Taught 1/4/09
Facing the future without fear!
Would you open your Bibles to…
2Tim. 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Pray
Intro
√ Facing the future without fear
With the dawning of a New Year there is always great anticipation for what God may do in our lives in the coming year!
Ex. Promises to be claimed
You might be anticipating…
A new job, house, or child!
That promised spouse!
A new ministry opportunity!
Graduation!
On the other hand a New Year can also bring great anxiety and fear because of the uncertainty of the future!
Ex. Problems to be considered
You might be anxious about…
Losing your job!
Your declining health, or that of a loved one!
Increasing violence and immorality in the world!
National abandonment of a Christian worldview!
It’s my observation that for the first time in many years the majority of people are looking toward this New Year with fear rather than with hope because of…
Rising unemployment
Record setting foreclosures
Collapse of financial markets & loss of retirements
Never ending wars & conflicts
And little hope that anyone has a workable solution to fix any of these problems!
So, many people, including Christians, are fearful about the future in this new year.
I’m here to tell you that Christians can face the future without fear!
As Paul wrote to Timothy…
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” ~ 2 Tim. 1:7
Paul’s point to Timothy and us is that we do not have to fear the future because we belong to the God who controls the future!
Ap. Facing the future without fear
This morning I’d like to give you some simple practical steps to help you get free from the fear of the future. That freedom comes by drawing closer to the God who controls the future by…
Seeing with His perspective
Gathering with His people
Serving with His purpose
We’ll close our time together with communion where we’ll commit our hopes and fears of the future into the hands of He who loved us with His own life.
Seeing with His Perspective
√ Seeing with His perspective
I’m deathly afraid of heights!
I don’t like looking over cliffs, or walls on top of buildings because it feels like there’s a force pulling me toward the edge!
So, you’ll understand then why as a kid I was quite unwilling to follow my friends and brothers along a narrow path on the side of a cliff at the beach.
From where I stood it was a forty foot drop to the beach below ~ too high for me!
But from where my friend stood he could see that the fall was actually less than 10 feet and that into a huge mountain of soft sand!
Once I had that perspective I was able to run back and forth along that path without fear!
That illustrates the spiritual truth that will help us face the future without fear…
…that is, if we look at the future from God’s perspective then we see that we don’t have anything to fear!
Ap. How do we see from God’s perspective?
Contained between the covers of this book we find everything we need to know about God, ourselves, and the future.
If we’ll just take the time to read it we’ll discover that God loves us a lot and that He has taken great pains to make sure that we’ll be okay if we just trust Him.
Knowing how He sees us will give us confidence to face the future without fear because we’ll then know that He’s got us covered!
For example, if you read the Bible you’ll discover that from God’s perspective you’re…
Only human!
Often times Christians still think like unbelievers and that produces fear in our lives!
For example, Christians live under the wrong impression that God is still weighing our every thought, attitude and behavior for the purpose of judging us.
We know ourselves well enough to know that we aren’t perfect so we make the wrong conclusion that God is angry with us, or that He’s going to bring judgment into our lives because we haven’t measured up!
That brings fear!
But the reality is that God knows that you aren’t perfect ~ in fact, that’s why He sent His Son to save you from your sins and to make you one of His children.
Those of us who have trusted Jesus have already had our sins, past, present and future, judged at the Cross!
Ex. David knew something about failure!
He also knew that God loved him in spite of his failures and showed him kindness and compassion because He knew that David was just a man!
Psa. 103:13 As a father pities his children,
So the LORD pities those who fear Him.
Psa. 103:14 For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
It’s even clearer in the NLT…
Psa. 103:13 The LORD is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
Psa. 103:14 For he understands how weak we are;
he knows we are only dust.
So, if you look back on 2008 and can only see your failures, don’t fear because God knows you’re weak and has already forgiven and forgotten.
That’s not to excuse our sins!
Rather, it’s an exhortation to remember that God understands how weak we are will free us from the fear of our failures, past and future!
My encouragement then is that as you look forward to 2009 that you do so with faith believing God’s promise that in Christ all your sins and failures are washed away by the blood of Jesus…
…and that He has your best in mind for 2009 and beyond!
Ex. Peter’s denial
Jesus knew that Peter was about to deny Him on three occasions…
…yet promised to pray for Peter and had already set up his restoration!
Under grace!
The second great truth that will free us from fear, fear of our past as well as fear of the future, is to remember that God sees us through the lens of Grace…
…not the Law!
Rom. 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
The Bible declares that all who have placed their trust in Jesus have moved out from under the Law and into a new contract with God wherein from His perspective…
…He sees us justified, that is, He sees us just-as-if-we’d-never-sinned!
Titus 3:4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
Titus 3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
Titus 3:6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Titus 3:7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
The marvelous truth here is that we don’t have to fear a future judgment where our lives will be measured against the perfect standard of Christ…
…why?
Because all of our sins, past, present and future, have already been judged on the Cross and God has now declared us “not guilty! “
So, because we’re under Grace we don’t have anything to fear about the future because the penalty for our sins has already been paid!
Ap. Getting His perspective
Earlier I said…
If we’ll just take the time to read the Bible we’ll discover that God loves us a lot and that He has taken great pains to make sure that we’ll be okay if we just trust Him.
My point is that we can’t know God’s perspective if we don’t read it as revealed in His book.
Get practical, make a commitment to read through the Bible this year!
It takes less than 15 minutes a day!
How many of you watch at least an hour to TV a day?
While we still don’t know what’s going to happen with the economy in 2009, or with the war in the Middle East, nor what terrorists will do next…
…we can face the future without fear because we know that God loves us and has a great future planned for us.
Gathering with His People
√ Gathering with His people
In addition to reading God’s word so that you can have His perspective on the future a sure fire cure for fear is to regularly gather with His people!
That is, it’s in the presence of God’s people that we find mutual encouragement and strength.
As we’ve been learning in our study of Ephesians God designed the Church to be a living organism made up of many people with different gifts with the purpose of building each other up in our faith.
Friends, God never intended Christians to go it alone in this world! Even the apostles found a refuge of strength in the Church.
Ex. The church in Jerusalem
Peter and John had been arrested by the Sanhedrin and threatened with physical harm if they continued to preach the Gospel.
After they’d been beaten guess where they went?
To the church!
Once there they reported all that had happened to them and the threats made against them.
Rather than shrink from their calling because of fear they joined with the church and prayed together, note God’s response…
Acts 4:29 Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word,
Acts 4:30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
Here’s my point…
One of Satan’s favorite weapons is fear!
He uses fear in all it’s forms to keep us from fulfilling God’s call on our lives, from enjoying our relationship with God and from moving forward into new opportunities that God has opened for us.
In fact, fear is such an effective tool that we find even the heroes of the faith experienced it!
Elijah ran from Jezebel because of fear.
Paul feared to continue his ministry while in Corinth.
On and on the list goes!
The point is that fear is an experience common to all people…
…even those reputed to be lion-hearted heroes of the faith!
So, you and I are going to experience fear as we face the uncertainty of the future.
However, one way in which God has provided relief from fear is through in the gathering of His people.
For example, when Paul was afraid, Jesus comforted him with these words…
“for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” ~ Acts 18:10
When Elijah hid in a cave because of fear, God spoke these words of encouragement and strength…
“Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” ~ 1 Kings 19:18
God spoke away their fear by reminding them that they were not alone in their battle against evil.
Ex. Courage in numbers ~ the bowling alley incident
Ap. The church is an army
Don’t forget that you and I are in a spiritual battle and that we have an enemy bent on destroying our lives and that fear is one of his most powerful weapons.
If the saints of old needed the support of God’s people I want to suggest that we need each other too!
So make it a point to gather with God’s people on a regular basis ~ Sunday morning and a midweek small group, as the author of Hebrews writes…
“not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” ~ Heb. 10:25
Serving with His Purpose
√ Serving with His purpose
The last area that often brings fear into our lives is when we don’t do what we know we’re supposed to be doing!
I don’t have time to really develop this thought but I don’t want to ignore it because it is a major cause of fear.
So, I’ll just briefly review it for you.
Ex. Ezekiel
He was called by God to be a watchmen for Israel.
God told him that if he was faithful to warn the people of coming judgment then he would be innocent of their blood if they chose to ignore him.
On the other hand, if he kept silent and was not faithful to warn God’s people of the coming judgment then God would hold him responsible for the blood of those killed in the judgment.
In our own lives God has given each of us responsibilities and duties to perform.
Ex. The parable of the talents
It’s interesting to note that the one servant who didn’t use his master’s money wisely is the only one who was afraid!
The two who were busy using the talents given to them by their master weren’t afraid of the future.
But the guy who buried his talent was fearful of his master and of how his master would judge him when he returned at some future date.
The same is true in our lives!
For example, if you’ve been given an assignment at work and you’ve got it finished…
…you’re not afraid about reporting to your boss.
On the other hand, if you’ve goofed off and didn’t complete it…
…then you’re going to be pretty anxious about that meeting!
The spiritual application is that God has given each of us a job to do.
When we don’t do it then we give the Devil an opportunity to bring fear into our hearts.
He’ll whisper that God is angry with you, or that you’re not a “good” Christian, or that you might not even be saved as you’re not showing any fruit in your life!
May I suggest that the easiest way to deal with that fear is to take the Devil’s tool away by getting busy and doing what God has given you to do!
Close
√ Facing the future without fear
As we close our time together with communion let’s commit our hopes and fears of the future to Jesus who holds the future in His hands.
You might need to ask Him to help you to…
See with His perspective by getting into His Word everyday.
Make a commitment to gather with His people on a regular basis so that others can come along side and help you navigate through life.
Serve with a greater passion, or if you’re not yet serving, to show you what His will is for you life so that you can get busy doing it and make 2009 significant for the Kingdom of God.
If you’re not a Christian the first step toward living without fear is to give your heart to Jesus this morning.