FEARLESS Part 3 - What is your Focus?
July 16, 2023
*Part 2 Recap: * Importance of our thought life
- We saw that God has given us a sound mind and not a spirit of fear
- We saw how the 10 spies came back with an evil report because their thinking
exaggerated all the wrong things that were in the land.
Today, I want us to look at how what we focus on can either bring
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw
off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with
perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and
perfecter of faith.
—Hebrews 12:1-2
**Boldness operates in the atmosphere of
Over and over again in the book of Acts we see the disciples acting in boldness because
they were full of the Spirit and faith.
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains –
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip –
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep. —Psalm 121:1-4
My story of immigration issue.
**For months fear gripped me to the point of not wanting to answer the door because
I thought it was the immigration service here to deport me!!!!
I focused on my
***But one day I decided to fight back against that oppressive fear. I held on to the
revelation that the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof, the world and they that
dwell in it. This is God’s green earth and I can live anywhere God allows me to!!!
Eventually I got my papers reinstated… it was like a dream. Lol!!
**Some of you can relate. May be it’s not Immigration Service, it’s the IRS, or the
police etc.
LIFT UP YOUR EYES TO THE LORD!!!
**
15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an
army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh no, my lord! What shall we
do?’ the servant asked.
16 ‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those
who are with them.’
17 And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.’ Then the LORD opened
the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all
round Elisha. —2 Kings 6:15-17
**Some of us today are gripped with fear because we have not lifted our eyes to the
hills!!!!!
**Elisha’s servant was gripped with fear until his eyes were open!!
**Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world!!! 1 John 4:4
1. You may be afraid of lack today, but if your eyes are open to see
, your shepherd, and
, your provider…. you will not fear!!
The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
The Lord shepherds me, therefore, I lack nothing!!! Behold your Shepherd!!
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul. —Psalm 23:1-3And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus —Philippians 4:19
2. Some of us may be afraid of sickness today. Maybe a disease that is hereditary; a preport from the doctor, a pandemic etc. If our eyes are open to
we shall conquer the fear of sickness and disease
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the [a]fowler
And from the perilous pestilence (what kind, the perilous kind)
4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and [b]buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8 Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked. —psalm 91:1-8
3. If our eyes are open to see
, we shall not be afraid of weapons formed against us because we know they will not prosper and the Lord will fight our battles!!!!
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, ‘Why do you come out and line up for
battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and let
him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects;
but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.’ 10 Then
the Philistine said, ‘This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight
each other.’ 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were
dismayed and terrified.
16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his
stand. (harassment of the enemy)
22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his
brothers how they were. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine
champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and
David heard it. 24 Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great
fear.
25 Now the Israelites had been saying, ‘Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He
comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He
will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in
Israel.’ —I Samuel 17:8-25
**(Earthly wealth does not
wealthy)
32 David said to Saul, ‘Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your
servant will go and fight him.’
33 Saul replied, ‘You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are
only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.’
34 But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion
or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and
rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it
and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised
Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37
The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue
me from the hand of this Philistine.’ —1 Samuel 8:32-37
*David was putting his trust on the same God who gave him victory against the lion
and the bear! He was going to overcome the enemy by the word of his
Saul said to David, ‘Go, and the LORD be with you.’
45 David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin,
but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of
Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and
I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the
Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that
there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or
spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our
hands.’
48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly towards the battle line
to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the
Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on
the ground.
50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in
his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from
the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.
When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. 52 Then the
men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the
entrance of Gath[f] and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim
road to Gath and Ekron. 53 When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines,
they plundered their camp.
—i Samuel 8:44-53
*David kept his eyes on God and he overcame a
4. When we keep our eyes on the Lord, we shall not fear even when storms and circumstances come our way. Peter was able to walk on water when he kept his eyes on the Lord, but the moment his focus turned to the storm and the waves he began to sink!
5. When we keep our eyes on the Lord, we shall not fear even when we are persecuted for His name sake.
54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their
teeth at him. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the
glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see
heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’
As he gave his spirit to the Lord, he prayed for those who stoned him, that the Lord
would not hold this sin to their charge. —Acts 7:54-56
*It’s time to look up to heaven and behold the Lord. It’s time to lift up our eyes to the
hills and see that there are more with us than are against us.
*