Hello everyone. My name is Pastor Roderick caesar the third on the lead Pastor of Bethel Gospel Tabernacle in Jamaica queens new york and my prayer is that you would be blessed. You would be encouraged and strengthened by this word. Hope you enjoy God bless. I’ll be coming from the book of second timothy chapter one, verses three through seven, specifically focusing on verse seven second timothy chapter one versus three through seven, specifically focusing on verse seven, I thank God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day as I remember your tears, I long to see you that I may be filled with joy. This is paul writing to the protege timothy has mentee timothy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that first dwelt in your grandmother lois and your mother eunice and now I am sure dwells in you as well. For this reason I remind you to fan into the flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power of love and self control. Dear God, I thank you so much for this time. I thank you for this word that you’ve given me to speak. I pray father that as as I speak, you would be seen, you would be heard, you would be felt. I pray that you would do your will do what only you can do in the lives of your people through this word. We thank you God for the times such as this, that your word comes through and encourages a time such as this where your word comes through and lifts us up. I pray Father for our nation. I pray Father for our country. I pray Lord for this world for everything that’s going on for everything that that’s raging outside in our lives and it is affecting us and coming to our doorstep. I pray Father that you would bless us, that as we, as we share in this time today, that you would be glorified, you would be magnified. We lift you up today. We thank you, we praise you, we give you glory in jesus name and all of God’s people said all of God’s people said all of God’s people said amen are you ready for the word? Let me hear you make some noise if you’re ready to hear. But the word of the Lord is for today. I’d like to thank you all for pressing your way uh to church today in spite of the circumstances, in spite of what’s going on in our country uh, in the world. You press your way today. So thank you all for pressing through for those of you that are watching online. I’d like to thank you as well for taking the time to uh get yourself set up, be comfortable and watch what the Lord has to say today and engage in worship with us over the stream. So I’m just truly, truly grateful and thankful for everyone that’s participating both on the other side of the screen and right here in person, God is gonna do a mighty work today as a result of your press. Amen, Amen and Amen. So as we’ve heard before, the most commonly used and the most commonly commit the most common command. Excuse me. That’s used in scripture is Fear Not Fear not is said 365 times throughout the Bible, times. That’s one time for each day and on a year like this, a leap year like this, we can go back and read any one of those one more time just to make it even right. So it’s listed often and so for us I believe that this command is so prevalent is so prevalent throughout scripture because the Lord knows as men and women clothed in flesh that we have a propensity to fear. He knows that we struggle with the things that he’s called us to do that seem bigger than us. Sometimes God calls you to some things and you say God really me. Sometimes God gives you a vision. We just finished up our series on Nehemiah and he was called to rebuild the wall and sometimes God gives you a call that seems so big and you say God, how can I do this? Your first inclination, Your first reaction. Your first response is fear. When God the angel of the Lord came to marry his first word was fear not mary fear. Not when God spoke with moses. Fear not fear not. And we see moses saying why me? Oh God, I have this condition, I have this problem, I’ve done this, I’ve done this. Why? Why? Why rooted out of fear? And so so often when the Lord calls us to something that’s bigger than ourselves, we run straight to fear, we get afraid. And so God says Fear not to give us strength. Fear not to give us courage. And then he also says fear, not because he knows that the world is not the kindest place to live in. Sometimes this world can be cold. This world can be cruel. This world can be a dog eat dog world out there, right? It could be only the strong survive out there. So God tells us to fear not because greater is he within us than he that is in the world. God gives us a charge. Fear not Fear not mary fear, not joseph. Fear not moses. Fear not uh insert your name here into this blank Fear, Not God tells us and gives us a command to fear. Not especially in these trying times, especially when difficulty arises. He says Fear not. So, it’s up to us to see what is fear. What is fear Dictionary defines Fear as a distressing emotion aroused by an impending danger. Evil or pain. Whether the threat is real or imagined, it’s the feeling or condition of being afraid. It’s the anticipation of the possibility that something unpleasant will occur, Just the possibility that something unpleasant will occur and anticipating it causes a fear to come upon you. A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil or pain. Just listen to the terms that we have in our everyday language to describe what fear does to us. Some of this may sound familiar to you may use some of these in the past gripped by fear. I was gripped by fear. I was paralyzed by fear. You’re afraid of your own shadow. Oh I made my blood run cold. My hairs stood up, almost jumped out of my skin. I spent my heart skip a beat. I was scared stiff. I was scared out of my wits. I like that last one because it shows us that sometimes fear can drive us to do irrational things. Fear can cause us to beat somebody up for some toilet paper. You’re scared out of your wits, it looks like strength. But what did uh dr rob say when I was afraid it didn’t look like fear. It felt like power because you wanted that control and you’re scared out of your wits. You’re doing things you wouldn’t normally do. These are ways to describe what fear does to us, how we’re all wired as human beings. We all have a body and our body has a physiological response to fear. It’s known as the fight or flight response. Fight or flight response. Uh in recent times, they’ve added fight flight or freeze and this response is triggered by the release of hormones that prepare your body to either stay and fight and deal with the threat or you run away to safety or you retreat to safety if you fight or you flight or sometimes you’ll freeze like a deer in headlights, afraid and not know what to do. And oftentimes this is out of your control. It’s just the response that your body naturally does your heart decides to beat faster or the rate declines or your pupils dilate, your muscles can tighten, you can begin to shake your blood flow, has increased, the hairs on your arms can stand up and whether you know it or not, your body has a built in system as to how it responds to fear and the system isn’t a bad thing. Fight or flight isn’t a bad thing. Fight flight or freeze isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s how we’ve been wired to help us survive intense situations in difficult situations. But as believers of jesus christ as christians in these last days and trying times, we need to know what our response to fear should be. So there’s one more word I’d like to add to that list. Fight flight, freeze and faith. Faith as the believer. We must be rooted in faith, we must be grounded in faith, we must be anchored in faith paul is writing as I’ve stated to his protege timothy, his mentor timothy, the one who he’s gonna pass the baton to as he is declining and getting ready to to to die and to leave this earth. He’s writing to timothy and he says for this reason I remind you to fan into the flame. What reason? He says, basically timothy, you come from good stock, he says, I thank God whom I serve as did my ancestors with a clear conscience, paul says, I serve God. And I remember you timothy constantly in my prayers both day and night as I remember your tears, I long to see you that I may be filled with joy. I want to uh see you again, hang out again so we could be filled with joy. He says. I’m reminded timothy of your sincere faith, a faith that didn’t first dwell in you. But it was first in your grandmother lois, and then after your grandmother lois, then your mother, Eunice. And then now I am sure it dwells in you as well. So what we see here is timothy was not the first in his family to be saved, timothy was not the first in his family to walk in the truth and knowledge of christ. This was a faith that dwelt in his grandmother. And then after his grandmother had walked in, his mother and then after his mother, the faith is now passed on and given to him. We don’t know anything of his, his, his father, his father’s faith, but what we do know is that he had strong uh woman figures in his life that he could look to, to glean information from about the truth of jesus christ. And we see it benefited him greatly. And many of us we say, oh well, I didn’t have anybody, I don’t have anyone. Well, you came to the right church, because guess what? I’m not the founder, I didn’t start this thing. This church was here before I was even born, founded by my grandfather. This church was a church that was built on legacy. That was built on on passing the baton down that was built on building something that was bigger than its founder. And in the same way that same principle applies because the truth that we’re preaching today, the truth of jesus christ, that we’re giving out today, that were, that were preaching and talking about, it’s not just to say, oh, it’s great. Let’s let’s let me be Exalted and let you know, you just focus on Rod Pastor Rod. No, no, no, this is something that you can start your legacy. Your own legacy can start right here. If you have no examples, you can be the example, you can be the one that starts different, You can be the one that passes the legacy on, because once again, it’s not just about the lives we live, but it’s about what the legacy we leave, the legacy we leave? So it’s important for us to know this and then paul goes on to write and he says for this reason, because you have this rich heritage, because you have this rich legacy. I remind you timothy to fan into the flame, the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of hands for God gave us not a spirit of fear but of power, of love and of self control. He says timothy, you need to fin into the flame, you need to fan into the flame. You’ve been given this gift, this gift from God. We’ve all been given a gift from God? We’ve all been given a gift from God. Salvation is a gift and it came at a cost, jesus christ laid down his life and died so that we could be set free so that we could be made whole so that we could be made new. We have this gift, and paul is saying fan into this gift, fan into your salvation, grow in your relationship with christ, grow in your in your faith? Walk with christ, did you know that your faith, the faith you have right now that maybe the side of the size of a mustard seed, your faith can grow stronger. Are you aware of that? Did you know that your relationship with God the relationship that you had and you you have with him? That relationship can grow deeper, You can have more intimate time with God. Are you aware that you don’t always have to react the same way to the same situation? You always don’t have to give the same situation the same answer because what you are now renewed and have a renewed mind in christ you are now a new creation in christ jesus. So that means your response can be different because you don’t have to respond the way that you always did. You can live differently, You can be different, You can move different, you can fan into the flame. How do you do this? You fan into the flame by praying into what God gave you. You fan into the flame by opening up your mouth and you have intimate time with God when you pray and dialogue with him, our father who art in heaven, hallowed, be thy name, thy kingdom, come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You pray into what God gave you. You speak life over yourself. You speak life over your family, You speak life over your finances. You speak life over your situation, pray. That’s how you fan into the flame. You read the word of God, you open up the word of God and read what thus saith the Lord over your life. Read that his promises are not just yes, but yes and amen. That means that what he said will come to pass. When you read his word, you realize that it says that he’s not a man, that he should lie and his word will not return void. So you read the promises over your life, the promises of God that apply you read them all over your life as a son, as a daughter of God. You pray, you read your word and you’re also being in community. That’s how you grow your own community. Now. I know what this day is. The last thing we want is community right now. This day in 2020 is like, I’m not trying to have a bible study nowhere, trying to go to nobody’s house, but mine, everybody is a coronavirus out, right? We’re really trying to take precaution, but you don’t have to be together to have community. You can still be connected and not being the close proximity. So it’s up to us to engage and to have uh, that relational equity, to be able to connect to individuals and be in community and read our word and pray and fan into the flame of what God has given us. So God has given us the spirit not of fear, not a fear. We’ve been given a spirit by God. The holy spirit on the inside of us is not a spirit of fear. And the beautiful thing about this is it shows us that it’s okay to be afraid, but it’s not okay to live in fear. It’s okay to be afraid. But it’s not okay to live in fear when fear dominates you. When feel rules you’re thinking when you’re rooted in fear, when you make decisions out of fear, you stray from the path that God has for you because he doesn’t want you to live in fear. The spirit he gave you is not one of fear but one of power. One of love and one of sound. One of a sound Mind. So it’s not one of fear. The thing about being courageous is you have to be afraid and run through that fear. You can be afraid and run through that fear. And that’s when the courage comes. God has given us a spirit not of fear, But of Power, Love and A Sound Mind Isaiah 41 10. Fear not for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God, I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Fear not The Lord says, for I am with you. You think I’ve left you, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I am with you. Do not be dismayed. Do not be downcast. Do not be down hard and for what I am Your God, that’s relationship. That’s relationship that money can’t buy. I am your God and I’m not gonna leave you downcast, I’m not gonna leave you weak. I will strengthen you strengthen you in your weakness. He is strong in your weakness. His strength is made perfect when you’re weak and can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. He gives you grace that sufficient and becomes your strength to help push you through those troubling times. I will help you. Aren’t you glad you have a helper in the time of trouble. Aren’t you glad? You can look to the hills from where your help comes from? Your help? It comes from the Lord, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. God’s right hand is with you, holding you up in times of trouble in times of trial. So God hasn’t given us the Spirit of Fear. No, no, no, no. But but of of power Of power. Have I not commanded you Joshua. 1 9. Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for The Lord. Your God is with you wherever you go. Have I not commanded you? I’ve said this already. I’ve said this already. I’ve said this already. Now go and do it. I’ve said this already, but just in case you need another push. Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened. Do not be dismayed for the Lord. Your God is with you wherever you go. Be strong and courageous. God is our power. God is our strength. Acts chapter 1: verse eight. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem in all judea and samaria and to the ends of the earth God says, you wait and the power will come, You wait and the power will come. And the wonderful thing what I love about the Book of Acts is that when the power came upon them, they were able then to walk in boldness. When the power came upon them, they were able to walk in boldness. Power allows you a way to walk in a way that you wouldn’t normally walk to not be afraid of the things you wouldn’t normally you would normally be afraid of. Why? Because you have the power. They had power. And in the Book of Acts, we see countless times again and again, it says with boldness, they did this with boldness, they said that. And so one of my favorite points when this comes up is in Acts Chapter Four after Peter and john are being ostracized and talked about. It says now when they saw the boldness of Peter and john and they perceived that they were uneducated and common men, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with jesus when they saw that they were educated and uncommon men, many of us in our lives, we think, oh, you know, there’s there’s nothing special about me. You know, I’m just there some just that there’s nothing special about me. But it says when they saw that they were educated uncommon men, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with jesus because someone look at your life and recognize that you have intimacy with jesus recognize that you’re connected to the vine, that you’re connected to jesus the christ. When they saw the boldness of peter end of john, they perceived they were uneducated men, they were astonished, are people amazed and they realized that these people were in close proximity. These people have walked with jesus. These people were with jesus because of their boldness. The spirit, the spirit of Power comes with the presence. The Spirit of Power comes with the presence. Many of us we make a mistake, We go after the power and forsake the presence, not realizing that the power cannot come without the presence, the presence of God. When we just read uh psalm 91 we were celebrating the fact that the pestilence won’t come by us and we’ll dodge this and we’ll dodge that and God’s gonna protect us from this. What is the first two verses say, he who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the Almighty, I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. And then after all this, you see the 1000 fall at your side this falling from here. Why? Because it’s rooted in intimacy. If you’re in the secret place, you have protection, If you’re in the secret place you have relationship, if you’re in the secret place, you have to get intimate with God, especially in these trying times, especially in this day and age, we’ve got to get intimate with the father, we have to get close to jesus, that’s where the power comes in by focusing on the present. And it’s in times like these that we must not shrink back. Church. Sometimes like these, we must have shrink back. You can’t afford to shrink back and to stop because in times like these, the boldness of the church is needed at times like these, the gospel of jesus christ now, more than ever is needed. It’s in times like these that we do not waver theologian A W Tozer said this, he said a scared world needs a fearless church, A scared world needs a fearless church. And so it’s time for us, Saints of God not to move in fear but to move in faith. It’s time for a Saints of God to be bold. It’s time for a saints of God to be brave. While the world is making decisions rooted in fear and panic, let’s rise up in faith and draw near to the Father and show the world that the Church of jesus christ cannot be stopped. Let’s show the world that we can mobilize, come together, strategize, execute worship, read our text, pray and seek the face of the God that we serve. And even when we are in isolation, we’re still connected by the blood of the lamb. Hey, even when we’re in isolation, we’re still connected by the blood of the lamb. Even if my brother is overseas, even if my sister is in another country, we’re still connected because the blood is what keeps us together, the blood is what covers us. The blood of jesus christ is what makes us knew. The blood of jesus christ is what connects us. The blood keeps us connected, it keeps us strong and I know the songwriter said that it reaches to the highest mountains and it flows to the lowest valleys and the blood that gives me strength from day today, today will never lose its power. The same blood that gives me strength today is the same blood that’s gonna give me strength for tomorrow. The blood of jesus christ that gives me strength for yesterday is the same blood that gives me gonna give me strength next week, the same blood of jesus christ that gives me strength next week is the same blood that’s gonna keep me next month and the month after and the month after and the year after that until christ comes back, the blood of jesus christ will never lose its power. Let me hear you make some noise for jesus in this place, you’ve got a shout of praise Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, you need to plead the blood of jesus over your life, plead the blood, especially in these times in this climate, plead the blood of jesus over your Children, pray the blood of jesus over your family, just as moses and the Israelites had the blood of the lamb sprinkled over their doorstep. You need to go to your house, you need to pray over your home. You need to pray over your finances. You need to pray over your Children. You need to pray over yourself from the crown of your head to the sole of your feet. You need to engage in spiritual walk there and go to battle for the things that matter to you. You need to engage in spiritual walk there and plead the blood of the lamb over yourself, over your family, over your finances, over your future over this house. Thank you Lord for this house. Thank you for Bethel Gospel Tabernacle, Thank you for those that are listening, thank you for those that are watching. Thank you for those that are present. We plead the blood of jesus over our families, over our finances, over our bodies over our minds, we plead the blood of jesus. Thank you Lord. The blood of jesus didn’t suddenly get weak once coronavirus came through the same power that conquered the grave is on the inside of us, alive, on the inside of us, the same blood that was shed gives us freedom from our sin protects us from the hand of the enemy. We have power through christ, jesus. And what I realized is that churches all over the nation today have closed their doors and our meeting online. Now there’s wisdom in that, I’m not knocking it, I’m not throwing any jabs at it. There’s wisdom in that it’s a beautiful picture of what the church is able to do through technology in the 21st century. It would not be able to be done in any other time in human history. And this honestly is bringing us closer to the, to the church in the book of acts, the early church who had to meet in homes and had to meet in small pockets rather than large gatherings. And so how committed are you to attending or you are committed enough to roll out of bed, wake up and stream and and connect with somebody online, you know? And so I think it’s important for the church to engage in that way because it shows that the internet is a tool that the body of christ can use to advance the kingdom of God. That that, that it’s so important because what we realize is that the church is so, uh, it’s important for the church to work together and important for the church to take this step and realize that the Church of jesus christ can’t be stopped, that we can’t be stopped, that the fact that churches everywhere saying, look, we’re not meeting in a physical location, but we’re meeting online. that’s power. But I do think it’s important to note that we’re here today. Number one, because there is power in the press, there is power in the press. I believe that when jesus came and asked his disciples to pray and came back and said, could you not wait with me one hour? Could you not wait with me a while? The fact that you got up in these turbulent times and came and press your away. There’s power in the press and coming through even through difficult situations. There’s also power in the fact that yes, of course we do, uh we do need tides and offerings. This is the House of God. And of course considering the church’s financial situation, and keep considering the fact that we have this moving forward theme in mind, that does not stop because we are where we are, the church still needs contributions of its givers and generous contributions to to either an offering and those online as well, uh to be able to support the ministry, because just because the world is, is the world isn’t gonna is not stopping turning So, the things that are still do are still do, and the things that we have to handle, we still have to handle. So, it’s important for us uh, to continue to meet those obligations. So I’m so grateful for those that came out and those that are watching that are continuously uh willing to sow into what God is doing because we’re still moving forward and more importantly, the church as a beacon I think is coming together as a beacon to show the world but also ourselves that even in difficult times, God is not unreachable, we can still reach for God together even through difficult times. And I believe that this precaution, these safety measures, all of these things were taken because of our love for you, because of our love for the people that are coming out. We’re making sure that things are a specific way and it’s a little bit different and a little bit, you know, taxing, but it’s gotta get done because of our love for you. So God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power of love and of love and of a sound mind. But we have to love, We have to love a new commandment I give to you that we love one another, John Chapter 13, just as I have loved you, you are able to love one another by this. You will know, people will know that you are my disciples. If you have love for one another, How well do you love your brother? How well do you love your sister? It’s time for the church to love one another. It’s time for the church to encourage one another. It’s time for the church to pick up the phone to make the calls to do the visits to do what we have to do to show the world and one another that we love one another through jesus christ. They will know we are believers and disciples of christ by our love by this, we know love that he laid down his life for us. So we too ought to lay down our lives for the brothers, john chapter one, excuse me first, john chapter three verse 16 through 18, but if anyone has the world’s goods, sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him. How does God’s love abide in him? Little Children, let us not love in word or in talk, but in deed and in truth, it’s one thing to talk about is another thing to be about it. And for us as the church, we have to pray, especially in this season when uh interaction is discouraged, we have to pray about how we can be a blessing to the world, how we can be a blessing to those that are in need, how we can be the church and be the hands and feet of jesus christ while we are here, it is time for the church to get active. It is time for the church to get active to act in love and demonstrate the love of christ through these turbulent times. So God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power of love and lastly of a sound mind self control. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Hello again. Pastor Roderick CAesar third here. Thank you so much for watching. My prayer is that you were blessed. You are encouraged and strengthened by that message. If you would like to be a blessing to the ministry, you can text B g t F I 277977. Again, you can text b g t F I 277977 to sow a seed into the ministry. And we thank you. Thank you so much for your generosity. Or you can visit our website at B g t f I dot us for more information. Thank you so much. Once again, I hope you are blessed. I’m praying for you. We love you here at Bethel, God bless.