Matters Of The Heart-8-Overcoming Fear

Tonight Pastor Brad finishes his series Matters Of The Heart and teaches us about Overcoming Fear.

Pastors Notes:

TEXT
2 Timothy 1:1-7 NKJV

1 Paul, an apostle of [a]Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,2 To Timothy, a beloved son:Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.3 I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy,5 when I call to remembrance the [b]genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. 6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

INTRODUCTION
Good evening, everyone!
Tonight, we are going to be finishing off our series by teaching about something we have all dealt with at one time or another.
I want to talk to you about how to respond to bad news. We’ve entitled this “Overcoming Fear”.
Bad news— We've all been affected by it.We all know someone who personally has been affected by it.
A layoff list saying you are no longer employed.A paper from a lawyer saying that your spouse is divorcing you. A phone call saying someone has died.A doctors report saying you've got cancer and 6 months to live.
Just one word like that can change your life forever.
I’m sure that as I'm speaking right now, many of your minds are going to various places in your life, and to others that you know.

ILLUSTRATION
You know, I may be young, but Blonnie and I have walked through many trials in our lives as well.
When we were newly married, Blonnie began to have unexpected weight gain and her hair was falling out. After many tests, we found out that her thyroid tests revealed abnormalities that also revealed a goiter on her thyroid. Talk about something that will shake you. I’m glad we were in a church that taught us about faith and believing God. While she was at home ill, I went to church and had a man of God pray for me with her. When she went back to the doctor, the goiter was gone and the tests were normal!

Blonnie and I both were told because of reproductive problems, neither one of us would be able to have children. So we prayed, and 6 years later God answered. Shortly after becoming pregnant, she started bleeding profusely. The devil and medical science both told us that it was a possibility she would lose the baby. We had to stay in faith. We went down to Dallas and had Steve Hill pray for her. Well, she had Aaron completely healthy!

Six months after Aaron was born, we found out she was pregnant with Adam. When Adam was born, he had a low whimper that was cute at first. As he grew, it developed into a loud whistle. As we would feed him, he would throw it up and get choked. We took him to the doctor, and upon a series of studies, they found out that he had immature vocal chords. They said it wouldn't not fix on its own, and he would most likely have to have surgery. Well, that wasn't a good report either. We prayed, and the Lord healed him! The doctors even said they had never seen it happen like that!

 Most recently, I was stuck with pain in my side. After rushing to the ER, I found that I had a mass on my left kidney. The doctor wanted to remove my whole kidney, because the mass lit up when the dye ran through it and it was in a place it couldn't be removed. I prayed and stayed in faith. I had a well known evangelist pray with me, and we felt it move. After returning to the doctor, it was gone!
I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that fear didn't try to come in. I’m not going to try to tell you that I didn't struggle. I did however have to use the following principles we learn in Scripture about fear.

APPLICATION

1) We must recognize it.
2) We must resist it.
3) We must replace it.


CONCLUSION
There's nothing you can’t face without Jesus
Pastor Paul Troquille taught me that people stop construction while it’s storming.
Why?
Because it’s hard to build a house in the rain.Build your faith in God when its not storming, and it will be there when it is.