AWTG23- Fear

Christian Craighead

January of 2019 in Nairobi Kenya and hundreds of lives were in danger

5 heavily armed and highly motivated terrorists wanting to overthrow their government and enact rule by shariah law

they enter the hotel and resort taking the lives of at least 21 and spreading terror throughout the city

one man makes a phonecall to a British special operator of the highest level of their military stationed there to train kenyan troops

despite recieveing no authorization to go by his government or military officials, Christian puts on his armor and runs into the building, toward the gunfire

over the course of nineteen hours, doing most of the evacuation by himself while the local police and military held a perimeter, Christian rescued hundreds

he is a human just like you and I and I imagine there was some part of him that knew he would be justified in staying put and waiting for official orders, keeping him safe from harm

he could have told himself that other people will step in, that he is just one man and he has no intel on the terrorists’ numbers or capabilities

despite any or all of those thoughts, he acted immediately and its likely that many are still alive and well because he chose not to be motivated by his fear but by courage

What is Fear

a negative response to danger or harm

2 Timothy 1- what are the things here that could cause one to give in to fear?

shame- people looking at you differently and maybe even treating you poorly because you choose to live loving and serving others instead of your self like the world does

suffering- something much more real in Timothy’s context but something we all ought to consider worth facing for the sake of the gospel

if fear is what is motivating me then the gospel will never be shown in me

Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

A king with the big head

a command that is life and death- using fear to get the worship he wants

three men who overcome the fear

Nebuchadnezzar could take away their status that they have earned

he could make their lives worse than being from the people who are conquered outcasts of their society

he could even kill them in the fire

regardless, they remain standing

Application

Lives are at stake, not just these mortal ones but the eternal ones

and not just our own but so many around us

fear is us focusing on the negative outcome of dangerous stimulus

courage is striving to make the most positive reality regardless of the negative impact it might have on me

fear says I ought to do whatever it takes to avoid the harm or discomfort

it works its way into your mind and can often change you for the worse so that you can remain as comfortable as you were

you reason that its okay to be a coward if being the courageous person means that I get burned alive

or maybe just that people will treat me different or I will have to be more responsible or more disciplined or I’ll have to step out of my comfort zone

maybe it means that I’ll have to live up to those things that I say online, or be held accountable for them in real life rather than simply hiding behind a screen

portraying virtue online that we are too scared to live out in person

having faith and love that shows in my life, that Jesus says will be the way that people know that we are his, sharing the gospel and not being ashamed to be his and not my own

will require me to be motivated not by fear, but by the knowledge that I serve the God who has already and will overcome anything that could come against me