Breaking Free From The Spirit of Fear

Open your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter 3 and meet me at verse 1.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 1.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Paul the apostle is writing to us and he says, You should know this,

Timothy, that in the last days, somebody say last days,

there will be very difficult times.

Times, in the last days, and we are in the last days.

Matter of fact, the Apostle Paul thought when he said this that he was in the last days.

So if he believed that he was in the last days, you best believe we are in the last days.

And he says something so very important. He says that there will be very difficult times.

Anytime you hear the term difficult times, you need to understand that in the

last days, there will be times that are hard to deal with, hard to bear,

times of great stress and trouble, very difficult times.

In the last days, there will be times of uncertainty.

There will be things that happen that will rock you.

There'll be things that take place that will make you uncomfortable.

There'll be things that'll happen that will shock you in the last days.

And Paul is encouraging us that these things will happen in the last days.

And you and I must understand that when these things happen,

then we have to respond with no fear. Somebody say no fear.

Now, this past week was a very difficult week, I believe, for our country when

you talk about the helicopter plane crash, which should have never took place.

And 67 lives were just instantly gone in a moment.

And then the following day or so, another plane crashes in Philadelphia.

You know, flying planes is the safest way to travel.

But to see plane crashes like this back-to-back can make you a little afraid. It could shock you.

It could rock you. It could get you to the point where a spirit of fear would try to lock in on you.

And then you hear and talk here about tariffs that may take place.

Our president is placing tariffs on other countries, which simply means that

he is taxing other countries to bring in their goods to America.

And a lot of economists feel like this could raise prices for Americans.

That could bring some uncertainty and some fear in your life,

thinking, man, prices may go up.

Now, theoretically, if we buy American products, those are not imported and

those should not rise in price.

And theoretically, when you have tariffs that gives you the ability to force

another country to enforce their laws, that gives you the opportunity to make

some declarations in other countries.

So I understand the theory behind why our president would do that.

But it could, some economists feel like it could cause a trade war.

It could cause some bad things that take place in these last days.

And when you hear talk like this, the first thing we normally do is we get afraid.

We become afraid. And I want to talk to you in 2 Timothy 1, verse 7.

2 Timothy 1:7

2 Timothy 1, verse 7.

2 Timothy 1:7

We are told here that God has not given us a spirit of fear,

but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

So everything that comes your way has not been given to you by God.

If a spirit of fear is operating in your life, that spirit of fear has not been given to you by God. Why?

Because he's given us power, love, and a sound mind.

Now, emotional fear, or let me say natural fear, is actually productive for you.

Let me explain this to you. We all are built in on the inside of us an element

of fear that when danger comes, we will completely leap out of the way of danger.

If I am standing in the road and a car is coming and it blows his horn,

that fear is going to cause me to jump on the sidewalk.

Matter of fact, we were out yesterday, Zayvon, Zage and I were out and I was

in the street. I wasn't even mindful that I was walking in the street.

There was a sidewalk, but I was in the street, and we were at some stores,

and Zage thinks she's my age, so she's in the street.

I didn't realize that my six-year-old was in the street behind me.

I thought she was on the sidewalk. She's in the street, too.

That initial fear caused me to snatch her and throw her on the sidewalk.

Do you see what I'm saying? That natural fear is what God has given every human

being for survival's sake, for protection's sake.

If somebody were to, somebody did do this one time to me, tried to jump out

and scare me, I'm a lover, not a fighter.

You know, I don't like to fight. I love you. I don't like to fight.

But when they jumped out and tried to scare me, I punched them dead in their chest.

And they fell back on the ground. I said, you can't do that because innate on

the inside of me is survival instincts, protection instincts.

And you scared me, and I responded with the first thing I knew how to protect

myself with, which was my fist.

And so you must understand that emotional, natural fear is not a bad thing.

Matter of fact, it's been designed by God so that you can stay clear of danger.

But conversely, there is something called a spirit of fear and a spirit of fear

is not an emotional natural fear given to you by God.

A spirit of fear is a demonic force that seeks to paralyze you and oppress you

and to put you in bondage.

This fear wants you to be in total paralysis where you don't move.

You don't step out. You don't go to the mailbox.

I remember doing COVID. I heard people weren't even going to the mailbox.

A spirit of fear had gripped them where they couldn't even step outside their

house to even walk to the mailbox.

That is a spirit of fear that will put you in bondage.

And this is what God has not given us. He has not given us a spirit that puts

us in an oppressive, paralysis, bondage situation.

This spirit will put you and entrap you in prison and will keep you there,

and you will literally be stuck.

You won't obey God. You won't do what God asks you to do, and you'll begin to

lose your mind because here scripture tells us that the spirit the Lord gives us is a sound mind.

And the spirit of fear is opposed to a sound mind.

There's nothing more opposed to a sound mind than the spirit of fear.

And so he gives you power. Somebody say power.

That means God's going to give you boldness. He's going to give you courage.

He's going to give you the strength to do what you're afraid to do.

This is what you carry. You carry a spirit of boldness.

Not a spirit of fear, not a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of boldness to

where you step out and you boldly obey God and you boldly do what God tells

you to do because his spirit is on the inside of you.

He has also given you a spirit of love. That means you have within you a spirit to be patient and kind.

Somebody say, love is patient.

Love is kind. On the inside of you is the ability to walk in patience and kindness.

Kindness is how love acts.

Patience is how love reacts, okay?

And so you have a spirit of power, boldness, love, patience,

and kindness, and a sound mind or clarity of thought.

A spirit of fear will destroy a sound mind.

We saw it happen. We're seeing it happen today.

We really saw it happen in COVID. people lost their minds and a spirit of fear

came in and gripped clarity of thought and decision making.

And that spirit is trying to put you in bondage. Somebody say no fear here.

Romans 8 15 Romans 8 15. Paul tells us here for you did not receive the spirit

of bondage again to fear,

But you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father.

That simply means Daddy. Daddy.

So you did not receive the spirit of bondage. What does that spirit of bondage does?

It puts you in, the spirit of fear puts you in bondage.

You did not receive a spirit of fear because it puts you in bondage.

Every day you need to examine yourself To see if you are infected with a spirit of fear,

Every single day you need to examine yourself Am I infected,

infected with a spirit of fear?

That's one thing I ask myself Am I being infected with a spirit of fear right now?

And if you're honest with yourself, sometimes you have to say,

I am, because I'm in bondage.

And one of the ways you get out of bondage, we'll talk about it towards the

end of this message, is you can't ignore the spirit of fear.

You must reject the spirit of fear.

You must resist the spirit of fear.

You must come against the spirit of fear. Not ignore it, but come against it in the name of Jesus.

Fear produces paralysis.

And you were not born to live in fear.

You were not born to wake up every single day afraid.

You were not born to be full of anxiety every single day.

You were not born to be anxious and unsettled every single day.

That is not the will of God for your life.

There is a spirit of fear that has entrapped you with its tentacles and is suffocating

you and stealing the life right on out of you.

One of the ways, you know, our church, we say we exist so that you can experience true life.

One of the ways you will not experience true life if you are operating in a spirit of fear.

You are not going to experience the life God intended for you to live if the

spirit of fear has you in bondage.

And so what we're here, what we hear, what we read, what someone tells us is

going to either cause faith or fear.

Because fear will contaminate your faith.

You can be believing God and hear something ridiculously crazy and immediately

strike you with fear and your faith in God is contaminated.

And so what we listen to becomes vitally important. What we hear over and over

becomes vitally important.

Listen, our ears are open. You can't close your ears, okay?

You're going to hear what's going on in the world. You're going to hear what's

going on in other people's lives.

You're going to hear what's happening, but you're going to have to fight against

the fear that comes with what you heard and say, you know what?

No, no, I refuse. I refuse to fear.

I refuse to fear. No, no fear. I'm not going to.

No, my father loves me and he's watching over me and he's not giving me a spirit of fear. No fear.

Say that with me. No fear. No fear. I have no fear. Say that.

I have no fear. No fear. No fear. No fear.

I remember several years ago, some bad things happened in a movie theater. I'll never forget.

And Stacey and I enjoyed going to the movies, and somebody had run up in a movie

theater, and they was, you know, with a gun shooting in the movie theaters.

And I remember I turned to Stacey. I said, I guess we're not going to the movies anymore.

And as soon as I said that, the Lord said, did I say that, or did the spirit of fear say that?

I said, that wasn't the Lord. That was the spirit of fear. I said,

I take those words back, Stacey.

You know what? We're going to go to the movies when the Lord tells us to go

to the movies and we are not going to fear.

Amen. I drop my children off at school and I have no fear when I drop them off at school.

I pray for them every single day. I say I place them in your care, Lord.

You watch over everybody in this school. All the teachers are patient and kind

and all the students are submissive and obedient today.

And no weapon formed against this school shall prosper and I leave with a smile on my face. Amen.

I am not going to allow fear to dominate my life.

Fear is a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger rather real or imagined.

A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger Rather real or imagined And

I want you to know this Fear does not discriminate.

Doesn't care if you're black, doesn't care if you're white, doesn't care if

you're rich, doesn't care if you're poor, doesn't care if you're a male or female.

Fear does not discriminate.

Fear does not discriminate. Fear is after each and every one of you to grip

you, to hold you, to put you in bondage, to cause you not to even move when God says move.

There was, I think this was late 90s, early 2000s I went on a missions trip

to Thailand So we went to Thailand,

we went to Burma And we had one night in Singapore But it was a great trip We

went for about a month It's a four week trip And it was the first time I had jumped on an airplane,

And we were going to be in the air for 18 hours,

And my mind was telling me how in the world is this plane going to stay in the air for 18 hours?

And I kept, no, no, God's not giving me a spirit of fear.

And in my mind, it's like, what happens if we're over the ocean there in Atlantic

and we just need to, you know, we just need to stop?

And my mind, my mind, what are you going to do? I said, no, no,

I don't have, I am not receiving a spirit of fear.

God's going to get me there and he's going to bring me home too. Amen.

Amen. I was a young man. I think I was about 20, 21 years old.

I enjoy flying, by the way. Y'all know that about me. I enjoy flying.

But that was the longest flight I had ever been on.

And then Stacey just came back from Italy, what, this last summer.

She went to Italy, and she said, Devon, she said, we could see the temperature outside.

And the temperature outside was negative 80.

I said, I was like, what? And she said, the airplane was flying in negative 80 degree weather.

And I started getting really nervous, like, oh, that is cold.

What if the engine locks up?

And I said, no, you better tell yourself, no fear here. God is going to take care of me.

He's going to get me from point A to point B in Jesus name. Amen.

And then I ended up talking to a pilot for American Airlines.

He said, the plane operates the best in the coldest weather.

I said, wow. He said, the colder it is, the better it is for the airplane. I said, praise the Lord.

I said, well, Stacey, you didn't know that. While you was nervous,

the plane was operating the best it could operate.

See, that's what fear do to you, right?

That's what fear do. It's irrational. And she had no idea the pilots weren't concerned. Amen.

They knew what was taking place. You know why? Because fear cannot exist without self-concern.

Think about that. Fear cannot exist without self-concern.

When you begin to think about yourself, that is the entrance of the spirit of fear.

It cannot exist without self-concern. And our greatest concerns,

our greatest fears, our greatest uncertainties are our health, right?

We think about our health, our family, and our finances.

Those are the three greatest ways the enemy tries to bring the spirit of fear

in our life, our health, our family, and our finances.

But understand that fear is faith in the opposite direction.

If you can fear and have fear over it, why don't you just have faith about it?

It's the same time. It's the same amount of energy. You might as well say,

I'll just trust God and say, I'm scared.

It's the same. You're in the same predicament. You might as well say,

I trust God. Say that. I trust God.

I trust God. I trust him. I trust him.

I trust God. He's going to take care of me. I'd rather trust God than fear about

it. Somebody say amen. Here's why.

Job chapter 3, verse 25. Job chapter 3, verse 25.

Job 3:25 Job 3:25

Job says, for the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.

Notice what came upon Job was the thing that he feared the most.

So fear is like a magnet that pulls the very outcome you dread the most.

Fear is a magnet, think about this, that draws and pulls the outcome that you dread the most.

Job said, the thing I greatly feared has come upon me.

You are not at the mercy of the spirit of fear.

Did you hear me? You are not at the mercy of the spirit of fear.

You have the ability. You have God. You have the Holy Spirit.

You have the power of God. And you have the word of God to rebuke and resist

any fear that comes your way. Somebody say amen.

You're not at the mercy of the spirit of fear.

You are not. And it's time for us to confront fears, to really begin to confront it.

In my life, I used to be afraid to get into the water and swim.

I couldn't swim, and I would be afraid to do it. I still don't like to do it, right?

I'm not afraid anymore. I just don't like to.

And I used to really be afraid to get in the water, and I had to overcome that.

I had to face that phobia I had to say, you know what, I'm going to get in the

water I didn't do anything stupid, I didn't go by myself I said,

you know what, I need people with me when I get in the water And there was one

particular time, I was in youth ministry.

And they had this thing called the blob How many of you have ever heard of the blob?

It's a big old air balloon that sits in the water And someone sits at the end

of the air balloon and someone jumps from a very high height and they land on

the balloon and the balloon then pushes the person up into the air and they

go into the water and everybody loves it.

And I was terrified.

Of the blob. I mean, paralyzed. Literally, I wouldn't even climb up the ladder.

I was terrified and paralyzed. And I've been thinking about,

I want to confront these fears in the spirit of fear.

And I heard in my heart, jump off the blob.

I thought, well, that's a major leap from getting into the water.

And I said, okay, you know what? And at that point, there were at least 100

people out there or whatever.

I said, if I die, these 100 people, let me die today.

But God's got a big plan for my life. I'm not going to die today.

Say that. I'm not going to die today.

And so I said, you know what? I climbed up that ladder and it took forever.

And finally, I got to the edge of this thing, right? And they were like, okay, just jump!

And there was probably a little seventh grader in the end that was ready.

They're like, come on! Jump! I was like, okay.

Oh, gosh. Jump!

Literally, I was shaking. I was nervous. And somebody behind me said they was going to push me.

And now you remember what happened to the man that jumped out in front of me.

A protective instinct rose up, I said, if you touch me, I promise you,

I'm going to knock you out.

I said, back up. I said, matter of fact, everybody off the block.

So I made everybody get off the platform.

I stood up there, I said, I've got to confront this fear, I've got to confront it.

You know it took me 30 minutes. I would not jump off that thing. I was terrified.

Finally, I jumped and the little seventh grade at the end said,

I didn't even jump, I just kind of fell off.

So then, you know, you can't just get off the blob and get in the water.

Now you have to get at the edge.

And the kid that I said I was going to knock out behind me, he was a big boy too.

He came and he jumped and I went straight up in the air, went into the water.

And I told him, I said, now before we do it, I need everybody in boats.

I need boats all around here. And so people had boats, you know,

the little paddle boats, and I jumped.

I jumped off in there, and as soon as I hit the water, somebody came with the

boat really fast and grabbed me and put me in the boat.

But I conquered it. Amen.

Now, I am not afraid to do it. I just don't do it anymore, right?

I conquered the fear, and I choose not to jump off of it, not because I'm afraid,

because I don't want to. There's a difference.

Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14 and 15 says it this way.

Hebrews 2:14 Hebrews 2:14

The writer of Hebrews says, Because God's children are human beings made of

flesh and blood, the Son also became flesh and blood.

Watch this. The Son, Jesus, became flesh and blood.

For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the

power of the devil who had the power of death. Watch this.

Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves

to what? The fear of dying.

So Jesus came to break the power of the devil because we were living our lives afraid to die.

Think about that. Believers, born again, Holy Ghost filled, destined to go to heaven, afraid to die.

We like to talk a lot about heaven, but we are afraid to die.

Think about that. The only way you're going to get to heaven is by dying.

And we're afraid to die. If we could eliminate, and Jesus did for us,

in our mindset, the fear of death, the fear of self-concern,

We would live fear-free lives.

If we would just trust God enough that we no longer are afraid to die.

And simply say, I trust God. And if I die, I know where I'm going.

I'm going to heaven. Amen.

Amen. Man, I can't live so afraid of death.

I can't live every day, all day, filled with self-concern,

thinking about myself, thinking about my health, thinking about my family all

the time, thinking about money all the time. I can't live that way.

And we were never designed to live that way. We were designed to live free and

not attached to the fear of death.

Fear has a stronghold called uncertainty.

And the fear of death creates this uncertainty. But when you're certain,

how many of you know you're certain about you belong to the Lord?

And you know that you are saved and you know that God has chosen you for such a time as this.

When you're certain that you can live free of the fear of death.

Somebody say amen to that.

1 John 4.18. 1 John 4, 18, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. Why?

Because fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

Notice love and fear cannot coexist.

There's no fear in love. Why? because perfect love, that word perfect is the

word mature or developed.

Love that you are cultivating. Love that you are embracing and meditating.

Love that you have experience with. When you know about the love of God,

that love that you know God has for you will expel fear out of your life,

Will cast it out of your life Because fear involves torment And torment is mental anguish.

Torment is harassment. And how many know fear will give you harassment?

There's no fear when you know how much you're loved.

When you know how much your father

loves you, you won't have the spirit of fear operating in your life.

One particular time I was a teenager and I hate scary movies.

I do not watch scary movies because no reason to play with fear.

I don't play with fear, so I don't watch scary movies at all.

But as a kid, I didn't snuck and watch a scary movie.

I was 13 years old. I somehow got away from mom and dad, and I watched some scary movie.

And then we went to bed that night, and I was for sure that something was under the bed, okay?

Because in the movie, something was under the bed. And I was for sure there

was a portal under the bed going to somewhere, and I was scared, terrified.

Finally, I ran into mom and dad's room, and they're like, what are you talking about?

And I'm like, I'm scared. They're like, what are you going to bed? I'm terrified.

Something's under the bed. Ain't nothing under the bed. They didn't treat me right at all.

Just get up on out of here now, okay?

And I thought, why did I run to mom and dad? Because I know they love me.

And in their presence, there would be no fear.

If they walked into the room with me, even though I felt like something was

under the bed, I wouldn't have been afraid. Why?

Because I'm with mom and dad. and mom and dad, they love me and they're going

to help me. They're going to take care of me.

The same way you think about the father's love.

One of the promises the Lord gave you, he never promised you everything's going to work out for you.

But he did promise you that he would never leave you nor forsake you.

And so he's with you in life as you're driving to work, going to the grocery

store, going to the house as you're in your home, wherever you are, he's with you.

And when you know he loves you, you can go without any fear.

A military man, a woman who I love military men and women, they can go into

a battle zone without any fear, knowing that my father loves me.

And he loves me, he loves me, and loves me. Fear cannot be ignored or wish away. It must be cast out.

And the way it's cast out, it's by the love of God. One more time,

1 John 4, 18, put it on the screen. One more time.

There is no fear in love because perfect love casts out fear.

Look at that. It expels it. It throws it out. One translation says,

perfect love will flush out fear.

This may be a bad example, but we're all adults here. When you flush the toilet,

it flushes everything out that's in the toilet.

That's what love will do, will completely flush out fear in your life.

But you're going to have to develop how much you're loved by God.

You're going to have to cultivate how much you're loved by God.

You're going to have to get away from being so concerned about yourself and

trusting God to take care of you.

Lord, I can't take care of myself. I need you to take care of me.

I need you to lead and guide me.

I need you to watch over me.

I mean, there's fear of, you know, bird flu and stuff's in the food. I got to eat some food.

Amen. So I fix my plate and I trust God. that he's going to take care of me. Amen.

I can't be running around, does this bird have the bird flu? I can't do that.

I've got to eat my food in peace, trusting that God's going to take care of me. Amen.

Torment is the result of allowing fear to dominate your thinking.

But when you meditate on the love of God, God's love will flush out all fear out of your life.

You can literally live fear-free.

Psalms 34, 4, David said, I sought the Lord and he heard me.

And what did the Lord do? He delivered me from all my fears,

So you can be delivered from all your fears But we're going to have to keep

our eyes on Jesus We're going to have to keep our attention on him.

When bad news comes Don't get caught up Hey, that feeling is going to come We

can't stop it from coming That feeling, that spirit is going to come I'm like,

oh, this is it. This is an opportunity.

You say, no, my father loves me.

He loves me greatly. He's going to watch over me.

He's going to protect me. And he said he'll never leave me and he'll never forsake me.

We've got to develop in this, in the last days. We are in the last days.

We've got to develop the love of God so that we will resist the spirit of fear.

We are not called to be believers walking around scared and afraid,

Scared and afraid of making mistakes. Scared and afraid of stepping out the house.

Scared and afraid of putting our kids in daycare. Scared and afraid of,

I may get that phone call and my parents have passed away.

Just walking around scared and afraid. We can't do it.

We have to be free from fear and from its tentacles that will try to put us in bondage.

Scared and, oh, what if my husband cheats? What if my wife cheats,

scared and afraid? You're going to be like Joe.

Listen, Stacey, let Stacey cheat if she wants to. She's going to miss out on a good thing right here.

She'll be a fool. Amen.

I mean, I can't, oh, do you ever concern? I had somebody ask me,

are you ever concerned, Stacey, maybe? Never.

Never concerned, because I can't live that way.

She's a grown woman. If she want to do that, she's going to do it.

And if she do it, she's a fool. But I can't live that way.

I've got to be. Are you scared for your children? Yes, I think about my children

a lot, but I'm believing that they're at school and they're in the right place

at the right time, doing the right thing with the right people. Amen.

Trusting the Lord to take care of them, not having any fear over it.

Because you'll be like Job.

You will be like a magnet that will draw what you dread the most.

Into your circumstances and your life. Don't be like that.

Cast all your care upon him. Why? Because he cares for you.

Meditating on the love of God will flush fear out of your life.

This is how you experience true life.