Overcoming Doubt and Fear (2)
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Last week we were faced with the crucial question of
Is Jesus enough?
If nothing you prayed for or had faith for happened is Jesus enough? and we used John the Baptist who went from declaring Jesus as the Savior of the world to asking him if he was the one or were they waiting for someone else. This week I want to start with the idea that Doubt and fear aren’t bad emotions. In the church we have done a horrible job at making room for doubt. I’ve heard sermons that if you can’t say with 100% certainty that you’re going to heaven than your not going to heaven. But if I’m honest there are days I’m not 100% sure hell would take me either. Like money I believe doubt and fear are A-Moral. Meaning they are neither good nor bad, but rather what we do with them.
we can be like Lee Stroble who was a devout Atheist and a reporter who took a deep dive into the bible to prove it wrong and came out a Christian writing books like the case for Christ. Or we could be like Michael Grunger who led many to Christ through his music and preaching and come out a devout atheist.
The question this morning is
What will doubt and fear create in you?
Rack, Shaq, and Benny stood in faith, but even gave God a way out.
17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Or in Peter
28 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
If Peter was full faith the if it is you isn’t necessary.
But then there is Judas, who allowed doubt to swallow him whole and he died carrying his doubt.
A Man once said
One feature of a healthy doubt is a refusal to settle for lousy answers to good questions.
One symptom of unhealthy doubt is paralysis. When doubt leaves you unable to commit or act in life.
But Here’s the understanding: If we can state that no matter what happens Jesus is enough in our lives. That whether our prayers get answered or not, whether life turns out the way we planned or not, or if we reach financial stability or not. If we can can put aside the conditions to our faith than we stand in a place where all we have is faith. And that my friends is launching point to extraordinary things.
Doubt, when planted in the Word of God gives Birth to hope.
The foundation for our hope should be this: The Birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I found it interesting while in my studies of hope that the Lexham Bible Dictionary states this:
The New Testimate words for hope are the verb Elpizien and the noun elpis Both of these words have to do with trust and confidence in God however, neither are subjective rather they objective and the object always points to Jesus.
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Paul is telling us that when our hope is planted in Jesus it begins to bear the fruit that a tree bears because Joy and peace are a direct fruit of properly planted hope.
When you look through New Testament eyes in the Old Testament it can bring life to verses like
12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
If Jesus is your hope than receiving Him as he is without any strings or attachments allows God to decide how to bless you and how to prosper you.
The truth is God wants to make you a tree of life.
God wants you to be blessed, growing, and multiplying, but when we allow God to define how that happens we begin to release stress and tension. I have found in my life that when I focus on external blessings I don’t enjoy God’s presence to the fullest. It becomes almost like a drug and everything I do and see is through the lense of if I feel blessed or not.
But when I receive Jesus how he is everything Jesus is and does becomes a blessing. Because Jesus is enough.
Are you looking at Jesus through the lense of Blessing or are you using Jesus as the lense in which to project hope in every situation?
Hope through Jesus comes in 3 phases:
From the Past-
6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
Jesus is alive today
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Jesus endures through the future
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
When we are rooted and firmly planted in Jesus Peter’s words begin to come alive and take on a new meaning.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
Ultimately there is more to life than this: There is an inheritance that imperishable, undefiled, unfading and kept in Heaven for you.