Slay The Fear

A sermon which reminds us that fear is a spirit sent to cripple destinies, magnify weaknesses, and rival God’s place in our hearts. David overcame Goliath because he knew the size of his God. The remedy is knowing God deeply, valuing His word above our own, and reserving awe for Him alone. True Christians stand fearless, unshaken in trials, living as overcomers with the DNA of Christ.

Introduction

Story of David and Goliath – Let’s read 1st Samuel 17: 2-11, 20-24, 26, 31-51. (Goliath’s

height was approx, 10 feet and his coat of bronze weighed almost 58 kilograms!)

• What is the one quality of David that shines through this passage?

• What did David see? What did the others see?

• Why was David not afraid? – Because He knew the size of God! Goliath was nothing before the mighty God of Israel.

  
  

Fear often parades itself as larger than what we can handle. It’s a marketing gimmick of the

enemy! And unfortunately, thousands fall prey to it. Thousands who have not seen or known

the size of God. Hence, before the battle even begins, we accept defeat – without a fight,

because we don’t even want to go to the battlefield, we don’t want to face our Goliath! So we

cower and hide and duck and play dead – hoping we can bypass the situation, never knowing if we could have ever won!

What is Fear?

Fear is defined as a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined! It triggers a rapid biochemical and emotional response to perceived threats, whether actual or imagined. It initiates a "fight-or-flight" response, characterized by physiological changes like increased heart rate, sweating, and alertness, preparing the body to deal with danger.

This is the explanation in the natural, which is a combination of biology, psychology etc.

But in the spiritual understanding which is the real explanation, because it goes beyond the surface level of biology and psychology - Fear is a spirit!

One of the most used ones by Satan.

What does this spirit do?

It takes the one thing that you have had an unpleasant history with and magnifies it, on a 70mm screen in your mind! It begins a movie of the worst that could happen and because you are already seeing it in your mind, it becomes the PERCIEVED reality that you are walking in! It may not seem like that to the one next to you, but to you it’s already happening. You are in alarm mode, bracing for the worst to happen, because you have already seen it happen in your mind! That is what this spirit does. It messes with your mind, draws from your personal weakness and magnifies it and twists your reality first in your mind, so that you follow suit in the actual.

Why is this spirit sent? Two prime reasons:

1. To bully and cage a child of God and their generations, with the intention of causing harm and pain, cutting off their freedom. So, some people live a whole life feeling crippled or playing defensive because they are always on the ‘duck the bully’ mode – and they unknowingly pass it on to their children – teaching them to live in fear and defense mode.

2. It is on assignment! Sent to stop a specific person from entering their intended destiny. It cannot stop God, so it tries to stop YOU. It’s target is not you – but your destiny, because somehow, it’s aware, more than you of how powerful your destiny is!

   
   

What is the evidence of this? Let’s read Numbers 13:25-33, 14:36-38.

Many destinies have been lost by the false reports and the misled narratives of the enemy and unfortunately, the people of God believing the words of the enemy more than the words of God.

The Solution

Now this is a real problem, right?!

What do you think is the stance of God to all this?

Anything that comes to bully or harm his children, He has a problem with! This is where we get to the exciting part!

No matter how unrelenting this bully may be, it freezes and drops at the mention of the most powerful name in the universe – EL SHADDAI, Lord Almighty, JESUS Himself! There is a reason why Psalm 91 is a powerful protection psalm, because it is decoded in the spirit of being the only refuge strong enough to render a raging enemy powerless! Psalm 91:1 reads “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty…”

When the legal comes in, every illegal thing gives way. It cannot stand.

1. The only way to turn the tables – where the bully becomes the bullied! – where we put a muzzle around this spirit and dictate it’s fate is when we take on and use our Father’s name! Romans 8:14-15 says “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship”.

   
   

   Daniel 11:32 says – “Those who know their God, will do mighty exploits!”

   David knew His God, and I’m sure he was genuinely wondering what on earth was this Goliath guy even thinking! David wasn’t just making some random empty threats and gathering courage – I think he was genuinely worried for Goliath! Because David really KNEW who God is!

   
   

   (Personal ref – Dream)

   For the longest time we have imagined God to be this sweet kind old man sitting softly among the angels in heaven. We need to get real! We need to know who this God is. Psalm 29 says His voice only can strip a whole forest bare! Hebrews1 2:29 says “Our God is a consuming fire”. Revelation 20:11-12 talks about just what His presence does! Psalm 46:10 says – “Be still and know I am God!”. We need to know who we are dealing with.

   
   

   We need to know who our Father is!

   
   

   Fear doesn’t stand a chance when we KNOW our God! It will seem like such a pathetic puny little thing in the light and majesty of God.

   
   

2. When we know our God, we will begin to VALUE whatever He says more than what we think! That’s why in any situation it is the most natural thing for a child of God to go to God and hear what He has to say on the matter. What He says, what He thinks stays! So we begin to view our life’s situations in the light of His word. So that thing that we may be fearful about – take it to God, discuss it with Him and hear His verdict on the matter. Plug into God’s word more than your word! It is His word that silences the storm inside of us and shows us the way forward!

The Main Teaching

This I believe is the whole point of this sermon – why is it that God tells His children time and time again “do not fear”. Fear is something that evokes an intense emotion of awe within us. The Webster dictionary defines awe as ‘an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by overwhelming greatness’ of something. That is what is produced from within us when we are overwhelmed by fear - we are so transfixed by something that we can barely think or see clearly anything beyond it.

The Lord says – such an intense emotion of awe and almost stunned reverence is reserved for God alone!

Isaiah 8:12-13 reads – “This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people: “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.”

That emotion of intense awe and reverence is what the Lord expects of us for Himself. That is also called as the fear of God! It gives Him His due. It is the only counter-remedy to any other fear that tries to compete for our attention.

If we have any other fear, alongside our worship of God – whether it’s of people or situations – we will become a people who turn back on the day of battle! Psalm 78:9 is one of the sorriest pictures ever painted.

Conclusion

Fear attacks both our worship and our destiny. Revelation 21 is about a time to come, talks about a new heaven and a new earth. (Just because we don’t know or understand much about it – doesn’t mean it’s not relevant to us.) In that time, there is a list that God gives out of those who will not be in this new earth. Instead, they will be consigned to the ‘fiery lake of burning sulphur’. ‘Cowards’ are number 1 on the list! The reason for that - We entertained another at equal or more importance than God Almighty! We did not overcome.

Fear needs to be faced. Handled. Settled. It tries to take the seat of God where it begins to dictate our decisions and direction of life. It cannot be given that power! It isn’t just your destiny that is at stake – but your very stand with God.

David was a man after God’s own heart, because there was nothing else that could actually get his heart! David was FEAR-LESS! The evidence of a real Christian is not which church they go to or how much charity they give or how many times they say “Praise the Lord” or how spiritually gifted they are. The evidence of a real Christian is one who remains unshaken in the times of trouble. Who have a quiet confidence in the One they serve. The fruit that comes out of their mouths is not a list of things that could go wrong, instead it is a strong affirmation that God’s got this. Such people bring great honour and glory to the name of the Lord. The people in the world around are baffled by their inner strength and wonder the source of it.

The whole of Revelation hints at a final picture of crowns and judgements and the one word that keeps resounding through it all is – Overcomer!

We have the DNA of the One who overcame! We are meant to overcome!

Slay your Fear!

Background

Kainos Church India, Bengaluru led by Ps. Manoj and Lincy Iype is a gathering open to all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Church is ideally located for believers in the Koramangala, HSR Layout, Agara, Sarjapur Road, Bellandur areas of Bengaluru and our Church Service in English starts at 10am on Sundays.

These notes are from the Sunday Sermon held on 10th May 2026