Where Is Your Focus When Fear Assails You?

Several years ago there was a flight on a 4-engine jet plane. It was going to be a lengthy flight and the pilot encouraged the passengers to relax and enjoy the flight. Not long into the flight, the co-pilot came on the intercom and said, 'Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, we have lost power on our number 2 engine but don’t worry we have 3 engines and can fly with no problem. We’ll just be about an hour late arriving. Sorry for the delay.'

An hour later the pilot came on the intercom and said: 'Well, folks, we have hate to inform you but we just lost power in our number 4 engine. But nothing to worry about, we still have two engines that work and we’ll be fine. Sorry for the delay again but it we will be at least two hours late to our destination now.'

A short time later, the now nervous co-pilot announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, I hate to inform you, but we have lost our number 1 engine. Now our plane is built to fly on just one engine. However, we are projecting a three-hour delay to our destination. We are very sorry for the inconvenience."

Now with a fearful and extremely nervous cabin now coming to life, one passenger shouted, "If we lose that last engine, we are going to be up here all day." Oh my!

I’ve been preaching on FACING THE GIANT OF FEAR over the past 7 weeks and we’ve looked at several different ways to overcome them! Today as I conclude this series, I want us to focus on 1 more way to overcome the Giants of Fear in your life.

Turn with me to Numbers 13:1-3 , 25-33 …read...

Numbers 13:1–3 NASB95

Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.” So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel.

Numbers 13:25–33 NASB95

When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. Thus they told him, and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. “Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. “Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.” Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. “There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

So Moses selected 12 men – 1 from each Tribe of Israel. I want you to notice…

1. THE CHARGE GIVEN. (Numbers 13:1-3, 17-23)

- Go spy out the land (Numbers 13:17-20 )

Numbers 13:17–20 NASB95

When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the Negev; then go up into the hill country. “See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. “How is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are they like open camps or with fortifications? “How is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

1) See what kind of land it is.

2) See what the people are like who inhabit it.

3) Bring back some of the produce

- They completed the mission (Numbers 13:21-24 )

Numbers 13:21–24 NASB95

So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, at Lebo-hamath. When they had gone up into the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) Then they came to the valley of Eshcol and from there cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes; and they carried it on a pole between two men, with some of the pomegranates and the figs. That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there.

TS – Next I want you to notice…

2. THE REPORT PRESENTED. (Numbers 13:25-33)

1 The positive

- Affirmed indeed the goodness of the land - a land flowing with milk and honey!

2 The negative

- Giving way to the positive was the negative – no longer did they point to plenty but to people – no longer to joy but to fear!

- They described the cities as inaccessible, impregnable – said the cities were beyond reach of the people.

- The listing of all the nations there were another reason for terror.

- At this point their words became exaggerations/distortions.

- It’s interesting/significant how the 10 spies identified Canaan: as “the land to which you sent us” (Num. 13:27) and “the land through which we have gone” (v. 32), but not as “the land the Lord our God is giving us.”

3 The assessment: (Numbers 13:30-33 )

Numbers 13:30–33 NASB95

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. “There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

(1) 2 said “Let’s go!”

(2) 10 said “No way Hosea!”

- No way we can overcome – these men were walking by sight and did not believe God’s promises!

- They looked at the land and saw GIANTS! – looked at the cities and saw high walls/locked gates – looked at themselves and saw grasshoppers!

- What were they saying? God isn’t sufficient to complete the task – conquer the land.

- What a state of denial of the power of God and presence of God!

- What had God just done in delivering them from Egypt and the mighty hand of Pharaoh?

Conclusion

What was the problem? The 10 spies didn’t understand that their God was bigger and greater than any stinking giants! Absolutely amazing since these guys had seen the power their God had just recently displayed – dramatically, gloriously, magnificently when He delivered them from Pharaoh!

We do the same thing don’t we? The giants of fear come – the fear of disease, sickness, losing your job, not being able to make it financially, a relationship, dying, loneliness, failure, uncertainty about your future, conflict, making decisions, rejection, losing your most important relationships, success – and you/I fall into the same plight of the 10 spies! You become focused upon the GIANT(S) and not GOD!

Need to be more like the 2 spies Joshua and Caleb! They spied out the land – they saw the giants – but they didn’t focus on the giants – they focused on God!!!

You have to do the same! Get your eyes off your GIANTS – THE ONE’S THAT FILL YOU WITH FEAR! AND GET YOUR EYES FIXED/FASTENED ON GOD!!! Heb. 12:2 !!! 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2 NASB95

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

And build into the fabric of your life the principles we’ve covered in this sermon series…and you will overcome the GIANT OF FEAR!