God will take care of you
Notes
Transcript
Fear not
Fear not
Isaiah 43:1–3 (NRSV)
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Don’t panic. I’m with you.
There’s no need to fear for I’m your God.
I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you.
I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.
How many of you remember or have heard the song from the British well known band the Beetles called Help?The hook of the song said, I need somebody, help not just anybody. Help, you know I need someone, help. When I was thinking about this day and the occasion that song came to my mind because we have all said at some point in our lives somebody please help me. We call on everyone we can think of to get us out of trouble, depression, weakness, car break downs, house and church improvements. And if we are honest the last person we call on is the one who is there listening and watching the situation unfold 24/7. You know him right? Jesus the son of God? We are trying to figure out if we are going to sink, swim or be consumed by what has tried to take us over. See no light at the end of the tunnel and yet God is saying the whole time Fear Not, I will take care of you.
In our passage of scripture today God is speaking through his prophet Isaiah to the children of Israel. He is encouraging them that what they have lost will be restored and protection will be theirs as promised from the days of Moses. Several times in the book of Isaiah God tells his children to Fear Not, why because I am your Helper, your Redeemer, your right hand that holds you up in righteousness. I am he that will protect you and give back to you what has been destroyed in your camps.
In Isaiah 43 God has some encouraging words for his children to let them know that he has been there with them the whole time and he was just waiting for them to see the life preserver he had been casting out to them the whole time they were worried. Let’s take a look at what he is saying.
When you think about water there are several types of imagery that came to your mind when I said the word water. Pictures in your mind like beach water, brooks and streams, oceans, lakes. But when I say the word consume one image comes to mind and that is fire. I want to encourage you today as we celebrate 133 years of God taking care of Greater Allen Temple AME church and her may members down through the years both here now and those who have met the Lord in Glory. 133 years is a long legacy of God taking care of us and the people having no fear to continue the work that has been set out for us to do. Greater works we shall do as the Lord continues to guide and strengthen us in righteousness. Even those that are not apart of this congregation but are friends and family of someone connected here you will reap the benefits as well of God taking care of you.
So let’s look at the waters as God has given it to me to share with you and the fire that consumes.
In verse two it says when you pass through the waters, what waters could he possible be talking about I asked. And the Lord showed me the waters of the sea. (speak on passing through the Red Sea, the Jordan Sea). God was with them from one end of the bank to the other end of the bank and not a one was perished in those waters. God says when you see a Sea of water coming for you, what ever that sea looks like right, because the sea is deep it is not something you will be able to put your feet down and touch the bottom. God says to not fear because I am with you, just get up in the boat and relax take a nap and let me work it out for you.
Isaiah next say that even through the rivers they shall not overtake you. How many of you have been to the river and watched it move. It is more dangerous than the sea if you are not careful. At the end of some rivers are huge drop offs called waterfalls and that deep plunge can do some damage to a persons body or canoe they are in. I just want you to imagine right now you stepping into the river unprepared for what you thought was going to be a simple crossing in life. Yet when you stepped in you slipped on some rocks that you did not see and down you went with the current of the river taking you quickly down stream. What do you do? Remember the song by the Beetles earlier that main word was Help. Help is the word we would begin to yell so that someone would come to our rescue. I am here to encourage you that when you cry out the word help in a situation that may seem hopeless, there is a God that says fear not your hope is here and this will not overtake you. He says to you reach up your hand, pull your head above the water and I will pull you up and rescue you. In 133 years I am sure GAT has gone down some rivers where we have had to say Lord help us and God took care of you and the situation at hand. Yes the church dwindled in number because of deaths over the 133 years, members moving on somewhere else, Covid trying to make the church silent, yet God said if you trust me and believe in my word I will be with you through all the valley’s and mountain top experiences. Church and when I say church, I am speaking to the living breathing, walking church that Jesus began with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. We the church, God will take care of us because that is what he promised his children from the beginning with the covenant of Moses.
Last, he spoke of the fire that will not consume you. Do you remember the story of the three Hebrew boys (say their names)? They were thrown into a furnace that when you opened it if you go to close the fire would consume you just be being that close. Remember they were thrown in there because they refused to follow the kings orders. The scripture goes on to tell us in the book of Daniel chapter 3 they were met with a consuming fire and when they felt the three should be gone from the flames, they opened the door and saw not three but four people in the fire walking around untouched, unburned and the fourth person in the fire was that of the almighty God they and we serve to this day. They were not consumed because they trusted the God of their father’s. God was with them in the fire that did not consume them. No matter how hot life gets and you feel like the heat keeps getting turned up, just remember that is God testing and trying you to see if you know that he is with you in all aspects of life. He will not leave nor forsake you says the Lord. God is with you always even until the ends of the world.
GAT, family and friends I am here as a living testamony that God will take care of you when you can’t take care of yourself. He will guide you through the seas that rage during the storm, he will pick you up with his right hand when you are tumbling down the rivers of life, he will walk with you in the fire and bring you out as pure gold untouched and unscorched. If you believe that God will take care of you and that you have nothing to fear, I want you to get up on your feet this day and tell God thank you for making a way out of no way. Thank you for keeping me when I couldn’t keep myself. Thank you for hearing my cry for help in the midnight hour when no one else could hear the cry. Come on and raise your hands in the virutal encounter and tell the Lord thank you for healing my body when the doctors said it would not be so, thank you for keeping a roof over my head when the eviction notice was on the door and you did not know where you were going to go. I’m telling you I am a witness that God will take care of you if you fear not. God will take care of you if you trust in him and not waiver. God will take care of you because that is what he promised and he is a God that cannot lie. So why would you not want to serve a God like this?
God will take care of you so be not dismayed what ever be tide, God will take care of you. Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you, They hymn says, God will take care of you, through every day, o’er all the way; He will take care of you, God will take care of you. Greater Allen Temple blessed 133 years of God taking care of you the church and this building. God has restored the plans and now it is our responsibility to take the plans of restoration and do the work of the Kingdom. I salute you men and women of GAT for not being afraid and trusting that God will take care of all things that are his when you are faithful to Him. I am surely looking forward to what the next year has in store for us and our family and friends that support this ministry.
May God bless you and keep you is my prayer.
As we stand today or as we lift our hands in our virtual encounter, I pray God has spoken to your heart that he will take care of you. And if you have not taken that step to salvation today is the day you need to come to Jesus and let him start taking care of you as a child of the King. If you cried out help today and you are not saved today is the day. If you cried out help today and you need to rededicate your life to Christ today is the day. If you cried out help today because of an illness in your body you need Jesus to heal today is that day to know to Fear Not because God will take care of you. Is there one today. You can come down, you can raise your hand, you can raise your emoji hand online. Don’t worry about what others may think because this is a time between you and God and your soul salvation. Is there one today.?