Faith Not To Faint, Forget, Fret, Or Fear

Amazing grace how sweet the sound. I want to start this morning with a little testimony. (I told a story about a trip to Atlanta and how I didn’t run from the Lord) So this morning when the phone rung at 6:00 AM and I was asked to preach for the Pastor at the 8:00AM service…I was reminded of the events in Atlanta and I trusted in the Lord and I stand here now less than two hours later with a word from our Father.

Last week I preached and we talked about our victory in faith (1 John 5:4) and how it is Impossible to please god with it (Heb 11:6). We went on to share three reason to watch what you hear. And they were: affect faith, heart, and harvest.

This day I want to talk a short while about Part2 - faith and the 4F’s of faith.

We will start in Psalm 37: 1-7 39-40 (worry) – Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 12:12, and psalm 56:3 (fear) Luke 18:1 and Galations 6:3 (losing hope), and finally back in Psalms for 44: 20-21 about forgetting God’s blessing.

Our theme text iis from Mizmore Daveed 37: 1-7 and 39:40 or Psalms of David 37: 1-7 and 39-40

Bible scholars will tell you that the bible is divided into 12 stages. We find this text in the stage called THE UNITED KINGDOM STAGE

This stage 120 years – 1st 3 kings Isreal – 40 yrs each - Saul, David, and Solomon.

Ps 37:1-7; 39-40

1 Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;

2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:

6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD; he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

40 The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

I’m not gonna be here long as in the army we say (Train to standard not time)

Selective service now – Draft – 18yrs 1A…3A…4F

While being classified 4F would have kept one out of the service of our country, the very opposite is true with regard to the Lord’s army. And that brings me to the sermon for today: The “Four F’s” of the Christian Faith.

Fret Not, Fear Not, Faint not, and forget not

1. Fret Not

Psalm 37:1: “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong…”

Fret means to worry to be concerned….

This whole Psalm shows the happy state of the godly and the short-lived prosperity of the wicked. It can be summed up in the following: “Don’t fume; don’t worry about the other guy; God is the righteous Judge. He will have the last say. Don’t worry…be happy. .”

 Worry never solved a problem

 Worry never paid a debt

 Worry never alleviated a pain

 Worry never made an enemy a friend

 Worry never turned a wrong into a right

 Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble—sometimes the troubles of tomorrow—which may never arrive anyway!

The Tiger, the Man and God

A man was being chased by a tiger. He ran as hard as he could until he was at the edge of a cliff with the tiger in hot pursuit. The man looked over the edge of the cliff and saw a branch growing out of the side of the cliff a few feet down. He jumped down and grabbed the branch just as the tiger reached the cliff. The tiger growled viciously as the man sighed a great sigh of relief.

Just then a mouse came out from a crevice and began to chew on the branch. The man looked down to what was a drop of a thousand feet and sure death and looked to the heavens and yelled out, "Dear God, if you are there, please help. I will do anything you ask but please help."

Suddenly a voice came booming down from heaven, "You will do anything I ask?" it questioned.

The man shocked to hear a reply to his plea yelled back, "I will gladly do anything you ask, but please save me."