Stop Being Afraid

Rev Gideon Lee

This morning I'll keep my message short as I want to take some time to minister to you. I want to open the altar so that I can pray for you.

God is in the business of multiplication. Whatever we do for God will not go to waste. Come to our prayer meeting, our cell meetings. Your attendance is important. You may say I am only one person, but you are important. And I must say this, don't miss church for your hobbies. In my previous church, I had people who miss church because they went to marathon. Some would travel long distances for the Penang Bridge Run held early in the morning. I think we should make effort to be in the house of God. 

The title of my message is "Stop Being Afraid". 

In the beginning of this passage, Jesus was commissioning the disciples. And here Jesus was warning them that they will face opposition and some of them may even loose their life. 

Mat 10:24-31

24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! 26 Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Jesus Teaches the Fear of God 27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

In football or elsewhere they call soccer, in the changing room before they go out to the field, they will be given a pep talk by the coach to motivate them and to tell them their game plan. The coach prepares his team and this is what Jesus was doing. Jesus was telling them what to expect. That there will be opposition and obstacles. 

And Jesus said the student is not greater than the teacher. And that if they can talk bad about the master, they will do worst towards the followers. 

What did Jesus faced? Rejection. False accusation. Persecution. Beaten. Chased out of town. No place to sleep. Jesus was saying it will also happen to them. 

Can you imagine if I say that to you. You will go through persecution if you come to church. Will you still come to church? 

What did Jesus say? So do not be afraid of them. Is it a one occasion thing or an ongoing thing? It is do not be afraid of them continually. In every situation that you will face. 

Jesus is saying don't be afraid of what these people can do to you. Stop being afraid of those who can kill the body but rather be afraid of he that can destroy the soul. 

And Jesus further said that you are more precious than sparrows. He gave them a promise. How many of you know what's a sparrow? It's a small bird that's hardly worth anything. And God is saying he is concerned even for sparrows. And we are more precious than many sparrows. 

And the bible even says that he knows the number of hairs you have. Do you know what's the number of hairs you have? Some have more, some have less. Do you know the number of hairs on your spouse?

I want to talk about promise. Promises is at best conditional. I promise to come to church if there is no traffic or the weather is fine. I'm giving an example. I promise to be on time. I'm on the way. It's like if we say promise we have to keep it and if we don't promise we don't have to keep it. 

The ultimate is when death come into the picture. Especially like when we make our wedding vows. Till death do us part. 

The nature of the promise is also dependent in the person. The character and the reliability of the person. 

And most of the time we do break our promises. And it comes to our mind if a person can keep his promise or not. How many of us have been disappointed by broken promises.  

But all these do not apply to Jesus  because when he makes a promise he keeps it. When they saw Jesus on the cross they thought he can no longer keep his promise. But we know Jesus rose from the dead and his promise is yay and amen. Even death the greatest promise breaker could not hold him. 

When someone promise us something, we often is conditioned to think what must I do to receive, to get the promise. When Jesus promised us, there is nothing we can do to earn that promise. 

If our grandparents tell us that they have put in their will a bungalow for us and a piece of land in a prime area in Penang, do we ask what we need to do to earn that inheritance? We do not. We just say thank you. 

And that's what we need to say to God, to thank him for all the promises from God. This morning, don't try to earn your healing. Don't try to earn your salvation. 

He first love us. Do you know how many promises are there in the bible for us? Do you know there are promises for every area of our life? But if you don't know the promises how do you earn it?

Don't worry. You are worth more than sparrows. He will take care of you. This morning what are you facing in your life? May I tell you the promises of God. He is our Jehovah Rapha. He is our healer, he is everything that we need. 

This morning I encourage you to know the promises of God. Even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death you will fear no evil. He provides for every aspect of your life. 

Let me share a testimony with you. I am used to trusting God with big things. One day God reminded me that although I can trust him for big things, I needed to be reminded that he cares and is interested in every area of my life. 

We took a short break in Cameron Highlands with my family. My brothers came from KL and they went to Ipoh first. They asked me if I wanted to join them in Ipoh, but since I am going up via Simpang Pulai, I said I'll meet them up there. 

So my brother asked if I wanted salted chicken. Before I could reply my wife replied and said no need. But in my heart I said aiyoh! I wanted to eat. I didn't tell anyone. You know me. 

But when we came back to church, someone called me and said I want to buy salted chicken for you. I said okay, buy one for me and I wanted to pay for it. When the person met me, I got two! And I wanted to pay but they wanted to bless me. So God reminded me to just say thank you. 

So I went home and told my wife, see, God knew I wanted to eat this when we were in Camerons. And my wife said but you just ate a few weeks back. But God knew I wanted it. Little things shows God cares for you even though I was used to expecting big things from God. 

Don't try to earn God's promises. Come to him. He knows and he cares. And not only he cares, he has the capability and the resources to help you.