Participants: Jim Gilley
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000016
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00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth live from the 3ABN worship center.
00:17 Thriving Faith In Difficult Times, with Jim Gilley. 00:23 Have you ever gotten mad? 00:26 I mean, really mad? 00:28 And you know you're not suppose to be mad? 00:31 So you get mad at yourself for being mad. 00:35 And then you try to get unmad and it doesn't seem to work. 00:41 So you get mad at yourself because you can't 00:44 seem to get unmad. 00:46 And then someone tells you, "You know, Christians are not 00:48 suppose to be mad." 00:50 And it just makes you mad. 00:53 Ever had an experience like that? 00:55 Well, this particular series is going to deal with some of the 01:00 bedrock issues of Christian life. 01:03 We're not going to talk about some of the 01:05 high theological themes. 01:07 We're going to deal with Christianity 101. 01:10 What do you do when you get mad 01:12 and you know you shouldn't be mad? 01:15 What do you do when fear comes into your life 01:17 and you know God hasn't given you a spirit of fear? 01:20 What do you do when you're discouraged 01:22 and you know that discouragement is a tool of the devil 01:25 and never comes from the Lord? 01:27 And so, during this particular series, we're going to deal with 01:31 Christianity, and put legs on our Christianity. 01:34 How do you walk the walk? How do you talk the talk? 01:37 How do you live a life that God has called us to live? 01:42 I bid you good evening. 01:43 My name is C.A. Murray and it is my privilege and pleasure 01:47 to welcome you to our Anchors Of Truth series. 01:49 This particular series is, 01:51 Thriving Faith In Difficult Times. 01:53 And I believe you can all agree with me that these 01:56 are indeed difficult times. 01:58 And if God's people are going to make it through these 02:01 difficult times, we are going to need a vibrant, thriving faith. 02:06 Tonight's particular subject is something I like, 02:10 Living Without Fear In Fearful Times. 02:13 Fearless living in fearful times. 02:15 Our speaker is the president of this ministry, 02:18 our pastor, our friend, Jim Gilley. 02:21 Now, Jim had a life before he came to 3ABN. 02:25 God has blessed him to be a conference president, 02:28 a division vice-president, he's chaired a number of boards 02:32 and committees for the church over the years. 02:34 And here's something you may not know. 02:37 Jim Gilley is one of the most accomplished evangelists 02:40 that the church has produced. 02:41 He has done as many meetings as the big names that we've heard. 02:45 And God has blessed him with many, many souls for his labor. 02:49 So the man that stands before you in the next few minutes 02:52 is no novice in the pulpit. 02:53 He is a preacher, a teacher, a mentor, 02:57 a trainer of preachers, and one who loves the Lord. 03:00 And we love Jim Gilley very, very much. 03:03 I do suspect that God will use him in a mighty way 03:07 this very night as he talks to us about living fearless 03:11 in fearful times. 03:13 And I think you can agree with me, these are fearful times. 03:16 We don't know what tomorrow holds, but praise God, 03:19 we do know Who holds tomorrow. 03:21 And Jim will tell us about that this very, very night. 03:24 I have to sort of step out of the way. 03:27 If he's like me, he's chomping at the bit back there. 03:30 For those of us who are preachers, I see some 03:31 preachers in front of me, when it's time to go, 03:33 you want the person in front to just be quiet so you can 03:36 get lose and get going. 03:38 And we're going to do that in just a moment. 03:40 We've got a song coming up, we're going to have prayer, 03:42 and then the next voice you'll hear will be that of Jim Gilley. 03:46 Shall we pray. 03:47 Father God, we do praise You and thank You this very night 03:51 for this opportunity to serve You and to hear Your word. 03:57 We thank You for the power resident in the Word, 04:01 the preached Word. 04:03 And Father, we ask in the name of Jesus that You will be with 04:07 Jim Gilley; husband of one wife, father of four children, 04:13 grandfather of nine, and pastor to us all. 04:17 Dear Father, bless him and bless us who listen 04:22 that we may take one more step along that road that 04:27 leads to glory. 04:29 And we thank You in Jesus' name, amen. 04:52 You just stand when all your courage seems to fail. 05:01 Stand, when it seems that evil will prevail. 05:09 Stand, for He shows us in detail that His love will never fail 05:19 and He'll stand with us. 05:22 You just stand when you've said all that you can say. 05:31 Stand, and trust the Lord to make a way. 05:39 Stand, and live your life from day to day. 05:46 Trust God to make a way and then walk through it. 05:52 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear. 05:57 He's given us love and power, 06:02 the courage to resist the tempter's snare. 06:08 Be ye not weary in doing well, for only time will tell. 06:17 The work He's begun in you will help to see you through. 06:24 You know God's word is true 06:26 and everything He promised, He will do. 06:31 So having done all to stand, you just stand. 06:40 You just stand when you feel no one's on your side. 06:50 Stand, and defy the urge to run and hide. 06:58 Stand, though gloom and darkness override. 07:05 Trust God to turn the tide and pull you through it. 07:10 He'll do it, in the name of Jesus. 07:13 Stand, for He is always there for you. 07:20 Stand, and He will lead you safely through. 07:28 Stand, and though you know not what to do, 07:34 know that He's looking out for you and He won't fail you. 07:41 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear. 07:45 He's given us love and power, 07:51 the courage to resist the tempter's snare. 07:57 Be ye not weary in doing well, for only time will tell. 08:05 The work He's begun in you will help to see you through. 08:12 You know God's word is true 08:15 and everything He promised, He will do. 08:19 So having done all to stand, you just stand. 08:29 Plant your feet and stand. 08:40 Amen. 08:43 Praise the Lord. 08:45 Thank you C.A. 08:48 Beautiful song, wasn't it. 08:50 It's good to be with you tonight. 08:52 I think some of you had expected to see 08:55 Walter Pearson here this evening. 08:57 And I had expected to see Walter Pearson here this evening. 09:01 But as many of you know, Walter was attempting to 09:06 make this kind of a comeback time. 09:09 And when we scheduled it several months ago, 09:13 he was quite sure that he would feel well enough 09:16 to be able to come and be with us. 09:20 But it just didn't happen. 09:22 As most of you know, Walter had, about three years ago, 09:25 a very severe stroke. 09:27 And then a little over a year ago, he lost his wife. 09:30 And the struggles that he has been through. 09:33 His wife had cancer, had a very long illness, 09:37 and she went to sleep in Jesus. 09:40 And it has been a real difficult time now for Walter 09:44 in recovering, physically to recovery. 09:47 Now he's recovered to where he can carry on a good conversation 09:50 and so forth. 09:51 But preaching is different. 09:54 As some of you who have preached know. 09:56 Particularly when you preach with the energy that 09:59 Walter Pearson preaches with. 10:01 He's already taking some appointments, he told me. 10:04 He's going out to some smaller churches and preaching 10:07 on the weekends. 10:08 He told me he took one not too long ago that was maybe a little 10:12 bigger than he should have taken, but he went. 10:14 He said, "I'm not preaching with the power and strength that 10:19 I once had, but the Lord is using it." 10:22 And so we're looking forward to his being with us. 10:24 We've invited him to come be a guest on one of the 10:28 "Today" shows whenever he can possibly get out this way. 10:32 And also to come and do a series just like this... 10:37 Well not like this one, but like a different series. 10:40 I learned for sure on Thursday of last week that 10:43 he would not be here. 10:45 And so we've been praying real hard since then 10:49 and pray that the Lord will lead us and bless us 10:53 in this series. 10:55 Shall we bow our heads for a word of prayer. 10:57 Father in heaven, we thank You tonight for Jesus Christ. 11:01 We thank You for the assurance of salvation in Him. 11:05 We thank You Lord, that even though we know there are 11:08 difficult times ahead, in fact, we are right in the middle 11:12 of some of them, that You will never leave us nor forsake us, 11:17 that You will be with us. 11:19 Father, help us as we open the Word tonight, to bring 11:22 assurance to people, to bring faith to them, 11:25 and faith that will help see them through the difficult times 11:30 that we will face just before you come again. 11:35 And Father, we pray that You will come again soon. 11:40 In Jesus' wonderful and powerful and loving name, amen. 11:48 I will never forget this particular time when 11:54 my son Jim and his family came to Washington DC. 12:00 They were visiting, and there are a lot of interesting things 12:03 to see in Washington. 12:06 And my grandson, Jimmy, was a little boy at that time. 12:10 He's grown now until he's the tallest one in our family. 12:13 He's 6 feet 2 inches and still growing, and he's only 14. 12:17 So he's going to be the tall one in our family, 12:19 for a while anyway. 12:20 We've got some others coming along that may 12:23 challenge him later. 12:25 These grandchildren are exciting. 12:27 It was mentioned that we've got nine, and we do. 12:30 We're excited about every single one of them. 12:32 And their height is not the only thing. 12:35 I've told them over and over again, the only height that 12:38 really matters is between here and here; the brain. 12:42 That is the part that matters. 12:44 If that's tall, if that's strong, if that's good, 12:48 then the rest of the body doesn't matter all that much. 12:52 And I can't be pushing height too much because 12:55 I've shrunk an inch and a half in the last few years. 12:58 So I don't make a big deal out of that. 13:01 But Jimmy, he became enamored with Abraham Lincoln. 13:07 He saw the Lincoln Monument. 13:10 Everywhere he went, he saw things involving Lincoln 13:14 in the nation's capital. 13:16 And there was something about Lincoln and the greatness 13:20 of Lincoln that just got hold of him. 13:24 And he began to really be a Lincoln fan. 13:26 And one of his favorite places, of all things, was Ford Theatre 13:31 where Lincoln was assassinated. 13:33 That was something that just really caught his attention. 13:37 And then across the street from the Ford Theatre was the house 13:42 where President Lincoln died. 13:44 They took him there, he lingered for some hours before he died. 13:48 And there in that room, they have left that room 13:52 exactly as it was. 13:55 And they had brought to that place, the president's Bible. 14:00 And they put it by the bed on the table there. 14:05 That was opened... 14:06 When they brought it, it automatically sort of opened. 14:09 When they opened it up, it fell open to Psalms the 34th chapter. 14:15 Psalms the 34th chapter and verse 4. 14:20 And here's what it says. 14:22 "I sought the Lord and He heard me, and delivered me 14:28 from all my fears." 14:33 We're living in a world that's filled with fear. 14:36 Everywhere that we go, we see reasons to be afraid. 14:41 When you turn on the news and you look at some of the 14:44 economic forecasts that we see in the world today, 14:49 it's something to make you frightened, isn't it. 14:54 You know, Camille and I held some meetings in Ukraine 14:56 when the former Soviet Union, back before the 15:00 fall of communism. 15:02 But we began to see things chipping away financially. 15:07 And we began to see the absolute fright and terror 15:11 that came upon the people when the checks no longer 15:15 came in the mail. 15:18 You remember, everybody was paid by the government. 15:21 All of the workers were paid by the government. 15:24 The pensioners, first, started not receiving their pension. 15:29 And they could hardly survive. 15:32 They were as near starving as you can actually see. 15:36 And they were doing everything they could just to get enough 15:39 to put food on the table. 15:41 So many times, there was a little food available, 15:45 but no one had any money to buy it. 15:47 And every night, they would invite us to come 15:50 to their homes to eat. 15:51 And bless their hearts, we knew they had gathered food 15:56 from every friend and neighbor they could to put those 16:00 dishes on the table. 16:01 They were great dishes. 16:03 We enjoyed them. 16:05 And every night as we left, I would never have offered 16:10 them money because their pride was so strong, 16:13 they wouldn't take it, but I'd slip a $20 dollar bill 16:16 under my plate. 16:17 And a $20 dollar bill was like about a two month salary. 16:20 So they could buy some food, if they could find it, 16:24 they could buy it with a $20 dollar bill. 16:26 But we saw the fear that comes over people 16:29 when the economy collapses. 16:32 My friend, you know they're telling us that our 16:34 economy could collapse. 16:36 And we're not hearing this from preachers, 16:38 we're not hearing this from people that don't know. 16:40 We're hearing it from those who are experts in the field. 16:47 We see all the things that are happening. 16:49 We see the Soviet Union did collapse, 16:51 it completely collapsed. 16:52 And by the way, one of the things that caused the collapse 16:55 was their involvement in Afghanistan. 16:59 It did. 17:00 It absolutely bled them. 17:04 And we, as a nation, are involved in Afghanistan. 17:08 And we know that the minute we pull out, 17:12 either the Taliban or Al Qaeda, one or the other, 17:15 is going to take over. 17:17 We're in a "no win" situation. 17:20 You can't win if you stay, you can't win if you leave. 17:26 It's a no win. 17:28 And we've got so many of these situations that are just 17:31 not simple to find a solution to. 17:37 You know, when the candidate's are running, 17:39 they all have the solutions. 17:41 Even our dear president had all solutions when he was running. 17:44 And now he realizes, as he says, that some things were, 17:50 what was he saying, "not dirt ready," or "not shovel ready." 17:53 In other words, it's not as easy as you might think 17:58 when you're standing on the outside and you're saying, 18:01 "Well, if we just did this and this and this." 18:05 Some of these things just seem to defy a solution. 18:10 And this brings about a fear; a fear that grips our people. 18:15 And there are other fears that come. 18:17 But right now, we have almost a collective fear 18:21 because of the world in which we live and the challenges 18:26 that we face. 18:28 But you know, the Bible tells us that God does not 18:31 want us to have that kind of fear. 18:33 Luke the 21st chapter verse 26, He talks about the last days. 18:37 He talks about this being the condition. 18:40 He said, "Men's hearts failing them from fear and the 18:44 expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, 18:48 for the powers of the heavens will be shaken." 18:54 And we see so many different things. 18:56 The tsunami's that have taken place, the earthquakes. 18:59 We found out now, the Japanese are coming out and letting us 19:03 know that there was a lot of radiation that was coming 19:07 out of that plant. 19:09 There was contamination far beyond 19:13 what was told at the time. 19:17 And so we see all of these different things 19:21 that bring fear to the hearts of man. 19:26 And God says in 2 Timothy the 1st chapter verse 7, 19:31 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, 19:36 but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 19:44 God does not want us to fear, even in fearful times. 19:49 He does not want us to be paralyzed by fear. 19:54 Somebody has said that there are 365 promises in the scripture 19:59 that are involved with "fear not." 20:01 In other words, "fear not" or "you should not fear" 20:04 or "have no fear", and different phrases that are used. 20:08 365, one for every single day of the year, 20:15 a promise that we are not to fear, 20:19 and that God is always with us. 20:23 I believe with all my heart that God honors faith. 20:26 The Bible says it. 20:27 I had a very good friend, a man by the name of Ben Leach, 20:30 who was a pastor and a church leader for many, many years. 20:34 And his motto in the magazine when he wrote an article, 20:38 always was, "God honors faith." 20:41 One of his friends came back one time and said, 20:44 "Yes, and faith honors God." 20:46 And Ben said, that is likewise true. 20:50 God honors faith, 20:52 and faith honors God. 20:54 Hebrews the 11th chapter verse 6, 20:56 "But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, 21:00 for he who comes to God must believe that He is, 21:05 and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." 21:13 You want to please God? 21:16 Believe in Him, 21:17 trust in Him, 21:19 have faith in Him. 21:20 You know, sometimes we think, "If I can just do something, 21:24 I will please God." 21:25 But let me tell you what you can do. 21:27 You can trust Him. 21:29 You can believe in Him. 21:30 When He says in His Word that He created the earth; 21:33 accept it, believe it, trust it. 21:37 And God says, that is the way that we can please Him. 21:43 You know, fear draws trouble just like a magnet. 21:50 It does. 21:51 It's amazing. 21:53 You remember that Job, all the different things 21:56 that came to Job and all the troubles that happened to him. 22:00 Now in Job the 3rd chapter verse 25, he says, 22:04 "For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, 22:09 and what I dreaded has happened to me." 22:14 He had dreaded these things. 22:15 Now we know the rest of the story, 22:17 as Paul Harvey use to say. 22:18 And we do know that God and Satan had a bit of 22:22 a contest going on. 22:24 God really believed in Job. 22:26 And He said, "I believe that no matter what happens, 22:31 Job will still believe in Me." 22:33 Satan said, "Yea, but You've got a hedge built around him." 22:36 "You have a hedge built around him." 22:39 God said, "If I take that protection away, 22:41 he'll still believe in Me." 22:44 He had that kind of faith. 22:46 Can He say that about you? 22:50 Can He say it? 22:51 Can He say, "If I take My hedge away from you, Hal, 22:57 if I take it away, J.D., Greg, Jill, 23:01 if I take My hedge away, will you still believe in Me? 23:06 No matter what?" 23:08 I had a good friend, his name was Phil Huber. 23:11 Young evangelist, 43 years old. 23:16 I was with him when we saw something on his head. 23:19 And I said, "Let's go to the doctor." 23:21 He said, "I don't think it's anything serious." 23:23 I said, "Let's go to the doctor." 23:24 It was melanoma. 23:26 A few years later, 23:29 he was dead. 23:31 Before he died, he was so sick. 23:34 So sick. 23:35 I remember one night, I came in from a trip. 23:37 I'd been gone for quite a while. 23:39 And when I got home, Camille said, 23:41 "Oh, you need to go to the hospital. 23:42 I said, "I'm so tired." 23:44 She said, "Phil, Phil is just so depressed that he won't eat. 23:47 He hasn't eaten in days. 23:49 He's in the hospital and he won't eat anything." 23:52 Now let me tell you, I've been in a hospital 23:53 and it's pretty easy not to eat in a hospital. 23:58 So I went to that hospital and I said, "Phil, you've got to eat." 24:02 He said, "I don't want to eat anymore. 24:03 I don't care anything about it at all." 24:05 I said, "Phil." 24:07 He said, "Jim, I can't eat anything." 24:10 I said, "Think a little bit about it." 24:12 I knew a certain sub sandwich that he liked. 24:17 And I began to describe it. 24:19 Because he'd put all these peppers on it, 24:21 and all these things. 24:23 Onions, and all these things that I would never touch. 24:27 They were unclean as far as I was concerned. 24:29 But he put all of that stuff on his sub. 24:33 And he said, "You know, I believe if I had one of those, 24:37 I could eat something." 24:38 I said, "I'll be back." 24:40 I went and got in the car. 24:41 It was around midnight. 24:42 I went and found a sub place that was open, 24:45 got them to make that sub exactly the way he liked it, 24:49 and I took it back to Phil. 24:52 Took it back to him. 24:53 He sat in his room and I sat there with him 24:56 and watched him eat every bite. 24:59 And he enjoyed every bite. 25:03 And over and over, he would say... 25:05 Because his faith was tested. 25:07 When you're so sick like that, your faith is always tested. 25:10 But over and over, he would quote Job. 25:13 He would say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." 25:18 And he died trusting Him. 25:21 And on his tombstone are those words; 25:24 "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." 25:29 Job trusted. 25:31 But the Bible says he also feared these things. 25:34 And because of the things that he feared... 25:37 You see, I'm not saying that's the reason they came on him. 25:40 We know the reason they came on him. 25:42 But I believe those are the things that the devil knew 25:46 would be the test to him. 25:48 Because he feared those things. 25:50 The loss of his cattle, the loss of his children, 25:54 the loss of everything that he had. 25:58 And he feared losing that. 25:59 I don't understand this, but he didn't lose his wife. 26:03 And he didn't evidently fear losing her. 26:07 Bless her heart, she told him to curse God and die, you know. 26:12 I shouldn't have gotten down that path. 26:15 I'll leave that alone and move on. 26:19 But you know, how we think does greatly influence 26:24 our whole being; our health, and everything else. 26:30 It does. 26:31 The Bible tells us this. 26:32 I'm not talking about some weird idea of positive thinking 26:38 or something like that. 26:39 I'm not talking about that. 26:40 You see, the devil will take something that is good 26:43 and then he'll try to run it to the extreme. 26:46 He takes faith in Jesus Christ, faith in God, and then he 26:51 tries to make it sound like that it's just faith in faith itself, 26:54 is what it is. 26:55 So the world grabs hold of the concept and tried to make 26:59 something out of it that it really isn't. 27:02 As a result, though, believers see that and they retaliate 27:06 the other way. 27:07 They go the other way, they respond the other way. 27:10 And so we get to the place where we don't have that faith, 27:13 we don't practice these promises that God has given to us. 27:18 I tell you, Glenn Coon was one of the greatest preachers 27:21 that has ever been in this church. 27:24 And he did it... 27:25 And those of you that ever heard him preach, 27:28 you know what I'm talking about. 27:29 And some of you that are watching by television 27:31 and listening by radio, you remember Glenn Coon. 27:35 And the positive messages that he brought out from Scripture. 27:41 He was a man that had given up on ministry. 27:44 He was dying of cancer, he was a sick man. 27:47 And then he found these promises and he began to 27:50 claim these promises. 27:51 And he had many, many years of ministry left after that. 27:55 More than he had before. 27:57 And his whole life was restored, and his health. 28:01 And he helped so many people, claiming these promises. 28:04 And Galatians the 6th chapter tells us that how we think, 28:09 what we do, makes a big difference. 28:11 It says in verse 7, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; 28:15 for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." 28:21 So if you're sowing good thoughts, you will reap 28:24 that which is good. 28:25 You're sowing faith in God, you're going to reap that. 28:28 If you're sowing doubt and you're sowing fear, 28:31 you're going to reap that as well. 28:33 It's the sowing and reaping principle that is so strong 28:37 throughout scripture. 28:39 And then the Bible says in Proverbs the 23rd chapter 28:42 and verse 7, "For as a man thinks in his heart," 28:45 as he thinks in his heart, "so is he," so is he. 28:51 In his heart... his heart. In his mind. 28:57 That is so important to our Lord and to our God. 29:02 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power 29:07 and of love and of a sound mind." 29:13 Now somebody says, "But Jim, there has to be some 29:16 positive things about being afraid." 29:18 Yea, there are. 29:20 Let me tell you, one thing is the Bible says that 29:23 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 29:27 And it is. 29:29 If you're going to be afraid of something, Jesus said, 29:31 if you're going to be afraid of something, don't be afraid 29:33 of these guys. 29:34 If you're motivated by fear, then He said, then you better 29:39 fear the One that can kill not only the body but kill the soul 29:42 and take care of the whole thing. 29:44 Don't be afraid of these people who can just kill the body. 29:47 If you're afraid of them, forget it. 29:50 But be afraid of that One. 29:52 Yes. 29:53 He says, that is healthy fear; to reverence God. 29:58 But you see, that kind of fear is something that brings 30:02 about a peace and a faith when you put all of your fear, 30:09 all of your trust, all of your emotions towards God. 30:14 Then you don't have to be worried about all the other 30:18 things that come. 30:19 Angelo Patri, who was an educator, made a statement. 30:22 He said, "Education consists of being afraid at the right time." 30:29 Now there's a time to be afraid. 30:31 I see Brother Pete out there. He's an electrician. 30:34 If somebody reaches out to grab 220, they better be afraid. 30:38 Because they're going to be paying a price 30:41 if they grab hold. 30:42 Will you teach a child, "Don't stick your 30:44 fingers in that socket. 30:47 Don't stick your fingers in there." 30:49 Usually if they do, you don't have to tell them again 30:53 if they've got anything up here at all. 30:55 But it's advisable to tell a child, "Don't do that." 31:01 There's a time to be afraid. 31:04 Now there are 26 basic fears. 31:06 I'm not going to get into the psychology of all this stuff. 31:09 I'm talking about the Bible tonight, and dealing with fear 31:12 as far as the Bible is concerned. 31:14 If you get into psychology of this, 26 basic fears 31:17 that go all the way from agoraphobia, 31:21 which is the fear of crowds, 31:24 down to zoophobia, which is the fear of animals. 31:28 And a lot of other phobias in between. 31:32 There are a lot of people that have different 31:36 phobias and fears today. 31:38 John Madden, some of you have heard of him when he 31:41 was a football coach. 31:43 He developed a fear in 1979. 31:46 He'd always been a little nervous about flying, 31:48 but all of a sudden, on a flight in 1979 to New Orleans, 31:53 he just came apart. 31:55 And he could not get back on a plane. 31:58 So he began to ride a bus. 32:00 He resigned as a football coach. 32:02 Later, this turned out to be providential, almost, 32:06 if you want to use that term for him, because he became 32:09 an announcer and was far more successful 32:11 as an announcer than he had been as a coach. 32:14 And he made a living out of that; of being afraid. 32:18 He made a big deal out of his bus tour. 32:20 I read a book one time, on vacation somebody 32:23 gave me a book. 32:25 Actually, I think I picked it up for 99 cents somewhere. 32:28 It was a full book, but it was, you know, way past time. 32:32 And it looked interesting. 32:34 It was his travels around the country in a bus. 32:37 And he travelled around wherever he was going to 32:40 do the announcing, and so forth. 32:41 And all the different things he had seen. 32:43 And so, it was an interesting book. 32:45 I read it in a few minutes because it doesn't take me 32:47 long to read a book like that. 32:49 But I know that there are people with fears 32:56 that they shouldn't have. 32:58 Now there's a time to be afraid when you're flying. 33:01 Camille and I, one time, were flying out to Seattle Washington 33:05 and we were on American Airlines. 33:07 And we were just almost over Boise Idaho, and I was 33:11 getting ready to use the cell phone, 33:13 it wasn't illegal at that time on a plane, 33:16 to call a friend of mine in Boise to tell him that 33:22 we were flying over. 33:23 And I don't know what that would mean to him, 33:26 but I was going to tell him. 33:32 Anyway... 33:36 All of a sudden, the plane went into a nose dive. 33:41 Now, the pilot... 33:44 The co-pilot was flying the plane, the pilot was 33:47 in the restroom. 33:50 He came out of the restroom not even fully clothed. 33:55 I mean, he was finishing clothing as he came 33:59 out of the restroom. 34:01 Headed into the cockpit. 34:03 Thank goodness they didn't have them locked the way they do now. 34:07 And went into the cockpit. 34:10 And then he came on the radio shortly and he said, 34:13 "Folks, we're making an emergency landing in Boise." 34:17 What had happened was, the windshield had come in 34:22 on the co-pilots side. 34:25 Now there are three layers of windshield that are held 34:29 together with some type of a plastic adhesive type material. 34:33 Two of those had broken. 34:35 The one was bent, almost broken. 34:37 Had the third one broken, had it come on in, 34:40 they said they would have lost the plane. 34:43 You lose the plane, you lose the passengers. 34:46 You lose the passengers, you lose us. 34:48 I mean, it wasn't hard to figure out that this was a 34:51 very dangerous time. 34:53 When we landed finally, we landed safely, 34:58 there were, we counted, over 40 emergency vehicles 35:03 that were there. 35:05 It was a regular thing that they do for an emergency landing. 35:09 And about 20, some odd, on either side. 35:11 Ambulances, fire trucks, other emergency vehicles. 35:17 And when we hit the runway, they followed us all the 35:21 way up the runway until we got to the terminal. 35:26 Now, the pilot came on and he said, "You don't know 35:30 how happy I am to be on the ground." 35:32 I did know how happy he was. 35:36 I was expressing that same gratitude and thanking the Lord 35:40 that we were there. 35:42 He said, we were so close, folks, so close, 35:46 that the plane would not have been able to handle. 35:49 It would have taken out the co-pilot. 35:52 The pilot, not even being in the cockpit, 35:55 would never have been able to open the door 35:57 had that happened. 35:59 And of course, we would've lost pressure, gone down, whatever. 36:03 But it was a very serious thing. 36:05 Another time, I was on a plane and I was flying out of 36:08 Akron Ohio into JFK, 36:11 and sitting back at the back of the plane. 36:14 And I was sitting near where some of the 36:17 flight attendants were sitting. 36:18 And all of a sudden, this one flight attendant who, 36:22 kind of, everybody knew was the supervisor 36:25 of flight attendants for the whole airline. 36:28 And she was sitting there. 36:30 And all of a sudden she cries out, 36:32 "Oh no, we're not going to make it." 36:34 I mean, now this is not a first time flier. 36:39 And my heart jumped up into my throat, or somewhere in there. 36:44 And so the plane landed and I turned around and I said, 36:51 "Have you lost your mind? 36:53 I can't believe that you would say that." 36:56 And I was about ready to report this lady. 36:58 She shouldn't be even on a plane alarming... 37:02 ...me, if nobody else, 37:04 alarming the folks on the plane. 37:07 And she said, "Stay by." 37:10 So I waited and the cockpit door never opened. 37:14 All the passengers went by. 37:15 You know they usually open up and say, "Have a good flight," 37:17 and all that stuff. 37:19 The cockpit door never opened until everybody 37:21 was off the plane. 37:23 And then the cockpit opened and the captain came out, 37:28 and the whole crew grabbed each other and cried. 37:32 And what had happened was there had been a down draft 37:37 and this plane was coming in. 37:39 Another plane had this happen a few years before there. 37:43 And it had hit a down draft and it dropped. 37:46 And it just, there's wall, a retaining wall there at JFK... 37:51 I hope they've removed it by now. 37:52 But there was a retaining wall there, and the wheels... 37:56 This lady knew what to look for and when she did not see it, 38:00 she knew that they were coming in too low. 38:04 The captain said, we only missed that wall by inches. 38:11 Inches. 38:13 And they all hugged each other because they knew 38:19 how dangerous it was. 38:20 Now see, all the passengers, we got off all there and we were 38:23 just as happy as we could be. 38:24 I mean, I wasn't because I stayed back and saw 38:26 what happened, but everybody else was totally unaware 38:30 that anything dangerous was going on. 38:32 They had the knowledge to know that there was something 38:35 dangerous happening, you see. 38:38 And sometimes, there's a time to have fear. 38:43 That's healthy fear. 38:44 And there is such a thing as a healthy fear. 38:49 Normal fear, though, becomes abnormal, 38:52 it becomes abnormal when you cannot perform 38:56 a normal activity. 38:58 When you get to the place where you cannot get on a plane, 39:02 now that has become abnormal fear. 39:05 If you actually look at all the stats, it's the safest way 39:08 there is to travel. 39:10 Even with automobiles, if you get to the place where 39:12 you cannot get into an automobile, 39:15 you can't get into it, then that's abnormal fear. 39:20 And I don't know where Larry is, he's back there somewhere. 39:23 There he is, but Larry, when you get to the place 39:25 where you can't get on a horse, that may be abnormal fear. 39:30 And I suspect that I'll be getting back on a horse 39:34 one of these days, just so that I don't have abnormal fear. 39:37 And you better stay off those ladders. 39:39 Because Larry had a similar experience. 39:42 We've had several experiences around here 39:44 where individuals have had some severe pain 39:49 because we have made some decisions 39:52 that maybe weren't the best. 39:55 Now all these phobias, beyond these there are a lot of others. 39:58 There's the fear of failure. 40:00 Now there's the fear of success. 40:02 I knew a man one time that he was extremely 40:07 comfortable with failure. 40:09 But the minute he hit success, he completely blew apart. 40:14 I mean, seriously. 40:15 He had a brand new car paid for, 40:17 he had just made a whole lot of money, 40:19 and his life went totally to pieces. 40:24 He could not handle it. 40:26 Financial fears. 40:29 I knew of a rich man, he owned one of the sports teams 40:34 there in the Dallas area. 40:35 And this man had inherited a lot of his money. 40:38 But he was constantly afraid that he was going to lose 40:42 the money that he had inherited. 40:45 By the way, before he died, he did. 40:47 And then we see all of the fears with people that say, 40:50 "You know, what about my retirement?" 40:53 It all started with Enron and when Enron went down. 40:57 Then we have all the others, AIG and all the other that 41:00 have run into severe financial difficulties. 41:04 And people losing... 41:07 ...losing 41:09 ...their retirement. 41:11 And that has brought about a lot of fear. 41:15 People not being able to make it financially. 41:17 I read it the other day... 41:18 In fact, I didn't read it, I watched it on the 41:20 financial on television, where they said that 44%, 41:26 44% of all Americans have had to take a pay cut 41:29 in the last three years. 41:31 44% of Americans taking a pay cut. 41:37 So all of these things bring about problems. 41:40 A friend of mine says, "Well, if you've got plenty of money 41:43 then you don't have any fear." 41:47 That's not true. Look at Howard Hughes. 41:50 He had plenty of money and yet he had a micro phobia, 41:54 which is a fear of germs. 41:57 And it was so severe that he kept himself in a capsuled room. 42:03 When people talked to him, they'd talk to him 42:04 through glass. 42:06 He couldn't touch anybody. 42:08 As a result, he had a problem. 42:12 He had no immunity for disease because he kept himself 42:16 away from germs. 42:17 So that when a germ did finally get through, it killed him. 42:21 So you see, money won't take care of everything. 42:25 There's the fear of rejection. 42:27 And there's the fear of death. 42:30 You see, the true understanding of death that the Bible teaches 42:34 so clearly, if we understand it, it should take away that fear. 42:42 There's the fear of water. 42:43 I was holding an evangelistic meeting years ago 42:46 in Massachusetts and there was a man coming to the meetings. 42:49 We just loved this guy. 42:51 He was just a wonderful old guy. 42:54 And he was a widower and he lived alone. 42:58 And we noticed that he was maybe not the cleanest guy 43:04 in the world, but there was something about his personality, 43:07 you couldn't help but like this man. 43:09 And when we went to his home to visit with him, 43:11 we got inside, we were talking to him about baptism, 43:15 he indicated that he wanted to give his heart to Jesus, 43:18 never had done this before, never been baptized. 43:21 And we said we'd like for you to be baptized. 43:24 Well, he finally told us why he could not. 43:29 Because he was afraid of water. 43:31 He said, "I'm so afraid of water that I don't even drink water." 43:37 Now I know he didn't bathe. 43:39 I could tell that without his telling me. 43:42 But not even drinking water? 43:46 I said, "What do you drink?" 43:48 He said, "I drink Pepsi." 43:51 I said, "And you're not afraid of Pepsi?" 43:54 He said, "No." 43:55 Now I was only about 25 at the time, maybe 26, 43:58 but I was crazier then than I am now. 44:03 And I said to him, 44:05 I said to him, "I'll baptize you in Pepsi." 44:11 And the pastor looked at me like, "This man is insane. 44:14 I don't even know if I want to be here with him." 44:17 And when we got out to the car, he said, "How are you 44:21 going to baptize him in Pepsi?" 44:23 I said, "I will go and buy some of these big bottles of 44:29 Pepsi syrup, I'll put it in the baptistery." 44:32 I said, "It won't be carbonated, but it'll be Pepsi. 44:36 It may be a little flat, but it should do for a baptism." 44:41 Well, he turned us down even on that. 44:44 But you know, I had talked to him and I told him 44:47 how serious things were. 44:49 I said, "Look..." 44:51 You know, I would never do this today, but I did then. 44:54 I said, "One of these days, people are going to come by 44:56 and they're going to say, 'Where is that old guy?'" 44:59 I said, "They're going to come in here and find you 45:00 dead on the floor. 45:03 And you will have not made this decision for Jesus. 45:06 And you will not be ready for the kingdom." 45:09 And he said, "Well, I'm just too afraid to be baptized." 45:16 And so he wasn't. 45:18 One day, they missed him. 45:20 They came in and found him on the floor. 45:23 But he was not dead. 45:25 He'd been lying there for several days. 45:27 They got him to the hospital and he recovered. 45:30 They put him in a convalescent home. 45:32 Now when he got to that convalescent home, 45:34 those nurses wouldn't hear anything about this 45:35 "no water" stuff. 45:38 They baptized him several times. 45:41 And they made him get in the hydrotherapy tubs 45:45 and they made him do all the stuff that he was suppose to do. 45:48 And his personality came out. 45:51 They found out that he could play the piano, 45:52 that he could sing. 45:54 This man had been kind of a hermit. 45:55 And they found out that he could sing and play the piano. 45:58 And it wasn't long after that, that I came back to a church 46:02 not far from there. 46:04 And he made his decision for Christ. 46:07 And he was baptized. 46:10 In water he was baptized. 46:13 And I will tell you something. 46:14 The Lord can help people overcome these phobias 46:18 that they have. 46:20 He can help them and He will help them. 46:22 Now somebody says, "How do you develop these things? 46:24 How do they happen?" 46:26 They can be any kind of an experience that might 46:28 bring about a phobia. 46:30 When I was a young boy, we went down to the farm 46:34 where my Uncle Ike lived. 46:35 And my cousin Ikey was a lot older than I was, 46:40 he was 6 or 7 years older than I was. 46:42 My brother John was older, 6 years older. 46:45 And when I was about 5 or 6, they decided that it was time 46:51 for me to learn to swim. 46:53 Now their idea for swimming lessons was to find the 46:57 deepest hole in the creek they could find, a swimming hole. 47:01 And we had one that was pretty deep. 47:03 And they would throw you in. 47:06 And it was sink or swim. 47:08 And they said, "This is how you learn to swim." 47:11 Well, just before we got there, I saw a water moccasin 47:15 slip right down into the water. 47:20 Now I'm going to tell you something. 47:21 I'm not saying I have a phobia of snakes, but I have a 47:24 healthy respect for poisonous snakes, I guarantee you. 47:28 And I'm not sure that's not a healthy fear. 47:30 But I didn't want to go in that water. 47:34 They said, "Oh, no." 47:35 And my cousin, Ikey, he was a bastion of misinformation. 47:42 He knew more things that weren't right than anybody 47:45 I've every run into. 47:47 And he said, "Water moccasins cannot bite under the water." 47:53 I said, "Why can't they? They live in water." 47:56 He said, "If they open their mouth to bite you, 47:59 they'll drown." 48:03 That didn't sound right to me. 48:05 So I wasn't going to go in. 48:07 First, I was offered the chance to just go in the water. 48:11 And I said, "I'm going to decline." 48:13 They picked me up and threw me into the water. 48:17 Now, I will tell you this. 48:20 That I had a fear of water for quite a while after that. 48:24 I got out of there. 48:26 It's amazing, when you think there's a water moccasin, 48:28 how you can move. 48:29 I would not have called it swimming, but I did somehow 48:33 make it from the middle of that creek to the shore. 48:36 And I made it, and I made it in a rapid length of time. 48:41 But I tell you something, it left me with a fear. 48:45 And you know, there is a lot of fear that takes place. 48:49 You remember that storm out there that's recorded in John 6 48:53 that was out in the ocean, in the Sea of Galilee. 48:58 Not the ocean, but the Sea of Galilee. 49:00 I wouldn't call it on ocean. 49:02 You remember that storm? 49:04 Those disciples were afraid. 49:07 Then they found, when Jesus came awake, 49:11 that He stilled the waters. 49:13 If He's in the boat, you don't have to be afraid. 49:18 So that is one way of trusting; is knowing that Jesus is there. 49:28 Knowing that He is with you, that He is in the boat. 49:33 Well let's look at some steps on how to get rid of fear. 49:38 How to get rid of unhealthy fears. 49:41 Step number one, you need to identify your fears. 49:44 You need to know what they are. 49:45 1 Corinthians the 2nd chapter verse 3, it says, 49:52 the apostle says, "I was with you in weakness, in fear, 50:00 and in much trembling." 50:02 He knew that he had a fear. 50:05 And the Bible tells us that there are fears, that we can 50:10 know what they are. 50:12 Hebrews the 2nd chapter verse 15 says, "And release those who, 50:16 through fear of death, were all their lifetime 50:21 subject to bondage." 50:23 "Through fear of death." 50:26 So you've got to identify, make a list of what those fears are. 50:30 Be truthful with yourself. 50:33 Number two, you need to dissect each of them. 50:35 Find out, are these real fears or are they imaginary. 50:40 You remember when the disciples saw Jesus coming across 50:44 the water, He was walking, in Matthew 14:26, 50:46 "When the disciples saw Him walking on the water, 50:49 they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost!' 50:51 And they cried out for fear." 50:53 Now that was an imagined fear. 50:56 It was not a ghost. 50:59 It was not. 51:01 And sometimes, we do imagine fear. 51:04 I remember one time, I was with some friends 51:07 and they said, "As soon as it gets dark, we're going to go 51:11 steal some watermelons." 51:13 I said, "I don't steal." 51:15 They said, "Well, you know, it's really not stealing." 51:19 They said, "The farmer knows, and there's so many of those 51:21 melons that he's not going to eat." 51:23 And they made it sound very attractive. 51:26 And I didn't want to be just left alone. 51:28 And finally, I got in the car and I went with them. 51:32 But I thought to myself, I'm not going to steal a watermelon. 51:35 I'm just going. 51:38 Got out of the car and went over the fence, thumping watermelons. 51:47 Which I didn't know the difference from one thump 51:49 than the other, but we were thumping like we knew 51:52 what we were doing. 51:53 All of a sudden, this farmer yells out at the top 51:59 of his voice, "Get out of here." 52:01 Then, "boom." A shotgun. 52:04 Now I'm going to tell you something. 52:06 I'm fast when somebody is shooting at me. 52:10 And I left there and I went flying. 52:14 And when I got to the barbed wired fence, 52:15 I did not, I couldn't... 52:18 I'm the world's tallest midget. 52:19 I've told people that a number of times. 52:21 My legs are too short to jump over a fence. 52:24 So I went through it. 52:26 The barbed wire caught my pants and just shredded them. 52:31 I mean, just ripped them off. 52:32 I was a hundred miles from home visiting people 52:35 and went with one pair of pants. 52:36 I've always carried two ever since. 52:39 But I went with one pair of pants. 52:40 I had to borrow a friends pants to make it 52:42 the rest of the way through the weekend. 52:44 Tore those pants right off me. 52:46 I lay there in that ditch and I promised the Lord 52:52 I'd never do anything like that again. 52:54 And I never have. 52:55 I promise you that. 52:57 But I promised Him I'd never do that again. 53:01 Then I heard somebody laughing. 53:04 And it was one of the older brothers that had gotten 53:07 a shotgun and gone out there in that field and was waiting 53:10 for us to come. 53:12 But see, it was imagined fear but all the real pain was there. 53:18 Your imagined fears can cost you as much physically 53:22 as real fears. 53:24 So you want to get rid of them, you want to dissect them. 53:27 Anything that's really not real, get rid of it. 53:30 Figure out what it is because that's the next step three. 53:39 And get rid of it. 53:40 1 John 4:18, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love 53:46 casts out all fear." 53:49 That's how you disengage, is the love of Jesus. 53:52 And then replace your fear with faith. 53:55 You know, we need to do this. 53:57 You remember, Ellen White, page 83 in The Desire of Ages, says: 54:16 And I read recently in the book where a number of people, 54:20 Dwight Nelson and also Roger Morneau, 54:26 recommended reading every day the scenes in Matthew 54:32 of the crucifixion of Jesus. 54:36 Every day reading it. 54:38 Because that will take away our fears; 54:41 we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. 54:44 Romans 8:15, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage 54:49 again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption." 54:54 "Spirit of adoption." 54:56 A young man had a job with Western Union. 55:01 And this young man was sent out on a very high mountain 55:06 out in the woods in the mountains in the west. 55:11 When he got there, he thought, "I don't know if I can 55:15 at all stand this," because that first night, 55:19 he heard all kinds of noises. 55:20 The second night, it was even worse. 55:24 The next day, the boss came through 55:26 and he said, "I'm quitting." 55:27 He said, "Why?" 55:29 He said, "Because of all the noises that I hear out here 55:32 at night, I can't take it. 55:33 I'm afraid." 55:36 And the boss said to him, "Let me tell you. 55:38 Don't you realize that God made night as well as making day? 55:43 That the night is beautiful just as day is beautiful?" 55:48 Now he said, "The door to this little hut that you've got..." 55:51 The Western Union telegraph in those days, they would relay 55:54 it across the nation. 55:56 As one fellow would pick up the signal, then he would relay it 55:59 to the next, because they could only go so far with the power 56:03 that they had. 56:04 He said, "You open up the top half of the door tonight 56:09 and you stand here as it's getting dark and you keep 56:14 watching and you keep letting your eyes adjust. 56:17 You dim the lantern in here and you watch the night." 56:22 He said in a little bit, he saw a pesky little raccoon come up. 56:26 And that had been one of the noises he had heard. 56:28 And then he saw a little bear. 56:30 And as the bear came up, he threw him some crumbs, 56:33 threw him out a few little things to eat. 56:36 And he saw a lot of other things. 56:37 Then all of a sudden, he began to realize 56:41 that God did make the night. 56:45 God can see you through the night. 56:48 God can see you through the trials that you're facing. 56:53 God will see you through. 56:56 Trust in Him, lay all your fears upon Him, 57:02 and He will bring you peace. 57:06 Father in heaven, we thank You tonight 57:08 that we can come to You and pray to You 57:13 and trust in You, that we should have fear only of You. 57:18 And our fear of You brings something that is great. 57:22 It brings a faith, it brings a peace, to our hearts. 57:27 Thank You, Father. In Jesus' name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17