Locating Fear - Part 2
I.
Locating Fear
A. Adam and Eve (Genesis
3:1)
1.
What were they afraid of? They were afraid if they
did what God said and didn’t eat of the tree they would miss out on something
a.
The
feared God was holding out on them
2.
What produced the fear? That fear is rooted &
grounded in their faith in the words of the enemy
a.
Satan’s
words are always fear producing-God’s words are always faith-producing
1)
Their
belief in what he said manifested in fear
b.
They
weren’t created with fear and didn’t have any fear in them
1)
When
they spent time with Satan’s words fear was fed into their spirit
c.
When
those words were spoken they were sent to produce fear in the hearts of Adam &
Eve
1)
The
words of the enemy can’t produce fear, until you give your attention to them,
opening the gate for them to enter into your life
2)
God’s
word can’t produce faith until you give your attention to them
3.
How did fear show up? With Adam and Eve, it
was the spirit of fear clothed as disobedience
a.
EX:
Satan says, “You’ll never have what they have.” Those words produce faith in
him (fear) to see to it that you never have what they got. The spirit of fear shows up as jealousy.
b.
EX:
Satan says, “You don’t want to get up and exercise, it’s going to be
uncomfortable.” Those words produce faith in him (fear) to keep you
uncomfortable. The spirit of fear
shows up in laziness
4.
What are Satan’s words
designed to do?
Satan’s words are always designed to get you to believe that God won’t take
care of you
a.
With
Adam and Eve Satan was insinuating that there was something God doesn’t want
them to know and something God doesn’t want them to see and that God doesn’t
want them to be like Him; that God didn’t care about them
b.
B/C
u don’t believe God will take care of u, u crown yourself god & try 2 take
care of yourself
1)
Fear
operates with this sense of self-preservation; rather than believing God is my
care taker fear has to worry and care for itself
c.
Anytime
you’re in fear it’s because you don’t believe God loves you
1)
If
you believed in loved, you’d believe he’d take care of you, and you wouldn’t be
in fear concerning this situation (Mark 4:38)
5.
What’s Satan trying to
get me to believe?
That God doesn’t care about u & His Words aren’t true
a.
Faith
in God’s words gains great momentum when you believe that they are spoken by a
God who loves you
b.
It’s
one thing to know what God said; it’s whole other thing to know that the God
who spoke them loves me; Faith has to being by believing God loves me
B. Children Of Israel-They
were gripped with fear
1.
Murmuring-The
enemy spoke and got them to believe God didn’t care about them and they were
afraid they were going to die of thirst, of hunger, and of the sword.
a.
Exodus
16:1-3-The
whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses & Aaron
in the wilderness: 3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to
God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by
the flesh pots, & when we did eat
bread to the full; for u have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill
this whole assembly w/ hunger
b.
Exodus
17:3-And the
people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and
said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of
Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
c.
Num 14:2-And all the children of Israel murmured
against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them,
Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in
this wilderness!
2.
Deuteronomy
1:21
a.
26-Disobedience-What
were they afraid of? --- Dying
b.
27-Murmurring-What
were they afraid of?--Dying; They believed God didn’t care about them
c.
28-Discouraged-What
were they afraid of? ---- Not being able to overcome
1)
You
get discouraged because the circumstances are a way that you don’t like them and
you’re afraid they’re not going to change in the near future
d.
32-Unbelief-What
were they afraid of?-That what God said wouldn’t happen
1)
They
didn’t believe b/c they were afraid that what God said wouldn’t come to pass
C. Saul (1 Samuel 15:1)
1.
13-22-He’s
lying b/c he’s afraid of the judgment that will come as result of the truth
2.
15-He
blames others because he fears responsibility
3.
22-He
lies and says the spoil is for the Lord
4.
24-He
was afraid that if he did what God said, the people wouldn’t like him
a.
He
feared if he did what God said he’d miss out on something
D. Eliab (1 Samuel 17:28)
1.
Angry,
Critical, Judgmental-What’s he afraid of?
2.
Maybe
he’s afraid of David getting hurt
3.
Maybe
he’s afraid of David succeeding at something that he knows he should do
E. The sluggard
1.
Matthew
25:25-He dreaded going out there and doing business with that money because he
feared the discomfort of putting his master’s money on the line
2.
Proverbs
20:4-Lazy-He dreads the lack of comfort that will come from being cold
F. John was offended because
he was afraid he’s going to be stuck in that prison (Lk
7:18)
G. Martha was afraid she
wouldn’t be able to get all this food prepared Luke 10:38-42)
H. Peter denied Jesus and
cursed b/c he was afraid they were going to kill him (Mt 26:69)
I. Judas feared lack in his
life and in that bag (John 12:1-6)
II.
Once fear is located,
then we can go about the protocol necessary to get fear out
A. 1 Th
5:8-You get to the calm, quiet, & collected place by putting on the
breastplate of love & faith
1.
You
got to know what God said & you got to know the God who spoke it loves u
B. Develop faith in God’s
love where that situation is concerned; God loves me and he cares for me
C. Develop faith in God’s
word for that situations is concerned; God stood in blood & promised to me