Sunday Highlights
It was the big one yesterday. The one that hit me right between the eyes. The very thing I was pouring my heart out to a friend about before the service, was the thing that God smacked me upside the head with in the message: FEAR.
I become paralyzed by it way too easy and way too often.
I’m afraid of failure.
I’m afraid of losing control.
I’m afraid of not accomplishing all that is in my heart.
I’m afraid.
Today’s message was just what I needed to hear!
Paralyzing Fear by Pete Wilson
Fear is the greatest enemy of faith.
Fears establish the limits of our lives.
Exodus 3:9-12
Two Common Fears
1) A fear of failure
Exodus 4:1-5
Exodus 4:-10-12
You have in your hand/in your life everything you need to do what God has called you to do in the future.
What has God given you in your life to accomplish what He wants to do in your future?
What is it that God is saying if you’ll just lay that down, if you’ll give it to me I can do extraordinary things through your life?
What is your identity? What is your income? What are the ordinary things in you life?
2) A fear of inadequacy
Exodus 4:13-16
We think that the future is dependent on the quantity or quality of our gifts.
Community is the way God confronts and redeems our desire to give up.
God knows that you were never meant to go through life alone. You won’t confront your doubts in isolation.
Exodus 17:9-12
You will not be able to live out your God-given calling in isolation.
What steps will you take to face your fear?
The one way I have addressed my fear is to simply face it by doing life scared sometimes – a lot of times actually.
By stepping out in faith, never means we won’t be afraid again – we will be. But often times I think we never move beyond the barrier of “I have faith” into “I am walking in faith” simply because we never let our fear drive us to a place to give us that push to step out into faith.
That is what I define as “doing it scared.” Letting the fear push you into that area of faith that you are walking in [with Christ], that sometimes is just so daunting otherwise to do without it.
I firmly believe fear is a great tool to use on this level – but it has to be used as a tool, not as a crutch.