In this final broadcast, Carl takes the time to read several scriptures which address the topics of confidence and courage, explicitly. He also reveals how we are able to access this immeasurable confidence from the Lord, at opportune times. One source of strength which burgeons confidence and often remains hidden to many believers, is our glorious future with Christ in the millennial age, when we will rule and reign with Him, in the very heart of Israel. This may seem grandiose and difficult to comprehend in the day-to-day, nevertheless it is the future for all in Christ Jesus. Join Carl now to find out…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Friend, the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 7:16, “I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.” Why would he say such a thing? Because the spirit of God is living on the inside of you, friend, and you are attached to an eternal being who is all seeing and all knowing. And friend, you have access to God himself. And there’s a confidence in that that you need to develop, and it comes from daily fellowshipping with the Father. You do it in God’s word, you do it in prayer. Prayer by petitioning into session and supplication, and then practicing listening to your spirit man on the inside of you. Paul was confident of the believers in Corinth because the spirit of God was living on the inside of them. And friend, you are no different today. And if you’ve been spirit filled, oh rejoice, there’s a whole lot of God inside of you, friend, and you should be confident. And again in Galatians 5:10, Paul says, “I have confidence in you through the Lord.” And Ephesians 3:12, “in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him,” friend, we have boldness to access the throne of grace in our time of need.
And when we do so, we’re exhibiting faith, and that pleases the Father. It does not please the Father when we shrink back in fear. Remember Hebrews 10:38 says “my soul has no delight or pleasure in him that draws back and shrinks in fear.” That’s the Lord speaking in Hebrews 10:38. And in Philippians 1:6, Paul again says being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ. There’s a transformative work on the inside of you. That is sanctification. It is changing your character, your likes, your dislikes, your attributes in line with Jesus Christ, so that when you turn up in heaven you won’t be a stranger. You’ll already be in the kingdom.
You’ll already have fruit. Amen. And that’s where we want to be, friend. And again in 2nd Thessalonians 3:4, the Apostle Paul says, “that he had confidence in the Lord, touching them that they would do the will of the Father, the things that he had commanded them to do.” He had faith in his congregation, because again, the Spirit of God was inside of them. And friend, we should hold fast to this confidence. Hebrews 3:6, “but Christ as a son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” The hope, friend, is eternal life. It’s inside of us, but there’s also a hope of Christ’s return at the soon coming rapture.
But we should hold fast to this confidence and never let it go. Have you let go of your confidence, friend? It’s time to grab it back. And then in Hebrews 10:35, Paul says again, well I think it’s Paul, cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. Oh there’s a reward, friend, for your confidence. Don’t cast it away. Don’t throw it away. Grab it again. 1st John 2:28, the apostle John this time says, little children, we’re abiding in him, that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Who’s the him? That’s Jesus. When he returns, we’re not going to be ashamed. We’re going to have confidence, because we’ve lived a godly life. We’ve obeyed the 10 commandments, right? Love God and people. And friend, there’s so much in scripture about confidence. It’s replete with it. And I’m so grateful that you’re listening to this session as we round off the fourth and final part of Courage and Confidence.
That’s how much he loves us. If we are struggling with fear, let’s focus on the love of the Father. And as you do so, that security will come. And then fear will be far from you. Satan attacks us early. He gets us in our teenage years. He gets us in our whatever phase you want to talk about. Can God really be trusted, question mark? Can I really trust God? Well, my parents let me down, so I can’t really trust God because they represent God in my life.
Satan’s always trying to get you in that love aspect of the father relationship. Can God be trusted? The answer is yes, friend, because your circumstances don’t define his love. Amen? We all have different encounters in life, but he stays unchangeable. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. Amen? Period. So to be bold in Christ is to know who you are. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Oh man, what an awesome scripture. Notice it says there’s a spirit of fear. Fear can come on you rapidly. That’s why it has to be opposed. In certain situations, fear can come on you very quickly, and that’s when you should distance yourself and say, Lord, this situation is too hard for me.
I let it go and start praying in the spirit. Whatever. Speak the word out so that that situation can turn around. Don’t succumb to that fear. Don’t agree with it. Resist it. Some people have never moved on for 10 years because of that fear. The fear of making another mistake. Whatever the fear is in your situation, God’s going to help you overcome it. Amen? Okay. Knowing God’s love and knowing who you are in Christ and regular prayer will cause your boldness to rise. Now you might say, look, I’m a pretty bold guy. You know, I got it together. You know, I can take care of myself or, you know, you’re the lady who can take care of herself. Fair enough. But we’re talking about boldness in God’s eyes. We’re talking about the capacity to receive his promises. That’s the boldness I’m talking about. Knowing that your father loves you so much that you can enter in to the cookie jar and grab one of those cookies. Amen? Fat free, sugar free. Hebrews 10:38 says, “but the just shall live by faith.” And if he draws back and shrinks in fear, my soul has no delight or pleasure in him. Man, that’s pretty tough. Again, it’s the aspect of, or rather not allowing fear to cause us to stagnate, to be apathetic.
God is not pleased when we shrink back from the things that he asked us to do several years ago that we may have stopped. And I know in my own life, several times he’s told me to do something. And he’s reminded me months later, you did not do what I asked. And oftentimes that that that’s when I’ve gotten into some trouble or things aren’t going my way. And I’m like, I need to check up with a father here and see what’s going on because it’s usually because I didn’t do what he said a long time ago. Not always. Okay. But if you’re at a point where the heavens are brass, seek the Lord and say, father, are we missing something here? Hallelujah. So it’s time to move in and move on with what God has called us to do. And it will take courage to do so. People in this room have been called to awesome things. I truly believe that you don’t get drawn to a church randomly.
The spirit is drawing you and it’s our job to make sure that you accomplish what God is calling you to do in this lifetime. That’s what we’re trying to do is equip you. Okay. To do what he’s called, whether it’s missions to go to Armenia or street ministry, or even the next step in your workplace. You’ve had wonderful testimonies already. Two people in particular who’ve been promoted on their workplace and it’s been awesome, but it took, you know, some uncomfortable tests and some uncomfortable things they had to do to get there. But in his timing, he wants us to advance. Now again, there’s a certain phase of dormancy and waiting on God and not everything is advancement. I understand that, but there comes a time when it is time to grow and to bear fruit, but people aren’t ready for what God wants to give them. And that’s what we’re equipping you guys. I pray is to do that, is to be ready for the next phase. Friend, are you ready for the next step? Are you struggling to get through the next step? Is fear holding you back? You know what? I’d love to see you in person.
Some radio listeners need to be at church. We even record all of our services and put them online, including these radio broadcasts. If you’ve missed a broadcast and you can hear these audio sessions, but friend, there’s a word I have that the Lord showed me here. I was reading through another aspect of God’s confidence in Ezekiel 28:26, and this is a promise he made to Israel long ago. He says, “and they shall dwell therein safely and shall build houses and plant vineyards. Yea, they shall dwell with confidence when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them, round about them, and they shall know that I am their God.” That’s talking about Israel, friend. But we should be living in confidence and dwelling in confidence. Are you confident? But are you confident in your own strength? No, I’m talking about being confident in God, friend.
Now this is speaking of a time when Israel will dwell in safety, and they’re not really dwelling in safety right now, are they? You can pretty much tell that from the news. But there’s going to be a regathering of Israel, you see, and we in the millennial reign of Christ are going to reign in Israel, okay? Now we know that the Jews were exiled from Babylon, but there’s going to be a future regathering. It’s already started. They’re in Israel now. They had 70 years of exile, right, under the Babylonian conquest. But the Persian conquest of Babylon brought them back into their land, but they’ve not dwelt safely in that land.
God did cause King Cyrus to allow the Jewish people to return to their land and rebuild their temple. And there was about 50,000 people or so returning in that time of 538 BC. But these promises of the Jew returning in safety and dwelling in confidence has not occurred for them yet, because they’re still seeking the Messiah, friend. But we’ve found our Messiah in Christ Jesus. Therefore we should be the most confident people of all. Oh friend, there’s coming a time when we, those in Christ, Jew and Gentile, will dwell in Israel together in a glorious kingdom on this earth.
We’re not talking about heaven, friend. We’re talking about the literal thousand year millennial reign of Christ on this earth. We are the confident ones now. We don’t have to wait till then, because the Messiah is living on the inside of us. The Father dwells in us. The Holy Spirit lives within us. 2nd Timothy 2:2 says “we need to pray for those in leadership.” And there’s a spirit of lawlessness rising up. 2nd Thessalonians 2:7, “It’s already at work secretly and will remain until the one who is holding it back steps out of the way.” And friend, we are the restrainer. The church is the restrainer. The mystery of iniquity is working and it is manifesting even now in our time. I am concerned that race riots that were in this nation in the 1960s are going to flare up again unless the church makes a move in the spirit and quenches this threat. I have never seen such madness in society. The embracing of gender as a choice. The embracing of the homosexual lifestyle. Teaching our kids to have sex at a very early age. Perversion within the land.
Property boundaries being disputed even by the government. There is a righteous indignation rising up within me, friend, and I’m calling upon you, the listeners, to set aside time in your private devotional time to pray for this president, whether you like him or not. Because the actual foundation and structure of this nation and the moral fabric of everything that is founded upon Christianity, upon the book of Proverbs, the book of Isaiah, the Torah, and the Gospels, this is what we define as truth. It’s not defined by culture. But all of this is being attacked, whether you voted for him or not. We need our nation as a republic and not something else. And the respect for this republic will fall. The republic itself could fall. I know these are serious, serious words. But friend, I urge you to pray for your president.
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