Hamilton Elim Church
11 August 2024 - Heart Of The Matter: Faith Over Fear
Today we've got Michelle Foster's going to bring the word she bought this message at our replenish conference. I also got to say, look, you've got to share this, I felt really the Holy Spirit was leading. So this message needs to come for our morning service. So please put your hand together for Michelle Foster. Thank you, Ants. Thank you, church. What a morning to celebrate, right? This has been such a good day so far. And it is actually my privilege to join you on this day of celebration, to share this message with you. And as Pastor Ants said, I recently shared this at our woman's conference. And I believe it's relevant, especially today, with all the stresses and strains that people are facing in life, no matter what age you are, and one that's been on my heart for a while. So when Pastor Ants asked me to share it again, I thought, well, you know what? Even from the conversations I heard this morning, from people that already heard it at conference, they said, I picked up something different today, and that's what God told me. He said, I can read the Bible 50 times, and I can still pick up something different every time. So someone needs to hear this today. So what I am going to talk to you about today is having faith over fear. Hopefully, I will encourage you. Because I want to give you strategies to help you do this, because I know that it's easier said than done. And what I'd love to do today is stand up here and tell you that, since giving my heart to God eight years ago, my life has been easy. And I'm sure you know what I mean, right? I mean, is it an amazing how with God on our side, there are things that we never have to worry about anymore. I mean, I for one, no longer wake at 2am in the morning thinking about something I did 20 years ago, and the guilt I still feel from it today. I do not get guilt from the decisions I've made as a parent, that make me a bad parent. Or when I'm sick, I never freak out, and Dr. Google. Never usually leads me to planning my funerals. Thank you, Portal Shush. She's the first one I call and go, oh my gosh, do you know what I've got? But I never do that, neither would you, I'm sure. I never get anxiety, I never feel stressed about finances, about work, about family. And I don't play worst-case scenarios in my head that will probably never happen. I mean, I could go on. Now, the question that I have for you all today, after hearing those things, is, do you believe? Not do you believe what I've just said, because I think I know the answer, and I'm sure you couldn't possibly relate to any of those things. But do you believe that with God, life is actually easier? Now, where most of us as Christians ask this question, naturally we're going to say, yes, of course we do. But that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking, do you believe it? How strong is your faith when the fear kicks in? And the reason that I've asked that question today is because it's one I've asked myself many times, and I'm trying to ask at least and do it more. It's too easy to say, yes, I believe that with God, all things, I can do all things in life is easier. But believing it versus saying it gives you two different outcomes. Most of us know the parable of the mustard seed. Jesus said, truly, I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. Jesus wanted to highlight that it doesn't take much faith for God to work in a person, but even the disciples needed to believe it just as we do. The kingdom of heaven may have started small, but it grew and expanded immensely as it still does today. That seed grew into a tree provided refuge and sustenance. It provided provision and shelter for the birds and the animals and the people who used to rest under it. Jesus used the mustard seed analogy to illustrate the power of even the smallest amount of faith. He emphasized that faith, no matter how small it may appear, can grow and produce remarkable outcomes. Faith the size of a mustard seed is a powerful faith indeed. So if we have this faith as small as this seed, what mountains can we move? What are the mountains that Jesus is referring to? What do these mountains look like today? Do any of these sound familiar? Anxiety, depression, fear, worry, doubt, comparison, sickness, addiction, guilt? I could go on. And again, I ask the question, do you believe that your faith is like a mustard seed? Because even the smallest amount when deep-rooted can grow into something so worthy and so strong that you can move those mountains. That you can look them in the eye and say, "My faith in God and his will for me is stronger than my fear. It's the strength of God through your faith that moves the mountains." It reminds me of this movie Labyrinth, which I remember showing my kids when they were teenagers, and I was like, "Oh my gosh, you have to see this movie. It's so cool." And they watched and I went, "Mom, seriously, it's puppets. Is that what you called good?" It's like, "Okay, we've come a long way since then." But when Sarah is facing Jared at the end and he's promising to give her everything she ever wanted, sound familiar? Isn't that what the enemy tempts us with? Everything seems hopeless and she's just about to lose it all and she looks him straight in the eye. She remembers what she knows and she says, "You have no power over me." That's the authority that we have been given through Jesus. We have that authority, look the enemy in the eye and say, "You have no power over me." If we truly deepen our hearts, believe it, watch the power of God move. And if you haven't seen it, have a look at this clip. Through dangers and tones and hardships, I have thought that we're here to the castle beyond the godland city. My will is as strong as yours and my ship. Wait. Looks sad. Look what I am offering. Your dream is. And my kingdom is great. I ask for so little. Just let me rule you. And you can have everything that you want. Kingdom is great. Damn. I can never remember that lie. Just fear me. Love me. Do as I say, and I will be your slave. Kingdom is great. You can do as well. Great. You have no power over me. Oh, no. Isn't it that simple? Like I said, we've been given the authority to look the enemy in the eye and say, "You have no power over me." And isn't it funny how when you watch movies from way back that you thought we'll call, even though we know there's movies about good and evil when you look it through a Christian perspective, you go, "Oh, wait. I get that now." Okay. Let me love you. Just fear me. Let me rule you. I'll give you everything. Well, I know who I want ruling me and it's certainly not the enemy and it's certainly not fear. Now, look, I'm not saying that it's easy to have this kind of faith because we are human and fear has a way of creeping in. And that's exactly what the enemy wants you to believe. He wants you to believe you're alone. You're not worthy. You're worthless. You've got nothing to offer. He wants to sow different seeds in your hearts and your minds. Let's not forget that Jesus himself says in John 10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that you may have life and have it to the full." Anxiety, depression, rejection, addiction. Those are just branches of a tree that are not of God. He wants you to get to the root of these issues. How? Well, what are you feeding your seed? Now, I told you I was going to be encouraging today, so there is good news. And I believe there are four things that we can do in our lives to grow that seed of faith into something so strong and so genuine that we cause the enemy to shake so hard that the ground falls beneath his feet, not ours. I want to demonstrate this with these plants and I've got my lovely helper here. So, in the beginning, God planted the seed in all our hearts. The next steps are up to us because he gave us free will. So first, how do we do this? We seek God. How? By reading his scripture and reading his word. The Bible tells us exactly what God wants from us time and time again. He could not have made it more obvious how much he loves you. Every single person in this room, he adores. By pushing into his word, you are filling your heart and growing that seed with what is true, not the doubt and the fear and the what-ifs the enemy is trying to tell you. When you have a health scare, what do you do? Do you doctor Google or do you open the word of God and read just like I do every time? If God has given us, I'm sorry, then the verse says, "For the Spirit of God does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline." And if God has given us self-discipline, or as it sees in some translations, a sound mind, then shouldn't we be thinking of the truths of the right now and not the what-ifs of tomorrow? You know, you can't think a positive and a negative thought at the same time. Your brain has not been created by your creator that way. It's impossible. So there isn't enough room in our mind for both worry and faith. You decide what lives there. Reading his word is full of positive truths. So as you can see when we do that, our seed begins to grow. Secondly, pray. Now if you know me, you know, I am a huge advocate for prayer. I've been praying for my family to come to church for a very long time, a very long time. I'm trying not to get emotional because I purposely didn't do this when my mum was here this morning, but my mum came to church this morning to listen to me speak, something she never thought who she would see who daughter do. She told me she would never step foot in the church again and she sat right there in the front this morning. Prayer is powerful. Do not stop. I'm going to keep praying that she comes back and I'm going to keep praying for the rest of my family to be sitting in that front row because you know why? My faith tells me to believe my god can do it. It doesn't say pray. I'm sorry. It says do not be anxious about anything, but in what? Every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends some understanding or all, all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds and Christ Jesus. It doesn't say pray and then go back to being anxious. It doesn't say pray then think about the worst case scenario. It doesn't say pray and stay up all night playing it over in your head. It doesn't say that. It says pray in all situations let your request be known and he will guard your heart and your mind. So you tell yourself when those thoughts jump back in your head you have no power over me and just as discussed go back to his word. Read the truth then pray again. Pray diligently like how often you need oxygen because prayer is like oxygen for the soul. Thirdly we have relationship. I personally talk to God all day. It's okay. He made me. He knows. He knows what I'm like. Okay. I'm sure when he was making me there was a little bit of sugar a whole lot of spice and the lid came off the talking. But that's okay. He's now using it, right? I pray and I talk to him like he is there with me all the time because you know what? He is. And he is with you too. He is our constant companion in our daily walk every single day. In Hebrews 11 6 it says and without faith, without it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and he will reward those who earnestly seek him. God wants nothing more than for us to believe in him. He wants us to seek him and he wants a relationship with us and we should want that with him. Our faith keeps him fully activated in our lives and I challenge you to try it and my family and Matt will back me up on this. I will pull up to a roundabout and I will say get please Lord and I can guarantee you that that busy roundabout the cars will start tuning that way. I can pull into a parking lot that is absolutely chock-full and I will say park please Lord but not parallel and a car will pull out. Matt has been with me many times. My kids even say it now because the difference is I don't say it and not believe that God can't do it. I say it and I believe it and as I go through the roundabout I say thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. I just talk to him all the time. Like I said he made me he knows. I even pray before I go shopping and I ask God to bless my shopping and you know what if came out it's lying and I don't need that thing I thought I needed then it won't be there but time and time again when I don't need it it is there sometimes it is the last one on the shelf and I go thank you Jesus because he's there he's shopping with me it's his money it's his stuff. So have a relationship with him and I challenge you take this week with everything you do go get please Lord park please park you angel Lord can you help me with this? Lord can you help me with that? Bless my shopping watch him move but the difference is if you're saying it and not believing it nothing will happen. Say it and believe it and see what happens. That's my challenge to you this week. Now the fourth element is reflect and it's been able to reflect on your faith. See what's happening with our seed? I'm not standing up here today saying oh I've got it all sorted my life is perfect no no no no the reason I can stand here today is in share this with you is because I constantly choose to reflect on God's goodness and I actively choose to make my attitude one of gratitude for example as I was saying as Pastor Ansel was saying I got asked to speak at conference a few weeks ago and last year I think I spoke as well and every time I must speak I go through a health thing I don't know why maybe I'm not meant to speak anymore we'll see. No and then you know what coming up to conference I went through a health thing again and I went okay yep cool that's kind of expected you know I'm on the phone to pass the portal going I didn't talk to Google but I did but I didn't and I was like okay she was like you know why this is happening and I said yeah okay I do I do know why this is happening so that's fine so this time I rebuked it I rebuked anything new coming at me because I was going to speak again I've already shared this message what does the enemy want with it? Well apparently I didn't rebuke what I already have and the infusions that I had didn't work so I had to go back last week and have more because he could only use what I'd already given him this time I rebuked anything new so again I was like God why does it have to be a health thing though every time I get up to speak and you know what he said to me you want to talk about it then you got to go through it you see if we choose to give into the thoughts the doubt the fear the anxiety the depression the anger can you imagine what that's doing to that seed so I ask you this when those mountains begin to rise up will you push into God's word will you pray will you seek him will you reflect on the small things he does in your life each and every day and focus on the gratitude because I can tell you now if you're looking for the gratitude you will see the gratitude if you are looking for the depression and the anger and the guilt and anything that is not of God that is what you will see so you have a choice when the doubt creeps them are you then going to stop reading God's word and think what's the point are you going to stop praying and stop talking to the only one who's got your back and can get you through this is your seed going to wither and die or are you going to push into what you say you believe and watch the roots take hold through God's strength reflect on how Jesus lived his life what would he have done how would he have reacted the more we seek and pray and long for a relationship and reflect on him the more we are able to live like him and show kindness empathy and compassion and you know not only to others but to ourselves as well here's something to reflect on when we find ourselves in a dark place we can choose whether it's a burial or a planting now this brings us back full circle to our mustard seed Jesus said faith like a mustard seed can move a mountain but there's a part that many people don't consider when God doesn't move the mountain you're facing does your faith the last when Peter walked on water towards Jesus which he was able to do because of his faith he made a mistake he looked down and he realized he was walking on water then he looked around him and focused on the storm and he began to sink Jesus reached for him and pulled him out of the water and said ye of little faith now Jesus wasn't saying he didn't have faith to begin with but his faith didn't last and he took his eyes off Jesus and put his eyes on the storm and sometimes we expect God to just slide that mountain out of the way in one go and when it doesn't happen we stop believing but what if God is actually moving that mountain one rock at a time what if he is asking do you have a faith that lasts do you have a faith that will go through the process as i move each rock the reason that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains is because any amount of faith is a faith that God can use so i'm going to share this short skip with you that demonstrates this and i know some of you have seen it i played at a conference just a few weeks ago and i looked around thinking do i play this one again lord and it just keeps coming back to me and even this morning i had someone come up to me and go i saw it at woman's but today my kids were sitting next to me and i saw it different and every time i watch it it just reminds me how good our god is and as we're doing that our team's going to pass you around a basket and in that basket is the verse with an actual mustard seed and it's for you to keep put in your car put in your handbag put wherever you like but anytime you're struggling just take a look at it remember this and know that we've got an amazing god i love that skirt that's the god that we serve that's the god that can take that tiny little bit of faith who never stops protecting you who never stops reaching for you and he can use it to move your mountains those mountains that are holding you down they are like chains wrapped around your branches and it's time to break them off they are weighing you down because the enemy wants you looking down he wants you looking at him and we need the kind of faith no matter what comes at us we fight our way back to jesus we fight our way back to god did it look easy no am i standing up here telling you it's so easy no but with faith it's easier and god will move if you think those mountains coming at you are hard what is god holding back what are you not even seeing what is he already protecting you from we need to keep our eyes up towards the top of the mountain where god is reaching for you a tiny faith that lasts is a big faith that succeeds so as we finish with this song i pray that that's encouraged you today and gave you some strategies to take away and hold that little seed and know that's all it takes when i'm going through a moment that's all it takes because he is protecting me from so much more and he's the only one that will get me through that storm do not take your eyes off jesus so church as we stand and sing let's reach up to him let go and let go there is power in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus to break every chain break every chain break every chain there is power in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus to break every chain break every chain break every chain there is power in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus there is power in the name of jesus to break every chain break every chain break every chain to break every chain break every chain break every chain