“Fearless”
Our Clear and Present Danger
ANSWER THE QUESTION
What is my message about? : Being ruled by the clear and present danger of sin catches us at our
weakest and most vulnerable. We begin to fear popular opinion over sovereign control, the will of the world
over the will of God, the mesmerizing temporary pleasures of this world over the immeasurable eternal glory
of God. How can we draw strength in our weakness producing a clear and present eternal destiny?
Why is it Important? : It is difficult to endure mockery or even death for the sake of a God we cannot see.
The reality for us is that if we do not recognize the clear and present danger of compromise we may be guilty
of placing more fear in the things that we can see instead of the one who holds our eternal destiny in his
hands.
What do I want them to do? : Daily we need to take an inventory or reality-check of our lives and the
clear and present danger of compromise. Replace the clear and present danger with a clear and present God.
What is the single most persuasive idea? There is one flock and one shepherd. We must abandon our
fears and embrace the presence of the good shepherd in our lives.
“Fearless”
Our Clear and Present Danger
THE INTRODUCTION
Our Clear and Present Danger: standard set by the Supreme Court in 1919 to determine under what circumstances
the First Amendment right of freedom of speech can be limited. Not just a potential danger but that which would
causes a catastrophe if not immediately neutralized.
What we fear Controls us Satan knows this and so do marketers: we are not pretty enough, we have bad breath, we
haven’t really lived until, we are inadequate, our life is a failure,
BIG IDEA: Abandon the clear and present danger of fear and embrace the clear and present reality of God
THE ANSWER
GOD ABNESIA
1. Own your fears (we are our own worst enemies)
2. Preach the Gospel to yourself (There is no pit of life that Jesus isn’t present)
3. Choose to act on truth rather than emotions (we do not write our own stories)
IMAGINE
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When fear becomes more powerful than our trust (in God)
When fear becomes more controlling than our reliance (on God)
When fear becomes more overwhelming than our adoration of the immeasurable glory (of God)
Realize that we are no longer outcasts. We are reconciled to God! Take the clear and present danger
and replace it with the clear and present God……….
“Fearless”
Our Clear and Present Danger
Our Clear and Present Danger: standard set by the Supreme Court in 1919 to determine under what circumstances the
First Amendment right of freedom of speech can be limited. Not just a potential danger but that which would causes a catastrophe
if not immediately neutralized.
What we fear Controls us Satan knows this and so do marketers: we are not pretty enough, we have bad breath, we
haven’t really lived until, we are inadequate, our life is a failure and others will surpass us or look more successful. Just buy product
“X” and all of your problems are over.
BIG IDEA: Abandon a clear and present fear and Embrace a clear and present God
Satan uses fear to control us – especially the fear of rejection: Most of us desire to get along with others to get
along with others and to avoid unnecessary conflict. But because of our fallen nature we have this desire to a great fault.
The desperate desire to fit in and be approved is one of the deepest wounds in the human heart.
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People spend enormous amounts of money buying things they cannot really afford just to impress people.
People walk up to a group of people engaged in an ugly gossip session joining right in just to gain entrance.
People will dress and act immodestly even if it’s uncomfortable just because everyone else is doing it. (BE
CAREFUL MOM AND DAD WITH YOUR KIDS)
SOLUTION
Luke 12:4-7
12:2-3 “Everything will be made known by God – reference to future judgment.
12:4 1st fear “Physical death cannot effect a believers ultimate destiny.” (Rom. 8:35-39)
12:5 2nd fear “Refers to God himself at the final judgment.”
“Reality is that we deny God every time we care more about what other people think of us instead of what
God has already declared. Every time we seek man’s approval over God we are saying that His sacrifice was
not enough, it was not sufficient.”
1. OWN YOUR FEARS (we are our own worst enemies)
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Fear is a product of sin (1 John 1:8 “If we say we do not sin we deceive ourselves”) “the greatest motivator of the fear of sin
is the fear of being discovered.”
“Fearless”
Our Clear and Present Danger
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We have God Amnesia (Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with your own heart”) People that struggled with God Amnesia,
King David, Moses, Abraham, Peter……
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Confess to the places where fear has produced bad decisions. (We begin to buy into the lie that as lost people that God
rescues from their sins, once they are rescued and become His and they do the bad things you have done then there is not
allot of rescuing left.) We bring our fears to light through regular confession, Moses and Gideon confessed their fears.
Confess the times that you are more in awe of people than Him.
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2 Timothy 1:7 “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power, and love, and self-control.”
2. Preach the Gospel to yourself
Thief on the cross asks a very poignant question to the other thief, have you no fear of God?
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Preach the gospel that perfects your fear by increasing your love. (fear based on wonder and awe, not wanting to offend
someone we love.)
Preach the gospel that finds its hope not in your understanding or ability. “The gospel frees us from what we fear the most”
“Perhaps the problem is un-repentance which brings anxiety as God attempts to speak truth into your life.”
Tim Keller – “The freedom of self-forgetfulness
“True gospel humility means I stop connecting every experience, every conversation, with myself. In fact, I stop thinking about
myself. The freedom of self-forgetfulness.”
1Peter. 5:7 “Casting all of your anxieties on him because he cares for you.”
3. Choose to act on truth rather than emotions
How does our emotional response line up with what’s true? How does it stack up with the promises of God?
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We live in a fallen world and do not write our own stories.
Fear silence’s us at a time when we need to speak up and causes us to speak when we should be silent.
We live for the fourth quarter comebacks. (fears, jumps, and fist bumps. Then reality sets in and the great optimism we
had at the fourth quarter heroics hits reality. The water doesn’t seem to stay fresh long and we find a way to foul it up
again.) Feelings are fickle changing moment to moment. Most of our unhappiness in life is due to the fact that we are
listening to ourselves.)
Matt Chandler, The Village Church, “Recovering Redemption”
“In order for good news to be good – like the gospel is good – it must invade bad places……..The bad parts of what we
see and feel around us serve a purpose in God’s mission to recreate something that’s been lost and destroyed.”
“Fearless”
Our Clear and Present Danger
Luke 6:47-48 “Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you the man who dug
deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When the storms broke against his house it could not shake it, because it
has been well built.” (life built on the firm foundation of Jesus not on shaky fears)
IMAGINE
What happens when?
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

When fear becomes more powerful than our trust (in God)
When fear becomes more controlling than our reliance (on God)
When fear becomes more overwhelming than our adoration of the immeasurable glory (of God)
Realize that we are no longer outcasts. We are reconciled to God! Take the clear and present danger and replace
it with the clear and present God Today……….
“Fearless”
Our Clear and Present Danger