Speaker 1: Welcome to Transformation Church Podcast, where we represent God to
Speaker 1: the lost and found for transformation in Christ. We're so
Speaker 1: glad you're here and wherever you're listening from, we believe
Speaker 1: God will transform your life. Do today's message.
Speaker 2: We're gonna jump into the Word Today's anybody ready for
Speaker 2: the Word today?
Speaker 3: All right, let's get cooking.
Speaker 2: If you can open up your bibles to Psalm chapter
Speaker 2: number three, Psalm chapter number.
Speaker 3: Three, it's kind of in the middle of your Bible,
Speaker 3: kind of sort of.
Speaker 2: We're in week two of a series called Fearless, and
Speaker 2: last week was the first week, and we kind of
Speaker 2: talked around this idea last week, which is fear is
Speaker 2: what happens when your self awareness outpaces your God awareness.
Speaker 2: Fears what happens when your self awareness outpaces your God awareness.
Speaker 2: And what I mean by that is when you are
Speaker 2: thinking more about you, your capacity to handle something, your ability.
Speaker 3: To navigate a situation.
Speaker 2: Oftentimes you will start to experience fear because you're thinking.
Speaker 3: About yourself more than you're thinking about God.
Speaker 2: And this is proven in Man's first experience of fear.
Speaker 2: The first time fear is ever mentioned in the Bible
Speaker 2: is Genesis chapter number three and Adam says, I was
Speaker 2: afraid because I was naked, so I hid. The catch
Speaker 2: is Adam and Eve were always naked, but this was
Speaker 2: the first time he was thinking more about himself and
Speaker 2: what other people thought about him than he was thinking
Speaker 2: about God. And when that happens, you start to experience fear.
Speaker 2: And I started to go into a rant last week
Speaker 2: of all the intense science that I figured out, which
Speaker 2: I want to appreciate, there was a couple.
Speaker 3: People who DM me. They're like, we was tracking with you,
Speaker 3: We was with you.
Speaker 2: Some of y'all were staring at me with like cross eye.
Speaker 2: But it's all right, not as much science this week,
Speaker 2: so you can calm down.
Speaker 3: We'll be all right. But science actually proves this theory.
Speaker 2: There's a scientist for the last forty years that has
Speaker 2: done work on how your brain experiences two different things,
Speaker 2: fear and danger. And to keep it very short for you,
Speaker 2: pretty much your body experience is danger and fears, two
Speaker 2: completely separate processes. And what that means is your body
Speaker 2: process is danger and threat, responds to it and resolves
Speaker 2: it before it ever decides if it's afraid. Now, we
Speaker 2: experience this all very fast, but in short I'll explain
Speaker 2: it to you this way. If a dangerous situation is
Speaker 2: happening again, we'll give an example.
Speaker 3: You're in the woods, you see a bear and you're like,
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, your body is not afraid.
Speaker 2: First it first goes to amen, we don't mess with bears.
Speaker 3: So it processes, it sends all the signals.
Speaker 2: Your body goes in to fight or flight, whatever, which
Speaker 2: one your bent towards.
Speaker 3: But over here is fear. And you have this thing
Speaker 3: in your brain.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to bore you with the scientific term,
Speaker 2: but it's like a library of fear pretty much.
Speaker 3: And you build this the moment you're born, from how
Speaker 3: you're paying parents raise you, from.
Speaker 2: The environment you grow up in, and it's the fear library.
Speaker 2: And what your brain does is it sees danger and.
Speaker 3: It says, okay, hold on one second, and it goes to.
Speaker 2: The library and it says, guys, what do we know
Speaker 2: about bears? And your brain starts going through the library.
Speaker 2: Bears eat you, Yoga a bear, We need to pooh.
Speaker 2: Bears eat you. Only you can prevent the forest fire.
Speaker 3: Some of y'all know that.
Speaker 2: But you go and your brain goes to that library
Speaker 2: and it comes back and says, yeah, we should be terrified.
Speaker 2: You should definitely run, and your body takes off. Now
Speaker 2: here's where this comes into play. You experience a dangerous
Speaker 2: situation where there's potential layoffs at your job. Your brain
Speaker 2: goes to your library, what do we know about provision
Speaker 2: and security? Well, your brain, some of you know, well,
Speaker 2: we got to provide and we got to make it up.
Speaker 2: And if we don't have money, we're nothing. So your
Speaker 2: body goes back to and says, hey, if we don't
Speaker 2: have money, we're nobody. So we should be terrified. Here's
Speaker 2: a beautiful thing about scripture. The Bible says, don't conform
Speaker 2: to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by
Speaker 2: changing the way you think. The science of that is
Speaker 2: your brain has neural pathways, and what you can do
Speaker 2: is the Holy Spirit will empower you to go to
Speaker 2: your fear library and say, Jesus is my provider, regardless
Speaker 2: of if I have money. So when I go to
Speaker 2: see a dangerous situation about my job, my brain goes to.
Speaker 3: The library and says, oh, that's all right.
Speaker 2: We got Jesus. We're gonna be all right. He's always
Speaker 2: taken care of us. He's always provided for us. He's
Speaker 2: always been there for us, so we don't have to
Speaker 2: be afraid. We get the choice. So this is last week,
Speaker 2: Week two. We're gonna take it a little bit further.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna read a book, a whole book of
Speaker 2: the Bible right now. Not a whole book, sorry, a
Speaker 2: whole chapter old chapter, chapter number three of Psalms. It's
Speaker 2: only eight verses. For some of you who got terrified,
Speaker 2: we also are in church, so what the heck okay?
Speaker 2: Psalms chapter number three, starting in the first verse, is
Speaker 2: what it says, Oh Lord, I have so many enemies,
Speaker 2: So many are against me, so many are saying God
Speaker 2: will never rescue him.
Speaker 3: But you, o Lord, are a shield around me.
Speaker 2: You are my glory, the one who holds my head high.
Speaker 2: I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me.
Speaker 2: From his holy mountain, I lay down and slept, Yet
Speaker 2: I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching
Speaker 2: over me. I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies
Speaker 2: who surround me on every side.
Speaker 3: Arise, O Lord, rescue me. My God. Listen to this.
Speaker 3: This is a great prayer. This is my type of prayer.
Speaker 3: Listen to this.
Speaker 2: Slap all my enemies in the face God. Come on,
Speaker 2: everybody ever want a prayer, prayer like that? Come on,
Speaker 2: embarrass them in front of their mama.
Speaker 3: God. That's why. Look at this nestord. Shatter their teeth
Speaker 3: of the wicked. Come on, they got them fake denters.
Speaker 2: Bust them out they mouth God, look like they got
Speaker 2: fourteen front teeth.
Speaker 3: Goodness, couldn't get it the different sizes.
Speaker 2: Okay, you come on, y'all know those people. It's like
Speaker 2: I got my teeth done. It's like, no, you got
Speaker 2: one tooth multiplied by forty five. We got a whole
Speaker 2: mouth of front teeth. Okay, don't mess with me. I'll
Speaker 2: cut you down.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: Anyways, first number eight victory comes from you.
Speaker 3: Oh Lord, May you bless your people.
Speaker 2: The title of my sermon today for taking notes is
Speaker 2: don't duck the smoke.
Speaker 3: Don't duck the smoke. I ain't ducking no smoke. Lord.
Speaker 3: We love you.
Speaker 2: I pray Lord that you would meet us in this moment,
Speaker 2: that you allow us to experience your presence and your
Speaker 2: peace and change something about who we are, how we think,
Speaker 2: and how we see you.
Speaker 3: And Lord, we just love you. It's and g's same.
Speaker 2: We pray and everybody said, amen, guys, I have some
Speaker 2: bad news. I found out something pretty tough this week,
Speaker 2: and that information is my wife don't think I can fight.
Speaker 2: So somebody come up here and fight me right now
Speaker 2: so I can.
Speaker 3: I'll show you.
Speaker 2: No. This happened last Sunday, and I'm still working through it.
Speaker 2: I got counseling tomorrow.
Speaker 3: And I'm joking.
Speaker 2: But last Sunday, we're out to eat with some of
Speaker 2: our friends, Brian Aaron, and we eat and we're walking
Speaker 2: out of the restaurant after church on Sunday and I
Speaker 2: see we're like walking across the street and I see
Speaker 2: across the street and up the way this group of
Speaker 2: four young men. They are probably between seventeen twenty years old.
Speaker 3: They all look young. And I can say this because
Speaker 3: I know and I was this. I know when people are.
Speaker 2: Looking suspect and doing something they're supposed to be doing,
Speaker 2: and that's how they look.
Speaker 3: They had that look on them. So they're walking this
Speaker 3: way and I already just flagged him, like what are
Speaker 3: they doing? They crazy?
Speaker 2: So we were walking across the street, they're walking this way.
Speaker 2: Well then I see them see us, and I'm just like, okay, whatever,
Speaker 2: and then I see him turn around and they kind
Speaker 2: of start walking back.
Speaker 3: Where we walking.
Speaker 2: I'm like, all right, okay, so we just walking and
Speaker 2: then I'm like, we about to turn this corner. And
Speaker 2: they ain't got no business turning this corner. If they
Speaker 2: turn this corner, I know it's on. That's just how
Speaker 2: my brain work.
Speaker 3: So we turn the corner. Guess what these jokers do.
Speaker 2: They turned the corner, so right when they turn out,
Speaker 2: just for the end of the story, I didn't fight.
Speaker 3: No kids, calm down, but I would have.
Speaker 2: So we turned the corner and me and Aaron. Aaron
Speaker 2: was in the video shout out to Brian. Aaron Aaron
Speaker 2: shout out.
Speaker 3: To baby Ace.
Speaker 2: We're walking and me and Aaron immediately under our breath
Speaker 2: because this is a group of four guys walking behind
Speaker 2: is me and Aaron right here, Abby and bring in
Speaker 2: front of us, and we're walking. So I just slowed
Speaker 2: down my walk and me and Aaron start talking to
Speaker 2: each other. I said, old brother, here we go. He said, Oh,
Speaker 2: it's about to get active. I said, absolutely.
Speaker 3: We just it's the type of time we are on.
Speaker 2: Ain't nothing happening yet, but we just like it can
Speaker 2: get real active. Oh absolutely, yes, sir. Like, so we're
Speaker 2: just walking slowing down. I'm just saying, I ain't look
Speaker 2: back yet, but I'm just like, oh, here we go.
Speaker 3: So we walk our cars right here.
Speaker 2: We walked to the car and we both kind of
Speaker 2: turn around around.
Speaker 3: I open my door like this, ha.
Speaker 2: I open the door and it's just open and I'm
Speaker 2: still looking and they just keep they looking at us,
Speaker 2: but they just keep on walking. I'm like, okay, okay,
Speaker 2: and when ain't no problem, will be no problem. So
Speaker 2: I get in the car. We shut the door and
Speaker 2: immediately we start talking. We're all talking and Breed Breed
Speaker 2: is crazy, y'all.
Speaker 3: She's like, oh my gosh, you.
Speaker 2: See these guys. I thought we was about to fight.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, he was about to go damn. And
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, absolutely. Aaron was like always about to
Speaker 2: get active up in here. And Aaron's like, Bree, what
Speaker 2: do you talk? You don't need to be fighting nobody.
Speaker 2: She's like, oh, I clawed her eyes out, just about
Speaker 2: to get him like a cat. Meanwhile, which I don't
Speaker 2: know what to say about nothing. But Abby's like, what
Speaker 2: are y'all talking about? I didn't see nothing. I'm like, yes,
Speaker 2: you didn't see anything. There ain't nothing to be seen.
Speaker 3: But me and Aaron start talking about our game plan
Speaker 3: if we.
Speaker 2: Would have got jumped in that moment, I'm like, if
Speaker 2: they rather have bow they hit Aaron, well, I'm coming
Speaker 2: over there. Bang, I take him out, and then I
Speaker 2: turn around and I look for the shortest one, just
Speaker 2: because I know how I get down, so.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go for him first. Bam.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, jam, cross, slip, upper cut,
Speaker 2: and then you know them.
Speaker 3: Then I'm back.
Speaker 2: Aaron has then picked up the second one. Body slammed him,
Speaker 2: so he's out. So now it's two on one. Boom
Speaker 2: we out of here, and then we get and then
Speaker 2: what we do. We call the police for them because
Speaker 2: I don't want no issues. The security came, are gonna
Speaker 2: catch it? Hey, there were some young men. They tried
Speaker 2: some grown men and they found out. So that was
Speaker 2: how it went in my head. And it was at
Speaker 2: this moment I found out my wife had all four
Speaker 2: of my kids. Don't think I can fight.
Speaker 3: She was like, I just don't know. I mean, it's
Speaker 3: four of them. What are y'all gonna do? Like, I
Speaker 3: just they do this this is what they do. I
Speaker 3: was like, first of all, you don't know them. What
Speaker 3: do you mean? This is what that? They just walk
Speaker 3: around looking for people to fight. You don't ever fight.
Speaker 2: You're drastically underestimating my crazy though. That's what you're underestimating
Speaker 2: is my crazy. So but me and Aaron are definitely
Speaker 2: people who fall into the category. And honestly, I love
Speaker 2: having friends like this.
Speaker 3: And now the truth is we.
Speaker 2: Don't know how much I can fight. I ain't been
Speaker 2: in a fight since eighth grade. And if you fighting
Speaker 2: as a grown man and it's not your job to
Speaker 2: be fighting what you're doing, come on, man, that's ridiculous.
Speaker 3: You fighting people just and you're not getting paid to
Speaker 3: fight people. That's insane. So now what I don't know?
Speaker 2: My friend said this, I was like, man, I really
Speaker 2: lock in and they take some classes to do something
Speaker 2: because what I do, I don't know. I know my
Speaker 2: fighting doesn't match how crazy I talk. So that's where
Speaker 2: I would get in trouble is because I could verbally
Speaker 2: assault you, but there's not necessarily the skill set to
Speaker 2: match that intensity. The only places I'm looking for a
Speaker 2: fight is in an airport because I know I ain't
Speaker 2: nobody got a gun or a knife.
Speaker 3: So I'm like, oh, we can get down in an airport.
Speaker 3: It's just me and you.
Speaker 2: It's the stuff that go through my mind. Man, like
Speaker 2: that is smart. Yeah, you can take that one right
Speaker 2: down down. Only fight in airports. Okay, it's crazy. Don't
Speaker 2: fly and you want to ever be able to fly again.
Speaker 3: But there's this term.
Speaker 2: My friend, he'd be saying it all the time. But
Speaker 2: it's like, I ain't afraid of no smoke. And now
Speaker 2: if you don't know what that is, the smoke is
Speaker 2: like if there's a fight, I ain't ducking no smoke,
Speaker 2: like I will we can run it right now. And
Speaker 2: for me, I generally feel that way, like, no, that
Speaker 2: smoke where we at, Let's go, let's run it.
Speaker 3: I don't even know if I can really fight.
Speaker 2: And eighth grade, it was a kid shoved me, bam
Speaker 2: hit him in the face.
Speaker 3: The fight was broke up. So is that a fight?
Speaker 3: May I hit him?
Speaker 2: He didn't hit me, so we don't know. I counted
Speaker 2: as a fight. But I got one strong punch, I
Speaker 2: know that. So but here's what I know about smoke.
Speaker 2: There's a difference between smoke and a fire and smoke
Speaker 2: is not fire and fire is not smoke. Why Because
Speaker 2: smoke possesses no power in it of itself.
Speaker 3: You can't even technically fight smoke.
Speaker 2: I mean, think about it like a firefighter if there's
Speaker 2: a building that's on fire. When they run into the building,
Speaker 2: they see the smoke, but they know the smoke is
Speaker 2: not the issue. The smoke is not why I'm here.
Speaker 2: The smoke is a little bit dangerous because it can
Speaker 2: get inside my lungs and they can get me disoriented
Speaker 2: and it can get me a little confused.
Speaker 3: But I'm not worried about the smoke.
Speaker 2: I need to find the fire because the fire is
Speaker 2: where the problem is. The fire is where this thing
Speaker 2: will keep growing. The fire is what can continue to
Speaker 2: hurt you. And here's what I want to talk about
Speaker 2: this morning using the analogy of smoking fire, and that
Speaker 2: is I believe we have gravely misunderstood the relationship between
Speaker 2: anxiety and fear. Now, before I get into it, just
Speaker 2: by show if hands. I'm gonna ask you to be vulnerable, humble,
Speaker 2: open and transparent. If you have dealt with any type
Speaker 2: of anxiety or or feeling anxious about anything, can you
Speaker 2: just raise your hand, just come on for a moment.
Speaker 2: First thing I want you to do is look around
Speaker 2: the room. When you anxious, it convinces you you're crazy.
Speaker 2: Look at us, We're all crazy, everybody's But anxiety is
Speaker 2: this feeling and worry about like, oh my gosh, what
Speaker 2: is this gonna happen? This's gonna happen, And society tells
Speaker 2: us that we live in the most anxious time ever.
Speaker 3: There's a book that came out. It was called The
Speaker 3: Anxious Generation.
Speaker 2: They labeled a whole gener anxious generation of anxiety that
Speaker 2: is plaguing our nation and our world. And I started
Speaker 2: thinking about this because the truth is the world isn't
Speaker 2: worse off than it was in other times.
Speaker 3: Like we love to whatever generation is current.
Speaker 2: We love to think like this is the worst time
Speaker 2: in the world and the world is gonna end, which
Speaker 2: is kind of a beef I have sometimes the Christians.
Speaker 2: When Christians are like, this is the worst it's ever
Speaker 2: been and the world's gonna end, you know, they were like, yeah,
Speaker 2: they were feeding Christians to lions back in the day,
Speaker 2: and there were wars where they were like grouping up
Speaker 2: people and gasing them.
Speaker 3: So I don't maybe, but just calm down. For a second.
Speaker 3: But here's the idea.
Speaker 2: The world is not worse, our capacity to handle it
Speaker 2: has gotten worse. And there are some things that I
Speaker 2: think are leading to our anxiety. And I did a
Speaker 2: lot of research this past week. But there are a
Speaker 2: couple of things that are super important to understand, which
Speaker 2: is our access to information, the increase of our options
Speaker 2: and choices. And I wrote it down this last one
Speaker 2: to make sure I say it right, is our expectations.
Speaker 2: All of these things have increased as time has gone on,
Speaker 2: so our access to information. You grew up earlier, long,
Speaker 2: long time ago, your tribe, your crew of people was
Speaker 2: maybe one hundred people. Maybe that's the only people you knew,
Speaker 2: and the only information you knew is what they knew.
Speaker 2: And the only thing you were worried about is what
Speaker 2: they were worried about. And the only thing you had
Speaker 2: to pray about was what they were praying about. The
Speaker 2: only thing you had to worry about was what they
Speaker 2: were with. Now you can wake up on your phone
Speaker 2: and see any and everything everywhere, And if my take
Speaker 2: is beautiful as that is, I don't know if our
Speaker 2: brains bodies in chemistry was set up to have access
Speaker 2: to that much information. Our information has increased, our choices
Speaker 2: have increased.
Speaker 3: When you grew up, it's like what job am I
Speaker 3: gonna have? You gonna have the job your daddy have?
Speaker 3: This is gonna do.
Speaker 2: Our name is Smith, We are black Smith's. That's how
Speaker 2: it worried with Smith. We hit metal as what you did.
Speaker 2: So now you have more options, you have more choices,
Speaker 2: and somehow we think these more choices would make it easier.
Speaker 3: It makes it way more difficult because you have decision.
Speaker 2: Fatigued, so you're overwhelmed and you're anxious about it. While
Speaker 2: all these things have gone up, our connection to community
Speaker 2: has gone down, our resilience has gone down, and our
Speaker 2: shared purpose has all gone down, leading to a bunch
Speaker 2: of smoke. Here's the point for today's message that I
Speaker 2: think will help a lot of you. Anxiety is the
Speaker 2: smoke to the fire of fear. Anxiety is the smoke
Speaker 2: to the fire of fear.
Speaker 3: Here's what I mean by that.
Speaker 2: If you are dealing with anxiety, I want you to know,
Speaker 2: first off, it's valid, and it's a really big deal.
Speaker 2: It's a really big deal, and you have to deal
Speaker 2: with it. You have to address it because here's the
Speaker 2: interesting fact, I found out seventy five percent of people
Speaker 2: who die in a fire, they don't die from fire,
Speaker 2: they die from the smoke. They die from breathing that
Speaker 2: in the same way people are dying from anxiety because
Speaker 2: it distorts your reality.
Speaker 3: It gets in your lugs and has you thinking different.
Speaker 3: You can't see where.
Speaker 2: You really are, you don't know what's really going on,
Speaker 2: and it balloons.
Speaker 3: Into this thing.
Speaker 2: And at the same time, you need to know that
Speaker 2: anxiety is the smoke.
Speaker 3: It's not the fire. It's not the actual thing.
Speaker 2: And I can talk about this because I've dealt with anxiety,
Speaker 2: and sometimes when you fight in anxiety, it feels like
Speaker 2: you fight in smoke. A firefighter doesn't run into a
Speaker 2: burning building and pour water on smoke. That doesn't do anything.
Speaker 2: You can't contain the smoke. What you have to do
Speaker 2: is you don't fight smoke. You follow smoke. I'm trying
Speaker 2: to help you.
Speaker 3: You do not fight it. You have to follow it.
Speaker 2: Why because if I follow smoke, it'll lead me to
Speaker 2: the actual issue. And what I want to present to
Speaker 2: everybody this morning is your anxiety is not the issue.
Speaker 3: There is a deeper fear that is the actual issue.
Speaker 2: But if you spend your whole life fighting that thought,
Speaker 2: you won't find the real fear. And underneath every anxious
Speaker 2: thought you have, there's a fear. There's a fear there.
Speaker 2: There's something you're worried about, something you're concerned about, a
Speaker 2: legitimate fear, a real fear, something that is taking you out.
Speaker 2: And I'll present to you if you've ever felt anxious
Speaker 2: in your life, if you deal with anxiety at all.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying it's not valid. I'm not saying it's important.
Speaker 2: What I am saying is if you spend your whole
Speaker 2: life trying to fight that thing, you won't find the
Speaker 2: real thing.
Speaker 3: And the real thing is there's some fear under there.
Speaker 2: Now, before we get into this idea, we have to
Speaker 2: look at our scripture.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 2: Psalms, chapter three, David finds himself in a very anxious
Speaker 2: and fearful place. Here's the context. His son has raised
Speaker 2: up a who to overthrow him as king, and he's
Speaker 2: on the run. Talk about a bad father's day, just terrible.
Speaker 2: He sounds like, I'm gonna kill you, take a kingdom.
Speaker 2: You're a terrible father. So he's on the run. He's terrified,
Speaker 2: and the scripture this is where we can kind of
Speaker 2: peer into his life. I want to read this. You
Speaker 2: can throw that back on the screen. Verse number one
Speaker 2: of Psalm chapter three. It says at first he starts
Speaker 2: off and he says, I have so look at this,
Speaker 2: Oh Lord, I have so many enemies and so many
Speaker 2: are against me.
Speaker 3: So this is the anxiety part of it.
Speaker 2: He's nervous because there's so many people, and there's so many.
Speaker 3: And that's how anxiety language works.
Speaker 2: It works like everything's going wrong and I can't trust anybody,
Speaker 2: and I'm worried about what job am I gonna get.
Speaker 3: And there's no and it balloons to this big thing.
Speaker 2: But I want to show you something he presents under
Speaker 2: this anxiety is the actual fear. So many are saying
Speaker 2: God will never rescue him. Then let me give you insight.
Speaker 2: This is not just people saying, oh, he's gonna get
Speaker 2: hurt and his son's trying to come against him and
Speaker 2: he's gonna die. No, if you look at the Orich language,
Speaker 2: what people are saying is the same thing they said
Speaker 2: about Saul. If you go back and read the Bible,
Speaker 2: there was a king named Saul. He was the first king.
Speaker 2: He was an amazing king. And then the Bible says
Speaker 2: that the spirit of God left Saul and there was
Speaker 2: no salvation for Saul, meaning the spirit of God was
Speaker 2: not with him. What people are saying about David now
Speaker 2: is maybe what happened to Saul is happening to him.
Speaker 2: Maybe God's not with him anymore. Maybe he's not that
Speaker 2: special shepherd boy anymore. Maybe that oil really didn't mean anything.
Speaker 2: Maybe he slayed Goliath, but that was just happenstance. And
Speaker 2: here's what David is dealing with. He's dealing with the
Speaker 2: reality of if I'm not king, who am I? Not
Speaker 2: only if I'm not king, but if I'm not a
Speaker 2: good dad because my son. He's dealing with the conflict
Speaker 2: and the fear of losing all the basis of where
Speaker 2: we find value. And whether you looking at David or not,
Speaker 2: or you think you do this or not, we all
Speaker 2: find value in the titles we carry.
Speaker 3: And it's because we have a fear of not being seen.
Speaker 2: We have a fear of our worth, we have a
Speaker 2: fear of our value. So if I'm CEO, or I'm
Speaker 2: some sort of c suite, or if I'm some sort
Speaker 2: of I have this Many fathers we find value in that.
Speaker 2: But what happens when we start taking your titles? What
Speaker 2: happens when people don't acknowledge your titles? What happens when
Speaker 2: you work super hard, you get the degree, you go
Speaker 2: to the work, you're the most qualified for the new job,
Speaker 2: and they don't give it to you. Well, then you start.
Speaker 2: That's the real fear. The anxiety is the front. The
Speaker 2: smoke is I don't need that, I don't care, I
Speaker 2: don't want it anyways. The truth is you really did
Speaker 2: want it because you've been searching for a little kid
Speaker 2: to find out who you were, and you found out
Speaker 2: you got applauded when you succeeded.
Speaker 3: So you made a vow that served you when you
Speaker 3: were eight.
Speaker 2: But now you're thirty eight and you're still fighting, still
Speaker 2: struggling smoke because you haven't identified. What are you actually
Speaker 2: afraid of? What happens if you don't get that job,
Speaker 2: What happens if you're still single? What happens if it
Speaker 2: doesn't go your way? What happens if the business doesn't work?
Speaker 3: See you?
Speaker 2: He come to church and the primary promise is, Oh,
Speaker 2: you ain't gotta worry about that, because God's gonna make
Speaker 2: it all.
Speaker 3: Work, and it's gonna go exactly according to plan. That's
Speaker 3: where we hope happens.
Speaker 2: Then you go out into your life that doesn't go
Speaker 2: that way, and this is what you struggle with.
Speaker 3: Oh God must not be who he said he was.
Speaker 2: This is why people deconstruct their faith, because people promise themseling.
Speaker 3: Well, you get God. He's gonna work it all out.
Speaker 2: He works all things together for the good of those
Speaker 2: who love him, a call according to his purpose.
Speaker 3: Here's my thing with this.
Speaker 2: Okay'm gonna I'm gonna produce you to a Bible reading idea.
Speaker 3: This is gonna help you. This is a little sidebar theology.
Speaker 2: Put your thinking caps on. Remember when I said that
Speaker 2: last week? Everybody, right now, do this.
Speaker 3: Do this. Put your hand out like this. Put your
Speaker 3: thinking cap on.
Speaker 2: I ain't gonna make it where it dress of the server,
Speaker 2: but just for two minutes, put your thinking cap on.
Speaker 3: Okay, here's the core idea. When you're reading your Bible.
Speaker 2: The Bible cannot primarily mean to you what it did
Speaker 2: not first mean to the people who first heard it.
Speaker 2: It can't mean to you something that it didn't first
Speaker 2: mean to them. All right, track with me. This is
Speaker 2: what we do in a Bible study. Tell me if
Speaker 2: this ever been you, It's been me a million times.
Speaker 3: So this ain't truck question.
Speaker 2: But if you're in a Bible study, you reading the Bible,
Speaker 2: you read a scripture, and then there's this question that
Speaker 2: is asked. I want us to go on a circle
Speaker 2: and each person tell me what is that scripture? I
Speaker 2: don't care what it.
Speaker 3: Means to you?
Speaker 2: Now let me let me let me see that that
Speaker 2: shock failure. You're like, because what if it mean to you?
Speaker 3: What it don't mean?
Speaker 2: What it didn't mean to them? Now track with me.
Speaker 2: Were about to take thing caps off?
Speaker 3: But here we go. That logic, what does it mean
Speaker 3: to me?
Speaker 2: Is the same logic that had people enslaving people, killing
Speaker 2: people and murdering people with the Bible. Because that's what
Speaker 2: it meant to me. So I use this book and
Speaker 2: I say, oh, this is what it really means, and
Speaker 2: this is how you really What it really means is
Speaker 2: certain people aren't important as other people.
Speaker 3: What it really means is we have to get rid
Speaker 3: of the Jews. What it really means.
Speaker 2: All these same logics that we use in our small
Speaker 2: group is a dangerous slippery slope The goal is not
Speaker 2: to find out what it means to you. I gotta
Speaker 2: know what the person when they was writing it, what did.
Speaker 3: They mean to the people they.
Speaker 2: Was talking to, And in light of that I can
Speaker 2: draw some meaning. Okay, look, you can take your thinking
Speaker 2: cap salt, look at that. Just throw it the throw
Speaker 2: it under your seat. You ain't gonna need to the
Speaker 2: rest of the service.
Speaker 3: But this is important that you understand this because you
Speaker 3: can get in some dangerous space.
Speaker 2: I can do all things through Christ, who strengthen me.
Speaker 2: And to me that really means, you know, no matter
Speaker 2: how many people I have sex with, God good will
Speaker 2: always redeem and he'll make all my baby mamas get
Speaker 2: along together because He's given me the strength and I
Speaker 2: can do all things. Charles, that is so ridiculous. That's
Speaker 2: what you do, just with other stuff. Here's a funny one.
Speaker 2: Here's a funny one. Now, this one's gonna get dangerous
Speaker 2: becausebody are like, yeah, get him. I'm gonna say this one.
Speaker 2: You'll be like, well, I hate this guy, the equal
Speaker 2: opportunity offender.
Speaker 3: So uh, we say things like this. There's an old scripture.
Speaker 3: There's scripture and says.
Speaker 2: And he and you will receive power when the Holy
Speaker 2: goost comes upon you. And that word the original language
Speaker 2: is dunamous, like the word dynamite, and we like to say, oh,
Speaker 2: God's gonna give you a dynamite power.
Speaker 3: Guess what.
Speaker 2: They didn't have dynamite when they wrote that, so they
Speaker 2: weren't thinking about dynamite.
Speaker 3: So I'm not saying you.
Speaker 2: Can't draw that inference and connected linguistically. But what I
Speaker 2: am saying is when they thought of the Holy Spirit,
Speaker 2: they weren't thinking blow it up. They would, they would,
Speaker 2: it didn't exist. You try to see see that. That's
Speaker 2: how I know offended because somebody'll didnt laugh is loud
Speaker 2: than the second one.
Speaker 3: Okay, we're good. So here's the idea.
Speaker 2: It can't primarily mean to you what it didn't mean
Speaker 2: to them originally. So when we talk about anxiety, if
Speaker 2: you study the Old Testament, a word for word translation
Speaker 2: of anxiety does not show up in the Old Testament.
Speaker 2: It does show up in the New Testament. In the
Speaker 2: Old Testament it's alluded to a ton. David uses tons
Speaker 2: of language that shows that he's dealing with anxiety. But
Speaker 2: we get to the New Testament and Jesus talks about it.
Speaker 2: He says, you don't have to be anxious because your
Speaker 2: father knows what you need.
Speaker 3: Paul speaks to it.
Speaker 2: Don't be anxious about anything. Instead, pray about everything. But
Speaker 2: here's the idea.
Speaker 3: This is why we have to use this tool that
Speaker 3: we just talked about.
Speaker 2: When we read the scriptures, because when we hear anxiety,
Speaker 2: we think of something specific.
Speaker 3: It's not bad.
Speaker 2: But to get an understanding of the scriptures, you need
Speaker 2: to understand what were they thinking when they heard this.
Speaker 2: So when they hear anxiety in a New Testament time,
Speaker 2: they are not thinking what's wrong with my body or
Speaker 2: my brain.
Speaker 3: They thought what's wrong with my heart? Because the word the.
Speaker 2: Greek word that is used when the word anxiety shows
Speaker 2: up in scripture is a divided and torn apart heart
Speaker 2: because of divided loyalty and fear. The word picture is
Speaker 2: being in a war and your allegiance is to both armies.
Speaker 2: The word picture is two horses runs this way, tied
Speaker 2: a rope, running that way. The other one ties he
Speaker 2: rope and runs that way. So when they think about anxiety,
Speaker 2: they're not thinking, oh gosh, I'm nervous and my body's shaking.
Speaker 2: They're thinking something's wrong in my heart, I trust two
Speaker 2: different people, because the only way I would be worried
Speaker 2: is if my trust is with me and with God
Speaker 2: with me, and the business owner with men.
Speaker 3: And so they go to their heart first. What is
Speaker 3: it saying.
Speaker 2: It's saying if you are anxious? Is I'm not saying
Speaker 2: that something can't be wrong in your body? One hundred percent?
Speaker 3: There is.
Speaker 2: But it all tracks back. That's all the smoke. Where
Speaker 2: it comes back to as a man thinks in his heart.
Speaker 2: I promise you I can connect this book.
Speaker 3: As a man thinks in his heart, so is he?
Speaker 2: It all tracks back to the loyalty and divided fear
Speaker 2: of your heart. And it's questions like this, in our heart?
Speaker 2: Am I the provider? Or is God the provider? Does
Speaker 2: my family make me secure? Or does God make me secure?
Speaker 2: Are these my kids or are these God's kids? Do
Speaker 2: I get my value from what they think about me?
Speaker 2: Or what God thinks about me?
Speaker 3: All that in your heart? It shows up on the
Speaker 3: outside as anxiety.
Speaker 2: But you gotta go back and figure out what's the
Speaker 2: what's the What am I really afraid of? What am
Speaker 2: I actually worried about? I'm not saying it didn't start
Speaker 2: out here, but it shows up on the inside.
Speaker 3: I want to I wanna illustrate it this way.
Speaker 2: I have this little piece of string here and this
Speaker 2: is gonna represent anxiety.
Speaker 3: This is how anxiety works.
Speaker 2: So anxiety start with a real regular moment, you know,
Speaker 2: like you bet, you bet. You be at work and
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, maybe it's Monday, and the ball
Speaker 2: come up to you. It's like, hey, can I can
Speaker 2: I meet with you? And you're like, yeah, sure, when
Speaker 2: you want to meet, let's let's do Friday at four
Speaker 2: forty five. For Friday at four forty five, okay, and
Speaker 2: you just that was weird. Why do you want to
Speaker 2: meet Friday at four forty five? It's probably nothing. It
Speaker 2: probably ain't gonna mean nothing, but maybe well maybe I
Speaker 2: did hear so, and so it's losing their job.
Speaker 3: That's weird. It's probably nothing, but what if what if
Speaker 3: I do lose my job? And what you mind?
Speaker 2: If I get through it's all right, let me see,
Speaker 2: it's just just hold on. Yeah, it's probably nothing. But
Speaker 2: then but if I do lose my job, I ain't.
Speaker 2: I ain't going to it's cool for nothing else, all right?
Speaker 2: And then the bills is tight and I can't. There's
Speaker 2: probably nothing. No, it's not that's nothing. Ain't got to worrybout.
Speaker 2: I ain't got worry about. Ain't worry about. And then
Speaker 2: you get home and you're it's time for dinner and
Speaker 2: your kids are out, so you text them, Hey, where
Speaker 2: you all at?
Speaker 3: And they don't answer the phone. What in the world?
Speaker 2: It's probably nothing, they're okay? But what if they're not okay?
Speaker 2: And what if I wonder where they're at. I didn't
Speaker 2: like that group of friends that had last time. It
Speaker 2: felt weird. I just didn't. I didn't trust it. But
Speaker 2: I didn't say nothing because I was trying to be
Speaker 2: I was trying to be calm.
Speaker 3: I was trying to be cool. I was trying to
Speaker 3: be okay, Okay.
Speaker 2: It's probably nothing. That's probably nothing. There's probably nothing. And
Speaker 2: then the doctor called and they say, hey, we got
Speaker 2: the report back from your test.
Speaker 3: Could you come in? What do I need to come
Speaker 3: in for? He's there's probably nothing, it's probably nothing. There's
Speaker 3: probably nothing. It's not a big deal.
Speaker 2: It's not a big deal. But what if what if
Speaker 2: it is a big deal? What if I'm not okay?
Speaker 2: What if I lose my spouse then and if I
Speaker 2: lose my spouse and I lose my job, and then
Speaker 2: how am I gonna raise these kids? And I can't
Speaker 2: raise these kids by myself. I didn't have nobody and
Speaker 2: I didn't have nobody there for me, and I didn't
Speaker 2: know what I was gonna do. And so okay, no, no,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be fine. Okay, Okay, I got church on Sunday.
Speaker 3: I got church on Sunday. Who okay, h.
Speaker 2: Y don't matter if I get through because I like
Speaker 2: to sit up close for worship.
Speaker 3: So I'm just excuse me.
Speaker 2: And I still got my anxiety and I just hide
Speaker 2: it underneath all my nights clothes.
Speaker 3: But the truth is, last week the power went out,
Speaker 3: and what the power going out for? Weird? And you
Speaker 3: find yourself had a place.
Speaker 2: It's kind of just everywhere, And this is how you
Speaker 2: get anxious about stuff that you weren't even thinking about
Speaker 2: because it went past you.
Speaker 3: It's a lot of people's social media, life is great,
Speaker 3: life is good. Well, then you see you on Instagram,
Speaker 3: maybe life ain't that good and maybe you do need
Speaker 3: to be worried. If we thought about this, what's really
Speaker 3: going on over there? Do we know what's happened?
Speaker 2: Does anybody know what's happening? And now you got people
Speaker 2: that are having to adjust and they're worried, and your
Speaker 2: kids are afraid, and now your family's afraid, and now
Speaker 2: the church is afraid. And pastors get up on stage
Speaker 2: with this and they spend their circle around you and
Speaker 2: stuff you was never worried about. Now you're thinking, well,
Speaker 2: maybe I'm not reading my Bible enoughing, maybe I'm not
Speaker 2: Christian enough, and maybe I didn't raise my kids good enough,
Speaker 2: and maybe God is gonna leave me, and maybe and maybe,
Speaker 2: and you find yourself.
Speaker 3: And here's what I've.
Speaker 2: Realized about anxiety is we will spend these circles our
Speaker 2: whole life.
Speaker 3: But what you gotta do is is what the firefighters do.
Speaker 2: Is my beef is not with all this string, but
Speaker 2: I do have to follow it back. So if I
Speaker 2: want to find the fire, I don't fight the smoke
Speaker 2: I put. Okay, let me see where did What was
Speaker 2: I thinking about when I got what was that hold on?
Speaker 3: Hold on? No it was the kids? Well no, it
Speaker 3: wasn't the kids. It was hold on.
Speaker 2: I was worried about the kids, and then I was
Speaker 2: worried about my job, and then I started thinking about
Speaker 2: the family, and then I started thinking about, Oh, I
Speaker 2: ain't gonna make y'all get up, don't worry about it.
Speaker 3: And then I.
Speaker 2: Started thinking about, Okay, hold on, hold on, hold on,
Speaker 2: I think. And this is why counseling gets tired. Is
Speaker 2: why some of y'all elect not to deal with your
Speaker 2: emotion because.
Speaker 3: This feels exhausting. It be easier to just act like
Speaker 3: it didn't happen.
Speaker 2: It be easier just to escape it, be easier just
Speaker 2: to doom scroll, it be easier to just ignore it.
Speaker 2: But if you want to find where your anxiety is
Speaker 2: coming from, you gotta follow that thing. And I don't
Speaker 2: care how long it takes you. I don't know how
Speaker 2: care how frustrating it is. You got to track it
Speaker 2: down because I promise you if you will follow it
Speaker 2: long enough. And this is why you need friends in
Speaker 2: your life. That says, when did you see my attitude change?
Speaker 2: When did I start acting different? When did I get snappy?
Speaker 2: When did I get short? Well, it kind of happened
Speaker 2: when that disappointment in your job happened, and I noticed
Speaker 2: that you stopped talking and said.
Speaker 3: Don't worry. I'm not gonna make y'all get up and
Speaker 3: then you because if you will follow the smoke long enough,
Speaker 3: it will lead you to the actual fire.
Speaker 2: And when you find the fire, then you can fight
Speaker 2: the actual fire instead of out here running around dealing
Speaker 2: with stuff that you can't change.
Speaker 3: Anyway, that's the lie about anxiety. Anxiety thinks tells you
Speaker 3: that worrying about it is changing it.
Speaker 2: Worrying about it can't change it, can't do anything about it.
Speaker 2: And honestly, you're worried about stuff you can't control. You
Speaker 2: wasn't controlling and you.
Speaker 3: Won't be able to control.
Speaker 2: But what you can control is you can sit down
Speaker 2: next to this fire and you realize, Oh, the real
Speaker 2: thing is I'm afraid my kids are gonna make mistakes
Speaker 2: I made.
Speaker 3: So that's why I control.
Speaker 2: Them, and that's why I scream at them, and that's
Speaker 2: why I over correct them, and that's why I talk
Speaker 2: to them like they're twenty five when they're five, because
Speaker 2: I'm terrified they're gonna have the same life I did.
Speaker 2: And I moved us out of that state, and I
Speaker 2: moved us out of that neighborhood, and I moved this
Speaker 2: way to that so they wouldn't have that, And somehow
Speaker 2: those habits have landed right back in this child, and
Speaker 2: I don't know what to do. That's why you're running around.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about that. Let's bring that to the altar.
Speaker 2: But we like to come to the altar and just say,
Speaker 2: just you know, I.
Speaker 3: Just see you could just pray for me. Well, what
Speaker 3: is it? It's just some things. I'm not mad at you.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying there's a real fire we can deal with.
Speaker 3: There's something you're actually afraid of.
Speaker 2: The real fire is you're afraid that there's something fundamentally
Speaker 2: broken in you.
Speaker 3: That's why you're still single. Something I have the missing.
Speaker 2: Piece from the puzzle, and everybody else sings that, but
Speaker 2: I don't have it.
Speaker 3: I guess I'm just unlovable. That's what you really feel.
Speaker 3: You're not mad. All men aren't bad. You're not mad
Speaker 3: at the dating apps. You're not mad. It's none of that.
Speaker 3: We can talk about that. I'm not saying it's not real.
Speaker 3: I'm not saying you don't have some bad experiences. What
Speaker 3: I am saying is because your dad wasn't there, you
Speaker 3: feel like no man is ever gonna be there. That's
Speaker 3: what you're actually afraid of. Let's let's fight that fire.
Speaker 2: And this is where I want to make a deviation
Speaker 2: from traditional firefighters, because there's a saying that says you
Speaker 2: can't fight fire with fire, but that's not how it
Speaker 2: works in the Kingdom. The only way to fight fire
Speaker 2: is with fire. The only way to get rid of
Speaker 2: the fire of fear is to get a better fire.
Speaker 2: And let me tell you the best thing about this fire,
Speaker 2: it ain't got no smoke. Ask Moses because he walks
Speaker 2: up to a burning bush and it's on fire, but
Speaker 2: it's not being consumed. And the only reason you got
Speaker 2: smoke is because something being burnt up.
Speaker 3: But the fire of God, when nothing gets.
Speaker 2: On the inside of you, when you get the fire
Speaker 2: of God that knows who you are, when you get
Speaker 2: the fire of God that knows God chose you before
Speaker 2: you did anything, When you get the fire of God
Speaker 2: that says God will protect me. If I make my
Speaker 2: bed at the heights, or if I find myself in
Speaker 2: the pit of hell, he will be there for me.
Speaker 2: And I came to encourage some people that you can
Speaker 2: make a decision today that.
Speaker 3: I'm finding a better fire.
Speaker 2: It is the only reason the early Church made a
Speaker 2: difference because it had a better fire. It had a
Speaker 2: fire that had them in jail bragging about it. It
Speaker 2: had a fire that had them be chased down, and
Speaker 2: they weren't worried a different fire. And the only way
Speaker 2: the Church is going to make the difference it was
Speaker 2: supposed to is if we find a better fire, fire
Speaker 2: that purifies, the fire that leads, a fire that protects.
Speaker 3: See.
Speaker 2: Our problem is in Christianity we think the devil owns fire.
Speaker 2: I say, oh, it's fiery. You think, oh, something bad
Speaker 2: to happen. I'm going through a burning season, or the Devil's.
Speaker 3: Gonna get me.
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, you read this book. You'll find out
Speaker 2: real quick who owns fire. Elijah calls down fire from heaven.
Speaker 2: He owns fire. Moses saw fire in a burning bush.
Speaker 2: It was God, the Holy Spirit. Tongues of fire fell
Speaker 2: on the early Church, and then you began to speak
Speaker 2: in a different language that was empowering them. Trust me, friend,
Speaker 2: you ain't gotta be worried about fire because our God
Speaker 2: owns fire. And they'll put that fire on the inside
Speaker 2: of you. That'll have you walking in a boldness and
Speaker 2: walking in confidence and knowing.
Speaker 3: Who you are. So what I'm saying is you ain't
Speaker 3: got a duck the smoke some of you.
Speaker 2: Anxiety has tried to punk you, and I know that feeling.
Speaker 2: I know the feeling. They'll have you running in circles
Speaker 2: about stuff that's never happened. And that's what's even worse
Speaker 2: about anxiety is because it's you out here fighting a
Speaker 2: battle that hasn't even happened yet.
Speaker 3: Prepared. Well, what if they say this and then I
Speaker 3: say that, and then they.
Speaker 2: Leave me that didn't happen, that doesn't happened yet. But
Speaker 2: let's go back to the what are you actually afraid of?
Speaker 2: Let's talk about that. What are you actually missing out on?
Speaker 2: Let's talk about that. I want to read you a
Speaker 2: scripture if they give me a moment. It's in the
Speaker 2: Book of Hebrews, and this is what the Bible says.
Speaker 3: Let me find it. I'm just off in this book
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 2: It says, as you endure a divine discipline, remember that
Speaker 2: God is treating you as his own child.
Speaker 3: For whoever heard of a child that was never disciplined.
Speaker 2: If God doesn't discipline you, you're not as children for
Speaker 2: our earthly fathers discipline us for a few times, just
Speaker 2: doing the best they know how, but God disciplines us
Speaker 2: in the best way.
Speaker 3: No discipline is enjoyable.
Speaker 2: It's painful, but afterwards there will be a peaceful Harvard
Speaker 2: of right living right here. So take a new grip
Speaker 2: with your tired hands. Strengthen your weak knees. Mark out
Speaker 2: a straight path for your feet, so that those who
Speaker 2: are weak and laying will not fall but become strong.
Speaker 2: Here's all I want to say. It's just take a
Speaker 2: new grip. So we've been so anxious. You've got a
Speaker 2: decision to make, and you've been so worried, like, oh gosh,
Speaker 2: what if I make the wrong one? What if I
Speaker 2: do the wrong thing? What if it's not enough, what
Speaker 2: if I'm not enough. Let's just let's just take a
Speaker 2: deep breath. Let's follow the smoke. What's the actual fear,
Speaker 2: and let's give that to God. Let's give our actual
Speaker 2: fear to God. I wrote up this thing, and we'll
Speaker 2: close with this I wrote up. I just titled it
Speaker 2: the smoke prayer. Smoke prayer. Could you throw that up
Speaker 2: for me, just the whole thing. I don't have it
Speaker 2: in my notes, but I think they'll have it up there.
Speaker 2: But the idea of this is, if you're trying to
Speaker 2: follow the smoke, if you're trying to if you're trying
Speaker 2: to deal with some of that, I want to give
Speaker 2: you a template. And it's not no new template. It's
Speaker 2: a structure of the Lord's prayer, but in a different way.
Speaker 2: This is kind of a prayer you can pray yourself
Speaker 2: through when you're trying to figure out what's really going on.
Speaker 3: Here's how the prayer starts. Here's how all the prayers starts.
Speaker 2: Father, It's how the Lord's prayer starts. That context is important.
Speaker 2: Now depending on your experience.
Speaker 3: Especially on a Father's Day, that feels it. But let
Speaker 3: me tell you this is a good.
Speaker 2: Father, a father you can trust, a father who has
Speaker 2: what you need, a father who's waiting to listen to you.
Speaker 3: He wants to hear from you.
Speaker 2: So you start off understanding, there's this language in the
Speaker 2: New Testament abba. That word abba is like the cries
Speaker 2: a kid makes when it's learning to say the word dad. Now,
Speaker 2: I don't ever be ripping daddy God in prayers.
Speaker 3: There's a little too much for me. But that is.
Speaker 2: That is a closer parallel but it's it's it's like
Speaker 2: a kid babbling. When a kid's trying to say that.
Speaker 2: That that of a two year old. That's what our abbah?
Speaker 2: And what does that do? It positions you as a child.
Speaker 2: You don't come to God as.
Speaker 3: A grown adult talking about Hey God. Then my son
Speaker 3: will do this. So sometimes he'll just put on this.
Speaker 2: Deep voice, Hey dad, Uh, it's kinda when.
Speaker 3: You come as a child. So it starts with father,
Speaker 3: and then tell him how you really feeling. I am mad.
Speaker 3: I'm so frustrated that this happened. I can't stand these
Speaker 3: people at my job. They are getting on my last nerve.
Speaker 2: I feel frustrated, and to be truthful, I feel a
Speaker 2: little disappointed because I felt like you told me you
Speaker 2: were gonna get me a better job than this, And
Speaker 2: I'm frustrated. And let me tell you, God can handle
Speaker 2: your feelings. Just because your parents can't, just because your friends.
Speaker 3: Can't, doesn't mean God and you are not too much
Speaker 3: for God. He can handle it. Tell him how you feel.
Speaker 2: But once you get through those feelings, I need you
Speaker 2: to figure out what's your actual fear. What are you
Speaker 2: really afraid of? What's actually going on? And this is
Speaker 2: not because God doesn't know. It's because you need to know.
Speaker 2: You need to know. I'm actually afraid that I'm not
Speaker 2: good enough. I'm afraid that no matter what I do,
Speaker 2: this is a core.
Speaker 3: This would be my core. Fore you, if I go.
Speaker 2: Through my prayers, it would show up as God, I'm mad,
Speaker 2: I'm frustrated, blah.
Speaker 3: Blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: But truthfully, I'm afraid that no matter how good I get,
Speaker 2: it won't be good enough. And it doesn't matter how
Speaker 2: much I practice, It doesn't matter how much I know.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter how good I've been before. I just
Speaker 2: don't know if. And then you gotta dea.
Speaker 3: Where is it? Where's Where's the lie? I put false
Speaker 3: just for the FS, just to you know, keep it
Speaker 3: put lie. Oh.
Speaker 2: The lie is is that my performance determines my value.
Speaker 3: That's the lie.
Speaker 2: The lie is the opinions of others determine your importance.
Speaker 2: The lie is if you have enough money, you'll have peace.
Speaker 2: The lie is that in a different season you'll have
Speaker 2: more space to really prioritize your family.
Speaker 3: And just right, no, no, no, no, that's not the truth.
Speaker 3: The truth is, and we gotta get to the truth.
Speaker 2: Because usually I know the truth, and the truth sty'll
Speaker 2: set you free. So you gotta go, and you gotta
Speaker 2: replace God. Although I feel frustrated and I am afraid
Speaker 2: that I am not enough, I have recognized that the
Speaker 2: truth is My value is not in what I do.
Speaker 2: But before before I was even born, you chose me,
Speaker 2: you called me, you equipped me.
Speaker 3: So I thank you that I have exactly.
Speaker 2: What I need when I need it, and if I
Speaker 2: ain't got it, that means I don't need it.
Speaker 3: So I choose to put.
Speaker 2: My trust in you because you've never let me down,
Speaker 2: because you've always been there. Because you're the one who
Speaker 2: gave me this job, and you're the one who gave
Speaker 2: me these kids, and you're the one who put breath
Speaker 2: in my body, and you're the one sustaining this country,
Speaker 2: and you're the one sustaining this church. God, I remind
Speaker 2: myself that.
Speaker 3: You are God and I am not.
Speaker 2: That's why the scripture says, don't be anxious for anything,
Speaker 2: but instead pray about everything.
Speaker 3: Standing all over this.
Speaker 2: Room, I'm gonna read you that scripture he just quoted,
Speaker 2: but with a little more context. Don't be anxious of
Speaker 2: Philippians four, chapter six. Don't be anxious about anything, staid,
Speaker 2: pray about everything, tell God what you need, thank him
Speaker 2: for all He's done. And then here's the most beautiful
Speaker 2: promise in the world. It doesn't say then He'll fix it.
Speaker 2: That's not what the Bible says. It says, then you'll
Speaker 2: experience God's peace, which exceeds anything you can understand. The
Speaker 2: goal of you know, the goal of prayer ain't to
Speaker 2: get an answer. Is to get peace. That is the answer.
Speaker 2: The goal is not God do this for me. That's
Speaker 2: a genie. God's not a genie. The goal is I
Speaker 2: go to you because I need to be reminded I'm
Speaker 2: not in control. And I get anxious when I think
Speaker 2: I'm in control. I get fearful when I think I'm
Speaker 2: in control. But when I go to You in prayer,
Speaker 2: I remind myself, Oh, I can have peace because God's
Speaker 2: in control.
Speaker 3: Would you close your eyes and by your ads.
Speaker 2: I want to take a moment and pray for everybody.
Speaker 2: Dear God, you see your children. And the truth is
Speaker 2: some of us have been running around so anxious, so
Speaker 2: worried about the future, worried about things we can't control,
Speaker 2: asking questions that it seems nobody has the answers to
Speaker 2: but God, right now, we come to you as our father,
Speaker 2: and we want to bring you our real fears, the
Speaker 2: things it's hard to even talk about.
Speaker 3: The things it's hard to even say. But I think
Speaker 3: you can handle it. I pray for every person under
Speaker 3: the same out of my.
Speaker 2: Voice that has been dealing with anxiety in any way,
Speaker 2: and I speak your truth that that smoke will not
Speaker 2: kill you.
Speaker 3: You will live.
Speaker 2: I pray you would find peace that transcends your understanding.
Speaker 2: Peace to trust God with your future, Peace, to trust
Speaker 2: God with your children. Peace, to trust God with your
Speaker 2: provision and your job. Peace, to trust God with every step.
Speaker 3: In front of you.
Speaker 2: God, we lay all these things down at your feet.
Speaker 2: Every head, bow to every eye close. If you're in
Speaker 2: this room and you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your
Speaker 2: Lord and savior, you've never given up control, It's the
Speaker 2: best decision you could ever make. It's not an easy
Speaker 2: choice because it means you're not in the driver's seat,
Speaker 2: but it is the best choice. In just a moment,
Speaker 2: I want to count to three, and if you want
Speaker 2: to accept Jesus as your Lord and savior, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: ask you to do something that takes a lot of bravery,
Speaker 2: It takes a lot of courage.
Speaker 3: Might ask you to lift your hand, It's just.
Speaker 2: You acknowledging on the outside what God's doing on the
Speaker 2: inside of your heart. If you want to accept Jesus
Speaker 2: as your Lord and savior, the Bible tells us that
Speaker 2: Jesus lived the perfect life we could not. He did
Speaker 2: what we could not so that we could become what
Speaker 2: we couldn't without him. If you've been looking for a
Speaker 2: better way to live, a better way to think, a
Speaker 2: better way to exist, Jesus is that answer. He's everything
Speaker 2: you've been looking for. I promise if you want to
Speaker 2: accept Jesus as your lord and say, if you're one,
Speaker 2: he loves you.
Speaker 3: Two. Today is the day of salvation. Do not wait
Speaker 3: another moment.
Speaker 2: Three, All around this room and online, lift your hand,
Speaker 2: lift your hand, lift your hand, lift your hand. So
Speaker 2: proud of you, so proud of so many people making
Speaker 2: this choice. I got your sister, I got your brother.
Speaker 2: So proud of you, so proud of you. Hey, listen altogether,
Speaker 2: as a family. I got you up there. I see
Speaker 2: you together as a family. I want everybody out loud
Speaker 2: in this room and online to pray this prayer together,
Speaker 2: everybody together, say, Dear God, I admit I've made mistakes.
Speaker 2: I need you to save me. I need you to
Speaker 2: change me. I need you to make me new. It's
Speaker 2: in Jesus name, I pray. Amen, Amen, Amen. Hey, can
Speaker 2: we celebrate people who just decided to follow Jesus. Hey,
Speaker 2: if you just prayed that prayer, We're so proud of you,
Speaker 2: so grateful for you.
Speaker 3: It's a big deal. If you text the word saved
Speaker 3: to the number that's on the.
Speaker 2: Screen eight two eight two eight two, we'll put some
Speaker 2: resources in your hand. We've also got a team of
Speaker 2: some of the most loving and kind people that are
Speaker 2: directly right here in the back of the room.
Speaker 3: There's a sign that says that you've decide to follow Jesus.
Speaker 2: They'd love to just give you a gift, pray for you,
Speaker 2: encourage you. Sometimes it can feel like, oh gosh, what
Speaker 2: do I do now? These people are here to help you.
Speaker 2: But I know it's gonna be the best decision you've
Speaker 2: ever made. Hey, listen, we're gonna get out of here.
Speaker 2: Our worship team is going to continue to worship. If
Speaker 2: you need to continue to worship, feel free to stay
Speaker 2: in this atmosphere. If you need prayer for anything, our
Speaker 2: prayer team would love to pray with you, but I'm
Speaker 2: gonna pray over your week that God would be with.
Speaker 3: You and that you would walk in peace.
Speaker 2: Lord God, we thank you for who you are, thank
Speaker 2: you for your love, for your mercy. I thank you
Speaker 2: that this week we walk in a peace that goes
Speaker 2: beyond our understanding. And I thank you that the fire
Speaker 2: of God would live on the inside of us, that
Speaker 2: we would walk this week with boldness, with courage, and
Speaker 2: with discernment to know who You've called us to be. God,
Speaker 2: we love you, We thank you. It's in the beautiful
Speaker 2: name of Jesus we pray. And everybody said, Amen, Amen,
Speaker 2: We love you so much.