We live in a country that’s plagued by prophecy peddlers. Guys like Harold Camping and Hal Lindsey have made millions of dollars over the years exploiting gullible people. All too often Gods children take the teaching of these men and purchase their books.

For instance, Lindsey utilizes his hyper-active imagination to the max. He seems to have perfected the art of cutting today’s troubling newspaper headlines and pasting them alongside gloomy prophetic Bible passages, and presto!-that particular prophecy is being fulfilled right before the very eyes of easily influenced Christian’s.

When it finally becomes obvious the prophecy hasn’t been fulfilled and, if you were to carefully read his next book, it will appear as though he has cut out the latest disturbing headlines and pasted them on top of the previous ones. Would you believe he’s been cranking out this kind of stuff for more than 40 years? Lindsey and the rest of today’s self proclaimed prophecy experts have enjoyed enormous popularity by catering to Christians who seem to have an insatiable appetite for this kind of nonsense.

Can you imagine the impact such a stupid method of interpreting the Bible is apt to have on a Christian who is prone towards being fearful? I can. Megan, (not her real name) was the mother of three robust teenage boys bounding their way through adolescence. She had been married to Danny, her childhood sweetheart for a little more than sixteen years. The family enjoyed good health and their finances enabled them to maintain a modest standard of living. Most important, she and Danny loved the Lord and each other. Although Danny was quick to frequently lavish well deserved complements on Megan and did all sorts of thoughtful things which silently said: “I love you,” she often had a nagging feeling that one day she would lose him to a better looking younger woman. After all, she had gained eleven and a half pounds since they got married and she can’t seem to be able to take them off.

Megan was the kind of person whose thoughts kept racing non-stop all over the place. For instance, she was worried about Danny’s job? What if he loses it? It doesn’t matter that they just gave him a promotion and a big raise. Suppose the company decides to eliminate his position or outsource it. What if they go out of business? You can never be sure any of these things won’t happen. Then what will we do? Where will Danny find another job? We don’t have much in our savings. How will we make the mortgage payments and everything else?

Megan’s thoughts kept picking up speed like a rocket after launch. She knew these kinds of fears are enough to make anyone sick. You could get an ulcer because of them. Then where will the money come from to pay for the doctor and buy medicine to treat her ulcer? When Danny loses his job our insurance will fly right out the window. There’s just no way we can afford to keep it. Then what? Poor Danny might have a heart attack and die worrying about all these problems. I’ll be a grief stricken widow with three kids to take care of, and I’ll be alone.

Although she and Danny did their utmost to lead their children to Christ and each of their boys seemed to be getting close to inviting the Savior into their heart, she remained gripped by a spirit of fear. Suppose they didn’t before the predicted Tribulation started? Megan knew the Rapture was right around the corner. It’s not very comforting knowing she and Danny will be beamed off the planet leaving those precious children behind to suffer only God knows what kind of horror during these end times.

Megan’s mind constantly raced from one fear to another. She spent many a night in bed tossing and turning and worrying herself sick over all sorts of things that turned out to be, more often than not, just figments of her imagination. Many nights she fell asleep a half hour before it was time to get up. Lots of mornings she started her day exhausted and emotionally drained. In so many words, Meagan was becoming a nervous wreck.

Has it been part of the Lord’s eternal plan for someone like Megan to cross paths with you and enter into your life? If so, what are you doing about it? Beyond being a good friend are you giving her sound Biblical advice? Perhaps you think you can’t because you’re not a professional. Well, writing to the first century believers who were living in Rome, Paul told them that,

14 “Personally, I’ve been completely satisfied with who you are and what you are doing. You seem to me to be well-motivated and well-instructed, quite capable of guiding one another.” Romans 15:14 (The Message)

It saddens me that so many of today’s pastors and the flocks they lead are pathetically weak on sound Biblical doctrine and are incompetent to council someone like Megan. All too often they make referrals to a secular psychologist who doesn’t have a clue who the Holy Spirit is. The psychologist is apt to refer the believer to another Non-Christian psychiatrist who is also oblivious of the Spirits workings within every follower of Christ. SOMETIMES the best the psychiatrist can do is prescribing meds to calm the person down. They are just treating symptoms and not the problem. The Lord expects His followers to be able to do infinitely more than that. Let’s see what He has said about the spirit of fear that was hounding a young pastor by the name of Timothy. The letter begins:

¹ From: Paul, Jesus Christ’s missionary, sent out by God to tell men and women everywhere about the eternal life he has promised them through faith in Jesus Christ. ² To: Timothy, my dear son. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord shower you with his kindness, mercy, and peace. ³ How I thank God for you, Timothy. I pray for you every day, and many times during the long nights I beg my God to bless you richly. He is my fathers’ God and mine, and my only purpose in life is to please him. ⁴ How I long to see you again. How happy I would be, for I remember your tears as we left each other. ⁵ I know how much you trust the Lord, just as your mother Eunice and your grandmother Lois do; and I feel sure you are still trusting him as much as ever. ⁶ This being so, I want to remind you to stir into flame the strength and boldness that is in you, that entered into you when I laid my hands upon your head and blessed you. ⁷ For the Holy Spirit, God’s gift, does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them and enjoy being with them. ⁸ If you will stir up this inner power, you will never be afraid to tell others about our Lord or to let them know that I am your friend even though I am here in jail for Christ’s sake.

You will be ready to suffer with me for the Lord, for he will give you strength in suffering. ⁹ It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy work not because we deserved it but because that was his plan long before the world began—to show his love and kindness to us through Christ. ¹⁰ And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, who broke the power of death and showed us the way of everlasting life through trusting him. ¹¹ And God has chosen me to be his missionary, to preach to the Gentiles and teach them. ¹² That is why I am suffering here in jail, and I am certainly not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to safely guard all that I have given him until the day of his return. ¹³ Hold tightly to the pattern of truth I taught you, especially concerning the faith and love Christ Jesus offers you. ¹⁴ Guard well the splendid, God-given ability you received as a gift from the Holy Spirit who lives within you. 2 Timothy 1:1-14 (TLB)

This was the last letter the Apostle Paul wrote. The Roman emperor Nero finally ordered his execution which was carried out sometime between A. D. 64 and 68. The Great Tribulation had begun! Followers of Christ were in the midst of enormous tribulation. They suffered great persecution; not only from the Jews but also the Romans.

In this final letter Paul recalled the last time he had seen Timothy and how the young man had wept when they parted. Timothy knew he would never see Paul alive again in this world. The great apostle also had fond memories of Timothy’s mother and grandmother and how these two women had instructed him in the Sacred Scriptures from the time he was a little boy.

Paul was absolutely convinced Timothy was a genuine Christian. However he also knew the young man was a anxious person prone to being fearful. Earlier Paul had written in his first letter to the Corinthians how he wanted those Christians to treat this young man.The following is what Paul wrote:

¹⁰ If Timothy comes make him feel at home, for he is doing the Lord’s work just as I am. ¹¹ Don’t let anyone despise or ignore him [because he is young], but send him back to me happy with his time among you; I am looking forward to seeing him soon, along with the others who are returning. 1 Corinthians 16:10-11 (TLB)

Paul is reminding the Corinthians about Timothy’s temperament, the peculiar way folks handle things. In so many words he’s saying, “Look guys. God created each of us with a unique temperament. Don’t forget that fact. We are all different. There’s nothing wrong with having different kinds. Everyone can be useful serving the Lord through his or her God given temperament.

As we have seen in his second letter to young Timothy, and in light of the enormous persecution Christians were beginning to experience at the hands of both Jews and Romans, thinking about the work God had ordained for Timothy to accomplish. Paul gets tough with the young pastor. He tells him in 2 Timothy 1: 6-7 that,

6 “The special gift of ministry you received when I laid my hands on you and prayed –keep that ablaze! God doesn’t want you to be shy with His gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.” (The Message)

The Living Bible’s rendition of verses 6 & 7 is as follows. Paul is telling Timothy 6“… to stir up (rekindle the embers of, fan the flame of, and keep burning) the [gracious] gift of God, [the inner fire] that is in you by means of the laying on of my hands [with those of the elders at your ordination]. ⁷ For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. This being so, I want to remind you to stir into flame the strength and boldness that is in you, that entered into you when I laid my hands upon your head and blessed you. ⁷ For the Holy Spirit, God’s gift, does not want you to be afraid of people, but to be wise and strong, and to love them and enjoy being with them.” 2 Timothy 1:6-7 (TLB)

The Message Translation renders verses 6-7 as follows:

“…and the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed-keep that ablaze! God doesn’t want us to be shy with His gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.”

It’s as though Paul is saying, Timothy you have a lot of hard work to do. But there’s no way you will accomplish it if you allow yourself to be controlled by your temperament and the spirit of fear. Remember what Jesus told us to do in these kinds of situations Timothy. Jesus said,

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” (The Message)

And I must add, to those of you who are hearing this sermon or read it later on my web site Jesus wants us to deal with our divinely ordained challenges the same way. We should be concerned about the future but not overly concerned or we will become nervous wreck’s and useless in the hard work of evangelizing the lost. Now listen up folks; this is what the Lord wants you to do. Live today to the max. Don’t worry yourselves sick attempting to cross bridges before you actually come to them.

I don’t think you folks know all that God has done for you, and everything that He is doing in you and in every other follower of Jesus Christ. Don’t obsess over what may or may not happen in the future. Take up your shield of faith and extinguish every one of those fiery darts the invisible spirit of fear is bombarding you with. If you allow them to hit you those thoughts will capture your mind and send it every which way from one fear to another.

Christians aren’t ordinary people having to struggle through this sin infested world. On the contrary, believers are born again children of God and are already living in a spiritual kingdom which is vastly above all earthly kingdoms. It is the “Kingdom of God” and it’s advancing moment by moment in our country in spite of the incredible opposition His Church is currently enduring. Nothing can stop its progress. Some of us have timid and fearful temperaments. Remember it was for His glory and their ultimate good that God planned for them to be born that way.

They don’t have to make their way through this world by allowing their God given temperament to become a handicap as though they aren’t followers of the Risen Savior. God has not, I’m going to say it again; God has not given any Christian a spirit of fear. On the contrary, God has given every believer a Spirit of incredible power.

The Holy Spirit is working within us; not only to want to do but also the ability to do whatever is pleasing to Him. It’s the power to fight off and overcome every temptation Satan throws at us. It’s the power enabling believers to go forward and endure incredible sufferings. It’s the power enabling Christians to overcome the spirit of fear.

Remember how the Apostle Peter was fearful of dying. He was frightened so much that he denied he even knew Jesus. That was the old Peter. That was Peter before he was given the Spirit of Power. But look at how he changed when he did. Peter started cooperating with the Holy Spirit working within him. When he did Peter became fearless. So much so that he fearlessly and courageously proclaimed the Gospel and allowed himself to be crucified just as Christ had previously told him he would.

So the next time we are tempted to give in to the spirit of fear, remember the same Spirit of Power that was working in Peter is also working in each of us. Returning to Paul’s letter to Timothy Paul says something such as, Timothy I know you’re concerned about what may happen to me. I know what’s on your mind and troubling you. If it’s the Lords will that I be executed, you are worrying yourself sick about how you are going to deal with all the problems in the churches without me.

We’re starting to see some of the signs the Lord told His disciples about concerning great tribulation such as has never been seen before nor will ever be seen again. I can just imagine your fearful mind racing all over the place from one fear to the next. Take up your shield of faith and resist the temptation to try to cross those bridges before you actually come to them. Don’t give in to the spirit of fear and paralyze yourself in the present. You will become useless in the battle.

As I told you before Timothy it isn’t just the Spirit of Power the Lord had given to His people. It’s also the Spirit of Love and of a calm and well balanced mind that enables them to discipline it and to exercise self-control. Call to your remembrance the Love of Jesus for sinners such as you and me Timothy. Think of that sinless perfect person leaving the glory He enjoyed in Heaven with His Father. Think of His marvelous love the magnitude of which is incomprehensible for any created being to understand. Christ’s Father is now our Father. Don’t spend so much time thinking about yourself Timothy.

The Spirit of Love working in you folks who are hearing my message this morning wants us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ as much as we love ourselves. When we enter in to the fears and sorrows of others we won’t have so much time to be dwelling on and obsessing over our own problems. Actually we will become grateful ours aren’t as severe as theirs. He also wants us to have a passionate love for the lost. So much so, that, with the Spirit of incredible Power working in us, you and I will fearlessly evangelize the lost whenever we have the opportunity.

It’s been my prayerful hope that the Lord will make this message a blessing for each of you folks, and that through it, you will be better equipped to help the Megan’s He brings into your life. We also need to remind each other that God is sovereign. He rules the world. He loves us! Don’t grieve Him and break His heart by not trusting Him. DON’T SWEAT TOMORROW!

Lord willing, next week