From Panic to Peace: Discovering the "Daddy" Heart of God

What do you do when the doctor uses the word "palliative" and your nights are filled with panic instead of peace? For W. Austin Gardner, the answer wasn't found in a performance-based religion, but in the first two words of a familiar Psalm.

In this moving and transparent session, Austin recounts his harrowing journey through Stage 4 cancer and a 21-day battle on a COVID ventilator. He reveals how the Lord replaced his "panic attacks with presence" by deconstructing the caricature of God many of us grew up with.

In this episode, Austin explores:

• The "Referee" vs. The Father: Why we often view God as a distant judge or a criticizer waiting for us to fail, and how that view keeps us in a state of spiritual groveling.
• The "I AM" in the Cave: A look at David’s life at 65—hiding in a cave, running from his own son, and dealing with a history of failure—yet starting his prayer with "The Lord is my shepherd" without an apology.
• The "Long-Nosed" God: A fascinating Hebrew breakdown of Exodus 34. Austin explains why God calls Himself "long-nosed" (long-suffering) and how He breathes slowly and patiently with us when we mess up.
• The Abba Shift: Moving from the "Sovereign Almighty" of the Old Testament to the "Daddy" (Abba) relationship Jesus invited us into.
• John 17:23 – The Ultimate Truth: The mind-blowing reality that God the Father loves you with the exact same intensity and affection that He loves Jesus.
• The "Indulgent" Grandpappa: A witty look at how God, like a grandfather with a bowl of M&Ms, actually likes being good to His children.

The Takeaway: You don’t have to "measure up" to be loved. Whether you're in a hospital bed or a cave of your own making, your Father isn't just watching you—He’s with you, He's patient, and He's the "lifter of your head."

Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Transcript

How A Mentor Shaped Faith

SPEAKER_00 0:27

About ten years ago, my pastor took April and I to a conference over at uh what's the name at Lake? Lakeland near Georgia. Now I had never I had heard Austin Gardner preach. I had watched him on live streams or podcasts or something, because I'd heard about it. But I had never met him and I had never really been around him. That that conference really kind of shifted our family. I know my wife sat during that conference the whole time, scared to death that I was about to surrender my life before she was ready. And uh I was, and I had, but uh, I can remember at that time I knew I need to learn from that man. And uh I think I'm thankful for the time from a distance. I got to learn from him. Kind of jealous of some people who got to learn right behind you, but thank God for technology and uh being able to learn from you from a distance. And whenever I had the time, I was there around him. Uh, if you if you were if you ever got to be around him back in the day, it was hard to get a word in with him because everybody was trying to get advice. And so go over on Fridays and listen to him teach. And I told him, I've told him this week that everything he taught, I still live by. I I still operate by a lot of the things that he taught. And uh I'm thankful uh for what what he taught and how he taught and uh how he encouraged. He's been a great encouragement uh to me and my family over the years, and I'm thankful for it. Did I already give you that mind? Yes, sir. Okay, so you're on. Have you pressed the red button? If you press that top one, you'd be recording and you could have at it. Am I recording? Now you are pushed the wrong one.

Cancer Anxiety And Psalm 23

Austin Gardner 2:21

God bless you. Good to be with you this morning. Good morning. Good morning to the rest of you, too. All right, glad to be here. I'm gonna just uh tell you up front, it's your fault. I didn't know I'd like uh I didn't know I'd like Utah. And when I got to Vegas and felt the heat, I thought I won't like Utah. But you changed that. So I really like your church. I like the chance to be here. What a what a wonderful people. What a blessing. Isn't God good to us? Amen. Look at this building, this place that God's given you. I just I'm excited about what God's doing, and I'm excited I get to be here with our friends who I admire and respect very much. They're heroes back in Georgia, and I thank God that I got to see this and be a part of this. I want to ask you to open your Bibles to Psalm 20. I've been dealing with stage four kidney cancer. I've been all the way down to palliative care. Then right now I think I'm out of it. And uh it's hard to know where you are. They didn't tell me I was in palliative care. They just said, we're gonna do anything we can to help you be comfortable. And I was like, boy, I ain't never had a doctor talk like that. And I got home and I opened the papers and I'm reading the papers, and they said you are in palliative care, which means this is the next last stage, because we're gonna keep you comfortable until we gotta keep you comfortable. And so I uh I went through some anxious times. I don't know if you would go through them like I did, but I didn't want to leave my wife. We've been married a short time, 52 years. I didn't want to leave her. I didn't want to leave my kids. I have wonderful, Betty and I have wonderful children. We have our oldest son's 50, our youngest son's 40, and the two girls are in the middle. We have 20 grandkids, we have uh three great-grandkids, and another one will be born in July, Lord willing. And I just didn't want to leave that. And I'll be honest with you, I wasn't scared to die. I was just scared of the process.

unknown 4:21

Yeah.

Letting Go Of A Harsh God

David’s Failure And Bold Trust

Austin Gardner 4:22

I mean, like if I could just wake up in heaven, I'm fine with that. I go to bed at night and then wake up and go, whoa, no, Jesus, I'll be all right with that. You know what I really don't like is uh I had COVID. I was on the I was on the ventilator for 21 days, and then I came to and I had no idea where I was. They put me in a hospital and I was on the ventilator paralyzed and totally out of it. And I I wake up and and and uh all these doctors got two hats on and two masks and pre-mask and two or three levels of uh, and and I said, they kept coming in saying, What's your name? And I'm like, um, so by the time it quit, I just started making up names. I was like, I'm tired of these people asking my name. And one of the ladies came in, one of my therapists, she came in and said, If you don't get with the program, you're never getting out of here. Okay, my name is Austin Gardner. We'll make that real clear. And so I got anxious and uh I couldn't sleep at night. I mean, I'd go to bed at night, and then about two o'clock, three o'clock in the morning, I'd wake up in a panic. Now I'm a Christian, I'm a preacher. I was supposed to have peace. Amen. But I didn't. And I'd get up, get in my truck, and I would just drive, and I'd drive out until uh three o'clock in the morning, four o'clock in the morning. Then I'd get tired and I'd pull into a church park lot somewhere, because at least I'd go to a church parking lot, Baptist the whole time. No, I just joke. And I'd sit there, go to sleep, and then I'd go back home. But I was in a panic. And the Lord led me to Psalm 23. Boy, did it change my life. So I preached on it like 50 times now. And I'll keep working on it. This is not a dying psalm. This isn't a funeral psalm. That's what you look at it as. You know, it's like at every funeral, what are we here? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, even though I'm dead. That's where we see it, but that's not what's happening. Now, before I get into the psalm with you, I want you to know that most of us, without knowing it, serve a caricature of God. We have a God we made up, a God performance-based religion introduced us to, a God that's not like the Bible God. And so I'm gonna I want to walk, walk you through this. So I meditated. I started in Psalm 23, and in two or three nights, my panic was gone. I'd lay in the bed. If I woke up, I'd say, hmm, the Lord is my shepherd. And I just meditate on it word by word. I memorize it, rememorize it, memorize it again in Spanish, went through it all, just learning all of it and learned so much about him. And he just gave me peace. And now I'd go to bed. So if you ever need a sleeping pill, Psalm 23 will do a good job if you learn to think about it. And so I want to talk to you about that. Now, watch this. You know the song. So I'm not gonna be reading it a lot because you already know the song. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Right? You know that, amen. Now, watch this. Sometimes I thought I just didn't measure up to God. I thought that God, in my mind, God was a little bit like a distant judge. You go stand before me and you're gonna answer for that, buddy. Well, well, I I'm keeping a record. I grew up in these churches that taught me all the time when I was a kid that when you die, they put this big video on of everything you've ever done, of every cuss word. Every time I cheated on a test, it was all gonna be on the screen. And I'll just be honest with you, that was not something I was looking forward to. Because I was pretty good. I did some stuff, but I hid most of it. I'll be honest, my mom and daddy didn't know I did it. Nobody knew I did it. If I did it, I cheated. I got caught a few times cheating on test. But I was really good at sneaking around. You know what I mean? And now they're gonna show a video of it? They're gonna just open it a screen and show all that. I didn't want I didn't want that to happen. Uh uh sometimes I thought of God as a referee. I thought of God as a as a uh criticizer. I thought of God as me not measuring up. Uh I thought that when I tried hard, it wasn't hard enough. Maybe I didn't pray enough. Maybe I didn't read my Bible enough. Missed that one, I missed that day last week when I didn't read my Bible. Hope he's not too bad. The eyes of the Lord are everywhere. They'll go to and fro in the whole earth. They're watching everything we do to give a roar to the good and a judgment to the bad. I mean, come on, we kind of, how many of you'd admit you have had a little of that? Could you say amen? Yeah, we have. Well, I get to Psalm 23, and you guess what? This Psalm was written when David was 65 years old, approximately. He's 65. And his son, Absalom, is on the hunt to kill him. And David has run from his for his life, and he's hiding in a cave, and he's got a very few loyal men. And Absalom, his son, has embarrassed him by sleeping with all of his wives, 10 of his wives, in public. It's all in the Bible. And and he has besmirched his character, he's made a joke out of him, and he's he and David knows he's going to die. It's any minute now. Any minute. Now, before I get to the psalm, we'll read it in a second, but I want you to know something. David had really messed up. I mean when his son Annon raped his daughter at Tabor, he didn't do a thing about it.

SPEAKER_03 10:00

Right.

Austin Gardner 10:01

That's not good parenting.

SPEAKER_03 10:03

Yeah.

Austin Gardner 10:04

And Absalom, his son, waited two years for dad to do something. And when dad didn't do anything, he killed his brother.

unknown 10:12

Yeah.

Austin Gardner 10:13

Dad wouldn't do anything about that either. He just not doing a good job as a dad. Might I remind you, he wasn't doing that good a job as a husband. Because he had tons of wives. And he saw Bathsheba. He thought, well, I like her. She is good looking. And his friend, he only has 30 or 33 top-level friends. You rise one of them. He says, Well, I want his wife. So he gets you killed. I mean, this is not what you might call a really good man.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

That's right.

Austin Gardner 10:48

How many of you would agree with that? Amen? I bet you wouldn't want him as your pastor. If you want your wife, he'll get you killed. And he's not going to discipline his own kids. This guy's really messed up. He's messed up. He's messed up as a leader in the government. I mean, he has counted the people when he wasn't supposed to count the people. He's caused all kinds of trouble. Now, wait a minute. You say, what in the world is all that about? Here's what it's about. Because you and I think that God is mad at us because of all the mess ups. Because we are, everybody in this room loves you messed up. I mean, if you're honest, I mean, I know you got the baby's face. No, I have not. I am not like these others. I read my Bible every day. That's what you said. But in your heart of hearts, you're like, nah, mean old day is a lot more common than I'd like to admit. It's a different kind of stuff. I ain't kill nobody. But I mean, I but but but but I'm just saying we we we were messed up.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

And so we think that we gotta go to God and go, oh God, God, I'm a miserable, miserable Christian. And I'm going to hell, would you please forgive me?

Austin Gardner 11:58

Come on, talk to me.

unknown 11:59

Yeah.

Austin Gardner 11:59

We think we got to grovel.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

Yeah.

Austin Gardner 12:02

We think we got to say, oh God, would you come be with me? Oh God. Come on. You ever heard you ever been in prayer meetings? I've been in a prayer meeting in Georgia prayer meetings. In Georgia prayer meetings, some of the people think God's death because they'll scream at the top of their God. He can hear you. He don't need hearing aids like I do. Oh, amen. And then it's like, God, come be with us. Have you ever thought about it? That's a dumb prayer. For you to ask God to come be with you, He would look at you and say, I am, buddy. You are my temple. I live in you.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Amen.

The Lord As I AM

God Names Himself Merciful

Austin Gardner 12:37

So no need to ask me to come because I'm here in the living room. Say amen. Huh? Now watch this. This is what really blessed me because I looked at my life and I have messed up. I preached hard, mean, and rough on some people. I have pushed myself hard. I could have been a much better dad than I was. And so sometimes I'm like, well, I don't blame God for being peeved with me. If I was God, I wouldn't like me. In fact, is in my mind, I knew God loves me, but I didn't know it in my heart. I would have said to you, God loves me, but I don't think he likes me. He might love me, but he really don't want to hang around with me. Come on, you ever thought like that? Come on, has anybody in this room ever thought like that? I just don't quite measure up. In fact, is that other preacher, he really measures up. That other guy in the church, he really measures up. But here's what happens in Psalm 23. David gets ready to pray. He's alone in the cave. His son and the army is about to kill him, and he's gonna talk to God. Now, let me tell you how Oster Gardner would have written Psalm 23. God, I know you're my shepherd, but I I need to say I'm sorry, real quick. If we could just get some things cleared up right now, and doesn't last moment. Before I I'm gonna pray, but God forgive me for my wickedness. But keeping my say, God, if you'll just do something, forgive me. God, come be with me. I would I'd pray like that. Then I'd say, and now you're my shepherd. That's not how David starts. See, David's life's over. David's life's over. He's nowhere to go. But he knows God, the real God, not the God you made up, not the judge, not the referee, not the criticizer, not the hard to please God. He's the loving father. Now watch this. He starts it like this the Lord is my shepherd. And do you see what he did? Did you see the audacity? He didn't go, forgive me. He didn't go, I'm sorry. He didn't go, I should have done better with my kids. He just went, facts are, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. There are no green pastures where he is. He's in a cave, he's hiding, his life is over. Now I don't have time to give you everything I'd like to give you from this, but I just want to talk to you about the first two words today. The Lord. The reason is I want you to know God better. I want you to know your father. I want you to know how he is. I want you to have an idea. See, we read Lord and we read Creator, Sovereign, Almighty, my Whipney. We read that. Come on. He's fixed to tan my hide. That's what my daddy used to say. That's I know that's Tennessee Hill building. Y'all ain't never heard it, but my daddy'd say, Boy, you do how to get them on tan door hide. You know what that means? That means beef the hell about it. Come on, let me in. And my daddy was born in 1929. He did not know about any modern child stuff. He thought, you do wrong, you'll pay. Say, man, at school back in my day, you know, it's a lot different now because I had grandkids. In school, and my grand, when I was a kid, if I got paddled at school, I got home, there was no discussion. My dad never said, Well, what happened? Let me make a judgment on that. My dad just said, go to your bedroom, bend over. And beat me again. He beat me again. That ain't fair. Come on, amen. So sometimes I thought that about God, but here, the Lord. Now, I don't have time to show you as much as I could, but I want you to know that in Exodus chapter 3 and verse 13, Moses is talking to God, who's telling him to lead the nation of Israel out. And he uses the same Hebrew word Lord. And here's what he says: He says, uh, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? Exodus 3.13. In verse 14, God said, I am that I am. I am that I am. That's the word Lord, by the way. That is the word Lord. So could could I get listen to me? He's a I am God. He's not I was, he's not I will be, he's I am right now. I don't care where you are, I don't care what you're going through, I am. He is present and he is here and he is now. And he's like, I don't really care about your past, I'll fix it now. I'm not worried about your future, I'll take care of that now. I am, I am. But then I just studied more and more. You know, I am. He's eternal, he's self-existent, he's independent, he's unchanging, he's the creator, he's the sustainer. But would you like for him to introduce himself? It isn't really fair for you to judge me on what somebody else said about me and not even ask me. Why don't you say, also, what do you like? I lived in Pruise, South America for 20 years, and I I learned I don't stand up much in the song service because in Pruitt I was like, I'm massive, I'm massive. And so the Provians I say, But you, we can't see the pulpit. Do you block out a half of a row of people? Even at church now, tonight when they're singing, that was not like that in my home. I sat against the wall like this, blocking them out. Because I I'm kind of paranoid about it. I'm thinking I'm blocking them out, amen. And I was massive, and so people would say, I'm scared of you. And I'd say, I hadn't said anything yet. I haven't done anything yet. You're big. You're real big. I walked into a I walked into a little church. And it sort of proved it. He was about five five. Uh I'm six one. And he was about the same age, he's probably older. And I walked in, he went. Hey, Beck, I'm big in your country. And then Betty walked in and he said, and they made women your size. Because Betty was even bigger than him. You know what I mean. Well, what about just giving me a chance to introduce me? And you know what? You have an opinion about God. You really do. You have you've labeled him, well, I don't think God's happy with me. Uh uh, God's a judger, God's king, God's Lord, God's creator. But but me and God aren't that close. So God takes the time to introduce himself. Listen to this Exodus chapter 34. This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. You gotta you gotta spend some time here. And it says chapter 35, 34, verse 5. The Lord descended in a cloud and stood with them there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. He said, I'm gonna tell you my name. And then he said, This, and the Lord, I am, passed by before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord, I am, I am God, the Lord God. Listen here. First word he says when he wants to introduce himself. Hello, he said, My name's Merciful. Read the Bible.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

Yeah.

Austin Gardner 20:09

He said, He doesn't say, My name's Judge, my name's Almighty, my name's Creator, my name's Ruler. You know, the you don't get too close to ruler.

unknown 20:19

Yeah.

Austin Gardner 20:20

You don't get too close to Almighty. You don't feel this intimacy with the judge. Here comes the judge. I mean, honestly, can we just be honest a minute? I got some friends that are policemen, but when a police car is pulling up behind me, I don't feel close. In fact, I feel too close. I'm like, what I'm hoping it ain't me. Come on. But it says here, he says, I'd like to introduce myself. I am merciful. I am merciful. And that means the word merciful is I'm compassionate. It means I care. I genuinely care about you. I have a tender attitude towards you. I have concern for you. So when God introduces himself to you, he says, Can I tell you my name of you? Yo, my name, I I really love you. I hurt for you. I feel your pain. Austin, you're dealing with cancer, but so I'm with you, but I feel I'm with you. I feel for you. It's the this word mercifulness, it's the same word used in the story of the prodigal son. You remember the prodigal son is coming home in Luke chapter 15 and verse 20, and he's coming home because he knows he's messed up. He knows he's ruined everything. He is, he's a loser of losers, and he thinks he's going back to a tyrant death who's going to be mad at him, and he's preparing his whole speech.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

I am not worthy to be honest, son. I am really messed up.

Patient Love That Breathes Slow

Austin Gardner 21:51

And the father has compassion, pulls up his robes, and takes off running towards his son, and he grabs him and he hugs him, and he starts kissing on the nasty pig stains and the stinky smelly clothes, and he's swinging him around. The old man is swinging his grown adult son around like granddaddy. You know, the granddaughter says, I love you, I love you. And he goes, he he starts yelling. That's exactly what the prodigal son thought he'd do. He figured he'd yell, but he yells, hey, my boy came up. What it really means is he will not abandon or destroy his covenant. People, his people. God will never leave his people. He will never leave. He will never forget. In fact, is in Isaiah chapter 49 and verse 15, here's what God says. It's just so funny when he's trying to tell us who he is. He said, Would a mother forget her nursing child? Everybody knows, of course not. He said, Well, she might, but I won't forget you. Did you ever think about that? He says, the nursing child is a mother of a nursing child is more likely to be forgotten by her mama than you are by God. That's in the Bible, Isaiah chapter 49, verse 15. He protects us and he preserves. But I need you to, I need you, I need you to go back to Exodus. See, we've only looked at one word. And actually, when I preach this, I actually preached every word, the whole message is. But let me show you the next word when he's talking. And he says, he says, I am the Lord God, merciful. And then he says, gracious. He said, first thing I like to tell you about me is I'm merciful. The second thing I like to tell you about me is I'm gracious. This is our father talking. He says, first thing I want you to know is I'm merciful. I need mercy. Amen. I mean, I am a mess. Amen. I'm like David and all messed up in my life. And my father looks at me and says, Don't worry, my name's merciful. If you didn't get that, my second name, I'm my name's William Austin. And God goes, My name's merciful gracious. So I looked up what gracious meant. And uh I don't want to take the whole lot of time, but basically, gracious is nothing more than a synonym for merciful. You look it up yourself. So basically, God introduces himself. He shakes your hand and goes, hey, I'm merciful, merciful. In case you're wondering who I am, I'm merciful. Let me throw another word in there. It's like saying, I am good looking and I'm sharp-looking. That means he's kind and he's compassionate and he's generous and he extends favor. You remember that's who he is. You remember Jesus sees a woman taken in adultery? She figures it's over, and he says, I don't condemn you. I don't condemn you. You know what he said to us then later, he said to us, he said, there's therefore now, no condemnation. God says, Ain't nobody gonna condemn you. If they ever do call me, I'll be your lawyer. And don't worry, our our fathers is your judge. And so you you gotta change your view. Now, I don't have a lot of time, so let me give you one more. In Exodus chapter 34, he said, The Lord God, merciful, gracious, and long suffering. This one may be my favorite. I never knew what long suffering meant. I thought it meant long suffering. That is what it means. But the Hebrews, you know, I speak another language. And when you speak another language, you learn that words have they just say things and do things. Well, the Hebrew word for long suffering, are you ready? Is long nosed. So God looked at and he goes, I'm long-nosed. So it tends to heal out that he, I don't know what that means. I don't mean much. So I had to keep on digging. I'm like, what in the world? Well, she said he got a long nose. You know what he said when he had a long nose, it's like super patient. You know, you know how when you get angry and upset, you start breathing fast. My mother, my you got, I could tell my it thank you. But my mama started with my mother, you could you could say something about something she cooked, joking, and my mother started. You could just see it. Come on. Anybody ever have a family member like it? Come on. Well, God said, I'm long nosed. You know what long nosed means I breathe, I breathe slow. I'm not easily excitable. I'm patient, I'm extremely patient. That's who I am. He is merciful, he is patient, he is gracious, which is merciful, and he is slow to anger. Now, see, we get a twisted view of God because of maybe what happened in our families. Like our dad was slow to anger. No, my dad was quick to anger. My dad was quick that he just really was. I'm not trying to be ugly. I love him. He's in heaven, but Lord help me. I one once one morning at the breakfast table. I I come up from the hills of Tennessee, country people, nothing like you rich city people. And and I'm sitting at the table, and my daddy said something. I'm like 15 years old. And so I smart mouthed him right there. And he didn't do a thing, but bam, just like it. He just did bam. Me and my chair went flying. And I was feeling my oats. So I got up like this. And he said, You want more? I said, Because I knew if I come like this, it's gonna get worse. Amen. He was pretty quick. He was easily triggered. He could get upset, but you know what? God looks at you and says, I don't get triggered. I know y'all think I'm mad at you. That's what he's saying. But I am merciful, merciful. Yeah, it takes a lot to get me upset. That's good. All right. One of the rest of the words was that long suffering also means indulgence. It's the word for indulgence. You know what indulgent is. Indulgence granddaddy or grandma. My grandkids come up and they walk into my office and they say, Can I have some MMs, granddaddy? I say, sure you can. My kids walk up, and grandma's in there, they say, Can I have some MMs? She said, We need to ask your mother. And I told her, I still write their front, I say, Grandma, they do not need to. She won't solve. She'd be here. So they're gonna get the MMs. Say amen. I'm indulgence. I like them. I like spoiling them. Did your daughter likes you? Like spoiling you, likes being good to you, likes being kind to you. The Bible's full of it, but you haven't paid attention. Now, I I need to quit. So let me just say this. That's I I just read to you the Old Testament. That's where he's mean. That's where he's mean, right? When you read the Bible, you're like, that old testament, he's pretty mean. That's where he said, I'm merciful and I'm merciful and I'm I got a long nose. And there's three more, but we don't have time to touch it. But here's here's the most beautiful, I gotta tell you. In the old testament, they didn't know him too well.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

You know, if they went to the mountain and touched the mountain, they could die. Touch the order, he's died, die.

Learning To Call God Father

Austin Gardner 29:52

Pretty tough stuff. But in the New Testament, Jesus explained to him. And he said, Let me teach y'all how to pray. And he says something that is, you take it for granted. But it was completely revolutionary, earth-shattered. He said, Pray this, our father. Not our father. You mean our judge? You mean our creator? You mean the almighty? You mean the sovereign one? Jesus said, No, that's not how we talk to him. We say our father. Now you keep reading a little further in the Bible, and uh, he gives us the spirit that tells our inside us to call him Abba Father. Abba's daddy. Father. One thing to have a dad, a father, another thing to have a daddy. Come on. We all got a father, but to have a daddy, a daddy, or daddy, Jesus said, when you talk to him, just call him daddy.

SPEAKER_03 30:47

I I I'll be honest.

Goodness And Mercy Follow You

Loved Without Performance

Austin Gardner 30:50

Uh when I was a little boy and I didn't have the best relationship at home. At 12, I know you're gonna think I'm crazy. At 12, I wanted to get married. You know what I really wanted? I didn't really want to get married so much. I wanted to be a daddy because I wanted a relationship. Are you ready? Y'all never heard of this, but there used to be a TV program called The Rifle Man. You know what interested me? Not the rifle, but how he and his son were so loving each other. Right. And I wanted that with my sons. Because I thought, ain't nothing. So sweet. And then God looks at me and says, What are you talking about? Now, if I took you back through Psalm 23, which I hope you'll study it. The Lord is my not I my shepherd. I shall not want. Do you know what I shall not want? And the Hebrew shall not want means there's no future tense in the Hebrew. It just means he settled it once and for all. You won't settle, you won't, you will not want now. You didn't walk yesterday, and you ain't gonna walk tomorrow. It's shall I it really means you ain't never gonna walk. I'm always gonna meet your needs. And he's making us lie down and groom pastures. He's taking, and this is this is kind of like my little life, it's my ministry thing right now. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Do you understand this for him? He loves you. And David is alone in a cave waiting to die. But David lifts out of the cave, out of the depression, and sets up on a higher plane and says, he sets a table before me in the front of it to my enemies. My enemies want to kill me, but God's still blessing me. And then Danny goes, you know, think about he always, always has mercy and goodness following me. I think when you could think if you could get a hold of this to help you understand your father more. I've been married for 52 years, and I am in no way desiring that Betty have a list of rules for me. Now I do a whole lot of stuff because it's what Betty likes, but it's no list of rules. We ain't never had a list of rules. And did you know that when you just fall in love with God, actually what you're doing is recognizing how much he loves you. You are loved. Jesus prayed in John 17, 23, and he said, Father, help them to know you love them like you love me. John 17, 23. You look it up. You don't trust me, look it up. You need to look it up. God helped them to know, Father, help them to know you love me, you love them like you love me. You know how he loves Jesus, don't you? He had an episode. Jesus is not getting ready to get baptized, and he just can't hold it anymore. He busts the heavens wide open, sends a dove down the Holy Spirit, and he screams at the top of his son, that's my boy, my beloved, and I am well pleased. Well, Jesus didn't know that you love them that way.

SPEAKER_03 34:01

Yeah.

Closing Prayer

Austin Gardner 34:01

By the way, he hadn't preached the message yet. A sick person raised a dead person, hadn't fed anybody, he hadn't done anything but be a carpenter for 30 years. But his father didn't love him for what he did. And your father doesn't love you for what you do. Because God is love. God is love. God is love. Father in heaven, I love you, and I thank you for the chance to uh share your word with the wonderful people here. And I pray that your name would be glorified.