God invites us to overcome
fear
1)
What do
most people fear? I recently saw a
top ten that tried to answer this question.
2)
According to the list, man’s # 1 fear is
death.
3)
His
second greatest fear was said to be thunder and lightning (terrible
storms).
4)
Cancer
came in after that followed by a fear of heights.
5)
I was a
bit surprised at the next listed fear:
vomiting.
6)
In the
middle of the list was being in confined spaces.
7)
Still in
the top ten but not in the first five ten was fear of open spaces and then a
fear of flying.
8)
The
second to the last fear was a fear of people and social
situations.
9)
The
least worrisome fear in the top ten was a fear of spiders.
10)
People
fear many things; perhaps some here have fears not on the list just
given.
11)
There is a fear of success,
failure, rejection, being alone, a fear of being embarrassed or something
else.
12)
This
morning’s material is about fear.
13)
God
invites us to overcome fear. One of
the devil’s greatest weapons is fear.
14)
I want
to look at four types of fear and then close out the material with a practical
point.
15)
My first
fear to discuss has not yet been mentioned—the future.
16)
People
fear the future.
17)
We may
fear it because we do not know what will happen.
18)
We may
fear it because our current set of circumstances look very
bad.
19)
We might
even fear it because our circumstances are too good (we fear things will turn
bad).
20)
What we
see in our day-to-day world may leave us with concern about the
future.
21)
We see bad economic
news. We hear about war, crime,
poverty, and diseases for which there is no cure.
22)
Fear
about the future can begin very early in life.
23)
Children
may fear the first few days of school, or their first
date.
24)
There
can be fears about jobs and relationships, and dozens of other things.
25)
A lot of
people spend a lot of time worrying about the future.
26)
Jesus
knew this and He talked about this subject.
27)
Listen
to Mt. 6:25-30 – READ
28)
We have
very little control over the future.
29)
When we
are faced with fear about the future, there is a great truth that will help
us.
30)
This
truth will relate to all the things that are said today, but we want to
introduce it now.
31)
Christians need to look at their source of
help, and instead of fear.
32)
The
source of help I have in mind is Christ; Jesus once said He is a
“rock.”
33)
Jesus is
solid; when fear and anxiety arise, we need something to cling to—something
firm.
34)
We can
train ourselves to look at Jesus and not the fear.
35)
For our
scripture reading we heard some verses read from Rom. 8.
36)
Think
about what the apostle wrote.
37)
“If God
is for us, “who is against us”?
38)
We could
re-work that to say, “What shall we fear?”
a)
Paul
then listed many things in verse 35.
39)
He spoke
of tribulation, anguish, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or
sword.
40)
If we
knew or suspected these things to be in our future, we would be tempted to be
afraid.
41)
We need
to ask the question Paul asked: If
God is for us, who or what can be against us?
42)
Then we
have these encouraging words from verse 37 – READ
43)
Paul
said through Christ we are “more than conquerors” through
Christ.
44)
If we
look at our source of help instead of the problems, we can overcome fear of the
future.
45)
Paul
then continued this line of thought in verses 38-39 – READ
46)
As
Christians we can work to say “I am a Christian and I will not fear the
future.”
47)
“My God
is in control of the future.
Whether the future is good or bad for me, I do not
know.”
48)
“I do
know that my Lord holds the future in His hands.”
49)
If we
can overcome fear of the future we might turn next to the subject of failure.
50)
A lot of
people fear failure.
51)
Corporate America has little use for
failures. It wants success and it
demands success.
52)
We see
high ranking officials lose their jobs because of
failures.
53)
People
are often punished in various ways for failures.
54)
I want
us to stop and think about what failure is.
55)
If we
are told that we have “failed,” what is the authority behind that
pronouncement?
56)
A
student might receive an “F” on a test or a report card.
57)
He or
she is told that a class was failed or a test was failed.
58)
What
does that type of failure mean?
59)
It means
there was a human institution that created a standard.
60)
A person
did not pass the standard passed by that school.
61)
In the
grand scheme of things, is that failure really important?
62)
I am not
saying that students should goof off and not study.
63)
The
point is that not that failing grades are okay.
64)
The
point is that people are eternal; life on earth is short. After this life we live in
eternity.
65)
In
eternity, how significant will be a “D” grade be?
66)
What if
we fail at a job? If such happens,
there may be some temporary consequences.
67)
In
eternity, failing to get or hold a job will not matter.
68)
We need
to refine our understanding of failure.
69)
True
failure is not related to this life.
70)
True
failure is a lack of spiritual preparation.
71)
In Lk 12
Jesus spoke of a man who had made a lot of money.
72)
He had
barns and a lot of wealth; he was in a position to build bigger
barns.
73)
Surely
no one who knew that man would have said he was a failure.
74)
What did
Jesus say about this rich farmer?
75)
Lk.
12:20 says, “thou foolish one.”
76)
God said
this man was a failure. What the
world calls success, God stamps FAILURE!
77)
We might
liken the rich man to someone who owns his own company.
78)
Maybe we
could compare him to someone who owns a large corporation.
79)
The man
has earthly gain and success, but it was all a fleeting
accomplishment.
80)
In
eternity such a person will be lost if he has not lived a faithful Christian
life.
81)
If we
have become a New Testament Christian; if we are a faithful Christian—remember
this point.
82)
We never
fail in the true sense of failure.
83)
We may
not accomplish things according to the standards set by this
world.
84)
Others
may seem to be way ahead of us in the secular realm.
85)
If we
have things right with God, we have achieved success—the only success that
really matters.
86)
A third
matter related to fear is death.
87)
We find
people trying to cling to life at virtually any cost.
88)
People
will beg for every possible life saving measure to keep them
alive.
89)
Experimental treatments will be
tried.
90)
Millions
of dollars are spent in the hopes of staying young and living longer.
91)
God says
to the world, “you are going to die.”
92)
Heb.
9:27 says “it is appointed to man once to die.”
93)
Man was
taken from the dust and to the dust he returns (Gen.
3:19).
94)
Paul
asked an interesting question in 1 Cor. 15:55.
95)
He said,
“Death, where is your victory?”
96)
Death is
almost treated as a person and Paul puts its on the witness stand for
interrogation.
97)
He wants
death to explain how it wins against its battle with
mankind.
98)
For the
unsaved person, death certainly does obtain a victory.
99)
Death
seals the fate of the unsaved.
100)
What
about the individual who has become a Christian?
101)
What
kind of victory does death have over a faithful child of
God?
102)
There is
no triumph.
103)
Death
can win a battle or two, that is true.
Death cannot win the war.
104)
Christ
has won the war – 1 Cor. 15:57 – READ
105)
Many
fear death, often long before they reach a time late in
life.
106)
When
this time comes the prospect of death terrifies many
people.
107)
We have
already read from Rom. 8 – do we remember what Paul said?
108)
Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ?
109)
What
shall put true fear into us?
110)
Not things above or
below. Not spiritual
creatures. Not tribulations or
persecutions. Not even
death.
111)
If
Christ is our solid rock, even death itself is not to be feared by the
Christian.
112)
Every
fear can be checked by and through Jesus Christ.
113)
It may
even be as simple as something as being unpopular.
114)
People
fear not being popular.
115)
From the
time we are small to our later years in life, most want to be liked.
116)
People
fear rejection and losing their friends.
117)
This
fear is like all the others. We
look at the problem and not the source of help.
118)
When it
comes to fear, we look at, look to, and look on the wrong
thing.
119)
Perhaps
this is why the Hebrew writer said what he did in Heb.
12:1-2.
120)
He said,
“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith.”
121)
We
really have two choices in our lives.
122)
We can
focus on fear—there are many to choose from.
123)
Or, we
can look to Jesus Christ as our source of help and strength every single
day.
124)
This is
the practical point to take home with us.
125)
We can
look at our problems and fear them or look at and hold on to the
rock.
126)
The
choice is ours, and which choice sounds the most attractive to
us?
127)
Do we
want to cling to fear, or the one who holds all things in His
hand?
128)
No one
here wants that first choice.
129)
We want
the second choice, and the Bible says all can choose Christ.