0:07 There's something I wanted to share this morning which has been on my heart for some time now and I thought I would encourage you with it as it has as the Holy Spirit has encouraged me as well. You've heard often in this church what 0:19 the first promise in the new covenant is. If you don't know it, I hope you'll know it today. Anybody know? Want to take a guess? The first promise recorded in the new covenant. It's in Matthew chapter 1. It's in the very first page of the 0:37 New Testament. Matthew chapter 1. In verse 21 it says here's the first promise in the new covenant. Jesus will save you from your sins. Jesus will save you from your sins. That's the first promise in the new 0:57 covenant. Very important for us to know that. And by save he doesn't mean that he will forgive you every time you come. He will do that, yes. The word forgiveness is used even in the new covenant. He will cleanse you, yes. He will 1:12 cleanse you from all your sin. But he wants to do more than just forgive you and cleanse you for what you've done. He wants to save you from it. Saving means that over time eventually I'm not doing those same things. Otherwise 1:31 it's an old covenant promise. If you just have forgiveness, they had it under the old covenant as well. All they had to do was sacrifice a bull or do the right thing, the grain offering or the sin offering, whatever it might be, and they had forgiveness. 1:46 David is in the presence of the Lord today because his sins were forgiven under the old covenant. But under the new covenant the promise we are given right to the very beginning is you have something greater than what Abraham, Noah, David, Moses, Elijah, 2:03 Elisha, Zechariah, Malachi, all of them had. You have something far greater. You have salvation. You have the opportunity to be set free from your sin. So that's the first promise in the new covenant. And as you know um we have said here often in the church 2:22 that our goal, I hope this is your goal as well, that by the end of your life you will have experienced every promise in the new covenant. This is my goal. I'll tell you honestly that by the end of my life I will have experienced every promise in the new 2:38 covenant and obeyed every command in the new covenant. And that's why if you've been listening to our memory verses for some time you'll see that we have promises and commands alternating. Promises and commands alternating. 2:56 Um And so that's a good way to remember it. Lord, by the end of my life you must have fulfilled every promise in the new covenant. Not 50%, not 75%, not even 99%. I don't want to get to the end of my life and realize there was one promise 3:15 even that God wanted to fulfill in my life that I missed out on. The only reason for that would be that I didn't claim it. It will never be that God couldn't fulfill it in my life. If there's even one promise in my life 3:31 that I don't experience on this earth, one new covenant promise, there will be only one reason for it. I didn't go to God and say, "Lord, you must fulfill it. You said it." I just didn't add my amen to what he said he would do. 3:47 So it's up to us, family. Let's take it seriously. Likewise, I don't want to get to the end of my life and realize there was any command in the new covenant that I didn't obey. Anytime God wanted me to take up my cross and follow him, if I missed it, 4:05 there will be no more opportunity in heaven. I think it was Sadhu Sundar Singh who said, "In heaven there will be no more opportunity to take up your cross." Yes, no more pain, no more tears, no more suffering and all that, but no more 4:19 cross either. No more way to give up my body afresh as a living sacrifice and say, "Thank you, Lord, for loving me. Here's my life." And there will be no more crosses in heaven to carry. To be freed from myself a little bit 4:34 more and to partake of the life of Christ. There will be no more opportunities to die to yourself in heaven. So I want to while I'm here make use of the time that every opportunity I have to obey every command in the new in the new covenant, 4:50 I want to obey it. By God's grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit. So I told you what the first promise in the new covenant was, that is Jesus will save you from your sins. What is the first command then? It's actually just right there in the 5:05 previous verse, verse 20. Do not fear. When you see the word when you hear the words do not fear, I'm almost certain when you read 1 Corinthians 20 you probably did took it the way I have 5:23 typically taken it. Hey, why are you fearing? Why are you afraid? Come on. You know, just shrug your shoulders. Why are you afraid? Why were you worried? Come on. Don't don't need to worry, man. It's okay. Everything will 5:35 be okay like they sing in those songs. You know, when you hear songs about not worrying, don't you have a uh a kind of like you know, like you want to sing. Isn't there a song that says don't worry, be happy, everything will be something like 5:49 that? Is that how you hear the angel coming to Joseph and saying, "Hey, come on, Joseph. Don't be afraid." I tell you, if you take it that way you will deal with fear all your life. You don't see it as a command. The same 6:04 Jesus who says, "Do not lust with your eyes. Do not be angry." says, "Do not be afraid." The same God commands us to not be afraid. And until we start to take it as seriously as a command, we will just tolerate it. I think if you were to ask yourself 6:24 honestly in your heart, have you been tolerating fear and anxiety and worry in your life? Have you been tolerating it? Have you been sort of just kind of letting it slip by for some period of time? Not in the same way as you would deal 6:39 with lust. Imagine if I sat up here and said, "Hey, I I've been lusting with my eyes for a little bit." Would you be like, "Man, that's okay." or I've been committing adultery? Would you sort of said, "Yeah, man, don't commit adultery. It's not a good 6:53 idea." No. You'd say, "Come on, what are you doing?" But if I got up here and said, "Man, you know what, man? I faced that situation and I just kind of was anxious for a couple days." You'd be like, "Oh, brother, I feel 7:05 sorry for you. It's okay. You know, take it more seriously the next time." You see how we have a different attitude towards fear and anxiety and worry? And yet God commands it. In fact, Jesus said towards the end of time in Luke 7:20 21 one of the marks of the ends end of time, as we get closer to the end of time he says in Luke 21:25, there will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the earth dismay among nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and 7:38 the waves, and men will faint from fear. The fear will get so big because people didn't take it seriously. Now, in the world they have no hope. They're bound by fear. They remain bound by fear. But Christians who should be freed from fear, 7:56 the fear will just get tolerated and tolerated and tolerated and tolerated and tolerated. It's kind of like the waters of fear will build up, build up, build up, build up, build up, and finally they'll just drown in fear. 8:08 They'll just drown in anxiety and drown in worry. Men's Men will faint from fear. As the time of Christ's return draws near, you'll find more and more people will faint from fear. Why will they faint from fear? Because the devil just kind of coddled 8:25 them and said, "Don't take fear that seriously. It's okay." And the devil wants you to be afraid. In Colossians chapter 2, why does the devil want you to live in fear? Colossians chapter 2. If you turn there with me. Colossians chapter 2. 8:49 We're we're turning our Bibles very quietly today. I I think it was brother David Wilkerson who once I was listening to a message he says he loved hearing the turning of the pages of the Bible. Maybe more of you are using your phones 9:01 those days in these days so you can't hear the pages rustling. It's okay. But um yeah, please turn there with me whether it's on your phone or in your Bible. It's not enough that you say that Santos said it's in Colossians 2. You must know 9:15 it in your Bible. You must know it. You must be able to find this verse because God said it, not I. Colossians chapter 2. He says in verse um 13, "When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, 9:34 he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed 9:48 it to the cross." What he's talking about here is what Jesus accomplished on the cross, what the Father did through Jesus on the cross. But then he goes on to say, what he did there was he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, making a public display of 10:05 them having triumphed over them through him. Having when he had disarmed disdespoiled, I think the King James says. That means he plundered them. And that word disarm, you hear it often when when there's somebody that's holding 10:22 somebody hostage. Somebody's got a gun and they got somebody holding hostage, holding people in a bank or holding somebody hostage or they've got a knife and they're holding the knife to the person's throat. And then the police or 10:34 the SWAT team will come and disarm that person. Disarm means they take away that gun. They take away that knife. And so that person no longer has a weapon with which to threaten people. You know, if you saw there was somebody 10:49 waving a gun there, hopefully somebody will go and disarm that person. Remove the gun. Remove the weapon. Remove the knife. And that's exactly what Jesus did. Do you know that the devil had a weapon once upon a time? The devil did really have a weapon and 11:05 Jesus took away that weapon when he was there on the cross. When Jesus was hanging there on the cross, he went and took away the weapon from the devil. Took it away completely. What was the weapon that the devil had? I don't know if you know that, but we're 11:20 told in Hebrews chapter 2 exactly what that is. Hebrews chapter 2 is so important for you to know that Jesus disarmed Satan. And that's why the devil doesn't want you to know that he was disarmed. Hebrews chapter 2, we read in verse 14. 11:39 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, Jesus himself was likewise also partook of the same that through death, again, it's talking about Jesus's death on the cross. Through death, he might render powerless. He 11:56 might disarm. He might take away the weapon from. He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil. So there we're shown what is the weapon that the devil had. What was the gun that he was waving and 12:11 threatening you with? It was a real gun. It wasn't fake. It was a real gun. What is that weapon? The power of death. Satan had the power of death. And when Jesus hung there on the cross and defeated death, he disarmed Satan. 12:28 He disarmed him. He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil. And might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. So, the devil had a weapon, a real weapon, the power of death. That's worse 12:47 than any gun or any knife. That's the power of death. The devil had it. And he was pointing it at he had it to your head, whether you realized it or not, even though you weren't alive then. If Jesus hadn't died on the cross, the 13:01 devil would have the ability to hold this gun to your head throughout your life. The power of death. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm I'm going to put you to death. The devil had that power. 13:13 But Jesus took away that power. Disarmed him. Did you know that? Or did you only know well Jesus forgave my sins on the cross? Did you know that what Jesus accomplished on the cross was so much more than give you a ticket to 13:27 heaven? He disarmed the devil. That means here on this earth, as long as you live, you don't have to be afraid of the power that the devil once upon a time had. So the devil doesn't have a weapon anymore. Well, he does actually. 13:42 His only weapon now is fear. Convincing you that he still has a weapon. That's his weapon. So it's I imagine like this that the devil's got his hands behind his back now and he's telling you, I've got a gun. I've got a knife. I'm going to harm you. 13:57 I'm going to do some damage to you. That's fear. He doesn't actually have a weapon. He was disarmed on the cross. Jesus took away that weapon and now the devil knows he's weaponless. Then he knows he's powerless, but he wants you to remain in 14:11 fear and anxiety and worry. He's got his hands behind his back and he's pretending that he's got a weapon. He says, I'm going to harm you. I'm going to everything's going to go bad. And that's why fear is so serious. I've come to see fear far more seriously 14:28 in the last few weeks, brothers and sisters, because it makes a mockery of the cross of Jesus Christ. It it diminishes it. When Jesus said and he recorded in his Bible in the in in his word that when I died on the cross, I took 14:47 away Satan's weapon and then I allow Satan to occupy my mind with thoughts of anxiety and worry and fear. What I'm saying is Jesus, no, you actually didn't do that. For that eternity when you experienced suffering on the cross and separation 15:02 from the Father, it was just in vain. You you need not have. Would you dare to say that? To throw dung on the cross of Christ and say, you know, it was a waste of time, Jesus. You didn't have to. You know, when he suffered 15:17 in 3 hours and eternity of separation from the Father, he was taking away the weapon from Satan. It took an eternity of suffering for Jesus to render Satan powerless. And because he was God and man, he could do that. But now having done that, how will 15:33 you live your life, dear brother, dear sister? When he paid that great price for you to live in fear, will you allow the devil to still hold you a slave to fear? No more. That's what I said. No more devil. You will not hold my life 15:49 in fear anymore. So the devil's greatest weapon is fear. Keeping us in slavery of as a slave to fear. If something bad can happen, it's going to happen. Are you a slave to fear? Don't don't raise your hand. Don't answer me. Answer yourself. Answer 16:08 before the Lord. Check your heart. What was this last week like? What are the last couple of weeks been like? What's the last month been like? Is the devil hanging over your head saying, oh, it's not going to work out. Yeah, you you know, you you're not going 16:21 to have enough. You're going to run out. You're not going to be able to provide for your family. Oh, that that sickness is going to be really, really, really bad. That other situation is going to be really bad. It's getting worse. Oh, it's going 16:32 to get even worse now. Have you allowed the devil to bind you in slavery over the last month? Then don't be condemned, dear brother, dear sister. Nothing you hear in the church is condemnation. I hope you know that. We speak firmly because we want 16:48 the devil to hear. And we want to shake people out of their bondage and show them that he has no weapon. I want to rip the hands of of the devil from behind his back for everybody to see. Like Jesus said, it says he made him a public spectacle. 17:04 Almost sounds like he made fun of him. No, he doesn't make fun of the devil. But he showed HIM SHOWED EVERYBODY PUBLICLY THE DEVIL HAS NO MORE WEAPON. He made a public display of them. Now what are you going to do? The devil 17:16 wants to go back into the corners and say, oh, I still have a weapon. And he'll plague your thoughts. He'll captivate your thoughts with thoughts of fear and anxiety and worry that it's going to go bad. What are some of the fears that we have? 17:32 I'll tell you some of the ones that I've I'm tempted with. Let's turn to Mark chapter 4. First of all, the fear that God fear comes from thinking that God doesn't care. Lord, you don't care about what I'm going through. 17:49 You don't care. Have you ever said that? I'll tell you I have, to my shame. I've repented of it. Lord, why don't you care? Don't you care that I'm going through this? Don't you see my suffering? Don't you know the frustration? And I was trying this and 18:01 trying I'm trying to do the best I can and it doesn't seem to be working out. Don't you care? Yeah, the disciples said that. So you're not alone. Mark chapter 4. You read that in verse 35, when evening came, he said to them, 18:18 let's go over to the other side. By the way, if you read the gospels carefully, whenever Jesus says go over to the other side, you know something's going to happen. You better watch out. Not something to be afraid of, something 18:29 to confront your fear. When Jesus says, let's go to the other side, I hope you'll go, but just be prepared. It's not going to be an easy ride. It's going to be something that will challenge your fear. Will confront your fear and let you be freed from it. 18:43 Go with him to the other side. Let him expose that fear so that you can be freed of it completely. Let us go over to the other side. Verse 36, leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in the boat just as he was and other boats were with him. 19:00 And there arose a fierce gale of wind and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. You get the picture of what's happening? I I'm a little terrified of water. I'll be honest with you. I'm not a very good 19:14 swimmer. Everybody else in my family swims better than I do. And one of my biggest fears, I'll tell you. I and I've started with this because that is one of my biggest fear that I might be sometime out in a boat. The boat starts to sink and I don't have 19:27 a life vest. Now, you shouldn't do that. I hear often of people who are expert swimmers who go out paddle boarding and all that without a life vest and you never know, especially in Colorado. Storms can come up and and all of a sudden, no matter how good a 19:42 swimmer you are, you can't fight the water. Water is a dangerous thing. Now these men didn't have life vests. I hope you know that. This was Peter and some of the other disciples and they're they're there and the water's filling up. The storm is 19:55 turning the boat up and down and up and down and they are convinced we're about to die. That's it. And what's Jesus doing? Jesus himself was in the back of the boat asleep on a cushion. Does it ever seem to you do you ever 20:13 feel like here you are in the midst of the storm and everything's going up and down and Jesus is asleep? Where's Jesus? His eyes are closed. He doesn't see what I'm going through. Feel like I'm left all alone. Lord, why 20:27 did you leave me now? I thought you were with me. Now all of a sudden I'm facing this trial. If I feel like you're asleep. I love the psalmist who says, "Behold, he who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps." He's never closed his eyes and so they 20:42 go to him they wake him up. They woke him up verse 38 and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care that we are perishing?" Don't you care that we are perishing? And Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 21:00 "Hush, be still." You know how he said, "Shh, wind." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm and he said to them, "Why are you afraid?" Yeah, I I think he was actually asleep. But 21:17 even Jesus as a man sleeping in the boat is able to take care of his disciples. Why? Cuz it wasn't up to him, his father was watching. And his father was like at the right time I'll wake up Jesus, don't worry about it. Jesus will show up 21:32 when he needs to show up. But in the meantime, if he delays, he's confronting your fear. He's confronting your fear. You'll see another example of this when Jesus delays in Luke chapter 8. And you know this story as well. There 21:50 was a man named Jairus who had a daughter who was 12 years old who was very sick and on the verge of dying. And he came to Jesus. I mean God allowed Jesus to the father allowed Jesus to come right there into his town. 22:08 And he shows up verse 41, Luke 8 verse 41, there came a man named Jairus and he was an official of the synagogue and he fell at Jesus' feet and began to beg him, implore him to come to his house for he had an only daughter about 12 years old 22:27 and she was dying. And thankfully, he came in touch with Jesus. Thankfully, he met Jesus and Jesus said, "Sure, I'll come." You know what there was sometimes when Jesus delayed like in John 12 where they told him that uh 22:44 uh John 11, they told him Lazarus was sick and uh he said, "Okay, I'm going to wait here 3 more days." Well, this was different. Jairus came and he managed to get through to Jesus, big crowd, manages to get through in time and every all through that 22:59 journey, I'm sure Jairus is thinking, "I got to get to Jesus. Any any minute now she could die. Time is ticking. Time is ticking. Every second is valuable." It's kind of like these ambulances. Why is it they turn on their lights and they can 23:12 get go through red lights and all of that because time is of the essence. Time is important. Every second matters. One second could be the difference between life and death. And here's Jairus having to walk. He doesn't have an an ambulance. He doesn't 23:26 have paramedics that can run through the red lights and it's red light after red light after red but he gets through to Jesus. And and Jesus says, "Yes, I'll come." And they start to go but there's something that God wants to do in 23:38 Jairus's life that's far more than heal his daughter. And my dear brother and dear sister, I want to encourage you with this something that has really blessed my heart. God is doing something far more than solving your problem. 23:50 He wants to deal with the fear in your life. That's a greater problem. God is doing something far more than just solving the problems in your life. He wants you to be free from fear. So how does he do it? It's very interesting. 24:02 As they're walking back to Jairus's home, some lady has the audacity to touch Jesus' garment. She just touches his garment. Now, as you see there in that story, there's people pressing in on him and he's being touched here and being 24:17 jostled and it's a big crowd. They're like, "Make way for Jesus." And Jesus gets pushed here and there. But there's one woman who just touches the hem of his garment. I don't even think Yeah, Jesus felt it but the father gave him 24:28 a sense, "You've been touched by a woman who has faith." Not just touched by other people that are trying to see you and oh, I got to touch Jesus. This is a woman who's desperate. She's been having a hemorrhage of blood for years and she 24:43 just touched she says, "I'm not even going to touch his hand. I just touch the edge of his garment and I'll have power." And she's healed. And then Jesus stops. Now, the story we're thinking about today is Jairus. What do you think was 24:55 going through Jairus's mind when Jesus stops and says, "Who touched me?" Jairus says the only thing on Jairus's mind is I've got a 12-year-old daughter who's got seconds to live. And you're asking a lady, "Who touched me, Lord?" What does it matter who 25:12 touched you? Okay, she got her healing. That's fine, let her go, Lord. We've got to get to my daughter. Every second matters. Now imagine Jesus looking at Jairus's face and seeing, "Jairus, you're you're afraid." And so I'm going to sit here and spend a 25:27 few minutes with this with this woman. Take my time and talk to her and heal her and ask who touched me and this lady slowly comes forward. Then she's healed now but she's afraid. And she's and she comes forward and says, "Yes, Lord, it was me." And Jesus 25:44 blesses her and for Jairus time is ticking. He's fearful. He's full of fear. And God is doing something far greater than healing his daughter. Oh, he's his daughter's going to be healed. God's going to take care of that 25:57 problem. But he's got to deal with something else and that's the fear. And so verse 49, while Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of the synagogue official and said to him, "Jairus, guess what? Hey, your daughter's died. 26:14 It's too late. Your daughter has died. Don't trouble the teacher anymore." What do you think went through Jairus's mind at that moment? The fear just built up as the seconds went on, the fear built up, the fear built up, the fear 26:28 built up, fear built up and finally he sees his servant coming from his house and he's got This is the worst possible news. It's over. And he says, "Yep, all hope is gone. She's dead." And Jesus is watching this. While he's 26:40 dealing with the woman, he's watching Jairus because he says, "I got to free this man from fear while I deal with the problem." And so Jesus comes over to him in verse 50 and says, When Jesus heard Jesus was listening in 26:54 on the conversation between uh Jairus's servant and Jairus. Jesus came to him and he overheard this. When Jesus heard this, he answered, "Don't be afraid any longer." If you don't hear anything else today, hear this. Dear brother, dear sister, 27:10 dear child, do not be afraid any longer. You've lived in fear until this point perhaps. You've lived in fear all your life even as a believer. It's one thing if you live in fear as an unbeliever because you don't know that Jesus 27:26 disarmed Satan and he still has the power of death over you. But now that you're in Christ and you see that Christ has disarmed Satan, he has no power over you any longer. Now what will you do? Now hear the word of Christ saying to 27:42 you, "Don't be afraid any longer. It's been too long that you've been a slave to fear." That's what I hear Jesus telling Jairus. Thank God that that woman came and delayed things. Have you ever been delayed? You know sometimes when I uh 27:56 when I'm running late or if something happens and I come to a a closed road. The nowadays it seems like they're doing construction everywhere. In love Every road is closed. Trying to get there in a hurry. Oh no, they closed 28:07 this road, too. The detour, that's closed, too. And I've learned to just say, "Lord, you're doing something far greater than just getting me to where I need to be on time. Help me to plan ahead and leave earlier. It's always a good idea 28:20 but Lord, help me to be at rest. Even when I made a mistake, even when I should have left earlier, Lord, help me to be at rest. HELP ME NOT TO FEAR. YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN BE FREED of fear even if the problem that you're facing 28:33 is out of your own making. Your own mistakes. I wonder what Jairus was thinking, "Oh, I should have taken better care of her." And this and that. Even if the problem is your own making, Jesus says, "Do not be afraid any longer. 28:48 I'm the God of impossibilities. And if the problem you're facing is your own mistakes, your own sin, your own wasted years of your life, Jesus says, "Do not be afraid any longer." He goes there and heals. And now she's dead but he raises her 29:03 back to life. But what else did he do? He freed Jairus from fear. Turn back a few chapters. Luke chapter 5. I was talking about failures of our own making, fear that comes out of our own mistakes and our own failure. Luke chapter 5. 29:24 This is one of the earliest encounters between Peter and Jesus. Luke chapter 5. And I personally think that in this situation, Peter, as we know, he'd spent all night fishing. 29:43 And he's an expert fisherman. This This This is what he does for a living. He spent all night working hard, working hard, working hard. He's not lazy. He's not just sitting on the couch. He's working hard and I'm sure there was a 29:54 storm and it was dark and they're trying to fish and as the day night wears on, wears on, wears on, he's finally like, "I don't know what to do, man." And by the end of the morning comes and he's caught absolutely nothing. 30:07 And I think for a lot of these fishermen it was day-to-day living. If you caught fish, you sold it and you had money for food. If you didn't, well, guess what? Kids, we got to eat leftovers. Like it's just barely enough for half a meal, maybe. 30:20 It was day-to-day living. Very, very poor fishermen in Jesus' day. They were very poor. Perhaps the poorest of all. And Jesus picked the poorest, but here's Peter. What do you think is going through his mind? All night he worked hard, he worked 30:33 hard, he did his best and after all of that, nothing to show for it. Empty net. And I'm sure he probably I think he actually cursed. Jesus Peter wasn't born again yet at this time. He was just meeting Jesus. Now, he had a good heart, but maybe I'm 30:49 imagining here a little bit in that moment of frustration he's just like, And then he sees Jesus and Jesus and he knows Jesus. He's He's drawn to Jesus. He wants a better life, but in that moment he was frustrated and irritated and he yelled 31:03 at somebody, one of his co-fishermen. And then Jesus is there, "Hey." And Jesus says to him, "Hey, let's go out on the boat." And of all the boats that Jesus picks, he picks Peter's. I imagine it kind of like you're at home 31:19 and something frustrating happens in the home and you lose your you lose your patience with your husband or your wife or your children. You say something off the cuff and you're like, you know, why? Irritated. And then the doorbell 31:31 rings. And it's somebody from the church and they're they're there to visit you and you're like, I Did they hear what I said? Or it's some godly brother who's come to visit you or Jesus himself rang the bell and you think, "Did he 31:44 hear what I said?" That's exactly what Peter's feeling right now. He shows up and says, "Peter, I want to come in your boat." And And then when he goes out, Peter's like, "Okay." "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." 32:02 And then Simon Peter says, "Come on, Jesus. You're telling me to go out fishing? I You know, I've spent all night fishing and I'm the expert fisherman. Your expertise is carpentry. My expertise is fishing and I know I haven't caught anything all night long, 32:16 but okay." And I almost think he actually had a sense of, "Lord, I'm going to prove you wrong. You're not going to be able to fix this problem." Okay, but he does. He goes out and they put the net nets down in verse six. When they had done 32:31 this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish and the nets began to break so much so that they they had to get more boats to come in and help them. And they filled both of the boats so that they began to sink. And when Simon 32:42 Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet and said, "Lord, go away from me." Have you wondered why Peter said, I mean, he just caught a whole bunch of fish. Why was Peter's response, "Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man"? 32:58 I believe it's because Peter Jesus Peter knew that Jesus saw his sinfulness. Saw what was inside Peter's heart. Saw perhaps the love of money. Saw the worry. Saw the anxiety. Saw the fear deep down and and Peter's response is, 33:13 "Lord, I know you've just solved my problem and my kids are going to eat today, but get away from me. I'm a sinful man. I don't deserve to be near you. I'm a sinful man." But look what Jesus says. Did Jesus go away from him? 33:28 Have you ever said, "Lord, get away from me. I don't deserve to be in your kingdom. I'm too sinful. I'm beyond hope. My problem is too deep. I've been defeated too long in this sin. I don't think I'll ever overcome. There's no 33:39 hope for me. Get away from me, Lord." Even if you have said that, he's not going to leave you. He sees your heart. He looks deep down and he sees the fear and the anxiety and the worry. Where is Peter today? He's in the 33:53 presence of the Lord. He's there in heaven with Christ. Where was Peter a few days later? Walking with Jesus. Where was Peter when Jesus was crucified? Where was Peter on the night before Jesus was crucified? Breaking bread with him. 34:06 Watching him being killed and crucified. Peter saw the resurrected Jesus. Peter saw the ascending Jesus. And Peter saw the spirit of Jesus descending into him through the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. There was hope for Peter. 34:22 And so Peter Jesus says to Simon in the middle of verse 10 towards the end of verse 10, "Don't fear. I have a purpose for your life. From now on you will be catching men. I know you your your hypocrisy has just been exposed. 34:36 I know you've been pretending to be a a holy man, but in that spur of the moment you you got caught unawares and something slipped out and people see, oh, you're not that godly after all. Something came out in that moment and 34:48 you're ashamed of it. Your hypocrisy has been exposed and you see how you your real condition. And Jesus says, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to help you. I'm here to heal you. I'm here to rid you of that fear. And I'm going to finish my purpose in 35:05 your life." Oh, dear brothers and sisters and children, God's written a book for your life. Do you know that? Psalm 139. Let me show you that verse. Psalm 139. God wrote a book of your life in great detail. Great detail. 35:23 Every moment of your life was written in God's book for you. He's written a book. It's got your name on the front of it. Your name. He's written your book from And when did he write it? He's not writing it right now. Oh, Santosh messed 35:36 up here. Okay, I got to figure out something else. No, no, no, no, no. Every detail of the mistakes I would make, the sins I would commit, the wrong turns I would make was written already in his book. He saw it before I was even 35:48 born. Psalm 139. Verse 16. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance. And in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me when as 36:08 yet there was not one of them. Before even one of my days was there. Before I even had my first day, God wrote the entire book, start to finish. It's already written, brothers, sisters. But here's the thing. I want you to know 36:23 what's written on the last page of my life. Oh, this revelation has changed my life. I want you to turn to the last page of the book of your life in your mind. Not in the Bible. The last page on the book of your life. Imagine. Lord, you've written the whole 36:38 book. The last page is already written. Okay. Go back there and look and what does it say at the last page on the bottom? It says, "Santosh was made like Jesus, conformed into the image of Jesus." That's written in Romans 8:29. 36:53 On the last page of the book of your life is written, "Conformed into the image of Jesus." Now, here you are somewhere else, finding your way through life, making mistakes and facing frustrations and brick walls and hurdles 37:05 and uncertainties and you're tempted to be anxious and worried and fearful. Anytime you're tempted, dear brother, dear sister, go to the last page. It's written there, "Conformed into the image of Jesus. Finished. It is 37:20 finished." Oh, it's changed my life. It's freeing me from fear. Because now when I face things that I don't know are about to happen to my life, I know he's seen it already. He wrote it. Where are we? August 18th. August 19th, 37:36 dear brothers and sisters, has already been written for you. So, it's not a surprise for him. He's written that down. It's a surprise for you. And the test is, will you continue to be bound by fear and anxiety and worry? 37:49 Or will you see that the devil is weaponless? He's been disarmed. He's powerless. Nothing can prevent you from experiencing God's finished work. Nothing. There was in a situation in Paul's life. If you'll turn with me to Acts chapter 38:09 27, not your own mistakes. I've already shown that. Peter's sin No, couldn't prevent him from experiencing what God had planned for him. At one point Jesus turns around to him and says, "Get behind me, Satan." And then Peter later on denies Christ. 38:29 That's perhaps the worst thing you could do. What do you think was going through Peter's mind, by the way, when he denied Christ? I'm sure he thought of those words that Jesus said, "He who denies me, I will deny before my Father in heaven." And 38:43 the devil immediately came in with condemnation and said, "Ah, you denied Christ. Jesus is going to deny you." That's not true. Jesus looked at him after he had denied him three times with eyes of compassion. And Peter saw who Jesus really is and he 39:00 saw that God's plan for his life was not hindered was not prevented by his sin. God's plan for your life, my dear brothers and sisters, is not blocked by your sin. It is blocked by your unbelief. It's blocked by your unbelief. That's 39:17 it. It's blocked by your allowing yourself to be held in fear and anxiety and worry. Only unbelief can prevent God from fulfilling his plan for your life. Sin will not. He can deal with He's dealt with the sin already. Don't live in sin. Yes, 39:31 confess your sin. Be freed from it. But the thing that will prevent God from finishing his plan in your life is unbelief and fear. Acts 27, you read a situation where Paul was a prisoner and he was being taken by boat. And they left Crete. And before they 39:48 left Crete, God told Paul, "You shouldn't This This journey shouldn't happen." And so Paul sent a messenger to the captain of the ship and says, "Don't set sail. The ship's going to You're going to have problems. You're going to hit a storm, so don't 40:03 set sail." But they didn't listen to him. You ever been in a situation where you tried to get them not to do something, but they did it. And now you're dealing with the consequences of the bad decisions somebody else made. 40:15 That's what Paul's facing. And they they face a storm and says, verse 20, Acts 27 verse 20, "Neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and it was not a small storm. From then on, all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned. Over 40:33 time, day after day, they can't even see the stars or the sun. Complete darkness. And the storm is brewing and just getting worse and worse and worse. They finally said, "Ah, we're we're dead. That's it. It's over." And when they had gone a long time, 40:48 verse 21, without food. Now there's no more food left. It's either we're going to starve to death first or we're going to drown. One of the two. Paul stood up in their midst and said, "Men, you ought to have followed my advice and 41:01 not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss. What was Paul tempted to think? Lord, I thought you had a plan for my life. And here I tried to warn these people and they made a mistake and because of their mistake, I'm going to 41:16 die." What about if the doctor makes a mistake, a wrong diagnosis? And they make a mistake and now you're faced with the potential of death because the doctor made a mistake. Doctors operated on the wrong part of your body perhaps or something like 41:30 that. You hear about these things. How will you deal with it where somebody else's mistake costs you something? Can God deal with that? Of course he can. When somebody else who has control over your life makes a bad decision and you 41:46 have to deal with the consequences of that. They're not really in control. God is in control. They might seem like they're in control, but God is in control over all. Paul tells them, "You should have listened to me. Okay, 41:59 but let's not harp on that." Verse 22, "Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night an angel of the God whom I belong and whom I serve 42:13 stood before me saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You have a purpose. I planned that you would finish your life on a particular date. You're only on page 653. The page is going to end The book is going to end much much much later. You 42:29 must go and stand before Caesar. There's something left for you to do here on this earth. Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.' What does it mean when he says, "You 42:45 must stand before Caesar"? You must finish the plan I have for your life. So, dear brothers, dear sisters, even if you're in that situation where you're facing death, death as a result of somebody else's poor choices. You're facing death and you're about to 43:01 You're either going to starve or drown. Right in that moment, hear God saying to you, "Don't be afraid. I have a plan for your life. Your plan ends with me saying, 'Conformed into the image of Jesus.' Nobody else Not even the devil, 43:15 because he's powerless. No man, no human being, no boss, no neighbor, no um harassing person, no authority, no ruler, no king, not even the devil himself can spoil your God's plan for your life. Can prevent you from getting to that 43:32 last page where it says, 'Santosh, conformed into the image of Jesus.' Put your name there. Have you seen the last page of your of the book of your life? Ask the Holy Spirit to show it to you. Don't take my word for it. Holy Spirit's done it for 43:44 me. He wants to do it for you as well. And oh, how it will change your life. Oh, how it will set you free from fear of the future. Before I close, I'll just spend a few minutes talking about why is it then that we have fear? Why is 44:00 it that so many people are filled with fear? First of all, I believe it's because we lack the fear of God. Isaiah 8 verse 13, write it down. You can read it sometime. In the Living Bible it says, "If you fear God, you need fear nothing else." 44:19 It's a promise and it's also a test. You know, the in in in the labs they have these litmus tests. There's a There's something called litmus paper which has a very unique characteristic that if you dip it into acidic liquid, 44:34 it'll turn red. And if you dip it into alkaline liquid, it'll turn blue. If I remember correctly. It's been a long time since I took the uh science class. But anyway, this is a litmus test of whether there's whether you fear God. 44:47 A litmus test of whether you have the reverence of the Lord. You know, it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's the ABC of the Christian life. And you say, "How do I know if I fear God?" Here's a very simple test. 44:57 Were you afraid in the last week? Were you afraid in the last month? Don't take my word for it. I'm not here to point a finger at you. Just take God's word. It says, "You don't fear God. YOU DON'T HAVE the reverence of the 45:08 Lord. Otherwise, you would be free from fear. If you fear God, you will fear nothing else. You will fear nothing else." In Luke chapter 12, he says in verse 4, Luke 12 verse 4, "I 45:28 say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. Have you meditated on that verse? Don't be If somebody comes up to you comes up to me and puts a gun to my 45:43 head. Just think about it for a moment. Be honest with yourself. If somebody came up to you and they you see they have a loaded gun and they're holding it to your head, would you be afraid? I'll be honest with you. I think I would 45:56 be. I I think I would be. And yet Jesus said, "Don't be afraid. Even if they can kill your body, even if they can, they can't do much more than that. Because what you're living for is something far beyond that. Do not be afraid of the man holding a 46:12 gun to your head. No, you don't have to be afraid. I tell you, I took this word seriously recently. I said, "Lord, you commanded me not to be afraid even if I'm on on the verge of death and there's somebody actually about to take my life." 46:26 Children, you know, I I even thought, "Should I say this?" Should I paint this picture of a man holding my gun to I I absolutely think I should. Because children, even if us adults didn't get it till we were older, you can get it when you're young. 46:39 There's nothing that you need to be afraid of, even if you're in that most scary of situations. Now, God will not allow you to be tested more than what you're able to bear. But think about it. Do you want such a life, brothers? Oh, I do with all of my 46:51 heart. I want such a life where they can strap me down and put a gun to my head and say, "I'm not afraid." I'M NOT EVEN PRETENDING that I'm not afraid. I'M ACTUALLY NOT AFRAID. DEEP DOWN WITHIN THERE'S NO FEAR AT ALL BECAUSE JESUS 47:03 SAID SUCH A LIFE IS POSSIBLE. And there were people who proved it. I read the stories in in uh Fox's Book of Martyrs and Martyrs Mirror of of Christians who went singing to the flames. Singing. Oh, it's my turn to go. Yes, I'M GOING 47:20 TO SING. NO FEAR. And then they get somebody else who was boiled to death in a hot uh bucket of oil. I I think that's one of the most painful ways to die. Who was it? John Huss, I think. And the boy the the the oil was so hot 47:35 that he had He took a He asked somebody for a knife and cut off his tongue lest he in the in the moment of panic deny Christ. How did such people live without fear? Are they somehow a different breed? Are they somehow superhuman? No, they had 47:49 the power of the Holy Spirit. They took God's word seriously seriously and said, "Lord, you said I don't have to fear and I'm going to live on the basis of that promise." Don't let your heart faint from fear. Deal with the fear now. If it's How how 48:03 high is the fear in your life? Is it chest high? Is it shoulder high? Is it waist high? Ankle high? However high it is, don't let it rise up. Cuz one day you will drown in it and it might be too late. Deal with it now. Deal with it now. Be free from all fear. 48:21 I say to you, "Don't fear those who kill the body, but I will warn you whom to fear." Verse 5, "Fear the one who after he has killed has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." Now, if you stop there, you'll think, 48:35 "Okay, well, this is worse. There's the guy holding my head or there's God who can throw me into hell." He doesn't want you to be afraid of God, because what does he go on to go on to say? Listen. What does it mean to have 48:47 the fear of God then? That I'm not afraid of the person holding the gun to my head. It's I'm free from anxiety. He says in verse 6, "Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head 49:03 are all numbered. Do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows." So, the true fear of God, which frees me from any other fear, is this reverence for God that says, "Lord, I trust you." You know that you have the fear of God 49:21 when you're free from anxiety. I want to tell you, just from what I just read, if there's anxiety in your life, if there's worry in your life, if there's fear in your life, I just want to tell you plainly, you don't fear God. You need to fear 49:34 him. Not in a way that you're afraid of him, but you reverence him. And you'll know you have the true fear of God because your life will increasingly become free from worry. You know, he says, "Your hairs of your head are numbered." I thought about it 49:47 like this the other day. If somebody threatened me with a gun, like I was just saying, the gun to my head, okay, maybe I think I would be afraid. Lord, bring me to a place where I'm not even afraid of that. What about if 49:59 somebody comes to me and threatens to pull out one of my hairs? Would you be afraid of that? Yeah, it's going to hurt a little bit, but if somebody says, "We're going to pin you down, we're going to pull out a hair." You'll be like, "Okay, I'm not afraid of 50:11 that." Okay, I'm going to, you know, I have very little hair these days, so I'm trying to preserve as much of it as I can, but I'm not going to be afraid of it. And you know what Jesus is saying? You need to be as afraid of those who 50:22 can kill you as those who are going to pull out even one hair of your head. That same level of fear. I'm not afraid of If you take one hair of my head, okay, big deal. You're going to kill me, okay, big deal. You see that? That's the life he wants 50:34 us to live in. Brothers and sisters, I'm I hope I'm not just painting an imaginary picture and a theory. I want this life. I want a life that's free from fear. And I've seen little areas of anxiety and worry showing up here and there. 50:49 I say, "Lord, you you died to free me from that fear. I don't want to live in that fear ever again." So, the lack of the fear of God, that's why a lot of people live in fear. Another reason is because they are not filled with the love of God. First John 51:03 4, we read in verse 18, "If your heart is filled with the love of God, there is no more room for fear." It's kind of like a cup that's filled up to the top, to the very very very top. You cannot add even one more drop to the 51:22 top because it's filled up to the very top. First John 4:18, "There is no fear in love." In this cup that's filled up to the top with the love of God, there's no fear. So, if there is fear, it means you don't have the love of God. It's just plain 51:40 and simple. Because perfect love, love that has been filled up, if your cup, if your heart has been filled up with the love of God, it drives out fear. Drives out anxiety. Drives out worry. So, picture it like this that the love 51:54 of God is coming in like a flood. The love of God is shed abroad, overwhelms us, we read in Romans 5:5. It's coming in with such force, so where fear used to live, it just washes it out. It's like a power wash. You know how you use a power washer to 52:09 cleanse out all that dirt? There's a snake maybe hiding in the corner or some other rat or mouse or something like that in the corner. Get the power washer and chase them out. Get the power washer of God's love that casts out, drives out all fear. Perfect 52:25 love casts out all fear. There is no fear in love. So, last week, if there was even a moment of fear, last month, in the last month, if there was even a moment, if there was even one drop of fear, it meant that you didn't 52:40 have perfect love. So, keep yourselves in the love of God, Jude 1:21. Keep yourself in the love of God. Make sure that your heart is filled with the love of God. Remind yourself by reading his promises. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to 52:54 see how much he loves you and how full your heart can be with his love, and there will be no room for fear. Another reason that there's no fear is because there is Another reason there's fear is because there's no faith. 53:09 Look at that same story back in Mark 5. If there is faith, there cannot be fear. And if there is fear, it means that there wasn't faith. It's just the two are at opposed to each other. Mark 5, in the story of Jairus, 53:31 when Jesus puts his hand on Jairus's shoulder, Mark 5:36, and says, "Do not be afraid." He says, "Do not be afraid any longer. Only have faith. Only believe. Just believe. Just believe. Just trust God. I know it goes against all your 53:48 reason and all the logic and all the thoughts in your mind of how is it all going to work out. Just believe." Now, Jairus hadn't yet seen the fulfillment of the promise, but Jesus was saying, "Don't be afraid. Replace that fear with 54:02 faith. Let faith come and fill your heart." And so, you may say, "Well, Santos, how do I have faith?" We're told very clearly in Romans chapter 10. Romans 10, "How do we get faith?" If you faced even 1 minute of fear, 1 second of fear 54:20 in the past few weeks, dear brother, dear sister, even 1 second of worry or anxiety, even 1 second, if you faced even 1 second of fear, it means that for that moment, you were an unbeliever. I said that word intentionally. 54:35 You didn't have faith because faith and fear can't coexist at the same moment, at the same time. So, drive out that fear with faith, with belief. So, how do I get faith? Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of 54:52 Christ." So, let's say, 2:00 in the afternoon, you you you faced a situation and you were full of panic. "Oh man, I got this news. The doctor said this or my boss said that. What am I going to do, Lord? What's going to happen?" 55:06 And maybe, you know, last week it was this, you were full of panic and fear. You came home and your wife was like, "Honey, what happened?" "Oh, got this bad news." Or you came home and your wife told you, "The doctor said this is wrong and this 55:17 is the other thing is wrong." Or something else, "We've got this debt." And oh, whatever it might be. And in that moment, if you act out of fear, it means that you didn't have faith. And when was the time to have faith? Beforehand. 55:30 When you suddenly are in that moment of panic, if you don't have faith, fear is just going to captivate your life and enslave you. So, the time to find faith is before that. To be walking in faith, to be growing from faith to faith. 55:45 Which means earlier that morning, you should have received faith. Like it says in Isaiah 50:4, "He awakens my ear morning by morning to listen as a disciple." For what? To receive faith. I encourage you. Write down that verse if you didn't know 56:00 it, Isaiah 50:4 and 5. Get in the habit, brothers and sisters and children, every morning before you wake up. Maybe it's the alarm clock that woke you up, as it does for me, but before you open your eyes, before you turn around, after you 56:13 hit the snooze button, open your ears and say, "Lord Jesus, speak to me. I don't know what's coming today, Lord, but you do. You wrote every day of my life in your book. And I'm going to need faith today, Lord. Otherwise, I'm going to live in fear. 56:27 Otherwise, I'm going to live in the same fear that I've lived all my life. Will you open my ear? Speak a word of faith into my heart, Lord, before I even open my eyes, before I see what's coming, before I get ready to go to work, long 56:39 before that, Lord, speak a word of faith. Speak words of faith into my heart." And if you ask him, he will. You ask him to open your ears and he will. Oh, I know that there's the laundry pile and there's the breakfast and you got to get get the kids ready 56:52 for school and you've got to home school them and all this stuff has got to do got to happen beforehand, but before you even just take even 5 seconds, how long do you think it'll take God to speak a word of faith into your ear if 57:04 you open it? He who said spoke light into darkness and there was light. How long did it take him to create light? Instantaneously. How long will it take him to speak a word of faith if you've only got 30 seconds? Oh, that's plenty of time for 57:17 him to speak a word of faith, but will you let him? Will you trust him? Will you believe that he wants to speak faith into your heart? And you get in the habit of doing that, you'll find your life increasingly being freed from 57:31 fear. Increasingly being freed from fear. Have faith, brothers and sisters and children. Okay, one more reason why many don't have faith, especially Christians. Turn with me to Hebrews 13. And I think this is perhaps the most 57:46 serious of all. Perhaps you have faith, perhaps you have the love of God, perhaps you have the fear of God, but there's one thing that will suck the faith out of your life immediately and leave you bound in fear. And that is the love of money. 58:00 If you love money and you're not content, your life will be plagued with fear. It's just a principle. If you love money, and you might tell people, "Oh, I don't love money." You might even try to convince yourself that you don't love 58:13 money, but the proof, again, here's another litmus test, the proof that you love money is in that moment you were afraid, you were anxious, and you were worried. Read how often Jesus talks about worry, even in Matthew 6, and he 58:25 ties it to the love of money. You cannot serve God and money. He says that in the context of anxiety and worry. And here we read in Luke Sorry, Hebrews 13, "The Lord is my helper." Verse 8. Sorry, verse 6. "The Lord is my helper. I will not be 58:42 afraid. What will man do to me?" And it's one thing to just say that and keep saying it like a mantra, "The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid." Do you think that saying that mantra as you're facing that situation will help 58:56 you not be afraid? "Oh, I will not be afraid. I will not be afraid. I will not be afraid. I will not be afraid." Do you think you can somehow convince the devil that you're not afraid? You are either are afraid or you are not afraid. 59:07 Saying it, yes, confession is great, but if it doesn't come from faith in the heart, if it's just a fake, a false confession, if there isn't really faith in your heart, if you aren't actually freed from fear, there's no point saying 59:21 I'm not afraid. That's why he begins the verse by saying, "So that we may confidently say." So that we confidently say. Why is it that we can confidently say, "I am not afraid, I will not be afraid"? Verse 5. Make sure that your character is free 59:38 from the love of money. He's writing to believers. He's not writing to the world. Brother, sister, child, make sure that your character is free from the love of money. And if you think that you're free from the love of money, make sure. Be 59:55 absolutely certain. Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have. For he himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you." So that because I'm making sure 1:00:11 that my character is free from the love of money, and I'm not just assuming that I'm free from the love of money, because I'm making sure that I'm content in everything with what the Lord has given me, therefore I can confidently say, "I 1:00:22 will not be afraid. The Lord is my helper. What can mere man do to me?" Take it seriously, brothers, sisters, and children, to be free from the love of money. Children, you know that you may love money, even though you don't have a 1:00:36 whole lot of it. You may love money because you're looking at what all those other people have. You're looking at those people who have more goods, more things. They can go here and they can do that, or they have these things and 1:00:46 those other things, and you're jealous of it, perhaps. That's the devil trying to get a root of the love of money in it. Oh, fight it from a young age. Fight it from a young age. Make sure that your character is free from the 1:00:57 love of money, and you will be freed from fear. I want to pray for the children. Many of them are starting school this week. I want to pray for all the moms who are going to be busy homeschooling some of these children. 1:01:09 Oh, mothers, you have a precious privilege to to school the children. You have a precious precious privilege to take care of the children. Even if you send them to school outside the home, whatever it might be, you have such a critical role 1:01:21 to play. Fathers, us, too. We must help our wives as much as we can, but I believe that we should pray for our church family here. Pray with me, brothers, sisters. Even if you don't have a child that's coming into school 1:01:34 this week, pray. Pray for the children. Look at half our church is children. Isn't that wonderful? I think it's an amazing thing. And they are facing trials, and these messages are for our children as well. So whether you're schooled at home or 1:01:47 schooled outside of the home, pray with children. You close your eyes for a moment and pray with me to the Lord Jesus, and trust him. You don't have to be afraid of going into this new school year. Maybe it looks a little different than it did last year, 1:02:00 or whatever it might be. Maybe you're thinking, "Ah, I didn't do so well last year. What's going to be like this year? It's going to be even more difficult." Don't be afraid, children. Don't be afraid. Jesus is your helper. If you determine 1:02:12 that you want to live content, free from the love of money, you're you know that on the last page of your book it's written that you God finishes that plan for your life. You can be content, you can be happy, and you can be freed from 1:02:24 fear. Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, first of all, that you rendered Satan powerless. And I know that the devil hates to hear that. So, Lord, I pray that we will remind him often that he is a defeated enemy. He's 1:02:39 powerless over us. Not just by our words, but by our lives, we will live lives freed from fear, increasingly freed from fear. And Lord, I pray for our children, especially, and those that will help them in the schooling, their teachers, 1:02:54 moms and dads at home who will do the schooling there, whether they're schooled at home or helping them with homework. Lord, you were once a child, you had homework, and you were tempted to be afraid and to feel overwhelmed 1:03:07 like we are. You were tempted, Lord Jesus, when you were 12 years old, 7 years old, 15 years old, when you had that big test there in Nazareth, Lord. You, too, were tempted to be worried and anxious and fearful, but thank you that 1:03:20 you lived a life free of fear, and you've opened up a way for us, also, a way that's new, a way that's full of life, that we, too, can live free from fear. And Lord, I pray that you will speak faith even now into the hearts of 1:03:33 these dear children and the moms and the dads. Speak faith into our hearts, Lord. Help us, Lord, to be filled with your love, so there's no room for fear. Help us to live in reverence for you. Help us to be content with what we have. Help 1:03:46 us, Lord, free us from the love of money, and we believe that we shall live this year one day at a time freed from fear. And if we slip back into fearful habits, Lord, remind us of it, what we've heard, and set us completely free. 1:04:00 Thank you, Lord, you will do it. Thank you, Lord, for defeating Satan. Satan, you're a defeated enemy. You have no power over us. We say it in the name of Jesus, and we bind your work in any life, in any marriage, in any home, in 1:04:11 the heart of any child. We bind your work, Satan, in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah, Jesus has overcome. It is finished. We praise your name, Lord. Thank you. Thank you, Father, for what you have done in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
