Faith Not Fear

We have a need for some of you help out with out surveillance team. Both monitoring the building, as well as working in the camera room. You can see brother Ron Bailey after the service to help out!

Greet everyone and new visitors!

This past week has been one of tension and uncertainty for many people, as we witnessed the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban last Sunday, in light of the United States removing its presence in that country.

We very briefly talked this past Wednesday evening about this situation and concerns that people have related to this and of the day and age in which we are living right now.

And before I go any further, let me again remind everyone that this coming Wednesday evening, we will be having Dr. Mark Dufrene with us, to do a question and answer session about the prophecy of Ezekiel 38-39 and about how things are lining up in the world with the prophecy of Gog and Magog and Israel. So, please plan on being here and being a part of this discussion, Wednesday evening at 6:30.

If we were to be honest with one another right now, how many of you would be willing to say that you have questions and/or concerns in your hearts about the world and our nation and your home and your family, in relation to Biblical prophecy and the end time events? (Like some of what’s going on and the uncertainty of it, disturbs you in your heart!)

It’s OK to have questions and to have concerns about what is going on around us. The greater matter is what are we doing about these questions and concerns! This past week I was brought to a passage in the Bible that I have read numerous times in the past, as most of you have probably done the same with this very familiar parable that Jesus taught. And as it stayed lodged in my mind, I asked the Lord what He wanted me to do with it. Was it for today’s sermon, or was it for another time and another message.

And as I began to revisit the events of the past 9-10 days in my mind and things that I have personally either witnessed, or been made aware of, I knew that the Lord was wanting me to use this passage to remind His people of something.

So about 9 days ago, my sister was working at her job in the mall in Chattanooga, when all of a sudden gunshots began to ring out and everyone was instantly in a state of panic.

She and their staff and the customers, made their way out of the mall, through a back door employee exit, and safely to another building across the parking lot, until the threat had been removed.

And once they were safely out of the building and awaiting news about the incident, she text me and asked me to call her.

At first she was OK, but after a couple of minutes of us talking, she began to cry and share with me about how scared she had been through the ordeal.

It turns out that it was gang related activity in the mall and the gunshots were between two factions. Despite the risk of injury and/ or death to other innocent people within the mall, these young men engaged in exchanging gunfire with one another!

Over the course of the past week, my sister and I have spoken on the phone about the incident and as to how she is fearful of going back in the mall, knowing that the potential is still very much there for the same, or a similar situation to take place again!

There is constantly bitterness and anger and hate being displayed within that mall and in her own store, and it goes unchecked, each and every day. Much of it coming from racial tension and then from the whole mask and vaccination scenario!

And that’s not inherent to only her store and the mall that she works in!

That is the condition of America right now and it’s a bitterness and a hatred and a fear, that has been growing and developing over the course of this past year and out of all of the events that have taken place.

Between the election debacle that took place for the 2020 elections and which is still going on, to the covid-19 virus and all of the issues of America shutting down and demanding everyone to wear face masks and become vaccinated, to all of the garbage about the BLM and the racial situations and riots, to the issues with our government and allowing, if not encouraging Americans to not work and just sponge off of the government, as well as the border situation and the divisions in this nation over how it was being handled, as well as other things that popped up in the news.......... it is no wonder why we are a nation divided and into multiple factions and mind-sets!

And it’s no wonder why people, as never before, are angry and filled with bitterness and hate towards one another and fearful for their lives.

There exists right now, an uneasiness and an almost palpable fear within many because of everything that is going on.

A fear of job loss and incurred debts. A fear of racial tension when out in the public. A fear of uncertainty about who and what to listen to and believe when it comes to this virus and the vaccinations that they are imposing upon us.

It’s no mystery that businesses and the government are mandating people to get vaccinated if they want to retain their employment; despite the continued number of medical professionals and scientists who are coming forward and saying that this is not right, or beneficial to anyone!

And the level of hate and vitriol that is being spewed back and forth between the “vaxxers” and the “anti-vaxxers” is growing exponentially, each and every day!

And men and women who do not believe in the vaccinations and the potential harm that may come from them, are scared for their employment and livelihood and their families and most definitely..........for their health!

And then, as I started mentioning, we had the whole Afghanistan and Taliban scenario unfold this past Sunday and the situation that still exists about the Americans who are stranded over there and this nation’s concern for those people.

And this past week, the President of the United States of America, instead of coming on the TV and telling the American people what this nation is doing about bringing home our people to safety and providing this nation with some peace and comfort and assurance , NO, he goes on for 20 minutes and tells us that we need MORE vaccinations and now booster shots on top of it!!

And all the while, those of us who are mindful to watch and pay attention to world events and what is taking place, are seeing Biblical prophecy unfold before our very eyes!

And when you put all of this together, local and national events in this nation and then all of the world stuff that is going on and Biblical eschatology unfolding in front of us, it can become somewhat overwhelming and daunting to many people.

Even to many Christians!

And as I said a few minutes ago, it’s OK to have questions and concerns about what is going on around us and in this nation and in the world.

But as I also said, the greater matter at hand, is what are we doing about these fears and concerns that we have?

More specifically, what are we, as members of the Body of Christ, doing about all of the things that are going on this nation and in the world right now?!!!

To this, some people may ask, “Well what can I do about all of this stuff that is taking place? I have no control over the pandemic and the medical and scientific world and the national and international political arenas and all of the hate and division that is taking place right now in our nation!!!!”

And to this I will simply say, “You are completely right and you are also completely wrong!”

Having said that, turn with me in your Bibles to the gospel of Luke 18:1-8. (As your turning in your Bibles, I will ask you a quick trivia question to sharpen your swords a little. Or for some of you, you may already know this, but, “hey”, a little reminder never hurts, right?”)

The question is is this: Matthew, Marc, Luke and John are collectively called what in the Bible? The Gospels (they tell of the good news of Jesus Christ and about His life, death and resurrection!)

The next question then is this: What are Matthew, Marc and Luke commonly referred to as? The Synoptic Gospels (the word “synoptic” means “together sight”, or “see together with a common view”. Basically, the first three gospels tell of the ministry of Jesus in much the same order and within a closer knit time frame of authorship, but with slightly differing perspectives. They all share His parables. John differs in that his gospel was written at a later time frame and for a different purpose, in showing the deity and kingship of Jesus Christ to those who were coming under persecution for the faith. John also contains none of the parables of Jesus, as the other gospels share. For this reason, John stands alone and is not a synoptic gospel.)

OK, if you have your Bibles open now to Luke 18:1-8, then we will read this passage now.

Luke 18:1–8 ESV

1 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

So in this passage and within this parable that Yeshua taught, we are introduced to two key people: the “judge” and the “widow”.

And what was going on and why did our Lord teach the disciples this parable to being with?

Well, the chapter before gives us the reasons why Jesus instructed His disciples and us as well, about this particular parable.

If you look back at the beginning of chapter 17 you will find Yeshua instructing His disciples on the subject of forgiveness and offenses. (Which is what we just finished up on our Wednesday evening services, the subject of offenses and forgiving others in the series, “The Bait of Satan”!

And so, Jesus tells the disciples that if another believer sins against you, then you are to rebuke them (let them know the wrong that they have done against you in the hopes that they will repent and mend the relationship, so that offense has no room to grow!) And no matter how many times someone sins against you and then comes back and says they’re sorry, YOU MUST FORGIVE THEM! And to this, His disciples say, “Lord, show us how to increase our faith!”

Notice that the disciples didn’t ask for more love, or more wisdom and understanding about the issue of forgiving others, but rather, they asked for more FAITH.

The disciples were learning from Jesus that their walk with Him was a walk of FAITH. As the scriptures remind us today also, “We walk by FAITH and not by sight.”

And so, they were learning that head knowledge was not going to be enough to get them through some tough and trying ordeals dealing with other people.

They instinctively asked the Lord to increase their faith for the task of reconciliation, to which Jesus redirected their request.

Jesus said that it is not the greatness in magnitude of the faith that you have, but rather in whose hands you are entrusting that faith.

He used the analogy of a servant who goes about doing the work of the Master, without need of being thanked for his/her work, or having to be constantly told what to do, but rather, just do in belief and faith the will of the Master and that servant would be taken care of by the Master!

And so it is with us and the Lord God. We are told what to do, and so since and we know and believe in Him and entrust our faith into His mighty hands, we know that He will work on our behalf to accomplish His will and bring about what seems to be impossible in certain situations and in the natural!

And then, just a few verses later, we find Yeshua healing the ten lepers and with only the one coming back to give glory to God and to praise and thank Jesus.

And the Lord says to the leper, “Stand up and go. Your FAITH has healed you.”

The chapter finishes out with the religious leaders asking Jesus to tell them when would the kingdom of God come to men?

And Yeshua let them know that the kingdom of God is not detected by visible signs as men were looking for in the natural. He then begins to instruct the disciples about the day of His return.

He tells them that the day of His return will be like it was in the day of Noah, with people eating and drinking and marrying, right up until Noah entered the boat and then the flood came.

And just like in the days of Lot, with the people being only concerned with their daily business, eating and drinking and buying and selling and farming and building, right up until the morning that Lot walked out of the city and then the judgement of God fell on them.

Jesus warned His disciples, which was really a warning for us, that when you see the signs of His return drawing near, to be ready.

You will not have a second chance to go and get your affairs in order when He returns.

What you are found doing, is the condition that He will find you in and it will show whether you were truly awaiting His return and going about doing His will and the work of His Father, while awaiting His return.

OR, will His return find you like the people in Noah and Lot’s day and time and just going about your life with only the cares and concerns of this world and this life and not even looking for His return while patiently and in FAITH doing His will and His work as a trusting servant?!!

And so, in chapter 18, Yeshua give the parable of the persistent widow, having been predicated by the issues of FAITH and faithfully serving the Lord, until His return!

And this parable is very straight forward and given to make sure that the disciples, and we as well, could see what Jesus was wanting us to hear and understand. The intention of the parable is stated by Luke right up front, where it says, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

That is important and we will come back to that statement!

So who are we introduced to in this parable?

Easy enough to follow..........we meet the unjust judge and we meet a widow.

The judge, out of his own mouth declares, “I neither fear God nor respect man”, thus showing where his heart and motives lied.

This judge had no belief and no fear of the Lord God and he also had no respect, no regard, no concern and interest in the well being and life of other people!

He only cared about himself and his wants and desires in this world! HIS OWN AGENDA!

I’m going to just come out and say it, the judge that we meet in this parable, is a type for our nation’s government and the presidency right now!

They’re acting out of their own interests and making decisions for our nation, not out of their concern for us and the good of this nation and its people, but rather out of their own self-serving motives and being driven from their own agendas!

They are not lead by, nor even remotely concerned with Biblical standards and the fear of God in how and why they operate!

And so that brings us to the widow in the parable.

A widow in that day and age, could be a horrible and very scary place for a woman to find herself!

Women were not allowed to go to the courts and stand before a judge; only the men were to do that.

The fact that this woman is going continually before the judge, shows us a couple of things about her and her situation.

There was NO ONE else in her life to help her!

No husband, no sons, no grandsons, no nephews, no brothers.

She had no legal representation and no one look out after her and for her well being!

SHE WAS ALL ALONE IN THE WORLD AND THE WORLD WAS NOT LOOKING OUT FOR HER AND HER WELL BEING.

And unfortunately, neither was this judge!

This poor widow, had obviously been wronged by someone and because of this, and for her survival and her well being, she was DESPERATELY seeking legal protection and JUSTICE for HER situation and on her behalf from the only one who could help her..........the judge!

Jesus tells us that this widow “kept coming” to the judge and demanding he give her justice against her adversary and on her behalf! She was desperate!

So day in and day out, this poor widow was going before this wicked judge and demanding that he give her justice on her behalf and protect her from whoever it was who had wronged her and thus obviously was endangering her very life and well being!!

And the judge finally says, “This woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests! ”

In the Greek, what he was saying was literally this, “she’s beating me down with her constant requests’ she’s giving me a black eye from her assault of demands for justice”

And so, not because he cared whether she lived or died, but for his sake, he gave her justice and the protection that she was seeking!

Now here comes the whole point of this parable and its message for us, right now in our lives as true believers in Jesus. This parable stresses to us that God is the complete opposite to the unjust judge, because God truly loves us and cares about our well being and our future!

Jesus shows us that the unjust judge acted out of frustration and bitterness for the widow, who was continually harassing him and wearing him down.

Jesus points out to us that God, who is JUST, will deliver JUSTICE to the elect (we who are truly His children), as we go before Him in prayer through FAITH in Him!

This parable is not saying that we are to be persistent in prayer for the sake of wearing God down so He will make a decision for us and on our behalf. That equates God to the unjust judge in the parable and that is the opposite of our great God and Father!

Jesus is showing us that God loves us and that He hears our prayers and wants us coming to Him day and night, not out of frustration and fear, but rather out of LOVE for Him and out of FAITH in Him!!

And Jesus points out that God, in His timing and according to His will, moves on our behalf and renders to us, what is best for us and in our situation.

And Jesus stresses that when God moves to answer us and on our behalf, it is QUICK, it is instant!

It may not be in our timing and the way that we prayed for, but we are to be praying that the will of God be done in all things!

And we are to be praying to Him our of our FAITH in Him and who He is!

If you take what Jesus was saying in Luke 17 and that of our being a servant who is always busy doing the will of the master and you pair it up with the virtue of FAITH in God as Jesus instructed, and then you bring these in line with the parable of the persistent widow, you will see what Jesus is truly stressing to us!

As His servants, while He is away, we are to be doing His will and the will of His Father. And that will involves us constantly, coming before Him in prayer for all things in our lives and at all times! And it demands that we place our FAITH in Him and FAITH in those prayers that we offer up to Him!

It is not that we just keep praying and praying and praying, until one day, there is such a surplus of prayers in heaven, that God finally says, “well, I guess that I have to move and answer him/her now!” That, as I just said, puts God in line with the unjust judge!

The point that Jesus makes to us is that prayer is a necessity for a true Christian and it is something that we should want to be doing at all times, not because we fear and not because we are acting out of desperation, but rather because we love God and love being in His presence and because we know and believe in FAITH that He and He alone is our source for everything that we have need of, both now and for all eternity.

And you and I are like the widow in this parable. There is no one else who can help us; we are completely helpless in this world without God (who is our JUST JUDGE). And because of this, we daily, constantly, are to be going before Him and seeking Him and His protection and provision for us and for our lives and for our families and for our nation and for His bride, the church!

It is a right heart in prayer to God that moves God, as Jesus pointed out right after this parable, when he told the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. God is not impressed with long winded, meaty, prideful prayers, but rather He is looking for a heart that is humble and repentant and in FAITH, coming before Him!

And it’s what Jesus stresses at the end of the parable, that I will stress to you now. Jesus closed out this parable, not by saying how great it was that the judge had vindicated the widow, or the beauty of her protection, but rather, He points us to a future time and place, when He says, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find FAITH on earth?”

Jesus was not saying that there will be no faith when He returns, otherwise He would have nothing to return to and no one to return for, if no one had faith and believed!

What Jesus is stressing here is that prayer, continual prayer, is the evidence of our FAITH and it is also what develops and grows our FAITH. And as we saw earlier, this is what He expects to find when He returns; a bride who is looking for His return and who is busy making ready the return of the bridegroom!

That is my point for today and with what is going on in the world right now! Jesus stressed that when you see the signs, they are indicating that His return is near. The signs are manifesting right in front of us, as the world is aligning in Biblical prophesy! You and I are living in the greatest time in history, as we are potentially about to witness the return of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

And now, more than ever, we MUST be busy doing our Father’s work and preparing for the His Son’s coming, as we stay in constant prayer to Him and with Him! James 5:16 tells us that, “The PRAYER of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” The word righteous in this verse refers to: “pertaining to being in accordance with what God requires”.

Well saints, what does God require of us. Micah 6:8 says,

Micah 6:8 ESV

8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

And these three things MUST be done out of FAITH in God, because without our FAITH, it is impossible to please God!

So, we are going to close out today by going before the Lord God in prayer, as a body, in FAITH in who He is an asking for His hand of favor and protection over us and for our brothers and sisters in nations such as Afghanistan and China.