WELCOME & INTRODUCTION
- Everyone seems to like a good ghost story…
GHOST STORIES: THE HAUNTED DVD
One day in 2009, a movie studio executive was given a DVD of a new low-budget horror movie to see if he’d be interested in distributing it to theaters. He watched the video at home that night and it reportedly scared him pretty badly. Even scarier, right after the movie ended, he discovered the door to his room was locked from the outside, and he had to call a locksmith to get out. The executive was so convinced the DVD was haunted that he had to get it out of his house. He brought it to the studio the next day in a trash bag. In the end, he did decide to distribute and market the film. This ended up being a good idea. The movie in question was the pretend found-footage ghost story Paranormal Activity. This film was produced for only $15,000 and went on to become very profitable and sparked a series of sequels that have grossed millions of dollars. And the executive who to this day is still convinced that his DVD was haunted was none other than the great Steven Spielberg.
This is the time of year where being scared is more prevalent. Halloween is tomorrow. This is the holiday that some people celebrate to scare themselves or others with ghost stories, witches, zombies, and other scary creatures. People dress up as their favorite characters from movies and comic books but also some dress up in gross horror masks to scare other people.
While being scary one time a year can be rooted in having fun, there are other reasons why people might be scared. We live in a world where actual reality scary things happen. Wars are being waged around the world and rumors of our involvement have been mentioned recently. People are waging war in communities where crime has increased in some of our cities. Political targeting of opposition has been a scary prospect and with the midterm elections coming, many are afraid of what may or may not happen depending on who is elected to different positions in not just Tulsa or even Oklahoma but around the country.
Sickness and disease have made many people fearful, whether it’s the virus we’ve dealt with the last couple of years, other things like monkeypox, polio, measles…
There are other real things that might scare us that have happened recently: Everything from economic turmoil, monkeys attacking residents of a Japanese city, protesters looting, robbing, and burning down businesses, remember when there was the scare about murder hornets migrating to the United States?
What are you afraid of? Maybe your fears right now have more to do with the here and now of your life. Paying your bills so you have heat this winter, buying groceries, a family member who is dealing with a serious sickness or injury, maybe even coming to the end of their life. Helping your children navigate their lives and be able to raise healthy, well-adjusted, balanced kids who can succeed and get good grades so they can go on to be normal adults. Raising your children to love God and find salvation in Jesus. Debt, car troubles, dog bites…we all have things that scare us and make us fear how we will solve these issues.
One of my biggest fears is not being around for my children. To not be here when they are getting married, having children, going on to careers of their own, being a source of wisdom for them to ask questions when they are dealing with the same things as parents and spouses that I have dealt with. To be a source of wisdom for great faith questions when they are struggling to trust God.
It was what made me consider my health recently when I was in the hospital for an infection and why I don’t eat the kinds of foods I used to eat. Why I am working on my health.
We all have fears and sometimes struggle with how to cope with those fears and even struggle with the call from Jesus to not worry about these things.
MATTHEW 6:25-34 – DO NOT BE ANXIOUS (5 SLIDES)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Do not be anxious about tomorrow. So, what do we do when we are afraid and anxious about tomorrow…or even today? It’s hard to truly not worry about tomorrow. Sometimes I think we like being anxious about tomorrow. And we see where that gets us…depression, actual sickness and health issues…
Last week I mentioned that much of the time, we’ve placed the return of Jesus in the back of our minds. Our thoughts are that he hasn’t returned today, so I must have time. With time comes our plans. And we plan for the future. That’s what most of our worries come down to. We fear not being able to do the things we plan for. To not see an outcome of our life’s work. And let me say that God has given us assurance of some of this. We are told life is a vapor; a mist. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but if we are given tomorrow, God wants us to enjoy our lives and as disciples, be people who are told that we can have a fruitful life in Him. That’s the promise of Isaiah 41.
Isaiah as a whole is speaking to several groups of people as this book progresses. The beginning of this book sets the stage with Isaiah bringing the people of Jerusalem before God, in a courtroom-type setting, being judged for their false worship of idols that were brought in as they were taken captive by the Assyrians. Now the Temple was defiled as Asshur was worshiped right in the middle of it. Hezekiah would make things right and remove idols from God’s Temple, but the people throughout Isaiah’s early ministry were corrupt and unjust.
The arrogance and greed of God’s people was evident and the wealthy have allowed their love of material wealth to overcome justice. The weak and defenseless have lost their rights and the upper-class people have oppressed those that were less. These people allowed their pure worship of God to be compromised by their awe of magicians and fortune-tellers and their worship of false gods. And it didn’t end there. They were captivated by drunkenness and debauchery. Even those who worshiped God—because of the sinfulness of the entire nation, even real worship became repugnant to God.
Because of this Isaiah has the task to let them know that God has rejected all of this and they would be judged for it. But they were to realize that with judgment comes redemption. While they would lose their independence, Isaiah brings about a message of hope. As the people turn back to God, the remnant would return. Yahweh is a holy God who demands justice and righteousness from His people. Sin is rebellion against Yahweh. Because of His love for His people, God calls them to repentance and faith. But a remnant of Yahweh’s people will be saved and the Messiah in the line of David will be raised up by God.
It is here that we find our text this morning. Isaiah 41:
ISAIAH 41:1-13 (6 Slides)
41:1 Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment. 2 Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step? He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow. 3 He pursues them and passes on safely, by paths his feet have not trod.
4 Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he. 5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble; they have drawn near and come. 6 Everyone helps his neighbor and says to his brother, “Be strong!” 7 The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good”; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved. 8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; 9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; 10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11 Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. 12 You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. 13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”
Isaiah brings to Jerusalem’s mind that they have been taken captive in their past by foreign deities. Their false worship of other gods has brought God’s judgment on them. But God sustained them. Even while being allowed to be conquered by the Assyrians and Babylonians, God is still greater and more powerful and they would still have a remnant. God will send the Messiah to lead. He tramples kings like their conquerors underfoot, they are dust, who has done this? God does. He is the first and the last. Everyone trembles before Him.
And God reminds His people that they will be upheld and not to fear. Fear not!
God’s people tend to be afraid. From the beginning of creation, their sinfulness causes them to fear. Why shouldn’t they be afraid? God is powerful! He has created the world; He could take them out of it. When they disobeyed, they were exiled from the garden. When they disobeyed again, God flooded the earth killing all but a small family in a boat. When they disobeyed again, God confused their language and communication and they were scattered to different places. When they disobeyed again, God destroyed their cities saving Abram and his small family. This is all just what we’ve learned in Genesis so far in our morning Bible classes (except we haven’t gotten to Sodom yet—spoiler alert!).
When Pharaoh takes Israel captive and Moses is sent to free God’s people, they saw the plagues. They saw the things God was able to do. Sinful people fear God!
But here in our text, we’ve jumped ahead in history at another instance of feeling alone and afraid. God says, fear not! Could it be that God always has a plan for His people even when they are not obeying Him? Could it be that our powerful Creator, Yahweh is thinking ahead? His purposes are far more mysterious and thoughtful than our own.
There are five pillars of fearlessness in this passage that I want to highlight for us this morning to remind us who God is and why we do not need to have fear today.
FOR I AM WITH YOU
The first pillar is this: We don’t need to fear because God is with us.
Whatever we are doing in our lives; each moment, God is with us. He is surrounding us; God has never left our side. These people Isaiah is preaching to must have thought God had left them and allowed these horrors to overcome them. How else could this have happened? Many of the Gnostic teachers from the first century believed that someone who had horrible things happen to them; it happened because God had left them cursed. Only a cursed person could have bad things happen to them. It was something they had done or one of their parents/ancestors.
God is saying no; fear not! I have always been with you. With justice comes discipline. How many of us have had a parent tell us that our punishment is for our own good? That punishment is to teach us a lesson. We are disciplined to become better people. God is with us. That is the name given to Jesus! Immanuel—God with us! Literally Jesus is God with us. Those of us who have taken on Christ, clothed ourselves with him in baptism, have God with us!
FOR I AM YOUR GOD
The second pillar: We do not need to fear because God is our God.
God is ours. He is not some impersonal God who set the world spinning and walked away. He is here with us for us to have confidence in Him and in our hope. This same God who judged Jerusalem, who judged Israel, who judges other nations and their false gods is our God who chose us before the foundation of the world. The God who created man from dust is our God. He is powerful and we do not need to fear. God is not someone else’s God. He is here for us.
We read about this in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
EPHESIANS 1:3-5, 11-14 (4 Slides)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
God chose us to be our Father. He chose us before the world was even created. He is making us part of His family with adoption, in love, and to receive an inheritance in salvation. Our God is our God!
I WILL STRENGTHEN YOU
Third: We do not need to fear because Our God who is with us. Our God who is OUR God tells us He will strengthen us. Isaiah asks, “Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he.”
Here is a picture of God not only judging the nations and ruling the rulers of the earth but calling all the nations of the earth into being. God is the first—he is the absolute reality before all other reality and on which all others depend. He is the uncreated first. And he will be there with the last when all is accomplished.
When God answers, “I, the Lord, the first…” He takes the name Yahweh and unfolds the full meaning here. God is called Jehovah as the absolute I, the absolute free being, infusing all history, yet above all history. He is the first and the last. He strengthens us when we need strength. When we are afraid to share the Gospel with someone, when we take a test in school, when we face an interview.
When we face an operation or a treatment for cancer. When we lose a spouse or a friend.
When we have to take a stand against unjust business practices and risk our job, when we take a stand against racism and risk a friendship, when we take a stand against sinful sexual practices in our culture and risk being canceled, when we take a stand for the Gospel of Jesus and risk our lives and livelihood…this is our God who is with us who gives us strength.
I WILL HELP YOU
Four: We do not need to fear because our God will help us.
God doesn’t leave us alone. He isn’t a distant God. He is here with us. He gives us strength. And because we cannot do this alone, God gives us a Helper. Before Jesus left this mortal earth, he promised a Helper—the Holy Spirit. When we are clothed with Christ in baptism, we are also given the Holy Spirit to indwell us and live with us every day.
JOHN 15:26-27
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
When life seems too difficult, we can rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us and give us the help we need. When we are tempted, the Holy Spirit prompts us to make the right choices. When we sin, He also convicts our hearts and calls us back to a right relationship through repentance.
I WILL UPHOLD YOU
Lastly, we do not need to fear because Our God who is with us and strengthens us and helps us will also uphold us.
When we are out of steam and cannot seem to keep going, God reaches out and carries us. God promises to uphold you with His right hand. The hand of God, and especially the right hand, is understood as a place of salvation, refuge, and protection. To be upheld by God’s right hand is to be completely safe and at peace.
We need this peace today. We are all being bombarded by the world whether in the sexual ethic of the day, socio-political views that are antithetical to the Word of God, temptation to walk away from God’s leading into our own way.
When we face disease and death of loved ones, God is there to hold us and give us peace.
God says, fear not! When you’ve used your last breath to choose holiness, He will carry your burdens and fears. He will uphold you.
When God calls you to be free from fear (to overcome this natural emotion and have peace), he does not leave this command hanging in the air. These five pillars are placed under you.
I am your God – He is over you.
I am with you – by your side.
I will strengthen you – all around you from wherever the enemy comes.
I will help you – from inside you.
I will uphold you – from underneath you.
Over you, by you, around you, inside you, underneath you. Therefore, fear not!
INVITATION
It’s easier said than done…ghost stories and Halloween are one thing…but sickness, pain, heartbreak, doubt and losing faith, temptation, the culture…
