Overview
There is no fear in love. Todd Cencich takes freedom from fear to its root in 1 John 4:18, where perfect love casteth out fear, so that the love of God and the love for God in our heart is what gives us the strength and courage to move. He reads Leviticus 26, where walking in God’s statutes brings peace and none shall make you afraid; traces the first fear to Genesis 3:10, when Adam lost the spiritual connection with God; and tells of being chased on his bike as a boy until he came around a corner and saw his dad in the front yard. Fear and love cannot exist at the same time, so fear is beneath us spiritually. Live above fear.
Transcript
What It Means to Be Free from Fear
God bless you. I’m Todd Cencich and I’m going to be sharing on the topic of freedom from fear, love. I’d like you to take your Bibles and please turn to Leviticus 26.
Being free from fear doesn’t mean we aren’t tempted with fear, but in the midst of it we keep moving toward our goal. We keep moving forward in the direction God would have us to go. Fear permeates our culture today.
The systems and methods of the world are designed to deter us from carrying out God’s word using fear. Old Testament examples such as Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Elisha, Mordecai, Esther, David, all face situations where they potentially could have had fear or tempted with fear, yet their love and respect for God carried them through and gave them strength and courage.
Leviticus 26: What God Says Not to Do, and What to Do
Leviticus 26 verse 1. Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land to bow down unto it, for I am the Lord your God.
Ye shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord. If ye walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and do them, then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, and ye shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land safely.
And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid, and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. God is always good. His path is always good.
He tells his children of Israel what not to do, basically idolatry, and it’ll lead them down the wrong path, resulting in horrible things. Then he tells them what to do. Keep the sabbaths, reverence the sanctuary, walk in my statutes, keep commandments, and the result is then you shall have prosperity, peace, and nothing shall make you afraid.
Peace Is an Unhindered Connection Between God and Men
Peace is an unhindered connection between God and men, where man is the variable and God is the constant. When we are at peace with God, we will have no fear and have the courage to move. Fear makes us freeze in our tracks.
It leads to inaction on the word. Fear was not in the original paradise. Adam and Eve were in perfect alignment and harmony with God spiritually.
Genesis 3:10: The First Time Man Was Afraid
The first time man was afraid was Genesis 3:10, when they disobeyed God. They lost the spiritual connection with God, where Adam said he heard the voice of the Lord and he was afraid and hid. For the first time man was naked and afraid.
Why? They lost their spiritual connection with God and had to rely on their senses. While they walked in alignment and harmony, they were not subject to fear. Fear puts you in subjection.
Chased on My Bike: What Changed When I Saw My Dad
When we get to the place when we know that God is our partner, we will have no fear.
As a child, I grew up in a neighborhood where they were doing quite a bit of construction, and there were a lot of empty houses and empty lots. And in some areas where they were doing construction was a lot of building, but there wasn’t a lot of people around. And I was riding my bike and I got quite a ways from my house, and I ran into three other boys that were my age or probably a little older.
I was about 10 at the time, and they were weren’t from the area that I was from. And as kids do, they start calling names, and next thing I know they wanted to, they wanted to fight with me. And so I was riding my bike as fast as I could and they took off after me and they were chasing me down. And it was, if you’ve seen the movie Karate Kid where the boys are chasing Daniel LaRusso around, it was kind of like that.
I was running for my life. I was very afraid, because these three boys seemed very perturbed and angry. And I was riding my bike and I was heading back home. My goal was to get home, and that was all I could think about at the time.
And I came around a corner and I saw my house, and there was my dad in the front yard. And when I saw my dad, my fear I had tended to drop quite a bit. And across the street from my house, right where across from where my dad was standing, there was some, some silt of some soil that had like some dust that had come from the construction area.
Taking a Stand Because Someone Is Backing You Up
So what I did was, I laid my bike down in that, in that soft soil area, landed on my feet, and I took a stand and I confronted the three boys who were chasing me. I didn’t wait for my dad to get involved. I jumped in right away and confronted these myself.
And the reason I bring this up is because to me it’s a great lesson of how, when we know God is backing us up, we will have no fear. When we realize that he is in us and with us, we know that there’s no situation that can overthrow us.
Proverbs 29:25: The Fear of Man Bringeth a Snare
Proverbs 29:25 says, The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. A snare is a trap. It’s a bait to lure us away from walking with God. There’s endless distractions in the world today, temptations to get us to focus on anything but God.
Fear leads to inaction on what God would have us to do. Remember, God always backs us up, and there’s a corresponding benefit and result. It says in Hebrews 13:5 he will never leave us nor forsake us, and I felt very much that way when my dad was there in that incident when I was being confronted by those other young boys.
Proverbs 3:25 and Deuteronomy 31:6: He Will Not Fail Thee Nor Forsake Thee
Proverbs 3:25 and 26 says, Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh, for the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. And many of us are familiar with Deuteronomy 31:6, Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them. And when it says them, it’s referring to people.
Joshua was going to be going, leading Israel really into an area where there were people in these lands, and God said go into these lands and inhabit these lands and possess these lands. And as they did that, they would have to run across people, and God’s telling them be not afraid of them, the people. And listen to the rest of the verse. It says, For the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee, he will not fail thee nor forsake thee.
Making a Mountain Out of Nothing: When Fear Is a Perception
I’d like you to also take your Bibles and go to 2nd Timothy 1. Fear or a perception of fear can build up in our minds, but we continue down the path we know God would have us to go down. Have you ever blown everything out, anything out of proportion in your mind? You’ve made a mountain out of nothing. You’ve made a huge issue out of something that was very minor, and then the issue is resolved and then you go, why was I feeling like that? Well, many times we do that in our mind because of fear or a perception of fear.
The Spirit of God in each one of us is the potential, the strength, the ability to carry out his will. The result of Jesus Christ fulfilling the law and redeeming us is now the, now enables us to have a full measure of the Spirit of God in us. A permanent unbreakable connection. If you really believe that, if you really believe that God is with you, if you really believe that he will not leave you nor forsake you, fear will not bind you.
2 Timothy 1:7: Power, Love and a Sound Mind
2nd Timothy 1:7 says, For God has not given us the spirit of fear. So when we do have fear we know it comes from somewhere else, it’s not of God. But what, what did God give us? But of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Fear is timidity or cowardice or dread to do something. Power is the spiritual ability that we have. When he says he gave us power, love and of a sound mind, the first thing he gave us is the spiritual potential that we have to be conquerors in these situations, to stand for him with the strength and energy.
And finally, a sound mind. In the Greek text, this is from the Greek word which means temperate, sane, curbing one’s desires and impulses, self-control.
Fear and Love Cannot Exist at the Same Time
Fear and love cannot exist at the same time. The motivation of love paves the way for us to have courage and strength to act for him, and this is carried all the way through to completion, across the finish line.
It’s not the courage to get started, which is included, yes, but it’s the, it’s the courage to complete, to finish, to accomplish what God would have us to do. We start by taking the first step with conviction, out of love. Next I’d like you to take your Bibles and go to first John four.
Why Corporate America Screens for Fear of Failure
Working in corporate America, companies screen candidates for certain positions, especially in sales. I’ve done this for years, taking part of the entrance exams as well as trying to screen for attributes of top performers. How, so how companies do this is they do it by interviewing top performers, looking for attributes and characteristics common to the group.
Next they develop questions that will be used to pre-screen candidates to determine if they’re a good fit. And one of the questions always blew my mind when they asked it, when I found out what the result they were looking for was. Here’s the question. What motivates you more, the rewards and accolades of being a top performer, or fear of failure? And if you guessed fear of failure, you would be right, as far as what corporate America was looking for.
Fear of these, if you look at these people too, it’s not always obvious on the surface. They have maybe have a great way of covering it up, or you don’t see it, but deep down below the surface many people are afraid of losing their jobs. They’re affected and they’re motivated and controlled by this fear. Obviously we want to have a new motive.
We want to have a superior motive to that, and we don’t want to be subject to fear to be able to succeed in corporate culture. Our culture is saturated with fear. It’s in politics, arts, business, advertising, broadcasting.
1 John 4:18: There Is No Fear in Love
First John 4:18 has a tremendous verse that can really set us free when we really believe the truth of the word. First John 4:18 says, There is no fear in love. How much fear? None. Absolutely none. Zero. Zilch.
But perfect love casteth out fear. And but, as we know, sets in contrast that which proceeds. So you’ve got no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
Action on the word cures fear, and love is the motivation, the driving force behind our actions. We remember God’s love for us in the works of his son Jesus Christ. The temptation of fear or a brief thought of it may arise, but the love of God and the love for God in our heart gives us the strength and courage to move.
Did Jesus Christ Act Out of Love?
A question I always ask myself is, did Jesus Christ act this way? Did he act out of love? Did his love for God encourage him to do the will of his father? And the answer is obvious, and everything Jesus Christ did was out of love for his heavenly father, and also he thinks about the love that he has to carry out his will. I think about that in relation to how a parent is with his child, and how a child wants to make his parents proud because he loves his parents. The motivation is because the child loves them.
There’s no coincidence in his word. God describes himself and he gives himself the attribute of a father. When Jesus Christ chased the money changers out of the temple, was he acting out of love? Yes.
That may not seem like a very loving thing to do as far as how the world defines love, but spiritually it was. It’s having the love in our heart and his word in our heart, and moving in the direction that he would have us to go. As a mind can only think one thought at a time, so remember what God’s word says about ourselves, about others, about situations, about the future or any other scenario that could possibly come up.
Fear Is Beneath Us Spiritually: Live Above Fear
When we have God at our side as our partner, we remember that as we live, no matter what situation we are in, he is with us and in us in every situation. We need not be bound to fear. Fear is beneath us spiritually, so I exhort you to live above fear.
Being the son of God, you are acting out of his word, out of love. God bless you.
Key Takeaways
- Being free from fear doesn’t mean we aren’t tempted with fear, but in the midst of it we keep moving toward our goal, in the direction God would have us to go.
- In Leviticus 26 God tells Israel what not to do, basically idolatry, and then what to do, keep the sabbaths, reverence the sanctuary, walk in my statutes, keep commandments, and the result is prosperity, peace, and none shall make you afraid.
- Fear was not in the original paradise. The first time man was afraid was Genesis 3:10, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, lost the spiritual connection with God and had to rely on their senses.
- 2 Timothy 1:7 says God has not given us the spirit of fear, so when we do have fear we know it comes from somewhere else, it’s not of God. He gave power, love and a sound mind, a Greek word meaning temperate, sane, curbing one’s desires and impulses, self-control.
- 1 John 4:18 says there is no fear in love. None, absolutely none, zero, zilch. Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment.
- Fear and love cannot exist at the same time. Fear is beneath us spiritually, so live above fear, acting out of his word, out of love.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 1 John 4:18 mean by there is no fear in love?
It means exactly none. Todd Cencich presses the point in the teaching: how much fear? None, absolutely none, zero, zilch. Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment, and he that feareth is not made perfect in love. Action on the word cures fear, and love is the motivation, the driving force behind our actions, because fear and love cannot exist at the same time.
What is the spirit of fear in 2 Timothy 1:7?
Fear is timidity or cowardice or dread to do something, and 2 Timothy 1:7 says God has not given us that spirit, so when we do have fear we know it comes from somewhere else, it’s not of God. What he gave instead is power, love and a sound mind. Power is the spiritual ability that we have to be conquerors in these situations, and a sound mind comes from a Greek word meaning temperate, sane, curbing one’s desires and impulses, self-control.
When was the first time man was afraid in the Bible?
Genesis 3:10, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Fear was not in the original paradise, because Adam and Eve were in perfect alignment and harmony with God spiritually, and while they walked in that alignment and harmony they were not subject to fear. When they disobeyed, they lost the spiritual connection with God and had to rely on their senses, and Adam said he heard the voice of the Lord and he was afraid and hid.
Scripture References
Leviticus 26; Leviticus 26:1; Leviticus 26:2; Leviticus 26:3; Leviticus 26:4; Leviticus 26:5; Leviticus 26:6; Genesis 3:10; Proverbs 29:25; Hebrews 13:5; Proverbs 3:25; Proverbs 3:26; Deuteronomy 31:6; 2 Timothy 1; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 John 4; 1 John 4:18
This text was prepared from the teaching audio. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
