Banishing Fear

But let's get into the word together.

And, as our custom is around here, we like to lift our bibles up and wave them around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad.

Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, wednesday night's my night, to express how much I appreciate the Word of God and the Holy Ghost.

It's the Word and the Spirit working together in my life that are giving me victory upon victory in Jesus' name, amen, amen.

Let's turn in our bibles tonight to 2 Timothy, chapter 1.

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

And we'll start reading with verse 3, paul writing to his son in the faith.

I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers, with pure conscious that, without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee and my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee being mindful of thy tears, that I might be filled with joy.

When I called remembrance the unfaith that is in thee, which dwelt first in your grandmother, lois, and in your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded, and thee also, wherefore I put thee in remembrance.

That's what these messages do I mean.

They will put you in remembrance of things that you stir up, the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands, for God has not given thee the spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.

And I want to read that last verse in the amplified God didn't give us the spirit of timidity, of cowardice, of craven cringing, falling fear, but he but the spirit of power and love and of a calm, well balanced mind and discipline and self control.

And so tonight I just wanted to share a message entitled banishing fear.

Banishing fear, I'll tell you, fear and panic are running rampant in the world and of course it's our experience at whatever is in the world has an opportunity to fight its way into the church and affect the church negatively.

And fear and panic are all just part of the gross darkness of this world.

Isaiah 60 said the earth shall be filled with darkness gross darkness, the people.

But we're to let our light shine the midst of that gross darkness.

Darkness, you could say, is doom and gloom.

Have you ever heard?

I mean, you know that's what sells today is doom and gloom.

People like to be afraid.

They'll pay money to be afraid.

They'll go to the horror movies, they'll go to the they'll, they'll, they'll take thrill rides.

A thrill, a thrill ride is a fear ride.

Essentially, you know, you, you've taken danger and and you feel like you've got such courage riding the roller coaster.

It's nothing, nothing wrong with riding a roller coaster, but let's, let's think about these things.

When we cooperate with this fear and panic, you know we're sending a signal to the devil that, hey, you know you can, you can intimidate me.

No, he can't intimidate us, we can't intimidate us.

Amen.

And you know we have Jesus said in Luke 21 in the last days, he said men's hearts would be failing them for fear and for looking upon the things that are coming upon the earth, where we're living in those days, right now, when we look on what's coming on the earth, all of the uncertainty, the economic uncertainty, the speaking of World War three, speaking of nuclear war, things that just a couple of years ago were never talked about.

In fact, they were just talking about all this world, trade and cooperation between nations.

And suddenly, because America is so weak and we have such a weak president, the weak leaders.

These people are not leaders, they're followers, they lead from behind.

They say, well, they're not leading, but you can't lead from behind.

I mean, whoever has Obama coined that phrase leading from behind?

And what has happened is, the major force in this entire world is America and America is not leading, and so we've got chaos going, which means that there are just lots and lots of opportunities for people to fret and be anxious and worry and and be afraid.

And we're here tonight to talk about banishing fear in our lives Amen.

Back in October of 2004, we were had just moved into this building and I went to Galveston to pray and God gave me a word.

And he used a word that I'm not used to using.

He said many are satiated.

See, that's not a word that I use on a regular basis.

I knew what it meant, but I wanted to look it up.

Many are satiated means gorged.

It means filled to overflowing.

Many are satiated with the cares of this world and the pleasures of this world, and much of the care comes from the pursuit of the pleasure.

And you could also say satiated means drunk.

People get drunk on the cares of this world.

And he said many just tip their hat to me and go along their merry way.

In other words, they don't address the root cause of the fear and they wonder why they have defeat, they wonder why things aren't working.

I tell you, fear is the enemy of the believer.

You know, if terror is a movie, then stress is the soundtrack.

You know, talk a lot about stress Somehow, when we say, oh, I have a lot of stress at work, it's more acceptable we wrap up a word like fear, and we know fear is not right.

So we can say use the word stress.

Well, it's just another word for fear.

And so stress, dread, worry, all amounts to the same thing.

It amounts to fear.

And Isaiah 54, if they could be worth going back there and taking a look at these verses.

We quote one of the verses a lot In Isaiah 54,.

In fact I'll quote the one that we quote a lot there's no weapon formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against the in judgment, thou shalt condemn.

Isaiah 54, 17.

It says no weapon formed against you shall prosper.

So it doesn't say it won't be formed.

It says it won't prosper.

So weapons are formed against us.

But let's back up a few verses.

And in verse 14, this is God's plan In righteousness shall you be established.

You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and you'll be far from terror, for it shall not come near thee.

See, that's God's plan.

Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me.

See, god's not the author of fear, he's not the one that sends it.

Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall.

For thy sake, behold, I have created the Smith that bloweth the coals in the fire and bringeth forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the Waster to destroy.

That sounds kind of bad.

You mean God created destruction?

No, he originally created the devil and the devil.

He descended into the creature that he is now, and now he's a destroyer.

Then he says no weapon formed against you shall prosper.

So God's plan is for oppression to be far from you.

You see, oppression is a spoiling of one's goods by terror or by force.

And isn't that what's going on with Ukraine and Russia?

I mean, you had Russia attack Ukraine and start shelling their major cities and sending missiles and invading a country, and they're trying to oppress that country and steal what they've got and make it their own, and all of that.

And they're making noises about a lot of different countries all of a sudden again, because America's not leading, but Jesus in Acts 1038 went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.

So he's the one that can heal oppression.

And what oppression does?

A spoiling of our goods, a spoiling of our health.

I'll tell you, when you worry and fear, it can affect your health, it can affect your finances, it can affect everything.

And so, when we read the book of Job, job said the thing that I greatly feared has come upon me.

We wonder why Job was afflicted.

And people blame God, say, well, god did it.

No, god didn't do it.

He was afraid and he opened the door to Satan to oppress him and to take his goods, to destroy his family.

But in the end, in the end, when he repented and he prayed for his friends, god gave him twice as much as he had before.

I mean, he's God's double portion man.

He wound up with double.

So you know when, think about Peter.

When Jesus said Peter says you know, lord, if it's you, bid me to come to thee on the water.

Jesus was walking on the water, peter, you know.

He said come.

So he went over the side, started walking on the water and then he began to sink.

Why?

Well, it wasn't the winds and waves that sunk him, it was fear that sunk him, fear he began to fear.

You know why did you doubt?

Wherefore did you doubt?

Jesus asked him.

See, doubt is acting on fear.

You know, he might have had a few goosebumps, he could have maybe had some doubt in his head.

If he'd have just kept on walking he would have been fine.

But he said, oh Lord, save me.

As soon as he gave voice to the fear that he had, see, the fear of really what's behind it is the fear of death.

He was afraid of drowning and he said, oh Lord, save me.

See, that's when he started sinking and of course, jesus saved him.

Jesus walked him back to the boat.

He didn't swim back, he walked back.

So you know, these are this message I know you've heard before, but we like to remind you and encourage you and give you some food for your faith, and just remind you that faith and fear are incompatible forces and faith is what Acting on what God says.

See, faith is always an act.

It's not just agreeing with your head.

Faith is acting like the Bible is true.

Faith is acting like what God said is true and then, conversely, fear is acting like what the devil said is true or what the circumstances say is true.

When you act in faith, you bring God's promise into fruition, you bring God Himself on the scene, but when you act in fear, you bring the devil on the scene, you bring destruction on the scene.

You bring what it is you greatly fear on the scene.

That's exactly what happened to Job.

He brought what he was fearing on the scene by allowing that fear.

Let's look at Hebrews chapter two, because it gives us the key to fear and how Jesus is the remedy of all of it.

Hebrews chapter two tells us very plainly who the author of it is.

Go here if Hebrews chapter two, verse 14.

For as much, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he Jesus also, himself likewise took part of the same.

In other words, he became flesh and blood.

That, through death, he might destroy him.

That had the power of death.

That is the devil.

And deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage, now say he was our substitute right, jesus redeemed us.

And it says he destroyed him.

That had the power of death.

That is the devil.

Well, he didn't destroy him in the sense that he ceases to exist.

He basically he rendered him.

He rendered him of no account.

He rendered him of no account and so he put him out of commission.

He rendered him powerless.

And this is the part I like.

He rendered the devil null and void.

People, sometimes, if you remember that Jesus rendered the devil null and void, you won't talk about him so much.

And so this quit magnifying the devil and everything he's doing.

And we know he runs around the earth and he still had whole sway over his children, but he has no sway over us.

He's been rendered powerless.

He's been rendered null and void as far as we're concerned, praise God.

And so we see here that the fear of death is the root of all bondage, all their lifetime subject to bondage.

I'll tell you, fear will bind you.

I remember in the months leading up to when I got saved, when I was born again, I had sunk in into a Terrible depression.

I had the fear of Going bankrupt.

I was in business.

I hadn't sold a house in over a year, had no cash flow in my company and we were living on savings.

Thank God I had some savings and the savings were just every month.

We were using our savings to pay our bills and it just kept going down, down, down, down down.

And and I just remember those days, that where I could hardly sleep at night for just the fear of what was going on in our life financially, and what was going on in my life period.

There was a high degree of pressure and Then one night I got saved, I was born again and all that.

I mean I was delivered from depression, I was delivered from fear.

I began to learn how to live by faith and and I went through some tough days after I got saved.

I went through some tough times financially, but I never had depression.

I never had those kinds of fears.

I mean, I always knew that God had a plan for me, a wonderful plan.

Oh, I tell you, it's great to be delivered from the bondage of fear.

So I've got three, three points just just to leave you with tonight, banishing fear.

And it's all based on 2nd Timothy, chapter 1.

So let's turn back there in verse 6 and we can pick up what Paul told Timothy.

Timothy had some fear, you know, because Timothy, his father in the faith, paul, was in prison and it was subject to Perhaps the death penalty, and and also he had a lot of reasons why he was crying and why he was.

He was afraid and so he was encouraging him.

So I know what kind of man you are, I know what kind of family you come from, your, your mama and your Grandma had faith, and I know you've got faith too.

So he said, and the first way to banish fear is found in verse 6.

He said Wherefore, stir up the gift of God which is in you.

In other words, stir up the Holy Ghost, stir up the Holy Ghost.

You know, we had a, a service about the baptism of the Holy Ghost and we had probably, I don't know, 10 or 11 people come up to get baptized the Holy Ghost on Sunday and they all were filled.

Some, some were, you know, a little bit, didn't, hadn't, they'd been prayed for before, but they had what didn't have freedom in their language.

But several were, were baptized first time they'd ever spoken tongues.

And I just think about those lives that have changed forever.

I mean you're never the same.

I mean I look back and when I got baptized the Holy Ghost, everything changed.

And so stir that up, though.

Say, because we can be, we can allow the Spirit of God to kind of just, Only just exist, and we don't, we stir him up.

It means to, it means to rekindle, to inflame one's mind, and strength and zeal, say we're to have a sound mind, calm and well-balanced Mind and in self-control, that that comes from stirring up the Holy Ghost on the inside of you.

Jude 20 says building up yourself on your most holy faith, pray it in the Holy Ghost, and so he's your ally.

The Holy Spirit, he's your, he's one call.

You know the word Paraclete, comforter, and John 14 and John 15.

John 16 talks about the comforter and that's the Greek word paraclete.

It one of the meanings is one called alongside to help.

I Was reading about a man that had gone hunting in Alaska and he had his guide, his hunting guide, with him.

You know, and I think they were out hunting, I think they were hunting moose, but they came across a Kodiak bear and the Kodiak bear Smell them and snuck up on them and he comes charging out of that thick brush and you know, the guy that's hunting his gun jammed.

He had a good enough gun to take a bear down because of moose is a huge animal too.

So if he could have gotten his gun to fire he would have been okay, even though it's short range, probably, you know, and I'm, it's not even 50 yards, I mean it's kind of close with the scope and everything, and.

But that bear was coming and he is going to have lunch and his gun jammed and of course, in terror, I mean he, he couldn't make it fire.

He's there trying to trying to make it fire and all of a sudden, here's the gunshot and his, his guide took the Kodiak bear down.

See, that's who we've got.

We've got someone beside us.

He's got our back all the time.

We have no reason to fear.

He's right there.

So stir him up.

You know, like Philippians 4-6 in the message, don't worry about anything, pray about everything.

We're Thanksgiving and just go to sleep.

You know, cast a whole of your care on him, for he cares for you.

That's one.

You do that one time, you don't do it every day.

You cast a whole of your care, your stress, your worry, all of that fretting, you do it one time and you make a quality decision I'm never gonna worry again.

I'm never gonna worry again.

And then, when you're tempted to worry, you can always go back to that decision and you made, however long ago.

It was With me.

It's been 40, some odd years ago that I just committed not to worry.

I've had lots and lots and lots of opportunities and temptations to worry, but I don't allow myself to worry.

I don't allow myself to just stew and keep up.

That.

I resisted.

I do what I'm talking about.

I start stirring up the gift and praying the Holy Ghost.

That's number one.

Then number two, verse six.

He said put you in remembrance.

Say remember, remember, don't forget what God has done for you.

Don't forget all the times that he's delivered you, don't forget all the times he's come through for you.

I think about when David faced Goliath.

I mean that was kind of a high pressure situation, all of Israel's watching.

Here's this little teenager and he's not very big, it doesn't look like he's very experienced.

But he starts rehearsing to himself all the and testifying to Saul.

He said you know, god delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear and he will deliver me out of the hand of this uncircumcised Philistine.

He remembered what God had done and he gave God all the credit for it.

He didn't take all the credit for killing the lion and the bear.

He gave God all the credit for it.

In Psalm 78, it says that Israel forgot what God did in Egypt and they limited the Holy One of Israel.

So don't limit God when you forget, when you forget what God has done and you lose the testimony of it.

You know it can cost you.

You can limit God, see, feed your faith and starve your fear.

Talk about.

You know, when you're thinking your thought life, you have to take your place of authority over your thoughts because worse some thoughts will come into your mind.

We all have those.

We all have thoughts.

You know, philippians 4 8 tells you what to think about what's whoever things are good, what silver, things are lovely, if there's be any virtue, if there are be any praise.

Think on these things.

You know Jesus said in Matthew and the sermon on the mound, he said take no anxious thoughts saying what am I gonna wear?

What am I gonna eat, what am I gonna drink?

See, think, take no anxious thought for tomorrow.

Saying, when you speak the anxious thought out of your mouth, what are you doing?

You're sowing seeds of fear into your spirit and the cares of this world, that deceitfulness, riches, lust of other things entering in choked word and it become a thun fruitful.

So you know it.

You can think a lot of things, but if you don't speak it out of your mouth, you, you're, you're okay.

The devil to can't read your mind.

He doesn't know.

He'll throw a Worrisome thought at you to see what you'll do with it.

If you start talking about it, you start talking about what you're worried about.

You start talking about what you're, you know what your things are Unraveling and all of that you're.

You know you're.

You're in devil's territory.

He can, he can begin to oppress you.

Remember, that's how oppression steals your goods it's by terror or by force.

So you, you stir up your courage when you, when you stir up the Holy Ghost, they been and that gives you peace.

Wrong thinking stirs up fear and dread and panic and just gives more power to the enemy.

So remember, don't forget what God has done.

Number two, number three, the last one is just so important rejoice in the Lord.

Philippians 4-4 Rejoice the Lord.

And again I say rejoice, I mean we ought to always be.

I mean just train yourself to laugh at trouble, train yourself to laugh at the devil.

I think about brother, brother Hagan.

You know he was delivered from out on eight different kinds of blood diseases and he had all these things wrong with his heart as A teenager and they all basically said he had to die.

He was paralyzed for 14 months in a bed and he received his healing.

But there were several times later in life when he had to contend for his health, the devil would try to bring back those symptoms.

And one night he was having alarming symptoms and it it looked kind of bleak and and he was in a, the parsonage of a house of the pastor, where he was preaching in a church he was on the field ministry in those days and he's in the bedroom alone and and and that those symptoms started coming and Instead of being worried, instead of being fretful, he just started laughing.

Ha ha ha.

He said I didn't feel like laughing, I wasn't.

I wasn't laughing in the Holy Ghost, I was just making myself laugh like this.

Ha ha ha.

You know I can still hear his voice.

Ha ha ha.

And.

And the devil said what are you laughing at?

He said I'm laughing at you, mr Devil, because the devil had come and says this time you're not gonna get your healing.

You said to me this time I'm not gonna get my healing.

Ha ha ha.

He laughed another 20 minutes.

As I still don't understand what you're laughing about, you said.

You said this time I'm not gonna get my healing, I don't plan on getting my healing.

Jesus already got my healing and he gave it to me, I don't have to get anything, he got it for me.

Ha ha ha.

And so all the symptoms left him and he just laughed his way to Into just feeling great.

And of course he preached all the next rest of the week there at that church.

But he passed up an opportunity by just simply Rejoicing in the Lord and laughing at seeming impossibilities, laughing at symptoms, laughing at at and and for fusing, to have this cringing Fear.

No, quit cringing and start shouting.

Hey, you know, quit worrying and start laughing, and and you'll see that fear will be banished and you have the victory.

Come on, lift your hands tonight and Receive.

Praise God, hallelujah.