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[3551.28 --> 3552.68] Let me give you an example of this. |
[3554.14 --> 3562.60] One of my favorite stories in the Bible, not because of this particular story, but because of the second part of it, is in Numbers 13. |
[3563.88 --> 3564.00] Right? |
[3564.06 --> 3565.02] It's the story. |
[3566.14 --> 3567.14] Let's give a context. |
[3567.26 --> 3570.36] So the Israelites have left Egypt. |
[3570.78 --> 3571.00] Right? |
[3571.06 --> 3572.62] They were slaves for 400 years. |
[3572.76 --> 3575.16] Moses comes and he leads the people out. |
[3575.16 --> 3576.64] So they've left Egypt. |
[3576.78 --> 3579.44] That is, they've seen the ten plagues and the power of God. |
[3579.56 --> 3582.80] They've walked through the Sea of Reeds in the power of God. |
[3582.88 --> 3586.98] They've seen and won the battle with the Amalekites in the power of God. |
[3586.98 --> 3594.84] They've seen God show up on Sinai and Moses radiate his glory from after that with lightning and thunder cracking. |
[3595.32 --> 3595.40] Right? |
[3595.48 --> 3597.54] They've seen water from a rock. |
[3597.54 --> 3602.00] They have seen day in and day out manna and quail as God provides. |
[3602.70 --> 3609.86] They have seen God go before them in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire for probably a year or more by this point. |
[3610.06 --> 3615.12] And they get to the land, the border of the land that God has promised to give them. |
[3615.12 --> 3620.64] And so they send 12 spies into the land to check it out. |
[3620.70 --> 3622.56] And the spies go in for 40 days. |
[3623.56 --> 3627.92] After 40 days, those spies return with their report. |
[3629.06 --> 3634.28] Now Caleb and Joshua, at the time young men, come back and they say, |
[3634.60 --> 3635.26] We should go in. |
[3635.34 --> 3638.08] We should take the land because surely God is with us. |
[3638.36 --> 3639.46] Think of everything we've seen. |
[3639.46 --> 3647.82] But the rest of the spies call the people that they have explored a land of giants. |
[3649.10 --> 3650.16] In fact, they go even further. |
[3650.32 --> 3650.58] They say, |
[3650.98 --> 3653.24] They are descendants of fallen angels. |
[3654.48 --> 3655.20] And then they say, |
[3656.58 --> 3662.90] We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked to them the same. |
[3662.90 --> 3669.78] They had just spent the previous year seeing all of those amazing things from God, |
[3669.94 --> 3676.34] but their fear redefined reality about themselves and about God. |
[3676.96 --> 3682.54] Their fear turned them into grasshoppers, but also, right, even more significantly here, |
[3682.64 --> 3685.04] their fear turned God into a grasshopper. |
[3686.38 --> 3687.74] That's what fear does. |
[3687.74 --> 3695.24] So what does the Bible tell us to do with our fears? |
[3695.90 --> 3703.78] For you, now, here, where does this leave the context of this conversation and fill out to the rest of your life? |
[3705.48 --> 3708.92] Now, in actuality, I think the answer is pretty simple, |
[3710.04 --> 3714.02] but it proves to be very difficult in life. |
[3714.02 --> 3718.02] I think there are primarily here two answers. |
[3718.78 --> 3721.46] The first answer is modeled to us by David. |
[3721.94 --> 3722.68] David says, |
[3723.18 --> 3725.88] When you hid your face, I was terrified. |
[3727.04 --> 3730.12] To you, Lord, I called. |
[3730.70 --> 3733.32] To the Lord, I cried for mercy. |
[3734.58 --> 3738.76] I think the first answer, when we face fears, is to go to God. |
[3739.18 --> 3740.20] It is to pray. |
[3740.52 --> 3742.64] It is to come into his presence in worship. |
[3742.64 --> 3746.16] Our friendship is to submit ourselves to the truth of who he is, right, |
[3746.20 --> 3750.56] as defined by his own revelation, not by our experience of him, |
[3750.74 --> 3753.04] not by our experience of the world around him, |
[3753.26 --> 3758.04] but because, remember here, right, fear redefines our perceptions of the world, |
[3758.10 --> 3760.96] so we need to come to God who defines the world. |
[3760.96 --> 3769.34] And I get how easy that can sound. |
[3770.72 --> 3773.06] And I know how hard that can be to do, |
[3773.68 --> 3778.42] especially because in our fear, we have a tendency to isolate, right, |
[3778.44 --> 3782.26] to pull back from community and to pull back from God. |
[3782.26 --> 3787.28] But the truth is, and look around, literally look around, look beside you, |
[3787.62 --> 3789.46] look at the people here with you, |
[3789.76 --> 3793.30] because God has given you a community to be part of. |
[3793.38 --> 3798.54] He's given you a community to experience his presence in and through. |
[3799.88 --> 3804.54] God has given us brothers and sisters who will help us see our fear |
[3804.54 --> 3809.18] and the things that make us afraid and help us see God in the midst of them. |
[3809.18 --> 3813.62] God has given us brothers and sisters who will carry us when we can't carry ourselves. |
[3813.80 --> 3817.84] God has given us a church family through whom he gives us himself. |
[3819.84 --> 3823.72] And so, just as you are here called to bring your fears to God, |
[3823.88 --> 3827.00] bring your fears to the community in confession. |
[3827.92 --> 3832.96] Just as you cry out to God, cry out with your brothers and sisters in the faith. |
[3834.26 --> 3838.90] God promises that he will never leave us nor forsake us. |
[3839.18 --> 3843.94] And one of the main ways, the most concrete ways that he fulfills that promise |
[3843.94 --> 3845.68] is by giving you each other. |
[3847.10 --> 3850.12] By giving you a family to be part of. |
[3851.88 --> 3857.90] The reality is, there is no such thing as an individualist Christian. |
[3857.90 --> 3868.36] To be Christian is to belong to Christ, to be his bride, to be part of the body made up of every tribe, tongue, and nation. |
[3868.50 --> 3872.40] It is to stand together as the great cloud of witnesses. |
[3872.98 --> 3876.54] You are never alone in that. |
[3876.54 --> 3887.68] And the second thing the Bible tells us to do with our fear, and in our experience of fear, is to don't. |
[3890.08 --> 3894.18] Over and over, the Bible seems to say, just don't. |
[3895.18 --> 3896.12] Don't be afraid. |
[3896.54 --> 3897.30] Do not fear. |
[3897.30 --> 3903.22] In fact, because I know that some of you are going to pull me aside after if I don't mention this, |
[3903.64 --> 3905.92] there's an idea that goes around, right? |
[3906.00 --> 3908.12] And people have mentioned this to me before, that, |
[3908.54 --> 3910.08] do you know that the Bible says, |
[3910.56 --> 3913.04] do not fear 365 times? |
[3913.82 --> 3915.32] One for every day of the year? |
[3917.24 --> 3920.40] Now, I don't know where that idea comes from, |
[3920.40 --> 3924.12] but because I know some of us are perpetuating it, |
[3924.40 --> 3925.72] I did a word study this week, |
[3926.28 --> 3927.10] and I looked at it. |
[3927.42 --> 3930.36] And not to burst your meme Christian bubble, |
[3931.48 --> 3932.50] but it's just not true. |
[3933.76 --> 3933.92] Right? |
[3934.04 --> 3936.86] So, just be careful what you quote, right, |
[3936.94 --> 3940.28] as you Pinterest post your gospel summaries. |
[3940.76 --> 3941.36] Make sure it's true. |
[3942.46 --> 3945.38] Now, what I did do was explore the various ways |
[3945.38 --> 3948.04] that the expression, do not be afraid, |
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