Don't Let the Enemy Freak You Out
Notes
Transcript
Handout
It was a beautiful afternoon.
The sun shone through the car’s sunroof
tinting my wife’s hair gold.
She put on the blinker
and merged into the Fastlane on the I-93
as we approached the Canterbury Exit
“What happens next Daddy,”
my then eleven year old daughter asked.
So I returned my gaze to the book in my hands
and continued to read about the adventures
of James and his giant peach.
My wife’s strangled, “OH GOD,”
broke through my narration.
I had just enough time
to look up
and see a car hit us head on.
Time seemed to slow down
like a scene out of the movie the Matrix…
our bodies weightlessly flew,
a jumble of arms and lolling heads.
Somewhere in the midst of flying,
spinning, and crunching,
my heart echoed my wife’s cry “OH God!”
I woke up
to the sound of our car’s horn
endlessly blaring.
The two almond-sized glands in my mid-brain,
stimulated a cascade of chemicals
via my nervous system.
I could hear my racing heart
thundering in my ears.
My eyes dilated,
and I suddenly realized
I was terrified.
This happened in less than a second.
Finally, my conscious thought
caught up to my body’s flight or fight reflexes
and I frantically looked around
airbags and debris
to see if my family was alive.
Ears ringing and mind hazy,
I cried out
barely daring to hope
until I heard my wife’s voice
over the blaring car horn.
But Kayla didn’t respond.
I wrestled with my twisted seat belt-
desperate to reach my little girl.
The icy hand of fear
gripped my heart
and I went cold
as unsolicited images of
My daughter dead
or dying
flooded my mind.
Seconds stretched into an eternity
as I fought to get to my daughter
and my mind became enslaved
to soul shattering fear.
Until…
Finally
her pale hand
appeared over the back seat
and I saw her unsteadily sit up.
Moments later
we stood beside our crushed vehicle
clinging to one another-
hearts pounding,
adrenaline slowly receding,
I prayed over and over again,
“alive…
Thank you God,
we are alive.”
This morning, friends
we will be discussing
yet another complex topic
- fear.
Just as we learned
a few weeks ago about anger,
there are two kinds of fear:
one good
and one destructive.
Fear can be
our body’s natural reaction to danger
and it prepares us to fight,
run, or hide.
Just as my body responded to the car crash.
That automatic
short term survival response
is a blessing from God.
However, there is another kind of fear.
A long term
fearful response to a perceived threat
can not only destroy
our inner peace
but wreak havoc
with our health.
Long-term anxiety and fear
can cause your brain
to release stress hormones
on a regular basis.
This can increase
the frequency of symptoms
such as headaches,
dizziness, depression,
panic attacks,
post-traumatic stress disorder,
obsessive compulsive disorder,
cardiovascular disease,
memory disorders,
and chronic pain disorders
just to name a few.
It would be wrong for me
to stand up here this morning
and try to put a one size fits all
band aid over the problem of fear.
There are many reasons for fear
and conditions that cause anxiety
some of which are medical.
A few weeks ago,
I gave a sermon on mental health.
What I said then applies now-
I am not a doctor or a therapist,
so if you think your personal struggle
with fear and anxiety
may have a medical cause,
I encourage you this morning
to seek medical help.
However, again,
I am a pastor
and I know how the enemy of our soul
likes to use our fear against us.
He will do whatever he can
to freak you out.
He wants you to be afraid.
He wants you to be anxious.
As a pastor
I also have faith
and I believe that Jesus
is bigger than our fear.
Although,
I do not know of anyone who is fearless
it is possible to use our faith
to put fear in its place.
It is possible to
fear
less
Here are some suggestions on how.
First,
1. Assess the threat.
Many times,
our fear responses are conditioned.
That means
that our past experiences
tell us that something is a threat
and it causes us to imagine the future
based on those experiences.
We project our past experiences
onto the future.
For example:
a man is called into his boss’ office…
He is afraid he will be fired…
He is afraid, because,
When his boss has called
his colleagues into his office in the past,
several of his colleagues lost their jobs.
A child who is the victim of abuse
flinches when someone raises their hand-
why?
Because their past experiences
tells them that a raised hand
means hurtful blows are coming.
A person’s imagination, therefore,
plays a role in what they fear
and how much that fear
impacts them.
Now here’s the rub…
The human imagination
is not very reliable.
Moreover,
Satan likes to use
our imagination against us.
He loves to freak us out.
He enjoys making us afraid of things
that aren’t really a threat to us.
In fact,
Psychologist William Backus
defines anxiety as
i. Fear in the absence of real danger.
ii. Overestimation of the probability of danger
and exaggeration of its degree of terribleness.
iii. Imagined negative results.
So, my first question to you
this morning is this:
What are you afraid of?
And the second
Is it a real threat?
Many people who struggle with anxiety
tell themselves,
“If the thing I worry about
actually happened,
it would wipe me out.
It would be awful, horrible.”
They imagine
the very worst possible outcomes
and Satan fuels their fear.
Dr. Albert Ellis,
director of the Institute
for Advanced Study
in Rational Psychotherapy,
calls this
“awfulizing.”
“awfulizing.”
Anxious people do a lot of it.
If my spouse left me-
it would be awful
I just couldn’t stand to be alone.
I might get hurt again-
that would be terrible.
They might make fun of me-
that would be unbearable.
They might reject me-
that would be awful.
I couldn’t stand it
if I lost my job.
Dr. Backus
gives the following advice,
“When you are feeling anxiety,
stop and ask yourself:
What am I telling myself, is terrible?
Will the results really be as terrible as I tell myself they’ll be?
Now argue the case—like this:
It’s not terrible. It may be unpleasant, but that’s a long way from terrible. (“Some of the things that I believe to be absolutely terrible really are only annoying.”)
Even if what I fear were to happen, it wouldn’t be terrible. It might be unpleasant, but it surely wouldn’t be the end of the world or me. (“If the worst happened, the consequences wouldn’t really be as bad as I’ve been telling myself.”)
If we take the time to assess the threat, we may realize that Satan has been freaking us out with his lies.
If that is the case, you can fear less by replacing his lies with God’s truth.
You can battle the lies with the truth that things aren’t going to be as terrible as you may have imagined.
But if the threat is real?
Then I want to encourage you this morning to
2. Replace your something to fear,
with a someone to believe in.
Let’s look at Matthew 8:23-24 (NIV),
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.
“Then he got into the boat
and his disciples followed him.
Suddenly
a furious storm came up on the lake,
so that the waves swept over the boat.
But Jesus was sleeping.”
Friends,
for some of you-
this is your biggest fear.
You are afraid
that when the storms of life,
such as sickness
or financial crisis hit-
you will find that Jesus is sleeping.
Checked out.
You are like,
“God help.”
And He’s off taking a nap.
Please know this morning
that you are not alone.
The disciples felt the same way.
But even if you feel that way,
the truth is
God is always with you.
There is a powerful promise
found in Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
that states
“The Lord himself goes before you
and will be with you;
he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged.”
God has not checked out of your life.
He is not an uninterested observer.
He is here with you
offering you strength and support
and that is what the disciples discover.
Let’s return to Matthew 8:24-26, (NIV).
Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
I’ll tell you why they were afraid-
it is because their fight or flight reflexes
were reacting to the very real threat
of drowning.
Many of the disciples were fishermen.
They knew how insignificant
a small wooden boat can be
in the grip of a mighty storm.
Boats break,
sink, and men drown.
But Jesus is not afraid.
Let’s read on,
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
The Word of the Lord
“What kind of man is this?”
“What kind of man is this?”
The answer to that question is
More than “superhuman.”
Jesus is more than just a man.
He is God in human skin.
In that moment,
even after having seen Jesus
command the storm,
the truth of who Jesus is
was lost on His disciples.
Sadly,
they just didn’t get it.
So later as Jesus is taken away,
beaten, and killed-
His friends fled,
they denied, and hid.
Out of fear for their lives,
the men whom Jesus loved
left Him high and dry
to face the cross alone.
A few weeks later however,
these same men
stood boldly proclaiming
that Jesus is the son of God,
that He came to earth
to live a sinless life,
and then to suffer and die on the cross
all for the wonderous purpose
of saving us
from the eternal consequences of our sin.
The men that fled and hid
now courageously faced persecution
and even death
to tell the good news
that Jesus rose from the dead.
They declared
that God loves us completely
and unconditionally
and that He sent Jesus
to us to save us from our sin.
Our un-goodness,
our bad and hurtful choices,
our sin- in other words-
has an eternal price tag.
One day each and every person,
upon their death,
will stand before God
and be held accountable for their sin
and the hurt it has caused others.
The cost of our sin is death
and eternal separation
from the goodness of God.
But as the disciples proclaimed,
Jesus conquered sin and death
so that all who believe in Him
and accept His forgiveness for their sin,
will spend eternity with Him in heaven.
The disciples declared
that death is not the end.
That we do not need
to fear death anymore
because it is just
a gateway into heaven
and the glorious presence of God.
The disciples went from terrified men
who fled and hid at Jesus’ death,
to courageously proclaiming
the good news about Jesus
to all who would listen.
The threat had not changed.
The same men who killed Jesus
wanted to silence His disciples.
So what happened to these fearful followers to change them into seemingly fearless leaders?
So what happened to these fearful followers to change them into seemingly fearless leaders?
Pastor Andy Stanly puts it this way,
after abandoning Jesus to face the cross alone,
“...they show back up.
They go into the streets of Jerusalem, even though they are facing the people
who killed the son of God’s body and had the potential to kill their body as well,
and somehow they have learned a lesson and somehow they become seemingly fearless
regardless of the fact that all of their lives were at risk.
Still, they go into the streets of Jerusalem and declare,
‘you killed Him, God raised Him, we’ve seen Him, say you’re sorry.
We are not afraid anymore.’
The people are like ‘what happened to you?’
They replied,
‘we saw a resurrected Savior and we finally got it.
We got it and finally came to terms with the question we asked on the boat
when He calmed the storm…
‘what kind of man is this?’
Our answer,
‘this is a man sent from God and if there is anyone or anything we ought to fear-
respect, awe, reverence, it is Him.
And it is exactly as He said.
We have suffered and we have lost and somehow we are no longer afraid.’”
End Quote
You see church
The disciples
replace their some-thing to fear
with a some-one to believe in.
That is what God wants for you this morning.
If the storms of life are raging,
out of control around you
and you are in fear’s grip,
God wants you
to replace those things you are afraid of
with faith
in the One who can calm the storm
with just his voice.
Jesus is bigger than the storm,
He is greater than what you are facing,
and He has already gone before you.
That leads us to our next point this morning.
3. Keep your eyes on the One
who can walk you through your storm.
Let’s look at another storm mentioned
in the gospel of Matthew
chapter 14 starting with verse 22 (NIV),
Matthew 14:22-27 (NIV)
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
Brothers and sisters,
take a moment
and imagine you are in that boat.
The light of dawn
hasn’t yet touched the horizon,
so it is dark
and there is no electricity
There is no light.
In that darkness
you feel a storm stirring,
the winds are blowing,
the waves are growing,
and the watery depths below
are waiting to consume you.
Can you feel your heart racing?
Can you empathize with the disciple’s fear?
Consider the storm you are facing,
that something that causes you fear.
Like the dark night
it closes in on you.
Like the winds
it pushes and pulls you,
like the dark waves-
it tries to drown you
in terrified imaginings.
But then you hear His voice,
the voice of your Savior calling out to you-
“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
Strengthened by His voice
you call out like Peter,
“‘Lord, if it’s you,…
tell me to come to you on the water.’”
Your savior calls to you,
‘Come.”
You see Him doing the impossible-
you see Him walking
calmly across the waves-
you look into His loving eyes
and your faith rises.
You don’t see the threat-
you don’t look at your circumstances-
instead,
you look at Jesus-
and step out of the boat.
One step,
eyes on Jesus-
Two steps,
eyes on Jesus-
Three steps,
you are doing the impossible,
you are walking on water-
eyes on Jesus…
Then a strong wave
crashes against your feet,
you feel the wind
trying to blow you
into the watery depths
and you take your eyes off Jesus.
You see the threat,
you remember the problem,
and like a rush,
the fear overwhelms you once again
and you begin to sink.
Desperate you cry,
‘Lord, save me!’
Immediately
Jesus reaches out His hand
and holds you fast. (pause)
Friends,
no matter how many times we falter-
Jesus is there.
His strong arms
ready to pick you up
out of the depths,
to immediately
rescue you from fear.
And He speaks to your trembling heart,
‘You of little faith-
why do you doubt?’
Brothers and sisters,
the winds of life will blow
and when they do-
keep your eyes on Jesus.
Hardships will come,
you will face threats
and fear will rise-up within you
but put it in its place,
keep your eyes on Jesus!
He will never leave you
nor forsake you.
He will walk with you through the storm.
Remember,
it wasn’t only Peter’s faith
that made him able to walk on water.
It was Jesus’ strength,
His power, and authority
that enabled Peter
to do the impossible.
As you face your fear,
as you walk through your storm
remember that Jesus
is empowering you too!
The voice that calmed the storm
can calm the fear in you. (long pause)
Right about now,
However…
some of you…
may be
formulating
one of your impactful questions,
“But pastor,
what if the storm doesn’t go away?”
I hear you.
There are times
when God doesn’t calm the storm.
Earlier
I shared about the car accident
That my family and I experienced in 2015.
Thankfully,
All three of us
walked away from that crash.
However,
our daughter, Kayla
Sustained a head injury
that significantly impacted
her physical and mental health.
I confess as a father,
that I wish
I could have taken all the pain.
All the complexities
That continue to plague my daughter
She has almost daily
migraines
and I hate watching her hurt-
watching her struggle.
I must also confess
that there are many times
that I am afraid for her,
I am afraid for her future.
We pray for her.
We know that God loves her.
We know that He is a God who heals.
But we also know
that there are times when we pray for God
to remove a threat,
a sickness,
a hardship
and in His providential wisdom
He responds
with a “No.”
It takes incredible faith
to believe that God will heal
but it takes even more faith
to believe in His love and goodness
when He chooses not too.
Friends,
if that is you this morning.
If you are faced with God’s “No”
if you are in fear’s grip,
I pray that you will have enough faith
to reach out and grasp Jesus’ hand,
to believe that He still loves you,
and that He will stand with you
strengthening you
to face whatever comes next.
I also pray,
just as I pray for my daughter,
that no matter what comes
you will choose to
4. Live the life you have been given.
In 2019 over 40 million adults in the US alone struggled with fear and anxiety related disorders.
As of today,
September 19, 2021
that number
has more than doubled.
And the CDC,
The National Institute for Mental Health,
And the American Psychiatric Association
All report
that they are experiencing
destructive levels of fear
and anxiety in our country
And looking at the news,
it is no wonder
that is the case.
Hurricane Ida
left millions homeless
without access to food,
water, gas, or electricity.
Wildfires on the west coast
have burned through millions of acres-
making the air hard to breath,
displacing entire communities
and destroying thousands of homes
and businesses.
The COVID-19 pandemic
and the Delta variant
remain a threat to our health
and to the health of those we love.
Meanwhile
American businesses
battle to find employees
and the economy
seems to be on the brink of disaster.
In world news, we watch
as terrorist extremists
take complete control of Afghanistan.
And then listen to them
breath threats against America
and especially against Christians.
Just saying all that out loud
causes my heart to pump
just a little faster.
No one can deny
that we are living through
a difficult time in history.
No wonder people are afraid.
I am reminded of a conversation
between two of my favorite fictional characters:
JRR Tolkin’s
Frodo Baggins
and Gandolf.
“’I wish
it need not have happened
in my time,’ said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf,
“and so do all who live to see such times.
But that is not for them to decide.
All we have to decide
is what to do
with the time that is given us.”
End Quote
When you face real threats
that cause you fear,
it is easy to say along with Frodo,
“I wish
it need not have happened in my time.”
But it has- (long pause)
so now what will you do
with the time that has been given to you?
Stanley shares about a friend of his family,
Tim who several years ago
was diagnosed with ALS.
A-My-O-Tro-Fik
lateral
sclerosis,
or ALS,
is a progressive nervous system disease
that affects nerve cells in the brain
and spinal cord,
causing loss of muscle control
and eventually
it will lead to death.
Tim, says
that facing ALS
makes all the other things
he used to fear and worry about
seem inconsequential.
Looking back
Tim wishes
he hadn’t wasted so much time and energy
being anxious about the little suff.
Those who know him,
will tell you that Tim is an inspiration.
So when it came time for Andy Stanly
to write a sermon on fear,
he sat down with Tim and asked him-
“I know that you are no stranger
to the fight against fear.
What do you think others should hear?”
Tim replied,
“tell ‘em, stop worrying…
live your life.
The sooner they accept what can’t be changed
the easier it becomes.
Quit trying to live somebody else’s life.
Quit wasting your time
and emotional energy
on what you think ought to be.”
Jesus said
“in this world you WILL have trouble”.
That is not a
“you might have trouble,
or the crystal ball says
the future is a bit cloudy.”
No.
Jesus knows the future
and He doesn’t sugar coat it for us.
He doesn’t try to sell us
some pitiful blessing based faith.
A name it and claim it weak belief
that will only work
when everything is turning up roses.
Never in the Bible
does Jesus promise us
a perfect blessing filled life.
Even to the men He knew the best
while on earth-
His friends and followers-
He tells them,
“In this world you will have trouble.”
And this is trouble with a capital T.
When Jesus made that statement to His disciples,
He knew how his friend’s stories would end.
He knew that they would be persecuted.
He knew they would courageously
tell others about Him
but that each and every one of them
would suffer because of Him.
In fact,
every single one of the disciples
were eventually martyred
because of their faith.
However,
there is hope.
As I said earlier,
Jesus knew
how His follower’s stories would end.
So
in Matthew 10: 28
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
For many of us,
there is nothing worse
than someone killing our body.
I mean come on-
if your body is dead
then what else is there?
The answer is –
eternity.
The disciples’ stories did not end
when their bodies died.
Look back with me
at the statement Jesus makes
in John 16:33 (NIV)
“In THIS world you will have trouble.”
But Jesus does not end it there.
He says,
“but take heart
for I have overcome the world!”
Jesus has overcome the world.
The truth is
our bodies will one day die.
It is a fact.
Our bodies will die
but our souls will live on
with Him in Heaven.
This world with its threats,
sickness,
and hardship
is temporary.
Jesus has overcome it
and He has prepared a place for us,
a place of peace,
a place of reward,
a place of great joy.
So,
Tim,
in his wisdom says,
“so many of us fear the unknown.
As for ALS-
well I know how that will end.
There is no ‘unknown.’
Actually,
we all know how it will end for us.
We all will one day die.
But thanks to Jesus-
I know where I will go
when that day comes.
So why fear now?
Why waste the time you have
on fear,
on worry,
on stress?
Instead,
let it go and live your life.
Knowing that,
loosens the strangle hold of fear.”
End Quote
Friends,
if you are struggling with fear this morning-
take heart,
for Jesus has overcome the world.
Let Jesus be the some-one
who replaces your some-thing to fear.
Allow your faith in Jesus
to exceed your fear of that something
and fear will lose its death grip on you.
Friends,
the One Who calmed the raging storm
with His voice,
Who walked upon the raging sea,
is the same One
Who is with you today.
Jesus is with you
in the midst of the storm.
Keep your eyes on Him
and let Him lead you through it.
Allow His strength
to help you face the impossible.
Let me leave you with this final verse found in
Is 41:9-10 (NIV)
I took you from the ends of the earth,
from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
"I took you from the ends of the earth,
from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."