Sermon
251 ~ FEAR OF MAN < FEAR OF GOD
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Hello, a big welcome to the Via Zion Sermon podcast.
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We are a church based out of Chennai, India.
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We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will
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be refreshed, revived and energized by what you hear.
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Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of
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purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.
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The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess
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our promise. Today's sermon causes us to
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assess ourselves and see if we live with a fear of God or a
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fear of man. One gives life while the other
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debilitates. 1 brings clarity and freedom, while the other
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confuses and confounds. How would you choose to live
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from this moment on? Hi church, this is a joy and a
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privilege to be in God's word to you today counted an honour.
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And even as we've been going through the entire book of
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Genesis, we've been seen from the life of Abraham as to how he
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took the first step of actually pursuing and pushing through and
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seeing God's promise come through his life.
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And even as we've started this year, our theme for the year is
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positioned to possess the promise.
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And I believe as we position ourselves, there are so many
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things that changes in US. What we believe in changes, how
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we decide to run the remaining race changes, our destination
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changes, who we rely on changes, and probably even the
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surroundings change because we're not positioned
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differently. Suddenly the voices that meant
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or governed us or, you know, gave us directions suddenly
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don't make sense anymore. And we suddenly are realizing
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that our entire focus is towards what the Holy Spirit is asking
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us to do. Our dependence is on God's word.
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We suddenly are keeping our eyes focused on what Jesus wants us
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to do because we believe that promise is 1 where we would see
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things happen in the eternal. And it's beautiful because we're
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not waiting for eternity, but we're waiting for us to live
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right here on this earth, bring heaven down to earth.
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And I believe God's called each and every one of us.
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Last week, when we saw Progenesis 19, we saw from the
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life of Lot some of the lessons we gleaned from his life.
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And we saw that we need to have a heart for the city where God's
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placed us in eventually that heart.
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Not only this translates to the people around us and to the
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city, but also to the world where God's calling all of us to
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really intercede and pray and stand in the gap for his
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revival. We also saw that as the remnant
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few, we need to ask for God's righteousness.
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Yes, culture changes, culture dictates, but the remnant few
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believe can I believe can shake the mountains.
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I believe can shake the mountains of culture.
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I believe they can shake the principalities of darkness if
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God could choose 12. I believe the remnant fewer
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enough to take this Kingdom of culture and darkness that is so
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rampant across the world and bring hope, life and healing.
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And the 3rd we saw that we don't make decisions out of our
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temporary things that we need. We keep eternity in perspective
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and we realize that we are in this long journey.
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It's just not a Sprint. We are here, so we build
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endurance to run this race well and today we moved to Genesis
Genesis 20 chapter mention
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chapter 20 and I've titled my sermon.
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It's pretty much like a mathematical equation.
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Fear of man is lesser than fear of God, which means the fear of
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God in our life should be far bigger than the fear of man.
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But eventually we given we are so surrounded by things and
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people around us that we cave in to the fear of man.
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We, so a lot of us are actually running our lives based on the
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fear of man. And I think we need to come to
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this place. Fear in the sense when you look
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at it with the fear of God that we should have is one of
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reverent fear where we are in awe, where we like we are
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without anything. We, we are nothing without God.
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We are solely dependent on God. But the fear that's associated
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with man has this connotation where it's more or less this
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unpleasant emotion caused by threat, danger or pain.
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And today, if I have to ask you, do we all have fears?
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Yes. Do we all have fears of certain
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things around us? Yes.
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Do we have fears around things that are within us that brings
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out a lot of fear things around us brings out a lot of fear
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things even the are concerned about in the future brings a lot
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of fear and I believe God's word constantly encourages to
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overcome fear. And even as we look into the
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life of Abraham, there are certain things that I wanted to
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point out because I believe it's a wrestle we have to have every
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day. We have to have every day God
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uses us because it's so easy to get confined to the four walls
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of the fear that we are so used to living out of God saying I
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want to liberate you, I want to set you free.
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I want to turn our attention to Proverbs chapter 29 verses 25.
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The fear of human opinion disables.
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Trusting in God protects you from that.
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The fear of human opinion disables.
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And I think in a world where we are so digitally connected,
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where we are, so, you know, going by what people say, going
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back, what our opinion of people are, we believe to a certain
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extent their opinion actually carries weight.
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Yes, it does. To a certain extent credibility
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does, but we but we can't be so in performance mode that we've
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having and operating out of a fear of people and their
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opinions. And this is where God wants us
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to come to a place of the Bible talks about a a place of fear is
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a place of trembling, of revidence of all.
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But it's also showing that we are in a place of deep anxiety.
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When fear of man is dead, there's deep sense of anxiety,
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there's this physical trembling and it's dread that we have what
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is to be shown towards God. We somehow are showing it
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towards man because we feel the repercussions are immediate.
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God is a distant repercussion. You know, eternity, I can manage
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that. That's like 40 or 50 or 80 years
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down the road, how long I live on this earth.
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But then the fear of man is so heavy because we feel that, that
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that that backlash might happen immediate.
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That backlash might lick us up. That backlash might.
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But this is where we need to move from the fear of man to
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trusting God. It says in the amplified the
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same words, The fear of man brings his net, but whoever
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trusts and puts his confidence in the Lord will be exalted and
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safe. Whoever trusts and puts his
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confidence in the Lord will be exalted and safe.
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You know, today we're living in the world where AI is evolving,
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where perplexities come chat, GBTS come open.
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AI has got this huge bid to be bought over and we see this a
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lot of momentum around artificial intelligence and
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machine learning. What does machine learning do?
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Takes our own patterns, our own searches, our own queries and
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starts giving us well formed content.
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It starts answering for us and the, and the, and the problem
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with this day and age, why the fear of man is far bigger is
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because knowledge is at the, it's at its peak today.
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You don't have to run after knowledge.
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Knowledge is right there in your device.
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You can, you can Google it, but we are beyond the Google place
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right now. We, we ask, we, you know, we, we
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can go deeper into all these topics because it's, it's, it's
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learning of our questions. It's learning of the amount of
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data that's there globally. And so today, as we look into
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this, a lot of us have the fear that you know what, why?
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Why do we fear man? Because knowledge is this whole
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thing that's cultivated, this whole thing that's harvested is
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of man. And so our major movement, a
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major move is like God, this, this fear is so real.
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We, we, we feel like if, if culture calls us out, if culture
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shames as if culture calls us this particular thing today we
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had lost it. But God's saying whoever trusts
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in me and puts his confidence, it's just on trust but puts his
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confidence that is do we take a bet on God and what he says
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because this is what is looking like.
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If we have to pursue a promise like how Abraham did, we will be
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a few in number. This is not looking like many
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coming towards many might come, but we don't know if everyone is
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actually putting their confidence in God.
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And so today I want to talk to you that in this fear of man, a
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lot of us are worried about what others might see of us.
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And that's that's a very prominent fear that is exist or
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what they might do to us. We've also gone to the other
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extreme where we are worried what they don't say to us or
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what they won't do for us or do to us.
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And so this, this, this looming thing about the fear of man is
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real. And I'm not negating it.
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All of us have walked through different journeys and stages in
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life where we've been battered, bruised, and so there is an
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unhealthy fear of man in US. When I say fear of man, it could
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be from a family member, friend, colleague, associate, relative,
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whoever. It's someone who's instilled
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that fear. And so today I want us to stand
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up to a place where you're saying God, our trust and our
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confidence is solely going to be on you.
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Fear of man probably is also coming from a place where we've
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been let down, where we've, we've, we've seen people who
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said we'll show up, have not showed up.
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And that's become a big struggle for us where we've really felt
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like we've disappointed someone because we've let them down.
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As we go through this sermon, I want us to identify that this
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fear of man is not what we can live by because God's promise is
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real. God's promise is going to work
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in and through us, but it cannot partake when the fear of man is
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resident within us. So the three things which I
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wanted to highlight from Genesis chapter 20, and I pray that
Genesis 20 chapter mention
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before it becomes a stronghold, before it becomes something that
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we are governed by, we'll be able to say, Lord, I trust you
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and I put my confidence in you alone.
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The first thing that I wanted to take from Genesis chapter 20 is
Genesis 20 chapter mention
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the fear of man cripples us to only think of our own survival.
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The fear of mancribles has to only think of our own survival.
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Let's read from Genesis chapter 20 verses 1:00 to 2:00.
Genesis 20 chapter mention
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And we amplified. This is what it says.
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Now Abraham journeyed from there toward Negev, the S country, and
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settled between Kadesh and Shore.
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Then he lived temporarily in Gerard.
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Abraham said again of Sarah, his wife.
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She's my sister. So ABI Malik, the king of
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Gerard, sent and took Sarah into his harem.
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Even as we read this, it's a reminder that yes, Abraham, it
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shows the human side of Abraham. It shows the emotions that
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Abraham had. What I'm really surprised is a
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woman in her late 90s is actually so beautiful that men
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actually want her king. A king actually wants her.
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And we see Abraham is moving, but this time when he's moving,
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he's not moving as just a household.
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He's not moving as a nomad. He's now moving as a Chieftain.
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He's a Chieftain. He's moving as person who's
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accomplished, who's followed God for nearly 20 years.
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He's moving to a place. He's moving from a place of
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being a Chieftain who's who went and fought a battle.
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He and his household went and rescued Lot and the entire
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people of Sodom and Gomorrah in that battle.
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We are moving to a place to see that his wealth is just
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increased. We are moving.
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He's moving from a place where he is a man in his own standing.
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Yet when it came to being around the king, a king ABI Malik
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there, what happened? He just thought of his own
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interests. He didn't think of anyone else.
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He didn't he? He knew that there was something
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that would bring about the king to come and ask for his wife,
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that he just said, she's my sister and I want us to come to
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a place that is a hidden selfishness within us.
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And it kicks in when the fear of man starts, when it gets
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propelled. The reason being when we see
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here, he just thought of himself.
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He in fact, if you notice the conversation, it's, it's purely
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for him. He knew if she goes in, he'll be
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taken care of. And as a husband, I don't think
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I would give up on my wife like that.
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I wouldn't give up on my wife, but in this day and age, fear
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set in. And I believe fear set in
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because he was the king. There was a sudden shift in who
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he was and the sudden shift when the king came along.
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Remember, he met with the king Melchizedek.
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He fought against other kings to rescue his own cousin.
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He has seen kings, but in a time when there is peace, when a time
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when there's quietness around, in a time when he's just moving
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and moving into a place and wanting to settle, he gives in
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to fear. And today, if you're in this
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pathway to move towards a promise, the fear of man will
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settle in US or get activated in US when we are on our journey
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from moving from probably in in in abundance in everything going
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right, the fear of man can set in.
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And this is where we have to come to a place and as Jesus
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followers and see what is our response going to be like?
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Am I going to cave in? Because that's what causes us to
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stand out. So today when you this isn't
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about an authority submission issue in a workplace, but this
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comes to a place where the fear of man is it causing you to do
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something wrong just so that you'll earn the favour of your
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immediate boss? Is this is the fear of man
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causing you to take certain actions so that you can you can
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steer your people or under you as your subordinates in a
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different One Direction so that you can Curry the favor of
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someone else on top as Jesus followers, this shadow can
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become looming that it can't even cause us to be just
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selfish. They'll be like you know what I
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don't think it's what I'm called to do.
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I don't think So. What I'm I'm I'm, I'm, it's not
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my cup of tea, but Jesus followers have to move to a
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place realizing that as long as we are walking on this world, no
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one shadow can deter us from the promise that God's called us.
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No one's shadow or no one's title can deter us from the
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promise that God's called us. A lot of us today are basing or
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wanting to be under someone's shadow because it's easier.
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You don't have to feel the heat of the Scotch thing sun, you
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don't have it. It seems cooler.
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It seems like you're covered. It seems like you're protected.
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It seems like there's a covering, but God's saying you
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need, you will be moved to a place where we will have to walk
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out in boldness so that our trust and our confidence will be
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solely on God. And I'm reminded from the New
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Testament of Paul encouraging Timothy because Timothy came
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from this home where his grandmother and mother was
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committed believers of Jesus. And as they were people of
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faith, it was easy for him to walk in their shadows.
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But Paul saying you have to fan into flame what has been
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stirring in the new God's got something bigger.
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You need to move out. You need to step out.
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And I want to read that words because I believe a lot of us
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today have been circling around the shadows of those who are
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around us, whereas God is saying, step out in confidence.
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Let not the fear of man make you selfish that you're like, you
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know what, it's OK, I can. This is not the nature that
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Jesus wants us to exhibit when he's calling us to possess a
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promise. So 2 Timothy chapter 1 verses 7.
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This is what it says. For God did not give us a spirit
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of timidity or coward or fear, but he has given us a spirit of
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power and of love and of sound judgement and personal
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discipline abilities that can result in a calm, well balanced
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mind and self-control. So this is not us telling you
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like you're a free bird, you have all the freedom to go do
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whatever you want. No, it's this freedom that's
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given with guardrails. It's this freedom that's
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becoming knowing that God, when I step out, you're stepping in
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to this area with me because you're going to be glorified.
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All this while I was in the shadow of others where I could
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see you. But now when I step out, I
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believe and trust, the confidence is that you're also
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stepping out with me. And there are times as a couple
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where many a times we've responded in the fear of man.
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Oh, what do people think or what people do?
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But God's asking you today, would you step out not in fear,
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but would you step out with power, with love and of a sound
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mind? Confidence is on God.
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We trust in God alone. And so today, if there's one
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thing that's holding you back, I pray it may not be the fear of
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man which is crippling you into a place of making it all about
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yourself. Because here Abraham made it all
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about himself. He wanted to be protected.
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He didn't want to be killed somewhere.
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He was willing to, you know, part with his wife.
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He I don't know what happened. Fear has ways of muddling a
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brain up. Fear has ways of confusing us.
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But made the love of Jesus and the beautiful Spirit of God
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guide us into having a sound mind, Sound mind.
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So I pray that we'll rise up from the fear of man and not be
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crippled anymore, that we won't operate our selfishness.
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The second thing, the fear of man makes us think less of us.
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The fear of man makes us think less of us.
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And so most often we question our God-given identity.
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A lot of us who follow Jesus have been washed, have been set
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free, have been liberated from the clutches of sin.
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And today we are walking in liberty with Jesus who is with
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us. So he's given us his God-given.
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90 When we allow Jesus to come into our hearts, our hearts are
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open. He resides in US.
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And so we have his identity in US.
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He is in US. And today we need to walk in
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that. Today when Abraham suddenly met
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Abhimal, like the king of Guerrar, his title, his position
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suddenly made him feel small. He suddenly didn't realize
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Abraham was called to be the father of nations.
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The God who had called him was with him.
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He, in the midst of someone else, felt really small.
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Fear of man will always make us look and feel small, but fear of
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God helps us to realize what our identity is with Christ.
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I want to read from Isaiah chapter 41 verses 8 to 10.
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That's what it says. But you, Israel, are my servant.
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You, Jacob, my first choice, descendants of my good friend
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Abraham. I pulled you in from all over
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the world, called you in from every dark corner of the earth,
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telling you you're my servant, serving on my side.
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I've picked you, I haven't dropped you.
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Don't panic, I'm with you. There's no need to fear, for I
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am your God. I'll give you strength, I'll
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help. I'll hold you steady, keep a
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firm grip on you. So today, Church, I would ask
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you if fear is what is dictating you and making you feel small,
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The fear of man who operates through man, the enemy, the
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enemy. And so today, if people have
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bullied you, if people have called you names, if people you,
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if people have judged you based on your skin color, your body
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type, whatever it is. I pray you move to a place of
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realizing who God has created you to be, who God has created
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you to be. The fear of man will make you
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feel small. You know one of the things I've
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been bullied, I've been called names, I've been shamed a lot
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for my body type. I've been the beautiful thing
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that I've seen is God bubble wraps us with his God-given
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identity. There's many times where people
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have, I've done said all these things, but it has never shaken
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my identity in Jesus. For for even though I've walked
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through abandonment, I've walked through loneliness, I've walked
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through so many things which could have shaped my identity,
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But God has moved me to a place to realize that I am his.
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He is mine. And I believe that's where we
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have to have a deep love for worship, a deep love for
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worship, of knowing who we worship.
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Because when we know who we worship, we are so comfortable
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being in that presence. I don't know how many of you
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I've, I, I take certain things very literally.
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I take applying the blood on our doorposts very seriously.
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I take being called His very seriously.
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And I take the fact that I am his.
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He's created me. And if he's create me, there's
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nothing that can change because my looks don't determine where I
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work. My my body type doesn't
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determine what I get to do. I get to do all this because God
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has opened that door. And when we come to that
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understanding of who God is and where we are at, and we realize
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that if he's knitters beautifully in our mother's
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womb, whatever drawbacks I have, yeah, prematurely, I'm grey or
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my skin is acting up or all these other, but I'm still his
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masterpiece. And still, that's why the Word
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of God says my earthly body is fading away.
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And I pray and ask that each and every one of us will come to a
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realization of that. That fear of man will make us
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feel small. But with a God who comes inside
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you, the God of the universe, when he comes inside the heart
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of a man, he makes us feel unique.
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There's no one else like you. You are his masterpiece and I'll
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tell you how that manifests itself, especially when we get
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married, when we go into a new place.
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I remember when we were for a year in attending a church back
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in the US, we were in this entirely white church.
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It's close to 2000 people who come multiple services and and I
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think that's where it's a deep communion of the Holy Spirit is
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very important. We realized this is from day
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one. We went there, we stayed there,
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we fellowship there. We were part of that.
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There were a handful of people I encountered with my hands, only
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talked. There were some couples who said
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we need to catch up but never caught up with them to have a
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meal or anything. But we love the church so dearly
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because God was present. God spoke to us.
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God caused us to see how to do ministry and how not to do
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ministry. We went into that church and
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it's interesting every Sunday because we were the only
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coloured people in that church. And it was interesting that
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every Sunday that pastor would meet us.
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We would linger long enough to meet and as we met him, he would
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hug us. He would make us feel seen, make
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us feel heard. And I came to an understanding
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of what it is to be comfortable because that's where the Holy
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Spirit was residing for us as a family.
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And so today I pray that the fear of man won't cause you to
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be disheveled. What is disheveled?
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Disheveled is where you're running helters Caterpillar to
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post like where is the Spirit of God?
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You will come to a place God, if the Spirit of God is resting
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here, I want to be here. If the glory of God is here.
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This is where I'll call home if. And so I pray that even as you
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are watching this or you're listening to this, wherever
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you're at, I pray that you will have a God-given identity to
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know that the world will make you feel small.
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The fear of man will make you feel feel small.
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You'll always feel like you have to measure, but when the living
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God comes inside you, He will activate within you His strength
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and make you realize who He has created you to be.
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Psalm 34 was four to seven. I prayed to the Lord and He
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answered me. He freed me from all my fears.
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Those who look to Him for help will be radiant with joy.
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No shadow of shame will darken their faces.
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In my desperation, I prayed and the Lord listened.
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He saved me from all my troubles.
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For the Angel of the Lord is a God.
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He surrounds and defends all who feared him.
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It's protection. And defending happens only when
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we fear God. We're protected and defended
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only when we fear God. When we fear man, we we leave
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the entire place open for us to be attacked.
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And I pray that we won't walk around prideful.
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A lot of us think, you know what?
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Intellectually I know about Jesus, but the truth is, if he's
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not done a work in you, you won't be able to see.
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And the beautiful thing about fear of man will cause us to
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protect everything on our own, keep everything constricted,
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make boundary walls so that we think we are in control of
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everything. No Fear of God will help us to
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realize God, you are in control of everything.
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If my kid is going through something this let me walk
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alongside with them, but let me help them face the world.
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Let me help them face the world. One of our kids, all three of
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our kids in fact, have walked through different seasons of
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their life where their entire friend circle changed.
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And I know and three of our kids are highly social.
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They they love people, they love being around people.
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But this is a phase where we've seen with, you know, with three
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kids, we've seen that this in this particular age group and
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there's a shift happened academically.
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We see this thing happen. And we told each of our kids in
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that those seasons, hey, friends will change.
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But you can be a friend to someone else.
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You can be your friend to some. And it's interesting how their
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entire friend circle has changed when they realized the others
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have ditched them. And I believe it's this
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navigating this different journey with each of them has
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helped me realize many a times when we fear God, we live with
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hands open because we know when we fear God, he's the one who
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protects. He's the one who guards.
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And so we realize that he's the one who will protect them.
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He helps them, you know, shape their worldview, their mind.
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We can't shape it. We we can walk around them.
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We hope more will be caught than taught, but I believe that as
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they shape that, I believe they will see that we are people who
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didn't give it to the fear of man.
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We are people who we lived with strong identity, strong
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understanding of ourselves. That we will be mindful also as
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we lead others, that we will lead them with the fear of God
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in our lives. And I pray that as we go through
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this that we will be a chosen vessel for God's given identity,
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that we wouldn't, that when we are his chosen message, we would
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radiate with joy. We won't radiate with
-
bitterness. We would be joyful and we meet
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with everyone and just we'll talk to everyone.
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It's interesting, the church that we have, I can see how
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certain clicks form between body types, between people of the
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same colour, people, people of the same language, between
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people who are intellectually thinking.
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You can see you can easily see you can see that some people
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open their doors, the open doors, longer tables for
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everyone. Some don't.
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Some are very choosy of who they are love.
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And you see the fear of man acting in all these different
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spaces. And I want to come to a place
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where Lord, we will move into a space where we will be confident
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who you've created so that our faces will radiate with joy for
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everyone, not just for the select few, for everyone.
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And I pray that we'll see that happen because we are created as
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his masterpiece of in this lesson.
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When we see Abraham, what we see, we see that next to someone
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who was bigger in that land, he felt small and he caved in.
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And I pray none of us would cave in.
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None of us would cave in because the minute we cave in, we leave
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a foothold for the enemy. The minute we cave in, we are
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allowing Him to meddle with our mind, to meddle with all that
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God's deposited, and to meddle with the fact that our promise
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is not important. As we move to the Third Point,
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but before that, I want to read Ephesians chapter 3, verses 16
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to 20. And So what it says.
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I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you
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with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ
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may dwell in your hearts through faith.
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And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may
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have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how
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wide, how long, how high His love for us to know this love
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that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure
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of all the fullness of God. Now to him who's able to do
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immeasurably more than all we can ask, imagine, according to
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his power that is at work within us, His love has to be wide,
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high, long and wide enough. It surpasses our knowledge.
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And I pray that our generation, that generation that is after us
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and who's coming after us, who are being born, they won't use
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knowledge to confine the love of God.
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They will experience it. And this will come from a place
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of realizing that fear of man will make you small.
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But when you fear God and understand who He's created you
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to be, it will give you a renew sense of identity that you can
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walk confidently on this earth knowing who's created you.
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Because when you are confidently knowing who's created you and
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what you're created for, you start accomplishing the things
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that will take you closer to seeing your promise being
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fulfilled right here on this earth, right here on this earth.
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The third thing, the fear of man can make us temporarily give up
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on the promise that God has given upon us.
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The fear of man can make us temporarily give up on the
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promise God has deposited in US. I want to read 2 passages.
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Genesis chapter 12 verses 10 to 13.
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Now there was a famine in the land and Abraham went to Egypt
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to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
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As he was about to empty Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, I
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know what a beautiful woman you are.
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When the Egyptians see you, they will say this is the, this is
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his wife. Then they will kill me, but will
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let you live, say you are my sister, so that I will be
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treated well for your sake, and my life will be spared because
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of you. Fast forward from Genesis 12 to
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Genesis 20. This is what it says when ABI
-
Malik had taken taken Sarah into his quotes and kept her there.
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We see immediately God appeared to ABI Malik and I believe God
-
intervened because he didn't want the promise that his chosen
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person Abraham and walked all these years to go to waste.
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If ABI Malik got up here to ABI Malik, God confronted him and
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told him, you've taken a man's wife.
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And immediately the next day he called his people, he discussed
-
it and they called Abraham and said, what have you done?
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And this is what Abraham says. Early the next morning our Malik
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sermon, all his officials. And when they told him all that
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happened, they had, they were very much afraid.
-
Then I mean Malik called Abraham and it said, what have you done
-
to us? How have I wronged you that you
-
brought such a great guilt upon me and my Kingdom?
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You have done things to me that you should never have done.
-
And I mean Malik asked Abraham, what was your reason for doing
-
this? Abraham replied.
-
I said to myself, there is surely No Fear of God in this
-
place, and they will kill me because of my wife.
-
Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my
-
father, though not of my mother, and she became my wife.
-
And when God had me wander for my father's household, I said to
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her, this is how we should, This is how you can show your love to
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me everywhere we go, Say of me, he is my brother.
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It seemed that they were creating a protection plan for
-
themselves, but God was saying, hey, you are mine, so you're
-
under my protection plan. You don't have to do this
-
because when you're under your protection plan, you're not.
-
You're unable to control or you're unable to govern the
-
promise. You can't.
-
You're not a keeper of promise because if you're not a keeper
-
of promise, Sarah could could not have protected it.
-
If ABI Malik had violated her, it it would have changed the
-
course. Rather the the the promised
-
child that was supposed to come out of her would have been ABI
-
Malik's. And here God intervened.
-
And I believe a lot of us today have somehow caved into the fear
-
of man and we've got a promise muddied.
-
If God has called you to take a step of faith into a particular
-
direction and you've, you've, you're caving in because of the
-
fear of man, rise up today. The God of Angel armies is with
-
you. He's wanting you to see clearly,
-
seek him. And faith step has to be your
-
step because that's where God honours the faith that you take.
-
And so take that step of faith. And here God stepped in because
-
he wanted his redemption plan to be secure.
-
He didn't want ABI Malik to be the father, to be the reason who
-
has been called out. And Jesus wouldn't have
-
happened. The story would look entirely
-
different. But in God's salvation plan, it
-
was Abraham's seed through which we would see redemption at the
-
end, who would be Jesus, who would come to save the entirety
-
of mankind. So Abraham thought his device
-
with his wife of a protection plan so that we'll safeguard
-
both of them. It backfired and God had to
-
intervene and say I am the one who can protect.
-
I am the one who governs. I am the promise keeper.
-
You aren't the promise keeper. When we allow fear to overcome
-
us in places like this, I believe God, word has to step
-
in. God's Holy Spirit has to step
-
in. The invitation is open for all
-
of us to let go of our fear and to allow God to come in.
-
And I pray today this fear of man will go.
-
This fear of man will go. And I want to pray specifically
-
as I, as we conclude in a couple of minutes, specifically for
-
those who've gone through abuse, specifically who've had a bad
-
touch in their life, specifically who feel like
-
they're unable to trust because something that man did has
-
gripped them strong. I want to pray that you'll find
-
freedom in Jesus, freedom in Jesus.
-
I pray the fear of man won't suffocate you anymore, that God
-
will bring down his radiant joy on you.
-
I pray especially that your heart, your mind, and your body
-
will find healing right now from every kind of fear that you've
-
been seeing. And that happens only when the
-
Holy Spirit comes. That's why the Holy Spirit's
-
invitation is very important. I believe when we allow the Holy
-
Spirit to enter into our lives, He changes.
-
He gives us the courage to face anyone.
-
I want to read a passage from Acts chapter 4.
Acts 4 chapter mention
-
The very disciples who got scattered away, who ran away,
-
who were scared. But the minute when they
-
encountered the Holy Spirit, they were able to stand before
-
before the sand, and they were able to stand before the very
-
men who had accused and put Jesus on the cross.
-
Acts chapter 4 says 5 to 8. The next day the rulers, the
Acts 4 chapter mention
-
elders, and the teachers of the Lord met in Jerusalem and on us.
-
The high priest was there and so was Caiaphas, John, Alexander
-
and others of the High Peace family.
-
They are Peter and John brought before them and began to
-
question them. By what power or what name do
-
you do this? The Peter filled with the Holy
-
Spirit said to them, rulers and elders of the people.
-
And Peter goes on to give a big speech.
-
Then they call them in again and come on them not to speak or
-
teach at all in the name of Jesus.
-
But Peter and John replied, Which is right in God's eyes to
-
listen to you or to Him? You be the judges.
-
As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen
-
and what we have heard. After further threats, they let
-
them go. They could not decide how to
-
punish them, because all the people who are praising God for
-
what had happened, for the man who was miraculously healed was
-
over 40 years old. The fear of man can only be
-
overcome by the Holy Spirit. And today, I don't know what
-
your understanding of the Holy Spirit is, but if you want to
-
overcome the fear of man, it has to be overcome only by the Holy
-
Spirit. The fear of man will be
-
judgement. The fear of man will cause you
-
to have a lid over your cup. Won't won't see your full
-
potential, but the Holy Spirit will open that up to tell you
-
you're not called to operate in the spirit of fear, especially
-
the fear of man. Fear of man.
-
So I pray today, whatever we're fearing due to our experiences,
-
whatever we're fearing due to our circumstances, whatever
-
fearing due to our family and the situation that we've grown
-
up in, I pray we'll come to a place of allowing the Holy
-
Spirit to move that allow the Holy Spirit to move.
-
It says in one John, perfect love casts out fear.
-
The perfect love can come only from the person who is perfect
-
and who is that? That's Jesus, because Jesus, who
-
knew no sin, went to the cross for you and me.
-
Jesus died on our behalf. And it was not fear that took
-
him there. It was his submission to the
-
Father, deep love for the call that was on his life.
-
And what happened is when he rose again, every part of
-
darkness was broken and shaken. It was torn completely.
-
So today, fear has no room in Jesus.
-
Fear. There's no oh, I have Jesus in
-
me, but I have some fear. No, fear won't be there.
-
Fear reverent, All will be there.
-
But No Fear or what, man or no, You won't even be worried about
-
your name. No longer.
-
You won't be worried about what the world says because
-
everything has its timeline. Truth alone will build a legacy.
-
Lies will fade away after a time.
-
So I pray that you look to the cross.
-
I pray each and every one of us. What about fears you're
-
carrying? Fear of the future, fear of a
-
bank balance is being empty. Fear of our relationship being
-
and hanging on that last thread. Fear of a future, of our
-
children, what they'll become. Fear of everything that's around
-
will only cripple us, suffocate us, and leave us not being able
-
to move and fulfill what God has called us.
-
Whereas when we look to God, when we trust Him, when we call
-
on His name, when we understand the realness of His love, our
-
joy, our faces become radiant with joy.
-
We realize that He's the one who protects and guards us.
-
And I pray that we will move to a place of trusting Him holy, of
-
trusting Him holy. So just even as I close, I'm
-
praying specifically that God will work in and through your
-
life and my life. I have certain fears and I want
-
those fears to be relinquished. I want those.
-
I want to relinquish all. I don't want to walk in the
-
shadow of the fear of man. I want to be under the wings of
-
the Almighty. But I know also that God wants
-
me to take a step of faith out so that I'll be able to know
-
that He is with me in that step. What we see happen after this is
-
the King gives him back and restores him back.
-
Sarah's untouched. And I believe God protects us.
-
God protects his people. So I pray if you've done right
-
by what God's called you to do, He will step in.
-
Don't have any fear of man. Nothing can stop us to enjoying
-
the promise that God's calling us towards.
-
As we position ourselves, as we let go of every fear that the
-
enemy throws, he will constantly keep throwing fear.
-
The fear of business, the fear of clients, the fear of RP, the
-
fear of everything that is happening, the cost of living,
-
all the fear that you have. You can go to God.
-
He's not afraid of anything. He's overcome everything.
-
And I want to give you that message of hope that you will
-
trust him wholeheartedly. You will trust him
-
wholeheartedly. Can I pray with you right now?
-
Loving Heavenly Father, I just thank you a lot for this time.
-
I pray, Lord, even as people are watching and listening, I pray,
-
Holy Spirit, I pray would flood their space right now.
-
Their hearts will be flooded right now.
-
I pray every fear of man, Lord, everything that they have gone
-
through in life, every experience, every, everything
-
that they have imbibed, Lord Jesus because of of an attitude
-
of fear of someone else. Lord, I pray every negative
-
emotion, Lord, everything that's built over a period of time and
-
now has become a stronghold. We ask and we bind it in the
-
name of Jesus and we release freedom.
-
We release your love. We release Lord Jesus your
-
protection, We release your guarding.
-
Lord Jesus is that he'll come. I pray each and everyone of our
-
faces will be radiant with joy because we trust you and because
-
we see you do greater things. Lord, I pray you would go before
-
us. I pray you would strengthen us.
-
I pray you would take charge, Lord Jesus, and do greater
-
things. Lord, I pray that we will see
-
your Kingdom come. Lord, we will be people who will
-
be able to accomplish everything because we don't cave into the
-
fear of man, but rather we live with a reverent fear of you,
-
Lord Jesus. I pray, Lord, our convictions
-
will become stronger, our decisions, Lord, following you,
-
things that we choose to do for you will become more clearer,
-
Lord Jesus. And I pray that Lord, we will
-
have peace because you are with us.
-
You are with us, Lord, go before us and be with us.
-
Lord, your most holy name we pray, Amen.
-
Amen. I pray that even as you step out
-
this week, you won't be crippled by the fear of man.
-
You would overcome it, I pray. If you have any such thing,
-
reach out to us. We'd love to pray with you.
-
You know, it says that when two or three agree together, I
-
believe Jesus is there. And I believe a lot of times you
-
might want to ask someone to stand alongside with you to
-
overcome that fear. I pray that God will use you
-
mightily in the days to come, that you'll be able to live out
-
whatever God's called you to do, knowing that He's with you every
-
step of the way. God bless you and have a blessed
-
week. Thanks for listening to this
-
message. We hope you were blessed to hear
-
more messages like this. Make sure to subscribe and check
-
out our podcast channel for past episodes.
-
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That would really help us. For more content from Via Zion
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Remember, whoever finds Jesus finds life.