Plays On Word Radio
An in-depth look at the Word of God, the Plays On Word community, and the Plays - with original music - we perform, that are based on the Word of God. New episodes drop Fridays at 7AM EST! To find out how Plays On Word Theater can perform 'LIVE on YOUR STAGE' and to support this missionary & podcast visit: https://playsonword.org/
Plays On Word Radio
Ep 137: Finding Peace Beyond Panic - Plays On Word Update (Part 1)
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"Have you ever faced a situation so terrifying that it woke you from sleep in a cold sweat? That's exactly what happened to Pastor Teddy on our recent ministry tour."
Fred and Katie Kenney share a powerful testimony of God's peace during a harrowing mountain descent in North Carolina, where they experienced the real-world application of Philippians 4:6-7 in the face of genuine fear.
• Embarking on a Northeast tour with Plays on Word Theater
• Performing at Mountain Top Youth Camp in Pinnacle, NC
• Navigating a treacherous single-lane mountain road with a heavy trailer
• Experiencing overwhelming anxiety when faced with descending the steep mountain in rain
• Reaching out to church members for specific prayer
• Making the conscious choice to stand on God's Word despite fear
• Feeling supernatural peace and even physical "downward pressure" during the descent
• Learning the difference between believing in God versus believing God
• Understanding that God's promises aren't academic but practical for real-life situations
• Recognizing that anxiety is conquered through prayer and petition
If you'd like to learn more about Plays on Word Theater or see our upcoming schedule, visit playsonword.org. We have Genesis 'JOE' performances coming in October and 'CHRISTMAS JOE' performances already booking up for the holiday season!
Pilot Knob Inn Bed & Breakfast - https://www.pilotknobinn.com/
Mountain Top Youth Camp - https://www.mountaintopyouthcamp.org/
Faith Over Anxiety Down Mountain Video - https://youtu.be/QLg6EohVn9I
Plays On Word Newsletter Sign Up - https://playsonword.dm.networkforgood.com/forms/newsletter-sign-up
To find out more about our program and access additional resources, visit our website at https://playsonword.org/calendar.html. Check back often for our new website design coming soon! To support this and upcoming tours financially, please visit: https://playsonword.networkforgood
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Plays on Word Radio Introduction
Speaker 1Lord, you know You're now listening to Play For.
Speaker 2The Word Radio. It's the best. We've already got peace with God. If you're in Christ, you've got peace with God. But there's something different, called the peace of God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, might guard your heart and mind. No, it doesn't say might, maybe it might just help you. No, it doesn't say that. It says the peace of God will help you. Guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Jesus, your living name, your living name, your living name. You're the only name. You're the only name. You're the only name.
Speaker 3Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the Word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion. Today let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr, the founder of Plays on Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God.
Northeast Tour Planning
Speaker 2Amen, amen. Well, welcome to all of you to Plays on Word Radio. My name is Fred David Kenny Jr. Oh yeah, southern Command. We're back from our tour and I'm in studio with the lovely Katie Kenney. Katie Kenney, say hello to everybody, hello, hello. Okay, good deal, we are. We're just gonna share with you guys and let you in on some of our conversations, like the conversations that we have. And, katie Kenney, you're on your phone right now. Are you on your phone? I'm putting you out your phone right now. Are you on your phone? I'm putting you out there on the radio. Are you on your phone?
Speaker 1Well, if you really looked at what I was looking at, I was checking our tour dates to make sure that I had the appropriate information.
Speaker 2Okay, Okay, always working, always working. So I stand rejected.
Speaker 1You sure do. Yeah, okay, calling me out there like that. I had to put you out there.
Speaker 2So we did a northeast tour and right now you are setting up a another northeast tour. Um, what's the difference between the two?
Speaker 1well, we have moved into our genesis joe season and so, uh, we have some dates coming up up north in october, and that's kind of what we're looking at now okay, so we're going to be doing genesis joey's.
Speaker 2That's what you're saying yes okay, so we are going to load up our trailer and head back up to the northeast, and there are some places that are in play right now, so I won't mention them. We have not officially locked down the date, but we're definitely coming back to the Northeast, absolutely For Genesis Joe, and we're really looking forward to doing that. So how could somebody find out if they want to know more about what's going on with Plays on Word?
Speaker 1as far as the schedule, Well, they can check our website at playsonwordorg, and I do encourage people to keep checking that website because in about a month it's going to look completely different. We're redesigning it. But yeah, if you go on our website and check out the calendar page, then you should be able to see where we are.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's going to look different and it's also going to be loaded up, because Christmas Joe's already kind of booked up already. I don't know if we can shoehorn any more Christmas Joe's performances in. We're pretty booked right.
Speaker 1We have a bunch that are locked in. We have a bunch that are locked in, we have a bunch that are pending yeah and um, and actually both north carolina and up north oh wow.
Speaker 2Well, maybe one day the good lord will bless us with some other folks at plays on word that will go out so we can multiply our effectiveness. You know what I mean. So it won't just be me going out there, it'll be somebody else who's a fool for Christ going to do. We can do two Christmas Joe plays at once. I know of a group, a secular hip-hop band, that will remain unnamed right now, that double-booked a performance and my brother played with them for a while and yeah, they were double booked at two big venues.
Speaker 1Does he listen to this podcast? I don't know.
Speaker 2Oh, I'm hoping not right now you know what it's common knowledge, though I wasn't breaking any news right there.
Speaker 1Don't even say that we work very hard not to double book. Yeah yeah so yeah, we don't want to double book.
Speaker 2But if we, what I'm saying is, maybe the lord will raise somebody up that will be able to, you know, don the beard and the outfit and go play pete well, you have had that vision of doing a plays onward camp, camp, and we talk about our 5-10 year plan.
Speaker 1So you never know.
Speaker 2Yeah, I can hear Joe Bay right now. I'm calling him up. Yeah, I'm going to sign up for that.
Speaker 1Yeah, send in your reel, Send in your reel.
Mountain Adventure Begins
Speaker 2Shout out to Joe Bay we love that guy. Anyway, I just wanted to review and take you guys down a road where we went. Let's take a look at the tour. I have some photos here for Katie Kenney that will jar her memory On our first tour. It was early August. We went to it technically wasn't the Northeast, it was the western section of the state of North Carolina, up in the mountains of North Carolina. Is that correct? Yes, that was in P family retreat for our dear brother Stephen Burns, right? Yes, and he is a member of our church down here in North Carolina and he is a supporter of Plays on Word as well and he asked us to come.
Speaker 2It was a pretty big family reunion where they just basically took over the whole camp there and we did our Pete play and it was kind of the second half of our Pete season where it was nice to get back into the swing because we had some I don't want to say some time off. We're always working, but from touring we were focusing on a few other things, I guess in July I don't remember having a Pete play in July- no, I don't think we did, but we stayed in this nice cabin.
Speaker 2I'm showing you the picture here. Katie Mountain, where the retreat took place, was up on. Was it Pinnacle Mountain? Is that the?
Speaker 1name.
Speaker 2Yeah, pinnacle Mountain.
Speaker 1At the Mountaintop Youth Camp. At the Mountaintop Youth Camp.
Speaker 2Yes, the Mountaintop Youth Camp, and we went up there and it was basically a one-lane road. The paved part of it, or the pavement, it wasn't like fresh asphalt, it had been paved for a while and it was a thin road. It wasn't double wide for two cars, Like I don't know what would happen if another car was coming back that same way. They constructed it in such a way so that it doesn't happen.
Speaker 1I think you went up one way and you came down another. So it was one way, but it was sharp. It was funny too. Before we went up there, when we were making our way over to the mountain, we saw the mountain in the distance and we're like whoa, look at that building up there, and I think we literally said, oh, wouldn't that be funny if that's where we were going, because it was high.
Speaker 2I think, yeah, let me see. I don't know if I have a photo of it, but I do have a photo somewhere. I think on the way back I took a photo somewhere. I think on the way back I took a photo. But yeah, it was high up and we were like look at that crazy looking building up on the mountain. And as we got closer to it we were like, wait, wait, what Is that?
Speaker 3where we're going, that's where we're going.
Speaker 1Oh, that's where we're going.
Speaker 2So yeah, and when we got up there and it was some twisty, wide sharp turns there, wide sharp turns there, it was mostly a leave covered because it wasn't like an open, it was trees over where we were driving and so there were leaves, there was a little bit of gravel. I'm in a truck, that's basically. It's not all-wheel drive, it's just two-wheel drive, pulling the trailer with all our gear and everything in it and the truck's strong. The truck didn't have any problem. You know, I mean it's a Hemi, 5.7 liter V8, man, that thing is, it's a race engine, I mean. But I did have to step on it a couple times going up that hill. I was like, oh okay, I had to rev the engine just.
Speaker 1A little bit.
Speaker 2A little bit, but I do remember thinking as soon as I had to do that, I said man, if I? Oh, this could be dangerous if I lost traction. I remember thinking to myself this would be bad news if I lost traction.
Speaker 1And you were thinking that on the way up. On the way up, I was thinking Because I was, and then I.
Speaker 2So I was thinking because I was, and, and then out it. So all the way up I'm thinking as, as we navigated that road, I'm like oh, okay, okay, okay. And I remember, looking to my left, when they, when we passed the, where the down road connects To the main road and where it connects and it was so steep, I said oh no, I've man. I said oh no man, I hope we don't have to take that on the way back because it's so steep and it's steep. And then it makes a hard right and if you go straight, you're going up over off the edge of the mountain tumbling, take you about five rolls to get to the bottom. But yeah, it would be bad news. And so that's in my mind as we're going up to do this play. So we get up there, it's nice and warm, it's beautiful. Right, it was nice and warm up there and it really pretty, really nice it was kind of on an incline too.
Speaker 2So you you had to be kind of strategic in how you parked the truck oh, yeah, yeah, there was no, you know, for unloading and everything that, yeah, definitely, there's nothing level. It was like, oh and where, where we parked, I was like okay, and I remember backing up the trailer and I'm like, okay, I'm just man, there's really nowhere to really turn, you can't turn around. No big parking lots, nothing, it's on the mountain. And um, so we went, we did our play, um, I think we left the truck there, didn't we leave the truck? And stephen brought us back to the cabin we.
Speaker 1We did yes, because we were staying off the mountain. Well, still kind of up there, yeah.
Speaker 2So, stephen, we stayed with Stephen.
Speaker 1Beautiful Airbnb, yes, in a cabin, knob Hill.
Performance at Mountaintop Youth Camp
Speaker 2I think it was, yeah, knob Hill, it was fantastic, it was great. But so we went back to do the play. We did the play on a Monday. I mean, this whole thing started right after church, literally. We actually, you know, we had church service, I preached in the morning and boom, boom, boom, we shot home, grabbed a couple bags and then got rid of the church stuff, put that in storage and then we threw the Pete setup into the trailer. And it's a lot of stuff, it's gear, it's the boat, it's merchandise that people love to, you know, shirts and hats and stuff, but the keyboard, basically. Oh, and because it was the Northeast tour, we threw our stage for Ocean Grove.
Speaker 1Right, so this was.
Speaker 2I had to actually empty the entire trailer for church stuff, empty everything out and then load the stage, the buckets that hold up the stage, oh my goodness, everything. I loaded the brace for the, for the boat, because we learned at ocean grove it can get windy, so I built a brace that goes inside the boat. So I loaded everything and then this made the trailer and the and our whole operation man 200, 300 more pounds heavier than normal. And so, anyway, we made it, went up and we did the play and the family really responded. Well, they were really a lot of people were blessed. Some people were like ah, whatever, but there were some people that really dug it and they were I think, yeah, most people really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1And you know, I I do want to say too, because when we it was a long day, um, before we got there, you know we were on our way and poor steve, and we didn't get in to where we were, staying till like 1 am, I think and the poor guy was worried about trying to get me and we're trying to do the direction so I didn't see the.
Speaker 1You know the alert on the phone but anyway. But we did go to. The actual place that we went to was pilot knob in bed and breakfast and we'll put a link. It was an absolutely beautiful place that we're able to set uh to stay um it was fantastic a cabin that ste actually rented, so we were able to stay there. God bless him for that. Yeah, it was beautiful. Yeah, I appreciate it, but then we did the play and I think a lot of people really enjoyed it.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, and there were kids there.
Speaker 1I think that's what it was. Yeah, there were young kids and Stephen was talking it up and I think it's his cousin, margie. Yes, she was kind of coordinating everything, so it was well received.
Speaker 2Yeah, it was well received. And then afterwards, instead of packing everything up and trying to navigate in the dark, we decided let's go back to the cabin and just go to sleep and we'll come back in the morning. So we went back to the cabin, can't, and just go to sleep and we'll come back in the morning. So we went back to the cabin and, as we were driving down this mountain in Steven's car, I left the truck and everything, the gear. I left everything as it was. I'm saying to myself oh boy, oh man, this is not gonna be good, because, I'm looking, the incline is really sharp.
Speaker 2It's a net there are. There's nowhere to pull off. Uh, if you pull off, you're either going trying to go back up, you're trying to go up up a cliff or down a cliff. Uh, there is gravel, it's not freshly paved, um, and I'm just thinking to myself oh boy, this is as we're navigating it. I'm like, well, and then we went down the steep part where it connects Very steep decline and then a hard right. And I remember thinking, wow, we're in Steven's BMW, which is a perfect driving machine, and this is difficult to navigate in the BMW.
Speaker 1And I know you were concerned about that and I could see on your face and you were kind of expressing a little bit of that concern. But I think we were both thinking, oh well, at least we'll be able to do this in the daylight this was probably a better move not to try to do this when you're tired at night dark.
Midnight Anxiety and Rain Fears
Speaker 2And so that was exactly what I'm thinking. I'm like, okay, well, at least we'll be better off tomorrow. But we got back to the cabin. And when we got back to the cabin, all of a sudden it started raining outside and I'm hearing the rain and I'm going oh no, oh no, no, no, please, lord, come on, lord, please don't let it, please, god don't let, don't let me have to go down that hill with it wet, because I'm already worried about traction. I've got this heavy trailer, all this weight, pushing on me. My back tires are not new tires, even my front are fairly new, so I'm not worried about that. But the back are not that great, and I don't have brakes on the trailer. The only brakes is the pickup. And so I'm Let me tell you something I it's been a long time since I woke up in the middle of the night absolutely anxiety, ridden Like, riddled with it, completely anxious, completely anxious and concerned and worried about what we had to do.
Speaker 2It woke me up Like fear. It was fear, it woke me up, fear. And looking at it now I know the enemy was involved in all that, because he was like, yeah, you guys, you're going to lose traction, you're going over the cliff You're going to. You know, um, this is, you know, and it's not that I'm afraid of dying, but I'm just like man, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want my wife to die because of my negligence, you know. And I'm just thinking all this stuff and I'm like, whatever, you know, and I know, I don't want to die if I don't have to, I don't want to die because I went off the edge of a cliff, because I lost traction.
Speaker 1And so I'm thinking to myself oh boy this is going to be all like for hours. Yeah, and I didn't. Obviously I didn't know that you were up and I got some sleep, so I didn't know that you were up most, you know, a good part of the night. But I remember the next morning, obviously, talking about it and kind of seeing the rain etc. And so you and I and Stephen went to breakfast before we headed over there and I was, you know, I was trying to make light of the situation a little bit and I said well, you know, if anything happens, you know we'll be together and we'll go see Jesus sooner than we thought. And you looked at me with this serious look on your face and you said something to the effect of you don't know how possible that is right now.
Speaker 2Yeah, you don't completely understand the probability Exactly.
Speaker 1Yeah, I think you did use probability.
Speaker 2The probability of the very real probability of that happening. Because I was, and you know I thought this. I was, stephen was up when I got up and we talked and I was thinking to myself, man, I just need to go, I just need to go get the truck. So I'm thinking, I just need to go get the truck, and I don't remember exactly. But Stephen was like, well, let's go get some food, I'm thinking. And then Stephen was like, well, we can just go now. And I was like, nah, I don't want to wake Katie up. And so I just remember just saying, lord, I'm just going to trust you.
Speaker 2But see, what happened was the rain had stopped. That's why I was like, oh, I have a window, I have a window. The rain had kind of stopped. And I looked out by the front of the cabin and I was like, okay, maybe I'll have some dry pavement, cause that's what I was really concerned about all night. I'm hearing the rain, the rain, the rain and I'm like, oh Lord, please, if it's, if it's slippery, that's the last thing I need. That exponentially multiplies the chance of me, you know, hitting leaves and then being in such an incline, a decline there, that you know it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2Now I'm skidding, sliding, and I went through in my mind I can't tell you how many times okay, I'm going to have to make a hard left and go up into the hill and maybe, you know, okay, maybe, if I have to just go up into the dirt that way, go up into the mountain, better that than to go over the cliff straight down. So I'm thinking like contingencies and all this different. What can I do? And it really got me to a panic. And I remember, I remember praying to the Lord. I said, lord, I have no peace right now. I have absolutely no peace. This is almost to the point of panic. My heart rate was definitely elevated. I could not sleep. I was like what am I going to do here? What do I do, man? I'm thinking, man, maybe I could call a tow truck to put chains on the trailer as I come. I'm thinking all these different things, I'm thinking out of my mind. Anyway, the sun comes up, we go get some food and when we come back I'm like, all right, let's go. And it's just now.
Speaker 2We're moving towards this inevitable situation which I was panicked about in the middle of the night and I had prayed Philippians 4, 6,. Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything, prayer and supplication. Make your requests known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. You know, as a church we're going through the book of Philippians. We were in chapter two and three before we left, but I'm thinking to myself we had just started chapter three. But I'm like, lord, those are words on the page. I'm feeling anxious and, man, I'm trying to get out of this anxious feeling. And so we went, packed up the trailer. And as we're packing up the trailer, I'm like, okay, I still got a window. It's drying out, it's drying up. Thank you God, Thank you, oh praise God, praise the Lord, praise the Lord. It's drying up. Thank you god, thank you, oh praise god, praise the lord, praise the lord.
Speaker 1It's drying out, no rain and, thank goodness, like through the years, you know, as we've been doing these plays, we've we've tweaked things, how we put things together, how we package things. Yeah, we have a great. You know, we have a pretty good system going so we're able to pack up pretty quickly.
Speaker 2Yes, yeah, if this was before, like years ago it's gotten more efficient over the years.
Speaker 1What I'm trying to say yeah, we're way more efficient.
Speaker 2Things don't get lost. They don't get thrown in the wrong bin. There's not a million bins, it is a very it's. It's getting it's. It's.
Speaker 2It's way better than what it was as far as efficiency, so we load it up, and people even helped us bring stuff outside. And, as as we're, as I'm loading the trailer, now it starts raining again and I'm like, oh no, please, look, come on, lord, please, lord. I just had dry pavement. I had dry pavement, lord, come on, I can't. You know, I need to be in New Jersey or New York state soon. We're going to New York State, and so I'm thinking what am I going to have? To camp out here up in the mountains? And then I looked on my weather app and it said it was going to rain all week in the mountains and I'm like, oh, come on man, that's not going to work.
Speaker 1I need to get out of here. Here's some place to be and I think through this, at this point we had reached out to some church members, and you know just a handful of people that were praying for us.
Speaker 2Yeah, there's a specific group of folks that I'm like, hey, if I text, I usually don't ask, but hey, I need prayer. We need prayer. We need God's intervention here, because this is a potentially bad situation, really bad. God's intervention here because this is a potentially bad situation, really bad. I just need you to pray for the tires to stick to the ground, for the Lord to keep us.
Speaker 1And by the time I came outside too, you were wrapping it up, but that's when it started to rain so.
Speaker 1I was saying goodbye to Stephen and then Louise called and she said you know I've been praying and I just got the word peace. And I thought and she said you know I've been praying and I just have, I just got the word peace. And I thought and I was so blessed by that and I thanked her and I felt bad because I was like I gotta go because I could see you were like we needed to go, so I was like I gotta go, so already, thanks, keep praying and you know, gave Stephen a hug and jumped in the car.
Speaker 2We need to get off this mountain now. We had a window. I'm not staying here no longer. I'm getting out of Dodge man. I am getting out of here, and I definitely was stressing from my predicament that I felt like I was in. So we got the truck loaded up as best as possible. I tried to put the weight over the wheels as best as possible.
Speaker 1You have everything bungeed, so things won't rattle around, right, right.
The Dangerous Descent
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, and so yeah, and I'm like man, okay, we got in, we start the truck, pull off, say bye to everybody. Hey, praise the Lord, god bless you. And now I'm like, okay, lord, okay, lord, it's just, it's us, and you Really need you, lord. I need you to be God for me here, because this I kind of need a miracle. Right now I'm not even, I'm not even joking. This is absolute potential life and death situation From my perspective. I'm like man.
Speaker 2If this goes bad and it very well could go bad the truck could have, we could have slid on some gravel or something and some leaves, and that would have started a type of chain reaction slide. I don't know how I'm getting out of that. And so what I did? I threw it in first gear and I rode the brakes. I said, thank god, I had new front brakes. I rode the brakes down the hill and we did four miles an hour, three miles an hour, the whole way down, just moving down that hill slowly, the whole way down. I'm thinking to myself, okay, okay, start sliding. I'm going to go up into the mountain here, I'm going to go into the mountain, and you know, I've got my contingency plan. And then we turn the corner, we came, and the whole way down. I'm reciting in my mind Philippians 4, 6. Don't be anxious for anything. And I said, lord, this is what were you going to say.
Speaker 1And no, I was just going to say, while you were doing that, I obviously was silently praying and for some reason I just decided to film the whole trip.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, Until I figured well, maybe we'll have something for prosperity.
Speaker 1you know when are we going? To post it If we don't make it. If we do, we'll have a miracle on tape. Where are we going to post it?
Speaker 2We need to post it somewhere. Yeah, so that's going to be in an upcoming newsletter.
Speaker 1So if you don't get our newsletters, please reach out, or there should be a link to sign up.
Speaker 2Right, Reach out to us so we can get you, you know on the incline.
Speaker 1It doesn't really. It almost looks level.
Speaker 2when it's not, it's like what, oh man, it looks.
Speaker 1But you know also, I had this. Well, you want to finish? Yeah, I just had.
Speaker 2I just remember, I remember telling the Lord, lord, I'm giving you back your word, I'm standing on your word. I'm scared right now I'm scared, and I can't even let Katie know how afraid I am right now, but I was borderline terrified. I know you, dude, I knew you were. I was borderline terrified, but I said, lord, I'm standing on your word and, lord, I'm asking for your peace. That surpasses all understanding, because I don't want to be anxious and I'm giving you my anxiety and I'm trusting. I'm choosing to trust in your word. And when I did that, the peace of God did settle over my heart, my mind, my situation. My situation did not change. My situation did not change. My situation didn't change, but how I was feeling, as far as the panic and all that that did change.
Speaker 1One of the reasons why I was happy that I recorded it was our conversation afterwards, because you were talking about how you had just preached about this, right.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1And the good Lord has a way of doing that. Like, okay, buddy, you just preached on this. I'm just going to give you another scenario where you can tell others that you practice what you preach.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, well, hey, he does that.
Speaker 1One of the things that I thought on the way down and there were various people reaching praying, I'm sorry, yes, reaching out for us and praying, and I know Tammy was praying. The angels surrounded us and I just had this just like vision of you know, angels on either side holding the truck back and one with his back to the truck, kind of keeping it from going down the mountain. But it was a really cool testimony that we have recorded afterwards.
Speaker 2I remember thinking or feeling like there was downward pressure on the truck. Yes, that's right. You said that. Listen Like a hand.
Speaker 1All he needed was his finger, Not even a hand.
Speaker 2I mean some of you listening right now are probably like dude, you're just making that up, that's all in your mind. It felt like there was downward pressure on the truck that was pushing the truck into the road where I had traction. And we went down that steep incline and when I came up to it I was just in prayer, holding on to the Lord and just praying and thanking Him and committing everything to Him, and I had peace with whatever he would allow and whatever he wants and His will. And I remember we went down the steepest part, which was that was the pinnacle of my fear. Right there, that was the real area I was really afraid of. That was the area that woke me up.
Finding Peace Through Scripture
Speaker 2That little section is where I saw the whole thing going, sliding off the mountain literally going south and we went down that and I hung the thank you god, oh man, wow, oh, praise the lord. And from that, from there down it was. It was still steep, but it was whatever it. You know, yeah, and we were home free, yeah, as they say. So, you know, as we, as we close episode up, we're going to continue this story of our tour, but as we close this episode up, there might be some people out there that are feeling anxious about something. They have anxiety, they're riddled with anxiousness, anxiety. Oh God, what is going to happen? What is going on? What is going to? You know, what are you going to do here? Are you going to do? Is going to happen? What is going on? What are you going to do here? Do you even hear me? And I would encourage you guys that the Word of God brought real world.
Speaker 2When I preach about this ironically I'm preaching about this Sunday, we're in chapter 4, but when I preach about it, it's not. It wouldn't have been anyway, but it's definitely not now. It is not an academic exercise for me that I'm reading out of some book to employ the word of God, to use God's word rightfully dividing the word of truth, and to apply it to your situation. Application Paul says do not be anxious about anything. And if you boil down what Paul's saying there and what God is saying through Paul, do not be anxious about anything, pray about everything. That's the gist of it. That's what's happening, those two things. What comes up is, it says you know, by prayer, which is generally talking to God it's a general prayer, communication with God and supplication, which is specific request or needs that you might have. Supply we get our word supply from that Supplication. It says make your requests known to God.
Speaker 2And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, what we can't even understand. It surpasses it. The peace of God. We've already got peace with God. If you're in Christ, you've got peace with God. But there's something different called the peace with God. If you're in Christ, you've got peace with God. But there's something different called the peace of God. So that's a promise. That's not something that is up for debate whether it will or will not. It says you bring your prayers and your requests to God. Don't be anxious, but pray to God. Don't be anxious but pray in everything. Don't be anxious, don't let anything make you anxious. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition. Bring your requests to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, is going to guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. It is not academic for me.
Speaker 2You know, I've got a million books behind me. We're sitting in my office. I've got books, Theological books. It's not something I read there, Although I did read. I've read it a million times, but that's not what imprinted on my heart. It was the actual experience of the Lord saying oh, you're taking me at my word here. Let me calm your heart, which has been pushed into an area of anxiety.
Speaker 1We saw it in action, in action, absolutely, and we continue to see it in action, and he's allowed.
Speaker 2You know, he allowed my heart. That's the thing. Look, why would he take the brakes off? I could be like God. Why did you let this happen? Why would you let me be all anxious all night long and everything? Hey, I'm grateful that, actually, that he took the brakes off and allowed me to be myself and to be anxious and to be beat up. To be myself and to be anxious and to be beat up and for the enemy's arrows to sink in and all that stuff, because what that did? That allowed me to get to a point of anxiety that I saw the Word of God and the Spirit of God calm my anxious heart and through the peace of God, which went beyond my understanding, and so the whole exercise, I can say praise God and thank Lord. I thank you for that. I thank you. Now, if you would ask me in the middle of the night hey, are you cool with this? I'd be like yo, I'm not cool with this, I'm not happy about this.
Speaker 1But through that he was right there waiting for you, Right there. I'd be like yo, I'm not cool with this, I'm not happy about this.
Speaker 2But through that, he was right there, waiting for you, right there, right there the whole time, and he knew the outcome. He's like I'm going to let this guy, I'm going to let him wring out the dry a little bit. Yeah, I'm going to let him. I'm just going to let him keep going. I'm going to let this. I wind up so that when I do act, he's going to see the power of God over the storm in his heart. And so the Lord calmed the storm of my heart and it's because we rested on him who he is on his word.
Applying God's Word to Anxiety
Speaker 2So there are a lot of people that believe in God, but I don't know how many people believe God. There's a difference. A lot of people believe in God, but there comes a point where you need to believe God when he says I care for you. Peter tells us that he cares for us. Cast your cares upon him because he cares for you. I'll never leave you, nor forsake you. You know, I know the thoughts that I have towards you. They're not thoughts towards evil, but for good. You know, the promises of God are yes and amen to those that are in Christ. If you're in Christ, the promises of God are yes, but how many people actually believe when he says those things? Or do we relegate it to yeah, but that's sometimes. It doesn't always work. That's a rhetorical question.
Speaker 1I'm just saying there are a lot of people that I don't know if I believe.
Speaker 2Listen, you're not going to go wrong by believing God. He answers every one of those requests that Paul says to make. Every single one of them is answered either yes, no or wait. Now my former pastor Lloyd, Pastor Lloyd Pulley, he throws another one in there yes, no, wait or maybe. But I kind of relegated to yes, no or wait, and you know his no's are perfect. When he says no, it's perfect. Might be against what we want, but then you, you ever see a little kid that wants ice cream before dinner or whatever. You know, I want ice cream, I want an ice cream cone, because Jimmy had an ice cream cone. Blah, blah, blah. Stop. No, Not yet, Not right now.
Speaker 1This is why it's so important to remain in the word. So, at these moments, the challenges that we face, that that comes to mind, that we want to bury deep in our heart so we know where to turn yeah, well, we have gone long on this, but that is the beauty of being the directors of the podcast.
Speaker 2Sometimes we we are allowed to break rules that we have set. Okay, some of you are happy. Our dear sister, christie's probably happy. She was all upset one time we do. She was like it's only 25 minutes, it's only half an hour. What's that all about? I'm like that's the rules we set up. We're breaking them this time. We're going to continue, though next week, god willing, if the creek doesn't rise.
Speaker 1Tell you a bit more about the rest of our tour, which we've got through one day, yeah that was just one we have.
Speaker 2We have much more about this tour and Katie also said there's a newsletter coming up. But until next week, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give.
