Let me go ahead and open up in a word of prayer and then we'll take a look at tonight's topic. Father, I want to thank You for Your goodness to us. You have provided us with all spiritual blessings. And I thank You for one of those is just being Your Word. Thank You for that and that through it we can live a life that's glorifying to You. And I pray that as we discuss the topic of fear and worry, that we would devote ourselves to living fear-free and worry-free, because this is what you desire of us. I thank you for the time that we will have and the message following. And I pray that you'd be glorified in all of it. In your name we pray, amen. Okay, we've taken a look through the last few weeks over a number of things. We built a foundation that Scripture is the foundation for our lives. It is the source, the source of the truth, and it is sufficient, meaning it's all we need. We don't need anything else. It is sufficient. for all life's issues. We took a look, Pastor talked about anthropology, understanding man's heart, and then how people change, and that's through a change of a heart, the change of the heart. Took a look at suffering, and Pastor talked about suffering and all that goes on with suffering, and then depression, I talked about that and then last Sunday about pornography, sexual sins. Tonight we're going to talk about fear and worry. fear and worry. And I want to preface all this by saying that as we go through these topics, as pastors mentioned, this isn't just something in which we take a look and we see what we need to do and we check off the box. That's not the intent. The intent is that we want to live a life that glorifies God. That is our purpose. That is what we want to do. Regardless if it removes pain or not, that's not the issue. The issue is living a life wholly devoted to Him and glorifying to Him. First Corinthians 10 31 whether we Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God Revelation 11 or 4 11 says worthy. Are you O Lord our God to receive glory and honor? And power for you created all things and because of your will they existed and were created That's our mandate to glorify God, to honor Him. And the only way we can do this in our lives is to live a life that's based on Scripture, based on biblical principles. So tonight as we take a look at fear and worry and anxiety, those things aren't new to us. They're probably things that we have dealt with in our own lives as men. And to give kind of a basis for this, I've got some definitions here of fear. It's unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. And there can really be two fears that Scripture talks about. There's a godly fear in which that is something that we're commanded to have. We're commanded to fear God, to fear Him. Then there's an ungodly fear. That's a fear that is driven by selfishness. It's not out of love for others, but it's a love for self, if you get right down to it. than worry or anxiety. This is apprehension, uneasiness or nervousness, usually over the impending or anticipated ill. It's a state of being anxious. This is dwelling on something that may happen. It hasn't happened, but it may happen. So I've got to spend some time to worry about that, don't I? Fear and worry and anxiety are very real emotions. They're very real. And they can grip a person and can actually cause him to do things that are not godly. They're not godly. Fear is also a big business. It's big business. If you look at the news, what gives news ratings? It's things that can cause fear, and we gravitate towards that. Or talk shows, or even advertisements can have a subtle message of fear in it, and we don't want to be fearful, so we will buy whatever, or we will lock into whatever philosophy they're portraying. There's not a verse in Scripture that commands us to worry. I did a search and there's nothing in there that says you should worry about this. It doesn't say that. What it says is don't worry. There's also, well let me look at this, Matthew chapter 6 verse 31, it says, Do not worry then, saying what we will eat, or what we will drink, or what we will wear for clothing. And then Luke 12, 11. When they bring you before the synagogues and rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your own defense or what you are to say. Here we see two verses that talk about our basic needs in life and it says, don't worry about them. Then this one in Luke is really a time to where, okay, these are some very bad circumstances. You're in front of these rulers and authorities. Don't worry about what you're going to say. Don't worry about it. So let's take the first item, that of fear. What do men fear? What are some things, and I just listed down a few things, and then I've got a blank, but you could probably put a number of blanks in there as to what men fear or what they worry about. Losing a job. That's a fear some men have, that they might lose their job because in doing so, it won't provide for the family then. Then what am I going to do? Or job performance review. Am I going to get a bad grade and then maybe I won't get that promotion or I won't get that raise? Or what about entering into retirement? The fear that, okay, once I enter into retirement, what am I going to do now? I have a loss of purpose. What am I going to do? life events, the car's acting up, so how am I going to get to work? Or if I die, what about the kids? What about my wife? How are they going to be taken care of? These are some worries or some fears that some men have. And here you can put in what you fear or what you have feared. Fill in the blank there on something like that. Then for women, I actually asked my wife, What do women fear? She counsels other women, and so she gave me a few things. Husbands losing their job. If he loses his job, how am I going to feed the kids because we won't have money to buy food? Or what if we lose the house? Where are we going to live? Appearances. Women worry about, am I too fat? Do I look fat? Appearances. People don't like me. This comes up when, especially when they're in a conflict with someone else. They think, well, man, I don't know if that person really likes me. Or salvation of the children. They're concerned about the salvation of their children. Are the children gonna be, they've gotta be saved. They've just got to be. or the husband not stepping into a situation and taking control as he should as being the head of the house. They fear these things. So fear is not something that is just with men or just with women. It's with both. It's with both. As I said, these things, fear and worry, are very real. They're heart issues. They're heart issues, and we'll see that. Ungodly fear is intimidating and paralyzing. There's no benefit at all with ungodly fear. It doesn't accomplish anything. Because the focus is not upon God, but upon self. It's upon self. It's focusing on what may or may not happen to me. Now you may think, well, I'm fearful of something that might happen to somebody else. Yeah, but it's going to run in and affect you in the end. And you're fearful of that. It is selfishness. Fear is selfishness. I want to control the situation so that I benefit from it, either physically or financially. Ungodly fear takes on one or a combination of the following attributes, and we'll take a look at this. Either fight, flight, or freeze. Whenever someone is fearful, they'll either fight or their flight, or they'll freeze. And I want to take a look at Scripture, because Scripture gives us those examples of those three attributes that people exhibit. Okay, for fight. Fighting is an action based upon fear or worry. It's a consequence that if nothing is done in our time frame, within our schedule, or the way we want it, then we're going to fight. An example would be Saul. If you turn to 1 Samuel chapter 13, King Saul, 1 Samuel 13. If you look in verse five, You get the context here that the Philistines are assembling together and and they're going to fight with Israel and Saul is the the king of Israel at the time and he and he sees what's going on with these men They're gathering together. All the Philistines are gathering together and in verse 7 starting with verse 7. Also some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he was still in Gilead, and all the people who followed him were what? They were trembling. So he's got some people here that are following him that aren't really courageous. They're trembling at what's going to happen because they see the Philistines, they see the mighty army that's taking place. Verse eight, now he waited seven days according to the point of time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to good and the people were scattering from him. It's not happening within his timeframe. Samuel said, wait, and he waited for seven days according to Samuel, but Samuel did not show up and the people start scattering. Now, as a leader, you don't want people leaving. You want people following, especially when you go into battle, okay? So Sos said, bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offering, and he offered the burnt offering. So he took action. He fought. He was fearful, he fought. And he said, bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offering. And he offered up the burnt offering. As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. But Samuel said, interesting, Samuel confronts Saul as to what he did. He did not have the fear of whom? God, of man. He did not have the fear of man. He confronts Saul, the king, and he says, what have you done? And Saul said, because I saw the people were scattering from me, and you did not come within the appointed days, and the Philistines were assembling, Therefore I said, now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgad and I have not asked the favor of the Lord. So I, what? I forced myself. I forced myself and offered the burnt offerings. He fought. He was fearful of what was going on. Things weren't happening in his timetable. He fought. So we see the action here of Saul forcing himself to do the burnt offerings, which he was not to do. Samuel was to do that. That was his job. He was responsible for that. Okay, that's example of fight. Now, flight. Flight is running away from something. It is fear in confronting an issue or a person. Example would be Elijah. Turn to 1 Kings chapter 18. 1 Kings 18, Elijah here confronts the people and specifically the prophets of Baal. And this is a very familiar story with us. Verses 30-40, what happens is that Elijah takes the altar, he puts wood on it, and he has the people throw water on it, not once, not twice, but three times. He soaks the thing to where it's just drenched. And we see here that God in his power comes down and he consumes not only the altar, but the water. the verses here, 30 through 40. It's interesting that Elijah then, after He sees this take place and God shows His power. The people, in verse 39, when all the people saw it, they fell on their face and they said, the Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God. Then Elijah said to them, seize the prophets of Baal and do not let one of them escape. So they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook of Kiddush and slew them there. How many prophets were there? One. There were 450. Yes, 450 prophets. And what does Elijah do? Complete bloodbath that occurs. Okay, now he is seeing God's power and consuming the altar. He kills all these prophets. And then as you read on, verses 41 through 46, he prays that it rains and it rains. And then we come up and we see chapter 19, verse one. Now Ahab told Jezebel, Ahab the king told Jezebel the queen, all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with a sword. So Ahab has told Jezebel about the altar being consumed with fire, about all the prophets that he has killed, Elijah has killed. Then Jezebel sent to a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. Verse three, this is Elijah's response. And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba. which belongs to Judah and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey to the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die and said, it is enough now, oh Lord, take my life for I'm not better than my father's. Here's a guy that's running away from home, the queen. Because she has said, I'm going to kill you. When he has seen the hand of God, the power of God through all this, he's taken flight. He's taken flight. He was afraid and he ran. He was afraid and he ran. The other attribute, freezing. This is inaction, doing nothing. The fear or worry that if action when needed is taken, it will be wrong. Paul addresses this with Timothy. And in 2 Timothy, the last letter that Paul writes, he gives instruction to Timothy. In verse 7 of chapter 1, Paul says, For God has not given us a spirit of timity, frozen fear, but a power and love and discipline. God does not give us a fearful spirit, one that holds back, one that doesn't take action, but he's given us a spirit of power and love and discipline. That describes ungodly fear, okay? So what's godly fear? What does that look like? Let's take a look at that. Godly fear acknowledges who God is, His attributes or His judgments, and we're commanded to fear God. We are commanded to fear God. Godly fear acknowledges who He is. Look in Deuteronomy. I've got Deuteronomy 13, verse 4. It says, You shall follow Yahweh, your God, and fear Him, and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. We are commanded throughout Scripture to fear God, to fear Him. According to verse three, actually the fear of God shows that we love Him. We love Him, not ourselves. We love Him. Our fear factor is to be high in fearing God. We should not have a low fear factor. We should have a high fear factor. towards God. Fearing God also has great rewards. See here in Psalms 112 verses 1-7. Look at the rewards that we get in fearing God. It says, "'Praise Yahweh! How blessed is the man who fears Yahweh, who greatly delights in his commands!' His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealthy and riches are in His house, and His righteousness endures forever. Light arises in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious and compassionate. and righteous. It is well with a man who is gracious and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment, for he will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. He will not fear evil tidings. His heart is steadfast, trusting in Yahweh. That's the fear of God. That is the attributes that comes out from fearing God. He is one that's blessed. His heart is steadfast and he trusts God. He trusts God. He doesn't trust himself. He doesn't trust his circumstances. He trusts God. A good example of correct reaction to fear is with Jacob, meaning Esau. If you turn to Genesis, chapter 32, take a look at this. Genesis, chapter 32. just set the context, Jacob is coming back from his time with Laban, and he's coming back to the land which God has promised. And verses 2 through, well let's see, let's start with verse 3. Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He also commanded them, saying, Thus shall you say to my lord Esau. Thus says your servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants. I have sent to tell my Lord that I may find favor in your sight." So he sends messengers to Esau. Verse six, the messengers returned to Jacob saying, we came to your brother Esau. Furthermore, he is coming to meet you and 400 men are with him. Now remember the relationship between Jacob and Esau. that Jacob had gotten his birthright from Esau. So the brotherly love was very contentious. Let's put it that way, all right? So the messengers come, they say, okay, there's 400 men that are coming with your brother Esau. Verse 7, then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people who were with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two companies. He took action. He took action. He divided this group that was with him into two companies. For he said, if Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape. Then we see not only Jacob taking action, but in verse nine, Jacob prays. He prays. He says, Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who has said to me, return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you. I am unworthy of all the loving kindness and all the faithfulness which you have shown to your servant. For with my staff only I crossed with this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. For you said, I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered." Interesting that he prays to God. He says, I'm unworthy. I am unworthy. You have promised this. You have promised to take me into the land. He's referring back to the promises God has made to him, saying, God, you promised this. I'm up here against Esau now, and I'm scared to death. I'm scared that he's going to attack me, but I'm going to hold you to your promise. I'm going to hold you to the promise. Reading on, they greet each other in chapter 33. In verse four, it says, then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and they wept. Interesting. The fear that Jacob had, God took care of it with Esau and he ran towards Jacob and kissed him. And they reestablished their relationship together. Now, this is a good example where action was taken and Jacob prayed to God about this whole deal. And he went ahead forward. He didn't freeze. He didn't fight. And he didn't run away. But he went towards Esau. They came together, ran and embraced one another. Now, this is a great ending, but that doesn't mean that all endings are this way. God doesn't promise us that if we do this, everything's going to work out the way we want it to within our timeframe. But what he does promise is that he will get glory for it. Amen. He will give glory for it. He was in the will of God. Yep. Yep. Yep. He was fearful of his past doings and he was anticipating the repercussions whatever it may be. Yeah. Now, apply that to today and I've got an example here of reasonable fears when danger enters our lives. Let's say there's a storm outside. There's a tornado. Our first action? Take cover. Get the family and take cover. That's reasonable because of what damage that could be done. Then we pray and ask God to take care of things. We don't pray and assume that our house won't be damaged. We don't assume anything, but we leave it up to God. Let God take care of it. We don't worry about whether or not the insurance is going to come through. We don't worry about, okay, where are we going to live in case our house is destroyed? We allow God to do His work, allow Him to take care of us because that's what He has promised. That's what He has promised. David in Psalms 56 verse 3 writes, when I am afraid, I will trust in myself. No No, when I'm afraid I will put my trust in you Period no worrying no fretting God is sovereign in all things Okay, so now what what do we do when we're faced with ungodly fears when when worry comes and creeps over us when we become anxious and And I've got an itemized list here. First of all, just confess. Confess that we're wanting to control. We're being selfish and wanting to control the circumstances. You fear whatever rather than God, because that's what you ended up doing. You put fear as your idol. You're worshiping fear. You do not want to lose whatever, whether that be material or someone in your life, your spouse or whatever. You confess that you don't want to lose that person or thing. You're making whatever an idol. You put off this incorrect thinking, which causes fear and anxiety, thinking of self, of what might happen to me. In 1 John 4.18, there is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment. And the one who fears is not perfected in love. It's interesting that John takes fear and love and there's a contrast there between those two. Because when we love, we don't fear. Fear is the opposite of love because love is looking and focusing on others, not upon ourselves. Fear is looking at ourselves and what we want, what might happen to us. Put on before fear strikes. And I've got here, put on before fear strikes, and then I've got put on when fear does strike. Replace wrong thinking. We put on the fear of God. We trust in His promises like Jacob, like David. We trust in His love. How do we do that? The Word of God. The Word of God is where we go. We don't go to self-help books. We don't go to people and say, well, your fear is justified because of whatever. We go to God's Word. Reading Philippians 4, 6-9 provides us some great, really great instructions. And I've got up there just a condensed version of 6-9. Peace. Replace God-honoring thinking with peace. Because if you look at verses 6-9, it says, Be anxious for nothing. Put that off. Put off anxiousness. But in everything that's put on, everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto God. So we're putting off anxious thinking and putting on prayer. We're replacing the anxious thinking with prayer. And then the peace of God, which passes all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, this is what we're to put on. Put on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good repute. If there is any excellent in anything worthy of praise, dwell Meditate fix your minds upon these things The things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me being Paul Practice these things and the God of peace will be with you when I was reading that and I was thinking okay Paul had a sense of peace about him. But what did he go through? Turn to 2nd Corinthians 2 Corinthians chapter 11, starting with verse 23. Paul's telling the church there at Corinth, he says, are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane. I'm more so in far more labors and far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. At night and a day I've spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys in danger of drivers, danger of robbers, danger of my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on sea, dangers among false brethren. I've been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure of concern for all the churches. I think if I was Paul, I would have some worry and some fear. after going through all that. But what does he say here in Philippians? These things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. Do you think he spoke from life experiences? Yeah, that God was faithful. God gave him a peace. God gave him a peace in every circumstance, in every circumstance. Memorize scripture you can memorize the verses 6 through 9 of Philippians chapter 4 or any verse You can look in scripture and see verses that relate to fear or worry and you can commit those to memory Romans chapter 12 verse 2 it says and do not be conformed to this world Why? Because they live in fear But put that off, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Put that on, put on renewed mind so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Study. What does God say about himself? Why should I fear God? Study his words, study his attributes, study who he is. Study about His sovereignty. Study that God cares for us and wants our best. Those are just a few topics you can study. Put on, when fear strikes, pray. Pray. Psalm 34, verse 4, I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. David provides a godly response to fear as well. He says, when I'm afraid, I will put my trust in myself. No, I will put my trust in you. Ask questions. What am I fearing more than God? What am I fearing more than God? What wrong thoughts do I have? Thoughts that are not honoring to God. Those things. Bring to remembrance, memory verses. What thoughts do I need to think? What is the responsible thing to do? What is responsible? I got an example of a storm coming. The responsible thing is to get your family down below when times storm. What is a loving action I can take? Remember, loving action is for the benefit of somebody else. Not for yourself. Not for yourself. What constructive thing can I do that would bring honor to God? Bring honor to Him. Note these questions are not about you. They're about others. They're about others. Be willing to endure the temptation to fear, to bring honor to God, which is what we want to do. Our lives, we want to honor Him. We want to glorify Him through our lives. The next page, I've got a chart and it's what we fear. more than God chart. It's an idols of the heart chart. OK, it's things like like the first one. What might we fear or worry? We might fear man. I gave example here. If I confront him, he will get angry and I will lose him as a friend. So I'm not going to confront him because I fear that I might lose him as a friend. What we're looking for is man's approval. by doing that. That's what we want. We want man's approval. Well, the correct response is trust in God and please Him. And sometimes we need to confront our brothers with sin in their lives. We're to do that in Galatians. Another fear or worry is hard times. A communist party might gain political power and the economy will cave in and I will be tortured. And what will happen then? Well, what we want is a life of ease and comfort without pain. Right? So what are correct responses to worship God? We need to realign our thinking towards Him. Another fear would be losing something or someone. A project is almost complete and there's not another one behind it. I'm going to lose my job. What am I going to do then? Well, what we're actually worshiping, what the idol is, is money, health, or a loved one. The correct response is don't worry, but continue to seek the kingdom. We're to put off the love of money and be content with what we have. And do not be afraid. God is with you. Body harm. I'm not going to go on that business trip. I feel something's going to happen that the plane will crash and then who's going to take care of the wife and kids. Our idol is safety and no pain. Our correct response is, at this time, approving the genuineness of your faith, praise and honor him, greatly rejoicing. What can man do to me? What can he really do to me? Dying. I've been told I have cancer. I do not want to die. What will my family do without me? Here, we're wanting control over our life and our life situation, our life experiences here. Our correct response is fear God, not man. We will ultimately be with Him, will we not? God is in control of your life and your death. He's in control of that. There's some blanks here, and you can fill this out yourself. Things that you fear or worry, and then what is it that you are holding as being the idol in your heart? And then what is the correct response? What is it that we can see in Scripture should be the correct response that we are to have? So this is a worksheet, a chart that you can utilize, not only for yourself, but for others as well. And you can run through this and say, okay, what is it you're fearing? What is it you're worrying about? How's that an idol in your own heart? And then what does Scripture say concerning that? Okay? Men, we cannot glorify God We cannot glorify Him if we have the isle of fear. That is not honoring to God. We can glorify God if we trust Him and meditate upon His Word. That's how we honor God and bring glory to Him. Fear is selfishness. Fear is thinking of ourselves. Love is loving others, the focus upon others. Okay, let's pray. Father, I want to thank you for your word and how it speaks to us in our everyday lives. I'm thankful that you have given us your word that we might glorify you. You want us to glorify you. You command us to glorify you, to fear you, to love you. Father, I'm thankful that you've given us your Word, which gives us instruction on how to do that. And I pray that as men, that we might lead our families. We might lead those that we live with, that we're around, showing them and honoring you by not having fear, not being worrying over or fretting over things that happen in our lives, but that we would have the peace that passes all understanding because it comes from You. No matter what the circumstances, no matter how it ends, we can trust You. And I'm thankful for that. In Your name we pray, Amen. I've also got on the back, for the last part, some resources. Three books that are very good in dealing with fear and worry and being anxious. So if you need any resources, they're there.