Fear Basics

Episode 2

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We've got 7 o'clock. Let's stand our feet and we'll pray. It's good to see you. As always, glad you made the choice to be with us and to study the word with us. I believe we've got some things tonight that it's really a follow-up to something I did, believe it or not, last August. And it took me by surprise because when I was in at PTL Networks last Tuesday in conversation on the set with Jim Baker and Lori and Mondo. Mondo's quite a story. He's written a book, My Crazy Life. He uh I think he spent some time in prison. I think he may have taken a life, someone else's life. But God has done such a turnaround in him. I mean, you don't even sense it on him. And he's on my left, and Jim and Lori on my right. And at one point during, I think it was toward the end of the first taping, I did two hour tapings with them to be aired sometime in the future. I think the Spirit of God really began to minister in particular to Jim and to Lori. They've been, I they didn't go into it, we didn't have time to do that, but they they kept they did refer a few times to having just been through hell and back. And they quoted that kind of funny saying that if you're going through hell, don't stop, keep going. They quoted that a few times, and and uh a few times I noticed uh again during that uh special period, Lori's eyes began to tear up a little bit. And Jim um really stopped to listen. You know, he's the host, so he's really working to carry the program, but uh we had such a good rapport. God really did bless us. I had never met them, they had never met me. We were there to talk about the book, but we had such a good rapport, and I think they really began to relax into the whole experience, and I did. And I said some things. The point of all that is just say I said some things during that portion uh about fear and what we're facing with fear and why, in particular, Satan targets the soul when it comes to fear that I wanted to share with you. And I was happy that God just gave me permission uh toward the end of yesterday afternoon to do that. So the I did one called Fear Basics. If you were here, you'll remember it, I think. And that was the end of August last year. So I'm just calling this Fear Basics 2. And I'm not going to teach everything, we're not gonna review everything that we talked about in that first session, uh, but I want to get to especially to try to answer this question, this is how we're about to pray. Is okay, so what is Jesus saving us from? If the psalmist is giving God praise, and he does in a number of places for God delivering him from all his fear, in Psalm 34, it's just one place. It says, I sought the Lord and he heard me, and he delivered me from all, say all, which leads us to believe, uh to acknowledge, to know that there are many different forms of fear that can come into our life. And uh he the psalmist is praising God for delivering him from all of them. Psalm 27 is another one of my favorite psalms that David wrote about the Lord is my light and my salvation. He says, Who shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid? He said, Though an ho should encamp round and about me, I will not fear. I will not be afraid. See, some people think Psalm 27 was written as sort of a, you know, uh, it's the picture in some people's minds of a really sweet shepherd holding a little bitty lamb close to him with his hand on his head, you know, just smiling sweetly and, you know, just bringing some comfort to the lamb. But Psalm 23 was written later in David's life, after he had gone from being national hero to being chased by a king who sometimes was possessed of demons who wanted to kill him and everything in between. So it wasn't written in that kind of calm vacuum that some people think when they look at Psalm 23. It's a very powerful psalm. And David is writing it after many, many tough experiences in his life. Yes, he was blessed by God, but there were other things that he had to face and overcome. And there in that psalm, of course, he talks about how the Good Shepherd, because the Good Shepherd is with him, he will not fear. Right? So let's just pray, and I would love to be able to really speak to that question. What really then is Jesus saving us from? Again, fear can be, we can just leave it where we have and leave fear in general terms, or we can dig in a little bit deeper, which I'd really like to do with you tonight, just a little bit, and then talk to you about um what the scripture says, two things in particular that fear attempts to do in our life. Okay, so let's pray. Father, we thank you for uh what you're gonna speak into our lives. You've already prepared something for us. You know our needs better than we do, and we are excited to hear what you have to say to us tonight. And we open our hearts to you, and we set ourselves against any forces, contrary forces of darkness that would in any way work to hinder us from hearing what you uh have prepared for us and receiving it. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Say a quick hello to somebody there around you, and then you can be seated. You should have received a handout on your way in tonight. If you didn't, you can raise your hand, and a member of our host team will get you a copy to follow tonight. So again, Fear Basics 2. We made this statement back in August that fear will predict your future if you allow it. Fear will predict your future if you allow it. It's meant to displace and to replace divine hope and to rob us of experiencing and enjoying the Father's will for our life. You've got to know this, if you don't already, that anything God is working to uh concerning your future, anything that God is doing concerning your future is going to somehow begin with divine hope. Can I say it again? Anything that God is going to do concerning your future is going to begin with divine hope. Okay? And so Satan, knowing God the way that he does, he works to pluck up whatever God is seeding into our life in the way of hope as quickly as he can, as soon as he can. Remember the parable of uh the sower, so is the word, Mark the fourth chapter, just one place in the Gospels. The scripture, Jesus taught this parable about uh the seed being sown on different types of soil, in case you don't know. And then his disciples asked him questions about what he was talking about. He says, Well, I'm talking about the word of God being sown into the hearts of men. And of those four types of hearts, only one bore any fruit at all. One in one heart, first mentioned, uh, the fowls of the air or the demonic forces were able to move in and steal what was sown immediately, taken away immediately. Uh, and then there were other things that happened in heart number two, heart number three, concerning the cares of this world, which also has to do with fear, things that men are anxious about, um things we begin to begin to distract us. Some of that is fear-based. It chokes the word before it has any chance to really put down roots and begin to grow in the hearts of men, etc. So again, we know that Satan comes immediately to take away the word sown, because even he knows it's easier to stop what God is doing on an elementary basic level than it is to give the Word of God or God any time at all to work. It's easier to pluck up a seed out of the ground than it is to push over a tree, right? And so the same is true when it comes to God working in our heart through hope. He wants, he sees your future, he's got a great plan for your future, and he would love to partner with you in seeing those things that he's dreamed for you and on your behalf come to pass. All right. But we're gonna have to partner with him in faith. Our faith is going to need to be active, and we're just gonna have to realize that whatever God is trying to do on any level in our life, Satan's gonna try to stop it. Greater is he who is in us than he who's in the world. But again, you've got to be able to do more than just quote that verse of scripture. You've got to honestly embrace it. Again, meet it with faith, keep your faith active, believe on it, and uh give God the opportunity through your partnership to bring that to pass in your life. So on your uh your little handout there, uh the first line there is fear threatens, what if? Fear will always ask this question, what if? What if this happens? What if that happens? What if this doesn't happen? But faith always says, even if. Faith questions, what if, sowing doubt into our life. But faith says, well, even if this happens, or even if that happens, God is at work. I have a promise from God. His hope is at work in me. I trust him more than what's happening in my circumstances. 2 Timothy 1.7 says, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear. Would you say that out loud with me, please? Spirit of fear. But God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. All right. We're going to really dig into this verse tonight to answer that question: what is Jesus saving us from? But let me, before we do that, get into the three basic fears that really all of mankind has. Again, this is not a comprehensive list. These are just major categories of fear. And the other fears that we experience, I'm going to give you some different faces for fear tonight. I'm going to mention them quickly, go through them quickly for you tonight and with you tonight. But the three basic fears that I talk about in my book and that we work to answer in the book, and we've talked about even in August when we talked about fear basics, is number one, men fear being rejected, abandoned, or alone. Men fear being rejected, abandoned, or alone. Number two, they also fear being unsafe, powerless, and always at risk. They fear being unsafe, powerless, and always at risk. And this, by the way, if you haven't already discovered, is in part two of your handout. And number three, finally, they fear not having enough or being destitute, like going hungry, losing their home, not being able to retire. I found statistics, the most recent ones I could, that said people go into panic in general. Most people go into panic when they have a debt of $400 or more, or if they need $400 or more. For some people, it's a whole lot less than that. But just generally speaking, across, and we're one of the wealthiest nations on the planet. Most of us who are in a poverty situation in this nation would be considered wealthy in another nation. Okay. We're pretty spoiled. We're fortunate, but we're pretty spoiled. There's an awful lot we take for granted, especially when it comes to being able to have food, being able to have clothing, even a roof over our heads.

unknown 13:28

All right.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

So those three again, very quickly, men fear being rejected, abandoned, and alone. They also fear being unsafe or powerless or always at risk. And finally they fear not having enough or being destitute, going hungry, losing their home because they can't pay their mortgage, can't pay their rent, not being able to retire. I know somebody like that. They're really struggling because they uh, you know, their plans for retirement didn't turn out the way that they had hoped, and they had diligently planned. And uh it's just shocked the man's system. It's just shocked him. And he's having a hard time dealing with it. Who is this man? Well, you'd know him if I mentioned his name. He's worshipped with us for over, I think, probably 30 years here. You know, he's struggling. So these fears are real, but so are God's provisions. Can have an amen. Again, but but fear has subtle faces as well. And here are just some of them. Let me go through a quick list again. It's just a quick list. If you're taking notes, uh, you have to be quick writing them down. I'm not going to spend a bunch of time on it. Use the back side of your uh your handout there. Worry. Worry is just fear rehearsing the future. Uh there's anxiety, which is similar to worry. I think it's a little deeper and more broad than basic worries. Uh, believe this or not, irritability is a form of fear at work. You know, especially I know people, children, I know adults who when they face a new situation, one of the way that they're one of the ways that that fear uh expresses itself is in irritability. They get real touchy. You know, I think that affects me from time uh to time. And I begun to just say out loud when I sense it or feel it at all. I just begin to say out loud, God has not given me the spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. It'd good be good for us to say that out loud right now. God has not given me the spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. Uh, impatience, another form of fear. Here's one cynicism. Cynicism is an inclination to question whether something will happen or whether it's worthwhile. Another way that cynicism expresses itself is in pessimism. Oh, yeah, right. You know, we just kind of roll our eyes at a situation. We, you know, think, you know, it's not gonna happen. It never happens. Or it never happens for me. It's not gonna happen. Happens for him, but it didn't happen for me. You have a pretty dark outlook on the world, and the world is suffering some pretty great things. Don't misunderstand me, you know. But at the same time, it's your choice how you're gonna meet those difficulties, what you're gonna do with what you're facing and what you're experiencing. God has a way of hell of uh facing it, and then there's Satan has a way of facing it. And you're the one that's gonna decide that. Okay? God gave you that sovereign power over your own ability to choose. As much as he would hate for you to choose going to hell when you die, he will protect your right to go there. Because he wanted to love you and wanted you to love him again on the highest level. And that required freedom of choice and freedom of will. Some people say, why does God let all of this wickedness happen? Because he made a choice a long time ago that he was going to let man choose his destiny, and he would suffer the consequences with that man. Everything God permits does not mean God is in it or God is behind it, or God is a part of God's plan for your life. It's just the way choices play out in real life. And Adam and Eve made a poor choice in a perfect world at the time, with a perfect heart. It's a real struggle for us. Especially over time, our our souls have been greatly affected by what the Bible refers to as the dominion of sin. Satan is the God of this world. You can say, Oh, not me, oh yeah, you. And you just saying it's not, you know, that's not it, doesn't make it not true. We always want to believe, base our belief on what the scripture teaches. Amen. And not what we think it says or what we would like for it to say, or what we feel like it should say. Right. Anyway, uh, where were we? Uh impatience, cynicism, overworking is the way that fear is expressed. Again, fear of lack in particular, you know, or uh fear of not uh being happy, fear of not facing uh the world's reality at the time. And so you just kind of bury your head in work. How many of you know you can lose your family if you have a family doing that? See, fear is a thief. Doesn't matter what mask it might wear, how it presents itself, it's still, bottom line, is a robber and a thief. Jesus said, I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. But the stranger or the thief has come and he steals, he kills, and he destroys. All right. Withdrawal is another way that fear is expressed. We just, you know, we struggle being out in the world, we struggle with people. A lot of that is inward struggle, how we see ourselves, and how are we going to amount to anything? You know, if I messed up, have I sinned so deeply that God can't forgive me? And you know, the and so instead of reaching out and getting help that's available, including from God and God's people, we end up just pulling away, withdrawing more and more and more. It's not good that man be alone. God said that from the beginning. God made everything to touch something else appropriately. Every bone in a healthy body touches another bone by joint, another bone in the body. There's a relationship that's divine. And God made us to have healthy relationships with each other. Fear will keep us from uh letting that happen or working with that to happen. Indecision, fear of making the wrong decision. So we don't make a decision. Well, you've made a decision. You've heard that. No decision is a decision, right? I'm not gonna choose. Well, you just chose. But you know, after Moses spoke to the people of God about the blessings and the cursings of keeping the law, he said, He said, Choose you this day. He put it to the people. He said, You choose this day. Don't put it off. You choose this day who you are going to serve. And then he told us the best choice. God spoke through Moses to the people of Israel in our Bibles, choose life that you and your seed might live. Amen. So worry, anxiety, irritability, impatience, cynicism, overworking, withdrawal, indecision, and dread, many different faces of fear. And again, these are going to be important to you as we go a little deeper into tonight's teaching. If they don't seem that way, way now. Many of these forms of fear have just put on more respectable clothes. Now, what that how that affects us is this since the majority of mankind is dealing with uh fear, uh, we tend to view it as listen to me, view it as normal. Well, everybody goes through that. And that's right. That's a true statement. Okay. But don't normalize it in the way you see it as a Christian, as a believer. Again, God has not given you the spirit of fear. He didn't say you're going to be, you were, you were immune from making, you know, it affecting you or having some contact with it. But he said God didn't do that. So God didn't give the spirit of fear who did. It had to be the God of this world, right? Who is Satan? So we don't normalize those things that we know are not the will of God for our lives. We don't normalize those, accept those into the way we think, into the way we believe, and to the way, into the choices that we make. Any of us in this room tonight who have the Spirit of God, first of all, who are born of God, and we have the nature of God in our own spirit, the human spirit. Okay? And then on top of that, any of us who have the Spirit of God living on the inside of us are earnestly yearning for. Romans the 8 chapter uses the word groaning. We're groaning to experience the greater fullness of what God has provided for us through Jesus Christ. That's some some days you're really unhappy. It's because you're in a groaning place. You're thinking this way. Life shouldn't be this way for me, right? Have you ever said that in one form or another? Why did you say it? Because you think you're so special? You're the exception? No. Because on the inside, God has begun something that he fully intends to finish on the inside of you. It's called salvation. It's called redemption. It's called the new life. Almost all of Paul's epistles have to do with putting on that new man, which is now created after God in righteousness and holiness. It is a new way of life. Amen. And so again, fear works against the purposes of God in us. So we don't want to normalize it in our thinking. And by the way, that's one of the ways that Satan is able to work, is he's keeping, you know, he keeps he continues to be able to just disguise himself behind these different faces and behind these different masks. You know, it's like sin itself. Let's just mention that. Somebody says, well, sin, everybody does it. So what have you done? You normalize sin as a way of life. Again, we know it happens. It's not a matter of if it's going to happen, it's when it's going to happen. That's what John wrote in his epistle. He said, when you sin, come to the Father. So it's not a matter of if you're going to sin as a Christian, you will. Okay? But you don't start normalizing that because the Bible also says that sin shall not have dominion over you. Right? So we understand a sinner, a man who is a sinner by nature, sinning, it's his nature, right? But it's no longer your nature. You're now a new creature in Christ Jesus. Far from perfect, yeah. But again, we're talking about who you are. Who's the new you? Who are you in Christ? Again, we were all in Adam, but now we're in Christ. Okay. And for you to say, I'm a little sinner saved by grace, again, you're just confusing the issue. You're complicating the issue. If you've put your faith in Jesus from your heart, you've been born again, you're a new creature according to the Bible. All right? And so that's who you are. So I am who God says I am. I have what God says I have. And I can do all that God says I can do. Right? And sure, I fall, I sin, but it's no longer my nature. And if it is, I need to be born again. If it's your nature, if you're still in hot pursuit of life apart from God, you're still a sinner by nature. And your spirit is dead from God's perspective, not mine. I agree with what God says. He said it about me, he said it about every person who's ever been a sinner. We were all at one point dead in our trespasses and sin. The word dead means separated from. Just like the body is dead when the spirit leaves it and the soul leaves it, so faith without works as an example is dead. And so it's true of us who don't know Christ. We're dead, separated from eternal life. I beg you, if you have not made Jesus Christ Lord of your life, do that now. Do that before you leave this property. Because once your heart beats its last beat and your lungs take in its last breath, you will not have an opportunity then to make the choice. Especially since you've heard the gospel. You know? So I just beg you, don't mess around with it. Don't think you're, you know, you can handle it on your own. You can't. You need help. You need God's help. All of us need God's help. Can I have an amen? All right. So then what is Jesus saving us from? You ready? Let's dig into this a little bit. Again, 2 Timothy 1.7 says, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. If we allow fear in any form, we just have to know that it's toxic. Okay? It's poisonous. Making the choice to worry instead of trust God is harmful. And it's harmful to the whole man. It's harmful on a spiritual level. It can't touch the Christian spirit, but it can still affect you, your spiritual life. You follow what I'm saying to you? Again, if you're born again tonight, your spirit is sealed with the Holy Spirit. So Satan can't get in and touch your spirit. All right. But you can still be affected, your spiritual life, how you're living that new life can still be affected by the spirit of fear. Okay? It's just toxic spiritually. It's toxic where the soul is concerned, and certainly where the body is concerned. Let me dig in just a little bit on this word spirit in Paul's words to Timothy, spirit of fear. Okay? What's Paul talking about there? Okay. Is he talking about a devil there, a spirit of fear? The word is pneuma in the Greek language, the language of the New Testament, and it has layers of meaning depending on the context where it shows up in Scripture in the New Testament. Okay? And I'm going to give you those four right here. All right. It'll help you understand what Paul is saying to Timothy and what God, I think, is trying to say to us tonight. All right. First of all, it can refer to the inner self or one's spiritual nature. I just talked to you about the human spirit. The Bible also says God is a spirit. Same word, pneuma. The word itself basically means wind. It can mean breath. It's actually where we get the word pneumatic, having to do with what? Air pressure, right? There's actually the study of spirits called pneumatology. You know? So it can refer to the nature. Say nature. Put that in your notes. Number two, an inner disposition or temperament. It can refer to an inner disposition or temperament. That is like a gentle spirit or a broken spirit. A gentle spirit, a broken spirit. Has to do with a disposition or temperament. Number three, this is very, very strong and revealing, a governing influence. A governing influence. I think that's what Paul uses here talking to Timothy when he says spirit of fear. But there also in the positive end of things a spirit of wisdom. Someone who operates in a spirit of wisdom. He is governed, she is governed by the wisdom of God. All right. And then the last one, which I think most of us are most familiar with, has to do with non-physical beings like angels who are spirits, demons, who are spirits. And then the Bible also mentions unclean spirits.

unknown 31:34

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SPEAKER_00 31:35

Again, angels, demons, unclean spirits. So if you didn't get those, let me give them to you again. Inner self or spiritual nature, number one. Number two, inner disposition or temperament. Number three, a governing influence. Number four, non-physical beings like angels, demons, or unclean spirits. So look at that last one again, having to do with non-physical beings. It makes 2 Timothy 1.7, we know now God is not saying, for God has not given you the demon of fear. That's not what he was saying to Timothy, right? Timothy was a young pastor. He was under an incredible amount of pressure. The church he was pastoring was growing by leaps and bounds. He was experiencing pressure, spiritual pressure, but also pressure from the congregation, the cares of the congregation. And so Paul writes this letter because some say that likely that Timothy was a place where he was, we would say, having a nervous breakdown, or close to having a nervous breakdown. He was really struggling mentally and emotionally. So Paul writes this letter, and so now it makes perfect sense now that we've kind of broken this down a little bit, that Paul wasn't saying God hasn't given you the demon of fear. Well, of course he hasn't. And of course he wouldn't. It makes more sense when it comes to 2 Timothy 1.7 that Paul is either talking about, you know, his spiritual nature. You know, Timothy didn't have the spiritual nature of fear. He's born again. He didn't have a, God didn't give him a disposition or temperament of fear, a leaning of a certain way toward fear, or didn't give him a governing or release into his life a governing influence of fear. God has not given you the spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind. Now he's Paul's not the only one that wrote about this. John also wrote about this in 1 John chapter 4, verse 18. Scripture says there that a fear has torment. We're about to dig into this as we end tonight. But a similar kind of thing. Definitions 2 and 3 apply more to what John was writing than an actual demonic spirit or an unclean spirit when he said fear has torment. Okay, he wasn't referring to the actual physical being, but again, a temperament or a governing influence in the lives of Christians. Does that make any sense to you? What is interesting, though, is that both Paul and John use the same terminology when it comes to dealing with these forces of fear. Same terminology. And that word is caste. Say it with me, cast. It's the Greek word balo, and it means to listen to this, it means to hurl or to throw without any thought to where it's going to land. Now, what does that teach us? It teaches us that we shouldn't be playing with this in our mind at all. Right? Considering, well, what should I do with this? Just cast it off. Right? And we'll do that in God's power, in the power of his spirit, and we'll do that with his aid and with his help and with the grace that he provides us. But he doesn't want us, the point is, he doesn't want us nurturing this at all for any length of time on the inside of us. So when fear presents itself, hiding behind one of these faces, whatever it might look like in your life, and there are probably many faces, we're not to deal with it trying to again handle it in our own ability, try to think through it, reason. We don't reason it out, we cast it out. Listen, listen, guys, it's very important that we follow God's instruction when it comes to this. Even when Peter talked about casting the whole of our care, notice again the word cast is there. And care is nothing more than just another form of worry that we can carry. I mean, we I care for my children, but that can easily get over into an area of fear, like it did in Job's life, right? So again, it's right to care, but you can get to a point where it works against the purposes of God in your life. Again, the parable of the seed sowing the word, one of the things that entered in that choked the word of God and kept it from bearing fruit were the cares of this world. Right? So again, what are we supposed to do with it? We're supposed to cast it out. We cast out demons, right? But we also are to cast out this these governing influences that try to take over in our soul. These temperaments that are not according to the will of God. We do the same thing with all of those. We rid ourselves of them with God's help, the sooner the better. Amen. And one of the ways you can do this is get into the presence of God and talk to Him about it. Okay, because He won't let you just again just kind of hold on to it. Or talk to somebody who will talk God's word back to you that you know, who will help you with this, just kind of getting it out of here and on it, tabling it can sometimes help you see what am I, what in the world, why am I holding on to this the way I'm holding on to this? And we'll help you get uh help you get rid of it. What is Jesus, the good shepherd, again, actually saving us from when fear is dealt with or the spirit of fear is dealt with? You ready for this? This is really what began to happen on on stage uh uh during the the the uh program tapings. It just I'd never said it out loud before, and I said it for the first time. And I I went to the hotel room that night just thinking about it and started writing some things down about what happened on the set that afternoon concerning what I'm about to share with you. Okay, uh scripture is very clear that fear has torment. So one of the things that God is going to save us from is what? Torment. Fear has torment. Again, John, 1 John 4, 18 talks about that. Uh there is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. And the word perfect there just has to do with maturity. Okay? God is mature in love. God is love, right? And you and I need to mature in our love because we're far from perfect in our understanding of love or even in receiving it. But what John is, the point John is making there is very powerful. We can be released from this fear that brings torment or saved from torment, okay, as we begin to understand, have revealed to us, take in, reveal, uh, grab hold of, understand deeper that God really is love and he loves you. Amen. That works against the torment that fear is trying to bring into your life, enslave you with. Follow? But it also means this that when we walk in a more mature love toward each other, that we are also walking in a freedom from fear and helping other people get free from fear. Amen. Nothing but good happens. Let me define torment for you. Torment is defined as a severe physical or mental suffering. Defined as severe physical or mental suffering. Have you ever noticed that when you fill out some of the forms, sometimes when you go to the doctor's office, dentist's office, maybe you're going to a psychologist for counseling, professional counseling. Have you ever noticed that a question has begun to appear on those forms? It didn't used to be this way years ago, but now there's a question that they'll either ask you out loud or you'll be asked on the form you fill out. And it's do you feel safe at home? You seen that? Now, why is that? That's coming from the professional community. Why is that? Because they've recognized that there is a direct, undeniable link between our health and fear and worry and anxiety. And they're right. Chronic torment keeps our souls and bodies in system overload. Our bodies, listen, it's very important. Our bodies and I'm talking about our physical brain and our soul, made up of our mind, our emotions, and our will, are never able to rest when we are being tormented. We were, I think we were wired by God to handle seasons of stress, seasons of anxiety when they happen, even when they're quick and they're, you know, you know, I was driving to the studio, everything was great. Cindy shared this with those of you who were here last week. I was 11 miles away from the studio. I was going to be on time for my morning taping at 11 o'clock, and I was in a rental car and I was 11 miles out. I hit something so hard and so big in the road that I did not see. I hit it so hard that I got two flat tires on one side of my car, on the passenger side. And I'm literally, for the moment, I was just so unsettled. I was in shock. I went, what has just happened? I was able to, fortunately, and I know this were prayers prayed prior to the trip. And those of you who are praying for us going uh on the trip, praying for me, going on the trip, that I would there was no traffic around, the big 18-wheeler ahead of me, he may have actually left something behind, but I didn't see it. But he was way out ahead of me, and there was no traffic behind me. So nobody else was involved, and I wasn't injured at all. But I was shocked for the moment. I you you may not believe this, but apart from Cindy when she was pregnant with Hannah, month, maybe a month or two away from giving birth, we were in Larksburg, Colorado, coming home from a meeting with our friend Andrew Womack and seeing him and Jamie. And it had snowed the night before. Roads were pretty clear. Colorado does a pretty good job of getting the roads clear. But the winds had been blowing, and there was a drift both in the lane going and the lane coming. And I, as long as I could keep my tires on either side of the drift, I was fine and could just go. But something happened, and I I misjudged something, and that drift caught my tire. And we just went off into the soft snow on uh the shoulder of the road, and we weren't there very long, but we that that was not the day we didn't have cell phones. I'm guessing what I'm trying to say. We didn't have cell phones, and we were there praying, and before long, God sent a farmer on a tractor, and he came as like an angel, and he came and he turned that, he didn't ask us if we need help. He obviously could see we did. He turned around and pulled that tractor behind us, got out of the cold blowing wind, and he hooked some chains to our our car, which we've not had very long, new car, and he pulled us out backwards and got us. On our way. But apart from that, I have never been stranded on the road in 71 years of my life. Ever. And I was stranded. Three cars stopped along the way, asked me if I was okay. How could they help? I said, I just don't know exactly who to call. One lady said, I'm going down the road. I'm going to come back after I do my business and check on you. God bless you. You know, another couple rolled down their window. Are you okay? Everything, yeah, everything's okay. And then the peace of God came. Come on, somebody. And I wasn't, I, you know, I just was shocked for a minute. I didn't know what had just happened and what I was about to do. Because I'd never been in that situation. Like that.

unknown 44:51

You know.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

So God gave me peace, and in the middle of that peace, it's like I saw a list of things I needed to do and people I needed to call. And I just followed that. And I didn't see one. Don't think I'm weird. It's just like I did. And my thinking, my mind went from disorder to order and peace. And then I knew who to call, I knew who to call second, I knew who to call third. And quick story made really short is I didn't want to leave, of course, the rental car unattended because then I'm responsible for whatever happens to it. All right. But as it played out, the the tow truck came at the same time a man from the studios came to pick me up. It could not have been orchestrated better. They came at the same exact time. I turned over the keys to the guy who was driving the tow truck and got in the van to be taken to the studios. So God is good. Amen. I share that just to say this that we're made to handle moments. We're wired to handle moments. You know, we still need to look to God. Amen. But we're handled for that. But none of us are handled. We're not made by God to again normalize chronic fear, anxiety, and worry. Your body never, your mind never gets a chance to relax or to rest at all. Amen. And did you know, physically speaking, your body, your brain is actually plastic? I laugh when I think about that. But as plastic, it can actually change its shape or be its shape can be altered and changed. And what what's the point, Pastor? Well, whatever we're letting go on in there physically can shape our brain to adapt itself in a negative way to fear. Or we can choose differently and trust to think on the love of God and His provision. And our brain will actually be reshaped to receive that. I'm just talking about your physical brain. We know as we think on the right things in our soul, you know, that the same is true there. Our soul can be conditioned to work with the Spirit of God. Historically, listen to me, I'm almost done. Torment has been used to control people and to enslave them. Historically, torment has been used to control people and to enslave them. Still used for that today. Changing the course of people's lives. Fear brings a snare, is what Proverbs 29, 25 says. So fear brings what? Torment. And so fear also brings a snare. That's the other thing. Torment and snare. What is Jesus saving us from? Torment, which again is severe physical and mental suffering that stresses you, soul and body. But he is also, fear also, it's clear, brings a snare. Proverbs 29, 25 says, the fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. The word snare from the Hebrew language, this is so good. It means two things. It can mean a noose, like a rope around the neck or the rope around some part of the body, or it can mean a hook or ring in the nose. Whether it's a noose or whether it's a hook or a ring in the nose, both of those meanings indicate being led around like a slave. In other words, all of that to say that if the spirit of fear is allowed to dominate our soul andor our body, it will, watch this, usurp Jesus' leadership in our lives. So instead of the Lord being our shepherd, and we're following him, not being pulled around by a rope or a ring or hook in the nose by him, we're being led. But instead of being led by the Lord our shepherd, or our friend Ra'ah in the Hebrew, we end up uh with Satan taking the lead in our lives. The lead of the good shepherd will be abandoned for the ungodly, wicked, harmful lead of Satan. Hear me, Christians. Applies to you too, not just those who don't know Jesus, especially to those who know him. Even though he remains your shepherd, he still loves you the same. You're abandoning, I'm abandoning his leadership as I give fear a place knowingly in my life. Again, John 10, 10, Jesus said, uh, you see, my sheep hear my voice, right? But a stranger's voice they will not follow. Okay. They hear the stranger's voice, but they choose not to follow the stranger's voice. Sega, and then this came out of my mouth, and I'm done. This came out of my mouth, and it it took me back, and and and everyone on the panel back. Because the question was asked me, why is it that Satan targets our soul? And of course, we just defined soul. Lori defined it real quick. She said, that's like the mind. I said it's the will, the mind, and the emotions. That's what makes up your soul. And um, your soul is invisible and immortal, just like your spirit.

unknown 51:11

All right.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

So why is it that he he asked me, Mondo asked me, he said, why is it that the soul is so important? And why does Satan target the soul the way he does? And this came out of my mouth. I know it was by the Spirit of God, and I I just have it for you tonight. It's primarily because the soul is the most intimate place he can hold in our lives, since he can't touch our spirits as Christians. Since he can't touch our lives as Christians, the soul is the deepest he can go. You see, Satan, he doesn't he doesn't care if you hurt or not, he doesn't care if you got cancer, big deal. He doesn't care if you're in pain. So what? He didn't he doesn't care. Because the body is here, it's perishing. Right? It's mortal, that means death doomed. Thank God we have the promise of it being changed and redeemed, but but it's just I'm just not getting any younger. You're not either, by the way. And you know, it takes me longer to heal than it used to. Am I the only one that has experienced that? You know, it's just it's a normal course. Now, God can certainly quicken our mortal bodies, and he does, right? But Satan could care less, really, if he breaks you physically. Your soul gives him a greater stronghold position. Your soul gets him a more intimate place in your life if you give it to him. And that's why the scripture is so replete and so full of warnings and instruction about how we should be every day taken care of and stewarding what's going in and what's going out. Uh Proverbs 23, 7, for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Uh again, Paul writing to the church at Ephesus about the spiritual armor. And nobody wrote about spiritual warfare or spiritual armor in the detail the way the apostle Paul did. His letters are still the clearest on the issue. And and he he wrote in there to cast, take, take the weaponry that God has given us. He said, which is mighty through God. And he said, cast, among other things, he said, cast every thought. Say every thought. Really, Pastor? Well, only if you want to experience real freedom from fear, Jesus has paid the price for you to be free. You're going to have to, again, it's going to be with his help. God is not asking you to do this without him. He never has. Ask us to do anything. Follow any of his instructions in our own ability and in our own might. He is right there in us, with us, working through us. So if he says, in the word cast down every thought, again, it's with his power, his ability, and his strength at work, and us leaning on that. Amen. And the grace that he provides. But notice what he said. Every thought, say it, every thought. Every thought. Yeah, every thought. What does that mean? Every thought. What does it mean in the Greek? Every thought. Every thought. And remember that when the, again, and the Lord is my shepherd, when the when the shepherd anointed the head of the sheep with oil, okay, it was especially in the summertime or late spring or early summertime or summertime, where there was just a, you know, they faced all kinds of pestilence in the air, including flying insects, parasites, and flies themselves. And it only took one fly getting into the nasal cavity of the sheep, laying its eggs, and then if only one egg hatched in the head of that precious lamb or sheep, they would all but lose their minds trying to rid themselves of it. Sheep were known to run into tree trunks or large boulders or stones or even off the edge of the cliff to rid themselves of the pain that one tiny baby, immature fly caused in his head. And so the Good Shepherd was very diligent as they came into that season to anoint with oil because the oil was a special recipe, and it was particularly used for medicinal purposes as a preventative against those flying insects. And God has provided for us weapons that are not carnal, but mighty through God. Come on, somebody, that work in us by the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit to help us cast down any thought that would exalt itself against the knowledge of God. I'm sorry. God loves us that much. He's taken care of it. We want to just lean into that. And then the last verse tonight, Proverbs 4.23, again, we've studied this over and over again. But it says, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. And again, we've studied that word issues so many times, but let me just say it in closing. It's a word, again, used in the Hebrew language. These are real important words, and knowing the original meaning of these words, important to really helping us. It was a word used to define borders between nations or between territories. So it's a word that spoke of the setting of border. We have a border. You know, God is a God of borders, by the way. And we have borders in the United States of America. And we want our borders honored. But there are borders that need to be set that God Himself is working to set in our souls. And we need to honor what God is doing there. Because what uh Proverbs 4 is actually saying is it's out of the uh what's happening in our heart. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it come the things that shape our lives. You say, that's just, you know, Pastor, I that I don't get it. I don't understand. Our circumstances, don't they shape our life? They do if you let what's happening in your circumstance get on the inside. It's not what comes at you, it's what's in you that's making the difference. Yeah? Because I can tell you stories, and you you've read them yourself, of twins being born of the same mother in the same womb, in the same city, in the same hospital, in the same poor part of town. But one twin grows up making different choices than the other twin did. One went on to be prosperous, successful, live a blessed life. The other chose differently and ended up living a short life, dying on the streets. With a needle in his arm. Choices make a big difference. Amen. And so, did this help you tonight? So I want I just wanted to dig a little deeper with you. Again, fear is everything wicked is exponentially increasing in our world. It's just not getting better. And if we are to believe Jesus' prophetic words about the end times, we know they're not going to get better. Everything that Satan has at hand, he is working to release into our world. And he wants to take as many of us with him as he can into his damned eternity, which he is already aware of. He wants to take as many prisoners as he possibly can with him. Jesus, on the other hand, is not willing that any man perish, but that all come. Say all. Say that means me. He said that all come to an acknowledging of the truth and receive eternal life. Amen. Say it one time more time. I'm free from fear. I'm not a slave to fear. I'm free from torment. I'm free from fear's snare.

unknown 1:00:29

I'm free from fear's snare.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:31

Because the Lord is my shepherd. I follow his lead. And because he is my shepherd, I shall not want, and I shall not be afraid. In Jesus' name. Everybody said, Amen and amen. You're so, let's stand our feet. Thank God for it. I'm going to let you go. Take these notes, meditate on employment.