Freedom From Fear

 

Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.”

We are going to see many changes and additions to our church as we merge with another local congregation starting next month, but one thing that will not be changing is ministry.  Our Friday evening small group Bible Study continues in our biblical examination into the emotion of “Fear”. That fear is rooted in what we believe; it’s a state of mind that can take a toll on our bodies and spirits, but for the Christian, when fear comes, it is to be replaced with trust in the Lord, with faith. Our study this week explained that freedom from fear comes through the fear of the Lord, where such fear is demonstrated by our reverence, respect, awe, confidence and trust in who God is, simply because He is God. The Hebrew word “batach” translated trusts, to be confident and sure in the verse above, expresses a sense of well-being and security that results from having someone in whom to place that confidence ... the Lord. The fear of man and trust in the Lord are in contrast to each other. 

Psalm 103:19 “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.”

If you are going to trust the Lord, then you have to know and understand Him – the attributes of the loving and merciful ever-present, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing, outside of time Creator and Lord of all. (1) We know and trust that God is “good’. (2) We know and trust that God is faithful to “His Word”. (3) God has the desire to do “good”, (4) God has the power to do “good”, (5) God will do “good”. 

Psalm 89:14 “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Loving-kindness and truth go before You.”

The word “Kingdom” is the abbreviation of the phase “the King’s Domain”. The Lord has dominion over the created Cosmos of Heaven and the Universe, which He reigns and rules with righteousness and justice, with loving-kindness and truth. His commands, decrees, laws, statutes and teachings have been set up to bless the loyal subjects of His Creation, but will break those who chose to oppose. There are no other gods.

Isaiah 45:5-7 “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One forming light and allowing darkness, causing well-being and allowing calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.

Fear is unbelief and distrust in God; trusting in your own abilities, which truly should be feared because fear separates us from God. There is no fear when we are holding the hand of our trust-worthy Father. Sir Francis Bacon stated in 1624: “Nothing is terrible except fear itself.” US President Franklin D. Roosevelt also stated: “The only thing we have to fear is...fear itself.” Love is the “vital sign” of Christian life. In Luke 12:4, Jesus said: “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.” The fear of the Lord is reverence, respect, awe, confidence and trust in Sovereign God, who can and will forgive sin, save the eternal soul, and restore our relationship with Him forever in love. This is liberty and freedom from fear.

1 John 4:9-18 “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 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.

In Christ, Brian