Fearless: Living Without Fear The Fear of the Unknown (Part 4)

Transcription

1 Fearless: Living Without Fear The Fear of the Unknown (Part 4) Intro: How many of you struggle with the fear of the unknown? I have faced this fear countless times over the years. I have felt the pit in my stomach / sweaty palms / sleepless nights / stress headaches / the restless thoughts of what if? Log Truck Story - Back when I started ministry, Molalla was a logging community. I had people who helped me with students who were log truck drivers. Share story As a Pastor, I have had God ask me to follow Him into the unknown plenty of times, but none so great as back in March 1998 when He called us to follow Him to start a church called Foothills. (No help / no money / no place to meet / no people / just a call to follow the fear of the unknown was real!) The fear of the unknown is yet another issue that keeps people from following Jesus. This fear may be one of the greatest causes of spiritual stagnation and spiritual boredom. WHY? Because to be a follower of Jesus means we follow Him where we ve never been before. If we refuse to follow Him into the unknown, we do not grow spiritually and our faith becomes old, dry, stale and boring. God is asking us to grow past this fear today. Let me give you 3 ways to grow through this fear. I. The Fear Of The Unknown Is Conquered Relationally A. We conquer this fear relationally with Jesus John 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. (NLT) Matt 28:20 And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (NLT) 1. Our comfort comes from the fact that we are following someone else who knows the way. No amount of information brings peace only relationship. Overcoming this fear isn t about being able to plan ahead and know every detail. It s about trusting someone else. As parents, we decided early on that we would take our kids with us everywhere. We took our kids with us on youth retreats / mission trips / camp outs / took them to foreign countries / We decided that our kids should follow us not us follow them. They were usually care free having fun with every new adventure. WHY? Because they trusted us. They trusted the relationship with mom and dad. 2. Overcoming the fear of the unknown works much in the same way for us. If we don t have a genuine relational connection with Jesus, we will feel alone. We may end up feeling like we have to be smart enough to figure out what to do. 3. Jesus doesn t ask us to be smart enough to figure out the unknown. He simply asks us to follow Him. I didn t know all the details required to embrace this journey of Foothills. I just knew I needed to follow. I knew Jesus was leading the way. 4. God s presence with us is the greatest fear reducer there is. This is why this promise Page 1

2 is repeated over and over in Scripture. This is why we are encouraged to pray. Phil. 4:6-7 Don t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (NLT) Prayer is all about relational connection that brings peace! 5. Fear is conquered relationally with Jesus. The more real Jesus is in your life the less you fear the unknown and the more you trust where He is leading you. Jesus is looking for this type of child like faith from us. A reckless abandon. 6. There are a lot of people right now all worked up with fear about what may happen in the North Africa and the Middle East. It s unknown what is going to happen. Peace is discovered relationally following Jesus not following CNN. I guarantee you He is not stressed out about it. That s good enough for me! B. We conquer this fear relationally with each other I Thess 5:11 So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. (NLT) I Thess 5:14 Encourage those who are timid (NLT) 1. God doesn t expect us to face the unknown without Him or without each other. Isolating from one another only intensifies the fear of the unknown. We are to overcome this fear in the context of loving, encouraging relationships. 2. Just look at the word encourage. Literally to give courage. We can only give each other courage if we are committed to relationships. I love the scene from the movie Gladiator where Maximas is in the Coliseum with a group of men waiting to be attacked at any moment. explain Whatever comes through those gates, we stand a better chance of survival if we stick together. If we stay together, we survive. 3. They had no idea what terror they were going to face, but survival against the unknown was only possible if they stayed together. Do you have these types of relationships? 4. I ve see too many people face the fear of the unknown when facing cancer / sickness / divorce / financial problems / marital problem / parenting stresses / depression / and they isolate themselves from others. 5. This only makes the fear of the unknown worse and more intense and paralyzing. We all need people who will encourage us when we are timid to move forward. This is one of the reasons to belong to a church like Foothills to develop these types of relationships. Page 2

3 We all need people in our life who refuse to let us quit / refuse to let us run / refuse to let us retreat from the challenge / refuse to let us believe the lies that come from our fears. This is why it is so important to get plugged in a class or home group. You only develop these kind of relationships in a smaller environment. II. The Fear Of The Unknown Is Conquered Obediently Luke 5:27 Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector s booth. Follow me and be my disciple, Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. (NLT) (Explain: This is radical obedience. Just think about how much of the unknown he embraced. Levi had to have been a detail guy! He could have given Jesus all kinds of reasons why He couldn t follow. A. We must be willing to embrace the unknown 1. Obedience requires that we follow Jesus into the unknown. We must be willing to leave the land of the familiar. Jesus waits for us in the land of the unfamiliar. He calls us to join Him there! 2. We will never experience Jesus in life altering ways as long as we embrace familiar / comfort / predictability / no risks / This is not the life Jesus calls His followers to. Jesus did not call us to a life of ease but to a glorious adventure of following. 3. We are spiritual pioneers NOT spiritual settlers. Explain the difference. Every day the pioneers embraced the unknown. 4. The unknown is not a good enough reason to tell Jesus NO. How is this fear causing you to not follow? Home group leader / or be in a home group Teach a class / or be in a class Start a new ministry / or join an existing ministy Go on a mission trip Become the spiritual leader in my home 5. It s only as you are willing to step into the unknown with Jesus that you experience Him in a whole new way. This is how your faith comes alive. This is where you see God work in supernatural ways. This is where you grow! 6. The fear of the unknown is not overcome by asking God to remove the fear. It is only conquered as you follow Jesus into the unknown! I do not believe it is a prayer He will answer until you choose to follow. B. We must be willing to let go of our excuses 1. Obedience requires that we let go of all the reasons/ excuses why we can t leave the land of the familiar. Up until now, we believe our excuses are good enough. We think they let us off the hook. We think that our fear of the unknown gives us a free Page 3

4 pass. I don t have to do anything that makes me uncomfortable or afraid. 2. Jesus asks us to follow Him in spite of our fears. Jesus calls us to trust Him and walk into the unknown with Him. 3. Some of you may be thinking; I would follow if only He would be more clear If only He would give me more direction information if He would explain a bit more. 4. Let me explain how following Jesus works. Jesus will give us only enough information so that we follow, not so much it removes the need for faith. He will always tell us enough so that we have a choice to move in a direction. The fear of the unknown keeps us paralyzed because we want all our questions answered first. God doesn t work this way! (Every example in Scripture!) As you obey and follow, we get more direction. It s always on a need to know basis. Story of finding a place to start Foothills. 5. God may be speaking to your heart about a direction He wants you to go and you re still waiting for more information and God is waiting for you to take a step! As you follow you will see God s plan unfold before your eyes but not before! John 21:20-22 Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved Peter asked Jesus, What about him, Lord? Jesus replied, If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me. (NLT) Jesus didn t answer all of Peter s questions. He simply asked him to follow. Our fear of the unknown is conquered in the same manner. We simply follow! III. The Fear Of The Unknown Is Conquered Progressively Phil. 3:13-15 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things (NLT) Our spiritual journey with Jesus is progressive. We all have a responsibility to press on to reach the end of the race and not allow anything to hinder the spiritual progress. Overcoming the fear of the unknown is a progressive thing. A. The more you embrace the fear of the unknown the more you grow spiritually 1. The more you follow Jesus into areas of the unknown, the more your spiritual maturity and trust in Jesus grows. For example If teaching in Kids Church is a scary thing for you, after you do it for awhile, pretty soon it s no big deal. Fear is conquered. You now can do more. If going to Guatemala was a frightening thing, after you go it s no longer that intimidating. You re ready to go again or maybe somewhere new. Page 4

5 If thinking about coming to one of our worship and prayer events makes you uncomfortable, come anyway! The 2 nd one won t cause half the anxiety. 2. The fear of the unknown is overcome progressively. We all must press on the reach the end of the race. Embracing the unknown never stops. Wherever you re at in your spiritual journey, there is always another level of the unknown Jesus wants you to follow Him in. We don t ever arrive or retire spiritually. 3. God is constantly asking me to embrace another area of the unknown. He s always drawing me into new areas of ministry. God is drawing me into making a difference not just here in Molalla but in other parts of the world. Lisa and I leave for Guatemala tomorrow. God led me this year to start a Wednesday night men s leadership group. Never done this before. Now I believe God wants to create a Men s Movement here at Foothills. We re trusting God for 100 men next Fall! 4. The way I continue to grow as a man and as your Pastor is only as I continue to follow Jesus into the unknown. The 13 year history of Foothills has been one step after another of following Jesus into the unknown. (From an Elementary School cafeteria to where we are today!) 5. It works that way for you too! Could it be that the reason you re not growing spiritually is that your fear of the unknown is keeping you stuck? Is there a step of obedience you need to be taking so you can grow? B. The more you grow past the fear of the unknown the more God uses you 1. Since our spiritual maturity is connected to overcoming this fear, it makes sense then the more I grow the more God can use my life to accomplish His purposes. 2. The more we learn to trust and follow the more of the unknown we can embrace. What would have terrorized us years ago now is hardly a thought. This is growth. This makes us more useful for His purposes. (If the same things are causing you fear today that caused fear years ago you re not growing, you re avoiding!) 3. Most believers I know genuinely desire God to use their lives in a significant way. This is the path to experience that desire as a reality! We have to quit avoiding everything that makes us uncomfortable. 4. This is what I see as people get older they begin to purposely avoid anything that makes them uncomfortable, creates any anxiety, or anything where the outcome is uncertain. That mindset will hinder you from growing spiritually and being used by God is any significant way. This mindset will keep you a prisoner to this fear! 5. BUT, the more you trust Him and follow the more you grow and the more you grow the more He uses you! The more He uses you the more free you become! Page 5

6 How is the fear of the unknown plaguing your life? Will you choose to conquer it relationally? Will you choose to conquer it obediently? Will you choose to keep conquering it progressively? Page 6