oil tonight I'm not giving out the prayers for the wall I'm not giving you any red cords I'm giving you nothing tonight but the word nothing but all right and I want you to open your Bibles and follow along with me we'll begin with that familiar Psalm 23 all right psalm 23. if you have that same man all right now in Psalm 23 let's read beginning with verse 1. and we'll read down through verse 4.
come on let's read the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he maketh me to lie down in Green Pastures he leadeth me beside the Still Waters he restoreth my soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me now let's stop and back up though I walked through the valley of The Shadow of death I will fear no evil when you look at somebody and just say that I will fear no evil that's the thought that I want you to take home with you on tonight I will fear no evil now the word evil here really means Danger hello somebody and I think that it is a well-established fact that the time in which we live is a Time filled with Danger many churches are beginning now to have Divine Protection Services and most of it is in lieu of what happened September the 11th this is something that we started doing I don't know how many years ago somewhere between 15 and 20 years ago because even at that time I noticed the fact that at this time of the year that the streets became more dangerous not only the streets where rapings and uh muggings and purse snatchings and all of that was accelerated but it's also a time when there are more domestic fires houses that uh weather begins to cool and people are going shopping and doing things and being a little careless and many times sometimes it's only because the the heating apparatus hasn't been properly checked out and while people asleep homes catch fire it is a time of the year when there is much Danger but now today when we think about danger we think about Afghanistan think about our nation being at War we look at the recent outbursts in the Middle East where Israel and those Arab settlements Palestinian settlements tempers are flowering again and suicide bombers and it is really something how a person can be brainwashed to the degree that they are willing to kill themselves in order to make sure that they take out some of the enemies life doesn't seem to mean very much we're in danger in the Airways on the highways in danger Even in our homes Danger even now children cannot go to school and feel safe because in the elementary and Middleton High Schools life isn't worth very much because young people who have not even learned this yet what life is all about they are flirting with death the sad thing is that many times we look around and we wonder why well I've lived long enough to know why because when I first entered School in the first grade back at the age of uh five years old just to a couple of weeks or so before my sixth birthday the first thing that I was introduced to was the fact that in the school we had assembly we read the Bible we prayed we pledged allegiance to the flag and we did all of that before going into our classes uh but one woman one day saw the power that she could have by going before the courts of the nation and having prayer and Bible reading outlawed from the schools and when prayer and Bible reading walked out then drugs and knives and guns walked in and since that time even the schools are not safe danger is everywhere the Apostle Paul said I believe it is in second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1 that in the last days perilous times would come and the word perilous means dangerous uh if you probe a little deeper I believe Strong's Dictionary would refer to those times as not only being dangerous but harsh Harsh Times uh times that people would not necessarily have any sympathy or any feelings toward one another it's a day when people have put themselves me you know inhabits the throne sitting on the throne of our life is the one big eye everything is about me and it doesn't matter who I have to crush to get what I want everybody is so into self-worth and self-worth most people think is measured in dollars and cents and will do anything just in order to make a buck and really not to make it but to take it you have it so I'll take it and now even when people go the season of the year Christmas shopping and that's an ordeal I was sitting watching the television the other day when they said the day after Thanksgiving that Friday is supposed to be the busiest shopping day of the year and they showed people who had been lined up from 2 or 3 A. M waiting on the Walmart store the open so they could cash in on all of the uh sales and all of the you know supposedly goodbyes that were there and they showed one woman the lady evidently stepped in front of her she balled up her fist and threatened her and started using language that they had to bleep it out and all of this is celebrating the joyful season you never know where danger is we are living in dangerous times I believe the Apostle Paul talked about in second Corinthians 11 that even the preaching of the Gospel exposed him to so many dangers uh let me just turn that for a minute second Corinthians 11 and I believe it's in verse 26 he says concerning his plight in journeying often he said I did a lot of traveling but my traveling brought me in to Danger he uses the word peril in Perils of water in Perils of robbers in perils by my own countrymen in perils by the Heathen in perils in the city in perils in the wilderness in perils in the sea in perils among false brethren in other words Paul's in every way I turn and I was a gospel preacher but I'm still running into danger everywhere we are living in dangerous times but I wish you to look at somebody and say it like you really mean it but I will fear no evil Hallelujah turn to Psalm 27 the psalmist speaks not only in the generalities but he speaks in many specifics concerning the dangers that he will not fear Psalm 27 come on and read it with me beginning with verse 1. the Lord is my light and my salvation Whom Shall I Fear now you've got to understand that every time you see the word salvation it does not always mean being saved from sin the word salvation means Deliverance and here it means deliverance from danger that it may be dark but even when I'm walking in the darkness the Lord is my light and he is my deliverance and since I know that God is my light and he is my deliverer Whom Shall I Fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid when the wicked even my enemies and my foes Came Upon me to what to eat up my flesh they stumble and fail though and hosted encamp against me my heart shall not fear the war should rise against me and this is the thing now that has so many people troubled because since the September 11th uh episode we have been really in war at war with the al-Qaeda network with the Taliban government of Afghanistan and now that thing is spreading and they're discovering that they are not all over there that many of them are right here and the war we don't know how many ways it will exemplify itself we don't know if uh there is going to be a wholesale release of biochemicals whether there is going to be an extension of the terrorist activity where suicide groups will blow themselves up in an effort to kill other Americans we don't know where this whole idea of War will lead but David said even though War should Rise Against Me in this will I become for them I'll be confident in the fact that the Lord is my life and that he is my deliverer it doesn't matter what happened and a lot of things may happen but he says in the midst of everything that might come against me I will be confident in the fact that the Lord is my light and the Lord is my salvation I wish somebody would say again I will fear no evil not even the evil of War uh turn to Psalm 46.
I told y'all this this night has never been about preaching it's about letting you walk through the scriptures to be reminded of the promises that we have from God concerning his protection all right look at Psalm 46 David even says I I want fear uh natural disasters Psalm 46 come on read God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore will not we fear though the Earth be removed though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea little Waters thereof raw and be troubled though the mountains Shake with the swelling thereof he's really talking about times of quaking Earth quakes Waddles roaring tidal waves it doesn't matter what happens he says we do not have to fear how did Paul say it when he talks to Timothy he said now God has not given us the spirit of fear look at somebody and ask them did you know that fear is a spirit so that's what it is it's a spirit and and when the spirit of fear grips you not only are you afraid to get on the airplane next thing you know you'll be afraid to get in the automobile and then you'll be afraid to leave the house and you'll also be afraid to stay in the house [Applause] because the spirit of fear will lock you in and then when everybody else has to leave and little popping noises that mean nothing doing the sunshine in the dead of nights no they just say the house is settling and you hear something popping and you know that somebody is in there with you and it's nothing but a spirit of fear I've seen the spirit of fear take a hold to people to the degree that they were afraid of everything and everybody a friend of every situation and if you allow that to happen to you before you know it your very mind will deteriorate but God has not given us the spirit of fear but instead of fear he's given us what power love and a sound mind that symptom means that as long as you walk in the spirit of power and walk in the spirit of love thou keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee trusting in Him brings you into the power of God trusting in Him and walking in love makes you walk confidently [Applause] but fear and hatred will make you lose your mind a lot of folk today cracking up and they don't even know why some of them are so full of hatred until yeah and the sad thing about folk who are full of hatred and how did that get in here but it's in sad thing about people who are full of hatred the fact is it now it affects the person that is supposed to be the object they go on about that Merry way having a good time and the person who's full of hatred sitting up there being eaten away like a cancer that's just eating them up on the inside and it's not just Center Folk you got a whole lot of hateful folk deaths supposed to be saved Sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost and a mighty burning fire but when Paul talked to Timothy he said fear is a spirit and God didn't give you the spirit of fear so if he's given you power against fear and then he's given you love then love is to come back hate hello and as long as you can walk in love and walk in power you don't have to worry about hatred and you don't have to worry about fear because hate is evil and I will fear [Applause] oh somebody ought to give God some praise in here right now I'm getting close to being finished found two psalm 91. oh I love this one we spoke from this even the night of September the 11th on that Tuesday night Psalm 91 . you have it come on and read it with me he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide Under The Shadow of the Almighty I will say of the Lord he is my refuge and my Fortress my God in him will I trust now listen at the way the psalmist uh phrases this here is a man that is acquainted with war and he knows that a defensed city has a better chance of keeping out the enemy than a city that has no walls other has no Gates city that is just open out there in the plane can more easily be taken and pillaged than one that has taken the time to build a wall and make itself a fortress so he said you may look at me and think that there is no protection there's nobody shielding me but I'll say of the Lord that he is my refuge and my Fortress [Music] my God in him will I trust it reminds me of the time when the prophet Elisha had gone down to the little city called Dothan and there in the city of Dothan king of Syria would set traps for the king of Israel and every time king of Israel would get ready to go with his party his Entourage king of Syria would set a trap and the prophet God would reveal to him the plot and he would give word to the king of Israel and said don't go that way because the syrians will be waiting on you and time after time they set the Trap but it didn't work and finally the king of Syria called in all of his generals his wall Council so one of you is a traitor which one of you is for my enemies not any of us so no that that's a prophet in Israel and he not only hears what you say in the war council but he hears what you say in your bed chamber finally they decided they would catch him and he was down in a place called Dothan and the servant of all gets up it's in the book of Second Kings and the servant is getting ready preparing things for when the prophet gets up so he could have his meal prepared and all of the things that the servant would do but he looked out and saw all those enemy chariots and horses that had surrounded the city and he said a lasso man of God how shall we do in other words you know what we are trapped we are caught the king of Syria has a host and they have no way for us to escape and the old prophet looked out with eyes of faith and experience one thing to have faith is another thing to have had some experience with God and the prophet wasn't even trouble so he goes in the prayer but he doesn't go into a panic type prayer oh God I'm in trouble my life is in danger please help me now he didn't panic because he knew he had help he knew that he had a fortress you all don't hear what I'm saying so his prayer is not for his safety but his prayer is for his kids servant's eyes to be open his prayer except that Lord open this young man's eyes he's looking at the visible I won't see the invisible he's looking at the enemy but I want him to see those that are on our side he's looking on there with a natural eye the carnal eye but I want him to look within our faith God answered the prophet's prayer and opened the young man's eye and he looked again and instead of seeing just the Army of Syria that has surrounded the city between the house and the army of Syria was another Army you have to get the picture of that the syrians surrounded the whole city but God sent his army and they were in the Inner Circle they were between the house and the army of the enemy so that the only way that the enemy could get to the prophet he had to break through the army of God I'm trying to tell you something that when God is your refuge and your Fortress he surrounds you and the enemy can't get to you unless he breaks through God's defense [Applause] and don't you know that's not a devil big enough and bad enough to break through the defense that God has around his people we didn't go any further into psalm 46.
but when David got through talking about the Lord you know that full show we not fear though the Earth be removed though the mountains Shake he goes on to talk about God is our refuge and our strength Hallelujah he's the one not the mountains are round about Jerusalem he's a soul lord is round about them that fear Him so fear him but fear no evil because if you fear Him the enemy can't get to you without breaking through Divine defenses let's read just a little bit further verse three I'm still in psalm 91.
