Drs. Roger and Julie Barrier teach on the dilemma of dealing with fear and Satanic intimidation instead of trusting in God.
WHEN FEARS COME TRUE
S-1729
ROGER
·SLIDE #: Turn in your Bibles to the Book of Job—right before Psalms. We continue our discussion this month on God’s teachings on how we handle fears.
JULIE
Psychologists have identified over 750 fears.
Just for fun, I am going to say the name of a fear. You guess what the fear really is.
·SLIDE #: #1-Alecktrophobia-
a. Fear of electricity
b. Fear of voting for a democrat
c. Fear of chickens*
·SLIDE #: #2-Francophobia
a. Fear of hot dogs
b. Fear of French people*
c. Fear of Blunt people
·SLIDE #: #3-Scolionaphobia
a. Fear of back injuries
b. Fear of school*
c. Fear of bald men
(Everyone under 18 would say yes to b although c can be pretty creepy)
·SLIDE #: #4-Novercaphobia
a. Fear of chocolate
b. Fear of novacaine
c. Fear of mother-in-laws*
(How many of you guys deal with this one on a regular basis?)
ROGER
Julie, Do you have any phobias?
JULIE
I have Latte Phobia—afraid of not having enough coffee mate. Here is the bottle of shampoo I took to Mongolia. Here is the bottle of Coffeemate.
ROGER
SLIDE #: Thank your for Fear responses from Casas—about 400 responses of your fears.
I’m afraid I will never fall in love
That my (Christian) husband will someday leave me for another woman especially as I grow older, and I will end up living under a bridge
I’m afraid the cancer will return and I won’t see it.
Today our assignment in our fear series is:
WHAT DO WE DO WHEN OUT OF CONTROL FEARS COME TRUE?
SLIDE #: JOB 1:1: In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
Unbeknownst to Job, behind the scenes, God and Satan are locked in a battle over whether or not Satan can get Job to curse God.
In a quick and brutal sweep of calamities, allowed by God, but engineered by Satan, Job is left penniless, homeless, helpless, childless—and healthless.
JULIE (read in rapid succession)
▓SLIDE #: JOB 1:13-15: One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
▓SLIDE #: JOB 1:16: While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
▓SLIDE #: JOB 1:17: While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
▓SLIDE #: JOB 1:18-19: While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
ROGER
Standing beside ten fresh graves on a windy hill, his wife heaving in sobs beside him, having lost everything Job says in faith, “The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
On Day One Job lost his family and his possessions. But on Day Two, it got personal.
JULIE
▓SLIDE #: JOB 2:4-8 “Then Satan answered ‘Skin for skin? All that a man has will he give for his life. (which is a lie, by the way). But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.’
SLIDE: And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, he is in your hand, only spare his life.’ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
SLIDE: And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.”
ROGER
·SLIDE #: Job 3:25: “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.”
For Job, like for many of us, there was no date, there was no warning, there was no understanding why it happened.
All he knew was that one day things were fine and the next day they were horrible. One day he was healthy and moments later he was sick unto death.
His worst, out of control came true.
JULIE
SLIDE: His wife bitterly whispered, “Just curse God and die.”
Mrs. Job is often criticized for encouraging Mr. Job to curse God and die.
Let’s not be so hard on her. Like Job, she, too, had awakened into her worst nightmares.
Mrs. Job had great wealth, too—and she also lost everything:…her children, her wealth and security, her reputation, and her husband’s health.
The same thing has happened to some of you.
Maybe you’re afraid your girlfriend will break up with you for a football player.
Maybe you’re afraid a coyote will eat your Chihuahua.
Perhaps your fears are deeper.
That you’ll lose your job and not be able to support your family.
That Dad will come home drunk again and beat up your mom.
ROGER
Let’s consider some of the nightmarish fears that actually came true for Job.
▓SLIDE #: Job tells us that he feared PHYSICAL PAIN.
We do not know the disease he suffered, but we know it was so painful, he couldn’t even sleep at night. It was gory. It was tormenting. Scraping off dead skin with potsherds.
▓SLIDE #: Rochelle Terry is in our midst today. She would much rather be home with her family and her high school friends in Ulan Bator, Outer Mongolia.
But, alas, she is not.
Several months ago one of her legs began experiencing excruciating pain—so much so that she cannot walk, put any weight on it, or even touch it. The nerves are malfunctioning and sending continual agonizing pain signals to her brain.
Now in PT—begins with touching it with a wash cloth—and she cries out in agony—trying to build up endurance so she can stand the pain and begin using her leg before it is completely atrophied and useless.
RSD is incurable, but it can be managed, if proper PT is administered in time.
We all fear to some level or other a failing body or long-time experience with pain. She never saw it coming. But, it did.
JULIE
▓SLIDE #: Job tells us that he experienced tremendous EMOTIONAL PAIN.
Sometimes the emotional pain is so great we can’t even begin to process it.
Our daughter Bronwyn was raped one night when she was coming home from a meeting.
She was getting ready to leave for Germany to be a foreign exchange student.
The Rotary club who sponsored her wanted to be sure she was safe while walking to her car, so they sent an exchange student from South America to escort her to her car.
Instead, he raped her. Bronwyn was so horrified, she never told anyone.
She took up fencing in college. She loved to fence men and stab them below the belt. We thought that was a little unusual. Now we know that the pain in her subconscious mind was manifesting against men for what she had experienced.
Thanks to Ann Lewis in our Pastoral Care Dept, she worked began her emotional healing.
Not long afterward Bronwyn fell in love and became engaged—One night, she finally told her fiancée why she was afraid of men. After months of continued counseling, Bronwyn found her emotional healing. Emotional pain can be very real.
ROGER
Some of you have suffered emotional pain in unspeakable ways. I am sorry for the hurt you have experienced.
▓SLIDE #: Job admits that he dreaded the thought of long-term MENTAL ANGUISH.
He couldn’t comprehend how he and his wife would survive. He was wondering what terrible calamity would come next.
JULIE
When I was five, I awoke to footsteps in the hall of our small home. I was frightened so I crawled back into bed and pretended to be asleep. The next morning, my mother’s wedding rings were gone. For many nights I would get up in the middle of the night and go check the front door.
At thirteen, I rode my bike home from the swimming pool My parents both worked. As I unlocked the front door, two men were carrying our television out the back door. I dropped my keys and ran to my neighbors. Noo ne was home. So, every time I put the key in the lock, I held my breath.
When I was in college, I was stalked, and my apartment was broken into. I was afraid to walk home at night.
We moved 1,000 miles away from Texas to Tucson. Roger would do conferences out of town, and I would get prank calls when he would leave. I never really processed any of my fears. I just kept going on with life. But I started to have nightmares and feel on edge when I was alone. When I discovered that I had done nothing to heal those fears, I realized something had to change.
Some of you have suffered mental anguish in unspeakable ways-so much greater than my own experience. I am sorry for the pain you have gone through.
ROGER
▓SLIDE #: SPIRITUAL PAIN was probably Job’s deepest fear come true.
He felt that the God he knew and loved and served and worshiped had forsaken him.
His wife, his beloved partner, told him to curse God and die.
He wondered over and over again why God would let this happen to him.
I knew a pastor having sexual affair in his office while wife served as his volunteer secretary just outside his office door.
He probably never saw it coming. But, one day he fell—and one day he was discovered.
“How can God ever forgive me? What I have done is so despicable that there is no way God could ever forgive me. He surely has left me forever.”
Some of you have suffered spiritual pain in unspeakable ways. Perhaps you feel that God deserted you in your most desperate moment. Perhaps you feel that He has led or left you in some difficulty that was all His doing—and you are struggling to find solutions on your own. I am sorry for what you have gone through.
▓SLIDE #: NOW, LET’S MOVE TO THE PRACTICAL SIDE. “WHAT SHALL WE DO WHEN THE THINGS WE FEARED THE MOST RUMBLE TO THE CORE OF OUR SOULS?”
ROGER
▓SLIDE #: 1. WE CAN EXPERIENCE THE LOVING HEART OF GOD THE FATHER THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.
God the Father understands and has experienced fears and the horror of those fears coming true. Even Jesus struggled with fear and dread.
Matthew 26:38: Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane facing death.
Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Matthew 27:46: About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”-which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
His worst fear was finally realized? He was separated from His Father.
He took the sin of the world.
Look at the Father’s heart. When your worst fears come true, God not only understands, He feels for you.
JULIE
It reminds me of the little fawn being chased by hunting dogs. The hunter saw the terrified little deer running toward him. As the dogs got closer, he jumped into the hunter’s arms. Touched by the fawn’s trust=he dropped his rifle, and fought off the angry dogs. That is the image of God as my father that I have in my soul whenever my worst fears are being realized.
God’s “perfect love” is able to cast out fear.
SLIDE: 1 John 4:18-19; “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear… 19 We love because he first loved us.”
Recently, as we’ve spent more time over seas, we have met a lot of missionaries. Many have opened up and become very vulnerable with us about their fears.
Will their kids turn out all right? Will the secret police come after them? Will they be able to raise enough support?
“The love of Christ constrains us…” They have experienced the heart of the Father in their own lives. They risk their lives so others may experience the Father’s love as well.
After the Watts riots in Los Angeles, God opened some wonderful doors for us to minister to the homeless. I took sixty teenagers and some very gutsy sponsors to sing, paint shelters, and feed the homeless. Before we left, we had the opportunity to sing at a large African American church on Figueroa Blvd. Right on the same neighborhood where people had fought and killed their neighbors, those kids sang danced and praised God on a Friday night service. A group of church leaders came up to our team, weeping as our concert concluded and said,”You are the first white people to ever come to our church. We see the love of Christ in these children. A great healing took place that day. It would have never happened if we had been to afraid to go. We were called-the love of Christ constrained us.
ROGER
through the Bible, prayer and meditation and personal experiences with God.
▓SLIDE #: 2. WE CAN EXPERIENCE PEACE BECAUSE OUR SUFFERING IS FOR SOMETHING—AND SOMEONE.
SLIDE: Job 23:10: 10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
Scientists are now able to measure the intensity of the pain we feel. They can measure that a migraine hurts more than a skinned knee.
And they have determined that two of the most painful things human beings can experience are giving birth and passing a kidney stone.
But the two are so different. The pain of passing a kidney stone is simply pointless suffering, the result of a natural malfunction in our bodies. But the pain of birth is creative pain. It is pain that has meaning, life giving pain that leads to something special.
That is why the person who passes a kidney stone will usually say, “I’d give anything not to have to go through that again.”
But the woman who has given birth to a child can transcend her pain and contemplate repeating the experience. “Honey, I think I am ready to have another one.
No one wants to suffer for nothing (kidney stone). We handle it better if we are suffering for something (having a baby).
We handle it best if we understand that even our fears come true have a purpose in the plan of God.
SLIDE: Hebrews 12:10-11: Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
▓SLIDE #: 3. WE CAN EXPERIENCE CONTENTMENT BECAUSE GOD PROMISES TO POUR IN THE POWER WHEN WE NEED IT.
SLIDE: Philippians 4:11-12: I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
SLIDE: Philippians 4:13: I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
JULIE
▓SLIDE #: I do want to share—with Rochelle’s permission—an email she wrote to her dad in Mongolia last week. I hope it blesses you as much as it does teme.
I really didn’t know that God could turn this no walking and no friends thing into something so big in my life. I sit down and read my Bible and pray and I’m really seeking Christ.
I’m learning things and I’m forming my beliefs and its alive in me. I know I don’t know very much, and things I think are right might be twisted, but I know I’m not alone.
I think its kinda like this therapy thing.
I have to learn how to do all this stuff but I can’t do it on my own yet…. Its like God took my weakness and He said, “Hey, watch this! Want to see what I can do with this?”
It’s like He came and said “Rochele, I can do something great here—I just want to know if you want to come for the ride.”
I could have stayed bitter, but I’ve done that before. I needed to make this real this time.
Daddy, I got this joy. It’s like I can feel Him working in me—its amazing.
I think I know what RSD really stands for now: Resting Soundly in Dad. He is my Heavenly Father, and He gave me rest in Him.
ROGER
Notice how she is handling a worst fear. What did she just say.
▓SLIDE #: 1. She is experiencing the loving heart of God the Father through Jesus Christ.
▓SLIDE #: 2. She is experiencing peace because our suffering is for something.
▓SLIDE #: 3. She is experiencing contentment because God promises to pour in the power.
