the command of the one true God. It’s just one example of His amazing power.

“Happy is he that has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord, his God; who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is therein; whish keep truth forever.” (Psalm 146:5-6)

Prayer:

Heavenly Father thank you for keeping us safe throughout this day. Lord I praise Your Name for the beautiful nature that surrounds us…help us to see it every day in Jesus’ name…amen

“When the woman saw that the tree…desirable to make one wise, she took of it and ate.” (Genesis 3:6)

 Adam and Eve were living in Eden; they did not have a problem or a care in the world. They should have been perfectly content…and they were…that is until the devil lied and “explained” that God had deceived them in order to withhold the best from them. If they ate the forbidden fruit, the serpent insisted, they would be wise like God.
            
 There is a lesson here to be learnt: the only way to believe the devil is to disbelieve God and what he says…that is what Eve did. And people have been falling for the same trick ever since.

This you must know: the Bible teaches us that the flesh (since we are all born in sin through the fall of Adam and Eve) is enmity against God.

“You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4)

The “me” and the “I” will always get in the way of your spiritual growth because the devil will always be against whatever God does and says. The devil will always appeal to the five senses of man to make him fall…it worked for Adam and Eve it will have the same effect on you and me. The Bible counsels us not be led by the lust of the flesh.

“This I say then, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16)

Prayer:

Heavenly Father help me remain focused on You and stand against the onslaught of the devil in Jesus’ Name …amen

“For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)

 Adam and Eve’s innocence was shattered the instant they disobeyed God. The sweet taste of the forbidden fruit was still on their tongues when its poison began its deadly work, quicker than a serpent’s venom. Their minds were darkened and they began seeing everything from a skewed, selfish perspective.

Worst of all, they died spiritually that day and began to die physically as well. The wages that their sin paid them was death.

BUT
Thankfully God had already planned an antidote to the devil’s poison…that antidote’s Name is Jesus Christ the Son of God.

“Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Prayer:

Thank You Father for providing the way of redemption through your Son Jesus...amen

We are important to God;

“What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?” (Psalm 8:4)

Since God is the infinite Creator, who are we that He should care about us? Why should God even give humans a second thought…especially when we rebel against Him all the time?

It is precisely because God is infinite that He can watch a distant asteroid, yet still notice when a hair from our head falls to the ground on earth. It is precisely because God is our Creator that he loves us…even in our fallen state.

 And He has a wonderful plan for us:

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

“And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest which stood above the temple and said unto them: ‘Thus says the Lord, why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord? You cannot prosper because you have forsaken the Lord, thus He has forsaken you.” (2 Chronicles 24:20)

Prayer:

Father thank you that you are always mindful of us and that you ears are open to our prayers…amen