1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,760 Your heavenly father, again, we thank you for this time to come and worship you and 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:05,800 learn more about that. 3 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:08,000 Our fear is not bigger than you, Lord. 4 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,840 Our fear, we can give it to you and we can come to you whenever we are scared or whenever 5 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:16,080 nervous or anxious and you will give us that ultimate peace that we need. 6 00:00:16,080 --> 00:00:19,520 And please let these words that come out of our mouth be yours, Lord, and not mine. 7 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:22,320 In Jesus' name, amen. 8 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:27,480 So this past week, we've been learning in the teen group about fear and trusting God 9 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:32,200 and how it can be hard because in every single day, in every single situation in life, we 10 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,880 have some kind of fear or some kind of anxiety that comes over us. 11 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:37,560 And even as youth, we have that too. 12 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:40,320 If our friends are going to like us, are we making the right choice? 13 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:44,120 Because we want to make the right choice, especially as Christians, we want to stand 14 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:45,440 out and choose God. 15 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:50,040 But it's hard when a lot of your friends don't make that decision and you don't want to be 16 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:51,040 the odd one out. 17 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:52,880 You don't want to be the weird one. 18 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:57,400 And so we were just trying to help the kids learn that it's okay to be the weird one. 19 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:02,400 It's okay to have that fear and choose God because God will ultimately give you the peace 20 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:05,720 to overcome that fear. 21 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,200 I want to share a couple of Bible verses about fear. 22 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:13,840 Isaiah 41.13 says, for I the Lord your God hold your right hand. 23 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:18,160 It is I who say to you, fear not, I am the one who helps you. 24 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:23,600 And Matthew 10.31 says, fear not therefore, you are more valued than many sparrows. 25 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:28,000 The story that comes to mind that, or the story that comes best to my mind when talking 26 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,440 about fear and anxiety is Abraham and Isaac. 27 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:34,080 When God told Abraham to go up the mountain and sacrifice his son. 28 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,680 Could you imagine the fear and the anxiety that came over Abraham when God told him to 29 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:39,840 do this? 30 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:44,920 I couldn't imagine going up there and walking up this long hike, knowing what you're about 31 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:51,160 to do and having that trust in God, that God knows what he's doing and that you're going 32 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,720 up there to sacrifice your son to him. 33 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:55,480 But Abraham did it. 34 00:01:55,480 --> 00:02:00,120 Abraham did it even though this was probably the hardest thing he's ever had to be like, 35 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:02,880 okay God, I'm going to follow you. 36 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:09,920 So when he got up there, he went as far as to tie him up and lay him on this stone tablet. 37 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:11,920 And he got that far. 38 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:14,540 And God said, you know what, you followed me. 39 00:02:14,540 --> 00:02:17,740 And they gave him the lamp to take Isaac's place. 40 00:02:17,740 --> 00:02:24,360 And our Bible verse as Caleb read, it's Psalms 192, bless our day, that keep his testimonies 41 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:26,560 that seek him with the whole heart. 42 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:32,240 And God will bless you if you choose to overcome that fear through him and you choose to seek 43 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:33,800 him in no matter what situation. 44 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:35,920 And as adults, we have those fears too. 45 00:02:35,920 --> 00:02:42,120 You know, whether it's a new job or making a life decision that's life altering, it can 46 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:44,560 be hard. 47 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,240 But I want to read this. 48 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,720 There's a song called Fear Is Not My Future by Brandon Lake. 49 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:55,880 I want to read a couple of the lyrics because the whole time we were learning about fear 50 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:59,080 and this song just kept replaying in my head. 51 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:04,960 And the specific part, it says, fear is not my future, you are. 52 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:07,960 And sickness is not my story, you are. 53 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:09,960 And heartbreak is not my home, you are. 54 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:12,720 And death is not the end, Jesus, you are. 55 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:19,680 So goodbye pain, goodbye grave, goodbye fear, goodbye guilt, goodbye shame, it's a new horizon. 56 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:24,200 And every single day when we wake up and choose God, God says goodbye to all that stuff that 57 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:25,200 we deal with. 58 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:29,160 God says goodbye to pain, goodbye to shame, all that stuff that we're dealing with, the 59 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:33,280 loss of loved ones, the hard decisions that we have to make throughout the day, the day 60 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:37,180 that we don't feel like going, the day that we don't feel like getting up and choosing 61 00:03:37,180 --> 00:03:39,360 to smile and be happy. 62 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:40,360 God says I'm there for you. 63 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,240 He says you can give me all your fear. 64 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,240 Because when we're down at our lowest, that's when God reaches the farthest. 65 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:51,600 So that's just a quick little recap of what we learned as teens. 66 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:53,840 And so I'm just going to end with a quick prayer. 67 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:56,280 And then I think there's one more song, right? 68 00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:57,280 Okay. 69 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:58,280 So if you're by your heads with me. 70 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:02,080 Dear Heavenly Father, again we come to you, Lord. 71 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,140 And we understand that you are the ultimate peacemaker. 72 00:04:05,140 --> 00:04:08,400 We understand that we can come to you, wake up every single day and choose you and that 73 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,000 you will help us with the hard decision that we have to make throughout this day. 74 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,760 And I want to thank you for this church and thank you for this, just their service to 75 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:20,680 the youth and help us to continue to grow and grow the youth and realize that this is 76 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,920 a place where the older generation and the younger generation come together with the 77 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,120 same goal to worship you, Lord. 78 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:42,120 In Jesus' name, Amen.