2020 04 19 - Faith&Fear - Fear Not...I Am With You

We are living in a world overrun by fear. The Corona virus dominates the news and has us locked away in our homes. Meanwhile with businesses closed or limited workers are being laid off or furloughed. People are afraid of getting sick, afraid of losing their job, afraid of losing their home. Where do we turn in the middle of this much fear?

365 times the Bible uses the words do not be afraid or fear not. That means you could read a different verse about overcoming fear everyday for a year. But these aren’t just unsupported directions. Repeatedly God tells us with a promise why we don’t have to be afraid. We are spending the next few weeks looking at these promises and they tell us we can have faith in a world of fear.

RECAP PREVIOUS WEEKS IN SERIES

We started this series off looking at how fear and faith can affect your life in many of the same areas but with opposite results. We focused on this key truth.

Fear and faith have a lot in common, but… you get to choose which has power in your life.

Last week on Easter we discovered how

The resurrection of Jesus defeats death and all of the reasons we have to be afraid of it.

CONNECT THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE

Share: Who has a memory of getting lost as a child? Where was it and how did you feel?

The fear of being alone or being abandoned is a deep fear for many people.

EXPLORE

PRIMARY SCRIPTURE

Deuteronomy 31:1–8 ESV

1 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ 3 The Lord your God himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the Lord has spoken. 4 And the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. 5 And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” 7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. 8 It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT OF THE SCRIPTURE

The Israelites were about to enter the promised land where fear had already defeated them once.

They were loosing their trusted leader.

Led them out of Egypt

parted the read sea

gone up to the mountain

given them God’s words

Joshua was about to step into the big chair and take over for a legendary leader. He was going to have to lead the Israelites into this new chapter.

(Raphah) Leave carries the connotation of being loose or slack

Forsake is the idea of abandonment

MAIN IDEA

The Israelites situation here may be one you are familiar with at least from an emotional place. You are facing big challenges, and afraid that you may not have who you need with you to go through them.

THE MAIN THING:

We don’t have to be afraid of being abandoned because God has given us his permanent presence.

Explore the Main Idea

We fear being alone because we are inadequate.

Share: Who in your life are you most afraid of losing?

Our fear of abandonment will drive us to acts of desperation and even idolatry.

Idols and Idiots

God has promised us that his presence will never leave us.

There is great meaning in this promise for two reasons

1. God’s promises are always true

Hebrews 6:18 ESV

18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

Numbers 23:19 ESV

19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

2. God’s presence is everywhere

Jeremiah 23:23–24 ESV

23 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine 4. Omnipresence

Omnipresence. Just as God is unlimited or infinite with respect to time, so God is unlimited with respect to space. This characteristic of God’s nature is called God’s omnipresence (the Latin prefix omni- means “all”). God’s omnipresence may be defined as follows: God does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places.

His presence is enough

The writer of Hebrews takes this promise of God that he will not leave nor forsake us in a weird direction. He ties it to contentment and the love of money.

Hebrews 13:5 ESV

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

This connection may seem odd, but it actually makes sense in the light of what we are talking about that God’s presence is enough.

Transform

Coming Back to the Main Thing

We don’t have to be afraid of being abandoned because God has given us his permanent presence.

Bring to Primary Application

1. Identify Idols your fear has created

2. Activate Awareness of God’s presence

3. Choose Contentment

Lead Application to Commitment

Share: His presence is enough for...

Invitation

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