Dr. Chris Polachic presents 2 Timothy 1:7-10 as our special speaker. He points out that Timothy was reluctant to identify himself as a Christian as we are in our flesh. But Paul makes it clear that Christ lives in us, and we are to let the Lord use us for His glory.
Courage In The Face of Fear
Part 4: “Elijah: Delivered From a Spirit of Fear” 1 Kings 19:1-18 Intro – welcome back to our series on Courage in the Face of Fear…in which we are asking God to deliver us from a spirit of fear that Satan wants to use to hold us back as God’s people, to keep us bound up in fearful imaginations…to force us into a fortress mentality… …we are asking God to build in us a spirit of courage, faith and boldness in the facing of these challenging days… Where the world, our own human flesh and the Devil shout at us: “Be afraid; be very afraid”…God speaks to us the truth and says: “do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you: I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Is. 41:10 Today I want us to look at another prominent OT character and see how God delivered him from a spirit of fear…this person is named Elijah. …please turn to 1 Kings 19… Elijah is one of the more well-known OT prophets…a powerful OT prophet of great stature…who performed many courageous acts and miracles…a man made so powerful by the HS that he: • prayed that it would not rain for three years…and it didn’t…17:1 • provided food during a famine for a destitute widow and her son…17:14 – jars of flour and oil that never ran dry… • raised that same widows son from the dead…17:22 • divided the waters of the Jordan river and walked across on dry ground…2 Kg.2:8 • prayed again and asked God for rain…18:41 …just to name a few… One miracle he is perhaps best known for was the showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, in which he asked them to have Baal consume an animal sacrifice by fire… …and if you remember the story, these 450 prophets of Baal prayed, shouted and danced around and cut themselves for the whole day…while Elijah taunted them…and absolutely nothing happened… …and then Elijah calmly said, “it’s my turn”… and he rebuilt the altar with the animal sacrifice, doused the whole thing with water, 3 times… called upon the name of the Lord…listen to this awesome prayer he prayed… “LORD, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, LORD, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 1 Kings 18:36-37 “…and immediately the fire of the Lord fell and burned up not only the sacrifice, but the wood, the stones, the soil and all the water in the trench…” - profound miracle…proof that the God of Israel is the one and only true God…a gigantic victory for Elijah and God…a staggering defeat for the false prophets of Baal who ended up being put to death that very day… So, this is the stature of Elijah the prophet… …furthermore, he is so influential and significant in the kingdom of God that when Jesus is transfigured on the mountain in the gospel accounts…guess who makes an appearance? Moses and Elijah…(Mt. 17:4) Pretty good company! So it is this Elijah, this powerful, courageous, bold prophet of God that we are looking at today…and in particular an incident that happened right after his amazing victory over the prophets of Baal…in which we find him, surprisingly, afraid…full of fear… …found 1 Kings 19?…prayer…read… I Human Explanation for Elijah’s Fear Why did Elijah become so afraid? How do you explain this sudden transformation from a bold, fearless daring prophet of God…fresh off this stunning miraculous victory on Mt. Carmel… to a defeated, discouraged, suicidal man on the run? There is a very human explanation…we learn from the passage that Elijah was: • tired (exhausted, fatigued, worn out…) 19:5 -many of you who are leaders…people who serve God and often expend so much energy in your spiritual work…you know what this is like…you are in a very great time of victorious ministry…God is moving… people are responding…prayers are being answered…you’re on the front line of ministry, pushing back the kingdom of darkness…the HS is stirring and spiritual transformation is taking place… …and at the same time, there is spiritual opposition…Satan is trying to stop the work of God so he is doing his best to create obstacles, walls, push-back… …tell me some of you know exactly what I’m talking about?… …and it’s so often after times like that, that we are hit with a wave of fatigue, exhaustion, tiredness, physically, emotionally and spiritually…which then leads to…a wave of fear… doubt, even temptation… …when our tank is completely empty…that’s when Satan tries to get in there and fill us with something evil and destructive… But it was more than tiredness for Elijah… • alone, abandoned, isolated 19:10 -thought he was the only prophet left…that everyone else had either been killed or abandoned their post… -it’s in the place of feeling alone and isolated that the Devil can really play tricks with our mind… …get us to buy into lies that normally wouldn’t affect us…(“you’re all alone… nobody cares…it’s all up to you…no one can help, not even God…”)…and that is the palce where fear can take root in our lives… So on a human level, this undoubtedly explains in part why Elijah became afraid and discouraged…in his depleted state the threat of Jezebel to murder him was that much more pronounced and scary…he was that much more vulnerable to her threats and intimidation… God’s Prescription for Elijah That’s why we see God prescribe help for Elijah in the following ways: A. for his physical exhaustion -rest, food and drink, more rest (vv.5-6) B. for his spiritual exhaustion (vv. 7-13) -return to God’s presence, Mt. Horeb… -look at v. 11… …God recaptures Elijah’s attention and gets it off that evil woman and her fearful threats…and He does it through the wind, earthquake, fire, gentle whisper – Hi voice…I would love to know what God said to him in that gentle whisper…but it’s good we don’t know because each of us has to hear God for ourselves…His message to us is unique and important and can’t be borrowed from somebody else’s experience with God… * but notice it’s the gentle whisper of God that draws Elijah out of the cave he was hiding in…v.13… -some of you are hiding in a cave, afraid or reluctant to stand in God’s presence for whatever reason…but God is even speaking to you right now, inviting you with His gentle whisper, His words of love and grace, to come out and meet with Him because He wants to help you…and deliver you from whatever is troubling you… C. emotional exhaustion (vv.15-18) -appointing helpers…reminder he is not alone…there are 7000 faithful prophets with him… -you’re not alone either…don’t stay isolated…reach out Those three things are a good prescription for anyone who is tired and feeling alone and because of that is experiencing fear…or discouragement…or any challenging thing that we humans face… -perhaps exactly what some of you need today from the Lord… II Spiritual Explanation for Elijah’s Fear Now, there is a whole other explanation for Elijah’s fear that is often overlooked…he wasn’t afraid just because he faced human exhaustion…he was afraid also because he was inflicted with a Satanic spirit of fear…19:3… Elijah’s fear was far more than a human reaction, it was also spiritual in nature…and as you will see, Satanic in nature…it was a spiritual attack of fear from the hand of Satan… Let me explain. We see the abrupt change in Elijah in v.3…right after Jezebel makes her threat to kill Elijah, he changes almost instantaneously…the powerful, victorious , bold prophet becomes a fearful fugitive running for his life… How many of you have ever seen someone you know go through an abrupt change, when they turn into someone else, someone you hardly recognize…and it’s a change for the worse…they become disconnected to people around them, difficult, combative, or make surprising sinful choices…or become unusually fearful…it’s like evil is taking over… -I’ve seen this many times over the years… eg. man who visited our church…made appointment with me…very enthusiastic about our church, wanted to become a member, get involved… …but when I asked him about his church attendance history and why he had left his previous church…he instantly changed into an angry, foul-mouthed person…his clouded over and became dark and menacing…swore at me…attacked my credibility…stormed out of my office…have rarely seen such an abrupt change with such a strong sense of evil… When you see someone go through an abrupt change and turn into someone completely different, there can be a Satanic, demonic reason for this…not always…have to be really careful here…I wouldn’t dare suggest that every personality change is a spiritual attack, but in some cases it is…especially when it involves an unusual spirit of fear… -perhaps even you have experienced this yourself…we can be hit with a spirit of fear in a flash…when our hearts start to beat fast and our mouth gets dry and our thinking gets fuzzy and we see no way out and we want to panic and run and hide…and we wonder, “What is happening to me?” That’s what Elijah experienced here…and I’ll show you why. It had to do with Queen Jezebel… Let me tell you more about Jezebel: -daughter of a Sidonian King who married Ahab for political reasons… -brot with her to the throne of Israel the worship of Baal, which was the god of her people… -and as we learned last week, the whole Baal worship cult involved rituals of sexual immorality and idol worship…and many other detestable practices… -Jezebel influenced Ahab to adopt these practices and promote them throughout Israel…which thoroughly displeased the Lord… Jezebel was known for her evil actions: even today the name Jezebel is synonymous with evil… -the first recorded thing she did after becoming queen was to kill the prophets of God (18:4) -she set up 850 of her own Baal prophets and fed them from her own table 18:19 -she also plotted the death of Naboth, an innocent land owner who wouldn’t sell his vineyard to Ahab…1 Kings 21 1 Kings 21:25 There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife. Satan had his couple on the throne…but God had His man Elijah in the field…along with thousands of others… So here’s the point: there was such an evil spirit in Jezebel that Satan used her murderous threat to inflict Elijah with a spirit of fear…a spiritual attack that even the great Elijah was vulnerable to… A Jezebel Spirit -the Jezebel spirit lives on even today…intent on trying to defeat and discourage God’s people through an evil influence… Rev. 2:20 (Thyatira) Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. It is widely believed that this was not a literal woman with the name Jezebel, but rather a woman with the spirit of Jezebel… The Jezebel spirit is found especially in religious circles, but also in workplaces, families and among friends. It is produced in a person who has opened the door of their life to Satan through sin, has remained unrepentant, thus allowing Satan to impart this evil spirit… It is found in both men and women with the intent of trying to gain control over people by the use of manipulative, domineering and intimidating tactics. When it is in the church it tries to disrupt the flow of the Spirit and discourage leaders… …the Devil hates God’s leaders, because they are the human agents God uses to take His church forward… Some Characteristics -we can develop a profile of the Jezebel spirit from the scriptures, helping us recognize it and deal with it… • controlling, domineering, manipulative • seductive, sexually provocative • insubordinate especially to Christian leaders • creates fear in God’s leaders • unrepentant, refuses to admit wrong • a know-it-all • lies convincingly • criticizes freely • appears religious and spiritual • is unaware they have this evil spirit (I have more info on the Jezebel spirit if you’re interested…) * the key factor in recognizing a Jezebel spirit is the effect it has on you…drains life, creates unusual fear or discouragement…makes you want to give up… Do not make the mistake of accusing people of this, labeling them a Jezebel… it takes spiritual discernment to know if you’re dealing with a Jezebel spirit or just someone with a difficult or strong personality or mental imbalance… Also, don’t make the mistake of trying to deal with that spirit on a human level… -that will only lead to hurt, division and broken relationships… Eph. 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. This is not a human problem; it’s a spiritual issue…it needs to be dealt with on a spiritual level…with spiritual weapons of warfare, not human ones… The best way to deal with a Jezebel spirit in a person, is first and foremost through prayer…spiritual warfare prayer that specifically calls upon the strong name of Jesus Christ to break the power of this evil spirit over our lives and set us free through His victorious death on the cross and resurrection from the dead… We will be praying a prayer like that in just a few moments… We must not tolerate this spirit like Jesus warned us in Rev. 2…not feel sorry for it… pander to it…we must not allow it to gain control in our lives and our church…we must deal with it in the way God prescribes…otherwise we will remain weak, fearful, discouraged, confused, ineffective in our work for God… God’s Deliverance for Elijah Notice how God delivered Elijah from the spirit of Jezebel and set him free from fear…He did that on Mt. Horeb, Mt. Sinai…on His mountain, the place of His presence…v.11 -now I don’t exactly how God delivered Elijah…but I do know that He did it on His mountain… -and I do know that God will deliver you and I from a spirit of fear based on a mountain as well, but this time, it’s on the mountain called Calvary… -the mountain on which JC shed His blood for us…the mountain where the greatest victory over sin and Satan was accomplished… 1 John 3:8 “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” Col. 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 2 Tim. 4:18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Conclusion -show of hands…who’s dealing with a “spirit” of fear? Prayer of Deliverance From Fear over you… Heavenly Father, I come before Your throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in my time of need. Father, I come to You in the name and authority of Your only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the strong name of Jesus Christ, I ask You to deliver me from a spirit of fear. Your word says that you have not given me a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I take authority over every ruler, every principality, every demonic spirit, and every spiritual force of evil in the heavenly realms. Through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, shed on the cross of Calvary, break the stronghold of fear over my life. Destroy its power and cast it out of my life right now, in the name of Jesus Christ. Your word says that, “the One who is born of God keeps us safe and the evil one cannot harm us,” (1 John 5:18). I thank You for Your deliverance and your protection from this day forward. Thank you, Jesus, that Your perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). And from this day on, I choose not to give the Devil access to my life so that the spirit of fear has no entry point. I choose to live in the Spirit of adoption, whereby I cry, “Abba Father” (Romans 8: 15). With the strength the Holy Spirit provides, I choose not to become a slave again to fear. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for delivering me from fear, through the strong name of your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen Pastor Bob Carroll delivered a message today telling us how God helps us to overcome our fears by calling us His child. Gideon was fearful of the Midianites; God called Him Mighty Warrior; God enabled Gideon to live up to that name.
Courage In The Face of Fear Part 2: “Gideon: From Coward to Conqueror” Judges 6:11-40 Intro – do you have any idea how many phobias there are? Phobia = fear of something…eg. arachnaphobia = fear of spiders…claustrophobia = fear of enclosed spaces -no definitive, official number of phobias…depends where you get youe information… they are in the hundreds… …one thing in common was the top ten phobias… -in no particular order: flying, public speaking, heights, the dark, intimacy, death, failure, rejection, spiders, commitment… I’m sure we can all relate to one or more of those phobias… Here’s one I found interesting: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (not fear of hippos) = fear of long words! Here’s one that I’m dealing with myself: homilophobia = fear of sermons… One of the phobia sites concluded their long list of phobias by saying: “So there’s my list, but I’m afraid I may have forgotten something”… Last week I began a series called Courage in the Face of Fear. I began by pointing out how the world gives us so many reasons to be afraid…I won’t go over the list again, because you can come up with one just as easy as I can… …but the Devil is using the news of the world, things that are happening locally and globally to shout the message: “Be afraid; be very afraid…” And most of us are vulnerable to that message of fear because it plays right into our natural tendency to chose fear over faith…it plays right into our imaginations that something terrible is going to happen to us or those we love… …and the Devil has found such an effective tool to keep God’s people bound up, immobilized or retreating into a fortress mentality… The world shouts: “be afraid, be very afraid.” But last week I announced to you, that God has an entirely different message: “do not fear; do not be afraid…” Take courage, it is I. Don’t be afraid…” And those who have ears to hear what the Spirit is currently saying to the church…that is a widespread message…makes me wonder what God is preparing us for… And in the weeks ahead I am asking God to deliver us from a spirit of fear and to build in us a spirit of courage, faith, boldness and fearlessness in the facing of these challenging days both personally and as followers of Jesus in an increasingly dark and evil world… -even for those of you who consider yourselves brave and fearless and not easily frightened, God wants to increase that spirit within you so you can help and inspire others in the days ahead…”courage encourages courage…” And one person in the Bible that God helped deal with their fear was Gideon… …please turn in the OT to Judges 6…Gideon is one of my all-time favorite Bible characters…I can relate to him on so many levels…and many of you know the story of Gideon, …especially the part where he defeats a Midianite army of 135,000 soldiers with 300 unarmed men… …and how he prays for a sign from God that he will be victorious and God gives him the sign of the fleece…puts it on the ground and asks God to make it wet one night and dry the next night…and God does just that, thereby giving Gideon great courage to know God is with him and is going to help him defeat the Midianites…(talk about double confirmation!) But what some of you may not know is Gideon’s back story…how he came to the place where he was enabled step in to this challenging role of leading the Israelites to fight the Midianites…it’s the story of how a coward becomes a conqueror…it’s the story of how God takes a fearful person and transforms him into a powerful and effective warrior… …have you found Judges 6?…let’s pray… I see four ways God transforms Gideon from a coward to a conqueror…(going to only look at the first one this week and the other three next week…first way God transforms fearful Gideon is found in vv. 12-16…and it is by giving him… I a God-given identity (6:12-16) -read… -musn’t let the significance of threshing wheat in a winepress escape you…you usually thresh wheat in an open space where the wind can blow away the chaff…but Gideon is hiding from the oppressive Midianites… Gideon, and all of Israel for that matter, is so afraid of the Midianites, so oppressed, so beaten down, so discouraged…that their fear is in control and they are in complete bondage to the powerful Midianites… -the background is given in 6:1-6…(read…) So we first find Gideon firmly bound up by the chains of fear…which is so clear when you read the way he responds to this angel of the Lord…(which, by the way, could have been a physical appearance of Jesus Christ…Christophony…) -re-read 6:13-15…maybe this is how some of you feel today… OK, so here’s how God begins the transformation of a coward into a conqueror… He names Him…He pronounces Gideon’s God-given identity…He declares a destiny by giving Gideon His name for him… “Mighty Warrior”…v.12…”the Lord is with you, Mighty Warrior…” -Gideon is anything but a mighty warrior at this point in his life…but that’s how God sees him… This is where the transformation of Gideon begins which enables Gideon to choose courage over fear…to obey what God calls him to do instead of run from it…because God tells him who he really is… The Power of Identity Do you know who you are? Who God says you are? There’s lots of people trying to name you, give you an identity, determine your destiny… Many of us are given false names by other people or even ourselves…some of you grew up being told by people that you were: ugly, useless, a mistake, not wanted, a misfit, damaged goods, a failure…you’ll never amount to anything… Many of us name ourselves in our own thoughts (outloud): stupid, idiot, dumb, no good, not good enough…want to disappear, be invisible… Friends, God wants to heal you from that horrible wounding, and those lies…which play right into the Devil’s plan to hold you back…keep you down…defeated, fearful… …and God wants to do that healing, in part, by telling you who you are… who He says you are…what your God-given identity is…what His name is for you… What God Calls You in the Bible What name do you think God would give you? What identity does He see when He looks at you? I can tell you for sure that it’s not any of those names I just read… eg. when Jesus looked at Peter in the NT, He didn’t say, “You are Peter, brash and head-strong, the one who opens his mouth before he thinks…” Instead He says, “You are Peter and on this Rock I will build My church…” Mt. 16:18 eg. When God speaks to an old childless couple named Abram and Sarah who have no human chance of producing a legacy, He does not say, “Hey you washed up old people; you’re done; there’s nothing more you can do for Me…” Instead He says, “your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations…” Gen. 17:5 eg. when God speaks to a man threshing wheat in a winepress for fear of an enemy He doesn’t say, “hey you sniveling coward…you spineless wimp…” Instead He says, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior…” “Bill’s” Story There is a man I will call Bill (and you will understand why in a moment) who has an effective ministry to men in the prison system… Bill attended one of the church’s I pastored and was an outstanding man of faith and courage in his walk with God…to meet Bill is to meet a man of devotion, commitment and courage… -but the truth is, even the name Bill gave us wasn’t his real name. Here’s why. Years ago, Bill and another man were involved in a murder…Bill and his partner broke into a facility attempting to steal something, but things went terribly wrong…the break-in led to the murder of a person who confronted them…Bill’s partner committed the murder…which made Bill an accomplice… -both men were caught and sentenced… Bill served a number of years in prison…and that’s where he was introduced to Jesus by a faithful prison chaplain and became a new person in Christ… …after a few years, Bill agreed to give information about his accomplice that further implicated him in other crimes… -for Bill’s confession, he was let out early…and was given a new identity…a new name …and he started a new life in our area far away from where the crime took place and where he had served time… -the only hitch is…his partner was also let out some years later and Bill knows this man will likely attempt to find him to get revenge… Bill lives with the daily reality that this may be his last…a knock on the door could be the end of his life…yet he faces this reality with confidence and courage because he knows that his life is in God’s hands…literally… …so he has just abandoned himself to God…He serves God with everything… cause he’s got nothing to lose and everything to gain… So how does God see Bill? as a criminal, an accomplice to murder? or does He see him as an anointed godly servant of God? Bill knows who He is, Who’s he is…what his indetity in Christ is…who He belongs to and who is taking care of him, empowering him, using him powerfully in ministry… I’ve said this to so many people…”God is more interested in your future than He is in your past…” -if you are a Christian, your past has been dealt with; its sins and failures and mistakes and horrible things have been forgiven and cleansed by the blood of JC… -thru the gospel of JC, you have been made righteous by Christ’s sacrifice for you… -you are no longer defined by your past or by any identity that has been conferred upon you from whatever source… “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Cor. 5:17 * so, stop living in your past…continuing to be the old person that Christ came to save and transform… …the only thing that matters now is what God thinks of you…who He says you are…all the rest are opinions and lies… that need not define who you are anymore… You need to open your Bible and have a conversation with God and ask Him how He sees you…what He calls you…what His name for you is and what His identity is for you… …and to receive His word to you vs. deflect, downplay, debate…reject it… God’s Names For Us I’ll give you a small preview of what you’re going to hear from Him…here’s a list of some of the names God has for us from the Bible… My child – Jn 1:12 My friend – Jn. 15:15 chosen person – 1 Pet.2:9 God’s special possession – 1 Pet. 2:9 redeemed and forgiven – Col. 1:14 free from condemnation – Rm.8:1-2 citizen of heaven – Phil. 3:20 God’s co-worker – 2 Cor.6:1 God’s workmanship – Eph. 2:10 a minister of reconciliation – 2 Cor. 5:17-20 Christ’s ambassador – 2 Cor. 5:20 you have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind – 2 Tim.1:7 I could keep going…but you get the idea…it’s best if you hear directly from God Himself what He says about you…what He calls you…how He sees you… -get some time alone with God, open your Bible…and hear what He has to say… You ask, “how is this going to help me deal with fear and make me courageous?” It’s going to help in ways you can’t even imagine… …primarily, this will set you free from any false identity that Satan would use to keep you bound and afraid and immobilized… …and it will give you the courage to move forward in a life of bold faith, just like Gideon was able to do… When God tells you who you are, He imparts courage… Gideon needed a reason to step out of that hidden winepress and onto the battlefield…and He found it, first of all, by discovering his God-given identity… There are at least three more things God did to transform Gideon, but that’s going to have to wait until next week… Jesus Christ The Ultimate Conqueror Let me close by pointing out one last thing…Jesus Christ is the ultimate Conqueror…He is the one who has defeated all the powers of sin and hell by His victorious death and resurrection…and instead of looking within ourselves to find courage to face challenging times…we only need to look at Jesus and the courage He had to stare sin and death in the face and come through as the Victorious Conqueror… Heb. 2:14-15 He too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. |
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