Certified Chartered Conqueror: Refuse Fear and Every Evil Report

Sermon outline

Fear is Satan's door opener and faith is God's, so guard your ears and heart against evil reports, refuse fear's package, and operate by the force of faith and love like Jesus speaking to the storm.

1. Peace, be still: Jesus spoke to the storm

   The disciples shook Jesus awake in fear, but He did not ask where the storm came from; He rose and spoke to it, knowing the elements had to obey. Had the disciples known what He knew, they would have got the same result. Our fight is not with the faces that attack us but with the spirits working through them, and God wants a big heart full of faith and the word, not a big head.

   Illustration: People who come to the pastor saying 'Pastor, can't you see what's going on?', and he answers that he can, but he knows something they do not: he can close his door and speak peace to the storm.

   “Jesus knew something. That the elements of life had to obey the word of God.”

   • Mark 4:37-39
   • Ephesians 6:12

2. Every evil report has one purpose: to bring fear

   Bad news is an evil report, whether it comes from family, co-workers, neighbours, friends or well-meaning Christians, and its only aim is to put fear in your heart so that you respond out of fear instead of faith. Plead the blood over your hearing. You can know that problems are real, as Jesus saw the storm, and still deny them power over your life.

   Illustration: Someone tells you they are gossiping about you, or that petrol prices are going up: answer 'peace, be still'. Switch on the news and see how it makes men's hearts fail.

   “The introduction of fear in your heart is the absence of faith.”

   • Luke 21:26

3. Take heed how you hear: your ears, eyes and mouth are gateways to your heart

   Everything you hear, see and speak ends up in your heart. When you entertain a negative report and repeat it, it becomes a stronghold and turns into hatred, and you cannot pray because faith works by love. Be brave enough to tell the person bringing the report to stop, walk in love and forgiveness, and let God vindicate you as He did Daniel, Joseph and the three Hebrew boys.

   Illustration: The flu virus is everywhere, but you refuse to let it into your life: 'the flu just flew away from me'. Treat fear the same way.

   “Your ears is a gateway to your heart.”

   • Luke 8:18
   • Galatians 5:6
   • 1 John 3:15
   • Exodus 21:24

4. Fear means to hesitate and shrink back

   To fear is to be afraid, hesitant, timid and lacking resolution; operating from fear robs you of the God kind of confidence. Thank God for your friends and your enemies, because enemies bring the best out of you and all things work together for good. Cast your cares on the Lord and be smart: the Christian life is a long race against the devil's strategies.

   Illustration: Without Joseph's brothers he would not have landed where he was meant to land. And the leader who, after a year, thinks he no longer needs the pastor's teaching.

   “God has placed enemies around you to get the best out of you.”

   • Romans 8:28
   • Philippians 4:6
   • 1 Peter 5:7
   • Ephesians 6:11

5. Satan needs fear as God needs faith: refuse the package

   Fear is Satan's door opener into your life. When you hear that everyone at work is being retrenched, or the doctor gives a bad report, do not sign for the package: say it may be for everyone else but not for you. Cast down every imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ, because fear is mental torture, and live in a prepared state of faith and love.

   Illustration: Some Christians have their pen out ready to sign for the negative package before it even arrives. Driving along, a thought comes that you will lose your job and then your car, and fear has just been introduced.

   “As God needs faith to operate in your life, Satan needs fear to operate in your life.”

   • Luke 21:26
   • 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
   • Hebrews 12:2

6. What faith is

   Without faith it is impossible to please God; faith is the believer's operating system. He gives three definitions: faith is a spiritual force, faith is God's creative power, and faith is the substance of things hoped for.

   Illustration: Computers have an operating system; a believer's operating system is called faith.

   “A believer's operating system is called faith.”

   • Hebrews 11:6
   • Hebrews 11:1

7. Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid

   When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea they cried out in fear, thinking He was a ghost, though they could have spoken to it. Jesus answered straight away, 'Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid', and that is His answer to problems at work, at church, in the family and in the finances.

   Illustration: A cell leader complains that another group 'pinched' two of his twenty-five members, or the light bill has doubled: the same God who gave the first will give the rest.

   “I made up my mind. I cannot fail.”

   • Matthew 14:25-27

8. The force of faith: you are a certified chartered conqueror

   The force of faith gets you out of bed to pray, study and preach, keeps you in a bubble of protection, repels sickness and poverty and takes out every disadvantage. Just as an accountant can be certified and chartered, believers are certified chartered conquerors, more than conquerors over every Goliath. A little fear spoils everything, like leaven, so when fear tells you that you are giving too much, refuse it.

   Illustration: When the devil puts a figure in his mind and says 'don't give', he doubles it.

   “As believers, we are certified chartered conquerors.”

   • Romans 8:37
   • 1 Corinthians 5:6

9. The Lord is on my side, I will not fear

   David called on the Lord in distress and was set in a large place, and could say 'I will not fear: what can man do unto me?', not out of arrogance but out of confidence in God around him on every side. You are in a bubble of protection outside and a well of living water bubbling inside, so there is no room for fear, sickness or poverty. There is nothing wrong with wealth: we are blessed to be a blessing.

   Illustration: He calls catchers forward and simply walks along the line to show the force of faith leaving him, having built himself up with the word and prayer.

   “It was the confidence in a God that lived with him, walked with him, spoke to him.”

   • Psalm 118:1-17
   • John 7:38
   • Genesis 12:2

10. A product of love: love never fails

    God is love, and His nature in you is love, so arrogance is satanic and foolish, while a real man or woman of God speaks with humility and kindness. Fear fails and discouragement fails, but love never fails. He has started praying 'Lord, show me people I can bless', and when you live like that, fear vanishes.

    Illustration: He used to pray 'give me, give me'; now he asks each day who he can bless and make smile.

    “Love can't fail. Fear fails. Discouragement fails. Love never fails.”

    • Galatians 5:22
    • John 4:24
    • 1 John 4:8
    • 1 Corinthians 13:8
    • Romans 5:5
    • Psalm 23:6
    • Romans 5:8
    • Isaiah 1:18

11. Not a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind

    A sound mind thinks God's thoughts and is stayed on the Lord; inside you is a steel beam that keeps you steady in any storm. The Holy Spirit walks with you, teaches you and leads you every day. Power means you can speak to storms, curse a fig tree and find money in a fish's mouth, because this treasure lives in earthen vessels.

    “I don't preach out of my mind, but out of my consciousness.”

    • 2 Timothy 1:7
    • Isaiah 26:3
    • 1 Corinthians 15:58
    • Psalm 23:3
    • John 14:26
    • Matthew 17:27
    • 2 Corinthians 4:7