January 13, 2025 • 47 mins
Ever felt like fear is an unwelcome guest in your life, dictating your actions and emotions? Join us as we unravel the complex web of fear, anxiety, and negativity that often ensnares us. Drawing from the wisdom of 2 Timothy 1:7, we confront the misconception that fear is an inevitable part of our spiritual journey. Through heartfelt stories and practical insights, we shed light on how fear can manifest as anger, straining our relationships and testing our faith. Discover the powerful role of church communities as sanctuaries for those seeking healing and spiritual growth, especially when life's challenges seem overwhelming.
In a world constantly bombarded by unsettling news and negative social media, maintaining peace and joy might seem like an uphill battle. But what if surrendering to God and embracing the Holy Spirit could transform your life into one of love, peace, and fulfillment? Through self-examination and trust in God's plan, we explore how faith can be a powerful antidote to jealousy and negativity. Our conversation is a heartfelt invitation to break free from the shackles of fear and anxiety, urging listeners to anchor themselves in the unchanging promises of God as depicted in Isaiah 41.
Life's unpredictability doesn't have to lead to unending stress and anxiety. With the "five, five, and five" routine—five minutes each of prayer, scripture, and praise—we offer a simple yet profound method to nurture your spiritual life daily. This episode is a reminder that even brief moments with God can shift your perspective, offering solace and strength. By meditating on God’s faithfulness and building a meaningful connection with Him, we can transform our hearts and minds, finding peace amid chaos and fulfillment on our spiritual journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is up, faith and failure.
So in today's episode we'regoing to talk a little bit We've
already talked some about thebeginning of the year and things
we need to let go of and who weneed to be as God's people.
One of those things I thinkthat we forget to let go of is
fear of the future, and when Isay fear of the future, I'm
meaning that, like you cannot,you have an agenda for tomorrow.
(00:24):
You have an agenda for nextweek.
I put things on the calendarwith my business and with church
, but I can literally notpredict what is going to happen
from day to day.
And so some people live in astate.
Christian people live in astate of fear and anxiety, and
this seems to control how theythink, make them question what
(00:48):
they know to be true, such asbiblical principles and
scriptures, that that theyshould have a firm grasp on and
be a little more mature inhandling.
Yet and and listen, I'm not,I'm not throwing stones here.
I'm describing something thatcan, at some point in all of our
lives, can get us and hit ussideways, and that is fear.
(01:08):
And fear can creep in so easilyand so quickly, and the crazy
thing about fear is that when itcreeps in, sometimes it's like
this and it's quick and it'sfast and, like you know,
especially if it's likesomething that happens to you,
(01:28):
suddenly fear grips your heart.
Or it could be an overtimecontinuation of something
happening, happening in yourlife, or it could be something
that happened in your childhoodand now you're living in the
echoes of that and you're tryingto deal with everyday life and
you can't get past that fear,past that pain that hurt, that
(01:50):
trauma that happened in yourlife.
And so this is not going to bea long episode, but I just want
to throw some scriptures at youso that you can understand that
the creator of the universecares about you and that fear is
not of him.
So stick around and we're goingto dive in.
Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you
(02:10):
to all of the new subscribers.
If you haven't yet, considersubscribing.
Hit that bell notification sothat you can see every time I
put out a new video.
A major portion of you thatwatch my videos haven't
subscribed yet, so why not?
It's free.
You can also find a PayPal linkbelow if you want to give a
one-time or give a monthly tosupport the channel.
(02:31):
Anything great or small isappreciated.
Now let's get into the video.
All right?
So let's begin with thescripture that addresses one of
the most common emotions inuncertain times.
So this is going to be from 2Timothy 1.7.
(02:52):
It says For God has not givenus a spirit of fear or timidity,
but of power, love andself-discipline.
Power, love and self-discipline.
So this verse, it challenges usto step back and recognize that
fear is not something God hasintended for us.
(03:15):
Instead, we've been given thepower, the ability to stand
confidently through the HolySpirit, love which overcomes
fear and unites us in compassionand self-discipline, the wisdom
and resilience to actaccordingly to God's principles
(03:35):
rather than panic.
I say this a lot to my people,if you don't know, first of all,
thank you for being here andwatching this video today.
Make sure you give a thumbs uplike the video, subscribe to the
channel, hit that bellnotification if you don't mind.
I greatly appreciate it.
And so this fear?
(03:55):
Sometimes it gets a responseout of us in ways we don't fully
realize it's happening.
Let me give you a real worldexample.
So when, when my son orsomebody scares me like jumps
from around the corner, thatinstant fear causes anger and I
(04:18):
get mad at my kid because hescared me and it could be a
little bit because of pride, itcould be.
I mean, you fill in the blank,whatever, but like that instant
something happening, it got areal response out of me and
usually out of men.
It's anger.
I laugh at men that say, ohyeah, she's emotional, talking
(04:43):
about women or his wife orwhatever.
First of all, you shouldn't betalking about your wife that way
and meaning it.
That's a setup for failure anda house divided against itself.
Anyways.
But like fear, anger is anemotion and so fear can drive
that Like, if a man is scared ofsomething, or he's scared he's
going to lose his job, or he'sscared he's going to lose his,
(05:05):
his house, or you know, fill inthe blank with whatever.
Um, that fear that that beingscared of something happening
can can really drum up someanger and ends up taking it out
on the people that we love.
And that's why god does notdesire for us to have that type
of room in our lives and ourminds and our hearts and our
(05:29):
attitudes and the way we speak.
We're not designed for that.
We are actually given a way outof that so that we don't have
to live in that, because ifyou've ever gotten hurt bad in
your life whether it'srelationships, whether it's
physical, mental, emotional,fill in the blank with whatever
(05:50):
spiritual and maybe you've beenchurch, hurt our church.
For some reason we have.
We have attracted people whohave been church hurt and they
come in and they feel they feelalive again, they feel like
they've been, their wounds havebeen healed and, um, it's a
pretty amazing thing the way Godis using our church.
We see new people come in andyou find out later that they've
(06:15):
been really hurt in church andpeople have done things wrong in
the body and I believe it'skind of backwards of the way God
designed the church to be.
That being said, so let's goback to our notes before I get
sidetracked, because that couldbe another episode on itself of
how church should really looklike, what church should really
(06:35):
be.
It's easy to let fear guide ourdecisions, especially when every
headline or social media postseems more unsettling than the
last.
It irritates me.
Politics irritates me.
Why?
(06:55):
Because not that you shouldn'tdo your due diligence of you
know, researching, voting,whatever that case, whatever it
looks like for you in yourcountry, some of you watching
other countries, whatever itlooks like for you.
Whoever's in the office here inAmerica, east Texas, whoever's
in the office, the Bible says,whether we like them or not,
we're supposed to pray for thembecause God allows for them to
(07:19):
be there.
He is a sovereign God, whichmeans he is in full control
Everybody who comes in there.
He is God.
He has allowed it to happen.
So, that being said, you needto do what you're supposed to do
and I need to do what I'msupposed to do, and that is pray
for our leaders, evenespecially if I think we don't
(07:40):
like them, because that puts usin a place of humility, to
submit ourselves to the notionthat the Bible tells us to pray
over our enemies.
Even David says you sit, youprepare a table for me in the
midst of my enemies.
So there's a common theme inthe word that we're supposed to
(08:02):
look at our enemies differentthan the world does.
I mean look at Jesus.
I give this example all the time.
Jesus did a lot of cool thingsin his ministry and his walk on
this earth, but one of the coolthings that Jesus did to me that
I don't know if I could havedone yes, lay down his life.
You know you start squirrelingand trying to find a way out
when you're facing imminentdeath.
But I'm talking about like hewashed the feet of Judas when he
(08:27):
knew he was going to betray him.
I don't know if I could do that.
I want to kind of and I'm beinghonest like this is a guy
that's going to stab me in theback.
But also I know that the Bibledoes promise that everything
that happens in our life good,bad, the ugly that he will work
(08:47):
it together for our good, forthe good of those that love the
Lord.
Which means I have to submit mylife to God completely and that
means that whatever he decidesto allow to happen or make
happen, however you want to lookat it, whoever he wants to put
in my path, whether they arethere to destroy me, to try to
(09:07):
trip me, to try to whateverfaith that is not tested usually
won't persevere because it hasno.
It's like working out in a gym.
Okay, if I go and stand in themiddle of a gym and I look at
weights and I watch other peoplelifting weights, I watch other
people on the treadmill, there'sabsolutely no benefit to me
(09:29):
being in the gym.
The same is with you in churchand reading the word and praying
and praising.
There's absolutely no benefitfor you to watch other people do
live Christian lives, to actlike they love life.
It takes action on our part andso, that being said, some of us
(09:51):
think we are, and, especiallyif I talk about Catholics, they
really love my channel.
They like they'll write meparagraphs of things that they
don't like about me and all thisother stuff, and they have no
clue what's going on.
Don't like about me and allthis other stuff, and they have
no clue what's going on.
But we allow things that we seeposted on social media to pull
(10:18):
something out of us and make ussometimes be a person we're
actually not proud of when weare settled down and we look
back.
So I want you, as the believer,to and if you're not a believer,
you can use this as well tohave a plan beforehand that you
don't react out of emotion butyou respond.
Respond out of logic, wisdom,knowledge.
(10:43):
Use these things to yourbenefit.
So you already have a plan setup in motion and that will help
when something does come upagainst you.
You will have a better footingon a firm foundation because you
(11:03):
have decided that you are goingto respond this way.
You're going to do it this way.
This is how you have chosen to.
If you have a financial crisis,what's the plan?
If your marriage is on therocks?
What's the plan If yourchildren are acting out?
(11:24):
A lot of these?
These are the three majorthings.
You have finances, religion, umuh what.
Sex and marriage.
Things like that, like thesethree things right here, are
well known to be either a agreat atmosphere of marriage if
(11:44):
these few things are all inorder and the spouses are on the
same page, or they can be thedetriment, they can be the
stumbling blocks of a marriageto where, if you're not on the
same page with your finances,you keep spending.
You keep spending.
You keep spending, even ifyou're on the same page, but
you're both spenders.
Guess what?
You're going to be broke.
That's the way it is.
(12:05):
You only have a certain amountof money and that's controlled
by how much you work and bringin.
After that, there's nothing.
So if you're not on the samepage with money, if you're not
on the same page with sex, ifyou're not on the same page with
raising your children, withyour religion, your church
preferences, things like that,you're not going to survive very
(12:26):
long because you immediatelyare welcoming division into the
marriage before it even begins.
And some are so jealous.
What do you call it?
A branch from a tree, familytree, a branch of jealousy is
(12:50):
stemmed from or it producesanger, it produces a fear of
someone else being able to comein and take what you believe is
yours, and so All these things.
And then on top of that andthat's just regular life then on
top of that you see otherpeople on social media or the
(13:13):
news or whatever you listen toand watch.
You see all these negativethings, these bad, bad instances
, bad stories, this and thatthis politician is doing this
and oh, now this one's doingthis over here, and then this
guy guy said this and this ladysaid this, and it's just like
this constant, there's neverpeace.
And so we allow things likethat to steal our peace.
(13:35):
And what follows the absence ofpeace is usually fear, anger
and all a bunch of otheremotions that in reality you
could have sidestepped all thatand been free from that If you
would allow the joy of the Lordto be your strength, the peace
of the Lord to calm your mind,and if you would not have the
(13:56):
spirit of fear be in your house,your life would be different.
Your life would actually befulfilling, enjoyable,
satisfying.
And this is the life that Goddesires for every believer.
This is not something that'slike a mystical thing that only
certain levels of preachers orchurch lady or whatever like
(14:19):
this is for every believer.
It doesn't mean that everythingin your life is going to be
perfect.
That doesn't mean your marriageis going to be perfect, your
kids are going to be perfect,you're going to have the perfect
job, you're going to have thelargest finances.
That has nothing to do withpeace and joy, and this is the
false synthetic that the deviltries to sell to us A false joy,
a false sense of hope, a falsesense of well-being and
satisfaction, when only thosecan actually be found in a life
(14:43):
full of the word, full of theHoly Spirit, deep into a
relationship with God and withJesus.
Like these are the things thatmatter.
It should matter to everybeliever, and I believe
sometimes we are so lazy in ourwalk and then we get five years
down the road when we were onfire for God, we were living a
life we enjoyed and we loved,and then we get five years down
(15:04):
the road when we were on firefor God, we were living a life
we enjoyed and we loved, andthen we had five years down the
road and we're like well, whathappened?
Well, I guarantee you, if youstop and look, I'm all about
self-examination.
If you've been following thispodcast, if you follow my church
which I hope you do you cansearch on Instagram, facebook,
youtube, and now I put my churchon podcast as of this week of
(15:25):
recording this.
You can look forconnectchurchlongview or go
connectchurchlife for all of ourstuff and all these things.
I forgot where I was going withthat, but I just plugged the
church.
So it doesn't matter All thesethings.
They produce chaos in our lives, and so, if you're like me, and
(15:48):
most people are, you canconsume so much and not realize
that your bag has become so fullthat you're about to bust at
the seams, and not in a good way.
So it's like you miss out onthe blessings of God.
You miss out on the wisdom ofGod, on the knowledge of God,
you miss out on being led by thespirit of God, on conversations
that God was trying to have youhave in the middle of your
(16:10):
obstacle.
That was actually anopportunity, and all you could
see was the negative, becauseyour bag is so full and so, if
you know this, by just regularlogical, physical stuff, if your
bag is full and you try to putmore in it, it will fall out on
the side and it can't actuallybe filled with the stuff God
desires for us.
(16:30):
And that's the danger of havingfear in your life.
It will rob you of peace, itwill rob you of joy, it will rob
you of being fulfilled, becauseyou always think something like
the other shoe's about to drop,something like the other shoe
is about to drop, and this canbring depression, this can bring
anxiety, this can bringhopelessness, and these are not
(16:52):
fruit of the Spirit.
God desires for every believerto have a fulfilled life, full
of love, peace, all the fruit ofthe Spirit.
He desires for us to have it.
So this scripture let's go backup to the scripture again, for
(17:14):
God has not given us a spirit offear or timidity, but a power,
love and self-discipline.
This scripture reminds us thatfear does not have to be our
permanent mindset.
We've been equipped withresources that are stronger than
any fear we might face.
(17:39):
I don't know if you're in ahospital bed, maybe you're in a
jail cell, or maybe you've justlost a loved one, or you've
gotten divorced, or maybe yougot divorced and you lost your
kids.
I've been there.
I almost lost my child and,through the grace of God, now he
lives with me full time.
There are things that shook mylife and to this day I could
(18:07):
still be holding on to thosethings.
But instead, when I gave myheart to God and I gave my life
to God and I vowed to God thatwhatever he wanted I was okay
with.
And as soon as I began to dothat in my life, it was like the
(18:29):
things that I truly desired inmy heart.
He began to put them in my lap.
One thing after another with mywife.
Another thing with serving inministry, which I didn't even
have really a desire to.
I just was serving and thepastor began to elevate me
because he saw my servant'sheart.
(18:50):
And then the thing with mychild, my teenager, living with
me full-time in the summerbetween second and third grade.
It was a God thing where shejust gave him to me and said you
can be the custodial parent.
I didn't even ask for that.
Everything that was truly myheart's desire.
(19:11):
How do I?
Let me give you an example ofhow my son's part was, my
heart's desire, that I neveractually verbalized before God.
I never prayed for my son tolive with me full time.
I didn't think it was possible.
But what I did pray was youremember Abraham, when he took
his firstborn Isaac?
That was actually a promisefrom God.
(19:32):
He took it up the side of themountain and God told him to
sacrifice his son.
This was a test of obedience.
Okay, god will test yourobedience.
And so, as my wife and I wasmoving kind of up in the church,
so to speak, we I was doingmusic and then we got asked to
do youth pastor.
And then, um, soon after it was, uh, soon after it was, uh,
(19:53):
youth pastor and then associatepastor, and but in this time I
found myself when I just cryingand praying to God because I'm
thinking in my head, likeAbraham, I'm like I'm going to
have to, because I can't, Idon't know where God's taking me
, but I know it's not here, likethis is not our permanent place
.
And so I cried and I prayed, Isaid, lord, I truly mean this
(20:16):
from the bottom of my heart Ifyou, if your desire is for us to
go somewhere else and you'reworking things out.
I give the whole situation withmy son over to you and to me.
In my mind, I was picturing mebeing Abraham and laying my son
on the altar before God andsaying whatever your desire is
(20:38):
is also mine.
And it was not long after thatthat I got a phone call from his
mom about getting him.
And I can't even, I couldn'thave even orchestrated it myself
, and that was right after mywife and I bought our first home
, so we would actually have thespace, instead of a tiny little
(21:01):
apartment, to have him full-timeand have him have a yard and,
you know, the woods and down bythe lake.
And it was just like one thingafter another.
God aligned it, but he waswaiting for me to not be
controlled or manipulated by aspirit of fear, by a spirit of
(21:28):
fear, but to give that to God,to give that control and that
space and that place of my heartand my mind to not be
manipulated, controlled orinfluenced by the fear of moving
and losing my son, becausethat's what would have happened.
I literally would have had nowwe're in Longview at the time
where they were living.
That would have been threehours away, there's no way
working and everything else thatI could make that trip on a
Friday and make it on a Sunday.
(21:49):
A Sunday would be a lot easier,but Fridays would nearly be
impossible.
Longview I had no clue we werecoming to Longview until 2019.
(22:12):
So all these things that justGod orchestrated and ordained
and aligned.
But it was after I realized andI internalized this next verse
Look at this with me.
Isaiah 41, 10,.
It says don't be afraid, for Iam with you.
Don't be discouraged, for I amyour God.
I will strengthen you and helpyou.
(22:33):
I will hold you up with myvictorious hand.
Here God directly speaks to ourhearts and he says I am with
you.
The very creator of theuniverse is with us in every
(22:54):
single trial.
It's more than just acomforting thought.
It is a biblical truth.
We are not left to handlelife's difficulties by ourselves
.
Instead, we're upheld by hisvictorious right hand.
I don't know if you know this ornot, but God is not ever lost.
(23:14):
He has never broken a promise,he is never lacking, he has
never lied.
And so if he has never lackedand he has never lied, then his
promises, from cover to cover inthe word of god, are true,
which means that every time.
And see, you got to understandthis.
(23:35):
I know we like to placeourselves in the bible and say,
yes, that's yes, lord, Ireceived that word.
But understand that the theBible was written for us, not to
us.
So it was description, somepoetic, some story, some just
describing what was going on inthe timelines and everything
(23:57):
like the four gospels, fourdifferent accounts that were
overlapping just to give usdifferent perspectives.
You can see how the writerswrote different and the phrasing
and stuff like that.
But the same stories, justdifferent overlaps.
That solidifies every singlestory from each individual
writer.
But everything that is writtenin the Word of God is who God is
(24:24):
, so it's describing Hischaracter.
So this right here in Isaiah 41,we see the characteristic of a
God that does not leave the sideof His people, people and New
(24:46):
Testament, you have Jesus.
That was come.
He is the Messiah, he is theone that died for our sin.
He died for everyone's sin, buthis ministry was for the Jews.
And then, when Paul came intothe story, and then you have
some of the disciples thatbranch over with Paul, of the
(25:08):
disciples that branch over withPaul, he was for the Gentiles,
and so this right here is forevery believer that we will not
be left alone, that we do nothave to be afraid.
We don't have to fear, we don'thave to be discouraged, for God
promises that he is with us,not because this specific
scripture is written to you orto me, because it's not, but
it's written about the promiseand character of God, and so
(25:32):
that's how you can look atscripture and know that it is
true.
For today is because when Godsays something, he is not a liar
and he is sovereign.
So that means at the time ofwriting and speaking to a
certain people, he also knew acertain people.
You and me would be reading itlater.
He is so powerful and soall-knowing that he can see
(25:56):
simultaneously then of what theyneeded to hear, and also know
that it would reach us heretoday and be used to encourage
us, to remind us of God'scharacter, that he will not
leave us, and that it wouldreach us here today and be used
to encourage us, to remind us ofGod's character, that he will
not leave us and that he willlift us up by his victorious
right hand.
Okay, so God speaks directly tous, the creator of the universe
(26:16):
, and says I am with you Now.
That's powerful.
So if you have some fear in yourlife or you've been questioning
things, when I find myselfworried about tomorrow, I remind
myself God is with me now.
It doesn't mean everythingchanges overnight.
It doesn't mean everything ismagically going to be different
(26:39):
when I wake up in the morningit's all going to be rainbows
and butterflies and life is justgoing to be perfect.
But it does help me with myperspective and how I see things
, how I see God, how I see theway he works, how I see the way
he moves.
And I don't know if you've everbeen through this before, but
even if you're in a terribleseason now, you're in a terrible
(26:59):
time of your life and you got alot of pain, a lot of heartache
, a lot of trouble, a lot ofstruggle.
I guarantee you, if you lookback and stop focusing on where
you are right now and the thingsyou're going through, just sit
in a quiet place and meditate onall that God has done outside
of where you are, it willencourage you from where you
came from, what he brought youout of, and it will encourage
(27:22):
you, where you are right now, tonot fear and to believe that
his scripture is true, his wordsare true, they do not return
void that he is with you and youdo not have to fear.
So that gives us a confidencein scripture, a confidence in
(27:43):
the characteristic of God, thatwe do not have to fear because
God is with us.
So what's some practical waysto strengthen our faith?
Okay, I'm going to give yousome things that you want to
write this down.
I don't have it on the screen,but please write it down on a
post-it note, do it on yourphone, make a little note as you
(28:06):
listen.
But I give my people thisencouragement we just started
the discipleship class on aWednesday night Bible study and
my wonderful wife is teaching itand I'm kind of partnering with
her a little bit.
I get excited about stuff likethis, so I have to say something
.
She probably wishes I'd shut up, but I just sit down.
But, uh, I do this thing whereI challenge my church almost
(28:29):
every single Sunday and we're um, I do the same, um, we're doing
the same in the site discipleclass and we are doing a five,
five and five every single day.
That means five minutes ofprayer, five minutes of reading
the word, five minutes ofpraising the Lord every day,
preferably before you start yourday.
Now some of you may wake up,hit the ground running.
You got kids, you got all thesethings to do.
(28:50):
But even if it's in your quiettime, between going from home to
the school to drop them off orback from dropping them off back
home, or to work or whatever itmay be, make time, make good
use of your time.
Five minutes of praying, fiveminutes of reading a word, five
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minutes of praising the Lordevery single day.
So practical ways.
Living out a steady faith is alot easier when you take little
bites and you start small.
There's this saying that.
I guess it's supposed to be abrain teaser, or they asked a
kid, I don't remember which one.
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time?
So don't try to overcomplicategetting back into reading
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Scripture this new year.
Don't overcomplicate.
Like well, last year I didn'tmake it through the YouVersion
app that Life Church put out.
They have a way where you cango in there and you can do a 365
, you know, every day, read somescripture to make it to the
Bible in a year.
Maybe you made it through 10days last year and you're.
(29:58):
Don't beat yourself up thisyear, make it through 20.
Even if you only have fiveminutes a day.
But I guarantee you, when youbegin to dig into scripture and
you get excited about it, youcan't get enough and you want to
do more, you want to learn more, you want to dive in more.
I do that all the time.
My wife was laughing at mebecause I have a book that
(30:20):
someone gave me me, because Ihave a book that someone gave me
and it's called systematictheology.
It is not a light read beforebedtime but I started reading it
and it was just like there's somuch and I'm actually I
probably am going to use it formy sermon in these Sundays and
just kind of break it down insmaller bites and spread it out
(30:43):
over a series or something,because there's just so much in
there that believers need toknow and there needs to be
understanding in the church andnot just always a feel good
message or you know, those arenice but like the church needs
to be challenged in theirtheology, challenged on what
they believe, to know what theyshould believe, like sound
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theology should be coming fromthe pulpit.
So anyways, five, five and five.
So these are kind of broke downin four, four different things.
So daily scripture reading makeit a priority to read or listen
to the Bible each day.
Even a few minutes in themorning or bedtime can reshape
how you view your circumstances.
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Allow God's word to anchor yourthoughts.
When you remember we justtalked about God's
characteristics when youremember who God is and you
remember what he has done, itgives you more faith to sustain
you through where you are.
So number two.
So number one was dailyscripture reading, even if it's
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a little tiny.
Don't bash the small steps.
They count as long as they'regoing in the right direction.
Number two frequent prayer.
Instead of letting prayer be alast resort I've said this
before to my church a lot oftimes for prayer, we end up
asking God to fix aftersomething is wrong or we're sick
, or this and that.
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But what about preemptiveprayer?
Like?
What about praising God?
Like when Jesus was teachingthe disciples how to pray, how
did he start off?
He started talking about howgreat God was, how big God was,
how glorious he was.
He was praising God and then hebegan to ask for some things.
How glorious he was, I mean, hewas praising God and then he
began to ask for some things,which is good.
God desires for us to ask.
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He desires us to petition himand ask for things.
That is not out of line at all.
Do never think that God is like, oh, this guy again.
God wants to hear from you.
God wants to hear the cries ofyour heart, like God wants to
hear the cries of your heart,but he also wants you to talk to
him and actually not come tohim.
(32:49):
For instance, let's get alittle adult.
If you're a child watching,please plug your ears.
Or a child listening.
If I only communicated with mywife when I wanted sex, that is
the most unhealthy marriage thatyou can have.
(33:10):
That's the facts.
So that intimacy.
So let's come back from the,from the dirty that intimacy
with my wife is produced morethat I desire if I am in
relationship with her, with god.
(33:30):
He desires for intimacy with usand him, not the same as
marriage, don't get weird.
But he desires us to have acloseness with him to where,
when we're hurting, it hurts himand when he is hurting, it
should hurt us, like for peoplewho don't know him, for people
(33:53):
who are far from him or thosewho have ran from him.
It should grieve us, it shouldhurt us, it should break our
hearts that they don't wantanything to do with God.
And so some of us act like that.
The example I used in mymarriage we act like that with
God.
We only deal with God, or prayto God, when we want something
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that benefits us, and that isnot how God wants.
That's not a relationship, notat all.
That's a grocery list or a slotmachine, and you apply that
principle.
That's why we have so manydivorces.
You apply that principle toanything else and just you're
out for what you want, you getwhat you get, and then the other
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person who cares?
That's how we treat God.
We have been conditioned by theway we do things and we apply
that to a holy God and hedeserves rightfully so, more
than that.
He deserves more attention thanthat.
He deserves more relationshipwith that.
We should honor him, which iswhat I do with my wife.
(34:55):
So all those extra benefitsthat I really enjoy and I desire
, I get those because I honorher, I uplift her, I listen to
her, I hold her, I talk to herlike she is my best friend.
So I benefit in so many otherways, and then I benefit in the
(35:16):
intimacy ways, naturally.
And so the same with God.
When we pray, when we know him,when we're being led by his
spirit, when we listen to hisspirit, when we know him from
his word, we understand hischaracteristic.
We already know him.
So those benefits of ourprayers being answered, our
bodies being healed, him sothose benefits of our prayers
(35:36):
being answered, our bodies beinghealed, our marriages being
restored, our kids staying closeto the Lord, those things are
the benefits that we reap whenwe already have been cultivating
that relationship with God.
So our will is in line withGod's will.
And so God desires something.
He desires to heal, he desiresto restore, he desires this and
that fill in the blank withwhatever.
(35:57):
And we already know thatbecause we have been cultivating
that relationship already, youknow what I mean.
So frequent prayer that'snumber two.
Instead of letting prayer be alast resort, make it your first
response in moments of tensionor worry.
Pause for a quick prayer, askGod for guidance, ask God for
(36:19):
peace and the ability to trustHim more deeply.
And number three is veryimportant Intentional gratitude.
Actively look for reasons to begrateful, even in chaos.
There are blessings, Health,friendships.
(36:41):
I mean I thank Him for the newsunrises.
This is kind of funny and somepeople may think it's dumb, but
when I'm in traffic and I get agreen light that I'm about to
come on, it's red and I come upon it, it turns green.
I don't have to stop.
I thank God for it.
I know that sounds weird, butI'm very grateful for that.
(37:03):
Here in Longview they havethese petitions in between these
curbs, in between the six lane,three lane, four lane, whatever
it is.
So you have to.
You have to literally get inthis turn lane and then make a
U-turn to get back on the otherside of the road, like you can't
just zip across all the traffic, you have to go down with the
flow and then make a U-turn andcome back.
It's all up and down the mainroad here and so when I'm doing
(37:27):
that and there's this massivebreak where I can turn around
and I don't really have to sitthere and wait for a while, I
thank God for it.
I know that's weird, but I wantGod to be included in
everything that I do Like it.
That kind of stuff reallymatters to me, so I want to make
sure that God knows.
I am appreciative of just thesmall things that probably most
(37:49):
people take for granted and sointentional gratitude.
I want to look for a reason tobe thankful.
It's important to me for him toknow that I'm grateful.
Talk about marriage again Withmy wife Now.
Fellas or women, whoever cooks,listen to the, or whoever
doesn't cook in the house orwhatever, or whoever sits at the
(38:13):
house or gets off work and youcome home and food is ready, or
someone always picks up food.
Whatever your situation may be,this will make sense in a
second.
Every single time that we sitdown to eat food, we all sit at
the.
Every night, we sit at thetable.
(38:34):
There is no exception.
No matter how late we get onfrom church or whatever on a
Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday, we always sit together and we
begin to eat.
And every single meal, I tellmy wife thank you for the food,
every single meal, because Iknow she spent time and her
(38:55):
effort doing something that shehonestly didn't have to.
She could have just said figureit out for yourself, but she's
so gracious to be the mother ofthe house that does that.
My point is how many things areyou in your life whether it's in
your relationships or your kidsor whatever like?
How many times do you overlookthings that you really should be
(39:15):
grateful for because you'vegotten used to them, and whether
it's in your relationships oryour kids or whatever like?
How many times do you overlookthings that you really should be
grateful for because you'vegotten used to them and now it's
just the common nature of thehouse or your relationships and
you actually aren't beinggrateful.
You're just expecting it to bedone when you come in.
I want to have a grateful heartbefore my wife, the same with
God.
I want to have a grateful heartbefore my wife, the same with
(39:35):
God.
I want to have a grateful heartbefore the Father.
To me it's important.
So, number four so that wasintentional gratitude.
Number three.
Number four serving others.
Sometimes the best way to movebeyond your own worries is to
help those around you.
A small act of kindness canremind us that we're a part of
(39:58):
something bigger than ourindividual fears.
So let's talk about trustingGod's peace.
So let's read this scripturefrom Philippians, chapter 4, 6
through 7.
Don't worry about anything.
Instead, pray about everything.
So what is pray abouteverything?
(40:20):
This is an all full, blanket,all encompassed statement.
It's not just things.
It's not praying for thingsthat you need, it's actually
praying for everything.
This means talking to justconversation with the Lord.
He cares that much about us,which blows my mind because I
could think of just 10 thingsoff the top of my head of why he
(40:41):
shouldn't care to talk to me.
But he does.
Don't worry about anything.
Instead, pray about everything,tell God what you need and
thank him for all he has done.
Then so it's saying do this andthen you will experience God's
peace, which exceeds anything wecan understand.
His peace there's the wordagain.
(41:03):
His peace will guard your heartand minds as you live in Christ
Jesus.
So I think this is incrediblycomforting, because we're
encouraged to not only rejectworry but pray about everything.
Nothing is too small or too bigfor God.
(41:28):
He desires to hear from you.
When we choose prayer overanxiety, over depression, over
fear, and combine it withthanksgiving for past blessings
and future promises, god's peacewill guard our hearts and our
(41:52):
minds.
This peace goes beyond thehuman logic.
I told my church this the lastcouple of weeks.
I said you know, most peoplewon't really pay attention to
you until you really start goingthrough something.
And as soon as you start goingthrough something now, they're
watching you to see what you do,especially if they know you're
(42:12):
a Christian.
People pay attention.
So how will you respond?
How will you be in a momentwhen every other logical mindset
says you should be angry, youshould be fearful, you should be
anxious, you should bedepressed, you should go out and
drink, you should go out thereand really just get hammered, or
(42:37):
you should use this substance.
It'll take the edge off, fillit in with whatever you want to
fill it in with.
But that kind of stuff, thatkind of mindset, is a worldly
mindset and you, as a Christian,should not be thinking that way
, because it will rob you ofyour peace, it will rob you of
your joy, it will rob you ofyour peace, it will rob you of
your joy, it will rob you ofyour relationship with Christ.
(42:58):
God's peace will guard yourheart and your mind.
The peace goes beyond humanlogic.
It's not dependent on whethercircumstances are perfect.
It's rooted in our relationshipwith Jesus Christ, who is with
us in every trial.
(43:20):
When things come up and thingshappen, it is a natural response
to feel anxious.
It is, and to not be in thatstate of mind when something
happens takes years of trainingand being in places where you
should be anxious, but gettingyour head more level, uh, like,
(43:44):
some people it's a fight, fightor flight.
Some people can't handle it andthey just take off running.
They leave their whole family,like if you get a snake around
me, listen, I'm gonna'm going topush you down, I'm going to run
so it gets you and not me,because anxious being fearful
can.
It's a very real emotion.
Being anxious, depressed,letting things weigh us down to
(44:08):
get us down, it's a very naturalresponse.
So we have to retrain our mind,we have to retrain our hearts
and we have to allow the HolySpirit to do a work in us that
will change us and transform usinto a new mind, into a new way
of thinking, into a new way offeeling, a new perspective.
(44:31):
And that's the whole purpose ofthe word of God to show us that
God will be faithful in thesetypes of things.
Just let him do what only hecan do, and he is faithful and
he is present, even when hefeels like he is absent.
If you're feeling overwhelmed,I hope that you let some of
(44:51):
these truths sink in that wetalked about today Meditate on
the scripture, take true timeout of what you do every day.
Okay, say you got 15 kids.
I know some people they got toomany kids.
They really needed the TV.
They didn't get one.
I guess I don't know, or theydon't know how to work it.
That is going to weigh down andtake up every opportunity of
(45:15):
your day until you pass out inthe bed that night after work,
after kids, after getting themall in bed, bathed, sleep, fed,
all the stuff, hopefully not inthat order and you get to the
bed and all you want to do isjust close your eyes and your
morning probably started offjust reverse of that your eyes
open and it's time to go.
Got to go put on the pot ofcoffee.
(45:35):
So you have your sanity.
Got to go start with thelittlest kid and get them up,
because they take the longest toget up and work your way up,
whatever the case may be.
So it may not be that everysingle day you can actually find
a quiet place and get alonewith God.
But if you have to, whatever ittakes, even if it's putting
(45:55):
time on the calendar, and tellyour husband or your wife listen
, I need my God time for theweek.
Give me an hour, why not?
So find a way to meditate, finda time to meditate on the
scripture, bring your concernsto God in prayer and remember
(46:17):
that he promised to be yoursolid rock in shifting sand.
Life may be unpredictable, butfaithfulness of our heavenly
father is always unwavering.
So I hope today, if you neededthis, or maybe you know somebody
(46:39):
that needs this, share thisvideo with them.
Let them know that they don'thave to live with anxious
thoughts, they don't have tolive with fear in their hearts,
they don't have to wonder what'scoming and worry about what's
going to happen tomorrow, thatwe have a savior, we have a good
, gracious God that cares somuch that he promised us that he
will always be with us.
What is up, faith and failure.
So in today's episode we'regoing to talk a little bit We've
already talked some about thebeginning of the year and things
we need to let go of and who weneed to be as God's people.
One of those things I thinkthat we forget to let go of is
fear of the future, and when Isay fear of the future, I'm
meaning that, like you cannot,you have an agenda for tomorrow.
(00:24):
You have an agenda for nextweek.
I put things on the calendarwith my business and with church
, but I can literally notpredict what is going to happen
from day to day.
And so some people live in astate.
Christian people live in astate of fear and anxiety, and
this seems to control how theythink, make them question what
(00:48):
they know to be true, such asbiblical principles and
scriptures, that that theyshould have a firm grasp on and
be a little more mature inhandling.
Yet and and listen, I'm not,I'm not throwing stones here.
I'm describing something thatcan, at some point in all of our
lives, can get us and hit ussideways, and that is fear.
(01:08):
And fear can creep in so easilyand so quickly, and the crazy
thing about fear is that when itcreeps in, sometimes it's like
this and it's quick and it'sfast and, like you know,
especially if it's likesomething that happens to you,
(01:28):
suddenly fear grips your heart.
Or it could be an overtimecontinuation of something
happening, happening in yourlife, or it could be something
that happened in your childhoodand now you're living in the
echoes of that and you're tryingto deal with everyday life and
you can't get past that fear,past that pain that hurt, that
(01:50):
trauma that happened in yourlife.
And so this is not going to bea long episode, but I just want
to throw some scriptures at youso that you can understand that
the creator of the universecares about you and that fear is
not of him.
So stick around and we're goingto dive in.
Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you
(02:10):
to all of the new subscribers.
If you haven't yet, considersubscribing.
Hit that bell notification sothat you can see every time I
put out a new video.
A major portion of you thatwatch my videos haven't
subscribed yet, so why not?
It's free.
You can also find a PayPal linkbelow if you want to give a
one-time or give a monthly tosupport the channel.
(02:31):
Anything great or small isappreciated.
Now let's get into the video.
All right?
So let's begin with thescripture that addresses one of
the most common emotions inuncertain times.
So this is going to be from 2Timothy 1.7.
(02:52):
It says For God has not givenus a spirit of fear or timidity,
but of power, love andself-discipline.
Power, love and self-discipline.
So this verse, it challenges usto step back and recognize that
fear is not something God hasintended for us.
(03:15):
Instead, we've been given thepower, the ability to stand
confidently through the HolySpirit, love which overcomes
fear and unites us in compassionand self-discipline, the wisdom
and resilience to actaccordingly to God's principles
(03:35):
rather than panic.
I say this a lot to my people,if you don't know, first of all,
thank you for being here andwatching this video today.
Make sure you give a thumbs uplike the video, subscribe to the
channel, hit that bellnotification if you don't mind.
I greatly appreciate it.
And so this fear?
(03:55):
Sometimes it gets a responseout of us in ways we don't fully
realize it's happening.
Let me give you a real worldexample.
So when, when my son orsomebody scares me like jumps
from around the corner, thatinstant fear causes anger and I
(04:18):
get mad at my kid because hescared me and it could be a
little bit because of pride, itcould be.
I mean, you fill in the blank,whatever, but like that instant
something happening, it got areal response out of me and
usually out of men.
It's anger.
I laugh at men that say, ohyeah, she's emotional, talking
(04:43):
about women or his wife orwhatever.
First of all, you shouldn't betalking about your wife that way
and meaning it.
That's a setup for failure anda house divided against itself.
Anyways.
But like fear, anger is anemotion and so fear can drive
that Like, if a man is scared ofsomething, or he's scared he's
going to lose his job, or he'sscared he's going to lose his,
(05:05):
his house, or you know, fill inthe blank with whatever.
Um, that fear that that beingscared of something happening
can can really drum up someanger and ends up taking it out
on the people that we love.
And that's why god does notdesire for us to have that type
of room in our lives and ourminds and our hearts and our
(05:29):
attitudes and the way we speak.
We're not designed for that.
We are actually given a way outof that so that we don't have
to live in that, because ifyou've ever gotten hurt bad in
your life whether it'srelationships, whether it's
physical, mental, emotional,fill in the blank with whatever
(05:50):
spiritual and maybe you've beenchurch, hurt our church.
For some reason we have.
We have attracted people whohave been church hurt and they
come in and they feel they feelalive again, they feel like
they've been, their wounds havebeen healed and, um, it's a
pretty amazing thing the way Godis using our church.
We see new people come in andyou find out later that they've
(06:15):
been really hurt in church andpeople have done things wrong in
the body and I believe it'skind of backwards of the way God
designed the church to be.
That being said, so let's goback to our notes before I get
sidetracked, because that couldbe another episode on itself of
how church should really looklike, what church should really
(06:35):
be.
It's easy to let fear guide ourdecisions, especially when every
headline or social media postseems more unsettling than the
last.
It irritates me.
Politics irritates me.
Why?
(06:55):
Because not that you shouldn'tdo your due diligence of you
know, researching, voting,whatever that case, whatever it
looks like for you in yourcountry, some of you watching
other countries, whatever itlooks like for you.
Whoever's in the office here inAmerica, east Texas, whoever's
in the office, the Bible says,whether we like them or not,
we're supposed to pray for thembecause God allows for them to
(07:19):
be there.
He is a sovereign God, whichmeans he is in full control
Everybody who comes in there.
He is God.
He has allowed it to happen.
So, that being said, you needto do what you're supposed to do
and I need to do what I'msupposed to do, and that is pray
for our leaders, evenespecially if I think we don't
(07:40):
like them, because that puts usin a place of humility, to
submit ourselves to the notionthat the Bible tells us to pray
over our enemies.
Even David says you sit, youprepare a table for me in the
midst of my enemies.
So there's a common theme inthe word that we're supposed to
(08:02):
look at our enemies differentthan the world does.
I mean look at Jesus.
I give this example all the time.
Jesus did a lot of cool thingsin his ministry and his walk on
this earth, but one of the coolthings that Jesus did to me that
I don't know if I could havedone yes, lay down his life.
You know you start squirrelingand trying to find a way out
when you're facing imminentdeath.
But I'm talking about like hewashed the feet of Judas when he
(08:27):
knew he was going to betray him.
I don't know if I could do that.
I want to kind of and I'm beinghonest like this is a guy
that's going to stab me in theback.
But also I know that the Bibledoes promise that everything
that happens in our life good,bad, the ugly that he will work
(08:47):
it together for our good, forthe good of those that love the
Lord.
Which means I have to submit mylife to God completely and that
means that whatever he decidesto allow to happen or make
happen, however you want to lookat it, whoever he wants to put
in my path, whether they arethere to destroy me, to try to
(09:07):
trip me, to try to whateverfaith that is not tested usually
won't persevere because it hasno.
It's like working out in a gym.
Okay, if I go and stand in themiddle of a gym and I look at
weights and I watch other peoplelifting weights, I watch other
people on the treadmill, there'sabsolutely no benefit to me
(09:29):
being in the gym.
The same is with you in churchand reading the word and praying
and praising.
There's absolutely no benefitfor you to watch other people do
live Christian lives, to actlike they love life.
It takes action on our part andso, that being said, some of us
(09:51):
think we are, and, especiallyif I talk about Catholics, they
really love my channel.
They like they'll write meparagraphs of things that they
don't like about me and all thisother stuff, and they have no
clue what's going on.
Don't like about me and allthis other stuff, and they have
no clue what's going on.
But we allow things that we seeposted on social media to pull
(10:18):
something out of us and make ussometimes be a person we're
actually not proud of when weare settled down and we look
back.
So I want you, as the believer,to and if you're not a believer,
you can use this as well tohave a plan beforehand that you
don't react out of emotion butyou respond.
Respond out of logic, wisdom,knowledge.
(10:43):
Use these things to yourbenefit.
So you already have a plan setup in motion and that will help
when something does come upagainst you.
You will have a better footingon a firm foundation because you
(11:03):
have decided that you are goingto respond this way.
You're going to do it this way.
This is how you have chosen to.
If you have a financial crisis,what's the plan?
If your marriage is on therocks?
What's the plan If yourchildren are acting out?
(11:24):
A lot of these?
These are the three majorthings.
You have finances, religion, umuh what.
Sex and marriage.
Things like that, like thesethree things right here, are
well known to be either a agreat atmosphere of marriage if
(11:44):
these few things are all inorder and the spouses are on the
same page, or they can be thedetriment, they can be the
stumbling blocks of a marriageto where, if you're not on the
same page with your finances,you keep spending.
You keep spending.
You keep spending, even ifyou're on the same page, but
you're both spenders.
Guess what?
You're going to be broke.
That's the way it is.
(12:05):
You only have a certain amountof money and that's controlled
by how much you work and bringin.
After that, there's nothing.
So if you're not on the samepage with money, if you're not
on the same page with sex, ifyou're not on the same page with
raising your children, withyour religion, your church
preferences, things like that,you're not going to survive very
(12:26):
long because you immediatelyare welcoming division into the
marriage before it even begins.
And some are so jealous.
What do you call it?
A branch from a tree, familytree, a branch of jealousy is
(12:50):
stemmed from or it producesanger, it produces a fear of
someone else being able to comein and take what you believe is
yours, and so All these things.
And then on top of that andthat's just regular life then on
top of that you see otherpeople on social media or the
(13:13):
news or whatever you listen toand watch.
You see all these negativethings, these bad, bad instances
, bad stories, this and thatthis politician is doing this
and oh, now this one's doingthis over here, and then this
guy guy said this and this ladysaid this, and it's just like
this constant, there's neverpeace.
And so we allow things likethat to steal our peace.
(13:35):
And what follows the absence ofpeace is usually fear, anger
and all a bunch of otheremotions that in reality you
could have sidestepped all thatand been free from that If you
would allow the joy of the Lordto be your strength, the peace
of the Lord to calm your mind,and if you would not have the
(13:56):
spirit of fear be in your house,your life would be different.
Your life would actually befulfilling, enjoyable,
satisfying.
And this is the life that Goddesires for every believer.
This is not something that'slike a mystical thing that only
certain levels of preachers orchurch lady or whatever like
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this is for every believer.
It doesn't mean that everythingin your life is going to be
perfect.
That doesn't mean your marriageis going to be perfect, your
kids are going to be perfect,you're going to have the perfect
job, you're going to have thelargest finances.
That has nothing to do withpeace and joy, and this is the
false synthetic that the deviltries to sell to us A false joy,
a false sense of hope, a falsesense of well-being and
satisfaction, when only thosecan actually be found in a life
(14:43):
full of the word, full of theHoly Spirit, deep into a
relationship with God and withJesus.
Like these are the things thatmatter.
It should matter to everybeliever, and I believe
sometimes we are so lazy in ourwalk and then we get five years
down the road when we were onfire for God, we were living a
life we enjoyed and we loved,and then we get five years down
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the road when we were on firefor God, we were living a life
we enjoyed and we loved, andthen we had five years down the
road and we're like well, whathappened?
Well, I guarantee you, if youstop and look, I'm all about
self-examination.
If you've been following thispodcast, if you follow my church
which I hope you do you cansearch on Instagram, facebook,
youtube, and now I put my churchon podcast as of this week of
(15:25):
recording this.
You can look forconnectchurchlongview or go
connectchurchlife for all of ourstuff and all these things.
I forgot where I was going withthat, but I just plugged the
church.
So it doesn't matter All thesethings.
They produce chaos in our lives, and so, if you're like me, and
(15:48):
most people are, you canconsume so much and not realize
that your bag has become so fullthat you're about to bust at
the seams, and not in a good way.
So it's like you miss out onthe blessings of God.
You miss out on the wisdom ofGod, on the knowledge of God,
you miss out on being led by thespirit of God, on conversations
that God was trying to have youhave in the middle of your
(16:10):
obstacle.
That was actually anopportunity, and all you could
see was the negative, becauseyour bag is so full and so, if
you know this, by just regularlogical, physical stuff, if your
bag is full and you try to putmore in it, it will fall out on
the side and it can't actuallybe filled with the stuff God
desires for us.
(16:30):
And that's the danger of havingfear in your life.
It will rob you of peace, itwill rob you of joy, it will rob
you of being fulfilled, becauseyou always think something like
the other shoe's about to drop,something like the other shoe
is about to drop, and this canbring depression, this can bring
anxiety, this can bringhopelessness, and these are not
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fruit of the Spirit.
God desires for every believerto have a fulfilled life, full
of love, peace, all the fruit ofthe Spirit.
He desires for us to have it.
So this scripture let's go backup to the scripture again, for
(17:14):
God has not given us a spirit offear or timidity, but a power,
love and self-discipline.
This scripture reminds us thatfear does not have to be our
permanent mindset.
We've been equipped withresources that are stronger than
any fear we might face.
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I don't know if you're in ahospital bed, maybe you're in a
jail cell, or maybe you've justlost a loved one, or you've
gotten divorced, or maybe yougot divorced and you lost your
kids.
I've been there.
I almost lost my child and,through the grace of God, now he
lives with me full time.
There are things that shook mylife and to this day I could
(18:07):
still be holding on to thosethings.
But instead, when I gave myheart to God and I gave my life
to God and I vowed to God thatwhatever he wanted I was okay
with.
And as soon as I began to dothat in my life, it was like the
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things that I truly desired inmy heart.
He began to put them in my lap.
One thing after another with mywife.
Another thing with serving inministry, which I didn't even
have really a desire to.
I just was serving and thepastor began to elevate me
because he saw my servant'sheart.
(18:50):
And then the thing with mychild, my teenager, living with
me full-time in the summerbetween second and third grade.
It was a God thing where shejust gave him to me and said you
can be the custodial parent.
I didn't even ask for that.
Everything that was truly myheart's desire.
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How do I?
Let me give you an example ofhow my son's part was, my
heart's desire, that I neveractually verbalized before God.
I never prayed for my son tolive with me full time.
I didn't think it was possible.
But what I did pray was youremember Abraham, when he took
his firstborn Isaac?
That was actually a promisefrom God.
(19:32):
He took it up the side of themountain and God told him to
sacrifice his son.
This was a test of obedience.
Okay, god will test yourobedience.
And so, as my wife and I wasmoving kind of up in the church,
so to speak, we I was doingmusic and then we got asked to
do youth pastor.
And then, um, soon after it was, uh, soon after it was, uh,
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youth pastor and then associatepastor, and but in this time I
found myself when I just cryingand praying to God because I'm
thinking in my head, likeAbraham, I'm like I'm going to
have to, because I can't, Idon't know where God's taking me
, but I know it's not here, likethis is not our permanent place
.
And so I cried and I prayed, Isaid, lord, I truly mean this
(20:16):
from the bottom of my heart Ifyou, if your desire is for us to
go somewhere else and you'reworking things out.
I give the whole situation withmy son over to you and to me.
In my mind, I was picturing mebeing Abraham and laying my son
on the altar before God andsaying whatever your desire is
(20:38):
is also mine.
And it was not long after thatthat I got a phone call from his
mom about getting him.
And I can't even, I couldn'thave even orchestrated it myself
, and that was right after mywife and I bought our first home
, so we would actually have thespace, instead of a tiny little
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apartment, to have him full-timeand have him have a yard and,
you know, the woods and down bythe lake.
And it was just like one thingafter another.
God aligned it, but he waswaiting for me to not be
controlled or manipulated by aspirit of fear, by a spirit of
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fear, but to give that to God,to give that control and that
space and that place of my heartand my mind to not be
manipulated, controlled orinfluenced by the fear of moving
and losing my son, becausethat's what would have happened.
I literally would have had nowwe're in Longview at the time
where they were living.
That would have been threehours away, there's no way
working and everything else thatI could make that trip on a
Friday and make it on a Sunday.
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A Sunday would be a lot easier,but Fridays would nearly be
impossible.
Longview I had no clue we werecoming to Longview until 2019.
(22:12):
So all these things that justGod orchestrated and ordained
and aligned.
But it was after I realized andI internalized this next verse
Look at this with me.
Isaiah 41, 10,.
It says don't be afraid, for Iam with you.
Don't be discouraged, for I amyour God.
I will strengthen you and helpyou.
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I will hold you up with myvictorious hand.
Here God directly speaks to ourhearts and he says I am with
you.
The very creator of theuniverse is with us in every
(22:54):
single trial.
It's more than just acomforting thought.
It is a biblical truth.
We are not left to handlelife's difficulties by ourselves
.
Instead, we're upheld by hisvictorious right hand.
I don't know if you know this ornot, but God is not ever lost.
(23:14):
He has never broken a promise,he is never lacking, he has
never lied.
And so if he has never lackedand he has never lied, then his
promises, from cover to cover inthe word of god, are true,
which means that every time.
And see, you got to understandthis.
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I know we like to placeourselves in the bible and say,
yes, that's yes, lord, Ireceived that word.
But understand that the theBible was written for us, not to
us.
So it was description, somepoetic, some story, some just
describing what was going on inthe timelines and everything
(23:57):
like the four gospels, fourdifferent accounts that were
overlapping just to give usdifferent perspectives.
You can see how the writerswrote different and the phrasing
and stuff like that.
But the same stories, justdifferent overlaps.
That solidifies every singlestory from each individual
writer.
But everything that is writtenin the Word of God is who God is
(24:24):
, so it's describing Hischaracter.
So this right here in Isaiah 41,we see the characteristic of a
God that does not leave the sideof His people, people and New
(24:46):
Testament, you have Jesus.
That was come.
He is the Messiah, he is theone that died for our sin.
He died for everyone's sin, buthis ministry was for the Jews.
And then, when Paul came intothe story, and then you have
some of the disciples thatbranch over with Paul, of the
(25:08):
disciples that branch over withPaul, he was for the Gentiles,
and so this right here is forevery believer that we will not
be left alone, that we do nothave to be afraid.
We don't have to fear, we don'thave to be discouraged, for God
promises that he is with us,not because this specific
scripture is written to you orto me, because it's not, but
it's written about the promiseand character of God, and so
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that's how you can look atscripture and know that it is
true.
For today is because when Godsays something, he is not a liar
and he is sovereign.
So that means at the time ofwriting and speaking to a
certain people, he also knew acertain people.
You and me would be reading itlater.
He is so powerful and soall-knowing that he can see
(25:56):
simultaneously then of what theyneeded to hear, and also know
that it would reach us heretoday and be used to encourage
us, to remind us of God'scharacter, that he will not
leave us, and that it wouldreach us here today and be used
to encourage us, to remind us ofGod's character, that he will
not leave us and that he willlift us up by his victorious
right hand.
Okay, so God speaks directly tous, the creator of the universe
(26:16):
, and says I am with you Now.
That's powerful.
So if you have some fear in yourlife or you've been questioning
things, when I find myselfworried about tomorrow, I remind
myself God is with me now.
It doesn't mean everythingchanges overnight.
It doesn't mean everything ismagically going to be different
(26:39):
when I wake up in the morningit's all going to be rainbows
and butterflies and life is justgoing to be perfect.
But it does help me with myperspective and how I see things
, how I see God, how I see theway he works, how I see the way
he moves.
And I don't know if you've everbeen through this before, but
even if you're in a terribleseason now, you're in a terrible
(26:59):
time of your life and you got alot of pain, a lot of heartache
, a lot of trouble, a lot ofstruggle.
I guarantee you, if you lookback and stop focusing on where
you are right now and the thingsyou're going through, just sit
in a quiet place and meditate onall that God has done outside
of where you are, it willencourage you from where you
came from, what he brought youout of, and it will encourage
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you, where you are right now, tonot fear and to believe that
his scripture is true, his wordsare true, they do not return
void that he is with you and youdo not have to fear.
So that gives us a confidencein scripture, a confidence in
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the characteristic of God, thatwe do not have to fear because
God is with us.
So what's some practical waysto strengthen our faith?
Okay, I'm going to give yousome things that you want to
write this down.
I don't have it on the screen,but please write it down on a
post-it note, do it on yourphone, make a little note as you
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listen.
But I give my people thisencouragement we just started
the discipleship class on aWednesday night Bible study and
my wonderful wife is teaching itand I'm kind of partnering with
her a little bit.
I get excited about stuff likethis, so I have to say something
.
She probably wishes I'd shut up, but I just sit down.
But, uh, I do this thing whereI challenge my church almost
(28:29):
every single Sunday and we're um, I do the same, um, we're doing
the same in the site discipleclass and we are doing a five,
five and five every single day.
That means five minutes ofprayer, five minutes of reading
the word, five minutes ofpraising the Lord every day,
preferably before you start yourday.
Now some of you may wake up,hit the ground running.
You got kids, you got all thesethings to do.
(28:50):
But even if it's in your quiettime, between going from home to
the school to drop them off orback from dropping them off back
home, or to work or whatever itmay be, make time, make good
use of your time.
Five minutes of praying, fiveminutes of reading a word, five
(29:13):
minutes of praising the Lordevery single day.
So practical ways.
Living out a steady faith is alot easier when you take little
bites and you start small.
There's this saying that.
I guess it's supposed to be abrain teaser, or they asked a
kid, I don't remember which one.
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time?
So don't try to overcomplicategetting back into reading
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Scripture this new year.
Don't overcomplicate.
Like well, last year I didn'tmake it through the YouVersion
app that Life Church put out.
They have a way where you cango in there and you can do a 365
, you know, every day, read somescripture to make it to the
Bible in a year.
Maybe you made it through 10days last year and you're.
(29:58):
Don't beat yourself up thisyear, make it through 20.
Even if you only have fiveminutes a day.
But I guarantee you, when youbegin to dig into scripture and
you get excited about it, youcan't get enough and you want to
do more, you want to learn more, you want to dive in more.
I do that all the time.
My wife was laughing at mebecause I have a book that
(30:20):
someone gave me me, because Ihave a book that someone gave me
and it's called systematictheology.
It is not a light read beforebedtime but I started reading it
and it was just like there's somuch and I'm actually I
probably am going to use it formy sermon in these Sundays and
just kind of break it down insmaller bites and spread it out
(30:43):
over a series or something,because there's just so much in
there that believers need toknow and there needs to be
understanding in the church andnot just always a feel good
message or you know, those arenice but like the church needs
to be challenged in theirtheology, challenged on what
they believe, to know what theyshould believe, like sound
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theology should be coming fromthe pulpit.
So anyways, five, five and five.
So these are kind of broke downin four, four different things.
So daily scripture reading makeit a priority to read or listen
to the Bible each day.
Even a few minutes in themorning or bedtime can reshape
how you view your circumstances.
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Allow God's word to anchor yourthoughts.
When you remember we justtalked about God's
characteristics when youremember who God is and you
remember what he has done, itgives you more faith to sustain
you through where you are.
So number two.
So number one was dailyscripture reading, even if it's
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a little tiny.
Don't bash the small steps.
They count as long as they'regoing in the right direction.
Number two frequent prayer.
Instead of letting prayer be alast resort I've said this
before to my church a lot oftimes for prayer, we end up
asking God to fix aftersomething is wrong or we're sick
, or this and that.
(32:06):
But what about preemptiveprayer?
Like?
What about praising God?
Like when Jesus was teachingthe disciples how to pray, how
did he start off?
He started talking about howgreat God was, how big God was,
how glorious he was.
He was praising God and then hebegan to ask for some things.
How glorious he was, I mean, hewas praising God and then he
began to ask for some things,which is good.
God desires for us to ask.
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He desires us to petition himand ask for things.
That is not out of line at all.
Do never think that God is like, oh, this guy again.
God wants to hear from you.
God wants to hear the cries ofyour heart, like God wants to
hear the cries of your heart,but he also wants you to talk to
him and actually not come tohim.
(32:49):
For instance, let's get alittle adult.
If you're a child watching,please plug your ears.
Or a child listening.
If I only communicated with mywife when I wanted sex, that is
the most unhealthy marriage thatyou can have.
(33:10):
That's the facts.
So that intimacy.
So let's come back from the,from the dirty that intimacy
with my wife is produced morethat I desire if I am in
relationship with her, with god.
(33:30):
He desires for intimacy with usand him, not the same as
marriage, don't get weird.
But he desires us to have acloseness with him to where,
when we're hurting, it hurts himand when he is hurting, it
should hurt us, like for peoplewho don't know him, for people
(33:53):
who are far from him or thosewho have ran from him.
It should grieve us, it shouldhurt us, it should break our
hearts that they don't wantanything to do with God.
And so some of us act like that.
The example I used in mymarriage we act like that with
God.
We only deal with God, or prayto God, when we want something
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that benefits us, and that isnot how God wants.
That's not a relationship, notat all.
That's a grocery list or a slotmachine, and you apply that
principle.
That's why we have so manydivorces.
You apply that principle toanything else and just you're
out for what you want, you getwhat you get, and then the other
(34:35):
person who cares?
That's how we treat God.
We have been conditioned by theway we do things and we apply
that to a holy God and hedeserves rightfully so, more
than that.
He deserves more attention thanthat.
He deserves more relationshipwith that.
We should honor him, which iswhat I do with my wife.
(34:55):
So all those extra benefitsthat I really enjoy and I desire
, I get those because I honorher, I uplift her, I listen to
her, I hold her, I talk to herlike she is my best friend.
So I benefit in so many otherways, and then I benefit in the
(35:16):
intimacy ways, naturally.
And so the same with God.
When we pray, when we know him,when we're being led by his
spirit, when we listen to hisspirit, when we know him from
his word, we understand hischaracteristic.
We already know him.
So those benefits of ourprayers being answered, our
bodies being healed, him sothose benefits of our prayers
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being answered, our bodies beinghealed, our marriages being
restored, our kids staying closeto the Lord, those things are
the benefits that we reap whenwe already have been cultivating
that relationship with God.
So our will is in line withGod's will.
And so God desires something.
He desires to heal, he desiresto restore, he desires this and
that fill in the blank withwhatever.
(35:57):
And we already know thatbecause we have been cultivating
that relationship already, youknow what I mean.
So frequent prayer that'snumber two.
Instead of letting prayer be alast resort, make it your first
response in moments of tensionor worry.
Pause for a quick prayer, askGod for guidance, ask God for
(36:19):
peace and the ability to trustHim more deeply.
And number three is veryimportant Intentional gratitude.
Actively look for reasons to begrateful, even in chaos.
There are blessings, Health,friendships.
(36:41):
I mean I thank Him for the newsunrises.
This is kind of funny and somepeople may think it's dumb, but
when I'm in traffic and I get agreen light that I'm about to
come on, it's red and I come upon it, it turns green.
I don't have to stop.
I thank God for it.
I know that sounds weird, butI'm very grateful for that.
(37:03):
Here in Longview they havethese petitions in between these
curbs, in between the six lane,three lane, four lane, whatever
it is.
So you have to.
You have to literally get inthis turn lane and then make a
U-turn to get back on the otherside of the road, like you can't
just zip across all the traffic, you have to go down with the
flow and then make a U-turn andcome back.
It's all up and down the mainroad here and so when I'm doing
(37:27):
that and there's this massivebreak where I can turn around
and I don't really have to sitthere and wait for a while, I
thank God for it.
I know that's weird, but I wantGod to be included in
everything that I do Like it.
That kind of stuff reallymatters to me, so I want to make
sure that God knows.
I am appreciative of just thesmall things that probably most
(37:49):
people take for granted and sointentional gratitude.
I want to look for a reason tobe thankful.
It's important to me for him toknow that I'm grateful.
Talk about marriage again Withmy wife Now.
Fellas or women, whoever cooks,listen to the, or whoever
doesn't cook in the house orwhatever, or whoever sits at the
(38:13):
house or gets off work and youcome home and food is ready, or
someone always picks up food.
Whatever your situation may be,this will make sense in a
second.
Every single time that we sitdown to eat food, we all sit at
the.
Every night, we sit at thetable.
(38:34):
There is no exception.
No matter how late we get onfrom church or whatever on a
Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday, we always sit together and we
begin to eat.
And every single meal, I tellmy wife thank you for the food,
every single meal, because Iknow she spent time and her
(38:55):
effort doing something that shehonestly didn't have to.
She could have just said figureit out for yourself, but she's
so gracious to be the mother ofthe house that does that.
My point is how many things areyou in your life whether it's in
your relationships or your kidsor whatever like?
How many times do you overlookthings that you really should be
(39:15):
grateful for because you'vegotten used to them, and whether
it's in your relationships oryour kids or whatever like?
How many times do you overlookthings that you really should be
grateful for because you'vegotten used to them and now it's
just the common nature of thehouse or your relationships and
you actually aren't beinggrateful.
You're just expecting it to bedone when you come in.
I want to have a grateful heartbefore my wife, the same with
God.
I want to have a grateful heartbefore my wife, the same with
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God.
I want to have a grateful heartbefore the Father.
To me it's important.
So, number four so that wasintentional gratitude.
Number three.
Number four serving others.
Sometimes the best way to movebeyond your own worries is to
help those around you.
A small act of kindness canremind us that we're a part of
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something bigger than ourindividual fears.
So let's talk about trustingGod's peace.
So let's read this scripturefrom Philippians, chapter 4, 6
through 7.
Don't worry about anything.
Instead, pray about everything.
So what is pray abouteverything?
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This is an all full, blanket,all encompassed statement.
It's not just things.
It's not praying for thingsthat you need, it's actually
praying for everything.
This means talking to justconversation with the Lord.
He cares that much about us,which blows my mind because I
could think of just 10 thingsoff the top of my head of why he
(40:41):
shouldn't care to talk to me.
But he does.
Don't worry about anything.
Instead, pray about everything,tell God what you need and
thank him for all he has done.
Then so it's saying do this andthen you will experience God's
peace, which exceeds anything wecan understand.
His peace there's the wordagain.
(41:03):
His peace will guard your heartand minds as you live in Christ
Jesus.
So I think this is incrediblycomforting, because we're
encouraged to not only rejectworry but pray about everything.
Nothing is too small or too bigfor God.
(41:28):
He desires to hear from you.
When we choose prayer overanxiety, over depression, over
fear, and combine it withthanksgiving for past blessings
and future promises, god's peacewill guard our hearts and our
(41:52):
minds.
This peace goes beyond thehuman logic.
I told my church this the lastcouple of weeks.
I said you know, most peoplewon't really pay attention to
you until you really start goingthrough something.
And as soon as you start goingthrough something now, they're
watching you to see what you do,especially if they know you're
(42:12):
a Christian.
People pay attention.
So how will you respond?
How will you be in a momentwhen every other logical mindset
says you should be angry, youshould be fearful, you should be
anxious, you should bedepressed, you should go out and
drink, you should go out thereand really just get hammered, or
(42:37):
you should use this substance.
It'll take the edge off, fillit in with whatever you want to
fill it in with.
But that kind of stuff, thatkind of mindset, is a worldly
mindset and you, as a Christian,should not be thinking that way
, because it will rob you ofyour peace, it will rob you of
your joy, it will rob you ofyour peace, it will rob you of
your joy, it will rob you ofyour relationship with Christ.
(42:58):
God's peace will guard yourheart and your mind.
The peace goes beyond humanlogic.
It's not dependent on whethercircumstances are perfect.
It's rooted in our relationshipwith Jesus Christ, who is with
us in every trial.
(43:20):
When things come up and thingshappen, it is a natural response
to feel anxious.
It is, and to not be in thatstate of mind when something
happens takes years of trainingand being in places where you
should be anxious, but gettingyour head more level, uh, like,
(43:44):
some people it's a fight, fightor flight.
Some people can't handle it andthey just take off running.
They leave their whole family,like if you get a snake around
me, listen, I'm gonna'm going topush you down, I'm going to run
so it gets you and not me,because anxious being fearful
can.
It's a very real emotion.
Being anxious, depressed,letting things weigh us down to
(44:08):
get us down, it's a very naturalresponse.
So we have to retrain our mind,we have to retrain our hearts
and we have to allow the HolySpirit to do a work in us that
will change us and transform usinto a new mind, into a new way
of thinking, into a new way offeeling, a new perspective.
(44:31):
And that's the whole purpose ofthe word of God to show us that
God will be faithful in thesetypes of things.
Just let him do what only hecan do, and he is faithful and
he is present, even when hefeels like he is absent.
If you're feeling overwhelmed,I hope that you let some of
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these truths sink in that wetalked about today Meditate on
the scripture, take true timeout of what you do every day.
Okay, say you got 15 kids.
I know some people they got toomany kids.
They really needed the TV.
They didn't get one.
I guess I don't know, or theydon't know how to work it.
That is going to weigh down andtake up every opportunity of
(45:15):
your day until you pass out inthe bed that night after work,
after kids, after getting themall in bed, bathed, sleep, fed,
all the stuff, hopefully not inthat order and you get to the
bed and all you want to do isjust close your eyes and your
morning probably started offjust reverse of that your eyes
open and it's time to go.
Got to go put on the pot ofcoffee.
(45:35):
So you have your sanity.
Got to go start with thelittlest kid and get them up,
because they take the longest toget up and work your way up,
whatever the case may be.
So it may not be that everysingle day you can actually find
a quiet place and get alonewith God.
But if you have to, whatever ittakes, even if it's putting
(45:55):
time on the calendar, and tellyour husband or your wife listen
, I need my God time for theweek.
Give me an hour, why not?
So find a way to meditate, finda time to meditate on the
scripture, bring your concernsto God in prayer and remember
(46:17):
that he promised to be yoursolid rock in shifting sand.
Life may be unpredictable, butfaithfulness of our heavenly
father is always unwavering.
So I hope today, if you neededthis, or maybe you know somebody
(46:39):
that needs this, share thisvideo with them.
Let them know that they don'thave to live with anxious
thoughts, they don't have tolive with fear in their hearts,
they don't have to wonder what'scoming and worry about what's
going to happen tomorrow, thatwe have a savior, we have a good
, gracious God that cares somuch that he promised us that he
will always be with us.
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