Being Fearless
4/13/08
(The following was used with
a PowerPoint presentation, the asterisks indicate slide changes.)
*Being Fearless
*Pr. 28:1 The wicked man flees though no one pursues,
but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
*(Blank)
Without a doubt fear
paralyzes!
·
Fear causes a person to
cower.
·
Fear causes a person to
quit.
·
Fear causes a person to
go along with the crowd.
·
Fear causes a person to
lie.
·
Fear causes a person to
be silent when it’s time to speak.
·
Fear causes a person to
deny the truth.
·
Fear causes a person to
doubt.
·
Fear strips you of your
identity.
·
Fear limits you
potential.
·
Fear grieves the Holy
Spirit of God!
Fear is debilitating and
greatly contagious!
*Josh. 14:6 Now the men of Judah approached Joshua at
Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what
the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me. 7I
was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh
Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according
*to my convictions, 8 but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people
melt with fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. 9So
on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be
your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed
the LORD my God wholeheartedly.’
*10“Now then, just as the LORD promised, he
has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses,
while Israel moved about in the desert. So
here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day
Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.
12Now give me this hill country that the
*LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then
that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but,
the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.”
Fear is more debilitating
than faith is encouraging!
*Nu. 13:25 At the end of forty days they returned from
exploring the land.
26They
came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the
Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and
showed them the fruit of the land. 27They gave Moses this account:
“We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does
*flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28But
the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very
large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29The Amalekites live
in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country;
and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
30Then
Caleb silenced the people
*before Moses and said, “We should go up and take
possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
31But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t
attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32And they
spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They
said, “The land we explored devours those living in it.
*All the people we saw there
are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from
the Nephilim). 33We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we
looked the same to them.”
If God admonishes us about
something repeatedly, there’s a reason for that!
*(Blank)
Read the following:
Deut. 31:1-8, 23; Josh.
1:1-9, 16
King David strongly
admonished his son Solomon to be strong and courageous.
*1 Chr. 28:20 David also said
to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be
afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail
you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD
is finished.
Paul admonished the men of
Corinth…
*1 Cor. 16:13 Be on your
guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.
The priest and the officers
would address of men of Israel before they would engage in battle. They would address the issue of fear…
*(Blank)
Deut. 20:1-9
Ephraim was the most
prominent tribe of Israel from the days of Moses to Saul’s time.
The Tabernacle was set up in
its territory.
There is no biblical record
of Ephraim’s soldiers turning back from battle, and yet in Psalms we read
something interesting.
This is most likely a
metaphor referring to Ephraim’s failure to provide strong leadership during
those years.
*Ps. 78:9 The men of
Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; 10
they did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his law. 11They
forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.
The people of God today are
not fighting people. But we are
definitely engaged in war!
*(Blank)
It’s a spiritual war.
It’s enormous and it’s
powerful.
The church is the only light
and salt on this earth.
If the church does not hold
up a standard of truth, who will?
If the church does not hold
up a standard of righteousness, who will?
If the church does not resist
evil, who will?
You say, “Todd, it’s not our
place to do that.”
Sadly, that’s exactly what
the majority of Christians believe!
*Eph. 5:11 Have nothing to do
with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but
rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention
what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14
for it is light that makes everything visible.
It is shameful, but
everything has to be exposed by the light!
*Eph. 5:11 (NLT) Take no part
in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, rebuke and expose them.
*The silence of the church is
not golden!
Show the news clip
Understand something, we are
not bullies, we are salt and light!
Fear paralyzes the church.
*Pr. 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare…
What are we afraid of?
·
Rejection
·
Ridicule
·
Being labeled
We need to have the right
kind of fear.
Does the church take serious
the things of God?
Read Acts 5:1-10
The apostle Paul had every
reason to be afraid, but he was fearless!
*Acts 9:23 After many
days had gone by, the Jews conspired
to kill him, 24but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night
they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25But
his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening
in the wall. 26When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the
disciples, but they were all afraid
*of him, not believing
that he really was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him and brought
him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and
that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28
So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly
in the
*name of the Lord. 29He
talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but
they tried to kill him. 30When the brothers learned of this,
they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
I could say so much more!
*Are you controlled by a
spirit of fear or by the Spirit of God?
*Ro. 8:15 For you did not
receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the
Spirit of sonship.
*2 Tim. 1:7 (KJV) For God
hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound
mind.
*Are you paralyzed by fear?