Christmas Can Conquer Your Fears - Christmas

You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

God the Father savers you.

And when you start to read his word, we start to cry out to him.

Because you beloved.

Because you're beloved.

He loves you.

He's calm with an everlasting love.

He's calm with an eternal life.

At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.

For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.

We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

The discussion of different kinds of phobias and fears has never been as front and center as it is today.

Therapists and counselors will tell you that the number one issue in most areas of addiction revolves around some kind of fear.

With the advent of ISIS over the last few years, with the advent of a stock market that gyrates all over the place, with the advent of homegrown terrorism, there is reason for fear.

And if you don't have a personal, vital, dynamic, growing relationship with Jesus Christ, you have a lot to fear.

Because you're kind of, in a sense, on your own.

Even those who know the Lord, those who have a personal relationship with Christ, those who have given their hearts and surrendered to Christ, we struggle with fear.

And I've been a pastor and a missionary for over 30 years.

And I deal with fear all the time among people within our own congregations because fear is one of Satan's greatest tactics to take us down.

In a recent issue of U.S.

News and World Report, there's an article called Conquering Our Phobias, in which the whole article speaks of a nation, the United States of America, being driven by fear.

The National Institute of Mental Health reports a significant increase in the number of Americans whose fears have grown into, quote, full-blown phobias and anxiety disorders.

I won't ask for a show of hands, but mine would be one of them raised that at different times in our life you might have had an anxiety or a fear disorder.

According to the report, there are over 40 million Americans who have one or more anxiety disorders.

The annual cost for dealing with fear in our culture is estimated to be over$65 billion.

Satan's greatest tool, men and women, is to come over you a spirit of fear.

As a matter of fact, in the scriptures, in 1 and 2 Timothy, Paul, in writing to Timothy, before he was actually to go and meet his death, we call it his last will and testament.

He speaks to Timothy about fear.

Fear immobilizes faith.

Fear destroys creativity.

Fear annihilates spontaneity.

Fear paralyzes people from launching out into the adventure of their calling and their gifting.

Our world is full of fear.

We could say the stock market is driven by fear.

America is full of fear.

Families are full of fear.

And did you know that at the first Christmas of all events in history, there at the first Christmas, there was fear.

On three occasions in our Christmas story, we deal with fear.

In Jerusalem, Zacharias, who had become the father of John the Baptist, goes into the temple, and an angel of the Lord appears to him, and it says, He was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

Luke 1.12.

In Nazareth, the angel Gabriel appears to Mary, and she's full of fear.

And the scriptures say she's troubled.

Luke 1.29.

In the hills of Bethlehem, the angels come, and it says of the shepherds, they were greatly afraid.

Luke 2.9.

What's amazing is of all the events in history that fear would have been such a big part of that story.

And it's my hope here this evening that we're going to take a fresh relook at the Christmas story and that you might walk out of this room, beginning to give to God your fears.

Begin the process here as we come to the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, a relook, but with a new faith and new eyes that you can walk, breaking the power of fear, and walk with a fearless love for Jesus Christ.

I want to start.

If you have your Bibles, Luke chapter 1, verse 5.

Luke 1:5

Luke chapter 1, verse 5.

Luke 1:5

It's interesting, in the early days of being a pastor, I would hear the pages turn as people opened up real physical Bibles.

Now everybody uses their phone.

So as you tap in, it's Luke 1, 5, and I'll read it to you.

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah.

His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless.

Verse 7.

But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

So it was that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

And when Zecharias saw him, it says here, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

Not exactly Monica, in touch by an angel.

So this mighty angel appears and he's full of fear.

Verse 13.

But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zacharias, and this is the key.

You ought to highlight this and underline this, for your prayer is heard.

And your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John, and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

Now don't miss this.

This is my first point.

Christmas can conquer your fears because God wants to surprise you with answers to impossible prayers.

Listen to what I'm saying.

God wants to surprise you this year with answering impossible prayers.

Let me give you a little history of why this is significant in our story of Zacharias.

Understand the context.

The context is theologians talk about the 400 years of silence.

So many of you, if you have your Bibles, you know there's an Old Testament and then there's a New Testament.

And the Old Testament's before Christ.

The New Testament's the time of Christ.

We're starting off in Luke.

So Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John give us the story and the biography of Jesus.

Well, between Matthew being the first book of the New Testament and Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, there's 400 years of silence.

And then during that 400 years, God has not spoken to Israel, to an angel, to a prophet.

No one has heard from the Lord.

And Zacharias enters the temple, and an angel of the Lord speaks to him, unheard of at that time.

God has not spoken for 400 documented years.

And God comes and he speaks to this average old priest.

There's nothing about Zacharias significant, except that he's old in age and hasn't been able to have any children.

But there's nothing special about him.

He's not in a time of fasting and prayer per se.

He just goes in before the Lord and the angel of the Lord appears to him.

Here's the other side of the story: Zacharias and Elizabeth for decades have been praying for a child.

And I know it's hard for us to understand in our current 21st century culture, but at that time, for a woman not to have a child was a rebuke of the Lord.

It was considered a curse of the Lord.

And so she had carried that year after year for decades praying for a child.

He's not even praying for a child anymore.

He just comes in and the angel of the Lord says, We've heard your prayer, Zacharias.

Your wife is going to bear you a son.

Impossible.

An impossible situation by a God of the possible.

An impossible situation intervened by a God of the possible.

And maybe you this Christmas are struggling with an impossible situation.

Maybe your prayer is, God, I'm so sick of praying this way because it never changes.

Nothing ever happens when I pray.

My husband never changes.

My wife never changes.

I'll never get married.

We're never going to get out of debt.

I'm always struggling with this disease.

God still surprises us.

God still surprises us with answering impossible prayers.

Listen to what Eugene Peterson in his paraphrased Bible, the message, writes about Hebrews 4.

Now that we know what we have, Jesus, who is our great high priest, with ready access to God, let's not let it slip through our fingers.

We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality.

He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all.

All but sin.

So let's walk right up to him.

I love this.

So let's walk right up to him and get what he is ready to give.

Take the mercy and accept the help.

And so, if after 400 years of silence, God can show up to an old couple.

And by the way, in the Greek, if we read this passage in the Greek, when it says advanced in years, speaking of Elizabeth, it means in Greek, advanced in years.

She was old.

And God surprised them with answered prayer, shocking them, shocking their hearts, probably shocking all of the community where they were from.

Elizabeth, in her old age, is gonna have a child.

God wants to surprise you by answering impossible prayers.

Will you cry out to him?

I loved a prayer walk.

And so three to five days a week, I'm out walking and praying.

And sometimes after that prayer walk, I've got so much faith.

God's gonna answer my prayer.

And sometimes I don't.

Probably most of the time I don't.

But God still answers and he still surprises us with answering impossible prayers.

Now, take your gaze to the same passage, but let's go six months later, after this incident.

Same chapter, Luke 1, look at verse 26.

Now, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.

Verse 27, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David.

The virgin's name was Mary.

And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you.

Blessed are you among women.

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and he shall caught be called Jesus, and he will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

Now, let's go back on our calendar again.

There was a 400-year span of silence between Malachi and Matthew.

We just talked about that.

Well, if we go back 300 more years to 700 years before Christ, there was a prophet, and his name was Isaiah.

Now listen to this.

I want you to hear what I'm about to say.

Christmas can conquer your fears because God always fulfills his promises.

Now, here's what Matthew 1 says, Matthew 1.21, about the exact same reading we just read, speaking of Isaiah 700 years before Christ.

She will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets 700 years before, saying, verse 23, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us.

Seven centuries before a promise is given, and Mary is fulfilling it.

Listen, men and women, God conquers our fears by surprising us with answering impossible prayers.

But this Christmas, God conquers our fears through fulfilling his promises.

And there's not one promise in the Bible that God cannot fulfill.

In 2 Corinthians, we read this for all the promises of God in him are yes.

And in him, amen, to the glory of God through us.

But you might say, Steve, it took 700 years to answer that promise.

Is it going to take 700 years for me?

God has a fresh, new, listen, promise for you this year.

If you'll seek him, if you'll cry out to him, God will speak to you.

One of the things we do at Chapel Hills Church, one of the things we do at the road is we have this Bible bookmark, this reading plan.

And it's up to date for every day of the year.

And what we do, and you can have that as you leave, they'll be out there on the table.

Take this.

You say, well, I don't know where to read in the Bible.

I don't know the Bible.

I don't read it very much.

Well, just start with the date and the chapter and just start there.

And here's what you do.

We call it P B and J, and it's not for peanut butter and jelly.

P B and J means prayer, Bible, and journal.

Prayer, Bible, and journal.

And so we encourage.

I do this.

All of us at the road do this.

We do this.

All of us at Chapel Wheels Church do this.

We open the Word of God where it is in that passage that day, and we just read one chapter.

Just read one chapter.

I promise you this.

If you will do this for 30 days, if you'll start 2017 just reading one chapter of the Bible, you're going to get a promise from God.

I don't care where you are in your relationship with God.

Well, Steve, I don't, I'm not, I'm not even a believer.

Or maybe you're ones, well, I was, you know, I was baptized when I was an infant.

I went through confirmation class or catechism class when I was 17.

But I don't know anything about God or the Bible or anything now.

Just start reading his word.

Just start reading his word five minutes a day.

Usually once you have like five minutes, and you'll get hooked.

Now you won't get hooked in the first five days, and you won't get hooked in the first 10 days, and you won't get hooked in the first 15 days.

But if you'll give it 30 days, it takes 30 days to develop a new habit.

And if you're like me, it'll take 60, but 30 days to develop a habit.

And as you start to read God's word, God's gonna hook you and he's gonna reel you in and you're gonna fall in love with Jesus Christ.

I'm telling you, you can start reading from the Old Testament.

You can start reading, and I'm looking at it right now.

You're actually in Joshua and Matthew and Leviticus and John, so you're jumping back and forth in Old and New Testament in our reading.

God will give you a promise.

You know the Bible says God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly.

We need a fresh word.

How many of you here need a you need a promise from God right now?

Just raise your hand.

I need a promise from God, man.

I need God to speak to me.

And most of you are raising your hand.

And the rest of you are kind of got some problems because you do too.

But here's the reality is that we need a fresh word from God for 2017.

Do we not?

Are we not in a little bit of flux and turmoil in our country right now, whether it be politically or spiritually or economically or whatever?

We don't have a clue what's going on in the Middle East.

God has a fresh word for you.

God has a fresh word for you.

He does.

God gives promises and he always fulfills his promises.

And so what you do when you're reading God's word is not that you're reading it so that you can get something from God.

You're reading it because here's what you're doing: you're putting yourself under the favor of God because God loves his word.

And so when you start to read his word, you're putting yourself in favor.

You ever have one of your kids do something for you, and it's like they actually clean up their room for the first time in a hundred years?

And you're like, whoa! So when you see that young child actually clean up their room, something you've been spouting off like every day since they were born, and they actually do it, you just start slapping them around and make their life miserable.

God the Father favors you.

And when you start to read his word, when you start to cry out to him, he calls you beloved.

Because you're beloved.

He loves you.

He's come with an everlasting love.

He's come with an eternal love.

And when you position yourself in the favor of God, he'll show you his loving kindness.

You know the scriptures talk about love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

That's what we're doing in Impact Week, January 9th through 13th.

Every night we're coming in here and we're worshiping and we're praying, and I'm teaching.

And Marcus and I are teaching on loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Well, you know why we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength?

Because he loved us first with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength.

He loves you guys.

He loves us.

So, first, Christmas can conquer our fears because God surprises us with answering impossible prayers.

Secondly, Christmas can conquer your fears because God always fulfills his promises.

And now, lastly, look at Luke 2, 8.

Luke chapter 2, verse 8.

Luke 2:8

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night, verse 9.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

Here we go, fear again.

Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

God's plan and purpose was that he would send his son to this earth to be savior of the world.

God's plan and purpose is that he would send his son to you to be your savior and your personal Lord.

God's plan and purpose is that Jesus Christ would come and die on a cross for the sins of the world, that we might be set free from the sins of our own lives.

Lastly, Christmas can conquer your fears because you can experience Jesus Christ as.

Your personal, intimate, vital, dynamic Lord and Savior, and He can turn your fears into faith.

He can turn your fears into faith.

God, this Christmas, if you'll surrender all to Christ, can begin, it won't happen overnight, church.

Beloved, it will not happen overnight.

But as you daily learn to say, God, I am so fearful.

I compare myself with others all the time.

I'm getting nowhere in this in this crummy job that I'm in.

I can't stand that guy for what he did to me.

But you be, you start prayer walking, you start crying out to God, you start giving your fears over to him.

Day by day and inch by emotional inch, God's gonna start to replace your fears with faith.

And you are gonna be transformed.

Someone once said, I love this.

As a believer, fear can visit, but it doesn't get to move in.

For some of you who really haven't had a growing relationship with Christ for many years and maybe never had it, it has moved in.

And it has taken over these empty rooms of your heart.

I want you to start shutting the doors on fear.

I want you to begin to allow Jesus Christ to come in, to let him come in, and for him to drive out fear in your life by you calling out to him day by day, inch by emotional inch, giving your heart to Christ.

You watch what he'll do.

It will be a miracle.

In the 16th century, the Renaissance astronomer Nicholas Copernicus challenged the belief that the earth was the center of the universe.

Copernicus argued that the sun didn't revolve around the earth, but that the earth revolved around the sun.

The Copernicus revolution turned the scientific world upside down by turning the universe inside out.

In the same way, each one of us must experience our own spiritual Copernicus revolution.

That the world does not revolve around you.

But the world revolves around Christ.

Newslash.

But Christ is.

Trust me.

I didn't want to go anywhere without Christ following me.

Right there behind me, I liked having my Jesus.

I wanted Jesus to follow me wherever I went, to serve my plans and my purposes and to do my will.

But I got tired of calling the shots.

Asked my wife, I'm not very good at playing God.

I had a Copernican revolution.

I got tired of playing God in my life.

And I stepped aside and I put Christ on the throne.

Listen, I quit trying to find myself and I found God.

Would you put Christ on the throne of your heart?

And instead of asking him to follow you in your plans, that we might give our hearts completely to him, that we might follow his plans for our life by him turning our hearts inside out.

That's the spiritual Copernican revolution.

Consecration is the word set apart.

I challenge you this Christmas, I challenge you this Christmas Eve to a sacred commitment of being set apart by giving your heart completely, all in, wholeheartedly to Jesus and see what he will do in your life in a new and powerful way.

You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.

We hope you have been blessed by today's message.

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Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.