Teague Bible Church

This Sunday, 10/29/17, 10:45 a.m., we will teach about a bad kind of fear and a good kind of fear. All “fears” are not the same. The context in which that fear comes determines if it is a healing fear or a fear that stops our lives and keeps them in misery. Safe to say, many people are ruled by the fear of the “What ifs.” We might say, “What if this happens; what will I do then?” We might say, ” What if I am mistaken about the plans I have made?” We might say, ” What if I am wrong about God?”
The word “fear,” or its derivatives, are used about 400 times in the Scripture. So you are not alone if the reality of fear plays a role in your life. The question is; will it change the course of your life to an extent that you miss the life you should have lived?
I will leave you with an example of a good kind of fear. My first pastorate was in the Pacific Northwest. My boys were about 7 and 5, respectively, when a day came I thought I might lose one of them. Church had let out and the kids were in the church yard. The main, busy road was about 40 yards away.
But the 5 year old had somehow gotten 10 yards away from the main road. The 7 year old was 20 yards back from that, where he was supposed to be. I came out and spotted the older, nearer, 7 year old, but then was taken aback by the 5 year old’s position.
I did not have time to run and catch the 5 year old before he got in the road. I knew someone nearer who could. I yelled as loud and as firm as I could to the 7 year old : ” T____run and tackle your brother before the cars hit him!” To the 5 year old I yelled, “G____ Stop right now, do it!”
It seemed like the whole world stopped for me at that moment. What was I helpless to do with my body; I did with a history of my voice. That history of my voice,running through their young minds was something like this: ” Dad is very loving, will spend as much time playing as you want him to, but dad is nobody to trifle with! He means what he says an instantly follows through. He keeps his promises, the good ones and the ones that are not so pleasant for us. If he said it, then I had better do it!”
I did what I did out of love. If I had been a doting, wimpy parent, or a mean and selfish parent, for both reasons they would not have listened to me, or they may have hesitated to ask questions of me before obeying my voice. If that happened it would have been too late. A good fear instilled in them, because of the history of my voice, may have saved the 5 year old that day.
Sin has a blinding effect on all of us. It causes us not to fear the things we should; and fear a multitude of things we shouldn’t. Some “fears” are good; many are bad. Please sacrifice to be with us and find out which is which. Come for the sake of your own freedom from your enemies’ fear tactics.
So what happened to the 5 and 7 year old? Now this is funny. Well, at least me and the boys still think so. Mom? Not so much. So don’t tell her about this article.
G___ , the 5 year old, stopped in his tracks instantly and started crying, because my voice scared him. About 8 seconds later came the tackle of the little brother by big brother. That tackle knocked the air out of the little one. The 7 year old is holding the 5 year old on the ground. He was thrilled he got to do something he never got to do before without getting in trouble. The 7 year old say,” Got him dad, should I hit him now?” I said, “Absolutely not, just hold him till I get there.” As I approached the scene, the little one way swinging upward trying to hit the older one. He had not figured out the older one had saved him. The older one was laughing, telling me the little one has such short arms! Right there with me, as always, in such times it seemed, was a man who loved me soul-deep, who also had two boys. He said, “I love your boys, just like I love my two boys.” Good day at church; yep, good day at church.
JWP 10/27/17