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Sermon

#1093. Do not fear (5/7/24)

Community Church Putney Sermons

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  1. Welcome to this Come to Jesus Daily devotional where we are in our Summer Inspiration series. Today, we reflect on how we can deal with our fears.

  2. To watch this devotional, follow the link below:

  3. https://youtu.be/jxK_vGHAVFQ

  4. ‘For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.’ (Isaiah 41:13)

    Isaiah 41:13

  5. How do we deal with fear? Do we get busy? Do you worry and fret, allowing your mind to be distracted by what may happen? I love what Mark Twain wrote about fear: ‘I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.’ Do you deal with fear by simply, like Twain, seeking to have a positive attitude? Do you seek to control the problem?

  6. Fear is a gift from God! Without fear we would come to great harm. Fear is designed to cause us to take wise action. Fear is telling us something and we should listen. In the context of today’s text, the fear they were feeling was regarding the threat of an enemy - ‘Those who wage war against you’ (v.12). This text is telling them to let fear do its work by driving them back to faith - to trusting God and His promises. The promise for them is, ‘I will help you’.

  7. Will Guidara, author of ‘Unreasonable Hospitality, The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect’, spoke of his family and the challenges they faced; his mum, when he was four years old, was diagnosed with brain cancer. The tumour was removed, but the radiation treatment she received, led to her becoming a quadriplegic by the time he was like eight or nine. This is a terrible situation! However, his dad would give him this advice:

  8. ‘Adversity is a terrible thing to waste. You cannot control what life throws at you, but you can control what you learn from it, how you choose to allow it to motivate you, how you grow out of it.’

  9. He was allowing fear to create faith! Do you allow fear to drive you to faith? Do you choose to worry and trust your fears or do you allow what you fear to turn you back to worship and trust? For example, when you are driving a car, the oncoming traffic in the opposite lane is a very dangerous thing! However, the danger causes you to be careful to stay in the correct lane. Likewise, are the dangers and threats in our lives causing us to be careful to stay in the lane of faith?