Sometimes, fear is healthy. God designed us with the ability to fear. Maybe it is because we need to learn to fear God that He created certain creatures on earth that we fear. But there are also things we should not and do not have to fear. As we mature and grow, we learn what we should fear and what we should not fear.
One of my favorite events in the life of the apostle Paul is found in Acts 14:19-20: “But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.”
How did the apostle Paul get up off the ground, having been beaten to death – and, indeed, believed to be dead by the Jews – and get up and go back into the city of Derbe and keep preaching the gospel?
PAUL KNEW WHOM TO FEAR AND WHOM NOT TO FEAR
Matthew 10:28 – “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Man can do a lot of things to us but man cannot take away our blessings from God.
Man can steal our wives or husbands. Man can take the lives of our children. Man can take our homes and our cars. Man can fire us. Man can take away our health. But man cannot take away our relationship with God.
PAUL KNEW JESUS WAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD:
Paul had not believed in the resurrection the day it happened. Paul was blinded by prejudice. His friends and maybe some of his family members believed that lie about the disciples stealing the body and lying and Paul was willing to be led by the lie.
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Until Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus. “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5), Jesus told him. You can’t deny your own senses. Paul saw Jesus and communicated with him. Paul knew Jesus had risen from the dead.
So Paul had courage and fought fear because he knew Jesus had risen from the dead.
PAUL KNEW THAT THE GOSPEL HAD TO BE PREACHED:
Man must – absolutely must – hear the Word of God. There are so many passages that teach us the importance of the Word. Man simply cannot be saved without the Gospel (Romans 1:16). That’s why Paul was so intent to get the message out. People can live eternally and go to heaven without Paul but they could not live eternally and go to heaven without the Gospel.
Paul was not afraid of man. Paul knew that Jesus had risen from the dead. Paul knew that the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what would save others from hell and he knew it had to be preached. That’s how Paul fought his fears.
Stand up for God with courage and conviction!
–Paul Holland
