The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: No Fear

Episode Date: January 13, 2019

Fear is putting your trust in your circumstances. Faith is putting your trust in your sovereign Savior.

Amen and amen. How are we doing church? Everybody good? You're looking good. I want to welcome all of our campuses together, no matter where you attend, whether it's Arlington or Mandarin or Bay Meadows or Baker Correctional or here at San Pablo. We were all just one church with a whole bunch of different locations, not just in the city now, but even in other counties. And we're in this study right now on 2nd Timothy, so if you got your Bible, go there. Second Timothy. We'll be there for about eight more weeks. We cover the first six. verses last week and I'm actually I'm going to pick it up in verse six we're going to back up one verse just for a little bit of context and we're really focusing just on a couple of words in verse seven Paul's going to tell Timothy we'll read it in just a second for God did not give you the spirit of fear now how many of you would say that you struggle with fear worry and anxiety anybody struggle with that okay the people that didn't raise your hands they were afraid to so there's that the two most prescribes the two most prescribes and consumed medications in our world today are anxiety medicine and heartburn medicine.

And the crazy thing is we probably live in the safest time, in the safest place, in the safest country, in the history of humanity. Now, you might be like, not my neighborhood. Okay, I get it. You might live in a shady neighborhood, no problem. But you ain't worried about getting eaten by a bear or scurvy taking you out. You understand? I mean, things that used to kill people a hundred years ago, we can cure it at Walgreens today.

Do you understand? And, I mean, our kids today were more protective gear to ride their bicycles than the astronauts wore in flying to the moon a generation ago. It's just true. We are obsessed with safety. I mean, think about it, man. I remember when we had our first kid, I literally, I took that little car seat thing with the five-point harness to the police department and said, I need y'all to help me like hook this thing up right. They had no idea what they were doing either, okay?

But we are. We are obsessed with safety. And I've even seen it change over my lifetime, okay? I'm 45 years old. That kind of puts me right down the middle of the fairway, I think. You know, there's a lot of people here younger me. Some of you are older than me. But, man, I don't remember the obsession with safety when I was a kid.

We rode our bicycles in the street. We had lead paint. We sniffed glue. my mom while pregnant with me smoked a pack a day and drank tab, which I think is cancer in a bottle. And we turned out okay-ish, right? And now we are obsessed with safety. In fact, moms, think about what is the last thing you tell your kid when they leave your presence? You typically say, now be careful.

Is that really the thing that you want your kids to be more than anything else? I don't want them to be careless. But as some pastor buddies in mind, we're talking about this thing, we're going to try to shift our language to a little bit less of be careful and a lot more of, hey, be brave. Be courageous. Be wise. You see, fear can take a hold of our lives. And the crazy thing is in our world is oftentimes we don't fear the right things.

Like we're totally afraid that our kids might get hurt, but we have no fear of putting one of these in their hand and just letting them get after it unsupervised. for the next decade. And we don't fear what that might be doing. Or we have this incredible fear that the stock market might drop a little bit, but we have no fear in what the ease and comforts and riches of this world are doing to our soul. You know, Jesus says it's hard to get to heaven from Jacksonville. He did.

He said it's impossible for a rich man. Or we're afraid of what everyone else thinks about us. But we have no fear in the opinion of God. we just think well he'll get over it now I get it as we talk about fear and I'm not trying to belittle your situation I know that there's some of you right now and you're like okay pastor but listen if you would give me that little weird mic for just a minute and you would let me lay out for you the situation that I'm in I think then you would hear and you would say okay yeah yeah you have reason to be afraid well I think even if the apostle Paul heard your

situation, I think he would look at you and go, I get you, I get your situation. It sounds tough, and I'm not belittling your situation, but the Apostle Paul situation was worse. He writes this letter to Timothy from prison after being beaten. He's been shipwrecked, he's been snake bitten, he's been beaten almost to an inch of his life, and yet in that context, he is going to write to Timothy to not be afraid. So if we'll pick it up in chapter 1, verse 6, Paul says this, for this reason, I remind you to fanning the flame the gift of God. Now, anytime the Bible says things like that for this reason, you've got to see what the reason is for. And what the reason that he's talking about here is, we talked about it last week. Timothy, we find out in Second

Timothy and First Timothy and the book of Acts and a bunch of places in Scripture, Timothy's got a lot of reasons to be afraid. Timothy's got a lot of things working against him. God has a call on Timothy's life to be the pastor at the church at Ephesus, and yet Timothy understands there's a lot of things that he has to overcome. First and foremost, Timothy grows up in a broken home without a father, and as difficult as that is today, imagine how difficult that would be in the first century. The Timothy is full of fear. We know this because 14 times in the, look, that's the whole book of Timothy right there in my Bible. And 14 times on that page, that page, and this page, Paul is going to instruct him to endure

suffering. And yet, in this moment in Acts chapter 20, when the elders of the Church of Ephesus gathered together in Paul, the apostle Paul, lays his hands on this young man, Timothy, who grew up without a spiritual father. and the greatest authority on human history at that point has his hands on Timothy. And he is saying, God, do you have a word for this young man that you have called in the ministry? And then God speaks through the apostle Paul to Timothy. And he says these words, he says, God did not give you a spirit of fear.

So in verse 6, when he says, for this reason, the reason he's talking about is in verse 4 when he says, I remember your tears because I promise you there ain't a man in here. If you let their dad or their spiritual father lay his hands on you and speak God's truth into your life, every dude in here. I don't care how tough you are, it'll make your eyes sweat. And some of you old guys, y'all cry cool. You do, man. You cry cool.

You just that jaw gets bigger like Superman and one juicy tear. Bing! Like the Terminator. Not me, man. When I cry, I convulse like a seventh-grade girl that just watched. the notebook. I do. I look like, I can't hold it in, man. I can't. And I've been there. I've been right here at this altar when our elders, right before we planted 1122, they laid their hands on me and on behalf of the Almighty God, they spoke into me. And I turned into like Robert De Niro. My face turns

inside out and I'm like, and I'm heaving and I'm like, you're talking to me. That's just what happens to me. It ain't pretty. And I think that's what was going on here. And Paul is saying, for that reason, for this reason, I remind you to fan and to flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. And then here's the word that God gave Timothy. For God gave us a spirit, not of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control. I have been praying all week long that something supernatural would happen in your life like it did happen in Timothy's life when that moment happened, and this would be the day that the

change of fear would be released from you. And we're going to close our service differently. And I'm praying that just like this thing that happened in Timothy's life, as recorded here in 2 Timothy chapter 1, that today would mark a day that would be brand new for you for the rest of your days, for anybody that struggles with fear and anxiety and worry. I talk about this all the time. The most commanded thing in all the scriptures is some version of, do not be afraid. 366 times. That's one for every day of the year, including leap year. You understand that?

Why? Why do you think God would tell us over and over and over? Because I don't know about you, but I need to hear it every single day. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. You see, I talk about this all the time. The opposite of faith is not doubt.

If you have a bunch of doubts about the Bible and about God and about your situation, I've got some really good news for you. You could make a great disciple. Do you know how I know that? Because if you look at the disciples in the New Testament, they were full of doubt. Heck, one of them was called doubting Thomas. But Jesus consistently said when you don't understand what's going on, when you don't get the answers to your questions, when you look at your circumstance and say, God, how could you possibly be in control? No problem. You just pick up your doubts, you pick up your questions, you pick up your uncertainties and you follow after Jesus by faith. And if you do that, guess what will happen? One day, one day, not like next Tuesday, but like 100 years from now, if you put your faith in

Jesus, there will be a day when all of your doubts disappear. It's when we get to heaven. You see, now we see poorly, then we will see clearly. Like, nobody in heaven ever comes up to anybody else in heaven ends like, are you, do you really believe in Jesus? You'd be like, well, he's sitting right there. Ask him yourself. He's the glowing one on the throne. You see, the opposite of fear is not doubt. I mean, excuse me, the opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is fear.

Because fear paralyzes. And fate produces action. When it says here, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, that word's not like phobia, like you're afraid of a thing. It causes like some, you know, some kind of weird feelings in you. This word fear in Greek means cowardice. It's a military term used to describe immobilization, that you have this fear-fueled, frozenness, and can't move forward. That's what he's talking about here.

And what hangs in the balance for Timothy is to be the pastor of this very, very influential church called the Church at Ephesus, that influences us today through letters like Ephesians and 1st and 2nd Timothy. There was a whole bunch hanging in the balance. And all throughout the scriptures, most often fear. keeps the people of God from moving into the blessing of God. Think about it in the book of numbers. Spies go into the promised land and God tells them, we're going in, you're going into the promised land of which I have given you.

And spies go into the promised land and ten of them come back with a fear-filled report. There are giants there and we're like grasshoppers against them. They're going to squish us or use us to catch a fish or whatever they're going to do. do, it's not going to go good for us. Or David and Goliath. Goliath, this giant, is out there cursing the people of God, and the whole nation of Israel is frozen up on the hillside, afraid to step into what God has for them. Or when Peter sinks while he's walking on the water, it was fear, not doubt, that called

him, caused him to sing. If you've been around a Bible study, maybe you remember the story, right? The disciples are in the boat. They're rolling to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. but the wind's in their face, so they can't get anywhere. So it's like the road machine at the gym. Just doesn't make sense. I don't know why you'd do that.

And then here comes Jesus walking on the water. And Peter's like, if that's you, call me out there. And Jesus says, come on, host. And so boom, boom, he hops out. And Peter is walking on the water. And then, and then he takes his eyes off of Jesus, and he puts his eyes on his circumstances. He puts his eyes on the wind and the waves.

And grip with fear, he begins to sink. I mean, think about this. God has called him to do what no other man has ever done to walk on the water and his fear keeps him from that kind of blessing. Or honestly, the way we got into all of this is our very first parents, Adam and Eve, fundamentally at the heart of their sin, was fear that God was withholding something from them. I mean, this is the ultimate FOMO ever, is Adam and Eve believing the lies of the enemy saying, I can have more without him than I can't. with him. In fact, ultimately, disobedience is usually not about disobedience. It's usually rooted in fear that I don't trust God to come through, so I'll do what I want because I got this. So let me ask you, what is the blessing that God has in store from you and fear is keeping you from it?

For God gave us a spirit, not a fear. But here's the spirit. that God did give us, a spirit of power and of love and of self-control, that God gives us, for any believer in Jesus, we have a spirit of power, that the spirit in us has power over whatever that thing is that is causing that fear. Jesus says, greater is he who is in me than anything in this world. That's the spirit of the believer, that we have a spirit of love. You see, because when we understand that Christ died for our sins and that God demonstrated his love for us and this, that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us, then the spirit of love in us causes us to never have to ask the question, based on my circumstances, does God really love me? Because if he really loved me, wouldn't he give me everything I wanted?

No, no, no. See, the spirit given to us says that we have the spirit of love and we know that we are loved because of what Christ has done for us. and we have the spirit of self-control, which means this, whoever is a believer or a follower in Jesus Christ, that your flesh is not your boss anymore, your feelings are not your boss anymore, your hormones are not your boss anymore, your appetites are not your boss anymore. So you can look at your feelings and your hormones and your appetites

and say, nope, you are not the Lord of me, but the spirit of God lords over me. And there is freedom in that. I don't know if this is what Paul intended, but I can't help but see this kind of triune promise of power, love, and self-control, and not be reminded of the triune God. That we have the spirit of power, like the power of the Heavenly Father that speaks everything into existence. That we have the power of love, like for God so love the world that he gave us his only begotten son,

and that we have the power of self-control, which is a fruit of the spirit, that we are spirit-controlled and not self-controlled anymore. And now what Paul is going to do from here, after he's kind of laid out, this umbrella statement, for God gave us a spirit, not a fear, but of power, love, and self-control. Now he's going to talk about the specifics of Timothy's situation. He says, therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. This is almost comical to me.

what Paul is going to do next, and I can tell that, by the way, you're just staring at me blankly, that you don't know what I'm talking about. That's fine. I'm here to explain. What Paul is going to do here now, after he gives him this command, that God has not giving you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and self-control, for the rest of this letter, he is going to give Timothy legitimate reasons for fear, like imprisonment and suffering, and maybe they'll, they'll be able to. kill you. 14 times in these two pages, he's going to tell him to endure suffering. He's going to get him, he's never ever once going to promise that the situation will ever get better. In fact, he's going to do the opposite. He's going to go, if you follow this thing out, if you follow the call of God in your life, you will suffer. Do not be afraid. Here's just a few of them. In chapter 2, verse 3, he says, share in the suffering as a good soldier. In 2.9, he says,

I am suffering for the gospel bound with chains as a criminal. In 210, he says, I endure everything for the sake of the elect. In 212, he says, if we endure. In 224, he says, patiently endure evil. In 3-1, he says, there will come times of difficulty. In 3-10, he says, you follow my persecutions and sufferings. In 312, he says, all who live a godly life in Christ, Jesus, will be persecuted. In 4 or 5, he says, as for you, endure suffering and on and on and on.

And in light of that, Timothy, God did not give you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control. To which you honestly have to say, how, Paul, how in the world, if you are promising a beating in front of me and not blessings, how in the world are you there then to tell me that I shouldn't be afraid? he says this by the power of God who verse 9 saved us and called us to a holy calling not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began he's basically saying this Timothy if you focus on your circumstances you will freak out because your circumstances are worthy of you freaking out. But what I'm asking you to do here is not to focus on your circumstances, but to get really focused on your sovereign Savior who is king of all of your circumstances.

That God is in control. And here's the language he used. Before the ages began, Christ called you and purposed you for this thing that you're walking through. In other words, Timothy, it ain't all about you. And God is not surprised. Listen, when your circumstances are out of control, the reason that you freak out, the reason that you're full of fear is because fear is primarily rooted in control. And those moments when you realize that you're out of control, which news flash, you're never in control. You're never in control.

You can't control anything. You can't even control the human beings that live at your house that share your last name. You could control their environment, but you cannot control. their little hearts. And when you begin to realize that the world is out of control, then the reason the fear and the anxiety go through the roof is because you're trying to continuously control this thing. And what Paul is telling Timothy to do is take back your trust from the situation and put your trust in the one who is in control of all the situations. Because God has never looked at your situation and went, what in the name of me is going on there?

No, he's in control. I was, I was talking to a buddy of mine on the phone a few years ago. You knowing Matt Chandler, he's been here to preach. He's been a lead pastor for longer than I have. We're about the same age. We've got kids the same age. We've got churches the same size. We have a lot of those things.

And so we talk about them. It's good to have somebody, not you, to talk about you. That's what I do, okay? Like these people. So we're talking one day, and he basically says this. He goes, bro, so what are you afraid of? I think we were launching our first camp. and I was kind of freaking out about that a little bit.

And he goes, but I said, what are you afraid of? And I was like, honestly, Matt, man, I'm afraid of, I'm afraid of disappointing someone. Like, I'm afraid I'm going to let somebody down. I'm afraid I'm going to let my wife down. I'm afraid I'm going to let my family down. I'm afraid that I'm going to let my people down. I'm afraid that I would be the limiting factor of what God wants to do. My intellect, my ability, my ego, my laziness.

I don't want to be the limiting factor. and then I said this to him. I said, I said, I just don't want to let God down. And then he paused for a second. And he said, bro, you're not holding him up. And so we're not friends anymore. I don't like him. I honestly think what Matt was saying to me is what Paul is saying to Timothy. Bro, it ain't about you. See, he doesn't say, okay, Timothy, courage is found in you. Here's what Paul does not do. Paul does not go, no, bro, you got this. You got this, okay? You're smart enough and you're good enough.

And dogg on it, I like you. He doesn't. That's modern psychology, by the way. You got this. Or, you know what else he doesn't do? He also doesn't say, no, no, no, he doesn't point to the circumstances. He doesn't say, no, it's probably not as bad as you think. It's probably going to work out.

Somewhere you're going to figure this thing out. He doesn't point to that. He just points to the truth of the character and nature of God. He says, Timothy, do you know? trust that God knows all things, that he is omniscient? Yeah? Do you trust that God has power over all things that he is omnipotent? Yeah? And do you trust that God is present in all places at all times that he is omnipresent? Then put your trust there instead of looking for courage in changing circumstances or even in yourself. You see, courage is not found in changing circumstances.

Courage is found in Christ alone. It's found in knowing God and knowing his love for us. John will say it this way in 1 John chapter 4. He says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear for fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. In other words, when you find yourself in a situation where your fear and anxiety and worry begin to rise, whether it's your marriage or your finances or your health,

Then you take your eyes off of those situations and you put your eyes on the one that is in control of those situations and you draw near to God. He will draw near to you. And the Bible says that as his love just flushes into your life, it flushes out the fear and the worry and the anxiety. That's what he's talking about here. And then he keeps going and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality. to light through the gospel. So Timothy could rightly say,

hey Paul, when I look at my circumstances, how can I know that God can be trusted? And Paul is saying, you don't look at your circumstances, you look at the cross. I mean, Jesus says, why would you fear the person that could only kill and mutilate the body

to which you're like? That's kind of what I'm afraid of, Paul. And Jesus would say, no, no, no, no, put your faith or trust or fear the one that has eternity in his hand. verse 11 Paul says for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher

which is why I suffer as I do but I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me Paul says this when you find yourself in situations and the fear begins to rise

you have to refocus from the situation to the Savior Paul, from prison, by the way, this is where he writes this. He's not going to make it out of this one alive. And yet, he talks not about the circumstances he's in. He talks about for I know whom I have believed or trusted. And think about this. This is why Paul is like the freest human being who has ever lived. I never know if this illustration works, but it works in my mind.

So whatever, this is good for me. I feel like every single one of us are born with, like, these different handles. And we live in this world, it's like the zombies from the walking dead, just trying to grab onto these handles. The handles could be ego or insecurity or lust or greed or selfishness or pride or take the Ten Commandments, whatever they are. And it's like we're walking through this world.

And the enemy, the world just tries to grab onto one of those handles and hold us back and keep us from the blessing that God has for us, which is freedom in Christ. It seems like the Apostle Paul has his entire life. focused on the sufficiency of Christ so that all the handles fell off. I mean, you see it while he's in prison. In the book of Philippians, he says this. To live is Christ, but to die is gain.

There's freedom in that statement. Like the jailer comes to his jail cell, and he's like, hey, bro, you got to quit with the singing. He's that, bro, you do whatever you got to do, but I'm going to sing to the Lord. Fine, then we're going to whip you to the glory of God. I am not worthy to endure this suffering. It is minuscule compared to the glory I'll experience one day. All right, all right, you don't like that? Then we'll kill you.

Thank you very much, because to lift or to die is gain. I'll be face to face with God. All right, never mind. We'll let you live. No problem. I'm going to lead all your jugglers to Christ. The guy's like, we got a problem in cellbox. See, what are we going to do with this guy?

Can you imagine that kind of freedom? Did you know you don't have to imagine it? You could legitimately walk in it? Because of what Christ has done for you, You see, he's got his trust focused towards the one who is in charge of the situation. And he says this, though. This doesn't just happen overnight. He says, I'm convinced that he is able to guard until that day.

Do you know what you guard? You guard things that somebody else is trying to take away. That's what you guard. You know, you don't have to, like, guard your trash, right? Because you want it to be gone. But you guard your home and the things in it, because you don't want anybody to come in and take that away. What Paul is saying to Timothy is, we have an enemy that wants to steal, kill, and destroy, and fear and deception are his native language. And he is trying to steal something from you.

He is trying to kill something in you. He wants to destroy everything about you in your relationship with the Lord. And so he says, here's how you guard it. Here's how Christ guards that good deposit in you. Verse 13, follow the pattern of the sound words. Maybe you'll underline that. the sound words that you have heard from me in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit and trusted to you.

The way I would say it is this. When your fear and anxiety rise, do not believe the whispers of the enemy. Because he's a liar. And the environment in which we tend to believe his lies the most, It's the environment of fear and anxiety. And here's what I mean by the whispers. I'm not talking about like, do you hear voices? Maybe you do.

That's a different sermon. Anybody ever hear that whisper? And it's like, you're not enough. You'll never be enough. I know the people in your disciple group, they're nice to you. It's because they don't know you. If they knew the things that you have done, then they would know that you are unfit for use.

You are dirty and you should be ashamed of yourself. Anybody ever get that whisper? Okay? I'm not doing this to show you how to raise your hand. Some of you Baptist need to know, okay, this is it. I'm doing it because every Thursday and Sunday, I get them. Every Thursday and Sunday, man, before I come up here and do this thing, that I believe God has called me and anointing me and appointed me and equipped me to do this thing.

Right before I go, it's the like, if they only knew what you had done or are thinking about. the whispers, you are unfit for use. Paul says you better guard against that, and the fear and anxiety begins to rise. Or some of you begin to hear the whisper of this, you'll never be loved. You'll never be loved. The divorce is final, and you'll never find love again. The reason you're single is you. And not only will people not love you, it's a reflection of the reality that God doesn't love you,

and you begin to buy into those whispers. and by the way, most of what you watch and listen to only compounds it. Or maybe you hear this whisper. You are beyond repair. I know God can save some people, but he saves good church people that grew up in church. That whole thing about when Jesus died on the cross hit counter for you, he's not talking about you because the thing that you have done, you knew better and you did it again.

And you are beyond repair. or do you begin to hear the whisper that the reason people don't know you or the people don't love you is because they don't know you so you better keep faking it for the rest of your days. You see, fear is a liar. And it is the native tongue of the enemy is lies. I can promise you this, though, when you hear those kind of whispers, that is not the voice of our Heavenly Father. And so when you begin to hear the whisper, here's what Paul is saying. So follow the pattern of sound words. Paul is writing down Bible verses as he is talking to Timothy.

He's saying you trust the truth of the Word of God and you reject the lies of the enemy so that when you hear that you are unfit for use, you are condemned, then you need to choose to believe that therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now your feelings are going to be all kind of all over the place. And so you snatch back your trust that you have paced in your circumstances and you snatch it back and you give back to the sovereign king. of the universe, your trust and your faith, and you stand on the promise that therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And when the enemy begins to whisper that God does not love you, look at your circumstances. If he really loved you, then he would fix whatever. Then you've got to stand on the truth of Romans 5'8, that God demonstrated his love

for us in this, that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us. And when the enemy begins to bring up your past, then you remind him of Romans chapter 8 that there is nothing, nothing, nothing that could separate us from the love of Christ Jesus. Nothing could snatch us out of his hand. Nothing on this planet, nothing in heaven, nothing on hell. Nothing, nothing, nothing could separate us. And when the enemy wants you to believe that God is somehow disappointed in you, then you remind him of what John says in 1 John chapter 4 that this is love, not that we love God, but he loved us and said his son as a propitiation for our sin. Propitiation means a payment that satisfies, which means for anybody who was in Christ,

God cannot be dissatisfied in you because he was fully satisfied in the perfect life of Christ. This is what Paul is saying. So you stand on that truth. And it's a guarding, man. It is a guarding. It is not a one-time thing. This means you guard against the oncoming attack. of the enemy over and over and over.

And then Paul is going to give a specific example about how he had to overcome fear and doubt and disappointment. Verse 15, he goes, you are aware, Timothy. Like, hey, Tim, you think you got a lot to worry about? Me too. I'm writing this from jail. I don't think I'm going to make it out of this one alive. I've been shipwrecked.

I've been arrested. I've been beaten. Not because I did bad things, but because I did God things. you are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me. To which, honestly, I think if you're reading this, you go, really, Paul? Everybody in Asia? There's a lot of people in Asia. I'm pretty sure you didn't even know them all, and we didn't even have Facebook so that they could, like, fake know you.

I don't think, I think you're exaggerating a little bit. Which, listen, man, that's what fear does. fear exaggerates Fear takes a situation This is legit I'm not saying it's not legit But fear begins to try to take that little situation And make it bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger

And you begin to think if I lose the disapproval of this one person My whole life will be wrecked forever and ever and ever Or especially people that struggle with fear and anxiety Oftentimes what you struggle with is a thing that hasn't even happened and may or may not even happen that that these imaginary situations will cripple you with fear I mean it's like first-time parents deal with this

you got the kid home first of all that's a weird thing they let you take that joker home in it you're like I feel like I had to pay more like fill out more paperwork to take a dog home than this is there a class no all right and then what begins to happen is you begin to play the what if game what if something happened to them I would never be able to make it honestly you have no idea you have no idea and you can be frozen by playing the what if game

listen fear asks what if and faith is what if God does a miracle it's just different see maybe the reason that Jesus says don't worry about tomorrow because today's got plenty to worry about Maybe it's because the Bible says that new mercies are given to us every morning.

And God does not give us the mercy that we need for this imaginary thing that may or may not happen. God gives us everything we need for life and godliness. He gives us everything we need to walk through the place that we are in right now. You see, so why waste time thinking about, dreaming about all your fears that may or may not come true? I know this weekend for many of you, your greatest fear was realized. Tim Tebow got engaged and you think, ah. To Miss Universe. Why wouldn't he?

Of course he would. But fear exaggerates because fear is a liar. And so he says, you're aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom, I think this is awesome that the Spirit of God tells Paul to write the dude's names in the Bible, and he knows we're going to be reading the Bible until Jesus comes back. Think about that. He's like, put his name in there. not just these two guys I know. He's very specific. Among whom are figalus. So if you're looking

for a baby name, don't go with this one, all right. I know it sounds awesome, but he's not a good guy. Or homogenous or hermogenes. I'm going hermogenes. Okay, I think that's. Verse 16, may the Lord grant mercy to the household of onusiferous. Basically, here's what Paul is doing. Paul gives us two specific categories of one group of people that were led by fear, and they abandon the gospel, they abandon Paul, they abandon the work of God. And he gives the example of another brother who overcomes fear with faith, and look what he does. On this verse, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my change, but when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly.

This means Paul is no longer in house arrest. He's in the bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the jail. And for you to show up and be like, hey, that's my guy. You know there's some what-ifs associated with that. What if they associate me with Paul and they keep me there? And instead of being frozen by fear, he steps out in faith and he tends to Paul. It says, and he found me, verse 18, and may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you will know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.

You see, so basically what Paul. Paul is saying is this. So Timothy, you got reason to be afraid? You're right. You're right. You follow after Jesus in the first century. In Roman occupied country, you could suffer and you could die. And Paul is saying, and listen, if you think you have stuff to worry about, I have more.

I am in prison writing this letter. But Timothy, take heart for God did not give us a spirit of fear. for I know whom I have believed and he is in charge of all things. He is in charge of all things. You see, again, fear is rooted in this false idea that we think we have control of a situation and when things get out of control, our fear and anxiety go through the roof. And I get it. I think sometimes right now you look at your situation and you go,

how in the world can you say God is in control when my life is full of this? this, then I would say, don't look at your circumstances, look at the cross. The Bible says that God works in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. At the cross, doesn't it appear that everything is out of control? At the cross, doesn't it appear that God does not love us? And doesn't it appear that God does not even love his own son? I mean, think about it.

Total speculation. but imagine what the angels must have been thinking the day that Jesus goes to the cross. Maybe the angels would go to God and go, excuse me, what are you doing? Have you completely lost control? I mean, the word became flesh and dwelt among them, and now they are killing him. What are you doing? Do you care? Have you lost control?

God, what are you doing? to which the Almighty would say, I'm redeeming the world. Can God not take the biggest mess of our lives and turn it into the greatest message you've ever heard? It is the gospel. And so if God spared not his own son, how good is he that he would love us enough to be in control of every single situation we've ever been in? You see, here's the point. Fear is putting your trust in your circumstances. Faith is putting your trust in your sovereign Savior.

And there's a bunch of us, and I get it, man. This is like a daily thing. You could put your faith in Jesus. You put your trust in Jesus, and then you go to sleep, and it runs away, and you've got to go find it again. And it runs to our circumstances. It just does. And so let me ask you, have you put your faith, have you put your trust in your health situation? Have you put your trust in your finances?

Have you put your trust in your marriage where you think if this works out, then I'll be fully and finally satisfied. Have you put your trust in what other people think about you? Have you put your trust in your failure? Have you put your trust in, this is kind of the hardest one to deal with for a lot of people. Have you put your trust in your circumstances? And even though you wake up every morning and you look around and if you're honest, your circumstances are pretty doggone good. and yet somehow you're full of fear and full of worry and full of anxiety and you begin to think what is wrong with me

well Paul says take back those take back that trust that you've put in your circumstances and put them in your sovereign savior why here's why for this is the reason I remind you to fan and to flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands for God gave us a spirit not a fear, but of power and of love and of self-control.

So go with me back to that moment. Or Timothy, who's got a lot of labels to overcome, is kneeling before the Apostle Paul, and Paul has his hands on him, and apparently the tears are flowing. And God Almighty gives Paul a word to this young man of God, and he says, Timothy, this world does not get to tell you who you are.

I know you grew up fatherless. And listen, there's a bunch of you that did here too. Either physically or spiritually, you had an absentee father, and it's a huge problem in our society today. In fact, it might be the main problem in our society today because only a man can bestow biblical manhood on another man. And in our country, we've got a bunch of boys telling other boys how to be men. No wonder the thing's all jacked up.

And imagine your spiritual father lays his hand on you and says, hey, the world doesn't get to label you that way. And the world has told you that you're too young and you're too inexperienced. Everybody you're going to lead at the Church of Ephesus is going to have more life experience than you do. The only difference is they don't have the anointing of the leadership that God has given you. So don't let anybody look down on you because of your youth. But you set for them an example. And I know, and I know, according to First and Second Timothy, Timothy's got some physical weaknesses here.

apparently every time he gets in front of people his stomach gets all churned up is why paul's going to say take a little wine and the danger is that timothy could believe the lies of the fears that are telling him you're broken you're unfit for use you're not strong enough you don't have what it takes and the apostle paul says but god's word for you timothy is different than that so let me ask you how is this world labeled you and how is the fear of you living into that label, keeping you from the promised land that God has for you. Because some of you, you think that your divorce is going to define you for the rest of your days. I'm here to tell you that only Jesus gets to tell you who you are.

And some of you think that your addiction is the thing that controls you, not if you're in Christ, that you have the spirit of self-control. Or some of you have this fear that your bankruptcy is going to determine the rest of your days. No way, man. Jesus, the king from before all ages, has a purpose and a calling in your life. And some of you think that your past defines your future and you're full of fear and you're full of timidity and you don't know what to do with it. So let me ask you, are you going to take back your faith from the mouth of fear? Are you going to take back your faith from the situation and are you going to put it in the hands of the sovereign king of the universe?

So we're going to end today a little bit differently, a lot of bit differently. Because I know, man, there's some of you struggling with finances and people pleasing and failure and you've never been married or your marriage is busted up or health issues or the loss of a loved one or you feel like your depression is just overwhelming. And I'm here to tell you that the whispers of the enemy of fear. Fear is a liar. And so we're going to sing a song. Actually, our bands are going to sing a song.

We're going to listen. A lot of times when we sing, it's like we all sing along, okay? This song's going to be different. There's a popular song right now, like on Christian radio by a guy named Zach Williams called Fear is a Liar. I've listened to it 10,000 times in the last 14 days. And I believe God has a word for us in this brother's song. That fear is a liar.

I think, I don't know what made him write this song, but I think it has a lot to do with what Paul is telling Timothy, don't believe the lies of the enemy, but you take that fear and you throw it in the fire. And he begs that the fire of God would fall down and burn away all of our fears. Because faith and fear are incompatible. It said, all of our campuses, the bands are going to come and they're going to sing this song. And I'm going to ask you, I'm going to ask you to do something that honestly is ridiculous. It's ridiculous.

There's no reason you should do this unless you want to walk out of here differently. If as the band sings this song, you believe that today's the day, that today's the day that you want God to burn away this fear and then this anxiety and this worry. If today's the day you want to snatch back your trust from your situation and today's the day, you want to begin to believe that God is in control and can work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. during the song, I just want you to stand up. Whether you being a Christian for 100 years or you want to be one today, whatever it means, okay? I want you to stand up. And this is why it's crazy. If you struggle with fear, you're like, I ain't standing up in front of people.

People will look at me. A hundred people around you, the moment you get up their heads, going to be like, oh, look at that guy. They stood up, okay? Yeah. That's what's going to happen. And I'm asking every single person around you, don't touch them, but you start praying for that person. You pray that the supernatural touch of God would be in their life, and they would walk in the freedom that Christ purchased for them and they would no longer believe the lies of the enemy.

So that's what we're going to do. We're going to sing the song and you just let these words wash over you. And if God, if you think God is calling you to be set free to cast those fears in the fire of them right where you are at all of our locations, Baker Correctional included, especially, then you just stand up where you are. And one of the things that you'll see is that you are not alone. And then we're going to sing a second. song. Then we are going to declare all together. Everybody will stand up for the second song and we will all declare together, I am no longer a slave to fear. But I'm a child of God. And during that second song, I've asked some pastors and elders and staff people to just be down front

to maybe do, look, I'm not Paul and you're not Timothy, but maybe do what happened in Timothy's life right here. You're going to come forward if you need prayer. You're going to You're going to come forward if the labels of this world have been the biggest thing in your life. And there are going to be some men or women down here that are going to lay their hands on you and they're going to speak the word of God over you. Now, we don't have time for you to tell us your whole story. You can't hear it anyway. You got to get one word.

Just come down here and just say, my marriage, my finances. I'm depressed, my addiction. Whatever it is, and the Spirit of God in us is going to pray over you. And I pray to God, I pray to God that just like Timothy's life was changed in that moment, I pray to God that your life will be changed forever and ever and ever starting from this moment now. So I'm going to pray. The band's going to sing. Then we're going to stand and all sing.

And anybody that needs to pray will come forward. Would you please pray for me? Our Father in heaven, God, I thank you that we get to come to you with everything. God, I pray that we would be anxious for nothing. That we would worry about nothing. that we would be afraid in that paralyzing kind of faithless way, nothing. But that we would make our request known to you, that we would come to you with all of our desires

and all of our inconsistencies and all of our fears. And God, I pray that we would be able to trust you as a people, that you still have the whole world in your hands, even when it feels like my world's falling apart, or when I become painfully aware that I am not in control, so I need to trust the one who is. And God, would you give us a peace, a shalom, that transcends understanding?

God, would you do a thing in our heart and would you do a thing in our mind that does not make sense based on our current situation and circumstances? But would you give us a peace that transcends understanding God, would you guard our hearts and would you guard our minds in Christ Jesus? God, in a tangible way, in a way that is more real than the things we can see and taste and touch. God, in a very real way, would you help us experience in this moment right now, the spirit that you have given us that is not of fear, but of power and of love and of self-control?

And may we reject the lies of the enemies and may we receive. your truth we prayed in Jesus name amen