Chapter 25 - The Decision
Bonhoeffer- 'They must not fear men. Men can do them no harm, for the power of men ceases with the death of the body. But they must overcome the fear of death with the fear of God. The danger lies not in the judgment of men, but in the judgment of God, not in the death of the body but in the eternal destruction of the body and soul. Those who are still afraid of men have no fear of God, and those who have fear of God have ceased to be afraid of men. All preachers of gospel will do well to recollect this saying daily.'
Mat 10:26 FEAR THEM NOT therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
Mat 10:27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
Mat 10:28 And FEAR NOT THEM which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Mat 10:30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Mat 10:31 FEAR YE NOT therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Mat 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake find it.
Bonhoeffer speaks truthfully because he speaks God's word.
We are taught to fear so much because our focus is on temporal things. We can fear the loss of everything in our lives from the greatest gift we have in sharing the lives of others, or to the smallest gift whatever that may be, perhaps the pleasure of a tiny flower. We can fear the loss of so much. Name it, and you can fear the loss of it. We can fear life itself, and we well know that we can fear death.
Fear.
'WEBSTER Dictionary-
FEAR, n.
1. A painful emotion or passion excited by an expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger. Fear expresses less apprehension than dread, and dread less than terror and fright. The force of this passion, beginning with the most moderate degree, may be thus expressed, fear, dread, terror, fright. Fear is accompanied with a desire to avoid or ward off the expected evil. Fear is an uneasiness of mind, upon the thought of future evil likely to befall us.
Fear is the passion of our nature which excites us to provide for our security, on the approach of evil.
FEAR, v.t.
1. To feel a painful apprehension of some impending evil; to be afraid of; to consider or expect with emotions of alarm or solicitude. We fear the approach of an enemy or of a storm. We have reason to fear the punishment of our sins.'
You know what fear is, we've all felt it, even the staunchest of men who would refuse to admit to it has felt fear.
Satan wants us filled with fear because as long as we fearful we are NOT trusting in God.
If ALL our hope is in GOD then we can't fear, can we? Seriously, can we? If fear then we are not trusting. It sounds so cut and dried. But we have to fall on our knees before God and beg His help in our weakness, grabbing hold of HIS strength because we have none.
Our fear of God is our reverence, our true fear in the face of knowing He holds all we are in His hands. It is much better to be fearful of God than any other! This is truth!
Knowing He is our CREATOR, our REDEEMER, how can we truly fear anything man can do to us?
The worst death, the worst torture that another person can inflict upon us cannot separate us from GOD.
Being separate from God is the true source of all our fear, and only when we are secure in Him can we truly stop fearing all but the loss of God- our choosing to move away from Him, our choosing to allow anything to come between us and God- this should be our fear. Our trust has to be in God to keep us in HIM through the Righteousness of Christ. Wholly in the righteousness of Christ and not by any righteousness of our own.
Bonhoeffer- 'They must not fear men. Men can do them no harm, for the power of men ceases with the death of the body. But they must overcome the fear of death with the fear of God. The danger lies not in the judgment of men, but in the judgment of God, not in the death of the body but in the eternal destruction of the body and soul. Those who are still afraid of men have no fear of God, and those who have fear of God have ceased to be afraid of men. All preachers of gospel will do well to recollect this saying daily.'
Mat 10:26 FEAR THEM NOT therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
Mat 10:27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
Mat 10:28 And FEAR NOT THEM which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Mat 10:30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Mat 10:31 FEAR YE NOT therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Mat 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake find it.
Bonhoeffer speaks truthfully because he speaks God's word.
We are taught to fear so much because our focus is on temporal things. We can fear the loss of everything in our lives from the greatest gift we have in sharing the lives of others, or to the smallest gift whatever that may be, perhaps the pleasure of a tiny flower. We can fear the loss of so much. Name it, and you can fear the loss of it. We can fear life itself, and we well know that we can fear death.
Fear.
'WEBSTER Dictionary-
FEAR, n.
1. A painful emotion or passion excited by an expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger. Fear expresses less apprehension than dread, and dread less than terror and fright. The force of this passion, beginning with the most moderate degree, may be thus expressed, fear, dread, terror, fright. Fear is accompanied with a desire to avoid or ward off the expected evil. Fear is an uneasiness of mind, upon the thought of future evil likely to befall us.
Fear is the passion of our nature which excites us to provide for our security, on the approach of evil.
FEAR, v.t.
1. To feel a painful apprehension of some impending evil; to be afraid of; to consider or expect with emotions of alarm or solicitude. We fear the approach of an enemy or of a storm. We have reason to fear the punishment of our sins.'
You know what fear is, we've all felt it, even the staunchest of men who would refuse to admit to it has felt fear.
Satan wants us filled with fear because as long as we fearful we are NOT trusting in God.
If ALL our hope is in GOD then we can't fear, can we? Seriously, can we? If fear then we are not trusting. It sounds so cut and dried. But we have to fall on our knees before God and beg His help in our weakness, grabbing hold of HIS strength because we have none.
Our fear of God is our reverence, our true fear in the face of knowing He holds all we are in His hands. It is much better to be fearful of God than any other! This is truth!
Knowing He is our CREATOR, our REDEEMER, how can we truly fear anything man can do to us?
The worst death, the worst torture that another person can inflict upon us cannot separate us from GOD.
Being separate from God is the true source of all our fear, and only when we are secure in Him can we truly stop fearing all but the loss of God- our choosing to move away from Him, our choosing to allow anything to come between us and God- this should be our fear. Our trust has to be in God to keep us in HIM through the Righteousness of Christ. Wholly in the righteousness of Christ and not by any righteousness of our own.
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