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"Every Believer's Authority Over Fear" Part 1 - Pastor Jennifer Field - Jun. 16. 2024
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"Every Believer's Authority Over Fear" Part 1 - P…
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So the message title today is Every Believer's Authority Over Fear. We talk a lot here about praying in the Spirit, how to be led by the spirit, the mind, how to get the mind under control, how to quiet the mind, how to protect the mind from thoughts that are not of God. And listen, you can stay there for years because it's critical. It's like learning about the blood. You can stay there for years and it wouldn't hurt you to do so. But when I was trying to get the message for this morning, I had a full message that I pulled out from. And I was looking down through and putting new notes in it, but I had a flat feeling and I said, well, I know what that means. It means it's not for this Sunday. So what is it, Lord? And so he directed me to talk to you about fear, specifically fear. And so for this message, it's to talk about fear, whether it's subtle, whether it's loud and in your face. And it's also about replacing that fear with faith and about growing in maturity. Because whatever you yield to controls you. And you can't straddle the fence. There is no fence for this stuff. You're either not in faith or you're in fear or. Well, that's the same thing. You're either in faith or you're in fear. And so I want. I've got word on this this morning. I want this to go into you. I want you to change after today. I want you to go further in this. Because fear is an enemy and God has put the tools in us to deal with it. So when it comes to fear, the first thing I wanted to say is we have to set the expectation through the wor that we have the right to live without fear. I'm going to let that sink in. Because every single one of us, you get into this planet, I mean, it starts as early as your youngest memories it pervades. And some of us are operating in fear and we don't even know. It's so entrenched. It might not be the boogeyman. I'm shaking. Kind of. That movie made me scared. Fear, but it controls us and we yield to it. For some of us, in yielding to fear, there's things that God wants us to do and we don't realize that that little feeling of stepping back or shrinking or is actually it's fear and not stepping forward to do the things that God has for us to do. Listen, the youth that are in here, I just want to tell you right now, when I was a young girl. I was young. You know, when you' so young that you're just not afraid of anything in that sense, like, you're up doing the play, you're up doing this, you're up doing that. Well, I used to sing in school and I loved it. Apparently, I can't remember that. But as I got older, into the early teens, I began to be ravaged by fear. And I would be on the list to get up during the school assemblies because I was in a Christian school and we had practiced and whatever. And this awful feeling would come and it would be this feeling of, oh my gosh, they're going to call my name and I'm not going to be able to get up there. It was debilitating. It was paralyzing. That's a good word for it, you know, where you start swallowing and then your mind goes blank. And it was fear. Now, if I didn't know how to handle it, and I'll be honest with you, I didn't handle it. So at about, I think 14, I just said, I've had enough of this. I remember my friend Teresa sitting next to me in school and she had to sing too. And I said, like, do you feel. I feel sick to my stomach. What do you feel like? She goes, I can't wait to get up there. That's honestly, like, you could mark it. One was gunning, which is the way you should be, because it's an opportunity to excel and to perform and enjoy yourself. And I was looking at every opportunity to back out. Now if I dissected that attack, it's fear. Because God wanted me to continue to develop. But I put an ax in it and said, that's it. I'm not going through this anymore. And so decades passed. Well, I want to say, listen, it's not just for the youth, but he'll come for the youth. I'm telling you. Youth. He wants you to. To compare yourself to somebody else. Listen, okay, I'm going to say this. It is the worst thing to compare yourself to someone else. And because you don't sound like them, look like them, have the certain way that you admire about them, but you're forgetting that there's a table of things he's put in you. And if you never develop them, they die. They die. Do you know, listen, people that are on a world stage today, if you. I'm just taking singing, for example, because that was what I enjoyed or didn't enjoy, but wanted to enjoy. And if you watch them in their younger years, you Go. Oh, well, I guess they definitely improved. They do the befores, they do the afters. All they did was they didn't quit. They kept going, they kept believing, they kept implementing. But you and I weren't there for all the times that they felt like, I'm gonna quit this. That note sounded awful. I don't know when I'm gonna get that. Why don't I sound like that person? Cause we all have people that we admire and love and just want to be like them. And it's okay to admire and want something like that. It's not okay to trash what's in you. You don't even know what's in you yet. But the way you will not know for certain and for sure is to kill it with comparison and never allowing yourself to grow. There's amazing muscle memory in us. There's amazing mediocre things. They look mediocre today, but they won't look mediocre if you don't allow fear to shut you down. And listen, every adult in here, this is for you as well. Fear, it goes after the young, goes after the middle, goes after the, goes after the 90 year olds. I'm telling you, no one can escape this. But you have to know the truth and you have to enjoy what God gave you and find a way, find a way through the Word to let yourself flourish and not allow fear to come in and shut you down. So we have the right, the God given right to live without fear. So then it's most of us when we hear to live without fear, there's a natural sense of, well, I don't fear a lot, but it's natural. This is natural to fear. It's a normal tendency to fear. Everybody fears things. So there can be a danger of allowing things to remain. They may not remain fully, but the door is, the crack of it is kept open. But God is not saying that in his word. Fear is an enemy for us. But we have been given total authority, total, total authority over everything that a spirit of fear would bring. Whether it's, I mean, it's the spirit of fear, but whether it's circumstances that look like it's evidence now we can be afraid, or whether it's a small thing that you almost have to drag out from the shadows to go, huh, I think that's fear. But you might not have noticed it till you took inventory. So we have to align our life with the laws of God to operate a fearless life. Because it's his laws that enable us to live without fear. Only His Word, only his laws. That's it. So there's two laws and I love this verse, Romans 8:2 for the law of the spirit of life. I know it's a hallelujah, like just lean back in the chair and go. The law of the spirit of life. Laws, governance. The spirit of life, that realm is governed by laws that you can trust. And it has what it has made us free from the law of sin and death. The law of sin and death is why we're afraid. Because we're afraid of death, destruction, afraid of things that come, that cause us pain. And it's of that law, the law of sin and death. So the first law being the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, faith governs this law. That's why God is always telling us, put my word first, feed on my word. It's spirit food. If you eat natural food, just bear with me. I know that sounds kind of boring, but you get the nutrients out of it. But spiritual food is the same. If you are deficient in nutrition naturally something goes wrong with the body and can even go wrong with the mind because of poor nutrition. But spirit food is identical. It's identical if you are not feeding. If you don't feed on spiritual food, you're going to be a church going Christian. That's mental assenting and thinks God's okay or good or whatever. But there's no power because that word, you didn't feed on it, it didn't go into the nutrition, didn't go into your spiritual cells. You have nothing to draw on. Try run a race, try to train for a marathon and you don't eat right, you're going. The way that you perform is directly affected. The way that you perform, I don't mean works, I mean the way you operate as a Christian. If that food is not chewed down because if that bread of life is not going down into you, you cannot live a fearless life. You can't, it's impossible. You won't be able to. But if you just put in your life a feeding. I was telling the Bible school class about Daniel about it says, you know, he prayed three times a day. And we, we think that's great. But then I said this because I like these workout analogies. What if I told every one of you here for the rest of your life, you're working out three times a day no matter what. Just think about it. Your first thought is, I'm working out three times a day. Imagine the way you have to structure your life. There's a start and stop Everything is. You know what I mean? We stop to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, and you feel it when you don't. So the prayer life is great, but without word. It's got to be word, word, word, word. You don't know how many times I've been corrected by the spirit of God. It's great that you're praying. It's great that you're going to church. It's great that you love me. More word, Jennifer. More word. Because there's no when I go to run, the strength is not there. It's the word. It's the word. That little feeling you feel before you settle down to read the Word. It's called flesh. It's flesh. The devil's like, oh, you just give it five minutes, you'll be glad to be in there. That's it. So discipline, discipline, discipline. Discipline will get you into the sweet life. Feed your spirit, feed your spirit. So life in the spirit, what does it mean? And I was thinking about this. You know, what is a life? It's emotion, it's activities, it's adventures, it's adversities. That's a life. Life in the spirit means that you're never without answers anymore when there's an enemy. It's life in the spirit. You've already been guaranteed that life in the Spirit has the right emotions about this, the right actions about this, the right words about this, the right way to think what the activities to execute. And it's not just about an enemy. It's also about the joy of the Lord living in the realm of the Spirit, operating there and not allowing things to bring you back out. So we want to make sure that we are living our life by the laws of the Spirit of life and not of sin and condemnation. Because that realm is ruled by fear. The first one is ruled by faith. The second one is the polar opposite, and it's ruled completely by fear. It brings death, it brings destruction, it brings torment, it brings a lack of trust. It brings no end in sight. It brings whatever you can think of of that realm. That's what it brings. So if God is telling us, and I'll show you through the scriptures, that we not only can live a life without any fear, but that he also says that fearing and worrying is forbidden. It's actually a sin for the believer. The Bible is totally intolerant of the spirit of fear, 100%. The Bible doesn't say that's natural. The Bible says, attack it, go after it, get it out. I've made you a master of it anything that is fear. Wow. Wow. Faith leads the believer into all the blessings of God. That's why you need it. Because you're not operating on this plane, you're operating from that place. That's why you need faith. Because so much of what we do, we can't see. We will see, but so much of what we do is not about this realm. It fixes this realm, but we have to go there in our faith. And if we're moored to this place, then we can't see that other realm. We can't have the faith of God. God put his faith in you. God put his faith in you. You just have to exercise it. It's his faith in you. So the thing about faith is you have to do an all out effort to develop by feeding on the Word. Whereas fear is a default setting for this earth. You don't have to do a thing, you will be afraid. You don't have to develop fear. It's there, it's default, it's natural. And that's not where we live. That is not what the Word says. Most of us don't expect a fear free life. We think it's unrealistic. But that's not what the Word says. Just listen to this. When you're born again, you're a new creature. And God put his authority in your spirit. And now everything in your life is about revelation of what he made you and starting to begin to stand up to those forces that are trying to convince you you're not an overcomer. You are afraid. You can't win this one. This is how you've been made. This is your lot in life. God's not saying that. He's not. And he's trying to get you into the realm of the spirit, into skill. So that those things that you're wrestling with the devil night and day, they start getting flicked off you, they start coming off you, all of it. And by that I mean everything. I don't mean what we consider hard, I mean everything. The Word is king. Everything's different when you're born again. Everything. I love that the Bible is so intolerant of the spirit of fear. Do you know, I think I heard someone say this week and they were going through the word, the one thing that God commands 365 times in the Word is do not fear. Yeah, I didn't know how many times. I knew it was all through the word. 365. Nice number, right? Covers every day. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Listen, when I Was younger. The Lord delivered me many times from different kinds of fears. And I've told you about being driven out of church, right? I think most people here would know that. The Lord told me, I've delivered you. I didn't feel delivered. I did not feel delivered. I felt horrible. I felt fearful, I felt oppressed. I'd get in church and things would be great and we'd get to the end of the service and this horrible. What was it? Spirit of fear. A spirit of fear. This one's obvious. Some are not as obvious, but this one would come and I would be driven out of church because I was terrified. I knew with my mind there was nothing to be scared of. We were in church. No one's hurting me. People are coming over to say hi. People are nice in church, right? So then I went home and I began to talk to the Lord about it. But I talked to the Lord about it from a place of fear, from a place of defeat, like, please help me, God. I got this problem. And he was stern with me. That was one of the times he spoke to me. And he said, rebuke it. That's how he said it. So I went to church and I put my hands on the bottom of the seat when that time came, because it came, because it came that way every day. What's it trying to do? Establish a foothold in my life. If it can get me to believe it, then it can have its full access, its full personality through my being. And I'm going to make decisions based on being hemmed in by that spirit. He's looking for a stronghold, so he's hitting deep frontal assault until if he can get my agreement. And for a while I stumbled around, but I knew enough of the word to know that was like there was an answer. But I still was not very happy because I felt the fullness of this thing. And to be honest with you, I'm in my early 20s. I haven't tried some of these weapons out yet. And I'm thinking, is this going to be a dog fight? You know what I mean? And so I did it. No time. I don't know if I did it. I did it for less than two months. And I can't thank God enough for that. I would just sit there and grab the seat and I turn toward it. I plead the blood. I have rights. Even then I knew I had rights. I plead the blood. I thank you, Father. This is broken. Satan, I rebuke you. I'm resisting you. I'm promised of fleeing if I Resist you. And I remember another time. I grew up with boy cousins. All boys. I love my boys. But I'm just saying, I was around all boy cousins growing up. And they loved to frighten each other. They thought I was good fun. I don't think that's good fun. They would, like, put skill into it. I'm telling you. They'd hide in the. They'd hide in the pathway. We would ride our skidoos at night. Pop would put gas in it for us, and we knew the trail. And one night, I'm riding home and someone jumps. It's dark. All I can see is the light on my skidoo down the trail. And someone jumps. Someone has waited. My cousin waited off to the side and jumps and tries to tear me off the skidoo. And of course. And as he's trying to tear me off, I'm hitting, you know, the gas. And I just barely hang on. So there's that or standing outside the window, you know, like this for half an hour or something. It wasn't that long, but it was probably 15 minutes. Skill, right? Waiting for me to look. But what looked cute. And there was a lot more than that. We're talking, like, shoved into dark rooms. They're laughing. They're not trying to hurt me because they thought it was funny. They do it to themselves. Yeah. And I'm the only girl, right? So anyway. Yeah, and I hated it. I hated it. So anyway, I developed something I didn't realize I would be jumpy. This is what I'm talking about. There's things that are subtle that are more subtle to me. I was like, I had forgiven them, I had moved on. But I remember that if I was in my house and you walked up behind me and I knew you were in my house, I was making you tea. If you walked up behind me, I could jump off the floor. There was this jumpy quality, and I noted it, but I didn't look at it as fear. To me, it was just me, my nature. I guess I'm jumpy. And then when we started the church, actually, once we had moved into this building, when we would drive down, I would drive the kids down. My stomach would start to churn. Only for church, nothing else. I thought, well, that's the devil. And I mean, like, nervous energy. And at that point, I wasn't doing anything in the service. I was probably praying behind the seat. That's it. Taking care of the kids, getting them in. But this nervous energy. And I noted it was always around a service down here. So I knew that was the enemy. And then I began to seek the Lord about it. And it was no time. Like I saw them. And it was like he was right there waiting for me to ask him. And I got up one Friday, and he said, today you're going to camp around the Word all day. And so I canceled everything. I didn't know what the end result would be. I just knew he wanted to draw me close. So I began to read. And this. As soon as I picked up my Bible, this churning. And it grew. And it grew till it was almost. I was so agitated. So I just keep rebuking it, but it's not. It's not going to. It's there. It's churning full force. And I'm like, well, I know God told me he wanted me in His Word today. So obviously something to do with this. And we had church that night, and we had prayer meeting. And I think there was music practice. There was something beforehand. And by the time that was being turned over to the service, Craig came in. And I looked at him and I said, I'm going home. I was so. I felt so defeated because I felt, like, nauseous all day. My stomach's churning. And I said, I. I'm going home. I can't take another minute. And we hadn't started the service yet. There was just practice beforehand. I don't know why I was there, but I was. And he said, just. Just. Just stay for the worship. And I said, I don't want to walk out once it started. I can't take this. I have to go home. I'm sorry. I have to go home. He said, just stay for the worship. I said, okay, I'll stay for the worship. And Miss Sally got up and started to play the song. I am the Lord. I am the God that healeth thee. And a force hit me. It was almost immediate. It hit me in the top of my head. And I began to weep. And it went down over like. It was slow. It felt like someone poured hot honey down over my head. And it took its time, but I knew by the time it got down around to my throat, I thought, oh, my gosh, I'm getting delivered. I knew it. I'm getting delivered. And I cried and cried. I wept and wept. I couldn't. It was uncontrollable. It was. It was coming out, whatever it was, and out of my soul, not my spirit, you understand, but. But it came down and it came and it went to my waist. And when it got to my waist, I'm sitting down and I'm weeping because I don't want to make a show of myself. And then it went from my waist and it started going back up to my head and down to my. For 45 minutes. And when he lifted off, I was completely free. And it took me weeks to realize, oh, that was that. Oh, that jumpiness. I'm not jumpy anymore. Oh, this. Oh, that spirit of fear. But by listening to what I'm saying this morning, you can get the jump on me. I lived with that for years. I didn't realize that that was a problem. But God wants you to do inventory on your life, to check. Am I being tormented here? Am I receiving something into myself? And God says, I have authority over it. I don't have to be afraid no matter what. I don't have to be afraid. So we have to deal with the spirit of fear. And then look at what Jesus said. John 14:27 in the Amplified peace I leave with you. Now take any religious goggles off, okay? My own peace I give you, I bequeath to you not as the world gives. Now that's what I want to emphasize. It's not normal peace. This peace is a blanket of peace. This piece has levels to it. Pastor Nancy talked when we were down at the conference. And she said, and she's very. She doesn't like drawing attention to herself. But when God had her focusing on living by peace and pulling out and keeping thoughts at bay and not allowing them in, not turning them over in her mind, she said, I walked into a peace that I didn't know existed again. So this message this morning is to set the expectation to live a fearless life, to live according to the laws of God, to not allow things in whatsoever. Don't turn them over in your mind, right? But she said, even I. I'm speaking her words. Even I knew that there was a great sense that not many had been here at that level of peace. But God obviously had her. He wanted her to experience it and he wanted her to teach it. He wanted us to know and everybody that sits under that teaching that you don't have to have a tormented mind. Listen, if you're used to having a tormented mind, you'll put up a few fight at first. The devil will put up a fight at first. Just keep going. Just keep going. He will fall off. But I'm preaching this morning or teaching this morning. So that skill, more skill. More skill in not accepting fear, more skill in calling fear the snake that it is. Total fearlessness is what God has Given us. And Jesus said, the kind of peace that I'm giving you is not as the world gives you. It's a totally different thing. It's nothing. Nothing can overcome it. Nothing is as strong as it. This is what he's talking about. And so I'm going to say this, okay? I bequeath it to you. Not as the world gives. Do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed. And do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled. Jesus placed the responsibility for fearlessness completely on us. Just look at the words. Do not let. Stop allowing, do not permit. That means that there's tremendous power inside of you that you can do this, whether it's a big thing, whether it's a small thing. You have been given authority over the spirit of fear. Hallelujah. It's sin to fear. It's sin to worry. It can come. What we do with it is what matters. It comes, it visits. That's not on us. What we do when it comes is on us. It is Jesus gave us his word, which produces faith. He gave us his Spirit, which brings us into all the characteristics of God that lives in our. He lives in our human spirit. That's why he wants us living from that place. It's not our peace, it's not our joy, it's not our strength. It's his. But then it is ours because he's there. Fear is not an option. Okay? No. Fear is not an option for those ill equipped to deal with it. You're no match in your flesh, but the Word says you are fear's master. That's what it says when it shows up instead of paralyzing you, it can bounce right off you because of your spiritual sword. Ephesians 6:17. The sword of the spirit. Oh, that realm. That's the realm that we're interested in. That's the realm that can handle any demonic power. That's the realm that causes things to move and shake. That's the realm where when that sword gets going, things fall off. They fall to the ground, they're trampled, they're defeated. Ah, hallelujah. If you decide to adopt a scriptural attitude towards fear rather than a passive. Rather than a passive attitude and respond to fear aggressively, you will triumph. You have to respond aggressively to fear. And it is so nuanced, it is so layered, it so peppers life that you have to drag it out into the light. You have to drag it out into the light. Pastor Nancy shares all kinds of stories. She shares things about how when the demonic showed up, you notice it was always fear. There's always harassment. She had to learn how to drag that out where it could be seen. And I think I did mention this. I was sitting at the table with her, not this conference, but the one before. And as many times she was talking about things, and I'm thinking, that's amazing. I wonder why she's talking about that right now at the table. And she was saying that there was someone that she was dealing with. I don't know if it was staff. I don't know. But she said. She said, I'm dealing with them, and they're apologizing. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. She goes, you know, it's right to apologize. It's good to apologize if you've done something wrong. She said, but as I'm looking at this person, I can tell they are completely entrenched in fear. So it looks on the outside like this is a humble person. I'm sure they were. And they're apologizing, they're wanting to do right, but she's picking up on their lack of being established in righteousness. Saying you're sorry is a good thing. Lacking in knowing who you are. Being inferior, being afraid, it can look a certain way, but there's fear there. And as she's talking, I'm looking at her and I'm thinking, pastor, that's deep. That's deep, because that person has no clue that they're entrenched in fear. And so she's wanting to help them. So all around the table, you can hear a collective, oh, my God, I got to check myself. We were saying it out loud. We were saying. I said, wow, Pastor. And I'm like, I better do my homework. What she's saying, don't allow that. It's good to be humble. It's not good to be weak. It's good to take correction and not be crushed because, oh, you're right. Now you turn in on yourself. That's fear. That's fear. That's why the blood is there. You step out of it. Like my husband said, in the waterfall of blood, you just step right back underneath it. People say, well, it can't be that easy. Renew your mind. It is that easy. That's what the word says is offered to us. Established in righteousness, and you shall be far from fear, far from terror. Far from terror. Let's go to number three. Fear's. Companions. I thought this was the most interesting verse. It's Revelation 21, verse 8. It says, but the fearful. Now look, look at the company fearful keeps. Unbelieving, abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. That like I feel like, should that verse, like should that word be there. Yes, it should. Fearful. Not established in righteousness. Certainly not born again. This is not about if you're fearful, you're going to a bad place. I don't mean that, it's just, it's listed. This is the company that fearfulness keeps. Because that's what hell is filled with. That's the law of sin and death. That's what that is. We don't ever want to be considered fearful, but we do have to take inventory when we see weaknesses in ourselves. You know, some people, when they feel inferior, they over apologize. Others won't apologize for anything because if they, if they do, they think it's weakness. And now you're going to dogpile me. And that's fear. That's a different, different way. But either way, the Holy Spirit in the church house and in other places, but here, especially as the Word is being taught, he will talk to you and say, you know what? That's you. You see that? I don't want you living like that. I don't want you taking that anymore. I don't want you identifying with a false personality anymore. I don't want that for you. I don't want you saying that. I don't want you speaking that. I want you to be established in righteousness. Let me do the dealings with you. But then don't be afraid. Don't be afraid about it. Modifying our perception of fear to agree with God's word is imperative for us to see it as the enemy that it is. Now I think Reverend Joel Siegel says it best, so I'm just going to read what he wrote. Fear is no small thing. It's a big deal. It's not our friend. We don't cuddle or feed it. We don't play with it. We don't invite it in. We don't let it stay. And I like the way he says this. Would you let a serial killer live in your home? Just stop and think for a second. It comes to kill fears, that's the end goal is destruction. Then don't let fear. Would you rent a room in your house to a rapist? Then don't let fear have a room, your life. Would you join yourself to a prostitute then don't jump into bed with fear. Fear belongs on the outside. It deserves to be treated as an enemy. It has no place in or around us. It's unwelcome. It's unwelcome. So how much fear do you let into your life unknowingly? It's okay to do an inventory, right? Some of us really need to get before the Lord and let him help us come out of places of fear. Things that have happened to us. Wrong thinking, wrong thinking. That's been established strongholds. Well, this is the way it is. Or this is the way I am. No, not if it's fear based. We replace that. Remember what I said at the beginning? We want to take fear, we want to replace it with faith. Faith in God's word, faith in what he's doing, in our lives. Faith in his power, faith in his love for us. So the acceptable level for the believer of fear is zero. God wants us completely free. Listen. I started learning beautiful truths as a young girl. My mom found dad hagin's teachings and she lived it in front of us. But your growth, your maturing as you go. God goes deeper and deeper. And I knew that the Lord would help us if we got into a fight. I knew his miraculous power would be there. I saw it. I knew that he would back us, that we weren't going to fall apart. I believed in his divine protection. I saw us get healed. I knew these things. But all opposition, all fear to live fearless. What does that even mean? What does that look like? A fearless life? No agitation, no disturbance. I saw that on pastor Nancy When Dr. Went home, I went down. Like, we didn't want to look like we were looking, but we were looking. We're kind of like. And it was like she just glided in and she saw. And I looked at her eyes and I thought, wow, she's okay. She really is fine. Yeah. And like, you didn't have to not say doctor's name or not bring up a memory. And we wouldn't have, trust me, if we knew it was hurting her. Nothing. But she talked about how she talked to her kids and said, you know, the next day, get down to the church. You know, remember it was a Friday, so get down to the church. We set atmosphere for this and the congregation will look to us as to how to act. She said, we're at peace. Go and show that peace, she said. But that was because she'd been meditating on the word Spirit food for two to three years before doctor went home. And in her words she says, it was grief and death and sorrow was no match. Fear was no match. Oh my goodness. This is a place for us. But the expectation has to be set, otherwise you won't. You won't believe it. You'll think it's natural. Part of it's natural. 30% is natural. That seems reasonable to me. No fearless number four in nothing terrified. I love this verse. Philippians 1:28. Pastor Nancy talks this verse all the time. She teaches on this so beautifully. And in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition. But to you of salvation and that of God, how do we overcome all opposition? How? We refuse to accept fear caused by the circumstances and threats, no matter what the source. You refuse the spirit of fear. You live above established in righteousness. No fear. Can you believe God offers us this? This is real. This is what we get to live if we'll align ourselves to spiritual laws. If we'll do what he said, and I'm telling you, he gave us the easy part. This is not hard. It's like the word. If it's hard, it might be because you're a baby and that's fine. But if it continues to be hard, you're doing it wrong. And that's not meant to be condemning. Just keep going. That fear that comes is meant to spell evidence of our doom. And it comes with convincing evidence. But our refusal to fear is actually evidence of our enemies impending doom. Untroubled sends a clear message. The word says it. It says that it's evidence to them of their impending doom. Whatever's been concocted, whatever's coming, whatever face it has, whatever the fear is, it says that our fearlessness is our deliverance. That, that, that impermeable, that concrete wall of not fearing. It's like all of heaven can work because there's no fear. There's nothing slowing down the wheels. There's no mud that you're stuck in trying to get out of. And let me tell you something. I am amazed because the more I look at the Word and I look at all the answers, all the answers I've gotten and didn't know this this way. And all the moments of fear, all the moments of falling down, all the moments of talking the problem. And yet answer after answer after answer. What am I saying? He's merciful. He's merciful. He is trying to get us to that place of receiving. And I know there's so many. Can you imagine how many stories are in this room of the goodness of God, of things that he's done? But the highest thing is that you live in your righteousness, established in your righteousness, full of peace and joy. That is the flow of the kingdom. Remember what he says. The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink. Now this is, this is being said after God has come to the Israelites and set up their laws to lead them to a savior. For them it was always meat and drink. This is unclean. That's clean because he had to corral them in the earth, show themselves sin, show them what covered sin and tell them of a savior that was coming. And then this was always the goal, that he would come live inside of us, right? So he's saying it's not, we've stepped over now. I've come to live in you. This is not about meat and drink. And listen, if I, if I hurt my brother or my sister because I eat or drink something that they think it's. The Bible says to me, I'm not doing right by my brother, I'm hurting that weaker one. You know what I'm talking about. You got people that like, they will, they're dead set that this is wrong. And to them it's wrong if they were to do it. Romans 14 says it's actually sin for them to do it because their conscience hurts. Conscience. But for me it might be. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. And the word is not forbidding it, not talking about the things that the word forbids for us all. So what's he saying? Be good to your brother. Don't make them stumble. But the kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink. It's righteousness. It's that establishment of who you are, who I made you. And then the peace and the joy come out of that. But if you're not established in righteousness, you're going to be afraid because you don't. You're not thinking, I have legal rights. I have legal rights. So when the enemy fires an accusation or something concrete, like a circumstance, something's happening. If you don't lead with your righteousness and you lead with fear, there's no confidence there, no confidence whatsoever. Because what are you doing? You're listening to the enemy. You're listening to what he's saying. You're listening to this attack. And that weapon that he's formed against you now is gaining strength. It is meant to come, it's meant to execute something in your life. And you have every God given right to say no, you don't. You're not doing that here. And that's one thing to say, no, you don't. But it's another thing to fed on the word so that your righteousness is like, it's a shield. You can't, you can't do it. You can't do it. That's different than always rebuking. And do you understand what I'm saying? It's a place of legal rights, of knowing God. And operating in faith is imperative. Don't step out of faith, ever. Stay in. Stay in faith and trample fear. Put it under your feet. That's where it belongs. So let's read this. Well, let me say this. Jesus went to hell based on faith and he was fearless. If he was not fearless, we would see it in the Word. Yes, a great struggle came against him, but he overcame. And he said, father, your will, not mine. Beyond. Nobody wants to do this, but I'm going to do this for you. This is your will. I'm going to the cross. But there's nothing but victory. And then the Holy Spirit raised him up out of that place. So all the fear that could have thwarted the plan of our salvation, Jesus resisted it successfully. Now that's on a level. Oh my God. I don't even know what to say about that. That was amazing. It spelled doom to the devil and his cohorts. Their threat was real and very convincing against Jesus, but it turned on them completely for their peril. God turned it on them, says they wouldn't have done it if they'd known. Let's read this verse again in the Amplified. I love this. And do not for a moment, not a moment be frightened. God means what he says, everybody. He means this. This is for us. Do not for a moment be frightened or intimidated in any anything by your opponents and adversaries. For such constancy and fearlessness will be a clear sign, proof and seal to them of their impending destruction, but a sure token and evidence of your deliverance. Your fearlessness is your deliverance. Your fearlessness is your faith and salvation and that from God. So let me repeat those words again. Not frightened for a moment. What does fearlessness, fearlessness look like? Not frightened for a moment, not intimidated for a second. Disturbed by nothing. That means there's a place for you to live, far above all circumstances. How does one arrive at a place where the evil they encounter doesn't lead them into torment and fear? There's only one way. You feed on the promises of God, surely. Can you believe we have a book that is inspired by the Holy Spirit put in our hands, that tells us if we will feed and meditate on it, we will have amazing success. We will destroy our enemies. Not people. Our enemies. It's not people. God says our war is not with flesh and blood. It uses flesh and blood. And that flesh and blood will stand before the Lord, you know, for what they do. And hopefully the blood covers them. That's what we want. But we got to feed on the promises of God until that word in you is bigger. You're loaded. You're locked and loaded before it ever comes. You're ready. You're not trying to catch up because you've been watching Netflix for two or three hours a night. Oh, entertainment is so enjoyable. But it gives you nothing, nothing in return. Absolutely nothing. And listen, I believe in entertainment sometimes. You preached, you've listened to the word, you've prayed. You just need something to make you laugh or do you know what I mean? I believe in entertainment in its purest form because God makes us to enjoy things. Everything is not being on. You know what I mean? But you talk about not giving anything back. It doesn't give anything back. But the promises of God do nothing but give back. Search for and find out what God says in the different areas of your life that bring challenges. Because you've got to eat your food in that area. Because you've got to get rid of all fear in that area. And I'm telling you, before an answer even comes, you can be totally above fear. You can feel the answer is there and it still hasn't materialized in the flesh. And you can be. Can't pray about it anymore. It's already done. It's sealed. I can't explain it. I just prayed my way through. I know it's done. I look the other way, see, you're not in fear. What has God said about your family? Say that. Speak that, believe that. Get the fear out. What has he said about your health? Same thing. What has he said about your money? What has he said about your wisdom? You get the mind of God. What has he said about your social life? What has he said about your pathway? Not just work. What's my life supposed to to? Where is it supposed to go? How's he developing me? No fear. No fear allowed about that. We just go to him. We feed on the Word. You'd be feeding on the Word, just reading your favorite scripture and all of a sudden an answer will just go. And you'll know which way to go. And it's so easy, it's not hard. Let him and his faithfulness bring you present joy, no matter what you're facing. You can be in faith, you can be in joy today. Feeding on the bread of life will make you very, very strong. It'll change your constitution if your actions are changed and your words are changed, and your responses to things and your responses to difficulty and that you have cut fear out of your life and you're feeding, you're enjoying his presence. You're a different person. You look totally different than the you that would have been if you didn't feed on that food and get into that realm. You would be talking about what everybody else talks about, or whatever struggle you're in, or whatever. Not that those struggles aren't felt. But if you know that you've been given power to defeat them all, then you're not going to dwell there. You won't let yourself. Because that's fear. That's fear. Isaiah 60:1, verse 3 says, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes. Isn't that beautiful? The oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise, for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. He is glorified. When we are like Jesus, when we live like him. We're confident of the Father's promises. That's what he gets glorified by. When we overcome in every circumstance, when we're not speaking fear, we don't allow it in, and we stay in peace and joy. I mean, that is a great testament to the new creation, the new birth. That's who we are. That's why we look so different. That's why we act so different, because we believe different. Isaiah 55, 11:13 says, so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void. This is us saying this too, because we've come through the cross now. But it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. You shall go out with joy and be led for forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing. And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands with nothing but celebration. And I love the next verse. Instead of the thorn tree, instead of that growing up, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord, for a name, for an everlasting that shall not be cut off. We are spiritual Israel. We've been grafted in. It's all life in the spirit now. But he's saying this to us. He's saying this to us, that we assign his word. It's beautiful. And instead of the thorn tree, I would estimate if I were to go around the room, some of us are dealing with thorn trees. Amen. But he said, instead of, that shall come up and new growth, full of color, not full of thorns. It can be changed. It can be turned. It should be changed. It should be turned. When we think of adversaries or opponents, we can think about people that are coming against us. But the Bible says that the devil is our adversary. So I'm more scared. Way to look at an enemy is to assess it by the word in terms of its threat, how it's coming, identifying it. If you listen to Pastor Nancy, she's masterful at talking about how the Lord led her. When opponents, demons, circumstances, bills worth millions of dollars came and landed, she went through a flurry. The enemy went through a flurry. Eve was firing fiery darts at her when Doctor went home and she was unscathed. It made her stronger. It made her stronger. It made her stronger because she lived by the law of faith, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made you free from what? The law of sin and death. So whatever is in the category of sin and death, whatever is in the category of fear, the Bible says he's made you a master of it. But if you know the word, you can sit there with this knowledge of, I cannot be defeated. You cannot take me down, because it's not just me. I'm in covenant with him. That's why you don't throw your legs over the side of the bed in the morning and begin to rehearse this threat, whatever it is. The first thing when you open your eyes can be, should be, I thank you. I'm righteous. I thank you. It's you and me today, inseparable. And you and me means everything today is faith. Everything is faith. Everything is faith. And nothing is fear. Nothing is fear. He promises you that even the weapons formed, they cannot prosper against you. They cannot. And people say, well, but this happened. That's because you're not established in your righteousness. Because the spirit realm can't be faked. The enemy, as a roaring lion, looks around and goes, oh, they're weak there. Plant that lie. Bring the winds of adversity against them in this area, and we have a lifetime of Speaking what bad over ourselves. Speaking our wrong weaknesses, speaking problems. It's not hard for a very sophisticated enemy to build weapons against us. It's not. But when you know, when you know the dominion of Christ that's been put in you, you are. He's not just with you. You're one. He's married to you. He wants you to pick up his word. He wants you to find delight. He wants you to slow down and know him. He wants you to slow down so that slingshot can pull back real tight. It looks really slow, right? He's pulling it back. He's pulling it back. He's pulling it back. I should be doing something. I should be doing something. And then he lets you go. When he lets you go, you're at full force. You're at full knowledge. He can clean up. If pastor can have six different things coming against her financially, one year it was all cleared. Totally impossible. And she decided that that was the year that she was not hitting the road. She was not going to pay the bills. I told the Lord, I'm not doing it. She purposely stayed home. She purposely didn't take on that. Because that's fear. No, it's natural. No, it's fear. And they went above and beyond their budget. Well, how, if you sit with her, she can tell you the particulars, but even she can't tell you how. Not really. She can tell you so and so sent an offering. Well, that was the work of God. Right. Because she refused to fear. I think that a widow that has lost her husband has millions of dollars coming against her to be paid. She doesn't have the money for it. And it's a ripple effect. That means, like, one can affect this building, affect this. Things can be taken. See, it's not just, well, I might have to lay off a couple staff, which would be bad if she wants to keep them. But we're talking losing the work, you know, the threat. He's there, he's talking. She's got paperwork. It's as real as it can get. And what does she do? She goes out, she sits down and gets up and does her little dance. You know what she does? She did her little dance. She sits on. And people go, what? Because my peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives. Give I unto you. I'm married to you. I don't leave you. Don't leave me and succumb to fear. Don't look at the wind and the waves. They're there. Look at me. Look at me. He's amazing. His Laws are amazing. Faith is amazing. His strength and power, his ability to cause us to just walk, trample, trample. Demons have their own power. But when the Son of God says, behold, look at this, I give you power, past tense. I have put something in your born again spirit. I give you power to trample. Talk about who's the master, not skirt around them. You know, to trample, to step on, to stamp. That's what he's given us. That's what he's put in our born again spirit. These laws. To operate by faith is the greatest privilege as a born again child of God. But make no mistake about it, he calls you his body. That means you're one with him. The head and the body, they go together. They were never meant to operate apart from one another. But in the head is the brain, is the thoughts, is the victory is in the head. And it tells the body what to do. And we just walk with him. Don't lack nourishment. Don't turn it today. Turn it today. Don't be condemned. Just turn it. Just don't condemn yourself. Just turn it. Feed. Feed upon the word. Become strong in the faith. That's in your spirit, man. Yield to it. Speak to enemies, tell them to go. These long narratives that he puts in people's lives about who they are and what they're not going to get because some time has passed. Well, you're growing up spiritually, which means you're supposed to trample those lies. Trample the lie and the lie will fall off and the circumstances will change. Because that's what he said. Don't be afraid. Not just for the sake of being fearless, because by your not being afraid, that is your deliverance. The answers come because you're not tripped up with fear. You're not believing the laws of fear. You're believing the laws of faith. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Father, I thank you for your word. It's a sword. Every person on earth, saved or not, longs for dominion over circumstances. Longs to be the master. Longs to not have to give in to things that are putting pressure on them. Longs for health and wealth and prospering of the mind. Longs for what your kingdom is. So, Father, I pray that as these words have gone forth, they are the word and my words with them. Father, to teach it. Father, go through this congregation and rip to shreds fear. Prisons of the mind. Prisons in the body. Prisons, Lord. People held captive by lies, by circumstances, by an enemy trying to wear them down. Father, let them feed on your word. It will bring them good success as.
- [61:19]
B
It'S meditated down into the spirit man.
- [61:22]
A
Illuminating the mind, healing the body.
- [61:25]
B
Father, that we would walk worthy of your word. Not in a spirit of agitation, no, but because of who we are. This is who we are. We're here to learn about who we are. But Father, as we leave today, we go with your words, words of faith in our mouth.
- [61:45]
A
It is not a fairy tale.
- [61:47]
B
It is not high and lofty. It is fact in the realm of the spirit. The laws of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the laws of sin and death. Father, we give you praise. We thank you. The sword is out today. We thank you. Our helmets are on, our belt of truth is on. There's peace on us. There's a righteous shield. Father God, we thank you for the sword, that mighty sword in the spirit that nothing can withstand that sword. Father, I thank you that anointed words in these vessels today is so important for their well being. Your longing. You died painfully died that they would be well. Not just physically, their lives would be well. Oh Father, we look to your word.
- [62:42]
A
We listen to your word today.
- [62:44]
B
And I thank you that you brought us higher today in dealing with the spirit of fear.
- [62:51]
A
We thank you for it, Lord, we thank you the privilege of hearing the word. And now we thank you for the privilege of walking out the door equipped.
- [63:00]
B
Quicker just to throw fearful thoughts down.
- [63:03]
A
And replace them with your word. Father, we thank you. Our fearlessness is our victory. Because it's faith we refuse. We refuse fear. And we give you praise. Lord, we give you glory.