[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. If you want to, you guys can turn to 1 Samuel chapter 8. I'm just going to share my heart with you.
[0:12] I was, I forget what I was doing anyways, I was listening to a sermon, and the guy was going over 1 Samuel, and he only hit this for a little bit, but, man, when I heard it, that's all I could think about.
[0:23] I don't know about you, but I am a fearful man. I am incredibly insecure, and I am incredibly fearful. Whenever it comes time to witness to somebody, if it's a co-worker, if it's somebody that was an employer, someone, I don't want to say beneath me, but you know what I'm saying, not the boss.
[0:44] When it wasn't the boss, I was cool with giving them the gospel. But you let it be the owner of the company, you let it be my boss, you let it be somebody that could do me harm, and I got, I tensed up.
[0:58] Fear, fear in my stomach. I knew that I should give them the gospel. I knew I should have done, I knew I should have told them about Jesus, but fear got a hold of my tongue, you know what I'm saying?
[1:11] Fear got a hold of me. I was an insecure person. What would they think of me? Another thing, before I moved down here, I was incredibly scared about moving down here. I didn't know what God had planned for me.
[1:23] It was a huge step. You guys don't know a lot about the Canfield family, I'll tell you about them. Pretty much all of them live in like two square, in a radius of two miles around each other, okay?
[1:34] They grew up in Lorain County, everyone knows them in Lorain County. My dad was the rebel, he went to the next county down, which was Ashland County, okay? And so when I was moving to Georgia, I had no clue what the Lord was going to do.
[1:47] I was scared. I was fearful. And to be honest with you, I think there's a lot of people here that become fearful too. But can I remind you, that being fearful, being fearful, being unbelieving, being insecure, those aren't traits, those aren't characteristics of born-again believers.
[2:07] Those aren't characteristics of born-again believers. In Revelations chapter 21, verses 8, the Bible says, But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
[2:28] God said whoremongers, sorcerers, murderers, and he put fearful in there. And unbelieving. Those are characteristics of wicked people.
[2:40] Those aren't characteristics of born-again believers. That's not who I am. I'm not a fearful person. I'm not a fearful person. The word fear, afraid, feared, feareth, is used over 1,200 times in your Bible.
[2:54] Over 668 verses speak on fear. I think that God has something to say about this subject. Actually, if you think about it, if you go through your Bible, fear was at the beginning.
[3:07] You guys remember when Adam was in the garden and God gave him that one rule? Don't eat of my tree. Don't eat of my tree of knowledge of good and evil. And what did Adam do? He ate of the tree.
[3:18] He ate the fruit of that tree. And as soon as he did that, and as soon as he heard the voice, the Bible says he was what? He was afraid. And he went and hid. And so since the beginning, we've had this problem with fear.
[3:31] Man's heart has dealt with fear. And God is so gracious and He is so good, He has constantly had to tell us, fear not.
[3:42] With Abraham in Genesis 15, verse 1, right after Abraham just defeated these kings and he's got his nephew back, and he's got all the spoils, and he's bringing it back, and the king of Sodom says, hey, I'll give you, you just give me the people and you can keep the stuff.
[3:58] Give me the people and you can keep the stuff. And Abraham said, I'm not going to keep a thing from you. In the next verse, God came, the Lord comes into a vision to Abraham and He says, fear not. I am thy shield.
[4:10] I am thy strength. I am thy great receiving ward. Our Lord tells us over and over and over again, fear not. You remember the story of Hagar when she was left off in the wilderness and she was with her son and she didn't know what she was going to do?
[4:24] What to the angel of the Lord? God heard her cry. God heard his cry, the lad's cry, and He sent the angel of the Lord, the angel of God, that's what He says, and He says these words, fear not. Fear not.
[4:37] And in Deuteronomy, in Numbers, God was reminding Moses not to fear, not to fear the people, and not to fear the people that rose against the children of Israel when they were on their way back to the Promised Land.
[4:49] Moses was rehearsing to the children of Israel what he heard from God. Fear not and be not discouraged in Deuteronomy 1, verses 21. When it was time for Joseph to take his people or take the Lord's people and to lead them into the Promised Land, what did God say in Joshua 1, 9?
[5:11] He told them to be of good courage. Don't be discouraged and fear not. Fear not. Fear not. It's the words that Jesus used in the Gospel.
[5:23] In John 14, verse 27, He says, Peace I leave with you. I leave peace with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, I give it unto you.
[5:33] I give unto you. In John 14, verse 27, He says, Let not your heart be troubled, neither it be afraid. There's so many times in my life when I think, God, what do you want me to do?
[5:46] And He showed me the next step and I just get so scared. I don't want to do it. I know I should do it. I know deep down in me that I need to do it. But I'm such an insecure, fearful person that I don't want to do it.
[5:59] But can I remind you, that's not your characteristic. Your God didn't give you fear. Your God didn't give you fear. He gives you peace. He gives you peace. And that's what Paul exhorts his son in the faith in 2 Timothy 1, verse 7.
[6:14] He says, For God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of what? Of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. It was the Holy Spirit that inspired John to remind us that He has delivered us from fear.
[6:28] 1 John 4.18, He says, There is no fear in love. Because perfect love casts out all fear. Because fear hath torment.
[6:41] When you're fearful, it gets to you. It ruins you. It causes you to make stupid decisions. Think about when Jacob was afraid when Esau was coming after him.
[6:54] What did he do? He broke up his family and levels that he loved them according. How does that make you feel sitting on the front when your dad's all the way in the back?
[7:10] Stupid decisions. That's what fear causes. It brings torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love. Over and over again, in God's word, we are reminded that we are not fearful people.
[7:26] And the only way, can I remind you, the only way that will ever prevent fear from controlling us is this. Not if we get courage. Not if we get courage.
[7:38] But it's this. Who are you trusting in? Who are you trusting in? We read that verse, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
[7:50] We sing that up in children's church all the time. What time I am, what time I am, afraid! That's what we used to do all the time. And so, it's such a good truth. What do we do when we are afraid?
[8:01] How do we prevent from being afraid? We cling to His promises. We trust in His promises. We hold dear to His promises. In Psalms chapter 27, verse 1, it says, The Lord is my light.
[8:14] He shows me where to go. He's my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Whom shall I be afraid of? We are victorious in Christ, brothers.
[8:27] We are victorious in Christ. We have victory over the world according to God's Word. We have victory over the world. 1 John 5, 4. Not only do we have victory, but death, there is no worry in death.
[8:41] Where is the sting? What do you have to offer us? What can the world do to us? There should be no fear in us. There should be no fear in us.
[8:52] We have the Holy Spirit, like Matt said. He indwells us. And can I remind you that the Scripture says that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
[9:02] Why should we ever be afraid? Why should we ever be fearful? Why should we ever be insecure about ourselves? Why should we ever be like that? That's not the way God set it up.
[9:14] The Bible says in Romans 8, 37, He says, You are more than a conqueror. Now it's easy to know all this truth, but it's hard when you're out there living it. It's hard when you have different trials in your life and you're afraid.
[9:31] Where's my money going to come? Lord, I don't know if you're going to protect me. Are you going to provide for me? Lord, I'm scared about witnessing to this person. I don't know what struggles we deal with, but I know this, I am a fearful person.
[9:45] I often struggle with it. And tonight, I want to go to the Old Testament and we're going to look about a story about King Saul. And the Bible records a story of an insecure and a fearful man that had great opportunities, but because of fear and insecurity, they not only ruined him, but they ruined his family.
[10:11] Do you know how Samuel ends telling the story with Saul? He's laying dead on a battlefield with his two sons or three sons right next to him.
[10:27] They take his body and they take it back to, I forget what town that the Philistines had, and they parade him. They put his body up there. Why has all this happened?
[10:40] Well, I think fear has a little bit to do with it. And we're going to go over it. But before we do that, let's pray real quick and I'll ask the Lord that he will be with us in this message. Lord, I thank you for this day, Lord.
[10:52] Lord, I ask you to just be with this time that we get in your word. Lord, help this story to come alive. Lord, help us to see this example of Saul and his life.
[11:02] And Lord, help us to learn from it and help us to be changed. Lord, help us to be people that aren't afraid, but people of courage and people that trust in you and trust in your promises.
[11:12] And Lord, we'll give you all the praise in Jesus' name. Amen. In the beginning of Saul, Israel is ruled by God. God sets up a system, a theocracy, where he has a prophet, he has a judge, and he has priests that rule over the Israelites.
[11:31] Israelites. And this is done for nearly 350 years. But the people in 1 Samuel chapter 8, they have a man named Samuel as their judge. And if you turn there, we're going to read the first couple verses.
[11:44] The Bible says, and it came to pass, verse 1, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now, the name of his firstborn was John, the name of the second was, I'm not even going to say these names, okay?
[11:55] I said all the names I was going to say on Sunday morning, okay? So we're just going to go with A. Anyways, the judges were in Beersheba, and his sons walked not in the ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgments.
[12:10] And you know what happened? The elders of Israel got upset. And they went up to Samuel and said, Samuel, you're old. You are old, and it's about time for you to die.
[12:22] And your sons, your sons, they are, they don't, they don't hold the truth. We want a king like all the other nations. And Samuel was upset with this.
[12:34] And he went to the Lord, and the Lord said, Samuel, they didn't reject you, they rejected me. But nevertheless, at their own word, I'm going to give them a king.
[12:45] And then Samuel goes to him, and he begins to preach and he says, don't you realize what's going to happen when a king comes? He's going to take your vineyards, he's going to take your girls, he's going to take your boys, he's going to do whatever he wants, he's in charge.
[12:57] And the people said, we don't care. We don't care, we want a king. And Samuel says, fine, we'll give you a king. We'll get you a king. We'll get you a king.
[13:09] Well, there was one day that there was a young boy, young man, country boy, I always liked that, always liked when they get back to the country, you know what I mean? Country boy, who was out there trying to find his father's donkeys.
[13:21] And before that day, before he went out to try to find these donkeys, God, I want you to see this. In 1 Samuel chapter 9, verse 15, the Bible says this, Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear a day before Saul came, saying, Tomorrow, about this time, I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be a captain, or the ruler over my people Israel, that he may save, what is he going to do?
[13:51] He's going to do what? Save who? My people, out of who? Out of the hand of the Philistines. So Saul wasn't just going to be some type of king, he was going to be a deliverer king.
[14:05] That was God's promise, that's what God told Samuel, he says he's going to deliver them out of the hand of the Philistines. Well, back to the stories, Saul was out there with a servant, and he's trying to find his father's donkeys.
[14:19] And it was getting like, I don't know, maybe an hour or two, and it's like, what are we going to do? And the servant says, I got an idea, let's go up to the seer, let's go up to the prophet. We got some money, he might be able to tell us something about it.
[14:30] So they go there and they meet these ladies. Anyways, Saul stumbles across Samuel, and Samuel realizes who he was. And Samuel calls him up for this big dinner.
[14:42] And Samuel asks him, before he goes there, he says, he says, he says, in verse 9, verses, let me make sure I get this right, he says, in verse 9, verse, chapter 9, verse, hold on a second, I'm sorry, I'm getting lost.
[14:55] Anyways, he asks him, he says, he asks him something about his desires, do you want to be the king? And then Saul says this, he comes back to a remark, he says, don't you realize I'm from the tribe of Benjamin? Don't you realize?
[15:07] Anyways, they go and have this meal, and in chapter 10, verses 1, this is what happens. Samuel takes Saul, and he tells Saul's servant, he says, go on ahead. I want you to go on ahead.
[15:19] And Samuel takes oil, and he anoints Saul as king. Now, do you get that? In the beginning, okay, the people are saying, we don't want you, Samuel, we don't want you, God, we want a king.
[15:34] And God says, okay, I'm going to give you a king, and he's going to deliver you out of the Philistines. And God's man, okay, we're not talking about a preacher, we're talking about God's man, Samuel.
[15:45] We're talking about a special man, we're talking about a prophet, we're talking about somebody who was in charge of an entire nation. He anoints Saul as king.
[15:56] And he tells him, he gives him a prophecy, he says, you're going to go ahead, and you're going to meet these three prophets, and they're going to have some stuff, and you're going to go pass this Philistine garrison, and anyways, you're going to prophesy, and the Spirit's going to come upon you.
[16:09] And he prophesizes something, he tells Saul what's going to happen in his life. But you get that? Saul hears from the man of God that he is going to be the next king over Israel. How would that make you feel?
[16:23] How would that make you feel? Just think about this. How would that make you feel? God's man, a man who actually has direct communication with God, and he says, God told me that you're going to be the next king over his people.
[16:38] Man, I would be like, I won't say I'm the stuff, but, I wouldn't be so insecure. We're going to find out later that Saul, whenever he comes up, whenever it's time for him to be called in front of all the tribes, when Samuel gets all the tribes together, and he's going to say, hey, this is the guy, they're looking around, they're like, where's Saul?
[16:57] Saul's out there hiding, he's insecure, he's scared. Just showing his little characteristics off a little bit early. So anyways, he anoints him king, and verse 1, Samuel 1, he's anointed, and then I want you to notice, I want you to go back and I want you to notice that Saul was to be the first king over Israel, and Saul was going to deliver the Israelites out of the hands of the Philistine.
[17:22] Notice the promise, God was going to use Saul to deliver and protect Israel. And notice how he's chosen. When Saul found Samuel, Samuel was the man of God, we told you, okay, we already went through, he told you what was going to happen, when Samuel left, when Saul left, Samuel told him that he was going to meet three prophets, and they were going to make a sacrifice, and Saul was going to have the Spirit of the Lord come upon him, and he was going to prophesy.
[17:49] And read 1 Samuel 10, verses 9. See what happens in this verse. And it was so, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart, and all those signs came to pass.
[18:04] Verse 10, And when he came thither to the hill, behold, the company of prophets he met, and the Spirit of God came upon him. You get that? The Spirit of God. Not only God's man told him, he says, you're going to be the next king, God's Spirit came upon him.
[18:17] How empowered, how bold should Saul have been? We're going to find out when it comes time to war, where's Saul at? We're going to find out when it comes time to face Goliath, where is Saul?
[18:33] Where is he at? He's back there hiding underneath a tree. He's back there letting a shepherd boy go forth. What did God tell him? What did God tell him?
[18:44] God says, I'm going to use you, Saul. I'm going to do a work through you. You're going to deliver my people. And what did Saul do? He let the obstacles in front of him. He let the fear in front of him paralyze him.
[18:56] This is not what fear does. It paralyzes us. When I was a young kid, I was going to the movie theater. I was coming back from the movie theater, and I was going to do a time.
[19:07] This old high schooler said something to us, and we smarted off to him. Now, I've never been a real fast runner. I've never been a real fast runner. This kid was pretty big.
[19:18] I know I'm a big kid, but 6th grade versus 11th grade, it's not going to work. I just froze. I froze with fear. The Lord saved me that day, Brother Chuck.
[19:29] You see that house right there? That's my house. I screamed my dad to come out right now. And I got turned around and walked off. My house was like five blocks down that way. I was lying to my teeth up.
[19:40] But isn't that what fear does? It paralyzes us. And Saul here had a promise. Eric, he had a promise that God was going to use him to deliver, deliver his people out of the hand of the Philistine.
[19:54] But yet, when the fighting comes, where's Saul? We're going to get there. We're going to get there. Well, let's see Saul in action. The first battle.
[20:05] In chapter 11, Saul hears about some trouble. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, and the first battle goes great.
[20:17] He takes a yoke of oxen, and he hews them. You know the only thing that you hew is a tree, okay? He chops them up. He sends them out to all the tribes, and he says, if you guys don't come to battle, I'm going to hew your oxen just like I did this.
[20:32] And so all the children, all these tribes come together, and they defend, they defend their brothers, and they win, and the tribes unite, and they defeat the Sammonite man, and they defeat, and they win.
[20:43] But the second battle, in 1 Samuel chapter 13, we're going to keep on rolling, Saul has two years now under his belt. In verse 1, it says, Saul reigned one year, and when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose him 3,000 men of Israel, whereof 2,000 were with Saul at Michmash in the Mount of Bethel, and 1,000 were with Jonathan in Jibbeah and Benjamin.
[21:07] And the rest of the people, he sent every man to his tent. And notice what happens in verse 3. Who smites a garrison of the Philistines? It was Jonathan.
[21:18] And what happens? The Philistines hear about it. Here we have Jonathan, less men than Saul, and I'm not going to say that Saul was afraid, but Jonathan goes out there and he defeats a garrison of the Philistines.
[21:33] And this news starts carrying all across the land until the Philistines hear about it. And once they hear about it, Nathan, Nathaniel, they get upset, I mean real upset, to the point that in a couple of verses down you'll see they have 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and so many infantry that it's like the sand by the seashore.
[21:56] It's like a sand by the seashore. And as soon as Saul's 3,000 men see it, you know what they do? They take off running. They hide in the caves, they hide in the briars.
[22:08] The Bible even says some of them cross over Jordan, they hide. And they hide. And what does Saul do? Well, Saul sits down and waits, because that's what he was told to do.
[22:20] He sits down and waits for seven days, because Samuel says he's going to come by and give an offering. Well, day number seven comes up, and Saul's looking out there, and he doesn't see anything happening.
[22:31] So what does Saul do? Because there was so much fear, and there was so much trembling along. If you read it, they said there was trembling, his men were trembling, there was so much fear. And you know what happens? He ends up giving an offering, he makes a mistake, and he makes an offering to God that was only meant for priests.
[22:47] And about that time, it's almost like a comic. As soon as he gets that up, and he starts up that offering, and he gets done with it, you know who comes by? And Saul says, Samuel. Samuel stops by, and he says, what are you doing?
[23:01] And Saul says, well, you weren't here, you said you were going to be here seven days. And he's like, this is the seventh day? He says, you weren't here, the Philistines are out there, we've got to do something, we've got to get these people, we've got to get their morale up.
[23:12] Fear penetrates people's hearts. Saul, and Samuel ends up telling Saul, he says, you know what, God's going to take away your kingdom. God's looking for a man whose heart is seeking after God's heart.
[23:27] And then the next chapter, there's only two men in this entire Israelites that have swords. This is incredible. Two men that have swords. Saul and Jonathan.
[23:39] And this next chapter, there's 600 men. And you'll see in chapter 14 that Saul was sitting underneath a tree. And you know who goes out and fights the garrison of the Philistines?
[23:53] You know who goes out and climbs a cliff that is known as the slippery, sharp cliff? It wasn't Saul. Saul was tearing back. It was Jonathan, his son.
[24:06] It was Jonathan, his son, who took his armor bearer and he says, it just might be the Lord might do something for us. It doesn't matter whether we have a whole bunch of people with the Lord or just a little bit of people. God can still do whatever he wants. You see, Jonathan was a man that knew that God promised he was going to deliver his people and God was going to do something, so he was going to be involved.
[24:22] But Saul says, I'm going to wait back here. I've got a little fear. I've got a little fear. I'm just going to I don't know if the Lord can use me. I don't know if the Lord can use me. Saul, don't you realize who you are?
[24:35] Don't you realize what God called you out to be? Don't you realize the promise God gave you? Don't you realize who he made you to be? Don't you realize you were anointed by the man of God?
[24:47] You realize you had the spirit come upon you. Who else has that happen? Who else has it? Why are you being afraid, Saul? Why is your son going out there and doing all the work? Well, the story goes, as you guys know, Jonathan goes out there and he fights and he kills 20 people.
[25:03] People get scared, earth starts quaking. Anyways, this great huge army ends up killing itself. This great huge army ends up killing itself.
[25:16] And the Lord, the Bible says, the Lord saved Israel that day. It was God. God told him that he was going to use, it was all God in the first place. But what was Saul's problem?
[25:29] He let fear prevent him doing his work, doing his job. What do we do? What do I do? I let fear prevent me from doing what I know I ought to do.
[25:41] What should I do? I should hold on to his promises. I should trust in the Lord. I should know what he says. I should go forth. We're more than conquerors.
[25:51] We're victors in Christ. He indwells us. Greater is he that is in you than he is in the world. Well, anyways, the next story happens.
[26:03] Samuel comes up to Saul and he says, I want you to go up there and I want you to kill all the Malachites, all the horses and the cattle, the lambs and the sheeps and the goats and everything. I want them all suckling, everything.
[26:15] I want them all destroyed. You guys know how the story goes. Saul goes to battle with him. He keeps the king, Agag, and he keeps the best of all the cattle, all the sheep.
[26:27] It's about that time after the battle is over, Samuel comes up to Saul. He says, Saul, in the corner of his ear he hears this bleeping, whether it's a sheep crying or whatever.
[26:40] He says, what is that? I thought I told you you need to destroy them all. Saul says, well, I was just keeping the best for sacrifice. Sure you were. Sure you were a liar.
[26:52] I was just keeping the best for sacrifice. He says, didn't you know what God told you to do? You know what Saul says? I keep calling him Paul because we've been in the New Testament way too long. You know what Saul said?
[27:03] He says, I didn't keep the commandments of the Lord. You know why? Because I feared the people. Samuel looks at Saul and he says, that's it.
[27:15] He turns around. Saul reaches out, grabs his garment and Samuel's garment rips. He says, just like you just ripped my garment big boy, God's going to rip your kingdom out of your hand.
[27:27] You're no longer king. In the next chapter, Samuel's down in Bethlehem and he's anointing oil. Spirit's coming upon another man. Because why? Because a guy had a job to do. He had a promise given to him.
[27:39] He's got everything on his feet, but what did he do? He allowed fear, he allowed fear to prevent him from doing his work. And when the time comes, when big bad Goliath stands up there defying God, defying God, defying the creator God, defying gracious God, defying good God, and he's defying the Israelites and he's defying their God.
[28:02] What does Saul do? He stays back in camp and he's a coward and he allows fear to impact his life. So that a shepherd boy has to come up with a rock and take him down.
[28:16] Don't allow fear to control your life. Don't allow fear to control your life. And then later on in Saul's life, when he's sitting up there in the palace and he hears these girls, these probably innocent girls saying, Saul has killed his thousands, David has killed his ten thousands.
[28:37] It started bubbling up in his heart and that fear and that insecurity started showing itself more and more that he ends up throwing spears spears at people.
[28:49] He tries to kill David. He tries to kill his own son. He spends the rest of his life searching from cave to cave. Why?
[29:01] Why? Because when fear comes in, so does unbelief. So does insecurity. Christian, we just don't if we don't take time and stop and say, Lord, I'm going to trust you and that trust involves action.
[29:24] Lord, I'm just going to cling to what you say. Lord, I know what you say. You're not a liar. Everything you say is truth. We just trust in that. We cast out that fear.
[29:37] And Lord willing, that same thing wouldn't happen to us. But by the end of it, Saul's laying dead in a battlefield with a sword stuck through him.
[29:50] Arrow wounded him really bad. His sons are dead. He's no longer the king. And the kingdom doesn't go along in his family. And it's given to someone else.
[30:01] Don't allow fear. Don't allow insecurities. Don't allow unbelief. Cause you not to follow through what God tells you to do.
[30:15] Trust the Lord. His commandments aren't grievous. That means they're not some weight that's added on to you. They're not bad. They're good.
[30:26] If he told you to do something, do it. And if there's fear, realize who told you what to do. It's good God. And trust him.
[30:38] Trust him. So when you walk out tonight, and I close here and say a prayer in a second. Do this one thing.
[30:50] Let this church be known for fearless men. Fearless men. Men that will stand for truth.
[31:02] Men that not will only stand and fight for truth, but men that will obey truth. Let this church be known for not men who trust in their own courage, but men that trust this book and trust their God.
[31:17] Let this church be known that they are fearless. And if there needs to be a job, their job, if word evangelism is going to be done, this church is going to do it. Because God wants it done.
[31:27] He says it in his book, we're going to go for it. If God wants me to go across the road and talk to my neighbor about Jesus, I need to do it. I need to cast out that fear.
[31:41] I need to trust in the Lord. If there's that next step that you know that God wants you to take and you're just so scared in the pit of your stomach, you're like, man, what are they going to think about me? What are they going to say about me?
[31:53] I'm scared. Trust the Lord. Trust him. And take that next step. He is a good God. He had only good plans for Saul.
[32:07] And Saul messed up. But can I tell you, we got one up on Saul. Holy Spirit's indwelling in our hearts.
[32:21] We know the end, what's going to happen. Deaths, their sting has been taken away from us. There's nothing that we fear.
[32:33] What made that church in the New Testament and Acts so unstoppable? And they're asking for boldness all the time. They're asking boldness for all, they're asking God for boldness all the time.
[32:45] They wouldn't let fear step in their way. It's the same tonight. Let's not let fear step in our way. Let's trust in a good Lord. Let's trust in our good Lord. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia.
[32:58] For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.