Kyle idleman sermons facing your fears

We’re living in a time when persecution is happening all over the world.  In the United States, it’s happening but to a much lesser degree.  According to Jesus, we will be persecuted.  When you read I Peter, you read the heart of the 1st-century church that was going through severe persecution.  Peter wrote to encourage the believers to remain faithful. He’s giving us wisdom for how we are supposed to respond when it comes.

The scripture that jumps out at me is I Peter 5:6-10.

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, est

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Fear-Filled Strangers - 1 Peter 1:17-21

It is an unnerving experience to be a stranger in a new environment. It is hard to be the new kid at school (grade school, high school, or college). I remember my first day in High School. I went from a school of a couple hundred students to a school which housed over 5000; from a simple two story building to a sprawling four story campus. I felt lost, intimidated, and very alone. I missed my first band class because it was on the fourth floor and the fourth floor didn’t go all the way around the school and I couldn’t find the right stairway to get there.

It’s scary that first night you bring your baby home from the hospital. You are so in love with this little bundle and so afraid that you are going to do something that will hurt them or mess up their life forever.

The first day on a new job you feel like a fish out of water. Everyone around you knows things you have yet to learn. You feel conspicuous and often feel like everyone disapprov

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In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus perplexingly teaches an inside-out way of life: brokenness fryst vatten the way to wholeness, mourning is the path to blessing, emptiness is required for true fullness. In many ways the Bible espouses countercultural, counter-intuitive truths and paradoxical principles.

Bible Gateway interviewed Kyle Idleman (@KyleIdleman) about his book, The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins (David C. Cook, 2015).

What does the title of the book mean?

Kyle Idleman:the end of me is a reference to the call of Christ to die to ourselves and find life in him (Matt. 16:24-25). This idea that in dying we find life, captures many of the upside-down and paradoxical teachings of Christ which this book explores. For example Jesus taught us that we are broken to be whole, last to be first, empty to be filled, humbled to be exalted, and weak to be strong. When we come to the end of ourselves we find that Jesus meets us there and offers us