What are your greatest fears?

What people tend to fear most is:
the fear of failing
the fear of not being good enough
the fear of disappointing others
the fear of loss
the fear of being betrayed

FDR famously said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

But this series is about bravery, not fear, so can bravery and fear coexist?

Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”

I like this one better:
Nelson Mandela
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

Fear is not something we learn to live with. Fear has to be defeated. If fear is not defeated, we will constantly live in a state of doubt and mistrust.

We often think of fear as being the opposite of faith. Fear is not the opposite of faith. Disobedience is.

John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Why this verse? Because here we see that the opposite of faith is not fear, but disobedience. Fear is just a byproduct of disobedience.

Romans 13:3-4
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.

Fear is the result of disobedience and is not only the enemy of faith, but the neutralizer of it.

Look, I realize that is a big statement, and for two reasons:
first, it puts the blame for fear on us. This statement won’t let us be the victim. second, it forces us to realize there is sin in us. Sin always brings death.

So when you break that down into a micro level, what does that look like?
Let’s take the two biggest fears: failure and finances
Failure: why would you fail?
Went down the wrong path, Made bad decisions, Refused to trust God and his guidance. What about if the economy went bad or someone lied? I get it that there are some things out of your control, but at the end of the day, everything is your fault.

Stay with me…
You are responsible for what you think, believe, and do. That means even if others act in ways that seek to destroy you. Your thoughts, beliefs, actions, and reactions are what tell the tale. That means whatever happens, good or bad, is your fault. It is squarely on you.

Ezekiel 18:20
20 The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Romans 14:12
Each of us will give an account of himself to God.

If you failed, you have to evaluate why you failed, not turn and start blaming everything around you.

Fear wants to make you the victim because being a victim is easier than being a victor. Being the victor means being willing to take responsibility.

Finances: why would your finances crumble?
Are you being faithful to what God commanded?
Tithing - I don’t have enough, the last church didn’t spend right, etc. These are fears! Fear of lack, fear of not having control! And that fear is neutralizing your ability to be faithful!
Spending - I don’t budget properly.
Why aren’t you exercising wisdom in your finances? Why are you living outside your means? Why do you embrace instant gratification, blowing through cash?

Proverbs 25:28
A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
I am not being mean here. We all struggle with these things at points in our lives, but we have to be careful that we don’t shuck responsibility for our own sinful actions that are creating the fear in us that is destroying our ability to believe and trust God.

So you failed because you made decisions that were not guided by the Lord. You made impulsive financial moves without being in covenant with God and now you are struggling.

Why would God bail you out in these situations?
This very question alone is evidence that what I am saying is true! I was even afraid to ask it! But when you fail and when your finances are messed up, God not stepping into help is something we fear! Why? SIN!

Now, God has grace, but he also has forgiveness. I think sometimes we put all our focus on his grace and we should be putting it on asking for forgiveness.

I know I am being hard on you right now, so what does this have to do with faith?!?! I am showing you using the two most common fears how the enemy uses disobedient and sinful thoughts, beliefs, actions, and reactions to lace your life with fear, turning you into a finger-pointing victim, and neutralizing your faith.

God has a better plan for your life than fear and victimhood. His plan is righteousness and faith. His plan is you being a force in this world for the Kingdom, a courageous catalyst, not a fearful failure.

Interestingly enough, Abraham lived out this very struggle in Genesis. This is a man who the Bible calls the father of our faith and a friend of God, yet struggled with the bravery to be faithful. Let’s look at three events in Abraham’s life and extract some things that will help us abandon fear and embrace faith.

Event 1 - The Faith to Go
Genesis 12:1-20
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. 16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.” 20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Genesis 13:1-4
1 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. 2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the Lord.

Event 2 - The Faith to Believe
Genesis 15:1-6
1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Event 3 - The Faith to Obey
Genesis 22:1-14
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

These three events in Abraham’s life reveal to us a shift in his heart away from fear and into courage.

Look at the first two events. Consider the pattern you see in both stories.
God gives a command or a promise in each one. “Go to a land I will show you.” “You will have a son and as are the stars, so shall your descendants be.” Both start off well. Abraham is being obedient. He’s believing the promise and obeying the command to go. Yet in both scenarios, Abraham faces opposition that creates doubt within him. He finds a famine in Canaan. He doubts whether or not God’s promise is true as Sarah cannot get pregnant. In both scenarios, Abraham goes into fix it mode. In the first event, he flees to Egypt. In the second event, he fathers Ishmael with Hagar.

Both of these scenarios do not end well.

Abraham has been faithful, he believes God, yet in the face of opposition, he begins to doubt and he tries to do it on his own.

Now wait, is doubting sinful?
James 1:5-8
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

What about doing it on your own?
Proverbs 3:5-8
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

When you refuse to have faith in God by doubting and trying to manage it on your own, don’t be surprised when destruction, death, and fear show up.

But look at the last event.
God tells Abraham to take his son, go to Mt Moriah, and sacrifice him there. Abraham wastes no time. He wakes early in the morning. Rather than having his servants do the work, he saddles the donkey and gathers the wood for the altar himself. He immediately makes his way to the mountain At the mountain, he answers Isaac, who is wondering where the sacrifice is. “Do not worry, God will provide.” He tells his servants, “We will go and worship and we will return.”

We know how the story ends, that God stayed Abraham’s hand, provided a ram for the sacrifice, and Isaac grew, married, had sons, and the rest is history.

Here’s my question…
Abraham clearly doubted in the first two events creating scenarios that endangered him and the promise of God, but the last event, Abraham obeyed without question, without hesitation. Why?

What happened between the first two events and the last event that changed Abraham so much that he displayed incredible courage and obedience to whatever God commanded, even when that command meant sacrificing the very fulfillment of God’s promise, his son?

Abraham’s worst fear was having no heir. And now God was asking Abraham to sacrifice that heir. How was Abraham so brave to obey?

1. He got in covenant with God
In Genesis 15 and 17, we see two very unique covenant events.

First, in Genesis 15, we see the “word of the Lord” came to Abraham in a vision. In this vision, God told Abram that he was his shield and that his reward would be very great. Abram replied what could you give me for I am childless and my servant will inherit.

See, God had promised descendants like the stars, but from where Abram was standing, anything God gave him would pass to a servant, not a son.
God reaffirms the promise by having Abram look to the sky, giving him a visual of what God promised. Not only would God promise descendants, but a land to possess. God commanded Abram to bring a heifer, female goat, a ram, all three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. If you wonder why these specific animals, it is because these were the ones God would command Moses to demand of the Hebrews for sin offerings. Abram cuts the animals in half long ways, but not the birds, and lays them over to the left and right forming a lane between the halves.

Genesis 15:17-18
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram

Genesis 15 is God making a covenant with Abram.

Now in Genesis 17 it is time for Abram to reciprocate.
God tells Abram to “walk blameless before me.” In this moment, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham signifying that God’s covenant was with him. The way the covenant would be reciprocated would be through circumcision.

Genesis 13:17
So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.

Why did God choose that? God wanted us, in pain and blood, from the most graphic symbol a fleshly desire, to cut it away as a sign of covenant.

What is my point here?
The promise always lives on the other side of covenant.
If you aren’t in covenant with God, how can you expect to receive the promise? It’s like not having a membership at the gym but expecting to work out. If you aren’t in covenant with God, how are you ever going to be obedient?

John 14:15
If you love me you will keep my commandments.

How can you honor God with your obedience if you don’t know him? If you aren’t in covenant with God, how can you have faith that God will do what he promised, and have the bravery to actually follow through with what he asks?

Are you in covenant with God?
And I don’t just mean salvation. I mean in EVERYTHING. Salvation, family, identity, finances, your call, your purpose…

Being in covenant doesn’t mean you will never have fear. But being out of covenant guarantees you will have it.

If you want to be brave enough to do what God asks, in takes covenant.

How do I do that?
You have to completely embrace everything God has said to you, both audibly, but more importantly, in his Word. You want covenant in, family, identity, finances, your call, your purpose…It all flows from your willingness to embrace whatever God asks.

But it all starts with Covenant, and that comes through the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

How was Abraham so brave? He got in covenant with God, and

2. He met Jesus
How? In Genesis 18, we see three visitors come to meet Abraham, one of whom Abraham constantly calls, “Lord.” We can further know this is Jesus in verse 21 where the “Lord” says that the outcry has come to him. But more importantly, the conversation they have not only reaffirms the promise, but also Abraham gets to see two things:

First, He sees the Lord’s heart in that, even though the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are great, the Lord is still willing to save if it is only Lot and his family.

Second, Abraham gets to see not only the descendant that will restore the relationship with God, he sees in Jesus the mechanism by which the father of no one becomes the father of Isaac becomes the father of a nation and then the father of multitudes of people, not only Israelites, but all who would call on the name of the Lord.

What is my point?
If you want to embrace the power of courage to do what God has asked you to do, it is not only going to take embracing covenant, but also embracing the person of Jesus Christ, not just in Lordship, but in relationship. The more you know him, the more confident you become in having faith in him. As your faith grows, your disobedience wanes, and your fear subsides. None of this happens, however, outside of an active, growing relationship with Jesus.

Abraham was brave because he got in covenant, he met Jesus, and finally

3. The promise came to pass
Genesis 21:1-5
1 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

I just want to say one thing about this.
Every single person in this room has had at least one promise from God fulfilled. I think sometimes we pray so hard for a miracle and then God provides it, and then we quickly just jump to the next problem, not realizing that yesterday’s miracles give us courage to be obedient today so that we can receive the promise tomorrow.

What promise, what miracle, has God performed in your life?
If you don’t have one, then maybe you are still on the road to where he will show you.

But if you have, how are you leveraging the power of what God has done to give you courage to have faith in what he will do?

I asked you at the start what are your greatest fears. The opposite of faith is not fear. It’s disobedience. So if there is fear in your life right now, it stems, in some way, shape, or form, from disobedience, even if that disobedience is as simple as not trusting God.

If you look at Abraham’s life, his greatest fear was not having (a son, an heir, a home). Yet God silenced his fear with provision, with favor, with wisdom, with the tangible presence of God, and yes, with a son. God silenced fear with the opposite of the very thing he feared most.

It helped Abraham not only be brave, but it gave God a chance to give Abraham what he longed for all along.

What fear in your life has kept God from giving to you that which he wants to give you?

Fear will keep you from the promise, it will keep you from walking in faith, from being brave.

God challenged Abraham, put him in situations where he had to trust God, where he had to kill fear and have faith. He didn’t always succeed, but through covenant, through the person of Jesus, though receiving the promise, he was able to bravely and faithfully do what God asked.

What does God need to do so that you will be brave enough to do whatever he asks you to do?

Last question:
What do YOU need to do so that you will be brave enough to do whatever he asks you to do?

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?