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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

What are you Restless About

Well, you're probably wondering about these 2 pictures on the screen.

Well, a story is told, I can't fully verify this story, but it was told of a spy that was captured and then sentenced immediately to death.

And upon his sentence, the general had a custom that he always did.

And he went through and he asked them, he would give those that were sentenced to death.

Will you choose the Firing Squad or the Big Black Door?

Well, this spy, along with most everyone before him, except for a few exceptions, Did a little bit of thinking and said, I'll take the firing squad.

I don't know what's behind the big black door.

I don't know if I want to play that game.

And so we're just going to go with what we know.

And so sure enough, like many times before, the guns rang out.

And 1 of the men asked the general, is that the way it typically goes?

Well for whatever reason people always like to choose what they know over what they don't know.

Well, do you mind if I ask, what is behind the big black door?

But I've only had a few men brave enough to take it.'" Now again, I don't know if that's a true story or not, But it speaks to the human heart a little bit doesn't it?

We will stay in the same rut sometimes for weeks or months or years because it's what we know.

It's what's familiar and we have a fear of the unknown, of uncertainty, what's going to happen?

The risks that are involved are too great.

So I want to ask you, are you restless about 2019?

I have some questions down there in the bottom.

What about my job, my kids, my health, these bills, my schooling, my future?

We have things that I suppose could stress us out, another government shutdown, and the stock market doing things up and down, and backwards and forwards.

Some are forecasting a bad year for us, as far as that's concerned.

Maybe it's fear of a current or future, unknown even, health crisis.

Whatever it is, fear has a way of crippling us.

I mean, it robs us, doesn't it, of our peace and of our joy and of our hope but oftentimes we look at the unknown with fear.

You remember the story of the demon possessed man?

The town is exceedingly afraid of him and Jesus confronts the demons.

Mark's account says there's about 2000 of them.

Jesus allows it to be done and so they all find themselves running off the cliff into the water and the whole town is in an uproar and they come out to see what has happened and we read, then they went out to see what had happened and came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had departed sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid." Doesn't that seem just a little bit odd?

Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.

And So he, Jesus, got into the boat and returned.

Because of their fear, they rejected the Savior of the universe.

Are you ever afraid to trust that God knows what is best in your life.

I had a Christian friend who had an issue with music.

He liked the rowdier styles of music, and we were challenging him to watch something that would address this issue of music and explain God's plan and purpose for music and the devil's counterfeit and how it can impact you and affect you and so on.

And his response was simply, I'm not ready for that.

I mean, what does that mean, I'm not ready for that?

It sounds to me like that means, I'm not ready to give something up.

I don't know exactly where this thing is going to lead, and so I would rather just sit here in what I'm accustomed to and used to because I am fearful that what God has outlined is best for me maybe isn't such a good idea for me.

Maybe he really doesn't know what he's talking about.

Here's another example, Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 18.

He stands undaunted before King Ahab who has boldly faced the whole nation of Israel with 450 prophets of Baal.

And so Elijah stands up against these prophets of Baal.

He's bold, he calls down fire from heaven, he's trusting in the Lord, and the Lord comes through in a miraculous and powerful way.

But then, as a result of a death threat of Jezebel right on the heels.

We read, he arose and ran for his life and he prayed that he might die and said, it is enough now Lord take my life.

Somehow fear can strike even the giants of God.

Having just witnessed God's power and his faithfulness, even God's faithful at times can be filled with fear.

When there was a famine in the land, Abraham went to Egypt to dwell, but Abraham too was afraid.

When the Egyptians see you, this is what he's saying to his wife, that they will say that his wife, and that they will kill me, or they will say this is his wife, and they will kill me, but they will let you live.

And Abraham does this not only once but twice.

And his son Isaac follows the example as well.

I'm gonna make you your descendants like the stars of the sky and the sands of the sea.

Well for that to happen, I'm going to have to work my little magic here and say this little lie and orchestrate this over here, it's a lack of faith.

When asked if he knew that man, fearful of how he would be treated or looked upon, fearful of a woman, fearful of the crowd, he denies Jesus the very thing he had just promised just hours before that he would never do.

And the biblical account says, but he denied it before them all.

Gone out to the gateway Another girl saw him and said to those who were there, no, no, no, this fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth, I'm sure of it.

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What are you Restless About

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