Fear of Rejection | No Fear November | Pastor Ed Young

About this sermon

#rejection #fearless #courage #overcomefear Fear of Rejection | No Fear November | Pastor Ed Young All of us deal with fear, especially the fear of rejection. The definition of rejection is ‘to throw back.’ We’re going one way, and we’re thrown back. You may be facing rejection from your job. You were laid off, or ‘thrown back.’ Perhaps you’re facing the ultimate rejection; divorce. Maybe you had dreams of playing professional sports but were rejected for not being good enough. We try to build our lives around not being rejected because it hurts. Several years ago, I was lifting weights and one of the weights dropped on my big toe. My toe was broken in thirty places and had to be rebuilt. I remember how much it hurt at the time. I can describe the pain of crushing my toe, but I can’t feel bad about it again. But the physical pain I felt is nothing like the pain of rejection. When we were starting our church, a friend rejected me for no reason I could discern. Even today, that pain comes back and I can feel almost as bad as I felt back then. Scientific data says that the brain reacts greater to being rejected socially than it does experiencing physical pain. No wonder we fear rejection. There are healthy ways to deal with rejection and unhealthy ways. Unhealthy Ways to Deal With Rejection Grow Rabbit Ears There’s a baseball term, ‘grow rabbit ears.’ What it means is that as an umpire, you begin to listen to all the chatter around you. You hear people yelling about your call, questioning your ability to umpire. If you’re not careful it can make you so crazy you’ll change calls and call things that are way outside of the strike zone, strikes. As we look at the life of King Saul, we see the similarity of his fear of rejection. The prophet Samuel anointed Saul to be king before it was publicly announced. Suddenly, Saul begins to prophesy. In 1 Samuel 10:12, we read, “A man who lived there answered, ‘And who is their father?’ So it became a saying, ‘Is Saul also among the prophets?’” Saul became the butt of a joke because Saul’s family was not of the best reputation.As we will see, because Saul listened to those voices, it affected his behavior in the future. Talk Bad About Yourself Sometimes we try to reject rejection by putting ourselves down before someone else can. As we read further in the book of Samuel, we see how rejection caused Saul to lie and put himself down. 1 Samuel 10:15-16 “Saul’s uncle said, ‘Tell me what Samuel said to you.’ Saul replied, ‘He assured us that the donkeys had been found.’ But he did not tell his uncle what Samuel had said about the kingship.” Saul was so terrified about being rejected that he didn’t tell his uncle that Samuel had anointed him to be king. The story goes on to say that when the people had gathered for Samuel’s announcement, Saul was nowhere to be found. He was hiding. Eventually, Samuel presented Saul to the people, along with the king’s duties. But notice this: 1 Samuel 10:26-27 “Saul also went to his home in Gibeah, accompanied by valiant men whose hearts God had touched. But some scoundrels said ‘How can this fellow save us?’ They despised him and brought him no gifts. But Saul kept silent.” Talk about rejection! Toot Your Own Horn Another way to increase the fear of rejection is to toot your own horn. Saul’s son, Jonathan, was a warrior. He and his dad fought side by side. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 13:3 “Jonathan attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Then Saul had the trumpet blown throughout the land and said, ‘Let the Hebrews hear!” So all Israel heard the news: Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost.” Saul’s self-esteem was so brittle, he was unwilling to share the glory with his son. When you are with someone who always has to one-up you or who always turns the conversation back to them, they are insecure and are full of fear of failure. Who are ‘they?’ They’re the people in your life who will pray for you. They’ll encourage you. They’ll lift you up and celebrate with you. Talk to God. Listen to what He says you are. You are loved. You are valuable. You’ve been adopted, anointed, and appointed. Encourage others. Clap for others. Celebrate with others. Go with Commitment, not feelings Go with the foundation of your faith. Know who you are in Christ. You belong to God. Make sure to subscribe to the channel for more inspirational content from Pastor Ed Young. Hit the Notification Bell so that you never miss Ed's most recent video. Follow #EdYoung​ on social Ed Young Facebook: http://bit.ly/EdYoungFB Ed Young Instagram: http://bit.ly/EdYoungIG Ed Young Twitter: http://bit.ly/EdYoungTW https://www.fellowshipchurch.com/ https://www.fellowshipchurch.com/locations/frisco https://www.fellowshipchurch.com/locations/dallas https://www.fellowshipchurch.com/locations/fort-worth

Topics

• Anxiety & Worry
• Leadership
• Victory Over Fear