The message was brought by Rev. Eddie Foster on January 14, 2023.
Read the entire chapter of Psalms 37 as background for the message.
(1) Fret Not: Why do people fret? Some do over prosperity. They look at people living ungodly but yet they prosper. How do they do it without God? Look at verse 2. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass. Verse 9: For evildoers shall be cut off. Verse 28: the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The wicked will not prosper eternally. They will perish. Why envy someone who’ll end up in hell for eternity? I’d rather have the Lord and be broke than have all their riches and end up in hell. Some are surprised the world hates them. It hated the Lord and we’re not above the Master. Verse 32 says The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. So, don’t be surprised. Look at the story of Elkanah: he had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. The former had no children and she desperately wanted them. The latter did and she taunted righteous Hannah about it. Despite this, Hannah kept going to church and praying. If you go through a difficult patch, the best place to be is at the house of God around his people. We all have struggles. Remember weeping may last a day but joy is coming in the morning. Here are some cures for fretting. (1) V 3 says trust in the Lord; (2) V 4 says delight in the Lord; V 5 says commit your ways to the Lord; V 7 says rest in the Lord; V 34 says wait on the Lord. Here are six ways to break the worry habit: keep busy–that idle mind is the devil’s workshop; don’t let the little things bug you; remember 90% of what you worry about won’t even happen; cooperate with the inevitable– you can’t stop it; if you can’t redo it, don’t try; if you did your best, don’t worry about it. Forget the past. Trust God for the future. Live in the present.
(2) Fear Not: There are two kinds of courage: moral courage and physical courage. Moral means that you do the right thing no matter the outcome. Physical means you’re not afraid of anything anytime anywhere. To have both these qualities is rare. I’ll take the moral and leave the other to God. There are elements to dying I can’t tell you about. But I don’t fear it. I know to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. Peter feared men and it caused him to deny the Lord. Don’t fear men who can only take your life but can’t touch your soul. Some people fear failure. It’s inevitable to fail from time to time. Get up. Keep going. Fear of trying something new. The older we get the more we don’t want to try something different, but we should always look for better ways of doing things. Fear of being in the minority. If you’re truly a Christian, you are in the minority! Joshua and Caleb were in the minority when giving the report from the spies who looked over the land of Canaan. The other 10 were afraid to go in and take the land. After all, even though it flowed with milk and honey, there were giants over there. Joshua and Caleb knew God was bigger than those giants. Noah wasn’t ashamed to be in the minority. Eight people on the face of the earth feared God. He kept on building the ark and preaching the Word. A whole society was against God. Daniel was not ashamed to keep praying to God and be in the minority. The three Hebrews weren’t afraid and were even thrown in the fiery furnace. Jesus was in the fire with them. He’ll be with us.
(3) Forget Not: We forget those who touched our lives for good. Some forget God. Our nation is forgetting God. Some forget the blessings. God daily loads us with benefits. He’s good to us! Some forget the importance of the Bible. It’s a command to read and study the Word. Not just for me, as the preacher–all of us are commanded. It seems by the way some live they forget they’re saved. Many claim to be but live like the devil. II Peter 1:9 says: But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Jesus lives inside the believer. Live like there has been a change in your life.
(4) Faint Not: take the time to look these up: II Corinthians 4:1; Luke 18:1; Ephesians 3:14; Galatians 6:9; Hebrews 12:5. They all tell us to keep on; don’t faint. Many things cause a person to faint physically and spiritually. A bad environment can cause fainting in either one. Be careful who you associate with. The sight of blood can do it. Spiritually, remember it takes the blood to save. Weakness and weariness causes fainting in either. We need food, physically and spiritually. Our spiritual food is the Word of God. Discouragement causes some to faint. Don’t let yourself get discouraged. Always remember God never gets tired. He is never perplexed. He is never confused. The Lord told Paul My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. God will take care of and be with his children.
If you’re doing any of these–fretting, fearing, forgetting, fainting– give it all to the Lord today.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 