Don't panic!

In a time where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to profess faith. This story of Stephen, grace and revelation serves to highlight that when you’re faith is rooted in the love that God has for us, no sacrifice is to great and no trial to hard because what a priceless gift we have in the offering of Jesus life as a substitute for ours. But even in our everyday, the epistles show us and tell us how to manage, liberate and overcome all emotional distress and fear, and encourage us to walk in the predestined favour and eternal love God has for us.

Notes:
Panic - A sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behaviour, it has the ability to quickly spread through a group of persons or animals.

Fear - A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain. Whether the threat is real or imagined, the feeling or condition of being afraid.

Acts 7:48-60 - The conviction of conversion, the politics of the time, the power struggle between law and promise. The great example, the heart of forgiveness.

Philippians 4:4-8 - Change the atmosphere/Challenge the information/ Filter the conversation.

1 Peter 1:13-16 - Sober minded leaning into the hope of the revelation of the coming of Christ Jesus our lord.

Romans 1:16 - I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Morning everybody and welcome to Rima Reloaded with me, Sean Williams. It is an honor and a privilege to have you with us once again. Um, I hope that you enjoyed our last Bible study where we spoke about belief to conversion. Um, we looked at the Apostle Peter and his journey from meeting Jesus to the revelation of him telling Jesus that he was the Son of God and the Messiah to the breaking point of him moving from belief to conversion where he denied the Christ. Um and Jesus then, upon being resurrected, he said to Mary, He said, Tell my disciples and Peter to the point we get to where Peter becomes basically the keynote speaker at the day of Pentecost. He preaches the message that then allows 3,000 souls to be added to the church. And so we really enjoyed our study last week looking at the process of belief to conversion. This week um I have a very special loaded Remery loaded for you today. Do you have the play on words there? Um this week, the world dealt with uh, or should I say the past two weeks, the world has been dealing with the tragic passing of Charlie Kirk. Now, he is a figure that polarized many. Um on a personal level, I believe his intention to try and do something good reflected upon his belief system. I do think that was the heart of the intention of what he was trying to do. However, um, I don't believe that you can marry faith and politics. Um, we saw this through the life and times of Jesus. Um, we saw this, it's a it's a massive theme throughout the Bible where um at certain points we see political structure um within society and we see it against the relationship that God often tries to have with us. There are many examples um where faith and politics has tried to be married and it can't be. Um, and I think that was one of the things that compromised the message of Charlie Kirk in some of his expressions, um, because he would often lean into the structure and the forceful power of what I call the Levitical Law, which sits a lot in the Old Testament, which conceptually the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. So when something is concealed, it means you can kind of see a part of it, but you can't see all of it. And the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. So what we didn't understand before we had the introduction of the Messiah who was Jesus Christ, a lot was it wasn't massively clear because it it was prophecies through prophets that obviously didn't survive the times because often what they were talking about the people didn't want to hear, so they were often put to death. Um, and also Jesus said himself, I am the fulfillment of the law. And oftentimes when we've been waiting for something for a long time, the hardest thing to do is to accept that it's here, and that's what Israel were having a massive issue accepting. Um, which wonderfully brings me on to the subject of today's Bible study. Say to yourself, or if you're with anybody, don't panic. Go on, say to yourself one more time, don't panic. Um, if you will, um get yourself ready. We're gonna go to the book of Acts, chapter seven, and we're going to start at verse 54. Um, and we're gonna read down to the bottom of the scripture. Now, before I do that, I want to give you um a couple of word keys. Now, when I use word keys, I use it on the basis that recurring terminologies or words that I'm gonna use in the Bible study, you have the accurate connection and context to which I'm using it. Okay, so the first word that I want you to kind of write down, and don't worry, it'll be flashing up on the screen. The definition, the definition of panic is a sudden overwhelming fear with or without cause. Okay, so it can be on the basis that something is happening, but it can also be on the basis that you think something might be happening that produces hysterical or irrational behavior. It has the ability to quickly spread through a group of persons or animals. So what panic does, it almost spreads like a virus amongst a herd. Okay. The thing I really want you to be drawn to in the definition key there is that it produces hysterical or irrational behavior. Now, in my job, I work in the entertainment industry. The one thing you cannot allow yourself to become is hysterical or irrational. Why? Like most things that sit upon extreme pressure, the best way to deal with pressure is to be calm. You are only going to be calm if you're investing in what you know and not necessarily what you think. Okay, now panic also, I believe, is a derivative from fear. Okay, so it's a heightened version of fear, and we understand that fear is a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, or pain. Whether or not the threat is real, imagined, the feeling or condition of being afraid. Okay, now I said to you that we're going to turn to the book of Acts, chapter 7, and as always, I want you to understand um what we're reading. Okay, so when we are in the New Testament, I want you to understand the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When you are reading those, you are reading lifetime accounts of the life of Jesus. Okay, so it's almost like if Jesus had a diary, the gospels are it. Okay, you are reading accurate eyewitness accounts of the life and times of Jesus. Acts is the historical viewpoint of the church. It is the life, it's the birth of the church. Okay, so when you're reading the book of Acts, you are reading the basis of the resurrection happening, Jesus going back to heaven, him charging his disciples and going, right, basically, go to Jerusalem, wait, I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit. So when we're in the book of Acts, we are reading about the early church, okay? From when we move out of the Acts, we get to the epistles, and the epistles are um Romans and Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians and Colossians um and Thessalonians and so on and so forth. And when we read the epistles, you are reading about the manual for living, everything that you're going to need to know as a believer, everything you're gonna go through, um protocols within your daily relationship with Christ. You will find that in the epistles, and then we get to the book of Revelation, and I call that the conclusion of the whole matter. Why? Because the book of Revelation tells us how the story ends and what's gonna happen when we get to the end of that period. So now you understand what you're reading over in the book or in the New Testament. We're gonna go to the book of Acts, chapter seven. Um, now I'm going to read the scripture and then I'm gonna put it in context. In fact, actually, no, I won't. I'm gonna put it in context first. Um in Acts chapter seven, the Holy Spirit has come, okay, and we have seen him um reveal himself through the physical sign of speaking in tongues. Okay, now in this manifestation of them speaking in tongues, we understand that every nation that was in Jerusalem at the time, because the festival that Pentecost was based around is called the Feast of Weeks, which lasts for I believe 50 weeks or so. And in this period, everybody, pilgrims would come to Jerusalem in order for the Passover. We understand that the Passover represents the night before the children of Israel leaving Egypt. And so they refer to this point through this festival, but we understand that Jesus came to break these ritualistic practices because he was just like, you don't have to worry about killing goats and lambs and birds because I am going to offer myself as the ultimate sacrifice. I am now going to give you eternal atonement through me, through believing on me. And then we understand that people were baptized in his name, and now we're seeing the sending of what Jesus called the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit. So the disciples, they're in Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit has come, and they are now speaking in tongues, but the tongues that they're speaking, they are attributed to every language of the people that are there. Now, for your own reading, if you refer to the Tower of Babel back in the book of Genesis, you will realize, um, and this just give you a quick short synopsis of what happened. The Tower of Babel was a uh a landmark that was being built by the people of the time because their ruler was a guy called Nimrod. Nimrod was the grandson of Noah, and we know that Noah built the famous ark that God hid and saved his family in when he flooded the earth. So the tower of Babel was actually in, it was in response to a trauma that Nimrod and those people were feeling because he was like, We're never gonna allow ourselves to be flooded again. And just to make sure we don't, we're gonna build ourselves a tower, a tower that reaches the heavens. And the Bible says that all of the peoples of the earth they came together and said, We're gonna build this thing. And they built it to such a level that the Bible says God Himself was just like, I'm gonna go down there and have a look at what they're doing. And when God saw the unity that they had, but more than that, what they were able to build with that unit unity, God was just like, okay, I need to compromise and confound what they're doing because they're not doing this unto me, they're doing this unto themselves. And if they start to understand what they can do beyond me, this is gonna be problematic. Why? Because we have a common saying, absolute power absolutely corrupts. Absolute power absolutely corrupts. The only thing that is a natural balance to power is love. Why? Because power is something you execute, love is something you express, but it also constrains. So at that time, when God goes down and looks at the unity amongst everybody, he decides to himself, I'm gonna confuse their language. All of the languages that the people of the earth then split off into, these were all of the nationalities that were present on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came and they spake with other tongues, these were the languages that they were speaking in, which meant God was almost tying up a loose end from a millennia ago, so that all of these people could hear about the promise, the goodness, and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in their tongue. So at this point, as we understand, Jesus was crucified for political gain. The Pharisees and the Sadducees, who were the religious leaders at the time, they were very, very, very threatened by Jesus because one, he threatened to overthrow their practices. People were traveling to mountainsides and valleys and all types of places to listen to him speak, which meant that they weren't trying to listen to what the Pharisees and the Sadducees were saying because they were not people that were practicing the things that they were saying. And Jesus was calling them out. And so they created a situation where the politics of the time meant that Jesus was put to death. But what they didn't realize is that they were fulfilling something that God had always meant, that he was always going to send his son into the world. John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son, so whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life. So after the day of Pentecost and this massive number of people are added to the church. The church started to receive persecution. But we know that on the third day, he rose again, showed himself to his disciples many times. Infallible proofs, the Bible says. And even in the book of Acts, chapter 1, which is also written by Saint Luke. So we can almost call it Luke 2. And the reason why I love it is because Luke was a doctor. And I don't know if you've ever been to your doctor, but doctors' notes are very conclusive bits of information. So you know you're getting what you need to hear. I like the account because I'm almost reading it as I would a doctor's report. And so we we see in the book of Acts that they have the day of Pentecost, Peter preaches, they come under massive persecution because the church grows massively. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees believe that if they can just stop these men talking about this Jesus, if they can just stop these crazy Jesus believers telling other people that maybe they can get back to what they want. Now, as we pick it up in Acts chapter 7 and verse 54, in chapter 6, there were some issues going on within the church, and these issues were brought to uh the senior apostles. So we're talking about Peter and John and James and so forth, and they decided that they were going to pick them out some men that were showing the signs of being able to not only be discipled, but that they could also be leaders. And one of the men that they picked out was a guy called Stephen. Stephen being full of the Holy Ghost, he was someone that was showing amazing signs of being able to do the work that the apostles had been doing. And the Bible says in chapter 6 that he was doing miracles and his faith was great. And Stephen found himself in the temple, listening to the Pharisees and the Sadducees speak, and he decided he wanted to ask them some questions, and he asked them what prophet did our fathers and our forefathers not persecute when they told us of the promise, did we not kill them? Did we not say that it wasn't true? That we when when they when they told us that there was more to come than the law that God had given Moses, the children of Israel didn't want to hear them. So Stephen, one man standing against a whole structure, okay, and you've got to understand that within the synagogue, this wasn't just a natural power. This is a power that is also founded upon spiritual teachings. So it was a very hard thing for these people to hear, and the reason why it was so problematic to the leaders of the synagogue was because Stephen was arguing with them, not with opinion, but he was using the word of God to factually tell them why they were wrong. So I want to pick it up in verse 54 of Acts chapter 7. He has spent uh an enormous amount of time explaining to them that when Joseph was sold into prison by his brothers and then sold into slavery and then sent to prison by the lord of his house, there were times that Joseph was going through where he felt alone. But Stephen was telling these people in the synagogue, but didn't God set him for an appointed time so that the very people that sold him into slavery he could save? He spoke about Moses. Stephen said, When God spoke to Moses and sent Moses back to Egypt, and he told the forefathers that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has sent me and we're gonna leave Egypt. Did they not tell him? Who made you a God and a ruler over us? Did they not turn around and ask him, Who are you? They didn't believe. So in verse 54, we've got to the point where Stephen has expressed all of these points to these religious leaders, and it says, When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven. I just want to stop on verse 55 very quickly. But he being full of the Holy Ghost, when you're full of the Holy Ghost and your relationship with God is intact, when you find yourself under attack, you never look subjectively in the situation. Stephen is surrounded by people that mean to do him harm, but yet there was no point where Stephen looked at his situation and thought, oh my God, I need to behave as they're behaving. The Bible says that he looked steadfastly into heaven. He looked up. That's a message for someone today. You just gotta look up, stop looking down. Greater is he that is within you than he that is in the world. Just look up. Um, he steadfastly looked into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. In a moment where he was under attack, he got a revelation of who Jesus was. Now, the first thing that I need to point out to you is that the Bible told us that Stephen not only was full of the Holy Ghost, but he had faith. Faith, Hebrews 11, 1 tells us now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, it's the evidence of things not seen. So that lets us know that even though Stephen wasn't with the disciples and Jesus in the Gospels that we hear about, Stephen's faith was so strong through his belief and conviction. Don't forget, we spoke about conversion in our last session. We said that conversion is when you practically experience a situation that confirms the thing that you believe. You can believe something, but your belief isn't conversion until you experience it yourself. Okay, and it says that he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God, so his faith allows him to get this revelation of Jesus, and he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man. Okay, now the Son of Man was a term that was used by the prophet Daniel, and it's something that the Pharisees and Sadducees really took Jesus to task about. Every time that they would ask him if he was the Messiah, and they was trying to trap him. It was on the basis that when he called himself the Son of Man, he was referring to the prophet Daniel. And in 57, then they cried out with a loud voice, and they stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord. Imagine this man, okay, and I need you to understand that in the scripture before, at the end of verse 6, sorry, at the end of chapter 6, if you look at verse 14, he was talking to the council in the synagogue. And I'm gonna read you the last two verses. So Acts 6, verse 14 and 15. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. Let me put that into context. So remember when Jesus was alive, he said to the Pharisees, He said, I will destroy this temple and raise it back up again in three days. Now they thought that he was talking about desecrating the physical. Building which Solomon had built, he wasn't. He was talking about the temple of his body. But when people refuse to see what you see or hear, they often take what they think you're saying and they interpret it according to their understanding. So at this point, what you're reading in in verse 14 of chapter 6 is they are now trying to stir up emotion and ill will against Stephen. And in verse 15, this is going to link into what I was just talking to you about before, where he's having the revelation. In verse 15 of chapter 6, and all that sat in the council looking steadfastly on Stephen saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. So imagine his physical appearance is changing right before them. And yet in their own heart, they were so they were so hell-bent on stopping his message because it threatened to change the status quo of what they knew and what they believed they could control. Jesus was doing much away with what they were doing, which had become ritualistic, dutiful. It was religiosoity, it wasn't relationship. And this man's face, as he was imploring them, Stephen wasn't shouting at them. He was imploring them, he was giving them great information. But you can't make someone that doesn't want to hear listen. The Bible says that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But God himself has given all of us free will, free choice. The Bible says so freely you've received, freely give. Okay? And in verse um 57, then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears. The minute that Stephen repeated and reaffirmed who Jesus was, the Bible says that they stopped their ears. They did not want to hear that they had crucified the Messiah. They didn't want to hear that God had sent the promise that he'd promised their forefathers. They didn't want to hear that they were the same as their stubborn forefathers that had killed the prophets. They could not stomach being corrected. The Bible says in verse 58, and they cast him out of the city and they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul of Tarsus. And Saul of Tarsus would go on to become the Apostle Paul. Verse 59. And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. What a testimony. The bravery it took for him to go into the temple and in love tell them you crucified the King of Glory. The Messiah came and you did not receive him. You rather would hold on to ritualistic activities from our forefathers that went to sleep waiting for the Messiah, waiting for the fulfillment of the law. It came and you didn't see it. But yet, in all of the evil and the wickedness that was being done to Stephen, his heart did not change from who he was modeling it on. Stephen was modeling his heart and his life's walk on Jesus. Why? Because when you accept Jesus into your life, he transforms everything from the inside out. And we realize that before they took Stephen out of the city to stone him, he'd got a revelation. He saw Jesus sitting on the right hand of the Father. His faith had been emboldened and encouraged. This Bible study today is telling you that when you trust in God, when you make a stand for him, and when you decide to speak the truth in love. Why? Because the Bible tells us that the battle is not yours, it's the Lord's. He merely seeks to use us as instruments of his purpose and will. So he said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And this is really beautiful the way it ends. Something so tragic. But yet the Bible gives us a clue in what's to come. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. When he had said this, his final words, his final testimony in this life was Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Who was he modeling? The person he was going to. How do we know this? The Bible said that Jesus hung there on the cross and he said, Father, forgive them. Why? For they know not what they do. He was the greatest representation of Christ in a moment of anguish. There are moments that you're going through that you're feeling, and it feels tough. Because you feel the pain, you feel the anguish, you feel the hurt, you feel the fear. But when you have Christ in your vessel, there is no storm that you cannot ride out. Why? Because you know the one that can walk on the waters of the storm. You know the one that can speak to the storm. Luke chapter 8. The Bible says that they were crossing over, and Jesus was taking himself a little nap, and the storm was raging, and the song was like, We're gonna die, save us. And Jesus looked at him and just said, Where is your faith? And he spoke to that storm. Speak to it. Why? Because we have an inner voice. Let me show you. If you go with me to the book of Philippians, chapter 4, and I want to explain to you how we're going to use practical steps to challenge these spirits of fear and panic. Okay? And there are three things that I really want to look at. And I want you to write these down. Okay. It's Philippians 4, 4 to 8. And I'm going to read it first and I'm going to break it down for you. It says, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing. Okay. Now, some translations would also say, be anxious for nothing. Don't be anxious. Tell yourself, stop being anxious. Come on, I don't care. Tell yourself, stop being anxious. What are you worried about? If you know the person that created time, then he sees time beginning, middle, and end. You're experiencing time as it happens. What are you worrying about? Or are you trying to be in control of you? Are you trying to tell him where to go? That would start some anxiety. Let your moderation be known unto all men the Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests. You've got more than one. This isn't a three-request genie rule. God is not a genie where we we rub him, we take our Bible and go, Oh, I wonder if I can get a little no, he's not a scratch card.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

He's God.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Okay? Let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace. Now, we're living in a world there ain't too much peace. We see our superpowers starting to align, and they're deciding they want new countries and new territories, and they want some more of this and a little bit less of that. But the Bible says that after you've prayed about those things and supplicated with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding. God's peace goes beyond what you have the capacity to understand. Shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Verse 8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, write this down. Honest, just pure, lovely, and of a good report. If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. Now I want you to break this down to into um three spaces, okay? I want you to write change the atmosphere, challenge the information, filter the conversation. I'm gonna say that to you one more time. Change the atmosphere, challenge the information, filter the conversation. We have just found a spiritually assigned solution for anxiety. You should never ever ever suffer from anxiety ever again. And if you do, it'll only be because you refuse to put this key in place. Let me show you. So, changing the atmosphere. Anytime you're feeling anxious or you're panicking about something, your whole environment will feel like it's closing in on you. Why? Because your brain is repeating the negative information of what you're either experiencing or what you feel. The apostle Paul says to the people in Philippians, change this. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Why would he be telling us to rejoice in the Lord? Because God is bigger than anything you're going through. He predates any problem you think you're having. So when you rejoice in God, what you're telling your problem is, I know the solution, and the person who has it, you're not as scary as you think you are. That's what you're telling your situation. Naturally, a psychologist and a therapist will tell a person, anytime you want to redecorate a room without, in the most economic way, play music. So what am I telling you to do? If you can't find a couple of psalms for yourself, like blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly, or I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continue be in my mouth, or the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, or the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the heavens and they that dwell therein, or oh God, thou hast searched me and known me. Find yourself some worship music. A little worship music. And I promise you, five to ten minutes, just let that worship music play. Let it start to seep into your soul and your spirit. Watch if your atmosphere doesn't change. Okay, so uh in verse four and five, first thing you have to do when anxiety hits, change the atmosphere. Please don't go play some funky house. Yeah, you can dance, there'll be a couple beat there, but there'll be nothing that will get into your soul to soothe it and then transact your spirit to sit there and allow the spirit and the presence and the word of God to seep into you. Okay, so once you've changed the atmosphere, the next thing you need to do, challenge the information. How do you do this? The Bible tells us in verse six be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer. That is your communication with God. When you pray, you have a direct line to the Father.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Why are you talking to the minions? Why are you talking to the minions? You can go straight to source.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

The Bible says, but in everything by prayer and supplication, then it says something really strange with thanksgiving. Okay, this is the key. Why would you thank God for something that you haven't asked him for yet?

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Because he's already done it. Yeah, thank him because he's already done it.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

The apostle Paul is trying to let you know the minute that you pray and you supplicate, thank him. Why? Because if God lives outside of time, which means he lives in eternity, then time is merely a matrix within eternity. Time are chapters in the full spread of eternity, which means that God's already given you everything you wanted. How do we know this? He told Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 8, Jeremiah, before you were born, I ordained thee. I set thee apart, set you up as a prophet to the nations. I knew you. So then, if God knew you before you got here, what problem are you going through that he hasn't already figured out? Why are you trying to work out what God has already figured out? Stupid, right? Yeah, me too. I thought that. Then it says, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and here we go. And the peace. Right? So when you invest in that good communication with the Holy Spirit, when you pray and you supplicate and then you thank Him, the Bible says the peace of God. Peace is one of the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5. We know that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, which is patience for endurance, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, self-control. So when you pray and you supplicate and you thank God, that peace, which is a part of his character, that peace that passes your natural ability to understand. You've ever been like, and for most of you, you'll only understand this maybe on a psychological level when you've either been to a great massage or you've been to a session that is very calming, and you're like, oh my gosh, I just feel so peaceful, I just feel so relaxed. If you take that feeling, times it by a billion, then times it by a trillion, you still won't be anywhere near close to what the peace of God feels like. When the peace of God invades your body, it's like taking an elevated trip to heaven. And no one asking you to leave. Okay? And it says, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your heart and mind. So what the Bible is saying is that peace, it gets the reins of your mind because that's where our negative commentary comes from. Our mind. Why does it come from our mind? Because our mind is the ultimate hard drive, and this hard drive is consistently saving, storing, keeping information, good information, bad information, negative information, positive information, corrupt information, traumatic information. And when we go through things and it triggers that sometimes the hardest voice to turn down is the one in our own head. But when you pray and you supplicate and you give it to God, you put the mixing desk in God's hands, and he has the ability to take that inner commentary and mute it. And his peace is then what encompasses and guides you, and what it does is it keeps your heart and your mind. Because the Bible says in 1 Peter uh 1, verse 13 to 16, in fact, let's go to it. I was just gonna say, but let's actually go to it. Um, 1 Peter chapter 1. And we're gonna look at verse 13 to 16. And it says, Well, wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be bought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. What Peter's talking about here is exactly what happened with Stephen. Let me say it to you one more time. He says, Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind and be sober, be sober in thinking, be sober in thought, be sober in action, to the end for the grace that is to be bought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust, that means the former desires of your ignorance. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of what? Conversation. Okay. So that then takes us to verse eight. And remember, the first thing I said to you to do from in this uh passage from Philippians, um verses uh chapter four, verses four to eight, we first change the atmosphere, second, we challenge the information, verse uh eight. The third thing we do, we filter the conversation. Okay, how do we do that? Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, the apostle Paul's telling you, think on these things. That's how you kill anxiety. You change the atmosphere, you challenge the information, you filter the conversation. If whoever's trying to call you in that moment, if what they're saying isn't either true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of a good report, you don't need to hear that.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

You don't need to hear that.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

Do you think Stephen would have been able to be the testimony that he was if he wasn't filtering the conversation? The Bible tells us he was full of the Holy Spirit and a man of faith. Stephen wouldn't have been sitting there gossiping with people. Stephen wasn't trying to get involved in the political wranglings of what the synagogue's problem was. Stephen merely came to explain and express to the people that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the law, that he had come to save us from spiritual death and sin. That he did not come for a kingdom of this world, but that we would accept him in our hearts and that his kingdom of heaven would come here. Remember, don't panic. You know the man that has the plan. Don't panic. Allow your faith to be your anchor, allow it to be your hold. The Holy Spirit has been sent you as a comforter. He's not a steward, he's not a security guard. He's a comforter, he's help. Don't ignore your help and don't do it alone. Don't panic. Pray with me at this time. Lord, thank you for another day. Thank you for this session. Thank you for everybody that's listening. God, I pray that we've been able To speak to someone that you've been able to speak to someone. I'm just your vessel, God. I'm just an instrument. I don't know anything. I pray you've spoken to someone in a specific situation. God, I pray that you've soothed a heart and a mind. God, I pray that this word has jumped out to someone. And God, also, as people listen to this and they go and study this for themselves in their own time, allow the revelation of your Holy Spirit to just be revealed to them, God. I come against every spirit of anxiety, every spirit of oppression and depression. God, you went to the cross for all these things. We don't have to battle these things. But God, teach us to surrender to you in every way, every day. As we say thank you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Until next time, guys, take it easy. Later.