Facing The Future Without Fear // Judah Smith

welcome my name is Judah along with my wife and an amazing team we get to serve here at church home so glad that you are here today and yeah it's always just a really big deal to us that you take time out of your life whether you're here in the auditorium in LA there are people watching from Seattle or even online to take time to be with us to consider the story of God to consider yeah leaning in to relationships and friendships here in our community it's a it's just a big deal also really cognizant tonight of anyone if this is your first time here at church home it's just it's just really cool that you you risk being here and and just sharing this space with us it's it's it's really cool and we have not sacrificed any cats for several weeks now so that I'm kidding and I love cats from afar I'm allergic but found out two of my boys are allergic to of my boys wait they're both I only have two boys so both my boys are allergic but anyways that's beside the point now it's a it's a big deal that you're here you're gonna find out real quick I'm a I'm a Jesus guy believe that Jesus is God and that he's completely changed my life but by no means is is the church home exists to pressure anyone into any sort of belief system this is a space that welcomes human beings you are of infinite value before God you really really are important we love you consider it an honor again that you'd take time to share your Wednesday or Sunday or any day online to to gather with us so really awesome thanks so much for being here we are we're in the middle right smack dab in the middle of the six-week journey and it's a study on the subject of faith what it looks like to trust God to live a life with God to trust him in your everyday life and the six week journey for us that we go on for six weeks as a community from Seattle to LA and everyone who joins us on the church home global app and over 50,000 people now are joining us on the app did you know that it's pretty exciting so thanks for accessing that there's content on there and there's videos particularly during these six weeks for conversations and people getting together and just just growing and encouraging one another so Hebrews chapter 11 today we look at mo we look at Moses are you ready okay just about as ready as you were for the Super Bowl okay it's Pizza it's cold here right now but but I must say it is not as cold as Seattle have you seen what has happened in Seattle yeah I love you it is it is snow everywhere it's unbelievable so so stay warm Seattle it's cold here too it's like like 64 okay chapter 11 it says this by faith Moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful or that he was special he was graced by God that's something they had a sense that Moses was going to be great and they were not afraid of the Kings eating going on by faith Moses when he was grown up he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin he considered the reproach of Jesus or Christ greater wealth and the treasures of Egypt for he was looking to the reward now hopefully the blanks are being filled in because you've watched the Prince of Egypt by faith yeah oh that's yeah she by faith he left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the King for he endured he endured he endured we today are going to talk about the all popular subject of endurance you're like and this is the day I invited my friend it's this is probably the sexiest sermon in the six weeks six weeks early we're going to talk about endurance just good old just sticking at it he endured as seeing him who is invisible Hebrews eleven twenty seven for context just before we pray and and get this party started it is it would just be helpful for all of us to kind of get on the pit on the same page real quick this is written by an unknown author we know that it's inspired by God and it's written to first century Jews who have come up under the tyranny of Rome and it's gotten bad in fact it's gone from bad to worse any Jews that are professing or accepting that Jesus is God that Jesus is the only one that can save them from their air they're wrong in their sin that Jesus died on the cross was buried three days later was resurrected in which there was hundreds of eyewitnesses and this is now that this message has spread by the way like wildfire in the known world and and there are not just non-jewish believers but there are Jewish believers who are accepting that Jesus is the promised Messiah and all of the sudden in the time in which they are living now they are not only being persecuted they are being executed they are being ostracized they are being marginalized they are being ignored in the marketplace their businesses are being shut down it is not going well for Jesus followers it is for that reason the writer of Hebrews writes to these groups of Jewish first century Jewish believers and essentially in multiple chapters says whatever you do don't go back to the old life continue on and following Jesus by the time we will look at all the old her hero of the faith the most famous Jewish heroes from the Old Testament and it is the intention of the writer of Hebrews to speak to his Jewish audience by going back in time to say look at Abraham he was anticipating Jesus look at Enoch look at Abel look at Rahab looking they were all looking for Jesus and now Jesus has come so let's continue to follow Jesus by the time we get to one of the most famous people in all the Bible Moses it becomes clear that the writer of Hebrews is going to remind us how much Moses endured endured or endured how do you say it I will vacillate between the two tonight to please everyone Judah that's weird but he's going to show us that Moses has incredible endurance why because he anticipated a messiah a savior that would come Jesus and of course it is a way for the writer of Hebrews to say to these persecuted 1st century Jewish believers you are going to need endurance in these times I would like to suggest today that you need endurance as well in fact I'd like over the next few minutes to prove to you that endurance is incredibly underrated it's an underrated skill in life the ability to stay where you are the ability to keep progressing the ability to keep added the ability to not turn around to not go back to not give up is very underrated and while we're on the topic just for fun because it's always fun to do this when looking for a spouse for the rest of your life might I suggest that you look for someone who kind of sticks with stuff that might benefit your long-term see what I hit there okay so like that's probably underrated is that fair to say that you look for someone who's good at sticking with beliefs things projects whatever it might be in in in endurance will you pray with me god I ask that you bless these few moments that we do have it is a little chilly today so please warm it up in here and thank you for your grace and your love and in the football season that will be next year and Lord we will not speak of the team that shall not be mentioned that keeps winning because the league is fixed in Jesus name and everyone said amen amen amen amen endurance now everybody speaks from their contact right so I'm I'm 40 and the the older I get right the more there's a reason I like endurance because I'm like I've been married 19 years and I'm gonna be honest with you I appreciate that there's few things I'm more proud of than that I'm like I mean in fact chousen I will be in discussion sometimes and I'm like girl I've been at this 19 years right like it's such a great line it feels so good and when we hit 2000 I will be perfect strangers on the street how are you I've been married 20 years god bless honestly you better steer clear of me by the time I hit 20 I'm gonna be the guy who offers people advice when they don't even ask for it I'm like you know being married two decades what I've learned right cuz you get older and you're like you know what it's kind of cool like I've been doing this for a while I got hired at church home when I was 19 I'm 40 that feels kind of nice right I've been pastoring almost as long as Tom Brady's been and bell endurance eventually it kind of speaks for itself you run into people and I mean come on we've all been there and whatever it is I don't know if it's somebody doing your nails or if it's somebody giving you a massage or if it's somebody working on your teeth or somebody cutting your hair but have you ever asked somebody how long you've been doing this and they say I started about six months ago you're like oh look I got a ho hold on sing it I don't need a haircut anymore because when they say 25 years you're like well that kind of speaks for itself we live in a really unusual culture because um we don't like endurance no one wants to talk about it like like I know exactly how to write a book that no one will read name it endurance how to just stick with stuff you're doing you know like I don't think anyone's oh yes right like it's just it's it's not like a like there's a ton of topics if you're a public speaker to go with I don't think choosing endurance is like top shelf it's funny we don't well it's not sexy it's not fun it's not like it says sell magazines it doesn't but boy when you run into somebody who can follow through its faithful sticks with things does what they say doesn't back down doesn't give up I mean you it's just flat-out attractive is what it is running to somebody who's like you have 45 years I did then you're not stuck with it and and there's just something noble about it that I think if we're all honest we kind of go kind of wish I can't like so tonight I want to help you grow in the area of sticking with stuff how do you stick with what's your start and more specifically how do you keep following Jesus on the days where it feels like Jesus is as real as Alf in the sitcom can you believe that just came out y'all remember Alf there are days where God feels real this Batman and it's like I can't or-or-or like our brothers and sisters living in the 1st century since they decided to start following Jesus things have not gotten worse they've gotten worse than worse and so the writer says you you're gonna need to endure endure implicit in the in the definition of endure it is also um it's when you stick with stuff when you don't feel like it but have you ever met someone you're like well you're just kind of a stick to it person I think that's what we do when it comes to endurance like well you know there's those people back to the real world okay if things get hard I quit you're a quitter yeah I am and I am gonna be fine tomorrow you know like but but what if what if tonight we could join the audience of persecuted tormented marginalized overlooked first century Jewish believers who believe in Jesus like many of us in this room and Seattle and around the world we believe in Jesus but life is getting difficult life is getting hard and the last thing you want somebody to say to you is you just need endurance and you're like and you just need to shut up right because I don't want to stick with it so what so if we can join that audience tonight let's listen to the writer of Hebrews as he goes back in time way back in time to pull out one of the great Jewish heroes of all time Moses and use Moses as an example how is it that Moses has such extraordinary endurance how is it you want to talk about calamity you want to talk about challenge you want to talk about difficult choices you want to talk about whether or not you're gonna live in Egypt in the opulence and comfort and ease and profound luxury or you're going to join God's people the enslaved Israelites I mean I mean Moses lives a life man Moses has some moments Moses has some ceases not now keep in mind we you and I might not be as familiar with Exodus for instance for instance we may not be as well-versed as the original audience here because remember this original audience would have spent the majority of their childhood and even their adolescents and their teenage years studying the books of Moses written by Moses the first five books of the Bible the Torah and so this audience would be very familiar now particularly with Moses and so what's interesting to me is the writer of Hebrews inspired by God starts to pick out a few events from Moses life to reveal to the audience that Moses too had to endure a lot but I want to remind you or I want to try to pull out some points I think we can learn from Moses journey that the writer of Hebrews one of the first century Jews to hear and now God wants you and I to hear so that endurance is not just left to the elite personalities amongst us that may be ordinary people who just run out to the mailbox and back can also develop endurance and maybe maybe that's a little part of the secret isn't it that endurance maybe is developed a little bit and developing endurance I don't exactly think is always enjoyable or fun but before we go any further again I would like to reiterate I think we can all agree that a little more endurance in our life would be a good thing that a little more stick to it in our experience on earth would be a good thing that if going forward you and I could develop more ability courage strength fortitude to stick with what we say and do our journey on earth might be a little bit better our journey on earth might be a little bit better frankly let's get real specific you probably be a better friend if you're married I can guarantee if you stick with stuff gonna be a better spouse gum man you want to improve at your workplace and your job you're gonna be a better employee you'd be a better boss be a better neighbor right I mean think think about how much endurance could improve your earthly experience stick with it says again in verse 28 27 by faith by faith by faith Moses left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the King for he endured as seeing him who is invisible I have five points and this might frustrate you but I'm gonna give you three today and maybe more in the future but we're not going to go to all five and pull out just three that we're gonna cover and here is my frame this and then I'm gonna give you these these three points when we see the word faith I want to remind you what we talked about a few weeks ago the word faith for many of us because of our tradition our cultural kind of cliches when I say faith you think somebody who can risk a lot and trust a lot but that's actually not a good biblical definition of faith faith is a gift from God it is by grace faith which is the gift of God that no one can boast let me say this when it comes to saving faith faith in a God whose revealed himself and the person of Jesus you cannot manufacture that faith within yourself for if you could conjure up that faith within yourself you would in essence save yourself and the Bible says that's impossible we're all dead we're all lost and broken in our air wrong selfishness sin and trespasses and so I actually don't have the ability to conjure up faith enough in God to save myself no faith is a gift from God if you look up this word the most prominent word used for faith in the New Testament in the Greek it literally means persuaded it's the actual literal meaning so every time you see faith by faith Moses it's by persuasion Moses by persuasion Abraham now who's doing the persuading Moses is not persuading Moses Moses is being persuaded by God let me say this about church home this is a non manipulation community if I can talk you into believing in God you can be talked out of it this church whole church home does not exist so you can bring your friends so I can convince them logically there is a God accept him and start to volunteer in our church that's weird that's just custom tradition mind over matter manipulation the wars of logic no no no no no no it is impossible to please God without faith divine persuasion church home one of the foundations of our church is let God be God my goodness if there actually is a God isn't he got enough to persuade people right like God can God is good at being God it is a little ironic sometimes us little old humans down here defend God wait you don't like Jesus why I think you're wrong and I'm gonna raise my volume right like no no no I Church how no one's our passion we're not intimidated by anyone who's like I don't believe in Jesus and something like man thanks for being honest that's refreshing let's not play pretend because of Jesus is God let him force persuade you and me I'm here today not just because my dad was a preacher I'm here today because I have been persuade I have been divinely persuaded what is faith it is divine persuasion it's not people persuasion it's not preacher persuasion it is divine persuasion by divine persuasion Moses live the life he lived so I'm gonna make this real clear you want endurance in your life it's going to be predicated on the fact of God persuading you I said what Judah doesn't you're not giving me a lot to do here correct it it's about God it's through God it's for God if you are going to stick with God your relationship with God the biggest sticking glue in your relationship is not you it's God and I have learned that through many different seasons I need him as we said this a few weeks ago to persuade me again and there are so many of you here God knows that you need him to persuade you again you say well I believe in God I always believed in God but you needed God to persuade you again about the aspects of who he is what he's capable of and what he does some of us start to conclude based on circumstances situations extended season sickness illnesses disease loss pain disgruntled this offense worry fear anxiety we start to conclude God can't do this God won't do this God doesn't do this and God needs to come again in certain seasons and say hey I actually can still do miracles it's what I've done it's what I do it's what I'll keep doing so we need God to persuade us again here's what I think the writer of Hebrews is doing he's writing to our brothers and sisters within the 1st century under the tyranny and persecution of Rome and he says I'd like to draw your attention to the birth of Moses to the birth of Moses in which Moses had nothing to do with by the way which is a little ironic because one translation says by faith Moses when he was born why was he born by faith I don't but it says his parents what's this his parents just looked at him and had a sense where'd that come from God this baby people argue doesn't mean he was good-looking I don't think when it says he was beautiful the point is not that he was good-looking okay but the point is he was graced he was gifted there was something special about this boy his parents hide him from the edict and what's interesting it says they were not afraid of the Kings edict ladies and gentlemen it's Pharaoh's edict not the Kings edict the writer of Hebrews is doing a little wordplay he's talking remember his audience first century Jewish believers under the tyranny of Rome he's using terms like king to speak to them Pharaoh wouldn't even been referenced as a king so he's trying to tell them hey there were some edicts back in the day - and there's some edicts wreaking havoc on your life today but the first thing that clearly the writer of Hebrews wants the first century Jewish believers to hear is Moses was a miracle Moses was a miracle baby Moses was God's miracle baby Jesus was God's miracle baby Moses is a type of Jesus he he see Moses grew up but guess what he grew up being persuaded about I'm a miracle Oh Moses knew his story Moses was a miracle and Moses believed he was a miracle can I ask you a question are you persuaded that you're a miracle do you believe you're a miracle I bet I bet there's 50 reasons why you shouldn't be here tonight I bet I can come up real quick with 25 reasons you shouldn't be alive you beat the odds just being here how many of your mom's would be shocked to hear that you are in a a gathering of faith tonight your mama would be like wow now my son my baby girl sweet baby Jesus at church but just the fact of your existence is a miracle do you know what gave Moses a little stick to it you know what gave Moses endurance Moses believed he was a miracle do you believe your America do you believe that you're chosen do you believe that God has carefully crafted your life to ensure that you are alive do you believe there's been times God hid you from danger because man you start walking around these trees talking like you a miracle and you'll probably end up sticking with stuff a little more yeah yeah I now I understand the way I was raised is extraordinary in terms I got a head start I was getting had a mom and a dad who loved me my dad was my hero I almost died three times before I was 2 years old and do you know almost every week of my life my parents told me you're a miracle Judah fact when I got pregnant with you baby I started bleeding at 6 months the doctor said you better abort this baby he's gonna have brain damage he's not gonna be healthy it's not gonna be okay but I pray and God says I'm gonna keep you I'm gonna watch over this boy so I grew up believing so why'd you that's really encouraging thank you for telling us the fact that you believe you're a miracle that's great no I'm trying to make a point you are - oh okay this was about you you're a miracle you're a miracle you should think about that more yeah I am a miracle I should even if I was Elijah be out of my mind I should be I should be I shouldn't be here let yourself go there a little bit Moses did Moses believed he was chosen Moses believed that God had a plan for his life there are people in here one of the reasons your endurance tank is low is because you just think you are run-of-the-mill and there's no such thing with God you are wonderfully fearfully and wonderfully and intricately and intimately put together by the designer of the ages he crafted you he chose you he wired you he designed you you're called chosen protected watched over by definition you're a miracle I wonder if some things could change in your perspective if you left this gathering today actually accepting the fact that you're a miracle you're a miracle you're a miracle we could talk to your aunt she'd say you're a miracle if we could talk to your uncle if we could talk to your mom if we could talk to your dad if we could talk to your grandfather your grandmother if we could talk to your name down a day they are there it's the best a baby I always wanted destined that's the grandson I always dreamed about having that's my miracle baby that's that's my don't you forget that you are God's miracle baby your gods a miracle baby you beat the odds being here you know it's amazing Moses believed that about himself it goes on and for sake of time we won't go through all of the verses and all of the details but it it says by divine persuasion by divine persuasion Moses grew up and he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter going on it says choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin now I got to tell you something about these verses from verses 24 to 25 and 26 for the life of me I cannot find any record of these instances instances happening in Exodus like for instance there you don't go back to like Exodus 12 and and Moses is like yo Pharaoh you're not even my dad I want out of here I don't like my purple robes and my rings and my rubies of my diamonds I would rather be broke with the servants like there's no light we don't have that never happened I mean it did but I think here's the point you can't go back to the Torah and be like oh that's when Moses did that verses 24 25 and 26 there's a point there there's always a message in the message and then if you go back to Exodus which no doubt the first century Jews were thinking I don't remember reading that in Exodus when did he let he consider the reproach of Jesus we're talking about Moses do you say there were approach of Jesus and the writer of Hebrews is telling us something that verses 24 and 25 and 26 which are some of the most potent powerful statements made about Moses in all of the Bible they are not big events they are what happened little by little day by day little by little day by day evidently there was no one big moment where Moses like I said barges in to Pharaoh's inner court and all of his jewelry and stuff and be like I hate this I don't want anymore record deals I don't want any more cards going out to the desert have done with you know was little by little he just kept going on I'm not gonna know this isn't me and I think I think I think I think I think that's what we think and dirt we think endurance is these big massive events we're lucky you're like it's the Alamo for Jesus and you're just gonna stand it's like some old big war standoff were you like but that that's not actually how endurance works it's not actually how Jesus leads us every day endurance is somewhat uneventful it's just still here good morning rise and shine go to work Papa Bob talk to God a say hello encourage friends say some prayers go to bed wake up good morning here again this is amazing and I'm not saying that life is just dull and monotonous and boring following Jesus is anything but that but yeah endurance isn't this big grand stand off you have with Pharaoh you're like yeah the camera zooms in you're like you better believe it Pharaoh good riddance to you and I hate mascara you know like I don't I don't think I just think over time Moses and so later to be exact thousands of years later the writer of Hebrews looks at the body of work of Moses life good days and bad days but he stuck with it and he says Moses I mean these are radical statements he gave up the opulence to stand with God his people what's what it says it's one of the clearest statements about sin and he chose persecution he chose to be ostracized over say over the passing pleasures of sin you want to have some endurance in your relationship with God my second point not only do I believe God's gonna persuade you that you are a miracle but I believe that if God can persuade Moses he can persuade you and me that the fun of sin is fleeting and I'm gonna say that again cuz I meant it exactly the way that I said it that the fun of sin is there such thing oh yeah sin is fun dot dot dot real fast sin is fun and fleeting but that that's the problem with sin right people like I hate sin I don't know if that's true since the worst I mean I know what you mean you mean you don't want to keep doing it but it's fun so we do right he's ridiculous but we do we all do we're all in this together like church home is not the church what we're like hey hey we got some guests here they probably struggle with sin but we don't anymore because we've been here for a minute now we're all in this together and the reason we keep living something that you know I don't like the word sin it's in the Bible it means to miss the mark God intended for our lives sin is what has plagued the planet what is sin it is selfishness in his decisions based on self for self it is err it is wrong it is painful it hurts yourself it hurts others let's not fool ourselves people say I do what I want when I want how I want when I want I just don't hurt nobody that's a lie that's impossible well I mean listen I don't hurt nobody well I moved to I moved I moved to Antarctica and I do my own thing and I hurt nobody you know what people who love you back in the other they're hurting because you left there's no such thing we are interconnected beings my brothers and sisters we are all interconnected one with another it's just the facts it's just if we were just made we were made to be in connection and proximity to other human beings it's it's it's it's and so so sin is selfish life it's just doing what I want when I want and feelings become your ultimate guide navigating the chaos of the planet and and and and it's fun and then it's not and then it's fun and then it's not I'll try it again huh yeah and I got to try something else that looks fun that's fun this is fun anymore and I used to say working with young people for 10 years if it's not fun in the morning is that fun or is that a crude form of torture we keep telling man we have five oh if it's always just right out of our grasp and what we're left with is not a wonderful sensation of fulfillment and contentment I just feel so full really yeah honestly tell me you've ever heard this statement pornography has improved my overall well-being 25 percent what are you so happy about porn man I'm so much more social yeah porn has made me so caring and considerate when I go on dates and stuff and who are we fooling who are we fooling I mean we got enough science now that's telling us that people like sins not real we got stuff to tell us that we're we're hurting our brains out here right I mean it's just it's just the facts but we all are still not just talking about something like did this turn into like a session on porn because I feel uncomfortable now moving on relax but we're all drawn to you know you know yeah anybody ever had one of those lights on your porch that gets the Flies you remember those something like what world were you raised in Jude but growing up right in Portland Oregon and we get one and Oh got another fly that's good this got another bug kind of you know the problem with those things is the bug sees the light it's like oh pretty light pretty light and that's sin it's like oh I love this place oh it's amazing it's just bleeding and somewhere along the line Moses grew and his ability to stick with the plan of God for his life because maybe he just looked around and was like everybody's waking up sad everybody's mad everybody's broken these parties are not what we think they are this is fleeting and Moses is like now I don't want to give my life to what's fleeting I don't want to give my life to what's fake I don't want to give my best years of my life to what fizzles out and leaves me with nothing at the end of my evenings afternoons or mornings I don't what what's fleeting I want what's real even if that's harder and it hurts more I want what lasts I want what lasts that's what I that's what I want and so so one of my prayers for our church is learned then God persuade us that the fun of sin is fleeting I need you to persuade me again because if you're like me sins that tempt you it is amazing how you can't recall how fleeting it was last time then you keep telling yourself that this time is gonna be different now we usually don't say that out loud because our friends would be like and you're an idiot right like you've been a small group during the 6-week journey and be like hey guys I'm gonna do it one more time because I'm pretty sure this one's gonna last forever like no it's not there's not a person of the sound of my voice from Seattle to Los Angeles to anywhere watching on this app who hasn't had a lot of these moments oh man I felt gross I shoulda never said that shoulda never done that I should not gone there should it what ha ha I did it again what am i doing you know what we need to ask we need to ask the god of Moses if you can persuade a man admit the opulence of Egypt and all of its luxuries and temptations and opportunities God if you can do it for the Prince of Egypt you can do it for me persuade me again that the fun of sin is fleeting persuade me persuade me persuade me persuade me and by the way when you don't feel as persuaded find somebody who currently is pretty persuaded this not complicated that's why we do community it's like hey I'm really low on my persuasion that the fun of sin is fleeting how are you doing I'm feeling pretty good all right let's have a coffee and relationship is so important and I'm done I'll end right here something something strange happens in the in the text and it says in the last verse that we're studying tonight it it says verse 27 by faith Moses left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the King for he he endured seeing him who is invisible now I read that and I was like okay hold on say he left Egypt not being afraid we're back to Exodus 2 and here's what I found Exodus chapter 2 one day when Moses had grown up he went out to his people and looked on their burdens and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew one of his people and and he looked this way and that and see no one he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand when he went out the next day behold two Hebrews were struggling together and he said to the men and the wrong why do you strike your companion your fellow Hebrew brother what do you he said and who made you prince and judge over us do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian and then Moses was afraid and thought surely the thing is known when Pharaoh heard of it he sought to kill Moses Moses fled hey let me read verse 27 in Hebrews again by faith he left Egypt not being afraid not being afraid but the story in Exodus says he was afraid so I start thinking about this I'm like okay what's trying to be said is there a contradiction here or is there a tension here that would tell us something about the human condition in which Jesus can't transform and empower us no it is very abundantly clear to me that the writer of Hebrews is he's he these first century Jewish believers they know good and well that story where where Moses stood up for a Hebrew and and and then killed him hit him in the sand that's famous and they know good and Wow that the word got out and so Moses was scared he took off they know that story and yet the writer of Hebrews says you know he left Egypt but he wasn't afraid and the first century Jews must have been like that story I saw the cartoon he was scared yeah there was fear but here's what I believe the writer of Hebrews is saying there was fear see a lot of people believe endurance or a life of divine persuasion is the absence of fear in your life some of you the reason your struggle and sticking to it when it comes to your relationship with God is the moment that fear is a factor in your life you beat yourself up you say oh there it is I'm not Moses I'm not like I can't be I can't out you know I I got all this fear and you are incarcerated by fear and worry and anxiety it is one the top prayer request in our church crippled by fear here's what happened in Moses life and it can happen in yours God persuaded Moses that he was more real than his fear he said and he saw him who is invisible which is to say an elegant way of saying Moses concluded that God was more persuasive than his fear that God is bigger than his fear that God is stronger than his fear and God can overcome his fear and overwhelm his fear so you got fear welcome to the party welcome to the party but we all got fears and I'm by no means minimizing your fear I'm simply telling you there is a God who is more real than your fear he's more real than your fear he can minimize your fear he can put your fear in its proper place he can tell you you can keep moving even with the fear talking in the back seat you're not gonna making this thing gonna be good well you can keep talking fear I know you're there and you just remind me how much I need God because I'm gonna keep moving I'm gonna stick to it I know I'm afraid I am yep yep ferret fears a little bigger today than it was yesterday but that's okay because God is more real than my fear and so then the writer of Hebrews says thousands of years later Abraham wasn't really afraid I mean he had fear but God was more real than his fear and so he followed God anyway I got so many fears in leadership are you kidding me I got all kind of fears every day I got fear just like you and me just like I got fears just like you and me that's a little bit redundant there preacher yeah yeah can we just dispel this idea there's there's an elite crew amongst our church who's like I got no fear no I have a long list of them now I try not to listen to a to feed him I try not to be proud of them I tried to make them my best friends hey fears come on hey I've never got much traction with any fear I've had by focusing on it and trying to get rid of it hey hey hey sit down here I don't like you around very much you're not very nice you enter situations at the most inopportune time so I need you to go and be plain ice focusing on fear usually only grows my fear no I need a god maker of heaven and earth to come and persuade me I know that's there you got have you seen the fear I got a lot of I got a lot of fears and you know I've had I've had some scars growing up and this happened to me and I got all these fears and gods like I know I know and I think sometimes we think God uses people when he takes all their fears away and you're like someday I'm gonna be like so-and-so who has no fear and that's why they do what they do and that's not true we all got fear it's just that over Tom got so gracious and persuasive he says hey hey hey hey hey hey hey what is it just look over here yeah but there's all these fears I know just look at me look how big I am look how strong I am look at look at my history look at my body of work look at what I do hey hey hey hey son just keep looking at me keep looking at me I know but I'm just keep looking at me just keep looking at me and over time God is so persuasive this is what he does if he did it for Moses he can do it for you my brothers and sisters I promise I'm done I'm coming to a closest the end of my message you have to understand for a moment let's have some empathy let's consider the actual legitimate plight of first century Jewish believe believers living under the tyranny of Rome who are starting to wonder will I make it another day will I even have a future will I have an income will I have a home will they be food on the table for my babies that is fear and I might add that's fear with a little bit of facts behind it my god if they keep killing us we what and the writer of Hebrews says Moses just kept focusing on God and kept trusting and realized that no matter what even if some of these fears are legitimate and factual and some bad stuffs happening that they they that you're gonna be with him forever and so the ultimate truth is Jesus so just focus on focus on him I just I don't want to be a part of a church where we just tolerate ever-increasing growing terror and fear I want to be a part of a place that actually believes in a great big awesome strong powerful sovereign God who can say excuse me I'd like your attention here a place where fear may be it's never eradicated completely but it diminishes at least a little bit here about you I don't give it nearly as much attention as I used to because God has my attention oh I got a hunch we're all gonna have our bouts with fear in the years ahead but I just wonder if God could get bigger and our fears could get smaller that's the kind of community I want to be a part of haha let us consider with all the saints the height the width the length the depth of his love for us so that we might have endurance and we might have endurance believe it in 2019 you're going to develop increased endurance because of the sovereignty goodness wonderful Jesus God we ask that you will take these moments that we're just considering you and help help help Oh God just think about people here in LA and think about people in Seattle and think about people all over the world things that are heavy on their mind and their heart God if you can do that for Moses if you can do that for the Hebrew people living in the first century you can do it for us today you can grant us supernatural endurance ability to stick with it trust you trust you I know this may sound odd but there's somebody here listening to me right now you have made plans to make a very significant decision in regards to crossing a line that you know you shouldn't cross it's a decision that you have pre-planned and you have talked yourself into a place where you've made all the preparations to follow through with this decision and I believe that God is right now intervening and he's stopping this whole thing from Seattle to LA online to tell you that there is a better way and that he will persuade you that the fund of sin is fleeting and it is not too late it is not too late to change your plan furthermore I believe there are people here who just got done making a decision might have been a financial decision a moral decision that you knew crossed a line you don't know why you had that line in your heart to begin with but you knew you compromise to your standard and it's been eating you alive it is not too late for God to restore to you a sense of love forgiveness and a returning who you really are who you really are who you really are you're God's a miracle child you're God's miracle baby that's who you are God has plans to prosper you not to harm you to give you a future and a hope thank you God if you're here here in LA or Seattle or anywhere watching you said you'd I'd like to become a follower of Jesus I want to pray for you I want to pray for you right now for the Bible says God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life if you'd like to exercise your free will to become a follower of Jesus I want to pray for you right here right now on the count of three I'm gonna ask you to lift up your hand and put it right back down if you would like to make a decision to become a follower of Jesus they'll become a follower of Jesus if that cheat on the count of three and you slip up your hand put it right back down 1 2 3 if that's you you shoot your hand up in this room other rooms in Seattle even those watching online you slip appear and say that's me I receive God you see all these hands you see all these hearts and your forgiveness flows freely and we thank you for that right now in the name of Jesus thank you for new beginnings new starts thank you that you paid the ultimate price you became sin so that we could become right with God and we thank you for that god I declare over church home we are going to be a place of endurance you are strengthening us enabling us to stick with it we thank you for that day by day moment by moment minute by minute we thank you for your supernatural grace in Jesus name in Jesus name if you're able and willing would you stand with us unless join Philip in the team let's use music as a point of connection come on church hey thank you so much for taking the time to watch this video we really hope it encouraged you and maybe gave you a little something to think about through the day hey if you want to watch more you can subscribe and please watch the most recent video we love you we believe for great things for your life

Channel: Churchome

Views: 72,961

Rating: 4.858407 out of 5

Keywords: Churchome, Judah, Judah smith, church, message, anxiety, depression, how to, elevation, Steven, Hillsong, oceans, sermon, the city church, church home, Chelsea smith, bobby Houston, td jakes, pastor, pastor preaching, carl lentz, Jesus, conference, guest speaker, sermon jam, worship, Justin Bieber, la Hillsong, Selena, preaching, Judah message, performance, fear, overcoming fear

Id: AGhp2A36XOA

Length: 59min 14sec (3554 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 15 2019