What Are You Scared Of Right Now? Series

I want to welcome everyone here to Embrace…

whether you’re joining us… at a campus…

whether you’re joining us online…

whether you’re listening on itunes…

we’re so thrilled that you’re with us today…

My name is Adam… I’m one of the pastors here…

and as always…we are just so excited… that you are here…

Especially… if this is one of your first few times…

We’re pumped that you are with us…

Last week… I was able to worship at… our Sertoma Campus…

And also… at the Tea Campus…

which was great… and it’s just so cool to see what God is doing.

But one person in Tea… told me…

They said: Adam… I just always thought…

and I just assumed... that you were taller…

ya know.

I just thought… you’d be taller…

And I just wanted to say back…

Did you think I had more hair as well?

And on that note… please pray… for the people of Tea…

and that God would soften their hearts…

No but seriously though…

Last Sunday… it was just so cool…

to see what God is up to…

in Tea… and on the west side of Sioux Falls.

It was just fun meeting people…

and hearing how God is truly…

changing people’s lives.

And I also wanna give a huge shout out to St Croix…

And say that… I’m slightly jealous that I’m not there today…

to hear Jason Roy.

And… hello Jason… I’m a big fan!

But once again…

I just wanna say that we are thrilled…

and honored that each of you… are here with us.

**Now jumping into things for today…

I just wanna start by asking…

Looking back at your life… can you ever remember a time…

that you were scared.

Again… looking back… maybe at your childhood or as a teenager…

can you ever remember a time…

that you were scared… of something.

And this week… for myself…

I actually… remembered a bunch of times…

that I was scared…

but there was one particular time…

that I was terrified.

And I think this is a safe place to share… my soul right?

And I’ll take that silence… as a yes…

but in 3rd grade…

we lived on the edge of Milbank South Dakota.

And my parents had an acreage there…

and we were just on the edge of town.

When one day…

my mom gave me permission to ride my bike…

to a store… called Deweys…

which sounds like a liquor store right… Deweys…

but it was actually… a little shop…

that had snacks and stuff…

and whatever else.

And it was just under… a mile down the road.

And so I was given permission…

And I got on my bike… and I began the long journey...

which was awesome…

but between… my house and Deweys…

there was a junk yard…

Yes, like… a big junk yard...

and what I didn’t know… until that day…

was that the junk yard…

had this huge scary… dog.

And so I’m riding my bike…

And I was kinda nervous to start…

about the leaving home…

heading into the big city.

And I’m riding past… the junk yard…

when all of sudden…

it’s like a small buffalo…

comes out of the ditch toward me.

And so this huge elephant is running towards me…

and I just remember… screaming…

and I turned my bike around… and I peddled as fast as I possibly could… away

until the dog stopped chasing me.

And so I stop… and I’m scared out of my mind….

But I just keep thinking…that if I just go fast enough…

that I can get past this dog…

and get to Deweys!

But each time… I tried…

The dog would catch up with me…

and I’d have to turn around…

and start peddling away again.

And I tried... getting past him…

over and over again…

and yet each time… he’d catch me.

and I was exhausted from trying….

And in looking back… I can laugh about it now…

Because the dog… probably just wanted to lick me or something.

but I was so sure… that this dog was trying to tear my leg off..

and that he was trying to kill me…

And in this moment… there was no question…

That I just was just scared…

in this moment… there was no question…

I was completely… terrified…

**Now one of my favorite stories… in the Bible…

is found… in Matthew… chapter 14…

And so if we have a Bible… I’d encourage us to open up.

use the Bible on our phone…

download the youversion Bible app.

Again… it’s Matthew 14…

And no worries if you don’t have a Bible.

But bringing us up to speed on what’s happening…

Jesus… has just finished feeding 5,000 people…

And He’s been teaching and healing people…