Lessons

The lesson on February 14, 2010 was a continuation of the Spirit of Fear study with part 3.  The scripture reading for this lesson was in Matthew 13:1-9 KJV “1 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Fear is an ever present emotion within us.  Fear can be good and bad and we find in scripture that God has not given us the bad fear.  We learn in Romans 8:28 KJV “28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  All things in this passage mean the good and the bad.  When it comes to ruling the brain, fear is the most powerful.  Have you ever had an anxiety attack?  Unhealthy fear is a phobia and this is when an individual starts to entertain irrational thoughts that magnify the anticipation of danger.  We should have a sound mind as it says in 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV “7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”   Fear is engrained in us because of the sin that Adam passed onto to us and Satan uses that fear as a tool to rule our minds.  There is good fear and bad fear. The comparison was given in Matt. 10:28.  Fear can overshadow our faith unless our faith is stronger than our fear.  The only way to feed our faith is by the word of God.  In Joshua 1:8 KJV it says “8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”  Joshua was given the secret of success… spirtual success vs. worldly success.  Faith and success are linked together.  In Psalms 1:1-3 KJV it also shows a commitment to the word of God brings success.  Martin Luther said that we fight three things in our walk: 1) the world 2) the flesh, and 3) the Devil.  God is serious about building our faith by reading His word.  In Matt. 13:3, Jesus told a parable (an earthly story with a heavenly meaning) about a sower who soes on four different grounds.  The end of the lesson covers 1 John 4:15-19 KJV “15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us.”