.  Living Hope Fellowship Church....Sermons by the Pastor 

WHY BE AFRAID?

by Alton Carter, Pastor of Faith Tabernacle in Metropolis, Illinois, who preached at Living Hope Fellowship 04/20/08 a.m.

            From the beginning of time there has been a dislike and a hatred for the Word of God.  Much of what you will experience in the years ahead will not be a personal challenge to you but to your faith and what you believe concerning God’s Word.  Sometimes we veer off the course by forgetting what this Bible says.   

            We all have struggles in life, but the Word of God says I have authority over the devil.  I have met a lot of defeated people, but the Bible assures us that through Jesus Christ we have the victory!  I may not have won over everything that’s challenged me, but that doesn’t change what the Word of God says.

            Mark 4:35 Jesus said, “And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.” 

            Mark 4:36-37 says, “And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.   And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.”

            In life there are winds that blow against you.  It is called the changing current of time.  I don’t like some changes I’ve seen in the last 20 years.  However, the Word of the Living God remains the same!  Some of these changes cause disturbances in our lives and how we do business.  I have to be careful what I say now, even if I am being descriptive instead of derogatory!  We are facing a great cross wind of change, but we are not to change with it.

            We need the Holy Ghost to guide us and teach us in the doctrines of the Word of God rather than getting a new translation that is supposed to make it easier to understand.  The devil wants to change the Word of God and make it of none effect, or make it out to be a story book.  The Bible is a way of life and the description of the character and nature of God, the Creator of heaven and earth. 

            I used to be really afraid of God, and I still honor and respect Him.  I was so afraid of lightening, I would run and hide, because I thought God was trying to get me.  Nobody ever told me about a loving, kind, merciful and good God.  They didn’t tell me I could come into His presence and tell him about all of my fears and needs and all of my cares and concerns.  They told me about an old man in a chair, sitting high and looking low and ready to smash you when you make the slightest mistake.

            God cannot lie (see Titus 1:2.), but thousands of people believe the devil’s lies over the Word of God!  When I got in the Word of God, I found Deuteronomy 28:6 says, “Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.”  He will bless our children as well. 

            Mark 4:37again says, “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.”  Verse 38 says, “And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?”

            If you can sleep while a storm is raging, you are a really cool, controlled individual.  We had an earthquake the other night, and my wall shook just like a leaf on a tree.  I was not cool…

            Jesus was in the hinder part of the ship and the tossing of the ship did not waken Him.  Verse 39 says, “And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. . . .”  In other words, He told it to be quiet and shut up!  Does the devil ever talk to you?  Did he ever tell you loudly and very clearly what was going to happen to you and to your family?   Tell him to be quiet and shut up!!!  Don’t listen to him.

            Look at Mark 4:40 – “And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”  They were afraid because they thought they were going to die!  These men had been fishermen all of their lives, and they knew when a ship was about to sink! 

            I was out on Lake Mermet one time when the wind came up, and I could not get back to land.  Fear came, and I even thought I might drown, because I didn’t see anybody else.

            Jesus asked them, “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”  Would we say, “What does faith have to do with this, Jesus?  I don’t get it.  The ship is about to sink. We’ve been bailing while you’ve been back there asleep.  You rebuke us because we’re afraid?  I don’t get the connection.”

            Go again to Mark 4:35 – “And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.”  THE SHIP COULD NOT SINK!  It had to get to the other side!  God Almighty said so!  They said, “We are going to perish.”  We are going to die, but Jesus said they were going to the other side!  

            He rebuked them, because they forgot that He was God, and whatever God says, is SO!  Ten thousand storms could have come, and that ship would have gotten to the other side, because God’s Word is true. 

            Your greatest challenge in this life will be whether or not you are going to stand perfectly on the Word of God.

            When things get tumultuous, we have a tendency to look at what is trying to overwhelm us, rather than what God has said we would have.

            He said, “We’re going to the other side.”  To everyone who has made Jesus Christ Lord in their life, Jesus says that what He started in you, He’s going to finish!  However, he said that everything that can be shaken will be shaken that those things which cannot be shaken may remain!  The only thing that has withstood the test of time is God’s Holy Word!

            No matter what winds of change are blowing across this earth, we know God’s Word will stand the test of time.  He will meet every need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  Let’s not be dependent on the ways of this world, but on the eternal God, and give Him all the glory, the honor, and the praise.