Subduing the Four Enemies of Faith

Well, thank you to the Quartet for the beautiful special music, such meaningful words, and such something to strive for. It's how good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity. So thank you so very much for that. Brother and I recently read a book not too long back that discussed the plan during World War II of something that I'd never heard of. It wasn't anything that made it onto some of the big news bits from the war. The plan itself, frankly, was insane.

It was insane. There really not any other word for it. No one really had attempted anything like it before, and the architect of the plan, a man by the name of Patrick—they called him Patty—lay firmer—wasn't even sure it was going to work himself. And even if it did work, he wasn't 100% whether it would even matter in the long run. The year was 1944. Firmer was a major in the British Army stationed on the small Mediterranean island of Crete. The German Army at that time was in control of the island. Crete, for whatever reason, was a strategic point and provided opportunity for access air to be able to get into the main section of the European continent.

German Army had been in control of the island for the past three years since it fell to German forces in the Battle of Crete in 1941. Firmer and another fellow Briton, W. Stanley Moss, had been operating on and off Crete with the Special Operations Executives. It's an SOE, for those that like acronyms. It was a group of British special ops that fought the war primarily through sabotage and subterfuge. And they had it figured out how they could get on and off the island. I mean, these guys would be at war one minute and then taking time and relaxing in Egypt the next. I mean, these guys were back and forth and then they'd show up and wreak a little more havoc and then leave again. And that was kind of what they did for the better part of three years.

For three years' time, the SOE and the members of the Crete resistance had engaged German forces using run-and-gun tactics. They planned ambushes, they sabotaged airfields, blow big holes in the airfields so you can't land the planes, at least not without fixing it. They bombed transports, burned supply depots, and frankly their goal was basically to cause as much chaos as they possibly could. On the island they would do all of these things and then in the process they'd gather intel. As much as they could they'd get intel and send it off to the rest of the British authorities to kind of assist in the war effort. By late 1943, and you've got to keep in mind, people that go into special operations are a different sort of folk. I mean, listen, they are. They're kind of adrenaline junkies. They enjoy this kind of stuff to an extent.

Fermer was one of those guys. Patty was one of those guys. By 1943 he was growing bort with what they were doing. He was getting sick of the run-and-gun, he was getting sick of the sabotage and the subterfuge, and so he said, we need something that's a little more interesting. We need something a little more interesting. In fact, I want something that's more engaging, I want something that's more disruptive, I want something that is going to make German High Command notice what we have done here.

And so he wanted to and desired to strike at German leadership. The original target of the plan was a gentleman by the name of Frederick Wilhelm Mueller. Some of you may recognize that name. You might know him more by the other name, the Butcher of Crete. I'll leave it up to your imagination as to how he got his nickname, but needless to say, the people of Crete suffered greatly at the hands of Friedrich Wilhelm Mueller. The plan started to be drafted by the spring of 44. Things started to be pulled into place, but by the time they were to execute the plan, they're getting ready to pull the trigger on this thing and make it happen. Mueller was transferred to the Eastern Front. All of a sudden, he's gone. And so another man, General Heinrich Crepe, now was in charge of the occupying German army. Now, he's not nearly as infamous as the original target, but hey, a general's a general. And so they decided, well, Crepe will do just fine. You know, for our purposes, he'll be perfect. He'll be exactly what we're looking for. So they spent weeks observing his comings and goings. They tracked the timing of his trips. They looked at his security details, and they started making these observations and looking into these factors that would ultimately impact the mission. With their observations complete and satisfied that they could now go forward without major casualties, on the evening of April 26, 1944, last night, 75 years ago, their plan was sprung into action. Impersonating two German military policemen, the two British SOE agents, stopped the general's car at a routine checkpoint near his home. Out of the bushes, rushed 11 Crete and resistance fighters who tore the doors open and pummeled the general and his driver. They cuffed and gagged the general and kind of unceremoniously threw him on the floorboards in the back seat. And the two SOE agents quickly took their clothing dressed to look like them, and they continued to drive the car with the abducted general lying in the back seat.

The whole entire plan that had been hatched was over in less than 90 seconds, and yet they still had to get out. So they managed to talk their way through or waved through 22 additional German checkpoints in their disguises, so they didn't stop to look close enough. But imagine that! I mean, you're sitting here with an abducted German general in the back seat, and you pull up to 22 different checkpoints who are stopping you and looking inside, and you're like, yes, hello! Drive on to the next one, right? They eventually reached the location where they ditched the car, left a note that claimed British responsibility because they had hoped that by claiming it was done by the British that the Germans would leave the Cretan population alone. They were concerned that there would be retribution by more burned villages than other things that had been done at that time, and there would be reprisals against the local population. But they disappeared into the brush with a cupped German general in tow. They were forced to keep him on the move for the next several weeks. I mean, you couldn't stop still. The German forces were combing every inch of the island looking for this guy. Vast tracks of the island of Crete—I know some of you have actually been there—vast tracks of the island of Crete are these jagged cliffs, and really nothing much more than goat trails to be able to walk around on. And these guys were moving along these goat trails on the edge of the ocean, up above all these things, to keep this guy moving from place to place. They were able to evade German forces by sticking to these goat trails because the Germans would take one look at it and go, I'm not going down there. That's insane. In fact, he told this story at one point in time. They were almost caught several times. One time they were tucked underneath this cleft of rock with this little ledge over the top, and the guys that were looking for them were walking, just feet above their head. And you've got this guy who's cuffed and gagged and wants to get out, going, hoo hoo hoo hoo! Quiet! Don't you say anything! Be quiet!

Eventually, on May 14 of 1944, after 18 days of very rough living on these rocky cliffs, you're constantly moving and, frankly, the general complaining every step of the way. Keep in mind, this is not how war was done. You're a general. You're offered certain luxuries and comforts if you've been captured. Not in this case. You got cuffed and gagged and drugged through goat trails on the island of Crete. They eventually delivered the package to a boat. He was taken to Egypt, eventually to London, where he was interrogated. And then General Crete, spent the rest of the war in Canada as a POW before eventually being released in 1947.

The plan had worked. Fermer and Moss had abducted a German general right out from underneath the nose of German forces. It was not without danger. It was not without difficulty. But they completed it, nonetheless. And I think this is what impressed me the most about this story. They did it without firing a single shot. It would have been so much easier to open that door and unload a clip or two into the driver and the general and walk away. But they didn't care about that victory. They wanted the psychological victory. They wanted the victory that made every German leader on that island wonder if they were next. That made German high command upset like you wouldn't believe that this happened on their watch. They wanted the psychological victory. They drafted the plan. They executed. They saw it to the end. They completed their mission. They had subdued their enemy. They had subdued and they had captured their enemy.

Brethren, we're aware the enemy that we fight is not flesh and blood. He is not a physical being that we can abduct in the moonlight and spear it away off of the island in cover of darkness.

We recognize we fight against principalities. We fight against powers. We fight against spiritual hosts. Let's turn over to Ephesians 6 and verse 12. Ephesians 6 and verse 12 to begin today.

In Ephesians 6, it's kind of tucked into the admonition that we have with regards to putting on the armor of God. Ephesians 6, we see the section on the armor of God.

We see a warning in that particular chapter that it kind of gets at this idea of putting on the whole armor of God, right? It takes the entire suit of armor for you to be protected.

You don't put on the helmet and then run out without the breastplate.

You don't put on the breastplate and run out without the helmet. You don't leave the shield at home. You don't forget your boots, right? You go out with the armor of God completely, 100% in place, intact, ready to go. Because the second you step out that door in the morning, man, those fiery darts start. And so you've got to be geared up, right? But notice what he says here. Ephesians 6 and verse 12 gives us a little bit of a backdrop as to what we're fighting against. It says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Brethren, we combat the darkness of this age. We combat attitudes. We combat ideas. We combat thoughts. And it's a difficult fight that we're asked to undergo. It is a tough fight. It's an exhausting fight at times to be constantly on guard against those things, not knowing when the attack is going to come. And even though there are attitudes, even though there are thoughts, even though there are ideas, those things can chip away at us spiritually like a bullet or a sword could fall someone physically. We're at war. We're in direct conflict with Satan the devil and his host the demons over our very life. States are high.

The states are high. We brought out earlier, yesterday, the importance of us coming out of the Days of Unleavened Bread with a strong faith, going forward with a strong faith, moving through these difficult times that we experience in our lives. When you look at the things that Satan broadcasts that directly attack our faith, there's four real primary attitudes that he broadcasts. Four, you might say, generals in the spiritual battle of our faith. Four different generals that are out there and attacking us on a regular basis, maneuvering against us, finding ways, finding where we're weak, finding ways to get in on the corner, on the flank, and coming around.

These attitudes are prevalent in the world around us, and they can be prevalent in the body as well. They can be prevalent in us as well. What's so insidious about these attitudes and about these ideas is that they crop up easily. They crop up easily. You know, it does not take much for these things to show up in our lives. It doesn't take much at all. They show up, they wreak a little havoc, and we realize we come out the other side in a much darker place. We must subdue these attitudes in our lives if we're to have living faith. The title for today's message is, Subduing the Four Enemies of Faith. Subduing the Four Enemies of Faith. And Christ himself actually identifies these in Scripture. He goes through in the book of Matthew, there are places where God discusses with His disciples the level of their faith, often mentioning that it's a little lower than He'd like it to be. And He uses this identifying marker in those sections where He says to them, ye of little faith. And then He IDs what it is that's going on here. He does this four times with four specific attitudes that He identifies. The four enemies of faith that Christ identified are, number one, anxiety and worry. Anxiety and worry. Number two, doubt.

Number three, fear. And number four, human reasoning. Worry and anxiety. That's the first one, worry and anxiety. Second one is doubt. Third one is fear. And the fourth one is human reasoning. The time we have left today in this second split sermon, I'd like to explore these more deeply and focus on ways that we specifically can subdue these things in our life as we go forward from these last Days of Unleavened Bread. In the message that I gave yesterday, I talked about the importance of us going forward from the Days of Unleavened Bread again with a strong faith, that we come out of these days charged and empowered and ready to go forward, knowing and trusting in God that He will take care of us and He will deliver us. You know, we don't know always what's going to happen. We don't know how our lives are going to go, but when you consider the miracles that God has performed in the lives of His people throughout history, I mean, you look back at what He did in Israel's life or in the lives of those in Israel, you look back at what happened to those in the New Testament you look forward to today. Considering the miracles that God has performed in the lives of His people, God is doing something special in you. God is doing something special in all of your lives, giving you an incredible opportunity. Mr. Miller spoke a little bit about that earlier today.

Throughout that time, as we go through our lives, we experience uncertainty, we experience trials, we experience difficulties. And we mentioned yesterday how those are the things that push us outside of that little bubble of comfort that we have. You know, all of us have this little place in our life that we're comfortable, where we feel safe, where we feel secure. And we don't want to be pushed, per se. We don't really want to be pushed out of this bubble. I think if everybody had their druthers, there are a few people who would say, yeah, I really want to push myself out of where I'm comfortable on a regular basis. There aren't many people that really enjoy being pushed outside of that comfort zone. We would much rather stay where we're comfortable, where we feel safe, and where we feel secure. But as we talked about yesterday, you can't grow if you're not pushed. You can't grow if you're not pushed. If you sit in that place of comfort for a long enough period of time, you will atrophy, either physically, mentally, or spiritually. But on the opposite hand, and on the other side of that, you also can't grow in faith if you're pushed out of that comfort zone and you're panicked because you're so worried about what might happen. Or if you're pushed out of that comfort zone and you doubt you sit there and think to yourself, is God even working in my life?

Is He even there? Maybe you're fearful of the results. You get pushed out of that comfort zone and you're so scared of what might happen, you just dig your heels in and say, uh-uh, we're not going, no, no, no, no. We're going to do this on my terms. Or maybe, as things happen and difficulties occur in our lives, we reason with ourselves, using our human reasoning, that a truly loving God never allowed me to experience something like this. Therefore, either God must not exist or He must not be benevolent, He must not be loving because of the things that happen in our lives and that happen in the world around us. Brethren, these four enemies are insidious, and they're everywhere. They're all around us. And, unfortunately, sometimes they're in us. Let's start with the first one, anxiety and worry. If you'd begin to turn over to Matthew 6, we'll see the first place where these ye little faith statements are provided. Matthew 6.

Matthew 6, and we'll kind of examine the concept of anxiety or worry. Now, in this particular context, it's with regards to our physical needs. In this context of what we're going to be looking at, it's in regards to our physical needs, but it's applicable to other things as well.

Matthew 6, we'll go ahead and start at verse 25. We'll get there in just a second. We consider the lives that we lead. There's wants and there's needs. We have wants and we have needs. There are a lot of things I could want. I want a boat. I like to fish. I like to get out of the water. I want a boat. I want a bigger house. You know, our place is a little small. We trip over each other quite a bit. I want acreage. I would love to have property. I would love to have some of those different things. I want, I want, I want, I want, right? I mean, and I think all of us could look at it and say, well, I have these wants. I have these things in my life. Do I need acreage? No, not really.

Do I need a bigger house? No, not really. Do I need a boat? Yeah, kind of. No, I'm kidding. I, I don't really need a boat. I don't. Though I would like to point out, as we go through today, you'll notice this and I'll point it out again. Most of the events, many of the, I'm saying most, that's not fair. Many of the events in the New Testament occurred in or around boats.

Is that a coincidence? I don't think it is. I'm just saying, I don't think it is. I don't think it's a coincidence, but God cares for us. We know that God cares for us. He gives us what we need. He doesn't always give us what we want. He doesn't always give us what we want. He wants what I think what God desires of us is he wants our hearts to align with him, to focus on the things that are truly important so that we want our needs so that we're content, so that we are content with what God has provided us. And as God provides us with more, we can be content with that as well. And if he provides us with less, we can be content with that as well. Let's go to Matthew 6, verse 25. We'll pick it up here where he discusses this concept with regards to our physical lives and our needs. Matthew 6 and verse 25 says, Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you'll eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Verse 26 says, Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sown or reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? He says, Look, look at the world around you. Look at the birds. Look at flying around. God provides for them. They don't worry about what they're going to eat. They don't worry about what they're going to do. God provides for them. It says, Which of you by worrying? Kind of a funny little passage, number 27. I always thought this one's kind of humorous. Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to your stature? It's like if you're a little on the shorter side, who's worrying about it going to do? You're not going to get 18 inches tall or suddenly because you thought about it more, right? You're not going to add a cubit to your stature all of a sudden. So verse 28, Why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon, in all of his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Now, if God so close the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? And then here's where we see this statement in verse 30. Oh, you of little faith. Oh, you of little faith. God desires that we build a faith that is anxiety proof, that's worry proof, that is shielded, if you will, from the worry and the anxiety of life. We can get pretty worked up at times when we're not content.

We can begin desire to desire, or we can begin to covet something else. That's what it is, it's coveting, something else. We can start to worry or become anxious, maybe, about the things that we don't have. Interestingly enough, in the United States today, our worry and anxiety is less about these things right here. It's less about our physical possessions. It's less about what we have. We're blessed pretty abundantly here. I heard something the other day that had said that if you make $34,000 a year, congratulations, you're in the top 1% of earners in the world. There are that many people in the world that make significantly less than that kind of line on the budget chart. But what we're worried about here in America, what we're more concerned about here, are other concerns. And some of those concerns are real, and frankly, some of those concerns are imagined. Recent surveys showed that Americans worry most about the following. Number one, Americans are anxious and worry about government and poor leadership. They are concerned what's going on in Washington, D.C. They're worried about it. They're anxious about it. They are concerned and worried about health care. Are they going to be able to afford to go to the doctor and get help when they need it? They're concerned about national unity. They look at the world. They look at America right now, and they see an America that is more divided than ever, and it concerns them. It concerns them. No matter what side of the aisle you're on, it's concerning. They worry about it. They're anxious about it. They're worried and anxious about terrorism and the kind of things that occur. We just had a massive set of bombings in Sri Lanka this last Sunday that just devastated the country of Sri Lanka. It was so sad to see, not that the event wasn't sad, but the responses and the comments on the videos, they had all the news articles and things, and there were a number of people from Sri Lanka that had commented that said, we are so sorry we couldn't protect you. Please don't think badly of us. We are so sorry that we couldn't stop this. So these kind of things, some of them are real, some of them are imagined, but ironically, the things that we worry about most are the things we have absolutely no control over. The things that we worry about most are the things we have no control over.

And these worries and these anxieties can become full-blown anxiety disorders. There are individuals that suffer from anxiety disorders. In fact, estimates of about 40 million in the U.S., one in five, one in five suffer from debilitating anxiety, such that things like driving to the store, going outside of the home, going to public places, going to work, can be so ridden with anxiety that they'll have panic attacks and not able to do it. When it comes to worry and when it comes to anxiety, it's a complex issue, but it's a very simple solution. We see it in verse 33 and 34. We'll read 32 and 33 first. It says again, 31 and 32 says, Therefore, do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? Again, worrying about these physical possessions and make sure we have our needs taken care of. For after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows you need all of these things. Verse 33, the solution, he says, is seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all these things, referring to what was above in the passages, all these physical needs will be added to you.

Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Is it really that simple? Is it really that simple? Yes, it is.

And no, it's not. Yes, it is. And no, it's not. The danger in these enemies of faith is that when they team up together, they don't always come at you just one. You might be squaring off across the battlefield with worry and anxiety, but now all of a sudden human reasoning comes in on your right flank. And then pretty soon you've got paratroopers dropping in from doubt. And now you're not just fighting one of these things, you're fighting three. When they team up, you have a recipe for disaster. You know, when you're starting to look at your budget, for example, and at the end of the month you're looking and you've got more months than money, at the end of that month, you're looking at it and on paper it does not work. It simply doesn't work. You've got more months than money. Or you're going through this terrible trial and you begin to worry about the outcome. And now your human reasoning kicks in, convincing you what is the worst case scenario. And then you dwell on the worst case scenario. And the anxiety continues and the worry continues and the doubt and the fear and all these things now continue.

And it's times like these, it's times like these, when we have to lean into God even more fully.

When we have to lean into God even more fully or reach out to others for support and help, which is so hard. That is so hard because we don't want to admit to anybody that we haven't got it figured out. It is so tough to reach out and ask for help. But Scripture tells us to help bear one another's burdens. It tells us to help provide an extra shoulder to shoulder those burdens. And that way, you know, the more shoulders, the easier it is to shoulder that burden. Brethren, keep your eyes open. Look for people who are struggling. Help if you're able. Sometimes you're not able. Sometimes, honestly, what they need is well beyond your abilities.

Connect with that person. Encourage. Help them realize they're not added on their own. That there are people who love them and who want to help them to kind of get through these things. The second division of these four enemies of faith is related to the first, but it's distinct and that's doubt.

Start turning over to Matthew 14. We'll go to there when we take a look at doubt.

There's a number of ways that we can doubt. We can doubt ourselves. We can doubt our abilities.

You know, not really sure if we can follow through on this. Not really sure if we can make this happen or not. We can doubt others and they're followed through a reliability. You know, I don't know if you've ever had somebody tell you, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll get it done. I got it. I got it. You kind of have that moment like, do you? Do you really have it?

Is it really going to happen? Right? Regardless of whether the doubt is in our own abilities or whether it's in the abilities of others, what doubt is, is an emotional indecision between belief, or we might say faith, and disbelief. Doubt is that moment where we go, oh, wait a second, maybe not. It's an emotional indecision between belief and disbelief, and it causes us to hesitate. It causes us to wait a second. It causes us not to just go forward.

Matthew 14 will pick up the account in verse 22. Matthew 14 and verse 22. We see the example here of notice, by the way, a boat. Throwing that out there. Matthew 14 and verse 22. We see that the disciples are gathered together here. All right, it says verse 22, immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away. We see Christ sent the multitudes away here in verse 23, and he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. You've got to think at times it must have been very difficult to be Christ, to be constantly surrounded by people who wanted things from him and were just reaching out and grabbing his robes and asking for this and that. We see him take a moment here to go off by himself to pray. We see him take a moment here to have a moment that he can go and pray by himself. Now, an evening came, he was alone there, but the boat was now in the middle of the sea. So the disciples are on their way across, it's in the middle of the sea. Being tossed by the waves for the wind was contrary. Now, in the fourth watch of the night, which is either really late or really early, depending on how you look at things, it says that Jesus went to them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, it's a ghost! And I know this is not how it went, but I like to imagine that that Scooby-Doo or Shaggy saying that, it's a ghost! And they cry out for fear. So now we see fears here too, right? We see fears here as well. They're not sure what's going on. Here's what appears to be kind of a random person walking in the water. That would be kind of scary, would it not? But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Do not be afraid. Verse 28, Peter doubts a little bit, says, If it's you, command me to come to you on the water. And so he said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him. And he said to him, Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? You know, what has always blown me away about this particular passage is that at the beginning, when Christ told Peter to come out to him, Peter was successful. He stepped out of the boat. And like a little baby foal, probably, I can't imagine he confidently strode across the water. But like a little baby foal, he took a couple of steps, you know, and was working out for him. Maybe he got a little more confident as time went on. But Peter walks on water. Well, what happens? Wind picks up, the waves begin to rise, starts to get tossed around a little bit. Maybe his footing gets a little bit unsure.

Maybe his human mind kicks in, starts to reason with him a little bit and says, Hey, Peter, you're walking on water. You know, that's not really a thing. And now we have a place where that kind of in-between belief and disbelief now hits. He hesitates. He hesitates. He has a moment of doubt. He has a moment of, I shouldn't be able to do this. And kind of like that self-fulfilling prophecy, he begins to sink. What is so insidious about doubt is that it can crop up at any point in time. And it even crops up in the lives of people who have faith. Peter had faith.

He walked on the water. He only began to doubt his faith or his own abilities, or what Christ had enabled him to do through faith after a few of those waves shook him up a little bit. Doubt and faith can exist at the same time. However, doubt must, over time, be eradicated.

It must be replaced by an even stronger faith. Just because you don't think that you can do it, is that true? Just because you personally don't think that you can do something, is that true?

Or is that doubt speaking? Is that fear speaking?

The third of these things is fear. The third of these generals that we faced in our spiritual battle is fear. I know as humans we like to pretend we're fearless. We like to tell people, oh, nothing scares me. Well, statistics would show otherwise. There's about 19.2 million American adults suffer from a variety of phobias. And I'd like to point out the only reason we know that is because somebody decided to admit that they were scared to something on a survey. That's the only reason we know this. So 19.2 million Americans were actually willing to admit that they had phobias. They had fears. There's a whole bunch of other people that probably was either, you know, didn't want to admit it or felt like, well, it's not really a fear. It's just more of a dislike, whatever it might be. Anyway, they suffer from a variety of phobias. Fear of heights, spiders, dogs, the dentist, flying, public speaking, storms, the dark. One that I wasn't aware of until recently, but holes. There's a phobia with regards to holes. And what people will do now on the Internet, it's really kind of a terrible prank to pull on people. They post pictures of things that are porous, that have tons of little holes in them. And then they'll shout, they'll like hide them as a picture of something else. And then when people open it, it's a bunch of holes, and it triggers people that have that phobia. That's how I heard about it. And I was like, this is weird. What is this? There is a legitimate phobia of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.

Like, you've had that happen, I'm sure. It's a legitimate phobia. But the list goes on. The list goes on. And this, again, does not include the other fears that didn't quite reach the level of phobia. Or, again, people that weren't willing to admit their fears on a survey. Some of our fears, I think, are rational. Others of our fears are quite irrational. And as an example, I listened to an interview once with, he gets familiar with Martin Freeman. He's an actor. He plays Watson on the BBC series Sherlock. So for those of you that have seen Sherlock, he plays Watson. He's been in a pile of movies, too. I think he's in Avengers, and I think he's in Lord of the Rings trilogy or The Hobbit or something like that. Anyway, he's been in a bunch of stuff. He's an intelligent man. He's articulate. Yet he is terrified, terrified of avocado.

Terrified of avocados. And he was on a talk show, and they kind of started to explore this a little bit and started asking him some questions. And he told the host on that show, he said, he admitted it was irrational, but he said that every time he sees an avocado, he has a vision in his head of him choking on the stone in the middle.

And he sees himself choking to death on the stone in the middle of this avocado. And as a result, he's literally terrified of them. He can't handle being around them. He can't handle looking at them. He can't eat them, which is unfortunate because guacamole is delicious. But you know, that stone is nowhere ever near what you're consuming in the avocado. It's thrown away. It's not like you're going to accidentally be eating some avocado and then, oh, there's the stone!

They're huge! It's not an accidental thing, right? But he said he cannot overcome that fear to eat avocado. He's absolutely terrified of them. And they kind of probed him a little bit on it because, I mean, as you're listening to this, you're like, this is kind of unreasonable, isn't it? They asked him, well, have you ever choked on an avocado pit?

Well, no. Have you ever choked on anything else? Well, no, not really. Then what's the story? He said, I don't know. He said, I just see myself choking on this thing and can't handle it. Absolutely terrified of avocados. That is an irrational fear. That's an irrational fear. There are fears that are perfectly rational. If you are standing on the ledge of a building 70 stories up and you've got six inches of stone and it's 700 feet down, that's a rational fear that you might accidentally put your foot wrong and plummet to your death. That is a rational fear in that situation.

Perfectly rational time, to be afraid. Actually, I was just telling this story to somebody yesterday. I wouldn't say I necessarily have a fear of spiders. I would consider more a healthy dislike. I have a fear of spiders. I don't like spiders. I had an experience while I was down in Belize.

I went to Belize for a graduate program. I might have told this story to all of you before. If I have, I apologize. You're going to hear it a second time. We decided one night that Belize is kind of famous for its cave systems. There's a lot of caving that goes on in Belize. One of our people decided that it would be a really good idea to do a night cave, which, as you well know, caves are as dark during the day as they are in the night. So really, the only difference is there's tons more creepy crawlies in the cave and outside of the cave because it's nighttime.

It's really, turns out, spoiler alert, that's the only real difference. The cave's just as dark during the day as it is at night. So we went to this cave called Closing Jaw. It's essentially this big rock face with this little itty-bitty opening. I'm not being over-exaggerating when the opening's like this big.

Now look at me. They want me to go through an opening about this big. They assure me, oh, it opens up once you get inside. It gets bigger when you get inside. To their credit, it did, but it was about probably 10 or 12 feet of about like this. So I got down on my hands and knees and I was, well, that doesn't work. So I thought, well, I've seen people military crawl before.

I was military crawl. So I got down on my stomach and kind of did a little bit of this for a while. We're wearing headlamps. It's dark. Finally, I was tearing up my elbows. It was uncomfortable. My knees hurt. I thought, well, I'll just turn over on my back and kind of scooch. I'm just like, suck in my gut and scoot, right? So I did. I sucked in my gut and kind of blow, kind of work my way that way and made it probably four or five feet in before I noticed something in the ring of my headlamp.

And it was kind of dark colored. I didn't really think anything of it, but it was enough to make me look. And I turned my head and I looked like this. And there, guys, was a black spider the size of a basketball. Now, mind you, I'm five feet into this thing and I got about five to six feet to go. And the rock is this far from my face. I let out the most inhuman scream you have ever heard in your life and shuffled my way in there. And I got up and I'm shaking the spiders off of me that aren't there.

And then I finally got myself calmed down. I was telling the first I was telling the story to yesterday. Goose pimples telling the story. I remembered it even now. But I got inside the cave and I looked around and they were all over the inside of the cave. I just kind of went, all right, it's gonna be a long night. But it wasn't like, you know, tarantulas are big. They're fuzzy. They're supposed to be big. These things are modern spiders. So if you know those big, gangly brown ones we have around here, the ones that are all legs, it was like that just really big. And it just, too. Anyway, do you have fears? Do you have things that you're afraid of?

I'm sure you do. I'm sure there are things that you're afraid of to an extent. Let's turn over to Matthew 8. Let's go over to Matthew 8. Wait for the hairs on the back of my neck to go down.

Matthew 8. We're gonna pick it up in verse 23. I would like to point out also, I did not purposefully pick accounts that had boats in them. That was not on purpose. I actually looked at it later as I was going through it in Eugene, and I'm like, there's a lot of stuff going on around boats. Here's another boat thing. So Matthew 8 verse 23 said, Now when he got into a boat, his disciples followed him. Suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves. Notice the next sentence, but he, Jesus Christ, was asleep.

This is not a big deal, guys. I'm out. I'm sleeping.

We go down a little bit further. The disciples came to him and woke him up saying, Lord, save us! Save us! We're perishing. We are dying. The boat is sinking.

Boat was covered with the waves. Now, if you've ever been on a boat where it's taken a wave over the gunwales on its side of the boat and all of a sudden there's a lot of water that can come in with a wave over the top of the boat, you can hear that bilge pump turn on and you're thankful for it. They didn't have bilge pumps in those days. That guy's with buckets. And so enough water comes over the top of it. If you can't bail faster than the water, you're going to the bottom. Right? But his disciples came to him and woke him up saying, Lord, save us! We are perishing. But he said to them, Why are you fearful? O you of little faith! And then he arose, got up off the bed there or the hammock or whatever he happened to be in and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm. He said, You guys are worrying about stuff. You don't need to be worrying about it. It's fine. Just lay down and go to sleep. It's all good.

So the men marveled saying, Who can this be? That even the winds and the sea obey him.

Christ showed his disciples when it came time to fearing for their lives.

There really wasn't a reason. He was in control. He was in control. They had no reason to fear. Fear is one of the reasons that we stay in our comfort zone most of the time.

We're afraid of stepping out of it. We're afraid of failure, maybe. We're afraid of whatever it is that we step out on causing adversity in our lives.

Maybe we're afraid to step out and trust God that he's going to bring us through it.

Brethren, what's the worst that can happen? We fail. Is failure the worst that could happen? So what? So what? Get back up and do it again.

You know, I don't know if you've thought about this before, but if you stopped every single time that you failed, you wouldn't be able to walk today. You wouldn't be speaking English. You wouldn't be speaking anything if you just quit every time you failed. Kids fail all the time.

Kids fail all the time. They learn from their mistakes. They grow from their failures. It's not until we become adults that we stop growing, that we become afraid to kind of take that step and to make that move because of failure or because of whatever it might be. Out of these four, one of the most insidious of these enemies of faith is human reasoning. And the reason that it's so insidious is because it's covert. It's covert. You know, you see the movies, and this is kind of a characterization. The guy who's dressed like a bush, standing over by the bushes, that's human reasoning of these four. He's hanging out dressed like a bush in the bushes.

It's covert. It exists in our brain. Human reasoning exists dwelling in our brain right next to what we know to be true. It's up there with the truth. It's up there with what we know to be true, and so it's covert. And there are times, I think, if I'm being honest with myself and I think if you're honest with yourself, there are times where we operate on things and we're not 100% certain whether it's human reasoning or spiritual reasoning. Not 100% certain every time. Is this the carnal me talking? Is this the right process to go forward? Or is it not?

Turn over to Matthew 16. We'll see kind of an example of this.

Looking at human reasoning in action with Christ's disciples. Looking at human reasoning in action. Matthew 6, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 5. Or 16. I'm sorry. I said 6. Matthew 16 in verse 5. Matthew 16 in verse 5 says, No, when his disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, Take heed, and beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And what do we see the disciples' response? And they reasoned, human reasoning, among themselves, saying, It's because we've taken no bread. That's why he's telling us this. That's why he's telling us to beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. It's because we forgot the bread. You know, maybe they looked at each other. Way to go, Peter! Supposed to get the bread. And they reasoned among themselves, again, saying it's because they've taken no bread. But Jesus, being aware of it, of what they were saying, said to them, O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves? Why do you reason among yourselves? Because you've brought no bread. Do you not understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it that you do not understand that I do not speak to you concerning bread? He says, I'm not talking to you about bread. Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And in verse 12 it says, then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Christ's disciples at that time relied only on their human reasoning to attempt to understand what Christ was explaining to them. Yet Christ desired that they understood and that they utilized spiritual reasoning, to recognize that what he was bringing out was a spiritual concept with the statement that he made, to really understand the spiritual reasons of what he said and why he said it.

But his disciples at that time were only looking at it with human eyes. They were looking at it with their own human reasoning. And there's a difference. There's a big difference. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2. It brings out this idea that there is a difference between spiritual thinking and human thinking. In fact, it goes as far as saying you can't understand the things that are spiritual with human reasoning. At least, not fully. You can't fully understand those things with human reasoning. 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 9 says, But as it is written, eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. That eventual goal, that eventual destiny of God's people, what God has planned for us. Eyes not seen, ears not heard, the kind of things that God has planned and prepared for those who love him. But, verse 10, it says God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. So it's been revealed through God's Spirit as to what that eventual plan is. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. And he goes on further and explains it more. Verse 11, For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we've received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. God's Spirit helps us fully understand spiritual things. We can get maybe the gist of something. We can maybe begin to understand something using human reasoning. But it requires God's Spirit to fully and truly understand something. That's why baptism is so important.

There are a number of reasons why baptism is important, but that's one of the reasons why it's important. That Spirit dwelling in us opens and unlocks these truths of God so that we can fully and truly understand them. Now if you think about it, you've got the Holy Spirit, you've got God's truth, you've got those things residing in your brain, and you've also got human reasoning. And what that means to us is that we have to recognize that there is a voice, brethren, in your head that lies to you. There's a voice in your head that lies to you, and it's not lying to you intentionally, it's not on purpose. It's actually trying to help you. It's actually trying to help you. Your human reasoning is trying to help you, but it doesn't realize the damage that it's doing.

It doesn't realize the damage it's doing. Your own human reasoning cannot fully understand the things of God's. God's Holy Spirit is necessary to understand those things. Our human reasoning is lying to us at times, and we don't even realize it. How often do we examine things using our human reasoning and not the spiritual? Let me give you a few examples. How often do we consider dipping into second ties to pay the bills? How often do we look at dipping into our second ties to pay the bills? Because you can't afford to miss a car payment. You can't afford to miss the house payment, right? There's a pile of money sitting here. The spiritual principle is you set it aside. You don't touch it. It's God's money. He's lending it to you to use for the Feast of Tabernacles, right? But in our brains, our human reasoning says, there's a pile of money there. Use it! Pay it back! How often does it get paid back? Not all that often. I mean, realistically, not all that often. We've used human reasoning at that point in time to circumvent a spiritual principle and to circumvent spiritual understanding. We do it with regards to the Sabbath. How we keep the Sabbath? Well, God won't care if I do this.

Maybe we look at the conditions of the world around us and using human reasoning, we conclude, God must not be benevolent. Based on what I see in the world around us, based on what I see going on, I see children suffering, I see children dying, God must not be a loving God because He could have and should have done it a different way. That's human reasoning, brethren. That's human reasoning.

Maybe we're struggling with insert temptation here, whatever it might be, whatever it may be, and we reason with ourselves, that's not that big of a deal, that's really not that big of a deal, or we try to reason with ourselves why we should be able to keep doing all like x, y, or z, even though x, y, and z may trigger us for the temptation that we're dealing with and that we're struggling with. That's human reasoning. Human reasoning can do an incredible amount of damage if we don't recognize it for what it is, that we don't recognize that there's the voice up there that doesn't fully understand the way of God. And it sometimes talks to us, it sometimes lies to us. Now, where guilt really gets difficult, where this is really an issue, is enemies of faith don't work by themselves. We talked earlier about how you get flanked by different ones. Sometimes they team up. Worry and fear team up with each other to come at you in an organized attack. Doubt teams up with human reasoning. Sometimes, though, they join together for an attempted coup, all four of them, to take over and destroy. Human reasoning leads to worry, worry leads to fear, fear leads to doubt. And the end result is a person who quits and gives up on God and walks away from what they know to be true. The coup was successful at that point in time.

Let's go over to Hebrews 4 for our final scripture today.

Hebrews 4, I think it's important for us to realize and to recognize that there is nothing that we experience in this world that Christ didn't experience in some way while He was here. We understand and we recognize He was in all points tested, however, without sin. We know that He did not sin. He died as an innocent man for the sins of all of us. However, He was tempted. He was tested. He was tried in all points in that way. Christ sympathizes with our weakness. He understands. He's known worry. He's known doubt. He's known human reasoning. He's known fear, but yet went through it all without sin. Hebrews 4 and verse 14 says, "...seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." Verse 15, "...for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin." Verse 16, therefore, right? Here's the conclusion. Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Brethren, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we have the ability to come before God the Father, to come before the throne, so that we can obtain mercy and we can obtain grace, and so that we can come to God the Father for help in our time of need. In those times, lean into God. Trust in Him. Believe Him that what He promises and what He has promised you He will fulfill. Don't listen to the enemies of faith. Instead, subdue them. You have been called out of this world to be prepared for a purpose. You have been offered an incredible opportunity. You've been offered a chance to be a part of the family of God. God is working with each and every one of you to work His will in this world. Do you believe that God is with you in that process? Do you believe that whatever it is that you come across, God can and will get you through it? Do you believe that He's called you to this? That you're here for a reason? Have you been given this opportunity for a reason? Do you believe that God is right there with you as you go through this life? Or do you worry that you're not good enough?

Do you worry that you're going to miss out on the kingdom? Do you doubt whether God has called you really? Like He's really called you or you have somehow stumbled into this? Do you doubt your salvation? Do you fear stepping out on faith? Or perhaps fear that you're not good enough for God?

Do you allow yourself to reason yourself out of commitments and service to God? Reason yourself away from a true faith because, for whatever reason, you need evidence or you need proof before you're willing to admit that what you know to be true is true?

In 1944, Patty Fermer and Stanley Moss, subdued a German general, took him captive.

Brethren, we must subdue and take captive every thought—all of our worries, all of our fears, all of our doubts, and our reasoning. And we must, brethren, keep in mind that God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. You have been brought to this point for a reason and for a purpose. You weren't called because you were perfect. You weren't called because you're amazing. You are amazing, but you weren't called because you were amazing.

You were called because God saw something in you that He could use. He qualifies the called.

Every element of that calling, every thing that God has done in your life, can be used to build your faith. Or, brethren, it can be used to undermine it. As we go forward now, from these days of Unleavened Bread—days of Unleavened Bread's in the rearview mirror—we're heading away from it. It's getting smaller in the backdrop here. Let us endeavor to identify and to subdue and to take captive these four enemies of faith.