Untitled Sermon

The Fear Factor

Bowe Gardens Baptist Church

Sunday morning service

September 25th, 2022

2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Good morning church family! It’s a great day to be in the house of the Lord amen? Thank you choir for the music this morning you did an excellent job as always. Before we begin let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to bless our time together. Let us pray. In Jesus name, amen. I invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to the book of 2 Timothy. We will be in 2 Timothy chapter 1 this morning and will be examining verse 7. 2 Timothy 1:7. The title of this morning’s message is: The Fear Factor. Fear can be crippling and it can prevent us from responding to the call of God upon our lives, the calling to share the Gospel and to make disciples of all nations. Paul here is nearing the end of his life and he is writing to his protege and son in the faith, Timothy. Paul here is preparing to pass the spiritual baton if you will to Timothy. As we will see this morning he reminds Timothy that God did not give us a spirit of fear. I invite you now to follow along with me as I read aloud 2 Timothy 1:7- “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. “ There are two kinds of fear. There is the healthy, reverent fear or respect that we are to have for God. This is healthy, good fear. The fear that Paul is speaking of here however, does not come from the spirit of God. It is a fear grounded in anxiety, stress, uncertainty, and it is of the devil. Satan wants us to be fearful. Fear can affect a Christian in three different ways and these will be your first fill in the blanks on your notes this morning… Fear can cause a Christian to become:

Distracted. We begin to lose our focus. Our focus becomes on the source of the fear instead of on God. We are not able to have our minds be where they need to be because we are too focused on what or who is causing us fear. This can be so very crippling for the believer because God has called us to serve Him with all our hearts and to work as unto the Lord but if we are distracted then we are not fully focused on what He would have us to focus on. The fear that we are experiencing becomes the devil’s delight and our distraction. Fear can be a distraction. The second way that fear can affect a Christian is it can also cause a Christian to become:

2. Discouraged. Fear discourages us. When we are distracted by fear, we also become discouraged because we feel the fear is too great, the obstacle in front of us is way too big to overcome. You begin to become convinced that you are not capable of serving the Lord and doing what He has called you to do because you are discouraged by the fear. That is what fear does. It discourages us. Satan whispers in your ear that you will never do big things for God because you are too old or too young or too sick or too busy and that if you tried to you would never succeed because of that fear. Again, fear is crippling and if you and I don’t turn to God about it and nip it in the bud and deal with it, then inevitably the third result happens and this is number 3 on your fill in the blank… the third way that fear can affect a believer… it can cause a Christian to become:

3. Destabilized. The third and final result of succumbing to a spirit of fear is we become destabilized. We cannot move. We cannot function as Christians who are called to be His ambassadors sent out on mission to do His work. This results in desensitization and spiritual stagnation. We convince ourselves that we can never do big things for God. Fear is a Liar. It lies to us and causes us to think that we are weak, pitiful, and useless. One of the greatest weapons in Satan’s arsenal if not the greatest weapon that he uses against the Church time after time after time after time is fear. As Paul says here in verse 7, God did not give us a spirit of fear. That does not come from Him. Paul is reminding Timothy here that fear is not of God because I’m sure the temptation was great for Timothy to give in to fear. He had to stay focused, just like we too must stay focused.

Fear does not have to have it’s way with us. We can overcome it by the three R’s… and these are your next fill in the blanks.

Relying on His power. God has given us a spirit of power. We are to depend on His mighty, awesome power to stand against a spirit of fear. Through relying on His power and trusting in it, we can take our stand against fear when it comes our way. If we try and rely on our own power and our own strength, we will fail. It is going to take relying and depending on His amazing power and not our own to win the battle against fear. Relying on His power us key. We must pray and trust in His mighty power. Jesus told His disciples in Acts 1:8- “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” It is only through relying on His awesome power that we can accomplish the task that He has laid out for us, the task of sharing the good news of the Gospel and making disciples. The second way that we can overcome fear is by…

2. Resting in His love. 1 John 4:18 says: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” God loves you and I perfectly. We do not need to fear. We can rest in the reality that the Holy Spirit of God dwells in us and that He is always with us, no matter what. God has given us a spirit of love, not fear. We do not need to fear. The Lord is our Good Shepherd and our Wonderful Savior. Fear has no place in the life of a child of God. It’s normal and sometimes understandable to feel fear, but in those moments may we stop and remember that God is with us and we do not need to worry or be fearful. Lastly, the third and final way that we can overcome fear is by…

3. Refraining from anxiety. Notice he says a spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind or self control. Fear leads to anxiety. They go hand in hand. When we are fearful or anxious, sometimes we lose control, because we are so scared. Instead of self-control, there is chaos. The whole church becomes overwhelmed and fearful, instead of relying on His power, resting in His love, and refraining from anxiety. Philippians 4:6-7 says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Let’s give it all that we got for Jesus! Serving Him and loving Him, and loving and serving others. We are called to love God and to love people. One of the ways that we do that is by sharing the gospel. When was the last time that you shared the gospel with someone? If you have been holding back because of fear, don’t. Rely on His divine power. Rest in His amazing love, and refrain from anxiety, and go for it! Be anxious for nothing and rejoice in your Savior and lead others to a saving knowledge of Him!

Time of Invitation/ Conclusion.