The Storms of Life
Fear Not
CCCAG June 9h, 2019
Scripture- Joshua 1:1-9
Intro:
Open with Prayer
Fears (Whiteboard)
Today we will be talking about fear as one of the storms that come into our life. Fear can be the storm itself- an attack of the enemy of our souls or a byproduct of the storm.
We are going to start with identifying the
I. Problem of Fear
The intro video showed news videos portraying a lot of things that people today are afraid of.
A brief side note- I would submit to you that the entire news media’s gimmick during this time in our history is to play to your base emotions, to make you afraid, and most of all to separate out our society into social and political camps that hate each other. If it bleeds it leads, and if it exploits one people group over another, all the better. That is the unfortunate condition of journalism in our time- to make people afraid.
The enemy is at work in all of this, and the reason he does this is because people who operate out of fear are people who can be easily controlled.
That is why fear is his primary tactic to keep you from becoming the person God has called you to be.
We going to start today with looking at the how and why the enemy uses fear
The first reason is that fear makes you
A. Questions God’s word
The devil's primary tactic in making us live in fear is to make us doubt God's promises to us. The essence of this attack is to call into question or cast doubt on that which is true.
That is why Jesus called the devil the father of all lies
The reason satan does this is because if he can place a doubt in our mind about God's promises to us then he can call God's character into question.
Once he has that doubt implanted into our spirits that makes us fertile ground for fear to grow.
We go back to the beginning into the book of Genesis chapter 3, you see that was satan’s 1st tactic. The devil asked Eve “did God really say? “
That question was phrased in a very deliberate fashion, and it’s goal is to call into question 3 specific things-
1. God’s Word- This is a very important concept for us to understand about the bible- God is His word. We have a saying in our time that a person’s word is their bond. If a person cannot keep a promise or is found to be constantly lying about things, it calls into question that person’s character and integrity.
Looking to the scripture- Gospel of John 1:1 is speaking of Jesus when it says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word Was God. He was with God in the beginning”
There is a quote I use often about truth and it comes from Focus on the Families apologetics curriculum called “The Truth Project”. The quote is “Reality is truth as seen through the eyes of God” (repeat)
That’s a whole series of sermons right there packed into one sentence, but it’s absolutely true. Who can tell us more about what is true than the one and only being in this universe that has all knowledge, all power who is all present?
You can’t separate God from His truth as revealed in Scripture, even though many denominations within Christianity today are trying to do that.
This is a major issue and the reason that authentic biblical Christianity is dying in America- because we stopped standing for truth and in an effort to stay relevant and popular with people, we compromised God’s truth.
The devil needs us to be compromised, because then he has us. God’s presence, power, and blessing only comes when His truth is held in esteem.
If there is a doubt about a person’s word, then there is a doubt about the second thing the devil is calling into question about God-
2. Character- Is God who He says He is?
The underlying question of that is-“Can we trust God?”
In the case of Eve’s temptation, the devil was placing a doubt in her mind that said, “God doesn’t want you to have something that will bring you satisfaction, joy, fulfillment, or peace- and God is doing that because God is not good”
Before we are tempted to beat up on Eve, let’s look at our own hearts- any temptation to sin that you and I have starts with these two points “Did God really mean what HE said, and why is HE saying it?”
The goal is for us not to trust God, His Goodness, and His Love for us.
That bring us to the next point
3. God’s Love- I once had an atheist friend of mine ask a sincere question about the faith-
“If God exists, does He really love us, or are we just a bunch of lab rats in his great experiment called humanity?”
Initially I was a bit defensive and offended by the question, but looking at it now I see where they were coming from.
My reply to that question is this- The scientists does not bring life to his lab rats. He merely uses them to prove a theory. God is LOVE and because of that love HE created us and gave us life. Not only did HE give us life, but He made us in His image.
Part of being in God’s image is having a higher ability to reason than the rest of the natural creation, which comes with it something called free will.
All of those tragedies we saw in the video at the beginning of service was a result of someone mis-using there gift of life and free will and abusing the image of God upon them.
People write books or volumes of books trying to explain the concept and problem of evil, but let me give you a simple definition-
The definition of evil is- misuse of God’s gifts. Repeat
Evil is either forcing your will over God’s will to the harm of someone else, or by exerting the importance of your existence at the expense of others. That’s this fallen worlds way of doing things.
Love is the opposite. Love is shown through standing for truth.
Jesus never backed down from truth. People would stand there with rocks in their hands ready to stone HIM and he never backed down.
In fact, in John’s Gospel when people got angry Jesus got even more strident and strong worded about truth.
God is love, and love cannot lie. Love’s primary attribute is truth, and perfect love casts out all fear.
B. The second point of the problem of fear is that it preaches a false Gospel
Let me explain what I mean-
1. Because of fear, a person will seek out a functional savior instead of the real one.
A functional savior is something of this world that promises satisfaction and fulfillment apart from God’s will for you.
A functional savior might be Food, wealth, sex, fame, or position.
We even might try to spiritualize our functional saviors-
About 20 years ago, I had a partner on the ambulance who was a fairly new Christian.
He had a need to have a great deal of money and possessions. He was very concerned about this- best car (GTO), best watch (Step down from
Rolex) and placed a great deal of his self-worth in having the best of the best. His stethoscope was even the $600 gold plated version of a master cardiology- one that a physician might receive as a gift to put on a shelf, but he used it on patient’s.
We were talking about possessions and money on the way back from taking a patient to UW Madison. The subject came up of how much we should give to the charity, the church, or to missions.
He was a minimalist in that regard- It’s my money, and anything he gave should be considered an investment so God can bless him more.
I hold to the principle, which is the biblical principle, that I don’t own a single thing- it’s all God’s since He is the creator of everything.
He held to the position of the prosperity Gospel that God exists to make him wealthy, healthy, and happy.
I asked, “How do you square that idea with a Christian in the middle east or China who lives in constant poverty and danger of their and their family’s life with God wanting you to live a life of health, wealth, and happiness?
He replied, “Because I live in America, and God understands that my standards of living are much higher than theirs.”
So he lived constantly in fear of loosing that which he had in this life. He had a nice car- GTO and woke up 4 times a night while we were at the station to make sure it was ok and no one was messing with it.
He had a functional savior, and because of that lived in fear of loosing it.
That bad thing about functional saviors is that they don’t save you- they enslave you.
They make you focus so much about what happens in this life, that you give no thought to the next.
That’s why FEAR is actually an acronym for “False Evidence Appearing Real”
2. This false Gospel can only try to provide you heaven on earth
When we are really honest with ourselves, we find that the majority of our life choices are binary. In other words, it’s left or right, up or down.
That also hold true in the spiritual- God’s way or your way which anything other than God’s way is actually the devil’s way.
These binary choices come with them binary consequences. If I walk to the corner in front of the church wanting to go to Kwik Trip and turn left- I have a very long walk to Arcadia. However, if I turn right, in 5-10 minutes I can be at our Kwik Trip.
The Kingdom of God is a binary choice. Your choices in what you chose to trust in while you are here on earth will reflect into eternity. If it’s a false Gospel built upon a functional savior, that will echo into eternity toward destruction.
However, if you trust God’s word, His character, and His Love for you and not buy into the devil’s fear tactics, you will build your house upon a rock, and none of the storms of life will ever be able to topple it.
I want to briefly touch on the reason the devil uses fear to keep you captive. It’s because there is a consequence of fear-
II. Consequences of Fear
Miss out on God’s plan for your life.
A moment ago, we were talking about binary choices. When we begin to doubt God’s truth, His goodness, or his love, then the substitute choice the devil offers us becomes more attractive. That leads to tragic consequences, because God is truth, God is Good, and God loves you so much that from eternity past your Father had an awesome plan for you and your life.
1 Cor 2:9
"What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived" -- the things God has prepared for those who love him—
We as people crave new experiences and living life to it’s fullest.
The fullest life you can live is to be in the center of God’s will for you.
An example- The way the world does it-
Friday night in America people hit the bars to have fun. They drink, get drunk, and then spend half of Saturday feeling miserable. They might even regret some of the things they did the night before. They look at their bank account and realize they spent > $100 on something that is making them ill and they just literally flushed down a toilet.
But come next Friday, the do the same thing over.
At one point in my life, I was one of those people. I get it.
But then I found God’s plan for me.
God’s plan for you has no hangover. You will never act foolish while under His control. I have never regretted anything I have done under the influence of the Holy Spirit. And not only that, but your actions will build a foundation into the next life that you will enjoy forever.
What does this have to do with fear?
Fear of “missing out” on something will drive you to make the wrong choice. Fear of being unpopular, fear of being left out, fear of ridicule. Whatever flavor that fear comes in, it will make you gravitate away from God’s plan for you.
Those consequences not only touch you, but everyone around you.
Most of the storms in our nation today is fear out of control.
We have looked extensively at the causes of fear, problem of fear and the consequences of fear. Now let’s look at the solutions.
III. Solution to Fear- Fear Not
Joshua 1:1-9 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Some translations of the bible translate the word to Joshua as “Fear Not”
Fear causes us to have 3 reactions- fight, flee, or freeze.
(shout) FEAR NOT!
Poll-
How many people here jumped? You had one of those three reactions-
Let’s break this down, and none of these reactions are bad in of themselves-
How many people were thinking, “How do I get out of here?” You’re the flee’rs
How many froze and hope I didn’t go any crazier- you’re the freezers
How many clenched fist and were ready to charge the pulpit and take me out? You’re the fighters.
There isn’t anything wrong with being a flee’re or a freezer. It’s a natural God given instinct of self-preservation.
That is, until you are faced with an enemy you can’t back away from, like fear- then you have to learn how to fight.
It takes the US Army 14 weeks of training to take people that are naturally a flee’rs or freezers to make them fighters.
Joshua started being an assistant to Moses. Moses lead 6 million people out of Egypt, and the vast majority of them were freezers and flee’rs.
God needed fighters to take the promised land.
40 years of training later, God has 6 million fighters ready to go.
Joshua is a general facing a military situation in taking on the most fortified city in the world. Jericho’s walls were so thick that they could have chariot races at the top of them. It sat right on the Jordan river so water was in abundance and it’s much of it’s food production was inside the walls so you couldn’t surround and starve them out.
Conquering Jericho was humanly impossible.
But God was telling them to trust him.
As much as God needed the people to be fighters,
His command to Joshua is not a command to cowboy up. God didn’t use a motivational tactic to make that naturally aggressive “man spirit” rise up and want to do a mighty thing.
God told Joshua Fear Not! But this was not a command-Fear Not is an invitation.
Fear Not is saying, “Joshua, you can trust me and my word to you”
Fear Not is confirming, “Joshua, I will be with you and NO ONE will ever be able to stand against you.”
Fear Not is promising, “Joshua, what I have promised you is now here. Simply stand and see the salvation of your God.”
We will close today with a few practical steps to help us to fear not during those storms of life-
1. Be in the word
The author of Hebrews has this practical advice for us
Hebrews 5:11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Learn to trust God through learning the truth of who HE is and what he desires. Tammie was telling me this week that she is starting a challenge in her own life- no food for her body until she feeds her spirit with God’s word. That’s an excellent tool to use for us today
The second step
2. Exist in His presence
Part of knowing God through His word is to exist in HIS presence. God’s Word is not just found in the bible, but through a living, breathing fellowship with Jesus in prayer and meditation. Joshua’s mentor was Moses, and if Moses wasn’t actively leading the people, he was in the tent of meeting to spend time with God.
On this Pentecost Sunday, We need to commit to be a people of His presence again.
Why is that important? Perfect love casts out all fear, and our God is perfect love, and we can only get that while making an effort to be in HIS presence. When we get that into our lives, no demon in hell or temptation of earth can take our eyes off of the God who loves us.
3. Be around fellow believers
Heb 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
God put those verses in the bible not to pad a church’s attendance number or offering amounts.
God strategically placed those verses in the bible as an invitation to exist in His presence surrounded by His people to experience His love.
That’s how we can live courageous lives and fear not, no matter what storm of life confronts us.
Amen?
Altar Call
