258: Jason Hensley - Exhortation: Overcoming Fear

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to good Chris Selfian talks. I’m Levi. And I’m Chris. And I’m Brian. Thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. We post a new episode at the start of each week. With the short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you’re about to listen to. And now, let’s talk more about this week’s talk. Hello and welcome back for this week. We’re listening to an exhortation that Brother Jason Hensley gave in.

2. 0:56

   February of 2020 at the Simi Hills Ecclesia. The exhortation is entitled Overcoming Fear. And what I appreciate about this one, it was a suggestion that we actually got sent in fairly recently, but it’s from, like I mentioned from 2020. Some interesting context is that this exhortation was given on the 16th of February in 2020, so that for the United States was. Just a few weeks before kind of all the major lockdowns happened around COVID-19.

3. 1:27

   And it makes the overall concept of overcoming fear that Brother Jason is looking at to be a interesting one to look at. And he’s not. He’s not talking about the really big serious fears and mental health issues that people sometimes would struggle with, but he’s talking about the little doubts and inconsistencies that we can feel in ourselves and how that should be approached and how we should have faced that. And I feel like.

4. 1:52

   Not knowing what was coming when he gave this excitation actually makes the advice even more powerful in a way, because it’s some of the guidance and things that I remember feeling. And it was one of those. I didn’t hear this excitation when he gave it live, obviously. So it was one of those.

5. 2:08

   I kind of wish it had been fresh in my mind when all of that was going on in the fear and uncertainty that everyone was having so. I found it to be a really encouraging exhortation, one that’s a good reminder of when we’re feeling uncertain and how we’re supposed to approach that. So thank you to the person who sent this in as a recommendation. I hope you find it to be as encouraging as I do. As always, we always appreciate and encourage any suggestions or recommendations that you might hear from wherever they may be coming from, feel free to send them in on the website or on social media.

6. 2:43

   And with that, I will turn it over to brother Jason for his exhortation entitled Overcoming Fear. Good morning, everyone. So the exhortation today is a little bit kind of coming out of an odd place. I guess I should tell you why I’m talking about what I’m talking about. Usually I like to look at the readings and try and come up with something that’s coming from the readings. That’s not what we’re doing this time, as you may have noticed that we read John 12.

7. 3:12

   This actually happens what we’re talking about today because of an event that took place a few weeks ago. So I was driving along the 405, I drive an older car to 2001 and my car just died as I was driving on the 405, which I’m sure a lot of you have experienced that before.

8. 3:33

   I have not. So. So I was driving and I thought, wow, my car’s not doing anything. This feels very strange. And then I realized. The engine wasn’t running and that was why. So since that point, when driving down to downtown LA, I have thought, wow, I sure hope my car doesn’t die. Should I think, you know, that’s like a reasonable thing to think and it hasn’t so far, which is good. But subsequently every time now that I get into the car. I’m always looking at all the gauges, you know, my hands sweating and I’m thinking, you know, like what’s going to happen, right?

9. 4:09

   Like that you just, that’s how it works sometimes. And so as I started to get ready for the exhortation, I started to think, wow, you know, this is silly that I’m having this reaction. I think it’s an understandable reaction, but it got me thinking about fear. And I know that we’ve had talks about fear lately.

10. 4:32

    But it was on my mind a lot. So that’s that’s why we’re going to talk about it again. What we’re going to do today is first I want to look at the first instance of fear in scripture and then sort of the last instance. And then I have a suggestion. Obviously, I’ve just told you that I’m working through fear. So you know, I’m not coming up here as like the guy who knows how to fix fear problems, right?

11. 5:00

    But. This is my suggestion I think on how to work through them. So it’s a two step process and hopefully you find it helpful. So if you come with me to Genesis chapter three, I think this is the first place that we see fear. So this creates an interesting question. I want you to look for as we read Genesis 3, look for fears, associations.

12. 5:29

    So what is fear connected to in Genesis 3? So we’ve just had the serpent speaking to Eve. Eve has taken the forbidden fruit, so has Adam. And it says listen for fears, associations, it says starting in verse 8, Genesis 3, verse 8 says And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

13. 5:54

    And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, because I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. So you see the association there with fear. And he says very specifically.

14. 6:21

    I hid because I was afraid. Because I was naked. Right. So you get this idea that he was afraid because he was naked. Now that’s interesting because how did he know that he was naked? Well, it was because that sinned. They took the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and it says their eyes were open and they realized that they were both naked. And so I think what you have that’s interesting. Is there is suddenly the 1st place that fear ever appears. There is this connection between fear and sin. Now I’m not saying that you know when I sit in my car and my hands like shaking on the the shifter that that’s not like you know that’s a sin.

15. 7:04

    But I think it’s important to note that there is an association between the two that fear seems to exist here because sin exists. That makes sense. So that’s the first place. So then I think that more or less should prompt us to ask a question to say, well, if that’s the first place that sin appears or that fear appears and it seems to be associated with sin, then was there any fear before sin you can think about that? It doesn’t say sorry for introducing a question without an answer, but I think it’s good to ask these kind of questions. Now, as far as the last time that it shows up, come over to Mica chapter 4.

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    Now, clearly Fear and Being Afraid shows up later in the Bible, but Mica 4 is a prophecy about the end time, and here’s what it says. Mica Chapter 4.

17. 8:09

    This is a time of transformation. You have verse one and mica 4 where God’s house is being established above all the other hills. Verse two nations are coming and they want to come and worship God. This is a prophecy of the time of the Kingdom and you know we love verse 3 where it talks about they’ll beat their swords and the plowshares, their Spears and the pruning hooks. So you have this this picture of no more war, no more violence. And so in that context, notice verse four. It says in verse 4 but they shall sit. Every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.

18. 8:53

    And so I think we can probably say that it would seem that in the Kingdom of God you have this picture in which fear is gone, fear is taken away. And I mean, we don’t think about this a lot. At least I didn’t. That doesn’t really sound like all that awesome of a picture of the Kingdom, you know, if there is fear and Can you imagine that like, wow, I’m immortal, but I’m scared all the time, right?

19. 9:17

    Like that. That would just be really a bummer, right? Like said. So I think we get this picture of a time without fear in the Kingdom of God. The reason that’s interesting is as you go throughout the Gospels, I think what we see is the Lord Jesus attempting to create a time. In which he and his disciples lived in the Kingdom of God at that moment. Here’s what I mean by that.

20. 9:46

    You remember that as the Lord Jesus preached from city to city, do you remember what he said? He said repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. But that’s what he would tell everybody. And when he sent his disciples out, that’s what he told them to say. So disciples would say repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

21. 10:06

    And now if we’re taking that, you know, literally the Kingdom of heaven, like, for real, well, we have a problem because it really wasn’t at hand, right? It wasn’t. We’re 2000 years later. And so I think that what you get is what Jesus was really saying was I’m here giving you an experience of the Kingdom. You know, when when you were with the Lord Jesus, it was like, in a sense, it was like you were in the Kingdom of God, right?

22. 10:34

    You were sick. Well, you weren’t anymore. You know, all your problems could be solved by the Lord. And so he says that the Kingdom is at hand because in him it was. In fact he says that if you can go to the reference, I’m not going to turn it up, but it’s Luke Chapter 11 and it’s verse 20.

23. 10:52

    It’s Luke 11/20. He says he’s casting out demons with a finger. He says. If I cast that demon with a finger of God, then Kingdom.

24. 11:06

    And so that’s really the picture he’s saying in me. The Kingdom of God is here. And I think that’s the example for us, that it wasn’t just the Lord Jesus who was supposed to live in the Kingdom every day, but he wanted his disciples to do the same thing. That’s why even when they weren’t with him, they said to people the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, because in them people were to experience the same thing. So fear enters.

25. 11:35

    When sin enters, fear is taken away. When sin is taken away in the Kingdom of God, and we are to Live Today as though we are in the Kingdom of God, that’s the ideal, right? So I think we can put that together and say, well, therefore we should attempt to live lives without fear. And that’s lofty, right?

26. 12:06

    So the question then becomes, OK, if that’s the goal, living a life without fear, then how do you do it? How do we do that? Now here is the two step process that I made-up. You can see if this works for you and I think it’s biblical. So I think this is a 2 step biblical process, but I mean, this is my own model and you know, I’m not a psychiatrist or anything like that, but let’s see how this goes. I think when we think about our fears and you ask yourself, where do my fears come from?

27. 12:42

    I know that, at least for me, a lot of my fears stem from anxiety. You know, you’re you’re afraid of something that’s going to happen, right? It it probably won’t actually happen, but you’re afraid that it will. So you you feel anxious and worried over that. And I think scripture is pretty clear about worry. Let’s just take a look at a couple of these. Because they tell us about how God feels on worry and what we should do about it.

28. 13:09

    So let’s go to Matthew Chapter 6. This is a passage that in which the Lord Jesus talks to us about worry. We’re going to go into it a little deeper. It’s Matthew Chapter 6. It’s a sermon on the mount, and perhaps you’ll recognize the words Matthew 6. We’re going to start at verse 25. So you’ll notice that he talks about anxiety over and over here, and he gives us a solution, Matthew Sixers, 25, says.

29. 13:45

    Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. It’s not life more than food and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air. They need their sew, nor reap, nor gather into barns.

30. 14:00

    And your your Heavenly Father feeds them, are you not? Of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? Why are you anxious about clothing? And so he goes on. So I you know, he makes it pretty clear here that we’re supposed to take anxiety out of our lives. Did you notice, however, what his solution is for that? He says the solution to anxiety is to know. Well, look at the birds.

31. 14:31

    They don’t sow. They don’t reap, They don’t gather into barns. Yeah, God takes care of them. Now, I think sometimes we get pretty familiar with these words and we say, OK, yeah, God takes care of the birds. Have you ever stopped to really kind of think about that?

32. 14:50

    I know that for me, when I stopped to think about it, that actually made the whole verse worse for me. And, you know, sometimes it goes that way, right? Because Jesus says, well, look at the birds, you know. God takes care of them. And I have to tell you, this reminds me, every time I read this, it reminds me of when I was 13 years old and a group of us had little BB guns.

33. 15:12

    And we thought, you know, we were so cool. And we were, we were out down in Ramona, and we saw a little bird on a fence. And we were like, oh, shoot the bird. That would be cool, you know, when you’re 13. So we all shot this little bird and it died. And then we couldn’t, like, we couldn’t handle it because none of us had ever shot anything before. It was, it was, you know, a little teeny cute black one. I still remember so.

34. 15:33

    And like, we couldn’t handle it, so we buried it. And we were sad. But I read this verse, Your heavenly Father feeds the birds. And I think, yeah. And I killed them, right? Like, you know, that’s not very good. But but like, you look at that and you think, well, how does that comfort us?

35. 15:55

    But I think it does. If you come over to Luke, chapter 12, Jesus says the same thing again. But he gives us a little, he says a few different words here that I think show us really what it was that he was saying and that he wasn’t just saying, well, God will always feed the birds all of the time. And you know, everything.

36. 16:17

    For little birds, lives is just wonderful. So if you look at Luke chapter 12, look again for the birds starting at verse 7. Luke 12 sorry at verse 4. Luke 12 verse four, listen for the birds. I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.

37. 16:38

    I will warn you whom to fear. Fear him, whom, after he has killed, has authority to cast in hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies, and not one of them is forgotten before God? Why even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not. You are of more value than many sparrows. Do you see what the Lord Jesus said here? That’s different than what was said in Matthew and Matthew? He says God feeds the birds, right? So don’t be afraid.

38. 17:08

    He takes care of the birds. And Luke. He elaborates on that though, and he doesn’t necessarily say that God takes care of the birds.

39. 17:18

    Instead, he says, not one of them is forgotten. I think that’s a really important distinction to kind of overlay on top of what Christ says. In Matthew 6, Christ was not saying, you know, no birds ever die, right? You should have wished that you were a bird. That’s not what’s going on. Instead, he’s saying here in Luke chapter 12, that God knows everything that’s happening. And so you even see those silly little black birds that bounce around, right?

40. 17:48

    He says God knows what everyone, those little blackbirds, is doing. God doesn’t forget any of them. In fact, God knows how many hairs you have. He knows about the one that fell off this morning, right? Like that’s he. He knows about all of those things. And so, because he knows that, you don’t need to worry. You don’t need to be anxious, because if something happens to you, God allowed that to happen.

41. 18:18

    God knew that it was going to happen. He doesn’t forget. And I think that that’s really the important piece here. Jesus says you don’t have to worry. Not because God’s going to take care of you all the time and everything will be wonderful, but because God knows what He’s doing and God knows what you’re going through now. I think that’s really the key here in step one of dealing with fear.

42. 18:54

    It’s really a recognition that God is working and that God has a plan. And the way, the way that it was helpful for me to think about this was that, you know, in front of us we have reality that we see, that we experience. And it’s almost as though God calls us to see his reality.

43. 19:15

    To see that he looks at circumstances and events in a way that is totally different from how we experience them. Because he knows what’s going to happen, he can control what’s going to happen, and we have to step out of this reality that we see in front of us and attempt to experience God’s reality.

44. 19:34

    So let’s look at 3 case studies here before we move into step number 2 with fear. This is chapter 15. So in Genesis 15, you have the story of Abraham. This, by the way, is one of the first times that the word fear is actually used. So in Genesis 15, we’re going to start at verse one. That’s for context.

45. 19:58

    Genesis 14 is the story of Abraham fighting against Kita Laomer. This is a pretty cool name. So he goes and he fights against Kita Laomer and he rescues a lot. Now I think that’s a helpful context because you think about this. Abraham had 318 people with him and he’s fighting 5 kings, right? So you can just imagine Abraham probably would have been pretty freaked out by this whole thing, but he goes and he does it anyway because you know, he thinks that’s the right thing to do.

46. 20:29

    So in verse 15, right after all these things, right after Abraham has succeeded, God says to him 15 verse one, 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, right? So God said, I know that was scary.

47. 20:48

    You don’t have to fear. And yet I think God said it for another reason. It wasn’t just because of what had happened in chapter 14, but if you keep reading, notice what Abram says in response. Verse 2, Abram said, Oh Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus.

48. 21:11

    So Abram wasn’t just scared of the battle, but I think Abram was looking at this. And if you workout the timeline, it seems like this was probably about 10 years from the point at which Abram had been told that all the earth would be blessed in him. And so he’s thinking, OK, you know, I’m going to have a child and descendants and they’re going to blast the earth. And so now, 10 years later, he’s afraid because he says, you know, you made these promises and what’s going on, you know, it’s not working.

49. 21:42

    So look at what God says in verse three. Remember, we’re considering this idea of our reality versus God’s reality. So verse three, it says, And Abrams said, behold, you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him.

50. 22:01

    This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir. 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. And he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness.

51. 22:22

    Now that’s a pretty famous verse. It’s picked up in the New Testament multiple times. And I think what we want to notice is in Romans chapter 4, the apostle Paul takes that verse and he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. Apostle Paul takes that verse and he says, you know, why was this so amazing that Abraham believed what God said?

52. 22:46

    You know, God told him this couldn’t. You just said, yeah, that’s great. You know, I believe it. But Paul says, you know, you have to understand the circumstances. And the way that Paul describes it is he says his own body was as good as dead, and so was Sarah’s. And so you think about this right, Abrams reality.

53. 23:05

    I AM 85 years old. I am not going to have children, right? Seems pretty clear. And yet God says you have to see my reality. You have to recognize that I don’t work within this scope of your experiences. And so because of that, God could come and you could say, fear not. I know that you’re afraid. How are these things going to be accomplished? I know that you were afraid from the battle. But see my reality, recognize my overarching control and my overarching plan.

54. 23:41

    So you see that in Genesis 15. Here’s, here’s another example. You don’t have to go there, but you can if you want. It’s in Second King’s Chapter 6. You might remember the story. Second King 6. This is the king of Syria is trying to conquer the Kingdom of Israel. And so the king of Syria sends an army to go fight against Israel. And he says, ha ha, this is going to be a good sneak attack. And then all of a sudden his troops get there and the army of Israel’s waiting.

55. 24:08

    And the king of Syria says what somebody told them, you know, And he does it again. He says, OK, we’ll go sneak attack somewhere else. And then they go and the army of Israel’s waiting there. And he says, who’s telling these people, oh, it’s Elisha, right? They figure out, you know, Elisha knows this and so they go and they surround the city where Elisha is. And Elisha servant says all we’re done for. You know we can’t do this.

56. 24:34

    And do you remember what Elisha says? Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Now can you just imagine this, right? Elisha’s saying that to this to the servant and the servant would be like this guy is nuts, right? We don’t have an army, you know we don’t have anything here. What is he talking about?

57. 24:53

    And then Alicia says, oh, Lord, God, open his eyes. And then he sees the Chariots of fire all around the city. Right? This is a glimpse into God’s reality. And so he didn’t need to fear. I think it’s helpful for us to recognize that God works on a level and in a way that is so much bigger than what we can often think. And so when we sit there in our anxiety and we think, well, if I do this, this is what’s going to happen. God is working and God has a plan. Here’s another example for you.

58. 25:30

    Come over to Luke chapter 8. This is the last one in Luke chapter 8. This is the story of Jarius’s daughter. In Luke 8. Jesus has been approached by Gyrus who is the ruler of the synagogue, and he asked him to come and heal his daughter. And while he’s on the way, he stopped by someone else who needs healing, right? She grabs his cloak and she’s healed and Christ turned around and he says he touched me there, that whole story. And that takes just long enough so the Lord Jesus is held up and doesn’t make it to Gyrus’s house before his daughter dies. And so verse 49, Luke 8, verse 49 says verse 49 while he was still speaking, someone from the ruler’s house came and said your daughter is dead.

59. 26:26

    Do not trouble the teacher anymore. Now look at Jesus’s answer. Jesus on hearing this, answered him, do not fear. And you see the opposite of fear here. Do not fear, only believe and she will be. Well, Jesus essentially says you don’t believe in what I think this is belief in God’s reality. Like don’t fear, You know you looking in front of you and it looks like your daughter’s dead, but I’m telling you she’s not.

60. 26:59

    But that’s what Jesus says, verse 51. And when he came to the house he allowed no one to enter with him except Peter and John and James and the father, the mother and child. And all were weeping and mourning for her. But he said do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping. Now everybody standing in that house would have thought that Jesus was crazy and they did, and they laughed at him knowing that she was dead but she wasn’t in God’s reality. Taking her by the hand, he called saying child arise, and her spirit returned and she got up at once and he directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

61. 27:44

    And so I think when we we find ourselves bombarded by these anxieties, the first step is really to recognize that, well, God is working. We don’t know how he’s working. It’s it’s still going to be hard. But he’s working and he has a plan that’s bigger than what we know. And so we have to try and step out of our reality and what we see and to see his reality.

62. 28:15

    Now here’s step two. I think even in that, you know, we can’t say you can get rid of fear because, you know, I can very fully well acknowledge that God is working but still be afraid of things. You know what? If I say, OK, God is working, but you know, I know that I could get hurt in this situation and maybe God is going to allow me to get hurt and I don’t like getting hurt.

63. 28:39

    So, you know, that’s scary. And in fact, I think you see that now, if you remember what we just read here in John chapter 12, the Lord Jesus, I think, even gives us an example of that. Now I have to be careful here. Scripture doesn’t say that Jesus was afraid in this chapter, but I think you can infer that in a sense.

64. 29:05

    So as we come to remember him now, let’s bring our thoughts here to the Lord Jesus in John chapter 12 he says in verse 27, listen for the fear. John 12, verse 27 says, Now, is my soul troubled? And what shall I say, Father saved me from this hour, But for this purpose I have come to this hour. And so you can almost hear this wrestling, right? Jesus wasn’t scared because, you know, he thought that that something really bad was going to happen to him. I mean, he knew that something really bad was going to happen to him.

65. 29:42

    This wasn’t just like anxiety over what might take place. And I think in this situation you legitimately can be scared, you know, what he was doing was going to be something terrifying. And so he says, my soul troubled. And yet I think that this is really where it all comes together for us, because we can recognize that God’s in control and yet we can still be paralyzed by fear, even knowing that he’s taking care of things.

66. 30:20

    And so the Lord Jesus gives us the example, because what he does is he says, you know what? I’m. I’m afraid. And do you see what he says after that? Verse 28, Father, glorify your name. And I think that’s the point at which the antidote for fear is courage.

67. 30:45

    You know, we just have to say, you know, I’m really afraid right now, but I’m going to do this anyway because this is what I should do. Now let’s see how this comes together. Let’s go to Second Timothy. Chapter one for the gym brought us to this one a few weeks ago, Second Timothy one, And I think that this really kind of brings it together. Second Timothy chapter one.

68. 31:23

    Notice the different character traits or ideas that are here in this verse. In verse 7, Second Timothy one, verse 7 says for God gave us a spirit not of fear. So what’s the antidote to fear of power and love and self-control? And I think what we see going on here is you have this idea of power, which is courage.

69. 31:53

    You have this idea of courage, love and self-control all coming together in which where you find yourself trembling from fear. You say, I’m going to be courageous and the question is why? Because of love. And I think that’s how this all works together, is that the step two of the process of going against fear is essentially saying, I’m afraid, I’m terrified, but I’m going to do this because I love God, because I love you, you know, And that’s really how this comes together for us.

70. 32:33

    Love is what conquers fear. You know, I think we’re familiar with the verse in which John says perfect love casts out fear. Right? And I love the way that he describes it because, you know, when you actually look at the Greek, the word there for casts out is, is balo, which means like, throws, right.

71. 32:51

    So it’s not just, you know, perfect love sets to fear, OK, You know, you can’t be here right now. It’s perfect love. Like picks up fear and says get out of here. You can’t. You got to go away. This isn’t going to work. We can’t exist together. And so when we look at the Lord Jesus and at his sacrifice, I think it’s helpful for us to recognize that here, it’s somebody who fully acknowledged that God was in control. He fully saw God’s reality.

72. 33:14

    He saw the joy that was set before him, and yet he was scared because of what he was going to have to go through. And so when we see the same thing with ourselves and we think, how am I going to get through this, we take courage

73. 33:34

    and we think on how much we love our God, how much we love his Son. And that love spurs us to action. And courage and courage teaches us to face that fear and to conquer, just as the Lord Jesus.

74. 34:09

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75. 34:25

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76. 34:46

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77. 35:04

    Thank you for listening. God bless and talk to you next week.