HOW to live with FEARLESS FAITH #102

Do you want to be remembered as a person of great faith?  Do you desire to have faith that is greater than your fear?  In this podcast, the men from Fearless Faith Ministries discuss how we can live our lives with fearless faith every day.

Terry, Brian and Dan point out the difference between faith and trust.  They will help you discover the enemies of faith and how to overcome them.  Finally, they study three great stories of faith from the Bible and show you how to apply the same principles in your own life.

You can defeat worry, fear and anxiety by acting on God’s promises.  So, Finish Strong by living a life of “Fearless Faith!”

Transcript

Dan Wheeler: 0:02

Do you want to be known as a man or a woman of great faith? Do you want to be remembered as someone whose faith in God is greater than any fear? If so, you've found the right podcast. This is called finished wrong by fearless faith. That's the name of our ministry. And you know, it's more than just a name of our ministry. It's the way we want to live our lives. I'm Dan Wheeler, and I'm joined with Terry by Terry Steen and Brian Rowland. And what are the three principles of fearless faith? Guys, you are men of great faith, and it's the name of our ministry. But I don't think we've been talking about it enough.

Terry Steen: 0:39

It's probably true. And you know, to just hear someone say you have great faith, the first thing that comes into your mind is no, I don't.

Unknown: 0:48

When did that happen?

Terry Steen: 0:51

It's such a, it's hard to grab a hold of and really get a sense of it, isn't it?

Brian Roland: 0:57

It's interesting, because our, my Pastor Steve, who we had on last Sunday was talking about everything that's going on in the world and help a lot of people have just give up. And he goes, But God says, I'll never leave you or forsake you. And if you got that, he goes, what else do you need? And I'll let you know he's absolutely right. That's where your faith really comes in. Just depend on that word.

Dan Wheeler: 1:17

That's so true, Brian, but in today's world, and with the headlines, it's hard sometimes isn't you have to say, Lord, help my faith. Yeah.

Terry Steen: 1:25

Yeah, it doesn't just happen. You know, we have to get close to God, we have to hear His voice, we have to be filled with His Spirit. You know, the faith is a fruit of the Spirit. So if we don't have the Spirit in our life, we can't have strong faith. So faith doesn't just happen. There's a process and an effort to get there.

Dan Wheeler: 1:46

Brian is like, you know, when we work out, we work our muscles and build strong faith, we have to work our faith and exercise it

Brian Roland: 1:53

exactly, exactly. I think I did a morning cup years ago, and then on the treadmill, talking about that. It's true. If you don't exercise your muscles, they're going to go away. They're atrophy. They're just going to go away. And it's happened to me.

Terry Steen: 2:08

You couldn't do that. Now, could you you couldn't be on the treadmill long enough to do a morning cup.

Dan Wheeler: 2:16

We're gonna get into all the aspects of faith. But you mentioned our morning cup of inspiration guys, cause for celebration. Yeah, we have over 40,000 followers. Yes, right. Blog page. So if you haven't joined us on Facebook, it's fearless faith, our or at FFM 60. And our logo is three flames.

Terry Steen: 2:40

exciting, exciting. That's been a long time coming. But over the last few months, it's really accelerated, hasn't it? It's so exciting to see the international audience. Yeah, take an interest in in our message.

Dan Wheeler: 2:53

It really is. And we've got people that listen to this podcast from all over the world, as well. So, Terry, let's get going with the first section we want to talk about faith and trust. And what's the difference? You know?

Terry Steen: 3:05

Yeah, it's interesting, because they kind of go together, but they're distinctly separate that faith is the belief system. Faith is a noun. And so it describes an attribute and one of my favorite verses is Hebrews 11. Six, and listen to what it says it says, Without faith, it's impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to a must believe he exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. So that's the noun. Obviously, we all want to please God, but we cannot do it without faith. And then you compare that to trust. Trust is a verb trust is an action. It's putting your faith in action. And anytime you think about trust, you come back to Proverbs three, the fifth verse where it says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding. So it's so important that we put trust in Him. But we can't have that trust if we don't have the faith to back it up. Right? Right. And you know, just the

Brian Roland: 4:11

opposite of that. What's going to try to destroy your faith, there's going to be worry and doubt, and this a two things that come against faith, and they're just the opposite of faith because it causes fear. Over in Philippians, four, six, the Bible tells us Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, He wants us to come to him and just present to him what's going on? What are we worried about? In our hearts that is keeping us keeping our faith from from kicking into action? And he wants us to lay down and give it to him? Because he tells us over and James one six then but when you ask you must believe and not doubt see that's what your faith is. You gotta ask you believe and not doubt because the one who doubts is like a wave I've seen blown and tossed by the wind. And that's all it is. It's just words. It's just empty words if you don't believe what you're praying for, so why are you even praying? If you're not believing? I mean, because he's telling you to come to me. And I will give you rest. I'm come to me, while on my shoulders, let me do the heavy lifting. And that's where faith comes in.

Dan Wheeler: 5:19

I've got to ask you guys, and I'm going off script here, but I've had people ask me is worry and anxiety and a lack of trust? Is it sin? And see, I don't think it is because God knows how human we are. And you see a lot of examples of great men and faith who weren't so great at the time. I mean, you look at Peter, he denied the Lord Trump twice, or thrice. And he would they were cowardly. And so many of them couldn't, couldn't do the things that Jesus did. He said it was your lack of faith. Do you think it's a sin, or it's just something we got to work on?

Brian Roland: 5:56

I think it's a chink in the armor. I don't think it says it says that people haven't grown to that place yet. And the reason they haven't is because they're not in the Word. They're not in prayer. Because like Terry said, before he gotta get closer get closer to God. He reveals Himself to me, and it's, it's one of the was one of the fruits. Yeah, it's a, it's something that you get by being closer by having the Holy Spirit working in your body and in your system, because you are leaning on God. And you learn to do that more and more. How many times have we as kids, and especially we all grew up in Christian homes. But we see our parents just lean on the Lord. And they had no idea where the answer was coming from. And I don't know what's happening in depth in my life already to where we just had to lean on him and say, you got it and let go of the reins, man. It's like Jesus take the wheel. And he's done it. And it's, it's built on our faith. And people. Some people haven't done that yet. But when they do, it'll build their fans. I don't. I think it's just that the it's a trust issue, and they need to do it.

Terry Steen: 6:56

I will say that the Bible tells us not to do it. So whether it's a sin or not a sin? Yes. Not something that we can not worry about. Right? Yeah. Not worry about worrying.

Dan Wheeler: 7:11

What can you guys pray for me? I seem to have misplaced $8,000 cash somewhere in my house. Seriously.

Unknown: 7:19

I found it and it's gone.

Dan Wheeler: 7:22

Well, Tara, you gave good advice. You said pray about it, and then go to bed. And I know it'll pop up. But you know, God has put great faith stories in the Bible, true stories, to build our faith. And I'm going to start out with one of my favorites, David and Goliath, and I know Terry's going to talk about my height. Yeah. And

Terry Steen: 7:42

I don't get on you about that, that often do

Dan Wheeler: 7:46

it? Well, so yeah, only every day. So Goliath was like this 910 foot giant. And he's just, you know, define the armies of God. And, and the greatest warriors in the Israelite army are cowering by this guy. Yeah. And along comes a teenager, David, to bring food to his older brothers. And David's like, Who is this guy? Who does he think he is? You know, you look at first in First Samuel 1726. And I love it because David's calls him out. He says, Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? He's kind of saying, How would dari defy the armies that living God, and all the soldiers are looking, I'm like, Who's this kid? And then, you know, Goliath is taunting him. But David's faith was way bigger than his fears. In fact, I think in that moment, he didn't have fear. He overcame it with tremendous face, and then he acted on it. And he, you know, a lot of people say that, that you cannot overcome fear, but action will overcome fear that was W. Clement Stone, and then it says, speaking of stones, David gathered five of them, and he had a little sling. And he said, I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied this day, the Lord will hand you over to me, I will strike you down, cut off your head. I mean, you talk about well,

Terry Steen: 9:23

actually,

Dan Wheeler: 9:24

he wasn't taking any golf and then this is my favorite. Any guff, I should say verse 48, as the Philistine because he was ticked that he's like, Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take care of you. And as he moved to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bed, taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead, the stone sink into his forehead, fell face down to the ground, triumph, victory, but don't you love it? He ran toward the enemy. He got

Terry Steen: 9:58

the momentum going that's probably part of what made the stone go as fast as it did. Yeah, no. But one thing I think about was, as he was going is that he did not listen to his brothers or the soldier. Yeah, they were so afraid. They wanted to feed all that into his head. He didn't listen. His only thought was what he remembered how God had never failed him. Right kill the lion. I can kill the bear. And he was looking back to what God's done in the past. And not listening to the naysayers. And it positioned him to head straight toward the giant, as good

Brian Roland: 10:44

as real good. And you can think he ran towards the Goliath. Whereas he still was quite a distance compared to where he probably was at when he killed the lion and the bear. And they had more weapons and just the sword. When you get their teeth, they got their claws, and they got their speed. I'm sure Goliath wasn't a fast runner. But, you know, you see, you see that? And so he had no fear.

Dan Wheeler: 11:07

Yeah. And he made use of what he had. He had those stones, the slingshot, he turned down the suit of armor. The story is like, I can't use these. Here's what I know. And I like what you said, Terry, when we go through hard times or facing a challenge, think back about how God has been faithful. Remember those times when he was there? What's your favorite stories, Terry, and another one,

Terry Steen: 11:31

great one, three Hebrew kids, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And this story is found in Daniel, the third chapter, and most people who have read the Bible or been to Sunday school know this story. So I don't think we need to hit everything on it. But I did want to mention a couple things. Because if you'll remember King Nebuchadnezzar had built a huge What do you call those little statue is statue, or an idol, that he wanted everyone to bow down in worship, and they weren't going to do it. And so these guys just kind of ratted them out, the king came to him said, Hey, if you don't bow down, I'm gonna throw you into this blazing furnace, then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand. And the neat thing was, is that these guys had all this pressure, all this culture coming against them. And they did not bow to the culture is that's not so relevant to us today, the culture that's hitting us in the face every day, it would be so easy to take the easy road, and not make a deal about it. But we have to come against the culture and know to do what's right. So it's interesting that they said to the king, we don't need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If you throw us into the burning furnace, the God we serve, is able to save us. They didn't even say, God will save us. Right? He's they said he's able to save us. And that's the kind of faith we need to have. Because we don't know how he's going to do things in our life. Right? We just need to know he is able,

Dan Wheeler: 13:31

right? Yeah. And they followed up and said, but even if he doesn't, we're not going to serve your God we serve.

Terry Steen: 13:36

Exactly. And that is so key to this whole story to me. Whether he does or doesn't, we're gonna do the right thing and do what God tells us to do and we will not serve your gods. So it goes on they get thrown into the fire. And of course the king looks in there not burned at all. And there's a fourth person in there which we know is God. Yeah, God was with them through the fire, and how incredible if we can just build our faith enough to know any fire any trial, any furnace that we're going through? He's gonna be there

Dan Wheeler: 14:17

with us. It's amazing. It's an amazing story. And the beautiful

Terry Steen: 14:21

end of the story is, is that God proved himself and the king basically God saved the King believed in these three Hebrew children's God and said that anyone else who didn't would be punished so it just reversed the whole story through God's might in his power. It's a great story, isn't it?

Dan Wheeler: 14:46

They were promoted in the fire and even they turned it up seven times out are the guys that through the men were killed, right? Yeah. And yet, don't you love that Brian? We see four people in there don't we throw in three and one looks like the son of God, boy did the Lord get a hold of that King that?

Brian Roland: 15:03

Yeah, that was attention didn't Yeah, you got us attention. Yeah. And the same thing for the story I want to talk about as Gideon. And how the Lord got his attention to because we know what happens was with the Israelites, they were sinning against God, He gave him their land that he says, but do not worship any other gods. And of course, they fall into worshiping bail. And when they did that, the Lord over in Judges six a one, actually, the whole story is in Judges six and seven. But in six one, it says Israelites that evil in the eyes of the Lord. And for seven years, he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. And so here they are, they're they're basically slaves again, I mean, every time they were growing crop and they were putting stuff together, they would be raided by these different armies, and they would just they would just limp flat every year, just lay flat take all all their other fruits, vegetables, grains, you name it, they were taking it. And Gideon was down actually grinding grain at a wine press to keep it trying to hide it from these other guys that we knew they're going to be coming in to take it again. And as all these armies are gathering, they're down in this valley and they're gathering. And God comes to Gideon and it says over and in Judges 612 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, The Lord is with you mighty warrior. Well, Gideon kind of laughed at that mighty warrior. He was the runt of the litter of his family, and said, he's going to be the mighty warrior. And he sees God Okay, this is great. And when he high expect me to do this, you know, and so, but he was telling him, how he was going to defeat them, and he was going to leave it in the Lord's hands. But he asked, he says, I need you to go and he said, I want you to tear down bales his altar to bale and Africa what the poll was called some kind of poll answerable. So he he he didn't want to go into daytime because he for their they'll kill him for sure. So he waited till nighttime and you get down there, guys, they tore down all of Bill's altars in that and took a bash, pull out and and he built an altar for the Lord. And he created a sacrifice. And he's getting a little ahead because it's happened before with another sacrifice. But you have to read the story because I want to I want to take up too much time. But he saw he was he gave the sacrifice. Well, all that people can tell came for him. Because it really do and, and his father said, he goes when you're going to have bail kill. Well, you guys coming to California, what's your guide? If he's so powerful? Let him do it. So they decided to do that. Okay, well let Bill do it. Well, God told Gideon to get his army together. So Gideon said, I'm gonna go, I will do this. But I gotta put out a fleece. I want to put out a fleece you see, it took what was it was a fleece award. I think that's why it's called the fleece now, right? There was a wool fleece. And he put it out and, and it's the Lord to have do just on athletes, everything else dry the next morning. And it happened. So we just said, Can I do it one more time, God just reverse it the next night. So just reverse it. So the next morning, the fleece was dry, and everything else was wet all around it. So he was ready to go. And so he gathered 1000s of men 1000s of men to go down to take these guys. And what happens is, God says too many, too many guys, he starts weeding them out or tweeting them up, finally told him he says, you know, take the rest of your men down to the river there and see, I will separate them. So see which ones just to put their head in the water and which ones kneel down and, and pick it up and lap it out of their hand. And those are those are your net and ended up being only 300. And he was gonna go against 135,000.

Dan Wheeler: 18:49

So not great odds.

Brian Roland: 18:51

But what did God do? He took Gideon and his men out of the equation completely. Say, Well, look what we did. Yeah, what God did. Yeah. So he told him he said if you had everybody else go home, but he gave him their trumpets. He gave him a jug and, and a candle, basically or torch. And he told him he says put your put your men around the camp here. Or here, Hunter here, Hunter here. And Gideon said, Follow me when I do this. When I blow the horn blow your horns when I when I crashed the ovation, you crash it and then hold your torches up. And they did that exactly what he said to do at the time. So what happens is everybody in those armies started killing each other. They started fighting each other and getting the raise of sore. But this is what God did. He goes I will take care of this. If you let me take care of you and you trusted me and do as I tell you, you know, honor me, and this is this is what I'm going to do for you took care of them completely. And I don't think they went back to work room bill, right. No,

Dan Wheeler: 19:53

no. You know a lot a lot of stories though, because Gideon was questioning he was doubting you God kept proving himself and he still called him a mighty warrior.

Terry Steen: 20:04

And God chose him even though he was part of the he was a nobody. But he was part of the smallest tribe too. So it's like God uses that humility, doesn't he? And then he just wants total obedience. And to know that it's totally out of our hands. Right? And totally into his, you know, I know, we don't have a lot of time. But when you talk about the fleece, it reminds me of when my Karen and I were engaged. And for some reason, Karen was questioning whether we should get married, she was thinking about the blamer. Come on.

Dan Wheeler: 20:43

For some

Terry Steen: 20:45

reason, you realize how sharp this girl is. So she put out a fleece, and she said, if our wedding announcements come back and correct. I may want to hold off on this. The the announcements came back in correct. Oh, my God, they were. So she goes to her mom, and she goes, What do I do? And not a lot of people may like their mother in law, said, you know, Gideon put out a second fleece. So she reset them. They came back. Okay, the second time and the rest is history. I don't think she ever regretted that decision. Well, one day

Dan Wheeler: 21:39

wow, I never knew she did that. But you know, smart girl. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Well, she's pulled you through a lot terror. Yes. But yeah, great stories. You know, we all need to grow, we need to encourage our faith. And it doesn't take a lot of faith, you know, just a small faith. I mean, Jesus said, If you had the faith of a grain of mustard seed, is you can say to this mountain move from here and it will move nothing will be impossible for you. That's in Matthew 1720. And, but you know, it's sometimes it's not easy to have that faith. And there's a story in Mark. That is interesting, because a man actually said, you know, I believe it's in Mark, chapter nine. Let's see Matthew, Mark, chapter nine, here we go. 23 to 25. And so from childhood, this guy's son was thrown to the fire, and he had convulsions. And he wanted Jesus to heal them. And he said, he said, but if you can do anything, Lord, have pity on us and heal us. And Jesus said, If you can, you're asking if you can, he said, everything is possible for him who believes. And when Jesus saw that, the crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit, you deaf and mute spirit, I commend you come out of him, and never enter into him again. But there's a situation where Jesus understood that the man, you know, had low faith, and he actually appreciated that he said, Lord, I believe Help my unbelief. Yeah. And that's very important. Because, Brian, you know, in our next section, we're gonna talk about unbelief. It can actually stop great things.

Terry Steen: 23:30

We all fight it.

Brian Roland: 23:32

Yeah, it's true. And that happened and tells you it's funny, because you think, Well, how do we tie God's hands? And that's it right there. I mean, there's nobody can tie his hands. But it's like, over in Mark, what is it? Chapter Six, it talks about when Jesus went back to his hometown, and he went back there, and he was speaking in the, in the temple, or in a synagogue, and we're gonna have this guy was he gives us knowledge, because he's from here, isn't that the carpenter son? And he was saying that he was he was teaching and preaching to him. And they didn't want to believe what they were hearing, though. So they like, show me and then I'll believe, well, he did. So he heals some people. And some looked at that and said, Okay, this is great. But he didn't do big miracles. And it's like, no, I'm not going to. I'm not I'm not you know, the wizard here. I'm going to do stuff and you're going to go who I believe in you now. It's got to be all the way around.

Dan Wheeler: 24:32

You gotta believe first. Yeah, he wanted to work with their faith.

Brian Roland: 24:35

Right? Exactly. And so by by them not believing he was not performing miracles in there. It's this is some people will heal, but not as many it could have been not what could have really happened in there. If they would have just believed in Him and not to say, well, who's this? Who's this guy? We remember him when he grew up here. Oh, they don't know about the anointing. They don't know that really where he came from. Mary knew Joseph Do you know and they could tell him all they won't but the people have to believe that.

Dan Wheeler: 25:02

Okay, we just have a few minutes left guys.

Terry Steen: 25:04

Yeah, yeah, the I think the last thought I would have is the importance of encouraging and believing with others and for others, sometimes people need part of our faith to feel strong enough. And vice versa. I'm thinking of the story and acts, the 14th chapter where Paul's preaching and basically at his feet is a crippled man from birth. And he wanted to be healed. And Paul, it says in the ninth verse of that chapter, it says, Paul, discern that the man had faith in his heart to be healed. But he wasn't healed. He had the faith. And so the next verse, Paul said, he told him to stand. And then when he told him to stand, the man stood up and was healed. So it's like if he had the faith, why couldn't he have been healed so much sooner? And sometimes we just need that help. We need that encouragement from others to come along beside us, and help build our faith. And that's what the three of us are doing with fearless faith. We're trying to come along beside others, and help strengthen and build their faith just like we're trying to build our own.

Dan Wheeler: 26:20

Right? Yeah, it says, if two or three of you agree on anything on earth, you asked my father in heaven will do it. That's in Matthew 1819. There's three of us here. And we got a lot of other people agreeing with us. So let's, let's pray real quick. Lord, I pray for everyone listening and for all of us who need help with faith. Sometimes we're weak, our faith is small. And we asked you to help us and we want to be mighty warriors like Gideon was called. And we want to see people healed. And we want to see people saved, especially in the times we live in is more important than ever. Help us to stand in our faith in you fearlessly. And I pray for every person listening, help them to have the faith they need in you to trust in you as their Savior. In thy name. Amen. Well, guys, we will learn a lot of things here. What did you learn, Brian?

Brian Roland: 27:19

Well, I learned that we we don't have to see something to believe that we got to believe first, when we believe that we're going to see God take action.

Terry Steen: 27:29

Yeah. Darren, how important is faith in our life, it's impossible to please God if we don't have it. So it's something that we need to work hard at seeking God reading His word, being filled with the Spirit and then allow that fruit of faith to grow within us.

Dan Wheeler: 27:47

And we need to grow our faith by exercising it just like we we build up our muscles. And and I'm encouraged by the stories because sometime the greatest men of the Bible, the greatest men of faith, they faltered that question they needed fleeces, they're like, right? Do you know what you're doing, Lord, but, but when God works with us in our faith, all things are possible. Absolutely. Well, we thank you for joining us for this edition of finish strong. Encourage others to tune into this podcast and don't forget about our Facebook page called fearless faith, our logos of flame three flames, and you can find us at FFM 60 and YouTube we have lots of videos on YouTube. Yeah, there we have a YouTube channel by the same name fearless faith. It's been a blast, guys. I love working with you so much fun. Enjoyed it.

Terry Steen: 28:40

Okay, we'd like you to

Dan Wheeler: 28:44

Gosh, it's about time I was really all right. Thanks for joining us and we hope you'll join us again for finish strong.

John Matarazzo: 28:54

Thank you for listening to finish strong. For more information about finished strong and fearless faith. Check out their website F faith.org. Make sure that you rate and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together we can finish strong