Ep 236 FEAR NOT ft. Pastor Chris Stephens

Send us Fan Mail  God says over and over again.  Fear not!  Do not be afraid.  Be strong and courageous.  Trust me.    Why?  Fear doesn’t seem like the most serious of vices, it’s not one of the 7 deadly sins, nor is it the object of church discipline.  So why does God tell us to stop being afraid more often than he tells us anything else?    It’s not to spare us from emotional discomfort.  Rather it is because fear sabotages flourishing.  Fear keeps us from following God wholeheartedly.  As John Orberg says, “Fear is the number one reason human beings are tempted to avoid doing what God asks them to do.”    Today on the Strong By Design podcast show, host Mike Westerdal sits down with friend and pastor of Skycrest Community Church, Chris Stephens, to discuss the topic of fear and the impact on flourishing.    "Failure is essential because there are some lessons we are not going to learn if we don’t fail... So don’t be paralyzed in fear of making the wrong decision.” - Pastor Chris Stephens      Time Stamps   00:00 – Choosing courage over fear  01:22 - Welcome to the ‘Strong by Design’ podcast  01:45 – Get to know today’s special guest, Pastor Chris Stephens  06:44 – Pastor Chris on what does the Bible mean when it tells us to FEAR NOT  11:58 – The power of decisiveness  15:20 – Pastor Chris dives deep into the types of fear  26:29 – What to do when fear interferes?  30:55 – Training for courage: How to liveSupport the showConnect w/ Critical Bench: YoutubeFacebookInstagramCriticalBench.comCriticalNutritionLabs.comStrongByDesignPodcast.com