Faith vs. Fear

The sermon has two sides. It has heads and tails. We all know that, don't we? And how many times do we take a coin and we flip it? You know, we toss it up, we flip it. They do that with football games and all, you know, to see which team gets the call to whether they want to receive the ball first or, you know, whatever. But we take the coin, we flip it, and we say, okay, heads, you win. Tails, you lose. Letting heads represent winning, that's typical.

And tails represent losing. Spiritually, there is a very important issue that can be tied or illustrated to that simple analogy. Because just like a coin is taken and tossed, flipped, life is very much like the process of being flipped or being tossed. You ever feel flipped? You ever feel tossed? And we find ourselves landing. You get tossed. You get flipped. And there's a landing. You land heads up or tails up. We find ourselves either facing forward in life or we find ourselves turning tail.

We find ourselves either meeting life with its situations head-on or we find ourselves retreating, backing up, withdrawing. We find ourselves applying a winning approach and perspective to the situation, whatever the situation may be. Or we find ourselves involved in a losing one.

We're either facing forward because that is a choice that constantly is put before us with practically every situation in life. We're either facing forward in manner and movement or we're turning tail and showing the back. And what I'm talking about is simply this. Faith versus fear. Faith versus fear. Fear versus faith. Because in some situations it's faith versus the fear that we'd like to interject. And in other cases it's fear.

With faith versus faith that we'd like to be involved. And that's what I'm talking about today. If you want a title, that's the subject. That's the title. Faith versus fear. I got to thinking about it. I have spoken on faith. Ryan Hall has spoken on faith since we resume services. We have emphasized that. But I really don't think we can overemphasize it right now.

Not just in terms of the times we're in, but also in terms of a lifestyle as part of a lifestyle. Because whatever comes out of this and whenever it's over or whatever, it's not finished.

There's more down the line. There will be more. It will escalate. Someday there's going to be the biggies that bust everything. And so what I'm talking about today is germane to all times. And it's very important even simply as a way of life that you practice, or let's say you practice it as part of your way of life every day.

Faith is a winning proposition. It's a winning perspective. It always has been. It always will be. The Bibles replete with that. And God's given us plenty of examples to look at as well as in our own lives and the lives of others.

And fear is a losing one. Think about it. Faith and fear are total opposites. They're the opposites of each other. Faith is the reverse of fear. And fear is the reverse of faith. And we're not talking about wisdom. We're not talking about caution, proper caution, and being wise. We're talking about fear. Fear. You know, where we are right now in the world and in the nation, fear was used to get control. Fear was instilled on a group-heard basis. That's how they got the compliance. They used fear. Faith is the reverse of fear.

Fear is the reverse of faith. Now, think about faith. Faith doesn't cause us to falter. Faith doesn't cause us to fail. Faith does not trip us up. Faith is not what gives us the problems. If you look back over your life, if you look at the lives of others, if you look in the Bible at the examples, you see that faith is not what causes people to falter. It's not what causes people to fail and fail.

That's not what trips them up. It's not what gives them the problems. And it becomes very obvious. Fear is what causes people to falter. Fear is what causes us to fail. That's what trips us up. Fear is what gives us the problems. Now, wouldn't we all, let's say, acknowledge or claim that God has called us? And certainly, every one of us that's been baptized would have to lay claim to that, that God has called us, and that we responded. And those of us who are not baptized yet, we could lay claim to the fact that God is calling us.

We're just not as far along yet, no. But we're given access to God. He's working with us. He's calling us. Yes. Well, what's He calling us to? I guess there's different ways to word it. But one of the things, one of the ways we could word what God is calling us to is He's calling us to a new experience. Because that's the experience of faith when you think about it. It is the new experience, the experience of faith. Because our human legacy, our human heredity, our human background, the natural and physical has been one of fear.

Think about when you were called. And it doesn't mean that all that you were called from is totally in the past yet, no. But think about when you were called. Think about, be honest with yourself, and think about how much of your human experience was one of fear. Now, let me use some other words that fear covers. These are fears. You know, timidity, anxieties, doubts, worries. I'll just use that. Those are fears. Those are under the category of fear. Timidity, anxieties, doubts, worries, fears. All I'm saying is, we've all had plenty of experience with fear.

And, of course, we still have to fight it because it gets ingrained very deeply in our fiber. It takes a lot of time to dig all that out. But we're called to a new experience, the experience of faith. And we have two terms that we will use. We will use the term, the new man or the new woman. And we'll use the term, the old man or the old woman. And we talk about the new man. We've been called of God, we've responded, we've been baptized into Christ, we're the new man, and we're founded in faith. We started off in faith. If you didn't have some measure of faith, you couldn't come to the point where you had enough belief in the blood of Jesus Christ, and in God the Father and Christ, to be baptized.

You wouldn't have enough faith to even repent. You know, if you went into it thinking, well, I'll do it because it's form and format, but nothing about it really counts because how can His shed blood cover for me? Period. So it takes a measure of faith. You have to have faith in His blood. You have to have faith in God's care and concern for us, and in the blood of Jesus Christ, yes.

But we talk about the new man is founded in faith, and it is. But the old man, the old woman we're turning her back on, is founded in fear. All those timidity and anxieties and worries and doubts and all that stuff that stresses us and troubles us. And many times, in many cases, it just really shuts people down. And so God says, okay, the new man, the new woman, faces forward. You look forward. The old man looks back. The new man pursues his future. This scripture in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, this scripture here is also progressive. See, in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17, where Paul wrote to the Corinthians, it says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, you adulterers, you whoremongers, you thieves, you liars, you cheats, you murderers, you abusers of yourself with mankind.

You can go back and read earlier in his first letter. He said, Such were some of you, but now, you know, you've turned your back on that. That's your old man. Yeah. And all that went with it. Well, he says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, and now, though, you're not practicing those things, you're in Christ. You're a new man. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, it says in the King James, new creation. And he says, Old things are passed away. God's washed it off the record.

But it's also in the progressive. It's not just passed away in the sense that you're once and for all done with it. It never bothers you again. That old man never shows up again. The old woman doesn't show up again. That that's all passed, and it never can rear its head again. No, it can. And it does. Old things are passing away. It's also in the... Also, it's progressive. There's a process going on. Old things are passing away. Behold, all things are becoming new, the new person.

And if I go to Romans 7, 24, Romans 7, verse 24, and this is what Paul was referring to about, you know, it's progressive, yes. And long after he had been baptized, and in Christ, he says here in chapter 7, verse 24, he says, He says, O Richard man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? He is referring to the old man that does try to crop back up and come back into the picture, and pulling back into the old way, the faithless way, the fears and all of that.

As I said, the new man is called to go forward, but you can't go forward without faith. You can't keep stepping out. You can't keep doing what you should. You can't keep having acts of obedience to God in the face of what comes along if you don't have that living faith versus fear where you are willing to keep facing forward.

If I go to Philippians 3, verses 13 and 14, Paul emphasizes about the new man going forward. And in Philippians 3, verses 13 and 14, he said, I don't count myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do for getting those things which are behind because there was a lot in Paul's past that could eat him alive if he would just go back there and sit in it and dwell on it. Because he knew that he murdered some of God's people. He knew that he was responsible. He could remember Stephen.

And later on, he realized that was an innocent man of God that I was overseeing the death of. And what he really emphasizes here is he looks forward. He goes forward. For getting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. I often think about how, and I may as well turn there since I'm right here close to Ephesians 4 and 15, I always think about what is required for this to occur.

In Ephesians 4 and verse 15, where he wrote the Ephesians and says, But speaking the truth and love may grow up into him in all things. That phrase alone, grow up into him in all things. There's no fear in God. He's full of faith. God Himself is full of faith. And we're told to grow up into Christ.

Well, how can I go forward growing up into Christ without going forward? You have to go forward to keep growing. It's a forward activity, and what feeds that is faith. Fear shuts that down. Fear backs you up.

If we go to Hebrews 10 and verse 38, and while we're going over there, I'll just comment about how that Peter signed off. He signed off 2 Peter by saying to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

But I think about Paul writing this, and his statements about going forward, growing up into Christ, facing forward, not getting troughed by the old man in the past, learning the lessons you need from it. Yeah, letting him stand you in good stead. Yes, that's fine and good.

But you don't bog down in those timidity and doubts and worries and fears. It shuts down your growth. And again, here in Hebrews 10.38, the statement that is made four times in God's Word.

And again, Ryan Hall and myself have talked about faith. We've emphasized that because in the face of everything going on now and the things to come, how do you survive without faith? You have to have it. This is why it says, now the just shall live by faith.

We're called to a new experience that's founded and operating on a new, different basis. For that matter, all the way around in life when you really look comprehensively, but founded, grounded, operating on this new, different basis of faith. The just shall live by faith. Why are we here today? Because Leviticus 23 says it's a holy convocation, a holy, commanded assembly. That's why we are here. Whether we want to be here as fully as we always want to be here, or whether we would rather not have been here today because we're in a bad mood, or we just don't feel like we're worthy to be here. Whatever the reason, the bottom line is, God commands it. We're here. Have you ever gone to service and you said, look, I don't feel like going, I feel like a hill, I don't feel like I've lived this week like I should, I don't feel worthy to be there, but God says I'm supposed to be, I'm going.

And then when it's over, you say, boy, I'm glad I went. I'm going to have a better week this next week. But my point being, we assemble on the basis of faith, of going forward. That's what God says is part of what He expects of us.

But the old man wants to hold back, withdraw, go back. Because when He says that, just shall live by faith, He's talking about the new man. But then He switches over to the old man. But if any man draw back, why would you draw back? Because you're afraid, or you doubt, or you worry, or you're timid.

It's fear. But if any man draw back, I mean, let's just put it this way. One of the reasons, I won't say it's the only reason, but one of the reasons that people draw back is fear. Fear, in one form or another. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. So the old man wants to hold back, withdraw, go back. He wants to bring the old patterns and ways in.

They're comfortable. You know, there have always been, in our society, recluses, who are just hermits, who just like to find them a hole, crawl in it, and hide out from society. And maybe not every community has one, but there's plenty of them. And I remember a guy. I got this message that this man over in the Ozarks wanted me to come visit him. And so I mapped out where I needed to go, drove over into Missouri, drove over deep into the Ozarks, and found the guy. I set it up with him. He was expecting me. He was somewhere around approximately 40 years of age. And he had moved out of California, which I credit him for that.

But his plan was to just build him a dugout back in this hill, case it in, and hide out from the world until Christ returned. I mean, that was his idea. Just hide out, first of all, down deep in the Ozarks, and then down in this back area of the back area, and just survive until Christ returns. That's a fear basis. You think he is going to grow up into all things or even have that approach, growing up into Christ and all things? You think he was facing forward? Or he was fearful? It's obvious, isn't it?

He was fearful. But like oil and water, the old patterns and ways don't mix with the new. The old man wants to hold us back. It wants us to withdraw. We've got a lot of people today in this nation running scared. There are people in the world running scared. And I believe in, if there's a rattlesnake there, you see it.

If it's a black racer, you see it. If it's not a stake at all, if the grass is just moving because of the breeze, you notice that, too. You keep your eyes open and you notice, and I don't play with black widows or brown recluses or rattlesnakes. I believe in seeing what is there, but also believe in truly seeing what is there. And also believe in not letting what I see affect me to do in a way that's displeasing to God.

My very first sermon here two years ago was that the configuration of your life is not totally in your hands. Some of it is, some of it isn't. But what is always in your hands is how you respond to it. So do we respond in faith or do we respond in fear? Because whichever one of those we use is going to make a major difference in what we do and our standing with God. The old man, based on those fears, wants to slow us up.

He wants us to stop us in our tracks. He doesn't want us to go forward. And again, think about it. If you're talking of the old man like something real, which it is, one of the strongest things that it has to use against us is fear.

Those anxieties, those timidity, those doubts, those worries. To the degree that fear can be injected. To that degree, forward progress can be brought to a halt. We have a prime example of that. Matthew 25. Let's look at this example because there is an awful lot wrapped in this. Matthew 25. This is where Christ used the account, the story, the parable of the five talents, the two talents, and the one talent.

Giving to each of three different individuals according to their talents, their abilities, etc. Five to one, two to one, and one to one of them. So one got five, one got two, one got one.

And then he went off this account. And then the one who entrusted it to them, to his servants, went off, came back later to see what had been done with the five and the two and the one. And so we come down to the one, verse 24. And this is very revealing. And it's true to life. Matthew 25, verse 24. Then he which had received the one talent came and says, Lord, I knew you, that you're a hard man. Reaping where you have not sown. Now, you ought to just stop and think about all this statement sometimes, break it down and look at everything in this man's perspective and attitude.

But you can sum it up also in one very significant way.

And gathering where you have not strawed, and I was...there it is...fear. I was afraid. Came down to fear. I was afraid. I was afraid. He didn't view his Lord with faith in his eyes. He didn't view his Lord as faithful. Hard man. Unfair. I was afraid. He faced him with fear. He had fear. We're not talking about reverence and respect. We're talking about fear. We're talking about playing, oh, pure, negative, carnal fear. I was afraid. So, as a result, went and hid your talent in the earth. There you have that which is yours. Interesting.

And, well, maybe I'll just read the rest of it in case we want to reference back a little bit here and there. His Lord answered and said to him, Because of that fear which drove what he did. It was this fear that drove what he did. He didn't grow. He didn't increase. He shut down. He was through. He dug a hole. You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I, you know, out of your mouth, see.

You knew that I reaped where I sowed not, gathered where I have not strolled. You ought, therefore, to put my money to the exchangers. And then at my coming I should have, see, at least received mine own with interest. Take therefore the talent from him, give it to him which has ten talents. For unto every one that has shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that has not shall be taken away, even that which he has, and cast you the unprofitable. And what made him unprofitable? Fear, not faith. And to outer darkness there should be weeping and gnashing of teeth. See, his fear locked him up.

He didn't grow. He lost out. His fear had a way of fulfilling itself. It shut him down and brought to pass that which he feared. His old man tried to mix with the new and they don't mix. Faith and fear don't mix. They're opposites. Faith will override fear. Or fear will corrode faith based on which you exercise in your life, based on which motivates you. And again, we're not talking about wisdom. We're not talking about caution.

As a new creation of God, we cannot function on the fears of our past, and we've all had them. And they trail us, but you can't give in to them. Because again, as you grow in faith, living faith, the more you grow in living faith, the more it will override and negate those fears. It's only through faith that we can make the progress and growth that results in spiritual success. Let me just briefly, in a cursory way, just demonstrate a little bit or illustrate how that faith and fear don't mix, how that faith can't be fulfilled in fear.

I'm going to list a few. These are by no means a compiling and exhaustive list. But I just want to list a few of common fears that we as human beings have and show the spiritual results that occur when we try to do a work of faith based on fear. Because how many of us have heard in the past that we've been called to a work of faith? I have. I've heard it all my life. I've also been heard that the work that we're called to do is a work of faith and the individual work that God is doing in each one of us is a work of faith.

Okay, number one. And again, just in a cursory way, these are common, the fear of making a mistake. How many times in the past, if we looked at ourselves honestly, would we say, I didn't try something or I didn't do what I wanted to do or felt like I should do because I was afraid I'd make a mistake so I didn't even try?

That's common. That's common. That's common. It's almost like you're born with that fear. Not exactly. I'm stretching it a bit, yes. But I'm just saying the fear of making a mistake. How many times, whether it's with a ball team or academic class or wherever on the job, someone doesn't step out and step forward and actually apply themselves to making growth because they're afraid they'll make a mistake. So, if they're afraid to take a chance on making a mistake, which they're afraid they might make, they just hold back. See, it takes stepping out.

It takes stepping forward. Again, you have to face forward. You can't give in to fears. Better to be making some mistakes as you go forward than not be moving at all. And I talk about how growth takes place a lot of times with us. Okay, you say, well, I take two steps forward and I slip back one. And then I take two steps forward and I slip back one.

And I take two steps. I may as well quit it, give up, because I keep slipping back. Haven't you noticed? You're taking two and losing one, taking two, losing one, taking... You're getting ahead. You've got a net gain of a step every time. You're moving forward.

Don't let the fact you slip up slip back one step because you're getting a net gain of one, which means you're moving down the line. You're growing. You can always make course corrections. But here's the thing. We can't grow without trying. Why do you think that God allows things to come in our lives that force us to have to try?

And sometimes, maybe God gives us some things because we don't push ourselves up and He lets us be pushed. But I'm just saying we can't grow without trying and we can't try without making mistakes occasionally. And if the fear of making a mistake shuts somebody down, then their growth is going to be shut down. That's one of the biggest mistakes of all. And then, number two, and again, I'm not trying to give an exhaustive list, but fear of correction. I haven't run into anybody yet in my lifetime that was normal and loved correction.

If you run into somebody that loves correction, they're weird. They're different. But fear of correction, that can shut one down because, again, and these overlap and they dovetail. A person doesn't want to take a chance on doing something they might be corrected for and think about something. If you literally, if somebody handed you a samurai sword, you would handle it very carefully, wouldn't you? I mean, a samurai sword that is sharpened like they can be sharpened is extremely dangerous.

But if I'm not mistaken, it only has one edge. This book right here has two edges. Remember? The Roman soldiers, with their gladdiest, their swords, two-edged swords, if they wanted to sharpen them enough, they could to shave with them. In Hebrews 4.12, as we know, Paul calls the Word of God sharper than. Let's just read that because it speaks to something here that, again, is part of a reality that we live with. It's not an illusion.

When he says, For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, that two-edged sword that he's referencing there is the gladdiest of the Roman soldiers. They're two-edged swords with a blade about approximately two feet long, handle, half, and all, somewhere around, anywhere from 20 to 24 inches, generally.

But notice he says, The Word of God pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. I mean, with a physical three-edged sword, they severed arms, legs, and warfare. They ripped people open. Paul uses that analogy that the Word of God will cut and rip and get deep into your being.

And what's he talking about? And he says, It's a discern of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It's scary for some folks. What does the Bible do if you do read it deeply enough, enough, strongly enough? It corrects you. It corrects you. There are some people that will not read the Bible because it corrects them. There are some people that do not want to hear Scripture. You can run into people out and about. And folks, do we not understand that we live in a time of Romans 1?

They did not like to retain God in their knowledge. We've got leaders. We've got people who do not like religion. They do not like the Scripture. They do not like God. They don't want anybody telling them that what they are doing is corrupt and an abomination. But what if I say, I don't really want to know myself. I don't really want to see what God sees. I don't want to have that kind of depth of understanding and awareness.

I'll just avoid the Bible, fear of correction. It does affect some people, yes. It could even affect somebody that God has called into His church. And, of course, what it talks about here, for it to go that deep in us, we cannot allow a fear of correction to shut us down from that.

And it certainly can shut a person down from seeking help. And then, obviously, that would someday lead to the biggest correction of all. And then, a third one, the fear of failure or the fear of commitment. You could put it probably in the same category because if a person has a fear of failure, they don't commit to begin with.

They don't commit to begin with. Because I might fail. I'm afraid of failure. I failed so many times in my life. I failed at this. I failed at that. I'm afraid I'll fail. So what do you do? You don't commit. You just... I probably would fail again. So I don't like failure. I just won't commit.

It has been my experience over the years, over the years, in the Church of God, that we've sometimes had people attend with us year in and year out and year in and year out and never commit. Because they're afraid, well, if they commit and then they don't, quote, live up to whatever they think they've got to live up to, they'll fail and they don't want to fail.

Sometimes I run into that with young people who have grown up in the Church. Now, you've got to be old enough. You've got to be mature enough. You've got to know what you're doing. You've got to be able to make a commitment that is sound and solid and valid. Yes, but sometimes when we've grown up alongside the truth all of our life, we get to a point where we should be moving right on down the road towards baptism, but we're kind of stymied. We're hell there. And what I've run into in my counseling is that sometimes, well, what if I can't live up to it? What if I can't, you know, such and such and such and such? There's a fear of commitment. I fear to commit, I should say, because there's a fear of failure. And we process through that and work through that and take care of it. But I'm just saying, it's there. But you see this in society. A lot of times people are afraid to commit to something because they're fear of failure.

And we've got a lot of folks now that won't commit to marriage in society. Oh, we'll just live together. We'll shack up. We'll live together. You know, that way, if it doesn't work out and we go our separate ways, there won't be a messy divorce and all of that. That's part of the thinking in our day and age in this society.

Four. And this one is something that I think is pretty common. The fear of disappointment. The fear of disappointment. I'll not get my hopes up about anything. And that way, I'll not get disappointed.

There's a proverb, Proverbs 13 and 12. Proverbs 13. And have we not all experienced this?

This little, wise statement of humanity, of human life. Proverbs 13 and 12. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. But when the desire comes, when what you hope for is fulfilled, it's like a tree of life. But notice that first part. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. How many people have had their hopes dashed?

We have all experienced from childhood on up. Times when our hopes were up for something, they got dashed and the heartache of disappointment.

And so, people sometimes, and it becomes chronic with some, they simply won't let their hopes get up because they don't want the possibility of experiencing disappointment. But how can you attain to the kingdom of God without hope? And if you don't attain to the kingdom, you're going to have the biggest disappointment of all.

And the fifth one, the fear of rejection. Who hasn't been rejected? The last guy to be picked for the team? Obviously, everybody that either team really wanted you, but you're the last one and they take you. Or much, much bigger rejections in life. But everybody's experienced some level of rejection.

So, people kind of then don't reach out in friendship or they don't reach out in fellowship in a relationship with others. And I have to wonder about that guy that Christ talked about there that we read. I was afraid. You're not a fair man. You're a hard man. You're not fair. And I was afraid, so I just...what you gave me and entrusted with me, I just buried it and hid it so I could give it right back to you when you came. That individual, he wasn't going to risk rejection. Of course, he wouldn't have been rejected. The one with five wasn't rejected. The one with two wasn't rejected. It was the one who fearfully buried it and sat on it, and it became a self-fulfilling matter. Getting into that kind of fear, obviously, led to the biggest rejection of all, and by way of analogy and lesson to be given to us from the Kingdom of God. And then six, fears of inadequacy. Fearing to be seen or perceived as inadequate. You know, who doesn't have some of those fears to have to process out in a lifetime? Do you think I have always felt totally adequate as a pastor? I started pastoring when I was 27 years old. I was 27 when I started pastoring. I was 21 when I started working full-time in ministerial work, but I wasn't ordained until I was 24. Do you think I have always felt totally adequate? Do you think I feel 100% totally adequate now to do what I'm called upon to do in all the different aspects of life and all that occur in these times we live in? It's one of the reasons I go to God every morning and pray to God. I don't dare head into any day of my life without contact with God. Establishing contact and keeping contact. But fears of inadequacy drive so many people. And, of course, sometimes people cover up and they hide behind a front. They maintain an image because of fear. They don't want to give themselves away by seeking help, again, by letting needs be known. They don't grow and they stay inadequate. Again, I just use these as some of the ways to illustrate the fears that people have to deal with.

All of them interrelate. You can't take those fears and just put each one in a little self-contained, clearly defined box. You can speak of it in a clearly defined way, but it overlaps into others. We have to learn how to deal with them and conquer them. We simply can't give in to them. When you give in to a fear, what is that? That's surrender. That's capitulation.

We have to fight fear. One of the ways is simply by not giving in to it.

When I was a kid growing up, I roamed the fields, the woods, the hills, the streams, northeast Mississippi. Coming in sometimes at twilight, almost dark, but you could still see shadowy things on the paths. You could still see, but long ago, even if every hair on the back of my head would be rising, if I saw something in the path, or it appeared to be in the path, I'd walk up on it.

I lost my fear of the dark a long, long time ago. But I learned, even as a child, I learned that one of the ways you fight fear is you don't give in to it.

I remember it being told back in a couple of generations ago how that one man had baled some hay, and he wasn't going to be able to get it all in, and it was supposed to storm and rain, and he didn't want his hay to get wet.

And how that there by his field was a little country church. And this was a long time ago, of course, and he stacked some of his hay in the... Of course, it was during the week, no meetings going on. He stacked some of his hay in the pews of the church and had twilight. Another farmer was walking home along that dirt road, and as he got near the church, of course, it's almost dark. It's that dusky time, trilady time. He could still see.

And he's looking through the window, and he sees people. He sees that there are people in the church, but there are no lights on.

And there's no singing. Folks are just sitting in there. What's going on?

And he was scared because it was totally unnatural, but he made himself walk off the road up to the side of the church, to a window that was open.

And as he got close, he reached his hand, and I'm just going to touch you. And then he realized, it spells a hay.

He could have walked on home, and he would have forever been convinced that other farmer would have taken the hay out later. And he would have been forever convinced there were people meeting at night with no lights, no singing, nothing.

But it's interesting, if you just simply will face your fears, that is one way you can bat them. That's a good starting point. MacArthur, Douglas MacArthur, in the Korean War, a very crucial battle, that if it went well, there's going to be a major success.

If it didn't go well, there's going to be a disaster, and his name would.

And I remember watching the movie many years ago, with Gregory Peck, who starred as Douglas MacArthur.

And there's a point where they're waiting to see how the battle is going to develop, and it's about to be engaged.

And he said something to his assistant, his close assistant, during a crucial moment of the impending battle.

He said, are you surprised that after all these years that I'm sharing some of my innermost doubts and fears, he had to deal with them, but he didn't give in to them.

It's kind of like John Wayne said, courage is being afraid, but saddling up anyway.

And you think about that. But again, God wants us to walk in caution and wisdom. We've got Matthew 10, 16 about that, but not in fear.

Be wise as serpents, harmless as doves.

If you walk in fear, and I want to show you something in the book of Job.

Job 3.25 is a very interesting insight here regarding Job.

If you walk in fear versus faith, God may have to let your fear come upon you to refine you out of it.

Job 3.25, Job says, For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

That's an interesting insight from Job.

He saw troubles all around him. He thought, when's my turn?

He expected his fears to materialize, and they did.

Fear is a poison. It's a corrosive.

But again, God's given us one of the strongest antidotes possible, and that's faith.

In 2 Timothy 1.7, 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 7, We're called in many senses from a field of fears, of one type or another.

We're called unto God.

And when we are given God's Spirit through the laying on our hands, and it's fed daily by the Father and the Son, their Spirit through the laying on our hands, through being in Christ when we're given it, Paul says, For God has not given us the Spirit of fear.

But notice the very first word here used of it, power and love and a sound mind. Those three things are mentioned. Power, love, and a sound mind.

That which comes out of God, His Spirit comes from Him, out of Him.

That which comes out of God will not engender fear.

Because God is not the God of fear. He is the perfection of love.

We know the word that's used to describe God in 1 John 4, verses 8 and 16.

1 John 4, verses 8 and 16, John said, The one word that personifies God is the word love, L-O-V-E.

And the word love there is much more than just limited to an emotion.

It is a full range of what love truly is all about.

But with John having laid down in 2 verses, verse 8 and 16, that God is love, then He goes on to say in verse 18, there is no fear in love.

There is simply no fear in the fullness of God's love. There is no fear.

That's why it says perfect love. Perfect love.

100% complete love casts out fear.

Now, if I were to ask any one of us, including myself, do you yet have 100% total complete perfect love?

You'd have to say no. I'd have to say no. No.

But I have a whole lot more than I used to, and I don't have as much as I'm going to.

You progress. You keep going forward in faith. Yes.

But see, in the whole process, the fears are getting overridden.

They're getting crowded into the background.

They're getting more and more crowded out of sight.

Why could Stephen go to his death knowing he was going to be rocked to death?

Literally rocked, stoned. Paul going to his death knowing he was going to kneel, stretch out his neck, and they were going to cut his head off.

Peter going knowing that he was going to be crucified, and knowing what that entailed.

And there was no fear, but they had grown.

Most of us will not ever be required to go out of this life that way.

Many of God's people in today's time get to just sit down, doze off, not wake up, or go to bed and not wake up. Not all, obviously. Some do.

But most of us in here, I can't say that it won't apply to some of us because I don't know.

I don't know how much more time we're going to be granted.

Most of us will not have to die in any sense of martyrdom type death.

Some of us may.

But faith, going forward, and as long as we're going forward, we're growing in God.

We're growing in His love.

And the fears diminish.

And they fade.

And whatever they are, they're eventually overridden by faith.

Perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment.

He that fears is not made perfect in love.

And again, perfect love contains the fullness of faith when you think about it.

And the closer we come to the perfect love of God, the less fear we will have to deal with.

There's no fear with God. There's no fear with Christ.

Think about it.

If there were, you and I wouldn't be here.

There'd be no reason for us to be here.

There'd be no hope of salvation.

There'd be no sacrifice to this day for sin because they never would have tackled it.

The Father would have said, I'm not going to allow it because I'm afraid you may not make it.

Christ would have said, I'm not going to volunteer for that because there may be no return for me.

I may fail.

There was no fear with God the Father.

There was no fear with Christ. If there had been, there'd be no opportunity for life.

We wouldn't exist because there'd have been no reason, no reason to create Adam and Eve.

There'd been no reason to start the human race.

God Himself, the Father and the Son, function by faith.

It's by faith to carry out their plans and purposes.

They go forward. They have the assurance in and of themselves.

We can do it. We will not be stopped. There's no fear in us. We don't operate by fear.

We aren't manipulated by fear. We go forward without fear.

And those that we work with, we want them to learn to be that way.

Use wisdom and caution, yes, but not be run, driven, or manipulated by fear.

There in 2 Timothy 1.6, remember?

2 Timothy 1.6, Paul says, Wherefore I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God, which is in you by the putting on of my hands.

You stir it up. You exercise it. You have faith. You go forward.

Because it's the spirit of power and love in a sound line.

So here's part of the reality of fear.

You're not standing still. You're not standing still. You're backing up.

Hebrews 10. See, that's what Paul is saying.

If you're not living by faith, you're not just standing still. You're backing up.

But if any man draw back...

Verse 38, But if any man draw back...

And then he says in verse 39, We're not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them which believe to the saving of the soul, because there's nothing back there.

Fear destroys growth. Fear prevents growth.

It eats away at your potential for growth. You simply don't grow in fear.

Revelation 21. Let's go kind of to the end of the story and show how faith and fear in one sense, definitely fear is presented at the end of the story.

In Revelation 21 and verse 7, We come down to the concluding of the time of man.

He that overcomes... Revelation 21.7 He that overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

That's where faith takes you.

But notice when he lists those who, like the guy who buried the one talent in the ground and sat on it, notice who's left out.

Verse 8 gives a list, and what is the very first category listed in verse 8?

The fearful. The fearful.

The Greek word there is Delos, Serdylos, D-E-I-L-O-S.

It's D-E-I-L-O-S for fearful, and it means dread, timid.

If you've got to go to the dentist, you may dread it.

You may be a little bit afraid, but you go anyway, because it's got to be done.

Now, we understand, but this is more than just dread and timid.

This is the kind of fear that shuts down the spiritual growth.

See, I'm sorry, folks. There will be no cowards in God's kingdom.

The person says, well, what if you are one?

Okay. God, I'm a coward. Help me. Help me not to be.

Help me to learn how to be brave in faith. Help me to learn. See, how many of us did God call? We were.

How many humans, really, are cowards on some level? That's nothing unusual.

But here's the wonder, the great wonder of God working with you, and you working with Him.

You don't have to stay a coward. You don't have to stay a coward.

You're not stuck with it. You can change. That can occur with God through faith.

Again, heads up, you're going forward. End opportunity and growth. You're winning. Tales? We're backtracking. We're withdrawing.

We sing songs about Christian soldiers. We talk about us being Christian soldiers.

God is marching us into opportunity and growth personally, individually, and frankly.

He's not through with His church in terms of the work that His church will yet do before the night comes and the church cannot do.

Sometimes God will take us individually, and He'll take the church where we would rather not go.

I remember clearly the days when California took control of the church, God's church, from January of 1979 into the fall of 1980. I was in Pasadena in 1980, standing in the dining hall when the announcement came over that the church had just been freed from the whole situation.

I know what can happen. Things that can happen that aren't expectedly. Who knows what will come in the future?

The ground may be allowed to be rough and rocky. You know, look about us. The world may scurry in fear.

Look at how many people have scurried in fear and scurry in fear. And this is almost nothing. It's a prelude. It's a preview. But it's almost nothing compared to what can and will come in due time. Our work is not over. The individual work in each of us is not over. We've got to keep going forward as a church and as individuals can't cave to fear. The biggest storm that will ever blow on this earth is between us and the return of Christ. And it's even brewing now as the clouds gather.

I don't know the time frame. That's up to God. But I do know that prophecy is marching on. And I do know that where we fit into prophecy individually would depend on what each one of us does.

God is pointing His church and work to point squarely into it. And He wants us pointed squarely into the times. Church is not running. And we're not running. I'm not running. And that's the basic attitude of faith. Heads up and forward.