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Do Not Worry | Stories From the Sea of Galilee
July 7, 2025 · 21 min
This week, Rabbi Schneider teaches us how to overcome the everyday fears in our lives.
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Rabbi Schneider is equipping the body of Christ, building the church, and evangelizing the world. From the Old and New Testament, learn the biblical roots of Christianity and Jesus' Jewish heritage.
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Faith Over Fear 0:00 Fear is not to be embraced. Yeshua rebuked it. He rejected it. Jesus hates fear.0:16 Beloved, I feel like you're with me in spirit here on the Sea of Galilee in Israel, where so many incredible things are recorded for us in scripture regarding who Yeshua is and the0:27 power that he had. So we're gonna go through the gospels. I'm gonna begin with the book of Matthew, and we're gonna recount some of the amazing stories that are recorded for us in the word of god, and we're gonna make0:39 application for our lives today. You'll hear some background noise. Nothing we can do about it. Just things kinda going on there. So thanks for your, consideration and patience of that. Here we go. The grass withers and0:50 the flowers fade, but veruch Hashem, the word of the lord abides forever. Matthew chapter 8 beginning in verse number 23. When he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose1:02 a great storm on the sea. So that the boat was being covered with the ways, but Jesus himself was asleep. Now this is a story that is familiar to many of1:13 us. And I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you've been out on a large body of water and a storm came and the panic that you might have experienced. That happened to me about1:25 20 years ago. I was on Lake Erie off of off of Ohio, and I had just gotten this little boat and it seemed like it was a really calm day, and I was really eager1:37 to get out there on this little boat that I just got. So despite the forecast, I said, you know what, we're just gonna go, we're gonna take a risk. So I got a couple guys to go with me. We launched out of Port1:49 Clinton, Ohio, went about 5 miles out onto Lake Erie, and wouldn't you know it, a storm came. And the storm came relatively quickly. By the time I2:00 saw that the waves were getting high, it was too late. When I headed the boat back towards shore, I began to hit those waves. And each time I hit a2:12 wave, the water piled in upon my boat. We were trying to get the water off the boat with buckets, and I had the bilge pump on. No matter how much we tried to get the water out of the boat, more water2:24 was coming in every time we hit away. Bam. It wasn't too long before the engine died and the boat was literally sinking. And I don't have2:36 a great recollection of what happened that time, but I do know this. It was a scary situation. Baruch Hashem, fortunately, somebody saw we were in trouble. They came next to us. We tied a2:48 a rope from their boat, which was a much larger vessel onto our boat, and they towed us in. But I share that story because in this account that we're looking at in Matthew 8, Yeshua's disciples were out on the Sea3:00 of Galilee. They hit a storm and they panicked. And some of you also may know what that felt like. So let's read on. When he got into the boat, his disciples followed him, and behold, there arose a3:12 great storm on the sea so that the boat was being covered with the waves, but Jesus himself was asleep, which is pretty amazing. I mean, he had such an incredible peace,3:24 such a supernatural perspective that he was covered by the sovereignty of father God, that he was able to sleep in what in the natural was a very3:36 dangerous situation. I mean, the thing that's important for us to realize is that this was a dangerous situation. And we have to really grasp that to understand the fullness of the implications of what this3:48 story is about to unfold for us. So the storm hits, it's dangerous, the waves are coming on the boat, and Yeshua of Nazareth is somehow asleep. I mean, father4:00 god must have had such a supernatural blanket of peace over him to keep him asleep. Because you would think that in the natural, you wouldn't be able to sleep just because of the waves. I mean, the boat was bobbing up4:11 and down, so you wonder how could how could he be sleeping? Doesn't make sense. But there must have been such a supernatural blanket of holy ruach,4:23 shalom on him that he just fell into the pocket of God's heart sleeping. And so perhaps you can relate to that a little bit. Maybe there's something that's going on all around you at some point in your life, and4:35 all of a sudden you're woken up because finally you're woken from whatever is going on around that's jarring, and you can't believe that you slept through that thing. Well, that's what's happened. Like, for example,4:44 Cynthia and I, there'll be times when there'll be a huge thunderstorm 1 night, and either myself or Cynthia will be awoken from it and even, you know, be concerned, like what's going on? Did do we get struck by4:55 lightning? And the other 1 of us will have slept through the whole thing. So that's what's going on here. This is going on dangerous. It's real, but Yeshua is asleep. And we pick up in verse5:06 25, and they came to and woke him saying, save us, lord, we're perishing. He said to them, why are you afraid, you men of little5:18 faith? So this is, first of all, a great application for you and I because I think as human beings, 1 of the greatest tendencies we have is to fear. And I don't think there's anybody that's listening right now that5:30 can't relate to that. I mean, there are so many things that we're surrounded by that are bigger than we are. I mean, you think about these disciples on the boat, that storm was bigger than they were. The waves were5:40 coming on the boat. Many, many vessels had had sunk in the Sea of Galilee. It was real danger. And you and I are surrounded all our lives. As we get older, we realize it more and more5:52 by danger, whether it's the fear of getting in a car wreck, whether it's the fear of getting sick, whether it's the fear of growing old, all these things are real. I mean, we see people around us. They get old, and they6:03 begin to get a lot of pain and a lot of sickness, and it's scary to think about that. Some of us are concerned about our finances. Will we run out of money? Will inflation go sky high? Will all the money6:15 that I've accumulated disappear because the stock market crashes or because inflation goes too high? So these are real fears just as the disciples were facing on the sea. And yet6:27 what did Jesus do? He had complete peace in the midst of the very real natural danger, and then he rebuked the disciples, and he said to him,6:40 why are you afraid, you men of little faith? So 2 things. Number 1, we need to realize that fear6:52 is not to be embraced. Yeshua rebuked it. He rejected it. Jesus hates fear. And I want you to think about this, the opposite of fear7:05 is faith. Think about that for a second. If you're in fear, you're not in faith. And if you're in faith, you're not in fear. Because listen, Yeshua rebuked the fear, and then he told us what the remedy was. He said,7:17 why are you afraid, you men of little faith? And so when we find ourselves being afraid, we realize what the remedy is. The remedy is7:29 faith. So how do you get faith, listen to this now, over specific fears? Sometimes fear is just a spirit that's so general, you don't even know what it is. You just7:40 feel afraid. And in that situation, the thing to do is just to rise up. It's a foul spirit. Take authority over it. In the name of Yeshua, say I reject you. Father, I realize this is a satanic demon of fear. I reject7:52 it. Father, help me to shut the gates of my heart, to not let it in, and to rise up in the power of your spirit and the truth of your word. So we warfare against fear. We warfare against fear. We8:04 can't receive it. We can't just start confessing, I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I'm afraid. It's okay to confess it once to your friend or to your wife or or or or8:16 husband or or whatever. It's okay to confess it once, but then to repent of it and to move into sanctification and be cleansed of it. And then what we do is, in addition to rising up against8:28 general fear, just recognizing it's a spirit, think about this for a second, it's a spirit. Fear doesn't have to have a specific reason. Have you ever just felt a8:40 spirit of dread and you didn't even know why? You just felt afraid like something ominous, something really bad was gonna happen and you didn't even know what it was. It's a8:52 spirit. So what do you do? You don't receive it. You stand up and reject it. And say, father, in Yeshua's name, I stand up by the power of the resurrection of the son of god that lives in me. I9:03 cast off the spirit of fear. Satan, I reject you, and I crush every demon of fear under my feet right now. Yeshua, I will praise you and believe in you and trust you and rejoice in you. I9:15 will not be afraid. I will rejoice and will not be afraid. I will trust and will not be afraid. For the Lord my God9:28 is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation.9:43 The lord my god is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. So you just rise up and you reject the spirit of fear. When it's9:55 just general, you can't even put a name to it. It's just there. Okay. Number 2, oftentimes we get hit by very specific fears. For example, the fear of growing10:07 old. Many people are not so much afraid to die, they're just afraid of aging Because they look at people that are aging and they see the suffering that they're in, and oftentimes as they see10:18 aged people, and may maybe you're someone that I'm talking with right now and you look around and you're getting older and you're looking at some of the suffering that, that that older people that you grew up with or10:29 know are are going through, and and that makes you afraid. So how do you combat the fear of aging? You look for specific scriptures in God's10:41 word that deal with that exact fear. So 1 of the scriptures that I love regarding combating the fear of aging is what David Melech, what King David said. He said,10:53 thou will not forsake me even when my hairs are gray. So David had a confidence that even when he was aging, when his hair was gray, that11:05 the loving kindness of the father would still be with him, and there would be no reason, there is no reason to be afraid. So if you're going through right now that exact same11:16 dilemma, my beloved brother or sister, I just wanna speak over your life confidence and faith. Yeshua said I will never leave you or forsake you. Even when you're11:28 old and your hairs are gray, the same 1 that's been with you through your earlier years of life will be with you in your latter years of life. And although we can't stop the decaying of our body, we can11:40 still trust in the loving kindness of God, that he will continue to prove himself to us and be our portion. There is nothing to fear. So what did Yeshua say to his disciples that were11:52 terrified of the dilemma they were in when the waves were coming aboard the boat, a very real danger? What did Yeshua say? Why are you afraid? It doesn't matter what your12:04 fear is. He's saying the same thing to you and me. Why are you afraid? Why are you afraid,12:16 you men of little faith. And so let's just right now, let's just put our hand over our heart. You're struggling with fear right now. And let's just confess out loud before the Father, before before12:27 Yeshua. Father, I believe in your love for me, and I choose to believe and trust in your love. And in Yeshua's12:39 name, I reject fear and the spirit of fear, And I cancel every assault of the enemy by the blood of Yeshua that has aligned itself against my heart. Father, I will trust in you.12:51 I will believe in your loving kindness and in your goodness all the days of my life. I love the psalmist in Psalm 23. Think about this word. Surely,13:03 lovingkindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Surely goodness and mercy, the psalmist said,13:15 will follow me all the days of my life. So for those of us that were afraid of the future or something in the future, let's remember the13:27 words of the psalmist, King David. Surely goodness and loving kindness and mercy will follow me all the days of my13:38 life. You see, oftentimes, the way fear gets in is when we begin to imagine something that's gonna happen in the future. We imagine running out of money. We13:50 imagine getting sick. We imagine whatever it is, we have all these vain imaginations. We imagine something going wrong in the lives of our children. But notice this, the things that make us afraid14:03 are always thoughts about what's gonna happen in the future. But God is the God of the now. God's not the God of the future, I14:15 mean, he's God of the past, present and future, but God is present in the now. You see, when you have thoughts about the future, if there's something that you're thinking about right now, maybe you're afraid of losing14:25 your job, maybe you're afraid of losing your husband, your wife, maybe you're afraid of, 1 of your loved ones getting sick, whatever it might be. Think about it, it's always a projection of what's14:37 going to be happening in the future. But remember what I just said, it's a vain imagination. God is the God of the now. Some of you may have heard me tell this14:49 story before, but it's a true story about a girl, and she began to get terrified about getting fired. And it was almost it was almost debilitating to her. I mean, she was having trouble sleeping at night. She was15:00 obsessing about it. It went on for much. She was terrified about getting fired. Just was just making her so anxious. She was under such torment. Then lo and behold, what happened? 1 day after15:12 struggling with this fear for several months, the boss called her into the office, and he fired her. And you know what she said? When she was actually in the boss's office and15:24 he fired her, she had no fear at all. She had perfect peace while it was happening. And when she left the office, she had perfect peace. Why? Because God is always gonna15:36 meet you in the now. He hasn't promised to meet you in your vain imaginations, that's fear. He commanded us to reject fear. In fact, fear is commanded to be rejected over a hundred times in the15:48 word of God. And if we wanna take possession of the peace of the Lord, we have to reject fear. Remember what the Lord said to to Joshua. He said, I have commanded you to go in and possess the land.16:00 He said, but be not fearful, and be not discouraged, but be strong and courageous. You shall possess the land. Only be very16:12 strong and courageous. And it's the same thing for you and I, to walk in that inheritance, to walk in the promised land of Yeshua Shalom, his wholeness, we can't be afraid.16:24 But instead, we have to believe that what God says is ours is ours. And what did he say is ours? I will never leave you. I will never forsake you, he will meet all our needs16:35 according to his riches in glory. So God is with you, I will trust, the Psalmist said, and will not be afraid. So let's just again, just sing that together because song is a beautiful16:47 thing. You know, in Judaism, we believe that the Lord sung the heavens and earth into existence. So for example, when the Lord said, let there be light, he didn't just say it, he sung those words into existence in16:59 Hebrew. So we sing together this song, I will trust and will not be afraid. For the Lord my God is17:11 my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation.17:27 The lord my god is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. Sing it with me now.17:52 I got I got off because I look at my wife there and she was smiling at me there. So Cynthia sends her love and she'll loam to you as well. She's staying out of the sun. I'm getting burnt like a lobster out here. So let's18:03 continue on here. So the the text continues in verse 26, then he got up, then Yeshua got up and rebuked the the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. Now think about18:15 this. We've heard this story before many of us, but I want you to really bring this down to the nuts and bolts of your reality. So Yeshua rebukes them, why are you afraid, men of little faith? And then it says, then he18:27 got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. Now let me ask you this question. How many times18:39 have you worried, feared, and fretted about something in the future, and what you worried and feared about, it never happened? It was a complete lie,18:52 a absolute lie. What you worried about never happened. Those disciples were terrified. Those waves were gonna come on the boat. That boat was gonna capsize. They were gonna sink, and they were gonna drown. You and I,19:03 beloved, the things that we worry about, Jesus is gonna reign over every single 1 of them and He's saying to you and I today, Shalom. Do not be afraid.19:15 Have faith. Have confidence. Be courageous. I am with you even until the end of the age.19:29 Stories from the Galilee. Wow. To be honest with you, when I think right now the Galilee, it brings me back to when I recorded this episode that you just got done seeing in Israel and was there when just a few19:41 days later, the war broke out. And we experienced the bombs, blowing up overhead and, wow. Memory that I'm sure will stay with Cynthia and I for the rest of our19:53 lives. But you know, even as Jesus calm the storms on Galilee, he can calm every storm that you and I will ever find ourself in20:05 or go through, and I speak that peace over your life right now. I want to encourage you, if God is using Discovering the Jewish Jesus to help you in your life, would you consider prayerfully20:16 to financially support us? It does take a lot of money, my beloved friends, to do what we're doing. I can't do it without you. Cynthia can't do it without you. We love you. We thank you for your financial20:28 support and we appreciate your prayers. God bless you my friends and thank you very much. Shalom.In this video 0:00 Faith Over Fear
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