Courage – 5

Courage – 5

Subject – Lion Chasers Unlearn Their Fears

By Rick Welborne

2 Samuel 23:20-23 (NLT2)
²⁰  There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two champions of Moab. Another time, on a snowy day, he chased a lion down into a pit and killed it.
²¹  Once, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with it.
²²  Deeds like these made Benaiah as famous as the Three mightiest warriors.
²³  He was more honored than the other members of the Thirty, though he was not one of the Three. And David made him captain of his bodyguard.

--One of the fears that is stuck vividly in my mind as a child growing up happened at Lake Providence, Louisiana. Our family had gone there for a day of swimming and picnicking. 

--This lake was famous for being filled with catfish and water moccasins. A normal fear would have been to be afraid of the snakes but that was not my fear.

--Of course, being the youngest in the family gave me a great disadvantage because I had not learned to not be afraid of what could have been a great time. I was afraid to dive off the dock.

--I remember the fear I faced with just the thought of diving off the dock. So many things could go wrong. My family didn’t help because they could be cruel and mocking.

--Finally, after a couple of hours of fear and humiliation, I took the dive. It was so exhilarating and I felt so free simply by unlearning a fear that was truthfully unrealistic.

--So here’s my advice: Don’t let the mental lions keep you from experiencing everything God has to offer in your life. The greatest breakthroughs in your life will happen when you push through your fears. 

--Your defining moments will also double as your scariest decisions. But you have to face those fears (lions) and begin the process of unlearning them. God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear.

1. Unlearning is Hard.

--Just like a hard drive with a computer virus, our minds have infected files. Irrational fears keep us from operating the way God designed us to. Those fears must be uninstalled.

--Half of learning is learning. The other half of learning is unlearning. Unfortunately, unlearning is twice as hard as learning. It’s like missing your exit on a freeway.

--You have to drive to the next exit and then double back. Every mile you go the wrong direction is a two-mile error. Unlearning is twice as hard and it often takes twice as long.

--Let me say it this way…It is harder to get old thoughts out of your mind than it is to get new thoughts into your mind. Is there a biblical example? This was Jesus’ challenge in teaching the people.

--As you study Jesus’ teaching you realize that learning was not His primary goal. His primary goal was unlearning. He was trying to reverse engineer religious minds which can be the toughest.

--Two phrases that you heard Jesus say in His Sermon on the Mount…You have heard that it was said…But I tell you. What was Jesus trying to accomplish? Uninstalling OT concepts and upgrading NT truths.

Matthew 5:38-39&43&44 (NIV) ³⁸  "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' 

³⁹  But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
⁴³  "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
⁴⁴  But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 

--Half of spiritual growth is learning what we don’t know. The other half is unlearning what we do know. Failure to unlearn irrational fears and misconceptions keep us from becoming who Jesus wants us to be. 

--Perfect example…some of you may have come from churches that taught very little about Holy Spirit or either taught erroneous teachings about Him and about Pentecostal people in general. Of the devil.

--You have to be willing to learn what the scriptures say about Holy Spirit and you have to unlearn what some denomination has told you about Him. Getting that out of your mind is hard.

--When I first came into the Kingdom of God with really nothing but a blank slate about my beliefs, and before I met Pastor Mark, I determined if something was in the Bible, it must be true.

--Before you discount everything about Holy Spirit, study the Book of Acts with an open heart and mind and learn what you don’t know. Also, be willing to unlearn false teachings about Him.

2. The Importance of Unlearning.

John 5:2-9 (NKJV)
²  Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.
³  In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.
⁴  For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.
⁵  Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.
⁶  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to be made well?"
⁷  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."
⁸  Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk."
⁹  And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.

--This cripple man is such a great example of unlearning. He had been crippled for thirty-eight years when Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well. This man believed there was only one way to be healed.

--His assumption of how he could be healed may have cost him 38 years of his life. I wonder about the assumptions we have when it comes to Jesus and healing and what that costs us.

--He assumed, based on an ancient superstition, that the only way he could be healed was to be the first person in the water after the angel stirred the water. He was imprisoned by what he knew. 

--Jesus uninstalled his mistaken belief with one sentence…"Rise, take up your bed and walk." Before we are too critical, don’t we do the same? 

--Unless this person prays for me, unless something wild happens in the service, unless I see gold dust falling from the heavens, unless I can go to this great meeting, nothing will happen. 

--All that happened in this crippled man’s life was that Jesus helped him to unlearn the misconceptions he had believed for 38 years and helped him learn where healing comes from.

1 Peter 2:24-25 (NCV)
²⁴  Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so we would stop living for sin and start living for what is right. And you are healed because of his wounds.
²⁵  You were like sheep that wandered away, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Protector of your souls.

--When I read these verses it blew me away. The crippled man was where? At the sheep gate. How did he get healed? You have come back to the Shepherd and Protector of your souls. Jesus.

--You need to see this…Jesus didn’t just set this man free physically, he set him free in his mind. Faith is unlearning senseless worries and beliefs that hold us captive. 

3. Unlearning by Downloading the Mind of Christ.

--We think we can win this battle by simply modifying our behavior. Few ever win this way. We win by downloading the Word of God and getting the mind of Christ.

Romans 12:2 (NIV)
²  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. 

--Just as a computer needs to go through the process of being defragmented to optimize performance, our minds need to be defragmented also. 

--How do we unlearn false beliefs and how do we renew our minds? How do we get ourselves out of the pit with a lion that we got ourselves into? The way to upgrade our minds is to download scriptures.

--When we regularly read and study the Word of God asking Holy Spirit to be our teacher, we are literally downloading a new operating system that transforms our minds.

--We stop thinking human thoughts and we begin to think God thoughts. We start learning what God expects of us and we start unlearning false teachings we have had for years.

 Philippians 2:5-9 (NKJV)
⁵  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
⁶  who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
⁷  but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
⁸  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
⁹  Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,

--So, Pastor Rick, how do we accomplish that command? Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus?

Colossians 3:16 (NKJV)
¹⁶  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

--Today let’s learn the Word of God and let’s unlearn all the junk we have received all of our lives.