Study Notes

FOUNDATION STATEMENT: People are only afraid of that which they believe the are inferior to/don’t have power over; people are not afraid of that which they believe they are superior to and have power over 

 

I.      The believe that you are inferior will result in your operating in fear

A.    Numbers 13-The children of Israel believed they were inferior and Joshua & Caleb didn’t

1.      31-33-The belief that they are inferior gives place to fear

2.      30-They didn’t believe they were inferior and that’s why they weren’t afraid

3.      9- Joshua and Caleb are trying to get the people to believe they are not inferior

a.      They are bread-We’ll swallow them up

b.      Their defense has departed-They have no protection or support

c.      The Lord is with us-That makes us superior

B.     They’re staring an obstacle in the face, a situation in the face, a problem in the face and they’re afraid because they believe they are inferior to the problem; they believe that problem is greater than them

1.      Fear will operate as a result of and through a belief that you are inferior  

2.      From the belief that you are inferior will come fear

3.      Where there is no belief that you are inferior, there will be no fear

C.    The breaking point of fear is the moment you begin to believe that you are inferior; in other words when you begin to believe that you are inferior that will be the moment you begin to walk in fear

1.      Example: You might not fear a little 6 inch baby snake, but would you fear a 6 foot one; The difference is you believe you are superior to one and inferior to the other

2.      Fear is the belief that something unfavorable is going to happen that you don’t have the power to stop from happening

D.    Fear-A strong dose of respect for something that is life-threatening, alarming, or dangerous; You respect the power of a thing, more than you respect the power of God

II.     A major key to walking free from fear is to understand the authority and power that you have as a believer because that which you believe you are superior to and have power and authority over you will not fear; while that which you believe you are inferior to and don’t have authority over you will fear

A.    Mark 4:35

1.      Arose-The sea tried to rise up, but then he stood up

2.      Rebuked-He’s commanding the wind because he believes he has authority over it

3.      Why does he believe that?-Psalm 89:9-He saw this is in the Word

a.      He didn’t ask God to do something, he did what the Father would have done

4.      Jesus wasn’t afraid of the storm because he believed he was superior to it

a.      He believed what was in him was greater than what was behind that storm

b.      It may have been a great storm, but it wasn’t greater than what was in him

5.      The disciples were afraid of the storm b/c they believed they were inferior to it

a.      The fear of the disciples was the result of their belief that they were inferior

6.      Why are you fearful? (Fearful-Timid-To shrink, lack courage in the face of danger)

a.      Romans 1:16-The gospel of Christ is the dunamis/supernatural power of God

1)      Good news is we’re passing over; bad news is we’re going down

2)      With the supernatural power of God there’s no thing they’ll encounter on that sea that they are inferior to

b.      They believed they were inferior, but the reality was that they weren’t inferior to that storm because Jesus gave them the power and authority over that storm when he said to them “let us pass over to the other side”

c.      Why are you afraid of that which I’ve given you authority over?

1)      Why are you afraid of the storm when you have authority over it?

7.      They believed he had authority over the storm, but they didn’t believe they had authority over it

a.      That’s the problem with many believers today; they believe God has authority over the thing, but they don’t believe they have authority over

B.     Matthew 14:24

1.      24-It’s rough on the sea that night, so much so, it’s tossing the ship

2.      30-Peter was afraid b/c he believed in the face of that wind he was inferior to it

a.      He wasn’t inferior to it because Jesus gave him the supernatural power to be unaffected by it

b.      Peter believed that wind was going to knock him off of the water into the water and that he couldn’t stop it from doing so; He believed he was inferior

c.      If we would have kept his eyes on Jesus and his attention on what Jesus said, that wind could have blown as hard as any wind has every blown, but still had no effect on him

3.      Jesus is out there on the rough sea, feeling the same wind, experience the same thing and has no fear at all because he believes is authority over the wind and waves and the water & is not inferior

4.      31-He doubted the authority he had over the situation through the word of Jesus

C.    1 Samuel 17

1.      24-They ran from Goliath because they were afraid and they were afraid of him because they believed they were inferior to him

a.      There’s a belief in them that says we are smaller than him and don’t have what it takes to win in a fight against him and if gave birth to fear

2.      David had no fear because he did not believe he was inferior in this situation

a.      1 Samuel 17:36,45-47-He had the revelation that he was using God’s power and that power was superior to all other power

D.    Daniel 3-They are staring a fiery furnace in the face and are not afraid because they do not believe that they are inferior to the fire; they believe they can get thrown in the fire and power will show up that trumps the power of that fire

1.      27-That fire had no power over their bodies, because they were protected by superior power

III.   As a believer is there any situation on that you’ll ever face in which you are inferior?

A.    The potential of God’s power-Genesis 18:14, Numbers 11:23, Jeremiah 32:17

B.     The power that’s in us

1.      Ephesians 1:16-22-The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in me

2.      Acts 1, Mt 3:19, Jn 14-It’s the father dwelling in Jesus doing the works & he’s in me

3.      1 John 4:4-Greater does not mean inferior to, it means superior to

IV.   Satan likes to create the illusion in the life of believers that they have no control/authority/power where there lives are concerned because they way of thinking and believing will produce fear in their lives