WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:14.820 I'm coming to you from North Central Ohio, we share with you the voice of the Nazarene, a week by week venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio Church of the Nazarene, we join our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle, and the voice of the Nazarene. 00:00:17.750 --> 00:00:20.899 We've been talking about the Holy Spirit been on a series. 00:00:21.530 --> 00:02:11.449 And I'm going to share just a simple thought this morning, probably maybe the most simple thought that I've shared since I've been pastor here. Very simple thought, but it has to do with the Holy Spirit. Second Timothy Chapter one, Verse seven. And it reads, forgotten has not given unto us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind. And by the way, if God didn't give us the spirit of fear, and you have fear, who do you think gave it to you? I'll give you three guesses in your right on all three. Another translation reads it like this for the Spirit that God gave. It doesn't make us timid or fearful, but gives us power, love, and self discipline. So what is the answer? What is the antidote for fear? May I respond by saying it's the Holy Spirit. And certainly, these are unprecedented days, they're different. These are apprehensive times in the lives of all of us, here in America. I think there is fear in every corner. If you've been listening to the news lately, it almost makes you want to look for a bunker to hunker down into the hide and get off the grid and try to find some kind of a solution. And by the way, if you're watching the news on a regular basis, I want to remind you, it's not like it was 20 years ago, they have an agenda now. And they can spark all kinds of fear. We don't need to live in fear. There's a story about a big sign, I mean, a huge sign. And it said Beware of Dog. 00:02:12.259 --> 00:03:31.580 The guy was getting ready to go through the fence. He saw that sign and he backed off. And about that time a little teacup Yorkie came walking around the sign, almost looking like he was grinning and looking for a friend. And this guy stopped another guy on the sidewalk. And he said, I don't think that dog would scare anybody. And the man looked at him and said, No, but the sign will. And I'm aware that there was a virus don't get me wrong, I know that. But I don't believe that it spread nearly as fast as fear was spread. And I believe the sign impacted probably the people more than the dog did. And we're not awful careful, we can become controlled we can become dominated by fear. And we need to be sure that we're not being controlled dominated by the signs of the time dominated by this awful spirit of fear that wants to grip all of us. A fear that builds anxiety, fear that paralyzes and it causes us to do things that we often to do and it will cause us not to do some of the things that we should do. 00:03:27.349 --> 00:03:46.370 Fear will cause you to do strange things. Man was driving along and heard of siren looked in his rearview mirror and saw state trooper right behind him lights on siren running. And he hit the gas pedal and took off. 00:03:47.000 --> 00:04:18.259 And the trooper he took off after him it was a high speed chase. It probably went on for 15 minutes going through stoplights and everything else and finally the trooper got him pulled over. And when he got his window down, he said to the man what in the world is wrong with you? I wanted to point out that you've got a taillight out on the right hand side of your car, and you've taken off and you've driven fast and gone through red lights. Why did you do that? 00:04:12.919 --> 00:04:39.290 Well, he said two weeks ago, my wife left me for state trooper and I thought he was bringing her back. I'm trying to say that sometimes fear will do all kinds of strange things. But the answer for fear in your life is the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:51.889 Back in the old testament, we have an account of a man named Moses. He led two to three million people out of Egyptian captivity bondage, led them across the wilderness and was heading into the promised land. 00:04:52.339 --> 00:06:00.439 And before they went into this Canaan land, he sent 12 spies in first to spy out the land to see what was like. And can we take it? And what what what are we facing? And when the 10 returned out of the 12, this is what they related, said the people there are strong. There are walled cities. And there are giants, big giants in the land we're like grasshoppers in their sight. Then there were two other guys, Caleb, and Joshua. And they returned and they said, Let us go up at once possess it and we're well able to take it. And they knew that God had already promised that land to them, and they were just ready to go for it. And I want you to look at what Joshua said, Only rebelled not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Now you know what bread will do, Don't ya? Bread will enlarge you. Bread will put on a spread. 00:06:02.209 --> 00:06:22.370 And my wife don't hardly eat any bread. If she does it's got to be keto, kinda like chemo. And he said here why. Just step out in the light of what you know to do. Step out of your fears begin to trust God. And guess what? 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:27.110 It'll enlarge your faith. It'll impact you. It'll deepen you. 00:06:22.370 --> 00:07:19.129 It'll strengthen you. It'll give you vision. Courage is being scared, scared to death, and still, stepping out away and trusting the Lord. Now as I read that account, I thought of these 10 spies and the two spies 12 of them all together. And the difference between the 10 negative spies and the two positive spies. And I wonder what is the difference? What made the difference between them. And then I read over here in Numbers 14:24, because they had another spirit. Those two spies had another spirit, not a negative, whining, controlling, dominating fear, kind of a spirit, but they had a another spirit. And he said, they have fully followed me and I'll bring them into the land wherein they win, their seed shall possess it. Let me tell you something. 00:07:19.370 --> 00:07:33.170 Let me tell you how you can overcome fear in your life. It's by having another spirit, another spirit. I believe it's the Holy Spirit. I was studying about David who became a king. 00:07:33.529 --> 00:08:43.860 He was a shepherd boy, he was 17 when he went down to the battlefield, and he killed his first giant, it wasn't the last giant but it was his first giant. And I want to tell you something up till First Samuel 16. He wasn't hunting for any giants. He wasn't looking for a war. He's not looking for a battle. But what was it that made the difference? The difference was in chapter 16, verse 13, where Samuel the prophet, took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brotheren and the Spirit of the Lord came up on David 16. And so by chapter 17, he had never been able to face him. But back in chapter 16, he was anointed and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he's able to face him. And I'm trying to say to you and relate to you that the answer for our fears, the antidote for our fears, is the power of the Holy Spirit in our life. Now, let me give you another verse, it's Romans 8:15. 00:08:43.934 --> 00:09:15.236 And this is what it says, For you have not received the spirit of bondage again, to fear. You don't have to be a slave to fear he's saying. Now, Max Lucado says it like this. The presence of fear does not mean that you have no faith. Fear visits everyone, but make fear a visitor and not a resident. God gives us natural fear, as a means of protection. I see a snake and there's just a natural tendency to back away from it. 00:09:15.311 --> 00:09:28.304 Some folk a rat will bother them, some folk maybe a spider, and some of you everything bothers you. It's natural protection. But it doesn't mean you don't have faith. The Bible 00:09:28.378 --> 00:09:42.183 7, God looks on the heart while man looks on the outward. God sees what's going on down in your mind and down in your emotions and down in your inner being in 00:09:42.258 --> 00:10:32.385 15, For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. Now what's that word Abba mean? It means daddy. That's kind of a tender term, is it not? It's not like saying, Father, it's a little closer relationship, daddy. And I used to have a dad when dad was alive was a wonderful thing. When I lost that I lost a powerful influence in my life. Now I'm the dad. And I've got a 44 year old and I've got a 42 year old. And I think I got him when I was 10. That last part was not true. Just an imagination a figment of my imagination. But you know, I'm a dad and the kids are 42 and 44. 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:45.822 But I'll get a phone call ever so often, Dad, my car quit, Daddy, I know what's coming. Or I've got to pay a fee. And I don't have it right now Daddy. 00:10:41.318 --> 00:11:07.749 Do you, Daddy? What I'm trying to say that our Heavenly Father wants to be our daddy. And he wants us to come to Him. And when you're dealing with all kinds of anxiety and perplexities, and apprehension and fear, we have a daddy in the sky in the heavens, who cares about us. Who wants to quiet our fears bring us assurance and 00:11:07.822 --> 00:11:21.702 18 says, and we've been using this in the last month, Be not drunk with wine, where it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. 00:11:17.273 --> 00:11:57.655 And I would just like to make mention of this. When it talks about being filled with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not like liquid, okay? We're not talking about whatever level you are being filled. What we're talking about is that level of control, allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us to control every area of our life, being full of control by that person, and having the spirits not enough. The Holy Spirit needs to have all of us to be in control of us. And it's not complicated. 00:11:52.932 --> 00:12:47.120 You say, Well, preacher, I want more of God, simply give him more of you. And the more you give him of you, the more you get of him, simple. Now, here's the verse that I want to point out today and use for a springboard. It's First Thessalonians Five, Verse 19, where the simple verse reads quench not the Spirit. Now that reminds me, first of all, that you can actually grieve the Holy Spirit, you can offend the Holy Spirit, He is a person, you can quench the Holy Spirit. Now what does that mean? That little word quench, it simply means that you put out the fire. You know what I'm talking about? What they used to do to put out the fire, they would smother it out. 00:12:42.839 --> 00:13:00.557 They'd pour something like cold water on the fire, they would cut off the oxygen and they would dampen the flame. And he's saying don't dampen the movement of the Holy Spirit in your life. 00:12:56.349 --> 00:13:04.986 Don't try to smother his influence out in your life. 00:13:00.630 --> 00:14:03.974 Don't quench the Spirit. And so I look at that and and I'm saying well, what do I need to do? Well, instead of quenching and smothering and strangling the oxygen to the fire, you can fan that flame you can feed that flame. When I feed a fire, I'm getting more wood and I'm throwing it on the fire and I'm getting it brighter again. And so here we have Second Timothy Chapter One, Verse Six and Seven, where he says stir up the gift. It means to keep the fire alive you ever been there where the fire had died down and all you had was coals and then take a poker and they begin to stir that coals around until suddenly it's blazing again. And he's saying to you and I we need to stir the gift of God that's on the inside, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power of love and of a sound mind. So in First Thessalonians 00:14:04.048 --> 00:14:30.331 19 says to not quench the Spirit. And we don't want to do that. So what do we need to do we need to fan the flame and I want to talk to you quickly about five things that will help fan that flame and to keep the fire burning the excitement of God in your life. And surrounding that little verse are some other verses and it tells us how to fan the flame. 00:14:30.403 --> 00:14:34.759 Look at it quickly. Verse 16. 00:14:30.403 --> 00:15:41.500 The first is rejoice, Rejoice evermore. That's why it's good to come to church. Where by choice we can rejoice we can worship together and there's something about one coal with another coal it keeps the heat; you separate one coal from another pretty soon it goes out and you need to get it back near the others. And there's something about being collectively together that we need each other. We create a warmth than a synergy when we're together. And it's called worship. Talking to a guy the other day he was a pastor, and he was trying to relate to some of the other pastors, he said, I've gotten a lady in my church, she has hurt me more than anyone in this world. He said, when I see her I just scrunch up. And another preacher said to him, No, you need to rejoice when you see her. He said, How could I rejoice? He said rejoice in the fact that you're not married to her, that'd make you rejoice. 00:15:37.144 --> 00:16:40.856 And if you're a believer, you have a lot of things to rejoice about. And over here in Luke, chapter 10, verse 20, is said, rejoice because your name is written in heaven. So we rejoice by choice. And a second way to fan that flame is prayer, we need to pray. And he says here in this verse, pray without ceasing. That means I can have an attitude of prayer. Doesn't mean I'm going around 24/7 and moaning and whispering and all this kind of stuff. No, it means any area of my life that if I need to call on God, I can do it's kind of hard to do that right in the middle of telling a dirty story and kind of hard to be reaching inside trying to steal something and then have a little prayer. Now my daughter can. My daughter was a little girl, and she's two years older than Roger, and they were in the backseat, and they got into it. 00:16:40.929 --> 00:16:49.346 Now your kids never did. But just case you have grandkids. I don't want to blow your way. 00:16:45.433 --> 00:17:07.730 They were really into an argument. I knew it was going to come become physical. And my sarcasm, Mama calls it an ornery streak and my theology, just out for a giant in First Samuel of humor. And she was really telling him off. And I just turned around and I said Renee why don't you lead us in prayer? 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:15.278 She said, Dear Lord Jesus now would you help us as we prayed a prayer, I was being sarcastic. 00:17:11.275 --> 00:17:44.529 She didn't catch on to it at all. And when she finished her prayer, and she said, I meant everything I said, Roger. Well, I'm simply saying, we need from every area of our life be able to pray not be in the middle of a fuss with somebody, I get called out quite often to the hospital. Now I'm going to two hospitals just as soon as the service is over, I have got a little lady that they opened her up with gallbladder problems, they found her full of cancer. 00:17:44.597 --> 00:18:30.271 I've got another guy that they just can't bring his heart back into rhythm. And they've tried everything. And he's desperate and used to attend here. And I'll be driving to another city to meet with him and another man that they just took three liters of water off of his lungs and he's fighting for his life. So we want to get together with people in the hospital. But I get called out a lot of times right in the middle of the night. I'm so sound asleep. I don't know where in the world I'm at. And they'll say, Pastor, is there any way you could come to the hospital? I'll generally ask, well, what's wrong? Well, the family is requesting a preacher to get here quickly. 00:18:30.339 --> 00:19:03.798 Somebody's at death's door. And I'll get up and my mind is groggy. And just like some of yours right now, you're about to go to sleep on this sermon. And you need to pray before you go to bed, incidentally. And I'll slick my hair down and throw some clothes on. And I'm going through town in the dark of the night. And I'm saying, God, I don't know who I'm going to meet with. I don't know what the situation is. And if you don't mind, and I began to just talk to the Lord. It's called prayer. 00:19:03.865 --> 00:19:45.333 God, would you help me to say the right thing? And would you nudge me when I need to be quiet and help me not to say a thing more than I should say, and show me what to do? And there's something about being able to call upon the Lord all the time anytime you need him for advice for wisdom. So pray without ceasing. If you want to fan the fire of the Holy Spirit, pray, pray without ceasing. And then he shares her third way and I challenge you to fan the flame by giving thanks. The 18th verse, in everything give thanks, not for everything, but in everything. Give thanks. You say Well, I'm a grateful person. 00:19:45.401 --> 00:20:51.910 No, no, no. You need to express your gratitude. You say, Well, Pastor, I've got gratitude in my heart. It's not enough to have it in your heart you need to get it out of your heart and to share it. You need to let people know that you're thankful you need to let God know that you're thankful. There's something about giving thanks that kind of turns the whole atmosphere around. And when we do that, it helps fan the flame and not to quench the Spirit. And then here's the fourth thing. He says in verse 20, despise not prophesying. And he's simply saying, Be obedient to the Word of God, obey God's word. And this is what I've learned. If God's word says something, I don't even need to have an opinion on it, I just need to obey it. You say, Well, there's a lot of parts of the Bible, I don't understand. I know. But, what you need to do is obey what you do understand. And if you will obey what you understand, you'll begin to understand more. 00:20:47.499 --> 00:21:29.711 You understand? God's word, obey it. And a fifth way to fan the flame is to avoid the appearance of evil. Abstain, it says in verse 22, from all appearance of evil. I have people come to me and they'll say, you know, I've got a funny feeling. I've got a feeling that I maybe ought to do this, but I wanted to talk to you first. And I'm thinking why would you want to talk to me, the Holy Spirit has already expressed his displeasure with something and made you aware of it. Why do you want to discuss it with me? I'm open to discussion. Don't get me wrong. 00:21:25.368 --> 00:21:37.720 But if the Holy Spirit's showing us what to do. I'm simply saying, we need to do it. Avoid the very appearance of evil. 00:21:33.715 --> 00:21:58.215 Mildred was the self appointed self anointed gossip of the church. She thought it was her job to correct everybody. And she did. And a lot of times, she did it for about two or three days on the phone before she ever went to anybody. And she had such a tart tongue. Nobody wanted to take her on. Nobody wanted to try to correct her. 00:21:58.284 --> 00:22:18.982 And then she got her foot in her mouth. They had a new convert at their church. His name was George. George had a drinking problem in his past and came to Christ and come to the church and was attending and somebody mentioned that George's truck was seen parked all night long outside of a tavern in town. 00:22:19.050 --> 00:22:48.301 When she got word of that, man, she spread it like wildfire. She called up everybody that would listen. And she said he must have gone back to drinking, said his truck was parked all night at the tavern. Taverns aren't open all night as a rule. They close about two. How do you know, you told me? And finally she went to George and she said I guess you've gone back to the bottle. He just looked at her. 00:22:44.365 --> 00:23:16.059 She said, everybody in town knows your truck was parked in front of the tavern. Well, she told everybody, I guess they would know. He just stood there looked at her. He didn't deny it. He didn't defend himself. He didn't explain himself. He didn't say anything. She said your truck was parked in front of the tavern. Everybody knows what you were doing. Later that night. He parked his truck in front of her house and left it all night. 00:23:21.400 --> 00:23:32.859 Now my advice to George and to Mildred. Both of you need to avoid all appearance of evil. 00:23:27.009 --> 00:23:41.920 Now let's get back talking about being spirit filled. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever say that anyone said I'm spirit filled. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:25:02.440 Not that I've run across, but it does say that somebody else talking about somebody else said they are spirit filled. You know want to I know most of us all, on some level have dealt with a fear in our hearts, especially in this crazy chaotic world in which we exist. Reading about Simon Peter and chapter four, of Acts, verse eight, where he was filled with the Holy Spirit. And this guy named Pete went out and he was preaching he got arrested for it. They said you can't speak in Jesus name you're not allowed to preach. And they took him before the Supreme Court, which was the Sanhedrin there 71 member court and not the Court of Appeals either. And at that court, they said in verse 17 of chapter four, they threatened him and others and they said from now on, you can't speak in the name of Jesus. And in verse 29, he said, Lord, behold, they're threatening as they were threatening him. And he said, granted of thy server that with all boldness, we may speak thy word. Now you will never convince me that Simon Peter didn't feel some pangs of fear. 00:24:57.309 --> 00:25:18.549 He knew the ramifications of what they said. He had seen the Christ crucified. And by nature, there was a time when he even denied that he was a Christ follower. When that girl came up and said, Are you a Christian and he denied he even knew the Lord, three times he did that. 00:25:20.140 --> 00:25:41.440 But now Pentecost has come, and he's filled with the Spirit, and He faces the court and their proceedings. So you say, well, preacher, how do you handle fear? Well, look what happened in verse 31. It said that, when they had prayed, a good place, starting about handling your fears, is with prayer, praying. 00:25:42.519 --> 00:26:21.250 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, what difference does it make? Let me tell you, it said in the next verse, and they spoke the word of God, with boldness, whatever, fear in whatever situation, the answer for that fear is the Holy Spirit. That fear that you're worrying about everything that's going to happen and what's coming down the pike and doing need to run and get off the grid. And is everything going to fall apart? And is bomb going to fall? You can't live that way. 00:26:16.359 --> 00:26:56.950 That's why it said he hadn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love, and a sound mind. What is the sound mind, he's talking about the ease of mind, peace of mind. God can give you a peace, right in the midst of everything that's happening, while everybody else is throwing in the towel and throwing up their hands. You can find peace, because the holy spirit will give you the power to live victoriously. That's the good news. Maybe you're worrying about what's going to happen to your kids, and you're worrying about what's happening with your marriage, and you're worrying about your health. And you wonder how long you've got? 00:26:57.009 --> 00:27:15.220 Well, the answer very simply the spirit is the antidote, the answer is more of him. And if he gets more of as we get more of him, and soon we don't have that fear, because power begins to come into our life, and takes all the hate that's around us. 00:27:15.430 --> 00:27:43.299 He fills us with a love. And he begins to give us a peace, in our understanding right in the midst of the Holy Spirit is our answer. Now, god's in heaven, Jesus Christ is at his right hand side, and the Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit was sent down, to dwell with us, and to be in us. That means that he's right here right now with us. 00:27:37.690 --> 00:27:56.740 And he's the one that says Ray LaSalle, quit all of your worrying, quit setting up all night rolling and tossing, turn it over to me, I'm with you. And I'm going to see you through it. 00:27:52.569 --> 00:28:57.519 And out of all the messages I believe I've ever brought from this pulpit. I believe this to be the simplest thing that I've ever shared. But I felt so strongly on my mind and on my heart, that I knew that the message is for some of you who are here today, and maybe some of those that are watching by livestream right now. You say, Well, I'm so caught up in fear, you don't have to have fear anymore. You can dump all of that over on him and say, You know what, you can just have me with all of my fears. And you can have all there is of me and I want all of you and I want you to begin to take my fear and replace it with power and love and peace of mind, in the midst of the storm. Now as we partake of communion today, Randy Diller is coming out and he'll lead us in the communion service. And somewhere along the way, he's going to pray and as he prays, why don't you just turn those fears over to him and ask him, Lord, fill me with your Spirit. 00:28:58.630 --> 00:29:04.990 Fill me with your Spirit. Rid me of everything that shouldn't be in there and give me the piece that I need. 00:29:05.049 --> 00:29:16.299 Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC's Pastor Ray LaSalle. For more information regarding BNC, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org.