Overcoming Fear (Q&A) - Mack, Charles, Tim, Kevin, Bob

In Revelation, it talks about

the effeminate, the ungodly, the fearful

won't inherit the Kingdom of God,

and hopefully this isn't inappropriate,

but I have this fear of
riding roller coasters,

and some summers, my wife's family,

they like to go ride roller coasters

and I feel like sometimes I get convincted

because I'm scared to ride them,

and I won't ride them,

and so I guess my question is,

one, is this the kind of fearfulness

that the Scripture is talking about?

Because, for instance, I think sometimes

I want to be an example to my

younger nephews and other people,

and they see me scared and I think

that it's not a good example of Christ.

I guess the question is,

do I need to go get on the roller coaster?

Or it's something that I've been dealing

with for a couple of years now,

so do I need to get
on the roller coaster?

Or is that talking about a different kind

of fearfulness?

I hope it's not saying it's not ok

to be scared going on a roller coaster,

because I hate those things.

Well, wouldn't there be a difference

between struggling with fears

over specific things

and your life being completely dominated

by fear - you're in bondage to fear.

It dominates everything.

You know the fear of man's a snare, etc.

So, the fearful that Revelation would

be talking about,

that won't inherit the Kingdom,

that's a characteristic of their life

that dominates them just like

the adulterous, the drunkard,

the unbelieving...

where fear rules a person's life.

You have the case of Moses.

It says that by faith,

he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath

of the king.

For he endured as seeing him

who is invisible.

So, it says not fearing the wrath

of the king.

Well, it doesn't mean he didn't

feel any fear in the sense of fear.

But he pressed past that.

He did not let his fear stop him from

obeying God.

And that's a characteristic of a Christian.

He feels all the same fears

in many cases as anyone feels,

but for the Christian,

the desire to obey God,

overcomes those things

and he presses through.

So you might have somebody

that's scared to death to speak up,

but they press through it
and they speak up.

That's the difference between

a Christian and a non-Christian.

Yeah, I can remember when

I was first saved,

the truth is, that as a lost person

I was just absolutely wicked,

a thief, a liar, my sins were many,

and I can remember being convicted

that you know what?

I need to go back and return

and make restitution for all the things

that I had stolen,
things I had vandalized,

things I had destroyed.

And I basically made a list.

And I was utterly terrified.

I'd go through my possessions

and I'd find something,

and I'd look at it and

the thought of even having to go back

and talk to the people

and I made an entire list

and absolutely terrified.

I can remember the first one

on my list, was I bailed out on rent

when I was in college and I owed

the landlord $300.

And I can remember I sat down the street,

I'm just new in the Lord,

and absolutely terrified.

But I knew, I'd come across a text

in Ezekiel about
returning the things stolen.

And I just knew it was what the Lord

wanted me to do.

I just sat in my car and pleaded

and I prayed.

And I walked up to his house

and I knocked on his door.

I'll tell you, I actually was
hoping he was dead.

Because it had been several years

and he was old.

And sure enough, the guy
comes to the door.

And I told him I used to live next door

here in your house and I bailed out.

And just absolutely terrified.

And he said, oh, that's alright.

And I had this $300
and I kind of flashed it

after he said that, and he snagged it

and he took it.

It turned out to not be so hard.

But that's it, when you become convinced

by the Word, I need to do it.

I think that's really
the heart of boldness, right?

It doesn't mean you don't have fear;

it just means you press past that,

because your fear of the Lord is greater.

Your desire to please Him is greater.

It reminds me we did some

door-to-door witnessing.

And there was definite fear there,

and there always is.

But you push past that fear.

Because it was like when we started,

I'd be walking up someone's driveway

thinking please don't be in.

But eventually, out of a love for souls,

you knock.

And the same when I preach.

When you witness to someone,

you know sometimes I'll preach to people

on a ladder and the next minute

I'm getting nervous
witnessing to a 13 year old.

You know because those thoughts come in,

but you overcome them.

By ladder, you mean a stool?

I think we tend to forget just what

a courageous thing it is
to become a Christian.

I mean, it is the most courageous thing

that anybody can do.

And that's why folks
don't become Christians

is cowardice.

And it's just a different
way of saying it,

the next word in the list
there in Revelation 21:8

is unbelieving.

In a way, the reason people don't become

Christians is because they don't believe.

But you could put it another way,

it's because they are cowards

and they are afraid of man,

they're afraid.

So it is the most courageous thing

that anybody can do

is become a follower of Christ.