Overcoming fear

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Fear

While this mornings message is not a part of our current series we are going to do this lesson this morning in a class format for a special presentation by HomeMission. So this morning there are going to be questions along the way and I ask for your involvement. You get to be a part of their mission work this morning, so let’s all get involved.
When you think of fear, what comes to mind?
Does fear come to mind when it comes to evangelism? This morning I am going to take on the topic of overcoming the fear of evangelism, something I face everyday and I’m an evangelist. So we will look at three things this morning.
Evangelism; what is it, who is responsible for it
What are some stumbling blocks (fears) regarding evangelism
How can we overcome the fears associated with evangelism
Maybe I better define fear first, Oxford dictionary defines fear as this:
In the noun form “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.”
In the verb form “be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or threatening.”
hold on a minute, doesn’t scripture say there is good fear?
Good biblical fear:
Fear of the Lord is beginning of knowledge (Ps111:10)
Psalm 111:10 NASB95
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.
So, right off the bat there is a healthy fear as seen in the scripture, and I can’t stop with that one, a few more as we go this morning, for we want to take unhealthy fear and turn it into healthy fear and to do as we are commanded regarding evangelism, in fulfilling the great commission. We don’t want it to be the great omission.
Fear of the Lord is fountain of life (Pro14:27)
Proverbs 14:27 NASB95
27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.
and add to that.
The eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him (Ps33:18)
Psalm 33:18 NASB95
18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
and just one more
His lovingkindness is on those who fear Him (Ps103:17)
Psalm 103:17 NASB95
17 But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children,
So the biblical examples given are contrary to the wordly definition, and with wisdom, knowledge and understanding we can apply the biblical definition of fear.
It is beginning of knowledge, it is a fountain of life, and that the eye of the Lord and the lovingkindness of the Lord is on those who fear Him!
So now as I mentioned we are addressing fear of evangelism, or overcoming the fear of it, so may I spend a few minutes regarding evangelism?

Evangelism

Evangelism, and the evangelist are they one in the same? What is it, and who is responsible for it. Here are a few things to consider this morning.
So a couple of general questions as we delve into this section.
Question: Evangelism, what does that mean?
Question: Who is responsible for evangelism?
Evangelism defined
(Noun) the spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness. (Oxford dictionary)
Evangelism described
Question: How would you describe evangelism?
Sharing what the Lord has done (Isa12:4)
Isaiah 12:4 NASB95
4 And in that day you will say, “Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make them remember that His name is exalted.”
You may not be a witness of Jesus Christ, but you can share with people what the Lord has done among the peoples.
Pointing to the source of salvation (Isa45:22; Act4:12)
Isaiah 45:22 NASB95
22 “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.
then look at what is said in the 2nd evangelical sermon delivered.
Acts 4:12 NASB95
12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
Notice it says “must be saved” that means there is a reason that salvaton is needed.
Telling the reason salvation needed (Isa59:2; Eph2:1; Act2:40)
Isaiah 59:2 NASB95
2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
Or what Paul said to the church at Ephesus
Ephesians 2:1 NASB95
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
and again turning back to the birth of the church and the reason need and the call to respond
Acts 2:40 NASB95
40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”
(Transition)
Evangelist defined and described
(Noun) A person and especially a preacher who tries to convince people to become Christian: Someone who talks with great enthusiasm.
Described by Paul (Rom1:14-16)
Romans 1:14–15 NASB95
14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Romans 1:16 NASB95
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
He felt that much had been given and he was obligated to all to share (ref. Lk12:48-much given, much required), preach, proclaim the gospel. For the gospel is the power, not the person!
Evangelism: Who is responsible for it?
The evangelist by gifting for equipping (Eph4:11-12)
Ephesians 4:11–12 NASB95
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
As you can notice from (v.12) the purpose of the office of evangelist is for the equipping of the saints for the works of service, and the building up of the body of Christ.
(Transition) So, we see thus far that the evangelists are responsible for evangelism
The believers, disciples of Jesus Christ are (Mt28:18-20; Mk16:15)
Matthew 28:18–19 NASB95
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Matthew 28:20 NASB95
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
So, when it is says “teaching them” it means the apostles received the command, and the command including teaching others so they would follow the command. The command was for all. Let me back that up with another scripture
Mark 16:15 NASB95
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
The command was that the gospel, the good news, was to be preached to all creation, and that is accomplished by the disciples not just the apostles, so it is for everyone, everywhere in every time not just for the apostles.
(Transition) even before the great commission it was for others beyond the apostles.
Exampled by Woman at the well (Jn4:28-30)
John 4:28–30 NASB95
28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.
After this woman, sinful woman at that interacted with Jesus and came to have a relationship with Him; immediately she went out and shared with others, inviting them to come and see.
Exampled by all the disciples (Act8:4)
After the birth of the church, after the gospel message went out from Jerusalem to all of Judea it came to Samaria. The church was under great persecution, they were scattered except for the Apostles and here is what happened.
Acts 8:4 NASB95
4 Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
So, as you can see it is more than the apostles who evangelized, it was disciples, followers of Jesus who had heard the good news and been converted by belief, confession, repentance, and were baptized for remission of sins. So again, evangelism is for everyone.
A couple more points need to make in this section
Apostles command to make most of your time, and be prepared to share the hope in you (Col4:5-6; 1Pt3:15-16)
Colossians 4:5–6 NASB95
5 Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.
And what should be another big tell that evangelism is for all
1 Peter 3:15–16 NASB95
15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; 16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.
(Transition) So we have seen the definition, we have seen the description, we have see the the command and the who too, now to the problem.

Stumbling Blocks to evangelism

I’m sure we can say we are used to seeing stumbling blocks to keep people from responding to the gospel (pride, lust, etc.) but what about stumbling blocks that hinder or keep evangelism from furthering the kingdom?
Question: OK, what are your thoughts on what could be a stumbling block, or something that could create fear from evangelizing?
I should give the definition of fear again so it is before you.
In the noun form “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.”
In the verb form “be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or threatening.”
Some common are:
It’s not my job, that is why we have an evangelist, preacher, minister
I am not comfortable doing it
I am not equipped to do it
OK, I have fear of being rejected or judged if I do it
I have a fear of saying or doing something wrong.
Moses had fear of evangelizing (Exo4:1)
Exodus 4:1 NASB95
1 Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”
Ananias had fear in evangelizing (Act9:13-14)
Acts 9:13–14 NASB95
13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”
(insert personal story of fear in evangelizing)
Sunset door-knocking (police)
Fear of talking strangers and being rejected
(Transition) I like many of us, had the wrong kind of fear. I had the negative, crippling fear that wanted to keep me from doing it. But God, through His Word helped and continues to help in overcoming the fear of evangelizing.

Overcoming the fear

Fear, unhealthy and healthy, one is for the good, the other is for our hindrance. So we are going to look at what can we do to overcome the unhealthy fear when it comes to evangelism.
(Insert nothing to fear picture here) - read the FDR quote
Question: How do you face fear? What do you do to overcome fear?
(Insert overcoming fear picture here)
I know we are looking at overcoming fear of evangelism I think the best way is to look at first overcoming fear in general then will look at evangelism.
Don’t fear, for I am your God, I will uphold you (Isa41:10)
Isaiah 41:10 NASB95
10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Cast your fears, anxieties on Him, for He cares for you (1Pt5:7)
1 Peter 5:7 NASB95
7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Perfect love casts out fears (1Jn4:18)
1 John 4:18 NASB95
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
So, be strong and courageous (Jos1:9)
Joshua 1:9 NKJV
9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
To sum this up regarding fear, know God upholds you, do don’t fear; God cares for you so do not fear; for love casts out fear. Be strong and courageous for the Lord your God is with you.
Overcoming fear in evangelism
Put God’s word in you and let it work through you (Col3:16; 2Pt1:3)
Colossians 3:16 NASB95
16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
(expand on that) tie in evangelism
2 Peter 1:3 NASB95
3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
(expand) again it has to do with true knowledge, wisdom, fear of the Lord in you will energize you to face the fear of evangelism
Facing fear in evangelism:
The best way to face this is to be ready to share the hope that is in you, then from your hope you can share the good news that can bring hope to someone else.
Afraid of rejection? - hey they rejected Jesus, the prophets, the apostles so you would be in good company if rejected. Press on and share the good news
Listen to evangelistic sermons, teachings, read literature that can help you to be more comfortable in your knowledge to be able to evangelize.
You are not alone, God’s word in you will be God’s Spirit through you to bring the good news to others so to grow the kingdom of God together.
(Conclusion) - overcoming the fear of evangelism truly does come from the fear of the Lord, knowing who He is, what He has done for you, what He has promised and what He has commanded you and being willing to do that. Overcoming this fear is sharing the hope in you, and that hope is Jesus Christ (1Tim1:1)
(Insert overcoming sin picture here) -
overcome sin, nail it by hearing the gospel (the good news)
overcome sin, nail it by belief
overcome sin, nail it by confessing Jesus
overcome sin, nail it by repenting
overcome sin, be baptized for remission of sins, let God do it for you!
Then live obediently, being a disciple of Jesus Christ preparing and sharing the good news, the hope that is in you because you have been forgiven.
(Song) (Prayer) Exit)
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