In his book The Conquest of Fear Basil King writes that for most of his life he has been

the victim of an enemy () an enemy we all refer to as fear. Basil King said that he cannot remember a time when fear or dread of some kind was not plaguing his life. ()Basil King openly declares that there is no house, business, office, school, or church where fear () is not eating at the souls of the people () and he is right. Every single one of us here is a victim of fear. () As adults we fear for our children and our grandchildren. We fear the loss of our jobs. We fear for the stability of our homes. () As teenagers we come home every night from school loaded down with homework. We fear about passing upcoming tests, completing projects in time, and going off to the right college. As younger children we fear if we will be accepted by other kids and we become afraid as we start to figure out who we really are. Every single one of us here is a victim of fear and if we let it (0 fear will consume our lives and devour everything that is worth living for. () Now let me ask you a question, as Christians, why are you afraid?! () The story is told of a little boy and his father who were out walking in the mountains behind their home. When they began the journey the boy talked constantly and you just could not make the boy be quiet, he was just so happy to be in the woods with his father. As they continued the father and son followed the trail through a batch of huge oak trees. The oak trees were so massive that they began to block out the light from the trail. Soon a hushed silence fell over the boy. The darker the trail grew the quieter the boy got. () Soon the father felt a tiny hand push into his as his son clung to his side. In almost a whisper the little boy said, Daddy, were not afraid, are we? No they were not afraid, the boy was afraid, but he took courage knowing his father was with him. His father would protect him during this dark time. No believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has any right or reason to fear anyone or anything . () When you are afraid of things you face in this life, when your burdens are crushing you down, you too have a Father who you can run to, but your Father is more mighty than any found on this Earth. Psalm 56:3 says, When I am afraid, I will trust in you. () A life full of God is a life empty of fear. () What a blessing you and I have. We have a heavenly Father who cares for us and will be there for us when we are afraid. And in this life we have so much to be fearful for. () We fear for the safety of our children. We fear about paying our bills and making it financially. We fear about losing our jobs. We fear about our salvation. We fear about the future. We fear about failure. We fear about everything and anything that we cannot control. But Brothers and Sisters as Christians you and I never have to be afraid! The God of the entire universe is on our side and if He is for us tell me who can be against us! () A life full of God is a life empty of fear. Psalm 121 says, I lift my eyes to the hills where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord the Maker of heaven and earth. If the God who made the heavens and the earth is on your side than tell me why are we so afraid? () Why do you fear about tomorrow? () What do you face in life that HE cannot overcome! () There is nothing in your life that God cannot overcome! You do not need to fear () for the Lord your God is fighting your battles and HE who made you and formed you from the earth will take care of you. A life full of God is a life empty of fear. Do not be afraid. A life of fear is no life at all and God does not want you to be afraid. () When I was a child I grew up on a small farm in upstate New York and out of all the animals that we owned my least favorite were the horses. Now no offense to anyone out there that may love this abysmal creature but I hate horses and after my story you might agree with me.

The horses we owned were not like the nice little horses you saw at the petting zoo who would nuzzle on up to you for a piece of hay. The horses we owned were the kind that would buck you off their back and throw you into a briar patch and while you sat there picking thorns out of places they should never be the horse would proceed to rear up and try to stomp on your head. So the entire time, in order to dodge the hooves that were looking to crush your head, you would have to constantly roll around in the briar patch driving the thorns deeper. Yeah I dont like horses. Theyre not all like the my little ponies. Now the meanest horse we had was ironically named Buddy but he was so mean his name should have been Satan. He was an evil little horse who I would gladly turn into dog food. So my mom puts me on Buddy one day, now of course Im kicking and screaming and crying because I know how mean this horse is. My mom proceeds to raise her hand and pop him in the rear so he starts running. Now the beginning of the ride went decently well, Buddy only tried to bite me three times, so it seemed we were off to a good start, at least thats what I thought, Buddy had other plans in mind. In our field there was a small rock bed that had sharp jagged stones that poked up from the ground, perfect for impaling a foolish horse rider like me. Buddy trots himself over to where the stony spears sprung up and in all his wild abandon began kicking with all the anger and rage of a cat being thrown into a bathtub. He bucked at least no exaggeration 1000 times before my mom got there, and I still hung on! I felt like a rodeo star. Now I dont know if I told you this earlier but I was riding bare back. For those of you who may not know this is where you idiotically ride the horse with no saddle and no reins. It is just your body on the horse and you holding on to the mane. Apparently this was the more fun way to ride a horse. Now what this means is while Buddy started bucking with all his wild abandon I had nothing to hold on to, no stirrups to press against his body, no reins to grip ahold of, nothing. So holding on for dear life I did what any sensible boy would do, Help! Help! Knowing that no one could help me I flung myself forward, threw my arms around Buddys neck, grabbed as tightly as I could and holding on for dear life I prayed to the Father God Almighty to forgive my sins because brothers and sisters I knew I was gonna die. Holding on for dear life I feel my legs slipping form around buddys ribcage and soon he slams me against a tree and my legs come loose but my arms stay strong! So as he bucks Im just flapping like a duck in the wind. Finally one of his bucks does it and just fly over his head, and guess where I land, you got it, right on that jagged mound of rocks. As I fell one of those stone spears stabbed right between my shoulder blades and knocked the wind out of me. Now here is the scary part, I never had the wind knocked out of me before, I didnt know it could even happen. All I knew was that I lay on the ground unable to breathe and brothers and sisters I was afraid, I honestly thought I was going to die. As I lay there unable to breathe crippled by fear, who do you think I looked to for help. Thats right, I looked to my mother which in hindsight is pretty stupid since she is the one that put me up there in the first place. In my time of need I looked to my parent, the one who could comfort me and help me in the time when I needed her the most. And oddly enough, when she came over and knelt by my side I was no longer afraid. () As Christians our Father God will be there for us no matter what and with Him by our side we need not be afraid because a life full of God is a life empty of fear. () How unfortunate though that so many Christians never run into the arms of the Father when they are afraid. () How unfortunate that so many Christians never take the hand of the allpowerful Father, the one who can lead them through the difficult times. () There are Christians

who are drowning in an ocean of problems and even though the life vest is only inches from their face they refuse to reach out for it. () Paraphrasing what Max Lucado said in one of his devotionals, How quickly we forget the Lord when those hard times come.() So much happens through the years. So many changes within. So many alterations without. And somewhere, () back there, () when we need Him, () we leave Him. () Now we dont turn away from Himwe just dont take Him with us. We become afraid as we face school projects. We fear if we will get that promotion or raise. We fear for our lives as our health deteriorates and during all this chaos, () Christ, () the only one who can lead us through these worries,() is forgotten. () When is the last time you ran into the Fathers arms? When is the last time you let Him lead you by the hand? Turn around Brothers and Sisters He is still there! He has not left you and you left Him! Do yourself a favor, run into His loving arms because they are wide open just waiting for you. () Remember what our verse said, When I am afraid, I will trust in you. Trust in the father like a child trusts in his loving mother because a life full of God is a life empty of fear. () Years ago, there was a great Christian woman who passed away after a long bout with cancer. According to her son, she struggled with fear as her disease progressed. So on those nights when she couldnt sleep, shed say to God, () God, Im going to go to sleep because I know Youre going to be up all night anyway. () This woman knew that even in the darkness of the night, God was there. () We all have darkness in our lives which we face on a daily basis. Darkness the we fear we will never overcome. Our darkness could be sickness, depression, anxiety, or loneliness. It could be our jobs, a pile of bills, or a struggling marriage. It could be our projects and tests at school or even the acceptance of our peers. We all face situations in life which cause us great anguish and leave us afraid to face tomorrow. () But we can take comfort in knowing that God is there. He never leaves nor forsakes those He loves. () The greatest encouragement you can have is to know youre not alone. God loves you, and will never leave your side if you will just call on Him. Brothers and Sisters a life full of God is a life empty of fear, fill your life with God this Sabbath morning. Trust God in the darkness of your fears, and Hell give you the light you need to keep going. Now the verse we read earlier this morning When I am afraid, I will trust in you. is a wonderful promise that God will be there for us whenever we fear. But now I am going to say something a little odd, something that may sound even a little blasphemous. () You dont need this verse. () This verse does not need to apply to you. () Well not the first half anyways. You never need to be afraid. Look at what Isaiah 12:2 says, I will trust in you, and not be afraid. Jesus backs this up by saying, Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe in me as well. When we know Jesus and we fully trust in Him we never need to be afraid. The great theologian John Wesley thought he was a true Christian until one day his ship was caught in a terrible storm across the Atlantic, and he began to fear for his life. The only people on board who were not afraid was a group of Moravian missionaries. When the storm was over John Wesley asked the missionaries, Were you not afraid? The missionaries looked to him and said, Afraid? Why would we be afraid? We know Christ. () Then looking at Wesley, with disconcerting frankness he asked, Do you know Christ? () For the first time in his life, Wesley realized that he did not truly know Him. I now ask you the same question, do you know Christ or do you still live in fear. () You need not live a life

of fear. You have a heavenly father who will help you take care of every worry that you will ever face. Listen to this beautiful verse of scripture one that God wants every one of us to hear. In Isaiah 41:13 God lovingly says, For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. What a compassionate and loving God we serve. When we fill our lives with God we empty our lives of fear. We serve a God who whispers words of comfort and encouragement in our ear. We serve a God who will take us by the hand and personally lead us through the difficult times we face and when we feel that we just dont have the strength to carry on anymore our loving father says Do not fear, I will help you. What are you facing in life that has you afraid? As we said earlier in the sermon, there is so much to be fearful for. For many people finances are the biggest worry they face in life. Many people are on a fixed income and yet it seems that every month more and more things get added to their bills and soon they find themselves counting pennies just so they can make it through to the next month. Ive been there. I know what it is like to take your stock pile of cans to the store just to get your deposits back so you can pay for your phone bill. The worry of finances can destroy you and leave you afraid to face to tomorrow. But to those who live paycheck to paycheck God takes you by the hand and says, Do not fear, I will help you. () As the old saying goes if it is not one thing, its another; if you are not plagued by the fear of finances than you are afraid of something else. There are so many in this world today who dont just fear for finances they fear for their very lives! There is a mountain of Christian believers who suffer from deteriorating health. They watch as their bodies grow older. They feel it as their inner being grows weaker. They see their life just fade away. Is there any hope for these Christians, any hope that they will be healed, any hope that they will find the help they so desperately need. Yes there is! () God takes them by the hand and whispers in their ear, Do not fear, I will help you. () Recently the beauty of Christs righteousness has seen a rebirth in our church, Many people are being reconverted by the gospel message and what a beautiful message it is. The gospel tells us that Christ came and lived a perfect life and that perfect life is now yours. When God looks at you He sees perfection. That gospel has been good news for many people at this church. () You see, there comes a time in every Christians walk where he will be confronted with his own sinfulness. The Christian will see how every motive of his is selfish, how everything he accomplishes is for himself, how everything he does is permeated with sin. At that point we scream out with Paul, What a wretched man am I. Who will rescue me from this body of death! And as we scream this out we doubt if we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. () At the time we need it most God takes us by the hand, pulls us closer to him, and whispering in our ears says, Do not fear, I will help you. () There is nothing in this world that you or I should ever fear. We have an open invitation to go to Jesus Christ whenever we have a burden we cannot handle. Jesus Christ says, Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Will you allow Jesus to take your fears and burdens today? () The story is told of a carpenter who was hired by an old farmer to help restore an old farmhouse. The carpenter had just finished a rough first day on the job. Everything that could have gone wrong did. A flat tire made the carpenter lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start. While his boss drove him home, the carpenter sat in stoney silence brooding over the horrible day. Upon arriving , the carpenter invited his boss in to meet his family. As they walked toward the front door, the carpenter did something a

little odd, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. After opening the door to his house, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss. Afterward, the carpenter walked his boss to his car. They passed the tree, and the boss curiosity got the better of him. He asked the carpenter, Why on Earth did you grab that tree before you went in to your house? Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing for sure, troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning, I pick them up again." "Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before." As Christians we have a trouble tree of our own and His name is Jesus Christ. We need not be afraid of the troubles we face today. God the father comes to each of us and says, Do not be afraid, I will help you. Let the Lord God guide you through the troubles you face. Go to Christ, give him your burdens, and rest in peace knowing the Savior will protect you. Enjoy the experience of never being afraid again for that is what the Lord God offers each of you this morning.