Sermon Tone Analysis

Exodus 2:23-25 -

Running Scared book recommend

How do we navigate the fear, worries, and unknowns of life?

“Every single person who ever lived is personally familiar with fear.

It is an inescapable feature of earthly life “ ( Running Scared book recommend - Welch - Tripp - Powlison )

Freedom or oppression brings fear:

Both oppression and freedom can stir up fear.

Freedom can remove the fear and anxiety associated with being persecuted or oppressed, but it increases the fear of personal failure.

(20)

With freedom comes more choices, which means more opportunities to get it wrong.

Pick your poison, they both contribute to fear and anxieties.

Is anxiety and depression always the result of sin?

Anxiety = fear

Depression - hopelessness (Darker and more dangerous than anxiety)

Always sin, always physical/biological, always environment

Physical - Hormones or Thyroid is not sin

Environment - Abusive husband or parent - sin done to you but not you

An Anxiety driven by fear is a response in order to deal with reality (Abusive home)

How do we help ourselves and others?

(this week and next week)

Two basic ways

The Secular way -

We go to a therapist and they give us a disorder, syndrome, or a condition - they prescribe medicine (or send us to someone who will) - they listen to us & we come back next week.

No healing only therapy that tells you this fearful, worried, anxious person is who you are so just learn to live/cope with it

No deliverance because our issues are either natured into us from a sick culture or nurtured by jacked-up parents

If your problem is outside of you what can you do?

The Christian way

We go towards discipleship/counseling that uses the Bible to address our fears and worries and our sin as it points us towards hope, purpose and our God-given giftedness.

Healing and deliverance have been purchased by Christ and both are available.

Yet our sin and satan plans will have to be dealt with thru the power of the Holy Spirit and promises of God’s Word.

You see if I have a problem within me and Jesus provides the remedy, I can experience victory.

The Truth about fear

Our fear, worries, and doubts aren’t waiting patiently to leave.

Fear is a core issue in many of our lives and must be brought to the surface to be defeated.

Core issues = root issues not fruit issues (Fruit = anxious about your job or school - root - fear of failure or perfectionism -control )

Fear is impatient, self-protecting, and skeptical (Fear has tried God once and He didn’t work)

Ex: I want to lose weight!

Well, try this… no it didn't work, well try this… tried it didn't work.

That’s fear!

Fear often skews reality (polluted perception)

Fear runs from (things, people, responsibility) but does not know who to run to.

How do I know that I am fearful at my core?

Am I prone to isolation or an independent existence?

Am I prone to control issues?

(People or situations)

Am I prone to self-protecting behavior?

(The danger of “me time”)

The Remedy for fear

Knowledge of God is the only mean by which we can banish fear and replace it with faith.

The opposite of fear is not courage it is faith.

Before we create action steps toward healing and wholeness we must realize that without a foundation of knowing God it will all be in vain.

Two Great Exodus’: Israel’s & yours (Egypt or the cross)

The Exodus story

A people who only knew slavery (400 yrs -This was sin done to them that has affected everything about their life and identity)

A Slavery that’s only getting worse

A God who is mighty to Save

The God who heard and delivered Israel is the same God who hears us and delivers us in the midst of our fears, worries, and unknowns of life

Exodus 2:23-25

23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help.

Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

The God who cares is the God who both hears and acts

The God Who Hears

The Desperate Plea

V.23 - During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help.

Groaned - to vocally indicate pain; sigh - usually without words

Ex: Back pain

Deut.

26-6-9

6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor.

7 Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.

8 And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders.

9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Do you feel their desperation?

Harsh treatment, humiliation, hard labor, affliction, toil & oppression n

Fear is an affliction; a suffering.

All people what to know three things from us:

Do you care?

Can I trust you?

Can you help me?

God cares, we can trust him and He can help.

God hears desperate prayers and he hears:

The Imperfect Prayer (grumbling)

Exodus 16:7

7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord.

For what are we, that you grumble against us?”

Ex 16:9-12 - God hears whining - Presence & provision

9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’

” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel.

Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”

God answers the prayer of his people not because their perfect but because He cares for them.

How can I be sure God hears my prayers?

Are you His child?

Some people would say, “They didn’t have a prayer,” but in fact, a prayer was the one thing they did have: “The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God” (v.

23b).

- GFDL

“Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray” (Ps.

5:2).

John 6:68 - Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life,

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Rom.