Living Free of Fear

Introduction

Why do we live in fear?

What keeps us from living a life free from fear? We see throughout the Bible where God Calls us to not be afraid or not to fear because He is with us.

I believe that if we live in fear, we will not be able to effectively carry out the mission God has called us to. We tend to fear what others may think of us, what might happen to us for being believers, or fear being persecuted for what we believe in.

Let me be honest with you, I deal with this fear daily. We have been called to share the Gospel with everyone but my fear of getting it wrong or stumbling while sharing keep me from doing so. I have a good friend you all know well that has walked me through discipleship. Bro. Scott and I have met with each other many times and walked through ways to share the Gospel. I have been equipped to share the Gospel and my testimony but I still hesitate to share it.

I struggle with sharing because I am afraid of how the other person might react. I am worried I will misspeak or not know an answer to a question they might ask. I can honestly say that if an opportunity to share the Gospel was to happen tonight, I still will feel that fear that say tells me to wait or that I am not good enough to share the Gospel.

Tonight I want to talk to you about :

Living Free of Fear

Body

I was looking at doing a Christmas message tonight since this is the last encounter until January, but Monday I was S.O.A.P.ing (soaping is a method of studying the word and if you want to know more about it, come find me or even some of your small group leaders know this process. Ask Connor, he knows everything ) and I came across a passage that really stood out to me. I really dug in Monday because to be honest, it had been almost a month since I had spent any quality time in the word and I have been feeling that in my life lately.

So I was reading, and came across John 16. Jesus is talking with his disciples and telling them that they will soon face persecution for following him. Jesus liked to talk in parables or stories and use figurative language. He was telling them he would soon depart from them.

He then asks them “Do you now believe?”

Then we get to Verse 33; check out what it says:

John 16:33 HCSB

33 I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

He is telling them these things so that they can be at peace with his leaving. And they’re going to need peace, because Jesus is telling them they would face persecution because of their beliefs and for sharing the Gospel.

This news doesn’t keep the disciples from doing what Jesus asked them to do—go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit—the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19.

Fear didn’t stop them, and it doesn’t have to stop us.

I want to show you a few examples of people who followed God and didn’t let fear stand in the way of doing great things.

Example 1

The first is actually a trio that most of you know who stood up to King Nebuchadnezzar and did not bow down before the false gods he wanted them to worship. They stood up for what they believed in no matter what it might cost them. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Find Daniel 3:

I really like what they say to the king in v.17 and 18;

Daniel 3:17–18 HCSB

17 If the God we serve exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the king. 18 But even if He does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”

Did you see that? Even in the face of death they did not blink. They had no fear of the fact that if they obeyed the command that God gave to not worship false gods they would be put to death in a fiery furnace.

So, when the defied the order to worship the king, he got angry and had them turn up the heat in the furnace. And from this point we know the rest of the story, they were protected from the fire because they lived their life for God and did what it took to live free of fear.

I don’t know that I would have that same courage to stand against what I am being commanded to do and face the consequences. Every action we take and decision we make has a consequence, some are bad, and others are good.

What is the one thing you are being asked to do that you know goes against God’s commands?

Is the fear of the consequence of not doing this thing keeping you from making a decision to follow God’s command?

Example 2

Next, I want us to look at a young man who didn’t fear someone bigger than him because who he followed is even bigger. We’re talking about David.

The Philistines and the Israelites were at war and the Philistines called up their closer to win the fight for them. Goliath was a giant, he stood 9ft tall, and just his armor weighed in at 125lb. He was big! He basically would come out and wipeout anyone who thought they could have a chance against him. When the Israelites heard about Goliath fear set in.

They lost sight in the fact that God promised to carry them. Then enters David-at the time, just a shepherd boy, who was overwhelmingly under prepared for the battle he was about to take on. Saul tried to stop David from fighting but he didn’t know David’s secret weapon. See David lived a live sold out for God.

Let’s look at scripture from 1 Samuel:

1 Samuel 17:33–37 HCSB

33 But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.” 34 David answered Saul: “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. 36 Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Then David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”

I really like what David says in verse 34. He talks about tending his father’s sheep. He has been following God’s commands and knows that he can trust God to provide protection or is ready to lay his life down to help fulfill God’s promise to the Israelites.

I’m going to chase a rabbit for just a minute. As I talked about at the beginning of the message, one of my fears is sharing the Gospel with someone else, one-on-one interactions are what I have a fear of, or at least that is the excuse I make for not sharing the gospel.

However, I might add one other Giant I face, and that is talking to a crowd about something I feel so inadequate to which is bringing God’s word to His people.

I am not quite sure what was going through my mind when I sent a message to Michael and said I would like to bring a word to Encounter. I’ll be honest, I had fear even up to the time I walked onto this stage. The enemy wants to talk in my mind telling me I am not good enough but I know that God’s got me, so I want you to know, I am letting him slay this Giant! If he can put a nobody like me here to bring a message that I hope you get at least one thing from, He can slay any giant you will ever face.

I want you to ponder these questions for just a second,

What Giants are you Fearful to face?

Can you really say that you are ready to let God help you face your Giants?

I believe Bro. Michael preached a sermon on this but are you ready to let God slay Giants?

Example 3

I want to bring you another example that of a man who knew he would face persecution and was willing to die spreading the gospel. In fact, he ended up dying because of his faith and following Jesus’s command to tell the whole world the gospel.

Stephen was the first Christian Martyr. He was preaching the Gospel and carrying out what Jesus had called on His people to do and those who were hearing him that day were upset by what he was preaching. This was not long after the ascension of Jesus to heaven to be with His Heavenly Father.

Turn to:

Acts 7:59–60 HCSB

59 They were stoning Stephen as he called out: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin!” And saying this, he fell asleep.

We see in this passage that even as Stephen was being stoned, he called out to the Lord. He even called for them to be released from the sin they were committing by stoning him. Stephen had every opportunity to let fear creep in to that moment and recant what he said or even not say it at all, yet he chose to live without fear of death and carry on what he was commanded by God to do.

After Stephen died, Saul- Later Paul, started the first major persecution of the church. He went in and killed off anyone who was associated with the church and believed what Stephen and the others were preaching.

It’s sort of funny though because, the persecution that Stephen and other followers faced caused the spread of the Gospel due to the people scattering throughout the region. So in this, we see that God took what the enemy ment for bad and turned it for good.

I believe that today in our world, we see the persecution of Christians rising to an unheard of level. There are churches in Las Vegas that can’t meet but casinos can, I am not trying to start a political debate or stir up trouble, but this is a clear persecution as they are trying to stop churches from meeting.

We are going to only face more persecution as time goes on and I believe we will always face some sort of persecution if we are actually following God’s commands to us. If we are telling others about Him, there is a chance we are going to be laughed at, yelled at, looked at like were stupid, or called any other names. We have to live free of fear of these things and continue to to what God has called us to do just like Stephen did, no matter the cost.

Example 4 (final example)

Last example, but we could talk about many people in the Bible who showed great courage in the face of fear.

This person pushed aside the fear of a man wanting to kill her people, and a king who could have killed her. She trusted that God had her back. I am talking about Esther. 

Queen Esther. She was married to King Ahasuerus (probably won’t say this name) and faced a situation in which she had to make a decision that had the potential to take her life. Haman who had been promoted by the king to be at a position higher than all other officials was angry because there was a man named Mordecai who would not bow down to Haman. 

Haman learned that Mordecai was a Jew and wanted to kill all the Jews throughout the Kingdom. Somehow Haman managed to convince the king that the Jews were his enemy. He told the king that all the Jews were being disobedient to him, which was not true, and they should all be killed. The king agrees and orders all Jews killed!

But Haman didn’t know that Mordecai was Esther’s Uncle. Mordecai had raised her as a child.

Now, even though Esther was the Queen, no one other than her uncle knew she was Jewish. Esther hid her faith at first because of the persecution her people faced. When Mordecai learns of Haman’s plan, he goes to see Esther, tells her what Haman wants to do, and pleads for her to talk to the King and ask for his help. But this was a scary situation. One, what would the King think when he found out his wife was Jewish, and two, going to see the king without being summoned meant a very real possibility of death. But this was a very situation and action needed to be taken—Esther had to have faith in the face of fear. If she didn’t, she and her people would die.

Turn to Esther, Chapter 4. ​

Esther 4:15–17 HCSB

15 Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, day or night. I and my female servants will also fast in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law. If I perish, I perish.” 17 So Mordecai went and did everything Esther had ordered him.

We also see at the end of verse 16 that she was willing to go to the king to discuss the new law even if it meant her death. 

There is a lot that happens here but to kind of summarize, Esther was able to get the kings favor and requested a dinner with Haman and the king which he granted. 

She requests the king to spare her life and her people’s life. The king seemed surprised at this and asked who was behind this and Esther told him it was Haman. 

Esther had to take a big chance at going to the king to save the lives of the Jews who lived in their kingdom. Doing this she had to take a big risk because she could be put to death for going to the king when not being summoned. Esther pushes fear aside and saves her people!

Wrap it up

There are many examples in the Bible that could be used to show followers that did not let fear stand in their way of carrying out the work God called them to do.

This message I hope stirs up a movement in you heart to know that God is with you and that you need not fear because God’s got this.

I discussed slaying Giants and I know that there is someone here that is facing a Giant or two that they want to be done with. Well you can’t slay the giant on your own. Your faith in God along with not fearing whats to come can help slay those giants.

When we look at the things that cause us fear, I would venture most of them are because of What if. What I mean by that is if you have an opportunity to invite a friend to encounter but you go “what if they laugh at me”, “what if they stop being my friend”. Let’s say you have an opportunity to share the gospel, “what if I don’t know the answers”. We need to let God handle the what if’s and trust that he has our back.

Like I said before, we can not effectively do the mission God has called us to while living in fear. We have to break free from the chains of fear and let God handle the what ifs.

Let’s turn back to John 6:33; Remember, Jesus says…

John 16:33 HCSB

33 I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

Jesus tells us to be courageous and trust in him because he has already conquered the world. He came and died for our sins and paid the price for our sins.

I want to also say that we shouldn’t be surprised as Christians that we face situations that are tough and cause us to have opportunities to feel fear. God told us that we will have suffering in this same verse, but because he has already come and conquered the world, we can be courageous and Live Free From Fear.

Invitation

I ask that every head bowed, every eye closed. The worship team is going to come back up and sing a song in just a minute. Maybe you are hear and you are saved, but you have been living in fear and letting your giants defeat you. If thats you, take this opportunity to pray and ask God to step in and take over. Maybe your here and you are saved but you have been living a life that you really don’t want Christ seeing, today is your opportunity to lay it down at the feet of Jesus and let him help. Would you today say to God that you are ready for him to take over your life and lead you away from fear.

Maybe, just maybe, someone here tonight has not accepted Jesus into their heart, maybe you have been living with fear in your life and wondering why you can’t stop living in fear, would you tonight take the next step and give your life to Christ? If your not sure what that looks like or who to talk to we have small group leaders all across the room ready to help you take that next step. Ill be standing down front off to the side come see me and I will gladly take the opportunity to talk with you.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear God calling you into a place of life that is free from fear.

PRAY.