Category Archives: Sermon Notes

Managing Fear, Walking by Faith

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When I heard my pastor say this morning that we need to manage our fears and walk by faith, my heart perked up. Will this be an answer to my prayers? For the last few days, I have felt aggravated by what’s going on at work, and I also know that I am struggling with fear; fear of the person that I work for. Well, last night I was not able to sleep and so I sat up in my bed with my bible in hand, trying to find a verse of Scripture to help me—but nothing. So, I prayed that God would soon show me a good Scripture passage and tell me what to do. Then this morning I really didn’t feel too good and almost didn’t go to church. Then I thought: well, maybe the Lord will give me something; maybe He will answer my prayers. And He surely did.

This morning’s sermon was from the book of Numbers, chapters 13 and 14. You may remember what happened. Twelve spies went into Canaan to spy out the land. They found that the land was very good, but that the people were huge and their cities were well-guarded. Ten out of the twelve spies had great fears; they reported that they were not able to go up against them, that they were not strong enough. They said, “We became like grasshoppers in our own sight and so we were in their sight.”

Here are a few notes that I wrote down from the sermon:

  • When they went into Canaan and looked around, they didn’t manage their fears and so they didn’t walk by faith.
  • God said, enough of the whining, just trust Me.
  • We are to walk by faith, not by fear.
  • There is a high price for not managing our fear.
  • “Fear is a reaction; courage is a decision.” – Winton Churchill
  • The people of Israel wept all night at the peril they faced, but they didn’t turn to God in faith.
  • “If we do not fear God, we fear everything else.” – Oswald Chambers
  • When we fear and don’t trust God, we will miss His gifts.

So, what should I do with my situation at work? First of all, I will be praying and will trust God in what to do. I will not let fear rule my life. I will not let myself stew over any further potential problem. I will have a positive attitude as I manage my fears. And I will follow the example of Caleb who said (in Nu. 13:30), “We should by all means go up and take possession of it [the land], for we will surely overcome it.”

Update: Bahrain, Mice, Racism, and more

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Bahrain is a very small Island/ Country just west of Qatar.

Work. It’s Monday, not a lot going on as far as work. I have a small job on Wednesday; I just have to paint three doors, Tarrytown green. Fun.

Mice. Following up on my latest article about my mouse problem: I haven’t seen any mice for a few days. But I am convinced that I did have one or two mice—and I was not hallucinating. My evidence, besides seeing them, was finding a few black, small droppings under the stove, in back of the juicer, and on the bathroom floor in the corner. Gross! I am more motivated now to clean and make sure I have nothing laying around where they can nest. I would be mortified if I found a nest with baby mice in it. And I asked around to all the other apartments in my building, and no one has seen any mice. Why is it just me?

Bahrain. Just too days ago, Bahrain came on board with UAE. Now we have two nations at peace with Israel, which confirms my previous article on the fact that bible prophecy is now happening; and so, the Ezekiel Invasion (Ezek. 38, 39) is coming soon—which also means that the Rapture is coming soon. It is so exciting to see these things falling into place.

My church looking at racism. I tend not to want to talk about or hear anyone talk about racism. I think that is mainly in our past. And for the most part I think it was dealt with back in the 60’s. But our pastor has chosen to tackle it. Well, so far, I think he is doing a great job. His main motivation is evangelism in our community, which has a mixed race. So, we figure that our church should really have a mixed race of people. And, for the most part, we do.

His text was from Revelation 7:9: “After these things I looked, and behold a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…”

So, he got from that verse that in heaven there will be a mixed race of people: all nations, tribes, and languages. It is a beautiful picture. We should not see heaven as a blend of the races, say all brown people. No. It will be multi-colored. Very colorful! And we will love and accept each other as we are. So, the main message is that we need to humble ourselves, face up to, and talk about where we are concerning how we feel about each other—people of other races. Sin wants to hide; but redemption demands honesty, humility and transparency.

But we also need to be careful and wise. Riots are not the way to deal with anything. Anger will not solve anything. And we know now that there are anarchists that want to take advantage of any hurtful situation in order to destroy our country. We don’t need another civil war. We need prayer and revival, and we need law and order to go along with it.

My reading. I just started reading Live Free Or Die, by Sean Hannity. Good grief. I had no idea that the book would be so deep. I mean, it is like a text book with tons of research. It’s a book I could definitely read more than once. There is so much in it. It is not that hard to read, just so much in it. Oh well, I will just read it slow, a little at a time. It is good. A lot of good information about our great country.

How to Engage in Spiritual Conversations

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The sermon today at my church had to do with witnessing to our neighbors—or anyone we would have a chance to talk to. It was good for me, because, over the years I have become sort of lax in this area. I don’t know why. I was thinking that maybe it is because I just haven’t taken the time with people to get in a lot of deep, personal conversations. Or maybe I have become too Christianized, or too proud—if you know what I mean. Anyway, I what to give you a few questions (taken directly from the sermon notes) that every Christian can ask his friends in order to stimulate a spiritual conversation.

  • Do you believe people can change?
  • What brings you a sense of meaning of purpose?
  • Do you think our world is getting better or worse?
  • Is there a movie or book series that has meant a lot to you?
  • If you won the lottery, what would you do with your free time?
  • What is the biggest challenge facing humans?
  • Have you ever had a mentor who meant a lot to you?
  • What is the best advice you have ever received?

Two Questions for Anyone Who May Have Some Doubts About His or her Salvation

  • Have you come to a place in your spiritual life where you can say you know for certain that if you were to die today you would go to heaven?
  • Suppose that you were to die today and stand before God and he were to say to you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” what would you say?

These are good questions, aren’t they? To help you answer them I want to encourage you to look at a couple bible verses. For the first question look at 1 John 5:11-12. As for the second question, that may be a little harder. To help you answer that question you can look at Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, and Ephesians 2:8-9.