Fearless - the sermon series and the book...

I'm preaching a three week sermon series in a couple of weeks in a local church...when I heard the title of this book, I knew I had to have it! I had already felt like God was saying, "This church needs to learn to be fearless again...they have been locked up in the past, in fear and in dread of the future and it's time to be set free" - so, I quickly DM'd Michael Hyatt @ Thomas Nelson to let him know of my interest in the book.

My three weeks of sermon titles are shaping up to be along these lines:

• What's Next?
• Is it Over?
• Fear Knot

Having this book has been a useful and practical resource in personal preparation for preaching this upcoming series. I always find it easier to minister "out of the overflow" as they say. So, I have been very intentional about facing my personal fears, evaluating them and working toward overcoming them - tomorrow, I'll write about one of those - it's going to be an amazing post about something God did in my life this past weekend.

This book also helped me see the fears of others (some I haven't embraced), understand them, and also embrace the Biblical solution to those fears - in typical Lucado fashion, this book is full of plenty of "ah-ha" and "wow" moments (as well as a few "uh-oh" moments that get a little personal).

Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

• "It's not the absence of storms that sets us apart. It's whom we discover in the storm: an unstirred Christ" (p.8)
• "Fear, at its center, is a perceived loss of control. When life spins wildly, we grab for a component of life we can manage: our diet, the tidiness of our house, the armrest of a plane, or, in many cases, people. The more insecure we feel, the meaner we become" (p.9)
• "The fear that you are one big zero will become a self-fulfilling prophecy that will ruin your life." (p.25)
• "Putting your worries into words disrobes them." (talking about prayer) (p.85) - italics mine

A little more information:




(full disclosure here - I received an advance copy of this book for free in agreement to review this book on my blog site. I was not, however, forced to write a positive review - the review is my own personal opinion and a postive review was not part of the review agreement)