Fear is not an option, as Rabbi Schneider discusses how overcoming it is a commandment from God. In today’s episode, we delve deep into the essence of fear as a lack of faith and the importance of rooting ourselves in God’s truth. Discover how perfect love casts out fear and explore dynamic biblical examples of trust and courage through figures such as Daniel and David. Experience a powerful narrative on how magnifying God over life’s challenges can lead to supernatural peace and victory over the anxieties that try to dominate our lives.
00:00:01 Introduction to Discovering the Jewish Jesus
Welcome to Discovering the Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider. I’m your host, Dustin Roberts, and today we’re going to be discovering the best way to approach God our Father. Did you know that God, he doesn’t just love you, he actually likes you too. Isn’t that nice to know you’re not just love, but he likes who you are? His heart, it delights in us, even in our moments of weakness or when we’re struggling and crying out for help. Today, Rabbi Schneider, he’s going to explain why God’s love for us, it isn’t just dependent upon our performance or our circumstances. This message is part of our series called Be Strong and Courageous. And if you’d like to learn more about this ministry, visit us at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Now here’s Rabbi Schneider.
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Do you know that God likes us, that the Father likes us? And he doesn’t like us, beloved, just when everything is going great and when we’re perfect. He likes us, beloved, even when we’re falling sometimes, even when we’re struggling, as we’re crying out to him, help me, Lord Jesus, to overcome. I want you to know, beloved, he likes us all through. He understands just like children. They don’t come out of the womb and they’re running and doing the hurdles, but they come out crawling and can hardly do anything and falling. And the mother loves them even in their weakness. And that’s beloved how the father feels about you and I. He likes us and he wants us to know he likes us because when we know that the father loves us, that he really likes us, that he rejoices in his relationship with us and our relationship with him, that makes us want to be with him. It makes us want to be close to him. It makes us want to reach out to him. But If we’re feeling like, you know, the father’s angry at us, we’re probably going to isolate ourselves. And that’s the devil’s trick to keep us away. Not only does the father like you, beloved, but he wants you to win in the battle against fear. We’ve been in the book of Joshua, chapter number one. Hear the word of God now. Verse number nine. Have I not commanded you? That’s a strong word the Lord is using there, commanded. Overcoming fear, beloved, is not an option. It’s commanded. God hates fear. He hates it when His children fear, because when we fear, we’re choosing to believe in the devil rather than Him. Have I not commanded you, saith the Lord? Be strong and courageous. The Hebrew word there for strong is kazakh. Do not be dismayed. Do not be afraid, the Lord says, for wherever you go, I will be with you. Why are we to not fear? Because God is real. Listen, the Father is in the details of life with us. Our problem is that most of us, we believe in the Father. We believe in God. The problem is we believe in him in heaven rather than in his activity here on earth. Some of us, we’re not afraid of dying and then where we’re going to go. Some of us are confident that when we die, that our sins are forgiven and we’ll go to heaven. What we’re more afraid of is what’s going to happen on this earth. What’s going to happen when I get old? Am I going to end up in a nursing home? Are my kids going to be all right? We’re more concerned, beloved, as to whether we can trust God in this life. And that’s why we fear. You see, fearing is a lack of faith. It’s not even so much that we fear is that we lack faith. Remember when Yeshua was on the boat with his disciples and the winds came and the waves came and the boat began to fill up with water. What did Jesus say? Where is your faith, he said to them. So fear is a lack of faith. Jesus said, where is your faith? He said, why were you timid? And so the problem is not that we fear, the problem is that we lack faith. And so the remedy to fear is to build ourself up in faith. Faith in what? Faith in, beloved, the Word of God. Jesus said, if my words abide in you, the Word of God is living. How are we going to know that we don’t have to be afraid unless we hear God say to us, I’m a shield to you? I’m going before you. I’ll never leave you or forsake you. These are all scriptures that I’m quoting. How are we going to know we don’t have to fear? How are we going to come against fear? Refusing to let it in unless we seize God’s word and anchor our heart in his truth. We must anchor our heart in the love, in the truth of God. And he hates fear. and you’re his child and he wants you to overcome it. He’s given you the tool to overcome it. He’s behind you to overcome it. You must declare war and I must declare war, beloved, on fear this day. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 14, verse 23, that everything that is not of faith is sin. And fear is the opposite of faith. That’s why Jesus said, where is your faith? Why were you afraid? And so the Scripture says everything that’s not of faith is sin. So we need to realize when we fear, we’re in a foul spirit. We need to recognize today that we must tear the fetters of fear off our life, beloved, and we must get free. Some of you are afraid of ending up in a nursing home. But, you know, the scripture says to us, the Lord promises us in the book of Isaiah, chapter 46, verse 4, he says that even when you’re old, he says, I will be with you even when your hair gets gray. In other words, the same God, beloved, he’s going to be with you even when you’re old. Yeshua said, I’ll never leave you or forsake you. He’s going to take care of you, beloved, until your last breath. Hear the word of God, Isaiah, chapter 46, verse Verse number four, even to your old age, I will be the same. He’s going to be just as kind as he’s been in the past, just as trustworthy, just as real, just as present. Even to your old age, I shall be the same. I just really sense an anointing on this right now that there are some that God is really ministering to. You’ve really been just afraid of growing old and being sick and getting in a nursing home and not having anyone coming to see you and demonic fears from the devil. God’s going to be with you. He’s going to take care of you. He’s going to make His presence, beloved, more real than ever as you need Him more. It’s going to all be fine. It’s going to be okay. Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. In the world you’ll have a tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I’ve overcome the world. Even to your old age, I shall be the same. Even to your graying years, I shall bear you. God’s going to carry us, beloved, through our 60s and 70s and 80s and 90s, some of us maybe even into our hundreds. I will carry you. He says, even to your old age, I shall be the same. Even to your graying years, He said, I shall bear you. What does this mean when He says, I will bear you? It reminds me, beloved, years ago as a Jewish believer, it created a lot of turmoil in my home. It was very hard and difficult for my parents. To them, it was just a total insult to them that I, as their Jewish son, bar mitzvahed in a Jewish synagogue, would receive Jesus. It just felt like a slap in the face to them. I certainly didn’t mean it to be because I came to faith in Jesus, not to offend anybody, but because Jesus revealed himself to me. But they were very, very, very distressed and upset and angry about this. And they ended up throwing me out of the house. And I remember the first day after they had thrown me out of the house, this was in my low 20s, my very early 20s, thrown me out of my house for my faith in Jesus. And I remember I got an apartment and I remember walking out of that apartment the first day. Never before had I been through something like this, thrown out of my home by my own parents because of my faith in Jesus. And I remember that next day after being thrown out of my home, it was like the whole world was bathed in the soft, and presence of God. I can’t even explain it. It was like everything that I looked at that day was just surrounded with the peace of God. I can’t even explain it. It was like everything was just in total shalom. There was such a tangible peace that day, such a tangible softness that day. Why is that? I believe, beloved, because it was probably so traumatic for me that I was thrown out of my home, that God’s peace came to me in such a sufficient way that day that he was bearing me up in an extremely supernatural way that day. That’s what the Lord is saying here. He said, even in your old age, Lord said, I’m going to bear you up. In other words, he’s going to do for you and do for me what he did for me that day after I got thrown out of my home. He’s going to carry us in such a supernatural peace, beloved, because we’re his and because we need him even more. Beloved, we don’t have to be afraid of growing old. God’s going to be the same. All that does is rob you up today. It doesn’t add anything to your life. So, beloved, let’s take the word of God. Let’s practice taking God at his word. Let’s let these fears become a challenge for us to seize God’s word, to love God, to say yes to him. Beloved, if we love God, we must declare war on fear because once again, when we’re fearing, what we’re doing is we’re letting the devil take the throne in our heart.
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The scripture tells us that to overcome fear, we need to magnify the Lord. The scripture says that we need to cultivate Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus, as Lord in our heart. What does it mean to magnify the Lord? God said to Jacob, when Jacob was afraid, God said to Jacob, I am God. I am God. God was delivering Jacob from fear by letting Jacob know that I’m God. I’m bigger than all you’re afraid of. So one of the things that we do to overcome fear, beloved, is we magnify God. What does that mean? We begin in our mind to say, God, you’re bigger than my old age. Your power, Father God, your presence, your love for me will go with me in my old age. You’re bigger than the earth. You’re bigger than sickness. You’re bigger than pain. You’re bigger than nursing home. You’re bigger and more sufficient than all these things. I will not be afraid. I will trust in you. I will have shalom. Remember when Daniel was about to face the lion’s den. How could Daniel, beloved, going to the lion’s den believe terrifying these man-eating beasts, how could Daniel go into the lion’s den and yet not be afraid? Because he had magnified God in his heart. To him, God was bigger than the lions. And how about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? How could they go into the fiery furnace? I mean, being burned to death is one of the most painful ways imaginable to die. How could Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego face the fiery furnace without fear? They said, our God is able to deliver us. But even if he doesn’t, we will not bow down, O King. How could they do that? Because they had magnified, beloved, God in their heart. God was bigger, beloved, than their problem. And that’s what we need to do. Whatever we’re afraid of, we need to magnify God as being bigger than the problem. If you’re facing challenges, a sickness, if you’re afraid for your children, what you do, God, you’re bigger than the sickness that I’m dealing with right now. Your healing power, Lord Jesus, is so big. This sickness is nothing for you. I praise you, Jesus. Thank you that you took my infirmity and my sickness and your body on the tree. And thank you, Jesus, that I’m healed. Thank you for your healing power, that there’s no sickness or disease that is in any way standing in your ability to heal me. Thank you for the greatness of your healing love. If we’re afraid for our loved ones, what do we do? We magnify in our heart that God is bigger than the problems that we’re concerned with for our loved ones. How do you escape those fears? Thank you, God, that you’re bigger than these problems my loved ones have. Thank you, Lord, that you’re able to bring them to faith. We overcome fear, beloved, by magnifying the Lord, hallelujah, in our hearts. Hallelujah and amen. Some of you, when you think about as we’re continuing on this theme of aging, you’re afraid of being alone. Some of our ladies right now, perhaps that are watching, maybe your husband has recently passed away or maybe your husband is not well, or maybe you’re just afraid that your husband’s going to pass away because you’re afraid of being alone. I want you to know, beloved, you’ll never be alone. Jesus, hallelujah, beloved, is our best friend. He’s the friend that sticks closer than a brother. So we magnify Jesus, hallelujah, over the problems. We face the fear, beloved, with the truth of the Word of God. We must refuse to be afraid if we’re going to please God. If we will overcome fear, and we must overcome fear, and in the process of overcoming fear, we will, hallelujah, be pleasing the Lord. Well, another thing that we do as we’re overcoming in this journey is we encourage ourselves in the Lord. When David was facing great difficulties in life, one of the things that he did in response to these difficulties, beloved, was he encouraged himself in the Lord. I’m going to turn into the scriptures now. To the book of 1 Samuel chapter number 30, the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord abides forever. This is similar to seizing God’s word, to letting his word dwell in us, to cultivating, hallelujah, his word in our heart. But I want you to hear this because this is important. Let this truth be planted in you. Now you can overcome fear by the word of God. 1 Samuel chapter number 30, verse number six. David was stressed. It says, moreover, David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him. That’d be something to be distressed of, wouldn’t it? How would you like even some of you go to work and all of a sudden you go to work and you find out everybody there is talking about you and they’re talking about how you’re gonna get fired and they’re just talking all kinds of bad about you. You’d be distressed. You might be tempted to let fear get in, right? Well, David was facing something even worse. The people were thinking of stoning him. So it says, Moreover, David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him. For all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and daughters. But listen, here’s what I wanted to get to. But David strengthened himself. Many translations read, encouraged himself in the Lord. How did he do that? He didn’t look at the people. He didn’t feed himself on what the people were saying. He didn’t feed his imaginations on thoughts of being stoned to death, but he encouraged himself in the Lord. He said, God, you love me. God, you love me. You love me. You like me. You’ve always been with me. God, you’re my friend. So, Father God, I’m trusting you, God, to deliver me and to protect me and to vindicate me. And I’m believing you. David said, when I am afraid, then he said, I will put, hallelujah, my trust in you. in you.” David encouraged himself, yet he deemed beloved ones in the Lord. And that’s what we need to do. And it’s all rooted in the Word of God. And we need to attack with it, beloved. The Bible says that violent men take the kingdom of God by force. We’re not talking about violent men as we think of in a criminal system. We’re talking about being violent with the Word of God. I’m talking about the type of spirit that rose up in Jesus when he was so enraged with the profaning that had taken place in God’s temple that he drove out those money changers with a whip. That’s how we need to go after fear, beloved, with the Word of God. We declare war on you, Satan. We declare war on you with the Word of God. Before I move into the next section of the ultimate fear on this broadcast, beloved, I want to talk about another aspect that is very, very important. It has to do with the scripture that we read about in the book of First John, where John tells us, beloved, that perfect love, I’m going to the book of First John now, chapter number four, First John, chapter four, John tells us there that perfect love casteth out all fear. Some of you have heard that scripture before. I’ve wondered exactly what does the Lord mean by this? I’ve been praying about this for a long time. What do you mean, Father, when you say perfect love casteth out all fear? Because the reality is that this is mankind’s greatest enemy. Satan uses fear to torment. That’s why Hebrews chapter 2 tells us that Yeshua came to destroy the works of the devil who held men by captive through fear all their life. And yet the remedy to be freed from this fear is love. So in the book of 1 John chapter 4, beginning in verse number 11 here, I’m going to read, Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No one has beheld God in any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. It’s all about love. But listen to this. By this we know that we abide in him and that he is in us and that his spirit is in us, beloved, as we continue on here in verse 17. By this love is perfected with us that we may have confidence in in the day of judgment there is no fear verse 18 in love here we go but perfect love cast out fear how does this apply to us what exactly is being said Perfect love, beloved, is associated with the realization that our God is not just in heaven, but that He’s here with us right now. Jesus said, Lo, I am with you always. When we develop confidence, beloved, in a God that’s not just in heaven, but a God that is here with us on earth and is in the details of our life and that we can trust Him, we become perfected in His love. We begin to be able to trust Him with our children. with our finances. When we begin to trust to God, beloved, for our future in this life, we’ll be set free from fear. So what it means is that we so have come into the experience of God’s love, that it’s perfect right now, that it’s real and activated on earth in our lives right now, we’re going to be set free from fear because the confidence that we need, beloved, is a confidence in God’s love that lets us know that he’s going before us, that he’s going to take care of the details, that he’s fighting on our behalf, that he’s a shield to us, that he’s going to do everything that he said he was going to do. So, Father God, we ask you right now to strengthen us in the love of God. Father, I ask you to impart to us with power the knowledge of your perfect love that drives out all fear for your glory. We are facing such chaos in the world around us. Beloved, the only hope left for people is the God that created the world, and you and I are his ambassadors. We are the ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I are Jesus the Messiah’s ambassadors. We have to do something, beloved, to prepare the world for his return by preaching the gospel. When you support me in discovering the Jewish Jesus, you are literally taking part in preparing the Earth’s atmosphere for the coming return of the Lord Jesus. You see, Jesus said when the gospel is preached to the ends of the earth, then he will return. People more and more are recognizing that they can’t hold on to anything outside of themselves, that everything around them is unstable, that systems are falling apart, that governments are collapsing, economic systems are collapsing, People’s moral code is clashing. The only thing that’s sure, beloved, is God himself, who is our rock. And I want to ask you to support me as I continue to preach the gospel of King Jesus around the world, declaring this reality and this truth. You see, beloved ones, Jesus is counting on you and he’s counting on me. Wore his voice piece, wore his mouth. Jesus said, you shall be my witnesses. I want to ask you, Would you be faithful? Would you support me? And would you support discovering the Jewish Jesus? I want you to know, beloved, your financial help makes a big difference and is effectively being used to spread the gospel.
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Amen. Thank you, Rabbi. And if God is calling you today to support discovering the Jewish Jesus with the gift of any amount, You can reach us at 800-777-7835. And you can also give online. Our web address is discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And when you give as a token of our appreciation back to you, we want to send you our latest newsletter. And also for anyone who becomes a brand new monthly partner, we’ll send you an authentic, handcrafted shofar that’s made right in Israel. And now I want to also remind you, if you’re seeking a deeper spiritual understanding, We’ve been talking about our Discovering the Jewish Jesus app on Roku TV. Rabbi’s messages are available right there, free for you to watch on demand at any time. And we would love for you to give it a try right from your living room or wherever you have a Roku. Let this be your year of discovery through Rabbi Schneider’s eye-opening biblical insights. You can find us again on Roku TV just by searching for the Discovering the Jewish Jesus app. And now, as always, we close each program with a special blessing. Rabbi?
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Blessings trump curses. And in the book of Numbers chapter 6, we find the Aaronic blessing that God commanded Moses’ brother Aaron, the high priest, to speak over the children of Israel. There’s power in blessing, beloved ones. So take part in receiving Father’s blessing upon your life today.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance. And the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. God bless you and shalom.
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This program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus and I’m your host, Dustin Roberts. Come back again next week when Rabbi Schneider talks about the fear of death. Is this a fear that you’re ready to face? Find out Monday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
