The subject matter were dealing with this morning is fear. My wife asked me not to ask if youve read the chapter because she didnt, so I cant ask. If I ask, I get in trouble. But Im already in trouble, so how many of you read the chapter today? (Congregation laughing). There you go. Shes smiling. Thats a good sign. The part of the story that were focusing on today is the part where Peter starts to walk on the water; he sees the wind, and you know what happens, it begins to sink. We will talk next week about the sinking feeling. But, he cries out in fear and says, Lord, save me. But were talking this morning about fear. Theres a healthy fear, and theres unhealthy fear. I have a fear of heights. I happen to think thats a good fear. My wife does not share that fear. We were at the Grand Canyon a month or so ago, and she was going right to the edge of the canyon, just driving me nuts. I would say, Get back from there. She was trying to bring our offspring to the edge of the canyon. Thats a good fear; keep safe, stay back here. But there are other fears that are not good. There are fears that can stunt our growth, just like we saw in the video this morning. The young man who had still not jumped into the water at age 16. He had not experienced the exhilaration or the joy or jumping, taking that step of faith, because of fear. Theres a fear that will paralyze us. Theres a fear that robs us of joy. Theres a fear that robs us of potential. It robs us of life. Thats the kind of fear that we want to deal with. Pastor Ortberg talked in his book about the causes of fear and the consequences of fear. Were going to be talking about how to overcome fear today. He mentioned about growing up in a cultural fear. He said in a joking manner that many of us grew up in a cultural era because of our moms. Very few moms, when you left the house to go to school, would say, Embrace danger today, darlings. Look one way when you cross the street. Take chances. Take risks! Thats not what moms do. He talks about in his books how moms would say, Dont make an ugly face, or itll stay that way, which is true by the way. That explains what you see today. He said in his book, a mom would say, Dont carry that stick because you could fall and poke your eye out. He asked the question, How many people know somebody who fell with a stick and poked their eye out? My response would be, My mom did. My mom knew just about every kid who ever had a near accident or fatal accident from anything. Id be carrying a spoon in my mouth, and shed say, Little Jimmy Johnson fell and the spoon got stuck in his mouth, and he had to go to the doctor and have it surgically removed. Id be blowing up a balloon, and shed say, Little Timmy Smith blew up a balloon and it went into his lungs, so he choked to death almost. I remember asking her one time, Mom, how do you know all these people who had these near-death experiences from these freak accidents? She just seemed to know so many! My mom would use fear as a control mechanism for me. Like when I would run away from home at age 4 or 5, I packed my knapsack just like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, put in my sandwich and my apple and a couple quarters, tied it on a stick, and Id take off. Id get as far as the fire station, and shed call me. Shed try to coax me with what was on TV or what was on the stove, but what worked were these two words. Shed say, Jeff, Billy Budd is going to get you. Billy Budd! To this day, I dont know who Billy Budd is, but I just know every time I hear Billy Budd, I still get scared. It mustve been a movie I once seen. That name just strikes fear in my heart. Shed say, Billy Budds out there. I would say, Is he? Billy Budd? Id run home as fast as I could because of Billy Budd. What is it that makes you afraid? All of us have something or someone in our lives that causes this fear. Another close relative of fear is something called worry. Any worrywarts out here this morning? Any worrywarts? Most of you worrywarts didnt want to raise your hands because oohh, whats he going to do? Is he going to make us stand up? What? What does he mean? My mom was a worrywart. She transferred some of those warts on to me as well. Worry, Pastor Ortberg described in his book this way. He says in some cases fear ceases to be sporadic and becomes habitual. When this happens, we become worriers. Worry is a special form of fear. The traditional distinction is that fear is caused by an external source while worry and anxiety are produced from the inside. Yet they produce the same physical responses. Worry is fear that has unpacked its bags and signed a long-term lease. Worry never moves out on its own accord. It has to be evicted. Thats what were going to talk about this morning: the principles of eviction-to remove worry and fear from our lives. In other words, pictures as fear have been described as the dark room where negatives are developed. That was a good word picture. So how is it that we evict fear? It doesnt go on its own. Worry doesnt just up and leave. We have to take some steps to evict it. In 2 Chronicles, Chapter 20 (page 441 of pew Bibles), were going to look at a man by the name of Jehoshaphat. He was a king, and he lived at a time of great peace and prosperity. He was the king of Judah. There was no war. There was peace, love, and harmony, and economic prosperity. Everything was going great. Everybody loved Jehoshaphat. He was a Godly man. Israel was serving the Lord, their God. Everything was going well, and then a bad day came. It was totally off guard, totally unexpected. Three nations teamed their armies together to come and attack Jerusalem, to attack Judah. Unexpected. Unprovoked. They are not ready. The army is assembled. They are at the foot of Judah. The next day, theyll probably invade. The news comes to King Jehoshaphat. In Verse 3, it says he was alarmed at the news. The reason why this is so important is because sooner or later, things come into your lives that are going to rock your world. Youre going to receive news that alarms you, that causes you fear. Sooner or later, some of you might be living in that right now: that alarm state right now, that code red, but if youre not now, there will come a day when you are. Something will happen that will cause you fear and alarm in your life. What does he do? He takes some very classical steps. You and I can take those same steps. Were going to see Jehoshaphat evict or eradicate fear and worry from the people of Israel at a time when they so desperately need his leadership. We start now in 2 Chronicles 20:3, The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. Whats the first thing that Jehoshaphat did? He gathered everyone together. One of the first and most powerful steps you can take is to address your fear and say, Heres what Im afraid of, and heres what Im worried about. Dont be subtle with it. Dont think you have to be the Lone Ranger. You enlist support. If it involves more than one party, you come together and say, Were together in this thing. We dont know whats going to happen, but were together. Thats Number 1. Enlist Support. Be open and honest about your fear, your worry, your struggles, and what youre going through. The second thing that happens is he seeks God (prayer). He says, Were going to pray, and were going to seek God. If you sense danger in your life, the number one priority needs to be prayer: praying for your protection, the protection of your family, the protection of your church, your business or whatever it is. You need to say, God, Im calling on You today. I want you to take a look at his prayer. He does several things here. Were not going to read the prayer in its entirety. Its a very solid example for us in regards to how evict fear. Jehoshaphat starts up in Verse 6 and says, O Lord, God of our fathers, are You not the God who is in Heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in Your hand, and no one can withstand You. The first thing he does is reminds himself, and the people, who God is, the power of God, the strength of God, and the might of God. He reminds them of who God is. The second thing is in Verse 9, If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in Your presence before this temple that bears Your Name and will cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear us and save us. He reminds himself, and he reminds the people, of Gods character, of Gods nature, that God is good. He reminds them that God not only has power, but He is willing to use that power on our behalf. The third thing he does is in Verse 12. He says, O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You. That is an excellent model prayer when it comes to evicting fear. You say to God in humility, I dont know what to do. This is more powerful than me. This is greater than me. God, if you dont help me, I dont know what Im going to do, but Im looking to You. We have, in our society, something called the Twelve Steps, a very good program. Steps 1, 2, and 3, are: 1. I cant, 2. He can, 3. Ill let Him. Thats what Jehoshaphat played, God, You can. I cant, and were asking for Your help today. That should be our top priority when fear comes knocking at your door. Enlist support of others, and make prayer a priority. So they reach this climax of fear. Fear is palpable among the people. In Verse 13, All of the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord. Do you see the fear and the helplessness there? The ambush is coming, and theyre not ready for it. The children are tugging on their dads or moms and are saying, Whats this about? Why are we here? Why is everybody afraid? Why are people crying? They knew that something was wrong. The moms and dads had to say, Some bad men are coming. What do they want to do? What are they going to do to us? Theyre going to hurt us. They want to hurt us. They want to destroy our homes. They want to hurt us. Well, what are we going to do, Dad? What are we going to do, Mom? They were calling on the Lord, our God. God will help us. God will deliver us. Can you imagine being that mom or dad and having to explain the terror to your children? Then God speaks through a prophet named Jahaziel in Verse 15, Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but Gods. What is the number one command in all the Scripture? It talks about it in this chapter. The number one thing repeated more than anything else in the Bible is what? Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. The prophet says, Dont be afraid, for the battle is not yours, but Gods. Remember, they are coming up against you, but because you are Gods people, they are coming up against God. That changes everything. Instead of three against one, it is now those three against God. Work with me on this: Hypothetically, lets say tomorrow, youre on your way to school, or work, running errands, whatever, you leave the house, and out from the bushes steps this mean, cantankerous, scowling 6 4, 250 pound man. Hes looking at you. Youve never seen him before, but you can tell he means business. He comes up against you and says, I dont like you. And you say (trembling), You dont? No! I dont like the way you look. I dont like the way you talk. I dont like anything about you. When I get a chance, Im going to getcha, and Im gonna hurt ya. You are like, Ahhhh! and you start backing up. Then you back into something else, and you turn around and look up. Theres a guy 7 tall, solid as a rock, 350 pounds. Youre thinking, Oh boy! What a day! You look up at his face, and hes looking down smiling at you. He says to you, Know what? I like you! You do? Yeah! I like everything about you. I like the way you look, the way you talk, and the way you carry yourself. I want to be your friend. Thats why I want to protect you. Every time you leave the house, I will make sure Im here to see you safely to your car. Every time you leave work, Ill meet you right there and see you back home. Do you see that little 64 puny guy over here? You dont need to worry about him. I dont like him, and Im going to make sure that he doesnt touch a hair on your head. Now, how do you feel about this guy over here right now? Just a few seconds ago, you were in terror. You were intimidated and bullied by him. Now that you got this big guy on your side, he doesnt look so scary anymore, does he? The Word of God says in 1 John 4:4 that Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. That doesnt mean just with us, alongside of us, but in us. The prophet comes to Jehoshaphat, and he says to the people, God is with us. Change your perspective. Dont look at the army thats gathered out there and go, Oh man! Look how much more powerful they are than we are! Because we are on the Lords side, we can say, Look how much more powerful God is than the enemy who seeks to destroy us! Thats a perspective of faith. Can every believer say that? Can every person say that, I should say? Can you just go out and live any way you want to live and live in unrepented sin and rebellion and claim the scripture The battle is not mine, its the Lords? You cant. How could Jehoshaphat do that? Well, just turn back a few chapters to Chapter 17 (page 439). Jehoshaphat takes the thrown. It says in Verse 3, The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because in his early years he walked in the ways of his father David had followed. He did not consult the Baals (thats the pagan gods) but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. Israel had gone the wrong way, and Jehoshaphat says, Im not going to go that way. It doesnt matter if the whole nation goes that way, Im going to go the way of God. In Verse 6, it continues, His heart was devoted to the ways of the Lord; furthermore… This is once he became king. …he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah. All the places of pagan worship, he removed those. Jehoshaphat said, This nation is going to serve the Lord, our God. Were going to walk in the ways of God. As a result of that, the prophets words could be spoken of. The battle is not yours; its the Lords. None of us here are perfect. All of us are sinners. Theres no question about that. But if youre seeking to live a life that honors the Lord, and the enemy attacks you, you can say, in confidence, God, fight my battles. God, be my strength. He says, Go and face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you. You know, one of the biggest fears you and I have is tomorrow. We fear the unknown. But guess who is in tomorrow? Gods already there. A friend of mine sent me an email about a man who went to a physicians house. Remember the days when physicians used to practice in their homes. My doctor growing up practiced in his home. He had his residence upstairs and his practice down below. A man received a notification that he was going to pass away. He said, Dr, youre a doctor, but youre also a Christian. Can you tell me what its like on the other side of deaths door? He said, I dont know. The patient said, Well, here you are, a doctor, a believer, and you dont know whats beyond deaths door. How can you help me? Just then he thought of something. He heard some scratching on the other side of door, coming from his dog. He did something he normally didnt do. He opened the door, and the dog came running in, unafraid, and began to play with his master. The doctor said to his patient, You know, my dog has never been in this room before, but he came in his room unafraid because his master is here. I dont know whats on the other side of deaths door, but I do know my master is already there. I dont need to be afraid anymore. You dont need to be afraid of the unknown. They were so afraid of tomorrow because tomorrow is the day the army was going to invade. The prophet says, Gods already in tomorrow. Heres what I want you to do: Verse 17 (page 442), I [God] want you to go out and face them tomorrow. Face who? Face the source of your fear. Face the bully. Sooner or later if you want to evict fear and worry from your life, you have to face the bully. The bully isnt just going to go away. The bully isnt going to just back down. You have to face the bully. I think Israel would have liked it better if they could have just stayed in their homes and made a fire, cooked some popcorn, played Monopoly. They would have liked to have said, God, You take care of it. But God says, No, armor up! Get your men. Go to the front of the lines. Go and face the bully, because when you face the bully and you overcome the bully, you prevail against the bully, the bully loses the most powerful weapon, and thats fear. That robs you. My son wanted to go on roller coasters at Great America, but he was afraid. Wed always try to coax him and encourage him to go, but he never would go. One year, we really got him to go. It was the Batman Roller Coaster. I dont know if youve been on that ride. It twists and turns, but he loved Batman. We said, You get to go in the Batcave, and you see Batmans uniform, Gotham City. Its really cool! Sure enough, he said, Okay, Im going to go. So we get all the way up to the very top, and he says, Dad, I dont want to go anymore. I said, Son, weve got to go. So we get up there, and he sits down. As soon as he sits down, he springs back up and tries to get out. Now, the harness is half down. The guys about ready to give the thumbs up with the button, hit the green button, and off you go. Im like, Pal, like it or not, youre going, and I pushed him hard as I could back down in the seat. I put his harness down and said, Here we go. So he had his teeth clenched and every muscle contracted, eyes closed, and he stayed in that posture the whole ride. I remember watching him. He didnt want to see a thing. As soon as we were done and coming in for the stop, the harness goes up, we walk off the coaster. Hes glad its done. We see the loop to loops, and he says, Did I do that? I said, You did! He got a big smile. He looked over and saw the double helix, and he said, I did that? I said, You did! He got so excited, he started walking along the coaster looking at all the things he did. He said, Lets go on another coaster, Dad! Fear was gone. It had dissipated because he faced the bully, and he won. He turned into a coaster maniac from that point on. Wheres the Iron Wolf? Let me at it! We were off and running. Hes never been afraid of a coaster since! He entered into a whole other dimension of living. He realized the thrill of a coaster, which hed been robbed of because of his fear. When we face the bully, and God enables us to overcome, we can look back and say, With Gods help, I did that! With Gods help, I faced that fear! With Gods help, I conquered that bully! That causes fear to leave and faith to rise up in our spirits. We begin to experience life to a greater degree of fullness and significance. So, what happens? Remember what weve learned about faith? The only thing that conquers fear is, what? Faith. Faith is the only thing that conquers fear. Weve learned about fear, that fear is passive? No. Fear gets out of the boat. Fear goes after Gods promises. I want you to see after this sermon how Jehoshaphat goes after the promises. I want you to see his faith. First thing, Verse 18, Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. The first thing Jehoshaphat does is begin to thank God and worship God for the promise even before the manifestation of the promise. Thats faith. Its one thing to thank God after hes answered the prayer. Its another thing to thank God before hes answered the prayer, when its still in its promise form, isnt it? Thats what faith does. They got down and worshiped God and thanked God for their victory before they even experienced it. Thats faith! Then he goes on in Verse 20, As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld… He begins to speak words of faith and life. One of the greatest things you can do to evict fear is begin to speak Gods promises, begin to speak hope to dark situations. Whatever has caused fear to rise up in your heart, speak to it! Speak words of faith, in Jesus name. …After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: Give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever. How about that for a front line? Wow! The singing army! This is the military strategy rarely used today! Okay, men, were getting ready to fight the army. Okay, how are our basses doing? How are our tenors? All right! Lets sing boys! You dont see that philosophy working too often. But Jehoshaphat says, Were going to go out in this battle, and were going to sing praise to God. One of our pastors was having a very discouraging time a couple weeks ago. It just seemed like something was consuming his or her mind, and he or she was just a little bit discouraged about it. I said, Well, whatd you do? Because you dont sound discouraged now. He said, I forgot about the problem, and I just started to praise God and sing! He just started to sing. When you sing and focus on God in his greatness, its amazing how your perspective can change! What had changed? Had the circumstance changed? The army was still camped about. Nothing had changed? Everything had changed because their attitude, their perspective, had changed. Fear had been evicted. Faith had taken its place. The Bible said they went out. What happened was God caused confusion. The three armies turned on each other and destroyed each other, very similar to what we read about Gideon a couple weeks back. All that Jehoshaphat and his men had to do was gather the plunder, and it took days to do it. Verse 26, On the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Beracah, where they praised the Lord. This is why it is called the Valley of Beracah to this day. What does the word beracah mean? It means blessing. When we follow these principles, we can see God take that which was once a source of fear and turn it into a source of blessing. Thats the kind of God we serve. We can look back on that experience that we dreaded and say, You know what? That was a place in my life where God manifested His power. That was a place in my life where God showed me He was watching my back. Thats what the Bible says in Isaiah. Hell be your rear guard. Hell watch your back. That could become a place of blessing to you. In Verse 29, The fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side. Theres another fear that is a good fear that we want to conclude with today, and thats talking about the fear of God. Some of us fear God in the wrong way. We believe the fear of God means you need to be afraid of God as though God is going to bring punishment or harm you in some way. I was driving to pick up my boy. It was dark, and we live out in the country. I turned onto a country road, and there was a squad car behind me. His lights came on-he was pulling me over! Im doing the check. My license is current. Ive got my seat belt on. Im not speeding. I came to a full and complete stop. Ive got my hands at 10 and 20. What did I do? Youve done that before. What in the world are they pulling me over for? I get my license out, thinking, Oh brother! I hold it out for him. The officer comes to the car and says, You have headlights and tail lights there? I said, Well, yeah. I turned them on. Its one of those cars that it is automatic. You dont have to ever turn it on. When you get home and turn off the car, it goes off by itself. When its dark, it comes on by itself. Does yours do that? So, somebody had turned it into the off position, and I didnt realize it. I went, Oh! When they came on, he said, Okay. Just wanted to make sure you were safe, and he walked back to his squad car. Did you want to see my license? Its current. He just walked off. That was the quickest stop I ever had with a police officer, right there. Sometimes, God comes on the scene, and we get a little paranoid, thinking, Whats He want? Whats He going to do? Is He going to punish me? What you dont realize is Gods on your side. The laws that Hes established are for your protection. If you fear Him and obey His commands, you need fear nothing else. You can say, like Twila Paris says in this song, I Am Not Afraid Anymore. Lets listen to this media. (Lyrics @ http://www.lyricskeeper.com/twila_paris-lyrics/212130-i_am_not_afraid_any_more-lyrics.htm) Were going to be turning to 1 John, Chapter 4:18 (page 1209). I want to tell a little story first. I read about a woman who wanted 1 John 4:18 read at her wedding, and the gentleman who was reading didnt realize there was two Johns in the Bible, the Gospel of John and 1 John. So he read from John 4:18 at the wedding. John 4:18 is the story of the woman at the well, and the verse says, It is right that you say you have no husband. In fact youve had five husbands, and the man youre living with now is not your husband. Not a good one to read at a wedding. In 1 John 4:18, it says, There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. Fear of God does not mean fear of punishment. Fear of God has to do with the respect and the reverence for Him. We desire to obey His law. When we do that, when the battles of life come against us, we can truly say, The battle is not ours. The battle belongs to Him. Then we turn it over to Him, and we watch Him turn that source of fear into blessings.

02-12-06
Speaker: Pastor Jeff Williams
Series: If You Want to Walk on Water Youve Got to Get Out of the Boat