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, well, welcome
Speaker 1: to church.
Speaker 2: We got some work to do, so let's find you. See,
Speaker 2: let's get to it. I hope you're doing well. If
Speaker 2: we haven't got the chance to meet. My name is Charles,
Speaker 2: and I get to serve here a part of our team,
Speaker 2: and I am beyond excited that you're here today. And
Speaker 2: today we will be culminating a series that we've been
Speaker 2: in called Fearless. Somebody say fearless. Look at your neighbor.
Speaker 2: Look at your neighbors. Say neighbor, Oh, come on, you
Speaker 2: gotta come on. I know they restink. Let's just say it.
Speaker 2: Come on, say neighbor. I don't know about you, but
Speaker 2: I didn't come to play today. Get you another neighbor,
Speaker 2: Get you another neighbor. Find somebody else, somebody else, say neighbor.
Speaker 2: My last neighbor was playing around.
Speaker 3: But I need you to know I did not show
Speaker 3: up here.
Speaker 2: On Sunday, whatever the date is today to play games
Speaker 2: with the devil.
Speaker 4: Oh yes, sir, he should have killed me when he
Speaker 4: had the chains.
Speaker 2: The last couple of series I've done, they've made these
Speaker 2: awesome podiums, and I was supposed to draw on it
Speaker 2: the first week, and I just kept putting it off.
Speaker 4: And this is last week.
Speaker 2: I was like, I gotta do it, but this is
Speaker 2: my I drew on every side of it, but this
Speaker 2: is my favorite side. So I drew this cross and
Speaker 2: it says Jesus saves. But that's not even my favorite part.
Speaker 2: You gotta drop the camera down a little bit because
Speaker 2: this is, Oh yeah, let me get out the way.
Speaker 2: This is this is my message to the devil today.
Speaker 2: It says, oh, you can't really see it. Let me
Speaker 2: scoot it up. The devil is an actual bum.
Speaker 4: So just in case you see me, I see you.
Speaker 4: You're a bum.
Speaker 2: Some of y'all don't know how to talk trash. You
Speaker 2: stopped talking trash a long time ago.
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 2: I had to stop playing some sports because my talking
Speaker 2: trash got out of hand and I was playing with
Speaker 2: some of y'all and I said stuff I shouldn't have said,
Speaker 2: and I had to apologize to you.
Speaker 3: But I still talk trash.
Speaker 2: I just redirected it to the devil, who thought he
Speaker 2: won when they put Jesus in the tomb, and he
Speaker 2: had about a good three days where he thought he
Speaker 2: was somebody. But then Jesus stepped out of the tune
Speaker 2: and it was the first born from the dead that
Speaker 2: got up and said, you thought you had. So I'd
Speaker 2: just like to remind the devil that he's an actual bum.
Speaker 2: So we're going to read the Bible, and then I'm
Speaker 2: gonna preach, and then we're gonna go home. Let's see here,
Speaker 2: we're just gonna read the Bible. I know I have
Speaker 2: to make an announcement, but let me just read the Bible. Okay,
Speaker 2: we're gonna read a.
Speaker 4: Nice little chunk of scripture here. We're gonna start in
Speaker 4: second Timothy.
Speaker 5: Give me a second. This jacket is way too hot.
Speaker 5: I can't do the jacket, Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Okay, you all ready, you already know what time it is. Okay,
Speaker 2: first Timothy or second Timothy. We're gonna start in verse three.
Speaker 2: This is what Paul says. Actually, we're gonna start in
Speaker 2: verse one.
Speaker 4: Why not.
Speaker 2: This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of
Speaker 2: God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I have
Speaker 2: been sent out to tell others about the life he
Speaker 2: promised us.
Speaker 3: I am writing to Timothy.
Speaker 4: My dear son.
Speaker 2: May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give
Speaker 2: you grace, mercy and peace.
Speaker 4: Timothy, I thank.
Speaker 2: God for you, the God I serve with a clear conscience,
Speaker 2: just as my ancestors did night and day. I constantly
Speaker 2: remember you in my prayers. I long to see you again,
Speaker 2: for I remember your tears as we parted, and I
Speaker 2: will be filled with joy when we are together again.
Speaker 4: I remember your genuine faith, for you share of the.
Speaker 2: Faith that first filled your grand Lois and your mother Eunice,
Speaker 2: and I know that same faith continues strong in you.
Speaker 2: This is why I remind you to fan into flames
Speaker 2: the spirit of the spiritual gift God gave you when
Speaker 2: I laid my hands on you. For God has not
Speaker 2: given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power,
Speaker 2: of love and self discipline. So never be ashamed to
Speaker 2: tell others about the Lord, and do not be ashamed
Speaker 2: about me either, even though I'm in prison for him.
Speaker 3: With the strength God gives you, you will be ready
Speaker 3: to suffer with me.
Speaker 2: For the sake of the good News. For God saved
Speaker 2: us and he called us to live a holy life.
Speaker 2: For He did this not because we deserved it, but
Speaker 2: because that was His plan from before the beginning of time,
Speaker 2: to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. And now
Speaker 2: He has made all this plan to us by appearing
Speaker 2: in Christ Jesus, our savior.
Speaker 4: For he broke the power of.
Speaker 2: Death and illuminated the way of life and immortality through
Speaker 2: the good News.
Speaker 4: And God chose me to be a preacher.
Speaker 2: And an apostle and a teacher of this good news.
Speaker 2: That is why I am suffering here. I am not
Speaker 2: ashamed of it, for I know who I trust, and
Speaker 2: I am sure he is able to guard what I
Speaker 2: have entrusted to him until the day of his return.
Speaker 2: Title of my sermon is this ain't my story.
Speaker 4: If I could live your story for you, I would
Speaker 4: This ain't my story.
Speaker 2: If I could show you how I see you and
Speaker 2: give you that confidence to know what God put on
Speaker 2: the inside of you and to see yourself the way
Speaker 2: the creator of the universe knit you together in your
Speaker 2: mother's room before you were formed, I would do that
Speaker 2: for you. But I'm sorry I can't do that because
Speaker 2: this ain't my story. This is your story, and can't
Speaker 2: nobody else live it for you, can't nobody else make
Speaker 2: you do nothing.
Speaker 3: This is your story. It ain't.
Speaker 4: Mine, This ain't this ain't my story.
Speaker 2: Some of you gonna be able to look at the
Speaker 2: situation that's kept you bound and you're gonna remember the
Speaker 2: God that lives on the inside of you, and you're
Speaker 2: gonna have a flip and say, hold on a second,
Speaker 2: this is not This ain't the way my story's going down.
Speaker 2: I didn't go through all that. I didn't go through
Speaker 2: that pain. I didn't go through that disappointment. I did
Speaker 2: not go through hell for this to be my story.
Speaker 4: This is not my story.
Speaker 2: This ain't my story. Would you pray with me? Dear Jesus,
Speaker 2: we love you. You're everything to us. Show yourself to
Speaker 2: us this morning that we might be different is our prayer.
Speaker 2: Say the beautiful name of Jesus. We pray, and everybody
Speaker 2: said amen.
Speaker 3: I don't know about you, but.
Speaker 4: I love a good story. I love.
Speaker 2: A good story, and they don't make stories like they
Speaker 2: used to make stories.
Speaker 3: Me and my wife we go on date night every week,
Speaker 3: and the last two date nights.
Speaker 2: We have straight up walked out of a movie, not
Speaker 2: because it was bad, but it was.
Speaker 3: A bad story.
Speaker 2: They don't make movies like they used to. Hey, I
Speaker 2: get an amen. I'm talking about movies like John Q. Y'all
Speaker 2: don't know knowhing about John Q.
Speaker 3: I'm talking about movies like Nodding Hill. What you know
Speaker 3: about Nodding Hill? You know no about Preacher's Wife.
Speaker 2: I mean, we could get down real stories the first matrix.
Speaker 4: Number one. Oh ye are these lame stories?
Speaker 3: But story is intricate to the human experience.
Speaker 2: For it is in story that we find hope that
Speaker 2: we fight to see in our real life.
Speaker 3: It is in story that we find pictures of our self,
Speaker 3: of who we dream we could be.
Speaker 2: It is in story that our life and the desires
Speaker 2: and the meaning and the burning fire that we feel.
Speaker 2: It is in story that we seem to think we
Speaker 2: could be something more than we ever thought we could be.
Speaker 2: It is in story that we find meaning. It is
Speaker 2: in story that we find purpose, And so we love
Speaker 2: a good story because a story will give you hope
Speaker 2: that maybe things could be different, maybe the pain you're
Speaker 2: facing will work out one day.
Speaker 4: There's a story that is thousands of years old.
Speaker 2: It's called the Odyssey. There's a movie that'll be coming
Speaker 2: out soon, and the story is the journey of a
Speaker 2: man trying to find his way home. And it's interesting
Speaker 2: because we don't actually know who the actual writer of
Speaker 2: the story is. It's Homer's Iliot, but we don't know
Speaker 2: if Homer was a real person. We don't know if
Speaker 2: it was a group of people. But what we do
Speaker 2: know is we know a good story, and this story
Speaker 2: is about a man trying to find his way through life.
Speaker 2: And in my interest in stories, I was listening to
Speaker 2: the director talk about the sty watching interviews about how
Speaker 2: they navigated the story, and there was something so profound
Speaker 2: that one of the interview he said, in the middle
Speaker 2: of the interview, he said, you.
Speaker 3: Know, it's easier than you think to find yourself in
Speaker 3: the wrong story. This actor was.
Speaker 2: Talking about all these movies that they've done, and there
Speaker 2: was this one moment where they were acting out a
Speaker 2: scene in a previous movie and they had this monologue
Speaker 2: they were supposed to deliver, and it was a man
Speaker 2: giving an apology to a massive group of people. And
Speaker 2: he started the scene and they called action and he
Speaker 2: started giving his lines and he said, I felt it
Speaker 2: deep in my bones, and I started crying, and.
Speaker 3: The emotion was there, and the room was dead silent.
Speaker 2: I delivered this monologue one of the greatest, greatest pieces
Speaker 2: of acting I've ever done. Said The director called cut.
Speaker 2: He's in tears. He wipes his face and the director goes.
Speaker 3: Nope, that ain't.
Speaker 4: He's like, what do you mean to say that? That? Would
Speaker 4: you see that tears? Emotion? I had the room, he said.
Speaker 2: The director walked to him and said, you're in the
Speaker 2: wrong movie.
Speaker 4: You're in the wrong movie.
Speaker 2: The gentleman giving this apology is not giving an apology.
Speaker 2: He said, I want you to give this next time
Speaker 2: like you're an accepting an award. And the actor said
Speaker 2: he immediately realized I was in the right lines, but somehow,
Speaker 2: deep down I was living the wrong story. Here's what
Speaker 2: you need to know about every story. Every story has
Speaker 2: key parts that make it a great story. It has
Speaker 2: a plot, it has a setting, it has characters, it
Speaker 2: has conflict. But there are two things I want to
Speaker 2: talk about today in every great story, and that is,
Speaker 2: every story has an author, and most stories have a narrator.
Speaker 4: And here's what I want to say to you today.
Speaker 2: We all have the same author, in case you didn't know,
Speaker 2: Hebrews twelve two.
Speaker 4: For we look to Jesus the author and finisher.
Speaker 2: We all have the same author. But here's what you
Speaker 2: need to know. You gotta choose your narrator because the
Speaker 2: author determines the plot and the purpose, but the narrator
Speaker 2: controls the perspective. And you can be in a great
Speaker 2: movie with a bad narrator, and the narrator can tell
Speaker 2: you that's what happening to them is the end, and
Speaker 2: what's happening to.
Speaker 3: Them they didn't see coming.
Speaker 2: And what's happening to them is only about who they're
Speaker 2: not and who they're not gonna be, and how they're
Speaker 2: not gonna grow, and that they're not gonna make it.
Speaker 3: And a narrator can ruin a good.
Speaker 4: Movie because the narrator controls not what you look at
Speaker 4: the how you look at it.
Speaker 2: And today I have a very simple message for you today,
Speaker 2: and that is, if you're not careful, it's very easy
Speaker 2: for fear to narrate your life. God is the author
Speaker 2: of your story. Do not get it twisted. It wasn't
Speaker 2: your grandmother, it's not your dad, it's not your coworker,
Speaker 2: it's not your boss.
Speaker 3: It's not culture, it's not the man.
Speaker 2: God is the author of your story. He has numbered
Speaker 2: every day of your life. He knows exactly how it's
Speaker 2: gonna go. And the Bible tells us that He has
Speaker 2: good plans for you, that he orchestrates everything, that all
Speaker 2: things work together for the good of those who love
Speaker 2: God and are calling to according to His purpose. And
Speaker 2: we can look all throughout the Bible and see great
Speaker 2: stories by the greatest author. The only problem is if
Speaker 2: you're not careful, fear will sneak in and start narrating
Speaker 2: God's story back to you.
Speaker 4: He forgot about you.
Speaker 2: Nobody's see and you could be in your story being
Speaker 2: protected by God. And that's the reason your friendships are clicking.
Speaker 2: But the narrator of fear will tell you it's because
Speaker 2: there's something wrong with you. It's because you're not important.
Speaker 2: It's the same reason your family doesn't talk to you anymore.
Speaker 2: It's the same reason you've always felt left out. It's
Speaker 2: the same reason that you're not you're still single. It's
Speaker 2: the same reason that they left you. It's because something's
Speaker 2: wrong on the inside of you. And today I want
Speaker 2: to remind you you get to choose your narrator.
Speaker 4: It's your choice.
Speaker 2: If I could choose it for you, I would, But
Speaker 2: this ain't my story, it's yours. You've got to choose
Speaker 2: how you see your life. You've got to choose how
Speaker 2: you look back on your history. You've got to decide
Speaker 2: if trauma will always be everything you ever know.
Speaker 3: You've got to decide if it stops with you.
Speaker 2: You've got to decide if you want to change your bloodline.
Speaker 2: Nobody else is the Pastor's not gonna magically do it
Speaker 2: for you. It's you, the spirit of God on the
Speaker 2: inside of you, and you've got a decision to make.
Speaker 2: What's gonna be your story. Your mama can't write your story.
Speaker 2: Your daddy can't write your story. The money in the
Speaker 2: bank can't write your story. Your good deeds can't write
Speaker 2: your story. Going to church can't write your story. Begetting
Speaker 2: a new degree can't write your story. Being the boss
Speaker 2: can't write your story. You're gonna have to look yourself
Speaker 2: in the.
Speaker 3: Mirror and decide.
Speaker 2: As for me and my house, I'm taking my story back.
Speaker 2: And some of you have been so lazy with your story.
Speaker 2: You've given your story to the first bad person you
Speaker 2: met You gave your story to that first person you dated.
Speaker 2: You gave your story to a doctor's report. You gave
Speaker 2: your story to abandon me, you gave your story to loneliness,
Speaker 2: you gave your story to depression.
Speaker 3: I'm here to remind you you.
Speaker 2: Better get some power back up in yourself and remind yourself,
Speaker 2: this is my story.
Speaker 3: Ain't nobody else living it for me?
Speaker 4: Sure as heck, ain't gonna let fear live my story.
Speaker 3: It stops today.
Speaker 4: I'm done.
Speaker 3: I'm done.
Speaker 4: I'm done.
Speaker 2: I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm
Speaker 2: sick and tired of blaming everybody else. I'm sick and
Speaker 2: tired of waiting on somebody to give me a handout.
Speaker 2: I'm sick and tired of trying to control God with
Speaker 2: my prayers and trying to make him.
Speaker 3: Fix everything that's broken.
Speaker 2: But thank God that the power that raised Christ from
Speaker 2: the dead lives up on the inside of me, and
Speaker 2: He's empowered me right here, right now, on this day,
Speaker 2: to take.
Speaker 4: My story back.
Speaker 3: Someho I just need to say that, say I'm taking
Speaker 3: my story back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, some of y'all Your shoulders just got lighter because
Speaker 2: it's the first time you realize you had that choice.
Speaker 2: Taking my story back, we find Paul talking to a
Speaker 2: young man named Timothy, and Paul knows what Timothy doesn't know,
Speaker 2: and that's he's fighting for his story. At this time
Speaker 2: in church history, Paul finds himself in prison. He is
Speaker 2: going to die in what the Alogians believe to be months,
Speaker 2: and all the first generation disciples and apostles.
Speaker 4: Are dying, and Timothy's next.
Speaker 2: Timothy is a young man pastoring a church in Ephesus,
Speaker 2: and it is growing out of his control, and there
Speaker 2: is cultural pressure, and he lives in a city that
Speaker 2: one of the temples of Ardemais, which was the one
Speaker 2: of the seven Wonders of the world at his time.
Speaker 2: And all that means is there's a lot of confusion,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of cultural pressure, there's a lot of
Speaker 2: leadership pressure, and there is this early movement that is
Speaker 2: budding and taking over the world. And Paul starts to
Speaker 2: realize he doesn't know he's next. He doesn't know this
Speaker 2: is a about to be his story. So he writes
Speaker 2: him a letter and he says, hey, Timothy, first I
Speaker 2: want to say I miss you, I love you, and
Speaker 2: I want you to know I've seen the faith that
Speaker 2: started in your great grandmother. Some of you only hear
Speaker 2: because your great grandmother. You're only here because somebody who
Speaker 2: ain't here. What's praying for you? He says, I saw
Speaker 2: the faith in your great grandmother Lois and in your
Speaker 2: mother Eunice. But they're gone now, they ain't here. This
Speaker 2: is your story, and he's telling him you may not
Speaker 2: realize it, but fear is standing at the door trying
Speaker 2: to see if it can take your story. So he
Speaker 2: says to him, God has not given you a spirit
Speaker 2: of fear. In the original language, this word is not
Speaker 2: like fear, like oh gosh, I'm scared because something jumped
Speaker 2: around the corner. Is the word would be a military
Speaker 2: term that would refer to a coward in battle. What
Speaker 2: it's saying is, it's like a soldier standing on the
Speaker 2: front lines with all his friends and his platoon and
Speaker 2: all his group of people, and they went through training together,
Speaker 2: and they went over the plan together, and they decided
Speaker 2: that we're gonna stand on this.
Speaker 3: Front line, and all of a sudden, one of the gentlemen.
Speaker 2: Sees sees what's ahead in it, and it's a coward.
Speaker 2: It's one who runs away from the fight, and Paul
Speaker 2: comes to Timothy, and I'm coming to you to say
Speaker 2: that God did not make you a coward. Fear tried
Speaker 2: to tell you you were a coward. That's why you've
Speaker 2: avoided difficult things in your life. That's why you've avoided commitment.
Speaker 2: That's why you've avoid stepping out and you're living your dream.
Speaker 2: That's why you've avoided talking to certain people because fear
Speaker 2: tries to narrate to you that you're a coward and
Speaker 2: it could never work, and nobody's gonna listen to you,
Speaker 2: and they'll never hear you, and you'll never be anybody again.
Speaker 2: And your time is up and your time is over.
Speaker 2: So just step back and let the other people do it.
Speaker 2: Just step back and let the qualified people do it.
Speaker 2: Just step back and let the perfect people do it.
Speaker 2: But no, God has not made you a coward.
Speaker 4: You've got to decide to live your story.
Speaker 2: And I want to walk you through today. We're gonna
Speaker 2: do it clearly, but quickly. Four different types of fear
Speaker 2: that try to narrate your story. Four different types of
Speaker 2: fear that try to narrate your story. Now, my idea
Speaker 2: and theory with this is that no matter who you are,
Speaker 2: no matter your background, no matter how you are raised,
Speaker 2: that every human on planet Earth shares four core fear. Yes,
Speaker 2: that every fear you have stems from these four fears.
Speaker 4: Now I need to warn you.
Speaker 2: In just a couple of seconds, they're gonna throw a
Speaker 2: graph on the screen.
Speaker 4: And the graph is absolutely ridiculous, Just gonna prepare you.
Speaker 4: It's got so.
Speaker 2: Many words and so many different things, and I love it,
Speaker 2: and I've already decided that before telling you about it.
Speaker 2: But I'm gonna slow you, walk you through some of
Speaker 2: these so you can hopefully identify how these fears are
Speaker 2: impacting you. Okay, throw the ridiculously worded chart on the screen. Okay,
Speaker 2: they're gonna they're gonna put it up on here on
Speaker 2: the side as we walk through these, so you can know.
Speaker 2: But these are four core fears that we all have. Okay,
Speaker 2: throw the first one up where we starting out here.
Speaker 2: Here's when I have a cheat code under here.
Speaker 3: All right, here we go.
Speaker 2: The first fear that you all want to deal with
Speaker 2: is the fear of man. We all have this fear,
Speaker 2: and the core question is what if people think about
Speaker 2: me at some point in your life? You are struggling
Speaker 2: with what do people think about me? And your life
Speaker 2: is determined by what they think. So if they think
Speaker 2: you're special, you're special. If they don't think you're special,
Speaker 2: you're not. And here's how that shows up in your life.
Speaker 2: The emotions that shows up as insecurity, it shows up
Speaker 2: as shame, It shows up as jealousy and loneliness and
Speaker 2: self doubt.
Speaker 3: Why because your value is.
Speaker 4: Determined by what they think about you.
Speaker 2: So here's what happens your behaviors. You start hiding, You
Speaker 2: start performing for people. You start comparing yourself, isolating yourself,
Speaker 2: avoiding decisions. Why because you are so concerned with other
Speaker 2: people's life And the truth is they're controlling your story.
Speaker 4: You're not.
Speaker 2: So you don't say stuff because you're worried about what
Speaker 2: they'll think. You don't step out because of what your
Speaker 2: family might say.
Speaker 3: You don't do what you know you're supposed to do.
Speaker 3: Because your core fear.
Speaker 2: Is that my value comes from your acceptance of me.
Speaker 2: And I'm only important if you think I'm important. So
Speaker 2: I gotta earn this money and prove to my dad,
Speaker 2: and I gotta earn this thing and show them that
Speaker 2: they were wrong. Why Because if you don't think I'm enough.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I am enough, so I gotta
Speaker 2: prove it to you. And it's all motivated, narrated by
Speaker 2: directed by.
Speaker 4: Fear, the fear of what they think, the fear of man.
Speaker 2: The next thing we've got to go to is the
Speaker 2: fear of failure, the fear of failure, the fear of failure,
Speaker 2: the fear of failure. Now the question with this one
Speaker 2: is is what if I can't do it? So this
Speaker 2: is different because fear of man will have you thinking
Speaker 2: what do they think about me? But the other one,
Speaker 2: there's something on the inside of you that thinks, what
Speaker 2: if I step out there and.
Speaker 3: It don't work. What if I try this and I'm embarrassed?
Speaker 2: What if I try to do this in it and
Speaker 2: it can't happen.
Speaker 3: So it shows up as stress and frustration.
Speaker 2: And you're discouraged and there's pressure and anxiety because you
Speaker 2: are overwhelmed with the idea that it will fail. The
Speaker 2: business might fail, the marriage might fail, the relationship might fail,
Speaker 2: the idea might fail, that your kids might fail.
Speaker 3: So what do you do?
Speaker 2: You try to control everything. You quit early so you
Speaker 2: have an excuse. Oh, I know this one because if
Speaker 2: you quit before you really had to try, we don't
Speaker 2: know if you weren't good enough or if you just
Speaker 2: didn't try. So it's easy to downplay your own giftings,
Speaker 2: so you have an excuse.
Speaker 4: To require less of yourself.
Speaker 2: Oh, I didn't even really want to go to college.
Speaker 2: I didn't even really want to start the business. I
Speaker 2: didn't even really want to be married.
Speaker 4: No, that's not true.
Speaker 2: You wanted it more than anything you've ever wanted in
Speaker 2: your life. You were just so afraid that you might
Speaker 2: fail that you thought the only way to deal with
Speaker 2: this is not to deal with the fear of failure,
Speaker 2: but to run away as fast as you can, because
Speaker 2: what if you fail? And there's another one that couples itself.
Speaker 4: With the fear of failure that not everybody knows, but
Speaker 4: some of you do.
Speaker 2: And it's kind of up under the fear of failure,
Speaker 2: but it's the fear of success. Some of you know
Speaker 2: it's gonna work, and you're terrified of what that means.
Speaker 2: Fear of man, the fear of failure. The next one
Speaker 2: is the fear of inadequacy. This fear tries to narrate
Speaker 2: your story, and here's the story.
Speaker 3: It tells you you're broken.
Speaker 2: The fear of man is about what they think. The
Speaker 2: fear of failure is about your skill and the talent
Speaker 2: you have, or the idea you have. But the fear
Speaker 2: of inadequacy tells you it doesn't matter where you go,
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter how much you learn, matter what you
Speaker 2: think about yourself. Something's broken with you. You don't have
Speaker 2: all the pieces, and you'll never be enough. And that
Speaker 2: last failure is your whole life. And there's something broken
Speaker 2: and intrinsically wrong with you. You're the reason your family
Speaker 2: isn't together. You're the reason the marriage didn't work out.
Speaker 2: You're the reason your kids are messed up. You're the
Speaker 2: reason nobody's chosen you, and you're the reason you'll never
Speaker 2: get promoted.
Speaker 4: And you're in these lives they try to narrate your story.
Speaker 2: There's the fear of man, the fear of failure, the
Speaker 2: fear of inadequacy, and the fourth and final one is
Speaker 2: the fear of loss. Some of you are so gripped
Speaker 2: by the idea, what if.
Speaker 4: I lose what I love? What if I lose what's
Speaker 4: kept me safe? So you don't realize it. But as
Speaker 4: a kid you had to figure out how to keep
Speaker 4: yourself safe. So you devised a plan.
Speaker 3: Of action that worked for you when you were five.
Speaker 3: But now you're thirty five.
Speaker 2: And your life is built on these things you have
Speaker 2: kept and accumulated, and if you lose a dollar. This
Speaker 2: is what is so funny about how we engage with finances,
Speaker 2: because some of you think if you had enough money
Speaker 2: in the bank, you wouldn't be afraid, and it ain't true,
Speaker 2: because there's no amount of money that can have your
Speaker 2: soul at peace. Ten billion dollars in the bank account, you'll.
Speaker 3: Still be worried.
Speaker 2: But what if the economy goes down? And what if
Speaker 2: something bad happens? And what if I can't pay for this?
Speaker 2: And what if they take it all? And what if
Speaker 2: I miss something? And I why because I'm afraid that
Speaker 2: if I lose this, I don't know who I am.
Speaker 2: If I lose this tie, I don't know who I am.
Speaker 2: If I lose this job, I don't know who I am.
Speaker 2: If I lose these friends, I don't know who I am.
Speaker 3: If I lose this spouse, I don't I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know who I am. Now the question is
Speaker 2: what do we do. I'm gonna give you three simple
Speaker 2: things to do, and we're gonna go home. The first
Speaker 2: thing you're gonna do, if you're gonna rewrite your story,
Speaker 2: you gotta first thing you gotta do is you gotta
Speaker 2: recognize which one of these jokers is trying to write
Speaker 2: your story?
Speaker 3: Which one is it?
Speaker 2: Do you find yourself thinking about what people think about
Speaker 2: you all day?
Speaker 3: Which one is it? Who's writing your story right now?
Speaker 2: Are you writing your story or that opinion of that
Speaker 2: person you've never met writing your story?
Speaker 3: Are you writing your story or is it a dead
Speaker 3: loved one that never looked.
Speaker 2: At you and never saw you and never acknowledged you.
Speaker 3: And now you're a grown person.
Speaker 2: Talking to someone at your job like they're that person? Why?
Speaker 3: Because you're not writing your story? They are? Who's living
Speaker 3: your story? Who's writing your story? And I don't.
Speaker 2: Honestly, we can go through these and it's important that
Speaker 2: you recognize it. You've got to acknowledge. For my life,
Speaker 2: this has been the thing that has written my story.
Speaker 3: I know these all too well because the truth is,
Speaker 3: all of.
Speaker 2: Them, at different points, have written my story.
Speaker 4: I always thought some of you know this.
Speaker 2: I told this story a billion times, but usually it's
Speaker 2: in your early adolescence years where you start to pick
Speaker 2: up this narrator. And in sixth grade, I picked up
Speaker 2: a narrator and I was at a.
Speaker 4: Free throw line.
Speaker 2: It was the game winning free throws and I missed
Speaker 2: both of them.
Speaker 4: And we lost the game. Dang, Dad, but the my god, that's.
Speaker 2: Crazy, that's crazy, I said, I missed both.
Speaker 3: He said, my god, come on, Dad, what was that? Man,
Speaker 3: Let's go free throw right now for.
Speaker 4: Me and you.
Speaker 2: No, he said, my god, that's the thing about having
Speaker 2: a church that talked back to you that it doesn't stop.
Speaker 2: So and then I felt so small you right, felt
Speaker 2: like nothing, absolutely nothing at all.
Speaker 3: It's like, wait, don't I'm so insecure. You got reason
Speaker 3: to be sonned. No, wait, Dad, I didn't.
Speaker 2: Okay, she's got hit in the head.
Speaker 3: Terrible free throws.
Speaker 2: Okay, this is why I'm so broken right there.
Speaker 4: That's what happened in my head when I missed it.
Speaker 6: My god, so I shoot the free throws, I miss them.
Speaker 2: And this was the line that ran with no stoppage
Speaker 2: in my head until about three or four years ago,
Speaker 2: when I sat down with my friend, it was you're
Speaker 2: good enough to be the captain.
Speaker 4: You're good enough to be the leader. You're good enough
Speaker 4: for the Koch.
Speaker 2: It trusts you while time runs out. You're good enough
Speaker 2: to draw the foul. You're good enough to be the
Speaker 2: leader at the free throw line. But when it comes
Speaker 2: down to it, you don't have what it tains. And
Speaker 2: it controlled my whole life. Terrified first years of my
Speaker 2: marriage because I thought, I'm good enough to find the
Speaker 2: right girl. I'm good enough to get married, but I
Speaker 2: don't know if I'm good enough to stay married. I'm
Speaker 2: good enough to become a pastor, but I don't good
Speaker 2: to know if I'm good enough to.
Speaker 4: Stay a pastor. And you've got to recognize who's writing
Speaker 4: your story.
Speaker 2: And after you recognize it, you gotta do the every
Speaker 2: single day of your life work to replace it.
Speaker 3: Now, this is important thing. I gotta I gotta tell
Speaker 3: you we're gonna, we're gonna get out of here.
Speaker 4: But I can't emphasize this enough.
Speaker 2: You don't go to the altar one time and your
Speaker 2: story all of a sudden be replaced. Well, I went
Speaker 2: to the altar at the prayer conference, so I know what.
Speaker 3: That's not. That's beautiful. There's a supernatural encounter. But the
Speaker 3: Bible says.
Speaker 2: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but
Speaker 2: be transformed by the renewing.
Speaker 3: Of your mind.
Speaker 2: Not that you can be transformed by your mind being renewed,
Speaker 2: the renewing.
Speaker 3: Every single day. You gotta wake up, you gotta remind yourself.
Speaker 2: Wait a second, My value is not determined by my performance.
Speaker 2: So if I get up here and miss both of
Speaker 2: them again, I am still important, I am still called,
Speaker 2: i am still chosen, i am still valued. I'm still
Speaker 2: the man for Abby, I'm still the father for those kids.
Speaker 3: I'm still the past that this generation needs.
Speaker 2: Regardless of my performance, you gotta replace it with the truth.
Speaker 4: So each one of these they have a truth.
Speaker 2: One of the ideas is the fear of man will
Speaker 2: tell you your value is only important because of what
Speaker 2: they say about you. The truth is, your value is
Speaker 2: what God says about you. And he says, you're loved,
Speaker 2: You're chosen, And here's the greatest one your mind, You're his.
Speaker 2: So any earthly parent knows. Oh my gosh, I have
Speaker 2: to tell this story. I have to tell the story yesterday.
Speaker 2: My beautiful daughter, Jade October. She is beautiful, she's the sweetest,
Speaker 2: she comes marching down the steps ball and crying. She
Speaker 2: starts crying, and this proceeded to be like an hour
Speaker 2: and a half thing where she said, Daddy, I'm trying
Speaker 2: to be fashion like you and Aunt Laurie, and I
Speaker 2: can't do it.
Speaker 4: This is real, I mean bawling. We had to FaceTime
Speaker 4: Aunt Laurie.
Speaker 2: She sat the phone up and went through every piece
Speaker 2: of clothing she owns, holding it up to the camera.
Speaker 3: See, I can't wear this. These don't fit me.
Speaker 4: And I can know like just and this is just
Speaker 4: a four year o little girl. And I had to
Speaker 4: sit her little chubby cheeks down. I squished her little face.
Speaker 4: I said, girl, Daddy loves you no matter what you wear,
Speaker 4: cares about these clothes I love. I get it. I'm
Speaker 4: not sure what I'm wearing.
Speaker 2: Tomorrow, but you need to know I love you no
Speaker 2: matter what. And some of you you need to know God,
Speaker 2: Oh he will kneel down.
Speaker 4: The Bible says it. Then the word became flesh and
Speaker 4: dwelt among us. That's the eternal infinite God kneeling down.
Speaker 2: They say, hey, your value is not what they said
Speaker 2: about you, because before you were in your mother's womb.
Speaker 2: I knew you. I love your mama, I love you Daddy,
Speaker 2: but I knew you before they did. And you've got
Speaker 2: to go through and you've got to replace each one
Speaker 2: of these. The fear of man will tell you your value
Speaker 2: is what they think about you. If you're a failure,
Speaker 2: will tell you your value is your performance.
Speaker 4: But the gospel is your performance is not what saves you.
Speaker 2: This is why you gotta be careful with religion, because
Speaker 2: some of you think you're saved because you're a good person,
Speaker 2: which the sentence is flawed in and of itself, because
Speaker 2: the goal is not a good person, and there aren't
Speaker 2: good and bad people. The scripture says, for all have
Speaker 2: sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So
Speaker 2: to say you're a good person is to only in
Speaker 2: of itself compare yourself to someone you think is a
Speaker 2: bad person, and that puts you in the judgment seats.
Speaker 2: And let me tell your friend, I love you, I'm
Speaker 2: glad you're a church to say, but me and you
Speaker 2: should not be in the judgment seats. I don't determine
Speaker 2: good and bad. I don't say who's good in What
Speaker 2: I recognize is that the grace of God had to
Speaker 2: come find all of us.
Speaker 3: No matter what we did, no matter how good we
Speaker 3: thought you were. You could do all that work, and
Speaker 3: the Great still had to reach down and find you.
Speaker 2: The fear of inadequacy tells you that something's broken. By
Speaker 2: God says, you're my masterpiece.
Speaker 7: And the fear of loss only makes sense when you realize,
Speaker 7: think of the thing you be most terrified to lose
Speaker 7: over anything else, your own life.
Speaker 2: Now, modern church we straight away from conversations like this,
Speaker 2: but the early Church was built on conversations like this
Speaker 2: because they knew, even.
Speaker 4: If I lose my.
Speaker 2: Life, I'm going to open my eyes and look Him
Speaker 2: in the face. So crucify me upside down if you
Speaker 2: want to Stephen being stoned to death, says God.
Speaker 3: Forgive them. I'm not scared right now because I know
Speaker 3: I'm about to see you.
Speaker 2: I'm not terrified right now because I know where I
Speaker 2: go when I die, and I got some friends up there.
Speaker 3: That's waiting on. Man.
Speaker 2: I'm excited to see Abraham, and I'm.
Speaker 3: Excited to see David. I'm excited to see Moses. I
Speaker 3: know what's gonna happen to me. So even if I
Speaker 3: lose everything.
Speaker 4: I'll be all right. You've got to replace it. The
Speaker 4: last thing you've got to do is it.
Speaker 2: Your life will only make sense when you release it.
Speaker 2: And here's the most powerful thing you could recognize. On
Speaker 2: one hand, this is your story. But on the other hand,
Speaker 2: this ain't your story.
Speaker 4: You didn't do this. You think your life is about you.
Speaker 4: You think you on this earth for you.
Speaker 2: You think those kids were about you.
Speaker 4: You think God gave you that idea for you.
Speaker 3: You think we up in this church for us.
Speaker 4: The most beautiful thing that will.
Speaker 2: Bring peace to your life is you realize this is
Speaker 2: not your story and you are.
Speaker 3: Not the main character. This is why your life doesn't make.
Speaker 2: Sense because humans make horrible main characters.
Speaker 3: We do all right at.
Speaker 2: Supporting actors and extras, but we make terrible main characters.
Speaker 2: There is only one man who can handle the weight
Speaker 2: and the glory and the expectation and the intricacies and
Speaker 2: the understandings of what it takes to stand in human
Speaker 2: history and say, I am the main character and it's
Speaker 2: not you, friend, and your life will never make sense
Speaker 2: as long as you think it's about you. Before we
Speaker 2: find this in our example, Jesus as I close, for
Speaker 2: he is on the cross, pinned there by the people
Speaker 2: he made, and the scripture says he is on the
Speaker 2: cross and says, into your hands, do I release.
Speaker 4: My spirits? Because even Jesus knew in that guard this
Speaker 4: ain't my story. God, if there's any other way, because they're.
Speaker 2: Gonna beat me, and the weight of the sin of
Speaker 2: human history is about.
Speaker 3: To be on my shoulders. Think about this.
Speaker 2: Think of your worst moment, the darkest you felt, the
Speaker 2: heaviest you felt, when you were.
Speaker 3: Gonna take your life. I don't know what moment, but
Speaker 3: think of.
Speaker 2: That moment, and then multiply it past every person who's
Speaker 2: ever lived, every person who is alive, and every person.
Speaker 3: Who will ever be born. And Jesus is on the
Speaker 3: cross with all of that.
Speaker 2: On him, not metaphorically, not idealistically, in reality, and he's
Speaker 2: in the garden thinking about this reality, and he knows
Speaker 2: what it's gonna take, and he knows how it's gonna feel.
Speaker 2: He starts to think to himself, God, if there is
Speaker 2: any there's any other way, But.
Speaker 4: This isn't my.
Speaker 2: Story, So not my will, but yours be done. And
Speaker 2: I want to tell you, friend, if you want to
Speaker 2: get your story back, it's kind of confusing because you
Speaker 2: gotta let it go.
Speaker 4: For he wants to gain his life.
Speaker 3: What's loves it.
Speaker 2: I want to pray for you today that the Spirit
Speaker 2: of God would empower you to recognize who's been writing
Speaker 2: your that he would empower you to replace that lie
Speaker 2: with His truth. And the easiest way to do that
Speaker 2: is to read what God says about you in this book.
Speaker 4: When you read that book, it changes your life. And
Speaker 4: then that we all might find the courage to ultimately
Speaker 4: release our story back to God.
Speaker 2: Would you buy your heads and close your eyes, Lord Jesus,
Speaker 2: thank you, Thank you for including us in your story.
Speaker 2: Thank you for giving us a role even though we
Speaker 2: were unqualified. Thank you for looking past our bad auditions
Speaker 2: of holiness and the times we misrepresented you to include
Speaker 2: us in your story. And right now I pray supernaturally
Speaker 2: that the spirit of God will begin to illuminate where
Speaker 2: people are living a story that is not the one
Speaker 2: You've called them to live.
Speaker 4: And I pay fear would be released.
Speaker 2: From their body, from their mind, from their thoughts, from
Speaker 2: the control center of their life.
Speaker 4: And may the peace of God, which.
Speaker 2: Transcends understanding, May the security of God, may deep trust
Speaker 2: in God rule and reign in their life and in
Speaker 2: their mind. God, I pray that starting today, everyone under
Speaker 2: the sound of my voice is going to live a
Speaker 2: new story.
Speaker 4: Every head bow and every eye close.
Speaker 2: If you're in this room, you've never said to Jesus
Speaker 2: as your Lord and savior. And really, this is the
Speaker 2: ultimate moment of releasing your story. I said it before,
Speaker 2: but as good as you are, you're not a great
Speaker 2: main character. But it is in putting the right character
Speaker 2: in the right position that you start to see all
Speaker 2: the other characters will make sense. And to make it
Speaker 2: plain to you, your life won't make sense until Jesus
Speaker 2: runs your life. And I'm not talking about a partial commitment.
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about giving him your couple of little things.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about laying your life down at the altar
Speaker 2: and saying I'm done. I can't do it, I don't
Speaker 2: want it. Jesus take control, and I promise you, when
Speaker 2: you make that choice, it'll change your life forever. It's
Speaker 2: what you've been looking for, it's what your soul has
Speaker 2: been searching for. It's why you feel overwhelmed, it's why
Speaker 2: you feel like you can't handle it. It's because as
Speaker 2: great as you are. You were not made to be
Speaker 2: in that role. But when you release to Jesus, he
Speaker 2: gives you the clarity, the power of the understanding to
Speaker 2: live this life with him. If you want to accept
Speaker 2: Jesus today, I'm gonna count to three, and you're gonna
Speaker 2: raise your hand boldly.
Speaker 4: One. He loves you. Two. Today is the day of salvation.
Speaker 4: Don't wait another day.
Speaker 2: Three, right now in this room, lift your hand if
Speaker 2: you want to accept Jesus to be your Lord and savior.
Speaker 2: I'm so proud of you, buddy, so proud of you.
Speaker 2: I got you up there, so proud of you, so
Speaker 2: proud of you. I see you right here, dog, I
Speaker 2: got you, So proud of you, I got you right here.
Speaker 4: Say it.
Speaker 2: So proud of you, so proud of you online. If
Speaker 2: you made that choice, We're so proud. Here's what we're
Speaker 2: gonna do altogether, as a family. We're gonna pray out
Speaker 2: loud together for the benefit of those who are praying
Speaker 2: for the first time. Everybody out loud, repeat this after me.
Speaker 2: Everybody say Dear God, thank you for loving me.
Speaker 4: Dear Jesus.
Speaker 2: I admit I've made mistakes, and I've tried to make
Speaker 2: myself the main character. But today I release my life
Speaker 2: to you, change me, restore me, make me new in
Speaker 2: Jesus name my prayer.
Speaker 4: Amen.
Speaker 3: Hey, can we celebrate people.
Speaker 4: Who just made that choice?
Speaker 2: Go ahead and stand up to your feet. If you
Speaker 2: just made that choice, it's the best choice you could
Speaker 2: ever make. We would love to know about it. There's
Speaker 2: some information on the screen. You can text us to
Speaker 2: let us know. If you're in the room, give somebody
Speaker 2: a hug and tell them you made that choice.
Speaker 4: It's the best choice.
Speaker 2: Hey, listen, our worship team's gonna worship in just a moment.
Speaker 2: Some of you just need to sit in the presence
Speaker 2: of God and you can do that. Next week, you
Speaker 2: don't want to miss it. We start a brand new
Speaker 2: series with pastor Tim Ross.
Speaker 3: He released the.
Speaker 2: Book Oh Yeah, pastrim Ross is gonna be here new
Speaker 2: series called The Missing Peace, and it's gonna be a beautiful,
Speaker 2: beautiful continuation of releasing fear and finding real peace in
Speaker 2: your life. So make sure you're here next week. That
Speaker 2: you're here, I want to pray for you and we're
Speaker 2: gonna go out of here. If you need prayer for anything.
Speaker 2: Our team is gonna be up here at the front
Speaker 2: and in the back.
Speaker 3: But I love you, Lord God. I thank you for
Speaker 3: everybody in this room.
Speaker 2: I thank you that your peace, your power, and the
Speaker 2: purpose of God follows them all this week and they
Speaker 2: live confidently knowing that you chose them, that You're with them,
Speaker 2: and that they will live a beautiful and bright and
Speaker 2: big story. It's in the beautiful name of Jesus, we pray,
Speaker 2: and everybody said, Amen, Amen, Amen, let's worship together.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us today. If you said that
Speaker 1: prayer and accept it Jesus into your heart, it's the
Speaker 1: best decision you could ever make. We want to celebrate
Speaker 1: with you, and we have some tools to help you
Speaker 1: on your journey. Tech saved to A two eight two
Speaker 1: eight two, and to find out more about TC text
Speaker 1: connect to A two eight two eight two. Be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe and share this podcast with your friends. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening. Now go out and live a transform life.
Speaker 1: Nine