Sermon on Fear: prison sermon October 25 2015

The Fear Factor

The goal of evangelism is to lead a person to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The goal of apologetics should be the same. So what is the difference between the two? In summary, apologetics is a distinct but inseparable part of evangelism.

Evangelism is concerned with the presentation of the gospel, and the methods used to do so. Apologetics is concerned with answering objections to the gospel, clearing away obstacles, and commending the Christian faith as the only legitimate answer to man’s predicament.

Imagine an All Wheel Drive car. Usually the front tires do all the work, but when they begin to slip, the rear wheels kick into motion and stabilize the car. When you are sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, you are evangelizing. However, when someone raises objections against the Christian faith, apologetics kicks in and answers the objections so that you can return to evangelizing.

Now as you know I normally teach apologetics, proving the word of God to be infallible, the absolute truth, and the best way to prove anything is through our actions, and those actions come from faith, fearless faith.

Fear is the great stumbling block to evangelism, and apologetics.

FEAR

If I turn the lights off in here, so that it is entirely dark, can we have light at the same time?

It’s impossible isn’t it?

It is the same with fear, if we live in the darkness of fear the light of faith can’t exist.

Fear and faith cannot occupy the same mind, the same space, for they are opposing forces.

It is attributed to Einstein that total darkness is the absence of light and in that regard, that true faith is the absence of fear.

President Franklin Roosevelt famously asserted, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

I think he was right:

With fear we can’t have the courage we need to fight the good fight, or any fight for that matter.

A simple and useful definition of　fear　is:　An anxious feeling, caused by our anticipation of some imagined event or experience.

And there are only　five basic fears, out of which almost all of our other so-called fears are manufactured. These are:

Extinction—the fear of annihilation, of ceasing to exist.

Mutilation—the fear of losing any part of our precious bodily structure; the thought of having our body’s boundaries invaded, or of losing the integrity of any organ, body part, or natural function.　Anxiety　about animals, such as bugs, spiders, snakes, and other creepy things arises from fear of mutilation.

Loss of Autonomy—the fear of being immobilized, paralyzed, restricted, enveloped, overwhelmed, entrapped, imprisoned, smothered, or otherwise controlled by circumstances beyond our control

Separation—the fear of abandonment, rejection, and loss of connectedness; of becoming a non-person—not wanted,

Ego-death—the fear of humiliation, shame, or any other mechanism of profound self-disapproval giving us a since of worthlessness.

FEAR!!! Why must we resist it?

I have heard fear is our friend; it keeps us from being burned, or getting hit by a car, or some other catastrophe. But, really is that fear, or educated awareness of danger to be resisted?

As Gary Richardson titled his book, Fear is not our friend.

What does fear do to us?

The consequences of being fear-based or operating from fear are extremely varied and insidious.

One consequence is that we tend to become narcissistic. When we’re caught in fear of being negatively impacted physically, financially, or psychologically. We automatically divert our focus from others or the environment and bring it into ourselves.
However God tells us to practice agape love, this means we put others needs above our own, which is in direct opposition to being narcissistic, which means being self-serving to the exclusion of all others.

We can also be drawn into a victim-like stance where we see ourselves as being unfairly taken advantage of or impacted by other people or circumstances. If we have given our lives to God, and then we know it is God that has been offended, not us, besides, we are blessed beyond compare.

When we come from fear, anger, guilt sadness, etc. the result is that we become a source of negative energy. We will never draw people to the truth through negative energy.

When we come from fear we tend to be more judgmental and critical of those people and situations we fear. Love doesn’t judge, fear does. Being judgmental is against God’s will. Do not judge, that is God’s job.

Fear limits our world view and life’s infinite possibilities. When we find ourselves in a difficult situation, fear can blind us to all the possibilities except a few versions of the old fight or flight alternatives

Inevitably when we undo the fear, we find a different way of “being” with the situation and other alternatives arise.

Another way that fear limits us is by shutting us off from the opportunity to try new endeavors, and meet new people, which we need to do to follow the command to take the word to the world, and being ready to prove it.

Fear’s voice is not our own even though it operates in our head. The great thing is that we don’t have to listen to it or follow it any more than we have to listen to a person who constantly lies to us and tries to mislead us. We must learn to listen to the voice of Truth, the Holy Spirit.

There is another part of our mind that knows that fear is not needed or helpful in most situations. For instance when we are suddenly confronted with a situation, such as a potential car accident, we automatically deal with it to avoid it, the fear doesn’t set in until we think about it later. Fear is all in the mind.

Fear of death, which many have said is our greatest fear. However, when someone absolutely knows they are about to die and there’s no way out, the fear of death can disappear and be replaced with perfect peace, clarity and calm.

When Jody and I worked as chaplains, one of our initial fears was how we would deal with someone facing death, the emotional part of it, however, what we found was there was no fear, no sorrow, no judgment, and no sadness. There was nothing but an amazingly profound presence of Love which was felt by everyone.

So again, I believe that part of our mind knows that fear is an illusion and we can step out of it at critical moments.

Another aspect of fear is that it takes us out of the present. We start dealing with a future potential problem, when in truth all we have is this moment in time. And, personally I have found the perceived problem isn’t nearly as bad as I expected.

What does the Bible say?

I have heard it said, and have repeated it that the bible says do not fear in one form or another, 365 times one time for each day. A book I recently read claimed 366 times, so there would be one extra for leap years..

There are two things to point out here:

* The Bible does tell us – lots of times – not be afraid. This message is not in doubt. God tells us to fear nothing and no one except for him and when we are told to fear God that is to respect Him, to respect His power. We are not to live in fear.

* Is it important how many times the bible tells us not to fear? No – it is not important to salvation, but not fearing is important to our salvation.

Prayer without faith is not heard

How do we learn to resist fear?

So, is there a formula for dealing with fear, to turn the fear in our hearts and minds into faith in God?

First, have we really bought into who Christ is?

Have we really accepted God’s word as the ultimate truth, and His will as the best for us?

Do we mistake our desires for God’s will.

As Christians have we truly given our lives over to God, because if we have, it is no longer our life, but His, He gave it to us to do with as we pleased in the beginning (at birth) and now we have given it back to Him.

Remember there is one thing we should reject that has been offered by God; free will; we no longer accept free will, but God’s will in our lives.

So now we know it is His life to do with as He pleases, and what He wants us to do, will happen, remember Jonah and the big fish? We will end up in our Nineveh.

God will also use these times to teach us, and develop us until we are ready for His final plan for us.

In Your case, the environment you were previously in before coming here probably wasn’t open to God’s will for You, so He allowed Your situation to change, so you would have time to focus on Him for a bit.

As I have told you in previous lessons, God separates His people from the world, so step one has been accomplished, you have been separated from your people, your world, and now have time to give God your undivided attention, a time to learn, a time to grow. He does have a plan for you. Rest assured, it will happen, you will find your Nineveh.

He has a way to make all work to your good, if you love Him.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. King James

James 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

How do these two verses fit together? First of course, God makes all things work to the good of those who love Him, and in the second we can know our faith, by the works we are doing.

Most often people look at this as how we demonstrate our faith to others, which is true, however I believe it is also how we demonstrate to ourselves we are a child of God, we do not always know why we are in the situation we are in, or doing the things we are doing, however, our faith that He is in control tells us we are in His will, because as His servant, His adopted child, all things will work to our good, and so we are either doing His will, or are in the molding phase for a future work.

I would like to quote from the book “Fear is Never Your Friend” by Gary L Richardson [page 89 – 90]:

“The Bible tells me that as human beings we will fail and make bad decisions that will cause us to despair. But we also find that through those experiences, we will learn and grow” Gary L Richardson

And:

“When we accept salvation, we give up our will – what we want – in order to serve our Savior and live in His perfect will. And that’s the only truly fulfilling choice.“

And:

Gary quotes from Oswald Chambers who in his bestseller, My Utmost for His Highest, says;

“Joy comes from seeing the complete fulfillment of the specific purpose for which I was created and born again, not from successfully doing something of my own choosing.”

So at this I think we have established a few facts;

Fear and Faith cannot occupy the same space at the same time

Accepting faith over fear allows you to reject fear because you understand everything that happens to you, and the reason you do anything, good or bad, has been caused or allowed by God’s will for your own good.

Ok, this is probably the big question in most minds,

HOW???

How do we really allow faith to occupy the only space we have?

How do we resist the fear that is common among all men?

Our fear is based on what we experienced in the past, the things we see happening around us and our thoughts that usually imagine the worst.

For example: If opposition to the Christian faith is increasing around us, we worry that we might have to quit our evangelizing work and remain silent.

If a friend betrayed our trust, we are afraid it will happen again.

If we start thinking about the possibilities of political turmoil, travel accidents, persecution, martyrdom, family problems, difficulties in our marriage, failing health, disunity in the church, power struggles among the prisoners—and a thousand other terrible things—we will not have a single peaceful day.

Allow me to share one more story with you:

What has helped me is:

Through study of both Scriptures, and a study of apologetics, I have gained an “intellectual” faith, I know in my mind it is all true, for it has been proven.

I have prayer, and continue to pray for the Holy Spirit to speak to me reminding me when I am tempted to fear something, to resist that fear, to replace it with faith, true faith, knowing this trouble will also pass.

An African tribe teaches its children that when they are chased by a devouring monster they must stop running, turn and face it, and hold out their hand and say, “Give me a gift.”

I learned this 30 or 40 years ago and tried it, and it works.

My father in law, Ted Rauh, now pushing 90 real hard, and we are now facing the challenge of dementia, was one of the strongest men I have ever met, always seemed completely fearless.

He lied about his age when world war II started, and joined the Army, found himself under the command of General George Patten.

By age 17 he had won the bronze star for bravery, and the purple heart.

He spent 20 years in the federal prison system as a guard. As a devout Christian he was not allowed to bring the bible to the prison to teach to the prisoners, so he memorized literally hundreds if not thousands of verses, he could quote verses for more than a half hour at machine gun speed. But he did this so he could take the message to the prisoners without the help of written material.

Anytime something worrisome or fearful would rear its ugly head he would say “come on trouble where are ya? ”

He always claimed he feared neither man nor beast and I never saw the look of worry or fear in his eyes.

Somewhere along the line he made a decision to resist all fear, this was a choice we can all make.

However, we need a path, direction to how to make the right decision concerning fear, worry, or anxiety.

In the face of all these real-life threats, the Bible tells us:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God (Philippians 4:6).

Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18).

Are we to close our eyes to reality? The truth is, the world we live in is not getting better, we live in a fallen world that is on a downhill slope to the depths of hell.

We are surrounded by wars, terrorism, persecution, sickness. As Christians, we are not immune to life’s struggles as long as we live in this fallen world.

In addition, Satan is our enemy, and we are constantly engaged in a spiritual battle.

God doesn’t ask us to close our eyes to reality or pretend that nothing negative can ever happen to us.

Instead, God wants us to change our focus from the fearful things of this earth to Him.

Only when I look at my heavenly Father can I put all the threatening things that surround me in this world in the right perspective.

It then will become real to me that:

My heavenly Father loves me: “… for the Father Himself loves you” (John 16:27).

He knows every one of my needs: “… for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6:32).

He cares for me: “… casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

He bears my burden: “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden” (Psalm 68:19).

He doesn’t want me to worry: “Be anxious for nothing” (Philippians 4:6).

He invites me to tell Him all my concerns: “… in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

He is all-powerful: “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

He is well able to rescue me from whatever I face: “… our God whom we serve is able to deliver us” (Daniel 3:17).

If He chooses for me to go through trials, He is with me and brings me safely through: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me” (Psalm 23:4).

There is nothing He would not do for me: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

Learning to focus on my heavenly Father will replace my fear with faith. Faith will enable me to rejoice and give thanks, like the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, because I trust Him to have a solution for me.

It will give me peace in the midst of a storm, because I know He can handle my situation.

It assures me that He knows all the unknowns of my life and that I am safe in His arms.

Faith is what pleases God and what moves His hand to work on my behalf (Hebrews 11:6; Matthew 21:22).

Faith is the shield with which I must protect myself during an attack from Satan. With it I will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the enemy (Ephesians 6:16).

I challenge you to practice replacing your fear with faith.

Each time your circumstances or imagination fills you with fear, stop entertaining your fearful thoughts.

Instead, meditate on each of the Bible verses I listed about focusing on our heavenly Father.

Face your real fears, and your imaginary fears with the same force, demand a gift from it… the gift of fearless faith from the father.

As you do, look at your situation or fear in the light of each verse, and ask God to make His Word alive to you. If going through these Scriptures once is not enough to replace your fear with faith, do it five, 10 or 20 times—until your spirit is able to believe God’s Word. If the same fear attacks you two days, three weeks or five years later, go through the Scriptures again.

This is what I do when I am afraid or when faced with problems. The Scriptures I cling to may vary with different situations, but the end result must be faith; otherwise, there will be no victory.

After you have learned how to replace fear with faith, teach it to others so that they too will become strong in the Lord our God.