30th July 2023 Celebration Service - Yasmin Chaffer - Church is free

Good morning. So our theme this month is the Church is This is our

last one of the month, and the title today is the Church is Free.

So what does it mean to be free? That's quite a deep philosophical

question for a Sunday morning, so you'll be delighted to know. I'm not

expecting a lively debate. But interestingly, when I was looking up definitions of

freedom, they invariably put self at the center. And that's not true freedom,

is it. The most basic freedom we have is the one that the

Lord gave Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, freedom of choice,

free will. In Genesis two sixteen and seventeen, the Lord told Adam he

could eat freely of the fruit from every tree in the garden of Eden,

except from the fruit of the tree of the of good and evil. Adam

told Eve, as we know, but when tempted by a devil, the

devil, they made a wrong choice. In making that wrong choice, our

human nature, created by the Lord, the giver of life, got re

rooted into sin and death. But God, but God, being love,

life, all powerful, all knowing, the one perfect Father, he sorted

it with Jesus, his son, who is God. Jesus never stopped being

God, but chose to lay aside that which made him God in order to

come to earth as a human being, to teach us how to live as

God always intended as his children in the freedom of his ways. God's law

is love, and it summarized as God love others, love yourself. Sin

is breaking that law of love, and the punishment is death and separation from

God. Jesus then fulfilled his purpose in dying to take the punishment of our

sin upon himself, when he died on the cross, the most unimaginably agonizing

death. Then he rose again in victory over the power of sin and the

devil, so that we are free to choose to live for God and in

the freedom that his law of love brings, and then go to Heaven to

be with Him forever. If you've never made that choice, you've never taken

that decision to surrender your life to Jesus, then ask him to be Lord.

Now is a good time. This brings us to our first scripture or

verse from the Bible. God Word. This is Jesus speaking verse which Charin

mentioned her own worship, actually, and in fact some bits from worship earlier.

I was clearly yed by the Holy Spirit, and you'll hear it throughout

the message today. John A. Thirty six from the New Living Translation reads

so if the sun sets you free, you are truly free. John H.

Thirty four to thirty six, and the Passion Translation reads like this,

I speak eternal truth. Jesus said, when you sin, you are not

free. You've become a slave in bondage to your sin. And slaves have

no permanent standing in a family like a son does. For a son is

part of the family forever. So if the sun sets you free from sin,

then become a true son and be unquestionably free. And it's a process,

isn't it learned to live in the freedom that Jesus died to give us.

Let's move on to our main point for today. Free from fear.

I read this, which I think is a helpful way to look at fear.

Fear is an emotion caused by the belief that something or someone poses a

threat to us. We can all remember this destructive emotion at some time.

We've all experienced this destructive emotion at some time, and we're familiar with how

it affects our ability to do what needs to be done. However, trusting

God's word to us in this area strengthens us to overcome it and keep moving

forward. There's a difference between fear and wisdom, and sometimes we need to

be honest with ourselves and God to discern the difference between the two. Sometimes

it's obvious. For example, wisdom says don't run across a motorway. It's

not just fear that stops you. It would be stupid. Jesus faced a

more subtle challenge when he was led by the Holy Spirit in the wilderness for

forty days of fasting and was tempted by the devil. In Luke four,

verses nine to eleven, it tells us that the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem

and had him stand on the highest point of the temple and said, if

you're the son of God, throw yourself off, because it's written that God

will command his angels to lift you up so you don't strike your foot against

a stone. Jesus refused, but not out of fear. He wasn't scared

that it wouldn't happen according to scripture. But use the wisdom of scripture to

refute the challenge. It is written you shall not test God to make himprove

himself to you. I'm paraphrasing Jesus was Deuteronomy six sixteen. This clearly illustrates

our need to know the word of God, so in a given situation we

can draw upon it to know what to do. Sometimes so it's only the

motivation of the heart that distinguishes between fear and wisdom in our response to a

situation. Years ago, Simon and I went to Canada on holiday. We

went to Toronto and visited the Sea and Tower, one of the largest freestanding

structures in the world. It's five hundred and fifty three meters high, in

case you were wondering, at three hundred and forty two meters high, there's

a glass floor, and although I knew it was perfectly safe, it was

well reinforced to take. I think it's five thousand pounds worth of weight.

I couldn't bring myself to walk across it or even stand on it. I

could feel the back going on in my mind between my reasoning, which told

me it was perfectly safe, and my senses because I could see the ground

below. And that's what it can boil down to. Sometimes, when doing

our best to exercise godly wisdom, that battle between godly reasoning based on His

word, be it in the Bible or what is said to you directly,

and our senses what we can see here, et cetera, which may cause

fear. I'm going to read from our main passage lay Exos fourteen ten to

sixteen, But first briefly a little background. Exodus was written by Moses in

approximately fourteen forty BC. The Israelites had been enslaved by the Egyptians for four

hundred years before the Lord made Moses the leader of the people, to lead

them out of Egypt through the world to the land that the Lord had promised

them. As it says in Exodus thirteen twenty one to twenty two, the

presence of the Lord went with them by day and by night. Someone needs

to hear that the presence of the Lord went with them by day and by

night. The Lord is going with you by day, in other words,

when it's light and you can see at least the next steps of your journey,

and he's with you by night when it's dark and you can't see where

you're going. If you start trying to turn in the wrong direction, not

deliberately, but because you're not clear which way to go. It'll be like

coming up against a wall. I don't mean something hard and rough, but

your sense that you can't go further. When that happens, just go back

to doing what you were doing, putting one foot in front of the other.

You'll be making progress in the right direction, even if you can't see

it. It's hard when you so badly want to just see where you're going

and get to the next stage. But remember the Lord is with you by

day and by night. It reminds me of a conversation I had I was

having recently with someone who's been going through really some really tremendous challenges, including

with health, and she said to me, I'm not a quitter. I

know that's true, but it was so good to hear her say that because

she was unconsciously reaffirming her standpoint, her mental attitude, which was I refuse

to give up. That's going back to choice. Isn't it that freedom that

we have to choose our mental attitude. I read this recently about when life

gets difficult, sometimes God leads us the hard way instead of the easy way

because he's doing a special work in us. How will we ever learn to

lean on him. If everything in our lives is easy enough for us to

handle by ourselves. God led the children of Israel the long, difficult way

through the wilderness to prepare them for the battles they would face in possessing the

Promised Land. If you know that God has asked you to do something,

don't back down just because it gets hard. When things get tough, Spend

more time with Him, Lean more on him, and receive more grace from

him. Realize that grace comes at no cost to you. Grace is the

power of God working in you and through you to do those things you cannot

do. As you face challenges in your life, beware of thoughts that say,

I can't do this, it's just too hard. Don't let your mind

give up. Satan knows that if he can defeat you in your mind,

he can defeat you in your experience. That's why it's so important not to

lose heart. You can be sure that wherever God leads you, he is

able to keep you. As he says in Isaiah forty one, verse ten

in the New Living Translation, don't be afraid, for I am with you.

Don't be discouraged, for I am your God, I will strengthen you

and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

I realize it may feel like I've digressed, but someone needed to hear that,

and that someone is very precious to the Lord. Going back to the

main point today, which is the church is free from fear, the Israelites

were being led by Moses out of Egypt towards the Promised Land. As we

read in Exus fourteen, the Lord instructed the Israelites to camp at the southern

tip of what we know nowadays as the Sinai Peninsula. So I'm reading now

from Exous fourteen, verses ten to sixteen in the NIV, that's Exodus fourteen,

ten to sixteen. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there

were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the

Lord. They said to Moses, was it because there were no graves in

Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done

to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in

Egypt, leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians. It would have

been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.

Moses answered, the people, do not be afraid. Stand firm, and

you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you

see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you.

You need only to be still. Then, the Lord said to Moses,

why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water

so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. So back

to Exos fourteen, verse ten. As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up

and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified and cried out

to the Lord. The Israelites were frightened by what they saw and cried out

to the Lord. That's a great response if you're afraid. What's our first

response in fear or to fear. If it isn't to look to the Lord,

it by crying out to him like the Israelites did here, or by

drawing on scripture that we know God's word to us to help resist the fear

and anchor our souls. Then it's worth asking the Lord to help us to

create this habit. There's no shame in feeling fear. The Lord knew that

we would and knows the importance of addressing it, which is why it says,

do not be afraid. Praised in one form or another over a hundred

times or about one hundred times in the Bible. The issue is not whether

we feel fear, but how or whether we allow it to shape our reactions

and dictate to us what we think and do and say. I found this

really helpful. And to the point, fear is from the devil, and

it's the enemy to our faith. For God has not given us a spirit

of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

As it says in two Timid verse seven, when we're afraid to do something

we know we should do, that's the time that we must stop and reflect

on this verse. Meditating on it gives us strength and courage. Satan uses

fear as a weapon to disrupt our faith. He wants us to question and

doubt everything God says to us. If he can get us to the point

of unbelief, he can move us away from trusting God. We can depend

on God to always be there when we need him. How do we know

that we can depend on God especially when we're in need? Versy. God

is all powerful, as it says in One Corinthians twenty nine, verse eleven.

Yours, Oh Lord, is the greatness and the power, and the

glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in heaven and

in the earth is yours. Secondly, God is the ultimate creator. God,

as it says in John chapter one, verses one and three. In

the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the

word was God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing

was made that was made. So it's no trouble for him to create what

does not exist. Thirdly, God cares, as it says in One Peter

five and verse seven. Cast all your anxiety on him. Why because he

cares for you. God, who is all the above and so much more,

is with you, as it says in Isaiah forty one, verse ten.

And I'm reading from the Amplified, do not fear anything, for I

am with you. We need to train ourselves to respond, like the Psalmist

in p. Fifty six, verse three, Whenever I am afraid I will

trust in you whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you if you

take nothing else away from today. Take this verse. Fear and trust don't

mix. Trust in God is much more powerful. You may have heard it

before. But fear tolerated is faith contaminated. We don't have to tolerate fear.

The courage we receive from the Lord isn't due to the absence of fear,

but the ability to move past it. This is what a victorious life

is all about. Exos fourteen, verse ten. As Fair approached, the

Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified

and cried out to the Lord. I think we've all cried out to the

Lord in fear before. But he's so gracious. He doesn't condemn us,

But neither does he want us or our faith shackled by fear. Think about

when the apostle Peter was with the disciples in a boat in really rough waters,

and Jesus came walking on the water towards them. It's in Matthew fourteen.

But we won't turn towards it right now. They've been rowing all night

after a long day. They were probably pretty tired, especially given that the

wind was against them and it was shortly before dawn dawn so it was still

dark. Then Jesus shows up walking on the water. They'd had no experience

of anyone walking on water before. I'm with them on that, so they

initially interpreted what they were seeing through the eyes of fear. It's a ghost,

Matthew fourteen twenty six, that Jesus says, don't be afraid, it's

me. Peter said, yes, if it's you, tell me to come

to you on the water, that's got to be one of the strangest verses

in the Bible. I'm not sure that's how I would check if that was

really Jesus. Anyway, Jesus says come, and Peter steps out of the

boat and walks on water towards Jesus. When Peter looks around him at the

wind, he becomes afraid and starts to sink. It's so easy to see

here. It's really clear how fear affects our faith. Peter cries out to

Jesus in fear save me, and Jesus does, but follows it with you

of little faith, why did you doubt Jesus' expectation was that Peter should do

the same thing that he was doing, in this case, walking on water

by faith. Because remember, Jesus did nothing as God when he was on

earth. He did everything as a man. He walked on water by faith,

and he was expecting Peter to do the same by faith in what Jesus

had said to him. Come. My point is, Jesus is compassionate when

we cry out in fear to him, but he also wants us to move

on from there, not just The relationship between doubt and fear is very clear

here too. Doubt opens the door to fear, which very obviously affected Peter's

faith and will affect ours too if we let it. I just want to

briefly point out that Jesus didn't tell all the disciples to get out of the

boat and walk to the other side. He wants us all to be like

him, fearless in the face of the impossible. But he starts where we're

at, and we can learn from each other too, Hence the point of

sharing testimonies. Think about the impact on the other disciples seeing Peter step out

of the boat and walk on water. Think about the impact on the other

disciples seeing Jesus' response when Peter started to doubt and sink and cried out in

fear when you see someone else do something by faith, and Jesus' response,

it can really help you when you need it. Back to Exos fourteen,

the Israelites were frightened by the approaching Egyptian army and cried out to the Lord

Exus fourteen eleven. They said to Moses, was it because there were no

graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have

you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to

you in Egypt, leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians. It

would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the

desert. That sounds so much like the saying, better the devil you know

than the devil you don't. It's not in the Bible because it's not true.

The Israelites may have cried out to the Lord, but judging by this

verse, they didn't stop to listen to him. They allowed fear to dictate

their response. And it's so easy to blame someone else when you're stressed,

and stress is a common sidekick of fear. The Israelites conveniently forgot that they'd

been crying out to the Lord to set them free from captivity in Egypt,

as it says very clearly in Exodus two twenty three, because they didn't like

every aspect of God's answer to their prayers. When the answer didn't come on

a silver tray but involved a bumpy road, it required ongoing faith rather than

being a one off answer. The Israelites complaint, blaming the leader that God

had chosen why, because Moses was God's representative. Being God's representative is an

honor that comes at a price, so the Israelites complained. It's essentially about

how God had answered their prayer. There's a warning for us to be mindful

of not complaining when God doesn't answer our prayers the way that we would like

him to. We were talking in our Bible study on Tuesday about the power

of praise and giving thanks in all situations or four all situations, like it

says in one Thessalonians five eighteen in everything give thanks. Other translations say give

thanks in all circumstances. There's so much power in praise. I was listening.

It makes sense because God inhabits the praises of his people, as it

says in Psalm twenty two and verse three. So the Israelites complained to Moses,

summarize, really, at the end of Exus fourteen twelve, it would

have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.

How does Moses respond? He addresses the root cause of their complaint,

which is fear Exus fourteen thirteen. Moses answered, the people, do not

be afraid, stand firm, and you will see the deliverance the Lord will

bring you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

When you're dealing with complaints, your own or other people's, it's so

worth asking the Lord for insight so you can address the root cause of it

if it's appropriate, or at least be mindful of it, rather than just

addressing the behavior or the complaint as it's expressed, because it will be much

more effective. So Moses says, do not be afraid things. First,

he addresses the fear. He addresses the attitude. Fear and faith are both

spiritual forces. Which one will we surrender to go back to choice again?

Which one will be our standpoint? For whatever we have to deal with.

Noted, fear is from Satan, faith is from God, and we've all

been given a measure of faith. As it says in Romans twelve, verse

three. Back to two Timothy one, verse seven, God has not given

us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and

of a sound mind. So you can personalize it as I've done on a

number of occasions when dealing with fear. God has not given me a spirit

of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and a sound mind.

Therefore, I refuse to fear, and I've repeated it over and over

and over to myself, and I can honestly say it helps you to get

through situations. It may not completely get rid of the feeling of fear,

but it stops you caving into it and helps you get through. So from

that standpoint of refusing fear, do what you need to do. In the

Israelites case, it meant standing firm, confidant, undismayed, as it says

in another translation, in the face of the oncoming Egyptian army, stand firm,

and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today the Egyptians,

you see today you will never see again verse fourteen. The Lord will

fight for you. You need only be still. Moses delivered this word as

one man of faith to a nation of fearful people. It's quite something if

you think about it. So in this case, God's instruction was to stand

firm, stand still. His part was to fight at other times. For

example, in Joshua six, like you referenced earlier Charian, the military strategy

that the Lord gave to Joshua to take Jericho, a forty five city,

was to get the army to march around it once a day for six days,

with seven priests each blowing their trumpets or show far as ahead of the

ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day, they were to march around

the city seven times, etc. I won't go into detail, but they

took jerry Ka. It's important to understand what is God's part in our situations

and what is ours, and to trust him to do his part, thank

him by faith, bring that sacrifice of thanksgiving. What is our part to

do will vary, of course, depending on our situations. Sometimes it's a

case of doing what we need to do. But the one and changing element

is the standpoint we need to take to do our part. Do not be

afraid. Exes fourteen, verse fifteen. Then the Lord said to Moses,

why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on?

Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water

so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. Ironically to

me anyway, the Lord says to Moses, why are you crying out to

me? Get to move on my paraphrase of course, Look, the instruction

follows of what Moses is to do to part the sea, lift up his

rod. Of course, I'm quite sure there would not be a marine engineer's

approach to a design project to partisan see. But Moses does his bit by

faith and lifts up his rod, and the Israelites do their bit and walk

across the dry sea bed. In summary to close, We're not designed to

live in fear, but in the freedom of faith. So if the sunsets

you free, you are free indeed, and Psalm fifty six, verse three.

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you. Let's pray Lord,

thank you that living in fear was never part of your design or plan

for us. We truly thank you and praise you for the price you paid

that we might live in the freedom that you always intended for us. Please

show us where we have allowed fear to imprison us or hold us back,

and please show us how to break on what to do to be set free

from it. Thank you that we can trust you to strengthen us to do

our part, and trust you to do yours because we ask it in Jesus'

name. Amen. Mm hmmm h m hmmmmm.