Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina.

Yes, He is stronger and He is still with us. that the coronavirus doesn't really scare them a whole bunch. But Lord, we're not just talking about that. We all have things that bring fear into our lives, anxiety, concern. And Lord, I pray that you would help us as we look to your word, as it is able to help us with all of that.

We love you. Give us wisdom today in Jesus name we pray, amen. Now, if you'll look at that verse, in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. How can you be confident when you fear? It's interesting to me that fear and confidence don't seem to go together. It seems to me that when I fear, that's when I'm not confident.

That's when I'm kind of timid and bashful and nervous. But here it says in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. And what does this mean? Well, this word here for fear is the word reverence. It's a Hebrew word, which means that fear of the Lord is reverence, it's respect, it's honor, it's in all of. It means this, that a healthy fear of the Lord will drown out the fear of other things. It doesn't mean that I'm not gonna have fear in my life, but the fear I have for the Lord, the reverence I have for the Lord is greater than the fear I have of uncertainty or things in my life. See, preacher, I'm not really understanding. Let me put it this way. It means this. I will not let any earthly fear interfere with my reverence of the Lord.

Let me put it this way. When my fear of uncertainty gets in the way of my trust in God, then I lose my confidence. And you and I have to be careful about this that our reverence for the Lord should not be affected by circumstances, by things that happen. And if I let my fear of circumstances, if I let that get in the way of my trust in God, then I have a wrong kind of tension here.

We all have things that we're concerned about and we fear and that bring anxiety in our life. But when that anxiety or that fear gets in the way of my trust, then things have gotten out of balance. And I encourage you, while you're sitting right there at home, there are things to be concerned about, but none of those things should interfere with my trust in God. In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence, but in the fear of uncertainty, there is no confidence. As God's children, we should have confidence in these days. It doesn't mean arrogance and it doesn't mean pride.

It means confidence. We can't walk around always scared and intimidated with anxiety and worry and fear, because as God's children, our trust in God should be greater than our fear of things. And that's what gives us strong confidence. I love what this verse says. And his children shall have a place of refuge. It's nice to know when you're a child of God that there's always a refuge to go to. I wanna give you another verse this morning if I can. I just wanna comment on some verses as we go through just to let you hear what God's word has to say. Psalm 37 verse five, just a very familiar verse.

Notice this. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him.

Remember our subject for our message today is strong confidence. In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. This word commit is the Hebrew word galah, and it means this, to roll over on. It means that literally I am to take the burden of my way, of what's happening, of the circumstances in my life, and I roll that over on the Lord, and as I roll that over on the Lord, now I trust him to take care of it. I trust him to do with it what he wants.

It means that I don't look at everything in my life, and I'm worried and fretting at what I'm gonna do and how I'm gonna do this. I commit my way unto the Lord. I roll it over to him. I give him control, and when I do, that means I'm giving it to you, God, because I trust you with what you're going to do, and here's what the verse says, and he shall bring it to pass. In other words, this, until you're willing to roll that over to him and trust him, he really can't bring it to pass, because as long as you and I keep trying to fight and control and manipulate and make things happen in our life and take over the responsibility and try to bear it all on our shoulders, God says, listen, you gotta commit it to me.

Trust in me, and I'll bring it to pass. Let me illustrate, if I can, years ago here, I used this at Kerwin years ago. I think every pastor alive has used this at some point. It's a very over-simplistic illustration of what I'm talking about today, but I have a work glove here, and this glove, yes, preachers actually do work, and of course, now we have to wear gloves anyway and mask and everything else, but this is a work glove, and this was made to work. It was made for that purpose. It serves that purpose.

It was designed that way. It was made out of different material for that purpose, and so that glove is made to work, and so as I lay that glove down, I can look and say, all right, gloves start working. Well, it's not gonna do it, because that glove cannot do the work on its own. Somebody else has to, and so I might look at that glove and say, well, you know what this glove needs in order to be able to do the work it was designed to do?

It needs some encouragement. So glove, I encourage you. You can do it, and it's still not gonna do anything. I can look at that glove and say, listen, you're made for this.

I have trust in you. You can do this, and it doesn't really help. Maybe this glove needs some training. Maybe I would say, all right, glove, here, this is how it's done. You kind of move the thumb, and you move these fingers, and it grabs stuff and moves stuff, so now you've been trained.

Go and do it. That's what we do at churches a lot of times. Well, people need to be trained, and yet it still seems that they can't accomplish what God has in their life, and we have training online. We have training in church. We get up from the pulpit.

We encourage people. If there's ever been a day that preachers sometimes seem, all they're gonna do is be positive and tell them everything they can do, and yet they're still there doing nothing, so I know maybe what this glove needs. This glove needs some fellowship, so let me throw some other gloves down. Hey, there you go. You got some fellowship.

Now, do the work. Well, the glove doesn't do anything. Why is that? Because until the glove has a life-giving force in it, now it can be used. You see, you and I have to commit our way unto the Lord, trust in Him, and the Bible says He will bring it to pass. You see, as long as you and I try to control it, and we've got this, and we're gonna make this happen, we're gonna protect ourselves. Listen, we've gotta commit our way to the Lord, trust in Him, and He's the one that brings it to pass. He is the power. He's the life-giving force.

Nothing will be done without Him, so we've got to trust Him. Let me give you another verse, if I can. Psalm 94, verse 19. This has been a very important verse in my life many, many times, and I thought maybe this is a good, appropriate time to share it.

Look at verse 19, Psalm 94. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.

That phrase, in the multitude of my thoughts. This here is talking about conflict, confusion. It's literally, sometimes you and I do not know what to think. Sometimes we don't know how to think.

We've got all this information. We've got all these things, and there's conflict there, because we kinda see this side of something, and we see this side of something, and then we hear about this side of something, and there's a multitude of thoughts within us, and maybe you've been like that. Maybe I'm the only one in the world that does that, but I have a feeling with the amount of people watching online that we have right now, some of you have dealt with this, that for some reason, at certain seasons in our life, we just can't get our thoughts clear, and I always think of the verse, a double-minded man is unstable in all those ways.

There's no strong confidence like we were told in our opening verse. There's no strong confidence when there's a double mind, when we're not stable on things, and there's a multitude of thoughts within, and I'll be honest with you, as a pastor, I had to go to this verse again, because it's like, hey, Lord, I know you say, forsake not the assembling of ourselves together, and I know we need to be in God's house, and it's your house, and that needs to be priority, and yet I know that there's this danger, and there's this fear, and there's precautions that has to be made, and if you're not careful, before long as Christians, we can get to the point that we just can't even make decisions because of all the thoughts in our mind. You know, when God, sometimes it's just a step of faith that you say, all right, God, in the middle of all these thoughts, thy comforts delight my soul.

Now, I would ask you a question. Where do you find God's comforts? If that's what I need, if that's what my soul needs, when I've got a multitude of thoughts, when there's just things coming around, and we live in a day that we have so much access to news, and media, and information, and social things, and on our tablets, on our phones, on our computers, in our car, on our TVs, it's just constantly coming at us, and it just adds to this cloud of thoughts, and to find certainty and truth seems so difficult nowadays, so if I need God's comforts to delight my soul during times like that, where do I find God's comforts? This is where we find God's comforts, in his word.

Dear friend, may I say this? If there's a multitude of thoughts going on in your mind, and it seems that, man, I just don't know what I'm supposed to do, and I just have anxiety every time I turn around, may I encourage you, take time to get in God's words. God's comforts are God's promises.

Find God's promises, and rely on them. Can I give you another verse? Psalm 33, if you can turn to it there at home, verse 18.

I wanted to spend just a little bit of time on this, this morning, and this is such a rich passage. Probably of all the verses I'll share with you, this has some of the most important principles for a time like this, than just about anything that God has used in my life this week. Psalm 33, verse 18 says, behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waited for the Lord, he is our help and shield, for our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. I just wanna give you the subjects that are brought up in this passage.

May they help you, as they have helped me. Number one, I want you to see he brings up the subject of assurance. He says, behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him. You and I have the assurance that God sees us exactly where we are. God knows exactly what we're going through. In fact, God knows more about what we're going through and what the situation is than we do ourselves. He's watching, he knows where you're at. There's never a time when you're on your own when you're a child of God. Notice the second subject, he brings up his hope. He's like, I know God is watching, and notice this, upon them that hope in his mercy. We have hope.

What this world needs to see right now from God's people is that we have an assurance that God is in control and that we have a hope in him. You say, well, preacher, what if I got the virus? Well, dear friend, may I say this? We're at as much risk driving a car as we are from the coronavirus.

Yes, it's dangerous, but may I say this? We have to display faith in everything we do during the day. We have hope, and even if we get the virus, we have hope. I have a pastor friend of mine that tested positive for the coronavirus. Some of you might have heard of some of this, and it's been a thing, and I've communicated with him a little bit, and he said God's just been good through all this, and if God can somehow, if I can go through this, and somehow that people can see that God is faithful even in the middle of this, sometimes we think that God is only faithful if he protects us from it. May I say that God's faithful even in it and even with it? It began as I communicated with him, though, it helped me to know we had wisdom here and doing the right thing here at our church because with this pastor getting this disease, everybody that had attended their services are all self-quarantined.

The state has quarantined those people to their homes, and if we had a service and somebody ended up having it, all of us might be quarantined, and those of you that have jobs and things, so we had no choice but to do what we did. But we have hope. Notice, if you will, secondly, in verse 19, he says this, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. He says we have hope in God's mercy because he delivered our soul from death and he kept them alive in the famine.

Notice, thirdly, it brings up the subject of dependency. It's God that kept us alive. It's God that delivered our soul from death. You and I can't do that on our own, and we're limited as far as what we can do, and we can take precaution, and we can take steps, and we can try to protect, and I am for absolutely all of that, but dear friend, you and I, may we never confuse our plans and our protections, may we never get that confused with God's protection because that's what we need, but we need it every day of our lives. We're dependent upon him.

Notice, if you would, verse 20, he says, our soul waiteth for the Lord. He brings up the subject of patience. Don't overact. Don't overreact. Don't get to where we look like we have no hope.

Don't get to the point where it looks like we don't have anybody to depend on. Don't get to the point where it looks as if that we don't have any assurance that God cares or that God is watching. From God's people, there should always be hope. From God's people, there should always be patience.

There should always be a peace inside that, you know what, God's got this, and that's what the world needs to see. Even as we often read it, as I did yesterday in the funeral that I preached, that may we not grieve like people do that have no hope, but we have hope, and just like in death, we have hope. May I say, in life, we have hope. We're dependent upon him, and we need to be patient. Wait on the Lord. Don't jump to judgment, don't jump, and don't get overbalanced and out of balance, and don't get to where our fear becomes greater than our faith, and don't get to where our anxiety becomes greater than our assurance.

Let's wait on the Lord, let's be patient through this. Notice what he says, he is our help and our shield. Notice he brings up the subject of a shield. I don't know about you, but in this day and time, what we're going through right now as a country, that's what we kinda need is a shield. And dear friend, may you know that whatever you go through in life, Jesus is your shield.

He's your protection. So what are we supposed to do? Verse 21 says this, for our heart shall rejoice in him. Now he brings up the subject of rejoicing. You see, preacher, what are we supposed to do at a time like this?

May I tell you the first thing, as we mentioned, is that get in God's word, get his comforts. That's what delights our soul. But you know what we oughta be doing is rejoicing. You say, preacher, what in the world do we have to rejoice about? Hey, listen, I'm a pastor preaching to almost nobody, in a sense, in a building, but I have a lot to rejoice about. God's goodness transcends the coronavirus, and God's goodness transcends what's happening in the Middle East, or what's happening on the news, or even what's happening on the other side of Winston-Salem.

God's peace passes understanding. I have a lot to rejoice about. And what our children need to see is that we still have joy.

And what this community needs to see is that we still have joy. And even though plans are changed, and even though future is uncertain, and even though it looks like jobs might have to end, if we bear all that load, we've got to roll them over on the Lord. We've gotta commit our way to the Lord. Trust also in him.

He'll bring it to pass. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. You say, really, right now is a time to rejoice. Right now is the best time to rejoice. Rejoice in him.

Why? Notice what he says next. Because we trusted in his holy name. Brings up the subject of trust. You see, whenever you and I fully trust God, it always gives us reason to rejoice.

Notice the verse, if you can, if you got it right there in your house. He says this, rejoice in him because we have trusted, past tense. In other words, this, we can rejoice because we trusted in him.

If you don't trust, there's not much reason to rejoice. But when you commit your way to the Lord and you trust also in him, we can rejoice because we have trusted in him. Notice verse 22. He says, let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee.

And he brings up the subject of mercy. I'll tell you what I prayed. I prayed, God, have mercy on America. There's not one thing I believe America has done that deserves God to show mercy to us.

But I'm still asking for it. You know, at home, I would suggest gather your family around and when our service closes and I'd have prayer with your family before you go on to other things. I know it's hard and I know it's a lot of distractions when you're at home watching a service online or whatever the case might be. But you know what, in their prayer, it should be God, have mercy on our family. God, have mercy on our church. And God, have mercy on our country. We might not deserve it, but we're gonna keep asking for it because God is merciful. It is only because of God's mercies, the Bible says, that we're not consumed.

Let me share this with you as I close. I wanna give you another verse. And let me say this about the subject of mercy. I don't know if you, there at home, this might have been maybe a game just when I was a kid or maybe our younger folks and couples might not know this game, but we used to play a game called Mercy. And many times, you and another individual, you'd grab hands and you would kind of wrestle and you'd try to get each other where it's finally hurting the other person and you would go back and forth. And finally, where it was caught and you couldn't go any further and you were hurting, you'd go, Mercy! And then the person would stop.

And I remember playing that as a kid oftentimes and you know what that was a sign of? I call out for mercy because it's apparent you're stronger than me. And that's why we call out for mercy to God. It's a way of letting God know, God, I know you're stronger than me.

So I need mercy. Look, if you would, at Psalm 116, verse six. I think this is the last one I'll share this morning.

Probably, I don't know. I've got a lot more to share, but. Look at verse six of Psalm 116. The Lord preserveth a simple, I was brought low, and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee, for thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. Interesting verse as we look at that this morning.

And let me, if I can, give you a couple things. Number one, what we're going through right now is a reminder of something. And as I look at this verse, this kind of describes it.

Notice what he says in verse six. The Lord preserveth a simple, I was brought low, and he helped me. Number one is this. This is a reminder how little we are in control. You know, when something hits our country like this, it's a reminder how little we're in control. All the powers that be, that make all their decisions, that sit upon their little places of leadership and kind of condescending, and they think that they're untouchable and they think they can do what they want and all this stuff.

You know what? Every once in a while, God allows some things to hit our country, be it floods, be it, you know, natural disasters, even things like this. God can allow it just to show us how little we are in control. The Lord preserveth the simple. It means this, that that's the best you and I could do, is simple.

I mean, that's as complicated as we can get. We are so unworthy and unable as compared to God. And this is what it says, the Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low and he helped me. That means until I'm brought low, God really can't help me much. Because as long as I'm at the top, and as long as I think I'm in control of everything, it seems as if we don't think we need God. But every once in a while, something like this will hit, and it's a reminder how I am not in control of anything, and I don't have the answers for everything like sometimes I think I do. And so now I've got to depend upon God.

I was brought low and he helped me. Right now is a time we all need to be humble. Right now is a time that we don't need to be trying to tell everybody what they're supposed to do. Right now is a time that we should be humble before God and say, God, we don't know everything like we think we do. So God, we're just gonna have to trust you. And when we're brought low, then God can help.

Notice the second thing here. He says, return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. Number two, it's a reminder of how good God has been.

Isn't this interesting? He said, I was brought low and the Lord helped me, and after the Lord helped me, he says this, return unto thy rest, O my soul. In other words, hey, get back to resting like you used to because God has been bountiful to you.

God has blessed you. What happens is God's been very good to us and God's blessed us and then difficulties come and we get all worried and then we get pride in our life and when we're brought low and we're humbled and we depend on God once again, then again we remember God's always been good to me. You know, as we face this as a country, this is a reminder how good God has been. This could be something we deal with all of our lives, but this is just a season of things. God's been good to this country.

In fact, I think about, look at how it's affected China and Italy and all the, God's been very good to America. You see, this is a reminder with something like this that we're not in control like we think we are and it's also a reminder how good God has been to us. You know, this week has been school canceled and many of you understand that. Now kids are at home and sometimes being homeschooled and things and I'll be honest with you, it's been a reminder this week.

You know, business can't go on as usual and we can't be running here and there and all around although it's been a very busy week for me, we can't be running here and there all around like we normally do. We've kind of had to be more centered at home and you know, it's been a reminder of me of how blessed I am, how good God's been. When I see my kids running around the yard and when I sit in the house with my children and they're there and they're safe, that's a reminder of how good God's been bountiful to me. I want you to notice thirdly in verse eight, he says this, for thou has delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears and my face from tears.

And my feet from falling. This is a reminder that God has always been faithful. You know, this isn't the first pandemic to cross America. This isn't the first trial that we've had to face. But this is a reminder how God has been faithful from the start. Now I love what the psalmist says here. Now notice quickly, he says thou has delivered my soul from death. Then he says you've delivered mine eyes from tears. Then he says you've delivered my feet from falling.

Now listen to me, I want you to get this. He says you've delivered my soul from death, that's spiritual. He says you've delivered my eyes from tears, that's emotional.

And he said you've delivered my feet from falling, that's physical. It means that as God's child, God is faithful to strengthen us and enable us spiritually, emotionally and physically. God is faithful. You cannot look around every corner and scared of what might happen. It's almost a sign to say to God, God, I don't know if I can trust you to be faithful in this.

If God's always been faithful, then God always will be faithful. And he can deliver us spiritually, he can deliver us emotionally and he can even deliver us or protect us physically, my feet from falling. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kerwinbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you.