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Sermons and messages from Pastor Jason White and others at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Tyler, TX
Everybody turn to your neighbor and say, faith over fear.
You can say it to him a little bit louder.
Say faith over fear. There you go.
We need to remember that because of this, I'm not sure if you know this or not. You need to be aware of this. If you don't know this,
but on Tuesday, we
have a presidential election. Were you aware of that? Joe's aware of that over there. I imagine most everybody else is aware of that. Of course you're aware of that, because that's all we hear about right now. It's all we hear about on every news channel. They're just covering the election. 24/7, it seems like every commercial on there are no other commercials on TV right now. It's all commercials about the election. Every social media platform is being bombarded with content on the election, and each side is trying to convince you of how bad things will be in our country if the other side wins. Every news channel, every social media platform, is trying to keep you watching or on their platform by sowing seeds of fear, and it seems to be working. There was an article in the Smithsonian Magazine that came out just a week ago based on a survey that comes out every year around this time, and here are what the opening lines of the article say. Americans are afraid, very afraid. Fear is playing a bigger role in American life than at any time in recent history. According to the results of a new survey from Chapman University, Americans are afraid of more things, and they're more afraid of those things than they've ever been in the past. What are we afraid of? You might ask. Well, the top things on the list were corrupt government officials, cyber terrorism, world wars and not having enough money for the future, all things that could be influenced by the upcoming election in some way. As a matter of fact, in this same survey that we are looking at, or the article was looking at, it said that 51.6% of Americans report being very afraid of the outcome of the upcoming presidential election. That, combined with everything else that was in the survey led one writer for the Orange County Register, after analyzing everything that was reported on to say this, overall, the 2020 force finding suggests that Americans are in the grasp of deep, paralyzing
dread.
Maybe that's where you find yourself this morning,
in a place of deep,
paralyzing
dread over what could happen on this Tuesday. You're filled with worry and anxiety and fearful about the wrong person being elected, and if they are elected, what our country is going to look like, what your life, what your family's life is going to look like. Well, if that's you this morning and you're feeling that grasp of deep, paralyzing dread, I want to point you to those three words again, faith over fear. Turn to your other neighbor and say, faith over fear. Thank you, all three of you, for listening to instructions today. Maybe we'll get it by the end of the message, faith over fear. Every time fear, worry or anxiety begin to creep in about the coming election on Tuesday or even after whatever happens on tuesday if your candidate doesn't win, I want you to repeat that phrase over and over again, faith over fear. Faith over fear. Why? Because that's what the Bible tells us to do. We're going to look at one verse and one verse only this morning, what the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in Second Timothy one seven, where he told him this, For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love and sound judgment. Everybody say God has not given me a spirit of fear. Say God has given me a spirit. Power, a spirit of love and a spirit of sound judgment. If you have said yes to Jesus for salvation, you've put your faith and trust in Him to rescue you from your sins and reconcile your relationship to God the Father, then you have been given the Spirit that the apostle Paul is talking about. Because not only have your sins, excuse me, been completely forgiven, but you've been changed. You've been made into a new creation in him. And what Paul writes here is true of you as a new creation in Christ. Let's look at this a little bit closer. We're going to break this down little by little and just walk through it to make sure we understand what the Apostle Paul what the Lord is saying through the apostle Paul, to Timothy and to us today and again, first of all, as we highlighted just a second ago, God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness. This word that's translated fearfulness here is in Greek, Delia. And Delia can be translated timidity. It can be translated cowardice, or as it is here, fearfulness. And listen, when Paul was writing this to Timothy, there were plenty of things for Timothy to be fearful of at the time, because there was a lot of persecution that was going on. Paul was writing this from jail, and it was right around the time, just after the Roman Emperor Nero had burned half of Rome to the ground, and he blamed it on Christians. Do you know what happens whenever someone burns half of a city and he blames it on a certain group of people, that certain group of people gets attacked and persecuted, and that is what was happening to Christians at the time the population was turning against them. It led one of the ancient writers during this time to say that many Christians were being arrested and brutally executed by being thrown to the beasts, crucified and being burned alive. Can you imagine if you were hearing about or you were potentially seeing other Christians being thrown to beasts or crucified or being burned alive. If you could imagine seeing that and hearing about those things, then you can imagine the fear that that would cause, the concern that people would have at the time, but Paul was writing to Timothy at this time and saying, Hey, even all of those things are going on, that spirit of fearfulness does not come from God, even in the midst of those situations and as dark and as terrible as they are, you have been Given Timothy a spirit of power and of love and of sound judgment, even though it doesn't look like you have power right now. You have power even though it doesn't look like you are loved by God. You are loved by God even though it doesn't look like you have sound judgment or any control over these things I'm giving to you, those things in Christ, basically what Paul was writing to Timothy is saying, hey, faith over fear. Have faith over fear based on the situations and the circumstances that you are in in this moment, I want you to let that sink in in your own life this morning, that God has not given you a spirit of fearfulness, that every time that creeps in there, when you feel that fear, it does not come from God. That is a powerful, comforting statement that grabs a hold of us and has practical implications, so much so that it led the late pastor, Ray Stedman to write this about that
verse.
He says, Guys, I do not know any statement in Paul's writings. Do you know how much Paul wrote and he's saying, out of all the stuff that Paul wrote in the New Testament, I don't know of any statement out of all of Paul's writings that is more practically important to us than God has not given us a spirit of fear. Why? Because he says, If you are like me, you are oppressed and assaulted by a spirit of fear most of the time, anxiety, worry, trembling about what is going to happen, a sense of terrible disaster, looming of chaos and crisis that is about to break upon us. These are the forms of fear. This is the spirit of fear. This verse says that these do not come. From God, he says, Did you ever occur? Did it ever occur to you that Christians are forbidden to fear? How many times in Scripture do we read that Jesus said, Fear not or Let not your heart be troubled. Do not let it go in that direction. Stop it when it starts going that way. God does not give us a spirit of fear if we have such. It is the come or it is coming from another source, the enemy, who is the spirit of fear. As we approach this upcoming election and your mind begins to move in the direction of fear and worry and anxiety, do as Ray Stedman says here and stop it. Stop it. When it starts going that way, recognize that this is the direction that your enemy, your enemy, is wanting to take you, and turn your thoughts in the other direction to what Paul says is true about you, not this, not the emotion of fearfulness, but turn, renew your mind to the truth, change your mind about those things, and focus on having a spirit of power and of love and of sound judgment. That is what we are to do when we think about what could happen on this Tuesday or after the fact, what does happen? So again, God's not given us a spirit of fearfulness. Well, let's talk about what kind of spirit he has given you. If you're in Christ, if you've said yes to Jesus, you have a spirit first and foremost of power. He says the Greek word there is dunamis. You've probably heard someone reference it that before. It's the word in Greek that we get our word dynamite from, or dynamic from. It can be translated might in strength and power as it is here. It's the power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature. Did you get that? It's the power residing anything by virtue of its nature? And Paul says, that is part of your nature. Then you've been given this spirit of power when you put your faith and trust in Jesus, you didn't again, just have your sins forgiven. God's power, his dunamis, has been placed inside of you. Jesus even talked about this with the disciples. We read about it in the opening pages of Luke's book in the Bible called acts, the Acts of the Apostles. He says this, or he writes this about what Jesus said to them. He says, but you will receive power dunamis. You'll receive dunamis when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses, both in Jerusalem and Jada, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. When that happens, that's when these other things will happen. But that has to happen first, and it did happen. When you turn the pages and you flip to chapter two, you see that the Holy Spirit did come, that the disciples were filled with his dunamis power, right? And then everything begins to change. These guys didn't have much written about them prior to this kind of the dumb things that they had been saying and asking Jesus about, and all the times that they failed before this, but as soon as this happens in Acts chapter two, all of a sudden, every other page throughout acts is all about the power of God that they received being expressed through them in ways that they had to write about they had to tell other people about what was
going on.
And Paul says that that same dunamis power that Jesus stood before the disciples and said would come upon them comes upon you the moment that you say yes to Jesus as well. Peter made sure that you knew that as well. Peter second, Peter one, three, says his divine dunamis, his divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Notice what Paul doesn't say there. Paul doesn't say, hey, God's power has given you almost everything required for life and godliness. But when the right person is in power in the White House, then you'll finally have everything required for real life a godliness. He says, no, no, regardless of whatever's going on in or around you, because it's been put inside of you, you have everything required for life and godliness. In other words, even listen to this, even if the person that you. Who want to win this election does not get elected, you will still have, according to Peter, everything that you need for life and godliness. Did you get that? Even if your candidate does not win, you will still have everything required for life and godliness that will never change, because you still have his dunamis
power inside of you.
Here's the other thing, even if your candidate doesn't get elected, guess what is still going to happen? God is still going to be advancing his kingdom, regardless of whoever is in power in the White House that will not change his power at work in our country, even and around the world, to be advancing his kingdom. We just read about the Acts of the Apostles at the time that this was happening and that Timothy was writing all of these things. Do you know who was in power? We just read about this crazy Roman Emperor named Nero. They didn't get to vote him in and say, hey, if we get the right person in there, we'll have everything that we need for life and godliness and God's kingdom will be advanced if the right person is sitting in power within the government. They said, No, no, it doesn't matter who's in power. Nero can be in power. But the disciples understood that God was ultimately the one in power and sitting on his throne, and that power is put inside them to be expressed through them. And they didn't care that he was in power. God was at work in them, changing the world around them, advancing his kingdom, so much so that 2000 years later, you and I are still talking about it today, even though a crazy dude was in power at the time. That ought to say something to you about this election on Tuesday. I'm not diminishing that it's not important that we shouldn't play a role in it. But that should tell you that if this can happen, and what God can accomplish to advance his kingdom with Nero in power, then he can do it with whoever it is that's in so called power in the White House, you know, do it in and through you. If we'll take our eyes off of the fear and we'll have faith and put them on his dunamis power living in us. So that's the first thing about the spirit that He's given us as a spirit of power. But he's also given you a spirit of love as a new creation in Christ and union with Jesus, this new nature that you have. He's put his agape. That's the Greek word there agape love in you first. John 48 says that God is agape. He is love. This is the kind of love that God is. It's his love. It's an unconditional, unselfish, costly love that's ultimately seen in the cost of the death of his son, the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. And Paul says it's the same kind of love, God's love, God's agape love, that's been put inside of you. And he didn't just put it inside of you. I mean, he did that, and he fills you up with it so that you'll know that this spirit of love, you're so filled up in it that you don't have to look for it in any other ways. You don't have to have your situations or circumstances changed or somebody else to reciprocate that in your life, or to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a husband or a wife. One day, you're filled up and everything that you need with God's love, and you're so filled up that now it can flow through you and be expressed through you, so that other people can experience God's agape love, because I filled you up so much with it that it'll overflow through you, and you'll still have enough. It'll still be there, right? And so this is what he's going to do. He put his spirit of agape love in you to be expressed through you. Do you know how that will be expressed through you? In the context of which we are talking today,
we referenced earlier how 51.6%
of the people are living in fear of what the outcome of this election will be. That means, on Wednesday morning, half of the population are going to wake up in fear because of who is in the White House, and God put His agape love in you as his son or daughter, the church the way the instrument that he advances his kingdom through to look for those people who are living in fear, so that they can experience His unconditional, unselfish, costly love that sent Jesus to the cross for them, so that they could know the same power, the same love and the sound judgment that you and I have in our. Lives today, and so we look for that. We look who are the people that are living in fear, who are the people that you know that are so wound up in fear based on what's going to happen? And how do you want God to use me to express the love that you filled me up with towards those in that concern? Here's the other way that God's agape love will be expressed through you during this time to those who are living on the other side of the political aisle than you listen as you begin to look at each candidate and you prayerfully consider who it is that you will vote for, which is, by the way, as a Christian, we approach these kinds of things, we bring it before the Lord, and we pray and give us insight to see who they are and what policies are going to be created, and how that's going to impact people, and how it lines up with Scripture and all the things that we know to be true because you revealed it to us through Your Word, and that he would lead us to vote a certain way and empower us to be able to carry that vote out, but once he's led you in that direction, that does not make the people that vote on the other side of the aisle your enemy. Now some of you may disagree with me about that, because of certain things they're going to do and the policies they're going to create, and the way it's going to impact other people, and you can make the case that they really are and should be seen as our enemies. And it's at that point that I need to refer you back to what Jesus said in the Gospels about enemies,
which is to love them.
He didn't say, put them down. He didn't say, I hope you die. He didn't say to hope that they go to hell or any other thing. He said, Love your enemies. And then he put his agape love for those enemies inside of you so that it can be expressed through you towards even those people, so that they too, can come to know Jesus and His love for them. So that's two down. God's not given us a spirit of fear. He's given us a spirit of power. Dunamis, He's given us a spirit of agape love that gets expressed through us. But also he's given us a spirit of sound judgment. The Greek word there is sophros. So from us MOS, sofronis, mos, s, O, P, H, R O, N, I, S, M, O, S. It means soundness of mind. It carries the idea that the mind is self controlled, disciplined, properly prioritized, and listen to this, able to stay in control, in success
and in failure.
I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Amplified Version of the Bible. It's a translation where the translators use synonyms and definitions and they kind of expand the original language to help us really see kind of what it's ultimately saying. And so it's longer and that kind of thing. But here's what the Amplified Version says about this word, so frontis MOS when they translate it, For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but he's given us a spirit of sophronos sound judgment and personal discipline. Look at this part abilities that result in a calm, well balanced mind
and self control. Did you know that when
God put His Holy Spirit in you and made you a new creation in Christ that He gave you abilities
that will result in a calm,
well balanced mind
and self control.
Would you say that during this election season
that you've been calm
and well balanced and having self control, if not, then maybe that's because your eyes are focused on the spirit of fear that doesn't come from God, rather than the Spirit that He has actually given you, right? Paul is saying that in Christ, you have a sound mind. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of self control in this calm, well balanced mind, as we abide in Christ. And here's, here's, ultimately the thing. Satan knows this. Satan knows this to be true of you, and He does not want you to experience that calmness, that self control, that well balanced mind. He wants you to panic. He wants you to lose control. He wants you to focus on one side of the outcome. So what does he do? He takes your eyes off. Jesus, he takes your eyes off of Jesus, and he puts them on all of the fear that is being projected through the news and through other people and through social media. And so here's what happens ultimately, instead of you being informed about what is going on and balancing that with God being sovereign and knowing all that you have in him, regardless of situations and circumstances and whatever the news is talking about, Satan uses it to get you hooked on fear. And you can't stop watching the news all day long. Whenever that happens, you can't stop scrolling and watching the social media algorithms feed you to reinforce the fear of what will happen if the other side wins, and then Satan has got you not living in God's power or his love or his sound judgment, but he's got you trapped in fear and hate towards the other side and with an unsound unbalance in an undisciplined mind.
That is what happens
in and through the news and what it is that we're feeding ourselves. Listen, I don't care what news it is that you watch. They're not ultimately there just to inform you. They're not you understand that, right? They're there for your entertainment and to hook you into watching for ratings. It's ultimately all about money, and they can keep you coming back and keep you focused on watching, as long as they make you scared about whatever is going to happen in the future based on these things. And you need to stay tuned to us, because we'll keep you informed and aware of all that the other side is doing to make this happen. And we've got the answers. Don't turn away. Stay tuned. Something could happen the moment you say or you turn your attention to something else, and then you're, you're you're hooked on it, and Satan is going, now I'm using it to to get you right. I'm not saying all news is bad, not saying we should stop watching the news. Let me give you an example of what, and I'll make a point after this. I don't know if you've seen this or not, but I came across this podcast a year or so ago. I don't know how long ago it was that may be a lie. At some point in my past, I came across the pour over podcast, and here's how they advertise themselves. You're politically neutral. Christ first news source. Now listen, I don't think that anybody can be 100% completely neutral, but it's just saying that this is what their goal is, right, to be neutral in it, to just share it with you. And then I love what it says here in the little printer, if you can see it or not, but it says the biggest news of the day, summarized in a way that you'll actually understand and enjoy watch this paired with brief Christian perspectives. And so it's a podcast, but they also have some stories in writing. And so this was a few days ago, and it was sharing this little news about the fire that happened on a ballot drop box and some other things going on with the election. But then down here, it says Christian perspective. And it says, if all the election news coming from every direction is overwhelming to you, remember that your mission remains the same, regardless of what's new in the news cycle, love God and make disciples. And then it quotes, it has Matthew 2819 20, an actual verse written there for you to read. Now I'm not saying it's perfect, not saying that this is the only way that we should get our news, but I will say I love what they're at least trying to do. They recognize that when you are reading this stuff, that Satan wants to take that in the things that are going on and so fear inside of you and to scare you with it, and so they're at least attempting to renew your mind to the truth of who God is, instead of allowing it to go down that direction and to keep you focused on Jesus, you it again. I'm not saying that it's the only news that we should listen to, just trying to make the point that if we are focusing on fear, which ultimately is what most of our news and social media platforms are trying to get us to focus on, to keep watching them, then what we're ultimately doing
is feeding our flesh.
We're feeding our flesh, not feeding our spirit of power, love and sound judgment. And so maybe if you go to other news sources and you're watching and trying to stay informed about what is going on, which is certainly perfectly fine. You read it with your Bible in one hand. You have your Bible app open, so that as you are hearing what it is that they're saying, or you're scrolling, or you're going, boy, I'm starting to feel that sense of fear in me, then I can scroll right over to what the Word of God says about who he is and who I am in Christ. And all that I have in Him so that I can quickly renew my mind to the truth instead of allowing it to be cast towards the fear. Ultimately, then this is what we're talking about through Second Timothy one seven, when we think about this election coming up on Tuesday, I want you again to think faith over
fear.
Here's the reality,
no matter what happens on Tuesday,
God will still be sitting on his throne on Wednesday.
No matter who's in power in the White House, God will still be the one sitting on his throne. So let's not get too bent out of shape. If your candidate doesn't win again, that may mean that the nation gets a little crazier or a lot crazier. I'm not going to deny that that things could happen, right? It could go in a direction where we don't ultimately know what's going to happen based on whoever wins. I'm not here to tell you that things are going to be great. I'm just here to remind you that God will still be in control, and we have evidence of God still being in control and working in power through the disciples lives when a crazy leader or someone else was doing all kinds of things and burning half their city down that they were responsible for, and God was still at work to advance his kingdom, and that is the perspective that you and I should take.
It's over. Now gotta move.
Oh God, your power still dwells in me, your love, your agape love, is in me. You've given me a calm, well balanced mind to stay okay, no matter what's going on. And so if the world gets crazy around us, then how do you want me to step into the craziness and bring some power, your power into it, some of your love into it, and some well balanced reasoning into it. How do you still want me to be involved in it? You're not going to lead you to crawl into a bunker and guarantee you that.
Now, the other thing I want you to think about
is that if your candidate wins on Tuesday,
don't fall for the trap of making that person your Savior. They are not going to fix all of your problems. They're not going to save our world. Only Jesus can do that. So whether your candidate wins or loses, ultimately, don't put too much stock in it, either way we vote. In the way that he leads us to vote, and we leave the results to him, and with a sovereign God being in control, no matter what happens, whether you want to look at that from him causing it to happen, or whether he allowed it to happen, either way, he's still the one who's sovereign, and we have to trust him with it in whatever he wants to do in our lives based on those things that have happened. Now, our job is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and the spirit of power, love and sound judgment that he has given us, and all that he wants to continue to express through us to a lost and a dying world around us. We, as the church, are his chosen instruments to bring grace, his saving grace, to a lost and a dying world around us, or to be available as His instruments, no matter what the situations, no matter what the circumstances are going on around us.