TITLE: PLEASE, DON’T FEED THE FEARS
SCRIPTURE: II TIMOTHY 1:7
I don’t know how you feel about this Political Environment but it is beginning to wear on me. It seems as though there is something new going on and addressed in the media on a daily basis. To be honest I can’t wait for November to arrive and conclude the vote for our next President and put it in the history books. Don’t worry, I am not going to use this time this morning in an attempt to lead us as to who we should vote for, that’s not what the pulpit is for.
I do believe there is a spirit that has begun to move across our nation to cause some to fear and make a political decision based upon fear.
• Fear of Terrorist Attack
• Fear of Stock Market Crash
• Fear that Guns will be taken away from law abiding citizens
• Fear that Second Amendment will be Abolished
• Fear that our Nation is on the Decline
• Fear of those that don’t look or think like us
• When did we become such a Scary and Fearful Nation?
I have a simple message this morning and a reminder we need to keep our focus on the Word of God. The writer of this text reminds us we must have a sound mind through it all. Christ recognized His disciples had times where they battled with fear – as we all do from time to time.
• Fear is a powerful emotion the devil can take advantage of in our lives
• Fear is an emotion that makes us extremely vulnerable to spiritual attack
We wonder how so many in our nation can be following a particular Presidential candidate with some of the strange and blatant things that are being stated. We don’t need to wonder, for the answer is found in the Word of God. The adversary, the devil will take our fear, that emotion and use it to take charge of our lives and our thinking.
• Fear is linked with a lack of both faith and the fear or reverence of the Lord
• When we are afraid, we are not trusting God and often, fearing something or someone other than God!
• Fear is one of the main weapons the enemy uses to torment us and to dictate feelings and behavior
• God has much to say to those who struggle with the spirit of fear
A sound mind is very essential and important in living the Christian life. RIGHT THINKING LEADS TO CORRECT LIVING. The heart refers to our Emotions and Feelings whereas the mind refers to our Thoughts, Thinking, Imaginations, Comprehension and Logical Reasoning. Having a sound mind is very important because we move, make decisions and act according to the perception and comprehension of the mind. As the saying goes “What you think -- you are” and our eternity depends on “What think ye of Christ?” The believer should earnestly pray for a sound mind.
• As a young man I prayed for riches, wealth, corporate job, travel
• As a young Pastor, I prayed for mega Church, big cars and TV ministry
• Now, at 55 years of age, I pray for Peace of Mind and a Sound Mind
• I know understand how important that is and how many don’t possess it
I want to share with us this morning a simple thought – PLEASE, DON’T FEED THE FEARS. During these hot summer months we are experiencing across the country, every now and then I catch on the news that a bear was caught and videoed taking a dip in a family swimming pool trying to get relief from the heat. Oftentimes you see the mother bear with her Cubs.
• News reporter tells the families and neighborhood as cute as the cubs may be – Please, Don’t Feed the Bears
• Feeding the Bears can cause a sense of Domestication and they will continue to return
• Feeding the Bears will cause them to continue to return looking for food
• Feeding the Bears can change their nature and bring them out of wilderness into communities
Isn’t that how fear works? If we continue to Feed our Fear, we will continue to return to it, time and time again. If we continue to feed our Fear, it will change our nature from the nature and things of God. If we continue to feed our fear we will not live in victory. Jesus said in ST. JOHN 10:10 “THE THIEF COMETH NOT, BUT FOR TO STEAL, AND TO KILL, AND TO DESTROY: I AM COME THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE LIFE, AND THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY.”
• When Gods people are free from fear, they can walk in power, authority, and victory!
• When Gods people are free from fear, they will experience a more Abundant life in Christ!
• On the other hand
• Fear will Steal our Joy
• Fear will Kill our Motivation
• Fear will Destroy our Destiny
• Please Don’t Feed the Fears
Multiple fears begin with lies that the enemy has told us, which shows why the devil is called the “FATHER OF LIES” – ST. JOHN 8:44 - He tries to handicap us with fear because he knows the truth will both set and make us free. The devil uses the natural emotion of fear against us to make us feel helpless in resisting him. He wants us to doubt the Lord and ourselves because it makes him appear stronger than he really is! In actuality the devil is no more than “A ROARING LION, GOING ABOUT SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR” -- All the devil does is make a lot of noise and that’s enough to scare most, unfortunately, even those in the Church.
The devil discredits God in every way he can, whispering lying accusations to us about God, as he did to Adam and Eve. His tactics have not changed at all.
• Just as Satan led Adam and Eve to Eat and Feed off the Forbidden Fruit
• Satan continues to help us Feed our Fears today
I am not talking about the fear of the dark or monsters in the closet. No! Devil is smarter than that, he deals with the fears we face each day –
• Fear of Failure
• Fear of Ridicule
• Fear of a Broken Heart
ONE CAUSE OF FEAR IS FOCUSING ON THE TEMPORAL. In ST. MATTHEW 14 -- We find Jesus finished feeding the five thousand, He sent His disciples in a ship to the other side. They were obedient, but with that act of obedience came a great storm.
• How often we as Christians face our greatest storms when we are trying to obey God
• Not all storms in our life are directed by the adversary
• We can be serving the Lord and still encounter a Storm
• We can be in the Church and supporting the Church and still encounter a Storm
• We can be Preaching – Teaching Sunday School serving as a Deacon or Deaconess and still encounter a Storm
• We can be living the best Christian life we can, and still encounter a Storm
• Storms sent and orchestrated by the Lord for our betterment
• All too often we give the devil too much credit – but that’s another sermon
In the midst of the storm, Jesus came walking on the water. Most of the disciples were terrified, because they thought they were seeing a ghost. But Peter after calling out and being assured it was Jesus asked to come out to Jesus.
• He took his eyes off the temporal for a moment
• He took his eyes off the Laws of Physics
• He ignored the Rules of H2O – Two Part Hydrogen an One Part Oxygen equals a liquid not a solid not able to hold the body up
• He ignored all of those facts and said “Lord if it is you, bid me to come”
• We must give some credit to Peter
• He was able to get his eyes off the circumstances even if it was for a short time
• When Jesus said, “Come!” Peter walked on water
• You talk about not having the Spirit of Fear but a Sound Mind
• Most of you when asking about going on a Cruise with us say, NO, because you can’t drink that much water – did not ask you to walk on the water but get in a Cruise Ship and we are fearful
• Peter steps out and begins to Walk on the Water!
• If only Peter had kept his eyes on the Master!
• The moment he took his eyes off Jesus and saw and felt the winds and the waves
• Fear set into his mind
• Bible said at that point he began to sink
Notice that one of the strongest causes of fear is LOOKING AT OUR SURROUNDINGS AND TEMPORL THINGS. We need a Sound mind stayed on the Lord, if not we will begin to operate and move in fear based upon Temporal things.
• It was James Cleveland that sang that song – This Too Shall Pass
• Whatever we are going through at this Church – It Shall Pass
• It is Temporal – FBC has been here for 128 years – It Shall Pass
• There have been other hurdles FBC has gone through in 128 years
• When we view our surroundings based upon our own vision we remove the Lord from the process
• II CORINTHIANS 5:7 “We Walk By Faith, Not By Sight”
• HEBREWS 11:6 “But Without Faith it is Impossible to Please God…”
One of the ways the devil instills fear is by telling us lies about who we are and what we are facing.
• He whispers, Look at your pitiful condition
• He whispers, Look at your sad finances!
• You will not make it!
• You didn’t give enough to God, so He is punishing you!
• You won’t get that new job so don’t even bother interviewing
• God will never forgive you for that sin!
Fear has been defined in an acrostic as False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear makes you think the worst will happen! Satan holds up a magnifying glass to make things appear larger than they may actually be. Fears are real feelings that we cannot deny. However, if we allow the enemy to deceive us with Fear and we do not submit our fears to the fear or Reverence of God, we can be open to a “SPIRIT OF FEAR.” This spirit intimidates us. It keeps us from being bold and courageous. Sometimes it shows up in subtle ways –
• Fearful to teach a Bible Class
• Fearful to Chair a Ministry
• Fearful to serve as MC at Church Worship
• Fearful to work with the District
• Fearful to lead anything in the Church or for the Lord
Please Don’t Feed the Fears - Often I find people who are struggling to deal with the -
• Pressures of Life
• Raising Children
• Working at Jobs
• Coping with illnesses
• Financial Burdens
• Loss of a Job
• The list goes on and on
That is what draws me to this letter from the Apostle Paul to his young friend Timothy. Most New Testament Scholars believe the letter reflects the latter part of Paul’s life. He is in prison and his days are numbered. He is writing to his young friend Timothy with a word of hope and encouragement. There is, after all, a certain sense of credibility in Paul’s life. He knew stress. He had struggled with the ingratitude of individuals in the churches he had founded. In his letter to the church at Corinth he details some of the struggles he had endured: SHIPWRECKED – STONED – BEATEN – IMPRISONED – COLD – NAKED - HUNGRY. He had suffered the ravages of poverty and ill health.
Many people today, faced by the enormous challenges of life, find themselves faced with what the New Testament calls “THE SPIRIT OF FEAR”— that is to say, a strong sense of wondering if they have the necessary ability to deal with the pressures of life. Often they feel OVERWHELMED – ANXIOUS – WORRIED about the future. So when Paul speaks of a spirit of POWER – LOVE - and SOUND MIND - is there not any of us who does not long for these things?
I am reminded of the Old Testament NUMBERS 13 & 14 -- Israel was standing on the edge of the Promised Land in the midst of the Wilderness - they should have been at the foot of entering the land God had given them for their inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.
• In order to encourage their faith, God allowed Moses to send out twelve spies to look over the land to see if all that God said was true
• When they came back, oh how different the reports were
• Ten spies came back who could only talk of giants
• They were afraid, saying, “We are as grasshoppers in their eyes”
• All they could see was negativity
Only two came back shouting. They were carrying huge grapes, a jug of milk, and a bucket of honey singing, “We are able to go up and take the land!”
• They saw the same giants
• But theirs was a report of faith
• They were convinced that God’s Word was true
• Sadly enough, God’s people chose to believe the evil report
• Please Don’t Feed the Fears
When the people heard about the giants their hearts melted with Fear. The narrative of the giants was exaggerated in their thinking and it destroyed the faith of God’s people. Isaiah asked this question in ISAIAH 53:1 “WHO HATH BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM IS THE ARM OF THE LORD REVEALED?”
• God has not given us the Spirit of Fear
• Fear will cause us to ignore the Power of God
• Fear will cause us to walk by our sight
• The Lords Report – is to Walk with a Sound Mind
EVIL REPORTS CAN CAUSE FEAR TO DROWN OUT FAITH IN A PERSON’S LIFE. But, listen to the response of the righteous. The Bible says the righteous shall be BOLD AS A LION. Caleb stood up and said – NUMBERS 13:30 -- “LET’S GO UP AT ONCE AND TAKE POSSESSION, FOR WE ARE WELL ABLE TO TAKE IT.” Caleb ignored the evil report and believed God’s report.
• You may say, “But I do have giants in my life”
• Faith and a Sound Mind does not deny the giants
• When you are sick, faith doesn’t deny the pain or the condition
• Faith believes God to remedy the condition
• When people are faced with debt, faith doesn’t deny the bills or the job that doesn’t pay enough
• Faith remedies the situation by introducing God’s teaching and power into a person’s life
To have a sound mind means we must firstly have a Strong Relationship with the Lord. Often in the church we speak of God’s salvation as the deliverance from the power of sin and death. But the root of the word “SALVA” means health and wholeness. Part of the way that we experience God’s grace is to experience the power, love, and sound mind to allow us to face the issues of life and to be able to navigate them in such a way that we are neither shipwrecked or drowned – Please Don’t Feed the Fears.
• We don’t need to fear the Giants in our Lives
• We don’t need to fear ISIS
• We don’t need to fear any Terrorist Attacks
• We don’t need to fear the suggestion we are no longer a great nation
• We don’t need to fear who is in the Whitehouse
• No matter what we are faced with – Just Take the Land
• Please Don’t Feed the Fears
A person with a sound mind makes good judgments, has disciplined thought patterns, and has the ability to make right decisions. This person does not expect the worst, but the best because his hope is in God! The Lord wants us to be completely secure in His love, protection and in His provision.
-- Please Don’t Feed the Fears
--David as a little ruddy, skinny kid refused to be fearful of the giant Goliath
--Goliath with all his armour was not match for David and His Sling Shot
--Joshua at the Wall of Jericho, refused to be fearful of the great army behind the Wall
--Set out the Praise and Worship Team to go before God’s Army
--Wall fell down Flat
--No matter what you are going through, Please Don’t Feed the Fears
--You may be faced with giants or a great wall, Please Don’t Feed the Fears
--Perhaps you can’t see your way through, Please Don’t Feed the Fears
--GOD HAS NOT GIVEN US THE SPIRIT IF FEAR, BUT OF POWER, LOVE, AND A SOUND MIND
-- Please Don’t Feed the Fears
