Be Strong and Courageous  - I Will Not Be Afraid!: God is My Rock and Protector, Part 1

It's been said that courage is fear holding on a minute longer.

That's a great idea and all, but when you come face to face with something to cause you to truly tremble, you need more than an inspirational quote. Stay with me and discover today how hope and safety comes from God and how you can get it. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of these daily programs is to intentionally disciple Christians through the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.

And in just a minute, he'll dive back into his latest series, Be Strong and Courageous. For the last handful of programs, Chip's highlighted a few of the more powerful emotions we'll encounter in life, anxiety, inadequacy, doubt, and offered a biblical remedy from the book of Psalms. Now, if you missed any of those messages or want to pass them on to a friend, you can easily listen and share through the Chip Ingram app. But today, Chip shifts his focus to the broader subject of fear and what we can learn from David's response to his terrifying circumstances in Psalm 27. So with that, get your Bible and notes ready for Chip's talk, I Will Not Be Afraid. If you and I knew each other a little bit better and we were maybe in the corner of a coffee shop somewhere and we'd had a great conversation and you felt safe with me. And I said, what are you most afraid of? I mean, where do your fears show up? What is it that when it comes to your mind or maybe it's in your life right now, maybe it's a person, a circumstance, something in the future, but what are you afraid of? I share that because fear is a very, very powerful emotion. It's a response to a perceived threat or danger in which we feel like we're going to receive pain or hurt or maybe even death. And what I remind you is there's good fear and there's bad fear, right?

I mean, the scripture is really clear. Proverbs chapter one, the fear of the Lord, the reverential awe, the sense of his power and omniscience that he's God and infinite and unfinite. That's a good fear. It's a good fear when a hurricane is coming.

Get out of town. It's a good fear when there's a dangerous situation and you're in the room with someone that has a history of violence and it's starting to heat up. Good fear, leave. It's a good fear to teach your children don't walk in the street, right?

All those things we know. But I want to talk about bad fear. I want to talk about the kind of emotions that paralyze you, that keep you from walking with God or taking risks or getting close to people. In fact, as we learn to be bold and courageous, here's the declarative statement that I want you to just imprint in your mind.

I will not fear. And we're going to talk about overcoming the power of negative emotions. Negative fear paralyzes and immobilizes.

It produces behaviors where people withdraw and don't get connected to people and they isolate or they won't take initiative. They don't take risks. I have a neighbor that I heard a lot of negative things about him as I've gotten to know him. What I realize is he's a very fearful person. Then Covid hit. Literally, we did not see him for almost three, three and a half years. Maybe a quick thing from a window and maybe his wife would go out just to get groceries. And then he got a disease that was pretty serious and he got so overwhelmed with his immunity. And what if someone that he and his wife literally have not been out of the house for.

I got to see her as she walked to get the mail. And that might happen once every few weeks. He's become a prisoner of his fear. Now, is some of that serious?

Of course. But I mean, fear has dominated his life. And so he ends up being controlling and being protective. And and we love him. We've really gone out of our way and we've prayed for him. And my wife has built a really good relationship with his wife. And we've invited him over. And he and I have had very deep spiritual talks.

And he actually he understands the gospel, but he has this view of God, his words. And it just made me so sad. He said, Chip, if I woke up and I decided to go to church, I'm telling you they would all be in danger. I mean, God would have the roof cave in on everyone. There's just this fear.

Fear can paralyze you physically, emotionally, spiritually. You know, there's there's times I don't know about you, but I've I've been on a plane or I've met someone or I've built a bit of relationship. And God has made it really clear. Chip, I want you to tell them about me. I love them. I died for them.

I really want you to share the message of the gospel. Share your testimony with this person. We all have done this. I've chickened out. I've just not done what I knew would help them because I was afraid of what they would think.

Maybe they appear powerful or maybe important or maybe they were cool and hip and I felt like I didn't measure up for whatever reason. And even when I do, I often find myself facing this fear. Proverbs 29, 25 says, The fear of man is a snare, but blessed or happy is he who trust in the Lord. I think that fear has had such a huge, huge impact in our world today. And I want you to know, to be bold and courageous, you need to declare in your heart and in your mind and your words and your behavior. I will not fear. I will overcome the power of the negative emotions that can paralyze and isolate.

And so the question is, how do you do that? Well, David, as you know, had very fearful situations. At one point, Saul is after him and he's in a cave hiding. Another time he's at dinner with Saul and he picks up a spear and throws it at him. At another time, other kings are trying to trap him. I mean, multiple times he's got huge conflict, scary times, literally surrounded by the enemy. And David has this amazing, amazing perspective. We find it in Psalm 27.

He says, The Lord, Yahweh, personal name, is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense or the refuge of my life. Whom shall I dread? When evildoers come upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries, my enemies, they will stumble and fall. Though a host and camp around me, I'm surrounded. My heart will not fear.

Though war rises up against me, in spite of this, I shall be confident. And you say, wait, David, where do you get that? Listen to what he says. Here's his perspective. What I want you to see is he says, yeah, there's danger physically.

There's danger emotionally and relationally. There's danger spiritually. But he says, The Lord, the creator, the personal God, the all powerful one, he is my light. And light represents positive, goodness, truth, everything in scripture, right? Jesus is the light of the world. God, my relationship with my God, he's my light and my salvation. Now, especially in the Old Testament, the word for salvation, it means deliverance.

He's not talking about being justified or coming into a relationship. What he's saying is the Lord is my light and he's my deliverer. When I'm in a tough spot, when there's enemies around me, my trust and my focus is God is for me. He's my refuge. He's my safe place. Here's all this stuff out here. And wow, yeah, odds look very bad.

If it's just me, this doesn't look really good. And then it's kind of like, but me and Yahweh, the all powerful one, my refuge, the light, the one who's committed to me, the one who gave me promises, the one who gives me power from his word, the one whose presence is with me all the time. He goes, you know, I think the odds just changed. And so David did so many amazing things. You know, a little shepherd boy and he takes on the lion and the bear. He's young and all the soldiers are afraid. And it wasn't that he had it all together, but when he killed Goliath, do you remember what he said?

Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? He was defending the character of God. He goes, there's no way you don't treat God like that. And so he went out in the power of the Lord and he used what he had. But he was bold and he was courageous and he was not petrified or immobilized or powerless because of emotions, very genuine emotions.

Now, listen carefully. You can feel afraid, that's just an emotion, and choose not to respond to that feeling, but to act instead in a way that makes a difference. That is brave.

That word, when we feel afraid and yet we act in the confidence of God, that's called courage. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and he'll be back to continue our series, Be Strong and Courageous, in just a minute. But let me quickly tell you that we are more than a broadcast ministry. We're supporting pastors globally, developing helpful resources and sharing the gospel with this next generation.

So if you'd like to join us in these efforts, become a monthly partner by going to livingontheedge.org. And thanks for your support. We'll hear again as Chip. Joshua, I guarantee, was afraid. That's why God said, do not fear. David was afraid.

Go through all the scripture. Esther was afraid, right? The apostles were afraid. They were hiding. And God says, do not fear.

Why? Because the Lord is, notice it's personal. It's not God out there. It's, he is my light and my salvation.

And then he looks at it and he asks this rhetorical question. In light of who God is, in light of his commitment to me, in light of my past history with him, whom shall I fear? Whom shall I dread? If it seems impossible, if it looks crazy, if I'm absolutely surrounded, notice what he says now. He says, my heart will not fear. See, David knew that fears really are, the source of them is down deep in our heart. We all have kind of issues. And some people are afraid of a lot of different things, right? Some people are afraid of crowds and some people are afraid of spiders and some people are afraid of intimacy.

So it causes problems in their marriage. Some people are afraid to take a risk. So it's not only hard to share your faith, but they really struggle with, I know the Bible talks about being all in and my money, but I'm afraid.

I'm afraid that if I give this money to the work of God, there won't be enough for me. Fear can absolutely derail your life with God, your life with people and your life with yourself. So what's the source of David's confidence despite danger and war and overwhelming odds? Write these two words down. Focus and passion.

When we fear, our perspective usually is out there with the big question, what if out there comes in and here, right? David's focus was upward and he had a passion. He had a perspective about life and notice from verse four where he gets it. Very focused. One thing I've asked of the Lord that I shall seek.

Wow. OK, you're a king, you're rich, you're powerful, you have armies and there's just one thing you're going to ask of God. There's just one singular thing that you're going to pursue with all your heart, your mind and your strength.

Apparently so. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Well, why? To behold the beauty or literally the delightfulness of the Lord and to meditate in his temple. And this word meditate is to ponder God's attributes, to pursue him, to grasp what he's really like, to understand him and your relationship to him, to meditate in his temple. And then he gives the reason why for the day in trouble, he will conceal me in his tabernacle, in the secret place of his tent. He will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted above my enemies around me and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy.

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to my God. He has a focus and a perspective and there's a habit that David has. David is a worshiper. David spends time with God, not to get something from God. David spends time with God to just be with him, to behold him, his beauty or his delightfulness. David finds there's times where he just wants to hang out and he just wants to know God's ways and begin to ponder. Sometimes I, like you, I'm sure, I lose perspective. I don't feel very close to God.

I want to pray, but I can't get going. Anybody like that, right? You're like, OK, I can go through the Lord's Prayer mechanically.

I don't think that's it. Or I could go through that Acts acronym, you know, Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and that still feels a little mechanical. And then I think of a little tiny book that I read a chapter of like every day for about 10 years. And then I read the book once a month for about the next 10 years called The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.

Tozer. Now, that may sound really good, but I mean, the chapters are like two or three pages. They're very short and they're very deep, but they're on the attributes of God. And when I get kind of stuck, and I think we all do, what I realize is my problems are getting bigger and bigger. My focus is getting more and more inward and my God is getting smaller and smaller.

And so I would just begin as I think through what I learned from that book. Oh, Lord, thank you that you are good, that you find happiness in blessing me. You are for me.

I live under a sky that's friendly. You long to do good in my life and through my life. Lord, I thank you at this moment. You're all powerful.

You can do anything you want. And when you exert power, when you speak stars into existence, you don't lose any power whatsoever. Lord, I thank you that you see everything, that you're all knowing. Lord, I thank you. I just want to praise you that you're compassionate. Lord, when I see the life of Jesus, I see who you are. And I would just start to walk through attributes of God. Lord, today I am in awe that you are holy, that you live in unapproachable light, that you're absolutely pure. And in light of how great and powerful and awesome and holy and just and no one gets a raw deal and sovereign you are and all the world and creator.

And then I'll think, and you've committed yourself to me. It's your steadfast, loyal love. It's a covenant of love.

It's, Chip, I'm for you. See, what David did was he spent time beholding God for who he was. Not to get something, Lord, I'll do this if you do that. Not to manipulate or attempt to manipulate God. He wanted Jesus for Jesus, if you will.

In our day, that would be our language. He just wanted to love him and enjoy him and be in his presence. And, you know, Jesus at the very end talking to his disciples have always been, I don't know if it's challenged or just encouraged beyond almost emotion. When Jesus said to the disciples, no longer do I call you slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all things the Father has revealed to me I've made known unto you. And I don't know where you're at in your life. I don't know what you fear. I don't know what your struggles are.

I know there's a lot of issues out in this world that we're living in. But isn't it like mind-bogglingly wonderful to think Jesus, the one who spoke the world into existence, the one who created everything visible and invisible in heaven and on earth, the one who's the head of the church, he's your friend if you're a follower of him. Before we go any further in today's program, I want to pause and just talk with you personally. I'm deeply aware that many of us grew up in a world where our church experience especially was one where God was pretty mad most of the time. And what I got out of church until I met Jesus personally was guilt. And the idea of him really being your friend is like, wait a second, really? Aren't his arms kind of crossed and you are a disappointment and you need to get with the program and every time you've tried really hard to be a better person, you don't do all that well at it?

Can I tell you, I've lived that story. But what I didn't understand at all was that it's not just theology that Jesus died in my place and forgave me of my sins. The whole point was to build a bridge between me as a fallen human being with all my struggles and an infinite and perfect and holy God.

And Jesus' last message to his disciples, the reason I wanted to talk about this, was that no longer do I call you slaves. And he goes, I'm your friend. Can you imagine what it would be like if you begin to think of Jesus as your friend? Friends are who you share your heart with. Friends are who you vet with when you're really frustrated. Friends are someone that you can call late at night and say, hey, I mean, I'm embarrassed, but I really need your help. Friends are someone that you say, I've not told this to anyone, but I've got to get this off my chest.

I did something I'm really ashamed of and I'm really fearful about what might happen. Jesus wants you to come to him in that way, and when you do, he'll meet you. Could I encourage you, find a Bible somewhere and for the next few days just read Psalm 27 through the lens of Jesus is your friend and he wants to help you. You take baby steps toward him and you'll find he'll take giant steps toward you.

Great word, Chip. Well, if you've been inspired to deepen your relationship with God, we'd love to support you. Go to TrueSpiritualityOnline.org and check out our resources. There you can order Chip's popular book, True Spirituality, get the small group, or watch countless helpful videos. All of these tools were designed to show you the clear path to becoming a genuine follower of Christ. So check them out today.

That website again is TrueSpiritualityOnline.org. Well, Chip, before we go, I can see you're wanting to jump in here one last time to share something with our listeners. Thanks so much, Dave. As we wrap up today's program, I have to tell you that one of the greatest things that happens through Living on the Edge is people make Jesus the Lord of their life.

I've read literally thousands of emails and the change that happens is just absolutely amazing and it's a chain reaction. I just want to thank all of you that support the ministry financially because when someone makes Jesus the Lord, their marriage changes, their parenting changes, who shows up at work changes. Thank you very, very much for your financial support. If you have not supported us or haven't supported us in a while or would just kind of like to make it a habit and maybe do it monthly, today would be a great day to say, You know something? Christians need to live like Christians and I'd like to help Living on the Edge. Thanks so much for whatever God leads you to do.

Thanks, Chip. Well, if you're already a financial partner, thank you. With your help, Living on the Edge is ministering to more people than ever before. But if you're benefitting from Chip's teaching and haven't yet taken that step, now would be a great time to join the team. To send a gift or become a monthly partner, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or call us at 888-333-6003.

And that's 888-333-6003 or visit LivingOnTheEdge.org. App listeners, tap donate. Well, before we go, if you're looking for a way to get more out of our teaching, let me encourage you to download the message notes. This helpful tool is available for every program.

Include a clear outline, all the scripture references, and lots of fill-ins to help you remember what you're learning. You can get them at LivingOnTheEdge.org, under the broadcasts tab. App listeners, tap fill-in notes. Well, thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Next time, we'll continue Chip's series, Be Strong and Courageous. I'm Dave Druey, and I hope you'll join us then.