Storms Of Life- Fear Not

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.