Mirror, mirror, on the wall....

 
Pastor Leon Seaton

Face Your Fears

Perhaps the most famous fear quote of all time:

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."  ~President Franklin Delano Roosevelt - First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933

One day a man confided to his neighbor that he had a terrible fear that kept him awake at night. “I’m afraid that someday a man will hide under my bed, and then at night he will crawl out and kill me in my sleep.”

His neighbor, a psychiatrist, said, “If you will come to me for therapy I can cure you of that fear.”  “Wow!” the man responded. How much will that cost me?”  “Well, its three sessions a week for six months…at $80 a session.”

A few weeks later they met again at the local hardware store. “Henry, you didn’t come in for the therapy,” the psychiatrist said. “What happened?”

“Well, for what you charge I could buy a new pickup. My carpenter friend cured my problem for $50.” “You’re kidding!” the psychiatrist said. “How did he do that?”

“He cut the legs off my bed. Ain’t nobody getting under there now!”

We all have fears…we all have doubts and we all have questions. This morning we will discuss ways to handle them. No doubt our lists will be different, but the obvious ones are:

1.     Business failure – the wheat crop bombed out this year.

2.     Health problems – our prayer list contains several people with cancer and other life-threatening problems.

3.     Family problems - Will our children and grandchildren turn out all right?

4.     Our church membership is shrinking…what does the future hold?

5.     Economic problems – will the President’s program work? Some fear it will, some fear that it won’t.

6.     Personal financial problems – can I pay my bills; can I ever retire?

7.     Drug, alcohol abuse among people of all ages

8.     Teen pregnancy

9.     Swine flu

10.  Cost of education

Cutting the legs off our bed won’t make these problems go away!  So what are we going to do?

St. Paul’s secret of success:

1.                 Be thankful for what you have right now. Paul wrote, “I thank God, as I constantly remember you in my prayers.”

2.                 Keep a clear conscience.

3.                 Celebrate what you are. “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”

4.                 Stir up your faith. “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”

5.                 Don’t let the devil back you in a corner! “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”

This is Memorial Day weekend. Many of us have, or will be decorating the graves of our loved ones. As a nation we will be remembering the military personnel that sacrificed their lives for the freedoms that we enjoy. They and their families sacrificed everything they had so that you and I can have and enjoy our God-given privilege of free choice. 

It’s one thing to have the privilege of free choice, but the proper use thereof is our personal responsibility.

 Until the recent economic crash the American Dream appeared to be having all the money you wanted so you could live anywhere you wanted to and go any where you wanted to anytime you wanted to. Money and pleasure became our gods. People got up at 4 a.m. to go shopping for bargains. They called in sick rather than go to work. One man was trampled to death by the crowd rushing in for bargains!

If you didn’t have the money, just use your credit card! Credit card offers were abundant and a national disgrace. People were encouraged to mortgage our homes for 110% of its value. No wonder the entire thing fell apart!

What was God’s plan? First of all, the Garden of Eden was the way God wanted the entire world to be. Everything was beautiful. Mankind had a responsibility to care for the Garden, but because everything was blessed it was an easy job. Every evening God dropped by for a personal visit with Adam and Eve. Truly it was heaven on earth!

But then sin entered; the whole thing collapsed. Apparently Adam did not understand his spiritual responsibility for the earth. Nor did he understand that to obey Satan was to put Satan in charge of the world. Adam’s refusal to obey God was rebellion against God (rebellion is one of the definitions of sin). Therefore, the world was cursed.

The good news is that God, through Jesus Christ, redeemed us from that curse. (Galatians 3:13) Therefore we are set free from the curse. If we will walk in full obedience to God things will correct themselves in our lives.

The curse will always be a nuisance because the world order today is locked in sin, greed and rebellion against God.

Had Adam fully understood the end result of eating the forbidden fruit, the fall would never have taken place. But we cannot fault him. I’ve certainly made my share of stupid mistakes!

We all get caught up in the need to have every desire satisfied right now.

I conducted a funeral yesterday. The deceased had been sick for three years and bedfast and helpless for 6 months. His daughter quit her job to take care of him. One night as they sat talking he said, “I wish I could live my life over.” “Really?” his daughter asked. “What would you do differently?”

“Nothing,” he replied. “I’ve had a wonderful life. I wouldn’t change anything.”

Powerful!  Personally I would change a lot of things. Now don’t misunderstand – I would want the same wife, children, in-laws and grandchildren. I would still want to pastor this church, and I’m very glad that I am a nurse.

But I would:

1.     Worry less

2.     Avoid the use of credit

3.     Save more money

4.     Spend more time with our family

5.     Taken better care of my health

Why didn’t I do those things? I was caught up in the here and now, watching the commercials and wanting to have what everyone else wanted. In other words, I have been immature.

The other thing I would do is to live my life totally believing God and His word.

Now, let me ask you, if this were absolutely true in your life would you worry?  If God Himself sat at your kitchen table tomorrow morning and looked you in the eye and promised to totally fulfill this chapter, would you believe Him?  Would this not be true in your life?  If He handed you a typed document and signed it in blood would it be more real?  After all, that is exactly what He did!

This is a covenant!  It is the last will and testament of Jesus Christ!  It was put in force the day He died – and He was resurrected so He can make sure every part is fulfilled. God has done His part… have we done ours – or better, has Leon done what he was supposed to do and will he do it tomorrow?  (Try substituting your name.)

Certainly every one of us has enjoyed some of these promises at one time or another. But at times things fall flat.

It is not God’s fault!

Life is like a mirror. We get back what we put into it. When you look in the mirror in the morning and frown at the image you see, that image will frown back at you. If you say “Hello, sourpuss” that image will say the same thing to you.

But if you smile great big and say, “Hey good looking!” that image will pay you the same compliment!

If you meet another person and greet them with a big, happy smile they will usually respond in kind – unless they have a big problem. If they have a problem you now know how to pray for them.

There is an exception to this. Some times we have an erroneous view of God. If your religion taught you that God is rigid and vengeful, always looking for a chance to hurt us, then that is what your will think you hear from God.

I recently spoke to a lady that is still hurting because some one told her that her son was murdered because God ordained it because God needed him in heaven. That is not true!

Jesus was walking down the road one day and met a funeral procession coming toward him. The young man that was dead was his widowed mother’s only son. She would be destitute without him! Jesus did not say, “Well, my Father needed him in heaven worse than you need him here.” Not at all! What he said was, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” Jesus raised the man from the dead!

1 Corinthians 15:26 says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” God agrees with you. Death is an enemy – a terrible enemy, until we have lived out our lives. Obviously there are some exceptions – the people that are called to give their lives for the gospel and for our nation. But until God tells you differently, pray for and believe for healing!

Proverbs 10:22 states, “The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and He adds no trouble to it.” Walk in enthusiastic obedience and watch God bless you…if He can trust you with wealth. However, if your goal is wealth – if the accumulation of wealth is your goal, it probably will not happen. Why?  Because the love of money is the root of all evil, and he will not allow anything in our lives that causes us to stumble. However, because we have free will, He may let those things into our lives!  

How shall we end this discussion?  Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

May 24, 2009