"First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself . . ." Those words were spoken by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his 1933 inaugural address. FDR said these words to a nation whose economy and morale had been zapped by a national financial depression. Today this powerful quote returns in light of what happened in Lenox this morning and specifically after our congregational vote this past Sunday.

When it comes to fear, most adults are like the Rock in the movie The Tooth Fairy because, while he doesn't buy into a winged fairy who visits children who've left a tooth under their pillow, we don't buy into silly, childish things such as fear. We are too busy to be fearful, too practical to be afraid. If there is such a thing as fear, it is regulated to childhood monsters in the dark or under the bed.

Monsters...come on, we're talking what? A dust bunny under a bed? Even if the dust bunny is the size of one of those mumbo-jumbo rabbits at the Harford Fair—you know the kind I'm talking about—the kind that tips the scale with the weight of, well, a really big rabbit, who (beside me) is afraid of that?

Wise to the ways of our thirty-second President, however, it would be our gain to admit that fear may well be a monster—or at least a steady companion—to all of us over the course of these next months. When it comes to decisions and how we progress, it's a monster or companion that cannot be quieted by us alone, but conquered alone by God through us.

In the wake of crime, and in the way the vote came in last Sunday, as we look at what is next, we need name what is true, and what is true is that with Christ, there is no fear. And that's our first sermon point this morning. With Christ, there is no fear.

We need to recognize something else too. In our secular world, fear is so powerful. Roosevelt's famous words 'we have no fear accept fear itself' were so appropriate because, at the time, our nation was still reeling from the sniper attacks in and around Washington D.C. Until the snipers were caught, people living in Maryland and the DC area were afraid to leave their homes.

Many today can become so consumed by fear that they cannot leave their old thinking behind for something new. Many today can be so confused by fear that they cannot embrace someone else's idea for growth. And all of us, if we are honest, can make rash decisions (or refuse to make decisions) because of fear. We can become so focused on what we perceive as our problems because our eyes are off of Christ. Yet when faced with fear, we need to be reminded of how our Lord met fear head on, and that's what this scripture lesson brings us.

Here in our text, Jesus doesn't let the Pharisee's death threat deter him from following God's will for his life. How about you? When it comes to God's plan in your life, do you trust the Lord and his purpose for your life? Or, in fear, are you running away?

Here, on the day of a new beginning, here, on this day when faced with threats (as Jesus was faced with threats), is it your love and your trust for God informing and therefore reforming you, or are you guarded and guided by fear?

Scott and Lynette Muller faced a threat around 4:30 this morning. That's what time the police called with news that a break-in occurred at the Lenox Pharmacy. As a culture and specifically as a community here, there is danger here. There is evil here. Now we can hide from this, we can lock our doors even more tightly and barricade ourselves off from the nasty, rotten world that has found our country lives, or, like Lynette asked when she called me, we can pray. And when we pray we engage. When we pray, we activate God's will. We ignite God's plan.

The fact is here. We face threats. We face evil. And we have someone to turn to, our God. Instead of just locking up further, we can look up to God.

This scripture is alive today, as it is every Sunday. Here, in our text, Jesus faced hard times as we face hard times. When it comes to this lesson today, when it comes to the gift God's given us in this passage, ask yourselves, were these Pharisees sympathetically trying to protect Jesus, or were they, in fact, acting as Herod's mafia-like messengers? Were they moving Jesus out of harm's way, or simply getting him out of the way? Whatever their motivation may have been, they hoped to frighten Jesus with a threatening message. Why? If they could get Jesus to leave, they figured they would eliminate Jesus' call for repentance. They would wipe out Jesus' ability to reach, teach, and love.

Even in the face of Jesus' adversity, God provides a way. In the course of our decision making, God also provides, even when we, like Jesus, run into pressing or difficult situations. The enemies of Christ, including the devil, and we talked about him last week, are still trying to scare us away from building a solid future for ourselves and for others.

But in the face of adversity, in the problems we will undoubtedly face both individually and as a church, have no fear. Have no fear because when we are attuned to Christ, when we are one with Christ, when through Lent we get ourselves out the way and, with the fasting some of us are doing and the praise all of us should be doing, say, yes, Christ, I am yours and you are mine, there is no fear.

That's point one. There is no fear with Christ. And here's the second point. Fear will be diminished when we realize our lives are in God's hands. Fear will be diminished if we realize that our lives are in God's hands.

See, Jesus knew of his plan because he said of Herod, "Go, tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.' The word "perfected" in the Greek used here means completed and finished. In other words, Jesus' ministry as appointed by God is not yet finished and, until it is, he will not be stopped, even by Herod the king. The same is true of us today if we are living in the center of God's will for our lives. God's work is not complete or finished is us either—yet not enough of us live this way, or live this way for long. Think of Scott and Lynette again. Think of where and how their faith engages and informs and come with me to this truth: We are fortified as we carry out God's plan and purpose for our lives. Isaiah 41:10 says, "Fear not, for I am your God. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my right hand."

Get what this vote means. Get what this day brings. Fear does not have a home here anymore. And it doesn't have a home here because God has this. You know that when your back has been up against a wall, you know when you are down to one or have no options, someone is there. Someone who loves you—someone who always loves you—is there. And when you have courage, not fear, you will find that someone is God. So again, point two: fear will be diminished when we realize, yes, our lives are in God's hands. The job before us is to realize we are in God's hands.

Using our scripture lesson again, it's time to introduce our third and final point. With your lives in God's hands, it's time to throw fear out! Throw fear out and engage your faith.

Isn't it time to throw away the shackles that bind? Isn't it time to have more peace, more grace, more hope and more love in your heart?  Isn't it time to at with more peace, more grace, more hope and more love in your heart? Isn't it time to throw out a "Yeah, God, whatever" mentality and embrace a "Yes, God, whenever" mindset—a mindset that says, "Yes, Lord, you have me. Yes, Lord, I am yours."

I said we were getting back into scripture and here it is. Take a look at verse 34 on your scripture sheets. Read that whole verse with me. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"

Anyone who has been around a farm can tell stories of how hens frantically call to their chicks in order to shelter them under their wings when they sense approaching storms or dangers. Jesus knew the troubles that would soon come upon Jerusalem. Those troubles would reach from the rending of the veiling of the Temple at the time of the crucifixion to the rending of the temple itself by the armies of Titus in 70 A.D. He wanted to gather the people to himself that they might be saved. But he knew they would not respond to him any more than their forefathers had responded to the prophets.

The last part of verse 34 says again, "but you were not willing."

This chapter ends with a heartbreaking expression of grief. Jesus must accept, though with sadness, the fact that there are those who will not accept him. Jesus tells the Jews that only when they acknowledge him as the one sent from God will their desolation end. His agony over Jerusalem and its hardness of heart is the same agony that he now has for the hardness of heart that keeps individuals today from accepting him as Savior.

It's just that way. Throw fear out. Turn faith on.

Point one. With Christ there is no fear. Point two. Fear is diminished when we realize that our lives are in God's hands, and finally, accept Jesus. Throw fear out. Turn faith on.

We began this morning talking about our thirty-second President. Many remember FDR's successful platform known as the New Deal. Well, today it's a new dawn. As our nation rose out of economic strife, we rise to new heights fearless in our love from our ever-guiding God.

Let's conclude the sermon, "The vote is in: Okay, now what?" with what reader Lynette Millard last shared from this pulpit. It's verse thirty-five. Jesus writes that your house has left you desperate. We opted out of that. We do not want our house to leave us desperate or divided because, as Jesus says, blessed are those who come in the name of the Lord.