IT'S JUST A TEST

IT’S JUST A TEST

BIG IDEA Faith overcomes fear!

CONNECT (Me) As a beginning band student, my director entered me in the All-Region band contest.  The night before the auditions, he hosted a concert where all the students would perform their audition pieces.  When my turn came, I stopped halfway through and could not finish.  I knew the piece, could play it perfectly at home, but fear gripped me and made me unable to perform!  I was so embarrassed I did not go to the auditions the next day. Even though my director encouraged me and believed I would pass the audition, my fear overcame my faith and led to my withdrawal and missing what might have been an incredible blessing.  

TENSION (We) The journey from where we were to where we want to go has a big gate at the end of it labeled “FEAR”!  If we let fear rule us, we will miss out on the bold blessings that God has planned for us!

SOLUTION We conquer the gate of fear by faith. 

1 John 5:4 NIV For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

PRAYER

INSTRUCTION (God)

Israel left Egypt, journeyed to the Promised Land by way of Mount Sinai, and now stood poised to enter into all God had called them to!

They camped at a place called Kadesh Barnea at the southern border of the Promised Land.  Moses sent out spies to check out the land. Let’s read what happened.

Numbers 13:25 NKJV And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.

26 Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

The excitement grows as the spies come back with grapes so big that the clusters have to be carried between two men! 

Then they continued their report…

Numbers 13:28 NKJV Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

The spies gave a bad report. They did not believe what God said. They were moved by sight, not faith. Fear took hold of them and spread to all the people!

Now you may be right there today. You have journeyed and stand on the cusp of the greatest adventure of your life and right there, right there in front of you is a huge gate, locked from the inside by fear.

Fear is debilitating.

Job 3:25 NKJV For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me.

Proverbs 29:25 NKJV The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.

Hebrews 2:15 NKJV and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

How will you react?  Israel did not do well!

Numbers 14:1 NKJV So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”

They didn’t enter into their inheritance!  They tried later, but were rejected. Everyone who refused to believe never got in!  Only Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who brought a good report, got in. Everyone else died in the wilderness, waking around in circles just a few miles from Kadesh!

Obedience was not the issue; faith was the issue.  We will do what we believe!

What is God saying? To unlock the gate we must reject fear!

Romans 8:15 NKJV For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

II Timothy 1:7 NKJV For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

I John 4:18 NKJV There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

And embrace faith!  Faith is believing what God said!

Matthew 4:4 NKJV But He answered and said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every (rhema) word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Romans 10:17 NKJV So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the (rhema) word of God.

When God spoke to me about planting a church, I questioned why. I was content with what I thought was my niche. God said He could not use me because I had never done anything by faith. God could not use me until I did something by faith!  Suddenly I was thrust into a realm I knew nothing about. I had to live by faith.

Hebrews 10:38 NKJV Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.

God reduces us to the level of our faith. He places us in situations where we can’t accomplish anything in our own strength! He puts us out in the limb of the tree and saws it off behind us. Sometimes He cuts down the whole tree just to see if we will trust Him!  It’s all about my trust in Him!  No flesh shall glory in His presence!

Look at Abraham, called the father of faith…

Romans 4:19 NKJV And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, do not fear! What God has promised, He is able to perform!

INSPIRATION (We) Why is it important for us to go in in through the gate into all God had for us?  We must go in for the sake of the people around us! You need to finish the journey for the sake of your children and your grandchildren!

Numbers 14:13-14 MSG But Moses said to GOD, “The Egyptians are going to hear about this! You delivered this people from Egypt with a great show of strength, and now this? The Egyptians will tell everyone.

ACTION STEPS (You)

James 1:2-4 MSG Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

Now what do we do when you come up against a locked gate and fear overwhelms you?

First, repent of your unbelief.

Second, remember the promise.

Third, start to walk it out.

Once you start to walk, you will hear the click of the lock as the gate opens and the fear will be gone!

Here are some verses to memorize…

Psalms 27:1 NKJV The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalms 118:6 NKJV The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Hebrews 13:6 NKJV So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

HASHTAG #nofear