Overcoming Fear Series

SERMON BRIEF

Date Written: January 5, 2015

Date Preached: January 4, 2015

Church: OPBC (AM) Sunday

FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS

Title: Overcoming Fear

Text: 2 Timothy 1:7-9

ETS: Paul told Timothy fear is NOT an option in serving God.

ESS: Today’s passage is clear to the believer today, that FEAR is NOT intended for the Christian and to give into fear is to give into Satan.

Introduction:

Today is the first Sunday of the new year… When the new year rolls around we often find ourselves assessing our lives and how we are living and what we are doing…

At this point in our church’s life we are in the process of re-assessing ALL of what we do and how we do things. We are facing the new year on a journey that is filled with a great deal of unknowns.

Our fellowship is beginning down a path where there are not a lot of road signs and not a lot of churches that have ventured down this path…

Because of what is happening in our church, there are many of you who are wondering what we are going to do… are we going to make it as a church? What is going to happen?

These kind of questions can be somewhat unsettling to many of us and it can bring about a spirit of fear within the fellowship which leads to actions plans that are safe and pointed at keeping our fellowship afloat… those types of actions plans are focused on the wrong thing!

I know that our path may seem a bit frightful…

I know that our path may seem out of whack…

I know that our path may seem scary and uncertain…

I KNOW that the path our church is on is a path where (IF WE LET IT) fear can come in and rule the day.

When fear comes in, believers have the tendency to circle the wagons and look, INWARD… they play defense NOT offense… they tend to lose sight of their mission and begin to focus on self-survival instead of Kingdom growth! Much like what WE have been doing here at Oak Park…

When you think of fear for the believer, what fear do we need to overcome as believers? What fears disable us in our walk with God? Where do you find the most fear?

Are you afraid of FAILURE?

Are you afraid that YOU will fail… do we fear that we won’t measure up to God’s calling in our lives, so we bury our heads in the sand and live a life of disobedience?

Are you secretly wanting others to fail… do we secretly desire to see others fail to make us look better? It seems that in our society and this has proven true in the church as well…that for us to show improvement we feel we must show OTHERS failing… Do we believe others must fail for us to succeed?

Are we afraid of God failing us? Do we have about laying it all on the line AND God NOT delivering for us? Why is that? Is your fear of God’s failure based on what He wants or on what YOU want?

Are we afraid to succeed? Preacher that does NOT make sense… why would we be afraid to succeed?

Maybe you are afraid of the success of others… Are we so fearful that we refuse to invest in kingdom building? In other words, is our mentality what is in it for ME? What is in it for Oak Park?

Afraid of Success in the Kingdom? In other words, Kingdom growth equals success in God’s eyes but it may NOT equal our vision of success…

Are we afraid of success because it will lead to more expectations from our fellowship… right now it is EASY to be a member at Oak Park… NOTHING is expected out of our fellowship, and nothing has been expected for years… but what if we set a standard of seeking God’s success? Are we afraid of HIS success and how it will FORCE our hand in keeping it going?

Are you afraid of Disappointment?

Let me ask you this… we want to grow as a church but are YOU afraid that YOU are going to be disappointed in what God has for us?

Are you afraid that the success God has in store for us will not meet YOUR own standard?

Are you afraid of being a Faithful servant?

Are we afraid to put our effort 100% into God’s calling for us?

In other words, do we LIVE out our faith OR is our faith just words from our mouth and words on paper? Do WE as believers here at Oak Park just say we have faith? James tells us that a faith without works is a DEAD faith!