Do Not Fear, Because God Holds Tomorrow and He Will Take Care of You.

 

Do Not Fear, Because God Holds Tomorrow and He Will Take Care of You.

As the New Year is in front of us; for many it is a fearful time not knowing what the future holds.

For many of our citizens, there is much fear about the unknown, but I am reminded of the beautiful song that goes something like this; “I don't know about tomorrow; I just live from day to day. I don't borrow from its sunshine, For its skies may turn to gray. I don't worry o'er the future, For I know what Jesus said. And today I'll walk beside Him, For He knows what is ahead. Many things about tomorrow I don't seem to understand But I know who holds tomorrow, And I know who holds my hand.”

My message today is taken from Luke's Gospel chapter 12.

As Jesus was teaching, he said to them, “Be on your guard against all greed and covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my self, “Man, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”

But God said to him, ‘Fool! Tonight your soul is required of you, and the things you have stored up, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is cast aside, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. You man need to sell your extra possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, The master will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.

If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

I remember Doctor Kenneth Hagin telling a story about meeting one of his childhood friends, and his friend was laughing about some of their youthful experiences, such as stealing peaches from a neighbor's orchard. Doctor Hagin, said, “It wasn't me.” His friend said, 'Certainly it was you, I was there and we all enjoyed the peaches.' “No It wasn't me said brother Hagin, that was the old me, and I am no longer him, but I am a new person.” He believed and lived what was the present truth and did not live in the past truth.

There are times as we pray, over situations, over our health, over our city - - and doubts come to mind, and we consider that perhaps things are bad, and not only are they bad but things are getting worse and will even get more dreadful and more terrible.

May I encourage you NOT to listen to the bad report – for we are able to take the city, the State and the Nation. Stand firm and understand that the battle is in the Spirit and it is our prayers that will and are making a difference.

In the Book of Numbers: The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Send 12 men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe you shall send every one who is a chief and a leader among them."  to spy out the land of Canaan.

"Go and see what the land is like, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land."

So they went up and spied out the land and they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.

At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

So they told Moses, "We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its bountiful fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large.

Then ten of the men who had gone up with Joshua and Calab said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are, and they are giants." So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, "The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height, and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them."

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it."

But the people believed the bad report and murmured and complained against Moses and God.

And God was very displeased and said: According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.' I the, Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die." Only those under twenty years old will eventually enter the promised land.

And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land — these men all died by a plague sent by the Lord.

Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Caleb, and Joshua the son of Nun remained alive.

There was more to this story, God was ready to wipe everyone out right there and then, but Moses plead their case and interceded saying, if you kill all these people what will all the nations think?

Today, we must be very careful what we say with our mouth about situations, people, leaders, and although we might not always agree with them, we must use caution in using critical and complaining remarks with our mouth.

Be aware that our city is ripe for the picking. The Harvest is ready; The net is ready to pull in the fish. Do not allow what others are saying and doing change your focus. Look straight ahead as you march and keep your eyes front and center looking only at Jesus.

If you happen to hear a bad report, do not join the party. Do not attend the pity parties; but find a positive remark if you must say something. 

God is in control, the battle is not by might nor by power but by the Holy Spirit of God. With the Holy Spirit working in and through us, we are well able to go up and take our city, our State and our Nation for Jesus.