Fear-WOW 5/12

It is well…WITH MY SOUL!!!!

It really is so good to be here. Monday night, we were having our book study, and Pitch interrupted us all and just loudly exclaimed, “Ok can I just say how awesome y’all are?! Y’all freakin rock my world!” And I was like, AMEN.

Some of y’all already know this, but ten days from today, I will be on a plane to go to Italy for over a month. And I am SCARED TO DEATH.

And while I don’t think that many of you are in the same position as me right now, I think that it’s safe to say that most of you are scared to death of something right now. With AP exams, college decisions, school ending, summer approaching, friends changing, everyone has something they are scared of.

Today at lunch I asked some people what they were scared of…let’s check it out…

SHOW FEAR VIDEO

So in this video, we see many different kinds of fears: we see the trivial ones, like bugs and heights and the dark. And we also see more lasting fears, like failure, death, confrontation, disappointment. Everyone is scared of something…but where does that fear come from? Why are we scared?

The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

89 times in the Bible, there is some sort of version of God telling us to have no fear. But yet, still, we are scared. We are scared of tomorrow, of failing, of losing, of dying, of loving, and of living.

But God doesn’t give us fear, and he shows us that over and over again.

There’s a story in the gospel of Matthew about a time when the disciples were scared.

Jesus Calms the Storm
35That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?
41They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Matthew 10

Jesus is traveling and teaching, and he decides that he wants to expand his teaching to the Gentiles, on the other side of the Sea of Galilea. So Jesus said to his disciples, “Come on, let’s go to the other side.”

This is a HUGE deal for the disciples. Think about it. They are just chilling and listening with the rest of the hundreds of people in the crowd, and JESUS looks at them and says, “You 12, let’s go on a road trip. Come on, you’re with me.”

I try to imagine myself in their positions. I would be so excited I wouldn’t be able to stand it. Jesus, the greatest human being that ever lived, picked ME to hang out with him and help him go teach the word somewhere else. Plus, it’s gonna take a while, so we’re gonna get some good alone time with Him. Pretty sweet.

I think we all get in these highs with Jesus. Things are going great, everyone’s happy, everything’s pretty easy, and we’re all pretty down with Jesus. I’m pretty down with Jesus right now. It’s easy to be. I have a huge, awesome family here, and it feels great. It is well with my soul.

The disciples were on the ultimate Jesus high, because they were about to get to spend a lot of time hanging out with JUST him. Nothing could get in their way of being with Jesus.

Then they get on the boat and Jesus is like ”all right, I’m gonna rest for a while, I’ll talk with y’all when I wake up.” And he goes to sleep.

All of a sudden, a crazy storm arose on the sea. There were huge waves all over the place. Think Castaway, or Deadliest Catch. The disciples go from the ultimate Jesus high to immediately freaking out.

They wake Jesus up and ask him, “Do you not care if we drown?!” Again, freaking out.

I imagine Jesus was kind of irritated at this point. He is sleeping, and he is obviously a pretty heavy sleeper if he slept through this insane storm, and his disciples seriously woke him up to ask him if he CARES about them? SERIOUSLY?!

But, of course, Jesus gets up and just says, “Shhh. Quiet. Be still.”

And everything stops.

Then Jesus looks at them and says, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

And the disciples look at him, terrified, and ask each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? Do you not know who your God is?

Why am I so afraid? Do I not know who my God is?

I love the story of the Wizard of Oz. It’s my favorite movie of all time. And in this movie, there are three characters that are going with Dorothy to see the wizard, and for him to provide them with something they think they are missing.

Scarecrow-Brain
Tin Man-Heart
Cowardly Lion-Courage

My least favorite of these three is the Cowardly Lion. I was the scarecrow my senior year in this ballet, and I think that I secretly held a grudge against the girl who played this character because he just drives me crazy.

The whole story he acts stupid and holds everyone back because he has no courage. They keep wanting to go forward, press on towards Oz, but he keeps holding them back.

And as frustrating as it is to watch him hold the rest of the characters back, I know that when I am scared, when I don’t have courage, I am holding myself back from getting to God.

The word courage is actually a French word. It has two parts: “Coeur,” which means heart, and the suffix “-age,” which is the action that results from what comes before it.

So the word “courage” means “the action that results from having a heart.”

Now we talk about love and the heart a lot here, and what the Bible says is that having a heart and loving is the same thing as having faith in God.

So courage is the action that results from having a heart and faith in God.

And if courage is the response to fear, and the opposite of fear, then fear is the lack of having a heart. The lack of faith in God.

89 times in the Bible it says, “Do not fear, for I am with you.”

So why are we still afraid? Do we not have faith? Do we not know who our God is?

There is only one thing that you should fear, and that is that your relationship with God is not right.

We have a God who quiets storms, both literally and figuratively. We have a God who performs miracles and loves us no matter what. We have a God who knows each of us by the number of hairs on our heads, and cares. We have a God who, even though we mess up and choose other things over Him, he still longs for us.

Why are you so afraid? Do you still not have faith? Do you not know who your God is?

Take time. Think about it. Go home and ask yourself, “Why am I scared?”

The most humbling part about the story of Jesus and his disciples is the very end, after Jesus calms the storm. The disciples, who are probably the 12 closest friends of Jesus, start whispering to each other, “Who is this guy? Who is this man who can calm the waves and quiet the storms?”

The disciples had fear. And then, it turns out that they didn’t really know their God. He was in the same boat as them, and they didn’t know him.

We have nothing to fear, except that we do not know our God.

Fear is the lack of courage. Fear is the lack of heart. The lack of faith. The lack of action based on these two things. Fear is what happens when we don’t know who our God is.

He says in Isaiah:

For I have chosen you

and will not throw you away.

10Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.

Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
11“See, all your angry enemies lie there,

confused and humiliated.

Anyone who opposes you will die

and come to nothing.

12You will look in vain

for those who tried to conquer you.

Those who attack you

will come to nothing.

13For I hold you by your right hand—

I, the Lord your God.

And I say to you,

‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.

Isaiah 43:10-13

Get to know your God. He is YOUR God. He chose you. You are His. The only thing to be afraid of is not knowing Him.

I told you last time I spoke that whenever I teach, I really have to actually act on what I say. It’s one of the most convicting things to do.

I told you also last time that I don’t know what that means for you. I am not you. Maybe you need quiet. Maybe you need solitude. Maybe you need to be outside, or away from friends. I don’t know, but figure out what that is and DO IT.

I had to seriously make an effort. I have spent about 5 hours in complete silence this week just thinking and writing and talking to God, asking him, “Who ARE YOU?”

There is one thing for certain. Your God is your Lord, your light, your salvation. WHOM THEN SHALL YOU FEAR?

Courage is when fear speaks and the heart answers.

Courage is when doubt speaks and faith answers.

Courage is when the world speaks and you let your God answer.

Let’s Pray.