Amazing grace how sweet the sound. I want to start this morning with a little testimony. (I told a story about a trip to Atlanta and how I didn’t run from the Lord) So this morning when the phone rung at 6:00 AM and I was asked to preach for the Pastor at the 8:00AM service…I was reminded of the events in Atlanta and I trusted in the Lord and I stand here now less than two hours later with a word from our Father.
Last week I preached and we talked about our victory in faith (1 John 5:4) and how it is Impossible to please god with it (Heb 11:6). We went on to share three reason to watch what you hear. And they were: affect faith, heart, and harvest.
This day I want to talk a short while about Part2 - faith and the 4F’s of faith.
We will start in Psalm 37: 1-7 39-40 (worry) – Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 12:12, and psalm 56:3 (fear) Luke 18:1 and Galations 6:3 (losing hope), and finally back in Psalms for 44: 20-21 about forgetting God’s blessing.
Our theme text iis from Mizmore Daveed 37: 1-7 and 39:40 or Psalms of David 37: 1-7 and 39-40
Bible scholars will tell you that the bible is divided into 12 stages. We find this text in the stage called THE UNITED KINGDOM STAGE
This stage 120 years – 1st 3 kings Isreal – 40 yrs each - Saul, David, and Solomon.
Ps 37:1-7; 39-40
1 Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;
2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.
3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD; he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
40 The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.
I’m not gonna be here long as in the army we say (Train to standard not time)
Selective service now – Draft – 18yrs 1A…3A…4F
While being classified 4F would have kept one out of the service of our country, the very opposite is true with regard to the Lord’s army. And that brings me to the sermon for today: The “Four F’s” of the Christian Faith.
Fret Not, Fear Not, Faint not, and forget not
1. Fret Not
Psalm 37:1: “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong…”
Fret means to worry to be concerned….
This whole Psalm shows the happy state of the godly and the short-lived prosperity of the wicked. It can be summed up in the following: “Don’t fume; don’t worry about the other guy; God is the righteous Judge. He will have the last say. Don’t worry…be happy. .”
Worry never solved a problem
Worry never paid a debt
Worry never alleviated a pain
Worry never made an enemy a friend
Worry never turned a wrong into a right
Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble—sometimes the troubles of tomorrow—which may never arrive anyway!
The Tiger, the Man and God
A man was being chased by a tiger. He ran as hard as he could until he was at the edge of a cliff with the tiger in hot pursuit. The man looked over the edge of the cliff and saw a branch growing out of the side of the cliff a few feet down. He jumped down and grabbed the branch just as the tiger reached the cliff. The tiger growled viciously as the man sighed a great sigh of relief.
Just then a mouse came out from a crevice and began to chew on the branch. The man looked down to what was a drop of a thousand feet and sure death and looked to the heavens and yelled out, "Dear God, if you are there, please help. I will do anything you ask but please help."
Suddenly a voice came booming down from heaven, "You will do anything I ask?" it questioned.
The man shocked to hear a reply to his plea yelled back, "I will gladly do anything you ask, but please save me."
The voice from heaven then replied, "There is one way to save you but it will take courage and faith."
The branch began to weaken from the mouse and the tiger was still growling a few feet above the man, "Please, Lord, tell me what I must do and I will do it. Your will is my will."
The voice from heaven then said, "All right then, let go of the branch."
The man looked down to a fall of a thousand feet and certain death. He looked up at the hungry tiger a few feet away and he looked at the mouse still chewing on the branch. Then he looked up at the heavens and yelled, "Is there anyone else up there?"
A Christian who is known as being a “worrier” is a poor testimony.
A song says God kept me…so I wouln’t let go.
I came to tell you to let go…don’t worry, God has your back, he’s in control. Don’t allow the Tiger and the mouse to push your faith into fear
How does one break the worry habit?
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths (Prov.3:5,6).
2. Fear Not
Isaiah 41:10: “Fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God: I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.”
Fear is a close relative to worry. They both paralyze. Many folks today are living in bondage to fear, fear of all sorts:
Fear of death
Fear of sickness
Fear of failure
Fear of poverty
Fear of being alone
Fear of germs
Webster and educated folks
Pella do phobia = fear of baldness and bald people. Aero phobia = fear of drafts. And even And the catch all Phobo phobia = fear of being afraid.
Fear is the great enemy of christians. It inhibits, it reduces us and causes us to live as spiritual midgets.
Fear is also the great enemy of faith. Help in the word in Psalm 56:3: “When I am afraid I will trust.” The second class folks say with Isaiah in 12:12: “I will trust and not be afraid.”
Let me put it like this:
Fear is the father of cruelty.
Fear will cuase a young man to drink due to peer pressure
Fear will cause a husband to act a foul – trying to prove to the fellas
Fear will have a child not learn – out of looking inferior man
Look at genesis 19: 1…two angels to Lot in Sodom…Sodom was about to be destroyed. Theytold him to get you folks and go. So laid for that night and the next day he took his two daughters without the city….don’t look back ---verse…26:
Fear robs the soul of sunshine. It turns the optimist into a pessimist.
Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
The world offers to give us peace in a variety of ways:
Alcohol
Drugs
Pleasure
Fame
Work
Wealth
Spirituality
But I want you to know this morning that Jesus said....
3. Faint Not
Luke 18:1: “Men ought always to pray and not to faint.”
Galatians 6:3: “We shall reap if we faint not.”
Faint means: lose heart, to give up…hope.
The Bible has so much to say about perseverance and faithfulness, whether its in regard to prayer, or discouragement, failure, or persecution.
“The snail reached the ark by crawling one centimeter at a time.”
Noah Webster labored for 36 years writing his dictionary. Leonardo DaVinci worked on the painting of The Last Supper for 10 years, often so absorbed he forgot to eat for whole days.
We can find hope hope in the story of women and oil – 2 Kings 4: 1: 7. A certain woman…husband dead…two sons..to the bondsman…(elisha (salvation of god)..what shall I do for thee….save a pot of oil….go get all…sold and lived on rest.
God can see you through all as he is all. Hopelessness is not of god…there is a song that says “Yes I’m a believer…
Do you believe??? He has for you against hopelessness a kingdom of possibilities.
4. Forget Not
Don’t forget God’s blessings. In Psalm 88:12, we read of “the land of forgetfulness.” Remembering ill keep us humble and grateful.
Ps 44:20-21
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21 would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?
“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
It’s a dangerous thing to forget that spiritual part of us. Its all we’ll have left when we die.
Mark 4: 24 24 Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
So Jesus is saying what? ….the action word is heed …..
What makes up faith/2 sides – buy kindgom
We all know that faith is important and in Hebrew 11: 6 says that without faith its impossible to please god.
1 John 5: 4 says 4For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. By what??? By faith.
Go with me to JOHN, LUKE, AND ACTS TO Romans 10:17…We need to hear and not just go on what we have heard. We are about to discover something now. 17So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (2nd). So are you born of faith- etc..hear
Conclusion
When faith reigns supreme in our hearts, fretting takes a back seat, fear vanishes, the temptation to give up disappears, and the memory of God’s love stays fresh in our minds.
Remember
Fret not
Fear not
Faint not
Forget not
Your life will be richer; your heart will be at rest, and you face the future unafraid.
