The Cost of Fear (9 of 10)
Series: Real Jesus
Craig Smith
John 11: 45-54
Big Idea: We must feed our faith and starve our fear.
I. Introduction
Today we're going to talk about one of the greatest obstacles to experiencing the abundant, excessive life that Jesus promised. That's what Jesus said he came to bring us. He said ''I came that they might have life and have it abundantly'' or, as we saw a few weeks ago, ''to have a life of excessive good.''
Now what we need to understand is that, first, Jesus wants us to have this kind of life and second, he has done everything necessary to make this kind of life a possible for us. But...you knew there was going to be a but, didn't you?...but, as we said a few weeks ago, this kind of life is not a static gift, it's a proximity effect. It only comes from staying close to Jesus.
And today we're going to talk about one of the most common things that keeps us from sticking close to Jesus. I think this thing is a struggle for just about every Christian I know. It's certainly in my own personal top three, so I'm no exception. And yet, I don't think we teach on this struggle nearly enough. The struggle I'm talking about is fear.
Did you know that God commands His people to ''fear not'' 87 times in the Bible. Eighty-seven times. Now, he says it in different ways. Sometimes it's ''fear not'', sometimes it's ''do not fear'', and sometimes it's ''do not be afraid'' but they all boil down to the same command from God to His people. Now to put that in perspective:
- The command not to make or bow down to idols only shows up 14 times in the Bible.
- The command not to commit adultery only shows up 9 times in the Bible
- The command not to murder only shows up 8 times
But the command not to fear? Eighty-seven times. Which I think - and I know that I'm really getting out on thin ice here - but I think this means that God is pretty concerned about the impact that fear has on His people.
Why is that? ...
Series: Real Jesus
Craig Smith
John 11: 45-54
Big Idea: We must feed our faith and starve our fear.
I. Introduction
Today we're going to talk about one of the greatest obstacles to experiencing the abundant, excessive life that Jesus promised. That's what Jesus said he came to bring us. He said ''I came that they might have life and have it abundantly'' or, as we saw a few weeks ago, ''to have a life of excessive good.''
Now what we need to understand is that, first, Jesus wants us to have this kind of life and second, he has done everything necessary to make this kind of life a possible for us. But...you knew there was going to be a but, didn't you?...but, as we said a few weeks ago, this kind of life is not a static gift, it's a proximity effect. It only comes from staying close to Jesus.
And today we're going to talk about one of the most common things that keeps us from sticking close to Jesus. I think this thing is a struggle for just about every Christian I know. It's certainly in my own personal top three, so I'm no exception. And yet, I don't think we teach on this struggle nearly enough. The struggle I'm talking about is fear.
Did you know that God commands His people to ''fear not'' 87 times in the Bible. Eighty-seven times. Now, he says it in different ways. Sometimes it's ''fear not'', sometimes it's ''do not fear'', and sometimes it's ''do not be afraid'' but they all boil down to the same command from God to His people. Now to put that in perspective:
- The command not to make or bow down to idols only shows up 14 times in the Bible.
- The command not to commit adultery only shows up 9 times in the Bible
- The command not to murder only shows up 8 times
But the command not to fear? Eighty-seven times. Which I think - and I know that I'm really getting out on thin ice here - but I think this means that God is pretty concerned about the impact that fear has on His people.
Why is that? ...
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