Trophy Faith

Deuteronomy is considered to be Jesus’ favorite book. It is believed that Deuteronomy is the one that Jesus most often quoted from when He was quoting Scripture. If it was Jesus’ favorite book, then perhaps it ought to have some top place in our own lives, in our own hearts. Deuteronomy, just by way of background, the name means “second law.” By the time you get to Deuteronomy, the children of Israel, I mean this is forty years past the exodus. There’s an older generation that has died off, we’ll talk a little bit more about that in our time together, but by this point what’s happening is that Moses is still leading the people. He has been told by God already that he is not going to lead the children of Israel into something called the “Promised Land.” He is going to die before then, God told him that, “You’re going to die. You’re not going into the Promised Land,” and said, “I’m going to use Joshua to lead the people.” Moses already knows this. There’s no jealousy, no bitterness. He is willing to hand it all over—the leadership portion of that—to Joshua. But what he is doing here in the book of Deuteronomy is giving a last charge, final instructions, to the children of Israel before he hands them off to Joshua and Joshua leads them into the Promised Land.

Many of us are familiar with the book of Joshua and Jericho and all those incredible stories. Well, Joshua took over after Moses. Moses knows that he’s sending the people into the Promised Land with Joshua, and like a good leader, like a good dad who knows that he’s about to make his exit, is giving final instructions. Taking it all the way back, the reason that Deuteronomy is called “second law” is not because it’s an additional law to the first Ten Commandments that were given. It’s not like it’s a second "Ten Commandments” or anything like that. What it is is it’s a re-telling. He’s reminding the children of Israel, all through the book of Deuteronomy, “Hey, this is what we have, this is what we learned, this is what we received, and you need to continue doing those things when you go into the Promised Land with Joshua.” That’s why it’s called “second law.” It’s not an additional law, but it’s just a second re-telling of the law. It’s an excellent book.

In Deuteronomy 3:1, I’ve got three main divisions (some of you are note takers). We’ve got the command to conquer, verses 1-2; the actual conquering, verses 3-11; and the command to continue, verses 18-22. We pick it up in verse 1 in that section called “command to conquer,” verses 1-2. It says, “Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.” This is just a continuation. As Moses was writing it down, he didn’t stop at the end of Deuteronomy 2 and say, “Uh, you know what? I think I’ll start a new chapter here.” He’s just writing an account and keeping an historical record of all of this.

What happened in the previous chapter was they’re getting closer and closer to going into the Promised Land. There are some outline cities and people and kingdoms outside of the Promised Land, and what God did in Deuteronomy 2 is tell them, “Okay, we’re going here next. Okay, leave these people alone, and don’t even bother them, just keep walking past. Get to the next people group, just leave those people alone.” Although, He did begin in the second chapter, the previous chapter to tell them, “Okay, this people group you can attack. I want you to attack them. I want you to take their land, take what they have.” That’s what’s going on in Deuteronomy 3. He says they, “…turned and went up the road to Bashan,”—so, they’re going to Bashan, this place called Bashan—“and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.” So, Og, king of Bashan, comes out. He hears and knows that these people, potentially there are millions of Jews out there in this caravan, this journey, are coming toward him. No doubt, that must have scared him, that must have alarmed him, so he decides he’s going to gather his army and go out to fight the Israelites. He does not obviously understand that God is with these people. Let’s find out what happens.

In Deuteronomy 3:2, “And the LORD said to me, ‘Do not fear him,’”—so we get the command to conquer here in verse 2, but that command to conquer, look what it says, “And the LORD said to me, ‘Do not fear him.’” Just so we’re all clear, that is a command. He didn’t ask a question, “Would you please not be afraid of King Og of Bashan?” He commands Moses and the children of Israel, “‘Do not fear him,’ and then goes on to say, ‘for I have delivered him, and all his people and his land into your hand; you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.’” We’ll talk about Sihon, king of the Amorites, in just a moment.

I want you to see first of all this command to conquer. There’s a command to conquer here. When God says to him, “…for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand,” what God is telling Moses and the children of Israel is this. He’s saying to them, “These people, Og of Bashan and all of the people, this army, they’ve already been delivered into your hand.” God has already delivered them. What He’s saying is, “Moses, you need to lead the people into battle and just take over the land. It’s already yours; I’ve already given it to you. All you need to do is go in and claim it.” So, there’s the command to conquer there.

Notice a couple of incredible things, okay? He tells them, “Do not fear him.” Easy for You to say, God. I always laugh when I come across these portions, and there have been lots of them in the first five books of the Bible, where God says to somebody, “Hey, you’re going up against this person or that person or this army. Don’t be afraid.” Easy for You to say, You’re God. Here, again, “Do not be afraid of them.” We will find out, and we’ll look into it a little bit more in just a few verses, that Og, king of Bashan, not only is he the king of Bashan and he’s coming out with an army…and keep in mind the Israelites are campers. They’ve been out in the wilderness. They don’t have a homebase from which they can kind of muster up all their ammo and get their cannons loaded and all those things. They’re on the move. Og, king of Bashan, is coming out of his city, out of his country, and he’s geared up ready for war. What you don’t know here yet, but you will find out, is that this Og, king of Bashan, evidently was a very large man, even perhaps a giant.

God says to Moses, “Hey, do not be afraid of him. I know, I know, I know that they have large, tall walls and fortified cities, and I know you’re living in a tent, but don’t be afraid of them. Don’t worry about it.” Easy for You to say, God, yet God so often does that. Here’s what I also like, when God says, “Do not fear,” He always gives us a reason not to fear. Amen, church? He always gives us a reason, and He gave them a reason. Here’s what He says, verse 2, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand,” so He gives the people, as He commands them not to fear, a basis from which to not fear. He gives them a reason to be fearless. “I want you to be fearless,” and then gives them the reason. The reason is because He has already done the hard work. He’s already delivered. It’s not, “I am going to deliver.” He uses past tense here, “…for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand.” “It’s already a done deal,” He tells Moses.

In the event that you do not understand this, what I’m about to share with you is one of the many reasons why I love going through these Old Testament books. This is because we learn some very basic doctrines about God—how does God operate? What is it that He does? How does He do it? and all those things. We learn so much of that in these Old Testament books, these narratives. I want you to see what God does here, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand.” He’s telling him, “All you need to do is go into the land and just go take it. Yes, they’re there, but they’re already done; and you just gotta go through and sweep up.” This is what you and I would refer to as faith. The Old Testament, the New Testament, lots of differences, sure; however, Old Testament, New Testament, everything was by faith.

It’s always been about a life of faith. It’s always been. You say, “Oh, but what about the Ten Commandments and the rules and all the regulations and the statues and the judgments that they were supposed to do?” Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, all by faith. As you go back and begin to read through Deuteronomy, because I know you will, what you are going to find out is, “Oh! It’s always been about faith.” Yes, they had Ten Commandments; yes, they had statues; yes, they had judgments, things to govern their lives; however, they still needed to obey all of those things and operate in faith. What did God just tell Moses and the children of Israel? He said, “Listen, yeah, I know. I know Og, king of Bashan,” I mean look at the name, Og—original gangster, O-G, right? It’s like, “Who is this dude?” This dude is bad, right? Og of Bashan! He’s got his own gang, Bashan! We’re even going to find out in a few verses about the length of his bed.

Some people believe that he could’ve been 11-13 feet tall! It’s a bad dude. He’s still there, and his army is still there, but, “God, You want us to go ahead and attack and wipe them out and go in and take all of his possessions? Gotcha.” It was still a matter of faith. It was still a decision that needed to be made on behalf of Moses and the children of Israel. They had to operate in faith. If they wanted to be obedient to God, if they wanted to take over this land, and if they wanted to defeat this king and his army, they needed to operate in faith. They needed to believe that though they could see the people there, God had already declared those people a done deal. “Even though we can see them, God, You’re saying that they’re already done, huh? Okay.” They had to operate in faith. It has never been any different, never been any different. You go back and start reading for yourself, you’ll see that God has always dealt with faith.

I want you to see this command to conquer here, verses 1-2. The command in verse 2 to be done, He’s commanding them to conquer without fear. If you are a note taker, verse 2, without fear. “And the LORD said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.’” You see, He gives them something to look back on. In the previous chapter, Deuteronomy 2, if you go back and read, you will find out that this Sihon, king of the Amorites, was defeated. God is communicating with Moses and says, “Listen, the same thing that you just did, you’re going to do the same thing to Og, king of Bashan.” He’s giving them something to base their fearlessness on, “I want you to be fearless. I want you to tackle this task, and I want you to be fearless about it. Do not be afraid of this man or his army because the same thing that you did to Sihon—which they didn’t really do it, it was obviously God, and God and Moses both understand that—is going to happen to Og. All you have to do is go in and claim it. You’ve got to activate your faith and move forward and claim that. It’s hard though, isn’t it. It’s so very difficult to operate by faith. Yes or no, church? Yes! That’s what we’re doing here.

Have you ever stopped to think…I was sitting there worshiping. I was thinking, because normally I’d be in the high school room and its busyness and last minute things and this and that. I’m sitting there and had a chance to actually think. It’s like, What’re we all doing here at church on a Wednesday night? Do you remember, do you remember? We would not have been caught dead in a church on a Wednesday night, let alone a Sunday, and now you’re family. They just think that you are a freak, “You’re going to church on a Wednesday night?” “Yes.” “Didn’t you go on Sunday?” “Yes.” “Why are you going back? Give God a break. What’re you doing?” Yet, here we are. I’m sitting watching all of you people. You people are standing up and raising your hands and worshiping God and so excited to be here; and we are excited, aren’t we. We come here because, man, out there in the world we’re getting beat up and all stretched out. We come here and get to hear the Word of God and our faith is strengthened, and we leave here full of joy. Then, we get on the freeway and lose it all. Hopefully not, but we’re here building up our faith, right? That’s what we’re doing. That’s what we’re doing.

To operate by faith without fear, I mean that’s a difficult task, difficult task; but that’s what we’re doing here. We’re in the process of being changed, and people get all angry and upset at the church, “Oh, you people are hypocrites.” “Yeah, I know. Join the club.” God’s in the process of changing us. We’re learning about this life of faith. We all want to operate in faith without fear. We all want to operate that way, but we’re still struggling. God, here, is teaching His people, “Look, this is how faith operates. This is what you gotta do,” and God commands them, “You’ve gotta do that without fear. You gotta do that without fear. You cannot let fear rule your life.”

We move on to our second section, which is the conquering, verses 3-11. We see right away in verse 3 that this conquering was complete. If you are a note taker—conquering, verse 3, complete. It was complete. “So the LORD our God also delivered into our hands Og king of Bashan,”—there it is, He kept His promise—“with all his people, and we attacked him until he had no survivors remaining.” You see, both parties in this deal here did their part. In fact, God did deliver. They went in, swept up, mopped up, job done; but God did all the work. They never would have known had they not gone in.

This gives us an opportunity for just a moment to tell you about a previous account. For those of you that do not know, I mentioned at the beginning that at this point in Deuteronomy 3, we’re forty years into the story. Why did they not go into the Promised Land forty years prior? In fact, they were supposed to. In fact, God led them to the border, Kadesh Barnea, and God said, “Okay, time to go in. Take over the Promised Land. It’s yours. You gotta go in. You gotta wipe all the people out and move in.” But the people, rather than operating in faith, that older generation that came out of Egypt as slaves, instead of operating by faith, they chose fear. They operated in fear and said, “No. We cannot go into the Promised Land.” In other words, “God, we don’t trust You, and we’re not following You anywhere.”

Because of that, God said, “Okay. If you are not going to operate by faith—you’re going to choose fear over faith in God—He said, “Okay. What we’re going to do is I’m going to march you around the wilderness for forty years until all of the older, faithless generation dies off,” and then He said, “I will use the younger generation. They’ll follow Me, they’ll go in. They’ll operate in faith.” That’s what’s happening here. This is that generation. This is their kids and grandkids. They’re now grown, and they’re going into the Promised Land; and so far, they’re operating in faith. Now, they’re certainly not perfect, and you can see that as you read through the story, but they are operating by faith and get to experience all that their parents never got to experience, verse 3, “So the LORD our God also delivered into our hands Og king of Bashan, with all his people, and we attacked him until he had no survivors remaining,”—not one left, not one left. They got to experience that.

It’s the same thing for you and me. We will never experience all that God wants for us to experience unless we are operating in faith. As long as you and I are constrained by fear, as long as you and I are looking at Og and not at God, we will never experience all that God wants for us. We’re always going to struggle. Some of you are very familiar with what I’m talking about right now, and probably all of us are very familiar with what I’m talking about right now in different areas of our lives. We all struggle with different things, and we may have faith that God can heal me of cancer, but I don’t have enough faith to go to the store in the bad part of town. Isn’t that funny how we do that? You know, “Hallelujah, I believe God. You’ve got sickness and God’s going to deliver you, He’s going to free you.” “Okay, can we stop by the store?” “Not that one, mm mmm! That’s in the ghetto, mm mmm. We cannot go there because God can deliver me over here, but I don’t even think God goes to that store.”

We all struggle with faith and fear in different areas in our lives. As long as you and I are choosing fear, we’re going to be missing out. It’s going to stunt our growth spiritually. But I do not have to explain that to you, do I, church, because you know I know, we know what that’s all about because there are some areas where faith, man, we’re flying high, and then other areas where we’re failing. It’s a struggle.

Here, we see, operating in faith, the people were blessed in their obedience. As they obeyed God, they got to see God work in miraculous, incredible ways—no one left. Verse 4 begins a section where they talk about the conquering, “And we took all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5 All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many rural towns. 6 And we utterly destroyed them,”—this is going to bother some of you here—“as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children,”—yes, you heard that right—“and children of every city. 7 But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as booty for ourselves,”—as treasures for themselves.

I do not have time to go into a long explanation here, but obviously that has troubled many, many, many, many people over the years. Why would God command the killing of not only the men, the soldiers, the warriors, but also the women and the children? We don’t understand that because we’re picturing Ma and Pa Ingalls, and we’re like, “Man, they’re just there minding their own business making pies and working the field. They’re just sweet people. Man, why would God do this?”

It does not take long, and again, we do not have the time to go into this, but you go fact check this. Investigate the Canaanites. See what their worship was like. See what sorts of things they were into. A basic knowledge of Canaanite culture reveals its inherent, moral wickedness. The Canaanites were a brutal, aggressive people who engaged in beastiality, incest, and even child sacrifice. Deviant sexual acts were the norm. The Canaanites’ sin was so repellent that God actually said in Leviticus 18:25, “…and the land vomits out its inhabitants.” These were not pleasant people. These were not sweet people. These were not wonderful, loving people. These were wicked people, and God had given them some three or four hundred years to repent and they had not, so God orders the destruction of all of them because they must all be wiped out. Not one can be left. You've got to uproot them all. If you’re moving in, you've got to get rid of it all. All the things that the Canaanites were into would have been ingrained in those children even. They would have grown, had they been left, to hate the Israelites and caused problems.

Now, just so you know, before we move on, Joshua was told, “Go in, wipe out all the Promised Land.” He did not do that. Guess who ended up giving them problems in the future? Anybody want to take a wild guess? The Canaanites. They just always would, they always would. Some of them actually got saved. Anybody ever heard of a woman named Rahab? God is merciful. If the person is repenting, God is going to show mercy.

However, let’s move on. Verse 8, “And at that time we took the land from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were on this side of the Jordan, from the River Arnon to Mount Hermon,”—we’ll skip down to verse 11 because that picks up our story—“For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants,”—rephaim, not the Nephilim, that was before the flood. There’s so many crazy stories. Rephaim were the giants. “Indeed his bedstead was an iron bedstead,”—I guess this is a big boy. Moses writing says—“(Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?)” I guess at the writing, there was a place where you could still go see Og’s bedstead. “Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit.” Basically, it was a big bed for a big guy, but now he is no more.

What you are I are going to do is skip down to verse 18 and read some of the verses there. We’ll stop at verse 22 in a few minutes. We’re nearing the end here, so remain hopeful. Here in verses 18-22, this is called the command to continue, the command to continue. What do we have so far? A command to conquer, verses 1-2; we have the conquering, verses 3-11; and then skipping down, verses 18-22, the command to continue. In verse 18 we read this, “Then I commanded you at that time, saying: ‘The LORD your God has given you this land to possess. All you men of valor shall cross over armed before your brethren, the children of Israel.”

He begins here to talk for a few verses to a group, two-and-a-half tribes. There were twelve tribes, he’s talking to two-and-a-half of them. They had made a deal beforehand, and two-and-a-half tribes were not going to cross over the Jordan and go into the Promised Land. They asked to stay on the other side, on the east side of the Jordan. They didn’t want to go in. Moses got angry at them and they struck up a deal and agreed, “Okay, you can stay on that side, however, all of your men of war need to come with us into the Promised Land. Once we’ve conquered all of the land, then you can go back to your homes.” They had made that deal, so they’re being reminded of that in these verses. He’s telling them, verse 18, “All you men of valor shall cross over armed before your brethren, the children of Israel.”

Let’s skip down to verse 21 because we get…I was going to say a young man, but by this time he’s not a young man anymore. He’s an older man. Verse 21 says, “And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying,”—here’s Joshua, Moses is not angry at him, he’s not jealous, he’s not envious. This is the one that God chose. Look what Moses does—older man to the younger man—“And I commanded Joshua at that time,”—notice, “I commanded him.” Notice what Moses is doing—the same thing that God did to him, he’s turning around and doing that to Joshua. Moses was commanded, look what he does, “And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings,”—you saw it with your own eyes, Joshua—“so will the LORD do to all the kingdoms through which you pass. 22 You must not fear them, for the LORD your God Himself fights for you.’”

In case you missed it, look at verse 18 again, “Then I commanded you at that time, saying: ‘The LORD your God has given you this land to possess,’”—it’s past tense. In God’s mind, the land is already theirs. It says He, “has given.” It’s a done deal. All that is missing now is an activation of their faith. They need to decide faith over fear. Here they are at the threshold getting ready to cross over like their fathers and grandfathers were so many years prior. Here they are at the same spot, “What’re you going to do? What’re you going to do?” He speaks to Joshua and says, “I’m commanding you. You’ve seen what God can do. You saw it with your own eyes. He’s going to do the same thing. Every land that you pass through,” verse 22, “You must not fear them, for the LORD your God Himself fights for you.’”

In my humanity, in my mind, I’m differentiating here. We don’t read this in the Scripture, I’m sharing my own personal view on this. What I’m about to share with you is not necessarily scriptural, but I think, I’m of the opinion, that Joshua was scared. He’s about to take over for Moses. Imagine that! I would be terrified. I would’ve snuck out in the middle of the night. I would’ve ran. I would’ve went…I don’t know, I just would’ve went somewhere else, “Like, I’m not doing that.” I do not like responsibility, so don’t give me more. I think that Joshua was afraid. When you get to Joshua 1, he’s told two, three, four, five times, “Be strong and courageous; be strong and very courageous.” Even his own elders came to him and said, “Listen. We served Moses, we are going to serve you,” and the elders told Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous.” I think that Joshua was afraid, but perhaps that’s just my opinion, okay? So, I make that clear. Nevertheless, Moses is doing the same thing that God did to him, “I’m commanding you, do not be afraid. You’ve got to operate by faith and not in fear.” It’s difficult.

Some of you tonight are facing your own Og, king of Bashan, some giant from some fortified city. Some of you are right in the middle of being diagnosed with cancer, or with some life-threatening, life-ending illness. Some of you right now are facing insurmountable odds—some fellow employee at your workplace, some boss, some manager is pressuring you. There’s some relationship issue that seems like there’s just no way around it, there’s no way that this is ever going to change, and you, tonight, are feeling so very hopeless. All you can see is this giant of a problem in front of you, and your heart is filled with fear tonight. You have been struck with fear, and you desperately want to choose faith, but you have been praying and saying, “God, I need help. I’m afraid. I’m scared. Where You at? Are You going to speak to me?” Tonight God is speaking to you from His Word, from Deuteronomy 3 of all places. He’s saying the same thing to us. It’s the same thing, “By faith, do not be afraid.” God is with us, yes or no? He’s with us.

Let me share something with you about this. This is the whole story of the exodus from Genesis all the way to Deuteronomy. This is a story or a picture for us. It’s a picture of the Christian entering rest. It’s not about getting saved. It’s not about going into heaven. It’s about entering rest. Hebrews 3 and 4 describes this for us, Hebrews 3:16-4:3. Let me read it for you. “For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry,”—speaking about God—“forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

Some of you cannot get a good night’s sleep because your heart is filled with fear, tossing and turning, staring at the ceiling, staring at the dark walls, so afraid and wondering, just clamoring in the dark looking for a black cat that isn’t there. You’re just wondering, Where am I even at? I feel so lost. It’s because you’re not living by faith. You’ve chosen fear, and so there’s no rest.

He goes on in Hebrews 4 to say, “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith,”—that’s the ingredient, it must be mixed with faith—“in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: ‘So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” This is a picture for you and I of, as a believer, entering as we are operating in faith, we then experience God’s rest. But you know as well as I do, when you choose to live by fear, there’s no rest. You can’t concentrate on your work because your mind is going a million miles an hour. You can’t seem to get dinner right. You’re getting off at the wrong offramp. You’re lacking sleep. You can’t think straight—forgetting things around the home, forgetting things in the workplace—because your mind and your heart is so overwhelmed.

In Luke 10:19, seventy disciples returned to Jesus. He had sent them out on a short-term mission trip to Nicaragua. No, I’m just kidding. He sent them out on a short-term mission trip, and when they returned, in Luke 10:19, Jesus said, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” In other words, “Do no fear.” Further on in Hebrews 13:5-6, he said, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have, For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you,’” quoting from Deuteronomy 31 and Joshua 1. He goes on to say in Hebrews 13:6, “So we may boldly say: ‘The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” Psalm 118.

In Romans 8:12, Paul writes, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father,’”—Daddy, Father, by faith.

These things happen by faith. I can be fearless, if I’m choosing to live by faith. If I’m choosing to trust God, then I rest. Though some Og, king of Bashan, may be staring me down, yet I find rest. Believe it or not, family, it is a choice. When you are living by fear, you actually are choosing that, I’m choosing that. That’s what I’m doing. Faith is a choice. It’s not some magical thing that happens just as I lay down with my Bible under my pillow and all of the sudden I wake up some giant of the faith. It’s a daily process of learning to trust God, of saying, “You know what? Everything is against me. The tides are rolling in, but I’m going to trust God.” It’s a decision. “Peace escapes me when anxiousness berates me, and anxiousness comes when faith away runs; but why does faith run when I hold it so near, because I let go of it to welcome my fear.” I choose faith or fear on a daily basis.

Some of you tonight are struggling bad, and that’s why you came. It’s not just a night of fellowship, not just a night of Bible study, you needed to be here. It was life and death. You needed to be here because you are up to your eyeballs in fear. You’re sinking, quick, and you need for God to come to the rescue. God has spoken to us from His Word tonight to say, “Listen, I’m aware of what’s going on. I’m aware that there’s an Og, king of Bashan, in your life. I’m aware of that.” God is saying to us tonight, “But you’ve got to trust Me. It’s already figured out. I’ve already delivered. The plan’s already set in motion, but you’ve got to operate in faith.” So, tonight, I want to pray for you. If that’s you, if you are a Christian, and you are struggling tonight saying, “Yeah! I need to let go of my fear, but I don’t know how. I need for God to take that from me. I want to choose faith, but I just don’t know how. I need for God to work.” Let me pray for you tonight because I want you to know the rest—the peace—that comes with trusting God. You want that, don’t you?