I think people who love horror movies must have poor imaginations. It seems like the stuff I can make up in my own head is scary enough, I don’t need help! If you have a vivid imagination there is no end to things to be afraid of. Killer bees, giant spiders, land sharks, bombs, bad guys, invading armies, zombies, vampires, earthquakes, fire…see what I mean? You probably have a few things on your list too; if not, you watch horror movies to have the same experience. The truth is, we should fear some things; if we don’t we could be injured…injured bad. But there are many things that we do fear that we should not fear. I know this because Jesus tells us to not be afraid in a variety of contexts. In our text for this Sunday (Matthew 10:24-33) we learn more about the “push-back” that we get when we try to promote the gospel of the Kingdom of God. There is a real temptation to fear people when they do not agree with us but there are some compelling reasons to not yield to this temptation. We’ll go over them in detail this week (Lord willing) but the most encouraging one can also be scary depending on which side of Jesus you are on. If you stand with Him, He promises to stand for you before the Father. If you routinely deny Him by lip and/or life, it isn’t really reasonable to expect Him to stand for you. It is comforting to know we have an Advocate. It is downright scary to know there is an Almighty God who demands righteousness. However, receiving the provision that God has made for our righteousness, in order to be our Father, actually affords great comfort and peace. This is why John the Apostle could write, “perfect love casts out fear.” What are you afraid of?