Fear Factor Series

FEAR FACTOR

Nehemiah 4:1-23

S: Courage

Th: Brave Hearts

Pr: WE MUST HAVE COURAGE TO CONFRONT FEAR.

?: How do we confront fear?

KW: Principles

TS: We will find in our study of Nehemiah 4:1-23, five principles to live by that will help us successfully confront fear.

The _____ principle we live by to confront fear is…

I. CONFLICT IS INEVITABLE (1-3)

II. PRAYER IS CRUCIAL (4-9)

III. DISCOURAGEMENT IS UNDERSTANDABLE (10-12)

IV. UNITY IS ESSENTIAL (13-20)

V. SACRIFICE IS INESCAPABLE (21-23)

Version: ESV

Note: The outline’s origin comes from The Bible Speaks Today commentary on Nehemiah by Raymond Brown.

RMBC 09 Feb 03 AM

INTRODUCTION:

ILL Notebook: Fear (types)

If you have claustrophobia, you have the fear of closed places.

If you have acrophobia, you possess the fear of high places.

If you have astraphobia, it is thunderstorms that really get to you.

If you fear dirt, you have mysophobia.

If it is blushing you are afraid of, it is erythrophobia you are experiencing.

But the most dangerous of all is homilophobia; it is the fear of sermons!

ILL Notebook: Fear (carpool tunnel)

Jake had developed such terrible panic attacks commuting to work every day that he decided to talk with a psychiatrist.

"Doc, it’s terrible," Jake said. "I’ve developed a horrible fear and have anxiety attacks every time I get in the car with these other four guys and commute to work. It’s turned into a special fear of tunnels. Every day we go through the same long tunnel, and with the guys crowded in with me, it doesn’t matter whether I’m driving or we’re going in one of their cars. I panic. I begin to sweat. I even get dizzy. Am I going crazy, Doc?"

Immediately, the doctor smiled and announced that he knew what Jake’s problem was.

"What is it, Doc?" he asked. "Am I losing my mind?"

"No, no, no, my boy," the doctor said. "You have something very common in these parts. You have what is known as carpool tunnel syndrome."

Okay, that was sad; but…

What are you afraid of?

ILL Notebook: Fear (Fear Factor)

One of the those reality TV shows that has come out recently is “Fear Factor.” The idea is to get people to do things that they are afraid of, like let their faces be covered with bugs that bite, swim in ice cold water, or eat things that are really disgusting.

TRANSITION:

Today, I want us to see once again that…

1. Nehemiah is a man of courage.

Nehemiah has left the capital city of Persia, and his job as the king’s cupbearer and right hand man, and is in Jerusalem to reconstruct its walls.

Last week, we studied the team that finished the job.

As we come to chapter 4, we are backing up and seeing the events that took place before the walls were completed.

As we look at the task of rebuilding, we are going to discover that this was not an easy task.

In fact, in so many ways it was a scary one.

But what we also discover is that Nehemiah is not one to play it safe.

So, he teaches us that…

2. WE MUST HAVE COURAGE TO CONFRONT FEAR.

But the question we ask today is how do we confront fear?

As believers in the Lord Jesus, how do we get past the fear.

The example in Nehemiah will help us, for…

3. We will find in our study of Nehemiah 4:1-23, five principles to live by that will help us successfully confront fear.

OUR STUDY:

I. The first principle we live by to confront fear is CONFLICT IS INEVITABLE (1-3).

Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building – if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!”

What we learn right away is that Sanaballat and his cronies are really ticked off.

Nehemiah’s plans are going to upset their profitability and wreck their economic supremacy.

So, their reaction teaches us that…

1. The believer must be willing to hear the personal insult.

You see, we need to get some thick skin.

And so did these workers, for the accusations were coming.

Their character was questioned as it was said that they doing all of this just for themselves.

They were told that they were weak to be faithful and religious.