SPEAKER_02: I couldn't believe my eyes.
SPEAKER_02: Even a few years later, the country looked dead.
SPEAKER_02: And the children?
SPEAKER_02: The children had no hope.
SPEAKER_02: We needed God to intervene.
SPEAKER_02: What has come so far is that only the country itself.
SPEAKER_02: The economy is growing.
SPEAKER_02: The people have hope.
SPEAKER_02: But many children still live in poverty.
SPEAKER_02: African life, we believe in transforming lives using two hands.
SPEAKER_02: The heart of the gospel and the heart of compassion.
SPEAKER_03: Transforming lives like we was really hard because I lived with only my single mother.
SPEAKER_03: So we were around seven kids.
SPEAKER_03: We didn't know we would wake up and go to school because we didn't know where the mother would come from.
SPEAKER_03: It was a few months later that Aunt Rebecca came back home.
SPEAKER_03: She was like, I need visitable women.
SPEAKER_03: You watch courses from USA.
SPEAKER_03: I'm going to be scorcing from today.
SPEAKER_03: So beginning next month, you're going to be using the first time.
SPEAKER_03: I didn't know after I made up the new life.
SPEAKER_03: I believe in God more than everything else.
SPEAKER_02: A child has an easy everybody.
SPEAKER_02: We believe when a child responds to good news of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: When they receive a quality education, they help communities appropriate.
SPEAKER_00: Those videos always make me cry.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's the that holistic transformation of lives, these kids with no hope.
SPEAKER_00: And uh for a child like that to be in the university, I I lived in Africa ten years.
SPEAKER_00: I'm Michael Connor, admissions pastor, if you don't know me.
SPEAKER_00: But for a child like that to be in the university is just extraordinary.
SPEAKER_00: And uh you all are seeing it happen over and over.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we have uh loved being involved with uh African New Life Ministries since even before it started.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we've been connected with them and uh had many trips from there.
SPEAKER_00: I've been there at least a dozen times myself.
SPEAKER_00: Uh 240 something, almost 250 people from this church have gone to Rwanda and ministered there.
SPEAKER_00: So um we always think we're going to go minister to Rwandans, but Rwanda ends up ministering uh to us.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll be doing so again this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Uh our guest, a speaker today, Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Charles McGeeche, is the founder, along with his wife Florence, of African New Life Ministries, and uh it's been delightful to see the growth of it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you can talk to uh Pastor Charles afterwards.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to get him to go out though as the service is getting closed, meet him at the table.
SPEAKER_00: There is a table that African New Life has, and there are a number of sponsored children profiles there in the town where Emmanuel helped purchase the land for a church that's now been planted, and they say since it started just a couple months ago, there are a hundred people that have come to Christ already in that place.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so you can um, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: You can talk to him, but if you happen to be talking to him here, just grab him by the elbow and take him to the table, and then he can talk to you more there.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Charles.
SPEAKER_02: Uh it's a beautiful day to be here.
SPEAKER_02: Uh this for me feels like home.
SPEAKER_02: I've been in this place many, many times.
SPEAKER_02: Um first came here uh November of year 2000 on my way going to seminary in Portland, Oregon at Mount Noma University.
SPEAKER_02: And all that happened because I met Pastor Steve and Marie Granger in Uganda and shared the dream God had put on my heart.
SPEAKER_02: And as a result, Pastor Steve became one of my supporters to make the reality of getting education and training in America uh come true.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord called me and my wife, and he called us on a journey that looked impossible in the eyes of man, and it was the journey to go to Rwanda after the genocide.
SPEAKER_02: In 1994, we had a terrible genocide that claimed nearly a million people in 90 days, and the entire nation in that time after the genocide that claimed the lives of two sea people, it was the genocide against the two people of Rwanda.
SPEAKER_02: The country was dark.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody was in fear and traumatized for what could actually happen again or come before their way, or how can they get out of the trouble they were undergoing?
SPEAKER_02: And God gave us a vision.
SPEAKER_02: And after our schooling here in America, we started on this journey to go serve the people of Rwanda.
SPEAKER_02: We started out in a small way.
SPEAKER_02: I'm here to celebrate with you 20 years of partnership with African New Life Ministries, where God has done immeasurably more than we could ever imagine or even ask.
SPEAKER_02: God has done amazing things.
SPEAKER_02: If you look at those slides, I will give you a snapshot of what God has done.
SPEAKER_02: We started out with a smaller school.
SPEAKER_02: You can see a picture there, I think, with my wife.
SPEAKER_02: Uh small school uh in Cayonza with the 29 children.
SPEAKER_02: That school now is one of the leading high schools in the nation of Rwanda.
SPEAKER_02: And I have, I think, one of the graduates here who came to America.
SPEAKER_02: She's now uh interning.
SPEAKER_02: Sifa was there.
SPEAKER_02: I can see Sifa over there.
SPEAKER_02: Sifa, it's nice to see you.
SPEAKER_02: Started out with the 29 children, now it's 11,000 children.
SPEAKER_02: The dream became a reality.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, as I talk, 12,000.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Uh more than that, we've moved on to train pastors in the nation of Rwanda.
SPEAKER_02: Right now, as I speak, 316 pastors are being trained at Africa College of Theology, getting a fully accredited degree by the Higher Education Council, just like any other university.
SPEAKER_02: To me, that is unbelievable, immeasurably more than we could ever fathom.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, your doctors here and many of your friends, our friends here and mission teams encouraged us to start the Dream Medical Center, which is now a full hospital with a little bit of over 50 beds, three operating rooms, and ministry or the minister of health, the ministries of health and healing in Jesus' name, at the hands of the doctors are being done in that place.
SPEAKER_02: But you know, God is still amazing, immeasurably more than what we can ask.
SPEAKER_02: During COVID, we planted three churches, and you guys helped us with one of them.
SPEAKER_02: The first church was in Kalangazi, that is in the eastern party of Rwanda.
SPEAKER_02: The second church is in Nyamagabe, and these are really big churches.
SPEAKER_02: They sit 600 people, and they're already full of people celebrating Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And then you helped us specifically in Nyamagabe, that's the church number three.
SPEAKER_02: And I understand the team that's coming in October is going to be serving in Nyamagabe.
SPEAKER_02: Nyamagabe is in the Southern Party of Rwanda.
SPEAKER_02: And Nyamagabe is a very special place for me and my family.
SPEAKER_02: Because both of my parents were raised up in the southern party of Rwanda, a place called Congolo.
SPEAKER_02: And that in that place, that's where the genocide of the two C people started in 1959.
SPEAKER_02: Most of us know 1994, but even in 1959, in the 70s and the 80s, people were being killed.
SPEAKER_02: My parents left that place because their families were being killed, their homes were being bounced, and they were refugees in Uganda for over 30 years.
SPEAKER_02: Finally, God is redemptive.
SPEAKER_02: In the same place where my family failed so much, so much failure and death.
SPEAKER_02: God has led African New Life to plant a church.
SPEAKER_02: Not only plant a church, help grandchildren of our enemies find a future, find an education that is called redemption.
SPEAKER_02: Only Jesus can do that.
SPEAKER_02: I remember going to Nyamagabe and standing on the village where my mom was raised, where her homes were burnt, and lost her family, lost her brother, lost his brother, my her brother lost, the wife was killed, children were killed.
SPEAKER_02: And I loved everybody.
SPEAKER_02: Only by the grace of God.
SPEAKER_02: Especially the children who are innocent.
SPEAKER_02: They never participated in the genocide and they are being haunted by the sins of their parents.
SPEAKER_02: Only Jesus can redeem them from that guilty and pain.
SPEAKER_02: And you guys are coming to Nyamagabe.
SPEAKER_02: That is a special place for me and my family.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, this morning your church sponsored 40 children from Nyamagave who were in outside here.
SPEAKER_02: I want to encourage you at the end of the service.
SPEAKER_02: Please walk with me in this redemption journey back to Nyamagave to support the children.
SPEAKER_02: We have more children there waiting to be sponsored.
SPEAKER_02: So that is my celebration story of 20 years in a nutshell, a few minutes here at Emanuel.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for your years of partnership and participation of what God is doing in Rwanda.
SPEAKER_02: I have a message today I want to preach, and the message is do not do you don't have to live with fear terrorizing you.
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to live with fear terrorizing you.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_02: God, I come before you this morning.
SPEAKER_02: I ask you that I'll get out of the way and that your spirit will speak to your children.
SPEAKER_02: Open my mind, my heart, and my spirit, and allow me to speak from you.
SPEAKER_02: Here I surrender in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: I want to talk about this fear.
SPEAKER_02: The fear that terrorizes us.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I lived this life of fear, surrounded by death, surrounded by threats, surrounded by enemies.
SPEAKER_02: So when you talk about the the talk about fear and the that emotion called fear, I understand what it means to be afraid.
SPEAKER_02: Fear is an emotional response to things that are actually sometimes real in our lives.
SPEAKER_02: They are real, they are coming our way.
SPEAKER_02: We live in a fallen world.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes unreal.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone has fears.
SPEAKER_02: Poor people are afraid.
SPEAKER_02: They have their own fears.
SPEAKER_02: They are afraid.
SPEAKER_02: They're uncertain of the future.
SPEAKER_02: They may have a comfortable life today, but they don't have confidence in what can happen tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02: To make it worse, educated people have more fear than all of us.
SPEAKER_02: Because their fears are scientifically proven.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: And they are supported with data and science.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Their fears are real and they carry more fear in their lives than most of us.
SPEAKER_02: During hard days, nothing makes things hard like having fears.
SPEAKER_02: In the book of Job, chapter 3, verses 25 to 36, uh to 26, we see a rich man whose life actually looked good, but he lived with fears in his life.
SPEAKER_02: In verse 25, Job chapter 3, verse 25.
SPEAKER_02: Listen to what he says.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, he was afraid even before what he was afraid of came to him.
SPEAKER_02: Successful, righteous man living in fear, prosperous.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, What I dread has happened to me.
SPEAKER_02: I have no peace, no quietness, no rest, but only time well.
SPEAKER_02: Fear takes away peace.
SPEAKER_02: Fear takes away quietness.
SPEAKER_02: Fear brings unrest.
SPEAKER_02: Much of the unrest we've seen in the last few years and months.
SPEAKER_02: All this unrest is a result of fear.
SPEAKER_02: People are afraid, therefore, they act in ways they shouldn't.
SPEAKER_02: Um, turmoil, trouble, all these reactions are reactions because someone is afraid something is going to happen.
SPEAKER_02: And at the back of their mind, they are living with some kind of trauma of what can potentially happen.
SPEAKER_02: Job had been dwelling in peace and prosperity in the land of woo's.
SPEAKER_02: His life for the outsiders looked to be living in a lap of luxury, and things were going on well for him.
SPEAKER_02: Everyone was saying, look, Job's life is going on very well.
SPEAKER_02: He has a wonderful life, wonderful children, wonderful home is successful.
SPEAKER_02: But for Job, at the very moment, same moment, he was living in fear.
SPEAKER_02: His peace, even in the days of prosperity, was disturbed by this one thing: the earnest certainty of life.
SPEAKER_02: The uncertainty of life.
SPEAKER_02: The earnest certainty of life.
SPEAKER_02: We are surrounded by so much.
SPEAKER_02: We are afraid that something terrible is going to happen, even when we don't know what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_02: Something is going to happen, but we don't even know what's going to happen, but something is going to happen, and therefore we are afraid of what might happen.
SPEAKER_02: We fear that our government is going to be corrupt here and destroy our investment.
SPEAKER_02: We are afraid that we're going to contract COVID-19.
SPEAKER_02: Man, COVID is terrible.
SPEAKER_02: Husbands were afraid of their wives, wives were afraid of their husbands, children were afraid of their parents.
SPEAKER_02: We are afraid.
SPEAKER_02: We won't have enough money for the future.
SPEAKER_02: We are afraid of the inflation.
SPEAKER_02: It's terrible.
SPEAKER_02: We're afraid that gas will be$80,$7 before we know.
SPEAKER_02: We are afraid of the future.
SPEAKER_02: And the inflation is so real.
SPEAKER_02: I came to the US in nearly a month and a few days ago.
SPEAKER_02: And I went shopping with my daughter Sarah.
SPEAKER_02: She must be around here.
SPEAKER_02: And after shopping, I looked at the receipt.
SPEAKER_02: It was much more than what I used to pay in the US.
SPEAKER_02: So I turned around and asked the person managing the counter.
SPEAKER_02: I said, did we swipe some things two times?
SPEAKER_02: And I'm serious.
SPEAKER_02: My daughter can tell you.
SPEAKER_02: We had to look over every item and price to make sure I didn't swipe the items twice.
SPEAKER_02: Because it was much more than what I expected to pay.
SPEAKER_02: We are afraid of global warming and climate change.
SPEAKER_02: The listing of what we fear goes on and on and on.
SPEAKER_02: Why do we fear?
SPEAKER_02: With all the promises of God around us.
SPEAKER_02: Why do we fear with all the promises of God around us?
SPEAKER_02: Turn with me to the book of Ecclesiastics, chapter 12, verse 13.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
SPEAKER_02: Fear God, keep his commandments.
SPEAKER_02: This is the whole duty of man.
SPEAKER_02: Fear God, keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
SPEAKER_02: Now we have a number of military people in this place, see in this city.
SPEAKER_02: They understand what it means to be on duty.
SPEAKER_02: God has put us on duty.
SPEAKER_02: We have a duty in this world.
SPEAKER_02: We have a duty in this life.
SPEAKER_02: We have a duty on this journey.
SPEAKER_02: What's our duty?
SPEAKER_02: Our duty is to fear God and keep his commandments.
SPEAKER_02: That's what God has called us to do.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, our duty is to reverence God, our duty is to worship God, our duty is to follow the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is the understanding.
SPEAKER_02: We are called to fear God.
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is what happens in our lives.
SPEAKER_02: This is some kind of spiritual spiritual understanding we need to grasp.
SPEAKER_02: If you don't fear God, if you doubt God, you actually end up living in fear.
SPEAKER_02: Honoring God, following his commandments.
SPEAKER_02: somehow in God's solvent plan, He takes care of the rest of our lives.
SPEAKER_02: I really believe that much of the turmoil we have today and the fears today is because we are living in a world where again and again more and more people are not fearing God.
SPEAKER_02: They are living a way they wanna live, they wanna live into their freedoms without accountability.
SPEAKER_02: They want freedom without responsibility, they wanna do what they wanna do, and the more we live a life without accountability, without fearing God, the more nations will be drowned in fear.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, the solution to fear is to fear God.
SPEAKER_02: The solution to fear is to follow the commandments of God.
SPEAKER_02: The solution to fear is to worship God, is to reverence God, is to have a single mind, a non-divided mind towards God, is to live a life of freedom in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Because if we live in fear, fear will affect our spiritual growth, and therefore you can't do what God is calling you to do.
SPEAKER_02: Fear affects our health.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, this is the problem.
SPEAKER_02: The problem is that we grab our security blanket instead of grabbing our Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Every time something happens, you're looking for a security blanket, you're looking for a way, room to be secure, a way to secure yourself, to take care of things.
SPEAKER_02: Life is not meant to be like that.
SPEAKER_02: You are not meant to live without Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is our security blanket.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is our savior.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is our redeemer.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is our protector.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is our provision.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is our God.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is our future.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is our eternity.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is our security.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus secures our lives in every way.
SPEAKER_02: We ought to be using our Bibles instead of turning to other things.
SPEAKER_02: We need to rest on the promises of God.
SPEAKER_02: God has made so many promises.
SPEAKER_02: I love Isaiah 41, chapter 41.
SPEAKER_02: Beautiful promise.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Do not fear, for I am with you.
SPEAKER_02: I hope you guys get it.
SPEAKER_02: Do not fear, for I am with you.
SPEAKER_02: God says, I am with you.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, your mother may not be with you because you have coverty.
SPEAKER_02: Your father may not be with you because you have coverty.
SPEAKER_02: Your brother may not be with you because you have coverty.
SPEAKER_02: But even when you have coverty, Jesus is with you.
SPEAKER_02: Your doctor may be afraid of you because you have coverty, but Jesus is not afraid of you.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, In every circumstance, I am there.
SPEAKER_02: Don't be dismayed.
SPEAKER_02: I am your God.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not just your friend, I am also your God.
SPEAKER_02: I am powerful.
SPEAKER_02: I'm omnipresent, omnipower.
SPEAKER_02: I'm solving.
SPEAKER_02: I have power.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to help you.
SPEAKER_02: I am in charge.
SPEAKER_02: I will strengthen you.
SPEAKER_02: I will help you.
SPEAKER_02: Listen to this voice.
SPEAKER_02: I will help you.
SPEAKER_02: God says, I will help you.
SPEAKER_02: I will uphold you with my righteous hand, my hand of power, my hand of authority.
SPEAKER_02: All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgrace.
SPEAKER_02: Those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.
SPEAKER_02: Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them.
SPEAKER_02: Those who rage against you will be as nothing at all.
SPEAKER_02: For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says, Do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_02: I will help you.
SPEAKER_02: God will help you.
SPEAKER_02: God promises to help us.
SPEAKER_02: So the choice is yours.
SPEAKER_02: You can choose fear and run and keep running.
SPEAKER_02: Or you can decide to face everything and arise to the occasion.
SPEAKER_02: The choice is yours.
SPEAKER_02: In the Bible, the phrase, do not be afraid, is written 365 times.
SPEAKER_02: That's a daily reminder from God to live every day fearless.
SPEAKER_02: Because God promises to have our back.
SPEAKER_02: Every need you have.
SPEAKER_02: Beyond your your security nest, beyond your retirement fund.
SPEAKER_02: He will take care of you.
SPEAKER_02: He will provide for you.
SPEAKER_02: He will take care of you.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says in the book of Matthew, this is a beautiful one, chapter 6, verse 25 to 27.
SPEAKER_02: And it says, Therefore, I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.
SPEAKER_02: Is life more is not life more than food and the body more than clothes?
SPEAKER_02: Look at the birds of the air.
SPEAKER_02: They don't sow, they don't reap, they don't save, they don't sow away in burns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.
SPEAKER_02: Are you not more valuable than they?
SPEAKER_02: Are you not more valuable than the sparrows?
SPEAKER_02: Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to his life?
SPEAKER_02: Friends, God promises to have your back.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing can harm you beyond God's gracious will.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing, nothing can harm you.
SPEAKER_02: Number two, nothing can harm us beyond God's gracious will for us.
SPEAKER_02: Because the Bible says he is with me, I will not be afraid.
SPEAKER_02: What can man do to me?
SPEAKER_02: Because the Bible says, In God I trust, and I am not afraid.
SPEAKER_02: What can man do to me?
SPEAKER_02: In God I trust.
SPEAKER_02: The trust in God, the faith in God, the fear of God, the worship of God, prayer, following the commandments of God gives us the strength to overcome fear.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing befalls us outside God's will and timing.
SPEAKER_02: Everything is timed by God to eternity.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 80 the grass withers, the flowers fall, but the word of God endures forever.
SPEAKER_02: Our God is faithful.
SPEAKER_02: Number four, He is faithful to redeem us.
SPEAKER_02: I call this redemption.
SPEAKER_02: God has a redemption plan for our lives, including our failures and mistakes.
SPEAKER_02: The book of Romans, the Bible says, chapter 80, verse 28, and we know that all things God works, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_02: In every situation, God is gonna come through.
SPEAKER_02: God is powerful.
SPEAKER_02: Job, through the torments of sickness and loss, and fear and rejection by his friends, the trials of his faith, God finally restored him and blessed him.
SPEAKER_02: He doubled his life and his family.
SPEAKER_02: And when Job was going through his seasons of fear, he actually didn't know what God was about to do.
SPEAKER_02: He didn't know how God was about to redeem his circumstances.
SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you, God is amazing.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter what you are going through right here now.
SPEAKER_02: God has a redemption plan for every problem we face.
SPEAKER_02: God has a redemption plan for every fear that comes our way.
SPEAKER_02: God has a redemption plan for every crisis in our way.
SPEAKER_02: What is our response?
SPEAKER_02: God calls us to worship Him, to fear Him, to follow His word.
SPEAKER_02: And as we do that, God begins to do great things.
SPEAKER_02: In the book of Job, chapter 42, verse 10.
SPEAKER_02: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says, after Job had prayed for his friends, what did Job finally do?
SPEAKER_02: He prayed, he worshipped God.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had had before.
SPEAKER_02: Friends, God can do amazing things immeasurably more than what we can ever imagine.
SPEAKER_02: And as I finish, I want to talk about nine points which I want you to carry home with you.
SPEAKER_02: Because it's very important for you to guard your heart.
SPEAKER_02: Guard your heart.
SPEAKER_02: If there's anything I can ask you to do today, go hard guard your heart against fear.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, when you are afraid, like you are really, really afraid, because fear is real.
SPEAKER_02: When you're afraid, pray to God.
SPEAKER_02: Bring it to God in prayer.
SPEAKER_02: I really think that many people are afraid because they pray less.
SPEAKER_02: When you're afraid, pray to God.
SPEAKER_02: Prayer has a way of actually taking away your fears.
SPEAKER_02: I have had situations whereby uh I went to God in prayer, the circumstances didn't change, but I had my peace because God was doing something.
SPEAKER_02: Number two, when you're afraid, worship God.
SPEAKER_02: Get your hymn book and worship God.
SPEAKER_02: Find some piece of music and worship God.
SPEAKER_02: Number three, when you're afraid, do not reject God.
SPEAKER_02: Let me repeat that.
SPEAKER_02: Do not reject God.
SPEAKER_02: Do not deconstruct your faith.
SPEAKER_02: Many people, when they are afraid and they're asking, where is God?
SPEAKER_02: The temptation to doubt God and deny God becomes real.
SPEAKER_02: Please don't reject your way of salvation.
SPEAKER_02: Number four, when you're afraid, maintain your hope in God and expect redemption.
SPEAKER_02: Maintain your hope in God.
SPEAKER_02: God is gonna come for me.
SPEAKER_02: God is going to deliver me.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how, but one thing I know.
SPEAKER_02: He said he is with me.
SPEAKER_02: One thing I know, he promised me that his right hand will serve me.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, but one thing I know I'll be delivered.
SPEAKER_02: Number five, when you are afraid, guard your heart and your mouth against non-faith talk.
SPEAKER_02: And this is very important for us Christians.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I sometimes hear people pray and they say, God, we ask you to protect us.
SPEAKER_02: God, we ask you to provide for us.
SPEAKER_02: God, we ask you.
SPEAKER_02: And then after they get out of the prayer service, then they start telling how they're gonna tell people how they are gonna die, how everybody is going to die, how everything is going to crash, how how everything is going to stop.
SPEAKER_02: It's like the earth is going to stop.
SPEAKER_02: Who told you the earth is going to stop?
SPEAKER_02: The earth is not about to stop.
SPEAKER_02: The earth will stop at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ because He promised to come back to transform everything.
SPEAKER_02: Life is going to continue even tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02: So guard yourself against the non-faith talk.
SPEAKER_02: Guard yourself against that negative stuff.
SPEAKER_02: Number six.
SPEAKER_02: When you're afraid, maintain your integrity despite satanic attacks.
SPEAKER_02: Maintain your integrity in God.
SPEAKER_02: That's what I call fearing God, pursuing and following the commandments of God.
SPEAKER_02: Do what is right and honorable before God.
SPEAKER_02: Don't allow the enemy to move your integrity to a position of compromise.
SPEAKER_02: Number seven.
SPEAKER_02: When you're afraid, do not allow your commitment to God and his eternity to be transcended by temporary physical security and material things.
SPEAKER_02: I'll repeat that.
SPEAKER_02: When you're afraid, don't allow your commitment to God and his eternity to be transcended by temporary physical security and material things.
SPEAKER_02: Trust in God.
SPEAKER_02: Number eight, when you're afraid, submit to the wisdom and the sovereignty of God.
SPEAKER_02: There are things we don't know.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we don't know what God is doing.
SPEAKER_02: My responsibility is to submit to the sovereignty of God.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, the entire doctrine of the sovereignty of God needs to be taught much more than ever before.
SPEAKER_02: For us to know that our God is solving.
SPEAKER_02: What he wills will happen.
SPEAKER_02: And what he doesn't want to happen will not happen.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I remember before COVID, people would say, you know, we'll go to America, we'll go to India, we'll go to Japan, we'll go to China, we'll go, we'll go, we'll go, we'll go.
SPEAKER_02: We forgot to say that when God wills, we will go.
SPEAKER_02: It's about the will of God.
SPEAKER_02: And in the last two years, people have learned to say, when God wills, I'll come to Rwanda.
SPEAKER_02: When God wills, I'll get on the plane.
SPEAKER_02: Because we don't know what will happen tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02: Number eight.
SPEAKER_02: Number nine, when you're afraid, listen and submit yourself to the voice of God and his word.
SPEAKER_02: To the voice of God and his word.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, allow your life to be programmed by the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: Allow your life to be programmed by the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: Allow your life to be programmed by worship.
SPEAKER_02: Allow your life to be programmed by prayer.
SPEAKER_02: Allow your life to be programmed by the commandments of God.
SPEAKER_02: Not by the media, not by Fox News.
SPEAKER_02: To make it worse, not even by CNN, not even by BBC.
SPEAKER_02: We live in a time when Christians are quoting journalists more than they quote Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: They are quoting journalists more than they quote what Paul said in the scripture.
SPEAKER_02: They are quoting media people more than they quote what God said in the book of Isaiah, that I will be with you.
SPEAKER_02: And we've gone the will of the world to be programmed by the world around us.
SPEAKER_02: And what programs you rules your life.
SPEAKER_02: That's why it's important to return to the Bible, to the word of God, to the promises of God, and be programmed by the promises of God and what God has said.
SPEAKER_02: Because when we do that, we chase away fear.
SPEAKER_02: Don't be programmed by the propaganda of the media, be programmed by the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: They know in part, they prophesy in part.
SPEAKER_02: They are limited in knowledge.
SPEAKER_02: They don't understand what will happen tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02: Only God is transcendent.
SPEAKER_02: He transcends everything.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, allow the peace of God to rule your mind.
SPEAKER_02: God to rule over your mind.
SPEAKER_02: And as you do that, you will overcome the trauma of fear and the terror of fear.
SPEAKER_02: And you can live a more healthy life because God wants you to live a healthy life.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm talking about the health of your mind, of your life, the healthy of your heart by guiding your heart.
SPEAKER_02: May God continue to be with us and give us the victory we need.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_02: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_02: God, we come before you.
SPEAKER_02: We thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I pray that it will be programmed by your word and knowing what is around us.
SPEAKER_02: I want to thank you for this congregation, for their love, for their commitment to the word and to you and our partnership for the next last 20 years.
SPEAKER_02: May you bless them, may you protect them, and may you cover them in the name of Jesus Christ.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And now for a parting word for Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_01: area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.
SPEAKER_01: For more information on our church or our current service times, go to IBC.church.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_01: location, go to tms.edu.
SPEAKER_01: I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with folks.