From Fear to Eternity!

I wanted to keep in step with what I have been teaching on for the past 2 weeks and that of leadership. But for today, I wanted to take a more direct and focused look at a specific area that I mentioned last week. An area which I said we, as Christians, should not be lead by! And in preparing for today’s message, I starting thinking about a message series that I did last year.

At this exact same time last year, I delivered a message series entitled, “Things That Go Bump In the Night”.

Within this series, I spoke to everyone about the unnatural and unhealthy fascination that people have with fear. The reasoning for this series of messages, was that they coincided with the exact same time of year that we are in again right now, which is the holiday season of Halloween.

If you were here last year at this time, when I did this series of messages, then you may remember some of the highlighted points that I am going to share with you right now. If you missed this series, or if you have forgotten a lot of what was shared within them, then I would encourage you to look them up and watch them again.

The main gist of these messages, was that there is fear that is natural and healthy for us, both physically, as well as spiritually, but then there is also fear that is damaging and wrong and that we should never invite, or allow into our lives!

As it is the season of Halloween again and that time of year when people love to be scared and to delve into the mysterious and the macabre, I felt it only fitting to share a few thoughts with you from last year’s message, that tie right back in with this morning’s message.

First of all, from last year’s message, let me reiterate something, to all of you here and those at home listening, about the issues of horror and the occultic and all of the blood and gore associated with them.

There are many people who love to sit and watch horror movies throughout the year and especially this time of year, because they love to be scared. I mean after all, it’s just for fun, right?

Well, consider this. If you are TRULY, a follower of Yeshua, the Son of God, then why would you ever call things that glorify the darkness entertainment and fun?!

And I have had professing Christians say to me before that watching horror movies that glamorize and take the demonic and the grotesque, to a whole different level, are just something entertaining and that they don’t see any harm in them!

Well consider what the Bible says to us.

John 1 tells us this about Jesus the Christ, “In him was life, and the life was the LIGHT of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

John said that Jesus is the LIGHT of men. Jesus said the same thing of Himself in John 8:12, where He spoke one of His 7 “I AM” declarations, He said, “I am the LIGHT of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jesus is the glorious, radiant LIGHT of God, which was sent to dispel and to destroy ALL of the darkness of the enemy, not to co-mingle with it!

That’s what I John 3:8 tells us, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

And the main point that I stressed to everyone last year was that watching people being murdered in the most grotesque of fashions and witnessing Hollywood’s talent for showing increased levels of graphic displays of blood and gore, not to mention the movies that openly depict scenes of demonic activity and the glamorizing of performing witchcraft, are not compatible with the life of a Christian!

All of these things deal openly and explicitly with the domain of our adversary, the devil.

Why would you want to allow anything into your house, that openly glorifies him and his kingdom?

The Bible reminds Christians about this, by asking about our desire to yoke up with non-believers and the world, when it says in II Corinthians 6:14, “what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

In other words, if you truly belong to the Christ, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, then why would you come into open agreement with anything that ONLY brings glory to the devil and his kingdom?!

Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:11, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”

My sister was here last year for the first of this three part series of messages, and she shared her testimony with everyone about her experience in dabbling in WICCA and the occultic.

She used to always love to sit and watch the really demonic and grotesque movies and she also, for basically all of her adult life, had horrible nightmares and difficulty with sleeping on many occasions!

You see, whenever you openly invite the spiritual domain of darkness into your home and into your life, you had better believe that it will be there to oblige you!

And if you are here today and you don’t believe that there are two spiritual kingdoms that exist, the kingdom of LIGHT which belongs to the Lord God almighty and the kingdom of darkness, which belongs to the devil, then I would love to spend some time talking with you at some point!

You may say that they are just shows, just movies, but you must remember that whoever, or rather, whatever was behind the making of such media, is there waiting for people to openly invite it/them, into our homes and into our lives and the lives of our families!

The spiritual realm is most definitely real and not something to be taken lightly!

And my sister can tell you that breaking free from the bondage of the enemy and all of the darkness in her life and coming to know Yeshua as Lord and savior of her life, was truly a life changing experience!

Once you have truly stepped out of the kingdom of darkness into the glorious light of the Christ, why would you ever want to allow that darkness back into your life again?

The Bible tells us, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of LIGHT.” It says that, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.”

And Jesus said, “if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

And here is the warning that I gave last year and that I wanted to stress to everyone here today, or who may be watching via the live stream.

You and I are the legal and authorized guardians of our minds and of our hearts and of our homes. Whatever you say “yes” to and allow to come in to your life and into your home, it has rights!

And not just to you, but anyone living inside of your home: your spouse, your children, your grandchildren. There are literally demonic forces that we can allow to come in and set up shop in our homes.

And many times over, their presence is not felt through some spooky, scary presence, like we see in the movies. Many times over, their presence is first seen through conflict that arises in the lives of those living in the home.

Anger, bitterness, harsh words and cursing, continual arguments and fights, paired up with thoughts that are of ill will and disdain. These are signs, that something has made itself at home in your house!

And the invitation for them to come in to your home and invade you and your family’s lives, is not limited to the horror and demonic movies. If you are watching pornography and inappropriate material in your home, then you are still giving the enemy legal access to enter!

If you align with the enemy and his domain, then he has free and legal access into your home!

Just like it may take some time for termites and their presence to show up in your home, as the damage is done silently, so it is with the darkness.

But make no mistake, the enemy wants into your life and into your home for one reason. He has but one motive: he comes only to steal and kill and destroy, according to Jesus!

Listen everyone, as Christians, we MUST be diligent and cautious as to what we give our approval to and what we call good vs evil. Through God’s Word, we have been warned as to what is evil and of the darkness. Whatever you deem as safe and healthy to watch as entertainment in your home, is either going to glorify the kingdom of light, or the kingdom of darkness. There is no middle ground. It’s one or the other!

And whenever you give your approval of something that is of the darkness and you say that it’s “OK” and not bad, then you are already heading into a bad place. That is why Jesus said in Matthew 6, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

Now in this passage, Jesus was making the analogy between our desire for money and the things of this world, versus our desire to follow God and allow Him to be in control of our lives.

And so Jesus was saying that if you want the things of this world inside of your heart, more than of letting God be in control of your life, then you are in darkness and your eyes, (your heart), are focusing more and more on this world and allowing more and more darkness into your heart.

And you will call it good and light. And anything else of this world that you desire to let in, besides money, if you give your approval of it and call it light (of God) and it’s of the darkness, then how great is the darkness inside of you?!

Isaiah warned us about this by saying in Isaiah 5, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

In other words, when you can’t tell dark from light and good for evil, then you’re in a bad place, spiritually!

Let me give you some good news about this. You have the authority in Christ, to evict any and every spirit of the enemy that may have taken up residency in your home, and or your life!

If you will repent (turn from the area that you aligned with the enemy on and return to God) and then, by His power and with His authority, command that/those foul spirits to leave your home in the name Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, they must flee!

And the key to this working, is that you must truly turn from whatever it is and you must BELIEVE in the name and the authority of the Lord!

That’s all I am going to say about the issue of what we watch and what we invite into our homes and into our lives. If you’re in a moral dilemma about whether something is right or wrong to watch, then it’s probably better to go on the ere of caution and stay away from it, amen?!!

Last week, I talked about how there are “blind leaders, leading the blind”, according to the words of Yeshua, Himself. And I mentioned this as part of my ongoing message about being Kingdom Leaders for the Lord. Now, real quick, let me ask you a question. According to the Bible, who in this room is called to be a leader? (EVERYONE!) We are ALL (everyone say, “ALL”), we are ALL called to lead others to Jesus and then to lead them along the path of discipleship so that they mature in Christ. (Or as Paul mentioned, we work and persevere through the power of God alive inside of us, so that we may “present everyone mature in Christ”.

And when I mentioned to you about those who were the blind and leading the blind, one of the ways that I mentioned that they do so, is through FEAR!

Remember that I said, if you can get people into a place of FEAR, then you can lead them to the place that you are declaring as SAFE, right?!

People who are bound in FEAR and being misguided in FEAR, are going to go to wherever they are told is the place of safety.

History has proven this to work, as dictators, such as Hitler and Stalin and even more currently, the Islamic terrorist regime, have proven that you can instill fear into the hearts of others and then lead them to where you want them to go!

My point being, that all of the media and hype that stays at the forefront of our minds, as it is shoved down our throats each and every day, about the COVID-19, is serving to keep many people on edge and in FEAR!

Every day, when I open the news app on my phone, first thing in the morning, take a guess at what the top news story is? (“DING, DING, DING! That’s right, the corona virus and it’s spread across this nation!)

I checked first thing this morning and there it was again, top breaking news from CNN, “U.S. reports second-highest day of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began”!

Now let me ask you this, why are they constantly keeping it at the forefront of people’s minds, especially when you consider the mortality rate of this thing.

If the numbers of deaths that they are reporting, are in fact actually COVID related, then, that number divided by the current U.S. population, gives us a death rate of .0007%!

And the based on the number of cases listed this morning, divided by the current population, it gives us in infection rate of, .03%.

The H1N1 virus in 2009, had an 18% infection rate, compared to the 3% of this one.

If you can keep the people in the DARK and in FEAR and worry, then you can lead them wherever you want them to go.

I mean they are literally creating a culture now, based around this virus!

Fashion masks and novelty items are being mass produced for this thing!

I watch people everyday when I am out. I watch them in stores and in larger public places like Dollywood and it makes NO SENSE!

It doesn’t matter if you have the mask on correctly, just as long as you have it on! It’s almost like having a mark on you; if others can see it, then you’re good!

You can stand in amusement parks, literally right next to someone who is in the “mask free zone” without a mask, while you have to wear one. But, if you cross over the invisible barrier into the aforementioned “mask free zone”, then you too can go mask free.

Like the virus knows it has to go dormant in these areas. Just like in restaurants, the same thing!

WHY?!!!!!!!!

Is this a real virus? Absolutely it is! And this virus, along with any other virus, becomes a very sad and disheartening state, when we see lives being claimed by them.

But we should not be lead by FEAR; not in this matter or any other!

Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us, “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”

In other words, we have within us, the desire for perfection and for a time and place beyond what we have here and beyond what this life can offer!

That is the life eternal! Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

And that “abundant life” that He spoke of, has nothing to do with this marred and imperfect world!

Jesus was speaking of the life eternal! That which awaits us when the perishable body takes on the imperishable and our mortal shell takes on the immortal one, as Paul mentions in I Corinthians 15.

FEAR of and from this world and its control over us, is not in any way, shape, form or fashion, a part of God’s plan for our lives, as His children!

We are in this world, but not of this world! We do walk according to the dictate of man, but according to God.

We abide by the governing laws and those whom God has allowed to be in positions of authority, BUT, when those laws go contrary to God’s Word and His will for us, then we follow God and keep our eyes and our hearts and our minds fixed upon Him.

As Peter and John said, as they stood being questioned before the religious leaders in Acts 4-5, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. We must obey God rather than men.”

I am not saying that we are to rebel and stop using wisdom. If someone is sick with the coronavirus, or any other virus and a potential infection threat to others, then common sense says that we don’t go among others, so as to not spread it.

I worked in healthcare for over 17 years and I am very aware of using precautions and of how to stop spreading virus’.

My point is that nothing in the life of a Christian, should ever control us and move us in FEAR and WORRY.

Our hearts are to be forever fixed on the eternal and of the kingdom of God.

As Hebrews 12:2 says, we must keep “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of FAITH!”

And there lies the answer to looking beyond FEAR and to the eternal, our FAITH in God!

Our FAITH drives us and compels us to look beyond the current circumstances that are going on around us and see what God says and what He wants us to do and how to react!

Regardless of what is happening in the world around you, did not God say, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go”?

It is in the Lord and through Him, that we move and have our being!

Our FAITH must be founded and rooted in Him, so that when the things of this world and the leaders of this world try to shake us, we are immovable from our position in Christ!

Jeremiah 17:7-8 reminds us,

Jeremiah 17:7–8 AMP

[Most] blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit.

That is to be you and I friends! We are to see beyond what is going on right now, in this brief and time and season, and keep our FAITH in God!

If our witness to others is that we rely on man and not God and we move in worry and fear versus faith and trust, then how will we lead others to Him.

And I’m not saying, nor am I implying that you do not, or should not wear masks and that sort of thing.

That is for each individual to determine for his and her own life and I’m fine with that.

What I’m saying, is be certain that your heart is not driven by what is going on and what MAN keeps throwing in your face.

Keep your eyes focused on Jesus.

Paul encouraged the young disciple Timothy, who was facing a daunting task and most assuredly persecution, with this reminder, “ Timothy, I am reminded of your sincere faith a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

As more and more Christians, begin to step out in FAITH and lead out of LOVE for Jesus and not move according to this world and the god of this world, then others will become encouraged and start doing the same thing!

Paul said in Philippians 1, while in prison, “And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.”

Paul showed others what it looked like to take a stand for the gospel message and not yield to FEAR and the way of the world, and in doing so, others became bold to start doing the same!

In fact, in this same passage, several verses later, Paul goes on to say, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.”

In other words, Paul is telling us, that when we stand firm for Christ and do not yield to the FEAR tactics of the enemy and we become unified as a body in Christ, and our opponents see this, it becomes a clear sign to them that they are losing the battle and headed for loss and destruction.

And it is also a clear decree to the devil, our enemy, that when we do not yield to his lies and become FEARFUL, and move in FEAR, then he and every demon in his army is reminded of the sure fate that lies ahead of them.

We are to move From FEAR to ETERNITY!

And how do we do this? Well, let me remind you that Jesus has already won the war for us. We are handling the cleanup operation and getting ready for our time in eternity with Him. And we have assured victory over this world!

The Bible tells us, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our FAITH.”

Friends, we walk by faith and not by sight, as we stand boldly for the gospel message. “ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Isaiah said, “do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.”

“And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”

And how do we please God? Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek Him.”

We please God by living in and out of our FAITH to God!