Fear Not

Fear is a pervasive issue in our society. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, specific phobias—irrational fears of particular things—affect an estimated 9.1% of U.S. adults each year, impacting about 19 million people. Broader anxiety disorders, including phobias, panic attacks, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety, affect roughly 19.1% of adults annually, or about 40 million Americans.

Data from the 2020 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) shows that 16.5% of U.S. adults reported taking prescription medication for mental health issues in the past year, covering anxiety, depression, and related symptoms. Anxiety is a primary factor here, with recent increases in usage nearly twice as high for women (up almost 40%) compared to men (up 22.7%). Fear is a serious issue in America.

What do you fear? What keeps you awake at night? What influences every decision and holds you back from your true potential?

• Financial fears? Layoffs—some of you lie awake gripped by worry over what your employer might do.
• Medical fears? Doctor’s reports—parents, how many of you watch your child closely, analyzing every eye twitch? Before long, your mind turns it into a tumor.
• Family fears? The unknown—some of you are gripped by fear over what your spouse might be doing, despite no evidence or reason to doubt.
• Opinion fears? Some live afraid of what others think, which is why you hesitate to share your faith.

From God’s perspective, there is absolutely nothing to fear. This truth is so profound that fear becomes functional atheism—it declares, “God is not enough”—and thus, it becomes sin.

“Fear Not” is the most repeated command in Scripture, appearing 366 times—one for each day of the year, plus an extra for leap years.

Despite these verses, fear is a daily battle. The Apostle Paul knew this well, perhaps never more intensely than in first-century Corinth.

Paul had just finished ministering in Athens, a city renowned for its academic achievements. Now he arrived in Corinth, infamous for its sensual perversions.

Corinth was the Las Vegas of its era—Sin City. What happened in Corinth stayed in Corinth.
As a port city, all sea traffic to and from Athens passed through it.

Fun fact: The oldest known marketing ploy was discovered there—footprints painted on the main street leading to a brothel.

Towering above was the Acrocorinth, an acropolis with views of the Gulf of Corinth. It served for defense and pagan worship, large enough to shelter the entire city during a siege. It housed a temple to Aphrodite, goddess of love, with about 1,000 priestesses who were ritual prostitutes. Each night, they descended into the city to “serve” travelers and locals, making “to Corinthianize” a synonym for a loose, drunken lifestyle.

This seemed bizarre to us, but to them, it was normal and patriotic. Refusing such “worship” was seen as inviting the gods’ displeasure.

Paul faced every imaginable illicit temptation in Corinth, plus fears of opinions, temptations, and physical harm.

He summed it up in 1 Corinthians 2:3 (NASB95): “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.”

Adding to this, Paul clashed harshly with the local synagogue leaders.

From Acts 18:5–6 (NASB95): “But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’”

This act symbolized excommunication—declaring them outside Israel’s commonwealth.
Acts 18:7 (NASB95): “Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue.”

He marched out and went about 20 feet next door to Titius Justus’s home. Paul kept preaching, audible to the synagogue, because...

Acts 18:8 (NASB95): “Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.”

This was cause for rejoicing, but it heightened Paul’s anxiety. He knew a storm was brewing—his enemies wouldn’t back down.

Imagine Paul in bed that night, haunted by:

• Memories of 39 lashes.
• Echoes of enemies’ words.
• News of rising Christian persecution from Rome.

In these late hours, real fear strikes.

2 Corinthians 11:27 (NASB95): “I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights...”

Have you lost sleep to fear? I have!

Plus, every believer faces constant temptations.

I’m telling you, I know what it’s like to lie in the apostle’s bed—gripped by fear, worry, anxiety.

At this point, you grasp at straws: Maybe slip out of town at night?

• How do you handle such fear?
• How do you encourage a friend struggling with it (give them courage)?
• How do you encourage yourself?

Jesus appears in a vision (Acts 18:9–10 in red letters), giving Paul three reasons not to fear. Framed as three alliterated principles: Refocus on Your Mission, Remember His Presence, and Rely on His Sovereignty.

Acts 18:9–10 (NASB95): “Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent...”

The Principle of Mission: You are invincible until your mission is complete or resigned.
Take courage—they can’t harm you until God is done with you.

As long as you breathe, you have a mission; to keep breathing, pursue it.
Acts 13:36 (NASB95): “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep...”

The same held for Paul—no one could end him until his mission finished. It’s true for you! You’re like Superman until your work is done.

But fear is like Kryptonite—it paralyzes.

Illustration: Peter followed Jesus at a dangerous distance, then denied Him when terrified by a slave girl.

We freeze when scared—hence “gripped with fear.” Many resign ministry amid trials.

Scripture says the opposite: When fear grips, let it propel you into overdrive.

“Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent...”

Romans 12:11 (NIV): “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”

Refocus on why God placed you here.

• He didn’t put you here to build widget fortunes; widgets fund time to teach 10th-grade boys’ Sunday school. Don’t you know that?
• He gave children not for athletics, popularity, intellect, or cuteness at Fernandina Beach High—they’re arrows for a warrior. Polish, point, and propel them for Christ’s Kingdom.

The fears gripping you won’t matter eternally.

Illustration: Remember your first day of third grade? It felt huge—dress right, act right. Now? Barely a memory!

That’s how your terrors will seem after a million years with Jesus.

• “Life on old Earth? I think I wore a hat...”
• “Laid off? Haha, I was an engineer...”
• “Cancer? Seems like something like that...”

That’s the Mission Principle—you’re invincible till complete.

Is your fear bigger than God’s mission?

Acts 18:9–10 (NASB95): “...for I am with you...”

The Principle of Presence: No matter what frightens you, Jesus is bigger.

This is the divine trump card: “I am with you.” Nothing stacks up against it.

• Laid off? It’s okay—I am with you.
• People won’t like you? It’s okay—I am with you, a friend closer than a brother.
• Bad diagnosis? It’s okay—he’s practicing; I’m the Great Physician.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death, I WILL FEAR NO EVIL for THOU ART WITH ME!”

Matthew 28:19–20 (NASB95): “Go therefore and make disciples... and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

See? “I am with you” goes to disciple-makers. Want this? Get busy with point one.

Isaiah 41:10 (NASB95): “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Jeremiah 1:17–19 (NASB95): “Now, gird up your loins... Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them.” (Like Dad saying, “Don’t cry, or I’ll give you something to cry about!”)

“...I have made you... as walls of bronze... They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.

Illustration: In seventh grade, at a bluegrass convention with cousins Tatum, Zeke, and Boone, four school bullies cornered us. They shoved me, threatened a fight at 3:00 in the men’s room. We were terrified—no police, no dads. At 2:45, Tatum and Zeke’s brother Scotty arrived—huge, football star who made headlines ending careers. Suddenly, odds favored us.

Is your fear bigger than God’s mission? God’s presence?

Acts 18:9–10 (NASB95): “...and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

Strange words from Jesus—few had believed, many rejected.

Yet He calls things not as they are, but as they will be.

The Principle of Sovereignty: God’s Word and Work are destined to succeed.
Paul might have thought: “God, wasting time in Corinth? If any New Testament city seemed God-forsaken, it’s this. Why not quit?”

But Christ said, “I have many people in this city!”

God’s sovereignty over salvation is a top fear antidote.

This perspective sustained Paul for 18 months in Corinth.

J.I. Packer: “...the sovereignty of God in grace gave Paul hope of success as he preached to deaf ears, and held up Christ before blind eyes, and sought to move stony hearts.”
See it in Acts 13:48 (NASB95): “When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing... and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”

Illustration: In evangelism training, if it depended on my presentation or emotion-swaying, I’d be gripped by fear. But realizing I partner with the Living God—He saves, He draws—sets me free.

Illustration: If this church’s success rested on my weak hands, fear would grip me. But Jesus said, “I will build MY church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”—that gives courage.

Acts 15:14 (NASB95): “Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.”

Now, your situation:

• Will your fear matter in 3 million years?
• Is it bigger than God?
• Could it thwart God’s ultimate plan?

Is your fear bigger than God’s mission? God’s presence? God’s sovereignty?

When my kids were small, one would wake terrified—thunder, bad dream, wall shadows.

You enter; nothing changes—thunder rolls, shadows linger, storm rages.

But seeing you by the bed shifts everything.

They don’t demand weather explanations or theology on atmospheric pressure. They reach for your hand, sometimes falling asleep holding your finger. Why?

Presence eliminates fear more than explanation ever could.

You don’t need God to explain every shadow—you need Him beside your bed.

In Christ, He is.

The storm may rage tonight. Biopsy unchanged tomorrow. Job unresolved this week. But the Father is with you. The hand holding the universe holds you.

If fear grips you today, refocus on your mission, remember His presence, and rely on His sovereignty.

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