Memory verse: Isaiah 40:28-31

Jeremiah 1:1,4-7
"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee.
And before thou camest forth out of the belly I
sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto
the nations.”

Then said “I, Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot

speak, for I am only a youth."

No Lord! No! I will not speak… I’m a child. Lord can’t you see I’m a child! End of the story!

APPL: I remember when I was doing standard 5 my teacher spoke great things about me in class, and I
was feeling good. Until she said, Ke batla gore kamoso a ye go rera ko assembling. I was like
WHAATTT? NO WAY!). But she was there saying, don’t worry my boy, I know you, you’ll do it. I
know you… you’ll be fine.

If I were bold I would have said, “Over my dead body.” But I wasn’t so bold so it was settled that I’ll
preach tomorrow. Ke lets eke sa robala ke tshogile. I don’t remember what I said but there were some
guys screaming Emere Moruti.
Fortunately when I finished, some people were clapping.

I’m sure in the past you’ve been told to do something and you thought “okhokho!” and you were serious
about it. O sa batle stress. You’re in your comfort zone and you don’t feel inspired for any challenges.

Or you decided to do something that was beyond your comfort zone. Either you had no choice or
you had to force issues.

APPL: inspired is better

It’s more exciting when you feel inspired for a certain challenge; like you want to set your goals higher.
You’re making new resolutions for your life. You’re feeling inspired. And the problem is not big enough
to stop you… it is possible.

WHO DO YOU MAGNIFY?

When there’s no inspiration, you’re tempted to magnify the situation in front of you; You magnify our
shortcomings in front of you … look at yourself, look at the mountain you’re supposed to climb. The
armies you’re supposed to fight against. You magnify them…

put them on a magnifying glass and they’re enlarged

Grasshoppers:
I remember the new nation that was just brought at the border of Canaan, and 10 out of 12 reported, the
Soldiers are so big we’re just like grasshoppers compared to them. Numbers 13:33. And everybody said
whoever says we should cross into Canaan should be stoned to death! 14:5-10.

They even condemned God in verse 3.

And they said to Moses, we’re choosing a new leader for ourselves.
Yeah!
He will return us to Egypt.
Yeah!
Wena o paletswe mona!
O mo itse ngwana wa monna. “Ah, motho o o paletswe o.” DDS. Deadwood! Our wives…
For punishment, God did not want to strike them dead, but he delayed them in the wilderness for 40 years
until all of the adults from 20 years old upwards had died. Numbers 14:29-30

LEMME ASK YOU A QUESTION:

APPL: What if they were still afraid but YET still went in and obeyed God? What would have
happened?
Somebody say DO IT AFRAID. Say I’ll face it afraid. I will walk through it even afraid.
What would have happened if they were still afraid but YET still went in and obeyed God, is what
What happened 40 years later.
It would have happened right there and then. The giants simply surrendered to the grasshoppers,
sometimes even without a fight – just ran away and were pursued and killed.

When there’s no inspiration, you’re tempted to magnify the difficulty of the situation in front of you;
You magnify the weaknesses in you …

And nothing positive is said about God. His power, His love, protection, knowledge… they’re all ignored.
God is pushed to the back.

The very person who wants to help is the one who’s pushed to the back. BCOS o dangerous.. Ga a re
ratele botshelo.
It is so tempting to focus on the difficulties.

ILL: Sailor look up

A young inexperienced sailor tied up the sails and started on his first voyage alone. Deep into the ocean,
there was much shaking and tossing and flipping of the boat and sails. He looked down into the water and
was gripped with terror, began to feel dizziness and nausea. He was hypnotized by the water, and was
losing his grip on the ropes. As he was about to fall into the water. An old man, another sailor who was
more experienced, shouted at him to say
SON, LOOK UP!!! LOOK UP!!
He got his eyes off of the water and looked up at the sails, and all dizziness and nausea disappeared… and
he did not fall into the water.

APPL: Tell your neighbor, Don’t forget to look up! Say LOOK UP TO GOD.

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD – JEREMIAH 32:17

It’s not about your strength, God doesn’t want to use your strength, he will give you new strength.
His strength.
Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength like eagles.

It’s not about the situation, it’s not about an easy or difficult task. With Him there’s just God’s
intentions. IT’S ABOUT what God wants to achieve.

JEREMIAH 32:17

You don’t have to be inspired.

You don’t have to feel confident.
You don’t even need to be brave.
It doesn’t need to be an easy situation.

Lest you say it’s because of your fearlessness.

Lest you say it’s because the task was easy.

No. even youth will faint and be weary, and young men will utterly fall Isaiah 40:30
No. Ebenezer… thus far the Lord has helped us. 1 Samuel 7:12
No. We’re more than conquerors through him that loves us. Romans 8:37

When we do not look to God for answers, the first temptation is to question or attack God. Lord, how can
you put me in such a condition? Lord do you want us to die in the wilderness?

Jeremiah 1:7-10, 17, 19

"But the Lord said to me, say not I am only

a youth; for you shall go to all to whom I shall
send you, and whatever I command you, you shall
speak. Be not the afraid of them, their faces, for I
am with you to deliver you, says the Lord."
"Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched
my mouth. And the Lord said to me, behold, I have
put my words in your mouth. See, I have this day
appointed you to the oversight of the nations and
of the kingdoms to root out and pull down, to
destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
"But you, gird up your loins! Arise
and tell them all that I command you. Do not be
dismayed and break down at the sight of their
faces, lest I confound you before them and permit
you to be overcome."

"And they shall fight against you, but they shall

not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the
Lord, to deliver you."

Victory does not come without a battle: they shall fight against thee.

When we say bold faith we are acknowledging that there is war. Without boldness you will refuse to fight
wars… you will only agree to play games.

Instead of joining the army you will go to play football on the street. Instead of hassling for a
business or job, you’ll migrate to live with your mother.

Victory does not come without a battle. They shall fight thee.

The devil is a jealous loser … you get to fight for your child. Fight for your spouse. Fight for your house.
Fight for your job. Fight for your health, fight…
Yes it’s true he is powerless.. the only power he has is the one you give him.

 If you don’t fight, someone somewhere is winning against you without even struggling for it.
 The Devil is roaming around like a roaring lion
 Some battles you don’t even see by sight,
 you just have to fight by faith by prayer.
 Things don’t come on a silver platter here on earth.
 Gwaa rapelwa and gwaa lowa mo dibera mo.

Do it afraid
We all would rather do it inspired, but
That’s not always possible: Do it afraid…

Don’t look down on yourself in comparison to someone else.

Nobody is afraid in everything. Someone could fear everyone and fear talking in public, but not be
afraid of a snake.
And no one is brave in everything. Someone could fear nothing at night, whether thieves or witches, but
fear to enter aeroplanes.

Do not say bravery is for others and exclude yourself.

Everyone who will become successful in life has to face their fears sooner or later.

APPL: Say I have faced many difficulties.

I am brave in many things.
I have conquered many difficulties.
I will fight more battles
And I will win.

The most successful person that you know, has had to face their fears many times towards their success,
and still face some in order to remain successful.
 Sometimes you have to tell your partner stop stealing your money.
If you’re afraid of facing a conflict, then he’ll finish your money and the company will close.
 Sometimes you gottat ask your boss... why am I not promoted?

[Joshua 1:5]
"no man
shall be able to stand before you all the days of
your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with
you; I will not fail you or forsake you. "

In this Scripture, God is not

saying to Joshua, "Be my new Moses.
Do what Moses did.
Fill Moses’ shoes.”

BE YOURSELF
No matter how big the other person is, do not think that God wants a new version of that person. God is
done with that person. So he created you and now wants you! If he wanted that person, he would have
created a person exactly like that one. He would have called a person to that job exactly like the first
one.

Moses was a great man, but he did his job and finished it. He killed an Egyptian, ran off to Midian for 40
years, returned and argued with Pharaoh, brought miraculous calamities on Egypt, led a stubborn nation
40 years through the wilderness, and died before entering Canaan.

Joshua was primarily a soldier, not a miracle worker like Moses, not a prophet like Moses. He was to lead
the nation into Canaan through one battle after another, and make them settle in the land.

In all these things, God did not say “BE LIKE MOSES” But said I will be with you the same way that I
was with Moses. Like I never forsook Moses, I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.

APPL: Tell your neighbor

God can make you big.
God wants you.
When God made you,
he had you in mind…
not another person.

Say I am myself. I am not so and so.

Do not be someone else.

You can work hard like that person, and learn some things from that person, but sooner or later some
things will not work when you do them like that person.
Yes you can try to be like that person,
and in the process you will know where and how
you’re different from that person.

Don’t fight against yourself. Fall into what works best for you.

What you should avoid is to be lazy and relaxed.

Bcos sometimes a person could make very little effort at being successful, giving the excuse that he is not
gifted like so and so. No, you should set your standards high, working hard to be the best that you
yourself can be.

Remember that when you put your hands to something, the LORD is with you to prosper it.

At a temporary moment when God wants to transform you into being someone else, His Holy Spirit will
fill you up in a special way, and you will become a different person.

1 Samuel 10:6 &7

God said to King Saul, the Spirit of the LORD will sweep upon you and you will prophecy and be
transformed into a different person. You will know what to do, so whatever the spirit tells you to do, do it.

This transformation was only for a special mission.

Then most of the time God will use you as you are.…
Only don’t allow fear to stop you.

Do what you’re supposed to do even when you’re afraid.

Everyone has a purpose and a call. The biggest difference is that some people are so afraid that they are
afraid to do their part.

Some people run away from their appointed mission... There are big people in football, basketball, chess,
preaching, athletics, business, academics, politics, etc…
who were not called or gifted for that thing. This person is big and very big in a certain area which you
look and you say mme kana motho yo kya mo gaisa yo. Motho yo nkilaabo k emo gaisa.

It’s true, kweena yoo neng o tshwanetse gore o kabo o le mo maemong ale,
Wabo o etsaetsega.
Or o feeler gore it’s beneath you

Have you found yourself spotting many mistakes from someone who’s singing on radio? Or acting? Or a
leader in politics? Or a sports person …
A lot of the times It’s true that you would have done better than such a person if you had agreed to take
the stage.

Perhaps this person loved singing with all his/her heart, a rata go tlhabeletsa. A rata go tsena mo choiring,
a go bora bcos ga a opele sentle.

And wena you had a lot of excuses why you cant join.
Maybe o sena the same boldness.

You might be so talented that you’re the only one who knows that this person is not singing well. But you
will still be criticizing Even when this person sings on national television. When she is a superstar, you’ll
still be hearing mistakes… why? Bcos you’re more talented than that person. But this person was not
afraid of the stage.

MOTSWEDI CJSS – Chess. Table Tennis

I was a very nervous and shy teenager at secondary school.
I hanged around with a group of very confident guys.

We would go watch senior students play chess. After that we go watch senior students play table
tennis.
These friends of mine learned to play that complicated chess game with the seniors and there I was saying
ah, goo moo go ga lona go thata baan. Before long they were good at chess, and I was always with them,
not even asking them to teach me.

To tell the truth, I was a humble guy and a Christian, and I guess I had misunderstood the Gospel.
Now when I look at it, I’m very sure gore Gospel ele y abo-missionary groomed you to be a loser tota.
Scared, and to settle for less.

My friends were not Christians but they knew I was this humble Christian guy.

Compared to me they were really very dull people, But in every other issues of life they were more
confident and knowledgable than me.
By the end of the year, they were members of the school team.
The same with table tennis.
By the end of the year they were members of the school team.
They only got surprised in the middle of our last year at that school to realise gore they couldn’t
beat me at Table Tennis or at Chess. By the end of the year they couldn’t beat me at all. But it was too
late becos school was over, they knew the pleasure of playing for the school and I didn’t.

The biggest difference between achievers and non-achievers is fear versus boldness.

APPL: say I will be bold

I will not be slow. So help me God

David vs Saul_Goliath
Imagine how David killed Goliath. Every boy probably knew how to throw a stone from a sling. But they
all ran away in fear. Only one person didn’t run away. So he was even free to think – remember that
David wasn’t sure how Goliath would die, but it occurred to him when he thought about it.

1 Samuel 17:35ff. I will do to this Philistine as I did the animals.

When God tells you He will be with you, that

means no matter what the circumstances are like,
everything will work out all right. That's a good
reason to "Do it Afraid!"
If you’re David and you hear God’s voice say do it do it…

Then if Afraid, Do It Afraid

So think about this: If God gave these people all these instructions to fear not, don't you imagine they had
something to fear? Surely they were facing some circumstances that didn't look good.

Even though God had promised Joshua He would

be with him, the Israelites still had to enter into
the Promised Land of Canaan, where all of those
giants were, and take the land city by city

[Exodus 14:10-14]

"When Pharaoh drew near, that Israelites

looked up, and behold, the Egyptians were
marching after them; and the Israelites were
exceedingly frightened and cried out to the Lord."
"And they said to Moses, is it because there are
no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away
to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us
this way and brought us out of Egypt? Did we not
tell you in Egypt, let us alone; to let us serve the
Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to
serve the Egyptians then to die in the wilderness.
Moses told the people, fear not; stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you
today. For the Egyptians you have seen today you
shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you,
and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.

Remember that any time you try to obey God,

any time you try to step out into something you
have never done before, any time you start trying
to come out of a bondage, fear will rush right up in your face
and try to stop you.

We think the problem is that we shouldn't feel this way. Feeling fear is not a problem! There isn't one
thing Wrong with you if you feel fear. The mistake you make is in bowing your knee to the feeling
instead of going ahead and doing what you are afraid of while you are afraid.

Bold faith: Do it afraid

APPL: Tell neighbor do it afraid.

What God was telling Joshua, Jeremiah and

Moses was, "I'm sending you out to do something,
but I am telling you ahead of time the devil will try
to stop you with fear. Your enemies with come.
You will see and feel things that will scare you.
But 'Fear not'.
And "Fear not" didn't mean,
"Don't' Feel fear." It meant, don’t run away because of fear.

Poverty from the devil

Poverty comes from a refusal to take an opportunity not because you have better opportunities but
because the devil stole your faith to do it,
you lacked the guts to do it.
Poverty never comes from God.
It comes the same way that God told the Israelites,
cross over and take the land, and they refused –– that’s how poverty comes.

Then they’ll say re ganne, nnaa batla go re bola.

Poverty comes by someone being told,

put more hour into your studies, you’ll do well…
And the person saying “No it wont work it’s useless.”

Poverty comes when God tells you that I’ll never leave you nor forsake you, and then when a colleague at
work troubles you, you run away. It’s not your colleague, it’s the Devil trying to make you poor. You run
away from work and responsibilities, you can forfeit your job, or even the same business that you set
up…
then we’ll see who’ll listen to you when you say God is loving.

It’s the Devil trying to silence you so that you don’t believe that God is loving or able.
And if you insist to believe it,
your testimony is spoiled because sinners will ask you,
show me the job that God gave you.
Show me the business that God has given you.
Show me the husband that God has given you.
Show me the wife that God has given you.
Show me the scholarship that God has given you.

Everytime that you quote the Scripture that says “Ask and it shall be given to you,” the Devil will attack
you. When you say “Give and it will come back to you, good measure,” the Devil will attack you. When
you say “You will eat the good of the land,” the Devil will attack you with ideas and practical opposition
in your situations.
When God says “seek ye first the kingdom of God,” you will say God’s plan is for you to be poor. It’s not
bcos you’ve forgotten that God said “AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE ADDED UNTO YOU,” it’s
because the Devil is trying to steal all those things from you. He does it by telling you that God will not
give you those things. Fear and doubt – it wont work, it’s not possible.
The only part he wants you to believe for your life is the negative.
Why? Bcos the devil is jealous.

Maybe you have been allowing a feeling to

control and determine your destiny. Maybe you
think that some people have fear and others don't.
But the truth is that fear comes to everybody.
What we do in spite of that fear makes the
difference between victory or defeat in our lives.
If you will begin to act in spite of your fear, you
will begin to get to the point of not even feeling
fear. You will have gone through similar
circumstances enough times to have developed
some confidence in dealing with those types of
circumstances. The things which used to frighten
you won't frighten you anymore because you have
some experience.
Any time you step out into something new, fear
will try to stop you. Why? Because satan is
constantly trying to keep you from going forward.
Once you have gained a certain amount of ground
in an area, he will finally leave you alone and let
you be there. But when you try to take one more
step forward, that fear will rise up again.

APPL: I WIL BE BOLD. EVEN WHEN I’M AFRAID I WILL BE BOLD.

 Even if I have to cry about it, I’ll do it.
 Even if I have to stumble about it. I’ll do it.
 Even if I have to limp about it, I’ll do it.
 Even if I have to do it on my sick bed, I will do it.

The Bible says, the just shall live by faith and if he draws
back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or
pleasure in him."

This Scripture doesn't say, " if he feels fear." To

me it's saying, "if he draws back and shrinks away
from the challenge in front of him."
God said to Joshua, "Fear not." He said to
Jeremiah, "Fear not." He said to that Israelites
through Moses, "Fear not." What He was saying to
them was that fear will come. And when it comes,
you may shake, you may tremble, you may sweat,
your heart may beat hard, your knees may feel as
though they are about to buckle. He was asking
them, though, to put their confidence in Him, to
believe He was with them and not to run.

ROARING LION: It depends on you.

First Peter 5:8 (KJV) says, "the devil, as a

roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour." Notice the Scripture says "may" and not
"will." In other words, you have something to do
with whether he is able to devour you. And if you
know anything about satan, he doesn't have any
power. The only power he has is the power you
give him. Fear, of course, is one of the favorite
tactics, so he will try to use fear to stop you. But
don't give in to him. Go ahead and 'do it afraid.'
When God tells you to give somebody a tract or
witness to a person, say, "Yes, Lord, I want to do
what you're telling me to do. I feel kind of afraid,
Lord, but I believe You're with me, so I'm going to
just do it. Devil, you can just forget the plans you
had for me because I know Who God is, and you
don't scare me. I'm going to do what God told me
to do."
When God tells you to give an extra big offering
in Church because He wants you to plant a seed
[Luke 6:38] so you can come up higher in your
finances, say, "OK, Lord, I'll do it. I know that
means I'll have to really trust You for some
provisions, but because I believe I'm hearing from
you, I'll do it. Yes, Sir, I'll do it. And, devil, you can
forget trying to scare me away from doing it. I've
heard from God. I'm going to do what God said. I
don't care if I shake, tremble or sweat. I will do it,
afraid or not. "

STEP OUT AND FACE YOUR FEARS

"Don't let the devil rob you of the destiny God
has you. Step out and face your fears; face your
pain. Go ahead and shake, tremble and sweat.
God didn't say not to feel fear - He said not to run!
You can be a victorious Christian, or you can be
one who is never quite able to enjoy the fullness
of God. The only difference between the two is
that one is stopped by fear and the other does it
afraid. Determine today to "Do It Afraid!"